First ordination of faithful of Opus Dei to the priesthood

The first three priests ordained from among the faithful of Opus Dei, on June 25, 1944 by the Bishop of Madrid were Father Alvaro del Portillo, Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica, and Father Jose Luis Muzquiz. All three of them were qualified civil or mining [...]
Tags: Alvaro del Portillo, Opus Dei, Priesthood, Priestly Society of the Holy Cross

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Álvaro del Portillo

September 15, 1975, soon after St Josemaría died and went to Heaven, Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo was chosen to succeed him by a general elective congress of Opus Dei. On March 23, 1994, Msgr. Javier Echevarría summed up Don Alvaro’s work at the head of [...]
Tags: Alvaro del Portillo, Opus Dei

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Josemaría Escrivá's Cristocentrism

Cardinal George Pell explains how every aspect of St Josemaria’s teaching, like his life, was centred on Jesus Christ. The step from doctrine to asceticism in in the Christocentrism of Saint Josemaría is a movement from getting know to Christ to living like Christ. Living like [...]
Tags: Love of God, Gospel, Grace, Jesus Christ, Opus Dei, Unity of life

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Election of Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo as St Josemaria’s first successor

Three months after St Josemaria’s death on June 26, 1975, Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo – “Don Alvaro” – was elected to succeed him at the head of Opus Dei. No one was surprised when, on September 15, 1975, Don Alvaro was unanimously elected as the founder’s [...]
Tags: Alvaro del Portillo, Faithfulness, Opus Dei

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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 [...]
Tags: Opus Dei, Holy Family, Virtues, Consecrations of Opus Dei

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Koichi Yamamoto and the beginnings of Opus Dei in Japan

A brief account of the beginnings of Opus Dei’s apostolate in Japan and the life of one of the first Japanese members. It shows the keen affection St Josemaría always felt for Japan, as well as the way the spirit of Opus Dei is lived [...]
Tags: History, Opus Dei, numerary

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How I came to Opus Dei

José María Casciaro was born in Murcia, Spain, in 1923. He heard about Opus Dei in 1939, when he was 16, from his older brother Pedro, who had been in Opus Dei since 1935. During the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, Pedro encouraged his [...]
Tags: Youth, Opus Dei, Vocation, numerary

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Freedom, politics and Opus Dei

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. Some of these have already been mentioned, [...]
Tags: Citizenship, History, Freedom, Opus Dei, Politics

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September 7, 1931 in Madrid: anniversary of a divine locution

“Et fui tecum in omnibus ubicumque ambulasti!” (2 Sam 7:9) – “and I have been with you wherever you went.” From the beginning, our Lord showed the founder of Opus Dei a design that was universal in scope, and catholic by nature. During the summer of [...]
Tags: Contemplation, Faith, Opus Dei

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St Josemaría arrived in Rome for the first time on June 23, 1946

On June 23, 1946 the founder of Opus Dei arrived in Rome to expedite pontifical approval of Opus Dei. This approval would enable Opus Dei, which was universal from the very start, to spread its apostolate to different countries. Pilar Urbano wrote an account of [...]
Tags: Church, Opus Dei, Pope