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.

June 28th, 1946: "Cum Societatis"

28/06/1946: Apostolic brief “Cum Societatis” from Pope Pius XII, by which different indulgences are conceded to members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei.

Wooden Cross in Molinoviejo, a centre in Segovia

June 28th, 1940: "I thought what would be of me, if I abandoned the vocation received from God"

St. Josemaria  had finished preaching a monthly recollection to a group of St. Raphael guys from Valladolid (among them, don Jesus Urteaga). Valladolid was the third city where there was a centre after the war. (1: Jenner in Madrid; 2: The Lair, in Valencia; 3: El Rincon). Strolling through the orchard of the school, st. Josemaria saw a cage where there was an old eagle. The founder commented years after: “I’ve told you before the sad impression I got from seeing an eagle inside an iron cage, with a piece of carrion in its claws. That animal, which high up is all majesty, owner of the heights, and looking at the sun face to face- locked in that cage produced disgust and shame (...). I thought what would be of me, if I abandoned the vocation received from God”.

June 27th, 1937: The custom of the three Hail Marys

During a meditation in the Consulate of Honduras, st Josemaría said: “After this talk, I’d like that from now on all of you took up a custom: to pray every day to our lady three Hail Marys, kneeling and when possible, with your arms in the shape of a Cross, so that she concedes the gift of purity to everyone in the Work”.

June 26th, 1975: St. Josemaria's 'Dies natalis'

St. Josemaria died on this day in 1975, he was 73 years old. The current prelate (bp. Javier Echevarria) said in a get-together in Villa Sachetti on June 19th, 1999, after arriving in Villa Tevere:

“We went up the stairs to Villa Vecchia, some three steps. I went ahead to open the doors, and don Alvaro was holding our father’s arm. When we got to the Cortile Vecchio don Alvaro told me: I thought that we wouldn’t make it because the father couldn’t go on. At the Chapel’s door our father again made a genuflection, a paused and deep one. When we arrived at the Soggiorno we called the doctor. Our father was sitting a few minutes while he checked his pulse. Then he said: Let’s go upstairs, we can’t be here wasting time. We took the elevator. Those present were our father, don Alvaro, the doctor and I. Don Alvaro moved to one side, to explain to the doctor what had happened. Our father entered don Alvaro's study and when I was closing the door of the elevator he called me: "Javi!". I was shocked when I saw him: He fell on his back and hit his head quite strongly on the floor. We were trying to get him back in his senses, struggling, doing cardiac massage, until don Alvaro said: It seems that God has taken our father. From the first moment don Alvaro gave him the absolution. It was the 31st anniversary of don Alvaro having given him the absolution for the first time (When don Alvaro heard the founder's sacramental confession, the day after his ordination). When the doctor pronounced him dead, everyone knelt before our father. Don Alvaro then removed the crucifix that our father carried since many years ago which has a relic of the Holy Cross and put it on himself saying he would carry it until the successor was elected.

June 26th, 1944: Don Alvaro hears sacramental Confession for the first time

The day after the ordination of the first three, St. Josemaria went to the centre in Villanueva street in Madrid, which was bl. Alvaro's residence (along with other members of the Work. St Josemaria was living in the centre at Diego de Leon). St. Josemaria asked him if he had yet heard a sacramental confession. When bl. Alvaro answered no, st. Josemaria said: “Then the first one will be mine: I want to make a general confession with you”. Our father mentioned later that, after his confession, don Alvaro didn’t want to say anything and started reciting the formula for absolution, and our father interrupted: “My son, I understand if you don’t want to give me any advice, but you have to give me my penance”. Don Alvaro gave him his penance, and then he was so nervous that he forgot the formula for absolution, despite knowing it very well of course. St. Josemaria continued telling it to him in full. From that day on until his death, don Alvaro was St. Josemaria's confessor.

The photo is of that very day, and that room is still the chapel at that centre in Madrid.

June 25th, 1973: "Here on earth, there's only one saint"

On

June 25,1973, the founder got a papal audience—the last one of his life.

Pope Paul greeted him affectionately. Five years had gone by since their last meeting. "Why haven't you come to see me more often?" he complained.

 

 

There was a sudden silence, which the founder ended by filling the Pope in on how the Work had been developing in all those years, all over the world. From time to time Pope Paul interrupted him and, looking at him with admiration, exclaimed, "You are a saint!" The founder kept protesting, "No, no. Your Holiness doesn't know me. I am a poor sinner." But the Pope kept insisting, "No, no. You are a saint." Overwhelmed and embarrassed, the founder finally deflected the praise from himself by saying, "Here on earth there is only one [santo]:" (saint): "the [Santo Padre]" (Holy Father).