Josemaría Escrivá

Saint Josemaría Escrivá (January 9, 1902 ? June 26, 1975), (also known as Jose María or Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albas) was a Spanish Catholic priest and founder of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, popularly, Opus Dei. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II, who declared Saint Josemaria as "counted among the great witnesses of Christianity." http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/archives/1999Nov/222nov23,vol.10,no.222txt/nov23top.htm John Paul II's decree Christifideles omnes also states: "y inviting Christians to seek union with God through their daily work - which confers dignity on human beings and is their lot as long as they exist on earth - his message is destined to endure as an inexhaustible source of spiritual light regardless of changing epochs and situations." http://gabriel.mps.ohio-state.edu/od/opus.dec

Biography

One of the six children of José and Dolores Escrivá, Josemaría Escrivá was born in the small town of Barbasto, in upper Aragon, Spain. Escrivá first felt that "he has been chosen for something," it is reported, when he saw footprints left in the snow by a monk walking barefoot in winter.

Related Topics:
Barbasto - Aragon - Spain - Monk

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He then decided that the best way to follow God's call is by becoming a priest. After obtaining the blessing and help of his father, he studied in both Logroño and Zaragoza and was ordained in Zaragoza on March 28, 1925. After a brief clerical appointment in a rural area he went to Madrid, the Spanish capital, in 1927 to study law. A prayerful retreat helped him to further discern what he considered to be God's will for him, and on October 2 1928 he created Opus Dei (Latin for "Work of God") as a new lay movement through which Catholics might learn to sanctify themselves without abandoning secular life.

Related Topics:
Logroño - Zaragoza - Madrid - Law - October 2 - 1928 - Opus Dei - Latin

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According to John Paul II's Christifideles omnes, a decree on the heroic virtues of Josemaria Escriva which contains a condensed biography of Escriva:

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To this mission he gave himself totally. From the beginning his was a very wide-ranging apostolate in social environments of all kinds. He worked especially among the poor and the sick languishing in the slums and hospitals of Madrid.

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During the Spanish Civil War, Escrivá went into hiding to escape persecution and murder by anti-clerical elements, although he continued to risk his life in order to minister to faithful Catholics. When the war ended in 1939, he was able to resume his studies in Madrid and acquire a doctorate in law.

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The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, attached to Opus Dei, was founded in 1943, and Escrivá himself moved to Rome in 1946.

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"In 1947 and 1950," Christifideles omnes states, "he obtained approval of Opus Dei as an institution of pontifical right. With tireless charity and operative hope he guided the development of Opus Dei throughout the world, activating a vast mobilization of lay people.... He gave life to numerous initiatives in the work of evangelization and human welfare; he fostered vocations to the priesthood and the religious life everywhere....Above all, he devoted himself tirelessly to the task of forming the members of Opus Dei."

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After earning a doctorate in theology from the Lateran University, he was appointed Consultor to two Vatican Congregations and made an honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology. Pope Pius XII acknowledged Escrivá's work by making him a prelate of honor and by granting Opus Dei his official approval on June 16, 1950. After that, Escrivá worked to foster Opus Dei's work, so that when he died in 1975 Opus Dei covered five continents and had more than 60,000 members from eighty nationalities.

Related Topics:
Lateran University - Pius XII - Continent - Nationalities

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