Father Josemaría’s Baby Jesus

"Treasures" of the Royal Monastery of Saint Elizabeth in Madrid

Among the treasures of the Royal Monastery of Saint Elizabeth in Madrid is this sixteenth-century wooden figure of Baby Jesus. The Augustinian Recollect Sisters still have a vivid memory of Saint Josemaría, then a young priest, who was their chaplain from 1931 and rector of the Foundation from 1934. Tags: Jesus Christ, Madrid, Christmas

Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lourdes is especially linked to a passage in the history of Opus Dei which remains close to its heart: the end of the journey on foot across the Pyrenees undertaken by St Josemaría in 1937, together with several of his spiritual sons and other people, during the Spanish Civil War Tags: Spanish Civil War, History, Crossing the Pyrenees, Our Lady

Our Lady of Loreto

Josemaría Escrivá visited Loreto for the first time on January 3 and 4, 1948. But the reason for his feeling especially indebted to Our Lady of Loreto referred to a different visit at a time of grave need. The 1950s were a time of severe suffering for St Josemaría because of misunderstandings and conflicts. Amidst these difficulties he decided to go to Loreto and entrust himself anew to our Lady’s protection. In her book Tiempo de Caminar, Ana Sastre tells the story of that visit. Tags: Opus Dei, Holy Family, Virtues, Consecrations of Opus Dei

Our Lady of Torreciudad

Torreciudad is a shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in Aragon in the north of Spain. Devotion to Our Lady of Torreciudad dates back to the eleventh century. The new Shrine, built under the guidance of the founder of Opus Dei, Saint Josemaría Escriva, was inaugurated on 7 July 1975. Tags: The Escriva family, Our Lady

Fatima

St Josemaria first went to Fatima on February 6, 1945. He said that it had been the Blessed Virgin who opened the gates of Portugal to him.(1) This was because he went at the request of Sor Lucia, then living in Tui, Spain. He traveled to Portugal in February and visited Fatima although it had not been in his plan to do so. He went back to Fatima on several occasions afterwards, impelled by his great love for our Lady. Tags: Holy Rosary, Our Lady

Maria Pötsch (Austria)

St Josemaria’s devotion to the picture of our Lady known as “Maria Pötsch” originated in one of the journeys he made to Vienna, Austria. He first went to Austria in 1949. Tags: History, Our Lady

Opus Dei Prelate’s greeting to John Paul II, October 7 2002

Bishop Javier Echevarría

At the end of the Thanksgiving Mass for the canonization of the Josemaria Escriva, the Holy Father John Paul II met with the participants of the canonization. The following is the greeting given by the Prelate of Opus Dei, Msgr. Javier Echevarría to the Holy Father at the beginning of the audience. Tags: Canonization, Javier Echevarria, Pope John Paul II, Pope

The Holy Mass was the center of Saint Josemaría’s day

Bishop Alvaro del Portillo

Saint Josemaría often spoke of the Holy Mass as the “center and root of the interior life”. Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, the Founder’s first successor at the head of Opus Dei, spent nearly forty years with Saint Josemaría, and was an exceptional witness of how the Holy Mass really was the center of his day, quite literally. The following is an extract from Bishop del Portillo’s recollections, published in the book Immersed in God. Tags: Alvaro del Portillo, Eucharist, Piety, Plan of life, Priesthood

St Josemaría Escrivá and Nazism

Domingo Diaz-Ambrona

This is a letter from Domingo Diaz-Ambrona, a civil engineer and lawyer, to Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, Prelate of Opus Dei, dated 9 January 1992. It ispublished in Immersed in God. I met the future Saint, Josemaría Escrivá, during the Spanish Civil War. At that time [...] Tags: Spanish Civil War, History

I shall never forget that Mass

Pedro Casciaro

During the Spanish Civil War, when Saint Josemaría could not minister as a priest and was in constant danger of death because of the violent religious persecution, he had no option but to escape from Spain over the Pyrenees and go through Andorra to re-enter Spain in the free zone. During the arduous and highly dangerous journey – if they had been caught they would probably have been shot – he told his group that he was a priest, and celebrated holy Mass as often as he could. Tags: Eucharist, Spanish Civil War, Piety