May 1st, 1970: st Josemaría: "I'm going to Mexico"

That day, after lunch, st Josemaría went upstairs to the “Galleria del Fumo” in Villa Vecchia (where he usually had the get-together with the general council) and told those who were there: “I’m going to Mexico”. His intention was to pray for the Church and for the definitive juridical solution of the Work. Don Alvaro would explain it on a meditation (30/XI/82): “There was a particular time, when it appeared that here in Rome, all the doors to obtain the special intention were closed. Together with this, our founder contemplated the tremendous situation of the Church: that defection of priests, religious; that lack of loyalty, that darkness and all those errors... For all these reasons, our father decided to pray before an image of the Mother of God, making an effort, with spirit of penance. That’s why he wanted to go away from Rome, where he lived, to prostrate himself before our Lady of Guadalupe’s feet. I remember the moment when he made the decision. After lunch, went up to the Galleria del Fumo...”

St. Josemaria arriving at the Basilica

April 30th, 1927: St. Josemaria moves to Larra st. in Madrid

Luz Rodriguez Casanova

On this date, St. Josemaria moved into the Priests’ residence in Larra street, Madrid.

He arrived in Madrid and stayed for the while in a room in #2 Farmacia street. The rent was too expensive. The residence was an initiative of the “Damas Apostólicas del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus”. Mrs. Luz Rodriguez Casanova, founder of the Foundation for the sick, heard of ‘a priest’ that had arrived at the residence, willing to help with his ministry in some apostolic work. Mrs. Luz was quite impressed after meeting him (he was 35 at the time) and decided to get him the appointment of chaplain of the Foundation for the Sick which she had founded and promoted. He was appointed on June 10.

Mrs. Casanova's cause for canonisation is now open.

April 29th: Feast of St. Catherine of Siena, doctor of the Church, intercessor of the Work

St. Josemaria once commented in a get together in Rome: “I wish that the feast of this Saint to be celebrated in the spiritual life of each of us, and in the life of our homes or centres. I’ve always had devotion to St. Catherine: For her love to the Church and the Pope, and for her courage to speak clearly always when it was necessary, moved precisely by that same love. Before, it was heroic to shut up, and so did your brothers. But now what is heroic is to speak, so that God our Lord is not offended.” Already, St. Josemaria had been thinking to name St. Catherine intercessor for the Apostolic works of Public Opinion. On the 13th of May 1964, he brought up the topic again and said, smiling: “Why wait more, it is to me, as founder, to whom it corresponds to name her, and here at home we do things in a simple way, without any solemnities. I name her intercessor right now”. That same moment he asked someone to pick up pen and paper and dictated an announcement for all regions: “[On the 13th of May, considering with what clarity of word and rectitude of heart St. Catherine of Siena manifested the ways of the truth to the people of her own time, with boldness and audacity, I declare that the apostolate that members of Opus Dei develop in the whole world, with truth and charity, to inform with rectitude the public opinion, to be commended to the special intercession of this saint...]”

April 29th, 1997: Dies Natalis - Juan Jimenez Vargas

Don Juan Jimenez Vargas was the last one to die from those members who joined Opus Dei before the war.

Juan Jimenez Vargas was one of the first members of Opus Dei. He joined the Work on January 4th, 1933. This was the second time he met with St. Josemaria. In this meeting the founder told him about the supernatural outlook of the Work and don Juan asked to be admitted. He had met St. Josemaria at the beginning of 1932, in a visit that was pure coincidence and of just a few minutes: he was only accompanying a friend of his -Adolfo Gomez- who used to go to confession with St. Josemaria. He was a medicine student of a middle-class family. Don Juan realized that St. Josemaria would ask frequently to those who went to confession with him, names of friends that he could be introduced to. don Juan was one of those first three that attended the first circle of studies at the nursing home of Porta Coeli (on January 21st, 1931). Soon after having attended this first circle - actually, the day after - he began the catechesis in the suburb of Tetuán, which was back then one of the worst of Madrid due to poverty as well as an anti-clerical atmosphere. “It was repulsive” don Juan used to say, in regards to how many people lived in Tetuán.

From Vasquez de Prada: "Juan was impressed by the faith and devotion that shone through the liturgical gestures and prayers, and especially by "the way [St. Josemaria] held the monstrance in his hands and gave the blessing."[13] Years later Father Josemaría explained what had been going through his mind when he gave that blessing with the Blessed Sacrament:

"When class was over, I went to the chapel with those boys, and I took our Lord sacramentally present in the monstrance, raised him, and blessed those three..., and I saw three hundred, three hundred thousand, thirty million, three billion..., white, black, yellow, of all the colors, all the combinations, that human love can produce. And I fell short, because this has become a reality after not even half a century. I fell short, because our Lord has been generous beyond my wildest dreams."[14]

Extract from: Andres Vazquez de Prada, The Founder of Opus Dei Vol. I: The Early Years, Princeton NJ: Scepter Publishers, pp. 367-371.

Juan Jimenez Vargas, sitting, first from left
Photo taken on their arrival in Andorra after crossing the Pyrenees

Don Juan was in the group that crossed the Pyrenees with St. Josemaria. Years later, he was lecturer at the University of Navarra, Faculty of Medicine, in charge o the department of Physiology. 

April 28th, 1934: First gathering with women in Opus Dei

On this date, St. Josemaria got together for the first time some women in the work - they were not even half a dozen - in a room of the Convent of Santa Isabel. (In following Saturdays, they used a room of “The Student’s House”, ceded by D. Pedro Poveda). Sometimes he gathered them at Ferraz - without the residents being there - and gave them a meditation and Benediction (this continued until April 1935). 

Unfortunately, around that time, st. Josemaria's commitments and finally the start of the war, did not allow for proper follow up and they scattered. St. Josemaria gad to start over again after the war. More detail in this post:
 http://turningthewaterwheel.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/women-section.html

April 27th, 1954: Miraculous cure of St. Josemaria's diabetes

27/4/1954: Feast of Our Lady of Montserrat. Blessed Alvaro del Portillo ("don Alvaro") was with St. Josemaria in the dining room of Villa Vecchia when he fainted. Previously, before the meal, he had given him his insulin as usual; it was around 1pm. For that day Dr. Faelli (the doctor who used to look after him) had prescribed a new type of insulin and indicated a very high dose. In fact, because it appeared as an extremely high dose to don Alvaro, he gave him less than what the doctor said. It was then found out that the doctor had made a mistake. St. Josemaria never went back to Faelli. It was all of a sudden when the founder had the anaphylactic shock. Before losing consciousness, in a matter of seconds, he uttered to don Alvaro: “The absolution, the absolution!”. Everything happened so quickly, with no previous symptom that would raise suspicion, that don Alvaro did not understand: “Which solution?” and st. Josemaria, as to get him to understand started “Ego te absolvo...” and lost consciousness. St. Josemaria changed color: First red, then purple, finally an earthen yellow and all his body contracted, going rigid and stiff as a corpse.

Don Alvaro would later say in a get-together (18/6/76): “I notified the doctor immediately, and gave our father the absolution many times. Even though I don’t know much about medicine, I knew that an excess of insulin could cause a shock. The father was rigid: I opened his mouth as I could, I put sugar in  -to counteract the insulin-  and to make him swallow I also added water and gave him a few strikes, with all the piety and filial care I’ve always had for our father. After ten or twelve minutes, when the doctor arrived, he was starting to come back to life”. When st. Josemaria recovered, don Jose Luis Massot and the doctor carried him from the dining room to his bedroom. St. Josemaria was talking as if nothing had happened. He took his cassock off and lied down. Then he father said: “Look, I’ve shrunk. Before I could touch the end of the bed with my toes, and now I can’t”. As a matter of fact, his cassocks had to be fixed as he shrunk some 5 centimeters. When don Jose Luis Massot remained alone with him in his room, st. Josemaria told him: “I thought I was dying. They say that before dying, there is the chance of making an examination [of conscience]. Look, I’ve lived it: there will be an examination. And I repented of all the bad things I’ve done...”. That same day, alone with don Alvaro, commented: “When I was about to black out, in a matter of seconds, the Lord made me look at my life as if it was a movie; I was full of shame for so many mistakes, and asked the Lord for pardon. It’s as if I had died...”. 

It was until St. Josemaria was alone with don Alvaro that he told him he was blind, that he couldn’t see a thing - and that he didn’t want to say anything so that don Jose Luis and the doctor wouldn’t worry, as he was sure it was something temporary. In fact, neither the doctor nor don Jose Luis realised he was blind. Don Alvaro would say: “After that shock, for many hours, the father went blind. Then, when looking himself in the mirror he told me, bemused: Alvaro, my son, I know how will I look when I die. I answered: No father, you should've looked at yourself 5 or 6 hours ago. In comparison to that, now you like like a carnation...”. One year later, st. Josemaria invited don Jose Luis to have a piece of cake that the administration had prepared. It had a little candle: “look", said he, "let’s celebrate one year after that scare”. When referring to that episode, st, Josemaria would have at some point referred to it as “I was dead”.

Statue of our Lady of Montserrat

More: The association of Diabetics of Guatemala: Devotion to St. Josemaria spreads in Guatemala

April 26th, 1934: Regarding "Consideraciones Espirituales"

On this date, in a rather cheerful manner St. Josemaria wrote to a bishop friend of his, in relation to the first and only edition of “Consideraciones Espirituales”: 

“There is a pamphlet being printed - there's more coming later - in the ‘Moderna’ press (...). They are notes that I use, to help me in the direction and formation of the young ones, and that thus far were only handwritten.” 

500 copies were edited. The author was written only as ‘Jose Maria’, without surnames. Consideraciones had only 425 points, it was released a few days after. St. Josemaria did not edit it again as he extended it and changed the name: The first edition of "The Way" was in 1939.

April 23rd, 1912: St. Josemaria's First Holy Communion

St. Josemaria received his First Holy Communion in the Church of the school of the Piarists in Barbastro. 

A Piarist religious (Father Manuel Laborda de la Virgen del Carmen, also known as father Manole by some students) prepared him and taught him the Spiritual Communion prayer. Don Alvaro mentioned one time: “I’ve heard him preach many meditations using that prayer, repeating it word by word”.

Spiritual Communion: "I wish my Lord to receive You,
with the purity, humility and devotion
with which your most Holy Mother received you,
with the spirit and fervour of the saints"

On the eve of the first Communion the barber, accidentally, burnt the young Josemaria's scalp with hot clippers. St. Josemaria put up with it without complaining, to avoid getting the barber being reprimanded and also not to upset his mother. St. Josemaria used to say: “The day of my first Communion, while being dressed, they wanted to curl my hair and burnt my scalp. Was not a big thing, but for such a young child, it was a lot”. His mother discovered the burn afterwards. From then on, writes Andres Vazquez de Prada, on feast days, our Lord would announce His presence to our father with the sweet sign of pain or contradiction, “like a caress”, st. Josemaria would say.

April 23rd, 1902: Confirmation of St. Josemaria

On this date, St. Josemaria received the confirmation in Barbastro’s Cathedral, from don Juan Antonio Ruano y Martin, bishop, Apostolic Administrator of Barbastro.

April 22nd, 1941: Death of St. Josemaria's mother

Dolores Albas, mother of st. Josemaria, died on this date, in Madrid. (Doña Dolores was/is also known as "La abuela" ("grandma/grandmother") by members of Opus Dei. In Spain this would be a very caring, loving and familiar way to refer to her).
St. Josemaria was preaching a retreat for priests in Lerida when he received the news. After listening to don Alvaro on the phone saying “father, grandmother has died”, he returned to the chapel to cry and repeat: “Fiat, adimpleatur, laudetur...” ('May the most just and most lovable will of God be done, be fulfilled be praised and eternally exalted above all things. Amen, Amen.' The way, 691). 
Then he spoke with the governor of Lerida (Juan Antonio Cremades): “Juan Antonio, my mother has died. How can I get quickly to Madrid?” and Juan Antonio lent him his car with his driver. He arrived in Madrid at 2:00am and before the remains of his mother, in the Oratory of Diego de Leon he cried: “My God, my God, what have you done? You’re taking everything away, everything. Here I thought my mother was needed by these daughters of mine, and you leave me with nothing, nothing”.
Doña Dolores had been the one who, from the beginnings of Opus Dei, supported st. Josemaria in all his plans, and afterwards was the one responsible for setting that family environment so characteristic of centres of the Work, which is found in all centres of the Work in the world to this date.
St. Josemaria once remembered: Before leaving for Lerida, when I went to say goodbye to her, I asked my mother, 'Offer up your sufferings for this apostolate I'm going to do". She assented, but could not help adding under her breath, with love, "Oh, this son of mine!"

April 22nd, 1971: St. Josemaria's last visit to Loreto

On this occasion, st. Josemaria went especially to pray for the Church, which was going through difficult moments. When they arrived in Loreto (remembers don Javier) and entering the Basilica, they realised that the gate of the Holy house was already closed: “I recall the gesture of our father wanting to push open, trying to see if there was someone inside. There was no one (...). With an attitude very particular of his he knelt before the door, holding on to the iron bars of the gate. There we remained praying. That physical strength with which he held on to the bars was nothing but an expression of the intensity with which he prayed”.

April 21st, 1939: St. Josemaria recovers the parchment "Mandatum Novum"

On this date, St. Josemaria went to visit the ruins of the house they had before the war. He found among the rubble from the ruins of Ferraz 16 (destroyed during the civil war) the parchment, in good condition, with the text "Mandatum novum...".*

St. Josemaria had arrived in Madrid on the 28th of March and he next day he went to visit Ferraz 16. The visit on April 21st was the 2nd time he visited the remains, and with him were Juan Jimenez Vargas and Santiago Escriva. Our father had great consolation to find that parchment. 6 months later he would find a place for it in the new Opus Dei centre at Jenner street, Madrid. It is now in the Centre of Studies in Milan.

* St. Josemaria used this passage very often in his preaching and conversations. He used to say that "the new commandment" that Jesus gave to his disciples was still new for many. So that others would always be mindful of it, he had it framed and on a wall of the first centre of the Work.

April 20th, 1994: don Javier Echevarria is elected Prelate of Opus Dei

Election of the father (don Javier) and confirmation of the election by the Pope. The father had presented the Pope - according the the General Council - different dates for carrying out the Elective Council. The Pope chose the 20th as during those days he would be in Rome and wanted to be following it up. That same afternoon the confirmation of election was sent to the Pope. That same day the Holy See called to give the positive response. The Pope asked to speak to the father, and said: “Buona Sera, Signore Prelato”... (“Good afternoon, Mr. Prelate”).

April 19th, 1927: st Josemaria arrives in Madrid

Easter Tuesday. St. Josemaria arrives in Madrid. His intention is to get the doctorate in law, while at the same time to work in some pastoral activity. He arrived as an ‘extra-diocesan priest’, as he was incardinated in Zaragoza. He had the intention that his family (who were living in a very difficult economic position as their relatives, especially uncle Carlos refuse to help them with anything) move to Madrid, but first he needs to find a house and the means to support it. On his arrival to Madrid he turned up at the pontifical Church of San Miguel as he was being waited for there, and showed the rector the documents so that he could be granted ministerial licenses and be able to celebrate the Mass there. Probably he could not say Mass until the next day, and that he might have celebrated already in Zaragoza before taking the train as, back then, it was not permitted to celebrate in the evening. The rector clarified to him that it was not about a chaplaincy but to celebrate a daily Mass, with wages of 5 pesetas and 50 cents (which wasn’t enough even to pay for the rent where he was staying). During the first days of his stay, our father tried to get information about academic processes, with the intention to sit exams in the next opportunity. On the 28 he presented a request to sit the exam of History of International Law. Soon after, he moved into the priest’s residence at Larra street, managed by the “Damas Apostólicas del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus”. In our father’s soul continued intensely the petition “Lord, may I see!”, through which he asked God to reveal to him what He wants from him and that he doesn’t get yet. On the other hand, he has the intention to make his path into Madrid, trying to get an interview with the nuncio through a recommendation. All plans failed. After two weeks, st Josemaría had not been able to make contact with the nuncio or to turn up for the exams in June and Sept., which meant a financial loss as he had paid some 50 pesetas to enroll. He hadn’t yet either found a way to give lectures to earn a living. It was a very lonely time for him.

March 9th, 1932: Maria Ignacia Garcia Escobar asks to join the work

Maria Ignacia was, as St. Josemaria used to call her, the first "expiation vocation". She was gravely ill, suffering from tuberculosis. She was admitted to the King’s Hospital (Hospital del Rey - also known as “the incurables’ hospital”). She died offering all her pains for the work. 

Maria Ignacia Garcia Escobar

<She offered all her sufferings for the apostolate that St. Josemaria was doing with young people. The disease was no longer confined to her lungs but was eating away her bones and her organs. Father Josemaria spoke to her about death and assured her that she would work more effectively for Opus Dei from heaven than on this earth. He even suggested a number of intentions that she could ask of Jesus and Mary when she got to heaven, especially for vocations.

Maria Ignacia not only maintained her peace of soul despite terrible pain, but, as Father Josemaria wrote, “She contemplated death with the joy of someone who knows that when she dies she will go to her Father.” “I know,” she wrote in a letter, “that I am suffering through Jesus and for Jesus. Are there any words on earth to compare with these? Blessed is the soul to whom our Lord grants such a favor if it knows how to take advantage of it! Help me with your prayers to achieve the most intimate union with Jesus. To love him madly is my only ambition on this earth. If he doesn’t want me to be aware on this earth that I do love him, that doesn’t matter. It is enough for me that he knows.”

Announcing Maria Ignacia’s death to the other members of the Work on September 13, 1933, Father Josemaria wrote: “Prayer and suffering have been the wheels of the triumphal chariot of this sister of ours. We have not lost her. We have gained her. We want the natural pain that we feel on learning of her death to be transformed promptly into the supernatural joy of knowing that we now certainly have more power in heaven.”

Maria Ignacia was the third member of the Work to die in the space of a year and a half. In addition, during that same time, some others in whom Father Josemaria had placed his hopes left the Work. He felt their loss sharply. Nonetheless a small nucleus of members was beginning to form who would stay the course and help him develop the Work. With their help, it would soon be possible for Opus Dei to open its first center.> (Taken from www.josemariaescriva.info)

Don Alvaro mentioned in a gettogether: “The ‘Hospital del Rey’ was for people with tuberculosis and other contagious illnesses. Back then, almost none was curable. The number of sick people was so high, that they had to put the beds very close to each other, without room for not even a bedside table between beds. Our father was 29 or 30 when he used to attend that hospital, and never left anyone to die without the sacraments. Because the beds were so close together, to hear confessions he had to lower his head to the patient’s pillow and speak to their ear. He did it without fear of contagion. In that hospital came up the first expiatory vocation as our father used to say. That first, Maria Ignacia Garcia Escobar, died in extreme pain, but also with extreme joy. Before dying, she used to say: “Very big must The Work be, given that God asks so much suffering from me”. She died on the 13/9/1933.

April 9th, 1990: Publication of the decree of heroic virtues of St. Josemaria

More details:

http://josemariaescriva.info/article/decree-on-the-heroic-virtues-of-the-servant-of-god2c-april-92c-1990

April 9th, 1932: The Escrivas move with St. Josemaria into the rector's house of the foundation of St. Isabel

Sunday. St. Josemaria's mother Doña Dolores, his sister Carmen and brother Santiago move in to live in the rector’s house of the Foundation of Santa Isabel. They had been staying in Fonz until St. Josemaria found a suitable place for them to move in with him. The "house" was a small building, probably suitable for a priest to live there, but certainly not for a family. however, they had no other option given that St. Josemaria's stipend wouldn't afford them anything else.

April 7th, 1970: pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Torreciudad

After celebrating Mass in the Miraflores Residence in Zaragoza, st Josemaría goes to Torreciudad to do a pilgrimage. Torreciudad was still being built (it wasn’t  inaugurated until 1975).

 

 

They arrived at midday. One km before arriving to the shrine, the architects were waiting for him to show him the works. St Josemaría got out of the car and quickly took his shoes off to do his pilgrimage barefoot for the last part. He did not allow anyone else to do it. The whole way is gravel. He prayed the rosary slowly. After a while, someone told him to put his shoes back on. He answered: “After 66 years, it’s little thing what I’m doing for the Virgin. There are many shepherds that go barefoot, every day, through these cliffs. There’s nothing extraordinary”. Nevertheless after praying, when already in the shrine, after a short prayer he had to be taken to a room and be helped to remove all the little stones that were stuck in his feet. St josemaria returned to Torreciudad in 1975, one month before his death.

 

http://www.torreciudad.org