Concierge Rafel Horrach Llabrés dies, "tireless fighter for the culture and language of Mallorca"

Costitx has lost more than just a neighbor. It has lost one of its most authentic intellectual and spiritual references. Rafel Horrach i Llabrés of Can Mal (Costitx, 1955) has died at the age of 70, leaving a legacy that goes beyond the cassock or history books: the man who knew how to explain who we are so that we know where we should go is gone.

Rafel Horrach was not a conventional rector, nor a historian locked away in dusty archives. He had the virtue — so rare today — of connecting the transcendence of the spirit with the tangible reality of the land. His passion for history, which earned him academic excellence at the UIB, was not an exercise in empty erudition, but an act of commitment to his roots. His work on the past of Costitx or his involvement in the dissemination of the Caps de Bou or the founding of the OCB delegation in the town are testaments to this desire to rescue collective memory from oblivion. Thus, his colleagues from the local OCB remembered him as an "unwavering fighter for the culture and language of Mallorca".

Within him beat an unshakeable civic conscience. The defense of the Catalan language was not imposed; it was his tool for communication with God and with the people. This commitment, which the Obra Cultural Balear recognized with the Josep Maria Llompart prize in 2021, turned him into an "agitator" in the best sense of the word: someone who made people think, who shook consciences with humility and culture.

From Lloseta to Costitx, including his time in University Pastoral Care, Rafel Horrach exercised the priesthood as a space for dialogue. Where many saw dogmas, he brought humanity and historical context.

Mallorca lost on April 4th a local sage, one of those men who made the town greater every time they opened their mouths or put pen to paper. May the land, which he studied and loved so much, be light upon him.