June 29th, 1948: The Roman College of the Holy Cross

29/06/1948: St. Josemaria establishes the Roman College of the Holy Cross.
Villa Tevere had been founded in the beginning of 1947. A few months after, they moved from the flat in Citta Leonina to what they called "the Pensionato, where they lived for a long while, without having any more beds than the one reserved for whoever was sick. They practically counted only with the ground floor.
At the same time that they did many negotiations to make the Work known (st Josemaría had arrived in Rome only two years before) they were trying to get money for the works of Villa Tevere, they procured for the apostolic expansion throughout Italy, and on top of all that st. Josemaría took a gigantic leap of faith and signed the decree by which the Roman College of the Holy Cross was raised. Its first rector was don Alvaro. Immediately many students started arriving, as St Josemaría would've predicted: one day, they would come from all continents.