St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer
St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer
Feastday: June 26
Died: June 26, 1975
Beatified By: Pope John Paul II
Canonized By: Pope John Paul II
Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer was born in Barbastro, Spain, on January 9, 1902, the second of six
children of Jose and Dolores Escriva. Growing up in a devout
family and attending
Catholic schools, he learned the basic truths of the
faith and practices such as frequent
confession
and communion, the rosary, and almsgiving. The death of three younger
sisters, and his father's bankruptcy after business reverses, taught him
the meaning of suffering and brought maturity to his outgoing and
cheerful temperament. In 1915, the
family moved to Logrono, where his father had found new employment.
Beginning in 1918, Josemaria sensed that
God
was asking something of him, although he didn't know exactly what it
was. He decided to become a priest, in order to be available for
whatever
God
wanted of him. He began studying for the priesthood, first in Logrono
and later in Saragossa. At his father's suggestion and with the
permission of his superiors at the seminary he also began to study civil
law. He was ordained a
priest and began his pastoral ministry in 1925.
In 1927, Fr. Josemaria moved to Madrid to study for a graduate degree in
law. He was accompanied by his mother, sister, and brother, as his
father had died in 1924 and he was now head of the family. They were not
well-off, and he had to tutor
law students to support them. At the same
time
he carried out a demanding pastoral work, especially among the poor and
sick in Madrid, and with young children. He also undertook an
apostolate with manual workers, professional people and university
students who, by coming into contact with the poor and sick to whom Fr.
Josemaria was ministering, learned the practical meaning of charity and
their
Christian responsibility to help out in the betterment of society.
On October 2, 1928, while making a retreat in Madrid,
God showed him his specific mission: he was to found Opus Dei, an institution within the
Catholic Church dedicated to helping people in all walks of
life to follow Christ, to seek
holiness in their daily
life and grow in love for
God and their fellow men and women. From that moment on, he dedicated all his
strength to fulfilling this mission, certain that
God
had raised up Opus Dei to serve the Church. In 1930, responding to a
new illumination from God, he started Opus Dei's apostolic work with
women, making clear that they had the same responsibility as men to
serve
society and the Church.
The first edition of The Way, his most widely read work, was published
in 1934 under the title Spiritual Considerations. Expanded and revised,
it has gone through many editions since then; more than four million
copies in many different languages are now in print. His other spiritual
writings include Holy Rosary; The Way of the Cross; two
collections of homilies,
Christ Is Passing By and Friends of God; and Furrow and The Forge, which like The Way are made up of short points for
prayer and reflection.
The development of Opus Dei began among the young people with whom Fr.
Josemaria had already been in contact before 1928. Its growth, however,
was seriously impeded by the religious
persecution inflicted on the
Catholic Church during the Spanish Civil
War (1936-1939). The founder himself suffered severe hardships under this
persecution but, unlike many other priests, he came out of the
war alive. After the war, he traveled throughout the country giving
retreats
to hundreds of priests at the request of their bishops. Meanwhile Opus
Dei spread from Madrid to several other Spanish cities, and as soon as
World
War
II ended in 1945, began starting in other countries. This growth was
not without pain; though the Work always had the approval of the local
bishops, its then-unfamiliar message of
sanctity in the world met with some misunderstandings and suspicions-which the founder bore with great patience and charity.
While celebrating
Mass in 1943, Fr. Josemaria received a new foundational
grace to establish the Priestly
Society
of the Holy Cross, which made it possible for some of Opus Dei's lay
faithful to be ordained as priests. The full incorporation of both lay
faithful and priests in Opus Dei, which makes a seamless cooperation in
the apostolic work possible, is an essential feature of the foundational
charism of Opus Dei, affirmed by the Church in granting Opus Dei the
canonical status of a personal Prelature. In addition, the Priestly
Society conducts activities, in full
harmony with the
bishops
of the local churches, for the spiritual development of diocesan
priests and seminarians. Diocesan priests can also be part of the
Priestly Society, while at the same
time remaining clergy of their own dioceses.
Aware that
God meant Opus Dei to be part of the mission of the universal Church, the founder moved to
Rome
in 1946 so as to be close to the Holy See. By 1950 the Work had
received pontifical approvals affirming its main foundational
features-spreading the message of
holiness
in daily life; service to the Pope, the universal church, and the
particular churches; secularity and naturalness; fostering personal
freedom and responsibility, and a pluralism consistent with
Catholic moral, political, and social teachings.
Beginning in 1948, full membership in Opus Dei was open to married people. In 1950 the
Holy See approved the
idea
of accepting non-Catholics and even non-Christians as
cooperators-persons who assist Opus Dei in its projects and programs
without being members. The next decade saw the launching of a wide range
of undertakings: professional schools, agricultural training centers,
universities, primary and secondary schools,
hospitals and clinics, and other initiatives, open to people of all races, religions, and social backgrounds but of manifestly
Christian inspiration.
During
Vatican Council II (1962-1965),
Monsignor Escriva worked closely with many of the council fathers, discussing key Council themes such as the universal call to
holiness
and the importance of laypersons in the mission of the Church. Deeply
grateful for the Council's teachings, he did everything possible to
implement them in the formative activities offered by Opus Dei
throughout the world.
Between 1970 and 1975 the founder undertook catechetical trips throughout
Europe and Latin America, speaking with many people, at times in large gatherings, about love of God, the sacraments,
Christian dedication, and the need to sanctify work and
family life. By the
time
of the founder's death, Opus Dei had spread to thirty nations on six
continents. It now (2002) has more than 84,000 members in sixty
countries.
Monsignor Escriva's death in
Rome came suddenly on June 26, 1975, when he was 73. Large
numbers of
bishops and
ordinary faithful petitioned the Vatican to begin the process for his beatification and canonization. On May 17, 1992, Pope
John Paul II
declared him Blessed before a huge crowd in St. Peter's Square. He is
to be canonized-formally declared a saint-on October 6, 2002.
