Less than a year ago, Borja Pérez de Brea was not very aware of what he was "going to form" with DECRUX. This young man from Madrid, a member of the Lourdes Hospitality and a servant in the Emmaus movement, decided to launch an original evangelization project: high quality and carefully designed candles.
These candles are symbolically blessed, are customizable and all have a prayer for different intentions. A way to bring a Christian presence to every home and help different charitable causes.
Lourdes, the origin of DECRUX
"DECRUX was born in Lourdes," its founder, Borja, told Omnes. "We are hospitallers and we accompany the sick to ask for their healing. And that's where we realized the power of light for a sick person to ask for healing. That's where the idea came to me: to unite the prayer candle, which is a deeply Christian symbol, because Jesus is the light of the world, with the decorative candle for the home.
From that first idea, Borja began to develop what today is DECRUXThe first thing that came out of it was that a lot of details started to emerge. From the name, DECRUXThe logo is the three crosses of Calvary together, which also evokes a lit candle, which is also very beautiful. The lid is made of wood, also recalling the wood of the cross and even, in the pack of three C+M+B candles, the matches are black, symbolizing the nails of the Lord's cross".
DECRUX was born in March 2024 and, since then, thousands of candles have already been sold through its website or in points of sale such as the Baluarte space in Madrid. "It has been very successful because of the personalization.
Through the web, you can not only choose a prayer that we already have -for the family, for the children...- but you can also personalize your own, so that it reaches you at home. In addition, the profits are donated to a charity or project of your choice.
The candles are also symbolically blessed by various communities, parishes and religious entities with which this project collaborates through grants.
Solidarity projects and initiatives
Since its birth, DECRUX is designed to be a way to help projects and initiatives, promoted by Catholic communities or with a Christian imprint, whether solidarity, evangelization... etc.
At present, there are many projects with which it collaborates and many others with which it is in the process of doing so: "we help single mothers who have chosen life, the sick; we have a mission electrification project in Guatemala that we are helping, we help the disabled with brain injuries and we are preparing a collaboration aimed at children with autism. Now, we are collaborating with the Sisters of Charity of PaiportaThey are doing an impressive job after the DANA, and it is one of the projects to which people are devoting the most these days".
"The idea of finding a reality and a social project that the sail can help finance," Borja emphasizes, "is a way of fundraising for those projects with which we share ideals. And we do this by introducing a Catholic object around a prayer, as a way of evangelizing the home".
A life project
"DECRUX It is my life project," says Pérez de Brea, "I work in a multinational, I don't 'live' from this, in the material sense, but it is, without a doubt, my life project. At DECRUX I combine my professional vocation as an entrepreneur with my calling to serve God and to help the sick and disabled as a hospital worker. It has marked a before and an after. Everything I do, or that happens to me, is so great and is from God that it makes me have to continue. That is to say, there is like a force above me that makes me not be able to stop. That is why I say that the project is guided by the Holy Spirit and by Our Lady".
In addition to Borja, there are two more people as partners of DECRUX but, above all, a community of people who "put themselves at the service of the project selflessly, philanthropically, and each one with what they believe they can contribute" and who, taking the term from Emmaus, are called "servants": "There are those who contribute their knowledge of design, or help to learn about new projects, or those who go to the workshop and help with the handling of the candles".
Handled by people with disabilities
One of the characteristics of these sails is that, from their very creation, they already have a sociolaboral integration purpose.
The candles are assembled in a workshop of PRODISa foundation committed to people with intellectual disabilities to help them in their personal development and their inclusion in the labor market.
Each candle carries a small sign indicating this fact: "that's why no candle is the same, because everything is made by hand and by boys and girls with intellectual disabilities".
At the beginning, Borja recalls, "I did everything myself at home. People started coming to help me and we realized that we had to do it differently. That's how we came into contact with PRODIS and we're happy.
C+M+B, the Germanic home-blessing tradition
In this Christmas season, DECRUX has recovered, for Spain a beautiful and ancient Germanic tradition, (explained for Omnes in this article)The "Reyes Magos" (Wise Men): that of the visits of children dressed as the Magi to the houses of a parish, bringing the parish priest's blessing and collecting money for the poor.
The houses visited are marked with *C+M+B which means "Christus mansionem benedicat" ("Christ bless this house") and also has the connotation of referring to the initials of the names of the Kings in their original language: Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
A priest explained this custom to Borja who saw the possibility of "transferring" it to the candles. DECRUX creating a pack of three small tealights with the initials C+M+Bwhich are sold together with a chalk to mark the door of the house because "the idea is that the houses are blessed with the pack. That's what we want, to bless the houses of Spain," says Borja.
