Ten years amidst scaffolding and bricklayers

Pilar Urbano

Saint Josemaría traveled to Rome for the first time in 1946. Later he decided to establish the central headquarters of Opus Dei in Rome. The following extract tells of the search for a suitable property, and the adventures of beginning to build. Tags: Opus Dei, Poverty, Work

Freedom, politics and Opus Dei

Andres Vazquez de Prada

The difficulties that the Work encountered in the sixties did not come just from the opposition of one particular person or group. The founder faced all kinds of resistance, as often happens with any institution of historic significance. The founder was so used to them that, more than rob him of his peace, they generally just robbed him of time, leaving his cheerfulness intact. Behind the attacks on the Work he could see the hand of God. Tags: Citizenship, History, Freedom, Opus Dei, Politics

Historic dates for Opus Dei

A. Vazquez de Prada

Speaking about the paradoxes of the founding, saint Josemaría would say one day: “The foundation of Opus Dei happened without me; the women’s branch, against my personal opinion; and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, when I was seeking it but unable to find it.” Tags: February 14, October 2, 1928, Founding of Opus Dei, Priestly Society of the Holy Cross

Opus Dei founder’s devotion to the Holy Cross

Salvador Bernal

The founder of Opus Dei always had great devotion to the crucifix, and he expressed this, among other places in n. 302 of his book The Way. Tags: Cross, Jesus Christ

Prehistory of the founding of Opus Dei (1917-1928)

Book "Fuentes para la historia del Opus Dei"

Opus Dei was founded by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer on October 2, 1928. At that point he was a 26-year-old priest. Up till that moment, there is no history of Opus Dei as such. There was a prehistory, which was the story of its Founder’s life and which had different stages. Tags: October 2, 1928, Founding of Opus Dei, History, Footprints in the Snow, Vocation

October 16, 1931, in a Madrid streetcar: Abba, Pater!

John F. Coverdale

I learned to call God “Father” as a child in the Our Father. But to feel, to see, to admire God’s desire that we be his children…, that was on the street, in a streetcar, for an hour or an hour and a half, I’m [...] Tags: Divine sonship, History, Madrid

November 2, 1948: Javier Echevarría, currently Opus Dei’s Prelate, met St Josemaría for the first time

Bishop Javier Echevarría and Salvador Bernal

“Javi!” And he added, in a much weaker voice, as Fr Javier came into the room, “I don’t feel well.” Those were the last words on earth of St Josemaría, founder of Opus Dei. It was mid-day on June 26, 1975, in Rome. Fr. Javier Echevarría was the person to whom that final phrase was addressed, after twenty-five years of daily life together. Tags: Love of God, Charity, Javier Echevarria, Madrid

The Rose of Rialp: November 21/22, 1937

John F. Coverdale and François Gondrand

Moved by his devotion to the Blessed Virgin, who is invoked as the Mystical Rose, he prayed that our Lady would show him which way he should go by means of a specific sign that he laid down for her: he asked her to give him a gilded rose if God wanted him to continue the attempt to cross over to the other zone of Spain. Tags: Spanish Civil War, Crossing the Pyrenees, Our Lady

Death of Don José Escrivá, November 27, 1924

Andrés Vázquez de Prada

On November 27, 1924, Josemaría received a telegram from his mother asking him to come to Logroño because his father had come down with a serious illness. Tags: The Escriva family, Death, Vocation

The joy of being with the Founder of Opus Dei

José María Casciaro

The joy of Saint Josemaria and the other members of the Work also impressed me deeply from the time of my first contact with Opus Dei. What I saw was not something merely natural. Tags: Joy, cheerfulness, Charity