Bl. Alvaro's trip to Rome

February 27th, 1946    Bl. Alvaro arrives in Rome, together with don Jose, sent by St. Josemaria to negotiate the pontifical approval of the Work. 

For many months, Bl. Alvaro, D. José and D. Salvador Canals, were living at Corso del Rinascimento  #49. As soon as the day after they arrived bl. Alvaro dedicated his time to get reference letters from some of the cardinals recently appointed on the consistory of Feb. 18th, 1946 as he carried with him letters only from bishops from Spain. Many of them were already about to go back to their country of origin which made the task more difficult. There was, also, another problem: the Work was not yet known by some of the people to whom bl. Alvaro - a 32 years-old priest - without knowing them was asking them reference letters for the approval of the Work. Bl. Alvaro didn’t speak the language of many of them so he had to explain and understand in latin. None of these difficulties - commented D. Jose Orlandis - would stop bl. Alvaro, and when he would ask him whether he felt intimidated at all at having to speak with the cardinals, bl. Alvaro answered that he would always think: in nomine autem tuo laxabo rete...