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 ultimately the start of the war, did not allow for proper follow up and they went scattered. St. Josemaria had 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 had gone 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 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. What is the fastest way I can get 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 was thinking that 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: 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. Six 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.