November 28th, 1937: Mass at the Ribalera Gorge

The Ribalera gorge is located in the Rialp forrest, where Saint Josemaria and companions found themselves during their crossing of the Pyrenees due to the violent religious persecution. They were on their way to Andorra to re-enter Spain via the free zone.

The expedition had just arrived at the gorge, after walking all night. Without waiting any longer, St. Josemaria chose within that place, protected from the wind, the stones that would suit best for a makeshift altar. He was worried there could be irreverent comments or behaviours because throughout the night he heard some blasphemies (the group was constituted by the guides and other men who were not his companions but also wanting to escape). He announced that he was a priest and that he would celebrate the Mass, and that anyone who wanted was welcome to attend.

There were more than twenty men in the group, and they hadn't been to Mass since July 1936. There was a great expectation. One of the attendees, Antonio Dalmases, a university student who was crossing with another group and that had joined the expedition where St. Josemaria was wrote in his diary: "Today I've been to Mass and it has been with an indescribable exitement. I don't know if this is because of the circumstances (of escaping the Spanish communist zone) or because the priest is a saint".

This picture is from a recent camp with boys from England and Scotland. Mass is being celebrated at the site.

One of his companions was Pedro Casciaro, who tells here what he remembers of the Mass celebrated by Saint Josemaría on 28 November 1937, after an interminable march:

We came to a deep ravine in the Ribalera gorge, at the bottom of a mountain of reddish-coloured rocks. There, before we rested, the Father said he wanted to celebrate Mass. The place chosen was not in the hollows itself, but nearby, in the open, a little below a small waterfall formed by water seeping through the rocks.

During the previous night’s march we had heard some blasphemies as there were all kinds of people in the group. In addition to twenty or so Catalan men there were also some professional smugglers. Even so the Father wanted everyone to know he was a priest, and he got ready to say Mass. The group was still not all that large, but at least twenty people attended who would surely not have heard Mass since the beginning of the war. Everyone behaved very respectfully.

I will never forget that Mass. There was no rock high enough to serve as an altar. But there was a lower one which was flat enough. So the Father had to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice kneeling the whole time. In spite of fatigue and the untoward circumstances, he celebrated Mass with such fervour that we were suffused with his piety and devotion. Two of us had to kneel down as well, on either side of him, to hold down the corporal so that no hosts would blow away. Our guide, half-hidden among the trees, observed it all from a respectful distance.

I especially noticed one particular Catalan lad who heard the Mass with real devotion. He looked like a university student. His name was Antonio Dalmasses, and later we became friends. He wrote in his diary: “A priest who is with us celebrated Mass on a rock kneeling, almost lying, on the ground. He did not say it as priests do in churches. His clear, devout way of saying it went right to the heart. I have never heard Mass said as it was today. I am not sure if it was because of the circumstances or because the priest is a saint.

“Holy Communion was particularly moving. It was difficult to distribute because we could hardly move, even though we were all grouped round the altar. We were all dressed in tatters, exhausted, dishevelled, and with several days’ growth of beard. One person had ripped his trousers and the whole length of his leg was exposed. Our hands were bloodstained from scratches. Our eyes were tearful. But more than anything else, God was there with us.”

Pedro Casciaro, Dream and Your Dreams Will Fall Short, Scepter, 1997, pp. 165-7.

cf: http://josemariaescriva.info/article/i-shall-never-forget-that-mass

November 27th, 1982: Apostolic Constitution "Ut Sit"

27/11/82: Saturday. On this date, it was made public the announcement to raise Opus Dei as a Personal Prelature, through the Apostolic Constitution Ut sit. 

All Opus Dei centres around the world opened an envelope simultaneously, at 12:00am Rome time. In it there was a note from blessed Alvaro (then Prelate) communicating the news. Just like St. Josemaria did when he received the first approval from the bishop of Madrid, don Alvaro also gathered everyone in the house and prayed the Preces together, repeating three times "Oremus pro beatissimo Papa nostro Ioanne Paulo...". There was a triduum with solemn Mass, Benediction and Te Deum in every centre. Don Alvaro also asked that for the remaining of 1982 and all 1983, everyone should offer the Mass, Communion, Rosary, work and mortification as thanksgiving. Also that every member of the Work should do 3 pilgrimages to a Marian shrine: the first one when receiving the news, another one during bl. Alvaro's stay in Mexico, the third one at another time chosen by each. He also asked for everyone to write a letter or telegram to Bl. John Paul II thanking him.

November 27th, 1924: Death of José Escrivá y Corzán

St. Josemaria's father, don José Escrivá y Corzán, passed away on this date. After breakfast, he was playing with his youngest son Santiago, then 6. Don Jose knelt for a while before an image of our Lady. When he reached the door to go out, he fainted. Two hours later, having received the last rites, he passed away. Manuel Ceniceros, an employee working at the Escriva's house, sent a telegram to St. Josemaria, and went to the train station to pick him up (St. Josemaria was in the Zaragoza seminary, he would be ordained the following March). Manuel told him straight away, and said of the founder: "He took it with such a serenity, that it made an impression on me which is very difficult to explain". St. Josemaria had to borrow money for the funeral to don Daniel Alfaro. Years later, he would recount: "I remember him, never with a hard face; always serene, with a happy face. And he died tired: with only 57 years, but always smiling. I owe my vocation to him".

November 23, 1935: Don Pedro Casciaro joins Opus Dei

Don Pedro Casciaro was introduced to St. Josemaria in January 1935 by a friend, at the Residence at Ferraz street 50. They had a length conversation. Don Pedro was very impressed with the founder, and asked him if he could be his 'spiritual director', although, in his words: "back then, I didn't really have a clear idea of what those two words meant together". 

A few months later, in September, a friend of his (Miguel Fisac) told him that he was considering the possibility of joining the Work. Don Pedro started thinking of it, but the father told him to wait and to focus on his studies. A couple of months later, during an evening of recollection, he writes: "during the first meditation I saw clearly I couldn't do as the rich young man of the Gospel" and by the end of the recollection he told St. Josemaria he wanted to join the Work. The founder told him to wait, and to strengthen his interior life. 

He wrote: "How much did I have to wait? First, the father said a month. I thought it was too much. I asked him to shorten the time: 4, 3, 2 weeks... it was a real tug of war. I insisted so much that I got him to grant me a shorter time: nine days. But nine days seemed like an eternity. Could it be shortened?" St. Josemaria finally agreed and told him: "make a triduum (three days of prayer and meditation for that special intention), pray to the Holy Spirit and do everything freely, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there must be freedom". He started the triduum on the 18th. When he finished, he was completely decided. 

Father Casciaro -"Don Pedro", as he was called- was born in Murcia on 16/4/1915. When he joined the work, he was studying architecture. He was in the group that crossed the Pyrenees with St. Josemaria during the Spanish Civil war.

St. Josemaria, standing, centre. 4th from the left, don Pedro Casciaro.
The group that crossed the Pyrenees on their arrival in Andorra

Don Pedro had doctorates in Mathematics and in Canon Law. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1946. He started the apostolic work in Mexico In January 1949. Afterwards, he worked as delegate of Opus Dei for the Holy See from Oct. 1958 to May 1966, and as member of the governing council of Opus Dei in Italy.

In the early 70's he returned to Mexico, and died in Mexico city on March 23rd, 1995. The next day his remains were taken to the Church of Santa Veracruz (Mexico). There were uninterrupted Masses offered as suffrage for his soul, and the Church was overflowing with people from all of Mexico and all social classes, reflecting the broad spectrum of the apostolic work of Opus Dei in Mexico. Always and until then, he kept with him the rosary beads and the crucifix that St. Josemaria gave him when he joined Opus Dei.

Among his writings, perhaps the most widely known is the book "Dream and your dreams will fall short"

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November 22nd, 1937: Rose of rialp

St. JoséMaria  gets up in the morning, with the intention of celebrating the Mass. Actually he hadn't slept. He spent the night crying and asking our lady for a sign regarding the decision he had to make. He left the room and goes to the nearby Church, which has been sacked. While praying, he sees a gilded wooden rose, probably detached from an old altar. He finds it intact. All his doubts go away and a great peace invades him. He returns radiant to join the group and celebrates the Mass. That same day Manolo and Tomas joined them.

November 19th, 1937: Beginning of the crossing of the Pyrenees

On this day, St. Josemaria started the crossing of the Pyrenees, needing to escape the persecution in Spain during the civil war. With him go Juan Jiménez Vargas, Pedro Casciaro, Francisco Botella, Miguel Fisac y José María Albareda. Later Manolo y Tomás Alvira join them. St. Josemaria was hiding in the woods of Rialp from the 22 to the 27 of November. There is where he organised what he called "our house of San Rafael" which was really a straw hut where the founder and those crossing with him were living. This "house" was presided by an image of our Lady of the Pillar -- a sheet of a leaflet from Zaragoza --which is still in Rome.

This picture is from a recent camp with boys from England and Scotland. Mass is being celebrated at the site of the "San Rafael house".

A diagram of the elevation during the journey:

And a map of the whole path:

Read more about the boys' camp mentioned above:

http://www.pallerols-andorra.org/noticia.asp?idioma=en&ART_ID=460

November 5th, 1932: Death of Luis Gordon

St. Josemaria used to tell, regarding the visits to the hospital: "among those who came with me, was one of your brothers who was the first one to die, before the Spanish war. He was an engineer, and belonged to a well-known family in Madrid. Once he had to clean a urinal that had been used as spittoon. I saw he was struggling terribly, but he went to a small room in the hospital where there was a sink. I followed him thinking he could faint, and found him with his face radiant with joy. Instead of using the brushes, he would use his hand to clean it. I let him do it. Later I used this event as a point in <The Way>. He recounted to me what he said: "Jesus, keep me smiling" (The Way, 626).

For a very interesting biography of Luis Gordon, visit: 

http://www.precursorsoffrancis.com/2015/02/beer-and-holiness.html

October 2nd, 1928: when it all started

This 2nd of October (tuesday) st Josemaria was in his room after having heard a meditation (he had started a retreat on the 30th of september in the Convent of the Paules in Madrid). He was carrying the notes he had been taking and gathering during the previous years about the aspirations, resolutions and graces that God had given him. Then, while reading those papers he received the supernatural illumination of the Work. According to the retreat timetable, that happened between 10 and 11am. He had already celebrated Holy Mass (btw 7 and 8am):

"I received the inspiration about all the Work, while I was reading those papers. Deeply moved I knelt -I was alone in my room, between talk and talk- gave thanks to the Lord, and y remember with excitement the sound of the bells of the Church of Our Lady of Angels (...)".

From those bells, after the war there was only one left. In october 1972, it was given to the founder as a gift. It is now at the sanctuary of Torreciudad.

October 2nd, 1936: "Threw away the key"

02/10/1936: st Josemaria has to change refuge during the war to avoid being found. He is offered the key to an apartment where only the maid was living, a young girl. He answered to Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo (who had offered the key): "My son, don't you realize that I'm a priest and that, with the war everyone is with broken nerves? I can't -nor do I want- to be locked with a young woman day and night. I have a commitment with God, who is above all. I'd rather die than to offend God, to fail that commitment of love". He threw the key in the gutter.

October 2nd, 1941: the first centre of studies

First centre of studies in Madrid, in Lagasca. After april, Carmen remained alone in the administration of the centre as st Josemaria's mother had died on april 22nd of that year.

October 2nd, 1968: special favours

In a getogether in Pozoalbero, celebrating the 40th anniversary with some of other members. They became quite insistent that, on occasion of the anniversary, st. Josemaria tell them some supernatural favour related to himself and the work. He didn't, despite the insistence of some. Before finishing, he told them: "Deliberately I haven't told anything... I've been beating around the bush... I would lie to you if I told you that the Lord hasn't had with me extraordinary interventions. He has every time that it has been necessary for the work. And these are interventions that I don't want for anyone because, even though they leave the soul filled with peace, they also demand a lot. But especially in a day like today, I haven't wanted to tell you any of that, so that you have it very clear that our way is the ordinary: to sanctify the common and ordinary events of every day".

September 29th, 1946 Ordination of don Pedro Casciaro

On the 8th of November of the same year, St. Josemaria returned to Rome and left don Pedro as Vicar for Spain. When hearing this, someone not in the work commented: "And now he's off to Rome, and leaves the Opus in the hands of four meddlers..." The person listening answers with a more supernatural outlook: "If that Opus is actually Dei, it will stand regardless of where the founder is present. And if it isn't a Work of God, with or without a founder it will fall apart".

Want to know more about Don Pedro? http://turningthewaterwheel.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/don-pedro-casciaro-dies-natalis.html

September 30th, 1928: st. Josemaria starts the retreat where he 'saw' Opus Dei

Sunday. St. Josemaria starts the retreat at the St. Vincent de Paul convent wherein he "saw" the Work on Tuesday the 2nd of October. The retreat finished on October the 6th. On November 1927 the founder had moved from the Priests' residence on Larrea street to an apartment he rented on 'Fernando el Catolico' street to live there with his mother and siblings, who came from Zaragoza. The financial support of that apartment came fully from St. Josemaria's income. His brother Santiago remembered that St. Josemaria used to give classes at the apartment. He also used to give classes at the Cicuendez Academy, in Roman Law and Canon Law. He was also chaplain of the Foundation of the Sick and confessor of the schools of the Apostolic Ladies. When the September extraordinary exams in the university and academies were finished, the founder had a break of two weeks. Then, he decided to to a period of Spiritual Exercises making the most of those holidays. That Sunday, he came to the Paules' convent with a bunch of papers and loose leaflets. In these he had been collecting, among other things, the extraordinary graces given to him by Our Lord throughout ten years, mainly in the form of inspirations. On October 2nd he received that supernatural light regarding the Work while he was reading all those papers, papers which before that he hadn't been able to put together.

September 28th, 1922: St. Josemaria receives the tonsure

St. Josemaria is given the tonsure by Cardinal Soldevila in a chapel of the Episcopal palace. St. Josemaria then was appointed as Inspector of the San Carlos Seminary, a position he held until the day of his ordination to the priesthood. Back then, the Inspectors of the Seminary were all ordained priests - St. Josemaria was the first one to obtain this title prior to his ordination.

September 28th, 1920: st Josemaria enters the seminary

Four and a half years went by until he was ordained to the priesthood, and during this time he was in the San Carlos seminary. On his arrival, he gave the doorman of the seminary his tobacco and pipes and never smoked again.

for St. Josemaria it was a very drastic change of life and environment: "When I entered the seminary, I used, as I've always been, to wear my shoes and clothes very clean: I don't understand why but, for whatever reason, for some there (...) I was the "señorito" (a pejorative term meaning "rich kid", "snob"). Another reason for astonishment (...) came from the fact that I showered every day: again, the epithet of "señorito".

Soon after, the mocking was about his piety: the daily visits to the Basilica of the Pillar earned him the nickname of "mystical rose". He would also be called "the dreamer", due to his enthusiasm with which he used to speak to his classmates about the apostolate that they could do.

Ten days after entering the seminary he was put in charge of the Association of the Apostolate of Prayer for the course 1920 - 1921, quite likely because from the first moment, it was seen in him a solid life of piety. One of his classmates mentioned "He was the only one of the seminarians that I knew who would come down to the Church in his free time". 

September 23rd, 1942: Death of Father Jose Miguel

Father Jose Miguel de la Virgen del Carmen was the carmelite whose footprints on the snow St. Josemaria saw when he was in his teenage years: young Josemaria was deeply impressed by seeing the marks of the carmelite's bare feet after that heavy snowfall in January. This meant a turning point in the founder's life. Soon afterwards, father Jose Miguel became st. Josemaria's spiritual director for a short period of time, until st. Josemaria realised his vocation was to be a diocesan priest rather than that of religious life suggested by father Jose Miguel. He went on to have spiritual direction with another priest, but remained in contact with father Jose Miguel.

September 22nd, 1931: "Abba, Pater"

St. Josemaria was at that moment travelling in a streetcar in Madrid when he suddenly felt a joyous clarity about his divine filiation. This is the date of his annotation regarding divine filiation, when st. Josemaria wrote:(Apuntes, 296):

"Full of interior joy, I would have gone shouting, as for the whole world to see my joyful filial gratefulness: 'Father, Father!' - and even if I didn't shout, at least quietly I was calling him constantly that, 'Father', certain that I was pleasing Him!".

September 21st, 1931: First Mass at St. Isabel

On this date, St. Josemaria celebrated Mass for the first time in the Church of the Foundation of St. Isabel. There is where he wrote, in one go, the book "Holy Rosary" (on a different day).

Also the anecdote of John the Milkman, naming St. Nicholas as one of Opus Dei's intercessors, and other events are related to his post to this place.

September 19th, 1898: st. Josemaria's parents' marriage

The wedding was in the Chapel of the Holy Christ of Miracles, in the Barbastro Cathedral.

13/9/1933: Death of Maria Ignacia Garcia Escobar

13/9/1933: Death of Maria Ignacia Garcia Escobar at King's Hospital (also known as The Incurables' Hospital). Was severely ill with Tuberculosis. Had asked to be admitted to the Work on April 9, 1932. Was what at. Josemaria called the first expiatory vocation. She used to offer all her pain and suffering for the Work. St. Josemaria met her through don Jose Maria Somoano. During the time she was in the Work - and even before - she had been offering all her suffering for the Work. 

Want to know more about Maria Ignacia: http://turningthewaterwheel.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/march-9th-1932-maria-ignacia-garcia.html

September 12th, 1932: a submission to become a Carmelite

On this date, St Josemaria goes to the convent of the Carmelites in Madrid, to submit an application to be admitted to the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites. The date of admission to the 3rd Order was on 2/10/1932. (According to his "Apuntes Intimos", he became tertiary Carmelite "to oblige more to my Immaculate Mother and offer suffrage for the souls in purgatory".)

1/9/1991: For the first time blessed Alvaro ordains to the Priesthood agroup of members of the Work

The group comprised 20 men. Bl. Álvaro had arrived on the 29th of August in Torreciudad to spend some time with those being ordained. During his homily, among other things, he said: "My thoughts, more than the usual, go to our beloved founder, who with his exemplary attitude of self-giving towards God, has made possible this what we're now contemplating". Towards the end of the homily, he said: "Allow me now to go, to remember, that 25th of June 1944, when the first three of us were ordained to the priesthood. On that day, our founder commented that, when years had gone by and people asked us what did the father say on that occasion, we should respond that he reminded us the usual: prayer, prayer, prayer; mortification, mortification, mortification; work, work, work. And on this joyful day, under the loving eyes of our Lady of the Angels of Torreciudad, I tell you that the father, in this day when he, for the first time has ordained of group of his children,he would ask for them and for all the faithful of the premature, just one thing: fidelity, fidelity, fidelity."

September 1st, 1934: #50, Ferraz street

On this date, st. Josemaría and the other members of the work took possession of the Residence at Ferraz street, no. 50 to start the renovation works.

August 24th, 1930: Isidoro joins Opus Dei

St. Josemaria always saw Isidoro’s vocation as something providential. In a get-together with Bl. Alvaro in Manchester with members of the Work he mentioned: “Today is the 50th anniversary of Isidoro Zorzano joining Opus Dei, one of the first vocations. Our father was thinking of him since he received God’s message to start Opus Dei. He had been his classmate in high school. They hadn’t seen each other since then, but our father used to pray a lot for him. One day, in Madrid, when leaving the place where he was (The foundation of St. Isabel), our father felt this sort of force, an impulse to go back home through streets other than those he usually took. And he ran into Isidoro, who then was a young railway engineer who was working in the south of Spain. Something similar had happened to him and he told our father: ‘I came here because something special brought me. I don’t usually take this way’. Our father saw that it was providential. He spoke to him about vocation to Opus Dei. And he said yes to the vocation, and he was always faithful. This happened on a day like today, feast of St. Bartholomew. Every time this date came up, our father would thank God joyfully, because Isidoro was one of the first vocations”.

August 23, 1982: Bl. John Paul II announces his decision to raise Opus Dei as personal prelature

On this date, Blessed John Paul II announced his decision of raising Opus Dei as a Personal Prelature.

However, it was also mentioned that the publication of the decree is delayed due to “technical problems”. The issue was, the Pope had already communicated to don Alvaro on November 7th of the previous year that he had taken the necessary steps to raise the Work as a personal prelature, but before making it public he wanted to see the reaction of the Bishops around the world, as it would be the first personal prelature ever. (The reaction was entirely positive).

The news was communicated only to the General council and the Central Administration (the women’s section). Don Julian Herranz once told the story that on that same day, the washing machine at Cavabianca broke down. In the middle of August, when everybody is on holidays and the chance of organising a technician is close to none, the women actually managed to get someone to repair it that same afternoon. One of them, a bit outraged, referring to the prelature’s “technical problem” said, “Is it possible, that in the whole of the Vatican, they can’t get someone to get them out of that trouble and fix the “technical problem?!”. The documents were published on the eve of the First Sunday of Advent, November 27th, 1982.

August 23rd, 1932: "hoc est praeceptum meum, ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos".

On this date, St. Josemaria writes that he would like: "In all our houses, in a visible place, to place the verse from John 15: hoc est praeceptum meum, ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" (This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you.)

August 23rd, 1971: Adeamus cum fiducia ad thronum gloriae, a joyful coincidence

Panoramic view of  Caglio (Italy)

Rarely would St. Josemaria talk about supernatural events. Neither would he publicly disclose events of this sort, unless if he considered it necessary for the good of the Work and his children. So much so that, as expected, little do we know of the many extraordinary graces he received, but we do of some of them, like what happened on August 23rd, 1971.

He was spending some days in Caglio, a small town close to Como, in northern Italy. That morning, after celebrating Mass, he was reading the newspaper when he felt, with great clarity and irresistible force, a divine locution imprinting in his soul: Adeamus cum fiducia ad thronum gloriae ut misericordiam consequamur*. Let’s go with trust to the throne of glory to obtain mercy.

The difference in comparison to the text in the letter to the Hebrews 4, 16 is: “throne of glory”, instead of “throne of grace”. The founder would explain that Our Lady is throne of glory in virtue of her constant and inseparable intimacy with the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit. Through her intercession we go to God, appealing humbly to his mercy (cfr. Álvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1130).

The founder had the custom to go to the intercession of Our Lady and this locution “confirmed to him the necessity to always go to her” (Javier Echevarría, Sum. 3276).

Santuario de Campoè (Caglio)

The founder got don Álvaro to communicate this locution in writing to the general council; Ernesto Juliá Díaz says that such was the only occasion he can remember that our father would proceed in this way.

It is interesting what Cardinal Julian Herranz comments, who heard the event from St. Josemaria himself once he returned from Caglio. Back then, works had already started on Cavabianca and the father asked for a stone low-relief of Our Lady, enthroned and crowned by the Most Holy Trinity. At the base, the words of the locution were to be written. During the wait for the juridical solution regarding the institutional problem of the Work, the father suggested that such words should be recited as an aspiration to obtain from Our Lady the desired solution to the problem. His children did so for years.

“Therefore -comments Cardinal Herranz- great was our joy and our gratitude to the Most Holy Virgin when the Pope (who didn’t know anything about all this) made public his decision to set up Opus Dei as a personal prelature on August 23rd, 1982: anniversary of that special divine light received by the founder eleven years before” (Sum. 4030).

Andrés Vázquez de Prada, El Fundador del Opus Dei, (III): Los caminos divinos de la tierra, Ed. Rialp, Madrid, 2002

August 15, 1951: Feast of the Assumption. St. Josemaria consecrates the Work to the Most Sweet Heart of Mary, at the Holy House of Loreto

St. Josemaria had been preoccupied, fearing that something serious was being plotted against the Work: “I’m ‘tamquam leo rugiens’, like a roaring lion, watching, guarding, but I feel like I’m stabbing in the dark: I don’t know what’s happening, but something’s happening”. The day before (14th) he had stopped by at Castelgandolfo where those from the Roman College were doing a course, and asked them to pray for his intentions. The director of the Roman College, Don Jose Luis Massot, told everyone to intensify prayer and mortification during the father’s trip. St. Josemaria arrived in Loreto on the 14th in the afternoon and he prayed for some 20 minutes. On the 15th he celebrated Mass on the altar of the Holy House and, during the Mass, without any prepared formula, made the consecration of the Work. Don Alvaro mentioned in a meditation on August 15th, 1976: ‘when he made that consecration, our father had been restless, anxious, for a few months. Our Lord was making him understand that something serious was happening, but the father didn’t know what it was”. After the Mass he renewed that consecration “with those of us next to him, in the name of all the Work, and the tangled mess was undone”.

In January 1952, Cardinal Schuster told Don Juan Udaondo and Juan Masia to tell st. Josemaria: “to remember his countryman Jose de Calasanz… and to get moving!” (Saint Jose de Calasanz was evicted -with slander and lies- out of the congregation he had founded himself, the piarists. Later on he was proven innocent). In fact, after looking more into it, st. Josemaria found out that, people outside the Work, but with influence with the roman Curia, were trying to get P. Pius XII to sign a document through which St. Josemaria would be evicted from Opus Dei and the men and women sections would remain erected as two completely separated institutions. St. Josemaria then wrote up a letter to Pius XII asking to stop that. When reading the letter, he commented to Cardinal Tedeschini (who had brought the letter to him): “But who has thought to take such action?!” and he untied everything immediately.

August 9th, 1936: st Josemaría’s whereabouts during the war

1936: st Josemaría had been hiding at his mother's house for 3 weeks during the civil war, after having had to leave Ferraz 16 residence as the assassinations of priests and religious had started. On the 9th, again had to flee, this time from his mother's house as they were informed that searches in that area would start soon. During this time he would have been wearing his father's wedding ring and hiding in different places until a doctor they knew allowed him to hide in a psychiatric hospital in October. the doctor was Dr. Suils, who had been a schoolmate of his in Logroño. 

August 6th, 1939: Blessing of the Jenner St. apartment

Jenner st. was the new residence as the previous one - Ferraz st. #16 - was completely destroyed after the war - the house and all the furniture was lost.

Since his return to Madrid (March 28th) till now, Saint Josemaria and those first members of the Work (with St. Josemaria’s mother, sister and brother) were living in the rectory house of the Foundation of St. Isabel. St. Josemaria had asked his mother to help with those first centres, so that these would have that family environment and ambience, so in this residence there were some rooms set up for his mother and siblings to live. That centre’s decoration was the target of calumny from those who didn’t understand many things, for example latin (there were some inscriptions on some places of the house) or iconography (loaves/wheat/vines etc.) as well as a wooden Cross that stood in the oratory (elsewhere is described how some people started gossiping that some members were nailing themselves to it!). There were about 40 students living in that residence, and St. Josemaria’s mother and sister (“the grandmother” and “aunt Carmen” as they were called and still are known affectionately) were in charge of the administration. It was the post-war period and groceries were scarce, everything was rationed.

In this residence is where many customs practiced by members of of the work started:

• Including in the Preces the prayer for the bishop of the diocese. (The "Preces" are a series of prayers taken from Holy Scripture which members of the Work say daily).
• Prayer of the memorare for the one (member of the Work) in most need: The founder was in a get-together with the residents of that house and suddenly interrupted and asked everyone to pray one (memorare) for one of his sons who really needed it at that moment (It was don Alvaro, See furrow 472)
• Devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist on the 1st friday of the month
• Outlines for the circles of studies, as st. Josemaria needed the others to start giving circles, they had between 15 to 20 already
• From here trips started to Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valencia and Valladolid

In the summer of 1940 they looked for two new locations in Madrid. They found the house at Diego de Leon and the house at Martinez Campos street. In October 1940 St. Josemaria moved to Diego de Leon, where the following year would start the first ever centre of studies. Jenner functioned for 4 years. In 1943 the residence was moved to the centre at Moncloa.

August (5th or 7th, unclear), 1958: "you can't, but I can!"

The date is not certain but, either the 5th or the 7th, St. Josemaria finds himself walking around in London and notices there are so many people coming and going. People "walking in silence, without looking at each other, isolated from each other" and in his prayer says to God "this has gotten out of our hands... London is too... London!... I can't Lord, I can't!" then he experiences an inner locution, telling him "you can't, but I can!". Don Alvaro said in a getogether in London in 1980 how after that, it was at once the decision to start in London, and to obtain a place that would be like a duplicate of the headquarters in Rome. So they came to buy Wickenden manor , now operating as a conference centre).

Wickenden Manor

July 28th, 1935: don Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica joins Opus Dei

On this date, don Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica wrote his letter asking to join Opus Dei. Years later, on June 25th, 1944, he became one of the first three priests in the Work (with Blessed Alvaro and don Jose Luis Muzquiz). With blessed Alvaro they also shared the same school and classroom. They also made their first Holy Communion on the same day. Blessed Alvaro had joined Opus Dei a few days earlier, on the 7th of the same month.

“Chiqui” as those close to him called him, was given the job by St. Josemaria of fostering the The Work’s apostolate among women in Spain. Later on, he went to several countries in Europe to do pastoral work there: England, Ireland, France, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland. Needless to say, he learned different languages and adapted to different environments and cultures. He also endured several illnesses, especially the final one which went for over a year. God chose to take him to Himself on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 1972, while he was praying.

For a brief biography and to hear St. Josemaria’s words about that son of his, see this video:

The diocesan Process on his life and virtues opened in Madrid on February 28, 2005 and concluded on March 17, 2009.

All the documents and testimonies gathered have now been sent to Rome.

On November 11, 2011, Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach, Archbishop of Barcelona, presided over the transfer of the servant of God’s mortal remains from the Montjuic cemetery to the church of Santa Maria de Montalegre.

July 16th, 1946: The first papal audience

St. Josemaria’s first papal audience was with Pope Pius XII. In the Città Leonina centre diary is written: At quarter to twelve received us the Holy father. “Very happy!”. The Vatican Radio echoed the audience with a long note in rather praiseful and complimentary terms, about the father’s activities and the great development of the Work. The newspapers Osservatore Romano, Qoutidiano and the whole of the Spanish press picked the news. Already by June 29th don alvaro had already given st. Josemaria an autograph of the Pope that reads: “To my beloved son Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, founder of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, with a special blessing. Pio P.P. XII, Rome, June 28th, 1946”. St. Josemaria wrote: “I have an autograph from the Holy father (...) what a joy! I have kissed it a thousand times”.

June 16th: Our Lady of Mount Carmel - St. Josemaria was a Carmelite!

Apuntes, no.838. On September 12, 1932, Father Josemaría went to the Carmelite monastery in Madrid to request admission to the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites. "For two purposes (besides love) I want to become a Carmelite tertiary: to put more pressure on my Immaculate Mother, now that I see myself weaker than ever; and to provide suffrages to my good friends the blessed souls in purgatory" (Apuntes, no.823). The date of his entrance into the Third Order was, as he requested, October 2, 1932 (see Apuntes, no.838).

But the story goes even earlier than that: Just before his 16th birthday, in January 1918, walking down the street one morning during those Christmastide holidays, he came upon prints in the snow made by bare feet. His curiosity piqued, he stopped and stared at those white imprints so obviously left by one of the Discalced Carmelite fathers. Moved to the very depths of his soul, he asked himself, "If others can make such sacrifices for God and neighbour, can't I offer him something?"

The footprints had been made by Father Jose Miguel de la Virgen del Carmen. Following that snowy trail, the boy sought out the Carmelite for spiritual direction. He now had, very deep inside, " a divine restlessness" that moved him to a more intense life of piety, manifested in prayer, mortification, and daily Communion. (from Vasquez de Prada).

The founder's thoughts about the origin of his vocation are communicated in other testimonies as well. A few examples:

• "In 1964, speaking to me about his vocation to the priesthood, Monsignor Escriva said to me, but more as a question addressed to himself, 'What was the origin of my priestly vocation? Something apparently trivial: prints left in the snow by the bare feet of a Carmelite.' He then explained to me how, thinking about the sacrifice made by that religious for the love of God, he had asked himself what he himself was doing for our Lord. He had thought that perhaps God was calling him right then and there, on the street, and that if this was the case, then because of his love for the Eucharist, he would be called Brother Amador de Jesus Sacramentado [Lover of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament]" (Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4279).

• "The founder told us that it made a profound impression on him to see in the snow the footprints of a Discalced Carmelite, that it made him think about how little he himself was doing for the Lord, and that he realized then and there that our Lord wanted something specific from him" (Encarnación Ortega, PM, fol. 30).

• "The Father, as he himself confessed to me, began to experience desires for a more perfect and committed Christian life when, during the winter of 1917-1918, he contemplated tracks left in the snow by the bare feet of a Carmelite religious. ...He told me he had felt the call to the priesthood right after seeing those footprints in the snow" (Jose Luis MUzquiz, PM, fol. 35Ov).

From St. Josemaria: "Our Lady of Mount Carmel was pushing me to become a priest. Up until I was sixteen years old, dear Mother, I would have laughed at anyone who said I would one day be wearing a cassock. It happened all of a sudden, when I saw that some Carmelite friar had walked barefoot in the snow. ...How obliged you are, sweet Virgin of the Kisses, to lead me by the hand like a little child of yours!" (Apuntes, no.1637).

July 16th, 1932: don Jose Maria Somoano’s “Dies Natalis”

Don Jose Maria Somoano died after two days of agony, he was probably poisoned. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1927 and in 1931 he was already chaplain of “King’s Hospital” (also known as the National Infectious Diseases Hospital). He had joined Opus Dei on January 2nd, 1932 - one of the first priests to join Opus Dei.

St. Josemaria was deeply hurt by his death, but was convinced that he had died a holy death - as a martyr - and that from Heaven he would help the Work even more. St. Josemaria wrote in his personal notes on the day he was buried: “July 18th, 1932: The Lord has taken one of ours: Jose Maria somoano, an admirable priest. He died, victim of charity, in the King’s Hospital (where he has been chaplain till the end, despite all the secular anger) on the night of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel whom he had a great devotion to, always wearing the scapular. and because this feast was celebrated on a Saturday, surely that same night he would be in God’s presence. Beautiful soul. His zealous life gained him the affection of whoever came accross him. Today, I farewell him joyfully to Our Lord. He is with Him and will be of great help. I had a lot of hope invested in his character, upright and energetic: God has wanted him for Himself: may he be blessed”.

St. Josemaria wrote an obituary: Admirable priest, his life, short and fruitful, he was a ripe fruit that the Lord wanted for Heaven. Just the thought that there were priests who dare to go to the Altar with lesser dispositions, would make him shed tears of reparation. Before knowing the Work of God, after the sacrilegious fires in May, at the start of the persecution (in spain) with official decrees, he was caught unaware in the chapel of the Hospital where he was chaplain, offering himself to Jesus, in loud voice, as a victim for this poor Spain. Our Lord accepted the holocaust, and with a double predilection -predilection for the Work and predilection for Jose Maria, he sent for him (...) so that the Work would have next to the Blessed Trinity and next to Immaculate Mary someone to continuously care for us. He heard with such enthusiasm, during our last priestly meeting, the Monday prior to his death, the projects to start our action! I know that his intentions will press on Our Lord’s Merciful Heart, when he asks for us and we well obtain the abundant graces that we will need to fulfill God’s will”. (+ 16-VII-1932).

With don Jose Maria’s death, st. josemaria felt eager to fill the void left in the chaplaincy of the King’s Hospital. Sr. Engracia Echevarria, superior of the religious who looked after the hospital later said: “don Josemaria Escriva came to me. at that time he was a young priest who would have barely been 30 years old, and told me not to worry about not having an official chaplain. that night and day, and at whatever time, and under my responsibility, I should call him if there was any terminal patient who required the Sacraments”. St. Josemaria -who was the chaplain of the Foundation of St. Isabel- had to make room in his schedule, which was more than tight, to be able to look after the hospital which, on top of that, made him cross the city from north to south and even walk a bit through a field - back then, given that St. Josemaria would always wear a cassock, was putting himself at the constant risk of insults and stone blows.

At the hospital, St. Josemaria was always at risk of contagion from the patients. In order to hear confessions in those common rooms it was necesary to be with his ear very close to the pillow, putting up with the infected breath and rhoncus of the dying and the cough of those with tuberculosis. With the increase of penitents and lengthening of visits, st. Josemaria didn’t have a choice but to go also on Saturdays to hear confessions. From then no, almost every Sunday and Feast days he would celebrate Mass and preach a homily for the whole hospital. It was in this hospital where he met Maria Ignacia Garcia, who was the first expiatory vocation. This was not the only hospital where st. Josemaria dedicated himself to look after the sick. He also dedicated a lot of time to the General Hospital, the King’s Hospital, the Princess Hospital, etc.