July 7th, 1935: Bl. Alvaro joins Opus Dei

The DYA/Ferraz 50 residence was finishing the first academic course. St. Josemaria writes: “I prayed for Alvaro for years. An aunt of his spoke to me about him. Sometimes she would talk to me priding herself in her nephew Alvaro, who was studying two careers. Then I started praying for Alvaro. I was disappointed when I saw he wasn’t coming that easily! Not that he resisted much either.” Don Alvaro explained, “my auntie told him that she had a very clever nephew - given that she was my Godmother, she was in her right to speak from her heart - and that he liked bananas a lot”. This must have been before 1931, the year when St. Josemaria stopped working at the Foundation of the sick, where don Alvaro’s auntie volunteered. During the term of 1933-34 don Alvaro used to go to Vallecas, a very poor and outer suburb of Madrid, to give catechesis. “One day, (on Feb. 4th, 1934) the balconies were full of people, -don Alvaro remembered- it looked as if they were getting ready to go to a football game or something like that. Actually, they had planned to give us a first-class beating to those four or five of us who were going to give the catechesis at the San Ramon parish (those were times of a strong anticlerical environment). In fact, one of us had an ear torn off, and I was hit in the head with a wrench, I was quite bad for about three months, but very happy. All of that was preparation. I still didn’t know our father”. “One day, -he continued- I saw three or four talking in a low voice. I was curious and asked them what they were talking about. They were somewhat surprised, but they told me: they were talking about our father. So I asked them to introduce me to him”.

Of that first interview, don Alvaro recalled: “He greeted me, and I saw that he was a very cheerful priest. He asked me immediately: What’s your name?, Are you Carmen del Portillo’s nephew? so, you must be that one who likes 'banananas'? (As a child he liked bananas a lot, but it seems that he couldn’t pronounce the word correctly and his aunt told that to st. Josemaria. The word in spanish is "platanos", which don Alvaro as a child used to say 'palatanos'). I was surprised, and answered him: Yes, I like them a lot. The father got his diary out and, as if he had to take care of me, asked very gently: we have to talk, slow and long. And he arranged for a meeting in four or five days. I wrote it down too. But when I got there, the father wasn’t there, he stood me up! He must have been called to look after someone dying, and he couldn’t let me know because I hadn’t given him my telephone number”.

A few months passed before don Alvaro returned to Ferraz. “When I was just about to leave Madrid for the summer, I thought I should go to say goodbye to that pleasant priest. I went, although I hadn’t seen him for more than four or five minutes. He greeted me and we spoke calmly about many things. Then he told me: Tomorrow we will have a day of recollection -it was a saturday- why don’t you stay and do it, before going on your holiday? I couldn’t say no, although I didn’t find it very appealing as I didn’t have a clue what was it about. I couldn’t say no, and the fact is that I returned the next day”.

The 7th of July was a Sunday. “In that [day of] recollection, the father gave a meditation about love for God and love for Our Lady, and I was shattered. Then the second meditation. The father had asked that I be asked in the afternoon (about joining the Work) but the one who had to didn’t understand and spoke to me in the morning... and I said yes”.

With don Alvaro started the custom of asking to join the Work in writing: “The first one to ask the admission in writing was me, on July 7th, 1935. When they told me about the Work and I decided to join, the father told me: write me a couple of lines, which I did”.

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.

July 15th, 1950: The first vocation in the USA

On this date, the first American asked to join the Work: Father Dick Rieman. After writing his letter to the father, very happily he asked don Jose Luis Muzquiz: “Well, well, and how many of us are there, here in the United States?” And don Jose Luis answered: “you, another one, and me... that’s it”.

In this clip from Passionately Loving the World, Fr. Dick shares his story about meeting St. Josemaria Escriva in Rome for the first time.

Passionately Loving the World is a short documentary about ordinary Americans living the spirituality of St. Josemaria Escriva in the middle of the world today. From farmers to fire-fighters, they work hard, love their families, celebrate successes and endure failures. Through it all they try to grow closer to God.  (taken from http://www.josemariaescriva.info/article/fr-dick-rieman-passionately-loving-the-world)

July 15th, 1943: Isidoro Zorzano's "Dies Natalis"

Isidoro was one of the first members of Opus Dei. He met St. Josemaria when they were schoolmates in Logroño, the town where St. Josemaria’s family had to move to due to their financial problems in Barbastro. Years after, when he was already an Engineer, St. Josemaria (who had been praying for him for a long while now) ran into him in a street in Madrid - the encounter was even more strange as both of them had taken a different way than their usual to their destination. St. Josemaria spoke to him about the Work, and Isidoro did not delay his answer to that vocation to Opus Dei.

At the time of his death, Isidoro was 41 years old. During the last months of his illness he had continuous help from those living with him, taking turns. He had spoken with st. Josemaria many times about his hospitalization. The last time he spoke with him, on June 14th, he asked him if he was in peace [with God]. “Yes father, I’m very happy, I really am. This will be over soon and I’m going to our heavenly Home. There I will be remembering the Work a lot”. St. Josemaria told him: “Son, I’ve asked Our Lord to give me a death like yours”. The day he died, the whole morning he had someone -from the other members of the Work- with him. For some unforeseen reason - there was a misunderstanding in the roster - towards 5pm he was momentarily alone in the room. As soon as they notified that he was about to die, st. Josemaria left immediately to the hospital with other members of the Work but when they arrived, Isidoro had already passed away. St. Josemaria remained for a long while next to the bed, unable to hide his sadness. St. Josemaria celebrated Mass on the 16th. Isidoro was buried in the Almudena cemetery, next to St. Josemaria’s parents. St. Josemaria got the tombstone to be engraved “Vita mutatur, non tollitur”. His process of beatification was opened on October 11th, 1948, in presence of bishop don Leopoldo Eijo y Garay and st. Josemaria. The information process was closed on the 19th of April 1961 and in 1994 the collection of new documentation was completed.

To read a brief biography, go to: http://www.opusdei.org/en-us/article/biography-of-isidoro-zorzano/

July 14th, 1958: Mater Pulchrae Dilectiones, filios tuos adiuva! The statue at Villa Tevere

St. Josemaria went down to the architects’ office in Villa Tevere and asked for the blueprints of the Uffici building, which was not that far from being finished. St. Josemaria glanced quickly at the blueprints as if looking for an appropriate spot and, at finding it, grabbed Jesus Gazapo’s fountain pen (which he liked because of its broad strokes) and wrote on the blueprint of the semi-basement, on the spot where nowadays lies a statue of Our Lady: “Mater Pulchrae Dilectionis, 14-VII-1958. The statue is right before entering the Oratory of Our Lady of Peace.

He explained then that a marble statue of Our Lady with the Child had to be commissioned and it should be of natural size. It would be for the “Vestibolo dell´Arco”, on top of a pedestal so that her foot could be easily kissed. The Child would be with a gesture of blessing a rose, which Our Lady would be holding in her hands. To the side, there would be some lamps that could be turned on by anybody. A few days later he settled the inscription to be engraved on the pedestal: Sancta + Maria Mater + Pulchrae + Dilectionis Filios + tuos + adiuva. 14 julio 1958.

The image outside the chapel. A photo taken at Bl. Alvaro's remains
being returned to Villa Tevere

On November 9th 1958 somebody asked the founder about the significance of the ever-lit lamp and of the date that he had commissioned to be engraved on the pedestal. He answered: “the date is of the day when I decided to put an image of Our Lady, and the reason was the selling of his birthright for a plate of lentil stew by someone who was one of your brothers. I have told you before that, at the bottom of lack of faithfulness and perseverance, there is always a point of corruption and impurity. That light, always and continually lit, means the constant petition that we make to God, through the ‘Mother of Fair Love’ to guard the purity of my children.” St. Josemaria later determined that there would be only one lamp that would be permanently lit. Jesus Gazapo drew a sketch of the lamp in the form of a cantilever and St. Josemaria, thinking that Jesus G. intended to draw a dove, said he thought it was an excellent idea and a dove was placed. The statue was placed in April 1959.

With Jesus Gazapo

On Christmas night, 1959, St. Josemaria - together with don Alvaro, don Javier and some others, lit the votive lamp. St. Josemaria said whilst everything was being prepared: “You already know what we ask to Our Lady: the purity of everybody in the Work”. St. Josemaria took the candle and don Alvaro lit it whilst, on their knees, everybody prayed “Blessed be thy purity”* as per st. Josemaria’s request.

* The prayer is a sonnet and therefore difficult to translate its rhyme. The following is an approximation: Blessed be thy purity, and so be it eternally, for no less than God takes delight in such magnificent beauty. To you heavenly Princess, Holy Virgin Mary, I offer on this day, my soul, life and heart. Look upon me with compassion, Mother of mine don’t leave me!

July 11th, 1910: Death of Rosario, St. Josemaria’s sister (born October 2nd, 1909)

July 10th, 1912: Death of Lolita, one of St. Josemaria’s sisters (bornFeb. 10th, 1907)

July 6th, 1991: The miracle

July 6th is the date of the decree of the miraculous cure attributed to the intercession of St. Josemaria. By the time the miracle had been studied more than 60,000 favors attributed to the founder’s intercession had already arrived to the Postulatory office in rome. 

The pontifical decree refers to Sr. Concepcion Boullon Rubio, Carmelite of the Charity, age 70. She had a tumoral lipocalcinogranulomatisis with multiple locations, as well as gastric ulcer, hiatal hernia and severe anaemia. The doctors had declared her as terminally ill and was only receiving palliative care (pain control). Sr. concepcion prayed a lot for her cure. It was her sisters who resorted to st. Josemaria’s intercession to ask God for her recovery. During a very agitated night, she felt pain that was so sharp that she thought her last hour had come. She couldn’t fall asleep until 5am. When she woke up, feeling better, she decided to take a shower and then she realized that the shoulder tumor - the size of an orange - had disappeared. She thought that she might have burst her skin and started looking for blood stains on her blankets. When she didn’t find anything, she wanted to notify the others and upon putting her shoes on she realized that also the tumor in her left foot had disappeared. Her gastric problems also disappeared. Sr. Concepcion died at the age of 82, 12 years after her full recovery, and of completely different causes.

July 4th, 1930: “They forced me to do it”

On this date, St. Josemaria wrote about “not having somebody to open my soul to and talk about that which Jesus has asked me”. He was without a spiritual director because all those priests with whom he has been going to confession could not continue seeing him for different reasons. Then he heard about Father Sanchez, a jesuit, who was known for his good care towards his penitents. On the morning of this day he went to speak to him and ask him to be his spiritual director: “Then, slowly, I told him about the Work and about my soul. We both saw God’s hand. We agreed that I would bring some notecards to him in which I had written down the details of the Work”. Then, St. Josemaria wrote: “On Sunday July 6th, I gave F. Sanchez the notecards, in the Foundation (of the Sick), when he came for the exams of the preservation of the Faith”. Elsewhere, he wrote: “F. Sanchez went to Chamartin for a couple of weeks. Upon his return, he told me that the Work is of God and that he didn’t have any inconvenient in being my confessor. On Monday the 21st of the same month, in Chamartin, he gave back that notecards and he committed to be our director: Laus Deo!. The pack of notecards, I burnt them a few years ago. I’m sorry”.

From the end of July, St. Josemaria caught up regularly with his new spiritual director in order to deal not with things regarding the Work, but those regarding his soul. St. Josemaria wrote down on his “Catalinas”: “I only spoke to him about the Work when it was related to my soul”. And so, during the first years of the foundation of the Work he would go to confession with this jesuit priest: Father Valentin Sanchez Ruiz. St. Josemaria had to go to see him to a catechetics house that the jesuits had in the suburb of Chamartin in Madrid, in the north of the city and a huge distance from the suburb of Atocha, the area around where St. Josemaria was living. He used to do the trip by foot (due to lack of money). Not infrequently father Sanchez would make him wait for a long time, even hours, before seeing him. A few years later, F. Sanchez having passed away already, St. Josemaria was having lunch with F. Arrupe, the superior of the jesuits. St. Josemaria was talking about those long walks and how sometimes, a lay brother would come out to tell him “today F. Sanchez won’t be able to see you”. St. Josemaria commented, in a positive tone, how he always considered that to be a good formative experience for his soul. And suddenly, the lay brother who is serving the table and who had been listening to the conversation intervenes: “This I know very well! It was me who had to go with such unpleasant message, after you had been waiting one or two hours. I remember perfectly it was not once nor twice, but many times that it happened!”.

On another occasion, don Alvaro would comment that, after writing the book “Holy Rosary”, St. Josemaria took it to F. Sanchez for his approval. “Holy Rosary was written by our father in one go, as a continuation of his thanksgiving after Holy Mass, in the Foundation of St. Isabel: on a desk that stands between the Church and the sacristy, on the way towards the exit of the presbytery. [The book] included some other things. however, his confessor, to whom our father would send everything, told him that he could take this and that out. And he did. Later, when I’ve seen the original, I thought it was a shame because there are other very beautiful things. We all have the tendency to correct others’ work. But our father, with that confidence on what came from God, obeyed [father Sanchez]”. St. Josemaria used to give F. Sanchez his “Catalinas” so that he would be up to date with what was happening in his interior life. Sometimes he had to write down some impoliteness that he received from his confessor. After receiving some contemptuous remark from his confessor, he writes: “I’ve written these details because, surely F. Sanchez will read them and he will see how these little things -which happen relatively often- do sting me: therefore, I think they are good for me”.

St. Josemaria stopped going to confession with F. Sanchez in Autumn 1941, after an interview in which F. Sanchez -in an abrupt and sharp tone- told him to forget about the Work because the Church would never approve of it. St. Josemaria was shocked and puzzled, and asked him if he would be willing to repeat that same thing before a witness so St. Josemaria returned accompanied by don Alvaro. Father Sanchez repeated his statement and quoted some codes of Canon Law. Don Alvaro would remember years after: “When I got home I went to check the Code and those quotes had no relation whatsoever ”. St. Josemaria communicated to him that he could not continue going to confession with him because he had lost confidence in him. 

Many years later, short before F. Sanchez died, St. Josemaria went to visit him in hospital and was with him for a long time, very affectionate, talking about many topics. At some point, and without St. Josemaria prompting anything, F. Sanchez said: “Josemaria, they forced me to do it” (“Josemaria, me obligaron”). And St. Josemaria, without adding anything to that comment, continued chatting about other things.

July 3rd, 1946: The Blessed Sacrament in a centre in Rome for the first time

St. Josemaria had arrived in Rome on June 22nd, but the chapel wasn't ready yet. As soon as all details were finished, the Blessed Sacrament remained finally there. 

St. Josemaria and don Alvaro lived approximately 16 months in that apartment at Città Leonina. the apartment was rather small but, as per the founder’s wish, from December 26th 1946 they had to move out to give the place to those who went to Rome to look after the administration. This also resulted in financial problems getting worse. What made St. Josemaria to speed up the arrival of the women for the administration was when he realized that the maid who used to help - a woman from Hungary who did not believe - lacked gentleness and care in all things related to the Chapel.

July 2nd, 1942: The first women’s centre

On this date, women members of the Work moved in to the house on Jorge Manrique street, officially starting that family life in the first centre of the women’s section.

St. Josemaria asked his sister (“aunt Carmen”, as members of the Work call her) to help them in the setup of the centre in those early days. One of them present at that time tells: A few days later our father came. After talking to us for quite a while about interior life, we gave him a tour of the house and we stopped in the room that had been designated for the chapel. He urged us to get it up as soon as possible - he used to say: [“I count centers once there’s a tabernacle there”] - and he dedicated many moments, with the help of don Alvaro, to that job.

Soon after he told us to say the Preces in the living room and that, upon kissing the floor, we should ask our Lord to arrive soon to the first Tabernacle that the women’s section was going to have. When the arrangements were finished, the father preached a medication and celebrated Holy Mass to leave the Most Holy Sacrament in the tabernacle. Afterwards, almost on a daily basis, the father used to celebrate Mass in that centre. It was in that chapel, on February 14th, 1943, where our father “saw” the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross while he was celebrating theMass”. 

(See: http://turningthewaterwheel.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/priestly-society-of-holy-cross.html)