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St Josemaria Escriva in Madrid: the founding of Opus Dei
Fr Josemaria Escriva moved to Madrid in April 1927. He once said, “It was in Madrid that I received my mission, and for that and other reasons I feel that I have full right to call myself ‘a person of Madrid’.”
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Garcia de Paredes Street:
The founding of Opus Dei
At 45, Garcia de Paredes Street, Madrid, stands the Basilica of La Milagrosa, belonging to the Vincentian Fathers.
The first stone of the Central House of the Vincentians was laid on the feast of St Joseph, 1883, and the building is now occupied by La Milagrosa Hospital. It was here that Fr Josemaria Escriva founded Opus Dei on October 2, 1928.
The Central House of the Vincentian Fathers was a large, four-story brick building with simple and austere rooms opening into corridors, and with a large interior patio garden. Next to that building, at the corner where Garcia de Paredes Street begins, was Saint Vincent de Paul Church, now the Basilica of La Milagrosa (Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal), built in 1904. Behind it was “a large kitchen garden – fertile, verdant, colorful, and luxuriant – with various flower beds separated by walkways covered by leafy fruit and shade trees” (cf. Guia de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de Madrid; in the 1940s this building underwent a substantial transformation, and a good part of the old construction is now a hospital. The rest, rebuilt and enlarged, is now the residence of the Vincentian community that staffs the Basilica of La Milagrosa). As the years went by, these enormous open spaces of vegetable and flower gardens – which extended to Cuatro Caminos, alternating with ancestral homes and built-up areas – were eaten up by the city’s expansion.
From Sunday, September 30, through October 6, St Josemaría did a spiritual retreat at the Central House of the Vincentians with five other priests. Wake-up time was 5 a.m., and bedtime was 9 p.m. In between there were examinations of conscience, Mass, talks, the Divine Office...
On the morning of Tuesday, October 2, feast of the guardian Angels, after celebrating Mass, Father Josemaría was in his room, reading the notes he had brought with him. Suddenly an extraordinary grace came over him, and he understood that our Lord was responding to those insistent petitions, Domine, ut videam! and Domine, ut sit! – Lord, that I may see! Lord, that it may be!
Three years later, he described the gist of it like this: “I received an illumination about the entire Work, while I was reading those papers. Deeply moved, I knelt down – I was alone in my room, at a time between one talk and the next – and gave thanks to our Lord, and I remember with a heart full of emotion the ringing of the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels.”
Under the powerful and ineffable light of grace he was shown the Work as a whole; “saw” is the word he always used when relating this event. These were moments of indescribable grandeur. As he prayed he saw displayed within his soul the historical panorama of the redemption of mankind, illuminated by God’s love. At that moment, he comprehended in a way that could not be expressed in words the divine core of the exalted vocation of Christians who, in the midst of their earthly tasks, are called to sanctify themselves and their work. In this light he saw that the Work (as yet unnamed) was destined to promote the divine plan of the universal call to holiness; that from within its heart, as an instrument of God’s Church, would radiate the theological principles and supernatural spirit needed for the renewal of peoples. With immense astonishment he understood, deep in his soul, that that illumination was not only the answer to his petitions, but also an invitation to accept a divine commission.
Into the room, at this moment of prayer, flooded the jubilant sound of the pealing of the bells of Our Lady of the Angels, a church in the nearby neighborhood of Cuatro Caminos. That sound would stay with him forever. “Still resounding in my ears,” he said in 1964, “are the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, announcing the feast of its patroness.”
There is always a hidden treasure in small things done with love and perfection – in difficulties and joys, in a job well done, in service to society or one’s neighbor. Professional work and social relations are the milieu and the matter that Christians must sanctify; they must become saints in and through the fulfilling of their family and civic obligations. The universal call to sanctity implies, in other words, the sanctifying value of work offered to God and the Christian value of secular activities – the reality that one can be detached from this world without being absent from it, that mundane things can be used as a means for becoming sanctified, for becoming divinized.
“In that ordinary life, as we go along through the world with our professional colleagues or coworkers, God our Father gives us the opportunity to exercise ourselves in all the virtues: charity, fortitude, justice, sincerity, temperance, poverty, humility, obedience….”
Thus the sciences and the arts, finance and politics, crafts and industry, housework, and all other honorable fields of endeavor no longer are indifferent or “profane.” Any activity carried out in union with Christ – with an upright spirit of sacrifice, love of neighbor, and perseverance, and with the intention of giving glory to God – is thereby ennobled and endowed with spiritual value.
The young priest was to be the herald of a message for humanity “as old and as new as the Gospel itself”. But he saw himself as, at best, a humble, worthless donkey upon whom a precious and very heavy load had suddenly been placed. A beautiful burden, which he shared with Our Lord, who was there in the very depths of his soul. Fr Josemaria described his calling in these terms:
“If you ask me how one recognizes a divine calling, how one comes to a realization of it, I will tell you that it is a new view of life. It’s as if a light were lit within us: it is a mysterious impulse which urges us to devote our noblest energies to an activity which, with practice, becomes second nature to us. That vital force, which is something like an avalanche sweeping everything before it, is what others call a vocation.”
During that retreat with the Vincentians, he came to see how the Lord’s providential hand had prepared the foundation’s cornerstone by means of the sad events that had forced his family to move from Barbastro to Logroño, from Logroño to Saragossa, and from Saragossa to Madrid. In that light his life took on a new and full coloring. God had brought him to the capital city to plunge him into the very depths of the problems of humanity.
“Yesterday evening, while walking down the street,” he would later write in his personal notes, “it occurred to me that Madrid has been my Damascus, because it was here that the scales fell from the eyes of my soul... and it was here that I received my mission.”
He took an inventory of the material means on which he could count for this mission, and found that he had none at all. As his life progressed, the Lord had been divesting him of all impediments. “I found myself then alone, equipped with nothing but my twenty-six years and my good humor,” he said. On another occasion he expressed it this way: “We started the Work, when our Lord wanted, with a complete lack of material means. I had only twenty-six years of age, the grace of God, and good humor. But that was enough.”
A plaque records the place where Opus Dei was founded
In 2000 the Vincentian Fathers of the Basilica of La Milagrosa put up a plaque inside the church recording the fact that it was there that, in 1928, St Josemaria Escriva received the divine inspiration to found Opus Dei.
The text of the plaque, preceded by the seal of Opus Dei, says: “On October 2, 1928, while he was doing a spiritual retreat in this house of the Vincentian Fathers, Blessed Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer received in his heart and mind the divine seed of Opus Dei: ‘I received the illumination about the entire Work: deeply moved, I knelt down – I was alone in my room – and gave thanks to our Lord, and I remember with a heart full of emotion the ringing of the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels’.”
PLACES NEARBY THAT ARE CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OF OPUS DEI
Alcala Street: “The Sotanillo”
In Opus Dei’s early days, when St Josemaria had no center to take them to, he used to meet the young men he was doing apostolate with at “The Sotanillo” at 31 Alcala Street, Madrid.
This establishment – a chocolate shop, bar, and cafeteria, all in one – was in a very central location: on Alcala, between Cibeles Square and Independencia Square. Its entrance was at street level, but from there one had to go down a few steps, because it was in a semi-basement.
Father Josemaría greatly enjoyed the atmosphere of the Sotanillo and the company of his friends. The proprietor, Juan, and his son Angel got used to seeing the priest accompanied by students. Whichever of them first saw him come in would call out, “Here he is, with his disciples.”
Alcala Gate and Retiro Park
In the Plaza de Independencia stands the Puerta de Alcala, or Alcala Gate. In this square, at 75 Alcala Street, Alvaro del Portillo was born on March 11, 1914.
The Puerta de Alcala, together with the Cibeles Fountain, is one of the best-known sights in Madrid. It was built by Francisco Sabatini in 1771. It is one of the great ornamental gates built during the reign of Carlos III, and commemorates his entry into the capital city.
Retiro Park
The name Retiro Park, or “Retreat Park”, originated with King Felipe II, who ordered it to be built as a place of spiritual retreat for the King during Lent, where he could pray and prepare for Holy Week. It was first called the Royal House of St Jerome. Later the Duke of Olivares named it the Royal House of the Good Retreat (Buen Retiro), from which comes its present name.
St Josemaria often used to meet the first people of Opus Dei and the people he was doing apostolate with, here in this park, for a chat. Isidoro relates, “To begin with we didn’t have anywhere to go with the Father. We would sit on a bench in the street. Then we started to go to Retiro Park, which was quieter, and would make plans for the future.”
St Josemaria wrote in February 1932 that he would sometimes visit the Park. “Last Saturday I was in Retiro Park from 12:30 to 1:30 (...) and I tried to read a newspaper. Prayer came upon me with such force that, against my will, I had to stop reading.”
(Adapted extracts from A. Vazquez de Prada, The Founder of Opus Dei: The Life of Josemaria Escriva; Volume I, “The Early Years”, Princeton NJ: Scepter Publishers, 2001.
Download this article and a map in pdf format
Garcia de Paredes Street:
The founding of Opus Dei
At 45, Garcia de Paredes Street, Madrid, stands the Basilica of La Milagrosa, belonging to the Vincentian Fathers.
The Church of La Milagrosa today
The Central House of the Vincentian Fathers was a large, four-story brick building with simple and austere rooms opening into corridors, and with a large interior patio garden. Next to that building, at the corner where Garcia de Paredes Street begins, was Saint Vincent de Paul Church, now the Basilica of La Milagrosa (Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal), built in 1904. Behind it was “a large kitchen garden – fertile, verdant, colorful, and luxuriant – with various flower beds separated by walkways covered by leafy fruit and shade trees” (cf. Guia de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de Madrid; in the 1940s this building underwent a substantial transformation, and a good part of the old construction is now a hospital. The rest, rebuilt and enlarged, is now the residence of the Vincentian community that staffs the Basilica of La Milagrosa). As the years went by, these enormous open spaces of vegetable and flower gardens – which extended to Cuatro Caminos, alternating with ancestral homes and built-up areas – were eaten up by the city’s expansion.
From Sunday, September 30, through October 6, St Josemaría did a spiritual retreat at the Central House of the Vincentians with five other priests. Wake-up time was 5 a.m., and bedtime was 9 p.m. In between there were examinations of conscience, Mass, talks, the Divine Office...
The decoration of a chapel in the church of Our Lady of the Angels recalls the founding of Opus Dei
On the morning of Tuesday, October 2, feast of the guardian Angels, after celebrating Mass, Father Josemaría was in his room, reading the notes he had brought with him. Suddenly an extraordinary grace came over him, and he understood that our Lord was responding to those insistent petitions, Domine, ut videam! and Domine, ut sit! – Lord, that I may see! Lord, that it may be!
Three years later, he described the gist of it like this: “I received an illumination about the entire Work, while I was reading those papers. Deeply moved, I knelt down – I was alone in my room, at a time between one talk and the next – and gave thanks to our Lord, and I remember with a heart full of emotion the ringing of the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels.”
I remember with a heart full of emotion the ringing of the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, said St Josemaria.One of these bells is now in the shrine of Torreciudad
Into the room, at this moment of prayer, flooded the jubilant sound of the pealing of the bells of Our Lady of the Angels, a church in the nearby neighborhood of Cuatro Caminos. That sound would stay with him forever. “Still resounding in my ears,” he said in 1964, “are the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, announcing the feast of its patroness.”
There is always a hidden treasure in small things done with love and perfection – in difficulties and joys, in a job well done, in service to society or one’s neighbor. Professional work and social relations are the milieu and the matter that Christians must sanctify; they must become saints in and through the fulfilling of their family and civic obligations. The universal call to sanctity implies, in other words, the sanctifying value of work offered to God and the Christian value of secular activities – the reality that one can be detached from this world without being absent from it, that mundane things can be used as a means for becoming sanctified, for becoming divinized.
“In that ordinary life, as we go along through the world with our professional colleagues or coworkers, God our Father gives us the opportunity to exercise ourselves in all the virtues: charity, fortitude, justice, sincerity, temperance, poverty, humility, obedience….”
Thus the sciences and the arts, finance and politics, crafts and industry, housework, and all other honorable fields of endeavor no longer are indifferent or “profane.” Any activity carried out in union with Christ – with an upright spirit of sacrifice, love of neighbor, and perseverance, and with the intention of giving glory to God – is thereby ennobled and endowed with spiritual value.
The young priest was to be the herald of a message for humanity “as old and as new as the Gospel itself”. But he saw himself as, at best, a humble, worthless donkey upon whom a precious and very heavy load had suddenly been placed. A beautiful burden, which he shared with Our Lord, who was there in the very depths of his soul. Fr Josemaria described his calling in these terms:
“If you ask me how one recognizes a divine calling, how one comes to a realization of it, I will tell you that it is a new view of life. It’s as if a light were lit within us: it is a mysterious impulse which urges us to devote our noblest energies to an activity which, with practice, becomes second nature to us. That vital force, which is something like an avalanche sweeping everything before it, is what others call a vocation.”
During that retreat with the Vincentians, he came to see how the Lord’s providential hand had prepared the foundation’s cornerstone by means of the sad events that had forced his family to move from Barbastro to Logroño, from Logroño to Saragossa, and from Saragossa to Madrid. In that light his life took on a new and full coloring. God had brought him to the capital city to plunge him into the very depths of the problems of humanity.
“Yesterday evening, while walking down the street,” he would later write in his personal notes, “it occurred to me that Madrid has been my Damascus, because it was here that the scales fell from the eyes of my soul... and it was here that I received my mission.”
He took an inventory of the material means on which he could count for this mission, and found that he had none at all. As his life progressed, the Lord had been divesting him of all impediments. “I found myself then alone, equipped with nothing but my twenty-six years and my good humor,” he said. On another occasion he expressed it this way: “We started the Work, when our Lord wanted, with a complete lack of material means. I had only twenty-six years of age, the grace of God, and good humor. But that was enough.”
A plaque records the place where Opus Dei was founded. The text says: “On October 2, 1928, while he was doing a spiritual retreat in this house of the Vincentian Fathers, Blessed Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer received in his heart and mind the divine seed of Opus Dei: ‘I received the illumination about the entire Work: deeply moved, I knelt down – I was alone in my room – and gave thanks to our Lord, and I remember with a heart full of emotion the ringing of the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels’.”
A plaque records the place where Opus Dei was founded
In 2000 the Vincentian Fathers of the Basilica of La Milagrosa put up a plaque inside the church recording the fact that it was there that, in 1928, St Josemaria Escriva received the divine inspiration to found Opus Dei.
The text of the plaque, preceded by the seal of Opus Dei, says: “On October 2, 1928, while he was doing a spiritual retreat in this house of the Vincentian Fathers, Blessed Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer received in his heart and mind the divine seed of Opus Dei: ‘I received the illumination about the entire Work: deeply moved, I knelt down – I was alone in my room – and gave thanks to our Lord, and I remember with a heart full of emotion the ringing of the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels’.”
PLACES NEARBY THAT ARE CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OF OPUS DEI
Alcala Street: “The Sotanillo”
This establishment – a chocolate shop, bar, and cafeteria, all in one – was in a very central location: on Alcala, between Cibeles Square and Independencia Square. Its entrance was at street level, but from there one had to go down a few steps, because it was in a semi-basement.
Father Josemaría greatly enjoyed the atmosphere of the Sotanillo and the company of his friends. The proprietor, Juan, and his son Angel got used to seeing the priest accompanied by students. Whichever of them first saw him come in would call out, “Here he is, with his disciples.”
Alcala Gate and Retiro Park
The Puerta de Alcala, together with the Cibeles Fountain, is one of the best-known sights in Madrid. It was built by Francisco Sabatini in 1771. It is one of the great ornamental gates built during the reign of Carlos III, and commemorates his entry into the capital city.
Retiro Park
The name Retiro Park, or “Retreat Park”, originated with King Felipe II, who ordered it to be built as a place of spiritual retreat for the King during Lent, where he could pray and prepare for Holy Week. It was first called the Royal House of St Jerome. Later the Duke of Olivares named it the Royal House of the Good Retreat (Buen Retiro), from which comes its present name.
St Josemaria often used to meet the first people of Opus Dei and the people he was doing apostolate with, here in this park, for a chat. Isidoro relates, “To begin with we didn’t have anywhere to go with the Father. We would sit on a bench in the street. Then we started to go to Retiro Park, which was quieter, and would make plans for the future.”
St Josemaria wrote in February 1932 that he would sometimes visit the Park. “Last Saturday I was in Retiro Park from 12:30 to 1:30 (...) and I tried to read a newspaper. Prayer came upon me with such force that, against my will, I had to stop reading.”
(Adapted extracts from A. Vazquez de Prada, The Founder of Opus Dei: The Life of Josemaria Escriva; Volume I, “The Early Years”, Princeton NJ: Scepter Publishers, 2001.
Documentation
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List of Contents
- Magnanimity, faith, and “madness”
- For a “today” that builds tomorrow
- A real passion for making Jesus Christ known
- God is my Father!
- Opus Dei’s First Steps in Madrid
- St Josemaria Escriva in Madrid: the founding of Opus Dei
- St Josemaria’s final moments
- Saint Josemaría’s love for the Eucharist
- January 1938, from Burgos, Spain: "If you need me, just call me"
- Tracing the history of the Church in the footsteps of St Josemaría
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