The firefighter who became a hermit in a village in Malaga to find happiness

The search for happiness is the goal that every human being pursues throughout his or her life.

Sometimes this feeling is linked to a specific time or place, but with the passage of time, as we grow, mature and evolve, it can disappear, forcing us to take a new path to recover it.

This is precisely what happened to José Antonio García Ruiz. Despite having a good job as a fireman and an apparently stable life, he decided to leave everything behind to become a hermit and take care of the patron saint of his home town, the Virgen de la Fuensanta de Pizarra.

The life of this Malaga native was like that of any other person. After years of hard work, he managed to pass his competitive examinations and, at the age of 29, he joined the Malaga Provincial Fire Brigade. A professional stage that lasted 14 years, in which he had a partner, friends, celebrations, personal projects and a fully integrated routine within what is considered a conventional life.

The turning point came unexpectedly, when an illness burst into his life and forced him to stop. Both his body and his mind were asking for a pause. What had made him happy until then ceased to do so, and a deep inner emptiness began to take hold of him.

"I had to make a drastic stop to be able to relocate and, from there, regulate my path again", confesses this Pizarreño, who welcomes SUR in the Ermita de la Fuensanta, where he opens the doors of both the temple and his own home.

He is one of the few hermits who still live in the same place of worship that they look after. For him, this stage represents "a second chance" to be happy and find a purpose based on "the spiritual encounter with God".

Looking back, José Antonio cannot help but get emotional. The disease triggered a process that he defines as a period of suffering, pain and loneliness, even when he was surrounded by doctors, therapies and people. The strength to go on seemed exhausted and the feeling of going through a tunnel without light was constant.

It was then that he took one of the bravest decisions of his life: to quit his job as a firefighter. "I decided to jump into the void, because I was already living in an existential void," he explains. From then on, he began a personal quest to find the happiness he longed for.

In the process, an inner voice appeared, which at first he could hardly distinguish, but which over time gained space. It did not drive him to pursue material achievements or desires, but to seek balance, harmony and inner peace. During the following years, when he was off work, he tried to heal by living in natural surroundings, almost in complete solitude. Although he could not fully find himself, the path of self-knowledge became his main goal.

Sometimes, life crosses paths with people who are capable of changing everything. For José Antonio, that encounter was decisive. A man made a reflection to him that would mark his destiny: "I see you kind, with a good heart and a lot of light, but I don't feel that you are on the true path". When he asked him what that path was, the answer was clear: "The word of God".

Since then, he has found in the Bible a refuge where he could find everything he felt. "He explained to me that the Bible transforms life, heals and guides people. He told me with such strength and conviction that I felt I had found my place," he says from the wayside shrine, just a few metres from the image of the Virgin that he looks after today.

As fate would have it, after more than a decade away from his village, the hermitage remained closed for renovation work. When the first phase of rehabilitation was completed, the post of hermit became vacant. It was then that he saw the opportunity to give shape to his new life project. He says that it was "life and God" who brought him back to the municipality where he grew up and from which he had decided to leave.

That departure from the village was also a difficult episode. Spanish cycling champion, firefighter, with economic stability and social recognition, he decided to stay away so as not to show his fragility. "I had an ego and I didn't want people to see me like that", he admits.

After a selection process, on 8 December 2025 he was appointed hermit of the Ermita de la Fuensanta. A place of great devotion in a deeply religious municipality like Pizarra. He defines this stage as "a miracle" that allows him to serve both the Virgin and his people.

His daily routine is closely linked to spirituality. He lives in a small house next to the hermitage, with stone walls and the essentials for everyday life. In winter, the cooker becomes his best ally against the cold. The walls are covered with biblical verses that accompany him and constantly remind him of his purpose.

Although it may seem a lonely life, García is not alone. His cat Elios, his faithful companion since 2022, accompanies him at all times. He even admits that he has learned to interpret his different meows to know what he wants at any given moment.

In a small room leading to the bedroom, an old typewriter stands out, full of symbolism. Writing is one of his great passions. In the past he has published and sold his own books, and is currently working on a collection of poems centred on the theme that guides his life: the word of God.

Today, José Antonio García does not feel he owes anything to other people, because he first needed to return to himself. Only when he managed to reconcile his inner self with his history was he able to return to Pizarra without masks or excuses. He did it from simplicity, far from the recognition he once had and close, very close, to what he lacked for years: meaning.

The hermitage is not only his place of work or his home; it is the space where his past, his faith and his present coexist in balance. It is the place where he himself recognises that he has found the light. So much so that the phrase "I am light" is written on his knuckles, because that is what he feels after such a long search.

From the Ermita de la Fuensanta, he lives a different kind of solitude, a solitude that is full. Far from the noise and emptiness that once drove him to leave, today he finds his greatest richness in silence, prayer and human contact. He does not know what the future will bring, but neither does it worry him. Because, as he himself repeats, "when the heart is in the right place, life ends up finding its own".