EL FUNDADOR

St.Josemara Escriv
(Volumes I-III)

All Rights Unreserved

6 octubre 2007
(POTL)

?Desde los continentes americanas,

Conquistamos europa, asia y oceania,
Leyendo y escaneando con paciencia,
Somos, los Piratas de las Librerias?

The Founder of Opus Dei

The Life of Josemaria Escriva

Volume I? Volume II? Volume III

The Founder of Opus Dei

The Life of JosemaraEscriv
Volume I

?The Early Years?

Andr s Vsquez de Prada

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Barbastro Years (1902-1915)

2. Logroo Years (1915-1920)
3. Saragossa (1920-1925)
4. A Young Priest (1925-1927)
5. The Foundation of Opus Dei
6. Personal Notes
7. The Gestation of the Work
8. The First Centers of the Work

Appendices: (*No. 1 is not included)

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10a, 10b, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Table of Abbreviations

The Founder of Opus Dei

The Life of St. Josemaria Escriva
Volume 2


?God and Daring?
Andr s Vsquez de Prada

CONTENTS

1. War and Revolution: Hopes of Evacuation

2. The Road to Freedom
3. Interlude in Burgos (1938-1939)
4. Turning Dreams into Realities
5. "The One Who Loves God's Will"
6. Growth of the Work
7. A New Apostolic Thrust (1944-1946)

Appendices
Table of Abbreviations

The Founder of Opus Dei

The Life of Josemaria Escriva
Volume 3

?The Divine Ways on Earth?

Andr s Vsquez de Prada

CONTENTS

1. The Founder in Rome

2. Romanizing the Work
3. Three Consecrations
4. The Unity of the Work
5. Apostolic Expansion
6. Pen Strokes for a Biographical Sketch
7. The Era of Vatican II
8. The Holiness and Splendor of the Church
9. "I Seek Your Face, Lord?

Table of Abbreviations

Introduction

What is a biography? In the strict sense of the term it is the story of a partic
ular life. And it falls within the academic field of history. But a life does no
t exist in isolation, like a small island lost in a vast ocean. It is born and g
rows to maturity in a community. The individual is tied to a place, participates
in a particular culture, and has a homeland. And the events of whatever time an
d place the subject lives in have an effect on his or her life. Thus the biograp
hical focus necessarily transcends those things that affect only the person in q
uestion. The researcher, as well as the reader, has to keep in mind many other c
ultural and social circumstances to completely understand events and set them in
their historical context.
Method of research. The biographer usually adopts a chronological structure, fir
st studying the historical roots, and then proceeding to follow the subject's li
fe from cradle to grave. The author will probably begin by describing the subjec
t's family, home atmosphere, early life, and schooling to show the sources of th
e subject's personality. But one must avoid fiction and fantasies, and must work
according to the methodology of research and the rules for evaluating sources.
Thus any biography in- tended to boast scholarly objectivity represents a seriou

s challenge, since the biographer must first find the testimonies and other rele
vant documents and then subject them to critical evaluation. (No matter how cred
ible the sources found, the researcher is never dispensed from the arduous task
of choosing testimonies, evaluating their significance, and fitting them into th
e historical picture.)
Abundance of sources. When I felt I had completed the task of collecting testimo
nies and other historical records and tried to sketch out the structure of this
book, I was surprised to see how much material I had collected. To reduce it to
manageable proportions, I found I had to concentrate on the founder him- self an
d not get sidetracked into secondary matters. Thus those aspects of Opus Dei tha
t are intimately linked to his personal mission are dealt with fully; other subj
ects, important in themselves, such as the origins of the spirituality of Opus D
ei, the expansion of its message throughout the world, salient features of the c
ultural and social milieu in which the founder worked, and so forth, are only to
uched upon. All of that, undoubtedly, will be material for future studies. But h
ere I have confined myself narrowly to biographical matters, to keep the narrati
ve from straying from its subject. Meanwhile, as the notes demonstrate, I have s
ubjected myself to the rigorous rules of documentation and the other critical re
quirements for historical credibility.
An objective view of historical reality. In this research effort, we can be part
icularly thankful for one quality of the founder and his writings. I refer to hi
s objective view of events. Father Josemara possessed in a high degree the intell
ectual gift of being able to evaluate historical realities objectively and clear
ly. He was always on the alert to see things and situations in the light of God'
s designs, setting aside his personal tastes and inclinations and detaching him
self from personal interests.
In relation to God, the track of his life runs straight, simple, and deep. One m
ight summarize it by saying that he dedicated himself body and soul to fulfillin
g the plans of God with regard to Opus Dei. On October 2, 1928, after ten years
of waiting, and of having premonitions of something that was going to come, he w
as led by the hand of God into the saga. The young priest received the mission o
f carrying out Opus Dei, and was granted the corresponding charism. From this da
te on, God and Josemara -Josemara led by the hand of God, that is- will have toget
her one long and amazing adventure.
The two themes of this biography. Here, then, is one basic theme of this biograp
hy: to follow step by step the development of Opus Dei, to the point where the m
an chosen to carry out this great enterprise puts the final period to his work.
Father Josemara devoted his whole life to this effort. This is as much as to say
that the charism he received worked, during all those years, within his soul, id
entifying his person with Opus Dei, making him-the man himself-Opus Dei. That is
the other theme of this biography.
Divine logic and human logic. As a father with his child, God taught Josemara a d
ivine logic, at times very disconcerting, that is far different from any human l
ogic. Human logic judges and operates according to earthly criteria. God's judgm
ents, on the contrary, are lovingly grounded in the sense of divine filiations;
in the cross, the joyful sign of Christ's victory; in the unlimited power of pra
yer; in the hidden fruitfulness of setbacks ...That objective view that the foun
der had of historical reality was some- thing more than just clear-sighted disce
rnment; it was the gift of being able to penetrate the essence of history, its w
ise governance by Divine Providence. He applied to religious realities and super
natural events the categories proper to divine logic, in accordance with his div
ine and universal mission within the Church.
The stature of the founder. To properly appreciate his great- ness, one must go
back in time and accompany him as he gradually acquires spiritual maturity. His
path of interior growth is at the same time a stream of love and a Way of the Cr
oss-of suffering, through a progressive identification with Christ. There is, th
en, no need for hagiographic panegyrics, since his sanctity is obvious and rises
so impressively before us.
Shortly after receiving his divine mission, Father Josemara (in entry no. 244 of

his journal, Apuntes intimos) compared him- self to a "poor little bird" which c
an only fly a short distance. An eagle snatches it up, "and in his powerful claw
s the little bird soars, soars very high, above the mountains of earth and the s
now-capped peaks, above the white and blue and rosy clouds, and higher yet, unti
l he is looking directly at the sun...
And then the eagle, letting go of the bird, tells him, 'Go on- fly!' " In the pa
ges of this book we will also try to project a vision of the mystical path of a
soul.
The father of a large family. God raised up a man, in this world of our time, to
bring about a great good for the Church and for souls. This is a divine gift fo
r which thanks are due, primarily to God, and also, in part, to Father Josemara,
for cooperatively taking it upon himself to carry out God's plans. Far from turn
ing his back on the world, he was interested in its development and progress. He
put daring and optimism into his apostolic enthusiasms and ceaselessly proclaim
ed that sanctity is not just for the privileged few. With his message he in fact
opened "the divine paths of the earth"-paths of sanctification for all those wh
o in the midst of the world identify themselves with Christ, working for love of
God and neighbor.
Within the mission of the founder was included the charism of paternity: he was
father and shepherd of a portion of the People of God. Like the patriarchs of ol
d, he already in his life-time had many descendants-spiritual descendants. On Ma
y 17, 1992, the day on which the Church officially raised him to the altars, an
immense multitude of children of his spirit, people of all races and all conditi
ons of life, packed St. Peter's Square in Rome.

* * *

I wish to express my gratitude for the extremely valuable help I received from t
he late Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, former prelate of Opus Dei; from his success
or, Bishop Javier Echevarria, its present prelate; and from all those who have b
een so kind as to check for accuracy some of the data included in this book.
Finally, I must confess that, led by a desire not to leave any loose ends in thi
s story, no matter how small they might appear, I am continuing to revise my dra
fts of the two remaining volumes.

1. Barbastro Years (1902-1915)

1. Family Background
2. Those Fair Days of my Childhood
3. First Communion
4. Family Misfortunes

* * *
1. Family background

Josemara Escriv de Balaguer was born in the Spanish city of Barbastro on January 9
,1902, and died in Rome on June 26,1975.
A few weeks before his death, trying to bring his life into sharp focus, he expr
essed a deep awareness of Divine Providence: "Our Lord has made me see how he ha
s been leading me by the hand."[1] There was for him just one pivotal date betwe
en the years 1902 and 1975: October 2, 1928, the day Opus Dei was founded. This
supernatural event marked his life so profoundly that almost every autobiographi
cal reference reflects an indelible consciousness of a personal mission. Describ
ing his arrival into the world, he says, "God our Lord was preparing things so t
hat my life would be normal and everyday, nothing extraordinary. He had me born
in a Christian home, as was typical in my country, of exemplary parents who prac
ticed and lived their faith."[2]
Josemara was born near the end of a winter's day, at about ten o?clock at night.
For this reason he used to say, with a twinkle in his eye, that his first moment
s had been like the footsteps of "a sleepwalker," for he had begun life with a w

hole night ahead of him. But in saying this he probably also was making a veiled
allusion to the long night of obscurity that for years enveloped his spiritual
mission.[3]
On the next day, January 10, he was entered into the city register of births. Th
ese facts were recorded there:

That said boy was born at 10:00 P.M. yesterday in the home of his parents, at 26
Calle Mayor.
That he is the legitimate son of Don Jose Escriv, merchant, 33 years old, and of
Doa Dolores Albtis, 23 years old, of Fonz and Barbastro respectively.
That he is the grandson, on his father's side, of Don Jose Escriv, deceased, and
of Doa Constancia Cerztin [sic], natives of Peralta de la Sal and Fonz respective
ly.
And on his mother's side, of Don Pascual Albtis, deceased, and of Doa Florencia B
lanc, natives of Barbastro.
And that said boy has been registered with the names of Jose Maria, Julian, and
Mariano.[4]

A few days later, on January 13, the Octave of the Epiphany and the feast of the
Baptism of our Lord, he was baptized in the cathedral of Barbastro with the nam
es that were already inscribed in the city register: Jose, for his father and gr
andfather; Maria, out of devotion to the Blessed Virgin; Julian, for the saint o
n whose feast day he was born; and Mariano, in honor of his godfather.[5]
Through the years, Josemara showed deep gratitude toward the priest who had confe
rred this sacrament on him. His name was Angel Malo [bad angel] -a name not easi
ly forgotten! Father Josemara remembered him every day in the Memento of the Mass
es he celebrated over the course of half a century.[6] He showed the same kind o
f gratitude to his godparents.
The baptismal font of the cathedral of Barbastro was an elegant and beautiful pi
ece, one of the works of art described in the cathedral chapter's Liber de Gesti
s for the year 1635.[7] But its antiquity and beauty did not afford it much prot
ection. In 1936, when iconoclastic fury raged through the city, it was broken in
to pieces and thrown into the river.* Thousands of Christians had received their
baptism in this font-including Josemara's mother. As a boy he had seen his littl
e sisters baptized in it. Its remnants were worthy of respectful treatment. So,
when in 1957 the bishop and the cathedral chapter presented him with the fragmen
ts salvaged from the wreckage, he decided to have them sent to Rome to be reasse
mbled and set up in a place of honor. In 1959 he wrote:

The fragments of the baptismal font of Barbastro's cathedral, which Your Excelle
ncy and the Most Excellent Cathedral Chapter have been so good as to Doate to Opu
s Dei, have arrived in Rome. I cannot fail to express my thanks to Your Excellen
cy-and I will also directly thank the Chapter-for this generosity, which has so
moved me.
Those venerable stones of our holy cathedral church, once well restored here in
Italy by these sons of mine, will occupy a place of honor in our central headqua
rters.
Thank you once again, Your Excellency, for this act of kindness. We will forever
remember it with profound appreciation.[8]

The baptismal font was not the only casualty of that Marxist barbarism. The city
register of Barbastro suffered even greater harm. Documents and entire archives
were reduced to ashes. The birth certificate now in Barbastro is not, then, the
original of 1902, but, rather, a certified copy made in 1912.[9] One might note
that this copy has a few slight errors with regard to names and places. This wo
uld have meant little to Josemara's father were it not for the fact that a partic
ular spelling mistake was injurious to him and his family.
The fact is that in some documents the name "Escriv" shows up misspelled as "Escr
iba."[10] This spelling error is really quite innocent and not at all surprising
, given the fact that in Spanish there is no phonetic difference between the let

ters band v. The trouble is, though, that if the name is pronounced without the
accent being put on the final syllable, it immediately suggests something very d
ifferent: the Gospel's pairing, not at all complimentary, of "scribes and Pharis
ees."
When his classmates flippantly joked about the "escribas and Pharisees," these l
ittle taunts made Josemara blush.[11] Nor did his sister Carmen escape these digs
. The situation continued until one day their indignant father rose in defense o
f the family name and insisted that Josemara never put up with such an affront. T
his advice became so deeply engraved in the mind of the son that he waged war on
the offending b. In May or June of 1935, in a note about his interior life, he
said regarding the special care he took with his signature, " Around 1928 I bega
n to exaggerate the v in my family name just so that nobody would write 'Escriv'
with a b." And a few years later, in a note written in October 1939, he said, "I
t was my father (who is now in heaven) who ordered me not to tolerate having tha
t b put in my family name. He said something to me about our heritage?."[12]
Even the priest who baptized him at the cathedral did not avoid that spelling er
ror. Monsignor Escriv did not discover the mistake on his baptismal certificate u
nti11960, as we can read in a letter he wrote to someone who had just sent him a
photocopy of it. "I was happy," he says, "to receive the photocopy of my baptis
mal certificate, but I notice that the good Father Angel Malo made a mistake in
the name 'Escriv,' writing it with a b. Would it be possible-I'm sure it would be
-to add a marginal note correcting this?"[13]
Similar complaints show that Josemara's defense of his family name was a campaign
of long duration. This manifestation of family loyalty reveals, too, a deep und
erstanding between father and son.
But who were the Escrivs? Where did their ancestors come from? During the twelfth
century, forebears of theirs came from Narbonne and crossed the Pyrenees to set
tle in the Catalonian region of Balaguer, in the district of Lerida, which borde
rs on Upper Aragon. The branch of the Escrivs which remained in that region attac
hed the place name "de Balaguer" to the family name, while another part of the f
amily established themselves in Valencia after Jaime I the Conquistador took tha
t city in 1238.[14] Josemara Escriv, being a descendant of the Catalonian branch,
in 1940 requested and obtained legal permission to use "Escriv de Balaguer" as hi
s last name to distinguish him from the other branches of the family.[15]
Josemara's great-grandfather Jose Maria Escriv Manonelles, who was born in Balague
r in 1796, studied medicine in Perarrua, settled there, and married Victoriana Z
aydin y Sarrado.* The couple had six children, one of whom became a priest. Thei
r second child, Jose Escriv Zaydin, married Constancia Corztin Manzana, a native
of Fonz, uniting illustrious names of the Ribagorza lineages with some of those
of the Somontano Aragonese. This couple also had six children. The youngest, Jos
e, became the father of our Josemara.[16]
Don Jose Escriv Zaydin-who, since he died in 1894, never knew his grandson-held p
ositions in local government from time to time, having to ride out the fluctuati
ons and misfortunes of that era. As we know, there were fierce ideological and p
artisan battles, various Carlist wars, and, on several occasions, blatant persec
utions of the Church. Judging by the anecdotes about him that have come down to
us, he seems to have been a man who was very conservative in his habits and deep
ly rooted in the village in which he had established himself, since Fonz, the an
cestral home of his mother, is where all the family remained- all, that is, exce
pt the youngest son, the father of Josemara.[17]
Perhaps the crises which the farming country of Upper Aragon suffered in the yea
rs around 1887 forced young Jose to earn his living away from Fonz. The persiste
nt droughts, the severe snowstorms, and, as a finishing touch to those disasters
, the plant lice in the vineyards forced many to abandon their lands. At any rat
e, it is clear that by some time in 1892 the young man had already established h
imself in Barbastro, a short distance from Fonz.[18] He lived on Rio Ancho Stree
t, in a house owned by Cirilo Latorre, on the ground floor of which was a textil
e business actually named Cirilo Latorre, but more commonly known in the village
as Casa Servando. Shortly after the death of his father, young Jose joined with
Jernimo Mur and Juan Juncosa to create a company called Successors of Cirilo Lat

orre. Later, when Senor Mur retired in 1902, the other two partiers set up a new
company called Juncosa & Escriv.[19]

* * *

Doa Dolores Albas y Blanc, Josemara's mother, belonged to a family originally from
Ainsa, the capital of Sobrarbe, which is halfway between Barbastro and the peak
s of the Pyrenees. In the eighteenth century the Albas family became part of the
rural nobility of the region, but they did not establish themselves in Barbastr
o until well into the nineteenth century, when, in 1830, a certain Manuel Albas
Lines married Simona Navarro y Santias.[20] Four children were born of this marr
iage. The older two, Pascual and Juan, married on the same day two sisters: Flor
encia and Dolores Blanc. The two couples apparently got along quite well, since
they occupied adjoining apartments in the same building (at 20 Via Romero). Soon
, because of all the children living there, the building became known as "the ch
ildren's house."[21]
Pascual and Florencia already had twelve children (nine surviving) when Florenci
a gave birth to twin daughters in 1877. The girls were baptized with the names D
olores and Maria de la Concepcin. The latter died two days after birth. The other
grew up and became the mother of Josemara. And when he, as a priest, wanted to e
mphasize the great spiritual benefit of early initiation into Christian life thr
ough baptism, he cited the case of his parents, "who were baptized on the very d
ay they were born, even though they were born healthy."[22] This is corroborated
by their baptismal certificates. His mother's reads, "I...solemnly baptized a g
irl born at two o'clock in the afternoon of this same day [March 23, 1877]." And
his father's reads, "I...solemnly baptized a boy born at twelve o'clock noon of
this same day [October 15,1867]."[23]
As we see, the family was large and solidly Catholic. Thus it is not surprising
that at the time of his reception into the bosom of Holy Mother the Church, the
infant Josemara had three uncles who were priests: Father Teodoro, a brother of D
on Jose; and Vicente and Carlos, brothers of Doa Dolores. He also had, on his mot
her's side, two aunts who were nuns: Cruz and Pascuala. And that is to say nothi
ng of more distant relatives.[24]
On January 10, 1938, during the Spanish Civil War, when the founder was in Burgo
s, he met a parish priest from Madrid who told him with great delight that he wa
s a friend of Carlitos, Alfredo, and Jose, three priest relatives of his mother.
[25] This anecdote was usually capped off with the remark, "You see, my mother's
family has acquaintances even in Siberia!"[26] This was, of course, just an exp
ression, simply a reference to the number of his mother's relatives. Don Carlos,
Don Alfredo, and Don Jose were three priests related to those two brothers who
married sisters on the same day.
On September 19,1898, Don Jose Escriv, "a bachelor, native of Fonz, resident of B
arbastro, merchant," contracted marriage with Doa Dolores Albs, "a single woman, n
ative and resident of Barbastro." The groom was thirty; the bride was twenty-one
. The marriage was celebrated in the chapel of Santo Cristo de los Milagros (Chr
ist of the Miracles) in the cathedral. The priest was Father Alfredo Sevil: uncl
e of the bride, vicar general of the archdiocese of Valladolid, one of those rel
atives known "even in Siberia."[27]
The Christ of the Miracles was a beautiful medieval wood carving kept in a chape
l within the cathedral precincts. Originally, in 1714, the chapel had been const
ructed on one of bastions of the old fortress. This fusion of cathedral with ram
part, so frequently found in the many fortress cities of the Middle Ages, was a
symbol reflecting the history of the city's inhabitants.
The saga of Barbastro began with the rising of the native population against the
Romans on the death of Julius Caesar. This was followed by a siege of the town
by the legion of Sextus Pompey. Later there came successive and unstoppable wave
s of invaders: Visigoths, Franks, and Muslims. Barbastro grew, and in the eleven
th century it became an important and well-fortified garrison town of the Mooris
h kingdom of Saragossa. An Arab historian called it "the country's citadel." It
was a rich and populous city, with good gardens and even better walls. In 1064 C

hristians laid siege to the fortress, since it was a wedge that extended Moorish
power as far as the valleys of the Pyrenees. Pope Alexander II proclaimed a cru
sade, and troops from Italy and Burgundy answered the call. Near Barbastro they
were joined by Norman soldiers under the command of the duke of Aquitaine, by th
e forces of the bishop of Vichy, and by Catalonians led by the count of Urgel.[2
8] In August of that year the Christian troops broke into the fortified town, bu
t they were forced out the following year after a brief siege led by Moct3dir, t
he Moorish king of Saragossa. In that passing victory of the Christians, legend
found a basis for elaborating a heroic epic poem (having little to do with histo
ry) entitled Le siege de Barbastre.[29]
In 1100 the city was definitively reconquered by King Pedro I of Aragon, who the
n granted it a municipal charter. The main mosque was converted into a cathedral
, to which the old episcopal see of Roda was transferred. It was in the cathedra
l of Barbastro that the union of Aragon and Catalonia was forged, through the ma
rriage of Doa Petronila, daughter of King Ramiro "the Monk," to King Ramon Bereng
uer IV of Catalonia. Barbastro was granted the rank of a city of nobility and wa
s the seat of a royal court convoked in 1196. Its glory would not last long. The
cities of Upper Aragon would become shadows of the past as the military and com
mercial frontiers moved south. But the Aragonese historian Jeronimo Zurita menti
ons that after the taking of Barbastro, the rough mountaineers of the north "mad
e war on the Moors, not in the measured, step-by-step way that they had done thi
s before, but with incredible fury and excess."[30]
Time went by. The walls and turrets which for so many years had encircled the tw
o old castles of Barbastro were demolished in 1710 by the duke of Atalaya. And,
it is said, it was on the site of one of those castles that the chapel in which
the parents of Josemara were married was built. The moat was filled with earth, w
hich made it easier for the city to spread out, and the bastions were flattened.
Barbastro enjoyed centuries of peace, disturbed only on rare occasions. But in i
ts heart there remained embedded the thorn of historic unrest.
King Pedro I, after taking Barbastro, created there a diocesan see which rivaled
that of neighboring Huesca. This caused interminable ecclesiastical conflicts.
In 1500, to reaffirm their independence from the diocese of Huesca, the citizens
of Barbastro built a cathedral of their own. Stubbornly insisting on its claims
, they finally succeeded, through petitions and pressure brought to bear by King
Philip II, in getting Pope Pius V to establish the diocese of Barbastro. But ju
st when the diocese got to the point of "rocking serenely in the shade of its gl
orious memories and traditions," laments a historian of the last century, it was
once again incorporated into the diocese of Huesca, by virtue of the Concordat
of 1851 between Spain and the Holy See, and the cathedral was sadly relegated to
the category of a collegiate church.[31]
The whole city felt hurt and insulted by that deed. And this created a certain u
nderstanding between Barbastro's ecclesiastical and civil authorities. Thanks to
the tenacity of the city's administrators, application of this provision of the
Concordat remained suspended. Later, in accord with the wishes of the Holy See
and by a royal decree enacted in 1896, an apostolic administrator was appointed
for the diocese.[32]

* * *

Soon after their wedding, Jose and Dolores Escriv moved into a house on Calle May
or-a house facing the impressive Argensola building. The apartment they lived in
was a large one. Some of its balconies looked out onto the comer of the adjacen
t plaza, which was in the very center of the city, not far from General Ricardos
Street, on which was located Jose's business-the one bearing the trade name Suc
esores de Cirilo Latorre.
In 1899, on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel July 16), a daughter was born
to the young couple. She was given the names Maria del Carmen, Constancia, and F
lorencia (the last two in honor of her grandmothers). On the baptismal certifica
te of their daughter, the parents are described as "residents and merchants" of
Barbastro.[33] The term "merchants" did not call into question their social posi

tion, notes the Baroness of Valdeolivos (with some obvious concern for status di
stinctions), because "the merchants, in those days in Barbastro, were the city's
aristocracy." She adds that the couple's financial situation was " good and com
fortable" and that they were "highly esteemed in the town."[34]
Don Jose, an enterprising and methodical type of person, had within a few years
of establishing himself in Barbastro a network of commercial contacts that exten
ded throughout the entire region, although his center of operations continued to
be the building on General Ricardos Street. Barbastro, the chief town in the di
strict was the commercial center for many of the surrounding villages, and had o
ver seven thousand residents. Because of its good location-between Huesca and Le
rida, two provincial capitals-and because of its railroad connection with the Ba
rcelona-Saragossa line, it was the center of trade and other business transactio
ns for the whole region. Its periodic agricultural and cattle fairs kept this ac
tivity alive.
After eight years of permanent residence, Don Jose Escriv already had a well-esta
blished place in the social life of Barbastro. He was a familiar sight at church
, on the street, and at the club. His elegant appearance alone was enough to att
ract attention. From afar one could see the careful way he dressed- conservative
, and very tasteful. He wore a derby hat and carried a walking stick, as was the
custom at the time. He was a gentleman, courteous, agreeable, and kind, althoug
h not overly outgoing, and somewhat sparing in his speech. He always showed fair
ness toward his subordinates, generosity toward the needy, and piety toward God.
His time was basically divided between business and home.[35]
Both business and home prospered. When 1902 arrived, the couple had another chil
d: a boy, born on January 9. He was given, as his first name, the name of his fa
ther. (Years later he combined his first two baptismal names to form Josemara," b
ecause of his devotion to Saint Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary. He always th
ought of them as being together.[36])
With a new baby in the house, Doa Dolores ("Lola" to her family) had another pers
on to look after; and there was also the nanny. The lady of the house, almost te
n yeal46 younger than her husband, was a woman of medium height, genteel manners
, and a serene beauty. Graced with a natural dignity, she was sincere and easygo
ing in her conversation. Those who knew her considered her outstanding for her "
patience and balanced personality," inherited, perhaps, from her mother, Florenc
ia, who did such a good job rearing her own large family, of whom Doa Lola was th
e second to youngest child.[37]
Following the obstinate tug-of-war between the Episcopal sees and then the reest
ablishment of peace by the royal decree of 1896, in 1898 (the year of the weddin
g of Josemara's parents) Bishop Antonio Ruano y Martin was installed as the first
apostolic administrator of Barbastro. The new prelate found himself faced with
such a backlog of work that he set out to handle it with sweeping measures. On A
pril 23, 1902, using broad criteria and implementing a traditional and legitimat
e practice of the Spanish churches (a practice dating back to the Middle Ages),
he administered the sacrament of Confirmation to all the children of the city: 1
30 boys and 127 girls.[38] In the parish record of this collective Confirmation,
the names of all the children are entered, in alphabetical order. In the boys'
group appears Josemara, who was then three months old, and in the girls' group, h
is sister Carmen, who was not quite three years.[39]
When the boy was about two years old, his parents felt the time had come to star
t making a historical record of his childhood. But when they tried to take, for
the family album, a photo of him naked, he cried so hard and threw such a fit th
at they gave up that idea. Doa Lola, with resignation and patience, put his cloth
es back on him. The photo taken for posterity catches him in a moment in which h
e can't decide whether to cry or not, with something between a pout and a smile
on his face.[40]
Around that time he came down with a serious illness, possibly an acute infectio
n, and nearly died. Relatives and acquaintances remember this episode in detail.
The doctors had given up on the child; they had "already predicted a fatal outc
ome, inevitable and imminent.?[41] One evening, Dr. Ignacio Camps Valdovinos, th
e family doctor, came to visit the child. He was an experienced physician with a

good clinical eye, but in those days there was no way to stop the course of a v
irulent infection. Given the seriousness of the situation, another doctor who wa
s a friend of the family-Dr. Santiago G6mez Lafarga, a homeopathic physician-had
also come to the Escriv home. But there came a moment when Dr. Camps had to say
to Don Jose, I'm sorry, Pepe, he won't make it through the night.
With much faith, the parents went on asking God to cure their son. Doa Dolores, w
ith great confidence, began a novena to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, and the co
uple promised our Lady that if their child recovered, they would take him on a p
ilgrimage to her shrine of Torreciudad.
Early the next morning, assuming that the child had died, Dr. Camps called on th
e family again, to share their sorrow. "What time did the boy die?" was the firs
t question he asked when he came in. Don Jose joyfully answered that not only wa
s he not dead, but he was completely cured. The doctor went into the little one'
s room and saw him in his crib, holding on to the bars and jumping around like a
ny healthy child.
The parents kept their promise. On horseback, along winding mountain trails, the
y traveled the fourteen long miles. Doa Lola, riding sidesaddle and carrying the
boy in her arms, was frightened by all the jolting they experienced between the
crags and deep gorges which plunge to the Cinca River. Perched on a steep hillto
p is the shrine of Torreciudad. There, at the feet of our Lady, they offered the
child in thanksgiving.[42]
Recalling this episode years later, Doa Dolores repeated more than once to her so
n, "My son, it must be for something great that our Lady left you in this world,
because you were more dead than alive."[43] For his part, Josemara left written
testimony, in 1930, of his conviction that he had been cured by the Blessed Virg
in: "My Lady and my Mother! You gave me the grace of my vocation; you saved my l
ife when I was a child; you have listened to me so many times!"[44]

2. Those fair days of my childhood

Not a trace of that illness remained. Josemara enjoyed very good health. He was,
in fact, "the envy of all the mothers of Barbastro," who day after day saw the b
oy sitting on the balcony, legs dangling between the bars, and happily waving to
the passersby.[45]
Strong and lively, the little boy also had a great capacity for observation, tha
nks to which he forever retained in his memory things from very early in his lif
e. Among those first memories were the prayers that he learned from the lips of
his mother, and which, with the help of Don Jose or Doa Dolores, he recited upon
awakening or when going to bed. These were children's prayers, short and simple,
to the Child Jesus, our Lady, or his guardian angel. Here is one of them:

O Guardian Angel, to you I pray,

Desert me not, by night or day.
If you were to leave me, where would I be?
O Guardian Angel, pray for me.[46]

He also learned some prayers from his grandmothers. Here is one example:

Yours am I, I was born for Thee.

What is it, a Jesus, you want of me?[47]

Later he learned to recite the "Blessed Be Your Purity" prayer* and this act of
self-offering to our Lady:

O my Lady, a my Mother, I dedicate myself entirely to you. As proof of my filial

affection, I consecrate to you this day my eyes, my ears, my tongue, my heart-i
n a word, my whole self. Now that I am entirely yours, a Mother of Goodness, gua
rd and defend me as something of your very own.[48]

Throughout his life he felt very grateful to his parents for those prayers, whic
h were forever engraved in his mind and heart. He recited them frequently and re
turned to them in moments of spiritual dryness.[49]
He had not yet attained full use of reason when he started to enjoy taking part
in the family Rosary, going to Mass with his parents, and attending Saturday ser
vices at Saint Bartholomew's (an oratory, close to their house, where the Escrivs
went each Saturday to pray the Hail Holy Queen).[50] And he had very fond memor
ies connected with the family's Christmas celebrations. Together with Carmen, he
would help his father put up the Nativity scene. And the whole family sang Chri
stmas carols together. He remembered in particular the one which begins, "Mother
, there's a little boy at the door." This carol has a verse in which the Child J
esus repeats, "I have come down to earth to suffer." The song stayed with him fr
om the cradle to the grave. "When I was three years old," he would tell us, "my
mother would take me in her arms and sing me that song, and I would very happily
go to sleep."[51] In his last years he would be visibly moved, and would become
totally absorbed in prayer, whenever he heard this song at Christmastime.

* * *

Doa Lola devoted herself completely to her household. Together with her husband,
she centered her efforts on the education of Carmen and Josemara, creating a fami
ly environment to which those children whom the Lord later would send would be a
dded. The mistress of the house was a strong-minded woman with lots of common se
nse. So when her son, who like all other children had his whims and little likes
and dislikes, stubbornly refused to eat something, she would calmly say to him,
"You don't want to eat this? All right, don't eat it"; but she did not give him
anything else in its place.[52]
One day they set before him a dish he did not like. Realizing he would then have
to go hungry, he threw it against the wall, which was papered. They did not cha
nge the paper. For several months the splotch remained there, so that the memory
of his tantrum would be impressed on the child.[53]
The fine pedagogical gifts of his mother sometimes included a judicious use of p
roverbial sayings or moral axioms. To instances of carelessness, such as throwin
g clothes on the floor or leaving things in a mess, she would respond by saying,
"It's not somebody else's job to put back in order what we mess up." She never
ill-treated the domestic help or considered it beneath her dignity to serve othe
rs. "My rings won't falloff!" she used to say, and her example was a gentle and
continual invitation to her children. She also warned her children against makin
g rash judgments, saying to them, "We can easily misunderstand what other people
say." She said this so that they would never be scandalized on the basis of a m
ere suspicion.[54]
Through the years, wise words heard from Doa Dolores appear here and there in Jos
emara's reflections on human behavior. He tells us, for example:

When I was a child, two things bothered me a lot: having to kiss my mother's wom
en friends who came to visit, and wearing new clothes.
When I was dressed up in new clothes, I would hide under the bed and stubbornly
refuse to come out. My mother would give a few gentle taps on the floor, with on
e of the canes that my father used, and then I would come out-for fear of the ca
ne, not for any other reason.
Afterward my mother would say to me affectionately, "Josemara, be ashamed only of
sin." Many years later it dawned on me what a depth of meaning was in those wor
ds.[55]

It should be said on the boy's behalf that he had ample reason for finding it di
stasteful to be kissed by those good women-especially one very elderly lady (a d
istant relative of his grandmother) who had developed a bit of a mustache, which
scratched the child's face. His mother, of course, realized how much discomfort
these kisses caused Josemara, whose face was often left smudged with powder and
lipstick. So when one of these visitors was announced, Doa Dolores would tell her

son with a mischievous wink, "Mrs. So-and-So is coming well stuccoed, so we can
't make her laugh or else her face will peel off."[56]
The children never heard their parents quarrel. In their home there was always a
ffection, respect, and good treatment of the household staff, who were like part
of the family. When any of the maids got married, the couple would provide her
with a trousseau, as if she were their own daughter.[57]
The parents were early risers, even though they went to bed after the rest of th
e household. In the morning, Don Jose left for work with such strict punctuality
that one always knew where he was and when he would come home. The boy would wa
it with great impatience and excitement for his return. Sometimes he was too exc
ited to wait, and would go out to meet him. At times, Josemara would go to the st
ore on General Ricardos Street and entertain himself by counting the coins in th
e cash register, and his father would take advantage of the occasion to explain
the basics of addition and subtraction. And on the way home, in the fall, Don Jo
se would buy roasted chestnuts and put them in the pocket of his overcoat. Then
Josemara, standing on tiptoe, would put in his little hand in search of the chest
nuts, and would get a tender squeeze from his father's hand.[58]
For many years the people of Barbastro saw them take walks together. That intima
te relationship of confidence and friendship between father and son was due to t
he solicitude of Don Jose, which bred in Josemara generosity and sincerity. He ne
ver spanked him, though once he did give him an affectionate slap. This was when
the boy stubbornly refused to sit in a high chair in the dining room because he
wanted to be like the grown-ups.[59]
His father invited him to open his heart, and to share with him all his concerns
, in order to help the child learn to control the impulsive outbursts of his bud
ding personality and sacrifice personal preferences and whims. Don Jose listened
to him unhurriedly and answered to the boy's satisfaction the questions that ar
ose from a child's curiosity about life. Josemara as happy to see that his father
made himself available to be consulted, and that whenever he asked a question,
"he always took him seriously."[60]
Both husband and wife taught their children to practice charity with deeds and w
ithout ostentation, sometimes simply by the giving of spiritual counsel, at othe
r times with the addition of some alms. At that time it was customary in many Sp
anish towns and villages for the more well-to-do households to give weekly alms
on a particular day. A nephew tells us that the Escrivs practiced that custom. "D
on Jose," says Pascual Albcis, "was a great almsgiver. Every Saturday there was
a long line of poor people who came looking for alms, and he always had somethin
g for each of them."[61]
Young Josemara retained a vague memory of a Gypsy woman who did not come on Satur
day like the other poor people. From time to time he saw her enter the house, at
his mother's invitation, with a quiet self-assurance. The Gypsy, as if wrapped
in mystery, went in to speak with Doa Dolores where they knew they would not be i
nterrupted: in her bedroom, where not even the closest relatives were invited. T
he boy never found out the reason for these unusual visits. He only knew, in a v
ery vague way, that this Gypsy woman (whose name was Teresa) was someone who mad
e great sacrifices for her people and came to his mother for comfort and guidanc
e.[62]
For the boy it was a real pleasure to give to the beggars asking for alms at the
entrance of the cathedral the coins Don Jose gave him as they set out for Mass
on Sundays and holy days.[63] When they arrived at the cathedral, which was a da
untingly austere mass of stone, Josemara compassionately rushed to help a poor di
sabled man stationed near the entrance. Then, once inside, he looked up-by the l
ight sifting in through the high windows-from the intricacies of slender columns
to ornate ribbed arches in a vaulted ceiling. As he passed one of the side chap
els, he was always captivated by a beautiful image there: a recumbent statue of
our Lady. There was something about her expression that the boy found gently fas
cinating. On the feast of the Assumption this statue was presented for the vener
ation of the faithful, since it depicted the Dormition of our Lady.
When this same feast came around a quarter of a century later, on August 15, 193
1, these deeply felt childhood memories welled up in his heart. This is how he d

escribed it:

Feast of the Assumption of our Lady, 1931. ...I truly rejoice, feeling like I'm
there, with the Blessed Trinity, with the angels receiving their Queen, with all
the saints acclaiming our Lady and Mother.
And I remember those fair days of my childhood: the cathedral, so ugly on the ou
tside and so beautiful within ...like the heart of that land-good, Christian, an
d loyal-hidden under the rough exterior of the Aragonese peasant.
Then, in the middle of one of the side chapels, there stood a catafalque on whic
h rested a recumbent image of our Lady. The people went by, respectfully kissing
the feet of the Blessed Virgin of the Bed.
My mother, my father, my sisters, and I always went together to Mass. My father
gave us the alms that we happily brought to the disabled man who leaned against
the wall of the bishop's house. After that, I went on ahead to get holy water to
give to my family.* Then, Holy Mass. Afterward, every Sunday, in the chapel of
the Christ of the Miracles, we prayed the Creed. And on the feast of the Assumpt
ion, as I've already mentioned, it was obligatory to "adore," as we used to say,
the Virgin of the Cathedral.[64]

In his parents' home, Father Josemara recalled, "I was given a Christian upbringi
ng. I received more formation in the faith there than at school, even though at
the age of three I was taken to a school run by nuns, and then, at the age of se
ven, to one run by a religious order of priests."[65]
The nuns were Daughters of Charity. Their preschool and kindergarten, which Jose
mara attended from 1905 to 1908, consisted of a single room with several levels.
On the bottom level, the younger children were entertained with toys and songs a
nd were taught the alphabet. Meanwhile, in the back of the room, the part at hig
her levels, the nuns divided the older children into separate groups and taught
them catechism, Bible stories, and some "Basic Ideas of the Natural Sciences." (
These last classes were also known by the less lofty title of "Lessons about Thi
ngs.") Josemara stood out in the kindergarten, not so much by his own merits as b
y the fact that his parents had already taught him some catechism and arithmetic
, and had taught him to read. It was, however, a nun who initiated him into the
first stages of writing.[66]
From those years in preschool and kindergarten, he would always particularly rem
ember one painful thing that happened when he was just three. His memory of this
incident resulted largely from the kind of impression that is produced by inten
se feelings or any too rough collision with reality. It was no blind impression.
The boy's sensitivity, which was rather extraordinary, moved him to try to unde
rstand the meaning and consequences of things.
The incident was this. His nanny, when she came to pick him up at the end of the
school day, was told that Josemara had hit a little girl. This was not true, but
he nevertheless was given a sharp reprimand, and the unfairness of the accusati
on hurt him deeply. Such an understanding of the meaning of justice did the expe
rience give him that, from that day on, he remained firmly convinced of the impo
rtance of not judging until one has heard both sides of the story.[67]
The nuns had a good opinion of the youngster. In fact, in June 1908, when he com
pleted kindergarten, they proposed him as a contender in the competition for the
"Virtue Prize." This contest was part of a program of events set up by the apos
tolic administrator of Barbastro, Bishop Isidro Badia y Sarradell, to celebrate
the golden anniversary of Pope Pius X's ordination to the priesthood.[68] A pane
l was selected to award the prizes. The children were vying for the "thirty pese
tas of spending money" promised to" the child in each of the elementary schools
of this city who best serves as a model for the others because of his or her app
lication and good conduct."
October 4, 1908, was the date of the evening ceremony at which the bishop handed
out certificates to the contestants. In the virtue contest there were four winn
ers: one from the municipal elementary school, two from the Piarists' school, an
d Josemara from the school of the Daughters of Charity.
At the close of the ceremony, a telegram was sent to Rome relaying to Pope Pius,

for his jubilee, expressions of the filial love the whole diocese felt for him.
It brought this response: "Rome, the 6th. To the Apostolic Administrator: The H
oly Father thanks you for your filial homage on the occasion of his jubilee and
with all his heart blesses Your Excellency and all the authorities, clergy, and
faithful of Barbastro. Cardinal Merry del Val."[69]

3. First Communion

In October 1908 Josemara became a pupil of the Piarist Fathers. Their school in B
arbastro was the first that this religious order opened in Spain.[70] Its founde
r, Saint Joseph Calasanz, had been born in the very town in which Josemara's pate
rnal grandfather lived: Peralta de la Sal, which is about ten miles from Barbast
ro. The entrance to the school was not far from the Escriv home.
Two days after receiving the telegram from Cardinal Merry del Val, the bishop of
Barbastro started a pastoral visitation of the diocese. In the preceding month
the people of the cathedral parish, Our Lady of the Assumption, were reminded th
at it would be good for adults and all children able to do so to receive the sac
rament of Penance, so that they could receive the indulgences attached to the pa
storal visitation. It was during that school year of 1908-1909, when the boy was
attending the school of the Piarist Fathers, that Doa Dolores personally prepare
d her son for his First Confession. She then took him to her confessor, Father E
nrique Labrador.[71] Josemara was six or seven at this time.
In those days it was customary for men and boys to make their confession kneelin
g in front of the half door behind which the priest sat, while women and girls u
sed the grille on the side. When the good Piarist greeted him, the boy knelt dow
n, but he was too short to see over the half door. The priest had to open it and
let him kneel inside. As the penitent confessed his sins, Father Labrador liste
ned to him with a smile. For a moment the boy felt a little discouraged because
he thought he was not being taken seriously, as he always was by his father. But
then the confessor gave him a little advice and imposed on him a penance.
That first confession brought great peace to his soul. He ran home to announce t
hat he had a penance to do. His mother offered to help him. "No," said the littl
e one, "I have to do this penance all by myself. Father told me you should give
me a fried egg."[72]

* * *

By this time Josemara already had two younger sisters: Maria Asuncion, born on Au
gust 15, 1905, and Maria de los Dolores, born on February 10,1907. A third, Mari
a del Rosario, arrived on October 2,1909.[73]
With five children, the mother had acquired plenty of experience in managing a f
lock of noisy offspring. As did most women of her social position in those days,
she had a good staff of servants. Besides the cook and a cleaning woman, she ha
d a nanny and also a young man who came in from time to time to do the jobs that
were less suitable for women. Doa Dolores, a very hardworking woman with a great
deal of practical sense, could always be seen putting order in the house. When
the children came home from school, often with friends, they had a room set asid
e for their games-a room they called "the lions' den."[74] In dealing with them,
she was discreetly flexible-or, on the contrary, inflexible, depending on the s
ituation. Sometimes the little ones would get very noisy at table on special day
s, when chicken was served. Everyone had to have a leg! Doa Dolores, without gett
ing upset, would simply multiply chicken legs: three, four, six, as many as were
needed. But she didn't allow anyone to be unduly picky. Nor did she let the chi
ldren go into the kitchen to eat between meals. The kitchen was, of course, a co
nstant temptation for the children whereas Doa Dolores herself only went there oc
casionally, to see how things were going or to prepare some special treat.
One of these special treats was crespillos (little crepes), which showed up on h
er name day and on a few other special occasions.[75] This was a dessert anyone
could afford and involving no culinary secret except knowing how to present it j

ust right. It consisted simply of some spinach leaves coated with a batter of fl
our and eggs, fried with a little boiling oil, and then sprinkled with sugar and
served hot. In the Escriv home any ?crespillos? day was a thrill.
Apart from sweets and fried potatoes and such, there was another reason for the
boy to prowl the kitchen. The children would often be told little jokes or stori
es by the girls who worked there-especially Maria, the cook. She knew a story ab
out thieves. It had no tragedy or violence, and it was the one and only story sh
e knew. But she told it in such a masterful way that the child never tired of he
aring it.[76] Listening to Maria was what started awakening his own gifts as a s
toryteller.
Some afternoons when Carmen came home from school with friends and they went to
play in the "lions' den," Doa Dolores would graciously and affectionately enterta
in them or give them some old clothes to play with. "Often," recalls Esperanza C
orrales, "we were invited to stay for snack time, and I remember that we were gi
ven bread with chocolate bars and oranges."[77]
If Josemara was not out with his friends, he would come to the "lions' den" to am
use the girls. "He liked to entertain us," says the Baroness of Valdeolivos. "Of
ten we would go to his house and he would take his toys out for us. He had lots
of jigsaw puzzles."[78] He also had tin soldiers, and ninepins, and a large hors
e (made of heavy-duty cardboard) on wheels. The girls would take turns climbing
onto it, and he would pull them around the apartment by the halter. And if one o
f them got too noisy, the owner of the horse would pacify her with a little pull
of her braids.
"But what he liked best when he was with us," remembers Adriana, Esperanza's sis
ter, "was to sit on a rocking chair in the living room and tell us stories-usual
ly scary ones, intended to frighten us-that he made up himself. He had a vivid i
magination, and we-this included his sisters Chon and Lolita, who were younger t
han Josemara by three years and five years, respectively-listened to him attentiv
ely and were a little bit frightened."[79]

* * *

From 1908 to 1912, the year he started secondary school, Josemara received his "p
rimary education." According to the regulations then in effect, the school day c
onsisted of six hours of class: three in the morning and three in the afternoon.
But Josemara had a more extended schedule. In the evening he did his homework un
der the supervision of a tutor, so that he would get more out of it. Year after
year the pupils studied the same subjects, but in greater depth each year. The c
urriculum was an encyclopedic combination of different subjects ranging from bas
ics of hygiene and rudiments of law to singing and drawing.[80]
The most specialized and outstanding instruction given in that school was in the
art of handwriting. The Piarist Fathers were well known for the "Piarist script
"-an elegant, distinctively Spanish style of lettering characterized by tall, th
ick strokes and a lack of any ornamentation or eccentricity.[81] You had to work
at it a lot to master the skill. Beginners spoiled sheet after sheet of paper.
Their lines veered off into capricious curves like the contours of a mountain ra
nge, while they stained their fingers dunking their pens in the ink wells. Then
the teacher would come over and correct the children. He would show them how to
hold the pen, and, to help them keep their lines straight, would put sheets of h
eavily lined paper under their writing sheets, so that they could follow the nea
t parallel lines that showed through the translucent paper.
Years later, these memories summoned up supernatural metaphors in Josemara's mind
. God in his omnipotence, he once said, does not need lined paper or even a pen.
" As people write with a pen," he said, "our Lord writes with a leg of the desk
, so that we can see that he's the one doing the writing."[82]
Josemara soon acquired a handwriting that was readily recognizable throughout his
life. His personality comes through in the energetic outlines, large and simple
, that make even his earliest writing unmistakably identifiable, its strokes rev
ealing a decisive, frank, and generous temperament.
From early childhood, his sister Carmen once said, "he was very careful not to v

iolate the rights of others; he preferred to lose rather than have a classmate t
reated unfairly."[83] One of those classmates says something similar: Josemara "w
as not quarrelsome; he readily gave in rather than quarrel."[84] That is not to
say he was timid. That he wasn't can be deduced from a fight he had with a class
mate nicknamed "Pig Foot." For reasons no one has recorded, the two of them foug
ht it out until both were entirely satisfied. However, Josemara learned from the
experience that violence never changes the mind of one's opponent, so from then
on he re fused to have recourse to it. [85]
In his tendency to be generous with his companions we can see an incipient magna
nimity joined to a great delicacy in his treatment of people, as appears from th
e fact that his fight with "Pig Foot" was so exceptional. One thing that made a
lasting impression on him was an incident in which some children in Barbastro na
iled a bat to the wall and mercilessly threw stones at it. Josemara, whose natura
l sensitivity prevented him from taking part in such a cruel diversion, would ne
ver forget that terrible incident.[86]
He would also recall two occasions, when he was peacefully walking down the stre
et and a dog came up from behind and bit him, with no warning or provocation. He
bore the pain bravely and went to the house of his aunt Mercedes to have the wo
und treated, so as not to upset his mother.[87] Such occurrences toughened his c
haracter, enabling him to withstand greater moral and physical difficulties late
r on.
Never, though, did he manage to get over his natural dislike of wearing new clot
hes or calling attention to himself in any other way. Since he no longer could c
rawl under the bed, as he had done when he was small, he now adopted a new tacti
c. If, for example, the students were told to come to school dressed up for a cl
ass photo, Josemara would not mention this at home. Later, when the photo was sen
t to his parents, Doa Dolores was caught by surprise, but there was no need for q
uestions. She could see for herself that all the other mothers had made sure the
ir children were appropriately dressed. Her child was the only one not wearing S
unday clothes. "Josemara," she would say to him," do you want us to buy you secon
dhand clothes?"[88]
Although the Escriv is were well-off, they economized, using things others might
have considered no longer serviceable. Order prevailed. If a child broke a vase
or some other valuable object, it would immediately be glued back together or se
nt out for repair. There were several clocks in the house, and they all told the
same time. Don Jose, without being fanatic about it, loved punctuality, holding
that with a lack of order one never knows where he will end up. The mistress of
the house would often use a popular saying to get across this truth. When remin
ding her daughter Carmen to clean up after doing her needlework, for example, sh
e would say, "With threads left lying around, the devil makes a rope."[89]
Josemara's father was always his best friend. The boy would go to him for the sol
ution to any kind of problem or difficulty, knowing that Don Jose would provide
an answer that would satisfy him. Thus he came to understand, for instance, why
his parents gave him very little money, and that, at the same time, they had a l
ot of respect for him and his decisions. They did not open his letters to or fro
m his friends, nor did they spy on him. This confidence shown him by his parents
contributed more than a little to making him self-controlled and responsible.
From Don Jose he learned about the "social question": about relations between la
bor and management, associations for the defense of the common interests of empl
oyees, and the much-debated issue of the just wage for workers.[90] There were n
o major social conflicts in Barbastro. It had no big industries, nor even any la
rge estates. The petite bourgeoisie, the landholders who spent their time workin
g in the fields, and the local merchants all peacefully shared their bread and t
heir good manners with their employees. But despite all that and even though tha
t city, following centuries-old tradition, remained practicing and pious in matt
ers of religion, the country as a whole was being fragmented by ideological stri
fe.
Barbastro was not exempt from the social conflicts taking place in the rest of t
he country. Differences found expression at the meetings of its various circles
and clubs, which had such names as "The Union," "The Future," "The New Century,"

and "Friendship." (Don Jose was a member of this last one.) The regional press
reflected the currents of opinion of the different groups. Newspapers of the tim
e included La Cruz del Sobrarbe, La Epoca, El Pais, El Eco del Vero, and El Cruz
ado Aragones.[91]
Spanish Catholics found it very difficult to agree on how to resolve the "social
question." Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical Rerum Novarum (May 15, 1891), had c
larified doctrinally the ethical principles of the economic order, thus awakenin
g the consciousness of the faithful. However, the program of social renewal was
a long time coming; the example of other countries pulled Spaniards along.[92]
Between 1902 and 1915, the people of Barbastro, and in a special way Don Jose Es
criv, did seek a solution to the problem. In 1903 they founded a newspaper, El Cr
uzado Aragones (The Aragon Crusader); in 1907 they created the "Salon de Buenas
Lecturas" (Good Publications Reading Room); and in 1909 they set up a "Centro Ca
tolico Barbastrense" (Barbastro Catholic Center), whose purpose was to "promote
the defense and realization of a Christian civilization and social order, in acc
ord with the teachings of the Church."[93] And undoubtedly all these projects br
immed with good will. But the big battle was taking place in loftier intellectua
l environments-the universities and the various academic fields. Catholics soon
suffered the consequences of a regrettable intellectual laziness that had persis
ted for centuries.
Don Jose was responsible for the employees of Juncosa & Escriv, and also for thos
e of the chocolate shop attached to the textile business. He was a good employer
, not only paying his workers a just wage: but also tending to their spiritual n
eeds. Every year he arranged for them a series of Lenten conferences, paid for o
ut of his own pocket, and adjusted the work schedule so that everyone who wanted
to attend these conferences could, although, out of consideration, he himself d
id not, lest they feel pressured to do so.[94]

* * *

In Spain, as in many other countries, children had not, as a rule, been making t
heir First Communion before the age of twelve or thirteen. By a decree issued in
1910 by Pope Saint Pius X, the age requirement was lowered to when the use of r
eason is acquired, "which is at about the age of seven."[95] The timing of this
ruling coincided with preparations for the International Eucharistic Congress to
be celebrated in Madrid in June 1911. An intense catechetical effort was launch
ed in all the parishes of Spain, so that the greatest possible number of childre
n could receive Holy Communion.
A Piarist priest named Manuel Laborda de la Virgin del Carmen, or "Padre Manole,
" as he was affectionately called by his students, prepared Josemara for his Firs
t Communion. Some time before the long-awaited day arrived, he taught the boy a
prayer to use to keep that desire for the Eucharist ever alive: "I wish, my Lord
, to receive you with the purity, humility, and devotion with which your most ho
ly Mother received you; with the spirit and fervor of the saints."[96] From that
time on, Josemara recited this prayer very often.
On the evening before the appointed day a hairdresser was called in to give him
a nice, elegant look; but while gathering up some hair to make a curl, he burned
the boy's scalp with the hot curling iron. Josemara suffered it in silence, to a
void the hairdresser being taken to task or anyone getting upset. His mother did
eventually find out about it, but only much later, when she discovered the scar
left by the burn.[97] Thereafter he would find that on his special days, our Lo
rd would announce his presence with a touch of pain or a twinge that felt sweet,
"like a caress."[98]
He made his First Communion on April 23,1912, exactly ten years after his Confir
mation. It was the feast of Saint George, patron saint of Aragon and Catalonia,
and the traditional day for the First Communion ceremonies in the church of the
Piarists' school. At the moment of Communion, Josemara prayed for his parents and
sisters and asked Jesus for the grace of never letting him lose him.
He would always observe with an unabashed fervor the anniversaries of that wonde
rful day on which our Lord, as he put it, "chose to come and take possession of

my heart."[99]

4. Family misfortunes

On June 11, 1912, Josemara went to the city of Huesca, the provincial capital, to
take his entrance examination for secondary school.[100]
Upon his return, he found out that his sister Lolita was sick. Five years old, s
he was now the youngest child in the house, another of the girls, Rosario, havin
g died two years earlier, on July 11, 1910, at the age of only nine months. On t
he eve of the second anniversary of the death of her sister, Lolita went to join
her, leaving a sad void in the family.[101] There remained Josemara and two sist
ers: Carmen, his older sister, and Chon (Asuncion). Their parents accepted the m
isfortune very calmly, with no rebellion or turning away from God. Infant mortal
ity was high in those days, though this did not make it any less sad for the chi
ldren's families.
As they did every summer, the Escrivs went on vacation to Fonz, which, as was sai
d earlier, is a village on the other side of the Cinca River, about ten miles fr
om Barbastro. Situated on a small hill-the church at the very top, and the house
s scattered along the sides-the town had a few well-to-do families still living
in their 'ancestral homes. In one of these lived Josemara's grandmother Constanci
a with two of her children: Josefa and Father Teodoro. A visit from her third so
n, accompanied by her daughter-in-law and the grandchildren from Barbastro, was
always a thrill.
In those summer days Josemara's childish curiosity, though never totally satisfie
d, was captivated by the things of nature. He absorbed the landscapes and scenes
so full of color and movement, storing in his memory the wonderful little surpr
ises he experienced every day. Years later, when it came time for him to teach a
bout the interior life, the memories flowed warm and clear:

During my summer vacations, when I was little, I loved to watch bread being made
. Back then I wasn't trying to get any supernatural meaning out of it-I was only
interested because I knew the cook would give me a little rooster made out of t
hat dough. But I now enjoy the memory of the whole ritual. It was a real rite, f
irst of all, just to prepare the yeast well. They would take a little lump of fe
rmented dough from the previous batch and add it to the water and the sifted flo
ur. After the mixture was made and kneaded, they covered it with a towel and, wi
th it thus sheltered, let it rest until it swelled up as much as it possibly cou
ld. Then they put it in the oven, a portion at a time, and there came out that g
ood bread that's full of little holes-marvelous. Because the leaven was well pre
served and prepared, it let itself be dissolved-disappear-in the midst of the mi
xture, that large mass, which owed its quality and value to it.
May it fill our hearts with joy to think about our being just that: leaven which
makes the mass ferment. [102]

The family made excursions to the mountains-to the Buftero Mountains, among whos
e foothills Fonz is located, or even higher yet, through valleys climbing gradua
lly up to the Pyrenees:

One of my most vivid childhood memories is of seeing, up in the mountains near m

y home, those signposts they planted alongside the hill paths. I was struck by t
hose tall posts usually painted red. It was explained to me then that when the s
now fell, covering up everything, paths, seeded fields and pastures, thickets, b
oulders and ravines, the poles stood out as sure reference points, so that every
one would always know where the road went.
Something similar happens in the interior life. There are times of spring and su
mmer, but there are also winters, days without sun and nights bereft of moonligh
t. We can't afford to let our friendship with Jesus depend on our moods, on our
ups and downs.[103]

He later attached what he called "supernatural inferences" to everyday events, t

o the kinds of work the people did at home and in the fields, and to the customs
of the village. In his poetic recalling of these everyday things, spiritual ple
asures and sufferings come to life:

I remember how in my country, when harvest season came and they did not yet have
these modem agricultural machines, they lifted the heavy bundles of wheat by ha
nd and loaded them on the backs of mules or poor little donkeys. And come a cert
ain time in the day, around noon, the wives, the daughters, the sisters would co
me-with scarves gracefully draped over their heads, so that their more delicate
skin would not get sunburned-and bring them cool wine. That drink refreshed the
tired men, encouraged them, strengthened them. ...That is how I see you, a Bless
ed Mother. When we struggle to serve God, you come to encourage us throughout th
is journey. Through your hands all graces come to us.[104]

Finally, in his Gospel commentaries we find images preserving intact some memori
es from the times and places of his childhood:

I remember seeing, as a child, the shepherds all bundled up in their sheepskin j

ackets in the bitter days of winter in the Pyrenees, when all was covered with s
now, coming down through the ravines of that homeland of mine with those very fa
ithful dogs and that donkey loaded with all the provisions. At the top of the lo
ad were some pots, for preparing their meals, and also medicinal concoctions for
any wounds that their sheep might get.
If one of the sheep did get injured-if it got a broken leg, for example-the old
picture from the Gospel came to life. The shepherd carried it on his shoulders.
I also saw how the shepherd-shepherds are rough men who don't look like they're
capable of any tenderness-would lovingly carry in his arms a newborn lamb.[105]

From this attentive observation of people and things he extracted all sorts of l
essons: for example, about the apparent foolishness of scattering seed that will
then be buried in the ground and lost to view, and about the constant, indispen
sable work of the donkey who keeps walking around and around in circles to turn
the waterwheel. But he incurred a special spiritual debt to his grandmother Cons
tancia. Seeing her with a rosary constantly in her hands made it easier for him
to understand that all our efforts must be based on unceasing prayer.[106]

* * *

That fall of 1912, Josemara began his secondary-school studies. Class hours were
from nine to twelve, and then in the afternoon from two to five. But the student
s arrived an hour earlier every morning, to attend Mass in the school chapel. Th
ey wore jackets of navy blue with metal buttons and caps with patent leather vis
ors.
Classes for the first year included Spanish, Geography, Arithmetic and Geometry,
and Religion. When Josemara took his exams at the Institute of Lerida, the grade
s he got were exceptionally high.[107]
The boy's character was maturing, which meant, among other things, that he was b
ecoming less talkative and more thoughtful. By all indications it was during tha
t school year of 1912-1913, not long after he had lost those two little sisters,
that he did something most astonishing. One afternoon his sisters Carmen and Ch
on were playing with some friends in the "lions' den," making castles out of a d
eck of cards. "We were just finishing one," relates the Baroness of Valdeolivos,
"when Josemara reached out with one hand and knocked it over on us. We started c
rying and asked him, 'Why did you do that, Josemara?' And he, in a very serious t
one of voice, answered us, 'That's exactly what God does with people. You build
a castle, and when it's almost finished, God knocks it over on you.?[108]
Thoughts long repressed may just then have violently burst into his consciousnes
s. In any case, a new realization had dawned on him: God is the proprietor of so
uls, and he disposes of them unconstrained by any personal plans of ours.

At the end of the next summer, Chon fell gravely ill. She was eight years old. o
ne day, says the Baroness of Valdeolivos, Josemara "was playing with me and the o
ther kids, and he said to us, 'I'm going to go see how my sister is doing.' He a
sked about her, and his mother answered, ' Asuncion is already well-she's alread
y in heaven.'"[109]
It was October 6, 1913. The parents did not want Carmen or Josemara to go into th
e bedroom where the body of little Chon, wrapped in a shroud, was laid. But at a
moment when no one was looking, the boy went in to pray and to say goodbye to h
is little sister. It was the first time he saw a dead body.[110]
He thought a lot about all that: about the innocence of the little girls; about
their disappearance, going from youngest to oldest; and about the disturbing pro
ximity of the three deaths. Slowly reviewing the facts of the case in his imagin
ation, he concluded that, following the natural course of the deaths, after Chon
's recent departure he would be the next to die. And he did not hesitate to say
so quite openly. "Next year it's my turn," he would say.[111] Then Doa Dolores, t
o calm him down, would remind him how our Lady had saved him when he was little,
and how they had taken him on that pilgrimage to Torreciudad. "Don't worry," sh
e would finish reassuringly, "I offered you to our Lady, and she will take care
of you." After a while Josemara stopped talking about his approaching death, beca
use of the confidence his mother's words instilled in him and because of the suf
fering these dire prophecies were causing her.
The school year of 1913-1914 was a sedative for his soul, a brief break before c
oming tribulations. He threw himself completely into his studies.
The Piarists were very devout and well trained as teachers. Josemara felt a since
re affection for them. He admired their patience. And just as he would forever r
emember the little tunes the nuns had taught him in kindergarten to help him mem
orize the alphabet and certain prayers, that school year of 1913-1914 would leav
e the Latin ditty Qui, Quae, Quod engraved in his mind.[112] His favorite subjec
t, however, was mathematics, in which he won first place every year. It?s exacti
tude, the mental discipline involved, the logic of the deductions, and the metho
d of reasoning, all so tidy and precise, appealed to him. He got along well with
the teacher, and he was the best student in the class. But the teacher had no i
dea of the fire that the boy had in him, that would make him impetuously explode
against the slightest injustice. One day he summoned him to the blackboard to b
e quizzed about some material supposedly previously covered. The question had no
t yet been covered in class, but the teacher insisted that he answer it. The stu
dent was infuriated. He slammed the eraser against the blackboard, did an aboutface, and on his way back to his desk loudly protested, "We've never had that qu
estion!"[113]
The story doesn't end there, though. As he himself tells it. A few days later I
was walking down the street with my father, and we ran into this very same friar
. I thought, uh-oh, now he's going to tell my father what I did. ...But in fact
he just stopped, made some kind of pleasant remark, and said good-bye without sa
ying a word about it. I was so grateful to him for his silence that I still pray
for him every day."[114]
At the end of that school year Josemara went to Lerida with his classmates to tak
e the state exams. In those circumstances, far from school and without any super
vision, students sometimes drifted into inappropriate conversations. Josemara wou
ld try to change the subject or else go off by himself to say the Rosary in repa
ration. On more than one night he fell asleep saying the Rosary.[115]
He did spectacularly well in his examinations. Juventud, a weekly paper publishe
d by the diocese of Barbastro, actually reported the marks he received.[116]

* * *

At first sight, the financial ruin which now came upon the Escrivs seems like jus
t one more calamity in an uninterrupted series of family calamities. One person
who witnessed all these events sums them up this way: "Within a few years they w
ent from a comfortable financial situation to the collapse of the business which
supported them. And in those same years the three girls born after Josemara died

, one after another. "[117]

Later, Josemara would find a supernatural key and a deeper significance to those
events, which fell like a deluge on the whole family:

I have always made those I had around me suffered a lot. I haven't brought on ca
tastrophes, but the Lord, to hit me, who was the nail (pardon me, Lord), landed
one blow on the nail and a hundred on the horseshoe. I saw my father as the pers
onification of Job. He lost three daughters, one after the other in consecutive
years, and then lost his fortune. I suffered scorn from my little colleagues, be
cause children don't have a heart, or don't have a head, or perhaps lack both he
ad and heart. ...[118]

Carmen and her brother did not find out about the trouble their father's busines
s was in until Don Jose and Doa Dolores no longer had any choice but to tell them
. Don Jose did not want to make his children share in his sufferings any sooner
than necessary, so he kept back the news for a time-but only a short time, as it
turned out, because it was impossible to hide for long the imminent ruin of his
business. It all happened in the brief interval between two autumns: between Oc
tober 1913, when Chon died, and the last weeks of 1914, when Juncosa & Escriv def
initively collapsed.
During that year the entire region was hit by an economic recession that caused
the closing and liquidation of many businesses, including that of Mauricio AlbLi
s, one of Doa Dolores' brothers. But the case of the collapse of Juncosa & Escriv
was different.[119]
First there was a failure on the part of Jernimo Mur, an old business partner of
Don Jose, to honor certain commitments. Don Jose "suffered a terrible financial
blow," says Martin Sambeat, " owing, as I heard it from my parents, to the fact
that a business partner of his did not act as a good partner." Adriana Corrales,
echoing the rumors that circulated around Barbastro, relates that "the family's
friends thought it was ultimately the result of a dirty trick played on that go
od man, Don Jose Escriv."[120]
At any rate, within a few months the setbacks began to do away with whatever sup
erfluous comfort there might have been in Josemara's home. The process was visibl
e and rapid. Friends of Carmen have described it. From the beginning, says one,
"they had to give up a lot of things."[121] Soon after Chon died, the nanny was
let go, and then their cook, and later the maid. Carmen helped her mother with t
he household chores, and the two of them adapted to their straitened circumstanc
es without complaint. Indeed, compared to the moral suffering and humiliation th
ey had to put up with, the disadvantages of being relatively poor in material te
rms were a very minor inconvenience. The couple explained to their children the
importance of accepting joyfully this new financial situation that the Lord had
allowed to befall them. One day Don Jose called the whole family together and ex
plained how they should deal with this poverty. "We must look at everything with
a sense of responsibility," he said. "On the one hand, we must not live beyond
our means. But on the other hand, we must live this poverty with dignity, even t
hough it is a humiliation. We must live it without others noticing it and withou
t telling them about it."[122]
The surprising thing in this turn of events was not the fortitude shown by Don J
ose, or the spirit of sacrifice shown by all the Escrivs in their serene acceptan
ce of their reversal of fortune. After all, the collapse of the business was at
least in part a result of circumstances, including a general economic crisis, th
at existed allover the country. What was really surprising, to relatives and out
siders alike, was a heroic decision made by Don Jose. Having lost his business,
his son tells us, he " could nevertheless have remained in a very comfortable si
tuation for those times, had he not been a Christian and a gentleman. "[123]
That Christian gentlemanliness lies in the fact that he forgave, right away and
with the best will, those who caused his financial ruin. He prayed for them and
refrained from ever bringing up the subject, lest the family feel resentment tow
ard them. In addition, once the company had been legally decreed bankrupt and it
was obvious that its assets were not sufficient to payoff the creditors, he che

cked to see if he had an obligation, in strict justice, to compensate them from

his private funds. And although he was told that he definitely had no moral obli
gation to do this,[124] the honorable man nevertheless acted according to his ow
n sense of justice and "sold all that he had in order to pay the creditors."[125
]
He disposed of his goods, sold the house, paid off all his debts, and ended up r
uined. Not to the point, however, of not having enough to eat or not having a pe
nny to his name. Yet Josemara's friends heard such rumors at home and took them q
uite literally, as appears from this story told by the Baroness of Valdeolivos:
"I remember things I heard that got stuck in my mind and caused me to be surpris
ed when I saw Josemara, one afternoon, having a snack of bread and ham. I said to
my mother, 'Mama, why do they say that the Escriv are so bad off? Josemara had a
very good snack today.' My mother explained to me that actually they were not th
at bad off, not so bad off that they couldn't have a decent snack."[126]
Some of Doa Dolores' relatives, deeming her husband's conduct naive, were unsympa
thetic and critical. What, after all, did he think would really be accomplished
by this romantic, extravagant, heroic feat of giving up things the family needed
?
Josemara, comments Pascual Albcis, "had to suffer plenty, because his family went
through very difficult and sad times. Some of his uncles purposely distanced th
emselves so that they would not have to give them any help."[127] One of these u
ncles was Father Carlos Albcis, a brother of Doa Dolores. He went around referrin
g to the conduct of his brother-in-law as colossal stupidity. "Pepe has been a f
ool," he said. "He could have retained a good financial position, and instead he
's reduced himself to misery."[128]
These hardships, however, brought the Escrivs even closer together. His wife and
children felt proud of the noble decision made by the head of the family. Such C
hristian behavior aroused in Josemara feelings of admiration that made him exclai
m many years later, "I have a holy pride: I love my father with all my heart, an
d I believe he has a very high place in heaven, because he managed to bear in su
ch a dignified, marvelous, Christian way all the humiliation that came with find
ing himself out on the street."[129]
At the same time, though, the boy did feel a strong inner rebellion against the
hardships that resulted from this trial, and especially against the painful humi
liations that it brought him. Later, in fact, he would ask forgiveness from the
Lord, confessing his resistance to accepting the situation of the family: "I reb
elled against that situation. I felt humiliated. I ask pardon."[130]
Again and again he pondered those designs of Divine Providence which dashed to t
he ground the plans of human beings and which, showing no consideration, sent fi
nancial ruin and other sorrows to faithful Christians. Only the deep, exemplary
faith of the parents enabled the son to rise above these trials.

* * *

During 1914, months before bankruptcy was officially decreed, Don Jose was worri
ed about the future of his family. The Escrivs' financial position had descended
to a level which was incompatible with their traditional social status. Within t
he privacy of their home they were ready to live in poverty, but circumstances o
utside the home prevented them from going on as before. Barbastro was a small ci
ty in which it would be difficult to rebuild a business right after its collapse
. Don Jose did not have savings or family money that he could use. Living with a
ll those misunderstandings, or having to face those who had abused his trust and
led to the downfall of himself and his family, would have been very hard on the
dignity of such a gentleman. So, after discussing the matter with his wife, he
looked for a way to open up new horizons for his family, thinking mainly about t
he future of his children.[131]
He had no trouble finding employment elsewhere, since he had many friends and ac
quaintances in the textile trade. In addition, Don Jose's integrity-the fact tha
t the loss of his property was the result of a praiseworthy generosity-was commo
n knowledge. He promptly reached an agreement with Don Antonio Garrigosa y Borre

ll, the owner of a textile business in Logrono. The position offered him involve
d a great deal of responsibility in terms of running the business and dealing wi
th customers. But it was far from a partnership.[132]
Early in 1915, Don Jose left Barbastro to work in Logrono. For the first time, h
e and his wife lived apart: Doa Dolores stayed in Barbastro with the children, un
til the end of the school year. Inevitably, the financial misfortune had taken a
toll on that long-suffering woman. "I very well remember Doa Lola in those last
days that she was in Barbastro, now without any household help, doing the househ
old chores herself," says Adriana Corrales. "I saw her ironing, sitting on a low
little chair. We thought at the time that she was not in good health, that mayb
e she had a heart problem."[133]
But what Doa Dolores was suffering from had nothing to do with a heart ailment.

[1] Mons. Josemara Escriv de Balaguer y El Opus Dei. En el 50 Aniversario de su Fu

ndacin (Pamplona: Eunsa, 1982), pp. 21-27 (under the heading "De la mano de Dios"
). See also AGP, P011975, p. 357.
[2] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. For more on the influence of his parents' virtues
on Josemara's early formation, see Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1775 and 1798; Santia
go Escriv de Balaguer y Albas, PM, folio 1297; and Martin Sambeat, Sum. 5678.
[3] This remark confirms what was noted a few lines above: that in nearly every
autobiographical statement by the founder, one finds some reference, either over
t or implied, to his calling of October 2, 1928. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 3
, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1760.
[4] See Appendix 6.
[5] See Appendix 7.
[6] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1763, and Joaquin Alonso, PR, p. 1649. Con- cern
ing his gratitude toward his godparents, see Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 19, and
Angel Camo, AGP, RHF, T-O2846, p. 1.
[7] See the cathedral chapter's Liber de Gestis, year 1635, fol. 38v.
* During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) many churches were sacked. The cathed
ral of Barbastro was among them.
[8] C 2828 (21 Apr 1959). The remnants of the baptismal font arrived in Rome in
1959. The founder, after the necessary reconstruction, had it placed as a holy w
ater font at the entrance of the oratory of Our Lady of Peace (now the prelatic
church of Opus Dei), together with a commemorative plaque inscribed with the fol
lowing text:

HVNC SACRVM BAPTISMAnS FONTEM SANCTAE ECCLESIAE CAlliEDRALIS BARBASTRENSIS + IN

QvOCONDITOR NOSTER EIVSQVE MATER ET SOROR AQVAS REGENERAnONIS ACCEPE- RVNT + HIS
PANICO BELLO FLAGRANTE ANNO MCMXXXVI IN ODIVM RELIGIONIS DIRVPfVM + OPERI DEI AB
EPISCOPO ET CAPITVLO ANNO MCMLVII OONO DATVM + CONSILIVM ATQVE ASSESORATVS CENT
RALIS AD PRISTINAM FORMAM ANNO MCMLIX REsnTVERE FECERVNT.

[9] See Appendix 6.

[10] This particular error in transcribing his family name occurred often enough
that it was bound to be upsetting to Don Jose. In fact, on his own birth certif
icate, in Fonz, he himself appears as the "legitimate son of Jose Escriv y Zaydin
" (see Appendix 2). Later the error was repeated and multiplied at the baptisms
of one of his sons and three of his daughters. Of the eldest daughter it is reco
rded that "Maria del Carmen Constancia Florencia Escriv" is the daughter of "Don
Jose Escriv"; of "Maria Asuncion Escriv," that her father is "Don Jose Escriv" and
her godfather is "Don Teodoro Escriv"; and of "Maria Dolores Escriv," that her fat
her and grandfather are named "Jose Escriv." And on the death certificate for thi
s last girl, the name "Escriv" reappears. It is by way of exception that the bapt
ismal and death certificates of Maria del Rosario Escriv do not contain any error
s. See the archive of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Barbastro: Boo
ks of Baptism no.43 (fol. 22) and no.44 (fols. 35 and 64v), and Book of the Dead
no.45 (fol. 14v).

Regarding Josemara, we find his name written as "Escriv" in several places: for ex
ample, in the 20 Feb 1925 document of papal dispensation from the age requiremen
t for ordination as a priest, which begins, "Most Blessed Father, Diac. Joseph M
. Escriv ..." (Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments, Prot. N. 871/25; AGP, RHF,
0-03263); in the 19 Dec 1925 letter from the archbishop of Saragossa to Antonio
Lasierra, president of the city council (AGP, RHF, 0-05188); in the 12 Dec 1937
safe- conduct pass from the military headquarters of Fuenterrabla (AGP, RHF, 0-15073); and on the envelope of the 8 Oct 1952 letter from Julio M. Cortes Zuazo
(AGP, RHF, 0--15282).
[11] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 57.
[12] Apuntes, no.1273. Rereading in 1939 what he had written in 1935 about his c
ampaign to defend the v in "Escriv," his thoughts went back to his childhood year
s, when his father, with the honorable pride of a person of noble birth, in orde
r to show his son that this concern about one letter was neither capricious nor
fanatic, but appropriate because the name had been forged through many generatio
ns of history, spoke to Josemara about his family, about "our heritage. ..." But
those suspension points in the note of 1939 conceal an ongoing concern. If we lo
ok back at the notebooks of his Apuntes intimos (Personal Notes), in the first w
eek of June 1933 (with an explanatory note inserted in December 1934) he writes
this: "Cast far from you that despair caused by recognition of your misery. It's
true: in terms of financial prestige, you are a zero; in terms of social presti
ge" (inserted note: "My parents have told me things that indicate that this is n
ot so; but with respect to me personally, it was so"), "another zero; and anothe
r for your virtues, and another for your talents. ...But to the left of those ne
gations stands Christ, ...and what an incalculable number results!? (Apuntes, no
.1017).
Among the well-known names in his ancestry are Saint Joseph Calasanz and Michael
Servetus. Monsignor Escriv referred to them
publicly on a few occasions.
Once he said, ?An ancestor of mine, Michael Servetus, was burned by the Protesta
nt inquisition of Calvin. Although we're only distantly related, my brother and
sister and I are the only remaining relatives of the family? (see AGP, P041972,
p. 655). For more about the trial of Servetus, see Registres de la Compagnie des
Pasteurs de Geneve au temps de Calvin, vol. 2, R. M. Kingdon, 1553-1564, and Ac
cusation et proces de Michel Servet, 1553 (Geneva: E. Droz, 1962).
On another occasion he said, ?There is a saint, a distant relative of mine, whom
I love very much. Don't get any illusions-l don't have the makings of a saint!
Another ancestor of mine was burned by the Protestant inquisition. Come on! I do
n't have the makings of a heretic, either! Everyone is what they are, regardless
of their ancestry. The saint, Joseph Calasanz, said, 'If you want to be holy, b
e humble; if you want to be holier, be more humble; if you want to be very holy,
be very humble'? (see AGP, P04 1972, p. 353). Conceming the life and spirit of
Saint Joseph Calasanz, see Epistolario de San Giuseppe Calasanzio, edited with c
ommentary by Leodegario Picanyol (Rome, 1950-1951). (See also Apuntes, no. 1017.
)
[13] C 3022 (26 Nov 1960).
[14] Among the documents of the chancery of Jaime I the Conquistador (in the arc
hive of the Crown of Aragon), in the section on Valencia and in the corresponden
ce regarding the division of the kingdom, appears the name of a Guillem Escriv, n
otary of Jaime I (1227-1251). See M. Batllori, ?Elcronista Bernat Desclot i la f
amilia Escriv,? in Storiografia e Storia. Studi in onore di Eugenio Dupre Theseid
er , Universita degli Studi di Roma (Rome: Bulzoni Editore, 1974), pp. 123-50; A
. Huici, Coleccin diplomtltica de Jaime I, el Conquistador, 1,1 (Valencia, 1916);
and J. Miret i Sans, Itinerari de Jaume I (el Conqueridor) (Barcelona, 1918).
[15] The Ministry of Justice, through the Registry Office, granted permission to
add the words ?de Balaguer? to form the compound name of ?Escriv de Balaguer.? A
uthorization to use this name was given to Josemara and Carmen on October 18, 194
0, and to their brother, Santiago, on November 12, 1940. On October ;8, 1940, th
is decision of the Ministry of Justice was communicated by the Registry Office t
o the relevant authorities in Madrid.

*In Spain it is customary to use both the father's and the mother's last names,
at least in formal situations. In the case of Jose Maria Escriv Manonelles, his f
ather's last name was Escriv, and his mother's maiden name was Manonelles, and so
, when he wanted to give his name in short form, he called himself Jose Escriv.
[16] For more information on the Escriv side of Josemara's family, see AGP, RHF, D
-12131, and Appendix 1.
[17] When he was in a mood to share confidences, Don Jose would tell his son abo
ut some of the adventures and misadventures of his youth. There was, for example
, the time he was given a bicycle with wheels of solid rubber. He rode around at
great speed through the village, to the amazement of the neighbors, until, in a
spectacular fall, he broke his arm. His father (Josemara's grandfather), after g
iving someone else the bicycle, sternly warned him, "I never want to see you on
that infernal machine again." (See AGP, P04 1972, p. 809.)
[18] For many years, Don Jose's mother and two of his siblings, Father Teodoro a
nd Josefa, lived in Fonz. See Maria del Carmen de Otal Marti, Baroness of Valdeo
livos, Sum. 5986, and Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T --08203, p. 1.
[19] See Martin Sambeat, AGP, RHF, T--03242, p. 2.
The name Jose Escriv appears twice during this period in the record books of the
parish of Our Lady of the Assumption where the making of their Easter duty by pa
rishioners was recorded in compliance with norms laid down by the Council of Tre
nt. Some of the volumes with these yearly updates have been lost. Pertinent to t
his biography is the fact that in the volume for 1882 there appears for the firs
t time the name of Doa Dolores, Josemara's mother, who at that time was four years
old and living in her parents' home at 20 Romero Street. The volumes for 1892 a
nd 1893 attest to her fulfillment of the Easter duty (noting that she is 15, and
then 16) and, for the first time, also to that of Don Jose, whose home address
is 8 Rio Ancho Street. It is, however, quite possible that Don Jose was living i
n Barbastro before 1892, since the volumes for the years between 1882 and 1892 h
ave been lost.
[20] See AGP, RHF, 0-12131, and Appendix 1.
[21] See Martin Sambeat, AGP, RHF, T--03242, p. 2; Sixta Cermeno, AGP, RHF, T--0
2856, p. 3; and Angel Camo, AGP, RHF, T--02846, p.l.
[22] Meditation of 6 Jan 1970.
[23] See Appendices 2 and 3.
[24] See Santiago Escriv de Balaguer y Albcis, Sum. 7320. Teodoro Escriv Corzan wa
s the priest beneficiary of Moner House, a chaplaincy founded in Fonz in 1889 by
Joaquin Moner y Siscar. The main duty of the chaplain was to celebrate Mass dai
ly in its semipublic oratory, which was located on Cerbuna Street and known as B
ardaxi House. In 1901 a new chaplaincy was established in the older house of the
Moner family.
Vicente Albas was ordained in 1892, after studying at the seminaries in Teruel a
nd Barbastro. He served as ecclesiastical administrator of Ramastue and Coscojue
la de Sobrarbe, and then as pastor at Olvena, between 1900 and 1918, and from 19
18 to 1925 he held a benefice at the cathedral of Burgos. He went blind, and liv
ed in Saragossa until his death in 1950.
Carlos Albas was ordained in 1894, was named coadjutor of Laspua, and in 1897 was
appointed to the staff of Cardinal Cascajares. Later he became canon archdeacon
of the cathedral chapter of saragossa. (See Carmen Lamartin, AGP, RHF, T -{)481
3, p. 1.) He died on February 1, 1950.
Maria Cruz became a Carmelite nun, at the Convent of the Incarna- tion in Huesca
. Her name as a religious was Maria de Jesus. She died on February 27, 1938.
Pascuala became a Daughter of Charity. She died in Bilbao on March 7, 1910.
Mariano Albas Blanc, Josemara's godfather, was a cousin of Doa Dolores. Born in 18
66, he married Carmen Mora in 1896, and when his wife died in 1899, he entered t
he seminary. Ordained a priest in 1902, he held a benefice in Barbastro and serv
ed as chaplain for the Servants of Mary. In 1915 he lived at 26 Argensola Street
, where the Escrivs also lived before they left Barbastro. During the Spanish Civ
il War he was administrator of the diocese, and was assassinated because of hatr
ed for the Church.
Monsignor Escriv was also related, on his mother's side, to Bishop Cruz Laplana L

aguna, who served as bishop of Cuenca from 1921 to 1936, when he was assassinate
d. See Apuntes, nos. 598, 1146, and 1739, and Letter 15 Oct 1948, no.200.
[25] Father Carlos was the brother of Doa Dolores whom we have already mentioned;
Father Alfredo Sevil was an uncle of hers; and the Most Reverend Jose Blanc Bar
on, bishop of Avila, was another uncle-a brother of Doa Florencia (see Carmen Lam
artin, AGP, RHF,T-O4813, p. 1).
[26] See Apuntes, no.1476. A corroboration of what he says here is the fact that
the first anecdote concerning his reentry into Spain after his crossing of the
Pyrenees in December 1937 involves friends of Doa Dolores.
[27] See Appendix 4, a transcription of the marriage certificate. For more about
the chapel where the wedding was celebrated, see Apuntes,no.229, note 248. The
Albas family belonged to the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption, whose church
was the cathedral. In the parish books are recorded the following facts: in 1877
, when Doa Dolores was baptized, the pastor was Father Teodoro Valdovinos; in 189
8 and 1899, when she married and had her first daughter, there was no pastor but
a priest administrator, Father Maximino Lafita; and in 1902, when Josemara was b
aptized, the regent was Father Angel Malo Arias.
[28] See F. Fita, Cortes y Usajes de Barcelona en 1064. Textos ineditos, BAH, vo
l. 17 (1890), pp. 385--428; R. Menendez Pidal, La Espaa del Cid, vol. 1 (Madrid:
Espasa-Calpe, 1969), pp. 147-51; and Kitab Ar-Rawd AI-Mitar (Valencia, 1963), pp
. 86--89. For the history of Barbastro, see E. Bemad Royo, ?Aragon de 1902 a 192
3," in Aragn en su Historia, by various authors (Saragossa, 1980); E. Femtlndez C
lemente, Aragn contemportineo (1833-1936) (Madrid, 1975); R. del Arco, Historia d
e Barbastro (unpublished; written in 1950); S. Lopez Novoa, Historia de Barbastr
o, 2 vols. (Barcelona, 1861; reprinted in 1981); S. Lalueza, "Barbastro," in Dic
- cionario de Historia Eclesitistica de Espana (Madrid, 1972), vol. 1, pp. 183-8
7; E. Gros Bitria, Los limites diocesanos en el Aragn oriental (Saragossa); and R
. Marti lbarz,"Vision retrospectiva de Barbastro en las primeras decadas de este
siglo," in Realizaciones 26 (1981), p. 10.
[29] Le siege de Barbastre was published for the first time in 1926, in Paris, b
y J. L. Perrier. A condensed version of this chanson de geste can be found in A.
Becker's "Der Siege de Barbastre," in Beitriige zur Romanischen Philologie (Hal
le a. S.: Max Niemeyer, 1899), pp. 252-66.
[30] See Jeronimo Zurita, Anales de la Corona de Aragn, book 1, Rey don Sancho Ra
mirez.
[31] See S. Lopez Novoa, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 233,
[32] See S. Lalueza, op. cit., pp. 183-87, and E. Gros Bitria, op. cit. The firs
t apostolic administrator of the diocese was Bishop Juan Antonio Ruano y Martin
(1898-1905).
[33] See Appendix 5.
[34] See Maria del Carmen de Otal Marti, Sum. 5986.
[35] That is how his contemporaries remember him. Esperanza Corrales says, "Don
Jose was from Fonz, a nearby village; it is somewhat to the north, on the left b
ank of the Cinca River, just a few miles from Barbastro. He belonged to a family
of landholders who came from Balaguer, in Lerida. He was a merchant; he settled
here after establishing, with some partners, a textile business, Heirs of Ciril
o de Latorre, later called Juncosa & Escriv. It was on General Ricardos Street, n
ear the road that goes from Tarragona to San Sebastian. They also made chocolate
there. It became, in other words, a store with various functions, as stores so
often do in cities like Barbastro. By the time Don Jose married Doa Lola-that's w
hat we called Dolores Albas-he was already very well known and had business conn
ections throughout the region" (Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T-o8203,p;1).
Adriana Corrales, Esperanza's sister, tells us that "Don Jose was not much of a
talker, but was noted for his serene and affectionate smile. ... He also had a l
ot of dignity. He was a man of elegantcbearing. ...He lived a robust life of pie
ty, which manifested itself in his practice of the traditional devotions: the fa
mily Rosary, Mass, frequent Communion, etc." (Adriana Corrales, AGP, RHF, T-o820
2, p. 4). See also Martin Sambeat, AGP, RHF, T -03242, p. 1, and Pascual Albas,
AGP, RHF, T-02848, p. 1.
[36] See Appendices 6 and 7, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 7. When as a little b

oy he was asked his name, he answered, "Jose," which was also the name of his fa
ther. Years later he commented, "How I could have been so stupid, I cannot under
stand! For Mary cannot be separated from Joseph, or vice versa." See also AGP, P
03 1974, p. 1125.
Following the trail of the deeply felt exclamations of the founder in his interi
or dialogues with himself, one finds the moment when he put this change of name
into effect indicated in a note written at the end of June 1936-the one in which
he quotes himself as saying, "Josemara, on the cross!" (see Apuntes, nos. 1282 a
nd 1371). In his correspondence he signed his name "Josemara" starting with C 136
(28 Nov 1935).
[37] See Adriana Corrales, AGP, RHF, T -08202, p. 4, and Martin Sambeat, AGP, RH
F, T-O3242, p. 2.
[38] In the High Middle Ages it was customary for Confirmation to be administere
d right after Baptism, even though after the Council of Cologne in 1280, the Wes
tern churches began to set the requirement of the age of discretion. The Catechi
sm of the Council of Trent, while acknowledging that the sacrament of Confirmati
on could be conferred on baptized babies, recommended deferring it until they at
tained the use of reason. In Spain and Portugal, however, and in the lands evang
elized by these countries, the practice continued of having bishops confirm chil
dren of any age during their pastoral visits. This custom was neither outlawed n
or discouraged by the 1917 Code of Canon Law. On June 22, 1897, Pope Leo Xlll wr
ote to the bishop of Marseilles earnestly recommending that children be confirme
d before making their First Communion.
[39] The original record of the Confirmation is found in the archive of the pari
sh of Our Lady of the Assumption. An extract from the document bears the annotat
ion "Escriv de Balaguer" and reads as follows: "On pages 1 and 2 of Book 43 of Sa
craments (Confirmations) it is stated that Josemara Escriv de Balaguer y Albas, to
gether with other boys and girls, received Confirmation in the cathedral of this
city on the twenty- third day of April in 1902. The holy sacrament of Confirmat
ion was ad- ministered by His Excellency the Most Reverend Juan Antonio Ruano y
Martin, Bishop of Barbastro; the sponsors were Don Ignacio Camps and DofiaJulian
a Erruz."
[40] See Maria Dolores Fisac, AGP, RHF, T -O4956, p. 28.
[41] "Among my memories of Josemara," relates Pascual Albas, "what stands out fro
m those years of early childhood is something Iheard my father mention several t
imes: namely, the pilgrimage that Josemara's parents made to Our Lady of Torreciu
dad. When he was two years old, they went to her, carrying him in their arms, to
give thanks because he had been cured of a life-threatening illness through her
mediation. The doctors had given up any hope of a cure" (Pascual Albas, AGP, RH
F, T -O2848, p. 1).
Esperanza Conales gives this account: "The Escrivs, and with them many who shared
their life in Barbastro, were forever convinced that they owed to the intercess
ion of the Blessed Virgin the fact that Josemara survived the serious illness tha
t he contracted when he was two years old. The doctors had already predicted a f
atal outcome, inevitable and imminent. There was nothing left but his mother's p
rayer, along with a promise to make a pilgrimage to Toneciudad with the child on
ce he was cured. And that is what happened. The illness took an unexpected turn
and little Josemara came out of it, despite the grim predictions of the doctors.
When he was well again, the Escriv couple, with the child in their arms, fulfille
d their promise to go as pilgrims to give thanks to Our Lady of Toneciudad" (Esp
eranza Conales, AGP, RIfF, T-O8203, p. 5). See also Martin Sambeat, Sum. 5678, a
nd Santiago Escrivde Balaguer, Sum. 7320.
[42] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 13; JavierEchevania, Sum. 1767-68; Francisco
Botella, Sum. 5608; and Jose Luis MUzquiz, Sum. 5792.
[43] Bishop Alvaro del Portillo adds, "I heard this directly from the mother of
our founder" (Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 32). Another version goes, "My son, yo
u were already more dead than alive; if God has kept you on earth, it must be fo
r something great" (AGP, Pol 1977, p. 121). See also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 176
7.
[44] Apuntes, no.122. In 1934, during a retreat, he wrote a long list of favors

he had received, and the first of them was precisely this, his cure. This is how
the list begins:
Meditation. What our Lord God has done for me in particular:
1) By means of his Mother-my Mother-when I was a child, he re- stored me to heal
th.
(See Apuntes, no.1756. See also Silvestre Sancho, Sum. 5393.)
[45] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 56. For more about this sudden and complete c
ure, see Martin Sambeat, Sum. 5678; Santiago Escriv de Balaguer, Sum. 7320; and P
ascual Albas, AGP, RHF, T-O2848, p. 1.
[46] See "Lista de oraciones que el Siervo de Dios aprendio de sus padres; oidas
directamente del Siervo de Dios y fielmente trascritas" (List of prayers that t
he Servant of God learned from his parents; heard directly from the Servant of G
od and faithfully transcribed), Joaquin Alonso, PR, p. 1651 (document 41). Two o
ther examples: "Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you," and "Sweet Heart of Mary
, be my salvation." See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 22; Javier Echevania, Sum
. 1796; and Javier de Ayala, Sum. 7623.
[47] Another of these prayers is, "Twelve o'clock has sounded, and Jesus delays.
Who is the lucky one with whom he stays?" See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 43; J
avier Echevarria, Sum. 1777; and Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, PR, p. 1272.
* In English the prayer goes as follows: "Blessed be your purity, may it be bles
sed forever, for no less than God takes delight in such exalted beauty. To you,
heavenly Princess, Holy Virgin Mary, I offer on this day my whole heart, life, a
nd soul. Look upon me with compassion. Do not leave me, my Mother."
[48] See the above-mentioned "Lista de oraciones."
[49] See Conversations with Monsignor Escrivti de Balaguer (Princeton, N.J.: Sce
pte41993), no.103; AGP P041972, p. 748; and AGP P041974, p. 114.
[50] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 45; Encamacion Ortega, PM, fol. 27v; and Mari
a del Carmen de Otal Marti, Sum. 5995.
[51] See AGP, P0112/1957, p. 47, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.24.
[52] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 10.
[53] For the anecdote about the splotch on the wallpape4 see Javier Echevarria,
Sum. 1794.
[54] For these anecdotes, see Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.8. See also Alv
aro del Portillo, PR, p. 55.
[55] These three paragraphs come, respectively, from Letter 24 Mar 193L no. 39;
Meditation of 14 Feb 1964; and Letter 9 fan 1932, no.39. See also Letter
6 May 1945, no.44; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.10; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1793; an
d Francisco Botella, Sum. 5608.
[56] See AGP, P04 1974, p. 433.
[57] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 55. Don Jose had such a high regard for his s
ervants that he said to his son, "Josemara, you have to respect the people who wo
rk in service of our household just as you do everyone else, and as if they're p
art of the family, because that's what they are" Gavier Echevarria, Sum. 1789).
See also Letter 29 fu11965,no.26.
[58] For these anecdotes, see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.27, 28, and 29.
[59] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 10.
[60] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 27, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1794.
[61] Pascual Albas, AGP, RHF, T-O2848, p. 2. See also EsperanzaCorrales, AGP, RH
F, T-O8203, p. 2.
[62] See JavierEchevarria, Sum. 1771.
[63] Even as a very small child he loved going to "the Rooster Mass"- Christmas
Midnight Mass-and to the three Masses on All Souls Day, so awed was he by the so
lemnity of the liturgy. See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1770 and 1776.
* He is referring here to the custom, practiced in many countries, of dipping on
e's hand in the holy water and then, by touching their fingers, passing it along
to friends or relatives entering behind one.
[64] Apuntes, nos. 228 and 229. Concerning the images of the Christ of the Mirac
les and of the Dormition of our Lady, see S. Lopez Novoa, op. cit., vol. L pp. 2
55-60. Concerning the devotion of the founder to that first image, the crucifix,
see Alvaro del PortilloT Sum. 23. Both images were destroyed in 1936 by the rev

olutionaries.
[65] See Meditation of 14 Feb 1964, and Francisco Botella, Sum. 5609. Santiago E
scriv de Balaguer sketches in a few words the formationthat his brother received
as a child: "The people who played the decisive roles in the moral and religious
formation of the Servant of God were, in the first place our parents, and espec
ially our mother. His formal intellectual education was received first in a pres
chool and kindergarten run by the Daughters of Charity, and then, when he was a
little older, in a school run by the Piarist Fathers of Barbastro" (see Santiago
Escriv de Balaguer, PM, fol. 1297). The school run by the Daughters of Charity w
as the first children's school started in Spain by that congregation, which was
founded in 1633 by Saints Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac.
Near the end of the eighteenth century a canon of Barbastro's cathedral, Father
Antonio Jimenez, left his entire estate to the Daughters of Charity for the foun
ding of a school for girls. In 1782 the Vincentian priests in Spain sent six you
ng ladies to Paris to be trained in the spirit and work of that congregation so
that they could then start it up in Spain. Of these young ladies, four were Cata
lonian and two were Aragonese. One of them, Maria Blanc, was from Barbastro; her
surname was, coincidentally, one of those of the Servant of God. In 1790 the si
x returned to Spain, and in 1792 they founded the school in Barbastro. (See S. L
opez Novoa, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 320-24.)
The Law of Instruction of 1857, also known as the Moyano Law, regulated educatio
n in Spain-with many modifications by decrees, administrative rulings, etc.-for
over a century..
[66] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 33. The pupil would forever be thankful to th
e Daughters of Charity for all that they taught him. When, many years later, he
heard that one of them (a nun who had also been a good friend of Doa Dolores) had
been assassinated during the Spanish Civil War, he could not hold back his tear
s
[67] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 19, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1774.
[68] See Boletin Eclesiastico Oficial del Obispado de Barbastro, year 55, no.18
(24 Nov 1908), which includes circulars from the previous year, criteria for the
contests, results, prizes, and so forth.
[69] Ibid.
[70] Officially authorized by the Holy See in 1617, these schools (also known as
Pious Schools) have spread, along with this religious congregation, throughout
Europe and America. Already in 1677 the city of Barbastro requested the superior
general of the Piarists that they open a school there. The foundation was appro
ved in 1679, both by the pope and by King Carlos?, but because of certain diffic
ulties and injustices, its teachers backed out. Later, some relatives of Saint J
oseph Calasanz made a Doation of their property, and in 1721 the Piarist Fathers
were able to open an elementary school that taught, among other things, Latin gr
ammar (see S. Lopez Novoa, op. cit., vol. 1, pp. 307-14). The school was built i
n the Entremuro district, together with a magnificent church.
[71] For more on this pastoral visitation, see "Observaciones sobre la S. Visita
Pastoral," in B.E.O. de Barbastro, year 1908, p. 180. For more on the preparati
on given Josemara by his mother, see Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7539, and Javi
er de Ayala, AGP, RHF, T-15712, p. 4. See also AGP, RHF, 0-04311-7.
Father Enrique Labrador de Santa Lucia was born in Codonera (Teruel) in 1855. He
was stationed in 6arbastro from October 1902 until August 1909; he was about fi
fty-two when little Josemara made his First Confession. He died a few years later
, in 1912, in Daroca.
[72] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1780, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 40. During
his catechetical journey through the Iberian peninsula in 1972, Monsignor Escriv
said this:
There are many people who don't like the sacrament: of Penance, or who see no va
lue in it. They even go so far as to say that to hear confessions of children is
a waste of time, and that it frightens the children.
My mother took me to her confessor when I was six or seven, and it made me feel
wonderful. It's always made me very happy to remember it. You know what he gave
me for my penance? I'll tell you, and you'll die laughing. I can still hear the

hearty laughter of my father, who was very pious, but not pietistic. The good pr
iest-he was a very nice little friar-couldn't come up with anything but this: "T
ell your mama to give you a fried egg." When I told this to my mother, she said,
"My son, that priest might have told you to eat a piece of candy; but a fried e
gg?"
Obviously he himself loved fried eggs! Isn't that delightful? Just imagine what
came into the heart of this little boy, who as yet knew nothing about life, upon
being told by his mother's confessor that he should be given a fried egg. It's
magnificent! That man was worth his weight in gold!
(See AGP, P04 1972, p. 312.)
[73] Their baptismal certificates are in the archive of the parish of Our Lady o
f the Assumption in Barbastro, in Book of Baptisms no.44, fols. 35, 64, and 115v
.
[74] "My older sister, Esperanza," says Adriana Corrales, "became close friends
with Carmen, Josemara's older sister, because they were practically the same age.
...I spent many an hour of my childhood in that apartment that the Escrivs had o
n Argensola Street, the main balconies of which looked out on the plaza. ...Some
times we stayed in a room that was reserved for us children. We used to call it
'the lions' den,' because Doa Lola liked us to play in her house" (Adriana Corral
es, AGP, RHF, T-O8202, p. 1).
[75] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 28, and Letter 29 Ju11965, no.49.
[76] See Javier Echevarria, PR, p. 1921, and Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4464.
[77] "Doa Dolores," she adds, "liked to take part in our games and other activiti
es. Sometimes she gave us some old clothes-the kind you find in any home-to use
as costumes" (Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T -08203, p. 3)
[78] Maria del Carmen de Otal Marti, AGP, RHF, T -05080,p. 1.
[79] Adriana Corrales, AGP, RHF, T -08202, p. 8
[80] In primary school, Josemara took the following subjects: Christian Doctrine
and Introduction to Bible History; Reading, Writing, and Spanish Grammar; Histor
y and Geography; Rudiments of Law; Basic Ideas of Geometry; Basic Ideas of Physi
cs, Chemistry, and Other Natural Sciences; Elementary Hygiene and Human Physiolo
gy; Drawing; Singing; Handicrafts; and Physical Exercise.
The revolutionary storm of 1936 carried off with it most of the documents in the
archive of the Piarist Fathers' school. However, both the standard attendance r
ecord books (the Libras de Registra de Asistencia) and the so-called Cuadernas d
el Padre Manuel (Notebooks of Father Manuel) survived.
Most of the attendance records are loose sheets of paper now bound up in books.
The sheets are not in very good condition. References to Josemara have been found
in the Libra de Registra de la Escuela Campleta de niiias a Escuela de Escribir
(1904-1912) and in the Libra de Registra de la Escuela de Ampliacin a Escuela Nu
eva.
Father Manuel Laborda kept track of his students' attendance in notebooks. Some
still exist-stitched together, though not in perfect order-dating from 1872 to 1
915, when he stopped giving classes.
There are also mentions of little Josemara in the Baletin Oficial del Obispada (O
fficial Diocesan Bulletin), year 55, p. 284 (no.18: 18-24 Nov 1908), and in the
13 Mar 1914 and 12 Jun 1914 issues of the weekly diocesan paper Juventud. These
documents show that during the 1908-1909 school year he was in the "Escuela de p
arvulos" (little ones' school), and in 1910-1911, in the "Escuela elemental comp
leta." Though we have no documentation for this, it is safe to assume that durin
g the 1909-1910 school year he was in the "Escuela elemental incompleta." For 19
11-1912 he shows up as enrolled in the "Escuela de ampliacin." He graduated from
primary school on June 11, 1912, and then entered a secondary school run by Piar
ist priests with state exams taken first at Huesca and later at Lerida.
There are also documents showing that in 1912-1913 and 1913-1914 he completed th
e first and second years of secondary school, and that Ju- ventud mentioned him
as one of the most outstanding students of the Piarist Fathers. There are no rec
ords of his attendance for 1914-1915, his third year of secondary school. See, h
owever, the certificate issued by Father Vicente Moreno, principal of the school
in Barbastro, on February 14,1984: AGP, RHF, 0-04311-8.

[81] See J. Lecea Pellicer, Las Escuelas Pias de Aragn en el sigla XVIII (Madrid,
1972), pp.48ff. and 264ff.
[82] See Alvaro del Portillo, "Monsefior Escrivci de Balaguer, instrumento de Di
os," in En Memoria de Mons. Josemara Escrivtl de Balaguer (Pamplona: Eunsa, 1976)
, p. 34. In The Way, no.882, we find another school image, also autobiographical
, used for a spiritual reality: "Take pity on your child: You see, I want to wri
te a big page each day in the book of my life. But I'm so clumsy that if the Mas
ter doesn't guide my hand, instead of graceful strokes my pen leaves behind blot
s and scratches, that can't be shown to anyone. From now on, Jesus, the writing
will always be done by both of us together."
[83] See Encamacin Ortega, AGP, RHF, T--O5074, p. 90. Carmen's friend Esperanza C
orrales says: "Josemara had many friends-children of families with whom his paren
ts were acquainted, and also classmates. They sometimes gathered at the house of
the Estebans. Those kids' father, a notary public, was the owner of the buildin
g in which the Juncosa & Escriv business was established. The Estebans lived on t
he first floor of that same building on General Ricardos Street. There the Cagig
6s, the Sambeats, the Lacaus, and the Fantobas would get together with Josemara a
nd the Esteban brothers" (Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T --08203, p. 10).
[84] Martin Sambeat, Sum. 5681. Sambeat adds that "he was a good com- panion to
everyone and played all the games that kids usually played in those days, such a
s top spinning, marbles, handball, basketball, and pre- tend bullfighting." Jose
mara's cousin Pascual Albas says, "He got terrific grades; he was very intelligen
t. At home they were always setting before us as an example the good grades he g
ot."But he was also very good-natured. He was very cheerful, faithful to his obl
igations, devout. His great personality was already in evidence" (Pascual Albs,
AGP, RHF, T--O2848, p. 1).
[85] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 88, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1774 and 17
75.
[86] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 62, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1775.
[87] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 18, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1774.
[88] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1793.
[89] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 31
[90] In 1898, the year in which Josemara's parents were married, an era in the hi
story of Spain came to a close. On December 10, with the Treaty of Paris, the co
lonial empire of Spain ended. The loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines
had disastrous effects on the morale of the whole nation. At the same time, how
ever, it brought about a critical resurrection of the spirits and ideas of certa
in intellectuals, known as "the generation of '98."
Just as in the rest of Europe, the "problem of the working class," latent for th
e previous twenty years, now became acute. With the restoration of the monarchy
in 1874 and the flexible Constitution of 1876, a long period of peace and order
had been attained, in which conservatives and liberals took turns in power. But
the tensions in Spanish life were of a deeper order, involving questions of soci
al reform, economic exigencies, and workers' rights.
[91] La Cruz del Sobrarbe (The Cross of the Sobrarbe [region]) was of Carlist (m
onarchist) inspiration and was founded in about 1889. La Epoca (The Times) was c
onservative; El Pais (The Nation) was liberal. El Eco del Vera (The Echo of the
Vero [river]) was republican (antimonarchist), while El Cruzado Aragones (The Ar
agon Crusader), founded in 1903, was a Catholic paper. The weekly paper Juventud
,mentioned earlier, was a diocesan pub- lication founded in 1914. For more infor
mation about Barbastro at the end of the nineteenth century, see P. Riera y Sans
, Diccionario Geogrtifico, Es- tadistico, Historico ...de Espafia, vol. 2 (Barce
lona, 1882), pp. 48ff.
[92] An effort of this type was the apostolic social enterprise spearheaded by C
ardinal Cascajares, Archbishop of Valladolid. This political initiative had very
little success. It lacked the necessary experience and ended up causing a stron
g anticlerical reaction. See G. Redondo, "La Iglesiaen la Edad Contemporcinea,"
in Historia de la Iglesia (by various authors), vol. 3 (Madrid, 1985), p. 173.
Pope Leo XIII, with his encyclical Graves de Communi (18 Ian 1901), renewed the
call he had made in Rerum Novarum for joint action by Catholics; and he named th

e cardinal primate of Toledo and his succes- sors as directors of this initiativ
e. Of particular importance was the letter sent by the cardinal primate to the b
ishops on October 16, 1909. Its indi- cations were taken up by Bishop Isidro Bad
ia y Sarradell of Barbastro and relayed to the faithful of his diocese in a past
oral letter published on February 9, 1910.
[93] See Boletin Eclesitistico Oficial del Obispado de Barbastro, year 57, pp. 9
6-105 (no.5: 22 Mar 1910). The bylaws of the Centro Catolico Barbas- trense were
presented to Barbastro's apostolic administrator, and he approved them in a dec
ree dated December 8, 1908. A few days later, on December 16, they were also pre
sented to the civil authorities of Huesca. The document was signed by fourteen p
ersons, including Jose Escriv, the father of Josemara. Also among the founders of
the Center were Juan Juncosa, business partner of Jose at Juncosa & Escrivci, an
d Jose's brother- in-law Mauricio Albas.
From the very beginning, the Barbastro Catholic Center had a markedly social cha
racter. A year after its foundation, in fulfillment of what was prescribed in ar
ticle 7 of its bylaws, it created the Mutualidad Catolica, which consisted of a
mutual relief fund (Caja de Socorros Mutuos), a credit union (Caja de Ahorros),
and a [nonprofit] pawnshop (Monte de Piedad). See Boletin Eclesitistico Oficial
del Obispado de Barbastro, year 57, pp. 104-30 (no.6: 1 Apr 1910), in which the
bylaws of the Mutualidad Catolica were published with the approval of both the a
postolic administrator and the civil authorities.
In 1910 the bishop set up the Consejo Diocesano de las Asociaciones Catolico-Obr
eras (Diocesan Council of Catholic Worker Associations) to coordinate social ini
tiatives in the diocese, and appointed to it the same people who made up the boa
rd of directors of the Barbastro Catholic Center.
[94] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1761; Joaquin Alonso, PR, p. 1648; and Jose Ram
on Madurga, PM, fol. 269.
[95] "Aetas discretionis turn ad Confessionem turn ad S. Communionem ea est, in
qua puer incipit ratiocinari, hoc est circa septimum annum ..." (Acta Apostolica
e Sedis,II, no.15, p. 582).
[96] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 42. Also relevant is this excerpt from Javier
Echevarria, Sum. 1778: "He always remembered with a special affection the old P
iarist who taught him the prayer for making a spiritual communion. From back whe
n he was a boy, from when he was preparing for First Communion, he constantly re
peated that formula. I heard him preach many meditations in which he used that p
rayer, repeating it word for word. He said that it filled his soul with peace an
d serenity, even in moments of dryness or scruples, to see itself, so poor and s
o loaded down with miseries, faced with this marvel of a God who unreservedly gi
ves himself to us." See also Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4278.
For more about Father Manuel Laborda, see AGP, RHF, 0-04311-7. Born in Borja (Sa
ragossa) in 1848, Father Laborda was sixty-four at the time of Josemara's First C
ommunion. He was a teacher of religion, history, Latin, and handwriting; he was
the one who recorded data about his students in notebooks, some of which have be
en preserved. He died in Barbastro in 1929.
[97] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 18; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1781; and En- car
nacion Ortega, AGP, RHF, T-O5074, pp. 45 and 140.
[98] On March 28, 1950, his silver jubilee as a priest, he said to some of his d
aughters, "Today has been a totally happy day-something I hardly ever get for th
e big dates in my life. On such days our Lord has almost always chosen to send m
e some kind of mishap. Even on the day of my First Communion, when they were get
ting me ready, fixing up my hair, trying to make it curly, they burned me with t
he curling iron. It wasn't anything serious, but for a child of that age it was
something." See Encarnacion Ortega, AGP, RHF, T-O5074, pp. 45 and 140.
[99] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 42; see also AGP, P011969, p. 116. Here are s
ome entries from his journal:
" April 23, 1931: Saint George, It is nineteen years ago that I made my First Co
mmunion" (no.194).
"Feast of Saint George, 1932: Today it is twenty years since I re- ceived Holy C
ommunion for the first time. Saint George, pray for me" (no.707).
"Vigil of Saint Mark, 1933: Yesterday it was twenty-two years since my First Com

munion. My GOd!" (no.989).

II April 23--Saint George! Let me not forget that today is the an- niversary of
my First Communion. How many things I forget to write down!" (no.1180).
II April 30, 1936: ...In Valencia, on the feast of Saint George, the anniversary
of my First Communion, I acted like a drone. Or, rather, like a perfect donkey,
braying, and even. ...I can honestly say that I don't know how to pray well eve
n one Hail Mary. Mother, Mama in heaven!" (no.1332).
See also C 209 (29 Apr 1937).
[100] See Appendix 8. Despite the freedom of education provided by the 1857 Law
of Instruction, the state always reserved to itself the right to give examinatio
ns and award any kind of diploma. It granted the free- dom to establish private
secondary schools, but these not only had to use state-authorized programs and t
exts, but also had to have their students take exams at the public centers autho
rized to give diplomas. When reli- gious schools were recognized, they were give
n discretionary rights only with regard to religion classes. However, although t
heir students were not lIofficial" students, their studies were generally more h
ighly regarded than those of the ?independent" students. This was the case with
the Piarists' school in Barbastro.
[101] The death certificates of Maria del Rosario and Maria de los Dolores can b
e found in the archive of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Barbastro,
in Book of the Dead no.44, fols. 14vand 72, respectively.
[102] Letter 24 Mar1930, no.5.
[103] Friends of God (Scepter, 1986), no.151.
[104] Meditation of 8 Jun 1964.
[105] Letter 29 Sep1957, no.22.
[106] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 43; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1777; and Jesu
s Alvarez Gazapo, PR, p. 1272.
[107] ?Outstanding" in all those subjects, and "First Place" for Arithmetic and
Geometry. See Appendix 8.
[108] Maria del Carmen de Otal Mart!, AGP, RHF, T -05080, p. 2. See also AIvaro del Portillo, Sum. 67.
[109] Maria del Carmen de Otal Marti, Sum. 5988. Maria Asuncion's death certific
ate is in the archive of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Barbastro,
in Book of the Dead no.45, fol. 31v.
[110] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 78; Javier Echevarria, PR, p. 52; and Mari
a del Carmen de Otal Mart!, Sum. 5986.
[111] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 78. Other testimonies include the fol- low
ing. "More than once he commented to his mother, 'Now it's my turn,'
or else, 'Next year it's my tum"' Oavier Echevarria, Sum. 1785). "He said
at one of those times, 'Next it's my tum,' to which his mother replied, 'No, bec
ause you are consecrated to our Lady"' (Francisco Botella, Sum. 5609). "He thoug
ht that next it would be his turn, because it had gone from youngest to oldest.
I know that the Servant of God suffered a lot, and that it was just to keep his
mother from suffering that he stopped repeating that he would be the next to die
" (Encamacion Ortega, PM, fol. 28).
[112] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1791, and Joaquin Alonso, PR, p. 1659.
[113] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 19.
[114] See AGP, P011978, p. 390.
[115] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 36; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1800; Encarnacio
n Ortega, PM, fol. 28v; and Jose Ramon Madurga, PM, fol. 270.
[116] See the 13 Mar 1914 and 12 Jun 1914 issues of Juventud(Barbastro), and App
endix 8.
[117] Adriana Corrales, AGP, RHF, T -08202, p. 9.
[118] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. See also Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.6;
Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 47; Javier Echevatria, Sum. 1788; and Esperanza Corral
es, AGP, RHF, T-O8203, p. 6.
[119] The Baroness of Valdeolivos says that its ruin was caused by a busi- ness
associate. See Maria del Carmen de Otal Marti, Sum. 5988.
[120] Martin Sambeat, Sum. 5680, and Adriana Corrales, AGP, RHF, T -08202, p. 11
.

[121] Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T-O8203, p. 3.

[122] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 49.
[123] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. See also Martin Sambeat, AGP, RHF, T -O3242, p.
3.
[124] Concerning his conduct toward those who caused the ruin, see Alvaro del Po
rtillo, Sum. 50, and Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T-O8203, p. 5.
Bishop Alvaro del Portillo states that he heard from the founder himself that Do
n Jose sought advice, specifically from one of the Claretian priests at Immacula
te Heart of Mary Church in Barbastro. This priest confirmed what Don Jose had al
ready heard from others: namely, that he was not obliged to compensate the credi
tors from his personal funds. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 48.)
[125] Pascual Albcls, AGP, RHF, T-O2848, p. 2.
[126] Maria del Carmen de Otal Marti, AGP, RHF, T-O5080, p. 2. See also Maria de
l Carmen de Otal Marti, Sum. 5988.
[127] Pascual Albcls, AGP, RHF, T-O2848, p. 2.
[128] Told by Monsignor Escrivcl de Balaguer and his sister Carmen to Alvaro del
Portillo: PR, p. 79.
[129] AGP, PO11970, p. 1071; also cited by Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 50. See als
o Pascual Albiis, AGP, RHF, T --02848, p. 2; Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T --0
8203, p. 5; and Adriana Corrales, AGP, RHF, T --08202, p. 11.
[130] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964, and AGP, PO11975, p. 219. See also Encar- nacin
Ortega, PM, fol. 28.
[131] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 69 and 70; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1802; Fra
ncisco Botella, Sum. 5610; and Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T --08203, p. 3.
[132] See Martin Sambeat, Sum. 5681; Encamacin Ortega, PM, fol. 28v; and Jose Rom
eo, AGP, RHF, T--03809, p. 3.
[133] Adriana Corrales, AGP, RHF, T--08202, p. 11. See also Esperanza Cor- rales
, AGP, RHF, T --08203, p. 6.
2. Logroo Years (1915-1920)

1. ?The Great City of London?

2. The Institute of Logroo
3. The Maturing of an Adolescent
4. Some Footprints in the Snow
5. At the Seminary of Logroo
6. Priesthood and Ecclesiastical Career

* * *

1. ?TheGreat City of London?

During his last months in Barbastro, Josemara conscientiously applied himself to

his studies. "He left good memories among his classmates and teachers. Everyone
hated to see him go," says one of those old schoolmates.[1]
In June 1915 he went to the Institute of Lerida to take his exams. He received g
ood grades in French and in Spanish history, and the highest possible grade in g
eometry. But despite his teachers' high hopes, he got only a passing grade in La
tin, because he became nervous and did not express himself well.[2]
As usual most of the family went to Fonz for summer vacation at the beginning of
July. Lacking the company of his father, who was far away in Logroo, Josemara imm
ersed himself in reading to help him forget recent problems. This enjoyment of r
eading had begun when he was very young: his father had bought him lots of story
books and had even gotten him a subscription to Chiquitin (Little Folk). Don Jos
e was himself an avid reader who liked to keep up with what was going on in the
world-events of all kinds, political religious, economic, cultural. His favorite
newspaper was La Vanguardia, and his favorite magazines were La Ilustracin Espai
iola (The Spanish Pictorial) and Blanco y Negro (White and Black).[3]
With all this free time ahead of him, the boy steeped himself in the novels of J
ules Verne. Those fantastic adventures, with their continual parade of exotic la
nds and customs, fabulous inventions, and mind-boggling dangers, held him spellb

ound. But when the author got bogged down in tedious scientific details, Josemara
flipped rapidly through the pages to find where the story picked up again.[4]
At the beginning of September, as soon as they returned from Fonz to Barbastro,
the family got news that Don Jose had an apartment ready for them in Logroo. Imme
diately they moved all the furniture and other objects out of their home on Cane
Mayor-the home where all the children had been born, but which for several mont
hs now had no longer been theirs.[5]
From the fourth to the eighth of that month, Barbastro celebrated the feast of t
he Birth of the Virgin Mary. It was during those days that the Escrivs made their
preparations for moving. They said their good-byes-probably painful ones. Recen
tly, however, Doa Dolores had made it her rule of conduct to act as if nothing ha
d happened. She hated melancholy farewells and nostalgia. So one morning in the
middle of September, very early, the Escrivs took the stagecoach that made the ru
n to Huesca, and apparently none of the relatives came to see them off.
"I remember that they left early in the morning," relates Esperanza Corrales. "I
know the school year had already started, because we went from there to class.
Doa Lola did not like farewells, so just we friends of Carmen were there."[6]

* * *

In Barbastro the boy left relatives, friends, childhood memories, and the graves
of his three sisters-all of them unforgettable ties to his hometown. He would n
ever again live there, yet he would always keep up with the events going on ther
e. The saddest of all would occur twenty-one years after the Escrivs had left, in
the summer of 1936. Under Marxist rule the diocese of Barbastro was cnstantly in
mourning, paying a heavy tribute of blood. Of the 140 diocesan priests, 123 wer
e martyred. So was the bishop who served as Barbastro's apostolic administrator.
And the religious-order priests fared no differently. Nine Piarist priests, 51
Claretian priests, brothers, and novices, and 20 Benedictines of the monastery i
n Pueyo were assassinated. The Escriv family had to mourn the deaths of several r
elatives.[7]
Later, having suffered nine centuries of instability, conflict, and violence, th
e diocese found itself facing problems of a new kind. The vacancy of sees whose
bishops had been martyred and the destruction wrought by the civil war made nece
ssary a reorganization of the Church in Spain. Among the proposals was a suppres
sion of the diocese of Barbastro. In 1945 the people of Barbastro asked Father J
osemara to intercede on their behalf with the papal nuncio in Spain. Never before
had he agreed to do any mediating, not even for members of his own family. This
case was a notable exception.[8]
The diocese managed to survive that crisis. But twenty years later the same thre
at again arose. Serious, well-founded rumors started circulating about suppressi
on of the see. Again the people of Barbastro went to their illustrious townsman,
and he interceded in writing with Pope Paul VI, setting out the historical, soc
ial, and pastoral reasons why maintaining the diocese would be in the best inter
ests of the Church and of souls. At the end of his letter he said to the Holy Fa
ther, " And, finally, I wish to emphasize once more that it is only love for the
Church and for souls which moves me to write these lines humbly beseeching the
Holy Father not to suppress the diocese of Barbastro."[9]
With the passage of time, his love for his little hometown became even more obvi
ous. "Every day that goes by," he wrote, ?I feel more closely united to my belov
ed city of Barbastro and to all Barbastrans. My memories and my affection run ve
ry deep."[10] This was not mere nostalgia. Those memories had deep roots in the
difficult circumstances that obliged the family to leave that area. And the affe
ction that Josemara felt was intensified by the fact that the memory of Barbastro
brought with it memories of his father. On March 281 1971, from Rome, he wrote
to the mayor of Barbastro:

I am very much a Barbastran, and I try to be a good son of my parents. Let me te

ll you that my mother and my father, even though they had to leave that place, d
id instill in us, along with faith and piety, a great affection for the banks of

the Vero and the Cinca. I remember specifically some things about my father tha
t fill me with pride and have not faded from my memory at all even though I was
only thirteen when we moved away: stories of a generous and hidden charity, an u
pright faith without ostentation, abundant strength at the time of trial, a stro
ng union with my mother and his children. It was thus that our Lord prepared my
soul-by way of those examples so imbued with Christian dignity and hidden herois
m always accompanied by a smile-so that later, by God's grace, I could become a
poor instrument for the carrying out of a work of Divine Providence that would n
ot separate me from my beloved city. Please forgive me for letting go like this.
I cannot hide from you the fact that these recollections fill me with joy.[11]

Logroo celebrated the feast of Saint Matthew for a whole week, from September 20
to 27. A few days before the festivities began, the Escrivs moved into the apartm
ent rented by Don Jose: number 18 on Sagasta Street. (The number was later chang
ed to 12.) Itwas on the fourth floor, and above it there were attics and garrets
making it extra cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Senor Garrigosa, the
owner of the company where Don Jose worked, lent them a hand during the difficul
t first days. According to Paula Royo, a daughter of one of the employees, Senor
Garrigosa "came to my father and asked that he, with his family, volunteer to h
elp out Don Jose Escriv and Doa Dolores Albas, who had come from Barbastro, where
they had suffered a reversal of fortune."[12]
The business of Don Antonio Garrigosa y Borrell was doing well. Its name was Gra
ndes Almacenes de Tejidos (The Great Textile Department Store) and there were tw
o stores in Logroo. One, on Station Street, was " a wholesale store which exporte
d goods to the provinces." The other was at 28 Portales Street, near San Bias; c
alled La Gran Ciudad de Londres (The Great City of London), it provided its Logr
oo clientele with the latest fashions. Senor Garrigosa was a very enterprising bu
sinessman, as one might suppose from the rather grandiose names of his stores. T
he company lasted for many years, although the name of that second store was eve
ntually changed to the more modest "La Ciudad de Londres."[13]
Logroo, seat of the province of the same name (now the Comunidad Autnoma de la Rio
ja), was enjoying a period of growth. Its population had increased considerably:
by 1915 it had about 25,000 inhabitants. Its demographic expansion, which was d
ue largely to immigration, was accompanied by economic growth. The surrounding d
istrict, stretching along the upper right bank of the Ebro River, owed its ferti
lity to the river and its tributaries. The agricultural riches consisted princip
ally in large vineyards and olive groves, grain fields and orchards, and irrigat
ed vegetable gardens. With most of Europe involved in World War I, Spain, a neut
ral country, experienced boom times selling raw materials and manufactured goods
to the warring nations, especially France. Logroo benefited from a hefty amount
of exportation of not only its agricultural output but the products of its winer
ies, flourmills, fruit and vegetable canneries, and olive oil, sausage, and toba
cco processing plants.
The people of Logroo were provincial, isolated, not troubled by great social tens
ions or political upheavals. Tradition and work gave the place order and tranqui
lity. There was a certain social equality. Political predominance belonged to th
e liberals, whose chief medium of expression was the newspaper La Rioja. Its riv
al, the Diario de la Rioja, characterized itself as "independent Catholic" and c
onservative.
In keeping with the provincial environment, Don Jose accustomed himself to going
on Sunday outings with his family. Elegantly dressed, with his derby hat and wa
lking stick, he would take them for a stroll along the banks of the Ebro. Says P
aula Royo, "Our two families would go out together almost every Sunday afternoon
, around four o?clock, to get some sun. Usually we would meet on Sagasta Street,
where they lived, and cross the iron bridge over the Ebro and walk down the roa
d that goes to Laguardia, or the one to Navarre, just taking a stroll. ...Afterw
ard we would all go inside and end the afternoon with a snack or some games."[14
]
Sagasta Street, where the Escrivs lived, was intersected by Mercado [Market] Stre
et, which ran all the way through Logroo from east to west. Along the central str

etch of Mercado stood buildings with large continuous arcades; this was the zone
for stores and businesses. Here is where The Great City of London was located-a
t 28 Mercado, more popularly known as 28 Portales [Arcade]. The distance from th
e Escriv apartment to the building where Don Jose worked was short, even by Logroo
's modest standards. Being the punctual, methodical, and dependable individual t
hat he was-and this he remained to the day he died-he had fixed habits. Almost e
very day he set out at a few minutes before seven to attend Mass at the nearby c
hurch of Saint James.[15] He returned home for breakfast, and left again at abou
t 8:45 to go to work.
At The Great City of London he worked as a sales clerk, waiting on customers.[16
] It was a constant, poignant reminder for him of the days when he was proprieto
r of a similar business in Barbastro. In recognition of his knowledge, social di
stinction, age, and experience, he was given a higher position than that of the
other employees of the store, but his salary was modest. That the Escriv family w
as short on money showed itself in a thousand ways.
Doa Dolores devoted herself to taking care of the household tasks, and was "in th
ose difficult times of financial crisis, in which they felt somewhat lost in Log
roo, a great support to her husband and children."[17] A classmate of Josemara's w
ho got to know his mother in Logroo tells us "she was a woman who always maintain
ed a dignified environment in accord with that of the family from which she came
and in which she was brought up."[18] Evidently this lady was now doing househo
ld jobs that she was not accustomed to doing, since she used to have domestic he
lp and now did not, but she did them gladly.
According to the recollections of Josemara, those were "very hard times," and esp
ecially for his father, who for the rest of his life had troubles and problems t
o cope with.[19] However, his father "was very cheerful and bore his change of p
osition with great dignity."[20] And for that reason Josemara's family environmen
t, hard as it was on the boy in some ways, was not poisoned by the sadness of ad
versity, nor marked by mere stoic resignation. On the contrary, the Escriv home e
xuded a humble joy, an atmosphere of courteous manners and discreet silences. Th
e tone was set by the head of the family, who has been called "a real saint."[21
] It is easy to believe that people who knew both his past in Barbastro and his
present in Logroo actually said this, because the, gentleman "had a great patienc
e and agreeableness in everything, always looked cheerful, and was always unassu
ming and unpretentious in his conversations. He lived his whole life with a trus
ting and cheerful acceptance, despite the reversal of fortune that he had suffer
ed. He never talked about his worries or complained about his situation."[22]

2. TheInstitute of Logroo

Regardless of the cost, it was essential to give the children a good education.
Don Jose Escriv had decided that before he left Barbastro.
Logroo, as a provincial capital, had the corresponding institutions and administr
ative services. When it came to schools, it had an official center for secondary
education (the General and Technical Institute), two teachers' training college
s (one for men, the other for women), and a "School for Trades, Arts, and Crafts
."
Josemara still had three years to go to finish secondary school, so his records w
ere transferred from the Institute of Lerida to that of Logroo and he was enrolle
d as a nonofficial student for the 1915-1916 school year.[23] Going from a Catho
lic school like that of the Piarists to a public institution might well have bee
n a rather abrupt change for Josemara, and quite possibly Don Jose saw it that wa
y. But the majority of the students at the Institute went in the afternoon to a
private school for a review of the material they were being taught. Two private
schools vied for top honors: Saint Joseph's, which was run by Marist Brothers, a
nd Saint Anthony's, which, since it was not run by religious, was considered a s
ecular school despite its name.
The strong competition between Saint Joseph's and Saint Anthony's showed up very
conspicuously in newspaper ads and articles.[24] Saint Joseph's prided itself o
n having "a Laboratory of Physics, Chemistry, and Natural History; a spacious ch

apel for liturgical functions; a large, comfortable, and well- ventilated dormit
ory for the boarding students; and a large recreational patio with a magnificent
recently renovated handball court." Saint Anthony's responded by flaunting its
academic potential, for besides the regular secondary-school classes, it offered
"special classes in calligraphy, drawing, French, English, German, and popular
Arabic." The effect of that kind of advertising, with its impressive listing of
languages and implicit reference to the countries then at war, was not to be und
erestimated.
In the end, though, the rivalry between the two schools came down to a simple qu
estion of examinations results- pure numbers. And going solely by academic resul
ts, it seems that Saint Anthony's was better than Saint Joseph's.[25] But the we
ightiest factor in the couple's thinking, and the one that led them to enroll Jo
semara in Saint Anthony's, was simply that they wanted to head off the possibilit
y of a rivalry between him and another student, a cousin. "His parents rejected
the possibility of his going to the school of the Marist Brothers in Logroo," we
are told, "because a cousin of his was already studying there and they did not w
ant any tension or unhealthy competitiveness to come up between them. "[26]
Josemara attended classes at the Institute in the morning and went over the lesso
ns at Saint Anthony's in the afternoon. Meanwhile, his sister Carmen was studyin
g at the teachers' training college in Logroo.[27]

* * *

The Institute of Logroo was new, having recently been built on a site formerly oc
cupied by a Carmelite convent.[28] It had good classrooms, excellent chemistry a
nd physics labs, and a natural history section. It faced a street called Muro de
Cervantes, which was a continuation of Mercado Street. Behind it there was a pr
omenade with gardens. The large building also contained the provincial library,
the art museum, a teachers' training college, and the school of arts and crafts.
During his three years there, Josemara worked hard and progressed intellectually.
The faculty, overall, was of a very high caliber both professionally and person
ally. Josemara learned not only from the explanations that his teachers gave in t
heir classes, but also from their example, their moral conduct. In his final exa
ms he did exceptionally well, as the records attest.[29] His report card for the
fifth year (1916-1917), the least impressive that he got in Logroo, consists of
three "Outstanding" and two "Notables"-a set of marks which seems a bit low only
in relation to his generally excellent performance.[30]
One of these "Notables" was for Psychology and Logic, a course taught by Father
Calixto Teres y Garrido, a diocesan priest who had been teaching philosophy sinc
e 1912. He had an aura of prestige because, it was said, he had taken his qualif
ying exams for a professorship before a tribunal that did not take a friendly vi
ew of clerical cassocks. He was chaplain to the Brothers of the Poor and lived w
ith his mother in a humble little house with a small garden. Simple, hardworking
, and good-natured, he had no hesitation about giving a passing grade, but was a
lot tougher when it came to an "Outstanding" or even a simple "Notable." So it
is noteworthy that in the following year Father Calixto gave Josemara the grade o
f "High Honors" for a sixth-year course, Ethics and Law.
The priest had excellent teaching skills. His student would particularly remembe
r the in-depth explanation of Marxism that he gave in that Ethics and Law course
of 1917-1918, because he did such a good job of putting the subject and its abs
urdities in terms that the students could understand.
Teacher and student had a mutual affection. Despite their differences in age, th
ey soon became friends. And even after Josemara was ordained, Father Calixto prov
ided him counsel in times of difficulty. Many years passed without their seeing
each other, but then one day, during a visit to Logroo, the former student went t
o see Father Calixto. Pointing to the desk where Josemara used to sit, the old ma
n said in a husky voice, "That's where you used to sit, little one, that's where
you used to sit."[31]
That second "Notable" was in Physics, a subject taught by Don Rafael Escriche. H
e had come from the Institute of Mahn and at that time had not been in Logroo more

than a couple of years. He too was very sparing with good grades. But former st
udents still chuckle about his chemistry lab experiments and the suspense of wai
ting to see if liquids would precipitate and substances change color. Truth to t
ell, the textbook predictions did not always come true.[32]
Don Rafael was, however, a methodical man with a lot of common sense. On the fir
st day of class, in the fall of 1917, he found the lab in a state of incredible
disorder and filthiness after the months of vacation. Instruments were scattered
. Cabinets were dirty and covered with dust. Not wanting to lose a day of class,
Don Rafael suggested that the students wash only the test tubes or other object
s they needed, and then, when they were finished with them, clean them well and
put them back where they belonged. After just a few classes every piece of equip
ment was bright and shining and in its proper place again. With his knack for re
taining whatever was useful in any incident, Josemara never forgot the lesson of
that chemistry class. Whenever, later in life, he encountered a similar situatio
n of urgency or disorder, he applied the method of Don Rafael.[33]

* * *

Leaving Barbastro was a painful uprooting for the whole family, but it was espec
ially hard on Josemara, whose character was beginning to be solidified. His paren
ts led the way in making the difficult adjustment to new surroundings and a new
lifestyle. By their example they made things easier for Carmen and Josemara.
Other than that one cousin of Josemara's who was studying with the Marists, the f
amily did not have any close relatives in Logroo. Fortunately, Don Jose was alrea
dy establishing friendships through his work. Thanks also to his good manners an
d personal distinction, he soon widened his circle of acquaintances. However, he
could not mix with them socially. There were several social clubs-the Rioja Lit
erary Club, the Friendship Circle, the Catholic Circle-but financial constraints
kept him from joining them. Finding themselves in a strange city, parents and c
hildren centered their lives on their home, in an instinctive movement of affect
ion and defense. Josemara thus came to understand "the importance of confronting
difficulties well united"-another lesson learned from his father.[34]
Paula Royo recalls that when he started at Saint Anthony's, "Josemara was very ta
ll for his age-about fourteen-and rather stocky. He still wore short pants.* I r
emember him in dark gray outfit, black socks up to the knees, and a little beret
. He was very good-looking. I can still see him now as he was back then. He was
always cheerful and had a contagious laugh."[35] His teachers at once held him i
n high esteem, says another friend of the family, and he won friends among his c
lassmates through his natural capacity for adjustment and by "his loyalty to his
companions."[36]
He exemplified generosity, loyalty, and a spirit of service to such an extent th
at with no holding back or hesitation, he would forgo for the sake of others eve
n things that he needed. In view of this, Doa Dolores, who knew him better than a
nyone else felt obliged to warn him that he would suffer a lot in this life if h
e kept giving of himself to people in that way.[37]
Later in life he now and then would run into old friends and they would exchange
big hugs and reminisce about school days. One of these friends was a boy with w
hom Josemara had patiently reviewed class material he had been unable to grasp.[3
8]
In the end, his mother's prediction came true. Life brought the boy innumerable
letdowns and sorrows. But Josemara never regretted being the way he was or tried
to rein in his big heart. In 1971, with the bitter taste of a recent disillusion
ment \\ith a "friend" still in his mouth, he wrote, "Why is it that, in spite of
my miseries, I'm usually more of a friend to my friends than they are to me? Ye
t surely this does do me a lot of good, if I accept-fiat!-their lack of affectio
n."[39]
His basic character did not change much with the years. He gave himself with unl
imited loyalty and generosity, unreservedly, with an overflowing warm-heartednes
s. Some of the friendships he made at that time with classmates at the Institute
would just keep growing ever closer, on into eternity, as was the case with Isi

doro Zorzano.[40] When in 1918 the bishop of the diocese of Calahorra and La Cal
zada requests information about Josemara's studies, the response conveys-within i
ts concise formality-high praise for the boy. "The young man in question," write
s the rector of the Logroo seminary, "resides in Logroo, is studying at this Insti
tute, and serves as a model for the other students by his application and conduc
t."[41]

3. The maturing of an adolescent

The blows to the family were followed by a long series of moral sufferings and p
hysical privations that would deeply affect Josemara's transition from childhood
to adolescence. This may have been one of the most difficult periods of his life
. He was in a state of crisis, waging a tenacious and painful battle with himsel
f, apparently for several months. Veiled hints, made years later, indicate that
-for a time he no longer had those friendly chats with Don Jose in which son ope
ned his heart to father and asked his advice.
After the death of his sister Chon, an idea kept running through his head which
pierced him like a thorn. Whenever he saw the innocent suffer, he was nagged by
the thought, Why, Lord, why? Still a boy, and one with an acute sense of justice
, Josemara lost himself in painful meditations, searching for a ray of light that
would clarify what to him made no sense. It was wasted effort. His feelings wer
e too strong for him to see any possible explanation. This is how he tells it:

Even back when I was a child, I thought so often about the fact that there are m
any good souls who have to suffer so much in this world-sorrows of every type: r
eversals of fortune, family calamities, the trampling of their legitimate pride.
At the same time, I could see other people who did not seem to be good (though
I'm not saying they weren't, because we don't have a right to judge anyone), for
whom everything was going just great. But then, one fine day, it occurred to me
that even the very evil do some good things, although they don't do them for su
pernatural motives, and I realized that God in some way has to reward them on ea
rth, since he won't be able to reward them in eternity. Then I thought of the ol
d saying, "They also feed the ox that will go to the slaughterhouse."[42]

In Logroo Josemara began to feel uneasy about the new situation and resistant to a
ccepting it. His generosity, the impulse to give of himself without holding back
, seemed at odds with the cutting back and financial calculating the family had
to do. The boy had a hard time catching on to the fact that moral riches are muc
h more important than material goods.
With Carmen's help, his mother worked hard at the household tasks: cooking, sewi
ng, cleaning, washing clothes, and bargaining when she went shopping at the mark
et. We know-and perhaps Josemara did too-some more personal details about his fat
her. To save money at afternoon break time, he would have just a small piece of
candy to stave off his hunger. Though he did not give up smoking, he imposed on
himself a daily ration of six cigarettes, which he rolled himself and then place
d carefully in a silver cigarette case, a souvenir of better times.[43] The hous
ehold economy was ruled by thrift, and expenditures were subject to a prudent sc
rutiny, in line with a saying of Doa Dolores, "Don't extend your arm further than
your sleeve will go."[44] In Josemara's eyes, everything in the house bore the s
eal of a practical poverty, which was frustrating to his impulsive spirit. It ar
oused in him feelings of rebellion which he could restrain only with difficulty.
Magnanimous and disposed to sacrifice as he was, he suffered from the silent su
ffering of his parents.
When the clouds lifted, and a little later he could see clearly the Christian di
mension of that poverty, he took pride in the very thing that as a boy he had co
nsidered a disgrace to his family. And when speaking of it to his spiritual chil
dren, he cheerfully said so. "If they throw in my face my parents' poverty," he
once said, "you should all rejoice, realizing that our Lord wanted it that way s
o that our Work-his Work- would be built without human means. That's how I see i
t. And furthermore, my parents, my quietly heroic parents, are my great pride."[

45]
At the time, though, he could not see it that way. The family's poverty, no ques
tion about it, brought with it all kinds of humiliation. To the many relatives o
f Doa Dolores, Logroo was an exile for the Escrivc1s, and according to some, an ex
ile they deserved.
For Josemara the hardest trial, more painful than the deprivations, was the quiet
suffering of his parents. Their smiling serenity showed the inner self-control
with which they accepted all these adversities. But through that humble cloak of
amiability one could also see the many renunciations it covered. And instead of
calming the boy, this upset him terribly. The waves tossed painfully in his sou
l. He did not dare discuss this with Don Jose-those heart-to-heart talks during
their Sunday walks were broken off for the time being, and they just talked abou
t other things-because to Josemara it would have been unjust and ignoble to make
"comments that might have wounded the sensibilities of his parents."[46]
From the happier days of his childhood Josemara kept in his memory a lithograph t
hat became part of his spiritual treasury. It had on it two Japanese drawings. O
ne of them, entitled "The Pretentious Man," showed " a family gathered around a
table which had above it a big lamp on top of a pole. From afar that light attra
cted one; it called attention to itself. But when one got closer, one could see
that the family was cold-without light, and without the warmth of a home. The ot
her drawing, entitled 'The Wise Man,' showed another family, with a lamp very cl
ose by-right on the table, in the midst of everything. It did not call attention
to itself; it was not at all ostentatious. But coming closer, one found there a
family atmosphere."[47]
God wanted his saving help to come to Josemara by way of his family. Among his ow
n, he found the warmth of affection. Time calmed his anxieties and feelings of a
nger. And later he came to see the profound significance of those events. What h
ad been a cause of shame and humiliation now shone with the radiance of virtue,
and he saw the providential order and divine logic behind it all. "God made me g
o through all kinds of humiliations, things that seemed shameful to me, but whic
h I now see were just so many instances of virtue on the part of my parents. I s
ay this with joy. Our Lord had to prepare me, and since what was right around me
was what could make me suffer the most, that's where he struck. Humiliations of
every kind, but borne with Christian nobility-I see it now, more clearly every
day, and with more gratitude to our Lord, to my parents, to my sister Carmen. ..
."[48]
Later, with the definitive development of his personality, the boy began to acqu
ire a maturity beyond his years. With his friends he was serious and thoughtful,
but was also living proof that these qualities are not incompatible with cheerf
ulness and a lively sense of humor. Doa Dolores had a good way of putting it: she
used to say that Josemara "was always a grown-up child."[49] It was by swimming
against the current, not letting misfortune hold him back, that he got through h
is adolescent crisis.
And so his spirit opened up very early to the idealism of youth. For this reason
, when he looked back to that long-ago stage of his life, he had words of forgiv
eness and gratitude for everyone. "Our Lord," he once said, "was preparing thing
s. He was giving me one grace after another, overlooking my defects, my mistakes
as a child and my mistakes as an adolescent."[50]

* * *

By themselves, his school records tell us little about Josemara as a person and o
nly indicate how his intellectual abilities were rated. But even so, they indire
ctly provide some valuable information about the boy's character and interests.[
51]
In his final exams for the fourth year of secondary school (1915-1916) he earned
an "Outstanding, with Prize" (also called "High Honors") for Literature and Com
position. The prize was not a merely honorary one: it was the waiving of the tui
tion for one course to be taken in the following year, with the student allowed
to choose, according to personal taste and convenience, which course it would be

. Josemara wrote the principal of the Institute on September 1, 1916, asking that
his prize for Literature and Composition be applied to the course "General Hist
ory of Literature."[52]
The teacher of this course was Don Luis Arnaiz, a man of literary sensibilities
and esthetic feelings which he readily expressed.[53] According to Josemara, he b
ecame particularly emotional when reading Cervantes aloud. That brought back to
the boy some distant memories of his own, for among the books the Escrivs had bro
ught from Barbastro, most of which were classics, was a beautiful and very old e
dition of Don Quixote, in six volumes. He had begun to read it, as well as enjoy
the illustrations, at a very early age.
In his literature classes Josemara was able to savor to his heart's content the c
lassics, from medieval writers to those of the Spanish Golden Age.[54] Years lat
er, literary and historical anecdotes (some in prose and some in verse) came rea
dily to his mind as illustrations of Christian doctrine.
One Holy Thursday, making his personal prayer aloud, Monsignor Escriv brought int
o it some of these things he had learned as a boy.

From childhood, O Lord, from the first time I got to leaf through that Galician
poetry of Alfonso the Wise, I have been moved by the memory of some of his verse
s.
I was really touched by those ballads-for instance, the one about the monk who i
n his simplicity asked our Lady to let him contemplate heaven. He went up to hea
ven in his prayer-this is something all of us understand, all my children unders
tand it, all, because we are contemplative souls-and when he returned from his p
rayer, he did not recognize a single monk in the monastery. Three centuries had
passed! Now I understand this in a special way, when I consider that you have re
mained in the tabernacle for almost two thousand years so that I could adore and
love and possess you; so that I could eat you and nourish myself with you, sit
at your table, become divinized! What are three centuries for a soul that loves?
What are three centuries of suffering, three centuries of love, for a soul in l
ove? An instant![55]

What he read as a child took root deep in his soul, saturating it with beauty. O
n many occasions he would make use of literary recollections to explain his plan
s or ideas. Take, for example, a letter written in Rome on June 7, 1965, half a
century after his graduation from the Institute of Logroo:

I am now reviving some of my childhood interests, reading old Spanish literature

, which our Lord also used to confirm me in his peace. I'll explain this with an
example: You know how often I've said, all those far too many times when people
have attributed to me, who am a sinner, things like revelations and prophecies
(no less!), that all this is not true. Faced with people's belief, I'll grant at
most, because it seems right, that if by any chance what they are saying is tru
e, it's a fruit of the goodness of God, who is rewarding the faith and other vir
tues of those people. But I'll also admit that io non c'entro per niente (I have
nothing to do with it].
Well, then, I was reading Gonzalo de Berceo's Life of Saint Dominic of Silos. (I
'll gladly concede to him that, as he says, the book is "well worth, I think, a
good glass of wine.") And taking into account the difference between the thirtee
nth and the twentieth centuries, and even more the difference between a saint an
d a sinner, I felt consoled as by a great light from God when I read, He prophes
ied the thing that was to come, Maguer prophesied it, but he didn't understand it
." Isn't it a blessing from heaven that, even in our diversions, we can draw div
ine wisdom poured out by a good clergyman who lived over seven hundred years ago
?
Now, to entertain you still further, I want to tell you another literary anecdot
e, if you can call it that-it might be better to say it comes from my literary c
onfusion.
Not infrequently, when speaking of spiritual things, I used to like to mention a
verse I thought came from Cantar del mio Cid: " And the prayer rode on horsebac

k to heaven." Now, you can't tell me that's not expressive! But lately I've rere
ad that song, and I've had to recognize that my elderly memory committed in good
faith an error that could almost be called unparDoable. Because the original, if
you really think about it, is more realistic and even has more of our theology.
Here's what it says: "Having prayed, he then rode off." First you pray, then yo
u ride. Riding means working, fighting, getting ready to fight. And working and
fighting, for a Christian, are praying. I understand this verse from the epic po
em as fitting in very well with our epic of ordinary contemplative Christians. B
etter than that other idea which came, foggily, from an impression made on my ad
olescent imagination.[56]

* * *

Carmen considered her brother "a normal boy with an outgoing personality."[57] W
hen it came to having fun, however, Josemara felt a little inhibited in the prese
nce of girls. He did not go to dances, in part because he had never gotten aroun
d to learning how to dance. His father, on the other hand, had been an excellent
dancer. "Your father," Doa Dolores used to tell Josemara " could dance on the tip
of a sword."[58] But in any case, wanting to prepare her son for what would nat
urally be expected, that he would someday fall in love with a girl, she gave him
good advice in the form of a popular saying: "If you're going to marry, find yo
u a woman neither so beautiful that she bewitches, nor so ugly that she causes t
witches."[59]
Josemara lost much of his shyness and pensiveness in early adolescence, revealing
a nature full of youthful enthusiasms. Extremely orderly and punctual, he could
not tolerate disorder. It made him nervous, and he was not tactful about it.[60
] This may have had some obscure connection with his liking for geometry and oth
er branches of mathematics. It is clear, though, that the exact sciences were no
t responsible for his forceful character.
Throughout his life Josemara had to struggle against the natural impetuosity of h
is temperament to rein in that torrent of healthy energy and turn it into a cont
rolled force and strength of spirit with which to confront obstacles.[61]
His youthful excitability also showed up, although in a different way, in anothe
r aspect of his character: his romantic idealism. This would find expression in
poetry writing, in patriotic fervor, and sometimes in exalted sentiments about f
reedom and justice, in connection, for instance, with Ireland's bid for independ
ence.[62]
Each week the family received the magazine Blanco y Negro, which gave extensive
reports, complete with photographs, of developments in the First World War. Spai
n, although it remained neutral, was sharply divided in its sympathies; everyone
was for one side or the other. Don Jose strongly backed Germany, perhaps becaus
e of the enmity toward France that had persisted in Upper Aragon as a result of
the invasion and excesses perpetrated by Napoleon's troops.
But in the case of Ireland, what really stirred up the boy was the issue of reli
gious liberty. "I was then about fifteen," he says, " and I eagerly read in the
newspapers everything about the events of the First War. Most of all, though, I
prayed a lot for Ireland. I wasn't against England; I was for religious freedom.
"[63]

* * *

In the summer of 1917, father and son resumed their long walks together and disc
ussed Josemara's plans for the future. In the year ahead he would graduate from s
econdary school, and he needed to decide what professional path he then would fo
llow. The boy had no doubts. He had already made up his mind to be an architect,
since he was so gifted in mathematics and drawing.
Realizing that his son spoke very well, liked history and literature, and was go
od with people, Don Jose gently tried to steer him in the direction of law. But
Josemara could not be budged. When his father said that what he was aspiring to b
e was nothing more than a " glorified bricklayer," it was not just a little dig.

[64] Becoming an architect involved long and costly studies, and would require o
f the family a heavy financial sacrifice. Probably he did not realize this at th
e time, but many years later he had to recognize it. "So that I could have a uni
versity-level career," he said, "my parents continued my education in spite of t
he family's financial ruin, when they would have had every right to make me get
a job-just any kind of job-right away."[65]
A few months remained before a decision would have to be made. Don Jose grew mor
e uneasy with each passing day. But God would speak, and God would have the last
word.
In 1934, looking back from the perspective of his priestly vocation, Josemara tho
ught about where his professional dreams of 1917 would likely have gotten him. "
The priestly vocation! If you hadn't called me, where would I be now? I would pr
obably be a conceited lawyer, an arrogant writer, or an architect enamored of my
buildings. (I thought of all this even back then, in 1917 or 1918.)"[66]

4. Some footprints in the snow

Up to then God had intervened in his life in a silent way. All the hard lessons
he had learned had come by way of painful events concerning his family. Now, as
though playing, God set out to meet him, yet still without showing himself openl
y. He did so through little things that for a person with a less sensitive spiri
t would have lacked any special significance, but that for a simple soul alert t
o the touch of grace were tangible signs of God's love. In such ways our Lord ke
pt the boy's soul alert. Years later he would write, "Our Lord was preparing me
in spite of myself, using apparently innocuous things to instill a divine restle
ssness in my soul. Thus I came to understand very well that love, so human and s
o divine, that moved Saint Therese of the Child Jesus when, leafing through the
pages of a book, she suddenly came upon a picture of one of the Redeemer's wound
ed hands. Things like that happened to me too-things that moved me and led me to
daily Communion, to purification, to confession, and to penance."[67]
In the Escriv home the Rosary was prayed daily and the traditional devotions of B
arbastro continued to be practiced. The Escrivs joined the parish of Santiago el
Real, whose pastor, Father Hilario Loza, knew the whole family very well. The bo
y went to confession and Communion here, although on Sundays and feast days duri
ng the school year he mostly attended Mass at Saint Anthony's. Don Jose continue
d to give alms to the poor, and especially to a community of Daughters of Charit
y which from time to time let him keep in his home a statue of Our Lady of the M
iraculous Medal that was enclosed in a glass case.[68] By turn, families were al
lowed to take this little statue home for their devotions.
Another church the Escrivs attended was Santa Maria de La Redonda. Going from the
ir house down to Mercado Street, and then turning left, one would face Constitut
ion Plaza, the site of the church. It was the most beautiful building in the cit
y, its facade a huge vaulted niche between two towers and capped by a semi dome.
Like a gigantic shell in splendid baroque style, the niche served as a canopy w
hen one was entering the church. The pastor was Father Antolin Oflate. A very go
od friend of Don Jose, he was also the highest-ranking ecclesiastical authority
in the city, since he was the superior of the collegiate church of Santa Maria d
e La Redonda and the archpriest of the three parishes of Logroo.[69]
Because the restructuring of ecclesiastical territories stipulated by the Concor
dat of 1851 between the Spanish government and the Holy See had never been put i
nto effect, Logroo still belonged to the old diocese of Calahorra and La Calzada.
By virtue of the Concordat, Logroo was to have become the seat of the diocese. B
ut the ecclesiastical authorities were opposed, while the government, for its pa
rt, would not give in either. So for a long time (from 1892 to 1927) Logroo was i
n Episcopal limbo under apostolic administrators, who resided in Calahorra. From
1911 to 1921 the diocese was governed by the Most Reverend Juan Plaza y Garcia,
titular bishop of Hippo.[70] The clergy of Logroo included, besides the parish p
riests, the canons and holders of benefices at La Redonda, chaplains at hospital
s and other institutions, seminary professors, and military chaplains.[71] Relig
ious communities in Logroo included the Marist Brothers who ran Saint Joseph's Sc

hool, the Jesuits at Saint Bartholomew's Church, and quite a few women's communi
ties: Discalced Carmelites, Augustinians, Religious of the Mother of God, Daught
ers of Charity, Adoration Sisters, Servants of Jesus. ...
Such was the situation in the autumn of 1917, before the Carmelite nuns approved
(in a chapter resolution dated October 23) the coming of two Carmelite priests
to minister to the convent.[72] Father Juan Vicente de Jesus Maria arrived in Lo
groo on December 11, and a few days later came Father Jose Miguel de la Virgin de
l Carmen. The two of them, together with a Brother named Pantalen, made up the co
mmunity in charge of the convent church.
The official inauguration of their pastoral and liturgical services was celebrat
ed on December 19, in a solemn ceremony. The weather, however, contributed nothi
ng to the splendor of the occasion. Since the beginning of the month, rain and s
now had been pouring down on Logroo, and although on Tuesday, December 18, much o
f the snow melted, the slush refroze overnight and the faithful who came to the
solemn inauguration of this new era for the Carmelites had to risk slips and tum
bles.
Father Juan Vicente did the preaching. He "greeted the city with great feeling a
nd offered everyone in it the spiritual services of the new Carmelite community.
"[73]
Some very rough days followed, with stormy skies and intense cold covering the w
hole Rioja region. On Friday, December 28, it started snowing steadily; for two
days, great quantities of small but dense flakes kept falling. The New Year came
in with glacial temperatures. The thermometer fell to -15 oC (5 OF). Travel bec
ame impossible. Stores stayed closed. A number of people actually froze to death
.
Beginning on January 3, the city's street-cleaning crew, reinforced by about a h
undred extra workers hired by the city government, spent several days removing s
now from streets and sidewalks. On Wednesday, January 9, Josemara's birthday, the
y finished their work, helped by the rains that had arrived on the previous even
ing. But the cold returned and the snow season lasted another week.[74]
In the meantime, our Lord anticipated Josemara's birthday with a surprise that wo
uld change the course of his life. Walking down the street one morning during th
ose Christmas holidays, he came upon prints in the snow made by bare feet. His c
uriosity 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 neighbor, ca
n't I offer him something?"[75]
The footprints had been made by Father Jose Miguel. 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.[76] "When I was scarc
ely an adolescent," he will tell us, "our Lord cast into my heart a seed burning
with love."[77]
This sharp change was, however, just a brief prelude to greater demands on the p
art of our Lord:

I began to have intimations of Love, to realize that my heart was asking for som
ething at, and that it was love. ... I didn't know what God wanted of me, but it
was evident that I had been chosen for something. What this was would come late
r. ...Realizing, at the same time, my own inadequacies, I made up that litany, w
hich is a matter not of false humility but of self-knowledge: "I am worth nothin
g, I have nothing I can do nothing, I am nothing, I know nothing. ..."[78]

He was set on fire with love, yet at the same time left in the dark. By the ligh
t of our Lord's grace he could see that he had been chosen, but for what remaine
d obscure.
Three months passed. Father Jose Miguel, seeing the dispositions of that soul, s
uggested that he join the Carmelites.[79] The boy brought this to his prayer, as
king heaven to let him hear clearly that mysterious call resounding in his heart
.

Looking back, he could see that from the very morning when he saw those footprin
ts in the snow, something had been leading him directly toward Love.[80] Our Lor
d had been preparing him. He had made a divine restlessness" spring up in his sou
l, such that when he came upon those footprints of a Carmelite religious in the
snow he recognized in them the footsteps of Christ, and an invitation to follow
him.
During the weeks between that day and the one on which the Carmelite invited him
to enter his order, Josemara had undergone a major interior change of direction.
How could such a small event have moved him to put his whole will into a firm d
esire to offer himself entirely to our Lord, without knowing exactly what he was
committing himself to? The disproportion between that event and the reaction sh
ows us the caliber of the boy's temperament-vehement and noble-and his great cap
acity for love. The carpet of snow soon turned to slush. Josemara, however, remai
ned firm in his determination. His generous responsiveness to grace only enlarge
d that wound of love.
By now it was spring. In a couple of months, classes finished, he would take his
exams and graduate. He had to make a decision. He thought of the difficulties a
strict religious life would present to carrying out the plans of God that he wa
s starting to sense. If he renounced the pursuit of a secular career and became
a religious, would he be able to help his parents financially? The monastic life
did not appeal to him, nor did the idea of becoming a religious calm his inner
restlessness. Besides, shouldn't he be free, with no attachments, when he discov
ered what that something was that God was asking of him and that was already sim
mering in his soul?[81] He thereupon came to a quick decision: he would become a
priest and thus be prepared for whatever was coming. He then told Father Jose M
iguel his decision and stopped going to the Carmelite for spiritual direction.[8
2]
All this was obviously not the result of a chance encounter with the footprints
of a discalced friar. There was nothing accidental about this encounter, as Jose
mara well knew. It was a gift from God. Therefore his commitment had to be a tota
l self-giving, without asking for a proof or extraordinary sign. And immediately
, after he made it, he began receiving an outpouring of graces that shortly brou
ght his soul to a state of manifest maturity, to judge by his spiritual director
's invitation to him.
It was not, however, to religious life that God was calling him. He soon saw thi
s clearly, and said so to the Carmelite. And then, with an incredible generosity
and a gigantic faith-not at the instigation of grace, but, so to speak, apparen
tly jumping ahead of our Lord-he decided to become a priest. It was a heroic ste
p, an extravagant response that no one had expressly invited him to make. Nor di
d he make any apologies when he let it be known that he was not being called to
a monastic life. He chose the priesthood as a base of operations for attaining a
n ideal; as the most appropriate means, given his personal circumstances, for id
entifying himself with Christ in anticipation of a vocation he was beginning to
intuit but could not yet see. It would be up to the Lord to provide the new impe
tus that the future priest could not foresee. For now, from within the darkness
of his faith, like the blind man in Jericho, Josemara just kept crying out to the
Lord, begging him to manifest his will. He had a strong intuition that he was a
bout to enter upon the adventure of his life. In 1931 he wrote:

For years, starting back when my vocation first came about in Logroo, I constantl
y had on my lips, as an aspiration, "Domine, ut videam!" [Lord, that I may see!]
. I was convinced that God wanted me for something, even though I didn't know wh
at that something was. I am certain that I expressed this several times to Aunt
Cruz [Sister Maria de Jesus Crucificado] in letters that I sent her at her conve
nt in Huesca. The first time I ever meditated on the passage in Saint Mark about
the blind man whom Jesus cured, the passage where Christ asks him, "What do you
want me to do for you?" and he answers, "Rabboni, ut videam" [Lord, that I migh
t see], this phrase became deeply engraved in my mind. And despite the fact that
I (like the blind man) was told by many to keep quiet. .., I went on saying and
writing, without knowing why, "Ut videam! Domine, ut videam!" And at other time

s, "Ut sit! Let me see, Lord, let me see. And let it be."[83]

Having made up his mind to become a priest, he communicated this decision to his
father. He relates Don Jose's reaction:

My father answered me, "But, my son, are you taking into account that you will n
ot have a love here on earth, a human love?"
My father was mistaken. He realized it later on.
??You won't have a home"-he was mistaken!-"but I will not stand in your way.?
And two tears came to his eyes. This was the only time I ever saw my father cry.
"I will not oppose it. In fact, I will introduce you to someone who can give you
some guidance."[84]

A disturbing thought then crossed the boy's mind: what about his obligations tow
ard his parents? Being the only son, he was bound in justice to plan for the day
when he would have to support the family-a day that could not be far off, since
his parents were getting up in years and worn out by life. Doa Dolores, after al
l, had not had any more children for the past ten years. ...And at that very mom
ent, without thinking twice, with the confidence that comes from great faith, pl
us the consciousness of having handed over everything our Lord had asked of him,
he prayed that his parents might have another son, to take his place. That was
it; he made the one request, he took the matter as settled, and no longer concer
ned himself with it.[85]
By now it was May. The news that Josemara was going to become a priest spread qui
ckly among the family's friends and acquaintances. Father Antolin Oftate, the ar
chpriest, was thrilled. At the request of Don Jose, he met with the boy, and aft
erward was able to confirm to the father his son's vocation.[86] So did Father A
lbino Pajares, another priest whom the boy consulted at his father's suggestion.
[87] But the news took the family's acquaintances by surprise. "Even his parents
," says Paula Royo, "sounded amazed when they told my parents about it," but the
y never for a moment put any obstacles in his way. We just never thought he woul
d want to be a priest."[88]
At that time Josemara often went to Santa Maria de La Redonda for Mass, long peri
ods of personal prayer, and confession. His confessor was Father Ciriaco Garrido
, the canon of the collegiate church who was specifically assigned to hear confe
ssions. Father Ciriaco was as physically slight as he was rich in virtue. Don Ci
riaquito, as they affectionately called him because of his short stature, was on
e of the first "to encourage my budding vocation," Josemara would write.[89]
On May 28 he finished his exams. At last he was a graduate. Having escaped the d
readed prospect of his son's pursuing a career in architecture, Don Jose once ag
ain counseled the boy to study law-something that would be compatible with eccle
siastical studies-although the first order of business was to find out what they
needed to do to get him into the seminary.[90]

5. At the seminary of Logroo

Father Antolin knew all about everything having to do, either directly or indire
ctly, with the running of the diocese. He informed Don Jose of the steps to be t
aken. First the bishop had to be asked to validate the courses taken in secondar
y school. And without losing any time, it would be good for the new graduate to
get some preparation in Latin and philosophy, because he would have to take a pr
eliminary examination in those fields before starting his theological studies. D
on Jose was very grateful to the archpriest and to Father Albino, both of whom t
ook it upon themselves to find teachers for the boy-although, of course, the tea
chers' fees would have to come out of his own pocket.[91]
The summer of 1918 was a time of severe drought. Special litanies were prayed, a
nd the bishop ordered that the prayer " Ad Petendam Pluviam" be said at Mass "fo
r the purpose of obtaining from Almighty God a remedy for the prolonged drought
which is parching the fields and threatening to destroy a great part of the agri
cultural products that constitute the principal resource of our beloved diocese.

"[92] On August 29, the bishop set the first of October as the date of the offic
ial opening of the academic year 1918-1919, both for the seminary in Logroo and t
he one in Calahorra.[93] The history of the diocese having been, as we have seen
, a somewhat checkered one, it should come as no surprise that it had two semina
ries. From 1917 on, teaching responsibilities were divided between them, with th
e seminary in Logroo offering courses in ecclesiastical studies only up to thirdyear theology.[94]
Before the start of the school year, the diocesan Boletin Eclesitistico publishe
d a list of requirements for admission to the seminary. One, as Father Antolin h
ad anticipated, was that secondary school graduates had to pass an examination i
n Latin, logic, metaphysics, and ethics. But the school year could not begin on
October 1, as planned, not so much because of the drought as because of somethin
g even more terrible: a severe flu epidemic. The days went by, and on November 6
Josemara sent the bishop a letter saying, "Since I feel that I have a Church voc
ation, and since I have completed my secondary-school years and passed all my se
condary-school examinations, I request that Your Excellency deign to allow me to
take the examination in Latin, logic, metaphysics, and ethics that is a prerequ
isite for first-year theology."[95] Because of the terrible epidemic, which spre
ad through the entire region, the seminaries did not open until November 29. Whe
n the epidemic ended, the bishop ordered that in all parishes a Te Deum be sung
and an Our Father be prayed "for the victims, and especially for those priests o
f ours who died as heroes of charity, going beyond the call of duty in the carry
ing out of their ministry."[96] While the flu was wreaking havoc and Josemara was
taking his examinations, he also had to fulfill an additional requirement for e
ntrance to the seminary-a special one for students from other dioceses. These st
udents had to obtain permission from their respective bishops. Josemara sent a re
quest to the bishop of Barbastro, and on November 12 that bishop sent to the bis
hop of Calahorra this response:

Don Jose Maria Escriv Albas, sixteen years of age, a native of this city and for
the past three years a resident of Logroo, living with his family, and having, as
he declares, a vocation to the ecclesiastical state, has requested permission f
or a transfer to the Diocese of Calahorra. We, therefore, taking into considerat
ion the reasons expressed by said youth, and assuming his acceptance by that dio
cese, hereby excardinate him from the Diocese of Barbastro and transfer all of t
he jurisdiction that we have over him ratione originis [by reason of origin] to
the Most Excellent Bishop of Calahorra. He may, if he sees fit, confer upon him
all the minor and major orders.[97]

The "Old Seminary" of Logroo owed its name both to the length of time it had been
a center of ecclesiastical studies and to its sheer age. The dilapidated buildi
ng dated back to 1559. In that year the Jesuits established a school in Logroo. W
hen they were expelled from Spain it passed into the hands of the diocese. In 17
76 it began to be used as a seminary, but academic operations suffered notable i
nterruptions. From 1808 to 1815 Napoleon's troops used it for a barracks and set
up stables there. On several occasions later, it was a military hospital or a p
rison for captured Carlists.
The decrepit building, which did not have electric lighting unti11910, was an im
mense rectangular structure with an interior patio and five floors. Its rooms an
d halls, which were far larger and more numerous than necessary, were in shamefu
lly poor condition. Moreover, the ground floor was occupied in 1917 by a company
of artillery with a full allotment of men and horses.[98]
The code of conduct of that venerable establishment had been drawn up according
to norms promulgated on January 1, 1909, by Cardinal Gregorio Aguirre of Burgos,
who was also the apostolic administrator of the diocese of Calahorra and La Cal
zada. The official text was entitled "Discipline to Be Observed by the College G
entlemen Who Are Residents of the Seminary." Here were spelled out the resident
seminarians' daily schedule, "principal duties," and "special prohibitions." The
latter included " all communication with the day students."[99]
There was a disciplinary reason for keeping residents and nonresidents separate:

so that the nonresidents would not poke fun at the strict rules observed by the
residents. At that time the nonresidents were all students whose families lived
in Logroo; these young men ate and slept at home. But with this one exception th
e regimen of education and spiritual life was the same for everyone.
Josemara entered the seminary at 6:30 each morning. First there was a period of p
rivate prayer, then Mass. Sometimes a Jesuit priest came in to give the homily.
After Mass the day students went home for breakfast, and those taking theology r
eturned to the seminary at 10:00. At 12:30, when class ended, they went home aga
in and ate lunch with their families. By 3:00 they were back at the seminary for
another class followed by free time. The day ended with the Rosary and either a
talk or spiritual reading.[100]
Josemara did not abuse his freedom as a day student. Maximo Rubio, a fellow semin
arian who also lived in Logroo with his family says, "He was most punctual and ex
emplary. From all appearances, he had a real desire for perfection."[101] The re
sident students had special duties, among them giving catechism classes on Sunda
ys, something the day students were not required to do. One of the resident semi
narians, Amadeo Blanco, remembers Josemara particularly well because he was the o
nly day student who showed up on Sundays and volunteered to help out.[102]
The seminary was on Sagasta Street, not far from the Escrivs' first home in Logroo
. Recently in 1918, the family had left the old apartment and moved into a new b
uilding on Canalejas Street, where they also had a fourth-floor apartment, thoug
h not as centrally located as the previous one.[103]
One day Josemara got a big surprise. Doa Dolores called him and Carmen aside to an
nounce that she was expecting a baby. Although her pregnancy was already showing
, her children had not thought of it as even a possibility. But then Josemara rem
embered his prayer of several months earlier, and at once he was sure it would b
e a boy.[104]
Those winter weeks were ones of quiet family closeness. On February 28, 1919, Doa
Dolores gave birth to a son, which for Josemara was an obvious confirmation of h
is vocation.

In answer to my petition, and even though it had been many years since my parent
s had had any children and they were not young anymore-in answer to my petition,
I repeat, our Lord God (just nine or ten months after I asked him) saw to it th
at my brother was born. ...I had asked for a baby brother.[105]

Two days later the boy was baptized at the church of Santiago el Real by Father
Hilario Loza with the name Santiago Justo. The godparents were Carmen and Josema
ra.[106]
During his two years at the seminary of Logroo (1918-1919 and 1919-1920), Josemara
completed all his first-year theology courses with great ease, receiving in all
but one the outstanding evaluation of "Meritissimus" (Highest Honors).[107] He
left only one of these courses (Theological Principles, also called Fundamental
Theology) for the 1919-1920 school year-he had to leave at least one because, be
ing not yet twenty-one, he was not permitted to take first-year theology on the
fast track.[108] In this second year, he therefore had considerable free time, w
hich he used to go more deeply into philosophy and improve his Latin.

6. Priesthood and ecclesiastical career

The testimony of his fellow seminarians is short, to the point, and strikingly c
onsistent. Josemara "was very careful about his outward appearance," says Amadeo
Blanco. "He wore a blue jacket, a shirt with a high collar, and a tie." Luis Alo
nso says basically the same thing: "He always dressed very elegantly, in a compl
ete suit, dark and well tailored."[109]
Pedro Baldomero Larios remembers him as being "very open and communicative, frie
ndly, fun, cheerful, and very agreeable." "The thing about him that really stood
out," observes Amadeo Blanco, "was his open, friendly smile; it clearly reflect
ed an inner joy."[110] Maximo Rubio describes him as "a man of character, with a
strong personality," and tells us that "he had a great influence on the piety a

nd spirituality of his fellow seminarians."[111]

These reminiscences look especially significant alongside the opinions the super
iors of the seminary expressed. The rector, Father Valeriano-Cruz Ordoftez, once
made this brief report: "Said person is a graduate of the Institute with a dipl
oma in the arts, a boy of very good disposition and very good spirit."[112] For
confession, Josemara probably went to the school principal, Father Gregorio Feman
dez Anguiano, whom he would always remember as "that holy priest."[113] Besides
being devout, Father Gregorio had a surprising amount of administrative talent.
In 1921 he was named vice-rector of the seminary, and within a short time he beg
an to cultivate the souls of the seminarians with a firm hand, since their spiri
tual direction had been neglected for some time.[114]
Within the seminary, discipline was very strict. The day students, on the other
hand, had a somewhat different life. For them, weekends were free times when the
y could get together with friends and indulge in their favorite pastimes.
Josemara lived an intense spiritual life. A classmate remembers "seeing him go on
walks with a rosary in hand."[115] In the evening, on his way home from the sem
inary, he often stopped at the church of Santa Maria de La Redonda to make a vis
it to the Blessed Sacrament. His life of piety was in no way saccharine. It was
a fruit of that divine restlessness consuming him, and it made him draw his comp
anions along apostolic ally. "His way of thinking and acting also had an impact
on the seminarians themselves," by example.[116]
His weekdays were devoted to study. Sundays he devoted to children's catechism c
lasses in the morning and walks with his family in the afternoon, avoiding any o
ccasion of socializing or conversing alone with Carmen's friends. "Despite our a
ssociation," says Paula Royo, whose parents used to go on walks with the Escrivs,
"I never got to be friends with Josemara."[117] Referring specifically to those
years in the seminary, Maximo Rlibio, a classmate, speaks of the exquisite care
with which Josemara protected the purity of his feelings. "Everyone had a high op
inion of him in this matter of purity. I did too."[118] But his cultivated delic
acy did not go against common sense, as the following story, with nothing in it
of prudishness, makes clear.
Military establishments were as common a sight in Logroo as ecclesiastical ones,
with monasteries and barracks giving the whole city a somber uniformity. There w
ere two infantry regiments (Bailen no.24 and Cantabria no.39), a mounted artille
ry regiment (no.13), a military hospital, and military trading posts. In additio
n to the military and ecclesiastical establishments, there was a tobacco factory
with a motley crew of women cigar makers about a block from The Great City of L
ondon, on Mercado Street.
At La Redonda, and also at the church of Santiago el Real, Josemara saw among the
devout faithful certain individuals who looked familiar. He recognized women fr
om the tobacco plant and officers from the regiments. Those gray-haired officers
and those cigar makers, who had lost their youthful looks, set the boy's imagin
ation roaming. He saw officers and cigar makers on the verge of old age, erasing
old frivolities and mistakes with their repentance. His reflections may well ha
ve sparked the devotion he would always have to Mary Magdalene, the penitent sai
nt, the exemplar of contrite love.

When I was starting to get intuitions about the Work, but did not yet know with
clarity what it was that our Lord wanted of me, I started going to daily Mass. A
t the church I attended, r soon noticed quite a few women cigar makers who were
up in years, and also quite a few military men with white mustaches. I surmised
that both groups were making up for sins of their youth. Those repentant cigar m
akers and colonels made me think of Mary Magdalene.[119]

Josemara's good appearance and other outstanding qualities-his good manners, chee
rfulness, intelligence, and so forth-gave him a definite prestige among the semi
narians. Outside the seminary, though, things were a little different. The young
seminarian would sometimes run into old classmates. They might exchange greetin
gs, a friendly gesture; but sometimes he met with a taunting look of derision or
scorn that pained his soul.

In his journal he wrote, "I remember the look of pity, the sense that they were
looking down their noses at me, that I got from my classmates at the Institute w
hen, after finishing secondary school, I entered the service of the Church."[120
] This simple observation-a very sad one for a seminarian-reflects the social st
atus that the clerical state (and, indirectly, the whole Church) had in Spain in
the early years of the twentieth century. Those sardonic looks from former clas
smates evidently did not come from any personal, animosity. Along with a slight
touch of anticlericalism, they expressed the general sense of superiority that t
he liberal bourgeoisie had toward seminarians. In those days, one rarely encount
ered a seminarian with a secondary-school degree. Even rarer were priests with a
college degree in a secular field. Children from families of a higher intellect
ual, social, or economic position, if they happened to feel a vocational call, p
referred to enter a prestigious religious order or institute.[121]
Given all that, it is understandable why so many diocesan clergy felt themselves
tacitly and unfairly held in contempt by sectors of society that, along with th
eir religious unbelief, held certain kinds of secular learning in fatuous esteem
. Humanly speaking, entering the seminary meant for many giving up all hope of b
eing materially well off. It was a safe assumption that they would all end up as
village priests, pastors in a city, chaplains for convents, or military chaplai
ns. At best, by virtue of their greater intellectual capabilities or other perso
nal gifts, they might manage to secure the position of a canon in a cathedral, a
professorship, or some other benefice. For Josemara, entering the seminary meant
renouncing the socially and financially rewarding career he could have had as a
n architect or lawyer. He saw quite clearly what his ecclesiastical prospects wo
uld be once he entered into the dynamics of clericallife after ordination. This,
he wrote, was what typically happened to people in the seminary:

They went from there to pursue their career. They behaved well and tried to go f
rom one parish to another, better one. Anyone who had the preparation would take
the examinations for the position of canon. In time they would be admitted to t
he cathedral chapter, from whence came those needed to help out in the governing
of the diocese, or in the formation of clergy in the seminary. ...[122]

For some clerics, in other words, being a priest was something of an administrat
ive job. This was an idea Josemara did not share in the least. The seminarian fel
t himself called to no such career.

That was not what God was asking of me, and I told myself, I don't want to be a
priest just to be a priest, or "el cura," as they say in Spain. I had a lot of r
espect for priests, but I didn't want for myself that kind of priesthood.[123]

When Josemara decided to become a priest, it was because he judged that this woul
d make it easier for him to carry out the hidden plan of God, and also because h
e sensed that it would be a good way to get to know God's will in this regard.[1
24]
It was not the example he got in his family-the fact that on both sides he had u
ncles who were priests-that brought him to the priesthood.

I had never thought of becoming a priest, or of dedicating myself to God. That p

roblem had not presented itself to me, because I thought the priesthood was not
for me. Even more, I was so bothered by the thought of possibly becoming a pries
t someday that in a way I felt anticlerical. I loved priests very much, because
the formation I received in my home was profoundly religious; I had been taught
to respect, to venerate, the priesthood. But not for me-for others.[125]

From a "divine restlessness," an inner agitation, Josemara had moved to certitude

that our Lord wanted him for something. He was getting inklings of Love, and in
conformity with this love he totally surrendered himself, sacrificing all human
yearnings. Actually given the readiness and joy with which he decided to become
a priest he may have seen that surrender not as a sacrifice, but rather, as a j

oyful giving of his whole self.

His Ut videam! was an impatient lover's prayer, a wish to know more so that he c
ould give all that was asked of him, a petition for the light he needed in order
to set out on the right path toward accomplishing the will of God. He understoo
d his vocation to the priesthood as an integral part of another vocation-one not
yet in sight. He found himself, then, not at the end, the goal but at the begin
ning of the path along which the will of God would become manifest. His life thu
s moved into the "premonition" stage, as he puts it. In his journal he writes, "
I had premonitions from the beginning of 1918. Then I kept seeing, but without b
eing able to tell exactly what it was that our Lord wanted. I could see that our
Lord wanted something of me. I asked, and kept asking."[126]
Ever an enemy of mediocrity, Josemara had thoroughly disposed himself to receive
the specific fullness of his vocation to the priesthood, which he conceived as a
n ideal of love. And so, just as some of his classmates did not understand his e
ntering the seminary, some of his fellow seminarians were amazed later at his in
difference to everything concerned with "carving out a career." His high regard
for the priesthood never lost any of its vigor. Witness this journal entry from
1930:

A few days ago, someone had the nerve to ask me, when, of course, I hadn't said
anything to invite such a question, if those of us in the priesthood get a pensi
on when we reach old age. ...It made me angry. Since I didn't give him an answer
, the impertinent fellow asked me again. Then an answer occurred to me which to
my way of thinking isn't changing the subject. "The priesthood, I told him, his
not a career-it's an apostolate!" That's the way I feel about it. And I wanted t
o write it in these notes so that, with the help of the Lord, I'll never forget
the difference.[127]

Now we can better understand that earlier reaction of Don Jose, who, knowing the
boy and his youthful ardor, counseled prudence and reflection. "My son," he sai
d, "you need to really think this through. It's very hard not to have a house, n
ot to have a home, not to have a love here on earth. Think about it a little mor
e-but I will not oppose it."[128]
The news-the suddenness of it, the realization of all the changes and adjustment
s it would mean for the family, and especially the glimpse he got of the shining
ideal that seemed to infuse his son-brought tears to his eyes. He had to get ho
ld of himself inside and make a decision: "I will not oppose it." Perhaps he was
thinking of the heroic sacrifices that perseverance on that path of holiness wo
uld require of his son. In any case he did not live to see, in this world, Josem
ara's ordination to the priesthood.
Several years later, on January 23, 1929, in Madrid, at the bedside of a dying w
oman who had lived a very holy life, Josemara gave her this commission: "If I am
not going to be a priest who is not just good, but holy, tell Jesus to take me a
s soon as possible!"[129]

* * *

Everything seemed to indicate that Saragossa was the best place for him to study
law, as Don Jose had suggested he do. Doa Dolores had two brothers, a sister, an
d a niece living there: Mauricio, whose wife's name was Mercedes; Carlos, a cano
n and archdeacon of the cathedral; and, living with Carlos, Candelaria, a widow,
and her daughter Manolita Lafuente. Saragossa had both a pontifical university
and a secular university. Even its geographical closeness and good connections w
ith Logroo seemed to make it the best place for Josemara to do his ecclesiastical
and secular studies.
According to the Baroness of Valdeolivos, the move from Logroo to the seminary of
Saragossa was worked out during 1919.

Some later summer, possibly the summer of 1919, Don Jose, Josemara's father, came
to Fonz to see his brother and sisters. He brought photos of his children: Sant

iago (who had just been born), Carmen, and Josemara. He showed them to us, very p
roud of his children. ...Then, pointing to Josemara, he said thoughtfully, "He ha
s told me he wants to be a priest but also wants to study law. This will be a bi
t of a sacrifice for us. ...[130]

Paying for studies away from Logroo would be a financial sacrifice affecting the
whole family. But it would have been an even greater burden on the family if he
had gone to Barcelona or Madrid to become an architect.
Later in the school year, Josemara expressed his intentions to the seminary recto
r. Knowing the intellectual capabilities and the good vocational disposition of
the student, he offered his support. Later, in the first half of June 1920, and
possibly through the mediation of his uncle Carlos, whom his mother had asked to
intercede for him, Josemara obtained permission from the cardinal archbishop of
Saragossa for his eventual incardination into that archdiocese.
The next step was to request permission to transfer from Logroo to Saragossa and
continue his ecclesiastical studies there. He applied to the bishop of Calahorra
and La Calzada for excardination.*[131] The application was approved, on the ba
sis of a favorable report from the rector of the seminary of Logroo, who, as ment
ioned, characterized him as "a boy of very good disposition and very good spirit
."[132] With this he was transferred to the authority of the archbishop of Sarag
ossa. The Libra de Decretas Arzabispales (Book of Decrees of the Archbishop) con
tains the following entry, dated July 19,1920: "On. Jose Maria Escriv Albas.-Deci
sion as to his incardination in this Archdiocese, in his favor."[133]
Dated September 28,1920, there is another concise entry in which the cardinal ar
chbishop gives the student permission to enter the seminary of San Francisco de
Paula.[134] Thus begins a new stage in the seminarian's life.

[1] Martin Sambeat, Sum. 5679. Josemara, now thirteen, was "a rather tall, husky
boy who wore long socks, up to the knees, and short pants, like all boys of his
age in those days. ...He was quiet, likable, intelligent," says Maria del Carmen
de Otal Mart! (AGP, RHF, T-Q5080,p. 1).
[2] In the private-school system, as has been pointed out, classes were taken ou
tside the official state schools, but at the end of the year the students had to
be tested by teachers at those schools. It was customary for those teachers to
be presented with a list of the students' names and the grades that their own te
achers believed they deserved. On the list presented by the Piarists, Josemara ap
pears as head of the class. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 37, and also Appendix
8.
[3] See Francisco Botella, Sum. 5608; Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6331; and Santiago Es
criv de Balaguer y Albs, PM, fol. 1297.
[4] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 64.
[5] "The family was very bad off," says the Baroness of Valdeolivos, " so my gra
ndmother helped them out and bought the house from them, even though the family
continued to live there until they moved to Logroo" (Maria del Carmen de Otal Mar
t, Sum. 5988).
[6] Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T-Q8203, p. 6. See also Alvaro del Portillo, S
um. 69.
[7] See S. Lalueza, Martirio de la Iglesia en Barbastro, ed. Obispado de Barbast
ro (Barbastro, 1989), p. 172; G. Campo Villegas, C.M.F., Esta es nuestra sangre
(51 claretianos mtirtires, Barbastro 1936) (Madrid: Claretian Fathers, 1990), p.
380; Vicente Ccircel Orti, La persecucin religiosa en Espaa durante la segunda re
publica (1931-1939) (Madrid: Rialp, 1990); Antonio Montero, Historia de la perse
cucin religiosa en Espaa, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1961), pp. 209-23 and 763ff.; and Di
ccionario de Historia Eclesitistica de Espaa (Madrid, 1972), vol. 1, p. 185.
[8] Article 5 of the Concordat of 1851, as has been mentioned, called for the el
imination of Barbastro as a separate diocese and for its incorporation into the
diocese of Huesca. But the history of that concordat between Spain and the Holy
See was very uneven; a great number of its articles never were implemented. For

long periods it was completely suspended. Relations with the Holy See were broke
n off during the first Spanish Republic (1873-1874), and the juridical basis of
the concordat was destroyed by the second Republic (1931-1936). However, it was
never formally abrogated. With the treaties of 1946 the Spanish government tried
to reactivate some of its provisions, up until the negotiation of the Concordat
of 1953. See S. Lopez Novoa, Historia de Barbastro (Barcelona, 1861; reprint, B
arbastro, 1981), vol. 1, pp. 233ff., and Diccionario de Historia Eclesitistica d
e Espafia, vol. 1, pp. 581-95.
Martin Sambeat testifies, "The relations of the founder and of Opus Dei with the
nuncio in Spain were, I believe, very good. So when attempts were made to suppr
ess the diocese of Barbastro, we thought about who might both have some influenc
e with the nuncio and be interested in warding off the blow of that suppression,
and we agreed that Father Escrivci de Balaguer would be one of those people" (M
artin Sambeat, Sum. 5682). See also Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7495.
The founder followed a general practice of not making endorsements except when i
t came to a question of the welfare of his hometown, as in the case of the attem
pts to suppress the diocese of Barbastro, when he interceded with the nuncio in
1945, and later with the Holy See, and even with Pope Paul VI himself (see Alvar
o del Portillo, Sum.1448).
In November 1970 the founder wrote to the mayor of Barbastro as follows: "Becaus
e the task that our Lord has entrusted to me is a strictly spiritual one, my rul
e of conduct has always been never to make any endorsement, except when the matt
er concerns my beloved city of Barbastro or that general vicinity. I am convince
d that by acting in this way, I am fulfilling my obligations as a priest and as
a Barbastran." See C 4721 (13 Nov 1970).
As for the documentation concerning these steps and the progress of the official
negotiations with the Holy See, I have not done any research on those subjects,
because I consider them to lie outside the framework of this story. For informa
tion on them, see Manuel Garrido, Barbastro yel beato ]osemaria Escrivti (Ayunta
miento de Barbastro, 1995), pp. 111-23.
[9] C 5793 (29 Ian 1966), Apuntes II, pp. 305-306.
[10] C 4882 (28 Jun 1971); see also C 4721 (13 Nov 1970).
[11] C 4826 (28 Mar 1971).
[12] Paula Royo, AGP, RHF, T--05379, p. 1, and Sum. 6296.
[13] See Anuario de la Vida Oficial, el Comercio y la Industria, de la Provincia
de Logroiio-1915, edited by Hijos de Aleson (Logrofio, 1915). For all kinds of
information on this period (1915-1920) in Logrofio, see the doctoral dissertatio
n of Jaime Toldra, Fuentes para una biografia del beato Josemara Escrivti, Fundad
or del Opus Dei (Pamplona: University of Navarre, 1994).
[14] Paula Royo, AGP, RHF,T--05379, p. 1.
[15] See Paula Royo, AGP, RHF, T--05379, p. 2, and Sum.6298. For a number of yea
rs, following the civil war, Portales Street was renamed "General Mola"; in some
documents it appears as such.
[16] See Santiago Escriv de Balaguer y Albas, PM, fol. 1297v, ?9, and Jose Romeo,
Sum. 7847.
[17] Paula Royo, AGP, RHF, T--05379, p. 2, and Sum. 6298.
[18] Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T--02865, p. 9.
[19] C 2806 (14 Ian 1959).
[20] Paula Royo, AGP, RHF, T --05379, p. 2.
[21] Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T --02865, p. 9.
[22] Ibid.
[23] See Appendix 8.
[24] See articles in the 12 Aug 1907 issue of Rioja Ilustrada, and also advertis
ements in Anuario .de la Provincia de Logroo.
[25] The teachers at Saint Anthony's all had "science or liberal arts degrees, w
hich apparently was not the case with Saint Joseph's. fu 1917 the principal of S
aint Anthony's was Bemabe Lopez Merino, an associate professor at the institute.
As for academic results, Don Jose could not have helped seeing in the local news
paper, in the summer of 1915, in large headlines, the results of the secondary-s
chool examinations: Saint Anthony's: Graduating with High Honors, 61; Outstandin

g, 128; Notable, 123. Saint Joseph's: Graduating with High Honors, 37; Outstandi
ng, 98; Notable, 88; Passing, 136; Failing, 2.11 (See the July 3,6, and 8 editio
ns of La Rioja.)
As for Saint Anthony's classification as a ?secular? school, newspaper reports i
ndicate that it did have a resident chaplain, who ?in a beautiful oratory celebr
ated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass daily?: see the article "Primary and Seconda
ry School of Saint Anthony in Logroo? in the 12 Aug 1907 edition of Rioja Ilustra
da (Logrofio). But perhaps the school had Changed with the years. fu a personal
note written on November 17, 1930, Father Josemara said, I remember that for a ti
me I went to a school, run by laymen, which called itself Saint Anthony's, and t
hey only remembered Saint Anthony once a year, on his feast day, with a religiou
s ceremony which basically amounted to just an advertisement or a pitch for the
school" (Apuntes, no.105).
[26] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1804.
[27] See Paula Royo, Sum. 6298
[28] A well-known Carmelite historian said of the old convent in Lpgroo, "This wa
s one of the buildings which suffered the most from the secularization of the re
ligious, for it was tom down for construction of the Institute of Secondary Stud
ies and for conversion of the rest of the old holdings into public gardens" (Fat
her Silverio de Santa Teresa, Historia del Carmen Descalzo, vol. 13 [Burgos, 194
6], p. 832).
[29] See Appendix 8. In June 1916 Josemara took his fourth-year exams, and no oth
er "nonofficial" student got marks as high as his. His subjects and grades for t
hat fourth year were as follows:
Grammar and Composition: Outstanding (First Place)
French II: Outstanding
World History: Notable
Algebra and Trigonometry: Outstanding
Drawing I: Outstanding
[30] See Appendix 8. The subjects and marks for the 1916-1917 school year were t
he following:
Psychology and Logic: Notable
History of Literature: Outstanding
Physics: Notable
Physiology and Hygiene: Outstanding
Drawing II: Outstanding
(See also Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 147.)
Father Calixto, principal of the Institute of Logroo, signed a "Certificacin Acade
mica Personal" for Father Josemara on September 26, 1941. (See archive of the Ins
tituto Prcixedes Mateo Sagasta de Logroo.)
[31] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1819, and Francisco Botella, Sum. 5612. Bishop
Alvaro del Portillo states that he once had a long private conversation with Fat
her Calixto in which this priest extolled the natural and supernatural virtues o
f his former student and said he considered him an ideal example for the whole I
nstitute (see Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p.147).
[32] See the Memorias Anuales del Instituto, later published by, and now kept in
the principal's office of, Logroo's Instituto Prcixedes Mateo Sagasta. See also
Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 99.
[33] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 149, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1822.
[34] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 74.
*At that time it was customary in Spain for preadolescent boys to wear short pan
ts year round. Putting on long pants was a sign of having outgrown childhood.
[35] Paula Royo, AGP, RHF, T--5379, p. 2.
[36] EncamacinOrtega, PM, fol. 29v.
[37] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 96, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1795.
[38] See Javier Echevarria, PR, p. 79.
[39] C 4889 (19 Aug 1971).
[40] See Francisco Botella, Sum. 5611, and Juan Jimenez Vargas, PM, fol. 909v.
[41] This response, dated 8 Nov 1918, is in the archive of the diocese of Calaho
rra.

[42] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo in Sum. 67; see also Meditation of 4 Feb 1962.
Josemara had not yet discovered the deep meaning of suffering, which in The Way
(no.699) he would express thus: "Cross, toil, tribulation: such will be your lot
as long as you live. That was the way Christ followed, and the disciple is not
above his Master."
[43] See the interview with Manuel Ceniceros on p. 3 of the 28 Jun 1975 issue of
Logrofio's La Gaceta del Norte.
[44] See AGP, P06, V, p.267.
[45] C 4919 (14 Oct 1971).
[46] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1814. (He heard this directly from the lips of the
founder.)
[47] Letter 24 act 1965, no.29. Earlier, on September 2, 1931, Father Josemara no
ted in his journal, "All this reminds me of a certain interesting Japanese pictu
re in which the practical man (the apostolic man, we would say here) places his
one and only lamp at a low height, so that it lights up the night for his family
, who are amusing themselves and chatting in the light of the humble flame, whil
e the pretentious man (the pseudo-apostle) puts the lamp on top of a sixty-foot
pole, so that from far away they will think, 'What a beautiful light they have u
p there!'-but it neither gives light to those strangers nor warms his own family
, who are also left in the dark" (Apuntes, no.259).
[48] See AGP, P011975, pp. 357-58.
[49] See Francisco Botella, Sum. 5612.
[50] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. His parents contributed in a special way to the
change and maturation of his character. He never forgot their example or the deb
t that he owed them. In one letter he says, "I have had good models who were ver
y close to my heart, who limited themselves to accepting misfortunes with a nobl
e cheerfulness, not exaggerating the weight of the holy cross and not neglecting
the duties of their state" (Letter 8 Dec 1949, no.202).
On May 27, 1970, in a get-together in Mexico, Monsignor Escriv summed up that cha
pter of his life in this way (see AGP, POl 1970, p. 913):
For my father, nothing ever went right when it came to business. And I thank God
for this, because as a result I know what poverty is; had it been otherwise, I
would not. You see how good this is? Now I love my father all the more. He was s
o marvelous that he knew how to have a magnificent serenity and endure adversity
with the peace of a Christian and a gentleman.
[51] See Appendix 8.
[52] The letter followed the formal style of the period. It goes like this: ". .
.Having obtained, in the examinations taken this past June, the evaluation of 'O
utstanding, with Prize' for the subject of Literature and Composition; and havin
g, in accord with current regulations, the right to a scholarship for one subjec
t, I ask that you deign to grant this to me and apply it to the subject of Gener
al History of Literature. It being a fair thing to ask, this petitioner has no d
oubt of obtaining it thanks to the right judgment of yourself, whose life may Go
d safeguard for many years. / Logroo: September 1, 1916." (This is in the school
records of the Instituto Praxedes Mateo Sagasta; it is protocol no. 265/6935.)
[53] For more information about the faculty, see in the archive of Logroo's Insti
tuto Praxedes Mateo Sagasta the file titled "Faculty personnel of this Institute
for the school year of 1916 to 1917, with the dates on which the full-time teac
hers were hired and their rankings on the salary scale as of January 1, 1915-app
roved by Royal Decree of February 9, 1916."
[54] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 64 and 65; Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6331; and Jav
ier Echevarria, Sum. 1812.
[55] AGP, PO11970, pp. 487-88; AGP, P06, V, p. 275; cited by Alvaro del Portillo
in Sum. 65.
Here is an excerpt from poem no.103, "Como Maria feze estar o monge trezentos an
os ao canto de passarya ...":

" ...fez-Io entrar en hua orta / en que muitas vezes ja

Entrara; mais aquel dia / fez que hua font' achou
mui crara e mui fremosa / e cab'ela s'assentou.

...A tan gran sabor avia / daquel cant'e daquellais,

que grandes trezentos anos / esteveo assi, ou mays. ..."

(Cantigas de Santa Maria, ed. Walter Mettmann, in Acta Universitatis Conimbrigen

sis, vol. 2 [Coimbra, 1961], pp. 6-7.)
[56] C 3647 (7 Jun 1965). For the literary passages quoted in this letter, see G
onzalo de Berceo, Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos, verse 757, in Poetas Castellan
os anteriores al sigla XV; BAE, vol. 57 (Madrid, 1952), p. 63, and R. Menendez P
idal, Cantar del mia Cid, 3 vols. (Madrid, 1908-1911), especially pp. 518, 910,
and 1027, where he discusses verses 54-55.
That second cited verse describes the departure of El Cid for exile: his entranc
e into Burgos, his prayer in the cathedral, and his leaving from there to cross
the Arlanzn River. The full verse is, "La oracin fecha, / luego cavalgava; / sali p
or la puerta / e Arlarcon passava" (The prayer made, he then rode; he went out t
he door and crossed the Arlanzn).
Josemara retained the poem's spiritual flavor but not the historical circumstance
s behind it, and so in his memory the passionate outbursts merged with a pious g
lorification. The reading of this poem still arouses in young readers a torrent
of idealistic visions inspired by the strength, nobility, loyalty, and courtline
ss of the hero. Beyond any doubt, his reflections on these themes left a deep im
print on the sentiments of the young Josemara.
"El Cid," says one historian about this hero, "has always been of great human in
terest, because of all the obstacles and failures that run through the story of
his great deeds. ..; he will always be a powerful inspiration for young people"
(R, Menendez Pidal, La Espaa del Cid [Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1947], vol. 1, prolog
ue to the first edition).
[57] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 75. 58 See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 87.
[58] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 87.
[59] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 87. In Spanish the expression is "ni tan guap
a que encante, ni tan fea que espante."
[60] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 96.
[61] The founder himself would admit that he had a forceful character"un calatte
raccio," he would say in Italian-and would comment that "'our Lord, with his gra
ce, wanted to make use also of that defect, to teach me not to give in when the
defense of God's rights demanded not giving in"' (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 96).
But, adds Bishop del Portillo, "to tell the truth, it seemed to us to be not a
defect but, rather, even from a human point of view, one of the gifts that God h
ad given to our founder and that he always put at the service of the supernatura
l virtue of fortitude."
[62] From the time that England became Protestant under Henry VIII and Elizabeth
I and the terrible suppression by Cromwell (1649), there was an unjust repressi
on of Irish Catholics by their British rulers. During the eighteenth and ninetee
nth centuries, the civil and penal legislation that had excluded Catholics from
political and social life was very slowly revised. But religious discrimination
continued; and when, at the beginning of the twentieth century, strong movements
for autonomy gained strength in Ireland as elsewhere, there was still a flavor
of the old antipapist feeling in a saying of the Protestants in Ulste4 "Home rul
e is Rome rule."
Taking advantage of Britain's involvement in the First World War, the independen
ce activists engineered an armed uprising with some minor help in the way of arm
s from Germany. The uprising, set for April 23, 1916, did take place that Easter
week. It was soon suppressed by British troops. On May 3 began the executions o
f the rebels, or patriots, which caused a strong public reaction and helped lead
to Irish self-rule in 1921 and eventual independence.
These events were covered by the Spanish press with emphasis on the religious as
pects of the conflict. See The Times-History of the War, vol. 8 (London, 1916),
pp. 414ff.
[63] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo, in Sum. 76. See also Javier Echevarria, Sum.
1816. The pictorial services of Blanco y Negro covered the events of the war.
[64] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1825; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 101; and Paula

Royo, Sum. 6300. The founder mentioned this near the end of his life. In 1974, d
uring his trip to Brazil, he had to consecrate some altars. Energetically wieldi
ng the pallet to set one of the altar stones in its niche, and then sealing it,
he said to a professional construction worker who was at his side, "Row badly I
am doing this! Isn't it true, my son? I, who wanted to be an architect-you would
n't hire me as the least of your bricklayers!" (AGP, PO4 1974, I, p. 42).
[65] Apuntes, no.1688.
[66] Apuntes, no.1748.
[67] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.
[68] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 73,79, and 81, and Paula Royo, AGP, RHF, T--0
5379, p. 2.
[69] The authority of the abbot over the other pastors in Logrofio was demonstra
ted by the fact that later on, when the superiors of the seminary of Saragossa a
sked for official information on the conduct of the seminarian Josemara during th
e summer of 1921, they asked this from Father Antolin himself, even though the f
amily belonged to the parish of Santiago el Real. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.
79.)
[70] The ancient diocese of Calahorra, which in Roman times belonged to the occu
pied province of Tarraconensis, suffered various vicissitudes in the course of i
ts history. When Najera was reconquered from the Mohammedans in the tenth centur
y, the seat of the old diocese of Calahorra was transferred to that city. The bi
shops resided in Najera for over a cen. tury, despite the fact that Calahorra be
came Christian territory in 1046. These frontier lands between Castile and Navar
re suffered political tensions because of battles between those Christian kingdo
ms, whose kings established the episcopal seat sometimes in Calahorra and someti
mes in Santo Domingo de La Calzada. During the early Middle Ages, however, the b
ishops resided in Logrofio, even though the diocese was called "Calahorra and La
Calzada." In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the diocese lost importan
ce, and when, via the Concordat of 1851, a restructuring of church districts was
undertaken, a new diocese-that of Vitoria-was set up at the expense of the terr
itories of Calahorra and La Calzada. This breakup of territories and creation of
another diocese took effect in 1862. But only that one part of this provision o
f the Concordat was carried out, because the episcopal see of Calahorra was not
moved to Logroo. See F. de Coello and P. Madoz, Mapa de Logroiio con limites de o
bispados (Madrid, 1851); F. Bujanda, La diocesis de Calahorra y La Calzada (Logr
oo, 1944); E. Hinojosa,"Calahorra and La Calzada," in The Catholic Encyclopedia,v
ol. 3 (New York, 1908); and Diccionario de Historia Eclesiastica de Espaa, vol. 1
, pp. 305 .
All kinds of data on the diocese-on church officials, their duties, and diocesan
statistics--can be found in the Anuario Eclesiastico published yearly by E. Sub
irana in Barcelona (see "Dicesis de Calahorra y Santo Domingo de La Calzada).
[71] During the years that Josemarfa spent in Logroo, the canons at the cathedral
included Father Valeriano-Cruz Orftez, the rector of the seminary; Father Franci
sco Xavier de Lauzurica, who later on, as auxiliary bishop of Valencia and then
apostolic administrator of Vitoria and archbishop of Oviedo, would be a close fr
iend of the founder; and Father Ciriaco Garrido Lazaro, who for some time was Jo
semarfa's confessor (see Anuario Eclesidstico, years 1915 to 1920).
[72] The Carmelite nuns had a guest house right next to the convent church. The
bishop of Calahorra, the Most Reverend Juan Plaza y Garcia, was happy to have th
e Carmelite priests come to Logroo. He simply included in his written permission
this proviso: "For the time being, the two Carmelite fathers who will establish
a new residence may stay in the guest house of said convent of the Carmelite mot
hers, paying them whatever is appropriate for this and endeavoring to establish
as soon as possible a separate residence of their own." It was to this proposal
that the nuns in Logroo gave their approval on October 23, 1917. See Silverio de
Santa Teresa, Historia del Carmen Descalzo, vol. 13 (Burgos,1946), p. 832.
[73] Silverio de Santa Teresa, Historia del Carmen Descalzo, p. 833.
[74] According to the national weather service (Servicio Meteorol6gico Nacional)
, Logroo had nine days of snowfall in December 1917 and three in January 1918. Re
porters for the local paper (La Rioja) measured the ice and snow in terms of con

sequences, and for that purpose described citizens' lives in minute detail. A fe
w examples: it was ordered that straw be strewn through the streets to help pede
strians keep from falling (29 Dec 1917); on December 30, 1917, it was -8 0C (18
0F); on the following day temperatures fell as low as -16 0C (3 0F), and stores
selling meat and fish had to close because these items were freezing; on the las
t day of the year three people died of the cold; on January 2, 1918, it snowed h
eavily for several hours, and pipes burst; on the following day the wine in the
canteens of the night watchmen froze, and one of them said he had seen a wolf ne
ar the artillery barracks. ...(See sections "Hace 25 aos? and ?Hace 50 aos? of tho
se issues of La Nueva Rioja which correspond to these dates.)
The founder never gave a date for the sudden change of his life, or for the exte
rnal sign which prompted it, that we are now about to mention. What he did say a
nd write is a little vague: "I was fourteen or fifteen. ..." (Meditation of 19 M
ar 1975); ". ..from the age of fifteen" (Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.19);
"From when I was fifteen or sixteen. ..." (Letter29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.16
); "Since I was fifteen years old. ..." (Letter 25 May 1962, no.41); "I was almo
st sixteen" (Apuntes, no.1637).
However, this seeming lack of precision (fourteen or fifteen? fifteen or sixteen
?) may mean he is simply thinking in terms of some kind of change of years, mark
ed perhaps by New Year's Day, or his birthday Ganuary 9), or possibly both. So t
aking some dates that we do know (concerning the heavy snow which closed out the
year 1917 and the fact that by January 9 the streets were cleared), it seems lo
gical to assume that the date in question must be situated between New Year's Ev
e and Josemara's birthday.
[75] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo, in Sum.77.
The founder's thoughts about the origin of his vocation are communicated in othe
r testimonies as well. A few examples:
"In 1964, speaking to me about his vocation to the priesthood, Monsignor Escrivc
i said tome, but more as a question addressed to himself, 'What was the origin o
f 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 h
im right then and there, on the street, and that if this was the case, then beca
use of his love for the Eucharist, he would be called Brother Amador de Jesus Sa
cramentado [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 sno
w the footprints of a Discalced Carmelite, that it made him think about how litt
le he himself was doing for the Lord, and that he realized then and there that o
ur Lord wanted something specific from him" (Encarnacin Ortega, PM, fol. 30).
"The Father, as he himself confessed to me, began to experience desires for a mo
re 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 f
ootprints in the snow" (Jose Luis MUzquiz, PM, fol. 35Ov).
For more on this episode of the footprints in the snow, see Francisco Botella, S
um. 5610, and Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6337.
[76] See Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.
"It was a matter of a change dictated," says Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, "by a d
isposition to do something great, heroic if need be, for our Lord-a disposition
which actively seeks to follow the will of God" (AIvaro del Portillo, Sum. 80).
See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 94.
"It was in December 1917 or in January 1918," says Bishop Javier Echevarria, "th
at he realized for the first time that our Lord was calling him to his service,
but he did not then know in what or how. From that moment, he started making goo
d use of the means for acquiring a much more intense and intimate relationship w
ith God. With true generosity he dedicated himself to prayer and to a life of pi
ety and penance" (Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1831). See also Jose Luis Muzquiz, PM,

fol. 349v.
[77] Letter 25 fan 1961, no.3.
[78] Meditation of 19 Mar 1975. See also Apuntes,no.179, note 193.
[79] Witnesses use different expressions, but say basically the same thing: "he
suggested to him that he become a Discalced Carmelite" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum
. 84); "he proposed that he become a Carmelite" Gavier Echevarria, Sum. 1808); "
this priest tried to determine whether he had within him the seed of a Carmelite
vocation" (Jose Ramon Madurga, PM, fol. 27Ov).
[80] "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 obligated you are, swee
t Virgin of the Kisses, to lead me by the hand like a little child of yours!" (A
puntes, no.1637). (The "Virgin of the Kisses," as we will see later, was a littl
e statue of his that was especially dear to him. )
[81] As he says in his journal, "Jesus undoubtedly wanted me to cry out from wit
hin my darkness, like the blind man in the Gospel. And I cried out for years, wi
thout knowing what I was asking for. And I shouted many times the prayer 'Ut sit
!' [Let it be!], which seemed to be a request for a new being" (Apuntes, no.290)
.
[82] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 84; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1808 and PR, p. 1
31; Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum.4280; and Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6337.
The ecclesiastical status he would have as a diocesan priest would leave him wit
h a freedom of choice and movement that would allow him (a) to take care of the
needs of his family, which he considered only right; (b) to have a secular caree
r that was compatible with the priesthood, as did some of the teachers at the In
stitute; and (c) to be more available to respond to the requests of our Lord, si
nce he would not be bound by a vow of obedience.
Throughout his life, however, Monsignor Escriv would remember with great gratitud
e that Carmelite priest. In 1938 he encountered him again in Burgos (see Apuntes
, no.1484). Father Jose Miguel died on September 23, 1942. For more information
on him, see the obituary articles in the 15 Dec 1942 edition of EGOS del Carmelo
y Praga (Burgos), pp. 212-14, and El Monte Carmelo, 44 (Burgos, 1943), p. 58.
[83] Apuntes, no.289. See also Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 159; Pedro Casciaro,
Sum. 6337; and Jose Romeo, AGP, RHF, T--03809, p. 2.
From the seminary in Logroo, he wrote on several occasions to his Carmelite aunt.
Those letters were destroyed, in accord with Carmelite custom, as soon as they
had been read. But there is also a reference to that convent in Apuntes, no.98:
"Maybe it would be good to get in touch especially with those who are dedicated
to praying and suffering for those who work. The little nuns at the convent of S
an Miguel of Huesca (my favorites) and the lepers at Fontilles would do very nic
ely for us. We will send them a monthly alms in exchange for their prayers and s
ufferings.
The more we tell them, the better off we will be."
[84] See AGP, P04 1974, p. 398. The cited text is also picked up by Alvaro del P
ortillo, in Sum. 105.
The father "was mistaken" in that he could not imagine the kind of life the foun
der of Opus Dei would have-one filled with natural and supernatural affection, c
oming from his thousands of spiritual childrenand also inasmuch as he did not re
alize that a priest who is in love with God never feels lonely, because he is al
ways accompanied by his Love, as Monsignor Escrivil so often used to put it.
[85] "I heard him say more than once," reports Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, "that
having made to the Lord this very precise request, having asked specifically fo
r a boy, he did not worry about this any more" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 111).
See also Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4281; loseRomeo, AGp, RHF, T-O3809, p. 3; an
d Javier de Ayala, AGp, RHF,
T-15712, p. 4.
A reflective note written years later, during his retreat in Segovia in 1932, sh
ows what his interior dispositions were back then and how disposed he already wa
s toward fulfilling his filial obligations to his family before he decided to be

come a priest: "Had I remained a layman-I am perfectly sure of this--either I wo

uld never have gotten married or I would have done it only when I was able to co
mfortably support two households: my mother's and my own" (Apuntes, no.1688).
[86] Father Antolin Oftate was abbot of the collegiate church from February 1905
until January 1943, when he retired. As abbot, he was at the same time a pastor
, because the collegiate church had a parish assigned to it. Years later he had
to send in a report to the archbishop of Saragossa so that Josemara could receive
the minor orders. Today the position of abbot no longer exists in Logrono. It h
as been replaced by that of the dean, and the chapter reassigned accordingly, si
nce the collegiate church has become a co-cathedral of what is now the diocese o
f Calahorra, La Calzada, and Logrono. See Anuario Eclesitistico, and Diccionario
de Historia Eclesitistica de Espafia, vol. 1, pp. 305ff.
[87] Father Albino Pajares was a military chaplain. In 1913, after coming out nu
mber one in the competitive examinations, he entered the Army Chaplains Corps. H
e was assigned to Logrono, as part of Cantabria Infantry Regiment no.39, from Fe
bruary 1917 until May 1920.
For the rest of his life Josemara was very grateful to these priests who helped h
im at the onset of his priestly vocation. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 110, and
Javier Echevarria, Sum.1809.
Concerning his father's recommendation that he study law, see Javier Echevarria,
Sum. 1829; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 102; and Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4280.
This last witness adds that "it was good advice" because, as the founder himself
would later remark, the Lord
[88] Paula Royo, AGP, RHF, T -05379, p. 2. One of Doa Dolores' sisters-inlaw reca
lls a trip that she and her husband made. "We also went to Logrono," she says, "
and visited the home of Jose and Lola-a nice apartment, with lovely furnishings.
They spoke to us about Josemara's decision to become a priest. I don't remember
any details, but I do recall that Josemara was in contact with a Carmelite, and a
t first even thought of becoming a Carmelite, but almost immediately saw that th
is was not his path-that his calling was to the diocesan priesthood" (Carmen Lam
artin, AGP, RHF, T -04813, p. 2). Other witnesses say, on the contrary, that he
never considered becoming a Carmelite.
See also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1829, and Santiago Escrivti de Balaguer y Albti
s, PM, fol. 1298.
[89] See Apuntes, no.959, where he mentions Don Ciriaquito as being one of his c
onfessors. Father Ciriaco Garrido Ltizaro was named coadjutor of Santa Maria de
La Redonda in 1899, and in October 1916 he was named its "quasi-penitentiary" (p
art-time confessor) canon. His main pastoral activity was, in fact, the hearing
of confessions. He died in Logrono in 1949. For a brief biographical sketch, see
F. Abad's booklet Las Adoratrices de Logrofio. Un siglo al servicio de la Rioja
(Logrono, 1984), pp. 40-42.
For more on Josemara's visits to La Redonda, see Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1810, 18
46, and 2798.
[90] See Appendix 8. He had finished his studies, and a diploma from the school
was enough to prove this. But for certain administrative purposes, the law requi
red that one have a degree as well. So his secondary-school records show that on
August 6, 1923, "he was awarded the degree of 'Bachiller Superior' by the recto
r of the University of Saragossa." would make good use of this too, by thus maki
ng him acquire a juridical mentality which would later come in very handy.
[91] Father Albino Pajares himself gave Josemara private lessons in Latin that su
mmer: see Joaquin Alonso, PR, p. 1696, and Alvaro del Portillo,
PR, p. 162.
[92] Diocese of Calahorra and La Calzada, Boletin Eclesitistico, year 59, p. 300
(no.15: 4 Sep 1918).
[93] See ibid., p. 294.
[94] See F. Bujanda, Historia del viejo Seminario de Logrofio, Instituto de Estu
dios Riojanos, Logrofio, 1948.
On September 30, 1914, Bishop Juan Plaza y Garcia reformed the seminary's progra
m of studies, specifying the courses, professors, and textbooks for the philosop
hy and theology departments. See Bujanda, oF. cit., p. 179, and Boletin Eclesiti

stico, year 55, pp. 382-87 (no.25: 29 act 1914).

[95] A certified copy of this letter can be found in AGP, RHF, D-O3385; the orig
inal is in the archive of the diocese of Calahorra.
[96] Boletin Eclesitistico, year 59, p. 368 (no.20: 20 Nov 1918). See also year
59, p. 382 (no.21: 5 Dec 1918).
[97] A certified copy of this letter can be found in AGP, RHF, D-O3385; the orig
inal is in the archive of the seminary of the diocese of Calahorra, La Calzada,
and Logrofio, protocol no.1138. The applicant's letter of request (Logrofio, 6 N
ov 1918) was accompanied by copies of his Baptism and Confirmation certificates
(Barbastro, 29 Jun 1918 and 11 Nov 1918).
[98] See Estadistica del Obispado de Calahorra y La Calzada (Logrofio, 1946), pp
. 36-38: the section on the silver anniversary of Bishop Fidel Garcia Martinez's
consecration as a bishop in 1921.
Bishop Fidel Garcia Martinez initiated a reconstruction of the seminary that wou
ld merge what used to be the seminaries of Logrofio and Calahorra. The new semin
ary opened in 1929, and in 1934 the old one was demolished. See Bujanda, op. cit
., pp. 160-61, and the 30 Apr 1978 issue of La Gaceta del Norte (Rioja edition,
published in Bilbao).
[99] See Seminario Conciliar del Obispado de Calahorray La Calzada, establecido
en Logrofio. Disciplina interior que deben observar los Sefiores collegiales que
pertenecen al mismo (Logrofio, 1909). The titles of the code's sections are "Di
stribution of Time," "Way of Using Time," "Principal Duties," and "Special Prohi
bitions." An attentive reading makes it clear that the seminary had a problem ge
tting the young men to "carefully observe the rules of good manners in the dinin
g hall, at recreation, and especially when dealing with outsiders."
[100] ?All the seminarians I knew whose families lived in Logrofio were day stud
ents," says Paula Royo (Sum. 6301). The bishop dispensed them from the obligatio
n of living in the seminary. See Prevencin,no.16, and Boletin Eclesitistico, year
59, p. 298 (no.15: 4 Sep 1918).
Nomesident students made up over 20 percent of the seminarians in Spain. See Anu
ario Eclesitistico, year 1925; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 116; and Javier Echevar
ria, Sum. 1835.
[101] Maximo Rubio, Sum. 6283. See also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1840.
[102] See the interview with Amadeo Blanco in AGp, RHF, 0--05390, and also Bolet
in Eclesitistico, year 55, p. 387 (no.25: 29 act1914), where the catechism class
es are shown as starting at ten in the morning. See also Alvaro del Portillo, PR
, p. 179; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1844; and Jose Ramon Madurga, PM, fol. 272v.
[103] The change of domicile is documented in several places, including the reco
rds of the parish of Santiago el Real, within whose boundaries Canalejas Street
was located. Houses on this street were at that time identified not by number bu
t by letter. The Escrivs' address was "L " Canalejas.
[104] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 111; Encamacion Ortega, PM, fol. 32; and Jos
e Romeo, AGP, RHF, T-Q3809, p. 3.
[105] Apuntes, no.1688. One of the witnesses recalls something that the founder
said about the birth of his brother: "'Santiago was born because of a prayer tha
t I made to our Lord. This is obvious because he was born ten months later [on F
ebruary 28,1919]. My mother had not had any children for ten years. My parents w
ere physically worn out by their many hardships and were also well on in years"'
Gesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4281).
The gynecologist who attended Doa Dolores was a Dr. Suils. One of his sons had be
en a classmate of Josemara's at the Institute and would later help him in Madrid
during the religious persecution. (See Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-Q4152-1,
p. 100.)
[106] The original baptismal certificate is in the archive of the parish of Sant
iago el Real, Book of Baptisms 25, fol. 370, no.579. It reads as follows: "Santi
ago Justo Escriv Albas. In the City of Logrono, capital of the province of that n
ame, Diocese of Calahorra and La Calzada, on the second of March of nineteen hun
dred nineteen, I, Father Hilario Loza, Pastor of the parish of Santiago el Real
of the same place, solemnly baptized a boy, to whom I gave the names Santiago an
d Justo and, as patron saint, Saint Joseph. He was born, according to his birth

certificate, on the twenty-eighth of this past February at eight 0' clock in the
morning, at 'L' Canalejas Street. He is the legitimate son of Jose Escriv, nativ
e of Fonz (Huesca), and Maria Dolores Albas, native of Barbastro. His paternal g
randparents are Jose Escriv and Constancia Corzan, natives of Fonz; his maternal
grandparents are Pascual Albas and Florencia Blanc, natives of Barbastro. The go
dparents were Jose Maria Escriv and Carmen Escriv, natives of Logrono; I explained
to them the spiritual parenthood and obligations they were contracting. The wit
nesses were Marcos Lopez and Jose Ruiz, of this neighborhood. To which I give my
signature, written above. Hilario Loza. Signed and sealed." Appended is this ma
rginal note: "By disposition of the Vicar General, I attest that the family name
'Escriv' of Santiago is hereby amended to read 'Escriv de Balaguer.' The pastor,
J. Santamaria. Signed and sealed."
There are a few mistakes on that certificate, such as the statements that Santia
go's paternal grandfather was a native of Fonz and that Josemara and Carmen were
natives of Logrofio.
[107] For the curriculum, titles of the textbooks, and descriptions of the cours
es, see Boletin Eclesitistico, year 55, p. 382 (no.25: 29 Oct 1914).
The grades earned by Josemara in the school years 1918-1919 and 1919-1920 are rec
orded in various places: for example, Boletin Eclesitistico, year 60, p. 230 (no
.14: 14 JuI1919), and year 61, p. 190 (no.12: 10 JuI1920); and AGP; RHF, D-15020
. In the Libra de Certificados de Estudios (in the administrative office of the
Metropolitan Seminary of Saragossa), vol. 1 (which starts with 1912), fol. 348,
no.693, the records of Josemara's two years at Logrofio are combined into one: 19
19-1920. See Appendix 9.
[108] Josemara was officially too young for the fast track [carrera breve]. Artic
le 3 of the instructions issued for the 1918-1919 school year reads, "No one who
has not reached the age of twenty-one may be admitted to the first-year theolog
y fast track"; see Boletin Eclesitistico, year 59, p. 294 (no.15: 4 Sep 1918). S
ince this was his case, he did the five years of theology.
[109] Amadeo Blanco, AGP, RHF, D--05390, and Luis Alonso Balmaseda, AGP, RHF, 005391.
[110] Pedro Baldomero Larios, AGP, RHF, 0-05392, and Amadeo Blanco, AGP, RHF, 005390.
[111] Maximo Rubio, Sum. 6279. One of the day students with whom Josemara forged
a close friendship was Jose Maria Millan. Their closeness shows up very clearly
in a letter dated September 6, 1933, in which MilIan asks advice from the founde
r. "What do you think?" he says. "You've always given me very good advice. I am
most interested in hearing your ideas (for which I've always had the highest res
pect)" (AGP, RHF, 0--04833; also in Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 179). It shows j
ust as clearly in a letter from the founder to Father Jose Maria Millan on Novem
ber 25, 1940. "Dear Pepe," it begins, "So we have actually found each other, aft
er twenty years. For both of us it will be good. ...When we see each other, we c
an resume our confidences. We mustn't let too much time go by." See C 903 (25 No
v 1940).
[112] The original is in the archive of the diocese of Calahorra. A certified co
py can be found inAGP, RHF, 0-09678.
[113] From 1915 to 1921 the rector of the seminary was Father ValerianoCruz Ordo
fiez Bujanda, the secretary was Father Gregorio Lanz, and the school principal w
as Father Gregorio Fernandez Anguiano.
Father Gregorio Fernandez taught physics, chemistry, geology, physiology, and na
tural history. When in 1921 the new apostolic administrator, Bishop Fidel Garcia
Martinez, named himself rector of the seminary, he delegated the actual running
of it to the new vice-rector, Father Gregorio Ferncindez Anguiano.
Father Gregorio was mentioned by the founder as one of those who fostered his vo
cation. In his journal he wrote, "Jesus, I am aware and very grateful that I've
never been able to say 'Non habeo hominem!' [I don't have anyone!]" (Apuntes, no
.959). See also Alvaro del Portillo,
Sum. 118.
After he stopped going to Father Jose Miguel for spiritual direction, Josemara we
nt to Father Ciriaco Garrido Lazaro, the "part-time confessor" canon of the coll

egiate church. Later he also went to the vice-rector of the seminary, Father Gre
gorio Fernandez. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 85, and Javier Echevarria, Sum.1
809.)
[114] Juan Cruz Moreno, AGP, RHF, T -Q7331. This former classmate, a day
student of the seminary, adds, "One has to take into account that our schedule i
ncluded a communal Rosary prayed in midafternoon, which
means he was praying at least two sets of mysteries."
[115] Bishop Javier Echevarria mentions, in this regard, that when the two of th
em visited the collegiate church of Logrofio in 1972, old memories moved him to
exclaim, "I spent a lot of time here adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament!" an
d keep repeating with devout joy, "How many
hours I spent here!" (see Javier Echevarria, Sum.1846 and 1810).
[116] Maximo Rubio, Sum. 6278.
[117] Paula Royo, Sum. 6297 and 6304.
[118] Maximo Rubio, Sum. 6291.
[119] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo, in Sum. 95.
[120] Apuntes, no.53.
[121] The social standing of the priest-apart from religious deference-depended
on the post or position that he held. In the villages he was one of the "powers
that be," as they said in those days, together with the mayor, the doctor, the p
harmacist, and the teacher. But there were very few diocesan priests who had acc
ess, via personal prestige, to the higher levels of society. In some documents f
rom this period one catches an undertone of admiration for the fact that Josemara
had a secondary-school degree, as, for example, when the rector of the seminary
writes that "he comes from the secondary school of the Institute and is a Bache
lor of
Arts" (AGP, RHF, D--O9678).
In Spain, the confiscation of ecclesiastical goods and the consequent lack of ma
terial means contributed to a deficient formation of the clergy. Many dioceses d
id not even have seminaries, or lacked the funds necessary for them to function
as they should. The Concordat of 1851 tried to remedy this situation by stipulat
ing that each diocese must have "at least a seminary sufficient for the instruct
ion of the clergy" (article 28).
An attempt was made, also in compliance with the Concordat, to improve the finan
cial situation by determining an amount that the state would pay in support of r
eligion and the clergy, as compensation for the ecclesiastical goods that had be
en confiscated. But the instability of the government, the financial crises that
plagued the state throughout the nineteenth century, and the lack of organizati
on in civil administration ended by reducing the clergy to poverty. The recompen
se from the state dwindled as the decades went by. And this situation, indirectl
y, was reflected in the average social level of the people who entered the semin
aries.
[122] AGP, P04 1974, II, p. 398.
[123] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.
[124] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 109.
[125] AGP, P031975, p. 218; cited by Alvaro del Portillo in Sum. 104. See also J
avier Echevarria, Sum. 1834, and Encarnacin Ortega, PM, fol. 3Ov.
[126] Apuntes, no.179, note 193.
[127] Apuntes, no.127; see also The Forge, no.582. The testimony of Archbishop P
edro Cantero shows how Josemara was preserving the priestly vocation in all its p
urity twelve years after his entry into the seminary: "I could see [in 1930] tha
t Josemara was a priest with a great spirit of prayer and love of God, and with a
great dedication. What edified me the most, without question, was that dedicati
on to God. Here he was, a man with outstanding natural gifts that would have ena
bled him to excel in many activities, and I saw him detached from all that. He h
ad totally left all things, including those legitimate things that pertained to
what we used to call, back in those days, 'carving out an ecclesiastical career.
' He had to desire to shine, humanly speaking. He was not moved by any thought o
ther than that of full dedication to the service of the Church, wherever and in
whatever way God called him" (Pedro Cantero, AGP, RHF, T-()4391, p. 5).

[128] See Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.

[129] Apuntes, no.1594.
[130] Maria del Carmen de Otal Mart!, AGP, RHF, T--{)5080, p. 3. See also Joaqui
n Alonzo, PR, p. 1690.
*At that time, if a man wanted to study for the priesthood and be ordained for a
diocese other than the one in which he was born, he needed the permission not o
nly of the bishop of the diocese forwhich he wished to be ordained but also of t
he bishop of his diocese of origin.
[131] AGP, RHF, 0--09678. The original document is in the archive of the diocese
of Calahorra. On the handwritten page of the petition to the bishop is included
, also in handwriting, the bishop's request for information from the rector of t
he seminary, and the rector's response.
[132] Ibid.
[133] See AGP, RHF, D--09678. The original annotation is in the Libro de Decreto
s Arzobispales (a records book begun in 1919), in fol. 156, no. 1489. This book
was at first archived in the office of the chief notary of the archdiocese, but
was later transferred, together with all the other documents in that office, to
Saragossa's diocesan archive.
[134] See AGP, RHF, D-O3296-3. Father Carlos, at the request of his sister Doa Do
lores, facilitated the acceptance of his nephew by the seminary (see Alvaro del
Portillo, Sum. 126). Before leaving for Saragossa, Josemara had obtained a half-t
uition scholarship, which "must have been requested by Uncle Carlos, the archdea
con" (see Apuntes, no. 1748).
3. Saragossa (1920-1925)

1. San Carlos Seminary

2. The Book of ?life and customs?
3. Study and Vacations
4. A ?Molder? of Future Priests
5. A Regrettable Incident
6. ?Domina, ut sit!?
7. The Death of Don Jos
8. The First Mass

* * *

1. San Carlos Seminary

In 1960, in the address he gave upon receiving an honorary doctorate from the Un
iversity of Saragossa, Monsignor Escriv reminded his listeners of what were for h
im some "unforgettable memories of long-ago times": "Years spent in San Carlos S
eminary, on my way to the priesthood, from the clerical tonsure I received from
the hands of Cardinal Juan Soldevila, in a secluded chapel of the archbishop's r
esidence, up to my first Mass, said very early one morning in the chapel of the
shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar."[1]
He was at San Carlos Seminary until the day of his ordination. In the records th
ere is a note, handwritten by the rector, saying he entered the seminary on Sept
ember 28, 1920.[2] He was, then, at San Carlos for exactly four and a half years
, since he was ordained to the priesthood on March 28,1925.
At that time Saragossa had two seminaries preparing candidates for the priesthoo
d: the conciliar seminary (San Valero y San Braulio)* and San Carlos (also known
as San Francisco de Paula). Students of both schools took their ecclesiastical
courses at the pontifical university, whose classrooms occupied the ground floor
of a building on La Seo Plaza, next to the archbishop's residence. The history
and character of the large, rambling building where Josemara lived from 1920 to 1
925 are strikingly similar to those of the old seminary of Logroo. San Carlos sta
rted out in 1558 as a Jesuit residence with four floors and a spacious interior
patio. A large church, with beautiful baroque stucco decorations, was later atta
ched to it.[3] The entire complex, including the church, was seized by the gover
nment after the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 and then ceded by King Carlos I

II for the founding of the Priestly Seminary of San Carlos [Saint Charles] Borro
meo. But the purpose of this foundation was not to educate boys and turn them in
to virtuous seminarians. This royal seminary had a much grander aim: improvement
and enlightenment of the clergy-an enterprise very appropriate to the Age of En
lightenment. Its staff members were all well-educated diocesan priests with pres
tige and expertise. Answerable directly to the archbishop, they were given such
special assignments as organizing his pastoral visits, preparing the examination
s to be taken by the ordinands, and assisting in the granting of ministerial fac
ulties.
About a century later, the light of the Enlightenment having faded and money bec
ome scarce, the old institution was reduced to a half dozen priests who lived on
the second floor and presided at the church's services.[4] That was how things
were when, in 1885, Cardinal Francisco de Paula Benavides became head of the arc
hdiocese. Deciding to create a seminary for boys from poor families, he saw that
besides financial assets, San Carlos had several corridors of empty rooms-easil
y enough space for a hundred boys. Such an enormous number of rooms was far more
than that small group of prestigious clerics (called by some "the gentlemen of
San Carlos") could possibly use.
The cardinal carried out his plan with great speed. The new seminary opened with
an enrollment of fifty-two students on October 4, 1886. Unfortunately, though,
his calculations proved overly optimistic. Cardinal Benavides was not an adminis
trator and had no business experience, just praiseworthy intentions. Unforeseen
expenses and other difficulties began to rain down on him. He had not concerned
himself with the question of the faculty, so the authorities hurriedly agreed th
at the seminarians would for the time being attend classes at the conciliar semi
nary.[5] This temporary arrangement would, over time, become a permanent one.
After attaining this "charitable purpose of providing a place for the many young
sters from poor families who, inspired by God, knock at the doors of the sanctua
ry with the noble aspiration of being enlisted in the clerical ranks," the cardi
nal realized that his prot g s needed a code of conduct. This problem had an easier
solution. The cardinal himself drew up a set of regulations, which appeared in J
anuary 1887. In its preamble, addressed to "the Rector, Directors, and students
of our San Francisco de Paula Seminary for the Poor," he expressed his wish that
the rules serve for the good governance of said seminary, "which is giving such
great encouragement to our disheartened spirit with the well-founded hopes that
it offers us."[6]
But the "seminary for the poor" dragged along in a languid way. When Cardinal Be
navides died in 1895, his successor, Archbishop Alda, decided to put the finance
s on a sounder basis. He did away with the scholarship examinations and began al
so to admit seminarians who could pay their way. From then on San Francisco de P
aula, or the Seminary for the Poor, was known by the more generic name San Carlo
s, as it will be called here for simplicity's sake. [San Francisco de Paula was
one of several smaller, individual seminaries of the General Seminary of San Car
los.] It differed from the conciliar seminary very little, if at all, except for
the number of students, their place of residence, and their uniform.[7] The con
ciliar seminary had about one hundred fifty seminarians, counting both residents
and day students; San Carlos, fewer than forty. Students at the conciliar semin
ary wore a blue cape with a pink sash. The San Carlos uniform was a sleeveless b
lack cape, a red sash with a shield (a sun, with rays, with the word "Caritas" [
"charity"] in the center), and a four-pointed black cap with a purple tuft in th
e middle.[8]

* * *

The theology students lived on the third floor of San Carlos. Above, on the four
th floor, were the bedrooms of the youngest students, those taking courses in th
e humanities and philosophy. The rooms were small, but more space was not needed
, since the only furnishings were a bed, a table and chair, a washstand with a w
ater jug, a nightstand with a candlestick, and a coat rack. Clothes, books, and
other belongings were kept in the suitcase or trunk the seminarian had brought w

ith him.
The plumbing reflected the antiquity of the building. The kindest word for it is
"deficient." The seminarians had no more than one rudimentary bathroom per floo
r, plus a faucet for filling the water jugs for their washstands. There was elec
tric light, but the wiring was so poor and inadequate it had to be supplemented
with candles. Chapel, dining room, study hall, corridors, and stairways all had
electric bulbs, but bedrooms did not, so weekly each seminarian was given a numb
er of candle stubs for his candlestick.[9]
The seminarians rose at 6:30 and had thirty minutes for washing up and getting d
ressed. It was at this point in the schedule that Josemara suffered his first unp
leasant surprise, for nowhere could he find any kind of shower or bathtub. At 7:
00 began the half hour of meditation, in a private chapel on the third floor-a r
oom with a vaulted ceiling where Mass was said only on very rare occasions and t
he Blessed Sacrament was not usually reserved.[10] After that they went down to
attend Mass in the church of San Carlos, entering from the seminary patio. They
would sit in the first pews, which were reserved for them. Usually the Mass was
celebrated by the seminary president.
They ate breakfast in silence, listening to a reading from The Imitation of Chri
st or some other spiritual book. Then, in line, they walked to the university. A
voiding the main road because of the traffic, they made their way, under the wat
chful eyes of the prefects, through the labyrinth of back streets and alleyways
leading to the cathedral of La Seo.
The pontifical university and the conciliar seminary shared the same building. T
he conciliar seminary, San Valero y San Braulio, was founded in 1788. After vari
ous vicissitudes, it moved in 1848 to a new location where once had stood the ro
yal council chambers, which had been reduced to rubble by Napoleon's armies. In
1897 its school component was raised to the level of a pontifical university, a
distinction it kept unti11933.[11]
At the pontifical university the San Carlos students (who never did have a facul
ty of their own) had two hours of class in the morning, with a break for study a
nd recreation. At about 12:30 they returned to San Carlos for lunch. They mainta
ined silence in the dining room while one student read aloud from some martyr lo
gy or from Scripture, until the presiding prefect gave them permission to talk.[
12]
After lunch they had a period of recreation and then set out again for the unive
rsity, taking the same back streets and alleyways as in the morning. After an ho
ur of class they returned to the seminary for an afternoon snack and a period of
study. There was one communal study hall, with desks, monitored by a prefect. T
he study sessions were broken up by the Rosary and spiritual reading.[13]
At 9:00 they had supper, and immediately afterward said night prayers, made an e
xamination of conscience, and went to bed.

2. The book of "life and customs

The president of the Seminary of San Carlos was Bishop Miguel de los Santos y Di
az de Gomara. Its vice president was Father Antonio Moreno Sanchez. Among the pr
iests belonging to this illustrious foundation was the rector of San Francisco d
e Paula; in 1920 this was Father Jose Lopez Sierra. He had under him two prefect
s who helped him maintain order and discipline. These prefects were chosen from
among the students in the last two years of theology.[14] One of their main duti
es was to note any disciplinary action, or anything else having to do with the c
onduct of the seminarians, in monthly reports that would be examined by the rect
or and then transferred to the official records.
The judgments of the rector, once written, were indelible.
The record book's title page reads, "De vita et moribus de los alumnos del Semin
ario de San Francisco de Paula" ("Of the life and customs of the students of the
Seminary of San Francisco de Paula"). This famous book, containing in summary t
he history and exploits of the seminarians, begins in February 1913.[15] It has
large foldout pages, one for each seminarian, with a section on his family and,
below, five columns: "Piety," " Application," "Discipline," "Character," and "Vo

cation." On one side of each column are grades, on the other "General Observatio
ns." Josemara's page is 111. The section for background information says, "He was
recommended by Father Carlos Albas Blanc." Uncle Carlos, the archdeacon, a man
of influence among the clergy of Saragossa, was for the seminarian both good luc
k and bad. At first he welcomed his nephew with open arms, and probably he had a
lot to do with what the rector wrote two lines below: "He has a half scholarshi
p." There is no reason to doubt the good disposition of the archdeacon with resp
ect to his family's affairs. Still the fact is that at that time there were only
half a dozen paying seminarians at San Carlos.
During the first weeks, Josemara often went out to eat with his uncle on Sundays
and feast days, as regulations allowed. He also accepted the invitations of anot
her of his mother's brothers, his uncle Mauricio, who had recently been widowed
and had a large family. He preferred, however, to space out his Sunday visits, s
o as not to be a nuisance to his uncles. Besides, he did not want to be singled
out and excused from the rules, something that might arouse his companions' envy
.[16]
Ten days after entering the seminary, Josemara was put in charge of the Associati
on for the Apostolate of Prayer for the 1920-1921 school year. That may have bee
n because it was obvious that he had a solid spiritual life. "He was the only se
minarian I knew who would go down to the church during free time," says one of h
is classmates.[17] In fairness to the other seminarians, it should be mentioned
that there was no shortage of religious exercises. Jesus Lopez Bello, a classmat
e of Josemara's, gives us this very conservative (by no means exhaustive) list of
the daily devotions: "In the morning, in common, Morning Offering, meditation,
and Holy Mass. Before and after meals, visit to the Blessed Sacrament. In the af
ternoon, Holy Rosary and spiritual reading. At night visit to the Blessed Sacram
ent and examination of conscience. On Saturday evening, Benediction and Salve Re
gina. During the days of May, the 'Flowers of Our Lady: with sermon. The Seven S
undays of Saint Joseph. The novena to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Seven So
rrows of our Lady Octave of the Child Jesus, at Christmas. Every month we had a
day of recollection, and once a year, a retreat."[18]
Within the tight rhythm of the schedule, already filled with religious activitie
s, personal piety was usually shown, says Aurelio Navarro, "in the intensity and
application with which each one tried to live the common devotions."[19] Anothe
r seminarian, Arsenio Gorriz, remarks that Josemara "was pious, very pious," and
that this was evidenced "not so much by what he did as by how he did it."[20] Bu
t he also continued his custom of praying all three parts of the Rosary, and his
heart beat impatiently with repeated aspirations-Domine, ut videam! Domine, ut
sits! -that kept alive in his soul the call he had received from our Lord in Log
rofio. And as if to reinforce that alertness, he took advantage of free time to
go to the nearby Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and make a similar request b
efore her statue: Domina, ut sit! ("My Lady, let it be!").[21]
Feast days provided a welcome break in the routine succession of days in the Chu
rch calendar. On feast days the seminarians got up a half hour later, had no cla
sses, and enjoyed a walk. There was a good amount of extra food and wine on the
tables and the students were served an especially substantial meal including wha
t we would now call an additional entree.[22] (However, the hierarchical princip
le was always preserved. The priests at San Carlos usually had two entrees a day
, one of meat and the other of fish. For this reason, among others, the seminari
ans' nickname for the prestigious priests of this house? "the gentlemen of San C
arlos" ?did not lack a touch of envy-inspired sarcasm.)

* * *

Josemara entered the Seminary of San Carlos with a spirit of detachment. He knew
that living with other seminarians would require changing some habits and giving
up many comforts of home. As a way of symbolically expressing that renunciation
, when he arrived at the seminary he gave the custodian the tobacco, pipe, and o
ther smoking paraphernalia he had brought with him, and, with this definitive ge
sture, gave up smoking.[23] But what he could not have foreseen was that this st

age of his priestly vocation would be a real trial by fire.

There was, to begin with, the lack of the culture and good hygienic standards to
which he was accustomed. Still, in an effort to accommodate himself to the ment
ality and customs of his fellow seminarians, he made it a point to be sociable w
ith all of them and to be of service to them.[24]
His efforts to adapt began on the very first day. At home he had gotten into the
habit of washing himself from head to toe every day, summer or winter, with col
d water, and now he had to fetch several jugs of water every morning to keep up
that practice.[25]
Women never came into the seminary. A few male servants took care of the general
cleaning. (Needless to say, the appearance of the buildings left something to b
e desired.) As for personal clothing and changes of bedclothes, each seminarian
took care of these things as best he could. It was Josemara's good luck that his
clothes were washed at the house of his uncle Carlos,[26] but he took care himse
lf of the meticulous polishing of his shoes and brushing of his cassock that the
regulations required.[27]
If his classmates had been surveyed concerning his most notable characteristics,
responses would no doubt have focused on his friendly courtesy and impeccable g
rooming. "Josemara was a gentleman from head to foot, in every way: in his manner
of greeting people, in the way he treated people, in the way he dressed, in his
table manners," says one of his classmates. "Without trying, he presented a str
iking contrast to what was typical back then."[28] Another seminarian mentions s
omething that happened on one of their excursions, when they visited the mental
hospital: "We saw many mentally ill individuals, some of them really out of thei
r minds- a man, for instance, who claimed he was more powerful than anyone else
because he was the king. Well, at the end of our visit there was an old woman wh
o kept insisting that Josemara was her fianc , because he looked so good and was so
well dressed. Truth is, he always looked very elegant."[29]
As the years went by, it became obvious that the son was taking after the father
in terms of refinement and good manners. What had become of the child who hid u
nder the bed when he had to wear something new? Where was the boy who refused to
put on his Sunday best when school pictures were taken? Things had changed a gr
eat deal for the family since then. Fortune had turned its back on the Escrivs, a
nd poverty now obliged him to care for an old suit as if it were new.
His carefulness about personal hygiene, and especially his morning ablutions, so
on earned him a nickname. "When I entered the seminary," he tells us, "I went on
keeping my shoes and clothes very clean, as I had always done before. I don't k
now why, but I became for that reason 'el seftorito' [the little gentleman] to s
ome people who had treated me with the utmost politeness before I entered the se
minary. Another cause of surprise and curiosity for those good seminarians-all o
f whom were better than I was, and most of whom became exemplary priests, severa
l even dying as martyrs-was that I washed myself, that I tried to take a sponge
bath, every day. Again I was called 'el seorito.?[30]
The term ?seorito? is obviously a euphemism. Some gave him the more openly insult
ing nickname of ?pijaito,? an Aragonese expression more or less along the lines
of rich little daddy's boy.[31]Knowing how much he disliked any lack of hygiene
or cleanliness, one of the more uncouth and aggressive students--0ne who was ver
y sparing in the use of soap and water-used to rub up against him, saying, you n
eed to smell like a man One day, dripping with sweat, he rubbed his sleeve on Jo
semara's face. Josemara nearly exploded, but controlled himself and put an end to
the other's shamelessness with a remark that was, considering the situation, rat
her mild: ?Being dirtier doesn't make you more of a man.?[32]
But the ridicule did not stop there. Very soon there were also taunts about his
spiritual life. His daily visits to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar broug
ht him the additional nickname of ?Mystical Rose? an epithet of exceptionally po
or taste, coming from seminarians and being so irreverent toward our Lady.[33] J
osemara was also an object of criticism because of his lengthy visits to the Bles
sed Sacrament in the church of San Carlos and because of the apostolic zeal he s
howed in his conversations.? ?Here comes the dreamer!? some of his fellow semina
rians would say in a loud voice, quoting the words of Jacob's sons concerning th

eir brother Joseph. Some habitually referred to him as ?the dreamer.?[34] Josema
ra tried to turn a deaf ear, but the nicknames hurt him deeply because they were
such cutting insults and showed such deliberate malice, and especially because t
hey broke the ties of fellowship and friendship.[35]
This behavior of some of his fellow students was due mainly to a lack of good ma
nners, to envy, or to ignorance, but in any case it left painful memories in his
soul. Ten years later, writing with notable restraint, he unburdened himself to
our Lord. He begins by lamenting the generally lower-class background of priest
ly vocations and the deficient level of culture and manners among some seminaria
ns:

About vocations of seminarians, I say: What a shame that families, even very dev
out ones, hold back from sending their sons to the seminaries! In many regions o
f Spain, with rare exceptions, one sees in the seminaries only the sons of poor
farmhands. ...
After pointing out that in our seminaries magnificent examples of virtue can be
seen. . I must also say, to be entirely truthful, that those who live there are
likely to be quite holy but very bad mannered, though there will be exceptions.
Someone born and brought up in a different kind of environment really suffers.[3
6]

On February 14, 1964, while taking another look at those thorns on his path to h
is priestly vocation, he said to a sizable audience:

Time went by, and many hard things, terrible things, happened. I will not tell y
ou about them, because although they no longer cause me any pain, they probably
would cause you pain. They were axe blows that our Lord God gave in order to mak
e-from that tree-the beam that would serve, in spite of itself, for the construc
ting of his Work. Almost unconsciously I would repeat, "Domine, ut videam! Domin
e, ut sit!" I didn't know what it was that I was praying for, but I kept going f
orward, forward, not responding to God's goodness, but waiting for what I would
have to receive later on: a string of graces, coming one after the other, which
I didn't know how to classify, but which I called "operative" because they domin
ated my will in such a way that I almost didn't have to make any effort.[37]

Those "hard things, terrible things:' those "axe blows," evidently were not the
crudities or insults coming from a few seminarians. The proof is that the echo o
f those events was so poignant that forty years later it was still resounding in
his memory, whereas usually the stream of life numbs and smooth school memories
as a current does the rough edges of pebbles. With the passing of time, in fact
, he would call those hurtful nicknames "trifles," tiny things, in comparison to
the great good done to his soul by his stay in that seminary, of which "he reme
mbered only good things."[38] No; more bitter roots must be sought for that othe
r memory of San Carlos.
The priest who in 1964 was reluctant to dredge up personal events from the past
hinted at those "axe blows" when in July 1934 he took a reflective look at the c
ourse of his priestly vocation in a text meant to be read only after his death.
"Where would I be now, had you not called me?" he silently asked our Lord. And t
hen he gave our Lord his own answer:

Had you not prevented my leaving the seminary of Saragossa when I believed I had
mistaken my path, I would perhaps be traipsing around the Spanish parliament, a
s some of my classmates from the university are doing?and not exactly at your si
de, since?. there was a point when I felt profoundly anticlerical-l who love my
brothers in the priesthood so much![39]

In this confession we can glimpse Josemara's resistance to adopting the clerical

model imposed by the environment. A terrible storm broke out in his soul as a re
sult of the difficulties he experienced, but he still felt that he was on the ri
ght path. And finally a saving intervention came from our Lord that confirmed hi

m in his vocation.
Not surprisingly, many of his classmates came to a wrong conclusion about the fu
ture of the seminarian from Logroo. They thought Josemara, being so cultured and w
ell-mannered, would not become a priest, since, as one of the semi nary employee
s put it, "he had possibilities for a better career."[40] But this idea was both
naive and off-base, it showed a total lack of awareness of his high-mindedness.
He saw from the start that there was only one way for him to go: to ignore the
impertinences of this or that seminarian, while at the same time trying to detac
h himself from certain tastes and inclinations, as he had in one day rid himself
of tobacco. Other, very different obstacles would be the ones that actually got
in his way.
What was unusual about Josemara's vocation was that priesthood was a step toward
its fulfillment, but was not the whole thing. The ultimate reason for his presen
ce at San Carlos was a desire to respond to those "inklings of Love" he had been
experiencing over the past three years. Neither the seminary atmosphere, which
he never got used to, nor the taunting of some of his companions, nor their vulg
arity, could cause a vocational crisis that would put to the test the boy's fide
lity to God's call. But he did suffer intense inner turmoil due to anticlerical
feelings surging in him and fomenting a holy rebellion against any attempt to de
base the pure concept of the priesthood to a lucrative "ecclesiastical career."
On this point he kept his thoughts and feelings strictly to himself, yet to some
extent the struggle did show through. "One could see that he had something with
in him that made the seminary too narrow a framework for his interests," says on
e of his companions.[41] At heart he was a "dreamer," of things divine. This he
remained all his life, so those who called him by this name were not entirely wr
ong.
As the school year went on, the rector, Father Jose Lopez Sierra, began to get p
erplexing reports about the seminarian from Logroo. The independent behavior of t
his nephew of the archdeacon, his singular piety, his offbeat ideas and comments
about the ecclesiastical career, and vague rumors of nicknames, insults, and co
nflicts-all these things caused the rector to form a far-from-favorable opinion.
To his way of thinking, Josemara was living and acting too differently from the
majority of the seminarians.
At the end of the school year, in the summer of 1921, the rector put his opinion
in writing. On Josemara's page in the book De vita et moribus, he wrote, "Piety:
Good. Application: Average. Discipline: Average. Character: Inconstant and haug
hty, but well-mannered and courteous. Vocation: he seems to have one."[42]
The " Average" for application, for dedication to study, does not seem to square
with Josemara's excellent examination grades-which, of course, are recorded, one
by one, by the rector himself, immediately after these evaluations. The " Avera
ge" for discipline is contradicted by the monthly reports of the prefect in char
ge. Josemara was one of the few students who did not have a single punishment imp
osed on him in that whole school year. As for character, the evaluation is thoug
ht-out and balanced, but not consistent with the testimony of his fellow seminar
ians.[43]
As far as vocation is concerned, there is no reason to doubt the rector's sincer
ity. However, that "seems to have one," innocuous as it appears, conveys misgivi
ngs and implies some doubt. The prefect Santiago Lucus, on the other hand, asses
sed Josemara's likelihood of having a vocation as "Good," which does not fit in t
oo well with the rector's guarded statement.[44] What could account for that unc
onscious prejudice on the part of Father Jose Lopez Sierra? Was he perhaps distu
rbed by the small commotion the new seminarian was causing? Was there something
about the boy's appearance and demeanor that made him uncertain he would perseve
re? All we know for certain is that the Lord permitted the rector to misinterpre
t the facts. But what doubts assaulted Josemara himself, to make him admit, "I be
lieved I had mistaken my path"?
Josemara kept this terrible interior trial to himself and did not even mention th
e obstacles that he encountered. But although he had a solid certainty of his vo
cation, he did not know what to make of those hints God was giving him.

And I, half blind, was always waiting for the answer. Why am I becoming a priest
? Our Lord wants something; what is it? And in Latin-not very elegant Latin-usin
g the words of the blind man of Jericho, I kept repeating, "Domine, ut videam! U
t sit! Ut sit! What is this thing that you want and that I don't know? Domina, u
t sit!"[45]

At the beginning of the 1921-1922 school year the rector may still have had his
doubts, for on October 17 he wrote to the rector of the seminary in Logroo asking
for information on Josemara.

Please be so good as to inform me, as briefly as possible, ...as to the moral, r

eligious, and disciplinary conduct of a former nonresident student of the semina
ry that you so worthily direct: Jose Maria Escriv y Albs, native of Barbastro, leg
itimate son of Don Jose Maria Escriv and Doa Dolores, residents of Logrono. Please
also mention anything else you consider relevant concerning his vocation to the
priestly state and his personal qualities, returning this communication with th
e corresponding report. God grant you a long life. Saragossa, October 17, 1921.
Jose Lopez Sierra, Rector.[46]

By return mail he received the following response: "During his stay in this semi
nary, I saw his moral religious, and disciplinary conduct as being beyond reproa
ch and as giving clear proof of a vocation to the ecclesiastical state. God gran
t you a long life. Logroo, October 20, 1921. Gregorio Fernandez, Vice-rector."[47
]
Years later, thinking back on the persons Providence had placed at his side to n
urture his "incipient vocation," Josemara would write:

In Logroo ...there was that holy priest, the vice-rector of the seminary, Father
Gregorio Fernandez. In Saragossa, Father Jose Lopez Sierra, the poor rector of S
an Francisco whom our Lord changed in such a way that, after really doing everyt
hing he could to induce me to abandon my vocation (he did this with the best of
intentions), he was my one and only defender against everyone else.[48]

These brief lines provide the key to the meaning of those events, and the role a
ssigned to the seminary rector, in God's plans. The change in him was truly mira
culous. That is how Josemara saw it: as an answer from heaven to his prayers and
a confirmation of his vocation to the priesthood. Freed of his prejudices agains
t that "inconstant and haughty" seminarian, as he had so pejoratively described
him, the rector was later to write," A first-rate seminarian, distinguished amon
g his classmates by his polished manners, his friendly and simple demeanor, and
his obvious modesty; respectful toward his superiors and obliging and kind towar
d his companions, he was highly regarded by the former and admired by the latter
."[49]

3. Study and vacations

The world of the seminary, already turned in on itself, was still more tightly h
emmed in by the list of regulations. Fortunately, however, those in charge of Sa
n Carlos softened the rigors by a rather lenient interpretation of the text. For
example, while the categorical prohibition against smoking was applied literall
y to the younger seminarians, or "philosophers," the "theologians? were allowed
to smoke behind closed doors.[50]
It was also against the rules to look out the windows or to socialize on the ter
race.[51] But there was no better site for recreation and games than the spaciou
s fourth floor, which had large windows looking out onto the small plaza of San
Carlos. This was the favorite place for handball. But Josemara preferred to take
walks along the corridors around the courtyard. One of them was in almost total
darkness, and an inspired joker had written on the wall the psalm verse Per diem
sol non uret te, neque luna per noctem (?The sun shall not smite you by day, no
r the moon by night?).[52]

As for other prohibitions, we have already seen how seminarians observed the rul
e against the use of epithets or nicknames.[53]
Students at the conciliar seminary were under even tighter control than those at
San Carlos, since they lived and studied in the same building, going out only o
n excursion days. Those at San Carlos got to walk through the old downtown area
every day; they got fresh air, sunshine, and as much contact with the city's lif
e as was permitted by the "composure, order, and symmetry" that the seminarians
were required to maintain on their way to and from the university.[54]
The Pontifical University of San Valero y San Braulio was situated in the histor
ic heart of Saragossa, which was originally a Roman colony. According to an anci
ent tradition, during her lifetime our Lady visited that prosperous city in Tarr
aconensis to encourage the apostle Saint James in his work of evangelization, an
d a church was built in her honor. During the Muslim occupation the practice of
the Christian faith continued without interruption, and when the city was reconq
uered in 1118 the Church hierarchy was reestablished.[55]
The archdiocese of Saragossa covers a large territory and has several suffragan
sees, among them Barbastro. Starting in 1902 the diocese was run by Archbishop J
uan Soldevila, a man learned in ecclesiastical studies and a skillful speaker an
d administrator. He was well known for his pastoral dynamism and the reforms he
introduced into the diocesan system of government. He pushed ahead with the reno
vation of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and spread this Marian devotion
to Latin America. In 1919 he was named a cardinal.[56]
At that time Saragossa had some 140,000 inhabitants, half of whom had moved ther
e from other parts of the country in the past twenty years. Its industrial growt
h-sugar beet refineries, flour mills, textile plants, and metal shops-produced m
ajor social changes setting the stage for labor-management confrontations arid a
narchist agitation. *[57]
The seminarians did not read newspapers. What happened outside the seminary eith
er did not concern them or took them by surprise. Generally speaking, only those
whose families lived in Saragossa were informed about what was going on in the
world. During the autumn of 1920 Josemara had occasion to travel through the city
, because of his Sunday visits to his uncles, but that situation did not last lo
ng.
A glance at his study program shows the impressive list of courses he had to tac
kle as soon as he arrived from Logroo. In the first year he took five second-year
-theology courses- On the Incarnate Word and Grace, Acts and Virtues, Homiletics
, Patristics, and Liturgy?plus another four courses, since Saragossa's curriculu
m did not coincide with Logroo's.[58] Two (Greek and Hebrew) were in the humaniti
es, and the other two (Introduction to Sacred Scripture, and New Testament Exege
sis) were first-year-theology courses.
He was a diligent student but did not have to put out too much effort, although,
as with all students, when it was time for an examination, "I never felt what y
ou could call calm."[59] His grades that year in Greek and Hebrew (" Average") a
re an exception in his otherwise brilliant academic record.[60] His uncle the ar
chdeacon made him see the importance of Greek for the study of patristics, and t
he nephew, "on his own initiative, when the course was over, put a lot of time i
nto reviewing the material until he got up to a really acceptable level."[61]

* * *

The professors were a diverse lot: some wise and some not so wise, some blessed
with great pedagogical gifts and others woefully lacking in them, some with a lo
t of initiative and a few who were sticklers for routine. Josemara tried to assim
ilate the positive qualities he saw in each, with the result that his recollecti
ons include many edifying anecdotes.
Of his moral theology professor, a wise and prudent -he says that at the beginni
ng of a lesson about the virtue of chastity and the vices opposed to it, he gave
his students this piece of advice from Saint Alphonsus Liguori: Commend yoursel
f to the Blessed Virgin and be at peace.[62]
From Father Santiago Guallart, his homiletics professor, he learned not to rely

on improvisation, the spontaneity of a mind either conceited or lazy. On one occ

asion Father Josemara said to a group of people, "I don't improvise anything, and
don't you believe that anyone does. I remember that I had a homiletics professo
r who was very well known and admired, particularly for his improvisations. Well
, one day eight or ten students were chatting with him, and he said to them, 'No
t once have I ever improvised. Whenever I am invited anywhere, I know I'm going
to be asked to say a few words, and I prepare myself well.?[63]
But Josemara's intellectual horizon was not limited to ecclesiastical studies. Re
stood out among his companions at the seminary for his "broad culture," and esp
ecially for his interest in the human side of events. As one classmate puts it,
"Re was very human. Gifted with a great sense of humor, he had the critical capa
city to pick apart all kinds of incidents in a nice way and see the funny side o
f things. I had a great admiration for the little epigrams he would write in a l
ittle notebook that he carried in his pocket. These were clever phrases, very in
genious, either jovial or satirical, showing a great understanding of human natu
re. They were also surprising in that they showed both a mastery of contemporary
Spanish and an impressive familiarity with classic authors. Recalling them late
r, I have sometimes been reminded of Aristophanes' style in The Wasps. They were
full of a very human philosophy of life and always had a moral at the end."[64]
By one of those flukes that life is full of, Josemara got a chance to demonstrate
his oratorical and literary gifts. For the students' entertainment it was custo
mary to celebrate some events in a more intimate setting, free of academic rigid
ity.[65] For one of those events-one held in honor of Bishop Miguel de los Santo
s, president of San Carlos-the rector had to ask the help of Josemara. The nature
of the occasion and the status of the honoree called for a rather lofty literar
y presentation. Don Miguel, who had just a few months earlier been appointed tit
ular bishop of Tagora and auxiliary bishop of Saragossa (he was consecrated Dece
mber 19, 1920), was a very learned man, having earned a doctorate in theology in
Saragossa and a doctorate in canon law and philosophy at the Pontifical Gregori
an University in Rome. He also had secular degrees: a licentiate in law from the
University of Saragossa and a doctorate in law from Madrid's Central University
.[66]
Josemara at first demurred but finally gave in. The topic he chose was the bishop
's motto, Obedientia Tutior (Obedience Is the Safer Way). He delivered his disco
urse in Latin, in the form of a poetic composition. His reflections on the speci
al security attained by adhering to the counsels of one's superiors, and the ele
gance of his presentation, were greatly appreciated by the bishop and by the hal
f dozen priests of San Carlos who took part in the celebration.[67]
There is another academic anecdote from his second year in Saragossa. One of his
courses in the school year of 1921-1922 was De Deo Creante (On God the Creator)
, which was taught in Latin by Father Manuel perez Aznar. This professor liked t
o give very involved theoretical explanations during the first part of the cours
e. Then, having reached the summit, he would begin his descent in the second sem
ester through a more pragmatic system of questions and explanations. He put grea
t emphasis on orthodoxy. A declared Thomist, he critically confronted errors and
heresies, at the same time giving his students the " antidote to the venom." It
was from him, in fact, that Josemara learned the right use of antidotes when one
has to read doctrinally contaminated books. That kind of poison is, after all,
as he would later put it, transmitted " as though through osmosis."[68]
One day, indulging in a little casuistry, Father Manuel asked Josemara about the
rib of Adam mentioned in the Bible, utrum costa Adami fuerit supererogatoria an
naturalis-was this an extra rib or one of the regular ones? Caught unawares, Jos
emara tried to buy time. First he gave a long, drawn-out discourse in Latin about
our father Adam, and then did the same with Eve. But no matter how many ways he
approached the subject, no idea came to his rescue. He kept expanding on the su
bject until finally the professor ran out of patience and said to him in Spanish
, "Fine, but what about that rib?"[69]

* * *

The seminary's bookkeeping was done by the rector and could not have been simple
r. The general expenses of the house were taken care of by the Royal Seminary of
San Carlos, and since almost all the seminarians either had a scholarship or pr
ovided services in lieu of tuition, calculations of income were not very complic
ated either. For the school year of 1920-1921, for example, the income consisted
in four and a half board payments and the proceeds from the sale of a dozen emb
lems for students' academic robes. Four seminarians paid in full; the half payme
nt was for Josemara, who had a partial scholarship.
The rector's scrupulous thoroughness in computing days of boarding at the semina
ry and amounts to be paid is helpful to us. According to the accounts sheet for
that year, Josemara paid 157 pesetas and 50 centimos for 252 days of room and boa
rd. (Full payment was one peseta and twenty-five centimos per day.)[70] The 252
days were, exactly, the total from his arrival on September 28, 1920, up to the
closing of accounts on June 7, 1921. Seminarians usually stayed uninterruptedly
from September to June, as the regulations required.[71]
In those long months spent far from his family, the seminarian kept up a frequen
t correspondence with his loved ones. He told them of his studies and youthful d
reams, and tried to cheer them up. The Christmas of 1920 was his first away from
home. He remembered with nostalgia those Christmases in Barbastro, and in parti
cular an old carol Doa Dolores used to sing to him, that she would now sing as a
lullaby to his brother, Guitin (as Santiago was usually called in the family): "
Mother, at the door there is a little boy, more beautiful than the shining sum w
ho says he is cold?"[72]
On receiving news from home and rereading accounts of little household events, h
e could glimpse between the lines the family's hardships and his father's suffer
ings.[73] When the time came for summer vacation, his presence at home filled ev
eryone with joy. He visited Father Hilario, the pastor of Santiago el Real, and
put himself at his service.[74] He spent time with his father and took his mind
off his problems, and helped his mother with her work. He went on walks with lit
tle Guitin, holding him by the hand. There is a picture of the two of them on a
park bench, taken in the summer of 1922, when his brother was three and a half.
Josemara is wearing a dark gray suit, a black tie, and a straw hat. Guitin has on
a white outfit, with a hat pulled down almost to the eyes, and has assumed a se
rious expression for the photo.
Josemara and his friend Francisco Moreno, a fellow seminarian, exchanged visits d
uring vacation, each spending some time with the other's family. When Francisco
came to Logrono, the two seminarians made excursions along the banks of the Ebro
River and afterward often showed up at Don Jose's store, The Great City of Lond
on, to accompany him on the short walk home. "The walk was pleasant, but it made
me suffer more than a little to see this man who, though still relatively young
, was aging prematurely," says Francisco Moreno, who had taken Don Jose for much
older than his actual age of fifty-five. "After those long hours of standing be
hind the counter at the store," he recalls, "his feet were so swollen that he ha
d to take off his shoes as soon as he got home."[75]
During these visits, Doa Dolores' motherly heart was manifested in little domesti
c attentions-for example, in the care and affection with which she prepared brea
kfast for the two seminarians. "In this and other things," says the guest, "she
wanted to give us what we couldn't have when we were in Saragossa."[76]
We have more information about their stays at the Moreno house, since a group of
friends of their age often got together with them there. This group included Fr
ancisco's brother Antonio, who was studying medicine in Saragossa and was an acq
uaintance of Josemara's, and another set of brothers, Antonio and Crist6bal Navar
ro. Francisco Moreno tells us: "I'm not sure if it was during two summers or thr
ee that Josemara spent several days-fifteen or twenty-with my family in Villel, a
town near refuel, where my father was a doctor. My whole family liked Josemara v
ery much because he made himself liked: he was courteous, discreet, and prudent,
but at the same time very affectionate and sociable. Furthermore, his down-to-e
arth and wonderful sense of humor was always in evidence. His arrival at Villel
was a great joy to that house, and when he left, it felt like there was a big va
cuum. To my mother he was another son."[77]

He wore dark suits and a black tie, so as not to disguise the fact that he was a
seminarian. He went to Mass every day and filled in as altar server whenever ne
cessary. The village priest was a holy man, but he suffered from narcolepsy, whi
ch made Josemara feel very sorry for him. The man could hardly carry out his duti
es. Sleep would come upon him at the most inopportune times-during his homily, f
or instance, or even during the Consecration.[78]
In the mornings the group of friends would go for a walk along the shores of the
Turia River. If his companions went skinny-dipping, Josemara, for modesty's sake
, did not join them. They would go back to the house to eat, and then spend the
hours of suffocating heat in those long summer afternoons organizing excursions
to nearby places of interest, such as La Pefi.a del Cid (the Rock of El Cid) or
the shrine of Our Lady of Fuensanta, which was in the mountains. When some girls
joined the excursion, as happened from time to time, the seminarian always foun
d a pretext for staying home working. His absence did not go unnoticed by the gi
rls. Concerning his relationship with the female friends of his friends, Carmen
Noailles remarks that "the resoluteness and firmness of his vocation to the prie
sthood was very obvious."[79]
When the group went to the town's recreation center to play cards, Josemara went
to his room to read or write. He translated the incidents of the day into comic
verses that he entered, complete with illustrations, in a notebook entitled " Ad
ventures of Some Boys of Villel in Their Comings and Goings from Saragossa to Te
ruel."[80]
During those long periods back at the house, he would also chat with Francisco's
mother, who had not yet recovered from the recent death of her husband. It was
a great consolation for the poor woman to talk with Josemara. When the subject of
her loss came up, as often happened, Josemara would say, "I don't want to see yo
u so sad. Please don't cry, Senora Moreno. We just need to pray a lot for him. A
s soon as I am ordained, I will say a Mass for him.?[81]

4. A "molder" of future priests

The president and other priests of the Royal Seminary of San Carlos soon became
aware not only of the good appearance, piety, and good manners of the seminarian
from Logroo, but also of the insults some of his companions offered him; as a re
sult, he became known even beyond the walls of San Carlos. The truth of the old
saying "There is no evil that does not lead to good" was a constant in the life
of Josemara. At each stage, a seemingly endless series of lamentable episodes pro
ved ultimately providential, always culminating in joy. He liked to put his expe
riences in a Christian light by saying, "God writes straight with crooked lines.
"[82]
Somehow, whether by way of comments made by the president or in chats with the r
ector of San Carlos (now turned into a staunch defender of the seminarian), Jose
mara's name reached the ears of the cardinal. From the windows of his residence h
e could see the students filing daily into the foyer of the university. Becoming
interested in Josemara, he had him summoned. On several occasions, when coming a
cross the ranks of San Carlos seminarians on the street or in church, he asked J
osemara about his life and studies. A classmate reports having once heard the car
dinal tell him, "Come see me when you have some time."[83]
With his extensive ecclesiastical experience, the cardinal soon saw in the semin
arian exceptional gifts of piety, maturity of judgment, and leadership. Just bef
ore the summer vacation of 1922, he announced to the rector his decision to make
Josemara a prefect of San Carlos, thus filling one of the imminent vacancies. He
proposed this with a touch of humor, subtly teasing Josemara about one of his ni
cknames. ?I will give you the tonsure,?* he said, "because I don't want the semi
narians to see you dressed like a 'seftorito' [little gentleman]."[84] (As long
as he was not yet a cleric, he could still wear ordinary clothes and thus be dre
ssed "like a seftorito.")
The school year of 1922-1923 began on September 28. On that day, Josemara ?only h
e? received the tonsure, in a chapel in the cardinal's residence. And on that sa
me day he became a prefect of San Carlos, a position he retained until his ordin

ation as a priest on March 28,1925.[85]

Through the years, he would always remember this event, "my receiving of the cle
rical tonsure from the hands of cardinal Juan Soldevila, in a private chapel in
his residence," as one of the big milestones on his path to the priesthood.[86]
The prefects at the conciliar seminary were all priests. At San Carlos, however,
it was customary that one prefect be a deacon and the other only in minor order
s. The prefects, also called directors or superiors, were responsible for seeing
to it that the regulations were followed, and for taking disciplinary action wh
en necessary. They also presided at some community activities in the name of the
rector, and carried out functions delegated by him. The First Prefect took char
ge in the absence of the rector. This was the post held by Josemara. Juan Jose Ji
meno was his assistant, the Second Prefect.[87]
That a seminarian who had not yet received even the minor orders occupied the po
sition of head prefect, with no one over him except the rector, gives some idea
of the cardinal's daring. First he had to give Josemara the tonsure ahead of sche
dule, so that this position would fall to a cleric. Then there is the unusual am
ount of confidence placed in this recently tonsured young man: the confidence im
plied in making him a guardian of discipline among people who not so long ago ha
d made seminary life difficult for him. The prelate must have felt very sure of
his appointee.
The position brought with it certain material advantages, such as having a "serv
ant" and getting special meals, a special room, free room and board, and fifty p
esetas per year. In addition, the examination fee at the university was paid by
the seminary.[88] Each priest at San Carlos was assigned a "servant": a student
assistant who provided some domestic services, though not of a servile nature. T
his was how some seminarians paid for: their tuition and room and board. Out of
respect for the custom, the new prefect accepted the services of the assistant a
ssigned him, but as much as possible he avoided asking him to do anything, since
he found it embarrassing to have a fellow seminarian as a servant. The assistan
t, Jose Maria Roman Cuartero, gives us some idea of the behavior of his director
:

I was always impressed by the kindness and patience he showed me. I remember, fo
r instance, that when I was making his bed for him and he could tell I was upset
about something by the slipshod way I spread the sheets, he would make some aff
ectionate remark or tell me a joke. I also remember how he would share his meals
with me-because the prefects got special meals-without making a big deal of it.
I realize now that he was purposely doing these mortifications in a very natura
l way so that they would not be noticed.[89]

Josemara now had more freedom to carry out his devotional practices and leave the
seminary premises. His position also allowed him to associate more with the pri
ests of San Carlos, who lived on another floor of the building. He developed suc
h a closerelationship with the president, Bishop Miguel de los Santos, that unti
l the day he died the bishop kept not only his letters but also some notes from
conversations with his young friend.[90]
Now and then on Saturday or Sunday afternoon, Josemara got together with certain
friends of his, the nephews of Father Antonio Moreno, vice president of San Carl
os, in the visiting room of this good priest. Thus the young companions from the
summers at Villel were able also to meet at the seminary.[91]
Father Antonio had been at San Carlos for many years. In a manuscript on the his
tory of the foundation of the seminary of San Francisco de Paula he is mentioned
as having been the preacher for the seminarians' days of recollection in the sc
hool year of 1892-1893, when Cardinal Benavides was still alive.[92] Now, in his
old age, he enjoyed a robust constitution, a wealth of priestly experience, and
some small hobbies. Often he sought out the company of Prefect Escriv, who enjoy
ed listening to him talk and who would graciously let him win when they played d
ominoes, to avoid putting him in a bad mood. (Father Antonio was one of those pe
ople who can't stand to lose.) Later, the priest would take some kind of "treat"
out of his closet which, unappetizing as it was, Josemara would courteously acce

pt.
The vice president had done some traveling, and like all old people, he liked to
recall memorable events from his trips. In particular, he enjoyed sharing anecd
otes about the pastoral visits of the archbishop of Saragossa to the villages of
his diocese. Some were quite astonishing to a seminarian. But when it was time
to draw the moral of the story, Father Antonio would say, Josemara, don't take an
ything for granted-not anything at all."[93]
Early on, Josemara learned Christian precautions drawn from worldly wisdom. One i
s that it is best to break off and flee from occasions of sin in good time. A co
mpanion of Josemara's at San Carlos tells us that one day when they were all walk
ing in line to class through the back streets in the center of the city, two gir
ls who happened to cross their path tried to attract Josemara's attention. The ne
xt day, they planted themselves in the same spot, waited for the seminarian, and
boldly tried to tempt him. The day after that, seeing that he wasn't going to p
ay them any attention, they tauntingly said to rum, II Are we so ugly that you c
an't bear to look at us?" Still not looking at them, Josemara bluntly replied, "W
hat you are is shameless!"[94]
This incident seems to have reached even the ears of his father, in Logroo.[95]

* * *

The cardinal, as we have seen, had conferred the tonsure on Josemara ahead of tim
e. His first opportunity to receive the minor orders was in Advent, shortly befo
re Christmas. On November 20, therefore, he sent a letter to the cardinal "humbl
y requesting the honor of being admitted, during the forthcoming ember days of S
aint Thomas the Apostle, to the minor holy orders."[96]
The necessary inquiries were made into various aspects of the life, scholastic a
chievement, and conduct of those requesting ordination. One question was whether
the seminarian "has demonstrated a solid vocation to the ecclesiastical state."
The rector gave a response, dated November 23, covering all those requesting ord
ination at San Carlos: "The above-named gentlemen have, without exception, obser
ved good moral and religious conduct, ...evidencing in their external behavior a
vocation to the priesthood. They have in my judgment done nothing to deserve un
favorable mentioned with regard to any of the matters in question."[97]
On December 17 Cardinal Soldevila conferred on Josemara the orders of porter and
lector, and four days later, those of exorcist and acolyte.[98]
The main concern of the prefects, if not to say the only thing that mattered to
them, was maintenance of discipline. At San Carlos, as opposed to the conciliar
seminary, the prefects were still students. Thus, on account of their duties, th
ey often foundthemselves between a rock and a hard place. Jesus Lopez Bello tell
s us that the role of the prefect "was not at all easy, because he was at the sa
me time a director and a student and because the seminarians tended to act their
youthful age."[99] Josemara had to learn to maintain the right balance between,
on the one hand, the demands of the seminary regulations, which obliged him to k
eep in check youthful impulses, and, on the other hand, the friendship uniting h
im with his fellow seminarians. Those who served as prefects in the following ye
ar (1925-1926), Agustin Callejas and Jesus VaL testify that Josemara's spirit of
fellowship with everyone "was as strong as the sense of responsibility with whic
h he carried out his duties." He "never left any seminarian in a bad situation,"
they say. "He exercised his authority in a friendly way, without going too far.
He did not make arbitrary demands, as do so many people who govern."[100]
Josemara tried to be tactful, not making a big issue of prohibitions in the Regul
ations that had to do with matters of little importance, so that he could get a
more willing compliance in the things that really mattered. For example, he allo
wed the older students to smoke; he tried to keep short the readings in the dini
ng room, maximizing time to talk; and as soon as anyone showed a sign of repenta
nce for an infraction, he readily rescinded that person's punishment.
One day he found an abandoned and dusty piece of cardboard on which, in gold let
ters on a red background, were three words from Saint Paul's canticle on charity
: Caritas omnia suffert (1 Cor 13:7, "Love bears all things"). Probably it had b

een a decoration for one of the seminary's feast days, but it also had a connect
ion with the emblem on the seminarians' robes, which was a sun with rays and wit
h the word "Caritas" in the center. "On my work table," noted the young prefect
of San Carlos, "I put this reminder: Caritas omnia suffert. I wanted to learn to
do everything out of love and to teach this to the other seminarians by example
."[101]
Along with the rector, he was responsible for forming the seminarians both human
ly and spiritually, since there was no spiritual director at San Carlos at that
time. Each week some confessors came in from outside, and, for anyone who wished
to go to them, the priests of San Carlos made themselves available in the confe
ssionals of the church while Bishop Miguel de los Santos celebrated Mass in the
morning.[102]
As head prefect, Josemara gave his fellow seminarians little talks in the study h
all about special feasts or devotional practices. It was he who initiated the cu
stom of a weekly Saturday visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar by the
prefect and his fellow seminarians.[103]
The rector once described him with a lapidary phrase-"a molder of young aspirant
s to the priesthood"-and said that clearly "his motto was to win everyone for Ch
rist, that all might be one in Christ."[104] In all his actions the prefect took
charity as his guide, trying to make his fellow future priests true "men of cha
rity." He once put it this way:

This preoccupation of mine is nothing new; I've been preaching and trying to liv
e it with all my strength since I was twenty-one. It is possible that at the Sem
inary of San Carlos they still have some papers of mine-because I've always been
fond of putting things in writing-from when I was prefect, with reflective obse
rvations, praising the changes for the better in the seminarians, speaking of ch
arity and of the need to give an example of charity.[105]

These writings were indeed found, after his death, in the archive of the Royal S
eminary of San Carlos.[106] They are the reports that he, as prefect, handed in
each month to Father Jos Lpez Sierra. They cover the period from October 1922 to M
arch 1925, with breaks only for summer vacations. The most remarkable thing abou
t them is the total absence of routine formulas. Because the section for ?Conduc
t? also covered ?Vocation,? the other prefects usually left it blank, or at most
wrote in, a couple of times a year, a vague and noncommittal adjective. By cont
rast, Josemara entered notes showing that he paid close attention to each seminar
ian. If others, not wanting to get really involved, salved their consciences wit
h a "Good" or an " Average," this prefect conscientiously weighed his judgments
and expressed them in clear terms, but always with friendliness. In the seminari
ans he saw souls for the priesthood.
On the back of the report it was customary to note "Punishments Imposed by the P
refect," as well as "Punishments Imposed by the Rector," in a rather dry fashion
: for example, "So-and-so one day on his knees in the dining room, for smoking a
nd for lying to the rector." Josemara would make his notes more complete, adding
background, immediate causes, and subsequent circumstances. For instance: "Since
being punished (as of the 12th) by the rector until the end of the month, Mr. R
. P. has been acting like a different person: he is obedient, respectful, and de
sirous of fulfilling his duty."[107]
The first hurdle for him was how to be accepted as director-how to have his auth
ority respected. Immediately he had to deal with challenges and dissension comin
g from a group of rebels. In his report for November 1922, referring to four unr
uly seminarians, Josemara writes, "They have very little of the respect due to a
superior, and whenever they are reprimanded, no matter with how much affection t
he reprimand may be given, they respond badly. Some, like Mr. C., make faces so
that the community will laugh."[108]
The troublemakers were a little slow coming around, but eventually the director'
s patience won out, as we see in his report for February 1923: "During the five
months of this school year so far, I am happy to note, both Mr. A. and Mr. C. ha
ve changed from being unmanageable to being very cooperative and courteous stude

nts. The same is happening with Mr. L."[109]

Generously, he looked for excuses for everyone. We often find statements like "I
am revoking his punishment because he promised, with tears in his eyes, to impr
ove," or "Mr. M. and Mr. L. often-usually, in fact-are disrespectful without rea
lizing it."[110]
But empathy did not cloud or bias his judgments, especially where the priestly v
ocation was concerned. In that same report for February 1923 he wrote, "On the o
ther hand, I don't know what to say about the vocations of these other gentlemen
: M. M., P. R., and C. M. The first two, as can be seen from the reports for pre
vious months, have been doing what they please since the beginning of this schoo
l year. I'm always inclined to judge in a person's favor, and for that reason I
have said that they show signs of a vocation. Today, though, I feel obliged to s
tate clearly and objectively how I really see things. Mr. C. M. has gotten worse
and worse since the beginning of the year, his major defect being a lack of res
pect for the superior. Finally, I note that all these gentlemen receive Communio
n daily or almost daily."
A year later, in February 1924, the seminarians at San Carlos had changed so muc
h that Josemara writes with satisfaction, "I would like to record, because it giv
es a good, clear idea of the current spirit of the seminary, that when I punishe
d the students as a group, not only was there no protest, but they accepted the
reprimand with good grace, acknowledging it as very well deserved."[111]
Father Jose Lopez Sierra, says Jesus Val, came to have such confidence in this d
irector that "in effect he delegated his own duties to him" to the point that he
"practically left the seminary in the hands of Josemara."[112]
The seminarians' progress reflected the prayer life of their prefect, who closel
y accompanied them. "With what joy did I note the progress of those boys? I ofte
n talked with the Lord about them, asking that he, with his Mother, take good ca
re of them."[113]
The "molder of young aspirants to the priesthood," to borrow the rector's rather
grandiose expression, was already a sub deacon when he made the following comme
ntary in November 1924:

I didn't dare write this last year, fearing that it might be just a temporary ch
ange, but thanks be to God, that has not een the case. I therefore want to say i
t now. Especially after the feast of the Purification in 1923, the novena for wh
ich was made by everyone with great fervor, there has been an admirable change i
n all the old students-a change that is having an impact on the young ones comin
g in. It is undoubtedly our Lady who has done this, and, I repeat, since this is
surely my last year to be in this beloved seminary, I can't refrain from giving
a very brief summary.

He then mentions by name a few seminarians who not long ago were straying quite
far from the paths of piety, but now were very courteous and devout. "They are s
o totally changed, they're different persons," he says with obvious joy. Did he
sense that this would be his last time to take the pulse of the seminary, and th
at he should therefore make a brief farewell summary? In any case, this is it:

All in all, there is a lot of fervor. The crucifix on the fourth floor was missi
ng its crown, and they put one on it! The missions, the decorating of our orator
y, the hymns for First Friday, for the nineteenth, for the Saturday devotions. .
..One detail: more than once they asked my permission to cut their recreation sh
ort so they could have more time to spend in the oratory for the Sacred Heart de
votions, and last year for the Immaculate Conception novena. The monthly quota f
or apostolic work has increased. From the way they treat one another, one can se
e that it is not in vain that Saint Francisco de Paula is the father of the hous
e: they are charitable, always charitable. If someone does something wrong, he a
dmits it and accepts the punishment. It is now a sure thing that when reprimande
d they will not answer back, and that they will accept ?even joyfully!? the medi
cine of punishment. I could say more, but I think this will suffice. It's clear
to me that whenever any bad element made its appearance, our Blessed Mother went

to work and everything worked out to the greater glory of God and herself. Now,
in writing this, I don't mean to say that our boys are angels. The fact that th
ey're boysis evident from the punishments meted out every month. All of us here
have our faults.[114]

The little placard that he kept in his prefect's office, the one saying "Love be
ars all things" served him as a reminder to do all he could to give utility in C
hrist to all of those seminarians. Constantly during his two and a half years of
participating in their formation, he felt most of all the joyful responsibility
of preparing future ministers of the Lord. It was a real challenge for a semina
rian like himself-not just because of his youth, but also because of his lack of
experience in an ecclesiastical environment. But he threw himself totally into
the task, once again confirming the truth of something Doa Dolores had said to hi
m several times: "Josemara, you are going to suffer a lot in life, because you pu
t your whole heart into whatever you do."[115]
Indeed he did put body and soul into whatever he was engaged in. At this time in
Saragossa he also gave himself over to poetic inspiration. "I wrote some really
bad poems," he would later recall, " and signed them-putting into my signature
everything I had in me- 'The Priestly Heart.'?[116]
With a temperament like that, he had no need to work up some plan of action. It
was enough to follow literally that of Saint Paul. He once said, "I am moved whe
never I recall those words of Saint Paul's first letter to the Corinthians that
I kept at hand so long, back when I was director at San Carlos Seminary in Sarag
ossa: 'Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arro
gant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resent
ful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all thi
ngs, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.??[117]
From that long process of helping form his brothers in the seminary, he himself
emerged transformed. For he had tried always to live that litany of human and su
pernatural virtues-patience, prudence, courtesy, sacrifice, charity, and so fort
h-which as director he promoted for over two years. The virtues of the others we
re continually boosted by the example, good manners, counsel, affection, and pra
yer life of Josemara. As a result, by the end of that arduous process he himself
had been enriched with invaluable experience in the field of spiritual direction
, the exercise of authority, and the art of governing.
The title of "director" or "head prefect" may sound a little grandiose or exagge
rated when applied to a young seminarian with several years of study still ahead
of him. But we have to look at the facts. The saying that no one can give what
they don't have is especially true of the work of formation: Based on the transf
ormation that he brought about in the seminarians of San Carlos, it seems undeni
able that Josemara had a precocious maturity directly resulting from the superabu
ndance of his interior life and his exercise of the virtues of government.

5. A regrettable incident

His literary bent led Josemara to spend much of his free time reading. Often he w
as seen jotting down interesting expressions or ideas. As director he had access
to the library of the Royal Seminary of San Carlos, which had inherited "the fa
mous collection assembled in Rome, at great expense and with great intelligence,
by the most excellent Don Manuel de Roda, and later augmented by him in Madrid,
where he served as Secretary of State to His Majesty."[118] Josemara was in his
element, and not about to pass up the opportunity offered him by his ready acces
s to so many choice books. It awakened in him a tremendous appetite for culturean appetite fed by the literary and spiritual classics but costing him many hour
s of sleep. Beneath the door of the prefect's room other seminarians would see t
he flickering light of a candle, since not all the rooms of San Carlos had elect
ricity.[119]
Josemara enjoyed a fruitful two years of reading. Later he would not have much ti
me or opportunity for this, except for when he had to consult some classical aut
hor. But now he read in depth especially the mystics and the ascetics, studying

the hidden operations of grace. He particularly liked the works of Saint Teresa.
In June 1923 he passed-with the highest grades-all his courses for fourth-year t
heology, thus completing the requirements for a licentiate at the pontifical uni
versity.[120] It was now time to begin his secular studies, as had been agreed u
pon before he left the Logroo seminary to finish his ecclesiastical studies in Sa
ragossa. His transfer had carried with it implicit permission from the bishop of
Calahorra and La Calzada to study law in Saragossa, it having been the bishop's
prerogative to grant or deny permission for clerics to attend secular universit
ies since the time of Pope Leo XIII. More recently, on April 30, 1918, the Sacre
d Consistorial Congregation had issued norms "guarding against the great dangers
that, as shown by long and sad experience, threaten the sanctity of life and pu
rity of doctrine of priests who attend the above-mentioned universities."[121] C
ardinal Soldevila had given Josemara the necessary permission because he felt ful
ly confident of his fidelity to his priestly vocation and of the firmness of his
doctrinal convictions, and also because he knew the University of Saragossa was
no nest of heretics.[122]
Very suddenly, unexpectedly, and tragically, Cardinal Soldevila was removed from
the scene. On the afternoon of June 4,1923, as he was going by car on a visit t
o the outskirts of the capital, anarchists riddled the cardinal with bullets, at
the same time wounding the driver and a lay assistant. Josemara went to the card
inal's wake and prayed for his soul. The news filled the front pages for days. B
ut neither the identity of the assassins nor their motive was known at the time.
The archdiocese of Saragossa remained without a bishop for nearly two years.
In the summer of 1923, in Logroo, Josemara took two courses that were prerequisite
s for studying law: Spanish Language and Literature, and Basic Logic. In the mor
nings he and another student, Jose Luis Mena, went over the material together, a
sking each other questions on literary subjects.[123] In the middle of September
they went to Saragossa to take the exam.
Father Carlos, the archdeacon, saw his nephew often at that time and enjoyed tal
king with him. That same friend from Logroo recalls how nice he was and especiall
y how he used to invite him and Josemara to his house for an afternoon snack. "Fa
ther Carlos was," he says, "a priest who made quite an impression. I even rememb
er what he gave us for our snack: Spanish hot chocolate with candy."[124]
Following his uncle's advice, Josemara decided to enroll in the law school as a "
nonofficial" student so that he could go to classes when he was able, but would
not have to attend them all.* This way he could do his studies with a certain fr
eedom and take his exams either in June or during the special sessions held in S
eptember.** Actually, to say that he did his secular studies "simultaneously" or
"alternately" with his ecclesiastical studies is not quite accurate, since he b
egan his law studies only after finishing his fourth year of theology. The sched
ule of his ecclesiastical studies was normal and continuous, but there was somet
hing a bit hit-or-miss about his pursuit of a secular degree, since it was subje
ct to the pressures of the moment and done under circumstances impossible to for
esee at the start.
On the recommendation of his uncle, he went to Don Carlos Sanchez del Rio,at tha
t time provost of the university, to discuss his studies. From that first meetin
g, the seminarian impressed Don Carlos with his "outstanding personality." He al
so visited the professor of natural law, to whom his uncle introduced him. The p
rofessor received him "with surprise and pleasure at seeing that a seminarian al
ready advanced in his seminary studies wanted also to earn a secular degree, alo
ng with the ecclesiastical one. That was certainly a rare thing in those days."[
125]
Among the courses Josemara chose for that first year were Elements of Natural Law
, taught by Don Miguel Sancho Izquierdo; Principles of Roman Law, taught by Fath
er Jose Pou de Foxti; and Principles of Canon Law, taught by Don Juan Moneva y P
uyol.[126] These three professors made up a triumvirate of an exceptional intell
ectual caliber. They had a profound influence on the development of Josemara's pe
rsonality and were largely responsible for his acquiring an astute juridical men
tality. The student soon established a warm and steadfast friendship with each o
f them.[127]

Also providential for his future tasks as a founder was the fact that in 1923-19
24, he studied canon law at two schools, a secular one and an ecclesiastical one
, simultaneously. The chairs were held by two intellectually outstanding profess
ors: Don Juan Moneva at the law school and Father Elias Ger Puyuelo as part of t
he program for fifth-year theology.[128]
Along with their prodigious knowledge, both had a flair for wittiness and for th
e use of proverbial sayings. Father Elias had a unique teaching style that commu
nicated an amazing amount of priestly wisdom in a very colorful way. Josemara wou
ld forever remember some of those sayings of his that were so funny and so full
of common sense.[129]
Don Juan Moneva's witticisms were no less wise and to the point. Both in Saragos
sa and elsewhere he became something of a celebrity, although his eccentricities
sometimes rose to the level of the bizarre. He nicknamed Josemara "el curilla" (
the little priest) and continued to remember him until he died. In fact, Father
Josemara got notice of his death by mail addressed to him in the old professor's
handwriting. Apparently, Don Juan, a character to the day he died, had addressed
the envelopes for his death announcements and instructed his family to mail the
m when the time came.[130] These moving words in the speech his former student g
ave upon receiving an honorary doctorate at Saragossa on October 21, 1960, sound
like a funeral eulogy:

I would like to mention today, with affectionate respect, the names of so many o
utstanding jurists who were my teachers here. Let me mention just one of them, t
o sum up in him the grateful recognition I owe to each and every one of them. I
am speaking of Don Juan Moneva y Puyol. He was, of all my professors back then,
the one that I was closest to. There developed between us a friendship that rema
ined active until his death. Don Juan showed me on more than one occasion a deep
affection, and I've always had a deep appreciation of that whole treasure-house
of robust Christian piety, of profound uprightness of life, and of charity as d
iscreet as it was magnificent, which he hid beneath that sometimes deceptive cap
e of shrewd irony and the jovial wittiness of his imaginative mind. For Don Juan
and for my other teachers I have the most heartfelt regard. May he, and all the
others who have passed on from this world, have received from our Lord the rewa
rd of eternal happiness.[131]

Josemara's friendship with Father Elias was brief, for the priest died in Novembe
r 1924. However, Josemara would never forget a little story that he told in class
at the beginning of the previous school year, in October. It was about a cinnam
on merchant who bought the stuff raw and had it ground to a fine powder in a sto
ne mill. One day the mill stopped working. The stones were worn out; it was time
to order some more. These stones were imported from Germany.
Weeks went by, but the new stones did not arrive, and the cinnamon was just pili
ng up there, waiting to be milled. Seeing how worried he was, a friend suggested
to the merchant that he go to a nearby stream and find some round stones about
the size of the old ones, put them in the mill, and let them revolve for several
days without grinding any cinnamon.
The merchant did this, and after two weeks he found that the stones had become s
o smooth by grinding against each other that they were as good as the ones from
Germany.
The professor paused for a moment, and then, turning to Josemara, he said, "That'
s how God treats those whom he loves. Do you understand me, Escriv?"[132]
From this story Josemara drew the moral that God uses our abrasive encounters wit
h our neighbors to polish away the roughness of our characters. In the years tha
t followed, he would keep an absolute silence about what the professor was refer
ring to, except for making a vague allusion to a "major unpleasantness"[133] tha
t occurred when he was a seminarian in Saragossa.133 But everything leads us to
suspect that this anecdote of the cinnamon miller conceals something quite serio
us and very painful. One of his companions, Jesus Lopez Bello, speaks of "rumors
of a fight" with another seminarian.[134] A student at the conciliar seminary,
Francisco Artal Ledesma, who hastens to rate the incident as "something of littl

e importance," tells us that " another seminarian, from Rioja, an older man, of
over forty who claimed to have been secretary to the governor of Buenos Aires wh
en he lived in Argentina, provoked Josemara, and there was a violent encounter."[
135] Evidently Artal knew this Riojan, for he adds that "what happened in this i
ncident was due to the characteristics of the two protagonists." The Riojan was
insolent and "capable of getting anyone angry," while Josemara, "despite his yout
h, was incapable of instigating any act of violence."
The most reliable eyewitness is the rector. In De vita et moribus, on the page f
or Josemara, he sums up the event as he saw it, and then its consequences:

He had a fight with Julio Cortes, and I gave him the appropriate punishment. But
the acceptance and carrying out of it was really a glory for him, since in my j
udgment it was his adversary who had struck first and most, and he had spoken to
him in gross language improper for a cleric, and, in my presence, had insulted
him in the cathedral of La Seo.[136]

To understand why this incident was so upsetting to Josemara, we need to consider

not only his natural sensibilities, but also that he was a director of San Carl
os and had already received minor orders. The last time he had gotten into a fis
tfight was in Barbastro, with "Pig Foot." The Riojan's insults must have driven
him beyond the breaking point. He fought back with words, and the other man turn
ed it into a physical fight.
Although he had legitimately defended himself, Josemara had lost his composure, b
oth in word and in deed. This hit him so hard that he lost his spiritual peace a
nd had to pour out his soul in a letter to Father Gregorio Fernandez, his old sp
iritual director, the vice-rector of the seminary of Logroo. On October 26, 1923,
Father Gregorio sent him the following response:

I feel very badly about your encounter with Juli0--not so much for him, since he
has very little to lose, as for you. I realize that it was unavoidable on your
part, but I wish you had never had to find yourself in the position of having to
defend yourself with such forceful arguments. I know the nobility of your senti
ments, and I'm sure that by now you do not hold in your heart the slightest trac
e of resentment. ...You should not discuss this matter with anyone other than Go
d.[137]

Josemara took this advice and buried the matter in his heart. Only after his deat
h, upon looking through his papers, did someone come upon other details which co
mpleted the story. "We found among some papers," says Bishop Javier Echevarria,
" a calling card from the seminarian who provoked the incident in La Seo. On thi
s card was printed the name of the place where he was working: a Red Cross hospi
tal in a city in the south of Spain. The man had written a few words beneath his
name, Julio Cortes: 'Repentant, and in the most humble and absolute way possibl
e. Mea culpa!' "[138]

6. "Domina, ut sit!"

On the banks of the Ebro stands the splendid Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar.
An earlier church had stood there during the Muslim era. The basilica's constru
ction began during the Renaissance, continued through the Baroque period, and en
ded in the middle of the eighteenth century with some neoclassical embellishment
s. Inside is the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pillar, a magnificent little structur
e housing a column upon which, according to tradition, our Lady set her feet.* T
his pillar, covered with bronze and silver, supports a statue of our Lady wearin
g a voluminous cloak and holding the child Jesus in her arms.
Upon his arrival in Saragossa, Josemara adopted the custom of making visits to th
e Pillar, taking the time out of his free periods between classes. As long as he
was in Saragossa he practiced that custom daily, as he himself tells us:

My devotion to Our Lady of the Pillar goes back to very early in my life, since

my parents, with their Aragonese piety, instilled it in the soul of each of thei
r children. Later on, during my studies for the priesthood and also when I studi
ed law at the University of Saragossa, my visits to the Pillar were a daily even
t.[139]

Later, as head prefect, he would bring his fellow seminarians with him to pray t
ogether a Salve Regina. However, even though his devotion to Our Lady of the Pil
lar suffused his interior life, his memory of those years was that of a mediocre
effort to respond to the divine call. To him, he had "worked with only medium i
ntensity."[140] Perhaps this was because he was thinking of a past that was free
of the terrible ascetical struggles that would follow. But even back then his d
evotional practices were validated by the cheerful suffering of involuntary mort
ifications: snubs, insults, vulgarities. There was corporal penance, too, since
he made use of a cilice.[141] Surrounded by darkness, he continued to cry out un
tiringly for clarity in his vocation.

I had hints that our Lord wanted something, but many years passed before I found
out what it was. In the meantime I thought of the blind man in the Gospel, beca
use I was blind with regard to my future and the service that God wanted from me
. Like him, I kept repeating, Domine, ut videam! Domine, ut sit! [Lord, that I m
ay see! Lord, let it be!]. I repeated this for years: "Let it be. May this thing
that you want come about. Let me know what it is. Give light to my soul." The l
ight did not come, but evidently prayer was the right path.[142]

More than for any other advantage connected with his position, the prefect was t
hankful for the freedom of time and movement it gave him, since it allowed him t
o converse more with the love of his life. An assiduous and devoted reader of Sa
int Teresa of Avila, Josemara smiled at something the saint had said: namely, tha
t "the Lord had given this person [i.e., herself] such a lively faith that when
she heard people say they wished they had lived when Christ walked on this earth
, she would smile to herself, for she knew that we have him as truly with us in
the Most Holy Sacrament as people had him then, and wonder what more they could
possibly want."[143]
Even back in Logroo, at Santa Maria de La Redonda, Josemara used to make long even
ing visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Now he continued those visits at the church
of San Carlos, even when his obligations as head prefect did not leave him much
free time. Love always finds a way. Soon he found himself a nice spot near the
main altar, where the tabernacle was.
As soon as the seminary lights went out, Josemara went from the second floor to t
he area where the priests lived, and from there to the upper level of the church
. This level was supported by the arches of the side chapels and had spacious ba
lconies for the faithful, built between the buttresses of the church, below ribs
that crisscrossed the ceiling. Josemara would kneel in the balcony to the right
of the main part of the church, looking down on the sanctuary. He would greet ou
r Lord with that lively faith spoken of by Saint Teresa, and through the lattice
work fix his eyes on the tabernacle, while the flickering sanctuary lamp lighted
up the gold of the reredos and made shadows dance in the baroque profusion of n
iches, statues, and medallions.[144]
With the night ahead of him, free from interruptions, and alone in an empty chur
ch, the seminarian would carry on long conversations with our Lord in the tabern
acle-conversations always the same and always different. In the past few years J
osemara had intensely cultivated his relationship with our Lord. He knew how to u
nburden himself with confidence and simplicity in a lengthy dialogue without a l
ot of words. He spoke easily, with the intimacy with which close friends speak t
o one another.
Sometimes his thoughts were a torrent of supplication; at other times his soul w
as inflamed with affection for our Lord and our Lady. We know for certain that h
is prayer was constant and that for several years he kept repeating the same pet
itions: Domine, ut videam! Domina, ut sit! The petitions were not being granted,
yet he kept on asking the same things, day and night, without doubt or discoura

gement. And it concerned something that was not even a promise, but only a matte
r of "inklings of Love." Josemara understood perfectly the language and pain of l
overs.
In those vigils he asked for strength for the ascetical struggle, light for his
tasks of government, and promptness in responding to grace. Even details of his
notes on the progress of the seminarians served, he tells us, "for dialogue with
the Lord."
The nocturnal visits to the church increased; this rendezvous with our Lord beca
me more and more frequent. From that time on, when for any reason at all his sou
l needed to speak at length with our Lord after a hard day's work, he knew when
and where he could be alone with him. So he spoke from experience when later on,
as spiritual director, he gave this Gospel-based reproach, " Pernoctans in orat
ione Dei-'He spent the whole night in prayer to God,' says Saint Luke of our Lor
d. And you? How many times have you persevered like that? Well, then?"[145]

* * *

On May 14, 1924, the office of archbishop being vacant following the assassinati
on of Cardinal Soldevila, Josemara wrote to the vicar general of the archdiocese
expressing his desire to receive the subdiaconate "since I believe I am called t
o the priestly state."[146] The vicar general, as was his duty, asked the rector
for a character reference. The response was that the candidate had shown "good
moral and religious conduct, receiving the sacrament of Penance frequently and C
ommunion daily."[147]
On June 14, in the church of San Carlos, the subdiaconate was conferred on Josem
ara by Bishop Miguel de los Santos.[148]
Shortly before, Josemara had taken his fifth-year-theology examinations, receivin
g a "Meritissimus" (Excellent) in all of them. His academic records, now complet
ed, show twenty courses: sixteen with that highest grade, "Meritissimus," two wi
th the next highest grade, "Benemeritus" (Good), and in Greek and Hebrew a simpl
e "Meritus" (Average).[149]
Now that he was a sub deacon, "he felt he was already a minister of God."[150] H
is proximity to the priesthood filled him with joy. But probably it was the reas
on why the relationship with his uncle Carlos began to deteriorate. In the begin
ning, the archdeacon had taken him under his wing, helping him get into San Carl
os with a partial scholarship, frequently inviting him to his home, providing ot
her small services. Nevertheless, as a close friend of Josemara notes, the nephew
"was never able to have very cordial relations with his uncle."[151] Father Car
los was one of those relatives who had criticized Don Jose's heroic, profoundly
Christian gesture of paying off business loans, after his business was legally d
eclared bankrupt, by selling family possessions and thus bringing his family to
the brink of poverty. As the years went by, relations between the archdeacon and
the seminarian also became more and more difficult because Josemara did not agre
e to the plans for his future career that Father Carlos had worked out in his mi
nd.
Sixta Cermeflo, the wife of a cousin of Josemara's at that time living in Saragos
sa, explains that the archdeacon, "well aware of the importance of his position
in the diocese, considered himself something of a leading figure in the family a
nd responsible for it."[152] Accompanying this role of protector and counselor w
as a notion of an ecclesiastical career which was quite different from his nephe
w's idea of the priesthood. The one felt he "had made it to the top," whereas th
e other "did not have the least interest in making the priesthood a career."[153
]
During his summer vacations Josemara studied for the law school examinations. The
se covered quite a few subjects. Professor Sanchez del Rio gives some details:

It would have been in the month of September, in 1923 or 1924, that I was on the
tribunal which gave him his exams in canon law and Roman law. (The nonofficial
students always took their exams before a tribunal.) Both tribunals were made up
of Don Juan Moneva, Father Jose Pou de Foxa, and myself. I remember that at the

start of the exam in canon law, Professor Juan Moneva, the teacher of this cour
se, asked him in Latin if he wished to take the exam in that language. Without a
moment's hesitation he answered yes, and so he did. His answers were very good,
very specific and concise. He answered quickly in correct Latin, in a clear and
brief manner; it was a brilliant examination. And the one in Roman law showed t
he special liking he had for this discipline.[154]

When he went to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, he often had to st
and in line with the other faithful to get to kiss the part of the column that w
as exposed and was worn down by the lips of many generations of Christians. Ther
e, in the Holy Chapel, he repeated his insistent aspirations, "Domine, ut sit! L
ord, may that which you want be done, though I don't know what it is!" and the s
ame to the Blessed Virgin, Domina, ut sit! (My Lady, let it be!).[155]
But kissing the column was not enough for him; he wanted to kiss the image itsel
f. As he tells it, months earlier he had hit on a way to pull this off, since us
ually no one except children and the authorities was allowed to kiss even the cl
oak in which the image was dressed. "Since I was good friends with some of the c
lerics who took care of the basilica," he says, "I was able to stay in the churc
h one day after the doors were locked. With the complicity of one of those good
priests (now deceased), I climbed the few steps so well known to those who escor
t the little children, and getting up close, I kissed the image of our Mother. "
[156]
In his room at San Carlos the prefect had a plaster reproduction of that statue.
Monetarily and aesthetically it was worth practically nothing. But it was given
him by one of Cardinal Soldevila's servants, and gazing upon it, he kept asking
our Lady to intercede for him so that God's will could be carried out as soon a
s possible. "Before a little statue of the Virgin of the Pillar," he says, "I co
nfided to her my prayer in those years, that our Lord would let me understand wh
at he was already hinting at in my soul. 'Domina!' I said to her, in a Latin tha
t was not exactly classical, but embellished by affection, 'Ut sit! May whatever
God wants me to do be done!' "[157]
So constant was this prayer, in fact, that he finally engraved it in the base of
the statue, with the point of a nail. When Josemara left Saragossa, the statue s
tayed behind, and he did not see it again until 1960, in Rome, when one of his d
aughters in Opus Dei showed him a statue of Our Lady of the Pillar which until t
hen had been in the home of some relatives of his in Saragossa. They had sent it
to him, he tells us, because it had been his.

"Father, there has arrived here this statue of Our Lady of the Pillar which you
had in Saragossa." I answered, "No, I don't remember it." And she said, "Yes, lo
ok at it- there's something written on it by you." It was such a horrible statue
that it didn't seem possible that it could have been mine. But she showed it to
me: under the statue, with a nail was written on the plaster "Domina, ut sit!"with the exclamation point which is how I always used to write aspirations in L
atin. "My Lady, let it be!" And a date: "24-5-924."
Many is the time, my children, that our Lord humbles me. While he often gives me
plenty of clarity, many other times he takes it away from me, so that I can nev
er trust in myself. And then he comes and gives me a dab of honey.
I have spoken to you about those inklings many times, even though on occasion I
have thought, Josemara, you are a fraud, a liar. ...That statue was the concrete
manifestation of the prayer I prayed for years-the prayer I have related to you
so many times.[158]

7. The death of Don Jose

On November 27, 1924, Josemara received a telegram from his mother asking him to
come to Logroo because his father had come down with a serious illness. He took t
he train that very afternoon. At the Logroo station he was met by Manuel Cenicero
s, a godson of Senor Garrigosa's who worked as a clerk at The Great City of Lond
on. It was Manuel who had sent the telegram, at the request of Doa Dolores.[159]

From its tone and the urgency with which it was given him by the president of th
e seminary, Bishop Miguel de los Santos y Diaz de Gomara, Josemara knew before he
left Saragossa that his father had died. As soon as he entered the house he saw
the body, already piously enshrouded by his mother and sister, laid out on a cr
imson bedspread on the living room floor. The son wept freely, and then prayed w
ith great christian serenity.
They told him what had happened. Early in the morning, just after breakfast, Don
Jose had played for a short time with little Santiago. Then he had knelt for a
moment in front of a statue of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, to whom he was
very devoted and whose confraternity had brought it to the Escriv home, this bein
g their week to have it. He then said good-bye and turned to leave, but before r
eaching the door he was stricken. Crying out in pain, he grabbed hold of the doo
rjamb, and then collapsed. Carmen and Doa Dolores rushed to his side. They got hi
m into bed and, realizing the seriousness of his condition, immediately called t
he doctor and the parish priest. But there was nothing the doctor could do. Two
hours later, having received the last sacraments but not having regained conscio
usness, Don Jose died.[160]
At nine that morning when The Great City of London opened for business, the othe
r employees were surprised that Don Jose was not there. It was most unusual for
this meticulously punctual man to be late. On a hunch, the owner sent Manuel to
the Escriv home on Sagasta Street to find out what had happened. Don Jose died so
on after Manuel got there.[161]
A heartbroken Josemara comforted his family. Little Santiago, who was then about
six, would never forget the expression his brother had on his face when, facing
the body, he promised to take over his father's responsibilities for them. "He s
aid in front of my mother, my sister, and me- these are the words I remember-tha
t he would never abandon us and would take care of us."[162]
He immediately took charge of the preparations for the funeral and burial, makin
g the arrangements for the coffin, the grave, the services, and the incidental e
xpenses. But the family did not have sufficient savings. In this painful predica
ment, Josemara had to request assistance from Father Daniel Alfaro, a military ch
aplain who was an acquaintance of the family. This priest would forever be remem
bered for his charitable loan. The money was soon paid back, but Josemara never c
eased to remember him with gratitude in his Masses. For several years he did thi
s in the Memento of the Living, and later in the Memento of the Dead.[163]
A wake was held throughout the night. Friends from Logroo and Don Jose's co-worke
rs were there. But the relatives did not come.
The burial took place the following day. Before closing the coffin, Josemara remo
ved the cross that lay in his father's hands: a poor, worn cross which had also
lain in the hands of his grandmother Constancia.[164]
The funeral party crossed a bridge en route to the cemetery; Josemara walked in f
ront, apart from the rest, as the only relative of the deceased who was present.
His mother and sister had remained at home, since it was not customary then for
the women of the family to attend the burial. At the grave site the traditional
prayer for the dead was recited, and then Father Daniel Alfaro, at Josemara's re
quest, said some additional prayers.
The coffin was lowered into the grave, and the son threw on it the first handful
of dirt. The grave digger handed him the key with which he had locked the coffi
n. Crossing the bridge over the Ebro on the way back to Logroo with the funeral p
arty, the son reflected on his loss. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled ou
t the coffin key. Resolutely, as though ridding himself of a symbolic attachment
that could distract him from his vocation, he threw the key in the river. "Why,
" he thought to himself, "should I want to keep this key, when it could be for m
e an undue attachment?"[165]
Days of mourning and of family privacy followed. During this time, on the first
of December, a city census reached their neighborhood. Perhaps no documentation
could be more simply eloquent of the change in the Escriv home than the signature
given on the census form for "head of the family" : "Dolores Albas, Widow of Es
criv."[166]
Although officially it was the widow who was head of the family, it was the elde

r son who took charge of everything. He decided that within a few weeks, as soon
as he could manage to rent an apartment in Saragossa, they would go live with h
im. Overnight, there had fallen on the shoulders of the young seminarian the hea
vy responsibility of financially supporting his family. His hopes in that little
brother of his-that other son whom he had asked our Lord to send to take his pl
ace since he was becoming a priest-had collapsed. Now he had to be more of a fat
her to Santiago than an older brother.[167]
He took a long, hard look at his situation. He was now a sub deacon. As such, he
was bound by certain commitments he had made to the Church, including that of r
emaining dedicated to the service of God in celibacy. True, he could apply for a
dispensation, and in view of his new obligations, who would be surprised if he
did? Nevertheless, despite the recent misfortune, he felt interiorly strengthene
d, as if all the more confirmed in his vocation. His unlimited trust in Divine P
rovidence led him to see the issue as entirely resolved. Whereas if his father's
death had occurred before he took the subdiaconate, might there not have been s
ome doubt about whether he should continue to seek the priesthood?[168]
Now, in compensation for this new family misfortune, he was able to see more cle
arly the meaning of his life and the hand of God accompanying him through all hi
s sufferings. On the path of suffering his life was being stripped of human encu
mbrances, material resources, and whatever might have represented support in the
future. He thought of the three little sisters who had died in Barbastro, the c
ollapse of his father's business, the financial constraints, and the family left
in his care. All this became part of the history of his soul. Our Lord was forg
ing it by means of these family woes.

I have always made those around me suffer a lot. I haven't brought on catastroph
es, but the Lord, to hit me, who was the nail (pardon me, Lord), landed one blow
on the nail and a hundred on the horseshoe. I saw my father as the personificat
ion of Job. He lost three daughters, one after the other in consecutive years, a
nd then lost his fortune.[169]

Don Jose died worn out by work and worries. But from him his son had learned som
ething he would never forget:

I saw him suffer with cheerfulness, without showing the suffering. And I saw a c
ourage that was a school for me, because later I would so often feel as if the g
round was falling out from under me and the sky was falling on me, or as if I wa
s being squeezed between two sheets of iron.
With those lessons and the grace of the Lord, perhaps I did lose my peace occasi
onally, but not very often. ...
My father died exhausted, but still with a smile on his lips and a special conge
niality.[170]

With deep gratitude he recognized the roles played by his parents in God's plans
for him, and how exemplary their virtues were. The memory of Don Jose, patient
and serene in the face of adversity, forgetful of himself in service of his neig
hbor, grew in a holy way in his son's mind to involve something more than filial
affection. "Logroo! Very dear memories," he wrote in a letter dated May 9, 1938.
"In that cemetery are the remains of my father, which for me-for many reasons-a
re relics. I hope to recover them someday."[171]

8. The first Mass

Two weeks before his father's death, Josemara had requested ordination to the dia
conate because "I believe I am called to the priestly state."[172] Shortly there
after, the chancery secretary prepared the request for ordination, and on Decemb
er 5 the vicar general sent it to the diocese of Calahorra and La Calzada. Sever
al witnesses, including the pastor of the parish in Logrono (Father Hilario Loza
) and the military chaplain Father Daniel Alfaro, attested to the sub deacon's g
ood conduct and reputation. The paperwork completed, Bishop Miguel de los Santos

conferred the sacred order of the diaconate on Josemara on December 20, in the c
hurch of San Carlos.[173]
It is very probable that he spent a few days in Logrono before going back to San
Carlos to receive the diaconate, since Paula Royo recalls his relating to her s
ome humorous incidents connected with his search for an apartment in Saragossa.[
174] The family situation obviously made the move advisable. Within a few months
Josemara would be ordained a priest for the diocese of Saragossa. Maintaining tw
o homes would not be financially feasible, and, given the new circumstances, it
would not be right for Josemara to be far from his family.*
So first he rented, on a temporary basis, an apartment on the third floor of a c
ramped and stuffy building on Urea Street. And from there they moved, a few week
s later, to a modest apartment at 11 Rufas Street.[175]
Already Doa Dolores' relations with some members of her family had been not entir
ely cordial, but they became even worse following the death of Don Jose, turning
cold and strained. This abrupt change took place when the Escrivs decided to mov
e to Saragossa. Actually the reaction of Father Carlos, who was rather imperious
and pompous on account of his ecclesiastical pre-eminence, is not entirely surp
rising. He had, after all, not even attended his brother-in-law's funeral. But h
e was downright indignant when he learned that the Escrivs would soon be showing
up in Saragossa. According to Pascual Albas, one of his nephews, Doa Dolores' bro
thers even thought of giving her a small pension if she would stay in Logroo. Six
ta Cermeno tells us the archdeacon was of the opinion that "what Josemara should
do was give up any other studies, get ordained and settled, and support his moth
er and siblings."[176]
Perhaps it was at bottom a question of vanity or worldly shame on the part of th
e uncles, at the idea of having to mix socially with relatives who had come down
in the world. But to make matters even worse, the archdeacon had living with hi
m a niece, Manolita, who managed to make him downright hostile toward his nephew
.[177] That became apparent in a terrible family incident that took place shortl
y after the Escrivs moved to Saragossa. With the best of intentions, Josemara and
his sister Carmen went to visit their uncle Carlos. The archdeacon welcomed them
with expressions that were crude and more than rude-words to the effect of, "Wh
y the devil have you come to Saragossa? To parade your poverty?" Not dignifying
this with an answer, Carmen said to her brother, Josemara, let's get out of here,
since in this house we are not approved of."[178]
The archdeacon neither backed down nor offered any excuse for those insults, whi
ch were like a slap in the face. But Josemara never complained about the treatmen
t he had received. On several occasions he even tried again to approach Father C
arlos, but to no avail.
Only the sad events of the war made the archdeacon forget his old prejudices. At
the beginning of the 1940s Father Josemara went to visit his uncle in Saragossa.
"He did not want him to think," says a person who accompanied him on that visit
, "that he was harboring any resentment."[179] He left happy about how the visit
had gone. It was not he who had changed, but his uncle.
His attitude toward his mother's brother was always one of exceptional charity.
On January 6, 1948, having just received news of Father Carlos' death, he quickl
y wrote these brief lines to his sister and brother, Carmen and Santiago: I hear
that Father Carlos has died. I ask you to pray for his soul, especially since h
e acted so badly toward Mama and us-I feel this obliges us all the more to pray
for him. If you do, you will please our Lord God and I will be grateful to you."
[180]
(The news, however, was erroneous. His uncle would die two years later.)

* * *

The family adjusted to its new life without complaint. The better-off relatives
did not, indeed, offer them any help. However, a little while after they moved t
o Rufas Street, a nephew of Doa Dolores who worked at a bank came to stay with th
em, which gave them a little financial relief, since he paid 150 pesetas a month
for room and board. *[181]

Josemara's duties as prefect and his participation as deacon in liturgical servic

es at the church of San Carlos kept him away from home much of the time. The exe
rcise of his diaconate had an unforgettable emotional impact on him. So great wa
s the yearning with which he looked forward to those moments, and so great his r
everence for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, that his hands and sometimes his wh
ole body trembled when he touched the Sacred Host. The first time this happened
to him was during a solemn Benediction, when he had to put the small glass case
containing the Sacred Host into the monstrance. At that moment he interiorly ask
ed our Lord never to let him get used to handling him; and to the end of his lif
e he felt the impact of this blessed encounter. In 1974 he confessed that his ha
nds sometimes still trembled as they had that first time.[182]
At San Carlos he gave Communion to the faithful, including his mother. "In this
house of San Carlos," he would comment years later, "I received my priestly form
ation. Here, at this altar, I came up, trembling, to take the Sacred Host and fo
r the first time give Communion to my mother. You can't imagine. ...I go from em
otion to emotion."[183]
Time seemed to drag as he dreamed of being a priest. He was only twenty-three, t
en months short of the age required by canon law, so he had to request a dispens
ation from the pope. On February 20, 1925, a positive response arrived from Rome
.[184] So on March 4 Josemara sent to the vicar general this formal request: "Des
iring to receive the holy order of the priesthood during the coming ember days o
f the fifth week of Lent, since I believe I am called by God to the priestly sta
te, I entreat Your Excellency to deign to grant me the requisite dimissory lette
rs, upon fulfillment of the requirements of canon law."[185]
The procedure was carried out in accordance with the canonical requirements and
with a certain sense of urgency, since Ember Saturday that year would come soonon March 28. The documents in the ordination file begin with the examination for
suitability (given at the Royal Seminary of San Carlos) and include the require
d letter from the vicar general of the diocese of Calahorra, the public banns pr
oclaimed in Logroo, and the response from the pastor of Santiago el Real, complet
e with four sworn statements expressing the judgment that "Don Jose Maria Escriv
y Albas is worthy of being admitted to what he is requesting." This last documen
t, dated Logroo, March 23, was sent on to Calahona. From there, with the approval
having been secured, the papers were returned to the secretary of the chancery
office of the archdiocese of Saragossa.[186]
On Ember Saturday, March 28, 1925, the ceremony of priestly ordination was celeb
rated in the church of San Carlos, with Bishop Miguel de los Santos presiding.[1
87]
The ordinand put his whole self into the liturgical ceremonies: the anointing of
the hands, the traditio instrumentorum [the giving to the priest of a chalice a
nd some of the other items he will use in his priestly ministry], the words of t
he Consecration. ...Deeply moved and bewildered by the goodness of the Lord, he
dismissed as nothing the difficulties he had experienced since his calling, and
offered thanks like a youth in love.[188]
As for his first Mass, it would be not a solemn one, but a Low Mass, since it wo
uld be celebrated on the Monday of Passion Week, with purple vestments, for the
repose of the soul of his father. The newly ordained priest sent notices to only
a small number of persons, since the family was still in mourning and the celeb
ration was to be a private one. Some holy cards of our Lady were sent out with t
he following announcement on the back.[189]

The Priest
Jose Maria Escriv y Alba:

will celebrate his first Mass in the Holy Chapel of Our Lady of the Pillar in Sa
ragossa on March 30, 1925, at 10:30 in the morning, for the repose of the soul o
f his father, Don Jose Escriv Corazon, who went to his rest with the Lord on Nove
mber 27, 1924.

A.M.D.G.

Invitation and memento

It had not been easy to get permission to use that chapel, but he very much want
ed to celebrate his first Mass there, in the place where he had gone every day t
o cry out his "Domina, ut sit!" But, that aside, the Mass was more sorrowful tha
n the celebrant could have foreseen, although he would hide the memory and circu
mstances of the ceremony in a very simple statement: "In the Holy Chapel, in the
presence of a handful of people, I quietly celebrated my first Mass."[190]
Santiago, who was six at the time, remembers the simplicity of the ceremony and
the small congregation: "It was a Low Mass, attended by my mother, my sister Car
men, myself, and a few others." Their cousin Sixta Cermefio gives a more detaile
d report:

My husband and I were the only members of the Albas family who joined his mother
in attending that first Mass. ...
The people there were Josemara's mother (Aunt Lola), his sister, the little boy (
who was then about six), ourselves (my husband and I), two neighbors from Barbas
tro whose last name was Cortes (they were close friends of his sister Carmen, an
d of about her age), and a few others that I didn't know. I seem to recall two o
r three priests, and possibly there were some other friends from the university
or the seminary. It's hard to say, since, as you know, that chapel of Our Lady o
f the Pillar is always full of people.[191]

The conspicuous absence of the priests of Doa Dolores' family and the small numbe
r of people present left an impression of loneliness. "His uncles Carlos, Vicent
e, and Mariano Albas were not at his first Mass, in 1925," says Amparo Castillon
. "I was there, and to me it felt like he was very much alone."[192]
The rector, Father Jose Lopez Sierra, adds that two priests who were friends of
the family assisted the new priest at the altar. Moved with pity, he describes t
he scene in the chapel. The mother "was dissolved in a sea of tears and at times
seemed close to fainting," while everyone else, kneeling the whole time, "witho
ut even blinking, remained immobile through the entire Mass, contemplating the s
acred gestures of that angel on earth."[193]
Doa Dolores, who had gotten up that morning feeling sick, became especially emoti
onal at the thought of the many sacrifices she and her husband had made to see t
his ceremony. The same thought must also have crossed the mind of her niece Sixt
a Cermeno, since she recalls that "together with the feeling of intimacy there w
as a note of sadness," and that the priest's mother was crying, "perhaps thinkin
g about the recent loss of her husband.?[194]
Good son that he was, the new priest was hoping his mother would be the first pe
rson to receive from his hands a host he had consecrated, but he was denied that
joy. Just as he was about to distribute Communion, a woman got ahead of Doa Dolo
res and knelt down on the priedieu, and so the priest felt obliged to give the f
irst host to that good woman, so as not to snub her.[195] After the Mass came th
e customary kissing of the new priest's hands, congratulations in the sacristy,
and farewells to the small group of attendees. For Josemara, the memory of that f
irst Mass would always have a taste of sacrifice. He would see it as "a picture
of sorrow, with his mother dressed in mourning."[196]
At the altar, celebrating the Mass, the priest exercised his liturgical ministry
in the most sublime way, in the offering of that same Victim who offered himsel
f on the cross to redeem humanity. Now personally and definitively identified wi
th Christ in virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, Josemara made the Eucharisti
c Sacrifice the center of his interior life. And just as on the evening before h
is First Communion he had received as a memento the painful caress of a burn cau
sed by the carelessness of a barber, now he had the memory of being denied a pio
us dream-to give Communion first, at his first Mass, to his mother. Our Lord was
drawing him closer to the cross with these little signs of predilection.
At the apartment on Rufas Street there was a small reception. Doa Dolores' nephew
s and nieces, Carmen's two friends from Barbastro, and some other close friends
were invited. The modest dinner combined poverty with good taste, since the lady

of the house had prepared an excellent rice dish.[197]

When they had eaten, the priest retired to his room. He had just been notified o
f his first assignment in his priestly career. Reviewing the events of the past
few months and the most recent blows, he realized that there was good reason to
think the Lord was still hammering away in the same way as before: "one blow on
the nail and a hundred on the horseshoe." Dejected and sobbing, he filially prot
ested to the Lord, "How you treat me! How you treat me!"[198]

[1] See Josemara Escriv de Balaguer, "Huellas de Aragn en la Iglesia Universal," in

Universidad 3-4 (saragossa, 1960), p. 6.
[2] See Appendix 10 (a).
*The Seminary of San Valero y San Braulio was referred to as the "conciliar" sem
inary because it was founded in response to a decree of the Council of Trent cal
ling for the establishment of diocesan seminaries.
[3] If we read the commentary of the famous author of Viaje de Espaa, we see how
much artistic tastes vary. "Think about the fact," wrote Antonio Ponz at the end
of the eighteenth century, "that the church which back then belonged to the Jes
uits and today is the Royal Seminary of San Carlos became for a while a mirror s
hop-particularly the Communion chapel. It was all because of this very good stuc
co work which, imitating marble, served as a frieze or molding for the whole chu
rch, including its chapels. The best example that I found was the altar of San L
upercio. ...The entrance to this church is in as bad taste as anything else in i
t. I don't know what Father Norbert Caimo o Vago Italiano was thinking of when,
in his letter of July 7,1755, he said of this church that it was the piu vaga-th
e most esthetically pleasing-in saragossa, as well as the richest in gold and je
wels. Surely he must have been dazzled by the gilding and by the stucco which he
took for marble" (A. Ponz, Viaje de Espaa, ed. M. Aguilar [Madrid, 1947], vol. 1
5, p. 1318 [letter 2, no.33]; originally published in 1788). It is, of course, a
well-known fact that Ponz was systematically scornful of baroque art.
[4] See E. subirana, Anuario Eclesitistico (Barcelona), the section for the arch
diocese of Saragossa, where for each year the names of the priests at the Royal
Seminary of San Carlos are listed.
[5] The diocesan bulletin printed a convocation notice, dated September 6, 1886,
for an examination on the basis of which fifty full-tuition scholarships would
be awarded.
In the archive of books belonging to the seminary (now transferred to the archiv
e of the diocese of saragossa) there is a manuscript in the form of originally b
lank pages bound as a book, eighty-three of which have been written on. This is
the Historia de la fundacin del Seminario de pobres de San Francisco de Paula. It
describes events and customs from the beginnings of the seminary in 1886 up unt
il the 1905-1906 school year.
In the 1897-1898 school year there were two major events. First, the conciliar s
eminary was elevated to a pontifical university, with three departments: philoso
phy, theology, and canon law. And second, the Seminary of San Francisco de Paula
began to admit paying seminarians (pp. 77-79).
[6] Reglamento para el regimen y buen gobierno del Seminario de Pobres de San Fr
ancisco de Paula de la Ciudad de Zaragoza, dispuesto por el Eminentisimo y Rever
endisimo Sr. D. Francisco de Paula, Cardenal Benavides, Arzobispo de Zaragoza, e
tc., Saragossa, 1887. With the exception of the daily schedule and a few other p
oints, the Reglamento was still in force during the years that Josemara spent in
this seminary.
[7] During the 1920-1921 school year there were three students taking Latin, ele
ven taking philosophy, and twenty-three taking theology: a total of thirty-seven
seminarians (see Hojas de inscripcin y Actas de exlimenes). "The two seminaries
were basically the same," says Hugo Cubero, a classmate of Josemara's. "The one w
as simply an extension of the other. There was no privilege or distinction attac
hed to belonging to the one or the other" (Hugo Cubero Berne, AGP, RHF, T-02859,
p. 1).

During the 1897-1898 school year, when the archbishop gave orders to admit payin
g seminarians, the charge for room and board was set at 1.25 pesetas a day-an am
ount that did not change for over twenty-five years. See Historia de la fundacin,
pp. 78-79, and Hojas de Cuentas de los cursos 1920 a 1925 del Seminario de San
Francisco de Paula, vistas y examinadas por la Junta de Hacienda del Real Semina
rio Sacerdotal de San Carlos. (These manuscripts, with the rest of the documents
of San Francisco de Paula Seminary, were recently transferred to the archive of
the diocese of Saragossa.)
As for the students at the conciliar seminary, their regulations distinguished b
etween " students from this diocese and students from outside this diocese." For
the former, the charge for room and board was "1.50 pesetas a day," and for the
latter, "2.50 pesetas." Additionally, "there will be a charge of 20 pesetas for
the use of the iron bed with the spring mattress, the table, nightstand, washst
and, water jug, coatrack, chair, candlestick, etc." (See Reglamento disciplinar
del Seminario General Pontificio de San Valero y San Braulio de Zaragoza, year 1
925, articles 222 and 223.)
As one can see from the charge for extradiocesan students, both seminaries funct
ioned with the help of subsidies.
[8] When the seminary was established it was decided that the seminarians would
wear this uniform. It was given them by the cardinal himself in a solemn ceremon
y on December 5, 1886. (See Historia de la fundacin, school year of 1886-1887.)
[9] It seems that by the end of the twenties all the bedrooms had electric light
. For more information on the seminaries of Saragossa, see F. Torralba, Real Sem
inario de San Carlos Borromeo de Zaragoza, Saragossa, 1974, and I. Cruz, El Semi
nario de Zaragoza. Notas hist6ricas, Saragossa, 1945.
[10] The meditation was based on some points read out loud from a book by Father
Francisco Garzon: Meditaciones espirituales, sacadas en parte de las del V. P.
Luis de la Puente, Madrid, 1900.
[11] The conciliar seminary originated in this way: The College of the Eternal F
ather, which had belonged to the Jesuits, was designated by King Carlos III for
use as a seminary. But during the first siege of Saragossa by Napoleon's troops
it was used as a powder magazine, and was destroyed by an explosion in 1808. Ten
years later its upper stories were fitted out as a seminary for young men, and
in 1848 everyone there moved to the building fronting on La Seo Plaza.
For more on the reorganization of ecclesiastical studies and the creation of new
pontifical universities in Spain, see Diccionario de Historia Eclesiastica de E
spana (Madrid, 1972), vol. 4, pp. 2427-28.
The code of conduct for the pontifical seminary included these statements: "The
students of the seminary are classified into resident students, of the conciliar
seminary or of San Francisco, and nonresident students" (Reglamento disciplinar
, art. 49) and, further on, "The students of the Seminary of San Francisco shall
adapt themselves in all things to the Plan of Instruction of the Pontifical Uni
versity. The hours of class and the courses that they must take shall be, for th
e duration of their stay in this seminary, subject to the regulations of same" (
art. 51).
[12] Among the books read in the dining room was one by Juan Maria Sola, S.J.: L
a Profecia de Daniel, Barcelona, 1919. This is shown by an entry in the Hoja de
Cuentas del Curso de 1921-1922 (Book of Accounts for the School Year of 1921-192
2): "Profecia de Daniel, 'Ley de expiacion,' by Father Sola, for reading in the
dining room: receipt no.4, 16.50 pesetas."
[13] For spiritual reading they used the book Ejercicio de Perfeccin, by Father A
lonso Rodriguez, S.J .
[14] From 1920 to 1922 the prefects were Santiago Lucus, who was a subdeacon, an
d Luis Torrijo, who had received the minor orders. See Boletin Oficial de la Di6
cesis (Saragossa, 1922), pp. 5-15.
[15] See Appendix 10 (a).
[16] Another uncle and aunt, Florencio and Carmen, came fairly often to the semi
nary to visit Josemara. "We used to go on Sunday afternoons and chat as we stroll
ed along some of those large walkways" (Carmen Lamartin, AGP, RHF, T -04813, p.
3). See also Javier Echevarria, Sum.1895, and Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RH

F, T -02865, p. 6.
[17] See Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T -02865, p. 5. See also the Libro
de Sesiones de la Asociacin del Apostolado de la Oracin del Sagrado Corazn de Jesu
s of the Seminary of San Francisco de Paula (1902-1934); entries for 1920-1925 a
re found on manuscript pages 92 to 103. During those years the Association was s
ometimes simply called the Apostolate of Prayer (see AGP, RHF, D--Q3454). The di
rector and the assistant directors of the association were the superiors of the
seminary (the rector and the prefects).
See also E. Subirana, op. cit., 1924, p. 45, for information on the ends, exerci
ses, and activities of this association in which " all members of the faithful"
could participate.
[18] Jesus LOpez Bello, Sum. 6005.
[19] Aurelio Navarro, AGP, RHF, T-O2863, p. 2.
[20] Arsenio Gorriz, AGP, RHF, T -O2867, p. 2.
[21] See Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. Another of his personal devotional practices
was the praying of the Stations of the Cross, which is usually done only during
Lent. Josemara "had this so much incorporated into his life that he made the Sta
tions quite often, even outside of Lent" Gavier Echevarria, Sum. 1861). He was k
nown for his "devotion to the Passion of our Lord, which he encouraged among the
seminarians" Gesus Lopez Bello, Sum. 6011).
[22] What would later be called the entree was then called the main dish. The co
nciliar seminary's list of rules gives an idea of the meals provided for the stu
dents: "In the morning, coffee with milk; at midday, soup, stew, beef and bacon,
dessert; for the afternoon snack, bread and fruit; at supper, salad, vegetables
, and main dish. At both meals they will be given a glass of wine. On Sundays an
d second-class feasts, a main dish will be added to the lunch. On first-class fe
asts, lunch [which was the main meal] will consist of paella, two main dishes, f
ine biscuits, cake, and sweet wine. On feast days of the seminary's patron saint
s (the feasts of the Immaculate Conception, of Saint Valerius, and of Saint Brau
lius), they will have soup, three main dishes, a glass and a half of red wine, f
ine biscuits, rice with milk, coffee, and a small glass of liqueur" (Reglamento
disciplinar, art. 227).
[23] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 145, and Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6319.
[24] See Agustin Callejas, AGP, RHF, T-O2861, p. 3.
[25] "In the seminary there was no heating anywhere, despite the harshness of Sa
ragossa's winters" Gesus Lopez Bello, Sum. 6015). See also AIvaro del Portillo,
Sum.138, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1857.
[26] Sixta Cermeo, wife of Jose Maria Albas (another nephew of the archdeacon), s
peaks of the good disposition of Father Carlos toward Josemara. "That attentivene
ss of Uncle Carlos," she says, "even extended to material details. It was, for e
xample, in his house that Josemaa's clothes were washed and ironed; an employee o
f mine is a niece of the woman who went to the seminary every Saturday to collec
t his laundry. Uncle Carlos also took an interest in how Josemarla was doing. He
could speak with the seminary superiors and professors because he had a lot of
connections, on account of his position in the diocese as a canon and because of
the kind of person he was" (Sixta Cermefio, AGP, RHF, T-O2856, p. 1).
[27] "Every day, as soon as they get up in the morning, they will fold up their
beds very carefully, wash up, comb their hair, and brush their clothes-no excuse
s" (Reglamento disciplinar, art. 51).
[28] Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T-O2865, p. 4.
[29] Jose Maria Roman, AGP, RHF, T -O2864.
[30] Letter 14 sep 1951, no.75.
[31] "There were no sinks in the rooms," Monsignor Escriv said, "so in order to w
ash myself from head to 1oe J had to get three or four pitchers of water; that m
ay be what scandalized some of them" (AGP, P03 1976, p. 180). "The fact is," say
s Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, "that it was for this reason that they started to
call him 'pijaito'-an Aragonese expression meaning 'seorito' in a pejorative sens
e" (Alvaro del Portillo,sum. 138). Bishop Javier Echevarrla concurs: "He washed
from head to foot every day, with cold water. His conduct attracted the attentio
n of some of his classmates, and they began to give him the nickname of 'el pija

ito'-an Aragonese expression meaning 'el seorito,' an affected, overly fastidious

person" Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1857).
Francisco Artal, a student at the conciliar seminary, says, "The seminarians in
Saragossa, in those days, mostly came from rural areas and had the cultural leve
l of average country families in Aragon's small towns. ...I remember that in Bel
chite, where we did our studies in the humanities, they gave us a course in etiq
uette, and I'll never forget that the teacher told us that we must become well-m
annered, and that to do this we must learn some etiquette, but that we should al
so not forget that a person who tries to be a saint acquires good manners in tha
t way too. 'Try to be saints,' he used to say, 'because then good manners will b
e given to you as a bonus"' (Francisco Artal, AGP, RHF, T-O2858, p. 1).
[32] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 222, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1865. Fran
cisco Moreno Monforte says he heard him comment on that occasion, "I don't think
dirtiness is a virtue" (AGP, RHF, T -O2865, p. 5).
[33] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 139, and Javier Echevarra, Sum. 1858.
[34] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 139. Encamacin Ortega says, "He had from a ver
y early age a burning zeal for the salvation of souls. I remember hearing someon
e tell his sister Carmen that in the seminary they called him 'the dreamer' on a
ccount of that zeal" (Encamacion Ortega, Sum. 5366).
[35] See Javier de Ayala, AGP, RHF, T-15712, p. 2.
[36] Apuntes, nos. 53 and 54.
[37] See Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.
[38] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 158. The founder knew how to see the positive sid
e of those crude little annoyances at San Carlos which he called trifles.
His sister Carmen, too, used to mention that she had often heard him say he "rem
embered from the seminary nothing but good thingS." (See Encamacion Ortega, PM,
fol. 31, and Javier de Ayala, AGP, RHF, T-15712, p. 2.)
[39] Apuntes, no.1748. This is one of the notes he wrote during his July 1934 re
treat.
[40] Jose Maria Roman, AGP, RHF, T -O2864.
[41] Agustin Callejas, AGP, RHF, T-O2861, p. 5.
[42] See Appendix 10 (a).
[43] One classmate, for example, says of Josemara, "He was very simple, not at al
l pretentious, when he was in the seminary" {Aurelio Navarro, AGP, RHF, T-O2863,
p. 3).
On the same page of the book De vita et moribus, right next to the personal eval
uations, the rector would write in the results of the examinations, subject by s
ubject.
[44] See AGP, RHF, 0--07056. The pages that the prefects had to fill out and han
d in monthly were put together and printed as the "Report on the Conduct of the
Seminarians of San Francisco de Paula." The names of all the students were liste
d there, next to four columns entitled "Piety," II Application," "Discipline,"an
d "Conduct," which were filled in with a "Good,"llAverage," "Below average," or
?Bad." On the reverse side were recorded the punishments imposed by the prefects
and by the rector.
As an exception to the usual practice, in October 19Z0 the prefect Santiago Lucu
s retitled the ?Conduct" column as ?Vocation," and for this he gave twenty-six s
eminarians a ?Good" and nine an" Average."
[45] AGP, P04 1974, II, pp. 398-99.
[46] AGP, RHF, 0-15016. The rector of San Francisco de Paula Seminary wrote to t
he rector of the conciliar seminary of Logrofio, but it was the vice-rector, Fat
her Gregorio Femiindez Anguiano, who had been Josemara's Prefect of Discipline, w
ho answered him, since the new bishop of the diocese, Bishop Fidel Garcia Martin
ez, had assumed the rectorship and was directing the seminary with the assistanc
e of the vice-rectors.
(See E. Subirana, op. cit., 1922, "Diocese of Calahorra and Santo Domingo de La
Calzada.")
[47] E. Subirana, op. cit., "Diocesan archive: Documents of the Royal Priestly S
eminary of San Carlos," file no.7: "Documentation on Seminarians,1921-1925."
[48] Apuntes, no.959.

[49] AGP, RHF, 0--03306.

[50] Article 60 of Reglamento para el regimen reads, "Smoking is forbidden. So a
lso are eating and drinking outside the dining room." See also the reverse sides
of the prefects' reports, on which the reasons for, and the circumstances of, t
he punishments imposed are spelled out (AGP, RHF, 0-15022).
[51] See Reglamento para el regimen, art. 56.
[52] Psalm 120:6 (in the Vulgate version). He would never forget this. In 1930 h
e wrote, "Old buildings without light ('Per diem sol non uret te, neque luna per
noctem,' I saw in the room of a seminarian, written on the window)," and ten ye
ars later, "I'm writing to you from the seminary, which is a big old ugly, unple
asant, dirty building. It's no wonder some seminarian wrote on his window, 'Per
diem sol non uret te, neque luna per noctem."' (See Apuntes, no.55, and C 869, 4
Jul1940.)
[53] Article 63 of Reglamento para el regimen begins, "They will always address
one another as 'usted,' and in someone's absence refer to him as 'Senor' so-andso, by the last name. No use of epithets or nicknames of any kind will be allowe
d."
[54] See Reglamento para el regimen, art. 49.
[55] Augustus Caesar founded a colony made up of veterans of the Roman legions w
ho had fought against the mountain tribes in northern Spain during the so-called
Cantabrian wars. The colony, called Caesaraugusta (Saragossa), was in the provi
nce of Tarraconensis, one of the three provinces into which the Romans had divid
ed the Iberian peninsula.
When Saragossa was reconquered from the Moors, King Alfonso I {"the Warrior") re
stored the Church hierarchy and named as bishop Pedro de Liebana. The bishop mad
e the church of Our Lady of the Pillar his headquarters at first, it had been a
Christian church for centuries. Then he relocated to what had been the great mos
que of Saragossa-a building which, after being gutted by a fire, had been conver
ted into the cathedral of La Seo. The canons of both episcopal sees (El Pilar an
d La Seo) kept vying for the primacy of their respective cathedrals until in 167
5, by an apostolic letter, Pope Clement X brought peace to the two chapters by c
ombining them and ordering that the bishop's place of residence alternate yearly
between the two sites.
For more on the ecclesiastical history of Saragossa, see Diccionario de Histaria
Eclesitistica de Espana, vol. 4, pp. 2806ff. See also E. Subirana, op. cit., 19
25, p. 314.
[56] Juan Soldevila Romero was born in Fuentelapefta, Zamora, in 1843. He studie
d in Valladolid and was ordained to the priesthood in 1867. In 1875 he became a
canon of the diocese of Orense and secretary to the bishop. When Queen Mercedes
died, in 1878, he gave a funeral oration which led King Alfonso XIII to name him
as royal preacher. He was bishop of the diocese of Tarazona and Tudela from 188
9 until December 16, 1901, when he was promoted to the see of Saragossa. He very
actively involved himself in the concerns of his diocese (the Basilica of Our L
ady of the Pillar, the material situation of his priests, of primary schools and
charitable organizations, etc.) and in various social projects in Aragon. As a
Senator of the Realm he defended the interests of the Church both by spoken word
and in writing. (See Diccianario de Histaria Eclesitistica de Espana, vol. 4, p
. 2499.)
*In the early twentieth century, many Spanish workers belonged to anarchist trad
e unions. Saragossa was one of the cities where anarchist unions were most power
ful.
[57] At the beginning of the century, as a result of Spain's having lost its two
sugar-producing colonies, Cuba and Puerto Rico, a sugar beet industry sprang up
in Saragossa , and with it the industries of distilling alcohol, molasses, and
beet pulp.
The population of workers without stable roots in the area increased considerabl
y, and with this increase came socialist movements and agitation of the masses.
But the most serious tension arose from the appearance of the anarchist-socialis
t movement known as the Confederacin Nacional de Trabajadores (National Workers'
Confederation), which had close ties with the "sindicatos," or labor unions, in

Saragossa and Barcelona.

Between 1917 and 1923 twenty-three people in Saragossa were shot to death by gan
gsters.
[58] In the archive of the administration office of the Metropolitan Seminary of
Saragossa can be found the following books in which students' grades are record
ed.
In the Libra de Matriculas, references to Josemara are found on folio pages 89, 9
6, 104, and 113. Grades first noted in the examination records book are copied i
nto the Libra de natas de extimenes; Josemara's are recorded on folio pages 129,
139, 151, and 164. Finally, in the Libra de certificadas de estudia, which gives
a summary of the grades of each student, the summary for Josemara is in vol. 1 (
which begins in 1912), fol. 348, no. 693. The notes in De vita et maribus, the r
ecords book of the rector of San Francisco de Paula, are incomplete. See AGP, RH
F, 0-15020.
For more on the curriculum of the pontifical university of Saragossa, see Estatu
tas de la Universidad, nos. 33-36 and 39, and the Reglamenta Academica, art. 31
and 33.
[59] "But once I rectified my intention," he continued, "I did become very seren
e." (Cited by Javier Echevarria, in Sum. 1881.)
[60] See Appendix 9.
[61] Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T --02865, p. 4.
[62] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 163. A list of Josemara's professors at the po
ntifical university of Saragossa is provided by Joaquin Alonso, in Sum. 4595.
[63] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 250. See also Javier Echevarria, Sum.
1880.
[64] Agustin Callejas, AGP, RHF, T --02861, p. 2.
[65] See Reglamento academico, articles 67-74, which have to do with "academics"
versus "other literary activities." The "academics" were more or less formal pu
blic events, which the students were obliged to attend. Someone would speak for
twenty or thirty minutes defending a thesis, either in Latin or Spanish, and the
n students would propose arguments against that thesis. Given the circumstances,
the event to which reference is made here was probably, instead, a "literary ev
ening."
[66] Bishop Miguel de los Santos y Diaz de G6mara was born in Fitero (Navarre) o
n July 7,1885. In 1909, having completed his seminary studies in Pamplona and Sa
ragossa, he was ordained to the priesthood. In 1912 he won (by taking the compet
itive examination) a canonry at the cathedral of Saragossa. On July 8, 1920, he
was named auxiliary bishop of Saragossa; on December 19, 1920, he was consecrate
d at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar (see E. Subirana, op. cit., 1925). I
n 1924 he became bishop of Osma-Soria, and in 1935, bishop of Cartagena-Murcia.
In 1939 he was named apostolic administrator of Barcelona. He died as bishop of
Cartagena-Murcia, in 1949. It is possible that this special event was held in ho
nor of his consecration as a bishop.
[67] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 131, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1853.
[68] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 167
[69] See Francisco Artal, AGP, RHF, T--02858, p. 3.
[70] See Hojas de Cuentas. That school year went from June 5, 1920, to June 7,19
21. The income total was 2,474 pesetas and 60 centimos; the expense total, 619 p
esetas and 60 centimos.
On the last of the accounts sheets for the 1920-1921 school year, we see that th
e cardinal, once he had looked over and approved all the entries for that year,
decided that of the 1,855 pesetas remaining in favor of San Francisco de Paula S
eminary (the difference between income and expenses), "1,000 pesetas should be p
ut into the funds of the Priestly Seminary of San Carlos and the other 855 peset
as can be carried over for next year's expenses."
[71] "As for the time frame for residence of students in the seminary, the gener
al and ordinary norm is that they will arrive on the evening before the start of
the school year and will not leave until the examinations are over" (Reglamento
disciplinar, art. 168).
In the 1921-1922 school year, Josemara paid the one-half of room and board expens

es for 261 days, and checking in the same way as for the previous year, we can s
ee that he did not leave saragossa at any time in that whole school year.
[72] "Madre, en la puerta hay un Nio, mas hermoso que el sol bello, diciendo que
tiene frio ..."; see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 24.
[73] "One day he was looking very serious," a friend relates, "so I asked him wh
at was the matter, and he said something like this: 'I just received a letter fr
om my father, and he tells me. ..-the poor man doesn't deserve this!"' (Francisc
o Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T --02865, p. 3).
[74] Father Hilario Loza, when asked for a certificate of good conduct for his f
ormer parishioner, wrote this about Josemara's summer vacations in Logroo: "Throug
hout the months that he has spent at home with his parents, I have seen him cond
uct himself in an irreproachable manner. .. as befits a young man who aspires to
the priestly state, receiving the holy sacraments of Penance and Communion freq
uently and attending all the regular religious services. Logroo, March 6, 1924."
(See the file for the subdiaconate: starting in 1975 it was kept in the archive
of the chief notary of the archdiocese of saragossa, but in 1985 it was transfer
red, with the rest of the files in that archive, to the archive of the diocese o
f saragossa.) For more on Josemara's relations with his pastor in Logroo, see Alva
ro del Portillo, Sum. 180.
[75] Francisco Moreno Monforte,AGP, RHF, T--02865, p.10.
[76] Ibid., p. 9.
[77] Ibid., p. 7.
[78] Ibid., p. 8. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 149, and Javier Echevarria,
Sum. 1867.
[79] Carmen Noailles, AGP, RHF, T --02855, p. 2.
[80] See Antonio Navarro, AGP, RHF, T --05369, p. 2. The notebook was lost durin
g the civil war.
[81] Ibid.
[82] See Alvaro del Portillo, "Monseor Escriv de Balaguer, instrumento de Dios," i
n En Memoria de Mons. Josemara Escrivli de Balaguer (Pamplona: Eunsa, 1976), p. 2
9.
[83] See Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T --02865, p. 6, and Javier
Echevarria, Sum. 1852.
* At the time, the ceremony in which a man became a cleric included a shaving or
clipping of the hair on the crown of his head. This was called tonsure.
[84] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 151. The rector says that "later on he was a
director of seminarians, a distinction that His Eminence the Cardinal bestowed o
n him before he had even received Holy Orders, because of his exemplary conduct
no less than his industriousness" (AGP, RHF, D-O3306).
Regarding his early reception of the tonsure, see Francisco Botella, PM, fol. 20
9v, and Jose Luis MUzquiz, PM, fol. 351.
[85] On Josemara's page in De vita et maribus (fol. 111), under the heading of "G
eneral Observations," is written, "Was named prefect in September 1922 and given
the tonsure on the 28th of same." See also AGP, RHF, D-{)3235, and Appendix 10
(a).
In article lof the Regulations, there is mention of the "rector" and of the "dir
ector"; in article 27 they are referred to together as "superiors," and so forth
(see Reglamenta para el regimen). The custom of referring to the directors as "
inspectores" (prefects) was introduced during the 1889-1890 school year. See His
taria de la fundacin, pp. 31-38.
In the personal file for Monsignor Escrivci de Balaguer in the archive of the ge
neral secretary of the archdiocese of Madrid, there is a note handwritten by him
at the end of the civil war which includes the following datum: "Director of th
e Seminary of San Francisco of Saragossa, September 1922-March 1925" (AGP, RHF,
D-{)8074-5). See also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1868.
As one might expect, the date of his leaving this position appears in the semina
ry's accounts book, near the end of the section for the school year of 1924-1925
, in reference to the termination of his reimbursement for this service: "Prefec
t Escrivci, who ceased to serve in this capacity on
March 28. ..."

[86] See Josemara Escrivci de Balaguer, "Huellas de Aragn en la Iglesia Universal,

" in Universidad 3-4 (Saragossa, 1960), p. 6. See also "Libra de sagradas Ordene
s" del arzobispada de Zaragaza (May 27, 1889, to 1947), fol. 327, no. 4.410. The
re is mentioned the place in which that "first clerical tonsure" was conferred:
"in hujus nostr. archiep. sacell. particulares."
Bishop Alvaro del Portillo tells us that he twice accompanied the founder to Sar
agossa to visit the archbishop (first Archbishop Morcillo and later Archbishop C
antero), and that on both occasions Monsignor Escrivci sought out the chapel in
the archbishop's residence where he had received the tonsure, got down on his kn
ees, and, moved to tears, recited the prayer for the ceremony of tonsure: "Domin
us pars haereditatis meae, et calicis mei, tu es qui restitues haereditatem meam
mihi" ["The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot"] (Ps 16:
5). See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 189.
[87] The previous prefects were a subdeacon and a man with minor orders only, an
d those after Josemara and Juan were a deacon and another man with minor orders o
nly.
The rector of the conciliar seminary governed with the help of prefects and "dis
ciplinary assistants." The latter were "chosen from among the most outstanding s
tudents." (See Reglamenta disciplinar, art. 23, and also Jesus Val, AGP, RHF, T
-06889, p. 1.)
[88] If one carefully examines the seminary's accounts book, one sees noted for
each year, in the expense column, a sum of 100 pesetas for remuneration of the p
refects and another amount, a variable one, for payment of the examination fees.
In the section for the school year 1922-1923, for example, one reads, "Examinat
ion fees for Prefects Jose M. Escriv and Juan Jose Jimeno; receipts nos. 2 and 3
...20 pesetas,// and, further down, //Remuneration of Prefects Escriv and Jimeno
... 100 pesetas.//
[89] Jose Maria Roman, AGP, RHF, T-{)2864. For more on the relations of Prefect
Escriv with his assistant, see Jesus Lopez Bello, Sum.6009, and Javier Echevarria
, Sum. 1873.
[90] ?He became very close friends with Don Miguel de los Santos y Diaz de Gomar
a,? says Bishop Javier Echevarria. //The bishop held in profound esteem this sub
ject of his, the seminarian Josemara Escriv, and after a while he considered him a
very dear friend. Don Miguel saved for a very long time their correspondence an
d some notes from conversations that he had had with Josemara back when he was a
seminarian and when he first started working as a priest. Unfortunately, this fi
le was lost, because the person who looked after the bishop in his old age carri
ed out his order to destroy all such material after his death// (Javier Echevarr
ia, Sum. 1853).
[91] See Antonio Navarro, AGP, RHF, T--5369, p. 2
[92] See Historia de la fundacin, pp. 52-59; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 132; and J
avier Echevarria, Sum. 1853.
[93] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, pp. 244-45. Father Antonio Moreno died on Janu
ary 14,1925, and was succeeded as vice president of San Carlos by Father Luis La
tre Jorro. (See E. Subirana, op. cit.: 1925, p. 314, and 1926, p. 395.)
[94] See Hugo Cubero Beme, AGP, RHF, T --52859, p. 2.
[95] In a barbershop in Logrofio, Don Jose heard that some women were chasing hi
s son in Saragossa. As soon as he got a chance to take up this matter with Josem
ara, he told him it would be better for him to be a good father of a family than
a bad priest. With a clear and easy conscience, his son then explained what had
happened. A couple of women had indeed tried to allure him, but he had immediate
ly informed the rector about it and had let him know that priesthood meant more
to him than life itself. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 162, and Javier Echevarr
ia, Sum.1877.)
[96] The request is in the file entitled ?Expediente de Ordenaciones de las Temp
oras de Adviento de 1922,? in the archive of the diocese of Saragossa.
The power of the Catholic priesthood-the power to offer the Eucharistic Sacrific
e, administer the sacraments, and preach the Word of God-was given in its fullne
ss to the Catholic Church as such, by our Lord. The Church is able to communicat
e this power, with more fullness or less, to the individuals who receive it. Thi

s implies different degrees, which constitute the particular orders. Only the pr
iestly ministry properly speaking (in its two grades: the episcopacy and the pri
esthood) and the diaconate are of divine institution.
Through the centuries, there came to be made a distinction between major orders
(episcopate, priesthood, diaconate, and subdiaconate) and minor orders (porter,
lector, exorcist, and acolyte). The subdiaconate and all the minor orders were n
ot of divine institution; they were instituted by the Church. [Translator's note
: In 1972 they were abolished as orders and reclassified as ministries.
[97] Ibid.
[98] lbid. See also Appendix 11.
[99] Jesus Lopez Bello, AGP, RHF, T --02862, p. 3.
[100] See Jesus Val, AGP, RHF, T--06889, p. 2.
[101] Cited by Javier Echevarria, in Sum. 1871.
[102] See Jesus Val, AGP, RHF, T --06889, p. 3.
[103] See Jesus Lopez Bello, Sum. 6010.
[104] See AGP, RHF, D--{)3306.
[105] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo, in Sum. 153.
[106] These manuscripts were later transferred, together with all of San Francis
co de Paula's other documents, to the arChive of the diocese of Saragossa. See A
GP, RHF, D-15022, pp. 573 .
[107] This is written on the back of the report for March 1923, with the list of
"Punishments Imposed by the Prefect."
[108] Report for November 1922.
[109] Report for February 1923
[110] Report for Apri11923.
[111] Report for February 1924.
[112] Jesus Val, AGP, RHF, T--06889, p. 5.
[113] Cited by Javier Echevarria, in Sum. 1874.
[114] Report for November 1924.
[115] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1795.
[116] C 653 (4 Sep 1938).
[117] Letter 7 Oct 1950, no.34.
[118] Ponz, op. cit., p. 1318. Of Manuel de Roda, Charles Ill's right-hand man,
who had much to do with the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain, it was said tha
t being the good, stubborn Aragonese that he was, he bequeathed his library to t
he Royal Seminary of San Carlos to make everyone see that he was neither anti-Ch
urch nor antireligious. (It was already well known that he was anti-Jesuit.)
[119] See Agustin Callejas, AGP, RHF, T --02861, p. 4; Aurelio Navarro, AGp, RHF
, T --02863, p. 1; and Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGp, RHF, T --02865, p. 3.
[120] See Appendix 9; Libro de notas de exdmenes, fol. 151; and Libro de certifi
cados de estudios, vol. 1, fol. 348, no.693.
For the licentiate in the different schools of the pontifical university it was
required that one have passed three courses in philosophy, two in canon law, and
four in theology (see Estatutos de la Universidad, nos. 39-42, and Reglamento a
cademico, art. 37). There was also what was called the "carrera breva" (fast tra
ck), which some seminarians took, and which required only two years of theology.
[121] Boletin Eclesidstico Oficial del Arzobispado de Zaragoza, year 59, pp. 134
-35 (no.5: 11 Mar 1920). See also Pope Leo Xlll's instruction "Perspectum est Ro
manos Pontifices" (July 21, 1896) and Pope Saint Pius X's motu proprio "Sacrorum
Antistitum" (September 1, 1910).
[122] Bishop Peralta, of the diocese of Vitoria, says, II At that time anyone wh
o combined his ecclesiastical studies with secular studies in law at the Univers
ity of Saragossa was still considered something of an oddball. It did not often
happen, because permission was granted only by way of exception. Monsignor Escri
v de Balaguer had obtained that permission from Cardinal Soldevila" (Francisco Pe
ralta, AGP, RHF, T-O6887, p. 2). See also Jose Lopez OrtizI Sum. 5264. Javier de
Ayala adds, 'II once heard him comment about how grateful he was to Cardinal So
ldevila for giving him permission to study law and theology simultaneously" (AGP
, RHF, T-15712, p. 3).
[123] See AGP, RHF, D--Q5194, p. 1.

[124] See ibid., p.2.

*At the time, "official" students were required to attend classes. But it was al
so possible to register as a "nonofficial" or "free" student. Nonofficial studen
ts were free to attend classes if they wished, but were not required to do so. T
hey received credit for a course if they passed the exam, even if they had not a
ttended any classes.
**Spanish universities at the time normally did not function on the basis of sem
esters. Classes ran from early October until June. Exams, which were usually ora
l, were held in early summer, and again in September. Students were free to take
the exam at either time, and if they failed an exam in early summer, they could
take it again in September.
[125] See Carlos Sanchez del Rio, AGP, RHF, T -02853, p. 1, and Miguel Sancho Iz
quierdo, PM, fol. 141.
[126] See Luis Palos, AGP, RHF, T-O7063, p. 2. The other three courses that he t
ook in the school year of 1923-1924 were Political Economy, General History of S
panish Law, and Spanish Civil Law: Common and Statutory (First Year). See Append
ix 12.
[127] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 173, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1884.
[128] See Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4598
[129] See Jose Luis Soria Saiz, AGP, RHF,T-O7920, appendix 2. See also AGP, RHF,
0-15249
[130] See Jose Lopez Ortiz,Sum. 5303; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 176; and Javier
Echevarria, Sum. 1885 and 1886.
[131] See Josemara Escriv de Balaguer, "Huellas de Aragon en la Iglesia Universal,
" in Universidad 3-4 (Saragossa, 1960), p. 6.
[132] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo, in PR, p. 221. See also Javier Echevarria, P
R, p. 176.
[133] The allusion itself is a bit vague, but better understood in the context o
f the entire quote. "When I was very young," Father Josemara said, " and living i
n the seminary in Saragossa, one day I suffered a major unpleasantness. Soon aft
er, the canon law professor told us this story: Once there was a merchant who bo
ught cinnamon in its raw state. ...Those words did me a lot of good. Indeed, non
e of us is going to achieve sanctity by dealing with Prester John of the Indies,
but rather through our dealings with those persons that we have right here besi
de us." (See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 221, and Javier Echevarria, PR, p. 176.
)
[134] See Jesus Lopez Bello, Sum. 6013.
[135] Francisco Artal, AGP, RHF, T-O2858, p. 4.
[136] Handwritten note by the rector, Father Jose LOpez Sierra. See Appendix 10
(a) and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 147.
Julio cortes Zuazo was forty-three years old and was a student at the conciliar
seminary-one of those who had taken the fast-track route for their studies. (Thi
s was done by those who were much older than average upon entering the seminary
or who had difficulties in their studies.)
[137] Letter of Father Gregorio Femiindez Anguiano, 26 act 1923, in AGP, RHF,0-15449.
[138] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1865. On the card is printed, "Julio Maria Cortes
/ Chaplain of the Tuberculosis Hospital/ 'El Neveral' / Jaen." It is dated Octob
er 8, 1952. (The original is in AGP, RHF, 0--15282.)
* According to an old tradition, when the apostle Saint James was preaching in S
pain, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him on top of the column or pillar preserve
d in the chapel of Our Lady of the Pillar.
[139] This comes from "La Virgen del Pilar," an article published in Libra de Ar
agn (Saragossa, 1976), pp. 97ff. There are also references in other writings: for
example, "During the time that I spent in Saragossa studying for the priesthood
. ..I made a visit to the Pillar at least once every day" ("Recuerdos del Pilar,
" an article published in the 11 Oct 1970 edition of the Saragossan newspaper El
Naticiera ). See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 142.
The architectural history of the shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar is truly compl
ex, there having been many vicissitudes in all its stages: planning, constructio

n, expansion, and restoration. The work was not completed until the twentieth ce
ntury. For more on the history of this shrine, see R. del Arco, "El templo de Nu
estra Senora del Pilar en la Edad Media," in Estudios de la Edad Media de la Cor
ona de Aragn, vol. 1, Saragossa, 1945, and F. Fita, "El templo del Pilar y San Br
aulio de Zaragoza. Documentos anteriores al siglo XVI," in Boletin de la Real Ac
ademia de la Historia, 44 (1904).
[140] See Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.
[141] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 144, and Iavier Echevarria, Sum. 1862. Artic
le 52 of the Reglamento para el regimen says, "Do not enter anyone else's room a
t any time, for any reason." Nevertheless, an eyewitness reports: "The seminaria
ns used to talk about his mortifications. I remember that one day someone told m
e he had been in his room and had seen a cilice. ["Cilice" here refers to a wire
band, smooth on the outside and with little points on the inside, that would us
ually be worn on the leg.] I immediately mentioned this to Josemara, a bit indisc
reetly, and he got very serious and told me flat out, 'It is bad taste to talk a
bout this: such things shouldn't be mentioned.' I also remember his saying to me
, on another occasion, 'Paco, the flesh is weak: that's the reason for cilices."
(See Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T--02865, p. 6.)
[142] Letter 25 May 1962, no.41.
[143] Saint Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection, chapter 34. [In the Doubleda
y Image Book edition of 1964, p. 227.]
[144] See A. Anson and B. Boloqui, "Zaragoza barroca," in Guia hist6ricoartistic
a de Zaragoza (Saragossa, 1983), pp. 248-55.
On a trip to Saragossa in 1960, the founder visited the church of San Carlos. On
e of those with him recalls that, going toward the main altar and "pointing to a
balcony covered by a screen, at the upper right-hand side of the sanctuary, he
told us: 'I spent many hours praying there at night"' (Florencio Sanchez Bella,
AGP, RHF, T --08250, p. 2).
[145] The Way, no.104.
[146] File for the subdiaconate, included in the "Expediente de Ordenaciones de
las Temporas de Pentecostes de 1924," in the archive of the diocese of Saragossa
. This file contains the following documents as well.
Also dated May 14, 1924, there is another request made by Josemara to the chapter
vicar, which says, "I request of Your ExceUency that you deign to grant me ordi
nation for service to the diocese."
Also bearing the same date is this declaration: "Certified: that I am exempt fro
m military duty. This certification is being made for the purposes indicated on
May 14, J924. -Jose Maria Escrivci y Albcis."
A few days later, in the report sent by the rector of the Seminary of San Franci
sco de Paula to the archbishop's secretary on May 18, he notes that Josemara has
been declared "totally" exempt from military service "because of defective eyesi
ght."
[147] "Expediente de Ordenaciones de las Temporas de Pentecostes de 1924."
[148] See Appendix 11.
[149] See Appendix 9.
[150] "He told us with joy and exactitude what the functions of the subdeacon we
re in the liturgical ceremonies. He knew them perfectly because he had carried t
hem aU out and had really put himself into them" Oavier Echevarria, Sum. 1899).
[151] Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T --02865, p. 2.
[152] Sixta Cermeo, AGP, RHF, T--02856, p. 1.
[153] Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T --02865, p. 3.
[154] Carlos Sanchez del Rio, AGP, RHF, T--02853, p. 1. See also Javier Echevarr
ia, Sum. 1886.
[155] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.19.
In January 1924 the seminarians of San Francisco de Paula put out an issue of a
magazine entitled La Verdad (The Truth), undoubtedly with the knowledge of their
prefect, according to what Agustin Callejas says: "We made a big effort to prod
uce a seminary magazine so that the people in the conciliar seminary would reali
ze that we existed. It took a lot of work to bring to light the first issue-'-wh
ich turned out also to be the last issue, since they didn't let us publish any m

ore. It was called La Verdad. Josemara wrote an article on culture and literature
, and I wrote another one on some aspects of the public life of Spain at that ti
me" (Agustin Callejas, AGP, RHF, T --02861, p. 5).
From those vague descriptions it is not easy to tell which articles are referred
to, since all were signed with pseudonyms. But it is interesting to note that t
here is a long poem, entitled "The Coming of Our Lady of the Pillar," signed "Th
e Troubador," and that in the publisher's presentation of the magazine we read:
"Most Holy VIrgin of the Pillar, ...bless our humble magazine, and may you, we p
ray, be not only the honorary but the real publisher of La Verdad." (See copy of
La Verdad in AGP, RHF, D-15488.)
[156] "Recuerdos del Pilar," El Naticiera (Saragossa, 11 Oct 1970). See also AGP
, P03 1978, pp. 21-22.
[157] Josemara Escriv de Balaguer, "La Virgen del Pilar," in Libra de Aragon (Sara
gossa, 1976), p. 97
[158] AGP, P03 1975, pp. 222-23. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 141; Javier
Echevarria, Sum. 2556; and Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4281.
Pascual Albas Llanas, the cousin married to sixta Cermeo, testifies that "that st
atue came from the house of Father Carlos Albas, and Manolita, his niece, gave i
t to my wife" (Pascual Albas, AGP, RHF, T--02848, p. 2).
Among other accounts of the same event is that of Encarnacin Ortega (AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 169):
Taking advantage of a trip from Rome to Spain ..., Mercedes Morado, at that time
secretary of the Central Advisory of the women's branch of the Work, picked up
in Saragossa, from some relatives of our Father, a plaster statue of Our Lady of
the Pillar that had belonged to our founder.
As soon as it arrived in Rome we went to give it to the Father.
"Father," we said to him, "there has arrived here this statue of Our Lady of the
Pillar which you had in Saragossa."
Our Father answered that he did not remember any such statue, but I insisted, "Y
es, look at it-there's something written on it by you."
I showed him the base of the statue where the aspiration "Domina, ut sit!" and a
date, "24-5-924, had been written with a nail." The Latin words were followed b
y an exclamation point, which our Father always used for any aspiration he wrote
in Latin.
The Father then recognized the statue and his own writing and was deeply moved.
(The date inscribed in the base is not, by the way, September 24, as was erroneo
usly reported in some publications, but May 24. The "5" was mistaken for a "9.")
[159] See the interview with Manuel Ceniceros published on p. 3 of the 28 Jun 19
75 edition of Logrofio's La Gaceta del Norte.
[160] For more on the death of Don Jose Escriv, see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 182
; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1891; and Paula Royo, AGP, RHF, T-Q5379, p. 3. The dea
th certificate is in the Registro Civil de Logroiio, section 3a, p. 586.
[161] Manuel Ceniceros says of Don Jose, "That day he didn't show up on time, so
the boss asked me to go to his house, at 18 Sagasta Street (today the house num
ber is 12), at the corner of Sagasta and Rua Vieja. When I saw him he was alread
y looking very bad. He died a short time later." (See the above-mentioned interv
iew. This article does, however, contain a few errors.)
[162] Santiago Escriv de Balaguer, Sum. 7321.
[163] For more on this incident and Josemara's profound sense of justice, see Ern
esto Julia, Sum. 4206; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.183; and Francisco Botella, Sum.
5616.
[164] See Apuntes, no.583.
[165] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo, in Sum.183, and by Javier Echevarria, in Sum
. 1893.
[166] See, in the records of the City of Logrofio, the municipal census of Decem
ber 1, 1924 (taken in accordance with the municipal statute of March 8, 1924), r
egistration page no.1579. The form shows that the Escrivs had left their home on
Canalejas Street and had returned to Sagasta Street, but were now living in a se
cond-floor apartment instead of a fourth-floor one.
[167] The seventeen.year age difference between the brothers obliged Father Jose

mara to look after and involve himself in Santiago's sup. port and education, see
to his human and spiritual formation, and, years later, provide counsel to his
family. See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p.22.
[168] "He accepted the death of his father with great trust in our Lord and stre
ngth of spirit, and did not let it change his decision to be a priest," says one
of the witnesses (Francisco Botella, in Sum. 5616). 'The death of his father re
affirmed his vocation:' says another (Encarnacin Ortega, in PM, fol. 32). In expl
anation of this case and its circumstances, Bishop Javier Echevarria comments, "
What is more, he understood as a clear manifestation of Divine Providence the fa
ct that he had already received the subdiaconate. He saw the commitment he had u
ndertaken to dedicate his whole life to our Lord in celibacy as an obligation th
at he could not back out of even at that extraordinary moment, although he was n
ot unaware that he could obtain a dispensation with relative ease if there were
urgent reasons justifying this" (Javier Echevarria, PR, p. 216).
[169] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. See also Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.6;
Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 47 and 506; and Esperanza Corrales, AGP, RHF, T-O8203,
p. 6.
The meaning of that famous expression used by the founder is that for every blow
of the hammer given him by our Lord in order to forge him spiritually, those ar
ound him, especially his family, received many more-and that this was an indirec
t but also very painful way of forming him.
Bishop Javier Echevarria says, "When he touched on the subject of these trials a
nd others that he had to deal with, the Servant of Godfilled with gratitude to o
ur Lord-expressed himself by saying that 'they were axe blows that our Father Go
d was giving to the trunk of my life to shape me into the image of Christ that h
e wanted me to be.' Or he would comment that our Lord, to prepare him, would 'hi
t the nail once and the horseshoe a hundred times, because that's where it would
hurt me the most.' And whenever he would say this, either in the one form or th
e other, he would always add, Thank you, Lord, for having treated me that way; a
nd forgive me my hardheadedness in not having known how to respond with due sens
ibility to the calls you were making to me at that time"' (Javier Echevarria, PR
, p. 1316).
[170] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. On September 28, 1932, he wrote, "As of yesterd
ay I have a small crucifix, with the image very worn down, which my father (may
he rest in peace) always carried with him, and which was given him on the death
of his mother, who used it all the time. Since it is very poor and worn out, I d
on't dare give it to anyone, and so the holy memory of my grandmother (a great d
evotee of the Most Blessed Virgin) and that of my father will increase my love f
or the cross" (Apuntes, no. 829).
Two months later, on November 27, 1932, he added (in Apuntes,no. 880), "Today it
is eight years (!) since my father died. Eight years which have been, in spite
of my sins, a continual paternal providence of God with us. Thus we keep going,
day by day, always in poverty, without my being able to earn enough to support u
s. Fiat, adimpleatur, laudetur et in aeternum superexaltetur iustissima atque am
abilissima Voluntas Dei super omnia. [May the most righteous and most lovable wi
ll of God be done, accomplished, praised, and eternally exalted above all things
.] Amen. Amen."
[171] C 572 (9 May 1938).
[172] Josemara's request to the vicar general of Saragossa reads as follows: "Des
iring to receive the holy order of the diaconate during the coming ember days, s
ince I have fulfilled the necessary requirements and I believe I am called to th
e priestly state, I entreat Your Excellency to deign to grant me the requisite d
imissory letters. ...Saragossa, November 11, 1924" (in "Expediente de Ordenacion
es de las Temporas de Adviento de 1924," a file in the archive of the diocese of
Saragossa).
Attached, and also dated November 11, 1924, is a certificate signed by the recto
r of the seminary, Father Jose Lopez Sierra, which reads as follows: "I affirm t
hat the subdeacon Jose Maria Escrivti y Albtis has exercised the office of subde
acon various times in the church of San Carlos Seminary." In this same file, amo
ng the declarations of witnesses with regard to the conduct of the ordinand, is

that of "Don Daniel Alfaro, priest, who after offering to tell the truth under o
ath" was questioned and said "that he knows Don Jose Maria Escrivti y Albtis ver
y well, from having associated with him in Logrono during the vacations that he
spent at home with his parents."
[173] See Appendix 11.
[174] She says it was probably "at the beginning of 1925" that the Escrivtis mov
ed out, since it seems to her that they were still in Logrono for the Christmas
of 1924 (Paula Royo, AGP, RHF, T --05379, p. 3).
* At the time, urban parishes in Spain did not normally have rectories for their
priests. Priests often lived with their families.
[175] See Jose Romeo, AGP, RHF, T--03809, p. 3, and Sixta Cermeno, AGP, RHF, T -02856, p. 2.
[176] Sixta Cermeno, AGP, RHF, T--02856, p. 1.
A first cousin of the founder writes, "My uncle died leaving practically nothing
, since he was living on the salary he made at Senor Garrigosa's store in Logron
o. I understood that my Albtis uncles Carlos (a canon of Saragossa), Mariano (al
so a priest, shot in Barbastro during the war), Vicente (who held a benefice in
Burgos), and Florencio were thinking of giving her a sum of money if she would r
emain in LogronoI don't know why. ...Anyway, it seemed to bother the uncles when
the Escrivtis decided to come to Saragossa to be with Josemara, and they did not
help them at all" (Angel Camo, AGP, RHF, T --02848, p. 2). Another first cousin
says that "some of the uncles purposely distanced themselves so that they would
not have to help" (Pascual Albas, AGP, RHF, T-O2848, p. 2). Josemara, neverthele
ss, "always had feelings of understanding and Christian charity toward his uncle
Father Carlos Albas" (Francisco Botella, Sum. 5617).
Bishop Javier Echevarria explains that "Father Carlos, a domineering person, tri
ed to get his nephew to fall in with the plans he had devised for him, but he di
dn't succeed" (Javier Echevarria, Sum.1897).
[177] See Santiago Escriv de Balaguer y Albas, Sum. 7322.
Francisco Moreno says of Josemara that "in his uncle's house he met with an attit
ude of blunt indifference and coldness toward him and his family which was encou
raged in a particular way by the niece, his cousin" (Francisco Moreno Monforte,
AGP, RHF, T -O2865, p. 6).
It is possible that this niece, Manolita, feared a loss of her influence over he
r uncle. The most probable opinion, however, is that it was a matter of maliciou
s gossip pure and simple. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 188).
[178] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 187, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1897.
[179] Javier de Ayala, AGP, RHF, T-15712, p. 4. When the danger was imminent tha
t the state would do away with the tax for religion and the clergy, Father Josem
ara wrote this note, dated October 17,1931: "I have told Mama and my sister and b
rother that if the canon-archdeacon of Saragossa and his brother stop receiving
those payments, I will lovingly write to them, sincerely offering my help. We ha
ve to return good for evil" (Apuntes, no.336). See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum
. 188, and Santiago Escriv de Balaguer, Sum. 7322.
[180] C 1325 (6 Jan 1948); see also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.188. Father Carlos
Albas actually died two years later, on February 1, 1950: see AGp, RHF,0-15243.
* In these years, the income of an average middle-class family in Spain was some
where around 7,500 pesetas a year. A laborer was paid about 6 pesetas a day, on
which it was very difficult to support a family. A modest boarding house in Madr
id charged about 7 pesetas a day for room and board.
[181] See Angel Camo, AGP, RHF, T-O2846, p. 2.
[182] In November 1970 the founder related how one day at Mass, during the Washi
ng of the Hands, his hands had trembled at the thought that they would soon be t
ouching the consecrated host. He remembered the first time he had touched our Lo
rd at a Benediction, and from deep within came these words of a person in love:
"Lord, let me never get used to being close to you. Let me always love you as I
did that time, when I touched you trembling for faith and love." (See Articles o
f the Postulator, no.355, and Umberto Farri; Sum. 3337. See also Ernesto Julia,
Sum. 4184, and Joaquin Alonzo, Sum. 4597.)
[183] See Florencio Sanchez Bella, AGP, RHF, T -08250, p. 2.

[184] See the 20 Feb 1925 document of the Sacred Congregation for Sacraments, pr
otocol no.871. (There is also a copy inThe file for the priesthood: seeAGP, RHF,
D-O3263.)
The requested dispensation was for ten months. In its response, the Congregation
left its granting to the discretion of the ordinary ("ut pro suo arbitrio et co
nscientia dispensationem largiatur").
[185] See the file "Expediente para el Presbiterado, Temporas de Cuaresma, 1925,
" in the archive of the diocese of Saragossa.
The dimissory letters were requested from the vicar general because the archdioc
ese was still sede vacante.
In the file are also the following two items, both dated March 4,1925: a certifi
cate signed by the rector, Father Jose Lopez Sierra, declaring that "the deacon
Don Jose Maria Escriv y Albas has soleInnly exercised his ministry in the church
of San Carlos," and another certificate, signed by the ordinand, attesting that
"ever since I received the holy order of the diaconate on December 20, 1924, I h
ave resided only at the Seminary of San Francisco de Paula in Saragossa."
Also in this file is another certificate, dated March 5, written by the ordinand
but signed by Father Jose Lopez Sierra, noting that the prefect, "since his las
t ordination, has received the holy sacraments with due frequency and Holy Commu
nion daily, as is proper for an aspirant to the priesthood."
[186] See the above-mentioned file for the priesthood.
[187] See Appendix 11.
[188] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1903; Francisco Botella, PM, fol. 211; and Jos
e Luis Muzquiz, PM, fol. 351v.
For the rest of his life he would pray for those men who received the priesthood
with him: see Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1904. Another witness says, "He had a spe
cial affection for his classmates at the seminary of San Francisco de Paula. In
1975 they celebrated their golden anniversary as priests, and they remembered hi
m with great affection. The Servant of God asked me to take part in the ceremony
on his behalf and to do something special for them" (Florencio Sanchez Bella, S
um. 7480).
Upon being asked, on one occasion, aJ:>out his memories of the day of his ordina
tion, he answered the questioner, "Listen, my son, I don't remember anything tha
t I could tell you all now. But I would not be telling the truth if I said that
I don't remember much about those moments. I think I remember everything." (Cite
d by Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 283.)
[189] See AGP, RHF, D-15285.
On the family nature of that celebration, see Jose Lopez Sierra, AGP, RHF, D-O33
06, and Martin Sambeat, AGP, RHF, T-O3242, p. 3.
[" A.M.D.G." stands for " Ad majorem Dei gloriam," or "To the greater glory of G
od."]
[190] "Recuerdos del Pilar," El Noticiero (Saragossa, 11 act 1970), p. 67.
[191] Santiago Escriv de Balaguer y Albas, Sum. 7322, and Sixta Cermeo, AGP, RHF,
T -O2856, p. 1. Also present were Professor Moneva and his family: see Alvaro de
l Portillo, Sum. 194.
[192] Amparo Castillon, AGP, RHF, D-15285, p. 1.
[193] Jose Lopez Sierra, AGP, RHF, D-O3306.
[194] Sixta Cermeno, AGP, RHF, T -02856, p. 2.
[195] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 194; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1905; and Umber
to Farri, PR, p. 29.
[196] See Encamacion Ortega, PM, fol. 32v.
[197] See Sixta Cermeno, AGP, RHF, T -02856, p. 2.
[198] See Manuel Botas Cuervo, AGP, RHF, T -08253, p. 59.
4. A Young Priest (1925-1927)

1. The Parish of Perdiguera

2. The Study of Law
3. Ministry at Saint Peter Nolasco
4. Providential Injustices
5. From Saragossa to Madrid


* * *

1. The parish of Perdiguera

The parish of Perdiguera, of which Father Josemara had been appointed temporary a
dministrator, was in a village about fifteen miles from Saragossa.[1] Although n
ot far from the capital, it was rather out of the way and in an area with poor r
oads. Its pastor, the only priest in the village, had been away for some time du
e to a serious illness. This appointment was a heavy blow for the new priest, wh
o had not expected an assignment away from his family, nor one announced so sudd
enly, since it was taken for granted in clerical circles that newly ordained pri
ests would be sent to parishes where they could get pastoral experience under th
e eye of other priests-and Saragossa had no shortage of priests.[2] But Father J
osemara obeyed promptly and without complaining, and on the very next day, Tuesda
y, March 31, he set out for his new post, in a mule-drawn carriage.
Perdiguera had about eight hundred inhabitants. It was situated on an levation in
a plain just south of the Monegros district, in an area of unirrigated farm lan
d. Above its tiled roofs arose, massive and heavy, the great bulk of its church,
while on the horizon lay the Alcubierre mountain range. The parish sacristan, U
rbano Murillo, had been sick in bed for several days, so it was his son Teodoro,
a bright young boy, who accompanied Father Josemara to the house in which he wou
ld stay.[3]
The new priest immediately inspected the church, which was named Our Lady of the
Assumption. It was well preserved, despite the centuries, and its masonry was a
s solid as it looked, offering sightseers a peculiar mixture of Gothic elements
with Moorish traceries and projections, all in brick. It had a single nave and a
fairly good Renaissance altarpiece, featuring a statue of the Blessed Virgin. B
ut the newly arrived priest was distressed by the obvious neglect and dirtiness
of the interior, and especially by the pitiful condition of the sanctuary and al
tar. He had to do a lot of sweeping and scrubbing before he could say Mass there
the next day.
The house he stayed in belonged to a family of honest country people, and was ve
ry modest, indeed very poor. Like most houses in the village, it consisted of a
ground floor which included the kitchen (and which had right behind it a chicken
yard), and a second floor with bedrooms. The family consisted of Saturnino Arru
ga, his wife, Prudencia Escanero, and their son, who was ten or twelve.[4]
Father Josemara was surprised to find that these good people had provided magnifi
cent sleeping accommodations for him. On a large bed with gilded headboard and l
egs lay two soft mattresses and a multicolored down quilt.[5] He joked that he w
ould have to make a running jump to get into bed, but this was to disguise with
good humor his penitential practice of sleeping on the floor. The bed was surely
an imposing-looking and cumbersome piece of furniture: at the slightest movemen
t it shook and creaked, making a "festive noise" that could jolt one out of the
soundest sleep. To judge by his jokes, he must seldom have slept in it.
The day after his arrival in Perdiguera, he celebrated his first Mass there, and
then set to work organizing a schedule. There were only a few days left before
Holy Week, and he wanted all the parishioners to receive the sacrament of Penanc
e so that they could fulfill their Easter duty. With the help of the sacristan a
nd his son, he carried out his resolution to get acquainted as soon as possible
with all the families of the parish. Teodoro, who was his altar server, testifie
s that even though this meant going to almost two hundred homes, "within a short
time he visited all the families in the village."[6] As he got to know his pari
shioners, he came to realize that the adults had very little doctrinal knowledge
and that their children were absolutely ignorant of the catechism. Immediately
he set new goals: to organize catechism classes for adults and for children, and
to prepare the children for First Communion. Once Holy Week, with its lengthy l
iturgical services, was behind him, Father Josemara (accompanied by his altar ser
ver) went to visit all the shut-ins. He heard their confessions and offered to b
ring them Communion later on, if they so desired.

Evidently the young priest wanted the Mass to have as much solemnity as possible
, because feast day or not and regardless of how few people were present he cele
brated a sung Mass every day.[7] Most of the villagers got up at dawn to go out
and work in the fields, vineyards, and olive groves. Much of the land was hard t
o cultivate, but there was some pasture land used by the villagers' flocks of sh
eep and goats.
If Father Josemara found any free time, he spent it reading or studying. At midda
y he sat at the table of his hosts and ate, happily and with a good appetite, wh
atever Prudencia had prepared. The food was not elegant but it was plentiful and
substantial: good bread, vegetables, and pork or mutton, all with lots of olive
oil and peppers. After lunch, when the rest of the village was taking a siesta,
he took a walk through the neighborhood with his altar server. While getting hi
s exercise, he also took the opportunity to give his young companion some religi
ous instruction. They started out on what was called "the priests' path"-'-every
village had one, and Perdiguera was no exception-and returned by way of "the Ol
ive Plantation." Teodoro has forgotten what they chatted about but not an odd ha
bit that the priest had. "During those walks" he says, "we would always be talki
ng, but the only thing I remember is that he used to pick up pebbles and put the
m in his pocket." With a respectful simplicity, he added, "I never had the nerve
to ask him why he was doing this."[8] (The Murillos of Perdiguera were discreet
both by nature and also in keeping with a parish tradition. In sharing his remi
niscences Teodoro said, "My father, Urbano Murillo, who died some years ago, was
the sacristan of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Perdiguera, which
is in the province of Saragossa. Before him, my grandfather had been the sacrist
an. In Father Josemara's day I was an altar server, but in time I became the sacr
istan, and I hope to continue serving in this capacity as long as our Lord keeps
me alive."[9])
Had the priest been asked the reason for his odd habit, he might have been embar
rassed. For it was not a mania for collecting, but a simple way of keeping track
of prayers and mortifications. Of course that can be dangerous, because it can
lead to vanity. Very soon, in fact, experience and time taught the young priest
to leave the counting to his guardian angel.[10]
Father Josemara spent his evenings in the church. He held exposition of the Bless
ed Sacrament, led a Rosary, and on Thursdays conducted a holy hour. Before and a
fter the holy hour he waited patiently in the confessional for penitents. Usuall
y these were children or old women, but from time to time a teenager or a grown
man would show up. The priest was happy to see that the numbers were increasing.
But one day, on his way out, he was surprised to overhear in the vestibule a bo
y saying to his friends, "What a priest! If I hadn't been careful, he would have
found out everything!"[11] Only ignorance-a failure to realize that in the sacr
ament of Penance the confessor is, besides a judge, an instrument of mercy-could
have led that boy to commit such a sacrilege. But the priest's sorrow at this l
ack of sincerity in confession led him to offer, for several years, prayers and
mortifications in reparation. As earlier, when upon his arrival in Perdiguera he
had discovered the state of neglect of the sanctuary, his priestly sensibilitie
s were upset. From that day on, whenever he caught sight of a church, he made an
act of love to our Lord eucharistically present there.
About three weeks after his arrival, when he had the parish functioning in regul
ar fashion, he received a surprise visit. The father of the sick pastor suddenly
showed up and demanded for his son the stipends received by the substitute prie
st for the Masses he had celebrated, the collections taken up at those recently
organized holy hours, and any other parish income. Father Josemara wrote to his u
ncle Carlos asking for his thoughts and suggestions regarding this claim which h
e considered unjust and impudent. He could, of course, have gone directly to the
diocesan authorities, but he saw in this incident an opportunity to repair, ver
y tactfully, his damaged relations with the archdeacon.
Soon he received an official response from the chancery office, dated April 24,
which seems to reflect a certain lack of interest in him on the part of the arch
deacon:

Chancery Secretary of the Archdiocese of Saragossa

Father Jose M. Escriv / Perdiguera

My esteemed friend:

Your uncle Carlos, who left today for Burgos, left me the letter you wrote him.
I answer it as follows:
1.You can and should sign the sacramental certificates.

2. Since you are the one responsible for whatever takes place during the absence
of the pastor (who left without asking anyone's permission), you should not let
his father or any other member of his family collect the monies given you by th
e faithful as stipends.

3. The parish income belongs to you absolutely. Since presumably it will be a wh

ile before he returns, you could, out of charity and for a short time, offer the
pastor half of it, but making it clear that all of it is yours.

4. Show this letter to the pastor's father, if necessary, so that he knows he mu

st completely refrain from any interference in the parish. This means, among oth
er things, that he had better not try again to collect for the holy hours and th
e Masses you celebrate.

5. Anything irregular that you observe in the parish must be reported to the vic
ar general and not to your uncle, although the archdeacon's views are highly res
pected in the vicariate.

Yours truly,

Juan Carceller
April 24, 1925.[12]

There is nothing in the chancery secretary's files to indicate how this story tu
rned out. Father Josemara was soft-hearted, but he also had a family to feed. In
all likelihood he took the secretary's suggestion and shared the parish income w
ith the other priest's family.
Taking almost scrupulous care to avoid tying spiritual care to material contribu
tions, however, he rejected anything even remotely resembling a payment for mini
sterial services. Those country people, seeing that he would not take gifts, wan
ted to at least bring something to his family in Saragossa when they went there
to sell produce or livestock. But he refused to tell anyone where Doa Dolores liv
ed, even though, as his brother Santiago says, gifts of cheese, fruit and poultr
y would have been very welcome at the Rufas Street apartment.[13]
Saturnino and Prudencia, his host and hostess, enjoyed many conversations with t
heir guest. Father Josemara wanted to repay their kindness in some way, and it wa
s a special sorrow to him that their son could not take part in the classes he w
as giving to a group of children to prepare them for First Communion. The boy le
ft the house very early, with his goats, and did not return until twilight. The
priest ended up teaching him catechism at night. Mer a short time, to see if he
was ready, he asked him, "If you were rich-very rich-what would you want to do?"
Before venturing an answer, the boy wisely protected himself by asking, "What d
oes being rich mean?" The priest explained this to him as best he could. He said
being rich means having lots of money, lots of clothes, lots of land, very fat
cows, and very splendid goats. " And so:' he repeated, "what would you do if you
were rich?" The boy had a sudden inspiration. His eyes lighting up, he exclaime
d, "I would have big bowls of wine soup!"
The priest became very serious when he heard this answer. He thought to himself
Josemara, the Holy Spirit is speaking."[14] For all earthly ambitions, however gr
and, really amount to no more than a bowl of soup.

He thought of writing down this and other anecdotes from his weeks in the villag
e under the title "Tale of a Village Priest" with the idea of opening the eyes o
f some inexperienced priest and helping him in his spiritual life.[15] Thirty ye
ars later, in a meditation, he sketched for his listeners an event that undoubte
dly occurred during his stay in Perdiguera. It would surely have found a place i
n the "Tale," had he ever gotten around to writing it. Its basic elements are ob
viously autobiographical: A recently ordained priest comes to a country village
which has few houses and very few inhabitants. One fine day, as he is walking to
the church, he comes across some priests playing cards.
They invite him to join the game, but the young cleric courteously excuses himse
lf. Telling them he does not know how to play that game, he quietly makes his es
cape. He goes into the church to spend some time with our Lord in the Blessed Sa
crament as he does every evening and also most mornings. The card players are no
t offended, but naturally they smile at the simplemindedness of this young pries
t who could just as well be taking it easy after breakfast and then, like any re
spectable pastor, taking a sunny stroll in the winter or a shaded one in summer.
And when the young priest comes out of church, the card players call out to him
from where they are sitting, "Mystical Rose! Mystical Rose!"[16]
As we have seen, this was one of the nicknames Father Josemara had been given by
some of his classmates at the seminary in Saragossa. Not surprisingly, the story
and the nickname spread through the neighboring villages. Now a few people even
began to call the acting administrator by that name.
Father Josemara found consolation in serving souls. Great was his joy when he pre
pared a group of children for First Communion. But this, like many of his other
pastoral accomplishments, is not recorded in the parish books. Were we to judge
exclusively by what was entered there, it would seem that the acting administrat
or did very little. During his stay in Perdiguera only one death took place. The
baptismal certificates are somewhat more numerous: he baptized four boys, named
Isidoro, Pascual, Mariano, and Carmelo.[17] The small size of the parish and th
e administrator's short stay there do not permit one to draw any valid statistic
al conclusions, even about life in a rural parish.
At any rate, Father Josemara's assignment to this parish ended on May 18, 1925, t
he day after Cardinal Soldevila's successor, Bishop Rigoberto Domenech, arrived
in the archdiocese.[18]
In 1975 Teodoro Murillo, the parish sacristan, gave Perdiguera's fomer administr
ator this eulogy:

Of all the priests who have passed through this village, Father Josemara was for
me the most unforgettable, though I don't know that I could say exactly why. He
was very cheerful, had a wonderful sense of humor, was very well-mannered, downto-earth, affectionate. In the short time he was here I grew very close to him,
and when he left I took it very hard.[19]

2. The study of law

In Perdiguera, Father Josemara had not had a moment's rest. But since he was youn
g and naturally resilient, his trials, corporal penances, late-night vigils, and
nights of sleeping on the floor all left no trace of fatigue. When he got home,
his sister spontaneously greeted him with the comment, "How nice and filled out
you've gotten!"[20] His healthy appearance had a lot to do with Prudencia's coo
king, especially the bread, and the potatoes and other vegetables cooked in all
that olive oil.
Things had been tight for years, but since his father's death the situation had
verged on dire poverty. Sixta Cermefio, who visited the apartment on RufasStreet
fairly often, says her aunt Dolores "suffered a lot in those days, though she t
ried not to show it." By tacit agreement, the family did everything possible to
make sure visitors did not notice the financial straits the household was in. "I
remember, for example," Sixta continues, "that one Sunday afternoon we were tog
ether and my aunt said she would make us some hot chocolate. She gave me the imp
ression that she was doing it to give me a treat, but now I feel sure that this

was their supper."[21]

Faced with such pressing need, the young priest could hardly allow himself the l
uxury of making sunny long-range plans. First of all, he had to resolve the ques
tion of his relationship with the chancery, a question pending since his ordinat
ion and for which, given the events leading to Perdiguera, a happy solution did
not seem likely. It was also more or less obvious that the letter sent to him in
Perdiguera by the chancery secretary contained between the lines a rather stron
g message that he should refrain from bothering his uncle Carlos. So why try ask
ing him for anything!
Josemara finally had to confront, not on a theoretical or ideal level, but as a v
ery real and urgent problem, the question of "the ecclesiastical career." He was
not sure what path to take. On the one hand, he loved the exercise of his minis
try; he felt off-centre when far from the altar, and he was ready for any sacrif
ice. But, he had to consider his personal circumstances and particularly his fam
ily obligations. All these things, no doubt, greatly shortened the list of possi
ble church positions he could request. And of course he would not make any decis
ion without first meditating on it in the light of his "inklings of divine love.
"[22]
Failing, despite much searching, to come up with anything substantial and defini
te to cover his pressing financial needs as head of the family, he finally obtai
ned a position that could at least accommodate his priestly zeal. Somehow or oth
er, he ended up at Saint Peter Nolasco-a Jesuit-run church better known as Sacre
d Heart. He began to work there on a provisional basis in May, shortly after lea
ving Perdiguera. The stipends, as might be imagined, were not enough to cover th
e family's expenses.
But Doa Dolores was worried about something else: that her son might be given ano
ther assignment outside of Saragossa. With a mother's boldness, she decided to r
equest a recommendation from her brother the canon. Santiago would never forget
the sorry incident that occurred when his mother, dressed in mourning clothes an
d holding him by the hand, showed up at Uncle Carlos' house to ask him to do som
ething for Josemara. "Once he was ordained a priest," he says, "my mother wanted
him to be allowed to stay in Saragossa with us. She went to ask this of her brot
her Father Carlos, who had a lot of influence in the chancery. I went with my mo
ther. But her brother Father Carlos-l remember it as though it were happening no
w-treated her very badly. In fact, he rudely threw us out of his house."[23]
Another unresolved issue for the newly ordained priest was that of his secular c
areer. Hardly a year after he had begun his legal studies, the family's situatio
n was so changed that he felt obliged to finish them as soon as possible. He cou
ld see that the only way he could support his family-at least the only one compa
tible with his vocation as a priest-would be by teaching.
On April 29, while still in Perdiguera, he had written to the dean of the law sc
hool explaining that, having completed on his own the required studies in politi
cal law and civil law, he would like to take the examinations for those subjects
in June, so that he could get academic credit for them.[24] In 1924-1925 there
had been so many big changes in Josemara's life-the death of his father, his ordi
nation to the diaconate, his family's move, his priestly ordination, the assignm
ent to Perdiguera, and, most recently, his assignment to Saint Peter Nolasco-tha
t he had had very little time for studying. Now, with great enthusiasm and tenac
ity he buckled down to study political law and civil law. But soon he saw that h
e had bitten off more than he could chew, so he presented himself only for the e
xamination in civil law, which he passed by a comfortable margin.[25]
Thanks to his efforts the previous year-when, in a single set of examinations ta
ken in September 1924, he had managed to pass six subjects?he was now halfway th
rough his law studies.[26] Filled with optimism, he drew up a new plan of attack
: he intended to cover two more subjects, penal law and administrative law, duri
ng the summer of 1925. But in September, he took neither exam.[27] Perhaps his n
ew liturgical and pastoral duties at Saint Peter Nolasco made preparation imposs
ible. Or perhaps his sense of responsibility kept him from trying his luck witho
ut having actually mastered the subjects.
In any case, neither studying nor prudence kept him from getting a failing grade

in Spanish history-a subject in which he had thought he was well prepared, beca
use he liked it so much and had done such extensive reading in it.[28] The Spani
sh history professor was known among the students for his touchiness, his air of
self-importance, and the magisterial tone of his lectures. As an unofficial stu
dent, Josemara was not obliged to attend the classes. But the professor took his
absence very badly, ascribing it to a lack of appreciation of his erudite discou
rses. When the time came for the examination, he had someone tell Josemara not to
bother showing up, since he was going to fail him no matter what. And so he did
.
Naturally the student was upset by this blatant injustice. To head off any repet
ition of such arbitrariness, he sent the professor a note with a reasoned explan
ation as to why, before again presenting himself for the exam, he would like a g
uarantee that he would be allowed to pass it. Recognizing the injustice of what
he had done, the professor assured Josemara that he need only show up for the exa
m, since he had already demonstrated his mastery of the subject.[29]
His law studies were becoming for him an exhausting obstacle course. By all indi
cations, it would take a lot of sacrifice to finish. But he had made this commit
ment to his father when he was still living, and the veneration Josemara felt for
his memory gave him the strength to persevere. Also, out of gratitude and loyal
ty, he felt bound to do this for God, whose call he continued to experience in t
he form of presentiments.
In part, that explains the spirit of inner certitude and exuberant optimism with
which he began the school year of 1925-1926. He made a firm resolution to compl
ete the courses still needed for his law degree, though realizing that he would
have to wait until June and September for the exams.
A companion of Josemara's who also attended the ecclesiastical university and stu
died at the law school was a little surprised to find that in the two institutio
ns the social values were so different. Josemara, who at the seminary was conside
red an oddball because of his "cultural interests," now had no problem adapting
to his environment, those same inclinations served him wonderfully at the secula
r university; he "fit absolutely perfectly" into its milieu.[30]
Possibly the cassock helped give him an aura of prestige, since it was such a no
velty among these students. Certainly his clerical attire, which he wore very na
turally and always kept neat and clean, never constituted a barrier between Jose
mara and his classmates. One of them, Juan Antonio Iranzo, says that he and some
other friends saw it as a reflection of two things: "his concept of the dignity
of the priesthood, and his apostolic spirit."[31]
From the first moment, he was at home in the university. Father Jose Lopez Ortiz
tells us that in June 1924, just after his own ordination to the priesthood, he
went to take an examination in Saragossa, and there he struck up a friendship w
ith the head prefect of San Carlos, who gave him useful information on the law s
chool. "Josemara was very well prepared and very much at home in what was to me a
foreign environment," he tells us. "Generously, as if it were the most natural
thing in the world, he gave me valuable advice on various aspects of my studies.
"[32] He adds that "everybody at the school knew him, and...because of his outgo
ing and cheerful personality he was very well liked. Since he was the only semin
arian, some friends affectionately called him 'the little priest' [el curilla)-t
he nickname given him by that canon law professor, Moneva y Puyol, who liked him
so much."[33]
The young priest was never alone. His personal charm and engaging conversation m
ade students gravitate to him. They would crowd around him "to hear him speak" b
ecause "they felt drawn by his personality.? Luis Palos, recalling this in his o
ld age, still has fresh in his memory nostalgic pictures of the little priest.?
?I can still see him, in the halls of the old university, or in Magdalena Plaza,
or on his way to the Cerbuna Library (which is now gone), walking always with a
group. No doubt about it, he exerted over all of us a very strong human attract
ion. He had a very open mentality, a universal outlook.?[34]
That broadness of outlook and feeling was in great part a result of his priestho
od. For him, this was the vocation from within which our Lord would summon him t
o carry out a divine plan of a very far-reaching scope, leading him to grasp tha

t elusive something not yet revealed to him. Josemara had been chosen to particip
ate as a priest in the eternal priesthood of Christ for the benefit of all his b
rothers and sisters-the whole rest of the human race. Through the sacrament of H
oly Orders, an indelible mark had been conferred on him that bonded him to the m
ission of the Church, making him another Christ and a minister of his sacraments
.
So lofty a view did he take of this tremendous dignity, his friends tell us, tha
t it transformed his way of acting and his appearance; these reflected his aware
ness of being, as it were, a new person. The young priest was extraordinarily se
nsitive to any kind of joking or teasing about the clerical state, especially wh
en he was in the company of students. One of them tells us that Josemara "quietly
put up with the mere indiscretions- the crude words, the low-class jokes-of his
companions, and knew how to gracefully extricate himself from situations that f
or others would have been embarrassing.?[35] But if the conversation slipped int
o actual impropriety, if there was the slightest hint of salaciousness or anythi
ng that showed a lack of respect for the priesthood, he would emphatically put a
stop to it, without losing his decorum or self-possession, though perhaps not w
ithout blushing.
He himself showed in an exemplary way the reverence due the priesthood by trying
his best to make sure his contact with the world of students did not compromise
his self-possession and dignity. The need for circumspection comes up over and
over in his notes. Eventually it would be expressed, against an obviously autobi
ographical background, in a piece of advice offered to all faithful Christians:

Don't ever make a priest run the risk of losing his dignity. It is a virtue whic
h, without pompousness, he simply must have.
How hard that young priest-a friend of ours-prayed for it: "Lord, grant me...eig
hty years of dignity!"
You too should pray for it for all priests, and you'll have done something good.
[36]

He redoubled his efforts not to give rise to any gossip, going beyond what prude
nce and discretion would have required. He even took care not to be seen in publ
ic in the company of his mother or sister, to avoid any possibility of scandaliz
ing those who did not know they were related. Toward the young ladies who were s
tudying at the law school (very few in those days), he showed a guarded friendli
ness, not going too far in the courtesies he showed them.[37]
His clerical garb, we repeat, was no barrier for him. Whether on the street or a
t the university or in the exercise of his ministry at Saint Peter Nolasco, Fath
er Josemara acted quite naturally while being well aware of the value of the cass
ock. As one of his classmates puts it, "he never disguised the fact that he was
a priest."[38] The young clergyman was proud to possess this treasure and dignit
y. He loved his brothers in the priesthood wholeheartedly, defended the honor of
ministers of the altar tenaciously, and sought to restore this dignity when it
was sullied.
Father Josemara was witness to a sad incident of this sort; a close friend of his
from the seminary soon abandoned his priestly ministry. His conversion required
long prayers and vigils. Jose Romeo says that in about 1930 Father Josemara "ask
ed me to pray for that man, and told me in strict confidence something of his pr
ayer and mortification for that intention."[39] Several years later, another per
son testifies, he "still often thought of that man, prayed for him, and tried no
t to lose contact with him, always thinking that he might yet be salvageable."[4
0] A third person says that he "kept admonishing him, by spoken word and in writ
ing, trying to get him out of that bad situation," and that finally, at the end
of his life, the sinner, now reconciled, saw that Josemara "had been his most fai
thful friend and the instrument used by God to return him to the Church."[41] At
other times the individual in question was an older man. After mortifying himse
lf and praying for a long time, the young priest would approach him armed with c
harity and sympathy.[42]

* * *

On April 25, 1926, out of a commendable desire to take a big step forward in his
secular studies, but with excessive optimism, he sent to the dean of the law sc
hool a request to be allowed "to take, the next time they are given, the examina
tions in the following subjects: political law, penal law, administrative law, p
ublic international law, business law, and judicial procedure. ..."[43] He had d
ecided to push ahead with this difficult bunch of subjects even though he knew t
hat his apostolic zeal, coupled with the rigorous obligations of his ministry at
Saint Peter Nolasco, would not leave him much free time.
Seeing the tight spot he was in when the time came for examinations, he did some
quick calculating and put off the ones for penal law and judicial procedure to
the September session. He took the rest of the exams in June and came out with o
ne "Special Honors," two "Notables," and one "Passed." At the end of the summer
he took and passed the other two exams, plus those in public finance and private
international law. Now he had just one more course to take.[44]

3. Ministry at Saint Peter Nolasco

Father Josemara underwent many privations on account of pursuing his ideal of pri
estly ministry while awaiting orders from on high. The presentiments of his hidd
en calling remained that-presentiments. Having promptly responded to God's summo
ns in Logroo at the beginning of 1918, he was in 1925 still wondering about his m
ysterious vocation. The anticipation of something sublime helped him cope with t
he hard realities of daily life, one of which was his having to be the family br
eadwinner.
Had Providence arranged things differently, by now Father Josemara would have bee
n enjoying an ecclesiastical benefice or a well-paid position, thanks to the hel
p of Cardinal Soldevila or of some relative. But the cardinal was dead, and the
uncles who were canons and holders of benefices seemed to have turned their back
s on their nephew. As for his priestly faculties, on the day of his ordination t
hese were granted for a six-month period by Father Jose Pellicer, the vicar gene
ral of Saragossa.[45] The first extension of this authorization "to celebrate an
d to absolve" was granted by Bishop Rigoberto Domenech.[46]
The new prelate had been consecrated in 1916 and for the next eight years had se
rved as bishop of Mallorca. In 1926, not long after coming to Saragossa, he laun
ched a reform of the seminary and made sweeping changes in chancery office perso
nnel. It may have been all this commotion that led an experienced priest, with t
he best of intentions, to advise Father Josemara not to work too hard and especia
lly not to write anything that could get him in trouble by clashing with the opi
nions of others, since backtracking would be very difficult.[47]
The battering to which life would subject him would make Father Josemara see the
wisdom in that advice: the truth that renewers and reformers can expect enmities
and obstacles. At present, though, nobody envied the young priest his good luck
. He was, if anything, an object of pity.
Upon his return from Perdiguera, as we have seen, he looked about for priestly w
ork and found nothing except the position at Saint Peter Nolasco Church. But as
later attested by Father Celestino Moner, S.J., he carried out his duties there
to everyone's satisfaction. "I certify," says Father Celestino, "that Father Jos
e M. Escrivcl, from April or May of 1925 until March of 1927, served at Saint Pe
ter Nolasco Church as an assistant priest, to celebrate Holy Mass, administer Ho
ly Communion, and expose and reserve the Blessed Sacrament, and that he always c
omported himself to the edification of all and without giving the slightest grou
nds for complaint with regard to the fulfillment of his duties."[48]
So eager was he to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice that he would have considered a
lifetime of dedication and work well spent if that was what it took to get to be
ordained and say Mass. His good pastoral dispositions and diligence were much a
ppreciated by the rector of the church. In September he offered him a provisiona
l contract-provisional in that it did not establish a lasting connection and in
that it did not fully cover his financial needs. Father Josemara accepted it, sin

ce he had no other offer of a remunerated priestly position. The contract reads:

Duties and rights of the assistant priest at Saint Peter Nolasco Church:
On feast days, First Fridays, and other solemn days, he is to be at the service
of the church from 6:00 to 10:30 in the morning; on other days, from 7:00 to 9:3
0 or 10:00 in the morning.
Whenever there is a sung Mass, and also during Holy Week, he is to be on hand to
help out as needed.
On First Fridays, during Forty Hours Devotion, on every day in the month of June
, and on any other occasion that includes exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, h
e is to show up punctually at the time of the service to do the exposition and t
o help out in any way needed.
When necessary, he will wash the purificators.
He will say Holy Mass at the assigned times.
He will receive a fixed stipend of 3 pesetas for each Mass.
For the other services described above, he will receive 2 pesetas a day.
On feast days he will have breakfast in the sacristan's office.
On days when for any reason he does not fulfill his duties, he will not receive
either stipend unless he sends a substitute who fulfills all of those duties.
The father superior of the church can, if he sees fit, appoint a different assis
tant priest, giving the undersigned eight days' notice.
Agreeing with these conditions, I accept them, in Saragossa, on September 10, 19
25. Jose Maria Escriv, Priest.[49]

(How much did the monthly stipends of the assistant priest come to? A sheet of p
aper was saved which enumerates the Masses and other services for the month of O
ctober, and the total revenue was 155 pesetas.[50])
The church was located in one of the older sections of Saragossa, not far from S
an Carlos. Architecturally it was nothing special, but it was a very busy place,
which is why the Jesuits needed the help of a diocesan priest. Its activities w
ere numerous and varied: Saturday devotions and monthly days of recollection for
the Daughters of Mary; Masses on the third Sunday of each month for the Arch co
nfraternity of Christian Mothers; services on the third Friday of each month for
the Good Death Association; catechetical instruction every Sunday at the nine o
'clock Mass; services for women's Saint Vincent de Paul conferences; First Sunda
ys for men; Sunday Mass for the Annunciation and Saint Aloysius Gonzaga fraterni
ties; a monthly service for the Saint Stanislaus Fraternity; Mass on first Sunda
ys for household employees of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary and Sain
t Zita; evening rosaries and talks. Rounding out the schedule of services were d
ays of recollection for blue-collar workers, for white-collar workers, for membe
rs of the Saint Vincent de Paul conferences, for an association of women teacher
s. ...[51]
Out of all this bubbling activity came also many other services not specified in
his contract, but which he cheerfully took on his shoulders: teaching catechism
, caring for the sick, filling in for someone at the last minute, hearing the co
nfessions of all kinds of people. As in Perdiguera, Father Josemara sat in the co
nfessional for hours on end, when not needed somewhere else.[52]
Even before his ordination he had had a deep veneration for the sacrament of Pen
ance. He himself tells this story:

When I was studying at the University of Saragossa, I had a friend who was leadi
ng a messed-up life, and it took several of us to do this, but we did manage to
get him to go to confession.
This was so many years ago that I could now speak freely, since it would be impo
ssible to identify the priest, who was in any case actually a very good one.
Well, this friend went to the shrine of Our Lady of the Pillar, went to confessi
on, and came back very happy. But he commented to us, "That priest should have b
een a railroad signalman."
"Why?" we asked him.
"For my penance he told me to do seven stations a day for seven days."[53]


Father Josemara had to explain to the student what these "stations" were.* And fr
om this incident he learned to impose easy penances, which he would afterward su
pplement with his own prayer and mortification.[54]
His caution in dealing with women did not prevent him from acquiring a knowledge
and understanding of feminine psychology by way of his penitents. From the conf
essional he directed many consciences, and, according to one of his friends, for
some time he heard the confessions of nuns.[55]
Apart from liturgical services and other activities connected with his ministry,
he always found time to get to know and become friends with those around him. T
he university circle in which the young priest moved was quite broad, since he o
ffered his friendship with open arms, without concern about differences in perso
nality or viewpoint. "I can still remember," says Luis Palos, "the names of some
of those who hung around Josemara and were good friends with him: for instance,
Pascual Galbe Loshuertos, who had a reputation for being a nonbeliever; Juan Ant
onio Iranzo, who was a couple of years behind us; the Jimenez Arnau brothers-Jos
e Antonio, the ambassador, also a writer and the head of the Diplomatic School,
and his brother Enrique, now a prominent lawyer in Madrid. ..."[56]
Accompanying his congeniality and gracious, outgoing demeanor were other qualiti
es much appreciated by the students. "I remember his constant cheerfulness: he w
as always smiling," says Domingo Fumanal. "He was very good-natured and very gen
erous with his friends."[57] He was always ready to do favors. During his first
semester at the law school, a group of students of Don Juan Moneva, the canon la
w professor, asked Josemara to give them classes in Latin; they wanted to know en
ough to be able to translate the canons. He taught them three days a week, free
of charge. They were, needless to say, very grateful.[58]
The "little priest" focused his natural way with people on apostolic concerns. S
ays David Mainar, "He took part in our get-togethers perhaps because he already
had in mind some plan, his plan."[59] But his intentions-which were nothing less
than to bring those souls to Christ-were as obvious as his cassock. "In our con
versations;' says Domingo Fumanal, "Josemara never said anything that was out of
place. He respected our way of being."[60] He had to learn, of course, to keep t
he composure called for by his clerical attire, and how far to let a conversatio
n go. But this did not keep him from accompanying his friends after school to th
e Abdn Bar on Independence Boulevard, when invited along for some wine and a snac
k. On the street and in the bar, he would continue to chat with them about the t
hings of God as well as everyday matters.[61]
Once he was a priest, his relationships at the law school took on, in the school
year of 1925-26, a more elevated spiritual tone. Not obtrusively, but as the mo
st natural thing in the world, he began to use his prestige and friendliness to
encourage his companions in devotions, such as making a daily visit to Our Lady
of the Pillar. For some, too, he became not only a trusted friend but their conf
essor and spiritual director.[62] Domingo Fumanal says that in this priest, so f
ull of optimism and energy, the students saw " a Christian romantic: someone hea
d over heels in love with Christ; a man with total faith in the Gospel."[63] The
ideal of his youth was very much alive-indeed, redoubled; it consisted of love,
of the essence of love, and it sparked and ignited all those he dealt with. His
was more than a life of dedication; it was a life of radical self-giving, a lif
e saturated with love.
One of his close friends-Francisco Moreno, from Teruel- mentions that "he establ
ished relations with professors of a high intellectual caliber and kept up real
friendships with them for life."[64] His relationship with such prestigious prof
essors as Juan Moneva, Father Jose Pou de Fox, and Miguel Sancho Izquierdo devel
oped into a friendship based on equality. The genial Don Juan Moneva showed his
student an affection that was both fatherly and friendly.[65] Don Miguel Sancho
Izquierdo, the natural law professor, felt "a great veneration for him, despite
their difference in age," as Bishop Javier Echevarria says; he was to leave a gl
owing testimonial concerning the kind of student he was.[66] Other teachers rega
rded him the same way, in particular the penal law professor, Inocencio Jimenez
Vicente, and the legal history professor, Salvador Minguijon.[67] And Father Jos

e Pou de Foxci became an especially close friend-" a loyal and noble and good fr
iend," Father Josemara called him in his journal-who gave him counsel and moral s
upport on several occasions over the years.[68]
In time, those classmates at Saragossa were dispersed- some marrying, moving to
other provinces, entering various professions; some disappeared during the war.
Now and then the young priest would run into some of these old friends: Father J
ose Lopez Ortiz, Juan Antonio Iranzo, Luis Palos, the Jimenez Amau brothers. ...
In the fall of 1937, as he was preparing to cross the Pyrenees secretly and in v
ery hazardous circumstances during the civil war, he met one of his professors a
nd one of his classmates in Barcelona. At the height of the religious persecutio
n, in fact, at great risk to himself, he searched through that Catalonian city f
or Father Jose Pou de Foxci, just to talk with his old friend and make his confe
ssion to him.[69]
During those same days, he also met with another old friend-that young. man who
among his classmates had had a reputation for being an atheist, since he did not
practice the faith. Father Josemara tried to revive his half-extinguished faith,
basing himself on the mutual affection that the two of them had felt ever since
their days in Saragossa. When the war ended, Father Josemara found himself in Ma
drid, but the other man emigrated to France, where his estrangement from the fai
th led him to depression and, finally, to despair and suicide. After his friend'
s death, the priest performed the only act of friendship he could: "he kept pray
ing for him, thinking about the mercy of God."[70]

* * *

Perhaps recalling the catechism classes he had given in Logroo and Perdiguera, Fa
ther Josemara now began an apostolate among humble folk. He got together a small
group of young men who in their free time on Sundays would go teach Christian do
ctrine to poor children in the neighborhood of Casablanca, which is at the edge
of Saragossa along the old highway to Teruel. Most of these young men were colle
ge students who either belonged to Marian sodalities or else went to Mass at Sai
nt Peter Nolasco.[71]

4. Providential injustices

The violent rupture that Don Jose's sudden death produced in the Escrivs' family
life inevitably had an impact on their future. On the one hand, the loss reaffir
med the son's vocation, while obliging him to reorganize his life for the sake o
f his mother and siblings. On the other hand, his legal studies, begun with such
ease and finished in such a hurry, became a heavy burden for him instead of a l
iberation. After 1926, and especially after he finished law school, his dedicati
on to teaching was continual. This was a matter not of a professional vocation,
but of necessity: it was the only way he could make a living for his family. It
made him feel consigned to the galleys. "I am a galley slave to teaching!" he ex
claimed.[72]
The Escrivs lived in want in Saragossa, without hope of relief. It got so bad tha
t Father Josemara, doing an inventory of their resources, had to write, "I don't
know how we are going to live. ...Really-I'll spell this out when I have more ti
me-we have lived this way since I was fourteen, but the situation has gotten eve
n worse since Papa's death.[73]
In the privacy of their home, the Escriv bore their hardships with dignity mainta
ining at all costs the old family traditions and customs practiced in Don Jose's
time. There is a story about Guitin, little Santiago, that shows the lasting im
pact left by the head of the family, a man who had been known as " quite an alms
giver." " A holy little nun came, holding by the hand a little girl being raised
in the orphanage run by that venerable community. When she asked for alms, the
little boy gave her the small sum that his mother used to give each month, sayin
g with innocent simplicity to the little nun-who was so amused that she just had
to laugh-'Sister, for the both of you.'"[74]
Squeezing hours out of the day and stealing hours from sleep, Father Josemara man

aged to finish his studies. He kept going-but without abandoning in the least hi
s idealistic vision of the priesthood. If we look for an explanation of why he h
ad such a hard time making ends meet we come up against a reality of his first y
ears as a priest that seems strange, not to say bizarre. Two days after being or
dained he was given an assignment in a very abrupt way, and from there he went t
o residing in Saragossa for two long years as a priest incardinated in that dioc
ese, but provided no means of financial support.[75]
Certainly he did not sit around twiddling his thumbs. On his own initiative, app
ealing to friends and other contacts, he sought positions where he could exercis
e his ministry. This search led to his temporary position as assistant priest at
Saint Peter Nolasco. Not much is known about his efforts, but there does exist
a curious paper trail of later attempts that failed.
On December 19,1925, the archbishop of Saragossa wrote to the president of the P
rovincial Assembly the following letter:

My dear and distinguished friend:

In answer to your esteemed letter recommending Father Jose Escriba [sic] for the
chaplaincy of the Reparatrix nuns, I must with great regret inform you that thi
s position was offered a week ago to Father Manuel de Pablo, and he has accepted
it.
I will be most happy to be able to serve you on another occasion. You know you c
an always feel entirely free to count on your good friend and Prelate, who bless
es you.[76]

A perfect "other occasion? to ?be able to serve? this man presented itself at th
e end of March, and this is the response, dated Apri13, 1926, that the archbisho
p sent him:

My dear and distinguished friend:

By the time I received your esteemed letter recommending Father Jose Escrivci fo
r the chaplaincy of the nuns of the Incarnation, I had already appointed another
priest to that position and signed the letter of appointment. I am truly sorry
not to be able to oblige you in this matter. You must understand that it is not
for lack of good will.[77]

These letters imply that the chaplaincies were denied Father Josemara because the
re were so many candidates, or because some of them were better qualified.[78] B
ut the behavior of the diocesan authorities tends to support the explanation giv
en by some who knew the ins and outs of clerical life in Saragossa: that someone
very influential was doing everything possible to get him out of the diocese, d
iplomatically or not.[79]
This judgment fits the facts and is not mere speculation. Based on his many cont
acts with the diocesan authorities and the clerical in-group, Father Jose Pou de
Foxcl had no doubt about it. Well aware of the circle of isolation drawn around
the young priest, and realizing that he "had no future" in Saragossa, he advise
d him to go to Madrid.[80]
There is a journal entry from 1931 in which Father Josemara gives an indication o
f his strained relations with the diocesan authorities: "I could mention here so
me very interesting things that happened with my testimonials in Saragossa, but
I won't go into all that."[81] He made just one charitable comment on the subjec
t: that the Lord had allowed "some providential injustices" to be done him.[82]
They were providential in that, by opening some doors and closing others, God wa
s leading him step by step to the appointed place and moment for responding to t
hat cry of his, "Domine, ut videam!" At this time he was still like a poor blind
man, taking steps without knowing where he was going.
It was probably in September 1926 that he made a trip to Madrid-which would expl
ain why he did not take the Forensic Practice examination at this time. His inte
ntion was to look into the possibility of studying for a doctorate at the Univer

sity of Madrid, then known as Universidad Central.[83] A doctoral degree would m

ake it easier for him to work as a teacher, and it would be the ultimate fulfill
ment of his father's wishes. But around this time he was offered an opportunity
to give classes at a new academic center in Saragossa, which was always better t
han giving them at home. The center was called Instituto Amado.
For some time, Don Santiago Amado L riga, an infantry captain who had a science de
gree, had been planning to open in Saragossa a school preparing students for var
ious career programs, and especially for entrance into the military academies. T
he institute bearing his name opened in October 1926. On its flyers, in the list
of faculty members, appears "Don Jose Maria Escriv, Priest."[84] Judging from a
letter written him by one of his students on May 26, 1927, Father Josemara worked
with a small group of students in the law department of the Institute, where la
w school graduates were prepared for their bar exams and undergraduates were ass
isted in reviewing class material.
The letter is from Nicolas Tena. In a cheerful and very free and easy tone of vo
ice, he tells Father Josemara how he did in his canon law exam. And particularly
in his closing sentence one can see the closeness and apostolic zeal that the pr
iest maintained with his students: "Father, I have gone to confession and receiv
ed Communion! ?I have to write you a very long letter about this."[85]
Taking advantage of a royal ordinance of 1926, Father Josemara presented himself
for the Forensic Practice examination given at the extraordinary session of Janu
ary 1927. He passed it, and thus completed his studies for the law degree.[86] I
n the second issue of Alfa-Beta, the magazine of the Amado Institute, the news g
ets a prominent paragraph written in a rather grandiose style: "Our beloved prie
st and fellow professor Don Jose Maria Escriv has brilliantly completed his legal
studies. Since he is too modest to allow us to congratulate him, we congratulat
e ourselves, sure that his culture and talent will always be one of the most sol
id promises of triumph for our Institute."[87]
The third issue (March 1927) features "a collection of writings by our law profe
ssors." Among these is "Marriage in current Spanish Law," by "Jose Maria Escriv y
Albas, Priest and Lawyer, Professor of Canon Law and Roman Law at the Amado Ins
titute."[88]
The following month, his name no longer appears on the list of professors.

5. FromSaragossa to Madrid

Moved by his presentiments, Father Josemara began keeping letters and other paper
s very early. Were it not for that commendable solicitude, the biographer would
lack material needed for analyzing important events of his life. However, many o
f those with whom he dealt did not have the same concern for the future. As a re
sult, situations must often be reconstructed from the answers he received to his
letters.
That correspondence includes several letters, written in February and March of 1
927, that shed a bit more light on those "providential injustices" in Saragossa.
The first, dated Segovia, February 7, is from Father Prudencio Cancer, a Claret
ian, and begins as follows:

My dear friend:

With joy, as always, I received and read your letter of February 4, and from tha
t I understand your situation. ... I remember perfectly what we spoke about in S
aragossa, during those pleasant hours that I spent with you. consequently, when
I arrived in Madrid I spoke of you to one of our priests stationed there, to see
if I could interest him in speaking on your behalf to the bishop of Madrid, who
definitely owes him some big favors. But I didn't see him as being very likely
to make a recommendation once I found out how bombarded he is by petitions and b
ids from clerics wanting to relocate to Madrid.[89]

Father Cancer had been good friends with the Escriv family for some time. Possibl
y this had to do with his being from Fonz or Barbastro, or with his having exerc

ised his ministry in Barbastro.[90]

During the trip he had made to Madrid at the end of September to investigate the
possibility of earning a doctorate in law, Father Josemara had seen that he had
a lot of loose ends to tie up before he could establish himself in Madrid with t
he aim of bringing his family there. The Claretian was definitely aware of the E
scriv family's financial situation, since he told the young priest of his desire
that "your poor mother and good sister and brother" might " go through this life
freed of the anxieties and troubles they have had to live in on account of the
straits to which the wise Providence of God has seen fit to subject them."[91]
The following letter from Father Cancer is dated Segovia, February 28,1927:

My esteemed friend:

I received in Madrid your first letter, with the certificates from your exams, a
nd now, in Segovia, I've received your second one. In Madrid I highly recommende
d you to two priests and gave them a note stating your intentions and desires. B
oth of them are on friendly terms with a number of bishops and one of them menti
oned a couple of very prominent individuals in Saragossa who could help you with
what I used to think would be the easiest thing to get: that is, a position in
Saragossa provided by your bishop. The two or three priests with whom I spoke ab
out your situation found it very strange that, given your gifts and talents as I
described them, the bishop would not give you a position and would let you leav
e his diocese. It seems incredible that C. A. has so much influence with such a
high-ranking and relatively new prelate that because of him this prelate does no
t dare give you a position. It would seem simplest for them to find a solution a
llowing you to stay in Saragossa.
That of your coming to Madrid will surely involve some serious difficulties. ...
[92]

Evidently the new information the Claretian had received concerning Father Josem
ara's status in Saragossa's ecclesiastical circles had opened his eyes to the dif
ficulties in the way of the young priest's obtaining a position there--something
he "used to think would be the easiest thing to get." Even the mysterious reser
ve with which he refers to the archdeacon, Father Carlos Albas (C. A.), who, pre
empting the authority of the bishop, had declared his nephew persona non grata i
n the diocese, hints at those "providential injustices." Quite possibly it was F
ather Jose Pou de Foxci who opened Father Cancer's eyes, since at the end of thi
s letter he sends him regards as though he were another member of the family: "R
egards to Dr. Pou, to your mother, and to your sister and brother. Yours truly,
Father Cancer."[93]
Father Cancer seems confident that skillful management of friendships and contac
ts will remove most of the obstacles to his friend's coming to Madrid. But his o
ptimism collapses before the worst of them. In view of this one he says to Fathe
r Josemara in this letter of February 28, "I believe it would be easier for you t
o find a position in some diocese that has either a new bishop or a bishop who i
s a friend of the above-mentioned priests." What was that fearful obstacle?

* * *

Administrative centralization, population growth, and other historical circumsta

nces had made the capital of Spain a magnet for the whole country. Adventurers,
parasites, and simple, honest folk flocked there. Some sought bread and work; ot
hers, power, fame, or riches. Priests from other dioceses came too. So great, in
fact, was the influx of clerics into Madrid that the Holy See found it necessar
y to intervene. The papal nuncio sent the Spanish bishops a circular letter stat
ing:

The grave harm which the capital of this monarchy is suffering because of the co
ncentration here of priests of less regular and orderly conduct from the differe
nt dioceses of Spain has placed the Holy See in the position of having to prohib

it, and therefore it does henceforth prohibit, all the ordinaries of this kingdo
m from giving permission to priests under their jurisdiction to transfer to Madr
id and its diocese, unless there is a special reason for such transfer and they
have made it known to the ordinary of said diocese.[94]

This prohibition was issued in 1887 to limit the influx of extra diocesan priest
s into Madrid. fu later years the Spanish bishops had to be given official remin
ders because, as we read in a circular letter of 1898, "the serious problems whi
ch counseled the above-mentioned dispositions have not disappeared."[95] In 1909
Madrid's diocesan synod made these provisions law. Successive bishops had to re
state, again and again, that any priest who needed to transfer to the diocese of
Madrid must present written permission from his ordinary to reside there and mu
st also obtain the consent of the bishop of Madrid.[96]
In the midst of this problematic situation, Father Josemara received a letter fro
m Father Cancer, dated Segovia, March 9, 1927, in which his friend jubilantly sa
ys:

My dear friend:

Can we now sing a Te Deum?* I think we can! So you can understand what I'm sayin
g, I will tell you that I accidentally found out that Saint Michael's Church in
Madrid-which is near Calle Mayor, is under the jurisdiction of His Excellency th
e Nuncio, and is run by the
Redemptorists, who have a house there-has an opening for someone to say Mass the
re every day at 5:50, and that to obtain this position you only need the permiss
ion of His Excellency the Nuncio. I saw the heavens open when I learned this, be
cause the great difficulty, as I see it, in getting you into Madrid, even with g
ood recommendations, is to get permission from this bishop. Look how our Lord is
smoothing out your path![97]

The solution to his problem did really seem heaven-sent, since the Pontifical Ch
urch of Saint Michael was not subject to the bishop of Madrid-who, as will be se
en, was extremely sparing in granting permission for priests to transfer into hi
s diocese-but, instead, was directly under the jurisdiction of the nuncio. Fathe
r Cancer enclosed with his letter a note to him from the rector of Saint Michael
's, clarifying some points:

The priest you recommended will, of course, be able to get the permission of the
papal nuncio to celebrate Mass in this church. ...This position is not a chapla
incy, but it does assure that he can continue celebrating Mass and receiving the
stipend for as long as he remains in Madrid.
To obtain faculties from the nuncio, he must have in order the ministerial licen
ses from his own prelate and must also present a document authorizing him to liv
e in Madrid with that prelate's blessing. His Excellency the Nuncio also wants t
he prelate to say in that same document at least a word testifying to the priest
's good conduct. This is what is always required, and with this its no problem-h
e can come.[98]

Father Josemara had to make a quick decision, especially in light of what the rec
tor of Saint Michael's wrote at the end of his note: "If he can come right away,
we will accept him at once. He talked the matter over with his family, and toge
ther they decided that until he could get settled in Madrid and find them an apa
rtment, his mother and sister and brother would go to Fonz to live with Don Jose
's brother Teodoro.[99]
The first step was to get the archbishop of Saragossa's permission to go to Madr
id to study for the doctorate, and the necessary letters of recommendation. Fath
er Josemara made clear his desire to obtain a doctorate in law, but also his firm
determination to attend to his ministerial obligations before all else. On Marc
h 17 he was granted permission for two years of study at the University of Madri
d, and five days later he obtained the necessary letters of recommendation.[100]

With these authorizations in hand, he took care of the academic formalities. He

paid his fees, had his Licentiate in Law diploma sent to him, and arranged for a
transcript of his school records to be sent to the University of Madrid.[101] T
he fees amounted to 37.50 pesetas, the equivalent of a week's worth of minimal h
ousehold expenses. (In Saragossa, that is. In Madrid the cost of living was high
er. The Mass stipend at Saint Michael's was not enough to support even one perso
n. Father Cancer was aware of this; he remarked that "a family can't live on 5.5
0.?)
On one of those days Josemara ran into a former classmate and told him about his
upcoming move. "What will you do in Madrid?" asked this man. "I'll get a job as
a tutor, or give classes," he responded.[102]
Although Father Josemara had obviously already given a lot of thought to this pos
sible way of earning the extra money he needed, the friend felt he should give h
im some advice on this matter, since along with knowledge of the subject and ped
agogical skills, teaching requires congenial social interaction and skill in dea
ling with people. Josemara did not lack these gifts, but he did have a reputation
for not bending his moral principles to suit social convention. For him this wa
s especially important because he was a priest: priests must not give the slight
est occasion for scandal.
Around March 20, things began to get complicated. Suddenly the chancery office n
otified him that he was assigned to the parish of Fombuena for Passion Week and
Holy Week; that is, April 2 to 18.[103] Simultaneously, the rector of Saint Mich
ael's urgently requested that he be there those same two weeks. "If he could com
e right away," he wrote in a letter, "it would be very much appreciated, because
this is the time when we need priests the most."[104]
Everything was going too well for the devil not to meddle. A promising opportuni
ty like this, making permission for residence in Madrid practically certain, was
not likely to come up again. Should Father Josemara go to the chancery office an
d turn down the assignment to Fombuena? Fortunately, he decided to ask his mothe
r's advice, and on that basis accepted the temporary assignment. "Mama seldom go
t involved in my affairs," he would write in his journal, "but when she did (as
at my first Mass, and in my going to Fombuena) her suggestions seem to have come
from God. She was always right."[105]
Henceforth there could be no accusing him of lack of interest in his ministry or
lack of loyalty to his diocese. And if it was God who was offering him the posi
tion in Madrid, couldn't he save it for him for two or three weeks? He wrote, th
en, to the pastor of the parish of Badules, on which Fombuena depended, and to t
he rector of Saint Michael's.
In his letter of reply the rector excuses himself for not having answered right
away and stresses the urgency of the situation and the eagerness with which he i
s awaiting his arrival. "I would appreciate it very much," he says, "if you do n
ot delay your coming beyond the time that you indicated, because we need your Ma
ss. We expect you, then, during the first days of Eastertide."[106]
The pastor's reply is much more explanatory and genial, although his rambling le
tter takes a relaxed approach to the use of commas:

Badules, March 26, 1927

Father Jose M. Escriv, Saragossa

My dear fellow priest

I have received your letter telling me that you are coming to help out at the pa
rish of Fombuena, from the first of the month until Easter and in reply I am hap
py to tell you that I have already found you a place to stay while you are there
which is the best and which is the safest bet since the village teacher who is
the pastor's niece lives there and most assuring of all this is the house of the
village judge who is a straightforward person as is the rest of his family. You
come by way of the Cariftena station where you ask for a ticket to Daroca that
includes the price for an auto which picks up passengers from Cariftena and then

you hold on to the train ticket just showing it when leaving the station and th
ey will ask for it in the auto, and although the ticket is for Daroca, you get o
ut at Mainar and go find the rural postman who comes by here and then goes to Fo
mbuena which you will already be able to see when you get out of the car and you
can come on horseback since he rides a horse and can load up on it whatever you
might have such as a suitcase, valise, etc. In those days there will not be muc
h to do just giving the Sunday homily and on Fridays the Stations of the Cross a
nd during Holy Week the Good Friday service and teaching catechism to the childr
en from 11 to 12 and saying Mass in the morning and hearing some confessions whi
ch are no more than ten or twelve on any day and in the evening a novena, a Rosa
ry and nothing more and anyway when you come I will give you more details, the v
illage is small and shabby but you can get through 15 days here just fine, for m
ore time no.
That's all that can be told you by your affectionate colleague who greets you an
d very much looks forward to meeting you.

Leandro Bertran
Pastor

The letter carries this postscript:

P.S. Since the trip is long because you leave at 9 from there and arrive here at
3 be sure to bring yourself something to snack on along the way. ...
Could you come on Saturday the 2nd to celebrate the Mass for Passion Sunday?[107
]

* * *

The Escriv family left for Fonz, and the young priest for Fombuena, on Saturday,
April 2, 1927. For two full weeks, until Easter Sunday, he filled in for the pas
tor in that village of two hundred fifty souls, which was far from Saragossa and
about four miles from Badules, the village in which the pastor normally resided
. The church of Fombuena, like that of Perdiguera, was named Our Lady of the Ass
umption.
No account has come down to us of Father Josemara's pastoral activities, but it s
eems safe to suppose that his priestly zeal led him to do the same sorts of thin
gs he had done in Perdiguera: visit families, conduct liturgical services, teach
catechism, and spend long hours in the confessional. The sacramental records of
the parish show no trace of his stay there, but that is not the fault of its te
mporary pastor. Presumably, in that brief period there were no new babies to bap
tize and no dead to bury.
We do nevertheless know one detail of his stay at Fombuena that at first sight m
ight seem insignificant: he always carried with him, as a family relic, the cruc
ifix that lay in his father's hands during the hours before his funeral.[108]
The memory of those far-off days of his ministry in Perdiguera and Fombuena woul
d always fill him with joy. "I was in country parishes twice," he once wrote. "W
hat joy whenever I recall it! They sent me there to upset me, but they did me a
big favor. Even back then some people were out to give me a hard time. They did
me a colossal, colossal, colossal amount of good! With what happiness I remember
that!"[109]
With the passing of time he saw more and more clearly the deeper meaning of thos
e assignments and how Godhad allowed him to be moved around, from one place to a
nother, like a little donkey. "I have tried always to fulfill the will of God,"
he would say. "They moved me from one place to another like one moves a donkey,
pulling on the halter and often using a stick."[110]
On Easter Monday, April 18, he returned to Saragossa. That night he slept at the
Barrio Hotel. He kept the bill as a souvenir of that historic milestone on his
path toward the capital.[111]

* * *


When Father Josemara reviewed his life in prayer, he saw it as a vast landscape t
hat changed with time. Within that vision the big events of his life fit togethe
r providentially, contrasting but not conflicting with one another, in line with
a divine logic that directed things in orderly fashion.
What could he have understood of this logic when, as a child in Barbastro, he su
ddenly knocked down that house of cards with one swipe of his hand? Was that how
God treated people? Did he let them build something just so that he could dash
it to the ground when it was almost finished?
What painful thoughts went through the head of that boy as he sought an explanat
ion of why so many good souls suffered reversals of fortune, losses of family me
mbers, and the thwarting of noble ambitions! And where was the justice in God's
heaping success and other goods on people who broke all his commandments? Why, L
ord, why?
From the time of his baptism, God had been at work in his soul in a marvelous hi
dden way. Later, at First Communion, the child made Jesus the Lord of his heart,
asking that he grant him the grace of never letting him lose him. Having alread
y given him exemplary parents, the Lord poured down more favors by confirming th
e whole family in the way of the cross. Josemara did not understand this way as a
child, since the call to the cross always entails suffering and sacrifice. The
family's misfortunes in Barbastro and the poverty and humiliations of Logroo brou
ght the boy to the verge of rebellion. But the inspirations of grace tempered hi
s soul, maturing it. And soon, from a very early age, he had within it a divine
restlessness.
On the day he saw those footprints in the snow, he unhesitatingly threw himself
into the arms of God. Henceforth he wanted only to fulfill the divine will. Late
r he came to understand, once and for all, that detachment and generosity are es
sential to love. He could see the point of that divine logic by which the Lord t
akes away goods from those who are dear to him, and comforts from those he loves
. And so he voluntarily and joyfully transformed himself by means of detachment.
Giving himself over totally to the desire to be identified with Christ, he deci
ded to become a priest.
Later came a long and difficult trial. In the years of his stay at San Carlos, G
od continued sculpting in him the image of Christ. Don Jose died at a critical m
oment, when Josemara could still turn back. Instead, as the funeral party returne
d from the cemetery, he flung the coffin key into the river, a gesture signifyin
g determination to be rid of all human attachments, no matter how legitimate, th
at might be obstacles to his ordination as a priest.
The Lord purified him with pain, lying on the blows where they would hurt him th
e most, not sparing those around him, particularly his family. Josemara was so co
nvinced of this that he expressed it in a formula that he would often repeat thr
oughout his whole life: "The Lord, to hit me, who was the nail (pardon me, Lord)
, landed one blow on the nail and a hundred on the horseshoe."[112]
This way of forging saints requires of them enormous humility and fidelity, a wi
llingness to let the Lord do his work without getting in his way. The silence of
the young priest about the axe blows God gave him in Saragossa signifies not th
at he buried them in forgetfulness, but that they were so deeply engraved in his
memory that he preferred not to speak of them. He derived a powerful image from
God's use of hammer and chisel on him to make him a pillar on which the Work co
uld rest: Those who try to dodge the will of God, he would say, suffer in vain a
nd end up as a formless pile of gravel.[113]
Through experience after experience, at great cost and with great speed, he lear
ned the ways of wisdom. Eventually, with time and the intense activity of the Ho
ly Spirit in his soul, he developed a kind of supernatural instinct for discerni
ng, in the heart of history and the concatenation of events, that ineffable qual
ity which is the unmistakable signature of Providence. He sensed a secret purpos
e in the circumstances that had driven the Escrivs to move from Barbastro to Logr
oo, in the family's move from there to Saragossa, and in the difficulties that no
w besieged him, forcing him to leave Saragossa. Having decided to go to Madrid,
and finding himself shoved out of Saragossa yet simultaneously guided by the han

d of God, he felt certain that a hidden divine plan awaited him in Spain's capit
al. That continual moving from one place to another -from Barbastro to Logroo, fr
om there to Saragossa, and finally to Madrid- was not, in other words, an errati
c or circuitous route but a disciplined, step by step, ascent to the summit at w
hich he would be shown the enterprise God had in store for him. (It was also, as
it turned out, a foreshadowing of the second great itinerary of his life: the o
ne he would have to travel in order to carry out his role as founder.)
The priest kept waiting for a reply to his Domine, ut videam! [Lord, that I may
see!]. By faith he sensed that the fulfillment of his Domine, ut sit! [Lord, let
it be!] was imminent. Among the signs indicating its nearness were some that he
recorded in a small cloth-covered notebook that Agustin Callejas, a classmate a
t the seminary in Saragossa, mentions. "I was about eighteen, maybe younger," Fa
ther Josemara recalls, "when I felt impelled to start writing, without rhyme or r
eason."[114] In these pages were open-hearted verses signed by "The Priestly Hea
rt," brief outlines and phrases for his projected "Tale of a Village Priest," an
d quotations from classical authors, Saint Teresa, historians, poets, and noveli
sts. But this haphazard accumulation also included some notes of a more personal
sort. These first ramblings of an adolescent writer had the transparency of pur
e water. His depth of soul showed clearly in phrases glowing with spiritual ambi
tion and ardent sentiment.
From time to time, within or outside of prayer, Josemara felt obliged to put in w
riting an idea, an apostolic suggestion, a sign from heaven. Many notes unquesti
onably were divine inspirations. Some were explosions of light opening new paths
in his understanding. For some time now, divine favors had been so abundant tha
t the shower of graces had become a downpour. It was probably during this last p
eriod in Saragossa that he began to receive the divine locutions that would rema
in imprinted, as though by fire, in his soul. He reverently transcribed them, as
a written testimony to what had happened and as material for his prayer.
Perhaps the growing frequency of those supernatural occurrences reinforced his p
resentiments that something laid ahead whose coming would be heralded, like the
sunrise, by the gradual dispelling of the darkness.
There was still another indication that he would soon reach his goal. No one loo
king at his life closely can help marvelling at what he accomplished as a young
seminarian. He himself was amazed, for example, by the sudden infusion of piety
into a whole seminary. "It is undoubtedly our Lady who has done this," he says.
To him that is the only possible explanation for the change in the piety and con
duct of the seminarians.
He carried that same apostolic spirit into the ecclesiastical university and the
secular university. He exercised his ministry in rural and urban parishes with
incomparable zeal. He carried out apostolic tasks and spiritual direction among
all kinds of people and in various places. At twenty-five, ready to leave for Ma
drid, he saw with amazement that our Lord had enriched him with an abundance of
ministerial experience difficult to acquire in so short a time. God had made use
of his generous availability to bring him quickly through a spiritual apprentic
eship which normally would take a lifetime.
Father Josemara also noticed that this dizzying pastoral career had some very pec
uliar characteristics. First of all, the fields in which his apostolate had deve
loped included social sectors which up to then had been neglected. Secondly, his
zeal was directed equally at priests and laity, monks and nuns, ecclesiastics a
nd nonecclesiastics, people of every social class and profession. In this sense
he was a self-taught person led by the hand of God; and consequently he was deep
ly convinced that his father's advice to study law in Saragossa was literally pr
ovidential.
In his head teemed a multitude of suggestions-ideas that had not come from books
or sages-for initiatives so specific that the developing of each would require
a special, separate effort. These were not just theories. The young priest had a
lready started doing these things-in the country and in the city, in the confess
ional and in intellectual settings. Spiritual direction of lay people, for examp
le, was not a very widespread practice. Never satisfied with mediocrity, Father
Josemara tried to raise the sights of his friends and directees, making every eff

ort to get them to bear the fruit that they were capable of bearing.
The many divine inspirations were like luminous sparks that kept his soul on the
alert, ready for action. Through them came an influx of more graces, efficaciou
s, abundant, full. He felt an inexhaustible energy. Obviously he would have obst
acles to contend with. He would have to overcome resistance and fight against fa
tigue, lack of means, scarcity of time. But despite all that, his path proved mo
re feasible than might have been expected, since it was what the Lord wanted. Fo
r that reason Father Josemara gave a special name to this flood of graces reinfor
cing his faculties in such a manifest and tangible way. He called them " operati
ve graces," since they took such complete possession of his will that, compared
with how things usually are, "I almost didn't have to make any effort."[115]
Looking back on his early life, he could easily see how frequently God had made
providential provision to prepare him for the mission he was to receive. The clo
ser he looked the more he saw. Had it, for instance, really been stupid of him n
ot to get his doctorate in theology while he was in Saragossa, before the eccles
iastical program of university studies was changed?
"On account of that change:' he said in December 1933, "I thought a lot about my
stupidity in not having graduated in due time in Saragossa. However, apart from
merely human considerations, I see some supernatural good reasons for this. If
I'd gotten my doctorate in theology back then, I undoubtedly would have taken th
e canonry examination, or else one of those jokes that passed for qualifying exa
ms for teaching high school religion in the time of Primo de Rivera.* In that ca
se, I , could not have gone through all that I went through in Madrid, and who k
nows if God would have finally given me that inspiration of the Work! He led me
along, making use of countless adversities and even of my laziness."[116]

[1] The earliest record of this appointment is in the Libra de Register de Dacum
entas Arzabispales (1922-1942), fol. 278, no. 2.697 (30 Mar 1925).
[2] The archdiocese of Saragossa covered an area of about 7,880 square miles, an
d the number of souls was about 475,600. There were 380 parishes, 852 diocesan p
riests, and 334 male religious, many of whom were also priests. See E. subirana,
AnuariaEclesiastica (Barcelona), 1924, p. 196.
"For the whole month of March 1925," says Teodoro Murillo, "the pastor, Father J
esus Martinez Pinon, was absent from Perdiguera on account of illness" (AGP, RHF
, T-Q2849, p. 1).
[3] Although the parish of Perdiguera was classified as "entry level" (entrada),
meaning one of the least important parishes, it did have a rectory. But probabl
y it was still filled with the furniture and personal belongings of the past(jr,
so Father Josemara would not have felt comfortable staying there. (See, in the d
iocesan archive, the internal file on pastoral positions, and also AGP, RHF, D-Q
3296-4.)
[4] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 206. In the village this boardinghouse was kno
wn as Casa de las Mangas. See Teodoro Murillo, AGP, RHF, T-Q2849, p. 1.
[5] The relations between the new priest and the Arruga family were extremely af
fectionate, and, as Bishop Javier Echevarria testifies, "they prepared his room
with affection and respect, putting in it the best bed they had in the house" (J
avier Echevarria, Sum. 1915).
[6] Teodoro Murillo, AGP, RHF, T-Q2849, p. 2. The men worked away from home a gr
eat part of the day, and Father Josemara "made his visits only when the men were
present" (Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1909).
[7] See Teodoro Murillo, AGP, RHF, T-Q2849, p. 2. See also Umberto Fani, PR, p.
31, and Francisco Botella, PM, fol. 211v.
[8] Teodoro Murillo, AGP, RHF, T-Q2849, p. 2.
[9] Ibid., p. 1
[10] Bishop Alvaro del Portillo recalled that when he requested admission to the
Work, the founder suggested that he recite aspirations, make spiritual communio
ns, and offer up small mortifications, and then explained that although some asc
etical authors recommend keeping track of the number, this involves a danger of

pride or vainglory, so it is best to let one's guardian angel do the counting. (

See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 204, and also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1913.)
[11] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 200, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1911. The ne
w priest had authorization "to celebrate Mass and to give absolution" from the v
ery day of his ordination, March 28, 1925. He was at that time granted these fac
ulties by Father Jose Pellicer Guiu, vicar general of the archdiocese, for a per
iod of six months. See Libra de cancesin de "Licencias Ministeriales" del Arzabis
pada, years 1902-1952, fol. 227, no.5980, and also AGP, RHF, D-{)3296-2.
[12] The original is in AGP, RHF, D-11694.
Father Carlos' trip to Burgos (the trip mentioned in the first sentence of this
letter) may have had to do with the sickness of his mother, Doa Florencia Blanc B
aron (Father Josemara's grandmother), who died two days later, on Apri126. Doa Flo
rencia lived in Burgos with another son, Father Vicente, a canon of the cathedra
l. See Carmen Lamartin, AGP, RHF, 1-04813, p. 1.
[13] See Santiago Escriv de Balaguer, Sum. 7323.
[14] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 202; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1910; AGP, POl 1
977, p. 264; and AGP, P011975, p. 225.
[15] Of this projected book nothing has come down to us except a couple of anecd
otes. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 205, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1908.
[16] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 299. In a more condensed fashion, Father Ju
licin Herranz also relates this meditation, and gives as its date February 24, 1
958. (See Julian Herranz, PR, p. 889.)
[17] See the parish archive of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Perdiguera,
Book of Deaths, vol. 7, p. 22, and Book of Baptisms, vol. 7, fol. 44-44v
[18] See AGP, RHF, D-{)3296-4.
[19] Teodoro Murillo, AGP, RHF, 1--02849, p. 1.
[20] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 302
[21] Sixta Cermeno, AGP, RHF, 1--02856, p. 2. Another witness recalls that when
the family came to Saragossa from Logroo after the death of Don Jose, "they went
through some major hardships. They lived in a small apartment on Rufas Street, w
hich was in a poorer area of town. There were all sorts of difficulties. They su
ffered a real scarcity of food, sometimes hunger. They could furnish their home
only in an extremelymodest fashion; and they had to pay the closest attention to
the most minor expenses and to the care of clothes." And he adds a comment made
, though not as a complaint, by Father Josemara's sister: "Carmen said that the p
eople who associated with the family in those days never seemed to notice that t
hey lacked so much." (See Javier de Ayala, AGP, RHF, T-15712, p. 58.)
[22] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 265, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1930.
[23] Santiago Escrivti de Balaguer, Sum. 7322. Father Carlos Albtis, from that d
ay on, had nothing more to do with his sister and her children.
[24] The original request is in his personal file in the archive of the law scho
ol of the University of saragossa. There is a certified copy in the archive of t
he law department of Madrid's Complutense University; see AGP, RHF, 0-15047.
The official response, which bears the registration number 14 and a summons for
June, is dated Apri130, 1925. It mentions that the student is a native of Barbas
tro and is twenty-two years of age, but this last is an erroneous transcription
from the request; he was in fact twenty-three.
[25] See the file for him entitled "Expediente academico personal y Registro de
Identidad Escolar," in the archive of the law department of the Universities of
Madrid and saragossa. See also Appendix 12.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] The course in Spanish history was part of a program called Preparatory Stud
ies and was taught in a different school of the university: that of Philosophy a
nd Literature. Following Preparatory Studies came the Licentiate Period, which c
onsisted of explicitly juridical courses that were taught in the law school.
[29] For more on this incident of the Spanish history examination, see Javierde
Ayala, AGP, RHF, T-15712, p. 43. The founder saw an important rule of conduct at
work in the professor's effort to set things right: When you have made a mistak
e, never be ashamed or afraid to rectify it. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 171.

)
[30] See David Mainar, Sum. 6142.
[31] Juan Antonio Iranzo, AGP, RHF, T-O2850, p. 1.
[32] Jose Lopez Ortiz, AGP, RHF, T-O3870, p. 1.
[33] Ibid., p. 2.
[34] Luis Palos, AGP, RHF, T-O7063, p. 1.
[35] Juan Antonio Iranzo, AGP, RHF, T -02850, p. 1. See also Domingo Fumanal, AG
P, RHF, T-O2852, p. 2.
[36] The Way, no.72.
[37] "The founder mentioned to us," says Bishop Echevarria, "that in his days at
the university only a few women were taking those courses. With the ones who ca
me to talk with him, the founder of the Work maintained a moderate friendliness
in a natural way, not doing anything peculiar. He greeted them politely, and if
they had any question he answered it politely, but he tried-then as always-to li
mit his association with women to what was necessary. This behavior did not go u
nnoticed by his companions, since they never saw him speaking alone with a woman
, either in the university halls or anywhere else" (Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1887
).
[38] Domingo Fumanal, AGP, RHF, T --02852, p. 2.
[39] Jose Romeo, AGP, RHF, T --03809, p. 3.
[40] Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T -04152-1, p. 20.
[41] Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7550.
[42] About his priestly zeal for the recovery of straying souls, it is also know
n that when he lived in Madrid he learned of a young priest from another diocese
who had abandoned his ministry and was working in a store specializing in herbs
. He found out where the store was, went up to the young man, and said in a low
voice, "Good morning, my brother." The young man asked who he was and how he kne
w him.
Father Josemara said he would like to talk with him, and they made an appointment
. After praying and doing penance for that man, he met him at the agreed-upon pl
ace and brought about his complete conversion. The young man was not able to ret
urn to his former diocese; the bishop did not consider it prudent, since the sit
uation he had gotten into was already known and was the only scandal among the t
housand or so priests in the diocese, all the rest having remained faithful to t
heir vocation. So, after a period of probation in the Madrid diocese, and after
Father Josemara bought some cassocks for him, he was sent to a small outlying vil
lage. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 405, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1976.)
[43] See "Expediente academico personal" and Appendix 12.
[44] See Appendix 12.
[45] As mentioned earlier, the faculties granted to the newly ordained were thos
e of celebrating Mass and giving absolution: "valeat etiam ad mulierum confessio
nes audiendas."
On September 22, 1925, Father Josemara had his faculties renewed "until the Octob
er synod," and on October 5,1925, they were extended for another six months (see
Libra de Licencias Ministeriales [1902-1952], fol. 230, no. 6.094, and fol. 231
, no. 6.108). On July 3, 1926, they were granted for a full year (see Libra de L
icencias Ministeriales [1902-1952], fol. 235, no. 6.244). For the period of Marc
h 5-July 3, 1926, see Baletin Oficial de la Archidi6cesis de Zaragaza, year 65,
no.1 (January 1926), p. 9, circular no.2, in virtue of which, in accord with the
standard practice in all of the dioceses, he, together with the other priests o
rdained on March 28,1925, had his ministerial authorization extended to the time
of the June examinations three years from then. (See "Impreso acreditativo y au
tenticado de las licencias concedidas a don Josemara," in AGP, RHF, 0--03296-2 an
d 0--03296-5.)
[46] Bishop Rigoberto Domenech y Va1ls (1870-1955) had studied at Valencia's Sem
inario Central and had doctorates in both theology and canon law. After serving
as bishop of Mallorca, he was appointed to the metropolitan see of Saragossa on
November 13, 1924, but was not installed until May 1925. (See E. Subirana, op. c
it., 1926, p. 390.)
[47] "Among the recollections that now come back to my mind most vividly," wrote

Father Josemara in 1945, "is one from back when I was a young priest. From that
time, with no small frequency, I have received two unanimous pieces of advice on
how to get ahead: first of all, don't work, don't do a lot of apostolic work, b
ecause this causes envy and creates enemies; and second, don't write, because an
ything written-no matter with how much precision and clarity it is written-can b
e misinterpreted. ...I thank our Lord God that I never followed these counsels,
and I am content, because I did not become a priest to get ahead" (Letter 2 Feb
1945, no.15).
[48] The original document is in AGP, RHF, 0--03876. A certified copy, dated Mar
ch 11, 1931, is in Saragossa; Father Josemara needed it in order to get the testi
monial letters that the archbishop of Saragossa wrote for him on March 28, 1931.
[49] The original document is in AGP, RHF, 0--03876.
[50] In AGp, RHF, 0-15264, there is this original memo:
October -Fr. Jose Escriv
31 Masses, at 4 ptas. 124 ptas.
Apostolate -21
Total 155
In Father Josemara's handwriting is added, "Saint Peter Nolasco, Saragossa."
"The Father," says Jose Romeo, "said weekday Mass at Saint Peter Nolasco Church,
which was staffed by Jesuit priests, and I used to go and serve for him on my d
ays off from school. He said Mass slowly and with great care. It seemed like not
hing ever distracted him. Just being at his Mass taught one what he later explai
ned to me: that the Holy Sacrifice is the center of all interior life. At the en
d he would spend several minutes in thanksgiving, remaining very recollected the
whole time" Gose Romeo, AGP, RHF, T-O3809, p. 1).
[51] For more about these activities on feast days and other special days, see t
he "Crnica religiosa" section of the Saragossan newspaper El Noticiero. (Saint Pe
ter Nolasco Church sometimes appears there as "Church of the Sacred Heart.") See
also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 217,and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1924.
There are testimonies about the apostolate that Father Josemara carried out among
his friends in those days. Jose Romeo, for example, says, "I met him when I was
thirteen or fourteen. I hadn't yet finished high school; it may have been in th
e school year of 1924-1925. The Father often came to my family's house because m
y brother Manuel, who later died in the Spanish Civil War, was a classmate of hi
s at the law school of the University of Saragossa. Many afternoons the Father g
ot together with Manuel and other friends to compare notes or to study. In this
way he became acquainted with the whole family" (Jose Romeo, AGP, RHF, T --03809
, p. 1).
[52] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 171; Francisco Botella, PM, fol. 211 v; and J
uan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T--04152-1, p. 22.
[53] See AGP, PM 1972, p. 760. This is also cited by Alvaro del Portillo, in PR,
p. 312.
* A "station" here means three Our Fathers, three Hail Mary's, and three Glory B
e's."
[54] To this anecdote, which he related at a get-together with priests during hi
s catechetical trip to Spain in 1972, he added, "You should not do that kind of
thing, even with your fellow priests. They already pray. ...Give them a short pe
nance."
On another occasion, referring to Don Alvaro del Portillo, who was his confessor
from the day after his ordination in 1944, he said, " Alvaro usually gives me o
ne Hail Mary for my penance. Then he tells me, 'I will do your penance for you.'
And I've certainly done the same kind of thing, my children. I've never given b
ig penances" (AGP, P011970, p. 995).
Additional testimony on this subject: "He would give very light penances and the
n make up the difference by taking on himself severe penances, such as wearing c
ilices that he made himself, using nails, and so forth. He would also pray and m
ortify himself for the conversion of the unrepentant" (Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6391
). "He advised his priestsons to give easy penances and then supplement them wit
h their personal penance" (Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7138).
[55] See Domingo Fumanal, AGP, RHF, T --02852, p. 3.

[56] Luis Palos, AGP, RHF, T --07063, p. 1.

[57] Domingo Fumanal, AGP, RHF, T --02852, p. 1
[58] See Juan Antonio Iranzo, AGP, RHF, T--02850, p. 1, and Domingo Fumanal, AGP
, RHF,T --02852, p. 1.
[59] David Mainar, Sum. 6141.
[60] Domingo Fumanal, AGP, RHF, T --02852, p. 2.
[61] See Fernando Vivanco, AGP, RHF, T --03713, p. 2.
[62] "I liked to go to confession to him, once he became a priest. And I did it
quite often," says Fernando Vivanco. (See ibid.)
[63] Domingo Fumanal, AGP, RHF, T --02852, p. 2.
[64] Francisco Moreno Monforte, AGP, RHF, T--02865, p. 7.
[65] See Javier de Ayala, AGP, RHF, T -15712, p. 3.
[66] Don Miguel describes him as having been, as he saw him in class, "an intell
igent, very gifted, and hardworking student" (Miguel Sancho Izquierdo, Sum. 5504
). With regard to this friendship, Bishop Javier Echevarrla states, "I saw the k
indness and real affection with which they treated one another. Don Miguel showe
d a great veneration for him, despite their difference in age. For his part, whe
never he saw this professor, Father Josemarla always greeted him with great affe
ction, calling him 'Don Miguel, my master'-an epithet that Don Miguel did not li
ke to accept, because he was convinced that the one who called himself his stude
nt surpassed him in every respect, both spiritual and human" (Javier Echevarria,
Sum.1885).
[67] See Apuntes, no.1554. His friendship with Professor Inocencio Jimenez was v
ery long-Iasting, and he turned it into an opportunity for apostolic service tha
t included the professor's whole family. Luis Palos remembers this well. "Josema
rla had a warm friendship with Don Inocencio and with his family," he says. "I'm
sure that his children, Jose Antonio and Marla, must remember him very well. Jo
se Antonio Jimenez Salas is now a professor of geotechnology at the School of Hi
ghway Engineering. Maria is a very intelligent woman, a good intellectual, who w
as a librarian but is now nearly blind. Don Inocencio was a great Christian soci
ologist. Together with Severino Aznar and Salvador Minguijon, he was the soul of
the National Forecasting Institute" (Luis Palos, AGP, RHF, T--07063, p. 3). See
also Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 338.
For information about Father Josemarla's dealings and friendships with other pro
fessors at Saragossa's law school, see Carlos Sanchez del Rio, AGP, RHF, T--0285
3, pp. 1-4; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 175 and 176; Francisco Botella, Sum. 5616;
and Javier de Ayala, Sum. 7577.
[68] See Apuntes, nos. 231,407,751,959, 1344, and 1357.
[69] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1447, and Juan Jimenez Vargas, PM, fol. 917.
See also C 362 (20 act 1937), in which he tells his mother about his visit in Ba
rcelona with Father Jose Poll de Foxa.
[70] See Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T?04152-1, pp. 199-201, and Pedro Cascia
ro, AGP, RHF, T--04197, pp. 5-7.
[71] See Juan Antonio Cremades, AGP, RHF, T --05846, p. 1; Francisco Botella, PM
, fol. 211v; and Jose Ramon Madurga, PM, foL274v. Another testimonial includes t
his recollection: "One day in 1941 we were walking along Canal Street, and when
we got to where it crosses the old highway to Valencia, in the Casablanca neighb
orhood, he told us how he had organized catechism classes there and brought in s
tudents to teach them." (Javier de Ayala, AGP, RHF, T-15712, p. 2).
[72] Apuntes, no.441.
[73] Apuntes, no.387.
[74] Letter 7 act1950, no.47. According to eyewitness accounts, almsgiving, as a
work of mercy, was a practice deeply rooted in the entire family. See, for exam
ple, Jose Lopez Ortiz, Sum. 5267.
[75] Father Josemara had been ordained a priest ad titulum servitii dioecesis
[for service of the diocese].
[76] See AGP, RHF, 0--05188.
[77] Ibid.
[78] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1917.
[79] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 235

[80] I remember that Father Jose Pou de Foxcl, a man with a great memory and a d
etailed knowledge of the ecclesiastical life of the city, told me in 1942 that h
e himself had advised the Father to go to Madrid. 'In those conditions'-these ar
e the words of Father Poude Foxcl-'Josemara had no future here"' (Javier de Ayala
, AGP, RHF, T-15712, p. 2).
[81] Apuntes, no.193. These testimonials were the good-conduct references that a
priest transferring from one diocese to another needed from the one bishop for
presentation to the other.
[82] This was the founder's spontaneous answer when Don Alvarodel Portillo asked
him what had happened to his testimonials in the Saragossa chancery office (see
Apuntes, no.193, note 209).
[83] About this trip by the founder, Bishop Javier Echevarria says, "On many occ
asions I heard him comment that he went to Madrid in 1926; however, we have not
found any document that tells us the time of year when he made that trip1l (Javi
er Echevarria, Sum. 1945).
The University of Madrid had graduate schools and departments of every type. In
those days it was the only place in Spain in which one could earn a doctorate, i
n any field.
[84] See Alfa-Beta, the Institute's monthly magazine, the first issue of which c
ame out in January 1927. See also AGP, RHF, 0--04357-8.
[85] This letter of 26 May 1927 from Nicolcls Tena Tejero can be found in AGP, R
HF, 0-04743.
[86] Students who needed to pass only one or two more subjects to obtain their d
egree were permitted by that royal ordinance to take their exams in January, rat
her than having to wait until June, the regular time. Father Josemara's petition,
which he signed on January 10,1927, boils down to this: 11. ..finding myself in
the conditions specified by the royal ordinance of December 26, 1926, since I o
nly need to pass the subject of Forensic Practice to obtain my degree ...11 (see
?Expediente academico personal?).
[87] See the February 1927 issue of Alfa-Beta, p. 16.
[88] See the March 1927 issue of Alfa-Beta, pp. 10-12. The other studies include
d in this issue are ?lnheritance and Prior Right of Purchase, or the Law of Sale
s,? by ?pedro de la Fuente, District Attorney1l ; ?Meaning of the term ?Ius ad r
em,?? by ?Ramon Serrano Sufier, Public Prosecutor1l; and ?Comments on Mortgage L
aw,? by J. M. Franco Espes, Lawyer.11.
[89] Letter of Father Prudencio Cancer, C.M.F., in AGP, RHF, 0--15003-6. The let
ter is written on paper imprinted with the heading "The College of the Missionar
y Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary / Segovia" and is addressed to "Reverend
Jose Maria Escrivci / Saragossa./
[90] In a letter dated December 9,1927, Father Prudencio tells Father Josemara th
at in Madrid, ?at 12 Orfila Street, lives my cousin from Fonz, Antonia Santalies
tra.? The familiarity and affection with which he asks about Father Josemara's mo
ther and siblings indicate a previous close acquaintance with them.
See T. L. Pujadas, C.M.F., El Padre Postius: un hombre para la Iglesia (Barcelon
a, 1981), p. 327. With regard to facts and ideas about the founder of Opus Dei,
this work contains some major errors, but this is understandable because the boo
k is based on oral testimony which has been blurred by time. The main error is t
hat it situates these events a year and a half after they actually occurred, whi
ch significantly distorts the truth of what happened. Specifically, the book cla
ims that the founder attended a retreat given by Father Cancer at the seminary i
n Madrid in October 1928, and places the offers made by Father Cancer after that
retreat.
A look at the documentation shows that Father Cancer's collaboration in the foun
der's move to Madrid centers on the months of February and March of 1927. It is
also a documented fact that in October 1928 the founder was attending a retreat
conducted at the headquarters of the Congregation of the Missions (Vincentian pr
iests) on Garcia de Paredes Street in Madrid (see the 1 Dec 1928 issue of Boleti
n Oficial del Obispado de Madrid-Alcala, p. 384).
[91] Letter of 7 Feb 1927, previously cited.
[92] Letter of 28 Feb 1927 (original in AGP, RHF, 0--15003-5).

[93] Nevertheless, Father Cancer does not seem to have understood what Father Jo
semara was really trying to do: get himself established in Madrid, with his famil
y, so that he could complete his studies for a doctorate in law.
[94] Circular de la Nunciatura Apost6lica de Madrid, a los Rmos. Prelados de Esp
aa, November 30, 1887, in the archive of the secretarial office of the archdioces
e of Madrid. At that time Spain's nuncio was Bishop Angelo di Pietro.
[95] Circular de la Nunciatura Apost6lica de Madrid, a los Rmos. Prelados de Esp
aa, May 5, 1898. The nuncio at that time was Bishop Giuseppe Francesco Nava di Bo
ntife.
[96] See IIPrimer Sinodo Diocesano de Madrid-Alcalci. Convocado y presidido por
el Excmo. y Rvmo. Sr. D. Jose Maria Salvador y Barrera, y celebrado en la Santa
Iglesia Catedral de esta Corte en los dias 10, 11 y 12 de febrero de 1909,11 Sin
odales Diocesanas, book 4, section 4.5 (Madrid, 1909), pp. 369-70.
Bishop Jose Maria Salvador y Barrera, the bishop of Madrid-Alcalci, published in
the 10 Jun 1914 issue of Baletin Oficial del Obispada de MadridAlcalti a circul
ar restating the above-mentioned dispositions about extradiocesan priests and ad
ding to the list an instruction dated 15 Nov 1910 and numerous circulars previou
sly published in the diocesan bulletin. In the very next year he had to give ano
ther reminder of all these dispositions (see the 20 Dec 1915 bulletin, pp. 727-2
9). And this time, to cut down on abuses, he announced that "from now on, priest
s will not be allowed to say Mass here, not even on one day, who show up without
having previously asked and obtained the written permission repeatedly stipulat
ed by the papal nuncio, unless the urgency of their trip has rendered this impos
sible, in which case it will be sufficient to present a letter or memo from the
vicar general, or from his secretary, stating that this person is not attempting
to establish residence in Madrid, but intends only to spend a few days here to
take care of the business that is the purpose of his trip" ("Circular de Mons. J
ose Maria Salvador y Barrera a los Obispos de Espafia," p. 2, in AGP, RHF, D-O80
68).
* A solemn hymn of praise and thanksgiving.
[97] Letter of 9 Mar 1927; the original (which is handwritten on a sheet of pape
r with a letterhead) is in AGP, RHF, D-15003-5. As stated in this letter, the Ma
ss stipend will be 5 pesetas and 50 centimos.
[98] Letter of Father A. Santiago, C.S.S.R., to Father Prudencio Cancer, Madrid,
7 Mar 1927 (original in AGP, RHF, D-15003-6).
[99] The family had such confidence in Josemara that they always felt certain tha
t his decisions were, as his brother puts it, "the best." See Santiago Escrivci
de Balaguer, Sum. 7325.
[100] See, in Saragossa's diocesan archive, Libra de Registra de Dacumentas Arza
bispales (1922-1942), year 1927, fol. 120, no.1813 (17 Mar 1927: "Permiso para d
os afios, para Madrid, con motivo de estudios"), and fol. 121, no.1820 (22 Mar 1
927: "Comendaticias para Madrid, por dos afios").
In regard to this, Bishop Echevarria says: "In his explanation to the archbishop
of Saragossa, he emphasized-because this was his planthat while doing his studi
es he would continue to dedicate most of his time to pastoral activity, thus con
tinuing to nurture his love for that ministry for which he had received ordinati
on. He would subordinate to his priestly work the work of doing research for the
doctorate and of writing his dissertation" Gavier Echevarria, Sum. 1945).
[101] By virtue of a royal decree of 10 Mar 1917 (see the March 15 edition of Ga
ceta de Madrid), the Minister of Public Education and Fine Arts declared that on
ce all of the courses required for a degree were passed, "no further revalidatio
n or exam" was to be required.
The fees charged by the Ministry of Finance for rights to the licentiate diploma
, etc., which Father Josemara paid on March 15, 1927, amounted to 37.50 pesetas:
see his file in the archive of the law school of the University of saragossa. As
noted in this file, this amount was transmitted to Madrid on March 30,1927.
[102] See Domingo Fumanal, AGP, RHF, T-{}2852, p. 1.
[103] In the archives of the diocese of saragossa and of the parishes of Fombuen
a and Badules, there is no reference to Father Josemara's stay at the parish of F
ombuena.

In the Libra de Registra de Dacumentas Arzabispales (1922-1942) of the archdioce

se of saragossa, fol. 300, no. 3.190 (28 Mar 1931), in connection with some test
imonial letters that were being drawn up in the chancery office, is some informa
tion on the ecclesiastical studies and pastoral responsibilities of the founder.
A memo handwritten and signed by him (in Madrid, on 2 Mar 1931), entitled "Thin
gs I Would Like Mentioned in the Testimonials," includes this item: "6. In April
1927 I was in charge of the parish of Fombuena; I was there until after Easter
that year." (The original is inAGP, RHF, 0-15334.)
[104] Letter of 20 Mar 1927 from Father A. Santiago (in Madrid) to Father Pruden
cio Cancer; original in AGP, RHF, 0-15003-6. Given that the letter was probably
sent to segovia and then sent on to Father Josemara by Father Cancer, it would ha
ve arrived in saragossa around March 24.
[105] Apuntes, no.640. See also Javier Echevarria, Sum.1917.
Father Cancer, in the above-mentioned letter of 28 Feb 1927 to Father Josemara, s
peaks of "a couple of very prominent individuals in saragossa" and then says, fu
rther down, "They will be able to give you the help you need, but this needs to
be at just the right moment. Actually, you may need that help sooner than you th
ink, for other steps that you'll have to take." One prerequisite for residence i
n Madrid was permission to leave the diocese of saragossa. How did he get this s
o easily?
In this whole matter of his move to Madrid and the negotiations conducted in sar
agossa's chancery office, it seems that several of his friends were involved, bu
t especially Fathers Jose Pou de Foxci and Luis Latre Jorro, with both of whom h
e resumed contact by letter shortly after arriving in Madrid (see AGP, RHF, 0-04
355).
Father Luis Latre Jorro was the secretary who accompanied Cardinal Juan soldevil
a on his pastoral visits. On the infamous day on which the cardinal was assassin
ated, Father Luis was with him in the car and was injured. In 1925 he taught phi
losophy at the Pontifical University of saragossa: see "Estadistica del Arzobisp
ado de Zaragoza," in the 1 Apr 1925 issue of Baletin Eclesitistica Oficial del A
rzabispada de Zaragaza, pp. 16-17. Also in 1925 he succeeded Father Antonio More
no Sanchez as vice president of the Royal Priestly Seminary of San Carlos: see E
. subirana, op. cit., year 1925, p. 314, and year 1926, p. 395. He was a friend
of Father Jose Pou de Foxci: see letter of 9 May 1927 from Father Luis Latre to
Father Josemara, in AGP, RHF, 0-15003-8.
[106] The original of this undated letter from Father A. Santiago to Father Jose
mara is in AGP, RHF, D-15003-8. It is written on stationery imprinted with the le
tterhead "Rector of the Redemptorist Fathers / 2 Plaza Conde de Miranda." The be
ginning of the letter ("I received several days ago your very welcome letter, wh
ich I have not yet answered") suggests that it was written very near the end of
March. Easter Sunday fell on April 17 that year. Father Josemara was expected to
arrive in Madrid, therefore, around April 20.
[107] The original of this letter is in AGP, RHF, D-15334.
[108] "This crucifix," he later wrote, " accompanied me everywhere I went. With
me it went to Fombuena, and with me it came to Madrid" (Apuntes, no.583).
[109] See AGP, P04 1972, p. 99.
[110] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 3212 and 3213. This is also cited by Alvaro de
l Portillo, in Sum. 1562.
[111] The bill is inAGP, RHF, D-15247-2.
[112] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.
[113] See Apuntes, no.704.
[114] Apuntes, no.414.
[115] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.
[116] Apuntes, no.1090.
5. The Foundation of Opus Dei

1. Madrid, the Capital City

2. The Residents at the Priests? House
3. The Cicu ndez Academy
4. The Foundation for the Sick

5. October 2, 1928
6. A Campaign of Prayer and Mortification
7. February 14, 1930

* * *

1. Madrid, the capital city

Sensing an ultimatum in the rector's note telling him he was expected in Madrid
during "the first days of Easter Week," Father Josemara presented himself at Sain
t Michael's as soon as he arrived in the capital, on Easter Tuesday, April 19, 1
927. He showed the rector the documents entitling him to receive priestly facult
ies and to celebrate Mass there.[1]
He then moved into a boarding house on Farmacia Street, in the labyrinth of litt
le side streets off the San Luis crossing. From there he could walk to Puerta de
l Sol. Formerly there had been two churches a short distance from the Plaza Mayo
r: San Miguel de los Octoes, where Lope de Vega was baptized, and San Justo; but
both had been demolished, and a new church built on the site of the latter. In
1892 it was turned over to the papal nuncio. This was the Pontifical Church of S
aint Michael.[2]
Despite Madrid's importance as the capital ever since the era of Philip II,* the
ecclesiastical territory of Madrid depended for centuries on the see of Toledo,
and was not an independent diocese. The Concordat of 1851 provided for its beco
ming a diocese dependent on Toledo, but even this did not take effect until 1885
.[3] The inevitable result was that king, nobility, and church- men founded mona
steries, set up charitable foundations, and endowed churches and chapels outside
the jurisdiction of the ordinary, at that time the archbishop of Toledo. In thi
s way there grew up in Madrid, sheltered by privileges and exemptions, a variety
of jurisdictions, such as the personal jurisdiction of the nuncio, the court ju
risdiction of the king, and the jurisdiction of the military.
The recent arrival sought information about academic procedures, with the intent
ion of taking the law exams the next time they were given. His file indicates th
at on April 28 he requested permission from the dean of the law school to take t
he examination in History of International Law, a subject required for the docto
rate. At the top of his request is written, "Don Jose Maria Escriv y Albas, nativ
e of Barbastro, in the province of Huesca, 25 years of age, living in Madrid at
2 Farmacia Street. ..."[4] The request is accompanied by a certificate with the
seal of the "Official Medical School." It is signed by Dr. Jose Blanc Fortacin,
and reads as follows: "Don Jose Ma. Escriv y Albs, 25 years of age, has been vacci
nated and revaccinated. Madrid, April 29, 1927."[5] Dr. Blanc Fortacin was from
a family related by marriage to Doa Dolores, and the certificate shows every sign
of having been obtained in a hurry.
Like some other priests coming into the capital, Father Josemara found himself qu
ite alone. Accustomed to the apostolic activity of Saint Peter Nolasco, he did n
ot find any opportunity or enthusiasm for this kind of service at Saint Michael'
s. It was not the fault of the rector, who had told him from the start that this
was not a matter of a chaplaincy, properly speaking, but of celebrating Mass da
ily, with the right to a stipend of five and a half pesetas.[6] But this sum did
not even cover daily room and board at the Farmacia Street place, which came to
seven pesetas.[7]
Hoping to find more modest and suitable lodging, Father Josemara continued his se
arch and learned that a thirty-room "Priests' House" had recently opened, on Lar
ra Street. This was a charitable establishment for priests, run by the Congregat
ion of Apostolic Ladies (Damas Apostolicas) of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. One of
the monthly bulletins of this religious order contains the following item: "Pri
ests' House: It has been functioning all year, and very well. The priests residi
ng there seem happy with it. ...They pay five pesetas, the usual stipend for a M
ass, ...and enjoy excellent treatment in terms of meals, cleaning services, etc.
...The bishop was so kind as to inaugurate it himself, and the vicar general, w
ho so much appreciates this endeavor, has offered to say Mass for us so that we

can have the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the very lovely chapel. ..."[8]
Father Josemara's move most likely took place on April 30. But in any case, altho
ugh little is known with certainty of his doings and studies prior to the first
weeks of May, it looks very much as if something had gone wrong with the plans s
o optimistically sketched out by Father Cancer when he pro- posed singing a Te D
eum and advised his protege: "I recommend that, without yet actually moving here
, you come to Madrid and negotiate the matter, accept it, speak with the nuncio,
and see how things open up for you."[9]
By two weeks after his arrival in Madrid none of these things had happened. That
can be deduced from this letter written on May 9 by Father Luis Latre, vice-pre
sident of San Carlos Seminary in Saragossa, in response to one from Father Josem
ara:

My dear friend

On the very day that I received your welcome letter, I sent a special-delivery l
etter to my brother in Madrid, so that he could find out more about what you wan
t and could ex- plain it better to Don Inocencio, who was in Cercedilla that day
, but who learned of your desires as soon as he returned to Madrid. ...I needn't
tell you how happy I am to know that you are well situated for the moment. I sa
y "for the moment" because I don't believe your present situation is really sati
sfactory, since your separation from your mother and brother and sister under th
ese conditions can't, I'm sure, be good for any of you. The good little friar ha
s acquitted himself very badly. The least he could do now is to find you some co
ntacts who could enable you to give classes, and to recommend you to the bishop,
either directly or through someone else, so that you could be attached to some
church where you might receive good stipends and other income.
In the meantime, try to be patient and, above all, to be very good and to avoid
companionships that could do you an enormous amount of harm. Study what you can,
so that if God does allow that the gates of the capital be closed to you, you c
an return here as soon as possible and place yourself at the disposition of our
prelate, who is so much in need of personnel.
I often speak of you with Father Jose Pou; he is sorry that you have had so litt
le luck. He says he will write you in a few days.[10]

How could Father Josemara be helped by Don Inocencio Jimenez, his old penal law p
rofessor? A look at his student records shows that he did not take any final exa
m in either June or September of 1927.[11] This was quite detrimental to his fin
ancial situation, since enrolment cost 42 pesetas, the equivalent of eight days'
room and board. And he had not yet found a way to earn a living by giving class
es.

* * *

A good number of the priests at the Larra Street residence were middle-aged, but
there were also a few younger ones: for example, Fathers Fidel G6mez and Justo
Villameriel, who were preparing for exams for military chaplaincies; Father Avel
ino G6mez Ledo, who had been ordained in Madrid; and Father An- tonio Pensado, w
ho, like Father Josemara, was from outside the Madrid diocese--he was from Santia
go de Compostela.[12]
Father Antonio's case tells a lot about the policy of the bishop of Madrid on gr
anting faculties to priests from other dioceses, and it taught the young priest
from Saragossa what to watch out for. With the permission of-his bishop, Father
Antonio had studied philosophy and literature in Madrid from 1922 to 1926. Then
his odyssey began. On October 26, 1926, he was notified by the Madrid chancery o
ffice that his faculties for that diocese would not be renewed, since he had com
pleted the studies that made it necessary for him to reside there. He got around
this problem by obtaining a one-year permit to celebrate Mass at Incarnation Mo
nastery, a royal foundation not under the bishop's jurisdiction.[13] But in Febr
uary 1927 the bishop of Madrid successfully urged the bishop of Santiago de Comp

ostela to also revoke his faculties if he refused to return to his diocese, so t

hat the directives of the Holy See regarding extra-diocesan priests moving to th
e capital would not be treated as a joke. Now deprived of the faculty to say Mas
s, but still determined to stay in Madrid, Father Antonio promptly sought a posi
tion at the Provincial Hospice. In April he sent a formal request to the chancer
y office that his faculties be rein- stated for this purpose. The petition was d
enied.[14]
To function as a priest in a particular diocese, one must have authorization, or
"faculties," from its bishop. These faculties are the rights to hear confession
s, to preach, and to celebrate Mass, and may be granted either for a limited tim
e or permanently. If a priest lacks faculties, or they are revoked by the Church
authorities, his situation is critical. He cannot administer the sacraments lic
itly, and so cannot receive stipends and other sacrament-related offerings. This
was the dead-end in which Father Antonio Pensado found himself.
In May 1927 Father Josemara and Father Antonio struck up a friendship at the Larr
a Street residence, but they were comrades for a short time only, since Father A
ntonio soon found himself forced to leave Madrid.
Father Josemara had been at the residence for a month when word of his zeal, and
his desire to find an outlet for his ministry, reached the ears of Doa Luz Rodrig
uez Casanova, the foundress of the Apostolic Ladies. The problem was that he lac
ked permission to celebrate Mass in Madrid, other than at Saint Michael's. Doa Lu
z saw something special in him that made her want him appointed chaplain of the
church of the Foundation for the Sick; but first he would have to get that hardto-come-by diocesan permission. On June 10, therefore, he sent in the following
request:

Father Jos Ma. Escriv y Albs of the Diocese of Saragossa-with permission of his Ord
inary, granted on March 17, 1927-desiring to remain in this capital, at the Prie
sts' House at 3 Larra Street, for a period of two years, requests that Your Exce
llency deign to grant him the necessary authorization for celebrating the Holy S
acrifice of the Mass in the church of the Foundation for the Sick.
May God preserve Your Excellency for many years to come.
?Madrid, June 10, 1927.[15]

Later on, he said about the obtaining of these faculties: "The first time they w
ere granted me in the diocese of Madrid, at the request of Mother Luz Casanova t
hey were general, if I remember correctly: to celebrate, to absolve, and to prea
ch.?[16] The background of this transaction makes the influence of Doa Luz appear
all the more remarkable. An enterprising woman with a deep spiritual life, the
daughter of the Marchioness of Onteiro, she had founded the Congregation of Apos
tolic Ladies in 1924, in Madrid. The congregation's specific end was works of ch
arity and instruction among the poor.[17]
At that time the bishop of Madrid was Leopoldo Eijo y Garay. His life up to then
had been little different from the lives of other bishops of the time, but it i
s of particular interest to us because it was soon to become linked with that of
Father Josemara. Born in Vigo in 1878, he studied at the seminary in Seville and
the Gregorian University in Rome, and was ordained in 1900. He became bishop of
Tuy in 1914, bishop of Victoria in 1917, and bishop of the diocese of Madrid-Al
calti in 1923.[18] He was a very spiritual and cultured man, and his style of go
vernment showed it. An official letter of his concerning the situation of priest
s in Spain's capital gives an idea of his character. A member of the Roman Curia
, a cardinal, had interceded on behalf of a certain priest from outside the dioc
ese, Father Jernimo Muftoz, asking that he be granted faculties for Madrid. In re
ply, Bishop Leopoldo sent this handwritten memorandum, dated Madrid, February 18
, 1933:

I received the estimable letter of Your Eminence on the 9th of this month ...and
am honored to be able to provide the following information.
It has always been the wish of a great part of the Spanish clergy to come and li
ve in Madrid. There is no need for more priests here. In fact, there are already

more than there should be.

In fulfillment of my duty to comply with the wishes of the Sacred Congregation,
which does not want a crowding of extradiocesan priests into the great capitals,
I have always taken the utmost care to avoid granting faculties to those who wa
nt to move to Madrid without sufficient canonical reason to do so. ...
This constitutes a real cross in this diocese, where almost every day we have to
turn down four or five similar petitions. ...Father Jernimo Muftoz, of the dioce
se of Avila, is in that situation. The Count of Santa Engracia brought him here
to be his chaplain, and when he asked me to grant faculties to this priest, I to
ld him that I could not do so because the Holy See forbids me to. ...Now, then,
my humble request to the Sacred Congregation is that in the case of Father Mufto
z, as in that of all others who ask for the same thing, the Sacred Congregation
would deign to answer non expedire [do not proceed]. Otherwise, all of the extra
diocesan priests aspiring to live in Madrid will direct their petitions to the H
oly See, and if they are granted, half the clergy of Spain, especially in these
times we are living in, will come here, with really serious detriment to the dio
cese and the Church.[19]

Obviously Bishop Leopoldo was not afraid to speak his mind. The letter is striki
ngly firm and clear and is proof that he never gave in to any kind of pressure w
hen it came to enforcing the Holy See's restrictions on the granting of facultie
s. The permit he gave Father Josemara in 1927 was for only one year. Extensions w
ould be granted only very stingingly, through periodic negotiations with the cha
ncery office, which meant that the priest was in constant suspense and apprehens
ion. Against this backdrop one can appreciate the unstable situation of extradio
cesan priests in Madrid. Bare-bones entries in the diocesan "Books of Ministeria
l Faculties" hint at anxieties concealed between the lines. Thus on folio 53 of
book 8 we read:

Escriv Albas, Father Jose Maria.-SaragossaOn June 8,1927, one year Foundation for the Sick. On June 11, 1928, until March
22, 1929, plus give absolution. On March 23,1929, four months. On July 23,1929,
until the end of June 1930.

And on folio 55:

Escriv Albas.-Father Jose. Saragossa.

On July 15, 1930, six months Foundation plus hear confessions. On January 14,193
1, six months. On June 23,1931, one year Santa Barbara.[20]

The entries had to be brief, because priests kept pouring into the capital. In 1
927 the bishop had in his charge 533 extradiocesan priests and 648 diocesan ones
, and since the latter were spread through the whole province, the majority in t
he city proper did not belong to the diocese.[21]
Always extraordinarily faithful in complying with Church regulations, Father Jos
emara had to request an extension of his ministerial faculties from Saragossa, si
nce they were on the point of expiring. Also, to comply with canon 130 of the Co
de of Canon Law then in force which required that every priest take an examinati
on in sacred studies annually during the first three years after ordination, he
requested permission to have the examination given him by the rector of Saint Mi
chael's.[22]
The authorities in Saragossa granted the request. The chancery office assistant
secretary sent him a letter to this effect, and Father Santiago, rector of Saint
Michael's, gave the examination to the young priest.[23] He had him choose topi
cs in moral and dogmatic theology, and then administered a long written examinat
ion on those topics. In his evaluation, which he handed over to the examinee so
he could send it on to Saragossa, he set forth his reasons for giving him the hi
ghest possible mark.[24]
In a letter dated July 9, the priest received the ministerial licenses from Sara
gossa. His faculties were granted for one year. After that, they would be renewe

d annually until 1931, at which time they would be granted for five years. In 19
36 they were granted him generally and in perpetuity.[25] Father Josemara was alw
ays very diligent about keeping his residence permits current and thus keeping h
is dimissory and commendatory letters from Saragossa from being invalidated. All
these documents were needed to justify his presence in Madrid, outside his dioc
ese, and to enable him to exercise his ministry there. As will be seen, the chan
cery office books contain no record of the many annoyances these regulations cau
sed him. But compared to the sufferings that his situation as an extradiocesan p
riest in Madrid would bring him, those things were of little importance.

2. The residents at the Priests' House

To go from the lack of assignments at Saint Michael's to the chaplaincy of the F

oundation for the Sick was like going from starvation to surfeit. The Foundation
was the Apostolic Ladies' headquarters, and it had a public church attached to
it. During the summer of 1927 the chaplain entered little by little into the cha
ritable and apostolic activities of that institution, even though, at that time,
they were not part of his job. One of the Ladies explains:

The chaplain of the Foundation for the Sick was responsible for the religious se
rvices at the house: he was expected to say Mass every day, give Benediction, an
d lead the Rosary. His position did not require him to get involved in the addit
ional work being done from the Foundation among the poor and sick-in general, th
e needy--0f the Madrid of that time. Nevertheless, Father Josemara took advantage
of his position as chaplain to give of himself generously, sacrificially, and d
isinterestedly to the huge number of poor and sick who came within reach of his
priestly heart.[26]

Following the example of the other young residents at the Larra Street residence
, which was near the Foundation, Father Josemara soon was taking care of small re
pairs and doing a multitude of favors for his confreres. Summer vacation began a
few weeks after his arrival, and some of the priests left Madrid. In the summer
of 1927 there were not many permanent residents at Larra Street, but priests pa
ssing through Madrid often spent a few days there. One of these visitors, Father
Joaquin Maria de Ayala, stayed four days, from June 15 to 19.[27] At the end of
the month, needing to ask a favor of someone in Madrid, he thought of the gener
ous spirit of service of that friendly Aragonese priest he had met there. Father
Joaquin was rector of the seminary in Cuenca; his age and position entitled him
to ask a favor of the young priest. He wrote Father Josemara from Alange, in Bad
ajoz, on June 30, beginning by invoking the all- powerful virtue of kindness and
its broad scope and then noting its "disadvantages." "One of these," he says, "
is the abuse of it which can be made by those upon whom it is exercised. The pro
of thereof is this letter. You were extremely kind to me when I had the pleasure
of being with you on the occasion of the Franciscan Congress, and now I am goin
g to abuse that kindness."[28]
He then proceeds to request that a cassock he had left behind to have the collar
repaired be picked up. And speaking of favors, could Father Josemara also be so
kind as to buy him some flints for his cigarette lighter, since one cannot get t
hese in Cuenca? He closes with greetings to the residents, "especially. ..Father
s Plans and Pensado."
Of Father Plans is known nothing, and of Father Antonio Pensado, not much more t
han what has already been mentioned. With the bishop of Madrid breathing down hi
s neck, he did finally return to Santiago de Compostela, and from there he wrote
on July 30 to his friend Father Josemara, asking him to tell Doa Aurora, who was
in charge of household services at the residence, that he had carried out the re
quest she had made to him. He was writing Father Josemara because he was the only
priest he knew for sure would be spending the summer there. "I suppose," he say
s, "that you are almost alone in that house, since the ones on summer vacation h
ave already left. Of course, the number of those passing through has probably in
creased."[29]

Of the correspondence from the summer of 1927 there also remains a letter from F
ather Prudencio Cancer, dated July 19, replying to one from Father Josemara. The
young priest had evidently learned very soon to trust exclusively in God's help
and not in recommendations from human beings, including fellow clergymen. From h
is questions and conjectures, one can tell that the Claretian is full of curiosi
ty in the face of the discreet silence of his former protege. He writes:

Your silence had me worried. How must things be going in Madrid for that poor li
ttle priest who doesn't tell me anything? You must be going through a bleak time
, a very bleak time.
Your last letter reassured me somewhat. However, ... it seems to me that you are
keeping a lot from me, to keep me from worrying.
I would have thought that by this time you would have already found something mo
re than the chaplaincy of the pontifical church-maybe some tutoring, or a teachi
ng position at an educational center; a job as an assistant to some important la
wyer; some supplementary work, helping out in a parish or at a religious house.
Of this you tell me nothing, nor of your reception by or relations with the nunc
io, nor of the efforts of Father Ramonet, who is so experienced, so worldly-wise
, and so well-connected, nor of your situation with respect to the diocesan bish
op, to the seminary, to your prelate in Saragossa. Have you by any chance comple
tely left the pontifical church in order to serve Doa Luz Casanova?..
I was thinking that by now you would already have some chancery position, with a
professorship attached, provided by some well-placed friend of Father Ramonet.
...Let's see if we can get together soon.[30]

In his letters to his family, Father Josemara informed them of the efforts he was
making. He tried to lift their spirits, but was still in no position to think o
f bringing them to Madrid. Even from that distance, however, they could feel the
tender- ness of his love. Santiago remembers how each week his big brother woul
d send him the same children's magazines that Don Jose had bought for Josemara wh
en he was little and the family was living in Barbastro.[31]
Father Josemara stayed at the Larra Street residence from May through November of
1927. Although it was only six months, his stay is well remembered by two of th
e priests who then made up the group of "the youngsters: 'Avelino G6mez Ledo and
Fidel Gmez Colomo. Living under the same roof with older, and sometimes elderly,
priests, notes Father Avelino, demanded "a special patience and understanding,
of which Father Josemara set an example."[32] Now elderly themselves, Father Fide
l describes him as "a cordial, transparent, loyal person,"[33] while Father Avel
ino highlights a particular indication of his human warmth and priestly sensibil
ity: namely, that he remembered him on his feast day; Saint Andrew Avelino was n
ot very popular in Spain, and most people did not know when his feast day was. F
ather Josemara was the only one to congratulate Father Avelino, and he did so "af
fectionately and supematurally."[34]
The Foundation for the Sick ran many charitable programs. The Larra Street resid
ents were only marginally involved in that apostolate, with one notable exceptio
n: the young chaplain. By the end of the summer he was fully immersed in those w
orks of mercy. Father Fidel points out that he was never ostentatious about it,
but that with his natural friendliness and apostolic enthusiasm he did try to ge
t other priests to come with him on visits to the poor and sick in the slums. Ob
viously he had some success, because Father Avelino recalls: "I remember how one
day, in one of those slums, Father Josemara took in his arms a little boy who wa
s dirty and covered with sores, and gave him a couple of kisses."[35]
The residents celebrated Mass in the morning at different hours and in different
places, and in the afternoon they usually worked at different parishes or chape
ls or carried out other diverse duties. The only time they came together was for
the midday meal. But after eating they spent some time just talking, and in the
se get-togethers they touched on all sorts of subjects. The young priest took ad
vantage of these occasions to inject some apostolic fervor into the conversation
or give an interesting twist to some news in the paper.
In one of those conversations, says Father Fidel, "we were discussing some event

that I don't now recall, and he commented to me that we needed also to do apost
olate with intellectuals, because, he said, they are like snow-covered mountain
peaks: when the snow melts, down comes the water that makes the valleys fruitful
. I have never forgotten this image that so well reflects that ideal of his of p
lacing Christ at the summit of all human activities."[36]
Father Avelino says the participants in these get-togethers were struck by "the
sincerity with which he spoke, and especially by his cheerfulness, which reflect
ed not just his youth (he was then twenty-five), but an inner joy-that of a prie
stly vocation lived totally from a supernatural outlook."[37]
So, despite his problems, the young chaplain was not "going through a bleak time
," as Father Prudencio imagined. On the contrary he was enjoying a splendid opti
mism which for him was like a second nature, because, as he would later write, h
e found himself under the influence of "those inspirations, those impulses of gr
ace, that wanting something while not yet knowing what it was."[38] Without know
ing where he was going, and without feeling too wearied by the journey, he press
ed forward, repeating, as he had for nine long years, "Domine, ut videarn!?

3. TheCicu ndez Academy

In November 1927 Father Josemara rented a small apartment at 46 Fernando el Cat6l

ico, not far from the Foundation for the Sick. Now, at last, the Escrivs could be
reunited. This good news also cheered up Father Cancer. On December 9, from Seg
ovia, he wrote: "I was overjoyed by your letter. My congratulations to your moth
er and brother and sister. Always trust in the Lord."[39] Wanting to lift their
spirits, he then proffered some wholesome spiritual considerations.
The Lord, in his mercy, gave them no hint of the tribulations to come. For the t
hird time the Escrivs reorganized their life in a strange city, not knowing that
they had put themselves in the very eye of a tempest that was on the verge of br
eaking out. After a long period of national stability under the Constitution of
1876, tensions began to simmer. Social, labor-related, and economic problems, to
gether with a malaise in the army, led in 1923 to the establishment of the dicta
torship of General Primo de Rivera. Within a short time order was restored, the
conflict in Morocco was resolved, public works were initiated, the peseta was st
rengthened, and the standard of living was raised-but at the cost of political a
nd civil liberties.
The Primo de Rivera regime enjoyed a brief period of popularity, but after seven
years this was exhausted; and when the first economic disasters came, the gener
al had to resign. The dictatorship apparatus now had no governmental basis, and
so in 1930 the monarchy entered a dead-end street.[40] But that is getting ahead
of the story. ...
The Escrivs were barely settled in Madrid when Father Josemara found himself once a
gain caught up in the grind of teaching. As he had done in Saragossa, he was giv
ing private lessons under the watchful eyes of Doa Dolores. Santiago recalls that
first home in Madrid: "Josemara gave several private classes, some in the apartm
ent on Fernando el Cat6lico. A girl came there to take a class, and Josemara saw
to it that my mother was always present, sewing. He also gave classes to some bo
ys, older than me, whom we called 'the great-aunt's boys' because they were acco
mpanied by a very nice great-aunt, whose name I don't recall."[41]
So, too, taking the place of the Amado Institute was the Cicuendez Academy, wher
e he taught Roman law and the fundamentals of canon law, just as he had in Sarag
ossa. But there were also significant differences. In an advertisement placed in
the newspaper ABC in 1918, the Cicuendez Academy is described as "Specializing
in law: A study center, with boarding facilities, directed by priests."[42] The
bylaws stated that the object of the Academy was "to be a private school of juri
dical studies, providing painstaking preparation for the legal profession alone.
" Its director and owner was Don Jose Cicuendez, a priest and lawyer with a lice
ntiate in theology.[43]
The Academy occupied the first floor of a building at 52 San Bernardo, at the co
rner of Del Fez, close to Universidad Central and well known to the university's
students. As a professor, Father Josemara raised the prestige of the Academy. In

his classes, he did not remain on the theoretical level but tried by practical
examples and real-life cases to fix the lessons in students' minds. He was profo
und, but also pleasant. One of his students, Mariano Trueba, says that they alwa
ys looked for- ward to his classes "because the atmosphere there was so nice and
family-like."[44]
Still, he was demanding in his educational work and eager to get the most out of
his students. As he had done with his students at the Amado Institute in Sarago
ssa, he proposed that they study the canons in the Latin text known as the Codex
. This suggestion was greeted with skepticism, the students' weakness in Latin b
eing notorious. But months later, they discovered to their surprise that, thanks
to Father Josemara's teaching method, they had acquired a certain fluency in Lat
in.[45]
His former students speak eloquently of his conduct and character. "He was very
pleasant, down-to-earth, and fatherly," says Manuel G6mez-Alonso. "It was easy t
o make friends with him, and so, quite often, when classes were over, I would wa
lk with him part of the way back to his home.[46] "Julin Cort s Cavanillas says tha
t the students "felt drawn to this professor be- cause he was such a good teache
r, and also because he was so human and priestly."[47]
For the most part, the students at the academy were boys who for one reason or a
nother were not able to attend classes at the law school. Nonetheless, they coul
d enroll at the university as unofficial students. Often they would take the exa
ms given in September, since that gave them the summer vacation as study time. F
ather Josemara took a truly paternal interest in them. We know from a letter from
his own former professor of Roman law that Father Josemara did not hesitate to a
sk him to send notes and syllabuses from Saragossa. A group of students at the A
cademy had to go to Saragossa to take their Roman law, history of law, and polit
ical economy exams, and Father Pou de Foxii made the arrangements for them. His
letter, dated June 27,1928, reads: "Dear Jose Maria: I received your letter of t
he 21st. ...I think we can register your students here for the three subjects yo
u indicate. I'm sending you the three sets of notes, background information, and
syllabus. ...Affectionate greetings to your mother, sister, and brother."[48]
Among those taking classes at the Academy was an older man, a good father of a f
amily, who was trying to earn a university degree to improve his financial situa
tion. His professional work took so much out of him that he ended his work- day
exhausted and with hardly any time left for his family and for studies. Father J
osemara felt a special compassion for him, perhaps seeing in him a reflection of
what he himself had gone through in Saragossa. And so, out of pity and a feeling
of kinship, he gave him extra classes, receiving nothing in return except the s
atisfaction of seeing him get his degree.[49]
From the director to the office boy, there was a good rapport among everyone who
worked at the Academy. Indeed, the office boy, whose name was Jose Margallo, ha
s a small part in this story. Father Josemara saved a little sheet of paper from
him with a Christmas greeting and the signature, "The Academy Office Boy."[50]
The young priest was always trying to cultivate good relations with everyone for
apostolic purposes. He devoted time each day to writing letters and sending or
giving greetings for special occasions. For example, on March 18, 1930, he went
to congratulate the director of the Academy, Father Jose Cicuendez, on the occas
ion of the feast day of his patron saint, Saint Joseph, the day itself (March 19
) being a holiday. Father Cicuendez accepted the greeting with pleasure, and onl
y later remembered that Saint Joseph was also one of Father Josemara's patron sai
nts. Since Father Josemara had already left, the director sent him the following
note the next day:

My dear friend:

Yesterday you came by to congratulate me. ...When you were already out the door
and I was talking with Chacn, I suddenly remembered that there was another Jose b
esides myself, and I called out to you two or three times, but you didn't hear m
e. The prayer that you said you offered for me in your Mass has kept resounding
in my ears, so I have not forgotten to pray for you at Mass; "oremus pro invicem

ut salvemini" ["let us pray for each other that we may be saved"]. My most cord
ial felicitations. ...

?Madrid, March 19, 1930.[51]

* * *

Father Josemara's first year of teaching at the Academy was 1927-1928. His contra
ct was renewed annually until perhaps 1933.[52] He gave his classes during the a
fternoon, with the rest of his day being taken up with priestly duties and other
activities connected with his being chaplain of the Foundation. Even during the
bits of free time between classes, he did apostolate with the students. Mariano
Trueba describes him as "a dynamic man, with a robust appearance and good color
in his face, very straightforward, with a desire to get involved in everyone's
life."[53]
At the end of the school day, some of the students would accompany him part of t
he way home, discussing all kinds of subjects with him. One day one of them comp
lained that it was impossible to go on believing when so many priests were makin
g a mockery of religion by living double lives, negating what they preached in p
ublic by what they did in private. Father Josemara responded with a beautiful met
aphor. The priesthood, he said, is a priceless liqueur which can be put into ves
sels either of porcelain or of clay.[54]
His interior dispositions were so transparent to his students that, while observ
ing the distance proper to the teacher-student relationship, they treated him as
a friend and companion. They were also very impressed by the neatness of his ap
pearance and elegance of his manners. And so that they were greatly surprised wh
en he showed up in class one day with white splotches all over his cassock. They
insisted on hearing what had happened, says Mariano Trueba, so he told them. He
was just stepping into the streetcar when he saw coming toward him a constructi
on worker, overalls covered with lime, whose malicious intent the priest could s
ee in his eyes. Beating him to the punch, he gave him a big hug, saying in a dis
arming tone of voice, "Come here, my son, coat me with as much of that stuff as
you like! Are you pleased with the effect?"[55]
"In my heart," says Mariano Trueba, "I felt that that was something that could o
nly have happened if Father Josemara was a saint, and I said so to my companions.
"[56]
They were even more astonished by a comment by one of the professors at the Acad
emy. Apparently that young priest distinguished and professorial as he appeared,
interspersed his lectures on the Codex and on Roman law with visits to the poor
and the sick in the slums. They only half believed it and placed bets on whethe
r it was true or not. Following him secretly, some of the students found themsel
ves in the extreme north of the city, in the slum of Tetuan de las Victorias; an
d on another day, in the slum area of the town of Vallecas, in the south.[57]

4. The Foundation for the Sick

The Foundation for the Sick, of which Father Josemara was head chaplain, was at 1
3 Santa Engracia Street. (The assistant chaplain was Father Norberto Rodriguez G
arcia.) The building had been constructed with the idea that it would be the hea
dquarters of the foundation established by Doa Luz Rodriguez Casanova. The constr
uction records include a statement of the principles inspiring its architectural
plan: "It should be simple but well made, without decorative extravagances but
with authenticity and permanence, as charity should be, for that is the principa
l idea behind this building."[58] The result was a solid and simple building com
bining brickwork with stone masonry, and featuring a cheerful and beautiful arra
ngement of glazed tiles from Talavera.
The Foundation for the Sick was based on charity, and from that solid trunk shot
out various branches in which nested a multitude of charitable and apostolic wo
rks: the Work of Preservation of the Faith in Spain, the Work of the Holy Family
, the Charity Dining Halls, the Protection Society, the Saint Joseph Clothes Dis

tribution Center, and so on.[59] The young chaplain laughingly summed it up by s

aying: "The work of Doa Luz is the fourteen works of mercy."[60]
The Foundation for the Sick waged war on ignorance and misery, through schools,
soup kitchens, clinics, chapels, and catechetical programs scattered all through
Madrid and the surrounding areas. On the ground floor of Santa Engracia there w
as a public dining room, and on the second floor, a twenty- bed infirmary. The p
arlors and bedrooms of the Foundation looked out onto a large courtyard with a p
ublic church attached. There, early each morning, the chaplain said Mass, celebr
ating it, says one of the Apostolic Ladies, "thoughtfully and devoutly, taking u
p to three quarters of an hour."[61] (Later, out of consideration for the congre
gation, he tried to keep it to half an hour, and for this purpose would place hi
s watch on the altar.) Pedro Rocamora, a law student who sometimes served him at
the altar, says that when he celebrated Mass, "there came about in him a kind o
f transfiguration."

I am not exaggerating. For him the liturgy was not a formal act but a transcende
nt one. Each word held a profound meaning and was uttered in a heartfelt tone of
voice. He savored the concepts. At that time many of us knew the Latin Mass by
heart, and so I could follow one by one the words of the liturgy. Josemara seemed
detached from his human surroundings and, as it were, tied by invisible cords t
o the divine. This phenomenon peaked at the moment of Consecration. At that inst
ant something strange happened in which Josemara seemed to be disconnected from t
he physical things around him (the church, the sanctuary, the altar) and to be c
atching sight of mysterious and remote heavenly horizons.[62]

When the altar servers returned to the sacristy, and the intensity of the Mass w
as relaxed, tears came to their eyes.
One of the altar servers, Emilio Caramazana, a seminarian, served Father Josemara
's Mass during his summer vacations, in August of 1927, 1928, and 1929. He was s
truck by ?the exquisite way? this priest performed the liturgy. One could see, h
e says, that he was ?very absorbed, lost in thought, especially during the Canon
," but despite his obvious immersion in the Mass, "he enunciated the prayers ver
y well. One could understand his Latin from the very back of the chapel, which w
as fairly large."[63] His piety kept his altar servers awake and attentive.
Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, then a young student living with his parents near t
he Foundation, mentions that at home they called the chaplain "the boy priest,"
because of his youthful appearance and contagious cheerfulness, and because they
didn't know his name.[64]
On weekdays the Mass in the chapel was attended by Catholics of the neighborhood
and some of the poor and sick who lived at the Foundation. On weekends and on h
oly days of obligation, however, the chapel was packed, and to make room for eve
rybody the partition separating it from the dining room had to be removed. Every
one listened enthusiastically to the chaplain's homilies, which were simple but
well prepared. Maria Vicenta Reyero, one of the Apostolic Ladies, says that Fath
er Josemara "was a serious and rigorous preacher and catechist."[65]
Another of the Ladies, Asuncion Mufioz, recalls that after Mass he would teach c
atechism to, and speak with, young and old alike, "always ready to listen to the
m and to resolve their doubts and difficulties." The chaplain, she says, made a
habit of walking through the dining room to get to know everyone. He cared about
everyone's problems and "what was inside of each person. He was a friend and a
holy priest."[66]
There were all kinds of activities went at the Foundation on weekends. As a prel
ude to his other pastoral ministrations, the chaplain started off in the confess
ional. On Saturdays the poor and sick from the surrounding neighborhoods came to
Santa Engracia-that is, those whose ailments did not prevent them from getting
there--for physical and spiritual care in the clinic and the chapel. On Sundays,
it was the turn of the boys and girls of the schools that the Apostolic Ladies
conducted. They all gathered at Santa Engracia, and Father Josemara heard their c
onfessions. So many people showed up there on the weekends that one of the Ladie
s' lay auxiliaries remembers that a cousin of hers, Pilar Santos, "upon seeing t

he number of sick persons who were tended to, or of children who came for confes
sion or to make their First Communion, used to say, 'Here at the Foundation, eve
rything is done by the ton.'?[67]
In 1928, these were the actual numbers: 4,251 sick persons tended to; 3,168 conf
essions; 483 anointing of the sick; 1,251 weddings; 147 baptisms.[68] But beyond
that, it took more than one meeting-in fact, it took a lot of persuasion and Ch
ristian struggle-to prepare people who had lived in an irregular situation for y
ears for sacramental marriage, or to get individuals who had been away from the
Church for years to go to confession. The bare statistics leave all that out.
Father Josemara voluntarily involved himself in the charitable works of the Found
ation. First he took part in the works of doctrinal formation, such as the Work
of the Holy Family, which were carried on at Santa Engracia.[69] Then, little by
little, he became involved also in some of the activities that took place outsi
de of that center. Among these was the Ladies' pet project, the Work of Preserva
tion of the Faith in Spain, which they themselves described as "difficult, thank
less, costly, and consequently a great struggle."[70] This was an apostolate car
ried out on the streets of the slums to combat the blatant anti- Catholic propag
anda that was rapidly spreading in the poorer areas of Madrid. Sheds serving as
secular or anti-Catholic schools were cropping up overnight. The Ladies accepted
the challenge and started up schools in the same neighborhoods, adopting the ot
her side's tactics in an effort to keep them from seducing the tender souls of c
hildren.
By 1928 the Ladies had fifty-eight schools in Madrid, with a total of 14,000 chi
ldren. (To a certain extent, these numbers reflect that apostolic competition in
the face of the growth of anti- Catholic schools.) Indirectly, therefore, witho
ut being part of his job description, it became the chaplain's responsibility to
prepare some 4,000 children a year for First Communion. This eucharistic catech
esis consisted in three days of in-depth explaining of what is involved in the r
eception of the Sacrament and chatting with each child to evaluate his or her un
derstanding and dispositions.[71]
Father Josemara did not, of course, go to all fifty-eight schools individually. C
hildren who lived not too far from the Foundation came to Santa Engracia for Mas
s, confession, and catechesis. But in the outlying areas there were six other sm
all churches or chapels dependent on the Apostolic Ladies, and none of these had
a priest assigned to it; and so the chaplain took care of them too.[72] "He was
very good," says one of the Ladies' auxiliaries. "He was always available for a
nything and everything-never caused us any problems."[73] He himself would never
forget all the time he spent hearing the confessions of those poor children.

[I went for] hours and hours all over the place, every day, on foot, from one ar
ea to another, among poor people ashamed of their poverty and poor people too mi
serable to be ashamed, who had nothing at all; among children with runny noses-d
irty, but children, which means souls pleasing to God. How indignant I feel in m
y priestly soul when they say now that small children could not go to confession
! That's not true! They should make their personal confession, speaking one on o
ne to the priest in secret, just like everyone else. What good, what joy it brin
gs them! I spent many hours in that work, and I'm only sorry that it was not mor
e.[74]

* * *

Many poor people came to Santa Engracia, either to be treated in the clinic or a
dmitted to the infirmary; but the Ladies and their auxiliaries also traveled the
streets of Madrid visiting the sick and dying, while trying to alleviate the sp
iritual misery of people lacking the most elementary religious instruction.
To fully appreciate the apostolic zeal of the young chaplain, one must consider
not only the activities already mentioned but also his visits to homes. Sometime
s the help of the priest was in- dispensable and urgently needed-to hear a confe
ssion, or perform a wedding, or prepare someone for a good death. Besides being
on call for emergencies, which came up all the time, Father Josemara also had fix

ed times for regular visits. On the eve of every First Friday, he went to the ho
mes of many sick people to hear their confessions, and next day brought them Com
munion. In the other weeks he made a eucharistic round on Thursday, in a car len
t him by Doa Luz Casanova; on other days he made his visits by streetcar or on fo
ot.[75] Many of the sick lived in remote or hard-to-find places. But distances w
ere never a problem for him. Without waiting to be asked, he cheerfully went fro
m one end of Madrid to the other. It was all the same to him, says Josefina Sant
os, whether he "brought Communion to the sick who lived in Tetuan de las Victori
as or to those in the area of Paseo de Extremadura, or in Magin Calvo, or in Val
lecas, Lavapies, San Millan, Lucero, or Ribera del Manzanares."*[76]
Ordinarily he took no time off. His hours were overloaded with pressing tasks. B
efore or after classes at the Academy, he would go see some sick person. Asuncio
n Mufioz, the Apostolic Lady in charge of emergencies and particularly difficult
cases, gives this testimony: "Often it was necessary to regularize their situat
ion, get them married, solve urgent social or moral problems, help them in all s
orts of ways. Father Josemara pitched into everything, at whatever hour, with con
stancy, with dedication, with not the least sign of being in a hurry to get it o
ver with, but as someone fulfilling his vocation, his sacred ministry of love. A
nd so, with Father Josemara, we were sure of help at all times. He would always g
ive people the sacraments, and so we did not have to bother the parish priest at
inopportune times."[77]
His graciousness in accepting assignments made it a certainty that he would be d
eluged with tasks. He took them with a smile and, in the words of one Apostolic
Lady, carried them out " gladly, with pleasure, light heartedly, promptly, witho
ut making any objection." The fact was, says another, that "the sick were for hi
m a treasure: he carried them in his heart."[78]
On one occasion one of the Apostolic Ladies was deeply concerned about a dying m
an who had a history of being rabidly anticlerical. She went to Father Josemara,
thinking that he might be able to do something, even though the man had al- read
y lapsed into a coma. "When I got near the house of this poor man," the chaplain
relates, "when I got to his street (Cardinal Cisneros), I remembered how, when
they gave me the note about him, I protested, saying, 'It's crazy to think I can
do anything. If he's delirious, what chance is there that I'll find him in any
condition to go to confession? But, all right, I'll go and I'll give him conditi
onal absolution.' "
Following his " custom of saying something to the Virgin Mary when going to visi
t each sick person," he recited a Memorare, asking that the dying man be able to
receive unconditional absolution. When he reached the house, the neighbors told
him there was nothing he could do. A priest from the parish had just been there
, and had had to leave without hearing the man's confession, since he had not re
- gained consciousness.
Undeterred, the chaplain called the old man by name.

"Pepe!"
Immediately he gave me a very favorable response. "Would you like to go to confe
ssion?"
"Yes," he told me.
I threw everybody else out. He went to confession- with me helping him a lot, na
turally-and received absolution.[79]

Margarita Alvarado says of Father Josemara, "We liked him a lot and were always h
appy to be with him, because he always solved our problems." Asuncion Mufioz not
es that if a delicate situation arose--if a sick person in danger of death refus
ed the sacraments-the case was turned over to him, in the certainty that "he wou
ld gain the good will of that person and open to them the gates of heaven.?[80]
One such situation involved a critically ill man of whom the religious of the Fo
undation had anxiously told the chaplain because he refused to see a priest. Fat
her Josemara recorded what happened next with that dying, stubborn sinner:

I came to the man's house. With holy, apostolic shamelessness, I sent his wife o

utside and was then alone with the poor man. "Father, those women from the Found
ation are such nuisances, so impertinent. Especially one of them. ..." (He was t
alking about Pilar, who could be canonized!) "You're right," I told him. And the
n I was quiet, so that he could go on talking. "She told me I should go to confe
ssion... because I am dying. Well, I will die, but I will not go to confession!"
Then I said, "Up to now I haven't said anything to you about confession, but te
ll me, why don't you want to go to confession?" "When I was seventeen I swore th
at I would never again go to confession, and I have kept that promise." That's w
hat he said. And he told me also that not even when he got married- the man was
about fifty years old-had he gone to confession. ...About fifteen minutes after
saying all this, he went to confession, in tears.[81]

God's grace never failed to do its work among the hundreds of sick people whom h
e had to attend during his years as chaplain. "I can't remember a single case,"
says Asuncion Mufioz, "in which we failed in our effort."[82] Such a categorical
statement is hard to believe. But the chaplain himself reports that in his visi
ts to the sick during his time at the Foundation, "by the grace of God we always
managed to have everyone go to confession before they died."[83]
The usual practice was that he was given a sheet of paper with the day's date an
d the names and addresses of the sick to be visited. And as can be seen from the
sheets that have been preserved, the priest, who was always short of time, woul
d study the list and rearrange it, to come up with an efficient and economical p
lan of travel. Those lists, which usually included five or six names, called for
hiking for several miles through inhospitable neighborhoods, sloshing through m
ud in the winter, trekking through dust clouds in the summer, stepping in manure
, and tromping through piles of garbage. Many trips started in the center of the
city and wound up in the outskirts, among ragged rows of shacks, built with no
particular order or plan. There are pages that give the addresses but not the na
mes of the sick persons. In other cases the addresses are not complete. And in o
thers the trajectory looks like that of a knight on a chessboard.
Some of the lists are incredible. The one for March 17, 1928, a day devoted to t
he hearing of sick people's confessions, has thirteen names. The distances are a
mazing. The addresses go from downtown Madrid (the embassy area) to the neighbor
hood of Delicias in the south, then to Ribera de Curtidores, and from there way
over to Francos Rodriguez, in the area now known as Tetuan de las Victorias, in
the northern part of Madrid. Walks of more than six miles were not unusual.
The page for July 4, 1928, is typical. It does not give the name of sick person
no.6, but does say where this person can be found: "10 Zarzal, the Chamartin roa
d, a little before you get there, right-hand side, where there's a gas tank." Th
e priest must have had a problem with these directions, because there is added i
n his own writing, "First there's a fish market." It seems probable, given the k
inds of notes he added and the corrections he later made of names and addresses,
that he kept the sheets to help him in making subsequent visits.[84]
After reading the list, the young chaplain went on foot or by streetcar even to
the outlying districts of the capital, often crossing the whole Madrid area from
one end to the other in search of these sick or dying souls. With all this exer
cise, his shoes wore out very quickly. His joy, on the other hand, grew in propo
rtion to the increase of his pastoral duties.
To God's grace, which he had in abundance, Father Josemara united a lot of astute
ness. As Maria Vicenta Reyero observes, everyone was happy, "and the sick people
whom we visited at home asked that he, and no one else, come back to hear their
confessions."[85] When complications arose, the Ladies would always call on the
chaplain, as is suggested by this note on the sheet for February 2, 1928: "He h
as serious problems, and wants to go to confession. It would be good for Father
Jose Maria to go out there."[86]
Sometimes out on the street he would run into emergency situations not included
on the list. One day he was walking by Retiro Park, which is not far from the zo
o. A zoo attendant who had just been mauled by a bear was being rushed into a fi
rst- aid station. The chaplain managed to get in just behind him. The man commun
icated by signs that he wanted to go to confession, and was absolved then and th

ere.[87]
These were years of exhausting work that tested to the limit not only his streng
th and stamina but also the endurance of his stomach, for often all he could off
er the beggars who asked alms on the street was the sandwich he had brought alon
g for lunch.[88] But at the end of the day, when the Ladies passed by the chapel
, they would see the chaplain kneeling at the altar, head in hands, praying besi
de the tabernacle for hours.[89]
Among the notes from the Foundation for the Sick which Father Josemara saved, is
one written in large, bold letters, unmistakably by the chaplain: Fac, ut sit! (
"Do it, let it be!").[90] Through all those months of 1927 and 1928, the young p
riest kept pleading for the accomplishment of the divine ideal that he was glimp
sing in his supernatural presentiments. He also received divine locutions announ
cing the imminent approach of that something he desired so ardently.*[91] With a
postolic longings burning inside him, he sang out at the top of his lungs, as he
himself tells us:

When I had presentiments that our Lord wanted something and I didn't yet know wh
at it was, I said-shouting, singing, whatever way I could!-some words that surel
y, if I did not pronounce them with my mouth, I savored in my heart: Ignem veni
mittere in terram, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur!-"I came to cast fire upon th
e earth; and would that it were already kindled!" (Lk 12:49). And this answer: E
cce ego, quia vocasti me! -"Here I am, for you called me!" (1 Sam 3:5).[92]

The walls of the apartment on Fernando el Cat6lico reverberated with his songs.
And his little brother, Santiago, who heard him and didn't want to be left out,
would try to sing the same verses, butchering the Latin.[93]
Those words of our Lord, recorded by Saint Luke, filled many hours of meditation
for the young priest. Undoubtedly they caused him a special tension of soul, ju
gging by the tone of voice in which he describes the interior commotion he felt.
Fire, in Sacred Scripture is a symbol of God's ardent love, come down from heav
en to earth to enkindle human beings. From the urgency and insistence with which
Father Josemara kept repeating that cry uttered by our Lord, it is obvious that
he resonated with its words and fully identified with God's desire to offer his
love to all people. He saw the redemption as a marvelous divine adventure to be
completed in history, an adventure which demands on our part a radical commitmen
t to unite ourselves with Christ, to try to feel as he did toward all humanity,
and to take up his redeeming cross.
Father Josemara first jotted down such inspirations on loose sheets of paper, and
then gleaned from them practical suggestions or apostolic orientations, which h
e entered in a notebook. Unfortunately in looking around him, he did not need hi
s wealth of pastoral experience to note a lack of unity of purpose and integrati
on in souls. He saw with sorrow that the beliefs of many Christians were, in ter
ms of actual practice, unconnected with their persona4 familial, and social live
s. Nor was there anywhere offered to the faithful the possibility of developing
a life that was fully Christian in all its dimensions. As for infusing society w
ith the fire of Christ, that task had been put on the shelf.
In fact, the historical process was moving in the opposite direction. On all sid
es there were attempts to eject God from society and relegate him to the churche
s or to a corner of the individual's consciousness. As Father Josemara would late
r put it, " Apostolate was conceived of as a different kind of act, an act separ
ate from the normal actions of everyday life-certain methods, organizations, adv
ertising campaigns, and so forth, superimposed on one's familial and professiona
l obligations (sometimes preventing one from carrying out these obligations perf
ectly) and constituting a separate world, one not rooted in or interwoven with t
he rest of one's existence."[94]
For directing souls to God, was there perhaps a way of proceeding that took seri
ously the universal invitation to love? Was it possible to Christianize society
and apostolically rouse the world? Inspirations darted through Father Josemara's
mind like arrows shot in the dark at an invisible target. The stream of illumina
tions given him by our Lord left in their wake, in his loose notes, answers to m

any of the problems he had thought of. Father Josemara knew that these answers ca
me not from his own understanding or reflections, but from a divine source.
Astounded by the lights he was receiving, and by the apostolic panoramas unfoldi
ng before his eyes, he promptly answered the Lord, "Here I am, for you called me
." He had been saying this since 1918, but now this "Ecce ego, quia vocasti me!"
had a special resonance. It was a new way of telling the Lord that he was entir
ely at his disposal, awaiting that imminent something that he could tell was a l
oving plan of God for all humanity. He sensed that in some way he would playa ma
jor role in it, but what that role would be he could not yet imagine. As he woul
d later put it, " Although before October 2, 1928, I didn't know what it was, I
could vaguely make out a new foundation, which, it seemed, would not have any ve
ry specific purpose." [95]

5. October 2, 1928

The district of Chamberi, in which the Foundation for the Sick was located, was
a northward extension of the old downtown area of Madrid. Dominated by middle-cl
ass apartment buildings of four or five stories, it was an area of growth that s
till had large open spaces surrounding monasteries, mansions, and administrative
buildings. There were many tum-of- the-century brick structures of mixed style,
featuring Moorish adornments with Gothic traceries.
Doa Dolores' apartment was some distance from the Foundation and was in keeping w
ith the family's financial situation, which depended entirely on the income of F
ather Josemara. Needless to say, things were tight, though exactly how tight is n
ot known. One of the Apostolic Ladies offers the very conservative speculation t
hat the Escrivs "must not have been very prosperous, since they lived simply."[96
] The priest's income from teaching is unknown. But one fact from the summer of
1928 gives some idea of the straits the household was in.
On August 31 Father Josemara signed up for three courses needed for a doctorate i
n law which meant that he suddenly had to come up with 150 pesetas. Considering
the amount of money, one would hardly expect him to skip one of the exams. Never
theless, on September 15 he skipped the one for History of Spanish Juridical Lit
erature, taking (and passing) only the other two exams.
If he lacked time to study for the exam, or money to pay the fee to take it, how
could he have laid out those 150 pesetas.[97] Very likely they came not out of
his own pocket, but rather from the generosity of Father Jose Cicuendez, who kne
w that his professor of canon and Roman law was nearly broke.[98]
Once the September examinations were over, the university and the academies clos
ed for a couple of weeks before beginning the new term. Father Josemara, who usua
lly made a weeklong retreat each year, used this academic break for that purpose
. He made all the arrangements for going on a retreat for diocesan priests, incl
uding asking the assistant chaplain of the Foundation to cover for him.[99] The
Vincentians' headquarters, where the retreat was to be given, was near the Found
ation. It was a large, four-story brick building with simple and austere rooms o
pening into corridors, and with a large interior patio garden. Next to that buil
ding, at the corner where Garcia de Paredes Street begins, was Saint Vmcent de P
aul Church, now the Basilica of La Milagrosa (Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal),
built in 1904. Behind it was II a large kitchen garden-fertile, verdant, colorf
ul, and luxuriant-with various flower beds separated by walkways covered by leaf
y fruit and shade trees."[100] As the years went by, these enormous open spaces
of vegetable and flower gardens-which extended to Cuatro Caminos, alternating wi
th ancestral homes and built-up areas were eaten up by the city's expansion.
The retreat began on Sunday, September 30, and lasted through October 6. Father
Josemara arrived Sunday evening, bringing with him personal effects and a good st
ack of papers, including his loose notes on, among other things, the extraordina
ry graces that the Lord had been giving him for the past ten years, mainly in th
e form of inspirations and illuminations.[101]
Later he explained the origin and content of those notes, which afterward became
some of the entries in his journal (Apuntes intimas) that he called "Catherines
" (in Spanish, "Catalinas"), in honor of Saint Catherine of Siena. "I don't know

," he said, "if I have mentioned somewhere in the Catherines how these notes cam
e about. In case I haven't, I would like to put on record that I was at most eig
hteen, possibly younger, when I felt impelled to just start writing, without rhy
me or reason. ...Now I remember that this is spoken of in the early pages. Enoug
h, then."[102]
This explanation whets the appetite of curiosity but leaves it unsatisfied, sinc
e those "early pages" no longer exist. He transcribed them into the first notebo
ok of the Apuntes, the one he later burned. In it were recorded many events of a
supernatural character. Fearing, with good reason, that they might lead someone
reading them to consider him a saint, he decided to destroy them.[103] More tha
n anything else, they revealed the really extraordinary thing about his life: hi
s fidelity to his pre- sentiments of love, which proved to be, after ten long ye
ars of self-denying responsiveness to grace, truly heroic. His faith was giganti
c; his hope, unshakable; his love, superabundantly expressed in deeds. But, forg
etting the delay and his troubles, the young priest considered himself far more
than repaid with the graces he was receiving.
At this point the Lord, who had been preparing him from birth for the day when h
e could place in his hands a divine task capable of changing the course of histo
ry, deemed him mature enough. Father Josemara was only twenty-six years old, but
he had walked at the pace set for him by God, with no reservation or delay. And
the Lord did not let himself be outdone in generosity; in the midst of those pre
sentiments of love he kept filling him with graces. The young priest was conscio
us of the hidden working of the extraordinary gifts he was receiving, though not
of all of them. He was also aware of the serenity and cheerfulness he was commu
nicating to those around him, and of his gifts as a counselor and guide of souls
. He could see the hand of God in the fortitude with which he confronted adversi
ty, in the apostolic
effectiveness of his speech, in the docility with which all kinds of people--the
poor and sick of the Foundation, children preparing for First Communion, univer
sity students-responded to the warmth of his priestly ministry. It seemed as tho
ugh obstacles gave way as he approached, and were simply marking out his route t
oward what God wanted of him.
The cry Domine, ut videam! Domine, ut sit! brought him at last to the summit fro
m which he could see a divine plan- A plan that did not originate yesterday or t
en years ago, but in the eternity of God's love.

* * *

Six priests were making the retreat. Wake-up time was 5:00 A.M., and bedtime was
9:00 P.M. In between there were examinations of conscience, Mass, talks, the Di
vine Office....[104]
On the morning of Tuesday, October 2, feast of the guardian Angels, after celebr
ating Mass, Father Josemara was 11 his room, reading the notes he had brought wit
h him. Suddenly an extraordinary grace came over him, and he understood that our
Lord was responding to those insistent petitions, Domine, ut videam! and Domine
, ut sit!
He would always maintain a reserve about this event and especially its more pers
onal elements.[105] Three years later, he described the gist of it like this: "I
received an illumination about the entire Work, while I was reading those paper
s. Deeply moved, I knelt down-I was alone in my room, at a time between one talk
and the next-and gave thanks to our Lord, and I remember with a heart full of e
motion the ringing of the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels."[106]
Under the powerful and ineffable light of grace he was shown the Work as a whole
; "saw" is the word he always used when relating this event. This supernatural v
ision absorbed into itself all of the partial inspirations and illuminations of
the past, variously recorded in the individual notes he was then reading, and pr
ojected them toward the future with a new unity and fullness of meaning.[107]
These were moments of indescribable grandeur. As he prayed he saw displayed With
in his soul the historical panorama of human redemption, illuminated by God's lo
ve. At that moment, he comprehended in a way that could not be expressed in word

s the divine core of the exalted vocation of Christians who, in the midst of the
ir earthly tasks, are called to the sanctification of themselves and their work.
In this light he saw that the Work (as yet unnamed) was destined to promote the
divine plan of the universal call to holiness; that from Within its heart as an
instrument of God's Church would radiate the theological principles and superna
tural spirit needed for the renewal of peoples. With immense astonishment he und
erstood, deep in his soul, that that illumination was not only the answer to his
petitions, but also an invitation to accept a divine commission.
Immediately following that torrential outpouring of grace, he was invaded by the
special feeling of uneasiness that souls feel in the sovereign presence of the
Lord. But in the midst of that fear and apprehension, he heard in his soul a com
forting "Do not be afraid!" About this experience he later wrote:

Those are divine words of encouragement. In the Old Testament and in the New, Go
d and celestial beings spoke them to raise people out of their misery and dispos
e them for a dialogue of illumination and love, and for a confidence about thing
s that are seemingly impossible or so difficult that creatures cannot carry them
out. ...
I can assure you, my children, that those souls do not look or wish for the mani
festations of that extraordinary ordinary providence of God, and that they have
a profound awareness of not deserving it. I repeat to you once more that their s
entiments in the face of such things are feelings of fear, of terror. But afterw
ard our Lord's encouragement, Ne timeas! ["Do not be afraid!"], communicates to
them an indestructible security, sparks in them impulses of faithfulness and ded
ication, gives them clear ideas about how to fulfill his most lovable will, and
inflames them to hasten toward goals beyond merely human reach.[108]

Now disposed for "a dialogue of illumination and love," he burst into acts of th
anksgiving while feeling the "Domine, ut sit!" become more insistent than ever.
Now, before this panorama of total clarity, beyond premonitions and presentiment
s, he joyfully surrendered himself to his vocation as founder in order to bring
God's plan to fruition.[109]
Into the room, at this moment of prayer, flooded the jubilant sound of the peali
ng of the bells of Our Lady of the Angels, a church in the nearby neighborhood o
f Cuatro Caminos. That sound would stay with him forever. "Still resounding in m
y ears," he said in 1964, "are the bells of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels
, announcing the feast of its patroness."[110]

* * *

October 2, 1928, had a very precise meaning for the young priest: it was the dat
e of the foundation of Opus Dei. In all his accounts, he is very precise in the
language he uses to describe what happened. To avoid any ambiguity or possibilit
y of misinterpretation, he deliberately isolates the supernatural event from oth
er, merely personal circumstances. For instance: " And then came October 2, 1928
. I was making a retreat, because I had to, and it was then that Opus Dei came i
nto the world."[111]
The historical event was unforeseen and surprising. Although in a way it was the
begetting of a human enterprise, it was a product of God's entrance into histor
y. In one of his meditations, the founder put it in this impersonal way: "The Wo
rk burst into the world on that 2nd of October of 1928."[112]
Father Josemara was always unshakably clear that the Lord was protagonist of that
event, its principal author, the one who dominated the situation with his majes
ty and took the initiative, imperiously bursting into the soul of his servant. "
On that day," he says, "the Lord founded his Work; he started Opus Dei."[113]
Putting himself in the background, he avoided the use of the word "founder." He
always attributed to himself a secondary role, as recipient of that divine illum
ination, as one gratuitously chosen by the Lord, as one with whom the Lord chose
to playas a father plays with a little child. In the year he died, he said: "On
ce more was fulfilled what Scripture says: that that which is foolish, which is

worth nothing-which, one might say, almost doesn't exist-the Lord takes all that
and places it at his service. Thus he took that little child as his instrument.
"[114] And, more explicitly, he wrote in 1934: "The Work of God was not dreamed
up by a man. ...Many years ago our Lord gradually revealed it to an inept and de
af instrument, who saw it for the first time on the feast of the Holy Guardian A
ngels, the second of October of nineteen twenty-eight."[115] That illumination f
orever constituted for him the moment when the Work began. To him, October 2 was
the date of an invitation and of his response to that foundational call.[116] O
n one October 2 he said:

It is reasonable that I should say a few words to you today, when I begin a new
year of my vocation to Opus Dei. I know you're expecting it. But I must tell you
, children of my soul, that I feel a great difficulty, a sort of embarrassment,
about appearing in public on this day. It is not natural modesty; it is the cons
tant conviction, the clear-as- day obviousness, of my own unworthiness. Never ha
d it entered my head, before that moment that I should carry out a mission to hu
manity.[117]

October 2 was the milestone marking the exact historical moment in which the min
d of the founder was illuminated with a "clear general idea" of his mission.[118
] Surprisingly, another highly significant event was attached to that one: the i
nspirations that the young priest had been receiving with a certain regularity w
ere suddenly discontinued. As of October 2, 1928, it was as if the well had drie
d up at its source. "The first inspirations were over," he later wrote in his Ap
untes. That silence of God would continue until November 1929, when "there start
ed up again that special, very specific help from the Lord."[119]
The loose notes that the retreatant had brought to meditate on concerned ideas t
hat up to then had been disorganized. In the remaining days of the retreat he pu
t them in order, on the basis of the general illumination he had just received"
about the Work as a whole." That unitary vision of God's project gave new depth
to the earlier, fragmentary inspirations, and from that perspective of vast hist
orical dimensions "he' saw' Opus Dei just as our Lord wanted it and as it must b
e throughout the centuries."[120]
The notebook he destroyed contained all the foundation- related journal entries
written before March 1930. But what he had seen on October 2, 1928, never left h
is mind or heart. From then on, the light he had received from God about the uni
versal call to sanctity, and about seeking the fullness of Christian life in the
midst of the world and through professional work, made up the substance of his
preaching. He also began to draft documents that he would later present to his c
hildren in Opus Dei.
In the opening lines of the earliest of these writings, a long letter dated Marc
h 24,1930, the founder seems to be hearing a faint echo of that cry, Ignem veni
mittere in terram, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur? And telling the world of the
divine mission entrusted to him. "Our Lord's heart," he says, "is a heart of me
rcy which takes pity on people and draws close to them. Our dedication to the se
rvice of souls is a manifestation of that mercy of our Lord, not only toward our
selves, but also toward all of humanity. For he has called us to attain sanctity
in ordinary, everyday life."[121]
This universal can to Christian perfection is a clear proof of the infinite love
of the Lord, who "satisfies the desire of every living thing" (Ps 145:16). The
founder, therefore, proclaims aloud, in his own name and in the names of those t
o follow him, the daring and imperious words of one who has received a personal
mission from God of historic significance:

We must always keep in our sight the multitude, for there is no human being that
we are not to love, that we are not to try to help and to understand. Everyone
is of interest to us, because everyone has a soul to be saved, because we can br
ing to everyone, in the name of God, an invitation to seek Christian perfection
in the world, repeating to them, Estate erga vas perfecti, sicut et Pater vester
caelestis perfectus est: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Fat

her is perfect" (Mt 5:48).[122]

God does not discriminate among souls-he himself assures us of this-nor does he
make exceptions. Therefore, no one can offer the excuse of not having been invit
ed. Barriers and prejudices have fallen.

We have come to say, with the humility of those who know themselves to be sinner
s and of little worth-"Homo peccator sum" ["I am a sinful man"], we say with Sai
nt Peter (Lk 5:8)-but also with the faith of those who let themselves be guided
by the hand of God, that sanctity is not something for a privileged few; that ou
r Lord calls every one of us, that he expects love from everyone: from everyone,
no matter where they are; from everyone, whatever might be their state in life,
their profession, or their position. Because that ordinary, everyday life, with
nothing showy about it, can be a means of sanctity. It is not necessary to aban
don one's state in the world to seek God, if God does not give the soul a vocati
on to religious life, for every path of life can be the occasion of an encounter
with Christ.[123]

God meets people right where they are, usually without removing them from their
place: from the area they live in, the job they work at, the family situation th
ey are in. God awaits everyone in the little, ordinary things. The extraordinary
is rare; God must be found in ordinary, everyday tasks.

The extraordinary for us is the ordinary: the ordinary done with perfection. Alw
ays with a smile, ignoring-in a nice way-the things that bother us, that annoy u
s; being generous beyond measure. In a word, making our ordinary life a continuo
us prayer.[124]

There is always a hidden treasure in small things done with love and perfectionin difficulties and joys, in a job well done, in service to society or one's nei
ghbor. Professional work and social relations are the milieu and the matter that
Christians must sanctify; they must become saints in and through the fulfilling
of their family and civic obligations. The universal call to sanctity implies,
in other words, the sanctifying value of work offered to God and the Christian v
alue of secular activities-the reality that one can be detached from this world
without being absent from it, that mundane things can be used as a means for bec
oming sanctified, for becoming divinized.

In that ordinary life, as we go along through the world with our professional co
lleagues or coworkers (as the old Castilian saying goes, "every sheep with its m
ate," for such is our life), God our Father gives us the opportunity to exercise
ourselves in all the virtues: charity, fortitude, justice, sincerity, temperanc
e, poverty, humility, obedience....[125]

Thus the sciences and the arts, finance and politics, crafts and industry, house
work, and all other honorable fields of endeavor no longer are indifferent or "p
rofane." Any activity carried out in union with Christ-with an upright spirit of
sacrifice, love of neighbor, and perseverance, and with the intention of giving
glory to God-is thereby ennobled and endowed with spiritual value.
The founder wrote in his journal, "Christ our King has manifested his will." Lat
er, in a few short words, he summarized his whole teaching about how to attain s
anctity. We can do it, he says, by "being always in the world, in ordinary work,
in the duties of our own state in life, and there, by means of everything, sain
ts!"[126]
The essence or nucleus of this divine message about love and sanctification call
ed for an apostolic mission to spread this good news throughout the world, and a
foundation or institution to ensure the mission's continuity. On that October 2
, God gave Father Josemara both the mission and the means to carry it out. "From

that day," he tells us, "the mangy donkey was aware of the beautiful and heavy b
urden that the Lord, in his in- explicable goodness, had placed on his back. Tha
t day the Lord founded his Work."[127]
The burden was a beautiful one because the young priest was to be the herald of
a message for humanity as old and as new as the Gospel itself. But he saw himsel
f as, at best, a humble, worthless donkey upon whom a precious and very heavy lo
ad had suddenly been placed.

If you ask me how one recognizes a divine calling, how one comes to a realizatio
n of it, I will tell you that it is a new view of life. It's as if a light was l
it within us: it is a mysterious impulse which urges one to devote one's noblest
energies to an activity which, with practice, begins to take on the nature of a
n occupation. That vital force, which is something like an avalanche sweeping ev
erything before it, is what others call a vocation.
Vocation leads us, without our realizing it, to take up a position in life and m
aintain it with eagerness and joy and a fullness of hope right up to the very mo
ment of our death. It is a phenomenon which gives our work a sense of mission an
d which ennobles and gives value to our existence. Jesus, of his own accord, ent
ers the soul-yours, mine. ...That is the call.[128]

For more than ten years he had been praying for two things, and now they were a
reality. His "Domine, ut videam!" was answered when the divine plan for his life
, for the good of all humanity, was revealed to him. And from the moment when Go
d accepted him as his instrument for realizing the Work, " an entity with a divi
ne core," he had his reply to his Domine, ut sit!

Jesus undoubtedly wanted me to cry out from my darkness like the blind man in th
e Gospel. And I did cry out, for years, without knowing what it was that I was a
sking for. Often I shouted out the prayer Ut sit! which seemed like a request fo
r a new being. ...
And the Lord gave light to the eyes of the blind man, in spite of himself (the b
lind man), and announced the coming of an entity with a divine core, a being tha
t would give God all the glory and promote his kingdom forever.[129]

In Logroo he had dimly glimpsed that " a something' would overtake him that "was
both above me and in me."[130]
Now the presentiment was fulfilled. The divine plan was above him and the founda
tional grace necessary to overcome all difficulties and carry it to fruition was
within him. He had, then, capacity and experience enough to carry it out, as ap
pears from the fact that God entrusted the founding of the Work entirely to him.
He was graced with supernatural and human virtues; he lived a contemplative lif
e in the midst of work and hardships; he had apostolic drive, leadership skills,
and a zeal for souls. In short, he already had, in essence, the spirit that thi
s foundation would need. With no teacher except the Holy Spirit, he incarnated t
he Work as founder. The seed planted by God in his mind and heart would in time
blossom into its whole spirit and reality.
The supernatural mission entrusted to Father Josemara was fully part of the missi
on of the Church. Itwas to make tangible, for all time, the reality of God's pla
n of a universal call to holiness.

Our Lord has raised up in these years his Work because he wants it never again u
nknown or forgotten that all are called to strive for sanctity, and that the maj
ority of Christians are called to do this in the world, in ordinary work. For th
at reason, as long as there are people on this earth, the Work will exist. There
will always be persons of every profession and position who seek sanctity withi
n their state of life, within that profession or position of theirs; contemplati
ve souls in the midst of the world.[131]

The Work came to be, in the Church, a means of apostolic outreach aimed at procl
aiming the good news and giving witness to the possibility and urgency of seekin

g sanctity in the midst of the world.

Jesus Christ himself has chosen us so that in the midst of the world-in which he
placed us, and from which he does not wish to separate us-each of us will seek
sanctity in our own state of life and, teaching with the testimony of life and w
ord that the call to holiness is universal, promote among persons of all walks o
f life, and especially among intellectuals, Christian perfection in the very hea
rt of civil life.[132]

The Work was to be a response to Jesus' cry "I came to cast fire upon the earth,
" an apostolic means for announcing this burning desire of his everywhere, by ex
ample and teaching. But in carrying out that mission, members of the Work act as
ordinary Christians and citizens, sharing customs, jobs, and social concerns wi
th everyone else. They fulfill their mission with complete naturalness, with no
desire to stand out. Like leaven in dough, they strive from within society to le
ad the world to God, to place the labor and affections of their fellow human bei
ngs at his feet. "You and I know and believe," writes the founder, "that the wor
ld has as its sole mission to give glory to God. This life only has a reason for
existing insofar as it projects the eternal kingdom of the Creator."[133]
From the moment of the Work's appearance, one hears a new note in his life and w
ritings. "Soon will arrive," he says, "the Pentecost of the Work of God. ...and
the whole world will hear, in all of its languages, the delirious acclamations o
f the soldiers of the great King: Regnare Christum volumus! [We want Christ to r
eign!]."[134]

* * *

God asked and received Father Josemara's whole- hearted yes to his divine plan. I
ndeed, with great humility, the founder turned his response into a joyful ?Servi
am! I will serve!" Every day for the rest of his life he would pray that aspirat
ion as an expression of complete submission to the will of God, an affirmation o
f readiness to make the Work a reality, and a rejection of all rebelliousness. F
or "one hears," he would say, "in personal life, in family life, in the workplac
e, and in public life, what amounts to a colossal non serviam ['I will not serve
']."[135]
On that October 2 he was fully aware of his poverty, and of how much help he wou
ld need. But, instead of backing out, he asked for light and strength, for "a wi
ll of iron that, united to God's grace, will bring us to complete his Work for t
he glory of God, so that Christ Jesus will really reign, because all will go wit
h Peter to him, by the one path, Mary!"[136]
Seeking to sum up in a few words what were to be the guiding principle and end o
f his foundation, he turned to three aspirations which mark out the path of holi
ness of its members.

Jesus is our model: let us imitate him! Let us imitate him, serving Holy Church
and all souls. Christum regnare volumus ["We want Christ to reign"]. Deo omnis g
loria [" All glory to God"]. Omnes cum Petro ad Iesum per Mariam ["All to Jesus
with Peter, through Mary"]. These three phrases summarize the three goals of the
Work: Christ really reigning; all glory to God; souls.[137]

From the very beginning he understood that great things for the Church and for t
he world depended on his personal conduct in carrying out this divine enterprise
. Knowing that he had a precious charism, he also knew that, like the "good and
faithful servant" of the parable, he had to make it fruitful, opening up with pe
rsonal effort and grace a path that did not yet exist. He could foresee that as
the Work grew with the exercise of apostolate and the seeking of sanctity in the
world, a new pastoral and ascetical phenomenon would appear which would require
new practical and theoretical models. The process of foundation would be a long
and difficult journey- one which, as it turned out, would not end until the day
he died. Bearing within him the spirit of the Work, he was the trunk from which

its branches and fruit were to sprout.

The founder did not then see the specific details of the long, painful path lead
ing to the goal. He did, however, see the Work projected against the background
of centuries, as a plan providentially realized by God. He wanted to start work
as soon as possible, for he was sure from the beginning that it would cost him b
lood and tears. "I know very well," he says with assurance, "that we first ones
to set to work will have to mix with tears of blood that cement of which I speak
. But we will lose neither our faith nor our joy. We can do all things in him wh
o comforts us."[138]

* * *

During that retreat with the Vincentians, he came to see how the Lord's providen
tial hand had prepared the foundation's cornerstone by means of those sad events
that had forced his family to move from Barbastro to Logroo, from Logroo to Sarag
ossa, and from Saragossa to Madrid. In that light his life took on a new and ful
l coloring. God had brought him to the capital city to plunge him into the very
depths of the problems of humanity. "Yesterday evening, while walking down the s
treet," he would write in his Apuntes, "it occurred to me that Madrid has been m
y Damascus, because it was here that the scales fell from the eyes of my soul...
and it was here that I received my mission."*[139]
He took an inventory of the material means on which he could count for this miss
ion, and found that he had none at all. As his life progressed, the Lord had bee
n divesting him of all impediments. I found myself then alone, equipped with not
hing but my twenty-six years and my good humor," he says.[140] On another occasi
on he expressed it this way: "We started the Work, when our Lord wanted, with a
complete lack of material means. I had only twenty-six years of age, the grace o
f God, and good humor. But that was enough."[141]

6. A campaign of prayer and mortification

When the retreat was over, Father Josemara resumed his activities at the Foundati
on, but he also immediately set about looking for persons who would share his ea
gerness to communicate the message of the universal call to holiness.[142] He we
nt over the list of young men he knew, some of them students at the Cicuendez Ac
ademy. One of the first to whom he spoke of his apostolic ideal was Pedro Rocamo
ra, whom he met in that same year, 1928. They were introduced by Jose Romeo Rive
ra, an architecture student whose brother Manuel had been a classmate of Father
Josemara's at the law school in Saragossa. Soon they were joined by Julicin Corte
s Cavanillas and another student at the Academy.[143]
Strolling and chatting with these friends, the priest would explain his spiritua
l ambitions. To Pedro Rocamora they sounded too ambitious. He spoke "like someon
e inspired," he says. "He amazed us, all of us who were with him, with his total
conviction that he had to give over his life to that ideal. He took up that ent
erprise like someone who knows he has to fulfill a kind of determined destiny in
his life. I asked him, 'But do you think that is possible?' And he answered me,
'Look, this isn't something I've thought up; it's an order from God.'"[144]
The conversations did not always take place during a walk. Sometimes the priest
would find a quiet place, gather his companions around a table, and read them th
ings he had jotted down in the notebook he carried with him. If the weather was
good, when school let out at the Academy they would walk over to La Castellana,*
at the corner of Riscal, and sit outside on the terrace of a bar. Most of the t
ime the group would go to the "Sotanillo" [little basement]. This establishmenta chocolate shop, bar, and cafeteria, all in one-was in a very central location:
on Alcala, between Cibeles Plaza and Independencia Plaza. Its entrance was at s
treet level, but from there one had to go down a few steps, because it was in a
semi basement.
Father Josemara greatly enjoyed the atmosphere of the Sotanillo and the company o
f his friends. The proprietor, Juan, and his son Angel got used to seeing the pr
iest accompanied by students. Whichever of them would first see him come in, wou

ld call out, "Here he is, with his disciples."[145]

In working up an inventory of his friends, Father Josemara went back to his years
as a student in Logroo. A letter dated December 9, 1928, from Isidro Zorzano ask
s for news about his life, indicating that the priest had lately resumed contact
with that classmate from the Institute of Logroo.[146] Zorzano, having gone on t
o study engineering in Madrid, now lived in Cidiz and worked at the naval shipya
rd in Matagorda. His letter was followed by a lengthy correspondence that would
bring some surprises to both of them.
Father Josemara's field of possible apostolic collaborators soon expanded to incl
ude some priests. His youthful appearance did not seem the best suited to winnin
g him a hearing in a society with numerous clerical exponents of centuries-old c
ustoms and traditions. Nor could he ignore the precarious- ness of his situation
as a priest from outside the diocese of Madrid, which made him feel like a fish
out of water.[147] But he would let nothing stop him.
One of the first priests he tried to get enthused was Father Norberto, the other
chaplain of the Foundation. At first he acted purely and simply out of charity.
Father Norberto was about fifty at the time and suffered from a nervous conditi
on that kept him from carrying out regular ecclesiastical duties. He had got- te
n better for a while, but then had suffered a relapse. For the rest of his life
was a sick man. Yet he had a good supply of apostolic zeal and a healthy spiritu
al life.[148] The Apostolic Ladies, who had known him since 1924, had observed t
he growing friendship between the two chaplains and knew what it meant when they
saw the two go together on visits to the sick and to children in the schools. "
Father Josemara," says one, "brought him along in order to help him. It was so th
at he would feel useful and appreciated."[149]
Another priest with whom he undoubtedly discussed his vocation in depth early on
was Father Jose Pou de Foxci. The Roman law professor at Saragossa wrote to Fat
her Josemara from Avila on March 4, 1929, asking him to meet him at the station a
nd to make a hotel reservation for him. The last lines of his letter give one an
idea of how eager he was to see his former student face to face. ?Since we'll b
e seeing each other soon," he writes, "I won't say anything more, except that yo
ur friend will soon give you a hug, Jose."[150]
Father Pou de Foxci stayed in Madrid several weeks, and spoke at length with his
friend. Professor Carlos Sanchez del Rio, who happened also to be in Madrid at
this time (to take the competitive examination for a chair of Roman law), says t
hat the three of them went together almost every afternoon, rather late to a cho
colate shop called 'El Sotanillo,' which was on Alcala. We had very enjoyable ge
t-togethers there in which we exchanged ideas and feelings on all kinds of subje
cts."[151]
Never one to pass up an opportunity to make new friend- ships with priests, Fath
er Josemara also kept in touch with the residents of the Priests' House on Larra
Street, sowing there, too, hopes for the future. That is how he met for example
Father Manuel Ayala, who came through Madrid in 1929. Father Manuel would always
cherish the memory of that brief conversation in which the chaplain shared with
him some of his ideas." At that time I confided to him something of the Work" F
ather Josemara wrote "and he remembers it fondly."[152]
In the summer of 1929 Father Rafael Ferncindez Claros, a young priest from El Sa
lvador studying at the Catholic Institute of Paris, showed up one day to say Mas
s at the Foundation. Afterward, having finished his thanksgiving, he went to see
the chaplain and they spoke for a while. "It only took me a few minutes" says t
he Salvadoran "to fully appreciate, in all its superlative value the treasure of
sanctity so carefully guarded by that exquisitely priestly soul."[153] Their cl
oseness continued for years and gave rise to a bond of a higher order. "How, Fat
her, can I reciprocate your kindnesses?? I wrote Father Rafael on November 4,192
9, from Paris. ?In no other way than by accepting-and I do accept-without any re
striction, your beautiful proposal of a priestly spiritual pact.?[154]
Father Rafael said more about this fraternal pact in an- other letter, dated Mar
ch 20, 1930: ?My repeated thanks for your faithful fulfillment of your promise t
o remember me in Holy Mass. I, for my part, remember you every day in the august
Sacrifice.?[155]

The chaplain of the Foundation began to organize a mobilization of souls and pra
yers. ?Starting in 1928,? he says, I made it a point to approach holy souls even
persons that I didn't know, who had, as I used to say, 'the look of good Christ
ians'-and ask them for prayers.?[156]
On the street one day in 1929, at six in the morning, he encountered a priest he
did not know, and he stopped him and asked him to pray for an intention of his.
The priest was Father Casimiro Morcillo, who years later would become archbisho
p of Madrid.[157] This was not the only such instance. Father Avelino G6mez Ledo
well remembers the zeal with which Father Josemara, ?in a lively, stimulating wa
y,? requested prayer and penance from him when the two of them were living at th
e Larra Street residence. Later, when the chaplain was no longer living there, h
e happened one day to run into Father Avelino at Cibeles Plaza. Father Avelino r
ecalls, ?He was wrapped up in a cloak, and I noticed how extraordinarily recolle
cted he was. There was no doubt that he was praying as he walked along the stree
t. I got the impression of having had suddenly appear to me one of those souls w
ho live to an unusual degree in union with God. And again he spoke to me of what
he was counting on for his apostolic work: prayer and mortification.?[158]
Months went by, and the priest continued to beg for help. ?I go on asking prayer
and mortification from many people. What fear people have of expiation!? he exc
laimed with sorrow and surprise.[159]
One of the Apostolic Ladies' auxiliaries notes, with cheerful simplicity, that n
o one could escape his prayer campaign. "Pray hard for me, pray hard for me," th
e chaplain told her. "What is Father Josemara going to do, that he's asking so mu
ch prayer for?" she wondered.[160]
In January 1929, as one of the Ladies lay dying, the chap- lain begged her to in
tercede for him in the next life. He wrote in his journal:

I recall-sometimes with a certain fear, that it may have been tempting God or do
ne out of pride-that as Mercedes Reyna was dying, ...without my having thought o
f this ahead of time, it occurred to me to ask her, and I did ask her, "Mercedes
, ask our Lord, from heaven, that if I am not going to be a priest who is not ju
st good, but holy, that he take me young, as soon as possible." Later I made the
same request to two laypersons, a young lady and a boy, and every day, at Commu
nion, they make this prayer for me to the good Jesus.[161]

Having attended this Apostolic Lady in the last days of her illness, he afterwar
d sought her protection and often visited her grave. That summer he made a noven
a to her for his intentions, praying the Rosary daily on his knees before her to
mb.[162]
The Work was taking root, and the founder felt moved to give himself totally, as
a holocaust, though never as a "victim soul." The idea of making a spectacular
self-sacrifice, as if disdaining to offer to God the little sufferings and cross
es of everyday life, was far removed from his way of being and thinking. In fact
, he so disliked it that he found the very term "victim soul" repugnant.
Yet he did seek something special to offer by way of expiation. Three days after
finishing his novena in the cemetery, feeling spiritually prompted to do this,
he unhesitatingly asked our Lord to take from him his health, as an expiatory of
fering.
In his journal he writes, "On August 11, 1929, according to a note that I wrote
that day on a holy card that I keep in my breviary, while giving Benediction in
the church of the Foundation for the Sick, without having thought of this before
hand, I asked Jesus for a serious, painful illness, for expiation." Later he add
s, "I believe that our Lord granted it to me."[163]

7. February14, 1930

Recapitulating his apostolic desires since October 2, Father Josemara says with g
reat simplicity, "From the first moment, there was an intense spiritual activity
and I started looking for vocations."[164] But where had he gotten the idea of
asking the Lord, at the deathbed of that Apostolic Lady, to make him a holy prie

st, if not from the fact that he saw himself as being plunged "in tepidity and n
egligence"?[165]
There was this much basis for it in fact, that he perceived an enormous discrepa
ncy between his apostolic efforts and the magnitude of the enterprise entrusted
to him, and this made his conscience uneasy. "What can a little child do," he sa
ys, "who has a mission to carry out but lacks the necessary means, age, knowledg
e, virtues, and whatever else? Go to his mother and to his father; go to those w
ho can do something; ask help from his friends. ...That is what I did in the spi
ritual life. Keeping time, of course, with the blows of the discipline. But not
always: there were times when I didn't."[166]
When he saw the huge gap between his mission and his resources, it seemed to him
as if his soul had fallen into a stupor that he could not shake off.

After 1928, although I set to work immediately, I also slept. Ego dormivi, et so
poratus sum; et exsurrexi, quia Dominus suscepit me ["I lie down and sleep; I wa
ke again, for the Lord sustains me"] (Ps 3:5). I slept, I felt like I was in a s
tupor; it was the Lord who led me and got me to work with more intensity each da
y.[167]

Years later, he remained convinced, in his heroic humility, that he had put up r
esistance, and he continued to reproach himself for it. "The Lord well knows tha
t I started my work in Opus Dei reluctantly, and for this I ask your pardon many
times over," he would apologetically say to members of the Work.[168] It seemed
to him as if his will had failed and he had been inwardly divided once God answ
ered his prayers.

I wanted, and I did not want. I wanted to carry out what was a definite mission,
and from the first day an intense spiritual labor began. But at the same time I
didn't want to, despite the fact that from the age of fifteen to the age of twe
nty-six I had been constantly calling out to our Lord Jesus, asking like the bli
nd man in the Gospel, Domine, ut videam!-"Lord, let me see!" (Lk 18:41). And at
other times, in not very elegant Latin, Domine, ut sit!-"Let it be, this thing t
hat you want, this I don't know what!" And the same to the Blessed Virgin: Domin
a, ut sit! ["My Lady, let it be!"].[169]

And yet he insisted that he had carried out his apostolate with real effort and
conviction, "always without vacillating, although I did not want to!''[170]He co
uld not explain that apparent contradiction, that interior resistance. The probl
em was not that he was unwilling to fulfill his mission, but rather that, while
entirely dedicated; he constantly aimed at still more generous goals.
He had received a "clear general idea" of what the Work would be, but no clue as
to how to carry it out. After the inspirations stopped coming, he remained for
some time in semi- darkness, with the nucleus of the divine plan clear, but with
no specific, practical ideas on how to give it tangible shape. There was a cess
ation of "that spiritual flow of divine inspiration" which had been "outlining a
nd delineating what God wanted."[171] He felt a lack of courage to undertake thi
s crushing divine task, and it was for this that he reproached himself: "I was a
coward-I feared the cross that our Lord was putting on my shoulders."[172]
(The idea that they have been cowardly is, in saints, an offshoot of humility. I
t comes from recognizing that, compared with the greatness of the divine invitat
ions they have received, they have responded-so it appears to them-tepidly and f
eebly.)
But does even the fear or cowardice he thought he saw in himself account for his
anxieties? Are there not causes having more to do with his own makeup-in which,
certainly, there was not much room for indecision, fear, or discouragement? Fro
m early childhood, as we have seen, he felt repugnance for ceremony and ostentat
ion. That natural tendency became deeply, supernaturally rooted in him. "I have
felt in my soul, from the time that I decided to listen to the voice of God-to t
hose hints of the love of Jesus-a desire to hide myself and disappear; a desire
to live out the program of John the Baptist: ?um oportet crescere, me autem minu

i ['He must increase, and I must decrease'] an 3:30). It was right that our Lord
's glory should grow, and that I should not be seen."[173]
His misgivings thus stemmed from the idea that "beginning a new foundation might
be motivated by pride, by a desire to be immortalized."[174] He had always been
mistrustful of the extraordinary and of showy novelties. In 1932 he wrote to th
e members of Opus Dei:

You know the aversion I have always had to that ambition of some people to make
new foundations-when it is not based on very supernatural reasons, which the Chu
rch has to judge. It seemed to me, and it still seems to me, that there are too
many foundations and founders. I saw the danger of a kind of "foundation psychos
is" that was causing people to create unnecessary things for reasons I found rid
iculous. I thought, perhaps uncharitably, that sometimes the purported motive wa
s the least important thing-that the essential thing was just to create somethin
g new and get to be called a founder.[175]

The most logical explanation of these contradictory sentiments-acceptance of a m

ission, resistance to founding some- thing new-is God' s intervention. This appe
ars from the cessation of those practical inspirations he had received up to Oct
ober 1928. With it came confirmation of the supernatural origin of the Work, sin
ce it?s founding, besides being beyond his natural capabilities, also conflicted
with his personal tastes. Seeing him tacking between resistance and enthusiasm,
God decided to take a hand.

The Lord..., seeing my resistance and my simultaneously enthusiastic and feeble

efforts, gave me the apparent humility of thinking that there might already be i
n the world some things which were no different from what he was asking of me. T
his was hardly a rational cowardice; it was the cowardice of love of comfort, bu
t also proof that I was not interested in being the founder of anything.[176]

In the midst of that uncertainty, without halting his efforts to get the Work un
der way, he nursed a secret hope of not having to found it after all-of finding
it ready-made, some- where else.

With a false humility, while I worked on finding the first souls, the first voca
tions, and forming them, I said to myself, "There are too many foundations. Why
more? Isn't it possible that I can find somewhere in the world, al- ready constr
ucted, this one that our Lord wants? If so, it would be better for me to go ther
e and become a soldier in its ranks, and not to found anything, because that wou
ld be pride."[177]

He sought information about institutions in Spain and else- where. But as soon a
s he took a close look at them, he saw that they were not what he was looking fo
r. "There came into my hands," he wrote in his journal, "reports of many modem i
nstitutions (in Hungary, Poland, France, etc.) which were doing unusual things.
...But Jesus was asking of us, in his Work, as an absolutely essential virtue, n
aturalness!"[178]
He did not specify what those "unusual things" were. From the very start, howeve
r, the spirituality of the Work was characterized by "simplicity, not attracting
attention, not showing off, not being secretive"-in short, by II avoidance of a
ny kind of spectacle."[179]
In November 1929, while Father Josemara was still involved in that fruitless sear
ch, the inspirations began again.[180] That "resumption of the spiritual current
of divine inspiration," following more than a year of drought, brought with it
practical lights for his work as founder. Here was palpable proof that it was Go
d who was managing the enterprise.

The silence of the Lord from October 2, 1928, feast of the Holy Angels and vigil
of the feast of Saint Therese, until November 1929, says many things. ...It is
indubitable evidence that the Work is of God, for had it not been a divine inspi

ration, it stands to reason that after finishing that retreat in October 1928, t
his poor priest would have immediately-with more enthusiasm than ever, since the
enter- prise was now sketched out-continued writing notes on and planning the d
esign of the Work. But this was not the case. More than a year went by without J
esus speaking. That happened, among other reasons, for this purpose: to prove, w
ith hard evidence, that his donkey was only an instrument-and a poor instrument
at that![181]

* * *

He had already forgotten about his requests for information when one day he rece
ived some brochures about apostolic organizations.[182] Looking back, in 1948, h
e wrote: "finally I received some information about Cardinal Ferrari?s Company o
f Saint Paul, Could this be it? I tried to find out (this would have been toward
the end of 1929),"[183]
(In another of these magazines, The Seraphic Messenger, which he sometimes distr
ibuted to the sick, some articles also appeared about the foundations establishe
d in Poland by Father Honorato.)[184]
But, continuing what he had to say about the Company of St. Paul:

I tried to find out (this would have been toward the end of 1929) and, when I le
arned that the Company of Saint Paul had in it not just men but also women, I wr
ote in my Catherines (if I didn't burn them, they will be found among the packet
s in the archive, and one can read there the same thing I am writing now) that e
ven if there were no difference between Opus Dei and the Company of Saint Paul o
ther than the fact that we do not admit women in any capacity whatsoever, that b
y itself is a huge difference.[185]

The journal entry he refers to was probably in the notebook that was destroyed.
Nevertheless, in anything he said on this matter at that time, women were always
categorically excluded. "I wrote," he said on another occasion, "that 'never-no
way-: will there be women in Opus Dei.'?[186]
Evidently, what he "saw" on October 2,1928, was not events or historic details,
but only the essential element of the divine message. Considering the circumstan
ces-his distaste for founding anything new, and the absence of practical directi
ves from God-it is hardly surprising that he was not bent on including women in
the enterprise.* He had, as a personal opinion, an idea that was specific, clear
, and definitive: women were not called to form part of the organization.[187]
But God did not wait long to correct that view.

A short time later, on February 14, 1930, I was celebrating Mass in the little c
hapel of the elderly Marchioness of Onteiro, Luz Casanova's mother, whom I took
care of spiritually while I was chaplain of the Foundation. During the Mass, rig
ht after Communion, the whole women's branch of the Work! I cannot say that I sa
w it, but intellectually, in detail, I grasped what the women's branch of Opus D
ei was to be. (Later I added other elements, developing this intellectual vision
.) I gave thanks, and, at the usual time, I went to the confessional of Father S
anchez. He listened to me and then said, "This is just as much from God as the r
est."[188]

The participation of women in Opus Dei had been some- thing already implicit in
the general vision of October 2. Now his hesitations and investigations into sim
ilar institutions came to an end.

I noted down, in my Catherines, the event and its date: February 14, 1930. Later
I forgot the date, and I let some time go by, but never again did it occur to m
e to think, with my false humility (that is, love of comfort, fear of struggle),
of becoming a little soldier in the ranks. It was, beyond any doubt, necessary
to do some founding.[189]

The events of both October 2 and February 14 caught him unprepared, but especial
ly the latter, which flew in the face of his conviction that there was no room i
n Opus Dei for women. As he saw it, this made the Work's divine origin all the m
ore clear.

I always believed, and I still believe, that our Lord, as on other occasions, "m
anaged" me in such a way that there would be a clear, external, and objective pr
oof that the Work was his. I said, I don't want women in Opus Dei!" and God said
, "Well, I do."[190]

That was not the end of the surprises. Speaking about the paradoxes of the found
ing, he would say one day:

The foundation of Opus Dei happened without me; the women's branch, against my p
ersonal opinion; and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross,* when I was seeking
it but unable to find it.[191]

[1] See AGP, RHF, 0-15247-2, Probably he was notable to say Mass in Madrid until
, the following day, since celebration of an evening Mass was not permitted at t
hat time, but he may have already said Mass in Saragossa before boarding the tra
in. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 332, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 1947.)
[2] At the time of Father Josemara's arrival in Madrid, the Pontifical Church of
Saint Michael was run by a community of Redemptorist priests, as earlier mention
ed. Today it is in the care of priests of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Op
us Dei. See Diccionario de Historia Eclesiastica de Espaa (Madrid, 1972), vol. 2,
p. 1381.
* King of Spain from 1555 to 1598.
[3] The diocese of Madrid was created on March 7, 1885, by virtue of Pope Leo Xl
lI's papal bull Romani Pontifices Praedecessores. Two days later a royal decree
appeared announcing the appointment of the first bishop of Madrid. By virtue of
Pope Paul VI's papal bull Romanorum Pontificum Semper, dated March 25, 1964, the
diocese of Madrid was elevated to an archdiocese directly dependent on the Holy
See.
[4] See his student file in the archive of the law school of Madrid's Complutens
e University. See also AGP, RHF, D--{)3365.
[5] See AGP, RHF, 0--15155. The vaccination certificate may have been presented
together with the request, despite their different dates, although it may be tha
t when he turned in his request he was then asked for a vaccination certificate.
[6] See the letter of 7 Mar 1927 from Father A. Santiago to Father Josemara (AGP,
RHF, 0--15003--6) and the letter of 9 Mar 1927 from Father Prudencio Cancer to
Father Josemara (AGP, RHF, 0--15003-5).
[7] There is a receipt, on paper without a letterhead, signed Apri130, 1927, for
78 pesetas for "10 days of room and board, plus other items." On the back of th
e receipt is an itemization showing that the cost of room and board is 7 pesetas
per day. Added in a different handwriting is the word "Farmacia." (See AGP, RHF
, 0--15247-2.)
[8] Bolet(n Trimestral de la Obra Apost6lica Patronato de Enfermos, no.72 (Madri
d, January 1928), pp. 12-13.
[9] Letter of 9 Mar 1927 from Father Cancer to Father Josemara (AGP, RHF, 0--1500
3-5).
[10] Letter of 9 May 1927 from Father Luis Latre to Father Josemara, sent from Sa
ragossa (AGP, RHF, 0--15003-8). Note how this "place yourself at the disposition
of our prelate, who is so much in need of personnel" relates to the "providenti
al injustices" discussed in the previous chapter.
[11] See Appendix 12.
[12] Father Fidel G6mez Colomo studied at the seminary in Toledo and was ordaine
d to the priesthood in 1925. Assigned to the military vicariate general, he rose
to become lieutenant vicar of the navy. He died in Madrid in 1980.

Father Justo Villameriel Meneses became a military chaplain in 1927. Monsignor A

velino G6mez Ledo was ordained in Madrid in 1918.
He served as assistant priest at Immaculate Conception in Madrid, and later at O
ut Lady of the Angels. In 1940 he became pastor of Saint Augustine's, also in Ma
drid. He died in 1977.
Born in 1897, Father Antonio Pensado Rey was ordained in 1920, in Santiago de Co
mpostela.
[13] This monastery of the Augustinian Recollects was founded by King Philip ill
and his wife, Lady Margarita of Austria. Its church became that of the parish o
f the royal palace, and from early times the Chief Chaplain of His Majesty, who
traditionally was the archbishop of Santiago, had exclusive jurisdiction over th
ese premises. The bishop of Madrid, in other words, did not have jurisdiction ov
er that church, and neither did the Royal Ordinary, or Pro-Chaplain of His Majes
ty, who had jurisdiction over all other royal foundations. (See Diccionario de H
istoria Eclesidstica de Espaa: vol. 1, pp. 338-39; vol. 2, pp. 1382-83; vol. 3, p
. 1887; and vol. 4, pp.2743-46.)
[14] The letter from the vicar general of Madrid to the archdiocese of Santiago
(27 Jan 1927) is very strongly worded. In response a notice was sent from Santia
go (1 Feb 1927) stating that Father Antonio's faculties for his own diocese were
suspended until such time as he returned there. The following week he stopped s
aying Mass at Incarnation. Judging by the tenor of his letter of 30 Jul1927, Fat
her Antonio must have remained in Madrid for the whole month of June 1927. There
is no mention of the possibility of his being incardinated in the diocese of Ma
drid. (The abovementioned data can be found in the archive of the general secret
ariat of the archdiocese of Madrid-Alcalci and in the archive of the major semin
ary in Santiago de Compostela. )
[15] The request is addressed to "Your Excellency the Vicar General of the Dioce
se of Madrid-Alcalci" (see AGP, RHF, 0-15147).
No information has come to light as to how and why Doa Luz Rodriguez Casanova too
k such an interest in Father Josemara so early on.
[16] Apuntes, no.178.
[17] Doa Luz was born in 1873, to Don Florentino Rodriguez Casanova and Doa Leonid
es Garcia de San Miguel. The title of Marchioness of Onteiro was granted to her
mother, for herself and her descendants, by a royal decree of 15 Jul1891, in rec
ognition of the public services rendered by her late husband.
Doa Luz founded the Congregation of Apostolic Ladies on 24 May 1924, in Madrid. I
n 1950 Pope Pius XII granted the congregation its definitive approval. Doa Luz di
ed on 8 Jan 1949, with a reputation for sanctity. On 25 Jan 1958 the cause for h
er beatification was opened. (See E. Ittirbide, El Amor dijo si. Luz R. Casanova
, Pamplona, 1962.)
[18] In 1927 he was a doctor of sacred theology and of canon law (as of 1900 and
1902, respectively), a knight of the Great Cross of the Civil Order of Benefact
ors, a public education consultant, a member of the Roman Pontifical Academy of
Saint Thomas Aquinas, and a member of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language
(as of 1926). Previously he had been a professor of Hebrew at the seminary in Se
ville, a canon in Jaen (starting in 1904), a theology instructor in Santiago de
Compostela (starting in 1908), bishop of Tuy (starting in 1914), and bishop of V
itoria (starting in 1917). See E. Subirana, Anuario Eclesiastico (Barcelona), 19
27, p. 249.
[19] This memorandum is in the archive of the general secretariat of the archdio
cese of Madrid-Alcalci.
[20] See, in the archive of the general secretariat of the archdiocese of Madrid
-Alcalci, Libro de Licencias Ministeriales, no.8, fols. 53 and 55. Note that Fat
her Josemara's request of 10 Jun 1927 matches up with the entry for 8 Jun 1927. T
he only possible explanation is that he was first granted his faculties at the r
equest of Doa Luz, two days before his own request was turned in.
[21] See E. Subirana, op. cit., 1927, p. 247.
[22] Canon 130 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law reads as follows: "Expleto studioru
m curriculo, sacerdotes omnes, ...examen singulis annis saltem per integrum trie
nnium in diversis sacrarum scientiarum disciplinis, antea opportune designatis,

subeant secundum modum ab eodem Ordinario determinandum."

[23] The answer to his request to be given the examination by the rector of Sain
t Michael's reads, "Dear brother in the Lord: His Excellency has determined that
for the renewal of your ministerial faculties, since you fall into the category
to which canon 130 applies, you may take the examination at Saint Michael's." T
he original of this letter (dated 17 Jun 1927) is in AGP, RHF, D-15003-10.
[24] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 487. Bishop Echevarria notes that the rector
gave him "the evaluation in an open envelope, so that he himself could put it in
the mail," and that, after sealing the envelope, he tossed it into the first ma
ilbox that he came across after leaving Saint Michael's (see Javier Echevarria,
Sum. 1947).
[25] After 8 Jul1927 he was on three occasions granted faculties for one year, a
nd on 10 Jun 1931, for five years. (See archive of the diocese of Saragossa, Lib
ro de concesion de licencias ministeriales, years 1902-1952: fols. 242,250,258,2
68,273, and 311.)
About the granting of faculties in 1936 he wrote: "May 31,1936: Our Lord, by mea
ns of the bishop of Pamplona and Father Jose Pou, has just taken care of my facu
lties for Saragossa: the archbishop has granted them generally and in perpetuity
" (Apuntes, no.1344).
As for the dimissory and commendatory letters, he had to have these renewed annu
ally from 1929 to 1931, at which time he was granted permission to reside in Mad
rid unti11936. (See, in the archive of the diocese of Saragossa, Libros de Regis
tro de Documentos Arzobispales: 1929, fol. 406; 1930, fol. 191; 1931, fol. 300;
and 1931, fol. 318, no. 3.367, which reads, "Faculties for Madrid, plus commenda
tory letters, for five years.")
[26] Asuncion Muoz, AGP, RHF, T --04393, p. 1. Asuncion Muoz Gonzalez (1894-1984)
was one of the first Apostolic Ladies. She met Father Josemara in 1927, and when,
in 1929, she became mistress of novices for the novitiate of Chamartin de la Ro
sa (in Madrid), the founder helped her with his counsel.
[27] Father Joaquin Maria de Ayala Astor was born in Novelda, in Alicante, and w
as ordained to the priesthood in 1901. In 1911 he was named a doctoral canon of
Cuenca, and in 1922, rector of the seminary there. In 1936 he was assassinated.
See S. Cirac, Cronica Diocesana Conquense de la Epoca Roja, vol. 2, Martirologio
de Cuenca (Barcelona, 1947), pp. 178-81.
Father Joaquin was at the Larra Street residence on the occasion of a national F
ranciscan congress celebrated in Madrid from June 15 to 19 of 1927: see S. Eijan
, O.F.M., Crnica de fiestas civico-religiosas y especialmente
el IV Congreso Nacional de Terciarios Franciscanos que con carticter iberoameric
ano se celebr6 en Madrid los dias 15, 16, 17, 18 y 19 de junio de 1927, en conme
moracin del VII Centenario de la muerte de San Francisco de Asis, Barcelona and M
adrid, 1930.
[28] Letter of 30 Jun 1927 from Father Joaquin Maria de Ayala to Father Josemara:
original in AGP, RHF, 0-06929.
[29] Letter of 30 Jul1927 from Father Antonio Pensado to Father Josemara: origina
l in AGP, RHF, 0-05186. Dofla Aurora Balenzategui was a lay auxiliary of the Apo
stolic Ladies.
1wo receipts signed by Doa Aurora for Father Josemara's room and board still exist
. One is dated 5 Aug 1927 and is for July 30 to August 5; the other is dated J9
Aug 1927 and is for August 13-19. Both are in AGP, RHF, 0-15246.
[30] Letter of 19 Jul1927 from Father Prudencio Cancer to Father Josemara, sent f
rom Segovia: original inAGP, RHF, 0-15003-5.
[31] See Santiago Escriv de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, 1 -07921, p. 7, and Javie
r Echevarria, PR, p. 70.
[32] Avelino Gmez Ledo, AGP, RHF,1-O3714,p.1.
[33] Fidel Gmez Colomo, AGP, RHF, 1-01364, p. 1.
[34] Avelino G6mez Ledo, AGP, RHF, 1-03714, p. 2.
[35] Ibid., p. 1.
[36] Fidel Gmez Colomo, AGP, RHF, 1-01364, p.1.
[37] Avelino G6mez Ledo, AGP, RHF, 1-03714, p. 1.
[38] Letter 29 Dec1947/14 Feb 1966, no.16.

[39] Letter of 9 Dec 1927 from Father Cancer to Father Josemara, sent from Segovi
a: original in AGP, RHF, 0-15003-5.
[40] On 14 Jun 1964 the founder, who had lived through and suffered the hazardou
s ordeals of the dictatorship and the Second Spanish Republic, wrote His Holines
s Pope Paul VI a letter briefly but very well summarizing that historic situatio
n insofar as it had affected the Church. Here are a couple of paragraphs (C 5753
):

In 1923 General Primo de Rivera carried out a coup d'etat and, with the consent
of Kirig Alfonso XllI, set up a dictatorship that lasted until 1930. Although on
the whole the action of Primo de Rivera was rather beneficial to Spain, in many
respects it wounded the liberty of Spaniards, as any other dictatorship would.
The fact that such a lack of freedom was sanctioned or at least tolerated by the
king provoked a strong reaction against the monarchy: a movement led by some no
ted anti-Catholic intellectuals, some members of the National Association of Cat
holic Propagandists (directed by a journalist by the name of Herrera), and the l
eaders of anarchist and Marxist unions. Thus began a pendulum swing that swept t
he masses from one extreme, a lack of freedom, to the opposite, license. This ki
nd of swing of the pendulum is always potentially dangerous, but in a passionate
people it is extremely so, and it continues to hang menacingly over Spain.
On Apri114, 1931, as a result of the state of tension created especially in Madr
id by the republican victory in the administrative elections in some of the most
important cities of Spain, and fearing a possible civil war, Alfonso XllI decid
ed it was best for him to leave the country, and thus the Republic was proclaime
d.
[41] Santiago Escriv de Balaguery Alb3s, AGP, RHF, T --07921, p. 8.
[42] See the 19 Sep 1918 issue of ARC,p. 27, and also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.
490.
There is no record of how Father Josemara established contact with the Academy, b
ut one motivation may have been the fact that several priests worked there. Amon
g its professors were Fathers Salvador perez, Angel Aylln, and Isidoro Arquero. F
ather Arquero was the one in charge of the Academy's residence.
[43] A printed summary of the Academy's bylaws is inAGp, RHF, 0-03395. Father Jo
se Cicuendez Aparicio was, beginning in July 1920, chaplain of the Royal Foundat
ion of Santa Isabel, first for the church and then for the school. On 2 Feb 1931
he sent a letter to the General Intendant of the Royal House and Estate informi
ng him of his health problems (exhaustion and acute neurasthenia) and requesting
a three months' sick leave. This was granted on the ninth of that month. On May
12 he asked for an extension of the leave, and on July 4 he received an answer
from the Ministry of the Interior granting the extension but stating that it wou
ld be without pay. (See the Patrimonio Nacional archive, section "Expedientes pe
rsonales," file 182/17: "Expediente del Capellan Jose Cicuendez Aparicio.") In N
ovember 1932, at the age of fifty-eight, he died at Villa de Don Fadrique (in To
ledo), after a long illness that deprived him of his mental faculties a few mont
hs before his death (see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.271).
When Father Cicuendez had to leave Madrid in 1931 on account of his illness, the
position of director fell to Professor Flori3n Ruiz Egea, who had a doctorate i
n philosophy and literature and also was the librarian of the Municipal Library
of Chamberi. He was married but had no children. During the civil war he was ass
assinated. (See Manuel G6mez-Alonso, AGP, RHF, T --03771, p. 1.)
[44] Mariano Trueba, AGP, RHF, T--03277.
[45] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 496, and Javier Echevarria, PR, p. 473, for q
uotes from Julian cortes Cavanillas, a former student of Father Josemara's at the
Cicuendez Academy who became a well-known journalist. By the fifties he was alr
eady the Rome correspondent for ARC. During his years in Rome he frequently visi
ted the founder and also spoke with Bishops Alvaro del Portillo and Javier Echev
arria; they have included in their declarations some of the recollections he sha
red with them.
[46] See AGP, RHF, T -Q3771, p. 1. Manuel G6mez-Alonso was a student at the Acad
emy in 1930-1931.

[47] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2105.

[48] Letter of 27 Jun 1928 (handwritten) from Father Jose Pou de Foxci to Father
Josemara: original in AGP, RHF, 0-15309-1.
[49] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 498.
[50] Original in AGP, RHF, 0-03395-8.
[51] Original also in AGP, RHF, 0-03395-8.
[52] There is a letter from Father Angel Aylln to Father Josemara, dated July 27,1
928, written on Academy stationery, which bears the notation "Presente," meaning
that the addressee was present in Madrid. The letter reads: "Dear Jose Maria: I
just received from the director a letter with instructions that he wants me to
relay to you about the classes starting in August. I therefore ask you to do me
the favor of stopping by the Academy for a nice long chat, some evening around 7
:00. I send my kindest regards to your mother, and to you an embrace from your b
est friend and colleague." (Original in AGP, RHF, 0-03395-7.)
Father Josemara's last journal entry concerning the Cicuendez Academy is dated 28
Ian 1932: see Apuntes,no.591, and also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 490. About the
founder's apostolate with his students and fellow professors, there are later r
eferences: see Apuntes, nos. 362,420, 492, and 591, and Javier Echevarria, Sum.
2109.
[53] See AGP, RHF, T-Q3277. Mariano Trueba was taught by Father Josemara during t
he school year of 1928-1929. He was enrolled in the law school as an unofficial
student, and he attended the Academy to accelerate the pace of his studies. He b
ecame a judge, in Vizcaya.
[54] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 494. This incident was recalled by Jose Manue
l Sanchiz Granero; he was taught by Father Josemara in 1927-1928. He became a law
yer and a member of the High Council for the Protection of Minors.
[55] See AGP, RHF, T-Q3277. During the sixties, someone who had heard this story
from Mariano Trueba wrote it down and sent it to Father Josemara. Upon reading i
t he wrote this note at the end: "I remember this. 12 Feb 1966." (See Joaquin Al
onso, PR, p. 1742.)
[56] See AGP, RHF, T-Q3277.
[57] Recollection of Julian Cortes Cavanillas, cited in Alvaro del Portillo, Sum
. 496, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2105.
[58] The building was designed by Luis Ferrero, finished in 1924, and inaugurate
d by King Alfonso XIII. See Guia de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de Madrid, vol. 2,
Ensanche y Crecimiento (Madrid: Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid, 1984),
chapter entitled "Ensanche Chamberi: Patronato de Enfermos de Santa Engracia."
[59] See issues no.72 (January 1928) and no.78 (January 1930) of the Apostolic L
adies' publication Boletin Trimestral de la Obra Apost6lica Patronato de Enfermo
s.
The umbrella term " Apostolic Work" (Obra Apostolica) included the Foundation fo
r the Sick, the Work of Preservation of the Faith in Spain (schools for children
), the Charity Dining Halls, the Priests' House, the Work of the Holy Family (fo
r rectifying irregular marriage situations), the Protection Society (for help in
paying medical, pharmaceutical, and funeral bills), the Saint Joseph Clothes Di
stribution Center, the Work of Perseverance (catechesis and formation of young g
irls), the Poor Souls Association (offering suffrages for the dead), etc. (See i
ssue no.78 of Boletin Trimestral, pp. 2-10.)
[60] See Aniceta Alvarez Sanchez de Leon, AGP, RHF, T --04865, p. 3. Born in Dai
miel (in Ciudad Real) in 1910, Aniceta Alvarez had contact with Father Josemara f
rom 1927 to 1931 as a lay auxiliary of the Apostolic Ladies at the Foundation.
[61] Maria Vicenta Reyero, Sum. 5970. This Apostolic Lady notes also that Father
Josemara "used to celebrate Holy Mass on Sundays, and on some other days, in the
private oratory of the Marchioness of Onteiro."
[62] Pedro Rocamora, AGP, RHF, T-Q5829, p. 6. Another witness tells us that Don
Julian Cortes Cavanillas and Don Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo "described to me th
e emotion they felt when assisting him at Holy Mass: an emotion endmg in tears"
(Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7481).
[63] Emilio Caramazana, AGP, RHF, T-Q5335, p. 3.
[64] Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, AGP, RHF, T-Q4202, p. 1. He also mentions a re

collection of the chaplain of the Foundation shared with him by his sister in a
letter. "My attention was caught in an extraordinary way," she said, "by this pr
iest who said the Rosary with such great devotion. He prayed and enunciated it s
o well that I never could get over my surprise."
[65] Maria Vicenta Reyero, Sum. 5969.
[66] Asuncion Muoz, AGP, RHF, T --04393, p. 2. This religious of the Congregation
of Apostolic Ladies lived from 1894 to 1984. She met Father Josemara in 1927 at
the Foundation and associated with him during the time that he was chaplain ther
e.
[67] Josefina Santos, AGP, RHF, T-Q5255, p. 2. Born in Segovia in 1895, Josefina
Santos, as an assistant to the sisters at the Foundation, had contact with Fath
er Josemara from 1927 to 1931.
[68] See Boletin Trimestral, issue no.72, p. 14, and issue no.78, p. 12. The sta
tistics for 1927 are similar: 4,396 sick persons attended to; 3,225 confessions;
486 anointings of the sick; 1,192 weddings; 161 baptisms.
[69] "Also, at the Foundation, there were other activities in which I suppose Fa
ther Josemara also took part, such as marriage preparation and religion classes f
or workers," says Margarita Alvarado Coghem, who, as a lay auxiliary at the Foun
dation, worked with Father Josemara when he was chaplain there. Years later she b
ecame a Discalced Carmelite, taking the name of Mother Milagros [Miracles] of th
e Most Blessed Sacrament. (See Margarita Alvarado Coghem, AGP, RHF, T--04676, p.
1.)
Her supposition was correct, since among the preserved papers of the founder the
re is this notice from the Work of the Holy Family, which is dated 18 Mar 1928 (
the vigil of the feast of Saint Joseph): "Rev. Fr. Jose Ma.: While wishing you a
happy feast day, I would also like to ask you to give a talk next Friday, at th
e Foundation, to married people, about the faith-a one-hour talk, starting at ab
out 8:15 P.M." (original in AGP, RHF, 0-03283).
[70] See Boletin Trimestral, issue no.72, p. 7.
[71] See Boletin Trimestral, issue no.72, p. 7, and issue no.78, p. 5.
Josefina Santos (AGP, RHF, T--05255, p. 2) mentions that "on Sundays all of the
children attending the schools that the Apostolic Ladies had in the different ne
ighborhoods gathered at the Foundation, and Father Josemara heard their confessio
ns."
From another angle, Maria Vicenta Reyero (Sum. 5969) speaks of how he instilled
Christian life into these children "with the preparations, including explanation
s of the catechism and of the Gospel, that he gave them for the three days befor
e their First Communion."
[72] See Boletin Trimestral, issue no.78, p. 10.
"Father Josemara also went to the schools that we had in the suburbs of Madrid,"
says Asuncion Muoz. " About four thousand children made their First Communion eac
h year. He gave them talks and spoke in a friendly way with each one, using all
his personal charm and apostolic energy to bring the hearts of those little ones
to the knowledge and love of Jesus" (Asuncion Mufioz, AGP, RHF, T --04393, p. 3
). Maria Vicenta Reyero (Sum. 5969) tells US that Father Josemara, "with other pr
iests, heard the confessions of the children who were about to make their First
Communion, and these children were very often the ones who came to our church fo
r confession." At the Foundation for the Sick, Father Josemara was assisted in th
ese and other tasks, by another chaplain, Father Norberto Rodriguez Garcia (see
Asuncion Muoz, AGP, RHF, T--04393, p. 4).
[73] Margarita Alvarado Coghem, AGP, RHF, T--04676, p. 1.
[74] Meditation of 19 Mar 1975.
[75] "At that time:' says Josefina Santos (AGP, RHF, T -O5255, p. 2), "it was no
t customary for the parish priests to bring our Lord, except in cases of imminen
t danger of death. Luz Casanova asked permission from the chancery office, and i
t was granted, and so Father Josemara brought Communion to all the sick who reque
sted it."
"Except in special cases:' says Margarita Alvarado (AGP, RHF, T-O4676, p. 1), "h
e brought Holy Communion to the sick on Thursdays, in a car lent him by Doa Luz C
asanova. On the other days he went by streetcar, or on foot-whatever way he coul

d get there. Sometimes he did this in really bad weather, because he tended to t
he sick in winter as well as in summer."
* These were outlying neighborhoods situated all around Madrid.
[76] Josefina Santos, AGP, RHF, T-O5255, p. 2.
[77] Asuncion Mufioz, AGP, RHF, T --04393, p. 2. As the founder himself pointed
out, all of these activities were carried out with the consent of the parish pri
ests, as stipulated by canon law (see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 255).
[78] Asuncion Mufioz, AGP, RHF, T -O4393, p. 2, and Maria Vicenta Reyero, Sum. 5
979.
[79] Apuntes, nos. 119 and 120.
[80] Margarita Alvarado Coghem, AGP, RHF, T--04676, p. 2, and Asuncion Mufioz, A
GP, RHF, T--04393, p. 1.
[81] Apuntes, no.178
[82] Asuncion Mufioz, AGP, RHF, T --04393, p. 1. From Mercedes Sagiies, who was
present at many of these events, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo received the followi
ng testimony: that in the entire time that Father Josemara was tending to the sic
k, not one of them died without receiving the last sacraments. (See Alvaro del P
ortillo, Sum. 257.)
[83] See Emesto Julia, PR, p. 1074. "There certainly are a lot of kind and just
acts of God that I could tell about," says Father Josemara, "that I saw in my vis
its to the sick" (Apuntes, no.121)
[84] In AGP, RHF, 0-03283 are preserved a good number of these sheets from the A
postolic Work, and of notes sent to the chaplain about his visits to the sick, f
rom the years 1927, 1928, and 1929
[85] Maria Vicenta Reyero, Sum. 5976. In a note on the sheet for 25 Nov 1927, fo
r example, we read, "The sick man at 8 Artistas wants Father Jose to come again.
The Ladies who give the catechism classes say he has gotten worse" (AGP, RHF, 0
-03283).
[86] See AGP, RHF, 0-03283.
[87] See Emesto Julia, PR, p. 1074.
[88] Heard from the founder by Bishop Javier Echevarria (Sum.1958).
[89] See Josefina Santos, AGP, RHF, T -O5255, p. 1, and also Javier Echevarria,
Sum. 1958.
[90] See AGP, RHF, D-Q3283.
* "Locution" is a technical term for a message in words from God. Some locutions
involve hearing a voice. Others are "heard" only within the soul.
[91] "There was at that time," explains Bishop del Portillo, "no lack of extraor
dinary favors, of divine locutions which burned themselves into his soul and lef
t indelible imprints on his mind" (see Sum. 532).
[92] Meditation of 2 Oct 1962.
[93] See Alvaro del Portillo, "Monseor Escrivci de Balaguer, instrumento de Dios,
" in En Memoria de Mons. Josemara Escrivli de Balaguer (Pampiona: Eunsa, 1976), p
. 30.
[94] Letter 6 May1945, no.41.
[95] Letter 29 Dec1947/14 Feb 1966, no.17.
[96] Maria Vicenta Reyero, Sum. 5972. A note has been preserved from the directo
r of the Academy, signed by Father Jose Cicuendez himself and dated 30 Jun 1930,
in which "is enclosed the monthly payment for June," but there is no mention of
the amount. (See AGP, RHF, D-O3395.)
[97] The 150 pesetas was for the government fee (!27 pesetas), the fee for putti
ng together his student file (7 pesetas), the fee to be paid to the university's
board of trustees (15 pesetas), and a tax stamp. The three courses were History
of International Law, History of Spanish Juridical Literature, and Philosophy o
f Law.
[98] Father Josemara had no savings. Nor had he time to prepare for the exams. He
must have foreseen that he would not be able to take the one in History of Span
ish Juridical Literature, since the exams were coming up in two weeks. This is a
ll the more reason to assume that it was Father Jose Cicuendez who paid the fees
, especially since we know he did so on at least one other occasion (see Alvaro
del Portillo, Sum. 271).

As for the two exams that Father Josemara did take, he evidently had done most of
his preparations for the Philosophy of Law exam a year earlier, since on August
29,1927, he requested permission to take it and paid the required fees, though
he then either was not able or chose not to take it in September 1927; and for t
he History of International Law exam he also obviously had a good head start, si
nce he had earned the second highest grade at Saragossa in the Public Internatio
nal Law exam.
[99] In August 1928 the chancery office published a "Circular on Retreats" which
said, "In conformity with the practice established in this diocese in previous
years, several retreats for priests will be given this fall. It should be kept i
n mind, in this regard, that all priests who have not made a retreat within the
last three years are required by canon law to do so this year." (See Boletin Ofi
cial del Obispado de Madrid-Alcalli, no.1469 [16 Aug 1928], p. 249.)
The Vincentians had organized three retreats, the second of which would run from
September 30 to October 6. (See Boletin Oficial, no.1469, p. 250.)
[100] Guia de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de Madrid, vol. 2, p. 10. See also Anales
de la Congregacin de la Misin y de las Hijas de la Caridad, vol. 9 (Madrid, 1901)
, pp. 254-301, and M. Horcajada, Resena Hist6rica de las Casas de la Misin fundad
as en Espana desde 1704 hasta nuestros dias (Madrid, 1915), pp. 481-509. In the
forties this building underwent a substantial transformation, and a good part of
the old construction is now a hospital. The rest, rebuilt and enlarged, is now
the residence of the Vincentian community that staffs the Basilica of La Milagro
sa.
[101] On October 2, 1928, he received the definitive supernatural illumination a
bout the Work "while reading those papers" (Apuntes, no.306).
[102] Apuntes, no.414.
[103] About this notebook Bishop del Portillo says, "Our Father told me on sever
al occasions that the reason he destroyed it was that he had mentioned there man
y things of a supernatural nature and many extraordinary graces that our Lord ha
d granted him. Some years later, he decided to bum that document because he did
not want us to consider him a saint on account of those extraordinary gifts, 'wh
en,' as our Father would say with complete conviction, 'I am,nothing more than a
sinner."' (See Apuntes, introduction, p. 4.)
[104] At the previous Vincentian retreat (September 16-22) there were twenty-fiv
e priests, and at the following one (October 14-20) there were thirty-nine (see
Boletin Eclesitlstico del Obispado de Madrid-Alcalti, no.1476 [1 Dec 1928], p. 3
84). The director of this retreat was Father Laredo (see Anales de la Congregacin
de la Misin, vol. 36 [Madrid, 1928], p. 609).
As prescribed by the schedule, Holy Mass was celebrated between 7:00 and 8:00 A.
M. Then came breakfast, an examination of conscience, and, at 9:00, the praying
of the minor hours, followed by a reading from the New Testament. The time betwe
en this reading and the next talk, which started at 11:00, was a free period. It
was during this free time for meditation-sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 in th
e morning, in other words-that the event now to be related took place. (See AGP,
RHF, D-O3610: "Daily Schedule for Those Making the Retreat.")
[105] Whenever he had to speak about this extraordinary moment of grace, the fou
nder, out of humility, was very evasive. But there was also another reason why h
e did not give details: so that his children in Opus Dei would see that the Work
is not based "on miraculous occurrences," as he put it. "I have firmly taught y
ou never to desire extraordinary interior paths." (See Letter 6 May 1945, no.4.)
[106] Later he added, "I compiled into some kind of unity the separate notes tha
t I'd been taking up to that time" (Apuntes,no.306).
[107] Commenting on those separate notes, Jose Luis Illanes says: " All those re
alities, which up to then had been like the individual pieces of a mosaic not ye
t assembled, suddenly acquired their finished meaning under a higher light that
God now communicated to him" a. L.lllanes, "Dos de QCtubre de 1928: alcance y si
gnificado de una fecha," in Mons. fosemaria Escrivti de Balaguer y el Opus Dei,
by various authors [Pamplona, 1982], p. 78).
Different interpretations are possible, provided it is acknowledged that the mos
aic was incomplete, that this illumination gave a new dimension to the previous

inspirations, and that the foundation (as we will see later on) would need new d
ivine lights, which would underline the supernatural origin of the Work.
[108] Letter 6 May1945, nos. 4-5. The founder is relating his own experiences, a
lthough he is speaking in third person plural. About this, see also Meditation o
f 14 Feb 1964.
[109] He repeated once more his "Here I am, for you called me" (see Meditation o
f 2 Oct 1962), keeping alive that call and that response made in Logrofio in 191
8, when, like the blind man of Jericho, he had asked for light. Jesus, "with tha
t authoritative act, established himself in my soul," he says. He gave thanks to
the Lord for having given him this clear call "to labor in his Work, with a wel
l-defined vocation" (see Letter9 fan 1932, no.9, and Letter 11 Mar 1940, no.32).
[110] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. In 1974 he spoke of the joy and "wakefulness of
spirit still left in my soul-after almost half a century-by those bells of Our
Lady of the Angels" (Letter 14 Feb 1974, no.1).
[111] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.
[112] Meditation of 2 Oct 1962
[113] Apuntes, no.306, and Letter 14 Feb 1950, no.3. Bishop Javier Echevarria (S
um. 2139) expresses it in this way: "The founder did not originate the idea of f
ounding Opus Dei. Our Lord showed him the Work on October 2, 1928, during a retr
eat that he was making at the Vincentian house on Garcia de Paredes Street in Ma
drid. ...It was an inspiration that our Lord gave exclusively to the Servant of
God. It was not, in other words, an idea that he came up with on his own, nor a
project started with the
cooperation of other people."
[114] Meditation of 19 Mar 1975.
[115] Instruction of 19 Mar 1934, nos. 6-7.
[116] One of his journal entries begins, "Vigil of the feast of the Guardian Ang
els, 1 Oct 33: Tomorrow, five years since I saw the Work" (Apuntes, no.1055). Re
reading that entry years later, he commented to Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, "For
me that is the clearest way to say it: since I saw the Work!" (Apuntes, no.1055
, note 808). Our Lord, then, had founded, and Father Josemara had "seen."
Bishop del Portillo explains: "In the mind of the Father-in what God had engrave
d in his soul-there was no associative phenomenon, because in that case Opus Dei
would not have been founded yet, when there were not even two members, the Fath
er and the first of his sons. On the contrary, this repeated affirmation of our
Father that Opus Dei was founded on October 2, 1928, clearly shows that our Fath
er saw the Work as a work of God, and himself only as an instrument for God's ac
complishing of that work. At the very moment in which our Lord God took this ins
trument into his hands and let him see what it was he wanted, so that he could s
et to work, Opus Dei was founded" (Apuntes, no.3061 note 300).
[117] Meditation of 2 Oct 1962.
[118] Bishop del Portillo transcribes some comments made by the founder in 1968
about that moment: "I had presentiments from the beginning of 1918. Later I kept
on seeing, but without being able to determine what it was that our Lord wanted
of me. I was seeing that our Lord wanted something of me. I asked, and kept on
asking. On October 2,1928, comes a clear general idea of my mission. After that
2nd of October in 1928, I stopped getting those inspirations that the Lord had b
een giving me" (Apuntes, no.179, note 193).
[119] Apuntes, no.179, note 193.
[120] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 532.
[121] Letter 24 Mar1930, no.1.
[122] Ibid., no.2.
[123] Ibid.
[124] Ibid., no. 12.
[125] Ibid. no. 14.
[126] Apuntes, no.154.
[127] Apuntes, no.306.
[128] Letter 9 Jan1932, no.9.
[129] Apuntes, no.290.
[130] Letter 25 May1962, no.41.

[131] Letter 9 fan1932, no.92.

[132] Letter 14 Feb1944, no.1.
[133] Letter 9 Jan1932, no.5.
[134] Apuntes, no.240.
[135] Letter 14 Feb1974, no.10.
[136] Apuntes, no.215.
[137] Apuntes, no.171.
[138] Apuntes, no.93.
* It was on the road to Damascus that Saint Paul was converted and called to be
an apostle.
[139] Apuntes, no.993.
[140] Letter 11 Mar1940, no.32.
[141] Letter 29 Dec1947/14 Feb 1966, no.11.
[142] He was conscious of having made "a great divine and human commitment" (Med
itation of 3 Mar 1963).
[143] See Pedro Rocamora, AGP, RHF, T-o5829, p. 1; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 679
; and Jose Romeo, AGP, RHF, T-o3809, p. 1.
[144] Pedro Rocamora, AGP, RHF, T -05829, pp. 2-3.
* La Castellana is one of the main streets of Madrid.
[145] See Apuntes, no.410, note 359, and no.469, note 393.
[146] He says, "Tell me what you're up to. Are you finally going to pursue a car
eer in the consular corps?" (AGP, IZL, 0--1213, letter no.3). According to the t
estimony given by Father Josemara for the cause of beatification of Isidoro Zorza
no, the founder first met him in about 1927, in Madrid, and that brief meeting w
as followed by two others at La Castellana, and then one in August 1930. (See Co
pia Publica Transumpti Processum. ..Servi Dei Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma, year 1968
, vol. 4, fol. 1074. See also the biography of Zorzano by Jose Miguel Pero-Sanz:
Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma, Madrid, Ediciones Palabra, 1996.)
[147] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 240.
[148] Father Norberto Rodriguez Garcia was born in Astorga (in Leon) in 1880, an
d was ordained to the priesthood in 1905. By October 1910 he was already living
in Madrid, with his parents, and serving as chaplain of the general hospital. In
1914 he had a nervous breakdown. He recovered, but then had a relapse which for
quite a while made it impossible for him to hold any ecclesiastical position. F
rom September 1924 to October 1931 he was assistant chaplain at the Foundation f
or the Sick. Afterward he held various chaplaincies for orders of nuns and worke
d as an assistant priest in a parish in Madrid. He died on 8 May 1968.
[149] Asuncion Mufioz, AGP, RHF, T-04393, p. 4.
[150] Letter of 4 Mar 1929 from Father Jose Pou de Foxci to Father Josemara, sent
from Avila: original in AGP, RHF, 0--15309.
[151] Carlos Sanchez del Rio,AGP, RHF, T-o2853, p. 1. Sanchez notes that "the Wo
rk had already been born, but he did not speak to us about it at that time."
[152] Apuntes, no.1476. In 1938, when the founder was in Burgos, Father Manuel w
as the secretary of that city's seminary, which until 1931 had been a pontifical
university.
[153] See his article in the 24 act 1973 issue of San Salvador's La prensa grlif
ica. Father Rafael Fernandez Claros was canon-theologian of the Metropolitan Cat
hedral of San Salvador.
[154] See AGP, RHF, 0--15511.
[155] See AGP, RHF, 0--15511. Also for apostolic purposes, Father Josemara, along
with some other priests, had enrolled in a pious union, as he himself relates i
n his journal: "On March 12, 1929,feast of Saint Gregory the Great, Father Norbe
rto and I enrolled in the priests' union of Lisieux, the union of spiritual brot
hers of Saint Therese" (Apuntes, no.536).
[156] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.6. Within a little while, as he wrote i
n 1931, he began to feel an urgent need to ask prayers from everyone under the s
un. "I have a real obsession," he said, "with requesting prayers. From nuns and
priests, from pious lay people, from the sick people I take care of, from everyo
ne, I ask an alms of prayer for my intentions, which are, naturally, the Work of
God and vocations for it" (Apuntes, no.302).

In 1932 he wrote, "I continue to ask prayers even from strangersnuns, for exampl
e, whom I come across on the street-asking them to give me, out of their goodnes
s, the spiritual alms of an Our Father" (Apuntes, no.569).
[157] See Apuntes, no.569, note 472.
[158] See AGP, RHFrT-{)3714, p. 2.
[159] Apuntes, no.195.
[160] See Josefina Santos, AGP, RHF, T -{)5255, p. 1.
[161] Apuntes, no.70; see also Apuntes, no.1594. Entry no.70 is from one of the
first days of July 1930. Mercedes Reyna O'Farril, a sister who worked at the Fou
ndation for the Sick, died on January 23,1929, with a reputation for sanctity. U
pon her death the founder felt, as he put it, "inclined to entrust myself to her
protection," since he had attended her in her last days, up to the very moment
of her death (see Apuntes, nos. 174 and 178).
[162] He started the novena on July 31, 1929. "On all nine days," he says, "I we
nt to the cemetery on foot and returned the same way, after praying the Rosary o
n my knees at her tomb" (Apuntes, no.178). On the second day he wrote in a lette
r to her sister Rosario Reyna, "I am making a novena to little Mercedes (I start
ed it on the feast of Saint Ignatius), going every day to visit her grave. There
are two very essential things I am asking her for. I will very much appreciate
it, Senora, if you help me pester your sister" (C 3, 1 Aug 1929).
[163] Apuntes, no.432; see also Apuntes, no.1732, note 1014. Regarding the "vict
im soul" idea, the founder says, "The idea of being or considering myself a vict
im never appealed to me" (Apuntes, no.413, note 362). And several times he says,
"I never had any liking for either the term or the concept of 'victim soul"' (s
ee Apuntes, nos. 1372, 1380, and 1014).
[164] Letter 29 Dec1947/14 Feb 1966, no.90.
[165] Apuntes, no.839.
[166] Meditation of 19 Mar 1975.
[167] Letter 8 Dec1949, no, 5.
[168] See Letter 24 Dec 1951, no.249.
[169] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14Feb 1966, no. 19.
[170] Apuntes, no.306
[171] Apuntes, no.179. " After that 2nd of October of 1928, I stopped getting th
ose inspirations that the Lord had been giving me" (Apuntes, no.179, note 193).
[172] Apuntes, no.1870. Many years later he still would recall what he considere
d his failures in duly responding to his foundational graces. Just a few months
before his death he asked himself, "What means did I use? I did not conduct myse
lf well. I have even been a coward. .." (Meditation of 19 Mar 1975).
[173] Letter 29 Dec1947/14 Feb 1966, no.16.
[174] Ibid., no.17
[175] Letter 9 Ian1932, no.84. This same idea is found in Apuntes, no.373, dated
3 Nov 1931. And it goes back still further, since in that entry the founder say
s he has already written on this subject. No such text is found in the earlier e
ntries, so we must assume that he is referring to something in the first book of
his Apuntes, which he bummed. It must have been written, therefore, no later th
an March 1930.
[176] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. He expressed this same thought in Letter 14 Sep
1951, no.3.
[177] Apuntes, no.1870. Father Jose Luis Muzquiz remembers hearing him say that
in the months following October 2, 1928, he "had no desire to be a founder," and
if he could have found some organization similar to the Work, he "would gladly
have gone there as a rank-and-ffie soldier" {see Jose Luis MUzquiz, AGP;RHF, T-0
4678/1, p.118).
[178] Apuntes, no.1870. The expression "unusual things" (cosas raras) implies no
criticism, but simply a contrast to the kind of naturalness proper to members o
f Opus Dei, who are supposed to be ordinary Christiaris and citizens (see Letter
29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.17).
[179] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. Father Josemarfa soon realized, says Bishop del
Portillo, that there were ho institutions of this type in Spain, but he was hea
ring news of new foundations in other countries: Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Po

land, etc. (see Sum. 536).

[180] As he himself put it, "There started up again that special, very specific
help from the Lord" (Apuntes,no. 179, note 193).
[181] Apuntes, no.475. A little later he wrote to the members of the Work: " Alt
hough I am not fond of dramatic gestures, I have often had the temptation, the d
esire, to get down on my knees and beg your pardon, my children, because with th
is aversion to foundations, despite having plenty of reasons for certainty about
founding the Work, I resisted as much as I could. I would use as an excuse, bef
ore our Lord God, the real fact that since October 2, 1928rin the midst of that
internal struggle of mine, I have worked to fulfill the holy will of God, going
ahead and starting the apostolic activity of the Work. Three years have passed,
and now I see that perhaps our Lord wanted me to suffer then, and to still feel
that complete repugnance now, so that I will always have a tangible proof that e
verything is his and nothing mine" (Letter 9 fan 1932, no.84).
[182] In addition to material he had received in response to his requests, he of
ten found information in Spanish religious magazines. In his journal entry for 2
5 Aug 1930, he spoke of something he had already been doing for several years: "
For quite some time, besides bringing religious magazines (El Mensajero, Iris de
Paz, mission magazines, and others from various congregations) to the sick, I h
ave been calmly and brazenly handing them out in the streets. There have been ti
mes when I couldn't walk down some streets in the poor neighborhoods without peo
ple asking me for magazines" (Apuntes, no.86).
"If I remember correctly," says Father MUzquiz, "he said he was given them by a
friend of his, Don Alejandro Guzman" (Jose Luis MUzquiz, AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p.
20).
[183] Apuntes, no.1870. Bishop del Portillo mentions in his note to this entry t
hat the founder often spoke to him about an old friend and classmate at the law
school in Saragossa, Enrique Luo Pefta, who on one occasion visited the Foundatio
n for the Sick and spoke to him about the Company of Saint Paul. This friend als
o wrote an article, "Pan y Catecismo," for the Saragossan magazine La Accin Socia
l. (See issue no. 4:73 Uanuary 1928], p. 7.)
In addition, the 1928 edition of the official Church directory (which at that ti
me was widely distributed in Spain) carried a long article about Cardinal Ferrar
i's foundation. (See P. Voltas, C.M.F., "Hombres y hechos de la Iglesia Contempo
ranea. El Cardenal Ferrari. Su Obra. La Compaftia de San Pablo," in E. Subirana,
op. cit., 1928, pp. 105-128.)
[184] In El Mensajero Sertlfico, which he sometimes distributed to the sick, the
re was a series of articles about the foundations set up in Poland by Father Hon
orato Kozminski of Biala Podlaska. (See L. Martinez de Muftecas, "Un gran Ap6sto
l de la Accin Cat6lica," in El Mensajero Sertlfico, 1 Jan 1930, pp. 15-16; 16 Ian
1930, pp. 50-51; and 1 Feb 1930, pp. 81-83.) In these articles we read that in
reaction to the decree of the czarist government suppressing the religious order
s in Poland, Father Honorato fostered religious vocations, secretly organizing a
group whose members took vows but lived in the world without a religious habit
and without any regular community life. Starting in 1892 he had founded several
religious congregations, men's and women's, for different social groups.
Father Laureano Martinez de Muftecas was a Spanish Capuchin who was then living
in Krakow and working with Father Honorato's foundations. He later returned to S
pain and, in 1950, founded the Congregacin de las Misioneras Franciscanas del Sub
urbio.
[185] Father Josemara did bum all the journal entries written before 1930, as we
mentioned earlier.
Jose Luis MUzquiz testifies that the founder once told him that after reading th
ose magazines, "'I felt very much at peace. I wrote that those associations were
completely different from the foundation that our Lord wanted of me, and that,
in addition, there was this other fundamental difference: that in those groups t
here were women, whereas in Opus Dei there would be no women"' (Jose Luis Muzqui
z, AGP, RHF, T-04678/1,
p.20).
[186] Meditation of 14 Feb 1964. Father Pedro Casciaro (Sum. 6338) testifies tha

t "he went so far as to write, 'In Opus Dei there will be no women, no way,"' an
d Blanca Fontcin Suanzes (PM, fol. 1061) says that "in the beginning the Servant
of God stated clearly that he would not work with
women, 'no way."'
* At this time, under canon law, organizations in the Church that required of th
eir members? full, all-embracing dedication to God were either of men or of wome
n, not of both.
[187] On October 2, 1928, says Bishop del Portillo (Sum. 537), the founder saw t
he Work as it was to be and to continue to be until the end of time: priests and
lay people seeking sanctity through the fulfillment of their familial and socia
l duties. At that moment he just did not see the specific, rightful places that
women and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross would have in Opus Dei.
The light he received on October 2 was about "the Work as a whole"-its spiritual
focus and message of sanctity, but not any details of its composition and struc
ture. That is why he saw no place in the Work for women, or, to put it in his ow
n words, "I did not think there would be women in Opus Dei" (Letter 29 ]uI1965,
no.2), or, "it will never have women." On October 2, 1928, he received "the ligh
t about the Work as a whole." On February 14, 1930, the date of the foundation o
f the women's branch of Opus Dei, he " grasped," through a new grace of God, ano
ther
aspect of that panorama.
[188] Apuntes,no.1871. On one February 14, in a meditation he was giving, the fo
under said, "I went to the home of an eighty-year-oldlady whose confession I use
d to hear, to celebrate Mass in the small oratory that she had. And it was there
, after Communion, in the Mass, that the women's branch came into the world. Lat
er, at the regular time, I went running to my confessor, and he told me, 'This i
s just as much from God as the rest"' (Meditation of 14 Feb 1964). Note that his
words, "Later, at the regular time," are written from the vantage point of 1964
.
[189] Apuntes, no.1872. Among the documents kept in the General Archive of the P
relature is a letter from an " A. Slatri," dated Milan, July 21, 1930, informing
the founder about "the Company of Saint Paul and the Work of Cardinal Ferrari,"
as well as two letters sent from Krakow by Father Laureano Martinez de las Muft
ecas, dated 4 Feb 1932 and 1 Apr 1932, about the foundations of Father Honorato
in Poland (see AGP, RHF, 0-15059 and 0-03293).
Given their dates, these letters evidently have nothing to do with the search fo
r an institution similar to the Work, such as the founder saw it on October 2, 1
928, but are about questions of an organizational and juridical nature. In those
years, and especially in 1932, he consulted the constitutions and regulations o
f other institutions (see Apuntes,no.716, which is dated 10 May 1932). He also c
hecked out some practical points with other persons, such as Father Sanchez (see
Apuntes, no.769, dated 7 Ju11932, and no.808, dated 12 Aug 1932).
[190] Apuntes, no.1871. "That there might be no doubt that it was he who wanted
the Work brought into being, our Lord provided external proofs. I had written, '
Never-no way-will there be women in Opus Dei.' And a few days later. ...February
14. This makes it obvious that the Work was not my doing, but something going a
gainst my inclination and will" (Meditation of 14 Feb 1964).
* The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, which originated on February 14, 1943,
made it possible for Opus Dei to have priests of its own.
[191] Cited by Alvaro del Portillo, in Sum. 537.
6. Personal Notes

1. Why ?Work of God??

2. The ?Catalinas?
3. Spain?s Second Republic
4. The Move to Santa Isabel
5. New Foundational Insights
6. A Cross without Cyreneans
7. The Path of Spiritual Childhood

* * *

1. Why "Work of God"?

The Escrivs had been living in the apartment on Fernando el Catlico Street for les
s than two years when, in September 1929, Doa Dolores and her children had to mov
e to Jose Maraon Street. Their new home was an annex to the Foundation for the Si
ck with a separate entrance from the street. They made the move not out of a des
ire to improve their living conditions, but simply because the apartment came wi
th the chaplaincy. For one person it would have been comfortable, but for a fami
ly it was very cramped. Still, it did have the advantage of being directly conne
cted with the main building, so that the chaplain could enter the church without
having to go outside.[1]
Doa Dolores may have seen her priest-son more often now, but then again she may n
ot, considering how busy he was. Besides his duties as chaplain and his treks th
rough the poorer neighborhoods of Madrid to visit the sick and the poor, new tas
ks were also piling up. He had to maintain his mother and siblings in a dignifie
d fashion, and he had to complete his studies for the doctorate in law-his reaso
n for coming to Madrid. A person with less spirit and optimism than Father Josem
ara would have had the disheartening sense of being trapped in a net of commitmen
ts that tightened every day.
What money he had came from his chaplain's pay (insufficient for the needs of a
family), his income from the Cicu ndez Academy, and whatever he could make giving
private lessons.[2] It did not add up to enough to raise his family out of the p
overty they had been bearing, albeit nobly, since their years in Logroo. Many sch
emes for improving their lot occurred to him, but these were passing fancies tha
t quickly left his mind, displaced by the demanding, inescapable mission of givi
ng birth to the Work.[3]
Given the pressure of that divine mission and the instability of his family situ
ation, something had to give; and that something was his legal study. Father Jos
emara did what he could under the circumstances. On December 15,1929, he submitte
d to the dean of the law school a formal request for permission to take two exam
inations in the January 1930 session: History of Juridical Literature and Social
Politics. But, as usual, his desires exceeded his possibilities. He was able to
take only the History of Juridical Literature exam, and in it he obtained only
the middling grade of "Notable."[4]
Now he began to look for an appropriate research topic for his doctoral disserta
tion. On March 7,1930, he wrote to Father Pou de Foxcl, in Saragossa, asking his
advice:

You must have already received, several days ago, a long letter from me. Well, t
oday I am writing to send you the sheets on which I copied down the list of cano
n law papers which the National Library has in its manuscript section, to see if
you can help me find a way I could use one or another of those manuscripts for
my dissertation-perhaps, for example, by doing a commentary or critique, with in
troduction and bibliography. If you see that no such thing will do, then-imposin
g, as always, on your affection and kindness-I would appreciate it if you could
suggest a specific topic and some sources.[5]

Eventually he selected a topic in canon law history concerning the ordination of

mestizos and mulattos in Spanish America during the colonial era.[6] Two years
later, he had collected enough material to be able to give Father Pou de Fox this
update:

I was thinking of sending you a big stack of sheets, but it is impossible for me
to write more.
We'll get to talk later, if, finally, I can't keep from making a trip to the cit
y on the Ebro.* ...But if we don't see each other, I'll send you in June a ton o
f paper-arm yourself with patience, for reading it.[7]

Obviously he did not lack either tenacity or good will. But he did lack some oth
er things indispensable to finishing the job. In his journal he writes, "I have
no money. Since I have to work-sometimes too much-to support my family, I have n
either the time nor the inclination to work on the next steps toward the doctora
te."[8]
Those few calm words reveal the material burdens that weighed him down. Lack of
money meant he had to work extra hours at the Academy to maintain his family, wi
thout omitting any of his interminable obligations as chaplain. How could he pos
sibly devote himself to doctoral research and study?
And then, of course, there also was his most joyful and weighty burden. Making t
he Work a reality was a serious task. No matter how many hours were dedicated to
it, they were always too few, since obviously the founding of the Work was goin
g to require a great deal of prayer, much sacrifice, and a lot of apostolate. Fa
ther Josemara tried by all available means to extend the range of his apostolate.
He asked the Apostolic Ladies, and their auxiliaries at the Foundation for the
Sick, for the names and addresses of young relatives and acquaintances, and insi
stently begged them to pray for his spiritual intentions. Thus, in his comings a
nd goings, in his intense apostolic activity, the chaplain constantly proclaimed
with deeds if not with words the novelty of the Work. He wondered if the Ladies
suspected from their chaplain's hustle and bustle that he had in hand some proj
ect unknown to them.
"But didn't you realize," he asked them many years later, "when I was at the Fou
ndation, when I was going around with those young men, that something was afoot?
" Josefina Santos confesses, "I didn't realize anything."[9]
The apostolate he was doing among young men and priests at the Academy, the Larr
a Street residence, and the Foundation soon began to grow. In 1930 he began amon
g blue-collar workers and craftsmen a work similar to the one he was carrying ou
t among students. It may have had its origin in a mission organized by the Found
ation for the Sick for men of various occupations. As part of the mission, the c
haplain was asked to give a talk and hear confessions. It was the first time he
preached officially in Madrid before a congregation of blue-collar workers.
The exercises took place in what was called the Bishop's Chapel, which was next
to the church of San Andres. Father Josemara spoke in simple words straight from
the heart, free of the rhetorical frills and pompous gestures of traditional ora
tory. To overcome his nervousness and keep his hands still, he held tight to the
sanctuary railing. It was June 13, 1930. In his journal he reports "I was there
, in the Bishop's Chapel, when a young lawyer"-he is speaking of himself-" gave
a talk about religion to several hundred laborers. The talk was well received. I
was very happy. We will do this sort of thing, though not in a sacred place, an
d something more. ..."[10]
He spent time on the personal formation of those people, hearing confessions at
their meeting places, talking with them wherever he could.[11] In practically no
time he had a group of workers following him. "By now, in the Work, there are a
lso some lower-level employees and craftsmen," he writes in December 1930.[12] T
he universal call to sanctity was for people of all occupations. "Members of the
mechanical trades and other manual workers," he continues, "have to understand
well the beauty of their work in the eyes of God." When a painter joined the gro
up later on, the founder observed: "His vocation is to prayer and art."[13]

* * *

The Work was beginning to develop a history. In its first months it led a "life
of gestation-unborn, but very active."[14] The founder writes: "The Work was gro
wing within, not yet born, in gestation: there was only personal apostolate."[15
] Although he had no examples to follow or methods to adopt he found that little
by little, the features of a new spirituality were emerging from his personal e
xperience. By divine inspiration, ideas and plans for what would be the internal
organization of the Work were being translated into notes and more notes, which
he would later incorporate into his Apuntes.
One day in June 1930, upon rereading what he had just written, the founder marve

led at the grandeur of what was developing. ? As I consider what I have written,
" he says, "I am immediately convinced that it would take the imagination of a n
ovelist who is a raving lunatic, or who has a fever of 105, to come up with on on
e's own the idea of a work like this. If it was not of God, it would have to be
a plan concocted by someone drunk with pride."[16]
From the point of view of canon law, of course, the Work had not yet even been b
aptized. For the moment though, he did not care that it lacked even a name of it
s own. It was known by the generic name of "the Work:' but could just as well ha
ve been called "the Mission"-anything indicating a task, dedication, a project o
f apostolic work, or evoking the idea of prayer raised to God for the praise of
his name. What mattered for Father Josemara was that he was putting into practice
the central message of the Work. People of all classes and professions were gat
hering by his side. Or, rather, he was going out to meet them and gradually maki
ng the good news known. No matter that he was dealing with just a handful of sou
ls, for from that small group would grow, in time, a vigorous worldwide enterpri
se. In that seed was contained the future tree.
The silence he kept is not surprising, considering the repugnance he had always
felt toward anything smacking of ostentation. It was quite in keeping with his d
esire to "hide and disappear." He himself explains it thus: "I did not give the
Work any name. I would have preferred, had it been possible (it wasn't), for the
Work not to have had a name, nor any juridical identity. ...For the time being,
we were simply calling our work 'the Work.'"[17]
The founder expected that the Lord, in due time, would give it a suitable name,
but meanwhile his humility was satisfied by that generic term. His thinking abou
t a name was that it should have two specific characteristics. First, it should
have no reference to himself, no mention of or link to the name "Escriv." And sec
ond, it should be something not allowing of a derivative name for members, since
they were and should always be ordinary Christian faithful. The solution, then,
would be to find some abstract name.[18] The Work went for a long time without
having an actual name.
Although Father Josemara had earlier poured out his soul to several confessors, h
e was now without a spiritual director.[19] Thus he did not have ?anyone to whom
I could open my soul and communicate from my heart of hearts that which Jesus h
ad asked of me."[20] Hearing at the Foundation that a certain Father Sanchez too
k very good care of his penitents, he went one morning, near the beginning of Ju
ly 1930, to the residence on De La Flor Street to ask the Jesuit to be his spiri
tual director.

Then, slowly, I revealed to him my soul and told him all about the Work. Both of
us saw in all of it the hand of God. We agreed that I would bring him some shee
ts of paper-a packet of note'-sized sheets, it was-where I had written out the d
etails of the whole endeavor. I brought them to him. Father Sanchez went to Cham
artin for a few weeks. When he returned, he told me that the enterprise was from
God and that he would have no problem being my confessor. A few years ago I bur
ned the packet of papers. I regret that.[21]

Starting then (at the end of July 1930), Father Josemara periodically met with hi
s new spiritual director to discuss, not things having to do with the founding o
f the Work, but matters pertaining to his soul. ..."But getting back to the name
of our Work," he recalls, " one day I went to talk with Father Sanchez, in a pa
rlor in the De La Flor residence. I talked to him about my personal things (I wo
uld only mention the Work insofar as it related to my soul), and the good Father
Sanchez asked me at the end, 'How is that work of God going?' When I was alread
y back on the street, I began to think, "Work of God. Opus Dei! Opus, operatio .
..work of God. This is the name I've been looking for!' And from then on it has
always been called Opus Dei."[22]
That name fit the Work admirably, since one of its essential features is sanctif
ication of work. The name encapsulates the theology of sanctification of work wi
th all that it entails: the dignity of the vocation of the Christian who lives a
nd works in the world; the possibility of a personal encounter with Christ in on

e's daily tasks; work as an instrument of apostolate and participation in redemp

tion; the conversion of human efforts and activities into prayer and sacrifice o
ffered to the Creator (all glory to God) ...or, to put it in a word, the diviniz
ation of work which transforms children of God into contemplative souls.
Father Josemara had found the name he was looking for. Along with its significanc
e, it had the advantage of being " abstract, so that there could not be derived
from it a common appellation for the members of the Work."[23]
Was Father Sanchez perhaps just repeating something he had read in the papers Fa
ther Josemara had handed over to him in July? This seems entirely possible, since
in one of the notes about the foundation-written probably around the end of Mar
ch, but in any case before June 193O-one reads, "This is not a question of a wor
k of my own, but of the Work of God."[24]
The above-related concerning the question asked him by his confessor was written
in 1948, when Father Josemara was trying to reconstruct historical records that
he had burned. On this occasion he evidently did not consult the journal entries
that had been preserved-those written after March 1930. If he had, he would hav
e come across this note of his, dated December 9, 1930:

The Work of God: today I asked myself, why do we call it that? And now I'll answ
er myself in writing. ...Father Sanchez, in the course of conversation, referrin
g to the unborn family of the Work, called it "the Work of God."
Then, and only then, I noticed that in my notes I had called it that. That namethe Work of God!! which seemed like an impertinence, something presumptuous, alm
ost an impropriety, was something that our Lord had me write the first time with
out knowing what I was writing. He put it on the lips of the good Father Sanchez
so that there could be no doubt that the Lord himself was directing that his wo
rk bear that name: the Work of God.[25]

It was not his confessor who gave him the name, but God acting through his confe
ssor. In fact, as he clearly states in this note, he had written it before he st
arted showing his notes to Father Sanchez although he had not fully grasped the
significance of what he was writing.
In its deepest meaning it was a bold and ambitious name, so much so that it soun
ded presumptuous to Father Josemara, who wanted to "hide and disappear." Perhaps
he was waiting for a sign; if so, it came when our Lord, by way of Father Sanche
z, gave it his stamp of approval. Yet more evidence that the Work was something
of God and not an invention of his own! The founder saw himself as an instrument
that God humiliated from time to time so that he would never forget that his fo
undational ideas had come by inspiration, not by his own thought processes.[26]
The name Opus Dei unites the Work's essence-sanctification of human work-with it
s divine origin.

* * *

Toward the end of 1930, Father Josemara began to sense that God was asking of him
a greater dedication to his foundational task. That would require making some t
ime in a day already entirely filled with work. The chaplaincy and visiting the
sick of the Foundation were what took up most of his time. If he left the Founda
tion for the Sick, he would have time; but this would present him with other pro
blems. He would have to give up the apartment and find a way to increase his inc
ome. Worst of all would be the problems resulting from the rules concerning prie
sts from outside the diocese, especially the rigorous norms regarding the granti
ng of priestly faculties. It was practically impossible for a priest to reside i
n Madrid without a justifying ecclesiastical reason. He remembered what had happ
ened to Father Antonio Pensado, that companion of his at the Larra Street reside
nce who had ended up having to leave Madrid.
Around Christmas of 1930, therefore, he set out in search of a pastoral position
that would be compatible with his divine mission. Through the good offices of a
lady of the palace who worked with the Foundation, he was introduced to some of
ficials of the royal household.[27] They arranged for him an interview with Fath

er Pedro Poveda, secretary of the Patriarch for the Indies.[28]

When he went to visit Father Pedro on February 4, 1931, he found him to be a ver
y gracious man in his late fifties. Father Josemara briefly explained what he wan
ted, and Father Pedro promised to try to help him obtain a position as Chaplain
of Honor to His Majesty.
"What is that?" he asked. Father Pedro explained that it was an honorary positio
n involving no pastoral duties of any kind, but involving certain privileges wit
h regard to dress and...
"But with that appointment," interrupted the chaplain, "can I solve the problem
of my incardination in Madrid?"
No. It was a purely honorary appointment carrying with it no right at all to inc
ardination in the capital. It would do nothing to resolve his situation" or pull
him out of his financial difficulties.
"Then I have no interest in it" he said.[29]
Father Pedro was enormously surprised to hear the young priest reject such a pre
stigious position, a position so sought after by other clerics simply because he
wanted to be incardinated in Madrid in order to serve souls. Father Josemara, fo
r his part felt that for this spiritual service he did not need privileges or ti
tles. Nor money, for that matter. If God had so obviously deprived him of materi
al means, would he not also take charge of the expenses of the apostolate?
A few weeks after turning down this offer, he entered into negotiations with ano
ther official. Some other ladies who worked with the Foundation for the Sick int
roduced him to the undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical
Affairs, Senor Martinez de Velasco, who had a position to offer that would have
fit Father Josemara like a glove and was perfectly in line with his desires.[30]
Seor Martinez promised to send for him soon. That was on April 10, 1931. The inte
rview never took place because four days later the Republic was proclaimed.
Father Josemara wrote in his Apuntes ntimos: "God did not want it. It doesn't both
er me a bit. May he be blessed!"[31]

2. The ?Catalinas?

These notes (Apuntes ntimos) to which we have been referring are writings of a co
nfidential nature that the founder specified were not to be read until after his
death.[32] They started at an early date and included the loose notes Father Jo
semara brought with him to read and meditate on during his retreat of October 192
8. But, as has been mentioned, neither the first notebook nor those early loose
notes have come down to us, since their author destroyed them. What we have of t
he Apuntes begins with the second notebook, which he started in March 1930.
The entries are generally brief considerations, on all kinds of topics, which in
the beginning he wrote for his own spiritual benefit, so that he could think th
em over in prayer. He called them "Catalinas" (Catalinas in Spanish), because th
ey were, like Saint Catherine of Siena in her day, a means of maintaining and st
oking up a restlessness of spirit-in his case, the restlessness produced by the
extraordinary graces he had been receiving since his first call, in Logroo.[33] A
s he himself expresses it, "These are candid notes - Catalinas, I called them, i
n honor of the saint of Siena-which for a long time I wrote kneeling down, and w
hich served me as reminders and wake-up calls. I think that, as a rule, when I w
as writing with that childlike simplicity, I was praying."[34]
The Apuntes, all of them handwritten, took up eight notebooks, not counting the
fourteen appendices, which were written on loose sheets of paper. They are not c
omplete, and on more than one occasion came near to perishing. "I burned one of
the books of my personal notes years ago," confesses their author, " and would h
ave burned them all if someone with authority, and later my own conscience, hadn
't forbidden me to.''[35]
When Father Sanchez agreed to be his spiritual director, Father Josemara started
using these personal notebooks also as a way to open his soul to him more fully.
The third notebook contains the following entry, written at the end of February
1931:

When I write these Catalinas (that's what I always call these notes), I do so be
cause I feel urged to preserve not only the inspirations of God-I very firmly be
lieve they are divine inspirations-but also other things in my life that have se
rved, and could serve, for my spiritual benefit and help my father confessor get
to know me better. Otherwise I would have torn up and burned these sheets and n
otebooks a thousand times, out of self-love (the child of my pride).[36]

By that time the founder already had a small group of followers, among them some
students, to whom he was communicating the spirit of the Work by means of comme
ntaries on some of his notes. Pedro Rocamora, the law student who at times serve
d his Mass at the Foundation for the Sick, recalls that some Sunday evenings he
would get together with a few young men and read them a page or two from a noteb
ook, or just comment on two or three brief points.[37]
Because the things he recorded in those notebooks included inspirations from God
and personal thoughts concerning the state of his soul, he saw himself exposed
to possible indiscretion on the part of anyone reading them. This worry eventual
ly led him to decide to separate the material for discussion with his confessor
from the material referring to the Work and its apostolates. On May 10, 1932, he
wrote:

I am losing the freedom to write my personal things in these notebooks. Since I

have not made a separate copy of the things referring to the Work, I can't show
them to people to introduce the Work without the risk of their reading those oth
er things as well. Therefore, with the help of God, I will try to do that job th
is summer: separating out my personal stuff, the things I write just for my spir
itual director and myself.[38]

More than once he seriously considered burning all those notebooks. But his conf
essor forbade him to do so, and he realized that keeping these records would be
a way of living in humility and simplicity, although God only knew what it cost
him. "There are times, and plenty of them," he says, "when it bothers me to have
written or to write the Catalinas. I would bum them if I weren't forbidden to.
I have to continue: it is the path of simplicity. But now I try to make everythi
ng as impersonal as possible."[39]
Following the path of simplicity meant having to let the interested party-Father
Sanchez-see even his remarks on discourtesies that now and then came to him fro
m his confessor. "I have written this out in detail," he observes in one of his
journal entries, with regard to one put-down, "because, surely, Father Sanchez w
ill have to read it and will see that these little things, which occur fairly of
ten, hurt my feelings-and therefore are, I believe, very good for me."[40]
Once he starts censoring details of his interior life, where will it end? "The C
atalinas no longer have any intimacy to them. There are so many things I don't w
rite down!" he complains on one occasion.[41] But it is useless to lament what h
as been lost. In spite of everything, his journal entries are still quite genero
us and spontaneous, even when the author is being cautious. In the entry for Dec
ember 3, 1931, for example, he writes:

This morning I backtracked and became a little boy, to greet our Lady before her
statue on Atocha Street, at the top of the house the Congregation of Saint Phil
ip has there. I had forgotten to greet her. What little boy misses a chance to t
ell his mother he loves her? My Lady, may I never become an ex child.
I won't relate any more details of this sort, lest by airing them I should lose
those graces.[42]

Where possible states of mystical contemplation and other supernatural events ar

e concerned, the author of the journal resorts to silence, to depersonalization,
or to leaving things half said. In one journal entry he says: "I renewed my res
olution of not writing anything about prayer except when I am ordered or feel fo
rced to. If I do write something about that, because it might profit me or other
s, I'll have to leave out anything personal."[43]

The end result of such precautions is that the reader is left in a kind of haze
with respect to supernatural phenomena and experiences. An example is the journa
l entry for the day after his resolution not to give details about his prayer li
fe: "12 Dec 1931: Today, during the praying of the Divine Office, Jesus opened u
p to me its meaning as he has seldom done before. At moments it was ecstasy.?[44
] With this he considers the matter closed.
The recourse to depersonalization, which from now on will be his preferred mode
for journal entries, amounts to presenting things dryly and baldly, without thei
r marrow or juice, or perhaps by way of toned-down words and descriptions, or wi
th the distancing that comes from speaking in the third person. For example, he
writes on April 10, 1932: "Yesterday, in a place where people were talking and m
usic was being played, I was given prayer with' an inexplicable consolation.? La
ter he reports on preparing some little girls at Santa Isabel School for First C
ommunion, and then, with no transition, ends the entry thus: ?Right after the ec
stasy of Love: my usual stupidities!?[45]
What was this ?ecstasy of Love,?and what were those ?usual stupidities?? The aut
hor of the Apuntesdoes not explain.
To be sure there are rare instances in which he lifts the veil and expresses wha
t he feels: for instance, "I don't want to leave this out, although I have for s
ome time been depersonalizing these Catalinas: Often, when I am a litt1e tired o
f the struggle (God will forgive me), I envy the scabby patients in the hospital
, abandoned by everyone-I feel sure they win heaven very comfortably.?[46]
Does this truncated account suffice? We must once again recall that the author w
rote these personal notes only to unburden his conscience and to record graces a
nd events in order to bring them to his prayer. We readers are intruders spying
out the secrets of a soul. It should, therefore, not surprise us that he takes r
efuge in reticence and silence.
In some instances, however, he is making no attempt to depersonalize anything, b
ut is simply concerned with something other than what the reader is curious abou
t. Thus, for example, he writes at the end of February 1932:

Last Saturday I was in Retiro Park from 12:30 to 1:30 (it was the first time sin
ce my arrival in Madrid that I've allowed myself that luxury) and I tried to rea
d a newspaper. Prayer came upon me with such force that, against my will, I had
to stop reading. And then how many acts of love and abandonment Jesus put in my
heart and on my lips![47]

Is the reader to understand from this that Father Josemara seldom allowed himself
the luxury of taking walks in public parks? Is he perhaps trying to describe hi
s feeling of being carried away in prayer? Actually, in this case his focus is s
omething more down-to-earth: he was trying to read a newspaper and couldn't do i
t. For in the last line of the previous entry, he mentions waves of prayer that
came over him at such times. "I would like to note," he says, "because it is rat
her odd, that Jesus tends to give me prayer when I start to read the newspaper."
[48]
(Observe too, that, in his preoccupation with recording this anecdote, he forget
s his earlier resolution not to make entries, especially not descriptive ones, a
bout prayer-related phenomena.)
In general, all the entries that probably refer to extraordinary supernatural ev
ents would require a similar exegesis to compensate for the depersonalization im
posed by the author. For example, when he speaks of tears, what should probably
be understood is the gift of tears. Often when he speaks of prayer, the context
indicates a high level of contemplative prayer. And when, as often happens, he d
eclares himself to be full of wretchedness and sin, as he often does, it is sure
ly because he is seeing himself in the light of those divine graces that God, in
his mercy, usually grants to saints. Their self-knowledge convinces them that t
hey are great sinners.
There are moments, too, when his simplicity leads him to give himself away, as w
hen he announces: "One of these days I will try to write Catalinas with memories
of my life in which real miracles can be seen."[49] (Of course it never occurre

d to him to carry out this impromptu promise.)

* * *

"These Catalinas," the founder sums up in one of them, "are for the Work and my
soul."[50] The ones about the Work had to do with flashes of foundational insigh
t regarding its supernatural essence, features of its spirit and principles of i
ts government and organization. The inspirations that the founder received about
the Work as a whole were basic ideas from which he deduced ways, means, and oth
er practical points. Here, for example, is the entry for October 7, 1931, writte
n exactly one month after the Lord, in a locution, assured him of the Work's uni
versality and perpetuity: "I believe that the characteristics of the Work of God
will be unity, universality, order, and organization."[51]
From those general lines the founder later moved to praxis, to detail, to practi
cal realization. Such apostolic ideas or initiatives sometimes were simply carri
ed out, without further ado, when the time came. Others were touched up or amend
ed, as the founder saw fit. For example, he says in an entry made in 1931: "It w
ould be good for each of the members to read every day, in private, a chapter of
the New Testament (everyone reading the same one, each day)."[52] Reading part
of the New Testament did become a daily norm of piety, but with no stipulation a
s to which or how long a part.
On very rare occasions the Lord himself expressly fixed some detail. An entry fr
om December 1931 says: "When we come together to speak about the Work as such, b
efore beginning the talk we will say, In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sa
ncti. Amen. Sancta Maria, sedes sapientiae, ora pro nobis. This morning, at the
basilica on Atocha Street, Jesus asked me to do this."[53]
The journal notebooks contain a large number of suggestions which, if not exactl
y foundational, have to do with the life of piety, ways of dressing, liturgical
services, and apostolate.[54]
Also reflected in the vocabulary employed by the founder is the essential novelt
y that the Work represented in relation to ascetical and pastoral theology. Find
ing the right terminology was hard-he constantly had to struggle with words in d
efense of a correct concept of what he wanted to express. The author of the Apun
tes was trying to communicate something essential to the nature of the message h
e had received (sanctification in the midst of the world), but the standard asce
tical language did not adapt itself to that idea. In fact, its traditional meani
ngs tended to distort what the founder was trying to say.
His continual effort to achieve greater clarity of expression in the Apuntes is
on many occasions focused on the organization of the Work and its member. He spe
aks, for example, of "classes" and "members" to distinguish the lay nature or sp
irit of the Work from that proper to religious. At times he likens Opus Dei to a
military order in the midst of the world. At first he called its members White
Knights and Ladies-names he soon abandoned.
Sometimes this effort to come up with the exact word was doomed to failure becau
se there was no term denoting a radical dedication of a Christian to the service
of the Lord without any change in the person's social, familial, or professiona
l situation. "I would like to find," he says, "a Spanish word other than 'vocati
on' which would have a similar meaning. Will I have to refer to it as a 'calling
'?"[55]
In these terminological details and in many other aspects of the history of the
founding, there is a clear gap between what pertains to the Work's essence ?what
the founder received by divine illumination on October 2, 1928? and subsequent
human efforts to figure out how to put it into practice. As early as March 1930,
when the first notes that still exist were written, the author of these journal
notebooks realized that all their entries would be "a seed that will perhaps co
mpare to the complete entity pretty much as an egg compares to the strutting chi
cken that emerges from its shell."[56]

* * *

The rest of the notes have to do with the founder's soul. They deal with his int
erior life-matters of conscience, and so forth-and external circumstances in whi
ch his apostolate and ministry unfold.
The basis of his self-knowledge, the humility of the founder, starts with an axi
om: "Pure mathematics: Jose Maria = mangy donkey."[57]
This definition is used so frequently in the journal that in notes intended for
his spiritual director he often abbreviates "mangy donkey." In an entry dated Oc
tober 9, 1931 he describes the prayer of that day:

Today, in my prayer, I renewed my resolution of becoming a saint. I know I will

accomplish this-not because I am sure of myself, Jesus, but because I am sure of
you. Then I thought about the fact that I am a mangy donkey. And I asked-and as
k-our Lord to cure the manliness of my miseries with the sweet ointment of his L
ove, that his Love might be the cauterizing agent that will bum away all the sca
bs and clean out all the manliness of my soul, that I may vomit out the pile of
garbage there is within me. I then decided to be a donkey, but not a mangy one.
I am your donkey, Jesus, but no longer mangy. I'm saying it like this so that yo
u'll clean me, not wanting to make a liar out of me. ...And with your donkey, Ch
ild Jesus, do whatever you please. Like the mischievous children of earth, pull
my ears, give this stupid donkey a good whack, and make him run the way you want
. ...I want to be your donkey. I want to be patient, hardworking, and faithful.
...May your donkey, Jesus, get such control over his poor asinine sensuality tha
t he doesn't respond to the spurs with kicks, that he carries his load with deli
ght, and that his thoughts and his braying and his work are saturated with your
Love. All for Love![58]

With that same frankness, he exposes from time to time that layer of sensibility
that can tell us so much about a person's character. When, for example, he writ
es, "Death-the Bald Lady-will be for you a good friend," he is not cracking a ta
steless, macabre joke, but, rather, giving free rein to cheerful familiarity wit
h life's end.[59] Contrasting with this good-humored philosophizing is the drama
tic rhythm of a rich and passionate interior life.

Lord! Grant me the virtue of order! (I believe it is a virtue, and a basic one:
that's why I'm asking for it.)
Lord!! Let me be so much yours that even the holiest affections don't enter my h
eart except through your pierced heart.
Lord!!! Lord! Let me learn how to keep quiet (because I have never had to repent
of keeping quiet, whereas of talking I often have).
Lord! ! Grant that I may never knowingly offend you, not even venially.
Lord! Grant me every day a greater love of holy purity, every day a greater zeal
for souls, every day a greater conformity with your most blessed will.[60]

The notebooks also record the echoes and the dissonances of the daily events of
those times, together with the family affairs of the house of Doa Dolores. The jo
urnal is really a trawl net, through whose pages run, all mixed together, impuls
ive explosions of love for God and mundane statements. For instance, this entry
from March 1934: "Fresh news: I have gotten a very close haircut. How it humilia
tes me to be so fat!?[61]
Announced in this laconic way, his haircut doesn't tell us much. But for him it
was a mortification because it accentuated the fact that despite all his fasting
and other corporal penances, he was gaining weight.
Properly speaking, the Apuntesis not a diary, both because of the contents and b
ecause of the discontinuity of its entries, which cover, basically, the years 19
30 to 1940. However, it does constitute an authentic and abundant autobiographic
al source. On the whole, there is great spiritual richness in these pages, with
divine graces constantly percolating in them. The author shows himself without d
isguise, transparently, with the simplicity of a child, even when partly hiding
behind the reserve with which some notes are written. Sometimes in a low voice,
as though apologetically, he tells us miniscule and delightful details which per

haps could have gone unnoted, but which reveal a magnificent depth of virtue and
greatness of spirit. Other times we find complaints and rejoicings, cries of pa
in and of enthusiasm. "I think," he confesses, "that these Catalinas have become
...a mishmash: wonderful things that are God's, and the childish remarks and all
eluias of a simple nun, or of a foolish little monk, that are the expressions of
my poor little soul."[62]
This variety by itself makes the journal a stimulating and delightful read. But
in addition, it has an invisible autobiographical cohesion. The author's style g
ives the entries life and appeal, regardless of their subject; all give immediat
e evidence of a heart on fire with love. Take, for example, this expression of a
nnoyance at carelessness in the liturgy and with regard to sacred objects and pl
aces:

It is painful to see how the altars and sanctuaries are prepared for the celebra
tion of feasts. Today, at a rich school, the altarpiece was filled with ridiculo
us artificial flowers set on steps of half-painted crate board. The tabernacle i
s usually set up in such a way that the priest, even if he is fairly tall, alway
s has to get up on a footstool to open and close it to take out our Lord. The al
tar cards* are in unstable equilibrium ...and so is the priest, because he has t
o do Charleston-like pirouettes to avoid hitting his head on a hideous gilded br
ass lamp, which hangs very low over the sanctuary, and to avoid falling flat on
his face on the floor from tripping on the carpet, which has been folded over se
veral times to make it fit the steps of the altar. Probably it was discarded as
too worn out for the living room of one of those pietistic women, made up like a
parrot, who come in, first thing in the morning, looking ready to be put in the
ir casket, powdered white and splotched with red, to the Lord of simplicity, Jes
us. And the songs! They are such that one could say the Mass was not sung...but
could have been danced to!
And let's just hope that behind the altarpiece, besides a ladder of poor unpaint
ed wood, by means of which our Lord passes daily from the priest's hands into th
e monstrance, there isn't also a dust-covered pile of odds and ends, converting
the holy place into a storeroom for Madrid's flea markets. All this I have seen.
[63]

The style is reminiscent of Saint Teresa of Avila, in its informality, spontaneo

us simplicity, and frankness of expression. Nevertheless, there is one big diffe
rence between her autobiography and the Apuntes. Despite his general frankness,
when it comes time to speak of personal mystical experiences, Father Josemara sli
ps away. That fidelity to the motto "hide and disappear" is the seal which the f
ounder, by God's will, left imprinted on the Work as a sign of God's favor. "Oth
er institutions have," he says, ''as a blessed proof of divine predilection, con
tempt or persecution, etc. The Work of God will have this one: to go unnoticed."
[64]

3. Spain's Second Republic

On March 14, 1931, Father Josemara jotted down this thought: "How little is a lif
e, to offer to God! And if the life is that of a donkey. ..a mangy donkey!! ...B
ut in spite of everything, I expect great things in this year of 1931."[65]
Just a month later, on April 14, Spain's Second Republic was proclaimed. This of
course was not one of those " great things" Father Josemara was expecting. The t
ruly great things remain forever in the divine present, whereas the arrival of a
new regime or revolution soon becomes just one more dead link in the chain of p
ast events.
As a consequence of the municipal elections on April 12, King Alfonso XIII volun
tarily gave up the throne and went into exile to avert bloodshed. In the midst o
f street demonstrations and riots, a provisional government was set up, formed b
y the various republican parties. The vacuum left by the disappearance of the ol
d regime would quickly be filled by an impassioned wave of populist sentiment. A
lmost all the politicians raised to power were avowed enemies of the Church who

hastily sought to create a secularist state.[66] Many Catholics, in protest, boy

cotted the general elections of June 28, 1931, which determined the constitution
al assembly that would formulate the new Constitution. Most of its members were
Socialists, Freemasons, and Radicals with aggressively anti-Catholic sentiments
and ideologies.[67]
Meanwhile, terrible events were taking place. On May 11, all over Madrid, monast
eries and convents and churches and secondary schools run by religious orders we
re burned, with the passive complicity of the police and other authorities.[68]
The first building to go up in flames was the Jesuits' house of formation on De
La Flor Street. Considering the tolerant attitude taken toward this arson, by th
e authorities in the nation's capital, the provincial capitals felt they could d
o no less. Incendiary vandalism spread immediately to many other cities: Seville
, Mlaga, Valencia, Murcia, Alicante, Cdiz...[69] In three days, May 11-13, 107 rel
igious buildings, almost all of them churches, monasteries, and convents, were b
urned.
In the heat of summer, losing no time, the assembly moved to debate a proposed c
onstitution which was the product of a rabid secularism. It is hard to comprehen
d how such a document could have come about in a democratic country with an over
whelmingly Catholic majority, but many Spaniards lacked a religious formation in
civic matters and there was much anticlerical hatred. The founder would later d
escribe the situation in this way:

At that time, in 1928, ...despite the religious atmosphere, the basic Catholicis
m, of my homeland, the men were rather distant from God. No one was attending to
them. The women generally had a certain piety, but almost always one with not m
uch doctrinal foundation. Men were ashamed to be pious. They breathed the air of
the Encyclopedie,* and the sorry influence of the nineteenth century was still
felt.[70]

The parliamentary debates on the religious question centered on article 24 of th

e draft, which eventually became, with some modifications, article 26 of the Con
stitution. The draft decreed the Church subject to civil law and imposed all kin
ds of prohibitions and restraints, especially on religious orders. Religious wer
e forbidden to teach. The dissolution of all religious orders and the nationaliz
ation of their property were authorized and specific provisions were made for th
e dissolution of any religious order whose members took "a special vow of obedie
nce to an authority other than the legitimate one of the state."[71] (This last
was a clear reference to the Jesuits.) The Catholic minority in the constitution
al assembly could do little to prevent the approval of this article.
On December 9 a constitution was promulgated which was an insult to Catholic sen
sibilities and an assault on the rights of the Church. In the face of so brazen
an assault, the bishops were not slow in issuing a collective statement. On Dece
mber 12, they declared in a "public and clear manner the Episcopate's firm prote
st and collective reprobation of the juridical attack on the Church that the pro
mulgated constitution means."[72]
Unilaterally, and in violation of the existing concordat, the state set itself a
gainst the Church. The attack was shaped by legislation complementing the articl
es of the Constitution. On January 22, 1932, the Society of Jesus was dissolved.
Next the cemeteries were secularized. After that divorce was legalized. But it
was in the following year that relations became most strained. On May 17, 1933,
the Spanish parliament approved, as an implementation of article 26 of the Const
itution, the Law of Religious Confessions and Congregations. By this law, Cathol
ic worship was put in the hands of the civil authorities; all ecclesiastical goo
ds were declared national public property; religious orders and congregations we
re forbidden to engage in teaching; and, finally, the state conferred on itself
the right to nullify ecclesiastical appointments.[73]
The bishops replied with another collective letter, dated June 25,[74] while the
Holy See weighed in even earlier, on June 3, with the encyclical Dilectissima n
obis, in which Pope Pius XI stated:

We have not ceased to give the present rulers of Spain frequent reminders. ..of
how false is the path that they are following, and of the fact that wounding the
soul of the people in its deepest and dearest sentiments is not the way to atta
in that concord of spirit which is indispensable for the prosperity of a nation.
...But now We can do no less than raise Our voice still louder against the rece
ntly approved law regarding religious congregations and confessions, since this
law constitutes a new and graver offense, not only against religion and the Chur
ch, but also against the proclaimed principles of civil liberty on which the new
Spanish government declares itself to be based.[75]

Secularist politicians and intellectuals had both power and propaganda at their
disposal. Guided exclusively by hatred for the Church, they fed grievances and s
tirred up hostility in the masses of blue-collar workers against religious insti
tutions and their members.[76]
This, then, is the setting in which the founder was operating starting in 1931,
and these are historic events that we must take into consideration to appreciate
the full significance of his words and attitudes.
The most densely packed pages of his Apuntes correspond precisely to the years o
f the Republic (1931-1936). Even though written solely for the benefit of the Wo
rk and his soul, the notebooks naturally reflect the historic circumstances; per
sonal references are interspersed with references to what was happening in the s
treets.

* * *

The coming of the Republic on April 14, 1931, was a shock that resounded painful
ly in the priest's life. In one journal entry we read:

May the Immaculate Virgin defend this poor Spain! God confound the enemies of ou
r Mother the Church! The Spanish Republic: Madrid, for twenty-four hours, was on
e huge madhouse. ...Things seem to have calmed down. But the Freemasons are not
sleeping. ...The Heart of Jesus is also awake! That is my hope. How many times t
hese days have I understood, have I heard, the powerful cries of our Lord that h
e loves his Work![77]

Father Josemara's concern was not a political one. He took events as they came, w
ith serenity, not getting involved in partisan concerns. When it came to judging
events of a political or social nature, the founder always put ahead of everyth
ing else their supernatural ramifications: What effect they would have on souls.
From that perspective, the kind of government mattered less to him than the con
sequences of the rulers' policies on the citizens' spiritual lives. He recommend
ed this outlook to his followers, asking them to stay focused on God. In May 193
1 he wrote, "My dear Isidro: I was very happy to receive your letter, which all
of us were impatiently awaiting.... About the news: Don't get worked up over pol
itical changes; all that should matter to you is that they not offend God. Make
reparation."[78]
As events immediately showed, his deeply mistrustful view of the Republic was no
t ungrounded. The very next week mobs began burning monasteries and convents in
Madrid. The Jesuits' house was afire, and thick columns of smoke were billowing
skyward, when the chaplain, fearing an assault on the church of the Foundation f
or the Sick and the sacrileges that might follow, decided to remove the Blessed
Sacrament as soon as possible. He told Manuel Romeo, an army colonel (from a fam
ily the Escrivs had met in Saragossa) who lived fairly close by, that he would li
ke to bring the Blessed Sacrament to his house. Then, wearing a suit borrowed fr
om a son of the colonel, and accompanied by his brother Santiago and a student f
rom the Cicuendez Academy, he went to the church.[79]
"The persecution has begun," he says in a journal entry. "On Monday the 1lth, ac
companied by Don Manuel Romeo, after dressing up as a layman in one of Colo's su
its, I consumed the large host for the monstrance, and then, with a ciborium fil
led with consecrated hosts and wrapped in a cassock and paper, we left the Found

ation, through a back door, like thieves."[80]

Silently, looking just like everyone else, the group went up Santa Engracia Stre
et toward Cuatro Caminos. With tears in his eyes, "alone with Jesus in the cibor
ium" and burning with expiatory sorrow for so much sacrilege, the priest said fr
om the depths of his soul, "Jesus, may each sacrilegious fire increase my fire o
f love and reparation."[81]
He left the ciborium in the Romeo house. It was not the only time he would have
to quickly remove our Lord from a tabernacle.[82] Anticipating history's judgmen
t regarding what the Church in Spain was about to suffer, he summarized the even
ts of those days in these few words: "Hell was unleashed on Madrid."[83]
His family had to flee to a new home. "On the 13th," he says, "we learned that t
hey were planning to burn the Foundation. So at four 0' clock that afternoon we
went, with our belongings, to 22 Viriato Street, to a run-down apartment- one wi
th no windows facing the street-that by God's providence I found."[84]
A full-scale campaign against the Church began. The anti-clerical press incited
the masses to harass God's ministers.[85] Indeed, even on the eve of the Republi
c things unimaginable a few years earlier had begun happening. "Yesterday," says
Father Josemara on November 21, 1930, "at the barbershop, I gave some people a t
alking-to. I was tired of hearing them take as infallible the opinions of those
obscene pieces of trash El Sol and La Voz. Well, today I was coming back from Ch
amartin. Father Sanchez had just told me, with regard to what I just mentioned,
that since it's for the good of my neighbor, I should not keep quiet but should
speak in a pleasant way, without harshness or anger."[86] Then, walking toward t
he Foundation, not far from the barbershop, "I was on Fernandez de la Hoz Street
, near Cisne, when I came across a group of bricklayers. One of them, in a mocki
ng tone of voice, shouted, 'Black Spain!' The instant I heard that, I resolutely
turned around and faced them. I remembered what Father had said, and I spoke ca
lmly, without anger. They all agreed that I was right, including the one who had
done the shouting. He, and also another of them, shook hands with me. Now these
men will not, I feel sure, insult another priest."[87]
His natural spiritedness made it hard for him to ignore taunts and obscenities a
imed at a priest. It was good that Father Sanchez toned down his temperament. Bu
t that temperament was not the source of the trouble. After the arrival of the R
epublic, such incidents were an almost daily occurrence.
In 1931, in late July and early August, he made a novena at the grave of Mercede
s Reyna, the Apostolic Lady who had died with a reputation for sanctity. She was
buried in Este Cemetery, also known as La Almudena. By now it was no longer a m
atter of isolated incidents. "On one of those days," he tells us, "a group of ch
ildren was next to one of the two fountains on the road that leads from Aragn Roa
d to Este. They were with some women who were standing in line, waiting to fill
their pitchers, jars, cans. ...From the group of children arose a shout: ' A pri
est! Let's throw stones at him!' Without even thinking about it, I shut the brev
iary that I was reading, looked straight at them, and said, 'You brats! Is that
what your mothers are teaching you?' I also added some other words."[88]
Itwould have been something to hear those other words! But judging by what he sa
ys about another visit to the cemetery, the problem was more than the mischievou
sness or impudence of children.

Another scene: Lista Street, at the end. This poor priest was coming back, tired
, from his novena. A bricklayer turned aside from his work and said, insultingly
, "A cockroach! It should be stepped on!" Often I turn a deaf ear to such insult
s, but this time I could not. "How courageous of you," I said to him, "to pick o
n a gentleman who walks by you doing nothing to offend you! That's freedom?" The
others made him shut up, indicating, without openly saying so, that I was right
. A few steps further on, another bricklayer tried to give me a reason for his c
olleague's conduct. "It's not right," he said, "but you have to understand, he h
ates priests." And he said it so matter-of-factly.[89]

Political demagoguery had opened wide the floodgates of hatred. This was a sad t
hing for a priest, especially one who was constantly walking from one neighborho

od of the capital to another, and running into it everywhere. He did not have to
strain his memory to find anecdotes for his journal. Here is another from the d
ays of that same novena.

More? Even more; Except for the last day-on all eight of the rest, I think-when
I left the cemetery, I found waiting for me a devil in the guise of a boy of abo
ut twelve to fourteen. When I got a few steps past the cemetery gate, he would s
tart singing, in a bugle-like voice that pierced one to the marrow, the nastiest
verses of the Riego hymn. And what looks I then got from a laborer who was work
ing, with some others, in that little plaza in front of the cemetery! If looks c
ould kill, I would not now be writing my Catalinas. I remember being looked at t
hat way one day when I was making my rounds. My God! Why this hatred for those w
ho are yours?[90]

Things got even worse. Throwing stones soon became as popular a pastime as setti
ng fires. The chaplain suffered more than one hit, although he gives no details.
The women of the Foundation for the Sick needed plenty of courage to go on carr
ying out their charitable works. Leaving the Tetutin quarter one day, some of th
em were badly injured. "They were dragged along the street," says one of their a
uxiliaries, "and jabbed in the head with a shoemaker's awl. One of them, Amparo
de Miguel, heroically tried to defend the others, and they tore off part of her
scalp and beat her to the point of leaving her disfigured."[91]
The priest totally took to heart his own advice: "Don't get worked up over polit
ical changes; all that should matter to you is that they not offend God." [92] B
ut his spirit was still in rebellion-if not against the political disasters, the
n against the offenses to our Lord. He made a firm resolve not to display his ze
al for the house of God so vehemently. To gain self-control and make reparation,
he imposed on himself the hard penance of not reading newspapers.
It was an epic ascetical battle, and not always did he emerge victorious. Someti
mes the parliamentary debates on religious issues won out over his good resoluti
ons.

Reading: Apart from spiritual and study-related readings..., lately I've prohibi
ted myself even El Siglo Futuro. This last, not reading newspapers, is for me no
small mortification. Nevertheless, with God's grace, I stayed faithful to it un
til the end of the parliamentary debate on the so-called law against the religio
us congregations. What battles these struggles of mine were! These epics can be
understood only by those who have gone through similar ones. Sometimes conquerin
g; more often, being conquered.
Having told the story of this little part of my everyday life, I consider this b
usiness before our Lord God, and I see that, given the apostolate he has put me
in; I need to keep up with what is going on in the world. And so, to accommodate
both this necessity and my wish to do mortification in reading, I come to the f
ollowing conclusions....[93]

Here he lays out a disciplined reading plan, with specifics of what and when.
Even so, he remained filled with a vehement zeal for God's glory. Consider his r
eaction to the approval of article 26 of the Constitution:

Feast of Saint Teresa of Jesus, 1931: Yesterday, when I learned of the expulsion
of the Jesuits and the other anti-Catholic resolutions of Parliament, I suffere
d. My head ached. I felt ill until evening. In the evening, dressed as a layman,
I went up to Chamartin with Adolfo. Father Sanchez and all the other Jesuits ar
e delighted to be suffering persecution on account of their vow of obedience to
the Holy Father. What serenely beautiful things he said to us![94]

More than wound him, the insults that the young priest received in the streets s
purred him on. He burned with holy indignation. In the beginning he could not si
lently pass them over, but later he would make spiritual amends for the taunts a

nd crude jokes and, without losing his serenity, redouble his prayers for those
who insulted him. At the beginning of August 1931 he wrote:

The barrage of insults against priests continues. ...I made the resolution-I am
renewing it-of keeping quiet when they insult me, even if they spit on me. One n
ight, in Chamberi Plaza, when I was going to the Mirasol building, someone threw
at my head a fistful of mud that almost plugged up my ear. I didn't say a word.
Even more: the resolution that I am talking about includes pelting those poor ha
ters with Hail Mary's. I thought that my resolve was very strong, but the day be
fore yesterday I failed twice, kicking up a fuss instead of being meek.[95]

The effort to tolerate insults and respond with Hail Mary's established in his a
rdent nature a new habit. A few weeks later he wrote:

September 18, 1931: I have to thank my God for a remarkable change. Until recent
ly, the insults and taunts directed at me, as a priest, since the coming of the
Republic (before that, they were very rare), made me furious. I decided that whe
n I heard such vulgarities and obscenities, I would say to the Blessed Virgin a
Hail Mary for whoever uttered them. I have done that. It has cost me. But now, w
hen I hear those ignoble words, they only make me feel, as a rule, deeply sorry
for those poor, unfortunate people. For when they act in this way, they think th
ey are doing something noble, since others, exploiting their ignorance and passi
ons, have made them believe that, besides being a lazy parasite, the priest is a
n enemy-an accomplice of the bourgeoisie which is exploiting them. Your Work, O
Lord, will open their eyes![96]

He did not always succeed in maintaining that attitude. Sometimes his inner fumi
ng erupted. One such explosion happened in connection with the dissolution of th
e Society of Jesus. In his Apuntes he writes:

The outrage to which the Jesuits have fallen victim has made me physically exhau
sted and, of course, infuriated. I had another quarrel about this in a streetcar
. Now I will shut up. The cowardly society in which we are living is a web of eg
oisms. Your Work, Jesus, your Work![97]

The Work was still a creature "in gestation," a divine seed taking root in the f
ounder's soul.
In a short space of time, from 1931 to 1932, a radical change took place in Span
ish life. Religious hatred soured relations among citizens. The intellectual sec
tors exuded rancor against religious activities, against piety, and against doct
rine. Meanwhile, under the banner of Regnare Christum volumus ["We want Christ t
o reign"), Father Josemara was trying to bring forth the Work that God was asking
of him. "What God wants is very beautiful" he mused. "On the other hand, I don'
t understand or see why, it being so needed, a work like this was not started be
fore."[98]

4. The move to Santa Isabel

From the two foundational dates (October 2, 1928, and February 14, 1930) Father
Josemara had emerged firmly disposed to fulfill the will of God and seek holiness
, since this was the message he would have to preach to everyone from then on. I
n April 1930 he entered in his journal a powerful expression of that desire: "I
want, O Lord, to truly want, once and for all, to have an immeasurable abhorrenc
e of anything that smacks of sin, even venial sin."[99]
In that early stage of its gestation, he understood that before the Work became
known publicly it would have to mature interiorly. In April 1930 he says, "My ho
ur has not come. First I must learn to suffer, I must have prayer, I need seclus
ion and tears."[100]
He understood that the Work's future soundness would depend on his embedding him
self in its foundation, by means of much prayer and expiation. In October 1930 h

e wrote:

I've been thinking-and I'm putting it here so that later on, when I read it, it
can go deeper in me and do me good- that the construction of material buildings
is very similar to that of spiritual ones. For example, that gilded weather vane
on a big building, however much it may glitter and however high it may be, does
nothing for the solidity of the building, whereas, on the other hand, an old he
wn stone hidden in the foundation, underground, where nobody sees it, is of capi
tal importance to keeping the building from collapsing...even though it doesn't
shine like that poor gilded brass thing up there on top. And so, for that grand
building that is called "the Work of God" and that is going to fill the whole wo
rld, the gleaming weather vane should be a matter of no concern. It will come! T
he foundations: on them depend the solidity of the whole thing. Deep foundations
, very deep and strong. The stones of such foundations are of prayer;and the mor
tar holding those stones together has but one name: expiation.Working and suffer
ing, with joy. Going deep, since for a gigantic building there must also be a gi
gantic foundation.[101]

In the next month, he drew up this plan of priorities for his interior life: "Fi
rst, prayer; then, expiation; and in third place ?in a distant third place? acti
on."[102]And in line with that plan, he composed some prayers to be recited dail
y by the members of Opus Dei-the name which he had given to the Work a short tim
e before. (As we shall see, Father Josemara then had only three followers. ) He t
ells us about this in his journal entry for December 10, 1930:

These days we are making copies of the "Prayers to Be Recited by Members of Opus
Dei." They have been approved by my confessor. It is obvious that our Lord-beca
use this is the way it has to be in the Work-has wanted us to begin with prayer.
Praying is going to be the first official act of members of the W. of G. The wo
rk, for now, is personal; we will be getting together only for prayer.[103]

As we have seen, Father Josemara begged prayers from people on the street. He als
o asked the sick people in his care to offer up their sufferings on the altar of
expiation, because he had an indestructible faith that the sufferings of the in
nocent can obtain graces from the Lord and make up for our wretchedness. Armed w
ith that trust, he expected the prayer of the poor to draw down miracles of heav
en. And it did not surprise him that his supplications never failed to be grante
d.[104]
For him it was a proven fact. "Of this I have a fortunate experience," he confes
ses. "Whenever, not with emotionalism but with real faith, I have asked our Lord
or our Lady for something spiritual (or even something material) for me or for
others, it has been granted."
Take the sudden demise of the anticlerical newspapers El Sol and Crisol. One of
the people assisted by the Foundation for the Sick was a poor, somewhat retarded
woman named Emiqueta who, having a speech defect, would often say to him, "Pade
, le quero mucho" ("Fada, I lub you a lot"). The chaplain asked her to offer her
Communions for an intention of his. It was that Crisol would go under.
Later he wrote in his journal, "The pride of the wise is confounded by the humil
ity of a poor little retarded woman. It's happened-Crisol is defunct. They're go
ing to bring out another paper-Luz-but undoubtedly if 'Dumb Emiqueta' keeps pray
ing, that candle too will soon have no wick."[105]
He never stopped asking for prayers. He begged everywhere for spiritual alms, to
the point where, as he would say, it became second nature to him.[106]
"I am absolutely certain," he says, II of the limitless power of prayer. ...Pray
er will speed up the hour (the hour of completed gestation) of the Work of God.
Because prayer is omnipotent."[107] For him it was something like oxygen; never
did he cease to breathe it, as the panacea for every ill. When burdens and worri
es come, he writes, a period of prayer "is the solace of those of us who love Je
sus."[108]

* * *

Meanwhile, the terrible political events that shook the whole of Spain had creat
ed a general atmosphere of anxiety. This is reflected in a gap of nearly two mon
ths between journal entries. When the founder resumes these writings on July 15,
1931, his first comment is: "How many thoughts and feelings I could have noted
down since the horrendous sacrilegious burning of religious houses! Well, later
I'll write something about all that."[109]
What with his family's change of residence, the catechetical instruction and pre
paration for First Communion that he was giving in the schools run by the Aposto
lic Ladies, and his house calls to the sick, it is safe to assume that his workl
oad was enormous. And it is certain that the thoughts and feelings he failed to
note in his Apuntes during the spring of 1931 were only marginally connected wit
h the political events of those days. In saying "later I'll write something abou
t all that," he is referring not to those matters, but to the state of his soul,
which he sketches in a beautiful entry dated August 31. Four years of struggle
in Madrid; later, an influx of foundational graces; and always docility, abandon
ment in the arms of the Lord-that of a little boy who abandons himself to the se
curity of his father's arms. God had brought him to a high prayer of union, givi
ng him a sublimity and breadth of horizon, drawing him very close.

I see myself as being like a poor little bird who, accustomed to just flitting f
rom tree to tree, or, at best, to a third-floor balcony, one day in his life fel
t he could fly up to the roof of a certain modest building, not exactly a skyscr
aper ...But lo and behold, an eagle snatches up our bird-mistakenly taking it fo
r a fledgling of its own kind-and in those powerful claws the little bird soars,
soars very high, above the mountains of earth and the snow-capped peaks, above
the white and blue and rosy clouds, and higher yet, until he is looking directly
at the sun. ...And then the eagle, letting go of the bird, tells him, "Go on-fl
y!"
Lord, may I never again fly close to earth! May the rays of the divine Sun Chris
t, Eucharist, always illuminate me! May my flight never stop until I find repose
in your heart![110]

For many months God had been suggesting to him that he leave the Foundation for
the Sick in order to dedicate himself more intensely to the Work. A few days bef
ore the arrival of the Republic the problem seemed almost resolved, but then cam
e that abrupt change of political regime and the persecution of the Church. Fath
er Josemara's foundational and apostolic terrain was Madrid. It was there that he
needed to exercise his priestly ministry and find time to dedicate to the speci
fic apostolate of the Work; but as a priest from outside the diocese he was also
facing problems getting residential permits and getting his ministerial faculti
es renewed.
At this point, however, he was not worried about any of those things. He was sur
e that in one way or another, God would advance his Work. His concern was differ
ent.
To save a soul, Father Josemara was willing to expose himself to grave dangers, i
ncluding the risk of contracting a fatal illness and the possibility of not havi
ng his faculties renewed.
One day, when visiting the sick on the list given him at the Foundation, he was
told that a young tuberculosis victim was awaiting death in a bordello because h
is sister, one of the prostitutes, lived there. Deeply concerned that this man's
soul might be lost, he got permission from the vicar general to go to the borde
llo to hear his confession and give him the last sacraments. He went-accompanied
by Don Alejandro Guzman, an elderly and very respectable Catholic gentleman spo
rting a short beard and a Madrid-style cape-to visit the sick man. During that f
irst visit, he obtained a promise from the owner of the place that throughout th
e day when he brought the Viaticum, our Lord would not be offended in that borde
llo. On the appointed day, with Don Alejandro serving as acolyte, he brought the
Blessed Sacrament to the dying man.[111]

It was not easy for the priest to break away from the Foundation for the Sick, d
espite the many supernatural reasons he could think of for doing so. His heart h
ad put down roots in that work among children, the sick, and the impoverished. I
n June 1931 he writes in his journal:

I am leaving the Foundation. I am leaving with pain and with joy. With pain, bec
ause after four long years of working in this apostolate, and of putting my soul
into it each day, I know very well that I have a good part of my heart invested
in this' apostolic center, ...and one's heart is not a worthless scrap of meat
to be thrown around any which way. With pain, too, because another priest in my
situation during these years would have become a saint, whereas I, on the other
hand. ...With joy, because I'm exhausted' I am convinced that God does not want
me involved with the Foundation anymore; there I am getting destroyed, wiped out
. I mean physically-at that pace I would end up getting sick, and, of course, in
capable of intellectual work.[112]

But he could not see how to leave the Foundation, and so our Lord had to provide
a way.

I can't finish this part without noting that it was our Lord who put in that fin
al period. I was asking at Holy Mass that he arrange things in such a way that I
could leave the Foundation. I think it was on my fifth day of this petition tha
t the Lord heard me. It was his doing. Of this I have no doubt, because he answe
red my request in full. The concession, in other words, was accompanied by humil
iation, injustice, and contempt. May he be blessed! ...On the feast of Saint Eph
rem, our Lord allowed me to leave the Apostolic Ladies.[113]

We do not know in what that humiliation consisted. But his decision evidently be
came public knowledge right away, for a Holy Family priest, Father Luis Tallada,
writes to him at the end of June: "I learned through a letter from the Fathers
that you're going to leave the Foundation. The news surprised me to some extent,
as I'm sure you'll understand. I predict that Doa Luz will have a hard time find
ing a substitute who can fill the vacuum caused by your leaving that good work.
There are not too many people with a spirit of sacrifice and self-denial."[114]
The feast of Saint Ephrem was June 18. The ex-chaplain, however, continued to of
fer his services at the Foundation until the Ladies could find a substitute; and
in the midst of that turbulent social instability the vacancy was not easily fi
lled. For four months, from June to October, he remained at the helm of the chap
laincy and continued to visit the sick. It was hard to tear himself away from th
at place into which he had put so much of his heart-from that opportunity to all
eviate his neighbor's sufferings and have those sufferings offered up so as to m
ove our Lord's heart. "I think," he said to himself, "that some of those sick pe
ople whom I assisted before their death, during my apostolic years, have a lot o
f influence with the heart of Jesus."[115]
As for the Ladies, it was not so easy for them to accept the idea of no longer h
aving a chaplain always there in a pinch. On the day of his final leave-taking,
October 28, Father Josemara experienced some little unpleasantness that really hu
rt his feelings. It may have had to do with an unfair comment made behind his ba
ck, that he learned about during a visit to the marquises of Miravalles.[116]
Did the move from the Foundation for the Sick to the Foundation of Santa Isabelto which Father Josemara found himself committed at the last minute-make any real
sense? Certainly it was no remedy for the precarious financial situation of his
family. He was leaving a stable position, albeit a demanding and poorly paid on
e, to become interim chaplain of a convent, without any kind of official appoint
ment and "without receiving any pay at all."[117]
The transfer was not his decision alone, or, by any means, one that was thought
out. It was, rather, a consequence of political circumstances and of the extreme
generosity of the young priest. After officially resigning from the Foundation
for the Sick, but before ending his services there, he found out about the pitif
ul situation of the Augustinian sisters at Santa Isabel. For some time their cha

plain, Father Jose Cicuendez, had been ill. Augustinian Recollect priests had be
en filling in for him, and everything was fine, until the Republic came. Then th
e life of those priests became complicated. To tend to the nuns, they had to wal
k all the way through Retiro Park, or else cross empty lots and go down alongsid
e the wall of the botanical garden to Atocha Street and then climb up to Santa I
sabel. This was a lonely and deserted area not to be recommended for people wear
ing cassocks.[118]
The land occupied by the convent of Santa Isabel had been part of a country esta
te once owned by King Philip II's noted secretary, Antonio Perez. After the good
s of the estate were confiscated by the Crown, a school for boys and girls who w
ere poor, orphaned, or abandoned was established there in 1595. In honor of Prin
cess Isabel Clara Eugenia, it was named after Saint Elizabeth [Isabel], queen of
Hungary.
The convent of the Augustinian Recollect Sisters of the Visitation of Our Lady w
as moved to this property in 1610. This was an order founded in Madrid in 1589 b
y a friar, Blessed Alonso de Orozco. The Augustinian nuns were to occupy part of
the school and take charge of the girls. Centuries went by, and after more than
a few historic vicissitudes, Assumption nuns took over the girls' school in 187
6 and ran it from then on.[119]
In 1931 those two institutions, the school of the Assumption nuns and the conven
t of the Augustinian Recollect nuns, became the Royal Foundation of Santa Isabel
. When the Republic came, a government commission was set up to administer all t
he former royal foundations. The civil authorities, bypassing the ecclesiastical
ones, arrogated to themselves the right to make appointments to positions in th
e foundations.[120] On another front, the old ecclesiastical palace jurisdiction
, of which Father Gabriel Palmer was vicar general, continued to function until
1933, when the Holy See suppressed it, transferring its powers to the bishop of
Madrid-Alcala.[121]
This is, in broad outline, the administrative history of the foundations formerl
y dependent on the royal chapel. Internally, however, the Augustinian convent an
d the Assumption school in that era of the Republic ran into worse difficulties
than the merely legal ones. For a very long time, the Foundation of Santa Isabel
had had a rector and two chaplains to take care of the spiritual needs of the n
uns, but these appointments, which through the centuries had never caused any pr
oblems, were now clearly in a grave situation: that left the nuns without spirit
ual assistance. On June 16, 1931, the rector, Father Buenaventura Gutierrez y Sa
njun, gave up his position, having been eliminated from the staff list by governm
ent decree.[122] The head chaplain, Father Jose Cicuendez, had been away on sick
leave since December 1930.[123] And as for the assistant chaplain, Father Juan
Causapie, some time earlier he had gone over to another of the royal foundations
, Nuestra Senora del Buen Suceso. On July 9, 1931, he was named its interim rect
or-administrator.[124]
In these distressing circumstances, after Father Josemara had taken care of the c
onvent for a couple of weeks, the nuns of Santa Isabel tried to secure for thems
elves what they saw as this help dropped down from heaven. They decided to have
Father Josemara officially appointed chaplain as quickly as possible. On August 1
3, 1931, he reports:

These days the little nuns of Santa Isabel, which used to be a royal foundation,
are trying to get me appointed chaplain of that holy house. Humanly speaking, e
ven in relation to the Work, I think it would be good for me. But I am not doing
anything about it. I am not even seeking a recommendation. If my heavenly Fathe
r sees that it will all be for his glory, he will take care of the business.[125
]

The chaplaincy would give him the right to continue residing in Madrid, which wo
uld be a great advantage for him as founder and for his apostolate. Nevertheless
, it seemed to him more perfect not to go seeking recommendations. But then his
spiritual director, Father Sanchez Ruiz, advised him to give up this attitude of
passive abandonment in the hands of God and to get actively involved in the neg

otiations. From what can be gathered from his journal entries for these months,
his hopes of obtaining the position appeared and disappeared like the bed of a m
eandering river.
On September 21 the outcome of his negotiations with the civil authorities was s
till pending, but Father Josemara could finally write with joy and consolation, "
Feast of Saint Matthew, 1931: I have for the first time celebrated Mass at Santa
Isabel. All for the glory of God."[126]
He was in fact already the chaplain of Santa Isabel. But this only partly solved
his problems, as a priest from outside the diocese, for obtaining an official a
ppointment from the civil authorities was a very different kettle of fish. Durin
g the fall, therefore, he continued these efforts.
Father Sanchez insisted that he use every possible means to obtain the chaplainc
y definitively, and Father Josemara docilely went along with his confessor's view
. At times he saw the turn of events as providential-when, for example, someone
offered him a helping hand. At other times he felt things were getting more comp
licated every day. "It seems," he writes on November 12, "like the devil is inte
rfering with this Santa Isabel thing. It must bother him a lot."[127]
What really was providential was something he learned the next week-that he had
been saved in the nick of time from expulsion from the diocese. By becoming chap
lain of Santa Isabel, a position at a former royal foundation, he had been trans
ferred to the ecclesiastical palace jurisdiction, precisely at the time the bish
op of Madrid was sending priests back to their dioceses of origin. In his journa
l the chaplain writes:

Another caress from Jesus for his donkey: In these Catalinas it is mentioned tha
t I now belong to the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of the Indies. Well, now it
turns out that the bishop of Madrid is making all the priests in the capital sig
n some papers which, he has publicly stated, have no other purpose than to send
back to their respective dioceses all the priests who are not from this one, of
Madrid-Alcala. Of course, such is the way God has taken care of things, this doe
s not affect me at all.[128]

Overnight, with no effort on his part, Father Josemara had had his stay in Madrid
guaranteed. As for obtaining from the government an official appointment to the
chaplaincy (which would make it a paid position), this was his prayer to the Lo
rd: "If it will benefit the Work, please let me have it. But if it would deflect
me from it by so much as a millimeter, I don't want or ask for it."[129]

5. New foundational insights

God was arranging things for the founder to come closer to the cross. But at the
same time that God was tempering his soul with sorrow, he also was refining thi
s instrument that was to carry out his plans for Opus Dei. During the summer of
1931, in the midst of great tribulations, Father Josemara received new lights abo
ut the core elements of the doctrine and spirit of Opus Dei. These illuminations
displayed before his mind aspects already implicit in the essence of the Work.
God thus helped him in his foundational task, guiding him toward its realization
, even down to details.
When his sister and brother went to Fonz for summer vacation, he and his mother
remained in the apartment on Viarato Street where they had moved after leaving t
he Foundation for the Sick. It was then that the Lord began to do those "great t
hings" of which he had had presentiments months before. One event took place on
August 7,1931, and is described in a letter written in 1947.
"I am embarrassed about this," he confesses before beginning the story, "but am
writing it to you in response to indications I have received. I will not, howeve
r, tell you many of these things." He then continues:

That day of the Transfiguration, while celebrating Holy Mass at the Foundation f
or the Sick (on a side altar), when I raised the host there was another voice, w
ithout the sound of speech.

A voice, perfectly clear as always, said, Et ego, si exaltatus fuero a terra, om

nia traham ad me ipsum! [" And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw
all things to myself!? (Jn 12:32)]. ?And here is what I mean by this: I am not s
aying it in the sense in which it is said in Scripture. I say it to you meaning
that you should put me at the pinnacle of all human activities, so that in every
place in the world there will be Christians with a dedication that is personal
and totally free-Christians who will be other Christs.[130]

Were there no journal entry about the event, it would be difficult to gauge its
supernatural dimension, since modesty prevents the priest from telling the whole
story in this letter of 1947. Here, though, is the journal entry for that day:

August 7,1931: Today this diocese celebrates the feast of the Transfiguration of
Our Lord Jesus Christ. When making my Mass intentions, I noted the interior cha
nge that God has made in me during these years of residence in the ex-Court. ...
And that the change has come about in spite of myself-without my cooperation, I
might say. I think I then renewed my resolve to dedicate my entire life to the f
ulfillment of God's will: the Work of God. (A resolve that, right now, I again r
enew with all my soul.) The time for the Consecration arrived. At the very momen
t when I elevated the Sacred Host, without my losing the necessary recollection,
without my becoming distracted (for I had just made, mentally, the Offering to
the Merciful Love), there came to my mind, with extraordinary force and clarity,
that passage of Scripture, Et ego, si exaltatus fuero a terra, omniatraham ad m
e ipsum Un 12:32]. (Ordinarily, before the supernatural, I feel afraid. Later co
mes the "Do not be afraid, it is I.") And I understood that there will be men an
d women of God who will lift the cross, with the teachings of Christ, to the pin
nacle of all human activities. ...And I saw our Lord triumph, attracting to hims
elf all things.
In spite of feeling myself devoid of virtue and knowledge (humility is truth...w
ithout exaggeration), I would like to write books of fire-books that will race a
cross the world like burning flames and set people ablaze with their light and h
eat, turning poor hearts into red-hot coals to be offered to Jesus as rubies for
his royal crown.[131]

This new light was a specific grace that confirmed the message of October 2, 192
8, by accentuating the importance that professional work has within the spirit o
f Opus Dei as a source of sanctification and apostolate.[132] At the same time,
in its echoing of what Saint Paul said to the Ephesians about uniting all things
in Christ, it called attention to the value and function of work in the economy
of the Redemption.[133]
Christ's raised high on the cross so that all could fix their gaze on him is the
sign of salvation and the redeeming cure for the damage inflicted by the sin of
our first parents. It was prefigured by the bronze serpent Moses ordered to be
raised as a cure for all who had been bitten by the serpents in the desert.
For many, Christ's being nailed to the cross, exposed to the scorn of his enemie
s and the sorrow of his friends, is a sign of contradiction. But it is not the v
ision of the Savior, as one condemned to death and offered as a victim on Calvar
y, that is the source of the locution. Rather, it is his great desire that the r
eign of his love be established by means of all human activities. Again the foun
der pronounces his Regnare Christum volumus, a phrase that brings all activities
of human beings, including the products of their efforts and the creativity of
their intelligence, to Christ's feet in praise (Deo omnis gloria!), so that he m
ight reign over human wills and govern all creation.
The human being's creative power-a participation in the creative power of God-is
manifested in one's human and professional vocation. When industriousness, the
pursuit of perfect work to offer to God, leads us to pour ourselves into our wor
k, it converts what is done into means of sanctification and apostolate. By cons
ecrating to God the works of our hands and intelligence, we elevate the human vo
cation to the supernatural order, and this, through grace, has a sanctifying eff
ect. Thus the reconciliation of all things with God becomes a reality: all of cr

eation is drawn upward by the cross, to be offered by Christ to the Father.

The work of a Christian is not just an obligation owed to family or society. Wor
k fully inserts us in the economy of redemption and is an apostolic instrument f
or participating in the salvific mission of the Church. The founder explains:

Considering the magnitude of our apostolic task in the midst of human activities
, I try to keep in my memory, united to the scenes of the death-the triumph, the
victory--0f Jesus on the cross, those words of his, et ego, si exaltatus fuero
a terra, omnia traham ad me ipsum Un 12:32]; " and I, when I am lifted up from t
he earth, will draw all things to myself."
United with Christ through prayer and mortification in our daily work, in the th
ousand human circumstances of our simple life as ordinary Christians, we will wo
rk that miracle of placing all things at the feet of the Lord lifted up on the c
ross, on which he has allowed himself to be nailed because he so loves the world
and us human beings.
Thus simply by doing with love the tasks proper to our profession or job, the sa
me ones we were engaged in when he came looking for us, we fulfill that apostoli
c task of placing Christ at the summit and in the heart of all human activities,
since no upright activity is excluded from the sphere of work that can be made
a manifestation of the redemptive love of Christ.
Similarly, work is for us not only our natural means of meeting financial needs
and maintaining ourselves in a reasonable and simple community of life with othe
r people, but also-and above all-the specific means of personal sanctification t
hat God our Father has indicated to us, and the great apostolic and sanctifying
instrument that God has put in our hands to make the order that he wants shine f
orth in all of creation.
Work, which must accompany the life of human beings on earth (see Gen 2:15), is
for us at the same time- and to the utmost degree, because to the natural exigen
cies are united others that are clearly of a supernatural order-the point of enc
ounter of our will with the salvific will of our heavenly Father.[134]

* * *

From the beginning, our Lord showed the founder of Opus Dei a design of a univer
sal scope, a catholic nature. Because of this, in the journal entry for October
2, 1930, he states with absolute faith that the Work of God "will fill the whole
world."[135]
During the summer of 1931, as we will later see, great tribulations engulfed him
. Our Lord used historic circumstances, calamitous in themselves, to purify his
affections and bring him to a total abandonment to Divine Providence. But he did
not hang back and wait for a more propitious time. The mission entrusted to him
urged him on. Looking back later on those years when the Lord had put pressure
on him to live exclusively by faith, he testified to the Lord's assistance:

The first steps, to tell the truth, were not at all easy. But the Lord, as often
as necessary-and I'm not talking about miracles, but about the ordinary way tha
t our Father in heaven deals with his children, when they are contemplative soul
s-in every instance came to our rescue and gave us a supernatural fortitude. ...
Around the year 1930 he made this locution clearly heard, not just once but a nu
mber of times: Et fui tecum in omnibus ubicumque ambulasti [2 Sam 7:9]-1 have be
en and will be with you wherever you go.[136]

That locution was entered in his journal on September 1931, the feast of the Bir
th of the Virgin Mary:

Yesterday, at three in the afternoon, I went to the sanctuary of the church of t

he Foundation to pray for a little while in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I di
dn't feel like it, but I stayed there, feeling like a nincompoop. Sometimes, com
ing to, I thought, "Now you see, good Jesus, that if I am here, it is for you, t

o please you." Nothing. My imagination ran wild, far from my body and my will, j
ust like a faithful dog, stretched out at the feet of his master, sleeps dreamin
g of running around and of hunting and of friends (dogs like himself), and gets
fidgety and barks softly...but without leaving his master. That's how I was, exa
ctly like that dog, when I noticed that, without meaning to, I was repeating som
e Latin words which I had never paid any attention to and had no reason to recal
l. Even now, to remember them, I have to read them off of the sheet of paper I a
lways carry in my pocket for writing down whatever God wants. (Right there in th
e sanctuary, I jotted down that phrase instinctively on that sheet of paper, out
of habit, without attaching any importance to it.) The words of Scripture that
I found on my lips were, Et fui tecum in omnibus ubicumque ambulasti, firmans re
gnum tuum in aeternum [" And I have been with you everywhere, wherever you went.
..; your throne shall be established forever" (2 Sam 7:9,16)]. Repeating them s
lowly, I applied my mind to their meaning. And later, yesterday evening and agai
n today, when I read them again (for-I repeat-as if God was taking pains to prov
e to me that they were his, I can't recall them from one moment to the next), I
well understood that Christ Jesus was telling me, for our consolation, "The Work
of God will be with him everywhere, affirming the reign of Jesus Christ forever
."[137]

These divine words confirmed the Work's universal and perennial character, in th
e service of the Church-the uninterrupted continuity of its mission. Strengthene
d by this locution, the founder wrote on January 9, 1932, to all members of Opus
Dei (the few there were then and the immense multitude he expected later), with
absolute supernatural faith in that divine enterprise: "Have complete confidenc
e, then, that the Work will always fulfill with divine efficacy its mission; tha
t it will always serve the purpose for which the Lord has wished it to exist on
earth. By God's grace, it will be, for all centuries to come, a marvelous instru
ment for the glory of God. Sit gloria Domini in aeternum! [May the glory of the
Lord endure forever!]."[138]
In the face of the almost revolutionary upheaval all around him, the founder str
essed to his followers the Work's supernatural origin, helping them see that thi
s was no temporary institution or apostolic organization brought about as a resp
onse to the religious persecution in Spain. The Work had not come to answer the
need of a moment and then disappear once political and social peace was restored
.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many institutions had come into existe
nce in response to religious persecution. They had been created to fill a vacuum
, to continue pastoral activities initiated by congregations and orders later ex
pelled from certain countries. The life of those associations was intended to be
ephemeral. Once having met the needs of the moment, they were meant to disappea
r. But that was not how it was and would be with the Work. "While we will see th
e fall of grandiose, noisy 'apostolate' which now arouse human fervor and enthus
iasm," the founder writes in his journal, "the W. of G., growing ever more effec
tive and strong, will last until the end."[139]
The echo of the locution of September 7 was still reverberating in his soul when
, on the fourteenth of that same month, our Lord showed him the path that the Wo
rk's perpetuity would take: that of an identification of its members with Jesus
in humiliation and on the cross. The entry for that date reads: "Feast of the Ex
altation of the Holy Cross 1931: How much today's epistle cheered me up! In it t
he Holy Spirit, through Saint Paul, teaches us the secret of immortality and glo
ry. ...This is the sure path: through humiliation, to the cross; and from the cr
oss, with Christ, to the immortal glory of the Father."[140]

* * *

On September 21, Carmen and Santiago returned from Fonz, looking good and health
y. That same day, the feast of Saint Matthew, Father Josemara celebrated his firs
t 11ass at Santa Isabel, with the approval of the Patriarch of the Indies, the e
cclesiastical authority to whom the convent was subject.

On September 22, perhaps as he was leavll1g Santa Isabel, he suddenly found hims
elf completely carried away by a joyful, clear realization of bell1g a son of Go
d. For a long time as he walked through the streets, he was absorbed in a prayer
of union and gratitude. In the journal entry for that day, he says: "I was thin
king of God's goodness to me, and I got so filled with joy inside that I wanted
to shout out along the street, so that everyone would know of my filial gratitud
e, Father, Father! And, if not shouting, at least in a whisper, I walked along c
alling?him that (Father!) many times, sure that I was pleasing him."[141]
For a long while it was very hard for him to keep from blurting out his filial f
eelings toward God. His whole day was saturated with affection, and prayer went
on from morning to night. On one occasion he remarks, "I find that I pray very l
ittle and at the wrong times." But on October 13, just two days after making tha
t remark, he clarifies it: "I said the other day that I do little praying. I nee
d to correct, or, better, to explain, that statement. I have no order in my pray
er life (I resolve to have some, starting today); I don't usually do a meditatio
n (starting today, I will do this for one hour each day); but many days I do a p
rayer of affection from morning to night-sometimes, of course, in a special way.
"[142]
October 16 was a memorable day, a day bursting with prayer, one of those days wh
en he could hardly read a few lines of the newspaper without being carried off i
nto contemplative union.

Feast of Saint Hedwig, 1931: I wanted to pray, after Mass, in the quiet of my ch
urch. I didn't succeed. On Atocha Street I bought a newspaper (ARC)and got on th
e streetcar. Up to this moment, when I'm writing this, I have not been able to r
ead more than one paragraph of the paper. I have felt flowing through me a praye
r of copious and ardent feelings of affection. That's the way it was in the stre
etcar and all the way home. What I am doing now, this note, is really a continua
tion. I only interrupt this prayer to exchange a few words with my family (and a
ll they know how to talk about is the religious question) and to kiss my Blessed
Virgin of the Kisses,* and our Child Jesus.[143]

Later on, when he had to give details about his prayer of that day (the "most su
blime prayer" he ever experienced), he tried to describe the extraordinary grace
of union with God that he had received while riding the streetcar and while roa
ming the streets. He saw a lesson here. The Lord made him see that divine filiat
ions had to be at the very heart of Opus Dei.

I felt the action of the Lord. He was making spring forth in my heart and on my
lips, with the force of something imperatively necessary, this tender invocation
: Abba! Pater! I was out on the street, in a streetcar. ...Probably I made that
prayer out loud.
And I walked the streets of Madrid for maybe an hour, maybe two, I can't say; ti
me passed without my being aware of it. They must have thought I was crazy. I wa
s contemplating, with lights that were not mine, that amazing truth. It was like
a lighted coal burning in my soul, never to be extinguished.[144]

The message of October 2, 1928, the call to holiness in the midst of the world,
was a reiteration of that old but ever new teaching of the Gospel, Estate ergo v
as perfecti, sicut et Pater vester caelestis perfectus est. "Be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect."[145] Now, plunged in the mysterious depths of divi
ne filiation, he saw that astonishing reality not in relation to his success in
living up to it, but in relation to his specific mission as founder.

I can tell you when, to the very moment, and where my first prayer as a son of G
od took place.
I had learned to call God Father, as in the Our Father, from my childhood. But f
eeling, seeing, being amazed at that desire of God that we be his children...tha
t was on the street and in a streetcar. For an hour or an hour and a half, I don
't know, I had to shout, Abba, Pater!

There are in the Gospel some marvelous words-all of them are? "No one knows the
Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" [Mt 11:
271. That day, that day, he wanted that you, with me, would always feel, in an e
xplicit, clear, definitive way, the reality of being children of God, of this Fa
ther who is in heaven and who will give us what we ask for in the name of his So
n....[146]

For him the wonderful memory of that day was a confirmation not only of the inef
fable quality of being a child of God, but also of the reality that the Work was
, truly, Opus Dei, "I thank you, Lord," he said in a meditation in 1971, "for yo
ur continual protection and for the fact that you have chosen to intervene, occa
sionally in a very obvious way (I didn't ask for it-I don't deserve it!), so tha
t there could be no doubt that the Work is yours, There comes to my memory that
marvelous experience of divine filiations, On a very sunny day, in the middle of
the street, in a streetcar: Abba, Pater! Abba, Pater!. . ."[147]
By that new foundational insight, our Lord gave him to understand that even thou
gh consciousness of divine filiations already existed in the Work, it had to be
the very basis of its spirituality, The founder expresses it this way:

I understood that divine filiations had to be a fundamental characteristic of ou

r spirituality: Abba, Father! And that by living from within their divine filiat
ions, my children would find themselves filled with joy and peace, protected by
an impregnable wall; and would know how to be apostles of this joy, and how to c
ommunicate their peace, even in the face of their own or another's suffering. Ju
st because of that: because we are convinced that God is our Father....[148]

His soul was so enriched by this special consciousness of divine filiations that
he incorporated it into all aspects of the spirituality of the Work. It is a ba
sic Christian truth and mystery, of course, that, redeemed from sin, we have bee
n elevated to the supernatural order, made adopted children of God, deified by g
race, called to intimacy with the Blessed Trinity; but from then on, divine fili
ations received such special emphasis in the meditation and interior life of Fat
her Josemara that it came to inform the whole spirit of Opus Dei and the devotion
al lives of its members. It empowers them to live in the authentic freedom of ch
ildren of God, and to work not like employees but like heirs of glory. It induce
s them to make a special effort to speak to God with the intimacy of a child who
is conscious of being loved. In their apostolate it makes them feel the reality
of being co redeemers with Christ, in the sense that they are helping him bring
souls back to the Father. And it moves them to take joy or suffering, sickness
or death as coming from the loving hands of God our Father.

* * *

A few days after that high tide of filial affection in the streetcar, the Lord s
ent him more illuminations. One night he went to bed reciting one of the aspirat
ions with which he calmed his soul in times of tribulation: "May the most righte
ous and most lovable will of God be done, accomplished, praised, and eternally e
xalted above all things. Amen. Amen." And on the next day he wrote:

Like a response from heaven, to that cry of mine last night, given ahead of time
and who knows why, this morning at nine, when I went to catch the streetcar to
Chamartin, I found myself reciting a verse, which also by chance or by habit (th
inking of course that it was something from God) I jotted it down on my sheet of
notepaper. Timor Domini sanctus, permanens in saeculum saeculi; iustitia Domini
vera iustifi"cata in semetipsa ["The fear of the Lord is holy, enduring forever
. The ordinances of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether" (Ps 19:9)]. Wel
l, Lord, true indeed and altogether righteous are your ordinances, and holy is t
he fear of the Lord. But, my Jesus, revering your ordinances with all my soul, I
ask you to lead me by paths of Love).[149]

For the rest of the day he found himself without a right understanding of the "f
ear of the Lord." What distress and anguish he suffered because of the clash he
was experiencing between "fear of the Lord" and the aftertaste of that recent Ab
ba, Pater! Abba, Pater![150] Even when night came he remained distressed. In the
morning he went to see his confessor, who explained to him the meaning of timor
Domini: that it should be understood as a fear of offending God, who is the Supr
eme Goodness, or as a fear of separating ourselves from him, our Father. Father
Josemara, of course, knew this very well but at that moment he felt as if our Lor
d had lifted a veil from his eyes.

October 30, 1931: Today I feel somewhat tired, undoubtedly as a result of the sp
iritual commotion of these last two days, yesterday especially. I don't understa
nd my blindness in the translating of timor,since in other instances, e.g., in t
he phrase initium sapientiae timor Domini ["the fear of the Lord is the beginnin
g of wisdom"(Ps 111:10)], I've always understood fear to mean reverence, respect
. Jesus, I confidently put myself in your arms, burying my head in your loving b
reast, my heart united to yours. I want, in everything, whatever you want.[151]

So often was he swallowed up in contemplative prayer that other times, to spare

himself explanations, he said only that he was "not doing prayer." On Saturday,
December 12, while he was eating lunch at the home of some friends and "not doin
g prayer," the Lord placed a new light in his mind and on his lips:

Yesterday I had lunch at the Guevaras' house. While I was there, not doing praye
r, I found myself (as at other times) saying: Inter medium montium pertransibunt
aquae ["Between the mountains the waters flow" (Ps 104:10)]. I think that I hav
e, for some reason, several times had those words on my lips these days, but unt
il this occasion I didn't pay any attention to them. Yesterday I said them with
such emphasis that I felt compelled to write them down. I understood them: they
are a promise that the W. of G. will overcome the obstacles; that the waters of
its apostolate will flow through all the obstacles that present themselves.[152]

The Lord was telling him that his apostolic action, the development of the Work,
would make way for itself like a torrent carving gorges between rocky hills. Bu
t perhaps also that his path would not be an easy one? Our Lord was supplying hi
m in advance with strength, optimism, and patience, but without letting him see
all at once what the obstacles would consist of, because, as the founder express
ed it in 1968, "if at that moment I had seen what was awaiting me, I would have
died, so great is the weight of what I have had to suffer and enjoy!"[153]

6. A cross without Cyreneans*

Father Josemara was still avidly soliciting prayers from all quarters. Two letter
s have survived from his correspondence in the fall of 1931, The first, from Fat
her Pou de Foxci, is headed Saragossa, November 20.

My dear, unforgettable Jos Maria:

I received your letter, and it made me laugh, with its witticisms. Your resoluti
ons sound good to me. Carry them out vigorously and without flinching. A good Ar
agonese does not turn back-and as you say, if the Work is great, so is the one f
orming it, with you being just the material from which God will make what he wan
ts, if the material, which is, to be sure, just mud, doesn't rebel against the S
culptor. Be assured that I am enthusiastically praying for you, and will continu
e to pray that your work goes forward. After all, I know I stand to gain from th
is, since it will get me some little place in your prayers, which undoubtedly wi
ll bring me graces for rising above the pettiness and baseness of this world. ..
.
Regards to your mama and sister and brother, and for you a big hug from your fri
end,


Jose Pou de Fox*[154]

Evidently the chaplain of Santa Isabel had written his friend asking for prayers
and bewailing his inadequacy as an instrument for laying the foundation of such
a great supernatural enterprise.
The second letter is from Father Ambrosio Sanz, a canon of Barbastro.

Barbastro, December 17,1931

My very dear friend:

I received your letter of the 26th of last month, and also your telephone messag
e of congratulations.
What is going on, that you speak to me about "beautiful crosses" and ask with su
ch urgency for prayers? Is some kind of tribulation weighing you down, or are yo
u charitably trying like Simon of Cyrene to help someone else bear one? You know
I share all your joys, and with all the more reason your sorrows, so if there i
s anything I can do, just let me know. You will not lack my prayers-poor as they
are, much poorer than you suppose. I have, by the way, spoken to some of the ch
aplains of cloistered convents and made the request you asked me to.
Take good care of yourself, and don't live so dependent on heaven that you forge
t to keep at least your feet on the ground.
Affectionate greetings to your mama and sister and brother. Love and a hug,

A. Sanz[155]

Father Josemara had, no doubt, written to Father Ambrosio to congratulate him on

the occasion of Saint Ambrose's feast day (December 7), and, in passing, opened
his heart a little, asking his prayers. Evidently he had worried the canon.
Taking up his cross and his pains, Father Josemara kept walking a path sown with
great graces and far from ordinary sufferings. Along with mystical exultation ca
me a load of tribulation. In September there appeared the first symptoms of a pa
inful trial that would last throughout that autumn.
"I am in great tribulation and distress," he records in his journal. "The reason
s? Really, the same as always. But there is also something very personal which,
without taking away my trust in my God, makes me suffer, because I don't see any
possible human way out of my situation. Temptations to rebel arise, but I say S
erviam! ['I will serve!']."[156]
Three weeks later, on September 30, 1931, he writes: "I find myself in a more di
fficult financial situation than ever before. But I haven't lost my peace. I hav
e absolute trust, real confidence, that God my Father will soon resolve this mat
ter once and for all. If only I were alone! Then, I realize, poverty would be a
delight. A priest and poor, lacking even what is necessary-great!"[157]
The autobiographical entries in the journal exhibit very clearly the states and
movements of his soul. "Everything having to do with my soul," he says in one en
try, "I have communicated and always will communicate to my spiritual director,
not holding anything back."[158]
But in leaving these notes to his spiritual children as a legacy, he asks them n
ot to publish them. "May you have the decency not to exhibit my soul," he says.[
159] He did not want his family's poverty and sacrifices publicly exposed.
Early on he had learned how our Lord typically dealt with him: that in order to
shape him, he "landed one blow on the nail and a hundred on the horseshoe." He d
ecided, therefore, to deal with this matter head-on. "I confronted him," he writ
es on October 2, 1931, referring to our Lord, "and told him that since Father Sa
nchez has forbidden me to ask him for that, I was asking not for it, but that (I
said it this bluntly) he set things right for my family and bother only me."[16
0]
(What his confessor had forbidden him to ask for was a serious illness.)
As one way of remedying the sufferings of his mother and siblings, he decided to

take greater pains in how he treated them at home. "In my mother," he says, "I
will see the Blessed Virgin; in my sister Carmen, Saint Teresa or Saint Therese;
and in Guitn, the adolescentJesus."[161] (He did not expect his dealings with Sa
ntiago to be very pleasant, because, as he puts it, "the little guy has, like me
, an atrocious temper.")
Something he says a little later (October 26, 1931) may well explain what he wro
te to Father Ambrosio about "beautiful crosses":

My lack of formation must be the cause of many of my periods of discouragement,

of my hours and even days of being upset and in a bad mood. Generally, Jesus giv
es me a cross with joy, cum gaudio et pace [with joy and peace]; and a cross wit
h joy...is not a cross. Given my optimistic nature, I have habitually a joy that
we might call physiological-that of a healthy animal. It is not to that joy tha
t I am referring, but to another, a supernatural kind which comes from abandonin
g oneself and everything else into the loving arms of God our Father.[162]

Following this, he explains what he means by that mysterious phrase, "a cross wi
thout Cyreneans," that the canon of Barbastro had asked about:

Lord, what makes my cross heavy is that others are having to share it. Give me;
Jesus, a cross without Cyreneans. I am speaking badly: your grace, your help, I
am going to need, as always. But as longas you, my God, are with me, there is no
trial that can frighten me. I think of a serious illness, joined, for example,
with total blindness. That could be my cross, mine alone. I am quite confident t
hat I would have the joy to cry out with faith and with peace of heart, from wit
hin my darkness and suffering, Dominus, illuminatio mea et salus mea! ["Lord, my
light and my strength!"]. But what if the cross were tediousness, or sadness? I
tell you, Lord, that with you there with me, I would be happily sad.[163]

As he continued to meditate, he found that he could not tell whether his family'
s sharing in his burden would be a relief or an additional burden.

I don't now even know, Jesus, if my desire for a cross without a Cyrenean might
not show too much or too little generosity. Too much, because what is making me
suffer so much is the cross of the others. ...Or too little, because there seems
to be a lack of conformity with what you want; because it seems that what I wan
t is not your cross, but a cross to my liking.[164]

His sensibility and imagination caused him to suffer as he realized how heavily
the cross weighed on his family. ?Jesus today has pressed the cross, the holy cr
oss, down hard on the poor shoulders of the Cyreneans:? he says, ?and how it pain
s me!"[165]
He wrote these words kneeling, in his dingy little room- not out of special devo
tion, but because of a lack of space. "For quite a few days," he explains, "I ha
ve been making these journal entries kneeling down, out of necessity, because I
have to write in my room and I can't easily make a chair fit in it. But it occur
s to me that since they are a sort of confession, it will be pleasing to Jesus i
f I always write them this way, kneeling down. I'll try to keep this resolution.
"[166] In that tight squeeze, he clearly saw that he needed, on the one hand, to
find a solution to the problem of his canonical situation, and; on the other ha
nd, to achieve financial security for his family. How long could his family go o
n under these conditions? "I don't know how we'll be able to live," he said.[167
] But the truth is they had been living that way since they left Barbastro, alth
ough things had gotten alarmingly worse in Saragossa. Now, in Madrid, life was f
or them almost a daily miracle. To keep his mother and siblings from worrying, F
ather Josemara nurtured their hopes, suggesting that things would get better. "So
far," he says in the journal, "I am hiding from my mother and siblings our true
situation. I've done that at other times, too. Lord, my Jesus, it's not that I
don't want Cyreneans-I want however many you want for me-but that I would like,
with true generosity and for love of you, to spare them these afflictions."[168]

At the end of November the situation got worse.[169] It got so bad, in fact, tha
t he made up his mind to ask loans from friends-who, if they did not give him mo
ney, gave him good reasons why not. Finally the Lord moved him to go to a bank,
where he obtained a loan of three hundred pesetas. On that same day, November 26
, he came to understand new things about poverty and detachment while attending
Benediction at the church of Jesus de Medinaceli. "Then," he wrote upon arriving
home, "I caught on to many things: I am not less happy because of being in need
than I would be if I had more than enough; I should, indeed, not ask Jesus for
anything; I will content myself with pleasing him in everything and with telling
him things as if he did not know them, as a little boy does with his father."[1
70]
That was the day he wrote to Father Ambrosio asking his prayers. What would the
canon have thought if he had read this other journal entry, of November 29?

Now that the cross is really solid and weighty, Jesus will arrange things in a w
ay that will fill us with peace. Lord, what cross is this? A cross without a cro
ss. With your help, knowing the formula of abandonment, this is how my crosses w
ill always be.[171]

And, as a matter of fact, the Lord did give him back his peace all at once by ca
lling to his attention the surprising and, humanly speaking, inexplicable behavi
or of his mother and sister. They were now "admirably disposed for whatever God
wanted."[172] A few days later (December 10, 1931), he wrote: "Our Lord God is f
looding my family with grace. ...Now it is no longer conformity but joy. Clearly
, in this house we're all crazy."[173]

* * *

Not long before Christmas, Carmen fell ill, and then so did Doa Dolores, and the
evening after that, Santiago had to take to his bed. The place was like a hospit
al. Father Josemara saw here an opportunity to fast without anyone knowing about
it. But Doa Dolores knew her son well. In a somewhat disjointed way, and with und
erstandable reserve, he relates what happened on the evening of December 20:

Poor Mama got a little nervous-something perfectly natural. She said, "This cann
ot continue," and got mad at me because I didn't eat supper or even a snack. "Th
at just makes you empty-headed," she told me. In their name I offered up to Jesu
s these bad times we're having. Afterward we prayed the holy Rosary, as usual. U
ntil 11:00 I kept trying to pray.[174]

That testimony is, of course, one-sided. To get a balanced picture, one would ha
ve to hear his mother describe the mortifications and fasting of her son, who di
d at times get light-headed from not eating either lunch or supper. But evidentl
y Doa Dolores got over her annoyance by the next morning, for her son entered in
his journal this mild comment: "Today (I just got back from Santa Isabel) I find
my mother very peaceful, as usual, and doing the housework, also as usual."[175
]
In those days Father Josemara was under constant pressure. His confessor was push
ing him. Doa Dolores was pushing him. Things could not go on like this. His mothe
r lamented that Madrid was becoming a purgatory for them, and he had to acknowle
dge that the family was indeed suffering passive purifications in the capital.[1
76]
Yet Doa Dolores was at peace and saw the approaching troubles without becoming up
set. "This is my last time to jot down things of this kind," her son wrote on De
cember 30. "I am amazed to see with what tranquility, as though she were talking
about the weather, my poor mother said last night, 'Never have we had it so bad
as now,' and then how we went on to talk about other things, without losing our
joy and peace. How good you are, Jesus, how good! You will know how to reward t
hem generously."[177]
However, just two weeks after having made this resolution not to write any more

about family stresses, he let slip another journal entry of that sort.[178]
The devil, the father of anxiety, also was a presence in that time of hard testi
ng. Having found the Achilles' heel of the priest, he persistently attacked him
by way of his family.[179] In the face of diabolical suggestions, Father Josemara
prayed for patience and strength: "Jesus, since I am your donkey, give me the s
tubbornness and fortitude of a donkey, so that I can fulfill your lovable will."
[180]
Meanwhile, still not aware of the supernatural enterprise that her son had in ha
nd, Doa Dolores was taking some steps of her own. Probably at the beginning of Fe
bruary 1932, she wrote to the bishop of Cuenca-Bishop Cruz Laplana, to whom she
was distantly related-explaining Josemara's situation and asking his advice.[181]
Through a certain canon who had to make a trip to Madrid-Father Joaquin Maria d
e Ayala (the priest who in the summer of 1927 had written to Father Josemara aski
ng him to pick up his cassock and buy him some lighter flints)-the prelate sent
his reply, the gist of which was a generous invitation. "Lola," the prelate said
to her, "why not have your son come see me? I have a canonry* for him."[182]
Here was a new opportunity for the devil to tempt him. Father Josemara discussed
the offer with Father Norberto, the assistant chaplain of the Foundation for the
Sick. Here is his journal entry for February 15, 1932:**

What I am going to record is something I told Father Norberto about, both when I
got the news about the position in Cuenca and afterward, when I felt the sugges
tion of the enemy. The devil reminded me that the doctoral canon of Cuenca had t
old Mama I should go apply for a canonry they have open at the cathedral. ...But
my spiritual director told me the Work must begin in Madrid, and I should at al
l costs stay here. ...In short, Satan is clever, evil, and contemptible. But he
made me see that I could lose my joy and peace (although I didn't actually do so
) and be caused a lot of grief! Father Norbert had told me- laughing!-that this
could happen, when it seemed to me it never could.[183]

From that temptation he emerged victorious and disposed to "pressure Jesus" to g

ive to the members of his family, the ?Cyreneans," ?along with the spiritual pea
ce that they now have, material well-being also."[184]
It would be some time before his family attained a modicum of financial well-bei
ng. Jesus made him pray for a couple of years, in which things went from bad to
worse. But as he bore the cross he happily exclaimed, "Well, Lord, I am the luck
y man who didn't even have a shirt."[185]

7. The path of spiritual childhood

In September and October of 1931, when feelings of love were springing up so abu
ndantly in that young priest's heart, the Lord confirmed him on the path of true
filial abandonment. From that torrent of graces burst forth another stream: an
inner life of spiritual childhood. In 1949 he recalled:

I often had the custom, when I was young, of not using any book when making a me
ditation. I would recite, savoring them, the words of the Our Father, and, I wou
ld pause, relishing the thought, when I considered that God is Father, my Father
, and that this makes me a brother of Jesus Christ and a brother to all people.
I never got over my astonishment, contemplating that I was a Son of God! After e
ach reflection I found myself firmer in faith, more secure in hope, more on fire
with love. And there was born in my soul the need, since I was a child of God,
to be a small child, a needy child. That was the beginning, in my interior life,
of my living whenever I could-whenever I can-the life of childhood. I have alwa
ys recommended this to my sons and daughters, while, of course, respecting their
freedom.[186]

On October 2-the feast of the Guardian Angels, the third anniversary of the foun
ding of Opus Dei, and the vigil of the feast of Saint Therese of Lisieux-he ferv
ently invoked the heavenly spirits, and in a special way his guardian angel. His

journal entry for that day reads:

I paid him compliments and asked him to teach me to love Jesus at least ?at leas
t!? as much as he loves him. Undoubtedly Saint Therese ...wanted to give me some
thing in anticipation of her feast day, for she succeeded in having my guardian
angel teach me today how to make a prayer of childhood. What very childish thing
s I said to my Lord! With the trustful confidence of a boy talking to his Grownup Friend, of whose love he is certain, I said, "Let me live only for your Work.
Let me live only for your glory. Let me live only for your love. ... ?I duly re
called and acknowledged that I do everything badly, and said, ?That, my Jesus, s
hould not surprise you-it is impossible for me to do anything right. You help me
, you do it for me, and you will see how well it turns out. So, then, boldly and
without straying from the truth, I say to you: Saturate me, get me drunk, with
your Spirit, and thus I will do your will. I want to do it. If I don't do it, it
's because...you're not helping me."
And I had feelings of love for my Mother and Lady, and right now I feel myself v
ery much a child of God my Father.[187]

This journal entry is the first fruit of the new path undertaken. He spent the n
ext several days in interior recollection, in affective and fervent prayer, whil
e alarming rumors of new burnings of churches and religious houses swept through
the city. On October 14 he learned that the infamous article 26 of the Constitu
tion had been approved. It would mean the expulsion of the Society of Jesus. Tha
t very afternoon, he went to see his confessor at Chamartin.
But the Jesuits were not the only ones in danger. All monasteries, convents, and
other residences of religious were at risk. Catholic students mounted guard at
night to protect them.
On October 15, the feast of Saint Teresa of Avila, the chaplain came into the cl
oistered area of Santa Isabel. The nuns were very frightened by the rumors. He r
eassured them as best he could, speaking words full of warmth and optimism.

Today I went into the cloister of Santa Isabel. I encouraged the nuns. I spoke t
o them about love, about the cross, and about joy...and about victory. Away with
anxiety! We are at the beginning of the end. Saint Teresa has obtained for me,
from our Jesus, the Joy ?with a capital J? that I have today. .., when it would
seem, humanly speaking, that I should be sad, both for the Church and about my o
wn situation (which, truth to tell, is not good). We just need much faith and ex
piation, and above faith and expiation, much Love. Besides, this morning, when p
urifying two ciborium?s, so as not to leave the Blessed Sacrament in the church
I received almost half a ciborium of hosts, even though I gave several to each s
ister.[188]

The sisters rewarded him for that sowing of joy

On my way out of the cloister they showed me, in the vestibule, a Christ Child w
hich was a darling. I have never seen a better-looking Child Jesus! Totally capt
ivating. They uncovered it. He has his little arms crossed on his breast and his
eyes half open. Beautiful. I ate him up with kisses and. ..would have loved to
kidnap him.[189]

For a long time thereafter he would go every week to the convent's revolving win
dow, and the sister on duty would let him hold "the little one." In those days w
hen his soul was crisscrossed by joys and afflictions-feelings of ardent affecti
on in prayer and difficult trials in which he asked for a cross without "Cyrenea
ns"-his devotion to the Child Jesus was beginning to shape his interior life.

The Child Jesus: how this devotion has taken hold of me since I first laid eyes
on that consummate Thief that my nuns keep in the vestibule of their cloister! C
hild Jesus, adolescent Jesus-I like to see you that way, Lord, because ...it mak
es me more daring. I like to see you as a little boy, a helpless child, because

it makes me feel like you need me.[190]

As a solid devotion to the childhood of Christ took root in his soul, Father Jos
emara came to realize the paradoxical nature of this spiritual route: that it req
uires, simultaneously, both strength and exquisite sensitivity.

I recognize, my Love, my clumsiness-that it is such...such that when I want to c

aress, I cause harm. Soften the manners of my soul. Give me, I want you to give
me, within the strength and energy of the life of childhood, that softness and t
enderness that children have that allows them to relate to their parents with an
intimate outpouring of love.[191]

By no means was this attitude one of mawkish infantilism. On the contrary, by it

the Lord strengthened the soul of the founder, as he observes in his journal en
try for November 30,1931:

The way of childhood. Abandonment. Spiritual childhood. All this that God is ask
ing of me and that I am trying to have is not foolishness, but a strong and soli
d Christian life.[192]

With the confidence of a little boy before his Father God, he adjusted his old h
abits of prayer-not without effort-to that new path of childhood. He became more
and more convinced of "how beautiful and pleasant is this path, because it allo
ws sinners to feel as the saints have felt."[193]
Most of the journal entries in which he records ideas about the life of spiritua
l childhood, or expresses personal feelings of this kind, were written in or nea
r December 1931 and January 1932. For example, on November 30, the first day of
the Immaculate Conception novena, he observes that "when praying the Rosary or d
oing-like now in Advent-other devotions, I contemplate the mysteries of the life
, passion, and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, taking active part in the actions
and events as a witness and servant and companion of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph."[
194]
He had already gotten used to praying the Rosary by contemplating the mysteries
of the life of our Lord as a small child transported to the scene and present as
a witness. To judge by some of the parenthetical observations he makes-for inst
ance, "I am sorry to note down these details, because they might make one think
well, or less badly, of me: I am full of miseries"[195] -we have reason to suppo
se that this way of praying the Rosary put him in an elevated state of contempla
tive prayer.
On the second day of the novena, December 1, he expected?without asking for it?t
o receive a favor, a gift connected with the novena: a sign of progress on the p
ath of spiritual childhood.

Immaculate Mother, Holy Mary: You will give me something, my Lady, in this noven
a honoring your unspotted conception. Now, I don't ask for anything-since I have
n't been given permission to--but I want to set before you my desire to reach pe
rfect spiritual childhood.[196]

One morning during this novena, after saying Mass and finishing his prayer of th
anksgiving, he wrote the book Holy Rosary in one sitting, in the sacristy of San
ta Isabel, close to the sanctuary. We don't know with certainty which day it was
, but we do know that on December 7, vigil of the feast of the Immaculate Concep
tion, he read to two young people at Santa Isabel "the way to pray the Rosary."
That was why he wrote this little book: to help others pray the Rosary.[197]
In his introduction to the book, he discloses the secret of spiritual childhood:

My friend: if you want to be great, become little.

To be little you have to believe as children believe, to love as children love,
to abandon yourself as children do..., to pray as children pray. ...
Become little. Come with me and-this is the essence of what I want to tell you-w

e shall live the life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Gently, he introduces the reader to the scene:

Don't forget, my friend, that we are children. The Lady of the sweet name, Mary,
is absorbed in prayer.
You, in that house, can be whatever you wish: a friend, a servant, an onlooker,
a neighbor. ...For the moment I don't dare to be anything. I hide behind you and
, full of awe, I watch what's happening:
The Archangel delivers his message...[198]

Also in the introduction, he tells us: "The beginning of the way, at the end of
which you will find yourself completely carried away by love for Jesus, is a tru
sting love for Mary."
At home he had a small wooden statue of our Lady, which he had a habit of kissin
g when leaving or entering the apartment. ("My Lady of the Kisses-I will end up
eating her up!" he exclaims in one of his journal entries.[199]) Not just that o
ne, but all images of our Lady moved him. This was especially true of those he f
ound thrown out on the street and covered with grime, or those he caught sight o
f in his travels through Madrid, such as a picture in glazed tile that attracted
his attention every day as he was leaving Santa Isabel. This image, which was o
n the terrace of a house on Atocha Street, looked down upon a strange event that
took place a few days after he wrote Holy Rosary.

Octave of the Immaculate Conception, 1931: Yesterday afternoon, at three, when I

was going to the school of Santa Isabel to hear the confessions of the girls, o
n Atocha Street (on the side near San Carlos, almost at the comer of Santa Ines)
three young men, all of them probably thirty-something, crossed paths with me.
When they got close to me, one of them rushed forward, shouted "I'm going to get
him!" and raised his arm in such a way that I thought for sure I would be struc
k. But before he could carry out his intended aggression, one of the other two s
aid to him in an authoritative tone of voice, "No, don't hit him." And then imme
diately, in a mocking tone of voice, bending toward me, this same man added, "li
ttle donkey, little donkey!"
I crossed Santa Isabel's comer at a calm pace, and am sure that I in no way show
ed on the outside the trepidation I was feeling inside. To hear myself called-by
that defender!-by this name, "little donkey," that I use when speaking to Jesus
: this really got to me. Immediately I said three Hail Mary's to the Blessed Vir
gin, who witnessed that little event from her image on the house of the Congrega
tion of Saint Philip.[200]

The name "little donkey" (burrito) is one that, as earlier mentioned, he used pr
ivately and only his confessor knew about.
On the next day he recorded some more impressions of that event:

December 16, 1931: Yesterday I felt kind of tired, undoubtedly as a result of th

at assault I suffered on Atocha Street. I am convinced that it was from the devi
l. Father Norberto thinks so too. The one who tried to attack me had the ferocio
us face of a madman. About the looks of the other two, I can't remember a thing.
Then, and also afterward, I did not lose my peace. There was a physiological fe
ar that made my heart beat faster, but I could tell that it did not show on the
outside, not even on my face. I was amazed, as I say, at the tone of sarcasm, of
mockery, in which that one man called me, twice, "little donkey." Instinctively
I lifted my heart and said three Hail Mary's to our Lady. Afterward, on my note
paper, I jotted down exactly what those people had said.[201]

One of the most beautiful and sublime pages in his journal is inspired by his my
stical connection with the Lady of the Kisses. It is not a literary flight of fa
ncy, as at first glance might appear, but an intense interior experience: the ki
nd of mystical experience in which the audacity of desire becomes a mandate, and

with which children open up the kingdom of heaven.

It was December 28, the feast of the Holy Innocents, a day on which people in Sp
ain traditionally play jokes on one another.[202] The chaplain went to Santa Isa
bel and found that, for twenty-four hours, a novice was acting as prioress and t
he youngest nun as sub prioress. It was great fun to see the oldest and most ser
ious nuns carrying out tasks imposed by the prioress of the day. When he got hom
e, Father Josemara kissed his statue of our Lady, began his meditation, and lost
himself in contemplation. Immersed in prayer, he took up his pen and made the fo
llowing entry in his journal:

A little boy visited a certain convent. ...

Little boy, you are the last donkey, the least among those who love Jesus. It's
your turn, you have the right, to rule in heaven. Let loose your imagination, an
d let your heart run wild too. ...
I want Jesus to forgive me...everything. I want all the blessed souls in purgato
ry purified in less than a second and going up to enjoy our God...because today
I am taking his place. I want...to scold some guardian angels that I know-in fun
, right? but also a little bit for real-and command them to obey like this: to o
bey Jesus' donkey in things that ate all for the glory of Christ our King. And a
fter giving lots and lots of orders, I would say to my Mother, holy Mary: "My La
dy, not even for fun do I want you to stop being Mistress and Empress of all cre
ation." Then she would kiss me on the forehead and leave me, as a sigh of that f
avor, a bright star above my eyes. And with this new light r would see all the c
hildren of God down to the end of the world, fighting our Lord's battles, always
victorious with him, ...and I would hear a voice more than heavenly, like the m
urmur of many waters and the explosion of a mighty thunderclap, gentle despite i
ts intensity, like the sound of many zithers played in harmony by an infinite nu
mber of musicians, saying, "We want him to reign! All glory to God! All, with Pe
ter, to Jesus through Mary!"
And before this wondrous day comes to an end, a Jesus (I will tell him), I want
to be a bonfire of madly passionate love! I want my mere presence to be enough t
o set the world on fire, for many miles around, with an inextinguishable flame.
I want to know that I am yours. Afterward, let the cross come: never will I be a
fraid of expiation....To suffer and to love. To love and to suffer. What a magni
ficent path! To love, to suffer, and to believe: faith and love. The faith of Pe
ter, the love of John, the zeal of Paul.
The little donkey still has three minutes of divinization, good Jesus, and so he
commands...that you give him more zeal than Paul, more love than John, more fai
th than Peter. The last wish, Jesus: may I never lack the holy cross.[203]

Two days later, the convent having returned to normal, the nuns let him take hom
e with him the statue of the Child Jesus. The priest wrapped "the little one" in
his cloak and brought him with him to celebrate Christmas with the outside worl
d. Taking advantage of having that Christ Child outside the convent, he had a ph
oto taken of it.

Today I brought home with me the "Christ Child of Saint Teresa." The Augustinian
nuns lent him to me. We went to see Father Gabriel, at the Carmelites, to wish
him a merry Christmas. The little friar was happy and gave me a holy card and a
medal. Afterward I saw Father Norberto's spiritual director, Father Joaquin. We
talked about the W. of G. From there I went to visit another convent. I spent a
good amount of time with Mother Pilar. Then to the house of Pepe R., where we to
ok a photo of the Child. Before going home, I went up to see Father Norberto, so
that he could see the Child. At home, Mama prayed out loud an Our Father and a
Hail Mary. I get to keep him here until tomorrow.[204]

In a couple of journal entries written in January 1932, he relates when and how
he learned the life of spiritual childhood:

I did not learn the path of childhood from books until after Jesus had made me s

tart along this way.[205]

Yesterday, for the first time, r began to page through a book which I will have
to read slowly many times: Caminito de infancia espiritual [The little way of sp
iritual childhood], by Father Martin. I see how Jesus, with that reading, made m
e experience-even with the same images-the way of Saint Therese. I have written
things in these Catalinas that show this. I will also read slowly Story of a Sou
l.[206]

By now his soul was becoming so filled with graces that despite his repeated res
olves not to relate extraordinary events, some inevitably crept into his journal
entries. That was the case with two locutions he received in 1932. On January 4
he wrote:

This morning, as usual, as I was leaving the convent of Santa Isabel, I went to
the tabernacle for a moment to say good-bye to Jesus. I said to him, Jesus, here
is your donkey. ...See what you can do with your donkey." And immediately I und
erstood, without hearing any words: " A donkey was my throne in Jerusalem." This
concept I grasped, with full clarity.[207]

But at that moment a doubt assailed him. His attention was fixed on the female d
onkey mentioned by Saint Matthew, and so he thought the locution (since it refer
red to a male donkey) was a mistaken, perhaps even diabolical, interpretation of
the Gospel. As soon as he got home he consulted the Gospels, and was reassured.
Jesus had entered Jerusalem mounted on a young male donkey.[208]
For some time, upon seeing a community of religious praying, he had been putting
the way of spiritual childhood into practice, by saying, "Jesus, I don't know h
ow much they love you, but I love you more than all of them put together."[209]
Well, shortly after the locution about the donkey, in putting on record his lack
of generosity toward our Lord, he lets slip another of the many locutions he ha
d.

February 16, 1932: For the last several days I have had a rather bad cold, and i
t has been an occasion for my lack of generosity toward my God to show itself. I
slacked off in the thousand little things that a child-especially a child donke
y-can offer his Lord each day. I started noticing this, and that I was postponin
g the fulfillment of certain resolutions about putting more time and effort into
devotional practices, but I calmed myself with the thought, "Later, when you're
well, when your family's financial situation is in better shape. ..then!" Well,
today after giving the nuns Holy Communion ...I told Jesus what I tell him so m
any, many times both day and night: ..."I love you more than these." And immedia
tely I understood, without hearing any words: "Love is deeds, not sweet words an
d excuses." At that moment I saw clearly how little generosity I have. Suddenly
there came to my memory many details which I hadn't been paying attention to, wh
ich made me see with crystal clarity my lack of generosity. O Jesus, help me, so
that your donkey will be fully generous. Deeds, deeds![210]

* * *

"I expect great things in this year of 193L" he had written in his journal in Ma
rch of that year. His expectations had been exceeded. Twelve months later, he fo
und himself brimming over with divine graces like a person inebriated by wine: S
G filled with God that he felt like calling for a truce. "I am inundated, drunk
with the grace of God," he says on March 11, 1932. "What a terrible sin if I do
not respond! There are times-like right now-when I feel like shouting, Enough, L
ord, enough!"[211]
The divine eagle had caught that little bird and lifted it to dizzying heights.
The Lord had definitively impressed on him such a consciousness, such a strong f
eeling, of his divine filiations that he was moved to loving acceptance of whate
ver happened. As he had expressed it on November 29, 193L "Because it comes from
our Father's hands, the blow of the chisel regardless of whether it is-as the w

orld sees it-favorable or unfavorable, and even though it wounds the flesh, is a
lways also a proof of Love, which smooth out our rough edges to bring us closer
to perfection."[212]
His courage in traveling the way of pain and expiation was rewarded with the tri
umph of love, which from then on took precedence in his soul over any other feel
ing.

Jesus, I feel great desires for reparation. My path is to love and to suffer. Bu
t love makes me rejoice in suffering, to the point where it now seems to me impo
ssible for me ever to suffer. I already told you: there is no longer anyone who
upsets me. And I even added: there is no one who can make me suffer, because suf
fering gives me joy and peace.[213]

From then on, the customary pattern of his life was a serene and harmonious comb
ination of great sufferings with great joys: bittersweet sufferings that did not
take away his peace, and joys that were not totally satisfying.
Looking at his personal writings, one can see and appreciate how much God had ac
complished in him in a year, in terms of simplifying his prayer and attracting h
is affections. "Now," he says on April 7, 1932, "between Mary and myself, betwee
n Jesus and myself...nobody! Before, I would seek out intermediary saints."[214]
And on February 26, 1932: "Now I go directly to the Father, to Jesus, to the Ho
ly Spirit, to Mary. This doesn't mean I don't have devotions (to Saint Joseph, t
he angels, the souls in purgatory, Dominic, Joseph Calasanz, Don Bosco, Teresa,
Ignatius, Xavier, Therese, Mercedes, etc.), but my soul definitely is getting si
mpler. R. Ch. v. [Regnare Christum volumus: We want Christ to reign]."[215]
As he pursues the life of spiritual childhood, his prayer becomes very assertive
. "My way of saying, in prayer, 'I want,' " he notes on January 14, 1932, "is a
childlike way of asking. So I'm not going off track."[216]
The founder also came out of 1931 with the rather odd habit, already mentioned,
that as soon as he began to read the newspaper, his mind would run off to God. T
his happened quite a few times that year, and at first it seemed strange to him.
[217] But soon he noticed that frequently and inexplicably, periods of dryness a
nd of favors were taking him by surprise, with no regard for time or place, inop
portunely and often in a breathtaking way. "It is incomprehensible," he says on
March 26, 1932. "I know someone who feels cold (despite his faith, which is limi
tless) near the divine fire of the tabernacle, and then later, in the middle of
the street, amid the noise of automobiles and streetcars and people--when readin
g a newspaper! -is seized with mad raptures of love for God."[218]
Was he getting practical lessons on how to lead a contemplative life in the mids
t of traffic, the hustle and bustle of crowds, or while reading?
Meanwhile, the devil was not inactive. First he insinuated the suggestion that h
e had no right to condemn his family to a life. of poverty for the "folly" of th
e Work. Later he tried to rob him of his peace of mind by causing trouble concer
ning his official appointment to the Foundation of Santa Isabel. Finally, seeing
how little progress he was making, with the Lord's permission he resorted to ph
ysical assault.
At first Father Josemara did not realize that he was dealing with the rage of ?Ol
d Scratch," as he called the devil.[219] He caught on to this only when he fell
victim to a peculiar series of violent acts. On his way to a tutoring appointmen
t one Sunday in March, at noon, he was peacefully reading his breviary when sudd
enly he was hit hard by a ball. He kept his composure, not even turning around "
to see if this was an accident or an act of malice."[220]
Ten days later, on Ash Wednesday, he went to hear the confessions of the girls r
esiding at the school of Santa Isabel. Returning by Duque de Medinaceli Street,
he saw some boys playing on the sidewalk in front of Hotel Palace. Already burne
d by similar encounters, he quickly crossed over to the other side of the street
, but he could not avoid the unavoidable:

A really hard kick and...pow! on the right-hand lens of my glasses, driving them
into my nose. I didn't even turn my head. I got out my handkerchief and, calmly

, kept on walking, while cleaning my glasses. ...At that moment I perceived the
devil's rage (it is too much of a coincidence) and the goodness of God, who lets
him bark but not bite. One would have expected at least that the lens would hav
e been broken, since there was nothing moderate about that blow I received. My r
ight eye might also have been injured. Even just a broken lens would have been q
uite a setback, since I already have a hard time paying for the few streetcar ri
des I have to take. ...The bottom line: God is my Father.[221]

But misfortune comes in threes. Here is the next entry:

Monday, April 11: Yesterday, as I was walking on Alvarez de Castro Street, on th

e sidewalk, reading my breviary, on my way to catch the 48 to the hospital, they
again hit me hard with a ball! I laughed. It upset him.[222]

Father Josemara's lively sense of humor let him see that God was permitting the d
evil to "bark but not bite."[223] On another occasion at that time, he very clea
rly sensed that hell was raging against the Work of God. This incident happened
"at noon on a sunny day, on Martinez Campos Avenue, near La Castellana."[224] He
says nothing more about it, since by now he was depersonalizing journal entries
about supernatural events having to do with himself. But possibly it was connec
ted with this entry made some weeks earlier:

Hell is roaring, howling, bellowing, because Satan has an inkling about the soul
s that the w. of G. is going to bring to Jesus, and about the whole of its opera
tion in the world: the effective reign of Christ in all of society. Regnare Chri
stum volumus.[225]

[1] See Santiago Escriv de Balaguer y Albas, Sum. 7325; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.
249; and Joaquin Alonso, PR, p. 1738.
[2] See Apuntes, nos. 620 and 656. There were times when many students wanted pr
ivate lessons, but other times when Father Josemara urgently needed money for imm
ediate necessities, he found himself without students. At one of those stressful
moments when he saw no way out of this predicament, a special class was offered
to him. After accepting it he wrote in his journal, "This will allow me to pay
the rent (this month I haven't yet been able to make it) and Guitin's tuition at
the Institute. Thanks be to God" (Apuntes, no.620).
Tutoring positions sometimes involved obtaining notes, taking care of transferra
ls of academic records, and even accompanying students to other cities for exams
. In a letter to Father Pou de Foxa, dated 8 Apr 1932, Father Josemara speaks of
one of those trips.
[3] See letter of 9 Dec 1928 from Isidoro Zorzano to Father Josemara, in AGP, IZL
, 0-1213, no.3.
[4] See Appendix 12, and also his student file in the archive of the law school
of Madrid's Complutense University.
[5] C 7 (7 Mar 1930). What with the accumulation of jobs and other activities, f
inding the time to work on his dissertation was becoming more and more difficult
.
[6] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 485.
* The city he is referring to is Saragossa.
[7] C 28 (9 Apr 1932).
[8] Apuntes, no.1676.
[9] Josefina Santos, AGP, RHF, T-O5255, p. 2.
[10] Apuntes, no.39. See also Apuntes, no.39, note 52. The so-called Bishop's Ch
apel was founded in 1520, in Madrid, by Francisco Vargas y Carvajal, who served
as secretary-councilor to Ferdinand and Isabella (and later to Charles V), and b
y his son Gutierre, the bishop of Plasencia.
[11] See Apuntes, no.163. One such person was a salesclerk whom he mentions in h
is journal (see Apuntes, no.444).

[12] Apuntes, no.137.

[13] Apuntes, no.200.
[14] Apuntes, no.179, note 193
[15] Apuntes, no.164. This entry is dated 27 Jun 1932. On other occasions the fo
under speaks of "the secret of gestation" (see Apuntes, no.205, note
225) and of "the unborn Work" (see Apuntes,no.89).
[16] Apuntes, no.67.
[17] Apuntes, no.1867.
[18] See Apuntes, no.1310, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 542.
[19] The priests he remembered having spoken with earlier included Father Norber
to (the assistant chaplain of the Foundation) and "a canon of Tarazona who later
went to Toledo"-probably Father Angel del Barrio, a canon of Tarazona (see E. S
ubirana, Anuario Eclesitlstico [Barcelona], 1928, p. 453) who later served as ch
aplain at La Capilla de los Reyes. There still exists a letter to Father Josemara
, dated Toledo, 18 -I\ug 1944, in which Father Angel reminds him of their conver
sations and of the "restlessness" that had filled him jn about 1928: see origina
l in AGP,
RHF, 0-12807. Father Josemara also mentions "a Valencian parish priest" and "a yo
ung religious of the Congregation of the Holy Family": see Apuntes, no.1864, and
Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.327.
[20] Apuntes, no.1864.
[21] Apuntes, no.1866. He wrote this in 1948, without consulting entry no. 73 of
his Apuntes. Written on about 26 Ju11930, this entry reads as follows: "On Sund
ay, July 6, I gave Father Sanchez those sheets of paper, at the Foundation, when
he came for the Preservation of the Faith examinations. On Monday the 21st of t
he same month, in Chamartin, Father returned the notes to me and promised to be
our director. Laus Deo!"
[22] Apuntes, no.1868.
[23] Apuntes, no.1867.
[24] Apuntes, no.21; see also Apuntes, no.73. Prior to 6 Jul1930 he speaks in va
rious places in his Apuntes about "Works of God" (see nos. 32 and 38) or the "Wo
rk of God" (see nos. 4 and 72).
[25] Apuntes, no.126. Bishop del Portillo comments: "On other occasions the Fath
er explained to us that when he heard Father Sanchez speak of the 'Work of God:
he associated this name with the essence of the Work (sanctification of work, co
nversion of it into prayer); that with this new interpretation, the name 'Work o
f God' no longer sounded presumptuous to him, but rathe4 seemed perfectly approp
riate; and that in addition, he considered it a command from God (as he wrote he
re) that the name be this: Work of God, Opus Dei" (Apuntes, no.126, note 146).
[26] See Apuntes, no.66.
[27] The lady was Doa Carolina Carvajal, sister of the Count of Aguilar de Inestr
illas. These efforts made in the palace are referred to in a letter to the found
er from one of his followers, Isidoro Zorzano. In this lette4 dated Malaga, 26 J
an 193L we read: "Now you must tell me how things are going at the palace." (See
AGP, IZL, 0-1213, no.13.)
[28] Father Pedro Poveda Castroverde was the founder of the Teresians. Born in L
inares (Andalusia) in 1874, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1897 and became
a professor at the seminary in Guadix (Granada). In 1906 he was transferred to
Asturias, where he became intensely involved in teaching; there he founded, in 1
91L two teachers' colleges, in Gijon and in Oviedo. In 1921 he was assigned to t
he Royal Chapel in Madrid, and in 1931 was named secretary of the ecclesiastical
palace jurisdiction. On July 28, 1936, he was assassinated because of antirelig
ious hatred. In 1955 his cause for canonization was opened; in 1958 the process
on the diocesan level was completed; and in 1980 the Congregation for the Causes
of the Saints issued the decree of introduction of the cause. (See A. Serrano,
La estela de un Apostol, Madrid, 1942; S. De Santa Teresa, O.C.D., Vida de D. Pe
dro Poveda Castroverde, Madrid, 1942; and Flavia Paz Velazquez, Cuaderflos Biogr
tificos, Narcea, 1986 and 1987.) On October 10, 1993, Pedro Poveda was beatified
by Pope John Paul II.
[29] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 240, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 3250. "This

appointment was one to which many aspired," explains Bishop Echevarria. " As a r
esult of that conversation, a deep friendship developed between the two priests
and, despite their difference in age, Father Pedro Poveda often visited Father J
osemara to fraternally confide in him and to ask his advice and help on matters r
elated to priestly ministry."
[30] In his journal he tells us that after he turned down that honorary royal ch
aplaincy, "the Marchioness of Los Alamos and Maria Luisa Guzman and Maria Machim
barrena and her niece Maruja (daughter of the first of these)-the four of them-a
ccompanied me to the Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs to introduce
me to the undersecretary, Don Jose Martinez de Velasco. Four days late4 the Rep
ublic. ...Last Friday [17 Apr 1931], in the home of Aguilar de Inestrillas, I wa
s introduced to Senora de Martinez de Velasco, who hastened to tell me-and one c
ould see that she was telling the truth-that her husband was sorry that he had n
ot had time to find positions for a relative of his and for me" (Apuntes, no.192
).
[31] Apuntes, no.192
[32] The packet containing the Apuntes intimas was found in the archive of the P
relature, together with other packets and an envelope on which the founder had w
ritten: " After my death, these papers-as well as the notebooks which make up my
Apuntes intimas-are to be put in the hands of Don Alvaro, without anyone else r
eading them first, so that he can write the appropriate notes. That son of mine
is the one person who is in a position to make whatever commentaries and clarifi
cations are necessary, since I have discussed these writings with him often and
in detail. Mariano, Rome, September 2, 1968."
[33] "The saints," he wrote in 1932, "were necessarily some disconcerting people
. They were men and women-like my Saint Catherine of Siena!who by word and examp
le were a continual cause of uneasiness for consciences compromised by sin" (Let
ter 9 fan 1932, no.73).
[34] Apuntes, no.1862 (Rome, June 14, 1948).
[35] Apuntes, no.1862. "I burned notebook no.1," he wrote on the first page of n
otebook no.2. The reason was his fear that upon reading the accounts given there
of extraordinary events of a supernatural nature, someone might take him for a
saint, when he himself was firmly convinced that he was nothing but a sinner (se
e Apuntes, introductory note).
[36] Apuntes, no.167.
[37] See Pedro Rocamora, AGP, RHF, T-O5829, p. 2.
[38] Apuntes, no.713. In the entry for 24 May 1932 one reads: "Resolution: Barri
ng some real necessity, I will never talk about the personal things" (Apuntes, n
o.735). Probably he burned the first notebook by the end of that summer, since h
e wrote in another place-as he had planned to dohis notes for the retreat he mad
e in October of that year. (Upon returning to Madrid, after having made that ret
reat in Segovia, he writes in his journal, "October 14, 1932: I will keep the re
treat notes separate"; see Apuntes, nos. 839 and 1701.) The last entry in his jo
urnal indicating that the first notebook still exists is that of 11 Dec 1931 (Ap
untes, no.470), in which he says he has read one of the entries "in the first no
tebook" to Father Lino, to give him " a more detailed understanding of the Work.
" In the entry for the previous day he comments that upon rereading "a certain e
ntry in the first notebook of Catherines," he came to understand for the first t
ime a certain aspect of his spiritual life (see Apuntes, no.474).
[39] Apuntes, no.996.
[40] Apuntes, no.379.
[41] Apuntes, no.1040.
[42] Apuntes, no.446.
[43] Apuntes, no.472; see also Apuntes, no.477.
[44] Apuntes, no.475.
[45] Apuntes, no.691.
[46] Apuntes, no.1115. Another of these rare instances is what he wrote on 26 No
v 1931: " After Holy Mass today, during my thanksgiving and later in the church
of the Capuchins of Medinaceli, the Lord flooded me with graces. I experienced w
hat the psalm says: 'lnebriabuntur ab ubertate domus tuae: et torrente voluptati

s tuae potabis eos' ['They feast ("become inebriatedl/ in the Vulgate version) o
n the abundance of thy house, and thou givest them drink from the river of thy d
elights' (Ps 36:8)]. Full of joy in the will of God, I feel that I told him with
Saint Peter, 'Ecce, reliqui omnia et secutus sum te' ['Lo, I have left everythi
ng and followed you' (see Mk 10:28)J. And my heart felt the 'centuplum recipies'
['you will receive a hundredfold']. ...I truly lived the Gospel of the dayl/ (A
puntes,no.415).
[47] Apuntes, no.619. Most likely he occasionally had to take a shortcut by cros
sing Retiro Park, and did not do this simply for recreational purposes (see Apun
tes, no 473).
[48] Apuntes, no.618.
[49] Apuntes, no.349. I/Luckily,1/ he commented years laterl on rereading that n
ote, I/despite the path of childhood that I was on, I did not write those notes.
At least I don't recall having written theml/ (see Apuntes, note 334).
[50] Apuntes, no.263.
[51] Apuntes, no.311.
[52] Apuntes, no.343.
[53] Apuntes, no.471. [The Latin rneans: ?In the name of the Father, and of the
Sonl and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Holy Mary, seat of wisdornl pray for us.?
[54] See, for examplel Apuntes, no.342.
[55] Apuntes, no, 13.
[56] Apuntes, no.14.
[57] Apuntes, no.116.
[58] Apuntes, no.313
[59] See Apuntes, no.875.
[60] Apuntes, no.15.
[61] Apuntes, no.1166.
[62] Apuntes, no.423.
* Prior to the liturgical reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council, cert
ain fixed prayers of the Mass were written on cards that stood on the altar.
[63] Apuntes, nos. 458 and 459. He wrote all this not only to vent his righteous
indignation, but also with an eye to the oratories that the Work would have in
the future, so that, as the entry ends, ?We may avoid falling into similar disco
urtesies toward Christ our King.?
[64] Apuntes, no.581. See also Letter 24 Mar 1930, no.21.
[65] Apuntes, no.173
[66] At its inception on April 14, the provisional government, in which there we
re two Catholics and five Freemasons, established itself as "a government of ful
l powers" and granted itself a juridical statute whose third article presented f
reedom of belief and of worship as the basis of its policies. (See the 15 Apr 19
31 edition of Gaceta de Madrid: no.105, p. 195.)
Catholics, clergy and faithful alike, took these events and the new political or
der calmly, although they were worried about the anticlerical character of the r
epublican forces. On April 24 the papal nuncio, Monsignor Tedeschini, sent to all the bishops a letter giving some indications abou
t the posture they should adopt. "It is," said the letter, "the desire of the Ho
ly See that Your Excellency recommend to the priests, religious, and faithful of
your diocese that they respect the constituted powers and obey them for the mai
ntenance of order and of the common good." (See F. de Meer, La Cuestin religiasa
en las Cartes Canstituyentes de la II Republica Espaala [Pamplona, 1975], pp. 3031.)
The Holy See trusted that the government would respect the rights of the Church
and the existing concordat.
[67] The parties with the greatest numbers of representatives in the constitutio
nal assembly, or Cortes, were the Socialists (117), the Radicals (93), the Radic
al Socialists (59), and the Republican Left of Catalonia (43). The rest of it wa
s made up of small factions from nine parties. (See Republica Espaala. Cartes Can
stituyentes [Madrid, 1932], p. 124.) In all, there were 406 representatives.
During the election the Right could not organize itself, or did not know how to.
As a result, the representation in the assembly did not correspond to the reali

ty of Spanish society.
[68] The police did nothing to restrain the mobs, even though they were notified
of the riots the day before they began. Police in Madrid witnessed the burning
of the Jesuit building on De La Flor Street, for example, without intervening. T
his passivity enabled the incendiaries to repeat such actions in many other majo
r cities of Spain without the public authorities intervening.
Everything seemed to be set up and arranged so that the mobs could act with impu
nity. On the evening before the riots, a circular was distributed in all police
stations of Madrid, signed by the police chief himself, prohibiting the use of a
nything but verbal persuasion against the rioters. (See J. Arrarcis, Histaria de
la Segunda Republica Espaala, vol. 1 [Madrid, 1956], pp. 73-100, and F. Narbona,
La quema de canventas, Madrid,1954.)
[69] The burning of churches and religious houses was not confined to May 1931.
It happened numerous times during the era of the Spanish Republic: in January 19
32, in Saragossa, Cordoba, and cadiz; in April 1932, in Seville; in July 1932, i
n Granada; in October 1932, in cadiz, Marchena, and Loja. ...In December 1933 te
n churches and religious houses were burned in Saragossa, and six churches in Gr
anada. All this was before the beginning of the revolutionary outbreak in Asturi
as in 1934 and the burnings allover Spain during the months of the Popular Front
government in 1936, just prior to the Spanish Civil War. (See Antonio Montero,
Historia de la persecucin religiosa en Espaa, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1961), pp. 26-27.
)
* This 28-volume encyclopedia published under the editorship of Denis Diderot be
tween 1751 and 1772 included articles written by many of the most prominent Fren
ch Enlightenment philosophers, including Voltaire and Rousseau. Many of the arti
cles were strongly anti-Catholic in tone.
[70] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.28.
The proposed constitution appeared officially on August 18. The articles pertain
ing to religious issues were no.3, "There is no state religion"; no.24, by which
religious organizations were subjected to the generallaws of the country and wh
ich declares that "the state shall dissolve all religious orders and nationalize
their goods"; no.25, on freedom of conscience and limitations on the exercise o
f religion; no.41, by which divorce was legalized; and nos. 46 and 47, on educat
ion.
These articles prompted the appearance of two important documents on the relatio
ns between church and state: a pastoral letter by Cardinal Segura (dated 15 Aug
1931) and a message from the Ecclesiastical Province of Tarragona. In accord wit
h the teachings of Pope Leo XIII, these documents condemned the doctrine of sepa
ration of church and state and that of laicism, or secularism. "Cardinal Segura'
s pastoral letter and the message from the bishops of Tarragona came to be viewe
d, in principle, as declarations of an absolute incompatibility between the Chur
ch and the constitution which was proposed for the Republic" (F. de Meer, op. ci
t., pp. 84-85).
[71] On the parliamentary debate with regard to article 26 (no.24 of the draft)
of the constitution approved by the Cortes on October 14, see F. de Meer, op. ci
t., pp. 129ff.
As soon as the definitive version and the approval of that article became public
knowledge, Pope Piu XI sent to the hierarchy and "faithful children of the Chur
ch in Spain" a telegram, dated October 16, protesting the offel:lse against "the
sacrosanct rights of the Church, which are the rights of God and of souls," and
inviting all Catholics in Spain to unite themselves to his intentions " at the
celebration of the Holy Sacrifice on the Sunday of Christ the King, that this gr
eat tribulation afflicting the Church and the Spanish nation might cease." (See
Boletin Oficial del Obispado de Madrid-Alcalti, no.1546 [year 1931], pp. 405-406
.)
[72] The pastoral letter from the Spanish episcopate is dated 20 Dec 1931, but w
as not published in the dioceses until1 Jan 1932.
[73] See the 3 Jun 1933 edition of Gaceta de Madrid. This law was approved by th
e Spanish parliament on May 17, but also had to be endorsed and signed by the pr
esident of the Republic, Alcalci Zamora, who remained undecided for a couple of

weeks. He signed it on June 2.

[74] The bishops' document begins with a reminder that the Spanish hierarchy, in
its pastoral letter of December 1931, has already "expressed the deep feeling o
f the Church concerning those excesses of the state that violate the Christian c
onscience and religious rights" without the state's being able to accuse the Chu
rch authorities of inciting their faithful to any unlawful behavior. The faithfu
l have, on the contrary, conducted themselves peacefully, always promoting publi
c order. Later it analyzes "the terribly harsh treatment that is being given to
the Church in Spain," pointing out that the Church "is being treated not as a mo
ral and juridical entity duly recognized and respected within the established la
w, but rather as a danger," and that " attempts are being made to suppress it wi
th regulations and political measures." (See "Declaracin del Episcopado con motiv
o de la ley de Confesiones y Congregaciones religiosas," in Boletin Oficial del
Obispado de Madrid-Alcalti,no.1585 [year 1933].)
[75] AAS, 25 (1933), pp. 275-76. The archbishop of Toledo published a pastoral l
etter (Horas Graves, dated 12 Jul 1933) in which he minced no words. "The tentac
les of state power have reached everywhere," he said, "and have been able to pen
etrate everything, rapidly obeying the single thought that tells it to crush the
Church." (See A. Montero, op. cit., p. 32.)
[76] On the basis of the legal foundations laid in the Constitution and inspired
by its secularistic spirit, legislation was adopted which not only was contrary
to the declaration of human liberty contained in the Constitution but was inspi
red by a whipped-up fratricidal hatred. This orientation, in fact, is what led t
o the civil war of 1936-1939.
As the first president of the Republic, Niceto Alcalci Zamora, would say in the
year the civil war broke out, the Constitution invited it. " A constitution has
been created," he said, "which is an invitation to civil war, both from the dogm
atic viewpoint, in which passion rules over a calm fairmindedness, and from the
organic point of view, in which improvisation and an unstable equilibrium are su
bstituted for experience and a solid construction of powers" (N. Alcalci Zamora,
Los defectos de la Constitucin de 1931 [Madrid, 1936], p. 51).
The attitude of the hierarchy and of Spanish Catholics in general had from the v
ery first been one of obedient and respectful acceptance of the constituted powe
rs. Instructions to this effect were given by the bishop of each diocese. Those
for the diocese of Madrid-Alcalci were given in Circular no.93, "Sabre el respet
o y obediencia a los Poderes constituidos," in compliance with the norms receive
d from His Holiness by way of the papal nuncio (see Boletin Oficial del Obispado
de Madrid-Alcalti, no. 1534 [1 May 1931], pp. 173-75).
[77] Apuntes, no.191. The entry is dated Apri120, 1931.
For more on the activities and influence of Freemasons in the secularistic polit
ics of the Second Spanish Republic, see Joaquin Arrariis, op. cit., pp. 107-11.
[78] C 18 (5 May 1931).
[79] On April 26, 1931, the bishop of Madrid, to prevent sacrileges, decreed tha
t in view of the turmoil caused by the events of April 14 and their antiecclesia
stical character, the clergy could under certain circumstances wear secular clot
hes. (See the circular " Ad clerum sive saecularem sive regularem circa usum ves
tis talaris," in Boletin Oficial del Obispado de Madrid-Alcalti, no.1534 [1 May
1931], pp. 176-77.)
Santiago Escrivii de Balaguer, who was then twelve, says, "I accompanied Josemara
when he took the Blessed Sacrament from the Foundation's chapel on Nicasio Gall
ego Street to Pepe Romeo's house, which was right there at Santa Engracia, comer
of Maudes, near Cuatro Caminos. It's possible that cortes Cavanillas also went
with us, but I don't remember. I know we went on foot, because I remember the su
rroundings, the people on the street, etc. Josemara went dressed as a layman, in
one of Pepe Romeo's suits and a beret that covered the big tonsure he had at the
time. The streets were relatively safe because even though the atmosphere was o
ne of revolution, the agitation was centered around monasteries and convents" (S
antiago Escrivii de Balaguer y Albiis, AGP, RHF, T -07921, p. 12). See also Alva
ro del Portillo, PR, p. 1353, and Mario Lantini, Sum. 3562.
[80] Apuntes, no.202.

[81] Apuntes, nos. 573 and 724.

[82] On the nights of May 11, 12, and 16 (this last time because of a false alar
m), he took the Blessed Sacrament to the Romeo house. See Apuntes, no.202.
[83] Apuntes, no.424.
[84] Apuntes, no.202. See also Santiago Escrivii de Balaguer, Sum. 7325, and Joa
quin Alonso, PR, p. 1738.
[85] "In this campaign that has been and is being waged against religious orders
, priests, and the Church, I have been confirmed in the opinionalready expressed
in these notes-that there is a secret organization that is moving the people (a
lways a child) via the press, pamphlets, cartoons, calumnies, spoken propaganda.
Later they will lead it where they wish: to hell itself" (Apuntes, no.331).
[86] Apuntes, no.114.
[87] Apuntes, no.114.
[88] Apuntes, no.210.
[89] Apuntes, no.211.
[90] Apuntes, no.212. One verse of the Riego hymn goes like this: "If the priest
s and friars knew / the beating they are going to get, / they would join the cho
rus singing / Freedom, freedom, freedom." This is probably one of those "nasties
t verses" to which he refers.
[91] Margarita Alvarado Coghem, AGP, RHF, T -04676, p. 1.
[92] C 18 (5 May 1931).
[93] Apuntes, no.1726. His conclusions are these:
a) I should read one newspaper: El Siglo, since I am a subscriber.
b) If, without my buying it (since I must always practice poverty), some Catholi
c magazine or other comes into my hands and there is something pertinent in it,
I will read it.
c) In no publication will I read any article that is purely literary or recreati
onal.
d) I will not read any pictorial magazines, or even leaf through them, ...except
for scientific magazines and-naturally-those having to do with Catholic mission
s.
e) I will read El Siglo the morning after it comes out.
El Siglo Futuro was a traditionalist newspaper for which Father Antonio Sanz Cer
rada, a friend of Father Josemara's, worked, writing under the pseudonym of "Brot
her Juniper." It had a Catholic orientation, and Father Josemara read it out of f
riendship for this priest, although he did not agree with some of the ideas that
it promoted. (See Apuntes, no.1691.)
[94] Apuntes, no.327. The date of this entry is 15 act 1931.
[95] Apuntes, no.222.
[96] Apuntes, no.291. A month later the insults were not disturbing even his ext
erior peace. He wrote on 26 act 1931: "I'm going to note down a curious process
that I have observed in myself. I've already said something about this. The insu
lts used to make me mad. Later they gave me joy. And now the laughter and mocker
y and insults leave me as calm as if they were directed at a wall of concrete" (
Apuntes, no.348).
[97] Apuntes, no.590.
[98] Apuntes, no.164.
[99] Apuntes, no.23.
[100] Apuntes, no.28.
[101] Apuntes, no.92.
[102] Apuntes, no.111. In various ways he incorporates this trilogy in the pract
ices and resolutions of his interior life. For example, he makes these three ele
ments the three points ofhis daily examination of conscience (see Apuntes, no.75
); he considers apostolate to consist of prayer, expiation, and action (see Apun
tes, no.129); and he says, "Pray, pray, pray. Expiate, expiate, expiate. Then. .
.off to work, all for his glory!" (Apuntes, no.154).
[103] Apuntes, no.128. The insistence of the founder on unceasing prayer and mor
tification took root in those who followed him. "I am more and more convinced,"
wrote Isidoro Zorzano, "that only with God's help can we attain our goal, and th
at only with prayer, action, and expiation can we attain that singular grace" (L

etter of Isidoro Zorzano to Father Josemara, dated La Roda, 27 act 1931: original
in AGP, IZL, 0-1213, no.18).
As can be seen from letters of the founder to Isidoro Zorzano, these ideas are r
epetitions of received teachings. The founder had said to him, for example, "We
must firmly base ourselves, before anything else, on prayer and expiation (sacri
fice)" (C 12, 23 Nov 1930), and "I trust that fuings will soon be arranged. ..su
ch that action can accompany the hidden apostolate of prayer and sacrifice" (C 2
1,3 Sep 1931).
[104] Apuntes, no.160 (10 Feb 1931). His faith in the merits of the suffering of
innocent persons is very movingly expressed in another journal entry: "Feast of
Saint John the Evangelist, 1930: Today, from morning on, I have offered my work
to that most lovable 'disciple whom Jesus loved'. ... Our Lord chose to compens
ate the miserable poverty of my merits by providing me with a sick boy of sixtee
n, a boy with tuberculosis. When I left after visiting him (at 11 Canarias Stree
t), I offered the soul of that suffering young man to this holy apostle. And Sai
nt John repaid me immediately" (Apuntes,no.140 [27 Dec 1930]).
[105] Apuntes, no.522. The founder also attributed the earlier collapse of El So
l, another antireligious paper, to the efficacy of the innocent prayer of "Dumb
Enriqueta": see Apuntes, no.522, note 43L and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1189.
Even in his journal entries, the founder often avoided use of the word "I" or of
first person. In one narration of this event, he tries to depersonalize it by p
resenting it as the idea of Father Norberto, the assistant chaplain of the Found
ation (who surely was aware of what happened), but the syntax makes it clear tha
t it was the founder himself who encouraged Enriqueta. In another place (Letter
7 act 1950, no.12) he says:

Around the years 1927 to 1931 a priest was giving spiritual direction to a poor,
mentally retarded, ignorant, uneducated woman who nevertheless had an exquisite
fineness of soul. People called her Dumb Enriqueta. Back then there was a very
prestigious and rabidly anti-Catholic newspaper, run by a group of intellectuals
, that was causing great harm to souls and to the Church. One day that priest -firm in the faith and having no other weapon-said to that poor littie woman, "Fr
om today on, until I tell you otherwise, I want you to pray for an intention of
mine." The intention was that that newsp per cease to be published. Well, within
a short time the saying of Scripture was fulfilled: "quae stulta sunt mundi ele
git Deus ut confundat sapientes" (1 Cor 1:27); "God chose what is foolish in the
world to shame the wise." That newspaper went under because of the prayer of a
poor 'I dumb" woman. She went on praying for the same intention, and a second ne
wspaper, and then a third one, succeeding the first and likewise doing great har
m to souls, also went under (Letter 7 act 1950, no.12).

The founder of El Sol, Crisol, and Luz was Jose Ortega y Gasset. See Apuntes, no
.522; for more on the history and the fall of these newspapers, see Gonzalo Redo
ndo, Las empresas politicas de Jose Ortega y Gasset. "El Sol," "Crisol" y "Luz"
(1917-1934), Madrid, 1970.
[106] See Apuntes, no.302.
[107] Apuntes, no.390.
[108] Apuntes, no.430.
[109] Apuntes, no.205.
[110] Apuntes, no.244.
[111] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 257 and Sum. 258.
[112] Apuntes, no.207.
[113] Apuntes, nos. 208 and 209. The feast of Saint Ephrem was at that time June
18 [it is now June 9], but, as it turned out, Father Josemara did not stop worki
ng at the Foundation until October 28 (see Apuntes, no.209, note 236). He did no
t leave his position until the nuns found someone to take his place. See Alvaro
del Portillo, Sum. 257. The date of his leaving is corroborated in the 23 Jun 19
31 entry for him in the ministerial facu1ties records book, which mentions the c
hurch of Santa Barbara and not the Foundation.
[114] Letter of 30 Jun 1931 from Father Luis Tallada to Father Josemara: original

in AGP, RHF, 0-15399.

Beginning in 1929 the Apostolic Ladies had a novitiate in Chamartin. Its chaplai
n was the father superior of the Holy Family community in Madrid. In those early
years the mistress of novices was Asuncion Mufioz, and she testifies that they
were also often visited by the chaplain of the Foundation. See E. Iturbide, El A
mor dijo si (Pamplona, 1962), pp. 175-77, and Asuncion Mufioz, AGP, RHF, T --043
93, p. 4.
From what can be deduced from his correspondence with Father Luis Tallada, Fathe
r Josemara also was acquainted with other Holy Family priests in Madrid.
[115] Apuntes, no.689.
[116] See Apuntes, no.356. (The "Miravalles," or "marquises of Miravalles," were
counts of Aguilar de Inestrillas.) Of this incident Bishop Alvaro del Portillo
comments, IIJt was a small thing, of no actual importance, our Father assured me
, but the Lord allowed it to really hurt him" (Apuntes, no.356, note 338). After
ward, when he went to say good-bye to the nuns, Father Josemara not only forgot w
hat had pained him so much, but asked their pardon for whatever it was. "The aff
airs of the Foundation. ..I took care of them as Father S. had told me to: very
affectionately. I went back to them to ask pardon for whatever I might have done
to disedify them with my temper, etc." (Apuntes, no.363). ("Father S." is Fathe
r Valentin Sanchez Ruiz, his confessor.) On the admiration and appreciation that
he would always have for the Apostolic Ladies and their activities, see Alvaro
del Portillo, Sum. 447, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2077.
[117] See the application submitted by Father Josemara to the Ministry of Labor o
n 26 Jan 1934, in the Patrimonio Nacional archive, "Patronatos Reales," "Patrona
to de Santa Isabel," file 182/21.
[118] It was in July that Father Josemara first heard about the state of neglect
that the chaplaincy of Santa Isabel was in. It was mentioned to him by Catalina
Garcia del Rey, a lay auxiliary of the Apostolic Ladies (see Apuntes, no.354).
Sister Cecilia Gomez Jimenez, relaying the tradition handed down in the convent,
says, " According to what I've heard the sisters say, coming here to celebrate
Mass meant risking one's life; so no one wanted to come, and so they were left w
ithout a chaplain" (Cecilia Gomez Jimenez, Sum. 6515).
[119] See Jose Luis Saenz Ruiz-olalde, O.A.R., Las Agustinas Recoletas de Santa
Isabel la Real, de Madrid,Madrid: Real Monasterio de Santa Isabel, 1990. See als
o Leticia Sanchez Hernandez, "El convento de Santa Isabel: Madrid 1589-1989," in
Real Fundacin del Convento de Santa Isabel de Madrid:Patrimonio Nacional, 1990.
[120] See, in the 21 Apr1931 and 22 Apr 1931 editions of Gaceta de Madrid, "Decr
eto de120--IV-1931 sobre Bienes del Patrimonio de la Corona." See also, in the 2
4 Apr 1931 edition, the decree of 22 Apr 1931 by which a committee was set up in
the Ministry of the futerior to direct the foundations of the defunct Royal Hou
se, and in the 26 Nov 1931 edition, "Decreto del 20--XI-1931 sobre Provision de
vacantes en Patronatos de la Corona." Whatever vacancies exist or arise, says th
is last decree, "will be filled by the president of the Republic, or the preside
nt of the government, in accord with the suggestions of the Secretary of the fut
erior."
[121] On the palace jurisdiction depended the royal foundations, and Father Palm
er's offices were in one of these: the Patronato de Nuestra Senora del Buen Suce
so. See the Patrimonio Nacional archive, "Patronatos Reales," file 2756/22. See
also, in the same file, the 2 Feb 1933 letter from the Council for the Administr
ation of the Patrimony of the Republic to Bishop Ramon perez Rodriguez, Patriarc
h of the fudies, announcing its takeover of the archive and office (at 2 Quintan
a) of the abolished Pro-Chaplaincy Major of the Palace which at that point was s
till exercising the palace jurisdiction.
[122] For more on the responsibilities of the chaplains, see Joaquin Alonso, PR,
p. 1738; Cecilia Gomez Jimenez, Sum. 6510; Juan Jimenez Vargas, Sum. 6703; and
Santiago Escrivtl de Balaguer, Sum.7328.
Father Buenaventura Gutierrez y Sanjuan was ordained in Toledo in 1904, became H
onorary Chaplain of His Majesty on January 29, 1909, and was named rector of the
Royal Foundation of Santa Isabel on December 1,1919. He held the latter positio
n until "on June 16,1931, he was dropped by virtue of a government order that el

iminated from the roster of active service employees all persons who had been as
signed to the chapel of what had been the royal palace" (Patrimonio Nacional arc
hive, "Patronatos Reales," "Patronato de Santa Isabel," file 182/20). See also E
. Subirana, op. cit., 1931, p. 430.
[123] Father Jose Cicuendez Aparicio, the director of the Cicuendez Academy, had
been named chaplain of Santa Isabel in July 1910. He died at Villa de Don Fadri
que (in Toledo) in November 1932. (See the Patrimonio Nacional archive, "Patrona
tos Reales," "Patronato de Santa Isabel," file 182/17, and also E. Subirana, op.
cit., 1931, p. 430.)
[124] See letter dated Madrid, 9 Jul1931, from a "Dr. Cifuentes" of the Ministry
of the Interior to Father Juan Causapie, "Majordomo of the Foundation, Hospital
, and Church of Buen Suceso," notifying him of his appointment as interim rector
-administrator: in the Patrimonio NaDoal archive, "Patronatos Reales," "Patronato
de Santa Isabel," file 178/73. See also E. Subirana, op. cit., 1931, p. 430.
[125] Apuntes, no.225.
[126] Apuntes, no.294.
[127] Apuntes, no.387.
[128] Apuntes, no.403.
[129] Apuntes, no.497.
[130] Letter 29 Dec1947/14 Feb 1966, no.89.
[131] Apuntes, nos. 217 and 218. In the diocese of Madrid-Alcaltl the feast of t
he Transfiguration of the Lord was celebrated on August 7 because August 6 was a
lso the feast of Saints Justo and Pastor, the principal patron saints of the dio
cese.
The capital of Spain had always been called the Villa of Madrid. In the era of t
he monarchy it was called the Villa and Court, because the royal court was there
. At the time Father Josemara was writing these entries, the Republic had been pr
oclaimed a few months earlier; hence his use of the expression "ex-Court."
The Offering to the Merciful Love was in those days a very popular prayer. It go
es like this: "Holy Father, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary I offer you Jes
us your most beloved Son, and in him, through him, and with him I offer myself f
or all his intentions and on behalf of all creatures." (See Alvaro del Portillo,
Sum. 337 and Sum. 1ll8.)
Later in this chapter we will say more about this Merciful Love devotion.
[132] Testifying to this grace of 7 Aug 1931, having heard of it directly from t
he founder himself, are Alvaro del Portillo (Sum. 17l1), Javier Echevarria (PR,
p. 1698), Mario Lantini (Sum. 3741), and Julian Herranz (PR, p. 982). The idea o
f work as a means of sanctification and apostolate was constantly present in the
preaching and writings of the founder. See, for example, Letter 11 Mar 1940, no
s. 11-13, and Christ Is Passing By, nos. 14, 39, 105, 156, and 183.
[133] See Eph 1:10.
[134] Letter 11 Mar1940, no.13.
[135] Apuntes, no.92.
[136] Letter 29 Dec1947/14 Feb 1966, no.5.
[137] Apuntes, no.273. Prior to this locution of 7 Sep 1931, he had written of O
pus Dei: "It will fill the whole world, and will be spread all over the globe, .
..so that the whole earth will be one single flock with one single Shepherd" (Ap
untes,nos. 92 and 134).
[138] Letter 9 fan1932, no.93. The last sentence is from Psalm 104:31.
[139] Apuntes, no.629.
[140] Apuntes, no.284. In the Instruction of 19 Mar 1934, nos. 28 and 29, this i
dea is picked up and related to something he had said on September 10, 1931 (Apu
ntes, no.277) with explicit reference to the Work and to each of its members. Th
e passage in the Instruction reads:

Our Lord does not want an ephemeral identity for his Work. He asks of us an immo
rtal identity, because he wants there to be in itin the Work-a group nailed to t
he cross. The holy cross will make us everlasting, always with the same spirit o
f the Gospel, which will bring about the apostolate of action as the savory frui
t of prayer and sacrifice.

In this way the Work of God and each of its members will come to live that divin
e secret that Saint Paul taught in Philippians 2:5-11, the surest route to immor
tality and glory: through humiliation, to the cross; and from the cross, with Ch
rist, to the immortal glory of the Father.
[141] Apuntes, no.296.
[142] Apuntes, nos. 317 and 326.
* This was his name for a statue of the Blessed Virgin that he used to kiss when
ever he left or returned home.
[143] Apuntes, no.334. Returning, years later, to the memory of that day would w
rite: "The most sublime prayer I have ever experienced. ..was when I was riding
a streetcar, and then walking through the streets of Madrid, contemplating that
marvelous reality, God is my Father. I remember that, without being able to help
it, I kept repeating, ' Abba, Pater!' They must have thought I was crazy" (Inst
ruction of May 1935/September 1950, no.22, note 28). Through this experience our
Lord showed him that "the street does not impede our contemplative dialogue; th
e hubbub of the world is for us a place of prayer" (Letter 9 fan 1959, no.60).
Referring to divine filiation, which is the basis of the spirituality of Opus De
i, he wrote: "This characteristic feature of our spirit was born with the Work a
nd took shape in 1931, in moments that were difficult, humanly speaking, but in
which I nevertheless had a certainty of the impossible, of what today you see be
come a reality" (Letter 9 fan1959, no.60).
[144] Apuntes, no.60, and Letter 8 Dec 1949, no.41. See also Alvaro del Portillo
, Sum.1077 and Sum. 1297.
[145] Mt 5:48, quoted in Letter 24 Mar 1930, no.2.
[146] Meditation of 24 Dec 1969.
[147] Meditation of 2 act 1971.
[148] Letter 8 Dec1949, no.41.
[149] Apuntes, no.357. As he himself would say, the very thought that it is poss
ible to fear God made him suffer. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1030, and Javier
Echevarria, Sum.2517.
[150] See Apuntes, no.358. Once he calmed down, there came over him one of those
highly intense transports of prayer that filled him with interior joy (see Apun
tes, nos. 358 and 359).
[151] Apuntes, no.364. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1030; Mario Lantini, S
um. 3666; and Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5935.
[152] Apuntes, no.476.
[153] Words of a homily of 2 act 1968, recorded in AGP, P021968.
* The Spanish word "cirineo" means a helper or assistant. Father Josemara writes
it with a capital letter to make clearer the reference to Simon of Cyrene, who h
elped carry Jesus' cross.
* In Spain it was common for men who were close friends to give each other an "a
brazo," a hug, rather than shake hands. Letters sent to a friend often closed "w
ith a hug."
[154] Letter of 20 Nov 1931 from Father Jose Pou de Foxa to Father Josemara: orig
inal in AGP, RHF,0--15309.
[155] Letter of 17 Dec 1931 from Father Ambrosio Sanz to Father Josemara: origina
l in AGP, RHF, 0--15241. Ordained in Santander in 1911, Father Ambrosio Sanz Lav
illa had doctorates in both sacred theology and canon law. He became a canon of
Barbastro in 1927 and taught at the seminary in that city until 1956, the year o
f his death. (See E. Subirana, op. cit., 1928, p. 103.)
In journal entry no.423 we read, "Yesterday I wrote to the canon of Barbastro, F
ather Ambrosio Sanz, asking for prayers," and this is obviously written on the s
ame day as entry no.421, which is dated "Vigil of the Apostle Saint Andrew"-in o
ther words, November 29.
Father Ambrosio, however, refers to "your letter of the 26th of last month." It
is possible that, barring a lapse of memory, Father Josemara dated his letter the
26th but continued writing and mailed it on the 28th.
[156] Apuntes, no.274 (9 Sep 1931).
[157] Apuntes, no.301.
[158] Apuntes, no.560.

[159] Apuntes, introductory note.

[160] Apuntes, no.307. See also Meditation of 14 Feb 1964.
[161] Apuntes, no.335.
[162] Apuntes, no.350.
[163] Apuntes, no.351.
[164] Apuntes, no.355.
[165] Apuntes, no.356 (28 Oct 1931).
[166] Apuntes, no.363.
[167] Apuntes, no.387 (12 Nov 1931).
[168] Apuntes, no.388.
[169] See Apuntes, no.415.
[170] Apuntes, no.416.
[171] Apuntes, no.429.
[172] Apuntes, no, 426.
[173] Apuntes, no.467.
[174] Apuntes, no.493.
[175] Apuntes, no.493.
[176] "In this Madrid," said Doa Dolores, "we are going through purgatory." See A
puntes, no.500 (23 Dec 1931).
[177] Apuntes, no.523.
[178] See Apuntes, no.564 (14 Jan 1932).
[179] See Apuntes, no.597 (15 Feb 1932).
[180] Apuntes, no.596.
[181] For more on this prelate, see Sebastian Cirac Estopafian, Vida de Don Cruz
Laplana, Obispo de Cuenca, Barcelona, 1943.
* Canons, as we have seen, were priests attached to the cathedral of the diocese
. The position of a canon was prestigious and relatively well paid.
[182] See AGP, P011979, p. 251.
** The following is a very free rendering of a passage that is quite complex and
obscure in Spanish. Evidently Father Josemara felt tempted to follow up on the p
osition in Cuenca as a way of resolving his family's economic difficulties, but
Father Sanchez advised him to remain in Madrid.
[183] Apuntes, no.598.
[184] Apuntes, no.599.
[185] Apuntes, no.587.
[186] Letter 8 Dec1949, no.41.
[187] Apuntes, no.307.
[188] Apuntes, no.328. Article 26 of the Constitution (article 24 of the draft),
which was approved on the morning of October 14,1931, said: "Hereby dissolved a
re those religious orders which juridically impose, besides the three canonical
vows, a special vow of obedience to an authority other than the legitimate one o
f the state."
There was no doubt about the main target of this article. By a decree published
on January 24, 1932, all Jesuit schools, novitiates, and residences were shut do
wn. See Gonzalo Redondo, Historia de la Iglesia en Espaa (1931-1939) (Madrid: Ria
lp, 1993), vol. 1, pp. 164ff.
[189] Apuntes, no.328. "That statue of the Child Jesus," comments Bishop del Por
tillo, II gave our Father occasion for a lot of prayer and a lot of acts of love
for the most holy humanity of Jesus. He used to ask the nuns for it, especially
around Christmastime, and go around dancing with it and rocking it and caressin
g it."
[190] Apuntes, no.347. He goes on to say in this entry, "You make me feel that t
he Work of God will not have any special devotions or images such as the religio
us families usually have. (The Merciful Love devotion, as well as the teaching b
ehind it, is universal.)"
The Merciful Love devotion was one of the founder's personal devotions. From wri
tten accounts-both his own and those of witnesseswe know that he practiced it fr
om his first years in Madrid (see Apuntes, nos. 432 and 1380, and Alvaro del Por
tillo, Sum. 1268), and that, every day, he made a mental offering to the Mercifu
l Love right after the Consecration of his Mass (see Apuntes, no.217; Alvaro del

Portillo, Sum.337, 1118, and 1119; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2580; and Joaquin Al
onso, Sum. 4751). He also propagated this devotion, handing out or sending praye
r cards to people (see Apuntes, no.1029, and Jose Ramon Herrero Fontana, AGP, RH
F, T-O5834, p. 1).
The Merciful Love devotion is a complement to and development of the Sacred Hear
t devotion. It was begu,n in France, in connection with Saint Therese of Lisieux
and her path of spiritual childhood, by a Salesian religious, Marie Therese Oes
andais.
[191] Apuntes, no.570.
[192] Apuntes, no.435. On the following day (1 Oct 1931) he adds, "Spiritual chi
ldhood! Spiritual childhood is not spiritual silliness or weakness; it is a sens
ible and vigorous way which, due to its difficult easiness, the soul must begin
and continue led by the very hand of God" (Apuntes, no.438).
[193] Apuntes, no.574.
[194] Apuntes, no.435.
[195] Apuntes, no.435.
[196] Apuntes, no.437
[197] See Apuntes, no.454, note 382. He sent his confessor the original manuscri
pt, ofDecember 1931, along with a note saying, "I'm handing over to you these mi
meographed pages for the purpose of giving our friends a push along the path of
contemplation" (see AGP, RHF, 0--04668). And on 1 Jan 1932 he wrote, "Yesterday
I was with Father Sanchez. He returned to me, with notes written in the margins,
my sheets on the Holy Rosary" (Apuntes, no.529).
Very modestly, and with the intention of giving the copies away, he had the text
published in 1934 in Madrid, at Juan Bravo Press, with ecclesiastical approval,
as "Santo Rosario, by Jose Maria.//
The first edition after the civil war (Jose Maria Escriv, Santo Rosario, Graficas
Turia de Valencia) probably was published at the beginning of October 1939, sin
ce its ecclesiastical approval was obtained on October 2, 1939. This edition has
a foreword by the bishop of Vitoria and was printed as a booklet.
The first commercial edition (Josemara Escriv de Balaguer, Santo Rosario, Madrid:
Minerva, 1945), unlike the previous ones, came out in a book format, of small si
ze, and with beautiful illustrations. The author slightly amplified the text of
1934 in his commentary on some of the mysteries.
[198] Holy Rosary (Scepter, 1979), first joyful mystery.
His journal entry for August 15, 1931, seems to indicate that previously, at lea
st on occasion, he had used this method of contemplation: //Feast of the Assumpt
ion of Our Lady, 1931: Yesterday and today I pestered our Lady, maybe to the poi
nt of getting tiresome, asking her protection for the w. of G. I'm going to make
, starting this evening, a novena to our Mother, celebrating her assumption in b
ody and soul to heaven. I really rejoice, feeling like I'm there. ..with the Ble
ssed Trinity, with the angels receiving their Queen, with all the saints acclaim
ing their Mother and Lady// (Apuntes,no.228).
[199] Apuntes, no.226 (13 Aug 1931). Later entries referring to the //Lady of th
e Kisses// are Apuntes,nos. 239, 325,488,701, and 702
[200] Apuntes, no.484. Bishop del Portillo adds this commentary: //Our Father di
d not like to talk about events of a supernatural nature that had to do with jus
t him, personally. Nevertheless, he told me this story on more than one occasion
. In relating it, I must point but that the time when it took place was not one
in which mistakes could easily be made, because it was a sunny day and only thre
e in the afternoon. When the Father related to me what his defender had said to
him, he told me that he had heard 'burrito, burrito,' which was what our Father
used to call himself, but that no one had known this except for his confessor (F
ather Sanchez) and, of course, our Lord God. The Father attributed the attack to
the action of the devil, and the defense to his guardian angel// (Apuntes, no.4
84, note 397).
[201] Apuntes, no.485.
[202] The feast of the Holy Innocents in Spain is equivalent to April Fools' Day
in English-speaking countries, and the jokes are like what the French call "poi
ssons d'avril" and the Italians call "il pesce d'april" [both expressions mean "

April fish"].
[203] Apuntes, nos. 516,517, and 518.
[204] Apuntes, no.528. "Mother Carmen de San Jose (now deceased), who was sacris
tan at the time when Father Josemara was chaplain, said that the community had, a
nd has continued to have, a small Child Jesus which is brought to the church onl
y at Christmastime, for veneration, and that when they passed it to him via the
revolving window, they could hear him speaking to the Child very familiarly and
calling him sweet names as though the statue were a living child, and that somet
imes the Servant of God would ask them to let him bring this Child home with him
, so that he could do his prayer in its presence, and afterward would return it
to the community" (Cecilia G6mez Jimenez, Sum. 6511).
The sisters at Santa Isabel have recently issued holy cards with a picture of th
e statue on the front and this text on the back:

THE CHILD JESUS OF MONSIGNOR ESCRIV?

The Royal Convent of the Augustinian Recollect Sisters of Madrid-Atocha-Santa Is

abel, founded by Blessed Alonso de Orozco in 1589, has a rich history of art and
sanctity. Although very many of its treasures were destroyed by flames in the c
ivil conflict of 1936-1939, there remains a small image of the Child Jesus, carv
ed in wood, apparently dating from the 17th century, which in former times was e
xhibited, and still is exhibited, during the Christmas season for the veneration
of the faithful.
Monsignor Josemara Escriv;i de Balaguer, the founder of Opus Dei, was chaplain an
d senior rector of this monastery from 1931 to 1946. The contemplative nuns ther
e still keep very much alive the memory of that young priest so much in love wit
h the Eucharist and so much given to prayer. And they cherish in particular the
memory of the unusual affinity of I:'ather Escriv;i for this Christ Child, by me
ans of which they believe he received some very extraordinary graces. The priest
often took the already famous statue to his home, with the permission of the pr
ioress, and when he returned it he always seemed deeply moved and jubilant. At t
hat time he was consumed with mystical fervor. It was then that he wrote the boo
k The Way (under the title Spiritual Considerations), as well as his little trac
t Holy Rosary.
People come from the most distant countries to contemplate and venerate this lit
tle statue of the Christ Child of Monsignor Escriv;i at the convent of the Augus
tinian Recollect sisters.
[205] Apuntes, no.560.
[206] Apuntes, no.562 (14 Jan 1932). He continues:

I think I already read it once, but without giving it much importance, and witho
ut, apparently, its leaving any trace in my spirit. It was Mercedes who first ma
de me understand and admire and want to put into practice the synthesis of her a
dmirable life: to hide oneself and disappear. But this plan of life, which was f
or her the consequence, the savory fruit, of an intimate and profound humility,
is, when all is said and done, nothing other than the essence of spiritual child
hood. So, then, little Therese took me and led me, with Mercedes, through Mary,
my Mother and Lady, to the love of Jesus.

His approach as founder to this path of spirituality is expressed in his journal

entry for 2 Jan 1932: "When I say in these Catherines that our Lord wants the m
embers to know and live the life of spiritual childhood, it is not my intention
to 'homogenize' the souls of 'people of God.' On the contrary, ...what I see is
that (1) each and everyone of the members should know about the life of spiritua
l childhood, and (2) no member should ever be forced to follow this path, nor an
y other particular spiritual path" (Apuntes, no.535). As he will later write, he
is not imposing this path on his spiritual children, but he is recommending it
(see Letter 8 Dec 1949, no.41).
[207] Apuntes, no.543.
[208] "I was a little embarrassed," the entry continues, "because I only remembe

red the passage from chapter 21 of Saint Matthew, and so I thought that Jesus sa
t on a female donkey for his entry into Jerusalem. But now I open up the Gospels
(how poor I am in exegesis!) and read in chapter 11 of Saint Mark verses 2, 4,
5, and 7, and find there, 'Et ait illis: ite in castellum, quod contra vos est,
et statim introeuntes illuc, invenietis pullumligatum, ...Et duxerunt pullum ad
Iesum: et imponunt illi vestimenta sua, et sedit super eum.' [See also Lk 19:30,
35; and Jn 12:14-15.] R. Ch. v.
"Good child, tell Jesus many times each day, I love you, I love you, I love you.
"
["R. Ch. V." stands for "Regnare Christum volumus": "We want Christ to reign."]
Bishop del Portillo comments: "This was a taste of honey that the Lord gave to o
ur Father, and that filled him with joy and peace. As for the Father's remark ab
out 'how poor I am in exegesis: we might note that he always got the highest pos
sible grades in scriptural exegesis, of which he took four courses. What happene
d was that our Lord blinded him for a few moments so that he would have to make
himself good and sure about those Gospel passages, and thus not have to suffer a
ny more doubts about that locution: that was our Father's comment" (Apuntes, no.
543, note 451). See also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 3272; Julian Herranz, Sum. 4029
; Jose Luis MUzquiz, Sum. 5853; and Cesar Ortiz-Echagiie, Sum. 6902.
[209] Apuntes, no.421.
[210] Apuntes, no.606; see also The Way, no.933. Concerning this intellectual lo
cution from our Lord, Bishop del Portillo says that II our Father was very moved
by it" not because he was getting lax in his prayer life, but because "the Lord
was asking more from him and, with this locution, giving him light by which he
was catching on to 'many unexpected details"' (Apuntes, no.6061 note 496). See a
lso Javier Echevarria, Sum. 3272; Julian Herranz, PR, p. 982; Emesto Julia, Sum.
4245; Giovanni Udaondo, Sum. 5083; Cecilia G6mez Jimenez, Sum. 6517; and Maria
Isabel Laporte, Sum. 5189.
[211] Apuntes, no.653.
[212] Apuntes, no.430.
[213] Apuntes, no.582 (24 Jan 1932). This entry continues, "Father Norberto ofte
n tells me that I will lose this and will suffer. I don't believe it, Jesus. I c
an't see you taking away from me what you have so generously given me. But just
in case you do want to, from this moment on, forever, I tell you this: do it."
[214] Apuntes, no.690.
[215] Apuntes, no.618. The founder had organized his devotions by days of the we
ek: "Sunday I will dedicate to the Blessed Trinity; Monday, to my good friends t
he souls in purgatory; Tuesday, to my guardian angel and all other guardian ange
ls, and to all the angels of heaven without distinction; Wednesday, to my father
and lord Saint Joseph; Thursday, to the Blessed Eucharist; Friday, to the Passi
on of Jesus; Saturday, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, my Mother" (Apuntes, no.568 [
18 Jan 1932]).
The "Mercedes" to whom he refers is the previously mentioned religious ?f the Ap
ostolic Ladies of the Sacred Heart-Mercedes Reyna O'Farril-who died in 1929 with
a reputation for holiness. Father Josemara intended to write a biography of this
nun and spent some timecollecting documentation from her family. Amol1ghis lett
ers are a number to Doa Rosario Reyna de R:ibas, a si&ter of Mercedes. See C 2 (2
1 Jul 1929); see also C nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 13.
In a letteNo Rosario Reyna dated 28 Jan 1932, written in response to her request
for the return of Mercedes' letters, he asks for more time for the sake of his
biographical work, which, he says, has been delayed due to "the political circum
stances, first of all; then, the burning of convents, which forced me to change
residence, leaving the Foundation; and finally, the hard necessity of having to
make a living." Furthermore, he adds, "the fact that the present moment is not a
very good one for editorial ventures has also hindered my progress on the path
which I had traced out" (C 25, 28 Jan 1932). As is indicated in later letters, Fa
ther Josemara ended up having to return the documents without being able to work
on the biography of Mercedes Reyna: see C 27 (5 Feb 1932), C 29 (17 Apr 1932), a
nd C 37 (1 act 1932).
[216] Apuntes, no.563.

[217] See Apuntes, no.618.

[218] Apuntes, no.673.
[219] See Apuntes, no.556. The term he used was "grandisimo tioso."
[220] Apuntes, no.659 (13 Mar 1932).
[221] Apuntes, no.671 (23 Mar 1932).
[222] Apuntes, no.693.
[223] Apuntes, no.671.
[224] Apuntes, no.482.
[225] Apuntes, no.393.
7. The Gestation of the Work

1. Among the Sick ?a beautiful work?

2. King?s Hospital
3. The First Followers
4. A Retreat with Saint John of the Cross
5. The Saint Raphael Work
6. An Organized Disorganization

* * *

1. Among the sick: ?a beautiful work"

At the end of the sixteenth century there were in Madrid as many as fourteen sma
ll hospitals, scattered all over the city. It was a captain of the Flanders infa
ntry regiment, Bernardino de Obregn, later known as "the Apostle of Madrid," who
convinced King Philip II that he should merge them into one.[1] For this purpose
a hospital committee was created, and the planning of the new building was entr
usted to Juan de Herrera, the architect of El Escorial.* The site chosen was a p
lot of land near the property of the King's notorious secretary, Antonio Perez.
On the same plot stood the convent of Santa Isabel, as well as the Hospital de l
a Pasion, for women.
But the start of construction brought with it a filing of lawsuits. This was not
surprising. With the unlinking of the foundations, chapels, and churches that h
ad been dependent on the various hospitals, a multiplication of appeals to Churc
h authorities was only to be expected. Construction was held up for nearly a cen
tury and was not completed until the time of Carlos III.** The old Hospital of t
he Passion was demolished in 1831, and on that lot on Atocha Street was built th
e San Carlos School of Medicine.[2]
Whenever Father Josemara walked out of Santa Isabel, he found himself facing the
imposing walls of the General Hospital (also called the Provincial Hospital), in
one of whose wings was the clinic run by the School of Medicine. In the summer
of 1931, having not yet totally given up his involvement with the Foundation for
the Sick, the sight of that immense building made him think of the sick people
whom he was leaving. That thought was so disturbing to him that as soon as he sa
id his good-byes to the Apostolic Ladies, he felt a terrible emptiness in his so
ul. "It was at the Foundation for the Sick," he confesses, "that the Lord wanted
me to find my priestly heart."[3] Work in the hospitals, living with suffering,
the patients' tearful offering of sufferings and prayers-these were roots from
which the founder drew supernatural vitality at the beginning of the Work.
Time went by, and on October 28, 1931, he definitively took leave of the Santa E
ngracia Foundation for the Sick. And on that very day the Lord put an end to his
worries by bestowing upon him a huge number of sick people to care for. " Anoth
er favor from our Lord," he writes. "Yesterday I had to definitively leave the F
oundation, and therefore all those patients. But my Jesus does not want me to le
ave him. He reminded me that he is nailed to a hospital bed. ..."[4]
It was through Santa Isabel's sacristan, Antonio Diaz, that God gave continuity
to Father Josemara's works of mercy with the sick. Antonio mentioned to him the C
ongregation of St. Philip Neri. Popularly known as "Philippians;" these men tend
ed to the sick at the General Hospital.[5] Father Josemara looked them up, consul
ted with his confessor, and joyfully wrote in his journal, "Beginning next Sunda

y, I will start taking part in that beautiful work."[6] On November 8 he partici

pated for the first time in the religious 'exercises of the Congregation. Accord
ing to its constitutions, the number of brothers (all of whom were laymen) could
not be more than seventy, and one of them was to be elected "Eldest Brother." A
lthough at this time (1931) their number was down to only a little over a dozen,
they were still abiding by the old customs and formalities prescribed by the co
nstitutions. On Sunday afternoon at four o'clock sharp, the brothers would show
up, put on a black gown, and go to the Congregation's chapel, for prayer. Then,
after getting their assignments, they would go in pairs, or in groups of three o
r four, down the halls assigned to them, first picking up items from the supply
room: towels, washbowls, soap, bandages, scissors...[7]
The constitutions specified the manner in which the Philippians were to carry ou
t their services with the sick: "with great humility and respect, seeing in each
the living image of Christ." Also specified were the tasks of the brothers: "th
at they make the beds of the poor," "that they take special care of the very wea
k," "that they wash the feet, and cut the hair and nails, of the poor," "that wh
en necessary they clean the bedpans," etc.[8]
In the long hours he had been spending each day at the bedsides of the sick, uni
ted to their sufferings, witnessing their miseries, consoling them with his pres
ence, and erasing their spiritual miseries in the sacrament of Penance, Father J
osemara had come to see shining forth in them the lovable and suffering figure of
Christ: Christ merciful, Christ patiently enduring, Christ loaded down with the
weight and ugliness of sin, Christ bearing with us our sorrows and sufferings.
And as a priest, an "other Christ," he identified with the sick in sorrow and co
mpassion. His yearning to see and help Christ in the sick carried Father Josemara
's heart to the hospital. In his journal entry for March 11, 1932, one reads: "C
hildren and the sick: When I write these words-'Child,' 'Sick'-I am tempted to c
apitalize them, because, for a soul in love, they are Christ."[9]
The Congregation was shuffling along in a listless manner, due to the small numb
er of brothers, their lack of health care training, and the many obstacles that
were being put in the way of their spiritual work. Since the coming of the Repub
lic, the atmosphere in the wards had become hostile and even offensively so. The
rancors of the street, loaded with hatred, reached even that refuge for the suf
fering. As a companion of Father Josemara's describes it, "It was a very hard and
very thankless job. Anti-Catholic sentiment was everywhere, and many of the pat
ients insulted us. Here we were, fixing up their hair, shaving them, trimming th
eir nails, bathing them, cleaning the spittoons. ...It was horribly disgusting.
We went there on Sundays, in the afternoon, and left nauseated."[10]
Due to lack of space, sick people were crowded into the wards and the corridors
were strewn with thin mattresses.[11] The Philippians passed through like a merc
iful caress, relieving the discouragement or despair of the patients. One of the
old brothers remembers "the spiritual wake" that Father Josemara left as he pass
ed, "lifting the spirits of the sick and the dying."[12]
Among the brothers of the Congregation who helped out at the hospital in 1931 an
d 1932 were Luis Gordon, Jenaro Lazaro, and Antonio Medialdea. Luis was a young,
financially well-off industrial engineer who ran a factory in Cienpozuelos, nea
r Madrid. Jenaro was a professional sculptor, about thirty years old. Antonio wa
s a salesclerk.[13] There were also some older brothers, such as the little old
man who headed the group that Father Josemara went with one Sunday. The priest wa
s surprised to hear the old man, upon finishing his work in one of the wards, in
nocently say good-bye with this "pious barbarity?: "My brothers, may God give yo
u health of body...??followed by a long pause, and then, all in one breath?" and
of soul, if need be."[14]
In that "beautiful work," in contact with suffering, Father Josemara matured and
was enriched. After the first Sunday he spent with the Philippians, he summed up
his impression of them in these few words: "I was very edified." Three Sundays
later, when he happened to have as companion that funny old man, he said the sam
e thing: "And I was edified." [15] The physical help they could give to those ma
ny sick persons, with grooming or with personal hygiene, was certainly very litt
le. Quite considerable, on the other hand, was the good they did to souls, somet

imes with just a simple charitable gesture or a few words of Christian consolati
on.
One moving example was that of a Gypsy who, after generously forgiving his enemi
es, was disposed to reconcile himself with Christ, because "there had gone to hi
s heart something he had heard a St. Philip brother say while helping out some o
ther patients."[16] On a Sunday in February 1932, one of the brothers went to le
t Father Josemara know that there was a dying man who did not want to receive the
sacraments. The priest tells us:

It was a Gypsy who had been stabbed repeatedly in a fight. Right away he agreed
to make his confession. He did not want to let go of my hand, and, not being abl
e to do this himself, he asked me to put it up to his mouth so that he could kis
s it. He was in a pitiful condition-excretions were oozing out of his mouth. It
was really painful to see him. In a loud voice he swore that he would do no more
thieving. He asked me for a crucifix. I didn't have one, so I gave him a rosary
. I wrapped it around his wrist and he kissed it, saying words of profound sorro
w for having offended our Lord.[17]

After tending to him, the chaplain left to give Benediction. On the following Tu
esday he heard that the man had died. In his journal he wrote:

A young man, a St. Philip brother, came to tell me that the Gypsy had died in a
most edifying way, saying, among other things, as he kissed the crucifix of the
rosary, "My lips are putrid, not worthy of kissing you." And he called out for h
is daughters to look at him and to know that their father was good. That, no dou
bt, was why he had said to me, "Put the rosary on me, so it can be seen, so it c
an be seen." Jesus, I've already offered that soul to you, but now I do it again
. Right now I'm going to pray for him the prayer for the dead.[18]

Father Josemara brought with him on these Sunday visits to the hospital some of t
he young men to whom he was giving spiritual direction, including Jose Romeo and
Adolfo G6mez Ruiz, and also some of their friends and associates, such as Adolf
o's brother Pedro and a law student named Jose Manuel Domenech.[19] At about six
-thirty in the evening they would finish their rounds in the wards and, priest i
ncluded, go for a walk in downtown Madrid. Those young men were not people used
to hospital work. They would leave with upset stomachs, with foul odors clinging
to their clothes, and with vivid memories of repulsive sights-pus, ulcers, all
kinds of disgusting things. Scarcely had they set foot on the street when more t
han one of them would throw up. There was a lot of merit in their overcoming of
that natural repugnance, because their homes, in contrast, were very clean and c
omfortable. Luis Gordon even went to the hospital in a car of his own.
Luis had probably read what is said in the Philippians' constitutions, that the
purpose of the Congregation is to practice the virtues "in a way that leads to t
he consolation and the spiritual and physical well-being of the poor; not omitti
ng anything, no matter how lowly or repugnant; volunteering, when necessary, to
clean the bedpans, sweep and scrub between the beds, and do whatever other thing
s good care requires."[20] One Sunday it was his turn to accompany Father Josema
ra as his assistant. While the priest was tending to a patient with tuberculosis,
he asked Luis to clean the bedpan. When he saw that it was full of bloody spit,
a grimace of revulsion escaped Luis, but he got control of himself and, without
saying a word, took it to a bathroom at the back of the ward. As soon as he cou
ld, Father Josemara went to help him, and found him hard at work. He had put the
bedpan in the sink and filled it with water, and, with his sleeves rolled up to
the elbows, was cleaning it with his hands while saying under his breath, with a
look of contentment, "Jesus, may I put on a happy face!"[21]
The political changes broke the rhythm of the activities carried on by the broth
ers at the General Hospital. After the summer of 1932 there was a gap in their c
haritable exercises. Undoubtedly the official regulations regarding services tha
t members of religious orders could carry out in the public hospitals were appli
ed also to the Philippians. The government tried to replace the Daughters of Cha

rity with professional, lay nurses and other lay personnel. It blatantly attempt
ed to do away with the charitable activities of Catholic associations, such as t
he Congregation of St. Philip Neri. And it suspended the work of all hospital ch
aplains.[22]
The visits of the Philippians came to a halt in 1933, but later they started up
again, and Father Josemara, who in April of 1932 had joined the Philippians, aske
d its governing board to reactivate his membership. "This Council of Elders," he
was notified, "has agreed in a meeting held today, June 10, by absolutely unani
mous vote, to consider you a brother of our beloved congregation in accord with
your good wishes. Madrid, June 10, 1934. The Brother Secretary, Tomas Minguez."[
23]
The most likely explanation is that Father Josemara, in order to help the sick, w
anted to avail himself of the rights that the Congregation had enjoyed from time
immemorial. By all indications, once the hospitals no longer had chaplains (the
se positions having been suppressed by the government), he sought the shelter of
an appointment, even if only a practically worthless scrap of paper, in order t
o be able to assist the patients at the General Hospital.[24]

2. King's Hospital

By virtue of the new, republican Constitution, churches and religious associatio

ns and institutes were henceforth to be deprived of economic help from the natio
nal and local governments. Worse still, it was planned that there be a "total ab
olition, within two years, of the budget for the clergy."[25] The idea was to fi
nish off the Church, if not by armed violence, by a starving off of its minister
s.
One of the clerics affected by those measures was Father Jose Maria Somoano. Ord
ained in 1927 by the bishop of Madrid, this young priest in 1931 held the positi
on of chaplain at King's Hospital [Hospital del Rey].[26] This hospital was in t
he far northern reaches of Madrid, about four miles from downtown, out in the co
untry and effectively isolated. Its actual name, Hospital Nacional de Enfermedad
es Infecciosas [National Hospital for Infectious Diseases] explains its isolatio
n. It had been inaugurated in 1925. (The name King's Hospital came, of course, f
rom the previous regime.)[27] In it were treated epidemic and other contagious d
iseases, including the dreaded tuberculosis, at that time the sickness that fill
ed the most beds and resulted in the most deaths.
On January 2, 1932, the portress of Santa Isabel, at the express request of the
chaplain, offered prayer and mortification for the good outcome of a matter he h
ad in hand. He, meanwhile, accompanied by Father Lino, another young priest, wen
t to King's Hospital to speak with its chaplain, Father Somoano, who turned out
to be very eager to hear about the Work. "Her prayer and penance was not in vain
," he would write in his journal two days later, "for this friend now belongs to
the Work."[28] (It was at this time that Father Josemara, as we shall soon see,
was getting his first priest followers.) In the eyes of the founder this priest
was an excellent acquisition, a first-rate vocation, a real treasure for his apo
stolic work-in short, a lever for moving the heavens. In his journal he wrote: "
With Jose Maria Somoano we have obtained, as they say around here, a wonderful '
connection,' because our brother knows, admirably, how to channel the suffering
of the patients in his hospital so that the heart of our Jesus, moved by such be
autiful expiation, will accelerate the hour of his Work."[29]
So highly did Father Josemara value this kind of prayer, the prayer of suffering,
for the development of the Work that he considered this great contribution to b
e more than adequate grounds for admitting a soul to the Work. "Yesterday," he s
ays, "Father Lino told us about a sick woman at King's Hospital, a soul, very pl
easing to God, who could be the first vocation of expiation. By unanimous common
consent, Lino will tell her our secret. She may die before beginning officially
-most likely she will, because she's in very bad shape-but then her sufferings w
ill be worth all the more."[30]
The founder felt interiorly moved by the Lord to work among the sick, and thus t
o lay the foundation of expiatory pain needed to support the Work. When, on Marc

h 7, 1932, Father Lino proposed to him that he accept "the chaplaincy of the hos
pital for incurables, which is near King's Hospital," he would have done so had
it not been for the opposition of Doa Dolores.[31]

* * *

On January 29, 1925, soon after the first pavilion of King's Hospital was comple
ted, its first patients were admitted: two persons suffering from tuberculosis.
Before that, and three months before the hospital's chief of staff showed up, th
e Daughters of Charity had already moved in. At the head of these religious nurs
es was Sister Engracia Echevarria: she worked at the hospital without interrupti
on unti11936. Other members of the community included Sister Isabel Martin, who
worked as a nurse, ran the pharmacy, and was sacristan of the chapel, and Sister
Maria Jesus Sanz, who was in charge of the kitchen and the supply room. It was
those three religious who really got to know and work with Father Josemara, and i
n particular the superior, Sister Engracia, who, fortunately, has left a good am
ount of testimony about that period of upheaval. With the assurance appropriate
to her age of ninety-nine, Sister Engracia makes a strong statement: "I preserve
with full lucidity my memories of that period, not only with regard to dates, b
ut with regard to the hue and caliber of the people and events that traversed it
."[32] She was, no doubt about it, a born leader and a woman of great perspicaci
ty. She immediately realized that the young priest who began showing up at the h
ospital in the early months of 1932 was Father Somoano's spiritual director. Nor
did she fail to notice that his visits, besides being works of mercy, were moti
vated also by apostolic zeal. And so, on more than one occasion, she sent him pe
ople she thought he might be interested in working with.[33]
At first Father Josemara visited the hospital sporadically, but soon he was comin
g regularly. Within a few weeks he came to realize the refinement of soul of Fat
her Somoano, for whom "just the thought that there were priests who went up to t
he altar without the proper dispositions was enough to make him shed tears of lo
ve and reparation."[34] So many were the profanations, assaults, and sacrileges
perpetrated by the revolutionary masses in the spring of 1931 that Father Somoan
o was moved to offer his life for the Church in Spain. One of the sisters heard
him make that offering in the chapel?he did not know she was there.[35] Father J
osemara, who knew nothing of this, was surprised to hear Father Somoano say, on s
everal occasions, things like "I am going to die soon; you will see."[36] Somewh
at intrigued, he wanted to ask him in private why he was saying such things, but
for one reason or another the right occasion for this never presented itself.
Father Somoano died on the night of Saturday, July 16, 1932, after two days of a
gony. He had been poisoned. On Monday he was buried. Father Josemara, who had pla
ced such high hopes in this vocation, offered it up to the Lord. Father Somoano
had died a martyr, poisoned out of hatred for the priesthood. Upon his return fr
om the burial, Father Josemara wrote in his journal:

July 18, 1932: The Lord has taken one of us: Jose Maria Somoano, an admirable pr
iest. He died, as a victim of charity, at King's Hospital (where he had been cha
plain to the end, despite all the laicist fury), on the night of the feast of Ou
r Lady of Mount Carmel, to whom he was very devoted. He was wearing her holy sca
pular, and since this feast fell on a Saturday, it is certain that he entered th
e joy of God that same night.* A beautiful soul. ...His life of zeal had won him
the affection of everyone who associated with him. He was buried this morning.
...Today, willingly, I gave to Jesus that member. He is with him and will be a g
reat help. I had put so much hope in his upright and energetic character. God wa
nted him for himself: blessed is God.[37]

Father Josemara felt impelled to fill the void left by the death of the chaplain.
"We were left without a chaplain; says Sister Engracia, "and in those circumsta
nces, Father Josemara Escriv de Balaguer, who was then a young priest scarcely thi
rty years old, came to me and said I should not worry about the fact that we no
longer had an official chaplain. Night or day, at no matter what hour, on my own

initiative, I should call him, depending on how gravely ill the person was who
was asking for the last sacraments."[38] The chaplain of Santa Isabel had to mak
e room in his schedule, which was already overcrowded. He crossed the whole of M
adrid, from south to north, from Atocha to Fuencarral, and came cross-country to
the hospital. He showed up there every Tuesday to hear patients' confessions. B
ut as the number of penitents increased and the visits became more prolonged, he
found it necessary to hear confessions on Saturdays also.[39]
The patients waited for the young priest with real eagerness, hoping for a word
of encouragement, a gesture, a simple smile that would light them up inside. "Wh
en he came to hear confessions and to help our patients with his assurances and
words of advice," says Sister Maria Jesus, "I saw them waiting for him with joy
and hope. And I saw them accept pain and death with a fervor and a self-giving t
hat enkindled devotion in those around them."[40] "The patients who died in the
hospital had no fear of death," says Sister Isabel. "They looked it in the eye a
nd even accepted it with joy." This nun recalls the case of a young lady whose s
ole consolation had been to look again and again at the photo of her fianc that s
he kept on her nightstand. Father Josemara spoke to her and filled her with such
consolation that she ceased to be preoccupied with the relief that the picture g
ave her and " died in a very holy way."[41]
On almost every Sunday and holy day he celebrated Mass for the whole hospital an
d gave the homily. If the weather was good, he said Mass in the garden, out in t
he open, although the political situation was not favorable to public celebratio
ns of the liturgy. The young priest was not intimidated by the dangers. "When I
knew him," says the superior, Sister Engracia, on this point, "he was young but
already very prudent, very serious, and very courageous."[42] Both his demeanor
and his attire bore witness to his state in life. He always wore a cassock. Neve
rtheless, how constantly threatening the atmosphere was to the priest can be gle
aned from the way that Father Somoano died and from these clear and pithy words
of Sister Engracia: "Our hospital was then some distance from the city. There wa
s opposition to the clergy on the part of most of the people who worked there. A
nd Father Josemara always had a serene but energetic attitude. One could see, eve
n back then, that he would make a great leader. He was a man who could very calm
ly deal with any thing."[43]
To go to King's Hospital in religious or priestly attire, through open country,
was to expose oneself to insults and stonings. "We often had stones thrown at us
," Sister Maria Jesus says in passing.[44] Father Josemara was treated with no gr
eater affection. And then, once inside the hospital the priest was exposed to wh
atever contagious diseases the patients might have. To hear confessions in those
communal wards, it was necessary to put one's ear close to the pillow, sufferin
g the loud death rattle of the dying, and the spitting and coughing of the tuber
culosis patients.
The story of the Garcia Escobar sisters illustrates what tuberculosis meant in t
hat era. In Hornachuelos, in the province of Cordoba, there was a family with th
ree daughters: Braulia, Benilde, and Maria Ignacia. When Braulia was studying at
the teachers' college in Cordoba, she caught tuberculosis from another girl who
lived in the dorm. The family immediately tried to have her admitted to King's
Hospital. Some time passed, and during the wait for a free bed, Maria Ignacia ca
ught the disease from her sister. Because of the seriousness of her condition, s
he took, in 1930, the place reserved for Braulia. But by that time her illness w
as already incurable. Slowly and inexorably, disease and suffering consumed her
body.[45]
Maria Ignacia was the patient Father Josemara had characterized as " a soul, very
pleasing to God, who could be the first vocation of expiation." In the spring o
f 1932 she was admitted to the Work, because Father Josemara knew that she was of
fering up her sufferings to the Lord to accelerate the spiritual maturing of the
apostolic enterprise in which Father Somoano was working. Soon her sisters lear
ned that she belonged to Opus Dei. After a few months, since her end was quickly
approaching, they moved to Madrid to be with her. On several occasions they wer
e surprised by a visit of Father Josemara to the wards. "What caught my attention
," says Benilde, "was the joy and serenity of all those women, mothers of famili

es, poor, separated from their children because of the contagiousness of the dis
ease. As soon as they saw Father Josemara come in, they were filled with a profou
nd happiness."[46]
The founder tenderly nurtured that priceless vocation, encouraging her in her wo
rk of expiation and, with her, offering to the Lord the cruel pains she was suff
ering. On the days when the priest visited her, she could not contain her joy. T
he happiness of Maria Ignacia, says her sister Braulia, was then written all ove
r her face, and she could hardly wait to give her the good news: "Father Josemara
has been here. I am very happy."[47]
She had spent one year in the Work, remaining faithful to her vocation, when the
final phase of her Calvary began. "I stayed with her day and night," says Braul
ia. "She was in terrible pain, hurting from head to foot. Her last vertebra had
become deformed and was sticking out something awful. She had wasted away, and h
ad even gotten much shorter. Clarita, the nurse, could pick her up without anyon
e helping her."[48]
In May began a most intense expiatory holocaust, and a few days later, as he rel
ates in his journal, Father Josemara gave her viaticum.

Feast of Saint Isidore, May 15, 1933: Yesterday I administered holy viaticum to
my daughter Maria Garcia. Hers is a vocation of expiation. ill with tuberculosis
, she was admitted to the Work, with the blessing of the Lord. A beautiful soul.
She made a general confession to me before receiving Communion. I was accompani
ed to the national hospital (King's Hospital) by Juanito J. Vargas. That sister
of ours loves the will of God. She sees in that long, painful, compounded illnes
s (she has not a healthy bone in her body) the blessing and favor of Jesus, and,
while affirming in her humility that she deserves punishment, she sees the terr
ible pain she is feeling in her whole system, especially on account of the abdom
inal adhesions, as not a punishment but a mercy.[49]

Four months she spent at death's door. Afterward came this obituary note from th
e founder, communicating the death of Maria Ignacia to his followers in the Work
:

On September 13, the vigil of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the
re fell asleep in the Lord this first sister of ours, of our house in heaven. ..
.Prayer and suffers were the wheels of the chariot of triumph of this daughter o
f ours. We have not lost her; we have gainedher. The realization that she has go
ne home should immediately turn our natural sorrow into supernatural joy, becaus
e now we are sure of an even mightier intercessor in heaven.[50]

Another sick woman, known to us only by her first name, Antonia, took the place
of Maria Ignacia as "expiatory soul."[51] As for Father Josemara, how many thousa
nds of hours he spent at the bedsides of the dying, and how many patients he ten
ded in the crowded wards of the hospitals! He did so much tending of the dying t
hat he even became skilled and expert in the pious art of enshrouding corpses.[5
2] But because he was, as Sister Isabel puts it, "not one to flaunt himself or h
is labors," it is hard to know how many hospitals he visited. One of the few sou
rces of information on this point is the testimony of Archbishop Pedro Cantero,
who, as a student in Madrid, occasionally accompanied Father Josemara. He says, "
He went to several hospitals: Hospital General, Hospital del Nio Jesus, Hospital
de la Princesa, Hospital del Rey."[53] A journal entry mentions Hospital de la P
rincesa, but only by chance, in incidental fashion, simply because Father Josema
ra happened to be interrupted one day when writing in his journal. Once the inter
ruption was over and he was back from the hospital, he took up his pen again to
relate what had happened.
"I had to break this off," he says, "because there came in first a priest, and t
hen two young ladies, who gave me the name of a seriously ill young man at Hospi
tal de la Princesa. The father of the young man-farm workers from Extremadura, t
he two of them were-did not want me to hear the confession of his son, who' one
time, as a child, went to confession and Communion,' because he didn't want him

to be frightened. I went to the hospital. Thanks be to God, he made his confessi

on. What ignorance! Homines et iumenta salvabis, Domine! [Men and beasts you wil
l save, Lord!]"[54]
(What a reputation as a confessor to the dying he must have had if in an urgent
situation first a priest and then two young ladies came to summon him! Also stri
king is the promptness with which he went and took care of the matter.)
Hospital de la Princesa, where (on May 8, 1933) this confession took place, was
about three hundred yards from the Cicuendez Academy-up San Bernardo Street, whe
re it crosses Alberto Aguilera. This facility was a charity hospital, affiliated
with the School of Medicine. The wards each had two hundred or more beds, which
so filled up the space that there was no room even for nightstands. In December
1933 a young doctor named Tomas Canales Maeso was working at this hospital. He
was an assistant to Dr. Blanc Fortacin, the same doctor who in 1927, soon after
Father Josemara's arrival in Madrid, had signed his vaccination certificate. One
day Tomas found his boss speaking with a priest, whom he introduced as "a great
priest, a relative of mine from my neck of the woods, from Barbastro, who is not
a guerrilla."[55] ("Guerrilla" was what a priest who got involved in politics w
as called.) After that first meeting, Tomas came across him in the wards quite f
requently. "I saw him at various hours of the morning," he says, "so I figure he
must have stayed there for three or four hours at a time." Perhaps he took adva
ntage of the hospital's proximity to the Academy and made some visits from there
. In any case, he had his favorite wards-he spent the most time in the ones for
contagious diseases. Repeatedly warned of the risks he was taking, he would inva
riably reply, calmly and with a smile, that he was "immunized against all diseas
es."[56]
In its service of the sick lay the solidity and hidden energy of the nascent Opu
s Dei. Looking back on the past, shortly before finishing his race in this world
, the founder acknowledged this. "Those were intense years," he said, "in which
Opus Dei was growing on the inside without us noticing it. ...The human strength
of the Work was the patients in the hospitals of Madrid, the most miserable one
s; the sick who were living in their homes, having lost even the last human hope
; the most ignorant in those poorest neighborhoods."[57]
Truly, his soul was strengthened in the school of suffering, in those long agoni
es, in fortitude in the face of pain. How many considerations and inspiring anec
dotes come from his visits to the sick, and how many heroic acts will forever re
main hidden! His journal entry for January 14,1932, is like a triumphal ode to p
ain: "Blessed be pain. Loved be pain. Sanctified be pain, ...pain will be glorif
ied!"[58]
During a catechetical trip in 1974 through South America, he told the story behi
nd that entry:

There was this poor woman, a prostitute who had belonged to one of the most aris
tocratic families of Spain. When I met her, she was already decomposing-decompos
ing in body but being healed in soul, in a hospital for incurables. She had been
a "camp follower" as they say, the poor thing. She had a husband, she had child
ren; she had abandoned everything, driven crazy by passion. But then that creatu
re knew how to love. She reminded me of Mary Magdalene: she knew how to love.[59
]

With her body ravaged by pain and her soul purified by repentance, she entered h
er last agony. The priest administered the last spiritual aids, and at the thres
hold of death he whispered in her ear that litany of pain. Her voice breaking, s
he repeated the phrases aloud. "She died shortly after that, and is now in heave
n, and has helped us a lot," said the founder.[60]
Thanks to so much prayer, mingled sometimes with blood and other times with tear
s, the Work was growing.

3. The first followers

Maria Ignacia Garcia left behind a "little sketch" of the virtues of Father Jose
Maria Somoano, in which she says that he told he4 "Maria, you must pray hard fo
r an intention which will benefit everyone. ...Pray tirelessly, because the obje
ctive of the intention I'm talking about is very beautiful." And, she says, he w
ent around the wards that way, "encouraging all the patients to offer prayers, a
nd whatever sufferings they had, for that intention."[61]
Since he was very much loved, those petitions got a wonderful response. Maria Ig
nacia tells of a woman to whom the doctors, in desperation, applied a last-resor
t procedure-an excruciatingly painful throat operation carried out without any a
nesthetic. They cut into her neck with a large, triple-edged instrument, and as
soon as she felt the piercing pain, she started repeating within herself, "My Go
d! For Father Jose Maria's intention!" [62] During painful operations, continues
Maria Ignacia, patients ?always remembered that intention."
At the beginning of 1932 Maria Ignacia was suffering high fevers and was in cons
tant pain, but still did not know what intention it was that Father Somoano was
so eagerly asking them to pray for, since she was not yet a member of the Work.
It occurred to her to say to him, "Father Jose Maria, I think your intention mus
t be a very worthwhile one, because ever since you started asking me to pray and
offer things up for it, Jesus has been treating me really splendidly. At night,
when the pains don't allow me to sleep, I entertain myself by commending your i
ntention to our Lord over and over again."[63]
Later, when the patient was a member of the Work, the chaplain explained to her
that to construct Opus Dei well, it would be necessary to lay solid foundations
of sanctity. "We're not looking for numbers,...never that!" the chaplain said to
her. "Holy souls...souls in intimate union with Jesus...souls burning with the
fire of divine love...great souls! Do you understand me?"
In the patient's manuscript these other words of the chaplain on the same subjec
t immediately follow those just quoted: "No, no: it must be well grounded. This
requires that we make sure the foundations are blocks of granite. ...Foundations
first; the rest will come later."[64] What was needed was primarily souls aspir
ing to sanctity, and secondarily a certain number to start the apostolates; that
is to say, quality and at least a minimum quantity of vocations.
A journal entry from February 1932 shows Father Josemara's sense of urgency and t
he headway his desire was making. ?Jesus," he says, "I see that your Work can be
gin soon."[65] This holy impatience was a drive transmitted by the founder to hi
s followers: to Father Somoano and to Maria Ignacia Garcia; to those far away, a
nd to those living in Madrid; to these latter by spoken word, and to the others
by letter. "The Work of God ? God is asking for it, loud and clear. But he wants
us, too, to keep asking for it, by our behavior..., so as not to be obstacles.
The hour, although we don't see it, is undoubtedly near."[66]
That tone of urgency is echoed not only in Maria Ignacia's "little sketch," but
also in letters from Isidoro Zorzano. At Christmas of 1931, writing from Mtilaga
to his "good friends" in Madrid, he asks that they fortify themselves interiorl
y for "when God needs us," and closes with these words: "I hope from him that th
is Christmas season will profit us and that in this coming year he will let us g
et into the ring, because that will be a sign that we are complete in quality an
d quantity."[67] (Spontaneously, without anyone having asked his opinion on the
matter, Isidoro writes in March 1932, from Mtilaga: "I think our signal from God
to begin our mission will be when we reach a dozen."[68])

* * *

Taking a bird's eye view from above the vicissitudes of those years, the founder
would later describe the great variety of his first followers. " Almost everyon
e was represented," he said. "There were students, workmen, small businessmen, a
rtists. ...I didn't know back then that almost none of them would persevere, but
the Lord knew that my poor, weak, cowardly heart needed that company and that s
upport."[69]
More than tried vocations, it was a matter of persons, mostly young men, who had
come to the priest for spiritual direction. But the Lord continued to play with

him as one plays with a child. A careful reading of the journal entries shows i
n what that playing consisted. It shows a continuous traffic of souls, many of w
hom quickly became enthusiastic and then just as quickly lost interest.
The first group that gathered around him consisted of Pepe Romeo, Father Norbert
o Rodriguez, and Isidoro Zorzano. Actually, this group was a continuation of tho
se "disciples" who used to appear with him at the Sotanillo. Pepe belonged to th
e family to whose house he had brought the Blessed Sacrament from Santa Isabel w
hen churches were being burned in Madrid. Father Norberto, the assistant chaplai
n of the Foundation for the Sick, joined the Work on his own initiative, without
waiting for an invitation. The founder tells the story this way: "With a certai
n trepidation, I told him the secret one night. I expected him to say, 'You're i
magining things; you're crazy.' But what actually happened was that, when I fini
shed reading to him my oId notes, he caught that divine craziness and said to me
, in the most natural tone of voice, 'The first thing that has to be done is the
work with men.'"[70]
As for Isidoro, his classmate in Logroo, he had kept up a friendly correspondence
with him and occasionally run into him on the street before the summer of 1930,
but now they had a new and providential encounter, which he relates in his jour
nal entry for August 25, 1930:

Yesterday, the feast of Saint Bartholomew, I was at the Romeos' house and I felt
restless-for no apparent reason-and left earlier than expected; normally I woul
d have waited for Don Manuel and Colo to get home. Just before arriving at the F
oundation, I ran into Zorzano, on Nicasio Gallego Street. When told that I was n
ot at home, he had left Casa Apost6lica with the intention of going to Puerta de
l Sol, but a certainty of running into me--that's what he told me--made him turn
onto Nicasio Gallego.[71]

Isidoro was working as an engineer in Andalusia, but had been moved by a spiritu
al restlessness to come to Madrid. From the first words he spoke, Father Josemara
knew this was a soul sent him by the Lord on a silver platter. So he made an ap
pointment with him to meet that evening at the Foundation for the Sick, with the
intention of speaking to him about the Work. "In the evening," the entry contin
ues, "Isidoro came over. We spoke. He is very happy. He sees, as I do, the hand
of God. 'Now I know,' he said, 'why I've come to Madrid.' "
Some months passed after that meeting with Isidoro. In April 1931, just before t
he Republic was proclaimed, Father Josemara wrote with exultant optimism: "Our me
n and women of God, in the apostolate of action, will have as their motto 'God a
nd daring!'"[72] And in his next entry he enumerated the human resources on hand
for his enterprise: "Aprils, 1931: Yesterday-Easter Sunday-Father Norberto, Isi
doro, Pepe, and I said the prayers of the Work of God."[73]
That was all: a young student, an engineer, an older and ailing priest, and, at
the head, Father Josemara. "Our men and women of God," those dreamed-of vocations
, were long in coming. But the Lord was making it easier for Father Josemara to m
eet young people who would understand the Work. By a kind of supernatural instin
ct, he observed in his proselytizing a series of curious coincidences between th
e arrivals of vocations and the feasts of apostles. In his journal entry for May
8, 1931, he writes:

For the history of the Work of God, it is very interesting to note these coincid
ences. On August 24, the feast of Saint Bartholomew, came the vocation of Isidor
o. On April 25, the feast of Saint Mark, I spoke with another. ...On the feast o
f Saints Philip and James [May 1], I had occasion- without looking for it-to spe
ak with two others. With one of them I had a long interview, and he wants to joi
n the Work.[74]

This was no mere hunch, for three days earlier, when he had to change the date o
f an interview with another young man, it occurred to him to think, "The Lord is
setting this up for tomorrow-is it going to be the feast of an apostle?" And so
"I went to the sacristy and looked at the calendar. ...Saint John before the La

tin Gate! I had no doubt about the vocation of Adolfo."[75] When he wrote those
lines, what he had already seen confirmed the validity of those " coincidences,"
for he adds, " And so it was. He is already a member. May God bless him!"
From then on he habitually expected presents to rain down from heaven on apostle
s' feasts. In 1933, on the feast of Saints Philip and James, he wrote: "I asked
myself yesterday evening, more than once, What present will the holy apostles ha
ve for the Work tomorrow?"[76]
From early on, he also noticed a couple of other odd "coincidences": that the vo
cations all came suddenly, and that they were accepted without hesitation.

So far, a curious fact, all vocations to the W. of G. have been sudden. Like tho
se of the apostles: meet Christ and follow his calling. Even the first one did n
ot hesitate. He came with me, behind Jesus, with no set itinerary.... On the fea
st of Saint Bartholomew, Isidoro; Saint Philip, Pepe M. A.; Saint John, Adolfo;
later, Sebasticin Cirac; in that same way, all of them. Not one hesitated; meeti
ng Christ and following him was all one thing. May they persevere, Jesus, and ma
y you send more apostles to your Work.[77]

If in the first tally of his followers he noted chronological coincidences, and

in the second that they had responded to their vocations without resistance or d
elay, two years later, in 1933, he noted that his stay and ministry at the Santa
Isabel Foundation had not been a chance event with respect to the history of th
e Work. Was it not obvious that a whole chain of vocations was linked with his a
postolate there? "Carmen, Herm6genes, Modesta... Gordon, Saturnino, Antonio, Jen
aro. ..."[78] The first three of these were women who frequently went to confess
ion to the chaplain of Santa Isabel and who ended up dedicating themselves to th
e Work. Father Saturnino de Dios was a friend of Father Josemara's who belonged t
o the Congregation of St. Philip Neri.
Some idea of Father Josemara's zeal for recruiting souls can be gleaned from this
paragraph of a letter to Isidoro, dated May 5, 1931:

On the feast of Saint Mark I spoke with one. ...On the feast of Saints Philip an
d James, with two. ...Tomorrow, the feast of the apostle Saint John before the L
atin Gate, I'll be speaking with another. A painter, a dentist, a fledgling doct
or, a fledgling lawyer. ...Also, Doral, the young man at the Institute, sent me
a most beautiful letter.[79]

There was certainly no shortage of feasts of apostles in the liturgical calendar

. So what happened to that harvest of vocations?
Frequent though the feasts were, the total number of vocations did not at that t
ime increase. It would grow, and then, as some abandoned the enterprise, be redu
ced like the troops of Gideon. Some turned out not to have the necessary spiritu
al mettle and others were derailed by distractions. Among those who left was tha
t Adolfo whom Father Josemara had interviewed on the feast of Saint John before t
he Latin Gate.
On October 31,1933, in the course of clarifying Adolfo's situation with respect
to the Work, the founder made a quick and summary inventory of forces:

Seeing that he does not have a vocation, he has ceased to belong to the W.
Between the dead and...the dead, there are now... seven, Lord![80]

Counting Adolfo, there were four who had recently decided to stop following him.
The founder suffered on account of this, though of course he realized that pers
everance in the Work would require not just certain personal qualities and good
will, but also a divine calling.
But what about the other three losses, those members of the Work who had died wi
thin the past few months? They had been very select souls, with a crystal-clear
vocation. First God took Father Somoano, and most recently Maria Ignacia Garcia,
who had more than fulfilled her role of expiatory soul. (Indeed, when the pries
t did his spiritual accounting, the loss of Maria Ignacia got moved, as we have

seen, to the credit column. "We have not lost her; we have gained her," he says
in the obituary notice he wrote for her.[81])
Who could have foreseen that Luis Gordon would die in the same year in which he
requested admission to the Work? Young, healthy, with a brilliant career and an
enviable social position, he had everything needed to help provide the material
and apostolic foundations that Father Josemara was looking for. Our Lord took him
without there having been any sign suggesting an early death. The obituary noti
ce the founder wrote on November 5, 1932, the day of Luis's death, sets out a lo
ng list of virtues: " A good model: obedient, most discreet, charitable to the p
oint of extravagance, humble, mortified, and penitent..., a man of the Eucharist
and of prayer, most devoted to the Blessed Virgin and to Saint Therese..., a fa
ther to the workers in his factory. They cried when they heard of his death."[82
]
Meditating on the first two deaths-those of Father Somoano and Luis Gordon, in 1
932, when he was most in need of helping hands in the apostolic work, and of mat
ure souls- Father Josemara thought about his own life history, and in light of th
ose memories he ended his obituary notice with these words:

Let us love the cross, the holy cross which is falling on the Work of God. Our g
reat King Jesus Christ chose to take away the two best-prepared ones so that we
would not put our trust in anything earthly, not even someone's personal virtues
, but only and exclusively in his most loving Providence.[83]

As for the rest, when the priest filially complained to the Lord that now there
were already seven dead, he knew by experience the " divine logic" and was not d
iscouraged. He kept using supernatural means, turning to prayer and mortificatio
n and active apostolate, even though he knew that in his apostolic fishing many
souls would wriggle through his hands. ?I set to work," he was to say, with an u
ndertone of fatigue, ?and it wasn't easy. Souls slipped away like eels in the wa
ter."[84]
During the retreat he made in 1934, it occurred to the founder to list, under th
e title "What Our Lord God Has Given Specifically to Me," all the many graces an
d special favors he could remember having received from heaven. In the list ther
e appears an attribute not easy to classify, which he describes as "this sanctif
yingI-don't-know-what which brings it about that many souls are enkindled when I
talk to them, although I myself am left feeling extinguished."[85]This was not
something new. Already for some years there had been profound changes in souls w
ho came into contact with that priest. The sculptor Jenaro Lazaro, who often cha
tted for a while with Father Josemara when leaving the General Hospital on Sunday
afternoons, says in his memoirs, "Those conversations made an indelible impress
ion on me. He was a man of God who drew toward God the people he dealt with."[86
]
On January 2,1932, when he went to King's Hospital to explain the Work to Father
Somoano, he was physically worn out (or, as he puts it, extinguished). " As a r
esult of a talk with Father Norberto that morning, I was drained of energy, and
when I went to speak with Somoano in the evening, I was less articulate than usu
al. Now this friend belongs to the Work."[87]
We can get some understanding by its fruit of this "sanctifying I-don't-know-wha
t" that he mentions, and even more from reading what Maria Ignacia Garcia wrote
in her "little sketch" about Father Somoano's state of soul after that conversat
ion with Father Josemara about the Work. "I remember," she says, "his telling me
that something unique had happened to him the first day he belonged to it: he co
uld not get to sleep that night, for being so happy."[88]
Archbishop Pedro Cantero also bears witness to the tremendous spiritual impact o
f his words, Telling how he first met Father Josemara (in a corridor of Madrid's
law school, in September 1930), he adds that after that first chat, "a friendshi
p began that would last for the rest of our lives. ... Josemara, little by little
, got into my soul, doing a real priest- to-priest apostolate."[89] Afterward ca
me the Republic, with the already mentioned sacrileges and other terrible outrag
es. For some time the two friends did not see each other. But then, quite unexpe

ctedly, on the evening of August 14, 1931, when ?the smoke from the burning of t
he religious houses" still "seemed to be floating" over Madrid, Father Josemara s
howed up at the home of his friend. Father Pedro was feeling very dejected and p
essimistic, but the founder got him out of his depression. His words, in fact, h
ad such power that, as Archbishop Cantero testifies, "he changed the whole persp
ective of my life and of my pastoral ministry."[90] What he did not know at the
time was that the founder, in order to accomplish that change, had solicited pra
yers and mortifications from Isidoro Zorzano, Father Norberto, the nuns at Santa
Isabel, the patients in the hospitals, and even his own guardian angel.[91] For
it was a habitual thing for Father Josemara to seek the "complicity" of the ange
ls in his apostolic endeavors.

* * *

When Father Josemara recalled the great variety that there had been among his fol
lowers even in the early days, he said it was as if the Lord had wanted to show
him that in Opus Dei there would have to be all kinds of people and professions:
?college students, manual workers, small businessmen, artists....? Surprisingly,
in this list he did not mention priests. Nevertheless, he had already started s
ome meetings with priests, which he called "Monday conferences." These began on
February 22, 1932, the Monday before the feast of Saint Matthias. "Last Monday,"
he says in his journal, "we five priests had our first meeting. We will continu
e meeting once a week, to be united. I gave everyone the first meditation of a s
eries on our vocation."[92]
Some of these priests?Father Norberto and Father Lino VeaMurgula, for example?ha
d joined Father Josemara early and more or less spontaneously.[93] Others, such a
s Father Somoano, had come a little later. When it came to trying to communicate
to them the spirit of the Work, Father Josemara found himself faced with a long,
hard task. It turned out, in fact, to be much harder than he had anticipated, s
ince it involved creating a both supernatural and natural bond of affection and
doctrine that would unite them to himself as founder of Opus Dei. As part of the
formation process, he would bring them with him on hospital visits and to teach
catechism classes in parishes and schools.[94]
Something else said by Maria Ignacia Garcia about Father Somoano gives us a good
idea of the interest Father Josemara took in the formation of that group of prie
sts: "When he returned on Mondays from taking part in the spiritual meetings of
our Work, one had only to look at him to see how happy and satisfied he was. His
most prized possession was the little notebook in which he recorded the points
of the meditations and other little things from those meetings."[95]
Father Josemara certainly preached to the priests by example and infused his word
s with the vibrant warmth of his faith and optimism, giving them glimpses of glo
wing ideals. All this was reflected in the attitude of Father Somoano, as appear
s from a statement in the obituary written about him by the founder: 11 At our l
ast priestly meeting, the Monday before his death, with what enthusiasm he liste
ned to the plans for beginning our activity!"[96]
The number present at those first meetings rarely exceeded half a dozen. In the
journal entry for September 28, 1932, we read: "Last Monday, with Father Norbert
o and in his house, Lino, J. M. Vegas, Sebasticin Cirac, and I got together. We
talked about the Work and prayed for the repose of the soul of Jose Maria Somoan
o."[97] (Half of that group died as martyrs, as victims of religious hatred; Fat
hers Lino Vea-Murguia and Jose Maria Vegas were among the thousands of priests a
ssassinated in 1936.[98])
In giving formation to people, Father Josemara also made use of correspondence, s
ince some of those he directed lived outside Madrid. Through letters written to
him by Isidoro Zorzano, who for several years resided in Malaga, we learn someth
ing of the impassioned words of Father Josemara. A few days after that memorable
chat of August 24, in Madrid, during which Isidoro discovered his vocation, he w
rote the founder this letter:

Malaga, September 5, 1930. ...The gist of our last conversation left me very sat

isfied, because it suggested to me new ideas and gave me new hopes, or, better t
o say, restored lost hopes. ...[But] the optimism that you injected into me is i
n some danger. I feel the need to get together with you so that with your help I
can get definitively oriented in that new era to which you have opened my eyes,
which is precisely the ideal that I had been forging for myself, but which I ha
d thought unattainable.[99]

And a week later he wrote this:

Malaga, September 14, 1930. ...You say your letter is long, but to me it seems v
ery short. I have read it several times, because it really lifts my spirits. I w
ent to Communion today, and followed your advice to unite my spirit to the Work
of God. I now find myself completely comforted, my spirit pervaded with a sense
of well-being, with a peace I have never felt before. I owe it all to the Work o
f God.[100]

The second anniversary of the beginning of the women's branch of Opus Dei was ap
proaching, and this apostolic field was still practically a desert. There was an
obvious delay in the coming of these vocations. Within the confines of Santa Is
abel's confessional the founder patiently waited-sowing his time of waiting with
prayers-for our Lord to send him souls.
In his journal he writes, "Sunday, November 8, 1931: This past Friday, I believe
our Lord presented me with a soul who could begin, in due time, the women's bra
nch of the Work of God."[101] And on the following Tuesday he writes to Isidoro,
"You know, I think our King has sent me a soul to begin the women's branch."[10
2] This soul vacillated for a while, but then one day she asked the priest for an
interview, having decided to ask admission to the Work. It had been some time s
ince Father Josemara had made any journal entries, but when he did take up his pe
n to record the date and event, he noted another "coincidence." "Precisely yeste
rday, the fourteenth of February of 1932, was the day of the first female vocati
on-exactly two years after our Lord asked for this work of women. How good Jesus
is!"[103]
A few weeks later, Maria Ignacia requested admission. Carmen Cuervo (the first f
emale vocation) and the new "vocation of expiation" met at King's Hospital on Su
nday, April 10, 1932. On the following Monday, when the priests had their meetin
g, Father Josemara suggested that they pray a Te Deum.[104]
He had good reason. Thanks be to God, the work with women was now under way. But
if he had no hesitation in approaching suffering women patients and even those
with contagious diseases, Father Josemara had quite a different stance toward hea
lthy women. He inflexibly kept his distance, caring for them only in the confess
ional. Such, in fact, was his delicacy in dealing with the first women of the Wo
rk that for spiritual direction he sent them to Father Norberto or Father Lino.[
105]
On the third anniversary of the founding, he could not help seeing that the wome
n's side of the apostolate was rather weak. But the founder did not get discoura
ged; he kept hoping for vocations, without getting impatient. "February 14, 1933
: It is now three years since our Lord asked for the women's branch. How many gr
aces since then! But, so far, very few women."[106]
A year later, Carmen Cuervo's visit to Maria Ignacia at King's Hospital was reen
acted, but in a different place and by different persons. Now Herm6genes was vis
iting Antonia at the General Hospital.

February 14, 1934: It is four years today since the Lord inspired the women's br
anch. I have had Herm6genes take a present to Antonia, a patient at the hospital
. Let's see when you're going to send me, my God, the woman who can head them up
in the beginning, letting herself be formed![107]

In spite of that, neither the withdrawals nor the deaths caused him to lose his
supernatural optimism, although those losses caused him great pain. But graver c
onsequences resulted from his leaving the direction of the female vocations in t

he hands of the other priests-priests who never fully understood the spirit of O
pus Dei.
In 1939 Father Josemara added a brief note to one of his earlier journal entries,
explaining, in as few words as possible, that lacking time to give to the women
, he had entrusted the task of forming them to Fathers Norberto and Lino, and it
was yet to be accomplished.[108]

4. A retreat with Saint John of the Cross

The story of his first followers, whether students, priests, or women, was that
of a weaving and an unraveling, a constant building up and crumbling. Father Jos
emara knew very well that some of those whom God was sending to encourage him wou
ld never fit in, but he also knew that in the meantime they would improve in the
ir interior life. He realized that, as the Latin proverb goes, "anguillam cauda
tenebat" that he was trying to catch eels by the tail. They slipped away.
"If you could see how much I long for solitude!" Father Josemara wrote on April 8
, 1932, to Father Jose Pou de Foxa. "But honey is not made for the mouth of a do
nkey. I have to be content with a life of noise and movement, of dancing all day
long from here to there. Blessed and beloved be the will of God."[109]
His life really was one of constant activity: Masses, other church functions, co
nfessions of nuns and parishioners at Santa Isabel; confessions of nuns and the
preparation of girls for First Communion at the nearby Assumption School; visits
to hospitals; chats with, and spiritual direction of, young people and priests.
..[110] This exhausting pastoral dedication did not benefit him financially, so
to all those activities he was forced to add the giving of classes at the Cicuen
dez Academy and of private lessons at home. None of these occupations could be e
liminated. The pastoral ones were indispensable to his soul, and the educational
ones to his support, or at least to that of his family.
That desire for solitude which he expressed in the above-quoted letter was at ti
mes a temptation, in which weariness or the devil suggested that it would not be
a bad idea for him to dedicate himself to a life of greater spiritual tranquill
ity, free of the hustle and bustle of the apostolic struggle. In his journal we
read:

The temptation returns, whispering in my ears about a life of peace and virtue:
not that of Father X or Brother So-and-so, but that of a simple little priest in
the most remote rural parish, with no great struggles or great ideals calling f
or immediate action.[111]

It was around April 1932 that he was assaulted by these temptations to lead a di
fferent kind of life. To repel them, the chaplain sought the help of the powerfu
l prayers of innocentsouls. On the days when he went to prepare the little girls
for their First Communion, he would ask that they all pray, together with him,
"a Hail Mary for the saint of the whacks."[112] (Would those tender souls unders
tand what he meant by "saint of the whacks"?) But his reason for writing the abo
ve-mentioned letter to Father Pou de Fox was something quite different. "If God d
oesn't do something to prevent it" Father Josemara told him, "I will have to go t
o Saragossa next June, so that a son of the Guevaras can take an examination."[1
13]
His confessor urged him to buy a cassock and a priest's hat before the trip. (He
must have been in a bad way as far as clothes were concerned.) He also bought "
a new notebook, because I was thinking about putting my Catalinas in a journal."
[114]
On June 13, when he got back to Madrid, the new notebook was still empty. He had
not made a single entry. But he had sent a few short letters to his family.[115
]
The summer of 1932 was rough. Never could he find the solitude he was yearning f
or. On August 10 some army officers and groups of monarchist students staged a d
isorderly uprising in Madrid. The government and the police had advance warning,
so the revolt was quickly put down and peace restored. Those involved ended up

in prison. Jose Manuel Domenech, one of those students who accompanied Father Jo
semara to the General Hospital on Sundays, relates his adventures. "I had taken p
art" he says, "together with other students in Madrid, in the events "of August
10. We had gone early in the morning, armed, to take over the post office buildi
ng. Most of us were arrested and sent to Carcel Modelo, first to the area for po
litical prisoners and later to a high-security area with strict regulations."[11
6]
Also imprisoned was Adolfo G6mez-the young man who had joined Opus Dei on the fe
ast of Saint John before the Latin Gate, and one of those who had stood guard ov
er churches and religious houses at night to prevent them from being set on fire
or otherwise attacked.
In the journal entry for that day, we read:

Feast of Stain Lawrence, August 10, 1932: At 5:00 this morning, I was awakened b
y shots, real volleys, and the rattle of machine guns. I went to Santa Isabel dr
essed as a layman. Our Adolfo is in prison. He is a great soul who understands t
he ideal and knows how to make sacrifices for it. May the Lord preserve him for
us.[117]

That same day, August 10, he learned where Adolfo was being held, but was not al
lowed to see him. He spent several days in sorrowful waiting, without getting to
speak with the prisoner. Finally he was able to leave a few lines of consolatio
n for him.

Vigil of Saint Bartholomew, August 23, 1932: We have been sending Adolfo a few t
hings. I go to the prison every day. I believe that today?I am going with his mo
ther?I will see him. For now I'm not going to write any more on this matter.[118
]

The young priest showed up at Carcel Modelo dressed in his cassock, I' even thou
gh by making such visits to those held he was calling attention to himself and r
isking persecution," says Jose Antonio Palacios, another of the jailed students.
[119] Father Josemara got acquainted with some of those activist students. He spo
ke with them in the political prisoners' visiting room, a large hall with a cont
inuous grille of closely spaced bars separating visitors and prisoners. He recom
mended cheerfulness and good humor, speaking to them about our Lady and about wo
rking with a supernatural outlook, so that they would not fall into idleness and
would continue to offer to the Lord some hours of study. Books were not, in tho
se circumstances, a matter of great concern to those agitated students. But the
priest told them things in such a persuasive way, says Jose Antonio, that ?to ma
ke good use of the time, I set about giving a class and reviewing my French."[12
0]
One day, while in his cell, Jose Manuel Domenech heard his name called out. When
he opened the grating, a prison official handed him an envelope. In it was a sm
all copy of the Little office of Our Lady, with the following inscription:

Blessed and undefiled Virgin Mother, glorious Queen of the World, intercede with
the Lord for the Spanish people.

To Jose M. Domenech, with great affection

Madrid, August 1932
Jose M. Escriv[121]

?The affection of the Father and his concern for my interior life," says Jose Ma
nuel, "made a profound impression on me; he knew that I knew and prayed the Litt
le Office."[122]
In September, Father Josemara lost track of many of these youths. A good number o
f the political prisoners were deported to Africa. But that did not cause him to
suspend his visits to inmates who remained in Carcel Modelo.
All summer the priest had felt intense longings for solitude, for a spiritual re

treat. On June I, nearly two months after complaining about this to his friend F
ather Pou de Foxci, he wrote in his journal:

I need solitude. I am yearning for a long retreat, to speak with God, far from e
verything. If he wants this, he will give me an opportunity. There I'll be able
to settle so many things that are churning within me. And Jesus, surely, will im
press on my mind some important details about his Work.[123]

Finally, in September, arrangements were made. With the authorization of the Car
melite provincial, he prepared to make a weeklong retreat in Segovia, at the mon
astery where the remains of Saint John of the Cross are kept. On October 2 he wr
ote:

Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, vigil of Saint Therese, 1932: Four years! The
Lord even reminded me of this, by sending a vocation for the women's branch. ..
.Tomorrow I go to Segovia for a retreat, close to Saint'John of the Cross. I hav
e asked, I have begged, for a lot of prayer. We shall see.[124]

He arrived at the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites of Segovia on Monday, Oc

tober 3, 1932, and immediately set about preparing a plan for the retreat. He wa
s thinking of doing it in complete isolation, as was his custom, not attending a
ny talks or sermons. His cell had "a beautiful number"-33, which for him was a d
ouble reminder of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity- and a small plaque which r
ead, "Gloriatio. Et in timore Dei sit tibi gloriatio. Sir 9:16" ["Glorying. Let
your glorying be in the fear of the Lord"]. At once there came to his mind that
bad time he had gone through the previous October, when, in the midst of his con
templation of his divine filiation, our Lord had veiled from his mind a right un
derstanding of "the fear of the Lord." It seemed too much of a coincidence for t
he little plaque not to be a reminder from the Lord.[125]
He adjusted the plan of his retreat to the demands of the monastery schedule. Ri
sing time was 4:45 A.M. At 5:30 there would be an hour of meditation, followed b
y Holy Mass. At 8:00 was breakfast; at 9:30, another hour of meditation; at 11:3
0, lunch. In the afternoon there would be two one-hour meditations, the Rosary,
and spiritual reading. At 6:15 came supper, followed by examination of conscienc
e and use of the discipline. At 10:00, after having said the prayers of the Work
, he went to bed.[126]
There was a magnificent view from the monastery. Above the grove stretching down
toward the river va11ey one could see in the distance a sharp promontory with a
castle perched on its ridge. Father Josemara felt assured that our Lord would be
treating him well, because of his being "in the house of the Lord's Mother, at
a Carmelite monastery." And suddenly there came to him that long-ago memory of L
ogroo, of footprints left in the snow by a Discalced Carmelite.[127] That was how
his story had begun, and here he was, in a Carmelite monastery, alone with his
God.

* * *

The notes from the first days of his retreat are brief. A few lines are enough t
o indicate the course of his thinking.

First day. God is my Father. And I'm not departing from this consideration. ...l
am God's, ...and God is mine.
Second day, Wednesday. O Domine!Tuus sum ego, salvum me fac! Et a te nunquam sep
arari permittas! [Lord, I am yours-save me! And never let me be parted from you!
] Lord, it's not that easy to become a saint! I can very well believe that Saint
Teresa said to you, "that's why you have so few friends."
Third day, Thursday. Neither the consideration of the gravity of sin nor the tho
ught of the eternal punishments that it merited, and does merit, moves me. ...la
m so cold. At most, I come out of all this crying out to my God, "I love you, be
cause you are good. I am a wretch. ...Punish me, but make me love you more each

day."[128]

For that third day, October 6, there is also this entry:

Today, in the chapel of Saint John of the Cross (I spend some periods of accompa
nied solitude there each day), I saw that when beginning the priests' meetings a
nd all other meetings having to do with the w. of G., we should say the followin
g prayers. ..: (1) Veni, Sancte Spiritus. (2) Sancte Michael, ora pro nobis. San
cte Gabriel, ora pro nobis. Sancte Raphael, ora pro nobis. (3) In nomine Patris,
et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen. (4) Sancta Maria, Sedes Sapientiae, ora pro
nobis.[129]

The special significance of those words would have gone unnoticed had there not
been other autobiographical testimonies corresponding to and complementing them,
such as this one written in 1941:

I spent long periods of prayer in the chapel where the remains of Saint John of
the Cross are kept; and there, in that chapel, I was for the first time inwardly
moved to invoke the three archangels and the three apostles whose intercession
we members of Opus Dei ask for in our prayers. From that moment they were taken
as the patrons of the three works that make up Opus Dei.[130]

As will be explained later, that supernatural impulse came to determine the stru
cture and apostolic organization of Opus Dei.
From Friday, the fourth day of the retreat, come the following considerations:

The reign of Jesus Christ: that's what I'm about! ...

The donkey! No longer is it a mangy donkey. ...From its poor remains they can ma
ke drums-war drums, and the tambourines and rustic flutes of a shepherd. That's
what the remains of Jesus' donkey can be used for: to sound the call to the grea
t battle for God' s glory and for the universal and effective reign of Christ, m
y Lord, and to sing passionate songs, songs of the shepherds of Bethlehem, to th
e Child born to die for me! ...
I felt as though within me voices were saying to me, "Get out of here, you hypoc
rite. You're wasting time, devoting yourself. ..to concocting flowery phrases."
And at that moment, as if to confirm that thought, I had an idiotic notion, whic
h I'm going to record. Seeing the Alcazar of Segovia, I thought that that castle
, jagged against the sky, looking like cardboard, is asking out loud for some li
ttle tin soldiers, to be played with by a boy who is the son of giants. I wonder
ed: Have I before now also been concocting phrases without substance? And I clea
rly perceived: No, I have been praying.[131]

In his retreat he was following a personal plan, on his own, but not just as he
pleased. Father Sanchez had given him some guidelines to go by. Afterward, moreo
ver, his confessor would read all that the retreatant wrote during those days. "
I am adding this sentence," he expressly states in one place, "so that when my F
ather Sanchez reads my notes, he will see how I'm doing: I haven't gotten out of
the coldness, except for a few flashes of fervor."[132]
On Sunday he meditated on purity-"holy purity, humility of the flesh"-and decide
d to renew before the Blessed Virgin, when he finished the retreat his priestly
commitment of faithful love.[133] From there he went on to examine his level of
detachment and resolved to be more generous and leave everything in the hands of
the Lord.[134] Next he made this declaration of submission of his will: "I am d
etermined always to obey my spiritual father. The same goes for my superiors in
the hierarchy."[135]
Since July 1930 he had been going to confession to Father Valentin Sanchez Ruiz,
with the exception of the weeks in which the good Jesuit had been in hiding bec
ause of the decree dissolving the Society of Jesus. From the start they had had
an understanding that the foundational mission and the governing of the Work lay
outside the scope of the spiritual direction he expected from his confessor. Hi

s confessor was director not of the Work of God but of the priest. About the spi
ritual direction of Father Sanchez, the founder would later write: "He had nothi
ng to do with the Work, in that I never let him control or have a say in it."[13
6]
With this proviso, and with absolute simplicity, he declares: "Everything having
to do with my soul I have communicated and always will communicate to my spirit
ual director, keeping nothing back."[137]
Even so, behind this steadfast behavior one can see how much it cost him to bare
his soul when that might tend to raise him in the eyes of the other person.

Feast of Saint Mark, Apri125, 1932: This morning I was with my Father Sanchez. I
had decided to tell him what happened on the 20th. I felt a kind of reluctance
or shame. It cost me, but I told him.[138]

This event was no small thing. A few nights earlier, upon going to bed, he had a
sked Saint Joseph and the souls in purgatory, to whom he had a special devotion,
to do him the favor of waking him up at a quarter to six. (He had to appeal to
them because his sleepiness was mixed with exhaustion. ) This is his journal ent
ry about what happened:

As always happens when I've asked this with humility, regardless of what time I'
ve gone to bed, this morning I woke out of a deep sleep as if I had been called,
totally sure it was time for me to get up. And sure enough, it was a quarter to
six. Last night, also as usual, I had asked the Lord to give me strength to ove
rcome my laziness at wake-up time, because-I confess this to my shame-something
so small is enormously hard for me and there are plenty of days when, in spite o
f that supernatural call, I stay in bed a while longer. Today, when I saw what t
ime it was, I prayed, I struggled. ..and I stayed in bed. Finally, at six-fiftee
n according to my alarm clock (which has been broken for some time), I got up. F
ull of humiliation, I prostrated myself on the floor, acknowledging my fault, an
d then-with a Serviam! ["I will serve!"]-got dressed and started my meditation.
And then, somewhere between six-thirty and a quarter to seven, I saw, for quite
some time, that the face of my Virgin of the Kisses was filled with happiness, w
ith joy. I looked very carefully. I believed she was smiling, because it had tha
t effect on me, even though her lips hadn't moved. Very calmly, I said to my Mot
her a lot of sweet things.[139]

It was not the first time something like that had happened. He tried not to atta
ch too much importance to such things. He refused to II easily admit extraordina
ry things." But after testing them to see if they were just products of sensory
suggestion, he had to submit to the evidence. "I went so far as to set up some t
ests," he writes, "to see if this was just coming from my imagination, because I
don't easily admit extraordinary things. But it was all to no avail. The face o
f my Virgin of the Kisses, when I did my absolute best to get myself to see her
smiling, kept that hieratic seriousness that the poor statue has."[140]
The little statue of the Holy Virgin of the Kisses, "Sancta Osculorum Virgo," ha
d actually done an amazing thing. "Well, then, my Lady Holy Mary ...has given he
r little boy a caress."[141]
Father Sanchez's spiritual directee kept quiet about many little humiliations by
which he was advancing on the road of patience. It really hurt him, to the poin
t of bringing tears to his eyes, to have to go very hurriedly, after giving clas
ses or visiting the sick, practically running to Chamartin, where the Jesuit pri
est lived after the burning of the order's residence on De La Flor Street, and t
hen, when he asked for him, often to be told by the porter to come back another
day. Didn't his confessor realize that it was not easy for him to find the time
to travel there, outside Madrid? Nor did he feel it appropriate to disclose that
he had to get there on foot, taking a tiring trek through the boondocks, since
he did not have the few cents needed to take the streetcar.[142]
Father Sanchez was a good director of souls, and Father Josemara was very gratefu
l to him, because even the annoyance of the waits in Chamartin did him "some rea

l good."[143] In his journal and in his correspondence there are occasional disc
reet words of praise for his confessor. There are also some observations, on suc
h matters as those long waits and wasted trips, that could not have been much to
his confessor's liking, but he jotted them down anyway, aware as he was that th
ey would be read by the interested party. However, this particular aspect of his
relationship with his confessor was secondary and incidental. The essential thi
ng, the founder insisted, was for him "to fulfill the very clearly manifested wi
ll of God regarding his Work."[144]
During the last days of his retreat in Segovia, he meditated on the passion and
resurrection of our Lord-but not without the devil, "Old Scratch," giving him a
bad time all through Sunday night with his dirty tricks.

Last night, the devil was at large in my cell and again stirred up things from t
he past. He gave me a hard time. This morning, too. I offer it up to you, my God
, as expiation. But I am weak. I can't do anything; I'm not worth anything don't
leave me. Grieved by all this, I had a talk with my father John of the Cross: "
This is the way you treat me in your house? How can you allow Old Scratch to tor
ment your guests? I thought you were more hospitable...."[145]

* * *

To the retreat he brought some questions of conscience that he needed to resolve

as soon as possible, since they affected his dedication to the Work. The first
had to do with his studies: "Should I get doctorates in civil law and sacred the
ology?"[146] For greater clarity in his examining of this question, he adopted t
he system of setting out, in written and numbered form, all the pros and cons. T
he result was that he resolved to present his law dissertation and obtain the do
ctorate in sacred theology in 1933.[147]
Now he went to the second question: "Would it be a good idea for me to take some
competitive examinations, for a university professorship, for instance?" He mus
t have debated the matter fairly thoroughly with himself when he wrote, " Argume
nts in favor: I can honestly say that I don't see any." He did not see any becau
se he was firmly convinced that God did not need any such thing to bring about t
he Work. "For me to seek a secular occupation, after considering what lies ahead
, would be to doubt the divine origin of the Work--0f that which is my reason fo
r being on this earth."[148]
Besides, everything seemed to militate against a professorship. Although he had
an aptitude for canon law, a subject he had delved into during his last years of
teaching in Saragossa and Madrid, it would take many years and a lot of study t
o prepare for a career in it. And that's to say nothing of the financial aspect,
for how would he support his family in the meantime?
Also against it were some serious supernatural considerations. To dedicate himse
lf to a professorship would be to steal time from the Work of God. His vocation
demanded a total availability. He must be " only and exclusively-and always-this
: a priest, a father director of souls, hidden, buried alive, for Love."[149]
He saved for last the most delicate of his problems-most delicate because it inv
olved other persons. This was the question of "the family my family." On this ma
tter Father Norberto had given him a note to meditate on. Father Josemara made a
visit to the Blessed Sacrament to think it over-"Let's see what Jesus says!"[150
] The note from Father Norberto, says Father Josemara, was focused "very much on
the divine." That is to say, he presented only supernatural arguments-irrefutabl
e, but in a sense dehumanized, since, in his particular case, they amounted to a
demand that he shake off all affection for his blood relatives.
Putting that focus " on the divine" above every other consideration, as the basi
s of his analysis, Father Josemara calmly reviewed the events and realities that
had affected the development of his life and that of his family. These considera
tions passed before him without being retouched or softened: the sacrifices his
parents had made to give him a good education despite their financial setbacks;
the hopes they had placed in him, and the "indisputable financial harm" done the
m by his becoming a priest; and, finally, the fact that the household situation

had taken a turn for the worse when, in his determination to follow a " divine w
him," he refused to accept an ecclesiastical position.[151] Thus he came to the
conclusion that the really practical way to protect his family was to let the Lo
rd operate.

Things of God must be done as God wants. I am God's, I want to be God's. When I
truly am such, he will-immediately-take care of all this, rewarding my faith and
my love and the quiet and not at all small sacrifices made by my mother and sis
ter and brother. Let's let the Lord work.[152]

Before ending the retreat, he sketched out a "minimal program of spiritual life,
" which comprised various devotions: the Divine Office; an hour of prayer in the
morning and another in the evening; a half hour of thanksgiving after Mass; pra
ying the Rosary, bringing to life each scene; examinations of conscience at midd
ay and in the evening; a visit to the Blessed Sacrament; praying the prayers of
the Work; and reading from the New Testament and from some other spiritual book.
To this program he added a page of "Resolutions" that included "not to overlook
the little things," "to invoke my guardian angel," and "to acquire a grave and
modest demeanor." All this was accompanied by new corporal mortifications: the d
aily wearing of a cilice; sleeping on the floor three times a week; and a total
fast, without even bread or water, one day each week.
Finally, just before leaving Segovia, he made an explicit reaffirmation of his f
aith in the supernatural origin of the Work, thus strengthening his determined e
fforts at self-surrender:

In conclusion: I feel that even if, by God's permission, I should remain alone i
n this enterprise, and even if I should find myself dishonored and poor-more so
than I already am-and sick. ...I will not have any doubt about either the divine
origin of the Work or its realization! And I stand by my conviction that the su
re means of carrying out the will of God, prior to moving and acting, are to pra
y, pray, pray, and expiate, expiate, expiate.[153]

5. The Saint Raphael work

During the Segovia retreat, he had written that he had only two paths open to hi
m: "the path of the cross, fulfilling the will of God in the founding of the Wor
k, which will lead me to sanctity ...and the wide-and stupid!-path of perdition,
fulfilling my own will."[154]
"Now, right now, what can I do for the Work?" he afterward asked himself, fully
determined and eager to follow the path of the cr9ss. Faithful to his resolve al
ways to give priority to the use of the supernatural means of prayer and expiati
on before launching into apostolic activity, he made some impressive resolutions
for expiation involving all his senses, both internal and external. The new lis
t of mortifications complements the one drawn up in Segovia. Dated December 3, 1
932, it consists of nine categorical and concrete declarations of intent. The fi
rst is this very brief one: "Not to look-ever!"[155]
This was his response to a consideration he had pondered on the sixth day of his
retreat. "Why look," he had asked himself, "if my world is inside me?"[156] Thi
s was not disdain; it was a personal ascetical renunciation of an unlimited enjo
yment of sight, of curiosity regarding the infinity of pleasing forms, the diver
sity of light and colors, the charm of created beings. That resolve never to gaz
e at anything is best understood in relation to its character as a holocaust. On
e must take into account the proclivities of his sense of sight. His eyes were q
uick to discover the beauties of the external world and tended to linger on them
like someone caressing fine velvet. "My God!" we read in his journal entry for
November 14, 1932, "I find charm and beauty in everything I see. I will guard my
sight at all times, for Love."[157] The rest of the resolutions constituted a b
road and substantial program of mortification of the bodily senses and inner fac
ulties.

* * *

From the very start the Work was perfectly "sketched out" but to make it a reali
ty it was necessary to carry out apostolate, gathering vocations and transmittin
g to them the spirituality proper to Opus Dei.[158] By this time Father Josemara
had a group of priests, a group of young laymen, and two or three women, all pre
pared to respond to the call to sanctity in the midst of the world. There also w
ere other individuals to whom he was giving spiritual direction. For some time n
ow he had seen a need to organize the personal apostolate he was developing with
such different persons, and had been seeking a way to give it some structure. A
t one point he thought of perhaps creating an association for university student
s, under the title "the Pious Union of Our Lady of Hope."[159] But he gave up th
at idea on Thursday, October 6, 1932, when, while praying in the chapel of Saint
John of the Cross during his retreat at the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Se
govia, he was ?for the first time inwardly moved to invoke the three archangels
and the three apostles whose intercession we members of Opus Dei ask for in our
prayers": Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, and Saints Peter, Paul, and John
.[160] From that moment on he considered them the patrons of the different field
s of apostolate that would make up Opus Dei.
Under the patronage of Saint Raphael would be the work of Christian formation of
young people. From it would come Opus Dei's celibate vocations, which the found
er would place under the patronage of Saint Michael for their formation, both sp
iritual and human. Married people who participated in the apostolic tasks of the
Work, or who formed part of it, would have Saint Gabriel as their patron.
Ultimately the founder came to the conclusion that the apostolate with young peo
ple should not function as any type of association, but could be carried out in
the setting of an ?academy," a private facility offering supplemental education.
[161] But first there was a change in Father Josemara's life that, although at fi
rst sight it would seem to have little to do with the Saint Raphael work, was in
fact closely connected with the beginning of the formation of university youth.
?After a lot of prayer to our Lord," we read in the entry for December 9,1932, "
I found, providentially, a decent little apartment in which to live with my fami
ly. Deo gratias. I requested a loan from the 'Corporation,' to be paid, like the
other, in a year. So I'm able to move."[162]
The apartment was on the second floor, left-hand side, of a building on Martinez
Campos Street. The rent was 1,380 pesetas a year, to be paid by the month, in a
dvance.[163] This arrangement must have been quite an improvement in some way fo
r Father Josemara to have welcomed it with a Deo gratias. Once more Doa Dolores ha
d to move her furniture, but this time to a good-size apartment, where its quali
ty would be more easily observed; in the apartment on Viriato Street there had n
ot been room even for her chairs. Now, without waiting until he could have an "a
cademy," Father Josemara started hosting meetings with priests and students. Ther
e, at the apartment, they had their get-togethers and he gave them formational t
alks.
That he undertook to pay 1,380 pesetas a year should not, however, be taken to i
mply an improvement in the financial situation of the Escriv family. Consider thi
s anecdote jotted down by Father Josemara a few days after he signed the rental a
greement:

Yesterday my pocket watch stopped. This put me ill a real bind, since it's the o
nly watch I've got and since my capital, at the moment, amounts to seventy-five
cents. ...I talked this over with my Lord, and suggested that he have my guardia
n angel, to whom he has given more talent than all the watchmakers ill the world
, fix my watch. He seemed not to have heard me, because I shook and fiddled with
the broken watch again and again, to no avail. Then ...I knelt down and started
saying an Our Father and a Hail Mary. I think I hadn't yet finished when I pick
ed up the watch, touched the hands. ..and it started running! I gave thanks to m
y good Father.[164]

It seems this was not an isolated or fortuitous incident. Evidently he was used

to handing over mechanical problems to his guardian angel-"the watchmaker, I'll

call him from now on:' he writes.[165] The angel in any case, now certainly had
no lack of work, for it was many months before Father Josemara was able to pay to
have the watch repaired.
Poverty-"my great lady:' he called it-presided over his whole life, including th
e start of the Saint Raphael work, the work with young people. The rental agreem
ent was signed December 10. So what was his financial situation at the end of No
vember?
Around this time, he found a discarded picture of the Immaculate Virgin, smudged
with dirt, near the gate of one of the schools run by the Foundation for the Si
ck. Father Josemara used to pick up religious pictures thrown out on the street a
nd then, when he got home, bum them. But when he picked this one up, he got the
feeling that an offense had been intended- that this was a page tom from a catec
hism out of hatred. "For this reason," he says in his journal, "I will not bum t
he poor picture, though it is badly done and the paper it's on is cheap and tom.
I will save it, and put it in a nice frame when I have the money. ..and who's t
o tell me that there won't someday be a devotion, of love and reparation, to 'Ou
r Lady of the Catechism'!"[166]
On December 2, a week before renting the new apartment, not having the money for
a small frame, he took stock of his evangelical poverty with neither pride nor
lamentation. "I am," he says, "more impoverished than ever. Our poverty (my grea
t lady, poverty) has for years been as real as that of the people who beg in the
streets. Our Father in heaven feeds and clothes us (with nothing superfluous, a
nd even without some things normally considered necessities), just as he feeds a
nd clothes the birds, as the Gospel says. This financial situation doesn't bothe
r me the least little bit. We're used to living on miracles."[167]
He got a loan for the apartment, and managed to get a frame for the picture. In
exchange for that favor and homage, he asked our Lady to provide him a place whe
re he could teach catechism. Our Lady did not have to be asked twice.
Father Josemara was very familiar with the poor neighborhoods between Tetuan de l
as Victorias and King's Hospital. Groups of shacks, with miserable hovels here a
nd there, made up "La Ventilla," or "Barriada de los Pinos."[168] In 1927 the Mi
ssionaries of Christian Doctrine built in Los Pinos the School of the Divine Red
eemer, for the children of those poor families. The school was at the bottom of
a valley; when it rained, water from the surrounding areas poured down there in
torrents.
One of the nuns, Sister San Pablo, tells us this:

One morning-I remember this very well, because there had been a heavy snowfall a
nd everything was white-we saw from our community's recreation hall, which was o
n the floor above the school, two priests coming, in cassocks and cloaks. It mus
t have been early, because everything was still white and clean; later it all tu
rned into a mire. Father Josemara, accompanied by a priest named Father Lino, had
come to ask us to let him set up a catechetical program in the school.[169]

Tuesday, January 17, 1933, was the day they made this visit, as we can tell from
Father Josemara's journal entry for January 19:

Last Sunday I went to Pinos Altos, or Los Pinos, where there is a school run by
nuns. In that school, starting on the 22nd, we will teach catechism. On Tuesday,
despite the heavy snowfall, Lino and I went to see the place and to greet the s
isters and their chaplain. Those sisters have a very good spirit. They were surp
rised to see us come in the snow. With such a small thing we've gained something
for the Lord.[170]

Father Josemara's group of followers was at that time very much reduced. Some had
left Madrid. Others were suffering "illnesses and other tribulations," and stil
l others had grown tired of following him because "their hearts were not entirel
y in it."[171] In those circumstances the appearance of a medical student by the
name of Juan Jimenez Vargas turned out to be especially providential. Father Jo

semara spoke with him a couple of times. In their second interview, on January 4,
1933, he laid out before the student the supernatural panorama of the Work. And
along with this vocation came a few of Juan's friends as well.
These friends were passionately patriotic young men heavily involved in politica
l activities, which generally took place on Sunday-precisely the day set for the
catechism classes. Something from within must have calmed those agitated studen
ts to make them decide they were more needed to teach catechism than to take par
t in political rallies. The first visit to Los Pinos was set for Sunday, January
22, 1933.
Meanwhile, Father Josemara had already begun to work on the souls of those studen
ts. On Saturday, January 21, Juan showed up with two friends so that Father Jose
mara could give them a class of religious formation. The meeting took place in th
e Porta Caeli shelter, in a room made available by the nuns who ran the shelter.

Last Saturday, thanks be to God, I began the work which is under the patronage o
f Saint Raphael and Saint John with three boys at Porta Caeli. After the talk we
had a short time of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and I gave them Benedi
ction. We will get together each Wednesday.[172]

Juan was impressed by the faith and devotion that shone through the liturgical g
estures and prayers, and especially by "the way he held the monstrance in his ha
nds and gave the blessing."[173] Years later Father Josemara explained what had b
een going through his mind when he gave that blessing with the Blessed Sacrament
:

When class was over, I went to the chapel with those boys, and I took our Lord s
acramentally present in the monstrance, raised him, and blessed those three, ...
and I saw three hundred, three hundred thousand, thirty million, and three billi
on..., white, black, yellow, of all the colors, all the combinations, that human
love can produce. And I fell short, because this has become a reality after not
even half a century. I fell short, because our Lord has been generous beyond my
wildest dream.[174]

* * *

Father Gabriel, the chaplain of the nearby El Arroyo School, used to say Mass at
eleven for all who took part in the catechetical program. Students came in grou
ps from the neighborhood of Tetu.1n to meet there with Fathers Josemara and Lino,
who took turns presenting the doctrine. Classes began after Mass.[175]
Coming to El Arroyo was in itself an act of heroism, because of the overt hostil
ity of the neighborhood. Sister San Pablo tells the story of one savage attack.
"On May 4, 1933," she says, "the school was attacked by a group of men. They spl
ashed gasoline on some of the buildings, intending to set them on fire, while a
group of women shouted, 'Don't leave any of them alive! There are eight of themkill them all!' The police arrived just in time to prevent the fire."[176]
Father Josemara also took on other catechetical responsibilities. On a regular ba
sis he went to hear confessions of, and to teach catechism to, the youngsters li
ving at Porta Caeli, the shelter where the nuns let him use a room to get togeth
er with college students. He invited some of those students to the Wednesday mee
tings, partly in the hope of getting more vocations, whether for the Saint Gabri
el work (fathers of families) or for the Saint Michael work (vocations to aposto
lic celibacy).[177]
At this time Father Josemara was also giving private classes of religious instruc
tion to the children in a certain household. Two widowed brothers, named Sevilla
, were remedying their sad situation by raising their children together, in a si
ngle household presided over by their sister Maria Pilar, who had never married.
Fourteen people, domestic staff included, lived in the house. Doa Pilar helped t
he priest put together a religion class for four or five Sevilla children and th
e young servant girls. These classes took place in 1932 and 1933 "twice a week,
on Wednesday and Saturday, from five to six in the evening."[178] The classes we

re delightful. The little ones sat in a circle and Father Josemara put a textbook
on a low table. Whenever he referred to one of the illustrations, the children,
in curiosity, would put their little heads together around that picture. Someti
mes he told them about the infancy of the Child Jesus, or told them stories abou
t when he himself was a little boy. His audience was not happy about how soon cl
ass was over. "'Don't go, Father Josemara!' was something we would say every day,
over and over again," recalls one member of that audience-Severina Casado, who
grew up to become a nun, taking the name Sister Benita. "We would say, 'What's t
he hurry? Why do you have to go so soon?'"[179]
The above-mentioned attack on El Arroyo School above was not an isolated inciden
t. The year of 1933 had started out rife with violent acts provoked by demagogue
ry. A revolutionary anarchist uprising, preceded by strikes and acts of terroris
m, was set for the eighth of January. On that day there was an ostentatious disp
lay of the most elementary things in the revolutionary's repertoire. Bombs explo
ded. There were gunfights with the police. Attempts were made to attack some bar
racks. And there was no lack of torching, murders, and disturbances of all kinds
in many of Spain's cities and villages. A good number of anarcho-syndicalists e
nded up at Ctircel Modelo. They were put in quarters separate from those of Jose
Antonio Palacios and his companions, but all the prisoners went on walks and di
d exercises in the same courtyard.
When Father Josemara went to visit his young friends imprisoned for the revolt of
the previous summer, he found that they did not want to have anything to do wit
h those terribly antireligious people. He advised them to show respect for them.
The best thing, he said, would be to point out their errors to them with affect
ion and treat them in a friendly way. "Go over your catechism," he would keep te
lling them. "The teaching of Christ is clear: you must love those men as you do
yourselves."[180] He even brought some catechisms to the prison, so that they co
uld reread them. After a few days of managing just a simple peaceful coexistence
, they really put the priest's advice into practice. In the words of Jose Antoni
o, "We set up soccer teams with the two groups mixed together. I remember that I
was playing goalie and my two defenders were both anarcho-syndicalists. I never
played soccer with more style and less violence."[181]

6. An organized disorganization

February 16, 1933, was the anniversary of the locution he had received just afte
r giving Communion to the nuns at Santa Isabel. "My God," Father Josemara exclaim
ed at the recollection, "how much that 'Love is deeds, not sweet words and excus
es' hurts me!"[182] He knew and felt himself to be in the Lord's hands in a priv
ileged way: in prayer that went on day and night (a gift that lasted the rest of
his life), except when our Lord momentarily interrupted that grace. Then he fel
t the dead weight of his will.
"There are moments," he had written on November 24, 1932, "when, deprived of tha
t union with God that gives me continual prayer even when I'm asleep, I feel lik
e I am fighting the will of God. It's just weakness, my Lord and Father, as well
you know. I love the cross, the lack of so many things everyone in the world co
nsiders necessary, the obstacles in undertaking the Work..., my own littleness a
nd spiritual wretchedness.[183]
Was it not a divine madness to set out to conquer the whole world with no materi
al means? While writing this entry, he looked around at his unpleasant, dingy qu
arters on Viriato Street, and the place where Don Quixote had come into being ca
me to his mind: "a prison," Cervantes had said, "where every discomfort has its
seat and every sad noise makes itself at home." Because what, in the eyes of the
Lord, did it matter?

Nothing, in comparison with the wonder implied by this reality: a terribly poor
instrument and sinner, planning, with your inspiration, a conquest of the whole
world for his God, from the spectacular observation post of an interior room of
a poor house where every material discomfort finds its place. Fiat, adimpleatur.
[Let it be, let it be accomplished.] I love your will. ...I am sure-because I a

m your son-that the Work will soon come forth and will conform to your inspirati
ons. Amen. Amen.[184]

Realizing that he had been gratuitously chosen for an enterprise of divine dimen
sions, he wrote during his Segovia retreat: "God doesn't need me. It is a most l
oving mercy of his heart. Without me the Work would still go forward, because it
is his; he would raise up another person or persons, the same as he found subst
itutes for Eli's sons, for Saul, for Judas. ..."[185]
Soon he was presented with another very specific opportunity to show his absolut
e fidelity to God's plans. After two years of enduring abuses and outright perse
cution of the Church, Spanish Catholics began to react. Future cardinal Angel He
rrera, who at that time, as a layman, was editor of El Debate, the most influent
ial Catholic newspaper, came up with a proposal to create a center of formation
for priests from which would come the spiritual advisors for Catholic Action in
Spain. Don Angel was the president of Catholic Action, and he wanted for the spi
ritual direction of its members priests with some prestige. Father Pedro Cantero
(the future archbishop) mentioned Father Josemara to him. Herrera met with Fathe
r Josemara and explained his plans for a directors' center. To give him time to t
hink the matter over, they scheduled another meeting, for February 11.
Father Josemara made the following summary of that second conversation:

Senor Herrera has offered me the position of giving spiritual formation to the p
riests chosen by Spain's bishops to live in community in Madrid (in the parish i
n Vallecas) in order to receive that formation and also social formation, which
will be given them by a Jesuit priest (he told me the name, but I don't remember
it). I told him that position is not for me, because that would not be to hide
and disappear. But how good God is, to have put such a position in my hands! In
my hands, which have never received, I can honestly say, even the lowest ecclesi
astical appointment! [186]

Herrera tried to change his mind, but Father Josemara refused to perform services
that were incompatible with a total dedication to the Work.

He asked me to give a retreat to a group of young men (members of the National A

ssociation of Catholic Propagandists), but I refused, stating that I don't have
the necessary training and am too involved in other things to be able to take on
that one. ...He kept insisting that we must speak again.[187]

On his return home, he gave a very superficial report of the interview, mentioni
ng the possibility of getting some position in the future. "Let's hope they give
you something that will do souls a lot of good, but that will also pay well," s
aid his brother Santiago.[188]
Don Angel's surprise was probably even greater than Father Pedro Poveda's had be
en on the day that Father Josemara rejected the offer of the honorary chaplaincy
of the royal house. That position with Catholic Action was not a merely honorary
one. It would have put in his hands the spiritual direction of a group of selec
t souls, and would have brought with it a recognition of his personal gifts by t
he Spanish hierarchy.[189]

* * *

After the abortive monarchist uprising of August 1932, police surveillance and c
ontrol of all kinds of gatherings became tighter and tighter. Now that Father Jo
semara had a stable group of young men following him, he needed to find some lega
lly recognized entity that could serve as a setting for his apostolic and format
ional activities. The best would be some kind of educational facility. He came t
o this conclusion after discarding, as we have said, the idea of an association
of the faithful for students.[190]
For the moment, the Work as such did not need a juridical structure. Its apostol
ic dynamism reflected the reality of life itself. And so its founder came to def

ine it as "an organized disorganization."[191]

Its apostolates were made up of people of different social classes, professions,
ages, and other personal circumstances. Between those persons and the Work ther
e was no juridical bond, but simply obligations of service and fidelity undertak
en freely and willingly within the framework of a generous response to a divine
vocation. In that ?disorganization" apostolic tasks were organized under the pat
ronage of the three archangels and given the internal cohesion proper to the spi
rituality of the Work, whose essence consists in the sanctification of work and
in apostolate carried out through the exercise of one's profession.
Its most recent vocations were proof of the diversity of Father Josemara's enterp
rise. Juan Jimenez Vargas, who asked admission on January 4, 1933, was a student
. Jenaro Lazaro, who entered in February 1933, on the eve of Father Josemara's in
terview with the president of Catholic Action, was a sculptor, ?a mature man, an
artist employed by a railroad company." The third vocation of this period came
on February 11. His story goes back to the time when Father Josemara was chaplain
at the Foundation for the Sick.
Back then the chaplain, from his confessional saw a certain young man come into
the church every morning.* They would greet each other, and sometimes see each o
ther on the street, but did not get to the point of having an actual conversatio
n.
Finally the priest decided to take the initiative. In his journal entry for Marc
h 25, 1931, he tells the story:

Today, the 25th, the feast of the Annunciation of our Lady, with my apostolic au
dacity (daring!) I went up to a young man who, with great piety and recollection
, receives Communion every day in my church. He, in fact, had just received our
Lord when I said to him, "Listen, would you be so good as to pray a little for a
special intention that's for the glory of God?" "Yes, Father," he answered-and
he even thanked me! The intention was that he, being so devout, be chosen by God
to be an apostle in his Work. On other occasions, when I have seen him from my
confessional, I have made this same request of his guardian angel.[192]

The young man was at that time a student. Two years later, when he was a profess
or at the Institute of Linares (a town in Andalusia), his guardian angel came th
rough. "On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes," the founder wrote, "the Lord, thro
ugh that guardian angel, brought us this young man. He is Jose Maria Gonzcilez B
arredo. 1933."[193]

* * *

"The Work was growing within, not yet born, in gestation."[194] While waiting fo
r the time to come for it to take on visible, external form, Father Josemara dedi
cated himself to fostering fraternity among the members and to giving them apost
olic training. And above that obscure and quiet labo4 his supernatural optimism
opened up horizons for the future as if they were already solidly established el
ements of the Work. "In all our houses, in a very visible place," he wrote on Au
gust 23, 1932, "we will put up this verse from chapter 15 of Saint John: Hoc est
pr ceptum meum, ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos ['This is my commandment th
at you love one another as I have loved you']."[195] He had no idea when those h
ouses would be in operation, but in the meantime he felt the need to be able to
get together with his people in a private, intimate setting. The "organized diso
rganization" was crying out for a family kind of life.
Father Josemara rented the apartment on Martinez Campas with the idea of not havi
ng to go to someone else's place far the gatherings with students and priests. W
hile he awaited the dreamed-of "academy," the home of Doa Dolores was more or les
s the headquarters of the Work. On the afternoon of March 19, 1933, the Escrivs w
aited, with some eagerness, for Father Josemara's young people to take possession
of the apartment. They celebrated its blessing with a family meal which include
d some pastries sent by Father Norberto's mother.[196]
There, in the apartment on Martinez Campos, an intense apostolate was carried ou

t, even though the Escriv family did not always have the financial resources to o
ffer hospitality to all the young people invited by Father Josemara. In Doa Dolore
s' home there were formation classes, study circles, and then lively get-togethe
rs presided over by Father Josemara. Finally, before saying good-bye, he would ge
t out a large missal read the Gospel of the day, and, in a few words, give an in
cisive commentary that came from deep in his heart. "The Father," says Juan Jime
nez Vargas, who was one of those present, "knew the Gospel in great depth and us
ed it as a springboard for a lot of prayer."[197]
Those gatherings had a homey atmosphere. By his actions Father Josemara did all h
e could to make everyone understand what family life in the Work meant. "His mot
her, his sister, and his brother," says Jenaro Lcizaro, "gladly collaborated in
that task." Often the Escrivs offered the young men something to eat. The tone of
elegance in the house, the courtesy and graciousness with which Carmen and Doa D
olores offered those snacks, "kept us from realizing at first what those invitat
ions meant in the way of real sacrifice," says Juan Jimenez Vargas.[198] (This i
s, however, a later reflection. Juan, like the rest of those young men, satisfie
d his appetite at the expense of Doa Dolores' pantry. A visitor, Jose Ramon Herre
ro Fontana, once heard little Santiago rather discreetly but quite audibly voice
his concern. "Josemara's boys," he said, "eat up everything."[199])
The founder received many visitors at the Martinez Campos apartment. At Pepe Rom
eo's house he had met Ricardo Femandez Vallespin, a young man a year away from g
etting his degree in architecture, who was tutoring other students to help himse
lf financially. Father Josemara had set up an appointment with him for a visit at
the Martinez Campos apartment. Ricardo showed up there at the agreed-upon time,
feeling a little apprehensive, suspecting that the visit was going to have "a b
ig influence" on his life. "He spoke to me about things of the soul," he recalls
, giving no elaboration. When they parted, the priest gave him a book on the Pas
sion of Christ. On its first blank page he had written this inscription:

+ Madrid, 29 May 1933

May you seek Christ.
May you find Christ.
May you love Christ.[200]

It was around that time that the project of the dreamed-of II academy" for devel
oping the apostolate with students began to take shape. This appears from the ac
count that another of those young students gives of an interview Father Josemara
had with him on June 14, 1933. "At about seven-thirty," says Manolo Sainz de los
Terreros, "I very calmly went to 4 Martinez Campos Street to see that priest wh
o wanted to talk to me' about the academy.' How far I was from expecting all tha
t was going to happen!" The first effect the priest had on him was "an inclinati
on, a special pull a compulsion like nothing I had ever felt with anyone else, t
o open up to him," says Manolo.[201] And so' "not leaving out a single thing," h
e bared his soul to the priest.

* * *

What there is of "organization" in the Work consists partly in the observance of

certain practices of Christian life. Through spiritual direction, Father Josema
ra sketched out a daily program of basic norms to foster a life of prayer through
out the day. These included a period of mental prayer, Holy Mass, examinations o
f conscience, reading from the Gospel, and a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. To
these norms were later added some other prayers and customs, such as reciting to
gether the prayers of the Work: a set of invocations from the liturgy of the Chu
rch and from Sacred Scripture, offered for the needs of Opus Dei and its members
. Reciting the prayers of the Work together was that "first official act" which
took place in December 1930.[202]
This plan of life does not consist in a simple list of pious practices, but is f
used in a unity of life with the asceticism proper to a Christian in the exercis
e of his or her profession. For, in virtue of the spirit proper to Opus Dei, one

's professional activity is another way of praying and readily becomes apostolat
e, and apostolate requires the support of an intense prayer life. And so the pla
n of life includes not only ascetical practices that must be carried out at a se
t time, like participating in the Mass, but also others (examinations of conscie
nce, aspirations, acts of attentiveness to God's presence, of reparation, of con
sideration of our divine filiations) that can be woven into the fabric of the da
y to help keep the contemplative life always active.
In February 1933 the founder judged that the time had come to establish a unifie
d plan. "I want to set up a plan of life to which all of us in the Work will sub
mit ourselves," he wrote on February 14. "I'd like for us to be able to official
ly oblige ourselves to carry it out starting on this year's feast of our father
and lord Saint Joseph."[203]
By the end of the next month he had worked up some "provisional norms" which he
soon distributed to his followers, after testing their adaptability and suitabil
ity to the kind of life lived by the people in the Work. Some of those norms, su
ch as getting together for a commentary on the Gospel before going to bed at nig
ht, were practices observed from the time Father Josemara started gathering young
people at his mother's home on Martinez Campos Street.[204]
It is not the novelty of such norms that makes this step important, but the way
the members of the Work took them on. They resolved to live them in a stable way
, harmoniously integrating them with persevering work throughout the day; mainta
ining, that is, the unity of a contemplative life in the midst of all types of a
ctivities, thus facilitating the practice of the virtues, from the theological t
o the so-called natural or human ones: sincerity, optimism, loyalty, cheerfulnes
s, and so forth.

[1] This holy man, Bernardino de Obregn, had founded the Hospital de Convalecient
es, on Fuencarral Street. With the hospital experience he had acquired over the
years, he proposed that the king consider creating a general hospital, whose adm
inistration he thought should be entrusted to a committee of illustrious and pio
us persons, presided over by someone from the Tribunar of the Council of Castile
, with its support coming from Doations, bequests, alms, and, later on,payments f
rom the Treasury and from Madrid's city council. This royal foundation received
important Doations and bequests from Kings Philip II, Philip III, Philip V Fernan
do VI (who Doated to it Madrid's bullring), Carlos III, and Fernando VII.
The hospital represented a real medical revolution for its time, and became one
of the best hospitals of Europe.
King Philip rn assisted at the funeral of Brother Bernardino de Obregn, and also
in the process of his beatification.
See Memoria de la Excma. Diputacin Provincial de Madrid-La labor de seis aiios: 1
924-1929, Madrid, 1929, pp. 17-23; and Comoyo os ame, published by the Hospital
Brothers of St. Philip Neri in Madrid: issue no.1 (14 May 1967), pp. 31-33.
* The palace built by Philip II outside Madrid.
** Carlos III reigned from 1759 to 1788.
[2] Construction of this building, which was to follow the plans drawn up by Her
rera for Philip n, was held up by an appeal to the Holy See that took over eight
y years to be decided. Thus it began during the reign of Fernando VI and was com
pleted by Carlos ill's architects: Hermosilla and Sabatini.
Annexed to the School of Medicine was the hospital clinic. In 1931 this occupied
a wing of the General Hospital, having been ceded to the state by a settlement
in accord with the Royal Decree of 24 Dec 1903 (see Memoria, p. 17).
The General Hospital was a huge, 242,000-square-foot buildingrectangular, with s
pacious corridors. At one time it had a capacity of 2,000 beds. During the sixti
es it ceased to be used for medical purposes. Today a part of the old building h
as been renovated and is the Queen Sofia Cultural Center.
[3] Apuntes, no.731.
[4] Apuntes, no.360.
[5] See "El R. P. Jose Maria Escriv de Balaguer y la Congregacin de Hermanos Filip

enses," in Coma yo as arne, no, 32 (1 act 1975), pp. 5-6. This article presents
interesting recollections of the Philippians about the chaplain of the sisters a
t Santa Isabel, although there are some errors in dates.
One instance: "Our Brother Antonio Diaz informed him of our existence and of our
prayer services for the sick." This statement is completely consistent with Apu
ntes, no.360, and is not contradicted by the testimony of another witness that i
t was from a medical student Adolfo G6mez Ruiz, that he learned of the hospital'
s situation, and that he then thought of collaborating with the Philippians in o
rder to "get into the hospital to take care of the sick, and be allowed to use t
heir chapel to do his prayer" (Jose Romeo, AGP, RHF, T-O3809, pp. 7-8). The talk
with Adolfo G6mez was evidently subsequent to the one with the sacristan, and p
robably prior to Father Josemara's first visit to the hospital, which took place
two Sundays later.
[6] Apuntes, no.360.
[7] See Apuntes, nos. 381 and 383. The Congregation of St. Philip Neri of Lay Se
rvants of the Sick of the Holy General Hospital of Madrid was founded in 1694. I
ts constitutions were first approved in 1707, by the archbishop of Toledo, and w
ere modified and reapproved on 4 May 1745.
The Congregation was a continuation of the Obregn Hospital Brothers, and had for
its use one of the hospital wards. At the end of the nineteenth century the Phil
ippians were authorized to build a chapel with offices attached, in the garden s
urrounding the hospital.
The objective of the Congregation was to reach out in charity to the sick, " see
ing in each of them a living image of Christ our King, reflecting on his saying
that whatever one does for them he will take as done to himselt and realizing th
at the reward he is offering is nothing less than his eternal glory" ( Constituc
iones de la Congregacin de nuestro Padre y Patriarca San Felipe Neri de Seglares,
Madrid, 1899, p. 22).
The internal government of the organization was made up of an Eldest Brother and
a Council of Elders. There were at the time very few brothers in the Congregati
on of the General Hospital of Madrid, and since all were laymen, they were to co
nsult in certain situations with two priests, called Advisors.
In 1931 the priests of St. Philip Neri were not living in Madrid but resided in
Alcalti de Henares. So, for some time, the Advisors were diocesan priests. See L
ibros de Actas de Juntas de Ancianos de la Congregacin, en su sede de la callede
Antonio Arias, no.17.
[8] Constituciones, p. 22. The Philippians also buried the dead and distributed
food and clothing among the sick. Because of this, they were also popularly know
n as "the Soup Brothers."
[9] Apuntes, no.647.
[10] Jose Romeo,AGP, RHF, T--03809, p. 8.
[11] Despite the optimism and discretion with which the abovementioned Memoria w
as written, one only need read the sections about the problems caused by a lack
of beds in the hospital to get an idea of the conditions there. In the volumes o
f Libros de Actas de Sesionesde la Diputacin de Madrid (in Madrid's city library)
for 1930 to 1932, there is a continuation of the story of the "calamities" whic
h one of the brothers of the Congregation, Patricio Gonztilez de Canales, mentio
ns in a letter (dated 18 Jul1967) to the rector of the Basilica of San Miguel (s
ee AGp, RHF, 0-15312). For example, ten or twelve patients fled the hospital eve
ry day, since the doorkeepers could not keep track of "the thousands of patients
in the hospital" (vol. 95 [1931], fol. 219); a war of words was underway over a
proposal to replace the hospital's Daughters of Charity with lay nurses; and wh
en some of the sick people in the wards petitioned that the brothers of the Cong
regation of St. Philip Neri be allowed to continue their work, the petition was
rejected (see vol. 96 [1932], fol. 75).
The founder occasionally spoke of "that General Hospital of Madrid, loaded with
sick, destitute people, people lying in the corridors because they did not have
beds." See Gonzalo Herranz, "Sin miedo a la vida y sin miedo a la muerte," in Me
moria, pp, 139-40.
[12] See "El R. P. Jose Maria Escrivti."

[13] See Jose Romeo, AGP, RHF, T--03809, p. 8; Jenaro Ltizaro, AGP, RHF, T --003
10, p. 1; and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 263.
[14] Apuntes, no.433.
[15] Apuntes, nos. 383 and 433.
[16] Apuntes, no.609.
[17] Apuntes, no.608.
[18] Apuntes, no.609. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 262, and Javier Echevar
ria, Sum. 1961.
[19] See Jose Romeo, AGP, RHF, T --03809, p. 8, and Jose Manuel Domenech, AGP, R
HF, T--00872.
[20] Constituciones, p. 26.
[21] See Letter 15 act 1948, no.192. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 264; Jav
ier Echevarria, Sum. 1960; and The Way, no.626.
[22] See vol. 96 of Libras de Actas de sesianes de la Diputacin de Madrid,especia
lly fols. 75,135,136,147, 147v, 16Ov, and 162.
In Apuntes, no.685, Father Josemara writes: 11 April5, 1932: Last Sunday I made m
y profession in the Congregation of St. Philip. I know this pleased the Lord."
This note refers to the formal ceremony. Actually, he had been taking part in th
e spiritual exercises of the Congregation since 1931 (see Apuntes, no.622).
We do not know with certainty how the measures taken by the directors of the Gen
eral Hospital affected the Congregation of St. Philip Neri and its brothers duri
ng 1933, since this was not a congregation of religious, but, rather, a simple c
haritable confraternity.
[23] See letter of 10 Jun 1934 from Tomcis Minguez (the Brother Secretary) to Fa
ther Josemara: original in AGP, RHF, 0--15312. According to its constitutions, th
e Congregation was to have two Advisors, with neither voice nor vote in its gove
rnment, and, as a rule, these were to be priests of the Congregation of the Orat
ory of St. Philip Neri (see Cama ya as arne, 14 May 1967, pp. 11-12). Since in 1
931 the Oratorians resided far from Madrid and traveling was hazardous, it is qu
ite possible that Father Josemara carried out the functions of an Advisor and led
the prayers in the chapel in 1931 and 1932. This is implied by something said b
y Brother Patricio: 1'Father Escrivci made contact with us, and shortly thereaft
er was named Father Advisor" (see "El R. P. Jose Maria Escrivci").
Nowhere does he himself say that he was an Advisor. However, a statement in his
journal entry for 21 Nov 1932, "Father Sanchez has a file on my activities in th
e Congregation of St. Philip; I am under obedience" (Apuntes, no.871), together
with what he says on 9 Dec 1934 about ?the matter of the hospital? (Apuntes1 no.
948), leads one to believe that when the priests of the Oratory of Alcalci de He
nares resumed their responsibilities as Advisors (see Jose Rorneol AGP; RHF, T -03809, p. 8)1 there must have been a diversity of opinion about the policies to
be followed in the hospital in light of the obstacles created by the authoritie
s.
[24] This supposition is corroborated by two loose notesl written in 1934, sayin
g IISunday: Santa Isabel-Class or catechism. Afternoon, hospital" and IISunday:
moming1 General Hospital" (Apuntes, nos. 1794 and 1796).
The spiritual exercises of the Congregation were held in the afternoonl at the G
eneral Hospital. Apparently, then, the chaplain of Santa Isabel took care of the
sick independently of the schedule of visits by the Philippians.
[25] In its session of March 22, 1932, for approving the Ministry of Justice bud
get, the Cortes, to wipe out obligations to the Church, cut the 66.9 million pes
etas allocated for it in the 1931 budget to 29.5 million. All diocesan ecclesias
tical personnel depended on this budget for religion and the clergy: some 35,000
men (bishops, canons, pastors, and curates).
[26] See A. Valdes, "Quincuagesimo aniversario de la muerte de Jose Maria Somoan
o Berdasco," in the 15 Aug 1982 edition of La Nueva Espafia.
[27] See J. Torres Gost, Medio siglo en el hospital del Key, Madrid, 1975, and A
lvaro del Portillo, Sum. 264. With the coming of the Republic, King's Hospital b
egan to call itself the National Hospital, although people continued to call it
King's Hospital.
[28] Apuntes, no.541.

[29] Apuntes, no.545. Thus he administered those prayers of pain: "Lino a d the
two Jose Maria's have been charged, each of them, with winning one vocation. I h
ave asked them to apply to this end the expiation being done at King's Hospital"
(Apuntes,no.552). The priests were Fathers Lino Vea-Murguia, Jose Maria Somoano
, and Jose Maria Vegas.
[30] Apuntes, no.685.
[31] Apuntes, no.640. "Her suggestions seem to come from God. She is always righ
t," he adds. In that same month of March 1932-two weeks, that is, after he consu
lted Doa Dolores-the Ministry of Justice budget for religion and the clergy was c
ut by over 50 percent, and shortly afterward the chaplaincies were suppressed.
[32] Engracia Echevarria, AGP, RHF, T-04389, p. 1. See also Isabel Martin Rodrig
uez, Sum. 5774, and Maria Jesus Sanz Zubiria, AGP, RHF, T-O5138, p.l.
[33] See Apuntes, no.1003.
[34] Apuntes, no.785.
[35] See Apuntes, no.789.
[36] See Apuntes, no.793.
* He is referring to the pious belief that our Lady promised to free from purgat
ory on the Saturday following their death those who die wearing the scapular.
[37] Apuntes, no.785. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 267; Joaquin Alonso, Su
m. 4615; and J. M. Cejas, Jose Maria Somoano en los comienzos del Opus Dei, Madr
id, Rialp, 1995.
[38] Engracia Echevarria, AGP, RHF, T-O4389, p. 1, "The government budget for al
l establishments requiring the presence of clergy was eliminated," explains Sist
er Engracia. "Our hospital's chief of staff, Dr. Manuel Tapia, was a man of a hi
gh moral caliber. He was very honorable, very respectful, and very reasonable, a
lthough he was poorly informed about the duties of the Christian. ...Always he a
cted with great propriety. And so, when the budget for the clergy disappeared, h
e called and said that from our stipend as hospital workers, which had recently
been increased, we should set aside a certain amount to pay the expenses of a pr
iest who would continue the spiritual care of the hospital's patients.
And I did so, because I knew that the patients had a right to receive the sacram
ents and the necessary spiritual assistance."
The decree of the Ministry of the Interior by which the Chaplains' Corps was abo
lished is dated 26 Mar 1932: see Boletin Oficial del Obispado de Madrid-Alcald,
no.157 (15 Apr 1932), p. 149. Article 3 of this decree states that "when any sic
k person. ..requests a religious rite, this should be taken care of whenever pos
sible, regardless of what religion the person professes." But in the hospitals t
his article could not be implemented, because the official budgets were always i
nsufficient.
[39] See Isabel Martin Rodriguez, Sum. 5776, and Maria Jesus Sanz Zubiria, AGP,
RHF, T --05138, p. 2.
[40] Maria Jesus Sanz Zubiria, AGP, RHF, T --05138, p. 2.
[41] See Isabel Martin Rodriguez, Sum. 5776 and 5777.
[42] Engracia Echevarria, AGP, RHF, T--04389, p. 2.
[43] Ibid. "It was very common for priests to stop wearing clerical clothes," sa
ys Jose Romeo. "The Father always wore the cassock" (AGP, RHF, T--03809, p. 9).
"Many priests who felt capable of decisive and heroic action if the need arose,"
says Juan Jimenez Vargas, "went around in secular clothing. ...The Father would
never dress as a layman. In fact, he wore a cape which undoubtedly was more con
spicuous-for want of a better word-than an overcoat" (AGP, RHF,T --04152/1, p. 4
).
[44] Maria Jesus Sanz Zubiria, AGP, RHF, T --05138, p. 1.
[45] See Braulia Garcia Escobar, AGP, RHF, T--04966, p. 1
[46] Benilde Garcia Escobar, AGP, RHF, T--04965, p. 1.
[47] See Braulia Garcia Escobar, AGp, RHF, T --04966, p. 3.
[48] Ibid., p. 4.
[49] Apuntes, no.1006. His companion, Juan Jimenez Vargas, a witness to this vis
it, says: "When I first met and associated with the founder, he was still making
his visits and exercising his priestly apostolate in those hospitals. And one d
ay, by chance, I accompanied him when he brought Communion to a very seriously i

ll woman at King's Hospital. After giving her Communion, he encouraged and exhor
ted her to prepare herself worthily for the hour of death" (Juan Jimenez Vargas,
Sum.6702).
[50] See Appendix 15.
[51] The founder mentions her in his journal entry for 14 Feb 1934 (Apuntes , no
.1136). See also Natividad Gonzcilez FortUn, Sum.5874.
[52] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 315, and Javier Echevarria, PR, p. 1590. An e
yewitness states, " Another time, I myself accompanied the founder to a family's
home, located near Plaza de Espafia, in which was the corpse of a young man to
whom the Servant of God had earlier administered the last sacraments. In my pres
ence, he enshrouded the body" Ouan Jimenez Vargas, Sum. 6702).
[53] Pedro Cantero, AGP, RHF, T-O4391, p. 9.
[54] Apuntes, no.1002.
[55] Tomcis Canales, AGP, RHF, T-O2219.
[56] Ibid.
[57] Meditation of 19 Mar 1975.
[58] Apuntes, no.563; see also The Way, no.208.
[59] See AGP, P04 1974, ll, p. 406.
[60] Ibid. This anecdote, including the cited quote, is related also by Alvaro d
el Portillo, in Sum. 269.
[61] Pequeiio bosquejo de las virtudes del celoso ap6stol D. Jose Ma. Somoano (q
.e.p.d.) por una enferma del Hospital Nacional [A little sketch of the virtues o
f the zealous apostle Father Jose Maria Somoano (R.I.P.) by a patient at the Nat
ional Hospital], handwritten by Maria Ignacia Garcia Escobar in 1932: see AGP, R
HF, 0-03381.
[62] Ibid.
[63] Ibid.
[64] Ibid.
[65] Apuntes, no.615.
[66] C20 (14 Aug 1931)
[67] Letter of 24 Dec 1931 from Isidoro Zorzano to Father Josemara: original in A
GP, IZL, 0--1213 (letter no.19).
[68] Letter of 2 Mar 1932 from Isidoro Zorzano to Father Josemara: original inAGP
, IZL, 0--1213 (letter no.21).
[69] Meditation of 19 Mar 1975
[70] Apuntes, no.354.
[71] Apuntes, no.84.
[72] Apuntes, no.186. That cry-"God and daring!"-would be repeated during the ne
xt few days: see Apuntes, nos. 190 and 224.
[73] Apuntes, no.187
[74] Apuntes, no.197.
[75] Apuntes, no.198.
[76] Apuntes, no.997
[77] Apuntes, no.354.
[78] Apuntes, no.963 (23 Mar 1933). Braulia Garcia Escobar met those first women
of the Work during visits to her sister at King's Hospital. "My sister Maria Ig
nacia," she says, "was marvelously cared for spiritually by the Father. Other gi
rls also went to see her and keep her company, and some belonged to the Work. On
e of these was named Modesta Cabeza, and she was a simple girl. Father Lino was
her spiritual director. The Father asked her to pray for specific intentions. ..
.
"Carmen Cuervo Radigales also came to the hospital to keep my sister company. Sh
e lived in Asuncion Hall, at the Royal Foundation of Santa Isabel. She was a Lab
or Commissioner-something unheard-of in those days, when it was practically unth
inkable for women to hold public office.
"The last one I remember from that group was Herm6genes. I think she worked for
a bank."
(This is from AGP, RHF, T-04966, pp. 2-3. See also the testimony of Ramona Sanch
ez: AGP, RHF, T--05828, p. 2.)
[79] C 18 (5 May 1931).

[80] Apuntes, no.1072.

[81] See Appendix 15.
[82] See Appendix 14.
[83] See Appendix 14. "Luis Gordon's entrance into the Work had promised a big f
inancial boost for its apostolic initiatives. The founder's comment was that his
death had been providential. Opus Dei continued to grow in the most absolute po
verty, without material means. It was necessary for the Work to be born poor, as
was Jesus in Bethlehem" (AIvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1220).
[84] Meditation of 2 act 1962. See also Letter 14 Sep 1951, no.4.
[85] Apuntes, no.1756
[86] Jenaro Lazaro, AGP, RHF, T --00310, p. 1.
[87] Apuntes, no.541.
[88] Pequeiio bosquejo, AGP, RHF, 0-03381.
[89] Pedro Cantero, AGP, RHF, T -04391, pp. 3--4.
[90] Ibid., p. 5.
[91] On August 14,1931, the founder wrote to Isidoro Zorzano: "Yesterday I made
the decision to tell our great secret to someone else. ...I ask you for very spe
cial prayer and some small act of expiation, a voluntary one. Look, this way we
are going to carry out the 'business' just between you and me. I'm not going to
ask prayer or expiation from anyone else. It will be up to us to move the heart
of our King. ...That vocation, if God grants it, will have been engendered by yo
u, through your opportune and inopportune' prayer. You should be toning up yoU!
spiritual life these days, and not slack off later" (C 20, 14 Aug 1931).
In a letter dated August 26,1931, addressed to the members of the Work, Isidoro
answered that request. "I have intensified my prayer," he said, "and since I hav
e no lack of annoyances at any time of day, I have plenty of material to offer t
o God as expiation. ...I am offering it all for a happy conclusion of our 'busin
ess"' (AGP, IZL, 0-1213, no.16). See also Apuntes, nos. 231, 362, 365, and 591.
[92] Apuntes, no.613.
[93] Father Lino Vea-Murguia Bru was born in 1901, in Madrid, and was ordained i
n 1926. In 1927 he became chaplain of the Foundation for the Sick, and from 1930
on was senior chaplain of the Slaves of the Sacred Heart. On August 15 or 16 of
1936 he was assassinated in Madrid. (See his personal file in the archive of th
e general secretariat of the archdiocese of Madrid-Alcalti.)
As already indicated, as soon as Father Josemara read him a few pages of his "Cat
herines," Father Norberto considered himself incorporated in the Work. As for Fa
ther Lino, Father Norbert0-0n his own initiative, without consulting the founder
-invited him to join (see Apuntes,nos. 354 and 412).
[94] See Pedro Cantero, AGP, RHF, T-O4391, p. 9.
[95] Pequeiio bosquejo, AGP, RHF, D-O3381.
[96] See Appendix 13
[97] Apuntes, no.834. Father Sebasticln Cirac Estopafian had for some time been
receiving spiritual direction from Father Josemara. Born in Caspe (near Saragossa
) in 1903, he was ordained in 1928. In 1932 he became a canon of Cuenca; in 1934
he moved to Germany to continue his studies; and in 1940 he won, by competitive
examination, the chair of Greek philology at the University of Barcelona. He di
ed in 1970.
[98] Father Jose Maria Vegas perez was born in 1902, in Madrid, and was ordained
a priest in 1927. In 1928 he was assigned to the parish of San Martin and then
became chaplain of the Chapel of Santisimo Cristo de San Gines. In 1935 he was a
ppointed rector of Cerro de los Angeles. On November 27,1937, in Paracuellos del
Jarama, he was assassinated. (See his personal file in the archive of the gener
al secretariat of the archdiocese of Madrid-Alcalti.)
[99] Letter of 5 Sep 1930 from Isidoro Zorzano to Father Josemara: original in AG
P, IZL, 0-1213, no.7.
[100] Letter of 14 Sep 1930 from Isidoro Zorzano to Father Josemara: original in
AGP, IZL, 0-1213, no.8.
[101] Apuntes, no.381.
[102] C 22 (10 Nov 1931).
[103] Apuntes, no.602. He then adds, "Carmen Cuervo-that's the name of the woman

that Jesus was preparing for the W. of G." See also Apuntes, no.1872.
[104] See Apuntes, no.693. In this journal entry, written the morning of Apri111
, 1932, he says with reference to that first vocation of expiation, "Thanks be t
o God. Today, in our weekly meeting, I suggested to my brother priests that we p
ray a Te Deum."
[105] See Apuntes, no.434.
[106] Apuntes, no.931.
[107] Apuntes, no.1136.
[108] See Apuntes, no.381. "I continued to work with the boys," he says in anoth
er journal entry, "without ceasing to feel the need to seek souls among the wome
n" (Apuntes, no.1872). "Work was being done in women's circles. .., but I was no
t finding people who seemed to me to be ready" (Apuntes, no.381).
[109] C 28 (8 Apr 1932).
[110] In Apuntes, no.691 (10 Apr 1932), he says: "These days I am preparing girl
s at Santa Isabel School for First Communion."
[111] Apuntes, no.402
[112] Apuntes, no.710.
[113] C 28 (8 Apr 1932).
[114] Apuntes, no.748.
[115] It is possible that the Escriv family was going through some difficulty tha
t worried Father Josemara. See C 30 (7 Jun 1932).
[116] Jose Manuel Domenech, AGP, RHF, T -00872. The history of the Second Spanis
h Republic was a very stormy one. The summer of 1932 was plagued by riots, crimi
nal assaults on individuals and churches, and nationalistic tensions connected w
ith the movement for Catalonian autonomy and with various separatist movements,
not to mention work stoppages and the country's economic problems.
In those conditions various monarchist elements and some military personnel who
were unhappy with the army reforms undertaken by the republican government forge
d a conspiracy.
The time set for the revolt was 4:00 A.M., August 10. It was supposed to take pl
ace both in Seville and in Madrid. But it was neither well organized nor well su
pported. The government, moreover, had known about the plot since some time in J
uly.
On August 10, General Sanjurjo launched the uprising in Seville, but elsewhere t
he troops were disorganized. The uprising in Madrid was easily and quickly put d
own.
[117] Apuntes, no.800.
[118] Apuntes,no.814.
[119] Jose Antonio Palacios, AGP, RHF, T-O2750, p. 1.
[120] Ibid 31, p. 3.
[121] Jose Manuel Domenech, AGP, RHF, T -00872.
[122] Ibid. Apart from penalties imposed generally on civilians and military per
sonnel who had revolted, such as confiscation of the country homes of those who
had conspired against the regime and those believed to have supported them, othe
r sanctions were also applied. One of these was the deportation to Villa Cisnero
s, in the old Spanish Sahara, of 145 accomplices or suspected accomplices, among
them Jose Manuel Domenech. Some of the prisoners were sent from Madrid to cadiz
, and then by ship to Africa, on September 22, 1932. Other suspects or presumed
accomplices were kept as political prisoners in Madrid's Carcel Modelo, or "mode
l prison."
[123] Apuntes, no.746.
[124] Apuntes, no.838. On September 12, 1932, Father Josemara went to the Carmeli
te monastery in Madrid to request admission to the Third Order of Discalced Carm
elites. "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 re
quested, October 2, 1932 (see Apuntes, no.838).
[125] See Apuntes, nos. 1635 and 1636. See also Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4347,

and Giovanni Udaondo, Sum. 5080.

[126] See Apuntes, no.1634.
[127] See Apuntes, no.1637.
[128] Apuntes, nos. 1637-40.
[129] Apuntes, no.1642.
[130] Instruction of 8 Dec 1941, no.9. On the archangels as patrons of the Work,
see Apuntes, no.1642, note 1211; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2645; Mario Lantini, S
um. 3587; Joaquin Monso, Sum. 4616; and Carmen Raillos, Sum. 7361.
[131] Apuntes, nos. 1644, 1646, and 1648.
[132] Apuntes, no.1655.
[133] See Apuntes, no.1658.
[134] See Apuntes, no.1660
[135] Apuntes, no.1661.
[136] "Father Sanchez," the founder explains, "has repeatedly given me to unders
tand (without directly saying this) that he is the director of my soul, not the
director of the Work of God. And I understand, very clearly, that that is how it
should be" (Apuntes, no.565). This idea is repeated in another journal entry: "
I have already said this several times: Father Sanchez is the director of my sou
l, but not the director of the Work. Now, his opinion is very worthy of respect.
Even more, I will always find myself very much inclined to accept it. But I kno
w I do not have an obligation to abide by it" (Apuntes, no.784). About Father Sa
nchez he would write in 1947: "He had nothing to do with the Work, in that I nev
er let him control or have a say in it. By a clear light from God I understood t
hat in this I could not grant or tolerate that others manage what our Lord was a
sking of me" (Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no.20).
[137] And he gives his reasons for acting in this way: because he feels supernat
urally driven to it; because a life of spiritual childhood requires it; and "bec
ause this way one can never be deceived" (Apuntes,no.560). In moments of doubt o
r confusion, when he had to make a decision affecting his soul, he always consul
ted his spiritual director. "I immediately went to my Father Sanchez, to tell hi
m the state of my soul," he writes on May 12, 1932 (Apuntes, no.719). "I went to
Father Sanchez and laid out before him the state of my soul: today I suffered,
and yesterday too. My Father Sanchez was very much a father" (Apuntes, no.744).
[138] Apuntes, no.708.
[139] Apuntes, no.701.
[140] Apuntes, no.702.
[141] Apuntes, no.702.
[142] In a journal entry from November 1931 he tells of one of these episodes. H
e had walked to Chamartin to see Father Sanchez. " After I had waited a long tim
e, a servant boy came down and brusquely said to me, 'Father says he is very bus
y.' 'Then I can't see him?' I asked. 'Of course not,' the boy answered.
"I was thunderstruck. But right away I offered it to Jesus and; despite my rebel
lious pride, tried to think like this: 'Father S. has too much patience with me!
I am a bother. Besides, even if he wasn't busy, these humiliations are very goo
d for you, Jose Maria'" (Apuntes, no.379; see also Apuntes, no.1757).
On one occasion when invited to dine at the Jesuits' generalate in Rome, he star
ted relating these recollections, and the lay brother serving at the table spont
aneously interrupted the conversation with these words: "I remember this very we
ll, because often it was I who had to tell you that Father Valentin Sanchez coul
d not see you" (see Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2063).
[143] See Apuntes, no.1757.
[144] Apuntes, no.1661. On the gifts of his spiritual director and the kind of t
reatment he received from Father Sanchez, the founder wrote, "What grace the Lor
d has given him for directing!" (C 20, 14 Aug 1931), and, later, "He gave me the
kind of care that any good priest should give me. Often he treated me with seve
rity, and I praise that severity" (Letter 29 Dec 1947 /14 Feb 1966, no.20). In t
he notes that he wrote during his retreat of 1934, which he intended Father Sanc
hez to read, he wrote: "The interest that you have always shown in the Work of G
od and in my spiritual well-being fills me with gratitude. For that, my father,
I love you very much in Christ Jesus. Every day I remember you in my prayer, and

twice every day I remember you intra missam [in my Mass]" (Apuntes, no. 1791).
[145] Apuntes, no.1665. Apparently the rage and the dirty tricks of the devil ha
d recently increased. The founder does not say much on this subject, nor does he
give any more details about this incident. (See also Apuntes, nos. 719,720,721,
739, and 743.)
[146] See Apuntes, no.1676. Possibly in June 1932, in Saragossa, he spoke with F
ather Pou de Foxa, who would have encouraged him in his studies: see C 28 (8 Apr
1932) and Apuntes, no.780.
[147] See Apuntes, no.1678. The crux of the problem was his poverty, which alrea
dy had prevented him from getting the doctorate in sacred theology upon completi
on of his academic studies at the Pontifical University of Saragossa. "I don't h
ave the money,11 he says, 11and this has a double consequence: (a) since I have
to work, sometimes too much, in order to support my family, I don't right now ha
ve either the time or the inclination to work on those doctorates; and (b) even
if I had the time, without money it is impossible to get through those academic
exercises" (Apuntes, no.1676).
[148] Apuntes, nos. 1680 and 1681.
[149] Apuntes, no.1679.
[150] Apuntes, no.1686.
[151] See Apuntes, no.1688.
[152] Apuntes, no.1689.
[153] Apuntes, no.1699.
[154] Apuntes, no.1695.
[155] Apuntes, no.1702. The rest of this entry reads: 11(2) Not to ask questions
out of curiosity. (3) Not to sit down any more than necessary, and never to lea
n against the back of the chair. (4) Not to eat anything sweet. (5) Not to drink
water,except for that of the ablution. (6) After lunch, not to eat bread. (7) N
ot to spend even five cents, if a poor beggar, in my place, could not afford it.
(8) Never to complain about anything to anyone, if not for the purpose of seeki
ng direction. (9) Not to praise, and not to criticize.
?Deo omnis gloria! I will read this note every Sunday."
[156] Apuntes, no.1658.
[157] Apuntes, no.870. All his life he struggled to guard his sight, mortifying
himself even in licit things. This is illustrated by a curious incident around t
he end of 1931. Father Josemara was friends with the Marquis of Guevara and his w
ife. (The Marquis, Floro Rodriguez Casanova, was a brother of Doa Luz, the foundr
ess of the Foundation for the Sick.) One day when he was at their house, he aske
d them, with the intention of providing work for a young painter who needed it,
if they would like to commission a portrait. The Marchioness graciously agreed.
The painter showed up; she posed for him; and later she lent him a dress so that
he could finish the portrait in his studio. A few days later the painter went t
o see Father Josemara. He had a problem: he needed to know what color the lady's
eyes were. The priest confessed his ignorance, but assured him of an easy soluti
on to the problem. That week he was to dine with the couple, and so he would fin
d this out.
At that dinner, right there at the table, he innocently mentioned his meeting wi
th the painter and the problem he had run into. "Well, look at me, Father," said
the Marchioness, "my eyes are a beautiful green." And the priest replied, "Now
I'll look at them even less, silly!" (See Apuntes, nos. 181, 356, 450, and 462;
and AGP, P041974, II, 510.)
[158] On October 2, 1928, writes the founder, "the enterprise was sketched out."
The task of realizing it followed, of fixing the spirituality proper to Opus De
i and carrying out its apostolates. "This poor priest," as he himself put it, wo
uld have to "continue to note down and fill in the Work" (Apuntes, no.475; see a
lso Apuntes, no.475, note 391).
[159] He mentioned this "pious union or whatever" in Apuntes, no.772, prior to h
is retreat in Segovia. With Father Juan Postius [his confessor during the time F
ather Sanchez was in hiding] he consulted as to whether or not it would be a goo
d idea at that time to start an association for university students (see Apuntes
, no.769 [7 Jul1932]). Very soon the idea of a pious union was discarded. On Sep

tember 29, 1932, he writes: "Today I talked with Father Postius. He advises agai
nst setting up a young people's association. Working without setting up an assoc
iation-opening an academy, for example--this is what I'm now thinking or' (Apunt
es, no.837).
[160] See Instruction of 8 Dec 1941, no.9. See also Apuntes, no.1642.
Two days later, on Saturday, he wrote: "I prayed the prayers of the W. of G., in
voking our patrons the holy archangels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. And how sure
I am that this triple invocation, of personages so high in the kingdom of heaven
, must be--is-most agreeable to the Three and One, and will hasten the hour of t
he Work!" (Apuntes,no.1653).
His recourse to these archangels and apostles, seeking their intercession when s
tarting an apostolate, goes back to much earlier dates. For example, on December
27, 1930, the feast of Saint John the Evangelist, he had invoked this apostle a
nd obtained a favor (see Apuntes, no.140). On January 14, 1931, he asked himself
in a journal entry, "Saint John-ourpatron?" (see Apuntes, no.152). And in his e
ntry for May 8, 1931, feast of "the Apparition of Saint Michael," we read: "I ha
ve entrusted the Work to Saint Michael, the great warrior, and I think he has he
ard me" (Apuntes, no.198).
[161] During his retreat in Segovia, in 1932, he wrote that the work of apostola
te with university students should be done "under the protection of Our Lady of
Hope and the patronage of Saint Raphael the archangel. This-now and later-on the
basis of academies, without forming any kind of association" (Apuntes, no.1697)
. That idea is also expressed in an earlier entry: "The work of Saint Raphael an
d Saint John will always be done in our academies, without our forming with the
students an association of any kind" (Apuntes, no.921).
[162] Apuntes, no.890.
[163] A copy of the lease can be found in AGP, RHF, 0-15113. The lease is for "t
he apartment at 4 Franco Giner Street (formerly Martinez Campos), second floor,
left." The monthly rent was 115 pesetas. Item no.3 of the "Conditions of Contrac
t" states, " A delay of four days in the payment of the rent will be considered
sufficient cause to initiate eviction proceedings."
[164] Apuntes, no.892.
[165] Apuntes, no.893.
[166] Apuntes, no.883.
[167] Apuntes, no.884.
[168] In his journal entry for July 18, 1932, referring to a visit made to Fathe
r Jose Maria Somoano (who was then near death), he wrote: "The doctor in charge
said we were putting him at risk, so I had to leave King's Hospital. After heari
ng the confessions of some children at 'La Ventilla,' I went to Father Norberto'
s house" (Apuntes, no.787).
[169] Sister San Pablo Lemus y Gonzcilez de la Rivera, AGP, RHF, T --05833. See
also Pilar Angela Hernando Carretero, AGP, RHF, T --05250, p. 1.
[170] Apuntes, no.907.
[171] Apuntes, no.863
[172] Apuntes, no.913.
[173] Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T --04152/1, p. 19. Another of the students
present was Jose Maria Valentin-Gamazo: see AGP, RHF, T--02710.
[174] See AGP, PM 1975, p. 278. "Our Father told us many times," comments Bishop
del Portillo, "that when he gave that blessing with the Blessed Sacrament, he d
id not see just three boys, but three thousand, three hundred thousand, three mi
llion. .., white, black, yellow, of all languages and from all parts of the worl
d" (Instruction of 9 Jan 1935, note 25).
[175] See Jose Ramon Herrero Fontana,AGP, RHF, T--05834, p. 3, and Pilar Angela
Hernando Carretero,AGP, RHF, T--05250, p. 1
[176] Sister San Pablo Lemus y Gonzcilez de la Rivera, AGP, RHF, T--05833.
[177] As he himself expressed it, he did this "to select those who will later go
into the work whose patrons are Saint Gabriel and Saint Paul, and those who wil
l come to the heart of the W. of G." (Apuntes, no.913 [25 Jan 1933)). Later, whe
n the Work was more fully developed, the founder would explain that in reality a
ll members of the Work are "heart," since there is just one, identical vocation

to Opus Dei.
[178] Benita Casado, AGP, RHF, T--06242, pp. 1-2. At that time her name was Seve
rina; she later joined the Congregation of the Slaves of Mary. Luis Sevilla, a n
ephew of Doa Pilar, recalls that in 1933 Father Josemara prepared him for his Firs
t Communion, which he made on March 15, and that he gave him a little picture as
a souvenir (see Luis Sevilla, AGP, RHF, T --06243, p. 2).
[179] Benita Casado, AGP, RHF, T-O6242, p. 3. See also Luis Sevilla, AGP, RHF, T
-O6243, p. 3.
[180] See Jose Antonio Palacios, AGP, RHF, T -02750, p. 5.
[181] Ibid., p. 6.
[182] Apuntes, no.912; see also Apuntes, no.606.
[183] Apuntes, no.877.
[184] Apuntes, no.877.
[185] Apuntes, no.1696.
[186] Apuntes, no.925. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 241; Javier Echevarria
, Sum. 2080; Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4618; and Joaquin Mestre, AGP, RHF, T -00181,
p. 34.
Angel Herrera aria was born in Santander in 1886 and died as cardinal bishop of
Mcilaga in 1968. He was the first president of a national Catholic Action organi
zation (Asociacion Catolica Nacional de Propagandistas) founded in 1908 by Fathe
r Angel de Ayala, S.J. Herrera was also editor of El Debate from its inception i
n 1911 until 1933. Throughout those years he was noted for his promotion of soci
al action among Catholic students. In 1933 he was named president of the Central
Committee of Spanish Catholic Action. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1940
, consecrated as a bishop in 1947, and made a cardinal in 1965.
For more on Angel Herrera's projects, including the creation of the Center for A
dvisors, see Gonzalo Redondo, "Historia de la Iglesia en Espafia (1931-1939)," i
n Historia de la Iglesia (by various authors), vol. 3 (Madrid, 1985), pp. 202ff.
[187] Apuntes, no.926. For more on his refusal of Herrera's offers, see Florenci
o sanchez Bella, Sum. 7488. Within a short period of time, the founder had at le
ast three meetings with Angel Herrera. But at the one on February 11, their seco
nd talk, they really got into the subject of the Center for Advisors and the off
er was made to Father Josemara. He declined it then and there. (See Apuntes, nos.
923,925,926, 927, 933, and 934.)
In his journal entry for 11 Feb 1933 (Apuntes, no.923), he writes: "Our Lady, no
doubt, gave me two presents yesterday evening. The second was that I became lam
e and almost unable to sleep last night. ...And the first, that she brought us a
nother vocation for the Work: Jenaro Lcizaro." Bishop del Portillo explains that
lameness. He says that when the founder went to see Herrera, he felt no pain wh
atsoever, but when he left, he was limping; it was his first attack of rheumatis
m (see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 242).
[188] See Apuntes, no.927.
[189] Convinced of the heroic holiness of this act, the Most Reverend Marcelino
Olaechea (being by now the archbishop of Valencia but having been back then the
bishop of Pamplona) entrusted the task of testifying to it to his secretary, Fat
her Joaquin Mestre Palacio. Father Joaquin (see AGP, RIfF, T --00181, p. 34) exp
ressed it in these words:
President Herrera himself insisted, arguing, in a nutshell, "I want you to reali
ze, Father Josemara, that in that center I will be gathering, with God's help, th
e best priests of Spain, and that what I am offering you is this: that you be th
eir director."
But the Father, as I say, invariably and categorically responded, "No, no.1 appr
eciate it, but I cannot accept it, because I have to follow. ..the path to which
God has called me. Also I cannot accept it because of the very thing you have j
ust told me: that in that center will be gathered the best priests of Spain. Obv
iously I wouldn't be suitable for directing them."

The president of Spanish Catholic Action and future cardinal was so impressed by
the founder's behavior on that occasion that thirty years later he spoke of tha
t detachment to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella (see Sum.7488).

Bishop Javier Echevarria recalls the refusal of Herrera's offer as having been e
xpressed thus: I have thoroughly thought it over, and I cannot change my mind. B
esides, if the most outstanding priests of Spain are going to be there, there ar
e much better persons tnan myself who could take charge of those priests-men who
tower over me. Plus, I have other tasks that I can't stop tending to, because t
hat would be a betrayal of what God is asking of me" (JavierEchevarria, Sum. 208
0).
Other testimonies on this subject include Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 241; Joaquin
Alonso, Sum. 4618; Julian Herranz, Sum.3881; Francisco Botella, PM, fol. 221; a
nd Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6320.
[190] See Apuntes, nos. 768, 773, 774, and 837.
[191] "Our organization is an organized disorganization," he wrote on March 19,
1933 (in Apuntes, no.956).
His attempts to get guidelines from other institutions, or to learn from their e
xperiences, never helped the founder in any way. Information he had sought at th
e beginning of 1930 about modem apostolic institutions in other countries-instit
utions he had by now forgotten about-arrived around February 14, 1932, in a lett
er from Poland, from one Father Laureano de las Mufiecas (see Apuntes, no.603).
This was an answer to a letter sent to Krakow by Father Josemara (see Apuntes,no.
581 ). Father Lino saw Father Laureano in Santander in the middle of September
1932. But Father Josemara did not expect him to provide a solution to the questio
n of how the Work ought to be established, and in any case he had already decide
d to create a cultural center, or a residence. "I don't know," he says, "that Fa
ther Laureano will come up with any practical solution for the setting up of the
Work with regard to the ecclesiastical or civil authorities. ...The members and
associates should form cultural organizations" (Apuntes,no.835).
* In Spain confessionals were typically open in front. A priest sitting in the c
onfessional could, therefore, see what was going on in the church.
[192] Apuntes, no.184.
[193] Apuntes, no.184.
[194] Apuntes, no.164
[195] Apuntes, no.815.
[196] See Apuntes, no.952. About Doa Dolores' and Carmen's offering of their home
for apostolic purposes, Bishop Echevarria says: "The spirit of Opus Dei benefit
ed from their open and complete collaboration, because, without interfering in t
he founding of the Work, they knew how to help provide the home atmosphere that
he, in fulfillment of the will of God, wanted it to have" (Javier Echevarria, PR
, p. 488).
[197] Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-{)4152/1, p. 25. See also Jenaro Lclzaro,
AGP, RHF, T-{10310, p. 2.
[198] Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T -{14152/1, p. 25.
[199] See Jose Ramon Herrero Fontana, AGP, RHF, T-{15834, p. 2. See also Jose Ra
mon Madurga, PM, fol. 283v; Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo, Sum.7274; and Instruction
of May 1935/Sep 1950, no.85, note 153.
[200] See Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, AGp, RHF, T -00162, pp. 2-4. The book he
gave him was Historia de la sagrada Pasin, by Father Luis de la Palma.
[201] Manuel Sainz de los Terreros, AGP, RHF, T-12082.
[202] "It is obvious that our Lord-because this is the way it has to be within t
he Work-has wanted us to begin with prayer. Praying is going to be the first off
icial act of the members of the W. of G." (Apuntes,no.128).
[203] Apuntes, no.935.
[204] The "provisional norms" were written by the founder on 24 Mar 1933, t\1e f
east of Saint Gabriel (see Apuntes, no.966). They originated in a summary of a p
lan for norms of piety that he sketched out during his retreat in Segovia in 193
2. See also Apuntes, nos. 939 and 1700.
8. The First Centers of the Work

1. A ?cruel test?
2. The DYA Academy
3. The Rector of Santa Isabel

4. The Academy-residence on Ferraz Street

5. ?A father, a teacher and guide of saints?
6. The Apostolate with Women
7. Formational Writings
8. Preparations for Expansion: Madrid, Valencia, Paris

* * *

1. A "cruel test"

From the moment they started meeting at Martinez Campos, Father Josemara realized
that the apartment was going to be too small. For their Saint Raphael and Saint
Gabriel activities, they would need to set up an academy.*[1] This would take p
eople and money, so they began looking for both. In March 1933 they hired the fi
rst teachers. When the second was hired, Father Josemara wrote with exuberant opt
imism, "With him and with Rocamora and with all the others whom I'm sure the Lor
d will send me, we'll be able to start up the part of the Work entrusted to Sain
t Gabriel and to Saint Paul."[2]
On June 1 the two members of the Work living in Andalusia, Isidoro Zorzano and J
ose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, showed up in Madrid, and became available to help: "
We talked about the academy. They've even started looking for apartments already
. Everything is being worked out. By some time this summer, the academy will be
an accomplished fact, ready to start in October." But along with those words, th
ere are others hinting at how much energy Father Josemara had already spent and h
ow much physical exhaustion lay ahead: "The work wears out your body and you can
't pray. ...You are always in the presence of your Father. If you can't say much
to him, do what very small children do: just look at him from time to time, and
he will smile at you."[3]
His eagerness to start up the academy made him throw himself into this work so i
ntensely that even time spent reading the morning paper made him feel remorseful
. "I've suffered some really painful, intensely sorrowful moments upon seeing, o
n the one hand, my own wretchedness, and, on the other hand, the need and urgenc
y of the Work. I've had to cut short my reading. ...I get so angry with myself w
hen I think of all the time I have wasted, and continue to waste-time that belon
gs to my Father God!"[4]
He was wasting time? "It's getting late. It's twenty minutes till midnight, and
I've still got things to write. For today, the last entry: Yesterday I ran off c
opies of a sheet of paper requesting prayer and expiation for the purpose of get
ting guidance from the Lord, so that I can find time to put in order quickly and
well everything having to do with the organization of the Work, just as God wan
ts it."[5]
Having to give private lessons was something he wanted to avoid as much as possi
ble. How would he ever recoup those hours? Why didn't God give his family securi
ty and financial independence, so that he could devote himself exclusively to th
e Work? Still, it was a definite, well-verified fact that the Lord would always
come to the aid of the household of Doa Dolores. Those interventions always occur
red, remarkably, at the last minute and in such a way that although the family w
as taken care of, and given a renewed spirit of peace, it was not freed from fin
ancial hardships. In the Escriv home poverty was handled with such a virtuous spi
rit that it was nearly impossible to guess their suffering. "God, my Father and
Lord, usually gives me joy in the midst of the total poverty in which we live. T
o everyone else in the house, except for a little while every now and then, he a
lso gives that joy and peace."[6]
The founder was used to unexpected providential interventions in cases of extrem
e financial difficulty. But as head of the family, he had to be concerned not on
ly with the mission he had received from God, but also with supporting his mothe
r, sister, and brother.[7]

* * *

Not seven months after his stay in Segovia he once again felt a need for solitud
e. "Every day I feel more the need to get away for a while and live exclusively
a life of contemplation- God and the Work and my soul."[8] Having made all the n
ecessary arrangements with the Redemptorists on Manuel Silvela Street he went on
June 19, 1933, to their monastery to make a private retreat. Everything went al
ong quite peacefully until one day a ferocious uproar broke out on the street. A
group of young men armed with a can full of gasoline came up to the grille and
threatened to set fire to the monastery. The retreatant leaned out the window to
hear what was being shouted, but then withdrew to recollect himself in silence
upon seeing that the brother on duty as doorkeeper was on the alert and armed wi
th a good-sized club.[9]
Actually, this anecdote, related in such detail, was nothing more than a digress
ion that partly concealed what had happened to Father Josemara the day before-tha
t is, on June 22, a Thursday, the vigil of the feast of the Sacred Heart. Then h
e had written, "I felt the cruel test that Father Postius warned me about some t
ime ago."[10]
Father Postius, the Claretian who was Father Josemara's confessor during the mont
hs when Father Sanchez had to stay in hiding, had indeed told him that he would
undergo a severe trial. There is a journal entry specifically about this: "Fathe
r Postius, to whom I have been going to confession since Father Sanchez went int
o hiding (when the decree on the dissolution of the Jesuits went into effect), a
lso told me there would come a time when the test would consist in my not being
able to feel this supernatural enthusiasm and love for the Work."[11]
That painful trial was the result of being unable to sense the divine origin of
the Work. But it would come a year and a half after Father Postius' prediction o
f it, and it is possible that Father Josemara's recollection of the warning was a
little off.[12]
On Thursday afternoon, the vigil of the feast of the Sacred Heart, Father Josema
ra was meditating on death. If it came to him at that instant, how prepared would
he be? What could be taken from him? He examined himself and found that he was
detached from everything, or almost everything. "Today I don't think I am attach
ed to anything. If I am-it just now occurs to me-it's just to the affection that
I have for the youngsters and for all my brothers and sisters in the Work." He
prayed that when death did come to take him into God's presence, he would be fou
nd "not attached to any earthly thing."[13]
That afternoon, he was given the ultimate test of his detachment. It was as if,
for a few short moments, the Lord snatched away from him the clear light he had
been given on October 2, 1928, and left him staggering among the contrary though
ts assaulting his mind. "I was all by myself, in a pew in the church of Our Lady
of Perpetual Help, trying to pray to Jesus, who was sacramentally exposed in th
e monstrance. Suddenly and for no reason that I could see-really, there isn't an
y-this terrible thought came to my mind: 'What if it's all a lie, an illusion of
yours, and you've been wasting all this time? And, worse yet, what if you've le
d all these others astray?' "[14]
A sudden emptiness and an overwhelming anguish flooded him with grief. "It was j
ust a matter of seconds," he says, "but what a suffering it was!" Then, in an ou
tburst of generosity, he made a radical offering to the Lord-to give up the Work
if it was an obstacle. "If it is not yours," he said, "destroy it. But if it is
, give me a confirmation of this."
Like Abraham, he surrendered in sacrifice the child he had nurtured since Octobe
r 2, 1928. He surrendered too the hopes he had had for ten years before that, fr
om the time he had begun praying in Logroo, Domine, ut sit! And then, says Father
Josemara, ?I felt a confirmation of the truth concerning God?s will about his Wo
rk.?[15]

* * *

During one of the meditations he made on this retreat, he drew up a list of what
he called his "actual sins": "Disorderliness. Gluttony. Sight. Sluggishness."[1
6]

According to a note headed "Immediate Action," written at the end of the retreat
the remedy for his disorderliness would be to cease doing anything not directly
of service to the Work. "I need to give up every activity, no matter how truly
apostolic, that isn't directly connected with fulfilling the will of God, which
in my case means the Work. Intention: On a weekly basis I have been hearing conf
essions in seven different places. I will give up hearing those confessions, exc
ept for those two little groups of college girls."[17]
Those seven places where he regularly heard confessions every week were the Port
a Caeli shelter, Colegio del Arroyo, La Ventilla, the TeresianInstitute on Alame
da Street, La Academia Veritas on O'Donnell Street, Colegio de la Asuncion, and
the church of Santa Isabel. In most of these places he was taking care of young
people; he does not mention all the sick and dying whom he was also visiting in
the hospitals.[18]
At Santa Isabel he got into the confessional first thing in the morning. And eve
ry morning, while hearing a confession or reading his breviary, he would hear th
e church door banged open and a clattering and clanking coming up one of the ais
les. Curious to know what it was, one day he stationed himself at the church ent
rance. When the door banged open, there was a milkman, loaded with his milk cans
. The priest asked him what he was doing. "Father," he said, "I come here every
morning... and I greet him saying, 'Jesus, here is Juan the milkman."'
He felt humbled. "Lord," he spent the rest of that day repeating, "here is this
wretched person who doesn't know how to love you like Juan the milkman."[19]
As for gluttony, what did he mean by that? To improve the fare and lift the spir
its of his family, he would on rare occasions bring home a dessert. "My gluttony
is involved," he says, because he liked sweets.[20] Then there was the hunger t
hat drove him to eat "too much bread, to the point where I think I commit the si
n of gluttony by eating bread, since it not only makes me put on weight but also
gives me indigestion."[21]
Obviously, with his never-satisfied desire for mortification, his conscience was
working in an area beyond the boundaries of hunger and gluttony. During the ret
reat he wrote to his confessor this note: "The Lord is definitely asking me, Fat
her, to intensify my practice of penance. It seems that when I am faithful to hi
m in this matter, the Work gains momentum."[22] And so the apostolic vigor of th
e Work was renewed by its founder's redoubled penances.
His capacity and eagerness for work carried him to the point of exhaustion, and
so he devised some strategies to ward off the early-morning attractions of sleep
. "I find myself so inclined toward laziness," he wrote in a note to his confess
or, "that instead of being motivated to get myself up on time in the morning jus
t by the desire to please Jesus-now, don't laugh-I have to trick myself, by sayi
ng, 'Later on in the day you can go back to bed for a little while.' And then wh
en I'm walking to Santa Isabel, just before six, I dash those hopes of this dead
weight that I'm carrying. I say to him, 'Donkey of mine, you'll just have to put
up with it: until night comes, you're not going back to bed."[23]
And finally, as for his reference to "Sight," his striking resolution "Not to lo
ok-ever!" undoubtedly arose from a demanding delicacy of conscience which insist
ed on continual renunciations of sense pleasures.

* * *

Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay announcing that as of April 1, 1933, the separate e
cclesiastical jurisdictions for the military and for the royal court would be ab
olished. All persons, places, and things formerly under those jurisdictions woul
d henceforth "be solely the responsibility of the respective diocesan ordinaries
, in accord with the norms of canon law."[24]
The chaplain of Santa Isabel first heard of this on March 23, as he records in h
is journal. "The palace jurisdiction is going to disappear. This morning I was w
ith Father Pedro Poveda, and he told me that he will speak with Monsignor Moran
and that I will be able to continue on at Santa Isabel, the same as now. Well, i
t's all the same to me. I am a child of God. He takes care of me. Maybe I've alr
eady completed my mission in this place."[25]

Most likely the news first reached him from Father Pedro Poveda, secretary to th
e Patriarch of the Indies, since it was he who had advised him to meet with the
vicar general of Madrid, Monsignor Francisco Moran, to explain his situation at
the Santa Isabel Foundation.[26]
Monsignor Mor.4n was Bishop Leopoldo's right-hand man. He had heard mention of F
ather Josemara from the time of his obtaining for him, at Doa Luz Casanova's reque
st, his first pemits to work in Madrid. They had become acquainted when they hap
pened to be sitting side by side in the subway one day, probably in January 1931
. On that occasion they had agreed to get together at the vicar's office the nex
t day for a chat, and there Father Josemara received all kinds of help in renewin
g his ministerial permits.
Something that happened at an Apri129, 1933, meeting indicates the esteem in whi
ch Monsignor Mor.4n held Father Josemara. "I went to see Father Poveda, who is so
good, always so much a brother to me. He told me that yesterday there was a mee
ting of the rectors of all the foundations that have been transferred to the jur
isdiction of the diocese. And it happened that, as they were discussing their pe
rsonnel, the vicar general of Madrid (Monsignor Moran), who was presiding, gave
this poor donkey a eulogy that delighted Father Poveda. When I left the Teresian
Institute and caught the 48, what embarrassment, what deep pain our Lord made m
e feel on account of the vicar's words of praise!"[27]

* * *

By the time Father Josemara finished his eight-day retreat at the Redemptorist mo
nastery, the university students had taken their final exams and were getting re
ady to leave for their summer vacations. Before they went their separate ways, h
e got together with them one more time to give them some guidelines and suggesti
ons. By mid-summer, with all of them far from Madrid, he felt very much alone. "
How lonely I feel sometimes!" he wrote on August 12. "But it's still necessary t
o open the academy, no matter what happens, in spite of everyone and every thing
."[28]
After August 15 the entries are interrupted. But a letter written in Fonz on Aug
ust 29, to Juan Jimenez Vargas, makes clear what was going on. It begins, "Just
two lines-it's the night of the 29th, going into the 30th, and I'm watching over
my uncle. He's still in serious condition, but putting up quite a resistance wi
th that iron constitution of his."[29]
In connection with ?this illness of his paternal uncle, Father Teodoro Escriv, Fa
ther Josemara made two trips to Fonz, accompanied by the rest of the family. The
emergency put a sudden stop to the plans for the academy. When he returned to Ma
drid and celebrated the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Work, he felt a
strong sense of apostolic urgency-as is evident from the entries of those days.
"1 Oct 1933: Tomorrow, five years since I saw the Work. My God, what an account
you're going to ask of me! What a lack of responsiveness to grace!"[30] "6 act
1933: I don't lose peace, but there are times when it feels like my head is goin
g to explode with all the ideas I have bubbling inside me for glorifying God wit
h this Work of his. It hurts me to see that they haven't yet begun to be crystal
lized into something tangible."[31] "18 Oct 1933: I've got a headache. I suffer
from my lack of responsiveness and because I'm not seeing the Work get moving ."
[32]
On October 26 he wrote a note to his confessor briefly examining the causes of h
is impatience. There is here a strong streak of self-reproach and discouragement
at the slow progress of the Work. "I am tormented," he says, "to the point of g
etting a headache, by the thought that I am failing to carry out God's will (1)
because of the disorder in my interior life... [and] (2) because I don't take ca
re of-I can't get to it, I can't do any more-the youngsters who are corning to u
s, brought to us by God."[33]
November came, and the members of the Work still had not found a place suitable
for the academy. "These days -again!- we're running around looking for a place.
So many stairs to climb, and so much impatience! God forgive me!"[34]
On November 4, Ricardo Fernandez Vallespn?the architecture student to whom he had

given a copy of Story of the Holy Passion inscribed with an exhortation to seek
, find, and love Christ-visited him at the Martinez Campos apartment. Father Jos
emara spoke about the Work, affirming that God wanted this plan from heaven to be
realized on earth, that it had a universal character-that it was to be for the
whole world and for all times-and that it could be carried out only by a group o
f lovers of Christ who would sanctify their work in the midst of the world and b
e nailed to his cross. Enthusiastically, Ricardo says, "I told him simply, 'I wa
nt to be that,' because I didn't even know the name of 'that,' which was the Wor
k of God."[35] From that moment, the priest had another helper in the setting up
of the academy. "November 13, 1933: ...These days we're trying to get furniture
for the center. I've put Ricardo Femandez Vallespn in charge of buying it. Isido
ro came by, because the contract is in his name, but-always I end up alone-even
though he came by, I have to make all the arrangements myself."[36]

2. The DYA Academy

In December, Father Josemara began a new journal notebook with this entry: "The f
irst thing is that the Guardian Angel House has been blessed. On the feast of th
e Immaculate Conception, in an impromptu way, we did it as a gift to our Lady. .
..With what enthusiasm our young men are fixing up the house!"[37] On December 3
0 he noted with a deep joy, "This is the first entry I'm writing in the director
's office of the DYA Academy, at our Guardian Angel House."[38]
At last he had his long-dreamed-of academy. He called it "DYA " for "Dios y Auda
cia" (God and Daring). For some time this name had been reserved for the first p
ublishing company they would start; but the Academy got there first. "DYA " coul
d also stand for "Derecho y Arquitectura" (Law and Architecture), the two course
s of study offered there. Father Josemara made a drawing of the metal plate for t
he front door. Isidoro had it cast at a workshop in Malaga.[39]
The apartment occupied by the Academy, at 33 Luchana Street, had very few rooms,
but even so, it was a cultural center where students attended classes or confer
ences. It was, in fact, something more than an academic center: it was a Christi
an formation center where university students could talk with the priest and get
spiritual direction from him. Father Josemara wanted it to function like a home.
"For those of Saint Raphael, he wrote, the Academy is not an academy; it's thei
r home;"[40]
He had also written, before the fact, "Every Saint Raphael academy will have to
have a library and a good, very comfortable study room."[41] But although he mea
nt it when he said "very comfortable," those words had little or no connection w
ith the Luchana Street apartment. The study room was a rather small, barebones r
oom with no decoration other than the framed picture of "Our Lady of the Catechi
sm." The office in which the priest received visitors was even smaller. The impr
ession was one of severe austerity. On his desk he kept a skull, and on the wall
a bare black wooden cross, not a crucifix. If someone became curious and asked
its meaning, he said, "It is waiting for the crucified figure that it lacks; and
that crucified figure has to be you."[42]
Returning late in the afternoon from hearing confessions or visiting the sick or
giving classes, he would find his office and the other rooms filled with studen
ts. Though exhausted, he would rise to the occasion. Taking refuge in the apartm
ent kitchen, he received the young men in private and heard their confessions. S
o many came to him there that he used to joke that the kitchen had turned into a
veritable cathedral.[43]
No sooner did they get out of one financial bind than they fell into another. Wi
th the small Doations given by those who frequented the Academy, as Lazaro (the s
culptor) recalls, they barely managed to pay the monthly rent. Even the acquisit
ion of a simple wall clod was preceded by a long string of little frustrations.
Three times they were at the point of getting one, and each time some more urgen
t need intervened. Finally the Countess of Humanes gave them a clock-warning the
m "not to eat it." [She had learned that previous "clock funds" had been used to
buy food.][44] They had drawn up a budget, but what good was it without income?
The small sum they saved at the start for any contingencies went to legal fees

for the license needed for an educational center.[45] For Father Josemara the imp
ortant thing was that he now had a means for his apostolate and a home in which
to develop a "family life" for the members of the Work. He had a place where the
y could meet for get-togethers and where his sons would have access to the means
of formation: classes, talks, and informal conversations with him.
The first month after they rented the apartment something happened which astonis
hed all those present. It was January 5,1934, the vigil of the Epiphany. "The Fa
ther suggested to us, to the small group of his sons gathered around him there,"
says Ricardo Fernandez Vallespn, "that by the beginning of the 1934-1935 school
year, in October 1934, we ought to have a larger place with a residence. Some of
us could live there and thus make it possible to have an oratory with our Lord
present in the tabernacle."[46] That way they could get to know and assimilate t
he spirit of Opus Dei by living with the Father, hearing explanations from his o
wn lips, and taking his example as their pattern.
Apparently, however, not everyone shared the optimism implied by the house motto
, "God and Daring." The founder reports, "We had just opened the Guardian Angel
House when one of my brother priests came up to me and, full of anxiety, advised
me to shut it down, because it was a failure. To make a long story short, I did
not shut it down, and it has been, beyond all expectation, an unqualified succe
ss."[47]
Even though the Academy had just gotten started and still had difficulties to wo
rk out, Father Josemara was already impatient for a new and bigger place. Properl
y speaking though, this was not impatience, but docility to God's urging. "Haste
. It's not haste. It's that Jesus is spurring us on."[48] The Lord seemed to be
encouraging the enterprise. Not three days had passed when a charitable soul off
ered a very substantial Doation, which the founder set aside for the new center h
e was thinking of opening.
He wrote about this on his birthday, January 9.[49]

* * *

Every time he gave Communion at Santa Isabel, he was stung by the memory of that
divine locution, "Love is deeds, not sweet words and excuses." He would sorrowf
ully say to himself, "What a lukewarm life I lead! What a wretched person I am!
How long, O Lord, how long?"[50] That locution was a spur to his apostolic pursu
its. Having taken him from Martinez Campos to Luchana, it was what made him star
t making much more far-ranging plans as soon as the DYA Academy had begun.
When "Josemara's boys," as Santiago called the young men whom his brother brought
to the Martinez Campos center, moved to the DYA Academy, the Escriv family could
see that the priest now had a place of his own. Simply and without any bad will
, his brother often reminded him of it. "Every day," wrote Father Josemara many y
ears later, "when I went to my mother's place, my brother Santiago came over, pu
t his hands in my pockets, and asked me, 'What are you taking to your nest?"'[51
]
Doa Dolores' home had furniture, household goods, and objects of quality that had
survived the long journey from Barbastro to Madrid, but financially it was no b
etter off than the Guardian Angel House. It was a miracle that either of them ma
de it.[52] Having studied education in Logrono, Carmen, Father Josemara's sister,
now began teaching.[53] The Escrivs handled their difficulties well, with great
confidence in Divine Providence.[54]
Determined to relieve the burdens on his family, Father Josemara thought of elimi
nating the expense of renting the Martinez Campos apartment by moving into the h
ouse provided for the chaplain of Santa Isabel. He consulted the vicar general o
f the diocese, and the vicar gave him permission to put in a request at the Mini
stry of the Interior, supported by a letter from Sister Maria del Sagrario, the
prioress of the convent. In his application, Father Josemara explained that he wa
s carrying out the office of chaplain with no official recompense, and was simpl
y asking to be allowed to occupy the house provided by the convent for whoever s
erved in this capacity.[55] Before sending it, and after considering this matter
in the presence of God, he decided it would be a good thing to do as a step tow

ard obtaining an official appointment and thus stabilizing his canonical situati
on in Madrid.[56]
Five days later he received notification that "regarding your petition requestin
g that you be granted residence in the house: because you are temporarily servin
g as chaplain to the Augustinian Recollect Sisters of the Convent of Santa Isabe
l, and because of the favorable reference given you by said community, this boar
d has decided to grant your request. ..." The response says nothing about an off
icial appointment.[57] Later he found out that the rector of Santa Isabel, whose
views had not been taken into account, favored neither the initiative he and th
e nuns had taken nor the subsequent decision of the civil authorities. Because o
f this, and also to spare himself any unpleasantness, Father Josemara decided not
to move into the house at that time. But besides what the rector thought about
this matter, he had other reasons for his decision, which he recorded promptly a
nd in very orderly fashion in his journal: "My reasons? (1) My family couldn't l
ive there without me living there too. (2) It wouldn't be good for me to live at
the convent, because I would be more tied to my family, when I'm trying to beco
me freer. (3) Jesus wants, for the next school year, a student residence-and I h
ave to live in it."[58]
By then Santiago had visited the Luchana Street "nest," and Doa Dolores and Carme
n had no trouble guessing what was going on behind the facade of the Academy-tha
t is, the apostolic activity of Father Josemara. He had no choice but to keep the
family in suspense after informing them of the favorable response from the Mini
stry of the Interior.[59] They were all getting ready for the transfer, asking h
im when they would be moving into the house at Santa Isabel. But the priest kept
putting them off, offering vague excuses, changing the subject. He would not sa
y a word.
Tired of evasions, the family came straight to the point on February 10. "Why ar
e we still in Madrid, where we are having such a hard time?" they asked him. Fen
ding off the question and silently riding out the storm, the priest said within
himself to the Lord, "You already know why I'm here."[60]
And he thought about the reasons which, in orderly and meticulous fashion, he ha
d entered in his journal a few days before.

* * *

In his meetings with the vicar general, Father Josemara gave him detailed informa
tion on the work of Christian formation being done at the DYA Academy: conferenc
es, religion classes, Latin lessons, a course in apologetics, study groups, conf
essions, and formation talks.[61] In March, having persuaded the Redemptorists t
o let him use a chapel of theirs, he started giving monthly days of recollection
. These were always held on a Sunday, from morning to mid afternoon; the average
attendance was twenty or thirty boys.[62]
Opus Dei members and students at the Academy continued to give the Sunday catech
ism classes of the "Colegio del Arroyo" and to visit the sick. Some helped out i
n catechetical programs already organized in other places. These works of mercy
continued to have their risks, as appears from what happened to Manolo Sainz de
los Terreros and his companions. One Sunday, catechism class over, he and four o
r five fellow students went to visit some poor people in Vallecas. Suddenly they
were attacked by about twenty individuals. Manolo was hit and kicked in the hea
d so many times that his assailants left him for dead. The others fared no bette
r. One of them, Alvaro del Portillo, escaped while bleeding from a terrible gash
in his head.[63]
Word of the apostolate and activities of the DYA Academy spread quickly among st
udents and clergy. Little by little, the zeal of the chaplain of Santa Isabel an
d his new approach to Christian life and spirituality, with its insistence on sa
nctity for everyone, were gaining ground. Father Josemara also happily noted that
in their conversations the vicar general was already repeating, as if they were
his own, ideas which came from the spirit of the Work. "Last Monday," he says,
"I was with the vicar general of Madrid-I went there to discuss with him a matte
r concerning the convent of Santa Isabel. We talked about a lot of things-our ap

ostolate, the boys. ...Monsignor Moran had a good time and has really changed a
lot. Before, he was urging me to teach at a university. Now he says that what is
lacking is not priest-teachers or priest-professors, but priests who can form t
eachers and professors."[64]
On March 1, a few days after this visit, he had an opportunity to speak with Bis
hop Cruz Laplana (of Cuenca), who had promised Doa Dolores a benefice for her son
, and explain why he had turned down the bishop's generous offer. He spoke to hi
m in broad outlines about the Work.[65] Once the bishop understood the direction
of Father Josemara's apostolic efforts, he offered to have booklets of spiritual
considerations printed very inexpensively in Cuenca to help the young men at th
e Academy to make their meditations. Father Josemara speaks of this in his letter
of April 26 to the vicar general. "In this Redemptorist house," he says, "I'll
be giving another day of recollection on the first Sunday of May. I expect it to
be, with the help of God, very fruitful, since the college fellows who have tak
en part in the previous days of recollection have responded so well. I'm convinc
ed that the Lord is blessing these young men who run the Academy, because in so
many ways we are finding it easy to conduct our priestly apostolate among intell
ectuals, while fulfilling the clear will of God in my regard, which is to hide a
nd disappear. ...For economic reasons, with the approval of the bishop of Cuenca
, a booklet is being printed by the 'Modem Press,' previously known as the 'Semi
nary Press,' of that capital (Cuenca). Later we will print others."[66]
But confused and distorted accounts of what was going on at the Academy also wer
e circulating. The priest discovered this one day in May, upon going to see the
vicar general to get his ministerial permits renewed. Monsignor Moran very accom
modatingly phoned the relevant office and directed that this be done. But as Fat
her Josemara approached the office window, he heard one diocesan official say to
another, "He's the one running that fundamentalist sect." He calmly drew near an
d said to the man, "Listen, it won't make you mad if I say something to you?" Th
e man stared at him, obviously a bit disconcerted, so Father Josemara said with a
smile, "Really, now, it won't make you mad?" "No, why?" "Well, look-it's not a
sect, and it's not fundamentalist." And the man at the window said, "How do you
know I was talking about you?" "No question, I do know it." "Well, if the shoe f
its, wear it," the man replied. Then, wrote Father Josemara in his journal, "stay
ing friendly and keeping a smile on my face, I told him that everything I do is
very well known to the vicar general. Later I was told by the good G.C.* (who le
t it slip out because he was taken aback) that accusations had several times bee
n levelled against me on account of the Work. He spoke of a letter, and of some
ridiculous fabrications having to do with the skull and the cross in my office."
[67]
Not long after, on Monday, May 28, a note from the chancery office arrived, requ
esting that Father Josemara report to the vicar general. It did not take much ima
gination to guess what was behind that summons. He went to the vicar's office th
e next day. When he got home, he recorded the substance of the meeting: "The vic
ar general welcomed me very warmly. He had me sit down (those who frequent the v
icariate know well what a distinction this detail implies!), and he said to me,
'Tell me about the DYA Academy.' I told him absolutely everything. Monsignor Mor
an, with his eyes half closed, listened and often nodded in approval. Basically,
I told him (1) that I was very happy that he was asking me about this; that in
my letters (I write him often) I purposely told him things so that he could ask
me whatever he wanted about them; (2) the whole external history of the Work fro
m October 2, 1928, to the present; (3) that we had gone to Luchana knowing that
a great friend of his was living there; that we had done this because we had not
hing to hide; and (4) about my priest-sons; I praised especially the ones he kne
w, as any father would do. He, in turn, (1) told me not to stop giving those day
s of recollection during the summer; (2) let me know that I now had his permissi
on to publish Holy Rosary; and (3)-here comes the good part-asked me (as if ther
e were no theologians or theological associations at hand in Madrid) to work up
a plan of religious studies for university students."[68]
When leaving the vicar's office, he blessed all the angels in heaven for having
allowed him the opportunity to say everything he had wanted to. On the advice of

his confessor, however, he had recounted only the external history of the Work.
The internal history, the gestation of the spiritual creature, was a private ma
tter of his soul. Reflecting on all this, he continued: "Now, two words: we're c
landestine? In no way. What would people say about a pregnant woman who wanted t
o register her unborn child at city hall and in the parish records? What if she
tried to enroll this child in a university? 'Senora,' she would be told, 'wait.
Let your child come into the light of day, grow, and develop.... 'Well, then, in
the womb of the Catholic Church there is an unborn child with a life and activi
ties an its own, like a child in the womb of its mother. ...Be patient: soon the
time will come for registering it, for seeking the appropriate approvals for it
. In the meantime, I win always give an accounting to the Church authorities of
an our external works (as I've been doing till now), without trying to rush the
paperwork, which will come in due time. This is the advice of Father Sanchez and
Father Poveda-and, I might add, the dictate of common sense."[69]
Then, with much common and supernatural sense, he says, "They see us. They take
notice. Ah right, that's fine. Where there is fire, can smoke, heat, and light b
e avoided? Wen, neither can we have the Work and avoid the smoke of calumny or o
f murmuring, or the heat of our works of apostolate, or the light of the love fo
r God that shines forth in our example and in our words."[70]
He was beginning to have an idea of what it meant to "hide and disappear," and w
hat the cost would be for the applying of this divine motto to the Work.

3. The rector of Santa Isabel

In May 1934, he again felt a longing to be alone with God. "Row much good it wou
ld do me," he wrote, "to have two or three months of solitude just for prayer an
d penance!"[71] And yet, as he began his retreat at the Redemptorist house on Ju
ly 16, he felt "very little desire to do it."[72]
So first of all, to awaken in himself a sense of compunction, he drew up a long
list of favors granted to him. It was astonishing, ?Countless favors, some of th
em quite extraordinary-the Work of God!!"[73] Then he meditated on his priestly
vocation, on the urgency with which the Lord had charged him with the Work, and
on the resistance he was getting from some priests who did not share his zeal.[7
4] He reflected on the work accomplished through the Academy. ..and felt totally
unsatisfied with his efforts and the results obtained thus far. "I can see at a
glance that we certainly are not running, In fact, we're going so slow that som
e might say there is no Work. Well, then? Let us look at what the saints have do
ne!"[75]
As a yardstick for his own desire he took the "exquisite prudence" of Saint Igna
tius, who undertook such wonderfully daring works. He thought about the holy dec
isions made by Saint Teresa of Avila, who likewise "was not one to hold back." F
inally he took a long, hard look at what he himself had done. What decisions had
he made? What had he done about expanding the DYA Academy? What use had he made
of the generous fistful of money that the Lord, like a good father, had sent hi
m at the beginning of the year? Then it occurred to him that just as six thousan
d pesetas had come into his hands then, so now all the money he needed for the s
tudent residence might suddenly turn up in the same way. Emboldened by this thou
ght, he turned to prayer. "Come on, Lord," he said, "why not give us the whole a
mount all at once? I'm still waiting?."[76] (The money took a lot of praying for
.)
One of the frustrations of Father Josemara's apostolate was that as soon as the s
chool year ended and the young people went on vacation, many of them vanished li
ke water on a sandy beach. He completely lost track of them. Every autumn he had
to make a new start, with just a very few old hands. Thinking about this in the
summer of 1934, before the students left Madrid, he came up with an idea: he wo
uld get their summer addresses and send them a monthly newsletter to encourage t
hem in the interior life and foster continuity. With the help of those who remai
ned in Madrid, he duplicated these newsletters (which he titled Noticias) and go
t them in the mail before beginning his retreat. Upon his return two weeks later
, he found on his desk about fifty letters. He cheerfully answered them all, off

ering the vacationers some words of advice.[77]

In the first few days of August, the hottest part of summer, Father Josemara and
his friends walked all over Madrid in search of suitable houses or apartments. F
inally they found a place, in a good location, large enough to accommodate both
the Academy and a student residence. But before they could begin to come to an a
greement with the landlord, they needed twenty-five thousand pesetas. At once, t
he priest launched a prayer campaign, writing to anyone and everyone who might p
articipate. Three of these letters are dated August 5, 1934, and they all sing t
he same song. To one person he writes, "Make a triduum to our Immaculate Mother,
asking for the twenty-five thousand pesetas that we need immediately. We here a
re relying on the principle that 'God helps those who help themselves,' but we a
lso need the prayers of everyone else."[78] To another he writes, "Look, one sma
ll favor: make a triduum to our Immaculate Mother, asking her, if such is the wi
ll of God, to send us the twenty-five thousand pesetas we need for the Guardian
Angel's House."[79] And to a third, "A student residence is essential. We are do
ing what we can, but we have not yet come up with the money we need. Help us: do
some asking yourselves, and get others to ask too. We must make our Father-God
dizzywith our pleading. However, even if he seems to be asleep and not paying at
tention, the Blessed Virgin will help us. ...We shall see the Guardian Angel's H
ouse completed! Never doubt it for a moment.... Listen, Manolo, make yourself li
ke a child before the tabernacle and pray this prayer to Jesus with simplicity,
confidence, and boldness... and perseverance: 'Lord, we want-for you-twenty-five
thousand pesetas in cold, hard cash."'[80]
On August 30, in the company of Juan Jimenez Vargas and Ricardo Fernandez Valles
pn, Father Josemara celebrated Mass at the shrine of El Cerro de los Angeles, not
far from the capital. During his thanksgiving after Mass, he felt that character
istic spiritual instinct of his, to always turn to Mary. Then and there he dedic
ated the Work to the Blessed Virgin.[81]
August was a hard month, as he noted that same day: "So many tears shed, at this
time, for my sins and for the Guardian Angel's House! Visits, refusals, storm c
louds on the human horizon. ...But with you helping us, Jesus, in spite of my wr
etchedness, we shall surely pull through!"[82]
They made detailed calculations of the expenses and income of the academy-reside
nce complex. Then both Isidoro Zorzano and Jose Maria Gonzalez emptied their ban
k accounts and together managed, just barely, to make the deposit and first paym
ent on some apartments at 50 Ferraz Street: two on the second floor and one on t
he third. "We moved in at the beginning of September," recalls Ricardo Fernandez
Vallespn. "Construction workers did what was needed to convert two apartments in
to one and install showers in one of the bathrooms for the future residents, and
we started furnishing it all."[83]
Before the construction work began, they found themselves with a perilous shortf
all of fifteen thousand pesetas. Once again Father Josemara had to write letters
asking for help. All those dated September 6 carry basically the same message. "
We are so worried," he writes to Father Eliodoro Gil, a good friend of his. "We
have rented a new property at 50 Ferraz Street. We have wonderful projects in mi
nd that are perfectly viable and could become realities right away, except that
when we put all our money together, we found ourselves fifteen thousand pesetas
short, and we don't know where we're going to get that money. Please earnestly k
eep this intention in your Masses and in your private prayers."[84] In another l
etter he writes, "We are so worried about this wretched money.... I can't lie: h
umanly speaking, I see no possible solution. Yet there must be a solution. We ca
n't turn back now. Prayer, prayer, and more prayer!"[85]
Only in his letter to the vicar general also dated September 6, was he silent on
the subject of his financial problems. The words flow smoothly, showing no hint
of concern: "My dear and most venerable Vicar General: Once again I must take u
p some of your valuable time to inform you, in the first place, of the new addre
ss of the DYA Academy. It is now at 50 Ferraz Street. We are renting three apart
ments there, one for the Academy and the other two as a residence. The house loo
ks really good. The move will be made about the middle of the month."[86]
Clearly he meant to burn his bridges. There was no way for him to turn back afte

r having officially notified the vicar general of the new address. God would hav
e the final say.

* * *

Around this time there is a gap of several weeks in the Personal Notes. It ends
with these words: "Poor journal! How many things I have failed to jot down!"[87]
His notes do not start up again until late November, when the silence is broken
by this puzzling entry: "November 20, 1934: At the Guardian Angel's House now-on Ferraz Street-I?m finally able today to write in this journal. But I am writi
ng just for the sake of writing. There are so many things I should note down tha
t I am not going to say any thing!"[88]
They were now settled at Ferraz Street, with the financial problem that had give
n them such headaches a few weeks earlier now solved. It happened like this. On
September 16 Father Josemara left Madrid for Fonz, to join his mothe4 sister and
brother and make arrangements with them to sell properties they had inherited up
on the death of Father Teodoro the previous year. It was a curious journey, for
on the train he shared a compartment with a Madrid family that had brought along
a monkey for entertainment. Ignoring his travelling companions, the priest made
good use of his time looking for churches. "From the moment we left Madrid," he
wrote, "I kept myself occupied with a heavenly game. I kept scanning the horizo
n so that I could say something to Jesus every time we passed a tabernacle."[89]
He spent the night in Monzn. When he arrived in Fonz the next day, he decided the
time had finally come for him to discuss his financial problem with the family
and tell them about the Work. Afterward he wrote to those in Madrid with the jub
ilation of someone who is finally rid of a burden borne for many years. "Fonz, S
eptember 17, 1934. May Jesus keep you safe. I arrived this afternoon, at five. I
have spoken with Mama and with my sister and brother-I had earnestly commended
the matter to Saint Raphael, ...and he heard us. My mother will write you a few
lines. Tomorrow I'm going to Barbastro with my sister, Carmen, to set the whole
business in motion."[90]
Three days later he explained to them in great detail what had happened in that
discussion. "Going in chronological order, I want to give you a brief account of
all that has happened to me. Just wait till you see! About fifteen minutes afte
r I arrived in this town (I'm writing from Fonz, though I'll mail this tomorrow
in Barbastro), I spoke with my mother and sister and brother, in broad outlines,
about the Work. How persistently I had called on our friends in heaven to help
me at that vital moment! Jesus made sure it went over very well. I'll tell you w
ord for word how they responded. My mother: 'That's fine, son. But don't beat yo
urself or put on a long face.' My sister: 'I figured it was something like that,
and even said so to Mama.' And the little one: 'If you have sons,...then they b
etter treat me with lots of respect, those boys of yours, because I'm their uncl
e!' Without a moment's hesitation, all three saw it as the most natural thing in
the world that their money should be used for the Work. And-praise God!-such wa
s their generosity that even if they'd had millions, they would have given it to
me just the same.
"We are going to discuss this devil's filth called money. My mother thinks she m
ight be able to come up with thirty-five or forty thousand pesetas.... So, to su
m up: tomorrow I'm going down to Barbastro with Guitin; from there I'll go to Mo
nzon to discuss this with you, because in Barbastro everybody knows everybody el
se's business. The judge has promised me that all the paperwork will be complete
d by the first of October, thanks be to God.
"I'll try, of course, to arrange for the sale to take place next Tuesday or Wedn
esday-any earlier is impossible--and we'll send whatever we get....
"Meanwhile, why not try to buy furniture as one usually can from factories, wher
e you have thirty days or more to pay?
"Needless to say, I won't budge from here without the money, no matter what!
" Another thing: they agree that I should sleep at the Academy and take with me
all the stuff in my room. That way they can take with them the maid they have he
re. Otherwise they couldn't, since they wouldn't have a room for her."[91]

The young men in Madrid enthusiastically started shopping for furniture and othe
r household goods while waiting for Father Josemara to return. He kept his promis
e not to come back without the money. Very soon they got another letter from Fon
z announcing that "on Wednesday-or maybe even tomorrow-I'll be able to send you
the first bit of the twenty thousand we need."[92]
When he returned, they went ahead with the final preparations. Ricardo Fernc1nde
z Vallespn, the architect who was to be the director of the academy-residence, sa
ys "it was furnished with the bare necessities." They bought kitchen utensils an
d dishes, and got the bed linen on credit. Unfortunately, having only enough mon
ey to furnish one of the bedrooms with two beds, they had to pile most of the ma
ttresses, blankets, sheets, towels, and pillows on the floor of one of the empty
rooms.[93]
Father Josemara decided to bless the house as soon as possible. The ceremony took
place one evening. By the dim light of a few candle stubs-the house had been pl
unged into darkness by a power failure-he moved from room to room, generously sp
rinkling each one with holy water. "We had bed linen, which one of the big depar
tment stores let us have on credit, with the understanding that we would pay for
it when we could. But we had no cabinets to keep it in. So, with great care, we
had covered the floor with newspapers and laid the linen on top. There was an e
normous amount of it. ...Well, I brought with me from Santa Isabel a holy water
bucket and a sprinkler. My sister Carmen had made me a splendid surplice. ...I a
lso brought from Santa Isabel a stole and a book of rites and ceremonies. And I
went through the empty house blessing it, with great solemnity and joy-and with
a great sense of assurance!"[94]
On October 30 he sent the vicar general a letter informing him that the new cent
er was in operation. "School has started at the DYA, and I expect much supernatu
ral fruit, fruit of Catholic formation and culture, from this house. I feel very
confident in this hope because our work is founded on prayer and sacrifice. I c
an tell you with no exaggeration that these boys of ours are heroic. If only you
could see how they go about their tasks here at the house-young university prof
essors down on their hands and knees; engineers painting walls; young lawyers, m
edical interns, and students (who actually study) doing the work of carpenters-a
nd how they put their own savings into this apostolate!"[95]
He was not exaggerating. One of the apprentice carpenters was a student named Jo
se Maria Hernandez Garnica, known to his friends as Chiqui. He was introduced to
Father Josemara in the midst of all this chaos, and the priest, without further
ado, invited him to pitch in. saying: "Hi, Chiqui, good to meet you! Here, take
this hammer and some nails and get going! Hammer them in up there...."[96]
Shortly after the Academy opened on Ferraz Street, the founder entered upon a ti
me of "big tribulations, both interior and external." The Lord was leading him "
by means of countless adversities." Yet he never lost his serenity. "So many wor
ries, and so many nights of not much sleep!" says one of his journal entries. "H
owever, I generally do sleep well, because my peace, thank God, is deep and stro
ng."[97]

* * *

The changes made to what had been the palace jurisdiction of the Church meant th
at Father Josemara's canonical situation was for a long time uncertain. He spent
three years serving the Augustinian nuns, who appreciated the robust interior li
fe of their chaplain; he was, in the words of Sister Maria del Buen Consejo, "a
priest who lived by faith and was filled with God." His love for the Eucharist b
ecame almost tangible when he gave Communion to the sick nuns. With great revere
nce, love, and concentration he would cover the pyx with his stole and, holding
the Blessed Sacrament tightly to his chest, walk carefully along the convent cor
ridors. "Father Josemara always reminded me of pictures I have seen of Saint Chri
stopher carrying the Christ Child on his shoulders, bent down under his load," s
ays Sister Maria.[98]
One day the community heard that Father Jose Huertas Lancho, rector of the Santa
Isabel Foundation, was thinking of resigning. The nuns thought the time had com

e to get Father Josemara appointed rector. When they told him so, he refused to a
pply for the position, on the grounds that it was not yet open. But the prioress
, Sister Maria del Sagrario, was not about to let anyone else beat him to it. On
July 4,1934, after consulting the rest of the community and the vicar general,
she wrote to the director general of the Social Services head office on behalf o
f the interim chaplain. "I am sending you this letter before the rector proffers
his resignation," she said, "because everyone knows he is leaving, and I am sur
e there will be priests applying for the position. Although I believe you will n
ot take the step of offering it to any of them, knowing that there is someone al
ready here who deserves the appointment, I am nonetheless taking the liberty of
calling him to your attention once more, asking your forgiveness if I offend you
r delicate sensibilities. Trustfully and affectionately yours, Sister Maria del
Sagrario, Prioress."[99]
The rector soon left Madrid, but did not submit his formal resignation until the
first of October. The administrative machinery was then set in motion. Father J
osemara, who until then had taken no part in the process, wrote to the vicar gene
ral to let him know that the prioress had, on her own initiative, put before the
Foundations Board a request that he be appointed rector. I myself have not subm
itted an application," he said, "nor do I intend to do so. I am totally open to
whatever God wants and ready to carry out whatever orders you give."[100]
On December 11 the president of the Republic signed the decree of appointment. I
t reads as follows: "As proposed by the Secretary of Labor, Health, and Welfare,
and in accordance with the rules laid down in the Decree of February 17, 1934,
I hereby appoint to the position of Rector of the Santa Isabel Foundation Don Jo
se Maria Escriv Albas, Licentiate in Civil Law. Approved in Madrid on the elevent
h day of December in the year nineteen hundred and thirty-four. -NICETO ALCALAZAMORA y TORRES. -Secretary of Labor, Health, and Welfare, ORIOL ANGUERA DE SOJO
."[101]
The publication of this news left Father Josemara unmoved. "As an affirmation of
our spirit, of our desire to hide and disappear," he says, "our Lord saw to it t
hat my two surnames were not recognized-they were given incorrectly in all the n
ewspapers and in all the radio broadcasts."[102] Going to the Ministry of the In
terior to pick up his official letter of appointment, he found that some civil s
ervant, without consulting or even informing him, had already drawn up the docum
ent confirming his acceptance of the post, and had given December 19 as the effe
ctive date.[103]
Father Josemara knew very well that before accepting any civil appointment to an
ecclesiastical post, he would need authorization from the bishop. He therefore w
ent straight from the Ministry to the chancery office to tell the vicar general
what had happened. Monsignor Moran congratulated him, promised to settle the mat
ter with the bishop, and, upon learning that his ministerial permits were about
to expire, immediately renewed them until June 1936.[104]
At first he could not understand why the vicar general was showing him such kind
ness. But the following week, he got a letter from the bishop of Cuenca telling
him that the bishop of Madrid had a high opinion of him, based largely on what h
e had heard from his vicar general. Now he once again saw how God was bringing g
ood out of evil-in this case, the evil of the slanderous accusations being made
against him. He notes in his journal, "The bishop of Cuenca writes and tells me
that on the day when I spoke with Monsignor Moran in such detail- after those in
sinuations-the vicar general then gave the b shop a report about me which, in hi
s view, explains why the bishop is so favorably disposed toward us. Praise God,
who writes straight with crooked lines!"[105]
When, on January 23, he again went to visit the vicar general, Monsignor Moran t
old him that he could now legitimately consider himself the rector. He had the b
ishop's approval, though it was a matter of policy with Bishop Leopoldo never to
give written confirmation of any ecclesiastical appointment made by the civil a
uthorities, in view of their generally hostile attitude toward the Church since
1931. In passing, Monsignor Moran advised him to inform the archbishop of Sarago
ssa of his appointment. He did so without delay, and received from Archbishop Ri
goberto Domenech this unofficial response: "My dear friend: Please accept my war

mest congratulations on your appointment as Rector-Administrator of the Santa Is

abel Foundation. I wish you every satisfaction, and I pray that God will afford
you his aid so that you may carry out this office to the benefit of all. At this
time I would also like to thank you for your sincere and generous offerings, wh
ose value I know well."[106]
Courteous though it is, the letter seems to have a tone of studied ambiguity, pe
rhaps signaling disapproval. In those years of persecution against the Church, a
ccepting an ecclesiastical post from the hands of the civil authorities was ofte
n considered tantamount to collaborating with the enemy.[107]
Father Josemara's suspicion that chancery office gossip lurked behind this seemin
gly friendly letter proved correct, despite all the explanations he had given co
ncerning the appointment, and despite Father Pou de Fox.l's acceptance of those
explanations. Only later did he find out, from a letter written him by this good
friend, what a certain sector of Saragossa's clergy really thought. "When the c
hancery office secretary arrived," Father Pou de Fox.l informed him, ?and starte
d talking about you-which I coaxed him to do, simply because I wanted to know wh
at his judgment was based on-he told me that for a priest to have dealings with
the Republic did not look good, since it suggested an agreement with its policie
s."[108]
Meanwhile, unaware of all such political and ecclesiastical problems, the commun
ity of Augustinian Recollect nuns at Santa Isabel continued to live a holy life.
They were just happy to have gotten what they wanted.

4. The academy-residence on Ferraz Street

The aggressively hostile religious policy adopted by Spain's Second Republic cul
minated in the "Law on Confessions and Religious Associations" of June 1933. Thi
s law so irritated the sensibilities of a predominantly Catholic nation that hug
e masses of believing citizens mobilized in protest. As a result of popular reac
tion in the 1933 general election, a more moderate government took office. The s
ocialists and the Marxist and anarchist groups then adopted a provocatively bell
igerent stance. In October 1934 an armed insurrection broke out in Asturias whic
h led to an all-out civil war against the legally constituted government. The go
vernment had to send in troops to subdue the revolutionaries, and that "Red Octo
ber" campaign was a long and bloody one. The " Asturias Revolution" left in its
wake a host of martyrs, both diocesan priests and religious, while many churches
were burned or otherwise destroyed.[109]
Disruptions of the 1934-1935 school year were one inevitable result of the polit
ically volatile situation. What with the October Revolution, the general strikes
in Madrid, and the postponement by universities of the start of their school ye
ar, no one applied for admission to the Ferraz Street residence. Ads in the news
papers produced no results.[110] The calculations on which their budget was base
d were irrelevant because they had no income. By Christmas they were in serious
financial trouble.

* * *

The difficulties that faced Father Josemara at the start of his apostolate were m
any and varied. Students showed an initial enthusiasm that often did not go very
deep; they tended to shy away from any commitment to a regimen of sacrifice and
surrender. With the women, because of a lack of time, his careful explanations
of the Work and its spirit did not go beyond the confines of spiritual direction
in the confessional. As for priests, he found himself dealing, for the most par
t, with older men already set in their ways. For over three years he did everyth
ing he could to in still the youthful, supernatural spirit of Opus Dei in a grou
p of them, but apparently they could not quite understand him, and as a result,
some of them kept a certain distance from him.[111] He realized that this was ca
used not by a lack of affection, but by the lack of a determined effort on their
part to make this divine endeavor their own. Only one-Father Jose Maria Somoano
, the chaplain of King's Hospital-had really identified with it, and God had tak

en him very soon afterward.

With an eye to promoting solidarity, Father Josemara sought to establish formal t
ies with the priests who worked most closely with him. Of the priests among his
first followers, five had promised to practice and foster a " complete adherence
to the authority of the Work," through a "Commitment" entered into on February
2, 1934.[112] But their living out of that commitment left much to be desired. G
od plainly had so arranged things that, although "very saintly," they left it to
the founder to do the apostolic work. All his physical energies and good will w
ent into nurturing the impulse that the Lord had imparted to the Work.[113]
Setting up the DYA Academy-Residente on Ferraz Street was a trial for his follow
ers. The motto DYA (Dios y Audacia: God and Daring) was the banner raised by the
founder. Full of faith and supernatural confidence, he threw himself wholeheart
edly into an enterprise far beyond his natural capabilities. Some of the priests
who worked with him thought what he was doing was colossally imprudent: to pres
s ahead an academy-residence lacking the material means for viability was, in th
eir view, just plain crazy-in business terms, suicidal. One of them said it was
like "jumping from a great height without a parachute and saying, 'Cod will save
me."'[114] Why rush things? Why not wait a year and open the academy-residence
after more preparation?
Those priests may have lacked apostolic daring, but they also lacked a grasp of
the supernatural criteria that guided the founder. He knew the time had come for
a residence where he could live with his sons and help give them formation. In
prayer he explained it this way: "Lord, the setback for the Work would not be a
matter of just one year. ...Don't you see, my Cod, what a different kind of form
ation we could give to our young men if we had a place where they could live? An
d the potential that this would give us for getting new vocations? ...A year? Le
t us not be men of narrow vision, immature and short-sighted, without supernatur
al horizons. ...Am I working for my own benefit? Well, then!..."[115]
"Cod and Daring" distinguished those priests disposed to follow Father Josemara f
rom those who considered what he was doing imprudent. Bishop Pedro Cantero says
of the latter, "I don't know, though, if they were really capable of doing what
the Father asked of them. The horizons that Josemara opened up were so vast that
they could be understood only by those who truly had the virtue of magnanimity.
It seems to me that the young men, with their natural daring, were better able t
o grasp what Josemara needed to accomplish."[116]
The founder soon realized that for priests to understand the spirit of Opus Dei
in its entirety, they would have to come from the ranks of lay members already f
ormed in that spirit.[117] Meanwhile, it seemed that the Lord was using this epi
sode to purify his soul. A journal entry of January 1935 reads: "It is not that
they don't love either the Work or me-they do love me. But the Lord does allow m
any things to happen, doubtless to increase the weight of the cross."[118]
Despite many problems, both internal and external, Father Josemara remained firm
and unflinching in his resolve, sure that God would see him through. "For it is
not stubbornness," he says, "but the light of God which makes me hold firm, as t
hough grounded in rock."[119] He turned eagerly to prayer and penance-with a dri
ve that his spiritual director had to slow down. "He will not let me undertake a
ny heavy penances," he writes. "He will only let me do what I was doing before,
no more, and two fasts (on Wednesdays and Saturdays), and six and a half hours o
f sleep, because he says that if I do any more, I'll be of no use to anyone in t
wo years' time."[120]
Already, the previous December, on the feast of Saint Nicholas, he had chosen th
at holy bishop to be the patron saint of the Work's financial affairs.[121] He a
lso celebrated a votive Mass in honor of Saint Joseph, in thanksgiving for the m
any gifts he had received from him in the past. .. and in hopes of more to come,
for the sake of the future of the Academy.[122]

* * *

Once the Escrivs had left the Martinez Campos apartment and settled into the hous
e at Santa Isabel, Father Josemara found himself with one foot in the Foundation

and the other in the Ferraz Street complex. He had to devote most of his time to
the DYA residence, which was continually plagued by staff and housekeeping prob
lems. By the end of the month there was usually not enough money left to pay the
rent or the bills at the butcher shop, the bakery, and the grocery store. They
lived partly on credit where food was concerned, and as for the rent, the priest
would go see the landlord, Don Javier Bordiu, and beg him to be patient. "How I
suffered," says Ricardo Fernandez Vallespn, the center's director. "Sometimes I
even wept, and my tears fell on the account book."[123]
If Ricardo had to go out in the evening, Father Josemara would fill in for him, a
nd often it was very late when he left the residence and set out for Santa Isabe
l. On dark winter nights, thinking about the dangers a solitary priest might enc
ounter in the streets and alleyways of Madrid, his family waited anxiously for h
is return, looking out the window until they saw his cloaked figure emerge from
a side street. In time they became more accustomed to the situation, but Doa Dolo
res was always anxious until he got home.[124]
Thinking about all the adversities of those last few months, Father Josemara felt
like Jonah; he became convinced that he himself was a hindrance to the progress
of the Work. "It is my sins-my ingratitude! -that must bear the blame for the t
ribulations we are enduring," he said. And then, "Lord, punish me, and carry the
Work forward!"[125]
He found a remedy in penance. Although his spiritual director, to keep him from
becoming "of no use to anyone within two years' time," had ruled out any "heavy
penances," we know that he was allowed fasting and use of the cilice, and use of
the discipline on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.[126] Father Sanchez gave hi
s approval to the frequency of these bodily mortifications, but how could he gau
ge their intensity? Doa Dolores, on the other hand, was well aware of their sever
ity; she made this clear in that family meeting in Fonz, when her son first spok
e to her about the Work. Even his brother knew he was using a cilice. The Escrivs
offered to give the Work their entire inheritance from Father Teodoro. But his
mother asked of him this one thing: "Don't beat yourself or put on a long face."
[127] The sound of the discipline was a martyrdom for her, and in the Martinez C
ampos apartment, and later at Santa Isabel, there was no way to avoid hearing it
, even though he turned on all the bathroom faucets full force to drown it out.
And although he carefully cleaned up the bathroom afterward, his sharp-eyed moth
er could hardly fail to notice the little spots of blood accidentally left on th
e floor or walls.[128]
As soon as he could, he resumed his use of the discipline at the Ferraz Street r
esidence. Then it was Ricardo's turn to hear the sounds of the lash. As he tells
it, "The Father ?I don't know how often? would shut himself up in the bathroom
and start hitting himself with the discipline. One time I noticed, because the F
ather got careless for a moment, that his discipline was not like the ones we us
ed, which consisted only of rope. His had bits of metal attached. I can't recall
if they were nails or nuts or what exactly, but I am sure that they were pieces
of metal. The Father didn't know that I could hear the sound of the lashes, but
they used to bother me a lot. I would plug up my ears for a long time, but stil
l the sound of the lashes would go on and on, whack, whack, whack. ...I thought
it would never stop. I never dared to say anything about it to the Father, but w
hen he had left, if I went into the bathroom, I could see that the discipline ha
d drawn blood. Despite his careful attempts to cleanup, I would find a stretch o
f the tiled wall spotted with blood. ...I would have given anything not to have
seen or heard these proofs of his penances."[129]
Meanwhile, alarmist criticisms continued to be heard from some of the priests wh
o worked with Father Josemara. As they saw it, he said, "the Academy was a failur
e, and why should I expect God to work a miracle for me? It was a disaster! We w
ere so much in debt!"[130] But he never lost his serenity. When he consulted Fat
her Sanchez and Father Poveda, about whether he had committed a serious error of
judgment, both encouraged him to go ahead. What was happening, they said, was u
ndoubtedly a trial from the Lord.[131]
On February 21, without consulting the other priests, he met with three of his s
ons and laid out a possible temporary solution to their financial difficulties:

give up the apartment occupied by the DYA Academy and move the Academy down to t
he same floor as the Residence, where there was plenty of room. In the next scho
ol year, he said, they could expand like a tightly wound spring, quickly making
up the ground they had lost.[132] The decision was then made known to those away
from Madrid at the time, and all reacted with great faith and optimism. "We'll
keep ourselves tightly in check now, at this embryonic stage of our development,
" Isidoro Zorzano wrote from Malaga, "so that we can acquire, like a spring, the
elasticity needed to make the great leap of a tiger at the appropriate time."[1
33]
For Father Josemara, giving up the apartment amounted to "an apparent strategic w
ithdrawal."[134] For some of his fellow priests, however, it was a clear proof o
f failure. In view of this, and of his recent experiences with them, he decided
on how to deal with them in the future: "I shall try to get them to contribute w
hat they can, until I can see if they are growing in the spirit of the Work." It
was a tactic of "wait and see." Yet he knew perfectly well why they were not re
sponding: "They have little supernatural vision, and not much love for the Work,
which to them is like a stepchild, whereas for me it's the soul of my Soul."[13
5]
For months the vacillation of that group of priests was a constant source of wor
ry for Father Josemara. Priests whom he had invited to the Work to be his collabo
rators and brothers had instead become a burden to him. Only a few weeks earlier
, several had promised obedience for the purpose of reinforcing the authority an
d leadership of the founder. But their conduct was far different from his expect
ations. Weighed down by this bitter anxiety, he sometimes referred to them as hi
s "crown of thorns." Some of them took a negative attitude that led them further
and further from the spirit of the Work. As a result, on March 10, 1936, he had
to record: "For some time now, it has been impossible to hold the priestly conf
erences that we had had every week since 1931."[136]
From then on, his relations with the priests who had made a commitment in 1934 b
ecame virtually unsustainable, and he had to carry the cross of their criticism.
Friends advised him to dissociate himself from them entirely, but he preferred
that they continue to collaborate with their priestly ministry, but without taki
ng any direct part in the apostolates of the Work. Such was the course of action
he outlined in 1935: "Rather than follow the advice of Father Sanchez and Fathe
r Poveda (implicit in the case of the former, and very clearly stated by the lat
ter) to throw out those priests (for reasons which charity forbade me to mention
in my entries of that time), I chose instead-because I saw the virtuousness of
all of them, and their undeniable good faith-the middle course of putting up wit
h them, keeping them outside the activities specific to the Work but always, whe
n need be, making use of their priestly ministry."[137]
Father Josemara could not go against the dictates of his heart. Not only did he f
eel a special affection for those diocesan priests, but soon they would be a cau
se of admiration and holy envy, for several died as martyrs a few months later.
He felt a lifelong deep concern for diocesan priests, that they not find themsel
ves isolated or lacking spiritual attention. It was a source of great joy for hi
m when at last he saw that diocesan priests could, in time, become united to the
Work by becoming members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.

* * *

The feast of Saint Joseph in 1935 was a very great day. On that March 19, all th
e sufferings of the previous months seemed to converge in the founder's heart: t
he material difficulties, the apparent failure of his apostolic efforts, the cri
tical attitudes and the rebelliousness of those priests. "May you be blessed, Je
sus, for having ensured that this foundation would not lack the royal seal of yo
ur holy cross!" In this journal entry, dated March 20, he set aside the sorrows
of the previous day and focused instead on something of which he had become conv
inced years before: "Jesus has always wanted me for himself-I'll explain that la
ter, on another day-and that's why he put a damper on all my celebrations, tempe
red my joys with bitterness, and made me feel the thorns in all the roses along

my path. ...And me, I was blind. I didn't see, until now, this predilection of t
he King, who throughout my entire life has stamped my body and my soul with the
royal seal of his holy cross!"[138]
March 19, 1935 brought the first definitive incorporation into the Work of perso
ns with proven vocations. Wishing to avoid any misunderstandings and make it cle
ar that there was no question of taking vows or making promises as religious do,
the founder explained exactly what this step meant. "It means that without a vo
w or any kind of promise, you are dedicating your life to the Work forever." Thi
s definitive incorporation, enacted before the plain wooden cross of the future
oratory at the DYA Residence, was at first called "Slavery," and later "Fidelity
."[139] Symbolically, the ceremony was marked by the putting on of rings engrave
d, inside, with the date and with the word Serviam ("I will serve"); To underlin
e how far the responsibilities of that self-surrender extended, Father Josemara a
sked each of them, one by one, after their declaring of fidelity: "If the Lord c
alls me home before the Work gets all the canonical approvals it needs for stabi
lity, will you keep working to carry forward Opus Dei, even if it costs you your
property, your reputation, and your career? Will you, in other words, put your
whole life at the service of God in his Work?"[140]
The days that followed were full of expectation. For some time now everyone had
been preparing for the arrival of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament-the "Resident p
ar excellence," as Father Josemara said. His desire to have a tabernacle in his h
ome was the main reason he had moved out of the Luchana Street building. But the
devil, faced with the prospect of such a great event, certainly did his best to
obstruct it. "The devil," reads one journal entry, "keeps putting difficulties
in our way to delay Jesus' coming to the tabernacle here in the house."[141] For
example, just when they were on the point of requesting the necessary approval
for setting up the oratory, the vicar general fell ill. But on March 2, in a let
ter telling the vicar general-now recovered-about the monthly days of recollecti
on and the catechism classes they were giving at Colonia Popular, Father Josemara
closed with this strong hint: "I think Jesus would be very happy if right here,
in the midst of this band of young folk of his, we had a real oratory and taber
nacle."[142]On March 13 he put in a formal request at the chancery office.
For the oratory they reserved the best room in the apartment. They obtained an a
ltar with a portable altar stone, and for an altarpiece, a painting of the suppe
r at Emmaus. The tabernacle, altar cloths, and candlesticks came as gifts or loa
ns. Father Josemara could hardly wait. "Jesus, are you coming soon to your Guardi
an Angel's House? We so much want you here!"[143] But by the vigil of the feast
of Saint Joseph, he still had not received a reply to his request for permission
to set up a semi-public oratory.[144] And a number of items, such as the cruets
, Sanctus bell, vigil light, and paten, were still to be acquired. Father Josema
ra made a list of the things they needed, and then put it away, commending to Sai
nt Joseph the task of finding a charitable soul to Doate them. That same day, Mar
ch 18, the porter delivered a parcel that a gentleman had dropped off. In it, th
e priest found everything they needed-exactly the items on his list. They tried
to find out who the donor was, but all the porter could tell them was that it wa
s a man with a beard. Deeply grateful for this favor that brought so much closer
the day when Jesus would be sacramentally present in the center, the founder de
creed that in all the future centers of the Work, the key to the tabernacle shou
ld have attached to it a medallion engraved with the words "Ite ad Ioseph" ("GO
to Joseph").[145]
?At last! Jesus is coming to live with us. Et omnia bona pariter cum eo-and all
good things will come with him," the priest joyfully announced in a letter dated
March 30, to Jose Maria Barredo.[146] On March 31, in an oratory full of young
men, Father Josemara celebrated Mass in a white chasuble. The altar was adorned w
ith flowers; rows of candles of graded length sloped up toward the crucifix abov
e the tabernacle. Before giving Communion, Father Josemara spoke a few words of t
hanks to the new "Resident." Afterward he wrote to the vicar general, "Holy Mass
has been celebrated in the oratory of this house, and His Divine Majesty has re
mained with us in the Blessed Sacrament, at last fulfilling the desires we have
had for so many years (since 1928!)."[147]

After that date the atmosphere in the Residence seemed different, more homey. Sa
turday afternoons at 50 Ferraz Street were full of activity. The priest would le
ad a meditation for the students, and then they would have Benediction. Afterwar
d a collection was taken up for "our Lady's flowers."[148] With some of this mon
ey they would buy flowers for the altar, and some would go as alms to the poor a
nd destitute of the slum districts. They also helped those that they called "our
Lady's poor"-people who had come down in the world and, ashamed of their povert
y, were trying to hide their hunger and other sufferings under a cloak of dignit
y. To these people they would bring (besides the consolation of a visit) some ki
nd of present, such as a delicious treat, or perhaps a book they could not affor
d to buy for themselves.
The Sunday catechism classes multiplied; it became necessary to hold two monthly
days of recollection; a class was started up for workmen in Carabanchel. Father
Josemara said, "Since we have had Jesus in the tabernacle of this house, it's be
en phenomenally noticeable: he came, and our work increased in both range and in
tensity."[149]

* * *

The previous year, Ricardo Vallespn had suffered a rheumatic attack so severe tha
t, had it lasted any longer, he could not have taken his final exams at the Scho
ol of Architecture. Having a great love for the Blessed Virgin, he had made her
a promise when he appealed to her for a prompt recovery; and he did, indeed, tak
e his exams. However when he told Father Josemara about all this, he was by then
a member of the Work, and the founder dispensed him from fulfilling his promise,
which included going from Madrid to Avila on foot. But with the end of the scho
ol year at hand, and having at the Ferraz Street center a good supply of young p
eople from whom he hoped to get vocations and residents for the following year,
Father Josemara decided to adopt Ricardo's idea. He had been looking for some spe
cial way to thank our Lady for the favors he had received from her that year. So
on May 2, accompanied by Ricardo and by Jose Maria Barredo, he set out for the
shrine of Our Lady of Sonsoles (near Avila).

Having decided to go to Sonsoles, I wanted to celebrate Holy Mass at the DYA bef
ore setting out toward Avila. During this Mass, in the Memento of the Living, wi
th a determination that was particularly strong (more than just my own), I asked
our Lord Jesus to increase in us-in the Work-our love for Mary, and I asked tha
t this love might be expressed in deeds. When we were on the train, my thoughts
kept spontaneously returning to the same idea: that our Lady is no doubt pleased
with our affection, crystallized as it is in substantial Marian devotions: her
image always kept before us; the tender greetings we give her as we enter and le
ave the room; our Lady's poor; the Saturday collection; omnes. ..ad Jesum per Ma
riam [all ...for Jesus through Mary]; Christ, Mary, the Pope. ...But in the mont
h of May, something more was needed. Then I thought of the "May Pilgrimage" as a
custom that must be incorporated- and it has been incorporated-into the Work.[1
50]

Without going into the walled area of Avila, they headed straight for the road l
eading to the shrine. From far off they could see the shrine on the top of a hil
l. They prayed the joyful mysteries of the Rosary walking up, the sorrowful myst
eries inside, standing before the image of the Virgin, which was surrounded by v
otive candles and other offerings, and the glorious mysteries on the way back to
the train station. Their experiences on this pilgrimage provided Father Josemara
with material for considerations on perseverance:

As we walked from Avila, we kept our eyes fixed on the shrine, and, naturally, w
hen we reached the foot of the hill, Mary's house disappeared from view. We talk
ed about how this is what God often does with us. He gives us a clear sight of t
he end of our journey, and allows us to fix our gaze upon it, in order to set ou
r feet firmly on the path of his most lovable will. And then, when we get near h

im, he leaves us in darkness, seemingly abandoning us. This is the time of tempt
ation: doubts, struggles, obscurity, weariness, and the desire to lie down along
the way. ...But no: forward! The time of temptation is also the time of faith a
nd of trusting surrender to our Father-God. Away with doubts, vacillations, and
indecision! I have seen the way, I set out on it, and I am following it, up the
hill-Come on, hurry up! -panting, out of breath with the effort, but not stoppin
g to pick the flowers which, to the right and to the left, offer me a moment's r
est and the enchantment of their scent and color...and of possession of them. Fo
r I know very well, from bitter experience, that if I were to pick them they wou
ld instantly start shrivelling up and fading, and so there is nothing in them fo
r me-neither color nor scent nor peace.[151]

In memory of that pilgrimage, Father Josemara kept a handful of ears of wheat in

a small chest. It was a symbol of his hope for great apostolic productiveness in
the month of May.[152]

* * *

The DYA Academy-Residence was just beginning to thrive again when reports of sla
nder and backbiting started coming their way once more. One day the son of the l
andlord of 50 Ferraz Street told them that someone had asked his father, "Why ha
ve you rented apartments to the DYA, when it's run by the Masons?" His father's
reply was, "Oh, really! I wasn't aware that the Masons pray the Rosary every day
with such devotion!"[153] (From his own apartment, Seor Bordiu could hear the re
sidents praying the Rosary together.)
Then they learned that a friend of a student who came regularly to the Residence
refused to visit the house because he had heard that "that Father Jose Maria is
nuts."[154] Such slander spread rapidly among the clergy of Madrid. On March 7
the founder wrote in his journal, "The run of insinuations against the Work is c
ontinuing." This was because of a conversation he had had a few days earlier wit
h a priest he barely knew. "How's that work going?" asked the priest. "What work
?" asked Father Josemara. "The academy you're running," replied the priest. "The
academy where I work is run by an architect-a professor at the School of Archite
cture," explained Father Josemara. "Well, what about that clandestine Freemasonry
?" "That is a total slander. We have nothing there that's clandestine-no secrets
, no whispering, just a group of young men who are studying hard and trying to l
ive a good Christian life...and who therefore don't deserve to be insulted with
such malicious insinuations."[155]
But the gossip abounded. As Father Josemara noted in his journal, one "saintly bu
t talkative priest" was scandalized by the fact that the wooden cross in the ora
tory had on it no figure of the Crucified.[156] Masons, madmen, heretics. ..Thus
, as early as 1935, the seeds of slander against the Work had been sown.

5. ?A father, a teacher and guide of saints?

The summer of 1935 was for Father Josemara one long, continuous workday. With the
help of those who stayed in Madrid, he prepared the "Noticias" newsletter and s
ent it out to the ones who were away on vacation. He started up two spiritual fo
rmation courses, and the monthly days of recollection he had been giving for the
students continued.
July brought an unexpected gift: vocations that, in time, would provide the Work
with two of its first three priests. One of these was Alvaro del Portillo, the
student who in Vallecas had sustained that terrible head injury and had made his
escape on the subway. Having met Father Josemara at the Ferraz Street center in
March, he thought it would be rude to go on vacation without saying good-bye, so
on Saturday, July 6, he showed up at the Residence. Father Josemara invited him
to take part in the day of recollection to be held the following day. That Sunda
y, for the first time, the Work was explained to him, and on that same day he as
ked to be admitted.[157] The other was Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica, the young m
an nicknamed Chiqui-the one whose introduction to the founder had led straight t

o hammering in nails from the top of a ladder.

Father Josemara was exhausted by the physical and moral wear and tear of the past
year, but the prospect of new vocations revived him. He had high hopes for the
next school year and wanted to avoid being caught unprepared, as he had been in
1934. At the end of August he told the vicar general, "The Work is going well. H
ere we see God."[158]However, the long months of tension and fatigue were wearin
g down the health of all involved in running the Residence. The first to succumb
was Ricardo, the director: he had to spend much of the month of August in bed.[
159] Father Josemara, tougher and more resilient than the others (though also mor
e tired), kept going as best he could until September, when he made a retreat at
the Redemptorist house on Manuel Silvela Street. Monsignor Moran, noting his ex
haustion some months before, had offered him a few days' rest at a property he o
wned in Salamanca, but Father Josemara had been unable to accept.[160]
He went to the Redemptorist house the afternoon of Sunday, September 15, SO worn
out that his body would no longer do what he wanted. Judging from what he wrote
the next day, it had in all likelihood been over a year since he had slept seve
n hours at a stretch:

Monday: It's a quarter past nine in the morning, and Istill can't say that I hav
e started my spiritual exercises. Last night I was really worn out-I slept from
eleven till six-thirty! ... I threw up part of my dinner. I am so weak. ...I hav
en't done a thing-today I haven't even used the discipline yet, but I will befor
e I go to bed-and still I'm as wiped out as if someone had beaten me up. Perhaps
I'm doing wrong in jotting down these physical details. But the fact is that ri
ght now I could lie down anywhere even in the middle of the street, like a vagra
nt-and not get up again for two weeks![161]

Then he made his first resolutions: to sleep on the floor, and for no more than
six hours. Next day he wrote:

Tuesday: I slept soundly on the floor. ...Since I have to say everything, I accu
se myself of laziness. So much for yesterday's resolutions! The clock struck fiv
e in the morning, and cathedral bells rang out that could have awakened a deaf p
erson. ...At six, strong as a long-haired Samson- but weak as a babe when it cam
e to serving my God-I arose from my soft bed. I feel amazingly well. Ergo. .., f
or the donkey, no coddling; only the stick![162]

Though physically far away, he kept close in his heart to all those in the Resid
ence, supporting them with prayer and mortification. "How constantly I think of
those sons of mine!" he wrote. "Tonight, at eight, they will hold their emendati
o,or 'Brief Circle' [a short gathering for instruction and prayer], as usual. So
at eight on the dot, I will use the discipline for their sake."[163]
On Thursday, Ricardo brought a letter to him at the Redemptorist house. The prie
st was struck by the realization that his heart was bursting with joy, and that
he loved his boys with all his soul.

* * *

Almost all the members of the Work were students who had never seen Father Josem
ara before his ordination. The one exception was Isidoro. They were the same age
and had been classmates at the school in Logroo. In 1930, when Isidoro was admitt
ed to the Work, a new bond developed between them. But the basic equality alread
y established in their relationship, while it did lead to a deeper than usual hu
man affection, coexisted with an indefinable spiritual distance that changed the
relationship in a way that neither would have predicted. The change is reflecte
d in their letters to one another, especially the salutations and closings.
From 1930 to 1932, Isidoro's greeting was usually "My dear friend Jose Maria," a
nd his closing was "With a hug from your good friend."[164] At a second stage, i
n 1933, the formulas become fraternal: "My dear brother Jose Maria," or "My dear
friend and brother"; "With a hug from your old friend and brother," or "With a

brotherly hug."[165] But from May 1934 on, there is a very different salutation:
"My dear Father Jose Maria."[166]
In contrast, the salutations and closings of the priest's letters follow no clea
r pattern, though they are always affectionate: "Madrid, March 1, 1931. Dearest
Isidoro: ...Entrusting you to the Master and giving you a brotherly hug, Jose Ma
ria"; "Madrid, March 3, 1931. Dearest Isidoro:...My blessing as a priest and as
Father, with a big hug, in the name of this whole insane asylum, Jose Maria."[16
7] But three years later, the notion of fraternity has completely disappeared, r
eplaced by an ever stronger sense of paternity. In June 1934, in a letter to all
members of the Work, he says, "Upon all of you, the blessing of your Father, wh
o thinks of you constantly and asks for your prayers. Jose Maria."[168] That sen
se of spiritual and familial paternity, which starts to grow in the spring of 19
34, comes through very clearly in this journal entry: "Sunday, March 11,1934. ..
.In the Work of God we don't go in for titles. The Father, President of the Work
, will simply be called 'Father'-not 'Reverend,' or 'Your Excellency,' or anythi
ng else."[169]
He had felt this vocation to paternity from the very beginning. In a journal ent
ry in 1931 he wrote, "Jesus doesn't want me to be learned in human knowledge. He
wants me to be a saint. A saint with a father's heart."[170] In 1933, when aski
ng his confessor for permission to step up his penitential practices, he makes h
is appeal in these words: "Look, God is asking this of me, and besides, it's nec
essary that I should be a saint and a father, a teacher and guide of saints."[17
1]
It did not come easy to him to call the members of the Work his sons. Given his
personal motto, "Hide and Disappear," it embarrassed him a bit. So at first he t
ook the easy way out, as he himself confesses, and simply called them brothers:
"Until 19331 was embarrassed at the thought of referring to myself as 'Father' o
f all these associates of mine. For this reason I almost always called them brot
hers, instead of sons."[172]
His youthfulness was part of the problem. He was not yet thirty; how could he cl
aim to be head of a family whose members-both priests and lay people-were the sa
me age he was, or even older? Often he prayed, "Lord, give me the gravity of an
eighty-year-old!"[173] After a while he noticed himself becoming rather more ser
ious. He still enjoyed a good joke, a hearty laugh, a healthy amount of fun. But
even that legitimate pleasure, with its hint of frivolity and foolishness, occa
sionally turned sour, leaving a bad taste in his mouth. "It's Jesus' doing," he
would tell himself. "He's putting eighty years' worth of gravity into my poor he
art, because it's too young."[174] He kept a careful watch on his conversation,
and tried, especially in public, to say and do everything with good taste and go
od manners. He even tried to walk in a more sedate manner. But he was not about
to give up the life of spiritual childhood for an old man's gravity. So he sough
t a formula to unite them. "Jesus," he prayed, "I want to be a two-year-old chil
d with eighty winters' worth of gravity and seven locks on my heart."[175]
By 1934, gravity was becoming less of an issue. In his journal he wrote, "Gravit
y: Jesus was thirty-three when he died on the cross. I can't use youthfulness as
an excuse for anything. And besides, I soon won't be a young man anymore."[176]
As for the "seven locks," that was something he had been thinking about for a lo
ng time, ever since his stay at the monastery of Saint John of the Cross. One of
his retreat meditations was this: "Holy purity: humility of the flesh. Lord: se
ven locks, for my heart! Seven locks and eighty years' worth of gravity. This is
n't the first time you've heard me make this request.... My poor heart yearns fo
r tenderness."[177]
His emotional life was too rich and full of joy to adapt well to "eighty winters
' worth of gravity." He tried to contain his feelings, just as he tried to compo
rt himself in a sedate and dignified way, but all to no avail. His heart would b
reak loose-he could not hold it back-and beat with an intensity that frightened
him. Until that is, the Lord showed him that this overwhelming tenderness was di
rected to God, and, through him, to his children.
He became aware of this fatherly vein in him on September 19, when Ricardo came
to the Redemptorist house to bring him a letter: "Ricardo came over, as I said,

and I was very happy to see him. I love my boys with all my heart. And my will i
s always to have this affection for them, for the sake of Christ. And yet severa
l times this afternoon, I felt qualms of conscience about it. I wondered whether
this affection- which, naturally, I feel more strongly toward those sons of min
e whom I see as being more dedicated to the Work- might be displeasing to Jesus.
A moment ago, Jesus made me see and feel that he is not displeased, because I l
ove them for his sake, and because, much as I love my boys, I love him millions
of times more."[178]
In conjunction with the role of Father-which he had taken on "with a full consci
ousness of being on earth solely for this purpose"[179]-he felt called to be" a
teacher and guide of saints." Did this mean trying to excel in his studies and b
ecome a professor, or did it mean sacrificing that noble aim? After thinking it
over, he gave his reply to his spiritual director: "My way is the second one: Go
d wants me to be a saint and he wants me for his Work."[180]

* * *

The 1935-1936 school year began with a recovery of the ground lost by their "str
ategic withdrawal" of moving the DYA Academy to the downstairs apartment. At the
beginning of September they wrote to the best-known high schools outside the ca
pital and placed ads in the national newspapers. Many requests for admission fol
lowed--so many, in fact, that there were not enough beds at 50 Ferraz Street to
accommodate them all. Since they were unable to re-rent that other apartment, th
ey set up an annex next door at 48 Ferraz Street. To fix up the new apartment Fa
ther Josemara again had to turn to Doa Dolores. She put 45,000 pesetas at his disp
osal.[181]
Seven years after the foundation of the Work, Father Josemara wrote in his journa
l "Since that October 2 of 1928, how many mercies from the Lord! Today I cried a
lot. Now, when everything is going very well, is when I find myself weak, witho
ut strength. How clearly I see that everything has been done, and is done, by yo
u, my God!"[182]
Running the Residence in the previous year had truly been a daily miracle. They
had begun with a good household staff: two menservants, and a chef-whom they had
to dismiss immediately (with due compensation I for want of residents. Now more
cautious, they took on a smaller staff of just a cook and a young man who had p
reviously worked as a bellboy in the Residence; he was to run errands, answer th
e door, and serve the meals.
The cook was a woman with a lot of professional experience and expertise, but th
e young man was not exactly a gem.[183] When the residents were out the priest a
nd the director did household chores: making beds and sweeping the floor, washin
g dishes and setting tables. ...They had gotten plenty of practice the year befo
re. There were about twenty residents; but the housekeeping chores were done wit
h a good spirit. In one journal entry we read, "The feast of Saint Charles, Nove
mber 4, was the second anniversary of Ricardo's vocation. He celebrated it by wa
shing all the dishes for the whole house that evening. I dried everything and pu
t it away. We got done at about twelve, with a holy joy."[184]
During November 1935 two architecture students-friends who both came from the Le
vante region of Spain-asked to be admitted to the Work. One of them, Pedro Casci
aro, had met Father Josemara in January 1935 and, from then on had attended forma
tion classes at the Residence. The other knew nothing at all about the Work unti
l October. His name was Francisco Botella. At Christmas they both went to live a
t 48 Ferraz Street.[185]
The atmosphere there was a lively blend of "piety, study, and apostolate," says
Aurelio Torres-Dulce, a medical student who often visited the Residence. It was
very clear that "the basic objective of the entire enterprise was a supernatural
one: namely, improvement in Christian conduct."[186] Students came to the apart
ment precisely because it was not a recreation center. They were asked to study,
"because studying is a serious obligation." They were expected to treat the hou
se as "their own"-which included sharing in the work and expense of running it.
They were not allowed to be mediocre or "just one of the crowd." They were const

antly encouraged to raise their sights and to entertain the noblest ambitions.[1
87]
In the midst of the oppressive and tense political situation in the country, the
residence was a haven of joy and peace. Knowing well the tendency of the young
to adopt extreme positions, and the devastation wrought in Spanish history by th
e unleashing of such impulses, Father Josemara noted in his journal both what nee
ded to be corrected and what needed to be instilled in the young men:

For the spirit of the Saint Raphael work: the boys should not be allowed to argu
e about political matters at our house. We should make them see that God is the
same as he's always been, that he doesn't have his hands tied; remind them that
the apostolate we do with them is of a supernatural kind; keep calling to their
attention the presence of God, in private conversations, in communal talks, all
the time; make them Catholic both in heart and in understanding.[188]

Jose Luis Muzquiz, an engineering student, met Father Josemara at the beginning o
f 1935. "He gave me a brief explanation," he says, "of what was going on at the
DYA Academy-of how, without setting up a new association of any kind, it was att
empting to form good Christians by teaching and encouraging people first to live
in a way that was consistent with the name of ?Christian,' and then, little by
little, to get involved in giving this formation to other young people who wante
d it. He told me that there were, at the talks and in the study circles, young p
eople from all over Spain who were studying in Madrid, and that they were of all
political persuasions and parties, but that, in these gatherings, nobody asked
anybody what party they belonged to.''[189]
Ricardo Vallespn depicts the spiritual atmosphere of the Residence as one "of joy
, of peace, of love for God, and of serenity amidst the adverse circumstances co
nsequent upon the political and social situation."[190] Such was the state of mi
nd of the Father. He had discovered earlier the secret of staying serene in the
midst of turmoil. "I believe that the Lord has put in my soul another characteri
stic: peace-the ability to have peace and to give peace--judging by what I see i
n the people whom I deal with or whom I direct."[191]

6. The apostolate with women

Father Josemara was concerned to be objective and dispassionate in everything he

wrote, especially regarding the Work, its apostolic endeavors, and the interior
events of his own life. In May 1935, he expressed calm satisfaction with the pro
gress of the Work: ?And I see that everything is up and running: Saint Raphael,
Saint Gabriel, and Saint Michael, the three branches of the Work; the enfue apos
tolate with men. The dedication of everyone is beyond doubt."[192]
As far as the Work was concerned, he had totally given upon those priests of who
m he had said a few months earlier, "so far, unfortunately-no offense to anyone,
they're all very saintly men-I haven't found one priest who is willing to help
me by becoming dedicated, like me, exclusively to the Work."[193] His hopes that
they would relieve him of some of the work had faded. "If only those priests, t
hose brothers of mine would help me...."[194] But they had left him alone with h
is burden.
This lack of collaborators had negative consequences for his work with women. Hi
s concern is already evident in a note to his confessor in October 1933. He was
disturbed that "very little" was being done "for our women" and that in this res
pect God's will was not being carried out. "If they have persevered till now," h
e said to himself, "it's by a special favor from God."[195] (He was extremely up
set by the thought that he was leaving God's will undone, and this led him to ex
press himself with a certain inaccuracy. The problem really had to do with limit
ations of time and physical energy. He could see this where the apostolate with
young men was concerned. He says, for example, "I'm not taking good enough care
of the boys who have come to us-because I can't, because there's only so much I
can do.")
At Christmas, 1933, the young men of the Work, led by the founder, made a triduu

m to the Holy Spirit in petition for vocations, and in particular, as he says in

his journal, "for a woman to be the head of the women's branch (or, better, the
heart)."[196]
Although he was father also to the women of the Work, Father Josemara continued t
o be very careful about keeping a certain respectful distance when dealing with
them. He had no relationship with them ?outside the confessional, and avoided do
ing anything that might arouse suspicion," says Natividad Gonzalez Fortn.[197] No
t yet having "eighty years' worth of gravity," he preferred to leave them in the
care of other priests, Fathers Norberto and Lino. But he did not feel entirely
confident about the results of this arrangement. How could those admittedly fine
priests give the women a formation in Opus Dei's unique spirit when they themse
lves had not acquired it? Several vocations won by him with great effort in the
confessional were lost in a short time.[198]
On April 28, 1934, he held the first meeting ever with some women members of the
Work-there were not yet even half a dozen-in the parlor of the Santa Isabel Con
vent. Afterward, on Saturdays, they were able to use a room at the "Students' Ho
use," thanks to Father Pedro Poveda.[199] For the time being, the founder's plan
s for an apostolate with women did not seem urgent. He would say to himself, opt
imistically, "As soon as my daughters are a little more organized...." But it wa
s obvious that they were hardly organized at all. Considering the circumstances,
he did what he could. But the opening of the Ferraz Street residence, the tense
situation created by the critical attitudes of fellow priests, and insurmountab
le financial problems kept him from regularly attending to the needs of those so
uls, and they lacked both direction and government. Once the Blessed Sacrament w
as reserved in the oratory of the Ferraz Street complex, however, things changed
dramatically. From time to time, at an hour when the residents were out, the pr
iest would preach a meditation for the women and then give Benediction. He spoke
to them about sanctification of work and about apostolate. They listened enthus
iastically to everything he said, though he always wondered how much they really
understood.[200] "The truth is that we had plenty of good will," Felisa Alcolea
candidly comments, "but no more than that."[201]
Lacking help, Father Josemara found it physically impossible to get really involv
ed in the apostolate with women. His duties as rector, hospital visits, and, abo
ve all, spiritual direction of an increasing number of students at the Residence
took all his time and energy. On several occasions, in fact, Father Josemara fou
nd himself on the verge of total exhaustion. The end result was that those women
, having received so little formation in the spirit of Opus Dei, soon disbanded
once war broke out in Spain in 1936.

* * *

The founder was enormously proud of his children. "My lay children-all of them-a
re heroic," he stated with entire conviction.[202] In them he found the help he
needed to get the Work launched. Certain that they were the long-awaited instrum
ents needed to set the supernatural enterprise in motion, he made this request o
f God at the start of the 1935-1936 school year: "Lord, please fix everything so
that we can work well -in a manner that is pleasing to you- in this year that h
as just begun. Jesus, may your poor little donkey know how to form, according to
your most lovable will these apostles of yours, our Saint Michael boys, so that
they may accomplish the Work."[203]
Anyone setting foot in the Residence encountered a human warmth that, as one wit
ness testified, ?seemed to permeate everything-not only the people who were ther
e, but even inanimate material objects."[204] After going into the oratory and g
reeting our Lord, the first-time visitor was introduced to the Father. He receiv
ed visitors in the director's room ?since his own? besides being small and dimly
lit, was almost entirely occupied by a cabinet containing files and items neede
d for Mass. The director's room measured about ten feet by thirteen. It had in i
t a bed without a headboard, a small chest of drawers, a desk, and three or four
chairs.[205]
Father Josemara's style was direct, informal, and affable. In a few minutes the v

isitor was talking about the most personal matters, opening up to the priest as
if they had known each other all their lives. Some left this first meeting havin
g already begun a radical change in their lives, with new plans and ideals, with
souls made restless by the sight of unsuspected horizons.[206]
The priest was of medium height, or perhaps a little taller than average, and st
ocky. He had a round face with a broad, square forehead; he wore glasses, and hi
s hair, which was very dark was cut very short. Most of the time he wore a sligh
t smile, and only now and then looked serious. His fine bearing, cheerful demean
or, and affectionate manner of speaking gave many people a mistaken impression o
f a man who led an easy life of tranquil priestly routines. But behind his rathe
r dark complexion was an ascetic pallor reflecting the fatigue produced by long
vigils and harsh penances; there were disciplines and fasts behind his cheerfuln
ess. Many nights he would arrive at the Residence without having eaten a bite of
food all day, and would invite a student to talk with him while he ate an omele
t of just one egg for his supper. And sometimes if the boy looked longingly at h
is plate, he would give it to him, pretending he had lost his appetite. Then his
fast would continue into the next day.[207]
His spotless cassock and well-shined shoes belied any suggestion of poverty. Whe
n kneeling in the oratory, he was careful to hide the worn soles under the expan
sive spread of his cassock. The shoes were not new; they were ones the residents
had discarded.[208]
Giving meditations, he would often pray aloud. His listeners were moved at shari
ng in the priest's thoughts and feelings. Moved, too, were those who attended hi
s Masses. Stirred by the devotion of a celebrant so obviously immersed in the di
vine mysteries, they would say to one another outside the oratory, "That priest
is a saint."[209]

7. Formational writings

The Father strenuously devoted himself to being ?a teacher and guide of saints."
In his sons-then scarcely a dozen-he saw souls called to sanctity, diamonds in
the rough that it was his task to cut, one by one, to bring out their greatest p
ossible brilliance, according to their individual gifts and characteristics. "Ou
r members," he says in his journal, "should not all be put in one mold. Instead,
without detriment to unity or discipline, we must make sure that each man of Go
d develops his own personality, his own character."[210]
From time to time he had a private talk with each one in which he provided guida
nce for their interior life. In spiritual direction he was demanding; he was con
vinced that "it is a colossal blunder for a director to allow a soul to give fou
r when it is capable of giving twelve."[211] Consistent with the message he cons
tantly preached, he was never satisfied that his children be anything less than
"canonizable saints." In these calculations, of course, the women were included.
Felisa Alcolea says, "He used to tell us very emphatically, 'You must be saints
, and I mean canonizable saints. I won't settle for anything less."[212]
From the beginning, as we have seen, he used both loose notes and the notebooks
of his journal to make the Work and its spirit known. But besides his Personal N
otes, he wrote other documents as well. Among these are his general letters, whi
ch could be called foundational, since in them he develops essential points abou
t the Work and its spirituality, putting together some "mother ideas" and princi
ples that are always valid and valuable, regardless of historical circumstances.
[213]
As early as 1931, he established as his governing principle for the formation of
members of Opus Dei a cultivating of both unity and diversity: "The members sho
uld be as varied as are the saints in heaven, each of whom has their own very in
dividual personal traits-and as alike as are the saints, none of whom would be a
saint if they had not become totally identified with Christ."[214] In his perio
dic private talks with them he focused more on their individual characteristics,
while in his general letters he focused more on forming in them a spirit of uni
ty.
In the first of these foundational letters, dated March 24, 1930, he talks about

the universal call to holiness and how his children must put into practice the
virtues leading to Christian perfection, since "sanctity is not something for ju
st a privileged few."[215]
The following year, on the same date, he finished the second of these letters. S
ome fifty pages long, it offers spiritual advice for navigating safely "on a sea
agitated by human passions and errors."[216] With the solicitude of a father an
d teacher, he points to obstacles along the way and stresses the need to keep st
ruggling and to use human and supernatural means to overcome discouragement and
weakness: fidelity to one's vocation, joy in the fight, humility, sincerity, pie
ty, hope, taking comfort in the knowledge of being a child of God, recourse to t
he Blessed Virgin...
"The Work has not come to change, much less reform, anything in the Church," he
declares in a third letter, dated January 9, 1932. This one concludes with "an o
ld piece of news: After all these centuries, the Lord wants to use us so that al
l Christians may discover, at last the potential of ordinary life--of profession
al work-for being sanctified and for sanctifying, and the effectiveness of evang
elizing by example, friendship, and a building up of trust. Our Lord Jesus wants
us to proclaim today in a thousand languages, in every part of the world, that
message as old and as new as the Gospel. He wants us to do it with the gift of t
ongues, so all will know how to apply it to their own lives."[217]
But how were they to "bring this doctrine to every part of the world, in order t
o open up the divine paths of the earth"?[218]This is the theme of another of hi
s general letters, dated July 16, 1933. He answers that question thus: You will
do this by carrying out an apostolate based on friendship and trust-by forgiving
, by understanding, by drowning evil in a sea of goodness, by having a holy acce
ptance of people and a holy intransigence toward evil by being sowers of peace a
nd joy, and by fostering liberty, solidarity, and dialogue with those who do not
share our ideas.

* * *

On October 30, 1931, Father Josemara had been assailed by a doubt concerning his
journal entries. He confided it to the fourth notebook, by then nearly full: ?Th
e writing of these entries-is it not pride, or at least a waste of time??[219] I
t was not a frivolous question. In 1930 he had been assailed by a similar doubt,
with the result that he burned the first notebook of his journal to avoid being
thought a saint. But in 1931, every trace of what he had written around the two
foundational dates (October 2, 1928, and February 14, 1930) having disappeared,
he answered that question as follows: "Of course, for the Work of God many of t
hese notes will be useful. Besides, I firmly believe that they are inspired by G
od. And they're useful for my soul, too.?[220]In other words, he was to keep his
journal--0ut of humility, to avoid thinking himself a saint; and because he rea
lized that it was part of the common property of the Work.
He continues: "Pride? No. From a spiritual point of view, it is obvious that the
se notes will cause me only humiliation, since they make so clearly visible the
goodness of God and my own resistance to grace. And from a literary standpoint-I
have said this many times-these disjointed notes are also for me the greatest h
umiliation.?[221] In fact, the temptation to polish his literary skills-much as
he repressed it-did plague him in those days. The week before, he had observed,
"Each day my writing gets worse. Well, just keep going-this isn't intended to wi
n any literary prize.?[222] His apostolic imperatives did not permit an indulgin
g of his literary inclinations. He had little time for writing, and sometimes no
desire or energy for it.[223]
Certainly he could see the usefulness of his Apuntes. Those notes-first jotted d
own on scraps of paper, wherever he was when inspiration struck, then written ou
t neatly on sheets of paper, and finally transcribed into the notebooks-were obv
iously a rich spiritual vein waiting to be mined. In them he had recorded sweet
outpourings of love, harsh ascetic thoughts, practical initiatives, foundational
inspirations, and "mother ideas" pregnant with solutions to various problems. B
ut for the time being, as he remarked in a journal entry, those ideas bore " abo

ut as much resemblance to the completed being, perhaps, as an egg does to the st

rutting chicken that will hatch from its shell.?[224]
In December 1932, Father Josemara selected 246 thoughts from his Apuntes which he
typed and then duplicated in the form of booklets to provide a method and theme
s for meditation to his children and others who came to him for spiritual direct
ion. This first compilation of Consideraciones espirituales was also known as Co
nsejos ("Words of Advice").[225]
Later, in 1934, he decided to put the Consideraciones in print, adding new thoug
hts from his Apuntes,for a total of 438 pointS.[226] From a letter from Father S
ebastian Cirac, a canon of Cuenca, we know that by April he had taken steps to h
ave them published. Father Sebastian, who had attended one of Father Josemara's M
onday meetings with priests in Madrid, was delighted to undertake to obtain an e
stimate from the Imprenta Moderna [Modern Press]. (They asked 310 pesetas for fi
ve hundred copies.) It was convenient, too, that Father Sebastian had been appoi
nted diocesan censor of books.[227] Everything was going very smoothly.
But then he hit a snag. "I sent the Consideraciones to Cuenca:' he says in a jou
rnal entry dated May 18, 1934, " and it appears that they are scandalized-no, th
at's not right-they are frightened by certain words which, needless to say, have
nothing in them of error or disrespect: for instance, the phrase 'holy shameles
sness.' Yesterday I said this in a letter to Cirac, and, having given in on all
the rest I'm hoping the booklet will be printed with 'shamelessness.'But the imp
ortant thing is that it be published, even if this means collaboration (!). The
time will come when it can be published without alterations."[228]
By return mail the canon replied: "Having received and read your letter, I read
it also to the bishop, and he does not like your position on the word 'shameless
ness.' He says he cannot give his stamp of approval to a book in which a word is
recommended which sounds bad and has an objectionable meaning in everyday langu
age. He recommends that you use another word instead: 'resolution,' 'decision: '
boldness.' ...I would ask you to consider carefully His Excellency's advice, for
here and in his diocese he speaks with the authority of a divine oracle."[229]
In the opinion of Bishop Cruz Laplana, "shamelessness" was an ill-sounding word
for a priest to use, however much Father Josemara might try to sanctify it by pla
cing it in the context of spiritual childhood. With the dispute threatening to t
urn into hair splitting, Father Josemara gave in. The argument did not seem worth
winning against the wishes of the bishop, who was a good friend and a relative
of the Escrivs-and who, furthermore, had to ratify the censor's decisions and con
trolled the Imprenta Moderna (previously known as the Imprenta del Seminario). B
ut although Father Josemara gave in, he put his disagreement on record by writing
in the margin of the letter from Father Sebastian, "Well, so much for my shamel
essness! Or, shall we say (for now), daring."[230]
At stake in this curious incident was more than a question of semantics. The arg
ument was apparently not so much about a word as about ecclesiastical propriety
and social convention. Preachers generally took certain precautions-for example,
avoiding the vulgar-sounding word "pigs," in favor of "beasts with a low perspe
ctive" or "filthy beasts"; or, if they did utter such a common word, immediately
begging the congregation' s pardon.* Father Josemara had no use for such childis
hness. An entry of August 1931, reads, "Margaritas ad porcos! [Pearls before swi
ne!] The choicest morsel, if eaten by a pig (for that is, minus the euphemisms,
what it's actually called), either emerges from the filthy beast as revolting ex
crement or, at best, is turned into pig flesh! Let us be angels, so as to dignif
y the ideas we assimilate. Or let us at least be human beings, so as to convert
our food into strong, fine muscles or perhaps into a powerful brain, capable of
understanding and adoring God. But let us not be beasts, like so many, so very m
any!"[231]
Another circumstance in this episode deserves mention. The author of the Apuntes
wrote down maxims and considerations as and when he was so inspired. His notes
on "holy shamelessness" are scattered over the pages of Notebook 5, which covers
the first half of 1932.[232] When the time came (in December of that year) to p
ut together some of these considerations for publication, he organized them by s
ubject matter, placing like with like. Thus all his considerations on this subje

ct ended up on the same page, numbered consecutively (starting with 90). When he
sent the expanded edition of Consideraciones espirituales to Cuenca in 1934, he
kept the layout of some of those pages from 1932, so that under the heading "Yo
ur Blueprint for Holiness," the bishop would have read this:

The plane of the sanctity our Lord asks of us is determined by these three point
s: holy steadfastness, holy forcefulness, and holy shamelessness.
Holy shamelessness is one thing, and worldly boldness quite another.
Holy shamelessness is characteristic of the life of childhood. ...Shamelessness,
carried to the supernatural life...[233]

On this one page, "holy shamelessness" appears a total of six times. Perhaps one
can see why the bishop was alarmed.
In any event, Father Josemara's acquiescence took a load off the bishop's shoulde
rs. He was completely satisfied, as Father Sebastian makes clear in a letter dat
ed May 28: "Dear Jose Maria: Your last letter gave me great joy because of the t
rust you put in the bishop. He is also very pleased with your conduct and submis
sion to his point of view."[234]
The booklet was printed in June.[235] In it the expression "holydaring? appeared
repeatedly. Faithful to his inspiration, the author let some time go by, and wh
en he could publish it ?without alterations?-when, that is, he published The Way
?he put ?holy shamelessness? back in all the original places.[236] It was not th
e only time in his life, and in the history of Opus Dei, when he would exercise
holy stubbornness, ?giving in without giving up, with every intention of regaini
ng what was lost.?[237]
The introduction to this booklet states that these ?spiritual considerations? we
re offered in response ?to the needs of young lay university students being dire
cted by the author," and "are notes that I use to help me in the direction and f
ormation of these young people."[238] Among the themes included is the practice
of mental prayer, which for a university student was like the discovery of a who
le new world. "You say you don't know how to pray? Put yourself in the presence
of God, and once you have said 'Lord, I don't know how to pray,' rest assured th
at you have begun to do so."[239] In a thousand different ways, Father Josemara e
mphasized to the university students that the road of apostolate passes first th
rough the sanctification of one's professional duties. " An hour of study, for a
modern apostle, is an hour of apostolate."[240]

* * *

Sometimes on Sunday afternoons, says Francisco Botella, "the Father called us in

to his room, and we sat facing him, around his desk, and, taking phrases from hi
s 'Instruction on the Supernatural Spirit of the Work,' or from the 'Saint Rapha
el Instruction,' he would tell us more about the Work."[241]
These books of instructions by the founder set out and explained essential point
s relating to the history, spirit, and apostolate of Opus Dei.[242] In the "Inst
ruction on the Supernatural Spirit of the Work of God," for example, he emphasiz
ed to the members that the apostolic plan they were putting into effect was not
a human enterprise but " a great supernatural enterprise"?divine in origin and n
ature?because "the Work of God was not dreamed up by a man, to remedy the sad si
tuation of the Church in Spain since 1931."[243] His clear intention was to impr
ess indelibly upon their minds and hearts these three considerations:

1) The Work of God comes to fulfill the will of God. Have, therefore, a deep con
viction that Heaven is committed to seeing it accomplished.
2) When our Lord God plans some work for the benefit of human beings, he first t
hinks of those he will use as his instruments...and gives them the necessary gra
ces.
3) This supernatural conviction of the divine nature of the enterprise will even
tually give you such an intense enthusiasm and love for the Work that you will f
eel delighted to sacrifice yourselves to bring it to fulfillment.[244]


These are powerful, incisive ideas which "fill the mind and heart to overflowing
," in the words of Francisco Botella. Reading them, Ricardo Fernandez Vallespn sa
ys on behalf of all those young men, "did our souls an enormous amount of good a
nd increased our desire for sanctification to the point where we were prepared t
o give our lives to see the Work accomplished, and thus carry out the will of Go
d."[245]
But to spread the Work of God everywhere," affirming the reign of Jesus Christ f
orever" [see Rev 11:15], they would need to attract others. That is the main the
me of another book of instructions.[246] There the founder points out the human
and divine means that they must use; some obstacles they may encounter; and some
typical human traits, good and bad. He also speaks of those who have the right
qualities for belonging to Opus Dei, and of those who do not: "There is no room
in the Work for those who are selfish, cowardly, indiscreet, pessimistic, indiff
erent, foolish, aimless, timid, or frivolous. There is room for the sick (God's
favorites!) and for all those who have a big heart, even if they have had greate
r weaknesses."[247]
The third of these books-the one "for the Saint Raphael work"-is dated January 1
, 1935, but probably was written in the autumn of 1934, in the wake of the revol
ution in Asturias, when the house was empty and many critical and pessimistic co
mments were coming from some of his fellow priests. Despite all this, from the f
irst lines of the introduction, the tone is one of peace and optimism and assura
nce of a bright future:

Dearest ones: For some time now there has been an evident need for a book of ins
tructions outlining the general norms to be followed by those in charge of forma
tion, so that the new souls whom the Lord sends us may find their rightful place
in the Work.
I cannot do everything.[248]

8. Preparations for expansion: Madrid, Valencia, Paris

After the revolution in Asturias in 1934, political coexistence among Spaniards

became extremely problematic. A general election was set for February 1936. On t
he one side was the Popular Front, Marxist in inspiration; on the other, and an
unstable coalition of right-wing parties. The weeks leading up to the election w
ere tense.
The house where the Escrivs lived was near the entrance to the church of Santa Is
abel. There they were particularly vulnerable to assault or fire, so they decide
d it would be wise to move elsewhere until it was clear what was going to happen
. Father Josemara took this opportunity-he had been waiting for one for so long!to move into the Ferraz Street residence. In his journal he writes, "January 31,
1936: It is almost midnight. I'm at our Guardian Angel House. Jesus has been so
kind as to arrange things such that I get to spend a whole month here, with my
sons. My mother, sister, and brother, meanwhile, will stay in a boarding house o
n Calle Mayor."[249]
The Popular Front won the February 16 elections. The victory, though by no means
a landslide, excited revolutionary spirits and intensified the antireligious se
ntiment already poisoning civic life. To return to the apartment at the Santa Is
abel Foundation would have been highly imprudent. So, for the seventh time, Doa D
olores moved to a new home. Meanwhile, with his usual optimism, her son could se
e a positive side even to what seemed like an impending disaster for the cause o
f religion: namely, the appointment of Don Manuel Azaa as president of the new go
vernment.* "My mother, sister, and brother are living at 3 Rey Francisco Streetnow renamed Dr. Carceles. I took the opportunity to tell them that I am now goin
g to live permanently with my sons. There is no evil that does not work to the g
ood. Azaa is my opportunity, and I don't want to miss it. Mama is taking it well
though it's not at all easy for her."[250]
A storm of street riots, crimes, strikes, and all kinds of violence soon broke o
ut all over Spain. On March 11 Father Josemara recorded in his journal "Fires con

tinue to rage, both in the provinces and in Madrid. ...This morning, while I was
celebrating Holy Mass at Santa Isabel the government ordered that the guards be
disarmed. ...I, with the consent of the nuns, took a ciborium that was almost f
ull of consecrated hosts and consumed them all. I don't know if anything will ha
ppen. Lord: enough of these sacrileges!"[251]
What he had feared took place two days later: "On the thirteenth they started to
attack Santa Isabel. They broke down some doors. Providentially, though, the mo
b had run out of gasoline and could only set on fire the outer door of the churc
h before they were chased away by a couple of guards. ... People around here are
very pessimistic. I cannot lose my faith and my hope, which are a consequence o
f my love. ...At Santa Isabel there's nothing but trouble. I can't understand wh
y the nuns haven't all had heart attacks! Today [March 25, 19361 when I heard ev
eryone talking about priests and nuns being assassinated, and about fires and as
saults and all kinds of horrors. .., I shuddered and-this shows how contagious t
error is!-for a moment I was afraid. I won't stand for having pessimists at my s
ide; we must serve God with joy and without fear!"[252]
In this atmosphere charged with hatred and the threat of death, amid the most al
arming news, the journal entries do not deviate from their apostolic focus. "I s
ee the necessity, even the urgency, of opening houses outside Madrid and outside
Spain," he writes on February 13, 1936. And, around that time: "I sense that Je
sus wants us to go to Valencia and to Paris. ... A campaign of prayer and sacrif
ices is already under way that will be a solid foundation for those two houses."
[253]
Central to the plan for expansion of the Work in Spain and beyond was the univer
sality of God's design. Father Josemara had discussed it with the vicar general i
n 1934 and, more recently, had told him in a letter dated March 10,1936, "It's q
uite possible that during this coming summer the Work will open a house somewher
e in the provinces-perhaps in Valencia-and I'm laying the groundwork for sending
a little group to Paris. ..."[254]
At this time he had only a handful of vocations. As always, the Lord was driving
him on. There was' a trick-a clever human and supernatural tactic-that he often
used in those days. He would announce his plans to the Church authorities, in a
sense burning his bridges and leaving himself no possibility of turning back. I
t was an excellent tactic in another way, too: it was a sure fire way of getting
the prayer and mortification needed to give his projects a firm foundation, as
he confesses to himself in his journal. Referring to the letter he is writing to
the vicar general about Valencia and Paris, he says, "On purpose, I'm speaking
about those two houses: on the one hand, to ensure that there will be much praye
r and sacrifice, and on the other hand, to burn my boats, as did Cortes."[255]
As he did with Madrid's vicar general, so too he made every effort to explain th
e apostolates of Opus Dei to bishops passing through Madrid. He would invite the
m to celebrate Mass or dine at the DYA Residence so that he could talk with them
afterward. "It is comforting," he wrote on November 2, 1935, "to see how the hi
erarchy has only to know the Work in order to love it."[256]
He wrote to the bishop of Pamplona, Bishop Marcelino Olaechea, about the expansi
on of the apostolate and about the Lord's wish that they open a house in Valenci
a and another in Paris.[257] When he wrote to the auxiliary bishop of Valencia,
Bishop Francisco Javier Lauzurica, he promised to visit him, and set an approxim
ate date. "In the second half of April," he said, "I'm planning to go to Valenci
a, because never under any circumstances will we open up an academy or a residen
ce without the blessing of the local bishop."[258]
He never forgot the need for supernatural foundations. "Our houses in Valencia a
nd Paris must be built on foundations of suffering," he said in a journal entry
dated March 11. "Blessed be the cross! Problems? Barely a day goes by without th
em. "[259]
It is impossible to know what problems he was referring to, since from the begin
ning of November 1935 until the spring of 1936 he made fewer than twenty entries
in his journal.[260] His last entry for 1935 reads: "Thursday, December 12, 193
5: A few days ago I was saying to Jesus, as I celebrated Holy Mass, 'Say somethi
ng to me, Jesus! say something to me.' And then, as his response, I saw clearly

a dream I had had the night before, in which Jesus was a seed, buried and rottin
g-apparently-only later to become a ripe, fertile ear of wheat. And I understood
that this, and no other, is the way for me. Good answer!"[261]

* * *

In those early years, the founder felt that he lacked the experience needed to d
etermine the exact steps he should take. He was at the helm of an enterprise whi
ch, though well defined in terms of its supernatural origin, ends, and means, di
d not have the material support needed for its various apostolates. He had yet t
o determine its characteristic modes of operation and much to do to form its mem
bers. For him it was largely a matter of trial and error, like a child taking it
s first steps. In fact, that was the image he used for it. "The Work of God," he
said, "will not be born fully realized. It will be born like a baby. It will be
weak at first. Later it will begin to walk, and then talk, and then act on its
own. All its faculties will develop. The Work of God will have an adolescence, y
oung adulthood, maturity..., but never decrepirode. Always it will be virile in
its impulses and prudent-daringly prudent. United with Jesus, whose apostolate m
ust be carried out until the very last day, it will forever be in its prime."[26
2]
This vision of an organization always in its prime had its roots in the spirit o
f the Work, which includes a distinctive and positive approach of valuing and ?d
ivinizing" temporal Structures in order to offer them to God. Seeing historical
realities as wonderful opportunities for encountering Christ is far removed from
the contemptus mundi that was prevalent in the religious thought of that era, i
n which a total detachment from temporal activities was considered a prerequisit
e for the pursuit of sanctity. Opus Dei sees work as a means of sanctification.
Members respond to God's call while remaining in the world. They continue to hav
e a secular mentality and do not change their professions; the professions inste
ad become instruments of apostolate.
The result is a lifestyle by which Christians accomplish their coredemptive miss
ion from within their individual situations, at the heart of the society to whic
h they belong. They are a kind of apostolic yeast, acting from within, constantl
y adapting to social and historical circumstances.
In the 1930s, apostolic enterprises were created or promoted by the Church hiera
rchy or by religious orders or institutes, and were carried out as activities su
perimposed on society, or performed outside its regular workings. Lay people usu
ally did not direct them. The kind of apostolic work Father Josemara proposed in
accord with the secular spirit of Opus Dei-an apostolate carried out by lay peop
le within the context of their professional environment-had no precedent.
From as early as 1930, he had sought a practical way of making it clear that mem
bers of Opus Dei are lay people ordinary believers, ordinary citizens. For this
reason he also looked for a way of making ?a sharp distinction between the Work
of God as a spiritual association and the diverse activities of its various apos
tolic enterprises."[263] On the feast of Saint John the Evangelist (December 27)
in 1930, he found a solution to the problem of "how to avoid confusion between
the spiritual element and the material enterprises."[264]
Hence the various corporate works of an apostolic nature. The DYA Academy was th
e first. It was a cultural center of a secular nature, registered as such, which
paid the corresponding taxes to the government. It offered courses in law and a
rchitecture. And lay people ran it. As the founder had written in a journal entr
y, the priests would be " only-though this is nothing small-directors of souls."
[265] At the same time, the Academy was a center of the Work giving both spiritu
al and secular formation. With this first enterprise, the lay character of the a
postolic activities of the members of Opus Dei was firmly established. Father Jo
semara, though he was the initiator and driving force of the enterprise, stayed d
iscreetly in the background. This was to highlight the Academy's identity as a s
ecular enterprise and avoid any hint of clericalism, especially in the eyes of t
he ecclesiastical authorities. This concern is reflected, for example, in his pe
tition of March 13, 1935, for permission to set up a semi public oratory. It beg

ins with this clarification: "Jose Maria Escriv y Albas, priest and spiritual dir
ector at the DYA Academy (50 Ferraz Street), whose managing director is Don Rica
rdo Ferncindez Vallespn, an architect and an instructor in the Graduate School of
Architecture, to Your Excellency: Respectfully explaining...."[266]
The creation of the DYA Academy also marked the beginning of an apostolate with
young professionals, some of them married. And when the Academy moved to 50 Ferr
az Street, says Miguel Dean, who by then had already earned a degree in pharmaco
logy, "the Father spent a great deal of time giving spiritual direction and form
ation to all the people he encountered there."[267]
During those years of civil unrest, when the right to hold meetings was frequent
ly suspended and there was heavy police surveillance, the Work had no juridical
identity of any kind-indeed, it did not even have any legal status. In 1933 the
founder had decided to start a "Sociedad de Colaboracin Intellectual" (abbreviate
d as "So-Co-In")-a group of university professionals seen as a nucleus for the S
aint Gabriel work. He drew up its bylaws at that time, but he did not submit the
m for approval by the civil authorities (specifically, the Head Office of Securi
ty) until after the general elections of February 1936. In a letter dated March
3, he informed Bishop Olaechea that "a 'Society for Intellectual Collaboration'
(Saint Gabriel work) was founded, together with a 'Foundation for Higher Studies
' which will handle all the finances of the Work."[268]
Because this was a cultural association, these professionals could come together
to receive formational classes without running the risk of being in violation o
f the law every time the government suspended the right to assemble. As a civil
society, with cultural objectives and capital furnished by elected members, it c
ould acquire the material means-the academies, residences, libraries, schools, a
nd so forth-needed to realize its objectives.

* * *

As their activities grew-and they grew rapidly-they experienced what happens to

children: things became too small for them. This happened first with the four ro
oms of the DYA Academy on Luchana Street. Then it was the turn of the Saint Gabr
iel work. On October 14,1935, the founder wrote, "Thank God, we are growing. Our
clothes are getting too small for us. ...It's time to set up the 'So-Co-In' and
the 'Foundation for Higher Studies.' The latter is for financial matters; the f
ormer is the Saint Gabriel work."[269] Then it was the house: in February 1936 t
he founder wrote to the vicar general, "Even now that we've rented another apart
ment, at 48 Ferraz Street, we're finding the house too small for us."[270] The n
ext growth spurt was Valencia and Paris.
What was happening convinced him for good that it would make no sense to lock th
e Work irrevocably into particular situations or patterns. "What I have said on
so many occasions is now obvious to all: it is useless to make rules, because it
must be the very life of our apostolate that sets the pattern, in its own good
time."[271]
He kept his promise to go visit Bishop Lauzurica in the second half of April. As
he had written him, he was keeping his plan for a house in Valencia under super
natural protection: "How many prayers and sacrifices, how many sanctified hours
of study, how many visits to the poor how many hours of vigil before the Blessed
Sacrament, and how many disciplines and other mortifications have been offered
to the Lord in petition for the graces needed to carry out his most lovable will
in this regard!"[272]
On Monday April 20, accompanied by Ricardo Fernandez Vallespn, Father Josemara arr
ived in Valencia. That afternoon he met with Bishop Lauzurica, and he left with
him copies of his books of instructions and other writings about the Work. On Tu
esday the bishop invited the visitors from Madrid to dine with him. He was warm
and enthusiastic, and promised to speak with the archbishop about their having a
semi public oratory at the center they would soon establish- " And so it is," w
rote Ricardo, "that in August, or at the end of July, we'll be coming and settin
g up in Valencia the Saint Raphael House."[273] In Valencia, the Father also spo
ke with a young student named Rafael Calvo Serer; after a long walk with him thr

ough the streets, Rafael asked for admission to the Work.

Starting at this time, the pages of the Personal Notes are suddenly full of groa
ning and sadness. His Communions are cold; he cannot " even pray properly one Ha
il Mary" ; it " seems as if Jesus has gone out for a walk," leaving him all alon
e. He feels unhappy with himself "with no desire for anything," unable to organi
ze his ideas, "somewhat lame and arthritic, despite the heat," with no energy fo
r mortifications, hungry for "a few days of peace" because the Lord seems to be
hitting him "like a ball-up in the air one moment, and down to the ground the ne
xt, and always hard. Ut iumentum! [Like a donkey!]"[274]
These spiritual trials and tribulations caught him at a moment when he was physi
cally run-down and eroded his resistance still further, to the point of terrible
weakness. In a letter to the vicar general at the beginning of May, he wrote: "
I feel I must be very straightforward with you, Father. I'm fat and flabby, and
very tired."[275]
Two days later he had a heart-to-heart talk with Father Pedro Poveda, who had on
ce had a similar experience. Father Pedro recommended what Monsignor Francisco M
oran had recommended to him: rest, preferably in bed. He took this advice, and a
little later he wrote, "I went to my mother's house and spent the whole day in
bed, without speaking to or even seeing anyone, and for a while I felt a little
better. It's physical exhaustion. Over the past eight months, I've given-countin
g sermons, meditations, and Saint Raphael conferences-about three hundred forty
talks, most of them at least half an hour long. On top of that there is also the
directing of the Work-the directing of souls, the visiting, etc. That explains
why I have these terrible moments when I'm sick of everything, even of what I lo
ve most. And the devil sees to it that my times of physical weakness coincide wi
th a thousand little vexations."[276]
But the things then troubling him were not really all that small. He had just be
en informed that the church and convent of Santa Isabel had been confiscated by
the state, and that the nuns would have to move out; he was becoming aware of a
lot of criticism, gossip, and backbiting; he could not find money to buy the new
residence; his ministerial faculties were about to expire; he was suffering fro
m a bad attack of arthritis.[277]
Having gotten through May 1936, he summed up his situation in words that reflect
great suffering:

I?m weak, weak in every way, in body and in soul, despite the great front I put
on. This is making me act strangely. I don't want to be this way. Help me, deare
st Mother.
Dying is a good thing. How can it be that there are people who are afraid of dea
th? ...But for me, dying would be an act of cowardice. Live-live and suffer and
work for Love-that's what I must do.[278]

He was being not childish but childlike, taking refuge in the life of spiritual
childhood and pouring out his sufferings to the Lord:

Lord, will you let me complain just a tiny little bit? There are times (because
of my wretchedness, me a culpa) when I feel I can do no more. Now I've made my c
omplaint. Forgive me.
My heavenly Mother has been very patient with me over this last month of May. I
behaved like a bad son.[279]

Then there is an isolated note of rejoicing, like the sun breaking through cloud
s: "May 30, 1936: Last night I slept very well. I did not wake up until a quarte
r past six. It's been a long time since I got that much sleep all at one stretch
. I also feel an inner joy and peace that I wouldn't trade for anything. God is
here: the best thing I can do is to tell him my troubles, because then they ceas
e to be troubles."[280]
The respite lasted two days-just enough time for him to finish writing his Instr
uccin para los directores, in preparation for the new centers about to be opened.
"Today," he says, "on account of the imminent foundations in Valencia and Paris

, I am addressing these instructions to those sons of mine who share the burden
of government at the houses or centers of the Work."[281] He then gives future d
irectors all kinds of advice, sharing his experiences as a director of souls and
outlining the principles they should follow in their work of governing.[282]
Then the clouds closed in again.

June 5, 1936: I feel I need to make a retreat, in solitude and silence. I don't
think I can get any days like that. What a shame! Fiat. [Your will be done.][283
]

Two weeks later he was still longing for a retreat. However, he was so worn out
physically that he did not consider it wise to go into seclusion. Also, at that
time they were looking for two new houses, one in Madrid and one in Valencia.
At last, on Wednesday June 17, he was able to make this entry: "This afternoon t
he papers were signed for the purchase of the house [in Madrid]. I have not been
frustrated in my hopes, although over these past few days I have given Jesus pl
enty of good reason to abandon us. It's one more proof of the divine origin of t
he Work: it is from him, so he does not abandon it. If it were mine, he would lo
ng ago have given it up as a lost cause."[284]
He could hardly wait to share the good news. On the very next day he told the vi
car general. "In Valencia," he wrote, "we are looking for a house and will soon
be opening up a center. ... Here we also have good news: Yesterday the papers we
re signed for the purchase of the house at 16 Ferraz Street, which used to belon
g to Count del Real."[285]
It was, however, a time of uncertainty. The streets were charged with tension an
d the threat of violence. In the midst of it all, the founder set down in his Pe
rsonal Notes the apostolic goals they were determined to pursue, regardless of t
he chaos into which the nation was plunged: "Madrid? Valencia? Paris? The world!
"[286]
A few days went by, and Father Josemara again started feeling strange--in fact, "
nothing less than desolate, depressed, crushed." There seemed to be no explanati
on for the disappearance of his customary joy-that joy so "alive with bells and
tambourines."[287] In the last days of June, he felt an indefinable restlessness
of spirit. He was tense, constantly on the alert, in a state of suspense, full
of "yearnings for the cross and for suffering and for Love and for souls."[288]
Two days after he wrote those words-that is to say, on June 30,1936-thisintuitio
n that Christ was waiting for him on the cross gradually crystallized into a cer
tainty. There came to his mind a matter between himself and our Lord that up to
now had remained unresolved. " August 1929 and August 1936: I don't know-yes, I
do know-why these two dates come together in my mind," he wrote in his journal o
n the last day of June or early in July 1936.[289]
The incident had occurred on August 11,1929. While giving Benediction at the chu
rch of the Foundation for the Sick, as he was giving the blessing with the Bless
ed Sacrament, he had been moved to ask the Lord to send him" a serious, painful
illness, for expiation.[290] "And now here it was: his request was being granted
. He writes, "Without thinking, in an instinctive movement-which is Love-I stret
ch out my arms and open my palms so that he can fasten me to his blessed cross:
to be his slave-serviam! [I will serve!]-which is to reign."[291]
He felt a burning desire for a definitive conversion, a radical cleansing of all
his affections, "even those that are by nature holy."[292] From time to time he
felt that the time for the illness promised him by God was near, no more than a
month away. "Sometimes," he wrote, "I think that my Father-God is going to acce
pt in this coming August the offering I made in August 1929."[293] He could not
foresee the kind of sufferings reserved for him, nor where they would come from,
but he was filled with the thought of offering himself as an expiatory victim o
n whatever cross was coming his way. At the same time he struggled to reject thi
s idea, which he considered show-offish and conducive to vanity or pride. He sou
ght to put it aside "because in the prose of the thousand little details of ever
yday life there is more than enough poetry for feeling that one is on the cross.
[294] Even on the days when all the hours seem wasted-a victim, on an unspectacu

lar cross!" But when at last the time came for him to draw close to the Lord on
the cross, he spurred himself on: "Josemara, onto the cross!"[295]
The cross reserved for him was an unsuspected holocaust of love and pain, to be
made in atonement for the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, which was now at han
d.

* * *

His carefully nurtured plans for apostolic expansion were becoming a reality. Wi
th what joy they made the move to the new house! In the first few days of July t
hey moved their furnishings from 50 Ferraz to 16 Ferraz. When they got finished,
the house was in chaos; they spent the next week putting things in order. By Ju
ly 15 they were settled, and began making some minor repairs.[296]
The moving and repair team was not very large. Most members of the Work who did
not live in Madrid had gone home to their parents' houses in the provinces. Pedr
o Casciaro and Francisco Botella had left for Valencia on July 3, to enjoy a few
days' rest after their intense final weeks of study, and also with the assignme
nt of finding a house for the new center. In this search they were helped by Raf
ael Calvo.
Everything happened very quickly. On July 16 they sent a telegram saying they ha
d found a suitable house. On July 17 Ricardo set out for Valencia. On the mornin
g of July 18, they were all gathered in the office of the real estate agent, fin
ishing up the closing of the contract, when the agent's family, clearly alarmed,
called him with news: The Spanish army in Africa had revolted, and in Barcelona
artillery was being set up in the streets.[297]
In that instant the dreams of expansion came to a screeching halt.

* The type of ?academy" referred to here would probably be similar to the instit
utes in which Father Josemara had taught. These were small private schools that p
repared students for taking examinations. They often consisted of only a few tea
chers working in an apartment or a small office suite.
[1] At that time the founder, optimistically looking to the future, jotted down
in his Apuntes intimas (Personal Notes) some data about the structuring and the
running of the Saint Gabriel work. For example: "In the centers where there are
a lot of people, we'll need to divide those involved in the Saint Gabriel work i
nto groups, putting together those of related professions" (Apuntes, no.1027). T
he Saint Raphael work consisted of Christian formation activities for young sing
le people; the Saint Gabriel work was an apostolic outreach to married people.
[2] Apuntes, no.957 .He did not miss an opportunity to invite acquaintances who
had finished their university studies to join the new academy as professors. II
Apri130, 1933: ...The Lord keeps sending us professors for the academy: Rocamora
, Gonziilez Escudero, Luelmo, and Atanasio, plus our own. Last night they brough
t me Fernando Oriolll (Apuntes, no.993).
[3] Apuntes, nos. 1018 and 1016
[4] Apuntes, no.1021 (13 Jun 1933). In another entry made on that date or a few
days later, he says, IIToday, what with the political mess we're in right now, I
'm givfug in to the temptation to read the papers. I'm not even able to do this
[give up reading the papers]? (Apuntes, no.1024).
Most probably, he was reading articles and editorials about the Law on Confessio
ns and Religious Associations (see Gaceta de Madrid, 3 Jun 1933), which placed l
imitations on the practice of the Catholic faith and subjected the activities an
d administration of religious orders and congregations to inspection by ihe civi
l authorities
[5] Apuntes, no.945.
[6] Apuntes, no.957.
[7] See Apuntes, no.1050. See also Apuntes, nos. 976, 986, and 992.
[8] Apuntes, no.1005 (11 May 1933).
[9] See Apuntes, nos. 1713 and 1714.

[10] Apuntes, no.1729. Father Juan Postius Sala was born in 1876 in Berga (Barce
lona) and died in 1952 in Solsona (Lerida). In 1894 he entered the Congregation
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (also known as the Claretian Order). In Rome he
finished his doctoral studies in both canon and civil law. He was especially ded
icated to spreading Marian devotion through international Marian congresses. It
was he who organized the Twenty-second International Eucharistic Congress, held
in Madrid in 1911. He had many writings published, notably El C6digo cannico apli
cado a Espaa en forma de instituciones (Madrid, 1926).
[11] Apuntes, no.599 (15 Feb 1932).
[12] See Apuntes, no.742. In one entry, written in April or May of 1930, we read
: IINot even one time has it occurred to me to think that I've been deceived, th
at God doesn't love his Work. Quite the contraryll (Apuntes, no. 27).
[13] Apuntes, no.1710. Father Josemara respected and obediently followed the inst
ructions given him by Father Sanchez in regard to themes for meditation, as well
as the schedule given him by Father Gil, a Redemptorist priest, upon his arriva
l at the monastery (see Apuntes, nos. 1704 and 1705).
[14] Apuntes, no.1729. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 464, and Joaquin Alons
o, Sum. 4612. The founder writes that he made an additional note of this event,
besides the one included in the notes he gave to Father Sanchez at the end of hi
s retreat, "because I want everyone to know about the little things from God tha
t have surrounded the birth of this new army of Christ. With this knowledge, and
with the knowledge of my shortcomings that they will acquire by dealing with me
, they won't be able to do any less than to love the Work and to exclaim, 'This
Work truly is. ..the Work of God!"' (Apuntes, no.1730).
[15] Apuntes, no.1730. The words of his offering of the Work were put in writing
by Father Josemara "at the very instant in which it happened, right there in the
church" (Apuntes, no.1729),
[16] Apuntes, no.1709. On May 1, 1933, he had drawn up another list of his "actu
al sins" which basically coincides with this one made during his June retreat. T
he previous list reads: "Crying: I don't know if this means my soul is getting w
eak; I don't think so; it's that I'm a child. I have the faults and the sins of
a bad boy: gluttony, laziness, sluggishness, ...all kinds of lively sensuality.
And in prayer-how am I going to get some order in my prayer?" (Apuntes,no.995).
[17] Apuntes, no.1723.
[18] See Apuntes, nos. 787,938, and 955, and notes 685 and 1281. The Veritas Aca
demy on O'Donnell Street was run by Teresians. As for the Teresian Institute on
Alameda Street in Madrid, Father Josemara heard confessions there fairly often, a
ccording to the testimonies of Father Silvestre Sancho, O.P., and Father Eliodor
o Gil Ribera. "I first met the Servant of God in the Teresian house of Father Po
veda, at 7 Alameda Street in Madrid. And afterward we saw each other on numerous
occasions" (Silvestre Sancho, Sum. 5392; see also Eliodoro Gil Ribera, Sum. 774
7).
As one can tell from a loose note written in 1934 (Apuntes, no.1794), Father Jos
emara only partly made good on his resolve to stop hearing confessions in some pl
aces:
Sunday: Santa Isabel-class or catechism. Afternoon, hospital.
Monday: Confessions at La Asuncion, at three. Priests' meeting. Tuesday: Jose Ma
ria Valentin (10:30). Academy.
Wednesday: Confessions at La Asuncion. Saint Raphael meeting. Jenaro Lcizaro.
Thursday: Class. Afternoon, Academy. Confessions, 7 O'DonneIl (5:30).
Friday: First, talk with the poor girls at Santa Isabel (and hear their confessi
ons), and at Porta Caeli. Angel Cifuentes (8-9). Pepe Romeo. 4:3Q-talk with Engl
ish ladies.
Saturday: Acad. Confessions: girls at Santa Isabel (9), Porta Caeli (11), and Te
resians (5:30). Academy-Jaime Muncirriz (8-9). Juanito J. Vargas (12). Benedicti
on at Las Esclavas.
[19] See AGP, P041974, ll, pp. 418-19. This happened sometime in 1932 or 1933-ce
rtainly no later. Sister Benita Casado testifies that when Father Josemara was ta
lking to the Sisters about how to pray, he told them "the story of Juan the milk
man, who every morning would say to the Lord, 'Here is Juan the milkman"' (Siste

r Benita Casado, AGP, RHF, T --06242, p.4).

[20] Apuntes, no.719.
[21] Apuntes, no.974.
[22] Retreat note, dated June 22,1933. It goes on to ask approval from the confe
ssor of the following schedule for use of the discipline, the wearing of cilices
, fasting, and sleeping on the floor (Apuntes,no.1724):
Use of the discipline: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Additionally on vigils
of feasts of our Lord or of the Blessed Virgin. Also, every other week, an extra
one for petition or thanksgiving.
Cilices: two every day until lunch; then, until supper, one. Tuesday, the one ar
ound the waist, and Friday, the one over the shoulders, as I've been doing.
Sleep: on the floor, if it is wooden, or on a bed without a mattress, Tuesdays,
Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Fasting: Saturdays, taking only what they give me for breakfast.
In this note he also proposes the times and types of reading he should do and co
nfesses that "for me, not reading newspapers is ordinarily a big mortification"
(Apuntes, no.1726). In those times of political unrest and of persecution agains
t the Church in Spain, it was necessary to keep up with the news and to be forew
arned.
[23] Apuntes, no.1727.
[24] Boletin Oficial del Obispado Madrid-Alcalli,no.1580 (1 Apr 1933), p. 114. T
he date of circular letter no.109, signed by Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, is Ma
rch 27,1933.
An order from the Minister of War (Manuel Azafia) to the generals, dated March 9
,1932, prohibited any act of worship in the barracks. The bishopric, as of April
1, 1933, took "immediate charge of all matters which until now have been under
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the military" in that diocese.
The military and palace jurisdictions, though they were different, were both hea
ded by the Patriarch of the Indies, Bishop Ramon perez Rodriguez, who on April 1
4, 1933, was named bishop of Ccidiz by the pope. He took possession of the Ccidi
z bishopric on May 30 and made his entrance there on June 11. (See E. Subirana.
Anuario Eclesilistico [Barcelona], 192, p. 73. See also "Informe de D. Leopoldo
Eijo y Garay al Director General de Beneficencia," 24 Nov 1939, in the archive o
f the general secretariat of the archdiocese of Madrid-Alcalti, "Patronatos," fi
le "Buen Suceso").
[25] Apuntes, no.963. He speaks of his ecclesiastical situation at Santa Isabel
also in Apuntes, nos. 556,636,719, and 886.
[26] On the relationship between the founder and Father Pedro Poveda, see Apunte
s, nos. 251, 295, 731, 745,938, and 955. The founder also wrote a note about his
friendship with Father Pedro for the purpose of correcting some inaccurate stat
ements made, many years later, by the then nuncio of Spain (1962-1%7), Monsignor
Riberi. (See also Apuntes, note 266 and nos. 1627 and 1628; AGP, RHF, AVF-O041,
pp. 47-48; and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 240.)
On January 13, 1931, he had a talk with Monsignor Francisco Mortin, the vicar ge
neral of Madrid.
Previous to 1933, as has already been mentioned, the vicar general knew about th
e activities of the founder. He learned more and more about them in connection w
ith the founder's appointment as chaplain of the Foundation for the Sick; when h
e renewed the founder's ministerial permits; when he gave him permission to cele
brate Masses in the church of the Foundation; gave him permission to bring Commu
nion to a sick man in a brothel, and got him the position of chaplain at the San
ta Isabel Foundation, when Father Lino, in the name of Father Josemara, came to s
ee him about teaching catechism at the Colegio del Arroyo, etc., etc.
In an entry dated 19 Jun 1933, we read: "I went to renew my permits. Who would h
ave believed it! With great kindness they gave them to me right away and waived
the fee. I agreed to visit Monsignor Mortin from time to time, to update him on
what I'm doing" (Apuntes,no.1025).
On the granting of priestly faculties in the diocese of Madrid-Alcalti in 1932-1
936, see Libro de Licencias Ministeriales, no.8, fol. 55v; and no, 9, fol. 58v.
[27] Apuntes, nos. 994 and 995.

[28] Apuntes, no.1049.

[29] C 42 (29 Aug 1933). The next reference is on September 18, when he tells of
the death of Father Teodoro and the whole family's trip to Fonz. "We had to mak
e two trips to Fonz when my uncle died" (Apuntes,no. 1055).
[30] Apuntes, no.1055.
[31] Apuntes, no.1057.
[32] Apuntes, no.1065. He adds, "Father Sanchez scolded me for my impatience in
desiring, to the point of suffering on this account, that our ap9stolate of the
Work will be crystallized into something" (Apuntes, no.1067).
[33] Apuntes, no.1732
[34] Apuntes, no.1072.
[35] Ricardo Ferncindez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T-00162, p. 6. Ricardo had spent th
e whole summer of 1933 without being able to see Father Josemara, because of a ba
d rheumatic attack. Shortly afterward it made him drop out of school for the yea
r, because he could not study for tests.
[36] Apuntes, no.1077.
[37] Apuntes, no.1083. Except for the first two houses in Madrid and one in Burg
os (set up in 1938), no house or center of the Work has been named after a saint
. See Apuntes, no.1106 and note 834.
[38] Apuntes, no.1094.
[39] On January 13, 1934, from Mcilaga, Isidoro wrote to Father Josemara, "The li
ttle plaque for the academy is already finished. They did a good job; it's very
faithful to your drawing" (AGP,IZL, 0-1213, no.45).
"Our first corporate work," said the founder, "was the academy that we called DY
A-Derecho y Arquitectura [Law and Architecture]because classes were given in tho
se two subjects. But for us the initials really stood for Dios y Audacia [God an
d Daring]" (Meditation of 19 Mar 1975). The motto "God and Daring!" appears for
the first time in a journal entry of March 27, 1931: "Our men and women of God,
in their apostolate of action, have as their motto: God and Daring!" (Apuntes, n
o.186; see also Apuntes,nos. 190 and 224).
[40] Apuntes, no.989.
[41] Apuntes, no.1071.
[42] See Apuntes, no.1102 (5 Jan 1934). About the wooden cross, see Jose Ramon H
errero Fontana,AGP, RHF, T -05834, p. 3.
[43] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 464, and Ricardo Femandez Vallespin, AGP, R
HF, T-OO162, p. 10.
[44] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 304; see also AGP, POI July 1955, p. 44, and
AGP, P03 1979, p. 251.
Some months, to pay the rent on the apartment, they had to take up a collection
among those who attended activities there. See Jenaro Lcizaro, AGP, RHF, T -0031
0, p. 2.
[45] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 302. According to the testimony of Ricardo Fe
rncindez Vallespin (AGP, RHF, T-OO162, p. 14), the difficulties and hardships we
re sometimes relieved by happenings that clearly involved the extraordinary inte
rvention of Divine Providence. Juan Jimenez Vargas gives a detailed account of o
ne such instance. The electric bill came in, and they did not have the money to
pay it. The next morning, Father Josemara, while going through some old papers in
his office at Santa Isabel, tore up an apparently empty envelope and threw it i
n the wastepaper basket. At that moment it became apparent that there was someth
ing in that envelope: a twenty-five peseta bill, enough to pay a little more tha
n the amount due. (See Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152/1, p. 26.)
[46] Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T-OO162, p. 12.
[47] Apuntes, no.1753.
[48] Apuntes, no.1753.
[49] See Apuntes, no.1109. On January 7 of that year (1934) he had approached Sa
int Joseph like a lawyer. "If my father and lord Saint Joseph makes this house p
rosper," he said, "then the second one we open on this earth will be the Saint J
oseph House" (Apuntes, no.1106).
[50] Apuntes, no.1120.
[51] Meditation of 19 Mar 1975.

[52] See Apuntes, no.1091.

[53] See Apuntes, no.1091.
[54] See Apuntes, no.1063.
[55] See Father ]osemaria's rnstancia al Ministro de Trabajo, dated 26 Jan 1934,
and the letter from the prioress of the convent to the Minister of Labor, dated
28 Jan 1934: originals in the Patrimonio Nacional archive, "Patronatos Reales,"
"Patronato de Santa Isabel, file 182/21.
Letter of the Prioress of the Convent to the Minister of Labor, of Jan 28, 1934.
Original in Archivo General del Patrimonio (Palacio Real)-Patronatos Reales [Ro
yal Foundations]-Santa Isabel, File of Don Josemara, Box 182/21.
The old royal foundations were under the authority of the Head Office of Social
Services. During the Second Spanish Republic, this office formed part, at differ
ent times, of the Ministries of Labor, the Interior, and Public Education.
[56] See Apuntes, no.1125.
[57] See "Ministerio de la Gobernacin," dated 31 Jan 1934: original in the Patrim
onio Nacional archive, "Patronatos Reales," "Patronato de Santa Isabel," file 18
2/21.
[58] Judging by what he says in his note of February 3 on the subject of the hou
se, he seems to feel that he has taken a step toward "stabilizing" himself in Ma
drid. However, he decided not to change residence, for the above-mentioned reaso
ns and especially the last one: his hope of living soon in a center of the Work
with our Lord in the tabernacle. "It's because I am hoping," he says, "that Jesu
s is going to go live with his sons-for we are sons of God-at the Guardian Angel
House, by Christmas of 1934. Who on earth could possibly think that with Jesus
there (we're already checking out prices for a good tabernacle), I wouldn't be t
here?" (Apuntes, no.1128).
[59] See Apuntes, no.1124 (27 Jan 1934).
[60] Apuntes, no.1133 (11 Feb 1934)
[61] About his conversation on January 26, 1934, with Monsignor Francisco Mortin
, he writes, "With a holy shamelessness I took advantage of this opportunity to
say a few good words to Monsignor Mortin about two of my priests. The most impor
tant thing at this meeting was that when I mentioned to him the 'academy of Seno
r Zorzano,' where I'm continuing my work with university students, he said to me
, 'Why don't you people give some religion classes for intellectuals?' And he sa
id, regretfully, that the diocese could have advertised in its official bulletin
and in some separate flyers that it publishes-he gave me one-the courses being
given at 33 Luchana Street. This '33 Luchana Street' sounded familiar to him; he
had heard of it before I mentioned it to him. I agreed to send him a list of te
achers and students, and he gave me the freedom to organize the classes as I saw
fit" (Apuntes, no. 1126).
[62] On or about March 22 he writes with joy, "We made the Work's first day of r
ecollection this past Sunday. I am happy" (Apuntes, no.1167). These days of reco
llection were given in the Redemptorists' chapel on Manuel Silvela Street (see J
ose Ramon Herrero Fontana, AGP, RHF, T -JJ5834, p. 3). They consisted of three o
r four meditations given by Father Josemara, the Stations of the Cross, a Rosary,
spiritual reading, a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and an examination of cons
cience (see Ricardo Femtindez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T-JJ0162, p. 13).
In 1934 the founder wrote a list of activities of this type carried out at the D
YAAcademy on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis. From this list we can see that h
e also gave classes in Latin and not one but several formational classes for the
boys in the work of Saint Raphael, and likewise more than one monthly day of re
collection (see Apuntes, no.1798)
[63] On this occasion, says Bishop del Portillo (who was not at that time going
to the DYA Academy), he was attacked by a group of fifteen or twenty persons. Hi
s head was deeply gashed when he was brutally hit with brass knuckles, and the i
njury took several months to heal. Wounded and bloodied, he managed to save his
life by rushing into a subway entrance and onto a train that was just about to l
eave. (See Apuntes, no.1131 and note 851.)
[64] Apuntes, no.1140
[65] See Apuntes, no.1146.

[66] C 48 (26 Apr 1934).

* The official he spoke with in the office, who later became friendly.
[67] See Apuntes, nos. 1187 and 1188.
[68] Apuntes, no.1191.
[69] Apuntes, no.1192.
[70] Apuntes, no.1193.
[71] Apuntes, no.1184.
[72] Apuntes, no.1738.
[73] Apuntes, no.1743.
[74] See Apuntes, nos. 1753 and 1754.
[75] Apuntes, nos. 1786 and 1787.
[76] Apuntes, no.1790.
[77] See C 57 (23 JuI1934), C 58 (23 JuI1934), and C 62 (24 JuI1934).
[78] C 65 (5 Aug 1934).
[79] C 67 (5 Aug 1934).
[80] C 68 (5 Aug 1934).
[81] ?After Mass, during my thanksgiving, without having thought of this beforeh
and, I was suddenly moved to dedicate the Work to the Blessed Virgin. I believe
that this impulse came from God. ...I think that todayas simply as that-a new st
age began for this Work of God" (Apuntes,no. 1199).
[82] Apuntes, no.1199.
[83] Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, AGP,RHF, T--00162, pp. 17-18.
[84] C 73 (6 Sep 1934).
[85] C 76 (6 Sep 1934).
[86] C 74 (6 Sep 1934). According to Ricardo Fern3ndez Vallespin, Father Joseina
ria "decided that for external matters I should serve as director of the residen
ce, and that it would also be good that he be the one to sign the contract as le
aseholder of the house" (see Ricardo Fern3ndez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T-IJ0162, p.
16).
[87] Apuntes, no.1202.
[88] Apuntes, no.1203.
[89] C 79 (17 Sep 1934).
[90] C 80 (17 Sep 1934).
[91] C 81 (20 Sep 1934).
[92] C 82 (24 Sep 1934).
[93] See Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T-IJ0162,pp. 18-19.
[94] Meditation of 19 Mar 1975.
[95] C 85 (30 act 1934).
[96] See Meditation of 19 Mar 1975.
[97] Apuntes, no.1206.
[98] Maria del Buen Consejo Fern3ndez, AGP, RHF, T --04953.
[99] The original of this letter is in the Patrimonio Nacional archive, "Patrona
tos Reales," "Patronato de Santa Isabel," file 182/21.
[100] C 87 (22 Nov 1934).
[101] See Gaceta de Madrid, no.347 (13 Dec 1934), p. 2121. The decree of Februar
y 17, 1934, established a distinction, in the jurisdiction of administrative fun
ctions, between charitable foundations and charitable teaching foundations. The
Santa Isabel Foundation was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labor, Hea
lth, and Welfare, which at that time was headed by Don Jose OriolAnguera de Sojo
[102] Apuntes, no.1205.
[103] On December 27 he went to the Ministry to pick up his confirmation of appo
intment and read there that he had already taken "possession of this office" as
of December 19. The text reads, "In view of the Decree of the eleventh of the pr
esent month, by which you have been appointed to the post of Rector of the Santa
Isabel Foundation, you have possession of this office as of the nineteenth day
of the same month. This is communicated to you for your information and satisfac
tion, and for recordkeeping purposes. Madrid, December 27, 1934 / The Director G
eneral/ J. Scienz de Grado." The original of this document is in the archive of
the general secretariat of the archdiocese of Madrid-Alcalci. A copy of it is ir
i the Patrimonio Nacional archive, "Patronatos Reales," "Patronato de Santa Isab

el," file 182/21

[104] See handwritten note by the founder on his 27 Dec 1934 meeting with the vi
car general: original in AGP, RHF, AVF--0O03.
[105] Apuntes, no.1214.
[106] Letter of 2 Feb 1935 from Archbishop Rigoberto Domenech to Father Josemara:
original in AGP, RHF, 0-15514/2.
[107] In a letter to Father Pou de Foxci, dated January 28, Father Josemaria say
s he has written to the archbishop of Saragossa (to whom he is subject), informi
ng him of his appointment as rector and clarifying that he has been serving as a
priest at Santa Isabel since 1931, ''as authorized by the PatriarCh of the Indi
es," and that his services there have been "always exclusively priestly" (C 96,
28 Jan 1935).
[108] As was in fact later said, was tantamount to branding him a collaborator w
ith an anti-Catholic regime, for so the Republic had shown itself by the measure
s taken against the Church. Therefore, in a long postscript to a letter dated Fe
bruary 8, 1935, the founder asked the bishop of Cuenca to " calm down " the arch
bishop of Saragossa. "To me personally," he said, "this is of no importance what
soever. But as a priest, and as the base-the foundation-of the Work which God ha
s entrusted to me, I feel I have a duty to set the record straight and have the
truth be known. And the truth is this:

1) that I never do anything without the permission of my spiritual director;

2) that I refused to put in an application for the post of rector;
3) that it was the prioress and community of Santa Isabel who, with the permissi
on of the vicar general, Monsigor Francisco Morn, requested this position for me;
4) that if it was wrong to put in an application for the position of rector, it
was not I who did this wrong thing (though I've done plenty other wrong things!)
, but, rather, some of the local canons-among them a dean-and several of Madrid'
s diocesan priests;
5) that the previous rector, who, like me, was appointed by the Republic, commit
ted such a terrible offense by accepting the appointment that his ordinary, the
bishop of Astorga, punished him by appointing him as his personal secretary-an o
ffice which he holds to this very day;
6) and, finally, that there is no cause for anyone to be upset about this, since
my bishop knows full well that at the slightest indication either from himself
or from my spiritual director, Father Sanchez, and without suffering in the leas
t-because this never was, and still is not, a matter of personal ambition-I woul
d give up the rectorship, and twenty other posts of rector or canon, were they m
ine, because (glory be to God!) my only motive is a burning desire to do the wil
l of Jesus.
7) Ah! It is well to remember, too, that having had-and, indeed, having at this
very moment-more than one opportunity to accept appointments or engage in activi
ties of a civic nature, as many of my fellow priests do (without being criticize
d for it; rather, the contrary is true), I have always chosen to engage only in
tasks that are exclusively priestly in nature.
8) Furthermore, it was the Patriarch of the Indies-not the government of the Rep
ublic-that had kept me at Santa Isabel from 1931 on. And it is from that year th
at I can date my friendship, for which I can never show enough gratitude, with t
he saintly Father Poveda, secretary to the Patriarch. ...

"I believe it was only fitting that I should open my heart to Your Excellency, a
nd I trust that Your Excellency will, in turn, reassure His Excellency the Archb
ishop. May Jesus repay your kindness in this matter a thousandfold" (C 98,8 Feb
1935).
[109] See Antonio Montero, Historia de la persecucin religiosa en Espafla, 1936-1
939 (Madrid, 1961), pp. 41-52.
[110] See Ricardo Femandez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T -00162, p. 19.
[111] See Apuntes, no.756.
[112] See Apuntes, nos. 1037 and 1127
[113] See Apuntes, no.1751.

[114] Apuntes, no.1210. This tactless criticism may be a distorted echo of ideas
and words used by Father Josemara in his Monday conferences. In an entry from 19
30 we read, "We must not tempt God. If, with great faith in Providence and witho
ut a parachute, I throw myself onto the street from the top of a telephone pole,
I am a fool and a bad Christian. If, on the other hand, with great faith and a
parachute I jump out of a plane flying half a mile above the ground, I will prob
ably achieve my goal and deserve to be called a wise man and a good Christian. .
..We must not put our trust in human wisdom alone; for if we do, we are sure to
fail. Rather, with great trust in God, we must make use of all the resources tha
t we would for any other enterprise, plus prayer and expiation" (Apuntes, nos. 6
0 and 61).
[115] Apuntes, nos. 1754 and 1755.
[116] Pedro Cantero, AGP, RHF, T-O4391, p. 7.
[117] See saturnino de Dios Carrasco, AGP, RHF, T -01478, p. 3.
[118] Apuntes, no.1217. In December 1937, with the serenity and objectivity that
historical distance and foundational grace gave him, Father Josemara accepted wh
at Father Sanchez said about those events having been "one of the unmistakable p
roofs of the divine origin of our enterprise." In his journal he writes, "I got
those saintly priests to meet with me on Mondays, for what I called 'priestly co
nferences,' with the intention of communicating to them the spirit of the Work s
o that they could become sons and coworkers of mine. In 1932 or 1933, several of
those priests voluntarily, spontaneously, and totally freely made a promise of
obedience at our house on Luchana Street. It was impossible to imagine at that t
ime that-with the very best of intentions, no doubt-they would, almost immediate
ly, completely forget about the Work" (Apuntes, no.1435).
[119] Apuntes, no.1232.
[120] Apuntes, no.1221. In a previous note, on the subject of fasting, he says,
"Lord, what a struggle fasting is for me! ...If I'm not even up to a battle that
small, how hard would a Lepanto be for me?" (Apuntes, no.1219). [Lepanto was th
e culminating naval battle between Christian Europe and the Turkish Empire for c
ontrol of the Mediterranean.].
[121] "On the feast of Saint Nicholas, as I was going up to the altar to say Mas
s," he wrote in his journal, "I promised the holy bishop that if he took care of
our financial problems at the Guardian Angel House, I would appoint him adminis
trator of the Work of God" (Apuntes, no. 1206). But right away, Bishop del Porti
llo comments, "it struck him that what he had said was very ungenerous. So he ad
ded, 'Even if you don't listen to me now, you will still be our patron saint for
financial affairs.' And ever since that day-December 6, 1934-saint Nicholas has
been our patron saint for all financial matters" (Apuntes,note 913).
Actually, he had already turned to this saint for help prior to this day in 1934
. As he himself explains, "In Madrid, in the Plaza de Anton Martin, there stands
Saint Nicholas Church. It was there that I first went to Saint Nicholas to hit
him up for some money" (AGP, P04 1975, p. 74).
[122] See Apuntes, no.1222.
[123] Ricardo Femandez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T -00162, p. 21.
[124] See Apuntes, no.1220.
[125] Apuntes, no.1222.
[126] See Apuntes, nos. 1795, 1796, 1800, 1801, and 1804. These entries correspo
nd to a bundle of loose notes from 1934 setting out complete plans for his bodil
y mortification, with periodic revisions by his confessor. In no instance is his
use of the discipline reduced to less than three times a week.
In an entry dated March 11,1934, we read, "Yesterday I was brought to tears beca
use Father Sanchez would not let me fast this week. I believe it is precisely ag
ainst gluttony that I must fight hardest! But yesterday, on the bus, I got dizzy
; that's why he won't let me fast" (Apuntes, no.1155). The subject of fasting ap
pears also in the above-mentioned loose notes from 1934.
[127] See C81 (20 Sep 1934).
[128] Juan Jimenez Vargas, who lived with the founder at the Ferraz Street cente
r, testifies that he practiced "bodily mortifications and penances, such as disc
iplining himself, to the point of drawing blood, and wearing cilices. Though he

tried to hide these things from us, he couldn't entirely do so. I saw in his roo
m splashes and stains of blood which obviously came from these penances, and whe
n the Reds searched his room, they found, in a drawer of his desk, disciplines w
ith bloodstained metal hooks. He also made use of cilices and advised us to do s
o too, and made them available to us. Fairly often he slept on the floor. Occasi
onally he would spend the whole night in prayer, not sleeping at all. And often
he mortified himself in little ways, for example at mealtime, and advised us to
do the same. On certain days he fasted" (Juan Jimenez Vargas, Sum. 6706). See al
so Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 360.
There is also this testimony from his brother: "When he lived at our house, he w
ould shut himself up in the bathroom and turn on all the faucets so that we coul
d not hear him use the disciplines, but I heard it" (Santiago Escriv de Balaguer
y Albas, Sum. 7346).
[129] Ricardo Femandez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T -00162, p. 22.
[130] Apuntes, no.1227.
[131] See Apuntes, no.1229.
[132] See Apuntes, no.1234. That day-February 21, 1935---was the first occasion
on which the founder gathered members of the Work to inform them officially of a
decision of this sort. In this instance, the members were Ricardo Femandez Vall
espin, Juan Jimenez Vargas, and Manolo Sainz de los Terreros.
[133] Letter of 27 Feb 1935 from Isidoro Zorzano to Father Josemara: original in
AGP, IZL, D-1213, no.75.
[134] C 101 (27 Feb 1935).
[135] Apuntes, nos. 1232 and 1233. In characterizing the conduct of the priests
around him, the founder made an exception in two cases: that of Father Saturnino
de Dios and that of Father Eliodoro Gil (see Apuntes, nos. 1217 and 1235).
[136] Apuntes, no.1243.
[137] Apuntes, no.1277.
[138] Apuntes, nos. 1246 and 389. Concerning the unpleasant experiences of those
days, see Apuntes,nos. 1234, 1237, 1245, 1247, and 1266.
[139] See Apuntes, no.1225. For a few details about the ceremony, see Ricardo Fe
rnandez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T--{)0162, p. 25.
[140] Apuntes, no.1287 and note 974; see also Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-{)4152/1, p. 6. Neither Isidoro Zorzano nor Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo could ma
ke their fidelity that day, since they were out of town. For this, see C 104 (11
Mar 1935) and C 108 (24 Mar 1935), and also Isidoro Zorzano's letter of 18 Mar
1935 (AGP, IZL, 0-1213, no.78).
[141] Apuntes, no.1258.
[142] C 102 (2 Mar 1935).
[143] Apuntes, no.1237.
[144] The founder's formal request to the bishop of Madrid-Alcala for permission
to set up a semipublic oratory is dated March 13, 1935. Because of the location
of the house, inspection of the room set aside for liturgical worship was the r
esponsibility of the pastor of the parish of San Marcos. On March 27, 1935, he d
eclared the oratory to be "in suitable condition and duly provided with all that
is necessary for the liturgy" and then proceeded to give his blessing, "leaving
the place ready for the celebration of Mass" (see "Relacin del parroco de San Ma
rcos," 27 Mar 1935, in the archive of the general secretariat of the archdiocese
of Madrid-Alcala, "Oratorios, 1931-1936"). The decree authorizing the setting u
p of the oratory is dated 10 Apr 1935; original in AGP, RHF, Sec. Juridica 1/806
6.
[145] The founder occasionally spoke about this providential Doation. They never
could discover the identity of their benefactor, but (we know from Bishop Alvaro
del Portillo) Father Josemara was not at all surprised by this. He was convinced
that his prayers had been answered by Saint Joseph himself, to whom he had entr
usted the matter. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.305.) "He brought up this event
several times in his meditations and conversations, to encourage trust in God" (
Juan Jimenez Vargas, PM, fol. 927).
As a sign of gratitude, he attached to the tabernacle key a medallion engraved w
ith the words "Ite ad Ioseph." It was an echo of Scripture's advice to the hungr

y-"Go to Joseph!"-which in the Bible refers to the Joseph who was Pharaoh's prim
e minister (see Gn 41:39-43,55).
Concerning the tabernacle key, see Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T-O016
2, p. 24.
[146] C 109 (30 Mar 1935).
[147] C 110 (2 Apr 1935). On Friday, March 29, he got verbal permission from the
vicar general to say Mass on Sunday, March 31, and to keep the Blessed Sacramen
t reserved (see AGP, RHF, AVF-O007, p. 8, dated 29 Mar 1935, and AVF-O009, p. 10
, dated 24 Apr 1935). Isidoro, informed by telephone, wrote in his letter of Apr
il1, "What great joy you gave me yesterday! ...Last night I woke up several time
s thinking about it" (AGP, RHF, IZL, D-1213, no.80).
[148] See Ricardo Ferncindez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T -00162, p. 26, and Aurelio T
orres-Du1ce, AGP, RHF, T-O3773, p. 3.
[149] C 113 (15 May 1935).
[150] About the pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Sonsoles, there is an en
try, dated 7 May 1935, which says, "There, in Avila, was born a Marian custom wh
ich will forever be a part of the Work. I shall say no more about it here, for i
t is all recounted elsewhere" (Apuntes, no.1270). Indeed, an account of this pil
grimage has been given. Begun by Ricardo Ferncindez Vallespin, it was continued
and completed by the founder, and can be found in AGP, RHF, AVF-O010.
[151] Account in AGP, RHF, AVF-O010.
[152] In his account of their return from the Sonsoles pilgrimage (see AGP, RHF,
AVF-O010), Father Josemara gives a little anecdote and closes with the points on
which they meditated that afternoon:

On the way back, as we were prayjng (in Latin!) the holy Rosary,an unusual bird
flew across the road. It distracted me, and I shouted, "Look at that!" That was
all; we went on praying, but I was a little ashamed of myself. How often the bir
ds of worldly dreams try to distract us from your apostolates! With your grace,
never again, Lord.
Now, one last detail: the points on which we meditated on our way home, on the t
rain:
1) how God our Father could, with good reason, have chosen any number of other p
eople for his Work, and not us;
2) how we should respond to the merciful love of Jesus, in choosing us for his W
ork (this was more or less how we put it);
3) seeing how beautiful the apostolate of the Work is, and how great an enterpri
se it will be in a few years-or can be right now-if only we will respond as we s
hould to that love.
Our petition: a spirit of total sacrifice, of slavery, for Love, for the Work.
Madrid, May 1935
[153] Apuntes, no.1240; see also Apuntes, no.1295.
[154] See Apuntes, no.1244.
[155] See Apuntes, no.1267
[156] See Apuntes, no.1285.
[157] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1 and 588. Obviously, he very readily assimi
lated what he learned in this brief contact with the Work and its founder, for i
n the September 1935 issue of Noticias, sharing some of the anecdotes and news i
tems that he had heard from those on vacation, the Father wrote, II Alvaro del P
ortillo, in La Granja, dedicated himself very successfully to the fishing that S
aint Mark speaks of in the first chapter of his Gospel" (AGP, RHF, 0-03696).
[158] C 126 (22 Aug 1935).
[159] In a letter dated 5 Sep 1935, Father Josemara says to him, "My dear son Ric
ardo, I am very concerned about not having told you-because it did not seem nece
ssary-to be sure to offer up to the Lord, through Mary, all the little annoyance
s of your illness, ...Take care of yourself. Don't worry about anything, and don
't come back to the Residence until you've regained your strength" (C 129,5 Sep
1935; see also C 130, 6 Sep 1935).
[160] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 452.
[161] Apuntes, nos. 1808, 1810, and 1811.

[162] Apuntes, nos. 1812 and 1813.

[163] Apuntes, no.1821.
[164] Letters of 30 Oct 1930 and 27 Feb 1931 from Isidoro Zorzano to Father Jose
mara: originals inAGP, IZL, 0-1213, nos. 10 and 14.
[165] See letters dated 3 Feb 1933, 15 Feb 1933, 21 Mar 1933, and 24 Mar 1933 {n
os. 26, 271301 and 31).
[166] See letters dated 8 May 1934, 21 May 1934, 8 Jun 1934, 9 Ju11934, and 26 J
u11934 (nos. 52, 54, 56, 571 and 59).
[167] C 15 (1 Mar 1931) and C 16 (3 Mar 1931). In the founder's writings and hom
ilies .such words as "insane" and "crazy" appear often, because some people stig
matized him as such on account of his call for sanctification in the world. But
Father Josemara turned these insults around and gave them a positive meaning: an
affirmation of his radical love for God, which rose above all human prejudice.
O'Lher closings for his letters to Isidoro include the following: "With a loving
brotherly embrace from this other madman, Jose Maria" (C 19, 6 May 1931); "With
a brotherly embrace, Jose Maria" (C 20,14 Aug 1931); and "Keeping you, with bro
therly love, in my prayers, Jose Maria" (C 22, 10 Nov 1931).
[168] C 51 (1 Jun 1934).
[169] Apuntes, no.1152. On the use of the title "Father," see Apuntes, no. 1032.
[170] Apuntes, no.385. This entry continues, "Prayer is what he asks of me. He l
eads me along paths of Love so that I may be a red-hot coal and a madman. A redhot coal which will set ablaze in an all-consuming fire many apostolic souls-mak
ing them madmen too, men mad for Christwho will end up setting the whole world on fire."
[171] Apuntes, no.1725.
[172] Apuntes, no.1293 (28 act 1935). See also Apuntes, nos. 1199 and 1200.
[173] Apuntes, note 357. On November 22, 1931, he wrote, "Lord God, put eighty y
ears' worth of wisdom and experience into my heart, for it is too
young" (Apuntes, no.409)
[174] The full quote is, "Now, if I hear such amusing things, I still enjoy them
, but at the same time I also feel bad. And if I'm the one saying
them, if some silly comment slips out, I am immediately left with a bitter taste
in my mouth. It's Jesus' doing. He's putting eighty years' worth of gravity int
o my poor heart, because it's too young" (Apuntes, no.465).
[175] Apuntes, no.506. One of the resolutions he made on his retreat in June 193
3 has to do with the way he should say Mass. His, he says, should be "the Mass o
f a grave old priest with no affectations" (Apuntes, no.1720).
In an entry dated November 6,1933, he returns to the subject, saying,
"I still have a long way to go to get the gravity that we desire" (Apuntes, no.1
073).
[176] Apuntes, no.1766.
[177] Apuntes, no.1658.
[178] Apuntes, no.1832.
[179] Letter 6 May1945, no.23.
[180] Apuntes, no.678; see also Apuntes, nos. 1078 and 1080.
[181] See Apuntes, no.1841.
[182] Apuntes, no.1283.
[183] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 308; Juan Jimenez Vargas, Sum. 6713 and 6716
; Meditation of 19 Mar 1975; and C 124 (12 Aug 1935).
[184] Apuntes, no.1298.
[185] These vocations came about in different ways, but both are typical of how
people come to know the Work and understand its supernatural character.
"I first met Father Josemara," says Pedro Casciaro, "in January 1935, in Mildrid,
at the OYA Academy-Residence at 50 Ferraz Street. I was introduced to him by a
childhood friend of mine who was then studying law.
"I visited him on a regular basis every week, for confession and just to talk wi
th him. After a while I started coming to some of the formation classes he was g
iving for university students-I was at that time studying at Madrid's Graduate S
chool of Architecture. All this was before summer vacation. ...Because I was afr
aid I might be late in applying for admission, I asked for this in a letter, and

sent it by mail. When I figured he must have received it, I went to see him. Th
at's when I got my first formation session with him" (Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6312
and 6313).
"I met Father Josemara," says Francisco Botella, "on October 13, 1935, at the res
idence at 50 Ferraz Street, in Madrid.
"I was then studying architecture and mathematical sciences. A friend of mine, P
edro Casciaro, took me to the residence, even though up to that time I didn't ev
en know Opus Dei existed. ...Icontinued to go to the residence, to some of the t
alks given by Father Josemara. On November 23, 1935, I asked to be admitted to th
e Work. And on January 7, 1936, I went to live at the residence" (Francisco Bote
lla, Sum.5605).
[186] Aurelio Torres-Dulce, AGP, RHF, T -O3773, p. 3.
[187] See Apuntes, nos. 1163,1165, and 1167.
[188] Apuntes, no.1160.
[189] Jose Luis Muzquiz, Sum. 5790
[190] Ricardo Ferntindez Vallespin, AGP, RHF, T -00162, p. 26.
[191] Apuntes, no.1095.
[192] Apuntes, no.1268.
[193] Apuntes, no.1751. This was written in July 1934.
[194] Apuntes, no.1789.
[195] Apuntes, no.1732.
[196] Apuntes, no.1093.
[197] She continues, "On this subject there is little to say. As for the women's
groups, our relations with Father Josemara were limited to receiving spiritual d
irection from him" (Natividad Gonztilez FortUn, Sum. 5875 and 5869).
Speaking of his dealings with some of these women penitents who come to him for
confession, Father Josemara writes, "I am so disagreeable." Bishop Alvaro del Por
tillo comments that "the Father tried, in the confessional, to be very firm and
detached in his dealings with women." (See Apuntes, no.1304 and note 987.)
[198] Felisa Alcolea, who met Father Josemara in 1933 and asked admission to the
Work in the following year (in March 1934, according to Apuntes, no.1169), testi
fies that "we had one or two more meetings with Father Josemara, but a little whi
le later, since he had so much work, it was Father Lino Vea-Murguia who mainly w
orked with us" (Felisa Alcolea, AGP, RHF, T -O5827, p. 2).
Father Lino's contribution is attested also by Ramona sanchez, who asked admissi
on to the Work at the same time as Felisa Alcolea (see Apuntes, no.1196). Referr
ing to the catechism classes they were giving at the parish in Tetuan, she says,
"Father Lino Vea-Murguia then took part in that catechetical program as well" (
Ramona Sanchez, AGP, RHF, T-O5828, p.l).
[199] See Apuntes, no.1181.
[200] In an entry dated April 26, 1935, we read, "On the Saturday after the Frid
ay of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, something very unpleasant happened-so unple
asant that I was sorry I had made that arrangement to meet with five of the wome
n that day. But they came, and I spoke to them about the Work-specifically about
their apostolate-and their response was enthusiastic" (Apuntes, no.1265).
[201] Felisa Alcolea, AGP, RHF, T -O5827, p. 5.
[202] Apuntes, no.1200. This entry continues, "My Jesus, what a comfort they mus
t be to you, with their conduct! Do not abandon these children of mine. And my M
other-my heavenly Mama-be very much a mother to my children."
[203] Apuntes, no.1288.
[204] Eduardo Alastrue, AGP, RHF,T-O4695, p. 1.
[205] See Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6319, and Alvarodel Portillo, Sum. 375,
[206] "Conversation with the Father," declares Jose Ramon Herrero Fontana, "open
ed up a whole new world, with unsuspected horizons for your interior life and ap
ostolate. He spoke about real issues-he was very realisticbut he said things tha
t no one had ever said before. When you were with him, you had a powerful sense
of the call of God to sanctification in the midst of the world. ...My first meet
ing with the Father transformed me: he revealed to me an interior world whose ex
istence I had never suspected, and awoke in me a strong desire to bring others t
o meet and know our Lord Jesus Christ" Gose Ramon Herrero Fontana, AGp, RHF, T -

05834, p. 4).
"I still have a clear memory of his penetrating gaze, which pierced my soul, and
of his joy, which stirred me deeply, filling me with happiness and peace," says
another of the students about his first meeting with Father Josemara (Francisco
Botella, AGP, RHF, T-O0159/1, p. 201).
[207] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 365.
[208] See Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6401.
[209] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 397. For more on the impact of his preachi
ng, see Eduardo Alastrue, Sum. 5526.
[210] Apuntes, no.304.
[211] Apuntes, no.901.
[212] Felisa Alcolea, AGP, RHF, T --05827, p. 5. See also Jose Ramon Herrero Fon
tana, AGP, RHF, T --05834, p. 4.
[213] See Apuntes, Introduction, p. 9, and note 152.
[214] Apuntes, no.503.
[215] Letter 24 Mar1930, no.2. Over the years this letter, like some of the othe
r early ones, has undergone some touching up with regard to terminology, but the
substance of its content has not been affected. For this reason the founder alw
ays used the date of the first edition.
[216] Letter 24 Mar1931, no.1.
[217] Letter 9 fan1932, no.91. Some of these letters are very long. This one has
eighty pages.
[218] Letter 16 fu11933,no.1.
[219] Apuntes, no.368.
[220] Apuntes, no.368.
[221] Apuntes, no.368.
[222] Apuntes, no.352.
[223] See Apuntes, nos. 695 and 941.
[224] Apuntes, no.527; see also Apuntes, no.14.
[225] See C 40 (24 JulI933). Three of the points, as noted in the text itself, a
re taken from Decenario al Espfritu Santo (English title: " About the Holy Spiri
t"), by Francisca Javiera del Valle. See also Apuntes, no.688.
[226] Here he omitted the three points from Decenario. However, he kept two cons
iderations that had originally come from his confessor, though he altered them s
lightly. One of these is " a very beautiful saying from Father Sanchez for membe
rs of the Work of God: 'There is no excuse for those who could be luminaries and
are not"' (Apuntes, no.234), which appears in Consideraciones espirituales (p.
24), and later in The Way(no. 332), as "There is no excuse for those who could b
e scholars and are not." The other is in Apuntes, no.329, and The Way, no.61.
[227] See letter of 9 Apr 1934 from Father Sebastian Cirac to Father Josemara: or
iginal in AGP, RHF, D-15225.
[228] Apuntes, no.1183.
[229] Letter of 18 May 1934 from Father Sebastian Cirac to Father Josemara: origi
nal in AGP, RHF, D-15225.
[230] Ibid.
* In Spain at this time, the word for "pig" was considered vulgar by some, perha
ps because of its frequent use as an insult.
[231] Apuntes, no.1233. This reflection appears in The Way, no.367 , but without
the reference to "revolting excrement."
[232] See Apuntes, nos. 530, 580, 674, and 735, for example. The time frame for
Notebook 5 is December 3, 1931, through August 12, 1932.
[233] Consideraciones espirituales, p. 37. On the proper use and meaning of "hol
y shamelessness," or "holy and apostolic shamelessness," see Apuntes, nos. 178 a
nd 1126.
[234] Letter of 28 May 1934 frQm Father Sebastian Cirac to Father Josemara: origi
nal in AGP, RHF, 0-15225. If Father Josemara lost his battle with the bishop over
l'holy shamelessness," he also lost a battle "of the gerundsll with Father Seba
sticin, in whose opinion too many gerunds were coming from his pen. Two instance
s appear in the introduction to Consideraciones espirituales, despite Father Seb
astian's instructions that they were to be eliminated. These are (1) IIrespondin

g to the needs of young lay people,lI and (2) IInot attempting to fill in undeni
able gaps and omissions.? See Apuntes, no.1298
[235] It was published as Consideraciones espirituales, by Jose Maria,lI Cuenca,
Imprenta Modema, 1934; this first edition carried only the first name, not the
surnames, of the author. Bishop del Portillo, after noting that this was done ou
t of humility, tells us that "a little later, in 1939, The Way was published wit
h his complete note; 'I was back,' as the Father used to say (Apuntes, no.190, n
ote 206).
In a letter to the vicar general of Madrid, the founder wrote: "Enclosed is a co
py of the little booklet published in Cuenca. The 'Holy Rosary' one has not yet
been printed; when it is, I'll send you a couple of copiesll (C 55, 6juI1934).
[236] See The Way, nos. 3871388138913901 and 391.
[237] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 559. See also Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no
.84, and Letter 14 Sep 1951! nos. 28 and 65.
[238] See C 48 (26 Apr 1934).
[239] Consideraciones espirituales, p.14.
[240] Consideraciones espirituales, p. 34. In Apuntes intimos we find the follow
ing notes: II An hour of study is now-and, for our young men, is always-an hour
ofapostolateIIl and "Every hour of study-for the Work, for Love-will be in God's
sight an hour of prayerll (Apuntes, nos. 801 and 1677). The Way (no.335) has a
third version: II An hour of study, for a modem apostle, is an hour of prayer.?
On the first page of the September 1934 issue of Noticias (see AGP, RHF, D-O3696
)-a family newsletter for all those to whom Father Josemara gave spiritual direct
ion, most of them students-we read:

The plan for the next school year: Faith. Perseverance. stubbornness! And conduc
t consistent with our faith.
Studying, from the very first day, knowing that we are fulfilling a serious obli
gation.
More important than study: forming ourselves spiritually, so as to live the inte
rior life which is the duty of a Catholic gentleman. ..I with all its consequenc
es.
[241] Francisco Botella, AGP, RHF, T -00159/1, p. 5.
[242] The instructional texts that the founder had written by that time were the
following: Instruccin acerca del espiritu sobrenatural de la Obra de Dios (19 Ma
r 1934), Instruccin sobre el modo de hacer el proselitismo (1 Apr 1934), and Inst
ruccin para la Obra de San Rafael(9 Jan 1935).
[243] Instruction of 19 Mar 1934, nos. 1 and 6.
[244] Instruction of 19 Mar 1934, nos. 47-49.
[245] Francisco Botella, AGP, RHF, T -00159/1, p. 5; Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin
, AGP, RHF, T-OO162, p. 17.
[246] See Instruction of 1 Apr 1934.
[247] Instruction of 1 Apr 1934, no.65.
[248] Instruction of 9 Jan 1935, nos. 1 and 2.
[249] Apuntes, no.1312. He goes on to explain why they are making the move: "We
have a double reason for leaving the convent [of Santa Isabel} for a while. On t
he one hand, we want to escape any riots resulting from the upcoming election. O
n the other hand, Mama needs some time away from that house at Santa Isabel anyw
ay, since it's so damp and not good for her health" (Apuntes,no.1313).
* Manuel Azaa was a leading leftist, Republican politician. He was not a Marxist,
but was anticlerical in the tradition of the Enlightenment.
[250] Apuntes, no.1317.
[251] Apuntes, no.1320.
[252] Apuntes, nos. 1324 and 1325.
[253] Apuntes, nos. 1315 and 1318.
[254] C 146 (10 Mar 1936). The founder wrote an account of his meeting of August
31, 1934, with the vicar general, Monsignor Francisco Moran, and in one paragra
ph he says, "I also mentioned to him that 'these boys' want to open academies, w
ith residences, near major foreign universities. I don't remember what expressio
ns he used, but he thinks this is wonderful." See AGP, RHF, AVF-OO02, pp. 2-4 (3

1 Aug 1934).
[255] Apuntes, no.1322.
[256] Apuntes, no.1295. He continues, "These days, both the bishop of Pamplona a
nd the auxiliary bishop of Valencia are showing me such affection that I don't k
now how to thank them. Also, Madrid's vicar general, Monsignor Francisco Moran,
who came over this past Thursday to celebrate Holy Mass in our oratory, has the
greatest affection for the Work." See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 593, and Jo
aquin Alonso, Sum. 4627.
[257] See C 145 (3 Mar 1935). Bishop Marcelino Olaechea Loizaga was born in Bara
caldo (in Vizcaya) on January 1, 1889. A salesian, he was ordained a priest in 1
912. He served as provincial of Castile and Tarragona. For the academic year of
1934-1935 he was president of the salesian college on Ronda de Atocha in Madrid,
which was very close to the Santa Isabel Foundation. In 1935 he was made bishop
of Pamplona, and in 1946, archbishop of Valencia. He governed that diocese unti
11966. He died in Valencia on October 21, 1972.
[258] C 144 (3 Mar 1936). Bishop Francisco Javier Lauzurica y Torralba was born
in Yurreta (in Vizcaya) on December 3, 1890. Ordained a priest in 1917, he soon
became an archivist canon at the collegiate church in Logrofio and a professor o
f cosmology and psychology at that city's major seminary. In 1931 he was made au
xiliary bishop of Valencia, and from 1931 to 1936 he served as rector of the sem
inary in Valencia.1n 1937 Bishop Lauzurica was named apostolic administrator of
Vitoria; in 1947, bishop of Palencia; and in 1949, archbishop of Oviedo, where h
e died on April 12, 1964.
[259] Apuntes, no.1321.
[260] See Apuntes, nos. 1320 and 1323.
[261] Apuntes, no.1304.
[262] Apuntes, no.409.
[263] Apuntes, no.144.
[264] Apuntes, no.147
[265] Apuntes, no.158.
[266] See the archive of the general secretariat of the archdiocese of MadridAlc
ala, "Oratorios, 1931-1936." It is also significant that when informing the vica
r general of such apostolic initiatives, the founder mentions, either as his own
idea or as that of "these boys," the fact that they "want to open academies, wi
th residences, near major foreign universities" (see AGP, RHF, AVF-OO02, pp. 2-4
).
[267] Miguel Dean Guelbenzu, AGP, RHF, T-04741/1, pp. 9-10. In the meditations h
e gave those young professionals, the Father often talked to them about the "voc
ation to marriage" to which they were called, and in which those young men of th
e Saint Gabriel work were to sanctify themselves, although at the time the major
ity of them were still single. (See Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152/1, p.
24, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1099.)
On this subject, Miguel Dean remembers a conversation that a friend of his, Ange
l Santos Ruiz, had with the Father. "I took Angel to Ferraz Street," he says. "H
e talked with the Father and went to confession to him. I know that the Father s
aid to him, 'You have a vocation to get married, so let's see if you can find a
woman who is good, beautiful, and rich.' And then, in that same playful tone ofv
oice, he added, 'But you'll have to find her for yourself-I'm no matchmaker"' (M
iguel Dean Guelbenzu, AGP, RHF, T-O4741/1, p. 8).
[268] C 145 (3 Mar 1936). In June 1933, while on retreat, the founder thought ab
out this apostolic endeavor of the Saint Gabriel work with a view to starting up
a "Society for Intellectual Collaboration" ("So-Co-In") to provide the nucleus
for the future work. We know this from an entry in his journal: "In the last few
days, based on what I saw on my June retreat, I have drawn up the bylaws and th
e ceremonial for the So-Co-In" (Apuntes, no.1049).
There is also a note to his confessor, dated October 26, 1933, in which he speak
s of his desire to set up weekly meetings at the DYA Academy for adults who have
completed their studies: "another weekly meeting for our Saint Gabriel friends
lawyers, doctors, architects, engineers, people who have earned at least a B.A.
and possibly a doctorate in philosophy, literature, history, the sciences, etc,-

and all of them young, to serve in the founding of the 'So-Co-In' at the beginni
ng of 1934" (Apuntes, no.1733).
See also Miguel Dean Guelbenzu, AGP, RHF, T-Q4741/1, p. 9.
[269] Apuntes, no.1290.
[270] C 141 (6 Feb 1936).
[271] Apuntes, no.1307.
[272] C 144 (3 Mar 1936).
[273] Diary of the journey to Valencia, Apri120-23, 1936, written by Father Jose
mara and Ricardo during those days of their visit there. Original in AGP, RHF, 015346.
[274] Apuntes, nos. 1323, 1331, 1332, 1347, 1351, and 1357.
[275] C 162 (2 May 1936).
[276] Apuntes, no.1334.
[277] The confiscation of the Santa Isabel Foundation and the expulsion of the n
uns did not take effect immediately, so for several more weeks he wassti1l able
to celebrate Mass there. (See C 163,1 Jun 1936, and Apuntes, nos. 1334-37.)
Concerning the murmurings against the Work, see Apuntes, nos. 1342 and 1345. Ent
ry no.1346, dated May 31, 1936, says, "Recently, that I know of, religious from
three different orders have been spreading rumors about us. Opposition from the
good? Works of the devil."
As for his priestly faculties, at the end of May the archbishop of Saragossa gra
nted them fully and in perpetuity. (See Apuntes, no.1344.)
[278] Apuntes, ho. 1350
[279] Apuntes, no.1352.
[280] Apuntes, no.1343.
[281] Instruction of 31 May 1936, no.2.
[282] See ibid., no.27 .
[283] Apuntes, no.1356.
[284] Apuntes, no.1361.
[285] C 165 (18 Jun 1936).
[286] Apuntes, no.1373.
[287] Apuntes, no.1365.
[288] Apuntes, no.1369.
[289] Apuntes, no.1371.
[290] Apuntes, no.432.
[291] Apuntes, no.1369.
[292] Apuntes, no.1372.
[293] Apuntes, no.1372.
[294] Apuntes, no.1372.
[295] Apuntes, no.1371.
[296] See C 168 (1 Jul1936), C 169 (7 Jul1936), and C 170 (15 Jul1936).
[297] See Francisco Botella, AGp, RHF, T-oO159/1, p. 12, and Ricardo Fernandezya
llespin, AGP, RHF, T-oO162, pp. 31-32.
Appendix 2

Baptismal Certificate of Jos maria's Father

The original baptismal certificate is in the archive of the parish of Our Lady o
f the Assumption in Fonz (Huesca), in Book of Baptisms no.9, fol. 271. It has so
me errors: e.g., "Escriv," "Zaidin," and "Perarruga," in place of "Escriv," "Zaydi
n," and "Peramia." Of the location and text of this certificate we have the foll
owing testimony:

I, Father Antonio Bull Salinas, Administrator of the Parish of Our Lady of the A
ssumption and person in charge of the parish archive in Fonz, Diocese of Barbast
ro, Province of Huesca,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that on folio 271 of Book of Baptisms no. 9 of the archive of
this parish, there is inscribed an entry which, copied verbatim, says:


(On the side) ?Jos Escrib"

(In the center) "On the fifteenth of October of eighteen hundred sixty-seven, I,
Antonio Comet pastor of this village of Fonz, solemnly baptized a boy born at t
welve 0' clock noon of this same day: the legitimate son of Jos Escriv y Zaydin, a
native of Perarrua, and of Constancia Corzan Manzana, of Fonz. Paternal grandpa
rents: Don Jos , of Balaguer, and Dona Vitoriana Zaidin, of Perarruga; maternaL Do
n Antonio Corzan and Dona Nicolasa Manzana, both of Fonz. He was given the name
Jos . His godmother is his sister Constancia; I ex- plained to her the relationshi
pand obligations. Signed: Antonio Comet Quintana. "

The above is an exact copy of the original to which it refers. I certify it to b

e such, signing this and sealing it with the parish seal, in Fonz, on January 21
, 1985.

Signed and sealed: Antonio Buil

Appendix 3

Baptismal Certificate of Jos maria's Mother

The original baptismal certificate is in the archive of the parish of Our Lady o
f the Assumption in Barbastro, Book of Baptisms no.37, fol. 121.
The girl was baptized together with her twin sister, Maria Concepcion, who died
two days later. The certificate contains an error: her maternal grandmother's na
me was Isidora Baron Solsona, not Isidora Blanc.

I, Father Lino Rodriguez Pelaez, person in charge of the archive of the parish o
f Our Lady of the Assumption (cathedral) of the diocese of Barbastro,

The above is an exact copy of the original to which it refers. In witness where
of I sign this in Barbastro on January 21, 1985.

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that on folio 121 of Book of Baptisms no. 37 of the archive
e of this parish, there is inscribed an entry which, copied verbatim, says:
(On the side) "Marla de los Dolores Albas, the firstborn of twins (the other of
whom died)"

(In the center) "In Barbastro on the twenty-third of March of eighteen hundred s
eventy-seven, L Father Teodoro Valdovinos, pastor of same, solemnly baptized a g
irl born at two 0' clock in the afternoon of this same day: the legitimate daugh
ter of Don Pascual Albas and Dona Florencia Blanc, natives and residents of this
place, confectioners. Paternal grandparents: the deceased Don Manuel, of Boltaa,
and Dona Simona Navarro, of this place; maternal, Don Joaquin and Dona Isidora
Blanc, deceased, of this place. She was given the name Maria de los Dolores. Her
godmother is her aunt Dona Dolores Blanc, a married woman, of this place, infor
med of her responsibilities. Signed: Teodoro Valdovinos.?

Signed and sealed: Lino Rodrguez

Appendix 4

Marriage Certificate of Jos maria's Parents

The original is in the archive of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Ba
rbastro, Book of Sacraments (Marriages) no.42, fols. 51v-52. The appended note r
efers to the change in the family name.
Although the certificate gives Don Jos Escrivs age as twenty- nine, he was in fact
thirty,

I, Father Lino Rodriguez Pe1aez, acting pastor of the parish of Our Lady of the
Assumption (cathedral) of the diocese of Barbastro,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that in folios 51 v and 52 of Book of sacraments (Marriages) n

o.42, there is inscribed the marriage certificate of Don Jos Escriv3 and Dona Dol
ores Alb3s, which, copied verbatim, says:

"In Barbastro on the nineteenth of September of eighteen hundred ninety-eight, L

Father Maximino Lafita, priest in charge of this city, authorized the illustrio
us Father Alfredo Sevil Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Valladolid, Canon an
d Archdeacon-elect of the same, who, in the presence of Senor Francisco Armisen,
substitute municipal judge, assisted at the marriage which here, with the legit
imate formulas, was contracted in the eyes of the Church by Don Jos Escriv, a bach
elor, native of Fonz, resident of Barbastro, merchant, twenty-nine years of age,
legitimate son of Don Jos , of Perarrua, and Dona Constancia Corzcln, of Fonz; an
d Dona Dolores Albs, a single woman, native and resident of Barbastro, twenty- o
ne years of age, legitimate daughter of the deceased Don Pascual, of Barbastro,
and Dona Florencia Blanc, native and resident of this city. All the necessary pr
erequisites for the validity and legitimacy of this sacramental contract were fu
lfilled. The witnesses were Don Mariano Romero and Don Luis sambeat, married men
, proprietors, and residents of this city. The contracting parties respectively
obtained favorable legal counsel and consent, and had a nuptial Mass. Signed: Al
fredo Sevil. Maximino Lafita."

In witness whereof I sign this in Barbastro on March 19,1981.

Signed and sealed: Lino Rodrguez

Verification of signature and authentication

Barbastro, March 20, 1981
Signed and sealed: Raimundo Martin, Vicar General

Note:

Don Jos Escriv and Dona Dolores Albas, single persons, 29 and 21 respectively. By
order of the Episcopal Delegate of this Diocese of Barbastro, given on May 27, 1
943, on this certificate the surname "Escriv" is changed to "Escriv de Balaguer."
From now on there should be read and written "Don Jos Escriv de Balaguer Corzan,"
legitimate son of Don Jos Escrivci de Balaguer and of Dona Constancia Corzan. -Ba
rbastro, June 20, 1943. -Jos Palacio.

Appendix 5

Baptismal Certificate of Jos maria's Sister Carmen

The original is in the archive of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Ba
rbastro, Book of Baptisms no.43, fol. 22.
There are errors in the spelling of the name "Escriv."

I, Father Jos Palacio, canon, priest in charge of the parish of the city of Barba
stro,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that on folio 22 of volume 43 of the books of this parish is a

record which states:

(In the margin) "Mara del Carmen Constancia Florencia Escriv'

(In the center) "In Barbastro on the eighteenth of July of eighteen hundred nine
ty-nine, L Father Maximino Lafita, parish priest of this city, solemnly baptized
a girl born day before yesterday at seven- fifteen in the evening: the legitima
te daughter of Don Jos Escria, of Fonz, and of Dona Dolores Albtis, of Barbastro,
residents and merchants here. Paternal grandparents: Don Jos and Dona Constancia
Corztin, of Fonz; maternal, Don Pascual and Dona Florencia Blanc, of Barbastro.
She was given the names Maria del Carmen, Constancia, and Florencia. Her godpar
ents are her uncle Don Mariano Albas, a married man, and her maternal grandmothe
r (a widow), residents and natives of this city, informed of their responsibilit
ies. Signed: Maximino Lafita."

In witness whereof I sign this in Barbastro on March 24, 1941.

Signed and sealed: Jos Palacio

Note:

The Central Office of Registration and Notarization has authorized the adding of
" de Balaguer" to that first surname, to form the composite "Escriv de Balaguer.
" It will be used as a single first surname, leaving as a second surname the one
presently there.

Appendix 6

Jos maria's Birth Certificate

Of the birth certificate there is no original in Barbastro's city register, due

to the destruction of the archives during the Spanish Civil War, in 1936. There
does exist, however, a birth certificate made out on April 26, 1912, by Don Joaq
uin Salcedo, the municipal judge in charge of Barbastro's city register, for inc
lusion in Jos maria's student records. This certificate is in the archive of the G
eneral and Technical Institute of Huesca, in the student files section. The birt
h certificate currently in Barbastro's city register is an authenticated copy ma
de after the death of Monsignor Jos maria Escriv de Balaguer.

Don Joaquin Salcedo y Tormo, Municipal Judge in charge of the City Register of B
arbastro,

CERTIFIES that in the City Register in my charge, section for births, volume 25,
folio 81, is found the following:

Record of Birth: Number 9

Don Jos Maria Julian, Mariano Escriv y Albas

In the City of Barbastro, province of Huesca, at nine in the morning of the tent
h day of January of nineteen hundred two, before Don Francisco Armisen, Municipa
l Judge, and Don Victoriano Claver, Secretary, there appeared Don Manuel Claveri
a, a native of Barbastro (municipal district of same, province of Huesca), of ag
e, a widower, a constable by profession, living in this city, at 7 Encomienda St
reet. He came for the purpose of having a boy inscribed in the City Register, ha
ving been asked to do this by the parents of same, and declared in writing:
That said boy was born at 10:00 P.M. yesterday in the home of his parents, at 26
Mayor Street.

That he is the legitimate son of Don Jos Escriv.1, merchant, 33 years old, and of
Dona Dolores Alb.1s, 23 years old, of Fonz and Barbastro respectively.
That he is the grandson, on his father's side, of Don Jos Escriv, deceased, and of
Dona Constancia Cerz.1n [sic], natives of Peralta de la Sal and Fonz respective
ly.
And on his mother's side, of Don Pascual Albas, deceased, and of Dona FlorenciaB
lanc, natives of Barbastro.
And that said boy has been registered with the names of Jos Maria, Julian, and Ma
riano.
Present as witnesses to all of this were Don Ramon Meliz, a retired military man
, and Don Amado Beltran, a barber, both married, of age, residents of this neigh
borhood.
Having read this entire document and invited those persons who are to sign it to
read it for themselves, if they so desire, His Honor the Judge had it stamped w
ith the seal of the municipal court. It is signed by him, by the declarant, and
by witnesses, whom I vouch for, Signed: Francisco Armisen. Manuel Claveria. Ramo
n Meiiz. Amado Beltran. Victoriano Claver.

This is completely faithful to the original that I have. In witness whereof I is

sue the present document in Barbastro on the twenty- sixth of April of nineteen
hundred twelve.

Signed and sealed: Municipal Judge, Joaquin Salcedo /

Secretary, Victoriano Claver

Appendix 7

Jos maria's Baptismal Certificate

The original is in the archive of the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Ba
rbastro, Book of Baptisms no.43, fol. 115. It has a later appended note about th
e change of the surname Escriv to "Escriv de Balaguer."
The certificate contains one error. Jos maria's paternal grandfather was born in P
erarrUa, not Peralta de la Sal.

I, Father Lino Rodriguez Pelaez, acting pastor of the parish of Our Lady of the
Assumption (cathedral) of the diocese of Barbastro,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that in folio 115 of Book of Baptisms no. 43 of the archive of
this parish, there is inscribed the record for Mon- signor Jos maria Escriv de Bal
aguer y Albas, which, copied verbatim, says:

"In Barbastro on the thirteenth of January of nineteen hundred two, I, Father An

gel Malo, Cathedral Vicariate Regent, solemnly baptized a boy born at 10:00 P.M.
on the ninth: the legitimate son of Don Jos Escriv, a native of Fonz, and Dona Do
lores Albas, a native of Barbastro, who were married and reside and do business
in this city. Paternal grandparents: Don Jos , of Peralta de la Sal, deceased, and
Dona Constancia Corzan, of Fonz; maternal, Don Pascual, deceased, and Dona Flor
encia Blanc, of Barbastro. He was given the names Jos , Maria, Julian, and Mariano
. His godparents are his uncle Don Mariano Albas, a widower, and his aunt Dona F
lorencia Alb3s, a married woman residing in Huesca and represented by Dona Flore
ncia Blanc. I informed them of their responsibilities. Signed: Angel Malo, Regen
t."

In witness whereof I issue the present document in Barbastro on March 19,1981.

Signed and sealed: Lino Rodriguez

Verification of signature and authentication

Barbastro, March 20, 1981

Signed and sealed: Raimundo Martin, Vicar General

Note:

I, Father Lino Rodriguez Pelaez, acting pastor of the parish of Our Lady of the
Assumption (cathedral) of the diocese of Barbastro,

DO HEREBY CERTfFY that on folio 115 of Book of Baptisms no. 43 of the archive of
this parish, there is inscribed the record for Mon- signor Jos maria Escriv de Bal
aguer y Albas, with a marginal note which reads exactly as follows:

"By order of the Episcopal Delegate of this Diocese of Barbastro, given on May 2
7, 1943, on this certificate the surname 'Escriv' is changed to 'Escriv de Balague
r,' From now on there should be read and written 'Jos Maria Julian Mariano Escriv
de Balaguer y Albas: legitimate son of Don Jos Escriv de Balaguer and of Dona Dolo
res Albas. Barbastro, June 20, 1943. Signed: Jos Palacio,"

In witness whereof I issue this document in Barbastro on March 19, 1981.

Signed and sealed: Lino Rodriguez

Appendix 8

Secondary School Studies (1912-1918)

The original files are archived in the offices of the Institutes of Huesca and L
erida. In the Prcixedes Mateo Sagasta Institute in Logroo, where Jos maria finished
his secondary school studies, can be found the complete file: protocol no.265 /
6935.

I, Don Pedro Garcia Santamaria, Secretary of the Secondary School Institute Prax
edes Mateo Sagasta, of Logrofio,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that Don Jos Maria Escriv y Albas, native of Barbastro (Huesca),
took and passed the following studies:

June 11, 1912 (Huesca)

Primary Education: Passed

1912-1913 (Lerida) -Private School

Latin I: Outstanding
Spanish: Outstanding
Geography of Spain: Outstanding
Principles of Arithmetic and Geometry: Outstanding (First Place)
Religion I: Outstanding
Penmanship: Notable

1913-1914 (Lerida) -Private School

Latin I: Outstanding
Geography of Spain: Notable
Arithmetic: Outstanding (First Place)
Religion II: Outstanding

Physical Education I: Passed

1914-1915 (Lerida) -Private School

Latin II: Passed
French I: Notable
Spanish History: Notable
Geometry: Outstanding (First Place)
Physical Education II: Passed

1915-1916 (Logroo) -Private School

Grammar and Composition: Outstanding (First Place) French II: Outstanding
World History: Notable
Algebra and Trigonometry: Outstanding
Drawing I: Outstanding

1916-1917 (Logroo) -Public School

Psychology and Logic: Notable
History of Literature: Outstanding
Physics: Notable
Physiology and Hygiene: Outstanding
Drawing II: Outstanding

1917-1918 (Logroo) -Public School

Ethics and Law: Outstanding (First Place)
Natural History: Outstanding
Chemistry: Notable
Agriculture: Outstanding

He was awarded the degree of "Bachiller Superior" by the rector of the Universit
y of Saragossa, on August 6, 1923.

In witness whereof, for whomever it may concern, this document is signed and sea
led by the Director of this Center on the tenth of January of nineteen hundred e
ighty-four.

Signed and sealed: The Director

The Secretary
The Assistant Secretary

[The signatures are illegible.]

Appendix 9

Ecclesiastical Studies in the Seminaries of Logroo

(1919-1920) and Saragossa (1920-1924)

I, Don Julio Fleta Plou, priest, professor, and Secretary of Studies at Saragoss
a's Metropolitan Seminary,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that Don Jos Maria Escriv Albas, native of Barbastro, Diocese of
Barbastro, Province of Huesca, took and passed in this Metropolitan Seminary of
Saragossa-having taken the humanities, philosophy, and first-year theology cour
ses in Logroo-the courses which, with the respective marks, are listed below.

Academic year 1920-1921

SECOND-YEAR THEOLOGY
De Incamato et Gratia: Meritissimus
De Actibus et Virtutibus: Benemeritus

Homiletics: Meritissimus
Patristics: Meritissimus
Liturgy: Meritissimus

FROM FIRST-YEAR THEOLOGY

Introductio in S. Scriptura: Meritissirnus
Exegesis Novi Testamenti: Meritissirnus

FROM FOURTH-YEAR LATIN

Lingua Graeca: Meritus
Lingua Hebraica: Meritus

Academic year 1921-1922

THIRD-YEAR THEOLOGY
De Deo Creante: Meritissimus
Theologia Moralis (Praecep.): Meritissimus
De Re Sacramentaria: Benemeritus
Theologia Pastoralis: Meritissimus

Academic year 1922-1923

FOURTH-YEAR THEOLOGY
Exegesis Veteris Testam.: Meritissimus
De Deo Uno et Tririo: Meritissimus
Theol. Moralis Sacramentalis: Meritissimus
Paedagogia Catechetica: Meritissimus

Academic year 1923-1924

FIFTH-YEAR THEOLOGY
Disquisitiones Theologicae: Meritissimus
Institutiones Canonicae: Meritissimus
Casus Conscientiae: Meritissimus

Note:

In the first volume of the Book of School Records, folio 348, no.693, one reads
the following about his previous studies:

"In his four years of Latin and three of philosophy at the General and Technical
Institute of Logroo, which were incorporated by said seminary of Logroo with the
mark of 'Meritus: he took and passed the following subjects:

Academic year 1919-1920

IRST-YEAR THEOLOGY
Theological Topics: Meritissimus
Church History: Meritissimus
Archaeology: Meritissimus
Sociology: Meritissimus
Pastoral Theology: Benemeritus
Spanish Law: Meritissimus
French: Meritissimus"

That is what the documents in my office show. In witness whereof I give the pres
ent certification, signed by the Prefect of studies and given the seal of this s
eminary, in Saragossa, on the twelfth of November of nineteen hundred seventy-fi
ve.

Signed: The Prefect of Studies [signature illegible] Signed and sealed: Julio Fl
eta Plou, Secretary

Appendix 10(a)

Data referring to
the seminarian Jos Maria Escriv
in the book "De vita et moribus"
[Of the Life and Customs]
of the Students of the Seminary
of San Francisco de Paula, 1920-1925

The original of this book is in the archive of the diocese of Saragossa. Previou
sly it was in the archive of the Royal Seminary of San Carlos; it was kept there
until a few years ago. In the certified copy an error in the original is left u
ncorrected: the naming of the father of the -seminarian as "Jos Maria," rather th
an "Jos ."

I, Don Agustin Pina Lands, Canon-Archpriest of the Metropolitan Cathedral Chapte

r of Holy Savior, Episcopal Vicar of the Chancery, and President of the Royal Pr
iestly Seminary of San Carlos,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY:

I. That among the documents in the archive of the Royal Priestly Seminary of San
Carlos there is a book entitled "De vita et moribus" of the Students of the Sem
inary of San Francisco de Paula, which begins in February 1913. It is known that
the Seminary of San Francisco de Paula was located on the upper floors of this
building of San Carlos, from 1866 until 1945.

II. That page 111 of said book, De vita et moribus, contains facts pertaining to
the seminarian Jos Maria Escrivci for the five years that he was in this seminar
y: September 1920 to March 1925. Here is a literal transcription:

1. At the top of the page, under the pre-printed title of "Seminary of San Franc
isco de Paula," is this personal information:
"Don Jos Maria Escriv Albas, 18 years of age, native of Barbastro, Diocese of same
, legitimate son of Jos Maria and Maria Dolores, residents of Logroo. He was recom
mended by Father Carlos Albas Blanc, who lives at 9 Espoz y Mina Street, on the
third floor.
"He entered this seminary on September 28, 1920. He has a half scholarship. Pref
ect."

2. The sheet then has seven pre-printed columns: " Academic Courses," "Piety," "
Application," "Discipline,? "Character," "Vocation," and "General Observations.
"

3. In the first column are listed the courses for 1920-1921, 1921-1922, 1922-192
3, 1923-1924, and 1924-1925. Then, in the space supposed to be reserved for the
next five columns, there are transcribed the marks received in each subject. I a
m not transcribing these marks, because they can be found in his student file at
the Seminary of San Valero and San Braulio, where the seminarians took these su
bjects and the exams for them. I only point out that he received a "Meritissimus
" in all theology courses except two-one in his second year and one in his third
-in both of which he received a "Benemeritus."

4. Under columns 2 to 5 appear the evaluations even him in his first four years.
(For 1924-1925 there is no notation.)

"PIETY: Good. / Ditto. / Ditto. / Ditto.

?APPLICATION: Average. / Good. / Ditto. / Ditto.

?DISCIPLINE: Average. / Good. / Ditto. / Ditto.

?CHARACTER: Inconstant and haughty, but well-mannered and courteous. / Ditto. /
Ditto. / Ditto.
?VOCATION: He seems to have one. / Ditto. / Ditto. / He has one.?

5. In the column "General Observations" appear the following notations:

"1920-1921: Comes from the Seminary of Logroo, where he did his prior studies.
"1922-1923: Was named prefect in September 1922 and given the tonsure on the 28t
h of same.
"1923-1924: Ordained to the subdiaconate in June 1924.
"He had a fight with Julio Cortes, and I gave him the appropriate punishment. Bu
t the acceptance and carrying out of it was really a glory for him, since in my
judgment it was his adversary who had struck first and most, and he had spoken t
o him in gross language improper for a cleric, and, in my presence, he had insul
ted him in the Cathedral of La Seo."

6. At the end of the document, it says:

"Ordained to the diaconate at Christmas 1924, and to the priest- hood on March 2
9,1925. He ceased to belong to the Seminary as of the last-mentioned date." (Ill
egible signature.)
I must note that this last annotation contains an error which could lead to conf
usion. His ordination as a priest actually took place on March 28, though it was
on the 29th that he ceased to belong to the Seminary.

III. In witness whereof, for whatever purposes it may serve, I sign and seal thi
s document in Saragossa on the twenty-eighth of March of nineteen hundred eighty
-four.

Signed and sealed: Agustn Pina

Appendix 10(b)

Testimony of Father Jos Lopez Sierra,

Rector of the Seminary
of San Francisco de Paula, given in
Saragossa on January 26, 1948
(AGP, RHF, 0-03306)

Father Jos Maria Escriv de Balaguer. It is a difficult task to detail his life as
a seminarian. He started his studies in sacred theology as a boarding student-co
ming from the Institute of Logroo, the cradle of his formal education-at the Semi
nary of San Francisco de Paula, an adjunct of that of San Carlos, of Saragossa,
whose archbishop was His Eminence Cardinal Soldevila, and whose rector, the one
who is writing these lines. However, it is not so difficult to de- scribe some o
f his outstanding characteristics, among which predominates his inclination towa
rd apostolate, his predilection for young people. His little book The Way is pro
of of this, for to whom is it directed if not to them?
First as a seminarian, he is distinguished among his classmates by his polished
manners, his friendly and simple manner, his obvious modesty, his respectfulness
toward his superiors, and his friendliness and kindness toward his companions;
he was highly esteemed by the former, and admired by the latter. Eminent qualiti
es, harbingers of his fruitful apostolate.
Later he becomes director of seminarians, a distinction conferred on him by the
cardinal, even before his reception of Holy Orders, in consideration of his exem
plary conduct and, no less, his application. For he is simultaneously pursuing a
n ecclesiastical career and a career in law. Little by little is being revealed
that incipient apostle for whose ministry Heaven is preparing him with sweet ble

ssings.
It was not surprising that this molder of aspirants to the priest- hood later be
came a molder of young lay people. He knew them well, having spent a lot of time
with them in the halls of the Institute and of the university, and having, none
theless, observed a vacuum in the religious formation of these young intellectua
ls. The existing institutions cannot adequately accommodate the needs of the you
th of modem times; a new institution is needed for them. On several occasions he
spoke to me about this matter, because of an anonymous set of rules which came
into our hands by chance and, I can say today, providentially, for Providence di
sponit omnia suaviter [works all things sweetly].
It is in the seminary, then, that there begins this great work of his which is a
mazing not only Catholic Spain but even the very center of Catholicism, Rome its
elf, where the institution now ha& some centers. Yes, in our seminary in Saragos
sa is found in germinal form Opus Dei, that great work of God destined to produc
e such choice fruits for consumption outside of the seminary.
His motto was to win all for Christ, that all might be one in Christ, and he did
indeed achieve this, with his right way of acting. He did not go in for punishm
ents; he was always gentle and com- passionate; his mere presence, which was alw
ays attractive and likable, was enough to keep in line the most undisciplined; a
simple, friendly smile would appear on his lips whenever he observed some edify
ing act on the part of his seminarians, while a discreet look- penetrating, some
times sad, but always very compassionate-was enough to keep in check the most wi
llful. With this simplicity and charming gentleness he gave formation to his you
ng seminarians.
He is ordained a priest, and he prepares himself to celebrate his first Mass, in
the way in which the sun, as the day progresses, gives more and more light and
warmth. So, too, the impetus that he felt toward the apostolate with youth is on
the increase. When the day arrives-no invitations having been sent, because of
the recent death in the family-he celebrates his first Mass in the Holy and Ange
lic Chapel of Our Lady of the Pillar, in Saragossa. Two priests, friends of his
parents, assisted him at the altar. For the new priest the first choice would ha
ve been his rector; but how could his rector have left alone that mother who was
dissolved in a sea of tears and at times seemed close to fainting, and those tw
o young ones, the little brother and the sister, who accompanied her? I declined
the honor; and the four of us, on our knees, without even blinking, remained im
mobile through the whole Mass, contemplating the sacred gestures of that angel o
n earth, who, for this first time, offered his Mass for that good father whom he
had lost on earth and who was watching from heaven.
He is a priest devoured by thirst for apostolate. The field of the parishes cont
ained in this archdiocese of Saragossa is much too small for his Work. Providenc
e-not without first having him suffer great tribulations-brings him to a broader
field, to the populous Madrid, where it seems more necessary to establish it be
cause of the corruption of so many young people. In this field there seems to ri
ng in his ears the saying of our Divine Master, "The harvest is great, the labor
ers are few." The molder of seminarians is eager to be a molder of young lay peo
ple. It is his favorite ministry. He hears confessions, gives retreats and days
of recollections, prays, publishes various writings, always with his sights set
on the young, who are the apple of his eye. I am sorry to say that, for reasons
beyond my control, I cannot give dates-a new tribulation for me. To supply detai
ls about his efforts in Madrid is the responsibility of the children of such a g
ood father.

Jos Lopez Sierra Saragossa,

January 26, 1948

Appendix 11

Certification of Holy Orders Received: 1922-1925


The original records are preserved in the Book of Holy Orders (the volume for Ma
y 27,1889, to 1947) in the archive of the diocese of Saragossa.

I, Don Fernando Perez Aysa, priest, canon of this holy metropolitan church, and
chief notary of the Archdiocese of Saragossa,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that in the Book of Holy Orders which is kept in the archive o
f the chief notary, in my care, are the records for the holy orders received by
the person later to be known as Monsignor Jos maria Escriv de Balaguer y Albas. He
received all of the orders, including the presbyterate, between the years of nin
eteen hundred twenty-two and nineteen hundred twenty-five, while residing, as a
seminarian, in the old seminary of San Francisco de Paula.
The details of these ordinations, as shown in the above- mentioned book of recor
ds, are as follows.

1. First Clerical Tonsure, conferred by His Eminence Juan Soldevila y Romero, Ca

rdinal-Archbishop of Saragossa, on the twenty- eighth of September of nineteen h
undred twenty-two, in the oratory of his residence as archbishop of Saragossa. R
eg. fol. 327, no. 4,410.
2. Porter and Lector, conferred by His Eminence Juan Soldevila y Romero, Cardina
l-Archbishop of Saragossa, on the seventeenth of December of nineteen hundred tw
enty-two, in the oratory of his residence as archbishop of Saragossa. Reg. fol.
329, no. 4,423.
3. Exorcist and Acolyte, conferred by His Eminence Juan Soldevila y Romero, Card
inal-Archbishop of Saragossa, on the twenty- first of December of nineteen hundr
ed twenty-two, in the oratory of his residence as archbishop of Saragossa. Reg.
fol. 329, no. 4,426.
4. Subdiaconate, conferred by the Most Reverend Miguel de los Santos y Diaz de G
omara, Titular Bishop of Tagora, with the permission of the illustrious Vicar Ca
pitular of the Archdiocese of Saragossa, on the fourteenth of June of nineteen h
undred twenty- four, in the church of the Priestly Seminary of San Carlos Borrom
eo, of Saragossa, and for service to this diocese. Reg. fol. 350, no. 4,580.
5. Holy Order of the Diaconate, conferred by the Most Reverend Miguel de los San
tos y Diaz de Gomara, Titular Bishop of Tagora, with the permission of the illus
trious Vicar Capitular of the Archdiocese of Saragossa, on the twentieth of Dece
mber of nineteen hundred twenty-four, in the church of the Priestly Seminary of
San Carlos Borromeo, of Saragossa. Reg. fol. 358, no. 4,644.
6. Holy Order of the Priesthood, conferred by the Most Reverend Miguel de los Sa
ntos y Diaz de Gomara, Titular Bishop of Tagora, with the permission of the illu
strious Vicar Capitular of the Archdiocese of Saragossa, on the twenty-eighth of
March of nineteen hundred twenty-five, in the church of the Priestly Seminary o
f San Carlos Borromeo, of Saragossa. He had received a pontifical dispensation f
or the ten months by which he was short of the canonical age. Reg. fol. 363, no.
4685.

In witness whereof I issue the present document, and seal it with the seal of th
e Archdiocese, in Saragossa on the twenty-sixth of March of nineteen hundred eig
hty-one.

Signed and sealed: Fernando perez Aysa

Saragossa, March 27, 1981

Verification of signature and authentication:
Agustin Pina / Episcopal Vicar of the Chancery

Appendix 12


Data from Jos maria's Student File in the Archive of
the Law School of the University of Saragossa

UNIVERSITY OF SARAGOSSA
SCHOOL OF LAW
No.886

I, Don Jos Antonio Izuel Vera, Associate Professor and Secretary of the Law Schoo
l of the University of Saragossa,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that Don Jos Maria Escriv Albas, native of Barbastro, Province o
f Huesca, has taken and passed the courses required for the Licentiate in Law, w
ith the marks shown below.

PREPARATORY STUDIES

Spanish Language and Literature - 1922-1923 - Notable

Fundamental Logic - 1922-1923 - Outstanding
Spanish History - 1923-1924 - Passed

PERIOD OF THE LICENTIATE

FIRST GROUP
Elements of Natural Law - 1923-1924 - Notable
Principles of Roman Law - 1923-1924 - Special Honors
Political Economy - 1923-1924 - Outstanding

SECOND GROUP
General History of Spanish Law - 1923-1924 - Passed
Principles of Canon Law - 1923-1924 - Special Honors
Spanish Political Law - 1925-1926 - Notable

THIRD GROUP
Spanish Civil Law: Common and Statutory (First Year) - 1923-1924 - Passed
Administrative Law - 1925-1926 - Passed
Penal Law - 1925-1926 - Passed

FOURTH GROUP
Spanish Civil Law: Common and Statutory (Second Year) - 1924-1925 - Notable
Judicial Procedure - 1925-1926 - Passed
Public International Law - 1925-1926 - Special Honor
Elements of Public Finance - 1925-1926 - Passed

FIFTH GROUP
Business Law of Spain and of the Principal Nations of Europe and the Americas 1925-1926 - Notable
Legal Methods and the Wording of Legal Documents - 1926-1927 - Passed
Private International Law - 1925-1926 - Notable

Forwarded to Madrid on the thirtieth of March of nineteen hundred twenty-seven,

with all courses passed and the degree of Licentiate granted, for pursual of the
doctorate.
Degree of Licentiate in Law issued by the authorities on the twelfth of June of
nineteen hundred thirty-four.

In witness whereof, at the request of an interested party, I issue the present c

ertification, with the approval of the Dean of this School and with the seal of
the same, on the thirtieth of April of nineteen hundred eighty-one.


Signed and sealed: Jos A. Izuel
Approved by: The Dean
[Signature illegible.]

Data from Jos maria's Student File

in the Archive of the Law School
of Universidad Complutense, in Madrid

Personal Academic Certification

Vol. 1, no.03873

I, Don Juan Vivancos Gallego, Adjunct Professor and Secretary of said School,

DO HEREBY CERTIFY that Don Jos Maria Escriv Albas, native of Barbastro, Province o
f Huesca, has taken and passed all of the subjects required for the Licentiate i
n Law at the University of Saragossa, having obtained the marks indicated. ...

PERIOD OF THE DOCTORATE: At the University of Madrid, year 1927-1928: "History o

f International Law," Passed; "Philosophy of Law," Notable. Year 1929-1930: "His
tory of Juridical Literature," No- table.

In witness whereof, for the purposes of and at the request of an interested part
y, I issue the present certification at the order of and with the approval of th
e Dean of this School and with the seal of the same.

Madrid, twenty-first of May of nineteen hundred eighty-one

Approved by: Fernando Sequeira de Fuentes, Vice Dean

Signed and sealed: Juan Vivancos, Secretary
C. Caballero, Chief of the Secretariat

Appendix 13

Obituary notice for

Father Jos Maria Somoano;
original in AGP, RHF,AVF-OO98

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND OF BLESSED
MARY.

JOS MARIA SOMOANO, Priest ( + 16 July 1932)

On Saturday, July 16, 1932, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (to whom he wa
s very devoted), at eleven o'clock at night, our brother Jos Maria died, a victim
of charity, and perhaps of sectarian hatred.
The life of this admirable priest was short but productive, a mature fruit that
our Lord wanted for heaven.
The thought that there were priests who dared to go up to the altar without the
proper dispositions was enough to make him shed tears of reparation.
Before being introduced to the Work of God, after the sacrilegious torchings of
May, at the beginning of the officially decreed persecution, he was overheard in
the chapel of the hospital (where he was chaplain and an apostle to the end, de
spite all the laicist fury), offering himself to Jesus-out loud (since he though
t he was alone), spurred by the momentum of his prayer-as a victim for this poor
Spain. .

Our Lord Jesus accepted the holocaust and, with a double predilection, predilect
ion for the Work of God and for Jos Maria, sent him to us, so that our brother mi
ght round out his spiritual life, his heart burning hotter and hotter with the f
ires of Faith and Love, and so that the Work might have someone up there with th
e Blessed Trinity and with Mary Immaculate who would continue to be concerned ab
out us.
At our last priestly meeting, the Monday before his death, with what enthusiasm
he listened to the plans for beginning our activity!
I know that his prayers will have a lot of influence with the merciful Heart of
Jesus, when he intercedes for us crazy ones-crazy like him ...and like Hirn!-tha
t we may obtain the abundant graces that we will need to fulfill God's will.
It is right that we should weep. And even though his holy life and the circumsta
nces that surrounded his death make us feel sure that he is enjoying the eternal
rest of those who live and die in the Lord, it is also right that we offer suff
rages for the soul of our brother.

J.M.

Appendix 14

Obituary notice for

Luis Gordon y Picardo;
original in AGp, RHF,
A VF-OO98

LUIS GORDON y PICARDO (+ 5 November 1932)

He went to his eternal rest in the Lord on the morning of November 5, 1932. Anot
her one!
Our Lady took him, too, on a Saturday. Now we have two saints: a priest and a la
yman.
Incidentally, Jos Maria Somoano left a written statement of the good impression m
ade on him by the character of our brother Luis.
A good model: obedient, most discreet, charitable to the point of extravagance,
humble, mortified, and penitent..., a man of the Eucharist and of prayer, most d
evoted to the Blessed Virgin and to Saint Therese ..., a father to the workers i
n his factory. They cried when they heard of his death.
The Lord, when we, including Luis, were consoling one another about the death of
our Jos Maria, had us say, "If God called you or me, what would we do, from heav
en or from purgatory, except cry out again and again, many times and always: 'My
God! Help them- my brothers who are fighting on earth-that they may do your wil
l. Smooth out the path, hasten the hour, remove the obstacles. ..sanctify them!'
?"
Our brother Luis concurred in that idea, because it is a necessary consequence o
f the real and very strong spiritual fraternity that unites us, a fraternity tha
t he knew how to live in such a practical way.
With what enthusiasm will he now be fulfilling his obligationas our brother!
Let this certainty serve to console us, and let us love the cross, the holy cros
s which is falling on the Work of God. Our great King Jesus Christ chose to take
away the two best-prepared ones so that we would not put our trust in anything
earthly, not even someone's personal virtues, but only and exclusively in his mo
st loving Providence.
The Merciful Love has cast another seed in the furrow, and how much we expect fr
om its fertility!

J.M.

Appendix 15

Obituary notice
for Maria Ignacia Garcia Escobar;
original in AGP, RHF, AVF-0098

MARIA GARCIA ESCOBAR ( + 13 September 1933)

On September 13, the vigil of the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the
re fell asleep in the Lord this first sister of ours, of our house in heaven. So
me time before, at her request, and considering the seriousness of her condition
, we gave her holy viaticum.

What peace she had! How she spoke, with what naturalness, of going soon to her F
ather-God, ...and how she received the commissions we gave her for the Homelandthe prayers for the Work!
A priest brother of ours was the instrument of the Lord by which Maria came to t
he Work, as a vocation of expiation, offering herself as a voluntary victim for
the sanctification of others. Even before hearing about the Work of God, Maria w
as already offering up for us the terrible sufferings of her sickness. And Jesus
received those sufferings as a sweet scent, urging the victim on, placing more
of his cross upon her, to the point where the sick woman had to say to that holy
priest, our brother Father Jos Maria Somoano, "Father Jos Maria, I think your int
ention must be a very worthwhile one, because ever since you started asking me t
o pray and offer things up for it, Jesus has been treating me really splendidly.
"
Prayer and suffering were the wheels of the chariot of triumph of this daughter
of ours. We have not lost her; we have gained her. The realization that she has
gone home should immediately turn our natural sorrow into supernatural joy, beca
use now we are sure of an even mightier intercessor in heaven.

J.M.
TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS

AGP ? General Archive of the Prelature (Archivo General de la Prelatura)

Apuntes -- Personal Notes (Apuntes intimos)

AVF - Assorted writings of the Founder (Autgrafos Varios del Fundador)

C - Correspondence (personal letters of the Founder, cited by number and date)

D ? Documents

IZL - Section of AGP corresponding to the Servant of God Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma

Letter - Letters written to all the members of the Work, cited by date and secti
on number.

P01, P02 etc. - Collections of printed documents (sections within AGP)

PM - Madrid Process of beatification (Proceso Matritense), followed by folio num

ber

PR - Roman Process of beatification (Proceso Romano), followed by page number

RHF - Historical Register of the Founder (Registro Historico del Fundador [secti

on within AGP])

Sum. - Summarium of the Cause of beatification and canoni- zation. Positio super
vita et virtutibus, Rome, 1988. The name of the witness, followed by the corres
- ponding section number of the Summarium.

T - Testimonial

1. War and Revolution: Hopes of Evacuation

1. The fruits of hatred

2. Seeking refuge
3. In Dr. Suils' sanatorium
4. Asylum in the Honduran consulate
5. "The good pipe story"
6. "The worst days of this period"
7. "Grandfather's business"

* * *

1. The fruits of hatred

The tragic events that gripped Spain during the civil war years of 1936 to 1939
can hardly be comprehended without at least some understanding of their politica
l framework. Although the response of the founder of Opus Dei stands out in this
context, to ignore the historical facts would render unintelligible what he did
and why he did it. This is still more obvious when one considers that religion
was a key factor in the tragedy. There has been no dearth of civil wars in Spain
, but the war that broke out in 1936 was distinctive in that it unleashed one of
the fiercest and bloodiest religious persecutions in twenty centuries of Christ
ianity.[1] In the brief space of a few months, a dozen bishops and more than six
thousand priests and religious were killed. This simple fact, stark and objecti
ve, sheds a somber light upon the scene, so that the founder's behavior could ha
rdly be understood apart from it, or without a grasp of the Christian motives th
at led him to forgive those guilty with his whole heart, to make reparation to o
ur Lord for the crimes committed, and to learn, for the future, the lesson of hi
story.
In July 1936, both in the countryside and in the cities, there was an enormous t
ension arising from social demands, the breakdown of the national economy, the d
iscrediting of government action, and frustrated regional sentiments. It was exa
cerbated by continual strikes, hunger, disorder, and revolutionary agitation tha
t incited the alienated workers and unemployed while fostering a counterrevoluti
onary stance on the part of people who wanted to use force. The regime was reeli
ng on the verge of collapse, while the military was preparing a coup d'etat to r
estore the lost authority of the Republic. How could things have come to such a
pass?[2]
It is unnecessary either to go back to past centuries (to the civil wars of the
nineteenth century, to the historic delay in establishing democratic principles
in political institutions) or to attribute the seriousness of the conflict to th
e bellicose character of Spaniards.[3]When the monarchy fell and the Republic wa
s established in 1931, half of Spain greeted its coming with rejoicing and hope.
Here was a fresh start-an opportunity to rectify mistakes and establish a democ
ratic, just, and representative government. But, from the setting up of a provis
ional government to the elaborating of the new Constitution, those in power and
the delegates in the Constituent Assembly stamped the new government with a freq
uently radical style that many Spaniards found hard to accept.[4]
From its inception in 1931 to the start of the civil war in 1936, the history of
the Second Spanish Republic is extremely troubled. It is easy to distinguish di
fferent stages: an initial period of getting organized, followed by a two-year p
eriod of radical reforms pertaining to the Church, the army, education, regional

concerns, agriculture, and labor.[5] The general discontent generated by the go

vernment's actions gave rise to a poorly organized military uprising, by a small
group of monarchists, which collapsed in Seville in the summer of 1932. It was
neither the first, nor an isolated, attempt to change the course of events by fo
rce. Spanish political life, which already had a radical tinge, was becoming mor
e and more violent. General elections were held in November 1933, and the Chambe
r of Deputies changed color politically. The previous majority, dominated by soc
ialists and leftist republicans, was replaced by another formed by the CEDA (Spa
nish Confederation of Autonomous Rights) and the Radical, Liberal-Democratic, an
d Agrarian parties.[6]The representatives of the CEDA, the most numerous party i
n the new majority, taking a stance of indifference toward the form of governmen
t (monarchy or republic), proclaimed themselves conservatives and defenders of C
atholic ideals. Policies designed to modify the extremism of the preceding perio
d marked the years 1934 and 1935, along with another attempt-more intense, bette
r prepared, and more widespread than that of 1932-to overthrow the government. T
his leftist uprising of 1934 collapsed in Madrid and Catalonia but succeeded in
Asturias after a bloody revolution. [7] The use of the army was required to put
it down and to restore constitutional government.[8]
The disintegration of the nation accelerated after the October 1934 uprising. Ri
ght and left moved toward political extremism, leaving no possibility for compro
mise. In the absence of understanding between the moderates on either side, the
march toward confrontation advanced implacably, outside the channels of democrac
y.
In February 1936, the political forces of the right and the left (the latter uni
ted under the Popular Front) once more went to the polls in a general election.
Many on either side were less interested in seeking democratic legitimacy than i
n gaining political power to destroy their enemy definitively. By a narrow margi
n the left won, but this unfortunately did not serve to pacify their spirits. On
the contrary, with the forces on the left growing ever more divided, the confli
ct between the political antagonists continued to escalate until it hurled the c
ountry, irremediably, into chaos.[9]
The hatred the adversaries felt toward one another was not purely political. It
would be possible to trace its roots through a stormy process running throughout
the nineteenth century and pitting conservative traditionalism against progress
ivist liberalism. To this must be added the resistance of many capitalists and l
andowners to a solution to the urgent problems of justice for the worker, a resi
stance that exacerbated old social tensions even as demagogic propaganda fomente
d the armed uprising of the proletariat. The leaven of hatred entered people's h
earts, filling them with enmity and violence.
Other proximate causes of the conflict were the mistakes made by the republican
governments. For example, there were the reforms of the president, Manuel Azana,
which mainly affected the army and the Church. The army was unnecessarily humil
iated, which alienated many military men from the republican cause and tempted t
hem toward conspiracy and military uprising. As for the Church, the profoundly s
ecularist measures adopted reflected a sectarian ideology that ignored the fact
that the majority of the population were practicing Catholics.[10] Other mistake
s-such as bribery and corruption among some Radical Party members serving in the
government in the second two-year period, lack of sensitivity to social problem
s on the part of some and loss of a sense of opportunity in others, the general
radicalism of European politics in those years and the crisis in the democracies
-all helped discredit the government further and confirm the violent in turning
to radical solutions.
The spark that set off the explosion and precipitated the decision of those who
were still hesitating[11] and the understanding between the Carlists and General
Mola, the leader of the rebellion, was the assassination of Jose Calvo Sotelo,
one of the monarchist leaders of the parliamentary opposition, on July 13, 1936.
It was carried out by police forces in reprisal for the recent assassination of
a lieutenant of the shock troops, Jose Castillo, and it resulted, within a few
days, in the outbreak of the uprisings.[12]
The first, late on July 17, was that of the military garrisons in Africa.[13]The

government was not taken by surprise by the military conspiracy, but believed i
t could subdue the rebellion since the army's key positions were in the hands of
generals who favored the government. Within twenty-four hours the situation was
rather confused, with some garrisons going over to the rebels while the parties
of the left and the labor organizations demanded that the government arm the pe
ople's militias. [14] On the critical night of July 18-19, the president of the
Republic sought to provide a temporary solution by replacing the government of C
asares Quiroga with that of Martinez Barrio and its more moderate ministers, in
an attempt to win over the generals in this camp.
The new government, like its predecessors, immediately came under pressure from
the workers parties and unions to arm the socialist and communist militias.[15]
The authorities refused to give arms to the affiliates of the unions. At daybrea
k on July 19, thousands of workers circulated throughout Madrid armed with rifle
s given to them hours earlier in some barracks. In the Montana Barracks, however
, despite orders to the contrary, the revolutionary militias were refused weapon
s.
On Sunday, July 19, the Father and some of his sons were working in the new resi
dence at 16 Ferraz Street, and from the balcony they could see police and curiou
s onlookers constantly coming and going in front of the house. On the other side
of Ferraz there was at this time no building, just an empty stretch looking tow
ard the esplanade of the Montana Barracks, which was about two hundred yards fro
m the residence.[16] Toward the end of the afternoon, they began hearing the noi
se of the people's militias, which had been marching with weapons, flags, and ra
ised fists through the center of the capital. At about ten that night, the Fathe
r sent home those who lived with their families, asking them to telephone him wh
en they arrived so he would not worry about them.[17] Isidoro Zorzano and Jose M
aria Gonzalez Barredo remained with him that night.[18]
Meanwhile, behind its high walls, the barracks remained closed in menacing silen
ce. Intermittent gunshots were heard throughout the night. Soon after daybreak t
hey began to notice activity in the neighborhood. Preparations were being made f
or a taking of the barracks. There was a heavy bombardment, to which the besiege
d replied with rifles and machine guns.[19] Stray bullets ricocheted off the wal
ls of the residence and splintered the balcony, obliging the Father and those wi
th him to take refuge in the basement. At midmorning the attack took place. The
patio of the barracks was strewn with bodies. The mass of militia who had burst
into the barracks emerged, shouting and excited, armed with rifles.
The Father, who for months had been hearing of murders of priests and nuns and o
f arson, assaults, and other atrocities,[20] saw that the time had come when wea
ring the cassock would be tempting Divine Providence doing something not merely
imprudent but foolhardy. He therefore put on the blue overalls he had been using
those days when doing repairs, and left his cassock in his room.[21] That after
noon, after praying to our Lady and commending themselves to the guardian angels
, the Father, Isidoro, and Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo left separately through t
he back door. In his haste, the Father forgot to cover his head, whose ample ton
sure plainly announced his clerical status. He walked through groups of militiam
en who, excited by their recent combat, did not pay the slightest attention to h
im.
Upon reaching his mother's house (which was not far from the residence), he spok
e by telephone with Juan Jimenez Vargas, and learned that all of his sons were s
afe and sound. Having left his breviary in the residence, he had extra time on h
is hands, so he turned on the radio, which continued to give confused and alarmi
ng news. The night was going to be long and hot. He prayed rosary after rosary.
The apartment was at the top of a building on Dr. Carceles Street, down from whe
re it crosses Ferraz. Militiamen could be heard running on the roofs and terrace
s in pursuit of snipers firing from the rooftops.
Father Josemaria decided to begin a diary whose entries would have a telegraphic
conciseness-not a detailed historical record. On Monday, July 20, he made the f
irst entry in that journal:
Monday, the 20th - Worried about everyone, especially Ricardo. - We prayed to th
e Blessed Virgin and the guardian angels. - About one o'clock, I made the sign o

f the cross and was the first to leave. - Reached my mother's house. - Spoke by
phone with Juan. - Listened to the radio news. - Everyone arrived safely. - A ba
d night, hot. - All three parts of the rosary. - Don't have my breviary. - Milit
ia on the roof.[22]
The quick brushstrokes depict his soul in the face of what was happening and his
concern for his sons, especially Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, who was caught by
events in Valencia. That Monday, July 20, Father Josemara had said Mass in the r
esidence, without suspecting that he would not celebrate it again for a long tim
e. The notes of that brief diary, which only goes up to Saturday, July 25, show
where his thoughts and his heart were. "Tuesday, the 21st - No Mass. Wednesday,
the 22nd - No celebrating Mass. Thursday, the 23rd - Spiritual communions. No Ma
ss! Friday, the 24th - No Mass!"
On Thursday he found a missal in the apartment and began, out of devotion, to sa
y "dry Masses," meaning that he performed the ceremonies of Mass, and said atten
tively and devoutly all the liturgical prayers, up to those of the Consecration
(which he could not do since he lacked bread and wine), and when it came time fo
r Communion, he made a spiritual communion.[23]
The week was filled with anxiety. All of Spain was passing through hours of trag
ic uncertainty. It was not easy to piece together the situation of the country,
since nothing in the press or on the radio could be trusted. By telephoning the
funeral home across from Santa Isabel, Father Josemara learned on Tuesday that th
e church had been burned down. One day four or five years earlier, while leaving
Santa Isabel, he had received from God a strong presentiment that the church wo
uld be torched.[24] Sadly, the convent too was not spared. Juan Jimenez Vargas b
rought them the news that other churches in Madrid were already ablaze and the r
est had been seized. In the entry for Wednesday, July 22, we read: "They say tha
t priests are being imprisoned."
In view of the recent events at the Montana Barracks, Father Josemara had little
difficulty realizing the dangers to which the ministers of the Lord were exposed
. That very week, as if sounding the alarm, there began an implacable pursuit of
priests and religious, with either imprisonment or martyrdom for those caught.
Convents and rectories were deserted.[25]The only safety lay in remaining hidden
. In the apartments below Doa Dolores's, a nun and an Augustinian monk were hidde
n.[26]Father Josemara redoubled his prayer and expiation, as a line in his diary
indicates: "Prayer: to our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, Saint Joseph, the guardian
angels, Saint James."
He searched through the apartment and found a copy of the "Roman Euchology," whi
ch enabled him to say the Office of the Dead. With the rest of his family he beg
an a novena to Our Lady of the Pillar. In the extreme heat, he also began an asc
etical struggle with thirst. "I will not drink water, and will offer this for ev
eryone, especially our people," he noted on Wednesday. What he could not resign
himself to was the lack of news about his sons. He therefore asked Juan to send
some postcards to Valencia, in order to reassure Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin and
Rafael Calvo Serer and get to hear from them.
Father Josemara wanted to go back to living at the Ferraz Street residence, but J
uan, who walked every day from his own apartment to Doa Dolores's, made him see h
ow dangerous it would be if he had to pass through the many checkpoints of the r
evolutionaries. As it was, he was able to do very little work, because the recor
ds and documents of Opus Dei were locked in a trunk in the apartment on Dr. Carc
eles Street and he had left the key in the Ferraz residence. On Thursday, Juan a
nd Isidoro took it upon themselves to go to the residence and bring back to the
Father the keys, a briefcase, and his ID card, which was his only proof of ident
ity.[27] Now the priest was prepared for the unforeseeable that is, for a time w
hen he might suddenly have to leave his mother's apartment. He also let his must
ache grow, so that he would not be recognized.
At the beginning of Saturday, July 25, the date of the last entry in the diary,
neither the republican government nor the rebels knew which way the scales would
tip. The outcome was most uncertain. Caught up in a kind of formless brawl, its
territory capriciously divided and redivided among hostile forces, the nation to
ttered on the threshold of civil war.

Radio Madrid broadcast an incessant deluge of news served up by the government,

announcing the failure of the military uprising, the surrender of the rebels, th
e bombardment and destruction of those who had fought against the victorious rep
ublican forces. To keep his mother's mind off all these catastrophes, Father Jos
emara tried to entertain her by playing cards with her or by having her listen to
Radio Seville.[28] The talks of General Queipo de Llano, promising an imminent
arrival in Madrid of dissident forces that would liberate the capital, were, tho
ugh untrue, a small source of optimism.[29] As yet no one was thinking of a civi
l war, but only of a military coup and the repression of revolutionary outbursts
.
On the morning of Saturday, July 25, Juan had just entered the foyer of the Ferr
az Street residence, in search of some papers, when a band of anarchists broke i
nto the apartment, among them the chauffeur and the cook of the former resident
of the house, Count del Real. Probably not knowing who the new residents were, t
he militiamen inspected the apartment. In the Father's room they found a cassock
, a hat, and other objects, such as cilices and a discipline with bloodstains, w
hich clearly announced that a priest had been living there. Juan answered the qu
estions of the searchers as best he could, with vague remarks, trying to get out
of the predicament by explaining that some medical students lived there (the mi
litiamen had already seen some skulls and skeletons in the study room), that the
owner of the house was a foreigner, and that the chaplain did not come therever
y often.[30]
Without any further investigation, they declared the building seized in the name
of the CNT (the National Labor Confederation, an anarchist union) and went to J
uan's house to continue their search. Here the danger was even greater, because
in a trunk in his bedroom Juan had a file containing the addresses of the studen
ts who went to the residence and some other documents whose possession meant a d
eath sentence.[31]Although the search of his room was meticulous, the militiamen
inexplicably did not come across the trunk, which remained hidden behind the cl
oset's opened doors. In any event, when they finished, they invited Juan to "acc
ompany" them, which in their jargon of terror meant they were "taking him for a
walk"-in other words, taking him to be executed-something that was the order of
the day and was within the authority of the patrols. At that moment, however, hi
s mother dramatically intervened, and the leader of the anarchists, pistol in ha
nd, suddenly changed his mind, explaining, "We don't kill anyone. The ones who d
o the killing are the socialists. We carry this"-here he pointed to his pistol-"
only as a preventive measure. Let him stay!"[32]
That same evening Juan discussed the events of the day with Alvaro del Portillo,
and they asked each other how it all would end. "If the communist revolution su
cceeds," they agreed, "we will not be able to stay here. We will need to make pl
ans for a residence abroad."[33]Both of them had very much in mind their commitm
ent to continue with the Work even if the founder died. Each reaffirmed what the
y both already knew well: "The Work of God has come into being to fulfill the wi
ll of God. Have, therefore, a deep conviction that heaven is determined to see i
t realized."[34] By such simple logic they maintained a firm, hopeful conviction
that nothing would happen to the Father.[35] And in fact, during all the years
of religious persecution, all the members of the Work repeatedly escaped from th
e hands of their persecutors in a way that was miraculous, or at least quite unl
ikely and inexplicable.
Father Josemara, in addition to his foundational graces, possessed a quality whic
h for some time had helped him in dealing with an adverse historical situation,
enabling him to carry out his apostolic mission with daring and naturalness. The
Lord undoubtedly had given the young priest an interior peace and even an incre
dible physical courage, given the circumstances in which he carried out his mini
stry. As if to acknowledge that gift, he tells in a journal entry of one of the
very few occasions when he could not overcome his fear. He experienced, he says,
"a physiological, childish fear at being in the church at night, in the dark."
This happened in 1930, at the Foundation for the Sick. This fear that he recogni
zed as "foolish," but could not help having, kept him from approaching the taber
nacleuntil one night when, upon returning from the academy, "I felt an interior

divine inspiration: 'Go, without fear. Now you will not be afraid.' Not that I h
eard those words. I felt them-them or something very similar. Anyway, that was t
he idea. I went into the dark church. The only light was that of the sanctuary l
amp. I went up to the tabernacle and rested my head on the altar. I've never aga
in felt
afraid."[36]
Freed from fear, Father Josemara was able to dedicate himself fully to his activi
ties despite ridicule, insults, and even stoning. The figure of that priest wrap
ped in his cloak was well known in the poorer districts and slums on the outskir
ts of Madrid, where he went to visit the sick or to give catechesis.
Father Josemara needed a good dose of daring and courage to continue carrying out
his ministerial functions as if the atmosphere in the streets had not changed.
In the months that followed the establishment of the Republic, he had to overcom
e hatred wherever he turned. "My God," he asked, "why this hatred for those who
are yours?"[37]Meeting hatred with love, he resolved to "stone" with Hail Mary's
those who insulted him with vulgarities and obscenities, and thus he purified h
is feelings. Whereas previously he had become indignant, "now, when I hear those
vulgarities, my heart trembles."[38]
A few weeks after making that entry in his journal, he confirmed a priestly reso
lution that he kept alive to the end of his days: "I must speak only of God."[39
]Being involved in a divine enterprise that he had to carry out in the midst of
the world, he suffered those daily street confrontations in silence. Immersed in
the reality of life, but staying above and outside of any political ideologies,
the founder carried out his mission from 1931 to 1936 in an atmosphere of growi
ng agitation and hatred. The whole country appeared to be plunging into an abyss
of evil, and his apostolic heart found itself surrounded by people who thought
that the first step to the solution to their problems was to destroy the Catholi
c Church.
"The Work of God," the founder had written, "was not thought up by a man to solv
e the lamentable situation of the Church in Spain since 1931."[40]He dedicated h
is energies to fulfilling faithfully the mission, universal and perpetual, that
he had been given on October 2, 1928.

2. Seeking refuge

Doa Dolores predicted to her family that by the feast of Saint James, the patron
saint of Spain, everything would have returned to normal. Father Josemara's diary
includes the invocation of the apostle: "Saturday, the 25th: Saint James, and S
pain to the attack![41]
When August began, all of Spain was in turmoil and confusion. Fighting continued
in villages and whole regions, and the split in military commands during the in
surrection was clear. What the leaders of the uprising thought would be a swift
seizure of power by the army had turned into a bloody battle resembling a simult
aneous revolution and civil war. For the most part, the people in charge were su
pporters of the republican government, especially in Madrid and Barcelona, where
the largest military forces were stationed. However, in the large rural areas o
f Galicia, Leon, Castile, Navarre, and Aragon, the population enthusiastically s
upported the uprising. The result was unforeseeable. In the republican zone, pow
er was theoretically in the hands of the government but in fact fell into the ha
nds of the revolutionary committees of the party militias and the local unions,
while in the zone that came to be called "national" the forces of the villages a
nd cities placed themselves under the authority of the military commanders of th
e insurrection.
As the days passed, hopes for a quick end to the conflict vanished. It now looke
d as if it would continue to the end of that summer. Throughout Madrid homes wer
e searched for suspicious people. Generally, the searches were targeted at addre
sses lifted from political files or obtained from accusers. The most dangerous o
f these accusers were neighbors and apartment building porters and janitors who
knew the residents' movements and whereabouts.[42]In the apartment below Doa Dolo
res's there was a communist woman, a cook, who probably knew that a priest was l

iving in hiding in that other apartment. Father Josemara, realizing this, remaine
d cautious and ready to take flight at any moment of day or night. But, as if th
ese difficulties were not enough, he had no union card or political documentatio
n to show to the militias if stopped. So Doa Dolores gave him Don Jose's wedding
ring, so that they would not think he was single. For him, wearing that ring was
like having inherited a holy relic of his father.[43]***
Two weeks after he began hiding out in the apartment, search patrols came to the
neighborhood. Probably on August 8, what they had feared did happen. Early in t
he morning, the porter, in alarm, told them that there was about to be a search.
Without waiting for a second warning, Father Josemara took out for the street to
begin a long via dolorosa that would fulfill his premonition of a special cross
starting in 1936. At the end of June he had written in his journal, "Victim! On
an unseen cross."[44]***
That day of August 8, he walked aimlessly from one part of Madrid to another, co
nstantly in danger of falling into the hands of some militia squad that would ca
rry him off to prison. Finally, late at night, he went to sleep at a rooming hou
se on Menendez y Palayo Street, where Jose Maria Albareda lived. This was a youn
g professor whom he had met at the Ferraz Street residence and who on Thursday,
July 23, had visited him in the apartment on Dr. Carceles Street, accompanied by
Juan and by Isidoro Zorzano.
The following day, by prior arrangement, he went to the home of Manolo Sainz de
los Terreros, at 31 Sagasta Street .[45]***(Manolo was that young man who had be
gun receiving spiritual direction from the Father at the building on Martinez Ca
mpos Street in June 1933, showing him his soul "without leaving out a single thi
ng.") At midday Father Josemara succeeded in getting up to the apartment without
the porter noticing. That same afternoon Juan Jimenez Vargas also arrived. Manol
o's family was on vacation and Manolo was living only with Martina, an elderly s
ervant who was deaf and imperturbable. The two guests had to remain completely h
idden, without any of the neighbors knowing about them, and especially not the p
orter, who was supposed to keep the building's political committee informed abou
t the residents' comings and goings. They had to move cautiously and silently so
as not to arouse suspicion. Manolo or Martina did the shopping, letting people
think they were buying food for two rather than four. Manolo was a resolute and
impetuous and not easily intimidated man, but his home had been under suspicion
since his brother had been taken to prison at the end of July. The searches were
now becoming methodical, and after the Father had been there two days, militiam
en searched another apartment in the same buildingone in which the Count of Leyv
a had earlier been arrested.[46]
With Father Josemara also came order in that home. There was set a fixed schedule
for prayer, work, and meals. What worried the Father the most was not having ne
ws of his children, and so one can well imagine his great joy when, in mid-Augus
t, Manolo brought from the Ferraz Street residence some letters given him by the
doorkeeper, including one from Pedro Casciaro. A little later, on the twenty-fi
fth, there arrived a letter from Ricardo addressed to Isidoro from Valencia, say
ing he was very well. Through Isidoro and Manolo, the Father kept in touch with
those in Madrid-including Doa Dolores, although she preferred not to know exactly
where her son was.[47]
Soon after Father Josemara left his mother's apartment, the feared searches began
. There were several. Some members of the family that the communist cook worked
for were arrested. Another time the militia went through all the apartments exce
pt Doa Dolores's. They even broke into a next-door apartment that was under the p
rotection of the English embassy. Its British owner had left Spain when the revo
lution broke out.[48] Doa Dolores and her children trembled in fearful silence ev
ery time they heard the militiamen noisily mounting the stairs. But, strange as
it seems, it never occurred to them to search the Escriva apartment.
In the apartment was a trunk filled with private papers and documents related to
the Academy and to Father Josemara's apostolic work. He had placed all his trust
in the hands of God and of Doa Dolores, who "kept the key with her and would not
let it go for anything in the world."[49] But Carmen and Santiago, fearing that

the contents of the trunk could compromise the safety of others, talked their m
other into giving them the key, and they did in fact find in there a notebook wi
th names, addresses, and phone numbers, which they decided it would be prudent t
o burn.
In his search, Santiago also came across his brother's spiritual diary. "That wa
s when I read the diary that Josemara had been keeping for many years," he tells
us. "I remember those notebooks covered in black oilskin."[50]Clearly he is refe
rring to the founder's Apuntes intimos. That trunk, which was placed under the p
rotection of Divine Providence and the loving care of Doa Dolores, contained an i
mportant part of the spirit and the still brief history of the Work. Here on Dr.
Carceles Street the trunk began a long odyssey that would last throughout the w
ar and leave it unscathed by moves and searches. Three years later, like someone
encountering an old acquaintance, the founder noted: "Madrid! April 13, 1939. A
fter almost three years, I restart my Catherines in this notebook that I left of
f without finishing in July 1936. Our Lord wanted, in a not very ordinary way, t
o preserve our archive. And he made use of my mother and Carmen as his instrumen
ts."[51]
In the Sagasta apartment Juan and Manolo were the Father's only company, until o
ne day, making an exception to his extreme cautiousness, Manolo introduced the o
ther two to a couple of refugees in the apartment below. Manolo did not tell the
m that Father Josemara was a priest, but because of the familiarity with which he
spoke about religious subjects, they soon identified him as one, which was what
he wanted to happen, in case they needed his services. One of the refugees, Ped
ro Maria Rivas (then a lawyer, and later a religious), says that "in those days
of the war" they saw him as a person of "great patience and much peace of spirit
."[52]
The refugees enjoyed Father Josemara's conversation, and so they often went up to
Manolo's apartment to chat with him. From experience they knew very well what t
o do if the doorbell rang while they were there: they at once retreated to the b
ack stairs, while Martina very slowly made her preparations to open the door. Ma
king use of her deafness, she would keep the visitors outside, not letting anyon
e get through the door. If they looked dangerous, her signal was to speak very l
oudly and make them identify themselves, giving the others plenty of time to get
up the back stairs and into the attic.
On August 28, Manolo brought home a cousin of his, named Juan Manuel. On the mor
ning of Sunday, August 30, they filled him in on what to do in case of a search,
and even went through a drill, little imagining how opportune it was. A few hou
rs later, when Manolo was away and Martina was preparing dinner, the others hear
d loud voices on the stairs, and then the bell rang. The three of them-the Fathe
r, Juan, and Juan Manuel-headed for the back stairs while Martina calmly made he
r way to the door. The militia tried to enter, saying that they had to make a se
arch. Martina detained them by playing to the hilt her role as a deaf person, sh
outing, "There is no one here! I am deaf! I can't hear anything!"
The three others climbed up the stairs and into the attic, went through the firs
t door they found open, and found themselves in a small space used as a storage
room and coal bin. They had to walk stooped over, because the ceiling was so low
. The early afternoon heat was stifling. Seated motionless amidst cobwebs and co
al dust, they waited. The slightest noise might give them away, and, if found, t
hey most likely would be shot.[53] For several hours they kept waiting, listenin
g to the sounds of the search going on below them. Not know ing whether Juan Man
uel, who had been with them only two days, knew he was a priest, Father told him
, and then said to both him and Juan, "This looks bad. If you want, make an act
of contrition, and I'll give you absolution."[54]
Juan Manuel received absolution. Later he wrote, "I'll never forget that encount
er with Father Josemara, since it took place at what we all thought was the last
hour of our lives.... It took a lot of courage for him to tell me that he was a
priest, because I could have betrayed him. If the militia had come in, I could h
ave tried to save my life by informing on him."[55]
Juan also received absolution, and immediately afterward he asked the Father, "A
nd if they find us, what will happen?" The Father replied, "Then, my son, we wil

l go straight to heaven." At this point in his memoirs, Juan says that his fear
was an unfocused one-that it was not exactly a fear of being shot, but just a se
nsation of uncertainty that did not rob him of his peace of mind. "With the Fath
er there," he says, "I was sure I had nothing to fear. And to show what a sense
of security I had, at three in the afternoon I went to sleep for a while." [56]
While he slept, the militia meticulously searched the house top to bottom and bo
ttom to top-so thoroughly, in fact, that they had no time for the attic. At abou
t nine that night the noise finally stopped. Cautiously, the three men went down
the stairs and knocked at the service entrance of the fourth-floor home of the
Count of Leyva, and were let in. Sweaty, thirsty, and covered with soot, they as
ked for a glass of water. There they were told that Manolo had returned home in
the middle of the search and that the militia had arrested him, locking the apar
tment behind them.
The Count's family offered them some shirts belonging to the Count, who was in j
ail, while theirs were washed, and generously invited them to stay in that apart
ment, no further searches being expected there for some time. But they were mist
aken about that. The next day, at eight in the morning, the militiamen were alre
ady back again, continuing the meticulous search that had been suspended the pre
vious night. They entered the apartment next door and the one below. "At times,"
says the Count's daughter Mercedes, "we were horribly afraid, but the Father ke
pt us in a good mood, making us laugh a lot, although he was thinking much about
his family and friends."[57]At one of those moments of danger the Countess sugg
ested saying the Rosary.[58] "I'll lead, since I'm a priest," the Father quickly
responded.[59]
Because of the persistence of searches in that area, they saw that they needed t
o change their hiding place.[60] Two of the Countess's maids went to see Jose Ma
ria Gonzalez Barredo, to ask him to look for a place where the Father could hide
. The only one possible was the house of the Herrero Fontana couple, whose two s
ons knew Father Josemara and received spiritual direction from him. The family li
ved in a mezzanine apartment, number 4, in Herradores Plaza.
That move toward safety put them right in the mouth of the wolf. One night the p
laza was suddenly surrounded by police patrols and militiamen, who obliged the p
orters to open the doors of all the apartments so that they could do a roundup.
They did their search with great commotion and nighttime confusion. Inexplicably
, the porter of number 4 was not notified, and stranger still, the militiamen ma
de no attempt to enter there.
For Juan, that was one more of many incidents showing that "the Father had a spe
cial protection," one more of the "episodes in which the guardian angels played
a major role."[61]Every time they were saved from death, Juan thought that "not
the militiamen, not anyone" could do much in the face of that protection. Howeve
r, the young priest did have to go from house to house, begging for a haven, not
knowing where or how he would be received. The fear of being caught hiding a pr
iest, which would mean prison or martyrdom, made many good Christians close thei
r doors to him. This pilgrimage in search of a hiding place was "a very hard thi
ng." It was "not just a feeling of physical abandonment," but more like a feelin
g of being completely forsaken.[62]
And yet, in the midst of that ordeal, Father Josemara felt himself accompanied by
God. The whole time that he was beset with insecurity and helplessness, he carr
ied within him, very deeply, a joy and a peace. God let him suffer the abandonme
nt of the homeless, of those without shelter, of those being pursued and having
no place to hide. He shared the suffering of the members of the Work who were in
danger, some of whom were on the run, some in isolation, several in prison.
His inquiries at the homes of friends and acquaintances proved unfruitful, as di
d also an attempt made by a daughter of the Count of Leyva to get him into the C
uban embassy. Finally, exhausted and not having found a hiding place, he ended u
p at the home of Don Alvaro Gonzalez Valdes (the father of Jose Maria Gonzalez B
arredo), at 15 Caracas Street.
The revolutionary terror continued to escalate. The membership files of all kind
s of associations (political, cultural, sports, or religious), together with acc
usations made by neighbors, colleagues, porters, or personal enemies, produced l

ong lists of people to persecute.[63] Those being pursued had to change hiding p
laces so often that their families frequently were in the dark concerning their
whereabouts.
This was the case with Alvaro del Portillo, who had managed to find refuge with
one of his brothers in a cottage on Serrano Street owned by a friend of the fami
ly. He had been hiding out there for a month when it occurred to him, at the beg
inning of September, to go to the business office of the Department of Bridges a
nd Foundations, where he had worked before the war, to claim the pay he was due.
Now, with some bills in his pocket, he decided to have a beer at La Mezquita, a
bar in Alonso Martinez Plaza, not thinking about the fact that while sitting at
a sidewalk table he could be asked for documentation he did not have. Fortunate
ly it was not the police but Don Alvaro Gonzalez Valdes who approached him. "Tha
nk God I found you!" he said. "Do you know who is at my house? The Father! He as
ked me to let him rest for a little while because he couldn't keep standing any
longer. But the porter can't be trusted. If he saw him, we're all in danger."[64
]
Taking the Father with him, Alvaro went at once to Caracas Street. A few days la
ter, Juan Jimenez Vargas joined them, and they went to the hiding place on Serra
no Street, where they quietly spent the rest of September. The cottage was close
to police headquarters. For what it was worth, the owner had placed on the balc
ony a sheet of paper with the Argentine flag on it. Errands and all communicatio
ns with the outside were taken care of by the previous occupants' cook, an elder
ly woman who was not at all tongue-tied, and by a chauffeur, Selesio, who put in
an appearance once in a while.
The Father gave meditations and celebrated "dry Masses" with his sons, and, sinc
e they had no books to read, they filled up the rest of the time by discussing m
any topics. They could hear the police radio station next door transmitting mess
ages around the clock.
The Father spent three weeks in that house with Juan and with Alvaro and Pepe de
l Portillo. The first of October, the eve of the eighth anniversary of the found
ing of the Work, found them in relative tranquillity. The Father was expecting a
favor from heaven, one of those "drops of honey" that God was habitually giving
to sweeten his apostolic endeavors-such as the sending of a new vocation. "Alva
ro, my son," he said, "tomorrow is October 2. What caress does our Lord have in
reserve for us?"[65]
They soon found out. That same morning, Ramon, another of Alvaro's brothers, arr
ived with alarming news. They were all in danger: the militia might show up at a
ny moment. They had searched the home of the owners of the cottage where they we
re staying and had killed six members of the family, among them a priest. Now th
ey were coming to search the family's other houses. It was time to flee; the Arg
entine flag would not hold the militia back. Before leaving, the Father gave the
m absolution and felt his soul fill with joy at the thought of martyrdom, even a
s he had the sensation that his courage was disappearing, his body was weakening
, his legs were trembling with fear.[66] The anticipated gift from God was the i
nsight that all his courage was on loan. The grace expected to arrive on October
2 had come on its eve.
He quickly got his feet back on the ground, and they began their search for a ne
w hiding place. The Father called Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, and they agreed t
o meet on Castellana Avenue, a principal north-south artery dividing Madrid, not
very far from the cottage. Within a short time, the Father returned to the cott
age, in such distress that as soon he got through the door, he broke out in tear
s. Alvaro asked him, "Father, why are you crying?"
In the short time that he had been out, he had run into someone who told him of
the assassination of Father Lino Vea-Murguia, the priest who had gone with him o
n visits to hospitals and who had tended to the spiritual needs of the women of
the Work. He had also been given some details about the martyrdom of his friend
Father Pedro Poveda, of whose death he had already heard.[67]
After saying all this, the Father then explained why he had returned so quickly.
He had in fact met Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo at the designated place on Caste
llana Avenue. Happy to have found a solution to their problem, Barredo had taken

a small key from his vest pocket and handed it to Father Josemara. The apartment
in question belonged to some friends who were away; the doorman was trustworthy
; so what problem could there be?
The Father listened attentively, to make sure he understood the situation. "But
alone in a stranger's house," he said, "what am I going to say if someone comes
to the door or calls on the phone?"
"Don't worry," said Jose Maria. "There's a maid there. She is totally trustworth
y and can take care of whatever you need her to."
"And how old is this maid?"
"Probably twenty-two or twenty-three."
At this, Father Josemara took the key back out of his pocket and said to Jose Mar
ia, "My son, don't you realize that I am a priest, and that what with the war an
d the persecution, we all have shot nerves? I can't and don't want to put myself
in a position of being closed in with a young woman day and night. I have a com
mitment to God which comes ahead of everything else. I would rather die than off
end God by breaking this commitment of love." Then, by way of illustration, to h
elp Jose Maria understand, he said, "Do you see this key you gave me? It's going
down into that sewer." And immediately he walked over to the sewer and threw th
e key in.[68]
On October 2, very early, they fled their refuge-and just in time. Right after t
hey left, the militia showed up to search the cottage. The Father and Alvaro wen
t to Juan's house.
Without papers, and in a haphazard way, they resumed their pilgrimage. It occurr
ed to them to return to Herradores Plaza, where Joaquin Herrero Fontana lived wi
th his sister and also their mother, Doa Mariana, and their grandmother. The olde
r women (both of whom were widows) had welcomed the Father as a guest several we
eks earlier.
The Father spent the hours of that October 2 recollected in prayer and begging G
od to protect his children. All went well until fear escalated into an obsession
in the grandmother. She kept repeating, in a frenzy, "A priest in the house! Th
ey'll kill us all! A priest in the house! They'll kill us all!"[69] Her daughter
and granddaughter tried to calm her, but to no avail. Under such conditions the
re was nothing anyone could do but think of a quick move for the priest and his
companions.
October 3 found the Father, Alvaro, and Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo sitting exha
usted and discouraged on a sidewalk curb at Cuatro Caminos Plaza. Suddenly Barre
do had an idea: why not go visit Eugenio Selles, a young professor of pharmacy w
ho had met the Father at the Ferraz Street residence and who had generously and
unwaveringly offered the use of his home? Selles lived with his wife in the Albe
niz development in Chamartin, which was at the end of the trolley line from the
garden city, across an empty stretch where patrols brought groups of prisoners a
t night to be shot. The Father took that route with Alvaro and Jose Maria as eve
ning fell the following day, detouring to avoid checkpoints where documentation
would be needed. Jose Maria, after staying for a little while in the Selles apar
t
ment, returned to Madrid .[70]
The young couple learned a lot in these days from the sagacity, good humor, and
warmth of their two guests. Every night the four of them prayed the Rosary on th
eir knees. The Selleses were especially
impressed by the calm confidence of the priest. "He behaved," says Eugenio, "wit
h complete abandonment in God's hands, with no sign of tension, as if nothing ou
t of the ordinary was happening."[71]
The search continued for a permanently safe hiding place for the Father. Finally
, on Tuesday, October 6, Joaquin Herrero Fontana came to Juan's apartment to tel
l him everything had been arranged. Juan and Joaquin had spent several days tryi
ng to get Father Josemara admitted to a psychiatric hospital! Juan had tried this
at the Metropolitan Park facility, without success; Joaquin, who worked at the
Emergency Hospital, had better luck. Having documentation that allowed him to mo
ve freely around Madrid, he spoke with Dr. Angel Suils, a colleague of his-from
his own hometown of Logrono-who was in charge of a sanatorium for mental patient

s.[72]It was arranged that this new "patient" be admitted to the hospital the fo
llowing day.
The Father and Alvaro left the Selles apartment Tuesday afternoon. Alvaro went t
o seek another refuge, and the Father spent the night at Joaquin's place.[73] On
October 7, at ten in the morning, they went to Juan's apartment, where a car se
nt from the Emergency Hospital picked them up. The driver was a militiaman. The
"patient" was put in the back seat, alone, while Joaquin sat in front, next to t
he driver. Joaquin relates, "I told the driver that the person in the back seat
was mentally ill, not dangerous but beset with delusions of grandeur, and that I
was taking him to the sanatorium for treatment. The Father was talking to himse
lf, and now and then would announce that he was Dr. Maranon. The driver replied,
'If he's that crazy, you might as well just shoot him and not waste our time."[
74]From this it seems clear what the militiaman would have proposed had he known
that this "crazy" man was a priest!

3. In Dr. Suils' sanatorium

The Father wore a dark blue suit with a gray shirt and sweater, but without a ti
e. Those who had seen him a few months earlier would have been surprised by his
extreme thinness, his mustache, and his close-cropped hair. It was so short that
the barber had looked pleased with his work and casting a glance at the wedding
ring that had belonged to Don Jose, said, "Well, now even your wife won't recog
nize you!"[75]The wardrobe of the new patient was poor and scanty: an old overco
at, charitably Doated by the Herrero Fontanas' mother in view of the coming cold
weather, an assortment of underwear, and various items from different people.[76
]
The clinic was a house on the outskirts of Madrid, in a partially built-up area
with extensive building sites and vacant lots. The recently constructed building
had a garden outside it and consisted of three floors: a semibasement for the m
ost seriously mentally ill, and the other two floors for patients under observat
ion. The letterhead of the clinic read:

Psychiatric Sanatorium of Ciudad Lineal

A Residence for Rest and Health
Mental illnesses, nerve problems, drug addictions
Modem treatment
Medical Director: Dr. D. Angel Suils
492 Arturo Soria, telephone 51188
Ciudad Lineal (Madrid)
Just off the Aragon highway[77]

Dr. Suils was away from the clinic, so the patient was interviewed by his assist
ant, Dr. Turrientes. Without beating around the bush, Dr. Turrientes said to Fat
her Josemara, "Look, I know that you are a priest, but you need to be very carefu
l about speaking of such things around here."[78] The new arrival kept a prudent
silence, without promising anything. He stopped repeating that he was Dr. Maraon
and started pretending that he had lost his voice due to a nervous problem. Thi
s gave him the opportunity to study his new environment without any risk to hims
elf.
In his room on the second floor, Father Josemara must have felt terribly the isol
ation of the first few days. On Tuesday, October 13, Juan writes in his journal,
"Before leaving the house I called the doctor on duty at the sanatorium. The Fa
ther is well. We can go see him if we want.... The mother of Herrero (he wasn't
at home) says that it would be a crazy idea to visit him-that it is understandab
le if he is worried, not knowing anything about us, but we must restrain ourselv
es. selves. She's right, although I think of what the Father must be praying for
. Completely isolated. We would love to see him too, but we don't want to create
new complications by affectionate foolishness. And so I went to Suils' house th
is afternoon and told him that the Father shouldn't worry about anyone, and shou
ld act as if we weren't even in Madrid. No phone calls, or anything. Only if he

is in any danger should they call my home. Dr. Suils told me that the Father has
been feigning a trauma-induced inability to speak, and that he's now beginning
to say something, but very little so as to avoid arousing suspicion."[79]
Juan Jimenez Vargas, being accustomed to danger, had his own ways of going in fo
r "affectionate foolishness." During the last few days he had done nothing else
but eagerly serve other members of the Work. He visited Alvaro, who was trying t
o obtain refuge in the Mexican embassy. He was concerned to find out how Chiqui
(Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica) was doing. He spent time with Jose Maria Gonzalez
Barredo, Isidoro, and Vicente Rodriguez Casado, a member of the Work who could
not leave his house for fear of being incarcerated. And without the knowledge of
the Father he was trying to make it possible for him to say Mass.[80]
In those first months of terror the religious persecution was merciless. Priests
who were not incarcerated or killed were in hiding. The churches were either to
rched or appropriated for secular uses. Sacristies were dismantled. It was a ret
urn to the Church of the catacombs. Aware of the tribulation and anguish of Span
ish Catholics, the Holy See granted priests permission "to celebrate the Holy Sa
crifice without an altar, without sacred vestments, and using, in place of a cha
lice, a decent drinking glass."[81] It took several weeks for these dispositions
regarding worship to become widely known to the faithful in the republican zone
.
Without knowing either the personnel or the modus operandi of the sanatorium, it
would be extremely risky to try to have the Father say Mass there without advan
ce preparations. Eugenio Selles, who lived not very far away, offered to let him
say Mass at his house. But this was not to be.
The last lines of Juan Jimenez Vargas's journal speak optimistically of this mat
ter. "It is a wonderful thing, this 'imprudence' of Selles," he says. "In his ho
use, no, we can't do it there, but I think maybe at the sanatorium we could. It
would, of course, have to be done without anybody knowing about it. A little arg
ument took place at Joaquin's house. His mother told me yesterday that she prays
for me constantly because I'm taking my life in my hands by walking around on t
he streets so much! I answered her that I must have nine lives, like a cat, and
still have plenty left, because with all the doctors I've been to and all the bl
ows I've suffered in my years, I haven't managed to use up more than four or fiv
e."[82]
This entry, dated October 15, 1936, is the last one because, says Juan, no soone
r had he decided to bring the Father to the Selles house to say Mass than, "just
when I was waiting for Isidoro, to go with him to the insane asylum, a patrol s
howed up and I got arrested."[83]
When Maria Luisa Polanco, a nurse at Dr. Suils' sanatorium, reconstructs her mem
ories, she is surprised to retain such a clear image of this priest; he is one o
f the residents that she best recalls. At a distance of almost half a century, s
he nostalgically remembers the clinic as "a little house, very pretty, surrounde
d by a garden." There in the garden, she says, on the cold, sunny days at the en
d of autumn, she saw Father Josemara walking, wrapped up in a blanket, and talkin
g with another fugitive.[84]
The sanatorium admittedly did not have the dreary, depressing appearance of most
mental institutions of those days, where inmates endured their miseries behind
bars. But it was hardly the place of carefree relaxation that calling it "A Resi
dence for Rest and Health" suggested. Legally it was a kind of limited-partnersh
ip collective, approved by the Medical Association of Madrid, which, though dire
cted by "Comrade Angel Suils," was "controlled by its personnel, completely subj
ect to the socialist union."[85]
The permanent staff consisted of two doctors, three nurses, an administrator, a
couple of attendants (in charge of guarding the patients), a cook, and a laundry
woman. The nurses were a mixed group as far as political views were concerned. T
wo were communists who were capable of turning in a priest. But the third, Maria
Luisa Polanco, a confidante of Dr. Suils, was a Falangist. A brother of hers, a
lso a Falangist, had been assassinated in Bilbao, and she herself, because she k
new Dr. Suils, had come to the sanatorium as a refugee. At least one of the atte
ndants was a fanatical communist. As for the administrator, we know only that th

e militia one day came hunting "fascists" at the "Residence for Rest and Health"
and told him, "Don't bother changing your clothes, comrade; we just need ten mi
nutes of your time so you can make a statement at the station; you'll return in
the same car"-and he was never seen again.[86]
The staff took care of about twenty patients. The situation of the most seriousl
y disturbed, the ones in the semibasement, was very sad, often tragic.
An old lady, Doa Carmen, whose son had killed himself after committing a crime of
passion, would suddenly go from profound apathy to rabid rage. Another patient
continually stalked the corridors and the garden in a frenzy, spitting at invisi
ble persecutors and threatening them. But the best-known and most picturesque ca
se was that of Don Italo, who was severely schizophrenic. "Don Italo, illustriou
s pharmacist," they would call him, to which he would invariably reply, with gen
uine modesty; "Learned pharmacist, which is not the same!" "One day," recounts F
ather Josemara, "he came up to me and said point-blank, 'Sir, immerse yourself in
this environment, stand tall, cast off those thoughts, loosen up those clamps,
and you will get well."[87]
Most of the people on the second and third floors, those "under observation," we
re healthy, sane refugees feigning nervous conditions or mental disorders. There
were also a few special cases, such as a six-year-old boy (a nephew of one of t
he medical assistants) whose parents had been murdered in Extremadura. The woman
who had been taking care of him managed to escape with him to Madrid. The murde
rers were looking for the orphan, determined to eliminate the only heir of those
landowners, whose farm they had seized. Finally, there were some individuals wh
o had entered pretending to be mentally ill, but who had ended up truly insane b
ecause of the constant tension.[88]
Juan now being in jail, Isidoro Zorzano became the link and messenger. Born in B
uenos Aires, he had Argentine documentation and an armband with his country's fl
ag, which enabled him to move around Madrid in relative safety. Fairly often he
visited the Father, bringing him news of his scattered family. In October, Vicen
te Rodriguez Casado was given refuge in the Norwegian embassy. Alvaro del Portil
lo, after several weeks of looking for one, found a refuge-a local branch of the
Finnish embassy-but only for a short time, because on December 3 and 4 militia
raided the Finnish branches and he ended up in the notorious prison of San Anton
. So did Chiqui. Manolo Sainz de los Terreros and Juan were in the Porlier jail.
[89]
The massive detentions of persons not belonging to any of the revolutionary part
ies were due to the advance of nationalist troops on Madrid. At the end of Octob
er they were already at the very gates of the capital. There the republican army
, reinforced by the recently arrived International Brigades, stopped them at the
beginning of November.[90] To their great joy, the patients at Dr. Suils' clini
c could see from the garden the flashes from the artillery in the Puerto de Hier
ro, Ciudad Universitaria, and Casa de Campo districts. Don Italo, mistaking the
cannon flashes for festival lights, exclaimed, "Now the crazy people are in Madr
id! They're having a party, right in the middle of Madrid. How good it is to be
here, how peaceful."[91]That was, however, no beginning of a fiesta, but rather
the start of a horrific carnage. Fearing encirclement by enemies, the militias c
arried out a bloody and subhuman suppression of what was called the "fifth colum
n."[92]Throughout November the overflowing general prisons were systematically e
mptied on revolutionaries' orders. At night, prisoners were loaded into trucks a
nd taken to the infamous Paracuellos del Jarama or some other place near Madrid,
where they were executed en masse [93]
The district of Ciudad Universitaria, which was near the neighborhood that the a
partment on Dr. Carceles Street was in, had to be evacuated. The Escrivas, in th
e hope that nationalist troops would soon occupy the area, resisted abandoning t
heir home. But because their neighborhood was so close to the battlefront, they
were incommunicado for several days, Isidoro being unable to get to them so that
he could let the Father know their situation.
Toward the end of November, Doa Dolores had to move her family into a hotel on Ma
yor Street, near the Puerta del Sol (the center of Madrid). Her luggage, says Sa
ntiago, "consisted only of "one suitcase with the indispensable items, and the t

runk with the papers of the Work."[94] As soon as he heard of the move, Isidoro
went to the hotel and brought the Escrivas to the apartment of Don Alvaro Gonzal
ez Valdes, the father of Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo.[95] The apartment was half
empty his son having taken refuge in Dr. Suils' clinic at the beginning of Nove
mber, when the searches and arrests had intensified.
The Escrivas came to the apartment at 15 Caracas with all their meager luggage.
Then, says Juan, the trunk "became a nightmare."[96]Alarmed at the sight of it (
no one knows why), the porter wanted to examine it. Its owners flatly refused to
let him do so. The porter would not back down, but neither would Carmen. She to
ld him that "on principle she did not want to open it, and would sooner leave it
in the doorway," and there it remained .[97]
Ultimately it was Santiago who paid for that argument. The porter refused to let
him live in that building. Perhaps he thought that the boy was of military age
and feared that in case of a search, he would be held responsible for having wit
hheld information about new residents. In view of this impasse, and of how compl
icated things were getting, and of the fact that only a few yards from the build
ing were two "checas" and the barracks of an anarchist column that a few days ea
rlier had killed fifty police officers, Isidoro and Doa Dolores agreed that Santi
ago should go live with his brother at the asylum.[98] There he was admitted as
"a companion of a patient under observation." Dr. Turrientes picked him up at th
e apartment and took him to the clinic by streetcar. The trunk with the papers f
ollowed soon after.[99]
The tranquility of that "Residence for Rest and Health" did, as one can well ima
gine, leave something to be desired. On one occasion a militia patrol arrived, s
trode in very purposefully, and carried off the Duke of Penaranda, brother of th
e Duke of Alba.[100] The Father did not learn what had happened until the next d
ay. With deep sorrow he went to the director of the sanatorium to complain about
not having been notified. "From now on," he said, "no one is to be taken from h
ere without my hearing his confession and giving him absolution."[101]
Despite the advice given him by Dr. Turrientes upon his arrival at the sanatoriu
m, priestly zeal had led Father Josemara to begin drawing the refugees to himself
, one by one, after a few days. "I have the feeling," says Dr. Suils' assistant,
"that he spoke to absolutely everyone."[102] Although the refugees all shared t
he same danger, they had nothing else in common except the mistrust arising from
the fear of betrayal. The Marchioness of Las Torres de Oran, who along with her
husband quickly became friends with Father Josemara, says that the atmosphere am
ong the residents at the clinic "was one of suspicion."[103]Yet they each had th
eir own story, and when they opened their hearts it was because Father Josemara h
ad let them know that he was a priest.
Aside from the ones who were mentally ill, the people at the sanatorium came fro
m very diverse backgrounds. The staff sought, as the last line of the clinic's s
tatutes reads, "through friendly collaboration in a single ideal to foster mater
ial well-being by means of work."[104] Doctors Suils and Turrientes were protect
ing the refugees in reaction to the criminality running rampant in this time of
war. For others, the opportunity of running a business, even one dealing with on
e of the most horrible situations in human life, inclined them to pretend not to
be aware of where their clients came from. Juan Jimenez Vargas had already noti
ced this on October 10. His journal entry for that day reads, "We were a little
worried about the sanatorium. They seem a bit too eager about collecting their p
ayments, which doesn't give us much confidence about how safe it's going to be h
ere. But I already knew this, and it seems to me a reason to give it a try, sinc
e they apparently are helpful as long as they get their money."[105]
All things considered, the food was neither bad nor in short supply. Santiago sa
ys this place was where he was able to "eat best" until the end of the war, alth
ough his appetite was conditioned by the hunger he had suffered in the apartment
on Dr. Carceles Street. Meals consisted of a single dish that varied daily-red
beans, chickpeas, lentils, rice-and for dessert, oranges. For these provisions t
hey had the clinic's union affiliation to thank. Don Italo, however, was not imp
ressed by the cook's efforts. On calm, sunny days Don Italo could be seen walkin
g in the garden holding a flowerpot with nothing in it (not even soil) and affec

tionately watering it, drop by drop, waiting for juicy cutlets to bloom.[106]
With the arrivals of Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo and Santiago, a new stage of sa
natorium life began for Father Josemara. The three of them occupied the room next
to that of the Marquis and the Marchioness of Las Torres de Oran. Taking the ne
cessary precautions to do so without sacrilege, Father Josemara celebrated Mass a
lmost every day. Isidoro provided him the wine and the hosts. The room had a lar
ge wardrobe, and he said Mass on one of its shelves, keeping the doors open so t
hat if someone entered suddenly, they would not immediately see what was going o
n. For greater security, he asked the help of Maria Luisa. He said to the nurse,
"Would you please sit on the sofa and keep watch while I say Mass? If anyone co
mes, knock on the door or speak in a loud voice."[107] (The sofa was a small one
strategically located in the area between the Father's room and the room of one
of the communist nurses.) After Mass he would give Communion to some of the ref
ugees and hear confessions.
When Doa Carmen, the old woman who had gone mad after her son's suicide, was in a
state of apathy, she was very courteous and attentive; but in her fits of anger
she would spit out atrocious insults at everyone except Father Josemara, whom sh
e affectionately referred to as "the little old man." "Don Josemara is so good,"
she said, "that he must be at least a general." Other times she would say, "Don
Jose is not Don Jose; he is San Jose."[108]
Such praise, needless to say, was not music to the ears of the patients or nurse
s who supported the Popular Front. One of the nurses strongly suspected that he
might be a refugee priest, but one day he quickly put those suspicions to rest.
Lowering his voice, he told her in a confidential whisper that he was Dr. Marano
n, and that she must at all costs keep this a secret.[109]
Jose Maria, whom no one seemed to have any suspicions about, began to cause the
Father and Santiago some anxiety by trying to appear crazy and not being very go
od at it. He acted so strangely, going into such exaggerated relapses, that even
the demented patients found his behavior bizarre. It included turning on the li
ghts at strange times and jumping repeatedly out the window into the garden and
back again-luckily, no big jump, so he suffered no harm.
With the first frosts the Father began to suffer rheumatic pains. Someone brough
t him a small heater, but he immediately gave it to his neighbors, the Marquis a
nd his wife, saying he did not need it.[110] At the beginning of December, inste
ad of prescribing a simple painkiller, the doctors decided to give him an inject
ion of bee venom, a treatment that was then very fashionable. Dr. Suils may have
wanted to kill two birds with one stone: to prevent further rheumatic attacks b
y provoking a strong reaction that would convince the rest of the staff that Fat
her Josemara was really sick.
The effects of the poison were "explosive and terrible," his brother relates. Dr
. Suils, in fact, "thought they had killed him with those injections.?[111] The
patient was left paralyzed and in great pain, hardly able to move his head. His
only nourishment was orange juice. After fifteen or twenty days in bed, however,
he was partially recovered, and in the end, though weak and very frail, he was
cured of his rheumatism.
Parties of militiamen continued to show up to inspect the sanatorium. The buildi
ng was fairly close to the highway to Aragon, which carried trucks to and from t
he battlefront. If they happened to stop nearby, the troops would get out to str
etch their legs, look around, and sometimes fill their canteens at the sanatoriu
m. That was when the demented residents served their purpose as protective shiel
ds. The director had given instructions that on those occasions, the patients in
the semibasement should be brought out and allowed to walk freely in the garden
. The militia, moved either by fear or by a pitying disgust, would quickly leave
the garden.
Don Italo was a central figure in one of those encounters. Coming upon a group o
f militiamen, he went to examine the gas mask one of them was carrying, and in h
is ever courteous and refined manner he said, "With all respect, and if you woul
d be so kind, could you please explain to me how this wind instrument works?"[11
2]
Finally Isidoro brought the Father the identity document he had been waiting for

. It was a simple sheet of paper imprinted with the seal of the "Madrid Delegati
on Committee of the Basque Nationalist Party" and bearing the following text: "W
e ask the authorities and the militias of all the parties of the Popular Front t
o allow Jose Maria Escriba Albas to circulate freely, since he is a person attac
hed to the Government. Madrid, December 23, 1936. For the Committee [here appear
s a signature]."[113]
Though the Basque nationalists were hardly attached to the ideology of the Popul
ar Front, their hopes of obtaining political autonomy kept them on the side of t
he republican government.[114]A document without a photo of the person in questi
on, who was not even a member of the Basque Nationalist Party, would be of littl
e value with the inspection patrols, but it might at least get one through a sup
erficial check.
Isidoro, the Father's one contact with the outside world, brought him news from
Caracas Street and from his sons in prison, and wrote to the members of the Work
in Valencia and carried on other works of mercy.[115] The Father, meanwhile, in
his isolation, kept himself spiritually united to the dispersed members of the
Work through his suffering and prayer. There are impressive anecdotes from those
days when "extraction of prisoners" were made for the nightly shootings,[116] a
necdotes illustrating the widely held conviction that the Father's prayers saved
some of his sons. Chiqui is a case in point. He was on the truck with other pri
soners waiting to be driven to the place of execution when his name was called a
nd he was ordered to get off. The truck then drove away to the killing ground. C
hiqui returned to his cell.[117]
Juan Jimenez Vargas says, "Toward the end of 1936 there was a series of episodes
in which one can see that all of us were saved, more than once, in ways that we
re humanly inexplicable. Some of these things happened in the prisons."[118]In N
ovember Juan was in the Porlier prison, which was being emptied, corridor by cor
ridor, for the nightly shootings. His turn came on November 26. The prisoners li
ned up and walked to a truck waiting on the street. It loaded up and drove off,
leaving Juan and three others to be taken on a second trip. The truck returned j
ust before daybreak. A half hour passed. Then it was announced that the operatio
n had ended, and those left in his corridor were spared.
The relative calm of the sanatorium was soon disturbed. In January 1937, Isidoro
, who had been negotiating for this, finally got Juan Jimenez Vargas released fr
om the Porlier prison. After hiding, undocumented and at risk of rearrest, in hi
s parents' apartment for two weeks, Juan was by the Father's efforts admitted to
Dr. Suils' sanatorium.[119]
Two other new refugees arrived at the same time: an air force commander, and a F
alangist from Logrono named Alejandro Lascaris Comneno.[120] Fear and mistrust g
reeted the three newcomers. The "patients under observation" fell suddenly silen
t; those who had been coming to Father Josemara for confession or advice did not
leave their rooms; no one walked in the garden. Dr. Suils, anticipating an "insp
ection," strongly urged Lascaris to leave the hospital, and then told Jose Maria
Gonzalez Barredo and Juan that they too must leave. For the sake of peace and e
specially the Father's safety, they went to their homes in Madrid. Meanwhile Fat
her Josemara consumed the consecrated hosts he had been keeping for giving Commun
ion when he could not say Mass.
Several days passed. As the inspection began to look like a false alarm, the "pa
tients under observation" became optimistic again and started to move around the
sanatorium with a restored sense of confidence. But the Father had suffered gre
atly. When things settled down, he went to see the director and said, "I can't s
tay in a place my sons have been thrown out of."[121] He strongly reproached Dr.
Suils for what he had done and said he had decided to seek another refuge.
In February 1937, Isidoro told him that Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica (Chiqui) ha
d been transferred on the fifth from the San Ant6n prison in Madrid to the San M
iguel de los Reyes prison in Valencia. After months of communicating through Isi
doro with members of the Work in Valencia, he wrote them directly.

Madrid, February 10, 1937 Dear friends:

I have been very anxious to write you, and, finally, I am taking advantage of Is

idoro's visit to give him this letter.

My head seems to be getting better. I've been in this sanatorium for quite a whi
le now. Although time passes slowly, I console myself by remembering that I am l
ocked up for my own good, by my Father's orders. And besides, I never forget tha
t there is nothing bad that lasts a hundred years.
My great concern, in my loneliness, in the midst of so many poor patients like m
yself, is my children. How much I think about them and about our family's marvel
ous future!
At the moment, Chiqui is my top concern (if my heart can make distinctions among
my children, all equally dear). See if by means of some friend of yours you can
help him in his present predicament.
This poor madman sends you hugs and love.
Josemara
(Write to Isidoro.)[122]

From that point on, he poured out his soul in letters to his children. From Febr
uary until September (when he left the haven in the Honduran consulate that he m
oved to in March), there are more than one hundred seventy letters written from
his hiding place to the members of Opus Dei. Those pages are packed with the vig
orous ardor of his spirit. The feelings of his heart brim over, sustaining his s
ons in their faith and encouraging their hopes for the future of the divine ente
rprise to which they all were committed.
Unable to stay inactive any longer at the "Residence for Rest and Health," he as
ked God to let him leave as soon as possible. Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, throu
gh a friend who was a friend of a son-in-law of the Honduran consul, had found r
efuge in the Honduran consulate, and, once there, he obtained permission for the
Father and Santiago to be admitted.[123]
On the eve of his move, the Father again wrote to those in Valencia.

Madrid, March 12, 1937

My dear friends:

I have just spent some time in the insane asylum with my poor brother Josemara. K
nowing how interested you are in him, I will speak to you about practically noth
ing else.
It was to be expected that he would end up in a mental hospital, since starting
in October 1928 he has been completely crazy. Do you know what he says he is? A
little donkey. Luckily he doesn't go around braying, although on January 9,when
he turned thirty-five, he claimed he was thirty-five brays. As far as his mood i
s concerned, he is doing very well. He is full of optimism, sure (he says) that
the idea he is obsessed with will very soon become a successful reality. He thin
ks constantly of his children, and, being old-fashioned and crazy, he blesses th
em, each one specifically, several times a day. It now occurs to him-he knows th
ere's a war going on-that his Chiqui, who is only a year away from being a minin
g engineer, might do well to go to work for some architect involved in building
fortifications. He has asked "the little watchmaker" (a friend of his whom the o
thers haven't met) to find him a highly recommended doctor who can cure him.
He asked me to congratulate Chiqui on his saint's daythat's what he told me, and
that's how I'm writing it-and he added, "and for his renewal feast."
Really, poor Josemara is totally gone; every day he is more daft.
My warmest greetings. Forgive the silliness of this letter.

A big hug from

Mariano[124]

This letter is written in one of the codes he used because of the censors. Corre
spondence with a priest being extremely risky, information is eliminated that wo
uld place the recipient in danger, but the meaning is clear. The convention of s
peaking of himself in the third person is something he also uses in his journal.
[125]Speaking as an old dodderer permits him to say to his "grandchildren" all s

orts of "childish" things about divine realities.[126]

Nonetheless, it is surprising that he had no problems with the wartime censors.
Apparently no one paid much attention to the letters of a grandfather, even if t
hey were written in a strange jargon. The Father was well aware of the risk he w
as running Juan Jimenez Vargas reminded him of it all the time-but his affection
for his family, the Work, won out. In this wartime correspondence (sent under t
he protection of our Lady), and also later on, he used the name Mariano, one of
his baptismal names, as a sign of devotion to Mary.

4. Asylum in the Honduran consulate

On March 14 he left the sanatorium, with a doctor's certificate reading:

"Madrid, March 14, 1937. As of today, Don Jose Maria Escriba Albas is discharged
from this sanatorium. At present he is not completely cured, which means he is
restricted from doing any kind of work, bearing any responsibilities, doing any
traveling, or engaging in other types of activities. In the sanatorium he was ac
companied by his 15-year-old brother Santiago, who should remain near him. The D
irector, Dr. A. Suils."[127]

The Marchioness of Las Torres de Oran recalls that, after saying Mass and admini
stering Communion, he gave them some small host particles carefully wrapped in c
igarette paper, so that after he was gone they could receive Communion without t
ouching the sacred host.[128]
From that of Dr. Suils, he now came under the protection of Don Pedro Jaime de M
atheu Salazar, a Salvadoran diplomat who at this time was serving as honorary co
nsul general of the Republic of Honduras. From the outside, the consular residen
ce, at 51 (later 53) Paseo de la Castellana, looked a great deal more comfortabl
e than it was. The first-floor foyer, though spacious, had very little light and
some old furniture that looked discarded. Through a door of leaded glass on the
left, one came into a large, dilapidated room; it had a large window facing the
Paseo de la Castellana, but looking out that window was strictly prohibited. Ne
xt to this room was one that was crowded with antique and modern furniture of go
od quality. Evidently the consul's family had put all their good pieces there in
order to make room for the refugees in the other rooms on that floor. Off the p
assageway leading from the foyer was a large bathroom, the only one the refugees
on that floor could use.[129]
On the other side of the foyer, a long corridor, with doors on both sides, led t
o rooms occupied by groups or families of refugees. At first, when the Father an
d his brother arrived in a car with the Honduran flag, there was no room availab
le for them. But every night that large room, which also served as a dining room
, was converted into a "circular bed," new arrivals putting their mattresses und
er the enormous circular table there.
Three days after arriving, the Father wrote to his sons in Valencia: "I saw poor
Josemara, and he assured me that he is no longer in the insane asylum (this is h
is current obsession) but has gotten into deep waters [honduras]. He is very hap
py. The Doctor lets me see him every day."[130] (That last sentence means he was
able to say Mass every day.)
In the last week of March, Carmen and Doa Dolores came to visit him at the consul
ate, and afterwards he wrote to Francisco Botella, "My dear Grandmother came to
see me, and earlier my sister also came. You can imagine our joy, after not seei
ng each other for so long. What will it be like when the poor madman is able to
embrace his sons?!"[131]
Despite their happiness, the two women found the visit somewhat disconcerting. D
oa Dolores could only recognize her son by his voice; it was the only thing about
him that had not changed.[132] And the joy of the visit was, of course, followe
d by the sadness of separation. "You know," he writes to his sons in Valencia, "
there being no fool like an old fool, I so much want-so much!-to give Grandmothe
r a hug, and it may not be possible. I have seen her for ten minutes, in nine mo

nths. And now it seems as if I love her more, and the same with Aunt Carmen, bec
ause they have protected my things so well, and because, when I saw them, they l
ooked so worn out, so much older. Plus, who knows if it won't be necessary to as
k them for another sacrifice?"[133]
He was beginning to see how important Doa Dolores' help in the apostolates of the
Work would be. The following week he writes to his sons in Valencia, "I ask you
to remember Grandmother, because she thinks of you a lot, and also because circ
umstances have put her in the midst of her grandchildren. And perhaps she might
be willing, as I am, to dedicate the rest of her life to them! It's worth some s
erious thinking about."[134]
During that visit he asked his mother to take over again the care of the famous
trunk containing the archives of the Work.[135] A few days before leaving the sa
natorium, he had sent it to the Caracas Street apartment and asked Isidoro to br
ing all the papers and letters to his mother so that from then on she could keep
them in the trunk.
When, eventually, it was full, Doa Dolores took to removing the wool stuffing fro
m her mattress and replacing it with papers. Santiago, exaggerating a little, sa
ys, "In the mattress my mother slept on, there ended up being more paper than wo
ol."[136]There were no searches, but from time to time the militia came to the a
partment looking for blankets and mattresses to take to the battlefront. At thos
e times Doa Dolores would quickly get into bed and pretend to be sick.
In the best-case scenarios the militia's presence was enough to make people trem
ble. Across from this apartment building was the former Monastery of the Visitat
ion, now turned into the barracks of the anarchist Spartacus Brigade and a checa
of the CNT; and not far away was the checa of the General Inspection Office of
the People's Militias, which also had a branch office on Caracas Street. During
that period, shortly after the Father took refuge in the Honduran consulate, it
happened that Doa Dolores had to leave the trunk unprotected for a few hours. She
had to flee the neighborhood because in one of the skirmishes between the commu
nists and the anarchists there was a real danger that the Spartacus Brigade's st
ore of explosives would blow sky-high.[137]
The Marchioness of Las Torres de Oran, in her testimony about Father Josemara's s
tay at the sanatorium, says, "One could see how enthralled he was with the idea
of the Work. I don't recall him speaking about anything else. He was in a great
hurry to get out of there, this was very urgent to him, he said, because he coul
d not work in that place."[138]
But his impatience at being cooped up continued in the consulate. Soon after arr
iving, he wrote to his sons in Valencia, "The poor, strange madman is of no use
in Madrid. He could continue spreading his madness if he went someplace else."[1
39]
The founder had only two possible ways to continue building the Work. The first,
a practically suicidal one, would be to take to the street. The other was to wa
it in the consulate until he could be sent from it to join his sons in the other
zone of the country, where he would not be persecuted for being a priest. His t
emperament was not the most suited to putting up with being penned up and inacti
ve. He writes to Isidoro, "More than once-even this very day-the thought comes t
o me of going out on the street. And right away there also comes the realization
that, as you know has already happened to me, I would find myself having no pla
ce to sleep, hiding out like a criminal.... Given my nature, this life of a refu
gee is no small torture. But I don't see any way out. Patience. If an evacuation
finally comes, I can leave; if not, I'll wait here, shut in, until the storm pa
sses."[140]
With the members of the Work scattered and in danger, coordination was essential
, and would be even more needed if the founder were to leave Madrid. One can, th
en, imagine his surprise when Isidoro mentioned that, being an Argentine citizen
born in Buenos Aires, he was thinking of asking the Argentine embassy to send h
im abroad.[141]
In writing, so that Isidoro could calmly and carefully think them through, Fathe
r Josemara set out the pros and cons of that idea. In the first place, as a forei
gner, Isidoro did not have to fear persecution; he enjoyed a freedom that his br

others lacked to look after the needs of the Work. Plus, some of them were far f
rom Madrid. Wouldn't those in Valencia be stranded if he went abroad? On the oth
er hand, if Isidoro remained in the capital, he could give hospitality and couns
el to those who came through Madrid, and be a channel of communication for every
one. And, after all, what danger would he be in? "Surely the same danger," reaso
ned Father Josemara, "that women and children in Madrid face, that my mother face
s. If I thought the danger so terrible, do you think I could abandon my mother a
nd Carmen? Perhaps also a little bit of hunger."
Having laid out these considerations, he left it to Isidoro to make the decision
. "Obviously my view of this problem of yours should not bind you," he writes to
him. "Act with the utmost freedom.... If you see things differently, tell me. M
y only concern is to do what at the hour of my death I will wish I had done. [14
2]
"Isidoro's decision?not to abandon his post as a communications link in the capi
tal?was noble and altruistic. "I did not expect anything less of you, Isidoro,"
the founder then wrote him. "The decision you have made is without a doubt what
our Lord wants."[143]
Still fresh in Isidoro's memory was the past feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, wh
en he and Manolo Sainz de los Terreros (who was by then out of prison) were invi
ted to dinner at the Caracas Street apartment. Doa Dolores and Carmen wanted to h
old, in a family setting, an unforgettable celebration for the people of the Wor
k. It entailed great sacrifice on the part of the two women; probably they faste
d for the next few days. But there the founder's two families were symbolically
fused.[144]
Meanwhile Juan Jimenez Vargas had received an order from the medical association
to join a battalion of the Spartacus Brigade as a medical lieutenant. With the
agreement of the Father, he was going to try to cross over into the nationalist
zone as soon as he arrived at the Jarama front, but when the time came he made o
nly a few halfhearted attempts. Something seemed to hold him back. "Almost witho
ut thinking about it," he explains, "at the moment of making the leap I found my
self unable to cross over with the Father remaining in Madrid."[145]
At that time they were waiting for a visit from Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, who
would be coming to Madrid on a three or four days' leave from the military fort
ifications office in Valencia, where he was being very closely watched. (At the
outbreak of the war Ricardo had joined the socialist union, with the endorsement
of a communist architect in his group of enlistees. He was assigned to construc
ting fortifications on the Teruel front.) Their idea was to have Ricardo seek as
ylum at the consulate, where he would be presented as a relative of the Father.
But when he got to Madrid, he told the Father about his plan to cross over to th
e nationalist zone from the Teruel front. This left it open for someone else to
be "Ricardo Escriva." So Juan, instead of deserting, returned to Madrid and ente
red the consulate under that name, and Ricardo a short time later crossed over f
rom the Levant battlefront into the other zone.[146]
The Father made no effort to hide his concern. "I am on pins and needles from no
t having news of my sons out there," he wrote. "How eager I am to see my little
ones!" He was especially concerned about the situation of Chiqui, who was in a p
rison in Valencia. He affectionately urged the others to take care of him, "beca
use Josemara will be heartbroken if the little one's health is not soon restored"
-in other words, if he was not soon released from prison.[147]
The Father was extremely worried about their bodily health, but even more so abo
ut the danger to their spiritual health and to their perseverance in their vocat
ions. He protected members of the Work with his prayers and by offering himself
in expiation. "Health is so important!" he wrote to them. "Of course, Josemara ha
s asked, and he asks every day, that his Friend take from him the payment needed
for his sons and safeguard them from the dangers of this catastrophe. And he is
sure that their perseverance will be unanimous."[148]
He was vividly aware of the suffering of so many innocents, the many Christians
deprived of the sacraments, those silently languishing in prison. And the war ha
d already lasted "nine months, which is a lot of months, Lord."[149]
At that time, nine months into the war, the international public began to receiv

e and react to authoritative information regarding the bloody atrocities in Spai

n. These crimes were broadcast to the whole world by Pope Pius XI in his encycli
cal Divini Redemptoris (March 19, 1937), in which he condemned the errors and ev
ils arising from Marxism. The communist scourge has been unleashed in Spain, he
said, "with a more than frenzied violence. It is not this or that church, this o
r that convent which has been destroyed, but wherever possible, they are destroy
ing all of the churches, all of the convents, and every trace of the Christian r
eligion, even where this is linked to the great monuments of art and science. Th
e communist frenzy has not been limited to the murder of bishops and thousands o
f priests and members of religious orders of men and women ... but they have fou
nd a much greater number of victims among all classes of laymen who, still today
, are being murdered en masse for the mere fact of being good Christians, or, at
least, opposed to communist atheism."[150]
That summer, forty-eight Spanish prelates signed a collective letter on the reli
gious persecution. Dated July 1, 1937, and directed to the bishops of the world,
it said: "The Church did not want or seek this war.... Anyone who accuses the C
hurch of having provoked it or schemed to bring it about, or even of not having
done all it could to avert it, either does not know the truth or is falsifying i
t."[151]
The Marxist revolution ruthlessly sought to eradicate every trace of Christianit
y. "The most eloquent proof that the destruction of churches and the murder of p
riests was something premeditated," says Antonio Montero Moreno, "was the terrif
ying numbers.... Some six thousand priests were martyred. They were chased by do
gs; they were pursued across mountains; they were zealously looked for in every
possible hideout. Most of the time they were murdered on the spot, with no trial
, for no reason other than their social function."[152]

5. "The good pipe story"

The safest hiding places were the embassies. From the first days of the uprising,
when the militias brought terror to Madrid, these diplomatic headquarters took
in hundreds of refugees, a high percentage of whom were priests and religious. L
ater, in the autumn of 1936, when the persecution intensified and mass execution
s began, not only the official headquarters but also the branch offices and subs
idiary buildings became filled with refugees. Within a few months these places w
ere so crowded that, it being obvious that the war would continue, the ambassado
rs of several countries tried to secure an evacuation of the refugees, who in Ma
drid alone now numbered more than thirteen thousand.[153]
On March 27, 1937, the republican government finally issued general regulations
for the evacuation of refugees from embassies, setting as a condition that "no n
ew refugees are to be admitted there, regardless of the circumstances." It was a
greed that the heads of the various diplomatic missions would have to make the e
vacuation requests via sealed detailed lists with photographs of the refugees."[
154]
The Honduran consulate offered a second-rate shelter. It was not the headquarter
s of a diplomatic mission but only a consular office, wherein lived Don Pedro Ja
ime de Matheu, whose status, for negotiating purposes, was only that of honorary
consul general.[155] In February and March of 1937, hundreds of refugees who ha
d been under the protection of the Argentine and Mexican embassies left Spain. I
t was reasonable for Father Josemara to think his move to the Honduran consulate
would open the doors for him to leave Madrid, but that thought, as he would late
r learn, was a mistaken one.
He and Santiago and Juan had left Dr. Suils' sanatorium with the idea of being i
ncluded on the list being prepared by the Honduran consulate. And after they pai
d in advance the price of the trip, they were given the numbers 23, 92, and 35,
respectively. But soon the Father began to suspect that negotiations were at a s
tandstill. On April 20 he wrote a letter to Isidoro asking him to meet with the
ambassador of Chile and give him the enclosed note, in which Father Josemara noti
fied him that they were registered on the Honduran consulate's evacuation list.

"They tell me," he explained to Isidoro, "that a group leaves every week. If the
ambassador were to put in a word for us, we could be out of here by next week.
If not, who knows!"[156]
The effort came too late. Aurelio Nunez Morgado, the Chilean ambassador, had to
leave Spain that very week because of his strained relations with Spain's secret
ary of state, Alvarez del Vayo.[157]
By the end of April the founder was sure the day was near: "Nothing is set, but
it seems imminent." Nevertheless, eight days later, he could see no way out exce
pt through the negotiations then being carried on by Jose Maria Albareda, that y
oung professor he had met at the Ferraz Street residence. "We will never get out
of here if Jose Maria doesn't make progress with Chile," he wrote to his sons i
n Valencia. "I don't know when Josemara will go. Perhaps soon, perhaps later... .
Perhaps never."[158]
As it turned out, those who did not leave the Honduran consulate voluntarily wou
ld remain trapped there till the end of the civil war. But of course no one knew
that then.
In the first week of May, Father Josemara turned over in his head other possible
solutions. "Chile or China, what's the difference?" he wrote to his sons in Madr
id. "We have to keep trying."[159]Again Isidoro went to the Chilean embassy. The
y told him their lists for admissions of evacuees were closed and that it would
be impossible to add another name because the names had already been sent to the
government. But the Father still would not admit defeat. He wrote to his sons i
n Madrid, "As for Chile, look, what they told you is what they say here to get r
id of pests.... If they want to, they can arrange it. It's their job to fix what
most needs fixing!"[160]
Arguments given by the diplomats could not discourage the Father. He next tried
to get through to the Turkish embassy, after warning his sons not to buy the exc
use that "the lists are already closed." "Keep insisting, keep pestering, opport
unely and inopportunely," he told them. "I know you are already doing what you c
an-and I appreciate that very much but it's necessary that you do more than what
you can."[161]
In the middle of May his correspondence is entirely about evacuation, but is not
without a touch of humor. To Isidoro he writes, "Saturday, May 15, 1937-From th
e bottom of the depths [honduras]!"[162]A letter at the end of the month to Vale
ncia is filled with a healthy skepticism about evacuation. "It's sad to feel one
self a foreigner and evacuee without ever managing to get evacuated. Once more-i
t's the good pipe story-we seem to be making progress in the matter of leaving..
.. Frankly, I'll believe it when I see it.?[163]
In June hope seems reborn, and references to evacuation again become frequent an
d insistent in the Father's letters. "We need to put all the pressure we can on
Chile or Switzerland to get the passes," he writes to his sons in Madrid. "Don't
let up. We can't stay here. Won't they take us in Switzerland, or in Turkey, or
somewhere?"[164]
But twenty-four hours later, that hope has vanished. "All has come to naught."[1
65]The Honduran consul told them he would make no further efforts to get permiss
ion for evacuation. This announcement relieved the refugees of any false expecta
tions, but it was probably also a smoke screen, a way for the consul to avoid le
tting on how serious the situation actually was. They were now in a real bind. I
t was questionable enough whether an honorary consul could negotiate with a gove
rnment minister on equal terms, but Don Pedro had also tied his own hands in mak
ing up the list of refugees that was sent officially to the Spanish government.
He had listed a total of thirty-two persons, including most of the women and chi
ldren. If it were discovered that the real number of refugees in the Honduran co
nsulate was three times larger, the consul would be in trouble. He naturally saw
it as best to make no further applications and thus avoid unpleasant surprises.
"[166]
On June 29, Don Pedro's name day, the refugees gave him three sheets of paper fi
lled with their signatures .[167]The heading was:

To His Excellency Don Pedro Jaime de Matheu

From the grateful refugees

Madrid, June 29, 1937

There are eighty-eight names on these sheets. The first is that of Juan Manuel S
ainz de los Terreros.
Father Josemara still did not admit defeat. Immediately he launched a new effortto obtain Argentine passports-even though he realized this was part of the never
-ending story. To his sons in Valencia he wrote, "Josemara? He seems to be seeing
once again a possibility of getting out. It's the good pipe story."[168]
For a long time after their arrival at the consulate, Father Josemara and his com
panions lived a nomadic life. By day they were herded through corridors. At bedt
ime they camped out in the dining room. Under the dining room table they put the
ir mattresses next to each other and set out other items around them. He wrote t
o his sons in Valencia, "If only you could see the nightly operation of turning
the dining room into a big circular bed, or practically that!"[169]
The dilapidated room was strewn with cups, blankets, books, napkins, suitcases,
pictures, jars, cleaning rags, and toiletries. "And what about the chairs?" he c
ontinues. "They've come from several families; some are even kitchen chairs. But
at night we put them in the bathroom. The bathroom!"[170]About thirty people sh
ared that bathroom. Its use in the morning was strictly regulated since it was t
he only one available to the refugees on that floor.
A few days after their arrival, the Father, Santiago, and Jose Maria Barredo wer
e joined by Alvaro del Portillo and Eduardo Alastrue. Eduardo had been imprisone
d in a checa on Fomento Street in November; his captors had been about to kill h
im when inexplicably theylet him go.[171]
Until the middle of May the Father and his companions did not have a room of the
ir own. Then they were given one at the end of the corridor, next to the service
stairs. In earlier times it had probably been a storeroom for coal. It was so s
mall that at night its tile floor disappeared under the thin mattresses and the
blankets. Rolled up and rested against the wall, the mattresses served as seats
during the day. A narrow window looked out on an enclosed patio. The room was so
dark that even in the daytime they had to turn on the bare electric light bulb
that hung from the ceiling. In this tiny, dismal room the Father organized life
for himself and his companions. And to amuse his sons in Valencia, he wrote this
humorous description of the place:

There isn't room to spread out all five of our mattresses. Four are enough to co
mpletely carpet the floor. Can I describe our home? When camp is struck, we have
two mattresses, one on top of the other, folded up and put in one corner, the b
lankets and pillows tucked inside. Then a small space. Then the two mattresses o
f Jose B. and Alvaro, arranged in the same way, and on top of them, rolled up ve
ry tightly, with a funereal black cloth to cover it, Eduardo's thin mattress. Im
mediately adjacent is the radiator --five wheezing elements-- on top of which is
a board from a chest of drawers. This serves as a table for our food supplies a
nd for six big cups, only superficially clean. One window, which looks out on a
dark patio very dark. Beneath the window, a small packing crate, with some books
and a bottle for the banquets. On top of the crate, two small suitcases. (I'm w
riting this letter with one of them on my lap-after writing in a hundred thousan
d positions, awfully painful for the muscles, totally ridiculous, and unstable.)
Next to the crate, two other small suitcases, in a corner of the room, on top o
f which are a valise and a tin box where we keep everyone's toiletries. Right ne
xt to all that, the door. Although we have now reached the door, I won't make yo
u leave the room. (You can enter whenever you like-the door doesn't shut; there'
s something wrong with it.) The only thing left for you to admire is the rope th
at cuts across a corner of the room and serves to hold five towels. And also the
beautiful lampshade, of genuine newspaper, which in a lighthearted moment this
grandfather placed on the bare bulb hanging from a dirty wire. Don't even think
about touching the light switch, because if you do it will be a lot of trouble t
o get the light back on; the switch is broken. Anything else?"[172]


The crowding of more than thirty people in rooms along that hall-way made the mo
notony of the long hours even harder to bear.[173] The only bright spot for the
refugees was their hope for something that never seemed to be coming: evacuation
or the end of the war. The resulting discouragement frayed their nerves and eve
ntually plunged many of the refugees into such a deep apathy that they lacked ev
en the energy to kill time. And so the time crawled by, leaving only tedium and
a feeling of emptiness. Momentary sparks of interest, or flashes of hatred or re
bellion, quickly died out.
Social relations in that enforced togetherness were not pleasant or tranquil. Co
ntinually there were quarrels, complaints, and recriminations. Lacking the disci
pline of work, living like caged animals, people just brooded on their many worr
ies, to the point where some of them became mentally unhinged. For almost everyo
ne, life was a fog filled with two obsessions: hunger and fear.[174]
At first the protection of being in a foreign diplomat's headquarters meant free
dom from the danger of arrest and the threat of death, but after a while, gradua
lly, an acute sense of insecurity gripped and took over the imagination. The ref
ugees in the Honduran building knew all too well that they were under the protec
tion of a mere general consulate. Rumors of a possible attack, with the insuffic
ient guarantee of asylum, increased the fear, especially when news arrived of a
police raid on the Peruvian consulate. On the night of May 5, 1937, the authorit
ies had sent armed forces to arrest all the refugees there three hundred Spaniar
ds and sixty Peruvians.[175]
This event sparked a collective panic attack in one group of the refugees at the
Honduran consulate. They feared that their security would be endangered if Fath
er Josemara, who said Mass almost every morning in the foyer, was denounced by so
meone and the police showed up.[176] Not even the consul, his daughter tells us,
considered himself safe. "The people were afraid, they felt endangered," she sa
ys, "and so, after my father told him it was dangerous for him to celebrate Mass
there, he always celebrated it in the room that he and his companions occupied.
"[177]
Early in the morning, before the other refugees got up, the Father would give a
meditation to those who were with him. "His words," recalls Eduardo, "some seren
e, some energetic and charged with emotion, but all of them illuminating, poured
down on us and seemed to settle within our souls."[178]He would comment on the
day's Gospel reading, he would speak to them about the person and life of Christ
, and they would all thus be prepared for Mass.
Then he would hang a crucifix on the wall and spread out the corporals on a suit
case. When Mass was over, the consecrated hosts that had not been consumed were
placed in a small leather case, which they took turns keeping each day, either t
o give as Communion to other people there or to give to Isidoro for distribution
to members of the Work outside the consulate. Mass in that hovel of a room was
reminiscent of Mass in the catacombs. Father Josemara, with an eye on the censor,
gave to his sons in Valencia this cheerful and down-to-earth account:

And then, good Lord, Don Manuel invites me and the family to lunch. And we go. H
ow can we not, being so hungry? But it turns out that, because of the problems w
ith evacuation in Madrid, there is nothing of what in other times would be consi
dered necessary. From today's experience you can get a good idea of what it's li
ke the other days. There was no table, so one was improvised with a wooden orang
e crate. On top of it, one, two, three suitcases. Then a napkin, not very clean
-poor Don Manuel!- and two smaller ones of the ordinary type. It was seen to-by
us-that a picture of our host presided over the banquet. We put it on the wall,
nicely fastening it with a nail. Afterwards, to top it all off, despite the defi
ciencies, we have enough bread left over to last for several days. And now these
boys of mine are starting to act as if they're in a play about Monipodio [a cha
racter similar to Fagin in Oliver Twist, who teaches boys to steal]- they robbed
me of my leather case. Yes, can you believe it, that little African case Isidor
o brought me! And to keep from fighting among themselves, they each keep it for
one day, taking turns in strict order. I keep quiet, acting as though I know not

hing about it.[179]

The Blessed Sacrament ("the Friend") was for a time reserved in the foyer, in a
desk that could be locked with a key ("the Bread box"). At the end of April, Fat
her Josemara, because of an attack of rheumatism, could not make his usual visits
to our Lord, so he asked two little boys to send messages to his Friend. The bo
ys would come back to report. "And what did you say to him?" Father Josemara aske
d one of them. "That he should give you those three things, plus the other thing
s you need," the boy answered.
The priest was touched by the way these boys greeted their Friend. He wrote to h
is sons in Valencia, "I don't know who taught them this little game, but, maybe
because I'm getting senile or something, I really enjoy seeing these two youngst
ers-who know only too well that one can't live without eating!-go up to the Brea
d box and give it a kiss, a big, loud one, near the keyhole."[180]
Another cautionary measure taken by the consul was a great restriction of Isidor
o's visits to the consulate. The building was protected and controlled by guards
who demanded proof of identity from anyone entering or leaving it. But this was
no problem for Isidoro, because of his Argentine citizenship. And as for the co
nsul's prohibition, he easily got around that by using not the main stairway but
rather the service stairs. He would knock softly on the door at the end of the
corridor, it would be opened, and no one outside that room would know he was the
re.[181] At other times it was Alvaro's brother Carlos and sister Teresa who wou
ld come. Being eleven and nine, they could safely take letters or documents to I
sidoro.[182]
In addition to the uneasiness coming from fear of an attack or of being turned i
n to the police, there was also the affliction of hunger. Food was scarce and ha
rd to come by in a city almost completely surrounded by nationalist troops. When
a system of food rationing was imposed on the general population, hunger became
a severe problem in most of the embassies giving asylum, because the refugees h
ad no ration cards. They had to find their own sources of supply.[183] The topic
of food was often brought into conversations, obsessively and nostalgically. Ye
t in the abundant correspondence produced by Father Josemara in those months of c
onfinement (he seldom went a day without writing), hunger and food are mentioned
only very rarely, and then always with a touch of humor. To his sons in Valenci
a he writes, "Little Santiago is skin and bones. As for me, though they may tell
you otherwise over there, I still have too much flesh on me, in spite of not ea
ting more than two ladle scoops of rice at midday. (We are up to here with riceto the height of the tonsure, if you'll allow me to use such a reactionary, obsc
urantist, and clerical term.) And in the evening, two little scoops of garlic so
up. But there's nothing bad that lasts a hundred years, Paco. Sure isn't like me
, is it, to be talking about food?"[184]And later, "Now they're varying our menu
from time to time. The grandfather, talking about things culinary! --as an old
novel might say. But hunger, or, I should say, appetite, works wonders. Yesterda
y, at midday, they gave us rice with beans-beans of a respectable age, still spo
rting their shells. And in the evening, raw onions with orange slices. (We thoug
ht it was great, but revolutionary --boy, do things move fast the next day!) And
in those big cups that you already know about, a good amount of a very watery l
iquid with a faint taste of cinnamon that sticks to one's throat. They told us i
t was chocolate. So many new discoveries these days!"[185]
The jocular tone he used in writing to his sons in Valencia, as a way of enterta
ining them and keeping them from worrying, was in stark contrast to his letters
to those in Madrid, who knew very well what hunger they were suffering in the co
nsulate, where even crumbs of bread were cherished.
Isidoro undoubtedly made requests to those in "the happy Levant," as the Valenci
an provinces were then being called because of being far from the battlefront an
d having an abundance of food, thanks to the fertile soil. "Oh! If they send any
thing from Valencia," the Father wrote to Isidoro, "don't forget that we have fo
ur hungry fellows here. As for me, I have more than enough with what they give u
s. But Santiago and the others need more.... How it bothers me to even talk, let
alone write, about food."[186]

Two days later he writes to those in Madrid, "Bread? We have more than enough...
. Oh, and make absolutely sure you don't send us anything that you need for your
selves. I want, I demand, that you take care of yourselves first. I think I make
myself clear?"[187]
Some idea of the seriousness of the food shortage can also be gotten from the ex
citement that greeted a replenishment of their supplies on May 5. "Today," the F
ather writes to those in Valencia, "they brought us cheese and eggs, from my nep
hew Isidoro. It's been months since we've seen or even smelled any food of that
sort."[188]
Above all, he was concerned with distributing among the others whatever food the
y got. Certainly he did not go by the popular saying, "Whoever does the dividing
and distributing gets the best part." In fact, while trying to give the impress
ion that he was eating as well as the others, he surreptitiously gave himself th
e smallest portion, while tightening his belt. Even so, some of his fasting did
not go unobserved. Santiago tells how the refugees looked forward to Sunday nigh
t like children waiting for a treat. Sunday's supper was fried bread crumbs with
chocolate. But, he says, "on Sundays Josemara never had supper."[189]The Father,
meanwhile, continued his old custom of eating bitter aloes, which were readily
available. War and privation did not seem to him sufficient reason to exempt him
self from living, even in the smallest details, with a spirit of penance.[190]
One striking thing about the copious correspondence written by the founder from
the Honduran consulate is the absence of comments on political matters. There is
not a word about governments, zones, battlefronts, cities liberated or occupied
, allies or enemies, victims or guilty parties. Similarly, although the refugees
' conversations often turned to what was going on in the war, Father Josemara avo
ided talking about the fratricidal conflict tearing the nation apart. His four c
ompanions were also not contentious, and in his presence they said nothing about
military operations or about crimes committed behind the scenes. The rule was t
o forgive and forget.
The Father's kindly presence inspired calmness. His conversation was so consolin
g and supernatural, so soothing to their spirits, that they actually came to loo
k on their confinement itself as a gift from God. Eduardo recalls, "Sometimes we
thought, If only this could last forever! Had we ever known anything better tha
n the light and warmth of that little room? As absurd as it was in those circums
tances, that was our reaction, and from our way of seeing things it made perfect
sense. It brought us peace and happiness day after day."[191]
When necessary, the founder did touch on the subject of the war, and always he r
eferred to it as a catastrophe, but his priestly spirit was open to souls in bot
h zones and all factions. His general intercessions at Mass took in the whole oc
ean of suffering produced by the conflict-everything suffered at the battlefront
s, in prisons, hospitals, homes, places of refuge.
Father Josemara's attitude was not one of lofty indifference. It was one of consu
mmate charity, stemming from a higher, supernatural vision of world events. "He
was always very concerned with what was happening," says the consul's son-in-law
, "though at the same time he was very much above it.... Never did he speak with
hatred or rancor, or judge anyone. On the contrary, he was always saying: 'This
is a barbarity, a tragedy.' He was saddened by what was happening, but not in a
merely human way. When the others celebrated victories, Father Josemara remained
silent."[192]
The miserable little room at the consulate became a sort of center of operations
. From that office came letters from the Father that were full of picturesque de
scriptions, news of joys and sorrows, instructions, spiritual reflections, and a
dvice on material concerns. Because he was so eager for information about his ch
ildren and had so many matters in hand, he adopted the custom of sometimes numbe
ring the paragraphs of his letters, "not as an obsession," he explained, "but in
order to make sure that you answer all my questions."[193]
One thing he wanted them to do was to present a claim for the goods that had bee
n lost at the Ferraz Street residence when it was taken over by the anarchist mi
litia of the CNT on July 25, 1936. Upon learning that the father-in-law of one o

f the consul's children had filed a claim after his house was broken into by the
militia, the Father thought, Why not file a similar claim in the name of the re
sidence's titular company, the Civil Society for the Encouragement of Advanced S
tudies? He took up the cause as earnestly as if the future of all of them depend
ed on its outcome-when they had yet to see if they would survive the war.
And thus began an all-out battle. On April 23 he asked Isidoro to inquire at the
Argentine embassy as to what steps needed to be taken and what documents presen
ted. That same evening, he wrote again, giving an account of his recent conversa
tion with that relative of the consul and asking Isidoro to get a notary to make
copies of the documents relating to the creation of the Society and to the purc
hase of the Ferraz Street residence.[194]
From the start, Isidoro ran into difficulties[195]Neither the inventory of goods
nor the documents establishing the Society nor the deed were obtainable. They h
ad been left in the building and could not be retrieved, if indeed they still ex
isted. They then decided to present the Society as an "international association
," since some of its members were not from Spain. Isidoro, as an Argentinean and
as president of the Society, submitted at the Argentine embassy a claim against
the Spanish state for losses amounting to 1,078,900pesetas.[196]
Not even a week after the Father came up with the idea of submitting the claim,
he wrote Isidoro a letter that began:

Saturday, May 1, 1937

Very good, the matter of your putting in the claim through your country's embass
y. But we have to hurry! A delay of even one or two days could jeopardize our su
ccess. Impress this on the mind of the secretary. Don't leave any loose ends. Le
t's get those papers moving as soon as possible.[197]

The Father did not have many people to help him in this effort. There were in Ma
drid only three members of the Work who were out free, the others being the refu
gees in the Honduran consulate and Vicente Rodriguez Casado, a refugee in the No
rwegian embassy. In Valencia there were only two free members, since Chiqui was
in prison. Those two were Rafael Calvo Serer, who was then in Alicante and sick,
and Pedro Casciaro, in Torrevieja. The others were either in hiding or in the n
ationalist zone. In one way or another, all those available got mobilized for Op
eration Residence, Isidoro having told those in the Levant that the Father wante
d them to pitch in. Valencia was now the official seat of the government (the ca
binet having left Madrid at the beginning of 1936), and was where the administra
tive matter they now had in hand would end up.
Pedro Casciaro, who already had plenty to worry about, now had his life complica
ted even further by the assignment of enlisting in the project his grandfather,
a British subject who, because he had made a contribution to the Society, was in
a position to direct a claim for compensation to the British embassy.[198]
Two joined concerns were now consuming the Father's energy: the claim and the ev
acuation. "Hurry. There's a need to hurry, for everything: to get us out of the
country, and to get our compensation," he wrote to those in Madrid.[199]
But this was in the middle of a war, in a country whose administrative departmen
ts had suddenly moved to another region; they had gone to Valencia, leaving thei
r records behind in Madrid. And this was a request for compensation for a house
requisitioned and sacked by CNT anarchists and later destroyed by artillery-fire
. The chances of succeeding were slim, and the Father could see that. And yet, "
Whether we accomplish anything or not, what peace it will give everyone to know
that we did everything possible to protect the patrimony of the Society! Right?"
[200]
One thing he was doing was to give them a quick lesson in how to handle the affa
irs of God and of the Work. "Carry on with this matter of the house, despite the
potholes and the ruts in the road. It may happen that the car will turn over. T
hen we just put it back on its wheels, fix what is messed up, and continue going
forward as before. Always happy, with joy and peace, which never, for any reaso
n, should you lose."[201]In adversity they would learn to be orderly and diligen

t and not put things off till "the convenient tomorrow."[202] "'Maana! Maana!' And
I repeat to you, 'Today! Right now!"Tomorrow' and 'later' are words permanently
deleted from our lexicon. Agreed?"[203]
When this activity had been going on for a month, he wrote to Isidoro to urge hi
m and the others to be persistent in pressing the claim. He wanted them, he said
, to do it like this:

... without impatience, but with perseverance; to be like water constantly dripp
ing on the rock of obstacles. They receive me well? Good. They receive me badly?
Better. I will go on, like water dripping, with holy shamelessness, putting up
with frustrations and humiliations and harsh refusals and rudeness (what riches!
), very happy and at peace, until they grow weary (I must not grow weary: this s
hould be your resolution) and they end up receiving me kindly, as a friend-or as
an unavoidable calamity.... If you knew how to speak clearly! Don Manuel has co
nfided this to us.[204]
(In other words, that "holy shamelessness," that business of being armed with st
ubbornness and ready to take humiliations, was not a merely human tactic, but ra
ther a behavior adopted in obedience to an inspiration from the Lord.)
My sons: Did you have the idea that it's possible to make progress without overc
oming resistance? Well, it is a fact that always and in everything we have to en
counter sometimes great difficulties and other times smaller ones. Of course, th
e first kind are usually less of a problem, since great difficulties get us fire
d up. It is in the second kind, the ones that sting our pride and do nothing mor
e, that the Lord is waiting for us. Yes-in those waiting rooms; in those rude re
marks; in hearing oneself referred to as "that individual"; in yesterday's frien
dliness turned to today's discourtesy.[205]

But, for all that, they inevitably ran into dead ends, given the bureaucracy the
y were up against.

It's only natural that people each do what's most convenient for them. Thus you
will learn to hold out and be stubborn. Let's not have the courage of the snail,
who, as soon as his antennae meet an obstacle, withdraws completely into his ow
n little shell of selfishness. Rather, we need the drive, assertiveness, and per
severance of the brave bull who flattens, with the means he has available,whatev
er obstructions stand in his way. It is true that we do not lack-and never will
lack-obstacles and obstructions. But it is also true that we have more than enou
gh means, if we want to use them. Right? Well, let's use them. Our own, that's f
ine, and at the same time, those of Don Manuel. Oh, and always be very happy.[20
6]

Certainly they were not lacking obstacles. Even as the Father was congratulating
Isidoro for having put in that claim at the Argentine embassy, Isidoro was runn
ing into problems. After three weeks of negotiations, little progress had been m
ade.[207]
As the Father had foreseen, they needed the help of Saint Nicholas, the Work's i
ntercessor in financial matters. He asked the saint to help make sure the papers
did not get lost in the labyrinth of administrative offices, which would have m
eant yet another continuation of the never-ending "good pipe story." He wrote to
his sons in Valencia, "Don Nicolas now has the ball in his hands. Our job is to
go on being persistent."[208]
Father Josemara's fears were not unfounded. Things kept getting bogged down, and
the "good pipe story" continued.
Pedro Casciaro's grandfather, Don Julio, did not get much better results. His ci
tizenship claims were shaky, since his British passport, issued in Valencia on A
pril 21, 1937, and signed by the British consul in that city and by the provisio
nal vice-consul of Alicante, was valid for only six months and was not renewable
unless the person concerned could document his citizenship. Even as Isidoro was
sending Pedro Casciaro all the documents needed for "a written claim against th
e Spanish state, via the British embassy, for compensation... ," a painstaking s

earch for Don Julio's papers in the archives of the consulates in Cartagena and
Valencia continued to produce nothing[209]Nor did other possible mediators sugge
sted to Isidoro --a Swiss co-worker, a Bolivian who had spent some time at the F
erraz Street residence, a Paraguayan friend of Manolo Sainz de los Terreros-- lo
ok promising.[210]

6. "The worst days of this period"

Life in the Honduran consulate went by quietly. The Father's companions rose ear
ly and took turns using the bathroom. Later the priest would usually give a medi
tation and celebrate Mass. Breakfast was a cup of tea. The rest of the morning w
as filled with work.[211]
Father Josemara, in the role of kindly grandfather that he played for the censors
, mingled serious points for meditation with affectionate, playful comments in l
etters to his "grandchildren" in Madrid and Valencia. Afterwards, in mid-morning
, the room was transformed into a classroom where they studied or read French, E
nglish, and German.
In one letter to his sons in Valencia, Father Josemara pretends that he is in the
midst of a terrible racket. He is obviously just pretending, or wildly exaggera
ting, because it is a known fact that the refugees down the hall from them calle
d their group "the whisperers" because no loud sounds ever came from that room.[
212]

Madrid, April 30, 1937

...Nothing; this grandfather was not wanting to write you anything more. But tod
ay, when I tried to do something worthwhile and, after a few preliminaries, star
ted really getting into the first stage of my work, these noisy children I have
to put up with started shrieking, and no human patience could bear it, nor could
any mind concentrate on serious work. Oh, to be in my room, my room, with my so
litude and my silence! Old people need quiet. The racket, the boisterous laughte
r, the running around of these reckless kids mixes poorly with my years. Patienc
e, right? Right! And to top it all off, they keep bumping into this desk, and ev
en into my poor skeleton of a body. Mariano, get to work. I don't want to; let s
omebody else do it! ...
Very monotonous, my life, little ones. But I'm always a hundred miles from the p
hysical place I'm in, so I can hardly speak of monotony. I chat as much as I can
with my old Friend. I think of my family, perhaps more than I should. I am at p
eace. I look somber, but I am happy. And because of my happiness, and because of
my years, the memories, thoughts of possible dangers for my children and grandc
hildren, and other excusable selfish reasons, hardly a day goes by that I don't
cry, also more than I should.
Josemara, who has gotten more rational since we took him out of the insane asylum
, assures me that this painful environment of war in which Spaniards find themse
lves will be good for my young ones and help give them a manly character. And, m
oreover, that as the foreigners that they are, they can and should remain foreig
ners to avoid the contamination of certain places. And that since they have been
well vaccinated, if they follow the doctor's norms it should be hard for them t
o lose their health-which is what I am concerned about....
When I see myself at the end of all the years since I set up a household, with m
y family scattered around and growing more numerous by the day, I think I need t
o have a heart that is bigger than the world. And I apologize for my spells of m
elancholy and childish foolishness (children and old folk!), and I want to embra
ce all of you with all my soul, like the doting grandfather I am, so that whatev
er blows you might receive would fall on the strong back of the one writing to y
ou. Isn't it strange that, having as many debts of my own as I do, I have been a
llowed to co-sign for everyone in these times of economic collapse? And I hope t
he payments will be asked of me. If they are, how joyfully I will give all that
is needed, down to the last penny! ...

Stay strong. And don't get upset because your grandfather embraces you with all
his soul.

Mariano[213]

At lunchtime they went to the dining room with the round table, and usually were
served a little bread and a bowl of rice soup, occasionally fortified with lent
ils or carob beans.[214]They then returned to their room for a get-together. Aft
er that, they read or worked. The Father would visit with the family of the cons
ul, whose wife was then very ill. He also made his afternoon prayer and visits t
o the Blessed Sacrament there, until he decided to no longer keep the Blessed Sa
crament reserved in the consul's living area.[215]After supper --a thin soup wit
h bread, or cooked vegetables, or a salad-- they said the Rosary, had another ge
t-together, spread out their thin mattresses, and went to sleep.
A day spent with the Father was one filled with affection and security. The cons
ul's son-in-law says, "Never did he show any sign of anxiety or depression. He w
as a person who made living together easy and pleasant, who never created proble
ms of any kind, who never made any comment that was less than positive-not about
the red government, not about the white government, not about the bombings, not
about any of the difficulties."[216]Even in the midst of such circumstances, he
was such enjoyable company that one member of the Work accidentally said out lo
ud what everyone was thinking: "This can't go on, it's too much happiness."[217]
Arguments and loud voices often filled the consulate during the day, but at nigh
t it was fairly quiet, even though, as the Father jokingly called it, that room
was "a cage of crickets,"[218]not very suitable for his soul, which craved recol
lection. He spoke to God about his sons, mentally reviewing the situations of th
em all: the prisoners, the refugees, those in hiding, the sick, and those of who
m he had no news. He implored his Friend to keep them safe in body and soul, and
to give him a big heart, a very big one with room for them all.
In a letter dated May 1, he reminds those in Valencia of the promise he had made
the previous day for his entire family: "Little ones-poor little ones!-now that
you know that your little grandfather has made a formal commitment to pay all t
he family's debts, don't become spendthrifts."[219]Did they understand? Yes. The
y knew of the commitment he had made to our Lord to make expiation for his own f
aults and those of others, to pay for the innumerable sins tearing the Spanish n
ation apart. And they knew that he was offering his own back to be beaten so tha
t his "grandchildren" would not have to suffer these blows. The recipients avidl
y read his letters and memorized them, as Pedro Casciaro told Isidoro: "I can sa
y, with only a little exaggeration, that I memorize everything he writes, becaus
e here, so far away from the family, I am very much alone and the only warmth I
find is in his very expressive words. He complains sometimes about difficulties
in expressing himself. Ah! If he were in my shoes! I am, if the donkey will forg
ive me, the proverbial jackass who reads but can't articulate."[220]
Having quite often heard him speak of this, his sons knew well enough what he co
nsidered the spirit of penance to consist of: taking advantage of the tasks, irr
itations, and frustrations of everyday life, elevating them to the supernatural
plane, "divinizing" pain and suffering. Shortly before the civil war broke out,
he had written: "In the prose of the thousand small daily happenings, there is p
oetry enough to make one feel that one is on the cross."[221]
In August 1936, when he had to leave his mother's house, he took full advantage
of the "thousand small daily happenings" in the hiding places that sheltered him
-all the instances of loneliness, hunger, persecution, sickness-using them to ma
ke divine poetry. His exile was cruel and prolonged. He suffered great hunger. I
llness in the sanatorium had reduced him to skin and bones. But he took up his n
ew crosses without abandoning his old mortifications. His penance was aimed at m
aking the lives of those around him more bearable. He sought to console the affl
icted, to avoid creating problems with those he lived with, to do small services
for the refugees. He tried not to speak about the war or about himself. He suff
ered the hunger without complaint. He kept his curiosity in check. He smiled and
cultivated good humor, transmitting to everyone serenity and joy, being courteo

us, punctual, and orderly, offering up to God the privations and annoyances.
And, every now and then, he added to all this some bloody disciplines. Sometimes
, without explaining why, he would ask the others to leave him alone for a while
; other times he would take advantage of the fact that they were in the dining r
oom. One day, however, Alvaro was there, in bed with a fever. "Cover your face w
ith the blanket," the Father told him. The blows were hard and rhythmic. Out of
curiosity, Alvaro counted: a thousand, all delivered with equal force. The floor
was spattered with blood, but before the others got back, the Father carefully
cleaned up.[222]
The crimes and offenses committed in connection with the war also weighed on him
as he writes to his sons in Valencia:

Today, Grandfather is sad, downcast, in spite of the love and affection of his f
amily, and in spite of the heroic patience of his nephew Juanito-who is not "bei
ng bossy." It's just that when he looks back on his youth and contemplates the p
resent life, he has a great desire to behave well, for those who are behaving ba
dly; to play Don Quixote, making reparation, suffering, putting things right. Th
en his intellect and will (Love) start to race. Love arrives first-but so weak,
with so few deeds! Grandfather is sad because he can't get things right (being s
o old, having so little strength) unless the grandchildren of his soul help him
with their youth.[223]

In a letter written on May 6 to those in Madrid, he makes an even more distressi

ng comment. "The worst days of this whole period," he says, "have been those spe
nt in these pits [honduras]. One would surely be better off in prison. One suffe
rs, and one offers up the suffering; but it's not the way."[224]
The hours of his day were filled with activity, but for long stretches of the ni
ght he could not sleep.[225] On May 30, he unburdened himself at the end of a lo
ng letter to those in Valencia: "Do you want me to tell you, Paco, what's going
on with the grandfather? I'll tell you, in part. First, very personal concerns,
very much his own. (But I have nothing that is my own!) Then, he's been hit wher
e it hurts him the most, in his grandchildren. And that's almost everything."[22
6]
Lacking news and imagining their sufferings, the Father suffered over his sons.
But this communication he made to Paco Botella is put in carefully chosen, retic
ent words. What was really burdening him?
Whatever it was, this was not its first occurrence. In his journal there is an e
ntry where he uses similar expressions. It was written on September 9,1931, in t
he midst of a period of great suffering and great graces. The symptoms were "gre
at tribulation and great helplessness," with temptations to rebellion and lack o
f conformity to God's will, and "low and vile things." And what was the cause? "
Really, the same as always. But it's something very personal that, without takin
g away my trust in my God, makes me suffer.... And, as a remedy, I think of the
serious illness I know God will lovingly give me when the time is right."[227]
Although he had already been raised to the heights of mystical contemplation, to
"looking directly at the sun,"[228]these "very personal concerns," these very p
rivate things which made him suffer, reflect the passive purification by which G
od was detaching him from every affection that was not in keeping with the divin
e will. From this period of passive purification the founder left some notes, wr
itten at the consulate. One, dated May 8, 1937, reads, "The worst days of this p
eriod are those I am spending in Honduras." (He had said the same in the letter
of May 6 to those in Madrid.) "I think that rarely have I suffered as I do now."
[229]
Before the war broke out, he had foreseen being nailed to a cross. It was a cros
s he lovingly accepted, in reparation for sins.
The floor above theirs was considered an extension of the consulate but was also
filled to overflowing with refugees, among them Father Recaredo Ventosa and oth
er priests of the Sacred Heart. Father Josemara made his confession to Father Ven
tosa every week.[230]How surprised must that priest have been when, in the wee h
ours of the morning of Sunday, May 9, he was awakened by this visitor from the f

loor below who just had to talk with him right then. The Father writes:

Sunday, May 9, 1937: I've suffered terribly this night. Thank goodness I was abl
e to unburden myself, at 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning, by speaking with the relig
ious-order priest in our refuge. I have asked many times, with many tears, to be
allowed to die soon in God's grace. It's cowardice: I think this immense suffer
ing is simply the result of my self-offering as a victim to the Merciful Love. L
et me die, I prayed, because from heaven I will be able to help, whereas here be
low I am an obstacle and I fear for my salvation. On the other hand, I realize t
hat Jesus wants me to live, suffering, and work. It's all the same. His will be
done.[231]

So terrible was his anguish that he came down sick and was not able to get up ag
ain until Saturday, May 15. The following Friday he wrote, "Like an open wound,
that's how you are. Everything makes you suffer, in your faculties and in your s
enses. And everything is for you a temptation. Poor child!"[232]

The interior suffering of his passive purification went on:

Sunday, May 23, 1937: My prayer last night, because of my fear that I am not ful
filling the will of God and the worries I feel about my salvation: "Lord, take m
e. From the next world, from purgatory, I will be able to do more for the Work a
nd for my sons and daughters. You will raise up a better instrument than me- and
a more faithful one-to carry forward the Work on earth."[233]

On May 26, another cry from the battle taking place in his soul:

Jesus, if I am not going to be the instrument you desire, take me right now, in
your grace. I am not afraid of death, despite my sinful life, because I keep in
mind your Love. Typhoid, tuberculosis, pneumonia, or four bullets, what's the di
fference?[234]

And, in the same journal entry, yet another cry:

I suffer terrible doubts and distress when I think about my salvation. O my God!
O my Mother! Will you allow me to be condemned? Saint Joseph, my father and lor
d! Little watchmaker! Saint Peter! Saint Paul! Saint John![235]

In his letters, nevertheless, he tried to keep a cheerful face, regaling them wi

th entertaining-though slightly embellished news and commentary.
His companions knew nothing about the spiritual purification he was undergoing,
but they did notice the physical ravages. In a letter to Maria Dolores Fisac, da
ted June 4, 1937, Isidoro gave this description:

Yesterday I went with Manolo to see our grandfather. It having been several mont
hs since I last saw him, I found him looking very worn down. He really is a lot
thinner; all that remains of his former appearance is the liveliness of his eyes
; but he has the same temperament as always. His words pick you up and infuse li
fe into you. It really shakes you up and makes you care nothing for all those li
ttle material things that, with their many imperfections, you are still so attac
hed to. After. talking to him you feel much lighter, as though you've been relie
ved of something that was weighing you down. We must do our utmost to show our a
ffection and care for him, because he is constantly thinking of his little ones;
he thinks about us all the time. He remembers us especially when he makes his d
aily visits to our great protector Don Manuel.[236]

7. "Grandfather's business"

From his place of confinement, the founder continued to carry on the Work, by in

tense prayer and by his letter-writing apostolate. The biggest obstacle to that
apostolate was the censorship, but he got around that with ingeniousness and goo
d humor. There is, for example, this letter of April 29, 1937, in which he remin
ds his sons in "the happy Levant" of their responsibility to carry on Opus Dei s
hould he die:

I hope-I hope-that it won't be long before I can give you big hugs. In the meant
ime, don't forget this poor old fellow. And if the old man (it is the law of nat
ure) marches on, it's your job to carry on the family business more vigorously e
very day. I'll tell you something in confidence, the confidence between a grandf
ather and his grandchild: on discovering all these bones I have that I didn't kn
ow about, I find myself in excellent health. Come what may, I think that my life
will be extended for many years, and that I will see all my children and grandc
hildren well situated and getting ahead. But? but!-don't forget, I'm insisting o
n this, that if I do march on, you must never for anything abandon my business.
It will make you all rich and benefit everyone. I almost don't know what I'm wri
ting. Did I speak of "life"? Bah! I meant "Life," with a capital L ! ...
My young ones! I can see that this business will in the near future be such a ma
rvelous venture that it would be foolish for anyone to let this opportunity to b
e rich and happy slip away. How right they are to say that when one reaches seve
nty (and I'm eighty), one's greed increases! I long to see all of you gilded by
the rays of the Sun, my loved ones radiating the pure gold acquired-very well ac
quired-by their efforts to make our family's patrimony grow.
Mariano, you're talking a lot of foolishness. That's true. But a leopard cannot
change its spots. I have always been ambitious. I've always wanted everything. A
nd besides, since this doesn't seem to me to be the wrong way to go, I do hope t
o guide my family along it.
Ambition! Blessed ambition! How many obstacles you can overcome! With a thirst f
or the heights it's hard to fall into pools of stagnant water, which are the opp
osite: the abyss. Blessed ambition! Most noble ambition! If I save myself for gr
eat things-and I was born for great things!-I will know how, with the necessary
help, not to get sidetracked by the small stuff. Now, notice that I'm not talkin
g about neglecting the small stuff. That would be a big mistake, since great thi
ngs, the very greatest, are won by small efforts.

Then he tells them, in a veiled way, about the serious commitment he made to the
Lord to make reparation for himself and others, imploring protection for his "b
usiness":

I don't know if you've heard about the financial mess that, for the good of my f
amily, which is always my weakness, I've gotten myself into. I've pledged to pay
all the debts myself. No need to say more. Surely you must know that I have ple
nty of debts of my own. Thus the chaff gets mixed with the grain. Now is when I
really feel old, weak, and awfully shaky. But what I've said stands. There's no
turning back. Help me out as much as you can, you and my other grandchildren. It
would be a pity if my ambitions were to terminate in bankruptcy, or at least in
a suspension of payments! I shudder at the thought. I trust I can count on the
effort and sacrifices of all my family.[237]

Two months later, interiorly strengthened by the hard trials to which our Lord h
ad subjected him, he returned to the management of his enterprise, his "business
," with redoubled optimism. "This grandfather of yours," he writes on June 24, "
has once again taken up the reins. What news! And I assure you, he has more stre
ngth than he did before he got sick, although now he weighs twenty pounds less."
[238]The adversities of that period did not discourage him, since, as he told th
em, "the war not only does not slow things down, but can actually give greater i
mpetus to many undertakings, if those in charge don't fall asleep."[239]
The founder was burning with impatience to get on with the task God had given hi
m. He wrote to those in Madrid:

As soon as I can start working again (hopefully very soon), I'm going to be rebo
rn. Let it be known that the grandfather is very satisfied with all his grandchi
ldren, without exception. Is that clear? And he thinks they will always know how
to be optimistic, joyful, stubborn, convinced that our business ventures must n
ecessarily prosper, and deeply certain that everything works for the good.[240]

But did it? In the middle of June he heard that Pepe Isasa, one of the members o
f the Work in the other zone of Spain, had died in April at the front. Isidoro i
mmediately informed the others, as the founder wished, so that they could offer
suffrages for his soul, praying all three parts of the Rosary and offering their
Communion. He wrote, "The grandfather said to me: Tell my grandchildren to brin
g three bouquets of roses to the Mother of Don Manuel on Pepe's behalf, and if t
hey can, to have lunch with this good friend."[241]
For the grandfather, the loss of this grandchild is "bittersweet news." He write
s to those in Valencia:
There's one thing I would like you to do, which Ignacio[242] will also request:
place roses-three bouquets-on Pepe's tomb. And make a visit to Don Manuel. Don M
anuel! How grateful I am to him! My tears (I'm not ashamed to tell you that I've
cried) are not tears of protest at the death of my dear grandson. I accept it.
But I do ask you to put in a good word for the rest of my little ones, as will I
, that no more of them be taken from me.

Be happy, okay? Haven't I told you many a time that the grandfather has a very l
arge House, where a number of his grandchildren are waiting for him?
That is all too easy. We have to remain here, and even grow old, to keep the bus
iness going-the totally magnificent business!-that your family has been involved
in for more than eight years.[243]

It was obvious that this great and universal business-Opus Dei would need many p
eople. The founder's zeal knew no bounds, although he was still in confinement.

I've been infected with the crazy longings of my brother Josemara. (He is mad, fi
t to be tied; it's not for nothing that he's been in the madhouse.) I, too, long
to crisscross this tiny world, from pole to pole, and thaw out the icy wastes,
and level the mountains, and uproot all the hatreds, and bring happiness to all
men and women, and make that desire for one flock and one shepherd a blessed rea
lity.
My head feels like it's about to burst, like a firecracker. It seems like a mira
cle that it doesn't happen. There just won't fit into a person's head (though in
the heart, yes) so many great things. Therefore, may I be given many heads and
many hearts, youthful and clean, to fill with noble, exalted ideas and desires!
Although a guy like you may find it hard to believe, less than half an hour ago
I was mending a pair of socks for one of my wildest grandsons. Madness is no exc
use for not keeping one's feet on the ground."[244]

While he kept his feet on the ground, his soaring apostolic imagination carried
him to the scattered members of the Work. With the invaluable help of Isidoro, w
ho served as secretary in charge of mailing the correspondence from the consulat
e, the letters destined for "the happy Levant" ("From Grandfather to Perico, via
Paco, for all his grandchildren") went to Valencia, addressed to Paco Botella,
and from there were sent to Torrevieja, where Pedro Casciaro was for some time.
Later they were read by Rafael Calvo Serer, who was convalescing at Alcalali, a
place in Alicante. After everyone-including Chiqui, who was in a prison in Valen
cia-knew what the Father had said in them, the letters were stored away.
Father Josemara poured his heart into those letters. Juan Jimenez Vargas, reflect
ing on the odd manner of expression that was made necessary by the censorship, o
nce remarked, "How ridiculous this will all seem, in the course of time." "The r
idiculous doesn't exist," replied the Father.[245] His communications were treas
ured by those who received them. "We began to do our prayer with the letters," P
aco Botella recalls. And once everyone had read them, he says, "Pedro took them

and carried them off to be kept in a good place. It was this way until the end o
f the war. These letters from the Father were waiting for us in a safety-deposit
box in a bank."[246]
Having no fear of sounding ridiculous, he unabashedly showed the affection he ha
d for his grandchildren. Isidoro, when telling the Valencians how happy everyone
was at learning that Chiqui had been released from prison, added, "You can't po
ssibly imagine how concerned the grandfather has been; he's been on pins and nee
dles. Really his affection for his grandchildren borders on delirium. It's his m
ain obsession. What a responsibility his little ones have to respond in like man
ner."[247]He read and reread their letters. Alvaro even once asked him jokingly
if he was going to pin them to his lapel so that he could keep them always in vi
ew.[248]
Chiqui, after his months in prison, had gone to rest for a few days at Alcalali,
where Rafael Calvo Serer was staying. Both received letters from Madrid on the
same day.
From the grandfather to Chiqui, July 27, 1937 My dear child:

Knowing the joyful surprise your last letter was to me, you can guess how appreh
ensive it made me that it was Paco, and not you, who wrote me when you were disc
harged from the clinic. Isn't that just like an old man!
I have thought of you so often. I have accompanied you more than you think. I ha
ve pestered Don Angel constantly, asking him to give my grandson all the care I
would have given, and more. I guess he listened to me, and I trust that he will
continue to listen to me. He is a very good friend of mine!
Possibly soon (I seriously think so) my brother Josemara will set out, with his s
on Jeannot, to visit our country. When this happens, I'll ask Ignacio to let you
know.
How did the visit with Rafa go? That boy, by loving his brothers so much when he
's still so young himself, has won
my heart.[249]

And to Rafael Calvo Serer:

From the grandfather to Rafa. Greetings. July 27, 1937

Little one! Here are some lines for your eyes alone.
I've read your letter I don't know how many times, even though Alvarote laughs a
t me. Now it might be your turn to hear the war whoops of these big kids who liv
e with their grandfather. How bad they are! But of course you know that's not tr
ue. My little ones are very good.
The affection you show your brothers-now our Chiqui!-touches my heart. Don Manue
l and I are truly grateful to you for all your natural good behavior. What a hug
I'm going to give you, Rafaelin, when I have you with me!
Take heart. Even though you have an ulcer, may you recuperate to the point where
you are brimming with good health.
If possible, go see the Son of Doa Maria every day. He's a great Friend, isn't he
?
Keep the family very much in mind. (Grandfather doesn't dare ask that you keep h
im in mind.) Take on, more every day, our family characteristics.
Everyone sends you a big hug, along with mine.
Mariano.[250]

It was obvious that the "business" would require manual labor, and that the few
workers already in it needed looking after. Even from his confinement in the con
sulate, the founder had to watch over his sons or ask Doa Dolores to take care of
those who were at large in Madrid. "Mama, keep in mind that you're the grandmot
her of my children," he wrote her.[251]
He was also aware that the storm of war had swept away many of the first women o
f the Work. "I think I have lost a grandson, my Pepe, and I don't know how many
granddaughters," he reflected sadly.[252] Of the handful of women who had asked

admission to Opus Dei, he had been able to locate only one. He asked Isidoro to
tell this young lady that if she saw the others, she should ask for their prayer
s but not give them her address, to avoid risks and worries.[253]Yet even in the
se untoward circumstances, a new vocation for the women's branch arrived. News o
f it came through the mail, with allowance for the wartime censorship.
Miguel Fisac, when he was living in the Ferraz Street residence, had asked admis
sion to the Work. Now he was hiding out in his parents' home in Daimiel, a villa
ge in La Mancha. Father Josemara wrote to him there through his sister Lola. It w
as Miguel who took the initiative of suggesting to his sister that she might hav
e a vocation to the Work, and later the Father asked her to consider that possib
ility.[254] Meanwhile, he kept asking our Lord ("Don Manuel," "Manolo") to grant
her a vocation. On the vigil of the feast of the Visitation of our Lady, thanki
ng her for food packages she had sent from Daimiel, he wrote:

From Grandfather to Lola, from Tegucigalpa! July 1, vigil of my Mother's saint's

day, 1937 My dear child:
If you could only see how thankful I am for your repeated kindnesses! Well, well
. There's no way that Manolo won't make you fall in love and fulfill my desire,
that grows stronger every day, that you become part of my family.
Just know that I am hoping for this. And forgive me for speaking so frankly. It'
s my advanced years, and the affection I have for all of you! Forgiven, right?"[
255]

Our Lord soon granted him his wish. Two weeks later the founder wrote her, "Well
, little one: I am delighted to call you my grand-daughter."[256]And the followi
ng month, when Lola had had time to think over her decision, he wrote her again.

For my granddaughter Lola

My dear child:
The grandfather, with all your gifts, is going to become a glutton, that's all I
can say. How tasty, those sweet rolls! We licked our fingers-even Jeannot, with
his impressive schnozzle.
Don Manuel ... I'll keep quiet. Only one question: How is your courtship going?
And one more: Is it really, really true that you prefer him to all others and tr
uly want to become part of this grandfather's family?
Forgive me, my child. We old folks like to ask so many questions! And I imagine
they have told you how much Mariano likes to have people confide in him, especia
lly secrets of Love.
I suppose that to answer my question will make you blush. Well, since I'm not th
ere to see it, what does it matter? Besides, you do have an easy way to do it. J
ust say to me, "Grandfather, to your question, my answer is yes." Frankly, Lola,
I can't even imagine your saying no. So-as you already know-I hope that soon yo
u will begin to confide in me.
Whenever I speak with Manolo, I remember your parents and your whole family to h
im. I do this every day. And when I mention you by name, I always say the same t
hing: it depends exclusively on you to make what we talked about a reality. But
don't forget that there's a lot of work waiting for you in my house, and hard wo
rk at that. We're at the beginning; and the foundations have to be set in stone.
Nevertheless, you will also find something that you won't find just anywhere: j
oy and peace; in a word, happiness.
Well, that's all for now. Affectionate hugs for your parents, and don't forget y
our grandfather.

Mariano.[257]

When things finally quieted down at night-insofar as that was possible "in this
solitude that we enjoy, so excessively accompanied," as the Father put it[258]-h
e chatted with Alvaro about the "family business." What did he say to him?
Between the lines of a letter that he wrote to those in Valencia, there are rema

rks written in a very small hand by Alvaro, which read as follows:

We are overjoyed by the news about Chiqui. How much we would all love to get tog
ether and, all together, for a good long while, get ourselves good and revived!
It would be great for all of us. And it may perhaps, I don't know, be necessary
for us to undertake with a new spirit the business that the grandfather and the
rest of us have in hand. At night, when the others are still up, the grandfather
and I, sprawled out on our mattresses, chat about all these family matters.
It's true that circumstances have made it difficult to develop the business. Eve
rything is a problem. The financial question, the lack of personnel, everything.
Nevertheless, and despite his age, Grandfather never lets himself give in to pe
ssimism. He accepts the lack of money, we all do, without worrying. Everything d
epends on our working with much spirit; this and much faith in a successful outc
ome will overcome everything. This is what the poor old man says. But what makes
him sad-a feeling consistent with the hope that animates him-is the lack of per
sonnel. Counting all the members of the family, there are very few, and what wil
l happen if some die or prove useless for the business! ... From now on, for whe
n it is possible to start working, let us each be firmly resolved to stay very u
nited to the rest of the family and, above all, to Don Manuel and our poor grand
father. He certainly deserves it! And besides, it makes perfect sense. It is imp
ossible to get good results without a blind adherence to those who, in whatever
matter, are in charge. Don't complain. Even though you are so far away, you've n
ow been let in on the bedtime conversations the grandfather and I have.[259]

Work and responsibilities were good for the founder. He forgot about himself in
order to live the Gospel saying, "I have come not to be served, but to serve," w
hich he freely paraphrased as, "I have come not to be a nuisance, but to put up
with nuisances."[260]
Being responsible "for six mouths and the stomachs coming with them,"[261]he had
to acknowledge and do something about the hunger, if not for his sake, then at
least for the sakes of the young people with him. Overcoming his aversion to tal
king about food, he timidly begged for it, as in this brief note to Isidoro: "If
this is possible for you, I would be grateful if you could bring me something t
o eat, because there is hunger these days. If it's not possible, don't worry. Pa
tience. We're starting to get used to it."[262]
Isidoro received this note from the consulate via Alvaro's little brother and li
ttle sister. The following day he replied, "We are very low on food we can bring
you, because these days we don't even have fruit. We will send the packages fro
m Daimiel they told us about when they arrive.... The ham that comes with this n
ote was sent by Pedro. Wine is given out a few droplets at a time."[263]"Don't w
orry about provisions," Father Josemara responded. "We'll just tighten our belts
another notch. By the way, I'm getting fat. Believe it."[264]
The wine he could get hold of was very little, and there were days when he could
not celebrate Mass because it had turned to vinegar. This was worse than any hu
nger. "The grandfather would be happy if only he had wine," he writes his sons i
n Valencia. "I'm not a drunk, but since Don Manuel is fond of it, I would like t
o have it on hand.... Poor Grandfather, who has no wine for his bad stomach! Of
the thousand privations, this is the one I find hardest."[265]
From time to time provisions were sent to those in Madrid from the Levant or fro
m Daimiel. However, with the rigor of his fasting and penances, he still was red
uced to skin and bones. He bore his weakness with cheerful good humor, describin
g his pitifully thin self as "this half pound of dried tuna that is your grandfa
ther."[266]But Isidoro, who saw him frequently, reported, "He's gotten terribly
thin. He laughs about it, but he's only a shadow of what he was."[267]
On July 24, 1937, twelve months after the anarchists took over the Ferraz Street
residence (now uninhabitable, having been hit again by artillery shells on the
third floor and roof), Isidoro sent the founder his reflections on that year: "J
uan says, and with good reason, that we have to rectify, with deeds, the outrage
s committed in this past year. I would be the first to go along with that."[268]
The founder agreed entirely, adding, "We've been too naive this year."[269]Thei

r combined efforts toward an evacuation convinced them that they were in the han
ds of God. That same day, the founder wrote to Lola Fisac: "The departure of Jos
emara? Who knows! If Don Manuel, who has so much influence, doesn't arrange it wi
th the consul of his country, it could be a long time coming. As I told you befo
re, it's the good pipe story."[270]
Isidoro felt the same way about this. He writes to Pedro Casciaro, "Sometimes th
e evacuation seems like something you could almost touch with your hands, and ot
her times you can only see the possibility of it with a high-powered telescope.
We are now in a telescope phase."[271]And, in fact, having been disillusioned by
their many failed attempts to use diplomatic connections, Father Josemara was re
ady just to leave the Honduran consulate, no matter what. Impatient to get on wi
th his apostolate, he even set a date: "At the beginning of August, it will be t
ime to leave, without hesitation."[272]
During those days negotiations were underway to get him an Argentinean passport.
For this, an Argentinean birth certificate was required. Since Isidoro had just
gotten two copies of his, they thought of using them, properly altered, for pas
sport applications by the Father and Juan. On July 31 they went to have photos t
aken, and on the next day they asked Carmen to make armbands with the national c
olors of the Argentinean Republic, like the one that Isidoro wore.[273]
Also around that time, Tomas Alvira, a friend of Jose Maria Albareda, got a birt
h certificate from another Argentinean, with the idea of obtaining a passport an
d leaving Spain. He and Isidoro decided, however, that it would be better to use
that birth certificate for getting the Father's passport. When they erased the
personal information on it, it got so wrinkled that they had to go over it with
a hot iron. Then, using a typewriter that had the same style of letters as the c
ertificate, they substituted the Father's data and delivered the certificate to
the consulate. They were to return in three or four days to pick up the passport
.
But the erasing liquid they used had produced an embarrassing blotch on the pape
r. When Father Josemara went there in person, the consul (or it may have been an
embassy secretary) reproached him. He replied, "I am a lawyer and a priest. Give
n the circumstances, as a lawyer I defend this act and find it justified, and as
a priest I give it my blessing."[274]He received apologies, but no passport.
The priest took this setback calmly, to judge by what he wrote Isidoro: "I am ve
ry resigned, even delighted. Believe me."[275]Two days later he wrote to those i
n Madrid, "Let everyone start pestering Don Manuel," and to those in Valencia, "
Give Don Manuel a hard time, so that, if it's a good thing, an evacuation to our
country can be arranged."[276]
Although the uncontrolled terrorism of the revolutionary militias had not disapp
eared, it had considerably declined.[277]Santiago now lived with his mother and
sister and could move freely around Madrid, dressed in overalls and carrying two
passes, one as an anarchist of the CNT and the other from an academy of the Int
ernational Relief Organization. Isidoro, meanwhile, had received from the Argent
inean embassy the work certificate needed to stay in Madrid.
Another matter of vital importance, that of food, was partly taken care of, than
ks to the generosity of those in the Levant and in Daimiel. As Isidoro put it, "
We almost have to eat by correspondence."[278]The packages sent by mail or by me
ssenger contained a small amount of food for so many mouths, but they helped.
On August 20, along with a packet of food, Isidoro received a letter from Daimie
l marked "For the Grandfather." It was a brief answer to his question of two wee
ks earlier: "Grandfather, my answer to both of your questions is yes. Truly and
without the least doubt I prefer him to all others, and I consider myself very b
lessed to become part of your family. Your granddaughter does not forget you. -L
ola."[279]

Father Josemara wrote back:

August 22, 1937 My dear child:

Your last letter gave me great joy. More, of course, than the ham-although the h
am (since you ask about it) is the most delicious one we've ever eaten in this p

art of the world. We're very grateful. Now (I'm telling you this in confidence)
it's my turn to blush. It's not right to live off someone else, as I'm doing. Bu
t-Don Manuel pays very well.
Nevertheless, I don't want to impose on you. You've already done too much for yo
ur poor grandfather.
My warmest greetings to your family, and much love to you.

Mariano[280]

Still, the problem of how to get him out of Madrid remained unresolved. He plann
ed to leave his refuge and go live with his mother in the Caracas Street apartme
nt, protected by a medical certificate from Dr. Suils,[281] but complications ar
ose. He would need to get a union card and a work certificate before the "house
committee" controlling the comings and goings of residents would let him live th
ere[282]Juan's evacuation plan, on the other hand, was making good progress. But
in the end, it too fell through. Said Isidoro: "Anyone would think Don Manuel d
oesn't want them to leave, but all the same we are continuing to make efforts in
other directions."[283]
That same week, at the end of August, Chiqui showed up in Madrid. "And he was in
luck, the big rascal," writes Father Josemara, "because I brought him Don Manuel
's marvelous breakfast."[284]
At long last, persistence paid off. Father Josemara thought of another possible w
ay to get documentation that would allow him to pass police and military inspect
ions: Could the consul give him a work certificate as an employee of the consula
te?[285]
He had his doubts about whether he could talk Don Pedro into this, but in the en
d he did succeed. Don Pedro appointed him "Chief Supply Officer" and provided hi
m with a document certifying that "Jose ESCRIBA ALBAS, 35 years of age, single,
is in the service of this Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Chief Supply Officer."[
286]On it is a photo of him, in dark suit and tie, and beneath that, the "Signat
ure and fingerprint of the above-mentioned." (Without thinking, he signed himsel
f "Josemara Escriva," and when he realized his mistake, corrected the "v" with an
oversized "b.")
Now he wrote to those in Daimiel, ready to begin a new phase and not forgetting
that, best of all, it would mean he could bring them Communion:

August 31, 1937

My dear granddaughter:

I'm writing to let you know that my brother Josemara has been named Chief Supply
Officer of the General Consulate of Honduras. That means, of course, that he is
responsible for obtaining provisions for the consulate. And it occurs to him tha
t if by any chance one can in your area buy, in quantity, kidney beans, chickpea
s, lentils, olive oil, flour, etc., he ?Josemara? would be happy to travel to Dai
miel (accompanied by Don Manuel) in an official consulate car. See, then, if the
re is any possibility of buying over there the items I listed, and if so, send m
e the prices and the quantity of each that is available for purchase. If the qua
ntity is not substantial, the consul will never agree to authorize the trip.
What joy if Josemara gets to see you!
Looking forward to your reply, I send you a hug.

Mariano[287]
[1] "The terror in Spain was similar to that of the civil war in Russia in that
in both cases the clergy were among the principal victims of the violence. The p
ersecution of the Catholic Church was the greatest ever seen in Western Europe,
even counting the harshest periods of the French Revolution. The number of churc
hmen assassinated, some seven thousand, was proportionately equal to the number
killed by the Communists in Russia, taking into account the difference of popula

tion, but it seems that torture was more common in Russia." Stanley G. Payne, El
catolicismo espanol (Barcelona, 1984), p. 214. See Fernando de Meer Lecha-Marzo
, "Algunos aspectos de la cuestion religiosa en la Guerra Civil (1936-1939)," in
Anales de Historia Contemporknea, no. 7 (1988-1989), pp. 111-25.
[2] For a summary view of the situation, see Carlos ffectiveSeco Serrano, "De la
democracia republicana a la guerra civil," in Historia General de Espana y Amer
ica, vol. 17, La Segunda Republica y la guerra (Madrid, 1988), pp. xiii-lx; and
Payne, "La quiebra de la Segunda Republica," in La Guerra Civil Espanola (Sesent
a anos despues), ed. Miguel Alonso Baquer (Madrid, 1999), pp. 17-32.
[3] The Constitution of 1876 and the Electoral Law of 1890 did indeed establish
democratic principles in Spain. The question was whether those principles were r
eally e in a country that in 1900 had an illiteracy rate of more than 60 percent
.
[4] This was an era that is still controversial among historians. "The political
history of the Second Spanish Republic is among the most controversial and myth
-ridden in Europe in the twentieth century. The Republic began peacefully, with
relatively broad acceptance, although naturally there were different attitudes a
mong the diverse elements of Spanish society. In two years it introduced a serie
s of reforms-some of questionable prudence and effectiveness-which produced the
greatest political mobilizations Spain had seen up to that time. The result, aft
er three years, was the most notable case of political decline and polarization
in Europe in the twentieth century, disintegrating into a massive civil war, bot
h revolutionary and counterrevolutionary.
"Even historians are not in agreement on how this occurred. They no longer accep
t the propaganda widely accepted abroad during the civil war and the Second Worl
d War, which attributed it to a rightist conspiracy against democracy, but there
is no clear and simple consensus. The republican experience can be seen as the
conflict and collapse of parliamentary forces, as the failure of an attempt at r
eform, or as a revolutionary process and the breeding ground of a rightist consp
iracy. In fact it was all of these things, and more." Payne, El regimen de Franc
o, 1936-1975 (Madrid, 1987), pp. 47-48.
[5] See Payne, "Antecedentes y crisis de la democracia," in La Guerra Civil: Una
nueva vision del conflicto que dividio Espana, ed. Stanley G. Payne and Javier
Tusell (Madrid,1996), pp. 26-27.
[6] Out of a total of 472 delegates, the CEDA had 115, followed by the Radicales
of Lerroux, with 102. The group of small right-wing parties (Agrarios, Tradicio
nalistas, Partido Nacionalista Vasco, Partido Nacionalista Espanol, and Lliga Ca
talana, etc.) obtained 124 seats; the small right-republican parties (Conservado
r, Liberal-Democrata, and Progresista) gained a total of 30; and the leftist blo
ck, composed of various bourgeois parties (Accion Republicana, Esquema Republica
na, Federales, and ORGA) and
the revolutionary parties (PSOE, Radical-Socialista, Comunista, and Uni6 Sociali
sta de Catalunya) got 101.
[7] Gonzalo Redondo, on p. 412 of Historia de la Iglesia en Espana, 1931-1939, v
ol. 1, La Segunda Republica,1931-1936 (Madrid, 1993), gives the following figure
s for the casualties of this uprising: "Deaths: gendarmery, 100; Army, 98; polic
e force and cavalry, 86; priests and religious, 34; peasants, 1,051. Wounded: Ar
my and police, 900; peasants, 2,051. Buildings burned, blown up, or damaged: pub
lic buildings (barracks, city halls,etc.), 63; churches, 58; cultural centers, 5
; factories, 26; private homes, 730. In addition, 58 bridges; 31 highways; and 6
6 rail lines cut."
[8] The most serious development politically was the advance of a decidedly revo
lutionary orientation among a sector of the socialists which had decided to bols
hevize the Party, in opposition to its moderate wing. See Burnet Bolloten, La Gu
erra Civil espanola: Revolucion y contrarrevolucion (Madrid, 1989), pp. 73-89.
[9] See Payne, "Antecedentes," pp. 35-40 and 61-94.
[10] An idea of the complexity of the motives which led to the war can be gotten
from reading the "Informe acerca del levantamiento civico-militar de Espana en
julio de 1936" of August 13, 1936, sent by Cardinal Goma to Rome. This can be fo
und in Maria Luisa Rodriguez Aisa, El Cardenal Gomd y la Guerra de Espana: Aspec

tos de la gestion publica del Primado, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1981), pp. 371-78. See
also Lecha-Marzo, "Algunos aspectos," pp. 111-13, and Payne, La revolution Espa
nola (Madrid, 1972).
[11] Included in this group was General Franco.
[12] See Bolloten, pp. 95-97. See also the personal record of a qualified witnes
s of these events: Julian Marias, Una vida presente, Memorias 1: 1914-1951 (Madr
id, 1988), pp. 187-92.
These words of the socialist leader Indalecio Prieto, written the day after Calv
o Sotelo's assassination (see the July 14, 1936, edition of El Liberal), show th
e level that social tension had reached: "If the reactionaries dream of an unblo
ody coup d'etat like that of 1923, they are completely mistaken. If they think t
hey would face a defenseless government, they are deceiving themselves. To win t
hey would have to leap over the human barricade that the proletarian masses woul
d put up against them. It would be, as I have said many times, a battle to the d
eath because each of the two sides knows that the adversary, if it triumphed, wo
uld give no quarter. But even if this were to occur, a decisive combat would be
preferable to this continuous bloodletting."
We must point out that on July 12 General Mola set the time for the future milit
ary uprising as "Starting at the zero hour of the 17th": see F. B. Mafz, Mola, a
quel hombre (Barcelona, 1970), p. 264. See also Antonio Gonzalez-Betes, Franco y
el Dragon Rapide (Madrid, 1987), p. 107, where an account is given of how the p
lane which brought General Franco to Morocco at the beginning of the uprising be
gan its trip to Spain on July 11.
What motivated the military to rebel was the crisis that Spain was undergoing. S
ee the "Address of General Franco Broadcast from Tenerife," the "Proclamation of
a State of War in Seville" dictated by General Queipo de Llano, and the "Manife
sto of General Mola," all three issued on July 18, 1936.
[13] Spain, together with France, at that time held a protectorate over what is
now Morocco.
[14] The militias were partially armed paramilitary formations established by di
fferent groups. The term "people's militias" arose in connection with the demand
to give arms to "the people"-in reality, to the militants of the revolutionary
parties and unions who had decided to take control of the situation. This demand
was accompanied by a desertion of the army by many soldiers, especially in Madr
id, Barcelona, Cartagena, Valencia, and other cities, on the basis of a decree,
issued by the president of the Republic shortly after the uprising, which exempt
ed them from their oath of obedience to their officers. At the same moment the a
rmy was disintegrating, there was born the militia or people's militia, whose co
mponents were grouped according to political leaning. These constituted a seriou
s problem for the government until they were brought under military discipline,
something the government often either could not or would not effectuate. In Madr
id this objective was not measurably attained until May of 1937. It was the mili
tias, outside any government control, that at least in the first months of the c
onflict imposed their own law in the streets. See Burnet Bolloten, pp. 411-23; a
nd for the case of Madrid, Javier Cervera Gil, Madrid en guerra: La ciudad cland
estina, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1998), pp. 109-110.
[15] The cabinet of Martinez Barrio did not last twenty-four hours and was not e
ven announced in the Gaceta. It was succeeded on July 20 by another, with Jose G
iral as prime minister. One of the gravest problems at the root of these lightni
ng-like changes was the transfer of weapons, something Casares and Martinez Barr
io tried without success to prevent, in the realization that otherwise their gov
ernments would be purely nominal, with the real power in the hands of the militi
as. Precisely this led to the dismissal of Martinez Barrio and the accession of
Giral. "But that government," says Bolloten (on p. 109), "was one in name only.
Dragged along hopelessly by events, it was helping bring about the rapid dissolu
tion of the republican government of 1931 under the double impact of the militar
y rebellion and the social revolution. According to its prime minister, committe
es of the Popular Front were immediately established in each of the ministries t
o assist and supervise the ministers, depriving them of even the appearance of r
eal authority." He therefore speaks of the coming of a "Third Republic" born of

the revolution.
"In another order of things," says Cervera Gil (pp. 44-45), "Casares Quiroga, be
fore resigning (which he did at night [on the 18th]), advised Bishop Eijo y Gara
y, the bishop of Madrid, that for his own safety he should leave the city, which
he did, taking the road to Vigo that same evening.... The militia then attacked
the bishop's residence in Madrid and [on the 19th] riddled the portrait of Bish
op Eijo y Garay with bullet holes.
[16] "Anyone entering the [Montana] barracks [on the 19th] had to pass through a
blockade composed primarily of the gendarmes and the shock troops, followed by
a battalion of socialists and, further back, armed groups of the people of Madri
d." Cervera Gil, p. 45.
[17] See Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 15, and Alvaro del Porti
llo, Sum. 879.
[18] See Jose Miguel Pero-Sanz, Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma, Ingeniero Industrial: B
uenos Aires, 1902-Madrid, 1943 (Madrid, 1996), pp. 191-92.
[19] A detailed description of this event can be found in Cervera Gil, pp. 45-48
. Two cannons and some other military vehicles had been brought to the Plaza de
Espana.
[20] See Apuntes, no. 1325 (25 Mar 1936).
[21] As Jimenez Vargas puts it, "The cassock was now a death sentence" (AGP, RHF
, T05152/ 1, p. 16); see also Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T07921, p. 18. The clerical tonsure carried the same danger: see Alvaro del Porti
llo, Sum. 879. About the blue overalls, see his letter to Maria Dolores Fisac Se
rna in AGP, RHF, EF-370813-1. (All the letters of the founder from this period-J
uly of 1936 to October 7, 1937-were written in Madrid.)
[22] The diary consists of two handwritten pages. It has the character of an out
line; its many abbreviations are replaced in our transcription by the words they
stand for. The original is preserved in AGP, RHF, D-15223. See Appendix 1.
[23] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1001, and Javier Echevarrfa, Sum. 2420.
[24] See Apuntes, no. 1620 (24 Aug 1940).
[25] See Bolloten, pp. 117-18. On July 19 there were still some Masses celebrate
d in Madrid, and on that same day some ten churches were attacked and sacked. "O
n the night of July 19 to 20, thirty-four more religious buildings in Madrid wer
e burned. In the period between Saturday the 18th and Tuesday the 21st, the firs
t seventy-two hours of the revolution, there were sacked in the capital of Spain
forty-six churches; that is, 34.8 percent of the city's churches." Redondo, His
toric, vol. 2, La Guerra Civil, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1993), p. 20 and note 6. See
also Raymond Carr, La tragedia espanola: La Guerra Civil en perspectiva (Madrid,
1977), pp. 111ff.
[26] The nun was a daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Paniagua, who lived in the sam
e building as Doa Dolores, and the Augustinian monk was Father Nemesio Morata, a
well-known Arabist who had fled from the monastery of El Escorial. See Alvaro de
l Portillo, Sum. 879, and Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-0792
1, p. 19.
The assassinations of forty-one priests in Madrid are documented as having occur
red in the first days of the revolution, up to the end of July. The number of pr
iests of the diocese of Madrid-Alcala killed during the war was 435 (38.8 percen
t), according to the most detailed available study: Jose Luis Alfaya Camacho, Co
moun rio de fuego: Madrid, 1936 (Barcelona, 1998), pp. 64-88 and 285-309. To the
se must be added, without leaving this same diocese, the 451 monks and 73 nuns k
illed or made to disappear during the war: see Redondo, Historia, vol. 2, p. 20.
The effort to count the lay people who were killed for being Catholics is diffi
cult because there were so many and because it is almost impossible to find sour
ces, although Cervera Gil's book supplies interesting and significant informatio
n.
[27] See Pero-Sanz, pp. 192-93.
[28] See Appendix 1 and Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 21ff.
[29] See Ian Gibson, Queipo de Llano, Sevilla, verano de 1936: Con las charlas r
adifonicas
completas (Barcelona, 1986).

[30] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 26-28.

[31] These other documents that were in the same trunk as the address list were
blank ID cards for the Association of Traditionalist Students, signed by Juan Ji
menez Vargas. He had kept them from the time, some years back, when he was secre
tary of that organization in Madrid. Since they were in the same trunk as the ad
dress list, there was the danger that the militiamen would have connected the st
udents at the residence with the members of this political organization. See ibi
d., p. 29.
[32] Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 29-30. Cervera Gil (pp. 68-78) h
as carried out a detailed study of the "walks" in Madrid from July to December o
f 1936. Of the 3,000 cases studied, he concludes that the most "walked" individu
als were priests and religious (18 percent), and the least, students and doctors
(5 and 4 percent respectively).
[33] Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 30-31.
[34] Instruction of 19 Mar 1934, no. 47. See also Apuntes,no. 1287 (3 Oct 1935),
and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 675.
[35] About that security and optimism Jimenez Vargas writes, "The explanation is
very simple. We never had any doubts about the immediate future, convinced, of
course, that nothing would happen to the Father. We understood, nevertheless, th
e need for extreme prudence and care for his personal safety. We knew that he ha
d to carry out the Work, and this gave us a solid hope, a clear certainty that e
verything would be solved" (AGP, RHF, 04152-I11, p. 34).
[36] Apuntes, no. 178 (20 Mar 1931).
[37] Apuntes, no. 212 (26 Jul 1931).
[38] Apuntes, no. 291 (18 Sep 1931).
[39] Apuntes, no. 431 (29 Nov 1931).
[40] Instruction of 19 Mar 1934, no. 6.
[41] See Appendix 1.
[42] See Cervera Gil, p. 189.
[43] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 879.
[44] Apuntes, no. 1372 (30 Jun 1936). The apartment was on the third floor, left
side, of 31 Sagasta (which later became 33 Segasta), at the corner of Alonso Ma
rtinez Street and across from the old bar La Mezquita. See Jimenez Vargas, AGP,
RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 40-41.
[45]
[46] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 36ff. Since 1925 the Count o
f Leyva had been Don Juan Jose Conde-Luque y Garay.
[47] See Pero-Sanz, p. 194, and Manuel Sainz de los Terreros Villacampa, AGP, RH
F, D03637. Actually, Father Josemarfa's mother went several days before learning
where her son was hiding out. This was due to the careful reserve of Manolo, wh
o "would not tell us where he was," says Santiago Escriva de Balaguer (AGP, RHF,
T-07921, p. 19). "Possibly my mother preferred not to know where he was, as lon
g as she received frequent news that he was all right."
[48] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp 38ff, and Santiago Escriva de
Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, pp. 20ff.
[49] Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 39.
[50] Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, pp. 20-21. See als
o Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 39-40, and Apuntes, introductory no
te, p. 3.
[51] Apuntes, no. 1595.
[52] Pedro Maria Rivas Garcia-Calderon, AGP, RHF, T-03175. Rivas later took refu
ge in the home of some acquaintances, and from October 16, 1936, until the liber
ation of Madrid in 1939, he found political asylum on Del Prado Street, under th
e protection of the Chilean embassy. In 1946 he joined the Brothers of the Hospi
taller Order of Saint John of God. He died in Madrid in 1993.
[53] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 50-52.
[54] Juan Manuel Sainz de los Terreros, AGP, RHF, T-05127. See also Alvaro del P
ortillo, Sum. 880.
[55] Sainz de los Terreros, AGP, RHF, T-05127.
[56] Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 51-52.

[57]Mercedes Conde-Luque Herrero, AGP, RHF, T-04925, p. 1.

[58] The name of the Countess was Mercedes Herrero y Velazquez.
[59] Mercedes Conde-Luque Herrero, AGP, RHF, T-04925, p. 3.
[60] Their efforts to find a new haven were numerous, risky, and unfruitful. In
some cases (that of Miguel Banon's family, for instance) there was an insuperabl
e fear about hiding a priest in the house. In other cases (like that of the Coun
t of Leyva's household) there were already other refugees in the house, and the
danger would have been multiplied. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 881.
[61] Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 55.
[62] Ibid., p. 58.
[63] See Cervera Gil, pp. 175-79. Cervera discusses in detail the kinds of poten
tial enemies of the revolution in the city, the most common ways of identifying
them, and some of the people who were searched for.
[64] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 882.
[65] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 614. For more on the "drops of honey," see Javi
er Echevarria, Sum. 3267.
[66] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 466, 882, and 1499; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2
418; and Joaquin Alonso Pacheco, Sum. 4632.
[67] Father Pedro Poveda was arrested on July 27 and killed the next morning. Fa
ther Lino Vea-Murguia was seized at his home just after saying Mass and shot hou
rs later, on August 16, in the Del Este Cemetery. For a detailed description of
these events, see Camacho, pp. 91-96. See also Antonio Montero Moreno, Historia
de la Persecucion Religiosa en Espana (Madrid, 1961), p. 594; and Alvaro del Por
tillo, Sum. 1471.
[68] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 882 and 883, and Joaquin Alonso Pacheco, Sum.
4632.
[69] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 60, and Joaquin Herrero Fonta
na, AGP, RHF, T-04812.
[70] See Eugenio Selles Martf, AGP, RHF, T-02012, p. 1; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum
. 883; and Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 62.
[71] Selles Mart, AGP, RHF, T-02012, p. 2.
[72] Dr. Angel Suils Perez was born in Logrono in 1906, and, like Father Josemara
, he went to high school at the Institute of Logrono. His father, Angel Suils Ot
to, was a doctor who knew the Escrivas and was present at the birth of Santiago.
His grandfather had been an associate of Antonio Garrigosa, the man whom Don Jo
se Escriva worked for in Logrono. See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p.
64.
[73] On this point the sources are a little vague and even slightly contradictor
y, which is understandable after an interval of forty years. We do, nevertheless
, have some of the entries in the diary that Juan Jimenez Vargas kept, including
those for October 6 to 15. On October 7 he writes, "At 10:00 the Father and Joa
quin came to my place. And then Chiqui, to go to confession to the Father. Joaqu
in?s maid said to him this morning, Good morning, Father.' I called the hospital
to have them send a car here, and I told the porter that they would be asking f
or Dr. Fontana. We have hidden his I.D. in my apartment. Suils will sign the cer
tificate, surely with a false name." See Appendix 2. See also Selles Martf, AGP,
RHF, T-02012, p. 2, and Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 64-65.
[74] Herrero Fontana, AGP, RHF, T-04812. Dr. Maranon was a famous doctor, a well
known writer, and a republican of strong liberal convictions.
[75] See AGP, RHF, EF-370505-4.
[76] See Appendix 2.
[77] See AGP, RHF, D-15348.
[78] See AGP, RHF, D-15348; Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 64ff; Mari
a Luisa Polanco Fernandez, AGP, RHF, T-04835; Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Alb
as, AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 20ff; and Carmen Penalver Gomez de las Cortinas, AGP,
RHF, T05090.
[79] See Appendix 2.
[80] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 65-66.
[81] Because of the extent and cruelty of the religious persecution in the repub
lican zone, and the difficulties in administering the sacraments, some bishops a

nd abbots had written to the Holy See. In a letter dated August 22, 1936, Papal
Secretary of State Cardinal Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII) announced to the
superior general of the Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary that the Po
pe had granted, officially and to all priests in Spain, the requested permission
to celebrate Mass without altar or vestments "while the current sad circumstanc
es last." See Montero Moreno, pp. 99-100.
[82] See Appendix 2.
[83] Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 66. See also Pero-Sanz, p. 199.
[84] See Polanco Fernandez, AGP, RHF, T-04835.
[85] See AGP, RHF, D-03414 and D-15348.
[86] See Polanco Fernandez, AGP, RHF, T-04835. That administrator was succeeded
by Celso Lacalzada, a man from Logrono who was an acquaintance of Dr. Suils.
[87] See AGP, RHF, EF-370505-4 and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 884. The full name
of this pharmacist was Don Italo Della Torre Morasso.
[88] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 71-74, and Maria Luisa Polan
co Fernandez, AGP, RHF, T-04835.
[89] See Pero-Sanz, pp. 197-204; Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 67-6
9; and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 884. See also Aurelio Nunez Morgado, Los suceso
s de Espana vistas por un diplomdtico (Madrid, 1979); Javier Rubio Garcia-Mina,
Asilos y canjes durante la Guerra Civil espanola: Aspectos humanitarios de una c
ontienda fratricida (Barcelona, 1979);Bolloten, p. 119; and Cervera Gil, pp. 7984 and 229-33.
[90] The International Brigades were formed under the initiative of the Communis
t International (Comintern) and recruited volunteers all over the world: see Bol
loten, pp. 205-207. See also George Esenwein, "El Frente Popular: La polftica Re
publicana durante la guerra civil," in Payne and Tusell, pp. 367-70.
[91] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 71-72.
[92] Cervera Gil (pp. 139-40), says, "The term 'fifth column' originated in the
Spanish Civil War, in the weeks before the attack on Madrid. It is not certain w
ho coined it, but probably it was General Mola. At the beginning of October 1936
, believing that a capture of Madrid was imminent, this nationalist leader said
that the capital would fall as a result of the efforts of the four columns of Ge
neral Varela, which were then approaching it, and of a fifth column already insi
de it: the supporters of the nationalists. A classically stupid remark, to say t
he least, considering its effect on violent men who in the first months of the w
ar had already shown no disposition to practice restraint out of moral considera
tion. The result was a feverish campaign to eliminate fifth columnists and to pu
rge the rear guard clean of traitors. Hugh Thomas, however, attributes the expre
ssion 'fifth column' to the British journalist Lord St. Oswald, who used it in a
dispatch to the Daily Telegraph in September."
[93] After the initial chaos of the military uprising, by August of 1936 the map
of Spain was divided in half, with borders separating the zones controlled by t
he rebels from those controlled by the republican government. The republican for
ces had an obvious superiority in terms of territorial expanse and of population
; they had Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, and in their camp were the industria
l areas, the financial resources, and the gold reserves of the Bank of Spain. Ho
wever, the confusion among the republican rulers and a lack of discipline and co
hesion in the revolutionary militias made it possible for nationalist offensives
to equalize the troop strength, the territory, and the monetary assets of the t
wo sides before winter.
The advance of the nationalist troops on Madrid in October 1936 reached the outs
kirts of the city, forcing the government to move to Valencia. This was the time
of uncontrolled arrests and systematic takings of prisoners to be shot en masse
. "Of the seventeen thousand who were executed or murdered in Madrid, almost hal
f died in that fateful November": Ram6n and Jesus Salas Larrazabal, Historia Gen
eral de la Guerra de Espana (Madrid, 1986), p. 161. See also Rafael Casas de la
Vega, El Terror: Madrid 1936:
Investigation de victimas y catdlogo de victimas identificadas (Madrid, 1994), p
p. 191-228; and Matilde Vazquez and Javier Valero, La Guerra Civil en Madrid (Ma
drid, 1978), pp. 118-19.

[94] Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 20.

[95] See Pero-Sanz, pp. 199-200.
[96] Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 77.
[97] Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 21.
[98] The "checas," along with the prisons, were agents of uncontrolled and arbit
rary repression in Madrid. "According to Peter Weiden," says Cervera Gil (p. 60)
, "the word 'checa' was used throughout Spain to refer to the dreaded tribunals
(often self-appointed) which sprang up in many neighborhoods for the purpose of
eliminating the 'Fascist enemy,' often on the basis of accusations with the flim
siest credibility. 'CHEKA' is a Russian acronym for 'Pan-Russian Special Committ
ee for the Suppression of the Counterrevolution and of Sabotage,' the first Sovi
et police force, precursor of the OGPV, the NKVD, and the KGB. The checas prolif
erated principally in Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia." Cervera found that in th
ose years there were more than two hundred of them in Madrid. A map showing the
location of the most important ones can be found on pp. 64-65 of the work cited.
On p. 63, in his account of the "checas most notorious for their repressive act
ivity," he discusses the fate of the Ferraz Street residence. See also Casas de
la Vega, El Terror: Madrid 1936 (Madrid, 1994), pp. 75-120.
[99] See Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 22; and Per
o-Sanz, p. 200.
[100] The Duke of Penaranda de Duero was Hernando Stuart Fitz-James Falco. His b
rother's name was Jacobo.
[101] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 896.
[102] See AGP, RHF, D-15348.
[103] Carmen Penalver Gbmez de las Cortinas, AGP, RHF, T-05090, p. 1. The name o
f her husband, the Marquis, was Don Manuel Maria Fernandez de Prada y Vasco.
[104] See AGP, RHF, D-15348.
[105] See Appendix 2.
[106] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 71.
[107] See Polanco Fernandez, AGP, RHF, T-04835.
[108] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 72.
[109] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 885, and Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-I
II, p. 74. Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo gives a related anecdote: "The Father wra
pped his eyeglasses in white paper and wrote on it, 'These are Dr. Maranori s gl
asses"' (AGP, RHF, T-04202, p. 14).
[110] See Carmen Penalver Gomez de las Cortinas, AGP, RHF, T-05090, p. 2.
[111] Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 22. See also J
imenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 80-81.
[112] See Gonzalez Barredo, AGP, RHF, T-04202, p. 14, and Jimenez Vargas, AGP, R
HF, T-04152-III, p. 71.
[113] AGP, RHF, D-15068. Juan's journal entry for October 15 reads, "It would be
a good idea to speak with Elordi, to see if we could get the Father a safe-cond
uct pass as a Basque nationalist" (see Appendix 2). At that time, when nationali
st troops were advancing toward Madrid, many people were ordered to produce docu
mentation and many were arrested, since, as this journal entry continues, "The p
ersonal ID card is not enough; they demand evidence of being trusted by the Popu
lar Front."
Juan did not get very far with his plan, since that same week he landed in a pri
son cell. Isidoro then contacted Elordi, who, as a Basque, would know people in
the Basque Nationalist Party who were in Madrid. Elordi had received spiritual d
irection from Father Josemara and had taken part in the formation classes given a
t the Ferraz Street residence during the 1934-1935 school year. In the August an
d September 1935 issues of Noticias there is mention of the Father having receiv
ed a letter from him during the summer vacation (see AGP, RHF, D-03696).
As for "Escriba," that was definitely not a mistake, but rather a deliberate alt
eration of the spelling, with the irony intended. ("Escriba" is a form of "escri
bir," meaning "to write" or "to spell.") This version appears on all the officia
l documents received by Father Josemara until he left the republican zone. See AG
P, RHF, D-15067 (statements given by Dr. Suils on March 14 and August 22 of 1937
), D-15070 (the certificate from the Honduran consulate, dated August 1, 1937),

and D-15125 (the safe-conduct pass dated October 25, 1937).

[114] See Lecha-Marzo, El Partido Nacionalista Vasco ante la guerra de Espana: 1
936-1937 (Pamplona, 1992). The republican assembly approved the Statute for the
Basques on October 1, 1936, and on October 7 the Basque Provisional Government w
as set up. Almost all of the Basque province of Guipuzcoa and a great part of th
e province of Alava had already become part of the nationalist zone, while the r
est of the Basque territory was isolated from the Spanish capital. Cervera Gil (
p. 354) says, "This permitted the Basques to accentuate their autonomy, through
which their delegation in Madrid did in fact acquire a respect and status simila
r to that of the embassies and legations.... The number of persons to whom the B
asque delegation provided documents enabling them to live freely in Madrid was s
omewhere between 2,350 and 2,850.... Thus the activity of the Basque delegation
in Madrid during the civil war was analogous to that carried out by the diplomat
ic representatives, and was even broader in some cases." See also Jesus de Galfn
dez, Los vascos en el Madrid sitiado (Buenos Aires, 1945).
[115] See Pero-Sanz, pp. 200-204.
[116] "In November," says Cervera (pp. 84-85), "Madrid's prisons became the scen
e of some of the most tragic episodes of the civil war: massive removals of pris
oners for execution, actions which also made obvious the lack of control of the
situation by the republican authorities. These murders, commonly referred to as
'extractions of prisoners,' took place between November 7 and December 4, 1936..
.. The days on which these expeditions took place are known through the document
ation of Madrid's General Office of Security and the testimonies contained in it
s General Office of Prosecution." Cervera offers descriptions of some of those d
eeds. See also Ian Gibson, Paracuellos: como fue (Barcelona, 1983); Carlos Ferna
ndez, Paracuellos del Jarama: Carrillo culpable? (Barcelona, 1983); and Casas de
la Vega, pp. 135-90.
[117] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 888, and Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04
152-III, p. 78.
[118] Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 79.
[119] See Pero-Sanz, p. 201.
[120] See Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 23, and Ju
an Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 85.
[121] See Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 23, and Ju
an Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 87.
[122] AGP, RHF, EF-370210-1.
[123] Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo tells us that after he had spent a few days in
his father's apartment, his friend Manuel Valdes (the friend who knew the son-i
n-law of the Honduran consul) arranged for a consulate car to be sent to pick hi
m up. As soon as he was in the consulate, he obtained permission for the Father
and Juan Jimenez Vargas to join him, without the consul knowing about it; he was
presented with it as a fait accompli. See Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, AGP, RHF
, T-04202, p. 16, and Jose Luis Rodriguez-Candela Manzaneque, AGP, RHF, T-05120,
p. 1. Rodriguez-Candela, the son-in-law of the consul, did not know the Father
personally, although he had heard some friends speak about him. They had invited
him to go to the DYA Academy.
[124] AGP, RHF, EF-370312-1.
[125] As, for example, when he writes, "My God-Love-thrash the donkey, who doesn
't deserve anything but whacks" (Apuntes,no. 388; November 12, 1931). See also A
puntes, nos. 1128 (11 Feb 1934) and 1371 (30 Jun 1936).
[126] The Father had for some time been speaking of his divine "wild idea," of h
is "obsession" with doing the Work, while speaking of new members as "lunatics"
entering the "insane asylum." The terms with double meanings included "bread" (t
he Eucharist), "table" (altar), "Doctor" and "Friend" and "Manuel" (the Lord), "
Manuel's mother" (our Lady), "roses" (rosaries), "lunch with Don Manuel" (recept
ion of Holy Communion), "the little watchmaker" (his guardian angel), and "renew
al feast" (renewal of the commitment made to our Lord by members of the Work).
[127] Original in AGP, RHF, D-15067.
[128] In this way some people were able to keep receiving Communion daily for te
n or twelve days. See Carmen Penalver Gomez de las Cortinas, AGP, RHF, T-05090,

p. 4.
[129] See Eduardo Alastrue Castillo, AGP, RHF, T-04695, pp. 10-11. For more on t
he arrival of the Father with his brother at the consulate, see Santiago Escriva
de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 25.
[130] AGP, RHF, EF-370317-1.
[131] AGP, RHF, EF-370325-1.
[132] He now weighed less than 110 pounds, mainly as a result of his sickness in
December, at Dr. Suils' sanatorium (see AGP, RHF, EF-370328 -1). And he lost st
ill more weight during his stay at the Honduran consulate.
[133] AGP, RHF, EF-370414-1.
[134] AGP, RHF, EF-370421-1.
[135] He says in a letter to his sons in Valencia, "Grandmother will be staying
in Madrid, to keep an eye on the odds and ends that haven't been lost yet, and t
he worthless papers of her elder son" (AGP, RHF, EF-370406-1).
[136] Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 24.
[137] See ibid. and Juan Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 88. These ski
rmishes were episodes in the power struggle that took place within the republica
n ranks when efforts were being made to put the state back together. The communi
sts sought to increase their power by making a deal with the socialists, but the
y encountered ever more bitter opposition from the anarchists and from Marxist e
lements that were not pro-Soviet. The result was an internal civil war between t
hese elements of the Popular Front, culminating in the so-called "events of May
1937," which were especially dramatic in Catalonia. The communists succeeded in
crushing their opponents (at times simply eliminating them) and gained control o
f the situation after the middle of 1937. See Bolloten, pp. 587ff.
[138] Carmen Penalver G6mez de las Cortinas, AGP, RHF, T-05090, p. 3.
[139] AGP, RHF, EF-370406-1.
[140] AGP, RHF, EF-370331-1.
[141] See Pero-Sanz, pp. 209-210, and the entry for March 28,1937, in the journa
l kept by Isidoro Zorzano during the civil war (original in AGP, IZL, D-1122).
[142] AGP RHF, EF-370328-2.
[143] AGP, RHF, EF-370330-2. Isidoro made his decision quickly. In fact, before
writing it to the Father, he had already communicated it to Doa Dolores. "Your fa
mily was happy to know that you can go with Ricardo and that I will stay here,"
he says in his letter of March 31, 1937 (AGP, IZL, D-1213, 130). Isidoro notifie
d the founder of his decision by means of this letter, instead of in person, bec
ause at that time he was not allowed to go to the Honduran consulate: see AGP, I
ZL, D-1122. On April 16 he communicated it to Pedro Casciaro in Valencia, writin
g to him, "I am staying to keep the others company and to be able to take care o
f the house when things get back to normal" (AGP, IZL, D-1213,132).
[144] See Jimenez Vargas, AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 92.
[145] Ibid., p. 95.
[146] Although Ricardo told the people in Madrid that he would let them know of
his safe arrival in the other zone by means of a coded signal to be transmitted
by nationalist radio, nothing was heard of him for several weeks. But he did cro
ss over at an opportune moment, providentially, and he "got away by a hair's bre
adth, because on the following day they were after him" (see ibid., p. 95). But
his friends were not sure he had made it until the beginning of June 1937 (see A
GP, RHF, EF-370605-1).
[147] AGP, RHF, EF-370328-1.
[148] AGP, RHF, EF-370406-1.
[149] AGP, RHF, EF-370409-1.
[150] Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. 29, 1937, p. 75.
[151] See Montero Moreno, p. 728. A few lines further on, one reads: "Even if th
e war was of a political or social nature, its repercussions on religion were ve
ry grave and from the beginning it was clear that one of the warring parties was
bent on the elimination of the Catholic religion in Spain." On the internationa
l repercussions of the "Collective Letter from the Spanish Bishops to the Whole
World on the Subject of the War in Spain," see Redondo, Historia, vol. 2, pp. 31
0ff, and Lecha-Marzo, "Algunos aspectos," pp. 116-19. See also Isidoro Goma y To

mas, Por Dios y por Espana: Pastorales, Instrucciones pastorales y Articulos, Di

scursos, Mensajes, Apendice, 1936-1939 (Barcelona, 1940).
[152] Montero Moreno, p. 733. For more on the religious persecution in Madrid, s
ee Camacho, passim.
At the end of the civil war the number of victims of the religious persecution,
says Montero Moreno, came to 13 bishops, 4,184 diocesan priests, 2,365 religious
-order priests and brothers, and 283 nuns. Not included in this number, of cours
e, were the thousands of persons murdered simply because they were Catholics. (S
ee Montero Moreno, p. 762.) To comprehend the impact of the slaughter, one must
bear in mind that it took place in only half of Spain's territory; that is, in t
he republican zone.
An analysis of the figures shows that Montero's numbers are low. See Vicente Car
cel Orti, La persecucion religiosa en Espana durante la Segunda Republica, 19311939 (Madrid, 1990), pp. 234ff. See also the martyrologies of various dioceses o
r regions, such as A. Garralda's two-volume La persecucion religiosa del clero e
n Asturias, 1934 y 1936-1937 (Avila, 1977), or Santos Lalueza Gil's Martirio de
la Iglesia de Barbastro, 1936-1938 (Barbastro, 1989). See also, in the first vol
ume of this biography, chapter 2, "Logrono Years (1915-1920)," note 7.
Between October 7 and 25, 1936, three weeks after the entrance of Franco's army
into San Sebastian, one religious-order and nine diocesan priests, on charges of
being Basque nationalists, were shot by the nationalist troops. When, on Octobe
r 26, Cardinal Goma informed General Franco of this, Franco assured him the exec
utions would immediately be stopped, and gave orders to that effect. Nevertheles
s, between October 27 and November 7 three more priests were shot. To date, no d
ocumentation has been found for the hasty trials possibly carried out by the mil
itary. See Anastasio Granados, Cardinal Goma, primado de Espana (Madrid, 1969),
p. 145, and Rodrfguez Aiso, pp. 49 and 62-65. Father Antonio Bombin, OEM, was ki
lled in Laguardia (Alava); see Joseba M. Goni Galarraga, La guerra civil en el P
ais Vasco: una guerra entre catolicos (Vitoria, 1989), p. 229.
[153] In his chapter on the search for hiding places in Madrid, Cervera Gil says
that the safest ones were the embassies. His study is thus far the most complet
e and well documented one with regard to the number of refugees in diplomatic he
adquarters. His count (given on pp. 369-74) sets the number at the beginning of
1937 at close to 14,000, not counting those mentioned in reports that do not giv
e numbers. According to these figures, the embassy that took in the most refugee
s was that of France, with 2,240. See also Maria del Carmen Gomez Reoyo, Madrid
1936-1939: El asilo diplomktico en la Guerra Civil Espanola (master's thesis, Un
iversidad Completense [Madrid], 1985). Gomez Reoyo distinguishes officially reco
gnized refugees from de facto refugees, who were more numerous, and gives 11,000
as the number of the former. See also Garcia-Mina, passim, and Camacho, pp. 181
-93.
[154] See Garcia-Mina, p. 476: "General Conditions of March 17, 1936, for the Ev
acuation of Refugees from Embassies." The last line of this decree leaves a wide
margin for arbitrariness: "The Minister of State, always within the above-writt
en norms, will proceed in a manner consistent with criteria of political relatio
nships." What is granted, therefore, is not a right to evacuate, but only author
ization to negotiate, country by country, national interests, taking into accoun
t political pressure and the international importance of the country involved.
[155] See Consuelo de Matheu Montalvo, AGP, RHF, T-05050, p. 1, and Jose Luis Ro
driguez-Candela Manzaneque, AGP, RHF, T-05120, p. 1. It was, then, a matter of a
n extension of consular asylum.
[156] AGP, RHF, EF-370420-3. Aurelio Nunez Morgado, the Chilean ambassador, was
then the dean of the diplomatic corps in Madrid; his reminiscences are also in E
F 370420-3.
[157] See Garcia-Mina, p. 47, and Cervera Gil, p. 367.
[158] AGP, RHF, EF-370421-1.
[159] AGP, RHF, EF-370503-1.
[160] AGP, RHF, EF-370504-1.
[161] AGP, RHF, EF-370506-1.
[162] AGP, RHF, EF-370515-2.

[163] AGP, RHF, EF-370530-1. The "good pipe story" is an expression referring to
a complicated issue whose resolution takes a long time and keeps getting more a
nd more bogged down by the efforts made to reach it. A similar expression transl
ates as "a never-ending story."
[164] AGP, RHF, EF-370606-2.
[165] AGP, RHF, EF-370607-1.
[166] According to the official communication of the Honduran consul general to
Spain's state department, at the beginning of 1937 there was a total of thirty-t
wo refugees there, twenty-seven being men of military age, and the other five be
ing women, children, and elderly men. At the end of 1938 the list was unchanged.
(See Garcia-Mina, p. 32.) But we know from eyewitnesses that in some cases the
number of actual refugees was triple the number of the officially recognized one
s. See also AGP, RHF, EF-370701-2.
[167] The original set, as a gift from the consul's daughter, is in AGP, RHF, D11074. See also the testimony of Juan Manuel Sainz de los Terreros in AGP, RHF,
T-05127, and that of Recaredo Ventosa Garcia in Beato Josemara Escriv6 de Balague
r: un hombre de Dios. Testimonios sobre el Fundador del Opus Dei (Madrid, 1994),
p. 419. (This last book will hereafter be cited as Testimonios.)
[168] AGP, RHF, EF-370701-2. "In this activity [of organizing evacuations]," say
s Cervera Gil (p. 357), "the embassies of Latin American countries, especially A
rgentina, Chile, and Mexico, were the most successful. In addition, France, the
United Kingdom, and Turkey organized and carried out evacuation programs."
[169] AGP, RHF, EF-370417-1.
[170] Ibid.
[171] AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 55.
[172] AGP, RHF, EF-370526-1. "This is a paradise of cockroaches," he writes in a
nother letter. "Some are quite big, as solemn and lustrous as a sacred Egyptian
beetle; others are the size of a pinhead. And what a harmony of colors! White, r
ed, silver, russet, gold, brown, black-it makes one want to praise one's Maker.
So you see why we're having such a good time." And on another occasion, "Today,
when little Eduardo opened a book, a magnificent bedbug emerged. Can you imagine
? At least the cockroaches will see they are well accompanied." See AGP, RHF, EF
-370701-1 and EF-370725-3, and also EF-370727-3 and 370420-1.
[173] The number living upstairs was about sixty. About the life of those refuge
es, see Testimonios, pp. 420ff.
[174] See AGP, RHF, T-04695, p. 13; T-05120, p. 3; and T-04152-III, p. 95.
[175] As Cervera Gil notes (p. 363), "most of those refugees were set free, but
eighteen of them-young men known for their rightist connections-were taken to th
e General Office of Security." There they were tortured so badly that the Genera
l Office of Security opened a file on their jailers. After several transfers to
different jails, they were condemned to death; but the intercession of other cou
ntries and of the International Red Cross resulted in the lifting of that senten
ce. See Cervera Gil, pp. 244-45, and Garcia-Mina, p. 83.
[176] The priests on the upper floor had to stop saying Mass because of the refu
gees' fear. See Testimonies, pp. 420ff.
[177] AGP, RHF, T-05050, p. 3.
[178] AGP, RHF, T-04695, p. 19.
[179] AGP, RHF, EF-370519-1. Starting on the very day he arrived at the consulat
e (in the middle of March), the Father said Mass in the foyer and reserved the B
lessed Sacrament in a small silver box in a desk there. They made visits to the
Blessed Sacrament there in the foyer until May, when they had to remove it from
the desk by order of the consul, because of the refugees' panicky fear of the po
lice showing up. From then on, they kept the consecrated hosts in that small lea
ther case.
[180] AGP, RHF, EF-370501-1.
[181] See Pero-Sanz, pp. 205-206.
[182] See AGP, RHF, EF-370420-1.
[183] See Garcia-Mina, p. 176, and Cervera Gil, pp. 355-56.
[184] AGP, RHF, EF-370406-1. See also AGP, RHF, T-04695, p. 16.
[185] AGP, RHF, EF-370426-1. Among the joking remarks in his correspondence, the

re appear from time to time some unadorned truths. For instance, "Today they gav
e us rice with lentils, and nothing else.... It's a miracle that we're still ali
ve, don't you think?" (AGP, RHF, EF-370508-2).
[186] AGP, RHF, EF-370430-3.
[187] AGP, RHF, EF-370502-1.
[188] AGP, RHF, EF-370505-1.
[189] AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 26.
[190] See AGP, RHF, EF-370530-3, Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 365, and Eduardo Alas
true Castillo, Sum. 5552.
[191] AGP, RHF, T-04695, p. 18.
[192] AGP, RHF, T-05120, p. 1.
[193] AGP, RHF, EF-370523-1. Some of his letters had as many as seventeen separa
te sections on different topics; see, for example, EF-370525-1. Just two days be
fore writing that letter, he had sent them one with eight sections; and one day
after, he wrote them one with seven.
[194] AGP, RHF, EF-370423-1.
In about 1933 the Father gave spiritual direction to "the illustrious and most v
irtuous Countess of Humanes," Doa Maria Francisca Messia y Eraso de Aranda. She w
as a Spanish blue blood, and yet she lived in great poverty, in a spirit of deta
chment from her wealth. An anecdote about her is included in The Way, no. 638. A
mong other things, she Doated her jewelry, intending for it to be sold and the pr
ofits used to help spread the Work. It is likely that when the militia searched
the Ferraz Street residence in July 1936, they stole those jewels and other obje
cts of value which the founder was saving to pay for the building. The Countess
of Humanes died on July 23, 1936, a few days after the civil war broke out.
The reproduction of the Society's constitution was made and notarized at the off
ice of Don Juan Jose Esteban y Rojo. The constitution bore the date of November
2, 1935. The original members of the Society were Isidoro, Ricardo Fernandez Val
lespfn, Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, and Manuel Sainz de los Terreros Villacampa
.
The reproduction of the deed of the Society's purchase of the house at 16 Ferraz
Street from Don Javier Azlor-Aragon was made and notarized at the office of Don
Luis Siera Bermejo, and is dated June 17, 1936. Appearing before the notary "as
the sole members and in the name of the Civil Society for the Encouragement of
Advanced Studies" were these same original members.
[195] See Pero-Sanz, pp. 220-22.
[196] Among the listings in the claim were the following: Academy (furniture, la
bs, etc.):154,820 pesetas; Residence (furniture, clothes, equipment, etc.) 240,4
00; Building (16 Ferraz Street): repair work110,000 See AGP, IZL, D-1213,139.
As can be seen, there was no claim for the building itself, but only for repair
work. Stipulation 4 in the deed of purchase reads, "The purchasing entity takes
possession of the purchased property by the sole fact of the granting of this de
ed." The agreed-upon price for 16 Ferraz Street was 400,000 pesetas, to be paid
over fourteen years at 43,032 pesetas a year. As stipulation 3 indicates, this a
nnual amount was to paid "in four equal installments, every three months, with t
he first payment due on September 30 of the current year." When the deed was dra
wn up, on June 17,1936, the Society handed over 6,000 pesetas as part of the fir
st quarterly payment.
The situation from a legal point of view was somewhat complicated. The deed of p
urchase was presented on July 20 (probably by Isidoro) at the Real Estate Depart
ment, but in view of the political situation, nothing was done. "By indications
given us in August," says Isidoro in a note about "the matter of the notary," th
e sale taxes were not paid, "for which reason the property has not been put in t
he name of the Society. For all legal purposes, the present owner of it continue
s to be the former one. And therefore they cannot give us an authorized copy of
the document" (AGP, RHF, D15711).
The presenting of this claim involved many difficulties, not the least of which
was that of obtaining proof that the inventoried objects had been destroyed or h
ad disappeared. This was impossible at that time because 16 Ferraz Street was in
a war zone.

[197] AGP, RHF, EF-370501-2.

[198] Here (from AGP, IZL, D-1213, 139) is the letter from Isidoro to Pedro: "Ma
drid, May 3, 1937 / My dear friend: / Mariano has asked me to bring you up to da
te on some business that I have transacted today. As you know, my house on Ferra
z Street has been half destroyed and the furniture that was in it has disappeare
d, and on the basis of my situation as a foreigner I have presented a claim to t
he Argentine embassy against the Spanish state for the value of what was damaged
in that house and of the furniture. The house belonged to the Society for the E
ncouragement of Advanced Studies, of which I am president. As such, I have prese
nted the claim, since as co-owner of what has been destroyed and of what has dis
appeared, I have a right to consider as mine those goods of the Society and to r
equest the proper compensation, which amounts, according to the inventory which
I attached to the claim, to 1,078,900 pesetas. I have just written to Paco and E
ugenio asking them to work on this matter in Valencia. M ariano has asked me to
find out if your British grandfather could do something in this matter. Entrust
it to the G.A.'s [guardian angels] and to Don Nicolas [Saint Nicholas], who have
a lot of influence. Do all that you can, spare no effort, butter them up with g
ifts if necessary; you can't imagine how much interest Mariano has in this matte
r. Keep me posted on whatever you can do in this regard. I am mailing a letter t
o Paco and Eugenio at the same time as this one. An embrace from your good frien
d, Isidoro."
[199] AGP, RHF, EF-370502-1.
[200] AGP, RHF, EF-370513-1. And in another letter to these sons in Madrid, "It
is necessary to pursue this matter, even if nothing is accomplished. I assure yo
u that in any case we will have accomplished a lot. Being the old man that I am,
I do know well what I am talking about" (AGP, RHF, EF-370518-1).
[201] AGP, RHF, EF-370516-1.
[202] AGP, RHF, EF-370519-2.
[203] AGP, RHF, EF-370513-1.
[204] AGP RHF, EF-370521-2. On this point he was so sure of the will of God that
on the following day he wrote to Isidoro to have him communicate it to those in
Valencia by way of Paco Botella. "When you write to Paco," he says, "copy the f
irst paragraphs of my letter of Friday-the ones about the need to be a pain in t
he neck. I think they will do a lot of good." (See AGP, RHF, EF-370522-1.)
[205] AGP RHF, EF-370513-1.
[206] AGP, RHF, EF-370518-1.
[207] For him to submit the claim, the offices of the Argentine embassy in Valen
cia demanded a certificate of nationality. So he had one sent from Madrid. But a
copy of his birth certificate, the only proof he had of his citizenship, was no
t enough; he had to apply for an original from Buenos Aires. And later he was to
ld that even then he could not officially be considered an Argentine citizen, si
nce he had not done the required military service. This was the situation in Jul
y. The birth certificate arrived, and the Father wrote him, "Well, better late t
han never." See AGP, RHF, EF-370701-4. For more information on the claim and the
required documentation, see AGP, IZL, D-1018 and D-1213, 147, 148, 151, 173, 19
0, 191, 230, and 234. In this last letter (234) Isidoro asks those in Valencia t
o bring some documents to the Argentine embassy to add to the claim's file. See
also Pero-Sanz, pp. 221-22.
[208] AGP, RHF, EF-370601-1.
[209] See AGP, RHF, D-15702.
[210] "I only have a little news to relate today," says Isidoro in a letter of J
une 6, 1937. "First, the Swiss friend of Miguel's was not able to do anything, b
ecause it was a holiday. And second, we're thinking that the Bolivian from the S
o-Co-In [Sociedad de Colaboracion Intelectual], Pablo Garcia de Paredes, could b
e used as a "member" for the claim; maybe Barredo knows where he lives. And Mano
lo tells me he's thought of a Paraguayan friend of his." See AGP, IZL, D-1213, 1
85. For more on the So-Co-In, see vol. 1, p. 451, of this biography.
[211] The meditations which the Father gave were taken down "with considerable a
ccuracy" by Eduardo and, once transcribed, were picked up by Isidoro, along with
the correspondence, so that the other members of the Work could also benefit fr

om them. See AGP, RHF, T-04965, p. 19, and Pero-Sanz, pp. 206-207.
[212] See AGP, RHF, T-05050, p. 1, and T-05127.
[213] AGP, RHF, EF-370430-1.
[214] See AGP, RHF, EF-370406-1.
[215] See AGP, RHF, EF-370530-1, and AGP, RHF, T-05050, p. 3. This must have occ
urred at the beginning of May, certainly not before, because one of his journal
entries reads, "Thursday, May 6, 1937: They want to have the Blessed Sacrament r
emoved" (Apuntes, no. 1377).
[216] See AGP, RHF, T-05120, p. 2.
[217] It was Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo who said this, and Eduardo Alastrue Cas
tillo who related it, in AGP, RHF, T-04695, p. 16.
[218] See AGP, RHF, EF-370508-2.
[219] AGP, RHF, EF-370501-1.
[220] AGP, RHF, D-15702.
[221] Apuntes, no. 1372 (30 Jun 1936).
[222] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 486. Alvaro had also been sick once before, du
ring the days just before March 10, 1937. See Apuntes, nos. 1381 and 1382.
[223] AGP, RHF, EF-370421-1.
[224] AGP, RHF, EF-370506-1.
[225] AGP, RHF, EF-370519-1
[226] AGP, RHF, EF-370530-1.
[227] Apuntes, no. 274.
[228] Apuntes, no. 244 (31 Aug 1931). Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, commenting on
the richness of the founder's life of prayer, says, "The Holy Spirit undoubtedly
led him to the highest summits of mystical union in the midst of ordinary life,
while he was also undergoing very painful passive purifications of the spirit a
nd the senses." See "Sacerdotes para una nueva Evangelizacion," in La formacion
de los sacerdotes en las circunstancias actuales. XI Simposio Internacional de T
eologia (Pamplona: University of Navarre, 1990), p. 989.
[229] Apuntes, no. 1379 (8 May 1937). In the general archives of the prelature t
here are some notes written by the Father, on small sheets of paper, in the Hond
uran consulate.
He began this writing of notes in April of 1937, but the first twenty-two are mi
ssing. The "Honduran notes" are recorded in Apuntes, nos. 1374 to 1394.
[230] "He started out having a great affection for me," says Father Ventosa, "an
d after our first conversation, he asked me to hear his confession. The Father c
ame to confession to me many times during his stay at the consulate.... I also h
eard the confessions of those who were with the Father." See Testimonios, p. 420
.
[231] Apuntes, no. 1380.
[232] Apuntes, no. 1388.
[233] Apuntes, no. 1389.
[234] Apuntes, no. 1391.
[235] Apuntes, no. 1391.
[236] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 183.
[237] AGP, RHF, EF-370429-1.
[238] AGP, RHF, EF-370624-1.
[239] AGP, RHF, EF-370421-1. 240 AGP, RHF, EF-370605-1.
[240] AGP, IZL, F-1213, 196.
[241] Pepe Isasa died on April 23, 1937.
[242] "Ignacio" was Isidoro's code name.
[243] AGP, RHF, EF-370615-1.
[244] AGP RHF, EF-370815-1.
[245] AGP, RHF, EF-370515-1.
[246] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, pp. 15-16.
[247] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 217. The censorship made it necessary that, where spirit
ual matters were concerned, some things be communicated in a vague way or throug
h silence. It annoyed the grandfather when this was carried too far, and sometim
es he complained to Paco Botella about his not having really answered his questi
ons. "Paco," he said, "don't you realize that your poor grandfather's concern ab

out his little ones is like an unhealed wound?" (AGP, RHF, EF-370725-3).
[248] That was not much of an exaggeration, as the Father himself admits. "Rafae
l," he says, "I've read your letter three times in the last two hours. It's true
that I do the same with the letters of all my grandchildren. Jeannot and Alvaro
te, who always notice these things, have made a big fuss about it" (AGP, RHF, EF
-370624-1).
[249] AGP, RHF, EF-370727-4.
[250] AGP, RHF, EF-370727-2.
[251] AGP, RHF, EF-370529-2.
[252] AGP, RHF, EF-370707-1.
[253] AGP, RHF, EF-370525-1.
[254] The letter to Maria Dolores (Lola) Fisac is brief: "For Daimiel. What joy
it gave me to read your letter, Lola! Know that I keep you always in mind, as I
do all your family. Oh, and it would make me very happy if you were to become my
granddaughter. Yours, Mariano. Madrid. May 21,1937." See AGP, RHF, EF-370521-1.
[255] AGP, RHF, EF-370701-1.
[256] AGP, RHF, EF-370714-1.
[257] AGP, RHF, EF-370805-1.
[258] AGP, RHF, EF-370505-4.
[259] AGP, RHF, EF-370707-1. Between the lines of this letter from the founder,
there is also a note from Juan Jimenez Vargas for those in Valencia.
[260] AGP, RHF, EF-370526-1.
[261] AGP, RHF, EF-370505-1.
[262] AGP, RHF, EF-370629-1.
[263] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 214.
[264] AGP, RHF, EF-370701-3.
[265] AGP, RHF, EF-370707-1.
[266] AGP, RHF, EF-370601-1.
[267] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 247. "Do you want to know how much I weigh? Well, it's 1
25 pounds" (AGP, RHF, EF-370905-1).
[268] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 230.
[269] AGP, RHF, EF-370725-6.
[270] AGP, RHF, EF-370725-2.
[271] AGP, IZL, D-1213,229.
[272] AGP, RHF, EF-370725-4.
[273] AGP, RHF, EF-370801-3.
[274] AGP, RHF, T-04373, p. 3. This must be seen in the context of the times, th
e extraordinary circumstances of a grave breakdown of the social order and its o
rdinary norms of conduct.
[275] AGP, RHF, EF-370804-2.
[276] AGP, RHF, EF-370806-2. In a letter dated August 12, Isidoro notified those
in Daimiel that the plan for getting the grandfather out had failed. "However,"
he added, "since everyone in the family is very obstinate, we're going to conti
nue pestering until Don Manuel gives in to our request" (AGP, IZL, D-1213,244).
[277] To some extent the nation had been put back together, and there were great
er assurances of safety, although the campaign against the "fifth column" was st
ill going on full force. Political activity was intense and was in the hands of
the communist elements. They had taken over most of the channels of political po
wer. See Cervera Gil, pp. 104-105.
[278] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 171.
[279] AGP, RHF, D-15703.
[280] AGP RHF, EF-370822-1.
[281] See AGP, RHF, EF-370822-1. Isidoro went to see Dr. Suils, and he made out
the certificate as follows: "Madrid, August 22, 1937. I certify that Jose Maria
Escribs Albas, 35 years of age, has been treated by me since the age of 29 for a
n endogenous psychosis, which affects him periodically. He is discharged as of t
oday, having recovered from the latest outbreak (period) of this illness, which
required him to be interned in this sanatorium for several months, given the dif
ficulties of treating at home under the present circumstances. From today on, we
are allowing him to go live with his sister. - The Director / Dr. A. Suils." Th

e original is in AGP, RHF, D-15067.

[282] There were other problems as well. Don Alvaro Gonzalez Valdes, in whose ho
me Doa Dolores was living with her children, was full of doubts and fears. But on
the other hand, if the Father presented himself before the committee as a sick
person, they were likely to send him to some village far from Madrid, since he d
id not have a job or occupation. See AGP, IZL, D-1213, 253.
[283] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 256.
[284] AGP RHF, EF-370825-1. By this "breakfast" he means, of course, holy Commun
ion.
[285] AGP, RHF, EF-370828-1.
[286] The document reads: "General Consulate of Honduras / Telephone 4507 / 51 P
aseo de la Castellana / Madrid / The general consulate of the Republic of Hondur
as, Central America, with its official residence in this city, certifies that Jo
se ESCRIBA ALBAS, 35 years of age, single, is in the service of this Ministry of
Foreign Affairs as CHIEF SUPPLY OFFICER, and we ask the CIVIL AUTHORITIES to pr
ovide him, in return, complete support and protection, and thus freedom of movem
ent to carry out his duties. / Madrid, August 1, 1937 / Consul General / F. Math
eu." See AGP, RHF, D-15070.
[287] AGP, RHF, EF-370831-1.
2. The Road to Freedom

1. Activities of a "Chief Supply Officer"

2. "They had seen Josemara dead"
3. "Don Manuel knows best"
4. Departure from Madrid
5. A stay in Barcelona
6. The rose of Rialp
7. "Saint Raphael's Cabin"
8. Crossing the Pyrenees
9. In Andorra

* * *

1. Activities of a "Chief Supply Officer"

Father Josemara walked briskly down the street, quite at ease in the too-large su
it the consul had given him. He wore a clean shirt and a nice tie, emblems of th
e fortunate few-usually foreign diplomats or civil authorities-who, possessing g
ood documents, could walk the streets of Madrid with self-assurance. With a smal
l flag on his lapel and his accreditation as an official of a Latin-American rep
ublic in his pocket, Father Josemara could, for the first time in almost a year,
move around in Madrid in relative safety. Add the pallor resulting from his havi
ng been indoors for months, and who would recognize this emaciated bureaucrat as
the former rector of Santa Isabel?[1]
From the consulate he went directly to Isidoro's apartment, where he was reunite
d with Manolo, Rafael, and Chiqui. Rafael had come from Valencia on a two days'
leave, just to see the Father; after talking with him, he returned to Valencia t
o join the International Brigades, to which he had been assigned. Chiqui was sta
ying for a few days in Madrid, before rejoining the army of Andalusia.[2]
The new consular official's role demanded naturalness and daring. His first step
was to move into a rented room that Eduardo Alastrue's father had found for him
, on the fourth floor of a building on Ayala Street.[3] Accustomed to having in
his room a picture of our Lady to glance at affectionately from time to time, he
went to a store at Angel Plaza, thinking he might find one there even though th
e shop window displayed only frames and mirrors. His request for an image of our
Lady-something prohibited and dangerous to have caused a small stir at the back
of the shop. To convince the shop owner that he was not an undercover police off
icer, he showed his documentation as foreign consular official. Then, nervously,
they produced a lithograph of Our Lady of Sorrows.[4]
The next day, on the recommendation of a friend of Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo,

he went to the Panamanian consulate and obtained an identity card in the name of
"Ricardo Escriba." This was for Juan Jimenez Vargas, who two days later came to
live with the Father in the Ayala Street apartment. The plan was that they woul
d pass themselves off as brothers.[5]But all that Juan did by way of disguise wa
s to use an old prescription to get glasses with black frames; Isidoro picked th
em up. And despite the Father's efforts to get him to speak with him as an equal
, Juan had too much respect for him to be able to use toward him the word for "y
ou" that brothers would use. So the plan was not a success, even though physical
ly they were not that dissimilar.
During early September, Father Josemara visited his family and members of the Wor
k every day, and usually ate with Doa Dolores. On September 4, though, all the me
mbers of the Work who could circulate freely in Madrid went to Heidelberg, a res
taurant where they had eaten on a special occasion in 1934. Little had changed i
n its appearance, but the waiters were different, the menu was much more limited
, and the prices were much higher.[6]
The Spanish bishops' collective letter on the religious persecution, dated July
1, 1937, and published in August, had important repercussions on international p
ublic opinion.[7]In the republican zone the charges made in the letter were hush
ed up as much as possible, but the letter did have the effect of reducing the pe
rsecution that had been raging since the outbreak of the civil war.[8] In the Ne
grin government, formed in May 1937, a Catholic Basque Nationalist, Manuel Irujo
, was named Minister of Justice. Irujo tried to convince the republican governme
nt of the grave danger it was putting itself in by that fierce opposition to the
Church. He even presented a legislative proposal to restore worship and assure
religious freedom.[9] His colleagues in the government did not support him, but
they did take advantage of his efforts by publicizing his proposals internationa
lly for purely political purposes.
Hostility toward Catholics continued, in a more underhanded but still dangerous
fashion, and the Church continued to have to operate undercover.[10] Assassinati
ons and imprisonment of priests and religious had practically ceased, the initia
l campaign to hunt them down having attained its objective. Catholic worship was
clandestine; even the possession of religious books or images was taken as a si
gn of hostility to the regime. Many churchmen had been martyred in the violent p
hase, and those still alive were in prison or in hiding, some in large cities wh
ere they heroically exercised their ministry, at risk of being apprehended and k
illed. Father Josemara became one of them.[11]
The first thing he did now was to seek news of his children. Vicente Rodriguez C
asado was a refugee in the Norwegian consulate on Abascal Street. When the Fathe
r unexpectedly showed up there, Vicente did not recognize him until he heard him
laugh. From then on they saw each other almost every day, meeting in the entryw
ay and going to the garage to chat, comfortably seated in one of the cars. Durin
g that time the Father would give a meditation to his companion.[12]
He also visited the family of Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, who told him they had
received a letter from Ricardo, re-mailed from France, telling them he was well
. He then went immediately to see Jose Maria Albareda, in the boardinghouse on M
enendez y Pelayo Street. This good friend had done a lot for the Work since the
beginning of the civil war, and the Father in a very special way prayed for his
vocation during those days. When Tomas Alvira, a friend of Albareda, showed up t
here, the priest spoke at length with both of them.[13]
He then visited two families who had offered him shelter in more perilous times,
the Leyvas and the Herrero Fontanas, in order to let them and their friends kno
w where he was living and to offer them his services as a priest.[14] Father Jos
emara tried not to let even one day go by without his saying Mass and afterward g
oing from house to house to bring Communion. The hosts were wrapped in some smal
l corporals made by his sister and were put in a metal cigarette case decorated
with a Honduran flag, also sewn by Carmen. Some nights he would fall asleep duri
ng prayer and remain that way all night, fully dressed and with the consecrated
hosts on his breast.[15]
One person he visited often was Don Ram6n del Portillo, Alvaro's father, who was
gravely ill. The family was dispersed; some members were in the nationalist zon

e. Alvaro's mother, Mexican by birth, had moved to an apartment owned by the Mex
ican embassy in Madrid. A woman with great strength of character, she was awaiti
ng her husband's death with two little children, Teresa and Carlos-the ones who
had picked up Father Josemara's letters for Isidoro from the consulate. Not all o
f the neighbors could be trusted, so as soon as Father Josemara arrived, the chil
dren would shout, "The doctor is here! The doctor is here!" Neither they nor Alv
aro knew how seriously ill their father was; and with no documentation, Alvaro c
ould not risk leaving the consulate.[16]
One day Jose Maria Albareda informed the Father that the wife of an acquaintance
of his, Domingo Diaz-Ambrona, who was then (with his family) in refuge at the C
uban consulate, had had a baby girl in Riesgo Hospital, which was under the prot
ection of the British embassy. A priest was needed to baptize the child. Albared
a told them Father Josemara was willing, and they settled on a certain day at sev
en in the evening. One would think it would not have been necessary to warn them
to be careful, but Father Josemara learned that Senor Diaz Ambrona, in his excit
ement, had invited other people besides the godparents. Therefore he arrived two
hours early, and after baptizing the little girl he quickly took his leave, eve
n though the parents wanted him to stay for a family celebration. Since they wer
e scheduled to be evacuated soon, he told them, they would have the opportunity
to supplement the ceremony in a parishchurch.[17]
On September 8, Jose Maria Albareda asked to be admitted to Opus Dei.[18] Father
Josemara decided to give for him and his friends, and for Tomas Alvira and other
acquaintances he had managed to locate in Madrid, a retreat like the ones he ha
d given at the Ferraz Street residence, although now they had no oratory, no ter
race to take a walk on during free time, and no certainty that they would not fa
ll into a police trap and all end up in prison.
In a letter dated September 10, he tells those in Valencia about the events of t
hat first week outside the consulate:

I take up my pen today with very little enthusiasm. Not because of any lack of d
esire to, but because of the thousand little things weighing on me. If I'm not c
areful, they put me in a wretched mood.
Alvaro, poor fellow, is going through some really hard times, because his father
, who stayed behind in Madrid with his wife (Alvaro's mother) and their two litt
le ones (nine and eleven years old) when the rest of the family left Spain-his f
ather, I was saying, is very gravely ill, with tuberculosis. You can imagine the
conflict. Alvaro's mother is very spirited, but it is not possible for the poor
lady to do without the company of her son in these circumstances. We will see h
ow this works out.
Ricardo and Josemara live in a small room they have rented-very cheaply-in the Sa
lamanca district. Josemara has lunch with the grandmother, and Ricardo with my so
n Jose Maria Albareda. Breakfast? Good! Dinner? Well, is there really dinner?
I'm sending you an authentic sketch of my brother, as he is now. They say it loo
ks just like him.
These days, that lunatic has gotten it into his head to give some conferences, l
ike the ones he used to give in his house along with little strolls on the rooft
op. He claims he will have seven or maybe even nine professors listening to him.
Well, that's his business. As for me, I wish him luck.
I get out fairly often and occupy myself with things that I like. Being old-fash
ioned, I hold on to my time-honored traditions-water, wine, and bread-everywhere
I can. Also-prerogatives of an old man-I hear confidences and give advice, prud
ent advice because of all these years of experience, to all my little ones, and
even to some who are no longer children. My legs? For now, no rheumatism. But I
don't know how much they can endure.
On the 8th, Jose Maria Albareda came to see me, to ask permission to become part
of our family. Since he's a well-mannered suitor and a serious person with a br
ight future ahead of him, I consented. Ask Doa Maria to take an interest in these
love affairs, all right?
Many thanks for your frequent gifts, which take care of our midday gastronomical
problems. But the grandfather doesn't want you to make financial sacrifices. Yo

u have certainly done more than you can afford to. And I don't like it. I don't
want you to, in any way, deprive yourselves of anything for us. Is that clear?
Rafa! Any news of him? How joyfully I embraced him, and how it hurt me when he d
eparted! Tell me something.
I'm not hearing anything from Lola. I would like to come see everyone, accompani
ed by Don Manuel. I hope it can be arranged.
I am worried about Alvaro.
Write me often. Your grandfather sends the three of you (and the others yet to b
e born?) much love.
Marian
P .S. My brother asks you to keep in mind his conferences.[19]

2. "They had seen Josemara dead"

There had been more than a year of fighting since Doa Dolores made her prediction
that the war would end by July 25,the feast of Saint James, Spain's patron sain
t. During the summer of 1937 nationalist troops gradually took over the coastal
regions of northern Spain. Once Santander fell, they dislodged the republican fo
rces from the province of Asturias, and now had control of the entire northern c
oast of the peninsula. The Negrin government thus lost its superiority in milita
ry strength, and with the opposing forces now roughly equal, the war promised to
be a long one, even though optimists continued to predict that it would end soo
n.
The founder reflected on the events of recent months. The hunger in Madrid was g
etting worse every day. How his sons in prison must be suffering! For a few mont
hs Alvaro and Chiqui had been in the San Anton prison, and at times the militiam
en had given them human excrement to eat.[20]Now, at the beginning of September
1937, Chiqui was back in Madrid, tanned and looking great, enjoying a few days o
f military leave. Isidoro writes jokingly, "Chiqui is wonderful. He's even putti
ng on weight, because he hogs everything. He eats at the camp and then goes home
and does the same all over again. He doesn't want anyone to benefit from his ha
ving eaten at the camp." [21]
The Father found all of his sons who were in the republican zone. He even had go
od news from Ricardo, who had made it into the nationalist zone. No one knew unt
il years later that he had crossed over just a few days before an order for his
arrest as a "Fascist" arrived from Madrid.[22]
It was rare to find a family without a loved one on the list of the fallen in ba
ttle, missing, or murdered. This was also the case among the members of the Work
. Pepe Isasa had fallen in battle. Manolo had lost two brothers, one in battle a
nd the other murdered. Jose Maria Albareda's father and a brother of his had bee
n murdered when the war broke out.[23]
Among all the discomforts he had suffered during his confinement in the Honduran
consulate, what Father Josemara had found especially trying was having to live w
ith filth. Although there was never a lack of water and soap and other products
with which to free oneself, as he said, quoting Saint Teresa, from the "bad popu
lace"-bedbugs, fleas, and lice-the lice had put up a stiff resistance in that ti
ny room in the consulate. (Which is certainly understandable, considering that t
his room had been a storing place for coal, and that the real intruders were the
refugees.) And there had been plenty of other crawling creatures besides.
The room that Father Josemara shared with Juan in the apartment on Ayala Street w
as incomparably better. Now there were only two mattresses on the floor, and it
was a lot easier to get access to the bathroom. And although the late-summer mor
nings were becoming chilly, the priest never omitted the mortification of a cold
bath. Whether this was a good idea in view of his physical condition is another
question. Worn out by hunger and low spirits, he was at the point of exhaustion
. He also was showing signs of rheumatism andpossibly the first symptoms of diab
etes, such as having to urinate frequently. He also seems to have suffered some
bouts of fever. In a letter written in the summer of 1937 we read: "Madrid is ex
cessively hot, and one feels the heat more than ever. And-a paradox-at times I'm

so cold that I have to stay wrapped up in a blanket until I recover. Stomach pr

oblems, no doubt."[24]
For meals, Father Josemara went to his mother's place, and often he would take he
r for a walk in the afternoon. And so Doa Dolores grew accustomed to her son's em
aciated face. Suffering and privation had left their mark on everyone in Madrid,
including her-her hair was turning gray. But her son saw in her face a serenity
in affliction that reminded him of the picture of Our Lady of Sorrows that he h
ad bought in Angel Plaza.
Now the two of them could speak at length about all they had experienced in the
year since-on July 20, 1936-Father Josemara had showed up at his mother's apartme
nt dressed in overalls. Right after that there had begun the attacks on churches
and monasteries and the hunting down of priests. And one day, Santiago tells us
, a communist woman who worked for one of their neighbors "informed the authorit
ies that there was a priest hiding out in our apartment, and that they should ki
ll him."[25]
When news came a few days later that the house was about to be searched, Father
Josemara fled. The militia arrested several members of a family on the floor belo
w, but, for some reason, did not search the Escrivas' apartment, even though eve
ryone in the neighborhood knew that a priest lived there.[26]
A few days after the flight of Father Josemara, the Escrivas witnessed a frighten
ing event: "a murder in the street, in the early hours of the night," reports Ju
an Jimenez Vargas. "They heard a big commotion, and, thinking it was one of the
patrols that were searching the houses, they looked down from the balcony, stayi
ng hidden, of course, peeking between the closed blinds.... Some militiamen were
chasing a man, and he couldn't escape; they killed him right there and left the
body in the street." [27]
Street murders were not uncommon. A couple of months later, in October 1936, San
tiago tells us, two sisters of Father Norberto, the priest at the Foundation for
the Sick, came to the apartment "to ask us for money which, they claimed, was o
wed to their brother. Since this was not true, the conversation became pretty he
ated, to the point where they said to my mother-I don't know where they got this
from-that they had seen Josemara dead, hanging from a tree. Unable to restrain m
yself, I then told them what I thought of them and threw them out."[28]
But there was a body. Other neighbors had seen it and heard the militia boasting
of having killed a priest. At the time that the murder took place, Father Josem
ara was in refuge in Manolo's apartment, on Sagasta Street, and it was not uncomm
on for several days to pass before they heard anything from him. Quite possibly
Doa Dolores had heard from a neighbor that her son had suffered a violent death,
and mother and daughter had suffered a few days of anguish but had not said anyt
hing to Santiago. He, meanwhile, naturally thought that the story told by Father
Norberto's sisters was a total fabrication, since in October his brother was in
refuge, safe and sound, in the clinic of Dr. Suils.
The last person to hear that he had been murdered was the supposed victim himsel
f. On September 18, 1937, he wrote to his sons in Valencia: "A bit of old news:
A number of people have told me-right to my face-that they saw my brother Josema
ra hanging from a tree. Some say it was on Moncloa; others, on Ferraz. One person
even claimed to have identified the corpse. Another version of his death: they
shot him."[29]
The one hundred seventy letters written from the consulate contain no mention of
this "old news." Presumably, the reason is that it was not until now that he wa
s able to have a good, long conversation with his mother. It was, no doubt, Doa D
olores who filled him in on the different stories going around about his suppose
d death. The letter continues: "You can imagine the look on the grandfather's fa
ce when he received this news. Actually, for a madman like my brother, such a de
ath would be something to envy, especially with the addition of a common grave.
What more could the poor fellow have wished for, when he was lying at death's do
or in a luxurious room of an expensive sanatorium! But what am I saying? This ki
nd of death (normal, without noise or show)-a death like that of a bourgeois pig
-best suits his life, his work, and his path. To die thus ?oh, Don Manuel!? but
mad, with the madness of Love."

Later he would put it this way: "You talk of dying 'heroically.' Don't you think
that it is more heroic to die unnoticed, in a good bed, like a bourgeois ... bu
t to die of Love?"[30]
Elsewhere in that same letter, trying to raise the spirits of someone who had no
t yet recovered from the pain of his father's death, he wrote: "Cheer up, man! I
myself have no intention of dying. I'll be marching on, just marching on."[31]
In a letter written in 1943 there is another reference to that incident:

Neither before nor after 1936 have I taken part either directly or indirectly in
politics. If I have had to hide out, pursued like a criminal, it has only been
for professing my faith, even if our Lord did not consider me worthy of the palm
of martyrdom. On one of those occasions, in front of the house we were living i
n, they hanged a man they had mistaken for me.[32]

He never found out who that man was, but he never forgot him. "I know for a fact
," says Bishop Javier Echevarria, his second successor as head of the Work, "tha
t he prayed for that man throughout the rest of his life, while also begging our
Lord's forgiveness for those who committed the murder."[33]

3. "Don Manuel knows best"

After a year spent in one refuge after another, Father Josemara now felt the joy
of being able to minister to many souls. But his idea of taking a consulate car
to Daimiel, accompanied by "Don Manuel," in order to visit Miguel Fisac and his
sister Lola, did not work out. Perhaps it was impossible to get permits. In any
case, on September 19 he wrote: "Dearest Lola: Patience. Don Manuel knows best.
What a pity that the trip fell through!"[34]
However, his plan to give a retreat for young men who were students or teachers
did bear fruit. The first talk was given on September 20 or 21, in the morning.
Attending were Isidoro Zorzano, Jose Maria Albareda, Juan Jimenez Vargas, Manolo
Sainz de los Terreros, Tomas Alvira, and another friend, Angel Hoyos. A group o
f young men meeting together would naturally have drawn attention, so the Father
gave the meditations at different times and places during the three days of the
retreat. Sometimes they met at Isidoro's place, sometimes at Doa Dolores's apart
ment, and sometimes at Alvira's and Albareda's boardinghouses, whose proprietors
were trustworthy. After giving the half-hour morning meditation, points for exa
mination of conscience, and a few suggestions, Father Josemara would leave. Then
the retreatants, separately, would stroll on the street or in Retiro Park, conti
nuing their reflections and saying the Rosary. In the afternoon, at the time and
place earlier decided on, they would meet for another meditation.
On the last day of the retreat, the Father celebrated Mass in Tomas Alvira's boa
rdinghouse, in secular clothes and without any vestments[35] The landlady, Doa Ma
tilde Velasco, had carefully prepared a table for the Mass, but she did not atte
nd, her job being to watch from the hallway those going up or down the stairs, i
n order to head off interruptions.[36] Even so, the landlady was impressed by th
e priest's conversation and manners during breakfast. What really stuck in her m
emory was that he caressed an orange, and then, mortifying his hunger, left it t
here, eloquently forgotten on the table. After breakfast, Doa Matilde reverently
reclaimed it. "That orange," Juan Jimenez Vargas tells us, "is still kept by tha
t family, forty years later."[37]
In his last months of confinement in the consulate, the Father had stayed in con
tact with his daughters through Isidoro. On several occasions Isidoro had passed
on to Hermogenes Garcia the Father's instructions that the women pray for him a
nd the Work, but not try to see him. But now that he had a certain freedom of mo
vement, he thought of repeating for them the spiritual exercises he had just giv
en the men.[38]
He learned that one of the young women in the Work, Antonia Sierra, was in Caste

llon, near Valencia. She had been sick with tuberculosis since 1933. As had earl
ier been the case with Maria Ignacia Garcia Escobar, Father Josemara regarded the
dying woman as a treasure, an expiatory soul. He wrote to those in Valencia:
Here is the address of a granddaughter of mine who is sick and poor and extremel
y good, a treasure that the madman they killed has been exploiting for years: An
tonia Sierra / Sanatorio Hospital / Villafranca del Cid / Castellon. For I don't
know how long, she's been in one hospital after another. If you could go see he
r, I would be most grateful. At least try to get into her hands the fifteen pese
tas that Isidoro is sending to you, and, if possible, something that a person in
the advanced stages of tuberculosis can eat. How happy it would make me if you
could give her the consolation of a visit![39]
It was a rare day that he did not celebrate Mass for a group, and give them a ho
mily. Often, these groups were communities of nuns. In contrast to the six thous
and priests killed during the persecution, the number of nuns martyred was less
than three hundred.[40] Jailing them would have been a problem, given that every
prison in the country was full to overflowing, so it was not uncommon for commu
nities to take refuge in apartments or boardinghouses, with the knowledge of the
neighbors and the police. On one occasion, Father Josemara was about to enter th
e house of his friend Don Alejandro Guzman when a woman approached him with the
warning that militiamen were searching the building.[41] A community of Reparati
on nuns had taken up residence there, and two or three of them, including a sist
er of Don Alejandro's, lived in the apartment next door.[42] Father Josemara must
have attended to their spiritual needs more than once, because a year later-in
Avila, in the nationalist zone-he ran into two of them, and one of them cried ou
t in surprise, "It's the diplomat!" Father Josemara did, in fact, look quite the
diplomat with the little flag in his lapel, his well-tied tie, and a large brief
case with the Honduran coat of arms. The briefcase contained a piece of dry brea
d, in case he did not make it home in time to eat.[43]
Having witnessed the savagery of militia terrorism, some of these congregations
of nuns were still living in a state of nervous tension. A community of Third Or
der Capuchin nuns that in 1936 had run Villa Luz Hospital on General Oraa Street
had taken refuge at the beginning of the war in a boardinghouse, thanks to the
generosity of a benefactor. A year later they were still there, living a somewha
t relaxed convent life. "We were afraid, very afraid," confesses Sister Ascensio
n Quiroga. "And to hide the fact that we were nuns, we wore regular clothes and
used makeup so that no one would report us. I myself went a bit overboard, not j
ust concealing my state in life, but enjoying showing off and fixing myself up."
[44]
When they heard about Father Josemara, they wrote to him, and soon he came to the
boardinghouse to give them a spiritual talk. In it he said to them, "We are cow
ards, we are afraid to stand up for God." "I was impressed," says Sister Ascensi
on, "by his way of addressing us. It wasn't preaching, but rather the personal p
rayer of a saint, spoken aloud. It renewed our desire to give ourselves totally
to Jesus Christ, as on the day of our religious profession." From that day on th
ey no longer tried to disguise themselves by using makeup.[45]
Not much else is known about Father Josemara's priestly work at this time. Occasi
onally, when going to take care of a group of refugee nuns, he was accompanied b
y Juan to the vicinity of their house.[46] Other people came to see him in the r
oom on Ayala Street. Sometimes, too, in his incessant traveling around the city,
our Lord brought him in contact with souls that needed help. This was the case
with a "straying nun" whose secret thoughts and intentions he seemed to penetrat
e by divine grace, thereby moving her to ask him to hear her confession[47]
In the letters he had written while in confinement in the consulate, Father Jose
mara was always having to pour oil on troubled waters. One day recommending patie
nce, another day urging action on some matter, in one way or another he was alwa
ys lifting the spirits of his children. In a letter to Isidoro he says, "Peace o
f soul, all right? With the help of Don Manuel, never to lose self-control-that
is the spirit of our family. Thus we will always have joy and peace. Everything
in this world, except for death, can be fixed. And sometimes a thing that has be
en fixed is better than it was before it needed fixing."[48]

There was only one solution: to pester Don Manuel, insistently begging for his h
elp. The Father wrote to his sons in Valencia:

Since you're planning to visit my old and dear friend Don Manuel, I ask you to r
emind him of three matters that I have already brought to his attention: (1) the
evacuation of my poor mad brother, Josemara, to our country; (2) the success of
the claim submitted, through the embassy, to the government of the Spanish Repub
lic; and (3) that he use his influence with the grandmother to encourage her, if
this is appropriate, to be willing to make a certain sacrifice for the good of
the whole family.[49]

Apart from the request about Doa Dolores, who was always ready to make a sacrific
e, all of that came to nothing. But even so, on July 25, 1937, the Father wrote
to his sons in Valencia:

Today, the feast of Saint James, it's exactly a year since I had to evacuate my
house. Nevertheless, I am happy. Manolo knows very well what he is doing, and I
am quite hopeful that our family's affairs will be set right sooner, more, and b
etter than we could have dreamed. Of course, with us using the means.[50]

They did use the means, and they were at peace, but their efforts kept going now
here. After the failure of his plan to go to his mother's under the cover of a c
ertificate from Dr. Suils, he wrote from the consulate on August 25:

All his plans for returning to his former professional life fall apart, despite
his certificate of discharge from Dr. Suils? Well, so what? Being from Aragon, h
e goes right on sticking to his guns and leaving no stone unturned.... Have conf
idence. Thanks to Don Manuel, we can never-never!-doubt the speedy success of ou
r family's business. Certainly there will be difficulties, but people grow when
faced with obstacles. Come on! G. and daring! Right? So at every moment, live in
the assurance of success.[51]

"Don Manuel knows best, as my brother the madman always says."[52] In all of his
consulate correspondence, in fact, "Don Manuel knows best" appears to be the fo
under's favorite expression. No matter how many plans and projects fell through,
the priest calmly stuck to his guns, saying, "Don Manuel knows best. Come what
may, it's all for the good.?[53]Well he knew that everything comes from the hand
s of God our Father.

He saw everything with the eyes of faith. But he also had his weak spot: a compa
ssionate heart that made him deeply respectful of others' freedom and rights. He
writes to his sons in Madrid:

I'm not going to tell you anything. It's my custom to keep quiet and almost alwa
ys just say, "Good," or "Very good." No one can truthfully say at the end of the
day that he did this or that thing by order, or even by an implied order, of th
e grandfather. When I think I have to say something, I limit myself to setting o
ut clearly the facts of the problem at hand. In no way, even if I very clearly s
ee one, do I or will I give a specific solution to it. I have a different way, a
gentler and more effective way, of influencing the wills of my children and gra
ndchildren: I give myself a hard time and pester my old Friend Don Manuel. May I
never stray from this path, of always letting my children act with complete fre
edom ... until the time comes to tighten the rope! That time will come. But, of
course-I think you know this about me-despite my human frailty, I could never us
e anyone's life, not even a minute of it, for my own comfort or consolation. So
much is this true that I will keep my mouth shut (though later I will speak with
Don Manuel about it) even when what my children have in mind looks to me like a
real disaster.[54]

Certain that the Work had to go forward even in those very difficult times, the
founder had begun to think about crossing over to the nationalist zone to rejoin
the members of the Work there and carry on his apostolic efforts unhindered. No
t wanting to impose his will, he consulted his sons, and they insisted that he s
hould do it. The decision, obviously, was his, but only after a lot of prayer an
d vacillation was he able to make it. Bishop Alvaro del Portillo explains:

The idea of leaving a number of his sons and daughters behind in the Red zone, i
n a dangerous situation, hurt him. Plus, his mother and and brother and sister w
ould also be staying in Madrid. The founder of Opus Dei was in doubt for quite s
ome time. Sometimes he saw clearly that he should escape; other times, it looked
to him that his duty was to stay and, if necessary, face martyrdom. Finally, af
ter a lot of prayer, he made the decision to escape.[55]

But that was not so easy to do. He could move freely within Madrid, but finding
a way to leave the Red zone was a different story. On September 18 he wrote his
sons in Valencia: "My little ones! Grandfather so much longs to give you all big
hugs, but his plans always seem to fall through. I'm sure it's for the best. Ne
vertheless-who knows!-I'm not giving up hope that what I want will soon become a
reality. Don Manuel knows best."[56]
Of course, his situation had already improved considerably. There was quite a di
fference between being cooped up in that "cricket cage" in the consulate and bei
ng out in the Madrid sunshine. But he was still having to exercise his priestly
ministry with caution, in danger.
He had accumulated a whole collection of documents of various kinds, though none
of them gave him total safety. The oldest was the paper from the "Madrid Delega
tion Committee of the Basque Nationalist Party" made out on December 23, 1936, g
ranting him the right to "circulate freely" as "a person attached to the Governm
ent."[57]
He also had a certificate, dated March 15, 1937, issued by a lawyer of the Madri
d courts. The lawyer in question was Juan Jose Esteban Romero, a former classmat
e of his at the Piarist high school in Barbastro; the certificate stated that "J
ose Maria Escriva Albas, of this district, 35 years of age, provides services in
this office, during office hours."[58]Of course, in the Madrid of 1937, where s
trict official orders had already been given that anyone who did not have a perm
anent job there had to leave the capital, no one was going to get very far with
this kind of certificate. And in this case nobody was even going to bother check
ing to see if what was said there was true or not, because in the summer of 1937
the authorities had already decreed that certificates made out for legal assist
ants had no validity.[59]
However, he did have the certificate dated March 14, 1937, that Dr. Suils' clini
c provided when he left the Residence for Rest and Health, the one saying, "At p
resent he is not completely cured, which means he is restricted from doing any k
ind of work, bearing any responsibilities, doing any traveling, or engaging in o
ther types of activities" saying, in other words, that he should be left in peac
e. And he had that other certificate from Dr. Suils, dated August 22, 1937, decl
aring that he had been suffering for six years from "an endogenous psychosis whi
ch affects him periodically.?[60]
The most important document in his arsenal was that new one certifying him as "C
hief Supply Officer" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of "the General Consulat
e of the Republic of Honduras, Central America," and requesting that he be provi
ded "freedom of movement to carry out his duties."[61]Though it was not a bona f
ide appointment, the paper did command respect.
He also had the indispensable revolutionary credentials: a union card from the C
NT, in the name of Jose Escriba Albas, with the membership number 522 and June 9
, 1937, as the date of admission, and bearing the seal of the Union of Judicial
Officials, Lawyers, and Officials in General; and a copy of the union charter. D
ues payments were recorded for June, July, August, and September, at the rate of
2pesetas and 25 centimos per month. The copy of the union charter was number 90
8930.[62]

Father Josemara seems to have obtained the union documents with no great difficul
ty, probably just by presenting his work papers.[63]But a CNT card, with a dues
book that began in June of 1937, that is to say, a year after the revolution bro
ke out, could very well have given rise to suspicions in certain sectors.
Except for Doa Dolores, all the adults in the Escriva family obtained documents f
rom that anarchist union. Circumstances compelled many good Catholics to enlist
in the army alongside avowed enemies of the Church, simply because they lived in
the republican zone.[64] The situation can be illustrated by a story Father Jos
emara told about a country bumpkin who visited the cathedral in Saragossa. When h
e came in, some practical jokers pointed out to him that its floor was paved, li
ke a chessboard, with large slabs of black and white marble, and told him he mus
t be very careful not to step on the white slabs, because the cathedral guards h
ad orders to take a stick to anyone who did. The bumpkin hopped like a sparrow f
rom one black slab to the next. The guards, thinking he was crazy, told him to l
eave. And very proudly he answered them, "You just can't stand it that I landed
on the black." [65]Overall, half of Spain had landed on the white and half on th
e black, and in many cases happenstance settled it. Either way, everyone had to
make the best of the situation. But still, many homes were broken, and many pare
nts were separated from their children.
In the spring of 1937 an internal conflict broke out behind republican lines, be
tween different revolutionary forces. The CNT came out of it badly shattered and
suffering a fierce persecution by the Stalinists. Emulating the socialist and c
ommunist unions, the anarchists then opened their ranks to new members without c
aring about their ideology or background. The Escrivas were among those who took
advantage of the opportunity to join the CNT, since this was the only way one c
ould get out and about in Red-controlled Madrid. [66]
One day, as a result of these events, some socialist militiamen came to Caracas
Street asking to see work documents. Neither Carmen nor Doa Dolores had any. They
were told to pack up their belongings-the militiamen would return in a few days
and they would be taken to Valencia. [67](Orders to remove from Madrid anyone w
ithout a work permit had been in force since January 1937.) When Isidoro heard o
f this, he went to see Jose Maria Albareda, who knew people working in the teach
ers' union of the CNT. The CNT was short on members for this union, since most t
eachers and other school personnel were in the socialist UGT union. For that rea
son, quite a few members of religious orders had enrolled in the CNT at the begi
nning of 1937, and thus gotten their work permits. (However, later there was a p
urge, and some of these religious ended up in prison.) [68]
Jose Maria Albareda, who was a professor at the Velazquez Institute in Madrid, v
olunteered to obtain from the CNT union the work permit that Carmen needed, sinc
e she had a degree in education from the teachers college in Logrono. Everything
seemed to be going fine, and then suddenly there was a big commotion and the of
fice was closed. Several days later, Carmen, accompanied by Isidoro, went to the
union building to pick up the document. A middle-aged official who seemed very
good-natured, possibly a disguised religious, gave her a typed union certificate
, along with a serious warning: that she should never, for any reason, even thin
k of coming back there. Wrote Isidoro in June:

Finally the problem of a work permit for Carmen has been resolved. I accompanied
her to the union this afternoon and they gave it to us. Everything had come to
a standstill because the secretary had taken all the funds and crossed over to t
he other side. Today there are rumors that the whole Spartacus battalion has cro
ssed over. Ricardo will have fond memoriesof it. [69]

Juan Jimenez Vargas (alias Ricardo) did have vivid memories of his brief service
as a medical lieutenant in the Spartacus Brigade of the CNT on the Jarama front
and of the "inner force" that held him back every time he tried to desert to th
e other zone. Apparently the rumors of the treachery of the Spartacus Brigade we
re part of the Bolshevik campaign to discredit the CNT politically.
Doa Dolores decided to celebrate the work permit with a family gathering. "The gr
andmother has invited us to tea on Sunday; all the grandchildren are going," wri

tes Isidoro.[70] Now that, thanks to the permit, his mother and sister could rem
ain in Madrid, Father Josemara suggested that they also try to obtain documents t
hat would allow Santiago to leave the consulate and move about freely. The labyr
inthine process extended from May to the second half of July.
Neither Carmen nor Doa Dolores had any real idea of the conditions of that confin
ement in the consulate. In the midst of his efforts to get himself out, the foun
der wrote to Isidoro: "I am extremely interested in arranging for the youngster
to go live with the grandmother. My mother doesn't realize what life here is lik
e."[71]
First they tried to get Santiago a student ID and enroll him in a summer-school
program at a high school. This required signatures from two people with pre-revo
lution ID cards-evidence of their loyalty to the regime. But these ID cards had
to be inspected by the students' union, and every attempt they made here led to
a dangerous dead end. [72]So they changed tack, and Santiago was enrolled in som
e classes offered by the International Red Cross. And now that an ID card had bo
ldly been gotten for him from the CNT, and he had a certificate from Dr. Suils t
hat would pass muster with the committee that controlled the apartment building
on Caracas Street, he was able to go live with Doa Dolores.[73]
On July 27 the Father wrote joyfully to Pedro Casciaro, "Did I tell you that Unc
le Santi, as of several days ago, is living with the grandmother? They tell me h
e's not just happy, but ecstatic! He belongs to the International Red Cross and
the CNT. They tell me he wears overalls and attends classes held by the Red Cros
s."[74]
Among the different plans for leaving the zone controlled by the Popular Front,
the most direct and least risky was that of politically arranged evacuation; but
God had not willed this for Father Josemara. Of what value, then, was his whole
arsenal of documents if he was not able to get out?

4. Departure from Madrid

Toward the end of September, Jose Maria Albareda received a letter from Barcelon
a. Some members of his family had escaped to France by way of the Pyrenees, and
the letter was from a priest friend, Father Pascual Galindo, who was passing alo
ng information about the people who had helped them cross the border. [75]
Albareda told the Father, and, after carefully thinking it through, they decided
to go that same route, with all its risks. Then they started trying to get safe
-conduct passes and money for the trip. But right then, when everyone had agreed
on the escape plan, Father Josemara began to waver. One day he was willing to ac
cept the idea of going to Barcelona with Juan and Jose Maria, and the next day h
e was backing out. He was thinking of the members of the Work who would be left
behind in that dangerous situation, and of his mother and brother and sister, an
d of Alvaro del Portillo's father, who was gravely ill and could die at any time
. But finally he did accept the idea of leaving Madrid, accompanied by all those
who could get the necessary documentation. [76]
Thanks to the generosity of friends and even people they hardly knew, they got h
old of a good sum of money. [77] To get their safe-conduct passes, they had to p
resent their work permits and testimonials to their political acceptability; and
since they wanted to leave Madrid as soon as possible, they needed help from pe
ople skilled in cutting through all this red tape. [78]They were aiming for the
first week in October.
On October 1, the eve of the ninth anniversary of the founding of Opus Dei, the
Father wrote to his sons in Valencia: "Tomorrow my little girl will be nine! I w
ill be giving thanks all day long! She's still very little, but one can see that
she will grow up strong and healthy." [79]Then he announced that "within a few
days" he and Juan would be making a visit to Valencia.
In the offices of the CNT's Regional Union for Public Services, "Comrade Jose Es
criba" got a political testimonial to use for getting a safe-conduct pass in the
police headquarters. It read:

Madrid, October 5, 1937

To the Passport Division of the Police Headquarters

Greetings, comrades. We hope you will authorize and
grant safe conduct for travel to Barcelona and return within a
period of 30 days, for taking care of family matters, to the
comrade of this "Lawyers' Group" Jose Escriba Albas, ID
number 522.

Yours and for the cause,

on behalf of the Committee,
Guillermo Zendon, Secretary[80]

(The explanation "for taking care of family matters" was one of the few true thi
ngs said in that huge mess of "falser than Judas" documents, as Father Josemara c
alled them.[81])
October 8 was set as the departure date. Two days earlier, Juan left for Valenci
a to arrange for a place for them to stay. Father Josemara made last-minute visit
s to people he was looking after and gave the last sacraments to Don Ramon del P
ortillo, realizing sadly that he would not be with him when he died.[82] Everyth
ing was "very rushed, because it was a matter of opportunity," Isidoro wrote on
October 9.[83]
The capital was then a besieged city. Juan left Madrid in a truck carrying barre
ls of wine, and was dropped off in Tembleque. From there he took the train for V
alencia, and on the morning of October 7 he showed up at the home of Paco Botell
a. Later he visited Eugenio Selles, who offered to have the Father stay with him
.[84]
For Pedro Casciaro and Paco Botella, especially since Juan was now with them, Oc
tober 7 and 8 were days of great expectation. They talked for hours on end, disc
ussing what they had learned in the letters from Madrid, from the Father and Isi
doro, about that whole year of isolation and extraordinary events.[85] Valencia
at that time was swarming with outsiders: government officials, foreigners, and
people coming in from all over Spain to live there. Unlike Madrid, it was a city
that many people just passed through, where the arrival of the Father's group w
ould not attract attention.
Pedro was attached to a cavalry support group at a barracks in Valencia. Paco wo
rked in the army auxiliary services, and was free to get out and about and to li
ve at home with his family. On the evening of October 7, relates Juan, he and Pe
dro went for a walk, "talking on and on about everything that had happened durin
g our separation. Around eleven, we got to Pedro's boardinghouse. He wanted to g
o on hearing more news. But after praying the Preces, I fell into bed and slept
like a log, while he did his mental prayer and said a Rosary."[86]
Not knowing whether those coming from Madrid would be arriving by train or by au
tomobile, the three spent the morning going back and forth to the railroad stati
on. Then they decided to wait at Paco's apartment. At eight that night the doorb
ell rang. It was the Father! Between the strain of waiting and the shock of seei
ng the Father emaciated and wearing a suit, Pedro and Paco felt strangely uneasy
until they found themselves getting a big hug. The others then came in, and the
group split up according to plan: the Father and Jose Maria Albareda going to E
ugenio Selles's apartment, Manolo Sainz de los Terreros and Tomas Alvira going w
ith Pedro to his boardinghouse, and Juan staying in Paco's apartment.[87]They al
l dined together at a restaurant called Merchants' Inn, and while they were ther
e, some policemen came in and for some reason thought Pedro looked suspicious. T
hey came over to their table and asked to see only the documentation for Pedro-w
ho was the only one who had all his papers perfectly in order.[88]
The following morning everyone met at Eugenio Selles's apartment for Mass. When
the Father learned that the porter of the building was a priest, he told them to
let him know that he too was one, in case he was in need of his ministerial hel
p. The two priests made their confessions to each other and served each other's

Masses.[89]
This priest who was serving as porter was named Pepe. That he was alive at all w
as a miracle. As he was being driven off to be shot and thrown in a ditch for be
ing a priest, a communist had talked the revolutionaries into leaving him in his
hands. This man, a recent party recruit who disapproved of his bloodthirsty com
rades, managed to find him cover as a porter.[90]
To ward off suspicion, the Father asked Pedro and Paco to use the familial word
for "you" when speaking to him, but, as had been the case with Juan, they could
not do it. He took that opportunity to speak to them at length about the importa
nce of being faithful to their vocations and having unlimited confidence in God
our Father. He told them how eager he was to get into an atmosphere of freedom s
o that he could carry on his apostolate and be reunited with the young men who h
ad been at the Ferraz Street residence and were now in the other zone. He also a
sked them to be generous enough to sacrifice some of their professional goals, s
ince once the war was over there would be urgent apostolic work to do.[91] And s
ince the train for Barcelona was not leaving until eleven that night, the Father
still had time to write to Isidoro, even though during the trip there would be
times when he could not write, when they were going through inspections. (At one
point on their trip to Valencia, militiamen had demanded, while kneeling on the
ground and aiming their rifles at the car, to see their documentation.)[92] His
letter to "Ignacio" is filled with his usual good humor. [93]

Saturday, October 9, 1937

Dear Ignacio,
We got here in great shape, at eight o'clock at night. We had set out at one. In
the first town after Tarancn we stopped for lunch: ham, brought by Jose Maria an
d Tomas, and our biscuits and nougats. Ah! And wheat bread (yes, there is wheat
bread), plus some salad with tomatoes that our Saragossan companion sniffed out.
Along the way we bagged two pieces of game: a partridge that hit the car while
crossing the road, flying at low altitude, and a dog that, elevated to the statu
s of a ram, will be eaten today, Saturday, by rich Madridians.
My grandchildren are doing fine....
I will remember you and all my little ones, as well as Lola and her children, in
my talks with Don Manuel on the trip.
Much love,
Mariano[94]

At eleven the train left for Barcelona, with Pedro and Paco seeing the travelers
off. If the expedition went well, a second one would be organized for those sti
ll in Madrid and Valencia. As the train began moving, the Father blessed them; w
ith his hand half hidden by his suit coat, which held the little metal box with
the Blessed Sacrament (the cigarette case with the Honduran-flag cover and the c
orporals made by Carmen), he made a sign of the cross while saying with a slight
movement of his lips, "Beata Maria intercedente, bene ambuletis, et Dominus sit
in itinere vestro et angeli eius comitentur vobiscum." [95] Pedro and Paco watc
hed the train pull out, wondering when they would see him again and imagining th
e dangers the travelers would soon face. "I got little sleep that night," Paco r
ecalls.[96]
The travelers got even less sleep. The coaches had no compartments, and the trai
n was already filled when it left Valencia. The wooden seats were broken and dir
ty. The middle aisle became packed with people getting ready to sleep on the flo
or, mostly militiamen on furlough, whose conversations were marked by frequent b
lasphemies and foul language. The Father spent the night making acts of reparati
on to our Lord; and given the possibility of a sacrilege resulting from an inspe
ction, he decided very early in the morning that the sacred hosts should be cons
umed. So, in the bathroom, the cigarette case was passed from one to another so
that all could receive. On Sunday, October 10, a little before noon, the train e
ntered Barcelona. The Father immediately wrote Isidoro a few lines announcing th
eir arrival.[97]

Jose Maria Albareda went to stay at 60 Argentina Street, where the widow of a ma
n named Montagut had taken in his mother with her two grandchildren. A daughter
of the widow had placed on the front door of the house a sign saying that it had
been seized by the F.A.I., a group of anarchists. Thus protected, they were liv
ing a quiet life. Even Father Pascual Galindo, the priest who had sent the infor
mation to Madrid about how to get to France, had stayed there.
The Father and the rest of the group went to "Centric Hotel," on Rambla de Estud
ios Street. Despite their sleepless night on the train, they spent Sunday aftern
oon walking around the city; soon their legs would have to make the arduous trip
across the mountains.
On the next day Father Josemara celebrated Mass for all of them in the house on A
rgentina Street. Afterwards Doa Pilar, Jose Maria Albareda's mother, explained ho
w to find people who could get them over the border. Wasting no time, they went
to a cafe on Ronda de San Antonio and casually asked for Mateo. This turned out
to be the man at the counter-a white marble counter like those in stores special
izing in milk and dairy products. Later they learned that the rest of his name w
as Mollevi Roca, but from the start they gave him the nickname of Mateo the Milk
man. He was a middle-aged, level-headed man who inspired confidence.[98]
After a lot of beating around the bush, they agreed to meet the next day. When t
hey did, Mateo told them that the contact would be a man named Vilaro, whom they
would find the next day on the corner of Gran Via de las Corts where the Flora
Bar was. Juan was there on Wednesday the 13th, at the appointed time, with the s
ignal, a newspaper folded in half. But Vilaro never showed up. Perhaps he had fo
und other clients. According to Mateo, his price per person was 2,000 pesetas.[9
9]

5. A stay in Barcelona

After three days in Barcelona, the Father was getting more optimistic, to judge
by the tone in which he wrote of the planned crossing into France. "My impressio
ns are very good," he writes to Isidoro on Sunday, October 10. And on October 12
he writes to him, "Slowly but surely, I am improving," giving him to understand
that the plan is moving ahead.[100] On Wednesday the 13th, in a long letter to
Isidoro, after saying they are thinking of setting out "within a few days" altho
ugh "it might be a little later," he outlines his plan of organizing a second ex
pedition for all the members of the Work still in Madrid. They should, he says,
get all their documents in order so that they can meet in Valencia as soon as th
ey receive instructions from Pedro Casciaro. Anticipating an imminent departure
from Barcelona, he ends the letter thus:

I may leave before your letter gets here. I will ask a good friend of mine to re
ceive your reply and forward it to me. So don't write me at the hotel, but use t
he address I will put below.
Warmest greetings and much love, and best regards to Don Manuel and his Mother.
Mariano

Address your reply to:

Cecilia Sanchez
60 Republica Argentina
Barcelona
(You can put another envelope inside, with the words "Please forward to Marian."
)[101]

At the same time that he sent this letter to Isidoro, designating Pedro Casciaro
as the coordinator of a second expedition, he sent a telegram to Valencia invit
ing Pedro to come to Barcelona in order to "hear the plan explained in detail an
d meet Mateo and the other intermediaries." Pedro and Paco were alarmed by this,
taking it to mean that the Father wanted Pedro to join the expedition that was
about to leave Barcelona. But Pedro immediately went into action. Getting some p

apers from the cavalry support service, he made out a pass for himself, and that
same night he took the eleven o'clock train for Barcelona.[102]
When Juan came back to the Central Hotel with a long face, looking tired and hol
ding under his arm the folded newspaper, they had been waiting for him for three
hours. He informed them that the plan had failed; that the contact had not show
n up.
Thus they had to postpone their departure from Barcelona. Since they were runnin
g short of money, they considered leaving the hotel and going to stay at Doa Rafa
ela's boardinghouse, on Gran Via Diagonal, where they would also be at less risk
of being reported to the police.[103]On October 14, all except Albareda moved t
o Doa Rafaela's. She was aware of their plans and knew that Father Josemara was a
priest. That same day, Pedro arrived in Barcelona, and the Father told him about
the contacts and the plan for a second expedition. That night, he returned to V
alencia by train, but when he showed up at the barracks, he was sentenced to six
teen days in the guardhouse.[104] Meanwhile, there was a considerable commotion
when Isidoro shared with the other members of the Work the Father's letter of th
e 13th suggesting that they join Pedro in Valencia; but things quieted down in a
few days, after they received information sent by Pedro from the guardhouse. (A
ctually there was no guardhouse; they had to find a room to put him in.)
In a letter dated October 21, Isidoro tries to clear up the misunderstanding. He
tells those in Madrid: "The Grandfather called Perico to go to Barcelona. Upon
his return to Valencia, Pedro wrote to say that 'within ten or twelve days they
will be in Jose Ramon's house,' and "What one must have is thirty years of age a
nd three books. For now this is not viable; we'll see later on....' These are th
e grandfather's words, as transmitted by Radio Pedro."[105]In other words, the d
eparture from Barcelona had been delayed; the ones in Madrid would need 3,000 pe
setas each; and they should not leave Madrid yet. "Jose Ramon" was Jose Ramon He
rrero Fontana, the youngest member of the Work. The beginning of the civil war f
ound him in the nationalist zone, while his mother and brother remained in Madri
d, on Herradores Plaza. "Jose Ramn's house," therefore, was the code for freedom,
and for the nationalist zone.
Pedro's willingness to run such a big risk for the Work moved the Father. He beg
an again to reflect on the dangers to which his sons were being exposed. The res
ult was a fresh round of doubts centering on the thought that he was acting in a
cowardly manner by abandoning the people who most needed him-the people in Madr
id.
On October 15, when the two of them were alone in the boardinghouse, the Father
told Juan emphatically that he was going to return to Madrid, but that Juan and
the others should follow through with the plan they had made. And he actually wa
lked out the door. "It was, without doubt, the worst moment of my life," Juan wr
ites. "After all these years I remember it as though it were happening right now
."[106] What was he going to say to the others when they got back to the house?
A half hour later Father Josemara had changed his mind. Evidently he was seeing c
learly what God's will for him was. "What really struck me," Juan continues, "wa
s the humility with which he asked my forgiveness for having made me go through
such a bad time. At that time I didn't tell the others anything about what had h
appened."[107]
Father Josemara had managed to find where Father Pou de Foxa was hiding out and t
o go see him. That visit was just what he needed, as he wrote Isidoro a few days
later.

Barcelona, October 20, 1937 My good friend:

I have received your letters. I am very sorry to hear of the death of Don Ramn, e
ven though it was to be expected. Let that dear family know that I share deeply
in their pain.
We keep all of you very much in mind. I hope the grandmother and her young ones
are well. Soon we will see Jos Ramn.
Tell Lola that I have spoken at length with Pou, and that they're all doing fine
.

It will be some time before I write again.

Did you receive Pedro's letter?
Much love to you all,
Mariano[108]

The Father celebrated Mass almost every day, usually in Doa Rafaela's boardinghou
se and occasionally in the home of the Albareda family, with others attending. (
He kept the Blessed Sacrament with him, in order to give Communion to those who
could not attend Mass.) These gatherings involved their share of danger. Perhaps
at Father Josemara's suggestion, Doa Rafaela usually kept watch in the corridor i
n case anyone came to the door.[109]
While they were waiting for news from Mateo the Milkman, Father Josemara filled h
is free time with priestly work. As was the case in Madrid, there was in Barcelo
na a secret network of priests who risked their lives giving the sacraments to t
he faithful.[110] But it was not so easy to get in contact with them. One day To
mas Alvira ran into a friend from Saragossa, Francisco Gaye Monzon, whose mother
, he told Tomas, was living in Badalona and had since 1936 been unable to find a
priest to go to confession to. Having set the date and time, Tomas and Father J
osemara traveled to Badalona with Francisco. Once they were off the bus and walki
ng toward the sea, the priest began praying aloud the Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Q
ueen). That evening, when saying good-bye to Tomas, Doa Pilar Monzon told him tha
t the Father had said things to her about her spiritual life that no one had eve
r said to her before.[111]
Tomas had good social connections. Soon after arriving in Barcelona, the group r
ead in the papers that Pascual Galbe Loshuertos had been appointed to the Catalo
nian Court of Appeals for the Generalitat, the highest authority in Catalonia. H
e had been a high-school classmate of Tomas's in Saragossa. Father Josemara also
remembered him, from the law school-he was that fellow who had had a reputation
for being a nonbeliever. They had last seen each other on a streetcar in Madrid.
As soon as Pascual had caught sight of him, he had made a beeline for him and g
iven him a big hug. It had required a lot of courage to show a priest such affec
tion so openly in those days.[112]
But how would he react now? Tomas, feeling confident also because of his own lon
g-standing friendship with Pascual, got the Father's permission to appear one da
y at the court. The judge, when he caught sight of his old friend, could not con
tain his joy. In the course of their conversation, Tomas told him Father Josemara
was also in Barcelona and wanted to see him. "Not here! Not here!" Pascual excl
aimed in alarm. "Better that he come to my house for dinner."[113]
The visit having been arranged by telephone, Father Josemara, who, as we know, wa
s not rolling in money, bought some toys for Pascual's two children and, accompa
nied by Juan, went to the judge's house. The two friends gave each other a big h
ug, and after a wonderful meal, when Pascual's wife and children had left the ro
om, their conversation continued.
"What a joy to see you, Josemara," said Pascual. "You don't know how much I suffe
red-thinking you had been killed." He then offered his friend the possibility of
remaining in Barcelona, and working as a lawyer, with documentation that would
guarantee his safety. Father Josemara thanked him, but declined. "I've never prac
ticed law before," he said, "because all I cared about was being a priest. So ho
w can I do it now when I could get shot just for being a priest?[114]
Father Josemara explained that his reason for being in Barcelona was to cross ove
r into the other zone. Pascual at first tried to dissuade him, reminding him of
how tight the controls on the border were, and of the harshness of the punishmen
ts-those caught trying to escape were executed. And then, seeing that he was get
ting nowhere, he made him this unconditional offer: that if he did have the bad
fortune to get arrested, he should not fail to let him know.
Pascual then opened his heart to his friend. He told him of his political disill
usionment. He was not doing well. The anarchists had given him a bodyguard, but
more to keep an eye on him than to protect him, because they did not trust him.
Father Josemara spoke about God, trying to rekindle the other man's faith, but th

e judge took refuge in his old prejudices and arguments.

"Look, son, you say these things," the priest interrupted, "because you've read
four or five books that you needn't have read. But to acquire a minimum of theol
ogical culture, you have to read a lot more things. When you've read everything
you need to, you'll be in a position to form a sound opinion on these matters."[
115]
Tears came to Pascual's eyes, and the two friends agreed to meet again in his of
fice. When they got together this second time, some people who had been arrested
while trying to escape to Andorra were being sentenced in the courtroom: they w
ere found guilty and condemned to death. "You see what awaits you," Pascual told
him. "But if they catch you, tell them you are my brother."[116]
Their escape now depended entirely on Mateo the Milkman. Ever calm and easygoing
, he advised them to be patient. After they had been in Barcelona for over a wee
k, Mateo gave them the address of Rafael Jimenez Delgado, a soldier who had docu
ments from the General Workers Union (UGT) and a lot of ideas about possible way
s to escape. But after meeting with him in his home, they found that most of his
plans were impossible to carry out, if not utterly harebrained.[117]
On October 22 Mateo had good news for them: the expedition was arranged, and wou
ld begin soon. Any day now, someone named Pallares, a friend of Mateo's son and
a very tough and resourceful man, would be arriving in Barcelona. At the request
of Father Josemara, Juan headed for Valencia to bring back Paco and Pedro to joi
n the expedition.[118]
On Sunday, October 24, there was alarming news in the papers. The guards on the
Pyrenees frontier had ambushed one of the expeditions. La Vanguardia, Barcelona'
s principal newspaper, gave the story this
headline: "NINE FUGITIVES CAPTURED. ONE KILLED, THREE OTHERS WOUNDED." It is ver
y probable that this expedition was the one organized by Vilarb, the man who had
not shown up for his meeting with Juan Jimenez Vargas.
As if by magic, all traces of the contacts disappeared. Mateo himself came close
to falling into the hands of the police. At the end of November he would flee t
o Argentina, where he would remain until the end of the war. At the end of Decem
ber, Pallares, while trying to save the life of a person wounded on his expediti
on, would be captured and then executed.[119]
Meanwhile, Father Josemara and his companions worked on getting in shape for the
long mountain hikes that lay ahead. Every day, they tramped up and down Barcelon
a's hills, from the harbor to Montjuic or from the old part of the city to Mount
Tibidabo. The last days of October were cold and rainy. Thinking of the frost a
nd snow there would be in the mountains, they bought raincoats and winter clothi
ng.
Another physical enemy was hunger. This one had no easy remedy, since they had l
ittle to spend on food. Their last dinner deserving of that name was the one the
y had on October 24, the feas-t of Saint Raphael; it cost them 15 pesetas each.
Also on that day, at Father Josemara's suggestion, Doa Rafaela was presented by he
r guests with a bouquet of flowers. Nothing like that had been done for the wido
w in a long time, and least of all by her boarders.[120]
Money was already getting short before they had to pay the fees of the expeditio
n organizers. If the price was 2,000pesetas per person, as Mateo had indicated,
they would not be able to sign up. Mateo had also specified that these had to be
"good" pesetas, which -were bills issued by the Bank of Spain and in circulatio
n before July- 18, 1936. These bills were recognized as legal tender in the othe
r zone, and for that reason were highly coveted. But they were very hard to come
by. Evidently quite a few people in the republican zone were expecting the nati
onalists to win, or at least were prudently preparing for that eventuality.
The group started looking for "good" money immediately, and, surprisingly, they
found it, in a way that could only be called providential. It was Francisco Gaye
, the friend of Tomas Alvira, whose mother had made her confession to Father Jos
emara, who took care of the problem. At Tomas's urging, Gaye, an employee of the
Hispano-Americano Bank, took the risky step of exchanging other' bills for "good
" ones, and he got away with it, even though the "good" pesetas were kept under
extremely vigilant control by the banks.[121] Once more, everyone had occasion t

o see the guardian angels' hand in events.[122]

On October 25, when he showed up unannounced in Valencia, Juan got a big surpris
e. He had not heard anything about Pedro's sentence.
Pedro still had a week to go before his release, so Juan went with Paco to visit
him. Then and there, they resolved to leave for Barcelona the very day Pedro go
t out. In the meantime Juan would go to Daimiel, where Miguel Fisac (Lola's brot
her who was also a member of the Work) had been hiding out in his parents' home
for over a year. Miguel would need papers, and also some physical conditioning a
fter all those months of inactivity. The first problem was the more easily solve
d-Pedro had in his apartment some stamped letterheads of his cavalry support div
ision that could be used to counterfeit a pass.[123]
Juan went to Daimiel on October 27 and on the 30th was back in Valencia with Mig
uel, who was pale as a ghost. The next day, at nine in the morning, Pedro was re
leased, with a strong warning from the commandant, who threatened severe punishm
ent for a repeat offense. Pedro contritely assured him that that offense would n
ot be repeated." [124] (He had already decided to desert.) On November 2, at eig
ht in the morning, just as the Father was finishing Mass, the four from Valencia
arrived at Doa Rafaela's boardinghouse. The Ebro River had overflowed its banks
at Amposta, forcing them to spend a night there. The next morning they had cross
ed over to the other shore and caught a train. To avoid suspicion, three of them
now went to stay at a house on Argentina Street that the widow Montagut had fou
nd for them.[125]
As Mateo the Milkman kept telling them, all they could do was wait for more favo
rable conditions. In the last week of October, matters were complicated by a wid
espread flood in Catalonia. On October 30 the Father sent to Isidoro a postcard
saying, "My dear friend: A few words of greeting, to tell you that, with the rai
ns, my trip has been postponed for four to six days."[126]
To make matters even worse, on October 31 the republican government moved from V
alencia to Barcelona, increasing the police presence and communist influence in
the area.[127]It was not unusual to read items like this one from the October 31
issue of La Vanguardia: "Law and order: The undocumented. For being undocumente
d, some eighty individuals have been arrested by the police in bars, restaurants
, handball courts, and other places of relaxation." By now they themselves were
the next thing to undocumented, since both the military passes that Pedro had pr
ovided the Valencians and the safe-conduct passes of the Madridians had expired.
The only solution was to erase the old dates and substitute new ones. An uncle o
f Tomas's who was a hospital administrator and had his own office was able to ma
ke the changes with a good ink eraser and a typewriter that had the same style o
f letters as the passes.[128] Some of the documents were easy to amend. The safe
-conduct passes for the Father and Tomas, for instance, had been valid for thirt
y days starting October 5, so they only needed a "2" inserted before the "5" to
become valid until November 25. The military passes, on the other hand, were usu
ally given for only a few days, with both the starting and the ending dates spec
ified. By mid-November, the ones for their group had suffered more than one eras
ure in the same spots. Obviously, not all of those documents would pass a rigoro
us police inspection. The Father always turned to the guardian angels in such di
fficult situations, and he taught his followers to do the same, with results tha
t, as Juan puts it, were sometimes "quite spectacular.[129]
Meanwhile, Mateo was able to revive their hopes: a new expedition was being orga
nized. On November 6 Father Josemara wrote to Isidoro, "I trust that everyone in
the family will be fine. Here we're doing great, and, at any moment now, the gra
ndfather will be leaving for Jose Ramon's house with his seven little grandchild
ren." [130]
But what actually kept happening "at any moment now" was that the departure was
put off for another couple of weeks. Hunger was getting to be a real problem. Th
ey had no ration cards, and to try to get them would be too risky. Food could, o
f course, always be bought on the black market, but not without more money than
they had. All they had plenty of was hunger. They ate one meal a day, and a very
small one at that. Long walks were needed for getting into condition, but that
expenditure of energy made the hunger worse.[131]

Of course, many other people were also hungry. The priest felt very sorry for th
e two little nephews of Jose Maria Albareda who lived with their grandmother Pil
ar. When he had breakfast in a cafe on days when he had breakfast at all-he woul
d usually get a malt, as a substitute for coffee, and a couple of salted biscuit
s, and save all this for the two boys.
"Entertain the little ones," he would say to Pedro. And Pedro, armed with paper
and pencil, would ask them what they wanted him to draw. Invariably, it was some
thing to eat. One day he drew a plate with a couple of fried eggs, and generousl
y added some delicious ooking sausages. The youngsters were delighted, but the F
ather, taking him aside, said to him, "Don't you think, my son, that it might be
mental cruelty to give a picture like that to these hungry children?"[132]
To walk out on the street in groups of four or five would have been dangerous; i
t would have attracted attention. But the Father saw to it that, fairly often, t
hey all got together as a family in one or another of the boardinghouses in whic
h they were staying. These get-togethers were not, of course, risk-free, but the
y were a way of cheering people up and preventing them from growing cold in thei
r spiritual life or giving in to depression.[133] The Father was the heart and s
oul of the group, but when it came to the material organization he made it clear
that his role was to obey. "On one of the first days of our stay in Barcelona,"
relates Paco, "the Father told us that as far as the departure from the Red zon
e was concerned, he was putting himself in Juan's hands like a child and that he
would follow his instructions. And we did in fact often see Juan and the Father
speaking together by themselves."[134]
In mid-November, Mateo announced that they would be leaving Barcelona on Friday
the 19th. He informed them of the means of transportation, the stopping places,
and the passwords for the contacts. The documents were altered for the last time
. Some of the safe-conduct passes, including the Father's, were again easy to ad
just, requiring only that a new destination be typed in.[135]
The last-minute preparations were made with a close eye on expenses. They bought
first-aid items, six more raincoats, several pairs of rope-soled shoes, and som
e boots for the Father. He was still wearing a coat and tie, in keeping with his
position as a consulate official, but very soon he would have to change into mu
ch sturdier clothes.[136]
When the time for the departure came, the Father sent a few letters and postcard
s: to Isidoro, to the Honduran consul, and to Lola Fisac. To her he sent two pos
tcards, the second of which reads:

Barcelona, November 19, 1937

My dear friend: Just a few words to tell you that today the grandfather leaves f
or Jose Ramon's house, with his grandchildren. He says he will write you within
a month.
Much love,

Josemara[137]

Then, showing him their deep gratitude, they took leave of Mateo the Milkman. Doa
Rafaela was also sorry to see them go. She would never forget the fear she had
of what might have happened to that priest if he had been caught saying Mass. Bu
t at eighty-five she would still remember him as a "very prudent" person, with v
ery refined sensibilities.[138] Undoubtedly she was thinking of his good manners
and great dignity, but perhaps also of something that can be illustrated by the
following incident. In Barcelona, after a good deal of hunting about for eating
places they could afford, they found two: a squalid, dirty tavern and a modest
place on Tallers Street called L'Aliga Roja Bar and Restaurant. At L'Aliga the t
ables had tablecloths, the dishes were clean, and the prices were almost as low
as in the other place. But the portions were larger at the grimy tavern. The Fat
her preferred the cleanliness and simplicity of L'Aliga, but almost always he le
t his sons drag him to the place with the more plentiful helpings.[139]


6. The rose of Rialp

As the doctor of the group, Juan was worried that their physical resistance migh
t be too low for the difficult passage ahead. He was particularly concerned abou
t the health of the Father, who at the end of October had spent several days in
bed with a high fever.[140] Also, Tomas and Manolo had not yet recovered from re
cent attacks of colitis.
Fortunately, Jose Maria did not have any special problems, and neither did Paco
and Pedro, who had been living a normal life since the beginning of the war. And
as for Miguel, his muscles were quickly regaining strength as a result of the w
alks around Barcelona.
On Friday, November 19, at 1:00 P.M., six of them took the bus for Seo de Urgel.
(Manolo and Tomas would leave Barcelona two days later, so that the group would
not be so large as to arouse suspicions.[141]) The Father, Jose Maria, and Juan
rode in front, and Pedro, Paco, and Miguel, further back.[142] In accord with t
heir instructions, this latter group, being young men of military age whose docu
ments were not in the best condition, got off the bus in Sanahuja, where a guide
was waiting for them. From that point on, inspections by the police and by mili
tiamen would become more frequent and rigorous as the bus got closer to the bord
er.
The Father, Juan, and Jose Maria got off a little past Oliana, near where the ro
ad to Peramola begins.[143] (It was in Peramola that the other three were to rej
oin them.) A prearranged signal immediately identified their contact, who follow
ed them at a prudent distance until they reached a secluded spot. He told them t
hat his name was Antonio Bach, but that people called him Tonillo. A mail carrie
r and an employee of the town government, Tonillo was a brave and decisive man t
o whom more than one fugitive owed his life. He quickly made friends with Father
Josemara-who was now wearing tobacco-colored corduroy pants that were loose-fitt
ing and fastened at the ankle, a navy-blue turtleneck wool sweater that was too
big for him, rubber-soled boots of a sheepskin leather that became terribly soft
the first time it rained, and a black beret.[144] "Soon after we started walkin
g," recalled Tonillo years later, "that gentleman in the blue sweater had alread
y told me he was a priest and the rector of the Church of Santa Isabel in Madrid
. He said it just like that, of his own accord, as if he had no concern about it
being known that he was a priest."[145]
Night had fallen by the time they reached Peramola. They made a detour around th
e village, and then Tonillo put them up in a barn, promising to come at dawn to
wake them. As soon as they lay down, the place came alive with the sounds of rat
s and mice running around. Possibly Juan and Jose Maria, in their exhaustion, sl
ept soundly, but not the Father. His thoughts went back to his family, to the me
mbers of the Work still in Madrid, and to those at the battlefronts. And he star
ted praying, holding to what he had written to Lola Fisac two days earlier: "The
poor old fellow keeps you very much in mind, each and every one of you. He talk
s with Don Manuel at length every day about his concern for the whole family."[1
46]
It was still dark when Tonillo showed up at the barn. His son Paco, a boy of abo
ut fourteen, was with him. When Tonillo asked if they had slept well, the Father
replied, "We've had company." Tonillo was alarmed, until the Father explained t
hat he meant rats.
There was no news of the three who had gotten off at Sanahuja. Perhaps they were
resting after a night of walking. To lift their spirits, the Father left a few
lines for them at Tonillo's house:

In the mountains of Rialp, November 20, 1937

I imagine you're dead on your feet after a sleepless night. Well, everything wor
thwhile costs effort. Plus, if you want, not a single step you take will be unfr
uitful.
All right, enough philosophizing. Take good advantage of the straw just don't tr

y to eat it, okay?-and sleep soundly, without paying any attention to the troop
of rats that will come out to greet you.
As for us, we are doing very well-we're deeply grateful to these good friends he
re-and are just sorry that our good Madridian friends (Jose Maria, Alvaro, and t
he others) couldn't also come.
Eat well and don't forget about Don Manuel. The other two send their regards.

Much love, Mariano

Till tomorrow.

P.S. Pedro, see if you can draw a nice picture of the boy who will hand you this
note-a picture where he looks dressed up.[147]

Guided by Paco Bach, they set out on a trek to the Vilaro farm. When they were h
alfway there, dawn began to break through the thick pine trees, but soon they ar
rived at the farmhouse, which was built on a small elevation affording plenty of
visibility-if police or militiamen approached, there would be time to hide. The
person running the farm, Pere Sala, was overjoyed when the Father said he was a
priest and would like to celebrate Mass. A table was set up in one of the rooms
of the house, and they laid out the items they had so carefully put together in
Barcelona: hosts, a small crystal glass to serve as a chalice, some small corpo
rals, purificators, a crucifix, a small bottle of altar wine, and a notebook in
which the canon of the Mass and several texts for votive Masses had been copied.
[148]
They spent the rest of that day hiding out in the barn, and then when night came
, they went over to the farmhouse to sleep. But still having received no news of
Pedro, Paco, and Miguel, the Father hardly slept a wink. Finally, early the nex
t morning, word came that they had reached Peramola. It was now Sunday, November
21. The Father, wanting to wait for them, put off saying his Mass as long as he
decently could, but as it turned out, they showed up in the middle of it. After
ward, they all had breakfast with Pere Sala and his family. The newcomers recoun
ted their adventures, starting with when they had gotten off the bus in Sanahuja
. They had had trouble giving the password to the guide, and had gotten lost in
the middle of the night, because the guide was a foreigner who was not very fami
liar with the terrain and who spoke neither Spanish nor Catalan. They had not re
ached Peramola until the evening of the following day, after walking for over tw
enty hours, and had had to wait at the outskirts of the village until night fell
and they could share the barn with the rats. After reading the Father's note, P
edro had made a pencil sketch of Tonillo's son Paco.[149]
Pedro was so exhausted that he could hardly think straight. But despite that fac
t, and despite the joy they all felt at being together again after all the uncer
tainties of the previous day, he knew that something was wrong. Here they were,
seated at table, enjoying a hearty breakfast: potatoes, peppers, bacon, bread, a
nd wine. "However," Pedro wrote in their journal that day, "we are all like stra
ngers. And the reason is that the Father is worried, and can't hide it. Back in
Madrid there is this little group of our people who have not been able to leave.
..[150]
They were in the barony of Rialp. The area got its name from the Rialb River (th
e "rivus albus," or "bright river," of Roman times), which picked up the waters
of a multitude of small streams before flowing into the Segre River. Peramola an
d the Vilaro farmhouse lay between these two rivers. The area had many low mount
ains, whose valleys and spurs were covered with oaks and pines.
In the middle of the afternoon, Pere Sala came to tell them that they would need
to get on the move, because they would not be safe staying at the farmhouse. At
nightfall, when they had been walking for a quarter of an hour, the parish chur
ch at Pallerols came into sight. On a smooth hillside, between the trees, they c
ould make out the silhouette of a tower and a small church, with a large rectory
attached.[151]The nearby houses and stables looked abandoned. The rectory door
had no lock. Following Pere Sala, the fugitives climbed the stairway to the seco
nd floor, where their guide lit a candle. They were in a large, nearly empty roo

m that had several doors and a balcony looking out over the valley. Pere opened
one of the doors, and in the dim light they could make out a small room with a l
ow arched roof. The walls were darkened, the plaster was grimy, and the floor wa
s covered with straw. Air came in only through a small window badly covered with
boards. In the flickering light of the candle that little room resembled an ove
n.[152]This was where they were to sleep that night-after barring the door, thei
r guide advised them.
They followed Pere Sala back down the stairs, into the sacristy, and out into th
e church. The walls were completely bare. The paintings and statues, the reredos
and altars, and even the bells had been ripped out and destroyed in 1936 by mil
itiamen. In fact, not content with mere destruction, they had used their plunder
to make a bonfire outside.[153]By the light of the candle the Father went looki
ng for a memento to take with him, for the purpose of making reparation for such
savagery, but could not find anything.
They went back up the stairs and into the rectory living room, and Pere took his
leave, saying that he would come get them in the morning. They dined on bread a
nd sausage that they had been given at the farmhouse, and after a short get-toge
ther and the praying of the Preces of the Work, they set up for the next day's M
ass on a table in the living room. Then they retired to the room with the vaulte
d ceiling, put out the candle, and stretched out on the straw. Juan and the Fath
er were at the back of the room; Paco and Pedro were very near them; and Jose Ma
ria and Miguel were near the door.[154]
They had been lying there for a while when Paco heard the Father stirring and br
eathing in an agitated way. Juan got up and opened the little window to let in s
ome fresh air, but this did not calm him. As Paco relates it, "There came from t
he Father first a low, pain-filled moan, and then a soft sobbing that grew in in
tensity."[155]
Juan spoke to the Father very quietly, but the whispering woke Pedro, and he ask
ed Paco what was going on. Paco, in turn, asked Juan, but Juan did not reply.
The Father was now sobbing more deeply and his breathing was becoming more labor
ed. Then Pedro clearly heard Juan say something that stunned him: "We're taking
you to the other side, dead or alive." He could not believe that one of the Fath
er's sons would speak to him in that way. Frightened and unable to bear any more
, he prayed to our Lady and fell into a deep sleep.[156]
Only Juan knew about that terrible trial of October 15 in Barcelona, when the Fa
ther had left the house determined to return to Madrid by train because he could
n't stand the thought of going against the will of God by leaving abandoned the
people there. Only he knew that this trial had come back, this time even more fo
rcefully. But for all of them, it was one long night of suffering. "Never," says
Paco, "had I seen anyone cry like that. And never since then have I seen anythi
ng like it. It was an anguish that made him shudder, a deep pain that made him t
remble. It lasted a long time, hour after hour, until dawn. Long enough to burn
itself into my memory forever."[157]Toward the end of that anguished night, the
Father asked our Lord for a sign that he was doing God's will, not his own.[158]
At dawn the Father grew quiet, but kept praying, asking our Lady's intercession
for the calming of his conscience, still suffering from the fear that he was not
doing God's will. He got up to open the little window, and he looked exhausted
and sorrowful, but calm. He told Juan that he would not be celebrating Mass-he w
as thinking that to do so might be contrary to the will of God-and asked him to
take everything off the table in the living room. Then he rapidly disappeared do
wn the stairs to the sacristy.
After a short time he reappeared in the living room, radiant with joy. Every tra
ce of the exhaustion had disappeared from his face. In his hand he held somethin
g made of gilded wood. It was a rose.
"Juan," he said, "take good care of this. And get everything ready. I'm going to
celebrate Mass."[159]
Whether out of humility, embarrassment, or respectful reticence, Juan left no re
cord of what had happened during that night. Skipping it entirely, he just enter
ed this in the journal:

The next morning, Monday the 22nd, there occurred an event that, in order to avo
id sensationalism and any attempt at interpretation, I think I should recount in
very few words.... He left the room and apparently went down to the church. A l
ittle while later he returned. His worry had disappeared. Although he didn't say
anything to this effect, he looked like he was very happy. He was holding a gil
ded rose. We all got the impression that the rose had a deep supernatural signif
icance. He kept it with very special care, and we packed it carefully in the kna
psack, together with the items used to celebrate Mass.[160]

Pedro explains his own reticence in this way: "I should be sorry for having slep
t so soundly that night, but to be perfectly honest, I am really glad I did. I h
ave to admit that whenever I sensed something extraordinarily supernatural happe
ning in the life of the Father, I felt a special fear. For me it was very trauma
tic."[161]
Out of humility, and also because he wanted to keep his children from dreaming o
f "miracles" instead of exerting human effort to solve problems, the founder was
never inclined to say much about that rose. "It's a wooden rose, gilded, nothin
g important," he told a group in 1961. "It was in the Catalonian Pyrenees that I
first held it in my hands. It was a gift from our Lady, through whom all good t
hings come to us. How many times we have addressed her as Mystical Rose! But I n
o longer call to mind that event. I just remember to give thanks to the Lord for
his mercy toward the Work and toward myself."[162]
The first time he related explicitly and in writing what had happened in Rialp w
as on December 22, 1937, in an entry in his personal journal.[163]
The wooden rose is now in the headquarters of Opus Dei in Rome.

7. "Saint Raphael's Cabin"

That same morning (Monday, November 22), after Mass, they met up with Manolo and
Tomas, who had left Barcelona the day before. (Tonillo had put them up at his h
ouse, saving them from a night with the rats in the barn at Peramola.) They brea
kfasted together at the Vilaro farmhouse, enjoying sausage and fried potatoes, w
ashed down with a good jug of red wine. In the evening their guide, Pere Sala, l
ed the fugitives back into the woods. About a half hour's walk past the Pallerol
s church, they reached a spot with a lot of pine trees, near the top of a hill.
There, built into the hillside, they found a log cabin with a pine-branch roof.
The "hut," as Pere Sala called it, was behind a rise and not visible from the va
lley. From up there, however, one could see far and wide, all the way to Mount A
ubens in the north.[164]
The Father christened it "Saint Raphael's Cabin," in honor of the archangel, a p
atron of the Work and of wayfarers. Obviously there had already passed through i
t an expedition that included a priest, because there was an altar made of board
s and pine branches. The new arrivals added a vertical pole on which to hang a c
rucifix.
The following day, very early in the morning, the Father said Mass on that rusti
c altar. Afterward, some of them went down to the Vilar farmhouse in search of br
eakfast. Others went to a nearby spring to fetch water. There they ran into Pera
mola's parish.priest, Father Josep Lozano. He had been living in the forest for
fifteen months, hiding in a shack with his brother.[165]
To lift their spirits, the Father jovially announced that there would take place
on that day a general constituent assembly, opening in mid-morning under his ho
norable presidency. Its purpose was none other than to distribute duties and set
a schedule for work and for the norms of piety. The following schedule was unan
imously approved:

Rise 7:00
Prayer 7:15
Holy Mass 7:45

Preces
Breakfast and Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary
Gathering wood, walking, etc.
Angelus and Sorrowful Mysteries 12:00
Lunch, visit to the Blessed Sacrament, walk
Prayer and reading the paper 5:00
Conference 7:00
Supper and Glorious Mysteries
Examination of conscience, resolutions, retire 10:00
D.O.G.[166]

They soon came to appreciate the importance of that schedule as a mainstay of di

scipline, a defense against idleness and discouragement, and a means of bolsteri
ng optimism.
Also specified were each person's chores: cleaning, fetching water, preparing me
als, writing in the journal.... Pedro used one of his free periods to describe i
n detail his adventures of November 19and 20. In their forest shelter, after a d
ecent meal, those long hours of exhausting night-time hiking had taken on a cert
ain lyrical aura. "The moon," he writes, "rose almost full, casting its serene s
ilver light over mountains and valleys." However, he quickly comes down to earth
. "Here, with a pen," he says, "it is very easy to climb up and down mountains a
nd traverse valleys, but reality is usually not that poetic."[167]
By now those back in Madrid had learned that they had left Barcelona on the 19th
. "How wonderful! The youngsters on the other side will be able to receive the g
randfather's care. How much I miss them!" wrote Isidoro to those in the consulat
e. And then he added, "How much we miss you!There are only nine of us on this si
de, and most of us are separated. If only those of us who are here could live as
a family!"[168]
Even though Saint Raphael's Cabin was bathed in sunlight and pine-scented breeze
s, life there was far from comfortable. At night the cold was intense, and of co
urse a fire was out of the question. And despite all their efforts, they could n
ot rid the cabin of lice, a legacy of previous tenants. To wash, they had to go
to a pool of clear water halfway between the Vilar farm and the cabin. While some
, the Father first of all, bathed in the frigid waters, "I didn't dare," confess
es Pedro. "That whole scene reminded me of the martyrs of Sebaste."[169]
Still, they were happy-very happy. For the first time they could sing without fe
ar. At one of the get-togethers, the Father gave the first performance. He sang,
among other things, a Christmas carol he had learned from the nuns at Santa Isa
bel-one with simple words and a catchy tune.[170]
The food left a lot to be desired. Although it was enough to get by on, it was t
oo little for undernourished young people with hard mountain climbing ahead. The
y bought it at the Vilar6 farmhouse or at the nearby Ampurdanes farm, and almost
always it was sausage and potatoes. On the third day, the Father gave their "pr
otector" a piece of his mind about how scanty and expensive the food was. Pere S
ala became angry. But the Father ended the discussion with a few affectionate wo
rds to calm him down, and from then on, the food improved noticeably in both qua
lity and quantity.[171]
Nature protected them on all sides. Secure in the thick forest, with no fear of
being surprised by militiamen, with no one but friendly country people around th
em, the refugees could move about freely. On Tuesday, November 23, as we have me
ntioned, they ran into Peramola's priest, Father Josep, while fetching water fro
m the spring. From him the sacristan's son learned that the cabin had new tenant
s, and at three that afternoon the boy came over and invited them to have coffee
in a nearby cabin. And except for the Father and Pedro, they all went. With the
sacristan were the tailor and other pillars of the Peramola community. Amid son
gs and good cheer, everyone got coffee, a cigarette, and a small glass of brandy
.[172]
Thursday, November 25, was an eventful day. At five in the morning, Pere Sala ca
me to the cabin and told them that on the next day there would be leaving an exp
edition with very expert guides who were asking 2,000 pesetas a person-in "good"

bills, of course. The Father, without even getting into the question of money,
told him that they already had a commitment (to Mateo the Milkman) and would not
consider changing it. Pere left, and they went back to bed.
Then, just after they got up, there showed up Father Porta, the pastor for Palle
rols. The Father had asked Pere to introduce him to other priests in hiding, in
case he could be of service to them. After spending some time with Father Porta,
he said Mass, at daybreak. At mid-morning, Father Josep, Peramola's priest, cam
e over and invited them all to join him in picking mushrooms. In the forest ther
e were lots of them, both edible and poisonous-several varieties of each type. F
ather Josep showed them how to distinguish the edible ones, and they ended up wi
th so many that, after saut ing them with garlic in a frying pan, they could not e
at them all.
In the afternoon their "protector" arrived with food borne by his mule. With him
was the pastor of the church at Pons, who was living in hiding at the Vilar farm
house. He spent a long time with the Father. Among other things, he had come ove
r to let them know that the expedition Pere had told them about that morning was
just a ploy to get more money.
Friday, before they were up, they got a pleasant surprise: a visit from Mateo. H
e brought word that the expedition would be leaving Monday. The Father and Pedro
then went down to the Vilar farmhouse. Pedro finished some sketches of the paris
h church of Pallerols, while the Father, accompanied by the priest from Pons, ex
amined its interior. They could not find the slightest trace of the carvings and
altarpieces destroyed by the revolutionaries.[173]
The next day, Saturday, word came in the morning that the departure had been mov
ed up and they would be leaving that afternoon. After eating, they made their vi
sit to the Blessed Sacrament, which the Father was still keeping in the metal ci
garette case, in his shirt pocket, under the turtleneck sweater. As the afternoo
n progressed, they were joined by other people who had been hiding out in that a
rea and who would be part of the expedition. Finally, Pallares (the aforemention
ed friend of Mateo's son) arrived, and he told them that the guides were now dem
anding 2,000 pesetas each, instead of the agreed-upon 1,200. This caused quite a
disturbance, there now being not enough money to go around. Fortunately, Mateo
then arrived and offered to intercede personally with the guides. But just when
everything seemed to be taken care of, the Father's affection for his children g
ot the better of him. Pedro, who knew what he was going through, tells what happ
ened:

He came up with an idea for how to get rid of the predicament, an idea it was ju
st like him to come up with: he would go back to Barcelona, without money. There
he would ask for a loan and return to Madrid. (He can never get Madrid off his
mind-our people there, and especially Alvaro.) This idea, as one might well imag
ine, sent Juan into a fit. He used very strong language and then, under his brea
th, said to him some terrible things. Finally the Father gave in and agreed to s
et out.[174]

8. Crossing the Pyrenees

Those who would remain in hiding in Rialp said good-bye to that expedition, whic
h was taking such great risks for a chance at freedom. Much safer, they thought,
to stay hidden in the huts. But one never knows what the best solution is. Only
a few weeks before the war ended, Father Josep was killed-one more name on the
long list of priests killed in the province of Lerida.[175]Had the Father stayed
a few days more in Madrid, he might well have been in the room he rented on Aya
la Street when a shell exploded there. And a brief delay in leaving the boarding
house in Barcelona would have landed them all in prison; police acting on a tip
came to search it, and Doa Rafaela did spend a month in a checa.[176]
It was six o'clock, and already dark, when they left Saint Raphael's Cabin. The
sacristan of Peramola led the way. Next came Mateo, and then came the others, tr
ying their best not to fall behind. The leader stepped up the pace. Juan, who wa

s walking next to the Father, heard him arguing with himself, in a low voice, ab
out whether to go on or to turn back. Juan says:

He couldn't tell what he should do. It was as though he suddenly felt abandoned,
left without supernatural help. It seemed to be a trial permitted by God, that
made it a tremendous effort for him to go against the grain and get the better o
f his worries of the moment. I panicked at the thought that he might decide to r
eturn. Without hesitation I grabbed his arm. I was not about to let him turn bac
k, and I told him so in very crude, impolite language. I recall it with horror,
but it was necessary, because I knew he had decided not to go on and I felt obli
ged to fight him on that.[177]

"The Father insisted on staying in Peramola to go back to Madrid," explains Pedr

o. "Juan was walking right behind him, and he responded by saying things like, '
We're taking you to Andorra, dead or alive.' The Father was giving as his reason
that he felt so weak he didn't think he could make it on foot all the way to th
e border."[178]
The episode of the rose had calmed his conscience, but he still felt an overwhel
ming paternal pull to be with his children. Considering the dangers there, wasn'
t he more needed in the republican zone? Juan's love-motivated crudeness did a l
ot to keep him pressing on. As Paco Botella puts it, "Juan's attitude toward the
Father was a combination of filial submission and energetic decisiveness."[179]
In pitch-black darkness they made a stop and waited a half hour in the cold. Jua
n got sick and threw up his supper. The guide returned with rope-soled canvas sh
oes for those not well shod for this type of walking. (These helped prevent fall
s and made less noise.) They then continued their trek through dense woods, alon
g treacherous paths. Juan at one point fell and rolled down a hillside, but was
not seriously injured. A little before midnight, the guide led them to a cave at
the foot of El Corb. The narrow entrance was half hidden by rocks and adobe, an
d when they got in, they were reminded of the cave of Ali Baba and the forty thi
eves. It was a deep cave, with many branching caverns. They lit a fire and saw a
dirty floor, a smoky roof, rows of racks for a stable, and a stove. Both men an
d beasts had left traces of nights spent in that shelter.
In the innermost part of the cave, a man was waiting for them-twenty-something,
wearing sandals and a corduroy outfit, looking very stern. He said, "Here I'm in
charge and everyone does what I say. We walk single-file, no talking, no noise.
When I need to let you know something, I'll tell those in front, and it will ge
t passed on back. No one breaks rank, and no one falls behind. If anyone gets si
ck and can't continue, he stays behind, and if anyone wants to keep him company,
he stays too."[180]Their previous guide called this guide Antonio, but later th
ey learned that this was not his real name.
They lay down and got whatever rest they could, and then, a few hours before daw
n, they set out again, climbing a steep footpath. After they had crossed a gorge
in the early morning fog, other people joined their line. As day was breaking,
they went around a foothill that was thick with pine and oak and descended besid
e a vigorous waterfall into the ravine of Ribalera.
Father Josemara prepared to say Mass, although not without the fear that this mig
ht provoke some irreverence, since blasphemous comments had been made during the
previous night's trek. They were at the foot of a high cliff that sheltered the
m from the cold wind. At that moment a boy showed up. His name was Jose Boix Ost
e, and he had come there from the Juncas farm, which had an arrangement with the
organizers of the expedition. He had brought food for the travelers. Jose also
gladly helped set up an altar-a more or less flat stone placed on top of some ro
cks that had fallen from the cliff.[181]
It was Sunday, November 28. The Father announced to those with them, about twent
y people in all, that he was going to say Mass. Some were curious, others excite
d. Probably none of them had been to Mass since July of the year before. The alt
ar being very low, the Father celebrated the Mass kneeling. Paco and Miguel, kne
eling at either side of the altar, held down the corporal so that the hosts woul
d not be blown away. Some of their companions received Communion with great devo

tion, among them a student from Catalonia who had joined the group the previous
night.[182]
Jose Boix recorded years later that he had found it strange that the priest, rig
ht after arriving, would want to say Mass. The boy had gone out on many a mornin
g to meet expeditions of fugitives, and he knew that in many of them there were
priests. But, he says, "out of all the others who showed up at that farm in thos
e years, not one was disposed to say Mass." The reverence of the priest moved hi
m deeply. "I think," he adds, "that I saw in action a priest who was a saint."[1
83]
The student from Catalonia kept a journal of his experiences on the trip. On Nov
ember 28 he wrote, "Here the most moving event of the whole trip takes place: Ho
ly Mass. On a rock and kneeling down, almost prostrate on the ground, a priest w
ith us is saying Mass. He doesn't say it like other priests in churches.... His
clear and heartfelt words penetrate the soul. Never have I attended Mass like to
day's. I don't know if it's because of the circumstances or because the celebran
t is a saint."[184]
After breakfasting on bread and sausage, with a little wine, they tried to sleep
as best they could on that rough, uneven ground. At three in the afternoon they
were given a little bit of fried rabbit to eat. Then some of them prayed the Ro
sary. And at four, wrote that day's journal keeper, "we set out again, poorly fe
d and poorly rested."[185]
The previous treks had been made at night, but the next stage, the climbing of M
ount Aubens, was too risky for that-they needed to reach the summit while it was
still light. The route began along slopes that were not very steep, though they
were thick with undergrowth. But when they had been walking for an hour, they r
eached a place where it was necessary literally to climb. The guide, Antonio, tr
ied to hurry the stragglers. Tomas Alvira collapsed, exhausted. The guide ordere
d the others to keep going. If they wanted to reach the summit, he told them, To
mas would have to be left behind. "The best thing," he said, "would be for him t
o return. Otherwise we'll have to leave him by the wayside." The Father spoke wi
th him and managed to get him to change his mind. Then he encouraged Tomas. "Don
't worry," he said. "You'll continue with us, as will all the others, to the ver
y end." ("We were constantly praying to the guardian angels," Tomas recalls.) [1
86]
The summit turned out to be a plateau covered with spongy vegetation that was de
lightfully easy to walk on. After crossing it, they began a steep descent throug
h a damp pine forest, by way of logging trails. Falls were frequent, and everyon
e ended up with b loody hands from grabbing the thornbushes.
When they got to the valley, they stopped for a brief rest. During that time, th
eir guide disappeared for a while and then reappeared without saying where he ha
d been. Now, well into the night, in groups of three or four and with great care
, they crossed a highway. They regrouped a little past the bridge over the Valld
arques River, and then had to wade across the knee-deep Sellent River. After thi
s they still had more than three miles to go, and the guide started getting nerv
ous. The Father could hardly stay on his feet, but he took Antonio by the arm an
d tried to calm him down. Soon they passed the town of Montanisell and arrived,
exhausted, at the last stretch of this stage of the journey. And just then it be
gan to grow light, which was exactly what the guide had feared would happen. The
road to the Fenollet house, where they were to spend the day, could be seen fro
m the village of Organa, where several guard units were posted.[187]
In the cold light of dawn they entered Fenollet-a country house, with large corr
als, hidden among mountains three thousand feet high. As soon as they arrived, t
he Father gave Communion to his companions, making sure that all the hosts he ha
d brought with him from the Mass in Ribalera got consumed, because they had agai
n heard blasphemies during the previous night.
The guide warned them that they had three days to go, with no chance of getting
supplies, and then, after ordering them not to leave the corral they were in, he
disappeared. The fugitives made themselves as comfortable as they could amid th
e stables and sheds, sleeping all morning to the background music of bleating sh
eep, cackling hens, and tinkling cowbells. Only the Father, who was half awake,

was aware of the danger they got into in the middle of the morning, when two mil
itiamen visited the farmhouse and asked the woman who came to the door if she ha
d seen any signs of fugitives. The woman unperturbedly served them some glasses
of wine, and they left.[188]
At about two in the afternoon the group woke up, famished. In anticipation of th
eir arrival, the people at Fenollet had slaughtered a lamb the night before, and
the food was so abundant and tasty that their guide told Juan Jimenez Vargas ye
ars later, "I've forgotten many things, but that meal I will remember forever."[
189]The journal keeper of the day also had high praises for the mutton-and-bean
dish. (When typing up the journal, the Father added, "They certainly charged eno
ugh.")[190]
After the meal, while some of the fugitives were taking a siesta, the women of t
he house (among whom was a nun in hiding) mended their clothes. Seeing how exhau
sted his companions were, the Father told them to lighten their knapsacks before
the next trip over mountains. Some of their belongings were left behind in the
corral.[191]
As sustenance for the trek to Andorra, they bought a small cheese, a loaf of bre
ad, and a refill for the wineskin. Shortly after nightfall they set out again, w
alking single file to Mount Santa Fe, which faces Fenollet. This route to the Py
renees involves a constant climbing up and down of a mountain range to the right
of the Segre River; the valley of this range forms a natural corridor from the
barony of Rialp to the foothills of the Pyrenees. Because this strip they would
be traversing was only thirty or forty miles from the French border and had the
best hiding places, it was closely watched by militiamen.
After a painful climb of more than an hour, they began to descend the northern s
lope of Mount Santa Fe into the plain where the village of Organa is located. Th
e walking was, of course, much easier now, but the barking of the farm dogs was
an ever-present danger. Only a few weeks before, as their guide knew only too we
ll, militiamen had been alerted by the dogs that an expedition of fugitives was
approaching, and they had opened fire.
After crossing the Cabo River, they began climbing Mount Ares, which is some 4,5
00 feet high. The ascent, at night, over rough and uneven and steep terrain, in
which one didn't know where to set foot, was the ultimate test of physical endur
ance. The Father, who had gotten hardly any rest at Fenollet because of the exha
ustion of the night before, was now panting painfully, his pulse racing. Paco an
d Miguel helped him climb, at times almost carrying him, while he kept repeating
to himself, "Non veni ministrari, sed ministrare.?[192] When they got to the to
p, they rested for a while. A cold wind was blowing, so everyone tried to huddle
together around the Father, while Juan gave him a good swig of sugared wine fro
m the wineskin.[193]
Despite their exhaustion, they set out again. Jose Maria Albareda had become diz
zy and disoriented, but after a few good swigs from the wineskin, he let himself
be led by the hand.[194] Fatigue and the strain of trying to pierce the darknes
s, of guessing where to set foot by keeping track of the shadows of what lay ahe
ad, caused them to start seeing lights and farmhouses that didn't exist. And if
they tried to pray a Rosary, they soon lost count and ended up with mysteries th
at had in them twenty or thirty Hail Marys. In their heads, the words of their p
rayers blended with the tune of the Christmas carol the Father had learned from
the nuns of Santa Isabel, which goes: "What a beautiful Child Saint Joseph has g
ot. At the sight there comes over me I don't know what." By some strange phenome
non, says Pedro Casciaro, the melody and rhythm of that carol "became an insepar
able part of our belabored breathing."[195]
Suddenly, those at the head of the line halted. The guide had disappeared. He so
on reappeared with a straggler who had fallen down, half dead, and given up. Ant
onio, fearing that it might be a trick done to get them caught by the police, or
that he might be found by one of the border guards, forced this man at pistol p
oint to rejoin the group.
Finally, as dawn was breaking, the guide brought them all into a livestock barn
that was hidden in a high meadow. Numbed by the cold, dead tired, having almost
no food or wine left, they rested there for that day-Tuesday, November 30, 1937.

[196]
It was getting dark when the guide returned and they resumed their trek. From th
e meadow they descended, by a path, to the banks of a stream which runs into the
Segre River. In the woods they came across quite a few tree stumps, and, as on
the night before, there were a lot of falls and bruises.
In 1938, when typing up the journal of their passage through the Pyrenees, Fathe
r Josemara was deeply touched at the thought of those days when he was so physica
lly broken down and there were so many slips and falls at night in the mountains
. Where the journal keeper says, "We hold onto one another, it's the only way to
walk," Father Josemara adds this comment: "And this is the exquisite charity tha
t those sons of my soul showed me. They-Juanito, Paco, Miguel-lifted me off the
ground and kept me from many a fall, as one lifts a small child that is trying t
o take its first steps."[197]
When they got near the Segre River, they turned away from the stream and skirted
the base of Mount Creueta. Then they crossed the Pallerols River and came up to
the highway to Seo de Urgel. Antonio had learned from locals that militiamen ha
d been watching the highway closely during the day. Quickly and silently they cr
ossed to the other side of the highway, and then walked another three miles, ski
rting the village of Pla de Sant Tirs and turning north.[198]
During one of their rest stops, the guide went to a farmhouse to refill the wine
skins, and there he encountered another group of fugitives and three or four men
with large bundles on their backs. From the fragrance emanating from their carg
o, which contrasted sharply with that given off by the hikers' clothes, it was o
bvious that these were smugglers carrying perfumery products. Along with these i
noffensive aromatic articles, they also carried a good supply of weapons.
In the wee hours of the morning, the expeditionaries set out to follow the cours
e of a stream that led directly north. The going was very rough. For several hou
rs they walked alongside the stream-and sometimes in it. Father Josemara's boots
became soggy, making walking in the cold and dark even more unpleasant, and cert
ainly not good for someone susceptible to rheumatism.[199] When they reached the
village of Arabell, they left the stream and used their remaining energy to cli
mb a rise, from which they could make out Seo de Urgel in the distance. At daybr
eak, protected by dense thickets, they made camp near a farmhouse. The expeditio
n had been reinforced the previous night; it now numbered about forty people.
December 1 dawned cold and crisp, with a cloudy sky. Damp and stiff with cold, t
hey hardly touched their meager provisions, and spent the day huddled in their b
lankets-three blankets among the eight of them.
"In these days full of trouble, fatigue, and hunger," writes the journal keeper,
"it is very difficult to do our norms. But we do them. If we cannot dedicate th
e usual time to them, we shorten things; but we do them."[200]They did the norms
-the periods of mental prayer, the Rosary, the aspirations-on the move, between
falls, as best they could. In their daytime hiding places they gathered strength
for the next leg of the journey. Father Josemara slept fitfully, usually only ha
lf asleep. On Tuesday, November 30, the journal keeper writes, "The Father did n
ot sleep at all today"; and on the next day, "The Father did not sleep."[201]
He spent these hours of wakefulness in prayer.[202]During the treks he usually r
efused the sugared wine Juan offered him to give him strength, on the pretext th
at others needed it more than he did. During the rest periods he gave his blanke
t to others, and when food was distributed he made sure the others got more.[203
]It is amazing that his constitution didn't completely give out before they reac
hed the border.
By now they were close to Andorra, and this did rekindle their hope of getting t
hrough the final stage, although they were too exhausted to show it. In midafter
noon the sky grew dark. Some snowflakes were fluttering indecisively when the gu
ides told them they had to get going again. They finished eating the bit of brea
d that still remained, while Juan distributed the few lumps of sugar he had left
.
They headed north, climbed Cerro el Tosal, and came down into the valley of Civi
s, their descent slowed by the loose rocks underfoot and by dense undergrowth th
at tore clothes and skin. "I don't know what the roads of hell are like, but it'

s hard to imagine them being worse than this," writes the journal keeper of the
day. "Today's descent makes those of previous days seem like something to laugh
about."[204]
According to the guides, detachments stationed in Argolell had been patrolling t
he area all day. The fugitives spent two hours lying in bone-piercing cold along
the banks of the Civis River before the guides gave word that it was safe to re
sume walking. Toward midnight, they quickly crossed the river and began climbing
the steep mountain looming before them. When they looked back at the river, the
y seemed to be standing on a precipice. At about three in the morning they reach
ed the summit and began descending into a wooded area near Argolell. There, for
a half hour that felt like forever, they stayed hidden behind tree trunks before
being told to start walking again. They passed a house that had a light on, and
dogs began to bark. Then they crossed another stream and climbed the hillside i
n front of them.
As soon as the expeditionaries realized they were in Andorra, they began to disb
and and scatter. The Father's group, after walking along for some time, decided
to stop and wait for daylight, so they could get their bearings. Sitting on the
ground, wrapped in their blankets, they prayed to the guardian angels that their
guide would show up. A few minutes later they heard someone whistling. Going in
the direction of the sound, they came upon a campfire, with some members of the
ir expedition seated around it with the guides and the smugglers. In a spirit of
camaraderie, they offered the newcomers a place at the fire and some bread and
sausages. The guide, Antonio, told them his real name was Jose Cirera.[205]

9. In Andorra

Before taking leave of one another, these fugitives all prayed together a Hail,
Holy Queen. Then, in their separate groups, they made their way toward Sant Juli
a de Loria. The Father's group was praying the Rosary when, from the still dista
nt town, there came the sound of pealing bells. Suddenly they felt that indescri
bable sensation of having gotten back their freedom and being free of fear. "Deo
gratias! Deo gratias!" the Father kept saying. It was the morning of December 2
, 1937.[206]
At the entrance to the town, French gendarmes stopped them to take down the name
s of these "political refugees." They had breakfast in a cafe: milk, cheese, and
white, spongy, still-warm bread. Then they asked if the church could be opened
for them. It was the first church they had seen since 1936 that had not been des
ecrated. They made a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, but Father Josemara could no
t say Mass because of the liturgical norms on fasting that were then in effect.
By midmorning they were already settled in the Hotel Palacin of Les Escaldes, wh
ich was only a short distance from Andorra's capital, Andorra la Vella. In the e
vening they all went there together to send a telegram to Jose Maria Albareda's
brother, who lived in Saint-Jeande-Luz, asking him to arrange for the required v
accinations and for the photos needed to obtain safe-conduct passes. Suddenly Fa
ther Josemara's heart leaped. Walking toward them, right out there on the street,
was a priest in a cassock. For his part, the priest, Father Luis Pujol Tubau, s
aw approaching him six or eight very badly dressed young men whose shoes were fa
lling apart. "From that group," he recalls, "came forward someone who with open
arms greeted me, saying, 'Thanks be to God-a priest!" [207] That embrace was the
beginning of a lasting friendship. And Father Josemara took advantage of that fi
rst encounter to find out where he could say Mass the next day.
After sending the telegram and taking care of some other business, he wrote a no
te to the Honduran consul, Pedro de Matheu Salazar, as a way of getting word to
the others in Madrid:

Escaldes (Andorra), December 2, 1937 My dear friend:

Before returning to the Pacific, where I will see Jose Luis, I have taken advant
age of an opportunity to visit this pleasant principality of Andorra, since the

situation in Spain doesn't allow me to travel to Madrid. Tomorrow I will leave,

with my brother Ricardo and the rest of the family, for Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Give
my regards to Mila and Consuelito.

Best wishes,
Josemara[208]

Then they returned to their hotel. After dinner they intended to say a Rosary be
fore going to sleep, but, says the day's journal keeper, "I don't think any of u
s even managed to start it. I'm amazed that we didn't fall asleep taking off our
shoes."[209]
The next morning, the Father celebrated Mass in the church of Les Escaldes-not "
stealthily and in secret," as in Madrid and Barcelona, but with the decorum that
the liturgy calls for. There were many things and many people to remember durin
g that Mass. The celebrant was overwhelmed by the thought of those he had left b
ehind. Before beginning the Mass he asked his companions to pray for them, and d
uring the Mass he paused for a long time at the Commemoration of the Living and
at the Commemoration of the Dead. In the Commemoration of the Living he also rem
embered the bishop of Vitoria, it being the feast day of the bishop's patron sai
nt (Saint Francis Xavier), and after Mass he sent him congratulations by telegra
ph.[210]
The telegram they were looking for from Saint-Jean-de-Luz arrived that day. Sign
ed by Jose Maria Albareda's sister-in-law, Pilar, who was the Marchioness of Emb
id, it read: "Jacques Not will come to pick you up tomorrow"-and had been sent t
he night before. All afternoon they waited impatiently for the car, but it did n
ot arrive. Who did show up was Jose Cirera, the guide. He had been unable to ret
urn to Spain. Had there been a delay of only twenty-four hours, he told them, th
e expedition would have failed, because heavy snowstorms had closed the mountain
passes. He also told them that on their final trek he had had to change the rou
te, because police were waiting for them at one of the fords they would have bee
n crossing.
That day the Father wrote to Isidoro:

Escaldes (Andorra), December 3, 1937 My good friend:

I am quite upset at your failure to answer the last two letters I wrote you: the
first in October, from Prague, and the second from Paris, in the middle of Nove
mber.
Today, taking advantage of having come, on a sports trip with some friends of mi
ne, to this principality of Andorra, I send you this brief note to ask that you
write me at my cousin's house. In case you don't remember his address, here it i
s: "Senor Alvarez / Hotel Alexandre / Saint-Jean-de-Luz / France." You can just
put my name at the top of the letterhe'll forward it to me if I'm not there. You
know how much I like to travel!
My family is in excellent health and happy as always.
Affectionate greetings to your brothers and sisters, and of course to the grandm
other, uncle, and aunt.

Love,
Mariano

P.S. I'll be leaving for my cousin's house (in Saint-Jean-de-Luz) today or tomor
row-he's sending a car. Best wishes.[211]

The events of those days are recorded in the journal in detail: "December 4, 193
7 (Saturday). It is seven in the morning, and it is snowing as we begin today's
activities. The landscape around us, being all covered in snow, now exhibits ano
ther aspect of its beauty. The high peaks, clothed in white, have a more elegant
, less rustic beauty."[212]
It was half a mile from the hotel to the church where the Father celebrated Mass

. He and his companions were joined by five other young men who had been part of
the expedition. Afterward Father Luis invited him over for breakfast and then t
ook him to visit some Benedictines from Montserrat who were staying at a school
named Meritxel.
Meanwhile, it didn't stop snowing. Obviously, the expedition had by a miracle be
at the snow. But now everyone was saying that the En Valira pass to France was c
losed. This was a serious setback. Was the car waiting on the other side of the
pass?
They devoted the afternoon to correspondence. In Spanish, in French, in English,
they wrote to relatives, friends, and acquaintances to communicate to them-with
great discretion, if they happened to be in the republican zone-that they had g
otten out of there. Tomas Alvira and the Father sent to their friend Pascual Gal
be Loshuertos, the judge in Barcelona, a brief message that could not put him in
any danger: "Un abrazo. Josemara - Tomas."[213]
They also used this delay to bring the account of their crossing of the Pyrenees
up to date. During the nocturnal treks they had been able to jot down only the
briefest of notes. Now everyone helped flesh them out.[214]
As a result of those marathon hikes in torn-up shoes, Manolo's feet were in such
bad shape that he could not walk. Even to get from Andorra to Les Escaldes, he
had to go in a car. As for Father Josemara, his hands were sore and alarmingly sw
ollen. Juan treated them with salicylate, thinking that the swelling was a sympt
om of rheumatism, but after two days, seeing that it had increased, he took a cl
oser look and discovered a lot of small splinters from the thornbushes the Fathe
r had grasped for support. Juan carefully extracted about thirty.[215]
For five days they were at the mercy of the weather. Their hopes kept rising and
falling. The snow went on, and the car sent by Albareda's brother did not arriv
e. December 6 dawned cold but clear, and at midday word came that they could lea
ve the next day by bus. But at suppertime they were informed that so much snow h
ad accumulated in the pass that it would be two or three days before they could
leave. The next day a villager who had gotten through the pass brought them lett
ers written in Hospitalet, the French village where their car was waiting; it tu
rned out to be not an auto from Saint-Jean-de-Luz but a taxi from Hospitalet. Bu
t in any case, it had not been able to get through because of the snow.[216]
If the villager who brought the letters had been able to get through the pass, w
hy couldn't they? Why would the direction make any difference? They also thought
about renting a tractor, but the one available wasn't working. They consulted t
he gendarmes, and were told that the pass could not be gotten through. Perhaps,
they thought, this was the time to get some help from higher authorities. Stayin
g with them in the Hotel Palacin were Colonel Boulard and some other officials w
hom the French Republic had sent to defend the principality against possible inc
ursions by Spanish militiamen. "Monsieur le Colonel" expressed sympathy for thes
e political refugees whom he had been seeing and greeting every day in the dinin
g room, but when they asked him to help them get into France, he suavely advised
them, given the circumstances, not to try to do this.[217]

The journal-keeper wrote:

After having kept trying all day long (impolitely, the Father says), we have shu
t up. We are now ready to wait until the pass is opened. But let it be soon!
We're gathered in the dining room, near the heater, and thinking of our companio
ns still in the red-zone Calvary. Every time he thinks about that, the Father ge
ts very sad. We have to believe this forced wait is a very good thing, since our
Lord has arranged things this way.[218]

During those days Father Josemara said Mass in various places: in the chapel of M
eritxel School, in Les Escaldes' parish church, and, on the feast of the Immacul
ate Conception (December 8), in the chapel of Holy Family Convent. (This, coinci
dentally, was the day the nuns renewed their vows. It was a simple ceremony in a
simple chapel.) From the prolonged stay forced on him by the snow, there also c
ame memories of delightful get-togethers with Father Pujol. Writing a month late

r in Pamplona, in his personal journal, he says: "Walking along the river this e
vening, I thought of our little evening walks in Andorra, from the capital to La
s Escaldes, after get-togethers with the good archpriest."[219]
Father Luis Pujol was, as we have mentioned, the pastor and acting archpriest of
Andorra la Vella (which had a population of a little over one thousand), and ri
ght away he and Father Josemara had hit it off. The very first day that Father Jo
semara said Mass in the capital, Father Luis invited him to his home, a comfortab
le house on the main square. There he had his office-a small room with a desk, v
estry cabinets, and a bookcase, plus an armchair and three or four other chairs.
Adorning the walls were pictures with scenes from the lives of Saint Ignatius a
nd Saint Francis Xavier, together with a crucifix. The desk always had on it a p
ile of letters to be relayed from one zone of Spain to the other. Father Luis wo
uld open a letter, transfer it from one envelope to another, and affix a fresh s
tamp. In some special cases, he passed along messages in letters of his own. But
the snow had interrupted this work of his, too.[220]
"Today," Pedro writes in the journal on December 5, "the archpriest did not rece
ive us in the usual room; after we passed through what looked like a fairly good
-sized dining room, he led us into the kitchen. The fact of being received in th
e kitchen, near the warmth of the chimney, has in Andorra, in the house of the a
rchpriest, all the significance of being offered a seat in the presence of the k
ing."[221]
They were very grateful for Father Luis's hospitality. Along with the cups of co
ffee and the glasses of anisette that he served them, he would also give them up
dates on current events, especially those in Andorra. There was, for instance, t
he arrival of "Monsieur le Colonel." There was also the rebellion of some Andorr
ans who, incited by Spain's former Minister of Public Education, Fernando de los
Rios, refused to give the bishop of Seo de Urgel his traditional "present": a t
ribute consisting of a few roosters, several hams, a dozen cheeses made of sheep
's milk, and 1,500 pesetas. [222]
The invitation was repeated the following day, and they spent an agreeable after
noon chatting. As they returned to the hotel, along the banks of the snow-swolle
n Valira River, an icy wind took their breath away.
On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the archpriest invited Father Josemara
to dinner, and during that dinner he asked him about their crossing of the Pyre
nees. Many fugitives had arrived in Andorra, each with their own story and trage
dy, but what struck the Andorran priest more than any of those stories was the s
ilence of Father Josemara. "What impressed me the most," he says, "was to hear hi
m say, with regard to everything that happened in those days in the mountains, '
I suffered so much that I've resolved not to mention any suffering.' And so it w
as, because neither then nor later did I hear him say anything about the torment
s he underwent."[223]
That evening the Father told his companions about the menu the archpriest had tr
eated him to: hors d'oeuvres, cannelloni, calf's head, cutlets, pastries. The jo
urnal keeper does not mention that, after such a long period of hunger, Father J
osemara had such a shrunken appetite that he hardly wanted to eat.[224]
News came that the pass would be open December 10. A bus would leave at 7:30 in
the morning. They rose at six, went to Las Escaldes' parish church for Father Jo
semara's Mass, and had a quick breakfast. An awkward moment came when they went t
o pay their hotel bill. Eight people, for eight days at 20 francs a day, plus te
n percent, came to 1,408 francs. They had to haggle over this, because the littl
e money they had left was going to have to last them till they got back to Spain
. They were so poor that they hadn't even been able to buy shoes in Andorra. The
bill ended up reduced to 1,300 francs, to the satisfaction of the guests and th
e hotel owner. While the account was being settled, the travelers donned all the
ir warm clothing and stuffed newspapers in their socks and around their legs for
protection against the cold.[225]
At eight o'clock, in brilliant sunshine, a truck left with twenty-five passenger
s in improvised seats. Many of these people had been part of Jose Cirera's exped
ition. As they passed the hamlet of Encamp, the motor began to sputter, and they
had to get out. After walking beside the truck for a while, they got back in an

d reached Soldeu. The vehicle could go no farther, and it was eight miles to the
border at Pas de la Casa. At first the snow was pleasant to walk on-a nice thin
, crunchy layer. But little by little it got deeper, ending up knee-high. The me
lting snow soaked their shoes and made liquid paste out of the newspapers that w
ere supposed to protect their feet.
Waiting at Pas de la Casa was a bus with fourteen seats. The Spanish fugitives s
queezed into it. A French brigade had cleared the highway from the pass to Hospi
talet, where the customs station was located. They presented their documentation
and were granted permission to cross into France, but only for a stay of twenty
-four hours. Nevertheless, the Father decided to stop in Lourdes before going on
to Hendaya.[226]
The taxi driver whom Albareda's brother had contracted with had an old Citroen-b
ig, but not for a passenger load of eight adults. The slowness of the border pol
ice and the driver's evident hesitation delayed their departure, and by the time
they left Hospitalet it was growing dark and foggy and they were shivering with
cold, even though they were blanketed with newspapers and crammed together in t
he car. As they passed through Tarascon, Father Josemara tried to cheer up his co
mpanions by recalling Alphonse Daumet's comic character, Tartarin, that brave hu
nter of lions. He is the hero of several adventure books, one of which is Tartar
in de Tarascon.[227]
They slept in the Hotel Central at Saint Gaudens, and the next morning, December
11, they squeezed back into the Citroen. It was still very early when they reac
hed Lourdes. Everything was closed except the basilica's crypt. In the sacristy
Father Josemara spoke in Latin with the priest on duty, and the priest allowed hi
m to say Mass, although he still seemed taken aback by his shabby appearance. Th
e Father asked Pedro to serve the Mass, since he would be celebrating it for the
intention of Pedro's father, who was in a difficult political situation and est
ranged from religious practice. Pedro followed the Mass with great emotion, as h
e himself relates: "This manifestation of our founder's priestly zeal and affect
ion for my family so moved me that all other recollections of his first Mass in
Lourdes have faded from my memory."[228]
The Father celebrated Mass at the second side altar on the right side of the nav
e, near the entrance to the crypt. Afterward they had breakfast at a cafe and th
en prayed a Rosary at the grotto, thanking our Lady for her protection. "We reme
mbered, one by one, all those who remained behind in the Red zone and all those
we hoped to find as soon as we got to the other zone," says Juan Jimenez Vargas.
" [229]
They reached Saint-Jean-de-Luz at six in the evening. Jose Maria Albareda's brot
her was waiting for them. It was already dark when they crossed the internationa
l bridge back into Spain.
[1] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 154ff. Up till then he had been wearing Chiqu
i?s blue overalls, the ones he had put on before leaving the Ferraz Street resid
ence on July 20,1936; see AGP, RHF, EF-370813-1. Father Josemara also carried wit
h him some identity cards saying, "Jose Escriba Albas-Chief Supply Officer of th
e Consulate of Honduras - Madrid."
[2] The republican zone now had an army combining volunteers with regulars. The
republican government, in which the Communist Party was gaining more and more po
wer, proceeded to militarize the militias and create a People's Army, as it was
called, under the supreme command of the Ministry of War. The communists managed
to dominate the new military apparatus by controlling the General Commissariat
of War, created to exercise sociopolitical control over the armed forces through
political commissars-commissar delegates, as they were officially called. See R
amn Salas Larrazabal, Historia del Ejercito Popular de la Republica, vols. 1 and
3 (Madrid, 1973). See also Michael Alpert, El Ejercito Republicano en la Guerra
Civil (Madrid, 1986), especially pp. 93ff. and 219ff.; Rafael Casas de la Vega,
"Ejercito Nacional y Ejercito Popular de la Republica," in La Guerra Civil Espan
ola (Sesenta anos despues), ed. Miguel Alonso Baquer 98 (Madrid, 1999), pp. 183231; and Burnet Bolloten, La Guerra Civil espanola: Revolucidn y contrarrevoluci

dn (Madrid, 1989), pp. 247-59 and 439-43.

[3] The room looked out on the street. It had no bed, only mattresses on the flo
or. As one can tell from the receipt for September, it was a bedroom: "I have re
ceived from Don Jose Escriba the amount of seventy pesetas, the rent for the mon
th corresponding to this date, for the bedroom of my apartment at 67 Ayala Stree
t, fourth floor, left side. Madrid, September 13, 1937. Juan Zafra. Total: 70 pe
setas." See AGP, RHF, D-05201.
[4] It was a small reproduction of "L'Addolorata," by G. B. Salvi, a seventeenth
-century painter also known as Sassoferrato. When Father Josemara left Madrid, he
left the picture behind, letting Santiago keep it.
[5] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 118 and 121-23. The document for Juan certifi
ed that "Don Ricardo Escriba is the Purchasing Agent in the Supply Department of
this Consulate."
[6] See AGP, RHF, EF-370905-1. In his correspondence from all those months of hi
s stay at the Honduran consulate, and in Isidoro's as well, one can see the deta
il, orderliness, and punctuality with which they did their accounting for the Wo
rk. In one letter, for example, he says to Isidoro: "Today you sent one peseta l
ess, 55." (See AGP, RHF, EF370725-5.) The purpose of such exactness was to live
poverty well. They had to deal with hunger and prepare for the expenses of tryin
g to get out of the country, which would undoubtedly be high. For doing all this
, the founder sketched out a practical rule: "Let us adjust our expenses to the
precarious situation. In war, as in war." (See AGP, RHF, EF-370704-1.)
But he was not stingy. A few days later he wrote, "Spend what you need to for yo
ur personal needs, without scruples" (AGP, RHF, EF-370710-1).
Finally, this orderly accounting made it possible to keep expenses of the Work s
eparate from those of the Escriva family. He writes to Isidoro, "Please do me up
a balance sheet of our financial situation, going into as much detail as possib
le. It is, of course, understood that all the expenses for Santiago should be ta
ken care of by my mother, not one penny being charged to the Work. Also send me
a note listing in detail the monthly expenses we will keep having to meet as lon
g as the present circumstances hold. Show this to Aunt Carmen too." (See AGP, RH
F, EF-370630-1.)
[7] As was the case with almost everything that happened during the civil war, t
his letter provoked a lot of controversy. See Gonzalo Redondo, Historia de la Ig
lesia en Espana, 1931-1939, vol. 2, La Guerra Civil, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1993), p
p. 343-53.
[8] See Vicente Carcel Ortf, La Gran Persecucion: Espana, 1931-1939 (Madrid, 200
0), pp. 126-46.
[9] The revolution of July 1936 had driven the Church back to the catacombs. The
only exception in the republican zone was the Basque Provinces, where the pract
ice of religion continued under the shelter of that region's autonomy and the fa
ct that the vast majority of the population was Catholic. In the churches there,
public worship was never interrupted. See Fernando de Meer Lecha-Marzo, El Part
ido Nacionalista Vasco ante la guerra de Espana: 1936-1937 (Pamplona, 1992).
On January 9, 1937, Irujo presented to the Council of Ministers of the Republic
a memorandum (dated January 7) showing how much harm the religious persecution h
ad already caused the Republic. Its opening sentences sum up the outrages and th
e responsibility of the republican rulers: "Opinion in the civilized world looks
with dismayed astonishment, not to say revulsion, at the conduct of the governm
ent of the Republic in failing to prevent these acts of violence and in consenti
ng to their continuance. The revolutionary outburst might have been considered b
lind, overwhelming, and uncontrollable at first. But the systematic destruction
of churches, altars, and objects used for worship can no longer be considered a
spontaneous eruption." See Vicente Carcel Orti, La persecucion religiosa en Espa
na durante la Segunda Republica, 1931-1939 (Madrid, 1990), pp. 286-87.
The government of Largo Caballero rejected Irujo's proposal for religious freedo
m. On July 31, 1937, Irujo submitted to the Council of Ministers a similar propo
sal, which also failed.
The one thing he was able to accomplish along these lines came a year later. On
April 30, 1938, Negrin made public a policy statement which included an allusion

to the government's desire to respect freedom of conscience and assure religiou

s freedom. Unfortunately, however, this declaration of intent had little effect
in practice. Irujo, for other reasons, resigned in August of that year. See Boll
oten, pp. 784-85,918, and 951-52; Manuel de Irujo, Memorias, vols. 1 and 2: Un v
asco en el Ministerio de Justicia (Buenos Aires, 1976 and 1978); and A. de Lizar
ra [Andres Maria de Irujo], Los vascos y la Republica Espanola: Contribucion a l
a Historia de la Guerra Civil, 1936-1939 (Buenos Aires, 1944), pp. 155-59 and 17
2-97.
[10] An attempt was made to restore Catholic worship in a few places, such as Ca
talonia, where the communists had less power, but the effort never amounted to m
uch. See Josep Maria Sole i Sabate, "Las represiones," in La Guerra Civil: Una n
ueva vision del conflicto que dividio Espana, ed. Stanley G. Payne and Javier Tu
sell (Madrid, 1996), p. 595.
[11] Cervera has found that while priests were the most numerous group among tho
se killed without trial (18 percent), clerics charged before the People's Courts
in Madrid during the war made up only 1 percent of the total tried (between twe
lve and thirteen thousand). "Of the priests tried by the People's Courts," he sa
ys, "something over 25 percent were considered enemies of the regime," and the r
est were acquitted. He also notes that "religious practices ... were considered
a sign of hostility to the Republic," and that simply having religious books cou
ld lead to arrest. See Javier Cervera Gil, Madrid en guerra: La ciudad clandesti
na, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1998), pp. 76, 155, 191, and 179-80. For more on the clan
destine exercise of priestly ministry, see Jose Luis Alfaya Camacho, Como un rio
de fuego: Madrid, 1936 (Barcelona, 1998), pp. 119-93. The risks and dangers ent
ailed by religious practices are reflected in the fright of the people who sold
that picture of the Blessed Virgin to Father Josemara; Tomas Alvira recalls that
he saw someone arrested "because a medal of our Lady was found on him" (see AGP,
RHF, T04373, p. 2). This was still the situation in the summer and autumn of 19
37.
[12] See AGP RHF, T-04152-III, p. 126.
[13] See Antonio Vazquez Galiano, Tomas Alvira-Una pasion por la familia-Un maes
tro de la Educacion (Madrid, 1997), p. 80.
[14] See AGP, RHF, T-04373, p. 1, and T-04152-III, p. 125.
[15] See Beato Josemara Escrivd de Balaguer: un hombre de Dios. Testimonios sobre
el Fundador del Opus Dei (Madrid, 1994), p. 421. (Hereafter this book will be c
ited as Testimonios.) See also AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 128; Santiago Escriva d
e Balaguer y Albas, Sum. 7344; and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 889.
[16] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 901.
[17] On January 9, 1992, Diaz Ambrona wrote a letter to Bishop Alvaro del Portil
lo which can be found on page 23 of del Portillo's Immersed in God (Princeton: S
cepter, 1995).
[18] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 121 (testimony of Juan Jimenez Vargas, who us
ed to eat at Albareda's rooming house), and Enrique Gutierrez Rios, Jose Maria A
lbareda Una epoca de la cultura espanola(Madrid, 1970), p. 109. For some time th
e founder had been praying intensely every day for Albareda. "Tell Jose Maria Al
bareda that I remember him very especially every day," he wrote to Isidoro Zorza
no (AGP, RHF, EF370701-3).
[19] AGP, RHF, EF-370910-1.
[20] See AGP, RHF, EF-370406-1. Alvaro had been in refuge in a branch office of
the Finnish embassy. He landed in the San Anton prison when that office was inva
ded by the militia. He tells an interesting anecdote about his time in San Anton
. One day a guard named Petrov put a pistol to his temple and said he was going
to kill him since he was obviously a priest. (Alvaro was wearing glasses, which
for the militiaman must have been a sure sign that he was an ecclesiastical inte
llectual.) See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 884. Petrov, or Petrof, was the nicknam
e of Santiago del Amo; see Cervera Gil, p. 80.
[21] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 265.
[22] See AGP, RHF, T-00162, p. 37.
[23] See AGP, IZL, D-1213,254, and AGP, RHF, EF-370725-5.
[24] AGP, RHF, EF-370725-3. See also AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 119, and Alvaro d

el Portillo, Sum. 889 and 890.

[25] Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, Sum. 7326. See also AGP, RHF, T-07921
, p. 19.
[26] AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 139.
[27] Ibid.
[28] AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 20.
[29] AGP, RHF, EF-370918-1.
[30] The Way, no. 743.
[31] AGP, RHF, EF-370918-1.
[32] Letter May 31, 1943, no. 45.
[33] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2418. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 877.
[34] AGP, RHF, EF-370919-1.
[35] See Vazquez Galiano, p. 85.
[36] See AGP, RHF, T-04373, p. 2, and Joaquin Alonso Pacheco, Sum. 4636.
[37] AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 128.
[38] He optimistically expected to give the meditation to sixteen or eighteen la
dies; see AGP, RHF, EF-370924-1. At his request, Isidoro had contacted Herm6gene
s to try to find out what had happened to some documents that Father Lino Vea-Mu
rguia had been unable to deposit in a bank. When Father Lino was assassinated, o
n August 16, 1936, they had lost track of those papers. See AGP, RHF, EF-3708281, and AGP, IZL, D1213,251.
[39] AGP, RHF, EF-370918-1.
[40] See Orti, La persecucion religiosa, pp. 238-39.
[41] See AGP, RHF, T-05399, p. 36. This woman was Maria Teresa Villanueva Labaye
n. The daughter of a minister during the monarchy, Miguel Villanueva, she had me
t the founder at the Foundation for the Sick. In 1931 she joined the order Jeron
imas de la Adoracion, and moved to Gijon. She returned to Madrid as a result of
the revolution that took place in October 1934. During the civil war she remaine
d in the capital, helping Catholics at the risk of her life. She died in 1942. H
er identity is known because the Father told this story to her nephew, a diploma
t who lived in Rome in the fifties.
[42] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 889. On the religious activities in the apart
ment at 12 Hermosilla Street, known as "the Cathedral of Hermosilla," see Antoni
o Montero Moreno, Historia de la Persecucion Religiosa en Espana (Madrid, 1961),
p. 104; Alfaya Camacho, pp. 139-43; and Cervera Gil, pp. 191 and 371.
[43] See AGP, RHF, EF-380813-1.
[44] AGP, RHF, T-04388, p. 1.
[45] Ibid., p. 2. See also Joaquin Alonso Pacheco, Sum. 4638.
[46] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 125.
[47] A journal entry dated January 11, 1938, reads: "Your light, Jesus, has made
me see very clearly that it was not an intuition of mine, but rather an inspira
tion of yours, that spoke during the revolution to that straying nun, that moved
her to make her confession to me, and to confess and repent of what I-sinner th
at I am-appeared to divine in her heart" (Apuntes, no. 1482).
[48] AGP RHF, EF-370805-2.
[49] AGP, RHF, EF-370505-4.
[50] AGP, RHF, EF-370725-3.
[51] AGP, RHF, EF-370825-1. (Because of the censorship, even "God" could not saf
ely be spelled out.)
[52] AGP, RHF, EF-370822-2.
[53] AGP, RHF, EF-370825-2.
[54] AGP, RHF, EF-370505-5.
[55] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 907. See also AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 134.
[56] AGP, RHF, EF-370918-1.
[57] See AGP, RHF, D-15068.
[58] See AGP, RHF, D-15069.
[59] See AGP, IZL, D-1213, 255, and D-1122.
[60] See AGP, RHF, D-15067 and AGP, RHF, EF-370723-1.
[61] See AGP, RHF, D-15070.
[62] See AGP, RHF, D-15071. This document contained a number of maxims and polic

y statements for the member to reflect on, such as "Your emancipation has to be
your own work," "Don't grovel before anything or anyone," and "Your fatherland i
s the world; your family is humanity" It is quite possible that Father Josemara m
ade use of some of these aphorisms in his own preaching, either to affirm parts
of them or to change people's minds about them. Of course, the openly Marxist sa
yings about fomenting class struggle would have been of no use to him.
[63] The first reference to the attempt to obtain union cards for Father Josemara
and Juan Jimenez Vargas is found in a letter written by Isidoro on May 13, 1937
, when they were still refugees in the Honduran consulate. He says: "The union:
Albareda has applied for the union documents. He wants to know if it would be be
st to describe Ricardo as a lawyer or an employee." And on June 17 the founder w
rote to those in Valencia: "If Eugenio sends them a pass to travel to Valencia,
Jose and Ricardo will leave immediately for Valencia to lend their services to t
he fatherland, since they now have their documentation in order (identity card a
nd union card with photos)." Jose and Ricardo are the founder and Juan. See AGP,
IZL, D-1213, 151, and AGP, RHF, EF-370617-1.
[64] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 903, and AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 112. Of co
urse, not all those aligned with the republican government were enemies of the C
hurch. One must bear in mind the grave disturbance that the military uprising pr
oduced in Spanish life, especially in places where it did not prevail, by unleas
hing precisely what it sought to prevent, namely, an anarchist or socialist-Marx
ist revolution. In consequence, when the republican state disappeared in August
of 1936, there were convinced republicans, many of them agnostics, who were eage
r to defend the Republic but lacked any military or judicial means of securing w
hat they called a freedom-of-conscience regime. Their fate was unfortunate, but
many of these people (including agnostics) were not anti-Catholic. More problema
tic, personally and from the point of view of conscience, was the situation of t
he Basque nationalists and of Carrasco and Formiguera's small Christian party, t
he Democratic Union of Catalonia.
[65] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 903.
[66] In early May 1937, the streets of Barcelona were the scene of a real war be
tween the militias of the different political factions. Four hundred people were
killed and a thousand wounded. These power struggles between socialists and com
munists, Catalonians and Libertarians, Stalinists and Trotskyites were such that
the government finally had to send in from Valencia the air force, a motorized
column, and two destroyers, with troops, to reestablish order.
The government of Largo Caballero collapsed as a consequence of these battles, a
nd NegrIn formed a new government excluding the anarchists, Libertarians, and an
tiStalinists. Then political and religious repression began again with the use o
f Bolshevik methods, including the "checa" torture centers. Anarchists and heter
odox communists were systematically persecuted and eliminated. In accordance wit
h the dictates of Stalin and the instructions of the Bolsheviks, they were repre
sented to public opinion and the government as undesirable elements and infiltra
tors serving the "fascist" Francoists. See Bolloten, pp. 525-730, and Ramon and
Jesus Salas Larrazabal, Historia General de la Guerra de Espana (Madrid, 1986),
pp. 225-31 and 246.
[67] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 129.
[68] Tomas Alvira says: "On Castellana Avenue there was, and still is, an insura
nce building. Because it had a large clock on top, people called it the clock bu
ilding. This building was taken over by the CNT for 'the Education CNT.' The CNT
did not have a teachers' union in Madrid, so a group of teachers organized one,
and it was accepted. A large number of teachers with rightist political leaning
s joined, including a good number of priests and men and women religious who wer
e high school teachers. It was a way to get documentation. One person on the com
mittee running the union was Father Manuel Mindan, who, after the war, became a
philosophy professor at the Ramiro de Maeztu Institute. He was from Aragon and h
ad been in the seminary with the Father. I myself had been in that clock buildin
g several times; I had some professional acquaintances there." See AGP, RHF, T-0
4373, and T-04152-III, pp. 129-30 and 135-38. See also Manuel Mindan Manero, Tes

tigo de noventa anos de Historia: Conversaciones con un amigo en el ultimo recod

o del camino (Saragossa, 1995); on pp. 339-50 he tells the history of the founda
tion and the functioning of the teachers' union of the CNT.
Javier Cervera points out that since the beginning of hostilities the CNT had so
ught members in Madrid, and that its battle with the UGT continued until an agre
ement was reached in 1938. See also Alfaya Camacho, pp. 155-58.
"The CNT's objective of gaining a position of power," says Cervera Gil (pp. 22526), "had as a consequence the relaxation, if not the elimination, of all contro
l over the loyalty of the new members.... We have found hardly any cases of disa
ffected members, or of infiltrators from other organizations of the Popular Fron
t, except among the anarchists. This situation was the cause of more than one co
nfrontation within the Madrid Defense Committee, between the communists ... and
the anarchists' representatives, who repeatedly ignored the warnings they receiv
ed about how dangerous it was. Nevertheless, in contrast to this attitude, the C
NT itself created in its own defense committee a statistics subcommittee directe
d by Vicente Santamaria Medina, who was also in charge of the counterespionage d
ivision of the Ministry of War. It was assigned to check the backgrounds of new
members of the union to uncover disaffected or hostile persons in its ranks."
[69] AGP, IZL, D-1213,182. Actually, Jose Maria Albareda contacted Tomas Alvira,
and it was Tomas who obtained the work certificate for Carmen, as he himself ex
plains: "When they told me about the situation of the grandmother and Aunt Carme
n, I went to obtain a certificate stating that Aunt Carmen worked in the office
of the teachers' union. It was a bit of a struggle to talk them into it, but in
the end, in consideration of the reason I was requesting it, they gave it to me.
It certified that she was a typist in the primary education department of that
organization.... A few days later, the militiamen came to take them to Valencia,
but when shown Aunt Carmen?s work certificate, they left them alone" (AGP, RHF,
T-04373).
[70] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 182.
[71] AGP, RHF, EF-370624-2.
[72]Jose Maria Albareda first took on the task of getting a student ID for Santi
ago. His first impression, according to Isidoro, was that "this was not going to
work, since it required certifications of the identity of the students, and tho
se certifications would be investigated by the students' union" (AGP, IZL, D-121
3, 187). In the end, Jose Maria turned over the job to Tomas Alvira, and it was
he who got the ID card, as he himself testifies: "I also obtained an ID card for
Uncle Santiago in that same union of the CNT, which gave him the documentation
he needed to go out in the street" (AGP, RHF, T04373).
[73] On July 18 the Father wrote to his sons in Valencia: "Yesterday afternoon,
with a joy you can easily imagine, Uncle Santi went to live with the grandmother
. They have been separated for I don't know how many months. As for me, I'm very
delighted too, because this leaves me much freer" (AGP, RHF, EF-370718-1). Sant
iago says in his testimony: "I was the first to leave the Honduran consulate. To
mas Alvira got me an ID card from the CNT and another from the Libertarian Liter
ary Club. I went to live on Caracas Street with my mother and Carmen. With my ID
card I could go often to the consulate to visit them and bring them things. I c
ame in through the servants' entrance and did not have any problem with the mili
tiamen who guarded it" (AGP, RHF, T07921). See also AGP, IZL, D-1213, 226.
[74] See Gutierrez Rios, p. 108.
[75] AGP, RHF, EF-370727-3.
[76] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 908; see also AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 136.
[77] On the eve of their departure for Barcelona, Manolo Sainz de los Terreros w
as given 3,000 pesetas by neighbors of his on Sagasta Street, the Corchado famil
y. This was a considerable sum, roughly equivalent to the annual wage of an unsk
illed worker. On the help given on that and earlier occasions to people of the W
ork, see AGP, RHF, T-04152-Ill, p. 140, and AGP, IZL, D-01051 and D-01199.
It would take a long time to detail all the efforts made to get the needed money
. In broad outline, both Jose Maria Albareda and Tomas Alvira, who were employed
by the state, contributed the savings from their salaries, and the rest-Juan Ji
menez Vargas, Manuel Sainz de los Terreros, Pedro Casciaro, Francisco Botella, a

nd Miguel Fisac-got help from their families and friends, in Madrid, Valencia, a
nd Daimiel. There was also the remainder of the funds earmarked, before the war,
for the new residence at 16 Ferraz Street, and there were Doations from other fr
iends and acquaintances. Even so, there did not end up being enough to pay the g
uides in full; they received after the war what was owed them.
[78] Jose Maria Albareda got his safe-conduct pass by asking for it directly fro
m the Undersecretary of the Interior, Bibiano Fernandez-Osorio, a high-school cl
assmate he had not seen since before the war. He was a rather gruff man, but had
the heart to help Albareda get to Barcelona to see his mother, who had lost her
husband and a son, both killed by the militia.
Other documents were faked. Manolo Sainz de los Terreros, for instance, used a s
heet bearing the letterhead of the director of the San Ant6n prison, where he ha
d worked, to certify that he needed to make a trip to Barcelona for job-related
purposes. See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 137-38.
[79] AGP, RHF, EF-371001-1.
[80] The original document is in AGP, RHF, D-15072.
[81] See AGP, P03 1981, p. 367.
[82] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 901.
In a letter dated October 15, to those in Valencia, Isidoro writes of the death
of Don Ramon. "Yesterday," he says, "I went to visit the family of Alvarito, and
was present at the death of his father. Alvarito couldn't leave the household h
e has been evacuated to, because he's hoping that through its mediation he will
be able to follow the grandfather" (AGP, RHF, D-1213, 270). The "household," is,
of course, the consulate. See also AGP, IZL, D-1213,271 and 273.
[83] AGP, IZL, D-1213,268.
[84] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 140, and T-02012, p. 1.
[85] "The important news was that the Father would be arriving the next day, to
continue on to Barcelona," writes Francisco Botella (AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 23)
. A very brief letter that came from Madrid said: "Greetings-Just want to let yo
u know that tomorrow, Friday, my sisters will arrive in Valencia. Yours always,
Mariano" (AGP, RHF, EF-371007-1).
[86] See the pages of introduction to the journal of the crossing of the Pyrenee
s, in which Juan Jimenez Vargas describes these earlier travels of his. The narr
ation of the crossing begins on November 19,1937, and ends on December 10, in An
dorra. During their stay in the district of Rialp, those who were with the Fathe
r took turns writing down each day's events. When they reached Andorra, they inc
orporated into the journal the brief notes written while they were on the move.
The following year, when the Father was in Burgos, those handwritten records wer
e typed, and the journal was given the title "The Road to Freedom." In this tran
scription, some clarifications were introduced and a few words were omitted. Som
e of the changes, as we will see, give us deep insights into Father Josemarfa's
behavior and interior life. In other cases, as he told Ricardo Fernandez Vallesp
fn, there is some touching up. "I've enjoyed typing up the 'Road to Freedom' jou
rnal," he says. "Of course, I've had to leave out some phrases that were too exp
licit" (AGP, RHF, EF-381010-3).
There were seventy-one manuscript sheets, written on both sides; the typescript
was sixty-one pages. Both originals are in AGP, RHF, D-15323. The "Preces," by t
he way, are special prayers said daily by members of Opus Dei.
[87] See AGP, RHF, EF-371009-2.
[88] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, and AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 25.
[89] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 910. That priest came up and said Mass in Eug
enio Selles's apartment every day. And the Blessed Sacrament was reserved there.
See AGP, RHF, T-02012, p. 2.
[90] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 141.
[91] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 25.
[92] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 143, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 909. In th
e hurry to leave Madrid, they had to leave behind some things in the room on Aya
la Street, including the picture of our Lady from the frame and mirror store. Wh
en Isidoro and Santiago went to retrieve it and other items, they found that a h
owitzer shell had penetrated the front of the building, spraying the room with s

hrapnel. This image of our Lady was then kept in the grandmother's apartment; la
ter the Father gave it to Santiago; and eventually it ended up in Rome, in the o
ffice of the secretary general of the Work, where the founder usually worked. Se
e Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 889; AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 143; and AGP, RHF, EF
-371027-1.
[93] Only rarely did his good humor fail him in his letters to his sons. In June
he had written to those in Valencia: "I would like to try to tell you a joke, b
ut I can't get it out. It keeps sticking in my throat" (AGP, RHF, EF-370601-1).
[94] AGP, RHF, EF-371009-2.
[95] "Through the intercession of our Lady, may you have a good trip, and may ou
r Lord be with you on your way and his angel accompany you." See AGP, RHF, T-001
59/1, p. 27, and T-04152-III, p. 145.
[96] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 27.
[97] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 145, and T-04373, p. 4.
[98] See AGP, RHF, D-15323 and D-15373, and AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 146-48.
[99] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 148.
[100] AGP, RHF, EF-371010-1 and EF-371012-1.
[101] AGP, RHF, EF-371013-1.
[102] Juan Jimenez Vargas, in "Road to Freedom" (AGP, RHF, D-15323, p. 4), speak
s of a letter the founder sent to Valencia ("The letter was received by Paco, wh
o brought it to Pedro at the entrance to the barracks"). Francisco Botella also
speaks of a letter ("In the afternoon we received a letter from the Father"; see
AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 27). This letter, however, does not appear in the found
er's correspondence. There are many indications that what was sent was not a let
ter but a telegram. For one thing, this would explain something said in the manu
script written at that time: "Pedro arrived in Barcelona at 2:00 p.m., with the
aforesaid faked permission." Only if it was a telegram could he have received th
e news from Barcelona that quickly, three days ahead of those in Madrid. (The Fa
ther's letter of October 13 was received in Madrid on the 16th. In consequence,
Isidoro gave instructions to everyone to make sure they had their documents for
"evacuation"; see AGP, IZL, D-1213, 272.)
[103] The change of residence in Barcelona and some details of the conversation
of the Father with Pedro on that October 14 are recorded in a note written by Pe
dro; see AGP, RHF, D-15374.
[104] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 28.
[105] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 276. The situation had changed from October 13 (when the
Father wrote Isidoro) to October 14 (when he met with Pedro in Barcelona).
[106] AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 1.
[107] Ibid., p. 2. See also AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 159.
[108] AGP, RHF, EF-371020-1. For more on Father Pou de Foxa, see volume 1 of thi
s biography, pp. 124,132,166-67,170, and 246-47.
[109] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 159-60; T-00874; and T-04373, p. 4.
[110] See Joan Marques i Surinach, La forfa de la fe a Catalunya durant la guerr
a civil, 1936-1939 (Girona, 1987), especially pp. 131-45, 167-95, and 253-80.
[111] See Vazquez Galiano, pp. 94-95.
[112] See AGP, P03 1981, p. 596, and volume 1 of this biography, p. 165.
[113] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 161-65; Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1130; A
lvaro del Portillo, Immersed in God, p. 17; and Vazquez Galiano, pp. 95-97. Juan
Jimenez Vargas gives October 15 as the date of this meeting at the court.
[114] AGP, P03 1981, p 597.
[115] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 165.
[116] See AGP, P03 1981, p. 598. The founder, relates Bishop del Portillo, "alwa
ys prayed for this upright man who tried to save his life. He offered many suffr
ages for his soul when, later on, he heard that he had died in a car accident in
the south of France" (Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1130).
[117] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 169.
[118] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/ 1, p. 28; AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 177; and AGP, I
ZL, D1213,280.
[119] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 170, and T-04152-IV, p. 2.
[120] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 171.

[121] See Vazquez Galiano, p. 93.

[122] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 176. The matter of the "good" currency was c
ommon knowledge. The government of Burgos had announced by the nationalist radio
station which series of bills would be exchangeable at the end of the war-- See
Pedro Casciaro, Dream and Your Dreams Will Fall Short (London and Princeton, 19
4), p. 138; and AGP, IZL, D-1213, 286.
[123] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 178. Following the instructions that the Fat
her had sent from Barcelona in his letter dated October 13, Isidoro had written
to Lola Fisac about preparations for getting her brother to Madrid; see AGP, IZL
, D-1213, 274. Juan anticipated those plans and brought Miguel, along with Pedro
and Paco, to Barcelona.
[124] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 29.
[125] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 181, and T-00159/1, p. 30.
[126] AGP, RHF, EF-371030-1.
[127] Despite strong opposition by the Generalitat, the government made this mov
e in order to consolidate its authority in Catalonia. "The government's move to
Barcelona in November 1937," Bolloten tells us, "exacerbated the discord between
the central and regional authorities with regard to public order.... The most d
eeply felt complaint in all sectors of society in Catalonia was the omnipresent
terror of the SIM and its special courts and the police apparatus controlled by
the communists" (Bolloten, pp. 861 and 913-17). The SIM, the counterespionage se
rvice of the People's Army, was controlled by Alexander Orlov, who had been appo
inted by Stalin as head of the Soviet NKVD (later KGB) in Spain. His much-dreade
d police employed brutal methods in all sectors of the republican zone. See Boll
oten, pp. 897-912.
[128] See Casciaro, pp. 91ff., and AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 183.
[129] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 161 and 183-87, and T-00159/1, p. 32.
[130] AGP, RHF, EF-371106-1.
[131] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 32, and Casciaro, pp. 99-101.
[132] See Casciaro, pp. 100-101.
[133] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 184.
[134] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 31.
[135] See AGP, RHF, D-15125. See also AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, p. 183, and T-04152
-IV, p. 3.
[136] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 32, and T-04152-III, p. 172.
[137] AGP, RHF, EF-371119-1.
[138] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-III, pp. 156 and 158, and T-00874.
[139] See Casciaro, pp. 102-104, and AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 32.
[140] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 2.
[141] For the trip to France from the point of view of Tomas Alvira, see Vazquez
Galiano, pp. 89-106.
[142] For an extensive description of Jose Maria Albareda's escape to France, se
e Gutierrez Rios, pp. 118-34.
[143] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 34, and Casciaro, p. 107.
[144] See Casciaro, p. 106.
[145] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 4.
[146] AGP, RHF, EF-371118-1.
[147] See AGP, RHF, D-15323.
[148] See Casciaro, p. 107, and AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 5.
[149] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 36, and Casciaro, pp. 108-109.
[150] AGP, RHF, D-15323.
[151] The church at Pallerols was so small that it looked like a chapel, but it
was a parish church, dedicated to Saint Stephen. This church is mentioned in the
record of the consecration of the Cathedral of Seo de Urgel, which took place i
n 839. The construction of the building existing in 1937 took place at the end o
f the eighteenthh century, and probably involved an expanding of the two naves o
f the early Romanesque church. The rectory was connected to the sacristy, by mea
ns of a stairway behind the sanctuary. See AGP, RHF, D-15369.
[152] Pedro Casciaro's impression was that they actually were in "a kind of oven
," and Francisco Botella describes it as similar "to the oven in my grandfather'

s country house." See Casciaro, p. 110, and AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 35.
[153] On August 24, 1934, Father Joan [Catalonian for "John"] Porta Perucho came
to Pallerols as pastor. Ordained in 1931, he had been serving at Peramola. In 1
977 he was still tending Pallerols and other places nearby. As Father Porta test
ifies, as of 1934 he was living in the rectory next to the church. His parish wa
s made up of twenty-five families.
In 1936 the feast of Spain's patron saint, Saint James, was celebrated in the pa
rish with all solemnity. This was July 25. A few days later, groups of militiame
n came and burned the parish books and the vestments. A month later they returne
d and destroyed the altars, statues, and altarpieces, making a large bonfire out
side the church. See AGP, RHF, D-05429 and D-15369.
[154] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 38.
[155] Ibid.
[156] See Casciaro, p. 110, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 913.
[157] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 38.
[158] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 913, and Ernesto Julia Dfaz, Sum. 4244.
[159] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 39, and Casciaro, p. 111. One of the five alta
rs of the church was dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. The altar and the stat
ue of Our Lady of the Rosary were burned in 1936. Father Porta does not remember
exactly what the statue looked like, but he does say that it was similar to the
one at Puig, which dates back to the beginning of the seventeenth century. A li
ttle over three feet in height and of gilded wood, it shows our Lady with a symb
olic rose in her right hand. See AGP, RHF, D-05429 and D-15369.
In 1758, on the occasion of the annual visitation by the bishop, this note was e
ntered in the registry book of the diocese of Seo de Urgel: "Pallerols. Altars:
Besides the main altar, this parish has a chapel, as big as the parish church, w
ith an altar dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, decently furnished with altar
stone, cross, candlesticks, and other prerequisites." (See AGP, RHF, D-05429 and
D-15369.) In 1980, people in Pallerols still remembered that the altar of Our L
ady of the Rosary had a reredos in which Mary's image was surrounded by roses. (
See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 7.)
[160] AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 7.
[161] Casciaro, p. 112.
[162] AGP, P03 1978, pp. 254-55, and P03 1982, pp. 27-28. On another occasion he
said, "When I was eaten up with worry, stuck in the dilemma of whether or not I
should try to cross over, during the Spanish Civil War, from the one zone to th
e other-in the midst of that persecution, when fleeing from the communists, I re
ceived another external sign: that wooden rose. That's how it is. God treats me
like a hapless child who needs to be given tangible signs, but in an ordinary wa
y" (Meditation of 14 Feb 1964).
When typing out the journal of those days' events (Road to Freedom: AGP, RHF, D1
5323), the founder added on a separate sheet, in handwriting, "journal entry mis
sing." And in fact, in the manuscript, Pedro Casciaro (it being his turn to writ
e the notes) ends his narration of the breakfast at the Vilaro farm by noting th
e time and signing off ("9:15 on November 21,1937. -P."), and immediately after
that we read, "Monday, November 22. The day started off cloudy. .." There is no
mention of what happened on either the day or the night of Sunday, November 21.
The founder quietly called attention to this fact with his laconic "journal entr
y missing."
[163] "Then, in response to an interior inspiration that compelled my will, I sa
id to our Lord, 'If you are happy with me, let me find something,' and I thought
of a flower or some other wooden adornment from the destroyed reredos. I went b
ack into the church (I was in the sacristy), and looked in the same places I had
looked before, and right away I found a rose of gilded wood. I was very happy a
nd grateful to God, who gave me that consolation when I was so worried about whe
ther Jesus was happy with me or not" (Apuntes, no. 1439). See also Alvaro del Po
rtillo, Sum. 913.
[164] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 18v, p. 16, and AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 8.
[165] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 21, p. 17. Tomas Alvira writes, "The Mass was

a dialogue. I'll never forget those Masses: the forest as our church; the celebr
ant utterly recollected, praying very slowly, putting his whole heart and soul i
nto what he was doing, and above all at the moment of the Consecration. Hundreds
of birds, waking with the sun's first rays, sang incessantly, contributing to t
he enchantment of our Father's Masses in the Rialp forest. Always he set aside a
consecrated host, which was borne devoutly by one of us." See AGP, RHF, T-04373
, p. 7.
Father Josep Lozano i Eritj had been named pastor for Peramola in March 1936. Joa
quim, the brother he was hiding out with, was also a priest. On January 24, 1939
, Father Josep was killed by retreating republican soldiers. See Jesus Castells
Serra, Martirologi de I'Esglesia d'Urgell, 1936-1939 (Seu de Urgel, 1975), p. 10
4.
[166] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 20v, p. 17. "D.O.G." stands for "Deo omnia glo
ria" ("All the glory to God").
[167] AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 12, p. 13.
[168] AGP, IZL, D-1213,289. The ones still in Madrid were Isidoro (who was in ch
arge in the absence of the Father), Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo and Alvaro del P
ortillo (in the Honduran consulate), Vicente Rodriguez Casado (in the Norwegian
consulate), Miguel Baron Penalba (who was living with his mother), and Eduardo A
lastrue (who stayed in a boardinghouse and never went out).
Enrique Espinos Raduan, a cousin of Paco Botella's, was doing military service o
utside Valencia, and was going through a hard time because of the recent death o
f his father. Rafael Calvo Serer was assigned to the International Brigades and
was at this time hospitalized on account of an ulcer, and Jose Maria Hernandez G
arnica (Chiqui) was doing military service in Baza, in the province of Granada.
[169] AGP, RHF, T-04197, p. 23. See also AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 9.
[170] Casciaro, p. 123.
[171] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 27v, p. 22.
[172] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 22v, p. 19.
[173] See Apuntes, no. 1440 (22 Dec 1937), and AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 31, p. 25
. The pastor of the parish in Pons was Father Nicolau Auger Ortod6 (1865-1942).
See Castells Serra, p. 311.
[174] AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 33v, p. 27.
[175] The province of Lerida is divided into three dioceses: Lerida, Seo de Urge
l, and Solsona. At the beginning of 1936 the diocese of Lerida had 410 priests.
Of these, 270 (66 percent) were killed. The diocese of Seo de Urgel (where Palle
rols is) had 540 priests; 109 (20 percent) were killed. And in Solsona, which ha
d 380 priests, 60 (some 15.5 percent) were killed. See Montero Moreno, p. 764, a
nd Castells Serra, pp. 304-305.
[176] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 1.
[177] RHF, T-04152-IV, pp. 10-11.
[178] AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 33v, p. 27.
[179] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 42.
[180] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 11.
[181] See AGP, RHF, T-01440, and T-00159/1, p. 44.
[182] See Casciaro, pp. 116-17.
[183] AGP, RHF, T-01440.
[184] See Appendix 3. This student was Antonio Dalmases Esteva, and` the origina
l of this "Journal of My Flight from the Red Zone, November-December 1937" is in
AGP, RHF, T-08246. Like almost all the others on the expedition (except for the
Father's group, which had only a wineskin, filled with sugared wine, and a bott
le of brandy), he carried with him a supply of food. Antonio had a lunch box tha
t was filled with chicken legs. "Smart fellow," the Father remarked. "He's found
a way to cross a chicken with a centipede." And thus he got nicknamed the Centi
pede Kid.
[185] AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 37v, p. 29.
[186] See AGP, RHF, T-04373, p. 8; AGP, RHF, T-04152-1V, p. 12; and Catsciaro, p
. 118.
[187] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 16.
[188] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 41, p. 31, and AGP, RHF, T-04373, p. 8.

[189] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 42, p. 31.

[190] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 18.
[191] "The Father counted his falls: there were many, many!" we read in the jour
nal. To which the Father added, "Always taken with good humor: Twenty-six! Twent
y-nine! ... We were counting them." "Thinking of the apostolic work that awaits
us," the journal keeper continues, "he takes it with peace and joy. But it is a
hard beating." (See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 44v, p. 36.) That climb remained so
vivid in the Father's memory that in the 1940s, when staying at La Pililla (Pied
ralaves), a house near the mountains, he said to Paco Botella, "Since that climb
, Paco, I've lost all my desire for mountain climbing" (AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p.
46).
[192] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-1V, p. 18.
[193]
[194] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 20.
[195] Casciaro, p. 123.
[196] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 20.
[197] AGP RHF, D-15323, fol. 45, p. 37.
[198] See ibid., and also AGP, RHF, T-04152-V, pp. 4 ff.
[199] See Casciaro, p. 122, and AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 44v, p. 36.
[200] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 44v, p. 36.
[201] See AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 17. When typing out that entry for November 3
0, the Father omitted the word "today," evidently to indicate that his wakefulne
ss had been chronic. See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 44v, p. 35, and fol. 46, p. 39.
[202] "He slept hardly at all, when we were resting in those corrals and caves,"
says Pedro. "I got the impression that he was doing this to mortify himself and
to pray more. Although I found it moving, I never could understand all that, an
d because of the affection I had for him, I wanted to prevent it" (Casciaro, p.
122).
[203] Casciaro, p. 122.
[204] AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 47v, p. 40.
[205] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 50, p. 43, and AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, pp. 11 an
d 29.
[206] See Casciaro, p. 125.
[207] See AGP, RHF, T-00675, p. 2, and T-04152-IV, p. 30. Since 1930 Father Pujo
l had been the acting archpriest in Andorra la Vella. He was ordained in 1925 an
d was now thirty-six.
[208] AGP, RHF, EF-371202-1.
[209] AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 51v, p. 45.
[210] The telegram said, "Javier Lauzurica. Bishop, Vitoria. Remembering you on
your saint's day. Managed to escape yesterday with eight of my people. Leaving t
omorrow for Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Jose Maria Escriva." See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol.
52, p. 45; AGP, RHF, EF-371203-2; and Casciaro, p. 126.
[211] AGP, RHF, EF-371203-1.
[212] AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 54, p. 47.
[213] AGP, RHF, T-04152-111, p. 165.
[214] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 53.
[215] See Casciaro, p. 126, and AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 63v, p. 54.
[216] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 64v, p. 55.
[217] See Casciaro, pp. 126-27.
[218] AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 65, p. 55.
[219] Apuntes, no. 1463 (2 Jan 1938).
[220] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 59, p. 50.
[221] AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 59, p. 50.
[222] This rebellion began during the time that Fernando de los Rfos was Ministe
r of Public Education, that is to say, between December 1931 and July 1933. Sinc
e the beginning of the war, the bishop of Seo de Urgel, Justino Guitart, had had
other problems. On July 23, 1936, he had to leave Spain, taking refuge in Andor
ra. He stayed there until August 13, and then left for France because his life w
as in danger. See Castells Serra, pp. 265-67.
[223] AGP, RHF, T-00675, p. 5. In Pamplona a month later, on January 2, 1938, in

the privacy of his personal journal, the Father writes: "My feet still bother m
e, although the swelling is almost gone. It's not from the cold; it's an effect
of the harsh treks of our escape" (Apuntes,no. 1463). See also AGP, RHF, D-15323
, fol. 66v, p. 57.
[224] See Apuntes, note 1064 (written by Bishop Alvaro del Portillo).
[225] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 69, p. 58.
[226] See AGP, RHF, D-15323, fol. 71, p. 61, and AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 53.
[227] See Casciaro, pp. 128-29, and AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 32.
[228] AGP, RHF, T-04197, p. 50. See also T-00159/1, p. 54, and T-04373, p. 10; a
nd Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 915.
[229] AGP, RHF, T-04152-IV, p. 33.
3. Interlude in Burgos (1938-1939)

1. Resuming the "Catherines"

2. Burgos
3. "A traveling salesman for my Lord Jesus Christ"
4. The Sabadell Hotel
5. "A lesson on charity"
6. With pen in hand
7. Autumn 1938
8. The end insight

* * *

1. Resuming the "Catherines"

Father Josemara was eager to begin again to record the events in his turbulent li
fe, including the day he entered the Nationalist zone. He tells what happened in
the first few entries of a new notebook of his personal journal.[1]

Pamplona, December 17,1937: Today, before beginning my retreat, I am-with the he

lp of the notes I've been taking since the 11th of this month-going to start up
again the journal, the Catherines.[2]

He starts with the events of his first week in the nationalist zone.

December 11: A lot of emotion, very justified, on crossing the international bri
dge. Fervent prayers, when the Spanish flag came into view... .
To be able to enter our own country, we need somebody to vouch for us. I tried t
o call His Excellency the bishop of Vitoria. "I'm sorry, Bishop Lauzurica is in
Rome." Some ladies who work at the phone company catch on to my little problem-a
nd they turn out to be friends of my mother's family. They offered to vouch for
me, and invited me to their home. I thanked them, but didn't accept.[3]

He tried another avenue:

I then called His Excellency the bishop of Pamplona: a very warm welcome. How go
od this holy bishop is! He immediately asked to be connected by telephone with t
he military headquarters in Fuenterrabia and vouched for us. He wants to see me
tomorrow, in Zumaya, and tells me, with genuine affection, that I must come with
him to his residence.[4]

The Father's group all spent the night at Fuenterrabia's Hotel Pen. In the morning
he said Mass for them, and one by one they took off. Jose Maria Albareda went h
ome to his family in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Manolo stayed in Fuenterrabia, also with
family. Tomas Alvira made preparations to leave for Saragossa. The others, all
being of military age, presented themselves to the authorities at Camp Loyola in
San Sebastian. Father Josemara, meanwhile, wrapped his few belongings in a newsp
aper, tied it with a string, and left the package with the hotel concierge. Then
he left for Zumaya, a vacation resort near San Sebastian, for his meeting with

the bishop. When he got there he was told that the prelate was in Zarauz, a vill
age nearby. So off he went to meet him there. Still wearing the clothes and boot
s he had worn on the long expedition, he finally met up with Bishop Olaechea in
the house of the Marquis of Warros, where a party celebrating Italo-Spanish soli
darity was underway. "The bishop," he writes, "gave me a hug and greeted me very
cordially, in the midst of all these people, and introduced me to the Italian a
mbassador. They invited me to the banquet."[5]Just then he spotted someone he ha
d given spiritual direction to in Madrid. The two of them went to a restaurant t
o have lunch and to chat.
He spent the afternoon with the bishop, and on the way back to San Sebastian, th
e bishop made Father Josemara promise to come to his residence in Pamplona for a
few days' rest. In San Sebastian, members of the Teresian Association found him
a boardinghouse. He said Mass for them the following day, offering it for their
founder, Father Pedro Poveda, who had been martyred the year before.
--December 13: I offered the Mass for Father Pedro. Besides offering suffrages for
his soul (holy, even without the martyrdom), I asked him to intercede for me.
The Teresians offer me money. I ask for some toiletries for those with me. They
said they would buy us four combs, four pairs of scissors, and soap.[6]
The members of the Teresian Association gave him clothes and some used shoes, wh
ich allowed him to get rid of those tattered boots from his passage through the
Pyrenees. The shoes came at a very welcome time, because the next week was fille
d with social engagements and apostolic activity. He made visits to some relativ
es of Don Alejandro Guzman, the Aguilar de Inestrillas family,[7] the Count and
Countess of Mirasol[8] the Guevara family,[9] the Bernaldo de Quiros and Vallell
ano families,[10] and the de Cortazar family. He also visited Maria Machimbarren
a, her sister the Marchioness of Los Alamos,[11] and Maria Luisa Guzman, three o
f the ladies who had accompanied him years earlier to meet with the undersecreta
ry of the Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs in the time of the mona
rchy, with a view to obtaining a stable ecclesiastical position in Madrid.[12]Wh
ile he was visiting the family of the Count of Mirasol, a niece of Luz Casanova,
the foundress of the Foundation for the Sick, suddenly announced that she had a
vocation to the Work. Father Josemara took this calmly.[13]
But he had not crossed the Pyrenees to live a high-society life in the Basque Pr
ovinces. During these visits he inquired into the whereabouts of individuals wit
h whom he had been doing apostolic work. With a telephone call to Bilbao, he fou
nd two young men who had lived at the Ferraz Street residence: Carlos Aresti and
Emiliano Amann Puente. In San Sebastian he met with Vicente Urcola and the fami
ly of Joaquin Vega de Seoane.[14] And as one person led to another, he soon bega
n reassembling his apostolic-work card file.
In the entries for December 16 we read, "I still don't feel well, but I try to h
ide it.... I said Mass for Victor Pradera. Delighted not to receive stipends. Lo
rd, now that I am truly poor, let's see what you do with your little donkey."[15
]
His clothing still left much to be desired. Some photos were taken in San Sebast
ian, and, as he himself could see, he looked really bad with that emaciated face
right above the too-big collar of that blue sweater from the days in Rialp. No
one had yet offered him a cassock. In these circumstances, he had the sudden imp
ulse to renounce completely the receiving of stipends, his only foreseeable sour
ce of income. His thought was that the priests of Opus Dei should be detached fr
om everything, including ministerial income, offering a holocaust by way of pove
rty. This was something he had been thinking about for a long time. One day when
he was feeling worried about the lack of money, he meditated on the words of Ps
alm 55:22, "Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you."[16]He came o
ut of that meditation determined to put himself completely in God's hands, to ca
rry out this resolve fully.[17]
On December 17 Father Josemara left for Pamplona. And once again his guardian ang
el gets mentioned in his journal. "At 5:30exactly (the time set the night before
), the little watchmaker wakes me up. The alarm clock they gave us at the boardi
nghouse didn't go off."[18] The borrowed car he went in had to stop twice becaus

e of the snow, but evidently this did not dampen his spirits, because when he en
tered the province of Navarre, he began singing softly a local song to Our Lady
of Puy in Estella, a town near Pamplona.[19]
When he finally arrived, half frozen, at the bishop's residence, it was lunch ti
me. During the meal, he told the bishop that he had come with the intention of m
aking a retreat. That was fine with the bishop, but he did not want him to leave
the residence, so he provided him with some books for meditation and made him t
he gift of a copy of Father Carmelo Ballester's bilingual (Latin/Spanish) versio
n of the New Testament.[20]
Running through his mind before his retreat was a question: What had happened to
his sons? Juan and Miguel had been assigned to Burgos, but he had heard nothing
from Pedro Casciaro and Paco Botella. Finally, in the middle of that afternoon,
they called to tell him they were both at the garrison in Pamplona.
Having obtained the address of the vicar general of the diocese of Madrid (who w
as then residing in Navalcarnero, a village near Madrid but in the nationalist z
one), he wrote him:

Pamplona, December 17, 1937

Monsignor Francisco Moran, Navalcarnero My dear and esteemed Vicar:

After a thousand adventures gotten through by the palpable protection of my Fath
er-God, I managed to escape from the Red camp.... I have taken advantage of the
warm hospitality of my good friend the bishop of Pamplona. At present I am stayi
ng at his residence; tomorrow I will begin a retreat here on my own.
If my Vicar does not tell me otherwise, I will assume that he is happy with my i
mmediately resuming (fulfilling the holy will of God, in accord with my specific
vocation) my work with the souls that you know about, and that are scattered th
rough out the nationalist zone. By the way, all, without exception, have been he
roic!
I ask my esteemed Vicar to let our beloved Prelate know that, in the midst of so
many tribulations, we did not fail to pray daily for His Excellency.
Father, assuring you of my esteem and love, I ask for your blessing.

JosemaraEscriva[21]

He also wrote to Josefa Segovia, one of the members of the Teresian Association,
a letter of condolence (mixed with joy) about their recently martyred founder,
Father Pedro Poveda. "My heart won't let me wait any longer," he says, "so here
are a few lines, about a father and a brother. What joy, after the sorrow of los
ing him and many tears, to know that he goes on loving us from heaven! This was
precisely the topic of one of our last conversations."[22]
On December 18 he wrote in his journal, "From now on, since I've brought them up
to date, these Catherines will have more life," and then he copied into the not
ebook his retreat plan. The first point was "Purity of intention and the aim of
this retreat." Under this heading he wrote:

I'm going to be very brief in these retreat notes. I bring to this retreat nothi
ng but a most intense desire to be a better instrument in the hands of my God, i
n order to make his Work a reality and extend it throughout the world, as he wan
ts. The immediate and specific aim is twofold: (1) interior, purification: renew
ing my interior life; and (2) exterior, to consider the real possibilities for t
he Work's apostolate, the means and the obstacles.[23]

After a thorough self-searching, he had to acknowledge before God that "amid so

many and such great miseries" he did indeed find "weakness, smallness," but "nev
er a deliberate desire to offend God."[24]
During that retreat he "prayed like a child, unburdening himself as a child." He
wept with "tears of sorrow-of Love-sorrow" for his lack of response to grace. E
xamining his conscience, there rose to his view failures and omissions-and, the
mercy of God. "I find myself overcome by tears: so close to Christ, so many year

s, and such a sinner! The intimacy of Jesus with me, his priest, makes me break
out in sobs."[25]
But those sobs got in the way of his meditations. "The prayer of Christ: I got o
ff the topic. Crying, imploring, imploring and crying-that has been my meditatio
n. Lord, peace!" And when he thought of the example of the saints, tears again w
elled up in his eyes. "I cried-I am a crybaby-reading a life of Don Bosco, which
I asked for this morning from the bishop's secretary. Yes-I want to be a saint.
Even though this affirmation, so vague, so general, usually strikes me as fooli
sh."[26]
Well, neither could he contain himself at the time of confession; once more he w
as overwhelmed with lively sentiments of the sorrow of Love. "I went to confessi
on to Father Vicente Schiralli and the tears streamed down my face in front of t
hat holy priest. A crybaby, truly a crybaby. But these blessed tears, a gift of
God, bring me a deep joy and comfort I don't know how to explain!"[27]It got to
the point where "this outpouring of my tenderness toward Christ was worrying me.
"[28]
On one of the retreat days, December 22, in the chapel of the bishop's residence
, the vicar consecrated some chalices that were going to be sent to army chaplai
ns. When the ceremony was over, says Father Josemara, "I stayed behind in the cha
pel for a few moments by myself, and I left a kiss on each chalice and paten, so
that my Lord will find it waiting the first time he comes down to those sacred
vessels. There were twenty-five in all, a gift from the Diocese of Pamplona for
the front."[29]
It was snowing. The cold penetrated to the bones. The meditation on the final ju
dgment again brought tears to his eyes and prompted resolutions.
A lot of coldness. At first, the only thing shining was the childish desire that
"when my Father-God has to judge me, he will be pleased." Then, a strong jolt "
Jesus, tell me something! "-repeated many times, full of sorrow for my inner col
dness. And an invocation to my Mother in heaven: "Mama!" And to the guardian ang
els, and to my children who are already enjoying God in heaven. And then, lots o
f tears and cries ... and prayer. Resolutions: "To be faithful to the schedule,
in my ordinary life"; and, if my confessor allows this, "To sleep only five hour
s, except on the night of Thursday into Friday, when I won't sleep at all." Spec
ific and small, these resolutions are, but I think they will be fruitful.[30]
During this retreat he resumed his old penances having to do with food, sleep, a
nd everything else-all the things he used to do before the revolution. He was th
inking that this retreat, compared to earlier ones, did not deserve to be called
rigorous. But then again, "I couldn't have made a rigorous retreat. One tempere
d by the charity of the bishop of Pamplona, yes. God, my Father, always arranges
things in a maternal way."[31]
Bishop Olaechea engaged him in friendly conversation at mealtimes, and when on D
ecember 20 the apostolic delegate, Archbishop Hildebrando Antoniutti, came to vi
sit, Bishop Olaechea asked Father Josemara (who was still wearing the blue sweate
r and the corduroy pants from the trek through the Pyrenees) to sit at the right
of his illustrious guest.[32]
Regarding the work he wanted to "immediately take up" after the retreat, he wrot
e: "I should do everything possible to see our fellows often, and keep up a disc
reet correspondence with them (since mail is censored). And if the war drags on
and the retaking of Madrid is delayed, I should set up a house-a provisional cen
ter-where they can all go, when on leave."[33]
On Christmas Eve, Jose Maria Albareda came to Pamplona with good news: those in
Madrid now knew about the crossing into the nationalist zone. They had gotten th
e first postcards sent from Andorra to the consul and to Isidoro. And on the ver
y day they received them, Isidoro had sent to Albareda, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, th
is letter for Father Josemara:

December 7, 1937

My dear friend Jose Maria:

So that this time you won't complain about my tardiness in writing you, I am ans
wering by return mail sent to the beautiful villa where you are spending your va
cation, resting from your work in Paris.
Everyone in my family is doing fine. I have little Chiqui in the south now, for
the time being; he will be back soon. In spite of the harsh winter we're having,
the grandmother and the uncle and aunt are doing great. I write often to my sis
ter Lola; it's likely that her cousin will come live with us one of these days.
How are your children?
Hoping that your vacation goes well, and sending greetings from all the family,
affectionately, your good friend, Ignacio.[34]

Father Josemara's idea of setting up a provisional center in Burgos had by now al

ready become a firm intention. On the evening of Christmas Day, he dined with hi
s sons who were then in Pamplona: Jose Maria Albareda, Pedro Casciaro, Paco Bote
lla, and Jose Luis Fernandez del Amo, a young fellow assigned to the same garris
on as Pedro and Paco. They had to open a center in Burgos, he said after dinner.
Then and there, they started making plans for the oratory. Jose Luis promised t
o do the design for the chalice, which Albareda would then have made by a silver
smith in Saragossa. On December 28 the Father writes in his journal: "I bought a
n altar stone, at the chancery office. In the afternoon, with Fernandez del Amo,
I went to the silversmith where they will make the candlesticks, the cross, etc
., for the oratory in Burgos, if this becomes a reality."[35]
It was almost the end of the year. When Father Josemara mentioned that he was thi
nking of leaving, Bishop Olaechea jokingly answered, "You have to stay with me f
or thirty years. Don't even talk about leaving." A few days later, when he broug
ht up the subject again, the bishop took a different approach. "He got angry. He
told me that if I go, I have to return soon. And he said he doesn't want me to
leave here before they've made the cassock he wants to give me."[36]
On December 29 the tailor came. "January 4: They brought me the cassock. I had a
sked the tailor not to make it too tight; now I'm swimming in it. He's left room
for the eighty pounds I lost."[37]Father Josemara also needed a hat. Removing th
e tassel from it, the bishop gave him his own to use until the one he had ordere
d came. And still not admitting defeat, the bishop also kept insisting that his
guest stay and spend his birthday there, January 9, for which he would give him
a party. To all these urgings Father Josemara invariably replied, "The bishop is
tired of working, and I'm tired of resting!" [38]
The number of names and addresses in his card file was steadily increasing. By l
etter, by telegram, by telephone, he contacted people who had asked admission to
the Work or had been on the verge of joining just before the outbreak of the ci
vil war, and many young men who had spent time at the Ferraz Street residence.[3
9] Before the year ended, he had communicated personally with all of his sons in
the nationalist zone, as he happily informed Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin.

Dear Ricardo,

At last! What a joy to receive your letter! ...

How many fruitless attempts to get news about all of you! As soon as we crossed
the border, the inquiries began. And from the 11th to the 31st, when your letter
arrived, an eternity of twenty days!
Grandfather says that he is very grateful to God, because he has managed to loca
te all his grandchildren.[40]

Getting letters to and from Isidoro by way of France was working well. Consideri
ng the wartime conditions, there were no serious delays or mishaps, which was a
great consolation to those in both zones. On the subject of the relief he felt a
t having news of everyone, the Father opened his heart to one of his sons in the
nationalist zone.

Today I wrote to my poor sons in Madrid, and to the grandmother and my brother a
nd sister. From them, we've already received five letters, the last one dated Ja

nuary 26. They are completely up-to-date on our family's situation. It's a pity
that you yourselves hadn't worked out some such system of communication! Of all
the terrible things we suffered, the worst was not having any news of you when w
e were in that Red hell. Our relatives and friends who have not been able to esc
ape the Marxist tyranny, we have already relieved of that pain. I think we've wr
itten them more than ten times since we got free.[41]

On January 7 Father Josemara left for Vitoria. There he was received with great a
ffection by Bishop Javier Lauzurica, the apostolic administrator of the diocese.
They discussed a matter of conscience that he had come to consult about. Next m
orning, he left for Burgos.

2. Burgos

Juan Jimenez Vargas and Jose Maria Albareda were waiting for him in Burgos. Alba
reda was living on the city's outskirts-on a street that took its name from a sm
all Romanesque church (Santa Clara)-in a family-style boardinghouse where all th
e guests sat at the dining room's one table. Apart from that boardinghouse, ther
e was not much to choose from by way of accommodations. Since the start of the w
ar, the population of Burgos had doubled, now reaching about sixty thousand. Bur
gos was the seat of the government of the nationalist zone and of some of its ad
ministrative departments. The city's few hotels and all of its major buildings h
ad been taken over by civil and military authorities. Also located in Burgos was
the Madrid diocese's Central Board for Worship and the Clergy, although Madrid'
s vicar general was in Navalcamero and its bishop, Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, was us
ually in Vigo.[42] Its strategic position made Burgos a good place for the apost
olic center the founder envisaged.
Right away he started working on this. First with Juan, who was about to leave B
urgos to join a unit at the Teruel front. "Juanito spoke with me at length about
matters of the Work," he notes in his journal.[43] Among those in the nationali
st zone, Juan was the best equipped to lend a hand in the responsibilities of go
verning the Work.
On January 9, Father Josemara celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday. He wrote to a
ll his sons a long letter which began:

Circular Letter, January 9, 1938

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and of Holy Mar
y
May Jesus bless my sons and keep them safe.
The Lord also watched over me, safeguarding me from death, which more than once
seemed certain. He rescued me from the land of Egypt, from the Red tyranny, desp
ite my sins and surely because of your prayers, so that I might continue to be h
ead and father of his chosen ones in this Work of God.
My plan is to visit all of you, one by one. I will try to make this a reality as
soon as possible.
Until that moment (which I am so looking forward to), I am sending you, in this
circular letter, advice and encouragement and the means that are needed not only
to persevere in our spirit but to sanctify yourselves by carrying out our discr
eet, effective, and courageous apostolate, so similar to that of the first Chris
tians: what a blessed labor of selection and confidence!
With naturalness, as the savory fruit of your interior life, renew your silent a
nd effective mission for the glory of our God-Deo omnis gloria!
Nothing is impossible. Omnia possum.... Could you ever forget our ten years of c
onsoling experience? Let's go, then! God and daring![44]
Looking forward to getting to speak individually with each of his sons, he now r
eminds them of the fundamental practices of the interior life and gave guideline
s for their apostolic work. He also gave useful advice for overcoming wartime ob
stacles: write to him, study a language, find some kind of professional work, co
me to Burgos when one gets a pass.... He puts himself entirely at their disposal

, this being his job as their Father: "If you need me, call me. You have the rig
ht and duty to call me. And I have the duty to come to you by the quickest means
of transportation."

He concludes with an announcement:

And now, an important matter:

For some time we have felt the need to include a petition "pro Patre" in the off
icial prayer of the Work. Beginning next February 14-a day of thanksgiving, like
October 2-we will say in our Preces, after the "Oremus pro benefactoribus nostr
is," "Oremus pro Patre," and then, "Misericordia Domini ab aeterno et usque in a
eternum super eum: custodit enim Dominus omnes diligentes se" (May the mercy of
the Lord always be upon him; for the Lord watches over those who love him).
Know that you are, to use Saint Paul's expression, my joy and my crown. I'm depe
nding on you.
Be faithful! Your Father sends you his blessing.
Mariano
From San Miguel de Burgos, January 9,1938[45]

The next day, January 10, he went to the residence of the archbishop of Burgos t
o request ministerial faculties. Outside, he ran into an old acquaintance from M
adrid, a priest who knew a number of the priests in the Albas family, and their
conversation briefly took his mind off what people had told him about the archbi
shop's difficult temperament. Not that he was too worried about this; he had, af
ter all, been well recommended by Bishop Olaechea, and Bishop Lauzurica had take
n the trouble to call the archbishop on his behalf. However, when he entered the
building, he did notice something strange about the atmosphere there. The place
seemed cold and deserted; no one was walking around or waiting to be received.
Then Archbishop Manuel de Castro y Alonso appeared in the corridor, and Father J
osemara heard someone announce, "Escriva is here."
Father Josemara entered the visiting room and handed the archbishop the letter fr
om Bishop Olaechea.
"Wait, I'm going to get my glasses," the archbishop said.
In a moment he returned, looking not very friendly. He became engrossed in readi
ng the letter, and although the bishop had sprinkled it with pleasant remarks, h
e never blinked. When he had finished, he looked at Father Josemara over his glas
ses and said sharply, "I don't know this Work."
Father Josemara tried to explain briefly what the letter had already said about t
he aims and activities of the Work.
"There are no university students here; I have more than enough priests; I do no
t give you faculties," was the blunt reply.
"If my Lord Archbishop will permit me ..."
"Yes, I permit."
"It is true that there aren't any university students here, because all the youn
g men are at the front. But since Burgos is the center for all activities, there
are always university students coming through here."
"I have them very well taken care of. I don't need you."[46]
Thus the visit ended. Father Josemara thought it could easily have been a theatri
cal sketch entitled "Interview of a Sinful Priest with His Reverence the Archbis
hop of Burgos." Obviously he would need to consult again the bishops of Pamplona
and Vitoria and try to obtain the faculties by some different approach. Before
the month was out, the bishop of Vitoria, en route through Burgos, got the matte
r taken care of. When Father Josemara went to see the archbishop again, the prela
te was all smiles. "Burgos is a good place for you," he said. "Stay in Burgos. G
o to the office and they will give you full faculties."[47]
Next he needed to find a suitable confessor. On January 11 he was introduced to
a paralyzed priest, Father Saturnino Martinez, and on that very day he asked thi
s priest to be his confessor. "He understands me perfectly," he says in his jour
nal. It is not hard to see why he hit it off so well with Father Saturnino:


Our conversation made me very happy because he praised the angels so highly. And
he even shares my view that we priests, by reason of our ministry, have not onl
y a guardian angel but also an archangel. I left his house with a deep joy, entr
usting myself to the Little Watchmaker and to the archangel. And I felt sure tha
t even if I don't really have an archangel at my side, Jesus will end up sending
me one, so that my prayer to the archangel will not be futile. Out on the stree
t, I became a child again and tried to decide what name I should give him. It so
unds a bit ridiculous, but when one is in love with Christ, nothing is ridiculou
s: I named my archangel "Amador."[48]

Since he no longer accepted stipends, Father Josemara was free to offer his Masse
s for the needs of the Work and for his family. As an exception, on January 17 h
e offered his Mass for himself and his own intentions:

I celebrated the holy Sacrifice for myself, a sinful priest. How many acts of lo
ve and faith! And in the thanksgiving after Mass, brief and filled with distract
ions as it was, I saw how much my children's perseverance (and, now, even their
earthly life) depends on my faith and my love, on my penance, my prayer, and my
activity. Blessed cross of the Work, that is carried by my Lord Jesus-him!-and m
e![49]

For his penitential practices Father Josemara needed a modicum of independence an

d freedom of movement. "I would like to have a room for myself alone," he reflec
ts in his journal. "Otherwise it's not possible to live the life that God is ask
ing of me." That life consisted of sleeping on the floor and for only five hours
a night (except for Thursday nights, when he did not sleep at all), going witho
ut some meals, and using the disciplines (something hardly possible in the close
quarters of a boardinghouse). "By the way," he notes, "I could tell a very funn
y story about an adventure I had in Pamplona and Burgos, which could be called,
'The Hunt for Some Disciplines.?[50]
On the previous day (January 16) he wrote in his journal: "I made a firm resolut
ion never to visit out of curiosity any religious building never! Poor Burgos ca
thedral!"[51](Given his strength of will, his use of a word like "never" has mor
e than a little impact. Recall that resolution made in 1932 "not to look-ever!"[
52])
He needed a place in Burgos where he could receive visitors, put up those who we
re passing through, and, he hoped, set up an oratory. But, no matter how hard th
ey looked, they could not find such a place. So that impressive-sounding "San Mi
guel de Burgos" (see the circular letter above) never came to be anything more t
han a small room in a boardinghouse or hotel.[53]
He considered it urgent to speak, as soon as possible, with each and every membe
r of the Work. This journal entry written on January 13 makes clear what he was
suffering: "My God, my God! All of them equally loved, through you and in you an
d with you-and all of them dispersed. You have hit me where it hurts me the most
: in my children."[54]
It was a pain involving many things: the impossibility of sharing closely in the
ir difficulties and sufferings; the lack of a family home; the isolation and lon
eliness ("How this loneliness weighs on me! My children, Lord!"); and the distur
bing thought that in such conditions it was harder for his children to persevere
in their commitment."[55]
Now that he was cut off from the Red zone, his love for those he left behind cau
sed him to magnify in his mind the troubles they were going through. When he rea
d in one of Isidoro's letters, "The grandmother and the uncle and aunt are in pe
rfect health; they're getting through the winter very well,"[56]he thought, "How
well can they be doing when for the last eight months they've had a lack of eve
rything?"[57]While deprivations and other hardships leapt to his imagination, he
had no way of getting at the unvarnished truth, which, naturally, they tended t
o keep from him. The winter of 1938 was extremely harsh in Madrid. The terrible
cold was made worse by the shortages of food and fuel. "I have such an abundance

of chilblains," wrote Isidoro to another person in the Red zone, "that I can ha
rdly hold the pencil."[58]
The Father kept careful track of the correspondence. On February 24 he said to J
uan Jimenez Vargas, "We have received seven letters from Madrid, and we have sen
t them eighteen." Being able to receive news was a great consolation, but it cou
ld also be a source of anxiety. It was very nerve-racking to be awaiting a reply
, not knowing if one had not yet been written or if it had perhaps gone astray o
r aroused the suspicions of the censor. Father Josemara could hardly be expected
not to be upset. In a letter written to Juan on March 27, he wrote: "I hope that
some day we'll be hearing something from my poor sons in Madrid! I sent them on
e letter, by way of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, on the 18th, and another, via the Marquis
of Embid, on the 26th. They are causing me a lot of suffering. You know me bett
er than anyone, and you well know that on this I'm ... overboard. The Lord won't
hold it against me."[59]
During his year and a half in the republican zone, when he was in constant dange
r of prison or death, the Father had firsthand experience of the courage and fid
elity of Juan Jimenez Vargas. His seniority in the Work and his qualities of dec
isiveness and command led the Father to put him in charge of their group's cross
ing of the Pyrenees. Once they were in the nationalist zone, he did everything p
ossible to keep Juan with him to restart the apostolic work. Juan could, the fou
nder was thinking, very well serve the nation in some hospital, combining that p
atriotic service with his services to the Work. And so, soon after his arrival i
n San Sebastian, the Father urged Juan Jose Pradera to speak to General Cabanell
as about this possibility. He also phoned the bishop of Pamplona to ask him to u
se his influence with Dr. Antonio Vallejo Nagera, an army doctor, to get Juan as
signed to Burgos. But these and other efforts had no success.[60]
A journal entry dated January 27 clearly shows that he was still not about to gi
ve up: "Determined to do everything possible, and even the impossible, to get Ju
an by my side. It's necessary!" And a letter dated February 24 explains why. Wit
h great reserve, the Father tells Juan that, if he remains faithful and lets him
self be properly formed, he will be his "immediate successor in the family busin
ess."[61](As we shall soon see, the founder was at this time experiencing some v
ery difficult problems.)
Jose Maria Albareda was living in the Santa Clara boardinghouse with Father Jose
mara, but was frequently away from Burgos for professional reasons. Pedro and Pac
o were still in Pamplona, but assigned to Auxiliary Services-a fact that might f
acilitate their transfer to a military department or office in Burgos. And so, w
hen the Father learned that Luis Orgaz was the Director General of Military Mobi
lization, he decided to try to get them transferred. General Orgaz knew this pri
est from back in May of 1931, when convents were being burned in Madrid. Father
Josemara had brought the Blessed Sacrament from the Foundation for the Sick to th
e home of some neighbors of the general. Later, when the general was imprisoned
in Madrid's "Model Prison," he had again met up with Father Josemara. And now her
e he was in his office, inquiring about the possibility of transfers for Pedro C
asciaro and Francisco Botella.[62]
The one for Paco came relatively fast. On January 23 he reported for duty at his
new assignment in Burgos. But Pedro stayed with the Mine Sappers regiment in Pa
mplona until March, though he did enjoy the "protection" of Corporal Garmendia,
with whom the Father had made friends during his visits to the regiment-by, in p
art, occasionally bringing him a fine, expensive cigar from the stock that Bisho
p Olaechea kept for important guests.
The landlady of the boardinghouse in Pamplona where Pedro and Paco lived was Doa
Micaela Pinillos. A good cook who had been housekeeper for an elderly priest, sh
e had seen in Father Josemara "something very special." "One can see from miles a
way that he is a saint," she would often say.[63] Her veneration for the priest
led her to give Pedro and Paco, the guests associated with him, special treatmen
t, often including free suppers.
In January Pedro came down with an intestinal infection. He notified his uncle J
orge Claramunt, who came to Pamplona and brought him to Bilbao to rest. After so
me weeks, he returned to Pamplona. A few days later Paco Botella learned that th

ere was an opening in General Orgaz's office. Father Josemara immediately request
ed that Pedro get the position. On March 9 Pedro was in Burgos.[64]

3. "A traveling salesman for my Lord Jesus Christ"

Being one of the many optimists who now saw the end of the war as imminent, Fath
er Josemara began an apostolic campaign to find the people and material means nee
ded to get started again in Madrid.[65] "Lord, give us fifty men who love you ab
ove all things!" he prayed before the tabernacle. And to the bishop of Vitoria h
e wrote: "I need a million pesetas, along with fifty men who love Jesus Christ a
bove all things."[66]But realizing that neither the vocations nor the pesetas we
re going to just fall into his hands, he got ready to launch himself on a search
.
The first plan was to speak with each of his sons. Foreseeing that this could in
volve long and complicated travels, he wrote to Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, on
December 31,1937: "They have promised me a very broad safe-conduct so that I can
visit all the members of my family without hassles. I'll be doing more travelin
g than a truck driver."[67]He drew up a mental itinerary that also incorporated
other errands, such as visiting bishops to tell them about the Work.
"In these days," he announced to the bishops of Pamplona and Vitoria, "I'll be l
eaving for Palencia, Salamanca, and Avila. Then I go to Bilbao. I've become a tr
aveling salesman for my Lord Jesus Christ!"[68]
He had just received, on January 15, a warm letter from Monsignor Moran, Madrid'
s vicar general, which gave him the impetus he needed to set out on those ricket
y trains and buses of wartime Spain. "You can't imagine," the vicar wrote, "the
wonderful surprise you gave me. Thank God we have you with us, to labor in his c
hosen Work! It will always be necessary, but all the more so in the postwar peri
od."[69]
A few days earlier, as if to clear the way, a Doation of 1,000 pesetas had arrive
d. He was excited and very hopeful about the trip, convinced that as a result of
it their apostolic work would take a big leap forward. In a letter to Manolo Sa
inz de los Terreros, he enthusiastically sketches it out:

Day after tomorrow-traveling salesman for my Lord Jesus Christ!-I start out on t
his trip: Burgos-Palencia; Palencia-Salamanca; Salamanca-Avila; Avila-Salamanca;
Salamanca-Palencia; Palencia-Leon; Leon-Astorga; Astorga-Leon; Leon-Bilbao; and
then, who knows, I may even have to go to Seville.
For seeing the world, nothing beats being dirt-poor.[70]

He also writes in a joyful tone to Isidoro:

The grandfather is running around, which is a pleasure. Tomorrow he leaves for s

ix or eight cities. Despite everything, the poor old fellow is putting on weight
....
By the way, he's doing that running around by himself. And he says he's going to
come back with a lot of money that Don Manuel will give him for fixing up his h
ouse in Paris. May it be so![71]

In his private journal, however, the tone is more subdued:

I decided to undertake a trip that will be somewhat tiring, but is necessary.

If I had my way, I would shut myself up in a monastery and stay there-alone!-til
l the war ends. I have a great hunger for solitude. However, not my will, but Go
d's. He wants me to work in an environment far removed from isolation. Also, I h
ave a great desire to get out of Burgos.[72]

On January 19, after (as usual) celebrating Mass at 6:15 in the house of the Ter
esian Association, he took the bus for Palencia. When he arrived at the bishop's
residence, the bishop, who had not seen him since before the war, was astonishe

d at his appearance. "He's a different man!" he said to his secretary. They had
a friendly chat about recent events. Then the Father took the train for Valladol
id, and on the following day celebrated a memorial Mass for Father Pedro Poveda
in a house of the Teresian Association. Then he tried to locate the family of Ja
cinto Valentin Gamazo, a member of the Work who had died at the battlefront of A
lto de los Leones.[73]
On January 21, in Salamanca, he said a Mass at the Teresian house of formation.
There he had a long meeting with Josefa Segovia in which, with her concurrence,
he drew up a program of spiritual assistance for these women.
On January 22 he left Salamanca for Avila, and arrived there in time to say Mass
. "I celebrated it for Father Pedro, at the Teresians' house. (How he must be la
ughing from heaven! 'What a nitwit, offering suffrages for me!' he'll say.) A ve
ry warm welcome!"[74]
In a long, cordial talk he explained the Work to the bishop of Avila, Santos Mor
o. ("He understood everything," he noted in his journal.[75]) In the afternoon,
he returned to Salamanca. The next day, to his great surprise, while he was work
ing up the schedule for a day of recollection he was going to give the Teresians
, Ricardo showed up. He had come from the battlefront with a pass that was good
for only two days, so Father Josemara immediately postponed the day of recollecti
on. "All day with Ricardo, thinking about everyone."[76]
As he records the stages of this tiring trip, disquieting symptoms begin to appe
ar.
January 25: I gave a day of recollection for the Teresian women, with little zes
t but a lot of good will.[77]
Burgos, January 28: Back to ordinary life. Caught a cold.[78]
Vitoria, Sunday the 30th: A great longing to be alone. I see myself as a little
ball bounced from wall to wall by my Father-God, getting a good whack with the f
oot and then, immediately afterward, a caress from his hands.[79]
Bilbao, February 1: Today I've done a lot of lying around.... I've completely lo
st my voice; can't talk at all. Tomorrow I'm returning to Burgos, to recover. I
feel weak. I've put on some weight, and yet I'm doing worse than when I arrived.
I get nauseous as soon as the car starts moving. I'm a complete wreck-but I'm n
ot going to tell anyone.[80]
Burgos, February 2: Back at 51 Santa Clara, and I won't go out of the house. Gar
gling, compresses, handkerchief around the neck, etc. Pleased with my stay in Bi
lbao! Hoping it will bear fruit.[81]
February 3: Got up late.... Can't say Mass.[82]
February 4: Bad night. Coughing: tried some lozenges. Can't even say Mass.[83]

He was hoping that a few days' rest would cure him. But he got worse. He was sti
ll confined to bed when he received a letter from Madrid's vicar general setting
an appointment for February 10 in Salamanca. On the 8th he wrote, "Still hoarse
. Tomorrow I have to go to Salamanca.... I don't know if I should go back to bed
."[84]In the end he decided to make the trip, but he had to interrupt the journe
y. He spent the night in Medina del Campo, running a high fever and getting almo
st no sleep. But he did rally and make it to Salamanca the next day. He met Mons
ignor Moran for lunch and spoke with him at length. He sketched his life in Madr
id, his escape, the apostolate at the fronts and behind the lines, his visits to
bishops.... He read his circular letter aloud. He spoke of the retreat he had m
ade and of his interior life. They recalled the times of the Republic when Fathe
r Josemara was not yet incardinated in Madrid and was trying to obtain priestly f
aculties. Then they talked about the ten years of work with Opus Dei. The vicar
laughed heartily when Father Josemara asked, "What would you have said to me if I
had come to you in 1928 and said, 'I need to stay here in Madrid, because Jesus
wants me to carry out a really great Work'?"[85]
On February 11, back in Burgos, he found waiting for him "a very affectionate le
tter from the bishop of Madrid." Bishop Eijo y Garay wrote:

My dear Father Jose Maria:

I was very happy to receive your letter of January 10, and I thank you with all

my heart. Monsignor Moran had already given me the great joy of knowing that you
had escaped from the Red zone and that God our Lord has preserved you to contin
ue doing so much good. Forgive me for not answering your letter sooner. I have b
een sick. I am slowly recovering, but have of course fallen way behind in my cor
respondence.[86]

Now feeling much better, Father Josemara spent February 15-17 in Leon. There he m
et with a number of people, including the bishop of Astorga, but his main object
ive was to see Father Eliodoro Gil, whom he had known since 1931. This priest ha
d frequented the DYA Academy on Luchana Street and later the Ferraz Street resid
ence; now he was a parish priest in Leon. Father Eliodoro promised to mimeograph
the circular letters Father Josemara would send him, so that they could then be
sent to his sons on the various battlefronts. In addition, this good priest paid
Father Josemara's hotel bill, gave him some candy for his sons, and added "a nic
e Doation."[87]"Pleased with the trip. Successful visits with Espinosa and Eliodo
ro: I won't go into details," he wrote in his journal. (On the same trip Father
Josemara had spoken with Espinosa de los Monteros about his possible vocation to
the Work.) "I'm going to bed right now," that entry continues, "because I'm done
in."[88]
On Sunday the 20th he left for Saragossa by way of Calatayud.[89] The journal co
ntinues: "Monday. February 21. To Pilar. First visit to Saragossa. Afterward sto
pped by the Teresians. Then to the doctor. I still have a fever and sore throat,
and am coughing up blood."[90]
Learning that Enrique Alonso-Martinez was hospitalized in Alhama de Aragon, he w
ent to see him. He returned to Saragossa, then to Pamplona, and from there to Ja
ca, to see Jose Ramon Herrero Fontana. (The Father had called him the "Benjamin"
of the family just before the war broke out.) He returned to Pamplona. Then to
San Sebastian. More visits. More business: On March 2, Ash Wednesday, he returne
d to Burgos, very tired and with fever. On Thursday the fever continued. On Frid
ay he was still in bed. The next journal entry is dated:

Thursday, March 10: I haven't written any Catherines for several days now. There
's a lot I could write.... I see myself as a poor servant whose master has taken
away his livery. Nothing but sins! I understand the nakedness felt by our first
parents. And I've cried a lot-I've suffered a lot. Nevertheless, I am very happ
y. I wouldn't trade places with anyone. I haven't lost my gaudium cum pace [joy
with peace] for years now. Thank you, my God! ... I can't do vocal prayer. It ca
uses me pain, almost physical, to hear praying done out loud. My mental prayer a
nd my entire interior life are in complete disorder. I spoke about this with the
bishop of Vitoria, and he set my mind at rest. I will write him today. Omnes cu
m Petro ad Iesum per Mariam [All with Peter to Jesus through Mary].[91]
Monday, March 21: Lots of days without writing Catherines.... In these days, thr
ee doctors have been here to see me. The boys insisted.... Father Antonio Rodill
a came over today. What a good friend he is! I showed him the state of my soul:
bare of virtues, a heap of wretchedness. I can hardly say vocal prayers; to hear
praying out loud gives me a headache. I don't think I do any mental prayer, eit
her: disorder. But I know that I love God. Yes, and that he loves me. I'm a poor
wretch, because I'm a sinner and disordered and have no interior life. I want t
o cry, and can't. I, who have cried so much! And, at the same time, I am very ha
ppy; I wouldn't trade places with anyone. I told Father Antonio all this. That e
ternal fifteen minutes of thanksgiving, constantly looking at my watch, wanting
it to be over! How shameful! And yet I do love Jesus above all things. Then I to
ld Father Antonio that it seemed to me that I was trying to fool him, moved by p
ride. He consoled me and said I'm doing fine.[92]
April 15, Good Friday: Time has flown past without my being able to write in the
diary.... I won't say anything about the current state of my soul.[93]
June 4,1938, Vigil of Pentecost: Almost two months without writing. I will try f
rom now on, as far as possible, to write every day.[94]

To what extent was the founder aware that something serious was going on? The il

lness that was filling his mouth with blood was painful and strange. It was neve
r established with certainty whether it was a problem of the throat or of the lu
ngs. Father Josemara accepted it with patience, despite his initial fear of not b
eing able to remain with his children if it turned out to be tuberculosis. At th
e doctor's suggestion, he began receiving injections for his lungs. If it really
were tuberculosis, he thought, our Lord would cure him so that he could keep wo
rking.[95] And at the end of March he was able to write to Ricardo, "Please do m
e the favor of not speaking about my illness, since it doesn't exist anymore."[9
6]The lung specialist had not found anything out of the ordinary.
Father Josemara seems to have sensed all along that this unusual illness was the
prelude to a renewal of his passive purifications. How else account for the fact
that after two weeks of silence, he suddenly comes out with the disquieting con
fession that "I see myself as a poor servant whose master has taken away his liv
ery"?
Father Josemara had passed through many trials since that day in 1931 when he wro
te of feeling like a little bird who, unable to fly high, is taken in the powerf
ul claws of the divine eagle and suddenly lifted to the heights, to be initiated
into the sublime flight of the spirit.[97]He endured his tribulations, convince
d he was "an inept and deaf instrument,"[98]a sorry excuse for a founder, a sinn
er. Fierce and prolonged sufferings sometimes tempted him to rebel. He had to ov
ercome strong temptations toward "low and vile things"[99]while anxiously seekin
g to conform to the will of God. Then came the "cruel trial" culminating in that
anguished prayer of detachment from what was the very essence of his life: Opus
Dei.[100] Plus what he suffered on account of the poverty of his family, variou
s humiliations, spiritual dryness, persecutions against the Church, and the sacr
ileges being committed all over Spain. Yet through all of this he had remained a
bandoned to the hands of God. He had kept in his heart a vivid consciousness of
his divine filiation and a deep rooted love for the cross, living a life of spir
itual childhood and burning with apostolic zeal. Intermingled with all his suffe
rings and joys was grace-which inundated his soul with infused contemplation and
constant prayerday and night, even when he was asleep.[101]
According to Saint John of the Cross, when God wants to proceed with the shaping
of a mature soul familiar with affliction and dryness, he ordinarily does not p
lace it in the dark night of the soul at once, but "lets a good amount of time p
ass."[102]In the mystical life of the founder, however, infused contemplation wa
s present at a relatively early period. And an attentive tracing of the course o
f his life yields evidence that severe passive purifications at the hands of div
ine Love did not cease until he died. In the years of the Spanish Civil War, how
ever, his spiritual life was marked in a special way by a craving to make repara
tion, as he had requested of our Lord a month before the war broke out. Truly he
spent those war years "on a cross hidden from the eyes of men."[103]
The trials came in distinct periods. There were those long nights around May 9,1
937, when, as a refugee in the Honduran consulate, he went upstairs to unburden
himself to Father Recaredo Ventosa. Then came the piercing doubts before the fin
ding of that rose in Rialp. A third period was that of his illness in the boardi
nghouse on Santa Clara Street in Burgos, which lasted from February to April of
1938. For this period, the allusions to his purifications are quite veiled. For
example, in a letter to Juan Jimenez Vargas he says, "If I were to tell you, Jua
nito! But I won't tell you."[104]He did not want to burden his children. But he
did seek spiritual counsel, such as that of Father Antonio Rodilla, to whom he o
pened his soul.[105]
In the mystical tradition, such tribulation is understood as God's way of removi
ng imperfections from a soul that he wishes to draw closer to himself. The journ
al entries from the consulate and from Santa Clara Street are at times quite mov
ing. "I suffered horribly last night.... I think that rarely have I suffered as
I do now."[106]One can imagine how trying it must be for a holy soul to feel its
elf rejected, despoiled of virtues and of friendship with God, and cast into dar
kness like the man without a wedding garment "Bind him hand and foot, and cast h
im into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth" (Mt 22:13
).

Father Josemara felt himself just a step removed from damnation. "I fear for my s
alvation," he wrote at the consulate.[107] "I suffer terrible doubts and distres
s when I think about my salvation. O my God! O my Mother! Will you allow me to b
e condemned?"[108]His soul was overwhelmed by the fear that he was failing to ca
rry out God's will. This suffering, this "sorrow of Love," crushed his soul and
caused his tears to flow uncontainably.
During this mystical process, the soul typically experiences a kind of paralysis
of its faculties. The masters of the spiritual life speak of a hebetudo mentis,
a dullness of the mind.[109] "I can't think of anything. I'm in a fog," writes
Father Josemara.[110]
The will also becomes impaired, and one loses all feeling and drive; acts of dev
otion become nearly impossible.?[111] "I can't do vocal prayer. It causes me pai
n, almost physical, to hear praying done out loud," he writes at the Santa Clara
boardinghouse."[112]
The memory, too, loses strength, making one unable to focus on the past. And thu
s the soul becomes absorbed in the contemplation of its own imperfection and wea
kness. "My prayer, said with all the energies of my soul, was, 'Jesus, if I am n
ot going to be the instrument you desire, take me to you in a state of grace as
soon as possible.?[113]
In the midst of this process of purgation, his heart at times was filled with as
pirations, such as "O Lord, you know that I love you!" and "Holy Mary, our hope,
our Mother!"[114]Other times brought poignant declarations of trusting love: "I
am not afraid of death, despite my sinful life, because I keep in mind your Lov
e. Typhoid, tuberculosis, pneumonia, or four bullets, what's the difference?"[11
5]But in any case, despite the anguish of fearing that he had lost God, he also
sensed his nearness. Somehow he simultaneously experienced both the presence and
the absence of God. Thus he could say, "I haven't lost my gaudium cum pace [joy
with peace] for years now."[116]
This purification produced a clearer knowledge of God and of his own nothingness
, together with a purer love and a stronger joy. "I know that I love God. Yes, a
nd that he loves me."[117]"I am very happy. I wouldn't trade places with anyone.
"[118]That divine action, of course, leaves unique marks on each of God's saints
. One mark it left on the founder was the insight reflected in this journal entr
y: "Now I understand ... that Jesus wants me to live, suffering, and work. It's
all the same. His will be done."[119]The vision, that is to say, of a fusion of
his contemplative life of love for the cross with his life of working: all in on
e. That enterprise, in those early days, was not an easy one. From those hard ni
ghttime struggles Father Josemara emerged happy, but also exhausted in both soul
and body. From a journal entry written on Friday, May 21, 1937, we can get some
idea of how he was feeling:

Like an open wound, that's how you are. Everything makes you suffer, in your fac
ulties and in your senses. And everything is a temptation to you. Poor child! Be
humble. You will see how quickly all this passes, and the pain will turn into j
oy, and the temptation, into firm steadfastness. But in the meantime, stir up yo
ur faith, fill yourself with hope, and make constant acts of love, even if you t
hink they're coming only from your lips.[120]

Who would have imagined that on that same day, he would write to Lola Fisac invi
ting her to be his grandchild, and then write to his sons in Madrid urging them
to keep trying to obtain compensation for the damages to the Ferraz Street resid
ence?
If he did not say much to his children about his interior suffering, this was no
t because of any concern about the wartime censorship, but because of his fixed
resolve to "hide myself and disappear," especially with regard to his personal r
elationship with God.[121]However, he did allow them glimpses of his interior st
ruggle so that they could accompany him in his love and reparation. In a letter
to his sons in Valencia, for example, he wrote this:

Today, Grandfather is sad, downcast, in spite of the love and affection of his f

amily, and in spite of the heroic patience of his nephew Juanito-who is not "bei
ng bossy." It's just that when he looks back on his youth and contemplates the p
resent life, he has a great desire to behave well, for those who are behaving ba
dly; to play Don Quixote, making reparation, suffering, putting right. Then his
intellect and will (Love) start to race. Love arrives first-but so weak, with so
few deeds! Grandfather is sad because he can't get things right (being so old,
having so little strength) unless the grandchildren of his soul help him with th
eir youth. But I'm getting philosophical, and rambling so much that you probably
don't understand what I'm trying to say.[122]

Around the middle of February 1938, Paco Botella returned one evening from the b
arracks, and finding the Father in bed, he asked what was wrong. The answer, aft
er a long silence, was: "Paco, for the last few days my throat has been bleeding
, and I am wondering if it might be tuberculosis. Don't come near me."[123]
The fever continued. His throat was burning. His mouth kept filling with blood.
A doctor whom he consulted on his way through Saragossa on February 21 diagnosed
it as "chronic pharyngitis." The symptoms resembled those of tuberculosis in an
advanced, incurable stage. Did he have a right to risk infecting his children?
It was this painful thought that led him to write to Juan Jimenez Vargas on Febr
uary 24 and tell him that, if he let himself be properly formed, he would be his
"immediate successor in the family business." That letter contained a lot of ne
ws and some details about his illness:

Did you hear that I've become an old wreck? I caught a cold over a month ago, an
d it's turned into chronic pharyngitis. If I have to talk, Jesus will have to cu
re me, since I often lose my voice completely. Fiat [His will be done]. An old m
an: 80 years old on the inside, and 36 on the outside; total, 116 years; and a c
racked pharynx that makes me cough every two minutes. Fiat.[124]

He got worse. Some mornings he woke up with his mouth full of blood clots.
On March 9 Pedro Casciaro arrived, assigned to Burgos at the orders of General O
rgaz. Upon moving in with the Father and Paco at the Santa Clara boardinghouse,
he found the patient in a sorry state, "with a dry and persistent cough, unable
to speak, and spitting up blood." On March 19, the feast of Saint Joseph, the th
ree had the joy of being reunited with Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, Manolo Sainz
de los Terreros, and Jose Maria Albareda. Paco and Ricardo decided to take the
Father to a doctor that week, even though they had no money to pay him. On March
23, the Father wrote to Juan:

During their stay, by force of everyone's insistence, I had to go see the optome
trist. He gave me a new prescription (half a diopter more), and told me I needed
reading glasses-I'm wearing them now-and to make sure both pairs had good lense
s. Everything got done on that very day. It cost a fortune!
Then, off to a throat specialist. He examined me carefully and concluded that it
could have something to do with my lungs. That mouth filled with blood! He reco
mmended a chest specialist, and wrote us a note for him. We went; long wait; fin
ally, the examination. Stethoscope; again, stethoscope; and then a third time, w
ith other instruments. Then, X rays. Finally, "Doctor, do I have TB?" "No, compl
etely clear of that; not the least chance of it. Just at the bottom of the right
lung, some residues of a cold." The truth is that I wasn't concerned, because I
thought that even if I did have TB, the Lord would cure me so that I could keep
working.
I'm still seeing the ear, nose, and throat specialist. Like the one in Saragossa
, he cleans and disinfects my nose and throat. In sum, I hope I'm making you hap
py, but it's costing us another fistful of pesetas.[125]

Everyone was in on the project of looking after the Father. By serving, cajoling
, and pressuring him, they were trying to get him to put on weight and become, a
s he saw it, "a tub of lard, like a bon vivant." He resisted it as much as he co
uld, in the conviction that the "good life" is not compatible with a spirit of p

enance. In that same letter to Juan, he wrote:

Everyone in the world thinks they have a right to tell the Grandfather to take c
are of himself, forget about fasting, eat well, get more sleep, the list is endl
ess. And he feels, deep inside, the exact opposite. The conflict is fierce. Don'
t you try to become the battlefield for another like it. People suffer if they c
an't have the chubby cheeks, pomp and vanity of former times. And they're gettin
g their way. Poor soul, wrapped in layers of rancid lard![126]

His sons had agreed among themselves to make him eat so that he could put on a f
ew pounds. But, in their zeal and good will, they were hounding him day and nigh
t. He wrote to Ricardo: "Please do me the favor of not speaking about my illness
, since it doesn't exist anymore. I am still going to the throat specialist, but
just to keep from getting into a big fight every Monday and Tuesday with these
meddling sons of my soul."[127]
Sensing God's hand in the Father's illness, Pedro decided that the only solution
was to pray that it be transferred to him. And at least once, that did seem to
happen. "When the Father got better," Paco Botella recalls, "Pedro fell sick wit
h a headache, digestive problems, and a fever. And when Pedro got better, the Fa
ther got worse again."[128]
According to Pedro, it was his anxiety about the Father's high fever that "made
me think of asking God to take the fever from him and give it to me." He continu
es, "Perhaps I made this petition without really believing that our Lord would l
isten to me. So I was very surprised when, that same evening, my temperature sky
rocketed and the Father's fever disappeared. They called the doctor, and he said
I had typhoid or paratyphoid and ordered tests. The results were negative, but
I kept running a high fever."[129]
This was on March 23, the day Father Josemara wrote to Juan about his visits to t
he doctors and about how much it was costing them, needlessly, in his opinion. T
he lung specialist had not found any lesions or even traces of tubercular calcif
ications. The throat specialist had also found nothing special, and had called t
he case a no-man's-land.[130] Here was, indeed, a mix of strange pathological sy
mptoms attached to no known illness.
In this same letter to Juan, the Father wrote: "Ricardo has started giving me so
me balsam injections for my lungs. Wasted efforts-I tell you this with all my so
ul." And immediately after that he says, "Poor little Pedro has come down sick o
n us today-for the third time since he's been in Burgos-with a high fever that c
ame on suddenly. I would like you to take a look at the case."[131]
Pedro, with a temperature of 104, and with fear and misgivings at not having don
e this before, finally told the Father what he had done. "With a lot of embarras
sment," he says, "I ended up telling the Father about my request to our Lord. 'D
on't do anything like that again,' he told me, 'but don't worry about it."[132]T
he fever disappeared as if by magic, and for some time the Father was also free
of it.
But because of his intense work life and the fasting he was doing, his sons, esp
ecially Pedro and Paco, kept up their mission of looking out for him. On Sunday,
March 27, while he was writing another letter to Juan Jimenez Vargas, they trie
d to talk him into putting on a sweater. The summer cassock he was wearing was n
ot much protection against the harsh cold of the Burgos winter. They kept pester
ing and would not leave him in peace.
"These fellows," he writes to Juan, "are giving me a rough time about my health
and the illness. Aside from the fact that I'm getting fat (which, by the way, I
find very unpleasant), this subject does not concern me. What I'm concerned abou
t is souls, including mine."[133] Then, after describing how the two young men u
rged the sweater on him, he wrote:

What silly things I'm telling you! It's true. But everything we poor humans try
to achieve even sanctity-is a weave of little things which, when drawn together
in a certain way, can form an astonishing tapestry of heroism or villainy, of vi
rtues or sins. The epics-those of our El Cid, for example-always relate gigantic

adventures, but mixed in with commonplace details about the hero. May you alway
s pay a lot of attention to the little things. May you zero in on them! And I to
o; and I too.[134]

Good as their intentions were, his sons were suffocating him with their attentio
ns. They kept track of his mortifications and vigils and of whether or not he sl
ept on the floor. They watched over his fasts, asking what he had eaten and when
. Pedro and Paco even monitored his thirst (detectable when his voice cracked, o
r when his dry tongue stumbled over words). And when he refused to take their ad
vice, they kept giving it, undeterred.[135] "They are unbearable," he wrote to J
ose Maria Albareda. "They make me eat at all hours, after some epic battles. Tel
l them to leave me in peace."[136]
On April 30 the situation came to a head. Without comment, he left on the table
a sheet of paper that read:

(1) I have decided not to let you order me around in things that are so much mat
ters of my conscience.
(2) I won't give you any kind of explanation.
(3) I will eat where and when it seems best to me, guided solely by what I see t
o be my duty.
(4) If you continue to meddle in this matter, I will, regretfully, find it neces
sary to leave Burgos.
(5) Same goes for the hours and ways I sleep.
I will not permit any discussion on these matters.[137]

A strong letter to Juan followed:

Although I don't have a director here in Burgos-I'm not going to do anything tha
t would clearly pose a threat to my health. However, I cannot lose sight of the
fact that we are trying not just to do something good, but to carry out the will
of God, and that for this to happen, I have to be a saint, no matter what it co
sts! Even if it should cost me my health, which it won't.
This decision is so deeply rooted-I see it so clearly-that no human consideratio
n can get in the way of carrying it out.
I am speaking to you in all simplicity. You, having lived alongside me longer th
an anyone, surely realize that I need to be hit with an axe.[138]

4. The Sabadell Hotel

After his initial concern that he might have contracted tuberculosis and might i
nfect his sons, Father Josemara acquired a different view of his illness. Very so
on he came to see it as a means of purification, and to accept as special favors
from God the physical suffering and the spiritual dryness that accompanied it.[
139]
The lessons of his recent trip boiled down to two things: "Lord, we need people
and money."[140]As to the first, he wanted "fifty men who love Jesus Christ abov
e all things."[141]Not so many, it would seem, among so many resolute young peop
le, with a handful of vocations already. But his sons were scattered about on di
fferent fronts, north and south; visits to give them spiritual direction would b
e slow and irregular. One possible solution was for them to get furloughs and sp
end some days at "our house of Saint Michael in Burgos," as he said in his circu
lar letter of January 9. But if he expected the religious and patriotic zeal of
young soldiers to be easily turned to higher ideals, he was destined to be disap
pointed. "So many young people ready to die for an ideal! And-?-impossible!"[142
]
One institution that Father Josemara sometimes had to confront, even though it ar
ose from patriotism, was the "madrinas de guerra"-girls who volunteered to write
to lonely soldiers to boost their morale. On more than one occasion, he counsel
ed breaking off a relationship. "The Love is well worth a love," he wrote to one

young man.[143]
But how had he, the founder, responded to that Love in these nine and a half yea
rs of Opus Dei?s existence? That question led him (during his trip to Saragossa
in February) to write this to Bishop Santos Moro, the bishop of Avila:

May Jesus watch over my Bishop.

Father: This sinner sends his greetings to tell you that he has not forgotten yo
u one single day-and certainly not today, before Our Lady of the Pillar. And I a
sk you, my Bishop, to help us with your prayers and to bless us. We are finishin
g the first half of our tenth year of silent and hidden labor. What an account o
ur Lord will demand from me!
Help me to render it cum gaudio et pace.[144]

"I was amused," the bishop answered a few days later, "when you spoke of the 'ac
count' that our Lord will demand of you. No, for you he will not be a judge, in
the harsh sense of the word, but simply Jesus.
If only I could give myself the same promise, working as you all do, if not as a
captain, at least sicut bonus miles Xi lesu [as a good soldier of Christ Jesus]
."[145]
At the time of these letters, Father Josemara was going through the darkest phase
of his illness, overwhelmed by the thought that he might have tuberculosis.
They continued to look for an apartment. "It's a pity," wrote the Father, "that
we haven't been able to find a place of our own. It would have been better and c
heaper for us. Of course, in spite of everything, we're doing fine where we are.
"[146]However, their days in the Santa Clara boardinghouse were quickly nearing
their end. That same week, at the end of March, the landlady decided to evict Pe
dro and Paco, in order to take in two other persons. For the Father's group to s
tay together, they would all have to move. To make matters worse, the boarding h
ouse charge floored them. Father Josemara spoke of bills "worthy of the den of Mo
nipodio."[147]And he wrote to Ricardo, "If you could only see the pirate's bill
we've been presented with."[148]
Monsignor Francisco Moran, Madrid's vicar general, had asked for "a note with th
e purposes, origin, development, and present state" of his enterprise.[149] With
out much enthusiasm, Father Josemara sent him a sheet covering all of that. He wo
uld have preferred to explain things in person, because he realized that some of
what he was writing could be misinterpreted. Thus he concludes: "How little one
can say in a written note! And yet, even the little I have written seems to me
indiscreet. And, of course, very incomplete."[150]
Now, spurred by this note, the Father began to think seriously about returning t
o Madrid when the war ended, and about the problems that this would entail. To J
uan Jimenez Vargas he wrote:

Being in Burgos is not the same as being in our center. Not by a long shot. As l
ong as the war continues, given the makeup of our family (people who are awfully
young), I don't think I will have the tranquillity (the peace, yes) necessary t
o do deep apostolic work. I don't mean to say that I'm not doing anything, becau
se, what with one thing and another, something is always going on. But it's cert
ainly the case that wonderful work could be done now with people more mature in
years.
Well, God knows best.[151]

To get things going again, after a war so tragic and destructive, would not be e
asy. He had no illusions that peace would solve everything.

I can hardly wait for this war to be over! Then we can start (or, rather, restar
t) another one that is harder, perhaps, but more to our liking. I think we may a
gain have to go through what we did during those terrible years of shortages. No
matter: if we work as hard as we can, our Lord will solve everything sooner, mo
re, and better than we can imagine.[152]

Meanwhile, whether he liked it or not, he had to stay in Burgos.

When the Father returned to Burgos from Vitoria on April 3, they had already mov
ed from Santa Clara Street to the Sabadell Hotel, at 32 Merced Street. The hotel
brochure, printed before the war, read: "Magnificently situated, facing the Arl
anzon River. Close to the cathedral and the station. Special prices for families
and long-term guests. Central heating. Hot and cold running water in all rooms.
Bathrooms."
Father Josemara did not sing its praises. Instead he wrote, "I am not happy with
our new home, because it's expensive."[153](The price was four pesetas per bed,
that is sixteen pesetas a day for their "suite," not including meals.)
It was, at best, a third-class hotel, consisting of a ground floor and three upp
er floors. Over the entrance was a marquee of iron and glass. Each upper floor h
ad three rooms overlooking the street. The middle room had a balcony and the two
on either side had glassed-in porches.
They occupied one of the side rooms on the second floor. At the far end of the r
oom was a small alcove, dark and unventilated, with a basin, separated by a clot
h curtain from the rest of the room; here the Father slept. Three beds, one next
to the other, were in the room proper, leaving space for a table, two chairs, a
nd a small wardrobe that held their few possessions. The room was decorated with
two awful lithographs. Eventually they replaced them with a small wooden crucif
ix, a picture of our Lady that was modeled on a Byzantine icon, some felt pennan
ts bearing the word "Rialp" and the initials "DYA," and a map of Aragon and Cata
lonia bearing little flags and markings indicating battlefronts and places where
members of the Work were stationed.[154]
The hotel brochure's mention of "Bathrooms" turned out to mean one per floor. Th
e Father, who was the first to use theirs in the morning, saved time by filling
the tub with water the night before. The water was bound to be icy on those wint
er mornings, because the window had a broken pane. When he got done, he would re
fill the tub. "As, I'm sure, you've already guessed," says Paco Botella, "there
was no shower or hot water."[155]
Getting their clothing and luggage to the hotel was not much trouble. Their belo
ngings consisted of some souvenirs of the escape over the Pyrenees-the glass the
y had used as a chalice, the rose of Rialp, the wineskin, their documents, lette
rs, the journal, and the card file-and a few other things. The most cumbersome i
tem was the typewriter, bought secondhand in a store on Plaza Mayor. It was a Co
rona with a very peculiar keyboard, made in such a way that one could type well,
but only very slowly. They had purchased it to prepare the circular letter sent
out in March of 1938, in continuation of an initiative begun in the summers of
1934and 1935. This "family letter," containing news of friends and Ferraz Street
residents, along with spiritual advice, was sent in a sealed envelope.[156]The
Father's plan was for it to come out monthly, in the second half of the month. A
typewritten original would be sent to Father Eliodoro Gil, in Leon, who would r
un it off and send back the mimeographed copies for distribution from Burgos.
Those who received the issue for March 1938 read this:

Right now, from your barracks, from the trenches, from the ramparts, from your f
orced stays in hospitals, how much you can help our Work with your prayers and c
lean living, your setbacks and successes! Let's live a special communion of sain
ts, and each of you, at the hour of interior struggle as well as at the hour of
combat, will feel the joy and strength of not being alone.[157]

The spiritual impact of those family newsletters was discernible in the many let
ters received at the Sabadell Hotel, especially starting in April. "How clearly
your letters reflect the joy these lines bring you," we read in the July 1938 is
sue. "It's like receiving, at one and the same time, letters from many friends,
reminders of hours spent working and laughing together, desires and hopes for a
new and even more work-filled future."[158]
Pedro and Paco considered the move from the boardinghouse to the hotel "a big im
provement," since it meant no longer having to eat with all the other guests at

a fixed hour. But life in the hotel also had its drawbacks. The little curtain s
eparating the main room from the alcove where the Father slept was more symbolic
than practical. He had to try to find time during the day, when the others were
out, to use his disciplines. (He could not do this in the bathroom, because of
insufficient sound insulation.) But whether or not he could find a good time for
it, he did close the curtain and proceed in the energetic way already familiar
to Doa Dolores, Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, and Alvaro del Portillo. Pedro grew
nervous. When he intervened with him to try to get him to lessen the blows, the
Father replied that they had witnessed his weaknesses and failings, so what did
it matter if they now heard him doing penance?[159]
One big advantage of the new lodging was the glassed-in porch. About seven feet
long and only three feet wide, it had room only for a little wicker table and tw
o wicker chairs, but with the windows closed and the green wooden blinds lowered
, it became a space for private conversations, a niche that gave the place an ai
r of gentility and decorum and made one forget its poverty. The small space serv
ed as confessional and receiving room. Many notable people passed through it: bi
shops, university professors, doctors, diplomats, priest friends, business leade
rs, government officials.... This is what Father Josemara had in mind when he spo
ke of the wonderful work that could be done with "people more mature in years."[
160]
For this apostolic work with highly educated people, the only one who could now
help him was Jose Maria Albareda. He asked Albarecla to start assembling a colle
ction of books, the basis for the library of the center that would be opened in
Madrid once the war was over. (What he envisioned was a circulating library.) Th
ree months later they sent out a circular letter, in several languages and signe
d by fifteen professors, asking for books from all over the world. The address t
hey gave was that of Albareda's brother in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Very few books arr
ived, and the few journals and reprints that reached them were in bad shape from
rough handling in the mail.[161]
Those in the military fortunate enough to get a few days' leave and spend some o
f it with the Father were very well received. He would walk with them along the
banks of the Arlanzon River or to the abbey of Las Huelgas or the monastery of t
he Carthusians, or else take them to the top of the cathedral tower to enjoy a b
eautiful view of the buttresses, the pinnacles, and the stone carvings. Back at
the hotel, they would have a private conversation in the enclosed porch. And if
they spent the night in Burgos, they were invited to attend his Mass the next mo
rning, usually celebrated at the Church of Saints Cosmos and Damian.[162]
And if one of those soldier sons could not come to Burgos, Father Josemara would
go to him. If someone needed his help and advice, he was there; distance did not
matter.
Once he went all the way to Andalusia to see a son of his who was having a hard
time.[163] The trip began on April 17 and took quite a while, because of the war
. Soon after his arrival in Cordoba, he sent to his sons in Burgos a letter with
entertaining descriptions of the places and people he had encountered along the
way:

I went to the hotel. What saluters the people of Cordoba are! Everyone gives the
military salute, or tips their big sombrero to this priest they don't even know
!
In the hotel they give me room number 9-the number I'm so enamored of. (That the
ology of mathematics!) In Leon they did even better; they gave me room 309. And
I thought: 3, my Father-God; and 0, myself, a sinner (mea culpa!); and 9, my son
s. How good Jesus is, to bring us to himself with something so little!
I start writing letters, to these sons of my soul, and in walks Miguel. A hug. "
Pax!" "In aeternum!" Night falls, and in filial confidence, nobly and with great
simplicity, he unburdens himself of these almost two years of separation. And t
he Father-who always wants to be, for everyone, very much a father-gives counsel
s and practical guidelines. And he also gives-he wants to give-Love of God and t
hat affection of ours which is a spark of that Love.
Miguel doesn't return to Alcolea. He stays here with me, in the hotel. Dinner, a

walk, the Preces, a blessing.[164]

From Cordoba the Father went to Seville, to make more visits, and there he ran i
nto a problem. When he went to the station to return to Burgos, the trains were
full and he did not have a reservation for the night train. He was advised to go
to Utrera, because the chances of getting a ticket were better there. At six in
the evening, in Utrera, he approached the ticket agent, explained his problem,
and ran into another one: the only seats available were first- or second-class.
He had only enough money for a third-class seat. The letter to Burgos continues:
"I explained my situation. With great patience and kindness, he tells me the th
ird-class fare, which I do have the money for, and the second-class fare, which
I don't. Then he takes another look at the fares, and shortens the trip. Going s
econd-class, I have just enough money to reach Salamanca."
He would have to wait until the train left Cadiz and Utrera received the telegra
ph saying how many and what kind of seats were left. With only the remotest hope
of getting a third-class ticket to Burgos, Father Josemara handed the problem ov
er to his guardian angel. He returned to the station a little after eight, and f
ound a surprised ticket agent. "The agent had a third-class ticket reserved for
me. And he said with disbelief in his voice (I had turned this over to my guardi
an angel), 'This evening they telegraphed us that they have seventeen tickets av
ailable-and all third-class!' I didn't find it hard to believe."
Two nights and a day on the train. At four in the morning on April 23, he reache
d the Sabadell Hotel. The next month was also filled with trips and visits. He w
rote to the bishop of Avila, "I spent almost the entire month of May traveling a
ll over the place, including the front lines at Teruel."[165]He went to the acti
ve and dangerous front at Teruel to visit Juan, whom he had not seen for a long
time.
The Work continued to be blessed with unity, strength, and cohesion. The founder
wrote of the future: "We are going to meet with obstacles, but-so many are the
obvious favors from God in these months!-we will overcome them."[166]Two weeks e
arlier he had written: "We only have reasons for thanking God. However, I am ove
rwhelmed when I think of what we will soon have to confront."[167]
In his writings of this period there are occasional glimpses of his life of cont
emplative union with God. On Monday, June 6, for example, he noted in his journa
l: "My prayer this morning on the way to Las Huelgas: guided by Saint Joseph, I
placed myself, with the light of the Holy Spirit, in the Wound of the right hand
of my Lord."[168] And on his return home that evening, he wrote to Juan Jimenez
Vargas:

Burgos, June 6, 1938

+ May Jesus safeguard you, for himself. Dear Juanito,

This morning, on my way to Las Huelgas, where I went to do my prayer, I discover

ed a new world: the Most Holy Wound of our Lord's right hand. I was there all da
y long, kissing and adoring. How truly lovable is the sacred humanity of our God
! Pray that he give me that real love of his and with it completely purify all m
y other affections. It's not enough to say, "Heart on the cross!" Because if one
of Christ's wounds cleans, heals, soothes, strengthens, enkindles, and enraptur
es, what wouldn't the five do as they lie open on the cross? Heart on the cross!
O my Jesus, what more could I ask for? I realize that if I continue contemplati
ng in this way (Saint Joseph, my father and Lord, is the one who led me there, a
fter I asked him to enkindle me), I'll end up crazier than ever. Try it yourself
! ...
I'm quite jealous of those on the battlefronts, in spite of everything. It has o
ccurred to me that, if my path were not so clearly marked out, it would be wonde
rful to outdo Father Doyle. But ... that would suit me quite well, since doing p
enance has never been very hard for me. That, I'm sure, is the reason I'm being
led by another path: Love. And the fact is it suits me even better. If only I we
ren't such a donkey!

Take care, my son. Dominus sit in corde tuo! [The Lord be in your heart!]
Much love. From the Wound of the right hand, your Father blesses you.

Mariano[169]

Isidoro, in one of the letters he sent to the other members of the Work in the r
epublican zone, wrote: "When we had grandfather with us, we didn't take full adv
antage of his presence. I have often thought about this. He is the high-powered
dynamo that infuses us with energy."[170]
"Do the things that need doing"-this was one of Father Josemara's stated principl
es. "One begins as best one can. They don't get left undone, for lack of instrum
ents.... They get begun."[171]

The material means were often in short supply. In Utrera, while waiting for the
train to Burgos, Father Josemara noticed that the cassock that Bishop Olaechea ha
d given him was falling apart. "My cassock," he says, "which I have mended so of
ten, is losing its lining."[172] And that was typical, because although he somet
imes had money at his disposal, he never had a peseta to spend on himself. Now a
nd then he would send the bishop of Avila Mass stipends for his priests, even th
ough he himself had renounced the receiving of stipends. While straining to rais
e a million pesetas, he always traveled third-class and spent almost nothing on
food. In the monthly newsletter he asked the young men at the battlefronts for D
oations to cover travel costs and also to give to people in need.[173] But for da
ily expenses he limited himself strictly to money kept for this purpose in a sma
ll box that had once contained a Burgos cheese. Their accounting, as Jose Maria
Albareda explained to him one day, was done "by the vectorial system." Deposits
into and withdrawals from the box were indicated by arrows pointing in or out. T
he Father laughed, and expressed amazement that two mathematicians (Pedro and Pa
co) and one scientist (Jose Maria) were doing worse accounting than his mother's
cook did in Barbastro. The mathematicians thereupon adopted the standard credit
-and-debit system.[174]
On rare occasions Father Josemara did overcome his reluctance to spend. One Sunda
y afternoon, he asked the house treasurer how they were doing financially and wa
s told that they did not have enough to pay the hotel bill due the next morning.
"But," he asked, "is there enough for a treat?" He wanted to lift the spirits o
f his sons. So they did have a treat-and the next morning, after breakfast, a mo
ney order for several thousand pesetas arrived, sent from Santander by Manolo Pe
rez Sanchez, one of the students who had frequented the Ferraz Street residence.
[175]

5. "A lesson on charity"

Father Josemara took retreat resolutions seriously. Resolutions 4 and 5 from his
retreat in Pamplona were "The women" and "Do the law dissertation."[176]
Only two of his journal entries contain mention of the apostolate he carried out
with women in Burgos in 1938. He gave spiritual direction to a daughter of Gene
ral Martin Moreno, to Carmen Munarriz, to a sister of Vicente Rodriguez Casado,
and to some friends of those women. "I had the study circle for the girls," he w
rites in one entry. "There were seven."[177]Thinking of the oratory he wanted to
set up in Madrid, he encouraged them to make vestments and altar cloths that wo
uld complement the sacred vessels he had gotten in Pamplona. "We've taken out of
the case all the liturgical objects made for us in Pamplona," he writes to Jose
Maria. "Really, they are magnificent. So these daughters of mine are lining the
inside of the tabernacle with silk."[178]
These very well-intentioned young women either did not join the Work or did not
continue in it. But they remained objects of the Father's spiritual affection, a
s did his daughters in the Red zone: Hermogenes Garcia, Antonia Sierra, and Lola
Fisac.
He wrote to Isidoro: "The poor old fellow is very uneasy about his little grandd

aughters back in Madrid. Send him some news of them, and also of the grandmother
and the aunt and uncle. He always thinks of them so much, and with so much affe
ction!"[179]
Isidoro filled him in, but did not tell him everything. He did write, "Grandmoth
er, aunt and uncle, and the rest of the family are still doing fine," and "The l
ittle girls are delighted to be able to help the grandfather when he comes. Herm
ogenes continues to keep grandmother company; we're enjoying fine weather, and t
hey are taking advantage of it to go for walks." But he left out something that
would have deeply troubled the Father, something that he did write to those in h
is own zone: "Since the last bombardment at Castellon, which leveled the Hospita
l Provincial, which is where Antonia was, we have had no news of her. Pray for h
er." Fortunately, she was soon located. So Isidoro then wrote to the Father, "An
tonia is still in Castellon, and is very happy because she hopes to see grandfat
her soon."[180]
The matter of his doctoral dissertation illustrates his persistence and determin
ation to squeeze everything he could out of the time and circumstances available
to him. On that memorable day when he went to the residence of the archbishop o
f Burgos to request ministerial faculties, he had, as we mentioned before, run i
nto a priest he had known in Madrid. This was Father Manuel Ayala, now secretary
of the seminary, and before that, secretary of the pontifical university. Fathe
r Manuel promised to provide him with source material for his dissertation.[181]
Obviously he would have to start from scratch, since all his source material and
research notes on his original topic, the priestly ordination of men of mixed r
ace in Spanish colonial America, had been left behind in the Ferraz Street resid
ence.
He now chose as his topic a curious case in the history of canon law. The abbey
of Las Huelgas Reales, half a mile outside Burgos, had been established by King
Alfonso VIII, in the twelfth century. It had a church and chapels, living quarte
rs, courtyards, and a garden. Its rooms housed more than a hundred nuns. At that
abbey princes were married, kings were crowned, and several sovereigns were bur
ied. The abbess had a prelate's jurisdiction over a dozen convents in Castile an
d Leon, and over about fifty villages and hamlets; this included legal jurisdict
ion, both civil and criminal. The abbess conferred benefices, approved confessor
s, gave preaching faculties, decided matrimonial and civil cases, demanded tribu
te, and imposed excommunications. During ceremonial royal visits, it was de rigu
eur that the sovereign and the abbess be seated side by side, indicating equalit
y in dignity. In 1873, when these special jurisdictions in Spain were abolished,
the abbess became subordinate to the archbishop of Burgos.[182]
Between one trip and the next, whenever he had a few hours free, Father Josemara
would go to the abbey and spend the morning in the bookkeeper's office, where he
would be brought folios, books, and files from the library. He would set out ea
rly in the day, as soon as Pedro and Paco, having attended his Mass, had left fo
r their respective offices. (During his first several months in Burgos, he said
Mass at the house of the Teresian Association or at the Church of Santa Clara, w
hich was next to the boardinghouse. Later he said Mass sometimes at the Carmelit
e monastery, sometimes at the cathedral, and, for an extended period, at the Chu
rch of Saints Cosmos and Damian, at an altar with an ornate altarpiece of our La
dy. At this time there were more priests than altars in Burgos.[183])
Monday, June 6, was the day he contemplated the wound in our Lord's right hand.
He did not get much research done that week, because on Tuesday he got a telegra
m from Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin saying, "Wounded not seriously."[184]He took
the next train to Avila, and from there he took the train to Carabanchel Alto, o
n the Madrid front, very worried the whole time. Among the hundred young men com
prising the extended family of Ferraz students, they already knew of ten deaths.
Four had died in Madrid: Eraso, Llanos, Gastaca, Suarez del Villar. Pepe Isasa
and Jacinto Valentin Gamazo, both of whom were members of the Work, had been kil
led at the front. Jaime Munarriz, a medical student, one of the first to go to P
orta Coeli, also died in battle. In a high fever, he had been heard calling out
for Father Josemara. The names of the dead appeared monthly in the pages of the n
ewsletter. "What a group we have in heaven!" the Father wrote.[185]

On Saturday, at four in the morning, after three nights of not sleeping a wink,
the Father returned to Burgos. Later he wrote to Juan Jimenez Vargas:

As for Ricardo, it's a miracle that the hand grenade that wounded him didn't kil
l him. He has wounds all over his body; it's like one big tattoo. And yet only t
hree or four are of any importance, and even they are not serious.... I expect t
hat he will recover soon and have no worse repercussion from it than the initial
shock.
How moving it was to be so close to Madrid! Almost-not almost-it was like being
in Madrid. I had some bad moments.[186]

An officer had taken him to the Carabanchel observation post. Using the battery
gunsight, he had a good view of war-damaged Madrid, including the partially dest
royed building at 16 Ferraz Street.[187]In his letter to Isidoro about Ricardo's
"hunting accident," he mentioned this and then said:

Therefore the grandfather had a doubly hard time-because of his grandson, and be
cause he was only three or four miles from his other grandson Alvaro, whom he is
not allowed to visit. However, with some wonderful binoculars, he could see the
house and everything around it, and so he could pretend to be where his heart l
onged to go. In fact, he was closer to Alvaro than he had been in the insane asy
lum.[188]

"But business is business," he added, "and these separations are necessary. How
often, before reaching France, I was on the verge of returning to my own country
, but Jeannot stopped me! Things have turned out for the best. You can't even im
agine the work that has been done here."[189]

In March, a nationalist offensive to reach the Mediterranean had begun. Fierce f

ighting broke out on the fronts at Teruel and in northern Aragon, where some of
his sons were. In June, Castellon was taken. Then the tide turned, and the last
week of July brought a spectacular republican offensive.[190]The Father was now
very glad he had let himself be so carried away by his affection as to go to Ter
uel to visit Juan, because now there were no furloughs.[191]
Some time back, General Orgaz had suggested that he become an honorary military
chaplain, so that he could attend to his sons.[192] Why not do this now?
Service as a regular chaplain would not do, as he explained to the bishop of Pam
plona, since being assigned to a particular unit would prevent him from travelin
g to other fronts.[193] The bishop advised that he take up the matter with the m
ilitary authorities, and suggested that he might be named a military juridical c
onsultant with the National Service of Ecclesiastical Affairs.[194]
Whatever he did, he wanted to do it with the blessing of the bishop of Madrid. B
ishop Eijo already knew of the matter through his vicar general, Monsignor Casim
iro Morcillo. When Father Josemara wrote to the bishop, he made some observations
that he thought might be helpful, but made it clear that for him the bottom lin
e was that "my vocation is to be one hundred percent a priest."[195]
Shortly before Ricardo's "hunting accident," Father Josemara learned that Father
Carmelo Ballester was staying at the Burgos seminary. Father Ballester was the o
ne who had done the edition of the New Testament that Bishop Olaechea gave him i
n Pamplona and that he used during his retreat. He was consecrated bishop of Leo
n on May 15. Father Josemara could not attend the ceremony because he was visitin
g the Aragon front, but he sent a silver tray with the new bishop's coat of arms
engraved on it. "The gift is modest, but attractive," he wrote to Jose Maria. "
Moreover, he deserves it, even though he doesn't understand us-yet!"[196]
Bishop Ballester invited him to spend a few days with him in his residence in Le
on. Leon being halfway between Burgos and Santiago de Compostela, and Father Jos
emara being pressed for time, he made some very detailed calculations so as to ge
t several things done on the one trip, including visiting the shrine of Saint Ja
mes in Santiago de Compostela "to gain the jubilee indulgence and to pray for ev
eryone."[197]Following the centuries-old tradition of making pilgrimages to the

tomb of Saint James the Greater, Spain's patron saint, many devout people sought
the holy year indulgence-this holy year having been extended from 1937 into 193
8 because of the war.
On the night of July 15, Father Josemara was in Leon, "being spoiled by this holy
bishop." From the bishop's residence he wrote to those in Burgos, "Pray for me
that this Saint James jubilee will purify me and enkindle my soul."[198]
Having spoken with Bishop Carmelo about the Work, he met with Father Eliodoro Gi
l, the priest who mimeographed the copies of the monthly newsletter. Father Gil
was to join him on the pilgrimage, and so was Ricardo. He arrived in Leon on Jul
y 16, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Bishop Ballester's patron saint).
On July 18, after Father Josemara said Mass for the Teresians, the three of them
went to the station, and found that their train had just left. Father Eliodoro c
alled a parishioner of his who was a taxi cab driver, and he took them to Veguel
lina de Orbigo (some twenty miles from Leon), where they caught the train to Gal
icia. The incident would forever remain fresh in Father Eliodoro's memory becaus
e of a meditation Father Josemara gave on the way from Leon to Veguellina. As the
y were riding through the verdant valley of Orbigo, enjoying the view of rich fi
elds of alfalfa, beets, and hops, they passed by a waterwheel. A donkey, with ey
es covered, was walking in a circle, drawing water to feed the irrigation canal.
Father Josemara spoke of the monotonous, persevering, and ostensibly fruitless w
ork that is indispensable to a fruitful garden. Consider, he said, the importanc
e of that humble obedience of "treading the right path, wearing blinders, but en
lightened by the inner light of faith, knowing ourselves instruments in God's ha
nds."[199]
In Santiago de Compostela they stayed at the inn of La Perla. On Tuesday, July 1
9, with Ricardo serving, Father Josemara celebrated Mass in the crypt where the r
emains of Saint James are venerated. "How much I prayed for our family, and for
the grandmother, and for Aunt Carmen and Uncle Santi!" he wrote Isidoro.[200]
After the journal entry of June 6 that speaks of the wound in our Lord's right h
and, there is an unusual gap of almost two months, ending with an entry that beg
ins: "Tuesday, August 2: I think I should note down the lesson the Lord gave us
yesterday about charity."[201]
The incident, which is recorded at length (though not in its entirety), was cert
ainly a tragic one. It troubled Pedro Casciaro to the point of traumatizing him,
as he himself says.
When Father Josemara got back from Santiago de Compostela, on the afternoon of Ju
ly 20, Pedro told him that a policeman had shown up at the hotel, asking that th
e Father report to the office of Commander Primitivo Vicente Gallo. He went the
next day. The Commander wanted information about Pedro Casciaro and his father.
"I told them everything they wanted to know about Pedro," he says, "and all that
I knew about the good activities of his father, though in Albacete he was one o
f the leaders of the republican left."[202]
Very serious allegations against Pedro and his father had reached the ears of Co
mmander Gallo. Supposedly the father was a Mason and communist who was responsib
le for, if not an agent of, the deaths of many people in Albacete, and the son,
also an active communist, had crossed over to the nationalist zone in order to s
py in the headquarters of General Orgaz.[203]
This was the third time these serious allegations had been made. Military justic
e was swift; the situation had to be cleared up as soon as possible. But it woul
d not be easy, since no one in the Work had been in Albacete at the time of the
events in question, and since, truth to tell, there did seem to be an element of
truth in the accusations, since Mr. Casciaro was still in political office.
The accusers were a Mr. Jorge Bermudez and his wife, Teresa. Commander Gallo adv
ised Father Josemara to go visit them [204]
The couple belonged to Albacete's middle class, which consisted mainly of landow
ners, manufacturers, and government officials. Before the Republic was proclaime
d, Mr. Bermudez, a rightist, worked in the city's treasury department. Living ac
ross the street from him was Mr. Casciaro, a high-school teacher who was a leftwing activist. But despite their political differences, there was no personal an
imosity between them. Mr. and Mrs. Bermudez had a good social position and were

well-to-do.
Around 1934, however, a reversal of fortune forced them to liquidate their goods
by public auction and move to another city. In 1936 they settled in Burgos, and
by the time of these accusations, Mr. Bermudez had a position of prestige and i
nfluence in this city's treasury department: he was administrator of properties
and land taxes.
Some days before the policeman showed up at the hotel, Pedro and Mrs. Bermudez h
ad run into each other on the street. It was not a pleasant surprise for either
of them. They had not seen one another since the auction, at which Pedro had bou
ght a chandelier, a suit of armor, and some swords from the Philippines, after h
aggling with Mrs. Bermudez.[205]
On Monday, August 1, at ten in the morning, Father Josemara and Jose Maria Albare
da went to see Mr. Bermudez in his office, while Miguel Fisac (who was on leave
in Burgos) went with Pedro to speak with Mrs. Bermudez in her home. On the way t
o the office, Father Josemara prayed "to the guardian angel of the man we were ab
out to visit, and to Jose Maria's, and to the Little Watchmaker [his own guardia
n angel], so that the meeting would go well."[206]
Bermudez did admit him and Jose Maria to his office, but was right away so irate
that the priest had to remind him that they "had come there to discuss that tro
ublesome matter in a gentlemanly and Christian way." Father Josemara then began t
he discussion by asking how Mrs. Bermudez could truthfully claim to have seen Pe
dro doing propaganda work for the Popular Front in Albacete during the 1936 elec
tions, when Pedro was in Madrid, at the Ferraz Street residence, at that time. "
I can't believe," said the Father, "that the Lord would grant him bilocation to
work against the Lord's cause."
At that moment there may have flashed in the official's mind the image of two ch
ildren, his son Rafael and little Pedro, walking home together, in around 1929,
after their "Spanish Explorers" expeditions, because he said, "It's true that li
ttle Pedro was a good boy." But then he added, "However, he is now a man, and it
could be that he has come to be a traitor like his father-who is a red!"
Father Josemara replied, "I've dealt with little Pedro day after day since he bec
ame a man, and I can answer for him. With all due respect to your wife, what she
said about him is false."
But Bermudez did not want to know the truth. He just kept persisting, reiteratin
g his accusations against Pedro's father, exclaiming, "They should be shot, not
put in prison, when Albacete is ours!"
To this the Father gently replied that he would put his hands in a fire for Pedr
o.
"Then you are going to get burned," retorted Bermudez.
But how could Bermudez presume to tell him, a priest who knew Pedro through and
through, that this young man was not a good Christian and a good Spaniard?
"If he is, let us give thanks to God and I am happy," was the sarcastic answer.
"But you would leave only three Spaniards out of every hundred!" the priest prot
ested.
Bermudez was not ruffled. "That is what needs to happen," he said. "Otherwise we
won't have accomplished anything."
Father Josemara countered that appalling attitude with a reminder of the reckonin
g that every human being will have to give on the day of judgment-an occasion th
at might not be so far off. What if for Bermudez it were that very day? What wou
ld he say to our Lord?
But even with that he could not soften the man's heart. "Both father and son hav
e to pay," he insisted.
"That isn't Christian. You would have sent Saint Augustine to hell."
"They have to pay," Bermudez repeated.
In his journal the Father notes, "The meeting took place within the bounds of po
liteness. We shook hands when we left."[207]
The Father left silent and saddened, deeply disconcerted by the hard and sarcast
ic tone Bermudez had kept right to the very end. As Pedro relates it, "He went d
own the stairs of the building very recollected, almost with his eyes closed, an
d said, as if thinking out loud, 'Tomorrow or the next day, a funeral."[208]Then

he went to see Commander Gallo to tell him what had happened.

Meanwhile, the conversation that Pedro and Miguel were having with Mrs. Bermudez
could not have been more acrimonious. She had two sons in the military, one on
the front and the other a pilot. Was it right, she asked Pedro, that they were r
isking their lives while he was living comfortably behind the lines, spying for
the reds? Miguel came to Pedro's defense. The conversation grew very heated, ins
ults flying back and forth, and she swore that not one letter of the accusation
made by her husband would be dropped. Pedro returned to his office crestfallen.
In the Father's journal we read, "The boys' meeting with the wife was terrible.
She actually told Pedro that she would do all the harm she could to his father."
[209]
In silence, the Father and Miguel had lunch and then returned to the hotel room.
The priest stayed deep in thought, with one idea stuck in his mind. "In the aft
ernoon," he wrote in his journal the next day, "the thought kept coming to me th
at that family was going to suffer a blow. I thought of the son they had at the
front." Sitting in one of the wicker chairs on the sun porch and praying, he sud
denly said to Miguel, "Tomorrow or the next day, that lady will have a funeral.
We will have to express our condolences."[210]The entry continues:

In the middle of the afternoon, Miguel and I went out for a walk. At a corner, a
s is customary in Burgos, there was posted a death notice. It was for the man th
at Jose Maria and I had gone to see in the morning. I exclaimed, "I thought it w
as the son!"
Miguel blanched, and said, "At the time of this man's death, you were talking ab
out it."
We said a Rosary for him and today I offered my Mass for the repose of his soul.
I don't want to judge him. I feel sure that the undeniable facts of this case a
re only a lesson in charity for us.
I have never seen myself so wretched as these past few days.[211]

Late in the evening of August 1, Pedro returned from military headquarters. Tryi
ng not to give him too big a shock, the Father told him about the visit he had h
ad with Mr. Bermudez that morning, and about the man's sudden death early that a
fternoon. Pedro almost passed out. He had to go lie down in the alcove, on the F
ather's bed. The Father gently spoke to him, trying to calm him down about the d
eath of Mr. Bermudez. "He was morally certain," says Pedro, "that God had had me
rcy on his soul and had granted him final repentance. And he added that from the
moment he had left his office, he had not ceased praying for him and his childr
en."[212]
When Pedro seemed somewhat recovered, Father Josemara suggested that he return to
the camp and ask Captain Martos for a leave of three or four days, because of e
xhaustion; he could spend that time in Bilbao with his uncle. On his way to the
camp, Pedro saw on the door of the Church of Our Lady of Ransom the death notice
for Don Jorge Bermudez.
Evidently Captain Martos had already heard what had happened and was a bit super
stitious. He was quick to grant the leave. "Of course, Casciaro, you go and rest
," he said. "You know I've always had a high regard for you. You don't have anyt
hing against me, do you?"
"I left for Bilbao that same night," wrote Pedro Casciaro in 1979. "During those
days in Bilbao I did calm down, although that incident had been engraved in my
mind for the rest of my life."[213]
The state that the Father went into when leaving Mr. Bermtidez's office-of being
so engrossed in thought and prayer that he seemed half asleep-was not something
new. On several occasions he had experienced this "waking dream which sometimes
lets me know future or faraway events."[214]
Extraordinary supernatural manifestations of intimacy with our Lord-illumination
s, interior locutions, the gift of tears, discernment of spirits, perceptible as
sistance from our Lady and the guardian angels-were regular occurrences with him
. So much so that, while everyone else involved was deeply upset by Mr. Bermudez
's death, he saw this incident as simply "a lesson in charity, the lesson that G

od comes to the defense of his own."[215]While refraining from judging anyone, h

e said in a letter written the next week: "God knows a lot and always acts lovin
gly."[216]
On August 17, after returning from Bilbao, Pedro Casciaro ran into one of Mr. Be
rmudez's sons, a provisional lieutenant in the infantry. They spoke of his fathe
r's death. "He told me that it had happened in his office," Pedro wrote the Fath
er, "with no warning, while he was talking to a colleague. It seems to have been
a heart attack. I gave him my condolences."[217]
A few weeks after Mr. Bermudez's death, his other son-Rafael, the pilot-was kill
ed. When Father Josemara learned of this, he commented sadly, "To a certain exten
t it was to be expected. Pray for him. I will do the same."
"A few days later," says Pedro, "I saw Don Jorge's widow in the Jesuit church. W
hen I realized that it was she, I tried to leave as unobtrusively as possible. B
ut she saw me, and I think she even looked at me with tenderness."[218]

6. With pen in hand

On August 2, the day he wrote that long journal entry about the "lesson in chari
ty," Father Josemara left for Vitoria to settle certain questions about his docto
ral dissertation and about his position as rector of Santa Isabel. He stayed wit
h the bishop, who asked him to give two retreats, one for the diocesan clergy an
d the other for the community of sisters who staffed his residence. First, howev
er, he was to spend a few days with the bishop of Avila.
From there he wrote to his sons in Burgos on August 8, recounting some events fr
om the trip and expressing admiration for the bishop. "This morning," he says, "
I celebrated Mass after the bishop finished his. Every instant I am discovering
more points of perfection in the life of this good bishop. May our Lord help me
learn from his example, so imbued with simplicity and naturalness."[219]Bishop M
oro very gladly agreed to let him leave there, for safekeeping, the books and ot
her objects that they had been assembling for the future oratory: tabernacle, sa
cred vessels, candlesticks, vestments. In a tranquillity such as he had seldom e
njoyed, Father Josemara spent the next few days preparing the retreats he was to
give in Vitoria. He wrote to those in Burgos:

How good, how very holy, the bishop is! This place is a school of all the virtue
s, with a foundation of humility that fills them with fortitude. It is consoling
to see how dearly he loves us. I feel quite at home here, except for missing al
l of you. But if only you knew how much I am with you, each one of you, day and
night! This is my mission: to help you be happy hereafter, with God, and now, on
earth, giving him glory.[220]

He also wrote to Jose Ramn Herrero Fontana, who was then ill, and to Ricardo Fern
andez Vallespin, who had just heard, several weeks late, of the deaths of his si
ster and his grandmother, and whose father had also died recently. To Ricardo he
wrote:

How can I speak of sharing your sorrow, when all your sorrows are my sorrows?
We heard about the death of your father (may he rest in peace) almost right afte
r you were wounded. Who was going to tell you anything then? I limited myself to
saying all the prayers I could for him and to writing (twice) to make sure your
family was taken care of financially. Nothing more could be done.
I didn't know about the other deaths. I will also offer suffrages....
How sorry I am that I can't be there to give you an abrazo! In desire I put myse
lf by your side, to say with you to the Lord, Fiat.
Poor Josemara would like to say, without tears, that he is now more than ever you
r Father, if this is possible.
A big hug and my blessing,

Mariano.[221]

In the republican zone, meanwhile, Alvaro and two others were preparing to leave
Madrid. They were constantly in his thoughts and prayers. "Where do you suppose
they are right now, those sons of mine trying to cross the front? Are they stil
l in Madrid? Dominus sit in itinere eorum! [The Lord be with them on their journ
ey!]"[222]
He spent three days, at the Sabadell Hotel, and then left on August 17 for Vitor
ia. A journal entry dated August 20, during the retreat he was giving at the bis
hop's residence for the community of Third Order Capuchin nuns, said:

I see myself as so wretched that often I stick my head in the oratory to say to
Jesus, "Don't trust me. I, yes, do trust you, Jesus. I abandon myself in your ar
ms, and leave there what is mine-my wretchedness!" Were I not to do this, I thin
k I would go crazy with so many things churning inside me. I abandon myself to J
esus Christ, with all my wretchedness. And whatever he wants, at each moment, fi
at. Monstra to esse matrem. [Show that you are a mother.] I think the little nun
s are making their retreat very well.[223]

There was a lot of work for the nuns to do in the bishop's residence, because of
the large number of refugee priests from the republican zone living there. Howe
ver, they organized things so as not to miss any of Father Josemara's conferences
. "We could hardly wait for his meditations," says Sister Ascension. "They made
us want to fall deeper and deeper in love with Jesus Christ. I have never been o
n a retreat like that one. I will never forget it as long as I live, and it has
always helped me. I don't remember the specific topics of the conferences, but I
've always remembered that I have no choice but to be a saint."[224]
Father Josemara's palpable faith in the Real Presence made a deep impression. Sis
ter Juana recalls how moved they all were by the way he "turned toward the taber
nacle and spoke with our Lord as if he was seeing him. 'Jesus,' he would say, 'I
am crazy with love. Make these also go crazy with love for you.?[225]
His virtues were quite visible to them. Sister Elvira and Sister Juana were assi
gned to clean his room. In the morning they would find his bed unmade, but they
could tell that he had slept on the floor. Sister Elvira recalls that his breakf
ast was a little coffee with milk.
The nuns were amazed to see how often his cassock had been mended. "He lived in
the most absolute poverty," says Sister Maria Loyola. "He had only one cassock,
which at one point he gave us to repair. It was almost in rags. We tried to mend
it as well as we could, and as quickly, because he was in his room, waiting for
us to finish. His underwear was so torn that there was no way to put the needle
in a part of the cloth that wasn't on the point of tearing. Sister Juana decide
d to buy him two new sets."[226]
He did have a new hat. Pedro and Paco had forced him to buy one, since the one g
iven him by Bishop Olaechea had been ruined by sun and rain. One day, when Fathe
r Josemara was out, they cut the hat up with scissors and sent a piece with each
of the newsletters they were sending to the fronts. Everyone appreciated receivi
ng these reminders of him, and, after reprimanding Pedro and Paco, he did go out
and buy a new hat.
Operation Cassock, however, was a total failure. Though not very old, the cassoc
k had had a lot of wear and was made of a cheap material. One time when he retir
ed to the alcove, leaving his cassock in the main room, Pedro and Paco ripped it
down the back-an easy thing to do, since the cloth was so worn. And immediately
they left for the barracks, hoping that he would have to buy another cassock. B
ut when they got back, they found him carefully sewing it up. He said nothing to
them.
It was the hottest part of the summer. People passing him on the street wondered
why he was wearing a coat over his cassock.[227]

* * *

Father Josemara returned from Vitoria to Burgos on August 26. Two days later, acc
ompanied by Pedro, Paco, and Jose Maria, he set out for Logrono, mainly to visit
Jose Ramn, who was still recuperating. As he walked through the city, memories o
f his adolescence came rushing back, some happy, others painful: his family's fi
nancial ruin and departure from Barbastro, his years in high school, the prints
left in the snow by a barefoot Carmelite.... He had, by the way, shortly after h
is arrival in Burgos, run into that Carmelite, Father Jose Miguel. He was now li
ving in the Carmelite monastery there.[228]
On September 3 Father Josemara left for Vitoria, and from there he went to Vergar
a, to give a retreat for the priests of the diocese. He prepared it very careful
ly and asked many people to offer prayers and mortifications for its success. It
s theme was "Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest." There is a brief journal entry
about it: "Vergara, September 7, 1938: I am happy about the retreat. There are f
ifty-five priests, and they listen very attentively and seem quite recollected.
Our Lady is helping me."[229]
Actually, not all of those attending were priests. A few were preparing for ordi
nation. Guillermo Marann was one of these. "His love for Christ the Priest shone
through all of his words," he recalls. "One saw a man of deep, ardent interior l
ife, who wished to infuse in us what was already his own life and path. His word
s, clear, ordered, and refined, made his deep faith visible; they were 'burning
darts.?[230]
On September 7 Father Josemara wrote to his sons in Saragossa:

It's a fervent group. I clearly sense my mother holy Mary moving me to move them
. What a mother our Lady is! Say something to her on my behalf at Our Lady of th
e Pillar. Kiss her for me. Sometimes love for our Lady is the only noble thing l
eft in the lives of troubled souls. How good she is![231]

The consistency between Father Josemara's inner life and his outward behavior was
readily observable. His contemplative life so clearly came through in his words
, gestures, and attitudes that even his handwriting testified to a character tha
t was all of one piece.
His natural gift with words was evident in his writing, which came easy to him.
From early on, as we have seen, he found letter writing to be an essential eleme
nt of his apostolate. With pen in hand, he had a great facility of style that ma
de his thoughts and feelings flow onto the paper. But the pen in hand could not
be just any pen.
When the revolution broke out, his old pen got left behind at the Ferraz Street
residence. At the consulate, and now for his correspondence of 1938, he had to u
se different kinds, which for him was a real problem. In more than a dozen lette
rs, he refers to the frustration he feels at having to use a strange pen unsuite
d to his writing style or his personality. Sometimes he jokes about it. "I'm wri
ting," he tells Paco Botella, "with Jose Maria's little pen, which makes me nerv
ous with its delicate strokes." If the ink did not flow abundantly enough to pro
duce nice, thick strokes, he would pronounce the pen "a disaster." But if the in
k flowed too abundantly, producing blotches, then the pen was "suffering from in
continence."[232]Typically, however, when he got a good pen, he would give it to
one of his sons who lacked one.
His handwriting is strong and distinctive, such that it is surprising to find in
some of his letters uneven lines and weak strokes. In a letter written while he
was waiting for a safe-conduct pass, he explains: "I am writing with a broken p
en, which is worse than the wait."[233]Soon after his pilgrimage to Santiago de
Compostela, having lost there a pen that suited him, he writes to his sons in Bu
rgos: "I am starting this letter with a little fine-tipped pen, very fine.... Pa
tience! I should have been born in the age of quill pens, so that I could trim t
hem to the style I need."[234]In Vergara, during the retreat for priests, he had
to borrow a pen to write a letter, and is embarrassed by the sight of his writi
ng. "What a dainty handwriting, eh? The abbess lent me one of her thin little pe
ns, and that-the pen, not the abbess-is what's to blame."[235]And in a letter wr

itten in Burgos to Juan Jimenez Vargas, he refuses to take responsibility, sayin

g, "The handwriting isn't mine; it's the pen's."[236]
He did occasionally type letters. The first time was in Burgos, on February 7, 1
938, shortly after the Corona typewriter was purchased for doing the monthly new
sletters. But the anonymity and coldness of typed print struck him as out of kee
ping with the confidentiality and closeness there should be in spiritual directi
on[237]His energetic spirit seemed to pour through his hands when he was writing
, but typing never became easy for him.[238]He typed laboriously, with two finge
rs, making frequent mistakes that he erased with a rubber eraser or scraped off
with a razor blade. He "invariably tore the paper," says Pedro Casciaro, and som
etimes cut himself with the blade. When writing with a pencil, "he pressed down
so hard that he broke the point."[239]
His vigorous handwriting required a sturdy pen that could produce large, thick l
etters. His sons joked that he wrote with big letters on purpose to fill the pag
e quickly.[240] Actually, though, he could hardly help it. One day, toward the e
nd of March, he was writing to Ricardo on a number of important matters, and in
order to save paper, he forced himself to fill a whole sheet of paper with very
small writing. Then he turned it over and kept this up-until finally he gave ven
t to his frustration. "What nice tiny letters!" he says. "I'm exhausted by the e
ffort." Then his distinctive large handwriting erupts across the page, as if he
has thrown off a heavy weight. He says:

Well! No unnatural thing can last. Mariano, back to your big letters! I need a p
en that's just right for me, like the one the reds stole from me in Madrid. Some
thing shaped like this [here he drew a picture of a thick pen] and not like the
one I am forced to use, which is the fine-tipped kind that a sweet little nun wo
uld use. If you happen to come across one that's as big as a warrior's lance and
as broad as my ambitions-which are also very deep-please buy it for me.[241]

Those broad and deep ambitions were, of course, apostolic ones. He was confident
ly looking to the day when the quest for "the glory of God will disperse us to M
adrid, Berlin, Oxford, Paris, Rome, Oslo, Tokyo, Zurich, Buenos Aires, Chicago..
.."[242]
But how did those boundless ambitions, those dreams of grandeur in the making, f
it in with a spirit of humility? On the retreat he had made in Pamplona a few mo
nths before, he had taken an objective look at himself and found what he conside
red faults of omission in his governance of the Work, times when he had lacked s
trength because of false notions about where charity lay, and a need to exercise
fortitude. Firmness of spirit, he had come to see, is a first cousin of genuine
humility. "Humility, humility, how much you cost!" he had written. "It is false
humility that leads one to relinquish the rights connected with one's position.
It is not pride but fortitude to make one's authority felt when what one is dem
anding is the fulfillment of the holy will of God."[243]
Another loose end he wanted to tie up was the problem of how to coordinate his "
excessive" affection with the demands of his authority. When, for instance, some
one wanted to back out of a vocational commitment to the Work, he usually would
refrain from getting into a lengthy discussion about it, for reasons of tact and
charity. One day in 1938,however, when one of his sons did back out, Father Jos
emara armed himself with fortitude and established a procedure that he would foll
ow thereafter in all such cases: that of speaking in depth with the person in qu
estion about the stumbling blocks that had brought the person to this point, and
doing so very candidly, without pulling any punches. As he relates it in a lett
er to Juan, "I got to the bottom of the truth-a system I plan always to follow.
Previously I didn't do this, because of some human consideration (good manners,
politeness) or a supernatural one (charity), and maybe a little fear of prolongi
ng a bad time. But now I am convinced that true courtesy and true charity demand
getting to the heart of the matter, no matter how difficult this is."[244]
However, he never needed to fear that he might sin by excessive severity. The Lo
rd had given him a heart that could not help melting with affection. Witness thi
s letter to his sons in Saragossa:


Vitoria, September 4, 1938

May Jesus watch over you!

Who can fathom the human heart? Can you believe that till the very last minute,
I kept looking to see if you would come before the train left? Now I feel a litt
le remorseful for not having been more generous with my Lord Jesus, because I to
ld you not to come to say good-bye to me. That, while being bad, was also good-f
or making me afterwards keep longing to see you and talk with you a few minutes
and give you all a hug....
I'm anxious, and yet at peace, about the ones in Madrid, every one of them. This
poor priest never realized how easily the crazy bird caged in his breast could
find room-so much room!-for heavenly and earthly loves. Heart! One time back whe
n I was eighteen (don't tell anyone) I composed a few verses-really poor ones, I
must say-that I signed, putting into my signature everything in me, thus: "The
Priestly Heart." It's no wonder Dr. Vargas can seriously say that I have some un
known "itis" in my chest.

Your Father blesses and embraces you ex toto corde. Mariano[245]

7. Autumn 1938

On September 14 Father Josemara made one of his very few journal entries for that
summer:

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14, 1938: I asked our Lord,
with all the force of my soul, to grant me the grace to exalt the holy cross in
all my faculties and senses. A new life! A seal confirming the authenticity of
my mission. Josemara, onto the cross! We shall see, we shall see. Regnare Christu
m volumus [We want Christ to reign].[246]

The tenth anniversary of the founding of the Work was approaching, and he wanted
to prepare well by making a private retreat. He wrote Isidoro that he planned t
o "rest in the country for eight or ten days with no other company than Manolito
[our Lord]."[247]
On the afternoon of September 25 he took the bus from Burgos to the Benedictine
monastery of Silos. He arrived at seven, and at eight had dinner in the refector
y. Later that night, he wrote to his sons in Burgos.

At 8:45 I retired to my cell. At 10:15 the gas was shut off. It is now 11:15. Th
e time has been spent praying and writing these pages. It's cold here. I'll do a
bit of exercise and say my childhood prayers and the Preces. Then I'll make my
examination of conscience, say the three Hail Marys for purity, pray the Miserer
e [Psalm 51], and go to sleep-in the bed.
Juan! How you would laugh if you could see me trying todo calisthenics![248]

It was a night of fitful sleep, marked by nightmares and interrupted by the hour
ly chiming of the clock. Mind racing, he prayed for each of his loved ones. "A t
housand times today I've thought about each and every one of my children, especi
ally those in the Red zone. Also the Grandmother and my brother and sister, and
everyone's parents and brothers and sisters."[249]

Three days later, in a journal entry, he summed up his state of soul:

Monastery of Saint Dominic of Silos, Vigil of the Feast of Saint Michael the Arc
hangel, September 28, 1938: I have been on retreat for three days now-without do
ing anything. Horribly tempted. I see myself as not only unable to carry the Wor
k forward, but even to be saved (my poor soul!) without a miracle of grace. I am
cold and, what is worse, almost indifferent, as though I were an outsider looki

ng at "a case" (mine) which had nothing to do with him. I can't pray. Will these
days be sterile? And yet my Mother is my Mother, and Jesus is-dare I say it?-my
Jesus! And there are plenty of holy souls who, right now, are praying for this
sinner. I don't understand it! When will the illness come that will purify me?[2
50]

God continued to purify his faculties and senses with temptations and dryness, l
etting him experience the dark night of the soul. Unable even to invoke his guar
dian angel ("the Little Watchmaker"), he found his feelings deadened and his tho
ughts far from God, "even during Mass!" He saw clearly that his path lay in doin
g "the most childlike little things," even when it seemed to him that he was jus
t putting on an act, and that it was his duty "to persevere in those heroic tiny
details (it not mattering if the feelings are numb toward the good) for months
and even years, with my will cold, but determined to do this for Love."[251]
On October 2 he was back in Burgos. The Work was ten years old, and this is what
he wrote to Isidoro about that day:

A bad day, for me, the 2nd was, because I found myself drowning in a sea of memo
ries of persons and things dear to me. How sentimental I am! My poor heart! For
a year now I've been separated from my loved ones by the demands of the business
that is their whole life and future. If I let myself be carried away in a momen
t of weakness, I would set out and return to my home overseas. But I can imagine
what a little scene that would be![252]

The war dragged on. In his correspondence Father Josemara often complains that th
e young men on the fronts are not writing to him, not answering his letters. But
the fighting was now in its bloodiest stage. At the end of July, a powerful rep
ublican offensive along the lower Ebro broke through the nationalist front. This
provoked a counter-offensive, followed by a battle of attrition involving air a
nd artillery bombardment. Lasting until November, the bitter confrontation produ
ced more than 125,000 casualties. Amid the attacks and counter-attacks, Juan's b
attalion was cut off, and although eventually they broke out of the encirclement
, they lost all of their supplies. When he returned from Silos, Father Josemara s
ent Juan some new clothing.
He was still eager to go to the front to visit his sons and many others to whom
he had given spiritual direction. Bishop Eijo y Garay had not yet answered his l
etter of August 7 asking what he thought of the idea of his taking the position
of a military juridical consultant to make it easier to do pastoral work at the
front lines. So he felt he should tell the vicar general, Monsignor Casimiro Mor
cillo, that he was being pressured by the National Service of Ecclesiastical Aff
airs for an answer as to whether or not he was going to accept that appointment.
[253] His letter to Monsignor Morcillo and the bishop's letter to him crossed in
the mail. The bishop wrote:

I have thought a lot about your proposal, and after much reflection, I see no wa
y of getting around the prohibition of canon 141, paragraph 1, which bars cleric
s from voluntary entry into the army. The military judiciary is still part of th
e army and must act as such in cases of war or civil disturbance. Thus for you t
o enter the military judiciary would be equivalent to voluntary incorporation in
to the army ....[254]

Father Josemara thanked him by return mail, assuring him that his letter had give
n him "a lot of serenity and joy." If possible, he added, "I now feel myself eve
n more a son of my bishop than before."[255]
But his main concern at this time was elsewhere. During the retreat in Silos, an
d then on the tenth anniversary of the Work and the days that followed, he kept
thinking of Madrid. On October 5 he wrote to Ricardo, "We haven't heard anything
from Madrid lately.... Madrid! That's another temptation. Can you believe that
I would love to go back there, and take up that hard life, amid our loved ones?"
[256]

Those who had stayed behind in Madrid in hopes of finding a diplomatic route out
of the republican zone-Alvaro del Portillo, Jose Maria Barredo, Vicente Rodrigu
ez Casado, and Eduardo Alastrue saw their hopes fading as the months passed. Don
Pedro, the consul, seemed to have lost interest in pressing for their evacuatio
n.[257] One day in June, Manolo Makin, a cousin of Vicente's, left the Honduran
consulate, intending to cross the front to the nationalist side. Isidoro then ga
ve up on diplomatic evacuation and prisoner exchange, and (in his capacity as th
e person temporarily in charge of Opus Dei in Madrid) told the members of the Wo
rk that they could do as Manolo had done.[258]
"With the help of Don Manuel," he wrote to Alvaro, "I have thought very carefull
y about your proposals,.. . and it seems to me that you will be able to carry th
em out, and that Don Manuel and Doa Maria will assist you in realizing your desir
es, which are ours too."[259]He then informed the Father of this decision, writi
ng that they hoped to follow "the example of Mr. Richard." (Ricardo had earlier
crossed into the nationalist zone by way of the front.)
They set about obtaining false identity cards. After the Aragon campaign, the Re
publican army, needing to rebuild, mobilized the classes of 1927, 1928, and 1941
-that is, men over and under the ages of those already drafted. Presenting thems
elves at the recruiting office, Alvaro, Eduardo, and Jose Maria explained their
lateness in reporting by claiming liver problems, defective vision, and even epi
leptic attacks. The biggest problem was age. Eduardo declared himself a member o
f the class of 1928-six years older than his real age.
Isidoro had given them copious advice in preparation for questioning. Alvaro's o
nly documentation was the CNT membership card of his brother Jose. At the recrui
ting office he said he was 18 (he was actually 24), which would put him in the 1
941 "baby-bottle draft," as it was called. The recruiting officer assigned him t
o a disciplinary battalion; but when they checked his name in the register, they
found the name of one of his brothers, Angel, listed for the recruit year he wa
s claiming to belong to. Caught by surprise, the recruiter asked him when his bi
rthday was. "March 11," he said truthfully.
"Well, here it says February 14," the official replied.
"That's my brother. Notice that it says Angel and not Jose, which is my name."
"But if you're brothers...." The recruiter was having trouble imagining two brot
hers born the same year, but in February and March.
"We're twins."
The official began filling out a new form. "Date of birth?"
"February 14," said Alvaro.
"That's not what you said before."
"Don't be silly. I don't know what I said before, but I know for sure that if we
're twins, I was born the same day as my brother."
"The officer was a bit disconcerted," Alvaro later recorded, "but he didn't give
me any more trouble. I also claimed bad vision and a liver problem."[260]
On August 24, the feast of Saint Bartholomew, Vicente and Alvaro left Madrid in
army trucks. "Along the way," writes Alvaro, "people tried to guess our destinat
ion. Levante? Extremadura? Guadalajara? We hardly take part in the conversation.
We really don't care, because we know that wherever they take us, that will be
the best point on the front for us to cross over from. After all, our commanderin-chief is Don Manuel."[261]
Alvaro and Vicente spent most of September in training in Fontanar, a small vill
age in Guadalajara. One day, toward the end of the month, another of those provi
dential "coincidences" occurred. Some soldiers arrived to fill up the ranks of t
he battalion, and among them was Eduardo. The front was hundreds of miles long,
and yet the three of them ended up in the same tiny village.
Then came October 2. Alvaro got a pass to spend a few hours in Madrid. He, Isido
ro, and Santiago, after a long wait in line at one of the barracks on Atocha Bou
levard, sat on the sidewalk to eat their meager rations: a bit of rice, a sardin
e, and a small piece of bread. When Alvaro told the others that in a few days he
, Vicente, and Eduardo would be leaving the training camp for the front, he was
the one to get a surprise. "Yes," answered Isidoro, "I've already written the Fa
ther to say that you will be in Burgos around the feast of Our Lady of the Pilla

r."[262]Alvaro returned to Fontanar in the middle of the afternoon, carrying in

his wallet the consecrated hosts Isidoro had given him. The three of them would
keep them by turns. Finally, on October 9, at daybreak, they moved up to the fro
nt, and arrived there twenty-four hours later. Between the republican and nation
alist lines lay a mountainous no-man's-land that would take about eight hours to
cross. After studying the layout, they decided to cross over on the next day, O
ctober 11.
The Father, meanwhile, on October 10, offered his Mass in Burgos for them, but w
ith some anxiety, because he had not received a letter from the republican zone
since September 5. More worried still were Alvaro's and Vicente's families, and
especially their mothers, who for two months had been waiting for them to reach
the nationalist zone. The Father calmed them down by reassuring them and giving
them work: in their spare time, Doa Clementina and Doa Amparo made linens for the
future oratory in Madrid.[263]
Father Josemara had told Doa Clementina that Alvaro would be crossing over in abou
t the middle of October. With Pedro and Paco and with Jose Maria Albareda he was
more specific about the date. "Pray," he said, "that they arrive on the 12th, t
he feast of Our Lady of the Pillar."[264]They took this with equanimity, being a
ccustomed to this supernatural optimism of his.
On October 10 he wrote to Ricardo, "I sense something happening soon. May we cor
respond to God's mercies. I am overwhelmed when I think of him and then of mysel
f. What little correspondence, up to now!"[265]
On October 11 he wrote to Juan, "I'm expecting events of personal significance t
o occur any moment now. And I'm getting ready for a real celebration."[266]
On the morning of October 12, when Pedro and Paco left for their offices at mili
tary headquarters, they noticed that the Father looked very happy. "I'll let you
know when they arrive," he said. When they got back that evening and found him
alone, they feared that his spirits might have taken a dive. But no, he was calm
, cheerful, and confident.[267]
Probably it was on the next day that he got the good news, from Vicente's father
, because all day long he was in a festive and joking mood. "Stay on the alert,"
he playfully said to Pedro and Paco, "because I'll be calling you at headquarte
rs when they arrive." And a letter to Juan, bearing this date, ends with "PS. I
think our Lady's day was eventful."[268]
Late in the afternoon of October 14, the three finally arrived at the Sabadell H
otel. Immediately the Father called military headquarters, saying, "They've arri
ved; come back."
Their escape had begun in heavy rain, early in the morning of October 11. After
a day of climbing up and down mountains and a night in a cave, they resumed thei
r trek at dawn. Nearing a village from which the sound of church bells was comin
g, they learned from shepherds that this was Cantalojas and it was in the hands
of the nationalists. Only later did they find out that the troops in the village
, upon seeing them emerge from a pine forest, had taken them for the vanguard of
a republican attack. After explaining themselves, they attended Mass, made a fo
rmal declaration, and contacted Vicente's father, an army colonel. He met them t
he following morning in Jadraque and vouched for them, thus they were able to av
oid waiting in a detention camp while an official inquiry was conducted.
En route to Burgos on the 14th, Vicente's mother and sister, who accompanied the
m, exclaimed, "Look how our Lady has protected you! She must have saved you for
something great."[269]Doa Dolores had used the same words in telling her son that
he had been offered to our Lady when he was close to dying in 1904. "My son," s
he had said, "our Lady has left you in this world for something great."
Father Eliodoro ran into difficulties when he tried to mimeograph the October is
sue of the newsletter, so Father Josemara, Pedro, and Paco sent out carbon copies
of a typewritten summary. Thus news about Alvaro and the others did not appear
in Noticias until November. "Alvaro del Portillo, Eduardo Alastrue, and Vicente
Rodriguez Casado have succeeded in coming from the Red zone to our lines. With t
heir only recommendations those of their guardian angels, they enlisted in the C
ommunist army and, at the first opportunity, crossed over."[270]
Wanting to spend this time with his sons, Father Josemara did everything he could

to avoid leaving Burgos during those last two weeks in October. Many afternoons
he took walks with them along the banks of the Arlanzon River, discussing the n
ext apostolic projects. Only at the end of the month did he go to see the archbi
shop of Valladolid; and except for two short trips, he stayed in Burgos through
November as well.
The Battle of the Ebro, the biggest battle of the war, occupied all available fo
rces on both sides. It was almost impossible to get permits for a few days behin
d the lines, and Father Josemara had very few visits from the young soldiers. In
the mornings, he worked at Las Huelgas on his doctoral dissertation, answered le
tters, and added new points to his Spiritual Considerations, which had first bee
n published at Cuenca in 1934.

8. The end insight

The long-awaited end of the war still did not come. Father Josemara was vexed at
being unable to visit his sons at the front and their being unable to get furlou
ghs to come to Burgos. He wrote to Ricardo:

There's a lot of talk that the war is about to end any minute now. But if it con
tinues, I'm in favor of setting up a house. Here or in the Congo-let's get a hou
se! As things are, we're spending a huge amount of money, and the apostolate can
't be done properly. I really think location is unimportant. If not Burgos, then
Belchite. This living in hotels for a year is just too much.
Today I begin a novena of prayer and sacrifice (small sacrifices) to obtain from
the Lord immediate light and means, because there needs to be an end to this in
terim arrangement that makes so many efforts fruitless and is so expensive. Help
me.[271]

A sense of having lost the war was said to be spreading in the republican zone,
but that was little consolation to Father Josemara when he thought of how the peo
ple in Madrid, including his family, had suffered in those two years of siege. A
nd he did not even know how much worse the situation had gotten since he set out
for the Pyrenees. The hunger was terrible. Like beggars, Isidoro and Santiago w
ere going from barracks to barracks, standing in ration lines. Carmen, too, spen
t hours in line to get a small quantity of food.[272]
In December, Father Josemara and Paco Botella were left alone in Burgos. Jose Mar
ia Albareda now lived in Vitoria, while Alvaro had been sent to Fuentes Blancas
(near Burgos), for officer's training.
Vicente and Eduardo were in similar training programs. Pedro had moved to Calata
yud, in the province of Saragossa, when the headquarters were transferred there
upon General Orgaz's promotion to commander of the army of Levante [the eastern
regional command].
When the manager of the Sabadell Hotel learned that only two people were occupyi
ng that room, he immediately assigned two new guests to the now vacant beds. The
next morning, December 10, Father Josemara wrote to Jose Maria Albareda:

When Paco got back, I told him what happened, and he got angry. Really there was
n't any reason to be angry, but I too was angry, since if everything we now don'
t need had been sent to Avila as I wanted, we would now have more freedom of mov
ement. Where can we go now with such a load of books, clothes, and, as Juan woul
d say, junk?
We went to bed before the new guests arrived, and we got up at seven. So I don't
even know what they look like.
This can't go on. We can't work, write letters, have visitors, leave our papers
around.... And we can't get one minute of that blessed solitude that is so neces
sary for keeping up one's interior life. Besides all this, every day new people.
Impossible![273]

A week before Christmas they moved, with all the odds and ends, to an old boardi

nghouse on Concepcion Street. Their third-floor suite had a tiny living room, a
bedroom for the Father, and an alcove with a bed for Paco. They paid five peseta
s a day for the flat, plus twenty-five centimos for coal for the small stove tha
t was their only source of heat. The decor was horrendous, but the worst thing a
bout the place was the lack of a place to bathe. To wash in the mornings, they h
ad to use the sink in the boardinghouse's kitchen, according to a schedule worke
d out with the landlady, who, by the way, had the unusual name of Maria de la Ig
lesia [Mary of the Church].
The Father spent Christmas Eve sending Christmas greetings to his children. To J
uan he writes:

May Jesus watch over you, Juanito....

Today I'm writing to the whole family. Just a few letters, since we are still on
ly a few. It grieves me to think that this is my own fault. What good-effectiveexample I always want to give! Help me ask pardon from the Lord for my bad examp
le up to now.
Don't forget our people in the Red zone. Can you believe that I envy them, livin
g as they do as if in the days of the catacombs? We haven't heard anything from
them.
Merry Christmas!

My blessing,
Mariano.[274]

In his letter to Ricardo, too, he opens his heart with great simplicity:

I am now optimistic, calm, full of confidence. How good he is! During these days
, join me in asking him for perseverance, joy, peace, hunger for souls, unity...
for everyone.
Oh, Ricardo, if only you and I-especially I! -were to give him all he asks us fo
r, how well everything would go! Prayer, prayer, prayer: this is the best artill
ery.[275]

Sitting at the table over the coal heater, Father Josemara continued expanding hi
s Spiritual Considerations, wrote letters, and typed up notes, pages for the new
sletter, and Alvaro's handwritten account of his escape from the Communist zone.
For this account, entitled From Madrid to Burgos, via Guadalajara,he wrote the
following foreword:

Herein are adventures spanning hardly five months, but brimming with the youthfu
l vigor of three young men who made the effort to escape from the hell of Red Sp
ain, so as better to serve God's plans on this nationalist side.
Every now and then, in the course of the narrative, Marxist military terms appea
r. These have been left in for the sake of authenticity.
May the supernatural faith that so firmly stayed with the protagonists take hold
in the hearts of all who read this. Then we will all have come out ahead.

Burgos, January 1939.[276]

When he reread that journal of Alvaro's, and saw how constantly his sons had rec
eived supernatural help, he was deeply moved. Tears of repentance came to his ey
es. "I have asked our Lord," he wrote to Alvaro and Vicente, "not to let me undo
by my bad example-a sinner!-what he has so beautifully brought about in you." [
277]
On January 9 (his birthday) he wrote another circular letter to his sons: a lett
er in which he would give "a balance sheet" of the apostolic efforts made during
the past year in Burgos.

"I would like to sum up in one word what, after careful consideration in God's p

resence, my thinking boils down to. The word that should characterize your effor
ts to pick up again the ordinary activities of our apostolate is optimism."He co
ntinues:
It is true that the communist revolution destroyed our home and blew away the ma
terial means that we had obtained with so much effort.
It is also true, or might seem so, that our apostolic endeavors came to a stands
till during the war. And that the war occasioned the loss of some of your brothe
rs.
To all this I answer that, as long as we do not stray from our path, the materia
l means will never be a problem that we can't easily resolve, with our own effor
t; that this Work of God is alive and kicking and does have fruitful activity go
ing on, like a sown grain of wheat that is germinating under the frozen earth; a
nd that those who lost their spirit perhaps lost it before these turbulent event
s in our country's history.[278]
Then he turned to the favorable acceptance of the Work by Church authorities and
to the advances in the apostolate.
What has our Lord done, what have we done with his help, during the past year? A
ll of you, undeniably, have become more disciplined. We are in contact with all
the Saint Raphael people, who generally respond better than we could have hoped.
We have made new friendships that will be helpful in beginning Saint Gabriel ce
nters when the time comes. The bishops are very pleased with our apostolic work.
And there are the thousands of little things: the requests for books, the month
ly newsletters, the vestments and other objects for the oratory. And more: the g
reater opportunities for apostolate; getting to know different parts of the coun
try, which will facilitate the Saint Gabriel work; friendships, some of them dee
p, with a number of university professors whom we didn't know before.
The means? Interior life: him and us.
We will find the means, and obstacles will disappear, if each and every one of u
s makes a perfect, real, operative, and effective self-surrender to God in the W
ork.
This self-surrender takes place when the norms are lived; when we cultivate a ro
bust piety, including daily mortification and penance; when we try not to lose t
he habit of professional work and study; when we are eager to understand the spi
rit of our apostolate better every day; when discretion (not mysteriousness, not
secretiveness) accompanies our work. And, above all, when you are continually c
onscious of being united, in a special communion of saints, with all those who f
orm part of your supernatural family.
Finally, he asks them to keep in their minds and hearts those who were still in
the republican zone. "And," he says, "I bid you farewell with words of Saint Pau
l to the Philippians which seem written for you and me: 'I thank my God in all m
y remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my praye
r with joy, thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until
now. And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to comple
tion....?[279]

At the same time, the founder felt a real need to have at his side at least a fe
w of his sons to collaborate with him in advancing the Work. When, before the mo
ve to the boardinghouse, it seemed that he might be left alone in Burgos, he wro
te both to Jose Maria Albareda and to Bishop Santos Moro: "If Juan and Alvaro we
re to go to Valladolid, I would go there too."[280]He knew each of his sons well
and looked to them for support. Now he felt the time had come to choose one of
them to be given preparation for the responsibilities of government. In his corr
espondence in the early months of 1939, one can observe God's hand at work, lead
ing him to the son who would turn out to be such a strong support for him.[281]
When Alvaro was in Fuentes Blancas and, later, in Cigales, a village near Vallad
olid, he was often able to get away to Burgos to see the Father. Walking along t
he banks of the Arlanzon River, or sitting at the table in the Father's room, th
ey resumed the long conversations about the Work that they had had from adjoinin
g mats during those nights at the Honduran consulate. The Father wrote to Alvaro
:


Burgos, January 19, 1939

May Jesus watch over you

My dear Alvaro:

I almost can't pick up the pen, because my hands are so cold. But I wanted to wr
ite you....
I don't know what to say to you by letter. But when I see you, I'll tell you man
y things which will please you. There are so many marvelous things to be done! W
e cannot put up obstacles with childishness that is, in every sense of the word,
unbecoming to men. Jesus expects much good service from you and me. And we will
do it for him, without hesitating.[282]

In a letter written two months later, he calls Alvaro "Saxum," Latin for "Rock."
[283]

May Jesus watch over you, Saxum.

And yes, that is what you are. I see that the Lord is giving you strength and ma
king operative in you this word of mine, "saxum." Thank him for this and remain
faithful to him, despite-so many things....
If only you could see how great is my longing to be a saint, and to make saints
of all of you! Love and my blessing,

Mariano.[284]

Now that the longed-for return to Madrid seemed to be drawing near, his thoughts
often turned to what the future there would bring. From time to time he was hea
rd to say under his breath, "How tired I am of Burgos!"[285]
For some time he had been saying, encouragingly, "This is ending," because Madri
d had become for him a magnetic attraction, the door of entry into a promising f
uture. He wrote to Pedro, "Madrid! The unknown land. I look to it with optimism
because my Father-God is guiding everything. Fiat." But even so, as he wrote to
Vicente's mother, he suspected that he would find the capital "a real disaster,
humanly speaking."[286]
Doa Dolores, like everyone else, was sick of the war. In the spring of 1938 Isido
ro had reported that she was "a bit put out and nervous because of the delay in
the grandfather's arrival."[287]What must she be feeling now, a year later? Fath
er Josemara remembered his loved ones every day in his Mass and prayers. Looking
forward to a new residence in Madrid, he wrote to Paco Botella: "I'm keeping eve
ryone in mind-those in the Red zone, most especially. When you write all the oth
ers, tell them to ask our Lord to spare for us the Grandmother. I see, clear as
day, how much we need her."[288]
In another letter written on the same day, February 13, the eve of the anniversa
ry of the founding of the women's branch, he wrote to Alvaro and Vicente:

My children! Today, the eve of a day of thanksgiving-one that will, perhaps, go

unnoticed by almost everyone-I remember each one with an extra-intense concern a
nd love. I feel a deep urge to beg your forgiveness for the bad example I may ha
ve given you, and for the weaknesses and wretchedness of this grandfather of you
rs, which may have scandalized you. I shall spend the entire night near our Lord
, in the bishop's chapel. You don't want to know the crazy things we are going t
o say to each other and what I'm going to whisper to him about all of you.
Vicentin! Pray for your Father. Saxum! I'm relying on the strength of my rock.
A blessing,

Mariano.[289]

"The crazy things we are going to say to each other"-nothing could better get ac
ross how enamored he was of the Lord, and how eager to speak with him. On that s
ame day, he also writes to Ricardo: "I'm going to spend the night near the Lord,
in the chapel of the bishop's residence. How good he is, letting me get within
reach of him. I hope I get him in the Heart!"[290]
On this date the military campaign in Catalonia ended. The president of the Repu
blic (Manuel Azana) and most of the civil authorities had already left Spain. Th
e soldiers of the republican army of Catalonia had crossed into France and were
interned in refugee camps. Negotiations for surrender began.
Father Josemara had made advance preparations for his return to Madrid, depositin
g boxes of books and a trunk with vestments and other liturgical objects in the
residence of the bishop of Avila.[291] A year ahead of time, he had also gotten
permission from the ecclesiastical authorities to enter Madrid immediately after
its liberation.[292]Visits to Enrique Gimenez-Amau, a classmate at the Saragoss
a School of Law, and to Jose Lorente, Undersecretary of the Interior, had facili
tated the obtaining of safe-conduct passes for himself, Paco, Alvaro, and Jose M
aria Albareda. Passes for Ricardo and Juan had been obtained from General Martin
Moreno.[293] And, not forgetting about the hunger in Madrid, he had also bought
several wicker baskets and filled them with canned food.[294]
[1] He began this notebook (the no. 8 duplicate) on December 11, 1937, and ended
it on January 23,1939. When the war ended, he found the old notebook no. 8, in
Madrid, and he went back to putting his entries in it, starting on April 13, 193
9. See Apuntes, note 1034. (For the Apuntes, "no." refers to a journal entry, by
Father Josemara, whereas "note" refers to an explanatory comment made by Bishop
Alvaro del Portillo.)
[2] Apuntes, no. 1396.
[3] Apuntes, no. 1397.
[4] Apuntes, no. 1398. The bishop of Pamplona was Marcelino Olaechea.
[5] Apuntes, no. 1400 (12 Dec 1937).
[6] Apuntes, no. 1403. The affection that Father Pedro and Father Josemara had fo
r one another did not interfere with their respective foundational vocations. "F
ather Pedro had no influence on the Work of God," we read in Apuntes, no. 1510 (
25 Jan 1938). "I met him when I had already been doing this work for a long time
. Although, he was never my spiritual director, (for years now, that has been Fa
ther Sanchez) God did unite us in such a way that he was my friend, my brother,
and my son, as I was for him...." See also Apuntes, note 1140.
[7] The Count of Aguilar de Inestrillas, was Agustin Carvajal de Quesada. His wi
fe, Doa Mercedes Guzman O'Farrill, was a stepsister of Don Alejandro Guzman and a
lso a cousin of Mercedes Reyna O'Farrill, one of the first Apostolic Ladies. who
died in January 1929. (For more on the Congregation of Apostolic Ladies of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, see vol. 1, pp. 188-89, 192, and 208-209, of this biograp
hy.)
[8] The Count of Mirasol was Don Rafael Gordon. He was married to Doa Maria Rodri
guez-Casanova, sister of the foundress of the Apostolic Ladies.
[9] The Marquesa de Guevara was Doa Maria del Perpetuo Socorro Travesedo. She was
married to Don Florentfn Rodriguez-Casanova, brother of the foundress of the Ap
ostolic Ladies.
[10] The Countess of Vallellano was Doa Maria de la Concepcion Guzman O'Farrill,
another stepsister of Don Alejandro Guzman and cousin of Mercedes Reyna O'Farril
l.
[11] The Marquis of Los Alamos del Guadalete was Don Jose Ramdn de Goytia, and t
heir home in Madrid was on Covarrubias Street, next to the Foundation for the Si
ck. The couple's friendship with the founder dates from that time.
[12] See Apuntes, no. 192 (20 Apr 1931), and vol. 1, pp. 253-54, of this biograp
hy.
[13] See Apuntes, no. 1410 (15 Dec 1937).
[14] See Apuntes,no. 1406 (13 Dec 1937).
[15] Apuntes, nos. 1411 and 1412. Victor Pradera was a politician whom the Peopl

e's Court of San Sebastian had condemned to death for being a monarchist and sup
porting the uprising. Sentence was handed down on September 5, 1936, and he was
shot the next day. His widow and son were present at that Mass said for him on D
ecember 16 by Father Josemara. See Gonzalo Redondo, Historia de la Iglesia en Esp
ana, 1931-1939, vol. 2, La Guerra Civil, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1993), pp. 44 45.
[16] In 1 Peter 5:7 this is paraphrased as, "Cast all your anxieties on him, for
he cares about you."
[17] See Apuntes, no. 1428 (20 Dec 1937), and also Apuntes, note 1065.
[18] Apuntes, no. 1414.
[19] See Apuntes, no. 1425 (19 Dec 1937).
[20] Father Carmelo Ballester Nieto was the provincial of the Vincentian Fathers
. Shortly thereafter he was named bishop of Leon, and later he was transferred t
o Vitoria. Father Josemara first met him on December 23, 1937. He was very gratef
ul for the gift of that edition of the New Testament. "This is a beautiful editi
on the bishop has given me," " he says. "I rejoice, and I kiss this book, in gra
titude to our Lord God and to that blessed Vincentian Father" (Apuntes,no. 1423:
19 Dec 1937).
[21] AGP, RHF, EF-371217-1.
[22] AGP, RHF, EF-371217-2.
[23] Apuntes, nos. 1419-1421.
[24] Apuntes, no. 1426 (19 Dec 1937).
[25] Apuntes, no. 1423 (19 Dec 1937). See also Apuntes,no. 1422 (19 Dec 1937) an
d no. 1444 (23 Dec 1937). "Love-sorrow" ("dolor de Amor") was a favorite express
ion of his, meaning sorrow born of love for God, or perfect contrition.
[26] Apuntes, no. 1437 (22 Dec 1937) and no. 1431 (20 Dec 1937).
[27] Apuntes, no. 1439 (22 Dec 1937).
[28] Apuntes, no. 1444 (23 Dec 1937).
[29] Apuntes, no. 1441. See also The Way, no. 438.
[30] Apuntes, no. 1429 (20 Dec 1937).
[31] Apuntes, nos. 1433 and 1434 (21 Dec 1937).
[32] Archbishop Antoniutti had arrived in Spain in July 1937, as the delegate fr
om the Holy See on a fact-finding mission to nationalist Spain. On September 7,
1937, Pope Pius XI put him in charge of negotiations between the Holy See and th
e nationalist government in Salamanca (as apostolic delegate). In May 1938 his r
ole was raised to that of a papal nuncio. See Redondo, Historia, vol. 2, pp. 339
-41 and 470-72; and Fernando de Meer Lecha-Marzo, "Algunos aspectos de la cuesti
6n religiosa en la Guerra Civil (1936-1939)," in Anales de Historia Contempordne
a, no. 7 (1988-1989), pp. 120-21.
[33] Apuntes, no. 1445 (23 Dec 1937).
[34] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 293.
[35] Apuntes, no. 1454. By the beginning of February the chalice was already in
the hands of the founder. See AGP, RHF, EF-380207-1. For more on the Saint Rapha
el work, see vol. 1, pp. 367 and 431-32, of this biography.
[36] Apuntes, no. 1455 (29 Dec 1937) and no. 1449 (24 Dec 1937).
[37] Apuntes, no. 1465.
[38] Apuntes, no. 1457 (30 Dec 1937) and no. 1466 (5 Jan 1938). At the bishop's
insistence, he did upon leaving accept 100 pesetas; he had to, in order not to o
ffend the bishop.
[39] In the correspondence of this period appear mentions of Pepe Isasa Navarro
and Jacinto Valentin Gamazo, both of whom were killed in battle. There are also
letters to Jose Arroyo Lopez, Miguel Sotomayor y Muro, Enrique Alonso-Martfnez S
aumell, Joaquin Vega de Seoane, and others.
[40] AGP, RHF, EF-371231-3. He told Isidoro Zorzano the same thing, in a letter
dated December 29 and written in English, with the help of someone who lacked fu
ll command of the language. "All my children are very well. In a short time I sh
all have a proper house, I think in the town where my grandmother Florencia was
died. In my new house, Sir Emmanuel will have a magnificent room." (His grandmot
her Florencia died in Burgos. And that last sentence, of course, refers to the b
eautiful oratory he is hoping to have in the "house" there.) See AGP, RHF, EF-37
1229-3.

[41] AGP, RHF, EF-380204-1.

[42] Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay had managed to escape from Madrid at the outse
t of the revolution. Finding in Father Casimiro Morcillo a man he could trust, h
e appointed him "Vicar General for Reorganization" and asked him to set up in Bu
rgos, with local offices in other provinces, a "Central Board for Worship and th
e Clergy." The purpose of the board was to reestablish contact with the priests
and faithful of the diocese of Madrid, and to collect funds and liturgical objec
ts. On the organization of the Madrid diocese during the war, and on the functio
ning of the "Provisional Board for Worship and the Clergy for the Diocese of Mad
rid-Alcala," see Jose Luis Alfaya Camacho, Como un rio de fuego: Madrid, 1936 (B
arcelona, 1998), pp. 197-247.
[43] Apuntes, no. 1474 (8 Jan 1938) and no. 1573 (4 Jun 1938).
[44] AGP, RHF, EF-380109-1. "Omnia possum" is the beginning of the Latin for "I
can do all things in him who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13).
[45] AGP, RHF, EF-380109-1.
[46] See Apuntes, nos. 1476 and 1477 (10 Jan 1938), and also AGP, RHF, EF-380110
-2 and EF-380110-3.
[47] See AGP, RHF, EF-380206-1 and EF-380206-2.
[48] Apuntes, no. 1480 (11 Jan 1938). (Amador = "one who knows how to love.")
[49] Apuntes, no. 1493. A few days later he wrote to Madrid's vicar general, Mon
signor Francisco Moran, "I have made a serious resolution never to accept Mass s
tipends, which at present are my only possible source of income. Crazy? All righ
t, crazy. But this way I can often offer the Mass for my bishop, and for my Fath
er Francisco, and for my beloved sons-and for myself, a sinful priest" (AGP, RHF
, EF-380127-1).
[50] Apuntes, no. 1493 (17 Jan 1938). On December 31 he visited the Capuchins in
Pamplona to order "some rosaries and other things," and on January 12 he went t
o see the Carmelites in Burgos "to look for some things that I need." See Apunte
s, no. 1458 (31 Dec 1937) and no. 1484 (13 Jan 1938).
[51] Apuntes, no. 1492.
[52] Apuntes, no. 1702 (3 Oct 1932). See vol. 1, p. 366, of this biography.
[53] See Apuntes, no. 1491 (15 Jan 1938). On February 4 he wrote to Enrique Alon
so-Martinez Saumell, "How hard it is to find a house! We look, but to no avail.
If you have any friends or relatives in Burgos who could help, we would be very
grateful" (AGP, RHF, EF-380204-1).
[54] Apuntes, no. 1484.
[55] See Apuntes, no. 1510 (25 Jan 1938). In an entry for January 9 we read, "I
pray a thousand times each day for all these dispersed sons-perseverance!" (Apun
tes, no. 1475).
[56] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 312.
[57] AGP, RHF, EF-380602-3.
[58] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 307.
[59] AGP, RHF, EF-380327-3. What with the censorship and the war, it was not sur
prising that some letters did not reach their destination. So they soon came to
an understanding concerning correspondence: four or five letters a month would g
o from Madrid to Burgos. "I wrote Grandfather on the 5th," Isidoro tells those i
n his zone, "because I have a habit of writing him whenever the date ends with a
'5.' That's three letters a month, which with yours makes a total of four or fi
ve. So he'll get at least one" (AGP, IZL, D-1213, 352). See also AGP, RHF, EF-38
0224-1.
[60]See Apuntes, nos. 1406, 1408, 1410, and 1527.
[61] AGP, RHF, EF-380224-1.
[62] See Apuntes, no. 1483 (12 Jan 1938).
[63] See Pedro Casciaro, Dream and Your Dreams Will Fall Short (London and Princ
eton, 1994), p. 136.
[64] See AGP, RHF, EF-380304-1, and Casciaro, p. 138.
[65] In a letter to Isidoro, he mentions having met Alvaro del Portillo's mother
, Doa Clementina Diez de Sollano, and says that efforts are being made to get Alv
aro out of Madrid on the basis of his Mexican citizenship, "although I see that
they will be useless, since I will get to Latin America before then and be able

to arrange for this personally" (AGP, RHF, EF-380203-1).

And in a letter to Monsignor Moran (written freely, with no need to worry about
censors), he says: "I want to reiterate to my dear father the Vicar my offer to
go and work in our Madrid, with the first group that goes. For this, it will of
course be necessary to have all the documents ready.... I beg you, my dear Vicar
, to accept my poor services, offered with so much willingness, and to provide m
e the necessary documents, so that I don't run into any difficulties when the lo
ng-awaited conquest of Madrid comes" (AGP, RHF, EF-380303-3). See also AGP, RHF,
EF-380327-1 and EF380425-2.
[66] Apuntes, no. 1483 (12 Jan 1938), and AGP, RHF, EF-380206-1. He also wrote t
o Enrique Alonso-Martinez Saumell, "Son, tell our Lord that we need a million pe
setas and fifty men who love him above all things! Then again, how good it is no
t to have even one peseta! But we have to be persistent in our petition. Oh, and
also a car! Yes-a small Chrysler, for example. Know that I am asking our Lord f
or this, as I am writing to you, with that trustful hope that filled my whole so
ul when as a little boy I would write to the Three Kings. Let's see what happens
!" (AGP, RHF, EF-380204-1). (In Spain, children receive gifts on the feast of th
e Epiphany.)
[67] AGP RHF, EF-371231-3.
[68] AGP, RHF, EF-380116-2. In a January 17 journal entry he writes, "I'm planni
ng to take my first business trip-feeling my way-day after tomorrow. My last sto
p, God willing, will be Bilbao, where I'll go to ask for Doations. Sancti Angeli
Custodes nostri!" (Apuntes, no. 1494).
[69] See AGP, RHF, EF-380116-2, and Apuntes,no. 1490 (15 Jan 1938).
[70] AGP, RHF, EF-380117-3.
[71] AGP, RHF, EF-380118-1.
[72] Apuntes, no. 1494 (17 Jan 1938).
[73] See Apuntes, nos. 1499-1501 (19-20 Jan 1938), and AGP, RHF, EF-380204-7. La
ter, in March 1939, he was with this family in El Boecillo, and celebrated Mass
for Jacinto. See AGP, RHF, D-04691.
[74] Apuntes,no. 1505. See also Apuntes, no. 1503 (21 Jan 1938), no. 1506 (22 Ja
n 1938), and no. 1508 (23 Jan 1938).
There are two letters of Father Josemara addressed to Sister Josefa, after the me
eting in Salamanca. In one of them, written in Burgos on March 3, 1938, he tells
her, "I'm running around all over the place, and wherever I find daughters of F
ather Pedro, I make them sit through a talk. I did this three times in Bilbao, i
n Valladolid, in Avila, in Leon and Astorga, in San Sebastian, in Saragossa ...
Is this all right with you? If you don't give me your explicit approval, I'll ke
ep my mouth shut" (AGP, RHF, EF-380303-4).
Father Josemara wanted to do all he could to comfort Father Pedro's daughters, wh
o were deeply grieved over the death of their founder. "How can I refuse to help
Pepa Segovia?" he writes in his journal on January 25. "1 told her I would alwa
ys call her my sister, my good sister" (Apuntes, no. 1510).
[75] Apuntes, no. 1506 (22 Jan 1938).
[76] Apuntes, no. 1509 (24 Jan 1938).
[77] Apuntes, no. 1510.
[78] Apuntes, no. 1514.
[79] Apuntes, no. 1517.
[80] Apuntes, no. 1520.
[81] Apuntes, no. 1521.
[82] Apuntes, no. 1522.
[83] Apuntes, no. 1523.
[84] Apuntes, no. 1530; see also nos. 1531 and 1534 (9 and 10 Feb 1938). "On the
9th," he writes to Juan Jimenez Vargas, "I set out once more for Salamanca. How
little I feel like doing all this stuff! What I would really like to do is to s
hut myself up in a monastery, to pray and do penance, until the war is over. But
it would be the first time I did my own will, and naturally-or rather, supernat
urally-I'm not going to start doing that now" (AGP, RHF, EF-380207-3).
[85] There is a handwritten note about this conversation of February 10, 1938, w
ith the vicar general of Madrid. It begins: "I don't think I can put into words

the affection he showed for the Work and for me. Monsignor Moran spoke with real
enthusiasm about all our endeavors, as if they were his own." There then follow
s a list of the topics discussed. (See AGP, RHF, AVF-0020.)
[86] AGP, RHF, D-15226/1. The letter is headed, "Vigo, February 9,1938."
[87] See Apuntes, nos. 1540 and 1543 (15 and 17 Feb 1938).
[88] Apuntes, no. 1544.
[89] Apuntes, no. 1545.
[90] Ibid., no. 1547.
[91] Apuntes, nos. 1566 and 1567.
[92] Apuntes, nos. 1568 and 1569. Born in 1897 and ordained in 1921, Father Anto
nio Rodilla Zanon served as principal of San Juan de Ribera High School in Valen
cia from 1923 to 1939, as vicar general of that diocese from 1938 to 1944, and a
s rector of its major seminary from 1939 to 1969. He died in 1984.
[93] Apuntes, no. 1572.
[94] Apuntes, no. 1573.
[95] See AGP, RHF, EF-380323-1.
[96] AGP, RHF, EF-380327-2.
[97] See Apuntes, no. 244 (31 Aug 1931), and vol. 1, pp. 279-80, of this biograp
hy.
[98] Instruction of 19 Mar 1934, no. 7.
[99] See Apuntes, no. 274 (9 Sep 1931).
[100] See Apuntes, no. 1729, and vol. 1, pp. 386-87, of this biography.
[101] See Apuntes, no. 877 (24 Nov 1932).
[102] Saint Johnof the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul, 2, 1.
[103] Apuntes, no. 1372 (30 Jun 1936). See also vol. 1, pp. 455-57, of this biog
raphy.
[104] AGP, RHF, EF-380227-3. In a letter to Francisco Botella he says something
similar:
"Do you want me to tell you, Paco, what's going on with the grandfather? I'll te
ll you, in part. First, very personal concerns, very much his own" (AGP, RHF, EF
-370530-1).
[105] See Apuntes, nos. 1567 (10 Mar 1938) and 1569 (21 Mar 1938).
[106] Apuntes, nos. 1379 (8 May 1937) and 1380 (9 May 1937).
[107] Apuntes, no. 1380 (9 May 1937).
[108] Apuntes, no. 1391 (26 May 1937).
[109] See Adolphe Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life (Baltimore: St. Mary's Seminary,
1930), no. 1464.
[110] Apuntes, no. 1379 (8 May 1937).
[111] On May 10 he again writes, "I can't think of anything; still completely in
a fog" (Apuntes, no. 1381).
[112] Apuntes, no. 1567 (10 Mar 1938).
[113] Apuntes, no. 1391 (26 May 1937).
[114] Apuntes, no. 1379 (8 May 1937).
[115] Apuntes, no. 1391 (26 May 1937).
[116] Apuntes, no. 1567 (10 Mar 1938).
[117] Apuntes, no. 1569 (21 Mar 1938).
[118] Apuntes, no. 1567 (10 Mar 1938).
[119] Apuntes, no. 1380 (9 May 1937). "The founder of Opus Dei not only accepted
the cross with joy, in sickness, in persecution, in every kind of external diff
iculty, and in the interior purifications that God made him go through, but also
looked for it, deeply convinced that to find the cross is to find Christ": Alva
ro del Portillo, "Sacerdotes para una nueva Evangelizacion," in La formacion de
los sacerdotes en las circunstancias actuates: XI Simposio Internacional de Teol
ogia (Pamplona: University of Navarre, 1990), p. 992.
[120] Apuntes, no. 1388.
[121] See AGP, RHF, EF-370521-2, and vol. 1, p. 239, of this biography.
[122] AGP, RHF, EF-370421-1.
[123] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 63.
[124] AGP, RHF, EF-380224-1. See also AGP, RHF, EF-380227-3, and Apuntes, no. 15
47 (21 Feb 1938).

[125] AGP, RHF, EF-380323-1.

[126] AGP, RHF, EF-380323-1. See also AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, pp. 64-65, and Cascia
ro, pp. 149-50.
[127] AGP, RHF, EF-380327-2.
[128] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 74.
[129] Casciaro, p. 152.
[130] See AGP, P03 1983, p. 445, and Casciaro, pp. 139-40.
[131] AGP, RHF, EF-380323-1.
[132] Casciaro, p. 152.
[133] AGP, RHF, EF-380327-3.
[134] Ibid. "This 'Siegfried sweater,"' writes Pedro, "resulted in my going too
far in my desire to take care of the Father. He didn't want to use it, mainly ou
t of mortification and so that we could use it. But one extremely cold day, when
the Father was still unable to talk and was coughing a lot, Paco and I, out of
love for him but without any tact, almost physically forced him to put it on. A
few minutes later he took it off, and then we realized how improperly we had beh
aved. We asked his pardon and decided to look for other ways to look after his h
ealth" (Casciaro, p. 141).
[135] See Casciaro, pp. 150-51, and AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 74.
[136] AGP, RHF, EF-380429-1.
[137] AGP, RHF, AVF-0095, and AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 75.
[138] AGP, RHF, EF-380430-1. His confessors in Burgos were Father Saturnino Mart
inez and Father Francisco de Borja Lopez Perez. The latter belonged to the Missi
onary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and was then that order's official de
legate to the national government of Spain.
[139] "I'm still seeing the throat specialist a couple of times a week," he writ
es to Juan, "and I have to tell you that either he doesn't know what he's doing
or else this pharyngitis is a really virulent one, since even today I have been
spitting up blood" (AGP, RHF, EF-380401-1).
[140] Apuntes, no. 1524 (4 Feb 1938).
[141] See AGP, RHF, EF-380206-1.
[142] AGP, RHF, EF-380327-3.
[143] See AGP, RHF, EF-380502-7. (The young man was Miguel Sotomayor Muro.) "Man
y have as their 'madrina' their fiancee," we read in the July 1938 issue of Noti
cias, "but from this to other extremes that could lead us to stray from the path
of spiritual rectitude that we have decided to follow-you understand very well,
don't you?" See also Apuntes, no. 1502 (20 Jan 1938).
[144] AGP, RHF, EF-380223-5.
[145] AGP, RHF, D-10989.
[146] AGP, RHF, EF-380323-1.
[147] AGP, RHF, EF-380406-2. Monipodio is a character in Cervantes' novella Rinc
onete and Cortadillo. "The den of Monipodio" signifies a meeting of persons cons
piring for illicit purposes.
[148] AGP, RHF, EF-380406-1.
[149] See AGP, RHF, EF-380323-1.
[150] AGP, RHF, EF-380404-1.
[151] AGP, RHF, EF-380406-2.
[152] AGP, RHF, EF-380406-1.
[153] Ibid.
[154] See Casciaro, p. 118.
[155] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 68.
[156] Since at that time all kinds of newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and othe
r papers were being circulated, the Father wrote in the July 1938 letter: "We do
n't want these notes to be mistaken for any kind of publication, because they ar
e not public; they're private. So we're not calling them "newsletters" or anythi
ng else. Just as the letters you receive from home don't have a name."
[157] See AGP, RHF, D-03691; AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 71; and Casciaro, p. 155. F
ather Eliodoro Gil Rivera was at that time pastor of San Juan de Renueva, in Leo
n. He had met Father Josemara at the Teresian Institute in Madrid in 1931, and ha
d continued his friendship and contact with him at the DYA Academy and the Ferra

z Street residence.
[158] AGP, RHF, D-03691.
[159] See Casciaro, p. 151.
[160] In his journal entries for the first months of 1938, and in his letters, h
e mentions some of those professors: Inocencio Jimenez Vicente, professor of pen
al law at the University of Saragossa; Francisco Navarro Borras, professor of ra
tional mechanics at the School of Science of Madrid's Universidad Central; Maria
no Puigdollers y Oliver, professor of philosophy of law at the University of Val
encia; Tomas Alvira, professor of science at the Cervera del Rio Alhama high sch
ool (La Rioja); Enrique Surer Ordonez, professor of pediatrics at the University
of Valladolid; and Federico Garc Ia Borruel. Also mentioned are a few doctors (
Vallejo Nagera, San Roman, Valle o Simon, and Enriquez de Salamanca) and such ol
d acquaintances as Enrique Gimene7-Arnau Gran, chief of the special secretariat
of the Ministry of the Interior; Jose Lorente Sanz, undersecretary of the same m
inistry; and Pedro Rocamora Valls, a lawyer and journalist.
[161] See AGP, RHF, EF-380104-1 and EF-380323-1.
[162] See Casciaro, pp. 142-45, and AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 75.
[163] See AGP, RHF, EF-380408-7.
[164] AGP, RHF, EF-380419-2.
[165] AGP, RHF, EF-380607-2.
[166] AGP, RHF, EF-380408-5.
[167] AGP, RHF, EF-380323-1.
[168] Apuntes, no. 1576.
[169] AGP, RHF, EF-380606-1.
The Father Doyle referred to is the Irish Jesuit William Doyle, a volunteer army
chaplain who died in August 1917 in the battle of Ypres. He was known for a che
erful but rigorous spirit of penance in little things. The anecdote of "the 'dra
ma' of the butter" in The Way (no. 205) refers to him. See Alfred O'Rahilly, Fat
her William Doyle, S.J. (London, 1925), p. 168.
[170] AGP, IZL, D-1213,340.
[171] AGP, RHF, EF-380406-2.
[172] AGP, RHF, EF-380419-2. In his journal entry for June 4,1938, he writes: "I
've really worn myself out sewing. I think I've put more stitches in this cassoc
k than the tailor did" (Apuntes, no. 1574).
[173] For more on the stipends sent to the bishop of Avila, see AGP, RHF, EF-380
320-1, EF-380325-1, and EF-380331-2.
From Burgos, Father Josemara wrote in an undated letter to Antonio de Dalmases Es
teva: "May Jesus protect you. I don't want to lose track of you, son. The experi
ences we shared in our journey from the Red tyranny, in search of freedom, are,
I think, a sign from God that we should stay united for our whole lives. Write t
o me often, and I'll give you news about the others. If you need money, clothes,
etc., ask me with the same confidence with which you would ask your father" (AG
P, RHF, EF-SD3800-1).
[174] See Casciaro, pp. 146-47.
[175] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 76.
[176] See Apuntes,no. 1445 (23 Dec 1937).
[177] Apuntes, no. 1575 (5 Jun 1938). In a letter to Isidoro Zorzano, he says: "
I give a talk each week to a group of girls, one of whom is Amparito, Vicentin's
sister" (AGP, RHF, EF-380801-1).
[178] AGP, RHF, EF-380504-1.
[179] AGP, RHF, EF-380118-1.
[180] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 327, 354, and 370. The young woman ended up hospitalized
in the National Sanatorium of Estivella: see AGP, IZL, D-1213, 372.
[181] See Apuntes, no. 1479 (10 Jan 1938).
[182] See Josemara Escriva de Balaguer, La Abadesa de las Huelgas: Estudio teolgic
o juridico (Madrid, 1944), p. 33.
[183] See Casciaro, pp. 170-71.
[184] See AGP, RHF, T-00162, p. 41, and T-00159/1, p. 72.
[185] See AGP, RHF, D-03691, and Apuntes, no. 1461 (2 Jan 1938). In the newslett
ers the names of the following are listed: Carlos Aresti, Zapico, Juan Antonio M

as y Sanchez, Antonio Alfonso Ochoa, Jaime Munarriz, Gil de Santibanez, A. Costi

lla Sandoval, F. Mendieta Larrea, Diego Chico de Guzman, Rafael Moreno, Manolo I
sasa.
[186] AGP, RHF, EF-380611-2.
[187] See AGP, RHF, T-00162, p. 41.
[188] AGP, RHF, EF-380612-1.
[189] Ibid.
[190] On July 24 began the republican offensive that resulted in the so-called B
attle of the Ebro. This was the fiercest battle of the war, and one of the longe
st ones. It lasted until November 16. In October there was a danger that the con
flict would be complicated by a general war in Europe, as a result of the crisis
in the Sudetenland caused by Hitler's pressure on Czechoslovakia. On December 2
3, 1938, a month after the nationalist counterattack on the Ebro, the general of
fensive of the nationalists against Catalonia began.
[191] See AGP, RHF, EF-380607-2.
[192] See AGP, RHF, EF-380607-3.
[193] Ibid.
[194] See AGP, RHF, D-15219.
[195] AGP, RHF, EF-380807-1. The bishop's reply was taking a long time to arrive
. So, at the request of the National Service of Ecclesiastical Affairs, Father J
osemara wrote on October 4 to Monsignor Morcillo: "I would be grateful if you wou
ld be so kind as to ask our bishop to give me his opinion, so that I can follow
it fearlessly" (AGP, RHF, EF381004-1)
[196] AGP, RHF, EF-380429-1. See also Apuntes,no. 1423 (19 Dec 1937), and AGP, R
HF, EF-380223-1. Father Ballester had given him some of his books.
[197] AGP, RHF, EF-380611-2. At Santiago de Compostela, a holy year occurs whene
ver July 25, the feast of Saint James, occurs on a Sunday.
[198] AGP, RHF, EF-380716-2.
[199] See AGP, RHF, T-07987, p. 10, and Sum.7766.
[200] AGP, RHF, EF-380801-1. For more on the jubilee, see the August 1938 issue
of Noticias, in AGP, RHF, D-03691. There it is said that at the Mass in the cryp
t, a professor served as acolyte; this is an affectionate reference to Ricardo.
Father Josemara also spoke of Ricardo in a letter to Bishop Santos Moro of Avila:
AGP, RHF, EF-380803-1.
[201] Apuntes, no. 1577.
[202] Ibid.
[203] See Casciaro, p. 160.
[204] See Apuntes, no. 1578 (2 Aug 1938).
[205] See Casciaro, p. 159.
[206] Apuntes, no. 1579 (2 Aug 1938).
[207] See Apuntes, nos. 1579 and 1580 (2 Aug 1938). See also Casciaro, pp. 161-6
2; Sum. 6410 (Pedro Casciaro); and AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 78.
[208] Casciaro, p. 162. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 904; and AGP, RHF, T00159/1.
[209] Apuntes, no. 1581 (2 Aug 1938).
[210] Apuntes, no. 1582 (2 Aug 1938). See also AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 78.
[211] Apuntes, no. 1582. It was then the custom, at least in the cities of Casti
le and Leon, to announce a death by leaving one's front door ajar, with a book f
or people to sign to express their condolences. Also, before the news appeared i
n the local paper, notices would be placed on store windows and walls.
On September 24,1975, at the request of Father Pedro Casciaro and the architect
Juan Lahuerta, Don Jose Maria Laborda, head of the treasury department of Burgos
, held a meeting in his office with some of the people who had worked there at t
he time of the death of Mr. Bermudez. The purpose was to clarify certain points.
According to the parish records of St. Lawrence the Great in Burgos (in Book of
the Dead no. 11), Jorge Bermudez was given a church burial on August 2, 1938, a
nd had died "of natural causes, on the afternoon of the previous day, at home."
Similarly, the death certificate in the registry office (section 3, book 14, fol
io 263v) says that he "died in his home yesterday (August 1) at 12:30, of angina
pectoris."

However, they were able to establish that Mr. Bermudez had died in his office an
d then been taken to his home. He had had a visit that day, and when that meetin
g was over, one employee had remarked to some others, "Don Jorge is not feeling
well." They went to his office, and saw him raise a hand to his head and gasp fo
r breath. It lasted a minute. He was fifty-one years old. (See Casciaro, pp. 162
-64.)
[212] Casciaro, p. 163. See also Sum. 6410 (Casciaro) and Sum. 904 (Alvaro del P
ortillo). Paco Botella says that the Father's comment upon seeing the death noti
ce was, "I thought the one dying was going to be a son of this man-the son who i
s at the front" (AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 78).
[213] AGP, RHF, T-04197, p. 107.
[214] Apuntes, no. 1600 (17 Jul 1939). Of another occasion he gives this descrip
tion: "In Burgos, before the taking of Madrid, I saw details of what we were goi
ng to encounter there. It was like a dream, but a waking one. Thus I knew..." (A
puntes, no. 1598). And of another: "As I left the convent of Santa Isabel, the t
hought came to me that the church would be burned" (Apuntes, no. 1620).
He also had what one might call instructive dreams, such as the one mentioned in
his entry for December 12, 1935: "I was saying to the Lord, a few days ago in h
oly Mass, 'Tell me something, Jesus, tell me something.' And in response I clear
ly saw a dream I had had the night before, in which Jesus was a seed, buried and
apparently rotting, which then became a ripe and fertile spike of wheat. And I
understood that this, and no other, was my path. A good response!" (Apuntes, no.
1304).
[215] Apuntes, nos. 1577 and 1582. In another entry he referred to "that case of
charity, or better, lesson on charity, from our Lord in Burgos" (Apuntes, no. 1
600).
[216] AGP, RHF, EF-380811-1.
[217] AGP, RHF, EF-380819-2.
[218] Casciaro, p. 164.
[219] AGP, RHF, EF-380808-1. See also AGP, RHF, EF-380803-1 and EF-380807-1. In
Vitoria he also spoke with Professor Eloy Montero, who taught law in Madrid. "He
assures me," he wrote back to Burgos, "that the dissertation is very good (the
bootlicker!) and that in a couple of weeks they'll approve it in Madrid" (AGP, R
HF, EF380819-1).
[220] AGP, RHF, EF-380811-1.
[221] AGP, RHF, EF-380810-1.
[222] AGP, RHF, EF-380808-1. Isidoro, in letters written to the Father on July 2
5 and August 5, refers to a planned crossing to the nationalist side by Alvaro d
el Portillo, Vicente Rodriguez Casado, and Eduardo Alastrue, saying that they ar
e getting ready to make a trip to "be reunited with their grandfather" (see AGP,
IZL, D-1213, 386 and 388). These letters probably had not arrived yet. The corr
espondence with Madrid was done through Manuel Albareda, and it was getting hard
er to keep up because of the growing volume of letters. From Vitoria the founder
wrote to his sons in Burgos, "My God! Don't let there be a cut-off of our commu
nication, via Saint-Jean-de-Luz, with the poor fellows in Madrid" (AGP, RHF, EF380822-1).
[223] Apuntes, no. 1585.
[224] AGP, RHF, T-04388, p. 4.
[225] Ibid., p. 8.
[226] Ibid., p. 6. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 373.
[227] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 79, and Casciaro, pp. 156-58. He did not buy a
new cassock until the middle of February 1939: see AGP, RHF, EF-390213-3.
[228] "I ran into that Father Jose Miguel of Logrono, who was my confessor when
I was sixteen. We are both delighted": Apuntes, no. 1484 (13 Jan 1938). See also
AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 72.
[229] Apuntes, no. 1586.
[230] AGP, RHF, T-05228.
[231] AGP, RHF, EF-380907-3. He also wrote to Bishop Santos Moro, "I think it ha
s been our Lady who has given the talks" (AGP, RHF, EF-380909-1).
[232] See AGP, RHF, EF-380227-1, EF-381218-1, and EF-390117-1.

[233] AGP, RHF, EF-380511-1. See also Apuntes,note 1087, and AGP, RHF, EF-381005
-1.
[234] AGP, RHF, EF-380808-1.
[235] AGP, RHF, EF-380907-2.
[236] AGP, RHF, EF-381105-6.
[237] But what he liked least was a pen with a very fine point. "My dearest Rica
rdo," he writes on June 22, "having no other pens at hand than those ones with w
hich you can't write with any vigor, which are incompatible with my temperament,
I've decided to do this letter to you on the typewriter-as the lesser of two ev
ils, since neither do I like writing to my sons in American-style machine-produc
ed print" (AGP, RHF, EF380622-1).
[238] In July a new typewriter was provided by a brother of Jose Maria Albareda.
But the Father used it only when he couldn't find a pen. See AGP, RHF, EF-38072
6-1.
[239] Casciaro, p. 170
[240] See AGP, RHF, EF-380429-1.
[241] AGP, RHF, EF-380327-2.
[242] AGP, RHF, EF-380407-1.
[243] Apuntes, no. 1436 (21 Dec 1937).
[244] AGP, RHF, EF-381013-3. See also EF-381013-1, EF-380408-7, and EF-380502-7.
[245] AGP, RHF, EF-380904-2.
[246] Apuntes, no. 1587.
[247] AGP, RHF, EF-380914-2. ("Manolito" is our Lord: Emmanuel.)
[248] AGP RHF, EF-380925-1.
[249] Ibid.
[250] Apuntes, no. 1588. See also The Forge, no. 251.
[251] Apuntes, no. 1589 (15 Sep 1938). See also The Forge, no. 446.
[252] AGP, RHF, EF-381007-3.
[253] See AGP, RHF, EF-381004-1.
[254] AGP, RHF, D-15226.
[255] Letter to Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, from Burgos, in EF-381007-2.
[256] AGP, RHF, EF-381005-2.
[257] On May 25 Isidoro had written to the Father that the consul had been told
"to give up the idea and cease his efforts" (AGP, IZL, D-1213, 360). See also AG
P, IZL, D-1213, 373.
[258] See Jose Miguel Pero-Sanz, Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma, Ingeniero Industrial:
Buenos Aires, 1902-Madrid, 1943 (Madrid, 1996), pp. 245-51.
[259] AGP, IZL, D-1213,374 and 379.
[260] Chronicle: "De Madrid a Burgos, por Guadalajara," p. 6.
[261] Ibid., p. 14.
[262] Handwritten report of Alvaro del Portillo, written in 1944: original in AG
P, IZL, T-94, p. 18. In a letter dated October 5, 1938, Isidoro confirms what he
has told the Father earlier. (He mentions having received a letter from him dat
ed September 24-a letter which has not survived.) Referring to Alvaro and his co
mpanions, he says: "They will finish their work on the farm about the middle of
this month, and will take advantage of this to spend some time with the grandfat
her."
One day, while praying in front of the crucifix in his office, Isidoro came to u
nderstand that on October 12 the three fugitives would cross over into the natio
nalist zone. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 893).
In the process of beatification of the Servant of God Isidoro Zorzano, the secon
d witness, Jose Javier Lopez Jacoiste, declares that the refugees "asked him for
permission to cross over to the nationalist zone, and twice the Servant of God,
after looking at his crucifix, said no, but after the third request he gave the
m permission and wrote a letter to the founder, who was in Burgos, telling him t
hat these three companions and brothers of ours would be with him on the feast o
f Our Lady of the Pillar-which is what happened." See Copia Publica transumpti P
rocessum Servi Dei Isidori Zorzano Ledesma (Madrid, 1968), vol. 4, fols. 56v-57
and 852.
On July 15, 1943, the day before Isidoro died, Jose Luis Muzquiz told Francisco

Botella that a few days before, when Jose Javier Lopez Jacoiste was with Isidoro
, Isidoro had told him, looking at the crucifix that Jose was holding, that in 1
938, while praying before that crucifix, he had seen that Alvaro, Vicente, and E
duardo would cross over into the nationalist zone. (Isidoro died, by the way, on
the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.)
When Jose Javier asked admission to the Work, the Father had asked Isidoro to gi
ve him that crucifix. See AGP, RHF, T-00159, X, p. 23.
[263] In a letter to Isidoro the Father says, referring to Alvaro's mother, "Yes
terday Clementina wrote to me from the sands of the Pacific, worried about her s
on's crossing over. Today I sent her a few lines to comfort her." In another he
says, referring to both women, "I speak to them often about their children."
[264] "The fact is," says Pedro Casciaro, "that the Father, in Burgos, and Isido
ro Zorzano, in Madrid, knew, in an absolutely supernatural manner, that on Octob
er 12, 1938, Don Alvaro del Portillo, Professor Vicente Rodriguez Casado, and Dr
. Eduardo Alastrue would cross the front that separated the republican army from
the nationalist army" (AGP, RHF, T-04197, p. 163). Francisco Botella testifies
to the same thing: see AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 80.
[265] AGP, RHF, EF-381010-3.
[266] AGP, RHF, EF-381011-1.
[267] See Casciaro, p. 179. See also Sum. 6411 (Casciaro) and Sum. 5652 (Botella
).
[268] AGP, RHF, EF-381013-3. "On the day of Our Lady of the Pillar," he wrote to
the bishop of Avila, "our Lady gave us the present of three of our own" (AGP, R
HF, EF381027-1). See also AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 80.
[269] "De Madrid a Burgos, por Guadalajara," p. 45.
[270] AGP, RHF, D-03691. See also AGP, RHF, EF-381010-3 and EF-381011-1.
[271] AGP, RHF, EF-381010-3.
[272] See AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 28.
[273] AGP, RHF, EF-381210-1. What Juan was referring to was objects of personal
use, not strictly necessary on the battlefront.
[274] AGP, RHF, EF-381224-1.
[275] AGP, RHF, EF-381223-2.
[276] AGP, RHF, D-15376.
[277] AGP, RHF, EF-390323-8.
[278] AGP, RHF, EF-390109-1.
[279] Ibid. The passage is Philippians 1:3-6.
[280] AGP, RHF, EF-381210-1 and EF-381224-2.
[281] It was at this time that his affection for his sons began to find expressi
on in epithets and nicknames. See AGP, RHF, EF-390213-3, EF-390200-2, and EF-381
013-3.
[282] AGP, RHF, EF-390119-1.
[283] The Father looked for nicknames that had "soul": see, for example, AGP, RH
F, EF-390224-4.
[284] AGP, RHF, EF-390323-5.
[285] See AGP, RHF, EF-390111-1.
[286] AGP, RHF, EF-390224-3 and EF-390310-4.
[287] AGP, IZL, D-1213,348.
[288] AGP, RHF, EF-390213-2.
[289] AGP, RHF, EF-390213-4.
[290] AGP, RHF, EF-390213-5.
[291] See AGP, RHF, EF-390213-8 and EF-390321-1.
[292] See AGP, RHF, EF-380303-3 and EF-380406-1.
[293] See AGP, RHF, EF-390303-1 and EF-390303-2.
[294] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 86, and AGP, RHF, EF-390224-3.
4. Turning Dreams into Realities

1. Back to Madrid
2. The Way
3. Political Circumstances
4. The Jenner Street residence

5. Serving the Church

6. Expansion to the provinces
7. "How to fit Opus Dei into canon law"
8. A change of confessors

* * *

1. Back to Madrid

As the days went by, the founder grew steadily more impatient to return to Madri
d. He had no illusions about the difficulties that lay ahead-but it would mean t
he war finally was over and a new era for the Work had begun. "This is ending,"
he writes in letter after letter. "And soon our family will begin a period of in
tense activity," he added to Juan Jimenez Vargas.[1] "And we'll have to work wit
h all our soul,"[2] he repeated to Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin.
When he wrote to Pedro that Madrid was "unknown territory" that "I look to with
optimism," and to Paco that they were now, more than ever, going to need the hel
p of Doa Dolores, he was evidently dreaming of an imminent expansion of the Work
in Madrid.[3]
Meanwhile, news came of the death of Pope Pius XI. On March 3, 1939, after the e
lection of Pope Pius XII, he wrote to Juan, "Papam habemus! [We have a Pope!] Th
e next time, you and I and others will be living there."[4]As far back as August
1931, he had written, "When the Work of God is well under way, I dream of estab
lishing in Rome a center that will be, as it were, the nerve center of the organ
ization."[5]
He had agreed to give a retreat for the seminarians in the diocese of Vitoria-a
commitment he was happy to make, because he found this work with future priests
so attractive. But now he postponed it, giving Bishop Lauzurica these reasons:

(1) The need to be in Burgos for the feast of Saint Joseph, for the reasons you
are aware of. Quite a few of the young men are coming here on special passes goo
d for only twentyfour hours-not enough time for going to Vergara.
(2) The possibility, highly likely, that Madrid will be liberated when I would be
giving the retreat.
(3) If Madrid is liberated and I'm not there from the very first, I would fail in
my strict duty to reclaim Saint Elizabeth's as its rector (which some people mi
ght try to find fault with). And in my dual duties-the first, very supernatural,
and the second, a natural duty-to the Work and to my mother. Both expect me wit
hout delay.[6]

In these heartening circumstances, he sent out a circular letter that began:

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and of holy Mar
y.
May Jesus bless my sons and watch over them.

I feel God prompting me to write you on this eve of the victorious liberation of
Madrid.
As the day draws near for us to return home, we need to think about starting up
again our apostolic activities.[7]

This one literally was a circular letter. There were no copies. The original had
to be passed from hand to hand and from city to city until everyone had read it
. The letter was a trumpet call sounded by the Father to awaken the spiritual en
ergies of his sons. Once the war ended, the new launching of the campaign about
which he had spoken so often would begin: the campaign to place Christ at the su
mmit of all human activities; a universal mobilization under the banner Regnare
Christum Volumus: "We Want Christ to Reign."

I want you to be preparing for the age-old battle, as a militia in the service o
f the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, by praying the psalm of Christ'
s kingship with the spirit of a warrior monk, for such is the tenor of our calli
ng.
Every Tuesday, each of us will do this: after invoking our guardian angel with a
petition to accompany us in our prayer, we will kiss our rosary, to show our lo
ve for our Lady and our recognition that prayer is our most effective weapon. An
d then, in Latin, we will recite Psalm 2.[8]
I am speaking of battles and of war, and for a war, soldiers are needed.
Never have our young people been so nobly stirred up as they are now. It would b
e a great shame not to take advantage, for the growth of our family, of the spir
it of sacrifice that unquestionably (amid so many other things, which I won't me
ntion) fills the hearts and the deeds of your fellow students and comrades-in-ar
ms. Begin the sowing. In the name of the Lord of the harvest, I guarantee a rich
harvest.
But sow generously. Thus, the world![9]

Before sending that letter, he wrote to Jose Maria Albareda:

Paco will write you the details. Just want to let you know that I think I'm goin
g to be setting out for home soon. I'll bring the food we have prepared. You'll
need to bring the file and the typewriter.
I've written another circular letter, but I'm not sure when it will go out. When
you come, you can read it.[10]

Negotiations were under way for the surrender of the republican forces, with com
ings and goings between Burgos and Madrid. Father Josemara followed events closel
y. On Monday, March 27, he left for Madrid in a military supply truck, sitting b
eside the driver. He had all his documentation together, including a safe-conduc
t pass and ecclesiastical permissions. He spent the night in a small village abo
ut sixty miles from the capital. The next day, March 28, the republican army sur
rendered. On that morning, nationalist troops began to enter Madrid, and there a
mong the soldiers was Father Josemara, wearing a cassock. He was perhaps the firs
t priest to be seen in a cassock on the streets since July of 1936. People rushe
d to kiss his hand, while he held out his crucifix to them.[11]
The truck he was in went down Ferraz Street, so he was able to see the terribly
damaged residence. He then went to his family's apartment on Caracas Street and
hugged his mother, sister, and brother, and took possession of the trunk with th
e documents and other papers comprising the archives of the Work.[12] Then he so
ught out Isidoro Zorzano and Jose Maria Barredo. Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin and
Alvaro del Portillo came soon after, on furloughs, and in the morning of March
29 they all went together to look at what was left of 16 Ferraz. The damage was
greater than the Father had imagined when he had seen the house through the bino
culars from Carabanchel. The rooms had been sacked. The walls were pockmarked by
explosions. The floor was broken through in many places. Only the facade and th
e main walls were intact.
Paco Botella arrived from Burgos that afternoon and met them at Santa Isabel, wh
ere they had gone to survey the condition of the convent. On July 20, 1936, righ
t after the war broke out, the revolutionaries had set fire to the church. The f
loor, the pews, the altarpieces, and valuable works of art had all gone up in fl
ames.[13]
In the second circular letter written in Burgos, the founder had written that th
ere would be no insuperable obstacles for his children, and especially "when you
are continually conscious of being united, in a special communion of saints, wi
th all those who form part of your supernatural family."[14] That thought kept h
im optimistic as he set about the hard work of starting again from ruins. Visiti
ng the Ferraz Street residence again on April 21, he found amid the rubble a par
chment he had hung on a wall there. It bore, in Latin, the text of John 13:34-35
: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have lo
ved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are

my disciples, if you have love for one another."[15]

The day after the first troops entered Madrid, a small group of members of the W
ork had already gathered there. Father Josemara invited them to sleep in the rect
ory at Santa Isabel. The afternoon of March 29 was spent cleaning up the place.
It had been used as an office for commissars, while the building next door, the
girls' school, had become a barracks for army engineers. The whole place was a m
ess of strewn papers, files ripped open, and broken tables and chairs. But they
did salvage some items of furniture in the rector's apartment, intending to pain
t or repair them in the near future.[16]
Once the place was livable, Father Josemara persuaded his mother, sister, and bro
ther to move to Santa Isabel. It was here, at the rectory, that Doa Dolores and C
armen began their direct role in the running of the centers of the Work, because
for several months the rectory was the only house that Opus Dei had in Madrid.
Space was cramped. Living quarters for the two women were fitted up at one end o
f the place. In a part closer to the front entrance, Father Josemara occupied a s
mall room with a studio couch. Next to his room was a larger one with four bedsa room that soon became known as El Rancho Grande.[17]
The mother superior of the Augustinian Sisters soon turned up, accompanied by a
novice, intending to occupy the chaplain's quarters, since the rest of the conve
nt had been ruined by the fire. The rector arranged for them to live in communit
y with the rest of the nuns (who were then living outside Madrid) while the chur
ch and attached living quarters were being repaired. Since the adjoining buildin
g belonging to the Sisters of the Assumption was undamaged, these Sisters turned
over some of the rooms in their school to the Augustinian Sisters.[18] The arra
ngement lasted till August, when Father Josemara, with the agreement of Madrid's
vicar general, Monsignor Casimiro Morcillo, voluntarily turned over his residenc
e to the nuns. It was stipulated that future rectors would still have the right
to that residence.[19]
Furniture from his mother's place was brought to the rectory, and although not n
umerous, the pieces added a touch of homelike elegance to that dreary setting. D
oa Dolores and her children lived there from April 9 on. This was the beginning o
f what Santiago would later call the "transitional stage," referring to the inte
rim service that his mother and sister provided in the Work's centers until the
women of Opus Dei could take over domestic tasks.[20] Of both mother and sister,
however, it would be closer to the mark to say that the commitment to assist wa
s unconditional and for life. During this "transitional stage" Doa Dolores, whose
health had already declined because of physical and moral sufferings, kept self
lessly giving of herself till the day she died, while Carmen energetically embra
ced the life of silent sacrifice that she would keep living, in one form or anot
her, for the rest of her days.
The cleaning and tidying up of the rectory took a considerable amount of time, a
nd not only because of all the clutter and accumulated dirt. They also had to no
tify the authorities of their discoveries of a cache of weapons and of a terribl
e profanation of the tombs in the crypt; the corpses had been thrown around and
tossed together. The well in the garden also required a lot of work, since the b
odies of a number of people murdered during the war had been thrown into it.[21]
There then began for Father Josemara days of intense activity. As he had written
to his sons on January 9, the supernatural enterprise of the Work had suffered a
kind of paralysis in the war years-a stoppage that was, thanks be to God, only
an "apparent" one, the reality being something quite different-but now everyone
was primed for the "recovery" of apostolic work.[22] (That word "recovery" was u
sed a lot in those days, since shortages made it necessary for people to put bac
k into use objects that had been discarded.)
He now started up again his personal journal. The first postwar entry is dated A
pril 13, 1939, and concerns a divine locution.

Without realizing it until later, I found myself saying, as I had years ago, "De
i perfecta sunt opera" [The works of God are perfect]. At once I was left with t
he absolute certainty, no kind of doubt, that this was the reply of my God to hi
s sinful but loving creature. I look to him for everything! May he be blessed![2

3]

On the previous day he had located his old confessor and immediately gone to see
him. "Yesterday," he says, "I visited Father Sanchez, at 28Velazquez. How happy
he was! He embraced me repeatedly, and he still-it's obvious-believes in the Wo
rk."[24]
Two weeks later Isidoro writes to Paco: "The grandfather is busy twenty-four hou
rs a day with visits." But there was also plenty of work going on at home. "Sinc
e we've finished getting the house set up," Isidoro continues, "we're devoting o
urselves to the work we started before, of organizing the files. The fuses are s
till causing us trouble; the problem is now the mice. Remember how we tried to b
lock up their holes? Well, it didn't work; they thwart us every day. We're raisi
ng two cats to get rid of the pests."[25]
With the help of the address file, which had been almost totally reconstructed i
n Burgos, they were able to contact a lot of young men. Father Josemara spoke wit
h many at length. He gave formation classes to members of the Work who came to M
adrid on military leave; he took care of the nuns at Santa Isabel; and he kept u
p his ceaseless correspondence, encouraging everyone to write to him. To Ricardo
he wrote:

Dear Ricardo,
You don't know how grateful I will be if you don't slack off, and write us often
.... I think we will have to end up blessing the war. I'm expecting a lot, for G
od and for Spain!
I have started working, and am very happy. At first, when I got back to Madrid,
I thought I might find it hard to get settled. But no, it's just like in 1936, t
hanks be to God. A big hug and a blessing,
Mariano.[26]

Father Josemara viewed the war and the many scars it had left on everyone with su
pernatural optimism. For all its hardships and cruelty, it had served to strengt
hen souls. Looking ahead, with hope, he wrote to Chiqui: "I assure you that if y
ou fulfill the plan of life I gave you, you will end up blessing the war, becaus
e you will have more experience and more strength for doing apostolic work."[27]
Around the middle of May a number of bishops asked him to give retreats to pries
ts and nuns, the first of which would begin in June, in Valencia.[28]As usual, h
e immediately started asking God to make the retreats spiritually fruitful, and
requested others to do the same. He wrote to Bishop Moro, the bishop of Avila:

My dear Bishop:

May Jesus watch over you!

This sinner is always coming to his bishop with his hand out. I'm due to give se
veral retreats, some (in Valencia and Madrid) for priests, and I need your praye
rs and your paternal and priestly blessing.

Thank you!
Be assured of my love and gratitude.

Josemara.[29]

The first retreat was for university students. His friend Father Antonio Rodilla
-now Valencia's vicar general and also the rector of a university students' resi
dence-and Rafael Calvo Serer managed to get a group together quickly enough for
a retreat to begin on June 5, in the nearby town of Burjasot. Father Josemara ask
ed the archangel Raphael to pray that his words would be effective. And, while h
e was at it, he also wanted to use the retreat to his own spiritual advantage. H
e wrote to his sons in Madrid, "I'm taking advantage of the scrubbing of these s
ouls to scrub my own. How much I need it."[30]

When Father Josemara arrived, the students were waiting in the garden, chatting i
n little groups. Though visibly tired by the long trip, he was very cheerful. As
he approached, Monsignor Rodilla commented to those around him, "This man works
miracles."[31]Overhearing the remark, Father Josemara brushed it off with an aff
ectionate gesture indicating that he did not at all relish it.[32]
The college building had been used during the war by the republican army and sti
ll had some reminders of their presence. Before the retreat began, Father Josema
ra came across a large poster saying: "Cada caminante, siga su camino" ("Let each
wayfarer follow his own way"). "Leave it," he said. "I like it. Good advice fro
m the enemy."[33]
That phrase served him as a theme for his retreat meditations. He used it in com
mentaries on the Christian vocation, faithfulness to one's particular calling, a
nd the way leading to a glimpsed ideal.
Realizing that he might be able to visit the Father in Valencia during this retr
eat, Alvaro del Portillo phoned him, before getting a furlough and setting out.
Now stationed in Olot, in the Pyrenees, he had no way of knowing how difficult t
he trip was going to be. The retreating republican troops had blown up many brid
ges in Catalonia and across the Ebro River; the highways were badly damaged; and
train service had not yet been restored to normal. It took Alvaro three days to
reach Burjasot. On the last day of the retreat, to everyone's surprise, a lieut
enant of army engineers entered the oratory and sat down in the first row. In a
few minutes he was sound asleep. Before God, Father Josemara commented, this slee
p was prayer, the prayer of exhaustion.[34]
In two days the lieutenant had to return to Olot. Waiting for him was a letter t
he Father had mailed on June 6, before the lieutenant had left Olot for Valencia
. It contains the most daring affirmation of spiritual paternity the founder eve
r wrote: "Saxum! Your Father in heaven (God) and your Father on earth and in hea
ven (which is what I am) are expecting a lot from you."[35]
Fourteen young men attended the retreat at Burjasot. The day after his arrival,
Father Josemara wrote enthusiastically to those in Madrid: "Very happy. Pester ou
r Lord and this will be a success. Same goes for the matter of the house. Be cer
tain of it! Every moment I get more Optimistic."[36]
He asked others for their prayers, too, sensing that he had finally found the ri
ch source of vocations to Opus Dei for which he had so long been hoping. "This i
s going very well," he wrote at the end of the retreat. "Yesterday the Lord sent
another one-four new people, altogether. And all very solid. I pray that they w
ill persevere."[37]
After the retreat, Father Josemara spoke with a young man who had been unable to
attend, but who had heard about the Work and wanted to be admitted. "He too is t
rying to push open the door," he wrote.[38] A month later he wrote to this young
man, Jose Manuel Casas Torres, "What can I say to you but yes and onward? Marve
l and be grateful to him, on seeing that he wants you for such great things."[39
]
For now, Jose Manuel was the last of this cluster of Valencian vocations that be
gan in Burjasot. (The first was Amadeo de Fuenmayor.) But, convinced that he had
not exhausted this vein, Father Josemara decided to return to Valencia as soon a
s possible, in order to turn into reality the dream interrupted in 1936-when he
had been about to expand the Work to other cities.

2. The Way

In Burgos Father Josemara had soon found many obstacles standing in the way of hi
s giving regular spiritual direction to the young soldiers with whom he was in c
ontact. The soldiers were dispersed, on different fronts. The means of transport
were precarious. Time for traveling was hard to come by. Safe-conduct passes ha
d to be obtained-but still did not always guarantee being able to reach the fron
t.
Letters were also a problem. On his return to Burgos from a trip, he might find
many waiting for him, but usually the opposite was true. Mail was slow even when

the military post offices were functioning normally, and service was often inte
rrupted as units moved about.
When writing to his sons, the priest would always remind them of the need to car
ry out their norms of piety and, especially, to spend some time in mental prayer
every day. The monthly newsletter, Noticias, helped its readers revive good hab
its that might have been forgotten and offered points for meditation. But this m
eans of bringing a breath of interior life to those on the front lines was too i
nfrequent.
Father Josemara therefore thought of his book Consideraciones espirituales, which
had been published in Cuenca in 1934. His plan was to reprint it in a smaller f
ormat so that the soldiers could slip it into their pockets. But difficulties in
getting it printed forced a postponement.[40]
While still at the Sabadell Hotel, he began writing new points to add to those i
n the 1934 edition, using the same method that he had used in Madrid with his "C
atherines." When an idea, an apostolic possibility, or a flash of inspiration ca
me to him, he immediately jotted it down in abbreviated form, intending to expan
d it later. More than once when Pedro and Paco returned from work in the evening
, the Father greeted them by waving a handful of little pieces of paper. Later h
e would read his notes to them and comment on them at length. He called them "li
ttle bagpipes," because they were charged with meaning that had to be drawn out
of them, much as when someone draws a prolonged note out of a bagpipe.[41]
One day, upon returning from headquarters, the two soldiers had a surprise. The
"little bagpipes" had been laboriously typed out by the Father and carefully div
ided into little stacks arranged according to subject. All three beds in the roo
m were covered with them.
But even so, it was still a few months before the book was ready for publication
. The printing was delayed first by the Ebro River campaign and then by the camp
aign in Catalonia-not to mention the wartime paper shortage and the anticipation
of an imminent return to Madrid. At the beginning of 1939, when Pedro was in Ca
talayud, the Father wrote to him from Burgos: "I would like you to take charge o
f the printing of my book. Are there printers there who could do this? I only ne
ed eighty more considerations; it's a matter of days."[42]A letter written a wee
k later to Jose Maria Albareda contains this laconic postscript: "27 to go."[43]
His goal was 999 points, an expression of his devotion to the Blessed Trinity. T
he spiritual symbolism of numbers, or, as he sometimes called it, "the theology
of mathematics," was familiar to him, and 9 was a number he was especially fond
of.[44]
In February 1939, on one of his trips to Vitoria, Father Josemara brought along t
he typed manuscript of the book to show to Bishop Lauzurica. The day after the b
ishop read it, the Father wrote to Pedro: "How is the cover for the book coming
along? It's urgent. The bishop likes it; yesterday he told me to do a big printi
ng."[45]
That same week, Pedro sent the design for the book to Burgos. Father Josemara wro
te back: "I like the cover. I'll make a few suggestions when we know the size, s
o you can draw up the final version."[46] But Pedro was not satisfied, and immed
iately started doing more sketches. He wrote to Paco, on February 19, "I'm sendi
ng you a design for the cover of Considerations. I'm not completely satisfied wi
th it, so I'll do one or two others. If Mariano likes the idea, he can send me t
he title, Considerations,written in his own handwriting, to use for the cover, e
ither in black or in red."[47]
Five days later, Pedro wrote again, saying, "I am waiting for the word 'Consider
ations."' And again he got no answer. Had the author lost interest?
On the contrary, the author wanted the book out as soon as possible. But he had
sent an urgent request to the bishop of Vitoria to write a preface. It came a fe
w days later, dated "Feast of Saint Joseph, 1939"-a saint's day present for Fath
er Josemara. The bishop wrote, in his second paragraph: "The spirit of God hovers
over these pages. Behind each maxim is a saint who sees your intention and wait
s for your decisions. The sentences are broken off, so that you can round them o
ut with your conduct."[48]
Publication was delayed by the urgent obligations associated with the war's end

and the return to Madrid. On May 18, the Father wrote Alvaro. "Saxum! How bright
I see the way, a long one, that lies ahead of you! Bright and full, like a fiel
d ready for the harvest. Blessed fruitfulness, that of an apostle, more beautifu
l than anything else on earth!"[49] Very likely, in using the word "way" [camino
] he was thinking of the new title he had decided to give his book. Paco Botella
, who helped draw up its index, referred to this title, Camino, in a letter to P
edro Casciaro in early June.[50]
When Father Josemara went to Valencia on June 5 to give that retreat for universi
ty students, he brought with him the book, to take to the printer. "The book is
at the printer," he wrote the next day.[51] The day that he took The Way to the
printer was, in other words, the same day that he came across that placard sayin
g, "Let each wayfarer follow his own way."[52]
The book was finally published on September 29, 1939.[53]
Considerations dated from the years 1928 to 1934, while the historical setting f
or The Way extends to 1939. But the two books have the same sources: the author'
s life of contemplation and the daily incidents of his apostolic work.[54]
The principal source for Considerationswas Father Josemara's personal journal. Th
e Way, on the other hand, included many points, added in Burgos, that came from
his correspondence with people to whom he was giving spiritual direction. In bot
h cases, personal references are accompanied by many Gospel commentaries and mor
al reflections.[55] But the autobiographical element is always at the fore, and
the author's personal experiences are constantly reflected in the book.
All kinds of persons and scenes connected with his life make their appearance, t
hough not in any chronological order. There is, for example, Father Somoano, the
chaplain of King's Hospital, a soul of great refinement and sensibility. "How t
hat saintly young priest, who was found worthy of martyrdom, wept at the foot of
the altar as he thought of a soul who had come to receive Christ in the state o
f mortal sin!"[56]And Luis Gordon, who, on being asked to clean out the bedpan o
f a sick person, overcame his natural revulsion by saying under his breath, "Jes
us, may I put on a smiling face!"[57]Then there was that woman who had been a "c
amp follower," but who on her deathbed had reminded him of Mary Magdalene becaus
e "she knew how to love." She had died shortly after praying with him, "Blessed
be pain. Loved be pain. Sanctified be pain.... Glorified be pain!"[58]
When the protagonist is the author himself, however, and there is reference to a
supernatural event, the account is suitably blurred or depersonalized. For exam
ple, his receiving of a divine locution while giving Communion to the nuns at Sa
nta Isabel is related as, "There is a story of a soul who, on saying to our Lord
in prayer, 'Jesus, I love you,' heard this reply from heaven: 'Deeds are love-n
ot sweet words and excuses.?[59]
There are also instances in which a divine locution or illumination is presented
, but not as such. An example: "Let obstacles only make you bigger. The grace of
our Lord will not be lacking: 'inter medium montium pertransibunt aquae'-'throu
gh the very midst of the mountains the waters shall pass.' You will pass through
mountains!"[60]
Many points refer to events in the author's life, but are related in second or t
hird person so as to erase any autobiographical trace. Here, for instance, is th
e journal entry on an occurrence in the bishop's residence in Pamplona on Decemb
er 22,1937:

The vicar general consecrated some chalices and patens. I stayed behind in the c
hapel for a few moments by myself, and I left a kiss on each chalice and on each
paten, so that my Lord will find it waiting the first time he comes down to tho
se sacred vessels. There were twenty-five in all, a gift from the Diocese of Pam
plona for the front.[61]

In The Way this becomes:

Mad! Yes, I saw you (in the bishop's chapel, you thought you were alone) as you
left a kiss on each newly consecrated chalice and paten, so that he might find i
t there when for the first time he would "come down" to those Eucharistic vessel

s.[62]

As is mentioned in its preface, Considerationswas written without any "literary

pretensions or concern about publicity." Basically it was just a collection of t
houghts arranged by subject. The Way, on the other hand, was from the first inte
nded to be a published book, and its composition, though it began with the idea
of enlarging Considerations, was governed by a strong unity of spirit and intent
ion.[63]
As the book took shape in 1938, the author, building on the 438 points of Consid
erations,saw the need to develop certain topics at greater length. The number of
chapters was increased, the material was rearranged, and greater cohesion was g
iven to the various chapters.
The aim is stated at the beginning: "I will only stir your memory, so that some
thought will arise and strike you; and so you will better your life and set out
along ways of prayer and of Love. And in the end you will be a more worthy soul.
"[64]
The objective is no less than the conversion of the reader's intellect and will.
As the bishop of Vitoria remarks in his introduction, the points in the book in
vite the reader to fill them out from his own life experience. The desire to sti
r readers' consciences is reflected in the style, which abounds in exclamations
and questions, in appeals to common sense, in irony and exhortations, in imperat
ives and fragmentary phrases. Here is a challenge to the reader to improve his l
ife, and the mood it evokes in some readers is a kind of reflective tension. The
first chapter is entitled "Character," and it begins with a wake-up call:

Don't let your life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the l
ight of your faith and of your love.[65]

The structural unity of The Way is evident throughout, but particularly in its l
ast two points. One of the nine new chapters is the concluding one, "Perseveranc
e." Except for one point, everything in it is new. It opens with a direct challe
nge-"To begin is for everyone, to persevere is for saints.[66] -and ends with a
parable, the story of that donkey that Father Josemara had seen treading a waterw
heel on the plains of Orbigo in July 1938, when he had missed his train at the L
eon station. From that country scene he drew lessons about docility and about da
ily work, humble and monotonous, made up of small and repeated efforts, yet prod
ucing splendid results of fruitfulness and service:

O blessed perseverance of the donkey that turns the waterwheel! Always the same
pace. Always around the same circle. One day after another, every day the same.
Without that, there would be no ripeness in the fruit, nor blossom in the orchar
d, nor scent of flowers in the garden.
Carry this thought to your interior life.[67]

How well this consideration of the fruitfulness of perseverance ties in with tha
t opening line: "Don't let your life be sterile." And how potent is the book's c
losing point: "And what is the secret of perseverance? Love. Fall in Love, and y
ou will not leave him."[68]
The Way is not a systematic treatise, but a work of reflection which the reader
can consult without having to read in some predetermined order. Each section, ne
vertheless, has its own structure and fits into the framework of the book as a w
hole.
Take the section on "The Will of God." It varies from the version in Considerati
ons in both the number and the order of the thoughts. Clearly the author has tri
ed to make meditation easier by providing a guiding thread of thought. The chapt
er has a clear introductory overture, a main body of text presenting variations
on the theme, and, to conclude, practical considerations that end with this advi
ce: "It takes only a second. Before starting anything ask yourself: What does Go
d want of me in this? Then, with divine grace, do it!"[69]
The considerations that open the chapter form the basis for what follows. The fi

rst point proclaims the Gospel truth: "This is the key to open the door and ente
r the kingdom of heaven: 'qui facit voluntatem Patris mei qui in coelis est, ips
e intrabit in regnum coelorum??'he who does the will of my Father, he shall ente
r!??[70]
In the second point he confronts us with our responsibility for determining the
exercise of our freedom. He says, "Many great things depend-don't forget it-on w
hether you and I live our lives as God wants."[71] (These words come from a 1938
letter to one of those to whom he was giving spiritual direction.[72])
The third point matches up with a journal entry from 1932. It reads:
We are stones-blocks of stone-that can move, can feel, that have completely free
wills.
God himself is the stonecutter who chips off the edges, shaping and modifying us
as he desires, with blows of the hammer and chisel.
Let us not try to draw aside, let us not try to evade his will, for in any case
we won't be able to avoid the blows. We will suffer all the more, and uselessly.
Instead of polished stone suitable for building, we will be a shapeless heap of
gravel that people will trample on contemptuously.[73]
This consideration takes up where the journal entry leaves off. The journal note
is about what God expects of the first members of Opus Dei, the ones who have t
o build the Work. It says:

If it were a matter of putting up a booth for a fair, it would be a quick and ea

sy job. Drive four poles into the ground, a few yards of cloth, some boards and
nails ... and there it is. But the Work of God is a building for the ages-it wil
l last till the end of time-and the Holy Spirit is its architect.
We are the blocks of stone that Jesus wants buried in the foundations. Blocks of
stone that can move, can feel ....[74]

Throughout, the book emphasizes eternal life in the kingdom of heaven, noble par
ticipation in the tasks of the present, and the sad consequences of rebelling ag
ainst God's invitation to humankind. Appealing to faith, to reason, to the imagi
nation, and to the emotions, the author encourages the reader to undertake the a
scent of the interior life.
From time to time, a point in The Way conjures up the context of an actual event
by the use of vivid images. One example: "Do you remember? You and I were prayi
ng silently as night was falling. From close by came the murmur of water. And, t
hrough the stillness of the City,..."[75]This refers to the Arlanzon River, alon
g whose banks the Father would walk with his sons, or with some soldier in Burgo
s on leave.
Burgos also evoked the memory of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid.
In a letter sent to Juan Jimenez Vargas from Burgos, the Father had written: "Th
e epics-those of our El Cid, for example?always relate great adventures, but mix
ed in with down-to-earth details about the hero. May you always pay a lot of att
ention to the little things."[76]With slight changes, these lines are included i
n point 826 of The Way.
At the Sabadell Hotel, the priest, having nowhere else to go for using his disci
plines, would retire to the alcove, closing the curtain separating it from the r
oom shared by Pedro Casciaro and Paco Botella. On one of the occasions when his
sons were aware of this, he justified his conduct with words that are reiterated
in The Way: "If they have witnessed your weaknesses and faults, does it matter
if they witness your penance?"[77]But he is, as noted above, careful to eliminat
e any autobiographical reference.
In The Way we also find a reflection of the patriotic spirit that filled Burgos
in those days. The flags and the uniforms and the cheering all remind the priest
that Christ also has his army. "Patriotic fervor?which is praiseworthy?leads ma
ny men to give their lives in service, even in a 'crusade.' Don't forget that Ch
rist, too, has 'crusaders' and people chosen for his service."[78]
In calling his book-after careful deliberation?The Way, the author chose a title
rich in meaning. It suggests the path to be followed in response to the univers
al call to holiness?the faithful following of the footsteps of Christ, who is th

e Way, Truth, and Life?and a program of spiritual direction for attaining that g
oal. It also points to the book's purpose.

Do you want me to tell you everything I think about "your way"?

Well, it's like this. If you really correspond to his call, you'll work for Chri
st like the best. If you become a man of prayer, you'll be given that correspond
ence I mentioned, and hungry for sacrifice, you'll seek the hardest tasks ...
And you'll be happy here, and most happy hereafter?in the Life.[79]

The Way is demanding. It makes room for the little things, but not for mediocrit
y. It is a call to holiness of life, which it shows to be the key not only to on
e's personal destiny, but also to the history of humanity.

I'll tell you a secret, an open secret: these world crises are crises of saints.
"[80]

And although it does not contain the whole spirit of Opus Dei, it does contain t
he essential elements of the message received on October 2, 1928: the universal
call to holiness in the midst of the world, the sense of divine filiation in Chr
ist as the foundation of its spirituality, and the sanctifying and apostolic mea
ning of human work. It places holiness, so to speak, within arm's reach: "'Great
' holiness consists in carrying out the 'little' duties of each moment."[81]
The spiritual efficacy of the book stems from the fact that its pages have been
seasoned with the author's mortification and prayer. Many readers have testified
to its ability to reach the depths of the soul of someone open to its message.
"The spirit of God hovers over these pages," the bishop of Vitoria wrote in his
introduction. "Behind each maxim is a saint who sees your intention and waits fo
r your decisions."[82]
Since 1931, the founder had harbored a desire to "write books of fire" that woul
d "race across the world like burning flames and set people ablaze with their li
ght and heat, turning poor hearts into burning embers to be offered to Jesus as
rubies for his royal crown."[83]
This was the spirit in which The Way was written, as was Holy Rosary, whose seco
nd printing appeared at the beginning of October 1939, shortly after The Way was
published.[84]

3. Political circumstances

That cruel and bloody civil war had brought Spain to the brink of collapse. It w
ould take fifteen years for the country to return to normal. And that was just w
ith regard to material goods. The human losses could never be recouped.
In the newsletter, Noticias, for March 1939, Father Josemara refers to the end of
the "transitional period" and the beginning of more stabilized conditions. "We
are moving," he says, "from the madness that characterized these times to the we
ll-trodden path that will lead us to the definitive conquest."[85]The devastatio
n and lack of material resources, as reconstruction began, was self-evident. Yet
his circular letter of January 9, 1939, expressed undaunted supernatural convic
tions.
Obstacles? I'm not worried about the obstacles from outside: we will overcome th
em easily. I see only one formidable obstacle: your lack of filiation and frater
nity, were such ever to occur in our family. Everything else-scarcity, debt, pov
erty, scorn, slander, lies, ingratitude, opposition by good people, misunderstan
ding, and even persecution by authorities-all of that is of no importance when F
ather and brothers are fully united through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ.
There will be no bitterness that can rob us of the sweetness of our blessed char
ity.[86]
Every Spaniard knew people who had fallen in battle or been murdered; the total
was about three hundred thousand. And then there were all those who had been in

prison or exile. Bridges, highways, homes, and factories had to be rebuilt or re

paired. Cars, trucks, ships, and all types of machines were in short supply, as
were household goods, clothes, and food. Reorganizing and rebuilding would take
time, and would require help from abroad. To make things worse, the gold reserve
s of the Bank of Spain had either been used up in the war or shipped to other co
untries. Agricultural production had fallen off sharply, too, while drought woul
d keep the country ill fed and prolong food rationing until 1951.[87]
Unfortunately, the end of the war did not mean the end of old hatreds. The spiri
t of revenge was widespread. In a radio message on April 16, 1939, two weeks aft
er the war ended, Pope Pius XII expressed to the Catholic faithful and hierarchy
of Spain his "paternal congratulations on the gift of peace and of victory." Ap
pealing to the generosity and nobility of the Spanish spirit, which, he said, he
hoped would soon reestablish the nation's life in accord with "Catholic faith,
piety, and civilization," the Pope then said:

We therefore exhort the rulers and the pastors of Catholic Spain to enlighten th
e minds of those who have erred, pointing out to them with love the roots of the
materialism and secularism from which have sprung their unfortunate errors. ...
And we have no doubt that those others, the ones who like prodigal sons seek to
return to the Father's house, will be welcomed with benevolence and love. It is
your role, Esteemed brothers in the episcopate, to counsel everyone, in their e
fforts to establish a lasting peace, to follow the principles taught by the Chur
ch and proclaimed with such nobility by the Generalissimo: justice with regard t
o the crime and benevolent generosity toward those who have erred.[88]

But the principles actually applied to the conquered were very different. In 193
9, special courts for political "cleansing" were set up. This repressive apparat
us was constructed on three laws: the "Political Responsibility Law," enacted on
February 9 and retroactive to the revolution of October 1934; the "Purging of F
unctionaries Law," enacted on February 10; and a law enacted on March 1 for the
repression of Masonry and communism.[89]
Many citizens remained in prison for years or spent extended periods at forced l
abor. Others were fined, lost their jobs, or were forced into exile. In the mids
t of all this, Father Josemara urged forgiving and forgetting as the right line o
f conduct. As a fugitive in revolutionary Madrid, he had generously offered his
sufferings, in reparation for all Spaniards, trying not to categorize people as
good or bad. Now he strove to change the attitudes of those who were demanding v
engeance. In April 1938, on a trip from Utrera to Salamanca, he met on the train
an officer of that mind-set. Afterwards, from Cordoba, he wrote to his sons in
Burgos:
A second lieutenant, who had suffered terrible harm to his family and to his est
ate at the hands of the reds, said that he would soon have his vengeance. I told
him that I too have suffered as he has, in both my family and my estate, but th
at I want the reds to live and be converted. These Christian words had a strong
impact on his noble soul, consumed with a desire for violence, and he became mor
e thoughtful.
I recollected myself as best I could and, as is my custom, invoked all the guard
ian angels.[90]

On one occasion Father Josemara went to see someone who had lost several relative
s at the hands of communists. This person wanted to put up a large cross at the
highway crossroads where those relatives had been murdered. "You shouldn't do it
," the priest told him, "because your motive is hatred. It wouldn't be Christ's
cross; it would be the devil's."[91]The cross was not put up. The person learned
to forgive.
But not everyone did. One day several months after the war had ended, Father Jos
emara had to take a taxi to Madrid, and, as was his custom, began to speak to the
driver about God, about the importance of sanctifying one's work, and about the
need to leave behind the tragedy that Spain had just passed through. The driver
said nothing until Father Josemara had reached his destination. Then he said, "L

isten, where were you during the time of the war?"

"In Madrid," the priest answered.
"Too bad they didn't kill you!"
Staying calm, Father Josemara asked him, "Do you have any children?" And when the
driver nodded yes, he added a good tip to the fare and said, "Here, buy some ca
ndy for your wife and your children."[92]
Spain came out of the war heavily militarized, with power concentrated in the pe
rson of the chief of state, who was also the chief of government, of the army, a
nd of the one and only political party, the National Movement.[93] An exaggerate
d nationalism reigned in Spain, to the detriment of freedom of thought, freedom
of expression, and freedom of association. Existing alongside this authoritarian
current, nevertheless, were the ideologies of other parties-monarchist, republi
can, traditionalist, and democratic. The political regime born of the civil war
would in time become known as Francoism. The regime was not easy to define. Its
internal cohesive force derived from Franco himself and his personal, authoritar
ian exercise of power, which was sustained by a constant replacement of cabinet
members. The policies of the regime had an essentially pragmatic character, espe
cially in its early years, when Franco had to confront the dangers posed by the
Second World War and maintain the country's independence.[94]
The years of struggle, pain, and privation had been experienced by Spain's Catho
lics as an authentic crusade, and recognized as such by the Spanish hierarchy.[9
5] All over the country, this fervor now rekindled religious faith and popular e
nthusiasm. As religious persecution had been a distinctive sign of the republica
n regime, so protection of the Church was one of the defining characteristics of
Franco's Spain. In the long years of his dictatorship, periods of close collabo
ration alternated with flare-ups between Church and state, but the atmosphere re
mained cordial and the Church continued to be more or less independent. The civi
l war was scarcely over when, with the state's help, the rebuilding of churches
and convents was begun. Pastoral work flourished. Seminaries were again filled.
The number of practicing Catholics increased. But (and here was the first source
of tension between Church and state) episcopal sees, vacant because of the assa
ssination or death of bishops during the war, remained vacant while a concordat
between the government and the Vatican was sought.
At the end of the war, Spain considered itself officially Catholic, as were its
authorities. And therefore these authorities felt that the Concordat of 1851, wh
ich had been suspended but never officially abrogated by the Republic, remained
in effect. In this Concordat the Spanish kings were accorded the privilege of de
signating candidates for bishop. General Franco, as chief of state, tried to cla
im that privilege. The Holy See, however, maintained that because of the profoun
d changes that had taken place over the course of the preceding century, the Con
cordat was no longer in force. Actually, Pope Pius XII's opposition to recognizi
ng the government's right to "patronage and presentation" of candidates for bish
op stemmed from certain clashes between the civil authorities and the Church. Th
e government had, for example, prohibited the publication of several pastoral le
tters, and even of Mit Brennender Sorge, Pope Pius XI's encyclical of 1937 conde
mning Nazism. Pope Pius XII also feared that ratification of a cultural agreemen
t between Spain and Germany could lead to the establishment of an anti-Christian
ideology in Spain. Then there were the problems having to do with internal Span
ish politics, such as the government's fear of Basque and Catalonian nationalist
elements and, on the part of the Church, the hardships suffered by some Church
authorities in these regions who disagreed politically with Franco.[96]
Conversations between Spain and the Holy See produced an accord, dated June 7, 1
941. Besides the general provisions (which incorporated the first articles of th
e Concordat of 1851) and an agreement on the part of the government not to legis
late on matters falling under the jurisdiction of both ecclesiastical and civil
courts, the accord also contained a formula for the presentation of bishops for
vacant sees. This was the formula: After confidential consultations between the
government and the nuncio, a list of six suitable candidates for each position w
ould be presented; from this list the pope would choose three candidates, whose
names would be communicated to the government through the nuncio; the chief of s

tate, within thirty days, would then officially choose one of them.[97]
Ecclesiastical appointments made years earlier by the authorities of the Republi
c now had to be formalized from a canonical perspective. This was the case with
Father Josemara's appointment as rector of the Royal Foundation of Santa Isabel.
It had been made by the president of the Spanish Republic in 1934 and was recogn
ized de facto by the Church authorities (the bishop of Madrid-Alcala and the arc
hbishop of Saragossa, as we have seen). The Holy See now having accepted the exe
rcise of the rights of patronage by the new Spanish chief of state, Bishop Eijo
y Garay wanted to formalize the appointment, which Father Josemara had been exerc
ising with his permission since 1934. The bishop headed his list of candidates f
or this position with these words: "I propose in first place the exemplary pries
t who now holds this position, and who in my judgment is most highly suited for
the same."[98]On February 3, 1942, Father Josemara was named rector for a second
time, in virtue of the appointments made by the new civil authorities. With this
act, his incardination in the diocese of Madrid-Alcala was firmly fixed.[99]
As years earlier the founder had written that "the Work of God was not thought u
p by a man to solve the sad situation of the Church in Spain since 1931,"[100]so
now it was not his business to become involved in the new tensions between trad
itional Spanish Catholicism and emerging cultural trends. He concentrated instea
d on fruitful, quiet priestly work-first of all, on renewing the spiritual vigor
of the Spanish diocesan clergy, and then on carrying out with self-denial his o
wn particular ministry, in a difficult political era. He tended to those in need
, regardless of their creed or political affiliation or ideology. Bishop Javier
Echevarra recalls reading a letter written shortly after the death of a man who h
ad been marginalized and persecuted after the civil war: his widow thanked Fathe
r Josemara for having spent time with her husband "in the years when no one, not
even his closest friends, dared show any affection for him, because he was in pr
ison, on charges of being a Mason."[101]
The priest had made the decision, extraordinary at the time, never to engage in
any behavior that signified adherence to a political group. This included abstai
ning from the widespread practice of giving the Roman, fascist salute-arm extend
ed, hand open-which most people saw as just a symbolic declaration of opposition
to communism, with its clenched-fist salute. At official ceremonies, or when th
e national anthem was played, he simply stood in an attitude of respect.[102]
In strenuously steering clear of all partisanship, the founder not only kept int
act the universality of the Work, but also safeguarded the Christian freedom of
those who participated in its apostolates-their right to their own feelings and
convictions in political, social, scientific, or patriotic matters. This respect
for the opinions of others is borne out by an anecdote told by Juan Bautista To
rell, a member of the Work. In 1941, a time when nationalistic feelings were runn
ing high in the Falange, the walls and facades of Barcelona were covered with pa
triotic graffiti, such as, "If you are Spanish, speak Spanish!" or "Spaniard, sp
eak the language of the empire!" Juan Bautista had a long conversation with Fath
er Josemara in which he told him that he belonged to an organization for the defe
nse of Catalonian culture-an organization that the police considered clandestine
and anti-Francoist, since use of the Catalonian language was then outlawed. The
founder reminded him of the freedom that he had in this matter. It was his affa
ir, and no one in the Work would question him about it. "But since you have ment
ioned it to me," added the priest, "I want to give you some advice. Try not to g
et yourself arrested, because, being so few, we can't afford the luxury of one o
f us being in jail."[103]There were at that time no more than half a dozen membe
rs in Barcelona.
Toward the Francoist regime the founder maintained an attitude of independence.
He appreciated the fact that it had restored peace after years of anarchy and re
ligious persecution. But he stood aloof from government supporters who tried to
take credit for so much sacrifice and heroism in defending ecclesial and persona
l rights, or who tried to give all the credit to one person-regardless of how im
portant a role he might have played in the civil war.[104]
In his relations with civil authorities, the founder took great care not to get
involved in political questions or to have the Work's apostolates manipulated fo

r political purposes. However, there were people who would not let him keep his
distance. Upon moving to Rome, he therefore decided to make his visits back to S
pain few and far between. "This was," he said, "one of the reasons why I have no
t lived in Spain since 1946, and have not returned there since then except on ra
re occasions and for just a few days."[105]
The Spanish Civil War had not yet ended when Hitler's Germany began the territor
ial expansions and annexations that led to a European and eventually a world war
. Spaniards watched in amazement as Soviet and Nazi forces, which a few months e
arlier had been fighting each other on Spanish soil, cynically made a pact to sp
lit Poland between them. The Nazis invaded Poland in September 1939. The followi
ng May, German troops occupied Belgium and Holland in order to launch an assault
on France. They quickly crossed France, from north to south, reaching the Spani
sh border at Hendaya in June.
The Spanish government initially adopted a policy of neutrality, but in June 194
0 that became modified to one of nonbelligerency, a stance that it would maintai
n (with some wavering) until 1943,during the years of the spectacular German adv
ances and victories. During this period the country was faced with serious threa
ts, reflected in its foreign policy. It found itself forced to negotiate with it
s old Axis allies. On October 23, 1940, at Hendaya, Franco met with Hitler, and
on February 12, 1941, in Bordighera, he met with Mussolini. In the spring of 194
3,however, the government changed course again and adopted a position of strict
neutrality. From then on, it tended more and more to favor the Allies. But in th
e end, Spain did not enter the war.[106]
A large faction of the Falange supported Nazi totalitarianism, and, together wit
h a number of government ministers, sought to haul the country into supporting t
he German cause. In the first years of the war Franco faced a delicate balancing
act. After its occupation of France, Germany's desire to cross Spain, take Gibr
altar, and move into Africa was so strong as to seem irresistible.
Father Josemara, meanwhile, was worried about his sons, almost all of them being
of military age. He pictured them again being scattered on different fronts, wit
h the Work's development being paralyzed once more. On October 1, 1940, a few we
eks before the meeting between Franco and Hitler, the ones who could do so got t
ogether with him in Madrid (this being the eve of the twelfth anniversary of the
founding of the Work), and he asked them the same question he had asked them be
fore the civil war: "If I die, will you continue the Work?"[107]
Nazi ideology was rapidly infecting university students. Some did not understand
why members of Opus Dei would not, collectively, fall in with the orders and di
rections of the Falangists, who were then the dominant political group.[108]
Father Josemara's opinion of Nazism is clear from the following anecdote. In Augu
st 1941, he encountered Domingo Diaz-Ambrona and his family on the Madrid-Avila
train. They had not met since the Civil War. Passing by the family's compartment
, he noticed their four-year-old daughter with them, and stuck his head inside t
he compartment to say, "I baptized this child."[109]During the conversation that
followed, Don Domingo was surprised by how much the priest knew about the situa
tion of the Church and of Catholics under Hitler's regime, and by his love and a
ppreciation for freedom. Diaz-Ambrona had just returned from a trip to Germany,
and had noticed the fear that some Catholics had about expressing their religiou
s convictions. This having made him suspicious of Nazism, he was seeking more in
formation. Like most other Spaniards, he had been influenced by the propaganda t
hat sought to depict Germany as the conqueror of communism, and had not heard ab
out the dark side of the Nazi system and philosophy.[110] Father Josemara, on the
other hand, was very well informed on this subject. "It was not easy," says Don
Domingo, "in Spain at that time, to find people who would condemn the Nazi syst
em so categorically or who would denounce its anti-Christian roots with such cla
rity."[111]
Spanish policy began to change in 1943 as the course of the war shifted, with th
e Allies going on the offensive and the Axis armies beginning to retreat. So in
the spring of 1945, when Nazi Germany was about to surrender, the world turned i
ts attention to Spain, recalling the presence of Italian and German forces there
during the civil war, and its subsequent fluctuating neutrality. No one could t

ell what might come of the strong pressure brought to bear by communists and oth
er exiles eager to settle accounts with Franco's dictatorial regime.[112]
In the meantime, Opus Dei was rapidly spreading throughout Spain, and the founde
r was doing groundwork for the first steps in Italy and Portugal. Grasping the g
ravity of the international situation, he prayed all the harder. And in his pray
er he saw clearly that "come what may," their hope had to be centered on Christ.
On April 19, 1945, he added to the Prayers of the Work the invocation from the
psalm: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Though a host
encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I w
ill be confident" (Ps 27:1, 3).[113]

4. The Jenner Street residence

When, in 1938, in Burgos, the founder kept saying that he needed fifty men who l
oved Jesus Christ above all things, he was already thinking of Madrid. For him,
the end of the civil war and the chance to resume the apostolate in the capital
city were virtually synonymous. Isidoro's letters transmitting the Father's conc
erns reflect his eagerness to open as soon as possible a residence to replace th
e one on Ferraz Street. But the Work still did not have its fifty men, and excep
t for Isidoro, the few it did have were all outside Madrid. Jose Maria Gonzalez
Barredo, although he had a professorship at the San Isidro Institute in Madrid,
was in northern Spain, attending to other matters. Jose Maria Albareda had to tr
avel a lot for professional reasons. Chiqui was in San Sebastian, and Rafael Cal
vo Serer was in Valencia. Alvaro, Vicente, and Eduardo were stationed at Olot (i
n Gerona). The others, also still in military service, were scattered around the
country.
A letter written by Isidoro at the end of April 1939 gives an idea of how things
stood:

First, I've received a letter from Chiqui. Imagine, he's now in San Sebastian, o
f all places. Juan is spending a week of furlough with us, but he leaves tomorro
w. Barredo is in Vitoria with Albareda for professional reasons. Ricardo is stil
l in Alcoy; even Paco has left us. It's not fair! Grandfather was just reminding
us that we need to think about a place for continuing his business, but if ever
yone in his family is gone, it's clear that it's going to be held up. Grandfathe
r, as always, is extremely busy, and we're spending our time organizing and fili
ng papers .[114]

Money also was short. Father Josemara had launched a fund-raising appeal in the n
ewsletter for April 1938: "Are you doing everything possible so that our Lord wi
ll give us the two million pesetas we need?"[115]
On May 1, Isidoro, who had been the only one fully available to assist him, went
to work for a railroad company in Madrid. The eight-hour workday left him littl
e time for other activities. And thus the whole weight of the Work fell on Fathe
r Josemara's shoulders.
His schedule was especially tight that June, as we have seen. In the first half
of the month there were the two retreats that he gave in Valencia, and in the la
st week, the retreat in Vitoria for seminarians. "Pester our Lord," he said, "an
d things will work out, as will the matter of the house."[116]But the end of the
month came, and the house they were searching for had not materialized. Father
Josemara's concern is evident in a letter written from Vergara. "My thoughts seem
to be more in Madrid, and in other places, than in Vergara," he says. "I am a b
it repentant at having left so many things unfinished."[117]
Then, suddenly, the difficulties seemed to vanish. While giving a retreat in Vit
oria for university professors, he received a letter from Isidoro, sent on July
1, containing the news he had been hoping for: "We expect that when you return w
e will already have moved into our new place."[118]The place was a building at 6
Jenner Street; they had rented two fourth-floor apartments.
Refurbishing and painting began right away. The floors were refinished, there wa

s a top-to-bottom cleaning, and furniture from Santa Isabel was moved in. In mid
-July, amid the confusion of the move, Father Josemara began to show signs of phy
sical exhaustion. His sons talked him into going to Avila for a few days of rest
and quiet work. As soon as he arrived there, he wrote to his sons in Valencia:
"The ones in Madrid are awfully few, for the work involved in the move. They wou
ldn't let me help them, and since I do have about seven more retreats to give (i
ncluding two for priests, in Madrid and in Avila), I could see that I did need s
ome rest. But my conscience still bothers me a lot."[119]
However, the company of the bishop of Avila and the tranquillity of the city wer
e a balm. He jotted a note:

Avilaof the saints, feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, July 22, 1939: I'm spending a
few days with this holy bishop, resting. I fled from the mayhem of the change o
f house. It seems like selfishness. Perhaps it is, but I don't think so. The boy
s wouldn't let me work like them, in the move. And it's true that I'm very tired
and still have six or seven retreats to give.
Very happy, in this bishop's residence.
Omnes cum Petro ad I. p. M. [All with Peter to Jesus through Mary.][120]

While the work of refurbishing was still going on in one of the apartments, the
new tenants had to live amid its stored-up furniture. Father Josemara would have
liked the carpenters, the painters, and the landlord to understand his urgency a
little better. On August 10 he blessed the center, but this did not seem to spe
ed things up very much. "The house is coming along slowly," he wrote to Eduardo,
"because the painters and carpenters are taking their time. Everything is still
all piled up. This holds up the oratory, the retreats, everything. But God know
s best!"[121]
His unease stemmed not so much from impatience as from a new crisis of soul. A s
trong passive purification had begun. He felt unsettled, anxious, irritable, dis
satisfied. It was a struggle to remain in control of himself. He wrote in his jo
urnal, "August 12, 1939: Very concerned, because I'm not as I should be. Everyth
ing gets on my nerves. And the enemy does all he can to provoke my bad temper. I
am very humiliated."[122]His internal suffering was intense. "I continue to go
through some terrible days of interior crisis," he says. "I wouldn't wish this o
n anyone." And, as on previous occasions of this kind, he cries out for help: "T
u scis, Domine, quia amo te! [You know, Lord, that I love you!] Saint Joseph, my
father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me."[123]
August brought applications from prospective residents for the coming academic s
emester. It was decided to rent a third apartment (on the third floor) in which
would be the living quarters for Doa Dolores, Carmen, and Santiago, the residence
's kitchen and dining room, and Father Josemara's office. Isidoro and Pedro went
to Albacete to pick up some of the Casciaro family's furniture ("very elegant,"
Isidoro called it) and bring it to Jenner.[124]
While they were finishing the setting up of the residence, Father Josemara made a
trip to Valencia, where in June he had left a half dozen young men who felt the
y were called to Opus Dei. In August, the Valencian group rented an apartment at
9 Samaniego Street. Because it was so small, consisting of just a couple of roo
ms and a corridor, it was nicknamed "El Cubil" ("the den"). From September 10 to
16, the founder gave another retreat for Valencian students, which produced sev
eral more vocations.[125] The Father encouraged them to think about setting up a
student residence for the following year. But having put so much effort into th
e retreat meditations, as soon as it was over he was overcome by exhaustion. On
the following day, September 17, as he was beginning Mass in the Valencia cathed
ral's Blessed Sacrament Chapel, he felt ill, and was taken to the sacristy. From
there he insisted on going to El Cubil, though it was not the best place for a
sick person. The only bed in the apartment was an army cot-four planks on iron l
egs, with no mattress or blanket. He spent several hours wrapped in old curtains
and shaking with chills and fever.[126]
Upon returning to Madrid, he busied himself with the residence oratory, since he
wanted to have our Lord in the tabernacle as soon as possible. He had chosen th

e most respectable room for the oratory: a room on the fourth floor, next to the
living room. They had covered the walls with pleated burlap to deaden sound. A
strip of wood going all the way around the top of the wall had carved into it, i
n Latin, a line from Acts 2:42, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teachi
ng," and a line from the hymn "Ubi Caritas," "Congregavit nos in unum Christi am
or" ["The love of Christ has brought us together"]. The letters had been highlig
hted in red by the young men who helped set up the oratory. Between the words th
ey had inserted traditional Christian symbols: a cross, a basket with bread, a v
ine branch, a dove...
Near the entrance, against the wall to the right, was a wooden cross, stained da
rk walnut. And on the wall to the left, near a window looking out on the street,
was a corbel with a statue of our Lady. A single bench stood against the back w
all. In that sober, simple, and attractive room, attention was directed to the a
ltar.
Construction of the altar and tabernacle was entrusted to a cabinetmaker who liv
ed on the outskirts of Madrid. The tabernacle was of wood, with a canopy. Father
Josemara asked that it be lined inside with cloth of gold. But the glue that the
cabinetmaker used for attaching the lining left a persistent odor, so Father Jo
semara directed that from time to time some cotton with a little cologne on it be
placed inside. The simple altar was covered with a damask frontal, of the litur
gical color of the day. The altar cloths almost reached the floor. The candlesti
cks, three on each side of the crucifix at the center of the altar, were made of
the least expensive material available: chromium-plated metal, cut in pieces an
d welded.[127](As we shall later see, this detailed description is not superfluo
us.)
At first sight, the oratory seemed to have a motif of crosses: the crucifix on t
he altar; the wooden cross on the wall; the crosses at the base and intersection
s of each of the candlesticks; the crosses on the frieze; and the fourteen cross
es of the Stations of the Cross. Years later, in one of his circular letters, th
e founder mentioned this:
In the oratory (a small room, lacking even benches, despite being the best room
in the house) we had put up the Stations of the Cross. And I told my sons: "How
valiant we are! We've put up all these crosses. Are you ready to carry all of th
em?"[128]
Doa Dolores and her children-Carmen, Santiago, and Father Josemara-settled into th
e third-floor apartment that also contained the kitchen and dining room for the
residents of the center, and an area for ironing, sewing, and so forth. After so
many hazards and disruptions, they were together again as a family. No doubt th
is was what Providence intended, but it also had something to do with Father Jos
emara's unfortunate experiences with domestic staff in the first centers of the W
ork. Although he had tried to create a home in the old student residence at 50 F
erraz Street, deficiencies in this line made it difficult to develop a real fami
ly life. Clearly, the feminine touch was essential.
During the time of the Ferraz Street residence he had consulted his mother and s
ister about domestic problems, but this had not been enough. It was at the Hondu
ran consulate, when he was thinking about the future of the Work, that he had co
me to realize that the only solution was to get the collaboration of his mother.
Family life in the Santa Isabel rectory had been a pleasant experience. Doa Dolor
es and Carmen had taken charge of laundry and cooking. That had lasted for only
a few short weeks, because in August, as per the agreement that he had made, Fat
her Josemara gave the rectory over to the Augustinian nuns. But now, as if it wer
e the most natural thing in the world, his family moved into the Jenner Street r
esidence.
Did Doa Dolores know what she was getting into? Father Josemara gave her a book on
the life of Saint John Bosco, hoping that, in imitation of Don Bosco's mother,
she would collaborate in the Work. Not long after, she said to him: "You don't w
ant me to do what Don Bosco's mother did, do you? I'm really not up for that." "
But Mama," he replied, "you already are!" At that, she gave a good-natured laugh
and said, "And I'll continue doing it, quite happily."[129]
Actually, she was ready to help Father Josemara in every way she could. She deepl

y loved this enterprise that she recognized as coming from God. She had accepted
the title of Grandmother and had grown fond of her little group of grandchildre
n. With Carmen it seems to have been much the same.[130]Still, these two generou
s women may not have realized how much work they were taking on.
The family's accommodations were not all that pleasant, since they were confined
to the service quarters. Nor did they see Father Josemara very often, even thoug
h his room opened onto the same hallway as theirs. He spent half his time away f
rom Madrid, and when he was there, twenty-four hours were not enough for all he
had to do in a day: fulfill his duties as rector, give spiritual direction to a
host of people (young men and women, professionals, priests), give several class
es of formation daily, and, some evenings, take part in a get-together with the
residents before going to bed. So as not to interfere with the operation of the
residence, Carmen and the Grandmother would go to Mass in a nearby church.[131]
The 1939-1940academic year began with about twenty students living there, some o
f them old-timers from the Ferraz Street residence. A year later, the number alm
ost doubled. The transformation wrought since then by washing machines, refriger
ators, and other household conveniences makes it hard to imagine what a burden t
he two women had suddenly taken on. At first their only helper was Eusebia, a ho
usehold worker they had brought with them from Santa Isabel. Later, Carmen had t
o recruit and instruct others. Only good will and tenacity made it possible for
them to meet all the demands, especially that of providing three good meals a da
y for all these young people, at a time of great scarcity, with no resources oth
er than ration cards.
Doa Dolores and Carmen did not expect to be paid. Only the hired household worker
s received a salary. At 6 Jenner Street, debt was a constant reality. One young
man, when he applied for admission as a resident, was asked for a cash advance,
without being told that it would go to buy a bed for him.[132]
The presence of the feminine touch could be seen in details of cleaning and deco
rating the house, the preparing of meals, the ironing of clothes, and the care g
iven to the altar linens and other liturgical objects. Residents adapted their b
ehavior to fit this pleasant atmosphere. Courtesy, proper attire, punctuality, a
nd consideration for those who were studying were hallmarks of the residence.
At the start of the 1939-1940 academic year, Father Josemara, in order to be able
to engage personally and directly in apostolic activities, handed over part of
his work to Alvaro del Portillo and Isidoro Zorzano, naming Alvaro the secretary
general and Isidoro the general administrator of the Work.[133]
Jenner residents invited friends to come by to speak with Father Josemara. One wh
o came over in October was an engineering student named Fernando Valenciano. The
priest spoke to him about the formation offered at the residence. "He showed me
great affection," Fernando recalls. "He told me that it was my house, that I co
uld go to whenever I wanted, and that it had an oratory. And then we said good-b
ye. It was a very short visit. I was very impressed by his cheerfulness and supe
rnatural tone, and by how warm and human he was."[134]
The next week Fernando got a phone call telling him that Father Josemara would be
giving a formational class at eight that evening. It was a class he never forgo
t, because of the spiritual depth of its content and the clarity, simplicity, ex
igency, and good humor with which the priest presented it. The eight or nine stu
dents attending were encouraged to put into practice what they had heard on cert
ain very specific points: prayer, interior life, study, holy purity, fraternity.
[135]On Saturday afternoons, Father Josemara would give a meditation in the orato
ry, followed by Benediction and the singing of the Salve Regina. On December 23,
Fernando asked to be admitted to Opus Dei.
Others, such as Jose Luis Muzquiz, had been mulling over this possibility for so
me time. Jose Luis had first met the founder in 1935, while finishing his civil
engineering studies. He had then taken part in circles (small group classes of f
ormation) held at the Ferraz Street residence. When the civil war began, he was
on a study trip through Europe. In 1938 he ran into Father Josemara in Burgos, an
d then traveled there on several occasions from the front at Guadalajara, where
his unit was stationed. In 1939 he continued to receive spiritual direction from
him, first at Santa Isabel and later at the Jenner Street residence. And finall

y, he tells us, on a day of recollection, right after hearing a meditation given

by Father Josemara, "without his having expressly invited me, I told him that I
wanted to join the Work. And he simply said to me, 'May God bless you, it is som
ething of the Holy Spirit.' This happened on January 21, 1940."[136]
Most of the vocations were coming, as the founder put it, from the ascent of "an
inclined plane" on which individuals grew gradually in their interior life whil
e acquiring the spirit of the Work. This was the case, for example, with Francis
co Ponz, who had been a student of Jose Maria Albareda's at the Institute of Hue
sca. In 1939 Jose Maria spoke to him about the formation classes at the Jenner S
treet residence, and during the first semester he attended them weekly. When he
got back to Madrid after the Christmas break, he was invited to a day of recolle
ction to be held at the residence on Sunday, January 21. At eight that morning,
he heard for his first time a meditation given by Father Josemara. It made an ind
elible impression. And then came Mass. "The way the Father celebrated Mass," rep
orts Ponz, "the sincere tone of voice, the full attentiveness with which he pray
ed the different prayers, without a trace of affectation, his genuflections and
other liturgical rubrics, all impressed me deeply. God was there, really present
."[137]
At the Father's suggestion, Paco Botella explained the Work to him in detail tha
t same day. He bought a copy of The Way and spent a lot of time reading it, usua
lly just before going to bed. On February 10, on his way to the residence, "whil
e that streetcar was making its run," he says, "I resolved not to think about it
anymore, and simply to entrust myself to the Lord and to the Father, permanentl
y dedicating myself to God in Opus Dei."[138]The priest received him in his offi
ce, a tiny room, about eleven feet square, that also served as his bedroom. A cr
ucifix stood on the simple table.
The Father, in a very paternal and supernatural way, wanted to make a few points
clear to me.... He made me see that our Lord's call was supernatural in charact
er, God's action and not man's.... To be in the Work meant committing oneself to
a lifelong struggle to grow in Christian virtues, to attain sanctity according
to the spirit that God had entrusted to him.... From that moment I felt intimate
ly and warmly bonded, for life, to my new family, Opus Dei.[139]
Of course, as new young people came along, it was necessary to make sure they re
ally grasped the spirit of Opus Dei, if they were going to really live it. Becau
se somewhere down the road, as the Father warned Francisco, that initial enthusi
asm would most likely wear off, and they would experience temptations against th
e path they had chosen.[140]
To strengthen the recent vocations, he organized two weeks of intense formation,
one during Holy Week and the other to be given in the summer. With the resident
s gone home for the holidays and vacations, the members of the Work could live t
ogether as a family. The Father gave meditations, had get-togethers in the after
noons and evenings, offered tips and explanations, and infused in them his cheer
ful optimism. Those who had been in the Work for some time were asked to give ta
lks about aspects of its life and customs. There were also opportunities to read
the founder's "Instructions" and circular letters, as well as the journal of th
e crossing of the Pyrenees and other writings.[141]
The second "study week"-later the founder would call these weeks "workshops" or
"Convivencias"-wasin August. The heat was terrible, especially for the Grandmoth
er, whose room faced west and became like an oven in the afternoon. Doa Dolores f
ound the heat hard to bear, as did Father Josemara. Soon, though, they were to le
ave that apartment. The Work was growing so rapidly that the founder, looking as
always beyond the limits of what then seemed feasible, had begun to dream of ne
w centers. In January 1940, with the Jenner Street residence barely up and runni
ng, he wrote to his sons in Valencia: "We are also looking for a mansion here, a
big house. We need it, so we'll get it."[142]
An apartment was needed, too, for graduate students working on their doctoral di
ssertations or beginning their professional lives. That, in turn, would free up
more room for students at the Jenner Street residence.
On July 22, 1940, Isidoro wrote to Francisco Javier de Ayala: "We have found the
apartment we want, and we're hoping it won't be long before we also find the ho

use we need."[143]In August they did. It was a building on Diego de Leon Street
(at the comer of Lagasca) in good condition, although for their purposes some re
modeling would need to be done. In November the Father, the Grandmother, Carmen,
Santiago, and several members of the Work, including Alvaro del Portillo, went
to live there.[144]

5. Serving the Church

The civil war had barely ended when Father Josemara found himself immersed in an
apostolate very dear to his heart. The three years of persecution against the Ch
urch had stirred up the faith and generosity of the Catholic population. Seminar
ies were full, and the religious congregations had vocations in abundance. Bisho
ps, starting with those of Valencia and Vitoria, asked Father Josemara to give re
treats for their seminarians and diocesan priests. How could he refuse? Soon the
re were calls from everywhere in Spain: Navarre, Madrid, Leon, Huesca, Avila, Le
rida.... From the summer of 1939 to Christmas of 1942, he preached some twenty s
even-day retreats.[145] It was a critical period for the spiritual resurgence of
the Spanish people. "The confidence I had in Father Josemara's priestly spirit,
and my conviction of the good that his words would do to the priests of Avila,"
wrote Bishop Moro, "led me to entrust to him, together with another priest, the
retreats for clergy that we organized at the end of the civil war. These were ve
ry important moments for bringing the diocese together, for uniting the clergy w
ith their bishop and with one another in true fraternity. My priests in Avila ne
eded words of guidance and encouragement for their interior life."[146]
From early youth, Father Josemara had had a high esteem for priests. He hoped tha
t the new seminaries that had been opened in Spain around 1930 would be seedbeds
of exemplary clergy.[147] First in the Seminary of Saint Francis de Paolo in Sa
ragossa and later in Madrid, he had liberally spread among seminarians and pries
ts the extraordinary spirit of his interior life. "When he spoke to priests, or
had to direct them," recalls Archbishop Pedro Cantero, "he would say simply and
humbly that it was like 'selling honey to a beekeeper.' But he did sell it, and
with great benefit to those who heard him."[148]
In the years of the war, most seminarians had to discontinue their studies, and
most priests were unable to make a retreat. Both groups were in need of spiritua
l guidance, of a time-out to reflect on the dignity of their vocation and minist
ry. Father Josemara wanted to help the bishops by enkindling the souls of his bro
ther priests. "I'm giving one of those retreats for priests that the hierarchy s
o often entrusts to me," he writes to Alvaro on July 1, 1940. "What joy it gives
me to serve the Church! I would like this to be our aim always: to serve."[149]
He was also giving talks, meditations, and days of recollection to religious and
to laypeople, as he mentions in the same letter:

On the feast of Saint Peter, I gave a day of recollection for the Catholic Actio
n university students in Valladolid. The Sunday before, the Catholic Action stud
ents in Madrid had their day of recollection, which I gave them in Chamartin. An
d before that, in Alacuas, a little town near Valencia, I gave another day of re
collection, to the Catholic Action students from Valencia.

After the priests' retreat in Avila in 1940, Father Josemara returned to Madrid t
o tend to the people of the Work. July ended with another retreat for university
students, at the Orti Residence in Madrid. After that he went to Leon, to give
yet another retreat-one for which the bishop there, Bishop Carmelo Ballester, ha
d booked him three months in advance.[150]
In the first week of August, from Leon, he wrote to his sons in Madrid: "There a
re a hundred and twenty priests on this retreat. A lot of work, but since they a
re wonderful, I hardly notice the tiredness."[151]But the tiredness was noticeab
le to others. Father Guillermo Maranon, a priest of the diocesan curia in Vitori
a who attended one of his retreats, took the liberty of warning him about it.
I see that you have practically solved the problem of perpetual motion. I think

what you are doing is wonderful, considering how great a need there is for in-de
pth priestly work like yours. But you should also take care of your health, "whi
ch isn't everything, but is useful for everything." Forgive me for taking it upo
n myself to give you advice, but the affection I have for you moves me to, and I
know you won't take it badly.[152]
But there was something more than just tiredness. On August 4, several days into
the retreat, he wrote in his journal: "I don't feel well, although I'm not show
ing it. My throat hurts and I feel a pain in my back. I had to lie down fully dr
essed, for half an hour."[153]Clearly he felt that he was on the brink of exhaus
tion, and that he should be giving more time to the formation of his children. "
I think," he continues, "that from now on I should turn down all work outside of
Opus Dei-unless there is a formal request from the hierarchy. Despite all my wr
etchedness, I continue receiving light in regard to Opus Dei's immediate apostol
ic work. How good Jesus is!"[154]And on the same day, he wrote to his sons in Ma
drid a few lines communicating that tentative decision: "I don't know what to te
ll you: perhaps that from now on I'll try to avoid commitments outside of our wo
rk. Although I love serving the Church in her priests, I have more pressing duti
es toward you."[155]
But he kept up his service to diocesan priests, trying to fit it in with service
to the Church in the Work, and did not cut down on his preaching, hard work tho
ugh it was. Compounding his exhaustion were the first symptoms of a serious illn
ess. But he did not complain. After the retreat in Leon, he wrote to his sons in
Madrid: "How am I? Fatter! And more tired. But very happy."[156]Yet, from a let
ter written just one year later (to Alvaro del Portillo, after a retreat in Avil
a for university students), one can get some idea of what he must have been suff
ering at this time. "Tomorrow," he says, "against my inclinations-as almost alwa
ys!-I leave for Jaca.... They've done some devilish things to my mouth-even scra
ped a bone. My face is all swollen. But it's necessary to go to Jaca! So I'm goi
ng."[157]
Throughout 1941 he continued to regain the weight he had lost during the civil w
ar. He looked healthy and robust. But he was suffering intensely from thirst and
fatigue. He had to have his tonsils removed, and from time to time suffered att
acks of rheumatism in various joints.
A journal entry for June 21, 1940, written in Madrid, gives an idea of the ardor
with which he preached: "Lately I've given a lot of retreats for priests. They
tell me, 'You preach with your whole soul ... and with your whole body.' How won
derful it would be if that were true!"[158]
"Love shone through every one of his words," says Archbishop Pedro Cantero. "His
eloquent words presented a vivid and powerful image of our Lord. He had an enor
mous power of persuasion and conviction, a fruit of the authenticity of his fait
h. He knew how to capture and transmit the profound meaning of the Gospel scenes
. In his words they could be seen for what they are: living realities that deman
d a response. His listeners were moved to make acts of love and reparation and t
o formulate specific resolutions to improve their lives. His words came from the
heart and spoke to the heart."[159]
His way of expressing himself "seemed to me the most ardent and convincing I had
ever heard," says Father Joaquin Mestre Palacio. "To hear him speak was to real
ize immediately that everything he said came from the depths of his heart. His f
aith was obvious. His love for Christ shone in his eyes. The purity and holiness
of his life were clear as day. He spoke as he lived."[160]
Father Josemara tried to have a personal conversation with everyone on the retrea
t, to give advice, help them solve problems, or confirm them in their vocation.
He encouraged the priests to be united, so that none of them would suffer the ch
ill of loneliness, rejection, or indifference. In some years he spoke with over
a thousand priests, and got to know them at some depth. And what did he think of
them? "I don't know any bad priests," he said. "So many have opened their heart
s to me in private, and I've never found anything but gold, pure gold."[161]
If a priest did not come to him, he went to the priest.

I remember one time, one of them didn't come. I went looking for him, I went to

his room, and I said to him, "Well, my brother, what's the matter? Everyone has
come to speak with me except you." And then he told me a really tragic story, ab
out a horrible calumny. And I said to him, "But those brothers of ours who are c
lose to you, they're not standing by you?" And he answered, "I'm the only one st
anding by me." That coldness hurt me. I was young. I took his hands and kissed t
hem. He started to cry. But I think he ended up not feeling alone anymore.[162]

A great many of those priests kept as a treasure their notes on the talks and th
e advice he had given them. They reread and meditated on them often, even into o
ld age, in order, as one said, to "recapture those graces and see things again i
n the same clear light."[163]
The bishops expressed deep gratitude for this work with priests. "I don't want o
ne more day to go by without my telling you thanks, thousands of thanks, for the
good you have done for our priests," wrote the bishop of Leon, Carmelo Balleste
r. "Yes, you have done them a tremendous amount of good, which makes my soul rej
oice. Blessed be God!"[164]
Knowing how much the founder disliked being praised, Bishop Olaechea preferred t
o express his feelings to Alvaro del Portillo, the secretary general of the Work
.

Pamplona, November 22, 1941

My dear Alvaro:

My beloved friend Father Jose Maria, that so-good Father that God has given you,
has given a retreat to all the new parish priests of this blessed diocese of Pa
mplona, whose clergy are so exemplary. I say "to all" even though we have not ha
d the last retreat yet, since we're hoping he'll be giving that one too.
I won't go into detail. Suffice it to say that not one of the retreatants has ha
d one word to say that was not about how greatly they appreciated and were edifi
ed by the job he did.
May God preserve him for us for many, many years, for the great glory of his hol
y Church. Take good care of that treasure.

Kindest regards,
Marcelino.[165]

The bishops had, in fact, an extra reason to be grateful: Except for food and lo
dging, he would not accept any recompense for his services. If they protested, h
e would tell this story:

There once was a priest who, on all the big feast days of the villages, went the
re and gave a sermon and stirred up everyone's fervor. He was very eloquent, and
, moreover, charged only one peseta. But the bishop found out, called him in, an
d said, "What's this. One peseta for the word of God? One peseta for the Holy Sp
irit? Aren't you ashamed?" "No, Your Excellency," replied the priest, "since the
re's no putting a price on the word of God!"[166]

6. Expansion to the provinces

After appointing Alvaro del Portillo secretary general of Opus Dei, the founder
handed over to him part of his work and correspondence. Gradually the secretary
general began to receive visitors on behalf of the Father, to talk with those wh
o had joined the Work recently, and to give advice when Father Josemara was away
on his travels.[167]Soon he was taking care of the formation and spiritual direc
tion of many people in the Work.
This freed Father Josemara to accept more requests from the bishops to preach in
their dioceses. Between 1939 and 1944, he labored to elevate the spiritual level
of a good part of the Spanish clergy. He gave retreats not only for diocesan pr

iests, but also for communities of nuns and religious-order priests and for memb
ers of Catholic Action. To the latter "he gave a great number of retreats, alway
s for free. He acted as confessor and spiritual director to the lay people who g
ave the biggest impetus to this association in Spain."[168]
His love for the Work was deeply grounded in his love for the Church. In a lette
r to one of his sons, he asked: "My son, do you love the Work a lot?" and then i
mmediately added, "That love is the assurance that you love Jesus Christ and his
Church."[169]
In his work with the souls of his brothers in the priesthood, he felt very close
to Christ. He knew he was doing the will of God and felt the tangible guidance
by the Holy Spirit. "Your Father 'touches' the Holy Spirit," he wrote to his son
s in Madrid. "How much he helps, pushes, urges on! Help me to be holy."[170]As h
e had recorded in his journal on July 17, 1939, he had had a glimpse of this apo
stolic work before the war even ended. "In Burgos," he says, "before the taking
of Madrid, I saw details of what we were going to encounter there. It was like a
dream, but a waking one. Thus I knew I was going to give retreats to priests, a
s in fact has happened."[171]
More than a simple anticipation of events, this supernatural illumination suppli
ed a divine endorsement. That is the only credible explanation for his willingne
ss to preach in so many dioceses, while leaving his children virtually abandoned
. Yet he was greatly concerned for their spiritual needs and prayed for them man
y times each day, wrote them frequently, and from time to time visited those who
did not live in Madrid. He knew the recent vocations were in good hands, as a l
etter to Alvaro del Portillo from Avila makes clear.

May Jesus watch over my sons!

I have your letter in front of me, Alvaro, and am going to answer it point by po
int. Correct the date for Bishop Santos Moro's birthday: it's June 1. I will wri
te to the bishop of Barcelona for his feast day.
Those little ones-the children's battalion, Ignacio calls them-are the apple of
my eye. When I think of them, I see, in a very special way, God's paternal hand
blessing us. Dedicate all your efforts to them![172]

It was in August of 1940, while giving a retreat to the clergy of Leon, that he
received that "enlightenment about Opus Dei?s next efforts."[173] It was a clear
announcement from the Lord about the development of the Work. He therefore trie
d to cut back on his diocesan activities, but found it impossible to cut out all
such commitments, with the result that he found himself just as tied down in th
e summer of 1941 as he had been the year before. If he did on occasion manage to
say no to a bishop's request, it was because he could not be in two places at o
nce. On October 1 he wrote to the vicar general of the diocese of Huesca:

My esteemed friend:

I received your letter today, and am very grateful for your invitation. But this
summer I've given eleven retreats. And I've received a paternal indication (I'm
very fat and in poor health) prohibiting me from accepting any more preaching a
ssignments until I have gotten some rest, after the retreat I'm already signed u
p to give for the priests of your diocese.
You don't know how sorry I am to miss out on that triduum, which will give so mu
ch glory to Christ the King. It's hard for me, but I know that by obeying I am d
oing what is pleasing to him.[174]

In the end he had no other recourse but to take refuge in the authority of Bisho
p Eijo y Garay-a resolve he put in writing, to make it stronger: "I need to give
up all work unrelated to Opus Dei. For this, I will ask the help of my father t
he bishop of Madrid. He can shield me with his authority, refusing to let me giv
e retreats, etc."[175]
Once the Jenner Street residence was in operation, Father Josemara encouraged his

sons to make weekend apostolic trips outside Madrid. They began traveling to un
iversity cities near Madrid and to some provincial capitals to meet people whom
God might call to the Work. As apostolic work expanded in Valencia following his
visits of June and September, 1939, and his retreat for students in Burjasot, t
he cramped space of El Cubil was not enough. So, even though the members in Vale
ncia had barely finished setting up this very modest apartment on Samaniego Stre
et, he set them a new goal: before the 1940-1941 school year, they should begin
a student residence.
The founder communicated his urgency for the promotion of his spiritual "busines
s." In the summer of 1939, he wrote his sons in Valencia, "Three things get in t
he way, and I can't imagine you being held back by them: doubt, hesitation, inco
nstancy."[176]He was confident of their spirit of prayer, sacrifice, and willing
ness to work, but he reminded them, "Don't leave things for later, or for tomorr
ow. 'Later' and 'tomorrow' are two bad words, symptoms of a pessimistic and defe
atist attitude, which, along with that other one, 'impossible,' we have erased f
or good from our dictionary. Today and now!"[177]
Weekends were very short then, since people everywhere worked all day Saturday.
These apostolic trips meant catching rickety old trains on Saturday evening, hea
ded for Salamanca, Valladolid, Saragossa, Bilbao, or Valencia. It was not unusua
l to travel all night long.
Sundays were spent seeing friends and meeting friends of those friends. Late on
Sunday they would board a train for Madrid, arriving home at daybreak on Monday
morning.[178]
Those weekend travelers became very familiar with northern Spain. Sometimes one
group would meet another at a transfer station in Venta de Baos, Valladolid, or M
edina del Campo. Paco Botella recalls joining up several times in Medina del Cam
po with some who were returning from Salamanca, and waiting with them in the sta
tion cafe until three in the morning. They would order something to drink, so th
at they could sit at one of the tables, and, in the weak light of a bare bulb, t
hey would use the time to study, leaving the drinks untouched.[179] (This was so
that they could receive Communion the next morning. Back then one had to fast f
rom midnight, from both food and drink.)
After his trips to Valencia, Father Josemara turned his attention to Valladolid.
On Thursday, November 30,1939, he took the train there, accompanied by Alvaro de
l Portillo and Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin. They arrived late. It was a cold nig
ht, and a dense fog covered the city. Carrying their luggage, they walked the st
reets until finally they found a hotel with vacancies. In a meditation the next
morning, the Father told his companions, "We are in Valladolid to work for Chris
t. Even if we don't meet anyone, we should not consider it a failure."[180]
They had brought a list of students' names and addresses, and that morning they
contacted them at home and arranged to see them at the hotel in the afternoon. F
ather Josemara spoke with all of them, enthusing them with his apostolic zeal and
fomenting the ideal of sanctity in their hearts. So deep an impression did his
words make that when the afternoon ended, no one wanted to leave. When they fina
lly did part, Father Josemara promised to make other trips and expressed the hope
that these students would introduce him to friends who might also be able to un
derstand the apostolic spirit of Opus Dei. On Saturday, December 2, he returned
to Madrid.
He never complained, but his health continued to be a matter for concern. Becaus
e of his rheumatic pains, they bought a used car to spare him long trips on unhe
ated trains. It was an old Citroen that in normal times would have been consigne
d to the junkyard. On December 26, having gotten it repaired and having invoked
Saint Raphael and the guardian angels, Father Josemara, Alvaro del Portillo, and
Jose Maria Albareda set out for Saragossa in the car. It went a few miles and th
en broke down, forcing them to return to Madrid. The Father, who had already bee
n suffering from a high fever before they set out, now went to bed.[181] Two day
s later, accompanied by Alvaro, he again set out for Saragossa, this time by tra
in. They spent a day there and another in Barcelona, and were in Valencia for th
e first days of the new year.
On January 31 the Father again went to Valencia, this time with Pedro Casciaro a

nd Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, in the old Citroen. (Ricardo was driving.) Their
confidence in the car can be gauged by the fact that before leaving Madrid, the
y bought a towrope to take along. About forty miles into the trip, the car refus
ed to go any farther. While they were trying to unscrew one part, another one br
oke. The gasoline caught fire. But, recalls Pedro, "the Father, who had been pra
ying the Divine Office since we set out, encouraged us. He said that we had to g
et to Valencia any way we could, since it was becoming obvious, from how hard th
e devil was trying to prevent us from getting there, that our stay in that city
would be very fruitful."[182]After two days of breakdowns, they arrived. A good
number of young men were waiting for them.
Obstacles did not discourage Father Josemara. He did, as he wrote to his sons, fe
el very much in touch with the Holy Spirit and urged on by grace. His words move
d people to commit themselves completely to God, some of them setting aside plan
s they had nurtured for years. One day, at the seashore, he saw his efforts mirr
ored in a little boy.

In 1940, on a beach in Valencia, I had an opportunity to observe some fishermentough, strong men-dragging their net ashore. A little boy had joined them and wa
s trying to do as they were doing; he, too, was pulling on the net. He was only
getting in the way. But I saw that the toughness of those men of the sea had bee
n softened. They didn't shoo the little boy away, but let him think that he was
helping them.
I've told you this story many times, because it moves me to think that our Lord
God also lets us lend a hand to his works, and looks at us with affection when h
e sees us trying to collaborate with him.[183]

Did it make sense for those young students and recent graduates to commit themse
lves to an enterprise whose only visible manifestation was its founder and his c
ompanions? It happened frequently that from just a couple of conversations in a
hotel room, or after a walk in the city or the countryside, there sprang a radic
al change of life. It was evident that the Lord was liberally pouring out his gr
ace. Conscious of this and of the exceptional character of the times, Father Jos
emara chose, for heading and forming the first vocations, people who were very yo
ung and who had been in the Work for only a short time, but who "showed a maturi
ty of judgment and supernatural sense."[184]
The increase of vocations did, however, create some new problems. "Is the family
going to grow a lot?" Isidoro writes in the spring of 1940. "The news from all
is amazing. So we have to keep insisting on the matter of a house. This is most
essential for the development of the apostolate. What can be done with the famil
y if it can't find shelter? It's impossible to create a home atmosphere without
a house."[185]
After going three months without making an entry in his journal, the founder wro
te:

Wednesday, May 8,1940: Some months have gone by without any Catherines being wri
tten. It's not surprising, since my life is so hectic that I don't have time for
anything. But I do regret it.... News? A lot. It's impossible to choose things
for recording here. Just this one, external thing: we have centers in Valencia,
in Valladolid, in Barcelona (the center in Barcelona isn't up and running yet, s
ince the rental contract hasn't been finalized), and-soon-in Saragossa.[186]

The apartment in Valladolid had been set up within the previous month, and had b
een given the name El Rincon (The Corner). In Valencia a place had been found, a
t 16 Samaniego. It would be renovated during the summer and begin operations as
a student residence in October.[187] The apartment in Barcelona was at 62 Balmes
Street. The founder got news about it on July 1 and on that same day wrote from
Avila to Barcelona a letter that would soon prove prophetic:

May Jesus watch over my sons.

We already have a house in Barcelona! You can't imagine the joy this news gives
me. It is, no doubt, due to the blessing of that bishop-"I bless you with all my
heart, and I bless the house!" said our Bishop Miguel Diaz Gmara, the last time
I was there. This blessing explains the success of your search for El Palau. The
sure path for us to follow, in our spirit, is never to separate ourselves from
the bishops' ecclesiastical authority.
I feel that El Palau will, silently, give much glory to God.[188]

7. "How to fit Opus Dei into canon law"

In July 1940 an apartment was rented on Martinez Campos Street, not far from the
Jenner Street residence, and the older members of the Work moved there. Some ha
d just completed their studies, while others were preparing for university teach
ing. Father Josemara had high hopes of beginning what he referred to as "the inte
llectual apostolate."[189]He saw an urgent need for apostolically motivated univ
ersity professors. "Dissertations! I need two dozen Ph.D.'s," he frequently told
his sons.[190]
As early as 1927, at Madrid's Larra Street residence for priests, he had spoken
about the important role of intellectuals. Over the years he had become even mor
e convinced of the immense apostolate waiting to be done in that field. Speaking
to the other priests at the Larra Street residence, he had compared outstanding
intellectuals to snow that melts on the mountaintops in the spring and runs dow
n to irrigate the valleys. This idea had apparently taken hold, for in sending n
ews about the apartment on Martinez Campos, Isidoro wrote: "There are several di
ssertations under way, and several people are preparing for competitions for pro
fessorial positions. These matters are something we should all care about, since
they constitute one of the foundations for the growth of our business.[191]
Intellectuals, indeed, are the source of the ideas that guide society, and there
fore any serious attempt to re-Christianize social structures must start with th
em. In an early letter, addressed to those who in time would carry out this apos
tolate, the founder wrote:

We want to serve everyone. Our field of apostolate encompasses all men and women
, of all races and social backgrounds. But to reach everyone, we must first try
everywhere to reach the intellectuals, knowing that any attempt to influence soc
iety must go through them. Because they are the ones who see the big picture, th
e ones who are behind every movement that is at all effective, the ones who orga
nize and give shape to society's cultural, technological, and artistic developme
nts.[192]

Both in private conversations and in his preaching, Father Josemara repeatedly ta

ught the importance of making one's God-given talents bear fruit, and of winning
professional prestige by sanctifying one's work and sanctifying others through
it. One should, that is, make from professional efforts not a ladder for exaltin
g oneself, but a pedestal for exalting the Lord of creation. Each individual sho
uld work with full personal freedom and responsibility in his or her own profess
ional area.[193] Some of these ideas communicated by the founder inspired severa
l professionals, including Jose Maria Albareda, to offer the suggestion for the
law that, in November 1939, brought into being the Council for Advanced Scientif
ic Research.[194]
In this area, as in all others, the Father taught not only by word but by exampl
e. In the fall of 1939, at the abbey of Las Huelgas and at other archives in Mad
rid, he completed the research for his own doctoral dissertation. Given the dema
nds on his time, this was no small accomplishment. Then, on December 18, he atta
ined the doctorate by presenting A Canonical-Historical Study on the Ecclesiasti
cal Jurisdiction "Nullius Dioecesis" of the Abbess of Las Huelgas of Burgos.It w
as awarded the highest possible grade.[195]
Father Josemara also taught several government-organized courses which laid the g
roundwork for the Official School of journalism that opened the following year.

Both the bishop of Madrid and the director general for the press had urged him t
o teach the courses on general and professional ethics.[196]
With the weekend trips to other cities, a network for apostolic activity was bei
ng built up throughout central and northern Spain. By the beginning of 1940-nine
months after their return to a Madrid reduced to chaos by the war-the Work had
stable activities under way in Valencia, Valladolid, Barcelona, and Saragossa. B
ut Father Josemara wanted it established as soon as possible in many other parts
of the country, and, in prayer, he had worked out a very specific plan, at once
realistic and ambitious. On January 27, 1940, he wrote: "Very soon we will go to
Seville, Granada, and Santiago. With this we will have completed our plan to th
e letter."[197]
He had gotten the letters of introduction that he would need to present to the e
cclesiastical authorities in those cities. But not all these letters were entire
ly solemn-sounding. The one signed by the bishop of Pamplona and addressed to th
e archbishop of Santiago said:

The Rev. Jose Maria Escriva, bearer of this letter, is a rogue who can outfox th
e devil. He has many very gifted young men following him who are true apostles.
I know the spirit that animates them, I am edified, so much so that I consider m
yself part of his household.[198]

The bishop of Vitoria wrote to the archbishop of Granada:

"With these lines I wish to present Father Jose Maria Escriva, a priest of Chris
t and a true apostle in the fullest sense of the word. I don't ask that you be a
ttentive to him, because soon you will realize what he is like."[199]

Here, clearly, we have the bishops' perspectives on what Father Josemara had in h
is journal referred to as his "holy and apostolic shamelessness."[200]And it is
also clear, that Father Josemara also was acquiring a growing reputation for sanc
tity, as one bishop sang his praises to another. But even so, the bishops often
failed to grasp the full ecclesial significance of Opus Dei.[201]
Of them all, Bishop Eijo y Garay may best have understood what a profoundly new
thing Opus Dei was in the life of the Church. On September 2, 1939, he and the f
ounder had a five-hour conversation during which he expressed the view that the
time had come to give Opus Dei a juridical structure. But Father Josemara's react
ion was restrained. Next day he made this journal entry: "September 3, 1939: Was
with the bishop of Madrid yesterday, talking, about five hours. It went very we
ll. It's obvious that God is taking care of everything. What a shame that I'm an
obstacle! Bishop Leopoldo showed real affection."[202]
Putting the matter out of mind, Father Josemara concentrated on his work-until a
note came from the vicar general telling him to prepare the papers for official
approval. After consulting with his confessor, Father Sanchez, he wrote in his j
ournal: "Praise God! I will do it. Nevertheless, it seems to me that there's no
need to hurry."[203]
As he prepared the documents, he came to realize why he had been so reluctant to
move quickly. In his journal he wrote:

I can only account for my reluctance to draw up the statutes for the bishop, as
still another exterior proof of the divine origin of the Work. If it was a merel
y human thing, I would have been in a big rush to get those papers together?now
that everything is facilitated-and obtain the official approval. But since it is
entirely God's thing, and he wants it to last until the end, haste is not neces
sary. The Work began in 1928, on the feast of the holy guardian angels, and will
continue forever. As long as people are wayfarers on earth, the Work will exist
![204]

When he had the papers worked up, he asked Alvaro, Juan, Ricardo, and Chiqui to
help put them in order.[205]At the end of June 1940, with the project well along
, he showed the material to the priest in charge of canonical matters in the dio

cese, Father Jose Maria Bueno Monreal. It covered the regulations, governance, c
ustoms, spirit, and ceremonies of the Work. Examining these papers together, the
y came to the conclusion that there was no appropriate juridical framework for t
his ecclesial reality.[206] The effort came to a temporary halt. The founder wro
te, "We are confronting the serious problem of how to fit Opus Dei into canon la
w."[207]
This stumbling block came as no surprise to him. He had, in fact, been aware of
it from the beginning. Soon after Opus Dei?s founding, foreseeing that somewhere
down the line it would need ecclesiastical approval, he wrote of having "to det
ermine clearly the fields of action" of its members.[208] The young priest was w
ell aware that the impetuous winds of the Holy Spirit were erasing boundaries th
at theologians and canoeists had for almost two thousand years been using to mar
k out different fields of apostolate in the Church. Already in 1930 he wrote, "I
see that fervor, a zeal for the glory of God, like a cyclone, is making us want
to be, through him and for him, everywhere."[209]
From the beginning, he had carefully recorded in his journal all of God's inspir
ations. In June of 1930, upon rereading what he had written thus far, he was ast
onished by the broad, boundless fields of action opening before his eyes. He fil
led up sheet after sheet of paper, trying to list and categorize the immense var
iety of apostolates. He writes:

When I look over these sheets, I am amazed to see what God is doing. I would nev
er have dreamed of these works the Lord is inspiring, in the form they are takin
g. At first, all that can be seen is a vague idea. And then, him, turning those
shadowy sketches into something clear, specific, and doable. Him! To whom be all
glory.[210]

The newness of the Work's message and the secularity of the Work required a spec
ial juridical format. Apostolic activities could not grow spontaneously if encum
bered with rules and regulations that enclosed a living reality in a rigid frame
work. From time to time the founder mentions this problem in his journal. One ex
ample:[211]In this year of 1936, we have begun to live the life of poverty with
more perfection. We're seeing what I have so often said: that it is useless to d
raw up rules, because it has to be the very life of our apostolate that, in due
time, gives us our guidelines."[212]
On the day that he wrote that note, he was pondering whether or not the time was
right to seek approval for the Work. He writes:

Certainly, all indications are that if I were to ask the bishop for the first ec
clesiastical approval of the Work, he would grant it.... But it is a matter of s
o much importance that it requires a lot of thinking about. The Work of God has
to present a new form, and the path could easily be damaged.[213]

And now here was the archbishop of Madrid asking him to draw up the papers requi
red for getting that first approval. But much as he searched for a canonical sol
ution, he could not find one. One did not yet exist.

8. A change of confessors

The Jenner Street residence was operating at full capacity soon after it opened.
As the only fixed site for Opus Dei's apostolic activities, its study room, vis
iting rooms, and oratory were heavily used by residents and other students atten
ding classes of formation. Its doors were open to all, and its pleasant atmosphe
re led many students to bring friends there.
However, a resistance to taking these classes became noticeable among some stude
nts. Here and there, critical comments began to be heard in university circles.
There were rumors of strange things: of an oratory decorated with Masonic and ca
balistic symbols, of Communion given with perfumed hosts, of crosses without a c
orpus.

It was not the first time Father Josemara had been the target of such gossip.[214
] Feverish imaginations in search of the bizarre found cause for scandal in all k
inds of perfectly innocent things: in this case, the Christian symbols engraved
on the frieze of the oratory, between words from a Latin hymn; the bare cross; a
nd the slight fragrance given to the tabernacle in an attempt to hide the odor o
f carpenter's glue. Seeking to curtail the gossip, the founder asked the bishop
of Madrid to grant an indulgence for kissing that big wooden cross in the back o
f the oratory, so that people would understand its Christian meaning. A plaque s
oon appeared bearing a decree dated March 28, 1940, in which Bishop Eijo y Garay
granted a fifty days' indulgence for each time that someone "devoutly kissed th
e wooden cross in the student residence."[215]
Then, however, there came to the founder's attention new false accusations and l
ouder grumblings-and not from students this time, but from mature and responsibl
e people. At first Father Josemara refused to believe what his friends and sons w
ere telling him. He tore up the notes telling him what was happening. He just co
uld not believe that such lies could be spread among Christians. But before the
civil war, in the years of the DYA Academy and the Ferraz Street residence, he h
ad also suffered false accusations: he had been labeled crazy and a heretic, and
the Work called a sect or a Masonic conspiracy. So now he hoped that this pesti
lential new outbreak would likewise wither if greeted with silence. But the rumo
rs grew. Some students propagated the story that Father Josemara used special lig
hts in the oratory to make it appear that he was levitating, or to hypnotize tho
se present.[216]
Few of those notes from the first months of 1940 have survived. The ones that Fa
ther Josemara did not tear up, he passed on to his bishop. By spring, however, he
could no longer ignore the evidence of what was going on. The students spreadin
g this gossip-who had visited the residence and attended classes of formation-al
l belonged to the Marian Sodality of Madrid.
Feeling enmeshed in an invisible web, the priest suffered greatly from these cal
umnies. He determined to open his heart to Bishop Leopoldo:

Madrid, April 23, 1940

Father: How I would like to have a chance to speak with you at length....
I'm sending a note that I misplaced several months ago, because although I'm sur
e I'm not telling Your Excellency anything new, it's still a matter of some conc
ern. The enemy never sleeps! ...
Father: Don't forget my people (who are so much your sons!), nor this sinner,

Josemara.[217]

Because of one trip after another to give priests' retreats, he had been unable
to see his confessor for several weeks. The next time he did see him, on May 22,
he and Father Sanchez agreed that "even if it can only be once a month, because
of my trips, I will go to confession only to him."[218]He would certainly have
discussed the gossip and calumnies with his confessor. And here, for a few weeks
, all record of these events ceases, except for a few references that give no de
tails.[219]Father Josemara clearly preferred to forgive and forget. Evidently, th
ough, the rumors about him and the Work were continuing and becoming more and mo
re elaborate.
"Father," he wrote to his bishop, "I pray for you often, and I ask our Lord God
that you continue to see the Work that he has placed on my shoulders as God's an
d as your own."[220]
A few weeks later, on August 23, he went to Segovia to make a retreat at the Car
melite monastery where the remains of Saint John of the Cross are preserved. He
was assigned cell 36,which had on its door a plaque reading, "Pax. Declinabo sup
er earn quasi fluvium pacis. Isai. 66 v. 12" ["Peace. I will extend prosperity t
o her like a river"]. Next day he wrote:

I really needed this retreat. The sinner Josemara must become a saint. Besides, I

've had no lack of tribulations, recently though I haven't said anything about t
hem in these Catherines and my supernatural vision has improved so that I can be
ar them joyfully.
I won't make any notes on this retreat.[221]

When he returned to Madrid on August 28, new rumors and calumnies were awaiting
him. On September 15 he wrote to the bishop of Murcia:

My revered and very dear Bishop:

I thought about not saying anything to you on the following matter until I could
have the pleasure of seeing you in Barcelona. But I have consulted with Monsign
or Casimiro Morcillo, and he has advised me to inform you without delay.
I have reliable information that an official of Catholic Action for Young Men of
Murcia has literally said that the Work (which I have been engaged in for twelv
e years in close union with my bishop and the bishops of the other places where
I work) is in danger of excommunication by the Pope; that he (the official) is p
erfectly aware of all that is really going on, but that we only tell the bishops
what suits us, etc.
All of this is total slander, and I leave it to you to judge its gravity.[222]

For the most part he kept his sufferings to himself. But to the bishop of Pamplo
na he wrote, "Don't forget to pray for us, and especially for me, because I alwa
ys have the cross on my back."[223]
At the beginning of September he had gone to see Monsignor Morcillo, and then tw
o or three of the individuals linked to the calumnies and rumors. He wanted once
and for all to put an end to the calumnies and to the disturbances that the dev
il had stirred up through these people whose intentions may not have been bad bu
t who had acted recklessly.
He also decided to ask the advice of his confessor, Father Sanchez, concerning t
he Jesuit priest who was in charge of the Marian Sodality, Father Carrillo de Al
bornoz.[224] There was strong evidence that this priest was spreading the rumor
that the Work was a heretical secret society, Masonic in origin. Father Sanchez
suggested that he speak face to face with him.
He did so. He told Father Carrillo of the rumors being attributed to him, and ex
plained to the best of his ability the work being done with students at the Jenn
er Street residence. And then he tactfully gave the priest a way to save face. H
e proposed an agreement: If either of them heard any pejorative criticism in the
future-against the Work or against the Marian Sodalities-he would tell the othe
r as soon as possible.[225]
But the murmurings were not coming only from the religious side. Seemingly overn
ight, the priest's good name had gotten entangled in political intrigues as well
. Seeking to clarify his position, Father Josemara made a visit to the Ministry o
f the Interior. "I don't get involved-not in the least-in matters not pertaining
to priesthood," he wrote in his journal. "I am a priest and only a priest. Some
people are trying to drag my name into political and professional matters. God
save me!"[226]
Then he went to see the vicar general-to fill him in on this new problem, and, t
hough he does not say so directly, for consolation at a time when he was hurting
. "Casimiro encouraged me," he gratefully records after the visit.[227]
From September 17 to 23 he was in Valencia, helping get the student residence th
ere launched. The day after his return to Madrid, he went with Alvaro del Portil
lo to see Father Sanchez again, at the Jesuit residence on Zorrilla Street, and
presented his confessor with a copy of the documents he had submitted for gettin
g the Work approved. He did this at least partly because the ascetical practices
and life of piety outlined there had much to do with his own interior life, but
perhaps also as a sign of trust in his confessor.[228]Then he spoke of his late
st concerns-and got, as a response, an additional one. "There are those," said F
ather Sanchez, "who doubt that you are in good graces with the bishops." What he
was saying did not come as any news, but the tone in which he said it struck Fa

ther Josemara as odd.

They went on to talk about the discretion with which members of Opus Dei had bee
n carrying on their apostolate since 1931,when the Work was still in its infancy
and the Church was being violently persecuted. A similar prudence also was obse
rved with regard to the spiritual direction of new members. By a free personal d
ecision, they confided fully only in those who had a full knowledge of the Work
and its spirit, and who were therefore in a position to give them sound advice.
Father Sanchez knew perfectly well that this was the only sensible thing to do i
n such circumstances. In fact, it was what he himself had always recommended. Th
us one can well imagine Father Josemara's surprise at hearing him now say, withou
t batting an eye, that whatever had to do with a vocation to the Work should be
discussed unreservedly with any confessor. How could it happen that the Jesuit w
as now taking this position, when for years he had been recommending that member
s of the Work receive spiritual direction only from priests who knew and loved i
t? As a director of souls, the founder immediately saw the grave consequences of
such a change. He wondered at the fact that his confessor had "in a few hours c
hanged an opinion he had held for years."[229]
Things were moving fast. Father Josemara decided to go right away to see the bish
op of Madrid, who was in Alhama de Aragon for a few days' rest. They lunched tog
ether on September 27 and had a long conversation about the Work. On the next da
y he wrote:

Yesterday I was in Alhama de Aragon, with the bishop of Madrid. What a father we
have in him! How well he understands and identifies with the Work of God! I tol
d him the latest tribulations. He was moved. He sees God behind everything, but
he also sees the narrow-mindedness of some persons. In summary, he told me he wa
nts to grant the decree of establishment and approval of Opus Dei as soon as he
gets back to Madrid.[230]

They spoke of his visits and meetings of the past few weeks, and of Father Carri
llo: "The thing about the Jesuits, he sees the same way I do-that one must not c
onfuse an individual member with the whole Society. The bishop, the same as me,
very much loves and venerates the Society of Jesus."[231]
The founder next met with Father Sanchez two weeks later. (As before, he was acc
ompanied by Alvaro del Portillo.) Coming directly to the point, he told his conf
essor that to his great sorrow he had noticed a radical change in his attitude t
oward the Work, and that after much thought, he had concluded that he could not
in good conscience continue seeing him for spiritual direction, since he had los
t confidence in him.
Father Sanchez, obviously somewhat upset, replied brusquely that the Holy See wo
uld never approve the Work, and cited a canon in support of his view. This unexp
ected outburst came as a severe blow to Father Josemara, but he answered calmly t
hat since the Work belonged to God, he would guide it to a safe harbor.[232]
The meeting was over. Father Sanchez returned the papers the founder had given h
im. But all the way home, a question kept running through Father Josemara's mind:
Why did this man, who had so often assured him of Opus Dei's divine origin, now
doubt it? When he got back to Jenner, the first thing he did was to look up the
canon cited by Father Sanchez. Much to his relief, he found that it had no bear
ing on the approval. Then he opened the envelope that had in it the returned pap
ers, and with them he found a sheet with five or six names: a list of students w
ho had frequented the Jenner Street residence for the purpose of secretly inform
ing Father Carrillo of what went on there. Had Father Sanchez left that sheet th
ere by accident? Or had he "accidentally on purpose," out of friendship, provide
d him this information?[233]
November passed without major incident. Father Josemara kept in mind what Bishop
Leopoldo had said at the end of their visit in Alhama de Aragon: "Look, Josemara,
up to now our Lord wanted you to take as your model the good thief, and say, 'I
deserve to be on the cross.' But from now on, your only model is Jesus on the c
ross. So may sufferings come-without any justification!"[234]
Also, the Lord was preparing him for bitter sufferings ahead by granting him a d

ivine locution.

For a while now, I have often caught myself saying, "Aquae multae non potuerunt
extinguere caritatem" ["Many waters cannot quench love": Song 8:7]. I interpret
these words in two ways: one, that the multitude of my past sins cannot separate
me from the Love of my God; and the other, that the waters of the persecution w
e are now undergoing will not impede the apostolate of the Work.[235]

Father Josemara's reaction to the persecution was both very human and deeply supe
rnatural. At first he refused to believe people could do such evil things. Later
, when forced to acknowledge the facts, he tried to put a good face on their int
entions. ("I know his intention isn't bad," he said of one of the rumormongers,
"but he doesn't understand anything about our spirit, and he gets everything con
fused and mixed up.[236])And as a last resort, in the face of irrefutable eviden
ce, he could only forgive and forget. "Although I don't want to mention this," h
e writes, "I will just say that it is hard to believe in the good faith of those
who systematically spread calumnies. I forgive them with all my heart."[237]
In mid-November he gave a retreat at Madrid's major seminary. One day he left fr
om there to visit the Undersecretary of the Interior, and on his way he ran into
Father Carrillo de Albornoz, "the religious who instigated this last tribulatio
n that has gone on now for so long."[238]With no rancor and with perfect natural
ness, he shook Father Carrillo's hand and said, "I'm pleased to see you, Father.
God bless you!" Aware that Father Carrillo, instead of keeping their pact to co
mmunicate criticisms, was going around calling him "either crazy or evil," he ad
ded, "Don't you remember our gentlemen's agreement?"
"I already spoke about all that last night, at nine, with the vicar general," Fa
ther Carrillo answered hurriedly, breaking away. On the next day the founder wro
te in his journal:

November 15, Madrid:... In the afternoon, I found myself experiencing a deep int
erior joy on account of that tribulation. And I feel a greater love for the bles
sed Society of Jesus, and sympathy and even affection for the religious causing
this whole mess. Besides, I understand that he is a very likable man, and certai
nly a very good person. May God bless and prosper him! This morning I told all t
his to my spiritual father, Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguera.[239]

Father Sanchez and Father Josemara did not see each other again until November 22
,1948. By then the Holy See had granted the Decretum laudis for Opus Dei and pon
tifical approval of its statutes. The founder traveled to Spain and visited all
of the superiors of the Society of Jesus, except for the one in Seville, who ref
used to receive him. In Madrid, with the permission of the provincial, he went t
o see Father Sanchez, who received him with great joy. They spoke of old times,
and, inevitably, they did touch on that sore spot. Father Josemara tells us:

He was very happy to hear what I told him about the expansion of the Work. I tri
ed to draw him out a bit, saying to him, "I really suffered, Father. At the sigh
t of that relentless attack made on me by such good people, I even thought at on
e moment, Could I be mistaken, and it's not from God, and I'm leading souls astr
ay?"
And he immediately protested, with great earnestness: "No, no. It's from God. It
's all from God."[240]

Father Valentin Sanchez Ruiz died in Madrid on November 30, 1963. When the news
reached Rome, the founder celebrated holy Mass for him and wrote to the Opus Dei
Counsellor in Spain. The letter reflects the deep emotions he felt at hearing t
he news. "That venerable religious," he says, "didn't have anything to do with t
he Work, but he had a lot to do with my soul, which cannot be separated from Opu
s Dei." The letter concludes:

May he rest in peace, for he was good and apostolic! I turned to him-especially

when our Lord or his most holy Mother made themselves manifest to this sinner, a
nd I, after being frightened because I did not want that, had felt clearly and s
trongly in the depths of my soul a wordless "Ne timeas! Don't be afraid; it is I
." Every time this happened, the good Jesuit, after hearing me out a few hours l
ater, would say to me with a fatherly smile, "Be at peace: this is from God."
Forgive me. I am a poor man. Pray for me, that I may be good, faithful, and chee
rful. I have felt the need to tell you all of this so that you will pray to our
Lord for that soul, who was, I think, very pleasing to him.[241]
[1] AGP, RHF, EF-390213-7.
[2] AGP, RHF, EF-390224-5.
[3] See AGP, RHF, EF-390224-3 and EF-390213-2.
[4] AGP, RHF, EF-390303-2.
[5] Apuntes, no. 220.
[6] AGP, RHF, EF-390310-3.
[7] AGP, RHF, EF-390324-1.
[8] Thus began a new custom in the Work.
[9] AGP, RHF, EF-390324-1.
[10] AGP, RHF, EF-390323-2.
[11] See AGP, RHF, T-05250, p. 2 (Pilar Angela Hernando Carretero); T-00162, p.
41 (Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin); and T-00159/1, p. 87 (Francisco Botella).
Justo Martf Gilabert, who had been a student living at the Ferraz Street residen
ce during the school year of 1935-1936, describes the entrance of Father Josemara
into Madrid with the first troops. "I was standing," he says, "on the corner of
Plaza de Espana where Bailen Street ends and Ferraz begins, and was facing St.
Vincent Avenue. In the emotion-charged atmosphere, what was my surprise and enth
usiasm at seeing our Father himself sitting next to the driver of the first truc
k that came chugging up the hill! I was not yet in the Work at that time, but as
a resident in the Ferraz Street house, I had known the Father and received spir
itual direction from him, starting in October or November of 1935.
"Since the truck had to slow down when coming up St. Vincent Avenue-which is so
hilly that it's also called St. Vincent Hill-and when taking the curve onto Ferr
az Street, one almost could not help but see the Father, especially since he was
wearing the first cassock seen in the city since July of 1936. The very instant
I caught sight of him, I began to shout, 'Father!' The Father answered, 'Justo,
my son!' and immediately asked the driver to stop and make room for me. As we e
mbraced, my emotions got the better of me. Just two minutes later, there we were
in front of the residence at 16 Ferraz Street.
"The Father took a quick look at the destruction. Only the facade was still stan
ding, and even it was badly damaged by shells fired by the nationalist troops fr
om the hill of Garabitas. That part of Madrid had been practically on the front
lines. I recall that the Father spent no more than a couple of minutes looking a
t that pile of rubble. He then returned to the truck and asked the driver to tak
e us to the apartment building on Caracas Street. On one floor of it lived the p
arents of Jose Maria Barredo." See AGP, RHF, T-06358, pp. 3-4.
[12] See Apuntes, no. 1595 (13 Apr 1939).
[13] See the catalog IV Centenario de la Real Fundacion del Convento de Santa Is
abel de Madrid, put out by the Editorial Patrimonio Nacional (Madrid, 1990). The
most valuable piece of work lost was Ribera's "Immaculate Conception," the cent
erpiece of the reredos on the main altar (see pp. 44 and 122). The painting had
been Doated by King Philip IV; the face, for which Ribera's daughter had been the
model, had been repainted by Claudio Coello. See also Antonio Ponz, Viaje por E
spana (1788; reprinted by M. Aguilar, Madrid, 1947), p. 426.
[14] AGP, RHF, EF-390109-1.
[15] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 929; Apuntes, no. 815 (23 Aug 1932); Letter 2
4 Oct 1942, no. 30; and AGP, RHF, T-00162, p. 42.
[16] Father Josemara obtained permission from the Director General of Ecclesiasti
cal Affairs to keep part of the furnishings as a small compensation for the loss
es at 16 Ferraz. See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 89. The work of reconstruction cont

inued until 1947.

[17] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 90.
[18] As rector, Father Josemara immediately set about helping both communities no
t only to reorganize their convent life, but also to rebuild the damaged buildin
gs. He even provided for their material needs: food, etc. See Cecilia G6mez Jime
nez, Sum. 6512. See also AGP, RHF, T-05039, p. 2 (Consolacin Mariana Casas).
[19] The original contract is in the archives of the Archdiocese of Madrid, unde
r "Foundation of Santa Isabel." The contract bears the signatures of the rector,
the mother superior, and the vicar general. Its third clause provides for a com
pensation by the community of 250 pesetas a month for the rector's needs. It is
further specified that Father Josemara renounces this remuneration, but that his
successors' right to the sum stands. "The present rector and signatory, for hims
elf and personally and without this serving as a precedent or lessening the righ
ts of his successors in that position, does freely renounce, for the benefit of
the community, the receiving of said indemnification, for the entire time that h
e holds this position."
[20] See AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 30.
[21] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 91.
[22] See AGP, RHF, EF-390109-1.
[23] Apuntes, no. 1595 (13 Apr 1939).
[24] Ibid.
[25] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 422.
[26] AGP, RHF, EF-390427-2.
[27] AGP, RHF, EF-390427-3 (Letter to Jose Maria Hem andez Garnica).
[28] For a partial list of the founder's preaching activities in these years, se
e Appendix 6.
[29] AGP, RHF, EF-390518-6. A little later, on June 2, he communicated in a lett
er to Madrid's vicar general his plan of work for the summer, to be submitted to
the bishop for approval. See AGP, RHF, EF-390602-1.
[30] AGP, RHF, EF-390606-3.
[31] See AGP, RHF, T-02769, p.1(Amadeo de Fuenmayor Champin). Monsignor Rodilla
had spoken with Father Josemara for the first time in 1934, in Madrid; see Antoni
o Rodilla, Sum. 5576. The founder referred to him in his correspondence on sever
al occasions: see, for example, AGP, RHF, EF-380327-2 and EF-380412-1. In the se
cond of these letters he describes him as "a holy and learned priest."
[32] In March of 1938, when the founder was still in Burgos, Father Rodilla had
written him from Cadiz, announcing an upcoming visit to Burgos. "I want you to i
nfect me with your madness," he wrote. See AGP, RHF, D-15392-2.
The epithet "priest of the miracles" spread quickly among churchmen, friends, an
d persons receiving spiritual direction from him. "I don't want to be regarded a
s the priest of the miracles," he said. "I'm just a poor, fat priest working hum
bly to do whatever good I can": Jose Lpez Ortiz, in Beato Josemara Escriva de Bala
guer: un hombre de Dios. Testimonios sobre el Fundador del Opus Dei (Madrid, 199
4), p. 223. (Hereafter this book will be cited as Testimonios.)
[33] Letter 9 Jan 1959, no. 35. See also Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1689; AGP,
RHF, T-02769 (p. 1), T-00159/1 (p. 93), T-07805, D-12799, and T-12942; and Alfon
so Mendiz Noguero, "Cada Caminante siga su camino: Historia y significado de un
lema poetico en la vida del fundador del Opus Dei," in Anuario de Historia de la
Iglesia 9 (2000): 741-69.
[34] See AGP, P01 1975, p. 789.
[35] AGP, RHF, EF-390606-1. See also EF-390613-2. This second letter shows Alvar
o's departure from Olot as having taken place on the morning of June 13.
[36] AGP, RHF, EF-390606-3.
[37] AGP, RHF, EF-390613-2.
[38] AGP, RHF, EF-390615-1.
[39] AGP, RHF, EF-390716-1.
[40] Although in his letters he referred to Considerations, he was also thinking
of another book, as we shall see. He wrote to Bishop Moro, "After these have co
me out, I will be delighted to spend time with my bishop and write the third one
": AGP, RHF, EF-380400-1. (The second book was Holy Rosary.)

For complete and detailed information on the history and content of Consideracio
nes Espirituales and of The Way, see: Camino, Edicion critico-historica preparad
a por Pedro Rodriguez (Madrid: Rialp, 2002).
[41] "When he was just sketching out an idea on some scrap of paper or other," s
ays Pedro Casciaro, "the Father called those papers 'slips,' but when he had rew
orked them on a bigger piece of paper, he called them 'little bagpipes.' But in
either case, the phrases were always very concise.... He used the holy Gospel a
lot in his preaching, developing his explication around two or three of these 'l
ittle bagpipes.' He gave marvelous meditations and talks based on this material.
I think he called them 'little bagpipes' because he did not read these concise
phrases but, rather, expanded them, making them 'resound"' (AGP, RHF, T-04197, p
. 144).
[42] AGP, RHF, EF-390111-1. Pedro answered, "Delighted to take care of the print
ing of your book" (AGP, RHF, D-15717).
[43] AGP, RHF, EF-390117-1.
[44] See AGP, RHF, EF-380419-2, and Apuntes,no. 1550 (22 Feb 1938).
[45] AGP, RHF, EF-390213-3.
[46] AGP, RHF, EF-390218-1.
[47] AGP, RHF, D-15718.
[48] The Way, Introduction.
[49] AGP, RHF, EF-390518-5. See also Apuntes,no. 1141 (24 Feb 1934), no. 1160 (1
6 Mar 1934), no. 1304 (12 Dec 1935), and no. 1596 (13 Apr 1939).
[50] See AGP, RHF, D-15393. It is quite possible that Father Josemara had already
written to Pedro that it would be called The Way. In the end, by the way, it wa
s Miguel Fisac, not Pedro Casciaro, who designed the cover.
[51] See AGE, RHF, EF-390606-3.
[52] Father Josemara's use of that saying as a theme for the meditations he gave
in Burjasot is mentioned by Paco Botella, who attended some of them. (See AGP, R
HF, T-00159/1, p. 93.) Amadeo de Fuenmayor likewise testifies that "he managed t
o make good use of it in his preaching." During the retreat, he says, he spoke t
o the Father about the possibility of his having a vocation to the Work, and he
remembers the deep peace he felt afterwards, and the Father's words: "God works
suaviter et fortiter [gently and strongly]. Recall the circumstances of your lif
e, and you will see how he has been preparing the way"(AGP, RHF, T-02769, pp. 12). See also AGP, RHF, T-07805 (Carlos Verde Moscardo) and D-12799 (Roberto Moro
der).
[53] Printed by a company called Graficas Turia, it was about 7 x 10 in. and had
336 pages. The first printing was of 2,500 copies. "I think that when you put t
he price on the book," the author wrote to his sons in Valencia, "you should set
it according to what is standard today, neither more nor less" (AGP, RHF, EF-39
0628-1). In 1939 the price per copy for direct sales was 8 pesetas; in 1940, 10
pesetas. The retail price in bookstores was 14 pesetas. To Manuel Perez Sanchez,
who was in Gijon, Father Josemara wrote: "I would appreciate it if you could see
if any bookstore in Gijon might be interested in selling my book. If so, give t
hem the address so they can write for them, unless you would like to be a middle
man, which would be better. The Way is sold at 14 pesetas a copy, and the bookst
ores get a discount of 20 to 25 percent. Holy Rosary is sold at 30 pesetas per h
undred, so it can be sold at half a peseta per copy." (AGP, RHF, EF-400122-5).
[54] Some points in The Way came from letters in which Father Josemara gave peopl
e advice regarding problems they had written to him about. Compare, for example,
nos. 160-164 with the texts of two letters to Miguel Sotomayor Muro: AGP, RHF,
EF-380408-7 and EF-380502-7.
In some instances he picks up something written by the other person, such as "My
enthusiasm is gone" (Alvaro del Portillo), and adds a commentary: in this case,
"Yours has to be a work not of enthusiasm, but of Love, conscious of duty-which
means self-denial" (The Way, no. 994).
It can also happen that in copying a paragraph or a few lines from a letter, the
author is actually picking up ideas that he himself has earlier sown. Such is t
he case with the plain wooden cross (without a corpus) that was placed in the fi
rst centers of the Work, before the civil war. In The Way, no. 277, we read: "Yo

u ask me, 'Why that wooden cross?' And I quote from a letter: 'As I raise my eye
s from the microscope, my sight comes to rest on the cross-black and empty...."'
The letter to which this refers was written by Juan Jimenez Vargas, on May 4, 1
938, from the Teruel front. In it he mentions that he has found some pieces of w
ood, painted black ... a cross. He then continues with his memories of republica
n Madrid-a paragraph which, with some editing, became part of The Way.
Sometimes, too, Father Josemara extracts an entire anecdote from a letter and rec
onstructs it into a point for meditation. Ricardo Fernandez Vallespn, for example
, in a letter dated December 18,1938, tells this story: On December 8, feast of
the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the infantry, the officers of that branc
h invited him to dinner. "After dinner," he says, "wine flowing, songs of all ty
pes and flavors were sung, one of which stuck in my head: 'I do not like divided
hearts. I give mine whole and not in parts.' What a struggle to give my heart c
omplete
[55] Some points in The Way came from letters in which Father Josemara gave peopl
e advice regarding problems they had written to him about. Compare, for example,
nos. 160-164 with the texts of two letters to Miguel Sotomayor Muro: AGP, RHF,
EF-380408-7 and EF-380502-7.
In some instances he picks up something written by the other person, such as "My
enthusiasm is gone" (Alvaro del Portillo), and adds a commentary: in this case,
"Yours has to be a work not of enthusiasm, but of Love, conscious of duty-which
means self-denial" (The Way, no. 994).
It can also happen that in copying a paragraph or a few lines from a letter, the
author is actually picking up ideas that he himself has earlier sown. Such is t
he case with the plain wooden cross (without a corpus) that was placed in the fi
rst centers of the Work, before the civil war. In The Way, no. 277, we read: "Yo
u ask me, 'Why that wooden cross?' And I quote from a letter: 'As I raise my eye
s from the microscope, my sight comes to rest on the cross-black and empty...."'
The letter to which this refers was written by Juan Jimenez Vargas, on May 4, 1
938, from the Teruel front. In it he mentions that he has found some pieces of w
ood, painted black ... a cross. He then continues with his memories of republica
n Madrid-a paragraph which, with some editing, became part of The Way.
Sometimes, too, Father Josemara extracts an entire anecdote from a letter and rec
onstructs it into a point for meditation. Ricardo Fernandez Vallespn, for example
, in a letter dated December 18,1938, tells this story: On December 8, feast of
the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the infantry, the officers of that branc
h invited him to dinner. "After dinner," he says, "wine flowing, songs of all ty
pes and flavors were sung, one of which stuck in my head: 'I do not like divided
hearts. I give mine whole and not in parts.' What a struggle to give my heart c
ompletely!" (Compare with The Way, no. 145.)
[56] The Way, no. 532. (See also vol. 1, pp. 331-33, of this biography.)
[57] The Way, no. 626. (See also vol. 1, p. 328, of this biography.)
[58] The Way, no. 208. (See also vol. 1, p. 339, of this biography.)
[59] The Way, no. 933. (See also vol. 1, p. 318, of this biography.)
[60] The Way, no. 12. This locution occurred on December 12,1931. (See Apuntes,
no. 476 (13 Dec 1931) and vol. 1, pp. 298-99, of this biography.) The second par
agraph of this point in The Way refers to their situation during the war (their
inability to do apostolate) and to the closing of the DYA Academy on Ferraz Stre
et in 1935.
[61] Apuntes, no. 1441.
[62] The Way, no. 438.
[63] See Spiritual Considerations, Preliminary Note.
[64] The Way, Prologue of the Author.
[65] The Way, no. 1.
[66] The Way, no. 983.
[67] The Way, no. 998. See also Eliodoro Gil Rivera, Sum. 7766.
Also relevant are these two paragraphs from the Instruction of 9 Jan 1935 (nos.
220 and 221), on the importance of teaching young people not to neglect the litt
le things:
"Get them to reflect on what it takes to erect a magnificent building: one day a

fter another of monotonous work. Little things: one brick and another brick, and
a foundation stone that, despite its huge size, is nothing compared to the whol
e building; beginning and ending the day's work at the same times each day; and
perseverance. Nothing great is achieved overnight, and especially not sanctity.
How much you can tell them about sanctity and little things!
The blessed perseverance, full of fruitfulness, of the poor donkey at the waterw
heel! Always the same, monotonously; hidden and despised because of its humble p
ace; not needing to know that from its efforts come the aroma of the flowers, th
e beauty of the fruit in season, the refreshing shade of the trees in summer; al
l the richness of the orchard and all the charm of the garden."
[68] The Way, no. 999.
[69] The Way, no. 778. Like almost all of the other counsels in The Way, this po
int has a tie to the author's own interior life. In his journal entry for Octobe
r 27, 1932, we read: "Don't make a decision without first stopping to consider t
he matter in God's presence" (Apuntes,no. 853).
[70] The Way, no. 754.
[71] The Way, no. 755.
[72] This was Manuel Sainz de los Terreros. See AGP, RHF, EF-380117-3.
[73] The Way, no. 756.
[74] Apuntes, nos. 703 and 704.
[75] The Way, no. 811.
[76] AGP, RHF, EF-380327-3.
[77] The Way, no. 197. See also Pedro Casciaro, Dream and Your Dreams Will Fall
Short (London and Princeton, 1994), p. 151.
[78] The Way, no. 905.
[79] The Way, no. 255. The founder wanted to lead each soul along its specific p
ath, as he explained in an interview with the journalist Jacques Guilleme-Brulon
which was published in the 16 May 1966 issue of Le Figaro. This part of it also
appears in Conversations, no. 36: "I wrote a good part of that book in 1934, su
mmarizing my priestly experience for the benefit of all the souls with whom I wa
s in contact, whether they were in Opus Dei or not. I never suspected that thirt
y years later it would be spread so widely-millions of copies, in so many langua
ges. It is not a book solely for members of Opus Dei. It is for everyone, whethe
r Christian or not. Among those who have translated it on their own initiative a
re Orthodox, Protestants, and non-Christians. The Way must be read with at least
some supernatural spirit, some interior life and apostolic feeling. It is not a
code for the man of action. The aim of the book is to help men become friends o
f God, to love him and serve all men. In other words, to be an instrument?which
gets back to your question-as Saint Paul the Apostle wanted to be an instrument
of Christ?a free and responsible instrument. Anyone who tries to see a temporal
goal in the pages of The Way ismistaken. Do not forget it has been common for sp
iritual authors of every age to see souls as instruments in the hands of God."
[80] The Way, no. 301. The entire book resonates with the universal call to holi
ness, and with the urgent demands that this makes on one's own conscience. One e
xample: "Why don't you give yourself to God once and for all,...really,... now!"
(no. 902). This is a question that Father Josemara frequently asked himself.
[81] The Way, no. 817.
[82] Pedro Casciaro, who had heard the founder "play the little bagpipes" and ha
d witnessed his laborious typing of them, wrote forty years later: "All through
my years as a priest, innumerable persons have confided to me that the first tim
e they felt our Lord knocking at their heart and their soul to open up to the fa
ith was precisely when a copy of The Way came into their hands" (AGP, RHF, T-041
97, p. 146).
A few years after the book's appearance, Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini-the
future Pope Paul VI, at that time an official of the Secretariat of State-wrote
, in a letter dated February 2, 1945: "I don't want to hide ... the pleasure I h
ave gotten from reading it. Its pages are a deeply felt and powerful call to the
generous hearts of young people, to whom it opens up elevated ideals and teache
s the path of reflection and serious judgment, disposing them to live an integra
l supernatural life. This work, now in its second printing, does not need wishes

for its success; we already see the consoling reality of the bountiful fruit it
has produced in the university world" (AGP, RHF, D-15086).
[83] Apuntes, no. 218 (7 Aug 1931).
[84] The first edition of Holy Rosary was published in Madrid in 1934: "Santo Ro
sario, by Jose Maria, with ecclesiastical approval. Pub.: 3 Juan Bravo, Madrid."
The second edition ("Jose Maria Escriva, Santo Rosario with ecclesiastical appr
oval, pub. Graficas Turia, Valencia" appeared in 1939; the date of its imprimatu
r was October 2, 1939. It consisted of 16 pages of about 6 x 9 inches. The last
page carried a notice concerning other publications by the same author:

The Way (Introduction by His Excellency the Bishop of Vitoria)

Liturgical Devotions (Introduction by His Excellency the Bishop of Tortosa)-fort
hcoming

Apparently it was to Liturgical Devotions that Father Josemara was referring when
he wrote the above-mentioned letter (AGP, RHF, EF-380400-1) to the bishop of Av
ila mentioning that he had two books under way. As is the case with The Way, the
re is no written reference to the negotiations concerning this book. There is on
ly a casual mention by Francisco Botella, who says that Isidoro was working on "
ordering the material that the Father was giving him, for a book that the Father
wanted to publish on liturgical devotions," and that the Father "had already be
gun this work when they were staying at Santa Isabel." See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1,
p. 102.
[85] AGP, RHF, D-03691.
[86] AGP, RHF, EF-390109-1.
[87] The war destroyed 30 percent of maritime freight tonnage, half of the count
ry's locomotives, 8 percent of homes, and a third of the cattle. In 1939, indust
rial production was 31 percent below that of the last prewar year, agricultural
production was down 21 percent, the workforce had been reduced by half a million
, and per capita income was about 28 percent lower. In the five years after the
war, malnutrition and sickness caused a minimum of 200,000 deaths above the prew
ar mortality rate. See Ramn Salas Larrazabal, Perdidas de la guerra (Barcelona, 1
977); Larrazabal, Los datos exactos de la guerra civil (Madrid, 1980); and Stanl
ey G. Payne, El regimen de Franco, 1936-1975 (Madrid, 1987), pp. 260 and 267.
[88] Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. 31 (1939), pp. 151-54.
[89] Annual statistical compilations give the following numbers for the people i
mprisoned in the postwar years. At the time of the surrender there were 100,292
prisoners in the nationalist zone; by the end of 1939, 270,719; in 1940, 233,373
; in 1941, 159,392; in 1942, 124,423; in 1943, 74,095; in 1944, 54,072; in 1945,
43,812; in 1946, 36,379.
Ramn Salas Larrazabal calculates the number of executions from 1939 to 1945 "for
political violence" at about 28,000. After 1945, he says, they became increasing
ly rare. (See his "Tiempo de silencio, carcel y muerte," in Historia del franqui
smo 16 [Madrid, 1985], pp. 18-19.) Later studies have revised these figures; som
e have put the number of executions at more than 35,000. But firm figures for th
is tragic epilogue to the civil war are lacking. For more on this subject, see J
osep Maria Sole i Sabate, "Las represiones," in La Guerra Civil: Una nueva visio
n del conflicto que dividio Espana, ed. Stanley G. Payne and Javier Tusell (Madr
id, 1996), pp. 598-604; Angel David Martin Rubio, "Las perdidas humanas (a conse
cuencia de la Guerra Civil espanola)," in La Guerra Civil Espanola (Sesenta anos
despues), ed. Miguel Alonso Baquer (Madrid, 1999), pp. 321-65; and Gonzalo Redo
ndo, Politico, Cultura y Sociedad en la Espana de Franco: 1939-1975, vol. 1, La
configuracion del Estado espanol, nacional y catolico: 1939-1947 (Pamplona, 1999
), pp. 105-108.
[90] AGP, RHF, EF-380419-2.
[91] See Josemara Escriva, The Way of the Cross,Station 8, no. 3.
[92] See Javier Echevarrfa, Sum. 2945.
[93] Franco created the one party, the National Movement (Movimiento Nacional),
in an attempt to unify by decree all those who had supported the military uprisi
ng. Its creation in April 1937 provoked several violent incidents that were supp

ressed severely. Up to 1943, one can speak more properly of the Falange (Falange
Espanola Tradicionalista) and of the JONS (Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindical
ista) than of the Movement as such, since it was these political groups that alm
ost exclusively controlled all political activity in those first years of the re
gime. See Payne, El regimen, pp. 180-91.
Franco always desired an integration of all Spaniards in the National Movement.
But whether he achieved it is another question. A good part of the Spanish popul
ation had political ideas quite different from those of Franco's regime of "nati
onal unity." For more on Franco's thinking in this regard, see his speeches of 1
9 Apr 1937, 3 May 1939, and 4 May 1939, given in Valencia; of 20 May 1939, in Ma
drid; of 22 May 1939, in Leon; and of 22 Jun 1939, in La Coruna. These speeches
can be found in Palabras del Caudillo (Madrid: Editora Nacional, 1943), pp. 16-1
7,104-107,118-22,127-28, and 153-57.
[94] Franco's regime has been written about abundantly, but is still subject to
debate. The more impartial historians speak of an "open debate," which, of cours
e, we are not trying to settle here. Instead, we are simply going along with wha
t seem to us to be the most widely accepted opinions. See Glicerio Sanchez Recio
, "Lineas de investigacion y debate historiografico," in El primer franquismo, 1
936-1959 (Madrid, 1999), pp. 17-40; Ricardo Chueca, El Fascismo en los comienzos
del regimen de Franco: Un estudio sobre FETJONS (Madrid, 1983); and Redondo, Po
litica, vol. 1, pp. 27-115.
[95] The bishops do not use the word "crusade" in their collective letter of 1 J
ul 1937; here they speak of a battle fought for religious motives. But most of t
hem did use that word in their individual statements. The first to do so was the
bishop of Pamplona, Marcelino Olaechea, on August 23, 1936. See Gonzalo Redondo
, Historia de la Iglesia en Espana, 1931-1939, vol. 2, La Guerra Civil, 1936-193
9 (Madrid, 1993), pp. 69-83. See also the pastoral letter "Las dos ciudades," wr
itten by the Most Reverend Enrique Pla y Daniel and dated 30 Sep 1936. It can be
found in Antonio Montero, Historia de la Persecucion Religiosa en Espana (Madri
d, 1961), pp. 688-708.
[96] The question-not an easy one-has been, and probably will remain, the subjec
t of numerous studies. See Redondo, Historia, vol. 2, pp. 69ff.; Redondo, Politi
ca, pp. 229 ff.; Antonio Marquina Barrio, La diplomacia vaticana y la Espana de
Franco, 1936-1945 (Madrid, 1983); Jose Andres-Gallego, ZFascismo o Estado Catoli
co? Ideologia, religion y censura en la Espana de Franco, 1937-1941 (Madrid, 199
9); Jose Andres-Gallego and Anton Fazes, La Iglesia en la Espana contempordnea,
vol. 2 (Madrid, 1999), pp. 34-88; and Payne, El regimen, pp. 209-20.
[97] Concerning the negotiations, see Redondo, Politica, pp. 407-13; and Marquin
a Barrio. Concerning the accord, see Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. 33 (1941), pp.
480-81.
[98] See the archive of the general secretariat of the archdiocese of Madrid-Alc
ala, "Patronato de Santa Isabel." See also the Patrimonio Nacional archive, "Pat
ronatos Reales," "Patronato de Santa Isabel," file 182/21.
By a law enacted on March 7, 1940, there was created the National Heritage (Patr
imonio Nacional), to which all goods of the former Crown Heritage reverted. This
law established the composition of the Administrative Council, whose members, a
s well as all the personnel of the National Heritage, were appointed by the chie
f of state. In addition, as already mentioned, all official appointments made du
ring the time of the Republic had to be reviewed, in accord with the law enacted
on February 10, 1939.
[99] As soon as he was notified of the appointment, Father Josemara informed the
archbishop of Saragossa, under whose jurisdiction he had been until 1934. See AG
P, RHF, EF-420205-1 and D-15514,2.
His canonical conferment was received from the hands of the bishop of Madrid-Alc
ala on February 11. See Benito Badrinas Amat, "Josemara Escriva de Balaguer, Sace
rdote de la dicesis de Madrid," in Anuario de Historia de la Iglesia 8 (1999): 60
5-34.
[100] Instruction of 19 Mar 1934, no. 6.
[101] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2946.
[102] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 647.

[103] Juan Bautista Tore116, PR, p. 2437.

[104] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 654.
[105] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.656.
In his approach to membership in an academic organization, the National Council
on Education, there is an example of the care he took not to get involved in pol
itics. When this organization was set up in 1941, the Minister of Education was
Don Jose Ibanez Martin-someone whom Father Josemara had known in Burgos three yea
rs before and who now wanted to have him on the Council. At the added urging of
the bishop of Madrid, he accepted, with an eye to the apostolic possibilities of
the position. (His appointment as one of five Council members representing priv
ate education appears in the diocese's "Official Bulletin" of February 3,1941.)
Soon, however, he realized that his apostolic role would be very restricted, and
for this and other reasons he decided to eliminate all personal contact with th
e Minister. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 384.) The Minister regretted this; an
d when calumnies began to be spread against members of Opus Dei about their supp
osed assault on the universities to obtain tenured professorships, he testified
to the injustice of the slander.
[106] See Javier Tusell, Franco, Espana y la II Guerra Mundial: Entre el Eje y l
a neutralidad(Madrid, 1995).
[107] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 937. Through those days the founder kept pra
ying for peace, using the words of the psalmist, "The Lord is my light and my sa
lvation; whom shall I fear?" (Ps 27:1). See also AGP, RHF, D-15428.
[108] Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union continued collaborating until June 1941,
to the confusion of those who wanted to see the European conflict as a continua
tion of the "Spanish crusade against communism," as the civil war was often call
ed. When the Germans turned against the Soviets, there was an outburst of popula
r fervor, encouraged by some sectors of the Falange, but opposed by others in th
e government and the army. For those favoring a fascist radicalization of the re
gime, it was the moment to put the "lukewarms" on the ropes-in particular, those
most involved in setting domestic policy. Falangist radicals stepped up their c
ampaign, begun weeks earlier, to subordinate the army to directives emanating fr
om official Falangist organizations. The question of the creation, mode of recru
itment, and command of a division of Spanish volunteers to fight against the Sov
iet Union alongside Germany soon became a bone of contention. Behind the attempt
to assert control some saw the threat of a purge. See Tusell, Franco, pp. 268-7
3; Redondo, Politica, pp. 389-406 and 414-17; and Gerald R. Kleinfeld and Lewis
A. Tambs, La Division espanola de Hitler, La Division Azul en Rusia (Madrid, 198
3), pp. 17-32.
[109] See chapter 10 above, and Immersed in God, pp. 23-25. Father Josemara had n
ot seen the family since the day he baptized this child, whom they had named Gua
dalupe.
[110] One reason Spanish Catholics knew so little about Nazism was their difficu
lty in obtaining a copy of Pope Pius XI's encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge. Dated
March 14, 1937, it was published in Spain only in the diocesan papers of Calaho
rra and Vitoria in February and May of 1938, respectively, and in the magazine R
azon y Fe in the latter month. A similar fate befell the collective pastoral let
ter that the German bishops issued at Fulda on August 19, 1938. It appeared only
in the diocesan papers of Calahorra and Toledo. See Redondo, Historia,vol. 2, p
p. 208-10.
[111] See Alvaro del Portillo, Immersed in God, pp. 23-24.
[112] It should be noted that the Spanish communists had very bad relations with
the rest of the exiles, especially the socialists.
[113] See AGP, RHF, D-15428.
[114] AGP, IZL, D-1213,428.
[115] AGP, RHF, D-03691. In a letter to a friend in Bilbao, he mentions trying t
o get a loan that one can pay back in installments, and says, "The financial pro
blem is holding me up here." See AGP, RHF, EF-390518-2.
[116] AGP, RHF, EF-390606-3.
[117] AGP, RHF, EF-390626-2. In a letter to his mother, he said much the same th
ing: "The truth is that I want to finish things here. More than anything, becaus

e I keep thinking about all that needs to be done there" (AGP, RHF, EF-390626-1)
.
[118] AGP, 1ZL, D-1213,436.
[119] AGP, RHF, EF-390720-1.
[120] Apuntes, no. 1602.
[121] AGP, RHF, EF-390813-1.
[122] Apuntes, no. 1603.
[123] Apuntes, no. 1604 (12 Aug 1939).
[124] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 95, and AGP, IZL, D-1213, 447.
[125] See Jose Orlandis Rovira, Anus de juventud en el Opus Dei (Madrid, 1993),
pp. 35-48.
[126] See AGP, RHF, T-01234 (Antonio Rodilla); Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 867; an
d Orlandis, pp. 50-52.
[127] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, pp. 95-96, and T-04151, p. 30. As for the vestmen
ts, Isidoro wrote that Pedro had designed "some chasubles that have drawn high p
raises for their color and shape." (See AGP, IZL, D-1213,451.)
For the setting up of this oratory, new permission from the bishop was not neede
d, since this was just part of the transfer of the Ferraz Street center to the s
ite. Father Josemara simply requested written confirmation of the previous permis
sion. See AGP, RHF, D-15107.
[128] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 45. This like some of his other longer
letters, remained in his files and was not sent out to the members of the Work.
The double date is due to the fact that in 1966 he finished revising and polish
ing the 1947 text.
[129] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 512.
[130] An anecdote related by Francisco Botella gives us some idea of how great C
armen?s renunciation was, and of how fully she gave herself to the service of th
e Work. One day, he says, he and Pedro went down from the residence to the apart
ment below to keep the Grandmother company, and "while she was showing us some o
ld photographs, she said: 'The reason Carmen never did marry was for us-for Jose
mara and for all of you-it was so that she could stay with us and accompany us. S
he had several very good proposals." See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 99.
[131] See AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 21.
[132] See Miguel Alvarez Morales, Vicente Mortes (Madrid, 1995), pp. 65-66.
[133] See AGP, RHF T-00159/1, p. 97.
[134] Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7070.
[135] Ibid.
[136] Jose Luis Muzquiz, Sum. 5791.
[137] AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 10.
[138] Francisco Ponz, Mi encuentro con el Fundador del Opus Dei, 1939-1944 (Pamp
lona, 2000), p. 38.
[139] Ibid., p. 39.
[140] See ibid.
[141] See ibid., pp. 47-50, and AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 114.
[142] AGP, RHF, EF-400127-1.
[143] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 463.
[144] See AGP, IZL, D-1213,467.
[145] See AGP, RHF, D-15013, D-15014, D-15015, and D-05212.
[146] Santos Moro, in Testimonios, p. 251.
[147] See Apuntes, no. 55 (16 Jun 1930). In speaking here, in his journal, of "s
eedbeds of gentlemen in cassocks," Father Josemara was expressing his hope that f
uture seminaries would be schools not only of sanctity, but also of outstanding
human virtues.
[148] Pedro Cantero, in Testimonios, p. 89.
[149] AGP, RHF, EF-400701-1.
[150] See AGP, RHF, D-15289/1.
[151] AGP, RHF, EF-400800-1. See also Apuntes,no. 1617 (4 Aug 1940).
[152] AGP, RHF, D-15716.
[153] Apuntes, no. 1617.
[154] Apuntes, no. 1618 (4 Aug 1940).

[155] AGP, RHF, EF-400804-1.

[156] AGP, RHF, EF-400807-1.
[157] AGP, RHF, EF-410820-1.
[158] Apuntes, no. 1612.
[159] Pedro Cantero Cuadrado, in Testimonios, p. 75.
[160] AGP, RHF, T-00181, p. 15
[161] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 406.
[162] lbid.
[163] AGP, RHF, T-00181, p. 15 (Joaquin Mestre Palacio).
[164] AGP, RHF, D-15289.
[165] AGP, RHF, D-15224.
[166] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 667. Father Eliodoro Gil, who knew him ver
y well, stresses that "he never wanted to receive any financial compensation for
his work on behalf of the diocesan clergy." See AGP, RHF, T-07987, p. 5.
[167] A list of the apostolic trips of the founder of Opus Dei in the Iberian Pe
ninsula from 1939 to 1946 is found in Appendix 7.
[168] Jose Lopez Ortiz, in Testimonios, p. 227; see also Alfredo Lopez Martinez,
Sum. 5739.Among the communities he gave retreats to were the Hieronymites of Pa
rral (Segovia), the Augustinians of El Escorial, and the Piarists of the Calasan
ctus School in Madrid.
[169] AGP, RHF, EF-400127-1.
[170] AGP, RHF, EF-400701-2.
[171] Apuntes, no. 1598.
[172] AGP, RHF, EF-400701-2.
[173] Apuntes, no. 1618.
[174] AGP, RHF, EF-411001-1.
[175] Apuntes, no. 1854 (9 Nov 1941).
[176] AGP, RHF, EF-390716-4.
[177] AGP, RHF, EF-400127-2.
[178] See Francisco Ponz, pp. 57-60.
[179] See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 101.
[180] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 861.
[181] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 859.
[182] AGP, RHF, D-15204. Thanks to many unpleasant experiences with the Citroen,
Father Josemara ended up knowing something about cars-at least the names of the
parts that often failed during their trips. "You won't believe it," " he would w
rite a month later to the group in Valencia, "but the car has been fixed. It's r
unning well, and moreover, thanks to its previous devilries, I now know that it
has a distributor cap, hose clamps, and ball bearings" (AGP, RHF, EF-400227-1).
[183] Letter 29 Sep 1957, no. 65.
[184] AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 27 (Francisco Ponz Piedrafita). See also Alvaro del
Portillo, Sum. 626. He appointed as director of El RincOn (in Valladolid) Javier
de Sili6 GomezCarcedo, who was still very young, and as director of El Palau (i
n Barcelona) Rafael Termes. Both had been in the Work only a very short time.
[185] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 455.
[186] Apuntes, no. 1610.
[187] The founder visited Valencia on several occasions in 1940 to promote the a
postolate there and the setting up of the residence. On July 31 the Valencian gr
oup left El Cubil and moved to 16 Samaniego Street. The Father blessed the new c
enter on September 20. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 626; AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p
. 97 (Francisco Botella); and AGP, RHF, T-02769, p. 3 (Amadeo de Fuenmayor).
[188] AGP, RHF, EF-400701-1. This bishop was the one who ordained Father Josemara
. For more on him, see vol. 1, pp. 91, 105-6, and 112-13, of this biography.
[189] See The Way, no. 978.
[190] See AGP, RHF, EF-400704-1.
[191] AGP, IZL, D-1213, 467. Addressing this subject of the teaching apostolate,
the founder wrote to his children a letter which opens with considerations conc
erning the rights and the mission of the Church in the area of teaching and the
duties of Christians in this regard:
"I would now like to point out to you, my beloved daughters and sons, the urgent

need for men and women who-with the spirit of our Work-take an active role in t
he secular sphere of education. This very noble profession is of utmost importan
ce for the good of the Church, whose principal enemy has always been ignorance,
and also for the life of civil society, because 'righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a reproach to any people' (Prov 14:34), and 'by the blessing of the u
pright a city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked' (Prov
11:11).
"There is, as I was saying, an urgent need to form good teachers and professors,
with in-depth preparation-with knowledge of their field, with pedagogical skill
s, with a solid grasp of Catholic doctrine, and with personal virtue-who, by the
ir own merits, by their professional efforts, gain prestige in every teaching se
ctor" (Letter 2 Oct 1939, nos. 3-4).
[192] Letter 9 Jan 1932, no. 87.
[193] See Casciaro, p. 172.
[194] The first secretary general of this council was Albareda. On the conversat
ions between him and the founder about the promotion of scientific research, see
Enrique Gutierrez Rfos, Jose Maria Albareda-Una epoca de la cultura espanola (M
adrid, 1970), pp. 147-74; Casciaro, p. 172; and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 590. S
ee also Apuntes, no. 57 (16 Jun 1930).
[195] See his student file in the archive of the law school of Madrid's Complute
nse University.
One of the members of the panel judging his dissertation was Jose Lopez Ortiz, P
rofessor of History of Law at the University of Madrid. He testifies, "His work
was so obviously thorough that the date for the defense of his dissertation was
moved up to the end of December, which is why I was on the panel. The title was
The Abbess of Las Huelgas. This work of juridical investigation was carried out
with a skill and a style that were truly extraordinary. Everyone on the panel wa
s impressed, and the dissertation was rated 'Outstanding"' (Testimonios, p. 210)
. Father Josemara spent the first days of April 1944 in Burgos, doing research to
expand and deepen this study before getting it published. "There comes back to
my mind," he writes to the abbess, "that blessed charity you all showed me in th
e bookkeeper's office, in putting up with the bothersome requests of this poor r
esearcher. Especially those two very gracious little nuns, who must have been ab
solutely worn out after all the running around they did to bring me materials fr
om every corner of the archive" (Letter to Mother Esperanza de Mallagaray, O.Cis
t.: AGP, RHF, EF-440405-1).
Two weeks later, with the book already at the print shop, he asked the abbess fo
r some final data: see AGP, RHF, EF-440419-1.
[196] To the director general, Enrique Gimenez-Arnau Gran, he wrote: "Dear Enriq
ue: I have received the appointment of professor at the School of Journalism. I
thank you for this, and since the bishop of Madrid is especially interested in m
y taking on those classes, I will do so gladly, in the hope that I will be worki
ng for God and for Spain" (AGP, RHF, EF-401025-1). A few months later he wrote t
o the bishop of Madrid: "I have started working at the School of Journalism, wit
h the joy that comes of obeying. I have already sent the syllabus to Your Excell
ency, by way of Monsignor Morcillo," (AGP, RHF, EF-410122-1).
Pedro G6mez Aparicio was the secretary for those "Special Courses for Journalist
s" established in August 1940. In the July 14, 1975 issue of La Hoja de Lunes de
Madrid he gives his recollections of Father Josemara's classes. The Official Sch
ool of journalism was founded on November 17, 1941; its director was Juan Aparic
io Lopez; and it operated until 1975, when it was replaced by the School of Info
rmation Sciences.
[197] AGP, RHF, EF-400127-2.
[198] AGP, RHF, D-15719 (Letter of Bishop Marcelino Olaechea, 14 Jan 1940).
[199] AGP, RHF, D-15720 (Letter of Bishop Javier Lauzurica, 31 Jan 1940).
[200] See Apuntes, no. 178 (20 Mar 1931).
[201] On November 25,1939, he wrote in his journal: "The hierarchy loves the Wor
k, but only halfway understands it; they don't really get it" (Apuntes, no. 1606
).
[202] Apuntes, no. 1605.

[203] Apuntes, no. 1607 (25 Nov 1939). This entry begins, "My confessor and the
vicar general of Madrid have told me, as an order, to prepare the required mater
ial for the first official approval of the Work of God."
[204] Apuntes, no. 1609 (5 Feb 1940).
[205] See Apuntes,no. 1615 (21 Jun 1940).
[206] See Jose Maria Bueno Monreal, in Testimonios, p. 39.
[207] Apuntes, no. 1613 (21 Jun 1940). See also Amadeo de Fuenmayor, Valentin Go
mez Iglesias, and Jose Luis Illanes, The Canonical Path of Opus Dei, trans. Will
iam H. Stetson (Princeton, 1994), pp. 78-90.
[208] Apuntes, no. 42.
[209] Ibid.
[210] Apuntes, no. 65.
[211] Apuntes, no. 1307 (25 Jan 1936). When in 1935 the time came to begin the S
aint Gabriel work (that is, the apostolate with persons of all conditions and st
ates: single, married, widowed, etc.), the founder noted in his journal, "Thanks
be to God, we are growing. Our clothes are getting too small for us," meaning t
hat a juridical format was required that could encompass this expanding apostola
te. See Apuntes, no. 1290 (14 Oct 1935).
[212] Apuntes, no. 1309 (25 Jan 1936). In a letter to all his children the found
er returned to this idea. "When Heaven deems that the time is right," he says, "
a channel will open, in the structure of apostolates in the Church, for the broa
d river of the Work, for which the present circumstances do not provide a suitab
le site. It will be an arduous and laborious challenge. Many obstacles will have
to be overcome. But God will assist us, since everything in the Work is his wil
l" (Letter 11 Mar 1940, no. 46).
The founder faced a similar problem when it came to trying to express the new co
ncepts that the Work brought with it. "To express myself," he says, "I am using
words that necessitate a new terminology. If I were to invent one, people wouldn
't understand me. In due course we will have to use that new terminology" (Lette
r 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 14).
[213] The reports were often absurd. For example, Father Josemara noted, it was s
aid of the members of the Work that "whenever we knelt down, we put our hands be
hind us; as some kind of odd ritual. What really happened was that we knelt on t
he floor, since we didn't have any kneelers, and some people instinctively put t
heir hands behind them" (Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 61). For more on th
is matter, see AGP, RHF, D03545/3 (a letter, dated 21 Jun 1941, from Bishop Eijo
y Garay to an abbot); Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 414; Jose Luis Muzquiz, Sum. 58
00; and Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6327.
[214] See Apuntes, no. 751 (15 Jun 1932), no. 1240 (10 Mar 1935), no. 1267 (7 Ma
y 1935), no. 1290 (14 Oct 1935), and no. 1292 (28 Oct 1935).
[215] See AGP, RHF, D-15074.
[216] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 414, and Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6327.
[217] AGP, RHF, EF-400423-1.
[218] Apuntes, no. 1611.
[219] See AGP, RHF, EF-400701-2 (a letter to Alvaro which refers to "the Judas a
ffair"), and Apuntes, no. 1614 (21 Jun 1940).
[220] AGP, RHF, EF-400806-2.
[221] Apuntes, no. 1619 (24 Aug 1940).
[222] AGP, RHF, EF-400915-1. Bishop Miguel de los Santos y Diaz de Gomara was ap
pointed bishop of Cartagena (Murcia) in 1935, but was later also the apostolic a
dministrator of Barcelona, until 1942. Hence the mention of both Murcia and Barc
elona.
[223] AGP, RHF, EF-400910-1 (Letter to Bishop Marcelino Olaechea).
[224] See Apuntes,no. 1622; AGP, RHF, D-15200 and D-15204; and Carlos Lopez Pego
, La Congregation de "Los Luises" de Madrid: Apuntes para la Historia de una Con
gregation Mariana Universitaria de Madrid (Madrid, 1999).
[225] See Apuntes, no. 1626 (15 Nov 1940).
[226] Apuntes, no. 1623 (14 Sep 1940).
[227] Apuntes, no. 1624 (15 Sep 1940).
[228] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 329.

[229] See AGP, RHF, D-15713. The political circumstances in Spain between 1931 a
nd 1939, together with the newness of the Work at that time, dictated a low prof
ile for the apostolic activities of its members. To avoid causing a commotion or
incurring a persecution, the founder took care-and his spiritual director suppo
rted him in this-to act "with holy discretion." See Apuntes, no. 486 (16 Dec 193
1, no. 734 (24 May 1932), no. 799 (5 Aug 1932), and no. 1216 (10 Jan 1935).
[230] AGP, RHF, D-15713.
[231] Ibid.
[232] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 330.
[233] See ibid. The founder interpreted it as a final demonstration of affection
on the part of his confessor. "Alvaro accompanied me," he writes, "and was pres
ent at my last two meetings with that venerable Jesuit father. In the last one,
I asked him to return to me the 'Codex,' as our statutes were then called. And h
e did so. I had left it with him because it contained things connected with my s
oul. And he, Father Sanchez, as a final demonstration of affection, placed among
the papers a sheet with the names of the people who, in company with Father C.
de A., had been going around spreading stories, rumors, and interpretations that
were the false foundation-not the occasion-for that campaign that is still goin
g on" (Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 20).
[234] AGP, RHF, D-15713.
[235] Apuntes, no. 1625 (4 Nov 1940). He referred to these favors obliquely, usi
ng the expression "drops of honey." Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 20.
[236] Apuntes, no. 1622.
[237] Apuntes, no. 1625.
[238] Angel Carrillo de Albornoz was born in 1905, entered the Society of Jesus
on July 15, 1925, and was professed on August 15, 1941. In 1940 he was named dir
ector of the Spanish Confederation of Marian Sodalities, and on April 5,1948, he
became director of the General Secretariat of the Marian Sodalities, and was tr
ansferred to Rome. In 1951 he left the Jesuits. See R. Mendizabal, "Elenchus Scr
iptorum qui, in restitutarn Societatem lesu cooptati, earn deseruerunt," in Cata
logus defunctorum in Renata Societate Iesu ab a. 1814 ad a. 1970 (Rome, 1972), p
. 605.
[239] Apuntes, no. 1626. Born in 1903, in Fitero, Navarre, Jose Maria Garcia Lah
iguera was ordained in 1926, in Madrid. After the civil war he was a professor,
superior, and spiritual director at the Madrid seminary. He would serve as Fathe
r Josemara's confessor until 1944. From 1950 to 1964 he was auxiliary bishop of M
adrid; from 1964 to 1969, bishop of Huesca; and from then on, archbishop of Vale
ncia. He was also the cofounder of a contemplative order of sisters approved in
1967: the Oblates of Christ the Priest. He died in 1989. See Salvador Munoz Igle
sias, Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguera: un carisma, una vida (Madrid, 1991); and Vice
nte Carcel Orti, Pasion por el sacerdocio: Biografia del Siervo de Dios Jose Mar
ia Garcia Lahiguera (Madrid, 1997).
[240] Apuntes, no. 1873 (22 Nov 1948).
[241] AGP, RHF, EF-631206-2 (Letter to Florencio Sanchez Bella).
5. "The One Who Loves God's Will"

1. The death of the Grandmother

2. Approval of the Work as a Pious Union
3. Events in Barcelona
4. Opus Dei: "An extremely hot topic"
5. Bishop Eijo y Garay as pastor
6. A panoramic vision
7. A saying of saints
8. A platinum scalpel
9. The first center of the women's branch

* * *

1. The death of the Grandmother


It was the founder's habit to face adversity calmly, trusting God and letting ti
me do its work. Did not Opus Dei have centuries ahead? But this trustful abandon
ment to Divine Providence coexisted in him with a dynamic temperament that led t
o decisive action corresponding to his burning love for God and his acute sense
of responsibility for his mission.
In those early years, Father Josemara worked almost exclusively with men-priests
and students, tradesmen, artists, and other professionals-but "without losing si
ght of the need to seek out souls among women."[1] This was something that he re
alized would take some time. When, in a journal entry made on February 14, 1932,
he recorded the "happy event" of the arrivals of the first female vocations, he
realized that it was just two years since our Lord had asked him to work also w
ith women. Here was an enterprise that called for a sense of urgency, but not ha
ste.
As we saw earlier, he turned over the spiritual direction of these women to some
priests who were close to him, but who never altogether grasped the idea of ded
icating oneself to God while remaining in the midst of the world. The women's is
olation from the mainstream of Opus Dei during the three years of the civil war
had produced substantial alterations in their interior life and spirit, and had
bred a spirituality far removed from the secular character proper to the Work. T
he failure of the priests to properly guide them "was such," says the founder, "
that I had to let those women go in 1939."[2]On April 28 of that year, he inform
ed one of them, Ramona Sanchez, of his "intention to make a complete break with
all of the girls," saying that they should "follow another path, either entering
a convent or getting married," and asking her to communicate this to the others
.[3] Later-after they had left the Work-he helped some of them enter religious c
ongregations.
Now he had to start over again from scratch. Or almost. There was still one girl
left in the Work: Lola Fisac. She, as we also saw earlier, had requested admiss
ion in 1937, while the founder was at the Honduran consulate. When he was able t
o leave that refuge (as the consulate's "Chief Supply Officer"), he had thought
seriously of going to Daimiel, the village in La Mancha where Lola lived, to bri
ng the Blessed Sacrament to her and her brother. Events had moved too quickly fo
r him to make the trip until the war was over, but two years later, on April 18,
1939, he traveled to Daimiel and stayed with the Fisacs, sleeping in the living
room and spending the daytime in a small study, doing work or speaking with peo
ple. As for Mass, the churches in the area had been either sacked or desecrated,
and were still closed. Only one priest had escaped the massacre of clergy and r
eligious. But he had kept a set of vestments and a portable altar in his house,
and there Father Josemara said Mass, the day after his arrival, for the intention
s of the Fisac family.
On April 20 he and Lola had a long conversation. After she recounted the details
of her daily life, the Father wrote the aspiration "Sancta Maria, Spes nostra,
Ancilla Domini, ora pro nobis!" ["Holy Mary, our hope, Handmaid of the Lord, pra
y for us!"] at the top of a sheet of paper and then wrote out for her a plan of
life. He started with mental prayer-a half hour "in the morning, at a fixed time
"-and then jotted down "awareness of the presence of God," dedicating each day o
f the week to a particular devotion. Next came spiritual reading-The Story of a
Soul, by Saint Therese of Lisieux. Then, examinations of conscience: a general e
xamination regarding obligations toward God and neighbor, and a particular exami
nation relating to living in more awareness of the presence of God and to doing
one's work conscientiously. Finally, frequent spiritual communions and acts of l
ove and reparation. He concluded: "Live the communion of saints," and write him
in Madrid every eight or ten days.[4]
Lola went to Madrid several times during 1939. on her first trip, in May, she sp
ent a few days with relatives who lived across the street from Santa Isabel. She
was able to visit with Father Josemara and go to confession to him, and to meet
Doa Dolores and Carmen.
It was only to be expected that, being so isolated from the rest of the Work, sh
e would suffer some difficulties. Hence the Father wrote to her:


May Jesus watch over you.

Don't be upset; you're doing fine.

The Lord always builds on what is nothing! He needs every kind of instrument, fr
om the carpenter's saw to the surgeon's scalpel. What difference does it make? A
ll that matters is to let oneself be used.
Coldness or fervor-the important thing is that the will wants to. It is-it shoul
d be-of no concern to you how fervent or cold you feel.
I bless you.

Mariano.[5]

By the time of her next visit, in the second half of September, Father Josemara h
ad moved from Santa Isabel to the Jenner Street residence. And on her third trip
, at Christmastime, she stayed with Doa Dolores in the Jenner Street apartment. L
ola could then feel the joy and peace of spirit of seeing something actually in
progress. They were days in which there was nothing more than housework, the tas
ks of domestic service, and the company of the Grandmother, but for her they wer
e unforgettably happy days.
On Christmas Eve, while setting up the creche on the upper floor, the residents
came down from time to time to ask the Grandmother for one thing or another. And
she, recalling the long-ago days when her husband would put up the creche with
the help of the children, told them something that her son would include in The
Way: "You have never seemed more a man to me than now, when you are so like a ch
ild."[6]
During that stay, Lola met Amparo Rodriguez Casado, a young woman who had just j
oined the Work. (She had been in a group of girls to whom Father Josemara had giv
en spiritual direction in Burgos.) One day he sketched for the two of them the a
postolic panorama of the Work. He presented it in broad strokes, while making it
clear that this was not a case of castles in the air, but something firm and ob
jective. He painted the picture with such vividness and enthusiasm, says Lola, t
hat "it seemed to us something amazing and extremely attractive. I was a bit fri
ghtened."[7]
(For 1939, there are gaps of one, two, or even three months between entries in h
is journal. In one of the last entries for that year, we read: "My concern is th
e women. Well, actually, my first concern is myself."[8])
The year 1940 was a long one for Lola. When she got back from Madrid to her litt
le town, her eagerness to begin realizing the vast apostolic panorama Father Jos
emara had proposed made it hard to be patient. The founder had to calm her down.

May Jesus watch over you!

That impatience of yours for apostolic work is pleasing to God, as long as it do

esn't take away your peace. Try to use it as a spur toward seeking God's presenc
e in everything. That is sure to help make the time come more quickly.
Unite yourself to the intentions of the Father. Never forget the immense value o
f the communion of saints. Then you'll never be able to say that you are alone,
since you will always be accompanied by your sisters and by the whole family.[9]

The Father nurtured her eagerness carefully. Three weeks later, he wrote again (
on the anniversary of the founding of the women's branch) in which he said, "Nev
er lose your peace for any reason. One's nerves must always be kept under contro
l."[10] And the following month: "Calm down. Be calm, with joy and peace. This i
s the watchword."[11]On May 8 he wrote in his journal, "Some months have gone by
without writing anything down. It's not surprising, since my life is so hectic
that I don't have time for anything.... My big concern is the feminine part of t
he Work."[12]
Then came the breakthrough. On May 10 he wrote to Lola announcing that some new

women had come to the Work. "Amparito will tell you about the new additions to o
ur family," he said. "Soon we will have the little house we need!"[13]On June 21
he noted, "The women's branch, praise God, is under way."[14]
But the pace remained slow. The "little house" did not open until autumn. Locate
d on Caste116 Street, it was a small, rented apartment, which the women furnishe
d with items from their parents' homes. Father Josemara immediately started givin
g classes of formation to them. But this lasted only until December 6. Lola expl
ains: "We soon had to give up the apartment, because with both the Father and ou
rselves being so young, the situation caused some raised eyebrows in the neighbo
rhood."[15]The priest would tolerate no gossip on this point. Plus, he knew from
Doa Dolores that some of the girls who frequented the apartment, "instead of tal
king about apostolate, were spending their time talking about boyfriends."[16]
Lola did not know, however, about all the other gossip and slander besieging the
founder and the Work at this time. A journal entry captures the atmosphere of t
hose days:

September 16,1940: Yesterday morning I went to see the vicar general to update h
im on these tribulations. Casimiro encouraged me and said to me, "There will com
e more, perhaps regarding the Sixth Commandment. But don't worry. Along with a t
housand calumnies against the Jesuits, and the opposition of prelates and learne
d men to them, Saint Ignatius also had to suffer accusations of having taken loo
se women from their homes for evil purposes. It wouldn't surprise me to see you
in jail one day for your priestly work. All of this is a very good sign."[17]

Meanwhile, both the furnishings of the Castello apartment and the activities con
ducted there were transferred to a section of the house on Diego de Leon. The re
modeling was still under way, and although a few people were living there, inclu
ding Doa Dolores, all three of her children, and Alvaro del Portillo, it was a co
ld and inhospitable place that winter, because the heating system did not work p
roperly.
The women of the Work occupied a completely separate part of the building. In th
e evenings they would gather in a room on the first floor to sew vestments for t
he new oratories, and the Father would spend time with them, giving them pointer
s on their professional work and on the spirit of Opus Dei. In that room, as he
put it, "four young girls and a poor priest" were paving a road for the ones who
would come later.[18]
He often preached a meditation for that small group of women, preparing them for
incorporation into Opus Dei. But, as had happened with some of the young men be
fore the war, some dropped out of contact over the next few months.
Quite often, Doa Dolores and Carmen took part in the get-togethers with the women
.[19] Especially the Grandmother, who liked to listen and seldom intervened.[20]
She lived in a second-floor room overlooking the intersection of Diego de Leon a
nd Lagasca. The room had a glassed-in porch, with a table that had a small heate
r beneath it. Here she did her work. She was always sewing, knitting, or reading
. The women of the Work who passed through Santa Isabel's in the thirties cannot
recall having ever seen her idle there either. "She was a great lady," says Sis
ter Ramona, "always smiling and cordial. She devoted whole days to sewing clothe
s for the boys who were helping the Father-and she was pretty old."[21]
When prelates and other distinguished individuals were invited to dinner (which,
at Diego de Leon, happened fairly often), the Grandmother presided at the table
, as the lady of the house.[22] And sometimes their compliments would put color
in her cheeks, her pale complexion and silver hair highlighting the effect. "We
are having guests today," she would tell Lola. "What bothers me the most is that
I blush as if I were fifteen."[23]
Between the frequent retreats Father Josemara gave outside Madrid and the heavy w
orkload he had when he was in Madrid, whole weeks went by without Doa Dolores see
ing her son, even though they lived under the same roof. She would say to Lola,
as a soft refrain, "I haven't seen my son today"; "I still haven't seen him, he
has so much to do"; "Nothing; he hasn't come."[24]At times it may have been for
the best, since in that winter and in the spring of 1941 he had so much slander

to put up with and all that the Grandmother could do when she learned of it was
to suffer in silence and pray. "My son, you don't get one good day," she said sa
dly when they did meet.[25] But at least, at the very end of her life, she had t
he consolation of seeing the Work officially approved by the bishop of Madrid.
Hardworking and resilient, she seldom had to take to bed because of illness. Her
only known health problem was occasional attacks of rheumatism, though the wart
ime privations undoubtedly had weakened her resistance.[26]Other than for Mass o
r to go shopping, she seldom left the house.
One day in April, by way of exception, some of her "grandsons" took her on an ou
ting to El Escorial. The next day, she came down with a terrible headache and th
ought she had a bronchial infection. Later she developed a high fever and seemed
to have some ordinary illness that was running its usual course. The two doctor
s who saw her, Juan Jimenez Vargas and a colleague of his, were not greatly alar
med .[27]
Father Josemara had been invited by the apostolic administrator of Lerida, Bishop
Manuel Moll Salord, to give a retreat for the priests of his diocese.[28]As his
date for departure approached, he kept asking the doctors about his mother's co
ndition, and they kept setting his mind at ease, telling him that she seemed to
be improving. So, on April 20, after asking her to offer her sufferings for the
retreat, he said good-bye to her. As he was leaving the room, Doa Dolores, from h
er bed, said in a low voice, "This son of mine!"[29]It was as if she foresaw the
sacrifice being asked of her.
The .Father called from Saragossa and was told by Alvaro that his mother was con
tinuing to improve. But even so, he had a premonition of the sacrifice being ask
ed also of him. Upon arriving at the Lerida seminary, he went to the tabernacle
and prayed, "Lord, take care of my mother, since I am looking after your priests
."[30]Then he went to his room and wrote to the vicar general of Madrid:

I just arrived in Lerida, and my conscience is bothering me because I didn't tel

l you I was coming here to give a priests' retreat. I didn't have enough time to
see you. I only spoke with Lahiguera.
I left my mother (in Madrid) pretty sick. Ask the Lord that, if this be his will
, he not take her from me yet. I think he and I need her on earth.[31]

Twenty-four hours later, the Grandmother suddenly took a turn for the worse. The
symptoms were those of traumatic pneumonia. She was given the last sacraments,
and on the morning of April 22 she began a serene passage from this life to the
next. She was, in fact, so calm that "on the morning of her death," relates Sant
iago, "I went to her room and said good-bye and left for the university, the sam
e as every day."[32]
As she was dying, Father Josemara was preparing a talk on the role that a priest'
s mother has in her son's life. Here is his account:

Halfway through the retreat, at noon, I gave them a talk. I spoke about the supe
rnatural work, the incomparable role, that falls to the mother at the side of he
r priest-son. When I finished, I wanted to stay recollected for a little while i
n the chapel. But almost immediately the apostolic-administrator bishop, who was
also making the retreat, came in, looking very pale, and said to me, "Alvaro is
on the phone for you." And what I heard from Alvaro was, "Father, the Grandmoth
er has died."
I went back to the chapel, with not one tear. I saw right away that the Lord my
God had done the best thing. And then I cried like a baby, praying out loud (I w
as alone with him) that long aspiration I so often recommend to you: "Fiat, adim
pleatur, laudetur, ... iustissima atque amabilissima voluntas Dei super omnia. A
men. Amen." ["May the most just and most lovable will of God be done, be fulfill
ed, be praised ... above all things. Amen. Amen."] From then on, I have always t
hought that the Lord asked of me that sacrifice as an outward sign of my affecti
on for diocesan priests, and that my mother in a special way continues to interc
ede for this work.[33]

The governor of Lerida, Juan Antonio Cremades, whom he had known since his years
in Saragossa, placed a car at his disposal. But, because of a series of mishaps
, it did not reach Madrid until four in the morning. Father Josemara went into th
e oratory of the Diego de Leon center, where Doa Dolores's body was lying. After
a quiet and restrained shedding of tears before his mother's remains, he asked A
lvaro to join him in reciting a Te Deum.[34]
When he left the oratory and was filled in on some of the details about the deat
h of the Grandmother, he filially protested, in a low voice, "My God, my God, wh
at have you done? You're taking from me everything, absolutely everything. I tho
ught these daughters of mine very much needed my mother, but you've left me with
nothing.
Nothing!"[35] Then he got ready to say the Mass de corpore insepulto [before bur
ial]. It was followed by others said by priest-friends of his.
The burial took place that afternoon. The funeral procession was led by Father J
osemara, Santiago, and Father Jose Lopez Ortiz. Doa Dolores was buried in Madrid's
La Almudena Cemetery.[36]
For Father Josemara the whole episode underlined, among other things, the fact th
at God wanted to use him as an example for his children. He had not been able to
be present at the death of either of his parents.[37] The more he thought about
this, the more he saw in it a call to teach by way of his own experience lesson
s on detachment, because the day would come when many of his children, having tr
aveled far and wide as the Work expanded, also would be absent when their parent
s died.
Two days after the burial, he gave a meditation in the oratory where his mother'
s body had lain. Looking at the tabernacle (as he often did), he prayed, "Lord,
I am happy that you have shown this confidence in me. Because even though my chi
ldren try to be present when their parents die, this won't always be possible, b
ecause of the needs of the apostolate. And you have wanted me, Lord, to lead by
example also in this."[38]

2. Approval of the Work as a Pious Union

The last few months had been turbulent ones. In her final days, Doa Dolores had h
ad to bear the pain of seeing her son publicly denigrated. Two days before her d
eath, Father Josemara wrote to Alvaro from Lerida: "Ask the Grandmother to offer
up the sufferings of her illness for my intentions, which are none other than to
ask the Lord that he cut short these trials-if this is his will-and that as lon
g as they continue, he grant us joy and a supernatural outlook and a lot of char
ity in dealing with them."[39]
The end of the civil war had, as we have mentioned, brought a rebirth of piety a
nd religious fervor to Spain. Associations and confraternities were reestablishe
d, and the Marian sodalities run by the Jesuits were once more thriving in the p
rincipal cities. The head of the one in Barcelona was Father Manuel Maria Verges
, a gifted preacher with an imposing physical presence, a powerful voice, and a
lot of zeal for the advancement of the sodality.[40] No important religious cere
mony took place in the city without official participation by sodality members.
One of the biggest events was the solemn novena of the Immaculate Conception, wh
ich concluded on December 8. In 1940 Father Verges announced that the preacher f
or that year's novena would be Father Angel Carrillo de Albornoz, S.J.; he would
be coming from Madrid for that purpose. It promised to be a memorable event.
The novena was to take place in a church on Caspe Street-a church that was close
to the Jesuit provincialate and to the Jesuit high school that was home to the
sodality. Among the crowd of students who came to hear the preacher from Madrid
were Rafael Escol, who was studying industrial engineering, and his friend Juan B
autista Tore116, who later became a psychiatrist. On the first night of the nove
na they were greatly surprised to hear Father Carrillo quote from The Way. Rafae
l had joined the Work two months earlier and was using that book for his daily m
editation, and Juan Bautista, though not yet a member, knew it almost by heart.
Not realizing what Father Carrillo was getting at, the two friends, without givi

ng much importance to it, kept count of the references made to The Way from the
pulpit. "Today there were seven!" "Today, eight!"[41] Actually the preacher was
dissecting the book and extracting what he considered to be not in conformity wi
th Catholic teaching, in order to warn sodality members against what he would la
ter characterize as "the new heresy" being spread among the young. But neither R
afael nor Juan Bautista understood this. They could not imagine that a priest wo
uld publicly condemn a book bearing the bishop's imprimatur. At this time the on
ly thing that struck them as strange was that the preacher did not name either t
he source or the author of these quotes.[42]
The founder, meanwhile, knowing nothing about this attack, was urging his sons i
n Barcelona-few as they were, and little as they yet knew about the spirit of th
e Work-to be daring in their apostolate. Certain that our Lord would take them b
y the hand and give them whatever graces they needed to rise to the occasion, he
encouraged them-when El Palau had just opened and was still without furniture-t
o establish a student residence. He wrote to them, "Will we have a big house in
Barcelona by the next school year? It's up to you."[43]
Toward the middle of January 1941, Father Verges gave what Santiago Balcells, a
sodality member who was present, was to call "a sermon that made history." Santi
ago had heard of the Work but had not yet taken any real interest in it, though
he was aware that his brother Alfonso was reading The Way and frequenting El Pal
au. (Alfonso, in fact, had let his name be used on the lease for that apartment,
since of all the university students in Barcelona who were in contact with the
Work, he was the only one who was old enough to sign a lease legally.)[44] Santi
ago would never forget the main points of that sermon, partly because they were
so much discussed afterward among sodality members. He relates:

As I recall, Father Verges began by saying that very serious things were going o
n in the sodality because among us there were traitors. It was possible, he said
, that some of us had in good faith been taken in by the propaganda of an associ
ation that, without the approval of the pope, or even of the bishop of the dioce
se, ... was making itself out to possess a new spirituality, with new virtues. "
Coercion, intransigence, shamelessness-since when are these things virtues?" he
asked....

"Evidently," he said, "this 'new spirituality' permits its members to lie, becau
se I know for a fact that some people who have denied to me that they are member
s are in fact members. They're also naive, because if even among us priests and
religious who are tonsured, wear a habit, and are subject to a regimen, things h
appen and occasionally someone gives up the cloth, what's going to happen with t
hese young men in suit and tie, who with nothing distinguishing them are free to
go wherever they like? Practically speaking, there is no chance that they will
persevere."[45]

If we put ourselves in the atmosphere of that time, it is not strange that some
people (Father Carrillo and others) mistakenly thought that preaching about sanc
tification in the middle of the world was both dangerous and erroneous and that
they would take strong measures as a result of their feelings. As we shall see,
the founder of Opus Dei always felt that those in the Church who opposed the Wor
k so strongly were doing it thinking that they were serving God by doing so (Put
antes obsequium se praestare Deo, Jn 16:2).
In discussing certain events which are now a matter of past history, we should n
ote that, for the faithful of Opus Dei who knew about them, they were a motive f
or a greater adherence to God's will, without making a negative judgment about t
he intentions of anyone. In this too they followed the example of Father Josemara
. We now see as a confirmation of what the Father predicted, that with the passa
ge of time, other people, without seeing the situation in the framework of those
years, repeated those false affirmations through an irresponsible and uncritica
l inertia. And there were also some who did so motivated by a desire to attack t
he Church.
Santiago, one of the few persons present who had any suspicion of what Father Ve

rges was getting at, pricked up his ears. The preacher then read article 28 of t
he Constitution of the Sodalities of Our Lady, which forbade members to join "an
y other association that was similar or had similar aims," and said that as the
director and the person responsible for their souls, he intended to act in accor
d with it. His listeners were still wondering to whom he was referring when, une
xpectedly, the speaker wrapped up his exhortation by saying that "he knew which
ones were going around to the apartment at 62 Balmes Street, and that all those
who went to that apartment, whether or not they belonged to the association over
there, would be expelled from the sodality and erased from the Book of Our Lady
."[46]
Those words had quite an impact. When the talk was over, some of those present c
ame up to Santiago and asked about his brother Alfonso. But not even Santiago kn
ew yet what had happened to his brother just an hour earlier. This is Alfonso's
account:

One Sunday, when I was at the weekly meeting of the sodality, the Father Directo
r, who was Father Verges, S.J., called me aside and, with no preliminaries, told
me that I was "expelled from the sodality." And when I, obviously surprised and
having no idea what his reason was, asked him, "Father, why?" he just pointed t
o the door and said, "You are expelled as a traitor and a Judas to the sodality.
"[47]

This expulsion was followed by others. Father Verges, acting on the reports of w
atchers he had posted in a cafe on Balmes Street, across the street from El Pala
u, thought he was acting responsibly.
Behind those thunderous attacks on this association that they felt was on a mist
aken path and that was out to "reap what others have sown" (in other words, stea
l religious vocations) on the "pretext" that it was possible to attain sanctity
in the midst of the world, was Father Carrillo. And, as had happened in Madrid,
along with the doctrinal condemnations came fanciful reports about strange going
s-on, probably the products of thoughtless students who allowed their imaginatio
n free rein. It was claimed that people at the Balmes Street apartment nailed th
emselves to the wooden cross in the oratory, and that they retreated into the so
litude of mountaintops to meditate. (The latter story no doubt sprang from the f
act that on their excursions to the mountains, they would say the Rosary while h
iking or even stop to pray at the top.)[48]
In a letter dated January 14, 1941, briefly alluding to the suffering caused him
by the slandering of the Work, the founder tells a friend that God "knows how t
o sweeten bitterness with honey," despite the fact that there are "too many peop
le who do not understand or do not want to understand."[49] Bishop Eijo y Garay
of Madrid, wanting the truth to be known, decided to proceed with the approval o
f the Work.[50]
Father Josemara and the diocesan canoeist, Father Jose Maria Bueno Monreal, havin
g reached a dead end in their attempts to find a really suitable place for Opus
Dei in canon law, took the stopgap measure of settling for the least inadequate
solution. Because the members of Opus Dei were not religious but ordinary faithf
ul, Father Bueno would later explain, "the only juridical path open in the canon
ical schema in force at that time was that of lay associations. Among these, Opu
s Dei clearly could not be a third order, nor a confraternity or sodality. So th
e only possibility left was for it to be classified as a pious union."[51]
After examining the bylaws and other constitutional documents of Opus Dei, the b
ishop returned them to Father Josemara in the second week of February 1941, along
with a sheet of paper on which he had penciled a few minor observations. A mont
h later the founder gave him the definitive text, along with that sheet of paper
. When the bishop saw those notes, he said to Father Josemara, "If you see before
God that it would be better not to go along with what I suggested, then don't,
because you're the one to whom he has given the inspiration of the Work."[52]
On March 20, Father Josemara sent to the chancery office a petition for approval
of Opus Dei as a pious union. On March 24, around noon, the phone rang at Diego
de Leon, and Father Josemara answered. It was the bishop. He had issued the decre

e of approval. The founder shared the joyful news with Doa Dolores, Carmen, and t
he three or four others who happened to be home, and then went to the oratory to
say a Te Deum.
Elsewhere, the first to receive the news were those at El Palau. The telegram sa
id simply, "Approved. Marian."[53]
On March 25, Monsignor Morcillo gave the decrees of approval to Father Josemara.[
54]In passing, he mentioned that just after the decrees were signed, Archbishop
Gaetano Cicognani, the papal nuncio, had happened to stop by the bishop's reside
nce. Bishop Eijo y Garay, he said, could hardly wait to tell the archbishop what
he had just done.
"Your Excellency," he said, "we have just approved the Work of Father Jose Maria
Escriva."
"Yes,... oh, yes, he wrote a book of maxims ... The Way," said Archbishop Cicogn
ani, sounding as if trying to recall something he had been told by someone.
When he left, Bishop Eijo y Garay asked Monsignor Morcillo, "Do you think the nu
ncio has been warned against Jose Maria?"
"Escriva told me that those people wanted to bring his book to Rome to have it c
ondemned," Monsignor Morcillo replied. "Could they have done that already?"[55]

From March 30 to April 5 Father Josemara was in Valencia, giving a retreat for th
e young ladies in Catholic Action, and during that time, when he had a chance to
read the decree more closely, he found his joy at the bishop's approval of the
Work somewhat diminished. The original text, which had been prepared with such a
ffection by Bishop Eijo y Garay, had been changed substantially. The nuncio, as
the bishop had suspected, knew all about the rumors and slanders against Opus De
i, and, fearful of wounding third parties or involving Church authorities in a c
onfrontation, had counseled the bishop to eliminate anything that could in any w
ay be interpreted as excessive. Bishop Eijo y Garay had therefore had to change
the text from one of clear, strong, unreserved praise, for an institution promis
ing great spiritual benefits for the diocese and for the universal Church, to on
e that, though still laudatory, lacked the force needed to proclaim the truth on
ce and for all.[56]
But the Lord, as always, sweetened the bitterness with honey. For that retreat i
n Valencia produced two vocations of women. On April 6, the day after the retrea
t, Encarnita Ortega and Enrica Botella went to the residence on Samaniego Street
, to be introduced by Father Josemara to the members there.
At Mass that morning, he had been given a divine locution assuring him that the
nuncio would not allow himself to be swayed by the attacks on the Work. He descr
ibes in a letter what had happened:

On Palm Sunday in 1941, at Mass, after Communion, I was contemplating the dark o
utlook and the at least humanly speaking-powerful forces opposing us, and on our
side I saw nothing but my weakness as our only defense. Deeply distressed, I se
t out before the Lord the current situation. And the interior locution-without w
ords, like almost all those I've received in my life, but very clear and precise
-was this: "For things to get better, they have to get worse; you will have easi
er access to the nunciature than to the bishop's residence." This, at the time,
did not seem possible. When I got back to Madrid I gave Alvaro a written account
, and he was-like me-amazed but sure of its authenticity. Events soon confirmed
the divine message."[57]

He went to see Bishop Eijo y Garay, who expressed his joy saying. "At least this
persecution has resulted in the Work's getting its approval, since neither you
nor I had been in any hurry about that before."[58]

3. Events in Barcelona

Bishop Eijo y Garay had expected his approval to staunch the torrent of-objectiv
ely slanderous-criticism. But the attacks soon resumed-even more forcefully. The

divine locution that "for things to get better, they have to get worse" was alr
eady beginning to come true. This time the center of the storm was Barcelona.
Just after Father Josemara arrived in Lerida to give that priests' retreat during
which his mother died, Alvaro del Portillo phoned him to say that a new and sev
ere attack on Opus Dei had broken out in Barcelona. That very day (April 20,1941
), he sent his sons in Madrid a letter of instructions on how to deal with it, a
nd asked Alvaro to pass them on to those at El Palau.

I won't write them; you do it, and tell them that they should be very happy and
grateful to our Lord, and not allow themselves even one word-or even one thought
!-that is uncharitable. Tell them they can be sure that Jesus is going to do gre
at and wonderful things, for his glory, in Barcelona, if we bear this as he want
s us to....
Do they, in Barcelona, have Ribadeneyra's biography of Saint Ignatius? If not, s
end them a copy. I want all of you to have a devotion to and a love for Saint Ig
natius and his blessed Society.
Ask the Grandmother to offer up the sufferings of her illness for my intentions,
which are none other than to ask the Lord that he cut short these trials-if thi
s is his will-and that as long as they continue, he grant us joy and a supernatu
ral outlook and a lot of charity in dealing with them.
May you all have a great love for the Church! I give everyone permission to do s
ome extraordinary penance-with prdence and after asking permission. But above al
l, let everyone approach the tabernacle and the Blessed Virgin with constant pra
yer and petition.
Gaudium cum pace! If we had all the riches in the world, we could never repay Go
d for this joy that you and I-sinner that I am!-have in our souls and on our fac
es, from seeing that we have been deemed worthy to suffer for Jesus Christ.[59]

The campaign began with visits by a number of religious to the homes of those wh
o had requested admission to Opus Dei or were frequenting El Palau. They peppere
d parents and other relatives with arguments against Opus Dei backed up by their
moral authority. In the face of this barrage of criticism, who could defend the
cause of a new organization represented by a handful of young students and havi
ng no public or official endorsement from the Church? Rafael Escola gives us a g
ood picture of the situation:
They visited my family to tell them that the Work was "a very dangerous heresy,"
that we were "being duped, little by little," that the founder was "diabolical,
" and that we were forbidden to go to confession. Because we did mental prayer,
they called us "illuminati." They also claimed that we practiced "invented ritua
ls" ... My brothers and sisters tried to dissuade me from what they called my "m
ental confusion." My whole family suffered for years, until the truth, little by
little, became clear to them.[60]
This family had already had its share of suffering during the civil war: Rafael
had been jailed by the Communists while still a boy.[61] And now to be told that
this son who had been saved from death was headed for hell!
Jose Orlandis, another member of the Work, was in Barcelona to see his father, w
ho was convalescing in a hospital. In a letter to Father Josemara, dated May 21,
he described the conduct of the people of the Work and the sufferings they exper
ienced in connection with their families:

They are putting into practice what you wrote them from Lerida and not permittin
g themselves even uncharitable thoughts. And as for the Jesuit fathers who have
most directly and actively opposed the Work-expelling its members from the sodal
ity, publicly calling them Masons or something similar, and in some cases making
even their mothers and brothers and sisters mourn them as heretics headed for p
erdition-when they speak of these priests, they do it as you said to. They speak
of them with affection, in a tone of voice not at all put-on. They excuse the c
onduct of these priests by saying they are motivated by zeal and convinced they
are doing the right thing.
And what I'm telling you about their families considering them heretics is no ex

aggeration. Rafa Escola is suffering tremendously. "You can't imagine what it's
like," he told me yesterday. "At home, my mother and all five of my brothers and
sisters see me as a heretic on the road to perdition. All day long they keep me
under observation, tracking my every least move, and everything I do seems susp
icious to them. If they see me sad, they say, 'That's only natural. You're sad b
ecause you know what an evil path you've taken.' And when they see me filled wit
h joy and peace, to them this is even worse. 'Now he's a lost cause,' they say.
'There's no hope of his turning back. The evil has taken hold of him; he must al
ready be a hardened heretic.' My mother can't speak to me or even look at me wit
hout her eyes filling up with tears. And the worst thing is that there has come
between us a kind of coldness." But Rafa's reaction to all this pain and sufferi
ng is truly admirable: "I am happy to be able to offer this to God for the Work,
and in the midst of these trials I feel a great joy that our Lord is letting me
suffer a little for him."
And all the others have this same spirit that Rafa has.[62]

To all this there was soon added a distributing of flyers in ecclesiastical circ
les-anonymous flyers filled with false accusations against the Work and its foun
der.[63] More bad news seemed to be coming every day. Each morning Father Josema
ra would ask Alvaro, "My son, from which direction will they attack us today?"[64
]
The founder knew that while God was their ultimate support, he too was responsib
le for the strength of the Work and the peace of his sons, and so could not allo
w himself to become pessimistic or lose his serenity On May 12 he wrote to Rafae
l Termes, the director of El Palau:

+ May Jesus bless my sons and watch over them. My dear sons:
We should rejoice that our Lord has seen fit to treat us in a divine manner.
What can I tell you? Be happy, spe gaudentes [rejoicing in hope]. Bear suffering
with charity, with never a word against anyone; in tribulatione patientes! And
be filled with a spirit of prayer-orationi instantes! [constant in prayer!].
An embrace from your Father,
Mariano.[65]

He rejoiced in soul to suffer for Christ, but his body showed the strain, and he
wound up sick in bed. Thanking the bishop of Barcelona for his condolences on h
is mother's death, he wrote:

I've dragged myself out of bed to write you this letter-I am suffering a lot! An
d yet I wouldn't trade places with the happiest man on earth. The last thirteen
years have been like that. The spirit is willing, with the grace of God; but the
body, at times, breaks down.
I want you to know that I feel a deep gratitude toward our Lord, because at the
same time that he has permitted persons so holy and so dear to my heart to maltr
eat us, he also has arranged, knowing our weakness (mine that is), that the bish
ops who know us should to a man encourage and console and defend us.[66]

His health stayed bad for quite a while, though he tried not to show it. Two wee
ks later, he was also sick in bed when a call came from Bishop Eijo y Garay. As
soon as he could get up, he wrote to Bishop Leopoldo:
My esteemed and very dear Bishop:

They tell me that you called yesterday evening. I was in bed. Yesterday the Lord
didn't let me celebrate Mass or receive Communion. All morning I had a slight f
ever and was throwing up. Today I'm fine. It's the animalis homo rebelling, beca
use the "other man" is very happy.[67]

On one of those nights when he was feeling especially upset by the insults made
to his honor as a priest, he got up and went to the oratory. (At Diego de Leon,
the oratory was next to his bedroom.) Prostrating himself before the tabernacle,

he prayed, "Lord, if you don't need my good name, why should I want it?"[68]The
n, leaving things in God's hands, he peacefully went back to bed.
An idea, nevertheless, kept gnawing at him. If the decree of approval was not en
ough to silence the gossipers, might not the honor of the Work be vindicated if
he, its founder, were to appear before an ecclesiastical tribunal that would ren
der judgment on his orthodoxy? On May 4 he wrote to Bishop Leopoldo:

I don't have any tears left for crying: Our Lord has asked of me my good name an
d my mother. I think I've given them to him with all my heart. The body, at time
s, gives out, but deep in my soul I constantly experience the truth of those wor
ds we read in today's Gospel, "et gaudium vestrum nemo tollet a vobis!" ["and no
one will take your joy from you": Jn 16:22].
My bishop: Hasn't the time come for me to be judged by a tribunal, so that this
whole affair can be brought into the clear light of day?
Just the thought that I could be straying, even slightly, from the teachings of
the Holy Roman Church-my Mother!-is very painful to me.
Your Excellency can do with me as he wishes. The Lord has given me a great sense
of security regarding my actions-a sense of security resting on the certitude t
hat I have never done or said anything without the approval of the bishop of wha
tever place, and especially the bishop of Madrid and his vicar generals.[69]

That same day, a Sunday, just when he had finished giving his sons a meditation
during exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the phone rang, and it was Bishop Ei
jo y Garay. In the note he wrote the next morning about that call, the founder s
aid: "I want to put it on record that the words of our bishop are a source of gr
eat joy. They savor of God. Today all these worries don't seem to be weighing on
me-I think I'm even beginning to enjoy them. Laus Deo!"[70]

4. Opus Dei: "An extremely hot topic"

With the attacks on the Work continuing unabated in Barcelona, repercussions sta
rted to reach other cities. Father Josemara, besides continuing to seek excuses f
or the perpetrators, also spoke and wrote to some of them in the hope of getting
them to mend their ways. One of these was Father Angel Basterra, a Jesuit pries
t with whom he had been on friendly terms in the years of the Republic and who w
as now circulating the accusations in Bilbao. Trying not to provoke more dissens
ion, he communicated to him by letter the news that the Work had been canonicall
y approved. In this letter he says:

Just two comments: that the people spreading these rumors do not know the facts;
and that I have never said one word about the blessed and most beloved Society
of Jesus that was not filled with respect and affection for it. And now, when th
e conduct of certain of its priests is causing me so much suffering, I am carefu
lly reading Ribadeneyra's biography of Saint Ignatius, and I find my love and ve
neration for the Society and its glorious founder growing, if possible, even str
onger. I am learning a lot from the fortitude with which Ignatius and his first
followers bore persecutions, calumnies, and misunderstandings coming from exempl
ary religious.
The truth will come to light. In the meantime, I feel, not forgiveness for those
offenses, but affection for the people behind them and a willingness to forget
what they have done.
In addition, I am happy to be able to communicate to you that on this past March
19,feast of my father and lord Saint Joseph, the Work received canonical approv
al.
For the sake of charity, my dear Father; for love of the Church; because of the
unfortunate scandal being given to so many souls; for the sake of justice; and i
n remembrance of those bitter days that the first members of that most beloved S
ociety of Jesus went through, I beg that you, recalling the many good things you
said about our apostolic work before the calumnies reached your ears, do all th

at you can with your prayers and your influence to put an end to this unfortunat
e campaign (which is being carried out in every place and way possible, includin
g from the pulpit), from which only the enemy of souls benefits. No, that's not
true, since we ourselves feel such supernatural interior joy that we will gladly
suffer for Jesus and for the service of the Church (our vocation being none oth
er than this), and never from any of us will there be one word of protest agains
t those good priests, who are instruments of God. He is treating his Work in the
divine manner in which he usually treats new foundations.
Pray for this sinner, who loves you and who will always continue to love all of
you.

Josemara.[71]

By now, though, many lay Catholics had been confused by the anonymous flyers and
by the derogatory statements made in sermons.[72] Upset by the rumors, some sou
ght clarification and advice at Montserrat, a Benedictine monastery which was a
focal point of spiritual life in Catalonia and which was not far from Barcelona.
Dom Aurelio Maria Escarre, the coadjutor abbot of Montserrat, acting on the sug
gestion of Bishop Marcelino Olaechea of Pamplona, whom he had queried about Opus
Dei, wrote to the bishop of Madrid a letter requesting information on it. The r
elevant paragraph reads:

Now I need to ask you a favor. An extremely hot topic at the moment is that of "
Opus Dei," the foundation of Father Escriva, a priest of your diocese. Many peop
le have consulted us on this matter, especially in the confessional, and so that
we might know what advice we should give, we would like some clear guidelines..
.. I humbly ask you to expedite my request, in light of the urgency of the situa
tion here.[73]

In the midst of all that confusion, three members of the Marian sodality asked a
dmission to Opus Dei, in January, March, and April of 1941. The three were Laure
ano Lopez Rodo, Juan Bautista Torell, and Jorge Brosa. Laureano submitted his res
ignation from the sodality in writing, without waiting to be expelled. Later, Fa
ther Verges visited the family.[74]
Juan Bautista suffered more than most. Not only was he expelled from the sodalit
y, but he had two brothers who were Jesuits, a sister who was a nun, and a mothe
r who had been widowed. While studying at the university, he had been teaching m
ath at a Jesuit high school to help support the family. After his expulsion, he
lost this teaching position.[75]
As for Alfonso Bacells, in whose name El Palau had been rented, he was on that a
ccount considered directly responsible for all the activities that took place th
ere. His brother Santiago recalls that, because the apartment was in his name, F
ather Verges refused to believe that he was not in the Work.
Those priests, thinking it their duty to eliminate what they considered a grave
danger, brought the civil authorities into the case. Alfonso was summoned before
the governor of Barcelona, Antonio Correa Veglison. The governor told him that
he wanted to know what kind of activities were going on in that apartment, and t
hat it would be useless to try to hide anything. He already knew everything, he
said, because he was good friends with the Jesuits. He knew from them that the W
ork was "a sect of illuminati, or something of the sort." And, he said, if Alfon
so did not spill the beans, he and all the others would end up in jail.[76]Alfon
so's explanations helped calm him down, but he remained on the alert lest Father
Josemara show up in Barcelona.[77]
In this postwar period, when civil liberties were dangerously dependent upon rel
igious beliefs, Alfonso Balcells found himself compromised by his ties to the Wo
rk in still another context. In May a doctor he had known from medical school to
ld him that efforts were under way to keep him from taking the competitive exami
nation for a position at the hospital clinic, because of his membership in a her
etical sect. He went immediately to the bishop of Barcelona, Bishop Miguel de lo
s Santos Gomara, who received him warmly and advised him to write to Bishop Eijo

y Garay and tell him in detail what was happening.[78]

The bishop of Madrid sent this brief response, dated June 2: "Our Lord God will
reward all of you. Suffer this for him and for his Work, and with much charity a
nd forgiveness. Steps are already being taken to ensure that this outrageous ass
ault does not succeed. I am also writing to your bishop. I think the storm will
quickly be calmed."[79] In January 1943, after a year of postgraduate work abroa
d, Alfonso asked admission to Opus Dei.[80]Things did not get better; on the con
trary, they kept getting worse. On May 2 Father Josemara wrote to his bishop:

The terribly difficult situation of my sons in Catalonia, which has now gone on
far too long, is breaking my heart. I'm writing these lines because I can't hide
anything from my bishop and I need to open my heart like a son to Your Excellen
cy.[81]
The founder was in danger of being arrested if he went to Barcelona. Then again,
that threat existed even in Madrid. There, too, anonymous denunciations had bee
n made to the civil authorities. Those were the months when the vicar general, M
onsignor Morcillo, was warning him in all seriousness, "Jose Maria, watch out, t
hey may put you in jail any day."[82]

He concluded that he had to go to Barcelona to see his sons and to speak with th
e bishop, and by the middle of May he was looking for the right moment to do so.
On May 19 he wrote to Father Sebastian Cirac, "It's possible that we'll see eac
h other very soon."[83]Father Cirac (the canon in Cuenca who had overseen the pr
inting of Consideraciones espirituales in 1934) stood up for the Work throughout
this difficult period.
The founder had ordered his sons to refrain for the time being from any external
apostolic activity at El Palau and to suspend until further notice their meetin
gs with students who might have vocations to Opus Dei.[84] But these prudent mea
sures had no discernible effect. And so, recognizing that he had to confront the
source of the problem, Father Carrillo de Albornoz, Father Josemara drafted a le
tter to him. Bishop Eijo y Garay revised it slightly, changing several words tha
t seemed to bespeak excessive humility.

Madrid, May 20, 1941

Rev. Father Angel Carrillo de Albornoz My dear brother in the Lord:

I write you these lines, that are filled with cordiality and sincere affection,
to make it known to you that one hears on all sides that you are the source of a
campaign of defamation against the brother who is writing this letter, and agai
nst his poor priestly efforts, which the Holy Church has approved....
In that campaign of defamation, tactics are being employed which no ordinary Chr
istian could use. As long as it was aimed only at my poor self, which richly des
erves every form of abuse, I kept quiet.... But I think I have a duty to tell yo
u, before our Lord God, that people unconnected with me are being hurt.
I have been told, through various channels, that you intend not to stop until yo
u see Opus Dei destroyed. To this I say only these words from Acts: "Si ex homin
ibus est consilium hoc aut opus, dissolvetur; si vero ex Deo est, non poteritis
dissolvere illud ne forte et Deo repugnare inveniamini" ["If this plan or this u
ndertaking is of men, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to
overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God": Acts 5:38-39].
Father Carrillo, the truth will come to light, and I am sure that we will end up
being good friends. I have nothing toward you except fraternal good will and an
earnest desire to forget everything that could obscure that affection.
In the meantime, be assured that we will never utter a word against those who ar
e so cruelly persecuting us. With the grace of God, we will always be prepared t
o suffer with great joy whatever we may have to for Jesus Christ and for the ser
vice of our Mother the Holy Church. That is our vocation. Your brother and devot
ed servant in Christ,

Father J. M. Escriva.[85]


He sent the letter in care of Father Daniel Ruiz, superior of the house in which
Father Carrillo lived, enclosing a note to Father Ruiz saying, "I humbly reques
t that you read the attached letter and, if it seems opportune to you, put it in
the hands of Father Carrillo."[86]He had high hopes of everything getting strai
ghtened out.
The next day, May 21, he made a phone call to the nunciature to tell Archbishop
Cicognani that he was thinking of going to Barcelona. "Use an assumed name," the
nuncio advised, thinking of the measures taken by the governor.[87]Father Josem
ara planned to be back in Madrid by the twenty-third, and asked for an appointmen
t for Saturday, the twenty-fourth, at the nunciature.
A few hours later he left for Barcelona by plane, with a ticket in the name of J
ose Maria Balaguer. Upon arriving, he went to the bishop's residence to report t
o Bishop Miguel de los Santos and find out how things stood locally, then, havin
g arranged as a precaution to stay with Father Sebastian Cirac, he met his sons
at Father Cirac's house. There, at the dining room table, he gave them a spiritu
al pep talk. "Since we are children of God," he said, "we should always be joyfu
l. Even if they crack our head open? Yes, even if we have to go around with a cr
acked-open head, since that would be a sign that our Father-God wants us to go a
round like that."[88]After talking with each of them, one on one, he returned to
Madrid.
When on Saturday, at noon, he arrived at the nunciature, he was told by the port
er that the nuncio was at that moment speaking with the Jesuit provincial. Archb
ishop Cicognani came in soon and took him to a different sitting room. "Meeting
the provincial wouldn't have bothered me in the least," Father Josemara thought t
o himself, "since neither in my head nor in my heart do I have anything against
the blessed Society of Jesus."[89]
The nuncio wanted to hear about the Work. Father Josemara told him all about its
nature and mission: service to the Church, sanctity in the midst of the world. H
e spoke in detail about its spirituality and about its docility to the local bis
hop, and also volunteered a good deal of information about his own life. Then he
asked the archbishop if he had seen the anonymous flyers against Opus Dei that
were being circulated in Barcelona, and when he said no, Father Josemara went on
to describe them. Archbishop Cicognani said that he also had not seen the statut
es of the Work, but would like to, and Father Josemara promised to bring him a co
py.
"He gave me a very friendly good-bye. I left with a very good feeling," he wrote
in a note on that meeting.[90]
As he weighed up the facts, the nuncio saw the situation more clearly. And so wh
en the founder came a second time, on June 10, bringing the promised copy of the
statutes, their conversation was even friendlier. Father Josemara had the opport
unity to explain how the members of the Work were reacting to the calumnies and
insults and trying to live collective humility in service to the Church.
Right after that visit, he wrote to Bishop Eijo y Garay, describing the nuncio a
s "very friendly" and adding, "I have an even better feeling than I had the othe
r time. He understands our way perfectly."[91]
Archbishop Cicognani started hearing more and more about the commotion. It was a
subject that came up often in his conversations with the bishops. Not being fon
d of dissensions to begin with, he found this one inexcusable, especially since
it involved priests. In mid-June, the bishop of Pamplona, having just spoken wit
h Archbishop Cicognani, told Alvaro del Portillo, "The nuncio is for Father Jose
mara."[92]
Meanwhile, the hopes for a possible retraction by Father Carrillo collapsed like
a house of cards. Indeed, the reply from Father Daniel Ruiz suggested further c
omplications ahead.

Madrid, May 23, 1941

Father Jose M. Escriva

My dear brother in Jesus Christ:

On my return to Barcelona I received your letter dated May 20, with the one for
Father Angel Carrillo de Albornoz. Since you left it to my discretion whether or
not to give that letter to the person it was addressed to, it seems to me appro
priate that I write you directly, expressing my views on the matter it deals wit
h. As superior of the residence and as director of the San Luis Sodality, I am w
ell acquainted with the thoughts and doings of Father Carrillo de Albornoz, sinc
e he and I are of one mind.
I am extremely surprised that you can say so matter-of-factly and with such conv
iction that a violent campaign has been unleashed against your Work. To me it is
obvious that the reality is the exact opposite: that is to say, that you people
have done things intended to discredit and defame the Society of Jesus and, in
particular, the Marian sodalities. It causes one to suspect that an attempt is b
eing made to defame us precisely by making us out to be adversaries of your Work
, without this being the case, and without any evidence that it is.
I know for a fact that it is completely untrue that Father Carrillo has undertak
en any such campaign. There is no such campaign. There is simply (and not by Fat
her Carrillo's instigation) a natural reaction of legitimate self-defense, not a
gainst a work approved by the Church, but against the hardly noble tactics used
by certain members of that organization to discredit our Marian sodalities and e
ven the Society of Jesus itself.[93]

The only recourse left was a direct appeal to the Jesuit provincial. Bishop Leop
oldo offered to prepare the way before Father Josemara took that step. On May 29
the bishop met with the head of the Toledo province, Father Carlos Gomez Martinh
o. They had a long conversation, in which the bishop spoke earnestly and energet
ically. That afternoon he sent the provincial a long letter reiterating what he
had said that morning.

My dear Father Provincial:

As you requested, and continuing our very positive conversation of this morning,
I am writing you these lines about the pious union canonically established with
the title of "Opus Dei," [founded] by the worthy priest Father Jose Maria Escri
va.[94]
How truly sad that people so good and so devoted to God should be fighting-clear
ly for motives of zeal and arbitrantes se obsequium praestare Deo ["thinking the
y are offering service to God": see Jn 16:2]-against this institution that not o
nly I, who have approved it, but all the bishops I know who are familiar with it
, hold in the highest esteem....
I can assure Your Reverence that the Opus is truly Dei and has been from its con
ception through every new stage of its development. That Work was conceived only
to serve God, and it is engaged only in sanctification of souls and in works of
apostolate....
The people who belong to Opus Dei are not, by that fact, in danger of losing the
ir souls, nor are they in any way heretics or Masons or illuminati. Such accusat
ions are being voiced not only to those thought to be in the Work, but to many w
ho have no connection with it and, worst of all, to the mothers of members, and
of students who do have a connection with the Work. Even the confessional is bei
ng used for this purpose. All of this is creating truly tragic family situations
.
Believe me, Father, none of these charges have any basis in reality. It is not t
rue that it is a secret society. Not only was it born with the approval of the d
iocesan authorities, but, since that birth thirteen years ago, it has taken no s
tep of any importance without seeking and obtaining such approval....
Certainly it does not deserve to be attacked by good people. And, nevertheless,
they are attacking it. This would be a cause of astonishment and sadness, had th
e Lord not gotten us so familiar with this phenomenon. How many other works very
much of God have met with the same fortune! ...

Dear Father Provincial, I ask that you, for love of God and of the Church, help
me put an end to a storm from which only the enemy of our souls stands to gain.
If, with regard to all these accusations thrown at the Work, you would like me t
o clarify some particular point, let me know and I will be glad to do so. I cons
ider it a great service to the Church to do whatever I can in support of Opus De
i.
I send you my blessing and commend myself to your holy prayers.[95]

Two days later, on May 31, Father Josemara went to see the provincial, at Arenero
s School. They spoke for two hours on various subjects, including the question o
f Opus Dei getting vocations from among sodality members. After this meeting, Fa
ther Josemara only had time to send Bishop Eijo y Garay a brief note, since he wa
s about to set out for Pamplona. The note read: "I think this is the end, thanks
be to God and to my bishop, our father. May God reward you! I insisted that the
y rectify this whole thing, and he promised me that they would."[96]
Buoyed up by this hope, he wrote from Pamplona to his sons at El Palau: "It appe
ars that the tribulation is coming to an end. Let us bless God and always be rea
dy to accept whatever he wants. In laetitia! [Joyfully!]"[97]And to Alvaro del P
ortillo: "We need to ask our Lord, in this month of his Sacred Heart, that this
may really be (if it is his will) the end of the persecution."[98]
From Pamplona Father Josemara went to Valladolid and, a few days later, Valencia.
His visits to the bishops in these cities tempered his hopes. On June 13 he wro
te to Bishop Eijo y Garay, and told him that the bishops were all agreed in thin
king that the attack would now come from some other direction.[99]
At long last the coadjutor abbot of Montserrat received the awaited reply of the
bishop of Madrid concerning the matter "of great interest" about which he had i
nquired. Bishop Eijo y Garay wrote, in a letter dated May 24: "Many thanks for y
our letter of the 9th, which I received yesterday, the 23rd. I don't know why th
e long delay.... Yes, I know all about the commotion being stirred up against Op
us Dei in Barcelona. It's obvious that it is a thorn in the side of the Evil One
. The sad thing is that people very devoted to God are the instruments of the ha
rm being done." Then he turned to his main point:

From the time it was founded in 1928, Opus Dei has been so much in the hands of
the Church that the diocesan ordinary, that is to say, either my vicar general o
r myself, has known of and, when necessary, guided all of its steps. Everything
from its first cries to its current groanings has resounded in our ears-and in o
ur hearts. Because, believe me, Most Reverend Abbot, the Opus has been truly Dei
from its conception on through every new stage of its development.
Father Escriva is an exemplary priest, chosen by God for the sanctification of m
any souls.... In a word, I have nothing to say against that Opus. It is, I repea
t, truly Dei. And, nevertheless, it is good people who are now attacking it. Thi
s would be cause for astonishment were it not that the Lord has accustomed us to
seeing that same phenomenon occur with other works very much his own.[100]

Bishop Leopoldo's letter was not brief, but it left a number of unanswered quest
ions in the mind of the abbot. On June 15 he wrote again with a long list of spe
cific questions: Where and how did Opus Dei originate? What are its aims? Why do
some say it is shrouded in mystery and is secretive? What is the truth about th
e "iconoclastic leanings" attributed to its members? How do they live? And why a
re they accused of hating the religious orders?
Bishop Leopoldo answered in detail. He began, "Reverend Father Abbot: Yesterday
I received your letter of the 15th, and I am happy to dedicate a bit of time to
answering your questions." Pages later, he went on to say:

What is really amazing is the spirit with which the members of Opus Dei have bor
ne this great trial. I see their letters, because Opus Dei shows me everything,
and I admire and am edified by the holy joy with which they suffer for their voc
ation, which the gale only serves to embed more deeply in their souls. There is
not one complaint or word of ill will toward the religious who so harshly persec

ute them. Their greatest consolation is seeing that all the bishops in whose ter
ritories they have houses are with them; that we are encouraging and defending t
hem. God will have to reward those who arbitrantes se obsequium praestare Deo [t
hinking they are offering service to God] have pressed this war, but all that Op
us Dei wants out of it is the good that our Lord wants to draw from this tribula
tion. And it will come about.[101]

5. Bishop Eijo y Garay as pastor

Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay of Madrid-Alcala ruled his diocese with a firm hand
. He energetically applied the Holy See's instructions to restrict the flow of p
riests to the capital from other dioceses, and during the time of the Republic h
e stood up to attempts of the civil authorities to interfere in Church matters,
refusing to recognize the government's nominations for Church posts.
Father Josemara, from when he first came to Madrid as a young priest, had been su
bject to the diocese's strict rules and had conducted himself in an exemplary fa
shion. His consultations with the vicar general (Monsignor Moran), his punctual
applications for renewal of his ministerial faculties, and, above all, his arden
t apostolic zeal had commended him to Bishop Eijo y Garay from the start.
Then, during the time Father Josemara spent in Burgos in 1938, their mutual estee
m quickly evolved into a warm friendship. As had Cardinal Soldevila earlier, Bis
hop Eijo y Garay, a perceptive man with a lot of experience in governing, discov
ered the exceptional qualities of this young Aragonese priest: his daring and pr
udence, his drive and refinement of soul, his obedience and sincerity. (In 1943,
when the bishop had to send to Rome a synopsis of what he knew about the founde
r of Opus Dei, he wrote of him: "The distinctive notes of his character are his
energy and his capacity for organization and government; with an ability to pass
unnoticed. He has shown himself most obedient to the Church hierarchy-one very
special hallmark of his priestly work is the way he fosters, in speech and in wr
iting, in public and in private, love for Holy Mother Church and for the Roman P
ontiff."[102]
Their harmony of will produced a deep mutual trust. The founder made it a habit
never to take one step in his apostolic activities without first obtaining permi
ssion from the competent authority and afterward making what he called his "rend
ering of accounts."[103]He did this with great naturalness, making no secret of
his esteem and affection for the bishop, and in difficult moments he turned conf
idently to this shepherd of God's flock. "I've been tempted not to send my Fathe
r this letter," he once wrote him, "but I am going to send it. It is of the esse
nce, no doubt about it, that my bishop know all about-I say this again-even the
breathing of this poor son of his.?[104] And in August 1940, as attacks on the W
ork were mounting, Father Josemara expressed to him the hope "that you may contin
ue to regard the Work that he has laid on my shoulders as something of God and a
s something of yours."[105]
Bishop Leopoldo's first step in defending the Work was always to obtain informat
ion-when possible, firsthand. Father Josemara bent over backwards to understand o
ther people's motives, and never to assume bad intentions, and so quickly dispos
ed of reports he received on the subject of attacks. The bishop asked that in th
e future he keep them, and that he inform him of every detail. Indeed, by the sp
ring of 1941 the attacks had become so virulent that they could no longer be ign
ored. On May 14 Father Josemara wrote to the bishop:

Father, in order to keep Your Excellency up-to-date on what is going on, I'm sen
ding you this sheet of paper, a copy of a flyer that the Fathers [of the Society
] distributed fairly widely in Barcelona among churchmen. I think Lahiguera has
brought another copy with him.
I would like to discuss several matters that I don't think should be dealt with
in a letter or on the phone. I know very well how little time my bishop has. Nev
ertheless, I make bold to request that you grant me a quarter of an hour, whenev
er you have a free moment. May God reward you!

I haven't heard anything from Valencia, nor from the person who went there by pl
ane yesterday. I guess nothing new has happened; otherwise they would have calle
d. I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything.[106]

And on May 15:

My Reverend Bishop-Bothering you once again. Seems like this is becoming a daily
bulletin. But it's good that Your Excellency always be able to say of this poor
son of his that he knows all about "even his breathing."
Still no word from Valencia.
As for Barcelona, I'm sending you an account of the most recent talk given by Fa
ther Verges, plus several paragraphs from a letter, which I think are interestin
g.[107]

The rumors proliferated. The founder half-jokingly dubbed the swarm of stories a
nd innuendos "gossip papers."[108]
Bishop Leopoldo refused to tolerate the least gossip about Opus Dei or disparage
ment of its founder.[109] "Father Escriva," he wrote to the Jesuit provincial of
Toledo, "is an exemplary priest, chosen by God for apostolic enterprises; humbl
e, prudent, self-sacrificing in work, docile to his bishop; of outstanding intel
ligence and with a very solid spiritual and doctrinal formation."[110]
Since the canonical approval had not put a stop to the storm in Catalonia, Fathe
r Josemara appealed to the authority of the ordinary. Bishop Miguel de los Santos
Gomara, having only recently arrived in the diocese of Barcelona as apostolic a
dministrator, tried without success to calm things down. He even went personally
to the University of Barcelona, as was noted by the woman who was his housekeep
er, "to speak to the Rector and the Dean, about the agitation that the "Luises"
were carrying on against Opus Dei."[111]On September 14, Bishop Diaz Gomara wrot
e to Sebastian Cirac, who was in Madrid:

I am very sorry that the campaign against O.D. is continuing, and even more that
they have dared to do what you tell me against Escriva and Albareda. The truth
will out and as his bishop (Don Leopoldo) said to me a few days ago, the Lord ex
pects a lot from the Work if he is putting it through such a trial.[112]

Thus there fell to the bishop of Madrid this heavy task of answering letters, re
ceiving visits, clearing up questions, consoling the afflicted, reprimanding the
gossipers, and comforting those they injured-at a time when he was already work
ing so hard, trying to revive a diocese that had been paralyzed for three years
and to resolve a thousand intricate problems involving Church personnel and prop
erties. And that is to say nothing of the endless round of meetings, gatherings,
and ceremonies. Often the bishop worked late into the night, tackling at the en
d of the day, when no one else was there, the mountain of papers piled up on his
desk.[113]
The founder, too, had a great capacity for work. But ever since he had abandoned
into God's hands the whole matter of his good name, he had slept wonderfully. W
hen any concern threatened to interfere with his sleep, he would say, "Lord, let
me sleep, because tomorrow I have to work for you."[114]On his shoulders fell t
he weight of Opus Dei and its apostolates, the endless work of spiritual directi
on, and the many trips he was making. For, unable to say no to the bishops' requ
ests, he was still giving priests' retreats in many dioceses during these months
.
In the spring of 1941 he wrote to his bishop, "It's looking to me like I'm going
to have to give up this work that lies outside my particular vocation, because
Opus Dei is more than enough to exhaust my poor energies. But I will do whatever
Your Excellency would prefer."[115] Bishop Leopoldo did not let him off the hoo
k. He had him keep giving those retreats, not only because of the good they were
doing for so many souls, but also because he knew that firsthand contact with t
he founder-hearing him speak, witnessing his zeal-was the best antidote to the l
ies about Opus Dei.

One night, when he was already in bed and trying to put out of his mind the calu
mnies suffered that day, Father Josemara got a phone call.

It was Bishop Leopoldo, with his warm, expressive voice. "Simon, Simon," he said
to me, "ecce Satanas expetivit vos ut cribraret sicut triticum: ego autem rogav
i pro to ut non deficiat fides tua, et to aliquando conversus confirma filios tu
os!" ("Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you all, that he might sift
you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and you
... strengthen-your sons!" [See Lk 22:31-32.])And then he hung up.
I went back to bed smiling, more serene (if possible) than ever joyful, because
our Lord was tossing us about like wheat being sifted. And because there were pe
ople-so many, not just the bishop-who were praying for me, so that I could confi
rm my sons in the strength of their vocation.
I never saw myself as unfortunate in that whole period, or ever in my life. I go
t through it all; I accepted God's will.[116]

Father Josemara was not the only target. The more the bishop stepped forward to d
efend Opus Dei, the more criticism he got. Father Josemara wrote to him:

I'm sending you copies of several letters that arrived yesterday from Barcelona.
You cannot imagine, my Father, how sorry I am that they are trying to smear You
r Excellency with the mud they are throwing at Opus Dei....
Will you forgive me, Father, for all these troubles that, despite my best effort
s, we are causing you?
I am suffering a lot! But at the same time, I am very happy and filled with peac
e. I wouldn't trade places with the happiest man on earth. I love God's holy wil
l![117]

It was said-and printed in anonymous flyers-that the bishop of Madrid had let hi
mself be deceived, that Rome would reverse his action, that he was protecting he
retics.... But the bishop did not back down. He was determined to keep fighting
until the truth prevailed.[118]
As noted earlier, in June 1941 the Spanish government reached an agreement with
the Holy See regarding the presentation of candidates to fill the episcopal sees
. Besides those vacant as a result of wartime martyrdoms, others also had recent
ly opened up.[119] Among these was the archdiocese of Toledo, because of the dea
th of Cardinal Coma in 1940. Since its head was the primate of Spain, filling it
was an obvious priority. Late one night, when saying good-bye to Bishop Leopold
o after a long conversation, Father Josemara remarked that as bishop of Madrid, h
e surely would be a candidate, but that as things were going, he most likely wou
ld be rejected. "Bishop, leave me in the street-ditch me!" he exclaimed. "Or at
least make it look for now like you're ditching me, and then pick me up again la
ter. Because otherwise you stand to lose the miter of Toledo."
Bishop Leopoldo became very serious and said, "I am not going to ditch you, Fath
er Jose Maria. Because it's not the miter of Toledo that's at risk-it's my soul!
"
"Some time later," the founder recalled, "he let me know that he had indeed been
excluded from the list."[120]
The priest's gratitude to his bishop operated on both the natural and supernatur
al levels. "I do not fail to pray for you several times a day," he writes in one
letter. "And tomorrow, as at other times, I will celebrate my Mass for my bisho
p and his intentions. Never will I be able to thank you enough for all the benef
its I have received from your hands."[121] And others knew how much that staunch
support of his bishop meant to him. Bishop Santos Moro wrote from Avila, "I've
had the pleasure of reading the magnificent letter of the bishop of Madrid to th
e abbot of Montserrat defending Opus Dei. Having defenders like him must to a gr
eat extent sweeten the bitterness of the persecution. Blessed be God."[122]
It must indeed have done so, especially since Bishop Leopoldo was so obviously h
appy to do all that he did.
The affection that the founder and members of Opus Dei had for Bishop Leopoldo,

as well as the support they were giving him with their prayers and mortification
s, found expression in a little gift that Father Josemara gave him for his saint'
s day. It was a painting of a young donkey, the same sort of gentle, strong, har
dworking, docile, and humble animal that carried our Lord on his triumphant entr
y into Jerusalem. On November 26, he wrote the bishop: "This little donkey wante
d to reach you on the feast of Saint Leopold. May my bishop receive it affection
ately, seeing how happy it is to come to the bishop's residence. It will be very
docile, and comes loaded down with all the respectful affection of these sons o
f Your Excellency."[123]
Bishop Leopoldo, for his part, was well acquainted with the priest's simplicity
and sincerity. On March 10, 1942, a leader of the Falange, then at the height of
its power, came to consult him about the "secret and Masonic" society founded b
y Father Josemara. The bishop said to him:

To think that Father Josemara Escriva is capable of creating anything secret is a

bsurd. He is as frank and open as a child! Father Josemara-and please don't let t
his reach his ears-is a good man, a real saint. And what a patriot! But above al
l, he is a holy man. We are accustomed to venerating the saints only when they a
re raised to the altars, and tend to forget that they were people who walked on
earth, just as we do. Father Josemara Escriva-have no doubt about it-is a saint w
hom we are going to see canonized on the altars.[124]

The bishop felt it an honor to have been chosen to support the founder of Opus D
ei. Once he was even heard to pray, "Lord, although when I appear before you I w
on't be bearing much of value, at least I'll be able to tell you, 'In these hand
s was born Opus Dei; with these hands I blessed Josemara."[125]

6. A panoramic vision

Barely two weeks after his visit to the Jesuit provincial (Father Carlos Gmez Mar
tinho), Father Josemara found it necessary to contact him again, this time by let
ter. During a brief stay in Valencia he had been told by his sons and some frien
ds of his that there had been "threats made in public and in private by Father S
egarra to repeat the spectacle of Barcelona."[126] This was something he looked
to the provincial to prevent.

Dear Father Provincial:

You can't imagine with what joy I recall our meeting at Areneros. Both of us wan
ting to love God and serve the Church, I just knew that our meeting would be mar
ked by cordiality and mutual understanding....
Certain Fathers of the Society read to a number of people a letter-from another
Father, one from Madrid-that was the start of this sorry campaign. How pleasing
to our Lord it would be, and how consistent with justice and charity, were this
Father now nobly to retract his accusations! By now, I think, no one can call me
a Mason, heretic, reprobate, lunatic, etc., etc., without suffering pangs of co
nscience. Or say that Opus Dei is all those insulting things it is being called
by word of mouth and in writing.[127]

All the same, what had happened in Barcelona did happen again in Valencia, with
the same tactics and maneuvers employed: criticisms of The Way,[128]accusations
before the civil authorities, visits to families of members of Opus Dei. Parents
were told that their children were headed straight toward eternal damnation.[12
9]
This unexpected outbreak of calumny led Father Josemara to ask Father Gomez Marti
nho to intercede with the provincial of Aragon.[130] At this point the misunders
tandings had spread so widely through Spain that the founder was not too surpris
ed when he received one day a letter from a convent in Segovia, expressing conce
rn.

It was from the superior of the Marian Reparatrix nuns, Mother Maria de la Virge
n Dolorosa Muratori, the one who had lent him the humble wooden tabernacle for t
he first oratory, on Ferraz Street. On August 6, 1941, he wrote to her:

Deeply respected and esteemed Mother, in Christ:

I often remember you with affection, both because of my love for the holy Instit
ute of Mary Reparatrix and because of the favors I personally owe to you. May Go
d reward you!
Your letter brought me joy-and pain, at seeing that even there at your convent y
ou're hearing about this opposition by good people, this persecution that we've
been suffering (for more than a year and a half now) on account of our vocation,
on account of our Love for Jesus Christ....
Mother, for love of God, tell that venerable community not to stop praying for u
s, that we might always see, in persons and events, the hand of our Father in he
aven. That way we will keep undergoing cum gaudio et pace, as we have been till
now, whatever he wills. What joy comes of fulfilling the holy will of God![131]

Father Josemara certainly did not expect the matter to end up in the hands of the
civil authorities, but he had little doubt that the blaze would go on spreading
.[132] Accusations that the Work was a heresy, a secret society, a Masonic group
opposed to constituted authority, and much else were familiar by now in the pub
lic and academic sectors. Especially dangerous were the allegations made to the
Tribunal for the Repression of Masonry which had been established on September 1
0, 1940.
Early in July 1941 this tribunal took up the case, in closed proceedings. Accord
ing to the tribunal reporter, Gonzalez Oliveros, a group of persons directed by
Father Escriva were accused of forming a branch of Masonry with ties to Jewish s
ects. The president of the tribunal, General Saliquet, inquired about the lifest
yle of the group's members, and among other things was told that they lived in c
elibacy. When he expressed skepticism, he was assured that the celibacy of Opus
Dei members was a confirmed fact.[133] He then decided to dismiss the matter, si
nce he could not see any reason for Masons to live in celibacy. The other member
s of the panel fully agreed.
Although the tribunal conducted its proceedings in secret and ordinarily those a
ccused did not even know about them if they were found innocent, an exception wa
s made in this case, as if to make up for the injustice of the accusation itself
, and members of the tribunal visited the Jenner Street residence. They asked Fa
ther Josemara to show them the oratory, where, according to the accusers, he pret
ended to levitate and there was a frieze with cabalistic symbols. As he ushered
them into the oratory, he jokingly referred to his ample girth saying, "It would
take a first-class miracle to get me even a few inches off the ground."[134]
But the accusations of a political nature kept coming. During these early years
of the Second World War, the Falange had a major presence and influence in the g
overnment, and it made no secret of its preference for a totalitarian one-party
state. Anyone taking any other political stance was deemed unpatriotic and riske
d being persecuted. At the same time, however, enemies of the Church and opponen
ts of the Francoist regime were accusing the founder of erring in the other dire
ction. Years later he recalled having been branded a Mason and "also a monarchis
t, an antimonarchist, a Falangist, a Carlist, and an anti-Carlist." At the heigh
t of the Second World War, "the same people, or people prompted by them, went to
the embassies of the Allies to say I was a Germanophile and to the embassies of
Germany and Italy to say I was an Anglophile."[135]To have accusations like the
se in the possession of the Falangist National Movement was like sitting on a ti
me bomb.
The political allegations were put together by Falangists in a "Confidential Rep
ort on the Secret Organization Opus Dei."[136]It said of the members of Opus Dei
:
In their conception of life they defend internationalism, asserting that for a C
atholic there should be no borders, nations, or homelands.[137]...This organizat

ion goes against the goals of the state, by reason of (1) its secretiveness, (2)
its international character, (3) its interference in intellectual life and in t
he system of ideas promoted by the Leader, and (4) its sectarianism, which oblig
es the state to appear unjust in its grantings of professorships, scholarships,
etc.... Its members act as if they adhered to the Movement, when really they onl
y await its fall, trusting in the permanence of Catholic doctrine, the shield of
its shadowy ambitions.[138]

The situation in Spain, as the founder would later write, "was not propitious, f
rom any point of view, to a young and new foundation to go forward. The environm
ent was not favorable."[139]There was more at issue than slanders and verbal inj
uries. An ambassador-a friend of his who was well informed-told him that some ex
tremist members of the Falange had decided to eliminate him.[140] A section of t
he "Confidential Report"-amusing, but at the same time alarming in light of the
close ideological ties between certain sectors of the Falange and German nationa
lists-concerned the presence in the Jenner Street residence of a map of Germany
covered with pigs supposedly representing the German people (actually it depicte
d livestock production).
In that report it was also claimed that members of the Work, in addition to seek
ing political power, were trying to gain control by obtaining teaching positions
in universities and in centers of scientific research.[141] And thus it happene
d that when some of them went to take the qualifying exams for professorships, t
hey found themselves targets of discrimination. The story that they were seeking
teaching positions by devious means made the rounds so widely that even friends
had a hard time not believing it.[142] Father Josemara wrote to a priest acquain
tance:

Look, you know that Opus Dei, which is free from any concern regarding earthly a
mbitions, seeks only "the Christian perfection of its members through the sancti
fication of ordinary work." Opus Dei is a supernatural work whose only concern i
s the interior life of souls. But opposition is inevitable. And the Lord has per
mitted us to suffer, as the main opposition, persecution by good people. And joi
ning those good people are others who are not so good, who hate the Holy Church
and Catholic Spain....
Members of the Work know very well that they cannot please God without carefully
observing all of society's procedural niceties and all the demands of Christian
morality. So you can reject out of hand all that rubbish about their angling fo
r jobs they aren't interested in.
They say I work with university students? It's true. But is that a crime? I see
it as a special service to the nation. The Lord could just as well have moved me
to work with illiterates. But it's flatly untrue that I'm trying to "take over"
the universities. The Work is not for making professors; it's for forming saint
s, in all spheres of society, whose only ambition is to love Jesus Christ (and,
therefore, the nation) and silently do good.[143]

But the slanders kept coming. And, bothersome enough as they were in themselves,
Father Josemara also had to keep track of them all, because his bishop had direc
ted him to.
"Again I have to take up my pen, out of obedience, to record gossip and rumors.
All for God!"[144]In this note, made during a retreat he gave in December 1941 f
or university women affiliated with Catholic Action, he records a conversation w
ith one of the retreatants, a chemistry student named Maria Teresa Llopis, in wh
ich she admitted that she had been sent to spy on him. Now sorry for having gone
along with this, she told him of a plot being hatched by members of Valencia's
city council, with the backing of the police commissioner, to close down the res
idence on Samaniego Street.
"Does the house have a well?" she asked.
"Yes, my daughter," replied Father Josemara. "It's a very old house. I'm sure man
y houses in Valencia have wells like that."
"Well, they claim that the things with the Masonic symbols have been thrown into

the well. And they also claim that there are secret passageways."
The note concludes: "I went back to our house, and as I write this, late on Frid
ay night and into Saturday morning, I can't help but smile at the amateurishness
of these calumnies. But another detail about the place got missed: in this hous
e there are seven stairways! Great title for a horror story: 'The House of the S
even Stairways."'
The joking tone suggests that he did not take the young lady's warning too serio
usly. But if he did take her story as being just one more among so many, he was
wrong. The city authorities, using a sanitary inspection as a pretext, really di
d try to close down the residence. Father Josemara moved quickly to right this wr
ong, asking an architect with the city government in Madrid to look into the mat
ter and verify that the action was purely arbitrary. He wrote to this architect,
Antonio Rodilla:

It is important to keep this injustice from happening. So I hope that you-acting

for the glory to God-will visit the mayor, and if necessary the governor, and c
lear this matter up, getting them to leave us in peace, without us having to put
out so much as a brushful of paint, since there is absolutely no need for it. W
hat they want to do is to make us close down the house, or at least to interrupt
our work with souls, and to get money from us. I don't know if you've heard, bu
t they've already found an excuse for giving us a fine. We paid it, although it
was not at all clear what it was for, just to avoid more trouble. Clearly that w
asn't enough for them.[145]

Spying on centers of the Work, and on the apostolic activities being conducted f
rom there, continued for years. In 1943 an agent of the Falange's intelligence s
ervice was sent to elicit information at the Diego de Leon center in Madrid, und
er the pretext of seeing how food supplies were being handled. The founder soon
discovered what the visitor was really after, and he showed him the door-but not
without first making friends with him.[146]
On January 13, 1945, when the war in Europe was drawing to a close, he wrote to
Father Roberto Cayuela, S.J.:

Dear Father:

I'm sorry to have to write you about some sad events, but a very close and trust
ed friend must hear about both the pleasant and the unpleasant.
Again, in various cities, several Fathers of the Society have started attacking
Opus Dei....
It's not just a matter of communicating to you this and that thing being said. I
t is as if, implicitly or explicitly, the Gospel were being turned on its head.
It's as though they were saying, "The harvest is little and the workers are many
." In the mind of a great general-that great Captain depicted by Saint Ignatiusthere is room for millions of people to be channeled in an expanding diversity o
f functions. And in the plans of the universal King, the eternal Priest, whom we
greet these days as "dominator Dominus," there is room for infinitely more than
any human mind can conceive. Today's challenge is not just to cultivate what li
es uncultivated, but to increase the productive capacity of what has already bee
n planted; to make what is fertile even more so; to get the workers to think of
themselves, too, in terms of harvest.
How shocked we would be if we were to read in the paper that American planes wer
e bombing British soldiers. This is one of the saddest things that could be imag
ined. Can it be that there is more harmony among earthly allied forces than amon
g people who every day hear in the eucharistic meal, "Love one another"? If thes
e things are going on among us who are united with Rome, how will the Lord ever
give us unity with our separated brethren? And that they are going on is shown b
y dozens and dozens of testimonies. Their sheer numbers are enough to wear one o
ut, but their content is deeply distressing.
You already know what a deep friendship I feel for you and how grateful I am for
your prayers.[147]


In a letter written to Father Carrillo de Albornoz from Rome on June 3, 1950, on
e can see a sincere desire to pardon the person who started the campaign against
the Work:

Rev. Father Angel Carrillo de Albornoz, S.J. London

My dear Father Carrillo:

I received your warm letter dated the 15th of the last month, and I too am sorry
things aren't working out so that you can visit this house.
When you return to Rome, I hope we can have a long conversation and get together
often. If I should happen to be out, you already know Father Alvaro del Portill
o, and I'm sure the two of you will always find it very easy to communicate.
With sincere affection, I send my warmest regards and ask your prayers for Opus
Dei and for this sinner.[148]

Encarnacin Ortega was present when the founder learned that Father Carrillo had q
uit the Jesuits. She testifies, "The Father was deeply pained. Salvador Canals r
eminded him that this was a man who had organized a terrible smear campaign agai
nst the Work. The Father cut him short: 'But he is a soul, my son; he is a soul.
' And he stayed there a while looking very sad, undoubtedly praying."[149]

7. A saying of saints

Saint Teresa of Avila relates an occasion when she encountered a deep lack of un
derstanding. Her confessor was attributing to diabolical intervention some super
natural events she had told him about, and good people around her were accepting
that explanation. She suffered terribly until Saint Peter of Alcantara came on
the scene. When he heard about all this, Saint Teresa says, "He had the greatest
compassion on me. He told me that one of the worst trials on earth was the one
I was suffering, which is opposition by good people."[150]
The opposition suffered by the founder lasted a long time. The first troubles da
ted back to the mid-thirties. In May 1936he recorded in his journal, "Recently,
that I know of, religious from three different orders have attacked us. Oppositi
on by good people? The devil's doing."[151]
The phrase recurs in a journal entry dated September 14, 1940: "Much tribulation
. Misunderstandings and slanders. Snare-setting by evil people and opposition by
good people. God alone knows the supernatural reason, but to a great extent the
human occasion has been M. I realize his intention isn't bad."[152]
Later he summarized this period in his life:

Along with the "opposition by good people," there wereand still are-foolish indi
viduals who used a lot of half-truths, not a few errors, and plenty of premedita
ted slanders, to organize an uproar against us. And then all this was spread far
and wide by other people through ignorance or stupidity, not bad will.[153]

Patience and prudence led him to let some years go by before composing a written
account of what had happened during this time of persecution. He first drafted
this letter in 1947, revised it three times to soften its language, and finally
finished it in 1966. That is why it bears two dates.[154] It begins:

Now that the waters have somewhat subsided, I am going to carry out the instruct
ions given me from on high, by persons who have authority in the Church, telling
me to communicate something about events that I tried to keep quiet about, thou
gh I couldn't entirely prevent my children from learning about them.[155]

Rather than a complete historical account, the letter sketches a number of incid
ents and anecdotes at random, setting them down with little concern for chronolo
gy or style. Specifics are omitted, as are the names of those responsible. Nor i

s judgment passed on their intentions and motives. "I'll skip over the gory deta
ils and spare you many implausible, harsh incidents that would sound like someth
ing out of the Middle Ages," the author remarks.[156]
In any event, the letter does not seem to have been written according to any car
efully organized plan. Despite his willingness to comply with those orders from
"on high," Father Josemara makes no attempt to get to the bottom of what happened
. Instead, what we have is a collection of isolated impressions, a "family conve
rsation" made from memory and without consulting written records.[157]Obviously
the founder had mixed feelings about recounting this whole chapter of the histor
y of the Work, since a family letter is not the best format in which to write an
y kind of history.
The problem was that Father Josemara deeply disliked speaking about himself, even
in third person, and yet wished to obey the person in the Vatican who had told
him to tell his children what had happened. Wanting, as usual, to "hide and disa
ppear," he left out intimate personal details about himself that were an integra
l part of the history of the Work during the "opposition by good people." He exp
lained, "It's hard for me, my children, to write this letter. But others have su
ggested that I should tell you something about what has been going on in my soul
."[158]
The focus of the letter is on how to draw spiritual profit from trials and oppos
ition and not lose one's peace and joy. There are deeply spiritual lessons to be
drawn from almost every paragraph.
Although it is impossible to impose much order on the chaotic assortment of deed
s and words, murmurings and falsehoods, that made up the smear campaign, one can
discern a few phases. At the start, around 1940, Father Josemara was the target
of isolated criticisms and gossip, which he referred to as "tribulations." A bit
later, when there was irrefutable evidence of an organized campaign against him
self and the Work, he began to speak of "opposition by the good." Eventually, th
e campaign became a "cruel and persistent persecution."[159]
For the founder it was no easy thing to use such strong language. The attacks we
re coming from persons belonging to an order he loved wholeheartedly. That was t
he case, too, with the abbot of Montserrat; but, as Bishop Leopoldo wrote to the
abbot on September 1, 1941, what else but "persecution" could such a harsh and
unbridled assault be called? The bishop wrote:

What seems strange to me is that, seeing how hard things have been made for Opus
Dei in your part of the country, you can say "if the opposition it is undergoin
g can be called persecution." Is it not a most cruel persecution to call this Wo
rk, which Your Reverence knows and esteems and is rightly interested in, Masonry
, a heretical sect,... a den of iniquity where souls are irretrievably lost? To
call its members iconoclasts, people who have been hypnotized, persecutors of th
e Church and of religious life, and so many other insults of this kind? To stir
up the civil authorities against them and try to get their centers closed and th
eir founder put in jail and condemned in Rome? And, most tragic and painful of a
ll, to sow discord by every possible means, from the confessional to visits to t
he families of those who love Opus Dei. If this is not persecution of the harshe
st sort, what is?[160]

In the midst of it all came this inexplicable event that we related earlier: Per
haps because he had been misinformed, perhaps because he could not believe that
one of his brothers in religion would stoop to calumny, Father Daniel Ruiz, the
immediate superior of Father Carrillo de Albornoz, made common cause with the la
tter and even accused the founder of having defamed the Society of Jesus.[161]
His sensitivity to the supernatural meanings of events soon moved Father Josemara
to discern a deeper significance in these sad occurrences. From the start, he s
aw the persecution as a trial sent by God, and sought to draw from it the good t
hat God intended. Although he keenly desired that the uproar cease, he felt that
it was in God's hands. To Bishop Leopoldo he wrote, "I ask our Lord insistently
that all of that may come to an end, if such be his will. With this qualifier a
ttached to it, my petition implicitly contains the request that, indeed, God may

will an end to this persecution that we are suffering, this persecution by good
people. In any case, FIAT [may his will be done]."[162]
One day, during a walk on the outskirts of Madrid, Monsignor Morcillo asked Fath
er Josemara, "Do you know that you have been denounced to Rome, to the Holy Offic
e, as possibly being a heretic?"
Father Josemara was filled with joy. He said, "How happy you make me, Casimiro! B
ecause from Rome, from the Pope, nothing can come to me but light and good."[163
]
All the same, the Work's immediate future was now jeopardized, since any ecclesi
astical institution with universal aspirations had to have Rome's approval. And,
tired as he was, Father Josemara had ten weeklong retreats to give in that summe
r of 1941.[164]
At the beginning of autumn, before the new school year began, Father Josemara was
so exhausted that he had to rest for a few days. Accompanied by Ricardo Fernand
ez Vallespin, he went to La Granja, a village near Segovia, and spent his time t
here writing and taking walks.
One rainy Thursday morning, September 25,he stayed in the hotel and wrote to Alv
aro del Portillo:

Today I offered the Holy Sacrifice and everything in the day for the Roman Ponti
ff, for his person and intentions. After the Consecration, I felt an impulse to
do something that made me cry-even though I am certain the Work will be greatly
loved by the Pope. With tears in my eyes, I looked at Jesus in the Eucharist lyi
ng on the corporal and told him in my heart, "Lord, if you want it, I accept the
injustice." You can guess what that injustice is: the destruction of the entire
Work of God.
I know it pleased him. How could I refuse to make this act of union with his wil
l, if he was asking it of me? Once before, in 1933 or 1934, at what cost only he
knows, I made a similar one.
My son, what a beautiful harvest the Lord is preparing for us, after our Holy Fa
ther gets to knows us truly (not through calumny) and sees us for what we are-hi
s very faithful ones-and blesses us![165]

Just as in 1933, although this time within the Mass, Father Josemara felt himself
interiorly moved to offer in holocaust to God his foundational mission, togethe
r with all the apostolates of the Work. In a heroic act of detachment, Father Jo
semara offered the sacrifice, in union with the divine will, of something much mo
re precious to him than his own life.
That offering was the culmination of nine years of docility and complete submiss
ion to the will of God. In 1932 he had written in his Apuntes, "Lord, your donke
y wants to deserve to be called 'he who loves God's will."[166]So many acts of l
ove and obedience had taken place since then, in union with Jesus' suffering on
the cross. With this second expression of loving acceptance of God's will, the f
ounder had shown himself deserving of this title he wanted, and our Lord never a
gain subjected him to that great trial.
Viewed from a spiritual perspective, the cross is a sign of God's special love.
Suffering and happiness had consequently become one and the same thing to Father
Josemara. All that mattered to him was God's will. Later on, reflecting on what
they had suffered back then from those persecutors, he would say, "They brought
us closer to God. They crucified us alongside Christ and made us see-I now see i
t clear as day-that the sufferings we men undergo are just."[167]
But this correspondence with the divine will did not come easily, as he explaine
d to Alvaro del Portillo:

Alvaro, pray a lot and ask people to pray for your Father. Jesus is permitting t
he enemy to make me sensitive to the enormous injustice of that campaign of incr
edible lies and mad calumnies. And the human impulse is for the animalis homo to
rise up. By God's grace I always reject those natural reactions (though they se
em to be, and perhaps are, products of a sense of rectitude and justice) in favo
r of a joyful and filial "fiat" (of divine filiation: I am a son of God!) that f

ills me with peace and joy and makes me forget.[168]

And despite that resolve, he was shocked at the changes he saw in himself. In No
vember 1941, while on retreat, he wrote in his journal:

This is the big thing I have discovered: I am naturally cheerful and optimistic;
however, all these years of struggle and of sufferings of every type have chang
ed my personality, without my realizing it until now. It's hard for me to smile.
I have that eighty years' worth of gravity that I asked our Lord for when I was
twenty-six-plus a lot of bitterness.
This is objective fact, just as it is also a fact that I've lost my gaudium cum
pace only very rarely and only for a moment, despite all the trials, both interi
or and exterior... .
But I'm getting off the point: I have frequent bouts of ill humor, I'm somber, I
seem sad. And God doesn't want that; it's not the spirit of the Work. I try to
make sure that our houses are cheerful places, and they are. I should be the fir
st to give example. What a good mortification-one ready at hand, and unnoticed!
If my spiritual director approves, I'll do my particular exam on cheerfulness. I
t's no small thing!
Resolution: To smile, smile always, for love of Jesus Christ. Madrid-House of th
e Vincentian Fathers, November, 1941.[169]

Within just twelve months, starting in the autumn of 1940, the campaign against
Opus Dei spread so widely and with such force that it seems almost miraculous th
at the Work survived. In his account of a conversation with the bishop of Madrid
in January 1941, the founder wrote about Father Carrillo: "He has-with the best
of intentions-gotten the smear campaign perfectly organized throughout Spain, a
nd according to Father Segarra, it will also reach Rome."[170]
The first solid news that an official denunciation of Opus Dei to the Holy See w
as being prepared came in June 1941. From Barcelona Father Sebastian Cirac wrote
to the bishop of Madrid:

Most esteemed Bishop:

I feel it is my duty to communicate to Your Excellency that the Jesuit provincia

l recently arrived in Rome, where he delivered by hand to the superior general o
f the Society some negative judgments on Opus Dei. And the superior general was
so taken in by them that he had them sent to the congregations of the Holy See.
This news comes from a reliable source, and has already been communicated to the
bishop of Barcelona by a friend. It might not be good for Father Jose Maria to
know about it yet. In the meantime, as the bishop here has directed, we are prep
aring the defense of the truth, of the justness and virtue of the cause, despite
the amount of work and the little time I have.[171]

Bishop Leopoldo immediately replied:

Dear Father Sebastian:

When my retreat ended, they gave me your letter. There's no date on it, and no p
ostmark on the envelope, so I don't know when you sent it.
That is sad news. What a shame! But there's no need to worry. Our Lord God is in
charge. I agree that there's no need for Father Jose Maria to hear about this.
His reaction will be a holy one, I know, but it will be a physical blow to him.
Right now he is giving a retreat.
I don't think they will do anything over there without consulting the bishops, o
r at least asking their opinion. When the time comes, God our Lord will assist u
s.
This does not mean you should not do all that you can. May our Lord, who will re
pay you, give you light.
Our main concern has to be that nothing in all of this do any harm to souls. And

such harm would be done, and on a grand scale, by anything that would cast disc
redit upon the holy Society of Jesus. The greatest glory of Opus Dei will lie in
always blessing the Society. Since the Opus is truly Dei, God will come to the
rescue of what is his own and help us defend it well.
I think it would be best that this news not be made public.
Please inform me of any new developments. I will be most grateful.[172]

The news remained unpublicized. In September, during the week he spent in La Gra
nja, Father Josemara visited the bishop of Segovia, Luciano Perez Platero. In the
ir conversation the subject of the strong opposition of the Society of Jesus to
Opus Dei came up, and the bishop said that he had a brother who was a Jesuit at
Loyola, and who had told him that his fellow Jesuits had received only sketchy a
nd unfavorable information about Opus Dei, so that it was difficult for them to
make an objective judgment. Then the bishop said to Father Josemara, "Did you kno
w that they have taken the matter to Rome? My brother told me this."
"I know they've gone to the Holy Office," replied Father Josemara. "And you can't
imagine how happy I felt, even physically, when I found out. Now the Pope knows
about us, even if badly, by way of slanders!"[173]
Soon, though, he realized that this was something new: a formal accusation. Even
though he had expected this, he was crushed at first and felt the impulse to re
bel. But with God's grace and his sense of divine filiation he recovered his pea
ce and joy.
Bishop Leopoldo knew that the Roman Curia, with an eye to letting conflicts cool
down, took up such denunciations in the order in which they arrived, which coul
d mean a long wait. And in the meantime a number of Spanish bishops were sending
to Rome, via the nuncio, their own perceptions of things. But the accusers had
significant advantages. The Jesuits' superior general, Father Wlodimir Ledochows
ki, not only had sent the Holy See a report with numerous appendices (A-M), but
(apparently because of the alarming nature of the information sent him from Spai
n) had in the accompanying letter declared that he considered Opus Dei "very dan
gerous for the Church in Spain." He went on to say:

The fact that His Excellency the Bishop of Madrid supports and promotes the Work
by every possible means is not surprising. Nor am I surprised that a few bishop
s are in favor of the founder, Father Escriva. Indeed, he does live an upright p
riestly life and his book The Way does contain sound ascetical teaching, express
ed in an attractive way. But anyone who has a full picture of the Work will real
ize that this book is intended for the "uninitiated"-even though there are signs
in it of a covert inclination to dominate the world with a form of Christian Ma
sonry. For example, in point 911, "When will we see the world ours?" And if, the
n, some say that this "Opus Dei" is something of no great importance, that is be
cause the Work, due to its secretive character, has almost no external visibilit
y. Or it may be a skillful maneuver with which to deceive the Church authorities
. But it is beyond doubt that it does currently exercise great influence and is
also attracting the attention of the civil authorities.[174]

8. A platinum scalpel

From the first, as we have mentioned, Father Josemara felt certain that the attac
ks on him were in some way a test allowed by God for the purpose of purifying hi
m. And one of the things that confirmed him in this certainty was the kind of in
strument that the Lord was making use of. As he explained, and Don Alvaro relaye
d to the bishop of Madrid, "How can we not see and bless this as a tribulation c
oming from God, when he uses an instrument so very much his as the holy and belo
ved Society of Jesus?"[175] Indeed, both he and Bishop Leopoldo thought that tho
se involved were doing Opus Dei a great service. The founder would later, from R
ome, write to Bishop Angelo Dell'Acqua that the Society of Jesus "has been, for
Opus Dei, like a platinum scalpel in God's hands."[176]He urged members of Opus
Dei to cultivate "a devotion to and a love for Saint Ignatius and his blessed So

ciety."[177]In 1947 he wrote: "I am certain that when, many years from now, this
document comes into your hands, you will have in your hearts-the same as we do
now in ours-nothing but charity and forgiveness. And that you will love the hamm
er that has pounded us in such a way as to bring forth the beautiful sculpture t
hat is the Work.[178]
Some Jesuits of course tried to put a stop to the attacks being made by their br
others in religion, but without success. The founder was deeply concerned about
all these attacks, in great part because he feared that the calumnies and the te
chniques used to spread them might be utilized by others, as in fact did happen,
with enemies of the Church adopting accusations first circulated by religious.[
179] And there were Catholic laypeople and diocesan priests who continued to spr
ead calumnies against Opus Dei.[180] But, as a help toward focusing on the super
natural fruit that would come from all this, he recalled how as a child he had s
een old women pierce the early figs with needles so that they would ripen more q
uickly and be sweeter and more juicy. The persecution similarly was helping his
children mature spiritually. "Our Lord God," he said, "to make us more effective
, has blessed us with the cross."[181]

* * *

In the spring of 1941 the agitation in Barcelona was continuing unabated in many
Catholic homes and ecclesiastical circles. It was also attracting the attention
of civil authorities, and was starting to spread to neighboring dioceses.
At the beginning of May, Bishop Manuel Moll Salord of Lerida went to see the bis
hop of Gerona, carrying with him a copy of The Way, given him by the author, tha
t he had been reading on the trip. The bishop of Gerona may well have been surpr
ised to see him walk in with a book that he himself had just the day before hear
d denounced as heretical. After this visit, Bishop Moll Salord wrote to Father J
osemara:

I received your wonderful book The Way, with the kind words of presentation that
you wrote on the title page. I read it with the greatest interest. Or rather, w
e read it together, Father Angel and myself, on our way to Gerona one fine sprin
g day. Without my realizing it, the Lord was sending me there to right some wron
gs concerning you and your books and activities. Just the day before, that bisho
p had had some visitors who put him on guard against you and your book. I was ab
le to show it to him, nihil obstat and imprimatur and all, and vouch for you per
sonally, since I had met you a few weeks earlier. I had to do something similar
in several ecclesiastical circles in Barcelona, where you are viewed with deep s
uspicion. What a shame. But I am convinced that this pervasive hostility will en
d up looking quite ridiculous. Always be united to your bishop and to the bishop
s of the dioceses where you want to work. Everything else is just an illusive cl
oud of dust, having nothing to do with God and everything to do with human desig
ns and ambitions.
I have two retreats for priests coming up in October, from the 13th through the
25th. Would you be so kind as to come give them? The last time, you had to leave
us with our appetites whetted, as the saying goes, having given us hardly a tas
te. What things the Lord does at times! I have often remembered that interruptio
n, as also, before the altar, the soul of the person who caused it.[182]

On January 9, 1939, a few weeks before the civil war ended, -the founder wrote h
is children a letter in which he enumerated the kinds of obstacles they could ex
pect when they resumed their apostolic work: "scarcity, debt, poverty, scorn, sl
ander, lies, ingratitude, opposition by good people."[183]Supernatural considera
tions aside, for what reasons were all these attacks being made on Opus Dei?
The root of the misunderstandings, suspicions, criticisms, and attacks was the m
essage preached by Father Josemara about the universal call to sanctity. Even bef
ore the civil war, it was being rumored that he had formed a heretical sect whic
h proposed to seek sanctity in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the world.
This was, certainly, a radical concept, but at that time it came as a total shoc

k. Here was this young priest trying to arouse Catholics to make an adequate res
ponse to the vocation to sanctity inherent in baptism.
Thus Opus Dei came on the scene as a startling and disturbing novelty. For some,
its message seemed to conflict with traditional customs and teachings. Many peo
ple equated "vocation" with religious consecration and tried to measure Opus Dei
by the yardstick of the form of life proper to the religious state, which meant
vows, a habit, community life, and external signs of poverty. Opus Dei surprise
d and in some cases scandalized them.
However, what got the persecution rolling appears to have been the strong compet
itive spirit of some opponents of Opus Dei. The slanders were of all sorts, some
silly, others very dangerous. Among the latter was the claim that Opus Dei wish
ed to destroy the institutions of consecrated life and steal vocations from reli
gious orders.[184] This was a particularly unjust slander, since Father Josemara
made no secret of his deep love for religious, had so many friends in religious
orders and congregations, and continued to give retreats in convents and monaste
ries.[185]
Some nevertheless feared that "the universal call to sanctity would only prove t
o be a detriment to the seminaries, religious-order novitiates, etc., and result
in a decrease in the number of vocations to the clerical or religious states."[
186]When he wrote to Bishop Leopoldo about his meeting of May 31,1941, with the
Jesuit provincial of Toledo, the founder said: "It's all a matter of their think
ing they are going to lose vocations."[187]Two weeks later he wrote to the provi
ncial: "Basically, objectively, it's nothing more than a deplorable fight over w
hether this person or that is going to work with us."[188]And a week after that,
Bishop Leopoldo lamented to Abbot Escarre: "And to think, Reverend Father, that
this whole storm has come about because two or three boys who were thinking of
entering religious life preferred Opus Dei once they knew about it!"[189]
Father Josemara well understood that the general health of the Church came ahead
of the particular needs of the Work. In 1931, when he had with him only three yo
ung men, he wrote in his journal: "The members and associates will not be egotis
ts, in the sense of seeking vocations for themselves alone (or in any other sens
e). On the contrary, they will foster vocations for the religious institutes, or
ders, and congregations, and for the diocesan seminaries."[190] Although Opus De
i had its own pressing need for people, he never sought to reap what someone els
e had sown. As a director of souls, he fostered vocations for the benefit of all
the institutions in the Church, without exception. That way of acting is, in fa
ct, part and parcel of the mission and spirit of the Work,[191] as he himself cl
early stated:

You well know that it is proper to our spirit to rejoice at seeing many vocation
s come to the seminaries and religious families. We give thanks to God, since no
t a few of those vocations are the fruit of the work of spiritual and doctrinal
formation we carry out among young people to enkindle the atmosphere around us w
ith Christian fire, to make it more supernatural and more apostolic. It stands t
o reason that this results in more souls for all the institutions of the Church.
[192]

Thinking that way, Father Josemara found it hard to understand how the question o
f vocations could stir up such a commotion.[193]

9. The first center of the women's branch

When, in April 1941, Paco Botella learned that Doa Dolores was sick, he went to t
he Diego de Leon residence to ask how she was and, if possible, to visit her. Ca
refully opening the door to her room, he saw the sick woman lying in bed, consum
ed with fever. At that moment she turned her face toward the door and, seeing Pa
co, said, "Listen, Paco! I have good news for you. Your sister Enrica is now my
granddaughter."[194]
It came to him as a welcome surprise. In Valencia a few weeks earlier, at Father

Josemara's suggestion, he had spoken with his sister, explaining to her the Work
and its apostolates. But her response had been less than enthusiastic. It sound
ed, she had said, like an "admirable work," but they should not count on her.[19
5] Paco had then read her a point from The Way, a book that Enrica and the rest o
f the family were already familiar with, since Paco had given them a copy the ye
ar before. The point began, "Woman is stronger than man and more faithful in the
hour of trial."[196]
Enrica had then taken part in a retreat given by Father Josemara for young women
in Catholic Action, from March 30 to April 5, 1941. And since her brother was in
the Work, she had decided to introduce herself.
"Father," she said, "my brother has spoken to me about the Work." "And I," he re
plied, "am praying for your vocation."[197]
When Father Josemara got back to Madrid, he wanted to tell Paco about Enrica's de
cision, but he let the Grandmother give him the good news.
Another young woman on that retreat, Encarnacion Ortega, had found herself wonde
ring what on earth had possessed her to shut herself up for several days in that
place. Could it have been curiosity about the author of The Way, a book fresh i
n her memory? Her brother was often at El Cubil, the residence in Valencia, and
he had encouraged her to say hello to the Father, but she was not sure she wante
d to.
However, when the founder entered the chapel to begin the retreat, her soul was
deeply moved. She says:

His recollection, totally natural, his genuflection before the tabernacle, the w
ay he put his whole self into the preparatory prayer before the meditation, enco
uraging us to be aware that our Lord was there and was looking at us and listeni
ng to us, made me quickly forget my desire to hear a great speaker. Instead I un
derstood that I needed to listen to God and be generous with him. I overcame my
hesitancy and, for the sake of good manners, did go to greet the Father.[198]

He gave her a quick overview of what the Work was all about: the search for sanc
tification in work, a contemplative and apostolic life out in the streets, divin
e filiation.... The young woman felt a sudden fright. She was dazzled by what th
at priest was explaining, aware that it was something marvelous, and fearful tha
t God might demand everything of her. She resolved never to speak with Father Jo
semara again. "But in spite of that decision," she says, "I couldn't sleep and co
uld hardly eat. I saw that God needed some courageous women to do his Work on ea
rth, and that, without knowing why, I had been informed of this by its founder.
That thought stayed constantly on my mind."[199]
For the rest of the retreat, she says, "I tried to get some distance from God's
call." If she was shut up in her room, she felt the need for some fresh air. So
she would go outside for a walk through the convent's orange grove, but still th
at thought would never leave her head. Nothing she did would get rid of it. Nor
was she safe in the chapel, where the preacher's forceful words troubled her hea
rt.
One day Father Josemara gave a meditation on the Lord's Passion. He began with th
e Garden of Olives: Jesus' prayer in the midst of loneliness and desertion; the
oppressive weight of human malice and the horrible evil of sin; the anguish, to
the point of sweating blood, at what he knew lay ahead.
The retreatants, carried along by the priest's words, followed in the footsteps
of Christ. Encarnita tells us:

And then he said to us, "All of that, he suffered for you. You, since you don't
want to do what he is asking of you, should at least have the courage to look at
the tabernacle and tell him, 'That-what you're asking of me-I don't feel like d
oing!"'
Then he spoke about the scourging, with such force that we seemed to be eyewitne
sses. And the crowning with thorns. And the cross on his back. And each of the s
ufferings of the Passion. After every one of them, he would repeat, "All of that
, he suffered for you. Have the courage, at least, to tell him that what he is a

sking of you, you don't feel like doing!"

At the end of the meditation, while I was trying to formulate a resolution, some
one touched me on the shoulder and said, "Father Josemara would like to see you."
[200]
He didn't have to ask her anything. Encarnita went ahead and told him that she w
as ready for anything. The Father warned her of the difficulties. The life she w
as undertaking would be hard; the poverty, great; the renunciation of her own pr
eferences, total. She would have to be ready to travel, perhaps far from her own
country. And she would have to pursue sanctity in work, finishing her daily tas
ks heroically, down to the smallest details.
In the first week of August 1940, Father Josemara was in Leon, giving a retreat f
or diocesan priests. His friend Father Eliodoro Gil, the pastor of a parish ther
e, San Juan de Renueva, knew a young woman named Narcisa Gonzalez Guzman (Nisa,
for short); he was her confessor. Nisa liked sports, studied languages, and dres
sed well. Perhaps she might understand the Work? Father Eliodoro told her that t
he author of The Way, a book Nisa liked, was in Leon. At that her eyes lit up, s
o Father Eliodoro arranged a visit.
On one of those hot August mornings the young lady went to the bishop's residenc
e and waited nervously in a huge room. Soon a friendly-looking priest appeared.
He came up to her and immediately, point-blank, asked her a question that caught
her by surprise: "My daughter, do you love our Lord a lot?" She answered, "YesI don't know."[201]
The priest then got down to business and gave her an incisive overview of the Wo
rk. As she listened, Nisa began to worry that perhaps the white summer skirt and
dark red jacket she was wearing were not appropriate in that austere setting of
the bishop's residence a concern that she expressed obliquely with a question a
bout how one ought to dress. Seeming to sense what she was thinking, the priest
reassured her that in Opus Dei one always dressed naturally, not "like a scarecr
ow."[202]
At the end of the meeting, her reaction was much the same as Enrica's and Encarn
ita's had been at first. But Father Josemara was not discouraged by such silences
or negative responses. With a supernatural stubbornness he just went on praying
and mortifying himself for those women. Nisa tells us:

The conversation with the Father made a profound impression on me. It seemed to
me like an ambitious commitment, one I was not yet ready for. As I left the bish
op's residence, I thought: It is something wonderful, and it might be for me, bu
t I don't feel that I have the strength....
I am certain that the Father was praying for me, and he seemed to know the best
way of dealing with me. He did not say anything more to me. I went on reading Th
e Way, and got to know it almost by heart. Every time I read one of its points,
there was something that moved me, that made me grow in love for God, the love w
hich the founder had spoken to me about that first time, and which led me to acc
ept my vocation.[203]

In April 1941 Nisa went to Madrid and asked Father Josemara for admission to Opus
Dei.
Ten years after the beginning of the work with women, Father Josemara remained as
optimistic as ever. Given that the Work was something of God, he knew that the
logic governing its development was very different from that operating in merely
human enterprises. He wrote:

The logic of God, my daughters and sons, does not very often coincide with the p
oor, pitiful logic of us human beings. For that reason we run into obstacles, in
ternal and external, in trying to love God's holy will and carry it out. That is
also the reason why the first vocations came at the price of blood. The same th
ing will happen again from time to time, for the disciple is not above the Maste
r.[204]

In the face of a steady stream of calumnies, the founder had other things to cop

e with besides the need to get the apostolate with women under way, and so he st
rove to transmit the spirit of Opus Dei to his daughters as rapidly as possible.
In August 1941 he gave a retreat for them at the Diego de Leon center. His dyna
mic, optimistic, fatherly words sparked in them new hopes and dreams. In October
he wrote to his daughters in Madrid:

May Jesus watch over my daughters.

Everything worthwhile takes effort. The Lord has, for this last while, been lett
ing you experience some little setbacks. But we are already approaching the goal
.[205]

Nisa went back to Leon, where she was to stay until a center opened in Madrid. S
he received a weekly letter from those in Madrid, and sometimes Father Josemara a
lso wrote. In November 1941 he sent her a letter saying:

It might be good for you to come before the house is ready, to help set it up-th
ough the furnishings will be very modest. Please let me know if you can come in
case we need to send for you.
Pray a lot and get others to pray-with prayer we will go where we need to go. En
trust your concerns and ours to Our Lady of the Way. Be very happy.[206]

Months went by without a house turning up. And there were still very few women i
n the Work. Finally they found a house, at 19 Jorge Manrique Street, and they mo
ved in at the beginning of July 1942. It was a private home with three stories,
a basement, and a garden, but no furniture or decorations. Father Josemara was gi
ving a retreat in Segovia, but his daughters were very much on his mind, and whe
n he returned he concentrated on impressing on them the basics: a faithful and v
ery loving fulfillment of the norms of piety and of family and professional obli
gations; a supernatural outlook on everything; and sincerity at any cost.
They were to have a supernatural outlook toward the director of the house, seein
g her as a representative of God. Her personality, abilities, age, temperament-t
hese things did not matter. They must not be like the country bumpkin who refuse
d to pray to one of the saints in the village church because he had seen the sai
nt's statue being carved from a tree trunk, and so "I knew him when he was a che
rry tree!"[207]
They had to be transparent, totally sincere. "Savagely sincere-but not sincerely
savage," he told them. Sincerity was a virtue always stressed by the founder. W
hen the furniture for the director's office-a sofa with matching armchairs, a de
sk, and a bookcase-were being arranged, a bottle of ink got spilled, staining th
e desk indelibly. At first they hesitated to tell him, but sensibly decided they
should. "It's nothing," he said. "I don't care if desks get damaged; they can a
lways be fixed. What matters to me is that you always be sincere."[208]
In the summer of 1942, from Pamplona, he wrote to them: "Our Lord has his eyes f
ixed on that little house from which such great things for his glory have to com
e."[209]In fact, in a real sense, what would germinate into half of Opus Dei was
housed in that little center on Jorge Manrique Street. In The Way the founder h
ad written, "Don't judge by the smallness of the beginnings. My attention was on
ce drawn to the fact that there is no difference in size between seeds that prod
uce annual plants and those that will grow into ageless trees."[210] And indeed,
by their fidelity to grace and to the spirit of the Work, that handful of women
would become a multitude that is like a tree in full bloom for the Church.
Usually Father Josemara spoke about the greatness and heroism there is in doing t
he little things, the most miniscule everyday tasks, with much love. But now and
then he encouraged his daughters by showing them, as it were, what the Work wou
ld develop into in accord with the divine law of growth. One afternoon in Novemb
er 1942 he visited the Jorge Manrique house and met in the library with the thre
e young women there at the time. Encarnita tells us:

On the desk he spread out a chart showing the different projects that the women'

s branch of Opus Dei was going to carry out in the world. Just trying to follow
the Father almost made me dizzy, he was explaining them all to us so vividly: ag
ricultural schools for peasant women, professional training schools, university
residences, activities in the fashion industry, maternity homes in cities all ov
er the world, book-mobiles bringing wholesome and educational reading to the mos
t remote villages, bookstores.... Slowly folding up that chart, he said: "There
are two possible reactions to all this. One is to think it's very nice, but an i
mpossible dream. The other is to trust in the Lord, to trust that if he asks thi
s of us, he will help us make it a reality. I hope you react the second way."[21
1]

But the reality then and there was hunger and fatigue, scarcity and poverty. One
day, while speaking to his daughters about poverty, he went down to the kitchen
with them to inspect the equipment. They had to look after their health, he sai
d, because if they came down sick through their own fault, that would be, among
other things, a serious failure in poverty. Yet even when it came to where their
next meal was coming from, he insisted, they should never stop trusting in thei
r Father-God.[212]
Although he was not one to complain, he continued at this time to be subject to
periodic attacks of rheumatism, especially when the rainy season began or the we
ather turned cold. On October 14, 1941, from Lerida, he wrote to his sons in Mad
rid: "I'm still taking the pills, because my rheumatism is still bothering me. W
hat an old wreck I am! Pray a lot for this poor fat fellow."[213]
In November of the following year, he was giving a retreat at the Monastery of O
ur Lady of Parral in Segovia, and the cell he was assigned was next to the taber
nacle on one side and the tomb of two monks on the other. "They have put me betw
een Life and death," he wrote to his sons. And then, as though excusing himself
for going off the diet prescribed by his doctor, he wrote: "Here I can't stay on
the diet. I'm only having bread and potatoes and milk and a few vegetables. The
re's no other choice, given the life of penance of these good souls."[214]
As became clear later, his rheumatism and other physical ailments were more seri
ous than anyone realized at the time. If someone did mention them, he would just
say, "You have to have something."[215] He tried to hide the symptoms and decli
ned to attach much importance to them.
In the fall and winter of 1942, he left the Diego de Leon house early every morn
ing to say Mass at the Jorge Manrique center. His daughters, while praying in th
e oratory before Mass, watched for him out the window. As the time for Mass drew
near, he would come into view, wrapped in his cloak, limping from the rheumatis
m. (The entire street of Jorge Manrique was on a slope.) When he got near the ho
use, he would start to walk normally, and once inside, and all through Mass, he
would move with perfect grace. But once he was outside, going either up or down
the slope, he would return to limping, to cut down on the pain.
It was a long walk from the one center to the other, through a hilly district no
t yet fully developed. Father Josemara often made the trip on foot, but sometimes
he took the streetcar, occasionally asking his daughters for a peseta for the r
ide home.[216]
[1] Apuntes, no. 1872 (14 Jun 1948).
[2] Apuntes, no. 381 (8 Nov 1931); the sentence quoted is evidently a note that
the founder added later, upon rereading this entry.
[3] Apuntes, no. 1596. See also AGP, RHF, T-05827, p. 6 (Felisa Alcolea Millana)
; AGP, RHF, T-05828 (Sister Ramona Sanchez-Elvira); and Jose Lopez Ortiz, Sum. 5
289. On Father Josemara's advice, Ramona became a Daughter of Charity, in 1940.
[4] AGP, RHF, AVF-0057. See also AGP, RHF, T-04956, pp. 1-2 (Maria Dolores Fisac
).
[5] AGP, RHF, EF-390619-1.
[6] The Way, no. 557. See also AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 4.
[7] AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 4.
[8] Apuntes, no. 1607 (25 Nov 1939).

[9] AGP, RHF, EF-400122-3.

[10] AGP, RHF, EF-400214-1.
[11] AGP, RHF, EF-400306-1. A week later he was finally able to write to her, "I
think our Lord will soon arrange things in such a way that you can work as you
would like to" (AGP, RHF, EF-400314-1).
[12] Apuntes, no. 1610.
[13] AGP, RHF, EF-400510-1.
[14] Apuntes, no. 1612.
[15] AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 6. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 597.
[16] See AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 106 (Jose Luis MtIzquiz).
[17] Apuntes, no. 1624. Father Josemara first met Monsignor Casimiro Morcillo in
Madrid in 1929; he was the priest the founder had stopped on the street to ask f
or prayers for a personal intention. (See volume 1 of this biography, p. 235.) D
uring the civil war he was in Burgos. When Bishop Eijo y Garay was reorganizing
the diocese of Madrid, he asked Monsignor Francisco Moran and Monsignor Morcillo
to be his vicars. (See Jose Luis Alfaya Camacho, Como un rio de fuego: Madrid,
1936 [Barcelona, 1998], pp. 197-247.) In 1938 Monsignor Morcillo was appointed v
icar general. In 1943 he became auxiliary bishop of Madrid; in 1955 he became ar
chbishop of Saragossa; and when he died he was archbishop of Madrid-Alcala.
[18] AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 6.
[19] AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 2 (Santiago Escriva de Balaguer).
[20] Ibid., p. 31.
[21] AGP, RHF, T-05828, p. 5.
[22] AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 31.
[23] AGP, RHF, T-04956/2, p. 4.
[24] Ibid., p. 5.
[25] AGP, P01 1978, p. 1099.
[26] In a letter written in August 1940, Father Josemara had asked, "What's this
about the Grandmother coughing up blood? She told me this herself, on the phone,
but I didn't quite get it" (AGP, RHF, EF-400806-1).
[27] "How is the Grandmother doing?" asks Father Josemara, in a letter dated Apri
l 14 (AGP, RHF, EF-410414-2). See also AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 111 (Francisco Bo
tella). Dr. Juan Jimenez Vargas adds, "It is important to point out that the Fat
her left Madrid to give a retreat to priests in Lerida because the doctors (Alfr
edo Carrato and myself) assured him there was no reason to think his mother's il
lness would take a turn for the worse, and that it did not, of course, appear to
be life-threatening. Our Father did not seem very convinced, but he left becaus
e the doctors were so sure about it" (AGP, RHF, T-04152-VIII, p. 22).
[28] See Laureano Castan Lacoma, in Beato Josemara Escriv de Balaguer: un hombre d
e Dios. Testimonios sobre el Fundador del Opus Dei (Madrid, 1994), pp. 105-107.
(Hereafter this book will be cited as Testimonios.)
[29] See Letter 8 Aug 1956, no. 45.
[30] Ibid. Father Josemara, despite what the doctors were telling him, had the fe
eling that "his mother's condition was very serious" (Juan Jimenez Vargas, Sum.
6713).
[31] AGP, RHF, EF-410420-1 (Letter to Monsignor Casimiro Morcillo).
[32] AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 32.
[33] Letter 8 Aug 1956, no. 45. See also The Way, no. 691.
[34] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 518. See also AGP, RHF, EF-410430-1 (a letter
thanking Juan Antonio Cremades for his help).
[35] AGP, RHF, T-04956/2, p. 8 (Maria Dolores Fisac).
[36] See AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 32 (Santiago Escriva de Balaguer). The death cert
ificate in the Civil Register of Madrid, section 3, vol. 218, p. 301.
[37] See "The death of Don Jose," in chapter 3 (vol. I), pp. 134-138.
[38] AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 21 (Jose Luis Muzquiz).
[39] AGP, RHF, EF-410420-2.
[40] This Jesuit, Father Manuel Maria Verges i Furnells (1886-1956), had been di
rector of Barcelona's "Sodality of Mary Immaculate and of St. Aloysius Gonzaga"
since 1923. In 1953 he became superior of the House of the Sodalities of Our Lad
y. See Frederic Udina i Martorell, El Pare Verges, S.I., Ap6stol de la Joventut

/ La Congregaci6n de la Immaculada, 1923-1953 (Barcelona, 1995). See also the co

mmemorative booklet for the centennial of Father Verges's birth (Barcelona, 1986
).
[41] See AGP, RHF, T-04837, p. 8 (Rafael Escola), and Juan Bautista Torello, Sum
. 5195.
[42] Ibid.
[43] AGP, RHF, EF-401115-1.
[44] See AGP, RHF, T-00158, p. 6. Alfonso had met the founder in 1938, during a
visit that the Father made to Juan Jimenez Vargas at the Teruel front. Later, in
September 1939, he took part in a retreat given by the founder at Burjasot. But
it was not until 1943 that he asked admission to the Work.
[45] AGP, RHF, T-07025, pp. 8-10. In regard to "holy coercion," "holy intransige
nce," and "holy shamelessness," see The Way, nos. 44, 387-391, 396, 398, 399, an
d the corresponding notes of the critical-historical edition prepared by Pedro R
odriguez (Madrid: Rialp, 2002).
[46] Ibid. See also Juan Bautista Torello, Sum. 5195.
[47] AGP, RHF, T-00158, p. 6.
[48] See Juan Bautista Torell6, Sum. 5195, and also AGP, RHF, T-04837, p. 9 (Raf
ael Escola). As for the story about the cross in the oratory, Father Jose Luis M
uzquiz testifies that one of the calumnies being spread back then was that "we w
ere crucifying ourselves on that wooden cross." Years later, in a conversation w
ith Bartolome Roig, Father Muzquiz recalled that the first thing he had heard ab
out the operations of the Work in Barcelona came to him from some students, frie
nds of his, who told him that there were some students at Balmes Street who were
performing "bloody rites on a wooden cross." When Father Josemara found out abou
t these rumors, he had that cross put away for later, or for another oratory, an
d replaced with a much smaller one. "That way," he joked, "they won't be able to
say that we are crucifying ourselves, because we won't fit" (AGP, RHF, T-04678/
1, p. 110).
[49] AGP, RHF, EF-410114-1 (Letter to Emiliano Amann).
[50] See AGP, RHF, D-15713.
[51] Jose Maria (Cardinal) Bueno Monreal, in Testimonios, pp. 39-40. This settli
ng for the juridical status of a pious union did not close the door to future ju
ridical possibilities. What was opted for was not an establishing, but a simple
approval. "The provisional character of the decision was thus highlighted in ant
icipation of future developments. Thus was achieved the practical purpose for th
is intervention of the ecclesiastical authority on behalf of Opus Dei: public re
cognition of its existence by the bishop of the diocese, manifestation of the ap
preciation and support of the hierarchy, and the proclamation that in its nature
, ends, and norms of life, there is nothing contrary to Church teachings": Amade
o de Fuenmayor, Valentin Gmez Iglesias, and Jose Luis Manes, The Canonical Path o
f Opus Dei,trans. William H. Stetson (Princeton, 1994), p. 92.
[52] AGP, RHF, D-15402. On the same occasion, the bishop gave Father Josemara a c
opy of the request being sent to Rome for permission for the founder to use a po
rtable altar when celebrating Mass for young people or university students at re
treats and monthly days of recollection. The bishop had signed the copy with the
se words: "A request that I wrote, submitted, and personally recommended in Rome
in May 1940. Leopoldo, Bishop of Madrid-Alcala." When handing him the document,
he said, "This is for in case I die. Keep it in your files, as irrefutable proo
f of how you always turned to your bishop in connection with your apostolic work
." See AGP, RHF, D-15402 and D-15714-1. For the text of the statutes ("Regulae")
, see Fuenmayor, Gomez-Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 480-82.
[53] When praying the Preces of the Work with his sons that evening, the Father
repeated the prayer for the bishop three times. And on that same day he wrote to
Father Eliodoro Gil to give him the news. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 551; Jo
se Luis Muzquiz, Sum. 5843; AGP, RHF, EF-410324-1 (Letter to Father Eliodoro Gil
Rivera); AGP, RHF, T-07025, p. 18 (Santiago Balcells); and AGP, RHF, T-04696, p
. 8 (Laureano Lopez Rodo).
[54] There were two decrees: one of approval of Opus Dei, and another concerning
custody of the documents that had been presented for obtaining the approval. Th

e first one reads:

Having reviewed the preceding petition of Father Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer,
and after having examined in detail the documents on the statutes, regulations,
norms, customs, and ceremonies of Opus Dei, founded by the said priest and carr
ied out with our blessing and with that of our vicar general since 1928, we have
decided by the present decree to canonically approve Opus Dei as a pious union
in conformity with canon 708 of the current Code of Canon Law. And we ask our Lo
rd God, through the intercession of Saint Joseph, on whose feast day we have the
pleasure of canonically approving such an important work of zeal, to grant that
none of the great fruits we are expecting from it will fail to materialize. For
the safeguarding of the copies of the Statutes, etc., what is stipulated in the
special decree shall be complied with.

Madrid, March 19, 1941

Signed and sealed: Leopoldo, Bishop of Madrid-Alcala
The decree of custody of the documents reads:

Having on this date canonically approved Opus Dei, a pious union founded with ou
r authorization and blessing in the year 1928, and taking into account the discr
eet reserve that needs to be kept for the greater glory of God and efficacy of t
he Work, we stipulate that the copies of the documents on its statutes, regulati
ons, norms, customs, spirit, and ceremonies will be kept in our private archives
.

Madrid, March 19, Feast of the glorious Saint Joseph, 1941 Signed and sealed: Le
opoldo, Bishop of Madrid-Alcala
These decrees were (as was customary with such documents) kept in the private ar
chive of the Diocese of Madrid-Alcala. The texts can be found in Fuenmayor, GOme
zIglesias, and Illanes, pp. 482-83.
[55] AGP, RHF, D-30002 (a note dated 25 Mar 1941).
[56] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 551, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2151 and 215
2.
[57] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 12. A sheet of paper 1941 has been pres
erved on which Father Josemara briefly described this locution on that April 6,:
AGP, Sec. L. 1, Leg. 16. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 551.
[58] AGP, RHF, D-30003. The Work, as mentioned earlier, was approved, but not es
tablished, as a pious union. Canon 686 of the 1917 Code stated: "No association
that has not been established or at least approved by a legitimate ecclesiastica
l authority will be recognized by the Church." Unlike other associations (confra
ternities, for example), a pious union could be either established (i.e., formal
ly constituted as a corporate entity) or simply approved. In the latter case, sa
id another canon (708), the ecclesiastical authority's act of jurisdiction "does
not constitute the association as a corporate entity, but gives it the right to
exist and the capacity to obtain spiritual graces and especially indulgences."
See Fuenmayor, Gomez-Iglesias, and Manes, p. 92.
[59] AGP, RHF, EF-410420-2. In a letter, dated May 12, to his sons in Valencia (
AGP, RHF, EF-410512-1), he explains in more detail what they should do if "prese
nted with the same propitious circumstances" as are his sons in Barcelona:

+ May Jesus bless my sons and watch over them. My dear children:

The Lord has permitted that holy people, very dear to my heart, are slandering u
s and doing us harm. Should you also find yourselves affected by the storm of pe
rsecution-a divine seal authenticating supernatural undertakings-1 give you thes
e instructions, that are so in keeping with the spirit of Opus Dei: (1) always h
eed the directives of the ecclesiastical authority, i.e., the archbishop and his
vicar general; (2) never say anything to anyone outside the house about such ev
ents, if they take place; (3) be very charitable, never on any pretext saying on
e word against the persecutors; (4) much joy and much peace; (5) much prayer, mu

ch study, and many small mortifications.

Everything is going very well. I didn't know that the Lord loved us this much. H
ow well my sons in Barcelona have conducted themselves! I don't expect anything
less from my sons in Valencia, should they be presented with the same propitious
circumstances. Gaudium cum pace! You are loved, envied (!), and blessed by your
Father,
Mariano.
[60] AGP, RHF, T-04837, p. 10.
[61] See Joan Marques Surinach, Testigos de la Fe durante la Guerra Civil (19361939): Sacerdotes y laicos cuentan sus vivencias (Girona, 1994), pp. 31-55.
[62] AGP, RHF, D-15286.
[63] Father Rufino Aldabalde received and kept one of these flyers. In it (see A
GP, RHF, EF-410514-1), he wrote, "Given by a Jesuit father to the superior of St
. Philip Neri in Barcelona on May 7,1941." It reads [cont. page 346]
Opus Dei
Rules and Directives for Its Members
Be reticent with your spiritual director, always keeping from him the fact that
you belong to Opus Dei.
No religious-order priest is Catholic. / Do not go on retreats. / Perfection is
found only among us. / Say nothing to your confessor about the Work, because we
believe he cannot understand us. / The outlook of the religious congregations is
not adequate for the 20th century. / Father Escriva, author of the book The Way
, is the spiritual director of the institution. / We have to be few and select.
/ We do not accept religious-order priests, but we do accept diocesan clergy. Th
is practice has been in effect for a little over a year. / Cardinal Goma said be
fore he died that Catholic Action should expel such individuals, since they are
looking to it for members. / Holy coercion. Holy shamelessness. Holy intransigen
ce. / Where you see a wooden cross without a corpus, that is where you have to b
e crucified.
[64] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 8.
[65] AGP, RHF, EF-410502-2.
[66] AGP, RHF, EF-410430-5.
[67] AGP, RHF, EF-410517-2.
[68] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 38.
[69] AGP, RHF, EF-410504-1.
[70] AGP, RHF, D-30004, nos. 31-32.
[71] AGP, RHF, EF-410430-4. For more on the previous relationship between the fo
under and Father Basterra, see Apuntes, no. 1319 (28 Feb 1936), no. 1326 (25 Mar
1936), no. 1330 (18 Apr 1936), no. 1519 (31 Jan 1938), and no. 1520 (1 Feb 1938
).
[72] A story told by Laureano Lopez Rodo illustrates how things were at that tim
e in ecclesiastical and religious circles. "I recall," he says, "that on one occ
asion Father Pascual Galindo, a priest-friend of the founder, came to Barcelona
and visited us at El Palau. He insisted that, on the next day, we attend the Mas
s he would be saying at a high school run by nuns; it was at the corner of Diago
nal and Rambla de Cataluna. We went to the Mass, and we received Communion (whic
h back then was not a common practice). The superior and some other nun present
there were very 'edified,' and they invited us to have breakfast with Father Gal
indo. In the middle of breakfast, Father Pascual said to the superior, 'These ar
e the heretics for whose conversion you asked me to offer the Mass.' The poor nu
n almost fainted. She had been made to believe that we were a vast legion of car
d-carrying heretics, and she found that we were a handful of ordinary, run-of-th
e-mill students who attended Mass devoutly and received Communion" (AGP, RHF, T004696, p. 5).
[73] Letter of Dom Aurelio Maria Escarre to Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, dated
9 May 1941. The correspondence between Dom Escarre and Bishop Eijo y Garay is in
Montserrat's archive, except for the abbot's letter of 3 Nov 1941 to the bishop
, the original of which is in AGP, RHF, D-03545-5.
[74] See AGP, RHF, T-04696, p. 7 (Laureano Lopez Rodo). See also Juan Bautista T
orello, Sum. 5196, and AGP, RHF, T-07025, p. 10 (Santiago Balcells).

[75] Juan Bautista Torell6, Sum. 5195.

[76] See AGP, RHF, T-00158, p. 8 (Alfonso Balcells), and T-04696, p. 4 (Laureano
Lopez Rodd). Father Jose Luis Muzquiz testifies that on July 24, 1941, Father J
osemara, "after a telephone conversation in which we were told that the governor
of Barcelona, as a result of what Father Verges had told him, wanted to take for
ceful measures against us, had us immediately say an Our Father for that priest"
(AGP, RHF, D-15406).
[77] See Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 35. See also Alvaro del Portillo, S
um. 419; Juan Bautista Torello, Sum. 5195; and AGP, RHF, T-04837, pp. 9-11 (Rafa
el Escols).
On September 1, Dom Escarre wrote to Bishop Eijo y Garay about Correa Veglison:
"I do have a very clear idea, after getting myself informed by a number of very
reliable sources, of what the governor is saying and doing. Certainly he is a de
vout person, and therefore I think he is well-intentioned, but he is very biased
in this matter. He has spoken out too quickly and has acted erroneously in givi
ng more credence to Father Verges than to the Church hierarchy. He is imbued wit
h what that priest, who is the main source of the persecution in Barcelona, has
said to him against Opus Dei, and so it is no wonder that he gives credence to t
hat whole myth about a mysterious, deceitful secret society. If Father Verges we
ren't pulling his strings, he would have turned to the abundant sources of sound
information and taken the sober and impartial view that it is his duty to take"
(AGP, RHF, D-03545-4).
Two months later he wrote: "I believe you have heard about the change of opinion
of the governor with regard to Opus Dei. It is due especially to the two letter
s that Your Excellency was so good as to send me, which I had an employee delive
r to him so that he could get a better grasp of the facts. Now it is quite clear
that if he did anything against Opus Dei, it was due to the influence of Father
Verges, S.J." (AGP, RHF, D-03545-5).
[78] See AGP, RHF, T-00158, p. 8.
[79] AGP, RHF, D-30007.
[80] See AGP, RHF, T-00158, p.9.
[81] AGP, RHF, EF-410502-1.
[82] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 50.
[83] AGP, RHF, EF-410519-1.
[84] He wrote to Rafael Termes, the director of El Palau, "Don't concern yoursel
f right now with doing any proselytizing. Let God act. However, do this for me:
increase your life within, having more love every day for the Holy Roman Church"
(AGP, RHF, EF-410506-1).
[85] AGP, RHF, EF-410520-1.
[86] AGP, RHF, EF-410520-2.
[87] See Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 35.
[88] AGP, RHF, T-04696, p. 6 (Laureano Lopez Rodo).
[89] Ibid.
[90] AGP, RHF, D-30006 (a note dated 24 May 1941).
[91] AGP, RHF, EF-410610-1. (This and other private letters were personally retu
rned to the founder by Bishop Eijo y Garay.)
[92] AGP, RHF, EF-410619-2.
[93] AGP, RHF, D-30005.
[94] Actually, as we noted earlier, the Work had been approved as a pious union,
but not "erected" as such.
[95] AGP, RHF, D-15287.
[96] AGP, RHF, EF-410531-2.
[97] AGP, RHF, EF-410601-2.
[98] AGP, RHF, EF-410601-3.
[99] AGP, RHF, EF-410613-1. In this letter he goes on to say that the bishop of
Pamplona "expects that there will still be something," and that the bishop of Va
lencia said to him, "If any gossip turns up here, you have me entirely at your s
ervice. I think that, in one form or another, it will turn up again." And in ano
ther letter to Bishop Eijo y Garay, he says that the bishop of Valladolid, " tol
d me that in spite of everything, 'estote parati' ['be prepared']" (AGP, RHF, EF

-410610-3).
[100] AGP, RHF, D-03545-2. See Appendix 4 for the complete text of this letter.
[101] AGP, RHF, D-03545-3. See Appendix 5 for the complete text. See also AGP, R
HF, D-03545-4 and D-03545-5.
[102] See Fuenmayor, Gomez-Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 490-92.
[103] See AGP, RHF, EF-400806-2.
[104] AGP, RHF, EF-410530-1. About that close relationship between the founder a
nd his bishop, Father Bueno would later write: "It was a friendship that started
at the very beginning of Josemara's work in Madrid. Josemara related to him with
a very filial trust, and Don Leopoldo had great affection for him" (Testimonios,
p. 22).
[105] AGP, RHF, EF-400806-2.
[106] AGP, RHF, EF-410514-1. Father Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguera was at that time
spiritual director of the Major Seminary of Madrid.
[107] AGP, RHF, EF-410515-1.
[108] See AGP, RHF, EF-410409-1 and EF-410420.
[109] Bishop Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguera recounts this anecdote: "The bishop of
Madrid-Alcala, Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, had a detailed knowledge of Father
Josemara's apostolic work, since the Father had never taken one step, in his work
as founder, without the permission and approval of his bishop and his vicar gen
eral. Well, then, one day, when the bishop had just finished the ceremony of con
ferring Holy Orders in the chapel of the seminary of Madrid, while all of us pre
sent, seminarians and the newly ordained, were waiting in silence for him to rem
ove the sacred vestments, Bishop Leopoldo said in a loud voice, so that everyone
could hear, these or similar words: 'Reverend Rector, Opus Dei is a foundation
approved and blessed by the hierarchy, and I will not stand for anyone speaking
against Opus Dei.'
"The bishop thus used this solemn occasion, at which so many people were present
, to give a public and personal testimony to the supernatural character of Opus
Dei and, while he was at it, put a stop to any gossip and criticism that might h
ave been going on in the seminary. The rector at that time, Father Rafael Garcia
Tundn, appreciated and admired the virtues of Father Josemara, and had invited h
im to give the retreat at the major seminary. Clearly the situation had to be se
rious, as I say, for the bishop to so publicly, and on such a solemn occasion, g
ive such a warning" (Testimonios, pp. 156-57).
[110] Letter to Father Carlos Gomez Martinho, S.J., Provincial of Toledo, May 29
, 1941 (AGP, RHF, D-15287). A similar description, with almost identical wording
, is found in the bishop's letter to the Coadjutor Abbot of Montserrat, on May 2
4, 1941, in Appendix 4 (AGP, RHF, D-03545-2).
[111] Letter of Mercedes Serrano Langarita to the founder, Saragossa, 27 Dec 197
3; in AGP, Sec. E.1.2, Leg. 382. "Luises" was a name that was used in many parts
of Spain (though not in Barcelona) to denote the members of the Marian Sodality
.
[112] AGP, Sec. E.1.1, Leg. 166.
[113] Being a conscientious worker who did not like to leave loose ends, the bis
hop often wrote long letters. His letter of 1 Sep 1941 to Dom Escarre ends with
these words: "Pardon me if I have gone on too long. I stayed up tonight much lat
er than I was planning to, so that I could write to you. It's almost three in th
e morning. But Opus Dei is well worth it, and you are well worth it" (AGP, RHF,
D-03545-4).
[114] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 37
[115] AGP, RHF, EF-410405-1.
[116] Letter 29 Dec 1947;14 Feb 1966, no. 37.
[117] RHF, EF-410429-1.
[118] An anonymous flyer delivered by two Jesuit priests to the archbishop of Sa
ntiago de Compostela read in part:
Opus Dei: It is said to be backed by Bishop Eijo y Garay, the bishop of Madrid-A
lcala.
-It is said that its director, Father Jose Maria Escriva, has been suspended. -I
t is rumored that Rome is going to intervene, to ban it. -The Society of Jesus i

s strongly opposed to it.

-They say they do not fear even pontifical prohibitions, because if they are mad
e, it will surely be only because the Pope is badly informed. (See AGP, RHF, D-1
5006. To guarantee its authenticity, the archbishop sent this flyer to Father Jo
semara with his own seal on the envelope.)
[119] During the civil war the following appointments were made in the nationali
st zone: in September 1937, Cardinal Pedro Segura Saenz as archbishop of Seville
and Bishop Javier Lauzurica as apostolic administrator of Vitoria; in January 1
938, Bishop Manuel Arce Ochotorena as bishop of Oviedo; in February 1938, Bishop
Antonio Garcia as archbishop of Valladolid and Bishop Carmelo Ballester as bish
op of Leon. See Gonzalo Redondo, Historia de la Iglesia en Espana, 1931-1939, vo
l. 2, La Guerra Civil, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1993), pp. 335-39 and 411-13.
[120] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 50. See also Letter 14 Sep 1951, no. 1
4.
On October 31, 1941, Bishop Enrique Pla y Deniel of Salamanca was named archbish
op of Toledo. In 1940 he had founded the Pontifical Ecclesiastical University of
Salamanca. In 1946 he was named a cardinal. He died in 1968.
[121] AGP, RHF, EF-410625-1.
[122] AGP, RHF, EF-410806-1.
[123] AGP, RHF, EF-411126-1.
[124] AGP, RHF, T-04695, p. 22. (Eduardo Alastrue was present; it was he who not
ed down these words.)
[125] AGP, RHF, T-04885, p. 2 (Lourdes Bandeira Vazquez).
[126] AGP, RHF, EF-410614-2.
[127] Ibid.
[128] In Valencia Father Segarra was going around saying that The Way had been c
opied from a German source. Francisco Botella went to see him to testify to the
book's composition, but Father Segarra refused to make a retraction and told Fra
ncisco that the book would be condemned. (See AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, pp. 108-109.)
[129] Florencio Sanchez Bella and his brother Ismael were present when such an i
ncident took place at their home. Florencio says, "They told so many lies, perha
ps thinking they were acting in good faith, that my parents threatened to throw
us out of the house if we went to any Opus Dei center again" (Florencio Sanchez
Bella, Sum. 7492).
Amadeo de Fuenmayor recalls that one time when his mother went to Barcelona to v
isit one of her daughters, "she was visited by a Jesuit who did not know her at
all. He asked her if she was my mother, and then said he had come to warn her th
at her son was 'in danger of damnation.' He also told her that she could and sho
uld dissuade me from this path I had taken, that of Opus Dei, never mind the fac
t-which I probably would have mentioned-that I was by then an adult. And he warn
ed her against Monsignor Antonio Rodilla, the vicar general of the diocese, sayi
ng that he was one of us. Thus my poor mother had nowhere to turn, since, becaus
e of his advanced age, she couldn't go to the archbishop either. (This was Prude
ncio Melo y Alcalde, the archbishop of Valencia.) I asked her if the priest had
given any reason in support of his dire judgment about me. She said to me, 'You
members of Opus Dei have been deceived into believing that it is possible to be
holy in the midst of the world.' Here was the cause of my going so sadly astray.
Here was the great heresy that would drag my soul to the precipice if I did not
leave Opus Dei" (AGP, RHF, T-02769, p. 4).
These visits to parents and other relatives of members of the Work spread to oth
er cities in Spain. Javier de Ayala testifies: "Some Fathers of the Society, the
re in Saragossa, seriously upset my family, accusing the Servant of God of havin
g founded a sect, a kind of Masonry, something similar to the ancient Illuminati
, who ended up in hell" (Javier de Ayala Delgado, Sum. 7586).
[130] In this letter, dated June 14, 1941, he refers to the situation as one of
"constant persecution."
[131] AGP, RHF, EF-410806-1. For more on Mother Maria, see Apuntes,no. 1258 (26
Mar 1935). In this letter of August 6, the founder also set out his answers to t
he accusations being made "by good people":

(1) That we have never taken a step anywhere without the express approval of the
local ordinary. (2) That the Work is canonically approved. (3) That it is untru
e to say that we have mysteries or secrets; such things have never had any place
in our apostolic activity, nor will they ever, nor do we have any need of them.
(4) That we suffer all the injuries they do us (and they do everything they can
to injure us) with a holy joy and in silence; while they slander us, we work. (
5) That we wholeheartedly forgive those who spread these stories to denigrate us
; and we believe they are acting in good faith."

[132] He did, at any rate, suspect this strongly enough to write to the bishop o
f Madrid, "I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to inform the civil authoritie
s of this matter, before this underhanded campaign manages (indirectly!) to do s
o, so that those civil authorities don't for one minute believe any of the idiot
ic things being imputed to us. How happy the enemy of souls would be to see us b
eing harassed from that quarter too!" (AGP, RHF, EF-410525-1).
[133] With regard to this matter and the accusation before the tribunal there is
a statement by Dr. Luis Lopez Ortiz, who was then the secretary general of the
tribunal: see AGP, RHF, T-04214. Other testimonies to the same effect include Jo
se Lopez Ortiz, Sum. 5271; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 425; and Silvestre Sancho M
orales, O.P, Sum. 5399. (At this stage of the Work's existence it was not yet po
ssible for married persons to be incorporated into it.)
[134] The delegation was made up of the following magistrates: Dr. Juan Jose Pra
dera Ortega, Dr. Gonzalez Oliveros, and Dr. Luis Lopez Ortiz. See Alvaro del Por
tillo, PR, pp. 564-65, and Juan Jimenez Vargas, Sum. 6710.
[135] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 36.
[136] This report has been published in Jose Luis Rodriguez Jimenez, Historia de
la Falange Espanola de las TONS, Alianza, Madrid 2000, pp. 420-423. Of this fou
r-page document, dated 16 Jan 1942, there is a typewritten copy in the General A
rchive of the Prelature. The friend who showed the founder the document was Fath
er (later Bishop)Jose Lopez Ortiz, who gives the following testimony:

On one occasion I got hold of an internal document of the Falange (the one party
, Franco's) in which he was grossly slandered. I considered it my duty to show h
im this document, which had been lent me by a friend of mine. The attacks were s
o savage that while Josemara was sitting there in front of me and calmly reading
those sheets, I couldn't keep tears from my eyes. When he got done, and saw how
upset I was, he burst out laughing and said to me, with heroic humility, "Don't
worry, Pepe, because everything they're saying here is, thank God, false-but if
they knew me better, they could have truthfully said a lot worse things, because
I'm nothing but a poor sinner, who loves Jesus Christ madly." And instead of te
aring up that string of insults, he gave the papers back to me so that my friend
could return them to the Falange headquarters, from which he had taken them. "T
ake them," he said, "and give them to that friend of yours so that he can put th
em back where they belong, and that way he won't start getting persecuted." (See
Testimonies, pp. 241-42.)

[137] See Joaquin Alonso Pacheco, Sum. 4659. The ultranationalistic sector of th
e Falange was scandalized by point 525 of The Way:

To be "Catholic" means to love our country, and to let nobody surpass us in that
love. And at the same time, it means to hold as our own the noble aspirations o
f all the other lands. How many glories of France are glories of mine! And in th
e same way, many things that make Germans proud-and Italians, British, Americans
and Asians and Africans-are also sources of pride to me.
Catholic! A great heart, an open mind.

[138] For many months, when the power of the Falange was at its height, the noti
on that the Work was a secret society and an enemy of the party put the founder
and members of the Work in grave danger. One of many documents testifying to thi
s is a letter sent by Father Josemara to the bishop of Madrid in February 1943 (A

GP, RHF, EF-430217-1):

Father, I just reread the last page, and I don't think it's clear enough. They h
ave ordered that we be audited by the tax department (everything is in order), a
nd I have been told by a reliable source that they are trying to get Alastrue ar
rested on the monstrously calumnious charge of his "belonging to a secret societ
y that is an enemy of the Falange and is conniving with the British embassy." An
d the person who gave me that information also told me this afternoon that they
are trying to find out all they can about Alastrue's friends, so that they can h
aul them all in.
Forgive me, dear Bishop. I have a lot of consoling things to tell you, to balanc
e out these calumnies.

[139] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 39.

[140] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 417.
[141] Bishop Lopez Ortiz testifies: "Serving as megaphones for these falsehoods
were a number of ideologically liberal university professors who-I don't think I
'm making a rash judgment in saying this-did not take kindly to having convinced
Catholics in the lecture halls. They started a rumor that a group of professors
and other persons linked to university life, including the minister of educatio
n, Ibaez Martin, and Jose Maria Albareda, the secretary general of the recently e
stablished Council for Advanced Scientific Research, wanted to hand over the uni
versity to Opus Dei. The whole affair was quite ridiculous, and that it caught o
n at the time can be understood only if one keeps in mind the nationalistic atmo
sphere of the country in those days and the jealousy that led certain persons an
d movements to circulate the counterfeit money" (Testimonios, p. 225).
[142] Cardinal Bueno Monreal (Testimonios, p. 24) writes: "After these misunders
tandings, there also came outright calumnies, alleging occultism and heresy, tha
t flourished for a time. Without going into details (which I have forgotten anyw
ay), I confine myself here to the charge that Opus Dei aimed to control universi
ty teaching positions in order to dominate the country ideologically. Such an ab
surd idea could be taken seriously only by someone who had previously accepted a
s valid the accusation that Opus Dei is a cult or a kind of Masonry-and who also
had an overactive imagination. Yet this particular charge was circulated persis
tently for several years. And in this case it was not just a matter of oppositio
n by 'good people.' Some who were not so good chimed in, in an attempt to deny C
atholic citizens, as well trained and qualified as anyone else, their right to p
ractice their profession as they wanted and were able to."
See also Jose Orlandis Rovira, Anos de juventud en el Opus Dei (Madrid, 1993). O
n page 182, in a chapter entitled "La leyenda de las catedras" ("The Fable of th
e Professorships"), Orlandis says: "[It was claimed that] the minister of educat
ion, Ibaez Martin, and the secretary of the recently created Council for Advanced
Scientific Research, Albareda, had 'handed over' the university to Opus Dei. It
should be noted that in 1941, when this campaign was at its most intense and Op
us Dei was said to be dominating Spanish universities, only one member of Opus D
ei-Albareda-had a tenured professorship. And if, with the actual promotion stati
stics in hand, we look at the whole duration of that virulent campaign revolving
around the 'takeover of professorships,' we see that only eleven members of the
Work obtained tenured professorships in the five-year period of 1940 to 1945, a
space of time in which the total of new tenured professors in the universities
was 179."
[143] AGP, RHF, EF-420108-1. This priest, Father Fermfn Yzurdiaga Lorca, was a m
ember of the Falange's National Council.
[144] AGP, RHF, D-30001.
[145] AGP, RHF, EF-420214-1.
[146] See AGP, RHF, D-15415 (Jose Manuel Casas Torres).
[147] AGP, RHF, EF-450113-1.
[148] AGP, RHF, EF-500603-2. Here is the letter that the founder was answering:

Secretarius Centralis, Congregationum Marianum, Rome, May 15, 1950


My respected and dear Monsignor:

Despite all my good intentions, I find myself about to take off, and without hav
ing found a free moment to go see you. My health hasn't been at all good these d
ays, and I've had to make arrangements for this office to keep functioning in my
absence.
I hope that when I get back we can put our idea into effect. In the meantime, fe
el free to send anything you wish to my address in England: Manresa House, Roeha
mpton / LONDON, S.W. 15.
United in prayer, I remain very much yours in our Lord,

Angel Carrillo de Albornoz, S.J.

President, Central Secretariat of the Sodalities of Our Lady

[149] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 19.

[150] The Life of Saint Teresa of Jesus, chapter 30.
[151] Apuntes, no. 1346 (31 May 1936).
[152] Apuntes, no. 1622. There is no record of who "M." is.
[153] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 47. "They are trying to start a fight,
big or small": AGP, RHF, EF-410525-1 (Letter to Bishop Eijo y Garay). Father Jo
semara refused to get drawn into the "uproar." He also felt that false informatio
n could have repercussions in the future. One of many examples was in Germany in
1983, when a TV network attacked the Work. Court decisions favoring Opus Dei la
ter forced the station to retract its false statements.
[154] See Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, nos. 3 and 18. As we mentioned earlier
, he decided to file this letter in the General Archive of the Prelature (AGP) a
nd not send it to the centers of the Work.
[155] Ibid., no. 2.
[156] Ibid., no. 4.
[157] Ibid., no. 13.
[158] Ibid., no. 11.
[159] See AGP, RHF, EF-410601-3 and EF-410614-2.
[160] AGP, RHF, D-03545-4.
[161] See AGP, RHF, D-30005 (Letter of Father Daniel Ruiz to Father Josemara, dat
ed 23 May 1941).
The bishop of Madrid wrote to Dom Escarre on May 24, "Yesterday I read a letter
from the superior of a Jesuit residence in which he says that it is a defamation
of the Society of Jesus to claim that it is persecuting Opus Dei and seeking it
s destruction. Your Reverence, you know what is going on over there, so you can
judge for yourself." (See Appendix 4.)
In his meeting with the founder at Areneros School on May 31, 1941, Father Carlo
s Gmez Martinho, the provincial of Toledo, said the same thing Father Ruiz had sa
id. Afterwards, Father Josemara wrote this note: "He says that they're the ones s
uffering persecution, because the best ones are leaving."
[162] AGP, RHF, EF-410525-1.
[163] AGP, RHF, D-15011. See also Testimonios, pp. 405-406 (Silvestre Sancho Mor
ales), and AGP, RHF, AVF-0027. (The Holy Office is now called the Congregation f
or the Doctrine of the Faith.)
[164] See AGP, RHF, D-15013 and D-15014.
[165] AGP, RHF, EF-410925-1. That week, September 21-27, he stayed at the Hotel
Europeo in La Granja: see AGP, RHF, D-15410.
[166] Apuntes, no. 711, 28 Apr 1932.
[167] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 10.
[168] AGP, RHF, EF-410925-1.
[169] Apuntes, nos. 1855 and 1856.
[170] AGP, RHF, D-30010.
[171] On the top of the sheet there is a handwritten note: "Received 6/13. Answe
red 6/ 15."
Father Josemara's old friend Father Sebastian Cirac held a doctorate in philosoph

y and literature, from the University of Madrid, and three other secular and ecc
lesiastical doctorates. At the time of the campaign against the Work, he was tea
ching Greek literature at the University of Barcelona. During this period, when
for members of the Work not even the mail was a safe mode of communication, the
founder told Alvaro del Portillo, "Until the cyclone passes, it would be best to
write to our people via Cirac" (AGP, RHF, EF-410420-2).
[172] AGP, RHF, D-30011. (Bishop Leopoldo provided this copy in 1963, shortly be
fore he died.)
[173] See AGP, RHF, D-30012. His mention of a physical feeling of happiness is c
learly a reference to something that had happened several months earlier, on the
occasion of that walk that he took with Monsignor Morcillo. In his account of t
hat conversation, he says that when Monsignor Morcillo told him that he had been
denounced to Rome, "I jumped for joy right there on the road" (AGP, RHF, D-1501
1).
[174] AGP, RHF, D-30009. The quotation is from a partial copy of the letter: a c
opy dated July 3, 1942. If it is referring to the report to the Holy See mention
ed by Father Sebastian Cirac, the letter must be from some months-even a year-ea
rlier. It is in Italian and was probably given to the founder by some ecclesiast
ic.
[175] See AGP, RHF, D-03545-4 (Letter of 1 Sep 1941 from Bishop Eijo y Garay to
Abbot Escarre).
[176] AGP, RHF, EF-650914-1.
[177] See AGP, RHF, EF-410420-2.
[178] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 58.
[179] On innumerable occasions these calumnies propagated by churchmen were the
arsenal used by enemies of the Church. Almost half a century after these events,
representatives of certain political groups of a non-Catholic ideological orien
tation raised questions in the Italian parliament regarding the "secretiveness"
of Opus Dei. The government, after looking into the matter and consulting the Ho
ly See, completely rejected this charge against the Prelature. For the unabridge
d documented response by the Ministry of the Interior, see "Camera dei Deputati,
Atti Parlamentari, Resoconto Stenografico n. 561, del 24-XI-1986."
[180] Two years after Father Carrillo came to Barcelona, the visits to parents o
f members of the Work started up again. This time the parents of Rafael Termes,
the director of El Palau, were visited by a Catholic Action spiritual advisor. W
hen he learned of this, the founder wrote to the archbishop of Toledo, Enrique P
la y Deniel, and to the auxiliary bishop, Eduardo Martinez. "I am sorry to bothe
r you," he told the latter, "but I need to inform you that a certain Father Cuni
ll in Barcelona has taken it upon himself to upset the parents of Rafael and Jai
me by reiterating some of that slanderous nonsense about Opus Dei. There was a s
tormy scene in the Termes home, although now calm seems to have been restored. H
ow much good a soothing letter from my Bishop would do this family! Don Eduardo,
please don't fail to write them a few lines.
"Along with this letter I am also mailing one to the archbishop, since the Catal
an priest in question is a spiritual advisor for Catholic Action and is also sla
ndering us there" (AGP, RHF, EF-421205-1).
[181] Letter 6 May 1945, no. 45.
[182] Letter of 25 Jul 1941 from Bishop Manuel Moll Salord, Coadjutor Bishop of
Tortosa and Apostolic Administrator of Lerida, to Father Josemara. (The "interrup
tion" was the death of Father Josemara's mother.)
[183] AGP, RHF, EF-390109-1.
[184] See Appendix 5.
[185] The founder's many religious-order friends included Bishop Ballester and F
ather Moreno, of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians); Father Morata an
d Father (later Bishop) Lopez Ortiz, both Augustinians; Dom Escarre and Dom Just
o Perez de Urbel, Benedictines; and Father Silvestre Sancho Morales, a Dominican
(rector of the University of St. Thomas in Manila). And as we know, for years h
is spiritual director was Father Sanchez Ruiz, S.J.
[186] Laureano Castan Lacoma, in Testimonios, p. 103. Experience, he adds, has d
emonstrated the opposite. In places where members of Opus Dei are working, "the

spiritual temperature is raised, and, as a consequence, there are more vocations

for everyone."
[187] AGP, RHF, EF-410531-2. As we saw in chapter 6 of this biography (vol. 1, p
p. 260-61), the founder tried unsuccessfully to find a word that would express t
he call to sanctity of Catholics not in religious life (laity and diocesan pries
ts, men and women, celibates and married persons), a word denoting a radical ded
ication of a Christian to the service of the Lord that did not necessarily invol
ve any change in the person's social, familial, or professional situation.
[188] AGP, RHF, EF-410614-2. What Father Josemara got out of that meeting with th
e provincial (Father Carlos Gomez Martinho) was a strong impression that the Jes
uit was mainly worried about losing potential vocations for his order. Father Ca
rlos Gonzalez Valles, S.J., in his book Las 7 palabras de Carlos G. Valles (Madr
id, 1995), relates an experience of his own that bears out this impression. As a
student in the Jesuit high school in Tudela, he had told his teachers that he w
anted to become a Jesuit. His intention was to enter the order after he graduate
d. But before the beginning of his senior year, he received an urgent letter tel
ling him to change his plans and go right then to the novitiate at Loyola. "It t
ook me several years to catch on to the reason behind that sudden summons. Opus
Dei was at that time beginning to become known in Spain and was attracting some
of the best young men. Some of those young men had previously thought of becomin
g Jesuits, and it hurt the Jesuits to lose valuable vocations. That had already
happened right there at the Tudela high school, and had set off an alarm among t
he priests. In my particular case they feared that if I stayed in the school for
another year, I undoubtedly would come into contact with Opus Dei and might be
attracted by it. They didn't want to lose me and they acted quickly. They wrote
telling me to come to the novitiate without delay so that I would be safely with
in its walls before I heard of Opus Dei. Of course they didn't tell me anything
of this and I had no suspicion of it at the time. I obeyed and went. I have now
for the first time told this in writing, and I am fully convinced of it."
[189] See Appendix 5.
[190] Apuntes, no. 52 (16 Jun 1930). "His love for God's Church was so great tha
t he quite naturally encouraged and praised all the institutions that have come
about in order to bring more souls to God" (Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguera, in Test
imonios, p. 159). "He was very happy to see the apostolic work of everyone, and
praised God for it. He always said, 'The more people serving God, the better"' (
Silvestre Sancho Morales, PM, fol. 104v). "In his apostolic activities, he not o
nly did not try in any instance to trespass on others' fields or to work in fiel
ds more or less already cultivated by other laborers or shepherds in the vineyar
d of the Lord, but expressly and resolutely steered clear of any such effort and
tried to go where he saw a scarcity or complete lack of the pastoral care that
he might be able to offer" (Joaquin Mestre Palacios: AGP, RHF, T-00181, p. 30).
"I recall very well that in those years of 1940 and 1941, in Saragossa, when voc
ations for the Work were so much needed, Father Josemara himself steered toward t
he seminary two young university students, friends of ours. It made him very hap
py when we told him ... that as a result of our apostolic work, there had been s
everal priestly and religious vocations" (Javier de Ayala, PM, fol. 1477).
[191] See Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 43.
Vicente Mortes notes that a roommate of his at Jenner, Jose Gramunt de Moragas,
entered the Jesuits, and Enrique Saracho went to the seminary from La Moncloa Re
sidence (see Vicente Mortes Alfonso, Sum. 7224). On the fostering of vocations s
ee Pedro Casciaro, Sum.6353; Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7507; Blanca Fontan S
uanzes, Sum.6954.
Many religious acknowledged that they owed their vocations to the founder. Among
those mentioned by Bishop Alvaro del Portillo were Father Jose Maria Aguilar Co
llados, O.S.H., chaplain of the Monastery of San Bartolome de Inca (Mallorca), w
ho in turn recalls that the founder sent two of his friends to join religious or
ders; the Camaldolese monk Dom Pio Maria Calvo Botas; Father Hugo Maria (Miguel)
de Quesada Lucas, who in 1942 entered the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores; F
ather Bartolome Rotger Castano, prior of the Carthusian monastery of Montealegre

of Badalona (Barcelona); and others. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 298, 299, 44
3, etc.
[192] Letter 11 Mar 1940, no. 39. He later wrote: "Others unreasonably got angry
because, ordinarily, the vocations the Lord was sending us were coming from env
ironments where they themselves were generally not finding any. No one with a pr
iestly or religious vocation came to us. Those vocations are of no use to us; ou
r vocation is very different from that of religious. Some had been in contact wi
th religious orders, but had not felt inclined to join them. The best proof that
they did not have that vocation is that, knowing all about it, they took anothe
r way.
"There should have been no surprise in that. There are, after all, no fenced-off
fields, no private reserves. This is how people with a one-party mind-set think
. But often 'alius est qui seminat, et alius est qui metit' ('one sows and anoth
er reaps': in 4:37), and our Lord also said, 'et qui seminat, simul gaudeat, et
qui metit' (Let sower and reaper rejoice together: in 4:36)" (Letter 14 Sep 1951
, no. 39).
[193] Archbishop Pedro Cantero, who was a close friend of Father Josemara from as
early as 1931, said of him: "The Father had an outlook that was extraordinarily
broad, and not at all exclusivist. He always respected the freedom of each pers
on to choose their own way and follow their own vocation. Or, to put it better,
he not only respected but sincerely praised anything that was for the service of
Jesus Christ and his Church. And, from where he was, he did everything he could
to further every good undertaking. I can never forget that he was the moving fo
rce in my own decision and that he always warmly supported it. He knew that soul
s belong to God alone and that God calls where and as he wants. He was the one w
ho inspired my decision, as I have so often written and said, but never did he f
eel that he had any rights over me. Rather, he was always concerned with helping
me live out my vocation" (Testimonios, p. 68). Archbishop Cantero served as bis
hop of Barbastro (1952-1954), and then as bishop of Huelva, before becoming arch
bishop of Saragossa in 1964.
[194] AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 111 (Francisco Botella).
[195] See AGP, RHF, T-04894, p. 4 (Enrica Botella).
[196] The Way, no. 982.
[197] AGP, RHF, T-04894, p. 5.
[198] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 74.
[199] Ibid., p. 75.
[200] Ibid., p. 76.
[201] AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 1 (Narcisa Gonzalez Guzman).
[202] Ibid., p. 3.
[203] Ibid., p. 4.
[204] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 128.
[205] AGP, RHF, EF-411021-1.
[206] AGP, RHF, EF-411105-1.
[207] See AGP, RHF, T-05074., p. 5.
[208] Ibid., p. 48.
[209] AGP, RHF, EF-420916-2.
[210] The Way, no. 820.
[211] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 2.
[212] See AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 27
[213] AGP, RHF, EF-411014-1. In a letter dated October 20 he wrote from Lerida t
o a friend in Madrid, Vicente Rodriguez: "I wanted to see you before I left. It
was impossible because even the day before I left Madrid, I was still laid up in
bed with this pesky rheumatism" (AGP, RHF, EF-411020-1).
[214] AGP, RHF, EF-421104-2.
[215] AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 36.
[216] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 60.
6. Growth of the Work

1. Two brothers and a sister

2. The apostolate of apostolates

3. The greatest miracle

4. The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross
5. Death of Isidoro, and the nihil obstat from the Holy See
6. The first priests

* * *

1. Two brothers and a sister

The three Escriva children, Carmen, Josemara, and Santiago, were alike in many wa
ys, including the quick tempers that now and then flared up suddenly and just as
quickly subsided, without leaving any residue of resentment. Their mother's dea
th did not change their living arrangements, but it did produce changes in their
relationship.
Santiago had grown up in circumstances very different from those of his sister a
nd brother. Born just three weeks before his mother turned forty-two, he did not
know the comfortable, cheerful home life of the early days in Barbastro. The Es
criva home, though a happy environment, was marked by suffering by the time he w
as born. Years later, after Carmen and Josemara had died, Santiago mentioned some
thing he perhaps had not dared speak of when his sister and brother were living.
"Our home," he said, "was never a normal one, in the strictest sense of the word
. To me, a normal home is one where children can have friends over, invite them
to come for dinner or a snack, etc. I couldn't always do that. I remember that e
ven when I was studying at the university, if someone invited me to their home,
I couldn't reciprocate. For my sister Carmen it was the same."[1]
When Don Jose died, Josemara took his place, as he had promised to do in the pres
ence of his father's body. That sad Christmas of 1924 was a trial for the whole
family, unforgettably so for little Santiago. The only treat they could afford w
as a piece of marzipan Carmen bought-but it turned out to be spoiled and had to
be thrown out. A few days later, the little one suffered another disappointment.
Although they were in the period of mourning, he still hoped for a toy from the
Three Kings. A half-century later he recalled: "I vividly remember the disappoin
tment I got from the Kings. They had left a box for me. I was excited, thinking
it was a toy car. But when I opened the box, it turned out to be a pair of shoes
."[2]
In April 1927, Father Josemara went to Madrid to finish his university studies an
d get his doctorate. Doa Dolores waited in Fonz for the news that the rest of the
family could join him. It seemed an eternity to Santiago. "I was waiting for Jo
semara to come see us, but he didn't. In my eagerness I dreamed I saw him arrivin
g on a white horse. But he didn't forget me. Every week he sent me some comics."
[3]
In November the family joined Father Josemara in Madrid-he, of course, having no
idea that he would soon also have a new family on his hands. Doa Dolores and Carm
en looked after Santiago. "Josemara also gave a lot of time to me," Santiago reca
lled. "He would take me for walks when he had some free time, especially on Sund
ays. Sometimes he would take me for a snack to El Sotanillo, where he met the yo
ung fellows he was doing apostolate with. I didn't know much about his work, but
I would make up part of the group. Later Josemara couldn't spend as much time wi
th me because he had to tend to the first members of the Work. For me that was l
ike being orphaned again, since Josemara and Carmen were like parents to me."[4]
With the keen sensibilities of a child, including a touch of jealousy, Santi cal
led the newcomers "Josemarfa's boys." And his fears in part came true, as the nu
mber of visitors to the apartment on Martinez Campos grew steadily and the state
of Doa Dolores' pantry gave all too visible testimony to their healthy appetites
.
For Carmen life was very different. She was twenty years older than Santi and ha
d no trouble being a mother to him. Along with solid common sense, she had a rom
antic streak and dreamed of traveling; she also loved to read.[5] But, rejecting
the several marriage proposals she received, Carmen voluntarily took on her sho
ulders the care of the Work, without neglecting her own family.

When Doa Dolores died, Carmen was already over forty. The dark and attractive you
ng girl had become a mature woman, with valuable wartime and peacetime experienc
e, firm in her convictions and determined in her actions, and (like her brothers
) endowed with an exceptionally big heart.
For Father Josemara, Doa Dolores's death brought an immediate, pressing concern: W
ho could take her place in helping form the women who were coming to the Work? H
e had relied heavily on her quiet demeanor to convey the homelike atmosphere tha
t was needed. Now he complained: "My God, my God, what have you done? You are ta
king everything away from me, absolutely everything."[6]
But it did not take long for him to realize that, as always, God was ahead of hi
m, knowing and doing what was in everyone's best interests. Doa Dolores received
her reward, and Carmen stepped up to fill the void left by the Grandmother. An i
ncident that took place seven years later shows clearly his awareness of how pro
vidential this had been.
In May 1948, the nuncio told him that he had read in L'Osservatore Romano that C
armen had been received in audience by the Holy Father. Then he added, "I didn't
know you had a sister."
"You can see, Your Excellency, how discreetly my mother, may she rest in peace,
and my sister have worked alongside me. Without their help, I don't think we cou
ld have given the Work the refined air of a Christian home, a family."
He paused, then added: "On the other hand, knowing what hard times we went throu
gh, you can see how God's grace spared us calumny about this, too. Carmen is wel
l over forty now, but she was only in her twenties when she and my mother starte
d helping me."[7]
The dignity and respectability of Carmen and Doa Dolores also made it possible fo
r the founder to carry on a thriving apostolate with women. During the years fro
m the fall of 1940 to the fall of 1942 he gave spiritual direction in the confes
sional to many women, married and unmarried, while waiting for the first Opus De
i women's center to open.
During those years of "opposition by good people," Carmen gave herself wholehear
tedly to serving the Work. Assuming Doa Dolores's functions as lady of the house,
she conscientiously oversaw the housekeeping at Diego de Leon. She was calm, ti
reless, and impervious to trivial mishaps. Her duties ranged from hiring and tra
ining the domestic help to teaching Christian doctrine to the women.
Carmen enjoyed cooking and was good at it. But these were times to discourage ev
en good cooks, what with food shortages, rationing, and the poor quality of the
charcoal used as fuel. The kitchen was in the basement, and Carmen, who lived on
the second floor, had to go up and down the narrow, steep stairs twenty times a
day. Housecleaning and laundry were other time-consuming chores in a house that
soon had more than forty residents. And then there were meals for guests, shopp
ing, repairs, record keeping, and the training of Nisa Guzman, one of the first
women of the Work.[8]
Carmen discreetly took the Grandmother's place in the sewing and mending get-tog
ethers, where she always had some advice to give or some anecdote to tell. She a
lso took over the tasks that had been reserved to the Grandmother, including was
hing Father Josemara's underclothing. At Diego de Leon, "around 1941 and 1942 Car
men sometimes got angry with her brother at finding blood stains on his shirts f
rom his harsh penances-now partly practiced for the advancement of the women's s
ection, which was just getting a fresh start."[9]
"Aunt Carmen," as they called her, won the affection of both the men and women i
n the Work. It had become a custom for someone who had been away on a trip to re
turn home with a small gift, candy or some other treat. Doa Dolores used to keep
these in a dresser drawer so that she always had something special for her "gran
dchildren."[10] Carmen continued the family tradition, sometimes even buying the
treats herself.
Bighearted though she was, she nevertheless was not given to outward displays of
affection. In fact, this held true even in her dealings with her two brothers.
Thus outsiders hardly knew how deep their mutual affection was, since she was so
reserved and Father Josemara never favored his family in the least at the expens
e of the Work. This produced an occasional outburst of annoyance from his sister

, but she would quickly calm down and go back to her tasks. As had been the case
for Doa Dolores, there were many days when, even though they lived in the same h
ouse, she never laid eyes on him.[11]
Few were aware of how deeply grateful he was for the help he got from his own fa
mily. Every favor, no matter how small, made him feel in their debt. And althoug
h aware he could never fully repay them, he did what he could with prayer, morti
fication, and his Masses.[12] He saw this as fulfilling the fourth commandment,
which he liked to call "the sweetest precept of the decalogue."[13]
He never forgot a certain trip to the front that he made in 1938. Starting out f
rom Burgos, he transferred in Mirando de Ebro to a train that made a stop in Log
rono. When the train passed the cemetery where his father was buried, his heart
skipped a beat.[14]He resolved some day to "rescue" his father's remains, relics
in his eyes when he thought of all the members of Opus Dei whose spiritual debt
to that Christian gentleman extended back in God's providence to a time even be
fore the Work was founded.
Now and then his mother had expressed a desire to be buried beside her husband.
So, soon after the first anniversary of Doa Dolores' death, Father Jose Maria Mil
lan, a seminary companion from the Logrono days, completed arrangements requeste
d by the founder to have his father's remains exhumed. On April 27, 1942, Ricard
o Fernandez Vallespin drove Father Josemara to Logrono to bring the remains of Do
n Jose Escriva to Madrid. Carrying the required permissions and a zinc-lined che
st, the two of them went to the cemetery April 29, and found the tombstone alrea
dy lifted and the gravediggers removing dirt. Soon the coffin appeared, its top
caved in. They Bathered up the bones, placed them in the zinc container, took it
to one of the cemetery buildings to have it sealed, and immediately headed back
to Madrid.[15]
Nisa was the first person Father Josemara saw when he got to Diego de Leon. She r
emembered later that he was wearing his short black cape and carrying the chest
under his arm, and that in a quiet voice, with the contented air of someone who
had at last satisfied a duty of honor, he said to her, "I have here the remains
of my father."[16]
The chest was placed in the oratory, on a small table covered with a black cloth
. It stayed there until the next day, except for a few hours when he took it to
his room, placing it on his bed to avoid setting it on the floor.[17] On April 3
0, the remains of Don Jose Escriva were buried in La Almudena cemetery at the fo
ot of Doa Dolores's coffin.[18]
Years later, after the Diego de Leon center had been transformed into the headqu
arters of the Regional Commission of Opus Dei in Spain, Father Josemara was able
to complete his work of filial piety by having the remains of both his parents p
laced in the crypt there. This was done on March 31, 1969.[19] In showing this r
espect to his blood family, the founder was acting at the request of his older s
ons in the Opus Dei family, who saw this as a gesture of gratitude to all the be
nefactors of the Work, represented by two who had helped from the very start. "B
enefactors" had always been understood to include all the parents and brothers a
nd sisters of the faithful of Opus Dei. In 1973 the founder said: "Today when I
go to the crypt where the remains of my parents lie, I won't pray only for them.
My prayer of thanksgiving and suffrage for their souls will reach out to the pa
rents and brothers and sisters of all who form part of Opus Dei. Naturally I wil
l also pray for all the souls in purgatory, including those who (acting I am sur
e with a good intention) failed to understand or placed obstacles to the work of
Opus Dei."[20]
It may have been 1944 when a student living in Diego de Leon one day asked the f
ounder why Carmen and Santiago were not members of Opus Dei. "That is their busi
ness. Ask them if you like," he replied.[21] But the question has a simple answe
r: Carmen and Santiago were not called to be members of the Work but to collabor
ate in their own ways.

2. The apostolate of apostolates

In October 1941, Father Josemara gave a retreat to priests of the Lerida diocese
at the invitation of Bishop Moll Salord. The retreat was at the diocesan seminar
y, where the previous April he had received news of his mother's death during an
other retreat. Writing his sons in Madrid on October 16, he spoke of having phon
ed them the day before, complained about the delay in getting through, and asked
when a second telephone line they had ordered would be installed. Then he wrote
:

The archpriest of Fraga, the fig capital, is on this retreat. Find out if it wou
ld be worthwhile ordering figs in quantity. The price still hasn't been set. Las
t year figs were 2 pesetas a kilo, but this year it seems that the price will ri
se to 5 pesetas. If it's worth the effort, let me know. I have to give them the
quantity when I place the order. There's no limit.[22]

A list of urgent things to see to followed: securing the kitchen staff for the J
enner Residence, purchase of furniture, setting up the new house. "This letter,"
he concluded, "seems to have been written by Lazarus in collaboration with Mart
ha. Poor Mary!"
That lament must be taken with a grain of salt, since even when fretting about d
ried figs, he was moved by the glory of God and paternal affection for his child
ren.[23] Matter and spirit, action and contemplation, work and prayer were insep
arably united in his life.
And in some ways his humorous words in the letter just quoted were the heart of
Opus Dei's message: the sanctifying value of work done before God with a right i
ntention. He wrote in 1945:

The spiritual and ascetical formation given us by the Work aims to create in our
souls an habitual disposition, an instinct as it were, leading us always to mai
ntain, and never lose, a supernatural outlook in everything we do. We don't live
a double life, but a unity of life, simple and strong, joining and fusing all o
ur actions.
When we are generous in our response to this spirit, we acquire a second nature.
Without realizing it, we are immersed in God all day long and feel the need to
"put" him into everything we do, since without him our actions seem insipid. The
time comes when we can no longer tell where our prayer ends and work begins, be
cause our work is also prayer, contemplation, true mystical life and union with
God: divinization. And yet with nothing out of the ordinary about it.[24]

Returning to Madrid, Father Josemara became involved in finishing the setting up

of the apartment on Villanueva Street, which they had rented in September and wh
ere Alvaro and Isidoro Zorzano were to live. After much searching, they found an
other small apartment for members in the Work studying for their doctorates or a
lready working. This center was set up in a house at 116 Nunez de Balboa.[25] To
set up a new center naturally included providing for the domestic needs of the
people who would be living there. The founder called the profession of domestic
service the "apostolate of apostolates"-for its great impact on the apostolic ac
tivities of the Work. It would become the professional work of some of his daugh
ters.
At this time there were very few women in the Work. The disproportion between me
n and women was so obvious that during his retreat in November 1941 he resolved
to devote a good part of his priestly activities to the apostolate with women, s
ensing that it would "very soon make a big jump, both in numbers and in formatio
n."[26]Yet that disparity would persist for several years. Instead of trying to
slow down the growth of the men's centers-Diego de Leon, Jenner, Villanueva, Nun
ez de Balboa, El Cubil-Father Josemara encouraged his daughters at Jorge Manrique
to carry on their great task in all of them as a specific apostolate.
Other apostolates for them would come later, but now the founder saw the "aposto
late of apostolates" as an important service to the Work as a whole. The fact th
at there were so few women compared to men could hardly be ignored; but trusting

in God, he continued to press for the Work's expansion.

Have faith and daring, he urged his daughters: "With only a half-dozen faithful
women, we will fill the world with God's light, with divine fire. Have faith in
God, and a bit of faith in this poor sinner."[27] Since the Work was just gettin
g started, those who were first had to be ready for anything. Later, only a smal
l percentage of the women of the Work would make domestic work their profession.
"There will be daughters of mine who will be tenured professors, architects, jo
urnalists, doctors," he told them. But for the time being, taking care of the ce
nters of the Work in Madrid would have to be their main concern.
Since domestic work on this scale was not something young women from middle-clas
s families in Spain had much experience with in those years, he worked with Carm
en, between 1941 and 1942, at the task of training them for it. It was not an ea
sy one, because the needs were urgent, and they had to learn as they went along.
Carmen took Lola, Nisa, Encarnita, and several others under her wing, teaching
them mostly by her preferred method: example.[28]The founder encouraged and exho
rted with a lot of patience. He insisted that every task, no matter how insignif
icant it might seem, be done as perfectly as possible for love of God. "I want y
ou to be faithful in the little things," he would tell them, "in the ordinary, e
veryday tasks, for that is how we sanctify our lives."
So, for instance, he taught them, as he also taught his sons, how to close doors
with love for God: carefully and quietly. Then he would turn the knob gently to
make sure the door was securely closed. And then he would demonstrate the openi
ng of doors.[29]He did his teaching with pleasant words, a smile, and a prayer i
n his heart. Many of the things he taught his daughters had first been taught hi
m by his own parents.[30]
Encarnita recalled some of his lessons:

We learned how to make our houses truly attractive-clean, organized tastefully a

nd with an eye for details; neither stark nor luxurious, and with systematic car
e given things to make them last. We were told emphatically that nothing was eve
r too good for the oratory. We learned that pictures should be carefully placed,
that furniture should not rub against walls, that doors had to be closed well,
that flowers and decorations should be arranged gracefully. On entering a room o
ne was to notice at once if anything was out of place or damaged. All of this wa
s particularly important in the care of the oratory, including the placing of ca
ndlesticks and altar cloths. We also learned to turn off any lights that weren't
needed at the moment.
Flowers for the altar were to go between the candlesticks, and not come into con
tact with the altar cloth. And they were not to be put in vases with water. In t
his way, having nothing that could prolong their life, they would be a holocaust
for the Lord.[31]

Other maxims expressed aspects of the spirit of the Work as applied to the care
of its centers. Was food scarce? Father Josemara would tell his daughters and son
s to have greater trust in God: "If we don't fail him, he won't fail us."[32]But
no one was to think that food would rain down like manna from heaven. "You have
to use all the human means as though there were no supernatural ones, then have
as much faith as if things depended only on God."[33]
He advised the women who supervised the household employees that if they wanted
things to go well, they should be "the first ones to do any disagreeable tasks."
[34]As aspects of the virtue of poverty, he taught them to take care in handling
fragile objects, to repair anything broken as soon as possible, and to make thi
ngs last by looking after them: in a word, to live with dignity, without a show
of poverty, but with sacrifice, in the knowledge that they were "mothers of a la
rge and poor family" and that "the treasure of Opus Dei is that we know how to l
ive poor."[35]
The founder liked to see them calm and optimistic, working diligently, efficient
ly, and in an orderly way. He said to them:

At times it's a pleasure to see how you work. Your interior life is going well,

you work tirelessly, you do apostolate. Then suddenly everything grinds to a hal
t. This can't happen! Your life must have a uniform rhythm, like the ticking of
a watch. The secret of it is to imbue everything with God's love.' etables. Ther
e's no other choice, given the life of penance of these good souls.[36]

Finally, they needed to work with an elegant discretion, because "a good adminis
tration is neither seen nor heard."[37]
At first, of course, the standards he set for them did not seem easily attainabl
e, but the women learned quickly-from him, and also from mistakes and mishaps, s
ome of which they called "disasters," but Father Josemara called "experience."[38
]They made "notes of experience" to avoid making the same mistake twice. There w
ere lots of small "disasters," as in any home, and occasionally some bigger ones
.
One of these happened during the 1942-1943school year at the Jenner Street resid
ence, when the son of the owner of the building decided to get married. The owne
r took the occasion to present a formal eviction notice, claiming that the new f
amily would need the floors occupied by the residence. If the case went to court
, the owner was sure to win. Deciding to act quickly, before the situation got w
orse, Father Josemara, accompanied by Amadeo de Fuenmayor, went to see the landlo
rd. The conversation was courteous but unpromising. The landlord kept citing the
law and showed no inclination to make concessions, even though eviction in the
middle of the school year threatened serious hardship for fifty people.
Suddenly Father Josemara changed his tactics and tone. "I am a priest of Jesus Ch
rist! And I cannot let you throw out of the residence, in the middle of the scho
ol year, fifty students whose souls have been entrusted me!"[39]Fuenmayor recall
s:
The tone of the interview changed completely. At the end, as if summing up a lon
g negotiation that had reached a satisfactory conclusion, the Father said with g
reat authority and simplicity: "Let's have our lawyers meet tomorrow and prepare
a document with the following clauses...." And he dictated them one after the o
ther. Next day I passed them on to the two lawyers.[40]
After a deposit was made to guarantee that the terms of the agreement would be m
et, the Residence continued operating until the end of the school year. In the m
eantime, forced to seek a new location, Father Josemara saw here an opportunity f
or a larger residence, which also would be the first one directed entirely and i
ndependently by the women's branch-an "administration," as such an arrangement i
s called in Opus Dei.[41]Accompanied by Aunt Carmen, he took those who would mak
e up that future administration to La Almudena cemetery to visit the grave of Doa
Dolores. There they prayed for the success of the new enterprise-a continuation
of the one on Jenner Street, where the Grandmother had served so generously.[42
]
Two suitable houses were found on La Moncloa Avenue near the university, across
the street from one another. Extensive repairs of wartime damage were needed alo
ng with remodeling, so that when October came and close to ninety students moved
in, the residence was still not ready.
The administration consisted of Encarnacion Ortega, Narcisa Gonzalez Guzman, and
Amparo Rodriguez Casado. (Amparo did not enjoy the best of health.) They benefi
ted from the help and advice of Carmen, though only sporadically and from a dist
ance, since she had the Diego de Leon center to look after. The continual traffi
c of construction workers, painters, and plumbers was certainly not conducive to
keeping services running smoothly or to keeping the house clean. And the houses
' being on opposite sides of the street added some rather formidable complicatio
ns. The pantry, for instance, was on one side of the street, and the kitchen on
the other. And some of the students' rooms were in the one house, and some in th
e other.
Months earlier, Father Josemara had said that the Moncloa Residence would be a "s
howcase of the Work" that would be looked at by all kinds of people, including t
hose who did not look kindly on Opus Dei and would be trying to find things to c
riticize. But he had advised them not to worry about that or to pay too much att
ention to the inquisitive or the hostile, but just to remain conscious of God's

presence and do the best they could.[43]

Masons' and plumbers' mistakes, the result of rushed work and poor quality mater
ials (perennial problems in these early postwar years) kept workers underfoot lo
nger than expected. The kitchen facilities were defective; it became harder and
harder to get supplies; and the number of residents was very large. The difficul
ties gradually undermined the women's optimism, energy, and inner peace. They st
arted cutting down on their sleep in order to get more work done.[44]
The days before Christmas were difficult ones. Work piled up. The students, sinc
e they were leaving for the holidays, needed to have their clothes back from the
laundry earlier than usual. Some of the household employees went to spend a few
days with their families. And there were a lot of last-minute Christmas prepara
tions.
It had been some time since Father Josemara had visited. He came by on December 2
3, bringing a gift from Aunt Carmen that he presented to Nisa and Encarnita in t
he dining room: a lacquered wooden tray, with a design of birds with brilliant p
lumage. Then, pulling up a chair, he sat down to speak with his daughters. All t
hey could think of to say had to do with the thousand and one "disasters" and "c
atastrophes" going on. But they did speak their minds with trust and candor.[45]
He listened attentively, interrupting from time to time to offer them encouragem
ent and assure them that things would soon get better. "And besides," said one o
f them, "since we have so much work, we don't have time to do the prayer, and so
we have to do it while we're working, hardly realizing that we're talking to Go
d...." At which point the other one timidly said to him, "It's that you think up
things in your head and ask of us the impossible."[46]
Suddenly Father Josemara buried his head in his hands and began to sob. Nisa and
Encarnita watched sadly, and silently. Some moments passed, then raising his hea
d, he reached out for the wrapping paper from the gift he had brought, cut off a
piece, and began to write on it:

(1) without dishes

(2) with workmen all over the place
(3) with passageways obstructed
(4) without tablecloths
(5) without a pantry
(6) without personnel
(7) without experience
(8) without division of labor

At this point he drew a line, as though isolating the difficulties, and then lis
ted the remedies:

(1) with a lot of love for God

(2) with complete trust in God and in the Father
(3) not thinking about the "disasters" until after tomorrow's day of recollectio
n.
December 23, 1943.[47]

Very peacefully and with a smile on his face, he handed them the piece of paper
and told them that he would indeed be preaching a day of recollection for them t
he next day. Then he told them to be sure to have a good dinner on Christmas Eve
and wished them merry Christmas.
On December 24 he gave them the promised day of recollection with a spirit full
of faith and optimism, expressing his confidence that his daughters would never
forget the lesson they had learned. To Encarnita he explained, "I cried, my daug
hter, because you were not praying. And for a daughter of God in Opus Dei, the m
ost important work, the one that must take priority over everything else, is pra
yer."[48]

3. The greatest miracle


As Father Josemara had foreseen, the trying physical circumstances were soon reme
died. By the end of January the construction and repair jobs were finished, and
the place was free of workers. Around the same time, the Nunez de Balboa apartme
nt was closed, allowing them to concentrate on the other centers. Now and then h
e would tell his daughters to "shorten their sails" and lower unrealistic expect
ations, since "the best is the enemy of the good."[49]But other times he urged t
hem not to rest on their laurels. He attached much importance to anything connec
ted with the kitchen, since a poorly functioning kitchen would undermine the apo
stolate as well as the financial situation of the residence.[50]
It would, as it turned out, be several years before everything was running smoot
hly. In large part this was because of a lack of adequate means and experience.
Most of the hired workers were inexperienced and had to be taught the basics of
household work. To make that little staff an effective team would require not on
ly their gaining some experience and professionalism, but it would be better sti
ll if they had some higher motivation. The most serious problem for the "apostol
ate of apostolates" was a lack of women who were dedicated professionally, body
and soul, to the specific work of administration of its centers.
It was about four years from then that it first happened that some of these wome
n turned their domestic work into a means of sanctification and apostolate as me
mbers of Opus Dei.
That happy event had been in the making since the days of the "disasters." The 1
943-1944 school year had just begun, with nearly a hundred students living in th
e residence, when some Basque girls, having found that working there was more di
fficult than they expected, went home. Father Josemara went immediately to the mo
ther-house of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate for Domestic Service and explaine
d the situation to Mother Carmen Barrasa, who promised to send help as soon as p
ossible.[51]
Mother Carmen had, as it happened, just heard that a young woman named Dora, who
worked for the Duke and Duchess of Najera, was available. She was an exceptiona
l person, and Mother Carmen wanted to do Father Josemara a favor, so she approach
ed Dora and talked her into working at the residence for at least a short time.
Wearing a nice dress and carrying a couple of suitcases, Dora showed up at La Mo
ncloa, much to the surprise of Encarnita, who was the one who opened the door. A
fter saying that she had been sent by Mother Carmen, Dora gave a quick rundown o
n herself. She was twenty-nine; her name was Dora del Hoyo; she came from Riano,
in Leon; and she had served in several private homes, most recently that of the
Duke and Duchess of Najera. (What she did not mention was that she had come to
the residence only in order not to hurt Mother Carmen's feelings and was plannin
g on an early return to the Najera household.)[52]
When Dora was shown the work area of the domestic staff, she immediately perceiv
ed the problem: too much work and too few hands. It pained her to see those youn
g women trying to cope with untrained employees, and work up to their eyeballs.
The pay was low, the workers lived in dorms, as was common then, and everything
had to be done by the hundreds: the washing of clothes, the cooking and serving
of meals. And all this, for what?
Dora had a big heart. She was moved by the sight of so much self-sacrifice. So s
he thought to herself, "All right, I'll stay today and help as much as I can. Bu
t tomorrow I'm leaving."[53]Accustomed to the well-ironed lace-trimmed uniforms
wom by maids in aristocratic houses, she felt strange at having to don a plain c
leaning dress that did not fit very well.
When Sunday came, Dora went to see Mother Carmen to tell her she was quitting. B
ut the good nun, suspecting what she had in mind, managed to be "not in at the m
oment." And continued to do so week after week, whenever Dora came.
In time, the sight of so much that she could do to improve things engaged Dora's
sense of professional honor and responsibility, and she decided to put off leav
ing. Encarnita, astonished at her domestic knowledge and abilities, felt that sh
e was a gift from God. She says:

Dora had a heart of gold, and the way she worked was a wonder to behold. She was

an expert at ironing, dry cleaning, and sewing. She cleaned with incredible tho
roughness, served at table without making the smallest mistake, and knew a great
deal about cooking. And her behavior was always respectful and natural. She was
able to teach the other girls with authority but also with great delicacy. It i
s true that she had a strong character, but she also strove to master herself.
The first week we decided to take charge of the clothes, Dora suggested starchin
g the fronts of the white shirts, which was then the latest fashion. We didn't y
et have an ironing room, so she organized the work by taking advantage of free p
eriods-one in the morning and one in the evening-and using the kitchen and dinin
g room tables. She taught the other girls how to do it, and the residents were v
ery happy with the results. She grew so fond of the residence that she decided t
o stay until the end of the school year.[54]

Once the administration of the residence was running smoothly, Father Josemara, w
ho visited weekly, gave his daughters a green light to begin a deeper apostolate
with the domestic employees. Perhaps God would give some of them the vocation t
o carry out this professional work as members of Opus Dei. "From that moment on,
" Encarnita said, "the question of Dora's vocation occupied many hours of our pr
ayer and work; the Father was also praying for her a lot."[55]
When the Abando Residence was set up in Bilbao in 1945, Dora del Hoyo and Concha
Andres volunteered to work there. On March 18, 1946, both wrote to the Father a
sking to be incorporated into Opus Dei. Their letters came the following day, th
e feast of Saint Joseph; and he said that "those two letters were the best prese
nt he had ever received on his saint's day."[56]
In the summer of 1946 the first Numerary Assistants gathered at Los Rosales: Dor
a, Concha, Antonia Penuela, Rosalfa Lopez, and Julia Bustillo.[57] The other com
ponent of the Work-that of the women-was at last fully developed, after so much
fatigue and suffering.
Father Josemara called it "the greatest miracle God has done for his Work," and a
dded, "And that's saying a lot, considering that he's worked more than a few."[5
8]
The dream first glimpsed on February 14,1930, was now a firm and stable reality.
[59]

4. The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross

In the spring of 1940, while the misunderstandings we have already described wer
e mounting, the founder saw his goals beginning to be realized. The Jenner Resid
ence and the apartment on Martinez Campos were underway in Madrid. In Valencia,
El Cubil was in operation, and in Valladolid, El Rincon. And a center was about
to be opened in Barcelona. All this had been accomplished within twelve months o
f the close of the civil war, with only a dozen people, very little money, and n
o other resources except apostolic zeal-and at a time when Father Josemara was tr
aveling almost nonstop in central and northern Spain, giving priests' retreats a
t the requests of the bishops.
Now he began to grow uneasy. Like an offensive fought on too many fronts, the Wo
rk might begin to unravel, he thought. In a journal note written in May 1940, af
ter referring to the many new apostolic activities, he added: "My great concern
is the feminine part of the Work. Afterward, the 'house of studies' for ourselve
s, and the future priests. In te, Domine, speravi!" [In you, O Lord, we hope!]."
[60]
This concern surfaces again in a letter in July to his sons in Madrid. At the en
d, he added this postscript: "Two topics of capital importance: the women and th
e priests."[61]
Both groups were essential, and in the 1930sFather Josemara had launched initiati
ves with both, only to see them fail. Yet in both cases the efforts were renewed
. It was as if, after preliminary drafts, God had given the founder fresh pages
on which to compose the definitive versions. Certain by now that the priests had
to come from within Opus Dei itself, Father Josemara retraced his steps. He wrot

e:

In the early years, I accepted the help of a few priests who wanted to bind them
selves to Opus Dei in some way. But God soon made it quite clear to me that, alt
hough they were good people (some of them outstandingly good), they were not the
ones called to carry out that mission. And so, in an early document, I indicate
d that for the time being-I would later let them know till when-they should limi
t themselves to administering the sacraments and to strictly ecclesiastical func
tions.[62]

At the end of 1930, at a time when only two or three laymen and Father Norberto,
assistant chaplain of the Foundation for the Sick, were with him, Father Josema
ra had written: "The priest members have to come from among the lay members.[63]
In 1935, in the face of the lack of unity among some of the priests then followi
ng him, he began to detach himself from them.
He was getting more and more requests from bishops to give retreats to priests a
nd seminarians, and although he wanted to cut back on this activity, working and
suffering for his brother priests was at the same time one of the "dominant pas
sions" of his life, as he told Bishop Leopoldo.[64] Yet his first duty was the s
piritual care of his sons and daughters. Where could he get time for everything?
But when the campaign of "opposition by good people" against Opus Dei erupted,
Bishop Leopoldo judged it more prudent that he continue to accept bishops' reque
sts.
The result was a decision on his part to start relying more on people who had be
en in the Work for some time and involve them in the giving of apostolic formati
on and spiritual direction.[65] At around that same time, in 1940, the founder g
athered together his older sons one day and told them that he would no longer te
ach formation classes to the students-they would be the ones giving them.[66] Al
so in 1940 two "study weeks" for members of the Work were held, the first in Mar
ch and the second in August while the Jenner residents were away during Holy Wee
k and over the summer. Father Josemara gave a meditation each day, offered guidel
ines for their apostolate, took part in the get-togethers and gave classes on th
e spirit of Opus Dei. Meanwhile, Alvaro del Portillo, Isidoro Zorzano, Ricardo F
ernandez Vallespin, Juan Jimenez Vargas, Pedro Casciaro, and Paco Botella gave t
alks on various aspects of the Work's spirit.[67]Still, the basic problem remain
ed: How to get priests into the Work?
Pressed for time, he told Bishop Leopoldo he wanted to give up his position as r
ector of Saint Elizabeth's. The bishop refused. He repeated his request, and the
bishop said no again. It would take him several years to win his battle to over
come "the affectionate opposition of His Excellency the Bishop of Madrid-Alcala.
?[68]
--64
65
66
67
68

422 Growth of the Work

His sons could take over a lot of the weight of apostolate and spiritual directi
on, especially because of the essentially lay character of Opus Dei. "But it is
also obvious," he wrote in a circular letter, in 1944, "that for [Opus Dei] to b
e realized fully, priests are needed. Without priests, the apostolic efforts ini
tiated by the lay members of Opus Dei would remain uncompleted, since they would
necessarily have to stop when they came up against what I often call the 'sacra
mental wall'-the administration of the sacraments, which is reserved to priests.
"[69]
As he jokingly put it, the situation at that time was that his children had to m
ake their confessions to "Father Come-across"-that is, whatever priest they came

across.[70] Yet in the sacrament of Reconciliation sins are forgiven and spirit
ual direction is imparted, and so, even though members of the Work were entirely
free to seek out any confessor they liked, he strongly recommended that they go
to priests who knew its spirit well.[71]
In that circular letter of 1944 the founder, in his summing up of the need for p
riests, wrote:

Priests are also necessary for the spiritual care of the members of the Work: to
administer the sacraments, to assist the lay directors in directing souls, to i
mpart a deep theological instruction to the other members of Opus Dei, and-a bas
ic point in the very constitution of the Work-to perform certain tasks of govern
ment.[72]

The ardent desire that as founder he had for holy priests in the Work is reflect
ed in a note dated July 1, 1940, written "from the walls of Avila"-an expression
he used when staying with Bishop Santos Moro of Avila, whose residence was lite
rally built against the city wall. "A retreat for priests begins today. May we d
raw out a lot of fruit: first of all, myself! ... My God: enkindle Alvaro's hear
t, that he may become a holy priest!"[73]
Four more years would pass before three of his sons were ordained in 1944. "For
many years I prayed, trustingly, eagerly, for your brothers who were going to be
ordained and for those who would follow after them," he later wrote. "I prayed
so much that I can truly say that all the priests of Opus Dei are children of my
prayer."[74]
Yet he often insisted that priesthood did not "crown" a vocation to the Work. On
the contrary, by reason of their full availability for apostolic tasks and thei
r formation, all numeraries of the men's branch can be said to have the necessar
y conditions for the priesthood and to be ready for priestly ordination if our L
ord asks this of them and the Prelate of Opus Dei invites them to serve the Chur
ch and the Work in this way. The first whom Father Josemara invited was Alvaro de
l Portillo: "If this is all right with you," he said, "if you want it and have n
othing against it, if you with complete freedom say yes to this. I will have you
ordained a priest. I call you to the priesthood not because you are better, but
in order to serve the others."[75]
Two others were to prepare for the priesthood along with Alvaro: Jose Maria Hern
andez de Garnica (Chiqui) and Jose Luis Muzquiz. Chiqui was a mining engineer, t
he other two were civil engineers.[76]
The founder's resolutions from November 1941include: "Pray, suffer, and work unt
iringly until the priests Jesus wants in the Work are a reality. Speak about thi
s point with our bishop of Madrid, my father."[77]
When he spoke with the bishop it was about the future priests' ecclesiastical st
udies. Usually these studies were done at a formal center of instruction, such a
s a diocesan seminary or a pontifical university. But given these students' circ
umstances, their age and professional backgrounds, it was agreed that they would
receive their classes from private professors at the Diego de Leon center. The
director of studies was Father Jose Maria Bueno Monreal, since 1927 professor of
canon law and moral theology in the Madrid seminary.[78]
With the bishop's approval, a prestigious group of teachers was assembled: two p
rofessors from the Angelicum University in Rome, two professors from the seminar
y in Madrid, and a tenured professor from Madrid's Universidad Central.[79] Card
inal Bueno Monreal recalled that Father Josemara wanted this program of studies t
o have "the same rigor and depth as their secular studies, in which each had obt
ained two doctorates. Thus they studied all the courses being taught in the semi
naries."[80]Reflecting the founder's love for the Church and the Work, this same
careful preparation was in future to be received by all his children, laity as
well as priests.[81]
In the spring of 1942 the director reported that the students were "very well pr
epared to pass their exams." Father Josemara therefore informed Bishop Leopoldo t
hat they were prepared to be examined in the subjects of the two-year philosophy
curriculum, and suggested that the bishop appoint a panel for this purpose.[82]

The three candidates received the highest possible grades in all their subjects,
as he was quick to tell the bishop.[83] He had wanted these three sons of his t
o have the best possible formation as an example for the thousands who would com
e after them. As he later explained:

When I began preparing the first priests in the Work, I went overboard-if one mi
ght say so-with their philosophical and theological formation. I did so for many
reasons. The second reason, to please God; the third, because many people were
looking to me with affection, and I could not let them down; the fourth, because
there were people who didn't like us and were looking for an opportunity to att
ack us; and then, because I have always urged my sons to get the best possible p
rofessional formation and could not be less demanding in their religious formati
on. And the first reason (since I could die at any moment): because I will have
to render an account to God for what I have done, and I ardently desire to save
my soul.[84]

Two notes he saved are relevant here: "Priestly formation: Opus Dei certainly ha
s to provide this!"; and: "The priesthood is received when one is ordained, but
priestly formation...."[85]
Elsewhere he spells out what is implied here: that priestly formation is the bus
iness of a lifetime.[86] He aimed to provide the faithful of Opus Dei with forma
tion corresponding to their secular state and therefore compatible with their pr
ofessional work.[87]Those first three candidates received their pastoral prepara
tion for Holy Orders and their formation in priestly virtues directly from Fathe
r Josemara, while their academic studies took place not in a seminary but at the
Center for Ecclesiastical Studies of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, whi
ch was formally set up in Diego de Leon in December 1943.[88]
As we look back on it from the vantage point of the present, Opus Dei's institut
ional development may look something like a winding path with numerous byways.[8
9]Yet this was the path the founder had to move along, as God gave him light to
see it. Some stretches were lit up by divine intimations; others he had to trave
l in total darkness; but always he kept forging ahead with a lot of faith.[90]
In June 1930, as he sketched out the juridical structure of the Work and tried t
o envision a solution that would allow priests to be incorporated into it, he fo
und himself obliged finally to leave matters up to Divine Providence: "God will
give us light when the time comes."[91]
Then the foundational charism present from the beginning would come into play. H
e felt at peace and filled with faith when in 1940 he set about seeking the prie
stly ordination of three members of Opus Dei. Faith was needed because he seemed
to have reached a dead end: What he wanted was nothing less than for the future
priests to be dedicated exclusively to the service of the Work-that is, to its
specific apostolic activities-something apparently conflicting with ecclesiastic
al law.
The Code of Canon Law specified that one of the requirements for licit ordinatio
n and the exercise of priestly ministry was a title of ordination. This was, as
is explained in The Canonical Path of Opus Dei, a means of "assuring that each c
leric had a decent, lifelong source of support."[92]Although the possible titles
of ordination were quite diverse, there were basically only two ways of getting
one: (a) by joining a religious order, or (b) by becoming incardinated in a dio
cese, which meant becoming dependent, to a greater or lesser extent, on its ordi
nary. Given the secular character God intended for Opus Dei, that first alternat
ive had to be rejected.[93]But the titles linked to incardination in a diocese w
ere not the solution either. Opus Dei?s apostolic activities went beyond diocesa
n borders, and so its priests needed freedom of activity and movement. Depending
on the bishop of a particular diocese, they could not also be fully available f
or the needs of the Work.[94]
Father Josemara knew what that could mean from his own problems working in Madrid
but incardinated in Saragossa: The recurring need to renew faculties and permis
sions, the intrinsic instability of being a priest from outside the diocese-made
him feel "like a chicken in the wrong coop."[95]

As a matter of prudence, Father Josemara consulted experts in canon law on the qu

estion of titles. Every once in a while he would optimistically think he had fou
nd the answer, but closer examination showed that it would not work.[96] He met
often with the bishop of Madrid, and the two of them racked their brains in long
sessions, but always to no avail [97]
Finally, he stopped looking for a solution. But this did not mean he gave up. "T
ime went by." he says. "We prayed. The three who were to be ordained as the firs
t priests of the Work were studying very hard, putting their hearts into it. The
n, one day. .."[98]
On the morning of February 14,1943-already a day of thanksgiving for the Work as
the anniversary of the founding of the women's branch on February 14, 1930-Fath
er Josemara left early to say Mass for his daughters in the oratory of Jorge Manr
ique. They all participated with great devotion, and he was immersed in God thro
ughout the Holy Sacrifice.
As soon as Mass was over, he took out his notebook and wrote on the page for Feb
ruary 14, feast of Saint Valentine, "In the house of the women, during Holy Mass
: 'Societas Sacerdotalis Sanctae Crucis' [The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross
]." And then, on that same page, he made a little drawing, of a circle with a cr
oss inside it.[99] After making his thanksgiving, he went downstairs, asked for
a sheet of paper, and went into a small reception room, while his daughters wait
ed for him in the vestibule. Encarnita later wrote:

A few minutes later he reappeared in the vestibule, and it was clear he was deep
ly moved. "Look," he told us, pointing to a sheet on which he had drawn a circle
with a cross of special proportions in its center, "this will be the seal of th
e Work. The seal, not the coat of arms." Opus Dei will not have a coat of arms.
It represents the world, and in the very heart of the world the Cross.[100]

Next day Father Josemara went to El Escorial, not far from Madrid, where Alvaro d
el Portillo, Jose Maria Hemdndez de Garnica, and Jose Luis Mttzquiz were prepari
ng for their theology exams. With a great sense of unworthiness, almost with sha
me, he told Alvaro of the grace he had received during Mass the day before.[101]
The necessary documents needed to be prepared quickly. Alvaro would be the one
to go to Rome to seek approval for the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.

5. Death of Isidoro, and the nihil obstat from the Holy See

What was that ray of light that the founder had received? In the midst of his un
certainty, our Lord had put it in his mind to create a society of priests, of wh
ich the laymen preparing for ordination would become a part. In this way, withou
t ceasing to belong to Opus Dei, they would be incardinated in it "ad titulum So
cietatis." Together with this solution there "came" (this is the term he used) t
he symbol of the cross within the globe,[102] a cross whose arms reached all the
way across the globe, symbolizing the plan of redemption and also the common pr
iesthood of all the faithful of Opus Dei, from whose ranks the priests would com
e.[103]
For Father Josemara, the name Priestly Society of the Holy Cross was not an exalt
ation of suffering but a proclamation of victory over pain and death. Just a few
months earlier, in October 1942, he had written: "Adversities endured for love
of God always yield fruit."[104] And now he was convinced that this grace of see
ing the solution to the problem of how to have priests in the Work was one of th
ose fruits.
The attacks on the Work were continuing. It seemed as if there would be no end t
o the adversities and humiliations. But if, like little splinters from the cross
, they did keep coming, Father Josemara would go on accepting them with joy and w
ithout dismay, seeing them in their "supernatural dimension," as needful for a s
oul on pilgrimage to heaven. "For me a day without a cross is like a day without
God," he said.[105]
In the thirties he had gone through the hospitals of Madrid begging the patients

to offer their suffering for his intentions. He called them "the treasure of th
e Work," their suffering a divine "caress."[106] Now, the Lord having crowned th
e Work with his Cross, the founder reasoned that "since we are of the Holy Cross
, we will never lack crosses."[107]
Jose Maria Hernandez de Garnica fell ill in July 1940. Wartime privations, impri
sonment in Madrid, the hard life in the penal camp in Valencia very likely were
contributing factors. Father Josemara kept track of him when he had to be out of
Madrid. "Be sure to take care of Chiqui," he wrote from Leon at the beginning of
August.[108]And two days later: "I suppose what Chiqui has is not serious. Is h
e better?"[109] But it was serious. For a few days he hovered between life and d
eath. "I don't know if you have heard," Isidoro wrote another member of the Work
two weeks later, "that Chiqui has come through the operation very well. They to
ok out a kidney. It was more serious than the doctors thought at first, but now
he is fine, although still in the hospital."[110]
Apparently Alvaro was not well either. On August 23, Father Josemara wrote, "How
is Chiqui? Alvaro, have you been to see a doctor? Please!"[111]And four days lat
er, "How is Chiqui doing? Has Alvaro seen the doctor?"[112]
All this was happening while he was doing the preparatory work for Opus Dei's ap
proval as a pious union. In the autumn of 1940 he wrote to the bishop of Pamplon
a that the canonical path of Opus Dei seemed to be a kind of Way of the Cross, b
ecause of the many sufferings accompanying every step forward.[113]
Chiqui soon recovered. But then Isidoro fell ill.[114] In 1940 he was living at
the Jenner Street residence, in a little room next to the oratory. (The room cou
ldn't really be said to be his, since it served other purposes as well.) Besides
being busy all day at his job at the railroad office, he handled the accounts f
or the Jenner Street residence and other centers as general administrator of the
Work. By 1941, he had begun to feel ill, but he persevered in his quiet life of
hard work, through two years of great fatigue and pain, which the doctors took
to be rheumatic.
The diagnosis was wrong. By the second half of 1942 his illness was making alarm
ing progress. Father Josemara grew deeply concerned. "How is Isidoro?" "How is Is
idoro feeling?" he wrote.[115]
Just before Christmas 1942, Isidoro attended a retreat preached by Father Josema
ra at the Diego de Leon center. By now, he was very sick. Having this son of his
very much on his mind, Father Josemara said in the meditation on death:

To you, my son, there will not happen what unfortunately does sometimes happen,
even among Christians-an attempt to keep the sick from knowing how serious their
illness is until the very last moment, when they're on the point of losing cons
ciousness and can't receive the Last Sacraments with full awareness. To you, my
son, a brother of yours will come, and with great sensitivity but very clearly h
e will say to you, "Look, the doctors say that, humanly speaking, there's nothin
g that can be done.... But we are going to pray a lot, asking God for a miracle.
And we're also going to use all the human means medical science has at its disp
osal.
And then, my son, your reaction will be: Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mih
i [I rejoiced when they said to me], Let us go to the House of the Lord!"[116]

By early 1943 the least movement was causing Isidoro an agonizing shortness of b
reath. Also the pain was making it hard for him to sleep, and he was waking up e
xhausted. For a while he continued to make the heroic effort it took for him to
rise punctually at the usual hour, but soon even that was more than he could man
age. Only at that point did the doctors finally make the correct diagnosis.
Isidoro was taken to a hospital, where the doctors concluded that he had Hodgkin
's disease-an illness for which there was no hope of a cure.[117]He spent the sp
ring in the San Fernando Sanatorium, aware that he was dying. Father Josemara vis
ited often and arranged for the others to take turns staying with him so that he
always had company. The visitors looked after him, changing the sheets, adjusti
ng his position, helping him at mealtime. (Even to swallow liquids caused him se
vere pain.) They also helped him carry out the norms of piety. The founder told

them to treat him "as you would a sacred relic."[118]

His confessor was Father Lopez Ortiz. He received communion every day, usually b
rought to him by Father Josemara. Luis Palos, who had been a student with him at
the Saragossa School of Law and was the sanatorium director's brother, would see
him going down the corridor with the Blessed Sacrament, and was deeply impresse
d by the recollection with which the priest carried our Lord. "It was almost som
ething you could reach out and touch," he says. "He never said a word to anyone
until he had taken off his vestments."[119]
The first thing the founder had done on February 14, 1943, was communicate the n
ews of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross to Alvaro del Portillo. Alvaro was
not only secretary general of Opus Dei but also the founder's indispensable col
laborator and right-hand man.[120] He had discovered the depth of Alvaro's spiri
tual life in 1938 when the two of them were in Burgos,[121]and afterward he beca
me certain that he was the rock on which he could lean, even calling him "Saxum"
at times (the Latin word for "rock").[122]To Alvaro he communicated many of the
supernatural events that befell him; to Alvaro he left the governing of the Wor
k when he had to leave Madrid; to Alvaro he entrusted delicate questions and mat
ters of conscience. He had no hesitation in telling Bishop Leopoldo: "Since I kn
ow that Alvaro del Portillo is keeping Your Excellency informed of everything th
at is happening to us, I have tried to resist my impulses to write to you."[123]
Thanks to divine inspiration, the founder now had the answer to the question of
how to have priests in Opus Dei, but still the question was not completely settl
ed, since the answer had yet to be fitted into the juridical framework of the Ch
urch. Again he studied the Code of Canon Law, seeking a suitable juridical niche
among the rigid, limited possibilities it offered. And again he sought advice f
rom people he had consulted in the past: Archbishop Cicognani, the nuncio; Bisho
p Eijo y Garay, the bishop of Madrid; Monsignor Calleri, of the nunciature; Fath
er Bueno Monreal, the professor from the seminary; his confessor, Father Garcia
Lahiguera; and Bishop Lauzurica, the bishop of Vitoria.
The most helpful of these was the bishop of Madrid, in great part because he ful
ly understood and had no problem with the fact that, the Work being an eminently
secular enterprise, the founder felt "a great repugnance" to its becoming a rel
igious institute. He, too, saw clearly that this would violate its nature.[124]
The founder was anxious to make sure that this difficult juridical operation did
not give rise to the least deviation from the true nature of the Work. Studying
all the juridical possibilities, he concluded that the Priestly Society of the
Holy Cross would have to be a "society of common life without vows." "This," the
Code specified, "is not a religious institution, properly speaking, nor can its
members be designated by the term 'religious' in its proper sense."[125]Such so
cieties could vary greatly in their setups and rules and, by concession of the H
oly See, could incorporate priests as members on a stable basis. Taking this rou
te would go a long way toward solving two problems: that of how to safeguard the
secular nature of the Work, and that of how to obtain for the new priests a tit
le allowing them a ministry unreservedly dedicated to Opus Dei.
Here, then, was a satisfactory resolution of the incardination problem-but one a
chieved at the price of accepting, for want of anything better, a juridical stat
e of affairs that did not fully reflect Opus Dei's secular character.[126] The f
ounder was keenly aware of the inadequacies of that formula and of the fact that
it was a recourse forced on him by the pressure of circumstances and canons. Be
cause where in all this was the pious union of laypersons, men and women, who co
nstituted the vast majority of Opus Dei s members? To emphasize that the priests
of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross would not form a separate group but w
ould have a unity of vocation and life with the rest of the members of Opus Dei,
the founder established that they would have to come from the ranks of the lay
members and that, once ordained, they would provide service exclusively to their
brothers and sisters in the Work, most of whom would remain ordinary Christians
under the name of Opus Dei, "a work proper to, united to, and inseparable from
the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross."[127]
Two members of the Work, Jose Orlandis and Salvador Canals, had been living and
studying in Rome for six months. During that time they had made friends with man

y professors and also, on Father Josemara's advice, with some eminent ecclesiasti
cal figures, so as to get them acquainted with Opus Dei.[128] Now, with the solu
tion to the problem of priests and incardination in place, the founder wrote to
them at the beginning of May 1943, two weeks before Alvaro del Portillo was to l
eave for Italy.

May Jesus bless my sons in Rome and watch over them.

My dear sons: your brother Alvaro will soon be going over there, and he will giv
e you the details on a lot of things. You can't imagine how I envy you. I so muc
h long to make my own pilgrimage to see Peter. Whenever I stop to think of it, I
feel by God's grace an even greater love for the Pope, if that is possible. Be
very Roman. Don't forget that the principal characteristic of our family, our fa
mily trait, is affection for and adhesion-service!-to the Church, the Holy Fathe
r, and the bishops (the ordinary hierarchy) in communion with the Holy See.
And, for this, interior life: prayer, sacrifice, joy, work. And, above all, a fi
lial love for our Mother, holy Mary.[129]

After the necessary documents were prepared, the date for Alvaro's departure was
set in consultation with the bishop of Madrid. Father Josemara and Pedro Casciar
o accompanied him to Barcelona, and from there, on May 25, he continued on to Ro
me. There was a tense moment when the flight approached a combat zone involving
British planes and Italian warships off the Italian coast, but the pilot skillfu
lly circumvented the trouble spot and landed safely in Rome.
On June 4, bearing a letter of introduction from the bishop of Madrid, Alvaro de
l Portillo was received in private audience by Pope Pius XII. The Pope showed gr
eat affection for the Work.[130]
In June, accompanied by Jose Orlandis, Alvaro visited Cardinal Vincenzo La Puma,
the prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious-the congregation upon whic
h societies of common life without vows depended, even though they were not reli
gious institutes. He also saw several other Vatican officials, including its und
ersecretary of state (Cardinal Maglione) and the assessor of the Holy Office (Bi
shop Ottaviani).[131]
The proposed solution passed muster with all the canonists and was approved by t
he Sacred Congregation for Religious. Yet the mere fact that the latter was the
competent authority with respect to this question suggests how provisional a sol
ution it was.
In the meantime, the international situation and communication between countries
were becoming increasingly difficult. It was expected that once the Allies had
conquered North Africa, they would invade Italy, a development that would interr
upt or at least complicate relations with the Holy See. Fearing this, and hoping
for a prompt response from Rome, the founder prepared to present the petition w
ithout waiting for Alvaro to return. On June 13 he submitted a request for dioce
san establishment of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, attaching to the re
quest a general description of the Society.[132]
On June 21 Alvaro returned from Rome and informed Father Josemara of the latest d
evelopments. On June 22 the bishop of Madrid sent to Cardinal La Puma, the prefe
ct of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, a request that the Society be given
the nihil obstat.[133]
They waited impatiently for Rome's response. "All the work of the future priests
depends on that solution," the founder told his sons. "I'm praying, and doing a
ll I can to get others to pray and offer things up, for its success. There is so
much work to be done-every day more. There is marvelous work waiting for our fi
rst priests. How much they are needed!"[134]
Meanwhile, Isidoro was nearing the end, and offering up with great peace and pat
ience and hope all the sufferings of a long death agony. Father Josemara gave him
the Last Sacraments. Isidoro was not to see the granting of the nihil obstat. H
e died on July 15, in the middle of the afternoon-alone, no one with him, despit
e all the care and affection with which the members of the Work had been keeping
him company day and night. The news reached Father Josemara at Jorge Manrique, w
here he was giving his daughters a meditation. Isidoro was buried the next day,

beside the remains of Father Josemara's parents-the three of them together, unite
d by a single cause. The stone bore words from the liturgy: "Vita mutatur, non t
ollitur" ("Life is changed, not taken away").[135]After the service, Father Jose
mara sent a telegram to all the centers of the Work saying, "Isidoro died a holy
death yesterday afternoon. Offer suffrages. Marian."[136]
The same day, July 16, Father Arcadio Larraona, consultor of the Congregation fo
r Religious and an able canonist, sent Cardinal La Puma a very laudatory report
on Opus Dei recommending that it be erected as a society of diocesan right.[137]
Matters followed their usual course, and on October 11 the congregation granted
the nihil obstat.[138]
The bishop of Madrid got the news by telegram on October 18.Bishop Leopoldo, in
Vigo at the time, telegraphed congratulations to Father Josemara. On October 20 F
ather Josemara wrote him: "I received your telegram: bless us once more and espec
ially bless this sinful son of yours who always prays for you...."[139]
The founder relayed to everyone the good news by word of mouth and letter. Thoug
h less than ideal, that nihil obstat at least signified recognition of his apost
olic work, legal consolidation of the Work's structure of governance, and a basi
s for a future inter-diocesan status (that of "pontifical right"). He wrote Dom
Aurelio Escarre, the coadjutor abbot of Monserrat:

The nihil obstat granted by the Sacred Congregation for Religious has just come
from Rome for the entire Work, including the priests. With the Holy See's imposi
tio manuum [laying on of hands] we now share even more fully in the apostolate a
nd life of our holy Mother the Church. Roma locuta est! [Rome has spoken!]
Help me, dear Father Abbot, to give thanks to our Lord and ask your monks to joi
n me in giving thanks.[140]

On December 8, 1943, by the decree Quindecim abhinc annos, Bishop Eijo y Garay c
anonically established the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross. The text abounds
with praises and expressions of affection, as if in compensation for the dry for
malities of the decree with which in 1941 the bishop had approved Opus Dei as a
pious union.[141]One of its sentences reads:

From its very beginning, divine favor has smiled constantly on this pious instit
ution, shown in a special way by the number and quality of the young men (of sol
id virtue and brilliant intellect) who have come to it; by the good results it i
s producing everywhere; and, finally, by the sign of contradiction that has alwa
ys been a clear hallmark of divine works.[142]

The last phrase was a reference to the "opposition by good people."

As noted earlier, two days after the date of the decree, December 10, Father Jos
emara formally notified the bishop of the establishment of the Society's Center f
or Ecclesiastical Studies.[143]That same day he proposed candidates for appointm
ent to positions in the Priestly Society.[144] Clearly he was wasting no time; t
he note is written on stationery with the printed letterhead "The Priestly Socie
ty of the Holy Cross," is signed "President," and is stamped with the seal "Soci
etas + Sacerdotalis + Sanctae + Crucis + Praeses." On December 12 the bishop off
icially informed him that the proposed appointments had been approved.[145]
That same week, Father Josemara went to see the bishop. As they were sitting in t
he library, talking late into the night, Bishop Leopoldo suddenly suggested that
he renew his incorporation into Opus Dei. And so, the founder tells us, "I knel
t down and recited, from memory and stumbling over them because I was so overcom
e with emotion, the words we have in our ceremonial for the Fidelity, which says
nothing about vows or promises or anything similar." And he adds, "It seemed na
tural to him, as it did to me. However, it was the first time that that venerabl
e prelate, already up in years, had received the incorporation of someone who ha
d set up a group of faithful to foster sanctity and apostolate, without the medi
ation of any type of vows."[146]

6. The first priests

Happy as he was about the nihil obstat,Father Josemara nevertheless did not blow
it up out of all proportion. His instincts as a founder, together with fifteen y
ears of experience in dealing with foundational matters, told him that although
this was an important step, it was hardly the last one that would have to be tak
en. Indeed, Alvaro del Portillo had just left for Rome when, on May 31, 1943, Fa
ther Josemara finished writing a letter to his children in the Work that shows hi
m to have been well aware that the configuration they now had in place was only
a temporary solution. "The ordinaries of the dioceses in which we work all under
stand and love us," he says, "and-regardless of what juridical form the Work ass
umes over time-the Church, our Mother, will respect her children's way of being,
because she knows we want only to serve her and please God."[147]
Still more surprising is another parenthetical remark, in a letter dated Februar
y 14, 1944. Just two months after the canonical establishment of the Priestly So
ciety of the Holy Cross, the founder refers to that establishment as a solution
"necessarily temporary, but valid for the time being," one that "will be replace
d as soon as there is a better juridical iter [path] available."[148]
What was it about this arrangement that made the founder see it as unacceptable
in the long run? And what did he hope to change in the short run, as soon as the
opportunity arose?
Clearly it was the core reality of Opus Dei that he was determined to protect.[1
49] The idea of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross as a foundational solutio
n had come to Father Josemara from out of the blue, without any effort on his par
t, obviously as a gift from God. But it was hard work to fit the whole of Opus D
ei into the framework of the Code of Canon Law as a society of common life witho
ut vows. Throughout the course of its development Father Josemara always distingu
ished what was of supernatural origin, and therefore could not be changed or com
promised, from what was transitory. This is clear not only from later events but
also from the fact that in 1940, a year before even the pious-union approval ca
me through, he was sure that his efforts to find an appropriate canonical settin
g for the apostolate of the Work would be "an arduous, laborious, and exacting t
ask."[150]
He approached that task with boundless trust in God and enormous depth of vision
that kept on growing. He had dreamed of the Work from the start as a splendid a
postolic undertaking, a general mobilization of Christians, each serving the apo
stolic mission of the Church from his own situation in life, that would put Chri
st at the summit of all human activity. This was the message, the inspiration, h
e had received. But as soon as he started looking for a permanent juridical plac
e for it in civil or ecclesiastical society (especially the latter), that priest
who was dreaming of vast possibilities opened up to him by our Lord himself had
to measure and negotiate every step on the way toward realizing them.
Not everything, of course, depended on him. But he threw all the resources he ha
d into what did. One example was the excellent formation given to the three memb
ers of the Work who were going to be ordained. He spared nothing in his efforts
to make them models of priestly virtue and theological learning. But he ran into
a dead end when it came to the question of their incardination. When he began h
is Mass on February 14, 1943, he had no idea when or how he would find a solutio
n to that problem; the thought of founding the Priestly Society of the Holy Cros
s came to him as a total surprise. This unexpected grace arrived when he was bot
h doing everything humanly possible and trusting calmly, with faith, that sooner
or later the solution would come.
Father Josemara's motto "To hide and disappear" referred to his preferred mode of
serving the Church, but he also sometimes humorously referred to it as "passing
off a hare as a cat"-the reverse of "passing off a cat as a hare," or making so
mething appear better than it is.[151] Something of this nature happened with Op
us Dei after the canonical establishment of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cro
ss. Opus Dei ceased to be a pious union and became "a simple lay association of
a pious character," and yet the truth was that its faithful all lived the same c
ontemplative vocation and observed the same norms of piety and the same customs

as their brothers in the Priestly Society. The founder summed up this state of a
ffairs in a letter to the new bishop of Barcelona, Gregorio Modrego:

Although these are not matters to handle in a letter, and I hope (either here or
in Barcelona) to have the pleasure of seeing Your Excellency soon and speaking
with you at length, I do want you to know that the latest decree, before being m
ade public, was in its entirety viewed favorably in Rome. Opus Dei has ceased to
be a pious union and has become a pious work proper to the Priestly Society, wi
th two branches, the men's and the women's, perfectly separated and defined, and
with statutes distinct from those of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.
All of this is spelled out in the constitutions of the Priestly Society, which h
ave received the appositio manuum [approval] of the Holy See.
I also want to inform you that the Sacred Congregation for Religious was petitio
ned only [for] what has been granted us: to be able to constitute ourselves as a
society of common life without vows and, naturally, for the time being, of dioc
esan right. As for the doors that were opened to us, about which I will tell you
more when I see you, I must say, Bishop, that they treated us very generously i
n Rome. Digitus Dei est hic [The finger of God is here].
From what I have said, it can clearly be seen that the Priestly Society must be
distinguished from Opus Dei. The Priestly Society, as long as it is of diocesan
right, will be subject to the jurisdiction of the bishops in whose dioceses it h
as centers. Opus Dei, on ceasing to be a pious union, has become a simple lay as
sociation of a pious character, whose members are subject to the bishop in matte
rs of faith and morals, the same as the rest of the Catholic faithful....
I think that for now, Reverend Bishop, that's enough for me to say about the can
onical situation of the Work. When I get the chance to see you in person, I'll b
e very happy to give you more of the details.[152]

Though that canonical solution was clearly temporary, the Priestly Society of th
e Holy Cross would continue, through later changes, until Opus Dei as a whole ac
quired its definitive structure as a personal prelature.[153]
The three young men preparing for the priesthood continued their rigorous philos
ophical and theological studies. When the time came for their first round of exa
minations, each petitioned the bishop of Madrid-Alcala in these words: "Believin
g he has a vocation to the priesthood and desiring to continue his ecclesiastica
l studies, [N.] petitions Your Excellency to grant him the appropriate permissio
ns allowing him to be examined in the humanities and philosophy, and then admitt
ed to the study of sacred theology.[154]
The philosophy examinations were given, as mentioned earlier, by a panel from Ma
drid's diocesan seminary. Some months later, the theology examinations took plac
e in the Center for Ecclesiastical Studies that was set up when the Priestly Soc
iety of the Holy Cross was canonically established. When the three candidates pa
ssed those examinations and drew near the end of their studies, Father Josemara w
as deeply moved.
Bishop Leopoldo suggested to Alvaro del Portillo that the three be ordained on J
une 25 and asked him to pass this date on to Father Josemara. On April 25 the lat
ter wrote the bishop that he had consulted the ordinands' professors, and they s
aw no difficulty with holding the final theology examinations in early June, and
that he would therefore be happy to have the ordinations set for the suggested
date. "I can't hide the fact," he added, "that I am deeply moved by the approach
ing priesthood of these sons of my soul, with unbounded gratitude to God and to
my father Bishop Leopoldo. May He fill you with his grace!"[155]
A dispensation was needed from the Holy See to abbreviate the usual time interva
ls between conferrals of the various minor and major orders. On Friday, May 12,
Bishop Leopoldo called Father Josemara. "The ordinands should start their week-lo
ng retreat tomorrow," he told him, "because on Saturday the 20th I'll give them
the tonsure and, every few days after that, the other orders leading to the prie
sthood."[156]So on May 13, Father Josemara went to El Escorial to preach the retr
eat required before Holy Orders.[157]
The founder supplied the instruction in liturgy and pastoral theology himself, g

iving talks on these topics over a period of several months. He was very demandi
ng on the subject of liturgical decorum, insisting that his sons faithfully obse
rve even the smallest details of the rubrics, especially those for Holy Mass, wh
ich so much help bring people nearer to the Lord.[158]In pastoral theology he sh
ared his broad, varied ministerial experience in seminaries and universities, in
rural and city parishes, in hospitals and charitable institutions, and with rel
igious, priests, and lay people of all ages and professions.[159]
As Bishop Leopoldo had promised, the ceremony of tonsure took place on May 20 an
d the minor orders were conferred over the next few days; the subdiaconate by th
e bishop of Pamplona on Sunday, May 28, in the oratory of Diego de Leon, and the
diaconate on June 3 by auxiliary Bishop Casimiro Morcillo of Madrid.[160]
The final examinations were on June 12. Three days later Father Josemara certifie
d to the bishop that the candidates 'had completed all of the studies required f
or priestly ordination."[161]The results of the theology exams were an almost un
broken string of "Meritissimi" (the highest possible evaluation), but all three
received a mere "Bene-meritus" (Good) in liturgical chant.[162]
In the days before ordination, Father Josemara received answers to requests he ha
d sent to almost all the bishops of Spain seeking ministerial faculties for the
future priests in their dioceses. All said yes, which made him feel very support
ed by the hierarchy and very grateful for that support.[163]
On the afternoon of Saturday, June 24, he visited La Almudena cemetery. It was a
pilgrimage, to the graves of his parents and Isidoro, to offer thanks and to pr
ay that the new priests would be holy ones. He felt strongly that it was especia
lly to his parents and to Isidoro that he owed these first ordinations, which, a
s this note found in the opening pages of his journal makes clear, he had forese
en at Opus Dei s founding:

The role of the priest in the Work! How often we have spoken about him! He is th
e nerve of the Work of God. Holy! He should go overboard in virtue, if it is pos
sible to go overboard in this. For the lay members will see themselves in him as
in a mirror; and only if the priest aims very high will the others reach the ri
ght level.[164]

Kneeling in prayer now at the three graves, he wept with gratitude for the sacri
fices that had been made by his parents and Isidoro.[165]
Sunday, June 25,1944, was a day of great rejoicing. The three young men said goo
d-bye to the founder at Diego de Leon and went by car to the bishop's residence,
where they were to be ordained in his chapel. The crowd was larger than the cha
pel could hold and spilled over into adjoining rooms. At ten o'clock, Bishop Leo
poldo entered and began the ceremony. After Mass, as the new priests were still
removing their vestments, people pressed forward to kiss their newly consecrated
hands. Among those present were people from the nunciature and from the bishop'
s staff, priests from Madrid and surrounding areas, relatives and friends and ac
quaintances of the new priests, members of the Work, and a large number of repre
sentatives of religious orders and congregations: Hieronymites, Dominicans, Piar
ists, Augustinians, Marianists, Vincentians....[166]In the meantime, while the c
eremony was taking place, the founder was celebrating Mass in the oratory of the
Diego de Leon center, assisted by Jose Maria Albareda.
Bishop Leopoldo dined at the Diego de Leon center with the new priests and a few
invited guests. Later that afternoon, Father Josemara introduced him to the memb
ers of the Work who had come from other cities for the ordination. Soon the grou
nd-floor living room was full of young people. The family gathering lasted for q
uite a while as Father Josemara laughingly described the merits of each of the ne
w priests. The bishop, too, was in very good humor, although it had been a long
day for him. The phone rang repeatedly. Many visitors dropped by to congratulate
the newly ordained and the founder.
At a point when Father Josemara was briefly out of the room, the bishop poured ou
t his heart to that large group of young people. First he spoke of the enormous
joy it had given him to ordain that first group of priests. Then he called to mi
nd the persecutions suffered by the Work in recent years and congratulated all t

hose young people for having harbored no grudges. "How many tears were shed by s
o many of your mothers because of those calumnies, when you were branded as here
tics or Masons!" he exclaimed.[167]
Then he spoke of the founder and his God-given mission to direct the Work and fo
rm them. He has a special grace for it, the bishop pointed out. "Take good care
of your Father, who needs it and whom we need very much," he said, noting that t
he heavy burdens he carried had had an effect on his health. And in a lighter to
ne he added: "It shows how exhausted he is, that he didn't dare go to the ordina
tion this morning for fear we would see him crying like an old grandfather. And
being afraid even to stay at home by himself, he asked Jose Maria Albareda to st
ay with him." And then, in a more serious tone of voice, the bishop said, "Of co
urse, it could also be that he was making a sacrifice of something he very much
wanted; that it was a case of, 'Since I would enjoy it so much, I'll stay here i
nstead.?[168]
He ended with affectionate words and gave them his blessing. But before getting
into his car to leave, he asked to have a photo taken of him embracing Father Jo
semara.
A little later everyone went to the oratory and Father Josemara gave a meditation
. Commenting on some phrases from Saint Paul that he had jotted down ten years e
arlier, he insisted on prayer and sacrifice, as the foundation for all interior
life, and on humility, both individual and collective. "When the youngest of you
who are here," he said, "are going gray-or sporting splendid bald spots, like s
ome that you see-and I, by the law of nature, have long since departed, others a
re going to ask you: 'So what did the Father say on the day of the ordination of
the first three?' And you will answer them: 'He said that you are to be men of
prayer, men of prayer, and men of prayer.'[169]
He spoke about perseverance and the cross. He told them some members of the Work
would soon be leaving for distant lands. He ended by reporting that he had just
received a cable from the Vatican. The Holy Father, it said, had granted the th
ree new priests the right to give a papal blessing, accompanied by a plenary ind
ulgence, to all those attending their first Mass.
A solemn Benediction and the singing of the Te Deum followed. Phone calls, visit
s, and family festivities continued. When Father Josemara retired, late that nigh
t, he was worn out by the day's emotions.

[1] AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 35. Santiago's recollection about Carmen pertains to h
is own university years. As a young lady, Carmen had very close female friends a
nd several suitors, among them Luis Otal, Baron of Valdeolivos. She gave up the
possibility of having her own home in order to help her brother Josemara in his a
postolate.
[2] Ibid., p. 5. The Spanish custom of children receiving gifts on the feast of
the Epiphany was a long-standing tradition in the Escriva family. Recall what Fa
ther Josemara wrote to Enrique Alonso-Martinez Saumell in 1938 about having "that
trustful hope that filled my whole soul when as a little boy I would write to t
he Three Kings" (AGP, RHF, EF-380204-1).
[3] AGP, RHF, T-07921, p. 7.
[4] Ibid., p. 9.
[5] Ibid., p. 4
[6] See AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 12 (Maria Dolores Fisac).
[7] AGP, RHF, AVF-0036.
[8] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 512 and 514; AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 28 (Narcisa
Gonzalez Guzman); and Francisco Ponz Piedrafita, Mi encuentro con el Fundador d
el Opus Dei 1939 (Pamplona, 2000), pp. 94-96.
[9] AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 125 (Jose Luis Muzquiz). See also AGP, RHF, T-07921,
p. 9 (Santiago Escriva de Balaguer), and T-05074, p. 56 (Encarnaci6n Ortega).
[10] See AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 42.
[11] See AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 42; and also Juan Udaondo Barinagarrementerfa, Su
m. 5030.

[12] He also included among his benefactors the people who slandered him, "becau
se they help purify us." For that reason, he said, "we have to love them and pra
y for them." See Juan Hervas Benet, in Beato Josemara Escrivd de Balaguer: un hom
bre de Dios. Testimonios sobre el Fundador del Opus Dei (Madrid, 1994), p. 203.
(Hereafter this book will be cited as Testimonios.)
[13] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 505. The founder was well aware of how much h
e was asking of his family. Though it had, in effect, become the vocation of bot
h Doa Dolores and Carmen to collaborate in the development of Opus Dei, this was
something he never took for granted. "Dearest Mother and dearest Carmen and Sant
iago," he wrote to them from Leon, "may Jesus watch over you! I remember you fre
quently, and ask our Lord to make you happy to keep helping us in our work. I ho
pe that in a few months the efforts that God and I are asking of you will be les
s intense. In the meantime, make them for him" (AGP, RHF, EF-400731-1).
[14] See AGP, RHF, EF-380509-1.
[15] See AGP, RHF, D-05851, D-15013, and D-15014.
[16] See AGP, RHF, T-04989, pp. 57-58.
[17] See AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 16.
[18] See RHF, D-05851.
[19] A note filled out in connection with the exhumation from La Almudena reads:
"Jose Escriva Corzan - Tomb, excellent; level 2, section A, plot 5, block 57, l
etter A, body no. 2; buried on April 30, 1942. Transferred on 31 Mar 1969 to the
crypt of Holy Cross Residence" (AGP, RHF, D-05851).
The original burial documents were deposited in the tombs in the crypt. Photocop
ies are in AGP, RHF, D-07778.
[20] Javier Echevarria, PR, p. 1578.
[21] See Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5031.
[22] AGP, RHF, EF-411016-1.
[23] While this particular transaction seems not to have taken place, a later wh
olesale purchase of figs provided the pantries of several centers with a great s
upply. See AGP, RHF, T-00159.
[24] Letter 6 May 1945, no. 25.
[25] See AGP, RHF, T-04151, pp. 74-75 (Francisco Ponz Piedrafita). The first Mas
s in the oratory at the Nunez de Balboa center was said on January 27, 1942, by
the priest who was then the founder's confessor: Father Jose Maria Garcia Lahigu
era.
[26] Apuntes, no. 1854 (9 Nov 1941).
[27] AGP, REF, T-04989, p. 11 (Narcisa Gonzalez Guzman).
[28] "I worked at her side," says Nisa, "but she was so habitually tactful that
she never made to me the least suggestion. Simply by watching her, I learned and
improved in many things" (AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 28).
[29] See ibid.
[30] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 31.
[31] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 82.
[32] AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 27.
[33] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 3.
[34] AGP, RHF, T-05074, pp. 61-62.
[35] AGP, RHF, T-05074, pp. 61 and 62.
[36] Ibid., p. 12.
[37] Letter 29 Jul 1965, no. 20.
[38] See AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 15.
[39] AGP, RHF, T-02769, p. 6 (Amadeo de Fuenmayor). See also Alvaro del Portillo
, Sum. 608, and AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 102 (Jose Luis Muzquiz). (Father Muzquiz
also mentions complaints made by the other tenants, especially about the noise
the students made while going down the stairs to the dining room.)
[40] AGP, RHF, T-02769, p. 6.
[41] See AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 91 (Encarnacion Ortega).
[42] See AGP, RHF, D-15417, and RHF, T-04989, p. 30.
[43] See AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 15.
[44] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 93.
[45] See AGP, RHF, T-05074, pp. 93-94, and T-04989, p. 53.

[46] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 94, and RHF, D-15147.

[47] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 95.
[48] Ibid.
[49] See AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 48. When the Nunez de Balboa apartment was moved
out of, another center was already being set up at 24 Espanoleto Street. The pet
ition for permission to have a semipublic oratory with a tabernacle is dated Jan
uary 26,1943; the blessing of the oratory took place on March 15. (See AGP, RHF,
D-15148.)
[50] See AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 48.
[51] See Jose Luis Muzquiz, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 109; Encarnacion Ortega, RHF, T-0
5074, p. 96.
[52] See Dora del Hoyo Alonso, Sum. 7038. See also AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 96.
[53] See AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 97.
[54] Ibid., p. 98.
[55] Ibid.
[56] Ibid., p. 99. Father Josemara always remembered the favor the Daughters of M
ary Immaculate for Domestic Service had done him by sending a number of employee
s to the residence. When the foundress of the congregation, Vicenta Maria Lopez
y Vicuna, was beatified in Rome, he participated in the liturgical ceremony and
went that afternoon to the congregation's central house bearing a box of candy a
nd congratulations (see Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 587).
[57] See AGP, RHF, T-07918, p. 1 (Rosalia Lopez Martinez), and Dora del Hoyo, PM
, fol. 1119v. With regard to categories of members of Opus Dei, especially numer
ary assistants, see Pedro Rodriguez, Fernando Ocariz, and Jose Luis Illanes, Opu
s Dei in the Church (Princeton, 1994), pp. 107-20.
[58] AGP, RHF, EF-461206-1 (a letter to Jose Maria Hernandez de Garnica, written
from Rome). In another letter he said, "The numerary assistants-I really mean t
his-seem to me the greatest miracle that our Lord has done for his Work" (AGP, R
HF, EF-470214-1).
[59] "I remember," says Encarnacion Ortega (AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 122), "that da
y, July 16, 1949, when the first three numerary assistants-Dora del Hoyo, Concha
Andres, and Antonia Penuela-made the Fidelity, the act of permanent incorporati
on into the Work. Our Father spent some time with us in a get-together. It was e
normously moving. At one point, as though speaking to himself, he said in a conf
idential tone of voice, 'I see you, and I don't believe it. For a moment it's ta
king me back to that February 14 of 1930, when I began the Holy Mass not knowing
anything, and ended it knowing everything.? ?You could have heard a pin drop. W
e hung on every word our Father said."
[60] Apuntes, no. 1610.
[61] AGP, RHF, EF-400704-1.
[62] Letter 14 Feb 1944, no. 9. In the same letter, he wrote of those priests: "
However, since they were unable to understand what our Lord was asking of us, es
pecially in the specific apostolate of the women's branch-two or three of them e
ven becoming like my crown of thorns, because they were leading souls astray and
sowing confusion-I soon had to do without their help. Afterwards I occasionally
asked other priests, who had no ties of any kind to the Work, to act as confess
ors for those in the Work and celebrate liturgical functions, until we found an
adequate way of meeting these important needs." The "early document" referred to
isInstruction 9 Jan 1935, and the relevant section is no. 59.
[63] Apuntes, no. 138 (26 Dec 1930). He also indirectly said this a month before
, in Apuntes, no. 101, and two years later, in Apuntes, no. 867.
[64] "I don't think I'll be done here until July 5," he says. "A marvelous harve
st. It's edifying to see the effort these good Navarran priests are making on th
e retreat. If the Lord had not so clearly marked out another path for me, I woul
d have liked to spend my life working and suffering and praying for my brothers
the diocesan priests. They are my other dominant passion" (AGP, RHF, EF-410625-1
).
[65] See AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 120.
[66] Ibid., p. 118.
[67] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 932; AGP, RHF, T-00159/1, p. 104 (Francisco

Botella); and Ponz, pp. 47-50.

[68] In December 1945, for instance, he wrote: "My dear Bishop: On several occas
ions I have manifested to Your Excellency my desire to give up the position of r
ector of the Royal Foundation of Santa Isabel. Today, with respectful persistenc
e, I reiterate to my Reverend Bishop my hope of relinquishing this position as o
f next January, and beg him most earnestly to accept this resignation. The posit
ion would be very acceptable to another priest, since, although its financial be
nefits are modest, it has traditionally been a prestigious one" (AGP, RHF, EF-45
1204-1).
Two weeks later, Bishop Leopoldo having finally given his permission (though gru
dgingly), Father Josemara submitted his resignation in a letter to the president
of the Administrative Committee for the Goods of the National Patrimony:

I have the honor of letting you know that, after overcoming the affectionate opp
osition of His Excellency the Bishop of Madrid-Alcala, and with his approval, fo
r reasons of health and because of my many priestly activities, I am presenting
my resignation of the position of Rector of the Royal Foundation of Santa Isabel
, effective the first day of January of the coming year, 1946.

May God preserve you for many years.

Madrid, December 19, 1945
The Rector

The deputy director of the Administrative Committee sent him an official letter,
dated April 17, 1946, communicating his acceptance of the resignation and sayin
g, "In the name of said foundation, and in my own name, I wish to express our de
ep regret that we will no longer have the benefit of the invaluable collaboratio
n and unsurpassable services that you have provided up to the present." (See the
Patrimonio Nacional archive, "Patronatos Reales," "Patrimonio de Santa Isabel,"
file 182/21.)
[69] Letter 14 Feb 1944, no. 9.
[70] See AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 47 (Francisco Ponz).
[71] In the early forties, Father Josemara, to facilitate confession for his chil
dren, spoke to a number of diocesan and religious-order priests about the spirit
and customs of the Work. Among these priests were Father Jose Lopez Ortiz, in M
adrid; Fathers Ramon Roquer Vilarrasa and Sebastian Cirac, in Barcelona; Fathers
Eladio Espana Navarro and Antonio Rodilla, in Valencia; Father Eliodoro Gil, in
Leon; and Father Daniel Llorente, in Valladolid. See AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 3 (M
aria Dolores Fisac); AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 25 (Jose Luis Muzquiz); AGP, RHF, E
F-411220-1 (a letter from Father Josemara to Father Jose Maria Bulart Ferrandiz);
and Ponz, pp. 58-59.
[72] Letter 14 Feb 1944, no. 9. The priests in Opus Dei were not to be seen simp
ly as assisting the activities of a group of laypeople. Rather, priests and lait
y were to be regarded as equally essential, as they are in the Church at large.
The Work, in fact, was from the beginning seen as a portion of the People of God
, "a little part of the Church."
[73] Apuntes, no. 1616.
[74] Letter 8 Aug 1956, no. 5.
[75] Father Muzquiz recalls, "I remember the affection the Father put into it wh
en, in his room in the student residence at 6 Jenner, he asked me if I wanted to
be a priest. 'My son,' the Father said to me, 'would you like to be a priest?'
'Yes, Father, I'd love to,' I answered him. And he said, 'All right, see Alvaro
about the studies."' (See AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 32.)
In 1945 the founder wrote to his children: "Also pray that no one in the Work wi
ll ever in any way feel pressured to take up the priesthood; and, at the same ti
me, that there will always be those who hear the whistle of the Good Shepherd ca
lling them-a divine compulsion, gentle and affectionate" (Letter 2 Feb 1945, no.
22).
[76] Apuntes, no. 1854 (9 Nov 1941).
[77] Apuntes, no. 1854 (9 Nov 1941).

[78] Father Bueno had met Father Josemara in 1927 or 1928, at the School of Law.
And, as mentioned earlier, he had helped prepare the documents for the approval
of the Work as a pious union. Now he undertook the directing of the studies of t
he three first members of Opus Dei preparing for ordination. At the end of 1945
he was made the bishop of Jaca; later he became the bishop of Vitoria; and in 19
54 he was named coadjutor archbishop of Seville. Four years later he was named a
rchbishop of that city, and a cardinal. He died in 1987.
[79] "Among them," Bishop del Portillo testifies, "there were two Dominican prof
essors from the Angelicum, in Rome, who weren't able to teach there because of t
he world war. These were Father Muiz, who taught us dogmatic theology, and Fathe
r Severino Alvarez, a professor of canon law. Father Celada, O.P, who had worked
for a long time at the Biblical Institute in Jerusalem, was our Scripture profe
ssor. Among the professors, several would be elevated to the episcopate, and som
e-such as Father Jose Maria Bueno, who taught us moral theology-became cardinals
. Father Jose Lopez Ortiz, the future military ordinary, taught us Church histor
y. Father Maximo Yurramendi (the future bishop of Ciudad Rodrigo), Father Joaqui
n Blazquez (the director of the Institute of Theology in Spain), and Father Perm
uy, C.M.F., were other very competent teachers he chose for us. We did our studi
es with great intensity" (Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 958). See also Jose Maria
Bueno Monreal, in Testimonios, p. 17; Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguera (who was then
spiritual director at the Madrid seminary), in Testimonios, p. 162; and AGP, RHF
, EF-420517-1 and EF-440301-1 (letters from the founder).
[80] Jose Maria Bueno Monreal, in Testimonios, p. 17.
[81] "Father Josemara," relates Bishop Lpez Ortiz, "spoke to me with great hope an
d expectation about those three sons of his who were going to be ordained.... He
told me that all the members of Opus Dei, in order to carry out an effective ap
ostolate through their work, would need to have a preparation similar to that of
the priests, even though the vast majority would never be ordained, since that'
s not their vocation. With all of them having that formation, he, or whoever suc
ceeded him, would be able to call to the priesthood those they saw fit to, while
always respecting the freedom of each one with respect to answering that call.
The fact that those three studied theology was not, therefore, something extraor
dinary, since with time that would become a standard practice in the Work, all t
he members being expected to acquire a solid formation in religious doctrine. Th
is would make it possible for those three to be followed by others, and then sti
ll others, with no break in continuity-which is in fact what has happened. He pr
esented all this to me as something belonging to the apostolic character of the
Work, and thus clearly coming from God" (Testimonios, pp. 232-33).
[82] AGP, RHF, EF-420517-1.
[83] See AGP, RHF, EF-420607-1.
[84] Letter 8 Aug 1956, no. 13. See also AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 24 (Jose Luis M
uzquiz).
[85] AGP, RHF, AVF-0079.
[86] In one instance he says: "Never consider your formation finished. For all y
our life, with a marvelous humility, you will need to improve your human, spirit
ual, doctrinal, apostolic, and professional preparation" (Letter 6 May 1945, no.
19).
[87] This is one reason why "a 'boarding school' arrangement does not suit the m
embers of the Work," wrote the founder. "From the very start of their vocation t
hey have to strive to live all the priestly virtues right in the midst of the wo
rld" (Letter 6 May 1945, no. 20).
[88] A center of studies had been in operation for some time at Diego de Leon wh
en the bishop of Madrid-Alcala was formally notified of its establishment as the
Center for Ecclesiastical Studies of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross on
December 10, 1943, two days after the Priestly Society was established (see AGP,
RHF, D-15140).
[89] For more on the institutional development of Opus Dei, see Amadeo de Fuenma
yor Valentin Gomez Iglesias, and Jose Luis Illanes, The Canonical Path of Opus D
ei, trans. William H. Stetson (Princeton, 1994).
[90] He himself said this: "Our iter iuridicum [canonical path] seems tortuous t

o human eyes. But, over time, it will be seen that in relation to God it is a co
nstant movement forward" (Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 163).
[91] Apuntes, no. 60.
[92] Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, p. 109. See also the 1917 Code of C
anon Law, canons no. 974 and no. 979.
[93] See Letter 6 May 1945, no. 11.
[94] Going down the list of titles of ordination mentioned in the Code of Canon
Law, the founder, in Letter 14 Feb 1944, no. 16, gives the reasons why he could
not use them. "None of the titles provided for secular priests," he says, "was s
uited to our situation. The title 'beneficii' wouldn't do since it required that
before receiving Holy Orders one be assigned an office with a benefice attached
to it. And neither would the other ones allowed for by canon law. The titles 's
ervitii dioecesis' and 'missionis' were not appropriate since they required of t
he ordinand a promise to dedicate himself to ministry in a particular diocese or
mission territory. Neither was the title 'patrimonii or 'pensionis,' which requ
ired that one personally have the capital with which to support oneself for life
. Nor were the titles 'paupertatis' and 'mensae communis' acceptable, since they
were reserved for religious."
[95] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 346
[96] In June 1941, for example, he consulted Bishop Marcelino Olaechea in Pamplo
na, and came away mistakenly believing he had found a solution. "I spoke at leng
th with this bishop about the problem of our priests," he writes from there to h
is sons in Madrid, "and a practical, immediate, and canonical solution became cl
ear, thanks be to God" (AGP, RHF, EF-410603-2).
[97] "Several solutions were suggested to me, all of them bad. The best suggesti
on was given me by Bishop Leopoldo: to create chaplaincies, such that the priest
s would in some way remain assigned to Opus Dei. But this would have taken a hug
e amount of money, which we could not come up with, so it solved nothing" (AGP,
RHF, D-13452, no. 159). See also the 1917 Code of Canon Law, canon no. 128.
Another canonist whom he consulted without success was Father Bueno Monreal (see
Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 540).
[98] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 159.
[99] The page has been preserved, see AGP, RHF, D-15077.
[100] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 45. See also AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 7 (Narcisa Gonzal
ez Guzman). Years later the founder mentioned what had happened that day. "On Fe
bruary 14, 1943," he said, "I was celebrating Mass at my daughters' house (on Jo
rge Manrique Street), and after Communion the solution I was looking for came to
me: the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross! Jesus wanted to crown the edifice w
ith his most holy Cross. I remember well that I made a sketch of the seal-even t
his came!-and gave it to Alvaro" (Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 159).
[101] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 540 and 541.
[102] For an instance of his use of the word "came" in this context, see Letter
29 Dec 1947/ 14 Feb 1966, no. 159.
[103] On August 7, 1931, which in that year was the feast of the Transfiguration
, our Lord let him see that "he would draw all things to himself" when "the Cros
s, with the teachings of Christ," was put "at the summit of all human activities
" (Apuntes, no. 217).
[104] Letter 24 Oct 1942, no. 66. "Then the supernatural meaning of our dedicati
on is strengthened," he continued, "because we feel-in our flesh and in our soul
-that oblation that we have made of our lives to the Lord, which rises up to him
in odorem suavitatis [with a sweet fragrance]."
[105] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 27 (Encarnaci6n Ortega).
[106] Father Josemara expressed the Christian "philosophy of pain" in terms of co
mmon sense principles. "Physical pain, when it can be gotten rid of, is to be go
tten rid of," he said. "Life contains enough suffering already! And when it can'
t be gotten rid of, it is to be offered up. The sick are to be given everything
they need; we might have to go without even some basics, but the sick, no." (See
Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 968.)
[107] AGP, RHF, EF-440216-1 (a letter to Father Maximiliano Canal, O.P ).
[108] AGP RHF, EF-400806-1.

[109] AGP, RHF, EF-400808-1.

[110] AGP, IZL, D-1213,466.
[111] AGP, RHF, EF-400823-1.
[112] AGP, RHF, EF-400827-1.
[113] In this letter he proposed to visit the bishop "to show Your Excellency th
ose papers I mentioned, and to hear the advice that my Father-Bishop, in his cha
rity, wants to give me." At the end, after offering to go "whenever it's conveni
ent for you," he said: "Don't fail to pray for us, and especially for me, who am
always with the Cross on my back" (AGP, RHF, EF-400910-1).
[114] On the final illness and the death of Isidoro Zorzano, see Jose Miguel Per
o-Sanz, Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma, Ingeniero Industrial: Buenos Aires, 1902-Madrid
, 1943 (Madrid, 1996), pp. 297ff.
[115] See, for example, AGP, RHF, EF-420712-1 and EF-421104-2.
[116] AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 39. (The "I rejoiced" quote is from Ps 122:1.)
[117] With malignant lymphogranuloma, or Hodgkin's disease, the patient suffered
chronic enlargement of the lymph nodes, bringing with it high fever, profound f
atigue, loss of appetite, gradual malnutrition, severe anemia, and growing diffi
culty in breathing. The enlarged lymph nodes had compressed Isidoro's bronchi, c
ollapsing them and reducing the lung capacity by three quarters: hence the sever
e shortness of breath and exhaustion (see Posiciones y articulos para la causa d
e beati icacion y canonizacion del Siervo de Dios Isidoro Zorzano, del Opus Dei,
Madrid 1948).
[118] Javier de Ayala, Sum. 7580. See also Ponz, p. 139, and Eduardo Alastrue, S
um. 5568.
[119] Luis Palos Yranzo, Sum. 5568.
[120] See AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 75.
[121] See AGP, RHF, T-00159, IX, p. 25 (Francisco Botella).
[122] See AGP, RHF, EF-390224, EF-390323-5, and EF-390518-5.
[123] AGP RHF, EF-410625-1.
[124] AGP, RHF, EF-430228-1.
[125] 1917 Code of Canon Law, canon no. 673. See Fuenmayor, Gmez Iglesias, and Il
lanes, p. 112.
[126] The societies "of common life without vows" discussed in canon no. 673 aro
se in the seventeenth century with specific apostolic aims: care for the poor or
the sick, priestly ministry, etc. Although members did not make public vows, th
eir common life was similar to that of religious. Concerned lest this new "socie
ty of common life without vows" be mistaken for a religious order or congregatio
n, the founder added declarations to its normative texts (Lineamenta generalia,
no. 1, and Constitutions, no. 1), making its secularity clearer, explaining that
, as he put it in Letter 14 Feb 1944, no. 12, "'community of life' refers solely
to the spirit and to the legal aspect, never to a literal living under the same
roof."
[127] Although the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross consists of only "a small
core" of priests and of laymen preparing to be priests, this juridical language
("the other lay members, who form a work proper to, united to, and inseparable f
rom the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross") seems to imply that Opus Dei has be
en absorbed by the Priestly Society. So does the decree of the bishop of MadridAlcala approving the Constitutions of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross. Th
e decree, issued on January 25, 1944, includes this statement: "By said Constitu
tions are properly established the nature, ends, activities, ascetical practices
, and government of the Society, as well as those of its specific instrument of
apostolate, known as Opus Dei" (see Fuenmayor, Gmez Iglesias, and Illanes, p. 498
). Yet the pastoral reality of Opus Dei was not only that its lay members remain
ed ordinary faithful but that it was they who most clearly and fully embodied th
e real essence of the Work.
[128] See Jose Orlandis, Memorias de Roma in guerra (1942-1945), Madrid 1992, pp
. 41 ff.
[129] AGP, RHF, EF-430510-1.
[130] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 552, and also Orlandis, pp. 65-69.
Two weeks earlier, on May 21, Francisco Botella, who was in Italy for a few mont

hs' stay, had also been granted a private audience with Pope Pius XII. The Pope
had asked him about the founder and the Work, and about the opposition they were
suffering. (See AGP, RHF, T-00159, X, p. 16.)
Jose Orlandis relates quite an amusing story about the morning of June 4, the da
y of Alvaro's audience with the Pope. When he and Alvaro left the house, they co
uld not get a taxi, so they took a streetcar instead. Alvaro was wearing the ver
y impressive-looking uniform of the Spanish civil engineer (a navy blue outfit w
ith gold buttons and a purple sash), and while they were standing on the platfor
m they heard someone say, "It seems impossible-so young, and already an admiral!
" The uniform did actually look like a military one, because of the military ori
gin of what was now the corps of civil engineers. So when Alvaro entered the Vat
ican through the Bronze Doors, the officer in charge of the Swiss Guards had the
m line up for review. And Alvaro, not missing a beat, returned the officer's sal
ute, reviewed the guard, and then strode up the stairs to the audience hall. (Se
e Orlandis, pp. 67-68.)
[131] Among these other officials were Monsignor Montini (the undersecretary of
state); Bishop Ruffini; Cardinal Pizzardo (the prefect of the Sacred Congregatio
n for Seminaries and Universities); Cardinal Tedeschini; Cardinal Vidal y Barraq
uer; Fathers Larraona and Montoto (Claretians); Father Albareda (a Benedictine,
director of the Vatican Library); and some Dominican priests: Suarez, Canals, et
c. (See Orlandis, p. 68.)
[132] See AGP, RHF, EF-430613-1, and also Fuenmayor, G6mez Iglesias, and Illanes
, pp. 111-27 and 484-89.
[133] Literally, the "nothing standing in the way"; in effect, official approval
.
[134] AGP RHF, EF-430725-1.
[135] See AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 16 (Maria Dolores Fisac), and Eduardo Alastrue,
Sum. 5546.
[136] AGP, RHF, EF-430716-1. Isidoro had a widespread reputation for sanctity. O
n October 11, 1948, proceedings were opened in Madrid for his beatification. See
Jose Luis Muzquiz, Sum. 5797.
[137] AGP, Seccin Jurdica 111/15015.
[138] It was necessary first to obtain the nihil obstat of the Sacred Congregati
on of the Holy Office. It then was communicated to the Sacred Congregation for R
eligious, on September 29, 1943. See Fuenmayor, Gmez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 4
93-94.
Bishop del Portillo tells a little story about a conversation he had with the fo
under on that October 11, when the nihil obstat had been granted but the news ha
d not yet reached Madrid. "Father," he had said, "you will be happy tomorrow, be
cause it's the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar." And Father Josemara had replied,
"I'm always happy, and especially when it's a feast of our Lady, but of all her
feasts my favorite one is today's, because it's the feast of her maternity" (Al
varo del Portillo, PR, p. 712).
[139] AGP, RHF, EF-431020-1.
[140] AGP, RHF, EF-431029-1. Obviously in very high spirits, he added: "The 'gas
oline' you said you were sending hasn't arrived yet. I guarantee you that it wil
l be received with joy-and that that joy will be augmented with that vivifying l
iquid." The "gasoline" was some bottles of liqueur-"Aromas de Montserrat"-that D
om Escarre had promised to send. Later Father Josemara wrote him again, to say: "
The bottles of Aromas were received, and, much to the joy of the tasters, were r
endered due honor" (AGP, RHF, EF-431217-1).
[141] Bishop Leopoldo had, as we mentioned earlier, adopted that neutral tone on
the advice of the nuncio. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 553.
[142] See Fuenmayor, G6mez Iglesias, and Illanes, p. 495.
[143] See AGP, RHF, D-15140.
[144] In this note he pointed out that according to the Work's constitution, maj
or posts in the Society were to be filled by the president after consultation wi
th the council, but that since the latter did not exist yet, he needed to do the
consulting with his bishop. The list of proposed appointments reads as follows:
"Secretary General, Alvaro del Portillo; Vice-secretary for the Saint Michael w

ork, Jose Luis Muzquiz; Vice-secretary for the Saint Gabriel work, Jose Maria He
rnandez de Garnica; Vice-secretary for the Saint Raphael work, Pedro Casciaro; G
eneral Administrator, Ricardo Fernandez Vallespfn" (AGP, RHF, D-15138).
[145] See AGP, RHF, D-15139.
[146] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 87.
The Sacred Congregation for Religious specified in the nihil obstat for the dioc
esan approval that the Society's president should profess his perpetual fidelity
before the bishop and that the latter had powers of post-factum validation and
dispensation in regard to any defects of incorporation (see Amadeo de Fuenmayor
et al., op. cit., Documentary Appendix 13, p. 525).
The communique of the bishop of Madrid-Alcala to the Sacred Congregation for Rel
igious concerning erection of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross (19 Dec 194
3) states: "Moderator nuper erectae Societatis Sacerdotalis Sanctae Crucis coram
me perpetuam emisit fidelitatem" (ibid., Document Appendix, document no. 17, p.
497).
[147] Letter 31 May 1943, no. 53.
[148] Letter 14 Feb 1944, no. 12.
[149] In section no. 11 of this letter of 14 Feb 1944, he writes: "I don't have
much sympathy with people who take leaps in the dark, because I think it's possi
ble to make progress maintaining the essentials (which are intangible), step by
step. That is how the Church, governed by the Holy Spirit, proceeds, so as to bu
ild on firm and solid ground."
[150] From the Letter of 11 Mar 1940, no. 46: "When Heaven judges the moment pro
pitious, there will open up, in the structure of the Church's apostolate, the ch
annel for the broad river of the Work, for which present circumstances do not pr
ovide a suitable site. It will be an arduous and laborious challenge. Many obsta
cles will have to be overcome. But God will assist us, since everything in the W
ork is his will."
[151] See AGP, RHF, T-04855, p. 4 (Sabina Alandes Caldes).
[152] AGP, RHF, EF-440531-1.
[153] Two sentences in Letter 14 Feb 1944 sum up very well the problem with the
canonical situation of "society of common life without vows": "This solution is
not comfortablefor us, because it makes the main thing-Opus Dei-appear secondary
" (no. 12), and "Opus Dei-which constitutes our real Work-becomes a part of the
Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, when the reality is that the Priestly Societ
y of the Holy Cross is only a small part of the Work" (no. 17).
[154] See AGP, Seccion Expedientes, D-660. The phrase about admission "to the st
udy of sacred theology" was a formality; the bishop knew that they were well alo
ng in these studies.
[155] AGP, RHF, EF-440425-1.
[156] This is related in a letter from the founder to Dom Escarre, in AGP, RHF,
EF440515-1.
[157] The retreats prescribed by canon law for the different stages of ordinatio
n were finished by June 15. That is the date on which Father Josemara, as preside
nt of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, certified that each of the candida
tes had "made the retreats during the time specified by the Code of Canon Law fo
r the reception of Holy Orders, in the monastery of El Escorial, in the house of
the Vincentian Fathers (at 21 Fernandez de la Hoz), and in one of our houses."
See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 762, and AGP, Seccion Expedientes, D-660.
[158] Whenever Father Josemara went to El Escorial to give a retreat, he stayed a
t the monastery, in what had at one time been the room of Saint Anthony Mary Cla
ret. The practical classes in liturgy were given in the chapel that this saint h
ad used. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 762, and also AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 43
(Jose Luis Muzquiz).
[159] Typically, he distilled that experience into the form of brief, clear prin
ciples: for example, that a priest must not set himself up as a proprietor of so
uls, but must function simply as an instrument of the Holy Spirit, who is the on
e who actually directs souls. See AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 119.
[160] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 762, and AGP, Seccion Expedientes, D-660.
[161] See AGP, Seccion Expedientes, D-660, Tessera Studiorum. "Despite the consi

derable amount of work those young men had to do," says Bishop Garcia Lahiguera,
"they achieved extraordinary results. The professors were astonished by their a
bility and progress. But I wasn't all that surprised, given the intellectual cap
abilities demanded by their secular professions and their dedication to their st
udies-a dedication supported by the untiring zeal of the Father" (Testimonios, p
. 162). "All three," says Cardinal Bueno Monreal, "already had a first-class edu
cation in the humanities and sciences, and worked very hard at their ecclesiasti
cal studies" (Testimonios, p. 17).
[162] Gregorian chant was taught by Father Enrique MassO, at both the Diego de L
eon and the Jorge Manrique centers. See AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 46 (Francisco Ponz
), and T04956, p. 17 (Maria Dolores Fisac).
[163] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 763, and also AGP, Seccion Expedientes, D-66
0.
Apuntes, no. 123 (9 Dec 1930).[164]
[165] Father Josemara spoke about this in the meditation he gave on the evening o
f June 25. See AGP, Seccin Expedientes, D-660 (account of Teodoro Ruiz Jusue, 26
Jun 1944), and also AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 79. The ordination of priests who came
from the ranks of Opus Dei was the fruit of fifteen years of trustful and persi
stent prayer.
[166] See AGP, Secci6n Expedientes, D-660 (account of Teodoro Ruiz Jusue, May 20
to July 28, 1944, p. 20).
[167] Ibid., p. 2. Bishop Leopoldo went on to tell them about a certain occasion
when he had mentioned to Alvaro his worry that the attack campaign carried on b
y some Jesuits might embitter the members of Opus Dei. Alvaro, he said, had assu
red him that they knew very well that the campaign was something permitted by Go
d for their good, the proof being that God was making use of a platinum scalpelsomething so near and dear to him as the Society of Jesus. When the bishop finis
hed telling this story, Alvaro, who was sitting right there beside him, said, "B
ut, Reverend Bishop, I was only repeating what I had heard the founder say." And
Bishop Leopoldo replied, "Like father, like son." See AGP, RHF, T-08253, p. 26
(Manuel Botas Cuervo).
[168] AGP, Secci6n Expedientes, D-660 (account of Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal, 25 Jun
1944).
[169] Ibid.
7. A New Apostolic Thrust (1944-1946)

1. After the ordination

2. Los Rosales and the Zurbaran Street residence
3. "A truly priestly soul and a fully lay mentality"
4. Retreats about life and about death
5. Trips through Andalusia and Portugal

* * *

1. After the ordination

The morning after the ordination of the first priests of the Work, Father Josema
ra went to see Father Alvaro del Portillo, in the center on Villanueva Street. He
asked if Father Alvaro had heard any confessions yet. The answer was no. "Well,
" he said, "you're going to hear mine, because I want to make a general confessi
on to you."[1]When the time came for absolution, Father Alvaro was so moved (Fat
her Josemara said later), that he had to help him recite the formula. Alvaro rema
ined his confessor until his death.[2]Indeed, humility and interior transparency
often moved him to open his soul to Father Alvaro even outside confession.[3]
The new priests celebrated their first public Masses the following week. Father
Hernandez Garnica's was on Tuesday, June 27, at 9:30 A.M. in the church of Santa
Isabel. Assisting him were Fathers Lopez Ortiz and Bueno Monreal. The church wa
s packed with a large contingent from the Madrid Electric Company, where the new
priest had worked as an engineer. Also present were professors and former class
mates from the School of Mining Engineering.[4]

Father del Portillo's first public Mass took place the next day, in the chapel o
f Our Lady of the Pillar High School, run by the Marianists. He was assisted by
a Father Aguilar, O.P., and by the principal of the school. As was also the case
with Father Hernandez de Garnica's first Mass, at the end the papal blessing wa
s given and a Te Deum was sung. Lining up to kiss the new priest's hands were ma
ny relatives, friends, and acquaintances, including engineers and professors fro
m the School of Civil Engineering.[5]
On Thursday, June 29, Father Muzquiz celebrated his first public Mass, in the ch
urch of the Monastery of the Incarnation. Those present included friends and for
mer classmates from the School of Civil Engineering and many employees of the na
tional railroad company where he had worked.
Wishing-at all times, but especially at this one-to avoid anything that might fo
cus attention on himself, Father Josemara had it in mind to stay away from these
first Masses, as he had stayed away from the ordination ceremony. His sons and m
any of his friends understood his reasons for doing this. But on Thursday, decid
ing to take this last opportunity to make one of the new priests especially happ
y, he called Ricardo Vallespin and said, "Let's go to Jose Luis's first Mass."[6
]They were part of the large congregation.[7]
Months earlier, in February 1944, perhaps thinking of the priests to come, he ha
d written: "How clearly I see that, especially in the Work, to be a priest is to
be continually on the Cross!" Summing up the priest's role as "to sanctify hims
elf and to sanctify others," he declared: "The lukewarm priest: that's the great
enemy of the Work. Hence the absolute need for us priests to be saints." Moreov
er: "Your work, priest, is not only to save souls, but to sanctify them." It is
the task of a priest to fill the world with light by preaching Christ: "You are
the sun (lux mundi) and your people are the moon, who reflect the light they rec
eive from you."[8]
The founder filled several card files with similar reflections, which he used wh
en preaching to priests. There is a constant refrain: holiness, holiness, holine
ss. On occasion he had encountered lukewarm priests, but they were a mystery to
him. How, he wondered, could any priest be satisfied with just getting by?
Father Josemara had no patience with those "who say they are here to serve, but w
ho serve for nothing."[9]But, fortunately, he had good reason to be proud of his
priest-sons. Before the ordination ceremony someone had commented, "Now he's or
daining them, and afterwards he's going to kill them with work."[10]And indeed h
e soon was sending them on apostolic journeys all over Spain. In August Fathers
Muzquiz and Hernandez de Garnica were already preaching their first retreats, ea
ch of which involved more than twenty meditations. But Father Josemara gave them
a lot of help by telling them to "feel free to use my file of meditations,"[11]
a generous gesture that deeply impressed Father Alvaro.[12] Apparently they borr
owed freely, because Father Josemara had to start building a new file from scratc
h.[13]
It was murmured that he was a tyrant who overworked those around him. And, wanti
ng his sons and daughters to be saints, he did at times make great demands on th
em. He also wanted them to acquire a lot of pastoral experience and urged his fi
rst priest sons to put heart and soul into the exercise of their ministry. Fathe
r Alvaro (or Don Alvaro, as he came to be called by members of the Work) would l
ater recall that, in his first year as a priest, he was asked by the founder to
give thirteen retreats-each requiring the preparation of twenty-two meditationsin addition to giving days of recollection, teaching many classes, and all the r
est of his work: talks, confessions, spiritual direction, and work connected wit
h the governing of Opus Dei.[14]
But Father Josemara made still heavier demands on himself. From the time he start
ed giving retreats after the civil war, rarely did he let a month pass without p
reaching at least one. November 1943was one of those exceptions. The reason appe
ars in a letter written to Dom Escarre on December 17:

I was unable to reply earlier to Your Reverence because I had to spend some days
covered with gauze and cotton, as a result of a little operation. Plus, my only
brother has for some time now been fighting for his life, because of a duodenal

ulcer. Thanks be to God, he is doing better-although he lost almost all his blo
od, despite the two transfusions they gave him.[15]

In January 1944 he had to have another operation, this time a tonsillectomy, and
was forced to cut back on his intense activity in the various Spanish dioceses.
[16]Although he quickly got back to work, a retreat he gave in October for the A
ugustinian community at El Escorial tested his endurance. At midpoint, he develo
ped a large boil on his neck, with pus draining from several openings. For prote
ction against chafing from his Roman collar, he used a handkerchief-which, being
white, was very noticeable in the dark chapel. But not wanting to alarm the fri
ar in charge of the infirmary or to let the retreatants know how ill he was, he
preached the retreat through to the end, despite a high fever. And he wrote to h
is sons in Madrid:

Send me a couple of black handkerchiefs, for my neck. And please have the one I
am sending washed, as well as the one I sent yesterday. They're greatly needed.
Tell Ricardo to bring the camera when he comes here.
It's already after four and my friar from the infirmary still hasn't come. But r
eally I can get by without him.[17]

Two weeks later Father Carlos Vicuna, the Augustinian provincial, wrote to Don A
lvaro:

I want to give you a little feedback on the retreat given by Father Jose Maria t
his month to the Augustinian friars at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial. Every
one agrees that he surpassed all their expectations, and he fully satisfied the
wishes of the superiors. Now we trust in God that the fruit will be very abundan
t. Everyone without exception-all the fathers, theologians, philosophers, brothe
rs, and aspirants-hung on every word. Those conferences of thirty or thirty-five
minutes seemed to them only ten minutes long, they were so captivated by that t
orrent of fervor, enthusiasm, sincerity, and outpouring of the heart. "It came f
rom his heart-he spoke that way because he has interior life and fire." "He is a
saint, an apostle." "If we outlive him, many of us will see him raised to the a
ltars." These are some of the comments I heard from those who made the retreat.
What is really remarkable is the unanimity of the praises, especially since we'r
e talking about an audience largely composed of intellectuals and specialists. I
didn't hear one word that was anything but favorable. It is true that he came p
receded by a reputation for sanctity; but it is no less certain that, far from d
iminishing it, he confirmed it.[18]

After the retreat, he saw a doctor. Tests confirmed that the symptoms he had bee
n experiencing for some time-the fatigue, the boils, the thirst, the weight gain
-were produced by a severe case of diabetes.
A little over half a year after the ordination of the first three priests, the f
ounder wrote a circular letter in which he said:

All of you, my children, should serve one another, as a good living out of your
fraternal relationship calls for you to do. But the priests must not let their l
ay brothers and sisters perform unnecessary services for them. We priests in the
Work are the slaves of the others, following the example of the Lord, who came
not to be served but to serve ("non veni ministrari, sed ministrare"). We must k
now how to lay our hearts on the ground, so as to cushion the walk of the others
. That is why allowing yourselves to be unnecessarily served by your lay brother
s and sisters is something that goes against the very essence of the spirit of O
pus Dei.
We need priests with our spirit: priests who are well prepared, cheerful, and ef
fective, with a sportsmanlike attitude toward life, who joyfully sacrifice thems
elves for their brothers and sisters without seeing themselves as victims, and w
ho know that everyone in the Work loves them wholeheartedly. My children, pray h
ard that they be very cheerful, very holy; that they do not think about themselv

es, but only about the glory of God and the good of souls.
Our priests must have in their souls a basic disposition to spend themselves ent
irely in the service of their brothers and sisters, convinced that the ministry
to which they have been called, within Opus Dei, is a great honor, but above all
a great burden-easy to bear, however, if they strive to be very united to our L
ord, since his yoke is always easy and his burden light "iugum meum suave est, e
t onus meum leve."
Every year I write on the first page of the ordo I use, "In laetitia, nulla dies
sine Cruce!" ["In joy, not a day without the Cross!"], as a way of encouraging
myself to carry the Lord's burden with generosity, always with good humor (thoug
h often it means going against the grain).[19]

This was his repeated message to the recently ordained priests.

Be priests first of all. And then, priests. And always and in everything, only p
riests.
Speak only of God.
When a penitent wants you, drop whatever you are doing and take care of him.[20]

2. Los Rosales and the Zurbaran Street residence

Bishop Leopoldo was the first to notice a kind of family resemblance among the O
pus Dei priests. Each was himself, of course, but the three of them shared chara
cteristics rooted in the spirit of the Work and nourished by constant contact wi
th the founder. Never complaining, they embraced a life full of sacrifice and ap
ostolic activity. Following Father Josemara's example, they pushed themselves to
and beyond the limit.
Since the founder's apostolic activity usually was reflected in the amount of hi
s correspondence, it is strange that in the files there are fewer than a dozen l
etters from the autumn of 1945. It is possible that some have been lost. But in
any event, it is clear that he was traveling extensively in Spain during these m
onths. On January 19, 1946, from Granada, he wrote to his daughters in Bilbao: "
I received your letters, and I'll see to it that your sisters write you often, s
ince I'm not able to do this myself now."[21]A little later, also from Granada,
he wrote to his daughters at the Los Rosales center in Madrid to tell them that
he hoped to see them soon, "but you will have to have a little patience, because
the Father is moving around these days like a poor gypsy."[22]
A letter from Don Alvaro to Jose Orlandis, written in Bilbao on February 3, sugg
ests how the founder was moving about. "The day before yesterday," he says, "I a
rrived here with the Father, who has continued on to Asturias and Galicia." A we
ek later he wrote to Salvador Canals in Rome, announcing his arrival plans. (Can
als and Orlandis were faithful of Opus Dei who had lived in Rome for three years
and who had assisted Don Alvaro in 1943 in the effort to obtain the nihil obsta
t from the Holy See for the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.) And a week late
r he again wrote to Canals, "I'm leaving soon. The letters are almost ready-we'r
e bringing some of them, and the rest will be sent to us.... I hope to be there
within a couple of weeks. The letters will be from Seville, Granada, Murcia, Val
encia, Barcelona, Vitoria, Santiago, Valladolid, Madrid, and perhaps Saragossa a
nd Coimbra, as well as Pamplona, Avila, Palencia, and Salamanca."[23]The nature
of these letters is clear from a note he sent the next day to Jose Orlandis, who
by this time was in Saragossa: "We enclose some lines for the archbishop. They
are a request for a letter of commendation. Every bishop we've asked so far has
written one."[24]
Evidently the founder had been crisscrossing Spain tirelessly, in pursuit of suc
h letters from bishops. But why? A petition to the Holy See, written in consulta
tion with the bishop of Madrid-Alcala, makes clear the reason. The Latin text tr
anslates as:

Most Holy Father:


Humbly prostrate at the feet of Your Holiness, the priest Josemara Escriva de Bal
aguer y Albas, President General of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, earn
estly entreats that you deign to grant the Decretum Laudis (Decree of Praise) an
d the approval of the Constitutions of said Society.[25]

Mention is then made, in half a dozen lines, of the milestones in Opus Dei's his
tory: its founding in 1928, its approval as a pious union in 1941, the canonical
establishment of the Priestly Society in 1943 in the diocese of Madrid. The doc
ument continues:

Thanks to divine assistance, the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross has kept gro
wing, to the point where, both because of the number and select quality of its m
embers and because of the nature and development of its activities (which are fr
uitfully being carried out not only in a good number of [Spanish] dioceses but a
lso in several nations of Europe and the Americas), the said Society requires an
approval that will give it greater stability and range than "diocesan right" af
fords.

In the last paragraph, the founder speaks of the "timeliness and efficacy" of th
e apostolate of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross. The document is signed i
n Madrid and dated January 25, 1946.
The point was that the Holy See's granting of the Decretum Laudis would give Opu
s Dei the pontifical backing it needed to expand to dioceses outside Spain. The
bishops' letters accompanying the petition were testimony to the Work's presence
in most of Spain's dioceses, as well as in several countries of Europe and of t
he Americas, and to the bishops' support for the idea of giving it the status of
an institution of the universal church, in keeping with the nature of its apost
olate.
Having sailed from Barcelona on the steamer J. J. Sister, Don Alvaro and Jose Or
landis arrived in Genoa the afternoon of February 16.[26]
Salvador Canals was waiting for them on the dock. From Genoa they went to Rome,
and a few days later Don Alvaro wrote to the founder to bring him up to date on
their efforts. Father Josemara, meanwhile, had been continuing his travels in Spa
in. On his saint's day (March 19, the feast of Saint Joseph) he received congrat
ulatory telegrams from North and South America, Switzerland, Portugal, and Italy
.
On March 24, 1946, late in the evening, he wrote to his sons in Rome. At this ti
me he was giving a retreat for university students, at the Zurbaran Street cente
r in Madrid. "At Zurbaran," he says, "thanks be to God, there is work aplenty. I
have two study circles (Saint Raphael), with an average of eighteen people in e
ach; and another one starts up this week; so that will be three. Plus, I am givi
ng the second retreat, and another has already been scheduled."[27]And regarding
the new priests, he says: "The young priests are hard at work-there's more than
enough work for them all. They'll give you the details. Right now, Jose Luis is
in Seville, but Chiqui can handle everything. It might seem impossible, but he
is taking care of both the course at Los Rosales and the apostolic work in Madri
d."
That hastily written letter contains important news-about the letters of commend
ation being sent by the bishops, about the admission to the Work of the first nu
merary assistants, and especially about a letter from Dom Escarre telling of a m
eeting with Pope Pius XII in which the Pope had said some very encouraging thing
s about Opus Dei.
Leaving the letter unfinished that night, he took it up the next day with the wo
rds, "Continued on March 25, in the evening." But he added only eight or nine li
nes that night. He wrote some more on the twenty-sixth-and did not get very far
that night either. Three days later he began again:

March 29: I've been in Zamora, to see that bishop, who is also writing a letter
of commendation for us. We left yesterday morning and returned at one in the mor

ning today... .
Chiqui is in Bilbao, and Jose Luis, who is now back from Seville, is leaving tom
orrow for La Corua. Once again I'll be alone, although only for a short while. Ho
w badly we need more priests!

But he was still not finished with that letter. Thirty days later he again took
it up, adding entries almost as if it were a diary:

Continued April 29. I need to make a trip, and between one thing and another I h
aven't been able to answer Alvaro's letter.
April 30: Just got back from Valladolid-this morning I left our Lord in the tabe
rnacle. How marvelous: one more!

(Father Josemara counted the centers of the Work by the number of tabernacles.)
That letter also manifests a basic feature of the founder's character: his desir
e to "hide and disappear." He responded to any insult or unjustified opposition
with silence. On June 14, 1972, during a get-together, he said with reference to
his forty-something years as founder:

Many things you will never know, because I have tried to see to it that no trace
of them remains. However, you will know enough to be very moved and to give a l
ot of thanks to God....
Your wanting to know about those events is very good. But you need to understand
that as long as I'm still alive they shouldn't be made public, because they hav
e to do with very personal matters of my soul.[28]

Behind the lines of that long, newsy letter begun on March 24,1946, one can sens
e the Holy Spirit at work. As had been the case during his time in Burgos, the f
ounder felt that God was preparing him for "a period of intense vibration" when
he would be called to "work with all my soul."[29]He also had a premonition that
he was about to enter a new period of passive purifications.
Father Josemara dreamed of having a retreat center run by his daughters. Up to th
is time, retreats for women were given at the Jorge Manrique center, while most
of those for men were given at the Diego de Leon center or the Moncloa residence
.
Sometimes scheduling difficulties made it necessary for Father Josemara to give t
wo retreats at the same time. One week in December 1942, for example, he had to
give two retreats for university students, one at Diego de Leon and the other at
the Jenner Street residence, each with over twenty persons in attendance.[30]As
fast as he walked, it still took him a quarter of an hour to get from the one p
lace to the other. Each group got three meditations and a talk every day. And st
ill he found time for a private talk with each participant. He would show up in
the oratory on time, still breathing hard from walking so fast, kneel before the
tabernacle to say-slowly, clearly, and with great faith-the prayer before the m
editation, and then sit down, read a text from the Gospel, and give the meditati
on, in a good, strong voice. By the third day he was hoarse, and by the fourth h
e couldn't get out more than a whisper, and yet he spoke with undiminished vigor
.[31]
Father Josemara put himself out as much for a single soul as for a crowd. Take th
e case of Marichu Arellano. Her brother Jesus was of the Work and living at the
Diego de Leon center. He told Marichu, who was living with their parents in Nava
rre, to be sure to see Father Josemara when she came to Madrid. One day in April
1944 she showed up at Diego de Leon to visit her brother and, while there, to me
et Father Josemara. Here is her account:

I was struck by his naturalness and cheerfulness. The Father lost no time-right
away he started calling me by my name. He asked me about my trip and about what
I was doing. I told him that I was thinking of spending a few days in Madrid to
get to know the city, to make some purchases, because I was planning to get marr
ied soon, and to take advantage of the trip to make a retreat.


He asked her if she would let him ask God to call her to the Work. A little disc
oncerted, she thought for a few moments. What should she do? What if she did rea
lly have that vocation? So she said yes, he could pray. The priest said he would
speak with her during the retreat that was about to begin at the Jorge Manrique
center.
Marichu was surprised to find only three or four girls at the retreat. She was t
he only one not yet part of the Work. Nisa Gonzalez Guzman, one of the young lad
ies keeping her company, tells us: "Marichu Arellano was the only one making the
retreat. During the five day retreat, the Father gave all the meditations and c
onferences, and Benediction, with the punctuality he always lived."[32]
One day in November 1944, Father Josemara told Nisa Gonzalez Guzman and Mary Tere
Echeverria that he wanted to see them at Los Rosales, a house recently acquired
because it seemed suited to be a center for retreats. Located in Villaviciosa d
e Odn, a small, quiet village a half hour's drive from Madrid, it was large and w
ell laid out, and had its own garden and a small orchard. He chose the best room
for the future oratory, and that same afternoon went to see Father Julio, the v
illage priest, and introduced to him Nisa and Mary Tere and the two household em
ployees with them. They took possession of the property that very day.[33]
There was much work to do before the place would be ready for retreats. Father J
osemara himself took charge of furnishing the oratory, using items that had been
in storage since the move from the Jenner Street residence to La Moncloa. These
included the burlap wall coverings and the frieze with an inscription from the A
cts of the Apostles.[34]
On October 29 he wrote to the bishop, asking him to "grant us the required permi
ssion to establish a retreat house in Villaviciosa de Odn."[35]A month later, the
oratory now ready, he requested permission to have "a semipublic oratory, with
a tabernacle ... while the work on the retreat house is being completed and the
definitive chapel is being built."[36]
Some time later it occurred to Father Josemara that Los Rosales would also make a
good women's formation center. By 1945the Jorge Manrique center was too small f
or his apostolic vision.[37]On the afternoon that they moved into Los Rosales, h
e said to his daughters: "Now there are only two of you, but very soon there wil
l be two hundred, two thousand."[38]
All the same, their first winter there was a long one for them. From time to tim
e some of the young ladies living there went to another center to rest or for a
change of scenery. Marichu Arellano relates that in April 1945 Father Josemara su
ggested that they get a much larger dining room table, assuring them that by the
end of that very year the table they had would be too small.[39]
Gradually, more women did come to the Work. A formation course was begun at Los
Rosales in July. Father Josemara gave a morning meditation and celebrated Mass, a
nd then-with the help of his priest-sons, at least one of whom always accompanie
d him-he gave classes or talks on basic aspects of the spirit of the Work. Carme
n Gutierrez Rios relates:

He kept telling us that he especially needed for us to be faithful; that if we w

ere not, we would impede the Work. And one day he said that if we were truly fai
thful, we would soon spread out, like a fan, all over the world. In the first pl
ace, to all the provinces of Spain, but at the same time and later, to the Unite
d States, Mexico, England, and so on, through the whole world.

When the Father said this, we had only three centers: Moncloa, Jorge Manrique, a
nd Los Rosales. The Father was dreaming out loud, and inviting us to dream-"Drea
m, and your dreams will fall short," he told us.[40]
These grand visions of apostolic expansion extended even to the details of ordin
ary, everyday life, as a story told by Maria Teresa illustrates:

One afternoon in 1945, the Father explained to me that he had a great responsibi
lity before God for our formation, for transmitting integrally to us the spirit
of the Work that God had entrusted to him. A few days later, the Father asked fo

r the director. I went up to the foyer of Los Rosales, where the Father was wait
ing for me. With great patience he asked me, "My daughter, why does this cabinet
have a couple of eyebolts instead of a nice latch or a lock?" I answered him, "
I don't know, Father." The Father explained to me that a director should know ab
out everything in a house, the reason for every nail. Then he said that he would
call the village blacksmith and ask him to put a lock on the cabinet. "Then," h
e told me, "you should put on the key a cord with a tassel, so that it looks mor
e elegant-doing all this for love of God."[41]

Los Rosales was very soon in operation as a center of studies and formation for
women. And that summer the country house of Molinoviejo was used for a formation
course for men. Molinoviejo was a modest house situated among pine trees in the
foothills of a mountain range, near the little village of Ortigosa del Monte, i
n the province of Segovia. Eventually, after many alterations, it became a retre
at house and conference center.
By 1945 the men's branch had two apartments in Madrid, one on Villanueva Street
and the other on Espaoleto, plus a university residence (Moncloa) and the center
of studies on Diego de Leon. The women had Los Rosales, the house on Jorge Manri
que, and a center for the administration of La Moncloa.
To give more impetus to the apostolate with university women, it was decided to
give up the house on Jorge Manrique and move closer to the middle of Madrid. Fat
her Josemara urged his daughters to pray to the Lord that the new residence they
were looking for would be ready by the start of the school year. In October they
found a house on Zurbaran Street and immediately started on the remodeling, the
moving in of the furniture, and the setting up of the oratory.[42] As soon as t
he construction workers were finished with a section of the house, the women wou
ld furnish and occupy it. Finally they set a date for the first Mass, after whic
h the Blessed Sacrament would be reserved in the tabernacle: December 8, 1945.
The founder's deep and lively faith made him observe and teach the greatest resp
ect for the Blessed Sacrament, as is illustrated by an incident that took place
that very evening, during Benediction. Lola Fisac relates:

The Father asked us to invite our friends and families. We said the Rosary, and
then the Father gave us Benediction. The oratory was completely full. People beg
an to give the prayer responses in a haphazard way, not trying to say them in un
ison. The Father paused, and then started over. But, not catching on, they went
on responding every which way. Finally the Father turned around and said to the
congregation that that kind of praying was not proper from an earthly or a heave
nly point of view, and that it was no way to praise God or converse with him. Th
en he knelt down and resumed the prayers before the Blessed Sacrament.[43]

He placed the residence under our Lady's protection in a special way: between tw
o windows on the first landing of the stairway, he had them set a plaque bearing
an inscription praising the Blessed Virgin. Whenever they climbed up or down th
e stairs (which they had to do often every day), they could read and pray, "Hail
, Mary, Daughter of God the Father; Hail, Mary, Mother of God the Son; Hail, Mar
y, Spouse of God the Holy Spirit: only God is greater than you." [44]
In the office of the director near the front entrance, where visitors were recei
ved, there was a picture of the Annunciation-our Lady kneeling, hands joined in
prayer. It had been the altarpiece in the oratory at Jorge Manrique when the fou
nder celebrated Mass there on that notable February 14, 1943.[45] The altarpiece
in the Zurbaran oratory was a copy of a work by Claudio Coello depicting Our La
dy of the Immaculate Conception.
When classes started up at the university, the women at the center began looking
for residents and inviting others to formation classes.
In February 1946 Father Josemara held his first study circle at Zurbaran.[46]Afte
r saying a prayer, he would sit down at the head of a table covered with a rosecolored cloth that matched the living room sofa and curtains. Then the others to
ok their seats around the table. On it stood a gilded wooden lectern in the shap
e of a shell, on which he placed the Book of the Gospels. After reading a few ve

rses and making a brief commentary, Father Josemara would speak about some aspect
of the interior life or about some particular virtue. Then came an examination
of conscience, in which he encouraged them to make at least one concrete resolut
ion. At the end he would invite them to bring a friend next time. And upon begin
ning the next week's session, he would summarize, or ask someone else to summari
ze, what had been said at the previous one, so that, as he put it, "your friends
know what we're talking about and are brought up to date."[47]
Work and prayer were starting to bring women to Opus Dei, but the work was far f
rom easy. Besides the ongoing spiritual direction of these girls, there were als
o the ever growing numbers of formation classes in the rose parlor and meditatio
ns in the oratory.[48]
Many people found that meeting the Father awakened new aspirations in them and o
pened unexpected horizons. Carmen Canals was one of these. In May 1946 she atten
ded a retreat he gave at Zurbaran and was impressed by the dynamism of his words
, his love for our Lady, and the care with which he prepared the participants fo
r confession. She spoke with him twice. The first chat was a very short one in w
hich he just asked her if she was able to follow the meditations, if she prayed,
and if she went to Mass frequently. In the second one, she asked to be admitted
to the Work. "I told him I wanted to join Opus Dei," she says, "and the Father
said no. I don't recall much more about that retreat."[49]
Carmen kept coming to the residence for a while, and then stopped. Four years la
ter she made a retreat at Molinoviejo. "And I was moved," she says, "at again he
aring ideas that I had been keeping in my soul almost without realizing it."[50]
She decided again to join the Work, and on March 12, 1950, she did so. Not long
after, she found herself at Los Rosales, in the big dining room, listening to th
e founder speak about sincerity and love for the Church and for the pope.
On leaving the class, Carmen went over to greet him, and tell him that she was c
oncerned about his reply when she had said she wanted to join the Work some year
s earlier. The Father relieved her concern saying that, since that time, the pra
yers of her two brothers, who were in the work, and his own had twisted the Lord
's arm and won her vocation.[51]
What a gift he seemed to have for being able to tell whether someone had a vocat
ion to Opus Dei! Another illustration is the case of the Gutierrez Rios sisters.
One of them, Lolita, made a retreat at the Jorge Manrique center, and the other
, Carmen, picked her up there when it was over. She saw the place, noted the cor
dial atmosphere that reigned there, and was taken by a certain something that sh
e couldn't put her finger on. A few days later, on April 6, 1945, she met Father
Josemara. Carmen tells us:

Before I went to that house, my sister had been going there, to help out at Jorg
e Manrique, and she had met the founder there. As the years have gone by, she ha
s mentioned many a time to the family and to friends something that is very clea
r to her: the Father's respect for everyone's freedom. The Father, back then, sa
id to her, "Lolita, these ladies want to 'catch' you, but don't let them." And L
olita adds that although she very much does love and has always loved the Work a
nd the Father and all the members of the Work whom she has met, she has never fe
lt the least symptom of a vocation to the Work, despite the great affection and
enthusiasm with which she collaborated back then in Opus Dei s apostolic activit
ies.

In contrast, from the first moment that the Father met Carmen he told her withou
t hesitation that she was fully qualified to undertake the path of Opus Dei.[52]
It often happened that he gave someone of whom he had no previous knowledge just
exactly the right advice. And his sons and daughters were open books to him. En
carnita Ortega recalls an illustrative incident in 1943, when, working in the Ad
ministration of La Moncloa, the work was becoming difficult for her:

The Father dropped by with a bishop and came into the kitchen, where I was. I tr
ied to be very polite and keep a smile on my face, so I was astonished when the
Father, passing by, . said in a low voice, "What's the matter?" And he gave me a

look that filled me with strength. Those words were enough for me to be able to
begin again, with a great desire to be faithful.[53]

3. "A truly priestly soul and a fully lay mentality"

His daughters were young, and some of them lacked experience in many of the arts
involved in managing the centers; Father Josemara patiently shared with them his
own considerable experience. And a similar patience marked his responses to the
inevitable mistakes that occurred in any family.
His sons and daughters made more than a few mistakes, but following the advice o
f Father Josemara, they made notes of their experiences which they reviewed from
time to time to avoid tripping over the same stone again. Within a few years the
women of the Work were working confidently and efficiently.
Father Josemara was a constant source of new ideas and solutions to problems. For
instance, that of what to do with Los Rosales, which was getting too expensive
to maintain. At times it served as a good place to rest, and during the summer,
formation classes were given there. Given the situation of food shortages and ra
tioning, Father Josemara suggested turning it into a small farm that would have a
steady clientele: the residents of La Moncloa, Zurbaran, and Diego de Leon.
He also suggested setting up a workshop for the making of vestments. For this pr
oject there was precedent, going back to the days when Carmen, Doa Dolores, and t
he women who came over to receive spiritual direction from him collaborated in m
aking things for the oratory of the Ferraz Street residence.[54] Later, in Burgo
s, a group of young women had worked under his direction in the "tailor shop," m
aking amices, purificators, albs, and corporals intended for the first postwar o
ratory in Madrid.[55] And after that there had been the get-togethers at Diego d
e Leon, with Doa Dolores and Carmen, during which altar linens were made.[56]
Now the green dining room on the second floor of Los Rosales was converted into
a sewing room. Father Josemara demonstrated in advance his confidence in his daug
hters' skills with a request for a complete set of chasubles to go with a portab
le altar that he would, when necessary, take with him on trips. The chasubles we
re finished on the eve of the feast of Saint Joseph and sent to Madrid the next
morning. Pleased with how they had turned out, Father Josemara went to Villavicio
sa de Odon that afternoon to congratulate his daughters. That day was one of spe
cial joy and celebration for him, because he had just received the requests for
admission of the two first numerary assistants. Besides congratulating the maker
s of the vestments, he made a quick tour of the house, since he wanted the numer
ary assistants to come there as soon as possible to start their formation.[57]
In the weeks that followed, Father Josemara focused most of his attention on the
second group of prospective priests. The first three had barely been ordained wh
en he invited six more laymen to begin preparing for priesthood. The oldest were
Pedro Casciaro and Francisco Botella.[58] All of them were university graduates
and several were professors. For the most part, they were taught by the same in
structors who had taught their predecessors.[59]
On May 7, 1946, they received the tonsure. Bishop Leopoldo administered the mino
r orders over the next couple of days, at his residence.[60]
The now Auxiliary Bishop Casimiro Morcillo selected Sunday, June 2, as the day f
or conferring the subdiaconate. He was at that time making a pastoral visit to t
he villages along the Guadarrama Sierra, one of which was his birthplace: Chozas
de la Sierra (today, Soto del Real). He wanted to celebrate the ordination cere
mony there, as a way of catechizing the villagers. The village authorities, for
their part, saw here an opportunity to honor the bishop. On the great day, balco
nies were decorated with colorful quilts and embroidered silk shawls bordered wi
th lace. Following the mayor's unveiling of a marble plaque in the main square,
there was a procession to the church. First came the six ordinands, dressed in a
lbs; then the bishop; and then the parishioners and the children waving palms an
d green branches. When the ceremony was over, there was a return procession, wit
h the new subdeacons now wearing their vestments.[61]Two weeks later, on June 15
, they received the diaconate from the hands of the now-Bishop Jose Lopez Ortiz,

in the oratory of the Diego de Leon center.[62]

Those six members of Opus Dei were ordained as priests three months later, on Se
ptember 29, 1946. A few months before his own ordination, Don Alvaro had run int
o Dr. Lopez Franco, an old professor of his from the School of Civil Engineering
. When he told him that he was going to be ordained, the professor replied, "Wel
l, congratu-" and then stopped, having gotten choked up. Then he said, "Pardon m
e, but I am very moved. Congratulations."[63]
When Chiqui's colleagues at Madrid Electric heard that he was going to be ordain
ed, they said, "Look at that Jose Maria, becoming a priest, when he had such a g
ood life ahead of him!"[64]
Even Father Josemara, much as he wanted to see priests in the Work, found it hard
to accept the idea that some of his sons would no longer be laymen. He wrote:

I won't try to hide from you the fact that this first ordination of brothers of
yours has caused me at the same time much joy and much sadness. I love the lay c
haracter of our Work so much that I felt real pain at seeing them become clerics
. And yet the need for priests was so clear that it had to be pleasing to our Lo
rd God that those sons of mine were ordained.[65]

In February 1945, after the first three priests had been engaged in pastoral min
istry for some months, he wrote of what he had come to see as a kind of fusing o
f the priestly spirit and lay character in the vocations of all the members of O
pus Dei:

Now that priests have been ordained in our Work, I want all my children, priests
and laypersons, to keep something firmly fixed in your minds and in your hearts
-something that can never be regarded as merely external, but that is, on the co
ntrary, the very hinge and foundation of our divine vocation.
Always and in everything, each of us, whether priest or layperson, must have a t
ruly priestly soul and a fully lay mentality.[66]

The sacrament of Baptism gives every Christian a share in the priesthood of Chri
st. This baptismal priesthood, this priesthood of the faithful, is a profound re
ality of Christian life. It is important to distinguish it from the ministerial
or ordained priesthood, that conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders, and yet
to be mindful that the laity also have their own ministry.

The lay state also has a distinctive characteristic, one which within the Mystic
al Body of Christ forms the specific ministry proper to the laity: that of assum
ing their personal responsibilities in the professional and social spheres in su
ch a way as to imbue all earthly realities with a Christian spirit, so that in a
ll things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.[67]
But what is that "truly priestly soul?" And how do the laity actively share in C
hrist's priesthood, making "operative within their souls the royal priesthood th
at the faithful receive in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation"?[68]His a
nswer was "the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar, in which Christ the Priest renews th
e sacrifice he made on Calvary." This is "the root and center of our spiritual l
ife": to give through this Sacrifice "adoration, honor, praise, and thanksgiving
to the Blessed Trinity."
Thus, closely united to Jesus in the Eucharist, we will achieve a continual awar
eness of the presence of God in the midst of the daily tasks of this earthly jou
rney, seeking our Lord at all times and in all things. Having in our hearts the
same sentiments Christ had on the Cross, we will make the whole of life into con
stant reparation, assiduous petition, and ceaseless sacrifice for all humankind.
For God will give you a supernatural instinct to purify all your actions, eleva
ting them to the order of grace and turning them into instruments of apostolate.
Only thus will we be contemplative souls in the midst of the world, as our voca
tion requires, and become truly priestly souls, turning all that we are and have
into a continual hymn of divine praise.[69]
He insistently taught this for the rest of his life. It was, in fact, something

he spoke of on the day before he died. In the Mass he celebrated on June 25, 197
5, he included a prayer "for all the priests of the Work" and "for the numerarie
s who are going to be ordained within a few days," related Don Alvaro, "and he p
rayed to the Lord that all of his daughters and lay sons-all of them-would alway
s have a priestly soul: a longing to co-redeem."[70]And on that same day-the ann
iversary of the ordination of the first three priests of Opus Dei-he told his ch
ildren that at Mass "he had prayed hard for all of them, and specifically that e
very one of his daughters would be very deeply imbued with a priestly spirit."[7
1]

4. Retreats about life and about death

It was Father Josemara's custom during his annual retreats to jot down the inspir
ations he received and his resolutions, to facilitate discussing them later with
his confessor. (In some of those years, however, he made only brief notes, or n
one at all.) The notes, beginning with his retreat in 1932 in Segovia's monaster
y of Saint John of the Cross, make up an appendix to his Apuntes intimos. The la
st are from the retreat of February 1944, after which he had no need to take not
es, because his confessor was Don Alvaro, who was always with him.
At first glance, the notes from 1943 and 1944 might seem to suggest that the "op
position by good people" had dropped off, there being hardly any mention of this
matter. But the reality was far different, as is indicated by a resolution from
the February 1944 retreat: "Stay calm! Stay calm, in order to see things, perso
ns, and events from the perspective of eternity. The wall blocking our passage i
s, humanly speaking, formidable, but the instant we really raise our eyes to hea
ven, what a little thing it is!"[72]The next entry in his journal explains his a
gitation:

While saying Nones this morning, I got distracted and started thinking about the
battles that have always been waged against the Church by heretical sects.
I thanked our Lord God for the consolation of a blessing from the Holy Father-a
blessing filled with affection for the Work-which the Pope sent us by way of Fat
her Canal, O.P. And bitter sentiments (which do not rob me of my peace) assailed
my soul at the thought of a lying tract evidently put together by an apprentice
of Judas, some Masons, and perhaps a priest, who seem to have a tremendous hatr
ed for the Work and for this sinner.[73]

One memory led to another. "I also happened to think of the destructive efforts
that a certain religious priest is even now making in Barcelona.[74] This priest
was an elderly man who, for no apparent reason, says the founder, "goes around
saying whatever he feels like against the Work, and especially against me."[75]
The churning of these thoughts disturbed him deeply. But turning back to the bre
viary, he found peace.
All of the above, and my awareness of the world situation and especially the sit
uation in Spain, with the scheming of Spaniards who hate Christ's Church, caused
me deep distress. I returned to praying the Divine Office, and the first verse
I came upon was this one from Psalm 58 [59]: "Et tu, Domine, deridebis eos: ad n
ihilum deduces omnes gentes" ["And you, 0 Lord, will laugh at them; you will hol
d all the nations in derision"]. And my heart was filled with a more than human
joy and peace. I continued with the Divine Office. A bit later, I suddenly recei
ved an interior illumination, clear, unmistakable, totally certain. It did not c
ome in words, but it was this: "But, child, don't you know that it is I?" And at
that moment there came to me a clear recollection of that verse and the convict
ion that the Lord, with these words from the psalm, was reaffirming his "non pra
evalebunt"-his statement that there is nothing anyone can do against the Churchand saying there is nothing anyone can do against the Work, an instrument of God
for the service of the Church.[76]
In that turbulent atmosphere of renewed attacks, it was not long before criticis
ms began to be heard about the retreats that Father Josemara was giving all over

Spain. His oratorical gifts were truly exceptional. Carlos Bousono, a young poet
who met him at La Moncloa, would exclaim during the meditations, "He's a genius
! A real genius!"[77]Of course, the efficacy of his preaching, as he himself wel
l knew, depended not on his eloquence but on divine grace and on the prayers and
mortifications he offered for those who would hear him. But given both his eloq
uence and his effectiveness, what opening could his detractors find for attackin
g him here? A highly unexpected one. They started accusing him of preaching "ret
reats about life" in place of traditional "retreats about death."[78]
It was, indeed, standard practice at that time to focus most retreat preaching o
n the "last things": death, judgment, hell, and heaven.
Yet Father Josemara did not avoid the subject of death-not even when preaching to
the powerful people of this world. That letter of March 1946 about which we hav
e already spoken-the letter written in bits and pieces-includes this item: "I ha
ve been asked to give a retreat to Jesus [Fontan]'s chief during Passion Week. W
e'll see how it goes."[79]From April 7 to 12, in El Pardo Palace, Father Josemara
gave a retreat to Francisco Franco and his wife.[80]At this time Spain was enjo
ying a very fragile peace, one threatened by outside pressures; the country had
closed ranks behind the constituted authorities; and a good part of the Church h
ierarchy was showering praise on the chief of state.
When the retreat was over, Father Josemara refused to say how it had gone.[81] Ne
vertheless, eighteen years later something from it came to light. One day he had
asked Franco, "Have you never thought, Your Excellency, about the fact that you
could die at any moment?"
A few days later, during a visit with Bishop Leopoldo, Father Josemara had mentio
ned that conversation with Franco. The bishop had exclaimed, "You'll never get a
head in life!"[82]
In any case, many priests giving retreats were accustomed to speak of the inevit
ability of death in hopes that fear would provoke a conversion on the retreatant
's part. And at this point those who accused Father Josemara of a novel approach
were not so wide of the mark. Notes taken by some of those who attended his retr
eats make it clear that he covered the last things in a firm, serious, no-nonsen
se way, but one that fostered a great freedom of spirit and was always very posi
tive, without scare tactics and sensationalism.
The then-Father Angel Suquia (who would become cardinal archbishop of Madrid) to
ok part in a retreat given by Father Josemara in 1942 at Vitoria's diocesan semin
ary. The preacher, he testifies, came across as "a thoroughly supernatural man,"
a real "man of faith." He then lists some of the topics preached on (among whic
h obedience to superiors stands out as "a central point of the retreat") and mar
vels at the "love for Christ that blazed in everything he said."[83]
Victor Garcia Hoz, who as a young university professor attended another of Fathe
r Josemara's retreats, gives this testimony:

For me it was like a new discovery. Even though I had been receiving spiritual d
irection from the Father for some time, I was greatly impressed to see how in a
retreat,. .. along with the classic themes of Christian meditation, he brought i
n the human virtues-cheerfulness, friendship, generosity, and, above all, work-a
s a part of the Christian vocation.[84]

What really distinguished his "retreats about life" from those that some called
"retreats about death" was not whether the realities of the last things were pre
sented, or how bluntly, but to what end. For Father Josemara, these truths were s
timuli for growing in friendship with God. What he wanted to induce was not fear
but the filial love that brings us to our Father-God.[85]
And so, when he was accused of deviating from the traditional methods by giving
"retreats about life," he searched his heart and came up with the conclusion, "W
ell, what can I preach about if not that eternal life to which we are called?"[8
6]
In 1942, in a retreat for young people of the Work, he reminded them of the rece
nt death of Antonio Moreno, one of the first members of Opus Dei in Valladolid.
All of those present were amazed when, turning toward the tabernacle, he said, "

Here we are-choose those whom you want to take to yourself."[87]And when it came
to preaching on judgment, he liked to pass on to the penitent retreatant the co
nsoling words that Bishop Santos Moro of Avila had written him in 1938, at a tim
e when he was troubled by the thought that the Lord would demand a strict accoun
ting from him: "No, for you he will not be a judge, in the harsh sense of the wo
rd, but simply Jesus."[88]
Even more telling on these matters than the testimony of people who attended his
retreats is the testimony that he himself left in his personal notes. There is,
for example, this excerpt from the resolutions he made during the February 1944
retreat:

To this day, I have often found consolation in the thought of death. I've said,
To die? What a blessing! In the future, I will at least once a day see myself at
the moment of death, in order to view the day's events in that light. I have a
lot of experience of the peace produced by that consideration.[89]

He recalled the loneliness and fatigue of the early days, the period when he was
trying to get Opus Dei started. He thought, too, of how, when at last he had co
llected a handful of followers, God had put him to the test by taking some of th
ose young people to himself, leaving him to seek solace in the thought that now
he had intercessors in heaven.[90] Another resolution he made during this retrea
t of 1944 was to say every night, "Lord, I accept death when you wish, as you wi
sh, where you wish."[91]
His retreats, then, were marked by a healthy optimism that encouraged acts of fa
ith, hope, and love. For himself, he sought to cultivate perfect contrition born
of love. The expression "sorrow of Love" appears frequently in his Apuntes, sug
gesting the path he followed in his own interior life. "Don't forget," he wrote
in The Way, "that sorrow is the touchstone of Love."[92]
The fruit of genuine love for God is repentance, manifested by a sincere abhorre
nce of sin. "Sorrow of love. Because he is good. Because he is your friend, who
gave his life for you. Because everything good that you have is his. Because you
have offended him so much. Because he has forgiven you. He! You! Weep, my child
, with sorrow of love."[93]
Feeling the weight of fallen human nature, he felt the barrier that even slight
sin places between God and someone who loves Him. In 1930 he had written, "I wan
t, Lord, to want truly, once and for all, to have an immeasurable abhorrence of
anything that smacks of sin, even venial sin. I want the kind of compunction tha
t those who have pleased you the most have had."[94]
For a long time he had sought through our Lady's intercession the priceless gift
of perfect contrition. On October 7, 1932, during the retreat he had made at th
e Carmelite monastery in Segovia, he had written in his journal:

It's fair, gentle Lady, for me to ask you for a present, a proof of your affecti
on: contrition, compunction for my sins, sorrow of love. Hear me, 0 Lady, my lif
e, my hope. Take me by the hand-and if there is anything in me now that is displ
easing to my Father-God, make me see it, and between the two of us we'll tear it
out.[95]

And almost two years later he had made the same request. On July 16, 1934, he ha
d written in his journal:

My Mother, our Lady, I kissed the floor and made the sign of the cross (after cr
ying out our "Serviam!"), in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Ho
ly Spirit, and prayed to you the Memorare. I got distracted, but then put myself
once again into the prayer, and I know you have heard me. My dear Mother! Again
I invoke you, right now, as I'm writing on this paper. You know well what I nee
d. More than anything else, sorrow of love. And to cry? Or without crying. Just
let my sorrow be for real, so that we clean very well the soul of Jesus' little
donkey.[96]


5. Trips through Andalusia and Portugal

Soon after the first three priests were ordained, Father Josemara gave them some
advice, including practical pointers, for their apostolic trips.[97] Among other
s things, he recommended greeting the diocesan bishop as soon as possible and vi
siting any priests they knew in the area.
Most of these trips were to cities with universities. From the beginning, Father
Josemara in his apostolic zeal reached out to everyone-artisans, manual workers,
professionals.... But he always made university students a priority. He found t
he openness and generosity of young people a fertile ground for sowing divine lo
ve. "Youth gives all it can-it gives itself without reserve," he wrote in The Wa
y (no. 30).
The apostolic work in cities with universities or technical institutes was growi
ng steadily throughout most of Spain. Only the far south lacked a center of the
Work.[98] Father Josemara decided to go to Andalusia to speak with the bishops ab
out Opus Dei. He hoped to open two university residences, one in Seville and the
other in Granada, and give a boost to the fledgling apostolic endeavors in the
south.[99] Accompanying him were Father Jose Luis Muzquiz, who had lately been v
isiting these provinces, and two architects: Jesus Alberto Cagigal and Ricardo F
enandez Vallespin. (He wanted the architects' professional opinions concerning t
he conversion of several houses into university residences.)[100]
Their driver was Miguel Chornique-a calm, good-hearted man who was an excellent
mechanic. His role in these trips was indispensable, given the prohibitive probl
ems with public transportation, the poor condition of the cars available to them
in those days, and the equally poor condition of the roads, badly damaged durin
g the civil war and still not well repaired, due to Spain's economic problems. F
ather Josemara and Miguel had had over the past two years many close calls on tho
se roads. They had, in fact, escaped unharmed from so many accidents that Miguel
would later testify, "I was convinced that when I was going with the Father in
the car, nothing would or could ever happen to us."[101]
On Tuesday of Holy Week, March 27,1945,a beautifully sunny day, they set out ear
ly, taking the road for Extremadura, with Miguel at the wheel. (The car was a St
udebaker Champion.) As soon as they got out of Madrid, the founder and Father Jo
se Luis started up a sing-along. A little later, as they rounded a bend, they co
uld see in the distance the snow-capped Gredos Mountains. They stopped to eat in
Trujillo, a place known for its noble, austere palaces and homes from the days
of the conquistadors. They also stopped in Merida, because Father Josemara wanted
to give the architects a chance to stretch their legs and to see the Roman ruin
s and the archaeological museum in that city. Then, continuing their drive south
, they crossed cultivated fields, vineyards, and olive groves.
It was getting dark when they reached Seville. The streets were packed with peop
le who had come to see the Holy Week processions, and the hotels had no vacancie
s. Finally they heard that there were some at Hotel Oromana, in the nearby town
of Alcala de Guadaira. Before going there, however, they joined the crowd to wat
ch one of the processions.
A double row of penitents, with heads covered, were carrying on their shoulders
a statue of our Lady that was under a canopy supported by silver poles. Lining t
he path were flowers-and also candles, whose flames were reflected in the jewels
adorning the statue. Father Josemara was totally captivated. As he tells it:

I stood there looking at it, and became absorbed in prayer. Gazing at that beaut
iful statue of the Virgin, I forgot I was in Seville, or even on the street, unt
il someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was a villager, saying to me, "Father,
that statue isn't any good. Ours is the good one!" At first that almost seemed t
o me like blasphemy. But then I thought, "He's right. When I show people picture
s of my mother, although I like all of them, I also say, 'This-this is the good
one."[102]

They spent most of the next day looking at several houses. Father Josemara especi

ally liked one called Monteflorido, on Canalejas Street. It was centrally locate
d and was in excellent condition, with light-colored bricks, tiles, and marble t
hat made for a cheerful, attractive appearance. It also had wrought-iron balconi
es and window casements, and a pleasant patio garden. In the afternoon, the foun
der and Father Jose Luis went to see Cardinal Pedro Segura, who received them wi
th great affection.
On Thursday, Ricardo returned to Madrid, and the others went on to Jerez, freque
ntly coming across lively, well-attended processions along the way. Not finding
any hotel vacancies in Jerez, they continued on to Puerto de Santa Maria, where
they found what they thought would be a nice, quiet place to stay. Which it wasuntil two in the morning, when they were awakened by the noise of drums and blar
ing bugles, which went on most of the rest of the night.
On Good Friday, Father Josemara visited a number of people in Cadiz, starting wit
h the bishop. Later, on their way to Algeciras, from the top of the Tarifa hills
they could make out the coast of Africa across the straits, and Father Josemara'
s thoughts turned to the souls waiting on that huge continent. "Can these strait
s be a barrier to Christianity?" he said with great emotion. "How much there is
to do!"[103]
Algeciras, Estepona, Marbella, Malaga. Just as they were entering Malaga, the ca
r broke down. Father Josemara took advantage of the delay to visit with the bisho
p, and then to look up an old friend, Father Jose Suarez Faura, who had shared w
ith him those difficult years in Madrid under the Republic.
The Studebaker was soon running again, and they spent the night of Holy Saturday
in Antequera. On Easter Sunday, April 1, Father Josemara celebrated Mass at the
Trinitarians' house there. At midday they reached Cordoba, where, again, the fou
nder made a number of visits. In the afternoon they went to see the famous Hermi
tage of Cordoba, an ancient monastery situated among the hills outside the city.
Father Josemara gave a Doation to the old monk who showed them around. As they le
ft, the monk gave them each a leaflet of verses connected with the site. One of
them translates as:

Very high is the summit! The Cross very high! From there up to heaven, How littl
e to fly![104]

Father Josemara found that eremitic life very edifying, while at the same time no
ting clearly the need to seek sanctity where our Lord calls us. "It can be lived
just as well on the Gran Via of Madrid," he remarked. "One can be just as close
to heaven in Cibeles Plaza as in the beautiful mountains of Cordoba."[105]
They climbed to a high point on the mountainside and did their afternoon prayer
there. When they got back to the hotel, Father Josemara was exhausted. By the act
ivities of the day, or by an attack of his diabetes? It is hard to know, since h
e didn't complain. And if someone did ask him, he would sometimes respond: "The
Father is fine until ten minutes before his death. Whoever needs to know how he
is, now they know."[106]
Monday morning, his visits all made, they set out for Jaen. Olive groves and mor
e olive groves, as far as the eye could see. At the bishop's residence in Jaen,
they learned that the bishop was away on a trip. So they went on to Granada, spe
nding the night in a hotel near the Alhambra.
On Tuesday, April 3, Father Josemara celebrated Mass in a nearby parish church, a
nd they visited Archbishop Agustin Parrado. They devoted the rest of the day to
looking for a house that might serve as a student residence. In their trip journ
al, Father Jose Luis noted that although they kept inspecting houses all afterno
on, "the Father likes Carmen de las Maravillas [Manor Marvelous] better than any
of the other houses. The entrance is bad, but once you're in there it really do
es justice to its name."[107]He and Jesus Alberto quickly sketched a new layout
for the interior of the manor, which actually was a rather modest house, not in
very good condition, whose only truly marvelous feature was the view it afforded
of the city and of the Genil River.
On April 4 Father Josemara celebrated Mass in the cathedral of Almeria. The bisho
p of Granada was not available, so they continued on to Murcia-whose bishop turn

ed out to be sick. On April 5 they returned to Madrid, stopping in several churc

hes along the way to make visits to the Blessed Sacrament.
Once they were back in Madrid and had made the necessary arrangements, the work
began of remodeling the houses chosen for the future residences: in Granada, Car
men de las Maravillas, later called the Albayzin Residence, and in Seville, the
house on Canalejas Street. By the beginning of August 1945, the Albayzin Residen
ce was ready for occupancy.[108]Residents started arriving, but the work of remo
deling dragged on.[109] And the problem of how to make ends meet was becoming ac
ute.
With the start of the school year fast approaching, Father Josemara on October 3
sent a formal request to Archbishop Agustin Parrado of Granada saying that he wi
shed to establish a student residence (Albayzin) from which he hoped to "obtain
great results." On October 22 he acknowledged receipt of the requested authoriza
tion and invited the archbishop to celebrate the first Mass in the oratory of th
e residence.
Work on the oratory went more slowly than expected, and it was four more weeks b
efore Father Jose Luis Muzquiz was able to inform the archbishop that the orator
y was now ready.[110] On November 23 they received official notice of the canoni
cal establishment of the oratory and of the granting of permission for reservati
on of the Blessed Sacrament.[111]
That care in following prescribed regulations in connection with the oratory of
the Albayzin Residence was typical of the founder's approach. On November 30 he
sent in two further requests. The first one:

Since it is the custom of Opus Dei to observe a monthly vigil of love and repara
tion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, I request that you deign to grant the ne
cessary permission so that in all of the oratories of houses of the Work in the
Archdiocese of Granada, solemn exposition of the Blessed Sacrament may be held d
uring the night preceding the first Friday of each month.[112]

And the second:

In the oratories of houses where members of Opus Dei carry out their apostolic a
ctivity, it is the custom, out of love for our Lord who died on the Cross, to ki
ss the wooden cross always placed in these oratories. Its purpose is to increase
our love and reverence for the symbol of redemption. I therefore request that y
ou grant an indulgence each time that the wooden cross in the oratories of the c
enters where the apostolic work of the members of Opus Dei is carried out is kis
sed and an aspiration is said.[113]

Less than two weeks later, the residence in Seville was also ready. On Monday, D
ecember 10, Father Josemara arrived there, accompanied by Father Jose Luis Muzqui
z, and the next day, after the morning meditation, he celebrated the first Mass
in the oratory of Guadaira Residence. Before giving out Communion, he encouraged
those present to ask the Lord, as the disciples in Emmaus had done, "to be our
light and to remain with us."[114]
In 1945 Father Josemara made three trips to Portugal. The first, in early Februar
y, came as an unexpected result of a visit to the town of Tuy, in northwest Spai
n, where he had gone to see his good friend Jose Lopez Ortiz, who was now the bi
shop of Tuy. Sister Lucia dos Santos, one of the three Fatima visionaries, was a
t that time living in a convent there, and the bishop arranged a meeting, during
which she urged the founder to visit Portugal. He had been thinking of doing so
for some time, but as yet did not even have a passport. Sister Lucia placed a c
all to Lisbon and quickly obtained a visa for him and his companions.[115]
Joining Father Josemara and Don Alvaro were the bishop and his secretary-the foun
der's old friend Father Eliodoro Gil. They traveled by car, with (as usual) Migu
el Chornique at the wheel.
On February 5 they reached Oporto, where they stopped to see Bishop Agostinho de
Jesus Souza. Next day they were invited to lunch by Bishop Jose Alves Correia d
a Silva of Leiria, and afterward they all went to visit the newly opened Shrine

of Our Lady of Fatima. In Aljustrel, Father Josemara met with some families who h
ad taken part in those historic events, and a photo was even taken of himself wi
th the mother of the other two visionaries, Francisco and Jacinta Marto. In Fati
ma, on February 6, he prayed for the future apostolic efforts in Portugal and si
gned and dated the prologue to the fourth edition of Holy Rosary.
On February 7, in Lisbon, they met with Cardinal Manuel Goncalves Cerejeira. He
was very friendly, but, in the words of Bishop Lopez Ortiz, "did not understand
the novelty of the Work very well."[116] Father Josemara agreed to come speak wit
h him again at greater length.
In Coimbra they were received by Bishop Antonio Antunes, even though he was ill.
"He was very outgoing and affectionate and eager to help," says Bishop Lpez Orti
z. "The Father decided to start the apostolic work in Portugal in that city."[11
7]
From Coimbra they began their return trip, which took them through Oporto, Tuy,
Santiago de Compostela, Covadonga, Burgos, and Valladolid.[118]They arrived in M
adrid on February 14.
In mid-June the founder and Don Alvaro made a second trip to Portugal, staying a
week; and in the second half of September the two of them made a third trip.[11
9]
By 1946 there were already some faithful of Opus Dei living in Coimbra. As soon
as a suitable house had been found, Father Josemara asked Bishop Antunes for perm
ission to set up an oratory with a tabernacle.[120]

* * *

Father Josemara spent most of 1945 traveling from city to city, planting the Work
and its apostolate.[121] On a trip through northern Spain he sent a message fro
m San Sebastian to his sons in Bilbao, telling them that he would be with them t
he next day, October 9. They had spent most of the summer working on the setting
up of the Abando Residence and were eagerly looking forward to his visit.
Father Josemara came with Don Alvaro and Pedro Casciaro. "He had barely stepped o
ver the threshold," a witness recalls, "when he turned to Pedro and said, 'Pleas
e take out your notebook and jot down a few things.' The Father had quickly noti
ced fifteen or twenty things that were not quite right."[122]
Since the remodeling was still under way, he decided to celebrate the first Mass
in the oratory, but not leave the Blessed Sacrament reserved there. The date se
t was October 11.[123] In the middle of the Mass a team of plumbers began making
a racket with their work-the oratory windows overlooked a patio whose four wall
s amplified the noise of the workers. At Communion time he told those present th
at the noise should not be a distraction for them, since they had to sanctify th
emselves in the midst of their work.
The inauguration of the Abando Residence was followed by the inaugurations of th
e Guadaira and Albayzin residences, as well as of other centers and residences i
n university towns.[124]
An indication of the scope of Father Josemara's apostolic projects is the request
s he sent to Church authorities during the first months of 1946. On January 31 h
e sent to the archbishop of Saragossa a letter expressing his desire to launch a
postolic work there "as I am doing in other university cities of Spain," and req
uesting permission to open a student residence.[125]Similar requests went the sa
me day to the bishops of Oviedo and Murcia.[126] Two days later he wrote to the
bishop of Coimbra.[127]On February 14 he sent a request for permission to set up
a residence in Santiago de Compostela.[128] Finally, on April 4, he requested p
ermission to set up a semipublic oratory at El Rincon in Valladolid, "while cons
truction work is going on for a student residence."[129]
In May 1943, two years after the troubles in Barcelona had been at their height,
Father Josemara went there to have the satisfaction of leaving the Blessed Sacra
ment reserved for the first time in the tabernacle of El Palau.[130] In a medita
tion given to his sons before Mass, he assured them with supernatural optimism t
hat "this first tabernacle will soon be followed by some more in Barcelona."[131
]They would, he said, reap the fruits of their suffering. It was the moment for

a daring apostolate....
All the expansion done on the Iberian peninsula between 1944 and 1946 seemed to
be enough to have borne out those words. But by now members of the Work-Jose Mar
ia Albareda, Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, Jose Orlandis, Juan Jimenez Vargas, an
d Rafael Calvo Serer, among others-had gone to various countries in Europe and t
he Americas to pursue their professions. It was time, the founder concluded, to
take the expansion to the international level.
[1] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 330; see also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 3211.
[2] When in October 1940 Father Josemara asked Father Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguera
to be his confessor, he told him that he intended to make his confessions to a
son of his as soon as one was ordained. "Which was something I fully approved of
," testifies Bishop Garcia Lahiguera, "and even advised him to do" (Jose Maria G
arcia Lahiguera, Sum. 5474).
[3] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 331.
[4] See AGP, Seccin Expedientes, D-660.
[5] See ibid.
[6] See AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 44 (Jose Luis Mdzquiz).
[7] Msgr. Javier de Ayala testifies, "I recall how in 1948, when Ignacio Echevar
ria and I were ordained, although the ceremony was as private as could be-it was
in the oratory of Diego de Leon and attended just by the few people living at t
hat center-the founder did not attend then either. He greeted Bishop Casimiro Mo
rcillo, the bishop who was going to do the ordaining, and very matter-of-factly
said to him that 'as always' he would not be there. And to Ignacio and me he sai
d that during the ceremony he would be celebrating Holy Mass in the little orato
ry of the administration, praying to the Lord for us" (AGP, RHF, T-15712, p. 55)
.
[8] See Apuntes, no. 1861 (11 Feb 1944), and AGP, RHF, AVF-0079. See also Apunte
s, no. 1854 (9 Nov 1941).
[9] Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 30.
[10] AGP, RHF, T-04837, p. 15 (Rafael Escola Gil). See also Alvaro del Portillo,
Sum. 763.
[11] AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 80 (Jose Luis Muzquiz).
[12] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 763.
[13] See Ibid.
[14] See Ibid.
[15] AGP, RHF, EF-431217-1. In September he had written to Monsignor Antonio Rod
illa, "I'm really worn out and need to rest for a few days, as soon as I finish
the retreat I'm giving" (AGP, RHF, EF-430911-1).
[16] The tonsillectomy was performed on January 3 (see AGP, RHF, EF-440102-1). H
e summarized his activities of those weeks in a letter to a friend, Jose Royo Lo
pez: "Things have gotten pretty complicated: the illness of my little brother, w
hich was very serious; my two operations, on nose and throat; several trips outs
ide Madrid, when the doctors gave me the green light..." (AGP, RHF, EF-440206-1)
.
[17] AGP, RHF, EF-441008-1.
[18] AGP, RHF, D-03275.
[19] Letter 2 Feb 1945, nos.20 and 21.
[20] AGP, RHF, AVF-0079 (February 1944).
[21] AGP, RHF, EF-460119-1.
[22] AGP, RHF, EF-460124-2.
[23] Letter of Alvaro del Portillo to Salvador Canals: San Sebastian, 9 Feb 1946
.
[24] Letter of Alvaro del Portillo to Jose Orlandis: Pamplona, 10 Feb 1946.
[25] AGP, RHF, EF-460125-1.
[26] For more on this trip, see Jose Orlandis Rovira, Mis recuerdos: Primeros ti
empos del Opus Dei en Roma (Madrid, 1995), pp. 35ff.
AGP, RHF, EF-460324-2.[27]
[28] AGP, P01 1982, pp. 1366-67 [Notes taken during a get-together on June 14, 1

972].
[29] See AGP, RHF, EF-390213-7 and EF-390224-5.
[30] The dates for the retreats were, respectively, December 16-20 and December
17-21. See AGP, RHF, D-15013 and D-15014.
[31] I myself witnessed this.
[32] AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 38.
[33] See AGP, RHF, T-04945, p. 7 (Maria Teresa Echeverria).
[34] See AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 33 (Narcisa Gonzalez Guzman).
[35] AGP, RHF, D-15150.
[36] AGP, RHF, D-15152. The application is dated "Madrid, November 30,1944, Feas
t of Saint Andrew." By 1944 "La Pililla," near Avila, and by 1945 "Molinoviejo,"
near Segovia, were also being used for rest and for study weeks. Later both bec
ame retreat houses. See Francisco Ponz Piedrafita, Mi encuentro con el Fundador
del Opus Dei (1939; reprint, Pamplona, 2000), pp. 149-50. See also AGP, RHF, T-0
5848, p. 67, and T-04151, pp. 78, 83, and 87.
[37] See AGP, RHF, T-04945, p. 5 (Maria Teresa Echeverria), and T-04956, p. 16 (
Maria Dolores Fisac).
[38] AGP, RHF, T-04945, p. 7.
[39] AGP, RHF, T-04875, p. 4.
[40] AGP, RHF, T-04999, p. 11.
[41] AGP, RHF, T-04945.
[42] See AGP, RHF, T-04989, p. 23 (Narcisa Gonzalez Guzman), and T-00159, X, p.
4 (Francisco Botella).
[43] AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 17.
[44] See AGP, RHF, T-04894, p. 14 (Enrica Botella).
[45] See AGP, RHF, T-00159, XII, p. 4, and T-04989, p. 23.
[46] See AGP, RHF, T-04894, p. 21.
[47] See AGP, RHF, T-04912, p. 2.
[48] See AGP, RHF, T-04894, p. 21f.
[49] AGP, RHF, T-04912, p. 1.
[50] Ibid., p. 2.
[51] Ibid., p. 3.
[52] AGP, RHF, T-04999, p. 9.
[53] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 22.
[54] Cf. Meditation 19 Mar 1975, AGE, P09, p. 223; cf. also, RHF, T-05828 (Ramon
a Sanchez-Elvira), p. 5.
[55] Cf. Letters to Amparo Rodriguez Casado desde Burgos, in AGP, RHF, EF-390221
-1 and EF-390321-1.
[56] AGP, RHF, T-04956, p. 6 (Maria Dolores Fisac).
[57] See AGP, RHF, T-04894, p. 21 (Enrica Botella), and AGP, RHF, EF-460324-2 (a
letter from the founder to his sons in Rome).
[58] For records of the examination, see AGP, Secci6n de Expedientes, D-660.
[59] The professors included Fathers Silvestre Sancho Morales, O.P; Fernando Rod
riguez-Permuy, C.M.F.; Jose Maria Bueno Monreal; Benito Celada Abad, O.P.; Justo
Perez de Urbel, O.S.B.; and Severino Alvarez Menendez, O.P. See AGP, RHF, T0015
9, XII, p. 21 (Francisco Botella). See also AGP, RHF, EF-440828-1 and EF-4509081 (letters from the founder to Fathers Silvestre Sancho Morales, O.P, and Nicols
s Garcia, C.M.F.).
[60] The orders of porter and lector were conferred on May 8, with the founder a
ttending. The orders of exorcist and acolyte were conferred on the next day.
[61] See AGP, Seccin Expedientes, D-660.
[62] See AGP, RHF, T-00159, XII, p. 28.
[63] AGP, Seccin Expedientes, D-660.
[64] Ibid. On the occasion of the 1944 ordination, Father Josemara wrote: "There
are, however, few who understand this new pastoral phenomenon that is taking pla
ce within the Work of God: young men with university degrees and already working
in their profession, with life and all its human prospects wide open to them, w
ho go off, without any stipend, to serve all souls-especially those of their bro
thers and sisters-and to work hard, because there will hardly be enough hours in
the day for them to get their spiritual work done" (Letter 2 Feb 1945, no. 3).

[65] Letter 2 Feb 1945, no. 13. "As the ordination of the priests drew near," re
calls Francisco Ponz, "one could see that the Father was deeply moved. It was cl
early going to be a very important step in the history of the Work" (AGP, RHF, T
-04151, p. 81).
Years later the founder could say, "Now I am very happy every time sons of mine
are ordained. We have a hunger, a thirst, an absolute need for priests." See AGP
, RHF, T-05848, p. 69 (Jose Ram6n Madurga).
[66] Letter 2 Feb 1945, no. 1.
[67] Ibid., no. 7.
[68] Ibid., no. 10.
[69] Ibid., no. 11.
[70] Letter of Don Alvaro del Portillo to the members of the Work: Rome, June 29
, 1975.
[71] Ibid. In the morning of the next day, June 26, the founder went to Villa de
lle Rose, at Castel Gandolfo, to say good-bye to his daughters, since he was pla
nning to leave Rome a couple of days later. At a short get-together, during whic
h he asked them to pray for the fifty-four men who were to be ordained a few day
s later, he said to his daughters: "I'll tell you what I always tell you when I
come here: you have priestly souls. And your brothers who are laymen also have p
riestly souls. You can and should help us with those priestly souls of yours. Th
us, with the grace of God and the ministerial priesthood of those of us who are
the priests of the Work, we will carry out an effective apostolic effort" (AGP,
P02 1975, p. 601; these words were tape-recorded).
A little while later he started feeling ill and had to return to Rome. He died t
here at noon, at Villa Tevere.
[72] Apuntes, no. 1857.
[73] Apuntes, no. 1858. (Nones is one of the hours of the Divine Office.)
[74] Apuntes, no. 1859.
[75] Ibid.
[76] Apuntes, no. 1860.
[77] AGP, RHF, T-05848, p. 69 (Jose Ram6n Madurga). Before giving a homily or a
conference during those years, he would recite as an aspiration these words from
the prophet Jeremiah: "A, a, a Domine Deus! Ecce nescio loqui, quia puer ego su
m!" ("Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth":
Jer 1:6). See AGP, RHF, T-05848, p. 59.
[78] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.1247, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2741.
[79] AGP, RHF, EF-460324-2. Jesus Fontan Lobe was a navy officer; "Jesus's chief
" is a reference to Franco. And the person who arranged for Father Josemara to gi
ve this retreat was Bishop Leopoldo.
[80] Father Jose Maria Bulart Ferrandiz, who was then the chaplain of El Pardo,
says that Franco made a retreat every year, and that it was often Bishop Leopold
o who gave the conferences: see Gonzalo Redondo, Historia de la Iglesia en Espan
a,1931-1939, vol. 2, La Guerra Civil, 1936-1939 (Madrid, 1993), p. 130. Father J
osemara had known Father Bulart for a number of years: see AGP, RHF, EF-411220-1.
[81] A quite understandable reticence.
[82] See AGP, RHF, EF-640614-1.
[83] AGP, RHF, D-05226. See also AGP, RHF, D-15407 (Jose Fernandez).
[84] AGP, RHF, T-01138, p. 14.
[85] Father Josemara always "took an optimistic view of the life and death of a C
hristian who is conscious of being a child of God." Whenever he was at the bedsi
de of a dying person, says Bishop Javier Echevarria, he would speak very confide
ntly about "the God who is waiting for you, who loves you, who gave himself up s
o that you would never lose him" (Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2741).
[86] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2741.
[87] AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 39 (Jose Luis Muzquiz).
[88] AGP, RHF, D-10989. See also The Way, no. 168.
[89] Apuntes, no. 1857.
[90] See AGP, RHF, AVF-0098. On November 21,1932, he had written in his journal
(see Apuntes,no. 871), "When Jose Maria and Luis died, there came to me-through

cowardice desires to die. Why shouldn't I have to die? And despite the weight of
my sins, I saw death as a solution. I reject this-you know, my God, that I acce
pt death when and how you want it." (The references are to Father Jose Maria Som
oano and Luis Gordon.)
In the early years he kept in his room a skull, which he nicknamed the Bald Lady
, to remind him of death. His journal entry for November 24, 1932, includes this
sentence: "If you are an apostle, death-the Bald Lady-will be for you a good fr
iend that makes your path easier" (Apuntes, no. 875). See also Apuntes, no. 1710
(22 Jun 1933).
[91] Apuntes, note 659. Bishop Alvaro del Portillo (who wrote these notes of com
mentary to the Apuntes) adds here, "And then he peacefully fell asleep." See als
o Apuntes, no. 871 (21 Nov 1932), and AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 51 (Francisco Ponz).
A meditation given by Father Josemara on April 17,1948, contains this statement:
"To lead a truly priestly life, it is good often to think about death": AGP, RH
F, T-05253, p. 29 (Federico Suarez).
[92] The Way, no. 439.
[93] Apuntes, no. 1108 (7 Jan 1934); see The Way, no. 436.
[94] Apuntes, no. 23.
[95] Apuntes, no. 1647.
[96] Apuntes, no. 1741.
[97] In a notebook dated 1944, Father Jose Luis Muzquiz found the following guid
elines given by the founder regarding trips (see AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, pp. 6-7):
Purposeof the trips: Helping in the formation of the others. Informing. Directin
g and fostering the apostolates. Means Prayer: Bringing to your prayer the purpo
se of the trip, the characteristics of the people, the problems, the instruction
s you have to give. Mortification: Keeping order and using time well. [cont. pag
e 478]
Interior life: Having awareness of the presence of God, being cheerful, united..
.. Being mindful of charity, fraternal correction, obedience. (Going by the inst
ructions, and not one's own opinion, is the source of efficacy.) Norms: Not put
off to the last hour. Poverty:Common sense....
Before the trip: Thinking about the things one will need to say; reviewing the c
orrespondence from the last trip and the particular things that need to be done.
The particular tenor that needs to be given to the trip.... Notifying people in
good time; thinking if someone else will be accompanying us; asking a blessing
for the trip; not forgetting to bring people's addresses. During the trip: One n
eeds to talk with the director, with the other members of the Work, with all the
people involved. And visit the bishop, the priests one knows, friends, etc.
After the trip: Taking stock of the spiritual fruits, the problems and difficult
ies that came up; making a report; sending notes; not forgetting the pending tas
ks; turning in an expense report, etc.
[98] Since October 1943 some members of the Work had been living in Seville, but
at Casa Seras, a residence hall belonging to the School of Hispanic-American St
udies.
[99] See AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 46.
[100] There are two descriptions of this trip: one by Father Jose Luis Muzquiz (
AGP, RHF, D-15204-26), and the other by Jesus Alberto Cagigal (AGP, RHF, D-15204
27).
[101] AGP, RHF, T-06433, p. 5. "The Father," continues Miguel, "was a tireless w
orker. I don't know how we managed to keep up with his pace. Just with regard to
the traveling itself, we made some unbelievable trips. Don Alvaro, who did the
calculations of the mileage, found that the shortest distance we went in a day w
as about five hundred miles, and the longest, about seven hundred. Even by today
's standards that's a lot, but back at that time, with all the various difficult
ies there were, it was quite a feat. One day we read in the paper that during an
electoral campaign-this was probably around 1950, since Churchill was then runn
ing again after having lost in 1945-that famous British political figure had tra
veled some nine or ten thousand miles by plane. I don't know if it was myself or
Don Alvaro who pointed out that we had covered the same distance over the same
period of time, but by car. The Father was very amused at hearing this."

[102] AGP, P04 1972, p. 422.

[103] AGP, RHF, D-15204-26.
[104] This poem is "Las Ermitas de Cordoba," by Antonio Fernandez Grilo.
[105] AGP, RHF, D-15204-27.
[106] AGP, RHF, T-05855, p. 13 (Ignacio Echeverria Recabeitia).
[107] AGP, RHF, D-15204-26.
[108] See AGP, RHF, D-00074-19. See also AGP, RHF, EF-450821-1, EF-460124-1, and
EF-460124-2.
[109] See AGP, RHF, D-00074-19.
[110] AGP, RHF, D-15434.
[111] See AGP, RHF, D-15434.
[112] RHF, D-15160.
[113] RHF, D-15161. A 200-day indulgence was granted for kissing the wooden cros
s: see Reg. lib. 1.13, no. 1081.
[114] See Diary of Guadaira Residence: AGP, Sec. N.3 leg. 137-27. See also Luke
24:1329.
[115] Twenty-five years later the founder related in detail his first meeting wi
th Sister Lucia. "I was trying to keep it short, since I knew that she was a sai
nt," he said, "but far from being annoyed, she came back to tell me that Opus De
i had to go to Portugal. I answered her that we didn't have passports, but she r
esponded, 'I'll take care of that right now.' She made a phone call to Lisbon an
d got us documentation for crossing the border.
"We didn't speak at all of the apparitions of our Lady; I've never done that. Sh
e is a woman of marvelous humility. Whenever I see her, I remind her that she pl
ayed a big role in the starting of the Work in Portugal" (AGP, P01 1981, p. 1362
).
Regarding that first conversation between the founder and Sister Lucia, Bishop L
opez Ortiz relates: "Among other things, he told her more or less this: 'Sister
Lucia, with everything that people are saying about you and about me, if on top
of all that we end up in hell! ...' The Father told me that Sister Lucia became
pensive and replied with great simplicity, 'Indeed, you are right.' Josemara was
very happy to see her humility." See Beato Josemara Escriv de Balaguer: un hombre
de Dios. Testimonios sobre el Fundador del Opus Dei (Madrid, 1994), p. 236. (Her
eafter this book will be cited as Testimonios.) See also Alvaro del Portillo, Su
m. 875, and Alberto Cosme do Amaral, Sum.6791.
[116] Testimonios, p. 237.
[117] Ibid.
[118] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 857.
[119] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 627. See also AGP, RHF, EF-450908-1, EF-4509
13-1, and EF-451105-1 (letters from the founder to Claretian Father Nicolas Garc
ia, Cardinal Cerejeira, and Father Urbano Duarte).
[120] See AGP, RHF, EF-460521-1. The petition to open a student residence in Coi
mbra was sent by the founder on February 2,1946, also from Madrid. See AGP, RHF,
D-15174.
[121] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum.627.
[122] AGP, RHF, T-05848, p. 70 (Jose Ramon Madurga).
[123] See AGP, RHF, D-15433. It would, in fact, be another two months before the
place was in suitable shape for the Blessed Sacrament to be reserved there. The
Father, meanwhile, was eagerly looking forward to that day. "When will you have
our Lord in that tabernacle?" he wrote to his sons in Bilbao. "I, too, can hard
ly wait" (AGP, RHF, EF-451128-1).
[124] See Javier Echevarrfa, Sum. 2208.
[125] By February 8,1946, the permission had been granted by the archbishop (see
AGP, RHF, D-15167). On October 24, 1946, the founder requested permission to ha
ve a semipublic oratory, with a tabernacle, in the center at 3 Baltasar Gracian
Street. This permission was granted on November 8, 1946 (see AGP, RHF, D-15168);
but what is today Miraflores Residence would take several more years to be comp
leted.
[126] See AGP, RHF, D-15171 and D-15172. The development of apostolic work began
later at the universities of Murcia and Oviedo than at the other Spanish univer

sities.
[127] See AGP, RHF, D-15174.
[128] That permission was granted on February 27, 1946 (see AGP, RHF, D-15173).
The residence was that of La Estila. Already at the end of the summer of 1944, t
he founder had called for the taking of the appropriate steps toward building a
residence from the ground up.
[129] See AGP, RHF, D-15170. Before that residence was built, other centers were
opened. On April 30 the founder wrote, "Just got back from Valladolid-this morn
ing I left our Lord in the tabernacle. How marvelous-one more!" (AGP, RHF, EF-46
0324-2).
[130] See AGP, RHF, EF-430508-1. On May 25 the founder went by plane from Madrid
to Barcelona. On the 27th he went to Saragossa and from there back to Madrid; s
ee AGP, RHF, D-15200.
[131] Ponz, p. 135.
APPENDICES
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

APPENDIX 1

Diary of notes handwritten by the founder of Opus Dei from July 20 to 25, 1936 original in AGP, RHF, D-15223

Monday, 20: Worried about everyone, especially Ricardo.[1] - We pray to the Most
Blessed Virgin and to the guardian angels. - About one o'clock, I make the Sign
of the Cross, and am the first to leave.[2] - Reach my mother's place.[3]- Talk
on the phone with Juan;[4] everyone's arrived safely. - Radio news. - A bad nig
ht, hot. - All three parts of the Rosary - Don't have my breviary. - Neighbors o
n the 3rd and 1st floors. - Militia on the roof. Tuesday, 21: No Mass. - We cons
ider going to live at Ferraz. - Juan (on the phone) says no. - Juan comes over i
n the morning and in the afternoon; wants me to leave the house (tailor).[5] Nee
d to calm down his parents and ask about Carlos.[6] At two I call Juan and he te
lls me what's going on. - I call the funeral home: Santa Isabel was torched. - I
find a Roman Euchology,[7] and can pray the Office for the Dead. - All three pa
rts of the Rosary, novena to Our Lady of the Pillar. - Juan comes over. - Radio
news. - Radio Seville. Wednesday, 22: Can't say Mass, and am worried about my pe
ople. I call Juan, and he's not in (at 8). - We think they've called, and we try
again, and he's not in. - The milkman hasn't come. - Not drinking water for eve
ryone, especially our people. - I pray for the dead.[8] [Editor's note: The foun
der wrote this diary in a kind of shorthand, abbreviating many words.]
Juan comes over, and I tell him to send a postcard to Ricardo and another one to
Rafael,[9] saying to go to Ricardo's house and get Carlos out of the hospital.
- Carmen goes shopping; food is getting scarce. - The people downstairs say they
heard on the radio that the government has had Valladolid bombed and that it's
completely destroyed. - They say that priests are being taken prisoner. - Mama:
Hiding things from her (no radio, except for the Seville station); entertaining
her (I played cards, offering it to God). - Santi: If things get worse, the peop
le downstairs can eat their name.[10] - Have decided not to use the phone. Rosar
y, novena to Our Lady of the Pillar. - My mother says this will end on the feast
of Saint James.[11] - We don't believe one word they're saying on the radio. We keep looking out the patio windows: "Now the patio is empty"; "That's the por
ter." - Carmen (since there are two men) says, "Now there are two porters?"[12]
- We light candles in front of the picture of Merciful Love. - We hear, "Don't f
ire back at the snipers; wait for another chance; one bullet per target!" And "D
on't let them attack by way of Mendizabal."[13]- Can't work on my papers, becaus
e I don't have the key.[14] Thursday, 23: Spiritual communions. Three mysteries
at El Pilar.[15] No Mass! - Santiago tells me we should burn El Siglo,[16]so tha
t Mama doesn't see it. - It's awfully hot; yesterday I thought I was getting use
d to it. - Going to try to get hold of a breviary. - Didn't tell Juan to go to 1
6[17]and bring me mine, because the boy is very reluctant to go there, even thou

gh he passes right by it; says it's not prudent. - Juan comes over (at 8:30); ha
sn't been able to receive Communion, because the churches are either burned or c
onfiscated. - He's going to Isidoro's place, and then to the Residence to get my
ID card, etc. He's thinking of going to the post office, to see if there are an
y letters. - Doesn't think it's possible to bring the prayer book. - I find a mi
ssal; will say a dry Mass. - Carmen goes shopping; the convents, confiscated. In the morning, Jose Maria Albareda and Isidoro come over with Juan; they bring
me the briefcase and the keys, and a card from Ricardo. - In the afternoon, at 4
, after a truckload of men have left, we hear-along with gunshots-people shoutin
g "U.H.P "[18]-The brother of Manolo Sainz de los Terreros has been arrested. Good news about Carlos. ? Hermogenes[19] comes over (at 4:30) and gives us detai
ls: Don Ramon and Sales are in prison, at de C.[20] - A feeling of pessimism. I'm mad at my brother because he told Mama news from El Siglo (the bombing of Hu
esca). - On the patio, no one turns the radio on. - We can't get Radio Seville.
Friday, 24: No Mass! - The milkman came at 7 this morning. - Juan has come over
and stayed for a good while. 50 pesetas for the School of Medicine. - We speak o
f everyone, especially of Ricardo, and write a postcard for Valencia. - The maid
comes. - The heat is horrendous. - Prayer: to our Lord, our Lady, Saint Joseph,
guardian angels, Saint James. - Three neighbors. - Yesterday and today we didn'
t listen to the radio. - A truck with 12-or 13-year-old boys. - 5:00 in the afte
rnoon: on the roof of the Conde-Duque barracks, they've put a sheet with a red c
ross. Are they afraid of airplanes? - Worried, because Juan hasn't come; he said
he would, and I called his house 2 or 3 times and they talked with me (coal). Tonight (10:00) the nun from the apartment downstairs[21] came up to bring good
news about Paris, Italy, and Prieto. Saturday, 25: Saint James, and Spain to th
e attack![22] Juan comes over, bringing the keys to get an ID card for Barredo.
- Carmen goes shopping; the stores' stocks are running out; vouchers. - The peop
le (illi),discouraged.[23] A red cross on Buen Suceso.[24]

APPENDIX 2

Diary of Juan Jimenez Vargas, October 6 to 15, 1936 -original in AGP, RHF, D-153
47

(Written in rough draft, on two sheets with the letterhead Clinical Journal. The
sheets were left on the desk in his house in San Bernardo when he was arrested
on the 15th.)

October 6, 1936
Went to look for Barredo at 9:30. Last night Don Alejandro telephoned him, sayin
g we can meet today at nine. He spoke in a way that could have gotten him in tro
uble.
We had just arrived at his house when his sister came out in tears, motioning to
us that we needed to leave because they were making a search.
We visited Vicente. He thinks his house is not safe. He's going to speak with th
e people in the house across the street, which is the house of the Greek consul,
and ask about the psychiatric sanatorium they have in their district.
We were running late, and when we reached the home of the secretary of the Cuban
embassy, he had already left.
In the afternoon I returned to Vicente's house. The Greek consul thing is not go
ing to work out. At five a girl came over who lives nearby and knows the people
at the sanatorium. I went with her and she introduced me to the director. They h
ave no objection, but they would have to give the name to the Security Office, a
s they do with all the patients.
Late in the evening, Joaquin came over to my house. Everything is arranged. He w
ent this morning, with Infante, to Suils' sanatorium. The Father can stay there
without his name being given to the Security Office.

October 7, 1936

At 10:00 the Father and Joaquin came to my place. And then Chiqui, to go to conf
ession to the Father. Joaquin's maid said to him this morning, "Good morning, Fa
ther."
Joaquin called the hospital to have them send a car here, and we told the porter
that they would be asking for Dr. Herrero Fontana.
We've hidden the ID card in my house. Suils will surely sign the certificate wit
h a false name.
The Father says, about the underwear he's taking with him, that every item seems
to have come from a different person.
Vicente called, asking for "Dr. Vargas" and speaking to me de usted [as to a str
anger], as we had planned. If they didn't hear us laughing, they should be throw
n off track by that.

October 8, 1936
Isidoro went to see Alvaro. He's doing very well. No one saw them enter his hous
e except the porter, who is acting very different. I went with Barredo early in
the afternoon to the home of the secretary of the Cuban embassy; he either wasn'
t in or didn't want to see anyone.
I saw Selesio. They were searching for the ones from Villaviciosa, but when they
saw that the house was under the protection of an embassy, they left without do
ing a search.
Soon after I left home, Joaquin came over. Everything went very well and the Fat
her is fine.

October 9, 1936
I brought the diary to Vicente's house, because we're doing it together. I'm wri
ting it and he's putting in the things it needs-periods, accents, commas, spelli
ng corrections, etc. I was there for quite a while. We didn't do anything useful
, but we laughed a lot.

October 10, 1936

I brought Isidoro a New Testament, because in the "search" made by his mother, a
ll that could be found that wasn't burned was the "Guidebook for Sinners." (It g
ot spared because it has a red cover.)
Yesterday I was at Alvaro's house. Nothing can be done at the Mexican embassy. T
he person who was serving as liaison with the embassy was killed.
Barredo is going to go see his cousin again. He doesn't think anything can be do
ne at San Luis de los Franceses. His cousin would have told him by now if she kn
ew anything, because it's been two days since she talked to him about this.
We are a little worried about the sanatorium. They seem a bit too eager about co
llecting their payments, which doesn't give us much confidence about how safe it
's going to be there. But I already knew this, and it seems to me a reason to gi
ve it a try, since they apparently are helpful as long as they get their money.

October 11, 1936

I went with Barredo to Isidoro's house to bring him a book about calisthenics. T
he three of us went out for a walk to San Luis de los Franceses. It looks like i
t's been vacated. Apparently what was said to Barredo has to do with the hospita
l, not the school.
We still haven't heard anything about Selles. We're concerned about not being ab
le to help him, since in this epidemic of cowardly selfishness that Madrid is su
ffering from, he and the Leyva family are exceptionally generous.

October 12, 1936

I telephoned Chiqui, and they told me that he can't leave the house because he h
as a bad cold. I didn't dare try to go see him, because of their porter.
I spent the whole morning at Vicente's house.
After lunch I went to Barredo's house. I saw Selles on the street. They haven't
searched his house.
Isidoro and I kept Barredo company for a little while. Then he left for an Engli

sh class, and we spent some time in Rosales.

October 13, 1936

Before I left the house I called the doctor on duty at the sanatorium. The Fathe
r is fine. We can go see him if we want.
Barredo, Isidoro, and I spent the morning in the park, making as if we were stud
ying English.
Herrero's mother (he wasn't home) says that it would be a crazy idea to visit th
e Father-that it is understandable if he is worried, not knowing anything about
us, but that we must restrain ourselves. She's right, although I can imagine wha
t the Father must be going through, being so completely isolated.
We would love to see him, but we don't want to create new complications out of a
ffectionate foolishness. So I went to Suils' house this afternoon and told him t
hat the Father shouldn't worry about anyone, and should act as if we weren't eve
n in Madrid. No phone calls, or anything. Only if he is in any danger should the
y contact me at my home. Suils tells me that the Father has been feigning a trau
ma-induced inability to speak, and that he's now beginning to say something, jus
t a very little, so as to avoid arousing suspicion.

October 14, 1936

In the morning we were at Barredo's house. He went to see Selles. Isidoro and I
walked along the street till dinnertime. After eating I went to Isidoro's house.
Elordi came to my house while I was out.

October 15, 1936

Early in the afternoon I went to Barredo's house. We think it would be a good id
ea to speak with Elordi, to see if we could get the Father a safe-conduct pass a
s a Basque nationalist. He doesn't have to leave the sanatorium, but last night
the police went around Madrid asking for documentation in people's homes and arr
esting many people. The personal ID card is not enough; they demand evidence of
being trusted by the Popular Front....
Selles is looking for a way that the Father might be able to say Mass at his hou
se. Barredo told me this after Valdes had left, because if he heard about it he
would get frightened and throw cold water on the plan.
It is a wonderful thing, this "imprudence" of Selles. In his house, no, we can't
do it there, but I think maybe at the sanatorium we could. It would, of course,
have to be done without anybody knowing about it. A little argument took place
at Joaquin s house. His mother told me yesterday that she was praying a lot for
me because I'm taking my life in my hands by walking around on the streets so mu
ch! I told her that I must have nine lives, like a cat, and still have plenty le
ft, because with all the doctors I've been to and all the blows I've suffered in
my years, I haven't managed to use up more than four or five.

APPENDIX 3

Diary of Antonio Dalmases Esteva

extracts: original in AGP, RHF, T-08246

From the prologue (written in Barcelona in 1960)

Among the fugitives was a priest who was accompanied by seven friends. A priest
who celebrated Mass during the journey-a Mass that in my memory has forever stoo
d out from all others. A priest whose companions clearly had great respect for h
im, and who exuded a strange magnetism. A priest with whom I hardly spoke during
those days (we didn't talk while on the move), but who for some reason was the
center of attraction for all of us. We parted in Andorra, but I ran into him a w
eek later in San Sebastian, when I was praying in the Church of the Good Shepher
d. He came up behind me, put his hand on my shoulder, and told me that we would
never again be separated. From that day on, including all through the war, he wa

s my spiritual director, by mail. He cared about me-he made me study languages,

while the other soldiers were regrettably wasting their time, and was like a fat
her to me during the whole campaign. But when victory came at last, I inexplicab
ly lost track of him and heard nothing more from him directly. Until one day, tw
enty years later, when I had just lost my brother-in-law, my father, and my moth
er, and was going through a big spiritual crisis, another fortuitous event-this
time thanks to my wife-seemed to lift a veil from the mystery of my own life and
reveal a clear purpose for it. I came back into contact, and forever, with not
only that priest who had been a real father to me, but also that whole great and
marvelous Work whose initial nucleus had been that little group that accompanie
d him during our escape and whose story I recorded during those days. That pries
t was Father Escriva de Balaguer.

From the diary

Joining the expedition. There is a low whistle, answered by a similar one, and f
rom where there seemed to have been no one, some twenty men emerge. They're all
traveling like us, more or less, with big knapsacks, blankets, scarves, weatherp
roof coats, and what have you. Everyone is moving silently, in the darkness, sin
gle file, saying nothing. At the head is a guide, then us, and behind us the res
t. I can't resist turning around often to observe this spectacle. No sound can b
e heard other than that of our walking sticks hitting the earth. Following behin
d me are men and more men who, by the light of the moon, look like ghosts, they
are dressed so unusually and are so stooped over by the weight they carry on the
ir backs. We have to wind our way up the mountain, because the climb is so steep
, and below us we see a line of figures moving like a tired centipede. Apparentl
y they have already been walking for many hours (since six in the morning the da
y before, they later told me), because they look exhausted and we often have to
stop to rest. It seems that someone in the line can't keep up the pace set by th
e guide, and that's why we have to stop so often.
This daybreak I'll never forget as long as I live. We walk until the sun is star
ting to come up; just then we reach the place where we are to rest today. As we
draw near our destination the path becomes very bad; actually there is no path o
r anything; and the person in front of me bumps a stone loose and gets his foot
caught under it. It takes a long time to get him out, because the same stone his
foot is caught under is the one that's supporting him. After a lot of work we f
inally free him and do a little first aid. Luckily no real damage has been done
and he is able to keep going. From one to another the alert is passed back about
the dangerousness of that spot.
We take shelter under an enormous rock that rises to about a hundred feet above
us. From up there, a waterfall descends into a small stream far below us. The gr
ound around us is all large boulders-a very uncultivated and treacherous terrain
. We are on a platform about fifteen feet wide and about ninety feet above that
stream. Below us, coming up to our level, is an impassable slope, covered with v
egetation; above us, almost vertical rock and the sky.
Here the most moving event of the whole trip takes place: Holy Mass. On a rock a
nd kneeling down, almost prostrate on the ground, a priest with us is saying Mas
s. He doesn't say it like other priests in churches. He says the prayers out lou
d, almost crying-as are we, some of us kneeling, some lying down, others squatti
ng or standing, holding onto the rocks so as not to fall. There is no sound exce
pt the priest's voice. His clear and heartfelt words penetrate our souls. Never
have I attended a Mass like today's. I don't know if it's because of the circums
tances or because the celebrant is a saint. Holy Communion is very moving. Since
we can barely move, it is difficult for him to distribute it, even though we ar
e all gathered around the altar. We are all ragged, unshaven, uncombed, weary. O
ne fellow's trousers are torn at the knees. Everyone's hands are scratched and b
leeding. Our eyes glisten with tears we try to hold back. And there among us, in
hosts cut out with scissors, is our Lord God, presiding over our coalition and
leading us to freedom. We offer our sacrifices to him for Spain, for our parents
, for our brothers and sisters, for the family and friends we left behind, for o

ur companions groaning in the prisons. We ask that one day we might return home.
...
An abrupt change. We are hungry. We eat and then lie down to go to sleep. I can'
t sleep. Soon people are coming together to get acquainted and chat. Some have b
een on other expeditions that got close to the border but were forced to turn ba
ck when the border guards started firing. There are eight people from Madrid (am
ong them the priest who has so much impressed me-he seems to be their leader); o
ne from Valencia; four or five from Barcelona; several from the province of Leri
da; and the three of us. Everyone is very cordial. When a bottle of cognac is op
ened, it breaks, much to everyone's chagrin. Now all we have left is what I brou
ght with me. I fill the little bottle attached to my belt and serve out the rest
to everyone else. The people from Madrid give me bread while we wait for our me
al (we left our loaf at home), and so we pass the time, talking, eating, and rep
airing our equipment, until the guide comes. He is a young and resolute fellow..
.. He tells us to be ready to leave by four in the afternoon.
Before leaving we say a Rosary, praying it as we have never prayed it before, no
t even during the worst days of the persecution in Barcelona.
My new friends from Madrid are passing the time separating out the most indispen
sable items in their kits and throwing out the rest, since they can't carry it a
ll. Shirts, socks, satchels, shoes ... all left behind. Some of us avail ourselv
es of these clothes, those that we think we have the strength to carry. The prie
st encourages everyone. In all of us his company inspires confidence, because he
seems to have a mandate from God. He has a strange magnetism that has very deep
ly impressed me.

We kneel alongside the priest and give thanks to God. He gives voice to the joy
we share.

APPENDIX 4

Letter from Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay of Madrid to Dom Aurelio M. Escarre, Co
adjutor Abbot of Montserrat, May 24, 1941-AGP, RHF, D-03545-2

Dear brother in our Lord:

Many thanks for your letter of the 9th, which I received yesterday, the 23rd. I
don't know why the long delay.
I have been with you in spirit in that beloved holy house of yours, though the d
aily grind hasn't allowed me to go there in person.
Yes, I know all about the commotion being stirred up against Opus Dei in Barcelo
na. It's obvious that it is a thorn in the side of the Evil One. The sad thing i
s that people very devoted to God are the instruments of the harm being done, al
though of course putantes se obsequium praestare Deo [thinking they are pleasing
God]. I know all about it because, from the time it was founded in 1928, Opus D
ei has been so much in the hands of the Church that the diocesan ordinary, that
is to say, either my vicar general or myself, has known of and, when necessary,
guided all of its steps. Everything from its first cries to its current groaning
s has resounded in our ears-and in our hearts. Because, believe me, Most Reveren
d Abbot, the Opus has been truly Dei from its conception on through every new st
age of its development.
Father Escriva is an exemplary priest, chosen by God for the sanctification of m
any souls; humble, prudent, self-sacrificing, extremely docile to his bishop; of
outstanding intelligence and with a very solid spiritual and doctrinal formatio
n; ardently zealous; an apostle of Christian formation of young students, with n
o other aim or goal than that of preparing, for the good of our country and the
service and defense of the Church, a large number of intellectuals and professio
nals who will in the very midst of the world not only lead a life of holiness bu
t also carry out their work with the soul of an apostle.
And in the mold of his spirit has his Opus been formed. I know this not by hears
ay, but by personal experience. The men of Opus Dei (and I emphasize the word "m

en" because even the youngest among them are already men, by virtue of their rec
ollectedness and seriousness of life) are traveling a safe path not only for the
salvation of their own souls but also for doing a lot of good to innumerable ot
her souls.
This "secret association," as its detractors call it, did not come to birth with
out the blessing of the diocesan authority, and has never taken a step of any im
portance without first getting the "amen" of that approval.
The discreet reserve (never secrecy) that Father Escrivafosters in the members i
s, more than anything else, an antidote to showing off-the defense of a humility
that he wants to be a collective one, for the whole Opus, not just an individua
l one for its members. Thus it will be a more effective instrument in the aposto
late of good example and in the services that occasione data [as the occasion ar
ises] it can provide to the Church.
The cultivation of mind and heart through study of religion and practices of pie
ty is very intense; several priests of excellent spirit have assisted in this, a
lthough at first it was just Father Escriva.
In a word, I have nothing to say against that Opus. It is, I repeat, truly Dei.
And, nevertheless, it is good people who are now attacking it.
This would be cause for astonishment were it not that the Lord has accustomed us
to seeing that same phenomenon occur with other works very much his own.
Opus Dei deserves nothing but praise. But those of us who love it do not want to
see it praised or advertised. Its aim is not quantity but quality; not raking i
n a lot of people, but forming very well those whom God does bring to his Opus;
working quietly and humbly, with interior joy, with an apostolic enthusiasm that
, precisely because it does not dissipate itself in big public displays, never w
anes; endowing every profession with select groups who, without waving banners o
r doing anything to call attention to themselves, live in a holy way and foster
the good of others. That is the ambition of Opus Dei.
I am familiar with all the accusations that have been thrown at it, and I know t
hey are false. I know that some people are being persecuted, even financially, j
ust because they are believed to be in Opus Dei-and they aren't! I know that the
fathers and mothers of the students are being harassed, and that threats of act
ion by the civil authorities are being made, and that every possible means, a th
ousand tactics, are being used. The Lord will turn all this only to Opus Dei's a
dvantage; but it is sad to see good people discrediting themselves by persecutin
g something good.
Yesterday I read a letter from the superior of a Jesuit residence in which he sa
ys that it is a defamation of the Society of Jesus to claim that it is persecuti
ng Opus Dei and seeking its destruction.
Your Reverence, you know what is going on over there, so you can judge for yours
elf.
I have not gone into details because Your Reverence has not asked for them. If y
ou would like me to clarify any particular point, please let me know; I will be
very happy to explain everything. I consider it a favor from our Lord God to be
able to be of use to his Opus.
Please keep me in your prayers.
Affectionately yours in our Lord and in our blessed Lady of Montserrat,

+ The Bishop of Madrid-Alcala

Madrid, May 24, 1941

APPENDIX 5

Letter from Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay of Madrid to Dom Aurelio M. Escarre, Co
adjutor Abbot of Montserrat, June 21, 1941-AGP, RHF, D-03545-3

Reverend Father Abbot:

Yesterday I received your letter of the 15th, and I am happy to dedicate a bit o

f time to answering your questions.

Origin of Opus Dei. Some years ago Father Jose Maria Escriva came to Universidad
Central to finish his studies. I received very good reports about him, and his
conduct was exemplary. Around 1928 he came to see my vicar general, Monsignor Fr
ancisco Moran, and told him that, in the face of the need he saw for university
students to be given spiritual guidance, he felt strongly moved to dedicate hims
elf to this apostolate. If, he said, this desire was approved and blessed by the
bishop, he would see in it the will of God. After exchanging impressions about
his plans, the means he hoped to use, the promising group of students to whom he
was already giving spiritual direction, and the need he so strongly felt there
was for that apostolate, we not only approved but applauded and blessed his holy
efforts. And so the work began. He did not take one step of any importance with
out consulting with the vicar general, Monsignor Moran, through whom I knew all
about the Work, and I gave thanks to God.
Purpose. The first fruit began to appear. The students called Father Jose "the F
ather," and he imparted his fervor to them and formed them, at that perilous age
, infusing in them a profound piety, a spirit of faithful fulfillment of duty, a
nd, above all, a love for Holy Mother Church and a devotion to her hierarchy. Th
e lazy and those who don't apply themselves, the lukewarm and the willful, the b
ad students or bad Christians, these would not be at home in the group. When it
had become more numerous, a student residence was set up, under the guidance of
the Father and with the help of some of the brighter and more fervent students.
The enterprise grew, in intensity even more than in extension. Some of the bette
r formed, convinced of the usefulness of such an apostolate for the glory of God
, wished to bind themselves to the Father in order to help him. Those who had fi
nished their studies and begun to work at their professions kept in constant com
munication with him. They owed to him the best of what they had and valued, sanc
tity of life and the desire to do good to souls, each from the vantage point of
his own situation. The Father counseled them and encouraged them and went on ded
icating himself to those sons of his. The idea came up of opening residences and
academies in other places, in order to extend that fruitful work to more studen
ts; and these were set up in various university cities (Barcelona, Valencia, etc
.), under the direction of the Father and the management of those who wanted to
dedicate themselves to that beautiful apostolate. The bishop of each place, with
out whose permission and blessing he never did anything (just as in the beginnin
g, in Madrid), knew everything that was going on, and applauded and blessed it.
As the years passed, the Work in a very natural way produced more and more fruit
. Those formed in its spirit fanned out through all of Spain, more notable for t
heir solid formation than for their numbers, aflame with the desire to serve God
and supremely eager to be of service to his holy Church. The conserving of that
spirit necessitated organization, a family bonding, communication, and mutual s
upport and encouragement. That organization and family is Opus Dei. Its purpose
is to help each person attain sanctity in his profession in the midst of the wor
ld-working, always working. That is the meaning of the word "Opus." God placed m
an in paradise ut operaretur [in order that he might work]; the ideal of the Fat
her and his children is to serve God by working in a holy way in their own profe
ssions, with eyes always fixed on the defense and service of Holy Church, and wi
th a faithful and selfless submission to her hierarchy, that is, to the Pope and
to their own bishop.
Now, then, the founder has never had any intention-I know this because he has al
ways made this very clear to me of founding a religious institute. Rather, he wa
nts the members to live in the holiest possible way as laypeople. He is happy wh
en some people in contact with Opus Dei decide to join religious orders (as some
, in fact, have done-an example is the ones who joined the Hieronymites of El Pa
rral). But he has always wanted-and this, in accord with his wishes, I have full
y approved-for the organization born by God's grace in his hands always to be ma
de up of laypeople and be for laypeople. Moreover, he does not want that associa
tion as such to go beyond those purposes that he intended: namely, to form those
students in its residences and to direct and sustain them afterwards, and for t
hem to apply themselves to various good works that, while always being apostolic

, are not projects of Opus Dei as such, but are separate from it, although his c
hildren would be their life and soul.
One of the virtues that the founder is most interested in inculcating in those h
e directs is holy humility-not just personal, but also collective.He wants the W
ork not to put itself in the limelight or give itself the air of being something
important. He always urges them to work quietly, to pass unnoticed, to sacrific
e themselves in silence, to flee from the danger of vainglory, to have the soul
of an apostle but not the dressings or the halo of one. He teaches them that the
ir apostolate of good example will be more effective if they do not act conspicu
ously as members of a pious association. He does not want them to talk about him
or Opus Dei, but just to serve, as the opportunity arises. He says that for ser
ving Holy Church it is preferable that they not make a show of how much they wan
t to serve her and of the fact that they have been organized for that purpose.
Secretiveness and mysteriousness. That same spirit which is reflected in those o
ther norms having to do with Opus Dei, as such, not owning anything, or having a
ny magazine, or doing any advertising, is also manifested in not speaking about
it or praising it or making a show of being a member, or having the student resi
dences look like as if they were run by a pious entity, or saying that in this o
r that area of the country there is such-and-such a number of members, etc.
And there you have, Reverend Father Abbot, the occasion that the enemy of souls
has seized upon to accuse Opus Dei of being a secret, Masonic society; some, ind
eed, calling it a white Masonry, but others branding it as diabolic and condemne
d.
That is what its secretiveness and mysteriousness come down to-a secret and a my
stery which have never been anything of the kind to the diocesan authorities, an
d which (I know this to be true of several prelates, and it is certainly so in m
y case) these authorities have approved and commended, encouraging the founder.
And so that you, Reverend Father, can with good assurance respond to those who s
lander the Work by saying that members are forbidden to speak about it to their
spiritual directors (under threat of the severest sanctions, they go so far as t
o say), I am going to set down here, copied verbatim from its list of statutes,
the only words touching on that subject. After recommending that members not spe
ak about their apostolate to anyone who does not already know something about it
, and that they not do any consulting on it except with someone who has a good k
nowledge of it, since otherwise they will very likely get erroneous advice, it s
ays: "One should not interpret this point
as a limitation on the FULL SINCERITY with which one should open one's soul to o
ne's spiritual director, but should always be mindful that it is not easy for a
spiritual director to be able to give good advice with regard to the Work if he
is not very familiar with it."
Iconoclastic leanings! This one would be cause for laughter had it not caused th
e shedding of so many tears by mothers who have been made to believe their sons
to be irremediably condemned, just when they were beginning to be so pleased wit
h the edifying life of piety they had seen taking shape in them.
All the members have their statues, their crucifixes, their medals, just like th
e rest of us. They have in their rooms a picture of the Blessed Virgin and are a
dvised to give it an affectionate glance whenever they enter or leave. There is
nothing the least bit iconoclastic about the Work. But some spies sent ad hoc to
find out what was going on there were shocked to see a wooden cross, a large on
e, without a corpus. It is meant to remind each member of Opus Dei that the cros
s awaits him, and that he should not flinch from it or refuse to be crucified fo
r love of the One who ascended the cross for him. And those who saw that cross-i
nvitation had to have also seen, and should have reported, and those who did the
spreading of the word should have spread this, that at the foot of that cross t
here is a little plaque saying that the bishop grants a fifty days' indulgence t
o those who lovingly and devoutly kiss that holy cross and address it with the w
ords of love that Saint Andrew used when embracing his own.
Their piety is very deep and sound, entirely orthodox, and in nothing-except its
intensity-any different from that of all the Christian faithful.
So many ridiculous stories have been concocted, such as the one about Communion

taking place with perfumed hosts! I repeat that this would all be something to l
augh at, if it weren't making so many good souls cry.
Hatred for religious orders. This is one of the grossest calumnies against Opus
Dei; I guarantee you, Reverend Father, it is pure calumny. How could they love t
he Church without also loving the religious state? They love it, they venerate i
t, they proclaim it a means of salvation for those called to it by God. But they
feel that they themselves are called not to that vocation, but rather to that of
attaining sanctity in the midst of the world and carrying out their apostolate
there. This they feel and this they say, without implying the slightest disrespe
ct for the religious state. In fact, the founder himself inculcates into them th
at they must live in the world in as holy a manner as if they were religious. An
d they believe that, having been called to this kind of apostolate, they will re
nder more glory to God by following that call than they would if they were to tu
rn a deaf ear to it and become religious.
And it is only natural that, seeing the founder's zealous projects and being eag
er to put them into operation, they contemplate the glory they hope to give to G
od by means of Opus Dei.
If those who have heard about this think it implies bad will toward the religiou
s institutes, they are completely mistaken.
Connection with the Banolas affair? I don't know when the Banolas organization b
egan; a Jesuit father from Barcelona tells me he believes it was around 1932, in
which case Opus Dei began earlier, since it started in 1928. But be that as it
may, it is beyond question that the one has nothing to do with the other, since
they are poles apart. Opus Dei, from its inception, has always operated under ob
edience to diocesan authority. Father Escriva did not begin his Work until it wa
s approved and blessed by the bishop. On everything, he has consulted my vicar g
eneral or myself, and has followed whatever advice we gave him. What could this
have in common with the Banolas affair, whose characteristic note was rebellion
against ecclesiastical authority?
The approval of Opus Dei was verbal and ad experimentum from when the Work was f
ounded until this year's feast of Saint Joseph, when, its statutes having been d
rawn up, I issued a decree of approval in scriptis. I thought the time had come
to do that since, in my judgment, they now had enough experience to draw up stat
utes that had been actually lived out and were not just a product of untested id
ealism. But, I repeat, it had my approval from its birth. Father Escriva would n
ot have undertaken this apostolate without it. And it has been growing and devel
oping under my guidance and authority.
And to think, Reverend Father, that this whole storm has come about because two
or three boys who were thinking of entering religious life preferred Opus Dei on
ce they knew about it!
The disproportion between cause and effects is so great that there is no natural
explanation; we have to attribute it to God's providence. Evidently God has all
owed this to happen for his own purposes.
What is really amazing is the spirit with which the members of Opus Dei have bor
ne this great trial. I see their letters, because Opus Dei shows me everything,
and I admire and am edified by the holy joy with which they suffer for their voc
ation, which the gale only serves to embed more deeply in their souls. There is
not one complaint or word of ill will toward the religious who so harshly persec
ute them. Their greatest consolation is seeing that all the bishops in whose ter
ritories they have houses are with them; that we are encouraging and defending t
hem. God will have to reward those who arbitrantes se obsequium praestare Deo [t
hinking they are offering service to God] have pressed this war, but all that Op
us Dei wants out of it is the good that the Lord wants to draw from this tribula
tion. And it will come about.
I think, Reverend Father, that I have answered all the points in your interestin
g and appreciated letter. If you need anything more from me, don't hesitate to a
sk. And forgive me for writing at such length; next time I will try to be briefe
r.
Asking once more that you keep me in your prayers, I remain Affectionately yours
in our Lord,


+ The Bishop of Madrid-Alcala
Madrid, June 21, 1941

P.S. I'm enclosing an announcement about the residence in Madrid.

APPENDIX 6

A partial listing of the preaching engagements of the founder of Opus Dei from 1
938 to 1946

Between 1938 and 1946, in response to requests from bishops all over Spain, the
founder of Opus Dei gave many retreats, days of recollection, conferences, and s
o forth, for priests and seminarians, men and women religious, Catholic Action g
roups, and university students and professors. This, of course, was in addition
to the preaching he was constantly doing for all those connected with the aposto
lates of Opus Dei.
This partial listing is drawn from official bulletins of the dioceses, and regis
tration books of the houses, where he gave the spiritual exercises; documents in
the General Archives of the Prelature, including the "Chronology" and "Itinerar
y" of the founder of Opus Dei (AGP, RHF, D-15013 and D-15014); handwritten notat
ions in the margins of his liturgical calendars (AGP, RHF, D-05212 and D-15015);
letters of the founder, and of members of Opus Dei and others; diaries of the f
irst centers of the Work; notes and testimonies and written reports made by some
of those who attended the spiritual exercises; hotel bills and train and bus ti
ckets used by the founder; and photographic archives.

August 1938
18-25: Vitoria. Retreat for priests.
18-25: Vitoria. Retreat for the nuns at the bishop's residence.

September 1938
4-10: Vergara, conciliar seminary. Retreat for priests of the diocese of Vitoria.

June (into July) 1939

5-11: Burjasot (Valencia). Retreat for university men.
11-17: Alacuas (Valencia). Retreat for diocesan priests, at the convent of the Cat
echetical Workers.
15: Alacuas. Sermon for the Catechetical Workers.
24-1: Vergara (Guipuzcoa). Retreat for seminarians about to be ordained for the di
ocese of Vitoria.

July 1939
2-8: Vitoria. Retreat for university professors.
5: Vitoria. Sermon for the nuns of Santa Ana.
20: Avila. Meditation at the Monastery of Santa Teresa.
23: Avila. Meditation at the Monastery of Santa Teresa.

September 1939
10-16: Burjasot. Retreat for university men.
14: Burjasot. Day of recollection for Young Women of Catholic Action.
15: Burjasot. Sermon for the nuns.

January 1940

11: Madrid. Day of recollection for diocesan priests, at the parish of Santa Cruz.

February1940

4-10: Madrid. Retreat for diocesan priests, at the Paulist monastery on Garcia de
Paredes Street.

March 1940
7: Madrid. Day of recollection for diocesan priests, at the parish of Santa Cruz.

April 1940
7: Alacuas. Day of recollection for university men, at the convent of the Catechet
ical Workers.
9-13: Madrid. Retreat for diocesan priests, at the Paulist monastery on Garcia de
Paredes Street.

May 1940
5: Madrid. Day of recollection for university men in Catholic Action, at the churc
h of the Sisters of Saint James.
11: Saragossa. Day of recollection for the directors of Young Women of Catholic Ac
tion.
26: Alacuas. Day of recollection for university men, at the convent of the Cateche
tical Workers.

June 1940
2-8: Madrid. Retreat for diocesan priests, at the Paulist monastery on Garcia de P
aredes Street.
23: Madrid. Day of recollection for university men in Catholic Action, at Chamarti
n.
29: Valladolid. Day of recollection for university men in Catholic Action, at Our
Lady of Lourdes High School.

July 1941
1-7: Avila. Retreat for diocesan priests, at the seminary.
21-26: Madrid. Retreat for university men in Catholic Action, at the Orti Residenc
e, on Narvaez Street.

August 1940
1-9: Leon. Retreat for diocesan priests, at the seminary.

September 1940
1-7: Madrid. Retreat for university women, at the convent of the Reparatrix Sister
s.

October (into November) 1940

27-1: Saragossa. Retreat for the directors of Young Women of Catholic Action.

November 1940
2-9: Valencia. Retreat at the major seminary.
7: Valencia. Sermon for the nuns working at the seminary.
13-20: Madrid. Retreat at the major seminary.

December 1940
19: Madrid. Talk at the ceremony of a sister's taking of the habit, at Santa Isabe
l School.

January 1941
12: Madrid. Day of recollection for university men in Catholic Action, at Del Pila
r High School.
19: Valencia. Day of recollection, at the major seminary.
20-25: Alacuas. Meditations for priests from all over Spain, during a week for Pri
est Assistants of Catholic Action, at Immaculate Conception House.
26: Valencia. Day of recollection for university men, at the residence on Samanieg
o Street.


March (into April) 1941
29: Valencia. Day of recollection for the seminarians at Patriarch Preparatory Col
lege.
30-April 5: Alacuas. Retreat for Young Women of Catholic Action, at the convent of
the Catechetical Workers.

April 1941
21: Lerida. Retreat for diocesan priests. (On April 22 his mother, Doa Dolores Alba
s, died.)

June (into July) 1941

1-7: Burlada (Navarre). Retreat for diocesan priests.
15-21: Burlada. Retreat for diocesan priests.
22-28: Burlada. Retreat for diocesan priests.
29-July 5 Burlada.: Retreat for diocesan priests.

July 1941
9-15: Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Diego de Leon Street residence.
18-24: Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Diego de Leon Street residence.
25-31: Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Diego de Leon Street residence.

August 1941
5-12: Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Lagasca Street residence.
13-20: Valencia. Retreat for university men, at the Samaniego Street residence.
23: Jaca (Huesca). Conference for university men in Saragossa, during the universi
ty's summer session.

September 1941
2-8: Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Diego de Leon Street residence.

October 1941
13-18: Lerida. Retreat for diocesan priests, at the seminary.
16: Lerida. Sermon for the young members of Catholic Action.
20-25: Lerida. Retreat for diocesan priests, at the seminary.
23: Lerida. Sermon at a retreat given by Father Angel Morta, for young men.
Sermon for the nuns working at the seminary.

December 1941
14-20: Valencia. Retreat for university women in Catholic Action, at the convent o
f the Sisters of Domestic Service.

February 1942
1: Madrid. Sermon at Santa Isabel School (on the occasion of Mother Nieves' golden
jubilee).

March (into April) 1942

25-29: Madrid. Retreat for the teachers at the Ramiro de Maeztu Institute.
28-April 1 Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Jenner Street residence.

May 1942
8: Avila. Sermon for ordinands, at the seminary. Another sermon for all the semina
rians.

June (into July) 1942

30-July 7: Segovia. Retreat for the clergy of the diocese.

July 1942
8-15: Segovia. Retreat for the clergy of the diocese.
9: Segovia. Day of recollection for the clergy of the city.


August 1942
6-13: Madrid. Retreat for university women, at the Jorge Manrique Street residence
.

September 1942
4-10: Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Diego de Leon
Street residence.

October 1942
4-10: Carabanchel (Madrid). Retreat for the clergy of the diocese of Madrid, at th
e convent of the Sisters of the Pontifical Crusade.
8: Carabanchel. Sermon for the Sisters of the Pontifical Crusade.

November 1942
2-8: Segovia. Retreat for Hieronymite monks, at the Monastery of Our Lady of El Pa
rral.

December 1942
16-20: Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Diego de Leon
Street residence.
17-21: Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Jenner Street residence.

February 1943
14: Madrid. Day of recollection for university women, at the Jorge Manrique Street
residence.

March (into April) 1943

27-April 2 Madrid.: Retreat for university women in Catholic Action, at the retrea
t house of the Sister Servants of the Sacred Heart, on Martinez Campos Street.
28-April 3: Madrid. Retreat for young women in the parish of Buen Suceso.

April 1943
13-17: Madrid. Retreat for men in the parish of Buen Suceso.

July 1943
25: Madrid. Day of recollection for young members of Catholic Action in the parish
of El Salvador.

August 1943
20-26: Madrid. Retreat for the Piarist fathers at Saint Joseph Calasanz High Schoo
l.

September 1943
4-10: Madrid. Retreat for university women, at the Jorge Manrique Street residence
.

December 1943
12: Madrid. Day of recollection for university men, at the Moncloa residence.
27-29: Madrid. Spiritual direction for the Conference on the University Apostolate
for university professors involved in Catholic Action.

March 1944
4-7: Madrid. Retreat for university men, at the Moncloa residence.
12-17: Madrid. Retreat for university women, at the Jorge Manrique Street residenc
e.

April 1944
3-8: Madrid. Retreat for university women, at the Jorge Manrique Street residence.

May 1944
13-20: El Escorial (Madrid). Retreat preceding reception of the tonsure, for Opus
Dei s first three candidates for the priesthood.

June 1944
15-20: Retreat for university women, at the Jorge Manrique Street residence.

October 1944
3-11: El Escorial. Retreat for the Augustinians at the Monastery of St. Lawrence.

February 1945
18-24: Madrid. Retreat for young men in Catholic Action, at the retreat house of t
he Sister Servants of the Sacred Heart.

March 1945
2-6: Salamanca. Retreat for university men in Catholic Action.
3: Salamanca. Conference at the seminary.
5: Salamanca. Sermon at the university residence.
5: Conference for the Propagandistas [a Catholic Action organization].
6: Salamanca. Sermon for the Josephine Diocesan Workers.
12-18: Madrid. Retreat for professors, in the Oratory of the Knight of Grace.

April 1945
22:: Madrid. Day of recollection for university men, at the Moncloa residence.

April 1946
7-12: Madrid. Retreat for the Chief of State [Franco], in El Pardo Palace.

September 1946
21-27: Molinoviejo (Segovia). Pre-ordination retreat for six members of Opus Dei.

APPENDIX 7

Apostolic trips made by the founder of Opus Dei through the Iberian Peninsula, 1
939-1946

1939

1. Daimiel: April 19-20.

2. Valladolid - Burgos: May 31. 3. Valencia: June 5-17.
4. Vergara - Vitoria - Saragossa: June 22 to July 12.
5. Avila: July 19-25.
6. Valencia: September 5-20.
7. Valladolid: November 30 to December 2.
8. Salamanca: December 8-10.
9. Saragossa - Barcelona - Valencia: December 28, 1939, to January
5, 1940.

1940

10. Valladolid: January 27-28.

11. Valencia: January 31 to February 2.
12. Avila - Salamanca - Valladolid - Burgos - Vitoria ? San Sebastian - Vitoria
- Saragossa - Vitoria - Bilbao - Valladolid: February 15 to March 4.
13. Saragossa: March 15-17.
14. Saragossa - Barcelona - Valencia: March 29 to April 7.
15. Valladolid: April 23-27.
16. Valladolid: May 1-2.
17. Saragossa - Barcelona: May 10-15.

18. Valencia: May 25-26.

19. Valladolid: June 8-9.
20. Valladolid - Avila: June 27 to July 8.
21. Barcelona: July 27-29.
22. Leon: July 31 to August 10.
23. Valencia: September 17-23.
24. Saragossa: September 26-28.
25. Valladolid - Vitoria - Pamplona: October 11-18.
26. Saragossa - Valencia: October 26 to November 10.
27. Valladolid: November 20-24.
28. Valencia: November 26 to December 3.

1941

29. Valencia: January 18-27.

30. Valladolid - Bilbao - Vitoria: March 9-13.
31. Valencia: March 26 to April 7.
32. Vitoria - Pamplona - Valladolid: April 13-16.
33. Saragossa - Lerida: April 19-22.
34. Barcelona: May 21-23.
35. Valladolid - Avila: May 25-27.
36. Pamplona - Vitoria - Valladolid: June 1-9.
37. Valencia: June 11-13.
38. Pamplona - Valladolid: June 15 to July 8.
39. Valencia - Saragossa - Jaca - Pamplona - Vitoria - San
Sebastian: August 13-31.
40. Saragossa - Lerida - Saragossa: October 12-27.
41. Valencia: December 13-23.

1942

42. Vitoria: February 17-20.

43. Valencia: March 6-9.
44. Valladolid - Leon - Valladolid: April 1-7.
45. Avila - Valladolid: May 6-12.
46. Valladolid: May 21-22.
47. Segovia: July 1-7.
48. Segovia: July 9-15.
49. Barcelona: July 22-24.
50. Vitoria - Bilbao - Pamplona - Saragossa: July 27-31.
51. Vitoria - Pamplona - San Sebastian: September 10-24.
52. Segovia: November 2-8.

1943

53. Valladolid - Burgos: March 22-24. 54. Barcelona: April 10-13.

55. Valladolid - Salamanca: May 19-20.
56. Barcelona - Saragossa: May 25-28.
57. Valladolid: June 8.
58. Burgos - Vitoria: July 2-3.
59. Valladolid: September 26.
60. Barcelona: September 28 to October 1.
61. Seville: December 14-18.

1944

62. Valencia: March 22-25.

63. Salamanca: April 25-27.
64. Valladolid: September 9-12.
65. El Escorial: October 3-11.


1945

66. Valladolid: January 29-31.

67. Portugal: February 3-9.
68. Santiago de Compostela - Valladolid: February 10-14.
69. Salamanca: March 1-7.
70. Seville - Jerez - Cadiz - Malaga - Cordoba - Jaen ? Granada - Almeria - Murc
ia - Alicante: March 27 to April 5.
71. Valladolid: April 24.
72. Valladolid: April 30 to May 3.
73. Saragossa - Barcelona - Valencia: May 14-19.
74. Portugal: June 12-20.
75. Valladolid: June 23-24.
76. Seville: June 25-28.
77. Portugal: September 16-27.
78. Santiago de Compostela - Oviedo - Bilbao - San Sebastian - Pamplona: Septemb
er 28 to October 1.
79. San Sebastian - Bilbao: October 7-14.
80. Valladolid: October 29-31.
81. Cordoba - Seville: December 9-12.

1946

82. Valladolid: January 4-5.

83. Seville - Granada - Murcia - Valencia - Barcelona: January 22-28.
84. Valladolid: April 5-6.
85. Valladolid: April 29-30.
86. Saragossa - Barcelona: May 28 to June 1.
[1] Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, who was in Valencia at the outbreak of the war.
He had gone there to start a student residence similar to the DYA Residence.
[2] The founder was at the DYA Residence, at 16 Ferraz in Madrid, which was just
across the street from the Montana Barracks.
[3] On Rey Francisco Street, three blocks from the DYA Residence.
[4] Juan Jimenez Vargas.
[5] Father Josemara needed to get some nonclerical clothes.
[6] Probably Carlos Fernandez Vallespin, Ricardo's brother.
[7] A devotional book containing the liturgical prayers for Sundays and the prin
cipal feasts of the year.
[8] He was offering for everyone, especially members of the Work, the sacrifice
of not drinking water.
[9] Rafael Calvo Serer.
[10] The surname of the downstairs neighbors was Paniagua-"Bread and water."
[11] That is to say, by July 25 everything would be over and peace would return.
[12] Transcription (of "pr") is uncertain.
[13] These were orders given to the troops and militiamen patrolling the streets
. Mendizabal was the next street over.
[14] The key to the trunk where the papers of the Work were kept.
[15] Transcription uncertain. "Mis" could stand for "misterios" (mysteries of th
e Rosary), or for "misas" (Masses) prayed or celebrated spiritually in the Basil
ica of Our Lady of the Pillar.
[16] The newspaper El Siglo Futuro.
[17] 16 Ferraz Street, the DYA Residence.
[18] "Union de Hermanos Proletarios" (Union of Proletarian Brethren), an organiz
ation of the Popular Front.
[19] Hermogenes Garcia, one of the women of the Work. During the war she served
as the link between the founder and the other women of Opus Dei in Madrid.
[20] "Don Ramon" is probably a reference to Ramon del Portillo Pardo, Don Alvaro

's father. It is not known who "Sales" or what "de C." was.
[21] A member of the Paniagua family.
[22] Ancient Spanish war cry. July 25 is the feast of Saint James.
[23] "Illi": Latin for "the others."
[24] A church two blocks from Doa Dolores's home.
TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS

AGP ? General Archive of the Prelature (Archivo General de la Prelatura)

Apuntes ? Personal Notes (Apuntes intimos)

AVF ? Assorted writings of the Founder (Autografos Varios del Fundador)

D ? Document

EF ? Personal letters of the Founder (Epistolario del Fundador), cited by number

IZL ? Section of AGP corresponding to the Servant of God Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma

Letter ? Letters written to all the members of the Work, cited by date and secti
on number

P01, P02 etc ? Collections of printed documents (sections within AGP)

PM ? Madrid Process of beatification (Proceso Matritense), followed by folio num

ber

PR ? Roman Process of beatification (Proceso Romano), followed by page number

RHF ? Historical Register of the Founder (Registeo Hist6rico del Fundador [secti
on within AGPI)

Sum.? Summarium of the Cause of beatification and canoni?zation. Positiosuper vi

ta et virtutibus, Rome, 1988. The name of the witness, followed by the correspon
ding section number of the Summarium.

T ? Testimonial
1. The Founder in Rome

1. Don Alvaro's second trip to Rome

2. "New forms" of Christian life
3. A night of prayer
4. The search for a canonical solution
5. Real poverty / The secular institutes

* * *

1. Don Alvaro's second trip to Rome

In the spring of 1945 peace returned to Europe as a result of the Allied victory
, but many countries continued to suffer internal instability and violent ideolo
gical conflicts. The Marshall Plan soon went into operation, bringing reconstruc
tion and economic development to a large part of the war-devastated continent; y
et Spain, severely damaged by its own civil war and unable to rebuild during the
Second World War, found itself ostracized from the international community by t
he great powers. Left with only its own scarce economic resources (it had neithe
r oil supplies nor raw materials nor sufficient agricultural output to stave off
starvation), the country was hard pressed to survive.
The problem was that Franco's Spain was viewed as a totalitarian dictatorship, w

ith a recent history of friendly relations with the Axis countries. In consequen
ce, the United Nations recommended that ambassadors be recalled from Spain, and
a number of countries complied after December 1946.[1] Earlier, on February 2, t
he French border had been closed to Spaniards.[2]
The war years had other results. The College of Cardinals, which was supposed to
have seventy members, had been reduced to a little over half that number. Only
four of the men whom Pope Pius XII named to fill the thirty-two vacancies at the
end of 1945 were Italian. For the first time in centuries, non-Italians were a
majority.
The conferring of the cardinals' hats was set for February 21, 1946,[3] and a Sp
anish pilgrimage to Rome, with the bishop of Madrid presiding, was organized. Th
e pilgrims traveled from Barcelona to Rome's port of Civitavecchia on the J.J. S
ister. They returned on February 24.
Don Alvaro and Jose Orlandis went to the port of Barcelona to meet the bishop, L
eopoldo Eijo y Garay, and he filled them in on the latest news and the impressio
ns he had picked up in Rome.[4] Late that night, the eve of his own departure fo
r Rome, Don Alvaro wrote the Father a note that concluded: "Give us your blessin
g! You already know how much I think of you and how your son Alvaro has to pray
for you. On the 26th, God willing, we will telegraph you from Genoa."[5]
A week earlier, Salvador Canals had found an apartment with balconies and window
s overlooking the Piazza Navona; it could not have been more centrally located.
It had a hallway, a small living room, a good-sized dining room, and some bedroo
ms, although one was crammed with the former tenant's furniture.
Once he arrived, Don Alvaro had scarcely had a moment to rest before writing to
Madrid a letter of several pages in a very small script?that began with the stor
y of his arrival in Rome.

Rome, March 2,1946 Dear Father,

Here comes the first letter of this second stage in Rome. We are writing from ou
r apartment at 49 Corso del Rinascimento, which Salvador providentially obtained
....
The boat trip was wonderful. We left at noon on the 25th with all our luggage, a
nd reached Genoa on the 26th, at three in the afternoon. The consul and Salvador
were waiting for us. Despite the consul's protests, we left for Rome in a Fiat
driven by its owner, a count who is a friend of Salvador's. This was at about si
x in the evening. To save time, we went through the Bracco without waiting for a
police escort. The count had provided himself with a rivoltella(a revolver). We
could not have done much, but nothing happened.
We had supper in La Spezia, and despite being told again that it was very danger
ous, we continued on, hoping to make the trip by night and arrive in time to see
the Spanish cardinals, who were to leave Rome early on the first. But we starte
d getting flat tires; the two jacks that we had broke; and, finally, five miles
from Pisa, we had another flat. Since it was night, no one would stop to lend us
a jack or do anything else, so we securely shut ourselves up in the car to slee
p. Maybe someone would help us when day came. We did not know we were so close t
o Pisa. And not until the next day did we learn that while we were sleeping, som
e bandits robbed a truck just half a mile from us, and took off with it, leaving
its drivers tied to trees.
At daybreak we finally got help, and I celebrated Mass in Pisa?my first Mass in
Italy?and we went on after the tires were fixed. But to no avail: breakdowns and
more breakdowns. Instead of reaching Rome on the morning of the 27th, we arrive
d on the 28th, too late to have supper.[6]
Several pages follow relating, with a wealth of detail, how he obtained letters
of commendation from the cardinals, most of whom, as Bishop Leopoldo had told th
em in Barcelona, had their bags packed and were getting ready to leave.
First, they got letters with no difficulty, from the three Spaniards? the primat
e of Toledo and the cardinals of Tarragona and Granada. Then they turned to the
rest of the cardinals still in Rome. Of these, Cardinal Manuel Goncalves Cerejei
ra, of Lisbon, was the first to provide a letter, doing so without even being as
ked. "I too must give you one!" he said. Then his secretary, a Father Corneira,

took the initiative in obtaining a letter from Cardinal Teodosio Clemente de Gou
veia, of Lorenzo Marques.
Don Alvaro's meeting with Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini of Palermo was notably warm.
When he said that the Cardinal probably would not remember him, since when they
last met he'd had a moustache and been dressed as a layman, the cardinal express
ed great happiness and publicly praised the Work and, having met Jose Maria Alba
reda and Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, some of its members. "You know already," h
e insisted, "that wherever I am, the Work is. You must come to Palermo."[7]
Don Alvaro decided to ask letters of commendation from all the cardinals in whos
e dioceses any member of the Work had carried out any apostolate, even the humbl
e first efforts of someone doing research or studying on scholarship in a foreig
n country. He wrote the founder: "It is possible that we will get commendatory l
etters from the cardinals of Berlin, Cologne, Westminster, Palermo, and perhaps
Milan and New York. With those of Toledo, Tarragona, Granada, Seville (his lette
r hasn't arrived yet!), and Lisbon, that makes 11 out of the 69 in the world. No
t bad, although a few have turned us down."[8]
Don Alvaro had set up interviews for March 3 with some of the cardinals still in
Rome. (Cardinals Francis Spellman of New York and Bernard Griffin of Westminste
r, who would no doubt have provided letters, had to leave too soon to be asked.)
In this international environment, Italian was the most helpful language, and th
is was a tongue in which Don Alvaro was not particularly fluent. He soon conclud
ed that it was obligatory in Rome. "One can see," he wrote the Father, "that one
has no choice but to speak Italian if one wants to be understood by all these p
eople. I have tried to speak it from the first day."[9] But when he and Salvador
showed up for their March 3 appointment with the vicar general of Cologne, he h
ad to fall back on French. Despite his best efforts, after half an hour the vica
r still did not understand why his cardinal should provide a letter. Apparently
to show good will however, he invited them in for a minute to kiss His Eminence'
s ring. To the vicar's surprise, the minute became an hour and a half.
The conversation took place in the office of the cardinal, Joseph Frings. It beg
an with a discussion of the language they would use. Cardinal Frings knew German
, Italian, and Latin. Given the choices, Don Alvaro offered to speak in either L
atin or his "three-day-old Italian." Cardinal Frings wisely opted for Latin.
When Don Alvaro saw, from the cardinal's questions, that he understood the Work
perfectly, he turned to the purpose of their visit. "Habemus aliquas Litteras Co
mmendaticias ... fere omnium Episcoporum Hispaniae et etiam alicuius Cardinalis
Lusitaniae, Italiae ..." At this point Salvador, as if to corroborate what Don A
lvaro was saying, pulled out of his briefcase a stack of papers. Cardinal Frings
looked surprised and exclaimed, "Sed insatiabiles estis!"[10]
"I answered him," writes Don Alvaro, "that it was usual to bring four or five co
mmendatory letters for the decretum laudis, and therefore his would not material
ly affect that matter. But since the Work was in fact present and active in Germ
any, and since if Cardinal [Michael von] Faulhaber were in Rome he undoubtedly w
ould give us a letter, and since, above all, 'esset nobis gaudium magnum Littera
m aliquam alicuius Episcopi Germaniae possidere'..."[11], Happy to oblige, the c
ardinal wrote his letter.
While there were obvious limits to the number of foreign prelates who could be a
sked for letters of commendation, things were different in regard to Spain. The
founder had for years been going from one diocese to another and speaking with b
ishops. Now he set about obtaining letters from them. In some cases this had to
be done in stages: first, an in-depth conversation with the bishop about the can
onical situation of the Work; then a request that he write a letter; finally, ma
king sure it got sent. This was sometimes not easy. Illness, travel, work, or we
ll-meaning forgetfulness might result in delays? until Father Josemaria refreshe
d the bishop's memory, either directly or through the good offices of friends or
acquaintances, like the bishop of Tuy, the abbot of Montserrat, or Father Eliod
oro Gil.[12] This is why a project begun in December of 1945 dragged on until th
e following June.
Don Alvaro had brought with him to Rome a dozen or so letters. March brought a n
umber of others.[13] On March 25, Father Josemaria wrote to Bishop Jose Lopez Or

tiz: "It's a shame we can't get together to talk, so that you would understand t
he need for many 'com-mendatories.' Thanks be to God, we have received them from
Portuguese and Italian prelates and from all the Spaniards we have approached."
[14] There were already more than thirty commendatory letters from the Spanish b
ishops when the members of Opus Dei in Rome made seven copies of each in order t
o make up booklets for the seven consultors of the Curia. One of them commented,
"You're really pushing!" But Don Alvaro said in a letter to the Father, "It's t
oo bad we don't have all the commendatories!"[15]
Like Cardinal Frings, the Father may well have thought his sons in Rome insatiab
le. If so, he kept it to himself, while continuing to seek letters from bishops
who had not yet responded. On April 14, he wrote Bishop Lopez Ortiz: "Pardon my
persistence. Those in Rome are urging me to obtain more commendatories.... I wou
ld like to know if those good gentlemen in Leon, Orense, and Guadix are breathin
g. Frankly, it won't bother me too much if they refuse, although I don't want th
at to happen. Let me know right away what the situation is."l[16]
A month later Don Alvaro wrote to him, "The commendatory letters have made up a
marvelous book of a hundred pages."[17]And letters kept coming. The last ones?th
ose from the bishops of Leon, Ibiza, Plasencia, and Vic?arrived in the middle of
June.[18]

2. "New forms" of Christian life

Clearly the founder could not fully agree with the contents of the decree establ
ishing the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, since it did not altogether accur
ately express the Opus Dei's real nature?its universal character?and so was not
an adequate instrument for its development. Having obtained the incardination of
priests of Opus Dei in the new Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, Father Josem
aria felt obliged to explain why this canonical garb did not really fit. "For th
ese reasons, among others," he wrote his children, "we cannot in conscience acce
pt as definitive and unchangeable what has been achieved thus far. We have to mo
ve ahead and improve on this until we have a framework that authentically safegu
ards what God wants of us."[19]
There was another weighty reason, too, recorded in the solemn public documents o
f the Holy See: The "opposition by the good" had not ceased.[20] On the contrary
, it was threatening to spread. Father Josemaria wrote of this with much pain an
d delicacy to his good friend Father Roberto Cayuela, S.J.[21]
Rumors and gossip about the Work had reached Rome. The letters of commendation w
ere the answer. They reflected the universal nature of this enterprise which ext
ended to people in all walks of life and in various countries. At the same time,
the prelates made it clear that Opus Dei members were fully obedient to the Chu
rch's hierarchy, and with their specifically apostolic professional work, were p
erforming a direct service to the local churches. All of this reinforced the pet
ition to the Holy See to grant Opus Dei pontifical status in view of its governm
ent, nature, and purposes.
In his second week in Rome, considering the business of the commendatory letters
completed, Don Alvaro visited the Sacred Congregation for Religious, there bein
g no place else where this canonical matter could be handled. Considering that i
mpressive collection of commendatory letters, he did not anticipate a problem. Y
et the petition ended up being a bone of contention?not because of substance, bu
t for procedural reasons. Some consultors thought Opus Dei's juridical structure
fitted into the format of the Code of Canon Law as it stood. Others, seeing Opu
s Dei as a new form of apostolate, argued for placing it within a framework prop
er to such new forms. The basic problem, for better or for worse, was the lack o
f a specific legal framework.[22]
Also in March, Don Alvaro, leaving the canonical matter in the hands of the cons
ultors of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, turned to another problem: hous
ing. Sooner or later, they would have to leave that apartment because they did n
ot have a lease. Still, this was an ideal time to acquire a villa or large apart
ment in Rome. Prices had fallen through the floor?and Opus Dei was short on mone

y.
"We are now looking at houses," Don Alvaro writes to the Father on March 27. "We
are going on very long walks, and thus making good use of the time while the pe
nding petitions get resolved." About the matter before the Curia, he says: "I th
ink we'll need to stay here at least until Easter. Actually, the thing is going
very well, but it is necessary that it be put through quickly and with no modifi
cations, and there's the rub. There are things they have taken 'great interest'
in (!) which have been sleeping the sleep of the just for the last two years."[2
3] One consultor commented to him, he reports, that if the founder "had kept abr
east of the canonical mechanics of the so-called new forms, he would have worded
some points of the Constitutions differently."[24] Still: "In any case, we have
to be thankful to God? they told me their usual way is to revise all, or almost
all the articles, then approve it like that, revised."
Three days before Don Alvaro wrote his letter, Father Josemaria began a long let
ter to his sons in Rome that was not finished until April 30. It oscillates betw
een hope and growing impatience. Until then, he had taken it for granted that Do
n Alvaro's efforts would meet with quick success and he would be back in Madrid
in a few weeks. Optimistically but reasonably, he supposed that the commendatory
letters that hadn't yet arrived "could nonetheless be assembled later, with all
the others, in book form, even though they will not be needed for the decree."[
25]
That was on the night of March 24. Next day it was a different story. A telegram
arrived from Don Alvaro that gave the Father no grounds for optimism. Basically
, he had been told by the Curia that "it was necessary to wait."[26]
That was troubling. On March 26 the Father wrote, "If things are delayed, I'm th
inking it might be a good idea for the little priest to come here to exchange im
pressions with me for a week, and then return right away to Rome."[27]
Apparently the Father had begun to suspect that things were getting complicated.
[28] But this was not the time for the "little priest," Don Alvaro, to be away f
rom Rome, since he had requested, through Monsignor Montini, an audience with Po
pe Pius XII. The appointment was set for Wednesday, April 3, at noon.
Don Alvaro went to the audience prepared to ask?in Italian? whether His Holiness
would mind if he spoke in Spanish. "But when I saw him," he says, "I forgot wha
t I was going to say, and I asked him in Spanish. And the Holy Father answered i
n a South American accent, 'Sure, why not?'"[29]
Don Alvaro told Pope Pius that he had had the happiness of being received by him
in 1943. Now he had been sent to Rome by the founder of Opus Dei to submit a re
quest for its decretum laudis along with forty letters of commendation.
As he spoke of how Opus Dei was extending its presence and apostolate, the Pope
was particularly impressed at hearing that its members were doing apostolic work
among intellectuals. Many were professors at state universities, living as ordi
nary persons in the world and seeking holiness there. "What a joy!" Pope Pius ex
claimed. Suddenly his aquiline face, lined by the worries of the last several ye
ars lit up. Fixing his gaze on Don Alvaro, he said: "Now I remember you perfectl
y, as if I were seeing you right now as you were then?in uniform, with medals an
d everything. Yes, yes; I remember very well."[30]
Don Alvaro went on to explain the difficulties that had come up in the Sacred Co
ngregation for Religious.[31] Then, displaying what he himself regarded as "unhe
ard-of boldness," he says, "I added to the Holy Father that Father [Arcadio Mari
a] Larraona had advised us to pray hard to the Lord that the decree come out as
soon as possible, and even that the Holy Father would receive him without his ha
ving to request an audience."[32]
Then, on behalf of the founder, he gave the Holy Father copies of Holy Rosary, T
he Abbess of Las Huelgas, and The Way, all specially bound in antique parchment,
with elegant clasps, gold leaf edging, and the papal coat of arms. Pope Pius op
ened The Way and read some points. "They seem very good for doing meditation," h
e commented.[33] Before saying good-bye, Don Alvaro took advantage of the opport
unity to speak of The Way and to say how he and all members of the Work had lear
ned from the founder to be good children of the Pope.

* * *

What were these "new forms" the Curia consultors spoke of?
The nineteenth century had seen the emergence of associations of Christian life
and apostolate that, lacking common life or the religious habit or at least one
of the three public vows, did not conform to the strict canonical concept of the
"states of perfection." These institutions, with diverse purposes and with a pr
esence in many countries, were recognized by diocesan authorities as pious union
s, sodalities, or third orders. Because of their novelty they were called "new f
orms of Christian life," "new forms of perfection," "new forms of apostolate," "
new forms of religious life," or simply "new forms."[34]
Those that provided common life for their members were treated in Title 17 of Bo
ok Two of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, as societies of common life without vows.
The rest had no obvious canonical niche, raising questions as to where they fit
within the structure of the Roman Curia, in the absence of norms that would cove
r the particular situation of each one. There was an urgent need to fill this ga
p in the Church's law. In 1934, Monsignor Vincenzo La Puma, at that time secreta
ry of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, decided to recognize these "new for
ms." In 1945 a commission was formed to prepare procedural norms for approving t
hem.[35]
As we have seen, in 1943 the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross obtained the Hol
y See's nihil obstat as an institution of common life without vows, with "common
life" used loosely, and with the specification that members were not Religious.
In this way the Priestly Society obtained diocesan recognition together with a
broad freedom to organize itself in accord with its own rules and the canons of
Title 17 of Book Two of the Code of Canon Law.
Now, three years later, the founder sought for the Priestly Society a decretum l
audis (decree of praise) within that same juridical framework. In effect that wo
uld signal its passing from diocesan to pontifical jurisdiction?the acquisition,
that is, of a universal and unitary character. At the same time, the founder wa
s trying to obtain approval for statutes that would safeguard the true nature of
Opus Dei, making it clear that it was not an association of laypeople tacked on
to the Priestly Society, but is, rather, the root and lifeblood from which the P
riestly Society arises. The point, from another perspective, was that the men wh
o became part of the Priestly Society had come from Opus Dei and continued to be
long to it.
When the consultors of the Sacred Congregation for Religious examined the 1917 C
ode of Canon Law, they saw that Opus Dei, as a pastoral phenomenon, raised probl
ems almost beyond solution within the juridical framework of Title 17 of Book Tw
o, no matter how its canons were interpreted. On the other hand, reforming the C
ode to provide norms suited to a new institution was at this time an impossible
dream. No wonder, then, that a high official of the Curia said to Don Alvaro tha
t "l'Opus Dei era giunto a Roma con un secolo di anticipo" [Opus Dei had come to
Rome a century too soon], and all that could be done was "to wait, since there
was no adequate canonical framework for what the Work represented."[36]
What else was there to do in such a situation except take the only path open to
them?a path that might afford more freedom to fit into an ad hoc set of norms? T
his was the framework, for some years under development, for the "new forms." Un
fortunately, the legislative system and the norms of procedure for their approva
l were, as Don Alvaro put it, "sleeping the sleep of the just."
Don Alvaro's "unheard-of boldness" produced immediate results. The following Mon
day, Pope Pius met with Cardinal Luigi Lavitrano, prefect of the Sacred Congrega
tion for Religious, and instructed him to move ahead immediately on the matter o
f the "new forms." On Tuesday, when Salvador Canals went to give Father Larraona
some copies of the commendatory letters, Father Larraona said, "You people are
to be congratulated. You will be the first work to be approved."[37]
Then difficulties and obstacles began to arise. As Father Larraona put it after
studying the Constitutions, "The Work is a typical new form; it has things which
would be perfectly acceptable to the commission, but also other things which, a
s they stand, hurt your chances for approval. The cardinals in the plenary sessi

on might raise objections to it." Among these "other things" was the fact that "
in the constitutions of a society of priests there are included rules for an org
anization of women."[38]
The obstacles and delays kept Father Josemaria on tenterhooks. Something was goi
ng on, deep in his soul. This is clear from an odd circumstance that was not at
all like him. On March 29, having received very scanty and uncertain news from R
ome, he wrote to his sons there, "I am in God's hands." Then came this enigmatic
statement: "Something about this situation reminds me of that other one; I don'
t know what; yes, I do know what." [39]
There he froze, in midair, and only resumed writing?a full month later!?after ha
ving received a letter from Don Alvaro.[40]
What had become of the Father's dynamism? One must suppose he was on pins and ne
edles, eaten up inside, as he ceaselessly traveled about Spain seeking letters o
f commendation. Still he did not lose his equanimity. His response to the proble
ms with the Curia is a lesson in abandonment to Divine Providence and a proof of
his absolute confidence in Don Alvaro.
I'm continuing on April 29.1 had to make a trip, and, between one thing and anot
her, I wasn't able to answer Alvaro's letter. I don't see any problem in the mod
ifications you indicate, although it seems best to leave things as they are. The
feminine branch must not be broken off from the trunk. All the institutes for m
en have women's confraternities, sodalities, pious unions, etc., which depend co
mpletely upon them. But if it cannot remain as it is, then at least we'll have t
o see to it that it remains united and independent by way of privilege, in which
case we could perhaps draw up separately the constitutions proper to the women'
s branch of Opus Dei (I'm sending you papers for this purpose), and thus obtain
its approval....
In any case, from over here it's hard to understand the position of those venera
ble canonists. It would be a terrible thing to break apart this Work of God.
Make sure it's very clear that these daughters of mine are not nuns. There is no
reason to consider them an equivalent.[41]
Also worth noting is the four-week gap, an abyss of silence, between Don Alvaro'
s letter of April 19 and his next, dated May 17. Both letters only increased the
Father's anxiety, since Don Alvaro reported that he was going almost daily to t
he Congregation for Religious to see Father Larraona, who was working on prepari
ng the decree under the new procedure. The pace of the Roman Curia was even slow
er than usual, Don Alvaro thought. The processing of the material for the commis
sion of consultors to examine dragged on with no end in sight.[42] His patience
growing thin as the weeks and months passed, the founder began to think of going
to Rome.[43]
Saturday, May 18: The plane didn't arrive either yesterday or today. I've sent y
ou telegrams both days. We're hoping the archbishop will be able to leave tomorr
ow or, at the latest, Monday. Nothing new. When will we?finally!?get the news of
the decretum laudisl[44]
Work was proceeding on the documents Don Alvaro had given the Holy See. It just
had to be done in line with the procedural requirements: first, a detailed exami
nation of the statutes; then, the commission of consultors having convened a joi
nt study. If the commission's view was favorable, the petition came before the f
ull congregation. Finally, its approval went to the Pope for his supreme judgmen
t.
They remained at the threshold of the first stage until, at the end of May, the
meeting of the commission of consultors was set for Saturday, June 8. ("It was g
oing to be on Saturday the 1st," Don Alvaro says, "but on the 2nd there is to be
a referendum and one of the consultors has to leave Rome in order to vote. Alwa
ys difficulties; but that is only to be expected."[45]
The news of the commission meeting lifted the Father's spirits. "I think a forma
l document might be issued," he writes to those in Rome, "precisely because this
is the first instance of one of the new forms."[46]
On June 8, at 9:30 a.m., the commission began work. Its president would later sa
y it was the longest session he had ever presided over. All of the consultors we
re enthusiastic about Opus Dei's internal statutes, which they referred to as "t

he Constitutions of Opus Dei," and they decided to recommend to the full congreg
ation that the decretum laudis be granted.[47]
Don Alvaro resisted being carried away by the enthusiasm of the consultors, who
congratulated themselves and him on "the commission's success." At the rate thin
gs were going, he would have to stay in Rome longer than he liked. "As you can s
ee," he tells the Father, "here everything takes forever. Father Larraona says t
hat the speed of our thing is amazing, most unusual; yet, days and days go by?an
d nothing. If we didn't see God's hand in everything, it would really be exasper
ating." [48]
Summer had almost arrived, and there appeared to be no way of adjusting the sche
dule of meetings so that the full congregation could act on the documents that t
he commission had already given its blessing to. And when would the hoped-for de
cree on the "new forms" appear, so that Opus Dei could be approved in accord wit
h the new norms? Don Alvaro felt exhausted by all this visiting, petitioning and
persuading, intended to hurry the slow pace. Three months of constant struggle
in Rome already!
On Monday, June 10, "after giving it a lot of thought," he wrote the Father: "I
am almost completely worn out.... The only thing that could save the day would b
e a trip by Mariano, for a two-week stay.... And he would have to come this week
or next."[49]
The founder immediately responded to this honest plea for help.
I don't at all feel like making this trip that you tell me would be helpful; I'v
e never been in worse shape, in body or morale. Nevertheless, determined not to
stand in the way of God's will, this very morning I got my papers together, just
in case. If I go, I will go as a bundle of rags. Fiat....
Despite everything, don't hesitate to send an urgent telegram if you need to. Ma
riano will be leaving on the next plane. Pray for him.[50]
On Wednesday, June 12, without knowing of the founder's response, Don Alvaro wro
te underlining what he had already said, "It's obvious that I'm worn out, for th
is business."[51] He then turned to a long meeting he had had the previous day w
ith Monsignor Montini, describing in great detail the latter's enthusiasm for th
e Work and his interest in the process of obtaining the decretum laudis. "It sho
uld be coming out very soon," he wrote, "because everyone in the hierarchy looks
upon us with real affection." Don Alvaro had given Monsignor Montini, to give t
o the Holy Father, the bound volume of the commendatory letters, a copy of the f
ounder's curriculum vitae, and a photograph of the Pope that they hoped to get b
ack with a handwritten blessing.[52]
Finding Monsignor Montini so friendly, Don Alvaro meant to invite him to dinner,
but he forgot. So, "when he sends me back the commendatory letters, I will writ
e to him acknowledging receipt and inviting him to dinner. It would be ideal for
him to come for dinner while you are here."

3. A night of prayer

On Sunday, June 16, the letters from Rome finally arrived. As soon as he had rea
d them, Father Josemaria called together the members of the General Council of t
he Work.[53] They gathered in the center on Villanueva Street, in the room of Pe
dro Casciaro, who was in bed with a migraine headache. There, Francisco Botella
tells us, "he read us Alvaro's letter."[54] Before deciding anything, he wanted
to know the opinions of the members of the Council.[55]
All felt sure Don Alvaro would not have asked so emphatically that the Father go
to Rome, unless it were absolutely necessary. Clearly his own efforts with the
Curia had reached a dead end. It was not so much that he was, as he said in his
letter, "exhausted," as that the situation called for decisions on fundamental m
atters beyond his competence. Up to now, he had followed the Father's directions
in response to his written questions. But this procedure was no longer workable
, because of the delicacy of the matters involved and the difficulties in commun
ication.
But the Council members had another concern: Was the founder well enough to bear

the fatiguing trip and the hard work awaiting him in the heat of the summer? Th
e diabetes diagnosed in the autumn of 1944, when he developed a large boil on hi
s neck, had gone from bad to worse, and in the medical opinion of Juan Jimenez V
argas, who was closely following the course of the illness, he was "alive by she
er miracle."[56]
Father Josemaria was not unaware that, with regard to his illness, he was more i
n the care of Divine Providence than in that of the doctors. He had had premonit
ions years earlier that he would at some point suffer a grave illness. During hi
s retreat in the Monastery of Saint Dominic of Silos, in September 1938, he had
written, "When will the illness come that will purify me?"[57]
On May 19, Dr. Ramiro Ciancas had run some tests, and found glycosuria. That sam
e day, Father Josemaria was examined by a prestigious internist, Dr. Rof Carball
o, who confirmed the diagnosis of diabetes and requested a glucose tolerance tes
t.[58]
Nevertheless it was the unanimous opinion of the Council members that the trip t
o Rome was unavoidable. The Father thanked them, and then told them that he had
seen clearly in the presence of God that he would have to go no matter what they
decided.[59]
At the nuncio's office on Monday they obtained the necessary diplomatic document
s.[60] Then, they again saw Dr. Carballo, who advised against the trip. Privatel
y he told Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin that if the patient went anyway, he would
not be responsible for his life.[61]
Since there was no air service to Italy and the French border was closed, the on
ly way to get to Rome was by ship, from Barcelona to Genoa. Early in the afterno
on of Wednesday, June 19, the Father and Jose Orlandis left Madrid in a small La
ncia, driven by Miguel Chornique.
They spent that night in a hotel in Saragossa, and the next day, the feast of Co
rpus Christi, Father Josemaria celebrated Mass in a side chapel of the Church of
Santa Engracia for members of the Work living in Saragossa. Afterwards, as was
his custom, he prayed before Our Lady of the Pillar, and thought about those yea
rs in which he had continually prayed the aspiration "Domina, ut sit!" ("Lady, l
et it be!").
On the way to Barcelona they stopped at the monastery of Montserrat to ask the p
rotection of Our Lady of Montserrat and to greet the Father's good friend Abbot
Escarre. That night they slept in the apartment on Muntaner Street, the center n
icknamed La Clinica.[62]
In the morning, before saying Mass, the Father gave his sons a meditation in the
oratory. "What will become of us?" he asked, paraphrasing Saint Peter. "Look, w
e have given up everything and followed you. What, then, will there be for us?"
(Mt 19:27).
"Lord," he said, "is it possible that you have allowed me to deceive, in good fa
ith, so many souls?! When I have done everything for your glory and knowing that
it is your will? Can the Holy See really be saying we have come a century too s
oon? Ecce nos reliquimus omnia et secuti sumus te! [Look, we have given up every
thing and followed you!] I have never wanted anything other than to serve you. W
ill it, then, turn out that I am a swindler?"[63] Relentlessly, with loving argu
ments, he told our Lord that they had left everything to follow him. "What are y
ou going to do with us now? You can't abandon those who have placed their trust
in you!"[64]
He also asked the intercession of Our Lady of Ransom.[65]Later that morning they
visited the Church of Our Lady of Ransom, close to the harbor, and put the trip
in her hands.

* **

The Father and Jose Orlandis were at the pier by eleven, ready to board the ship
, but a persistent rain slowed the loading of a cargo of bananas and other fruit
s destined for Switzerland and they had to return to La Clinica. Shortly before
six in the evening, loading completed and passengers, mail, and documentation ab
oard, the J. J. Sister put out to sea. Built in 1896, the steamship weighed a li

ttle over a thousand tons. Swells and cool winds with light squalls greeted it a
s it reached open water.
Getting a cabin had not been easy. The only one available was a small inner cabi
n with two bunks, one above the other. It was lit by a small bulb, with the only
fresh air came from a small ventilator, since there was no porthole. At suppert
ime the ship began to roll in a heavy sea. The Father began to feel sick and wen
t to lie down in the lower bunk of the little cabin.[66] The ship's log reports
nothing out of the ordinary on the first day of the voyage.[67] June 22 was anot
her story [68]
The storm they encountered caused enough damage to the cargo that the ship's cap
tain had to file a report to protect the shipping company in regard to insurance
claims.69Jose Orlandis, writing from Rome to Spain at the Father's direction, g
ave this account:
After supper we began to feel an alarming rolling of the ship suggesting that we
get to bed as soon as possible. It was good we did, for a tremendous ruckus bro
ke out. The Father says the devil stuck his tail into the Gulf of Leon and stirr
ed up this storm. It was the worst I can remember, despite the fact that I'm an
islander and an old friend of the Mediterranean. And to think that that was the
Father's salt water baptism!
We went through 10 or 12 hours of real hell. The sea was pounding us from the si
de, and the ship went from this position to this [here there are a couple of dra
wings]. One couldn't hear anything but the noise of dishes being smashed, furnit
ure careening about, women screaming,... and the pumps, continually pumping out
the water, that poured in from all sides. In first class, the utility room was f
looded; in second class, the water in the cabins was up to the knees. The deck w
as literally being scrubbed by the waves, and having gone up to the bridge to se
e what was happening at day break, I followed the ostrich's familiar example and
rushed directly back to the cabin to escape the sight.
The Father had some very bad hours and could only say, "Pepe, I think we're goin
g to return to Madrid as codfish. What do you bet that Pedro will never again in
his life eat fish?"
"We can see that the captain tried to take the waves along the port beam and set
tled fr a heading of 048 degrees. However, as this was still uncomfortable, he ta
cked to 033 degrees at 0600. After some time, either because the strength of the
waves was increas-mS or because he was getting too far off course, he altered h
is heading to 090 degrees at "800, in order to put the waves off his port quarte
r?it is probable that the swell had already rolled towards the west, as is indic
ated in the next entry in the log, at 1200.
'In any case, we can see that the ship went through a very hard night and early
rnorning/ because the normal course would have been unsuitable for weathering th
e storm."[69]
This, too, is recorded in the ship's log.
Finally, around 10 or 11 Saturday morning, the wind dropped, although we still h
ad very rough seas up to the very mouth of the port of Genoa.[70]
The Father had not gotten a wink of sleep. With the close air of the cabin, the
nausea of seasickness, and the general disorder of the ship, he could not be giv
en the injection of insulin prescribed by the doctor. But by early afternoon the
sun came out, and from the port side one could see the French coast. The Father
then took his only nourishment of the whole trip: coffee with cream, and a few
sea biscuits.
Later, having spent twenty hours cooped up in the cabin, he went on deck to get
some fresh air. A group of whales passed by, close to the ship. It was very unus
ual, the sailors commented, to see those spouts in the waters of the Mediterrane
an. Then a mine was sighted drifting off the bow?a dangerous reminder of the rec
ent war.
Reaching Genoa six hours late, they disembarked at eleven-thirty at night, and w
ere quickly cleared by the police and the customs officials. Don Alvaro and Salv
ador Canals were waiting impatiently. The Father's first words to Don Alvaro wer
e: "Here you have me, you thief! You finally got your way!"[71]
They stayed at the Columbia Hotel, but the dining room was closed and they could

get nothing to eat. The Father's supper was a small piece of cheese Don Alvaro
had brought.
On Sunday, June 23,1946, the Father and Don Alvaro said Mass at seven-thirty in
a nearby church. Then they set out for Rome in a rented car. When they arrived w
ithin sight of Rome and saw the dome of St. Peter's outlined on the horizon, aga
inst the light of the setting sun, the Father was visibly moved and recited the
Creed aloud.[72] He was in Rome! Silently he told himself what he had told Don A
lvaro: "You finally got your way."
It was nine-thirty when they reached home, an apartment at 9 Piazza della Citta
Leonina, just a few yards away from the wall connecting the Vatican with Castel
Sant'Angelo. Along its top runs a narrow passage constructed by Pope Alexander V
I, as a route of escape to the castle in the event that the Vatican came under s
iege. After the signing of the Lateran Treaty, the Vatican bought the buildings
nearby and built others as rental properties.
The apartment, which Don Alvaro had taken shortly before the Father arrived, was
on the top floor of the building. Its open balcony, a sheltered terrace, looked
out on the Bernini Colonnade and St. Peter's Square.[73] The lighted window of
the Pope's private library was plainly visible. This view, deeply moving to the
Father, drove away any thought of sleep. While the rest went to bed, he remained
on the terrace.[74]
He had spent the whole of that rainy day praying for the Pope as he drew nearer
to the Eternal City. The desire to see Peter (videre Petrum) had been with him f
or years. In The Way he expressed it like this:
"Catholic, apostolic, Roman! I want you to be very Roman, ever anxious to make y
our "pilgrimage" to Rome videre Petrum?to see Peter.[75]
Now he could see the windows of the papal apartments, and he felt a deep affecti
on?affection he had also expressed in The Way (no. 573): "Thank you, my God, for
placing in my heart such love for the Pope."
He had felt this bond deeply from the time, years back, when he had prayed five
decades of the rosary daily for the Pope's intentions. In a letter of 1932 he wr
ote, "In my imagination I placed myself next to the Holy Father as he was celebr
ating Mass. (I didn't know, nor do I know now, what the Pope's chapel looks like
.) And when I finished my rosary, I made a spiritual communion with the desire o
f receiving from his hands Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament."[76]
From the first moments of the founding, he felt united to the Vicar of Christ. T
hat was clear from his yearning to gather souls around Peter in order to bring t
hem to Jesus through Mary.[77] And a few years later he would invite his childre
n to imagine "with what trust I prayed for the Pope, that first night in Rome, o
n the terrace, gazing at the windows of the papal quarters."[78]
No doubt he again turned over in his mind the many messages and blessings he had
received from Pope Pius XII through third parties,[79] still fresh in his memor
y was what Don Alvaro had told him about his conversation with the Holy Father o
n April 3.
I reminded him that the last time (the audience of June 4, 1943), I had gone bey
ond protocol and asked of him not only a blessing for the Father and the whole W
ork, but also that he remember our Father in his prayers. He smiled and said, "W
hat do you want? Do you want me to continue praying?"
I said, "Of course," and he answered me that he was not forgetting, and that he
would pray every day, as he had been doing; and that, furthermore, he was doing
this with great joy[80]

* * *

Silence. The city slept. The Father remained absorbed in deep thought. Had they
really come a century too soon? He had the same sensation?of painful uncertainty
and joyful abandonment in the hands of God?that he had experienced in Barcelona
: "Look, Lord, we have left everything to follow you; what, then, is going to ha
ppen to us? Are you going to turn your back on us?"
He returned with persistence to his prayer and recalled the trouble-filled histo
ry of the Work, which also was a history of divine mercies.[81]He thought of the

early difficulties, and the shower of graces, his children's fidelity, and the
"opposition by the good," and the successive juridical steps already taken?and n
ow here, in Rome, this seemingly insuperable wall.
Eyes raised to the papal apartments, he returned over and over, to the heart of
his prayer: "Ecce nos reliquimus omnia...." In the gentle moonlight, the constel
lations slowly traversed the sky. The Father did not go to bed. His night of pra
yer marked the beginning of the founding in Rome.

4. The search for a canonical solution

The Father got to work at once. On July 1 he met with Monsignor Montini, the und
ersecretary of the Secretariat of State. On May 15 Monsignor Montini had written
to him, thanking him for the publications Don Alvaro had given him on his behal
f and expressing his feelings toward the Work:
I have had the great pleasure of learning about the Priestly Society of the Holy
Cross and about Opus Dei and, in admiration of the aim they set for their endea
vors and the spirit in which they carry them out, have given thanks to the Lord
for this favor he has bestowed on the Church in raising up souls engaged in such
difficult and important work. What I can do is little, but know that I am alway
s ready to help you in whatever way you may need me to.[82]
After this cordial meeting, Monsignor Montini invited many other officials of th
e Roman Curia to get to know Father Josemaria.[83] As the Father would later rec
all, Monsignor Montini's was "the first friendly hand that I found here in Rome.
"[84] By then Don Alvaro had obtained a photograph of the Pope, autographed and
with the message: "To our beloved son Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, Founder of
the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross and of Opus Dei, with a special blessing
. June 28,1946. Pius P. P. XII."[85]
The heat was stifling, but the Father's health held up. In the mornings he would
go with Don Alvaro?who introduced him to officials of the dicasteries, mostly s
ecretaries or consultors somehow connected with the matter that had brought him
to Rome. They received him courteously, and this affability, along with the joy
of finding himself near the Vicar of Christ, put him at ease.
Sometimes he took walks with his sons for the exercise or to browse in secondhan
d stores in search of furniture for a future house in Rome. Already he was dream
ing of starting two centers in Rome, and as he had done before in similar circum
stances, he started buying furnishings in advance. It was a way of laying down f
oundations.
Evidently that priest, who left Barcelona feeling weak and ill and worried about
the future of the Work, had undergone a transformation in Rome. "At first," rel
ates Orlandis, "he did nothing but say, 'Here's the bundle of rags! Now you guys
have gotten your way!' But two days after arriving, he launched into fixing up
the house, buying things, preparing the oratory.... By nightfall, completely exh
austed, we said, 'And he said he came here a bundle of rags! Let's hope he doesn
't end up that way!'"[86]
It was always like that. As soon as he scented apostolic possibilities, the Fath
er became a volcano of energy. Now his old dream of establishing a house in Rome
had revived.[87] By the end of June? within a week of his arrival?he had mental
ly sketched out the plan, and hastened to communicate it to the directors of bot
h branches of the Work in Spain. Already he was working to make the dream a real
ity.
He asked the Central Advisory, the governing body of the women's branch of Opus
Dei, to give thought to sending to Rome by the end of September three numeraries
and five numerary assistants for the future centers.
At the time, to provide numerary assistants was no easy thing, considering how f
ew there were. But still the Father wrote: "Work during the summer, as I've sugg
ested, with the service personnel at La Moncloa and Abando. Prepare altar linens
?all of them?for two houses in Rome."[88]
On that same day (June 30) he dashed off a letter to his sons on the General Cou
ncil:

I am thinking of going to Madrid as soon as possible, and then returning to Rome

. It's necessary?Ricardo!?to find six hundred thousand pesetas, also with the ut
most urgency. Considering our financial problems, that seems like sheer madness,
but it is imperative that we get a house here....
I have a handwritten blessing from the Holy Father for "the Founder of the Pries
tly Society of the Holy Cross and of Opus Dei." What a thrill! I've kissed it a
thousand times. We are living in the shadow of St. Peter's, right next to the co
lonnade.

In a postscript he added:

May you never neglect prayer, and may you be very happy.
Things always work out. An apostolic soul will never fail because of money?the c
ash will come.[89]

In Spain just then, Opus Dei was getting started in half a dozen cities and was
swamped with debt.
That same day, the Father also wrote his sister and brother a letter expressing
his optimism and supernatural outlook.
Rome, June 30,1946
Dearest Carmen and Santiago:
We had a rough trip, but the sight of Alvaro and Babo waiting for us on the dock
at Genoa made up for it all.
It's quite hot here, but I'm very happy. It was necessary to come to take charge
of things.
We are neighbors of the Holy Father; we're staying right next to St. Peter's. Th
e Pope has sent me a signed photograph which has made me very happy inside and o
ut. I don't know yet when I will have an audience with the Holy Father. I can't
leave Rome without having been received by His Holiness. Pray for the success of
this visit which I am so much looking forward to.
When we have the house here under way?and that will be very soon, if we ask the
Lord for it?you'll have to come spend a good amount of time in Rome as pilgrims.
A real big hug from your brother,

Josemaria[90]

The process of granting the decretum laudis to Opus Dei was still in its first s
tage, despite the consultors' freely voiced congratulations after the session of
June 8, in which they examined Opus Dei's statutes.[91]
Don Alvaro saw a great danger. At the rate the Curia was going, who knew when Op
us Dei would be granted the canonical status of a universal entity that it urgen
tly needed? And without that it could not carry out several of its objectives, b
oth internal (e.g., recognizing and safeguarding its members' character and apos
tolate without introducing any change of state), and external (e.g., apostolic e
xpansion to other countries, regularizing relations with local bishops, and coun
teracting misunderstandings and attacks?that "opposition by the good," which sti
ll continued). Yet from the Curia's perspective, these things did not seem so ur
gent. The consultors were considering postponing further work until the next ter
m, in other words, leaving it for the autumn.
As we have seen, the canonical framework that Opus Dei needed had yet to be crea
ted.[92] Father Arcadio Larraona, the undersecretary of the Sacred Congregation
for Religious, had been put in charge of the project. The founder managed to per
suade him to resume work in the hottest stretch of summer; indeed he worked alon
g with him. Still, the decretum laudis lay in the future. "Everything is going w
ell," the founder wrote on July 8, to those in Madrid, "but it will be very diff
icult to get it before the fall. And we need it so much right now!" [93]
Learning that his audience with the Pope had been set for July 16, he went to Fi
uggi, accompanied by Don Alvaro, to work with Father Larraona. He wanted to lend
a hand so that the juridical fabric being woven by the latter would not one day
jeopardize Opus Dei's true nature. Beyond question there was a foundational cha

racter work that he could not shirk. "At that critical moment, he later wrote, "
the statutes had a special importance. A mistake, a concession in something esse
ntial, could have had irreparable effects. My soul was at stake. I could not com
promise God's will."[94]
Father Larraona had a thankless job on his hands. The institutions hoping to be
approved as "new forms" (the future secular institutes) varied greatly, from tho
se that did not want to be considered the equivalent of religious orders, despit
e meeting most criteria to be approved as such, to those that wanted to be relig
ious orders without meeting the criteria.[95] In recent years the Sacred Congreg
ation for Religious had tended to consider these new institutions as more or les
s attempts to adapt religious life, or bring it closer, to the world?in other wo
rds, as new forms of religious life.
Thus the "new forms" came to be viewed as the latest stage in the historic evolu
tion of religious orders. On that basis, and reflecting a desire to please every
one, the solution in Father Larraona's proposed schema revolved around a variati
on on "state of perfection,"? whose requirements and manner of life define relig
ious life or its equivalents.[96]
This was why the founder launched a "filial struggle" in his conversations regar
ding the correct understanding of Opus Dei to have "the members of the secular i
nstitutes not be considered sacred persons, as some wanted, but ordinary faithfu
l, which is what they are." Hence his "anxiousness to have it made clear that we
were not, nor could we be, religious."[97]
He insisted that secularity is an essential note of the call to sanctification a
nd apostolate in the world. The texts that would form the basis of the future ap
ostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia were drawn up in accordance with the
criterion of secularity. It was a step forward?but an inadequate one, since it
was not possible entirely to exclude the "state of perfection" concept. The resu
lt was a compromise. In order to obtain the decretum laudis, he had to give way
on some points inconsistent with the nature of Opus Dei.
He wrote:
We have accepted with a spirit of sacrifice a compromise which could not be avoi
ded, but which does not dim the joy of having finally gotten a juridical path fo
r our way of life. We hope that, with God's grace, the doubtful points in a litt
le while will no longer be such; that will be the case if we can obtain from the
Holy See the legal declarations needed so that these points will not be wrongly
interpreted.
However, there was no way around it?we had to either accept the whole thing or e
lse go on without a path to travel.[98]
After four days of intense work, the problems had been straightened out. On July
15, Father Josemaria returned to Rome, for the private audience with Pope Pius
scheduled for the next day. He looked forward to opening his heart to the Holy F
ather and bringing him up to date on the work accomplished in the last few days
in Fiuggi. The audience left him filled with great peace and happiness.[99]
Meanwhile, on July 6, Don Alvaro had written to the General Council members in M
adrid about the Father's effective intervention in Rome.[100]
On July 29 accompanied by Don Alvaro and Salvador Canals, the Father returned to
Fiuggi to resume work with Father Larraona. This included completing the draft
of the normative schema for Provida Mater Ecclesia.[101]According to Don Alvaro,
Father Larraona himself marveled at the completion in a few months of work whic
h would otherwise have taken several years to do, if it got done at all.[102] Am
ong the founder's many suggestions that substantially influenced the draft, one
concerned the very name to be given to the "new forms."[103]
Busy as he was, the Father kept an eye on the whole Work. His letters carried di
fficult assignments, such as raising the money to buy a house in Rome. As soon a
s the matter of the decretum laudis was settled, he would go to Madrid to take c
harge in person. He wrote to the Council: "If it is necessary (it will be better
if it is not), after the audience with the Holy Father and the obtaining of the
document you know about, I myself will go to Madrid to press forward and accomp
lish our thing, that is, God's thing."[104]
Meanwhile, in Rome they were seeing the results of petitions they had made, week

s earlier, to the Sacred Penitentiary. The Father had cherished the hope that la
y people would be allowed the privilege of purifying the eucharistic linens, as
a way of showing tenderness to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Now he wrote one
of the priests of the Work, "Great news! They can now purify the corporals, puri
ficators, and palls!"?and his daughters should start making use of this privileg
e.[105] And later: "Ask them to tell me something of how they feel about the pri
vilege of doing the purifying. Because they haven't said a word about it."[106]
Enumerating favors granted to the Work by the Holy See, he wrote:
The Sacred Penitentiary has granted us many indulgences. And, furthermore, in pe
rpetuity (we were expecting to get them for just seven years), and by means of a
n apostolic brief. So we are very happy. There is a 500-day indulgence for each
time we kiss the [wooden] cross, or pray an aspiration while looking at it. This
indulgence can be gained from now on. In the brief, we are granted plenaryindul
gences on feasts of our Lord and of our Lady; on October 2, February 14, and the
feast of Saint Joseph; and when making the Admission, Oblation, and Fidelity, b
oth in Opus Dei and in the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.
It is almost certain that we will be granted the privilege of celebrating midnig
ht Mass on the nights before January 1, February 14, and October 2.[107]
Dated June 28, 1946, the papal document granting these indulgences and other fav
ors manifests the Pope's fatherly reeling toward the Priestly Society of the Hol
y Cross and Opus Dei. Implicitly, too, it responds to vicious rumors about the w
ooden crosses in the oratories of the Work. The founder immediately directed tha
t next to these crosses there be plaques reading, "His Holiness Pope Pius XII, b
y the apostolic brief Cum Societatis, of June 28,1946, graciously deigned to gra
nt an indulgence of 500 days for each time this wooden cross is devoutly kissed,
or a pious aspiration is said before it."[108]
As the summer advanced and the heat got worse, the Father found himself thinking
about the pleasant climate that his sons were enjoying in the foothills of Moli
noviejo, near Segovia. He wrote them from Rome, "It's hotter here than in Sevill
e, and I am not exaggerating one bit. I guess I deserve it, for thinking so much
about Segovia."[109]
Father Larraona's work was nearly finished. But the members of the Roman Curia h
ad gone on vacation, and it was deemed imprudent to rush things. The decretum la
udis would have to wait for the next term.[110] Cardinal Lavitrano, the prefect
of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, then made a gesture to express appreci
ation for the founder. Lest he return to Spain empty-handed, and so that no one
could say Opus Dei's petition had been denied, on August 13, he issued, a "lette
r in praise of the purpose" of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross and Opus D
ei.[111] This document recognizes "the sanctity, need, and appropriateness of th
e purpose and apostolate" of the members; those belonging to "such a noble and h
oly work" are encouraged to continue living their vocation faithfully.[112]
It had been a busy few months for the members of the Work in Rome. From seeking
letters of commendation and visiting dignitaries, including Curial consultors, t
o carrying on personal apostolates, hunting for a house, and looking after visit
ors who showed up in Rome. They also had a special assignment from the Father: n
egotiating with Abbot Gregorio Maria Sunol for the obtaining of some relics.[113
] The founder had a great devotion to these[114] and in May they had obtained in
Rome a number of relics, which they had immediately sent to Madrid.[115] Still,
they lacked the bones of a martyr. But efforts continued[116] so that, on Augus
t 31, when the Father left by plane for Madrid, he brought with him the bones of
two martyrs: Saint Sinfero (the source was the Roman catacombs), and Saint Merc
uriana, a girl martyred at the age of ten. Her relics were placed in the oratory
of Los Rosales, while the urn with the remains of Saint Sinfero was placed bene
ath the altar in the oratory of the Villanueva center, along with an old marble
plaque bearing his name.[117]
In some notes that he jotted down in that summer of 1946, the founder summed up
that period in Rome in a few words: lots of dealing with people, especially chur
chmen; lots of working with canon law; and lots of prayer.[118]
The afternoon of his arrival in Spain, Father Josemaria went to the retreat hous
e at Molinoviejo, where a formation course was under way for six men preparing f

or ordination as priests of the Work. He needed rest; and there was no better pl
ace than this house, where he could work side by side with his sons. The place l
acked many amenities, but the grounds were an oasis in the middle of an arid pla
in. A beautiful grove of pine trees provided extensive shade for daytime walks.
The vistas were expansive, the site was isolated, and the nights were still and
cool.
During long get-togethers after dinner, the Father told the others about his voy
age to Genoa, and how the devil thrashed his tail about in the Gulf of Leon. He
told them about his arrival in the Eternal City, his visits to officials of the
Curia, his audience with the Pope, his labors in defense of the spirit of the Wo
rk. Things were going well, he said, but everyone needed to be patient and pray.
During his stay in Molinoviejo the Father made use of one of the privileges gran
ted by the Church by saying a midnight Mass on September 14, feast of the Exalta
tion of the Holy Cross.[119]
On Sunday, September 29, the six men who were to make up the second group of pri
ests of the Work were ordained. Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal, who was living in the ce
nter on Espanoleto Street and was with the Father that morning, wrote to Jose Or
landis:

Madrid, October 6,1946

You will have no trouble guessing that this has been a week of high emotion, exc
itement, and commotion.
It began on the afternoon of the 28th, when the Father, Alvaro, Jose Luis, and t
he six deacons got back from Molino-viejo.... The ordinations were Sunday mornin
g at ten, and the Father came to celebrate Mass in this house. We drew lots, and
I was the one to stay and assist him. When the Mass was over, Juan arrived from
Barcelona. He had come for the ordination, but when he found the Father here, h
e changed his mind and stayed. The Father kept telling us things, but everyone w
as a bit nervous until the six new priests arrived at one along with Alvaro and
Jose Luis. Hugs; a bit of a tussle as the Father insisted on kissing their hands
; lots of joy and emotion.[120]

On October 21 Father Josemaria went to Barcelona to give thanks to Our Lady of R

ansom for the good things he had received through her intercession?a safe first
trip to Rome and its results?and to ask that pontifical approval would crown the
effort.[121]
By November 8 he was back in Rome, and four days later he met with Monsignor Mon
tini. Afterwards he wrote: "When I go to the Vatican and see how much they love
us, I bless the Lord a thousand times for all we have suffered. Surely that cros
s has brought us this resurrection."[122]
Monsignor Montini scheduled his second audience with Pope Pius XII for December
8. As the date drew near, Father Josemaria seemed impatient. Two days before the
audience, he poured out his concerns in a tightly packed letter, addressed to t
he members of the General Council in Madrid. He covered so much?issues, persons,
events, circumstances?that it is hard to believe that one man could have carrie
d so many things, large and small, in his head. And in his heart. For nothing is
too insignificant to command all his attention; nor does he mention anyone with
out adding some note of affection. Plainly everything that had to do with Opus D
ei sooner or later landed at his door. The last paragraphs of the letter read:
It looks like I'll be spending this Christmas in Rome. Don't forget us; I will b
e, in spirit, in every house. What a pity we don't have the money, right now, to
celebrate our first Christmas in the Eternal City properly, in our own house. E
ternal! Here everything is something eternal. One has to have patience. All our
business is going very well, but with excessive leisureliness.
I'm writing with a pen that makes me nervous. Patience here too. I think of what
it must have cost our Lord to write such beautiful pages with this worthless in
strument that I am.
Love, hugs, and blessings to you all from your Father,
Mariano[123]

December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, brought the audience in whic
h he described at length to the Holy Father the Work's spirit and apostolates.[1
24] As soon as he got home, he wrote the Pope to give him "a proof of the filial
and unshakable adherence of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross and of Opus
Dei":
In you we see the Vicar of Christ, and through your mediation we hear the voice
of the Shepherd of Shepherds. Therefore it is with the greatest pleasure that we
today present to Your Holiness the highest aspiration of our Institute: to go,
with absolute fidelity and dedication, into any place and undertaking where we c
an serve the Church, or where its Supreme Shepherd sends us.[125]
We can imagine what the audience was like from his letter to the bishop of Madri
d a week later. But even that was sparing of words, for evidently he and the Pop
e had touched on very intimate matters that his humility would not allow him to
disclose.
The Holy Father received me in a private audience. He knows our Opus Dei very we
ll and loves it. You can't imagine, Father, how many kind considerations he show
ed me.
Things here go very well; but with that slowness?I was going to say eternity?tha
t is, to me, sluggishness. But one learns. Alvaro is regarded as a hero by the R
oman Curia; everyone knows and loves him.[126]
Another letter of the same date, sent to the office of the nuncio in Spain, Arch
bishop Gaetano Cicognani, suggests just how impatient the founder was:
We are very happy in Rome, since everything is moving along?and very well?althou
gh not in too great a hurry. But this "serenity" gives a lot of joy?I ask the Lo
rd that some of it may rub off on me.
The Holy Father received me in a private audience. The affection he shows for ou
r Opus Dei is incredible. I well know?and we will never forget?that a good part
of that affection is the fruit of what our reverend nuncio puts in his reports.
May God repay him![127]

5. Real poverty / The secular institutes

Father Josemaria eventually came to see the positive side of the Curia's stately
pace, and even to find satisfaction in the fact that, as he put it, "in Rome I
have learned how to wait, which is no small skill."[128] By the beginning of Dec
ember 1946 he was still waiting, with relative patience, for many things from Go
d's hands, especially the decretum laudis and a Roman house as a base for aposto
lic enterprises. And one thing more, an immediate need: the arrival in Rome of d
aughters of his, without whom, he wrote, "it is impossible for us to keep going
as we have up to now."[129] (Household work was being done by a hired housekeepe
r and a woman who assisted her, but neither was really qualified to manage the c
are of a center.)
The Father waited with both eagerness and patience. He wrote to the Central Advi
sory:

I am accompanying you in all your concerns. Right now I'm thinking about the joy
ful and simple life of sanctity that is our path, and I see you in our residence
s, in the publishing house, in Los Rosales. And here by St. Peter's I close my p
oor bodily eyes and start daydreaming, and I see?already accomplished!?all that
remains to be done, so much and so beautiful: our labor extended throughout the
world, in service of our Mother the holy Church. If you want, if you are faithfu
l, joyful, sincere, mortified, if you are souls of prayer, it will all happen, a
nd soon.[130]

It was no pipe dream, but a dream that proceeded from faith. "I don't like livin
g in a fantasy world," he wrote. "All four paws on the ground! So as to serve Go
d for real, and, moreover, stay well connected with him."[131] In a letter dated
December 16, he tells his daughters to come by plane, and telegraph him to say
who is coining; that they should write their families ahead of time, and give th

em the good news that they are going to Rome; they should bring this and bring t
hat. Finally he counsels, them to "take into account that around here hats are u
sed a lot."[132]
On the afternoon of December 27, the feast of Saint John, Encarnita Ortega and D
orita Calvo arrived, with three numerary assistants: Julia Bustillo, Dora del Ho
yo, and Rosalia Lopez. They stood together in a tight group, waiting for the lug
gage they had checked and surrounded by things they had hand-carried to avoid pa
ying the excess-weight charge. "There we were," says Encarnita, "the five of us
huddled together, filled with anxiety at being in a foreign country and not know
ing the language and having no money, when we saw our beloved Father appear, acc
ompanied by Don Alvaro. We exploded with joy, feeling that the new country was o
urs."[133]
They drove from the airport (Ciampino) into the city in two cars. Passing the Co
losseum, Dorita Calvo recalls, "the Father, in a very strong and sure voice, int
oned the Creed." It "seemed as if he wanted to transmit to us the firmness of hi
s faith," in that place where so many Christians had ratified theirs with their
blood.[134]
Soon after their arrival?"very moving," Encarnita reports[135]? the women got to
work. In short order, the Citta Leonina diary for December 27 records "the kitc
hen and surrounding areas underwent a total change." And, so did something else,
"Today we had dinner as God intends it to be."[136]
A week before, the Father had written:
Those who come to Rome are going to know what real poverty is; what real cold is
(damp, and with no heating); what it is to live in someone else's house, until
we "coerce" the heart of Jesus. They need to be ready to take up these delightfu
l little crosses with their habitual cheerfulness and enthusiasm. It is impossib
le to start a center without running into difficulties. And these I've mentioned
are really quite few.[137]
Soon the provisions they had brought from Madrid were gone and they came face to
face with the reality Father Josemaria had promised?poverty. In 1947, and the y
ears that followed, severe deprivation was the rule. They took it in the spirit
of the Work: without rebelling against the humiliation of lacking necessities, w
ithout complaining, with a smile.
Dorita Calvo sums up the situation: "We were short of everything, including spac
e?we had half of one floor of the house, and we slept on folding beds. We didn't
have money; we couldn't turn the heat on."[138]
Without exaggerating or complaining, Rosalia Lopez fills in the picture: "We exp
erienced cold and hunger there. The oratory, the main thing in the apartment, wa
s very poor also, and in the rest of the apartment we did not have even the esse
ntials. When a guest came to eat, we didn't have enough chairs or tableware."[13
9]
All the same, that apartment proved to be an excellent instrument of apostolate.
There the Father introduced the Work to many Church dignitaries?cardinals, bish
ops, monsignors, consultors, and other members of the Roman Curia. It was a sett
ing for the "apostolate of the dinner table" mentioned in The Way (no. 974). Gue
sts came gladly. The friendly conversation, the pleasant atmosphere, the warmth
of the welcome, the decor, even the presentation of the food told them something
about the life of members of Opus Dei. What the guests did not see was the hidd
en poverty.
Encarnita Ortega recalls one of those visits. "When the Marchioness of MacMahon
came to see us, she expressed surprise that our apartment was so pretty. It was
hard to imagine anyone taking that apartment for pretty. Still, everything was n
eat as a pin, and almost always there were fresh flowers before our Lady, and so
metimes the blinds were turned so as to give the rooms a special light. Our many
guests in that Roman haven enjoyed being there."[140]
The charming place that delighted the Marchioness was part of one floor, subleas
ed by neighbors who occupied the rest of it. It was on the top floor, subject to
extremes of heat and cold. A spacious and inviting hallway led to the main room
, which, depending on the time of day, was study hall, dining room, living room,
or at night?with three or four mattresses spread out?dormitory. Next to it was

the Father's room, the only one with a bed in it during the day. It also served
as the infirmary.
The Father's room and the living room opened onto a covered terrace where the fo
under had spent his first night in Rome praying. Don Alvaro lived in a wide sect
ion of the hallway; he had a bed and a chair.
The apartment's best room was the oratory?not very large, but inviting and attra
ctively simple.
In the service area (on the same floor, but entirely separate), was a bedroom fo
r the three numerary assistants. The other two women numeraries slept for a time
in the home of friends of the Father, and at another time, in a residential hot
el.[141]
The area known to visitors comprised the entrance hallway, the living room (whic
h became the dining room), and the little terrace with its view of St. Peter's.
Those who went there always seemed to leave feeling very happy. On Thursday, Jan
uary 23,1947, for example, there were two guests for dinner; the chronicler of t
he day's events comments, "They left very satisfied; everything seemed wonderful
to them. I guess now we can invite anyone to eat here."[142]
Yet one can hardly imagine the working conditions of the women of the Administra
tion and the continual shortages they had to cope with. First of all, they lacke
d money. The day they arrived, Don Alvaro gave them five thousand lire for house
hold expenses. This for a house with ten mouths to feed, plus, frequent guests.
Dorita Calvo says, "We in the Administration were given all the money there was
in the house. When we ran out, not wanting to worry the Father, we would wait as
long as we could before going back to ask for more. Once when we were in this s
ituation?not a lira to our name?the Father came in one afternoon and asked us fo
r a few lire to pay for something. We weren't able to give him anything."[143]
They often had to buy things on credit. The recent war left behind it shortages
of food?eggs, for instance, which the women had to hunt for in the villages near
Rome. Their culinary ingenuity in preparing meals fit for illustrious guests wa
s prey to the hazards of unexpected cut-offs of electricity or gas. Tragicomic s
cenes sometimes ensued. "Several times," Encarnita says, "when we had guests at
lunch, we had to cook the food on the house heater, because there was no gas. Do
ra del Hoyo, who served at table, would try to go very slowly, to give us a litt
le more time. Then, leaving the dining room, she would take off her gloves, and
poke and fan the fire so the casserole would cook more quickly."[144]
Thanks to the wonders worked by the women of the Administration in these difficu
lt conditions, exalted ecclesiastical personages were royally entertained. The g
uests never dreamed how things were at other times. "When we did not have compan
y," Don Alvaro recalls, "we were hungry a lot, but always cheerfully."[145]
The spirit of poverty as the Father inculcated it meant not just stoically doing
without, but actively and cheerfully taking advantage of what one had, managing
things with common sense and supernatural vision, realizing that "not to spend
for necessities can be a lack of faith,"[146] since it reflects a lack of trust
in providence.
Encarnita Ortega writes:
The Father expected a lot of us in living poverty: making good use of time; ligh
ts always turned off when they were not needed; carefully planned purchases, mad
e where they offered the best prices; not wasting food or leftover pieces of clo
th or thumbtacks, nails, or anything useful in making repairs. We saw how he got
the most of his own clothing?his cassocks, his overcoat (more patches than orig
inal cloth)? and of the sheets of paper he wrote on; and how he tried to keep ou
r few pieces of furniture from getting too much sunlight. We were moved to want
to learn how to live this virtue in detail.[147]
This was the start of that "real poverty" the Father had warned them of. But tho
ughtfulness was still important. "Befana," the day for gift-giving fell a few da
ys after their arrival,[148] and his daughters spent time considering what to gi
ve him. The use of electricity was restricted then, and there were many power ou
tages; so they came up with the idea of buying the Father a candlestick that cou
ld be held by hand. To round out the gift, they made him a set of altar linens?a
purificator, corporal, and amice.[149]

They said goodbye to 1946 with a Te Deum and began 1947 with midnight Mass. The
Father was burning with impatience. On New Year's morning, he wrote to those in
Madrid:
Things are taking their course?a course excessively slow, but that's the way thi
ngs are around here?and on the question of the house, there's very little we can
do as long as we haven't adequately solved the financial question, which is pro
ceeding in Spain at the same pace as if Madrid were Rome. Patience.
Yesterday we had midnight Mass. Before, to close out the old year, we prayed the
Te Deum and the prayers of thanksgiving. The Lord gave us a lot in the last yea
r, but I am sure that, if we are faithful, this year, 1947, will be more fruitfu
l in every respect.
I would like to get out of here as soon as possible. However, I have to stay on
the job, even if I can do nothing more than keep watch. This too will count for
something in God's eyes, given my temperament![150]
It was indeed no small thing to curb a temperament that preferred to tackle prob
lems with supernatural daring, speedy decisions, and prompt action. Faced with t
he necessary red tape and prudence of the Curial, the Father understandably felt
confined and hobbled, given his natural dynamism.
Once he said to his sons, "There are five of us here, and it seems, at first sig
ht, that we aren't doing anything. But one day, later on, those who come and spe
ak of our stay here in Rome will look at us with envy."[151]
As a matter of fact, a lot was going on at Citta Leonina. The Father, accompanie
d always by Don Alvaro, made visits and received them, while using free time to
compose documents, attend to matters of government, or edit some points in the "
Catechism of the Work"?a simply written explanation of the spirit and statutes o
f the Work.
There were plenty of hardships, too. Daybreak on January 6 found Rome covered wi
th snow. To heat the apartment, all they had was a small portable charcoal stove
. The house diary's entry for January 7 says, "Today Don Alvaro was feeling some
what ill, and had a headache." A few lines below this: "Shortly after five we we
nt out to buy some medicines for the Father, and to check prices on electric hea
ters, since the charcoal burner doesn't give enough heat."[152] On January 8, th
e Father and two others went out with the intention of "buying an oven for the k
itchen, a heater, and a sewing machine for the Administration." During the rest
of the month, Don Alvaro spent many sleepless nights because of a persistent too
thache that sent him to the dentist seven times. On the whole, he did not compla
in; and, when he did, the Father remarked, "it's because he is really in a lot o
f pain."[153]
Father Josemaria himself was constantly fatigued, mainly because he pushed himse
lf mercilessly. Coming in from the street and finding the elevator out of operat
ion because the electricity had been cut off, he would climb the five flights, a
nd reach the apartment panting and exhausted.[154] Here and there the diary spea
ks of aches and pains that forced the Father to go to bed early, without eating
supper, or made him spend the whole day in his room?shut in but working.[155]
On the advice of Cardinal Lavitrano, the prefect of the Sacred Congregation for
Religious, who also suffered from diabetes, the founder went to see Dr. Carlo Fa
elli. When the doctor asked him if he had suffered any really bad spells due to
the disease, Don Alvaro, who was with him, was amazed to hear him answer, "very
firmly," no.[156]
There were compensations. The five women of the Work who worked in the apartment
earned his constant praise. "Dearest ones," he wrote to the Central Advisory, "
your sisters are now here, working full-time. It has been a huge blessing from G
od, their coming."[157] Two weeks later he made clear that he was concerned abou
t these daughters' problems, including the shortage of kitchen utensils.
Your sisters here are very happy, even though, not having their own house yet, t
hey have to spend their nights at the house of the Pantolis, who are very good p
eople.
Today they got a scale that can register a weight of up to twenty pounds, and li
ttle by little we're acquiring the kitchen utensils. What Nisa is really longing
for is an electric oven. But she'll have to be patient; soon she'll be able to

make her special pies, which I will have to abstain from, so as not to gratify m
y diabetes. I think an occasional exception could be made, since Dr. Faelli assu
res me I'm not constitutionally a diabetic, and that the raised sugar level come
s from isolated anomalies. I don't recall ever having had even one, and in any c
ase, eating a good-sized piece of a fine pie certainly could not be considered a
n anomaly.[158]
About the middle of January (1947) the legal document that would convey the long
-awaited decretum laudis acquired a name. The founder sent the news to the membe
rs of the General Council in Spain:
Rome, January 17,1947 May Jesus protect and bless my sons. Dearest ones:
You can't imagine how much there is to do in this blessed Rome, and how hard you
r brothers are working, and how much I thank the Lord for our having come here,
where such great blessings from heaven are materializing. Engrave in your heads?
and in your hearts?these words: "Provida Mater Ecclesia." Don't ask. Wait.[159]
But the work of the canonists, and the drawing up of the procedural regulations,
took longer than the founder would have liked. On January 31 he wrote:
This is taking longer than I thought it would. However, we have been assured tha
t by sometime in February (or, at any rate, before the feast of Saint Joseph), w
e will have happily concluded our canonical journey. Provida Mater Ecclesia![160
]
There is a striking entry for February 9 in the Citta Leonina diary: "At around
eight, we made the prayer with the Father in the oratory. He spoke to us about p
erseverance, about humility, about being like seed that is buried good and deep.
He told us we need to be convinced that it is precisely in this humble and hidd
en labor that our work will bear its fruit!"[161] And then: "It's been some time
since the Father made the prayer with us like that. But?what a shame!?when it w
as over we couldn't remember exactly what he had said." It was the tone and subs
tance that stayed with the chronicler, not the words.
Now that the atmosphere was charged with anxiety and hope regarding the decretum
laudis and the approval of Provida Mater Ecclesia. One day, for instance, Don A
lvaro spent "the whole evening dancing from one place to another."[162] The full
congregation, which had to give its opinion on Provida Mater Ecclesia and the d
ecretum laudis, met on the thirteenth. Next day the founder wrote those in Madri
d, "Dearest ones: Yesterday the Lord was very much a doting father to us. Things
in the 'congresso pleno,' which was presided over by Cardinal Lavitrano, went a
s we were hoping. Laus Deo."[163]
Optimism was followed by several days of uncertainty. Father Josemaria asked eve
ryone to pray even harder. "He's told us," the diary records, "that we have to p
ray lots and lots about the pending matters, for the devil has been trying to st
ick his horns into them, but if God is with us, who can be against us?"[164] Feb
ruary 24 was fast approaching, the day when Cardinal Lavitrano would submit Opus
Dei's decretum laudis to the Pope for his approval. Nerves were stretched taut.
Don Alvaro worked feverishly with Monsignor Antonio Bacci to give the final sty
listic touches to the Latin of Provida Mater Ecclesia.[165]
The tension was relieved, finally, on the afternoon of February 24. The Father w
ent with Don Alvaro and two other members of the Work to hear the results of Car
dinal Lavitrano's audience. Don Alvaro went in to speak with the cardinal. The o
thers waited in the car. In a short time Don Alvaro returned. The Father jumped
out and went to meet him. After a moment, bursting with joy, he announced to the
others, "We are now of pontifical right."[166] As the car pulled away, he recit
ed a Te Deum.
The writer of the diary for February 24 says:
The Father looks quite exhausted now, and, as Don Alvaro says, that's logical, s
ince he has been waiting for this for twenty years. Besides, if it is a great jo
y for us, how much more so for him. It's only natural that he's exhausted, becau
se loving is exhausting, and the Father, with his big heart, loves a lot to cele
brate, we got a jelly roll for dessert at supper.[167]
The normative text regulating secular institutes?the "new forms" approved by the
Church?was promulgated as an apostolic constitution. That was because Pope Pius
XII wanted to give Provida Mater Ecclesia more pontifical status and weight tha

n a simple decree from one of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia would have carr
ied.[168] This "particular law of the secular institutes," together with other d
ocuments promulgated in 1948,[169] formed the legislative framework for secular
institutes, defined as "societies, whether clerical or lay, whose members, in or
der to attain Christian perfection and to exercise a full apostolate, profess th
e evangelical counsels in the world."[170] The secular condition of the members,
who profess the evangelical counsels and exercise apostolate, is fundamental to
this new canonical entity. Secular institutes are not religious orders or congr
egations, nor what the Code of Canon Law called societies of common life, since
they do not involve taking the three public vows of religious life nor impose li
fe in common on their members.[171]
The decretum laudis, called Primum Institutum (inasmuch as Opus Dei was the firs
t secular institute to be approved), describes the particular juridical features
of Opus Dei: its structure, membership, and apostolic life.[172] It is defined
as a predominantly clerical institute, because of the Priestly Society of the Ho
ly Cross. The heart of it states that Pope Pius XII "by the present decree, in a
ccord with the constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia and with Opus Dei's own const
itutions, which have been examined and approved by the Sacred Congregation for R
eligious, praises and approves Opus Dei, together with the Priestly Society of t
he Holy Cross, as a secular institute, under the authority of a single superior
general, whose office is for life, and declares it to be of pontifical right, sa
feguarding the power of the ordinaries, in accord with the provisions of the sam
e apostolic constitution.?[173]
The founder was overjoyed. Within twenty-four hours he wrote to the General Coun
cil:

Rome, February 25,1947

May Jesus watch over my sons for me.
Yesterday the Holy Father approved our decretum laudis. Now we are of pontifical
right![174]

And to the Central Advisory:

You can see that we have cause to celebrate: we are now of pontifical right....
With these blessings from the Church we will overcome the obstacles, which, in a
ny case, are inevitable. Everything will be solved with the passage of years.[17
5]

But what were those inevitable obstacles that only time could remove? The quip t
hat Opus Dei had come to Rome "a century too soon," and one could only wait for
"a canonical framework that suited it to emerge"[176] was not so wide of the mar
k. The founder had arrived in Rome when the norms for the "new forms" were alrea
dy in preparation, and if he wanted the decretum laudis, there was no way of get
ting it, canonically speaking, except by way of Provida Mater Ecclesia. This doc
ument was something of a catchall covering every kind of secular institute, both
those that were close to being religious congregations and those that were more
like associations of the faithful. The canonical figure of the secular institut
es as presented by Provida Mater Ecclesia was a compromise between the religious
and lay states.[177]
Thus, the founder had been obliged to carry on a prolonged campaign to defend th
e secularity of the Work; he described it in a letter written in 1950.
I could relate to you many specifics of our filial struggle during these months:
the effort we made so that members of secular institutes not be considered sacr
ed persons, as some wanted, but ordinary faithful, which is what they are; my an
xiousness to have it made clear that we were not, nor could we be, religious; th
e need to resist the closing off of any honorable work or our involvement in any
noble human undertaking.[178]
This required hard bargaining. He made the concessions that he had to make, but
standing firm in what was essential to the nature of Opus Dei.[179] For the mome
nt, the problem had been solved. But in accord with Provida Mater Ecclesia, Opus

Dei remained dependent on the Sacred Congregation for Religious. "With this dep
endence," he wrote, "we can foresee not a few dangers for the future."[180]
He had to defend what God had given, and this meant stressing differences betwee
n the life and vocation of religious and the life and professional dedication of
members of Opus Dei. Indeed, he had done that so often already that he reacted
at once against even the comparison of the two lifestyles.[181]
Father Josemaria's work in Rome did not end with the approval of Opus Dei as a s
ecular institute of pontifical right. There was other work to do: adjustments to
the Work's constitutions to bring them in line with the terminology of Provida
Mater Ecclesia; the revision and printing as soon as possible of the "Catechism
of the Work"; purchasing a house (one had been found a few days earlier).
The approval had not yet been made public, and the founder was anxious at the th
ought that, when it was, there might be a certain amount of public rejoicing. Th
is was something he did not want, since it might be seen as noisy triumphalism a
nd definitely would conflict with his motto about "hiding and disappearing." Thu
s he instructed the General Council that the celebration should be private.
What I want is that in public we don't make a lot of noise. At home, to thank th
e Lord and strengthen our people, we can't do enough? thanksgiving and a big cel
ebration! Silver bells will ring in heaven.[182]
But the news followed its own course and spread rapidly. Monsignor Montini advis
ed the founder to let it. "I've almost been ordered by Msgr. Montini to not shut
up," he wrote those in Madrid, while authorizing them to share the good news?"w
ithout boasting, but without hiding the joy." And for the family celebration, he
adds, "there should, in all the houses, be a Mass, a singing of the Te Deum, an
d, at the end, a Salve to the Blessed Virgin, in thanksgiving. And there should
be, in all the houses, a very special meal and all the 'indoor ruckus' that the
local directors deem prudent."[183]
No longer under the pressure of intense work, his own feelings began to surface,
tugging him in two different directions: "Very eager to return to Spain, but ve
ry happy to be more Roman every day."[184]That thought, expressed in March, recu
rs as time goes by: "I am very happy in Rome, and [I] feel like an exile."[185]
As his stay in Rome lengthened beyond his expectations,[186] he had to send Don
Alvaro to Spain to bring the other members of the General Council up to date on
the new canonical situation of the Work and to address the many financial proble
ms of the various centers. It was also necessary to set up a formation program f
or the many people who had recently requested admission to Opus Dei. Don Alvaro'
s duties were not light, and the Father felt moved to write to the General Counc
il to remind them to give him their support.
Please?Alvaro is sick, and will try to hide it so that you don't object to his a
dventures. I don't want you to object, but I do want you to see to it that he fo
llows the course of treatment Dr. Faelli has prescribed for him, and doesn't ski
p his injections and medicines.[187]
Don Alvaro arrived in Madrid on April 18, intending to spend two weeks, but he c
ame down with pneumonia and had a slow recovery. On June 12 the Father spoke of
him as still "under the weather."[188]
But alongside the worries there was much to be glad of: the friendly gestures of
the Holy See; the kindly attentions shown him by cardinals and other dignitarie
s of the Curia; his appointment as a monsignor (which he at first wanted to turn
down); Don Alvaro's appointment as secretary of the Commission for Secular Inst
itutes, an entity set up within the Sacred Congregation for Religious that promi
sed to help in protecting the secular character of the members of the Work.[189]
The Lord and his Blessed Mother have allowed us to gather, here in Rome, large b
ouquets of fragrant roses?you see that I am not exaggerating?and it's impossible
that among so many roses there not be some thorns. I would like for the thorns,
by being voluntarily sought out in your daily life of work, to remain for now i
n Spain. Do you understand me? I need you to redouble your life of smiling morti
fication and penance so that here, through your good spirit, we will continue to
harvest roses.[190]
On May 30 the founder left for Spain. He remained there, busy with urgent matter
s, until June 12.[191] And when the work of the Roman Curia slowed down for the

summer, it was back again to Spain on July 25. This time he spent three and a ha
lf months, working and traveling, including visiting a large number of bishops t
o whom he had sent information about secular institutes, a canonical classificat
ion largely unknown to the Spanish ecclesiastical world.[192]
He assisted with the formation courses given that summer at the Molinoviejo coun
try house. There, the year before, he had announced that in 1947 internal proced
ures would be revamped to conform exactly to the constitutions. Within twenty-fo
ur hours of the granting of the decretum laudis, this decision was reaffirmed in
a letter to the General Council members in Spain.[193] In that summer of 1947,
he gave his sons a commentary on the "Catechism of the Work" and explained to th
em the new canonical form Opus Dei had acquired with the
pontifical approval.
His stay in Spain was going quietly when, unexpectedly, he had to return to Rome
at Don Alvaro's request. He left Madrid on November 20, and on December 4 he wr
ote to the General Council in Spain, "I need you to keep in your prayers the wor
k that forced me to return here, so that we can obtain, for the service of our M
other the Church, a firmly etched profile for the newborn canonical figure of th
e secular institute?since otherwise our work with souls will be hampered."[194]
The expression "a firmly etched profile for the newborn canonical figure," sugge
sts the tenuous juridical status of the secular institutes and the dangers that
lay ahead. "We should never forget," he said, "that the Work is a creature of Go
d, that he has put in our hands, for us to treat with supernatural and human sen
sitivity, and to give soul and body and style to."[195] If we go back even furth
er, there comes to mind the image of the Work "unborn, in gestation," like "an u
nborn baby" in the maternal womb.[196]
But what exactly had happened in Rome to require the founder's return? Provida M
ater Ecclesia itself anticipates the answer. The introduction of the apostolic c
onstitution lists among the reasons for its promulgation "to avoid the danger of
the establishment of new institutions which are sometimes founded imprudently a
nd without mature examination."
Such associations were springing up everywhere.[197] In the year after the promu
lgation of Provida Mater Ecclesia, more than fifty petitions for approval were p
resented to the Sacred Congregation for Religious.[198] The Curia responded to t
hat flood of requests with the motu proprio Primo Feliciter and the instruction
Cum Sanctissimus. Bishops were advised in the instruction to slow down the rush
to create new associations. Diocesan authorities had to test lay movements and l
ead them step by step, through a system of juridical configurations? pious union
s, sodalities, confraternities?to determine where they would finally settle.[199
]
Primo Feliciter mandated strict application of the norms proper to secular insti
tutes. The reason was clear: Provida Mater Ecclesia was meant to fill a vacuum i
n the Code of Canon Law, and the characteristics of associations seeking approva
l as secular institutes were taken carefully into account in drawing it up. Yet
the spirit of many of these closely approximated the spirit of religious life.
Father Josemaria had accepted Provida Mater Ecclesia as a matter of necessity. B
ut now seeing the danger that secular institutes would in theory and practice be
equated with the religious state, he hurried to Rome, prepared to do battle on
behalf of a key point: secularity. He speaks of it in a few words, without descr
ibing his own role in this small but important episode in Church history:
Then, thanks to the initiative that Alvaro took through the Sottosegretario [und
ersecretary] of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, the motu proprio Primo Fe
liciter was obtained, to ensure secularity.[200]
This document is steeped in secularity. There were no concessions this time, and
secularity is "firmly etched," especially in the sections on the pursuit of san
ctity and the exercise of apostolate.[201] Secular institutes, says Primo Felici
ter, should make manifest their "proper and peculiar" character, the "secular ch
aracter that is the root of their reason for being."[202] (Yet even that was not
sufficient to prevent confusion. The threat that the religious model would be i
mposed on the secular institutes remained.)
By early February 1948, the founder had begun to consider his work finished. He

wrote to Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin: "I hope to return soon to Spain. My Roman
soggiornohas not been sterile. You'll have such a great joy when I tell you all
about it!"[203] In fact, at that time he regularly expressed that joy himself in
an expression he used to open or close his letters: "God's grace and good spiri
ts."[204] The outcome, he tells the General Council, provides grounds for much h
appiness: "The balance sheet is incomparably more favorable for this trip than f
or the others I have made to Rome. I'll tell you all about it. Be expecting the
instruction and a motu proprio."[205]
Those documents safeguarded the canonical framework of the secular institutes, f
ounded as it was on secularity, an essential characteristic of the members of Op
us Dei. The founder sums it up in a few words: "a contemplative inner life, unit
ed to one's own professional work, whatever it might be."[206]
The linkage, grounded in the love of God, of interior life and work provides the
setting for the participation of the ordinary Christian in the redemption of th
e secular order. Intrinsic to the spirit of Opus Dei is "passionately loving the
world,"[207] for that is where human work finds the material and occasion of sa
nctity.[208]
Someone whom God calls to Opus Dei is not thereby removed from the place he or s
he has occupied in society up to then. God enters that person's life and gives i
t a new meaning, explains the founder, but "externally nothing has changed; the
Lord wants us to serve him precisely where our human vocation has led us: our pr
ofessional work."[209] Professional work remains the connection with society; an
d there, "in the place, state, and profession that one had before coming to Opus
Dei," one seeks one's sanctification.[210] The person remains rooted in a parti
cular society, an ordinary citizen, neither more nor less than any of one's frie
nds, colleagues, or neighbors.
Monsignor Escriva spent almost two years in Rome, explaining Opus Dei, explainin
g himself, explaining "secularity" to one and all. Sometimes he got nowhere; and
when progress came?later?it would require, it seemed, nothing less than the int
ervention of Providence on his behalf.
A young man in Barcelona worked for the wine company Arno, which was owned by hi
s family, while at the same time, performing as a tenor at Barcelona's opera hou
se, El Liceo. He wanted to be admitted to Opus Dei, but because of his age (he w
as too old to attend the university), and his professional commitments, he had b
een putting off a decision. While at Molinoviejo in the summer of 1947, Father J
osemaria learned that this young man, Fernando Linares, had been told that befor
e joining, he should study law. This, said the Father, was not necessary; he was
already working professionally, and that was enough for him to join the Work.[2
11]
After returning to Rome, the Father received a letter from Fernando Linares, wit
h a photo of himself in the mandarin costume he wore in the Stravinsky opera Le
Chant du Rossignol. Father Josemaria responded:

Rome, February 26,1948 Dear Fernando:

May Jesus watch over you for me.
I've read your letters. We'll get along very well, if you are holy. Since you th
ink you're an old fellow, make good use of your time. Of course, the Chinese cha
p in the picture you sent me doesn't look all that old. Don't take yourself too
seriously; you'll be young till you're eighty-something.[212]

He also made good use of the photo, as he relates in a letter written several mo
nths later:

My main job at that time was to make the Work understood by those governing the
universal Church. At a certain moment I decided to use an example that to me was
very clear. I was speaking with Cardinal Lavitrano, and I showed him a photogra
ph of a brother of yours, an opera singer; it was taken while he was performing
in a theater. And I said, "Now can you really see that we are ordinary people, t
hat our thing is to sanctify all the professions, all the ways of working proper
to people who don't separate themselves from the world?"[213]


The case for secularity must have been very powerful in his eyes, since the year
before it had even won out over his own humility in the matter of his appointme
nt as a monsignor.
It all began when Don Alvaro, now the Procurator General of Opus Dei, after havi
ng consulted the other members of the General Council, requested that the founde
r be made a Domestic Prelate. Monsignor Montini readily picked up on the idea.[2
14] The certificate of appointment was dated April 22,1947. Monsignor Montini, w
ho had paid the fees involved in its issuance out of his own pocket, sent it wit
h a handwritten note calling it "a new and solemn proof of the esteem and affect
ion that the Holy Father has for the founder of Opus Dei."[215]
The appointee was disinclined to accept this unsought and unwanted honor, and wa
s on the verge of courteously returning the certificate, when Don Alvaro managed
to dissuade him. For him to be called monsignor would make the secularity of Op
us Dei more obvious, he pointed out, since religious-order priests did not recei
ve that title.[216]
The founder wrote at length to the members about work?its role in the spiritual
life?in a letter dated October 15,1948:
In working [he explained], you do not do a merely human task, because the spirit
of Opus Dei is that you convert it into a divine work. With God's grace, you gi
ve your professional work in the midst of the world its deepest and fullest mean
ing by directing it toward the salvation of souls, connecting it with Christ's r
edemptive mission.

Behind this account of work's supernatural meaning stand a theological structure

and a pastoral phenomenon previously unknown: "work is put at the very root of
the specific supernatural spirit of Opus Dei."[217] The letter's thesis is that
secular work, done for love, becomes "a Work of God, an Opus Dei, an operatio De
i, a supernatural work."[218]The founder had preached this idea from the start,
in the face of ingrained incomprehension. To university students he had offered
it with the simple statement: "An hour of study is an hour of prayer."[219]Now,
though, he begins this foundational text with an overture that draws upon script
ure:

When Scripture narrates the creation of the first man, it tells us that "the Lor
d God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden" ut operaretur?in order for
him to work.
After the sin, that same reality of work remained, but united ?because of sin? t
o pain and fatigue. "By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat," we r
ead in Genesis. Work is not something accidental, but a law for human life.[220]

Work is part of God's plan. By way of illustration he quotes the psalmist:

"You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep for
th. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. When the s
un rises, they get them away and lie down in their dens. Man goes forth to his w
ork and to his labor until the evening. O Lord, how manifold are your works! In
wisdom have you made them all."[221]

And shortly we are with Christ, the Messiah, in Joseph's workshop:

[Take] the example of Jesus, who (for thirty years!) remained in Nazareth workin
g at a trade?that of a craftsman, says Scripture. Tradition adds that he was a c
arpenter. In Jesus' hands, work?a professional work similar to the work done by
millions of people in the world?is converted into a divine task, a redemptive wo
rk, a path of salvation.[222]

Precisely as Christians, we need to proclaim the power of work, which makes us p

articipants in creation and in human progress. Work is not, then, a divine curse
, although the labor involved can make a task unpleasant. But even then its fati

gues and pains supply, "an opportunity to feel closer to Christ," who suffered h
unger and weariness and the torments of the Passion. And since work is a univers
al law, "any upright and noble human work can be turned into a divine task"; Thu
s the members of Opus Dei "should elevate and sanctify all professions, turning
them into instruments of sanctity for themselves and others, and into an opportu
nity for apostolate."[223]
But how to accomplish such a marvelous transformation? He explains:

When we let Jesus dwell in us, we have in our life a power far superior to that
of the legendary king Midas, the fellow who turned everything he touched into go
ld. Out of human work we make ... an operatio Dei, a supernatural work.[224]
Work is sanctified by seeking union with God in carrying it out, maintaining, as
much as possible, a constant conversation with the Lord?a dialogue whose materi
al comes from the work. Our poor efforts take on supernatural value when done to
perfection, with professional competence and rectitude of intention, in God's p
resence, with no thought for human glory and personal vanity. Work is sanctified
by being undertaken as a way to serve others for love of God.[225]

These ideas?sanctity through work, apostolate in one's profession, and secularity?ap

pear also in the section of the decretum laudisthat sets out the characteristics
of Opus Dei.[226] Earlier, the Holy See had granted plenary indulgences to memb
ers of Opus Dei for various occasions?for example upon incorporation into Opus D
ei, on feast days of the patron saints of the Work, and also monthly, if every d
ay during that time they offered their intellectual work to God with an aspirati
on.[227]
The apostolic brief Cum Societatis (dated June 28,1946), granting these indulgen
ces, specified "intellectual" work because the majority of members of Opus Dei a
t that time were students or professors. Yet that fell short of what the Father
had hoped, since, for example, it left out of consideration those numerary assis
tants, doing indispensable work in domestic service. And how could one speak of
the sanctification of all honorable work if in the granting of plenary indulgenc
es a distinction was made between intellectual work and manual work?
The Holy See therefore was asked to extend indulgences to the members of Opus De
i for manual work. Pope Pius XII responded with the apostolic brief Mirifice de
Ecclesia, which emphasizes that "Opus Dei's reason for existence, its essence, a
nd its proper end consist in sanctification through ordinary work."[228] This do
cument makes special mention of the women members of Opus Dei, and among them, o
f "those who take up as their occupation household work and who, following the e
xample of the Lord (who came to serve, and not to be served), and of the most ho
ly Virgin Mary (the handmaid of the Lord), led by true humility, cheerfully perf
orm those manual and domestic tasks with which Martha busied herself, while anim
ated within by the spirit of Mary."[229] By this brief the Holy Father granted p
lenary and partial indulgences to members of Opus Dei who offered their manual w
ork to God with some invocation or aspiration. In doing so, the Holy See once mo
re ratified Opus Dei's view of work.
The founder wrote:

Understand that, in God's service, there is no job of little importance. They're

all of great importance. The value of the work depends on the personal conditio
ns of the one carrying it out, on the human seriousness with which it is done, o
n the love for God that is put into it. The work of the farmer who seeks sanctit
y by cultivating the land is noble, as is that of the university professor who u
nites culture and faith. And so is that of the artisan who works at home; and th
at of the banker who employs financial means to benefit the community; and that
of the politician who sees his work as a service to the common good; and that of
the manual laborer who offers God the work of his hands.[230]

The human, secular vocation of someone whom God calls to Opus Dei?his or her pro
fessional work?is an integral part of the divine call. The founder expresses thi
s vividly:


The entire spirituality of Opus Dei rests, like a door on its jamb, on professio
nal work carried out in the middle of the world. Without a professional vocation
a person cannot join Opus Dei. . . because one can sum up our life by saying th
at we have to sanctify our profession, sanctify ourselves in our profession, and
sanctify others through our profession.[231]

Thus one's work, and all that depends on it and revolves around it, becomes the
first condition for apostolic activity, the medium through which God transforms
social and professional relationships. When people come to Opus Dei, it takes th
em as they are?not transplanting them someplace else, not inviting them to chang
e career or occupation, but taking their work as the setting of their apostolate
.
"A person with no professional ambition is of no use to me," the founder insists
.[232] Everyone in Opus Dei is enthusiastic for work. And that definitely includ
es the numerary assistants who clearly show their professional ambition.[233]
In this letter the thread connecting work and the spirituality of Opus Dei is th
e linking of the divine and the human, work and sanctification. There is no oppo
sition between professional work and a life of dedication to God.
On the contrary, they help one another. Professional work gives you a sense of r
esponsibility, a human maturity, and a whole array of natural virtues that becom
e the basis for the supernatural ones. And, at the same time, your divine vocati
on leads you to do your work better, trying to make it perfect, since it is what
you have to offer to God, and one should not offer him something defective, som
ething badly done.[234]

[1] See Alberto J. Lleonart y Amselem and Fernando Maria Castiella y Maiz, Espar
ia y ONU: La "Question espanola," I (1945-46): Madrid, 1978, pp. 386-89.
[2] It was reopened on August 24,1947.
[3] See Acta Apostolicae Sedis (henceforth abbreviated as AAS) 38 (1946), 132. T
he creation of the new cardinals and the announcement of it took place in the Se
cret Consistory of February 18; see AAS 38 (1946), 133. The interviews, audience
s, and visits following the assignment of titles and posts in the Sacred Congreg
ations kept the new cardinals in Rome for another week.
[4] See Jose Orlandis Rovira, Mis recuerdos: Primeros tiempos del Opus Dei en Ro
ma (Madrid,1995), pp. 36-37.
[5] AGP section Bl, file 3, C-60224-l.
[6] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-J60302-1.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid. The new Spanish cardinals were the archbishops of Toledo, Enrique Pla?
??y Deniel; Tarragona, Manuel Arce y Ochotorena; and Granada, Agustin Parrado y
Garcia.
[9] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-460302-1.
[10] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-60312-l (Letter of Alvaro del Portillo, 12 Mar 1
946). "Habemus ...": "We have some commendatory letters ... given by all the Span
ish prelates and also some of the cardinals from Portugal, Italy..." "Sed insati
abiles estis!": "You really are insatiable!"
[11] "Esset nobis ...": "It would make us very happy to have a letter from some
German prelate." Ibid.
[12] See AGP, RHF, EF-460206-1,460420-1,460324-1,460421-1, and 460503-1 (letters
to Bishop Jose Lopez Ortiz, of Tuy, and to the abbot of Montserrat, Dom Aurelio
Escarre).
[13] See AGP, RHF, EF-460324-2.
[14] AGP, RHF, EF-460325-1.
[15] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-60403-l. This letter from Don Alvaro is register
ed as having been written on April 3, but was actually written on three days: Ap
ril 3,5, and 19.
[16] AGP, RHF, EF-460414-1.

[17] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-460517-1.

[18] See AGP, RHF, EF-460616-1. The collecting of commendatory letters was an al
l-out and exhaustive exercise. As is stated in the decretum laudis (24 Feb 1947)
of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, the Holy See was presen
ted with sixty letters from the prelates in whose dioceses Opus Dei was working,
including eight cardinals and all the metropolitans of Spain. See Amadeo de Fue
nmayor, Valentin Gomez Iglesias, and Jose Luis Illanes, The Canonical Path of Op
us Dei, trans. William H. Stetson (Princeton, 1994), p. 503. See also Letter 7 O
ct 1950, no. 20; and Diccionario de Historia Eclesidstica (Madrid, 1972), vol. 2
, p. 1012.
[19] Letter 14 Feb 1944, no. 17.
[20] The decretum laudis contains this statement: "Post diuturnas moras multasqu
e probationes Opus Dei, qua verum Dei opus (Act. V, 39), superatis on parvis nequ
e paucis, etiam bonorum, contradictionibus, succrevit et consolidatum est" ["Aft
er long delays and many trials, Opus Dei, as a true work of God (Acts 5:39), hav
ing overcome hardships, neither few nor small, proceeding even from good people,
has grown and consolidated itself"]; see Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes
, pp. 168 and 503.
This "opposition by the good" was also the reason why the Sacred Congregation fo
r Religious issued on 13 Aug 1946 the document Brevis Sane, the "letter in prais
e of the purpose" of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (see Fu
enmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 501-502). "Doubtless," the founder com
mented, "they saw our need to have something in writing right away, in order to
defend ourselves. For our main motivation for obtaining an approval from Rome, e
ven if for the moment it is not exactly as we would like it to be, has been noth
ing other than the reality of seeing ourselves so harshly persecuted. And thus,
to get the backing that we need for spreading the objective truth" (Letter 29 De
c 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 167). As mentioned in chapter 4 of the previous volume,
this letter is a document that the founder wrote for his children, but deemed it
a matter of prudence not to send to the Centers of the Work. It is in the Gener
al Archive of the Prelature (AGP).
Like the "letter in praise of the purpose," the "letter of praise" was also a co
mpromise solution.
[21] See AGP, RHF, EF-^50113.
[22] For more on the efforts and legal procedures involved in obtaining pontific
al approval for Opus Dei, see Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 145-56
.
[23] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-460327-1.
[24] In very small letters, between lines, Don Alvaro adds, "But he is saying th
is a priori, since he hasn't read the Constitutions yet."
[25] AGP, RHF, EF-^60324-2.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] He also suspected that Jose Orlandis and Salvador Canals, who were helping
Don Alvaro in his dealings with the consultors, were not aware of the anger. "The
ir heads are in the clouds/' he wrote; see ibid.
[29] See AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-460405-1.
[30] Pope Pius had come to know of Don Alvaro's presence in Rome not only from M
onsignor Montini, but also from an audience he had given on March 3 to Dom Aurel
io Escarre, the abbot of Montserrat, who had spoken to him bout the apostolate of
the members of Opus Dei ("his Opus Dei friends," as the Holy Father put it). Th
e abbot had told him during that audience that Don Alvaro was now a priest, and
the Holy Father had replied, "I know, I know." See AGP, section Bl, file 3, C^60
312-l.
[31] See AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-460403-1 (a letter from Don Alvaro, dated 10
Apr 1946). The correspondence between Don Alvaro and the founder was one by lett
er and, for certain matters, by telegram. The letters were carried and delivered
by hand, often by lay people or clergy traveling between Rome and Madrid, and a
t times by Iberian pilots. This accounts for the lack of regularity in dates.
In their telegrams they would use expressions previously agreed upon by letter, so

that Father Josemaria could indicate to Don Alvaro the lines he should follow in
his negotiations. Telephone communication with Spain had been cut off.
With reference to the "new forms," Don Alvaro wrote on March 27: "When we know somet
hing about this, I'll telegraph you to find out what I should do." It is obvious
from the bold and confident attitude of Don Alvaro in his conversation with the
Holy Father that the founder had decided to explore the avenue of. the new form
s.
[32] Father Arcadio Maria Larraona Saralegui, C.M.F., an eminent expert on canon
law, had been the undersecretary of the Sacred Congregation for Religious for m
any years and was on the commission that in 1945 had the task of preparing the d
ecree and the norms of procedure for approval and governing of the "new forms."
Later he was named secretary of the same congregation, and after that a cardinal
and the prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Rites.
[33] See AGP, section Bl, file 3, C^60405-l.
[34] For more on the "new forms," and on the process by which these other instit
utions and Opus Dei acquired approval as secular institutes, see Fuenmayor, Gome
z Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 151-59.
[35] One can get an idea of the state of development of these institutions and o
f the urgency of finding appropriate norms for them from the fact that in 1938,
at Saint Gallen>n Switzerland, in a convention approved by Pope Pius XI, represe
ntatives of twenty-five associations of a more or less secular character met to
discuss the problem.
[36] Letter 7 Oct 1950, no. 18. See also AGP, RHF, D-13452, no. 168; and Sum. 24
5, 555, 2154, and 4668.
[37] See AGP, section Bl, file 3, CM60403-1 and C-460419-1.
[38]AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-460403-1.
[39] AGP, RHF, EF-^60324-2.
[40] The irregularities in the correspondence between Madrid and Rome during thi
s period is largely due to historic circumstances. On the recommendation of the
United Nations, as mentioned before, many countries had suspended diplomatic rel
ations with Spain, recalling their ambassadors and closing their frontiers, resu
lting in an interruption of international communications by freight and mail. Mo
reover the letters, and especially some of the notes attached to them, concerned
confidential matters (including matters of conscience), and thus needed to be s
ent by hand, by fully trustworthy persons. The telegrams from Rome to Madrid, or
vice versa, were, in general, sent to confirm or ascertain arrivals of letters.
See AGP, section Bl, file 3, CM60419-1.
[41] The papers were brought to Rome by Florentino Perez Embid. He was there May
6-21. See Orlandis, pp. 101-103.
[42] I sent a telegram saying that it would be all done in May," Don Alvaro wrot
e to the founder on May 17. But the preparatory work of the commission was not y
et finished, despite the help which members of the Work provided by typing up th
e documents. "Had we not pitched in ourselves," writes Don Alvaro, "it would hav
e taken five or six years, in spite of Father Larraona's interest in it." See AG
P, section Bl, file 3, C460517-1.
[43] See AGP, RHF, EF-460516-1.
[44] AGP, RHF, EF-460518-1.
[45] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C^60525-l. The referendum held on June 2 concerned
the type of government Italy was to have: monarchy or republic. The outcome was
the abolition of the monarchy of the House of Savoy.
By a letter dated June 3, Don Alvaro confirmed the date of the commission meeting.
[46] AGP, RHF, EF-460607-1.
[47] See AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-160608-1. The president of the commission wa
s rather Siervo Goyeneche; the other members were Father Peter Kramer, Father Co
sma Sartori, and Bishop Roberto Sposetti. The modifications made to Opus Dei's s
tatutes were minimal; for example, amending Psalm citations to accord with the n
ew version approved by Pope Pius XII.
[48] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-46060&-1.
[49] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-460610-1. "Mariano" was one of the Father's bapt
ismal names.

[50] AGP, RHF, EF-460613-1. In the diary that Don Alvaro was keeping at this tim
e, we read: "Saturday, June 8. All morning, writing to the Father.... We send th
e Father a telegram announcing the arrival of Julian Cortes Cavanillas by plane,
and with letters,
... so that as soon as he reaches Madrid he can get in contact with the Father":
AGP, section J, file 1.4.
As for Don Alvaro's letters of June 10 and 12, they were sent by way of Luis Garda
de Llera, Commercial Attache of the Spanish Embassy to Italy, who was awaiting
a plane to take him back to Madrid; but no plane was available until Sunday, Jun
e 16. Don Alvaro found that out the following day. "At the last minute," he writ
es in the diary, "we sent the Father a telegram telling him, belatedly, that Gar
cia de Llera finally left for Spain with the letters": AGP, section J, file 1.4.
The founder's letter of June 13 clearly shows that that latest news from Rome had n
ot arrived: "Dear Alvaro: We received your telegram informing us of the letter t
hat Garcia de Llera is bringing. The plane hasn't arrived yet, and they say they
don't know if it will arrive today." And this is confirmed by what Don Alvaro w
rites: "Rome, June 12,1946. Dear Father: After my writing to you as quickly as I
did on Monday, it turns out that Garcia de Llera isn't leaving until tomorrow,
Thursday, in the morning. I still feel the same as day before yesterday. It's ob
vious that I'm worn out...."
All this explains the founder's simultaneous readiness to take "the next plane" and
to wait. (There was no air travel between Spain and Italy at this time. The foun
der thought of traveling by air because he had been informed that Garcia de Ller
a would be coming to Madrid by plane. But actually, Garcia de Llera was taking a
dvantage of a trip being made by three planes which Iberia had obtained as Ameri
can war surplus. See Orlandis, pp. 106-107.
[51] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C^160612-l. This letter reached Madrid after a del
ay of several days.
[52] A copy of the curriculum vitae had already been sent to the Holy See by the
diocese of Madrid-Alcala, on August 28,1943. See Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and
Hlanes, pp. 490-92.
[53] It was Jos Orlandis who went to the Barajas airport to pick up the letters b
rought by his friend Luis Garcia de Llera. Orlandis had left Rome on May 21 to g
ive a test to his students at the School of Law in Saragossa, and was in Madrid
during these days. See Orlandis, pp. 105-106.
That same Sunday, Father Josemaria tacked onto someone else's letter a few lines for
Don Alvaro: "Tomorrow they will issue my passport. If you telegraph me that you
would like me to, I will catch the next plane. I won't object." See AGP, RHF, E
F-460616-1.
[54] AGP, RHF, T-00159, XII, p. 23.
[55] See the testimony of Father Jose Luis Muzquiz in AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 28
. "The Father's prudence," comments Father Muzquiz, "led him to ask, but if the
advice that he received was not in accord with what he saw before the Lord?if it
appeared to him that that advice was inspired, rather, by the 'prudence of the
flesh'?he would listen to it, and then return to consider it in the presence of
the Lord, and then decide as seemed best."
[56] See AGP, RHF, T-00159 (testimony of Francisco Botella), vol. 12, p. 23.
[57] Apuntes,no. 1588 (28 Sep 1938).
[58] A Dr. Arjona performed that test on May 24, and got the following results:
Blood sugar after fasting, 1.21 grams per 100 milliliters; blood sugar half an h
our after administration of 50 g. of glucose, 2.03 g. per 100 ml.; blood sugar h
alf an hour later, 2.95 g. per 100 ml. This test was run twice, for greater prec
ision. Blood pressure was 140/90, and the eye examination revealed increased ret
inal pigmentation.
[59] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 246, and Orlandis, p. 110.
Sunday, June 16, was the day set by Julian Cortes Cavanillas for his return to Rome
. (As we have mentioned, he had gone by plane to Madrid on June 8, with a letter
from Don Alvaro for the founder.) When he called Don Alvaro to tell him he was
in Rome, Don Alvaro and Salvador Canals immediately went to see him, as Don Alva
ro records in the diary (see AGP, section J, file 1.4). He says, "We go at top s

peed. We get the letter sent by the Father this very morning. Julian tells us th
at they talked for some hours and that the Father seems fine, physically. We lea
ve for home and, in the half-light, while crossing the Piazza Navona, we intentl
y read the letter. The Father says that he is not feeling well, but that as soon
I send him a telegram, he will come."
(This letter from the founder is, evidently, the one dated June 13. That very Sunda
y, just hours after his chat with Julian Cortes, he was able to read the letters
sent by way of Luis Garcia de Llera.)
The diary entry continues, "Tonight the Father will have my two letters. At the news
the Father gives us that he has his passport, Salvador and I are happier than l
arks, because now we know for sure that he is coming. It's been four months now
that we have been away, physically, from the Father! We're going across the Tibe
r feeling very encouraged, our mouths watering at the thought of the chats we wi
ll get to have with the Father."
[60] The nuncio was Archbishop Gaetano Cicognani, and the documents were dated J
une 19,1946. See AGP, RHF, D-15122.
[61] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 352, and AGP, RHF, T-04151 (testimony of Fr
ancisco onz), p. 92.
[62] See Orlandis, pp. 113-17, and AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 90.
[63] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 246; Orlandis, pp. 119-20; and AGP, RHF, T-00
184 (testimony given by Orlandis), p. 64.
[64] AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 92.
[65] One of the recommendations that the founder made before leaving was that th
ese sons in Saragossa take care to maintain their spirit of fraternal affection,
and another was that Our Lady of Ransom be featured on the altarpiece being mad
e for the oratory of "the clinic." See AGP, RHF, D-15440.
[66] See Orlandis, pp. 124-28.
[67] The ship's log of the J.J. Sister,was furnished by the Naval Military Comma
nd on February 10,1944, in Barcelona. It consists of 300 pages. On the first is
noted the voyage from Barcelona to Genoa on June 1,1946, and on the last, the tr
ip from Palma to Seville on December 6,1947. The original is in AGP, RHF, D-0343
5. The signature of the ship's captain is almost completely illegible.
[68] Rafael Caamafto, an officer of the Spanish Navy who has studied the log ent
ries stating the courses and headings of the J.J. Sister on its other voyages fr
om Barcelona to Genoa, writes: "This means that they were forced to steer more i
nto the waves. That is clear because with a very heavy swell or even heavier sea
s from the north-northwest, the 068 course, the one taken in normal circumstance
s, would have meant that the waves would hit the ship broadside, and the pitchin
g and rolling could have been dangerous.
[69] See AGP, RHF, D-15441-5.
[70] AGP, RHF, D-15441-6. See also Orlandis, pp. 125-26 and 128.
[71] Orlandis, p. 131. That was the first greeting after the disembarking. Befor
e, there was a greeting given from the ship, which Don Alvaro describes in these
words: "And, finally, the Father! He sees us right away, and says very happily,
'Both of you! What a joy, that both of you have come!' And then, making a megap
hone with his hands, he calls out to me, 'Pighead!'" (See AGP, section J, file 1
.4.)
[72] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 247, and Orlandis, pp. 133-35 and 137.
[73] The apartment was rented from Luciana Gawronski, whose father was an Italia
n senator, by the name of Frassati, and whose husband was a Polish diplomat. Her
family uved in a nearby apartment. She was the sister of Pier Giorgio Frassati,
beatified in 1990 by Pope John Paul II. See AGP, RHF, D-15441-6, and Orlandis,
pp. 138-39.
The move to Citta Leonina had been made on June 13; see AGP, section J, file 1.4
.
[74] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 247, and Orlandis, pp. 139-40.
[75] The Way, no. 520. The founder, surely as a mortification, let a whole day g
o by before visiting St. Peter's Basilica. Jose Orlandis, whose turn it was to m
ake the diary entries, wrote: "I accompany the Father to St. Peter's. It's his f
irst visit, and it lasts a long time?an hour in all." See AGP, section J, file 1

.4.
[76] Letter 9 Jan 1932, no. 20.
[77] Already in the first pages of his Apuntes, those written in 1930, one repea
tedly sees ??? "O.c.P.aJ.p.M."?the initials of the aspiration "Omnes cum Petro a
d Iesum per Mariam." This aspiration (which also became part of no. 833 of The W
ay) and "Regnare Christum volumus" ("We want Christ to reign") and "Deo omnis gl
oria" ("All glory to God") together expressed "the three aims of the Work: Chris
t's reign made a reality, all the glory for God, souls" (Apuntes, no. 171:10 Mar
1931). See also Apuntes, no. 65 (16 Jun 1930), no. 72 (5 Jul 1930), no. 77 (28
Jul 1930), and no. 172 (10 Mar 1931).
[78] Letter 7 Oct 1950, no. 19. See also AGP, RHF, EF-640614-1 (a letter to Pope
Paul VI).
[79] Cf. AGP, RHF, EF-440216-1 and AGP, RHF, EF-440327-1.
In an audience granted them on January 15,1943, Jose Orlandis and Salvador Canals h
ad spoken to Pope Pius XII about the Work and the founder. "The audience lasted
about ten minutes," says Orlandis, "and before ending it, the Pope asked us to t
ransmit his special blessing to the founder and to all of Opus Dei": Jose Orland
is Rovira, Memorias de Roma en guerra: 1942-1945 (Madrid, 1998), p. 58.
Particularly extensive was the conversation that Francisco Botella had with the Hol
y Father in the private audience given him on May 21,1943. He himself tells us (
in AGP, RHF, T-00159, vol. 10, pp. 15-17): "As soon as there was a brief pause?t
his was three or four minutes after the beginning of the audience?I, on the basi
s of the filial trust in the Pope that the Father had instilled in our hearts, s
aid to him, 'Most Holy Father, I feel filled with that immense confidence in the
Holy Father, and affection for him, that our founder has instilled in our souls
, and I want to tell him that I am a member of Opus Dei.' The Holy Father's appe
arance changed; his face lit up, showing great pleasure. He said that the Work w
as very beautiful, and that it was doing work very pleasing in the eyes of God.
And then I heard from his lips, 'Tell me things; tell me about Opus Dei.' So the
n I spoke about the Father and what the Father was saying
"He soon interrupted me, openly expressing great interest. He said, 'Are you having
any problems? Is the Father worried about anything?' It was evident, from his m
anner and the look on his face, that he already knew about some of those problem
s. So I told him that the Father was always cheerful, but that yes, there had be
en difficulties, coming basically from a few members of a certain religious orde
r....
"More than twenty-five minutes had gone by. The Holy Father told me that he kept th
e Work in his heart and in his prayers. The only thing that came to my mind, whe
n I saw that the audience was ending, was to ask the Pope for a special blessing
for the Father. He told me that with his whole heart he blessed the Father and
his children, and added, 'Tell the Father that.' And then I knelt down and he ga
ve me the blessing."
Abbot Escarre, in an audience given him on March 3, 1946, spoke with the Holy Father
about the Work; and surely he told Father Josemaria about this conversation, si
nce the two of them had a long chat on the evening before the Father embarked on
the J.J. Sister. See AGP, section B1, file 3, C?60312-l (12 Mar 1946 letter fro
m Alvaro del Portllo), and Orlandis, Mis recuerdos, p. 117.
[80] AGP, section B1, file 3, C-460405-l.
[81] "The entire history of the Work," the founder would later write, "is a hist
ory of God?s mercies,... things provided by God's goodness, which has always pre
ceded and accompanied the Work's steps" (Letter 23 Jan 1961, no. 1).
[82] AGP, RHF, D-15087. (Monsignor Montini wrote this letter in Spanish.)
[83] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 799; Antonio Maria Travia, Sum. 3465; and Seb
astiano Baggio, Sum. 5258. (Cardinal Baggio was at that time working with Monsig
nor Domenico Tardini, the secretary of the Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs
Department of the Secretariat of State.)
[84] AGP, P01 Jul 1963, p. 47. See also Fernando Valenciano Polack, Sum. 7109.
[85] On June 11, Don Alvaro had a long meeting with Monsignor Montini, of which
he tells this anecdote explaining the delay in the return of the photo. "I took
to Msgr. Montini, he says in a letter dated June 12, "a splendid photograph of t

he Pope so that he might provide a handwritten blessing for you. Msgr. Montini t
old me that the Holy Father had stopped giving those blessings, but that he woul
d bring it to him anyway.
[86] AGP, RHF, D-15441-6 (a letter, dated 26 Jun 1946, to those in Madrid).
[87] See Apuntes,no. 220 (10 Aug 1931).
[88] AGP, RHF, EF-460630-1.
[89] AGP, RHF, EF?60630-2.
[90] AGP, RHF, EF-460630-3. "Babo" was a nickname of Salvador Canals.
[91] In a letter dated June 8, Don Alvaro told the founder: "I interrupted this
letter to await the arrival of Father Goyeneche, who came to the house at 2:15 i
n a state of elation.... All [the members of the commission] were so enthusiasti
c about the Work that they proposed, as the pope does on certain occasions, that
there be another session in which "videntibus omnibus" ["in front of everyone"]
the Work was approved by the commission.
[92] The idea of placing a set of standards for the "new forms" more or less in
the margins of the Code of Canon Law had some opposition. "For some ..., such in
novation was considered premature. Others opined that this new set of norms migh
t under mine the state of perfection and even, by forfeiting some of its theolog
ical content, empty it of meaning" (Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, p. 1
45).
[93] AGP, RHF, EF-460708-1. After the arrival of Father Josemaria in Rome the si
tuation had improved notably. On July 6 Don Alvaro wrote to Pedro Casciaro, "We
still believe that the decree will be issued, since there is nothing but good wi
ll on the part of everyone.... The only difficulty?a pretty serious one?is the l
ack of time" (AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-460706-1).
[94] Letter 25 Jan 1961, no. 6.
[95] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 555.
[96] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 556, and Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illan
es, p. 152. The fact that the juridical mentality of the consultors was based on
the "state of perfection" concept is shown by two comments that reached the ear
s of Don Alvaro: see AGP, RHF, EF-460324-2.
[97] Letter 7 Oct 1950, no. 20.
In 1947 (see AGP, RHF, D-13452, no. 84) he wrote the following on this point: "Righ
t from the first moment of the founding of Opus Dei, my daughters and sons, from
October 2,1928,1 have always seen the Work as an institution whose members woul
d never be religious, nor live like religious, nor possibly be?in any way?consid
ered the equivalentof religious.
"This was not due to any lack of affection for religious?I love and venerate them w
ith all my might?but, rather, because Opus Dei had to carry out an apostolate of
penetration into all sectors of civil society, by means of citizens who were eq
ual to all the rest.
"When I say 'penetration,' this word should be understood to mean the desire to inj
ect a supernatural spirit into the bloodstream of society, and not simply a phys
ical penetration by members into the civil sphere, since the members of the Work
form part of society. They have never separated themselves from it, and therefo
re have no need to 'penetrate' into where they already are."
And earlier he had written: "We deeply venerate and respect the priestly and religi
ous vocations, and all the immense work that religious have accomplished and wil
l accomplish in the service of the Church. Therefore anyone who did not have thi
s spirit would not be a good son or daughter of mine.
"But, at the same time, we reiterate that our call and our work?because they are an
invitation to remain in the world, and because our apostolic tasks are carried o
ut in and from secular activities?are entirely different from the vocation and w
ork entrusted to religious" (Letter 11 Mar 1940, no. 40).
[98] Letter 7 Oct 1950, nos. 20-21.
[99] See AGP, RHF, EF-460727-1.
[100] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C?60706-l.
[101] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 556. Father Larraona actually left for Fiugg
i with Father Josemara, Don Alvaro, and Canals. They set out at six in the evenin
g. See AGP, section J, file 1.4.

[102] AGP, RHF, D-30803. In the diary entries for these days we read, "Father La
rraona has said several times that had the Father not come, this decree on the n
ew forms would never have seen the light of day": AGP, section J, file 1.4.
[103] The name proposed by the Sacred Congregation for Religious was "religious
sodalities." In the above-cited note written on August 25 (AGP, RHF, D-30803), D
on Alvaro says: "The Father pointed out that, given the simplistic mentality of
many people, including the civil authorities and so forth, the new institutions
would be seen as being institutions of religious.The term 'institutes/ or 'secul
ar institutes/ was then proposed."
[104] AGP, RHF, EF-460713-1.
[105] AGP, RHF, EF-460708-1.
[106] AGP, RHF, EF-460727-1.
[107] Opus Dei as such was founded October 2,1928. The women's branch was founde
d February 14,1930, and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross on February 14,19
43.
[108] See Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 150 and 500. As we mention
ed before (see vol. 2, p. 315), the bishop of Madrid had on March 28, 1940, by d
ecree, granted a 50 days' indulgence for each time that someone "devoutly kissed
the wooden cross" in the Jenner Street residence. (See also AGP, RHF, D-15074.)
[109] AGP, RHF, EF-460727-1.
[110] "Actually," Don Alvaro tells us, "there was some talk of approving Opus De
i before Provida Mater Ecclesia came out; the Pope gave Cardinal Lavitrano permi
ssion to do that. But the cardinal advised that it would be better to wait a whi
le" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 556).
[111] This was Brevis Sane, a document of a kind that had not been granted by th
e Holy See in a long time. "In the praxis of the Congregation this document was
only given when a decree of praise could not be granted, but the institution was
deemed worthy of this support and there were serious reasons for showing this"
(Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Manes, p. 150).
[112] See Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 151 and 501-502.
The founder, as mentioned earlier (see note 20), commented that the Holy See had und
oubtedly issued this document so that Opus Dei would have "right away" the suppo
rt it needed for defense against the ongoing "opposition by the good."
[113] AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-460312-1.
[114] AGP, RHF, EF-460324-2.
[115] See AGP, RHF, T-04678/1 (testimony of Father Jose Luis Muzquiz), p. 50.
[116] See AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-160517-1 and C-160608-l.
[117] See AGP, RHF, T-00159 (testimony of Francisco Botella), vol. 12, p. 38. Th
e bones of the two martyrs were obtained with the help of the bishop of Forli. T
he caskets were sealed at the Spanish embassy in Rome on the morning of August 3
1, just a few hours before the founder took them with him to Madrid: see AGP, se
ction N, file 3-426.19.
When the shrine at Torreciudad was completed, the remains of Saint Sinfero were tran
sferred to its main altar. On October 12,1946, the urns there were opened and th
e relics certified. Father Juan Botella Valor acted as ecclesiastical notary, in
the presence of the founder. See AGP, RHF, T-00423 (testimony of Jesus Urteaga)
, p. 55.
[118] AGP, section J, file 1.4.
[119] See AGP, RHF, T-00423 (testimony of Jesus Urteaga), p. 53.
[120] AGP, Priestly Ordinations file, no. 660.2. The Juan referred to is Juan Ji
menez Vargas.
[121] The founder, Francisco Ponz tells us (see AGP, RHF, T-04151, p. 94), reite
rated the request he had made to them the previous June 21. "He wanted to have a
n altarpiece made for that house (La Clinica) as a memento of that trip. It woul
d have an image of Our Lady of Ransom, and would be engraved with the line from
Saint Matthew which had been the subject of the meditation he gave on the day of
the departure from Barcelona ("Ecce nos reliquimus omnia...": see Mt 19:27), an
d two dates: June 21,1946, the date of that departure; and October 21,1946."
[122] AGP, RHF, AVF-0033. He mentions that, among other things, Monsignor Montin
i had told him "that the Pope usually only hears about the bad things that are h

appening in the Church. So he finds great consolation in knowing about Opus Dei.
And he added, 'It also does me a lot of good to know about those good things.'.
.. He assured me that he prays to the Lord every day for Opus Dei."
[123] AGP, RHF, EF-461206-2. Once more he blames his pen for hindering the accom
plishment of his desires. (See volume 2 of this biography, pp. 233-35.) Few pens
could stand up to the force and speed with which he wrote.
[124] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 780.
[125] AGP, RHF, EF-461208-1.
[126] AGP, RHF, EF-461216-5; see also EF-461213-2 (a letter to members of the Ge
neral Council). Very possibly one of the "kind considerations" is something that
Alvaro del Portillo reports, in Sum. 782. At one moment in the audience, the fo
under, carried away by filial affection, wanted to kiss the feet of the Pope; bu
t the Pope told him he would only let him kiss one of them. Father Josemaria per
sisted, insisting on kissing the other, and reminded the Holy Father that he was
Aragonese, and that if all the Aragonese were stubborn, that trait was in his c
ase particularly well developed.
[127] AGP, RHF, EF-461216-4 (a letter to Father Francisco Iniguez Almech).
[128] AGP, RHF, T-00159 (testimony of Francisco Botella), vol. 12, p. 11. We are
already seeing one of those stock phrases coined by the founder and appearing a
lso in his correspondence. For example, in a letter to members of the General Co
uncil, he says: "Besides, I think I've learned how to wait. That's no small skil
l!" (AGP, RHF, EF-470425-1).
[129] AGP, RHF, EF-461216-2 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[130] AGP, RHF, EF-461213-1.
[131] AGP, RHF, EF-61216-2.
[132] AGP, RHF, EF-461216-1.
[133] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 103.
[134] AGP, RHF, T-04906, p. 4.
[135] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 104.
[136] AGP, section N, file 3.426.20.
[137] AGP, RHF, EF-461220-1.
[138] AGP, RHF, T-04906, p. 13.
[139] Rosalia Lopez, Sum. 7008.
[140] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 107.
[141] See AGP, RHF, D-15442 and EF-470117-1.
[142] AGP, section N, file 3.426.20.
[143] AGP, RHF, T-04906, pp. 13-14.
[144] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 107.
[145] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1502.
[146] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 109.
[147] Ibid. She was not at all exaggerating about the mending and patching of cl
othes. The founder writes to those in Madrid (see AGP, RHF, EF-470131-2), "The o
ld cape, the one I've been using these past few years, would it be worthwhile to
have it dyed (it's not black anymore; it's green) and then have a little fold s
ewn on the bottom, since it's fraying? That way I'll be able to keep using it. T
he one I brought, I'll leave here with Alvaro."
[148] In Italy, Christmas gifts are distributed on the Epiphany (January 6), sup
posedly by an old woman, "La Befana."
[149] See AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 109.
[150] AGP, RHF, EF-70101-2.
[151] AGP, section N, file 3.426.20 (Citta Leonina diary; entry for 16 Jan 1947)
. The five were Father Josemaria, Don Alvaro, Salvador Canals, Ignacio Salient,
and Armando Serrano. On February 3, 1947, the number became six, with the arriva
l of Alberto Martinez Fausset.
[152] AGP, section N, file 3.426.20.
[153] Ibid.: entry for 18 Jan 1947. For more on Don Alvaro's ailments during tha
t month of January, see the entries for January 7,9,14,15,17,18,21,22,23, and 27
. The dentist he went to was Dr. Kurt Hruska, who later was the founder's dentis
t also. See Kurt Hruska, Sum. 3487.
[154] See AGP, RHF, D-15442, p. 16.

[155] See the entry for 21 Jan 1947.

[156] Carlo Faelli, Sum. 3461.
[157] AGP, RHF, EF-470101-1.
[158] AGP, RHF, EF-470117-1.
[159] AGE RHF, EF-470117-2.
[160] AGP, RHF, EF-470131-2.
[161] AGP, section N, file 3.426.20.
[162] Ibid.: entry for February 12.
[163] AGP, RHF, EF-470214-2. "You can't say anything about this," he added, "bec
ause officially we can't know anything until the end of the month. For now, just
keep praying about the audience of this next 24th."
[164] AGP, section N, file 3.426.20 (entry for February 18). He had already, som
e days earlier, written to the members of the General Council in Spain, "Get peo
ple to pray hard that things don't get changed or delayed" (AGP, RHF, EF-4702072). The founder was afraid that dubious interpretations or applications of the t
ext of Provida Mater Ecclesia might result in last-minute additions to or amendm
ents of the decretum laudis. (The date that the apostolic constitution bore?Febr
uary 2?was chosen by Cardinal Lavitrano at the suggestion of the founder, as a s
how of gratitude to our Lady, one of whose feasts was on that day.)
[165] "Alvaro is away from the house. He's with Msgr. Bacci (the Pope's Latin 's
tylist'), working on Provida Mater Ecclesia, which the Holy Father is expecting
tomorrow": AGP, RHF, EF-470221-2 (a letter from the founder to the members of th
e General Council in Spain).
[166] AGP, section N, file 3.426.20 (Citta Leonina diary, entry for 24 Feb 1947)
.
[167] Ibid.
[168] Its complete title was "The Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia
on the Canonical States and Secular Institutes for Acquiring Christian Perfectio
n." It was Published on March 29,1947. See AAS39 (1947), pp. 114-24.
[169] These were the motu proprio Primo Feliciter (2 Mar 1948) and the instructi
on Cum Sanctissimus (12 Mar 1948). See AAS 40 (1948), pp. 283 and 293-97.
[170] Provida Mater Ecclesia, article 1.
[171] For more on the juridical figure of the secular institutes and on the regu
lations by which they are governed, see Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes,
pp. 156-59.
[172] For the text of the decretum laudis, see Fuenmayor, Gomez Ielesias, and Il
lanes pp.502-505.
[173] See Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, p. 505.
[174] AGP, RHF, EF-470225-2.
[175] AGP, RHF, EF-470225-1.
[176] Letter 7 Oct 1950, no. 18.
[177] The juridical statute obtained with Provida Mater Ecclesia, a document res
ulting from an emergency situation, where very diverse factors and opposing situ
ations have come together, has led to a compromise formula" (AGP, RHF, D-13452,
no. 167).
[178] Letter 7 Oct 1950, no. 20.
[179] During the preparation of Provida Mater Ecclesia, the policy followed by t
he founder was sometimes to make concessions and sometimes to stand in oppositio
n. "I kept in mind," he says, "that the law is not made for a particular case; i
t has to look to the common good. Owing to this, it was reasonable that we shoul
d make concessions and, at the same time, try to get our particular case within
the general law resolved without altering anything essential in the nature of th
e Work, so far as this was possible" (AGP, RHF, D-13452, no. 168).
The founder took good care to ensure that some of the essential points were clearly
emphasized. For example, paragraph 10 of Primum Institutum begins with this unam
biguous statement: "None of the members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cros
s and Opus Dei are religious; they do not lead the common life of religious, nor
do they profess religious vows, nor do they wear a religious habit; externally,
in all the things common to people of the world, so long as they do not detract
from the state of perfection, they act as do their peers of the same social con

dition and calling."

[180] Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 167.
[181] A little anecdote illustrates this. The day before the decretum laudis was
issued. Don Alvaro and Salvador Canals were working on some documents in the fo
under's quarters at Citta Leonina, and he, with the rest of his sons, was answer
ing mail from various places in Spain (Granada, Seville, Bilbao, Madrid), A reli
gious-order priest came down the hall, bringing a letter. Entering the dining ro
om (or study hall, as they preferred to call it), he was amazed to see them so d
eep in concentration at the worktable, and he exclaimed, "What silence! Like in
a religious community." The founder rose from his chair as if propelled by a spr
ing, and answered very courteously, "I beg your pardon, Father. Working like goo
d Christians." He wished that good religious to understand that working conscien
tiously, in silence and with intensity, is something common to all Christians, r
eligious or lay. See AGP, section N, file 3.426.20 (Citta Leonina diary, entry f
or 21 Feb 1947).
[182] AGP, RHF, EF-470301-1.
[183] AGP, RHF, EF-470307-2.
[184] AGP, RHF, EF-470301-1.
[185] AGP, RHF, EF-470410-3.
[186] See AGP, RHF, EF-470425-1.
[187] AGP, RHF, EF-470417-1.
[188] AGP, RHF, EF-470612-1.
[189] See AGP, RHF, EF-470327-2, and AAS 39 (1947), pp. 131-32. The founder beca
me Monsignor on April 22,1947.
[190] AGP, RHF, EF-^70327-2 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[191] See AGP, RHF, EF-470611-1 (a letter to Carmen and Santiago).
[192] See AGP, RHF, EF-170923-2 (a letter to Bishop Juan Perello Pou, of Vic).
[193] See AGP, RHF, EF-470225-2.
[194] AGP, RHF, EF-471204-1.
[195] AGP, RHF, EF-470410-3.
[196] These words come from a note that the founder added on 27 Jun 1932 to Apun
tes no. 164 (22 Feb 1931).
[197] Rome came to realize the extent of this exuberant flowering from the assem
bly in Saint Gallen (in Switzerland) in May 1938. Father Agostino Gemelli, who p
resided, submitted (in 1939) a report to the Sacred Congregation for the Council
entitled "The Associations of the Laity Consecrated to God in the World." It sa
ys: "In addition to the organizations more or less directly known to the hierarc
hy, it is legitimate to suppose, from many obvious signs, that there exist many
others which for the present escape any knowledge or control. They have arisen o
ut of the uncontrolled individual zeal of simple-minded priests who have not bee
n invested with any authority or mission, perhaps it is no exaggeration to say t
hat in practically every city there is at least one priest who, having a large g
roup of penitents, tries to form with some of them an organization of persons co
nsecrated to God in the world. This, for many reasons, can Present various probl
ems and at times be a cause of serious harm." See Fuenmayor, Gom z Iglesias, and I
llanes, p. 160.
[198] The founder mentioned this in an address in Madrid on 16 Dec 1948: "The Ap
ostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia and Opus Dei."
[199] Before applying for pproval as secular institutes, the instruction says, "
these new societies should be put on hold and tested, under the paternal power a
nd tutelage of the diocesan authority, first as mere associations existing more
in fact than by right, and then, not hastily, but step by step and gradually, un
der one of the forms of associations of the faithful, such as pious unions, soda
lities, confraternities, as the circumstances dictate (?Non quidem per saltum se
d pedetemptim atque per gradus, sub aliquibus ex formis Associationum fidelium."
Cum Sanctissimus, 5.)
[200] Letter 8 Dec 1949, no. 43.
[201] Concerning the apostolate proper to the secular institutes it says (in art
icle 2): ""["The apostolate of the secular institutes must be exercised faithful
ly not only in the world, but also from the world, and therefore in the professi

ons, activities, Hie apostolatus Institurum Saecularium non tantum in saeculo, s

ed veluti ex saeculo, ac proindeprofessionibus, exercitiis, formis,locis, rerum adiunc
tissaeculari huic conditioni respondentibus, exercendus est fideliterforms, places
, and circumstances corresponding to this secular condition"].
[202] "In hac Societatum fidelium ad superiorem Institutorum Saecularium formam
elevatione atque in omnium Institutorum, sive generali sive etiam singulari ordi
natione perficienda, illud prae oculis semper habendum est, quod proprius ac pec
uliaris Institutorum caracter, saecularis scilicet, in quo ipsorum exsistentiae
tota ratio consistit, in omnibus elucere debet" (article 2).
[203] AGP, RHF, EF-480206-1. ("Soggiorno" is Italian for "sojourn.")
[204] See, for example, AGP, RHF, EF-480224-1 (a letter to Jose Maria Gonzalez B
arredo).
[205] AGP, RHF, EF-480226-1. See also EF-480311-2.
[206] Letter 8 Dec 1949, no. 28.
[207] This phrase is the title of one of Monsignor Escriva's homilies, preached
on 8 Oct 1967, in a Mass celebrated on the campus of the University of Navarre.
It can be found in Conversations with Monsignor Escriv de Balaguer (Princeton, N.
J.: Scepter Publisher 1993), pp. 182-95.
[208] In "The Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia and Opus Dei" (the p
reviously mentioned address that the founder gave on 16 Dec 1948), we find these
words:
Inherent to the religious state?and this is manifested juridically in the taking of
public vows?is indifference to the world ('contemprus saeculi'); a dying to the
world; a separation from people's ordinary life, for the sake of a contemplative
life dedicated to prayer and sacrifice, and, as well, for that of a life active
ly dedicated to alleviating, from outside the world, the evils and needs of it.
Religious are people who have been born to a new life, upon dying to the world a
nd separating themselves from the rest of human beings. They become holocausts f
or them. This is why it is said that they are dead to the world. And it is a red
emptive death."
[209] Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 1.
[210] Ibid., no. 2.
[211] See AGP, RHF, T-00159 (testimony of Francisco Botella), vol. 14, p. 2, and
T-04151 (testimony of Francisco Ponz), p. 104.
[212] AGP, RHF, EF-480226-3.
[213] Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 2.
[214] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 385, and Joaquin Alonso Pacheco, Sum. 4672.
[215] For the certificate of appointment, see AAS 39 (1947), p. 245. The note fr
om Monsignor Montini is dated May 25,1947, and is in AGP, RHF, D-15093.
[216] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 385, and Julian Herranz Casado, Sum. 3881. B
ishop Javier Echevarria (in Sum. 2042) testifies that the founder "was about to
refuse this honor, which had been negotiated and obtained by Msgr. Montini, when
he was under secretary. He was in that frame of mind when Don Alvaro suggested
to him that it might be better to accept that appointment, in order to avoid snu
bbing the Holy See, to show "is support of the Pope, and to drive home the secul
arity of the priests of Opus Dei."
[217] Letter 8 Aug 1949, no. 58.
[218] Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 20.
[219] See The Way, no. 335.
[220] Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 3.
[221] Ibid. See Psalm 104:20-24.
[222] Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 3.
[223] Ibid., nos. 5 and 6.
[224] Ibid., no. 20.
[225] See ibid., nos. 18 and 20.
[226] "The Institute [Opus Dei] constantly encourages its members to seek holine
ss through the sanctification of ordinary work and the diligent and careful exer
cise of the occupation or the civic and public offices proper to each one" (Prim
um Institutum, 6).
"The specific apostolate of members of Opus Dei is exercised principally [in the

following ways]: by the sanctification of their own occupations; by the example

[they give] of a Christian life in their social relations ..." (Primum Institut
um, 9).
[227] In the summer of 1946, before Provida Mater Ecclesia was written and the f
oundation for the decretum laudis prepared, the Holy See (as mentioned before) p
resented the founder with the apostolic brief Cum Societatis, granting the plena
ry indulgences, so that he would not have to return home empty-handed.
[228] On March 31, 1947, the founder caused a formal request to be submitted to
the Sacred Penitentiary for indulgences to be granted for manual work. Mirifice
de Ecclesia is dated July 20, 1947. For the text of this brief, see Fuenmayor, G
omez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 507-508.
[229] These are, in fact, words of the founder, incorporated into the text.
[230] Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 5.
[231] Ibid., no. 6.
[232] Ibid., no. 15.
[233] See AGP, RHF, T-04906 (testimony of Dorita Calvo), p. 7.
[234] Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 9. An extensive study of this subject can be found
in Opus Dei in the Church (Princeton, N.J.: Scepter Publishers, 1994). See chap
ter 3, "The Church in the World: The Secularity of Members of Opus Dei," by Jose
Luis Illanes.
2. Romanizing the Work

1. Central headquarters
2. Governing between Rome and Madrid
3. God's hour
4. The first supernumeraries
5. The definitive approval of Opus Dei (1950)

* * *

1. Central headquarters

Even as a boy who only traveled to Rome in his imagination, the founder of Opus
Dei longed to go on pilgrimage to see Peter, the Vicar of Christ on earth. In th
is desire always burning in his heart, an essential aspect of Opus Dei's univers
ality can be seen. He made it part of a favorite aspiration, that sums up things
a Catholic loves: "Omnes, cum Petro, ad Iesum per Mariam" ("All, with Peter, to
Jesus through Mary").[1]
A central headquarters in Rome was a goal that still lay far off in the future w
hen he spoke of it in his personal journal in 1931: "I dream of setting up in Ro
me?when the W. of G. is well under way?a house that will be like the head of the
organization."[2] Yet the realization of the dream was not the result of his ca
lculations or plans; rather, like everything involved in the founding of Opus De
i, although it reflected Monsignor Escriv's efforts, it bore the imprint of God.
The founder went to Rome in 1946 reluctantly, with no intention of staying; but
even a brief stay was enough to rekindle an old love, as he made clear in a lett
er to the General Council in Spain:
If you want to live fully the spirit of our Work, strive to reach Jesus Christ b
y going closely united to our Mother. Thus the yearning that is eating us alive
will become a reality: Omnes cum Petro ad Iesum per Mariam. Today, here in Rome,
that cum Petro seems to be coming more from the heart.[3]
His yearning was a gift from God. Years earlier, when the vicar general of the M
adrid diocese told him he had been denounced to the Holy Office, he immediately
declared his filial confidence in the Church and the pope:

Rome! I thank the Lord for the love for the Church that he has given me. Because
of it I see myself as Roman. Rome, for me, is Peter.... From Rome, from the pop
e, nothing can come to me but light and goodness. It would not be easy for this
poor priest to forget that grace of his love for the Church, for the pope, for R
ome. Rome!


Mariano[4]

At first, he thought of Rome as an apostolic outpost. That is why Jose Orlandis

and Salvador Canals went there to do their ecclesiastical studies. In 1946, when
Don Alvaro arrived, the idea of obtaining a house began to take shape. Having g
otten the letters of commendation from cardinals, taken first steps toward the d
ecretum laudis, and knowing that sooner or later they would have to vacate their
apartment, Don Alvaro and Salvador started looking.[5] Prices had fallen throug
h the floor in that unstable postwar market and splendid mansions were available
at very low prices. Such an opportunity was unlikely to come again, reasoned Do
n Alvaro, thinking of a future central headquarters of the Work?though he also c
onfessed: "The only problem with buying a house, aside from the lack of money in
Spain ... is the tremendous political instability here."[6]
House hunting was interrupted by the need to spend time visiting the Curia and c
ultivating friendships with ecclesiastical and civil authorities. But after the
founder arrived and saw the crowded living conditions at the apartment in Citta
Leonina, he told the General Council it was "imperative to obtain a house," even
though financial problems in Spain made that seem like "sheer madness."[7] The
good advice of Curial officials, especially Monsignors Montini and Tardini, woul
d soon enough make it possible for them to realize the dream of a central headqu
arters.[8] In the meantime, though, the founder proceeded on faith, without mone
y yet certain it would come; the only question was how and when.[9]
Returning to Rome in November, he again threw himself into the search for the gr
eatly desired "villa." The first one he found that satisfied him was a house nex
t to Villa Albani. Having found a place they thought might do, they sat down to
give it a name?and discovered that he had already chosen one. "During lunch," sa
ys the writer of the diary entry for November 4, "we were christening the new ho
use, and the Father said it would be called 'Villa Tevere.?[10] He even started
buying things in secondhand shops. "Now all we need," he remarked, "is that the
Lord give us the houses to put all this in."[11]
Christmas was coming. They went on searching, but the villa failed to materializ
e. With two big problems?house and decretum laudis? hanging over his head, he re
quested more prayers.

Ask everyone to continue praying insistently for everything here in Rome. And do
n't forget that we need to solve generously the problem of money for the house f
or our Roman headquarters; this is most important. Work for me, with God's grace
, a huge miracle.[12]

The New Year arrived. The Father went on calling for prayers, insisting "only th
en will things turn out well."[13] And as weeks went by, he maintained his super
natural outlook.
The house? I don't know. The main difficulty is that we don't have the money. Bu
t that difficulty is not that big a deal, considering that we've been jumping ov
er that barrier for almost twenty years. The big problem would be not knowing ho
w to move Jesus' heart with our life: ordinary, cheerful and heroic?and commonpl
ace.[14]
January 1947 closed with Provida Mater Ecclesia still not promulgated, and the m
oney issue unresolved. He wrote:
Be cheerful and optimistic, always. I want everyone to fulfill i for me the norms:
prayer, smiling mortification, work. I want you to get the sleep and food you ne
ed, and to rest and have fun. And everything will come through?sooner, more, and
better.[15]
His letter of February 7 to the General Council is joyful. The decretum laudis i
s just days away; "the matter seems happily concluded." As for "Villa Tevere," a
healthy skepticism mingles with fresh hope.
The business of the house is a nightmare. Given the right occasion, we will sign
a contract to pay in three months, as I already told you. This morning Duchess
Sforza called (we met her through Ambassador Sangroniz) offering us a villa. Yes

terday a middleman dropped by, with several other possibilities, and last night
D'Amelio, the lawyer, phoned us about yet another house. We'll see.[16]
Visiting houses on February 8 they came across one that interested them, a villa
in the Parioli district?formerly occupied by the Hungarian embassy and located
at 73 Viale Bruno Buozzi. The owner, Count Gori Mazzoleni, was a friend of the d
uchess. He wanted to deal directly with prospective buyers?a great advantage for
them, since the involvement of middlemen could raise costs considerably.
The founder inspected the villa from top to bottom. Seeing that it would meet th
eir foreseeable needs, he shared this information with Monsignor Montini. "Don't
let that house get away," came the reply. "The Holy Father would be very happy
to have you there. He knows that house, for when he was Cardinal Secretary of St
ate, it was there that he visited Admiral Horthy, who was at that time regent of
Hungary."[17]
Having made up his mind to buy the house, the founder put Don Alvaro in charge o
f the negotiations with the owner's lawyers.

Don Alvaro later recalled:

In the first round of negotiations we succeeded in getting the asking price cons
iderably reduced, but we did not even have that much. Along with asking friends
and acquaintances for help, we thought of mortgaging the house; but for that, we
needed title, and there was no getting title to the property without paying at
least part of the price.[18]

The negotiations were at a standstill. Then:

The Father asked me to go see the owner and try to talk him into letting us give
him some gold coins as a down payment, with the rest to be paid in a month or t
wo. We did in fact have some gold coins then?the founder was saving them to have
a sacred vessel made. I went to see the gentleman with this proposal. The Fathe
r stayed home, praying hard. The meeting was a success, though the owner insiste
d on payment in Swiss francs. When I told the Father, he said, "What difference
does that make to us? We don't have either lire or francs, and one is the same a
s the other to the Lord."[19]

To which one can only add; who else but Don Alvaro would have tried to buy a man
sion with nothing but a few gold coins and total faith in the founder?
The Father was not so naive as to declare victory at the top of his lungs. There
was still another problem, potentially even more serious than paying for the pl
ace. The house, previously home to the Hungarian legation to the Holy See, was s
till occupied by some Hungarian officials, and they, claiming diplomatic immunit
y, were refusing to leave even though Hungary had broken off relations with the
Vatican. The founder wrote:

Dearest ones:
God's grace and good spirits. This is a motto I try not to lose sight of, even t
hough I see clearly that the business of getting possession of our house is goin
g to be a big pain. Humanly speaking, the prospect could not be more unpleasant.
But let's pass over this matter; pray about it.[20]

On July 22,1947, they moved from Citta Leonina to Bruno Buozzi. It took a truck
only one trip to bring all the furniture, utensils, and other household effects
except those the Father had put in Dorita Calvo's safekeeping?the vestments and
sacred vessels?which she had been asked to pack and transport without letting th
em out of her sight.[21]
The entrance to the property, thenceforth called "Villa Tevere" was through a ma
ssive gate opening into a garden, which had been fairly well cared for. There we
re pine, eucalyptus, and fig trees, and laurels and other shrubs. To the left wa
s the caretaker's house. From there the garden sloped gradually upwards to the m
ain house. They called it "Villa Vecchia" ("Old House"), even though it had been

built in the twenties. It was a three-story building in the Florentine style.[2

2]
Attempts to dislodge the Hungarian diplomats having proved fruitless, it was nec
essary to adapt the caretaker's house for their own use. Though not large, it be
came two independent residences, with the main residence on the ground floor and
the residence for the housekeeping staff on the second floor. "El Pensionato" (
"The Boarding-house") was its new name. The kitchen became a dining room, a laun
dry room was transformed into a sitting room, a room formerly used for ironing s
erved as a corridor for the five people living and working on the second floor.[
23] On the ground floor were three small rooms?no improvement over Citta Leonina
.[24] Victoria Lopez-Amo, who joined the Administration shortly before the move,
suggests how it was possible to create a beautiful, dignified oratory in such c
ramped quarters.
Everything had to be adapted to very limited spaces. The oratory was set up in a
tiny room, but even though it was makeshift, it was very dignified and really i
nviting.
Above the altar was a Byzantine-style crucifix that inspired devotion. On a side
wall a picture of the Blessed Virgin?.
Next to the picture was a little shelf meant to hold a vase. When the oratory wa
s finished, the Father asked us to arrange some flowers to put next to the Madon
na.[25]
If there was no more room to be squeezed out of the Pensionata horizontally, the
re was still the vertical dimension, as one of the women recalled.
When Christmas came, the Father asked us to put up a Nativity scene. Having no p
lace else, we put it under a window. With stones from the garden and whatever el
se we could find, we made it as high as possible, so that the figures the Father
had given us would stand out. He told us it looked like it was seven stories hi
gh, and he was going to get someone to take a picture, because he'd never seen a
Nativity scene in layers.[26]
From early on, the Father often referred to the Pensionata as "the tiny little h
ouse." The expression was not contemptuous but jovial and even affectionate, for
this was "the short path leading to the big villa."[27] Behind the stubbornness
of those Hungarian diplomats he could see the devil throwing a tantrum and God
allowing it as a trial. "You can see that the devil is upset," he remarked. "But
God doesn't lose battles."[28] He prayed incessantly, knowing that the Villa Ve
cchia would fall to this invisible siege.
At the end of July, he wrote from Molinoviejo to his daughters in Rome:

Dearest ones:
I am here in Segovia, and there are many good things to relate.... How is the ne
w house going? Are you still really praying to the Lord that the Hungarians will
leave us in peace? [29]

Molinoviejo was in full operation and there he dedicated the summer of 1947 to t
he formation of his daughters and sons. In the first half of September he made a
two-week trip through northern Spain from Galicia to Bilbao. He visited new cen
ters and met new members of the Work. He sought money. He spoke with bishops abo
ut Opus Dei.
In November he had to return to Rome, since a rush of petitions for approval fro
m other, quite different, groups raised the possibility of changes relating to s
ecular institutes. Winter came, and the cold made itself felt in the Pensionata.
The Father suffered from it acutely, just as he did from high temperatures. Jus
t before Christmas he wrote:
I'll have to spend Christmas in Rome?where it is now terribly cold?though I'll t
ry to return to Spain as soon as possible. Msgr. Dionisi called this morning to
tell us the Cardinal Vicar has granted us permission to establish a residence fo
r university students. The problem is cleared up. We're not going to try to rent
a place right now, but obviously we need to get moving if the house is to be fu
rnished during the summer, so that it can open on time for the next school year.
Money? It will come. It will come because unless we work with students we will

never get the Work running with the strength that our spirit calls for.[30]
As that suggests, he never pleaded lack of funds as an excuse for turning down a
real opportunity to work with souls. To him the conclusion seemed obvious: "We
have no choice but to go begging."
At the beginning of 1948 the financial problems were indeed crushing; still, he
did not let this slow the apostolic expansion of the Work. As he wrote the Gener
al Council in Madrid:
Finances have never given me more trouble. Not that my trust in God has become l
ess?it's grown greater, in view of so many providential gestures from the Lord,
and with it the conviction has grown in me that we must always make use of all t
he human means. Consequently, when I return we will do a methodical?objective?st
udy of the expansion of the Work, taking into account everything that is already
more or less under way (Rome, Paris, Milan, London, Dublin, Coimbra, Lisbon, Ch
icago, Buenos Aires), but without forgetting the financial side of our work.[31]

The Father knew very well that some people thought he lived in a dream world whe
n it came to money. Anticipating such criticism, he wrote, "I am quite concerned
, as I wrote you before, and am taking everything into account. But this still i
s the time for doing crazy things, if we use our heads. God won't let us down."[
32] And as for asking for money?just tell him where!
You can't say I'm turning a blind eye to this problem, when it's almost an obses
sion. For my return, think of people I myself can go see to beg.[33]
But the news with which he closes his letter was not calculated to raise their s
pirits. On January 29 to be precise, Ignacio Salient had been picking up some ai
rline tickets near the Piazza Venezia when the car was stolen. By now they had b
een without a car for seven days, and they needed one to get around. "With absol
ute freedom," the Father writes, "and realizing that another car would cost abou
t twelve hundred dollars, decide if we should buy one or not?bearing in mind tha
t there's no money here and you would have to come up with it over there."[34]
A month later, in a letter dated March 4, he reports that he will be leaving Rom
e on the twelfth. By then everyone in the Pensionata was showing signs of wear f
rom the cold, dampness, and hunger,[35] to say nothing of the constant financial
worries. Forcing the humor, the Father says:

Do you know, two days ago I woke up with the whole left side of my face paralyze
d, and my mouth twisted, and I couldn't shut my left eye? I was a scarecrow! I t
hought, could it be hemiplegia? But the rest of the body is normal and agile. Dr
. Faelli assures me that it's a "little prank" played on me by the Roman climate
: rheumatism. Right now I'm writing to you with some discomfort, the eyebrow hav
ing descended so low over the eye, that I can only see halfway.
I am very happy?I look at myself in the mirror and I can see, on the left side,
my corpse, since it looks like something dead. I even have half of my forehead s
mooth, wrinkle-free, and I like to think that by this death I'm being rejuvenate
d.
Well, don't worry. It's all nothing. I'm taking aspirin, going to bed early, and
using a hot water bottle. It's a matter of patience. I don't think I'll have to
put off the trip.
Pray for me. Pray that I truly love the Lord; that I conduct myself always as he
wishes. Because his Opus Dei is, and must always be, a school of sanctity in th
e midst of the world, and it would be a pity if this founder without a foundatio
n remained last in line, when he should be up front. A pity and a great responsi
bility, grievous.[36]

But his health did not return so quickly, and he did have to postpone his trip t
o Madrid. On March 11, with the eye still doing very badly, he tended to his cor
respondence, telling the General Council about Don Alvaro's condition.

Alvaro fell ill yesterday with a sore throat that seems really bad. For this rea
son I've put him in the only bed we have, and I'm sleeping on what they put at n
ight in the hallway. There is a lot of joy in living this real poverty, harder t

han that ordinarily lived by religious: always, like Saint Alexis, under the sta
irway. Today, with the medicine from Dr. Faelli, the patient is almost well, but
I'm not letting him get up, even though he insists?more than he should.[37]

And to the Central Advisory:

Today Encarnita had her second operation. She is strong, manly?no, womanly?in be
aring pain. I'm very happy with her and with all my daughters here in Rome.[38]

After another week, the Father was still no better. His letters betray his pitif
ul condition. He writes the General Council:

Rome, March 18,1948 May Jesus watch over my sons. Dearest ones:
Last week, when the mail (your letters!) arrived from Spain, I had a minor ailme
nt that didn't permit me to see normally with the left eye. I had the packet of
letters in my hand and felt a strong temptation?not from curiosity, from affecti
on? to read them all. Finally, there I was at two in the morning, conversing wit
h the Lord and with you, after having slowly gone through them, down to the very
last one. I didn't have the strength not to. For some reason, I don't know what
, I looked once again, but with more attention, at a cabinet in the room where I
am writing. On it there are four little donkeys, trotting. The Kings brought th
em to me, from Spain. Sometimes I amuse myself by making them go here or there,
changing their direction; but never does it occur to me to separate them. The fo
ur go together, as brothers, carrying their abundant loads, immutably, steadily.
I made my examination of conscience, with remorse for the disorder. I went to s
leep smiling, thinking about you and me, and telling the Lord in the name of all
: "Ut iumentum factus sum apud te!" ["I have become like a donkey before you!"][
39]

A series of diathermy treatments had no effect on his facial paralysis. He remai

ned, as he put it, "asymmetrical," with his faccia storta (distorted face). In M
adrid he continued the heat treatments. They did no good, but his spirits were u
nimpaired. "As soon as I'm better," he wrote Don Alvaro, "I'm heading out of her
e to beg."[40]
In spring of 1948 his correspondence was full of his travels, physical suffering
s, and humiliations, along with the great peace and joy he felt when he saw the
apostolic work going on all over Spain.

Madrid, April 13,1948 May Jesus watch over my sons in Rome.Dearest ones:
I'm sitting down to write you when everyone else is already asleep, since tomorr
ow I will spend the day outside Madrid and may not be able to find time. Anyway,
I have to be brief, because my left eye is still not completely well....
It's not possible to send more money right now. I'm continuing my efforts.... Lo
ts of visits, with my face still contorted. I've eaten out every day. It's awful
, but unavoidable! ... That's enough! My eyes hurt, and it's very late, so I'm d
one.
I'm thinking of all my sons there, with affection. I'm praying hard for Italy?fo
r the Pope!?and also for my children. Alvarito?when will you be able to come? Th
ere's an overwhelming amount of work here.[41]

On April 21 he wrote:

Dear Alvaro:
A heap of things, real quickly, so I don't strain my eyes by writing too much. I
still can't pray the breviary! I've become illiterate; I can neither read nor w
rite.

A long but concisely written list of requests and questions follows, then:

At the end of the month I'll go to Barcelona to beg. After that I head down to M

alaga to spend a day with Herrera (he sent a warm letter inviting me), and then
on to Granada and Seville. If you knew how little I care to travel! I also find
it very hard to see people and then more people. But I have no choice if I am to
serve God. I'm always eating out, and, believe me, I'm doing that very reluctan
tly, because I'm not very mortified.
Patience....
I know you realize I'm skipping over a few troubles, which never are lacking.[42
]

The Father returned to Rome on May 20, and then stuck tenaciously to his work sc
hedule. By June he had trips sketched out well into autumn: in the second half o
f the month, southern Italy, mainly Calabria and Sicily; on July 2 back to Spain
, to help out with formation courses for men and women members of the Work; then
, in mid-October, to Oporto and Coimbra.[43] On October 11 the process for the b
eatification of Isidoro Zorzano was begun, and after that he left for Coimbra. I
n Portugal, as it turned out, he was "sick the whole time"; the consolation of t
he trip, he reported, lay in the fact that the Portuguese members of Opus Dei we
re "worth their weight in gold."[44]
He spent more than two years this way, shuttling back and forth, between Spain a
nd Italy, spreading the Work and begging for money. On December 30,1948, he left
for Rome for the sixth time: on February 11, he was back in Spain. On February
28 he wrote to Alvaro:

Tomorrow I leave for Cordoba, the next day I'll sleep in Granada, the day after
that I'll be spending all twenty-four hours with Herrera. Then back to Granada f
or a couple of days, and once again to Madrid. Then I'll be going to Valladolid
for another two days (I was there yesterday and the day before), because it's ne
cessary.[45]

But now there was something new. At the beginning of February, the Hungarian dip
lomats had left.[46] The siege of Villa Vecchia had ended with courteous gesture
s on both sides. The Hungarians sent a big bouquet of gladiolas, and the founder
reciprocated with a bottle of good cognac, which Rosalia delivered, wearing her
best uniform and white gloves.[47]
That done, the Father immediately swung into action. He wanted more people for R
ome and money for renovations. These were among his reasons for going to Spain b
efore visiting Portugal as promised.
On April 23 he was back in Rome. Now he was ready to get to work in earnest crea
ting the central headquarters of Opus Dei. By May they were waiting impatiently
for a work permit.[48] On June 9 construction began.

2. Governing between Rome and Madrid

Work at Villa Tevere had been under way for just six weeks when the money ran ou
t. Monsignor Escriv was not surprised, but he was troubled by his failure to come
up with more. No matter, the work had to go on. He wrote the General Council:
Here, too, we are running very short of money?thanks be to God!?and are sure in
our faith that we must keep on with the building of this marvelous instrument fo
r a tomorrow that's so close you can touch it with your hands. I'll give you mor
e details in my next letter. Humanly speaking, we don't see any way to pull it o
ff. And we have to pull it off. And do everything we've planned. I want you to g
o to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with more trust than ever: Sub tuum praesidiu
m! [We fly to your protection!][49]...
Three days later he wrote again.

Given the financial difficulties we're experiencing, the only solution is to emp
loy the supernatural means and exhaust the human ones....
So, then, praying to God about it, and giving it all we've got. Lots of work her
e, and great prospects. Things can't stop for lack of money. We've got to find c

ash!
I would especially like those at Molinoviejo to make a novena to Our Mother of F
air Love, for this.[50]

The following month he wrote his sons in Mexico:

Rome, August 29,1949 May Jesus watch over those sons of mine....
Alvaro went to Spain almost a month ago, to seek some relief for the financial w
orries we have in Italy. I don't know what luck he'll have finding a solution, s
ince, thanks be to God, the people over there also are in water up to their neck
s.[51]

This optimism was typical of him.

Now they began to feel the pinch of the poverty he had predicted? "a real povert
y, an enchanting poverty. Laus Deo!"[52] With it came worry, hunger, fear, sickn
ess, discomfort, fatigue, sleeplessness; and also joy, order, industriousness, h
umility, serenity, and ascetic struggle. "And there I was believing, naively, th
at I could die now!" he wrote. "Really that would be the easy thing."[53]

* **

Travel also was an important part of Monsignor Escriv's life between 1946 and 194
9. In those three years he made seven trips between Spain and Italy, finally set
tling in Rome, at Villa Tevere in April 1949. But even before then, as his corre
spondence makes clear, Rome and the work he had to do there exercised the greate
r pull on him. When he went to Madrid, it was because of something unforeseen or
unusual that required his attention.
Yet his letters from Rome to Madrid also reflect an itch to lend a hand with man
y matters there. Sometimes he seems to be begging the General Council's pardon f
or his prolonged absence, or for his delay in coming. It is important to bear in
mind that at this time Spain held Opus Dei's reserve of mature people and was t
he source of new members. It was the base of operations for the General Council
and the Central Advisory, the men's and women's governing bodies. Also from 1946
to 1949 Opus Dei was growing dramatically in Spain and making its first venture
s into other countries.
Another thing that the founder had to bear in mind was the need not to become in
volved in sociopolitical questions.[54] (The activities of some of his children
in these fields was sometimes mistakenly attributed to the Work.) It was in Rome
that some dignitaries of the Holy See, who had authority in these matters, coun
seled him not to give even the slightest occasion for false accusations against
him. "If they don't see you, they won't be able to make up new slanders," they t
old him.[55] The Father gladly accepted this advice, which, after all, was nothi
ng but a variation on his old motto "Hide and disappear."[56]
But despite all that, Monsignor Escriv remained bent on "Romanizing" the Work. He
would go to Madrid when necessary, but only for short stays. Indeed this conclu
sion was imposed on him by the requirements of governance, as Rome, home of the
Vicar of Christ, became Opus Dei's center of gravity.
But even as Monsignor Escriv, assisted by Don Alvaro del Portillo as Procurator G
eneral, was governing Opus Dei from Rome, the General Council and the Central Ad
visory were still in Madrid The situation had obvious drawbacks. But the founder
compensated for them with his dedication, a copious correspondence, and frequen
t trips.[57]Moreover, he allowed the Council members in Madrid a prudent latitud
e. "In my absence," he had written them earlier, "continue studying matters and
resolve them by common decision."[58]
As someone naturally attentive to detail and assiduous in his care for the littl
e things, he had no trouble making himself understood from a distance. But as ci
rcumstances required, he left decisions to the others, knowing that distance mig
ht distort his view of things. "You miss a lot of detail when you're this far aw
ay," he said. "Don't follow what I'm going to tell you to the letter." [59]

Even so, the members' eagerness to do just what they thought he wanted now and t
hen resulted in mistakes. So, for instance, he had to tell the people at Los Ros
ales, the house in Villaviciosa de Odon, that it wasn't a good idea to put a bee
hive in their garden just because they had the notion it was something he wanted
.[60]
But he was quite clear in setting these priorities for the Council and the Advis
ory: more members, more centers, more priests. These, he said, were "things I am
praying for continually, despite my wretchedness, and for which I pray intensel
y at holy Mass each day."[61] A year passed, and he spoke of the same three thin
gs.[62] "The world is very big?and very small!?and we need to extend our work fr
om pole to pole."[63]
His program for expansion boiled down to people and buildings to house their apo
stolic works. Sometimes both grew together, sometimes not. In the late forties,
women in Opus Dei were few in number by comparison with men.[64] But he did not
cut back on expansion for that reason, since he was sure that what was necessary
would be forthcoming in the end: God just wouldn't let him down. Even if he had
to deliver bad news or censure something, or discuss a difficult situation, he
always ended cheerfully.

Since we will soon have two new buildings, La Pililla and Molinoviejo, as study
centers, and houses in Santiago and Barcelona ... and since people will be neede
d for the student residences in Rome, Lisbon, and Dublin (and later?next year?Pa
ris, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina), and since it will be necessary to
start the work in rural areas, and with the press, and in hospitals ... we need
people! And we need to form them better every day.
I look to the future with a lot of optimism. I see armies of my daughters of all
countries, all races, all tongues. For this it will suffice that the first ones
do?cheerfully!?everything they can, obediently responding as ancilla Domini [ha
ndmaid of the Lord], with greater effort every day.[65]

There was a particular need for numerary assistants, to keep the Work running we
ll. One approach he suggested was that the household staff in residences about t
o open not be members of the Work. This was done in Granada in 1947. "I think,"
he told the Advisory, "that in that way many vocations of domestic workers will
come about."[66] When it didn't happen immediately, a note of impatience crept i
nto the women's letters; just wait, he wrote.[67]

"I am praying for them constantly," he remarked, "that they may be holy, cheerfu
l, and effective, not fretting about trivia."[68]
May those children always be happy?servile Domino in laetitia! [serve the Lord i
n joy!]?and very sincere. May they control their imaginations, not creating need
less suffering for themselves, and know how to live our life of service to the C
hurch with all its greatness in the little, ordinary, humdrum things?that's wher
e God is.[69]

In another letter he expressed the hope that they would be: "simple, humble, opt
imistic, effective souls of prayer and sacrifice," in line with the spirit of Op
us Dei. "Why not be happy?gaudium cum pace! [joy with peace!]?when the Lord want
s us to be happy?[70]
With Monsignor Escriv in Rome for months at a time, physical separation became a
growing problem. The Work was expanding. The distance between centers and the ri
sing number of members called for a new arrangement, a new way of operating, wit
hout any change in spirit and customs. Reading his mail, he put his mind to the
problem and told the General Council:

One of you has spoken to me about his "fear" of the "paperwork" that with the de
velopment of our apostolate necessarily increases every day. There's no reason t
o fear it. We should rejoice, because this is a sign of growth, just as a person
physically leaving childhood must cope with the apparent complications of ID do
cuments, university records and diplomas, military records, etc. If you keep our

spirit for me, then even if you can't have the Father continually living with y
ou?a situation whose absence someone else laments in his letter?each of the olde
r ones, especially those in positions of governance in the region or in the cent
ers, will know how to create that supernatural and human atmosphere of a Christi
an family that is the special characteristic of our Opus Dei. So, as always: int
erior life, work, cheerfulness, and true charity? affection! This way there will
be no need to fear growth, because it will mean growing in numbers and quality?
those study centers!?and in love for God, and in effectiveness.[71]

Besides praying that God would send new members to the Work, he cast about for w
ays of improving their formation, both in knowledge and virtues. Personal format
ion began with individual one-on-one spiritual direction, but it also required m
en's and women's study centers. If numerary assistants were still scarce, he fel
t, that was all the more reason to concentrate on forming the first ones well. A
fter various possibilities had been explored, he wrote to the Central Advisory i
n March, 1947, to suggest Lagasca (Diego de Leon), so that two or three rooms co
uld be used as a study center for numerary assistants.[72]"Don't forget," he poi
nted out in May, "one starts as one can. If we wait till we have the human means
, we'll never begin. Abundant means will come, in time. They will be the reward
of our work, our dedication, our faith."[73]
Soon the study center was up and running. He warmly congratulated the Advisory.
"I am so happy about the Lagasca center?the first study center for household wor
kers! It is born, like everything of ours (and like Jesus), in poverty and witho
ut material means. This is the path. Congratulations!"[74]
Priests were often on his mind. As the Work expanded, more of them were needed t
o care for those in contact with it and, of course, for the members themselves.
All the pieces had to be in place for the machinery to run. Further expansion to
countries in Europe and the Americas was imminent. Ordaining a goodly number of
priests was now a matter of some urgency.
After the ordinations of 1944 and 1946, nine others between 1948 and 1952 had ad
ded forty-four priests to the first nine.[75]
His feelings?pride, humility, gratitude, paternal affection?are apparent in a le
tter he addressed to the third group of ordinands.

Rome, February 18,1948 May Jesus watch over these three sons of mine. Dear Juan
Antonio, Jesus, and Adolfo:
How I would like to be with you on the day of your tonsure! You can be sure that
although I'm here in Rome, I won't be far away, despite the distance.
What am I to say to you? That this is a great election God is making within our
Work, so that we?the priests!?may be the servants of our brothers and sisters, w
ho have our same vocation to be servants and models of sanctity, of work, of che
erfulness; servants and the most sensitive of instruments for forming and direct
ing....
My sons, always preach to our people?and to everyone? that the key to effectiven
ess in apostolic labor is to respond to God's grace and carry each day's cross w
ith cheerfulness and poise and personal holiness.
My sons, ask the Lord for many vocations. Ask him for learned and dedicated prie
sts who?forgetting about themselves?know how to continually be the foundation of
our unity, consummati in unuml [that they may be one!]
May our heavenly Mother, Spes Nostra, Sedes Sapientiae, Ancilla Domini [Our Hope
, Seat of Wisdom, Handmaid of the Lord], obtain for us the grace of being priest
s after her Son's heart and after her Immaculate Heart. Blessings from your Fath
er,

Mariano [76]

When he returned to Spain a year later, he found the priests "up to their necks
in work with souls."[77] By August of 1952 he could count on more than fifty pri
ests; but the centers that had started up in other countries took the new ones.
Monsignor Escriv could never say he had a single priest more than needed.

His letters of those years are full of praise for those who shared in the respon
sibility of governing Opus Dei, the members of the Advisory and the General Coun
cil. Of the latter he wrote:

The general impression of everything is wonderful. You can see more maturity and
effectiveness every month. God is here. In my absence, they have generally look
ed after things very well.[78]
I am also very happy with the new little curates. They truly will be holy, learn
ed, and joyful priests. I find it hard to stop giving thanks.[79]

3. God's hour

And in Italy. "Here in Italy," he writes to Madrid in June 1948, "one foresees a
great harvest of vocations and work."[80]
Now the Work in Italy began to acquire its first members. A small group of Itali
ans had already joined, and that summer the founder sent them to Molinoviejo for
a formation course and exposure to members from other countries. Also taking th
e course were the first members from Portugal and Mexico and even the first Iris
hman.[81] The founder himself instructed them in the history and the catechism o
f the Work.
Monsignor Escriv followed his own advice about starting as one could. Soon after
becoming convinced that the time?God's time?for it had come, he established the
Roman College of the Holy Cross; the decree was dated June 29,1948.[82] Consider
ing the problems that had attended the launching of similar projects, this was a
heroic gesture? and to all appearances, in some ways a bit crazy.
The Roman College was established to give intensive formation to members of Opus
Dei from various countries, and enable them to earn ecclesiastical doctorates.
Many graduates would return to their native countries as priests. The founder's
plan was to start small with ten students. But when the term began, there were o
nly four.[83] Classes and living quarters were in the Pensionata, which at the t
ime had no vacant rooms.[84]
The decree establishing the Roman College stated that its purpose was to bring t
ogether in the Eternal City people from all the countries to which Opus Dei had
spread: "Collegium ex omni natione Operis Dei in Urbe constituere decrevimus." I
ts creation was another step in Monsignor Escriv's program of "Romanizing" the Wo
rk. Rome was now the center of its international expansion.
On July 2 (three days after establishing the Roman College), he left for Madrid.
There something happened that sheds much light on how he thought about things.
One day he was walking by the house on Martinez Campos Street where he had lived
with his mother in 1933, and where he had met with priests and students. Sudden
ly he found himself thinking, "How much I have suffered, my God! How much I have
suffered!" But then: "How much you've put up with me, Lord! How much you've put
up with me!" Two days after this incident he commented: "Now, looking at them c
almly, I think there's a lot of truth in both of those statements."[85]
His relationship with God was marked by forgetfulness of himself and his own int
erests. He was humbly determined to want what God wanted, and to this was joined
a generous heart that eschewed calculation and acted passionately and without h
esitation. Naturally he engaged in deliberation, but, having done that, he acted
quickly. This is the background for a letter to the General Council two months
after the announcement of the start of the Roman College.

Dearest ones:
Very happy about the news Alvaro has brought me about all of you. I would gladly
return to Spain right now if it weren't so very clear that there is a lot of wo
rk here that I can't leave.... Of utmost importance are this future central head
quarters and the Roman College; and for Italy, the study centers and the retreat
house. Plus, I need to get to know all these Italian fellows, if in August they
can finally take courses at Castel Gandolfo. And that's not all, because there
are also other things of the greatest importance which, thanks be to God, Alvaro

is doing a good job of preparing and working on. Just with what concerns the Wo
rk, to say nothing of his official job, he is carrying a heavy load, one that he
can only carry with God's grace and with the will and the mind that he has.[86]

Surrounded by the young men who came to the Pensionata, the founder felt at home
in Rome where the Work's apostolic expansion had carried him. It was not diffic
ult, then, for him to get used to living there.[87] He loved Italy, the native l
and of many members of the Work, and he felt its postwar political problems deep
ly. In 1948 he wrote:

In these moments, when the ravages of the last war are still evident, the rise o
f new problems is very obvious. And, unfortunately, so is the proposing of solut
ions that deny God? sowers of hatred that win over even whole nations. I tell yo
u that both nationalism and the class struggle are essentially anti-Christian. W
e are all children of the same God, qui omnes homines vult salvos fieri (1 Tim 2
:4)?who wants everyone to be saved.[88]

The Italian elections of April 1948 were crucial. The nation was, in the words o
f Pope Pius XII, "at a real turning point which required of the head and members
of Christendom the greatest vigilance, an untiring diligence, and self-sacrific
ing activity."[89]
Monsignor Escriv told the Italian students who came to the Pensionata just what h
e had told his first followers in Madrid: "You are obliged to give example, my c
hildren, in all areas, including citizenship. You must do what it takes to fulfi
ll your duties and exercise your rights." [90]
When they asked him about the Italian situation, he stressed the freedom every C
hristian enjoys in political matters. But, he pointed out, freedom in matters of
opinion was not to supersede freely chosen adherence to the Church's magisteriu
m in matters of faith and morals. For the magisterium alone can give specific di
rections for action or limit the freedom of Catholics in temporal matters; and i
t can only do so for exceptional reasons, such as a grave political crisis.
"The Father did not get involved in, or wish to get involved in, or even give ad
vice about, Italian politics. He clearly operated on a higher plane and was sett
ing guidelines for all times and circumstances."[91] While insisting on freedom
in technical and political matters, however, he insisted that failure to get inv
olved in social issues was wrong?sometimes even gravely so. The elections of Apr
il 18, 1948,[92] were one of those occasions when not taking part would amount t
o taking a position. It threatened to be like Spain in 1936: the formation of a
Popular Front and its coming to power; the painful experiences of persecution an
d martyrdoms; the unleashing of atheistic barbarism.[93]
A referendum and elections on June 2,1946, had brought into being an Italian rep
ublic, with a constituent assembly charged with drawing up a constitution. The c
ountry was in bad shape as a result of the war. The forces that had fought toget
her against the Fascist regime split, with divergent aims and agendas. The divis
ion mirrored that sundering the former Allies: Russia on one side, the Western d
emocracies on the other. The De Gasperi government adopted strong measures to ma
intain order in Italy. In 1947 De Gasperi visited the United States, negotiated
economic aid under the Marshall Plan, and, on February 10, signed a peace treaty
that was ratified in Paris that summer. Meanwhile, runaway inflation and high u
nemployment were feeding violent social unrest.
The constituent assembly completed its work at the end of 1947, and the new cons
titution became operative on January 1. General elections were set for April 18,
1948. De Gasperi's Christian Democrats faced the Communists and Socialists of t
he Democratic Popular Front. The future of a Christian nation, and the Church's
freedom, were at stake.
The Berlin blockade and the deepening Cold War left little doubt about how thing
s would be if the Communists and their allies took over in Italy. The situation
of the Church? One had only to look at what was happening behind the Iron Curtai
n: persecution, suppression of liberties, imprisonment, torture, isolation, even

martyrdom.
To Catholics Pope Pius pointed out that, Communist promises on the subject of re
ligion notwithstanding, the nation was at risk; there was real danger of a Marxi
st dictatorship coming to power. Adopting a tone of the greatest urgency he decl
ared: "The critical hour of the Christian conscience has been sounded."[94]
In unison with the Pope's intentions, Monsignor Escriv prayed and had the members
of the Work pray for peace and religious freedom in Italy. While respecting, as
always, their liberty regarding how to put into practice the indications of the
magisterium, he encouraged them to help out in the electoral campaign, each one
in the way he thought best.[95]
Preparing for a trip to Spain with the campaign in full swing, he wrote the Counc
il there:
We have to give God a lot of thanks for this trip. But I am distressed about goi
ng?with Italy very unsettled, and the Russians kicking up a lot of mud; and this
is where Peter is. Pray hard that the peace not be disturbed here in Rome.[96]
He anxiously followed the elections from Madrid. "I'm very concerned about Rome
and Italy," he wrote Don Alvaro."[97] As soon as he heard the results, he wrote
to Monsignor Montini: "In Madrid, which is where I am at the moment, I've learne
d with great joy of the outcome of the elections in Italy. You cannot imagine, Y
our Excellency, how hard I have prayed and gotten others to pray to the Lord for
this intention."[98] And he closed by asking that Pope Pius be told of "the exu
ltant joy of Opus Dei, and of this sinner, over the outcome of the elections."[9
9]
"Romanizing" the souls of members of Opus Dei consisted, essentially, of opening
up new horizons transcending nationalism and local interests. For the founder's
zeal reached out to the whole world, even as it focused on Christendom's suprem
e authority residing in Rome ("the sweet Christ on earth," he used to say, quoti
ng Saint Catherine of Siena). No matter the human defects or weaknesses of any p
articular pope![100] This was the deep sense of being Roman that he sought to tr
ansmit to the members in word and deed.

I have taught you to love the adjective "Roman," which we use to designate the c
hildren of the one, true Church, and I want to preach this to, and Romanize, all
the souls I can. How excited I am that soon many, many of my children will be a
ble to come to Rome, in a steady and orderly fashion, and then return to their r
egions with their hearts afire with love for the Church, and more Roman!
We have to Romanize ourselves, I tell you, but part of that effort consists in p
reparing the soul so that none of the unhappy things we see can weaken our faith
. For you to know about these things will help keep you from ever being scandali
zed if at some point you hear this sort of news. And it will also help you grow
in your love for the holy Church, the Spouse of Jesus Christ. You will be moved
(like Noah's good sons) to cover over, with the cloak of your charity and discre
tion, the defects you see in the individuals who form part of the people of God.
[101]

To those at the Pensionata he spoke of far-off lands where they would very soon
be going. That was not an impossible dream, members of the Work were already set
tled in Paris, London, and Dublin, and others were preparing to go to the United
States, Mexico, and Chile. What did it matter if there were not many of them? T
he founder knew that. And the number of numerary assistants was not yet a dozen.
Nevertheless, to the three or four who lived next door, in what had been the ca
retaker's house, he said, "If the first twelve of you stick with me, it will bec
ome possible to go everywhere: to Japan, to Africa, to the Americas, to Oceania?
everywhere."[102]
As for the Italian numeraries, men and women, there weren't a dozen of them yet
either.[103] Numbers did not matter to the founder; what counted with him was th
eir struggle to become better and their generous response to the many graces rec
eived. "You will have more graces," he told his daughters, "while those who come
later will have more resources."[104]
It is a noteworthy fact?but no miracle?that then and later people who heard him

speak in Spanish could understand him even if they did not know the language. Mo
nsignor Luigi Tirelli recalling the early days at the Pensionata, writes:

I listened to the Father in 1948 and 1949, not yet knowing Spanish (I did learn
it later on), and I was amazed to find that I could understand what he was sayin
g. This phenomenon? which took me a while to grasp?can be explained by his great
skill at communicating. One could say he spoke with his whole being. It was lik
e a flame from God, a real "gift of tongues," without knowing the meaning of the
words, I was still able to understand everything he said.
I tested this out with other people, but I didn't manage to understand them in t
he same way. Probably, along with great mental clarity, the Lord had given him t
he gift of making himself understood, because of the good he produced in souls.[
105]

With all his demanding work?composing documents, governing the Work, writing let
ters, making visits, and much else?he nevertheless spent a substantial part of t
he day speaking privately with the members of the Work or their friends. Sometim
es, to clear his head of distractions while mulling a question that he was menta
lly working out, he would go for a ride in the car, accompanied by Don Alvaro or
someone else.[106] When confined to bed by the frequent bouts of illness, broug
ht on by his diabetes, he continued instructing his sons. "How many acts of love
for God have you made this morning?" was a typical query when they dropped by t
o visit. The point was not to get an accounting but to encourage them to open up
to him.[107]
On more than one occasion Monsignor Escriv emphasized that he had no intention of
imitating the legendary Captain Arana, who sent his subordinates on missions wh
ile he stayed home. Before setting up a new center, he would get the permission
of the local bishop and would visit a local shrine or church dedicated to our La
dy, entrusting the work that would be done in that city to her patronage.[108]
On January 3,1948, he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Loreto.[109
] A week later, accompanied by Don Alvaro, he set out from Rome by car to visit
the Catholic University of Milan and take care of other business. Cold rain and
fog made driving difficult, but on the 13th they arrived in Milan.[110] While th
ere, they made a courtesy call on Cardinal Schuster. It was a cordial visit, as
he told those in Madrid.

Rome, Sunday, January 18,1948 May Jesus watch over my sons

Dearest ones:
On Friday, late in the afternoon, we got back from Milan. I'm very happy about t
he trip. Cardinal Schuster?whom we went to see just to pay our respects?... rece
ived us warmly and insisted that we set up a center there. "Come," he said, "bec
ause I need your help to take care of the souls entrusted to me." I want your ad
vice: if you don't see things differently, I will formally commit, in writing, t
o a residence in Milan.[111]

He also wrote the cardinal. He had not been thinking of starting so soon in Mila
n, but, "the word of Your Eminence is, for this sinner, a command from God, that
I will try to carry out as soon as possible."[112]
"Most Reverend Monsignor," the cardinal wrote back, "I will not be the one to ke
ep you and Opus Dei from coming into Milan. 'Ostium magnum et adversarii multi..
.' But God never does things by halves."[113]
Concerned though he was about Marxist advances and the imminent threat of a Comm
unist dictatorship being set up in the country, Cardinal Schuster nevertheless w
as heartened by the impression made on him by the founder of Opus Dei. He saw in
him, he said, "one of those figures whom the Holy Spirit gives to the Church an
d who leave an indelible imprint on its life. Such men appear only very rarely i
n the history of the Church."[114]

* * *

On June 16, the founder wrote Father Pedro Casciaro to say he would be leaving f
or Sicily and Calabria in a day or two. He had a feeling that "God's hour" had c
ome. There would be much fruitful apostolic work to do there.[115] To do this he
had to change some plans, as he informed the Council members on the same day:

Dearest ones?Once more it is very obvious that we are dependent on God, and can'
t carry out our plans to the letter.
The archbishop of Reggio Calabria, Archbishop Lanza, is expecting us; and we nee
d to go, since he is a great friend to have for all the work that needs to be do
ne in southern Italy. The extreme heat here is a foretaste of what we'll have in
Calabria and Sicily. But neither this nor the visits (more or less social) in S
pain should cut down our effort to extend the operation of the Work here. Theref
ore?definitely?I will not get to Madrid before Friday, July 2.[116]

Monsignor Escriv was not in good health, and he knew that the heat would be an ag
ony for him. But he had to get moving, for he was needed in Spain in early July.
In the wake of the meeting with Cardinal Schuster, expansion to northern Italy
was already being prepared. Now it was the South's turn with visits scheduled to
the archbishop of Reggio Calabria and to Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini of Palermo.
On Friday, June 18, having celebrated Mass at the Pensionata at 4:15 AM, he and
Don Alvaro got under way at five, in their old, rattletrap Aprilia. Alberto Tabo
ada, the driver, and Luigi Tirelli were up front. They stopped in Trastevere to
pick up Monsignor Umberto Dionisi, a close friend of the archbishop's, then head
ed south with the three priests and some of the luggage squeezed in back.[117]
Just beyond Naples, Monsignor Escriv began to feel ill, and asked that they stop
for lunch and let him rest. They then continued down the coastal highway. The ca
r was an oven. The highway had been pulverized by wartime fighting; some of the
bridges they crossed were on pontoons. But despite clouds of dust and the joltin
g caused by potholes, the Father sang song after song. Monsignor Dionisi's main
memory of the trip was his impressive cheerfulness.
At one o'clock in the morning, they reached the village of Scalea and obtained f
ive beds in a boardinghouse. Early in the morning, they were on the road to Paol
a, where the Father said Mass at the shrine of Saint Francis. Saturday night fou
nd them in Reggio where they had supper with Archbishop Lanza and the founder en
thusiastically spoke to him about the Work.
On Sunday they crossed the Strait of Messina by ferry and arrived in Catania at
suppertime. Monsignor Escriv was exhausted. He refused supper and had retired to
rest when the pastor of the Church of Our Lady of Ransom, Father Francesco Ricce
ri, whom they had contacted in advance, arrived at the hotel. The founder got ou
t of bed, came down to supper, and cheered up everyone with his conversation and
good humor.
The following morning, after Mass and breakfast, the pastor invited them to visi
t Mount Etna, unaware that they been on the road two days and that the Father wa
s not feeling well. At Etna they visited the spot where, in 1886, Cardinal Giuse
ppe Dusmet, Catania's archbishop, had halted a torrent of burning lava by displa
ying the veil of Saint Agatha, the city's patron saint. Monsignor Escriv later sp
oke of that show of faith whenever he recalled this trip.
Then and during lunch Father Ricceri listened with admiration to what was said a
bout the Work and about the apostolic purpose of this journey to Calabria and Si
cily. Thirty years later, he recalled the occasion well.
Captivated by the beauty of that institution, I insistently begged the Father to
open an Opus Dei residence in Catania, and told him I would help him in every w
ay, since I was the pastor of a very centrally located parish and also the chapl
ain of the Italian Catholic University Federation.
The Father answered me by beating around the bush to keep from saying yes, until
finally, faced with my persistence, he answered, "If you were going to stay in
Catania, your help would encourage me to set up a residence. But you're going to
be leaving. So how would you be able to help me?"
I replied that I had no intention of quitting Catania. Fixing on me a knowing lo
ok, he said, "You can be sure that in a few years they will make you a bishop an

d you will have to leave Catania."

I assumed he was joking, but in 1957 events confirmed that those words were prop
hetic.[118]
By now it was pouring rain. Continuing on to Palermo to see Cardinal Ruffini was
out of the question. On Wednesday, June 23, they were back in Rome.
The founder spent the second half of 1948 in Spain, mainly occupied with governi
ng the Work, forming its members, and visiting ecclesiastical authorities.
When he arrived at Molinoviejo in July there was scaffolding everywhere, and the
place was filled with bricklayers and housepainters, to say nothing of artists
decorating the oratory, the shrine, the corridors, and the dining room. He wrote
to those back in Rome: "Lots of work, workmen, dust, and eagerness to have the
house ready. Sometimes I think I'll die bricked up."[119]
The challenge to the Administration was daunting. The house was full. Isolated i
n the country as they were, buying food or anything else was a problem. In the a
bsence of electricity, they had to work by the light of oil lamps, since the lay
ing of the electric lines was not yet completed. It was a constant worry that ci
nders might fall on the corporals and altar linens as they ironed them with old
flatirons heated with burning coals.
The Father often visited the women to encourage them. "In war as in war," he wou
ld say.[120] Arriving unexpectedly one day, he found a passageway floor flooded
with dirty water. In strong language? together with an apology for using it?he p
ointed out how displeasing to the Lord this careless way of working was.[121]
Those taking formation courses that summer learned the spirit of the Work direct
ly from the founder. He gave meditations in the oratory, talks and commentaries
as they sat in a circle under the shade of plane trees, and participated in the
get-togethers after lunch and supper. He taught by example?the smile that accomp
anied a greeting, the words of affection that smoothed the edges of an order, th
e delicacy with which to make a correction. Even his silences and absences, taug
ht them order, industriousness, and the painstaking fulfillment of duty.
Explaining doctrine or telling of all the good things God had done for Opus Dei,
the founder at the same time was teaching lessons about sanctifying the small i
ncidents that make up the tapestry of one's life. He taught them to notice defec
ts and flaws and to take loving care of little, ordinary things. "Do everything
for love. In that way there will be no little things: everything will be big. Pe
rseverance in the little things for love is heroism."[122]
When, at last, they had electricity, they were jubilant at turning on the lights
; but the oil lamps stayed, since power failures were frequent. The construction
workers finally finished too. Monsignor Escriv was away that day and would retur
n in the evening. Wanting to give him a treat, the women went over everything wi
th a fine-tooth comb. Everything was spic-and-span, orderly, resplendent.
Just before he arrived, there was a power failure. Even so, he made a quick tour
by candlelight. The person who accompanied him later recalled: "After just that
casual first glance, I noted down, at the Father's indication, over sixty detai
ls that needed fixing."[123] It was neither the first nor the last such incident
; he was entirely serious about the need to attend to details. "You have mistake
n the way if you scorn the little things."[124]
It was his rule that anyone in the house who came across something in the house
that needed to be fixed either fixed it himself (if he could) or wrote up a "rep
air note" or, if competent, personally took charge of getting the repair done. T
he women of the Administration also noted down anything that needed fixing in th
eir area. Repair work that summer was overseen by Fernando Delapuente. The found
er directed that repair notes be placed on Fernando's worktable. Many days, it w
as said, he found a stack of paper thicker than Don Quixote. The Father got a bi
g laugh from that, relates Encarnita, and "encouraged us to keep pouring out lit
erature."[125]
Several hundred women and men took formation courses there that summer of 1948.
Those young people were the founder's hope for the future. "At Molinoviejo," he
wrote to those in Rome, "the atmosphere is quickly changing. One now sees people
from four or five (today it's five) countries. Next year it will be a Tower of
Babel, filled with unity."[126]

Long trips, North and South, to Galicia and Portugal, regularly interrupted his
stay at Molinoviejo. Even more often, he went to Madrid. And many Saturdays, wit
h a basket of tortillas and sandwiches in the car, he went to La Granja, an army
camp for college students where a good number of his sons were doing their mili
tary service.
In addition there were two weeklong workshops for directors?one for men (August
24-30, at Molinoviejo), and the other for women (in October, at Los Rosales).[12
7]
By New Year's Day, 1949, the Father was back in Rome. On January 6 (the feast of
the Epiphany) while saying Mass in the little oratory of the Pensionata, he spo
ke to his sons of the need for a complete commitment, while also broaching the i
dea of apostolic visits to other Italian cities.[128] Later that morning, he met
with some of his sons? Don Alvaro, Salvador Canals, Francesco Angelicchio, and
Luigi Tirelli, and taking a sheet of paper, he headed it thus:
1. Supernatural vision: (a) everyone, more prayer, some special mortification; (
b) the Blessed Mother?pictures of our Lady; (c) carry out the usual plan.[129]
Then came some indications about the apostolic trips: visits to local bishops, c
onversations with young people and priests, note-taking,keeping lists of people
with whom they established friendly relations, letters to friends?and, finally,
estimated costs.
Having consulted their friends to obtain names and addresses of people they knew
; they soon were making weekend trips to one university, city or another, throug
hout Italy. The first visit was to Bari, on Sunday, February 13,1949. On the fol
lowing Sunday, Don Alvaro, accompanied by those going to Milan and Turin, began
the trips to the North. And on Sunday, February 27, Don Alvaro, together with Sa
lvador Moret and Luigi Tirelli, visited Palermo and Catania. And thus? in groups
of two or three, every week or every other week?they broadened, little by littl
e, their circle of friendships, in Bari, Naples, Turin, Bologna, Padua, Pisa, Ge
noa, Palermo, and Catania.[130]
On February 11 (before they began these trips), Monsignor Escriv had to go to Spa
in; and he did not return to Rome until April 23. By then five or six trips had
taken place. During get-togethers at Diego de Leon, he told the young people at
the study center about the apostolate in Italy, describing how, as had happened
years earlier in Spain, their brothers in Rome were boarding trains on Saturday
afternoon for Genoa, Bari, Palermo, or Bologna, then spending their Sundays talk
ing with their friends or giving formation classes, before returning at night.[1
31]
After two years of living in the Pensionata, the founder, upon doing the math, s
aw that he needed not just a building for Opus Dei's central headquarters, but a
lso a long list of other centers. These included headquarters for the Regional C
ouncil and the Regional Advisory, the Roman College, two Italian study centers,
a conference center in Castel Gandolfo, and four strategically located centers t
o cover the cities that were receiving weekend visits.
The Work was moving at God's pace, and that pace was rapid. "Think slowly and ac
t quickly," the founder told Don Alvaro.[132]

4. The first supernumeraries

In January, 1948, as related earlier, Monsignor Escriv visited Cardinal Schuster

of Milan. As he was driving back to Rome with Don Alvaro, Ignacio Salient at the
wheel, he was silent, seemingly immersed in God, until suddenly and loudly he e
xclaimed, "They fit in!"[133] It sounded like the answer to a problem. But what
problem?
Monsignor Escriv had been wrestling with the question of how to include married p
ersons in Opus Dei. Back in Madrid he had for years given spiritual direction to
people whom he helped to aspire to lofty holiness attainable without abandoning
one's social status or family or profession.[134] Sometimes the young students
at the Ferraz Street and Jenner Street residences smiled with amazement at his a
ssurance in speaking of the vocation to marriage. Who had ever heard of such a t

hing? Sanctity was usually identified with the priesthood or religious life.[135
] The scene, often repeated in his chats with young people, found a place in The
Way:
Do you laugh because I tell you that you have a "vocation to marriage"? Well, yo
u have just that?a vocation.[136]
There were men and women, married and widowed, who were eager for a chance to jo
in Opus Dei. True, they already had a plan of life, some ascetical norms, and th
e advice and direction of a priest, but they lacked (and desired) a way of forma
lizing their relationship with the Work; and the founder did not want to disappo
int them.[137] Now the time had come. The founder felt interiorly impelled to ma
ke room in Opus Dei for these people. The pressure that he felt in this regard g
rew more obvious at the end of 1947 and in the first weeks of 1948.
Some young men to whom he had been giving spiritual direction in Spain had been
receiving formation classes from Amadeo de Fuenmayor. Three of them?Tomas Alvira
, Victor Garcia Hoz, and Mariano Navarro Rubio?were young professionals who for
all practical purposes had been admitted to Opus Dei and were hoping for officia
l incorporation.[138]Amadeo had sent his plan of formation for them to the Fathe
r. Finding it lacking in some respects, the founder, shortly before Christmas of
1947, wrote him as follows:

For Amadeo: I've read the notes regarding the supernumeraries. ... Next week I'l
l send back the papers, with some specific suggestions. Anyway, I do say that we
cannot lose sight of the fact that it's not a matter of these gentlemen being e
nrolledin a certain association.... To be a supernumerary is a great grace of Go
d![139]

Married people receive the same call to Opus Dei that celibates do. In the Work
there are no different degrees of commitment to God. The founder explained:
In the Work, of course, there is just one vocation for everyone, and therefore j
ust one class. The different names applied to members of our supernatural family
serve to make clear, in a single word, the extent of their availability for dir
ectly serving souls as God's children in Opus Dei. They may dedicate themselves
to certain apostolic or formational tasks, depending on their personal circumsta
nces, although the vocation is one and the same for all.[140]
Monsignor Escriv sent New Year greetings to the three young men who were to becom
e the first supernumerary members of Opus Dei. Plainly he sensed that the Saint
Gabriel work?the apostolate with married people?was about to blossom, as he had
seen in 1928.

Rome, January 1,1948 For Tomas, Victor, and Mariano May Jesus watch over those s
ons for me! My dear three:
Right now it's not possible for me to write you one by one?but I am sending you
the first letter to come from my pen in 1948.I am really praying for you. You ar
e the seed for thousands and thousands of brothers of yours, who will come soone
r than we expect.
How much and how well we must work for the kingdom of Jesus Christ![141]

He was joyfully restless, waiting for something he knew would soon happen, and t
hat happy tension came through in his writing at the time.

I only want to assure you that an immense apostolic panorama is opening up for t
he Work, just as I saw it in 1928. What a joy, to be able to do all this in the
service of the Church and of souls![142]

And again:

I am going to take advantage of these days in Rome to work on everything having

to do with the supernumeraries. How broad and how deep is this channel that is o
pening up! We have to be saints.[143]


At this point it is worth recalling some of the historical and canonical backgro
und of what was about to happen.
On October 2, 1928, the founder had seen a vast multitude of people?persons of e
very social condition, age, profession, state of life, race, and nationality?who
, having heeded the universal call to holiness, dedicated themselves to the serv
ice of the Church and of souls without abandoning their family situation or work
. In the 20 years since then he could see God's merciful hand at work: difficult
ies had been surmounted, and new theological, apostolic, ascetical, pastoral, an
d canonical paths had been opened. The canonical question had been especially di
fficult. From approval as a pious union (1941) to designation as a secular insti
tute of pontifical right (1947), the founder had been obliged to change Opus Dei
's canonical garb as circumstances dictated, hoping all the while that Providenc
e would cause things to turn out well in the end.
As a secular institute of pontifical right, Opus Dei was officially recognized a
s a way of sanctity and apostolate in the world, where its members worked. The a
pproved statutes of Opus Dei foresaw the inclusion in its ranks of married perso
ns, though apparently by way of a spiritual, rather than juridical affiliation.
As the pertinent article put it: "Such members strive to live the spirit and apo
stolate of the Institution, without being incorporated into it by a juridical bo
nd."[144]
Now Monsignor Escriv had it in mind to incorporate this body of persons into the
Work precisely by means of the law governing secular institutes, that is, the ap
ostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia. True, it said nothing on this subje
ct; but, studying it closely, the founder discovered a crack that they could sli
p in through. For the text of Provida Mater seemed to recognize the possibility
of different classes of members, speaking, for example, of those who were "membe
rs in the strictest sense of the word."[145] But if there were members in a stri
ct sense, why not members in a broader sense? Not the ideal solution, perhaps, o
r the final one, but something positive, a step forward. The supernumeraries, th
en, did "fit in."
The founder acted quickly. On February 2 he presented a request to Pope Pius for
approval of a statute to be added to the 1947 Constitution. It explicitly recog
nized that married or single persons of any background or occupation could be in
corporated into Opus Dei.[146]The following month, by a rescript of March 18, 19
48, the Holy See said Yes.[147]
Now the founder resumed work on the Instruction for the Saint Gabriel Work, that
he had begun in May, 1935, in the Ferraz Street residence. The ideas and sentim
ents now occupying him echo its first page.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and of holy Mar
y.
Parvus fons, qui crevit in fluvium ... et in aquas plurimas redundavit. The litt
le spring has grown until it has become a great river... and gives abundant wate
r. (See Esther 10:6.)
Dearest ones: If Opus Dei has opened up all the divine paths of the earth to all
human beings?for it has made it clear that all noble work can be an occasion fo
r encountering God, so that human tasks are transformed into divine undertakings
?I can also well assure you that the Lord, through the Saint Gabriel work, is ex
tending a vocational call to a multitude of men and women to serve the Church an
d souls in all corners of the world.
It might be thought that our supernatural family?and especially the Saint Gabrie
l work?is a kind of novum brachium saeculare Ecclesiae, a new secular arm, stron
g and agile, for serving the Church. Anyone who thinks that way is wrong. For we
are much more?we are a part of the Church itself, of the People of God, a part
that, conscious of the divine vocation to sanctity with which the Lord has desir
ed to enrich all his children, strives to be faithful to that call, each of us w
ithin our own state and personal circumstances.[148]

Opus Dei's founding in 1928 had marked the opening up of the "divine paths of th

e earth." The Father made that point as early as 1941, saying:

Don't forget that the learned, the intellectual, and the uneducated can all come
to Opus Dei.... Therefore, as a requirement of our love for the holy Church and
for the Work, we have to foster interior life, in keeping with our spirit, in c
hildren and adolescents, students and teachers, manual workers and employees and
business managers, in the old and the young, the rich and the poor?men and wome
n?since, de facto, all fit in. The canonical solution will come in due time.[149
]

It did years later, in such a way that men and women of all professions, ages, a
nd social situations could be part of Opus Dei.[150] Yet before 1931, one can al
ready find the exuberant apostolic fruitfulness of which the founder dreamed ske
tched out in his writings on the Work. He spoke of revitalizing society, re-Chri
stianizing it through a vast catechesis carried out "by means of professional wo
rk and the activities of ordinary people."[151] The impulse to implant the reign
of Christ in hearts would find its response in the Saint Gabriel work. Thus the
founder could write:

The Saint Gabriel work, an integral part of Opus Dei, is a great apostolate of p
enetration, that embraces all of human activity?doctrine, interior life, work?an
d influences every aspect of individual and collective life: familial, professio
nal, social, economic, political, etc.
I see this great selection taking place: men and women in the business world and
manual workers; bright minds in the university, minds at the cutting edge of re
search; miners and farm workers; aristocracy (of blood, of the military, of fina
nce, of letters) and people of the simplest mentality. All of them knowing they
have been chosen by God to attain personal sanctity in the midst of the world, p
recisely in the place they occupy in the world, with a strong and informed piety
and a view toward gladly fulfilling?whatever the cost?the duty of each moment.[
152]

Now that formally organizing the Saint Gabriel work was finally possible, Monsig
nor Escriv invited a number of professionals to a retreat at Molinoviejo, Septemb
er 25-30. Of the fifteen who made the retreat, some were receiving spiritual dir
ection from him, while others were persons he'd previously had dealings with. Fr
om this retreat came the nucleus of the supernumerary members of the Work. The f
irst three?Tomas Alvira, Victor Garcia Hoz, and Mariano Navarro Rubio?whom the c
anonical problem had kept from joining up to now were finally able to do so on O
ctober 21 of that same year, 1948.[153]

5. The definitive approval of Opus Dei (1950)

Opus Dei was growing. Apostolic efforts had multiplied. The numbers of Opus Dei
members and of numerary priests were increasing; and study centers, university r
esidences, and retreat centers were springing up outside of Spain as well. By 19
50 there were about a hundred Opus Dei centers in Spain, along with others in Po
rtugal, Italy, England, France, the United States, and Mexico.[154]
The Pope's collaborators kept him informed of the Work's growth. In his third au
dience with Pius XII, on January 28,1949, the founder spoke about its spread and
presented the Pope with a sample of professional publications by members of the
Work? books and articles of a scientific nature in many different fields.[155]
Monsignor Escriv was deeply grateful to God for the expansion of Opus Dei. He wro
te his sons in Mexico:

In Italy our family is growing at a phenomenal rate. The way God's grace operate
s is amazing. In Mexico I expect even more fruitfulness and faster. You are bein
g prayed for a lot, and prayer is all powerful. How I envy you for being the fir
st to set foot in that blessed land!. . .

This coming Thursday, Jose Luis leaves for New York. I can well imagine the impa
tience and joy of Jose Maria Barredo. We are receiving good news from everywhere
, and letters of appreciation are arriving from all sides. One feels the Lord's
touch.[156]

Work, travel, and a tidal wave of new numeraries and supernumeraries?that was th
e story of 1949. Then came a paradoxical occurrence which repetition made seem l
ogical and normal. Pontifical approval, growth, and the founder's good standing
in Rome, instead of putting a stop to gossip, caused the "opposition by the good
" to spread to Italy. The campaign against Opus Dei, instead of easing up, inten
sified. High-ranking members of the Roman Curia, men of experience, counseled Mo
nsignor Escriv to keep a low profile in recognition of the wisdom of an Italian p
roverb, "Bisogna fare il morto per non essere ammazzato" ("You need to play dead
so as not to be killed").[157]But the cardinals did not know that this was to b
e no passing storm but a prolonged siege of rough weather.
The founder unburdened himself about what was happening near the end of 1949.
And the thing is that, since the end of 1947?when we thought them finally silenc
ed!?more slanders, serious and well organized, have been aimed at us without let
up. And these slanders have been repeated (for that was the point of it) by peop
le in opposite camps.
How often I have heard this, more or less: "Ecce somniator venit! Here comes the
dreamer; let's put him out of action, let's destroy him."[158]
But what had happened in these two years?

Opus Dei's apostolate has deepened and extended to the point of being?how many t
imes I've told you this!?a sea without shores, a marvelous universal reality....
The Lord has also blessed us with fruits of desire for holiness and of apostola
te, to such an extent that some see our life of dedication to God as an affront
to themselves, though they cannot prove a single charge against us. It's all bee
n just a matter of gossip originating with the good and then repeated by the foo
lish.
These cruel attacks and inane slanders?which have gone on for years now without
letting up?will collapse on their own, under their own weight, because they are
dust and mud picked up and thrown by people who seem to have fallen out of the h
ands of God.
These events fill me with a deep joy and a secure serenity because?as I've told
you on other occasions?whenever smear campaigns are launched against the Work, w
e receive new confirmation that we are truly working effectively in the service
of the Church, as instruments of unity, of understanding, of shared life among h
uman beings, striving to promote peace and joy for all.[159]

One of the many items of gossip then being spread was that Opus Dei had received
provisional pontifical approval because it had been unable to obtain definitive
approval.[160] The founder carefully considered whether or not to have the cano
nical process carried to its final stage. He laid out the advantages like this:

Definitive approval will give us, my daughters and sons, a new stability, a weap
on of defense, a more propitious setting for our apostolic work. It will once ag
ain establish the principal foundations of the Work: secularity, sanctification
of work, our being ordinary citizens, and, above all, especially in the spiritua
l dimension, our conviction that we are children of God.[161]

But, everything has a price. In this case Monsignor Escriv saw the price was that
of having to jump through new procedural hoops. Opus Dei's constitutional docum
ents had to be submitted for reexamination by the consultors, for whom secularit
y was sometimes an alien notion. He was obliged to make concessions so as to "pr
esent the Work in accordance with Provida Mater Ecclesia"; for "they will scruti
nize our dossier as they did for the decretum laudis, and otherwise we won't mak
e it."[162]
Here was the crux of the problem. How to harmonize the two contradictory themes

in the law for the secular institutes?secularity, and that which was molded in t
he spirit of religious life? From the start the secular institutes had been nudg
ed in the direction of the religious life. And this pressure was growing as time
passed. Hence the founder's anxieties and his tenacity in defending the foundat
ional charism. He was not willing to give up anything in an inheritance from God
. His guidelines in seeking a compromise with the Curia and obtaining definitive
approval were very clear to him.
Without departing from the truth, we have to make our case to the Roman Curia li
ke this: always obeying, affirming the spirit of the Work, in order to defend it
; conceding without ceding, with the intention of later recouping. This has to b
e our attitude, because, as we saw right from the start, the apostolic constitut
ion Provida Mater Ecclesia is not in accord with our path. But we will try, with
our meager strength and out of loyalty, to have it applied to the various insti
tutions without its being distorted. Later the time will come for a definitive c
larification of what we are.[163]
On February 11,1950?almost three years after obtaining the decretum laudis?he su
bmitted to the Holy See Opus Dei's internal statutes and a report on its develop
ment and present status. The petition was supported by 110 commendatory letters
from prelates of various countries, including twelve cardinals and twenty-six ar
chbishops.[164] After carefully examining the documents, the competent commissio
n of the Sacred Congregation for Religious voted unanimously for approval. The C
ongregation's plenary meeting of April 1, presided over by Cardinal Lavitrano, a
greed. But since several of the internal statutes had been expanded, it was cons
idered desirable that the founder clarify some matters, given the canonical newn
ess of secular institutes in the eyes of some members of the Congregation. Final
action was therefore postponed.[165]

* **

A few days earlier on March 28, Monsignor Escriv celebrated the twenty-fifth anni
versary of his ordination to the priesthood. Anticipating the occasion, he had w
ritten his children:

Rome, March 8,1950

May Jesus watch over my children.
Dearest ones:
The date of my silver jubilee as a priest is approaching. I want to spend it qui
etly, without fanfare. So if you want to make this poor sinner happy, I would be
grateful if especially on that day you would pray to the Lord, through the Imma
culate Heart of his Mother, that he help me to be good and faithful. If, in addi
tion, you could obtain from your natural families, or from some friend of yours,
alms?small or large?for our centers in Rome, my joy would be complete.
A blessing from your Father,
Mariano[166]

Money must have been especially tight for him to send a begging letter to his ch
ildren. Still, they celebrated the day splendidly. The oratory had a festive air
. The beautiful flowers on the altar, the elegance of the vestments worn by the
Father, and the chalice, newly obtained for the feast, displayed the affection,
if not wealth, of his daughters and sons. He spent hours in get-togethers at Vil
la Tevere with those who gathered to congratulate him. At the end of the day he
went for a lengthy get-together with his daughters.
That date brought back many memories. His father, Don Jose, had died just four m
onths before his ordination, in 1924. Of his first Mass, celebrated on March 30,
in the Holy Chapel of Our Lady of the Pillar, he had bittersweet memories, espe
cially the mourning garb of his mother at this Mass of suffrage for her husband'
s soul. Still, he told his daughters, this day of his silver jubilee had been a
happy one, with no major blows or mishaps?that was unusual for special occasions
of his priestly life.[167]
But it was only a brief respite. Soon he was to experience an especially bitter

trial. Twice already he had felt impelled to offer to let God take the Work from
him. The first time was during his retreat with the Redemptorists on Manuel Sil
vela Street in Madrid, in June, 1933. The second time was on a dismal, rainy day
in September, 1941, while celebrating Mass in the collegiate church in La Granj
a.[168]
His children in the Work had no hint that anything like this might happen now. T
hey expected that the Curial Congregation would shortly grant definitive approva
l to Opus Dei. But that, he felt, would be the propitious moment to let Opus Dei
go on without him, led solely by God's hand. He was sure that would happen. But
the prospect was no less painful. This trial lasted many months, as he later re
counted:

I had made up my mind (and how dearly it cost me!) to leave Opus Dei, thinking i
t could now go on by itself, so that I could dedicate myself exclusively to crea
ting another association, for my brothers the diocesan priests.
I have felt this concern for secular priests since I don't know when. Even befor
e reaching the priesthood myself, I had given so much time to them?as prefect at
San Carlos Seminary in Saragossa, later in so many hours spent hearing their co
nfessions and in so many apostolic trips through Spain before coming to Rome. Th
is concern was gnawing at my soul with special insistence in 1948 and 1949.[169]

How much loneliness and bitterness he had seen in the souls of so many priests!
He recalled a priest-retreatant whom he had sought out, because the man was relu
ctant to speak to another priest. The retreatant opened up his soul to him, and
disclosed an immense loneliness at a time when he was the target of a dreadful c
alumny. "And I said to him, 'But those brothers of ours who are close to you, th
ey're not standing by you?' And he answered, 'I'm the only one standing by me.'
That coldness hurt me. I was young. I took his hands and kissed them. He started
to cry. But I think by the end he no longer felt alone."[170]
Only the founder's sister and brother, Carmen and Santiago, Don Alvaro and the G
eneral Council, and a few others knew about the founder's decision to leave the
Work. When he told Nisa and Encarnita, asking them to pray and not say anything
about it, they were "stunned by the news.?[171]
Four days after his silver jubilee, despite having received assurance that defin
itive approval of the Work would be forthcoming at the plenary meeting of the Co
ngregation for Religious on April 1, he was notified that approval had been dela
yed.
On May 3,1950, he wrote the Sacred Congregation asking what had been said in the
plenary Session about Opus Dei's constitution. This was standard practice in su
ch cases. With the information in hand, he revised some articles. The wait prove
d providential, because, as he later said: "One of the great benefits that came
out of those delays was the canonical solution for our associate and supernumera
ry priests."[172]
After having offered to leave Opus Dei, with all the pain that would involve for
himself and all its members, he found that "God did not want it that way." "I h
ad unofficially informed the Holy See of my intention ... but afterwards I saw w
ith clarity that that new foundation, that new association, was not needed, sinc
e diocesan priests also fit perfectly in the Work."[173]
"They fit! They fit!" he kept joyfully repeating.[174] For as professional work
can lead to an ongoing encounter with Christ, the living of a contemplative life
throughout the day, aren't ministerial tasks the professional work of a priest?
[175] Thus the vocation of diocesan priests permits them to lead the same contem
plative life as the other members of Opus Dei.
God had made it clear to Monsignor Escriv how priests incardinated in their own d
ioceses could be incorporated into Opus Dei without undermining the jurisdiction
of their bishops.[176] The solution was for them to become associate or supernu
merary members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross. It is a feature of Opu
s Dei's spirit, after all, not to take anyone out of the place or state they are
already in; and in the case of a diocesan priest, he remains fully a part of th
e clergy of his diocese and fully under the jurisdiction of his bishop, to whom

he continues to owe obedience. In fact his obedience to his bishop and his unity
with the rest of the diocesan clergy are strengthened by his commitment to the
Work.
Monsignor Escriv composed a "Statute for the Diocesan Priest Members of the Pries
tly Society of the Holy Cross" in light of these ideas and included it as an app
endix to the report he sent the Congregation for Religious on June 2 responding
to the questions that had delayed the definitive approval.[177] The consultors r
esumed work promptly and rendered a favorable judgment, which Cardinal Lavitrano
ratified on June 28. At the express request of the founder, however, the decree
of definitive approval, Primum Inter, was dated June 16.[178]
The decree is quite long. It begins with some historical data, then ("so that th
ere be no room for doubt in the future") moves on to a detailed review of and co
mmentary on the characteristic features of Opus Dei's nature, membership, aposto
late, spirit, and regulations. In conclusion, it says that "having carefully con
sidered and studied under all of its aspects everything having to do with the In
stitute and Constitutions of Opus Dei and the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross
, and having found everything clear and solid," the Congregation using "the spec
ial faculties granted to it... by His Holiness Pope Pius XII," definitively appr
oves both the institute and its constitution.[179]
The constitution incorporated the latest steps forward on the legal front, notab
ly, the Holy See's approval of supernumerary members and of diocesan priests as
members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross. The official text, which was
given to the founder, was accompanied by a document from the Sacred Congregation,
dated August 2, 1950, granting him "special faculties for life," including: "Yo
u and your Council are gladly granted the faculty of proposing whatever changes,
declarations, and complements may for whatever reason seem opportune or useful
for the evolution and needs of the Institute and its extension and the intensity
of its so singular and eminent apostolate."
Opus Dei's institutional development seemed complete. But this was only a stage
on the Way. Progress certainly had been made. Yet the founder and some consultor
s of the Congregation still held conflicting views, and the integrity of the fou
ndational spirit was still not guaranteed.[180]
Summing up the advantages, he wrote the following to his children:
First of all, I have to remind you that with the "definitive approval," it might
occur to you that we are jumping from the frying pan into the fire. But even th
ough not a few difficulties are foreseen, great good is expected from the defini
tive approval. It is not just one more step; it is a major step forward.
We will gain, of course, greater stability against the fomented misunderstanding
s. Within the Work, and with respect to our one and the same vocation, the statu
s of the associate and supernumerary members has been much better defined. The g
reat advance of having diocesan priests fit into the Work has been achieved. It
has become possible to declare our secularity in a more official way and to grou
nd our specific spirituality more securely. Our properties are not ecclesiastica
l goods, as I have maintained from the start.
If the foreseen difficulties?which are not as great as the expected advantages f
or better serving the Church?do require us to ask soon for a new solution (I alr
eady told you that we've made concessions with the intention of recouping), then
pray, pray hard....
And it will be necessary to seek a new canonical solution-for if they want to vi
ew us as being on a par with religious or as their equivalent, as they have alre
ady begun to try, we will have to make it clear that that iron corset does not s
uit us. We need more flexibility to serve God as he wants us to.[181]
[1] "To obey the pope, in even the smallest things, is to love him. And to love
the Holy Father is to love Christ and his Mother, our most holy Mother, Mary. An
d that is all we aspire to do. Because we love them, we want omnes, cum Petro, a
d Iesum per Mariam" (Apuntes, no. 110:17 Nov 1930).
[2] Apuntes,no. 220 (10 Aug 1931). See also Apuntes,no. 422 (29 Nov 1931).
[3] AGP, RHF, EF-80603-l. Alberto Martinez Fausset, who lived at Citta Leonina b

eginning in February 1947, relates: "More than once, after supper, we went down
with our Father to St. Peter's Square, when there was almost no one there, and w
alking in front of the basilica, which was already closed, we would recite the C
reed. He would say it very firmly,... and when we got to the 'I believe in our m
other the Church, one, holy, catholic, apostolic, Roman ... / he would say 'Roma
n' three times, as if to emphasize his faith in the Vicar of Christ" (AGP, RHF,
D-15442).
[4] "Account of a Conversation of the Founder of Opus Dei with Msgr. Casimiro Mo
rcillo (1940/41), dated 9 Jun 1948," in AGP, RHF, D-15011. About the growth and
development of that love for the Church and for the pope, he wrote: "In Rome I'v
e met so many good people, so many holy priests, so many illustrious and learned
clerics. I therefore cannot go along with that saying (which I find tiresome),
'Roma veduta,fede perduta' ['Rome seen, faith lost']. Rather, I would correct it
, saying, 'Roma veduta, fede tuta' ['Rome seen, faith saved']. My love for the C
hurch has been increased. Now I have a love for the Church and for the pope that
is more theological; less emotional, perhaps,but stronger, more real" (Letter 8
Dec 1949, no. 10).
Alberto Martinez Fausset also recalls that in March or April of 1947, when he accom
panied the Father and Don Alvaro on a visit to the Vatican, they went into the L
oggia delle Benedizioni, where there is a throne on which the pope sits during a
udiences. Finding the room empty, the founder went up to the throne and kissed,
"with great devotion and, at the same time, with great simplicity, one of the tw
o arms, where, obviously, the Holy Father rested his hand" (AGP, RHF, D-15442).
[5] See AGP, section Bl, file 3, C-160327-1 (a letter from Don Alvaro).
[6] Ibid.
[7] AGP, RHF, EF-460630-2.
[8] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 825. In one of his letters the founder recalls
what Cardinal Tedeschini told him at this time: "You don't need to be doing mir
acles else where; it's here, in Rome, that you need to start moving" (Letter 8 D
ec 1949 no 11)
[9] See AGP, RHF, EF-461004-1,461025-1, and EF-461031-1.
[10] AGP, section N, file 3.426.19.
[11] AGP, section N, file 3.426.20 (diary entry for 29 Nov 1946). Ignacio Salien
t testifies (see AGP, RHF, T-06008, p. 13), "The Father has rejected all the hou
ses we have seen, mainly because the property they are on is not big enough to b
e the definitive site of the central headquarters." The Father was perfectly awa
re of the financial difficulties they faced, but he rigorously held out for what
he judged necessary in regard to living conditions, appearance, possibilities f
or enlarging of the building, central location, etc. Trusting in Providence, he
said that "he would not allow himself to solve problems in the easiest way and t
hus leave to whoever followed him the heavy burden of having tosolve them again.
"
[12] AGP, RHF, EF-461216-2.
[13] AGP, RHF, EF-470101-1.
[14] AGP, RHF, EF-70117-2.
[15] AGP, RHF, EF-470131-2.
[16] AGP, RHF, EF-470207-2. Duchess Sforza-Cesarini, relates Bishop del Portillo
, had a house outside Rome. The price never was discussed, since the location wa
s not suitable for the central headquarters. However, she was so impressed by th
e founder's faith that she decided to help him look for a house. See Alvaro del
Portillo, Sum. 825.
[17] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 825.
[18] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 626.
[19] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 826.
[20] AGP, RHF, EF-70709-2.
[21] See AGP, RHF, T-04906 (testimony of Dorita Calvo). The Father was able to c
elebrate holy Mass and leave our Lord in a tabernacle in a building on their new
estate on July 25, 1947, the same day he left by plane for Madrid. See AGP, RHF
, T-06135 (testimony of Xavier de Silio Gomez-Carcedo).
[22] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 826, and AGP, RHF, T-04898 (testimony of Juli

a Bustillo), p. 7.
[23] See AGP, RHF, T-03700 (testimony of Francisco Monzo), p. 6.
[24] "The house," says Encarnita Ortega (see AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 115), "had a
small entrance hall, of about 8 by 12 feet, and then a little sitting room with
an old set of sofa and chairs that had covers, because without them they would n
ot have been presentable. Whenever a part covering an armrest ripped, we took th
e cover off at night and repaired and washed it, and the next day it looked fine
. That room also held an old console table, a small low table, and several misce
llaneous chairs. Then there was the room for the center's director; this room wa
s used mainly by the Father. I think there were two other bedrooms, and two bath
rooms. This was the lower level, where there was also a small oratory. Upstairs
was the Residence dining room, and the rest of the second floor was for the Admi
nistration: one bedroom, with just one bed (the rest of us numeraries slept on t
he floor, on planks); a bathroom which also served as the laundry room; an ironi
ng room which also served as a living room and a place for our get-togethers; th
e kitchen; a room with a sink, for the numerary assistants; and a small garret,
reached by a portable ladder, for keeping luggage, preparing garment bags, etc.
You had to work there sitting down, because the ceiling was less than five feet
high.
"A little later on, making use of a patio, they built a somewhat larger oratory and
a soggiorno [a living room] on the ground floor, and above this a new kitchen, a
dining room, and another bedroom, with bunk beds, for the Residence."
[25] AGP, RHF, T-05448. Cramped though it was, the cleanliness and order of the
place created a dignified, pleasant atmosphere. In a letter written in 1951, the
founder, to illustrate his counsel against confusing "poverty with misery, or w
ith filthiness," used an anecdote about something that happened at the Pensionat
a a few days after the Administration moved in:
"The previous owner of the villa showed up, a few days after we had moved in, on a b
usiness matter?the payment we had promised within two months, trusting that God
would provide it One of your brothers received him. We were all settled in the l
ittle caretaker's house, where the previous owner himself had lived, and here he
comes to see us. He went into the little sitting room, and when that brother of
yours followed, the gentleman asked him, looking at the floor, 'Have you people
changed the flooring?' At once your brother replied, 'No, e lo stesso, ma pulit
o'?'No, it's the same, but it's been cleaned.' Those tiles looked completely dif
ferent. The former occupant couldn't get over it. These miracles are worked with
water and cleanliness?which also make a good mortification. What had been a dra
b, neglected, colorless floor had been transformed into a very attractive floor
of multicolored tiles" (Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 187).
[26] AGP, RHF, T-07918 (testimony of Rosalia Lopez Martinez), 2,2,7. Encarnita O
rtega says, "The Father was certainly struck by the poverty of that creche, and
he planned to get us a better one as soon as this was possible. One day in 1948
he showed up with a big package. It was a Neapolitan crib set?beautiful, even th
ough the clothing of the various figures was in very bad condition" (AGP, RHF, T
-05074, p. 120).
[27] AGP, RHF, EF-470717-2 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[28] AGP, RHF, EF-470709-1 (a letter to members of the Central Advisory).
[29] AGP, RHF, EF-470729-1.
[30] AGP, RHF, EF-471218-1 (a letter to members of the General Council). See als
o AGP, RHF, EF-471218-5 (a letter to Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica).
[31] AGP, RHF, EF-480204-1.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Ibid. About a month later, in Naples, the police found the car, apparently
in good condition. See AGP, RHF, EF-180304-2 and T-06008 (testimony of Ignacio S
alient), p. 15.
[35] Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo, who was in the United States at this time, sen
t some provisions, such as coffee and flour, which those in Rome were very grate
ful for. The Father explains to him clearly, in a few words, the situation in wh
ich they have found themselves (see AGP, RHF, EF-480309-1).

 "If you could only see," he says, "how many ordeals we're going through?everywhere!
If only things would start looking up financially, at least some place. The Lor
d will accomplish it."
Then he mentions the coming ordination of three priests of Opus Dei, so that Jose c
an keep them in his prayers.
Even for this we need dollars. It's a shame that we aren't angels, and that since w
e are men, everything requires a financial effort. But the Lord has never failed
us, and he won't fail us now either. That is what I hope for, through the inter
cession of our Mother in heaven.
Don't complain about my letter. I'm doing it in tiny handwriting?a double mortifica
tion, since I'm having trouble with one eye?so that I can get more things into i
t.
See also AGP, RHF, EF-90706-2 (a letter to Opus Dei members in the United States
, about their sending flour, meat, fruit, and so forth).
[36] AGP, RHF, EF-480304-2. "He had gotten up at the usual hour," relates Don Al
varo (in Sum. 477), "and as he was washing up he noticed that there was somethin
g strange about his face; but he didn't make much of it. Afterwards, as always,
he did his half hour of mental prayer. But while celebrating holy Mass, he notic
ed that he was having difficulty speaking, and the worst thing was that when he
was consuming the Precious Blood, he almost could not keep it from escaping betw
een his lips; I had to help him with the purificator. The doctor did what he cou
ld, but it is a recognized fact that there is no specific treatment for this con
dition. One just has to wait until it goes away by itself, which is what this di
d after some months. In the meantime the Father went on working, as if nothing h
ad happened to him" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 477). See also AGP, RHF, T-03356
(testimony of Alberto Taboada del Rio), no. 1347.
[37] AGP, RHF, EF-480311-2.
[38] AGP, RHF, EF-480311-1.
[39] AGP, RHF, EF-480318-1.
[40] AGP, RHF, EF-480408-1.
[41] AGP, RHF, EF-480413-1.
[42] AGP, RHF, EF-480421-1. "Herrera" is Angel Herrera Oria, the bishop of Malag
a.
[43] AGP, RHF, EF-480616-6.
[44] AGP, RHF, EF-481019-1. He was writing from Molinoviejo.
[45] AGP, RHF, EF-490228-1.
[46] See AGP, RHF, T-07918 (testimony of Rosalia Lopez), 3, 2,3.
[47] See AGP, RHF, T-05448 (testimony of Victoria Lopez-Amo).
[48] See AGP, RHF, EF-90506-l (a letter to members of the General Council).
[49] AGP, RHF, EF-490728-1.
[50] AGP, RHF, EF-90731-l.
[51] AGP, RHF, EF-90829-2.
[52] AGP, RHF, EF-490818-1.
[53] AGP, RHF, EF-90728-l.
[54] See AGP, RHF, EF-641014-1 (letter to Bishop Angelo Dell'Acqua).
[55] Letter 8 Dec 1949, no. 13.
[56] See ibid.
[57] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 735; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2214; and Joaqui
n Alonso Pacheco, Sum. 4682. This situation lasted until September 1956, when, i
n the second General Congress of Opus Dei, held in Einsiedeki (Switzerland), it
was decided to transfer the General Council to Rome.
[58] AGP, RHF, EF-470225-2.
[59] AGP, RHF, EF-470307-2 (a letter to members of the General Council). In a le
tter to the Central Advisory (AGP, RHF, EF-470424-1) he says, "Encarnita will te
ll you in detail how some of the pressing problems look to us from here. But it'
s necessary that the Advisory itself study them on the spot, and thus have more
light to find answers to them."
[60] See AGP, RHF, EF-470307-1 and EF-70424-2.
[61] AGP, RHF, EF-470207-2 (a letter to members of the General Council). On the
same day he wrote to his daughters on the Central Advisory asking their prayers

for those three intentions: see AGP, RHF, EF-470207-1.

[62] See AGP, RHF, EF-71204-1.
[63] AGP, RHF, EF-480610-1.
[64] AGP, RHF, EF-470312-1.
[65] AGP, RHF, EF-471211-1 (a letter to Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica).
[66] AGP, RHF, EF-470424-1.
[67] See AGP, RHF, EF-480218-2.
[68] AGP, RHF, EF-471211-1.
[69] AGP, RHF, EF-480122-2 (a letter to Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica).
[70] AGP, RHF, EF-480129-2. A couple of weeks later he wrote (AGP, RHF, EF-48021
8-3), "May all those daughters not forget that they have no right to invent for
themselves worries and pains. They have only reasons for joy, and therefore the
duty to be like their Immaculate Mother, always strong and serene, close to her
Son." (These are also letters to Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica.)
[71] AGP, RHF, EF-170214. Reading their letters helped the Father keep his daugh
ters and sons in his prayers, share in their joys and sorrows, and even continue
giving them spiritual direction at a distance. Consider his comment on somethin
g written him by one of the women at Los Rosales: "One concern of mine, because
of something I read in a letter of last week: at Los Rosales (and likewise, late
r, at the other houses), bear in mind that the 'workshop' is not an end but a me
ans. The overall plan of life comes first; each thing at its proper time; no cut
ting corners because of the workload. Is that clear?" (AGP, RHF, EF-J71211-1: a
letter to Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica).
[72] See AGP, RHF, EF-470320-1.
[73] AGP, RHF, EF-470424-1.
[74] AGP, RHF, EF-470521-1. See also EF-480311-1.
[75] On April 25, 1948, three were ordained; on June 6, 1948, three; on November
4,1948, one; on December 26,1948, two; on November 14,1949, four; on July 20,19
50, one; on July 1, 1951, twenty; on July 15, 1951, two; and on July 17, 1952, e
ight. See AGP, Records Section, D-660-3,4,5, 6,7,8,9,10, and 11.
[76] AGP, RHF, EF-480218-4. The three ordinands were Juan Antonio Gonzalez Lobat
o, Jesus Urteaga Loidi, and Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal.
[77] AGP, RHF, EF-90409-1 (a letter to Don Alvaro).
[78] AGP, RHF, EF-480421-1.
[79] AGP, RHF, EF-510118-1 (a letter to Don Alvaro).
[80] AGP, RHF, EF-80603-3 (a letter to Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica).
[81] The first Italians were Francesco Angelicchio, Renato Mariani, Luigi Tirell
i, and Mario Lantini (see Francesco Angelicchio, Sum. 3505). The first person to
join the Work in Rome was Vladimiro Vince, a Croatian, who had met Jose Orlandi
s and Salvador Canals during the 1943-1944 school year, when they were studying
at the Lateran. After the liberation of Rome, for fear of the Croatian Communist
s (who were backed by Tito) he had to stay in hiding until 1946, when the immedi
ate danger ended and he was able to resume a normal life. In April (when Don Alv
aro was in Rome), he saw clearly that his place was in the Work. Later, in the s
ummer of 1946, he moved to Spain. See Jose Orlandis Rovira, Mis recuerdos: Prime
ros tiempos del Opus Dei en Roma (Madrid, 1995), pp.77-96; and AGP, section Bl,
file 3, C-160517-l (a letter written by Don Alvaro).
[82] For the text of the decree, see Amadeo de Fuenmayor, Valentin Gomez Iglesia
s, and Jose Luis Illanes, The Canonical Path of Opus Dei, trans. William H. Stet
son (Princeton, 1994), p. 530.
[83] See AGP, RHF, EF-480204-1 (a letter to members of the General Council), and
Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2194.
[84] See Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5906; Mario Lantini, Sum. 3599; and Father Jose Lu
is Muzquiz, Sum. 5811. In the Pensionata there were no beds, because of lack of
space. In 1949 they had three cots, so they took turns sleeping on the floor. Se
e Juan Larrea Holguin, Sum. 6025.
[85] AGP, RHF, EF-480708-1 (a letter to members of the General Council in Madrid
).
[86] AGP, RHF, EF-490714-1. As we mentioned earlier, Don Alvaro worked in the Sa
cred Congregation for Religious, in the department concerned with secular instit

utes, and was also secretary of the special committee created by the Holy Father
for these new institutes. See Acta Apostolicae Sedis (henceforth abbreviated as
AAS) 39 (1947), 131-32.
[87] The founder "came to Italy in the difficult postwar period and suffered a g
reat deal at seeing the situation of poverty, both material and spiritual. Witho
ut getting involved in issues that lay outside his areas of competence, he praye
d hard for the political stability and economic health of the Italian nation. Ou
r founder quickly developed a great affection for this country and felt Italian
by adoption" (Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 827).
[88] Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 29.
[89] Summi Pontificis (see AAS 40 [1948], 137-38).
[90] Letter 9 Jan 1932, no. 35. See also Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5911.
[91] AGP, RHF, T-06143 (testimony of Luigi Tirelli), p. 781. "If as a Spaniard,"
says Bishop Echevarra, "he never at any time got mixed up in the temporal affair
s of Spain, with much more delicacy (if that was possible) he abstained from exp
ressing his opinions about the Italian political situation. All through the rest
of his life he reiterated very often how much he appreciated the hospitality he
had received from his first moment in this country, and asked people to pray, a
s he did, for the prosperity of the Italian people and the proper exercise of go
vernment by those in power" (Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2250).
[92] See Francesco Angelicchio, Sum. 3509. The founder wanted, this witness tell
s us, to "get hold of the complete series of manifestos against abstentionism th
at the Comitato Civico had drawn up, so that he could make them known in other c
ountries." For information on the scope and importance of the elections of April
1948, see Federico Orlando, 18 aprile: cos ci salvammo (Rome, 1988).
[93] See Francesco Angelicchio, PR, p. 304.
[94] Summi Pontificis (see AAS 40 [1948], 138).
[95] Some, for example, chose to put up posters. See Francesco Angelicchio, Sum.
3509.
[96] AGP, RHF, EF-480318-1.
[97] AGP, RHF, EF-180408-1.
[98] AGP, RHF, EF-480421-2.
[99] He also wrote to Cardinal Alfredo Schuster (the Archbishop of Milan), "Rece
ive, Your Eminence, my testimony of joy over God's triumph in Italy on the 18th
of this month" (AGP, RHF, EF-480424-1).
[100] See Francesco Angelicchio, Sum. 3504.
This love was, in other words, a very profound and theological one, transcending an
y passing feelings of enthusiasm or liking. Thinking of his first night in Rome
(spent praying, while he gazed at the papal quarters), he later wrote (in Letter
7 Oct 1950, no. 19) of what happened afterwards?which served as a lesson for hi
m:
I was so naive that I told someone?an old prelate in the Curia?about it, and I know
he passed the story on to others, and that many of them laughed at me.
At first, that gossiping made me suffer. But then it caused to spring up in my heart
a love for the Roman Pontiff that is less Spanish?a Spanish love being one that
comes from enthusiasm?but much firmer, since born of reflection; more theologic
al, and, therefore, more profound. Since then I've often said, "In Rome I lost m
y innocence." That incident has been of great benefit to my soul.
[101] Letter 7 Oct 1950, nos. 53 and 54.
[102] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1262.
[103] See AGP, RHF, T-05074 (testimony of Encarnacion Ortega), p. 119; and Franc
esco Angelicchio, Sum. 3505.
[104] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1262.
[105] AGP, RHF, T-06143 (testimony of Luigi Tirelli), p. 1258.
[106] See AGP, RHF, T-03358 (testimony of Alberto Taboada del Rio), p. 1338.
[107] See Mario Lantini, PR, p. 471.
[108] See Juan Bautista Torello, Sum. 5210.
[109] See Mario Lantini, PR, p. 519. He reached Loreto on the afternoon of Janua
ry 3, with Don Alvaro, Salvador Moret, and Ignado Salient. They prayed in the Ho
ly House of Nazareth, which is inside the chapel. When they left, he asked Don A

lvaro, "What did you say to the Virgin?" Don Alvaro answered, "You want me to te
ll you?" And when the Father nodded, he said, "Well, I repeated the same thing a
s always, but I said it as if it was the first time. I said to her, 'I ask you f
or whatever the Father is asking you for.'"
Jesus Urteaga related this anecdote in a meditation in the study center at Diego de
Leon, and encouraged his listeners to often pray accompanying the Father in tha
t way. The founder later told him, "What you said sounds very good to me. Repeat
it often."
See AGP, P011977, p. 931, and AGP, RHF, T-00423 (testimony of Jesus Urteaga), p. 72.
[110] See AGP, RHF, D-15692 ("Details of the Trip Made by the Founder of Opus De
i to Northern Italy, January 11-16,1948").
[111] AGP, RHF, EF-480118-1. See also EF-480119-3 (a letter to his sons in Engla
nd).
[112] AGP, RHF, EF-480120-1. Attached to this letter is another (see EF-480120-2
) in which he formally requests permission to set up a university residence in M
ilan.
[113] AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Italy, 5.164.513. (An allusion to 1 Co
r 16:9 "a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adve
rsaries.")
[114] This is the testimony of Juan Udaondo, who had the opportunity to speak wi
th Cardinal Schuster on several occasions. He tells us that Cardinal Schuster (w
ho was a Benedictine monk) ended his comments on Monsignor Escriv by saying, "Wit
h whom can I compare your founder? With Saint Benedict, for example." And Ernest
o Julia relates that, in speaking of Monsignor Escriv, Cardinal Schuster describe
d him as "a real man of God, called by Providence to leave a deep furrow, for al
l time, in Christian spirituality." See Juan Udaondo, Sum.5037, and Ernesto Juli
a, Sum. 4261.
[115] See AGP, RHF, EF-80616-1.
[116] AGP, RHF, EF-480616-8.
[117] See AGP, RHF, D-15447 ("Details of the Trip to Catania, June 18-23,1948").
[118] AGP, RHF, T-15013, p. 1. The reason the pastor found those words impossibl
e to take seriously was that he was going through a very rough time. Don Alvaro
tells us (in Sum. 857), "He was disliked by influential people and was the objec
t of misunderstandings."
In 1957, when Father Ricceri was still pastor in Catania, relates Juan Udaonda (in S
um. 5109), "One day he stopped me in the street and, making me get in his car, s
aid to me, 'The Father's prophecy has been fulfilled!' 'What prophecy?' I asked
him. He told me how on a trip to Catania in 1948, in the company of Msgr. Umbert
o Dionisi, he had told him, 'They will make you a bishop.' Well, on precisely th
e same date in 1957, exactly nine years after that prediction, his appointment a
s bishop was announced." In 1957 he was named Ordinary of the Prelature Nullius
of Santa Maria del Mela and consecrated bishop; in 1961 he was transferred to th
e diocese of Trajina. He died July 28, 1980. See also AGP, RHF, EF-480707-1 (a l
etter to Bishop Ricceri).
[119] AGP, RHF, EF-480718-3.
[120] See AGP, RHF, T-05074 (testimony of Encarnacion Ortega), p. 125. See ibid.
, p. 129.
[121]
[122] The Way, no. 813.
[123] AGP, RHF, T-00423 (testimony of Jesus Urteaga), p. 70.
[124] The Way, no. 816.
[125] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 126.
[126] AGP, RHF, EF-480915-1.
[127] In these work weeks they carefully examined the experiences of the past fe
w years and sorted out the material; then, after meditating on it in their perso
nal prayer, they incorporated it into the government of the Work, testifies Bish
op del Portillo (PR, p. 932). The first work weeks (then called study weeks) wer
e held in March and August of 1940.
The Father went to the one held at Los Rosales in October 1948, accompanied by two p
riests (Don Alvaro and Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica), who helped with the

processing, organizing, and drafting of the documents. The subjects studied at

this meeting (which lasted only three days) included the formation of the women
of the Work, apostolic goals, and expansion to other countries. See AGP, RHF, T05074 (testimony of Encarnacion Ortega), p. 136.
[128] See AGP, RHF, T-06143 (testimony of Luigi Tirelli), p. 1259; and Mario Lan
tini, Sum. 3607.
[129] AGP, RHF, AVF (6 Jan 1949).
[130] See Mario Lantini, Sum. 3607; Luigi Tirelli, Sum. 4532; and Juan Bautista
Torello, Sum. 5202.
[131] From February to June, 1949, there were 76 trips. Milan was visited most o
ften?11 times. Soon the first vocations came. Opus Dei centers were opened in: P
alermo (1949), Milan (1949), Naples (1952), Catania (1955), Bologna (1956), Vero
na (1959-1960), Bari (1962-1963), Genoa (1971). See Mario Lantini, Sum. 3607.
[132] AGP, RHF, EF-490228-1. See also EF-490614-1 (a letter to members of the Ge
neral Council).
[133] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 557; and AGP, RHF, D-15692 ("Details of the
Trip Made by the Founder of Opus Dei to the North of Italy, January 11-16,1948")
.
[134] Victor Garcia Hoz, noting that he began receiving spiritual direction from
the founder in the autumn of 1939, says: "A long time went by, maybe a year or
more, without the Father speaking to me about Opus Dei. But he did speak to me a
bout some kind of outfit that all Christians who aspired to holiness could fit i
nto without abandoning their family, professional, or social duties" (AGP, RHF,
T-01138, p. 12).
[135] Emiliano Amann Puente was in the Ferraz Street residence during the 1935-1
936 school year, and Vicente Mortes Alfonso was in the Jenner Street residence f
or several years, and later in the Moncloa residence; see AGP, RHF, T-05845, p.
2, and Miguel Alvarez Morales, Vicente Mortes (Madrid, 1995), pp. 60ff. Both hav
e written on this subject.
Until his second year as a resident (in 1942), Vicente Mortes did not have a very cl
ear idea of what Opus Dei was. He had heard of the Work, and he knew it had to d
o with apostolic work being carried out by Father Josemaria, so he made a retrea
t with him, "In one of the free periods," he recalled, "I went to see him in the
director's office?that's where he was. 'Father,' I told him, 'I am ready for an
ything.' 'For what, my son?' he answered me. 'To dedicate myself to God in whate
ver way you tell me to.' Then he explained to me what Opus Dei was?
?Don't worry/ he continued, 'marriage is a divine path. The Lord wants many holy ho
mes.' And then he added, jokingly, 'When you're further along in your profession
, find yourself a sweetheart who is good, beautiful, and rich?and let me know th
e date of your wedding, to see if I can perform the ceremony.' I came out of tha
t chat very happy. The years went by. I found the girlfriend?good, beautiful?but
not rich. And he didn't perform the ceremony. That was, of course, because by t
hen he was already living in Rome" (AGP, RHF, T-04203, p. 15).
See also Alvarez, pp. 78-79.
[136] The Way, no. 27. The wonderment occasioned by talk of a "vocation to marri
age" is explained by the founder in these words: "It was believed that perfectio
n was not something accessible to the souls that stayed in the world, and so it
was standard practice among confessors not to introduce these souls to the paths
of interior life, unless they had previously given sufficiently clear signs of
being called to the cloister" (Instruction of May 1935/November 1950, no. 12).
[137] "I think it was around the year 1942," says Victor Garcia Hoz, "when the F
ather began to speak to me about the possibility of any Catholic belonging to th
e Work" (AGP, RHF, T-01138, p. 13).
[138] See Antonio Vazquez Galiano, Tomas Alvira. Una pasion for la familia. Un m
aestro de la Education (Madrid, 1997), p. 143; and AGP, RHF, T-00170 (testimony
of Mariano Navarro), p. 1. "I have often thought," says Victor Garcia Hoz, "abou
t the long time that went by between my meeting the Father, in 1939, and my form
al incorporation into the Work, in 1948. This space of nine years is for me a pr
oof of the extraordinary patience of the Father, and also of his delicate respec
t for the personal freedom of those he dealt with" (AGP, RHF, T-01138, p. 18).

[139] AGP, RHF, EF-471218-1 (a letter to members of the General Council).

[140] AGP, RHF, D-13452, no. 107. In another letter he writes, "I have always st
ressed that in the Work there is just one, single, solitary vocation.. .. One si
ngle divine vocation, one single spiritual reality, which flexibly adapts itself
to the personal situation, and state of life, of each individual. The identity
of vocation carries with it an equality of dedication, within the natural limits
imposed by those different situations" (Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 137).
[141] AGP, RHF, EF-480101-1.
[142] AGP, RHF, EF-480129-2.
[143] AGP, RHF, EF-480204-1.
[144] 1947Constitution, 342.3. See Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, p. 18
7.
[145] "Sodales, qui ut membra strictiore sensu sumpta, Institutis adscribi cupiu
nt..." (Provida Mater Ecclesia, 3.2). The failure to mention "members in the bro
ader sense" could be interpreted as an oversight on the part of the legislator,
or as a deliberate loose end, intended to cover, for example, people who collabo
rate with an institute without belonging to it. For supernumeraries of Opus Dei
to "fit in" as persons whose divine vocation is the same as that of the other me
mbers, this passage in Provida Mater needed a juridical character giving the bon
d a clear and explicit foundation.
[146]AGP, RHF, EF-180802-1; for the text of this letter, see also Fuenmayor, Gom
ez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 512-13. In it, the founder explained that the reas
on for the request was that, in order to complete the organization of the Priest
ly Society of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, "it seemed very appropriate, and even
almost necessary, to draw up a brief statute dealing with another category of m
embers of the Institute?one already foreseen from the start."
[147] The approval implies that the provisions pertaining to supernumerary membe
rs will be added to the 1947 Constitution. Supernumeraries "dedicate themselves
partially to the service of the Institute, and use as means of sanctification an
d apostolate their own familial occupations and their profession or job.... They
live the same spirit and, to the extent that this is possible for them, the sam
e customs as the numerary members" (Constitutiones Opens Dei Addenda, 18 Mar 194
8: in AGP, canon law section, 5.15506).
It is noteworthy that the changes in the 1947 Constitution with regard to classes or
categories of members preceded the norm creating them. This norm is the instruc
tion Cum Sanctissimus, dated March 19,1948?probably as a courtesy to the founder
, March 19 being the feast day of his patron saint.
[148] Instructionof May 1935/September 1950, no. 1.
[149] Instructionof 8 Dec 1941, no. 109. Reflecting the identity of vocation and
the diversity of personal circumstances, the particular law of Opus Dei mention
s "associate" members. Under a different name, in fact, they are already mention
ed in the statute of March 18,1948. On September 8,1949, the founder received fr
om the Holy See a rescript completing the statute of 1948. Among supernumerary m
embers, there are distinguished the "internal" supernumeraries, who live celibac
y like the numeraries. (For the text of the rescript, see Fuenmayor, Gomez Igles
ias, and Illanes, pp. 513-14.)
[150] "The vocations of supernumeraries, female and male, can be sought and acce
pted from among persons of every social class, of whatever age and whatever prof
ession, even if they have a chronic illness" (Instruction of May 1935/September
1950, no. 142). But years later the logical consequences of the universal call t
o sanctity were still generally not understood. As the founder put it, "There ar
e people who, although they mean well, just see it all as six of one and half a
dozen of the other. A mentality accustomed to equating sanctity, apostolate, and
religious life will have trouble grasping the obvious. If they see a profession
al man who has an interior life and feels the urgency of apostolic zeal, they'll
say he is a friar. If they see a mother of a family, with lots of children, who
is cheerful, self-sacrificing, hardworking, and apostolic, they'll call her a n
un" (Letter 12 Dec 1952, no. 16)
[151]Apuntes, note 228. The outlines were copied, and form part of Apuntes, no.
206 (15 Jul 1931).

[152] Instructionof May 1935/September 1950, nos. 8 and 9.

[153] See AGP, RHF, T-04373 (testimony of Tomas Alvira), p. 16, and T-01138 (tes
timony of Victor Garcia Hoz), p. 18.
[154] According to data in the report presented to the Holy See with the request
for the definitive approval of Opus Dei (see AGP, Juridical Section, 5.15532),
in 1946 the total number of members was 268 (239 men and 29 women); by the begin
ning of 1950 the number was 2,954 (2,404 men and 550 women).
[155] See the 29 Jan 1949 and 5 Feb 1949 issues of L?Osservatore Romano. The gif
t of the books was a bit rushed, since they first had to be bound and the founde
r was not expecting to have an audience with the Holy Father, as he explains to
those on the General Council: "I was with Cardinal Tedeschini, who always shows
us a sincere affection. I also had a long talk with Monsignors Tardini and Monti
ni, who could not have been more friendly. Cardinal Tedeschini insists on my vis
iting the Holy Father. I told him I wasn't planning to ask for an audience, beca
use I didn't want to take up a minute of the pope's time, when the world's bisho
ps only get to see him once every five years. But since he persisted, I asked to
have the books rushed to me, just in case" (AGP, RHF, EF-490114-1).
[156] AGP, RHF, EF-490214-1.
[157] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 782.
[158] Letter 8 Dec 1948, no. 4.
[159] Ibid., nos. 6 and 7.
[160] As provided in the apostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia (see arti
cle 7, paragraph 3), ad experimentum approval was supposed to be followed by def
initive approval of the secular institute and its constitutions.
[161] Letter 8 Dec 1949, no. 19.
[162] Ibid., no. 18. His confidence was not based on anything human but on the p
rotection of the Lord. In section no. 17 of this same letter, he wrote: "There i
s in our heart this cry, 'Sub umbra alarum tuarum protege nos' [Ps 17:8], becaus
e under the shadow of his wings we have gotten along on other occasions and we w
ill get along now, for the definitive approval."
[163] Ibid., no. 18. The campaigns against the Work supplied one of the weightie
r reasons for seeking definitive approval, as he mentions in section 16 of this
letter. "Although this path of the secular institutes is for us a wrong path, no
t in line with our way of being, it still would be good for us to obtain definit
ive approval as soon as possible Perhaps this new approval will help silence, or
at least tone down, those organized campaigns of lies."
[164] See AGP, Juridical Section, 5.15860 and 5.15532; paragraph 3 of the decree
of definitive approval, Primum inter (16 Jun 1950); and Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesi
as, and Ulanes, pp. 206-209.
[165] Primum Inter remarks that postponement was considered appropriate because
some questions "seemed to present a certain difficulty, given the newness of the
se institutes."
[166] AGP, RFH, EF-500308-2.
[167] See AGP, RHF, T-05074 (testimony of Encarnacion Ortega), p. 140.
[168] See volume 1 of this biography, pp. 385-86, and volume 2, pp. 382-83.
[169] Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 3.
[170] This anecdote is found in context on page 300 of volume 2 of this biograph
y. From it the founder made a note which he used in preaching to priests. It is
just in outline form and goes like this:
A priest afflicted, persecuted, without charity from his brothers.
"Do you have many consolations?"
"I only have myself!"
How can it be that we unite for a card game and don't unite in sufferings?
(See AGP, RHF, AVF-0079.)
[171] AGP, RHF, T-05074 (testimony of Encarnacion Ortega), p. 133. "If you take
into account the effort and love that Don Josemaria put into the founding of Opu
s Dei," comments Bishop del Portillo, "you will understand the sacrifice, simila
r to that of Abraham, that it was for him to renounce this child that had been b
orn by divine inspiration. By this he demonstrated once again his readiness to s
econd the will of God" (PR, p. 402).

 About the feelings of the founder, Javier Ayala testifies: "He then spoke to me, ve
ry confidentially, about the great interior disquiet he had been feeling for som
e time. The thing was that, having put so much effort into bringing the spirit o
f Opus Dei to laypeople, male and female, he had not done anything for his broth
ers the diocesan priests. He added that the Lord had been asking him for this fo
rcefully, so much so that "if I didn't do it I would be jeopardizing the salvati
on of my soul, or at least would have to spend many years in purgatory" (AGP, RH
F, T-15712, p. 31). See also Father Jose Luis Muzquiz, Sum. 5823; Mario Lantini,
Sum. 3608, and Bishop Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2472.
From what the founder says, one can deduce that before communicating his proposal to
those on the General Council, he consulted with some of the personages of the H
oly See. "I received," he says, "a lot of support and encouragement from people
outside the Work. A dignitary high up in the Holy See wholeheartedly encouraged
me?'Go ahead!'
I spoke about this with the members of the General Council, and also confided it to
Carmen and Santiago, warning them, If new big waves of calumnies break out, don'
t worry; the deal is that I'm going to be starting a new foundation'" (Letter 24
Dec 1951, no. 3).
[172] Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 3. Precisely during those days there occurred an e
vent which was no mere coincidence and which also could be said to be "one of th
e great benefits that came out of those delays." And little wonder, because the
Sacred Congregation of the Council had issued a decree, dated March 22, which ex
pressly vitiated the secularity of the members of the secular institutes, in dir
ect contradiction to the motu proprio Primo Feliciter (no. 11). That decree of t
he Sacred Congregation of the Council, Pluribus Ex Documentis, was published in
AAS 42 (1950), 330-31. It starts by quoting Saint Paul's statement that "No sold
ier on active duty gets entangled in civilian pursuits" (2 Tim 2:4). It then cit
es canon 142 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law?"Clerics are prohibited from engaging
in business or commerce either for themselves or for others, whether for their
own benefit or for that of others"?and extends this prohibition to the members o
f secular institutes, by saying, "ne exceptis quidem recentium Institutorum saec
ulorium sodalibus" ("not excepting even the members of the new secular institute
s"). An infraction was to be punished by nothing less than excommunication.
The founder, then, was not exaggerating when he said that his children ran the risk
that the new ecclesiastical rules would make them the equivalent of sacred pers
ons, when really they were just ordinary Catholics. So in his letter of June 2,
1950 to the Sacred Congregation for Religious (a letter to which we soon will re
fer again), he took the occasion to request that in article 15 of Opus Dei's int
ernal statutes, which speaks of the professional activities of Opus members who
hold political or administrative posts or have teaching, legal, or similar caree
rs, an addition be made: "out etiam commercio vel rebus nummariis operam navant"
("who may also dedicate themselves to commercial or financial activities"). See
AGP, RHF, EF-500602-1, no. 15.
With the definitive approval of Opus Dei, it became clear that its members did not
fall under the prohibition of the decree of March 22,1950.
The founder insisted untiringly on this point of secularity. "At the top of my lungs
, over these past two years, I have said to the Sacred Congregation for Religiou
s: 'We are not sacred persons, except for the priests, the clerics! The rest are
n't sacred persons, nor are they consecrated as you understand the term. They ar
en't consecrated souls!' They smiled; a few understood, while others apparently
never will understand" (AGP, RHF, D-13452, no. 178).
[173] Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 3. [In The Canonical Path of Opus Dei, (pp. 216-21
7) it is explained how, just at that time, the Father came to see the possibilit
y of admitting priests to the Work and discussed this with Father Larraona, the
undersecretary of the Congregation. Larraona suggested that, taking advantage of
the delay, a statute providing for this should be officially presented with the
request that it be included in the Constitutions.]
[174] See Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5033.
[175] "If one may speak in this way, the 'professional work' of the priests, in
which they have to sanctify themselves and with which they have to sanctify othe

rs, is the ministe rial priesthood of the Bread and of the Word: administering t
he sacraments, preaching, giving spiritual direction to the members of Opus Dei
and to many other souls, giving retreats and days of recollection, etc." (Letter
24 Dec 1951, no. 148).
[176] This question of a juridical bond had not been raised in the case of the s
mall group of priests who followed the founder in the years prior to 1935. In hi
s eyes, some of these priests were members of Opus Dei. In fact, Father Jose Mar
ia Somoano, the chaplain of King's Hospital, was one of the first three members
of Opus Dei to die. See AGP, RHfv AVF-0098, and also Jose Miguel Cejas Arroyo, J
ose Maria Somoano. En Los comienws del Opus Dei (Madrid, 1995).
[177] See AGP, RHF, EF-500602-1. The articles of the statute are numbered 72 to
89. The main principle governing them is that of nihil sine episcopo ("nothing w
ithout the bishop"); this principle inspires the spiritual direction and formati
on that every member receives from Opus Dei, and fosters the unitedness and obed
ience that the diocesan priest must have to his ordinary. It appears as article
75 of the statute, and with that number it will become part of the internal law
of 1950, with the definitive approval (the decree Primum Inter). On this point t
he founder wrote: "Characteristics very proper to our spirit are the union of th
ese priest sons of mine with their own bishops, whom they will always venerate a
nd never criticize; their love for the diocese, the seminary, and the diocesan a
ctivities; and their faithfulness in the exercise of the duties they carry out"
(Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 147).
For more about the principle nihil sine episcopo, see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 695;
AGP, KHF, T-00181 (testimony of Joaquin Mestre Palacio), p. 39; and the testimo
ny of Pedro Cantero in Beato Josemaria Escriv de Balaguer: un hombre de Dios. Tes
timonios sobre el Fundador del Opus Dei (Madrid, 1994), pp. 87-90. (This last bo
ok will hereafter be cited as Testimonios.)Archbishop Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguer
a comments: "The spirit of the diocesan priests who have joined the Work is, as
I have been able to observe it, that of doing everything under the most conscien
tious obedience to their prelate?nihil sine episcopo?and of promoting unity amon
g the clergy, by giving themselves with admirable charity to the other priests.
This is an immense service to the Church, one that by itself would be enough to
fill their founder with merit, for which reason one never ceases to be amazed th
at this was only one facet of the incredible work of the saintly Priest that Msg
r. Escriv de Balaguer was" (Testimonios, p. 160).
[178] For the text of the decree, see Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp
. 515-24. June 16 was the feast of the Sacred Heart, to which the founder had a
special devotion.
[179] For detailed analyses of the decree and the constitution, see Fuenmayor, G
omez 'Slesias, and Illanes, pp. 221ff.
[180] The safeguarding of the foundational charism that God had entrusted to him
was, Bishop del Portillo testifies, "the thread of his whole life?protecting th
e charism in his own soul, transmitting it to his children, spreading it to the
whole world, and getting the juridical means, plus doing the appropriate theolog
ical study, to conserve it intact throughout the ages" (Sum. 562). For informati
on on the founder's struggles with the consultors during the period of this defi
nitive approval, see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum-559-62.
[181] Letter 24 Dec 1951, nos. 295-96.
3. Three Consecrations

1. Consecration to the Holy Family (May 14,1951)

2. "Cor Mariae dulcissimum, iter para tutum!"
3. A monument to faith and love
4. Don Alvaro's heroic gesture
5. The cure of the diabetes (April 27,1954)

* * *

1. Consecration to the Holy Family (May 14,1951)

The decree giving Opus Dei and its internal statutes definitive approval briefly
mentions its growth between 1947, the year of the apostolic constitution Provid
a Mater Ecclesia,and 1950. Prodigious development had taken place?first of all,
in numbers of members, (like "a little mustard seed planted in the field of the
Lord," says the decree's preamble, it has "multiplied and become a big tree") an
d then in geographical extension ("more than a hundred centers, scattered over d
ifferent countries").[1]
Expanding to other countries did not require any special preparation on the Work
's part. In the summer of 1948, as we have seen, some university students took f
ormation courses at Molinoviejo. As the Father wrote to those in Rome, "There is
here a group of Portuguese, Italians, and Mexicans, who, if we can give them a
push, will be a strong and holy foundation."[2] By the autumn of 1949 some of th
em had already settled down in a half dozen countries. They had no resources exc
ept what they could earn by their secular jobs, which is how Opus Dei usually su
pports its apostolic efforts.
The beginnings, as we shall see, were very difficult. "In paupertate et laetitia
" (in poverty and joy), as Monsignor Escriva wrote in the diary of the center in
Palermo. Things had been that way from the start, and he encouraged them accord
ingly.

I am happy when I see you happy; and there is no reason not to be. Patience. The f
oundation stones of our centers, as well as of the Work itself, are these: the r
iches of poverty, God's love, and our response?with all our heart and all our fa
culties and all our strength![3]

Besides Italy and Portugal, where the founder was personally involved in the sta
rt-up efforts, England, Ireland, Mexico, and the United States, and, in 1950, Ch
ile and Argentina saw Opus Dei taking its first steps. In 1946, three days after
Christmas, Juan Antonio Galarraga, a young researcher in biochemistry, had arri
ved in London. But, even then Monsignor Escriva was thinking more broadly. "Thos
e going to London should also have Dublin and Paris in mind," he wrote. It's urg
ent to get started in those three places." [4]
In October 1947 the Work began in Dublin and in Paris. An engineer, Jose Ramon M
adurga, went to Ireland and found a job. Soon the founder was speaking of "the I
rish miracle," for even before a priest of the Work arrived on the scene, severa
l Irish men and women had become part of the new apostolic venture.[5]
In Paris, by contrast, there was some history as the founder pointed out when bl
essing Fernando Maycas and the two students going there with him, Alvaro Calleja
and Julian Urbistando. Preparations had been made in June of 1936, and only the
outbreak of the Spanish Civil War halted the project. But his prayers and morti
fications for the apostolate in France had continued. Now, the three took with t
hem, as a relic, a piece of the burial cloth of Isidoro Zorzano. The Father want
ed them to seek Isidoro's intercession for their venture.[6]
Monsignor Escriva took the prudent view that reconnaissance should precede the "
jump over the pond." Father Pedro Casciaro was therefore assigned to visit a num
ber of countries in the Americas;[7]based on his report the founder decided to s
tart in Mexico and the United States. By January 18,1949, Father Pedro was back
in Mexico City; and on March 19 the archbishop-primate of Mexico celebrated Mass
in the oratory of the first Opus Dei center in the Americas.[8]
A few weeks earlier, on Thursday, February 17, Father Jose Luis Muzquiz arrived
in New York, accompanied by Salvador Martinez Ferigle. Sad that he had no money
to give them, the Father told them when they left Madrid: "My sons, I have nothi
ng to give you?just my blessing."[9] But then he added some words of advice: "Yo
u need to become very American, with good humor, cheerfulness, and supernatural
vision." His memento for them was a small painting of our Lady that in 1938, dur
ing the war, had presided over circles and get-togethers in their room at the Sa
badell Hotel in Burgos.[10]
The founder would have been glad to go with them and share their adventures. As
he wrote to those newly arrived in some far-off country, his heart would burn wi
th apostolic zeal and he felt a kind of holy envy.

I know you are clearing the way in that huge city. I am accompanying you and pra
ying for you, because your fidelity and labor now will bring about a great work
with souls there later. At times I really envy you, and you make me recall those
early times, also heroic.[11]
Recalling what the beginnings of the Work had been like, he considered his sons
to be safely under our Lady's protection. The Lord would use even their small mi
stakes to help them grow in experience and maturity. Hadn't the Lord done the sa
me for him? He prayed for them day and night. He channeled their impatience, che
ered them up, accompanied them in their isolation.[12] Loneliness was, unquestio
nably, their worst hardship. So he strove to be spiritually present to them. "My
dear Londoners," he wrote, "how often we speak of you in this house! Your lette
rs are read and reread?little do you know."[13]
And to one in Chile: "I am aware of your 'aloneness/ but it's only apparent?we a
re keeping you so much company!"[14]
Still the slowness with which tangible results came was a trial for some, who te
nded to forget that it was necessary to plow before sowing and to sow before rea
ping. It was the founder's job to keep reminding them of that. To those in Paris
he wrote, "Be happy? plowing is good hard work; it's for tough guys, like you!"
[15] And to those in the United States: "An enviable thing, plowing! I've alread
y told you this at other times, and especially when the harvest will come quickl
y and abundantly, as is going to happen there."[16]
Sometimes, of course, not much preparatory effort was needed, Barely three month
s after sons of his arrived in Mexico, he wrote them: "I am very happy with you;
and since that land is so fertile, I'm expecting a harvest almost right after t
he sowing."[17]
Constantly curbing his own impatience and that of the others was not easy for hi
m, as a letter to London suggests.

Rome, June 20,1950

May Jesus bless for me those sons in England
Dearest ones:
I am reading and rereading your letters, always with the hopeful anticipation th
at we will soon be changing the course in those lands. Pray about things, and ha
ve a little patience.
In the meantime, be very united; do the norms well for me; and be convinced that
your present work, obscure and seemingly going nowhere, is indispensable for re
aching the stages that will come later.
So much longing to see you?so much!
Here everything is going very well, but slowly. So I'm giving you an example of
patience.
A big hug and a blessing from your Father,
Mariano [18]

On the basis of his own long experience, Monsignor Escriva expected the Lord to
bless his children with the cross. Minor difficulties he dismissed as "hitches a
nd trifles." But there would be bigger obstacles later, he warned. The "Irish mi
racle," for example, soon illustrated that, as he indicated in a letter in June
1950 to his daughters there:

Dearest ones:
I really appreciate your letters; I always read them with great joy. In due cour
se, I heard about the little setback you had.
You can't imagine how happy I was, to think that the Lord?finally!?allowing you
to start suffering a little for your vocation.[19]

"As you see," he added, "the thing in itself is of no importance." Yet the women
's distress dragged on for months. A year later he wrote them again about the sa
me subject.

Rome, April 23,1941

May Jesus safe guard for me those daughters in Ireland.
Dearest ones?very happy with you, and sure that the Lord is happy too.
Be glad?when one follows Jesus Christ, one always has to expect some blessed obs
tacle. And that one over there is really quite small.
Be faithful, and the cloud will soon pass. How much and how good is all that we
are expecting from that most beloved Ireland, for the service of our Mother the
Church and the extension of the kingdom of Jesus Christ!
May the Blessed Virgin reign over you always. Thus you will be, as the Work want
s us to be, sowers of peace and joy. The blessing of your Father,
Mariano
P.S. I'm sending you a picture of our Lady; they'll give it to you with this let
ter.[20]

As he prudently anticipated, the "obstacle" in question did indeed go away with

the passage of time. It was an example of the difficulties that arose when peopl
e?in this case, the archbishop of Dublin?found it hard to grasp the secular natu
re of Opus Dei and the new reality represented by secular institutes in the hist
ory of the Church. In calling it a "little setback," the founder was encouraging
his daughters and sons to be cheerful and charitable and not judge others harsh
ly.[21]Patience was his prescription. "Calm down!" he told two of his sons.
"Don't forget that the Lord writes straight with crooked lines."[22]

* **

The decree of definitive approval marked the end of a stage in the history of Op
us Dei. Seen in perspective, however, its canonical path appears as a continuous
process. Now it was one among the secular institutes, but the decision had alre
ady been reached that it would follow its own path when the time was ripe for it
to obtain a canonical form that fully suited its theological and pastoral natur
e. In any case, in those days the skies were clear and the Father was happy abou
t having solved the problem of how to incorporate diocesan priests.[23]But in hi
s letters a note of weariness came through from time to time.[24]
When he came to Rome in 1946, he was drained, not knowing what the future held i
n store. As he was soon to learn, it was a sustained battle, to the very end of
his days, to find the canonically correct path for Opus Dei. But there was more
to it than that. He was fond of calling the fourth commandment?to honor father a
nd mother?the "sweetest precept of the Decalogue."[25] Now only a few weeks had
passed since the granting of the definitive approval, when renewed attacks broke
out that seemed to embitter even this "sweetest precept."[26]
The tactics were the same as those that had already been used in Spain. Despite
the definitive approval from the Holy See, the detractors went back to work, sow
ing confusion and anxiety among the families of members of Opus Dei in Italy. Th
e first round of attacks was followed by another, even more shrewdly planned, an
d then yet another. (Yet the rapid and continuous expansion of the Work still we
nt on.)
Monsignor Escriva went out of his way to maintain close, cordial relations with
the families of students who frequented the Pensionata. He wanted the parents to
feel part of Opus Dei's family. Busy as he was, he passed on news about their c
hildren, and asked for their collaboration and prayers, hoping they would experi
ence the Work as theirs?as in fact it was.
His warmth in dealing with the families of his children comes through in his let
ters. For instance, a letter to the mother of Mario Lantini, written a year afte
r Mario asked to be admitted to the Work:

My dear Mrs. Lantini:

I received your kind letter, and sincerely thank you for what you tell me, espec
ially about your prayers, which are, without a doubt, the best gift that you and
your husband could make to Opus Dei and its members.

I am truly happy with the vocation of your son Mario, and I thank God for it?he
always works with the joy and enthusiasm of one who is serving the Lord. When I
see your son, I can't help but think of his parents' goodness. He owes his vocat
ion, in part, to you.
Please continue to pray to the Lord for Opus Dei.
Greetings and a blessing,
Josemara Escriv de B.[27]

As the apostolic trips from the Pensionata to the various cities of Italy began,
the number of persons joining the Work also increased.
In April 1949, a South American student, Juan Larrea, asked admission. His famil
y was not pleased.[28] They may not have known what Opus Dei really was, or the
decision may have interfered with family plans and dreams. Juan himself explains
what happened:

My father was Ecuador's ambassador to the Holy See. He told me that he was going
to take up the matter with Monsignor Montini, the [Vatican's] Undersecretary of
State. I spoke with Monsignor Montini, telling him my story, and after a long a
nd very friendly conversation, Monsignor Montini said, "I will have a message fo
r your father that will put him at peace." Some days later he received my father
and told him that he had spoken with Pope Pius XII, who said, "Tell the ambassa
dor that his son could not be in a better place than Opus Dei." Twenty years lat
er, when I was bishop, I visited Monsignor Montini, now Pope Paul VI, and he aff
ably reminded me of that audience.[29]

Things were different with parents who opposed their children's decision after c
ertain people had fanned their initial unhappiness into full-fledged antagonism.
The founder had hoped the decree (Primum Inter) would put a stop to this, but t
hat did not happen.
Also in April 1949, Umberto Farri, a young man of twenty-one who was often at Vi
lla Tevere, requested admission to the Work. He went to Milan in 1950 at the fou
nder's request, and returned to Rome in November of the following year. Meanwhil
e, his father, Francesco, had come into contact with parents of other university
students who had asked admission to Opus Dei. Everything happened with such spe
ed that, in some homes, the damage done to the previously good relations between
parents and children seemed irremediable. Acting on the advice and with the dir
ection of a Jesuit priest, Father A. Martini, Francesco Farri addressed a formal
petition of protest, dated April 25, 1951, to Pope Pius XII. In all, five fathe
rs of members signed.[30]

The peace of their families, they told the Pope, had been "interrupted and distu
rbed":
Young men belonging to these families have ended up not fulfilling their familia
l duties toward their parents and other relatives; and, in the case of some of t
hem, also their duties regarding their studies, to which they had previously ded
icated themselves with diligence and good results. All this has disrupted their
preparation for life and their loyalty and sincerity of behavior toward their pa
rents and spiritual fathers. They are abandoning the human and Christian princip
les of their homes and the religious associations they previously frequented.[31
]

Why did they doubt their children's vocations to Opus Dei? Because "all these de
velopments have taken place in an atmosphere which does not seem consistent with
the loyalty of a godly spirit and which, above all, offers no guarantee that th
ese young people have not been artificially induced to make decisions for which
they were not ready."
The petitioners described themselves as troubled in conscience and "worried abou
t their children's loss of moral values," all the more so because the members of
the institute Opus Dei "are carrying on a proselytizing effort by methods that

do not fit the Church's tradition of loyalty and clarity in this matter."[32]
Winding down, they asked the Pope to give them "consolation." They did not mean
to oppose their children's legitimate aspirations and eventual vocations, but th
ey did ask that they "return to their studies to finish them in normal settings,
and then, after consulting with learned, devout, and experienced men, make thei
r definitive decision."
As he had done in similar circumstances in 1941, when Monsignor Escriva learned
of this petition he asked his children to take it in silence, to pray, and to ke
ep smiling and working.[33] They did. Thus, as Mario Lantini explains, his exper
iences did not come to light until, thirty years later, he testified before the
tribunal for the founder's beatification process. Even then, he said, he was rel
uctant to go into what happened "because Monsignor Escriva always forbade us, ex
plicitly, to speak of this, lest we fail in charity, even when talking among our
selves; as it says in a point of The Way (no. 443), 'If you can't praise, say no
thing.'" No one in Opus Dei knew what had happened except those involved, the fo
under, and Don Alvaro, at that time Counselor of the Italian region."[34]
Don Alvaro affirmed that "even in the most trying moments" he had never heard th
e founder speak "one single word of recrimination against those who defamed him.
" [35] A small sheet of paper bears this handwritten note of his: "Place under t
he patronage of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph the families of our m
embers, so that they'll come to participate in the Work's gaudium cum pace [joy
with peace] and obtain from the Lord an affection for Opus Dei."[36]
Summing up the episode in a letter to his children, Monsignor Escriva wrote:

Now I would like to tell you the details about the consecration I made of the Wo
rk and the families of its members to the Holy Family on May 14 of this year. It
was done in the oratory (which for this reason will in the future be called the
oratory of the Holy Family), which still has no walls, amid nails and pieces of
wood from the formwork that supported the cement for the beams and ceiling unti
l it set. But some exact notes, written down at the time, have been saved, so I
won't go more into that here. I will just tell you that I could only turn to hea
ven when faced with the diabolical schemes (which God permitted!) of certain uns
crupulous individuals who got some fathers of families to sign a document full o
f falsehoods, and made sure it ended up in the Holy Father's hands. Jesus, Mary,
and Joseph saw to it that the storm clouds passed over without a deluge; everyt
hing was cleared up.[37]

It appears that the Holy Family's help was quickly forthcoming. One of the petit
ion's signers backed out the very same week it went to the Pope,[38] and the res
t soon realized how senseless this claim of a "distressing situation" was. From
then on they did not try at all to hold their children back, and peace returned
to their homes. The complaints to the Holy Father faded away, for lack of eviden
ce to support them. To Monsignor Escriva's great joy the affection of the famili
es of his children for Opus Dei grew.[39] The consecration to the Holy Family ha
s been an annual event since then. The formula reads:

Grant them, Lord, to come to know better each day the spirit of our Opus Dei, to
which you have called us for your service and our sanctification. Instill in th
eir hearts a great love for our Work, and an ever-growing appreciation of the be
auty of our vocation, so that they may feel a holy pride in your having deigned
to choose us, and learn to thank you for the honor you have bestowed upon them.
Bless especially their cooperation in our apostolic work, and make them always s
hare in the joy and peace that you grant us as a reward for our dedication.[40]

2. "Cor Mariae dulcissimum, iter para tutum!"

The founder had to spend the summer of 1951 in Rome?to "stay on the job," as he
put it. This was a real sacrifice. He was exhausted from a heavy workload; const
ruction work was under way in the house, and Rome's fierce summer heat was oppre

ssive. To top it all off, there was his diabetes, the sufferings from which were
such that he jokingly said he was continually reminded of purgatory.
But leaving Rome was out of the question. For some time he had been aware of a b
arely perceptible change in some members of the Curia. One day he overheard a sl
ightly critical comment; another day a cardinal who was an old acquaintance publ
icly denied ever having had anything to do with him.[41]
He suspected that something was happening?but what? Was there a grave threat to
Opus Dei? The anxiety affected his behavior. He seemed happy and worried at the
same time. Always joking, he also constantly asked his children to pray for his
intentions.
Encarnacion Ortega recalls:

As always, he turned to prayer and mortification. He passed whole days eating no

thing or practically nothing, which made us fear for his health. We also knew he
was sleeping very little. And every day he asked more urgently that we pray, wh
ile the Father's own prayer grew more intense. One day he told us to stop whatev
er we were doing and go to the oratory for half an hour and "force" the Lord wit
h our prayer.... I think that was one of the times in our lives when we most put
our hearts into asking God to help our Father.[42]

One day, that summer of 1951, he was walking in the garden of Villa Tevere, abso
rbed in thought and making notes in a pocket notebook. One of his sons, Javier E
chevarria, came up to him and asked, "How are you, Father?" The answer was, "Fil
led with peace and holy fortitude?like a lion, ready to defend this Work of God
that the Lord has entrusted to me. Pray and help me."[43]
Without being sure exactly what it would be, he sensed a new attack coming.[44]
"I feel," he said, "like a blind man who has to defend himself, and all he can d
o is flail at the air with his cane. Because I don't know what is happening, but
something is happening."[45] Yet even so, he could write that the Lord permits
such trials "in order to sanctify us, and to strengthen the Work."[46]
Earlier, facing slander, gossip, and intrigue, he had known where to go, how to
respond, whom to answer. Now he was fighting shadows. Friends typically gave him
two kinds of advice: Keep quiet and let himself be slandered, thus limiting the
spread of the scandal. Or boldly proclaim the truth?answer, rebut, refute. The
Father considered both opinions reasonable and acceptable from a Christian point
of view. It was hard to tell what to do. "Events have always shown me," he rema
rked, "I'm in much the same situation as the father and the son and the donkey i
n the fable?no matter what I do, I'll be criticized." [47] (The reference is to
a story about a father and son who are criticized regardless of which rides thei
r donkey?or whether neither or both do.)[48]
Trying to lighten his spirits, Don Alvaro told him: "Father, everything is going
well; there are lots of vocations, and, thanks be to God, there's a very good s
pirit on everyone's part."[49] But the Father was determined that something had
to be done. "Since I can't find anyone on earth who would truly and decisively h
elp us," he said, "I have turned to our Mother, holy Mary."[50]
On August 9 he wrote to the whole big family of Opus Dei, telling them that on t
he feast of the Assumption he would celebrate Mass in Loreto.

And there, inside that little house of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Josep
h, I will make a consecration of Opus Dei to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Afterwards, every year, we will renew this consecration in all our houses and ce
nters, using the formula that I will send you.
It's going to be an ambitious consecration, because we will also be consecrating
to her the peoples and nations that are far from her Divine Son.
This fits right in with our spirit! Unite yourselves to me, especially on that d
ay.[51]
In the days that followed, he urged his children to keep repeating an aspiration
that he was saying constantly: "Cor Mariae dulcissimum, iter para tutum!" ("Mos
t Sweet Heart of Mary, provide a safe path!").[52]

On the morning of August 14, under a blazing sun, Monsignor Escriva, Don Alvaro,
and two other members of the Work left Rome by car, taking Via Solaria and then
crossing over to the Adriatic coast. They drove straight through to the Basilic
a of Our Lady in Loreto, where they arranged for the Father and Don Alvaro to of
fer Masses the next day at the altar of the Holy House. They spent the night in
Ancona.
Next day, the feast of the Assumption, the Father got to Loreto before nine in t
he morning, and found the basilica full of people. The Holy House is a small str
ucture inside the basilica. It being a feast of our Lady, there was a crowd. He
tried to be recollected in celebrating Mass, but spontaneous manifestations of p
iety kept breaking his concentration.
Whenever I kissed the altar as the rubrics for Mass prescribe, three or four of
the ladies would also kiss it. I found this distracting, but certainly moving. A
lso attracting my attention was the realization that above the altar in that Hol
y House?which tradition attests is the place where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived
?are these words: "Hie Verbum caro factum est" ["Here the Word was made flesh"].
Here, in a house built by human hands, on a piece of this earth on which we liv
e, dwelt God.[53]
While Don Alvaro was saying his Mass, Monsignor Escriva managed to find a spot i
n the passageway behind the altar of the Holy House. And there he made the conse
cration to the "Most Sweet Heart of Mary, Perfect Image of the Heart of Jesus."
In the name of everyone in Opus Dei, he told our Lady:
We consecrate to you our being and our life?everything that is ours; all that we
love and all that we are. Our bodies, our hearts, and our souls are for you; we
and our apostolates are yours.[54]
He remained on his knees throughout Don Alvaro's Mass, lost in prayer, oblivious
to the people filing through the passageway behind the altar. He had much to as
k for:

Set our poor hearts aflame so that we may love God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit with all our soul. Inspire us with a deep love for the Churc
h and the pope, and make us live in full submission to all their teachings. Give
us a great love for the Work, for our Father, and for our directors. Grant that
, faithful to our vocation, we may possess a burning zeal for souls. Raise us, O
Mother, to a state of perfect love of God; and grant us the gift of final perse
verance.[55]

Only after he left did he notice that his cassock had been stepped on.
After breakfast they set out for Rome. It was very hot; but he was very happy, i
mmersed in God, and silently giving thanks. That evening he told his daughters a
nd his sons where he had been, and that the consecration to our Lady made him ce
rtain that she would protect Opus Dei. He asked them to keep praying the "iter p
ara tutum" to the Most Sweet Heart of Mary.[56]
He made other pilgrimages to Marian shrines, to give thanks for benefits and to
renew the consecration made in Loreto. On August 21 he visited the shrine of Our
Lady of Pompeii, and August 22, the shrine of Divine Love. On October 6 he was
in Lourdes, and celebrated Mass there the next day. From Lourdes he went to Sara
gossa, where, on October 9, he prayed before the statue of Our Lady of the Pilla
r. After a short stay in Madrid, he visited Portugal, and renewed the consecrati
on in Fatima on October 19.[57]

* **

On December 8, 1949, with the customary blessing from the Father and a wood carv
ing of our Lady, members of the Work left for Milan, to begin Opus Dei's apostol
ic efforts there in a stable way. Juan Udaondo joined them as priest for the cen
ter the same month. Several weeks later, he and the center's director went to se
e Cardinal Schuster.
"You are a priest who belongs to an institution of pontifical right, and I am th

e bishop of this diocese. How do we make this work?" the cardinal asked.
Father Juan replied, "Our founder has always taught us to serve the Church as th
e Church wants to be served, and to pull the cart the way the bishop wants it pu
lled. We want to keep you informed about our work, at least as much as pastors o
f parishes do about theirs, if not more."[58]
In September they visited the cardinal again. He received them eagerly. "Where h
ave you been all this time?" he asked. He had something to tell them. He had bee
n told incredible things, blatant calumnies, about the Work. They shouldn't worr
y, he said; he was very happy to have them in his diocese. Then, gesturing as if
trying to refresh his memory, he added: "Who told me these things? Who was it t
hat told me? It was someone very high up ..." The cardinal did not go any furthe
r.[59]
They immediately reported this conversation to Monsignor Escriva. On September 2
8, he told them to visit Cardinal Schuster again, after having prayed about the
matter, and tell him point by point, very precisely and specifically, what had h
appened in Spain?the attacks from the pulpit in 1940, the gossip, the false repo
rts to some bishops, the slanderous leaflets, the accusations to civil authoriti
es, the visits to families, etc.[60] The cardinal listened attentively, and then
repeated that he was very happy with what the Work was doing in Milan.

* **

On January 5,1952, Don Alvaro, as Procurator General of Opus Dei, received from
the now-Monsignor Larraona, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for Religious,
a courteous official request for "copies of Opus Dei's constitution and of the i
nternal regulations for the Administration, with a report?doctrinal and practica
l?on the governance of the Institute in its two sections, as well as on the spec
ific way in which the singular collaboration sanctioned by the Constitution is c
arried out."[61]
Don Alvaro replied at once?his letter answering the Secretary is dated January 6
. With it he sent copies of Opus Dei's statutes and of the internal regulations
for the domestic administration, plus a detailed ten-page explanation of the sep
aration between the two branches of the Work, and of their governance and relati
ons. The report begins:

Permit us to emphasize that to understand and rightly situate, either in law or

in fact, the relations between the two branches of Opus Dei, one must bear in mi
nd, and correctly evaluate, what the apostolic constitution Provida Mater Eccles
ia has definitively sanctioned in the doctrinal order of juridical principles an
d the practical order of life.[62]

Don Alvaro did not specifically ask why Opus Dei's particular law was requested,
but his reply and reasoning betray a certain wonderment. The considerations he
presented pointed to an unstated question: Hadn't Opus Dei's particular law alre
ady been scrupulously and minutely examined, studied, approved, and sanctioned?
The statutes received the nihil obstat of the Holy Office in October 1943. They
were subjected to further rigorous and exhaustive examination by the Sacred Cong
regation for Religious prior to the diocesan establishment of the Priestly Socie
ty of the Holy Cross in December 1943; then before the granting of the decretum
laudis, in 1947; and then again in 1950, when the definitive approval of Opus De
i was requested.[63] As for the domestic service provided by the women of the Ad
ministrations of Opus Dei houses, hadn't it been expressly praised and favored w
ith indulgences by Pope Pius XII in the apostolic brief Mirifice de Ecclesia of
1947?[64]
Evidently the Curia had heard of some kind of complaint about the jurisdictional
unity of the two branches. Someone had made sure that it would. That was how th
ings stood when, a few days later, the founder received a letter from Milan and
a report from Juan Udaondo concerning a visit he had just made to Cardinal Schus
ter:

Milan, January 15,1952

This morning I went with Juan Masia to visit Cardinal Schuster. He asked how thi
ngs were going for us. We told him fine, and at once he asked us if our "preside
nt"?meaning the Father?had any cross. I told him the Father was never without a
cross, but that the cross was a sign of joy and of divine predilection for us, a
nd the Father often tells us that "a day without a cross is a day lost" and that
"Jesus Christ, Eternal Priest, always blesses with the cross." Then the cardina
l told us we should be prepared, that the persecutions would surely continue, an
d that in reading histories of the works of God and the lives of their founders,
he had noted that the Lord had always permitted oppositions and persecutions. I
n some cases they had even been subjected to apostolic visitations and their fou
nders had been deposed from the position of superior. He spoke to us affectionat
ely. Plainly he was worried about the Work and the Father. And he told us not to
be discouraged if any of these things happened to us, but to keep working very
hard. Several times he repeated, "Keep working," "Onward," "Courage," etc.

Juan and I both listened to him very calmly and told him not to worry?the Work w
as of God, and the Lord had made the Father and all of us accustomed to persecut
ion. The Father had always made us see God's hand in all these things. The Work
would get through all the persecutions, which are a source of joy for us, helpin
g and impelling us to become holy and work solely for the Lord.[65]
But Monsignor Escriv still lacked information specific and substantial enough to
serve as a basis for accusing anyone or organizing an appropriate defense. Even
so, he thought it good to reinforce the document of January 6 about the governan
ce of the two branches of the Work. Don Alvaro, therefore, wrote a second time,
on February 3, to Monsignor Larraona, an honest and upright man familiar with th
e juridical side of Opus Dei. The intent was to underline the imprudence and inj
ustice of the Curia's calling into question the reputation of a whole institutio
n by abruptly subjecting it to an investigative process. After functioning effec
tively, for nearly a quarter of a century without scandal or incident, why think
of changing its structure now? Wouldn't the reexamination of its statutes becom
ing known, feed unfounded suspicions that the slanderers would gladly spread abr
oad? Wouldn't some hidden scandal be suspected?[66]
The founder, trusting in the intercession of our Lady, regained his optimism. On
February 9 he wrote Madrid, "Since it would only be right, I hope, that with Go
d's grace, this will all just fizzle out. Cor Mariae dulcissimum, iter para tutu
m!"[67] But then he received an urgent message from Milan.
Cardinal Schuster was by now in a state of anxiety. When the same two members of
the Work visited him again on February 18,1952, he asked, almost at once, "Does
n't he have a big cross on him?" He meant the founder.
Once again the answer was that the founder would be glad to carry the cross, sin
ce that meant being close to Jesus.
"No, it's not that," Cardinal Schuster said. "I know about your founder's cross.
Tell him from me to remember his countryman, Saint Joseph Calasanz, and to get
moving."[68]
Monsignor Escriva understood the Cardinal's message only too well. Now it was cl
ear that the plot aimed to split the Work into two separate, unrelated instituti
ons, one for men and the other for women. This was to be accomplished by decapit
ations?his own removal would mean an end to the Work's unity: "Strike the shephe
rd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered" (Mt 26:31).[69]
Responding quickly, he went to see the Secretary of the Congregation for Religio
us. "I want them to know." he said, "that if they remove me as President General
without telling me the reasons, it will pain me for exactly four seconds. They'
ll be doing me a favor. I'll request admission and be the last person in Opus De
i, as I've always wanted. But if they remove me from the Work, they should know
they'll be doing a criminal act, because they'll be killing me."[70]
He asked the reason for all this. There was no reason, he was told, but there wa
s "strong pressure from certain persons." Clearly professional confidentiality w
as involved. He neither was told nor did he ask the names of those involved.

The next step was to speak with Cardinal Tedeschini, who on February 24 had beco
me Cardinal Protector of Opus Dei.[71]
Accompanied by Don Alvaro, Monsignor Escriva went to see the cardinal and presen
ted him with a letter he had prepared dated March 12, 1952. The cardinal read it
calmly, then promised that its contents would be made known to the Holy Father.
[72] Now all of Opus Dei prayed intensely. The Father was in anguish.
"My son," he said to one of those with him, "how many times have you heard me sa
y that I would love not to be part of the Work so that I could immediately ask a
dmission and obey everyone in everything, occupying the last place? You know I n
ever wanted to be founder of anything. It was God who wanted it this way. Have y
ou seen how1 they want to destroy the Work, and are attacking me? They want to t
hrow me out of the Work.... My son, if they throw me out, they'll be killing me;
if they throw me out, they'll be murdering me. As I've said, let them put me in
the last place, but not throw me out. If they do that, they'll be committing mu
rder."[73]
On March 18, the vigil of the feast of Saint Joseph, Cardinal Tedeschini had an
audience with Pope Pius and read him the letter the founder had given him the pr
evious week. It was strong, frank, and informal. Jarring, perhaps, when presente
d to the Holy Father?it was imperative that its message be clear to him since th
ere was good reason for thinking that the masterminds of this shady affair had d
irect access to the Pope's office.
Cardinal Tedeschini read the letter aloud, and the Pope listened attentively.

Rome, March 12,1952

Your Most Reverend Eminence:

After so many years of being a friend and de facto protector, ... and being now,
by sovereign disposition of the Roman Pontiff, Protector de jure of Opus Dei, a
nd being a person who has always followed with vigilant interest and paternal af
fection the internal course and the external development of our Work, Your Emine
nce better than anyone else can understand and appreciate our amazement, filled
with pain and profound sorrow, at receiving the letter from the Sacred Congregat
ion for Religious which bears the date of January 5,1952. Your Eminence has know
ledge of both the content of that letter and our response to said letter through
the copies of the two documents (dated January 6, and February 3,1952) that we
sent you as soon as we could. We are surprised and saddened that an attempt is b
eing made to reopen a question that was so thoroughly discussed, examined, and d
ecided upon, together with all of Opus Dei's regulations.
Allow us to point out, Your Eminence, that this action of the Sacred Congregatio
n for Religious can only originate in accusations against Opus Dei. That being s
o, we, animated by a strong sense of justice and love for the truth, dare expres
s the desire that these accusations be openly manifested to us, and we respectfu
lly demand that proofs be presented.

There follows a list of rumors and outright lies about the Work. The founder con
cludes by leaving it to the Cardinal Protector's good judgment whether a new set
of internal regulations for the Administration should be drawn up, "to make wha
t is envisioned in the current regulations even more certain and so prevent, on
the one hand, any possible concern on the part of the Holy See, and, on the othe
r, the slanderous defamation of many thousands of souls."
As he listened to the reading of the letter, the Pope now and then raised his ha
nds, as if reacting to what he heard. When the cardinal finished, the Holy Fathe
r, sounding shocked and agitated, exclaimed, "Ma chi mai ha pensato a prendere n
essun provvedimento?" ("But who has ever thought of taking any such action?").
The cardinal said nothing. The Pope had been put on the alert, and the game was
over for those who had hoped to destroy Opus Dei.[74]

3. A monument to faith and love

Monsignor Escriva could easily have avoided the headaches and endless financial
problems involved in the construction of Opus Dei's central headquarters. Others
would have scrapped the project or delayed it. He forged ahead.
But was it "sheer madness."[75] The evidence suggested it was. He had used all t
he human means available to him, even going so far as to beg donations from his
children, so that they in turn had to go begging at other doors. But friends and
institutions he might have counted on gave only excuses. Three years after cons
truction had begun, he summed things up, in August 1952, by saying: "We are fina
ncially drained?and must finish those buildings."[76] God wanted what he wanted.
The project would be completed.[77]
As time passed, difficulties multiplied. But each day brought its daily miracle:
the work went on. "It's a miracle that we move ahead every day," he wrote to Od
on Moles in 1954. "Too bad the great soul who would provide what it will take to
complete this divine instrument, the College of the Holy Cross, doesn't appear.
" [78]
This spiritual enterprise, undertaken for the glory of God and the service of th
e Church, was meant to give a powerful international impetus to the Work's apost
olates. By 1950, results could already be seen. He wrote to Father Casciaro:

This year thirteen or fourteen more are coming to earn their doctorates in eccle
siastical studies; that will bring the total up to twenty-six or twenty-seven. S
oon we'll be able to send professors and study center directors to every region,
with degrees in scholastic philosophy, canon law, and theology. A big step, for
everyone's formation and for facilitating the selection of those who will becom
e priests! Now do you understand my concern? Ask the Lord and Our Lady of Guadal
upe for money for this house and for the students' upkeep. It's worth it.[79]

"The Lord will not abandon us," he said to Father Casciaro. "Every day, my faith
gets stronger."[80] Yet as early as January 1950, he drew up a kind of inventor
y of the natural and supernatural means.
Very short on cash. Days of not knowing?no earthly idea? how to pay so as to be
able to continue this construction work at Villa Tevere. With banking operations
, we keep going. Anything rather than leave these buildings unfinished; and then
the Roman College and the work on Castello. They are?they soon will be?marvelou
s instruments.... Commend these things to the Lord, and work always in a holy wa
y, for that too is very good prayer.[81]
Meanwhile the Work was growing, and spreading to South American countries: Argen
tina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador. Writing in 1954 to those in Peru, he said:

I am happy with the efforts you are making to help the Roman College of the Holy
Cross. If only you could find the providential person who would be the instrume
nt to enable the quick completion of these buildings! You can't imagine the amou
nt of suffering in these six years.[82]

He still dreamed of a millionaire who would solve everything in a twinkling. But

he did not operate on the basis of dreams or the expectation of miracles. Beari
ng the brunt of the responsibility himself, he also called on his children to le
nd a hand.[83]

* **

It would take too long to narrate the epic of Villa Tevere in detail, and reader
s would find it exhausting?just as they would a summary of the hundreds of relev
ant letters and journal entries which, spanning a decade, would obscure the big
picture. Monsignor Escriva's approach was consistent: he did not write to pass o
n his worries and fears. As a good writer and teacher, able to express lofty tho
ughts in down-to-earth ways, he sketched spiritual counsels and financial troubl
es alike in a few words requiring no further explanation.[84]
The real trouble started in the summer of 1949, shortly after construction work
on the Pensionata was completed and work on Villa Tevere began. On July 31 the F

ather sent the General Council in Madrid a note that seems like a kind of manife
sto setting out the principles he was to cling to during the ten years that foll
owed.

May Jesus watch over for me those sons.

Dearest ones:
With regard to the financial difficulties we are going through, we have no choic
e but to employ all the supernatural means and exhaust the human ones. If by Fri
day we still haven't come up with the eight million lire, we'll get Alvaro to go
back to Spain on Saturday to continue negotiations with your help.
I don't know if you fully realize what it will mean, for the whole Work, to acco
mplish what we're attempting in Rome;... and, finally, that doing or not doing t
his thing?Villa Tevere?means advancing or holding back the work of our institute
by half a century.[85]

He speaks of "financial problems" forcing him to cut back on payments and "nibbl
e at the money" to make it last longer; of "financial concerns"; of finding hims
elf, almost without realizing it, "in water up to the neck"; of being "up to the
ears in debt"; and yet of being confident that God "will not leave us in the lu
rch."[86]
To those in the United States he writes: "If we didn't know by experience how fa
therly is the Lord's providence toward us, I would tell you that we are on the b
rink of catastrophe."[87] But they faced each day "with a greater self-denial an
d with more faith in Providence."[88] He sensed isolation, with no one beside hi
m except Don Alvaro. "Alvaro and I," he wrote to Father Casciaro, "are leaving h
alf our lives inside these walls."[89] In September 1952, with disaster apparent
ly at hand, he calls out to his children, "Help us?a little or a lot!"[90]

4. Don Alvaro's heroic gesture

The work on Villa Tevere's main building, Villa Vecchia, had scarcely begun when
Don Alvaro found himself staring at a sea of debt. The Father had put him in ch
arge of finances?seeking donations, bank loans, official postponements of paymen
ts. It was a tricky balancing
act.[91]
Don Alvaro, had worked closely with the founder for years, and was irreplaceable
. How irreplaceable became apparent when, in February 1950, he came down with an
attack of appendicitis. Monsignor Escriva wrote the General Council:

Alvaro is in bed with an attack of appendicitis?not severe, but very painful. To

day they did X-rays, and the doctors seem inclined toward recommending an operat
ion. He's had this thing for a long time, as you know, but in recent days it's b
ecome acute; and so as not to have to quit working, he kept quiet about it until
he couldn't go on. Pray about this, because even if it is just a routine operat
ion, for us it's a big problem. I have no one who can fill in for him, with the
load of matters of the Work that he carries on his shoulders.[92]

The doctors operated on February 26. The surgery proved to be a more serious pro
cedure than anticipated.[93]
At times the Father's requests were both urgent and succinct: "Alvaro has commit
ted himself, through promissory notes, to a total of quite a few million, and we
have to pay it."[94] The implication is that they had no idea where the money w
ould come from.[95] Don Alvaro testifies:

I recall that he made several pilgrimages to the Shrine of Divine Love, to beg o
ur Lady's help. He traveled to Spain several times, to get his children moving a
nd spur them with his example to seek the necessary funds. In one week of making
these financial efforts, the Father lost fourteen or fifteen pounds. But things
moved ahead.[96]


Anxiety mounted as Saturdays approached when the workers would line up for their
salaries while suppliers surrounded the "command hut." On some Fridays Monsigno
r Escriva had to tell the person in charge of accounts, "Alvaro doesn't have any
money today either. Tomorrow, try to keep too many suppliers from crowding arou
nd and causing a panic."[97]
Yet when the moment came, Don Alvaro always had money to take care of the most u
rgent needs; only what could be delayed went unpaid. The keeper of the construct
ion journal wrote on Saturday, November 17,1951:

Poor Alvaro got another loan today, four and a half million, to cover the most p
ressing items. (Now we owe more than twenty-four million!) This will pay off som
e debts?the most urgent ones. I'm racking my brains, going over the list twenty
times, trying to make things fit so as to pay this one a hundred, that one fifty
. . .[98]

The debt was alarming by 1951. It was a distraction to Monsignor Escriva and too
k time he needed to spend on the work of governing. Moreover, his role in the co
nstruction of the buildings was not limited to fund-raising. During his morning
visits to the studio where the architects worked, he asked questions, studied pl
ans, and made all kinds of suggestions. The buildings had to be functional and s
uited to the specific needs of the people who would live and work there. He prov
ided innumerable guidelines and specifications, in the process becoming somethin
g of an expert himself."[99]
Almost daily, he toured all the construction areas, inspecting the work and spea
king of God with workers he met while climbing ladders and walking along the sca
ffolding. He greeted and encouraged the bricklayers, painters, and plumbers. He
thanked them for working so well, and inquired about their wives and children. H
e also reminded them of the duties of a Christian family.[100] In some cases the
workers' liking for him and the Work became lifelong affection.
Monsignor Escriva's insistence that, despite the financial problems, the work be
done just so, down to the last detail, reflected his desire that the buildings
embody an essential feature of the spirit of sanctification of work. The "half o
ur lives" that he and Don Alvaro were leaving inside the walls of Villa Tevere w
as the spiritual cost of the daily miracle that the construction proceed without
interruption. And that was a substantial cost. "The Roman College of the Holy C
ross!" exclaimed the Father. "Don't leave me alone?it's worth it for us to be he
roic in this also."[101]
Years later, walking with two of his sons through the garden of Villa Tevere, he
remarked on how much he and Don Alvaro had suffered in connection with the cons
truction projects. "The Lord has treated us like saints," he said. "We aren't th
at, but he certainly has treated us as if we were."[102]
Don Alvaro was the founder's favorite son?faithful, docile, obedient, efficient.
The two were consistently of one mind. Even between like-minded saints friction
sometimes arises. But not with these two. "Don Alvaro and I have lived in perfe
ct accord, the founder stated."[103]They were different in personality and posit
ion, of course, and this required that Don Alvaro be flexible in adjusting to th
e founder's pace?which was something he did gladly, identifying with the founder
's will, adopting his way of thinking sometimes, and other times intuiting what
he wanted. Above all, they were intimately linked in prayer and in spirit.[104]
In one of his letters, Monsignor Escriva wrote: "I am witnessing, up close, Alva
ro's acts of heroism."[105] But what were Don Alvaro's prodigious deeds? Working
hard and sleeping little. The weekly cycle of the Saturdays, over and over with
no break. Apprehensions. Responsibility. The constant effort to keep his courag
e up. His naturally robust constitution was affected, and increasingly he suffer
ed night-long severe abdominal pains and had to stay in bed the next day. And ev
en then, the Father, hard-pressed for money and facing a deadline, sometimes had
to come to him and say, "Alvarito, you really have to get up."[106]
Shaking off his fatigue and pain, Don Alvaro would get up, smiling.[107]
Within the Work his link with the founder was becoming proverbial. Those living

in Rome in February 1950 later recalled something that happened after Don Alvaro
's appendectomy.
After taking him from the operating room to his own room, the surgeon went to th
e head of the bed and started calling, "Don Alvaro! Don Alvaro!" to wake him up.
But he gave no sign of having heard.
Then the Father whispered, from the foot of the bed, "Alvaro, my son!" Don Alvar
o opened his eyes.
When he told us this, the Father said with pride, "Don Alvaro obeys even under a
nesthesia."[108]
Don Alvaro suffered abdominal pains for years after the appendectomy.[109] Plain
ly the financial problems were affecting him and eroding his strength. In Octobe
r 1952 the Father wrote to his sons in the United States:
Alvaro is having serious liver problems. I don't know how he can handle so much
work and so many worries. Well, yes, I do know, and you do too, because you know
how great his faith is, and what the Lord has given him in talent and capacity
for work and serenity. This time I think his illness is closely connected with t
he brutal financial hardships of recent months and of right now.[110]
He knew the remedy that was needed?money, lots of it.[111] But that was a treatm
ent beyond his reach.
The ups and downs of Don Alvaro's illness are a recurring theme in his correspon
dence?for instance, in April, 1954:
Alvaro?who is always telling you, in speech or in letters, that he's fine?is in
bed again. The fact is that he works too hard and his health is pretty bad. Too
many worries, although he hides them with his sunny smile and overcomes them wit
h his faith and his ceaseless work.[112]

And two months later:

I'm doing fine. However, Dr. Amalfitano has carefully examined Alvaro and found
him to be like Fernando L.; he can have vegetables (without salt) and very littl
e else. He's always cheerful, but the heart, circulation, and liver are not doin
g well. The doctor says the condition is quite serious, but he's sure he can cur
e it. Incidentally?he said this?that extra weight caused by the illness will dis
appear. Alvaro is in bed today; that's why he's not writing.[113]

And a year later:

After doing well for such a long time, Alvaro had a really bad liver attack toda
y. I'm hoping it's the last one, since he actually appears to have been rejuvena
ted. I don't mean to say he's old, you know, but the work of so many years has a
ged him.[114]

Unfortunately, it was not the last attack. But it convinced them that they shoul
d go off for a few days of rest at the Montecatini spa. From there the Father wr
ote:

Finally the doctor's orders have been obeyed, and here we are. I believe?or rath
er, I think (I don't like to use the word "believe" in vain; faith is something
extraordinarily great)?I think a quiet stay and the waters will prepare us to wo
rk well during the winter.[115]

He was right. There are no more references to Don Alvaro's ailments until Januar
y 1956. Then: "Alvaro has, for several days, been down with some liver problem a
nd a bad case of the flu. As for me, I have also been in bed for several days wi
th a classic case of the flu, and still have a touch of it."[116]
In January 1953 he sent the General Council some directives on rest:

Try to make sure that everyone gets some rest on a regular basis?we don't do tha
t here, but our bad example should not be followed. When?in a few months?we fini
sh the bulky part of all these things we have under way, you'll see that Alvaro

and I (together with you) will finally get the rest we've had to deny ourselves
for so long. It's needed, for serving the Lord better.
Therefore, I insist, you in Spain are to organize things so that you all get som
e rest on a regular basis.[117]

Having tested his formula for resting while working, he could recommend it with
confidence: "Let us give thanks to God, who always wants us working; a change of
work is our rest."[118]

5. The cure of the diabetes (April 27,1954)

By the middle of 1952, the financial situation was to all appearances hopeless.
There seemed to be no way of reducing the debt, searching for new loans and gift
s produced no results, and?to add insult to injury?there was a recurrence of "ce
rtain troubles that some individuals are causing us."[119]
As always, the Father intensified his prayer. He had a medal with two enamel inl
ays portraying the hearts of Jesus and Mary?a gift, according to Encarnita Orteg
a, from a lady named Candida, owner of Talleres Granda, a company in Madrid that
made church goods and promoted liturgical art. Every night, he would kiss these
images with great love, saying, "Heart of Jesus, give us peace!" and "Sweet hea
rt of Mary, be my salvation!"[120]
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was widespread in Spain. On August 1, in t
he midst of financial pressures, the founder asked Opus Dei members in Madrid to
pray the aspiration "Cor Iesu sacratissimum, dona nobis pacem!" ("Most Sacred H
eart of Jesus, grant us peace!") many times daily.[121] Soon after this he made
the same request of those in Colombia.[122]
By September, nevertheless, the construction project looked to be in such dire s
traits that the founder, sensing collapse, sent out an SOS, in hopes that the Lo
rd would "put an end to this torture."[123] He had decided to consecrate Opus De
i, with all its members and apostolates, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. To the me
mbers in Mexico he wrote: "Soon I will do the consecration to the Sacred Heart.
Help me prepare for it, by repeating many times: 'Cor Iesu sacratissimum, dona n
obis pacem.'" He added as a postscript: "SOS: We are still in water up to the ne
ck. And also with the same trust in God our Father."[124]
The date set for the ceremony of consecration was October 26, the feast of Chris
t the King. "If we don't get this knot untied by the end of the month," he wrote
, "we will take a hit that will make Satan happy."[125] He trusted that our Lady
would not let them down, and that her Son could not help but answer so many pra
yers.
Meanwhile work and worry were eating away at Don Alvaro's health again. Monsigno
r Escriv speaks of "liver problems"; but he was well aware that the liver was not
so much the cause as the "victim" of the problems.[126]
But the founder was not narrowly focused on his own problems. He looked beyond t
he needs of the Work, to everything disturbing the peace of the world: fratricid
al hatreds, social confrontations, persecution of the Church, and wars. Hundreds
of times a day he prayed, "Cor Iesu sacratissimum, dona nobis pacem!" As far ba
ck as 1933 he had written, "The Work of God has come about to spread through the
whole world the message of love and peace that the Lord has bequeathed to us; t
o invite all human beings to respect human rights.... I see the Work projected t
hrough the centuries, ever young, elegant, attractive, and fruitful, defending t
he peace of Christ, so that everyone can possess it."[127]
He was rarely depressed. Divine filiation was his support. A point in The Way (n
o. 696) has an autobiographical ring to it: "If you accept tribulation with a fa
int heart, you lose your joy and your peace, and you run the risk of not derivin
g any spiritual profit."
He was deeply moved by Christ's humanity.[128] And in The Way he wrote: "Enter i
nto the pierced side of our Lord Jesus until you find secure shelter in his woun
ded heart" (no. 58). This is the key to putting faith, hope, and charity into pr
actice in one's daily life, and so finding joy, strength, and peace. "I don't ha

ve one heart for loving God and another for loving people," he wrote. "I love Ch
rist and the Father and the Holy Spirit and our Lady with the same heart with wh
ich I love my parents and my friends. I shall never tire of repeating this. We m
ust be very human, for otherwise we cannot be divine."[129]In the Sacred Heart,
the immense charity of the Lord is revealed. This is something virtually incompr
ehensible: "Love in the depths of the Trinity is poured out on men by the Love i
n the heart of Christ."[130]

* **

On the day of the consecration?October 26,1952?the little oratory adjacent to th

e founder's workroom was still not finished.[131] There was no easy way to get t
o it. Nothing daunted, he dealt with the problem directly: "I did the consecrati
on, after climbing up three construction ladders?one after the other!?to reach t
he oratory." And, he added, "Peace will come, on all fronts! I am sure of it."[1
32]
For him it did, but slowly, not all in a rush. Interior happiness? "gaudium cum
pace"?restored his sense of security and his optimism. "As yet, there's still no
sign of the financial solution."[133] "How much I expect from this consecration
!"[134]
The attacks dropped off, though without stopping entirely. The crushing burden o
f debt also lightened a bit. It became possible to postpone some payments; small
donations came in; arrangements were made to mortgage the property and part of
what had already been built.[135] Now he declared himself "optimistic and confid
ent" that they would be able to "solve all the problems that arise, and bring to
completion this Roman enterprise."[136] In the Heart of Jesus he found the peac
e and refuge he had prayed for on October 26.[137]

* **

The consecration, in January 1953, of one of the oratories of Villa Tevere broug
ht Monsignor Escriv much joy. "Now we have our Lord with us at Villa Vecchia!" he
exclaimed.[138]
Another source of joy that year was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding
of Opus Dei. In anticipation, he wrote a letter to all the centers of the Work,
in December 1952:

In the year that's about to begin, we will celebrate the silver jubilee of our W
ork. And we will celebrate it in our usual style?within the family, without fanf
are.... And there should also be a renewal of fidelity to the divine call to be
sowers of joy and of peace in the midst of the world.
May that fidelity of each one be manifested in fruits of personal sanctity, by t
he purity of our life, by zeal for our formation, by the efficacy of our apostol
ic endeavors, by our constant effort to serve the Church.
Merry Christmas and a fruitful new year![139]

Nine weeks before the anniversary date, October 2, the Father wrote to all his c
hildren telling them to celebrate the memorable day with appropriate religious a
cts and family festivities:

Be filled with gratitude because the Lord willed to choose you to be OPUS DEI. O
n that October 2, fulfill with greater dedication the duties of your work. Inten
sify?you are contemplative souls in the midst of the world?your constant prayer.
Be?in this world so filled with animosities?sowers of joy and of peace. This si
lent heroism of ordinary life will be the most natural way, according to our spi
rit, to observe the silver jubilee of our Mother.[140]

As he had foreseen, the founder spent those family holidays in the retreat house
of Molinoviejo, surrounded by sons of his who had come from faraway countries,
to which the apostolate of the Work had spread. Those were days taken full advan

tage of, for "a peaceful exchanging of impressions."[141]

At Molinoviejo, under the pine trees, at the entrance to the lane that leads to
the shrine, a stone plaque was placed commemorating the silver jubilee. The insc
ription reads:
Here in Molinoviejo, at this shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love, after spending in
peace and joy several days of prayer, silence, and work, the founder of Opus Dei
, with his General Council and representatives of the various Regions who came f
rom distant countries of Europe, Africa, and the Americas to celebrate the silve
r jubilee of the Work (October 2, 1953), renewed on that day the consecration of
Opus Dei which had been made in the Holy House of Loreto on August 15, 1951: th
e consecration to the Most Sweet Heart of Mary.[142]
Meanwhile, Don Alvaro's health was still far from good. "It's not surprising, wi
th this very hard life he leads," the Father said.[143] There was repeated, year
after year, the heroic story of the hand of God pressing almost to the point of
suffocation, yet not suspending the daily miracle of provisioning Villa Tevere
and the weekly miracle of providing the payment of the construction workers and
suppliers. The story was repeated, even if not on the same scale.[144] In a lett
er to Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, in June of 1954, the Father repeats his yearn
ing for a "definitive solution" to the financial problem. "It's a shame that the
definitive solution doesn't come," he writes, "so that we can carry on peaceful
ly the divine work of this house of the Rom. Coll. of the Holy+."[145]
The definitive solution! What could be called a definitive solution never did ar
rive. But, as we shall later see, providential arrangements and generous friends
were found, that did manage to rescue the Father from the anxieties of the week
ly payments and the dread of the due dates of promissory notes.[146]

* **

In the correspondence of the founder, during these years, there is frequent and
detailed mention of the illnesses of Don Alvaro, while, on the other hand, we do
not have any mention of his own sufferings. Can it be that he himself was free
of pains and annoyances, anxieties, and sorrows?
If we were to go only by what he says in his letters, especially those to the me
mbers of the General Council or to the Counselors of the various regions, we wou
ld be left in the dark. And if we were to look for any traces, we would come to
a reasonable suspicion that the founder purposely erased anything that could rev
eal physical sufferings. That is, except in the case of something impossible to
hide, such as the quite conspicuous facial paralysis he suffered in 1948.[147] B
ut for the six years between 1948 and 1954, any autobiographical testimony to hi
s bodily ailments is practically nonexistent.
In those years, Monsignor Escriva's correspondence, as we have seen, refers freq
uently to illnesses of Don Alvaro. But, except for a few references to seeing th
e dentist, almost everything we know about his own health between 1948 and 1954
comes from the recollections of people who lived with him and the testimonies of
his doctors. He said nothing about his own suffering, which he preferred to uni
te as a hidden sacrifice with the sufferings of Christ on the cross. From the ti
me when, as a young priest, he had visited the sick and the dying in their homes
and in hospitals, he was accustomed to living with pain, sharing in the experie
nce, and thus participating in the mystery of co-redemption in Christ.
The clinical record of his most serious ailment starts in the autumn of 1944. A
medical examination carried out because of a boil on his neck showed that he was
suffering from diabetes. He undertook a regimen of daily injections and a speci
al diet. As late as 1947, he would occasionally joke about it all.[148]
After that he no longer spoke of the diabetes. As an act of thanksgiving and rep
aration, he had determined silently to offer God the continual harassment he suf
fered from some people outside the Work and also the increasing discomforts caus
ed by the disease. These were at times a real torture. But in The Way, he had wr
itten: "If you realize that those sufferings?physical or spiritual?are purificat
ion and merit, bless them" (no. 219).[149]?NOTE
In the face of suffering, he would repeat the short litany of praise to pain tha

t he had earlier recited in a Madrid hospital to help a repentant sinner have a

good death.[150]
The Citta Leonina diary for 1946 and 1947 records several visits by Dr. Carlo Fa
elli occasioned by the diabetes. A specialist in the disease, he later called th
e founder's case the most serious he had ever seen:[151]
When he came to my office in 1946, he had been suffering from a rather serious c
ase of diabetes mellitus for years. Later, during treatment, he suffered serious
complications from the disease: visual and circulatory problems, ulcerations, m
igraine headaches, severe hemorrhages, the loss of all his teeth. One of the vis
ual problems was an episode of double vision that occurred in 1950 and 1951; it
got so bad that for a while he was unable to read. In treating him I used the la
test applicable therapy.[152]
Uncontrollable hunger, severe thirst, and a tendency for even minor injuries he
received to become infected?these things were predictable manifestations of diab
etes. But in his case the illness also took surprising turns.[153] The double vi
sion returned, and for some time he had to use a missal with large type.[154] On
e morning he woke up to find all his teeth turned in their sockets, so that he c
ould not chew anything. His doctor feared that trying to extract them might resu
lt in a fatal hemorrhage, but his dentist, Dr. Kurt Hruska, assured him there wo
uld be no problem. Since the teeth were loose, he used what the founder jokingly
called the "Chinese method," removing them by hand, one after the other, withou
t any violent pulling. (Don Alvaro, speaking to the dentist privately, asked for
the teeth and kept them as a relic.)[155]
The treatment took a long time, requiring frequent visits at first and then semi
annual checkups. The patient and dentist had a purely professional relationship
at first, but soon they touched on more personal subjects, on God and religion.
"I am a Protestant," Dr. Hruska said, "but he spoke to me with such clarity and
conviction that I felt inclined to accept whatever he said.... At the same time,
however, he was very respectful toward the beliefs of others."[156]
Monsignor Escriva would enter the dentist's office radiating good cheer. Yet the
dentist found something disconcerting, even exasperating, in his conduct.
Before setting to work, Dr. Hruska would say, "If I hurt you, tell me!" After a
while, the dentist would interrupt his work, sure that he was causing his patien
t a lot of pain. "Tell me when I'm hurting you!" he would insist. "Keep working,
keep working," was the reply. And the dentist would say, "But how can you take
this?"[157]
"He was very hard on himself; and someone who is hard on oneself where tooth pai
n is concerned is hard on himself where everything else is concerned," Dr. Hrusk
a remarked.[158] He never complained, and never asked for painkillers. He would
go to the dentist's office early in the morning, knowing the discomfort would be
severe, so that he could get in a full day of uninterrupted work.
The testimony of Dr. Faelli?a good Catholic with whom the founder also had a ver
y strong friendship?supports all this. He found Monsignor Escriva to be jovial,
open, very communicative. "When he had to talk about the serious problems caused
by his illness, he never dramatized them. He maintained a serene and confident
attitude even when he was very sick."[159] As with the dentist, so with Dr. Fael
li, they began with small talk and invariably ended up talking about God. Often
they exchanged ideas about the role of suffering in human life, agreeing "that s
uffering is essential to a Christian, for imitating Christ, and that pain is the
odometer of our life."[160] One thinks of point no. 791 in The Forge: "When you
are ill, offer up your sufferings with love, and they will turn into incense ri
sing up in God's honor, and making you holy."[161]
The years went by, and the illness followed its unforeseen course. The patient c
arefully obeyed his doctors. In the worst period, nearly blind and his body a co
mplete disaster, he made a pilgrimage to Lourdes. He asked a great many things o
f the Virgin there; but regarding his illness, all he asked was that nothing wou
ld happen that would prevent him from "being able to continue working with souls
."[162] The discomforts and inconveniences of the diabetes were opportunities fo
r uniting himself more closely to God, offering them up, and always downplaying
them. After ten years he had had so many injections that it was sometimes hard f

or the needle to penetrate the skin, because of all the scar tissue. "This donke
y has a tough hide," he would say. Or, "They don't make needles like they used t
o."[163]
His natural defenses against a constant feeling of debilitation were cheerfulnes
s and patience. He offered things up with elegance and good grace. Around 1951,
many foods were eliminated from his rigid diet. His daughters who did the cookin
g did the best they could to make his meals tasty and varied. But sometimes, to
amuse whoever was dining with him, he would jokingly exclaim to the fish on his
plate, "I recognize you, Mr. Codfish, even with that disguise you're wearing!"[1
64]
Another joke, alluding to the great amount of sugar that accumulated in his bloo
dstream, had to do with theologians. The Church, he said, had a Doctor Angelicus
[Saint Thomas Aquinas], a Doctor Seraphicus [Saint Bonaventure], a thinker call
ed Subtilis [Blessed John Duns Scotus], and a Doctor Mellifluus [Saint Bernard].
So couldn't he be Pater Dulcissimus?[165]
Many people in his position would have been obsessed with death and been tempted
to give up working. That was not his way. Yet he did take precautions in case t
he last moment arrived unexpectedly.[166] A bell was placed beside his bed so th
at he could call someone to give him the last sacraments. When going to bed he w
ould say, "Lord, I don't know if I will wake up tomorrow. I thank you for the li
fe you have given me and am content to die in your arms. I trust in your mercy."
[167] But to those who expressed concern, he said, "God will heal me."[168]

* **

He was right. People who have had a brush with death, especially one involving l
oss of consciousness, often speak of seeing their lives pass before them, almost
as if they were a spectator, yet aware that they are the protagonists. Repentan
ce sometimes is a fruit of the experience.
On April 27, 1954, something like this happened to Monsignor Escriv. It was the f
east of Our Lady of Montserrat. Don Alvaro had, as usual, given him an injection
five or ten minutes before lunch, but at a lower dosage than that prescribed an
d using a new kind of long-acting insulin.[169] They went down to the dining roo
m. Shortly after saying grace, as they sat facing each other, the Father suddenl
y said, "Alvaro! Absolution!" Don Alvaro tells what happened next:

I didn't understand him. I just could not understand him. God permitted that I n
ot understand him. And then he repeated, "Absolution!" And for a third time?this
was a matter of a few seconds, in all?"Absolution: 'Ego te absolvo .. .'" And a
t that moment he lost consciousness. I recall that first he turned a kind of pur
plish red and then an ashen yellow. And his body seemed to have become very smal
l.
I gave him absolution immediately and did what I could. I called the doctor and
put sugar in his mouth, forcing him, with water, to swallow it, because he was n
ot reacting and I was not getting a pulse.[170]

When the doctor?Miguel Angel Madurga, a member of the Work? arrived, the Father
had already regained consciousness. The shock had lasted ten minutes. Miguel Ang
el carefully examined him and confirmed that he was out of danger and there were
no complications. The Father, in fact, seemed to have gotten well.
Indeed, he immediately started worrying about that son of his, Miguel Angel. Lea
rning that he had not yet had lunch, he had him eat something, chatting with him
all the while and giving no hint that he could not see.
"My son," he said to Don Alvaro when the doctor had left, "it's left me blind. I
can't see a thing."
"Father, why didn't you tell the doctor?"
"Because I didn't want to worry him unnecessarily. This may just go away."
He was blind for several hours. Then, gradually, his sight returned. When he cou
ld finally see himself in a mirror, he said, "Alvaro, my son, now I know how I'l
l look when I'm dead."

"You look as fresh as a daisy, Father," Don Alvaro answered. "You should have se
en yourself a few hours ago?you really did look like a corpse."[171]
Not only had he looked like a corpse, but he had seen his whole life pass by ver
y quickly, as if in a movie.[172]
He had been suffering from diabetes for about ten years. Now the metabolic disor
ders characteristic of diabetes speedily disappeared. His insulin treatment was
discontinued. Dr. Faelli, the specialist who treated him, situated the key momen
t of the cure precisely in the occurrence just described. "He was cured of diabe
tes," the doctor stated, "after an allergic attack in the form of a skin eruptio
n and a sudden loss of consciousness." He emerged from the anaphylactic shock "c
ured of the diabetes and its complications; he never had any relapse; and he was
no longer under any dietary restriction. It was a case of a scientifically inex
plicable cure."[173]

[1] For the text of this decree (Primum inter, dated 16 Jun 1950), see Amadeo de
Fuenmayor, Valentin Gomez Iglesias, and Jose Luis Illanes, The Canonical Path o
f Opus Dei, trans. William H. Stetson (Princeton, 1994), pp. 515-524.
[2] AGP, RHF, EF-480901-2.
[3] AGP, RHF, EF-491121-1.
[4] AGP, RHF, EF-461206-2.
[5] See Jose Ramon Madurga, PM, folio 291; and AGP, RHF, T-04382 (testimony of J
uan Antonio Galarraga), p. 2.
[6] See AGP, RHF, T-06140 (testimony of Fernando Maycas), pp. 1-2.
[7] See AGP, RHF, EF-480418-1, EF-480616-1, and EF-480311-2.
[8] See AGP, RHF, EF-490213-1, and Father Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6346-47. At that
time Archbishop Luis Maria Martinez was the primate of Mexico. The Opus Dei cent
er was at 33 Calle de Londres.
[9] AGP, RHF, T-04678/1 (testimony of Father Jose Luis Muzquiz), p. 46. See also
AGP, RHF, EF-490213-1.
[10] That picture of our Lady was put in the first Opus Dei oratory in the Unite
d States?that of Woodlawn Residence, in Chicago. See AGP, RHF, T-04678/1, p. 46.
[11] AGP, RHF, EF-551030-1. See also EF-490213-1
[12] Although he, from the outset, tried to have several go to a new country tog
ether, some had to go alone. To Jose Ramon Madurga he wrote: "Although for a whi
le, at first, you will be isolated in Dublin?no, alone?that isolation, lived thr
ough with a super natural spirit, has to be the strong foundation for the future
apostolic work" (AGP, RHF, EF-481109-1). Jose Maria Gonzalez Barredo was living
alone in Chicago, and Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal, in Santiago, Chile; see AGP, RHF,
EF-480309-1, EF-500531-9, and EF- 500620-10.
[13] AGP, RHF, EF-490119-3.
[14] AGP, RHF, EF-501028-7 (a letter to Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal).
[15] AGP, RHF, EF-90216-1.
[16] AGP, RHF, EF-490223-2.
[17] AGP, RHF, EF90418-5.
[18] AGP, RHF, EF-500620. That first stage was described by the founder in a let
ter to Cardinal Bernard Griffin (who became archbishop of Westminster in 1943 an
d a cardi nal in 1946): "My sons in London have up to now been carrying out a sp
iritual activity that is basically one of preparation, and therefore not very vi
sible. It's a stage that everywhere, at the beginning, before an extended aposto
late can be undertaken, has to be gone through?the work of adapting to the envir
onment, learning the language, establishing the first contacts" (AGP, RHF, EF-50
0314-2).
[19] AGP, RHF, EF-500620-5.
[20] AGP, RHF, EF-510423-2.
[21] In October 1947, Jose Ramon Madurga, a member of Opus Dei, went to Ireland
to take a course at the University College of Dublin. At the founder's request,
he paid a visit to the archbishop, John Charles McQuaid. The archbishop misunder
stood the visit's purpose, thinking it had to do with establishing in his dioces

e a new religious institute. A short time later, also at the request of the foun
der, Father Pedro Casciaro traveled to Dublin and tried to explain the true natu
re and apostolate of Opus Dei to Archbishop McQuaid. But the archbishop refused
permission for a university residence in Dublin. (It was Monsignor Escriva's cus
tom always to initiate apostolic projects with the permission of the local ordin
ary?"nothing without the bishop.") A letter from the founder (see AGP, RHF, EF-4
80311-4) and later visits by Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica, plus a meeting
with the nuncio in Dublin, Monsignor Ettore Felici, did not change Archbishop M
cQuaid's mind. He was determined to treat Opus Dei as if it were a religious con
gregation.
Attempts to get him to understand the legitimate presence of some laymen at the univ
ersity and their right to do apostolate (see AGP, RHF, EF-510422-1) produced the
same result. Finally, a year later, in August, 1952, Don Alvaro del Portillo ha
d a long meeting with the archbishop, who then (August 11) did give his permissi
on for two centers in Dublin, one for men and the other for women (see AGP, sect
ion Expansion Apostolica, Irlanda 1/5, 24-25). From then on, Archbishop McQuaid'
s attitude to Opus Dei was one of sincere affection and esteem.
[22] AGP, RHF, EF-500620-6 (letter to Jose Ramon Madurga and Patrick Cormac Burk
e).
[23] See AGP, RHF, EF-500623-1 (a letter to Father Francisco Botella).
[24] See ibid.
[25] "He taught his children," says Bishop del Portillo, "that 'we owe ninety pe
rcent of our vocation to our parents. They have, most often, been the ones who p
lanted in our lives the seeds of faith and piety; and always we are indebted to
them because they brought us into the world, educated us, and gave us our format
ion as human beings'" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1340). See Alejandro Cantero, S
um. 6670; Teresa Acerbis, Sum- 5005; and Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7146.
[26] This was one of those turbulent times that spanned the years of the three c
onsecrations of Opus Dei (1951-1952). In 1971 there was another consecration, to
the Holy Spirit; but it was made for a different reason and under different cir
cumstances.
[27] AGP, RHF, EF90705-l.
[28] The young man was born in Buenos Aires on August 9,1927. He joined Opus Dei
as a numerary in April 1949, and worked as a lawyer before being ordained to th
e priesthood on August 5,1962. On June 15,1969, he was consecrated bishop, and s
erved as auxiliary bishop of Quito, Ecuador, then as bishop of Ibarra. On March
26,1988, he was appointed coadjutor archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador; and on Dec
ember 7,1989, archbishop.
[29] Juan Larrea, Sum. 6026.
[30] The deposition made in Rome as part of the beatification process by Umberto
Farri, witness no. 3, comprising sessions 2-39 (October 1981 to May 1982), does
not speak of this matter, since he knew nothing about it then. However, in the
family's private archives, which he inherited in 1985, there are documents refer
ring to it. Among them is a photocopy of the writ of denunciation sent to the Po
pe, together with all the worked- up and edited drafts. There are also handwritt
en corrections by Father Martini, as is clear from comparing the handwriting in
these notes with the originals of thirteen letters from him to Mr. Farri. The le
tters are signed, and some are on letterheads with the addresses of various acad
emic centers. See file "Farri," folder "Umberto."
[31] The implied claim that the young men had been receiving spiritual direction
before they started going to Villa Tevere seems not to be true. All five of the
m declared in signed statements that they had not had spiritual directors before
coming into contact with Opus Dei.
[32] The petition also refers to Cardinal Giuseppe Siri (then archbishop of Geno
a) as an enemy of Opus Dei. Based on bad information from a Jesuit priest and so
me biased reports, he did maintain a cautious attitude for several years. While
in Rome for the Second Vatican Council, however, Cardinal Siri spoke with the fo
under and told him how much trouble that priest had caused him and how happy he
was to have the Work in his diocese. See the 2 Nov 1951 letter of Father Martini
to Mr. Farri, in the file "Farri," folder "Umberto"; Luigi Tirelli, Sum. 4538;

Giacomo Barabino, Sum. 4525; and Juan Bautista Torello, Sum. 5209.
[33] See Francesco Angelicchio, Sum. 3499.
[34] Mario Lantini, Sum. 3572.
[35] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 571. The founder's attitude is illustrated by a
n anecdote told by Juan Udaondo (in Sum. 5034). "During those days I found out t
hat a Jesuit priest, Father Bellincampi, who was parochial vicar of the parish o
f St. Robert Bellar-mine in Rome and a scout leader there, felt hurt because som
e scouts were frequenting the house on Bruno Buozzi, and three of them?Umberto F
arri, Giorgio de Filippi, and Salvatore Longo?had requested admission to Opus De
i. He was so unhappy that he did not refrain from making false and slanderous st
atements about the Work and the 'bunch of Spaniards/ as he called them. One day
when I was alone with the Father, I let slip a rather caustic comment about Fath
er Bellincampi. The Father cut me short. He firmly corrected me for not living i
n the spirit he had always taught us?that of keeping quiet, forgiving, making re
paration, and praying?and he advised me not only to pray for Father Bellincampi,
but to use the disciplines and offer a good set of strokes for Father Bellincam
pi."
[36] AGP, P01 1966 (1), p. 27.
[37] Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 260.
[38] On April 27, 1951, the man wrote Mr. Farri, "I would appreciate it if you w
ould count me out of all involvement and accept my withdrawal from the collabora
tion involved in signing of the text referring to our sons and Opus Dei." See fi
le "Farri," folder "Umberto"; and AGP, RHF, D-15002.
[39] Ibid.
[40] PR vol. 17, Documents vol. 2, Opus Dei ("Consecrations"), p. 5. This consec
ration takes place in all the centers of the Work on the feast of the Holy Famil
y.
[41] See Letter 25 Jan 1961, no. 44.
[42] AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 152.
[43] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2401.
[44] "For some time beforehand, well before the feast of the Assumption in 1951,
1 felt a great anxiety in my soul, because the Lord let me sense that something
very serious was being plotted against the Work" (Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 230).
See also Letter 25 Jan 1961, no. 44.
[45] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 421.
[46] Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 230.
[47] Letter 7 Oct 1950, no. 31.
[48] This is one of the tales Prince Juan Manuel tells in his Libro de los enxie
mplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio. Years later, La Fontaine included the st
ory in his fables.
[49] See Letter 14 Sep 1951, no. 27.
[50] Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 230. In Letter 25 Jan 1961, no. 44, he wrote: "Not
knowing who I could turn to here on earth, I turned, as always, to heaven."
[51] AGP, RHF, EF-510809-1. The founder had already been at Loreto with Don Alva
ro w January 1948.
[52] See Joaquin Alonso Pacheco, Sum. 4680, and Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5038.
[53] Christ Is Passing By, no. 12. For more on the trip from Rome to Loreto, see
AGP, RHF, T-03700 (testimony of Francisco Monzo), p. 23, and T-03358 (testimony
of Alberto Taboada del Rio), no. 1334.
[54] PR vol. 17, Documents vol. 2, Opus Dei ("Consecrations"), p. 9. He made the
consecration during Mass, and during his thanksgiving he renewed it, again in t
he name of the whole Work. See AGP, P01 1976, p. 1231.
[55] PR vol. 17, Documents vol. 2, Opus Dei ("Consecrations"), p. 9.
[56] When he celebrated that Mass on August 15, the Father "placed on the paten,
together with the sacred host, the fidelity of all his children": AGP, RHF, T-0
5074 (testimony of Encarnacion Ortega), p. 152.
[57] See AGP, RHF, D-15459 ("Details of Two Trips to Portugal, January and Octob
er, 1951"), and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 422. Later the Father made several oth
er trips to Loreto?on November 7,1953; May 12,1955; May 8,1960; May 8,1969; and
April 22,

[58] See Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5036.

[59] See Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5039.
[60] See AGP, RHF, D-15460 ("Report of Juan Udaondo on the 15 Jan 1952 visit to
Cardinal Schuster"). In October 1951 they went back to see Cardinal Schuster, an
d invited him to visit the house where they were living; this was at 16 Carlo Po
erio. And some weeks later, returning from a pastoral visit and finding himself
close to that center, he did stop by. Everyone was out except Juan Masia. Juan s
howed him around, and the cardinal was impressed, especially by the cleanliness,
propriety, and niceness of the oratory. His Eminence must also have noticed tha
t they lived in poverty without making a show of it, for not long afterward he s
ent his chauffeur to drop off a sack of rice for them. See AGP, RHF, T-05896 (te
stimony of Juan Masia), p. 3.
[61] "Documentation Relative to the Opposition Which Gave Rise to the 15 Aug 195
1 Consecration of Opus Dei to the Heart of Mary" (henceforth abbreviated as "Doc
umen tation"), in AGP, RHF, D-15001.
[62] Ibid.
[63] Don Alvaro mentions all these things in his report.
[64] The report continues with a study and summary exposition of the governance
of the two branches. They are different and completely separate (penitus separat
ae), united only with respect to the spirit animating them. Authority is vested
in the President General, always a priest, assisted in government by three other
priests (the Secretary General, Procurator General, and Central Priest Secretar
y); in local government, the President General is represented by the Regional Co
unselor (also always a priest), who acts "nomine et vice Praesidis Generalis sem
perque ad ipsius mentem" ("in the name and place of the President General, alway
s with the same mind").
No other ecclesiastical house or institution has, either in theory or in practice, s
uch a strict separation, based on prudence, and common sense, as those taken by
the founder and included in the Internal Regulations for the Administration. The
report examines in detail the service provided by the women. On the one hand, t
hey can never be replaced by men. On the other hand, there is no mingling or eve
n closeness of any sort, since the residences, retreat houses, etc., are, de jur
e and de facto, two completely separate houses, with separate street entrances,
and there is no conversation, acquaintance, or relationship between the resident
s of one house and those of the other. ("Familiarem administrationem habeant omn
ium domorum Instituti, in loco tamen penitus separate commorantes, ita ut de iur
e et de facto duae sint domus in unoquoque domicilio": see AGP, section "Apostol
ic Expansion," Italy 6, doc. 2.)
[65] See AGP, RHF, D-15460 ("Report of Juan Udaondo on the 15 Jan 1952 Visit to
Cardinal Schuster").
[66] See, in "Documentation," the 3 Feb 1952 letter of Don Alvaro to Monsignor L
arraona; and see also AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Italy 6, doc. 4. The s
epara tion between the two branches was absolute and total. The founder, with hi
s energetic way of expressing himself, emphasized this in speaking of the minist
ry of the priests: "If I have always told you, in order to make my point, that t
he men's branch lives five thousand miles from the women's branch, the priests h
ave to live ten thousand miles away. At the same time, you have to combine that
holy distance with the most earnest concern to serve your sisters through your p
riestly work" (Letter 8 Aug 1956, no. 43).
[67] AGP, RHF, EF-520209-2.
[68] Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5041. See also Letter 25 Jan 1961, no. 44.
Saint Joseph Calasanz (1556-1648) was the Spanish-born founder of the Clerks Reg
ular of the Religious Schools or Piarists. Opponents caused him to be suspended
as Superior General of the institute he had founded, and later the institute its
elf was temporarily suppressed.
[69] See Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5041.
[70] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 422.
[71] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 562.
[72] It bore the signatures of the President General and the Procurator General.
Don Alvaro had asked the Father to let him sign it too, to show that he was in

full accord with its contents. See AGP, RHF, EF-520312-1, and Letter 25 Jan 1961
, no. 44.
[73] Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5041.
[74] The same letter (see AGP, RHF, EF-520312-1) indicates that on December 3,19
51, a Curial cardinal had informed the founder of the grave danger. This may hav
e been the same person who passed on word to Cardinal Schuster. These warnings a
re implicitly referred to in Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 230: "All these calumnies t
hat little by little are making their way into the Roman Curia?where many holy m
en work, who know us very well?come from the same individuals, and from my Spain
; or, to put it better, from some Spaniards, influenced by those others."
[75] See AGP, RHF, EF-521118-1 and EF-60630-2.
[76] AGP, RHF, EF-520814-5 (a letter to Father Jose Luis Muzquiz).
[77] Among the very many testimonies on this subject, and in his constant commen
ts on it in his letters, there is no hint of any wavering on his part.
[78] AGP, RHF, EF-540601-8. In a letter to Father Muzquiz (in EF-500923-8), he e
x plains the purpose of this institution: "From this great Roman instrument will
come? and very soon?the directors and professors for the study centers and for
the priests. This year we will have about thirty, working toward a doctorate in
philosophy or canon law or theology."
[79] AGP, RHF, EF-500923-7.
[80] AGP, RHF, EF-510329-2.
[81] AGP, RHF, EF-500104-1 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[82] AGP, RHF, EF-540601-1.
[83] In the morning he would visit the architects' studio at Villa Tevere to che
ck on progress. Always he had some story to share concerning the work in foreign
lands. Once he shed tears of gratitude. The members of Opus Dei in a South Amer
ican country had sent to Rome the first donation they received. It was a thousan
d dollars or so? money that they really needed for food. See AGP, RHF, T-03700 (
testimony of Francisco Monzo), p. 16.
[84] "Here we keep working," he wrote to Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin, "with grea
ter trust in God each day, since each day the financial problems get worse" (AGP
, RHF, EF- 521006-1).
[85] AGP, RHF, EF-490731-1.
[86] See AGP, RHF, EF-490829-2, EF-49072&-1, and EF-500816-3.
[87] AGP, RHF, EF-520828-4.
[88] AGP, RHF, EF-520828-2.
[89] Ibid. See also AGP, RHF, EF-520828-1.
[90] See AGP, RHF, EF-520828-2 and EF-520917-3. Maria Begona de Urrutia recalls
that one Saturday the Father came to the ironing room of the Administration and
said to them, "My daughters, pray hard, because Don Alvaro has to pay the worker
s this afternoon and we don't have any money at all in the house" (AGP, RHF, T-0
6897, p. 8).
[91] See AGP, RHF, EF-500816-3 (a letter to Opus Dei members in England).
[92] AGP, RHF, EF-500215-1.
[93] See AGP, RHF, EF-500307-2 (a letter to Bishop Jose Lopez Ortiz, O.S.A.). Do
n Alvaro was not able to leave the hospital until March 5.
In his testimony about the ten years of financial crises that they suffered at Villa
Tevere, Don Alvaro said: "I'm not going to describe here the financial anxietie
s we went through in those years. It was a real trial of faith and of zeal" (Alv
aro del Portillo, Sum. 827).
The project's appetite for money was insatiable. Requests to other countries always
bore the stamp of urgency. "Send what you can, as soon as possible, because we
have another loan payment due on the eighth, plus?among other things!?for some r
ime we haven't been able to pay the contractor": AGP, RHF, EF-501101-1 (a letter
to Father Botella). They did in the end manage to pay the contractor by the agr
eed-upon deadline.
[94] AGP, RHF, EF-510329-2 (a letter to Father Casciaro). In a letter of August
1950 to members of the General Council, we read: "In October, promissory notes s
igned by Alvaro for a total of twenty-five million lire come due. God above all!
" (AGP, RHF, EF- 500830-2).

[95] Where did Don Alvaro get the money? He always came up with the exact amount
necessary, and always at the last minute. The worst times were Saturday afterno
ons, when, at least every other week, they had to pay both workers and suppliers
. The Father "was sure that the Lord would never fail him," Don Alvaro says. The
need "to Provide food for the laborers working on the construction projects and
for their families" weighed on the founder's conscience; "God had to send us th
e money" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 827). The founder used human means?begging e
verywhere?and the supernatural ones of prayer and sacrifice.
[96] Ibid.
[97] AGP, RHF, T-03700 (testimony of Francisco Monzo), p. 13.
[98] Villa Tevere's Construction Journal, 17 Nov 1951: AGP, section N, file 3.10
59-02. To pay the workers on time, relates Jesus Gazapo (in Sum. 4307), "a lot o
f sacrifices were made. Everyone gave up small expenditures such as cigarettes a
nd the use of public transportation. Lack of space made it necessary, back then,
for the Roman College students to study in the garden while there was still day
light, then sitting on the staircase, the only lighted place available. The Fath
er invited us to offer up these mortifications, and join them with our prayer, t
o overcome various difficulties."
Maria Isabel La Porte Rios (in Sum. 5116) recalls the Father's custom of praying for
Don Alvaro every Saturday. He was still doing it in 1955. On the day the last s
tone was laid at Villa Tevere?January 9,1960?"I remembered that the Father often
invited us to pray for Don Alvaro, especially on Saturdays, because that was th
e day he had to pay the bricklayers."
[99] See Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4309 and 4310.
[100] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 827, and also AGP, RHF, T-O3700 (testimony o
f Francisco Monzo), p. 15.
[101] AGP, RHF, EF-541106-10 (a letter to Opus Dei members in Peru). For more on
the cheerful way the Roman College students took restrictions of all kinds?in f
ood, light ing, space, getting around town (on foot to save the streetcar fare),
etc., see Mario Lantini, Sum. 3600.
[102] AGP, RHF, T-03358 (testimony of Alberto Taboada del Rio), no. 1373.
[103] Ibid., no. 1352.
[104] See AGP, P06 (4), p. 353, and also AGP, RHF, T-00423 (testimony of Jesus U
rteaga), p. 72.
[105] AGP, RHF, EF-520404-3 (a letter to Alberto Ullastres and Jose Montanes).
[106] AGP, RHF, T-03358, no. 1353. Dr. Jose Luis Pastor (PM, fol. 541) reports t
he following incident. "One day they called me to visit Don Alvaro del Portillo,
who was sick, and I told him to stay in bed and that I would come see him the n
ext day. The next day, a very cold one, I found that not only was he up, but had
gone to the city. When he got back I told him, 'Don Alvaro, you were supposed t
o stay in bed.' His excuse was: 'If I hadn't gone to the city, none of you would
have had anything to eat today.'"
Mercedes Angles Pastor (in AGP, RHF, T-08385) tells this story:
One morning in 1954, several numeraries who were cleaning Villa Vecchia ran into
the Father. He was alone.
"How is Don Alvaro?" they asked him, thinking that Don Alvaro was sick.
"He's gone on a trip," the Father answered them.
"But if yesterday he was sick, Father ..."
"My daughter. You, I would not have let go. Him, yes."
[107] See AGP, RHF, EF-5404211 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[108] AGP, RHF, T-05074 (testimony of Encarnacion Ortega), p. 49.
[109] See AGP, RHF, EF-540601-10, EF-540421-4, and EF-540601-1.
[110] AGP, RHF, EF-521016-6. See also EF-521006-1 and EF-521016-5.
[111] See AGP, RHF, T-03700 (testimony of Francisco Monzo), p. 15.
[112] AGP, RHF, EF-5404211 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[113] AGP, RHF, EF-540601-10 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[114] AGP, RHF, EF-550613-2 (a letter to Amadeo de Fuenmayor).
[115] AGP, RHF, EF-550909-2 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[116] AGP, RHF, EF-560127-1. The Father tried to ensure that at least occasional
ly Don Alvaro had periods of rest that included a "change of environment." He ex

plains in a letter to Amadeo de Fuenmayor: "I am writing to tell you that I'm ha
ppy with Alvaro's trip, because a change of environment is always a bit of a res
t for Mm, although he's continuing to work and it's only a matter of a week's st
ay. Precisely because of this lack of rest, I'd like to ask you to prepare a roo
m for Alvaro in Talleres (if there's one that's fairly cool), or in your house;
and that someone see to it that he eats and gets eight hours sleep. If necessary
, tell him those are my orders" (AGP, RHF, EF-550708-1).
[117] AGP, RHF, EF-530107-1.
[118] AGP, RHF, EF-550725-1 (a letter to Amadeo de Fuenmayor).
[119] AGP, RHF, EF-520404-1 (a letter to Carmen and Santiago Escriva). This was
the founder's euphemistic way of referring to a fresh outbreak of attacks. There
were, in addition, serious obstacles "of an intellectual and spiritual nature,"
arising from difficulty in understanding the nature of Opus Dei, that had crept
into the minds of many churchmen. This was understandable, since the environmen
t was not conducive to understanding it rightly. See AGP, P01 1977, p. 1191.
[120] See AGP, RHF, T-05074, p. 147.
[121] See AGP, RHF, EF-520801-1 (a letter to Amadeo de Fuenmayor).
[122] See AGP, RHF, EF-520814 (a letter to Father Teodoro Ruiz).
[123] "Our people here are very happy," he writes to those in the United States.
"Alvaro and I are also very happy, but have more financial worries than ever. I
t's to the point where I'm sending out an SOS to see if the Lord wants to put an
end to this torture" (AGP, RHF, EF-520905-3).
[124] AGP, RHF, EF-520905-2.
[125] AGP, RHF, EF-521019-1 (a letter to Father Muzquiz).
[126] See AGP, RHF, EF-521016-2.
[127] Letter 16 Jul 1933, nos. 3 and 26.
[128] Friends of God, no. 299.
[129] Christ Is Passing By, no. 166.
[130] Ibid., no. 169.
[131] See Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4394.
[132] AGP, RHF, EF-521105-1 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[133] AGP, RHF, EF-521000-3 (a letter to Father Casciaro).
[134] AGP, RHF, EF-521027-1 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[135] See, for more on the small donations, AGP, RHF, EF-521016-7 (a letter to F
ather Ruiz); on the postponement of payments, EF-521105-1 (a letter to members o
f the General Council); on final due dates and conditions of payment, EF-5211181 (a letter to members of the General Council); and on the mortgages, AGP, RHF,
T-03700 (testimony of Francisco Monzo), p. 15.
[136] AGP, RHF, EF-521118-1 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[137] PR vol. 17, Documents vol. 2, Opus Dei ("Consecrations"), p. 13. Every yea
r, on the feast of Christ the King, this consecration is renewed in all the cent
ers of Opus Dei.
[138] AGP, RHF, EF-530114-1.
[139] AGP, RHF, EF-521200-1.
[140] AGP, RHF, EF-530908-1.
[141] AGP, RHF, EF-530728-3 (a letter to Amadeo de Fuenmayor).
[142] AGP, P011978, p. 1076.
[143] AGP, RHF, EF-540601-2 (a letter to Father Casciaro).
[144] In June 1954 the Father writes, "We are always living by miracle, and the
projects are moving along" (AGP, RHF, EF-540601-9: a letter to Father Muzquiz).
[145] AGP, RHF, EF-540601-13.
[146] These solutions did not come until 1955, when a contract was signed with a
new construction company (Castelli) on April 20, and those who helped out spiri
tually or financially were named cooperators and patrons. See AGP, RHF, EF-54081
1-1 (a letter to Father Muzquiz).
Leonardo Castelli did the construction work; and he and his family became close
friends of the founder, as can be seen from the number and warmth of the letters
exchanged on big and small festive occasions, the invitations, the notes of con
dolence, and the personal communications.
[147] See AGP, RHF, EF-480304-2 (a letter to members of the General Council).

[148] See AGP, RHF, EF-470117-1 (a letter to the Central Advisory).

[149] "Everyone has suffered in life," the founder writes. "It's bad taste for s
omeone to talk about their sufferings, and it can even lose for them the spiritu
al merit, if they had it" (Letter 14 Sep 1951, no. 3). At the same time he spoke
frankly about his condition with Don Alvaro and Don Javier, his custodes (guard
ians, or advisors), and put himself in their hands.
[150] See volume 1 of this biography, pp. 338?39. The litany was incorporated in
to The Way, as point no. 208: "Blessed be pain. Loved be pain. Sanctified be pai
n. Glorified be pain!"
[151] See Alvaro del Pornllo, Sum. 475, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2091.
[152] Carlo Faelli, Sum. 3461. See also Alejandro Cantero, Sum. 6594. For the me
dical history, see the summary worked up by the Department of Internal Medicine
at the University of Navarre hospital: AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[153] "He had an insatiable thirst, yet, in a spirit of mortification, controlle
d the urge to drink a great deal of water. Among other things, he refrained from
drinking water for a longer time than necessary, even when his tongue was dry a
s a board, and often he would just moisten his mouth, without actually drinking"
(Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2091).
[154] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 475.
[155] Ibid.
[156] Kurt Hruska, Sum. 3490.
[157] Kurt Hruska, Sum. 3493.
[158] Kurt Hruska, Sum. 3494.
[159] Carlo Faelli, Sum. 3462. See also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2821.
[160] Carlo Faelli, Sum. 3463. See also Letter 14 Sep 1951, no. 7.
[161] To Angel Joltn Moreno, a member of Opus Dei who had hemophilia, he wrote,
"It makes me envious to see how the Lord has taken you so that you can console h
im with your sufferings, in the face of the indifference and forgetfulness of so
many souls" (AGP, RHF, EF-581111-1).
[162] Julian Herranz, PR, p. 814.
[163] Ibid.
[164] See Mario Lantini, Sum. 3709, and AGP, RHF, T-03358 (testimony of Alberto
Taboada del Rio), p. 357.
[165] See Alvaro del Pornllo, PR, p. 624, and Luigi Tirelli, PR, p. 1630.
[166] See AGP, RHF, T-03700 (testimony of Francisco Monzo), p. 20.
[167] AGP, P04 1974 (1), p. 124.
[168] See Kurt Hruska, Sum. 3491.
[169] "Some days earlier/' Bishop del Portillo says, "Dr. Faelli had prescribed
a new type of insulin, indicating that the dosage should be 110 units. As always
, I made it my responsibility to give him the injections. I was careful to read
closely the leaflet that came with the medicine, and there it said the dosage sh
ould be lower than with regular insulin?about a third lower. For this reason, an
d because the higher doses of insulin greatly worsened the headaches that the Fa
ther suffered, I gave him a lower dosage than the doctor had ordered. Neverthele
ss, the medicine produced an allergic reaction of a kind I had never encountered
before. I communicated this to the doctor, but he told me to keep using that in
sulin" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 478).
[170] Ibid.
[171] Ibid.
[172] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 479. The founder, says Don Alvaro, told him
that in that moment in which he saw his life pass before him, "he had had time t
o ask God's forgiveness for all the things he felt were faults of his, including
even some failures in understanding. For example, the founder thought the Lord
had once given him to understand that he would die much later. And he begged par
don for this too?for not having understood him."
[173] Carlo Faelli, Sum. 3461. Other witnesses support the statement that this w
as the day he was cured. For example, Encarnacion Ortega said: "On April 27, 195
4, after being given some long-acting insulin and going into anaphylactic shock,
he was suddenly cured of this illness. That same evening he told Maria Jose Mon
terde and me that because of all our praying, the Lord had heard us and had bles

sed him with a new stage of fruitfulness" (Sum. 5381).

4. The Unity of the Work

1. The General Congress of Einsiedeln (1956)

2. The death of Aunt Carmen (1957)
3. The battle of formation
4. The art of governing
5. Consummati in unum!

* * *

1. The General Congress of Einsiedeln (1956)

Cured of his diabetes, the founder felt liberated and renewed. It was fortunate
that he did, for he now faced a tremendously difficult twofold task: to promote
the cohesion of the Work while, at the same time, fostering its worldwide expans
ion. The first required tightly linking the members of Opus Dei with the spirit
and person of the founder? a closing of ranks around him?while the other one mea
nt separating them, scattering them to far-off lands to propagate this divine me
ssage. In summary, Opus Dei needed to grow, while remaining itself.
By 1950, as we have seen, how to pay for God's work was much on his mind. In ear
lier times, kings and patrons had built churches and hospitals, founded colleges
, and endowed charitable institutions. Even governments that persecuted the Chur
ch at home sometimes helped it in the colonies. But today states no longer saw t
hemselves as having any missionary role or responsibility, and the private perso
ns who contributed with their holdings to the great works of God were becoming f
ewer and fewer.
The founder wrote to his daughters and sons:

This being God's will, give thanks to Divine Providence for the current situatio
n. And, to see all your goals accomplished (loving God, promoting understanding
among all souls, and living in harmony with all people), don't try to rely on an
ything except: the powerful help of divine grace; your life generously dedicated
to the service of God and of souls (in laetitia: cum gaudio et pace; with cheer
fulness: with joy and peace); and the practice of your professional work, carrie
d out with full effort and as well as you can.[1]

It may be that Monsignor Escriv was laying down a general rule for the funding of
apostolic enterprises that produce social benefits.[2]
In the early months of 1951 a partial solution to their financial problems appea
red. A friend of Don Alvaro's, the Marquis Giovanni Bisleti, owned a large farm
near Fondi Lake in Terracina on the coast south of Rome, and he wanted to sell t
he property. Don Alvaro suggested to the founder an arrangement that would be go
od both for the Marquis and the tenant farmers on the property. This was to buy
the whole farm at a reasonable price, on credit, then divide the thousand or so
hectares of land into plots to be offered for sale, on very reasonable terms, to
the three hundred farm families.[3] The Father and Don Alvaro saw a twofold pur
pose. It would solve some of Opus Dei's financial problems as well as helping th
e tenant farmers, and Opus Dei would have an opportunity to do apostolic work in
Terracina. Despite some problems at first, the results were entirely successful
.
On June 1,1951, the founder wrote to the General Council in Spain:
I have well-founded hopes that, with God's help and thanks to Alvaro's tireless
efforts, we'll soon?perhaps in August?be able to tell you, "Don't send any more
money for the Roman College, because we have that problem taken care of; we'll o
nly accept help, a little or a lot, from the Americans." Let's keep praying for
this thing that is so worthwhile. In this month of the Sacred Heart, let us make
the Lord forget our wretchedness and move him to give us the key to the success
of this great Roman enterprise.[4]
The Terracina operation promised to be of great help. A small part of the farm,

which included the old main house, was to be converted into a conference center,
and a place where the Roman College students could get some rest. Another secti
on would be used to grow food for the centers in Rome. A year later, negotiation
s were still going on and the founder was still expressing high hopes. He wrote
to the General Council:

Alvaro is making progress with Terracina which will be the bread, the rest, and
the health of our people at the Roman College. Already we're getting many things
from the farm. The Lord won't abandon us, and this whole project will be comple
ted.[5]

He was grateful for the small quantities of cheese, eggs, fruit, and meat coming
from Salto di Fondi, as the farm was called. But the main house was in such bad
condition that the women of the Work could not be expected to take over its adm
inistration. Having considered the problem, the Father came up with the usual an
swer: Carmen. "If Carmen doesn't come, we won't be able to go to Terracina,"[6]
he said. But, knowing his sister as he did, he preferred that Don Alvaro be the
one to write her in Madrid, for several reasons. For how could he ask Carmen to
come to Rome and leave their brother Santiago alone, even if only for a short ti
me? Carmen and Santiago were trying again to get their lives organized and early
in the year had found an apartment in Madrid to occupy until there was a place
for them in Rome.[7] Santiago was studying Italian in preparation for practicing
law in Rome.
But he also had another reason for preferring that Don Alvaro ask Carmen to take
charge of the house at Terracina, as she had at La pililla and at Molinoviejo.
The surest way of getting her to say yes was to have Don Alvaro do the asking. H
er brother had only to ask her to take care of something, and her answer would b
e a resounding "No!"[8]?although sooner or later the "no" would become a generou
s "Yes!" Forceful refusals were her way of stating her independence from the Wor
k, of which she was not a member. But, even more, they were a way of hiding her
generosity so as to avoid being praised and thanked.[9] After the initial gruffn
ess, warm, enthusiastic generosity prevailed.[10]
Although his sister and brother did not need any urging to make up their minds,
the founder, at the beginning of August, wrote to them, "I'm sure you'll be very
happy in Italy, even though now it's costing you to come."[11] On August 16, Ca
rmen and Santiago arrived in Rome.
Despite careful planning, dividing up the Terracina estate and selling the parce
ls of land was trying for Don Alvaro. The people were hesitant to buy since cred
it was scarce in those years of economic crisis. But they stood to benefit from
buying the land and so the operation was soon under way.[12] Tenant farmers beca
me owners paying for their farms in installments and being cared for spiritually
by Opus Dei priests.
Starting in 1952, and continuing until 1967, the Roman College students living a
t Villa Tevere took turns going out to Terracina in the summer to rest and study
. While by no means a recreational paradise, it was a relief from the heat of Ro
me. That area of Terracina, consisting of dried marshland, dunes, and pinewoods,
was in the center of a long arc of solitary low beaches, lapped by the waves of
the Tyrrhenian Sea. At the north, the arc ended with the promontory of Mount Ci
rceo, while at the southern end, one could see the village of Sperlonga, often t
hrough a light haze.

* **

The Salto di Fondi project, within the general picture of the material needs of
the Work in those years, was another of those continual financial breaks that Go
d gave the founder. It constituted a partial remedy, but never a miraculous balm
that could instantly and permanently solve all their problems. As to the financ
ial hardship suffered by the Father and Don Alvaro on account of the constructio
n work on Villa Tevere, therefore, it seems safe and reasonable to calculate its
magnitude by the sad effects it had on their health. Of course, to the weight o

f those burdens one must also add that of the heavy load of apostolic tasks and
that of the incessant lashings coming from the "opposition by the good," which w
ould not allow them to work in peace.
With an eye to the financial difficulties, the Father made a pilgrimage to the S
hrine of Saint Nicholas of Bari, in southern Italy, on July 6, 1954.[13] Saint N
icholas, as we recall, was Opus Dei's intercessor for financial matters, and the
founder had had recourse to him in the midst of the material difficulties invol
ved in setting up the first centers of the Work in Madrid.
In the following year, 1955, the founder met Leonardo Castelli, a hardworking an
d very generous man who had become good friends with Don Alvaro, and who had a f
amily construction company. He proved to be the person that the Father was looki
ng for?not to give him things as gifts, but to provide the minimal support neede
d to keep the construction work going. This good businessman, besides offering h
im credit and deferments of payments, gave him the benefit of his professional s
ervices.[14] On April 20, 1955, there was signed with the Castelli company a con
tract whereby, as of the following month, it took over the responsibility for th
e construction work. Thanks to this arrangement, it became possible to pick up t
he pace of the work.
However, it did not put an end to Don Alvaro's physical exhaustion and his finan
cial worries, as we can see from the founder's correspondence.

Rome, November 22,1956. Alvaro is not slowing down, even though he's still doing
pretty badly. The doctor is making him take a heap of medicines, and he is impr
oving, gradually? perhaps because the doctor writes on all the prescriptions (to
gether with the prescribed medicines) these words: "molto riposo" ["lots of rest
"]. And until the financial situation clears up, he neither wants to take that "
riposo," nor do I dare impose it on him.[15]

In 1958 Don Alvaro underwent a thorough medical checkup. During the last days of
1958 he was so seriously ill that the doctors considered doing surgery.[16] The
Father's first letter of 1959 gives us more details:

I am constantly repeating the [aspiration] "Omnia in bonum" ["All for the good!"
], although at times our minds cannot grasp what the Lord's plans are. I say thi
s because Alvaro, after an improvement that lasted for forty-eight hours, has su
ffered a relapse. Last night he had a fever of 40 [104 F). Today a specialist wi
ll be coming. They're talking about a possible operation, but I'm hoping that wo
n't be necessary. Of course, even though he's gotten almost no sleep and been in
so much pain for such a long time, Alvaro is happy; he's in a very good mood, d
espite the fever. Pray.[17]

They did have to operate. And three years later, in May 1962, Don Alvaro had ano
ther serious relapse. The founder writes from Rome:

Alvaro is in the hospital, but we're hoping that another operation will not be n
ecessary. Pray, because although there are among you many heroic sons and daught
ers of mine and so many who are canonizable saints (and I never misuse these des
criptions), Alvaro is a model, and the son of mine who has worked the hardest an
d suffered the most for the Work, and the person who has best absorbed my spirit
. Pray.[18]

Fortunately, they did not have to operate again. And, with no intervening pause
or rest, he plunged into the preparatory work for the Second Vatican Council.[19
]

* **

The signing of the contract with the Castelli company in the spring of 1955 reki
ndled the founder's hopes for his battle against time. This financial respite al
lowed him to carry out the project without any more major delays. Now he was abl

e to tackle the need to provide more space for, and improve the situation of, th
e new students of the Roman College. The Father also felt that the time had come
to normalize the situation of the Work's governing body, having all the members
of the General Council live in Rome, rather than continue to be divided between
Rome and Madrid.[20] The decision would be made at the next general congress, s
ince, according to the statutes of Opus Dei, there had to take place every five
years a general congress in which the elected or delegated members took part. Th
e women would also hold a similar congress.[21]
The first general congress was held at Molinoviejo, in 1951. The second was to b
e held in 1956. For its site, the Father chose Einsiedeln, a quiet place with a
good hotel in which to spend a few days in work and prayer. Einsiedeln is a Swis
s village with a population of a few thousand. Its main attraction is a basilica
dedicated to our Lady; the open spaces, restrained baroque style, and broad esp
lanade (Klosterpktz) of the basilica are impressive. The Father, when his mind w
as on our Lady, often mentioned, both in letters and in conversations, his "pilg
rimage" to Einsiedeln.[22]
He got everything carefully prepared. First came prayer. They were barely into 1
956 when he started asking for prayers. "Pray, and get others to pray, for the w
ork of the upcoming general congress."[23]Then, when the date for the beginning
of the congress was less than two months away, he made a trip to Einsiedeln, on
July 3, to make sure everything was ready at the Pfauen Hotel, where the partici
pants would be staying. Another prudent measure he took in preparing for that me
eting was to send in advance a list of the candidates that he, as President Gene
ral, was proposing for the new appointments.[24] Finally, as the date drew near
(the congress was to take place from the twenty-second through the twenty-fifth
of August), the Father, as President, communicated to the Holy See the time and
place of the event.
On August 19, three days before it began, nine of the Opus Dei electors presente
d in Rome a motion to be submitted for consideration by the assembly at Einsiede
ln. None of the signers was Spanish, or from a region in which Spanish was spoke
n. (They were from the United States, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, and Eng
land.) These electors proposed that Spanish be adopted as the official language
for the assemblies of members of Opus Dei from different countries, and also for
the publishing of internal documents.[25] They based their proposal on the fact
that the expansion of the Work and the diversity of languages of its members ma
de it advisable to specify a particular language, and on several other considera
tions, notably these:

The Work originated in Castile; Castilian is the native tongue of the founder; a
nd the earliest documents of the Institute are written in Castilian.
We want to do this because we think that it will make our work more effective, a
nd that it will contribute to a reinforcing of internal unity; and also as a sho
w of affection for our Father.[26]

In its second session, August 24, the congress considered the move of the Genera
l Council to Rome and new appointments to the council.[27] The results were comm
unicated a few days later to the Holy See, in a letter addressed to Cardinal Val
erio Valeri:

Rome, September 10,1956"?NOTE

Your Eminence:
I have the pleasure of communicating to Your Eminence that, in accord with the d
ecisions made at the Second General Congress of Opus Dei, recently held in Einsi
edeln, the General Curia of said Institute has been moved to Rome, to 73 Bruno B
uozzi. Also, in fulfillment of my duty, I am sending you the attached list of th
e new members of the General Council of Opus Dei elected at that Congress.[28]

The decisions reached at Einsiedeln reinforced the unity and apostolic thrust of
the Work, with the move to Rome marking a new stage in its governance.[29] Year
s later Bishop del Portillo, by then Prelate of Opus Dei, offered this assessmen

t: "It turned out to be a real blessing, because the constant, daily, physical p
resence of the founder with his sons on the General Council was the decisive fac
tor for maintaining a good spirit, for the unity of the Work, and for its expans
ion."[30] Now Monsignor Escriv could tend to the formation of members while simul
taneously tending to the Work's worldwide expansion.

2. The death of Aunt Carmen (1957)

Carmen Escriv, the founder's sister, died in Rome on June 20, 1957. She first wen
t there in April, 1948, at his request, to lend help to the women who took care
of the tasks of administration. He called on her again in 1952, as we have seen,
to get Salto di Fondi in operation. She saw to the renovation of the old estate
's main house?working in isolation, without drinking water, without a telephone,
and with no one to help her. A year later, Salto di Fondi was ready for regular
use by the Roman College students.
Instead of returning to Spain, Carmen and Santiago decided to stay in Rome?he to
work as a lawyer, and Carmen to keep him company and be available if the Work n
eeded her help again. The two lived in a small house on the Via degli Scipioni.
Surrounded by affectionate "nieces" and "nephews," Carmen was always busy with n
ever a minute to feel lonely. She had put aside thoughts of marriage in favor of
the Work when she was younger and, in effect, became part of a huge family. Now
fifty-plus, she loved these nieces and nephews and was pained at seeing them le
ave. "I don't want to meet anyone else, ever," she exclaimed. "Because one meets
people, starts to like them, and then off they go to America."[31]
Her relationship with her brother Josemaria was deeply affectionate yet reserved
. This reserve, which they shared, went back to the period when their mother, Do
na Dolores, was getting used to the idea that she would see her son only occasio
nally. It took Carmen many years to accept the sacrifice of her brother. The att
itude of detachment from his family, which was a demanding, considered, and volu
ntary sacrifice on the part of the founder, cost Carmen many tears?and she was h
ardly a weepy type. She told the nephews and nieces: "At first, I cried a lot, w
hen I was living at Diego de Leon and a month would go by without my seeing my b
rother. Now I'm getting used to it, because he says he has to set an example."[3
2]
"Aunt Carmen" was a rather tall and attractive woman with a healthy, strong cons
titution. Active and resolute, she had dark hair and dark eyes, and a kindly exp
ression. She was easy and agreeable in conversation, but not talkative. She spok
e confidently, and what she said was witty, pertinent, direct, and sincere.[33]
The little villa, on the Via degli Scipioni, was a cheerful place that soon beca
me a site for gatherings?some days with her nephews, and other days with her nie
ces. Chato, a very well-bred and good-natured bulldog, was a fixture. (In Madrid
Carmen had had other dogs? Chuchi and Piston?who were livelier but not so loud.
) Carmen loved nature. In her sewing room she had a big birdcage that she had to
move aside so that her visitors and she could see one another. There were flowe
rs in the garden that supplied roses for the oratories of the Work, and on the t
errace she grew strawberries.
Like the Grandmother, she was attentive to people's health and well-being. After
noon brought snacks?cakes, candies, fritters?and on special occasions she sent c
hocolates or caramels to the centers. When someone came to say good-bye before s
etting off for a foreign land, she would give them some little present, and thes
e souvenirs of hers are now scattered all over the world. When they moved to Rom
e, Carmen and Santiago brought some family belongings with them. From Madrid cam
e a sampler stitched by their grandmother Florencia?the equivalent of a master's
thesis for an educated young lady of the previous century. In the dining room o
f Villa Vecchia, a display cabinet lined with orange velvet held cups, glasses,
a crystal and silver punch bowl, and some other glass and ceramic objects?the re
mnants of china that had been in Dona Dolores' house. Among these items were thr
ee dessert bowls of yellow porcelain with flowers on the edges and, in the cente
r, petals in relief. How much custard, meringue, and rice pudding must have pass

ed through them
But Carmen, always so active, hardworking, and fond of order and cleanliness, ha
d by the end of 1956 begun to suffer from chronic weakness and fatigue. She lost
her appetite and had frequent dizzy spells. Finally she saw a doctor.
March 4,1957, was a memorable day at Villa Tevere. Bishop Antonio Samore had bee
n invited to consecrate the altar of the oratory of the Most Holy Trinity, where
the Father would ordinarily say Mass. On that same day the General Council was
completed, and its altar was consecrated by the Father.[34]
Encarnacin Ortega, the Central Secretary, had accompanied Carmen to the doctor's
office. When they returned, the director of the women's center told Don Alvaro t
hat the diagnosis was cancer of the liver. As a sacrifice for his sister's healt
h, Monsignor Escriv put off learning the results. The following morning he asked
Encarnacin, and she told him.[35]
More tests followed. The news on April 23 was that the cancer was advanced. Two
days later, the Father wrote to Santiago, who was then in Madrid.

Dearest Santiago:
I am praying for you and your intentions in a special way during these days of y
our absence from Rome. The Lord has let us suffer the pain of learning that Carm
en has a kind of cancer that is very difficult to treat. This is what the doctor
s tell us after many tests and X-rays. She has a lot of company and is calm. Whe
n you write her, don't say anything about what I am telling you. If she does not
improve, we will tell her when the time is right.[36]

In fact he waited three or four days before telling Carmen her illness was incur
able. "Alvaro gave her the news," the founder wrote to Madrid, "and she?Laus Deo
!?took it like a holy person of Opus Dei: with courage, with serenity, with peac
e.
I will keep wrestling with the Lord to the last moment, hoping Isidoro will get
us a cure, but always accepting God's holy will, although with many tears. It's
an entire heroic epoch of our Work that is ending.[37]
He was in great pain. Kneeling before the tabernacle and resting his head on the
edge of the altar, he begged for his sister's cure with tears, even as he accep
ted whatever outcome God intended.[38]
The doctors said Carmen had two months to live. She took the news calmly and pea
cefully, with her sense of humor intact. "Alvaro has given me the sentence," she
told some nephews.[39] As long as she was still on her feet, she continued to s
upervise the housework, keep track of daily expenditures, and care for her plant
s and animals. And she could be heard very softly whispering aspirations.
The Father saw to her spiritual care. Not wanting her to feel that she had to ac
cept a priest of the Work, Don Alvaro asked Father Jenaro Fernandez, Procurator
General of the Augustinian Recollects, and a man of deep interior life, to look
after her: he was amazed at how unblemished her conscience was.[40]
On May 15, not really at ease about leaving, the founder and Don Alvaro left for
France. The day before, he visited his sister. The supernatural optimism of the
ir conversation was superimposed on a great heaviness of heart that neither spok
e of. Both remembered that time, in 1941, when he set out for Lerida to give a p
riests' retreat, leaving his mother sick in Madrid. Now he made the same request
to his sister that he had made to their mother: that she offer her sufferings t
o God for the apostolic work he would be doing.[41]
On his way to Paris he made a visit to Lourdes to ask our Lady to cure his siste
r. When he got back to Rome, he went directly to the house on the Via degli Scip
ioni. Carmen's condition had worsened. She was being cared for by Santiago and,
taking turns, her nephews and nieces. Constant prayers for her cure were being o
ffered in all the centers of the Work.[42]
June brought intense pain and a tormenting thirst. Her breathing became labored
and exhausting. She took these sufferings without complaint, offering them for t
he Work and its needs. Knowing she would not get well, she recited aspirations t
hat brought her comfort as she waited for death. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, may m
y soul rest in peace with you;" "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, assist me in my last a

gony."[43]
Someone was always at her side, and her priest-brother prepared her for death, s
peaking of heaven, the Blessed Trinity, our Lady, the angels and the saints, and
encouraging her "to transform her bodily pains into glory."[44]The next life be
came an engrossing topic of conversation for the two of them, without neglecting
the mundane facts of death and burial. "Carmen," her brother said to her one da
y, "your remains will be next to mine."[45] She was very happy to know she would
rest with her family, in the house of her present and future nieces and nephews
.
Around the middle of the month she started having serious heart problems. Oxygen
had to be administered frequently. On June 18 he asked her if she would like to
receive the Anointing of the Sick, and she happily said yes. Donning surplice a
nd stole, he started saying the prayers, his voice breaking with emotion. But te
ars made it impossible for him to continue, and he asked Don Alvaro, who was at
his side, to take over for him. Don Alvaro put on the surplice and stole and adm
inistered the anointings, while the Father stood sorrowfully in a corner of the
room.[46]
On the next day he brought his sister viaticum. He explained the rites and helpe
d her say the responses.
"Do you believe that the sacred host that I hold in my hand is the Body of Chris
t?"
"I do believe!"
"Now say with me: Lord, I am not worthy...." [47]
After administering the viaticum, the Father returned to Villa Tevere. He worked
until evening, then returned to his sister's house for his second sleepless nig
ht at her bedside. Kneeling at the foot of her bed, eyes fixed on the triptych o
f our Lady at its head, he continually repeated the "Blessed be your purity" pra
yer, each time ending with the plea, "Don't leave her, my Mother, don't leave he
r."[48] Repeatedly he commended her soul to God and said other short prayers whi
le encouraging her: "Carmen, we are all with you. Carmen, soon you will be with
God. Carmen, soon you will see our Lady." [49] Eyes closed, she expressed agreem
ent with a slight gesture. Soon after, as he was giving her an injection and fou
nd no pulse, Jose Luis Pastor, the doctor, told the Father she had died.
It was two-thirty in the morning of June 20, the feast of Corpus Christi. A few
hours later, as dawn was breaking, the Father got ready to say Mass in the orato
ry that had been set up in Carmen's house.[50]He told those present that he woul
d say the Mass for the repose of Carmen's soul. He was so crushed by sorrow that
he asked for a sign from God that Carmen was already in heaven, but immediately
he retracted the thought, fearing it was a temptation. He celebrated the requie
m Mass with great devotion, yet, oddly, did not think at all of Carmen either at
the Commemoration of the Living, or the Commemoration of the Dead. His mind was
a blank. After the Mass, as he was making his thanksgiving, he saw clearly that
this was the sign: Carmen did not need prayers. Joyfully he recounted what had
happened to Don Alvaro and Javier Echevarria, adding that he would leave a writt
en account.[51]
During a get-together at Villa Tevere that day he said: "The tears ended the mom
ent she died. Now I'm happy, my sons; grateful to the Lord, who has taken her to
heaven. I'm filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit."[52]
Yes, sons, you have to congratulate me. Carmen is already in heaven. She was so
excited at the thought that she would soon be seeing God the Father, God the Son
, and God the Holy Spirit, and our Lady and the angels. Commend her soul to God,
say prayers for her, but I am sure that she is already enjoying God?ma proprio
certo; completely sure.[53]
He spoke so naturally that they saw nothing extraordinary in what he said. "It's
like what we told you about Isidoro, only better," he added. And as he was leav
ing he said, "I came so that you could see that the Father is hap-py, con-tent"
(stressing each syllable) "with the joy of the Holy Spirit."[54]
Carmen, he wrote, had had "a holy death, after an exemplary sacrificial life."[5
5] Father Fernandez, the Augustinian who came for her spiritual needs in the las
t months of her life, said he had never seen another sick person so united to Go

d. Her remains, as her brother had promised, are interred close to his, in the c
rypt of Our Lady of Peace.[56]The coffin was brought from Via degli Scipioni to
the central headquarters of Opus Dei on June 23. The inscription on the tomb, in
letters of gilded bronze, reads: "CARMEN. 16-7-1899?20-6-1957." [57]
Years later, to express gratitude to his mother and sister for all the sacrifice
s they had made for the Work, he directed that two shrines to our Lady be constr
ucted?the one in memory of his mother to be dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows; an
d the other to Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Nuestra Senora del Carmen).[58] The fir
st was built at the Tor d'Aveia center (near L'Aquila in central Italy), some ti
me after his death, and the other was built at the Roman College of the Holy Cro
ss in Rome, in 1975.
After he died, a sealed envelope was found among his papers. Written on it were
the words, "Not to be opened until after my death. Mariano, 2-VTJ-1957." Inside
were six handwritten sheets that read as follows:

When Alvaro told me that the doctor gave my sister Carmen no more than two month
s to live, I was filled with sorrow. For the first ones and for me, Carmen had c
ome to represent twenty-five long years of sufferings and joys in Opus Dei.
After accepting God's will with tears, I decided to launch a campaign of prayer
to the Lord; I prayed and got everyone else to pray. And I continued to weep bit
terly, although at times I thought that if the others noticed I might be setting
a bad example this way. But I immediately rejected that thought, since we are c
hildren of God, and he did give us a heart.
Some days went by, and after seeing Carmen's marvelous readiness to go enjoy hea
ven, and the admirable serenity she showed, I understood?and told her?that the l
ogic of our Lord God has no reason to accommodate itself to our poor human logic
.
The moment arrived to give my sister the last sacraments. Then came the long ago
ny?almost two days, because of the oxygen and injections. Even then I kept askin
g for Carmen's recovery through Isidoro's intercession, until, at the end, fully
accepting God's Most Holy Will, I slowly prayed the prayer that gives peace: "F
iat, adimpleatur,..."
I was worn out, with an exhaustion that made me think of Jacob's struggle with t
he angel.
As soon as my sister died?when Jose Luis Pastor, the doctor at her bedside, said
"now"?I prayed an "Eternal rest." And as soon as possible, I went down to celeb
rate Holy Mass in the oratory.
When I began the Mass, for a few seconds I had the idea of asking the Lord to gi
ve me a clear sign that the soul of my sister?for whom I was going to offer the
Mass, by special permission?was in the glory of heaven. Becoming aware of that t
hought, which my will had not consented to, I rejected it and asked the Lord's p
ardon for what had come into my head, since it was like tempting God.
I continued the Holy Mass. I went up to the altar, and everything went normally
until the first Commemoration. I was surprised to find that I was not offering t
he Mass for my sister who had died just a few minutes earlier, but for another i
ntention. I corrected myself and offered the Holy Sacrifice for Carmen's soul. I
went on normally again until I got to the Commemoration of the Dead?again, inad
vertently, I offered the Mass for another intention. But again I immediately mad
e the correction: "for the soul of Carmen." And I felt a great enlightenment and
an immense joy, and a boundless gratitude for God's goodness, for I understood
with supernatural certainty that the Lord, in his infinite goodness, had willed
to give me "a clear sign" that Carmen had already entered in gaudium Domini sui
[into the joy of her Lord].
From that moment I've felt changed?not one tear, and instead a joy that has affe
cted me physically. And I have no hesitation in writing that it is, by the goodn
ess of God toward this miserable sinner, a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Ever since then, I've found it hard to offer suffrages, but I am doing it, and g
etting others to, because it is the practice of the Church.
Rome, June 25,1957[59]

Whenever he visited Carmen's tomb with members of the Work, they would join in p
raying one "Prayer for the faithful departed" for the deceased members of the Wo
rk, and one for members' deceased parents and siblings.[60] Carmen somehow repre
sented in exemplary fashion the unity of service between the men and the women o
f the Work, and between them and their families. Above the entrance to the crypt
is a stone bearing the inscription: "Ad perpetuam omnium Operis Dei defunctorum
memoriam" ["In perpetual memory of all the deceased members of Opus Dei"].

3. The formation battle

Monsignor Escriv, a born teacher, had a knack for describing things by the use of
images full of spiritual meaning. When the construction of Villa Tevere began,
despite a glaring lack of funds, he strove mightily to make his sons and daughte
rs aware that they needed to lend a hand. Speedy expansion of the Work, and its
great service to the Church, depended on speed in completing this project.
The years 1949 to 1954 were filled with ceaseless anxiety and dire poverty. But
eventually there were results. By August of 1954, the founder finally had priest
s to send out. His joy is all but tangible in these words, written to the Counse
lors of Mexico, the United States, and Chile:

If you are faithful to me, if you don't leave us alone, starting next year many
priests will be graduating with ecclesiastical degrees earned in Rome. So starti
ng in December of '55, you will be able to count on getting new people every yea
r?if you respond to my calls, which are calls from God.
Know that it isn't enough to have "birds" (which, by God's grace, are not lackin
g), and "birdseed" (up to now we haven't been able to get enough of it). We also
need the "birdcage": the buildings of the Roman College of the Holy Cross. Cons
ider: Until we get to the end?the last stone, the last chair?it's as if the "hou
se of the Work" were on fire. Our first priority is to extinguish the blaze.[61]

The message was clear. If the new regions wanted priests, they would have to hel
p support Villa Tevere. The founder wrote the Counselor of Mexico:

You'd like six priests? I'll send them to you and as many more every year if you
don't abandon us to these builders and these financial worries.[62]

It did not help much for their numbers to grow rapidly, as was happening in Colo
mbia, without the priests to care for them.[63] And sending priests to the regio
ns required a lot of "students, prayers, sacrifices, and financial contributions
."[64]
The construction at Villa Tevere was completed on January 9,1960? the founder's
fifty-eighth birthday. For weeks before that date, the Roman College students wo
rked tirelessly at painting ceilings and providing the final touches. The Father
, meanwhile, looked through the Roman Ritual?but in vain?for "the formula for bl
essing the last stone of a building?the most important one, since it symbolicall
y represents the hard, courageous, persevering work of many people over the cour
se of years."[65]
At eleven in the morning of January 9, after everyone had wished him a happy bir
thday, a ceremony took place marking the completion of that arduous building pro
ject that he had called a "continuous miracle."[66] Its launching had taken fait
h; its continuation, a kind of divine madness, and its completion, heroic fideli
ty. "Love is deeds, not sweet words" he had once been told. Perhaps that is why,
pointing to the walls of Villa Tevere he would say, "They seem made of stone, b
ut they're really made of love."[67]
Everyone went out into the courtyard, from which the apse of the oratory of the
Holy Apostles could be seen. At that point it started drizzling, but the ceremon
y was brief so no one got really wet. From a parchment Don Alvaro read aloud a t
hanksgiving to the Lord for the completion of the work. The parchment was placed
in a small lead box along with coins from the countries where Opus Dei had memb

ers. Before the construction foreman sealed the box in a niche in the apse, the
Father said a few words. He was not keen on "first stones," he remarked, having
seen projects that never made it beyond the ground-breaking; what really counted
was the laying of the last stone.[68]
Nothing remained of the "Pensionata," where the Roman College began. It had been
torn down and replaced by new buildings. These however were not meant to be per
manent but were only a temporary "birdcage" that would serve the purpose for now
. Still, they were a major improvement compared with the former caretaker's hous
e where the Roman College spent its first five years, crammed into a very limite
d space and with only a small number of students.
But for all that, growth had been constant, and not even poverty could keep the
founder from being joyful. "The Roman College! The apple of my eye!" he wrote Fa
ther Muzquiz. "This year they're already coming from Mexico, from Portugal, from
Ireland, from Italy, from Spain..."[69]
That was in 1952. Those students reflected the expansion of the Work. Amid finan
cial difficulties, the Roman College was taking shape. Slowly but surely it grew
. The Father was not entirely satisfied, for there was still no way of reaching
the goal he had set for enrollment?"a whole two hundred."[70] In 1953 they manag
ed to squeeze 120 students into Villa Tevere, but the founder did live to see hi
s goal reached?in 1975, when the Roman College settled into its home in a Roman
suburb.
During all this time, God was rewarding his faith, and sufferings. What better w
ay to compensate him in this life than with the joy of being able to see the fru
it of his efforts? "These fellows at the Roman College," he contentedly sighs, "
are?all!?a big blessing from God. It's worth all the suffering and work, to see
this ripe fruit."[71] And a year and a half later: "To me it's clear that the Lo
rd takes delight in this Roman College of the Holy Cross, where he is so loved."
[72]
All the same, by the mid-1950's things were definitely moving ahead. He wrote to
the General Council:

It's a joy to see what this Roman College of the Holy Cross is accomplishing. Th
ere are now sixty?60!?more fellows with doctorates in ecclesiastical fields. Wit
h Alvaro, think about where these people should go. Some can be ordained in Dece
mber or January, if there isn't some reason to wait till June.[73]"

From the beginning the founder knew clearly what he wanted. In 1950 he explained
the spiritual importance of the Roman College of the Holy Cross, its significan
ce for the Work's development.[74]
Until the regions were more developed, the Roman College would be "the most effe
ctive 'instrument' for sending 'instruments' to all the regions."[75] Still, as
he told the counsellors of the new regions when they asked for personnel and esp
ecially priests, to get well-trained people for apostolic work, they had to send
people to Rome who were suitable to receive Holy Orders.[76] Furthermore, they
had to come up with the money for their training, and living expenses.[77]
Having finally established a scholarship system, he applied the principle of rec
iprocity. To the Counselor of Chile he wrote:

If everyone were like Chile, I don't know what would happen. Later you'll want p
riests, and if we don't have any scholarships, there won't be any priests for Ch
ile.[78]

He reminded the Colombians that their wish to help the Roman College had to move
beyond words to deeds.
I very much appreciate the wishes, but if we go on wishing, I'm afraid we won't
be able to send more priests to Colombia.[79]

And to Peru he wrote:

I'm very happy that you're thinking of the Roman College. If more scholarships a

rrive from Peru?from Peru!?Peru will get more priests. If not, it won't.[80]

Soon the Roman College was sending the regions a "steady stream of priests."[81]
The struggle to complete the construction and pay the operating costs was worth
it.
The founder had looked to the Roman College as the "instrument of instruments" f
or "Romanizing" the Work and keeping it united. Producing supermen was not his a
im, nor did he bring to Rome the best men from each region. He simply sought to
send well-trained priests and laymen, carrying a single message and a single spi
rit from Rome to distant places. He made that point each year when preparing to
send out a new batch of priests, he would call this to mind, either out loud or
in writing. Thus, for example, he told those ordained in July 1957:

The Lord having willed to scatter the seed in a divine dispersal over so many co
untries in so few years, the Sower now wants to make sure this extension does no
t lead to any loss of intensity. You have the clear supernatural mission of help
ing safeguard that intensity among your brothers and sisters, always being instr
uments of unity and cohesion.[82]

In April, 1958, he wrote the new priests:

Dearest ones: Since you've heard it from my lips a thousand times, I won't repea
t to you that you priests must be an efficacious instrument of unity in our Opus
Dei. But I do want to ask you always to remember that one clear way of showing
you know how to fulfill that duty?to be instruments of unity?is by loving and se
rving your brothers and sisters in the two branches of our Work, and my other so
ns in the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross with equally joyful and steadfast s
acrifice.[83]

* **

As soon as he could, the founder established the Roman College of Saint Mary. Th
e decree dated was December 12, 1953. This international center for the formatio
n of the women of Opus Dei has the same purpose as that for the men?fostering a
closer union with God and preparing people for apostolic work.[84]
For the founder, becoming "Romanized" meant becoming more universal, more cathol
ic. He allowed no talk of Opus Dei's being or becoming an expression of national
spirit.
If, after God has called me to render an account, any of my children anywhere sh
ould try to set up an Opus Dei with some particular country's coloring?an Irish
Opus Dei, a French Opus Dei, a Spanish Opus Dei, etc.?I will climb out of my gra
ve to anathematize that bad spirit. For it would be the start of a diabolical di
vision. In this family we should all be very united, everyone caring about every
one, without ever raising barriers of nationality or practicing discrimination o
f any kind.[85]
The development of the Roman College of Saint Mary resembled that of the College
of the Holy Cross. Born in poverty, it grew rapidly. But the men's college had
begun earlier, in June, 1948, when the founder had that premonition and vision t
hat "God's hour" had come?the time for the Work to expand. He responded at once,
signing the decree establishing the Roman College of the Holy Cross on June 29.
Lack of personnel delayed the other college. "For now," the founder writes in Se
ptember 1952, "we cannot begin the endeavor of the Roman College for the women's
branch."[86] This delay was linked to the rapid growth of Opus Dei's apostolate
with men in Italy dating back to January 1949, when the Father sketched out an
ambitious plan for expansion to cities with universities. This occurred at a tim
e when the number of women in Opus Dei in Spain (then still the seedbed of the W
ork) were far fewer than the men?a matter of great concern to Monsignor Escriv.[8
7] Meanwhile, of course, women were needed not only for the women's apostolates
of all kinds but for staffing residences or centers in Rome, Milan, Naples, and
Palermo, and to open the Central Advisory's headquarters and retreat house.

The finding of the site for the Roman College of Saint Mary came about in an une
xpected way. In 1948, the doctor told the founder to take walks for his health,
and sometimes, after a day of hard work, he would drive out to Castel Gandolfo,
to get his exercise in the fresh air. One day, as he and Don Alvaro were walking
along the road that overlooks Lake Albano, they passed by the house of Countess
Campello. The view was beautiful, but Monsignor Escriv was looking at the Campel
lo house. It was no palace and not in very good condition; the countess was usin
g it to house refugees from the Communist countries of eastern Europe, mainly Ru
manians.[88] But it was well located?not very far from Rome and close to the pop
e's summer residence. He prayed some Hail Mary's, and got Don Alvaro to pray too
, that someday it would be theirs.
In the spring of 1948 the countess allowed Don Alvaro to give a retreat there fo
r young men. And the following year, she offered them the house. Pope Pius readi
ly ceded the use of the land which belonged to the Holy See, and by July 21,1949
, the building was theirs. "Castel Gandolfo! Laus Deo!" the founder wrote on his
liturgical calendar. He had already named the house "Villa delle Rose" and desi
gnated it to be the future retreat house and study center for the women.[89] Ten
years later, in 1959, Pope John XXIII ceded the property of the estate to Opus
Dei.
This came at a very opportune time, since Villa Sacchetti, which had been built
next to Villa Tevere, could no longer hold all the students of the Roman College
of Saint Mary. Monsignor Escriv decided at once to enlarge the building at Caste
l Gandolfo to accommodate them. Construction began on April 19, I960.[90] The fo
under kept a close eye on the project. He wrote to Encarnita Ortega:

The Roman College of Saint Mary is moving along, although with a lot of debt. I
am very anxious to see this cage finished and filled with birds. How much glory
will come of that work, for our Lord God![91]

The new facility was dedicated on February 14, 1963. After consecrating the alta
r at 5:30 in the evening, he celebrated Mass. As he was about to distribute Comm
union, he evidently thought of the Ferraz Street residence and the Foundation of
Santa Isabel, and he spontaneously spoke these words:

With your permission, O Sovereign Lord in the Blessed Sacrament?

Daughters, here before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and before the Lord's
Blessed Mother, who is our Mother, I feel the gratitude I felt the first time we
set up a tabernacle; the first time we said to the Lord, borrowing the words of
the disciples from Emmaus, "Stay with us, because without you it is night."
I want to tell you?very briefly?that you too should feel in your hearts a great
fervor, a great enthusiasm, an enthusiasm that has to be shown in deeds, because
love is deeds and not sweet words....
Don't let down our Lord God.
Don't let down his Blessed Mother.
Don't let me down, when I've put into this house so much hope, so much affection
, and so much trust.[92]

Now he had another instrument for expansion?a center for the formation of the wo
men of the Work?which would work in tandem with that of the men. He wrote to the
General Council in Spain:

The two Roman Colleges are a blessing?how much and what good work is going to be
done by those worlds, these daughters and sons of mine![93]

And to Spain's Regional Commission:

The fellows in the Roman College of the Holy Cross have completed their studies
marvelously. And the same is true of my daughters in the Roman College of Saint
Mary. A splendid team is being prepared, to serve the Church and to do good and
bring peace to all humanity.[94]


His last visit to his daughters at Villa delle Rose would be on the morning of t
he day he died: June 26,1975.

* **

"Ignorance," the founder of Opus Dei often said "is the greatest enemy of our fa
ith, and at the same time the greatest obstacle to carrying out the redemption o
f souls." [95] He knew, too, that ignorance, unfortunately, is a problem not jus
t for people with little education, but for many who are professionally trained?
in politics, economics, medicine, business, etc.?but who lack religious formatio
n. That is why the founder so strongly insisted that his sons and daughters must
have, besides professional training, a deep doctrinal knowledge of the Catholic
faith?one deep enough not to be blown away by the changes of the times and of s
cientific mindsets.
Knowledge of doctrine was not, in his view, a charism, a direct gift of God.[96]
It took study; and study takes effort. Knowledge ordinarily does not come as a
free gift. "We cannot expect illuminations from God. He has no reason to give th
em when he's given us concrete human means: study, work."[97]
He set the pace in his own life and routine. He hardly knew the meaning of "spar
e time." In 1947, telling his sons in Molinoviejo about his recent stay in Rome,
he summed up the situation in these words: "With God's help Opus Dei has first
won the theological battle and then the canonical battle. Now it is fighting the
formation battle, which will soon be over if you are faithful."[98]
Actually, he had been engaged in this particular battle from the beginning. More
over, with the decretum laudis in place (February 1947), Opus Dei had a canonica
l basis?even though it was only a temporary solution?for its existence and activ
ity everywhere. It was time now to concentrate on the members' formation.[99] Th
e new, more demanding stage was marked out in the 1951 study plan. Here Monsigno
r Escriv spelled out the courses in philosophy and theology that all the members
of Opus Dei were to take according to a schedule adapted to their family and pro
fessional situations. In the case of the numerary men, at least, these courses w
ere on a par with those offered at the pontifical universities in Rome.[100] The
plan of 1951 was followed by a similar one, dated February 14,1955, for the wom
en's branch; it specified courses in philosophy, theology, Scripture, liturgy, a
nd canon law for the female numeraries.[101]
On Opus Dei's twenty-fifth anniversary, Cardinal Giuseppe Pizzardo, Prefect of t
he Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities, sent a letter praising t
he "Ratio Studiorum" (Plan of Studies) of the members of Opus Dei. He noted in p
articular that the lay numeraries studied philosophy (two years) and theology (f
our years) "on the same level as the priests."[102]
In reply, Monsignor Escriv said that "improving the spiritual and academic format
ion of the members of the Institute" was the "most urgent" task he faced.[103] T
hat urgency drove him to create a network of formation centers that all the nume
rary members would have to pass through at least one of, be it in their own regi
on (the regional centers) or in Rome (the Roman College of Saint Mary, or the Ro
man College of the Holy Cross).[104] But he also was clear that "the specific an
d principal mission of Opus Dei is not the cultivation of the ecclesiastical sci
ences, but the sanctification of the secular professions."[105]His twin convicti
ons in this matter were that every field of human knowledge can be converted int
o an instrument of apostolate, and also that knowledge of the sacred sciences ma
kes for a more stable interior life and a deeper relationship with God.
Over time, the mix of philosophy and theology in the formation of its members he
lped greatly to foster intellectual cohesion without uniformity. Instruction is
given "according to the spirit, doctrine, and principles" of Saint Thomas Aquina
s but teachings not confined to Thomas and Thomism.[106] There is no Opus Dei "s
chool," as the founder made clear:
Opus Dei will never maintain or start up any philosophical or theological school
of its own. The members of our Association must always be formed in freedom, in
the fullest sense of the word; qua libertate Christus nos liberavit?the freedom

that Christ won for us. This spirit of freedom is one of the essential characte
ristics of our Work.[107]
Such freedom in matters of opinion and respect for divergent opinion are fundame
ntal to social life and unity.[108] And the emphasis on them is one more indicat
ion of the spirit of unity within Opus Dei and of its openness in social matters
.

4. The art of governing

The decision taken in the General Congress of 1956 in Einsiedeln began a new sta
ge in the governance of the Work. The General Council's move to Rome made possib
le the full carrying out of the system conceived by the founder and established
in Opus Dei's constitution.
In this matter the founder had proceeded step by step. In the beginning it was n
ot necessary to have regulations of any kind. His personal decisions and instruc
tions sufficed since he was physically present to the directors of the first cen
ters. At the end of the civil war, however, foreseeing an increased workload and
frequent travel outside Madrid, he made Alvaro del Portillo his first collabora
tor in tasks of government, with the title of Secretary General. Even so, he con
tinued to govern by the spoken word and in writing?letters to individuals, notes
or announcements, etc. For quite a while, this was enough.
When requesting approval of Opus Dei as a pious union, however, he had to compos
e Regulae or bylaws.[109] Under the heading "Directive Organs," there is referen
ce to a Council and an Assembly at the national level.[110]
In 1943, due to the rapid growth of the work and other circumstances the founder
found it necessary to consider the establishment on a diocesan level of the Pri
estly Society of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei. Accompanying the request for the H
oly See's nihil obstat was a document called Lineamenta generalia, which outline
d the entire system of government, on all three levels (general, territorial, lo
cal), and the various positions, appointments, and areas of jurisdiction.[111]
The founder was in no hurry to set up a system of government before the Work nee
ded it; but, looking ahead, he did establish some general guidelines having less
to do with structure than with principles. His personal journal contains a very
early indication of his thinking.

23 Nov 1930:I see that the government of O.D. must not be dictatorial. A lot of
democracy. And a lot of obedience.[112]

And a little later:

I've already said this, but I'll repeat it: the government of O. D. must not be
dictatorial. No false democracies. A prudent election, in the very democratic ma
nner indicated.[113]

Clearly he wanted to avoid tyranny and self-aggrandizement. In the Instruction f

or Directors, composed for those "participating in the concerns of government,"
which he began writing in May 1936, with the imminent creation of centers in Val
encia and Paris in mind, he returned to this subject. Now the idea of collegial
government as a hedge against tyranny appears.

It is stipulated that all our houses and centers, all our activities, are to hav
e a collegial government, because neither you nor I can trust exclusively in our
own judgment. And this is not stipulated without a particular and special grace
from God....
This collegial government will ensure that no one can ever say of any of you tha
t you were placed in authority and became a tyrant.[114]

But why does the Work need a collegial government at all levels? This was his re
sponse:


To avoid falling into tyranny. It is a manifestation of prudence, because with a
collegial government matters are studied more easily, errors are more readily c
orrected, apostolic projects already going well become even better. Incalculable
harm comes from rule by a single individual, and it is hard to avoid ending up
in dictatorship and despotism.[115]

It may also be that, although his humility left it unsaid, the idea of collegial
ity at all levels was a divine inspiration. Is that perhaps the meaning of: "And
this is not stipulated without a particular and special grace from God."[116] I
n any event collegiality is an essential characteristic of government in Opus De
i.
Even as the Work took shape its expansion required its founder's closeness. The
preservation of unity, for example, called for centralized direction in Rome. It
was something he had anticipated, for from its founding its universality had be
en a preoccupation of his. Similarly he had always known that the governing of t
his international entity would require its division into regions or "circumscrip
tions" generally corresponding to the various countries. Regional governing bodi
es he foresaw would foster initiatives, advance projects along, and solve proble
ms, while local councils?made up of the directors of centers?would tend directly
to the needs of members.
There is a sketch of this system of government in the Lineamenta of 1943. Later
this was fully developed in the Ius peculiareof 1947, from which it was transfer
red, expanded in certain points, to the Codex luris peculiaris of 1950. With som
e changes in nomenclature it remains substantially in force, at the time of this
writing.[117]
In the beginning the founder had governed with few people and by means of only a
small number of instructions. But now, as he dealt with specific cases and gave
guidelines for apostolic initiatives, a body of governing experience began to t
ake shape from the decisions made in Rome. These were typically decisions in res
ponse to particular needs, for Monsignor Escriv had little patience with bureaucr
acy and hypothesizing. Apostolic activity followed the course mapped out by the
Spirit; initiatives arose from the "spontaneity of the individual.?[118]Once it
has provided its members "with the spiritual assistance necessary for their life
of piety, and an adequate spiritual, doctrinal, religious, and human formation,
"[119] Opus Dei as such has finished its work. At this point the free, responsib
le action of each individual begins. Did the founder foresee this? On more than
one occasion he called Opus Dei, "an unorganized organization" or "an organized
unorganization."[120]
In an instruction written in 1941 he speaks of it as "a distinctive divine organ
ization that has an apparent disorganization in all the vital things."[121]
The Work, he explained in 1959, does not have one single, specific goal. Rather,
it takes in the whole of human society and its activities.
[In Opus Dei] all of contemporary society is present, and always will be: intell
ectuals and businessmen; professionals and craftsmen; employers and employees; p
eople in the worlds of politics, commerce, agriculture, finance, and letters; jo
urnalists; theater, movie, and circus people; athletes. Young people and old. He
althy and sick. A marvelous unorganized organization, like life itself; true and
authentic specialization in apostolate, since all human vocations?all clean, wo
rthy ones?can be made apostolic, divine.[122]
He not only had foreseen this "organized unorganization," but considered it, as
he said in 1967, as the logical and appropriate outcome of upright activity acco
rding to the true spirit of Opus Dei. "We have, in a word," he said, "that bless
ed unorganization, that just and necessary pluralism, which is an essential char
acteristic of good spirit in Opus Dei, and which has always seemed to me the onl
y just and orderly way to conceive the apostolate of the laity."[123]
On another occasion he said:

I hope I have explained what I mean by "unorganized organization": we give prior

ity to spirit over organization, and so the life of the members is not straitjac

keted by directives, plans, and meetings. Each member goes his own way. What uni
tes him to the others is a shared spirit and a shared desire for holiness and ap
ostolate which accompany him as he strives to sanctify his own everyday life.[12
4]

From the beginning the founder set down written directives for the apostolate. T
hose notes often provided material for his chats with friends during walks along
La Castellana or get-togethers at El Sotanillo in Madrid. He writes in his jour
nal that they "have served me as guides for telling 'our secret' to the souls th
at God has been bringing to me."[125] They listened in amazement to this young p
riest lay out the marvelous future of an apostolic work that had barely begun. S
ome were enthusiastic, others believed they were hearing sheer fantasy. None rea
lly grasped what, thirty years later, the reality would be.

* **

The founder's Instruction for the Directors contains much wisdom about governing
and directing souls in the Work.[126] For, he writes, the function of the direc
tor is "not that of a bureaucrat," but rather to assist the quest for sanctity.[
127] Governing is "a task of service and of love"; to govern is "to live for the
others," forgetting self and "thinking exclusively of our brothers and sisters.
"[128] Thus being appointed to a position of leadership in the Work means "one m
ore opportunity to serve."[129] On one occasion he ran into a son of his who had
just been appointed to a position on the General Council. "When are you going t
o start sleeping at Villa Vecchia?" he asked?and then immediately corrected hims
elf, saying, "Sleeping, no; standing watch."

He gave the directors this advice:

Realize that you are instruments for serving the Church. See your positions as r
esponsibilities?see in them duties, not rights?and make yourselves all things to
all people, being convinced that joyful, voluntary, actual spirit of service is
your reason for being on this earth.[130]
In the "art of governing by serving" there is no room for the "proprietary direc
tor" who does and undoes things at his discretion and whim, guided exclusively b
y his own judgment and behaving like a real tyrant.[131] The founder would say,
half joking and half serious, "I killed him off years ago."[132]

In that same letter, he says:

I will never tire of telling you the five points which form, as it were, the fou
ndation of the science of governing in Opus Dei: always to have a supernatural o
utlook, a sense of responsibility, a love for the others' freedom (listen to the
m!) and for one's own, the conviction that government has to be collegial, and t
he realization that the directors can make mistakes, and are obliged to make ame
nds when they do.[133]

He was extremely tactful. If he had to give his opinion in a collegial meeting,

he would speak last, so as not to influence the others, even unconsciously, in t
he expression of their opinion. He was painstakingly conscientious about respect
ing others' freedom. "I'm just one vote," he would say.[134] If those governing
did their job, the well-functioning government would produce sound results. Why
look to heaven for enlightenment, he asked, without first doing what it took to
be enlightened? He wanted to know about it if a member of the General Council ex
ceeded his authority. It was not uncommon, one of them recalls, for the Father t
o correct a note before it was sent out. "Bossing around" the people in the vari
ous regions was not permitted, since that would take away their initiative and r
esponsibility.[135]On one occasion he stayed awake all night worrying that he an
d the General Council had gone too far in responding to an inquiry. At seven-thi
rty the next morning, he called a member of the Council and told him the communi

cation just dispatched to England had to be changed, "because we were sticking o

ur noses where we shouldn't." The matter should have been left to the Regional C
ommission of that country to handle as it saw fit.[136]
His approach went beyond simply not interfering. He insisted that the governing
bodies of the various regions know their rights and exercise them, not referring
to a higher level matters they could handle themselves. "Let each mast bear its
own sail," he told the directors.[137]
Monsignor Escriv made it a habit to write himself notes and meditate on them befo
re reaching any kind of decision.[138] He took his time, patiently and calmly st
udying important questions in depth. "Urgent things can wait, and very urgent th
ings need to wait," he wrote to the directors.[139]
He kept constantly in view the "supernatural perspective"?the awareness that "be
hind the papers we have to see souls."[140] On days when he met with the Central
Advisory, he always visited the Blessed Sacrament before and after the meetings
. After one meeting he was heard to address these words to the tabernacle, "Lord
, I've done what I could, I've suggested to my daughters how to put this matter
in perspective and study it. Now, just as you've always done it's up to you to s
ee that things work out."[141]
He was zealous, even passionate, when it came to defending the spirit of Opus De
i. Upon seeing the slightest deviation, he immediately corrected it.[142]
He counseled all the members of Opus Dei to practice frankness, without fear or
misgiving, in dealing with directors. "Be very aware that in the Work, governmen
t operates on the basis of trust," he told them.[143]
He was convinced that no one was indispensable in Opus Dei? "not even me, and I'
m the founder."[144] His constant refrain was, "I am a poor man and you have to
help me."[145] But upon hearing a member of the General Council say, "We who hel
p the Father govern ..." he broke in, saying, "No! You don't help the Father gov
ern. You govern, with the Father."[146]
Sensing around 1948 that Opus Dei was about to begin expanding through Europe an
d the Americas, he began to concentrate on the deeper formation of members, espe
cially those who could become directors. New directors would be needed to replac
e those who left for distant assignments. At the time, most of the members of th
e General Council were still living in Madrid. In February 1948, he wrote to rem
ind them that "the Council, in addition to being the central organ of government
, has to be a school where 'teams' are formed to make up the commissions of the
new regions that are being created. Preparing people who can govern?this is a mo
st basic mission of the Council."[147] This training, of course, was one more th
ing to occupy his attention along with painful opposition, a dire lack of money,
serious illness, and the pressing need to find a sound canonical path for the W
ork.
Knowing the importance of forming directors, the Father looked to those who show
ed a certain "gift for governing." In doing so, he was following guidelines that
he himself had laid down earlier, when he had written that a director should be
"at one and the same time someone who knows people, teaches them, and assigns t
hem."[148]According to Encarnacion Ortega, he handled them, "neither with excess
ive strictness nor with excessive indulgence."[149] But he did push them to deve
lop a sense of responsibility. Before giving anyone a position of governance, he
"prayed long and hard,"[150] then reminded the potential candidate to "keep ver
y much in mind that angling for a position, or wanting to keep it, does not plea
se God."[151] He said often that "official duties are to be accepted joyfully, c
arried out joyfully, and given up joyfully."[152]
Thinking of the future, he warned against "creating puddles"?that is, slowing th
e pace of efforts already under way. To avoid that, new directors should take ad
vantage of the experience of their predecessors, try to make their own contribut
ions, then "transmit it to others, so that we take pride in there being many who
know more than we do, who start where we left off?and for whom we will be a ste
pping stone."[153]

5. Consummati in unum!


Villa Tevere was a storehouse of instruction. The Father wanted just walking aro
und in it to be a lesson that taught something of Opus Dei's history and spirit.
It was that way from top to bottom. In the crypt lay the mortal remains of Aunt
Carmen. And up in the "temple"?a passageway between two glassed-in areas on the
roof affording an extensive view of Rome?there was a tablet with a Latin inscri
ption: "How resplendent you are, Rome! How pleasant the view you offer us from h
ere. How noteworthy your many ancient monuments. And only you can glory in a jew
el still more noble and pure: the Vicar of Christ. 1951."[154]
Inside and outside?in corridors, sitting rooms, and oratories, on patios, arches
, and walls?the visitor comes across objects that recall the history of the Work
: bricks from the demolished Pensionata; a picture from the house of the Grandmo
ther; a glass that the Father used as a chalice during the civil war. Edifying m
ottoes and aspirations are written on the door frames, sewn into wall hangings,
engraved on stones. Statues, glazed tiles, paintings, fountains, stained-glass w
indows, frescoes, memorial tablets, display cases all were meant as visual aids.
But the Father really put his heart into the oratories. Tabernacles, themes of
altarpieces, materials used in construction?everything down to the smallest deta
ils has his personal stamp on it.[155]*READ
He took particular care with the Pentecost oratory. They were very poor when it
was built. But for this oratory, intended for use by the General Council, he was
willing to go into debt. And he commissioned a tabernacle that would reflect so
mething of his passionate love for the Lord.[156]
The first designs date to 1954. He made it clear that cost was no object, and he
put even more care than usual into the project, since as the oratory of the Cou
ncil, this would be, so to speak, the very center of the Work.[157] As soon as h
e received the designs, he wrote out the inscription to be placed over the door
of the tabernacle: "Consummati in unum!" ("All united as one!").[158]
May, 1956, brought the first color slides of the tabernacle; by then nearly fini
shed. On September 29, the finished product arrived at Villa Tevere, two days la
ter he wrote in praise of it to Spain's Regional Commission, "I think this piece
can truly be called opus Dei."[159] (He was especially moved by the splendid de
coration of the interior, hidden as it was from human eyes.)
The tabernacle resembles a small circular temple. Between its miniature columns
are vaulted niches containing small silver statues of the first four Holy Interc
essors of the Work: Saints Pius X, Nicholas of Bari, Thomas More, and John Viann
ey. The Renaissance-style cupola is surmounted by a cross. The tabernacle has sh
eets of lapis lazuli between the ribs, enamel work on the panels, and angels car
ved in ivory. On the enameled door semiprecious stones frame six small reliefs d
epicting scenes from the life of Jesus; above is the "Consummati in unum!" On Ho
ly Thursday in 1975, praying aloud in a meditation, the founder explained those
words:

It's as if all of us were here, glued to you, not abandoning you either by day o
r by night, united in a canticle of thanksgiving and?why not??a petition for for
giveness. I think it annoys you, Lord, for me to say that. You have always forgi
ven us; you're always ready to forgive the errors, the mistakes, the fruit of se
nsuality or pride.
Consummati in unum! To make reparation; to please; to give thanks, which is a pr
imary obligation.[160]

The Father consecrated the oratory's altar on the evening of March 4, 1957, and
then, too, he spoke of that "consummati in unum." The intention, he said, was "s
o that the hearts of us all, as they have been before and are now, will always b
e one same heart. So that the words of Scripture will be real: 'Multitudinis aut
em credentium erat cor unum et anima una' ['The company of those who believed we
re of one heart and soul': Acts 4:32]."[161]
The unity of Opus Dei was very close to his heart. Another time he wrote:

None of you is alone, none of you is a poem with a single verse. We are verses o

f the same poem, an epic, a divine one. And it is important that we always prese
rve this marvelous unity, this harmony, which makes us strong and effective in G
od's service "ut castrorum acies ordinata," like an army in battle formation.
I am now speaking into the ear of each of you: Remember, my daughter or son, you
r weakness, and the weakness of the others and my own weakness, become united?if
we are consummati in unum?in the charity of God and thus turn into immense stre
ngth. For a brother helped by his brother is like a walled city?"frater qui adiu
vatur afratre quasi civitas firma!"[162]

* **

Debt or no debt, the Father had no hesitation about paying what it cost to provi
de dignified liturgies and handsome oratories. Nor did he stop buying needed fur
nishings. Despite the symbolism, the laying of the last stone on January 9,1960,
by no means marked the completion of Villa Tevere, even though the project had
begun in 1949. After all, the last bedspread had yet to be put in place.
A recently as 1956 there were no bedspreads at all, and it was an in-house joke
that the students of the Roman College of the Holy Cross had eaten them. "From 1
955 to 1957," Father Florencio Sanchez Bella explains, "Whenever I went to Barce
lona from Rome, he asked me tactfully to pick up some fabric for bedspreads. My
friends in business gave me money. And the money got spent on food, not fabric."
[163]
Eventually some bedspreads got made. The administrators suggested starting with
the bedrooms of the General Council. The Father accepted the basic plan, but tol
d them to change the order. Start with the numerary assistants, he said. Then th
e Roman College, then would come the house of the General Council. And he himsel
f was to be the last one to get a bedspread.[164]
It was there on February 28,1964, when he went into his bedroom. He was astonish
ed. "Josemaria, you have become rich!" he told himself. "Here's to the luxury an
d to whoever brought it!"[165]

* **

It was brought, of course, by his daughters, and two days later he telephoned Me
rcedes Morado, the Central Secretary.
"Thank you, my daughter, and God bless you," he said. "What a surprise I got the
other day when I went into my room. I couldn't believe my eyes, and I said to m
yself, 'Josemaria, you sure have become rich!' In thirty-six years it's the firs
t time I've had a bedspread."
Then he added, "You know that for years I've insisted on being the last to get a
bedspread. I was trying to make two points. The first is my great affection for
my daughters?that is why I wanted you to get bedspreads first. And the second h
as to do with poverty?so that you could see that doing without a bedspread is no
big deal. My daughter, I would like it if in the future you would tell your sis
ters this story."[166]
Two days later, he added a postscript to a letter to the Counsellor of Spain:

Great news! For the last three or four days, whenever I entered my room I have f
elt awed, because they've given me a bedspread on my bed! Can it be that we fina
lly have money to buy a bedspread? Blessed poverty! Love it, without being showy
about it, along with everything that it entails. Laus Deo![167]

* **

The "marvelous unity of mind, will, and heart" that he desired was part of the v
ery spirit of Opus Dei.
All the members of Opus Dei?priests and laity, numeraries and oblates[168] and s
upernumeraries, men and women, single and married?lead the same spiritual life;
there are no exceptions. We have just one home and just one cooking pot.[169]
That "cooking pot" contained the same spiritual nourishment for members of all c

onditions and circumstances.

We are like fractions with the same denominator?and as many numerators as there
are members, each in his or her own circumstances. A common denominator?with a s
pecific or distinctive spiritual doctrine, which spurs us to seek personal holin
ess.[170]
The metaphor describes unique individuals drawn to a common search for sanctity
according to the spirit of Opus Dei. "But the best guarantee of unity in the Wor
k consists in the union of all the members with the Father and his intentions."[
171]

[1] Letter 14 Feb 1950, no. 12. "Nevertheless," he continued, "we should also tr
y to get the state to subsidize our corporate works, since in no way is this con
trary to justice or right order. All nations, as a rule, do support citizens who
run educational or charitable institutions. And so, if they help us, it cannot
be said that this would be a privilege for us. (Something we would detest.) It w
ould, on the contrary, be a reasonable right, because through those apostolic ef
forts we are forming youth, helping the needy, turning out good citizens, and ca
rrying out other similar tasks that redound to the service and good of all of so
ciety.
"Furthermore, those works of ours?which we carry out for apostolic purposes? sav
e the public treasury large expenses that the state would otherwise be obliged t
o cover."
[2] With reference to the denial of a request for a loan from the Spanish govern
ment, the Father writes to the General Council members in Madrid: "I'm sorry you
weren't able to obtain that advance or loan from the government to help us buil
d those centers. However, that may be providential. Maybe it's to make it clear
once again that our Work has not received any government aid" (AGP, RHF, EF-4907
06-1). A note added by Bishop del Portillo reads, "Actually, although that assis
tance would have been justified (since the Spanish government readily granted su
bsidies to formational Catholic initiatives), it was providential?that is how th
e founder saw it?that Franco's government did not want to help Opus Dei, despite
the fact that there was no lack of rumors and slanders about the founder suppos
edly supporting the Franco regime." Three years later a request sent to Franco w
as denied. See AGP, RHF, EF-521007-1.
[3] This initiative?making the farm workers the owners of the land they worked?w
as accompanied by a program of educational and technical assistance (provided th
rough an agricultural school run by members of Opus Dei), and by the establishme
nt of a parish where the farmers and their families could be taken care of spiri
tually. The project was the subject of an article in the 22 Dec 1955 issue of VO
sservatore Romano.
[4] AGP, RHF, EF-510601-3.
[5] AGP, RHF, EF-520422-2.
[6] AGP, RHF, EF-520702-2 (a letter to the General Council members in Spain).
[7] See AGP, RHF, EF-520128-1 and EF-520227-1 (letters to Carmen and Santiago Es
criv).
[8] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2118. Her refusals were a matter of form. Her he
art was in the Work.
[9] In this she resembled her brother. If anyone thanked the Father for anything
, he at once redirected the thanks to God. "Give the thanks to God, not me," he
would say. On February 4,1975, as he was setting out on his third trip to the Am
ericas, Lynden Parry, a journalist from Rhodesia who had converted to Catholicis
m and obtained admission to Opus Dei, managed to meet up with him at the Madrid
airport. He had already boarded the plane; she came into the cabin to thank him
for everything he and the Work had done for her. His answer was, "We all have so
much to thank the Lord for!"
"And you, Father," she insisted.
"No, not me," he replied. "God writes a letter and puts it in an envelope. The l
etter is taken from the envelope, and the envelope is thrown into the wastepaper

basket": AGP, RHF, T-05085 (testimony of Lynden Parry), p. 14. See also Alejand
ro Cantero, Sum.6688.
[10] Bishop Javier Echevarria explains that the founder "asked his mother and si
blings for certain sacrifices and specific helps, but never for his own benefit"
(Sum.2116). See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 514.
[11] AGP, RHF, EF-520801-3. This was not their first trip to Italy. The year bef
ore, they had come by train, arriving in Rome on May 12,1951. At the time of tha
t visit, the Father was living at the Via Orsini center. (He stayed there from M
ay 13 to June 3, while a room was being set up at Villa Tevere, for the move fro
m the guard house to the old villa.) He invited Carmen and Santiago to dine at t
he center on Sunday, May 20. (See AGP, RHF, T-03345 [testimony of Renato Mariani
], p. 5.) Carmen returned to Madrid, and then came back to Italy to take charge
of the renovation of Salto di Fondi, which took place in the winter of 1952-1953
.
[12] See AGP, RHF, EF-540601-10, EF-540603-1, and EF-550316-2 (letters to member
s of the General Council).
[13] On July 6 he and Don Alvaro drove from Rome to Bari. They returned to Rome
the next day, passing through Naples on the way. See AGP, RHF, D-15689 (the Fath
er's marked-up calendar).
[14] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1734; Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, PR, p. 1330; Jo
aquin Alonso Pacheco, PR, p. 1852; and Fernando Valenciano Polack, PM, fol. 1161
v. See also AGP, RHF, EF-560411-1, EF-580102-1, and EF-580228-1 (correspondence o
f the founder with Castelli and his family).
[15] AGP, RHF, EF-561122-1 (a letter to Opus Dei's Spanish Regional Commission).
[16] See AGP, RHF, EF-580924-3 and EF-581002-1 (letters to the Spanish Regional
Commission and to Father Casciaro). The founder looked for a way to relieve Don
Alvaro of much of the work burdening him.
[17] AGP, RHF, EF-590102-1 (a letter to the Spanish Regional Commission).
[18] AGP, RHF, EF-620501-1 (a letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella).
[19] See AGP, RHF, EF-621116-2 (a letter to Father Hernandez Garnica).
[20] Since 1947 the founder, aided by Don Alvaro, who was the Procurator General
, had governed the Work from Rome. The rest of the General Council remained in M
adrid, where there was a great deal of apostolic activity. The arrangement had i
ts disadvantages. The founder had to accept it "on the authorization and even at
the suggestion of the Holy See" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 735).
Actually, when the founder at that time mentioned the impossibility of moving th
e General Council to Rome, the Holy See said it would not be a problem; that it
was just a matter of getting, in writing, the deliberative or consultative vote
of the General Council. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 736.
[21] The ordinary general congresses are periodic gatherings of the electors of
the various regions. These electors, in accord with the norms established in the
statutes, review the activities carried out since the previous congress, propos
e apostolic initiatives, and make appointments to positions on the General Counc
il. At present, general congresses take place every eight years. But at the time
under consideration, the interval was five years.
[22] See AGP, RHF, EF-560706-1 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[23] AGP, RHF, EF-560110-1 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[24] He wanted to give the participants ample time so that they could "deliberat
e and vote conscientiously" (AGP, Juridical Section, 6, D-15785).
[25] The original of this motion is in AGP, Juridical Section, 6, D-15631.
[26] Ibid. The summary of the third session of the congress says: "The Father de
emed it appropriate that this motion be submitted to the congress, but on the co
ndition that the language spoken of not be 'Spanish/ but 'Castilian'; and with t
hat wording it was unanimously approved" (AGP, Juridical Section, 6, D-15786). I
n this way he wanted to nip in the bud any possible idea of nationalism or of a
personal imposition of his native language, while calling attention to certain f
acts: first, that other languages are also spoken in Spain, and second, that he
was not Castilian but Aragonese.
[27] The summary of the second session reports: "The move of the General Council
to Rome: The President General took the floor to say that, now that the Work is

practically everywhere in Europe and the Americas, not to mention a few centers
in Africa, the time seems to have come?and thus he was proposing to the congres
s?that the Gen eral Council of Opus Dei, which until now has had its official do
micile in Madrid, should be moved to Rome" (AGP, Juridical Section, 6, D-15785).
Another decision by the congress was that the President General should be referr
ed to as "the Father" as an expression of affection and obedience. See Alvaro de
l Portillo, PR, p. 931.
[28] AGP, RHF, EF-560910-1.
The list of members of the General Council of the Priestly Society of the Holy C
ross and Opus Dei read as follows:
Msgr. Escriv de Balaguer, Josemaria, President General
del Portillo, Don Alvaro, Secretary General
De Filippi, Don Giorgio, Procurator General
Monzo, Don Severino, Consultor
Rieman, Dr. Richard, Consultor
Girao Ferreira, Dr. Nuno, Consultor
Fernandez Ardavin, Dr. Ing. Bernardo, Consultor
Herranz, Prof. Julian, Prefect of Studies
Alonso, Joaquin, General Administrator
The list includes people from five different countries; by 1966 the General Coun
cil had members from fourteen nations. See Conversations with Monsignor Escriv de
Balaguer, no. 53.
The first general congress of the women of Opus Dei was held at Los Rosales, in
1951. The second general congress was in Rome, two months after the gathering in
Einsiedeln. New appointments were made to the Central Advisory, which by 1966 i
ncluded women of twelve nationalities. The Central Advisory had already moved to
Rome in 1953.
[29] See Joaquin Alonso Pacheco, Sum. 4689. From June 1946, when he first went t
o Rome, to the General Congress of 1956, the founder sent the General Council 17
6 letters: most were addressed to the Secretary General.
[30] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 736.
[31] AGP, RHF, T-08253 (testimony of Manuel Botas), p. 14. The first to go to th
e Americas were Fathers Casciaro and Miizquiz, and Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin.
[32] AGP, RHF, T-08385 (testimony of Mercedes Angles Pastor), p. 46.
To teach by example that duties toward the Work, relating to God, came ahead of
duties to family, he spoke very little about his relatives, even when asked. He
avoided what he called "familyitis"?undue attachment to family. For example, alt
hough he loved his brother very much, his workload kept him from attending Santi
ago's wedding (see Jesus Gazapo, Sum. 4303, and Ernesto Julia, Sum. 4117). But h
e did not impose this demanding standard of behavior toward family on the member
s of Opus Dei.
[33] Carmen was much like her brother. "She, too, had a naturalness and simplici
ty of character so that her silent but very effective work went unnoticed" (Jesu
s Gazapo, Sum. 4302).
[34] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 518.
[35] Ibid.
[36] AGP, RHF, EF-570425-1. See also Jose Luis Pastor, Sum. 6074.
[37] AGP, RHF, EF-570501-1 (a letter to the Spanish Regional Commission).
[38] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2122.
[39] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 518.
[40] Ibid., Sum.519.
[41] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2123.
[42] To Federico Suarez Verdeguer, who told him he had offered his life for that
of Aunt Carmen, the Father wrote (see AGP, RHF, EF-570604-1):
Rome, June 4,1957 May Jesus watch over you for me, Federico. Thank you for your
letter and
for the affection all of you have for my sister Carmen. But no; pray, through
the intercession of Isidoro, for her cure, and pray that the holy will of God be
done.
You have a lot of work to do in the world; don't even think about that

"substitution."
A hug and the loving blessing of the Father.
[43] See AGP, P011977, p. 663.
[44] Santiago Escriv, Sum. 7343.
[45] AGP, P01 1977, p. 662. When the diagnosis of terminal cancer became known,
the founder "gave in, after some resistance, to the request of the General Counc
il that she be buried in the crypt of Bruno Buozzi" (Ernesto Julia, Sum. 4117).
Jesus Gazapo testifies that on April 25 the Father asked him, as the architect i
n charge of the construction projects at Villa Tevere, to provide in the basemen
t of what is now the prelatic church of Our Lady of Peace "a small crypt, well-l
it and welcoming, where it would be pleasant and safe to pray during the day or
at night, so that Carmen could be buried there, if the Lord took her" {Sum. 4304
).
[46] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 520, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2124. Maria
Rivero, who was present, recalls: "When the ceremony was over, Encarnita Ortega,
Iciar Zumalde, Mary Altozano, and I went to a nearby room. The Father came in a
fter a few minutes and said to us, 'My daughters, I have to ask your pardon for
the bad example I've given you by crying.'
"At that point Don Alvaro interrupted and said to him what we would have liked t
o say...: 'Father, you've also told us that we have to have a heart, and in what
happened here you have shown us that you have one; so in this, too, you have se
t us a good example'" (AGP, RHF, T-05110, pp. 8-9).
[47] AGP, P011977, p. 667.
[48] See AGP, RHF, T-05110 (testimony of Maria Rivero), p. 8. "Blessed be your p
urity" is the beginning of a traditional Spanish prayer.
Maria Begofia de Urrutia, who was present, says the Father told her and the othe
r women of the Work who were taking care of Carmen, "Do whatever you need to?I'm
just here with God." She also says, "His way of praying?or, rather, of speaking
with the Lord, with the Blessed Virgin, with the guardian angels?was such that
it made me feel close to heaven" (AGP, RHF, T-06897, p. 40).
[49] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2125.
[50] Permission had been granted for an oratory in the house on Via degli Scipio
ni and for the celebration of Mass, but the Blessed Sacrament was not reserved t
here. Carmen and Santiago went to Mass at a nearby church. The Father was author
ized to use a portable altar.
[51] "He did that," says Bishop Echevarria, "not to communicate for his own sake
what had happened, but to make sure no one ever forgot, on the basis of the sup
ernatural events the Lord allowed to surround Opus Dei, that our way consists in
the sanctifica-tion of the ordinary. And also he did it out of humility, so tha
t?knowing the extraordi nary gifts he received?no one would think that the found
er merited them by his virtues" (Sum. 2126).
[52] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 522.
[53] Ibid. The letter of condolence from Cardinal Tedeschini also shows this con
fidence. After expressing his sympathies, he writes: "However, given the perfect
sanctity with which your departed sister met her death, I cannot help but congr
atulate you, because I feel so sure that she is already enjoying the perpetual l
ight of the beatific vision." And he rejoices that, being buried in Rome, "this
saint of the Escriv de Balaguer family has become a Roman" (AGP, RHF, D-30802).
[54] AGP, P011977, p. 664 and 668. The process for beatification of Isidoro Zorz
ano had been begun on October 11,1948.
[55] AGP, RHF, EF-570802-1 (a letter to Jose Maria Nerin).
[56] Ibid.
[57] Before the body was taken to Villa Tevere, the Father asked the women keepi
ng vigil to decorate Carmen's casket with flowers that she had tended. See AGP,
RHF, T- 08385 (testimony of Mercedes Angles Pastor), pp. 55-56.
[58] He first spoke to the architect about the project on June 17,1970. For the
shrine to Our Lady of Mount Carmel his exact instructions were followed; and for
the one to Our Lady of Sorrows, those of his successor, Bishop Alvaro del Porti
llo. See AGP, RHF, T-15729 (testimony of Jesus Gazapo), p. 22.
[59] AGP, RHF, AVF-0040.

[60] See AGP, P011979, p. 1142. "In June 1958, on the eve of the first anniversa
ry of the death of Aunt Carmen," says Bishop del Portillo, "when our founder con
secrated the altar of the oratory of the Dormicin of the Most Blessed Virgin in o
ur central headquarters, on the certificate that the Father places in the reliqu
aries of the altars that he consecrates, it said: 'Nee oblivisci potui sororem m
eam desideratissimam, Mariam a Monte Carmelo quae totis viribus magnoque corde o
peram vitamque suam dedit in adiutorium huius pauperis peccatoris.' ['I cannot f
orget my dearest sister Maria del Carmen, who with all her strength and a great
heart made it her work and her life to assist this poor sinner.'] 'So that/ the
Father added, 'he might more easily carry out the founding of Opus Dei' (see Ins
truction of 31 May 1936, nos. 66 and 93)."
[61] AGP, RHF, EF-540811-2 (a letter to Father Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal, Counselor
of Chile). The letters to the Counselors of Mexico and the United States (Fathe
rs Casciaro and Muzquiz) contain the same passage. (See EF-540810-1 and EF-54081
1-1.)
[62] AGP, RHF, EF-540810-1.
[63] See AGP, RHF, EF-541019-8 (a letter to Father Ruiz). The apostolate of prie
sts of Opus Dei extends to men and women. They have to take care of the specific
formation of all the members, safeguard the unity of the Work, and do much of t
he spiritual direction.
[64] AGP, RHF, EF-550306-2 (a letter to Father Xavier de Ayala).
[65] Friends of God, no. 55.
[66] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 599.
[67] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 612.
[68] See Jesus Gazapo, Sum. 4462. That afternoon, he celebrated a similar ceremo
ny of thanksgiving for the laying of the last stone of Villa Tevere with the wom
en of the Work. See Isabel La Porte Rios, Sum. 5116.
[69] AGP, RHF, EF-520930-1. See also Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5885.
The building that the founder originally thought of for the seat of the Roman Co
llege of the Holy Cross was the chapel of Gonfalone. After much negotiation, the
deal did not work out, and the students had to live in the Pensionata and later
in the new building at Villa Tevere.
The negotiations concerning the chapel of Gonfalone (which had a large residence
attached to it) had begun in 1948: see AGP, RHF, EF-490114-1 (a letter from the
founder to Father Botella). They continued into June of 1949, even reaching the
point where the founder wrote to the General Council, "Castel Gandolfo and Gonf
alone are virtually a done deal, though we still have to wade through all the re
d tape" (AGP, RHF, EF-490610-1). But in the end the red tape wrecked those hopes
in the case of Gonfalone.
[70] AGP, RHF, EF-540603-1.
[71] AGP, RHF, EF-540421-1 (a letter to Amadeo de Fueranayor).
[72] AGP, RHF, EF-551224-1 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[73] AGP, RHF, EF-560508-1.
[74] See AGP, RHF, EF-500923-7 (a letter to Father Casciaro).
[75] AGP, RHF, EF-550306-9 (a letter to Manuel Botas).
[76] See AGP, RHF, EF-530202-1 (a letter to Father Casciaro).
[77] See AGP, RHF, EF-540302-10 (a letter to Ricardo Fernandez Vallespin). Contr
ibutions of all kinds came in. From Milan and Palermo, for example, came wine fo
r the Roman College (see AGP, RHF, EF-540405-10).
[78] AGP, RHF, EF-540302-9.
[79] AGP, RHF, EF-540323-8.
[80] AGP, RHF, EF-540323-1.
[81] See AGP, RHF, EF-540930-2 and EF-540930-1.
[82] AGP, RHF, EF-570724-1.
[83] AGP, RHF, EF-580402-1.
[84] See Amadeo de Fuenmayor, Valentin Gomez Iglesias, and Jose Luis Dlanes, The
Canonical Path of Opus Dei, trans. William H. Stetson (Princeton, 1994), p. 531
. An explanation given by the founder regarding the Roman College of the Holy Cr
oss (see Mario Lantini, Sum. 3599) applies also to the Roman College of Saint Ma
ry:

Do you know what "Roman College of the Holy Cross" means? This "college," my son
s, is a gathering of hearts, for forming?consummati in unutn [all united as one]
?a single heart, beating with one same love. It is a gathering of wills, for mak
ing up a single will, that of serving God. It is a gathering of intellects, for
being open to take in all the truths that illuminate our common vocation.
"Roman," because we, in our souls and spirits, are very Roman. For Rome is where
the Holy Father lives, the vice-Christ, the sweet Christ walking on earth.
"Of the Holy Cross," because the Lord, like someone giving a building its final
touches, decided, on that 14th of February, to crown the Work with the cross. An
d because the cross of Christ has from the very beginning been inscribed in the
life of Opus Dei, as it is in the life of every one of my children. And also bec
ause the cross is the throne of the Lord's kingship, and we need to place it ver
y high, at the summit of all human activities.
For information specific to the Roman College of Saint Mary, see Alvaro del Port
illo, Sum. 598 and 613; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2193; Encarnacion Ortega, PM, fo
l. 45v; and Mercedes Morado, PM, fol. 1035.
[85] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2198.
[86] AGP, RHF, EF-520911-1 (a letter to Amadeo de Fuenmayor).
[87] In a letter to the General Council members in Spain, he wrote: "I am concer
ned about the need for more members of the women's branch in Italy. You've got t
o realize that Milan and Palermo are not being taken care of, and that in this h
ouse?these houses?of the Parioli, we also need to at least double the personnel;
and that, with God's help, we may any day now have that other one in Terracina"
(AGP, RHF, EF- 510608-1).
[88] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 777, and Sum. 614.
[89] From 1949 to 1954 formation courses for all members in the Italian region w
ere held at Villa delle Rose. In 1955 they were moved to Castello di Urio, on La
ke Como, in the north. The first course for men started on August 31,1949. See A
GP, RHF, EF-J90615-l, EF-490706-3, and EF-490829-3 (letters to members of the Ge
neral Council, members of the men's branch in England, and Father Xavier de Ayal
a).
[90] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 614, and AGP, RHF, T-07902 (testimony of Merc
edes Morado), p. 65. The symbolic "first stone" of this building was a painting
of the Madonna and Child that had belonged to the Grandmother. See Teresa Acerbi
s, Sum. 4960.
[91] AGP, RHF, EF-620710-1.
[92] AGP, RHF, T-07902, p. 68. See also Teresa Acerbis, Sum. 4960, and AGP, RHF,
EF- 630200-1 (a letter from the founder to Opus Dei women in Mexico).
[93] AGP, RHF, EF-560110-1.
[94] AGP, RHF, EF-570704-1.
[95] "For, as Tertullian wrote, 'Desinunt odisse c\ui desinunt ignorare'" (Lette
r 9 Jan 1951, no. 8). The Latin means "One ceases to hate when one ceases to be
ignorant," and comes from Tertullian's Ad nationes, 1.1.
[96] See Julian Herranz, Sum. 3911.
[97] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 956. See also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2281.
[98] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 954. See also Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 751
2.
[99] In the first years of its history, as soon as anyone asked admission to Opu
s Dei the Father himself took the responsibility of giving that person classes a
nd formarional talks on matters spiritual, ascetic, and apostolic. In the days o
f the DYA Academy he saw to it that an apologetics course for university student
s was given there. At the Ferraz Street residence he kept up formarional activit
ies?study circles, talks, monthly days of recollection, frequent preached medita
tions, spiritual direction, etc. And as soon as the war was over, he opened the
first study centers: in 1941, that of Diego de Leon, for men; and in 1945, that
of Los Rosales, for women.
[100] "In the five years in which I was Prefect of Studies (1956-1961), I was a
constant witness of the enormous effort of the Father to assure to his sons a de
ep and solid doctrinal, philosophical, and theological formation," says the nowCardinal Julian Herranz. He adds that he also witnessed "the rigorous applicatio

n, to all of the regions, of the 1951 study plan (with courses and schedules not
at all inferior, in terms either of academic rigor or of lecture hours devoted
to each subject, to those of the best ecclesias tical schools)" (Sum. 3911).
[101] The founder would have liked to send his daughters to the regular ecclesia
stical schools, but at that time this was not allowed. He expressed to the Holy
Father his concern that although the secular universities were open to women, th
e Catholic ones were not. When his request for their admission to those schools
was denied, he insisted that the women take courses of philosophy and theology a
t the Roman College of Saint Mary, and at the regional study centers, and do so
just as the men did?with rigor and at a university level. See Javier Echevarria,
Sum. 2199, and Julian Herranz, Sum. 3917.
[102] For the text of the letter, see Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp
. 535-37. Cardinal Valeri also congratulated the founder on this occasion, notin
g with admiration that in Opus Dei everyone received a formation in matters asce
tical, cultural, professional, and apostolic "that begins with solid bases and t
hen continues, without inter ruption, for the rest of their life" (see Fuenmayor
, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 534-35). This last point was established year
s earlier; the founder wrote in one of his letters, "You should never consider y
our formation finished. For all of your life, with a marvelous humility, you wil
l need to keep perfecting your human, spiritual, doctrinal/ religious, apostolic
, and professional formation" (Letter 6 May 1945, no. 19). On the permanent form
ation of the priests, see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 764).
[103] AGP, RHF, EF-531009-1.
[104] See Rolf Thomas, Sum. 7685 and 7686.
[105] Letter 9 Jan 1951, no. 20.
[106] The Second Vatican Council recommends that students of dogmatic theology "
learn to examine more deeply, with ... Saint Thomas as teacher, all aspects of [
the mysteries of salvation], and to perceive their interconnection" (Optatus Tot
ius, no. 16). The founder commented, "One ought not conclude from this that we s
hould limit ourselves to assimilating and repeating all and only the teachings o
f Saint Thomas. What's being said here is something quite different. Certainly w
e should promote the teachings of the Angelic Doctor, but in the same way that h
e would if he were alive today. This means that sometimes we will have to carry
through to its completion what Saint Thomas could only begin, and it also means
that we have to make our own all the findings of other writers that correspond t
o the truth" (Letter 9 Jan 1951, no. 22).
[107] Letter 9 Jan 1951, no. 23. This principle has no exceptions, and is valid
for every area of human knowledge: "Nor can the members of the Work create a sch
ool proper to Opus Dei in the professional fields, since our spirit?so open and
so full of understanding for everyone?necessarily leads to respect for all licit
opinions" (Letter 9 Jan 1951, no. 24).
(Note, too, the reference to Opus Dei as "our Association." Already he had begun
to avoid the terminology proper to secular institutes.)
[108] In the letter just referenced he also said:. "From that freedom there will
arise a healthy sense of personal responsibility which, by making you calm, upr
ight, and devoted to the truth, will also distance you from all kinds of errors.
For you will sincerely respect the legitimate opinions of others, and you will
be able not only to give up your own opinion, when you see that it does not real
ly match up with the truth, but also to accept another point of view without fee
ling humiliated at having changed your mind" (Letter 9 Jan 1951, no. 25).
[109] This document consists of only thirteen brief articles. For its text, see
Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 479-82.
[110] This section, articles 4-8, stipulates that the national directive organs
of Opus Dei are the Council and the Assembly. The first is made up of the Presid
ent, the Secretary, and three Counselors. The Assembly will meet every nine year
s to elect a new Council. Council decisions are always to be determined by a sim
ple majority.
[111] The original document is in the archives of the Sacred Congregation for Re
ligious. For a copy of the text, see Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp.
484-89.

The section entitled "Government" comprises articles 26-52. The general governme
nt of the society consists of the president (who is called "Father"), a secretar
y general, three vice secretaries, and the delegates of the territorial circumsc
riptions. The territorial circumscriptions depend directly upon the Father and t
he General Council, and are governed by commissions consisting of a counsellor,
a defensor, and three other members. As for local government, each center with a
sufficient number of members has a director, an assistant director, and an admi
nistrator.
[112] Apuntes,no. 115.
[113] Apuntes,no. 139 (26 Dec 1930).
[114] Instructionof 31 May 1936, nos. 28 and 32. He continues: "A clear sign tha
t someone lacks the qualifications to govern, lacks maturity, and has a tyrannic
al spirit, opposed to collegial government, is to want to reform everything righ
t away. Those who do this think all their predecessors and senior directors were
fools, people without the qualities needed for governing."
[115] Letter 24 Dec 1951, no. 5. "Collegial government," he writes on another oc
casion, "is a manifestation of humility, because it means that no one relies on
his or her own judgment.... We all have an obvious inclination to act in a dicta
torial way, to go by our own ideas, our own judgment, our own lights?we have a t
yrant inside us. You should show your good spirit by seeing to it that tyrannies
cannot arise in Opus Dei" (Letter 29 Sep 1957, no. 61).
[116] Instructionof 31 May 1936, no. 28. The founder brought these important que
stions of government, like his other problems, to his prayer, where he asked of
the Holy Spirit the light to resolve them. As he would often say to Don Alvaro,
and sometimes publicly to others, "I didn't have anyone to tell me these things;
it was the Holy Spirit who put them in my head" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 735)
.
[117] The Ius peculiare of 1950, approved by the Holy See, fully reflects the in
stitutional development of Opus Dei's system of government.
Universal governance is the responsibility of the prelate aided by his vicars and tw
o councils, one for the men's branch (the General Council), and the other for th
e women's branch (the Central Advisory). The General Council is made up of the a
uxiliary vicar (if there is one), a vicar general, a vicar for the women's branc
h, three vice secretaries, the regional delegates, a prefect of studies, and a g
eneral administrator. The Central Advisory includes the Secretary General, the S
ecretary of the Advisory, three vice secretaries, the regional delegates, a pref
ect of studies, a prefect of auxiliaries, and the Central Procurator. See Fuenma
yor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 636-37.
[118] Conversations,no. 19.
[119] Ibid.
[120] See ibid., no. 63, and Letter 9 Jan 1959, no. 11. See also Alvaro del Port
illo, Sum. 577.
[121] Instructionof 8 Dec 1941, no. 11 and note 12.
[122] Letter 9 Jan 1959, no. 11.
[123] Conversations,no. 19.
[124] Ibid., no. 63. In 1950 the founder entered this thumbnail description of O
pus Dei in his journal: "Simple Christians. Leaven in the dough. Our thing is th
e ordinary, with naturalness. The means: professional work. Everyone a saint! Si
lent dedication": Apuntes, no. 35 (June 1930). This sets out the ends and means
of apostolic activity; it proclaims the universal call to sanctity; it points to
professional work as the instrument of sanctification; and it mentions some of
the special features of the spirit of Opus Dei? acting as apostolic leaven in th
e dough of society, cultivating personal and collective humility, offering up or
dinary, everyday things, etc.
A few days later he wrote, "It's necessary to clearly determine the fields of actio
n": Apuntes, no. 42 (June 1930). This is not so easily done since Opus Dei's apo
stolate reaches out to all Christians, via the universal call to sanctity. But t
here are also characteristic notes. "Not taking anyone out of their place," its
members act as a leaven in the social mass. They have a lay mentality, which hol
ds that initiative and liberty come before organizational structure.

Six months having passed without a solution to the problem of how to "clearly determ
ine the fields of action," he says: "For some time, I've been turning this over
in my mind, without managing to see the way to put the Work of God into operatio
n, in practice, so that it is clearly seen to be an association of the laity": A
puntes, no. 140 (27 Dec 1930). Finally, on August 7,1931, he saw "the Lord trium
phing, drawing all things to himself" (see Jn 12:22). He was shown the content o
f that "specific apostolate" which transcended all boundaries: the apostolate of
putting Christ at the summit of all human activities. "And I understood," he te
lls us, "that there would be men and women of God who would raise the cross, wit
h the doctrines of Christ, to the summit of every human activity" {Apuntes, no.
217).
[125] Apuntes,no. 205 (15 Jul 1931). For more on the walks along La Castellana a
nd the get-togethers at El Sotanillo, see volume 1 of this biography, pp. 232-33
.
[126] From this instruction (31 May 1936), come the founder's main thoughts on d
irec tion and government. Of special note are the ideas, already mentioned on wh
ich he later based its governmental structure.
[127] See Instructionof 31 May 1936, no. 14, and also Teresa Acerbis, Sum. 5004.
[128] Julian Herranz, Sum. 3920.
[129] Instructionof 31 May 1936, no. 11. He never tired of repeating what he had
said from the beginning: "'In order to be useful, you have to serve'?in that se
ntence is condensed a big part of our spirit" (ibid., no. 9).
[130] Ibid., no. 7.
[131] Ibid., no. 26.
[132] Ibid., note 37.
[133] Ibid., no. 27.
[134] See Giuseppe Molteni, PR, p. 690, and Encarnacion Ortega, Sum. 5341.
[135] See Francisco Vives, Sum. 7461. From the first days of the Italian region,
he insisted that he and his successors must resist the temptation to govern the
Work in Italy directly. With the General Council now in Rome, he transferred th
e Regional Commission and Regional Advisory to Milan, so that they could enjoy t
he same autonomy as the other regions.
[136] See Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7121, and also AGP, RHF, T-07902 (testimony
of Mercedes Morado), p. 13.
[137] See Javier Echevarrla, Sum. 2325.
While keeping the General Council functioning properly, he also promoted the for
mation of the directors of the regional governing bodies. For this purpose he or
ganized meetings of the Counsellors (in 1956, 1966, 1967, and 1969); meetings of
the regional delegates (in 1958,1963, 1965, and 1967); meetings of directors, f
or example, the regional secretaries (in 1965,1968, and 1969); and workshops for
those in charge of various aspects of the apostolic work. (See Joaquin Alonso,
Sum. 4691, and Julian Herranz, PR, p. 848.)
[138] See Francisco Vives, Sum. 7461.
[139] Instruction31 May 1936, no. 43.
[140] See Giuseppe Molteni, Sum. 3793. He also put it this way: "In the papers y
ou always have to see souls": AGP, RHF, T-07902 (testimony of Mercedes Morado),
p. 109.
[141] Francisco Vives, Sum. 7462.
[142] See Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5946, and Julian Herranz, Sum. 3920.
[143] Letter 29 Sep 1957, no. 53.
[144] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 856.
[145] Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7121.
[146] Umberto Farri, PR, p. 94. See also Julian Herranz, Sum. 3940.
[147] AGP, RHF, EF-480226-1.
[148] Instruction31 May 1936, no. 20.
[149] Encarnacion Ortega, Sum. 5342.
[150] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2322.
[151] Instructionof 31 May 1936, no. 12. He drew up a document of seven brief po
ints, mainly about two things: the spirit of service with which official respons
ibilities should be accepted and carried out, and the temptation to seek them an

d want to keep them.

[152] Carmen Ramos Garcia, Sum. 7397.
[153] Letter 29 Nov 1957, no. 52. The mission of a director, he said, has to be
"a school, where the one in charge?who is so only temporarily?dedicates himself
to teaching those around him so that, if they in turn are called, they can repla
ce him quickly and effectively" (Instructionof 31 May 1936, no. 12, note 11). Th
is is in contrast with the typical situation in which someone whose professional
expertise has made him top dog tries to keep what he knows to himself, so that
he will be irreplaceable.
By way of illustration, he told this story: "I recall, as a vivid example, a cook i
n a seminary I stayed in during one of the trips I took to do priestly work in S
pain. When he was preparing some dish he considered extraordinary (which it neve
r was, actually), he would chase all the helpers out of the kitchen, so that the
y wouldn't learn the recipe" (Letter 29 Sep 57, no. 52).
The founder offers many counsels to those with leadership positions in civil society
or the Church: counsels about prudence and justice; about love for the truth an
d the disastrous effects of adulation, falsehood, and flattery; about rectitude
and slander; about fanaticism and dealing with people; and, finally, about inept
people given authority and afraid of losing it. These counsels are found in the
Instruction for the Directors and in some letters (see especially Letter 7 Oct
1950, nos. 35-46, and Letter 24 Dec 1951, nos. 5-11).
[154] The Latin text reads:
O QUAM LUCES
ROMA
QUEM AMCENO HINC RIDES PROSPECTU
QUANTIS EXCELLIS ANTIQUITATIS MONUMENTIS
SED NOBILIOR TUA GEMMA ATQUE PURIOR
CHRISTI VICARIUS
DE QUO
UNA CIVE GLORIARIS A. MDCCCCLI
[155] See Jess Gazapo, Sum. 4436 and 4437.
[156] Against stinginess in divine worship, and the pretext of concern for the p
oor, he writes (in The Way, no. 527):
That woman in the house of Simon the leper in Bethany, anointing the Master's head
with precious ointment, reminds us of the duty to be generous in the worship of
God.
All the richness, majesty, and beauty possible would still seem too little to me.
And against those who attack the richness of sacred vessels, of vestments and altars
, we hear the praise given by Jesus: "Opus enim bonum operata est in me"?"She ha
s done me a good turn."
[157] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 715. The oratory of the General Council, say
s Bishop Echevarria, "came to be, as it were, the main oratory, the heart of Opu
s Dei" (Sum. 2122).
The Father would often refer to any of Opus Dei's oratories as "Bethany." In the
apse of the oratory of Our Lady of Peace (now the prelatic church), he had Laza
rus, Martha, and Mary pictured, together with our Lady and the apostles.
[158] See AGP, P011975, p. 1547.
[159] AGP, RHF, EF-561001-1. He also sent a congratulatory letter to those who w
orked at Talleres de Arte Granda, where the tabernacle was made. (See AGP, RHF,
EF- 570415-1.)
In a journal entry written in November 1930 (Apuntes, no. 112), we read:
I was deeply hurt when I heard a fine priest say that sacred vessels should not
be expensive. He prefers, he said, to see the Blessed Sacrament in receptacles o
f pewter rather than see people in need?he prefers this to the point that he wou
ld gladly sell the monstrances and chalices and ciboriums.... My God! I, who hav
e offended you so much and who, without a doubt, am of incomparably less value b
efore you than that fine priest, have a very different opinion. With your help t
he tabernacles of the Work of God, strongboxes for the greatest treasure, will b
e very rich on the outside, even though they'll be completely covered by the tab
ernacle veil. And on the inside we will try to have them studded with diamonds a

nd pearls and rubies?blood and tears; expiation, that only you, my God, will see
.
[160] AGP, P011975, p. 110.
[161] AGP, P01 1975, p. 117.
[162] Letter 28 Mar 1955, no. 31.
[163] Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7487.
[164] AGP, RHF, T-07902 (testimony of Mercedes Morado), p. 49.
[165] AGP, RHF, T-04861 (testimony of Maria Begona Alvarez), p. 66. The Spanish
saying is "Viva el lujo y quien lo trujo!"
[166] AGP, RHF, T-07902, p. 50.
[167] AGP, RHF, EF-640303-1 (a letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella).
[168] The term "oblate" was changed to "associate" many years ago.
[169] Letter 8 Aug 1956, no. 10. More than ten years earlier he said much the sa
me thing: "Our Work, my children, is a healthy family, because we all aspire?fai
thful to the common vocation to Opus Dei that we have received, the same both fo
r laity and priests?to the holiness proper to the Christian vocation. A healthy
family doesn't need more than one cooking pot, because no one's on a special die
t. Only in a family where someone is sick do they have to make different meals.
For the spiritual life of the members of the Work, we have just one food, one sa
me spirit?one cooking pot" (Letter 2 Feb 1945, no. 10).
[170] Letter 8 Dec 1949, no. 29.
[171] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 716.
5. Apostolic Expansion

1. Transplanting Opus Dei

2. Prehistory: Trips through Europe
3. New countries (1952-1962)
4. Corporate works

* * *

1. Transplanting Opus Dei

In the order of priorities, formation, as a means of "Romanizing" the Work, came

first in Monsignor Escriv's mind. Next came expansion to other countries, as the
emphasis on universality in the message he had received on October 2,1928, made
clear.[1] To keep that ideal alive, he even acquired some "reminders."
One was a world map that he placed in the entrance hall of the Jenner Street res
idence; he put another in the Diego de Leon center, while in his room, he had a
globe. Still later, he had a wall-size map in Villa Tevere. "A certain color was
used to indicate the places in which we were already working, and the colored a
reas grew as the apostolate expanded. He wanted it to be a reminder to the membe
rs of the General Council to pray for this. Whenever the Work began in a new cou
ntry, the founder was always the first to remember that that country needed to b
e colored. He was that eager to have the Church of God served with a humble, sim
ple, continual, and concrete work in the whole world. I saw the founder looking
at that map, absorbed in prayer."[2]
But his command post was Rome. "That is where the Work's heart is," he said, "an
d that is what makes it possible for it to spread throughout the world, carrying
our message of peace and joy."[3] And from Rome he wrote:

How I hope that many daughters and sons of mine will soon be passing through Rom
e, constantly and in an orderly way, so that they can go home to their regions w
ith hearts more inflamed with love for the Church, and more Roman![4]

Worldwide expansion did not mean separation. The members continued to form a clo
se-knit family.
We are never separated, even though physically we may be far away from one anoth
er. Those of you who are now going away will be leaving a piece of your heart he
re, but wherever one of you is, there the rest of us will be, enthusiastically a

ccompanying that person. We never say "Good-bye" or even "See you later." We alw
ays continue to be consuntmati in unum.[5]
He pictured his children's movement to other countries as a "transplanting" of O
pus Dei, an "apostolic expansion" with certain essential characteristics. In the
first place, he said, "we never send out big groups, just as the farmer, when s
owing seed, does not bury whole sacks of grain, but scatters the seed over the f
ield."[6] The Work's universal spirit "loathes any kind of nationalism and abhor
s the formation of an alien and closed group, a national colony, as it were, tha
t acts as a kind of cyst."[7] The approach is also mandated by the Work's way of
doing apostolate, "like leaven hidden in the mass of dough."[8] A little leaven
is enough, and so is a small group of well-prepared men and women.
And so we have the marvelous pastoral phenomenon of the vocation operating in th
e way a pearl is formed. Inside a shell we place the tiniest amount of a foreign
substance, so that a precious pearl, something no longer foreign, can be formed
. In our case it is produced in a supernatural way: by the fire of God's grace t
hat your brothers have spread, in fulfillment of the Lord's desire. "Ignem veni
mittere in terram, et quid vole nisi ut accendatur!" ("I came to cast fire upon
the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" Lk 12:49).[9]
Image succeeds image in this beautiful letter, and the images are drawn from the
gospel: the sower scattering seed; the little bit of leaven that makes the doug
h rise; the pearl of great price. These images lead him to liken apostolic expan
sion to transplanting.

Many of you may have had the chance to observe farming or gardening being done.
So you well understand that a plant has to grow strong, in fertile soil, before
being moved someplace else.
But this is not enough. Unless the growing plant is tended carefully for some ti
me, it will not put down roots and finally it will die.
See how carefully a gardener goes about transplanting. He puts the little plant
or cutting in a clay or wood pot, and keeps it in a greenhouse until it's strong
enough. Then he takes it outside (in its pot) so that it can get light, air, an
d the sun's warmth. And when it can stand the shock, the gardener, choosing the
right time, puts it in new soil?along with its pot, if it's wooden. After a whil
e the pot disintegrates; it dissolves in the earth, and so the plant adjusts to
the change.
If the pot is clay, the gardener removes the shoot, along with the roots and sur
rounding soil?that is, along with its environment?and ever so carefully puts it
in the hole he's dug at the new site.
Beforehand, the gardener kept the hole open to the air. He removed stones or car
efully buried them deeper, so that water could filter through more easily and de
eply, without flooding. Once the tree has been planted and its roots covered wit
h the original soil, he keeps a close eye on it until it takes root. Before the
plant has adjusted to its new location, he lavishes care on it, adding fertilize
r and good-quality topsoil and pruning excess branches.[10]

Reflecting in 1951 on the spread of the work, the founder remarked that some peo
ple described it as "racing ahead." "They don't know that I've done everything p
ossible to keep it from racing," he wrote. "We've tightened the reins of this yo
ung horse so that it can't run wild."[11] By then Opus Dei had put down roots in
Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Mexico, and was getting started in England, Ireland
, the United States, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela. Yet he was under
going great pressure then and seeking remedies in the consecration of Opus Dei t
o the Holy Family and to the hearts of Jesus and Mary. These were the days, too,
of a seemingly endless financial crisis. "If I had known all that I was in for
when I received my call," he said, "I would have died."[12]
As he saw it, the Work was growing "at God's pace"? neither too fast nor too slo
w.[13] Great care was taken that Opus Dei's universal spirit not seem foreign to
the new countries. "It may seem slow, but it is safer and more effective," he c
ommented. "For as experience shows, it is undoubtedly the quickest way to reach
the goal."[14]

Transplanting was delicate work: it took a lot of reflection, prudence, and prep
aration.
Before going there, it is our habit always carefully to study a country's circum
stances: its particular characteristics; the difficulties one might encounter; t
he surest way of beginning apostolic work; which corporate work should be starte
d first; the financial resources we can count on; who we should first get in tou
ch with there, etc.
I have often called this preliminary work the prehistory of a region. It is a wo
rk that I have carried out in a number of countries, with some of your brothers
whom our Lord God, in his great goodness, placed at my side.[15]
Central to the process were "constant prayer" and "a continual mortification."[1
6] For prayer, as the founder always repeated, is the indispensable instrument,
the secret of Opus Dei.[17]
Not infrequently, the geographical expansion of Opus Dei meant the departure fro
m Rome of people who might otherwise have stayed and assisted in the central gov
ernment of the Work. But the founder remained in Rome, assisted only by those st
rictly necessary. Here was another expression of his faith and hope?although, ha
lf jokingly, he did remark, "I'm going to be left lonelier than can be! But it's
worth it."[18]
Monsignor Escriv's plan in beginning Opus Dei in a new country was to start, typi
cally with just a few. Usually a student residence would soon follow. But the pl
an could not always be adhered to, since bishops' insistent requests sometimes r
equired that apostolic projects be launched even without the personnel to suppor
t them.
In any case, the presence of the women's branch of Opus Dei soon became indispen
sable to the development of new apostolic initiatives and, later, the administra
tion of centers. The Father did not want to send women numeraries to new countri
es until the proper arrangements had been made: a decent place to live, an orato
ry of their own, etc.[19] Says Mercedes Morado, "The sensitivity and affection t
hat the Father had for his daughters could be seen in the way the work was begun
in a new country. First the men's branch would go, with one or two priests, and
when the initial hurdles were surmounted, then we would go."[20]
As early as 1948 the founder told the Central Advisory to begin taking steps to
deal with the language issue in anticipation of the coming spread to new countri
es.
This year is, or will be, the year of your great expansion. Now you can be saint
s for me?and study languages. I want the Advisory to think about how to arrange
things so that people in one house start learning to speak French; in another, I
talian; English in another; and finally, for those who will be going to our belo
ved Portugal and to Brazil, Portuguese.[21]
He wanted the women on the scene as soon as possible, though the waiting period
could vary from several months to years. (The first women numeraries arrived in
the United States and Mexico very quickly.)
On the whole, going into a new country presented no great problems for the women
of Opus Dei. They were as accustomed as the men to starting with nothing, in st
ark poverty, and having to find themselves jobs. But the difference in numbers b
etween the men and the women was another story. It had existed from the time of
the civil war. The founder called it "the limp"?for limping is how the Work woul
d proceed, as long as its two legs were of unequal size. In 1951 the Father conc
luded that the number of people working in Italy needed doubling.[22] But there
were not enough women, and those who had recently joined the Work lacked the for
mation needed to be able to go to other countries. So putting the brakes on plan
s for expansion, he decided, in 1952, not to open any new student residences in
Spain for several years, in order "to prevent excessive movement of personnel fr
om the houses of the women's branch" and to provide space and time for the women
's formation.[23]

* **

It was taken for granted that the founder had nothing to give members going off

to start the Work in another country except his advice and his blessing. That, e
veryone acknowledged, was how the Lord wanted them to begin. Soon enough, indeed
, the founder would be turning to those he had sent out for financial help in fi
nishing the work on the central headquarters.
Father Casciaro, in recalling his going to Mexico with two other numeraries, say
s, "We came with the blessing of the founder, a picture of our Lady that he gave
us (he always gave one to those blazing the trail in a new country), and practi
cally no money."[24] Bishop Luis Sanchez-Moreno, speaking of his return to Peru,
says, "In Rome he gave me, with great attentiveness and affection, some very go
od advice, together with his blessing, a picture of our Lady, and a crucifix."[2
5] Monsignor Escriv made up for lack of material means with prayer and affection.
"You know that, from afar, I'm always with you," he wrote to the women in Mexic
o.[26] A letter to those in Australia is headed, "How much I'm keeping you compa
ny, from here!"[27] He was totally concerned about their well-being. "What is yo
ur life like?" "Are you making progress with the language?" "Do you have friends
?" "And the food?" In a letter to the Counsellor of the United States (Father Mu
zquiz), he said: "When you write, tell me lots of things, details?that way I'll
have the feeling of living with you, even physically, in these early times in Am
erica, which are so much God's."[28]
This was not a matter of curiosity. It reflected his fatherly heart, and also pr
udent governance, as he told his daughters in the United States:

Nisa, I am grateful when you write me and tell me the little things in your life
?because I have a right to know about them, and because that way I feel that I'm
accompanying you a little more from here.[29]

He enthusiastically read the letters they sent him, and insisted they write him
often, telling him even "little bitty things."[30] And they did fill him in on t
he "trifles." In Mexico, it seems, some of them were keeping lizards as house pe
ts. Not a good idea, he emphatically told the Counsellor.[31]
If he heard that anyone in the Work was sick, he wanted to be fully informed. Wh
en Guadalupe Ortiz de Landazuri fell ill in Mexico, he immediately asked the Cou
nsellor for the details, and then wrote to her:

Guadalupe?may Jesus watch over you for me.

I'm happy to hear that you're better. Let yourself be cared for, because we can'
t allow ourselves the luxury of being sick. Sleep, eat, rest; thus you will plea
se God. For you and for everyone, a most affectionate blessing from your Father,
Mariano[32]

In this way, Monsignor Escriv built up a "family environment" and a "bond of unit
y," reaching to wherever there were people of Opus Dei.[33] This was especially
needed when the Work was getting started in a new country. He often reminded the
m that they had the same assets that he started out with in 1928: youth, God's g
race, and good cheer. He told his daughters in Naples: "With good cheer and God'
s grace, carry on."[34]
It could, of course, be hard on them at times. In such cases he sought to lift t
heir spirits in any way that he could. To a young son of his in Ecuador, he wrot
e:

It makes sense that we have to suffer?you, I, and the others?because suffering i

s the proof of love. And it doesn't take ? away our peace, if we have the spirit of
Opus Dei. And it's a sign of supernatural fruitfulness. Clear?[35]
*TYPO
To those in Vienna, feeling overwhelmed by difficulties in their apostolic work,
he recommended making arrangements with those in Germany to tend their centers
so they could get away for a rest. And in a letter addressed to the Counsellor o
f Germany, he said, "all of that is of no importance, as long as you don't fail
to keep the norms for me and as long as you get yourselves some rest."[36]
At times, seeing no results from their efforts and feeling pessimism coming on,

they would turn to the Father for consolation. Take a step back and try to view
matters from a certain distance, and from a supernatural perspective, he would a
dvise. So, for example, he wrote his daughters in Ireland:

I hear you're a bit depressed, pessimistic. And I'm writing to tell you that you
have nothing but reasons to be cheerful and optimistic.
Of course, up close to the painting?as you are?one sometimes can't see how good
it is. I am aware of your circumstances, and I advise you to speak sincerely wit
h your Counsellor.[37]

The "apparent sterility of the endeavor," was no cause for discouragement:

If this happens, rejoice and be full of fortitude, for great profit soon will co
me from that tribulation. A nail that meets no resistance when being hammered in
to a wall won't bear much weight. But if the wall offers resistance, the nail ca
n then bear a heavy weight.
Months?sometimes years?of apparent sterility go by. But don't forget that if the
seed being sown is sanctity, it is never lost; others will gather the fruit.[38
]
Of course, not everyone could adapt to new surroundings. "If the 'transplanting'
is too hard on you," the founder wrote to one son, "there's no kind of failure,
or shame, in leaving that country in order to work in another."[39] Eventually
the first requests for admission to the Work would come. The Father would affect
ionately call them "my firstborn." And as such they had a spiritual responsibili
ty. To Dick Rieman, the first Opus Dei member born in the United States, the Fat
her wrote:

May you be a mortified and Eucharistic man of prayer. That way you will make a g
ood foundation stone in that great and generous America?The first?have you ever
thought about this grace from God, and the blessed responsibility it entails?[40
]

He also added another point to the allegory of transplantation.

To make newly-planted trees grow straight, gardeners or horticulturalists often

set a stake next to them?a big, sturdy, upright pole that doesn't give any fruit
of its own or have any mission except to ensure the growth and fruitfulness of
that small young tree. What dedication, what humility!
Directors and priests in particular must be that pole, and rejoice in the life,
vigor, and fruit of the others. With a marvelous parental spirit, they should be
poles that help the "transplants" put down roots and grow in Christ Jesus.[41]

2. Prehistory: Trips through Europe

"How much I would like to see you in your own element!" the founder wrote his so
ns in Venezuela in 1964.[42] They had spent thirteen years by then trying to put
down roots and get beyond the stage of being foreigners. This was something he
was always insisting on. "My children shouldn't have an emigrant mentality, beca
use they go to the new country to love it, to serve it selflessly," he said.[43]
Years earlier, he had made just that point to those in Venezuela:

At the same time that you are serving souls, understand, excuse, treat with sens
itivity and sincere affection, and keep serving with all your strength, that ble
ssed land of Venezuela, your new homeland.[44]

He waited more than twenty years to visit the Americas. The members of the Work
who were there kept inviting and encouraging him to come, but he kept putting it
off because of work, lack of time, or the demands of the virtue of poverty.[45]
And, indeed, he was immersed in the work of governing. The paperwork, constantly
expanding, required his presence in the central headquarters. "I'm swamped with

paper and worked to death," he wrote Juan Bautista Torello.[46] But, faithful t
o his principle that the worldwide expansion of Opus Dei had to be done "in Rome
and from Rome," he stayed at his post.
His only absences from Rome, in these Cold War years, were infrequent short trip
s to prepare the way for expansion of the Work, as in the case of Germany, Austr
ia, and Switzerland. Coming as it did before the transplanting itself, he called
this work "prehistory."[47]

* **

After a year spent traveling up and down Italy, the founder decided to turn his
attention to the German-speaking countries of Central Europe. Leaving Rome on No
vember 22, 1949, he stopped first in several cities of northern Italy: Genoa, Mi
lan, Como, Turin?,[48] From there he went to Innsbruck, where he spent two days
and met with some professors at the university, and with its president. On Novem
ber 30 he arrived in Munich. After Mass the next morning he visited Cardinal Fau
lhaber, the archbishop, who received him in a most friendly manner.[49] They spo
ke at length in Latin about the pastoral problems of the German dioceses, about
the Catholics who had fled the countries of Eastern Europe and sought refuge in
West Germany, and about the Work. The cardinal was very pleased at the prospect
of having Opus Dei in Bavaria.
This was not the only place where people were looking forward to Opus Dei's comi
ng. But, feeling the same sense of urgency, the Father was at pains not to rush
things. (He also had a lot else on his mind in the period 1950-1954?major constr
uction work at Villa Tevere, the "opposition by the good" in Italy, providing fo
rmation to new members, expansion to the Americas.)
In Germany the first overtures involved brief stays during university vacations,
with people coming and going. In May 1953, Opus Dei acquired an old house, not
very attractive but of good size in Bonn. Adapted and enlarged over the years, i
t would become the "Althaus" (old house) student residence. But first it was nec
essary to grapple with difficulties such as the language, lack of money, and bou
ts of impatience and exhaustion.[50] The founder wrote to those who had gone to
Germany:

Have patience?Rome wasn't built in a day. Vocations willcome, solid and abundant
. But they won't come out of thin air, especially not in the case of Germans.[51
]

About a year after the extraordinary cure of his diabetes, he set out on a long
trip to visit a number of places in Switzerland and then evaluate the situation
in Austria. Leaving Rome on April 22,1955, he traveled via Milan and Como, to Ei
nsiedeln, Zurich, Basel, Luzern, Bern, Fribourg, and Sankt Gallen.[52] At Don Al
varo's suggestion they made a 600-mile detour to visit his children in Germany,
before crossing into Austria.[53]
Arriving at Althaus on May 1, he told those living there to work hard and be ver
y cheerful. These were his words to one of them:

My son, doesn't it thrill you to see the trust that the Lord has placed in us? H
e seems to have tied the fruitfulness of our work to our fidelity. What a great
responsibility we have! And what an experience of divine filiation, in light of
God's trust! What a thrill, to think of the harvest coming in this land of Germa
ny!
The Work already has the aura of a cultivated field, of something completed, eve
n though twenty-seven years is nothing for a moral entity, and even less for a f
amily that the Lord has chosen to start and that must last as long as there are
people on earth, to serve the Church, to spread the reign of Christ for the good
of souls, to make humankind happy, bringing it to God.[54]

After visiting Diisseldorf, to obtain visas, Monsignor Escriv and Don ?lvaro arri
ved in Vienna. They stayed at a hotel, near a railroad station. Vienna was still

divided into four sectors, French, British, Russian, and American? under milita
ry occupation. As the two priests toured the city on foot garbed in cassocks, th
ey came across a group of Russian soldiers. This reminder of Communism's presenc
e in central Europe brought back to the founder memories of violence during the
Spanish Civil War: mass executions, church burnings, blasphemies and profanation
s, and Communist brigades.
A few days before leaving Rome (where a group of his sons were studying German i
n anticipation of going to Austria),[55] he had written to Father Par: "If thing
s get better in Austria?with the Russians leaving?it will be time to start think
ing about Vienna."[56] It was generally known that the occupation troops would b
e withdrawn; otherwise he would hardly have gone to Vienna with an eye to gettin
g i started there. For he had no intention of tempting God by sending ??? member
s of Opus Dei to places where Communism ruled. "I don't ; send out my children r
ecklessly," he once remarked. "I can't send you where your mothers wouldn't send
you, since I love you as much as ??? your mothers do."[57]
During his three days in Vienna, he met with the nuncio, Monsignor Giovanni Dell
epiane, and spoke at length with the auxiliary bishop, Franz Jachym. He returned
to Rome on May 12. On November 16 of that year (1955) he set out on another lon
g trip through Europe. The itinerary included Lausanne and Geneva in Switzerland
, Paris, Versailles, Chartres, and Lisieux, where he prayed at the grave of Sain
t Therese. Then came Rouen, Amiens, and Lille, Louvain and Antwerp, followed by
Breda, Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, and Utrecht. This was to lay the foundat
ions of the Work in the Low Countries. He then crossed into Germany and visited
his sons at Althaus, in Bonn, saying to them:

The prehistory of the German region is over; now we're beginning the history....
Today, November 30, 1955, we enter ??? into the history of this region. It's no
t something that is going to happen immediately or suddenly. It will take a few
months of waiting. But people will come; we'll move out from Bonn and start work
ing in a wider variety of activities.[58]

Early December saw him in Cologne, Munich, Salzburg, Linz, and on December 3, Vi
enna. Next morning he said Mass at Saint Stephen's Cathedral, and there, praying
his thanksgiving after Mass before the statue of Maria Potsch, he said for the
first time the aspiration "Sancta Maria, Stella Orientis, filios tuos adiuva!" [
"Holy Mary, Star of the East, help your children!"]. From his correspondence at
that time, it seems clear that with those words he was commending to the Mother
of God the future apostolate in the European countries then under Communist rule
. That day he wrote to the General Council: "I continue to think that Vienna is
a magnificent location for working in the East.... I made a resolution today tha
t has to do with devotion to the Blessed Virgin."[59] Five days later he wrote a
gain from Vienna:
I feel safe in saying that our Lord God is going to give us abundant means (faci
lities, personnel) to work for him in Eastern Europe better each day, until the
gates of Russia open to us?which will happen.
Get people to say this aspiration often: "Sancta Maria, Stella Orientis, filios
tuos adiuva!"[60]
He returned to Bonn on December 7, and on the tenth was back in Rome. "My sons,
the world has great need of you," he said, summing up his trip.[61]
In 1956 he again visited France and Central Europe. Leaving Rome on June 23, he
went first to Switzerland (Bern and Lausanne), and then to France (Lyon, Versail
les, and Paris). In Paris he celebrated Mass at the center on Saint Germain Boul
evard. On July 1 he visited Belgium and then immediately continued on to Germany
. After that, he crossed back over Switzerland and reached Rome on July 18. A mo
nth later, he headed out to Switzerland again, to take part in the General Congr
ess of 1956, held in Einsiedeln from August 21 to 28.
In 1957 he took a number of trips outside of Italy. In May he spent two weeks in
France. In August, he traveled through Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and S
witzerland. During this trip, he celebrated Mass at the Eigelstein university re
sidence, the first center opened by his daughters in Cologne.[62]

Opus Dei's "prehistory" stage was coming to an end in these places. In 1958 the
founder celebrated Mass for his daughters who had set up a center in Paris; and
in the second half of September, he made a swing that took him to London, The Ha
gue, Cologne, and Zurich. It appears from a letter to the Central Advisory, writ
ten from Sankt Gallen, that he was pleased. "Lots of good things going on in Hol
land, Germany, and Switzerland. Things as good as those in England."[63]

* **

Pilgrimages to Marian shrines and to places where saints were buried, or had liv
ed, marked out stages in Monsignor Escriv's "prehistory" travels in Europe. Among
these places were Einsiedeln, Lourdes, Loreto, Fatima, and Willesden, the shrin
es of Our Lady of the Pillar in Saragossa, and of the Miraculous Medal in Paris,
Assisi, Bari, Lisieux, Ars, and Siena.[64]
His trips were necessarily abbreviated, since he could not absent himself from I
taly for any length of time. Yet the need to explain the Work to bishops require
d him to go everywhere. One result was his own serious exhaustion. But he cheerf
ully offered up weariness and discomfort, while brightening the travel for his c
ompanions with songs, and bolstering the apostolic work with untold numbers of r
osaries.[65] The afternoon meditations given for those with him, often had as th
eir theme the Lord's words to the apostles, "I chose you and appointed you that
you should go and bear fruit..." (Jn 15:16).
He returned from these trips laden with material for his interior life or to use
for other purposes. A postcard to the architects of Villa Tevere sent from Laus
anne and showing a local scene bore the inscription: "A nice fountain!"[66] Here
is the origin of the Fontana degli Asinelli in the courtyard of Opus Dei's inte
rnational headquarters in Rome. In Vienna he saw a column with a dedication to t
he Blessed Trinity: "Deo Patri Creatori; Deo Filio Redemptori; Deo Spiritu Sanct
ificatori." The words were engraved on the reredos of the oratory at Villa Tever
e where he usually celebrated Mass.[67]
Monsignor Escriv also brought back vivid memories of cheerfulness in the face of
poverty. An instance dating from June 28,1956, at the center on Saint Germain Bo
ulevard in Paris illustrates the point, though it is hardly an isolated case.
After the Father celebrated Mass that day in the center, everyone went to the di
ning room for breakfast. Including him and his companions, it was a larger group
than usual, and it had been necessary to set out not only all of the china, but
a chipped cup without its handle, concealing it with a napkin, and relegating i
t to the last place, in the hope that it would go unnoticed.
Instead of taking the place of honor, the founder went to sit just where they le
ast wanted him to. Lifting the napkin, he saw holy poverty. Moved, he took the c
up to Rome. And there it found a place of honor, in a cabinet of souvenirs, each
having its own little story.
One day a visiting clergyman spied the cup in its prominent place. Having no ide
a how it got there, he uttered words of polite but mistaken praise: "That's onyx
! What a beautiful piece!" To which the founder replied, "May Saint Lucy improve
your vision! You think it's onyx, when really it's a bit of heaven?a marvelous
manifestation of the poverty we live in Opus Dei with great joy and love. And a
manifestation of the holy cleverness of my children, who didn't want me to see h
ow poor they were."[68]

* **

The Work had been in England almost twelve years when Monsignor Escriv first visi
ted London in 1958. He stayed from the beginning of August to the middle of Sept
ember, then returned several times in the years that followed, making Great Brit
ain the country in which he spent more time than any other except for Spain and
Italy.
During that first visit he toured London and some of the nearby sights. Writing
to Michael Richards, the first man to ask admission to Opus Dei in England, he s
aid:


This England, you rascal, e una grande bella cosa [is a big, beautiful thing]! I
f you help us?you especially?we will do some solid work in this crossroads of th
e world. Pray and offer little mortifications with joy.[69]
Thinking of all those people walking the streets of London, so many of whom had
only a superficial knowledge of Christ, the founder felt powerless to do anythin
g for them. But God could, and he turned naturally to prayer. On August 11, he v
isited Cambridge. Two days later during a get-together at the Work's student res
idence in London, Netherhall House, he spoke of beginning apostolic work in Oxfo
rd, Cambridge, and Manchester. England, he pointed out, was a world crossroads.
People of all nations came there; and many of them were from places where Opus D
ei was not yet present. The possibilities were intriguing.
One of his trips took him to Michaelham Priory, in Eastbound. At the shrine of W
illesden he renewed the consecration of the Work to the Heart of Mary. It was th
ere, apparently, while pondering the evangelization of England, that he received
a locution, a message from the Lord: "You, no! I, yes!" God could do what he co
uld not.[70]
Back in Rome, he described the experience in a meditation that he gave to his so
ns:

A little over a month ago, I was in a country that I love a lot. It's full of se
cts and heresies, and there's a pervasive indifference to the things of God. Con
templating this panorama, I grew distressed, I felt incompetent, helpless: "Jose
maria, here you can't do anything." I was right. By myself I couldn't accomplish
a single thing; without God, I couldn't even manage to pick up a straw from the
ground. It was so obvious that I was totally ineffective that I almost became s
ad. And that's bad. How can a son of God become sad? He can get tired, because h
e's pulling the cart like a faithful donkey. But sad, no. Sadness is a bad thing
!
Suddenly, in the middle of a street where people from every part of the world we
re coming and going, I felt within me, in the depths of my heart, the efficacy o
f God's strength: "You, no; you can't do anything. But I?I can do everything. Yo
u are ineptitude, but I am Omnipotence. I will be with you, and make you effecti
ve! We will draw souls to happiness, to unity, to the path of the Lord, to salva
tion! Here, too, we will sow abundant peace and joy!" [71]

Of material means he had hardly any, and Opus Dei's British members were very fe
w. But the founder was determined to accept God's invitation. The first step was
to establish a Regional Commission and to send more people. He also hoped to fi
nd a church in London that priests of Opus Dei could staff.
Getting started in Oxford was another priority. On August 21 he met with a profe
ssor from King's College, to discuss the requirements. A few days later the auxi
liary bishop of London, Bishop George Laurence Craven, who was knowledgeable abo
ut Oxford, spoke with the administrator of Westminster Cathedral, Monsignor Gord
on Wheeler, about the possibility of obtaining a house there called Grandpont. I
t became Opus Dei's in 1959.
Monsignor Escriv returned to England that summer of 1959 brimming with plans for
Grandpont and a university hall at Oxford.[72] In a letter to the General Counci
l, he confessed: "We here are working more than resting." [73] The summers of 19
60 and 1961 also found him in Great Britain.
In 1962 he went to England for the last time. The new headquarters of the Region
al Commission had just been completed. Other projects were under way or in the p
lanning stages. The founder was seen praying the Rosary in Anglican churches, an
d even before the altar of Westminster Abbey. The years that followed brought a
boys club on the south side of London, a university residence, Greygarth, in Man
chester, and a conference center and retreat house, Wickenden Manor, in Sussex.
The women of Opus Dei opened residences in London, Bangor, and Manchester. And o
n November 1,1966, the Queen Mother herself inaugurated a new building for Nethe
rhall. All these developments the founder watched with satisfaction from Rome.[7
4]

3. New countries (1952-1962)

As we have seen, Opus Dei's first burst of foreign expansion took place between
1948 and 1952. A second phase occurred during the decade of 1952 to 1962. Speakin
g to a group of his sons on October 2 in the latter year, the founder said:
The Father knows, more than anyone, about the beginnings of the Work in a partic
ular country?the difficulties, the hopes ... So I can assure you that all the re
gions are, humanly speaking, in better shape and endowed with more resources tha
n I was on that day of October 2,1928. You can't imagine what it cost to get the
Work launched. But what a marvelous adventure! It's like cultivating forested l
and. First you have to cut down the trees, pull out the underbrush, remove the s
tones, so that then you can plow the land deeply and spread the fertilizer.... Y
ou have to do a lot of waiting, working, and suffering before the wheat is store
d in the barns.[75]
Beginning Opus Dei in new countries was very difficult. His children learned fro
m the founder's example to keep smiling. Speaking of the early days in Germany,
Father Par recalls a conversation that took place in 1957, as the two of them we
re riding through Cologne. They had just visited the first residence of the wome
n's branch in Germany. The Father was speaking about the apostolic projects that
needed to be started, as soon as possible. When he finished outlining what he h
ad in mind he asked his companion what he thought. Father Par was overwhelmed, d
azed by the many obstacles he foresaw, and could speak only of the great difficu
lties. The Father cut him off abruptly and firmly. "I already know all that," he
said. "But that's what you're here for?to overcome the difficulties."[76] Perha
ps that explains why he spoke of the members of the Work as "co-founders."
How hard things could get, and the lengths, too, to which members were prepared
to go in facing problems, are suggested in correspondence between the founder an
d the Counsellor of Mexico, Father Pedro Casciaro:

Rome, July 9,1953 Dear Perico,

May Jesus watch over you for me. I've read your letter, and am happy with your s
pirit, which is so identified with mine.... Otherwise we wouldn't be the Good Sh
epherd. But in no way can I consent to your making an offering?that offering?bec
ause your desire is sufficient for the Lord, and because that path would be all
too convenient for us. You need to die old, worn out by work, and cheerful. Got
that?
A hug and a blessing from your Father.[77]

Father Casciaro had expressed the wish to offer his life, so that Opus Dei might
put down roots in Mexico without any vocations being abandoned. This calls to m
ind the request he had made in 1938, in Burgos, that the Lord transfer to him th
e illness that the Father was suffering. But the Father saw such gestures as the
easy way out for a member of Opus Dei.[78] In fact, he held that it was largely
because of the obstacles that Opus Dei was spreading.
Do you know why Opus Dei has developed like this? It's because the Work has been
treated like a sack of wheat. It's been beaten and battered. But the seeds are
so small that they haven't broken. On the contrary, they've been scattered to th
e four winds and have landed on all the human crossroads where there are hearts
hungry for the Truth, hearts well disposed .. .
What has happened is what always happens when obstacles are raised against God's
endeavors. The birds of the air and the insects, despite all the damage their v
oraciousness inflicts on plants, do something that makes the plants fertile: the
y carry the seed far and wide, stuck to their legs. The Lord has used the defama
tions we suffer to help us go places sooner than we'd have done otherwise. The s
eed isn't lost.[79]
The expansion took place constantly and steadily in a number of quite diverse co
untries. The founder wrote:

The Lord and his Most Blessed Mother are abundantly blessing their Opus Dei. It
is now actually at work in every part of the world not under Communist rule and
putting special effort into the tasks we have been given by the Holy See.... The
se sons and daughters do not forget that they are just as much missionaries on t
he asphalt of London, Madrid, Paris, Washington, or Rome.[80]

Having begun in 1951 in Colombia and Venezuela and the following year in Germany
, the Work got started in Peru and Guatemala in 1953, Ecuador in 1954, Switzerla
nd and Uruguay in 1956, Austria, Brazil, and Canada in 1957, El Salvador, Kenya,
and Japan in 1958, Costa Rica in 1959, and the Netherlands a few months later.[
81] Requests came to the founder from all over the world. "They are calling us c
ontinually and insistently, even from the remotest places," he reported.[82] Som
e of the requests came from the Holy See, but most of them from bishops, and som
e from apostolic nuncios and delegates.[83]The demand was more than he could sat
isfy, but he never flatly said no.[84] Instead he left the door open: later?but
not too long.
The expansion of Opus Dei was closely linked to Monsignor Escriv's struggle to co
mplete the central headquarters and to get the Roman College of the Holy Cross u
p and running at full capacity. Without this, there would have been no expansion
, at least not at the rate he desired. In 1949 he insisted that halting work on
Villa Tevere could hobble Opus Dei for half a century; by 1960, it was clear tha
t he knew what he was talking about.
"There are," he said, "many Christians who are persuaded that the Redemption wil
l be completed in all environments of the world, and that there have to be some
souls?they do not know which ones? who will contribute to carrying it out with C
hrist. But they see this in terms of centuries, many centuries. It would be an e
ternity, if it were to take place at the rate of their self-giving."[85] For him
, by contrast, there was no room for hesitation: his zeal brooked no delays.
He was not, of course, able to do the prehistory of the new countries in Asia, A
frica, or the Americas, as he had in Europe. But he shared in the efforts of his
daughters and sons there, just the same. Though confined, as it were, within th
e walls of Villa Tevere, he was present by his prayer and mortification, whereve
r the expansion of Opus Dei was taking place.[86]

* **

Bishop Paul Yoshigoro Taguchi, of Osaka, Japan, a man of great apostolic zeal, w
as concerned about the Christianization of Japan and the situation of students i
n his diocese. The Osaka area had a population of over seven million, and many u
niversities, including five run by Protestants, as well as a great number of hig
h schools. Young people graduating from the Catholic high schools went on to sec
ular universities, many under Marxist influence and therefore a threat to their
faith.[87]
On a trip to Rome in 1957, Bishop Taguchi sought advice on dealing with this pro
blem. Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani told him about Opus Dei and suggested that he s
peak with Monsignor Escriv. The Father listened to him with sympathy, and the res
ult was a trip to Japan in April of that year by Father Joseph Muzquiz, who was
then the Regional Counsellor of Opus Dei in the United States.[88]
Father Muzquiz gave the founder a detailed report on his visit, which included m
eetings with several bishops on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu. The first memb
er of Opus Dei left for Japan to stay on November 8,1958, and others soon follow
ed.[89]
The newcomers began to become professionally established once the Seido Language
Institute got under way, in Ashiya, a city near Osaka and Kobe. The institute t
aught languages and introduced students to Western culture and Catholic doctrine
.[90] At the same time? 1960?the first women of Opus Dei set out from Rome for J
apan.

* * *

The expansion of Opus Dei naturally brought Monsignor Escriv into contact with an
ever-growing number of ecclesiastical authorities in the dioceses involved. One
instance in particular is instructive for the light it sheds on his prudence in
governing and his patience in the face of conflict. The founder of Opus Dei fir
st visited the patriarch of Lisbon, Cardinal Manuel Gon alves Cerejeira, in Februa
ry 1945, on the occasion of a trip taken at the urging of Sister Lucia, the surv
iving Fatima visionary whom he visited in Spain where she was then living.[91] H
e visited the cardinal for a second time in September of that year, and on that
occasion spoke at length about Opus Dei. The first center in Portugal was establ
ished in Coimbra, in 1946. A center in Lisbon followed in 1951. Throughout these
meetings, the founder was aware that despite the cardinal's friendliness, he se
emed to draw back at the mention of apostolate in his diocese, as if offended at
the idea of having lay people get involved in this work.[92] At the founder's r
equest, Father Xavier de Ayala, the Counsellor of Portugal, kept the cardinal re
gularly and fully informed of what the members of the Work were doing, so that i
t would not be confused with the activity of religious. Still the cardinal showe
d some rigidity?enough to make the Counsellor write to the founder. By return ma
il he replied with reassurances: "Through your courteous dealings, he will overc
ome any prejudices." [93]
Following this advice, Father de Ayala kept in close touch with the cardinal and
verbally asked his permission to set up a center for the women's branch. The pe
rmission was granted in August 1952, and the center was established the followin
g March.
During the next several years Opus Dei in Portugal grew without any complaints b
y Church authorities. Then in Christmas week of 1954, Father de Ayala received a
letter from the cardinal conveying something other than "season's greetings." "
I have learned," he wrote, "that Opus Dei is trying to take a major step toward
establishing itself definitively in Lisbon, and I feel obliged to call your atte
ntion to these three points." The points were that four years after Opus Dei had
been established (with his authorization), in Lisbon, it nevertheless was the c
ase that neither the men's nor the women's branch was canonically established th
ere, the authorizations for the centers that already existed were provisional on
ly, and they had been granted "on an experimental basis."[94]
On January 6, the founder wrote to Father de Ayala, telling him to stay calm. "T
hese incidents don't have much importance, and will soon pass,"[95] he said, add
ing: "Be patient, take this little setback with cheerfulness and in silence, kee
p working quietly as you have up to now, and?I repeat?show that holy man the utm
ost respect and veneration, in accord with our practice and our spirit."[96]
Time passed but the situation remained unresolved.[97] Learning that the cardina
l had heard a rumor that Opus Dei was trying to remove itself from his jurisdict
ion, the founder considered going to Lisbon and clearing things up. But he could
not leave Rome just then, so instead he sent Don Alvaro, praying that he might
be able to free the cardinal's mind of these "unjust prejudices."[98]
On May 16 and 17 Don Alvaro and the patriarch of Lisbon had two long meetings du
ring which the cardinal explained what was bothering him.
Wasn't it true, he demanded, that the Counsellor was trying to keep him in the d
ark about things that everyone else knew, since everyone was talking about them?
For instance: the fact that Opus Dei now owned a bank. The Counsellor couldn't
have told him about Opus Dei's bank, Don Alvaro replied, since Opus Dei didn't h
ave a bank. Members of Opus Dei work at their professions, he added, without hav
ing to give an account of what they do to their directors or Church authorities,
including the bishop. The cardinal was clearly relieved at this explanation. So
Don Alvaro promptly requested?and received? permission to establish a third Opu
s Dei center in Lisbon. The cardinal was formally notified of its establishment
on July 30,1956.[99] All was cordial again.
Another year passed?apparently without any problems. Then the founder received a
long letter from the patriarch, dated September 16, 1957, saying in part, "Last
year the Procurator General, Rev. Alvaro del Portillo, came for the purpose, I
believe, of clearing up the situation. We spoke to one another with total sincer
ity and confidence.... A year has gone by, and I am now writing to you again. Du

ring this time I have prayed, reflected, and taken counsel. And the decision is
this: In conscience I believe that it is not a good thing, at this time, to admi
t Opus Dei to the Patriarchate of Lisbon, and that you should cease your activit
ies in Lisbon."[100] He went on to express reservations having to do with canon
law.[101]
Replying on September 30, Monsignor Escriv wrote that "after having attentively r
ead and meditated on" the cardinal's letter, he had put the matter in the hands
of the General Council.[102] The General Council, in view of the serious canonic
al issues involved, had concluded that it lacked competence and turned it over t
o the Holy See.[103]
Cardinal Cerejeira declared, in a letter dated October 6, that he would accept w
hatever the Holy See decided. Monsignor Escriv responded in a conciliatory tone,
stressing "the affection and veneration that I feel for you," and saying it was
"because the present case is not a personal matter, but a legal problem, that bo
th of us have submitted to the judgment of the Holy See."[104]
The canonical issue was easily settled. On November 13, the nuncio to Portugal,
received the Holy See's decision?a confirmation of Opus Dei's right to the three
centers which had been legitimately established in Lisbon.[105]
The cardinal and the founder did not see each other again for many years. Then t
he cardinal, now in his eighties, heard that Monsignor Escriv was going to spend
a few days in Lisbon. He wanted to see him and have a long talk. The conversatio
n took place on December 5, 1972. When Monsignor Escriv, Don Alvaro, and the then
-Father Javier Echevarria, the founder's secretary, arrived at the retreat house
where the cardinal was living, he was waiting anxiously for them. Bishop Echeva
rria tells what happened.
"The conversation had just begun, when Cerejeira hastened to tell the Father tha
t he wanted to ask his pardon for the suffering and the great difficulties he ha
d caused when he was running the diocese. The Father affectionately interrupted
him, assuring him that there was nothing to forgive and that, furthermore, he ha
d never felt offended. And then, with complete sincerity, he added that he also
asked pardon if he had at any time caused the cardinal the least bit of grief.
"The cardinal could not accept that, for although he knew the Father, though he
meant it, was saying it to make him feel better, when in fact there had never be
en any objective reason to complain about Opus Dei's apostolic activities in his
former diocese. So, after listening to the Father's affectionate words, Cerejei
ra insisted that he felt obliged, in conscience, to ask pardon. He had let himse
lf be overcome by an incomprehensible blindness and, by his claims, had sought t
o abuse his authority. He had thought it all over at length, he said, and had co
me to realize that his attitude had been inappropriate and completely unjust. Fi
nally, the cardinal?visibly happy, as though relieved of a heavy burden?said, 'N
ow I can die in peace.?[106] He died close to his ninetieth birthday.

4. Corporate works

Opus Dei is concerned mainly with the formation of its members. "But the zeal fo
r souls proper to its spirit means that sometimes Opus Dei itself, as a corporat
e entity, will promote apostolic endeavors and initiatives."[107] These are call
ed corporate works, since Opus Dei "assumes responsibility for the doctrinal and
spiritual formation which is imparted in them."[108] They include all kinds of
activities?athletic, cultural, artistic, and educational?carried out for socialservice purposes. And whether they be medical clinics, agricultural schools, tec
hnical-training centers, high schools, or anything else, all are also works of a
postolate, conducted in accord with the lay spirituality proper to Opus Dei. The
professional activities of the people running them are entirely secular and gov
erned by civil law.[109]
Opus Dei's first corporate work was the DYA Academy; one of its aims was the rel
igious formation of college students. It was followed by university residences w
hose number grew along with the Work. Meanwhile the founder prayed intensely, an
d for many years, that the time would come for a major initiative in higher educ

ation, "in order to build a more just society."[110] Finally he decided to take
steps toward the founding of a university. Choosing Pamplona as its site, in 195
1 he gave some of his sons in Spain the task of carrying out the first stage of
the project: the establishment of the Navarre Institute of General Studies.[111]
In April 1952, Professors Jose Maria Albareda and Amadeo de Fuenmayor arrived i
n Pamplona. They were welcomed by the city government, which promised to look in
to the possibility of financial aid. Professor Ismael Sanchez Bella arrived in J
uly 1952, and pressed the question. The government undertook to provide a two-ye
ar subsidy amounting to half of what he had requested. That was very little for
launching a university, but Monsignor Escriv insisted that the project go forward
.
Francisco Ponz, one of the first presidents of the university, says, "The extrao
rdinary supernatural faith of the Father, his confident hope, the impetus of lov
e for God which, as in all the works that he undertook, moved him in getting the
University of Navarre started, infected all of us and prevented any vacillation
in the face of a project that many thought insane."[112] But Monsignor Escriv wa
s anything but crazy. "Start small," he told those involved in the project, "so
that the result is a baby eagle, not a fried chick."[113]
Start small it did and then grew gradually. In 1952 the School of Law began, wit
h eight faculty members and about forty students.[114] Two years later, the foun
der suggested looking into the possibility of a school of medicine. Those consul
ted unanimously counseled delay, since money, buildings, equipment, technical se
rvices, and teachers were all lacking and acquiring them would take time and be
expensive. Monsignor Escriv considered that, and then suggested that the advisors
take another look. Trusting him, they decided to move ahead. The School of Medi
cine and the School of Nursing began in 1954.[115]The following year, the Depart
ment of History began.[116] In 1958 the Institute of Journalism, and the Graduat
e Business School got under way.[117] Finally, in 1959, the launching of what wo
uld be the School of Sciences and the creation of the Institute of Canon Law (af
filiated with the Lateran University) completed the nucleus of the Navarre Insti
tute of General Studies?the future University of Navarre.[118]
As the Institute of General Studies developed and grew some bishops began to hop
e that a new Catholic university would soon be in operation.[119] Rome also supp
orted the idea. Monsignor Escriv would have preferred an institution recognized b
y the state under the terms of the 1953 Concordat between the Holy See and the S
panish government,[120] but he began taking steps to have the Navarre Institute
of General Studies set up as a Church university.[121]
On April 3, 1960, he submitted an official request to Cardinal Pizzardo that the
Institute be established as a Catholic university, saying that it met "the cond
itions stipulated by the apostolic constitution Deus Scientiarum Dominus," and t
he requirements concerning faculty, student residence, etc.[122] The Holy See co
mplied with this request in August, and on October 15 appointed Monsignor Escriv
chancellor.[123]
At the end of the summer, the founder returned from London to Rome, to seclude h
imself once again in his "nook," Villa Tevere, though this time not for very lon
g. There was awaiting him in Spain, in the second half of October, a list of aca
demic events and religious ceremonies.
Some months before, he had reached an agreement with the nunciature, at the nunc
io's request, that priests of Opus Dei would take charge of the Pontifical Churc
h of Saint Michael, in Madrid.[124] He left Rome on October 10 and spent a few d
ays in Madrid. For years he had been making only quick trips to Spain, and by no
w there were a great many Spanish members of Opus Dei who had never seen him. On
Monday, October 17, he celebrated Mass at the Pontifical Church of Saint Michae
l?and it was packed. It had to have been a deeply moving experience, bringing to
mind the first Mass he had ever said in Madrid, which had taken place in April
1927, in that very church.
From there he went to Saragossa, where on October 21 the president of the Univer
sity of Saragossa, in a very solemn act of academic investiture, bestowed on him
an honorary doctorate, and he then gave an address entitled "Aragon's Mark on t
he Universal Church."[125]Starting that afternoon, and during the rest of his st

ay in Saragossa, friends and old acquaintances streamed through the archbishop's

residence, where he was staying at the archbishop's insistence. An eye witness
recalls the scene: "Young people, and some who were not so young, "fought to get
close to our Father and receive his blessing, a sign of the cross on the forehe
ad, a kiss, a caress, or just to touch his cassock."[126] What did he make of so
much honor being heaped on him? When he got back to Rome the doctoral ring that
he had worn at the investiture ceremony was hung on the ear of a terra-cotta do
nkey in a display cabinet.[127]
On October 24 he went to Pamplona. On the next day, a long procession of profess
ors from the fledgling University of Navarre and other Spanish universities, tog
ether with local and regional civil authorities, made its way through the decora
ted streets of the city to the cathedral, where the Archbishop celebrated a Mass
attended by a third of Spain's bishops. After Mass, in the Gothic hall of the c
athedral, a ceremony formally establishing the new university took place. The nu
ncio, Archbishop Ildebrando Antoniutti, read the decree effecting the Institute'
s transformation.[128]
In an afternoon ceremony the chancellor was given the title of "Adopted Son of P
amplona." There he gave this brief sketch of the role of the university:
We want to make Navarre a first-rate cultural center in the service of our Mothe
r the Church. We want learned people with a Christian sense of life to be formed
here. In this environment, so well suited to calm reflection, we want knowledge
grounded in the most solid principles to be cultivated, with its light cast upo
n every field of human learning.[129]
In his vision of what the university should be, the dominant idea was that of se
rvice. Indeed his address that morning had been on "The University at the Servic
e of the World."[130]
The purposes of the new university, he said, were to "promote research," "offer
specialized courses," and "contribute to the development of a synthesis of cultu
re" by making clear "the unity of human truth, illuminated and vivified by the C
atholic faith."[131] Conducted on Christian principles, the university would be
open to everyone, without discrimination, and would be free and autonomous. From
its halls would come fine men and women with a great love for the truth. In an
address given there on May 9,1974, he put it this way:
The university knows that the objectivity required for science rightly rules out
all ideological neutrality, all ambiguity, all conformism, all cowardliness. Lo
ve for the truth permeates the whole life and work of the scientist, and fortifi
es his character of honesty in the face of possibly uncomfortable situations.[13
2]
Ultimately, Monsignor Escriv looked to the University of Navarre, as to the other
corporate works of Opus Dei, to be a seedbed of spiritual growth. "I measure th
e effectiveness of those enterprises," he said, "by the degree of holiness attai
ned by those working in them."[133]In October, 1960, the dean of the School of M
edicine, a member of the Work, approached him to voice some concerns. The Father
interrupted him. "And you, why did you come to Pamplona?" he asked. "To help bu
ild this university," the dean replied. To which Monsignor Escriv responded empha
tically and loudly: "My son, you have come here to become a saint. If you succee
d in doing that, you will have accomplished everything."[134]
Now that Navarre was a university, Church and State needed to iron out the detai
ls so that it could confer degrees having full civil recognition."[135] That "sh
ould have been easy, but the business dragged on for a year and a half and requi
red the signing of an agreement between the Holy See and the Spanish government
to resolve some notable difficulties."[136]
Obstacles came from very different sources. First there were the politicians con
nected with the Falange, which had an authoritarian view of the state and oppose
d academic freedom at universities. Some university professors felt the same way
.[137] Then, just as the proposal for recognition was being prepared, a rumor be
gan circulating that Opus Dei had established the University without consulting
the Spanish bishops.[138] As the nuncio well knew, however, the requests, advice
, and instructions of the Holy See had been followed from the start.
In April 1962 the negotiations were completed and the agreement was signed. In M

ay it was formally ratified by the Spanish government and the Holy See. The decr
ee of the National Education Ministry granting civil validity to degrees conferr
ed by the University of Navarre was published on September 8,1962.
In a letter written two days after the signing of the agreement, the founder tha
nks the nuncio, Archbishop Antoniutti, for his "affectionate solicitude and holy
tenacity," adding, "I cannot forget the difficulties?some misunderstandings?tha
t Your Excellency had to overcome."[139]
He had plenty of opportunity to exercise his own "holy tenacity," for he faced b
arriers of incredible obstinacy and prejudice on the part of some civil authorit
ies and the press of an authoritarian country. In the ensuing conflicts, he vigo
rously deployed arguments based on justice and common sense. A letter to Pope Pa
ul VI, written on June 14, 1964, after the dust had settled, sums up his involve
ment in the negotiations:

Faced with the state's resistance to drawing the legal consequence (civil recogn
ition) of a solemn act of the Church (the establishment of the Catholic universi
ty), I went to Spain and protested, first to Franco, then to all the ministers,
one by one. Only two conversations were unpleasant and tense: that with Minister
Solis, Secretary of the Falange and head of the labor unions, and, especially,
that with Castiella.[140]

Financing the university was another problem. As the number of departments and s
chools went up, so did the budget. Available assistance covered only 30 percent
of the cost. The Association of Friends of the University of Navarre was establi
shed in 1962, for fundraising.[141]There was no question of seeking subsidies fr
om the Church. -"Never give us anything?not even a Mass stipend," the founder to
ld the Archbishop of Pamplona.[142]

* * *

Around this time, Archbishop Gastone Mojaisky Perelli, apostolic delegate for Ea
st and West British Africa, was reflecting on the uncertain future of the Africa
n continent, which at mid-century had experienced a very rapid decolonization. I
n response to an upsurge in nationalism, by 1960 more than twenty countries had
gained total independence. And now forces long suppressed by the colonial regime
s were asserting themselves. The apostolic delegate was in Mombasa in Kenya, whi
ch had just emerged from the Mau Mau uprising, and was now preparing for indepen
dence. In the neighboring countries, too, history was being made at a dizzying p
ace. And the headlong scramble for preeminence under way in the spheres of polit
ics and culture extended also to religious institutions.
Archbishop Mojaisky had drawn troubling conclusions about what was happening. "W
e've lost the race in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It's already bee
n a few months since the Queen Mother established a university there. And we've
lost the race in Uganda, where Makerere College is up and running. I don't want
to lose the next round."[143]
He decided to write to Monsignor Escriv, whom he had met in Rome, and greatly adm
ired.

Mombasa, October 26,1957 Illustrious and esteemed Monsignor:

I want to take advantage of our "old friendship" to ask of you a very great favo
r for the Church in these lands. You know the needs and potential of the African
missions. We have reached a critical point. The number of Christians, the incre
ase in conversions, the imminent change to "self-government," etc., have set in
motion a game that will have extraordinary consequences for Africa's future.
The next twenty years will decide?who knows for how long?whether Catholicism wil
l be the religion of the majority, with the greatest influence in these lands, o
r whether? God forbid?it will be reduced to one more Christian sect among so man
y.
Thus it is of the utmost importance that a Catholic university be founded?even i
f it's only one department, offering only the first courses in its one subject.

It is essential to get there ahead of the others....

I ask you, before God, to see if you can provide me, as soon as possible, with m
embers who can start a civil engineering school in Nairobi, Kenya. They should b
e English-speaking, and the president possibly from Great Britain (Oxford or Cam
bridge).
I should add that the Propagation of the Faith would help us financially.
I beg you, then, to answer me (in the affirmative) and to see if you can send so
meone to study the proposal on-site.
Cordially yours in our Lord.[144]

Monsignor Escriv could hardly reject such a priestly and Catholic equest. By retu
rn mail he replied as follows:

Rome, November 4,1957

Your Excellency:
I received your letter of October 26, and want to answer it immediately.
You can't imagine how overwhelmed we are with work right now.... And it will be
another few years before we could provide you with all the people that would be
needed.
Nevertheless, Your Excellency's request is such a priestly one that it is imposs
ible for me to say no. So, as Your Excellency wishes, at the end of January a co
uple of my sons who are engineers?one of them English-speaking?will go there to
work with Your Excellency on how to get that project started. After they get bac
k and report to the General Council, we will try to get that engineering school
under way as soon as possible. Let us hope it will be the foundation for a full
university.
Financial help from Propagation of the Faith will really be necessary, since we
are swamped in debt, with the many apostolic endeavors that Opus Dei has launche
d simultaneously in so many different countries.
Don't forget to pray for us, Your Excellency.
Affectionately yours in the Lord,
JosemEscriv de B.[145]

In October 1958, at the founder's request, Father Pedro Casciaro visited Kenya t
o see how things stood.[146] England was at that time preparing Kenya for indepe
ndence. With a multiracial transitional government in place, Monsignor Escriv was
open to founding a Catholic university, provided that the government would guar
antee to respect its independence, and autonomous functioning. But this proved i
mpossible, and the project therefore would have to be modified.
But the Sacred Congregation, Archbishop Mojaisky, and the archbishop of Nairobi,
John J. McCarthy, had no idea what to do. The existing educational system requi
red the creation of special two-year schools to serve as bridges between seconda
ry education and the university, and such schools did not exist in Kenya.[147]
It was the founder, Father Casciaro tells us, who suggested establishing an "ins
titute of higher education" and a student residence. The institution, Strathmore
College, would observe the secularity proper to Opus Dei, and adhere to four ge
neral guidelines: It would be interracial; it would be open to non-Catholics and
non-Christians; it would not be classified as a mission school; and students wo
uld have to pay at least a token amount, since otherwise they might not apprecia
te what they were receiving.[148]
Strathmore College opened in March 1961, with the political transition in full s
wing. Legislative elections that year cleared the way for internal autonomy in 1
962, followed by total independence in 1963. British and Kenyan authorities alik
e were skeptical about the prospects of a college open to students of every race
, tribe, and religion. It was the first such experiment in East Africa, and no o
ne thought it would succeed. From the outset, nevertheless it admitted Africans,
whites, and Indians; adherents of all religions, and members of different tribe
s. This reflected a guiding principle supplied by the founder of Opus Dei: "Ther
e is only one race, the race of the children of God."[149]
Acting at his suggestion, the women of the Work established Kianda College, Keny

a's first secretarial school. It was a contribution to the social advancement of

Kenyan women, since its graduates, coming from all social classes and walks of
life, went on to staff public organizations and private enterprises.[150]
Bringing all these different religious, ethnic, and tribal groups to live and st
udy together, without discrimination or prejudice, was not only idealistic, but,
as it turned out, necessary. "Had those guidelines not been followed," says Fat
her Casciaro, "when Kenya gained independence the College would have either disa
ppeared or been expropriated."[151]

* * *

In 1956 Monsignor Escriv learned that Pope Pius XII wanted Opus Dei to take on on
e of the prelatures nullius shortly to be established in mission territories. Bi
shop Antonio Samore, an official of the Secretariat of State, visited him, and s
howed him a map of Peru indicating the boundaries of the new jurisdictions. Then
he invited the founder to choose the one that seemed most suitable for the Work
. The founder declined. He would prefer to let others choose. Opus Dei would tak
e what was left.[152]
By an apostolic constitution dated April 12, 1957, a new prelature nullius was e
stablished and assigned to Opus Dei. It was made up of the territories of the pr
ovinces of Huarochiri and Yauyos that were taken from the archdiocese of Lima. N
amed prelate was Monsignor? later Bishop?Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo y Goicoechea,
of Opus Dei.[153]
Five years later, the archbishop of Lima (Cardinal Juan Landazuri) and the prela
te of Yauyos, asked the Holy See to adjust the boundaries.[154] The prelature, a
fter that adjustment, covered an area of about 6,000 square miles, with a popula
tion of about 165,000. Bishop Orbegozo describes it as, "an extremely poor and i
solated area, for lack of roads. Altitudes ranged from 9,000 to 18,000 feet. It
was destitute. More than ninety churches were in semi-ruins and abandoned. There
had been no priests there for twenty-five years."[155]
From the start the prelate was assisted by a number of diocesan priests, members
of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, whose bishops had given them permiss
ion to transfer to the new prelature. They ministered to miserably poor villages
and hamlets lost among mountain peaks or abandoned on desolate plateaus, making
their rounds on horseback on mountain trails winding along the edges of precipi
ces. The trails were often so narrow that a false step would have sent them hurt
ling down. They administered the sacraments?Baptism, Matrimony, Anointing of the
Sick?repaired ruined churches, heard confessions and celebrated Mass. Many of t
he people spoke only Quechuan; but the priests preached to them and consoled the
m just the same.
The Father thought often of those priests. This is one of the letters he wrote t
hem:

Paris, January 30,1958

Dearest Ignacio and everyone?may Jesus keep those sons in Yauyos safe for me.
How much I've been wanting to write to you! But, as others have already told you
, what with illnesses and work that couldn't be postponed, it's been nearly impo
ssible to write even a few lines.
I am especially concerned about you fellows?I am praying for you, and getting ot
hers to, and I'm with you, and I'm very proud of you.
I know how hard it is to break ground. As soon as possible we will try to have o
ther brothers of yours go there, until there are twenty of you, besides the prel
ate. We won't leave any stone unturned, and I am sure that we will surpass all o
ur goals.
Be men of prayer, fulfill the norms for me. Always be cheerful and optimistic. E
at, sleep, look after one another, obeying your prelate with a supernatural spir
it. Be sincere, observe the blessed practice of fraternal correction. And don't
forget that this poor sinner, your Father, offers you every day to the Lord and
to our Blessed Mother, holy Mary, as the first fruits of the missionary work tha
t will soon be expanding to Nairobi and Osaka?a shoreless sea of Love!

With all my soul, I bless and embrace you.

Your Father,
Mariano[156]

Some nights when he couldn't sleep, the Father would travel in imagination to wh
ere they were, and trudge up and down the mountains with them, sharing in their
fatigue. He wrote to the prelate: "How glad I would be to see each and every one
of my sons there, and chat with them at length. I'm hoping the Lord will give m
e that joy very soon?I, too, live and breathe for Yauyos."[157]
His great dream was to see priestly vocations springing up in the Andes to conti
nue the work of the priests sent from Europe. He wrote the prelate:

"I pray for all of you every day, and I pray especially for those young men you
are preparing?I am already dreaming of the priestly vocations for the prelature
of Yauyos that will come from among those Indians. The work may not be easy, but
I know it's the right thing and in the end will bear fruit for the religious fu
ture of those lands."[158]

A quarter-century later, Bishop Orbegozo was able to give this account of the Pr
elature of Yauyos:

Having just marked its twenty-fifth anniversary, this territory, so cherished by

the founder in his heart and in his daily prayer, is an ecclesiastical territor
y with an enviable structure. It has a major seminary and twenty native-born pri
ests. And some first-rate apostolic enterprises?a broadcasting station, schools,
model farms, a teachers' college, laboratories, and the like?and, among the fai
thful, a high level of practice of the faith.[159]
[1]See Letter 16 Jun 1968, no. 1. Monsignor Juan Hervas Benet says that one day,
while telling the founder about the visits he had just made to Cuba and the Unit
ed States (January 1945), he could see that "extending his work to those and man
y other countries had always been part of his plan, because the Work had been bo
rn universal." And he adds: "From what he said to me, and, above all, from the w
ay he said it, I understood that this expansion had been burning inside of him f
or a long time, because in him Opus Dei was like a consuming fire of zeal": see
Beato Josemaria Escrivd de Balaguer: un hombre de Dios. Testimonios sobre el Fun
dador del Opus Dei (Madrid, 1994), pp. 187-88. (This book will hereafter be cite
d as Testimonios.)
[2]Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2229.
[3]AGP, RHF, EF-561203-1 (a letter to Maria Elina Gainza). The founder liked to s
ay that the universal expansion of the Work had been carried out "in Rome and fr
om Rome" (see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 632).
[4]Utter 7 Oct 1958, no. 53.
[5]AGP, P01 1975, p. 1554.
[6]Letter 16 Jun 1968, no. 5.
[7]Ibid.
[8]Ibid.
[9]Ibid., no. 6.
[10]Ibid., nos. 10-11.
[11]Letter 14 Sep 1951, no. 2.
[12]Ibid., no. 3.
[13]"He often told us," says Mercedes Morado, "that we should 'go quickly, at God
's pace/ and that he was there to put on the brakes and to act with prudence" (A
GP, RHF, T-O7902, p. 95). See Juan Hervas, in Testimonios, pp. 187-88.
[14]Letter 16 Jun 1968, no. 6.
[15]Ibid., no. 12.
[16]Ibid.
[17]A member of the Work who entered the Roman College of the Holy Cross in Octob
er 1959 recalls that a few days after the arrival of the students, the Father in

vited a group of them to see some oratories. When they reached the main sacristy
, "he paused for a moment and said, 'I'm going to show you Opus Dei's secret/ an
d he looked with amusement at out surprised faces. Then he opened the door to th
e Council's oratory. He genuflected before the tabernacle and then read the word
s that are over the door at the back of the oratotry and the door to the cabinet
for the Mass books?those words from Acts [1:14], 'Erarnt omnes perseverantes un
animiter in oratione' ['All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer']
. And he told us that that is the only 'secret' of Opus Dei: prayer.. That that
was the weapon, the secret of our effectiveness" (AGP, RHF, T-06503 [testimony o
f Alfonso de Cardenas Rosales], p. 4).
[18]AGP, RHF, T-04678 (testimony of Jose Luis Muzquiz), p. 15. In I960, the found
er invited Olga Ma*lin, a numerary living in Ireland, to move to Nairobi. He tol
d her to think it over with complete freedom and then let him know whether or no
t she wanted to go. Olga was very impressed by the Father's faith. The women of
Opus Dei in Ireland were few, yet some would be going to Kenya, and others to Ja
pan. She commented to her director about the faith that the Father had that othe
r vocations would come to fill their places. The director replied, "Faith? Where
the Father is showing faith is in sending young girls like you to start Opus De
i on a new continent!" (AGP, RHF, T-08425 [testimony- of Olga Marlin], p. 1).
[19]In a letter (AGP, RHF, EF-500901-11) to Father Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal (the Co
unsellor of Chile), the founder says: "I think that?if you're going to do anythi
ng, with freedom of movement?you'll need the group of fellows, by the date you i
ndicate, and the administration. Then you'll be ready to set to work. But, in or
der for the girls to come, these things are essential: (1) another entrance to t
he house ..." (He lists seven conditions pertaining to the house.)
[20]AGP, RHF, T-07902, p. 106. Mercedes Morado worked in Spain's Regional Advisor
y from 1952 to 1956, and then, from 1956 to 1973, in the Central Advisory, in Ro
me. She continues:
The first thing I can tell about was when a group of numeraries went to live in G
ermany in a stable way?this was in October 1956. The men's branch had already be
en there for some years, but we didn't go until they had found us a house adequa
te for beginning a corporate work: a student residence.
The next year, they started up in Marilia, a little city in Brazil, and we did th
e same as always: the group that went to this country (a group made up of people
of different nationalities, including a couple of Portuguese girls to take care
of the language problem) did not make the trip until the house was ready. They
arrived on September 20,1957.
When they arrived, the house?I heard this from Amparo Bollafn, who was the head o
f the group that went?was clean, the table was set for breakfast, and there were
flowers in several of the rooms. Some ladies, who already knew about Opus Dei t
hrough the work of the priests, brought them lunch and supper that first day.

About the beginning in Uruguay?Montevideo?the same could be said. The women numerarie
s who went there found the house furnished with everything needed so that they w
ould have nothing to worry about for the first few days. They began there also w
ith a home economics school. See AGP, RHF, EF-520211-1 and EF-480205-1.
[21]AGP, RHF, EF-480205-1.
[22]See AGP, RHF, EF-510608-1 (a letter to the General Council).
[23]See AGP, RHF, EF-520911-1 (a letter to Amadeo de Fuenmayor).
[24]Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6347.
[25]Luis Sanchez-Moreno, Sum. 6427. When he sent sons of his to other countries,
says Archbishop Juan Larrea, they went with almost nothing but his blessing?prac
tically no money (Sum. 6025). During those years of the fifties, when the time c
ame for a group to set off for a foreign land, the Father would tell them: "My s
ons, I'm sorry not to be Luis Sanchez-Moreno, Sum. 6427. When he sent sons of hi
s to other countries, says Archbishop Juan Larrea, they went with almost nothing
but his blessing?practically no money (Sum. 6025). During those years of the fi
fties, when the time came for a group to set off for a foreign land, the Father
would tell them: "My sons, I'm sorry not to beable to give you financial help, b
ut I'm giving you the best things I have?a cross, a picture of the Blessed Virgi

n, and my fatherly blessing" (Cesar Ortiz-Echague, PM, fol. 988v). The crosses r
eferred to were little crosses made of wood from the beams of the shrine of Moli
noviejo. These were kept in the headquarters of the Regional Commissions as a si
gn of unity with the head of the Work. On September 24, 1946, in Molinoviejo, a
commitment was made by the more senior members of the Work to see to it that the
moral, spiritual, and juridical unity of Opus Dei was not impaired.
[26]AGP, RHF, EF-500620-7.
[27]AGP, RHF, EF-640408-1.
[28]AGP, RHF, EF-500313-3. (Father Muzquiz, after he moved to the United States,
anglicized his first name, becoming known as "Father Joseph Muzquiz ")
[29]AGP, RHF, EF-500923-2.
[30]See AGP, RHF, EF-500628-7, EF-590901-8, and EF-500923-6 (letters to his daugh
ters), and EF-500923-4 (a letter to his sons in England).
[31]See AGP, RHF, EF-520714-1.
[32]AGP, RHF, EF-521117-1. He wrote many such letters to those sick or otherwise
suffering. To Jose Montaftes: "I found out, eventually, that you had an appendec
tomy and that, thanks be to God, everything went well. Don't play any more jokes
like that on us, you rascal. Are you completely recovered?" (EF-580420-1).
[33]See AGP, RHF, EF-661228-1.
[34]AGP, RHF, EF-531118-1.
[35]AGP, RHF, EF-570502-2.
[36]AGP, RHF, EF-570720-1.
[37]AGP, RHF, EF-610214-1. Sooner or later there were small setbacks everywhere.
In such circumstances he usually gave the advice he gave to his sons in Austria:
"Use the spiritual and human means, and be patient. I've gone through that too"
(AGP, RHF, EF- 661020-1).
[38]Letter 16 Jun 1960, no. 25.
[39] AGP, RHF, EF-650323-: (a letter to Hector Raynal Garcia).
[40]AGP, RHF, EF-500901-10. See also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2227
[41]Letter 16 Jun I960, no. 24.
[42] AGP, RHF, EF-640314-1.
[43] Utter 16 Jun 1960, no. 19.
[44] AGP, RHF, EF-570502-3. To those in Chile, who included a group of Spaniards
, he wrote: "You should try to be very good Spaniards, but not by carrying out a
Spanish work, which would be something political. You are there to be apostles
and to root the Work" (AGP, RHF, EF-520814-3).
[45] "I too," he wrote to Dick Rieman, "would like to go to those lands, from wh
ich I am expecting so much for the glory of God. But without a good reason?somed
ay there will be one?I can't make that trip without going against poverty" (AGP,
RHF, EF- 610703-1).
[46] AGP, RHF, EF-640505-1.
[47] Bishop del Portillo explained what the founder meant by that word. "Long be
fore the first center of the Work was set up in whatever country, our Father-/ar
in advance (I was a witness to this)?had fertilized the land with prayer and mo
rtification. He had gone from city to city, prayed in churches, spoken with the
hierarchy, visited so many Marian chapels and shrines, so that, eventually, his
daughters and sons would find the soil tilled. Tilled and planted, because, as h
e used to say, he had flung by the handful, over so many, many highways and road
s, the seeds of his Hail Mary's, of those secular love songs that he had convert
ed into prayers, of his aspirations, and of his joyful and trusting penance": En
memoria de Mons. Josemaria Escrivd de Balaguer (Pamplona, 1976), p. 36. See als
o Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 632.
[48] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 632.
[49] See AGP, RHF, EF-500413-1 (a letter to Cardinal Faulhaber).
[50] See AGP, RHF, EF-520904-1 (a letter to Father Alfonso Par Balcells), and Ro
lf Thomas, Sum.7689. Father Par, who was the Counsellor for Germany, tells a sto
ry (see AGP, RHF, T-04264, p. 72) that illustrates the poverty in which they liv
ed in Germany as well as at Villa Tevere: "From Germany we wanted to help reliev
e the burden of the construction projects. Every time I went from Germany to Rom
e, Fernando Inciarte would give me some deutsche marks.

 "On arrival I would give them to Don Alvaro with considerable embarrassment, since
the amounts were ridiculously small?50 or 100 DM.
"The Father never failed to thank us. Sometimes he would make some reference to
our little contributions in the presence of the others at the Roman College. I w
as very embarrassed, because we would have liked to be able to really help, but
at that time we were just starting out in Germany, and what we could do was very
little."
[51] AGP, RHF, EF-540601-14. See also AGP, RHF, EF-540817-9 (a letter to Father
Par).
[52] From Sankt Gallen he wrote to the General Council: "How much work awaits us
in Switzerland! We are sowing all these paths with Hail Marys, sure that these
sons of mine will soon begin their work in this nation which is, from all points
of view (including the apostolic one), so strategically located" (AGP, RHF, EF550430-1).
[53] See AGP, RHF, T-04264 (testimony of Father Par).
[54] AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Germany, 2.1.
[55] See AGP, RHF, EF-550105-3 (a letter to Father Par).
[56] AGP, RHF, EF-550415-11.
[57] He said this on March 19,1967, during a get-together with students in Rome;
see AGP, P011967, p. 430
[58] AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Germany, 2.1. See also AGP, RHF, T-0426
4 (testimony of Father Par). In the entry for November 30,1955, in the Althaus d
iary, we read: "We are now the little seed, the little grain. But it's already b
eginning to bud; we're already into history" (AGP, section N, file 0001-27).
[59] AGP, RHF, EF-551204-2.
[60] AGP, RHF, EF-551209-1. See also Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4678.
"From what he told me on more than one occasion," said Cardinal Franz Konig, at
that time the archbishop of Vienna, "he prayed before the miraculous statue of M
aria Potsch, and something like an inspiration was imprinted on his mind there.
And in a totally spontaneous way he said, 'Maria, Stella Orientis, ora fro nobis
'" (Sum. 5254).
[61] See AGP, P01 Dec 1955, p. 17.
[62] See AGP, RHF, T-05437 (testimony of Carmen Mouriz), p. 50.
[63] AGP, RHF, EF-580924-1.
[64] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 837. The founder made pilgrimages to Ars in 1
953, 1956,1958,1959, and 1960.
[65] See AGP, P01 1979, p. 943.
[66] AGP, P011970, p. 20.
[67] "Vienna," he would comment, "is the only major city where I've seen a monum
ent to the Blessed Trinity" (see AGP, P01 1981, p. 823).
[68] AGP, P04 1974,2, p. 525.
[69] AGP, RHF, EF-580800-3. The future Father Michael Richards was then at the R
oman College of the Holy Cross.
[70] See Alvaio del Portillo, PR, p. 1506, and Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2782.
[71] Meditationof 2 Nov 1958, cited by Alvaro del Portillo in Sum. 1642.
[72] See AGP, RHF, EF-590809-1 (a letter to Monsignor Benjamin de Arriba y Castr
o).
[73] AGP, RHE EF-590825-2.
[74] When his first successor, Don Alvaro, visited Great Britain again in 1980,
he pointed out that the goals indicated by the founder had yet to be reached. Du
ring a get-together in the auditorium of University College School, he encourage
d the thousand or so persons present to follow through on what Monsignor Escriv h
ad launched twenty years before.
[75] AGP, P06,2, p. 225.
[76] AGP, RHF, T-04264.
[77] AGP, RHF, EF-530709-1 (a letter to Father Casciaro).
[78] See AGP, RHF, EF-490728-1 (a letter to members of the General Council). In
point no. 1037 of The Forge, the founder wrote: "As long as the Lord wants to ke
ep you here on earth, it would be cowardly for you to want to die. You must live
, live and suffer, and work for Love: that is your task." And in point no. 1039:

"I think it is too easy to die early, because we should want to work many years
for him, and because of him, in the service of others."
[79] He said this in a get-together on December 29,1970. See also Alvaro del Por
tillo, Instrument de Dios, p. 40.
[80] AGP, RHF, EF-590324-1.
[81] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 599. The expansion continued in the next deca
de: Paraguay (1962), Australia (1963), the Philippines (1964), Nigeria and Belgi
um (1965), Puerto Rico (1969).
[82] Letter 16 Jun 1960, no. 1.
[83] Bishop del Portillo mentions (in Sum. 1180) an occasion when the bishop of
Rosario (in Argentina), the future Cardinal Antonio Caggiano, asked the founder
to send some members of Opus Dei to his diocese "for the sake of the nails of th
e crucified Christ." The founder answered, "Your Excellency's request is so prie
stly that I will do every thing possible to carry it out, even though we have ne
ither the means nor the personnel." On the beginnings in Bogota, in 1951, and th
e offer made by its archbishop, Crisanto Luque Sanchez, see AGP, section "Aposto
lic Expansion," Colombia, 1.1.1 (a letter, dated 22 May 1951, from Bishop Antoni
o Samore, the nuncio in Colombia, to the founder), and AGP, RHF, EF-510601-1 (th
e founder's reply to the nuncio). In 1952 the nuncio of Venezuela, Bishop Armand
o Lombardi, awaited the arrival of some members of Opus Dei in Caracas: see AGP,
section "Apostolic Expansion," Venezuela, 1.1.1 (a letter to the founder, dated
26 Jan 1952).
Sometimes a bishop's importunings forced the founder's hand as in the case of Archbi
shop Hugo Bressane de Araujo, of Marilia (Brazil): see AGP, RHF, EF-560921-1, EF
-561120-1, and EF-570211-1. A similar case was the Work's establishment in Montr
eal, which occurred when it did because of the desire of Cardinal Paul Emile Leg
er that his diocese be the first in Canada to have an Opus Dei center (see Jose
Luis Muzquiz, PM, fol. 369v).
[84] See Ernesto Julia, Sum. 4120.
[85] Furrow,no. 1.
[86] See Teresa Acerbis, PR, p. 1932.
[87] See AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Japan, 1.1.1. Bishop Taguchi had be
en bishop of Osaka, and apostolic administrator of the apostolic prefecture of S
hikoku, since 1941. In 1969 he was made an archbishop, and in 1973, a cardinal.
[88] The founder was very eager to fulfill this request, since he had been think
ing about foreign mission areas for nearly thirty years. In November of 1930 he
had written, "Missions: You can't be Christian and not have your heart tugged to
ward this apostolate.... If I didn't know that God wants me for his Work, I woul
d, right now, start preparing myself, by learning the language, etc., to go as a
missionary to Japan, as soon as I was freed from my family obligations" (Apunte
s, no. 102). In the previous month he had written, "The apostolate among foreign
ers is very neglected nowadays. When I see those groups of Chinese people that a
re on all of Madrid's street corners, selling trinkets,. it breaks my heart!" (A
puntes, no. 97).
[89] See AGP, RHF, EF-581100-3.
[90] See Jose Ramon Madurga, PM, fol. 292, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 631.
[91] Cardinal Cerejeira was born in 1888. On April 1, 1911, he was ordained to t
he priesthood; on November 18,1929, a few months after his ordination as bishop,
he was made archbishop of Lisbon; and it was in the consistory of December 16,1
929, that he was made a cardinal. He died on August 2,1977.
On that trip to Portugal in February 1945, the founder was accompanied by, among oth
ers, Don Alvaro and the bishop of Tuy.
[92] See AGP, RHF, EF-501028-6 and EF-500313-2.
[93] AGP, RHF, EF-520715-1.
[94] The letter is dated December 21. The original is in AGP, section "Apostolic
Expan sion," Portugal, 1.2.2.
[95] AGP, RHF, EF-550106-1.
[96] Ibid.
[97] See AGP, RHF, EF-551107-1. In this letter the founder told Father de Ayala
to visit the nuncio again, so that he might intervene.

[98] See AGP, RHF, EF-560418-6 (a letter to Father de Ayala).

[99] See AGP, RHF, EF-571104t-3 (a statement made by Bishop del Portillo).
[100] Tg original of this letter is in AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Portu
gal, 1.2.3.
[101] In the report made on October 31,1957, by Don Alvaro (the one and only wit
ness in this case), there is a detailed account of the doctrinal and pragmatic v
iews that the cardinal presented.
[102] AGP, RHF, EF-570930-1.
[103] See also AGP, RHF, EF-570930-2 (a letter to Cardinal Valeri).
[104] AGP, RHF, EF-571021-1. The original of the cardinal's letter of October 6
is in AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Portugal, 1.2.5.
[105] See AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Portugal, 1.2.6 (a copy of the 13
Nov 1957 letter from the Sacred Congregation for Religious to Portugal's nuncio)
.
Cardinal Cerejeira wrote once more to the founder, on January 3,1958, reiterating hi
s version of the facts. The founder answered on February 12, limiting himself to
noting that these were things of the past, since a decision had been reached by
the Holy See, and reaffirming his esteem and affection. See AGP, RHF, EF-500212
-1.
[106] AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Portugal, 1.2.8.
[107] Letter 31 May 1954, no. 32. See also Conversations,no. 27.
[108] Rolf Thomas, Sum. 7686. Other activities?personal efforts of members of Op
us Dei, in cooperation with other citizens, Catholic or not?cannot be classified
as "corporate," since Opus Dei as such does not take on responsibility for thei
r spiritual direction.
[109] See Letter 15 Aug 1953, no. 22, and Conversations, no. 18.
[110] Conversations,no. 82. In October 1951 the Gaztelueta Institute in Bilbao o
pened its doors. It embodied another of the founder's ideas in regard to Christi
an education?a high school where the formation of parents and teachers was also
very important, a center where educators and students worked together in a famil
y atmosphere through the practice of human virtues such as sincerity, loyalty, c
ompanionship, and cheerfulness.
[111] The name "university" could not be used since the law then governing unive
rsities did not permit the establishment of secular universities not run by the
state. So it was called an institute of general studies, which in the Middle Age
s was another name for an institution providing university-level education.
[112] AGP, RHF T-04151 (testimony of Francisco Ponz), p. 18. The first president
of the university was Ismael Sanchez Bella. He served until February 1960, and
was suc ceeded by Professor Jose Maria Albareda, who was followed, in 1966, by P
rofessor Francisco Ponz. See AGP, RHF, EF-591205-1 and EF-591205-2 (letters from
the founder to Professors Albareda and Sanchez Bella).
[113] Mario Lantini, PR, p. 599.
[114] The budget for that academic year was 238,700 pesetas (the equivalent then
of less than $15,000). See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 617.
[115] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 617; AGP, RHF, T-06305 (testimony of Ismael
Sanchez Bella), p. 17; and T-02769 (testimony of Amadeo de Fuenmayor), p. 8.
[116] The first two years were the same for all the liberal arts students.
[117] The latter was located in Barcelona. It was eventually merged with the Uni
versity of Navarre.
[118] The founder had in mind a canon-law institute for research, and the format
ion of clergy and laymen. Don Alvaro explained the thinking involved in a letter
of May 8, 1958:
1) We should not establish a school of canon law, but rather a canon-law institu
te within the existing law school. Later we would create other institutes?of sch
olastic philosophy, of sacred theology, of Church history? within the respective
schools of the Institute of General Studies. This would offer a complete Cathol
ic formation to the students of the Institute, which would, in this way, become
a most effective Catholic university, open also to clergy.
2) Naturally, the institutes would be set up in a gradual and orderly fashion. O
nly that of canon law would start functioning immediately.

3) For the time being we would seek, not the establishment of this canon-law ins
titute, but its affiliationwith a pontifical athenaeum.
(The original is in AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," University of Navarre, 1
.1.9.)
The decree of affiliation of the Institute of Canon Law with the Lateran University
was signed by Cardinal Giuseppe Pizzardo, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation fo
r Seminaries and Universities, and was dated June 12, 1959. (The original is in
AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," University of Navarre, 1.1.14.)
After 1960?that is, after the establishment of the university?many other study cente
rs were added, including the Liberal Arts Institute (1960), the Advanced Technic
al School of Industrial Engineering (1962), the School of Social Services (1963)
, the Philosophy Institute (1964), the School of Architecture (1964), the School
of Biological Sciences (1964), the School of Pharmacy (1964), the School of Phy
sical Sciences (1965), the International Institute of Educational Sciences (1965
), the Theology Institute (1967), the School of Technical Industrial Engineering
(1969), and the School of Theology (1969). See AGP, RHF, T-04151 (testimony of
Francisco Ponz), pp. 49-50.
[119] See AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," University of Navarre, 1.6.33: the
letter of 17 Aug 1959 from Bishop Pedro Cantero, of Huelva.
[120] The article states: "The Holy Church can freely exercise the right that it
has, according to canon 1375 of the Code of Canon Law, to set up and run public
schools of any type and level, including for lay people": Ada Apostolicae Sedis
(henceforth abbrevi ated as AAS) 35 (1953), 648.
[121] On the intervention of Cardinal Tardini, see AGP, RHF, EF-610317-1, a lett
er from the founder to Cardinal Bueno Monreal. "Cardinal Tardini has told me," h
e says, "that the Church wants to turn the Navarre Institute of General Studies
into a university."
On the secular character of the new university, Bishop Javier Echevarria says: "On t
he other hand, the secularity of the spirit of that institution was confirmed by
the secular faculties and by the high level of its academic demands and by the
scientific research carried out there" (Sum. 2202).
[122] AGP, RHF, EF-600403-2. This petition was backed by three important letters
that were sent with it to the Holy See. One of these was written to Cardinal Pi
zzardo on April 25, 1960, by Enrique Delgado Gomez, the archbishop of Pamplona.
Among the considerations in favor of quickly establishing the Institute as a uni
versity, he mentions "the maturity attained"; "the opportunity itself, for the e
stablishment," since "it will be hard to find in Spain any circumstances more fa
vorable for carrying out the necessary negotiations with the civil government";
and "the guarantee of the academic prestige of the faculty, the doctrinal purity
of the teaching, and the continuity in time of the whole endeavor." A copy of t
his letter can be found in AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," University of Nav
arre, 1.3.13. See also the letter of Miguel Javier Urmeneta Ajarnaute, the mayor
of Pamplona, to the nuncio, Cardinal Ildebrando Antoniutti, dated 25 Apr 1960 (
1.3.15), and the letter of Miguel Gortari Errea, the vice president of the local
government of Navarre, dated 9 May 1960 (1.3.14).
[123] Both decrees were signed by Cardinal Pizzardo, the prefect of the Sacred C
ongre gation for Seminaries and Universities. See AAS 52 (1960), 988-90, and AGP
, RHF, D- 15102.
[124] The basilica had been under the care of a community of Redemptorists. When
they informed the nuncio, Cardinal Antoniutti, that they could no longer contin
ue to take care of it, the nuncio relentlessly insisted that priests of Opus Dei
do so. See Cesar Ortiz- Echagxie, Sum. 6852, and AGP, RHF, EF-591031-1 (a lette
r from the founder to Cardinal Antoniutti).
[125] See University of Saragossa, Department of Publications, Universidad 3-4 (
1960).
[126] AGP, RHF, T-06308 (testimony of Alejandro Cantero Farina), p. 56. See also
T- 08250 (testimony of Father Florencio Sanchez Bella), p. 2, and EF-601030-3 (
a letter from the founder to Archbishop Morcillo).
[127] See AGP, RHF, T-05132 (testimony of Maria del Carmen Sanchez Merino), p. 1
15, and Blanca Fontan Suanzes, Sum. 6949.

[128] A bishop who took part in the ceremony says: "I still remember?it seems li
ke I'm seeing it now?that personal and expressive gesture that Don Josemaria mad
e when I went up to him to show him my pleasure and joy. He put his hands to his
head and said to me in a low voice, 'Bishop! What an embarrassment! What an emb
arrassment for me!'" (Santos Moro, in Testimonios, pp. 153-54).
[129] Nuestro Tiempo 78 (Pamplona, 1960). For more on the founder's ideas in the
fields of science and education, see Francisco Ponz, "La educacion y el quehace
r educativo en las ensenanzas de Monserior Josemaria Escriv de Balaguer," in En M
emoria.
[130] Years later, going more deeply into this idea, he said, "A university must
educate its students to have a sense of service to society, promoting the commo
n good with their professional work and their activity" (Conversations, no. 74).
On another occasion, in an address in Pamplona on May 9,1974, he said, "This wo
rld of ours will be saved not by those who are trying to snuff out the life of t
he spirit by reducing everything to questions of economics or of material well-b
eing, but by those who have faith in God and in man's eternal destiny": Josemari
a Escriv de Balaguer y la Universidad (Pamplona: University of Navarre, 1993), p.
108.
[131] See, in the archive of the University of Navarre, its Annual Report and Bu
dget for 1959-1960, pp. 5-6. See also Josemaria Escriv, p. 98, and Christ Is Pass
ing By, no. 10.
[132] Josemaria Escriv, p. 106. Every work, every enterprise, every job or task,
according tothe founder, should be salt, doctrine, and apostolic leaven?never so
mething neutral or insipid. In 1963 he wrote to the Counsellor of Spain (Father
Florencio Sanchez Bella): "I have just been given the first issue of the magazin
e that those daughters of mine are publishing. I picked it up with enthusiasm, f
or many reasons, and I liked the presentation, the illustrations and photos and
what have you. But I'm writing you tight away so that you can tell them for me t
hat it gave me the impression of a dish that is very attractive, but without sal
t. That publication could have been put out by a group of pagans. Couldn't there
be said, with feminine grace, some things?news items, commentaries, doctrine!?t
hat would be pleasant to read and make an impact on the soul?" (AGP, RHF, EF-630
927-1). The magazine referred to was one which a few women of Opus Dei were putt
ing out as a personal apostolate.
[133] Letter 31 May 1954, no. 34. "The Father," says Ismael Sanchez Bella, "when
ever he mentioned the work we were doing at the University of Navarre, would str
ess its apostolic character, saying, 'A Catholic university? Apostolic'.'"(AGP,
RHF, T-O6305, p. 19). In no way did the founder want a "neutral" education (see
Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5905).
[134] See AGP, RHF, T-00171 (testimony of Eduardo Ortiz de Landazuri), pp. 1-Z S
ee also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2203, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 708.
[135] AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," University of Navarre, 1.3.13 (a lette
r from. Archbishop Delgado to Cardinal Pizzardo).
[136] After the nunciature sent a note (on November 19,1960), the National Educa
tion Ministry set up a committee on giving recognition to the degrees bestowed b
y the university. But it was not until September 8,1962, following a great deal
of back and forth between Madrid and Rome, that the relevant decree was finally
issued by the ministry. See Amadeo de Fuenmayor, El Convenio entre la Santa Sede
y Espaa sobre Universidades de estudios civiles (Pamplona, 1966), pp. 70-73.
[137] For example, a report by the National Education Ministry committee that st
udied the proposal opposed a "system of complete academic freedom, equal for all
because"to introduce this into our legislation would mean a radical change in t
he principles of Spanish academic law?a change whose ultimate consequences canno
t be foreseen" (Proposal of the Ministerial Committee [National Education Minist
ry] Regarding Recognition of the Studies Completed at the University of Navarre,
21 May 1961, Historical Archives, University of Navarre).
[138] See AGP, RHF, EF-601123-1, EF-610317-1, and EF-611013-1 (letters from the
founder; the first two to Bishop Jose Maria Bueno Monreal, and the other to Bish
op Marcelino Olaechea).
[139] AGP, RHF, EF-620407-1.

[140] AGP, RHF, EF-640614-1. This letter notes that the agreement contains provi
sions more rigorous than those applied to the state universities. One condition
was that 75 percent of the University of Navarre's professors had to have been t
enured professors of state universities. See also Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 78
1, and Cesar Ortiz-Echagiie,
[141] See the University of Navarre's Memorias. In the school year 1964-1965, th
e Uni versity had 3,374 students; in 1992-1993, it had 12,420.
[142] Enrique Delgado Gomez, in Testimonios, p. 132.
To Bishop Abilio de Campo of Calahorra, who suggested having dioceses contribute fin
ancially to the University if they had seminarians studying theology and canon l
aw there, the founder responded, "I have to say that I greatly appreciate your w
onderful goodwill, but it is stipulated in the University's constitution that it
is never to receive such help from the dioceses. The only thing the University
and I myself wish from the bishops is that they pray and get others to pray for
the cultural and apostolic fruit of the schools of ecclesiastical studies" (AGP,
RHF, EF-721020-1).
[143] Uganda was the most Catholic territory in his area of jurisdiction as apos
tolic delegate.
[144] The original of this letter is in AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," Keny
a, 1.1.1
[145] AGP, RHF, EF-571104-1.
[146] See AGP, RHF, EF-581017-1.
[147] See AGP, RHF, EF-591022-1 (a letter to Archbishop McCarthy). Archbishop Mc
Carthy was consecrated bishop in 1946, and appointed as archbishop of Nairobi in
1953.
[148] Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6345. For more on requiring at least a token contribu
tion, see the following chapter, section 6 ("The Foundational Charism").
[149] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2224. See also Conversations, no. 71. In those yea
rs the population was in a state of flux. At the time of independence, there wer
e about fifty thousand Europeans, some two hundred thousand Asians, and more tha
n nine million Africans.
Monsignor Escriv already was looking forward to the first Kenyan members of Opus Dei,
men and women who would be "an instrument for the effective growth of our apost
olic work in Africa" (AGP, RHF, EF-620203-1: a letter to Father Casciaro). His f
irst daughters to go to Kenya had hardly arrived when he asked them, "When will
the first vocation come?" (AGP, RHF, EF-620430-1).
[150] See Teresa Acerbis, Sum. 4986; Carmen Ramos Garcia, Sum. 7370; and Blanca
Fontan Suanzes, PM, fol. 1082v. Kianda was also run with the same Christian spir
it as Strathmore.
[151] Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6345. In his testimony for the beatification process,
Bishop Echevarria says: "A short time later, work began in Nigeria, with the sa
me guidelines and intentions: to reach and serve everyone, without discriminatio
n.... The rebellion in Biafra had broken out. Although the Servant of God accept
ed what the Lord disposed with respect to the lives of his children, he naturall
y was concerned about what might happen to them, and he prayed a lot and had oth
ers pray. He received a letter from his sons, when the members of all Catholic i
nstitutions had already been expelled from the country. It said the government a
uthorities had treated them with the greatest respect and affection, considering
them like citizens of the country, because they had seen that they practiced no
discrimination of any kind?racial, religious, or tribal. They added that they w
ere still working, each at his post, without suffering the least harassment" (Su
m. 2225).
[152] A prelature nullius is a Church jurisdiction not yet a diocese.
At the end of 1956, before those mission territories were established, the founder
received news from Lima that the diocese of Mallorca (in Spain) had made a commi
tment to send priests to Peru to look after the mission there. He immediately wr
ote to Bishop Samore, saying, "We are willing to go at any time to Yauyos?and to
whatever other place the Holy See indicates to us. But I would like to suggest,
with all due respect, that it might be better to send us to a territory in whic
h no one could say that we were trespassing on the apostolic work that other Spa

nish diocesan priests had come to do" (AGP, RHF, EF-561229-1).

In the conversation in which Bishop Samore asked him to take pastoral charge of a mi
ssion territory in Peru, the founder noted that such work is not, properly speak
ing, one of the Work's purposes?Opus Dei does not take charge of ecclesiastical
structures or initiatives. He accepted the request when Bishop Samore pointed ou
t that it was an express desire of the Pope. Even so, the apostolic endeavors th
at the members of the Work in Yauyos and Caete carry out, such as the Valle Grand
e Rural Institute for subsistence farmers or the Condoray Center for the profess
ional training of rural women, do have a lay character. See AGP, RHF, EF-5705143 (a letter from the founder to Father Jose de Orbegozo y Telleria), and Javier
Echevarria, Sum.2384.
[153] See AAS49 (1957), 307 and 881. Upon establishing the prelature, the Holy F
ather named Monsignor Orbegozo as prelate. He took office on October 2,1957.
[154] One reason why the territory of the province of Caete was added to the prel
ature Was the need to provide financial support to very poor territories that la
cked priests, money, and resources. The annexation of Caete was a considerable he
lp.
[155] Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo y Goicoechea, Sum. 7277. As is usually the case
in these situations, the prelate was not a bishop at the time that the prelature
was established; see AGP, RHF, EF-570514-3 (a letter from the founder to Father
Jose de Orbegozo). On January 25, 1964, Monsignor Orbegozo was made a bishop. A
t first he was titular bishop of Ariasso, and then, as of April 26,1968, he was
bishop of Chiclayo. See AGP, RHF, EF-631203-2 and EF-640205-1.
[156] AGP, RHP, EF-580130-1.
[157] AGP, RHF, EF-591014-1.
[158] AGP, RHF, EF-600216-2.
[159] Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo y Goicoechea, Sum. 7277.
6. Pen Strokes for a Biographical Sketch

1. Spiritual paternity
2. A vignette
3. The follies of the saints
4. A master of spirituality
5. Loving passionately
6. The foundational charism

* * *

1. Spiritual paternity

It is now time to attempt a biographical sketch of the founder?a not at all easy
task. To show and assess the wealth that the great figures of humanity bring wi
th them is a daunting enterprise. Granted, the first stages?infancy, childhood,
adolescence?are easy enough to cover. The information about a young personality
is always scarce, and the historical contexts, generally speaking, are not too c
omplex. But later it becomes difficult to capture in one look the power of a man
of action, and still more so if he is one who has a rich inner life. It is then
not enough to evoke his figure with a handful of memories, perhaps regrouping d
isparate events. The great personages of history have a destiny marked by a miss
ion received from on high. To truly get to know them, it is necessary to see the
m both in action and in repose.

* * *

Monsignor Escriv had by now spent over thirty years in his great enterprise. On O
ctober 2, 1928, he had accepted his mission as founder. Having in his hands a di
vine task, he wrote a few years later: "It is not within our power to concede, c
ut out, or change anything having to do with the spirit and organization of the
Work."[1] And in his personal journal he put it even more dramatically: "Jesus,
may your Work never stray from its aim. From now on, Lord, accursed be anyone wh

o tries?in vain, of course?to alter the course that you have marked out."[2] Con
scious of the historic importance of the mission of implanting Opus Dei in the w
orld, the founder felt totally unworthy and overwhelmed. He saw himself as a "de
af and inept instrument."
He sought strength and refuge in prayer and mortification, asking why him and no
t someone else:

O Lord! Why is it I whom you have sought out?I, who am nothing?when there are so
many men who are holy, wise, rich, and full of prestige?[3]

In no way did he consider himself an indispensable element in that mission God w

as entrusting to him. He had the feeling that the Lord would let him live until
the Work was well established, and yet, especially in those perilous years of an
d around the Spanish Civil War, he would often ask the first members of Opus Dei
, "[If I were to die,] would you continue working to carry out Opus Dei, even at
the cost of your possessions and your reputation, and your professional activit
y, placing, in a word, your whole life at the service of God in his Work?"[4]The
founder acted with full awareness of the historic importance of each and every
one of his actions, both in his struggle to open up the path that would be trave
led by children of his for centuries to come, and in the care that he took to pr
eserve papers of every kind?notes, letters, receipts, bills, even trip tickets.
From early on he saw, in the light of God's presence, the grandeur of his call,
but he refrained from showing this to those who followed him. A lot of time had
to go by before he was able to say to them:
My children, I have to present to you a consideration that, when I was young, I
would not have dared even think, much less express. It seems to me that I should
say it to you now. In my life, I have made the acquaintance of several popes, m
any cardinals, and a multitude of bishops. But founders of Opus Dei? There is on
ly one! Even if it's a poor sinner like me. I am firmly convinced that the Lord
chose the worst he could find, to make it very clear that the Work is his. But G
od will demand of you an account of your having been close to me, because he has
entrusted the spirit of Opus Dei to me, and I have transmitted it to you.[5]
One day, around 1955, two directors of the Central Advisory visited Bishop Pedro
Altabella, a good friend of the Father's since 1934. During the conversation he
commented to these two women that they did not fully appreciate who their found
er was?that a day would come when the name of Josemara Escriv de Balaguer would be
heard in the most remote corner of the world. They later related this to the Fa
ther, and he, in all simplicity, replied, "My daughters, this is true. That is w
hy, every day, prostrate on the floor, I recite the
'Miserere' psalm."[6]
He found deeply repugnant any trace of a personality cult, since, as he insisted
, Opus Dei "is not my work, it's God's and only God's!"[7]What he claimed for hi
mself was the modest role of Balaam's donkey. "In the Work," he said, "everythin
g is God's, nothing is mine, but taking into account that God, in order to speak
to people, makes use even of Balaam's donkey."[8]?NOTE
Imbued with the certainty of Opus Dei's supernatural origin, he looked confident
ly to the future. Others would continue the task when it came time for him to re
nder an account of his efforts. Thanks to God, he would leave his work firmly es
tablished, and "sculpted" in its details, such that it would resist any destruct
ive action of time, and any instance of human weakness or clumsiness that should
occur. The founder had, indeed, prudently incorporated into the Codex, or inter
nal law of the Work, everything essential. The spirit of the Work was reflected
there in detail. His children would need to incarnate it faithfully, making sure
it did not lose its strength. For the Codex, he told them, is "perpetual, holy,
and inviolable."[9] And, moved by his faith in divine assistance, he remarked t
hat "ordinarily, in many institutions, when the founder disappears, there occurs
a kind of earthquake," and then said, "I don't have the slightest worry?in Opus
Dei that will never happen."[10]
But, as faithfully as it does reflect the spirit of Opus Dei, the internal law o
f the Work would be a dead letter if the founder had not transmitted something l

iving: a style, a tradition, a spirituality, that would give a historical contin

uity to that way of sanctification. Armed with constancy and affection, the foun
der personally worked at incorporating that internal law into the interior lives
of his children. In the talks and meditations that he gave, and in the get-toge
thers after meals and on feast days, he gave practical directives, confidential
counsels, or explanations of this or that point of the history of Opus Dei.
In one of those get-togethers it was brought up that Don ?lvaro was going to hav
e a book published. The founder, during the discussion, mentioned some books tha
t he himself wanted to write; but, as he went along, he gave an unexpected twist
to the idea. Calling Don ?lvaro's attention to the faces of those around him, h
e exclaimed, "Look at this library! These are my works!"[11]
For many years, when a new student arrived at the Roman College of the Holy Cros
s, or happened to run into him in a corridor or on a patio of Villa Tevere, the
Father would invite him for a walk.[12] They would then stroll through halls, ac
ross patios, into oratories, chatting. From time to time the Father would notice
some little flaw: a slight mark on the wall, a latch that did not close quite r
ight, a stain on the floor. He was not going around searching for such imperfect
ions. But sometimes many people had passed by that spot without noticing anythin
g wrong. No one had seen the need for making a rectification, until the Father p
assed by and noticed what the others had not. He undoubtedly had a sixth sense f
or noticing things. It was a matter of looking at the world "through eyes dilate
d by love."[13]
The non-fulfillment of a schedule, the slamming of a door, the misplacing of a t
ool?any such thing saddened him, because of what it signified, a lack of concern
for the little things, something poorly done. And this indicated a lack of love
for God, and of awareness of his presence. And, finally, a negligence through w
hich, eventually, a spirit of tepidity could creep in. And if it was something s
erious, and the damage it could cause warranted this, he would gather together h
is children at the Roman College and make them take a hard look at the problem.
Hadn't anyone noticed it? Were they getting oblivious?
Hadn't they heard him say a thousand times that great souls pay a lot of attenti
on to the little things?
But carrying out Opus Dei was not just a matter of offering to a select group of
souls a way of sanctification grounded in everyday events. The divine plan had
universal dimensions; it was aimed at nothing less than a renewing of the Christ
ian life of men and women of every country. That new spirit of renewal was impri
nted in the soul of the founder, along with the foundational charism. God willed
that a deep furrow be opened in the history of humanity. This great historic pl
an revolved around the founder, in that he was the uniquely chosen repository of
the message and spirit of Opus Dei. He was, therefore, directly responsible to
God. "I am the founder," he said, "and I know what the Lord has asked of me. Wer
e I to delegate and abandon my responsibility, I would be putting my soul at ris
k, and the Lord would demand of me a very strict account."[14]
He had great freedom, but not to make concessions with regard to his mission. "I
have," he said, "the responsibility of defending what belongs to the Lord, even
at the cost of my life, because he has asked me to put my life into this effort
."[15] He had to find solutions for "a heap of impossibilities,"[16] and, from t
he very start, he found himself plunged in an atmosphere governed by "the most b
rutal lack of understanding."[17]
For a long time he lived on sheer faith, affirming that he would never doubt "th
e divinity of the Work, nor its realization."[18] He hoped, against hope, that a
postles would come to the Work. "Many will come?God will do it!" he wrote in 193
0, in his personal journal.[19]In 1934, when he already had a small group of fol
lowers that he could speak of as a family, he gradually put into operation his c
harism of being "Father, teacher, and guide of saints."[20]
That spiritual paternity?great and fruitful, like the paternity of the patriarch
s of the Old Testament?filled his entire soul. He suggested that when it came ti
me to bury him, there should be engraved on his tombstone "GENUIT FILIOS ET FILI
AS" ("He begot sons and daughters").[21]
In the beginning he provided this paternity almost without realizing it. Later,

as the Work developed, he started sensing, with surprise, that it was something
not just spiritual, but also intensely affectionate. And he noted that this pure
affection was not something merely human. Rather, it was a human and supernatur
al bond with those who were following the path of the Work.[22] However, he was
disturbed by the fear that his affection for his children might be detracting fr
om his love for God. To relieve him of that fear, God let him see that the more
he loved his children, the more he loved God himself.[23]Then another doubt assa
iled him: "When we are thousands of people, all over the world, will we still lo
ve each other the same? Will I still love my children then as much as I do now,
when they are few?"[24]
The years went by, the family grew, and the Father was able to give a good repor
t of his experience:

I am happy to tell you that my affection for you is as intense as it was then, a
lthough you now number in the thousands. I love each one of my children as if th
at one was the only one, with all my heart. The Lord, who has enlarged my heart
and made it capable of this marvel, will also expand your hearts, if you don't s
eparate yourselves from him.[25]

In substance, the affection of the Father was a characteristic and essential fea
ture of the spirit of Opus Dei. It was a consequence of his paternity; and this,
in turn, was a gift of the Holy Spirit which spurred him to spread that love, t
o see it grow and multiply and be reproduced in other souls. Therefore, followin
g the example of Saint Paul, he lifted a grateful heart to the Father "from whom
every family in heaven and on earth is named" (Eph 3:15), in recognition of tha
t spiritual paternity which, by God's grace, he had assumed "with the full aware
ness of being on earth only to carry out."[26]
His children, testifies Santiago, his brother, "called him Father, but he was li
ke a good mother, like a good, affectionate mother of a family."[27] He noticed
right away if someone had lost weight, or was not feeling well, or needed some a
rticle of clothing. His counsels had a lot of the maternal in them. "For a littl
e while," he told one of the Counsellors in Latin America, "forget all about gov
ernmental matters; sleep well, eat, and rest."[28] If news was slow in coming, h
e feared for the well-being of his children; and he did not calm down until he k
new they were safe and sound. One winter's day, when Rome was threatened with a
heavy snowstorm, the women in charge of shopping left by car very early, before
six in the morning. Two hours later the Father was asking whether the car had ti
re chains. He asked to be called as soon as those who had gone shopping returned
. When the Father was informed that all had gone well, he said, "Thanks be to Go
d. Tell them for me that I was praying for their safety the whole time. And not
to go out in weather like this again."[29]
The Father had an awareness, almost instinctive, of his children's state of soul
, and even of their most personal problems. One day, looking at a photo of a gro
up of his daughters sent from Mexico, he must have noted something special. He l
ooked at the photo slowly and carefully, and asked about one of those in the gro
up. She was in fact having a serious problem, and he had realized it just from s
eeing her picture.[30]
One day when the Father seemed very tired, a son of his who was a doctor told hi
m, "Father, you have to try to get some sleep." His answer was, "If I slept, it
would mean I don't love you. It's my affection that makes me lose sleep."[31]
The Father was close to his children and, at the same time, far from them. Close
, when he had them share family incidents during the get-togethers, when he open
ed his heart to them in fatherly confidences, when he updated them on the progre
ss the Work was making in expanding through the world. But, prudently, he kept t
o himself the less happy news, the opposition, the difficulties connected with t
he Work's government. Also, as founder, he had experiences that he did not share
with anyone?that he, in fact, zealously guarded?from very early on. This distan
ce did not, however, create any barrier. In dealing with his children he acted w
ith complete trust and naturalness, with the naturalness of a father and a frien
d. He would address them affectionately as rogues, scoundrels, bandits, rascals,

tugging at the depths of their hearts. This tone of affection shows up in his l
etters especially when he has learned that someone is having a problem or is dow
n with some illness. Here is one little example:

Dear Quinito?may Jesus safeguard you for me. Who loves you more, you bandit, tha
n the Father? On this earth, no one. Is that clear?[32]

And another one:

Dear Michael?may Jesus safeguard you for me.

I called you a scoundrel in my last letter, but I didn't go far enough, you booz
er. Here's to sherry! Now, seriously?let them take care of you, that way you'll
get well sooner.[33]

Neither was he timid in speaking about the extent and reasons for his affection:

I love you because you are children of God, because you have freely decided to b
e my children, because you are trying to be saints, because you are very faithfu
l and winsome?all of my children are. I love you with the same affection that yo
ur mothers do. I care about everything about you: your bodies and your souls, yo
ur virtues and your defects. My children, it gives me a lot of joy to speak to y
ou this way! When I see you over there, I won't be able to do that, and I admit,
at times I have to force myself not to get sentimental, not to leave you with t
he memory of tears, not to keep repeating to you that I love you so much, so muc
h.... For I love you with the same heart with which I love the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit, and the Blessed Virgin; with the same heart with which I lo
ved my mother and my father. I love you like all the mothers of the world put to
gether?each of you equally, from the first to the last.[34]

It cost him to be physically separated from his children. Spiritually he kept al

l of them by his side. If he was in Rome, his thoughts went to those abroad. If
he was away from Rome, his thoughts flew back to those there, to keep them compa
ny. From London he wrote to those on the General Council, "In my heart and my mi
nd I'm still there in your midst."[35]
His children were his pride and his strength. "What would I have done without yo
u?" he asked himself.[36]
I keenly feel the need of all of you; each of you is my strength. This is so muc
h the case that, when I do my prayer, I often present you to the Lord with pride
, as mothers present their children, and I always have to say, "Lord, don't look
at me, ne respicias peccata mea!" "I, Lord," I add, "should be like a worm befo
re you, with my mouth pressed to the ground. But look at my children?look at the
marvel of these sons, these daughters, who have given you their youth, their pu
re heart; look at their virtues ..." I adorn myself with your daily dedication,
my children, and thus I acquire a certain authorization to speak with our Lord.
Do you see? This is my authorization: your dedication.[37]
The Father strove vigilantly to be detached from everything in this world?from e
verything except his children, who were, as he put it, his "near occasion" for s
topping working, to spend time in a get-together with them. Then again, their af
fection for him, the fine love with which they responded to his fatherly solicit
ude, helped him grow in his interior life, as he confided to them:

My heart gets me attached to my children?I don't hide it, and I think you notice
it?but it's something that leads me to God. You push me to be more faithful, an
d I want to be always more faithful, also for you.[38]

A simple sentence stamped with affection was a consolation to him, even when it
came from one of the thousands of his children whom he would never physically me
et. At the end of June 1964, when a recent event had made him suffer, he receive
d via the Counsellor of Spain a letter that prompted him to respond to the Couns
ellor by return mail. He said, "That 'Father, we love you very much' that a mine

r writes to me, adding, more or less, 'Don't be sad, don't suffer,' went to the
bottom of my heart."[39]
The Father's superabundant affection and the response to it generated a paternal
-filial bond that gave a strong human and supernatural cohesion to the whole Wor
k.

2. A vignette

That paternity and that filiation were not perishable; they would subsist beyond
death.
When the Lord calls me into his presence, almost all of you? by the law of life?
will still be here on earth. Remember then what the Father told you: I love you
very much, very much, but I want you to be faithful. Don't forget this: be faith
ful. I will still be loving you when I've already left this world to go, by the
infinite mercy of the Lord, to enjoy the Beatific Vision. You can be sure that I
will then love you even more.[40]
That constant refrain of the Father's in his conversations and get-togethers wit
h his daughters and sons was also a confession of the supernatural goal toward w
hich he wanted that affection to be channeled. "My daughters," he would often sa
y, "I love you very much, but I want you holy."[41] And sometimes he would ask,
"My children, do you know why I love you so much?" and then, after a moment of s
ilence, say, "Because I see the Blood of Christ coursing in you."[42]
That pure, supernatural affection with which the Father sought the sanctity of t
he souls that Heaven had entrusted to him also had another aspect. And that othe
r side of his paternity was, humanly speaking, a not very pleasant task. His chi
ldren, like everyone else, had their faults, and those who had been in the Work
for only a short time were not yet fully familiar with its customs and spirit. S
o the Father found himself forced to continually exercise his role of "teacher a
nd guide of saints." The love of the Father was so sensitive that just seeing hi
s daughters' hands wrinkled from scrubbing floors made him suffer. So how could
it have failed to cause him pain when he found himself obliged to correct his ch
ildren in things that almost always had been done with the best of intentions? T
he fact is that he suffered "before, during, and after" correcting anyone.[43]
One of his primary duties was to form his children in the spirit of the Work, an
d he untiringly fulfilled this service at all times: when conversing, when givin
g advice, when correcting a mistake; when dealing with a poorly done job or an i
nstance of bad judgment. If in any of these cases he had to give a strong reprim
and, his temperament, which was not exactly easygoing, did make itself apparent.
[44]
There were times when just a glance sufficed to give a lesson.[45]Also, a simple
gesture could be a strong lesson, an unforgettable one, although this kind of t
hing did not happen often. One day, while eating lunch in the little guest dinin
g room of a residence, the Father watched as the wine was being poured into his
glass, and it looked to him like a rather expensive wine. He asked for the bottl
e and found that it was, although it was not of a very high quality. Immediately
he got up from the table, said grace, and left, without eating. It was a lesson
in moderation; a way of saying that the Father did not allow the making of exce
ptions for his benefit; that his presence was no reason for extras. That lesson
in poverty so impressed one of the household employees that through it she recei
ved a vocation to the Work.[46]
When he did give a reprimand, he suffered more than the person receiving it; but
it was an obligation of his to correct his children, in order to bring them clo
ser to God. It was an operation of love. If he did not carry it out, that would
mean, as he told his children, that "I don't love either God or you."[47] He cor
rected whenever necessary, without discriminating in regard to occupation, exper
ience, age, or health. And he was untiring. He repeated and hammered home all ki
nds of principles and counsels, regarding orderliness, practice of the virtue of
poverty, care in the little things, and the importance of not leaving things ha
lf done. If, for example, a job was waiting to be done, he would ask about the p

reparations being made for it. Sometimes the person in charge of it would begin
with the traditional crutch of excuses: But the "well, you see ...," "I thought
that ..," and similar phrases were things that the Father did not want to hear f
rom his sons and daughters.[48] And anytime he did hear any such expression, he
took advantage of the occasion to teach a lesson on how one should fulfill one's
particular duties: with initiative, with love, using all of one's senses, follo
wing matters closely and putting practical effort into their execution. Obeying,
he explained, does not consist in something mechanical, or in operating blindly
, or in being rigid, like a cadaver, because "the dead we piously bury." [49]
Witnesses show in detail that when the Father did take on the tough job of givin
g a correction, he did not lose his head. And once the correction was made, he t
ried to lift, with a smile or a kind word, the spirits of the person corrected.
He followed the advice he gave to his children: "Control your temper and don't m
ake a decision when you are tired or in a bad mood. If you have suffered, you sh
ouldn't want to make others suffer, because we already mortify each other plenty
without trying to."[50] It was the responsibility of the Father to give the cen
ters of Opus Dei the tone and atmosphere proper to the Work. Thus he had to be o
n top of everything with his example and vigilance.[51]

* **

Much has been written, and with good reason, on the prudence that the founder sh
owed in his dealings with women. That was something he never got careless about.
When he visited a center of the women's branch, he always was accompanied by Do
n ?lvaro or some other priest. But in his behavior as Father and spiritual teach
er he never discriminated on the basis of gender, or failed in his duty to make
corrections when they were called for.[52]
One such instance occurred at the time of the move to Villa delle Rose, in Caste
l Gandolfo. Three numerary assistants went to get that house ready (especially f
or its intended use as a place to give formational classes and workshops), and f
ound it in a deplorable state. What with all the clutter and filth, mice were fr
eely running around in the bedrooms and hallways. Naturally feeling rather nervo
us about this, one of those numerary assistants, Concha Andres, told the Father
that they wanted to all sleep in the same room. And the Father, in a very father
ly tone of voice, answered, "My daughters, if you're afraid now, how am I going
to be able to send you, within a little while, to Africa, the Congo, or whatever
place? No, my daughters; be brave and each one sleep in her own room."[53]
Perhaps the right word for describing the Father's behavior toward women is "gen
tlemanly." This term encompasses a wide spectrum of virtues: loyalty, honesty, e
legance, rectitude, courtesy, moderation, etc. The Father obviously had a very h
igh regard for that concept, since he praised his own father as having been "a C
hristian gentleman." Moreover, he often expressed gratitude for the example give
n him by Don Jose, whose many virtues he imitated. Among the teachings that the
founder learned as a child, there is one?a secondary one, admittedly, but a quit
e significant one?which came from the Escriv home, and which had a lot to do with
his behavior toward women.
Dorita Calvo notes that the first time she went to the Zurbaran residence to spe
ak with the Father, in 1945, something happened that greatly impressed her. "Whe
n I tried to let the Father go first," she says, "I was struck by his simplicity
and gentlemanliness, because he refused to consent to this."[54] Dr. Kurt Hrusk
a, the dentist who treated him in Rome, makes a similar observation: "When he me
t anyone in the office hallway, he showed great courtesy; he took a step backwar
d and let the ladies go first."[55] And for a third illustration of his gallantr
y, here is one taken from a letter to a niece of his:

For Mama, Papa (the ladies should go first), and each of your sisters and brothe
rs, lots of kisses. And for you, in addition, a hug and an affectionate blessing
from Josemara. I'm also sending you a real pretty medal.[56]

What conclusion can we draw from this trait of courtesy?and, basically, of humil

ity?other than that his good upbringing did not disappear with the years? But th
e most striking thing about his conduct is not that, but the fact that he renoun
ced the preeminence that society granted to priests.
That genteel way in which he habitually conducted himself did, however, clash ja
rringly with the way he behaved in those instances in which he had to make a cor
rection as Father. At those times he seemed to have no respect at all for extern
al proprieties. And quite a few such instances did also occur with his daughters
. Encarnacin Ortega tells us, "He had a very strong and energetic personality, wh
ich he struggled with all through his life. I can recall several occasions on wh
ich he showed that energy in reprimanding me, and then asked my forgiveness for
that energetic manner, although he stuck by the reason for the reprimand."[57]
That testimony seems to call for a clarification, which another of his daughters
takes from his own lips: "I love my daughters more than a mother would, even th
ough I may never have seen them. But had I not shouted, the Work would not have
gone forward."[58]
Well, then, being so demanding with his children, was the Father demanding with
himself? That seems to be the sense of the resolution he had made to "go at God'
s pace, even if it should cost me my life."[59]He fulfilled this resolution with
heroic fortitude, eliminating, with great strength of will, any and every obsta
cle that obstructed his way to God. Nor did he put off the carrying out of his r
esolutions. He did not allow himself excuses or rationalizations, saying, for in
stance, "This will be the last time." "I don't believe in last times," he said.
"The last time has already taken place!"[60]
But who was supposed to give to the founder the appropriate advice? Judging by w
hat he used to tell his children, he genuinely wanted to submit himself entirely
. "I would love to not be part of Opus Dei," he said, "so that I could immediate
ly ask admission and be the last one, and spend my life obeying."[61]
Until the definitive approval came (in 1950), the founder had to carry on a "fil
ial struggle" with the Holy See in order to keep the spirit of Opus Dei intact.
One of the objections made was that, as a matter of principle, he should not be
receiving corrections from members of the Work. As president he could not be sub
ject to his inferiors; that was the time-honored tradition. But the founder was
not convinced by this reasoning. He did not want to be deprived of such a great
help towards sanctification, a help that everyone else in Opus Dei got to receiv
e.
All my sons and daughters have this means of improvement that is rooted in the G
ospel, namely, fraternal correction. All these others?even though it causes them
pain, and both those who give and those who receive it have to overcome themsel
ves and have to be humble and mortified?have this marvelous means of sanctificat
ion. And I, who am a poor man, and those who will succeed me, who will be better
than me, but still only poor men?aren't we going to have this means of sanctifi
cation? [62]
Finally he got his way. The Holy See approved having "custodes" (guardians, or a
dvisors) for Opus Dei's president general (now the prelate).[63] The function of
the two custodes (Don ?lvaro del Portillo and Father Javier Echevarra, in the ca
se of the founder) was to point things out to the Father and advise and help him
in all matters, both spiritual and temporal. From then on the Father was able t
o satisfy his thirst for obedience. He opened his soul to the custodes; he follo
wed their suggestions; he consulted with them about his work plans; and, wheneve
r he visited a center, he put himself in the hands of its director with regard t
o everything having to do with the house schedule and order. "Here you're in cha
rge," he would say.[64] On more than one occasion, Bishop Echevarra tells us, the
Father insisted to both him and Don ?lvaro that, for the love of God and for th
e affection that they had for him, they should correct him whenever necessary, "
not letting me get away with anything." [65]

* * *

If we now ask ourselves what we think are the most relevant aspects of the found
er's character, we will see that to him, unlike most people, there can be applie

d only with great exceptions that popular saying, "Aleopard never changes its sp
ots." In fact, the imprecise lines of his temperament as a child were transforme
d through the years, and not by biological changes, but by the effort that he pu
t into subjecting his passions and correcting his defects, with the help of grac
e and of his parents. Nevertheless, even when those tendencies had already been
brought under control, one could still see the unmistakable traces of his natura
l personality.
From his early childhood, actually, the main features of his temperament show up
clearly. He was still a small child when, enraged because of having been served
some food that he did not like, he threw it at the wall. We also know about his
habit of hiding under the bed to try to avoid having to put on new clothes and
kiss his mother's women friends who came to visit. On those occasions his mother
would overcome his unfounded timidity and get him to leave his hiding place.
But even more indicative of his character are two other stories. Soon after the
deaths of his two youngest sisters, Josemara, who was then about eleven, saw his
other two sisters playing with some friends. They had just built a castle with s
ome playing cards. Suddenly, with one swipe, Josemara knocked it down. "That's ju
st what God does to people," he told them. "You build a castle, and when it's al
most finished, God knocks it over on you." Granted, he had not yet gone deeply i
nto the mystery of suffering and of the cross. But the incident shows the capaci
ty he did already have for being imbued with sorrow, and it reveals, among other
things, his energetic nature and spiritual insight.
Another scene showing his natural impulsiveness was the one in which his math te
acher sent him to the blackboard and gave him a question on material that had no
t been covered in class. Josemara, in reaction to what he considered a blatant in
justice, turned red, slammed the eraser against the blackboard, and then turned
around and went back to his desk.[66]
These early events are enough to show some of the roots of his temperament. In s
ome cases brusqueness was mixed with shyness; in others, impatience was mixed wi
th energy, or rebelliousness with an acute sense of justice. There was another n
otable trait: obstinacy, which, thanks in great part to the firm steps taken by
his parents, was gotten under control. That obstinacy that he showed as a child
was eventually converted into tenacity, after a long struggle that he carried on
with himself to eliminate its negative elements. It is in the period of his sta
y in Saragossa, in those years of his patiently and perseveringly praying his "D
omiine, ut videam," that the future founder acquires that persistence and firmne
ss that he will call "holy stubbornness"?the stubbornness of one who is tenaciou
s and constant, but not intractable or pigheaded or closed to taking correction.
God, without a doubt, bestowed on him the qualities needed for his mission. But
their development or refinement required a prolonged ascetic struggle, governed
by love, toward the end of becoming an ideal instrument for the divine plans, ev
en though he would always consider himself "an unwieldy and dull instrument."
The founder was an extremely docile person. And he was quick to change a judgmen
t on a question he had earlier considered, if new data or information came to hi
s knowledge that changed the situation, or simply if he thought he had made a mi
stake. He did not hesitate to rectify his position, since, as he put it, "I'm no
t a river that can't reverse its direction."[67] What is more, he was happy to d
o so, since "rectifying frees the soul of sourness."[68] He told his children th
at one of the things that was most clearly a grace given him by God, from way ba
ck, was the joy he felt whenever he had to correct his course. For him this was
far from being any "humiliation of the intellect."[69]He was so conscious of hav
ing made many mistakes that he frequently reminded Father Javier that he should
speak to him with complete freedom, since, he assured him, "I need and appreciat
e any light that helps me to correct my behavior, to improve, to change what I h
ave decided."[70]
He had, obviously, a spirited and impulsive nature. In his personal journal he h
imself tells of the final manifestations of that rash temperament of his youth,
which were mainly his aggressively indignant reactions to the insults directed a
t him in the streets of Madrid in 1930 and 1931.[71] He finally succeeded?not wi
thout titanic efforts?in dominating his temperament, to the point of being able

to harmoniously blend impetuosity with calmness, and strength with gentleness. W

ho could have seen in that explosive young man the "man of peace" that he would
become?
In a letter to Bishop Casimiro Morcillo, he said:

You well know, after so many years of constant and fraternal contact, that I am
a man of peace and that the Lord has blessed me with an imperturbable good humor
and a complete lack of rancor. I cannot, therefore, fall out with anyone.[72]

Those who knew him best were witnesses to the successful blending of a vigorous
temperament and a refined demeanor. Bishop Echevarra describes him as "a person o
f upright and strong character, who could think clearly and make decisions quick
ly." And then he adds, "However, throughout his whole life, he was always affabl
e, affectionate and amiable, understanding, attentive to the needs of others."[7
3] People who were not in frequent contact with him, who had no direct knowledge
of him other than what they got from an occasional brief conversation or short
visit, judged him by impressions. And in those circumstances, too, the image tha
t stood out was that of a smiling, affable "man of peace," although the hidden e
nergy of his character could be sensed. Dr. Hruska, his dentist, tells us that "
one got the feeling that he possessed some kind of magnetic power, a force or cu
rrent that made those who came near him feel lightened and transported, like a f
eather.... Whenever he came to my office, I felt a great pleasure; there came a
breeze of happiness, of serenity, as if I had taken a tranquilizer." [74]
There were times when his natural propensity to passionate outburst did show up
in his words and gestures. But this was not for lack of self-control. It was sim
ply that that energy would reach boiling point and have to find some outlet when
he had to do such taxing duties as engaging in arduous negotiations, giving a c
orrection, and? especially?defending his spiritual patrimony. Without this stron
g character, how would he have been able to solve almost impossible problems and
overcome all kinds of obstacles? How to keep his head full of optimistic plans
and respond to a multitude of requests? [75]
Dominating such a strong character obliged him to maintain a continual ascetical
struggle. And this in turn provided the energy needed for his foundational miss
ion. Otherwise, as the founder used to say, "the Work would not have gone forwar
d."[76]
Another personality feature reflected in the already cited childhood stories is
that mixture of embarrassment and shyness that he felt whenever visitors tried t
o make him the center of attention. That was the origin of his rejecting of the
spectacular, his not wanting to stand out. He shunned the limelight. He loved si
mplicity and naturalness.
He avoided like the plague all affectation, ceremoniousness, and pretentiousness
.
We have often seen how the founder followed the maxim "hide and disappear," whic
h was so much in accord with his nature.[77] However, that norm was something mo
re than just an orientation for social behavior. It was, as he writes in 1934, "
the clear will of God for me."[78]It was, therefore, a feature of the spirit tha
t he received as founder of Opus Dei.

3. The follies of the saints

What is a saint? A saint is someone immersed in God, attentive to the loving ful
fillment of his will, and disposed to serve him with everything they've got. A s
aint is a person whose life is on fire with eagerness to become more and more in
timate with God; a person who is centered, mind and heart, on God, and whose who
le existence is passionately dedicated to him. The behavior of such a person has
necessarily to be something outside of the way people ordinarily operate. Some
may interpret that zeal as a lack of balance, or of moderation, as a strange, ab
normal, or irrational attitude. But the saint, like anyone else in love, is wrap
ped up in the things of the beloved?who in this case is God. So why shouldn't su

ch a person suffer the manias of a lover, raptures, and follies of love?[79] The
saints will always be misunderstood by society as long as no account is taken o
f God, the real cause of their "madness."
The "madnesses"?the follies?of the saints are neither madnesses nor abnormalitie
s. They are reasonable ways that God works in souls, in accord with the times, i
n accord with the social circumstances of each era, in accord with the specific
needs of his Church and of humanity in each moment of history.[80]
The great saints have been persons who were anointed with a divine mission in th
e service of humanity. These men and women, called to convert peoples, to implan
t the message of the Gospel, or to change the course of history, have to be inst
ruments of God, docile children in his hands?docile children who work like giant
s. For their energy comes from God, and God uses them as his instruments (prophe
ts, apostles, reformers, or founders), accompanying them with his grace. The gre
at saints are, so to say, levers that, moved by God, serve to move the world. It
is, therefore, not surprising that they inevitably clash with the environments
they are in, and that they are called dreamers or deluded, or even lunatics, her
etics, and escapists. Indeed, what can they expect from the world other than sco
rn, rejection, and persecution? In 1932 the founder said:

We have to be convinced that the saints (we don't consider ourselves any saints,
but that's what we want to be) are necessarily uncomfortable people to be aroun
d. By their word and example they are a constant source of unrest for conscience
s compromised by sin.[81]

Father Josemara saw that a person who is struggling to be holy is viewed as an an

noying obstacle by the society in which they live. He surely saw the fate that h
e and his children would suffer on account of putting into effect the plans for
a universal apostolate.[82] His first step was to give formation to his follower
s, demanding holiness of them. (It would have been strange if he had not asked t
his of them, since the message that he was preaching was about aspiring to holin
ess in the midst of the world.) "Whoever is not truly determined to be a saint,"
he said, "let them leave."[83]
But although saints are unsettling, "that doesn't mean they have to be unbearabl
e. Theirs should never be a bitter zeal. The corrections they give should never
be hurtful. Their example should never be a virtual slap in the face of their en
emies."[84]
Years later, enriched with lots of bitter experience, having physically suffered
from opposition, the founder continued to repeat, not without a touch of humor,
that saints have to be nuisances. "I often think," he said, "that God, our Lord
, also finds us amusing. He puts in our hearts desires for sanctity?and it turns
out that the saints have always or almost always been a nuisance, people who ar
e unsettling,
stubborn."[85]
As a result of his search for sanctity, and of God's generous outpouring of grac
e through him, he acquired a reputation as a miracle worker. Back around the for
ties, before he went to Rome, he was already referred to as "the miracle priest.
" For him, nothing could have been more abhorrent. Nothing could have been more
contrary to his maxim of "hiding and disappearing" than this turning of him into
a public spectacle?a "circus freak," as he put it.
I don't know why they come to see me, this fat and insignificant priest. They co
me to see the freak?to see if I will work miracles. Me, doing miracles! What a s
tory this is, that I can do miracles! Things happen that people regard as out of
the ordinary; but they are ordinary things. And if the Lord chooses to do somet
hing out of the ordinary, it is the Lord who does it; not me, not this priest.[8
6]
On the basis of his role as example of how to live the spirit of Opus Dei, the f
ounder asked that God not take him outside of ordinary providence, which for him
was extraordinary enough, and that his children's struggles for sanctity, as we
ll as his own, might pass unnoticed.[87] "I'm against anything that departs from
the normal," he said.[88]He also said, "I don't like living in a dream world. B

oth feet on the ground, so as to serve God for real, and staying very close to h
im."[89]As a realist, the founder taught his children that they would seldom, if
ever, have occasion to do anything spectacular or newsworthy. The base for thei
r sanctification had to be the constant flow of life; repeated situations and ev
ents; the normal, ordinary, regular, everyday things.
It is, he explained to his children, the little troubles of each day, the diffic
ulties that present themselves and that we conquer with love for God, that contr
ibute to making us holy.
Precisely these little things that happen, which are overcome with charity (in o
mnibus caritas!), are what have to make us saints! Were that not the case, this
life that God's children in his Opus Dei have on earth would already be a heaven
. And that cannot be?heaven is what we have to win here, by means of those littl
e things of daily life. Who's going to sanctify us, Prester John of the Indies?[
90]
The Father put a lot of effort into doing his regular tasks with love, and impro
ving a little each day. Father Echevarra sometimes took note of this, as well as
of his comments. Here is one of the founder's observations on the intricacies of
questions of love:

One can get a present for someone by ordering it from a store by phone; or throu
gh the efforts of someone else; or by going personally to buy it. The person rec
eiving the present may not know which way it was obtained, but obviously the aff
ection and interest with which it is given is different in each case. God sees o
ur intentions?it's a matter not of fulfilling, but of loving![91]

Just as the painter leaves on the canvas something of his own, that distinguishe
s his brushstrokes from those of other artists, it is the same with each saint.
The Father's cadence had the quality and form of a lover's. His language was tha
t of a lover, as were his dreams and facial expressions. He spoke of "serenading
" and "courting" God; of singing songs of human love to him; of "hugs" and "care
sses."[92]
He looked forward to the day when his daughters would prepare the substances for
celebrating Mass?the bread and the wine?by cultivating grapes and wheat. "It's
a matter," he told them, "of a caress for God, who is born in our hands; of givi
ng him a caress by preparing the species for his coming down."[93] And on one oc
casion, after making one of his deep and prolonged genuflections before the tabe
rnacle, he walked up to it and asked forgiveness, out loud, for not having accom
panied that action with any thought. "Forgive me, Jesus," he said, "because I di
dn't greet you with my heart."[94]
His homilies and other writings are studded with outbursts of a strong, mystical
, tender, ardent love.
Consider what is most beautiful and most noble on earth, what pleases the mind a
nd the other faculties, and what delights the flesh and the senses. Consider the
world, and the other worlds that shine in the night?the whole universe.
Well, this, along with all the satisfied follies of the heart, is worth nothing,
is nothing and less than nothing, compared with this God of mine!?of yours! Inf
inite treasure, most beautiful pearl; humbled, become a slave, reduced to the fo
rm of a servant in the stable where he willed to be born, in Joseph's workshop,
in his passion and in his ignominious death; and in the frenzy of Love?the bless
ed Eucharist.[95]
All of the Father's preaching?including the preaching he did by example?led dire
ctly to God before spilling out into apostolic action in the world. His program
could be reduced to one word: "divinization."[96] And for the attainment of that
goal he counseled the taking of one divine route: approaching God by "the right
road, which is the Sacred Humanity of Christ."
To follow Christ?that is the secret. We must accompany him so closely that we co
me to live with him, like the first Twelve did; so closely that we become identi
fied with him....
But do not forget that being with Jesus means we shall most certainly come upon
his cross. When we abandon ourselves into God's hands, he frequently permits us

to taste sorrow, loneliness, opposition, slander, defamation, ridicule, coming b

oth from within and from outside. This is because he wants to mold us into his o
wn image and likeness. He even tolerates that we be called lunatics and be taken
for fools.[97]
Being himself so enamored of and identified with Christ, the founder of Opus Dei
invites people to discover the riches of divine filiation, which is the foundat
ion of Christian life, and which for the faithful of Opus Dei translates as "an
ardent and sincere desire, both tender and profound, to imitate Jesus as brother
s and sisters of his, children of God the Father; a filiation that leads to livi
ng a life of faith in Providence and that facilitates a serene and joyful dedica
tion to God's will."[98]

* * *

The interior life of the Father fed on and grew with the richness contained in C
hrist's humanity. Whenever someone asked him in what ways he could serve as an e
xample, this was the response he gave:

There are few things in which I can offer myself as an example. However, for all
my personal shortcomings, I think I can offer myself as an example of someone w
ho knows how to love.[99]

He was a man who was clearly in love, whose human affection had been raised to t
he supernatural plane. His interior life was marked by a constant effort to find
the divine element that, like a precious pearl, was hidden in every event, grea
t or small. His spirituality was nourished by consideration of the divine filiat
ion that Jesus Christ won for us. The founder was, in short, a man who knew how
to love, and therefore how to transform work and rest into contemplative life, h
ow to turn them into prayer.[100]
Another notable thing about him was the refined way he treated people, in family
as well as social settings. He generously put his whole heart and his good mann
ers into the most ordinary, everyday acts. He tried to learn what each person li
ked and disliked. He waited for the right moment to give news to someone, or per
haps just refrained from doing so. In conversation he knew how to listen, interr
upting only when necessary, curbing any impatience, avoiding arguments, showing
everyone respect and friendliness, fighting any tendency toward laziness. At hom
e he dressed with care, was clean and neat, always well-groomed. All these detai
ls (which undoubtedly came from the teachings he received in the home of his par
ents) formed part of a series of virtues which ranged from courtesy to self-deni
al.[101] He put love of God into all his tasks, thus integrating them into his c
ontemplative life.
His conduct, even in the smallest of services, was lifted to the supernatural le
vel by the love for God that he put into it. For this reason he could not unders
tand how anyone could forget or disdain the human virtues, which were such a big
part of the fabric of our lives.

Remember that even if you seem to have the virtues of a saint, they're worth not
hing if they are not united to the ordinary Christian virtues.
That would be like adorning yourself with splendid jewels over your underclothes
.[102]

The entourage of human virtues that should accompany the apostle who lives in th
e midst of society is not just something desirable; those virtues become "the fo
undation for the supernatural virtues," if we strive to raise them to the supern
atural order. "It is true that... no one is saved without the grace of Christ. B
ut if one fosters and cultivates the seeds of virtue within him, God will smooth
out our path, and he will be able to become holy because he has known how to li
ve as a person of good will."[103] The feet-on-the-ground sensibility that he br
ings to the contemplative life is also reflected in this quote: "Everyone has su
ffered in this life. It's bad taste for a person to talk about his sufferings, a

nd can even make him lose whatever spiritual merit they may have brought."[104]
And in this one: "I find it very hard to speak about my own sufferings, when I h
ave a crucifix in front of me."[105]
Really the most surprising thing about his style is his propensity for appealing
to concerns about social grace and good manners; in other words, to the convent
ional aversions to whatever is considered "bad taste" or not very elegant: talki
ng about oneself, making oneself the center of attention, afflicting others with
one's troubles, and so forth.
Every one of the founder's devotions included in some way at least one of the di
stinctive features of the spirit of Opus Dei. For example, his devotion to the a
ngels was filled with trust, naturalness, and respect. This devotion started at
the foot of his childhood bed, when he would recite the prayer "Angel of God, my
guardian dear"; and it never died.[106] In fact, his frequent consideration of
and recourse to his guardian angel made it blossom into a true friendship. Then,
not long after his ordination, he began to call on his ministerial archangel as
well.[107] So strong was his belief in the efficacy of angelic intercession tha
t in his personal journal he listed a good number of favors that he had obtained
through it. A number so great, in fact, that he felt compelled to make this cla
rification: "I don't claim that the angels obey me, but I am absolutely certain
that the holy angels always listen to me."[108]
In connection with this, Bishop del Portillo recalls that the Father used to hav
e a little get-together with his sons every evening, and that when it came time
to say good night and leave, he would stop for a very brief moment before crossi
ng the threshold of the door, to allow his two angels to go out first.[109] This
was a detail that went unnoticed by anyone who was not in on the secret. It was
just a small gesture of deference. But does it not show, in and of itself, the
living faith of the founder and the natural way he behaved toward his angels? An
d does it not also show his good manners, allowing others to go first?

* * *

The founder practiced all the Christian virtues. But if one was asked to point o
ut one human virtue in particular, it might be that of magnanimity. One reason i
s that it includes within its scope a good number of natural virtues. And anothe
r is that it leads directly and quickly to a total dedication, a total giving of
oneself to God. The founder already showed this potential as a teenager, on tha
t winter's day when he suddenly and unconditionally surrendered himself upon see
ing those prints made in the snow by bare feet. And when he describes the virtue
of magnanimity, there seems to be no distance between him and that day.
Magnanimity means greatness of spirit, a largeness of heart wherein many can fin
d refuge. Magnanimity gives us the energy to break out of ourselves and be prepa
red to undertake generous tasks that will be of benefit to all. Small-mindedness
has no home in the magnanimous heart, nor has meanness, nor egoistic calculatio
n, nor self-interested trickery. The magnanimous person devotes all his strength
, unstintingly, to what is worthwhile. As a result he is capable of giving himse
lf. He is not content with merely giving. He gives his very self. He thus comes
to understand that the greatest expression of magnanimity consists in giving one
self to God.[110]
In no period of his life did he lose that greatness of soul, which was so necess
ary for his foundational charism to carry out Opus Dei. But, at the time that he
was chosen as founder, God gave him the grace of a permanent consciousness that
there was in this no merit on his part. Thus the spiritual life of the Father r
ested on a radical awareness that he was, and was worth, nothing. He would often
refer to himself as "a mangy donkey," as "a dirty rag," as "an inept and deaf i
nstrument," as "a sack of miseries," as "nothing and less than nothing." He saw
himself as being in God's eyes "a founder without foundation," "fragility, plus
God's grace," and "a big fool." He was "a poor fount of wretchedness and of love
," "a sinner who loves Jesus madly." This is what he wanted engraved on his tomb
stone: "Peccator" ("Sinner"). And he gave as his reason, "Because that's what I
am and how I feel."[111] Those descriptions came to his lips spontaneously. He d

id not have to look for words with which to characterize himself. Thus he combin
ed greatness and littleness, magnanimity and humility.
The founder carried out his mission generously, with promptness of spirit, at Go
d's pace, to the point of exhaustion. He was a man of uninterrupted prayer, and
it was thanks to this that he got Opus Dei going. "Javi," he once said to Father
Echevarra, "remember this all your life! The only means that we have ever had in
Opus Dei, and that we ever will have, is prayer. Pray! Pray always! Because eve
n if it sometimes looks as if we have all kinds of human means, we don't! This i
s Opus Dei's only essential: prayer."[112]
He really was a man of prayer. But as founder of a great apostolic enterprise, h
e was called to action. He incorporated into his contemplative life both of thos
e necessities, and, by word and example, he taught his children to fuse the two
into a unity of life. He continually, in a hundred different ways, repeated to t
hem that they had to be contemplatives in the midst of the world.
One summer evening he was having a get-together with his sons at Castel Gandolfo
, and there came the moment for the scheduled time of prayer. When the director
pointed this out, he replied, "But what are we doing now, if not praying?"[113]
And one of his daughters recalls that one day, when the Father had been working
on some papers for about forty-five minutes, he remarked, "While working on thes
e papers, I've had my mind and my heart close to the tabernacle. That's what I u
sually do wherever I'm working."[114]
His program was very simple: "We have to divinize our life, we have to immerse o
urselves completely in the love of God, so that he acts through each of us."[115
] A few seconds sufficed for praying a quick aspiration, for turning to God. The
n he infused this interior fire into his work. He worked with zeal, giving himse
lf, spending himself, because "doing God's work is not just a pretty phrase; it'
s an invitation to spend oneself for Love."[116] He considered it a wonderful an
d enviable thing to "spend oneself in the most remote corner, for the good of so
uls."[117]
With the grace of God, the founder, at the age of twenty-six, already had what i
t would take to carry out his mission. What he wrote in a letter of 1964, he cou
ld have written on any day before or after, up to the last one of his life:
I have a lot of work (work, in our Opus Dei, is an endemic and incurable disease
), and I need you to pray for me, so that I can gracefully move the whole effort
along, and be good, faithful, and cheerful.[118]
In a word, he gave his life to building Opus Dei with fidelity, conscientiously.
He always had more than enough work and not enough laborers for working from mo
rning to night in the vineyard of the Gospel. And he asked God not to let him lo
se those he had:

In the Work we can't allow ourselves the luxury of being sick, and I often ask t
he Lord to keep me healthy until half an hour before I die. There is a lot to do
, and we have to be well, to be able to work for God. So you have to take care o
f yourselves, and die old, very old, squeezed out like a lemon, accepting, from
this moment on, God's will.[119]

Whenever one of his children died, the Father could not hide his sorrow. He woul
d go to the tabernacle and speak with Jesus, making a filial complaint. Later he
would think, "Well, God does know best. He is not like a hunter in search of pr
ey. He is like a gardener, who cares for the flowers, and waters them, and prote
cts them. And he only cuts them when they are at the peak of their beauty and ri
chness. God takes souls when they are ripe."[120] But still he was upset when Go
d took his children, because they could have accomplished so much in this life.[
121]
The founder opened up new pathways for souls, raised the religious aspirations o
f millions of Catholics, and marked out new goals for society. Can we grasp, for
example, the historical reach of that statement of his, "I prayed so much that
I can say that all the priests of Opus Dei are sons of my prayer"?[122]

4. A master of spirituality

The better to contemplate the sacred humanity of Christ the Word-made-flesh, peo
ple should, the founder said, read the story of our Lord's Passion.
In the early years of my life as a priest, I used to give people presents of cop
ies of the Gospel and books about the life of Jesus. For we do need to know it w
ell, to have it in our heart and mind, so that at any time, without any book, we
can close our eyes and contemplate his life, watching it like a movie. In this
way the words and actions of our Lord will come to mind in all the different cir
cumstances of our life.[123]
He was deeply moved by "the marvel of a God who loves with a man's heart."[124]
And he wanted to keep at the forefront of his memory the sufferings of the Savio
r, who loved and suffered to redeem the world.
Let us meditate on the Lord wounded from head to foot out of love for us. Using
a phrase which approaches the truth, although it does not express its full reali
ty, we can repeat the words of an ancient writer: "The body of Christ is a portr
ait in pain."[125]
The religious tonality of the classic writers whose books he used to give away i
s one of a strong realism. Saint Peter of Alcantara's Treatise on Prayer and Med
itation, written in 1533, has a very forthright, colorful, and moving style. Her
e is one passage, on the crowning with thorns: Pilate has just brought out Jesus
and said "Look at the man!"
When I open my eyes and see this so sorrowful scene that is placed before me, my
heart is broken with pain.... Put yourself in the place of the one who is suffe
ring, and see how you would feel if in such a sensitive place as your head there
were pressed many and very big thorns which penetrated to the bone. And why do
I say thorns? Just one prick of a pin seems to be something you can scarcely end
ure.[126]
In 1574 Father Luis de Granada's Life of Jesus Christ was published. This is his
commentary on that same scene:

Look at what that divine face is: swollen from the blows, disfigured with spit,
scratched by thorns, covered with blood, in some places recent and fresh, in oth
er places already dark and hardened.... Such was his appearance that he no longe
r looked like himself, and hardly even looked like a man, but more like a portra
it of pain, painted by those cruel painters and that evil magistrate.[127]

Another book often given as a gift by the founder was the Story of the Sacred Pa
ssion, by Luis de la Palma, a Jesuit priest. It was first published in 1624, in
Alcala. The baroque style of the original is elegant, erudite, pious, although s
omewhat wordy by today's standards. When one reads this book, the scenes of the
Passion really come alive and etch themselves in one's memory.[128] Upon reachin
g that same point in the Gospel narrative, the Jesuit writes:

His eyes filled and overflowed with tears, and with blood that oozed from his he
ad. There he was, with his cheeks yellow, pale, and disfigured by the saliva tha
t had been spit in his face; his legs trembling, no less from the cold than from
weakness; and his whole body humiliated and hunched with the weight of the disg
race and the pain.
Pilate, having him right beside him, being that close to this pitiful sight that
would be enough to move wild beasts to compassion and soften hearts made of ston
e, called for silence and said in a loud voice,... "Ecce homo."[129]

The classical writers traditionally write in a style that is vigorous as well as

realistic. The Franciscan Saint Peter of Alcantara presents us with a Gothic "t
ableau" strongly sculpted by pain. And the Dominican Luis de Granada paints a Re
naissance-style tableau colored by streams of blood.
In the style of the founder we find, in addition to features similar to those, a
touch of emotional intimacy. Here is how he depicts the condemning of Jesus to
death:


The crown of thorns, driven in by blows, makes him a mock king?Ave Rex Iudeorum!
?Hail, King of the Jews! (Mk 15:18). And with their blows they wound his head. A
nd they strike him; and they spit on him.
Crowned with thorns and clothed in rags of purple, Jesus is shown to the Jewish
mob: Ecce homo!?Look at the man! And again the chief priests and the ministers r
aise the cry, saying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Qn 19:5-6).
You and I?have we not crowned him anew with thorns, and struck him and spit on h
im?
Never again, Jesus, never again.[130]

And here is another consideration he makes in connection with the "Ecce homo" sc
ene:

Our heart shudders when it contemplates the Sacred Humanity of our Lord become a
n open wound....
Look at Jesus. Each laceration is a reproach; each lash of the whip, a reason fo
r sorrow for your offenses and mine.[131]

In these reflections, which draw one to repentance and to resolutions for a new
life, the power of his style is evident. At times a glance suffices, in the mids
t of the commotion of all those people on the road to Calvary:
There is a tumult of voices, and, now and then, short silences: perhaps when Jes
us fixes his eyes on someone:
If anyone wishes to come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me
(Lk 9:23).[132]
Meditation on the Passion of Christ generally strengthens one, brings one closer
to the Master, enkindles contrition and gratitude in one's soul. However, there
are souls that do not break out in tears of sorrow and love when they think of
Christ's Passion. Could this not be, the founder asks himself, "because you and
I witness the scenes, but do not live them"?[133] Later he explains how we can a
ccompany Jesus "closely, very closely":

Open the holy Gospel and read the Passion of our Lord. But don't just read it: l
ive it. There is a big difference. To read is to recall something that happened
in the past; to live is to find oneself present at an event that is happening he
re and now, to be someone taking part in those scenes.[134]

Having that living presence means putting oneself into the Gospel, thinking of o
neself as being physically close to Christ, accompanying him. We know that this
method of contemplation was practiced by the founder at least as early as 1931,
since that is when he wrote Holy Rosary. It was part and parcel of that way of s
piritual childhood that the Lord had shown him.[135] He felt that every Christia
n should have vivid images of the Passion deeply imprinted in both mind and hear
t, so as to be able to call them up at will. Even more, he wanted that living pr
esence to be a personal participation in the story. Let us, he said, "offer our
back for the scourging, our head for the crown of thorns," and better yet, put o
urselves into the wounds of the Lord.[136] At the end, when the sacrifice is ove
r, when Jesus is hanging lifeless on the cross, when all seems lost and loneline
ss envelops the world, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea courageously ask Pilate
for the Lord's body.
With them I too will go up to the foot of the cross; I will press my arms tightl
y around the cold Body, the corpse of Christ, with the fire of my love. I will u
nnail it, with my reparation and mortifications. I will wrap it in the new windi
ng-sheet of my clean life, and I will bury it in the living rock of my breast, w
here no one can tear it away from me, and there, Lord, take your rest!
Were the whole world to abandon you and to scorn you? serviam! I will serve you,
Lord.[137]

* * *


The founder kept his thoughts on God whether he was engaged in practices of piet
y or deeply engaged in his work. Through the principle of "unity of life" he con
verted his work into prayer and turned his occupations into spiritual contemplat
ion. The founder spoke of a "Christian materialism," of the divine value that is
to be found in secular tasks, and of the fact that to become divinized, we have
to first be very human.
No! We cannot lead a double life. We cannot have a split personality if we want
to be Christians. There is just one life, made of flesh and spirit. And it is th
is life which has to become, in both soul and body, holy and filled with God. We
discover the invisible God in the most visible and material things.[138]
That was his lifestyle and that was his teaching. As a master of spirituality, h
e directed his preaching towards spreading the messages that "the divine paths o
f earth have been opened" and that to get one's contemplative life moving, one h
as to "materialize" things that are in themselves spiritual, giving play to one'
s senses and other faculties.
To make it easier to pray, it is helpful to materialize even the most spiritual
of things, to resort to parable. The lesson is divine, but the doctrine has to r
each our intellects and hearts by way of the senses. Now you see why I'm so fond
of speaking to you about boats and nets.[139]
For his meditation he preferred the pages of the Gospel: the life of our Lord, o
f the Blessed Virgin and the apostles, encounters Jesus had with secondary chara
cters.... He got so used to putting himself within the historical narrative that
one day (we know this from a witness), during Mass, an amusing thing happened.
While he was reading the day's Gospel, which was about Jesus' encounter with the
Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, he unwittingly exclaimed, "What a woman!" When
Mass was over, he explained to the altar server that he admired that woman who,
despite all her personal miseries, was one of the few people to recognize the M
essiah and immediately set out to bring others to him.[140]
He could pinpoint, even from just a couple of words, the characters of the peopl
e mentioned in the Gospels. From short references he could extract long commenta
ries marked by deep spiritual insight and a lot of common sense. He says, for ex
ample, of Saint Joseph:

Jesus must have resembled Joseph: in his way of working, in the features of his
character, in his way of speaking. Jesus' realism, his eye for detail, the way h
e sat at table and broke bread, his preference for using everyday situations to
give doctrine?all this reflects his childhood and the influence of Joseph.[141]

By so often and intensely meditating on Jesus' parables, he learned to go in sea

rch of the simple, the readily known and intelligible, in order to "materialize
even the most spiritual of things." From a common or everyday event, for example
, he would derive an image that he would interpret in spiritual terms. The conte
mplation of nature led immediately to God. One day walking along a beach near Va
lencia, he saw a line of trees, standing between the sea and the cultivated fiel
ds. They were bent and beaten by the wind and the spray of salt water. "That's w
hat you have to be," he remarked to his companions. "Trees on the front lines, w
ho give of themselves to protect the other trees of the Church."[142]
Events of daily life mentioned in the Gospel moved him deeply and led him to con
templation. One of his homilies begins with this scene from the countryside:

I remember, many years ago now, I was going along a road in Castile with some fr
iends, when we noticed something in a field far away which made a deep impressio
n on me at the time and has since often helped me in my prayer. A group of men w
ere hammering some wooden stakes into the ground, which they then used to suppor
t netting to form a sheep pen. Then shepherds came along with their sheep and th
eir lambs. They called them by their names and one by one lambs and sheep went i
nto the pen, where they would be all together, safe and sound.[143]

He saw himself both as a sheep of Christ's and as a shepherd of his children in

Opus Dei:

The image of Christ with his sheep at his right and left means so much to me tha
t I had it depicted in the oratory where I normally celebrate holy Mass. Elsewhe
re, as a reminder of God's presence, I have had engraved Jesus' words, cognosco
oves meas et cognoscunt me meae["I know my sheep and they know me"?Jn 10:14], to
help us consider constantly that he is at our side, reproaching us, instructing
us, teaching us as does a shepherd with his flock.[144]

A "wake-up call to God's presence" could be anything that reminded the founder o
f his mission. There were lots of words and objects which in some way reawakened
him interiorly. These "human devices," as he also called them, were not just re
ligious items, such as crucifixes, statues of our Lady, or copies of scriptural
texts. There were also the little donkey figurines, the maps, a family picture,
the occasional flower, a brick ... Already in 1928, in Madrid, he had on his des
k a ceramic plate, broken and held together with clamps, in which he saw an imag
e of his own fragility and brokenness, held together by the love of God.[145]
(In that way, the most common objects became symbols and reminders that stimulat
ed him to contemplation. Everywhere in Villa Tevere one sees pictures, inscripti
ons, plaques, emblems, and so forth, which constitute a vivid language of presen
ce of God.)
Gospel images are found again and again in his preaching in strikingly vivid ter
ms.
If we are humble, we can understand all the marvel of our divine vocation. The h
and of Christ has snatched us from a wheat field; the sower squeezes the handful
of wheat in his wounded palm. The blood of Christ bathes the seed, soaking it.
Then the Lord tosses the wheat to the winds, so that in dying it becomes life an
d in sinking into the ground it multiplies itself.[146]

* * *

The founder was a priest who spoke of nothing but God; and he liked being called
that. His work with hundreds of youths, first, and then with women and men, pri
ests and lay people, gave him such a knowledge of the human soul, and such was t
he grace that accompanied his priestly work, that it would have been hard to fin
d a spiritual director with greater experience. In his books?which he wrote for
the purpose of making men and women of prayer and good judgment?he offers us som
e of that priestly experience. Many of their pages are autobiographical ones in
which he tells us of his struggles and weaknesses, the kinds of things God alway
s takes into account so that people can become saints.
When I look back at what I have done, I am amazed at the extent of my failings.
All I have to do is to examine my behavior in the few hours since I woke up this
morning to discover so much lack of love, so little faithful correspondence. Th
is truly saddens me, but it does not take away my peace of mind. I prostrate mys
elf before God and I state my situation clearly. Immediately he helps me, he rea
ssures me, and I hear him repeat slowly in the depths of my heart, meus es tu! [
"You are mine"?Is 43:1]. I know the way you are, as I have always known it. Forw
ard![147]
The founder sails ahead like an icebreaker, opening the way. He speaks to us fro
m his own experience, telling us of the difficulties he has encountered and the
tactics and resources he has used to overcome them. But to keep from speaking of
himself too often, he frequently tells stories from his life in third person. H
ere is one example:

That friend of ours used to say, with no false humility, "I haven't needed to le
arn how to forgive, because God has taught me how to love."[148]

There are many such places where the autobiographical element is hidden by the l
iterary style. Generally the founder just resorts to anonymity: "There's a story
of someone..."; "There was a poor priest?"; "An acquaintance of mine was once?"

; "I know of someone who would use as a bookmark..." These stories are almost al
ways about virtuous acts. But, in contrast, he would waive that anonymity when i
t came to showing his weaknesses, in order to better drive home the lesson. When
, for example, he did his evening examination of conscience, sometimes surrounde
d by his sons, an exclamation of contrition might escape from his lips: "Lord, J
osemara is not happy with Josemara!"[149]
In his preaching and in his writings, he very often used the expression "you and
I," to keep his hearers and readers from feeling deserted, to encourage them an
d get them to make resolutions together with him. When directing people, he neve
r failed to push them toward holiness and have them formulate a resolution to ma
ke some improvement, no matter how small. But never did he try to impose a parti
cular method of prayer or any very specific path of spiritual life[150]
Monsignor Escriv is, without a doubt, a master of the interior life by virtue of
his teachings and counseling gifts; but above all, because of his having scaled
the cliffs that lead to holiness. In his giving of spiritual direction he was bo
th understanding and demanding. He led souls up an inclined plane, intensifying
their life of piety while eliminating defects and imperfections. For proof of th
is, we need go no further than his books. They are packed with deep insights tha
t clearly came to him not by hearsay or by theoretical study, but through self-e
xamination and his personal ascetical struggle. He says, for instance:

Allow me to remind you that among other evident signs of a lack of humility are:
? Thinking that what you do or say is better than what others do or say;
? Always wanting to get your own way;
? Arguing when you are not right or (when you are) insisting stubbornly with bad
manners;
? Giving your opinion without being asked for it, when; charity does not demand
you to do so.[151]

There are scores of such pearls of wisdom. Most of the time, the masters of inte
rior life acquire this keen perceptiveness through the effort of freeing themsel
ves from their own defects.
The more one advances in the interior life, the more clearly one sees one's own
faults. Grace works in us like a magnifying glass, and even the tiniest speck of
dust or an almost invisible grain of sand can appear immensely large, for the s
oul acquires a divine sensitivity, and even the slightest shadow irritates one's
conscience, which finds delight only in the limpid clarity of God.[152]

5. Loving passionately

If we now go back in search of the most significant events in the life of the fo
under before 1928, we will see the Lord preparing him for this great enterprise.
Saint Paul's declaration that "God chose us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and blameless before him" (Eph 1:4) was a passage
very dear to the heart of the founder. "Is there," he asked, "any greater joy t
han knowing oneself to be loved in this way by the Creator of heaven and earth?"
[153] And, like many of the other great saints and heroes of history, one day he
came upon a living symbol of that love of God. At the sight of it, he felt his
heart moved by "a gentle shock." Truly, "God's encounter with each person is ine
ffable and unrepeatable."[154] But what stands out about the response of this pe
rson, who was at the time only fifteen, is its decisiveness. He did not hesitate
to surrender himself. At that exact moment he embarked upon a voyage of love, u
pon a divine adventure whose course he did not know.
The voice of God called him by his own name. "I have called you by name?you are
mine!" Whenever he came across those words from Isaiah, they awakened in his sou
l ineffable memories.
I do not know how it strikes you, but I feel I must tell you how moved I am when
ever I read the words of the prophet Isaiah: Ego vocavi te nomine tuo, meus es t
u!?I have called you, I have brought you into my Church, you are mine! God himse

lf telling me I am his! It is enough to make one go mad with Love![155]

This call, he said, "is something so beautiful that it makes one fall in love...
. We have to give our heart whole and undivided, because the heart does get atta
ched."[156] Besides, the Lord is jealous. "Jesus is never satisfied 'sharing.' H
e wants all."[157]
That early episode of the footprints in the snow shows us an adolescent heart, g
enerous, sensitive, and passionate: "How beautiful it is to give one's heart to
God when one is fifteen!"[158] But this event was no more than the beginning of
a long adventure of love, made up of fidelity and joy and sacrifices and a const
ant willingness to be at the mercy of the divine will. A boundless daring, forti
fied by detachment, drove him to risk everything, like that merchant the Gospel
speaks of who "on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he ha
d and bought it" (Mt 14:45). To give himself totally to Love meant great sacrifi
ces. The young student renounced his dreams of becoming an architect and of esta
blishing a home. He saw himself obliged to take rougher routes, paying no heed t
o his tastes, refusing every offer that could divert him from the path of his in
tuitions. It was not, then, a matter of a momentary whim. He went through ten ye
ars of tirelessly, consciously repeating, "Domine, ut videam!"
Neither in private nor before crowds did he hide his condition of being madly in
love. "I'm as mad as they come, but for the divine."[159]His whole being throbb
ed with love for God, as is clear from this entry in his personal journal: "I wo
uld like to write some books of fire, that would race across the world like burn
ing flames and set people ablaze with their light and heat, turning poor hearts
into red-hot coals to be offered to Jesus as rubies for his royal crown." [160]
And write those books he did. The Way; Holy Rosary; The Way of the Cross; Furrow
; The Forge; Christ Is Passing By; Friends of God... As soon as one starts to re
ad them, one notices that the language and the expressions that he uses are echo
es of those thoughts. "Tell our Lord with your whole heart: In spite of my wretc
hedness I am madly in love?drunk with Love!" "Take good care of the Lord." "It's
like courting." "We should get very close to Jesus, through the Bread and throu
gh the Word. We should speak affectionate words to him throughout the day. That
is what people in love do." It is a vocabulary that leads us straight down that
"right road" that the founder recommends for getting close to God: the sacred hu
manity of Christ.[161]
"We have to be Christocentric, placing Christ in the center of our life."[162] C
hrist is the Mediator, around whom heaven and earth gravitate. In Christ, perfec
t God and perfect man, we have an ideal both human and divine. And identified wi
th Christ through grace, made into another Christ, we become "divinized," able t
o participate in the riches of the sons and daughters of God.
"It makes me very happy," the founder said, "to realize that Christ wanted to be
fully a man, with flesh like our own."[163] Christ has taken on a flesh like ou
r own. It is with a heart of flesh that he loves people. We can speak with God h
eart to heart.[164]
He occasionally put himself forward as "an example of someone who knows how to l
ove."[165] And what was that love like? First of all, we must not imagine it as
having been a disembodied or purely spiritual love, since "God does not ask of u
s inhuman things."[166] And certainly it was not a cautious, halfhearted dedicat
ion.
You tell me: "Yes, I want to!" Good. But do you want to as a miser wants his gol
d, as a mother wants her child, as a worldling wants honors, or as a poor sensua
list wants his pleasure? No? Then you don't want to![167]
With love's daring, he prayed for a heart to the measure of Christ's own heart:
"a Heart which loved and is most lovable; which loved unto death and suffered; w
hich was filled with joy and sorrow; which delighted in the things of men and sh
owed us the way to heaven."[168]We need for our hearts to be "very human and ver
y divine,"[169] closely united to Jesus, divinized, so that God's love can act t
hrough each of us. The founder did not put any limits to his love. He loved with
incredible enthusiasm the things of earth as well as those of heaven, because "
it is in the midst of the most material things of the earth that we must sanctif
y ourselves, serving God and all mankind."[170]

From that profound unity of life, there is born "the need and, as it were, super
natural instinct to purify all of one's actions and elevate them to the order of
grace, to sanctify them, and to convert them into an occasion of personal union
with God... and an instrument of apostolate.?[171] People who follow this insti
nct are described by the founder as "contemplative souls who carry their cell in
their heart and travel all the pathways of the earth to make them divine, sanct
ifying their work."[172]
He was, in short, a man with a priestly soul and a lay mentality. He was "a sinn
er who loves Jesus madly," but he was also "a priest of Jesus Christ who is pass
ionately in love with the world."[173]

* * *

"God so loved the world," Scripture tells us, "that he gave his only Son, that w
hoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). With
full detachment, the Father put everything that he had at the service of the man
date to "bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth" (Acts 13:47): his
personal gifts, his charism as founder, and Opus Dei itself, with its apostolic
works. And, just as his whole life had the aspect of a loving urgency, in all of
his spoken words one can recognize an identical tone of voice; in all of his pl
ans, a particular vein of inspiration; and in all of his writings, a distinctive
literary style. His language irrepressibly goes beyond what a mediocre soul wou
ld consider more than reasonable in its relations with God. For in those "books
of fire" the concepts of love flare up among the embers; and as a result, hearts
burn, like enkindled rubies, in a mystical holocaust.[174]
Perhaps it occurs to us to wonder what is the reason for this language of the sa
ints which is so charged with vehemence and poetic excess. What are they trying
to do with these extravagances?
From the very first pages of The Forge, we hear echoes of the cry of Jesus that
is mentioned explicitly in point no. 52:

My King, I hear you proclaiming in a loud voice that still resounds: Ignem veni
mittere in terram, et quid volo nisi ut accendatur??I have come to cast fire upo
n the earth, and would that it were already kindled!
To which the disciple responded with all his strength, ready to set fire to the
whole world, "Here I am, because you called me!" And he prayed that he might bec
ome a living bonfire.
O Jesus, strengthen our souls, open out the way for us, and, above all, intoxica
te us with your Love. Make us into blazing fires to enkindle the earth with the
heavenly fire you brought us.[175]
Melt and enkindle my hardened heart, burn and purify my unmortified flesh, fill
my mind with supernatural light, make my tongue proclaim the Love and Glory of C
hrist.[176]

And, for a greater guarantee that the fire would be set, he asked the angels to
blow on the embers of those hearts which had turned to ashes; and he asked our L
ady to procure for us all a love with true flames.

Sweet Mother, lead us to that madness that will make others fall madly in love w
ith our Christ!
Sweet Lady Mary, may Love not be in us a flash in the pan, or a will-o'-the-wisp
, such as decomposing corpses sometimes produce. May it be a true devouring fire
, which sets alight and burns everything it touches.[177]

6. The foundational charism

The Father, as we mentioned earlier, renounced from early on the career of a wri
ter. He had more than enough giftedness for it, but he unhesitatingly put his pe
n at the service of souls. He did, to be sure, spend his life writing. However,

the heavy burden of his duties as founder forced him to leave unwritten more tha
n one projected book.
His lack of time is also reflected in the way that his books are put together. H
e does not treat of matters in a systematic or scholarly way. Rather, he dynamic
ally tosses out ideas, in a way that is very conducive to reception by contempla
tive souls in the midst of the bustle of life. The Way, Furrow, and The Forge ar
e simply collections of lively, brief reflections. Conversations is a collection
of interviews. And Christ Is Passing By and Friends of Godare collections of ho
milies.
Some of these books grew out of his personal notes (Apuntes intimos) and were pu
blished after his death. They reveal an astonishing spiritual precociousness, wh
ich runs parallel to the development of Opus Dei. The Apuntes show, for example,
the cast of the spirit of the founder. And they are the quarry from which he wa
s able to extract many of his inspirations as founder. This last aspect is the o
ne which interests us now, since the time has come to look into the part he play
ed in the task of sculpting Opus Dei, and the role played by divine inspiration.
We can begin by saying that Opus Dei, as a historical entity, derives from the c
harism (special grace from God) that he had as founder.[178] When he received th
e mission of starting Opus Dei, he had, as he himself said, nothing but his twen
ty-six years of age, the grace of God, and a cheerful disposition.[179] So the q
uestion naturally arises, how did his charism mesh with his youth and cheerful d
isposition? With, in other words, his personality and lifestyle, virtues and nat
ural characteristics?
In these operations the theological point of departure is that God respects the
freedom of the person, not imposing himself by force.
However, Father Josemara's conduct was governed by his docility to God's promptin
gs. So his will, through its faithfulness to the ordinary lights he received abo
ut his mission, came to coincide with God's wishes. But this happened in such a
way that everything he did was left with the imprint of his personality. In ever
ything one could see that gigantic faith and passionate love, that positive and
practical outlook on life, that generosity, that whole long string of human virt
ues that he already carried with him before the founding.
And if we want to know how the charismatic grace ordinarily worked, we can read
a note he jotted down in June 1930: "In seeking light, for summarizing the activ
ities of the members, I think God has let me glimpse a spark. It's not, of cours
e, something definitive, an illumination; I realize that. But it is a little ray
of clarity."[180] From this we can deduce that the lights given in connection w
ith his charism as founder did not provide him with ready-made solutions for par
ticular matters, but rather served him as pointers by which to find the practica
l means for making Opus Dei a reality. That task demanded of him a tremendous am
ount of physical exertion, an attitude of constant attentiveness, and a going th
rough life "against the grain," getting, here and there, those little rays of cl
arity. The extraordinary illuminations, which came to him from the Lord only ver
y rarely, had as their object to show him the essential elements of Opus Dei, th
e "bedrock" ideas which he, by his own efforts, had to then develop.
Indeed, he went through long periods in which the Lord kept him in the dark; and
there were times when he had to let himself be led by the hand, in blindness, d
ocile as a child. One of those periods of inaction?one that he made mention of a
t the time?actually began in October 1928, soon after he received that "illumina
tion about the whole Work."[181] He found himself deprived of those inspirations
with which our Lord had been helping him. "More than a year went by without Jes
us speaking, to make it clear, with evidence, that his little donkey was only th
e instrument?and a poor instrument!"[182] The task of founding remained on hold,
so to speak, until November 1929, when "there started up again that spiritual c
urrent of divine inspiration for the Work of God, clarifying, specifying what he
wants."[183]
Opus Dei is a work originated by God, not by men. This fact goes a long way towa
rd explaining what the founder's cooperation with God's plan consisted in. Fathe
r Josemara, by divine illumination, saw the essence of this project and received
the seed of Opus Dei in his mind and heart. And, as the one chosen by God, he ha

d the responsibility of actualizing the divine plan in this world. For this he n
eeded, however, assistance from on high. He had to work according to the dictate
s of the foundational grace. Furthermore, he frequently ran up against obstacles
that were, from a natural standpoint, insuperable. So he trusted that God would
continue to open up the way with special illuminations. "God will enlighten us
at the right moment," he wrote during one of those dark periods.[184]
But how difficult it is to remain in a proper spiritual equilibrium, resting wit
h holy abandonment in the arms of Divine Providence without falling into the pre
sumptuous attitude of treating God as if he were exclusively at our service, lik
e a deus ex machina; to show trust in him without "tempting" him. After making a
n act of faith that God would enlighten him at the right moment and in the way h
e saw fit, Father Josemara continued to reflect on the specific endeavors being c
arried out by the Work (both branches, the men's and the women's).
It could seem that I am worried about the financing of the apostolic works and t
hat I don't have enough trust in Divine Providence. That is not the case. How of
ten I have experienced that most loving providence! But one must not tempt God.
Some small apostolic works that spend little money fail to grow to maturity beca
use the faith they claim to have in Providence is not really that?it's an attemp
t to force God to work unnecessary miracles.[185]
The key to avoiding such false reliance on Providence is to have great faith in
God and "make use of all the means that we would employ in any other business (t
ogether with prayer and expiation)."[186]?NOTEThis would become one of the pract
ical principles that the founder always lived by and that he transmitted to the
faithful of Opus Dei:
Don't expect miracles if you haven't made use of the appropriate means and worke
d hard.
As the enterprise grew, the founder kept "making notes on and outlining the Work
," as he modestly puts it.[187] (We should recall, once again, that the pages of
the Apuntes that have come down to us begin in the middle of March 1930. In oth
er words, a month after the Lord corrected Father Josemara's idea that there woul
d not be any women in Opus Dei.)
During these first stages of the founding, Father Josemara did not yet have a reg
ular confessor in Madrid, nor anyone to whom he could open his soul. So what he
put in his notebooks were thoughts and ideas that he wanted to meditate on alone
in God's presence.
Well, then, one of the first things that an attentive reader notices is the prom
ptness with which Father Josemara incorporates women into all his apostolic proje
cts, and the daring he shows in his suggestions of the specific fields they migh
t work in. From the outset he clearly sees them as equals to the men, even thoug
h he sees some activities as being more appropriate to the one gender and some t
o the other. And it is obvious that he received with deep gratitude and joy the
news that the Lord wanted women too to be in Opus Dei.
The founder envisioned both the men and the women of Opus Dei striving to "immun
ize the whole of society against corruption." But he envisioned them doing so wi
th the joy of perfecting it, healing it, and washing away its scars. He pictured
society as a patient to be restored to the health of Christ "by means of intrav
enous injections, which they themselves [the men and the women of the Work] will
be, incorporating themselves . .. into the circulatory system of every social c
lass."[188]
Together with this work of universal apostolate that members of Opus Dei would c
arry out from within the ordinary life of the world (without, in other words, le
aving their homes, abandoning their professions, or changing their state in life
), there would also be certain specific apostolates. In his journal entry for Ma
rch 13, 1930, the founder mentions, in connection with the apostolates of women
of the Work who are from countries other than Spain, the possibility of creating
an educational center, a "Modern Languages Academy," which, "like any other bus
iness, would pay its taxes, and in which the students would also pay. Nothing fo
r free."[189] (Father Josemara did not want any privileges for the future apostol
ic ventures, including that they be considered charitable institutions for purpo
ses of tax exemption, unless there was some compelling legal reason. The faithfu

l of Opus Dei were and always would be ordinary citizens, with the same rights a
nd duties as their fellow citizens. No more, no less.)
When, in 1933, there was created the first corporate work of Opus Dei, the DYA A
cademy, Father Josemara took good care to make it a secular institution. His lay
mentality (and this is a feature of Opus Dei) led him to completely follow throu
gh on what he had said about the Modern Languages Academy. No privileges. The ta
xes stipulated by the government would be paid. The academy would have the same
rights as any other academy. And let us recall that before inaugurating Strathmo
re College (in 1961, in Nairobi), the founder pointed out that this interracial
school had to be open to non-Catholic and even non-Christian students. It was no
t to be "sectarian."[190]
In those early times, in which everything had yet to be done, Father Josemara tri
ed to mentally solve problems that he knew he would be facing him in the future.
When a few years had gone by and he did not yet have priests who could take ove
r the spiritual direction of the women and the administration of the sacraments
in their houses, how were they going to be taken care of? In the rural centers,
he writes in his Apuntes, "an agreement could be made with the local parish prie
st, whereby he would be given a decent, generous stipend for coming every day, a
t a set time, to the Work center.[191] In the houses in the cities, "there would
be well-paid chaplains." And he explains, "These chaplains should be well paid.
Thus we'll be able to choose persons who are well formed, in every sense."[192]
It was also the founder's wish that an agreement be made with the parish priest
to have a monthly Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for the women of the Work.
And he indicated to his future daughters the spirit with which they should make
that eucharistic act. "Be generous with the Lord," he wrote. "Lots of candles,
of good wax; a rich monstrance and vestments; lots of fervor; lots of prayer."[1
93]
Mixed with considerations of that kind, there are others based on the founder's
past pastoral experience. It saddened him, for example, to see men who had becom
e estranged from the Church because of not being able to take part in parish dev
otions, which usually were held during the day, when they were at work. It was n
ecessary to get them to these parish services. It was also necessary to facilita
te their receiving the sacraments, by creating an environment that would erase f
rom their minds the notion that the Church is for women. In a society growing ev
er more distanced from God, Father Josemara sought to make religion something app
ealing to all souls. He summed up his program of action for men thus: "There sho
uld be manliness, art, preciseness, serious and solid devotion. I am sure that m
en will respond."[194]
To restore an atmosphere of aesthetic "manliness," one would have to start by ba
nishing from the churches all gaudy and schmaltzy decorations and reinstate good
taste in sacred art. His sense of liturgical decorum led Father Josemara to deno
unce the reigning tackiness: "lots of electric lights, on the reredos and even o
n the tabernacle of Exposition. Backdrops and drop curtains that look like they
came from a small-town theater. Gaudy flower prints, on paper and cloth. Sugary
statues. Effeminate-looking lace and embroidery on the albs and altar cloths. Hi
deous vessels..."[195]
The abundance of observations, apostolic suggestions, practical solutions, and a
esthetic concerns that are found in the Apuntes leads us to ask ourselves the re
ason for this swarm of projects that seems to flow from the founder's mind. As t
ime passed, all of those ideas, which in 1930 were, so to speak, in seed form, b
egan to crystallize; and now we can see, clearly, their close link to his interi
or life.
His eucharistic piety, for example, gave rise to models for aesthetic dignity in
churches and oratories. His love showed itself in the richness of the monstranc
es and sacred vessels and in the cleanness of the altar linens and the sacristy;
and his fidelity in following the Church's liturgical dispositions. Because of
his faith, he was lavishly generous in eucharistic worship and he inculcated in
all of his children, by word and example, devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.
However, when he was thinking that it might be good to publish a magazine that c
ould be offered to parish priests, he added a little caveat: that it should be "

very cheap; gratis, no."[196] And in cases where women of the Work had to take c
are of the vestments and other liturgical items in a parish, he said that they s
hould not forget to also supply "almost for free?but never gratis, nothing for f
ree!?the hosts and the wine for the Holy Sacrifice."[197] But have we not alread
y seen that same advice given with regard to the Modern Languages Academy?"the s
tudents would also pay. Nothing for free"?[198] And when study circles or format
ion classes needed to be held for people of modest means, it should be seen to,
wrote the founder, that the place that they would be staying in would be "comfor
table and inexpensive; but nothing for free."[199]
Why all these limitations? It looks as though Father Josemara is trying to curb h
is natural disposition to be generous. But we know very well that he is not doin
g this out of miserliness. He himself explains it quite clearly. "We all," he sa
ys, "have a tendency to place little value on what doesn't cost money. So?nothin
g for free."[200]
With this advice still fresh in his mind, at the end of August in 1930 he jots d
own in his Apuntes,"Several times this has been stated, as an unshakable princip
le of the Work of God: nothing for free. And that is how I believe it ought to b
e."[201] Over time, that principle of "nothing for free" was modified into the a
postolate "of not giving."[202] This is a way of operating that the founder will
also call "doing apostolate with common sense."[203] What actually happens is t
hat by giving a little financial help to the social or educational center that i
s helping them, people who have very little can truthfully say that they are con
tributing to the operation of the center, and can see in the facilities and serv
ices something of their own. Quite possibly they will not even realize that they
are being given things almost for free. That small financial sacrifice may resu
lt in their not feeling humiliated, their taking better advantage of the help of
fered to them, and their having a little more appreciation of it because of its
costing them something.[204]
Clearly it is a question of practical norms, aimed at obtaining the maximum apos
tolic efficacy. But these norms are also a genuine expression of the lay mentali
ty that Father Josemara tried to give to his apostolate.
By word and example, Father Josemara was breaking the ground for all kinds of pos
sible ways of acting in conformity with the spirit of Opus Dei. Together with th
e "apostolate of not giving," he practiced the "apostolate ad fidem [to non- bel
ievers]," the "lunch-time apostolate," the apostolates of letter writing, of cat
echesis, of discretion, of friendship and trust, of the intellect, of suffering.
He also spoke of the "apostolate of recreation" and of the "apostolate of examp
le." And then there was "the apostolate of apostolates," a term he came up with
during those early years when he had to take care of some of the domestic work i
n the residences himself. Naturally, he had to put a huge amount of time and eff
ort into those multiple facets of his apostolate, in order to pull off an enterp
rise that exceeded his capabilities. He really was convinced of his being an ina
dequate instrument in God's hands. In December 1931 he wrote:
On rereading yesterday a certain entry in the first book of Catalinas, I saw how
little I knew about the spiritual life. And that lamentable fact, Jesus, made m
e go to you with more love, just as one admires all the more an artist who creat
es a marvelous work with a blunt and uneven instrument.[205]
Opus Dei was growing "at God's pace." Often the founder could not come up with a
solution, because one did not yet exist. (This was, for a long time, the case w
ith the canonical configuration of the Work.) And other times, because he usuall
y worked in almost total darkness, waiting for light from God.
I am amazed to see what God is doing. I never imagined? never!?these works that
the Lord is inspiring, in the way they are taking shape. At the start, one sees
clearly a vague idea. Later one sees that he has turned those shadowy figures (i
nto something precise, specific, and viable.[206]In June 1930, in the process of
doing a summary of all the things he has been jotting down about the spirit, or
ganization, and apostolates of he Work, Father Josemara writes:
The Lord has wanted to humble me about all this for quite some time now, so that
I don't think of myself as a superman?so that I don't think that the ideas he i
nspires in me are my own, or that I merit the predilection of being his instrume

nt. He has made me see very clearly that I am a wretched creature, capable of th
e worst, most vile things.[207]
And upon having gone over, with amazement, all those entries in the Apuntes, he
exclaims:

Never could I have foreseen, when I wrote down those inspirations, that such a W
ork would come about.... No one could know better than I that everything that is
coming about is God's doing. It was never dreamed of by me.[208]
[1] Instructionof 19 Mar 1934, no. 20.
[2] Apuntes,no. 342 (20 Oct 1931).
[3] Apuntes,no. 642 (9 Mar 1932).
[4] Apuntes,no. 1287 (3 Oct 1935).
[5] AGP, P01 1971, p. 13.
[6] AGP, RHP, T-04861 (testimony of Maria Begona Alvarez Iraizoz), p. 113.
[7] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3029. In 1960 the mayor of Barbastro wanted to place a
commemorative plaque on the front of the house where the founder was born. The
Father immediately wrote to him asking him not to put any plaque there. See AGP,
RHF, EF-600330-3.
[8] Cesar Ortiz-Echagiie, Sum. 6899.
[9] Javier Echevarra, PR, p. 681.
[10] AGP, P011971, p. 11.
[11] That get-together was held on March 10,1956, with students of the Roman Col
lege of the Holy Cross. On another occasion he told them, "The monuments I would
like to leave are you, my sons." See AGP, P01 1975, p. 1617.
[12] See AGP, RHF, T-03358 (testimony of Alberto Taboada del Rio), no. 1366.
[13] ?lvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1006.
[14] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2279.
[15] Javier Echevarra, PR, p. 1690.
[16] See Xavier de Ayala, Sum. 7600.
[17] Meditationof 2 Oct 1962; see AGP, P09, p. 58.
[18] Apuntes,no. 1699 (10 Oct 1932).
[19] Apuntes,no. 48 (16 Jun 1930).
[20] See Apuntes,no. 1725 (22 Jun 1933) and no. 1152 (11 Mar 1934).
[21] See AGP, P09, p. 90.
[22] "How much I love all of you, my children! Face to face I wouldn't dare tell
you this. I love you with all my heart. I love you more than your parents do, e
ven if I have never seen you. This affection that I have for you, my children, i
s not a dry, 'official' charity. It is a real charity and a warm, human affectio
n, because you are my treasure. When you get old, tell the others that the Fathe
r loved you like that" (AGP, P011971, p. 10).
[23] See Jesus Gazapo, PR, p. 1443.
[24] ?lvaro del Portillo, Sum. 677.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Letter 6 May 1945, no. 23.
[27] Santiago Escriv, Sum. 7333.
[28] AGP, RHF, EF-58090-3.
[29] AGP, RHF, T-07902 (testimony of Mercedes Morado), p. 166.
[30] See Encarnacion Ortega, Sum. 5365.
[31] AGP, RHF, T-07920 (testimony of Jose Luis Soria), appendix 1, p. 25.
[32] AGP, RHF, EF-570502-2 (a letter to Joaquin Madoz Montoya).
[33] AGP, RHF, EF-640510-3 (a letter to Michael Richards).
[34] AGP, P01 1971, p. 10.
[35] AGP, RHF, EF-610814-1
[36] See Cesar Ortiz-Echagiie, Sum. 6898.
[37] AGP, P011971, p. 12.
[38] Ibid., p. 9. See also Friends of God, no. 125.
[39] AGP, RHF, EF-640623-2 (a letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella).
[40] AGP, P01 1971, p. 12.

[41] See Teresa Acerbis, Sum. 4997; Blanca Fontan, Sum. 6955; and Joaquin Alonso
, Sum. 4840. (There is a play on words in the Spanish: "Os quiero mucho, pero os
quiero santas." "Quiero" can mean either "I love" or "I want.")
[42] See Francisco Vives, Sum. 7458
[43] See Mario Lantini, Sum. 3614.
[44] Manuel Botas includes in his testimony (see AGP, RHF, T-08253, p. 34) an af
fection-filled and humorous comment that Pedro Casciaro made to him after receiv
ing a little "reprimand" from the Father, shortly after the opening of the stude
nt residence in Bilbao. Deep down, the Father enjoyed the things that Pedro woul
d say, as we can see from the following letter to Pedro's parents: "That Pedro i
s a delight. He works marvelously and, being so clever, knows how to exploit ver
y well, even with me, that charm and those natural virtues that God has given hi
m" (AGP, RHF, EF-540730-1).
[45] There are many testimonies to his ability to correct and teach with just a
glance. Father Jose Lopez Sierra, the rector of the Seminary of San Francisco de
Paula, in Saragossa, testifies that he had that ability even in his years as a
seminarian, and describes how he used the force of his glance in carrying out hi
s duties as prefect: "He didn't go in for punishments; he was always gentle and
compassionate; his mere presence, which was always warm and appealing, could que
ll the most untoward behavior. A simple, friendly smile would come to his lips w
hen he saw his seminarians do something edifying, while a discreet look, penetra
ting, at times sad, but very com passionate, would straighten out the most unrul
y" (AGP, RHF, T-03306).
[46] See AGP, RHF, T-05848 (testimony of Jose Ramon Madurga), p. 71.
[47] See ?lvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1336. "As father and as mother," he would als
o say, "I have the duty of correcting, of helping, and I assure you that I don't
fail to have the utmost understanding for the person who made the mistake. But
if I didn't try to get them straightened out, I wouldn't really love them" (Javi
er Echevarra, Sum. 3102).
[48] See AGP, RHF, T-07902 (testimony of Mercedes Morado), p. 122, and T-04678/1
(testimony of Father Muzquiz), p. 130.
[49] Letter 31 May 1954. "In Opus Dei, my children, we obey with the mind and wi
th the will?not like cadavers. I can't do anything with cadavers. I piously bury
them." See AGP, P01IX-1966, p. 48, and P06 V, p. 180.
[50] Letter 7 Oct 1950, no. 38.
[51] One of the points on which the founder would not budge was that of good tas
te. He could not tolerate anything tacky. In one of the women's residences in Ro
me there was a Louis IV-style bust, of gilded plaster and complete with wig. Bes
ides being ugly, it was inappropriate as part of the decoration of the house. Wh
en the Father saw it, he invited his daughters to let it fall as if by accident.
Which they did with great pleasure. See AGP, RHF, T-08199 (testimony of Carla B
ernasconi), p. 255. On the other hand, he liked to keep humble items that had sy
mbolic value.
He also did not hesitate to make corrections in matters having to do with ordinary p
ropriety. Jesus Urteaga tells of an occasion when the Father returned to the Die
go de Leon center and was met by a disagreeable odor of fried fish, which was fi
lling the whole house. "I have nothing against eating sardines," he said, "but w
e can't let the house smell of sardines" (AGP, RHF, T-00423, p. 69). See also Jo
aquin Alonso, Sum. 4840.
[52] See AGP, RHF, T-05074 (testimony of Encarnacin Ortega), p. 128.
[53] AGP, RHF, T-07918 (testimony of Rosalia Lopez Martinez), no. 3.2.5.
[54] AGP, RHF, T-04906, p. 22.
[55] Kurt Hruska, Sum. 3494. Dona Consuelo de Matheu knew and was in contact wit
h the founder in those difficult circumstances when he was a refugee in the Hond
uran consulate during the Spanish Civil War, when social conventions and basic c
onsider ations were so easily forgotten; and she says, "If I had to define Fathe
r Josemara, I would do so by saying that he was a gentleman" (AGP, RHF, T-05050,
p. 5).
[56] AGP, RHF, EF-650525-3 (a letter to Maria Jose Escriv de Balaguer Garda-Herre
ro).

[57] Encarnacin Ortega, Sum. 5356.

[58] AGP, RHF, T-04861 (testimony of Maria Begta Alvarez), p. 20.
[59] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3094
[60] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3096.
[61] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3214.
[62] ?lvaro del Portillo, Sum. 976.
[63] Ut bono spirituali Praelati et eiusdem valetudini consulant, sint duo Custo
des seu admonitores" (Codex iuris particularis Opens Dei, art. 132, 6).
[64] See Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7565.
[65] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3211. One of his daughters who worked in the Administ
ra tion of the Central Headquarters gives us this illustration: "If we were fryi
ng potatoes and he had to go by the kitchen, he would sometimes ask, '?lvaro, ca
n I have one?' If Don ?lvaro's indication was negative, he would keep walking, l
ooking at us with a friendly?unforgettable?smile, not making any big deal of it"
(Begofta de Urrutia Domingo, AGP, RHF, T-06897, p. 4).
Knowing the sense of humor of the Father and Don ?lvaro, it is quite likely that the
re was a quiet conspiracy between them to amuse the ladies in the Administration
, and that the Father was recalling his childhood escapades of going into the ki
tchen to try to make off with something, especially when Maria, the cook, was fr
ying potatoes
[66] For more on these childhood incidents, see volume I of this biography, pp.
19,20, 38, and 39-40.
[67] See Alejandro Cantero, Sum. 6687, and Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6355.
[68] See Cesar Ortiz-Echagiie, Sum. 6899.
[69] See Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4421.
[70] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3239. The rectification extended, at times, to wrongs
he had inadvertently committed in his childhood. "I feel indebted to our belove
d France," he wrote in 1963, "and think I should have for her a special affectio
n?and show it" (AGP, RHF, EF-631205-1).
In France he abstained, as a mortification, from drinking its famous wines. He unit
ed himself to the souls of the French in his visits to Notre Dame (in Paris), to
Lourdes, to Tours, to Chartres, to Lisieux. He thought he owed a long-standing
debt to this country, and he wished to repay it.
Napoleon's invasion of Spain left a dark memory because of the atrocities committed
by his troops. For over a century, the school books and general sentiments were
marked ?ty an antipathy based on certain historic episodes. This was the atmosp
here that the founder grew up in, at least at school. Later his heart grew large
r and more catholic, and he rejected such jaundiced and spiteful ideas.
Why did peoples have to stay saddled with the transgressions of their past rulers,
especially after the passing of several generations? The founder used to make fu
n of the centuries-old hatreds with a little story.
It was about a blind man who went around singing patriotic dirties and ballads, all
of which were praises of Spain and vituperations of France. Finally one day som
eone asked him, "Tell me, Mr. Blind Man, why do you only sing about Spain's good
points, and keep quiet about its bad ones? And why do you keep quiet about othe
r countries' good points, and only sing of their bad ones?" And his reply was, "
Well, look, it's because I'm a blind Spaniard. As to the good points of other co
untries, let them be sung by the blind foreigners." See AGP, RHF, T-02869 (testi
mony of Father Jose Llamas
Simon), p. 9.
[71] See Apuntes,no. 114 (21 Nov 1930), no. 211 (26 Jul 1931), no. 222 (10 Aug 1
931), and no. 348 (26 Oct 1931). See also volume I of this biography, pp. 271-76
.
[72] AGP, RHF, EF-560414-2.
[73] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3088.
[74] Kurt Hruska, Sum. 3492 and 3493. The coordination of those first natural te
ndencies with what later developed from his ascetical struggle produced in him a
balanced character, as is clearly shown in various testimonies. The founder, sa
ys Professor Eduardo Alastrue, "had by nature an impetuous character, strong, li
vely, decisive, but in his life he operated totally differently?he was calm, pea

ceful, quiet, reflective; very exact in his speech, saying not a word more than
was necessary; and very well-mannered. His natural impetuosity was subdued by hi
s virtue, by his mortification, by his patience and his charity" (Sum. 5542). Se
e also Juan Bautista Torello, Sum. 5236.
[75] It was not unusual to see the Father with his head in his hands, lost in th
ought, going over pending matters, and to hear him exclaim, "I don't know how my
head doesn't explode!"
[76] Bishop Echevarra (in Sum. 3088) mentions also this comment made by the found
er: "The Lord even made use of my 'caratteraccio' to get Opus Dei going." ("Cara
tteraccio" is Italian for "bad temper.")
[77] See Jesus Gazapo, Sum. 4408.
[78] AGP, RHF, EF-340426-1 (a letter to Juan Francisco Moran Ramos). "I have tri
ed," he writes to his children, "to go at God's pace, gently and naturally, with
out any note of resounding triumph; taking as my motto to hide and disappear, so
that all that is seen is the action of God in souls and in his holy Church" (Le
tter 31 May 1954, no. 1).
[79] From the very beginning, in his writings and meditations, the founder encou
raged being "in love" with God. See The Way, nos. 419 and 999, and Furrow,nos. 7
95 and 799.
[80] Letter 25 May 1962, no. 98.
[81] Letter 9 Jan 1932, no. 73.
[82] The founder wrote in his personal journal some outlines he had made of apos
tolic activities that might be carried out in various environments. These outlin
es, probably drawn up before 1930, are found in Apuntes, no. 206 (15 Jul 1931).
And already in the second of them, which contains a long list of possible activi
ties, one finds the statement "Saints make others feel uncomfortable."
[83] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3097 and 3265. He would also repeat a popular say
ing: "Shoe the horse or get off the stool."
[84] Letter 9 Jan 1932, no. 74.
[85] AGP, RHF, EF-641110-2 (a letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella). In Furr
ow, no. 558, he returns to this idea, saying, "Saints always make other people f
eel uncomfort able."
[86] Jose Lopez Ortiz, Sum. 5312.
[87] See AGP, RHF, EF-641110-2.
[88] Letter 6 May 1945, no. 4.
[89] AGP, RHF, EF-461216-2 (a letter to members of the General Council).
[90] AGP, RHF, EF-640220-1 (a letter to Father Roberto Salvat Romero). [The Lati
n means "in all things charity.]
[91] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2864.
[92] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2845, and Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5079.
[93] AGP, RHF, T-07902 (testimony of Mercedes Morado), p. 120.
[94] AGP, RHF, T-04861 (testimony of Maria Begofia Alvarez), p. 91.
[95] The Way, no. 432. Cardinal Julian Herranz, recalling a conversation that th
e Father had on January 8,1955, with students and professors at the Roman Colleg
e of the Holy Cross, says that he told them that it had given him great joy to c
elebrate Mass with a chalice that had a large diamond hidden in the stem, under
the cup, where no one could see it. That hidden diamond, humble and sacrificial,
would feel the blood of Christ stirring above it, with all its warmth, all its
fire of love. That diamond was for him a continual reminder of what he wanted hi
s life to be: the life of a lover of Christ, a life lived in imitation of Jesus'
years of ordinary and hidden work in Nazareth, by someone who knew how to disap
pear in the faithful fulfillment of the will of God. See Julian Herranz, Sum. 39
17.
[96] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2865.
[97] This is from a homily given on November 26,1967. See Friends of God, nos. 2
99 and 301.
[98] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2498.
[99] See AGP, P01 1971, p. 9
[100] vVork "that is truly Opus Dei [God's work]/' writes the founder, "is also
prayer. Therefore we can't say that a person living the spirit of Opus Dei is ac

tive or contempla tive, because action is contemplation and contemplation is act

ion, in a unity of life" (Letter 31 May 1954, no. 20). The objective of the asce
tical formation that the founder gave to his sons and daughters was nothing othe
r than to make them "contemplatives in the midst of the world" (Julian Herranz,
Sum. 3909).
[101] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 1775, and Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4844. He advised
the directors of the Work to practice "a courtesy which is a sign of good upbrin
ging and also of spiritual refinement, since it is the charity of Christ" (Instr
uctionof 31 May 1936, no. 24).
[102] The Way, no. 409.
[103] Friends of God, nos. 74 and 75. The next section (no. 76) begins with this
paragraph: "I don't know if I could say which is the most important human virtu
e. It depends on the point of view from which they are considered. In any case,
this question doesn't really get us anywhere, for it is not a matter of practici
ng one or even a number of virtues. We have to try to acquire and to practice al
l of them. Each individual virtue is interwoven with the others and, thus, our e
ffort to be sincere will also make us upright, cheerful, prudent, and composed."
See also Instruction of May 1935/10 Nov 1950, no. 70.
[104] Letter 14 Sep 1951, no. 3.
[105] Furrow,no. 238.
[106] See Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4771.
[107] The founder was convinced that he had a ministerial archangel. He said, "I
t's not written down anywhere that priests have a ministerial archangel, but I w
ith so much faith asked the Lord for one, and have with such great devotion turn
ed to my ministerial archangel, that even if I didn't have one, I am sure that t
he Lord will have given me one" (Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2646).
[108] Apuntes,no. 647 (11 Mar 1932).
[109] ?lvaro del Portillo, Sum. 325.
[110] Friends of God, no. 80.
[111] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3237 and 3238, and Mercedes Morado, Sum. 6937.
[112] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2559.
[113] AGP, RHF, T-03358 (testimony of Alberto Taboada del Rio), no. 1345. See al
so T- 06897 (testimony of Maria Begofia de Urrutia Domingo), p. 55.
[114] Mercedes Morado, Sum. 6929.
[115] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2865.
[116] Christ Is Passing By, no. 21. The idea of generosity in dedication appears
repeatedly in his earliest writings and is vividly expressed in The Way, no. 42
0: "How little a life is to offer to God!"
In his insistence on "spending oneself" in the service of God, the founder cites 2 C
orinthians 12:15: "I will most gladly spend myself and be spent for your souls"
(AGP, P01 3-1961, p. 16).
[117] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3249.
[118] AGP, RHF, EF-640718-1 (a letter to his brother, Santiago). On another occa
sion he called work in Opus Dei "a chronic, contagious, incurable, and progressi
ve disease" (see AGP, P04 1974,2, p. 186).
[119] Instructionof 31 May 1936, note 95. He did not change his view with the pa
ssing of the years. In 1948 he wrote, "I often think it would be all too conveni
ent to die young. I have no desire to die?we should want to live for many years,
and work" (Letter 15 Oct 1948, no. 11).
[120] See AGP, P01 1975, p. 767.
[121] "To die is a good thing," he says in The Forge, no. 1037. "How can anyone
with faith be, at the same time, afraid to die? But as long as the Lord wants to
keep you here on earth, it would be cowardice for you to want to die. To live?t
o live and suffer and work for Love?is what you are to do."
He was not at all in agreement with the morose outlook expressed in that verse t
hat showed up so often in the literature, both sacred and secular, of Spain's Go
lden Age:
Come, death, so hidden That I don't sense you coming, Lest the pleasure of dying Br
ing me back to life.
Nor did he share the sentiment expressed in that saying, "I am dying because I am no

t dying." To him, as we have said, it would have been just too convenient to die
young. The words to his refrain were quite different. They were a gloss?which h
e set to a different melody?on the words of Saint Paul, "It is no longer I who l
ive, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20).
[122] Letter 8 Aug 1956, no. 5.
[123] Christ Is Passing By, no. 107.
[124] Christ Is Passing By, no. 107.
[125] Christ Is Passing By, no. 95.
[126] Treatise on Prayer and Meditation, chapter 4.
[127] Life of Jesus Christ, chapter 24.
[128] A modernized, abridged version was published in Madrid in 1971; English tr
ans lation The Sacred Passion (New York: Scepter, 2004).
[129] Story of the Sacred Passion, chapter 23.
[130] Holy Rosary, section on the third sorrowful mystery.
[131] The Way of the Cross, first station, fifth point for meditation.
[132] The Way of the Cross, second station.
[133] The Way of the Cross, eighth station, first point for meditation.
[134] The Way of the Cross, ninth station, third point for meditation. Before en
tering into his meditation on the Passion, Saint Peter of Alcantara gives in his
Treatise a "little preamble" in which he insists on the importance of "having C
hrist present before our eyes and making sure we are seeing him when he is suffe
ring." Later on, in chapter 4, he says: "First put before your eyes the traditio
nal image of this Lord and the great excellence of his virtues.... And after you
have looked at him in this way, and de lighted in his admirableness, turn your
eyes to look at what you see here.... Look at him from within and from without..
.. And don't think of this as something of the past, but as something in the pre
sent; not as the suffering of someone else, but as your own."
This way of presenting considerations and of inducing prayer is not exclusive to the
Treatise, as is shown by this point from a homily on Christmas that was written
by Saint John of Avila: "The Virgin and her blessed Child were in the stable fo
r forty days. There is no one who does not in their thoughts visit them at least
in the morning and the night of each day. Prostrate yourselves before the Child
and the Blessed Virgin, and kiss his feet and offer him something; pray a Rosar
y or think some devout thought. Let's all now, as though we were there, go to th
e stable in Bethlehem where the Virgin is" (El Nino ha nacido para nuestra salud
[Rialp Facsimiles, Madrid 1992]).
[135] See volume 1 of this biography, pp. 308-322.
[136] AGP, P01 1973, p. 129. See also Friends of God, no. 216.
[137] The Way of the Cross, fourteenth station, first point for meditation.
[138] Christ Is Passing By, no. 172 and Conversations,no. 114.
[139] AGP, P06-4, p. 84. It is a method that our Lord used. He liked to teach th
rough parables, using images from life around him: a shepherd and his flock, the
vine and its branches, boats and nets, seed scattered by the sower ... (Friends
of God, no. 254).
[140] See AGP, RHF, T-07920 (testimony of Jose Luis Soria), appendix 1, p. 26.
[141] Christ Is Passing By, no. 55.
[142] Florencio Sanchez Bella, PM, fol. 1421.
[143] Friends of God, no. 1.
[144] Ibid. He often referred to those words of our Lord. On March 13, 1955, at
a get- together, he made this comment: "But haven't you also heard him speak abo
ut sheep and flocks? And how tenderly! How joyful he is when describing the figu
re of the Good Shepherd! ... Opus Dei is also one of Christ's flocks, with its G
ood Shepherd and sheep. In the Work there will always be a Father who can say, '
Cognosco oves meas et cognoscunt me meae/ 'I know my children and my children kn
ow me.' Because the Good Shepherd, in Opus Dei, will always be the one who presi
des: the Father, whoever he may be" (see AGP, P06-2, p. 51).
[145] See AGP, RHF, T-07920 (testimony of Jose Luis Soria), p. 74.
[146] Christ Is Passing By, no. 3
[147] Friends of God, no. 215.
[148] Furrow,no. 804.

[149] AGP, P01 1970, p. 994. He used that expression and similar ones (such as "
Josemara, I've fooled you again," and "Josemara, be faithful!") as means for looki
ng himself in the face from outside of himself, as it were, for the purpose of e
xamining his conscience.
[150] Friends of God, no. 117.
[151] Furrow,no. 263.
[152] Friends of God, no. 20.
[153] AGP, P011974, p. 950. See also The Forge, no. 10.
[154] AGP, P011971, p. 352.
[155] The Forge, no. 12.
[156] AGP, P01 1968, p. 450.
[157] The Way, no. 155.
[158] AGP, P01 1972, p. 464.
[159] AGP, P011974,p. 255.
[160] Apuntes,no. 218 (7 Aug 1931).
[161] See The Forge, nos. 205,437,438, and 545, and Friends of God, no. 299.
[162] AGP, P011974, p. 255.
[163] Christ Is Passing By, no. 108. In the homily he gave on the feast of the S
acied Heart in 1966, the founder said, "When we speak of a person's heart, we re
fer not just to his sentiments, but to the whole person in his loving dealings w
ith others. In order to help us understand divine things, Scripture uses the exp
ression 'heart' in its full human meaning, as the summary and source, expression
and ultimate basis, of one's thoughts, words, and actions" (Christ Is Passing B
y, no. 164).
[164] See Christ Is Passing By, no. 169.
[165] See AGP, P011971, p. 10, and Furrow, no. 804.
[166] AGP, P01 1974, 2, p. 45.
[167] The Way, no. 316.
[168] Furrow,no. 813.
[169] Friends of God, no. 75.
[170] Conversations,no. 113.
[171] Statutes,no. 80, ? 2. (For the Latin text, see Amadeo de Fuertmayor, Valen
tin Gomez Iglesias, and Jose Luis Illanes, The Canonical Path of Opus Dei, trans
. William H. Stetson [Princeton, 1994], p. 624.)
[172] AGP, P04 1974,2, p. 109.
[173] Conversations,no. 118. In Furrow, no. 290, he gives this explanation: "The
world awaits us. Yes, we love the world passionately, because God has taught us
to: Sic Deus dilexit mundum ...?God so loved the world. And we love it because
it is there that we fight our battles in a most beautiful war of charity, so tha
t everyone may find the peace that Christ has come to establish."
[174] See Apuntes,no. 218 (7 Aug 1931).
[175] The Forge, no. 31.
[176] The Forge, no. 3.
[177] The Forge, no. 57.
[178] We have already examined, in some detail, how his predilection for "hiding
and disappearing" manifested itself in his life, and how that predilection came
to be not only a characteristic of his interior life, but also an important fea
ture of the spirit of the Work, with regard to collective humility.
[179] See Letter 29 Dec 1947/14 Feb 1966, no. 11.
[180] Apuntes,no. 44 (June 1930).
[181] Apuntes,no. 306 (2 Oct 1931).
[182] Apuntes,no. 475 (12 Dec 1931).
[183] Apuntes,no. 179 (20 Mar 1931).
[184] Apuntes,no. 60 (16 Jun 1930).
[185] Apuntes,nos. 60 and 61 (16 Jun 1930).
[186] Apuntes, no. 61.
[187] Apuntes,no. 475. For this entry, which is dated December 12,1931, there is
a note written by Don ?lvaro: "On October 2,1928, all of the Work was shown, ex
cept for the women's branch. In addition, little by little, with hints from the
Lord and with experi ence, there came the external realization, which our Father

was carrying out; in the first place, its distinctive spirituality and its pers
onal apostolate."
[188] Apuntes,no. 14 (13 Mar 1930); see also no. 77 (28 Jul 1930). This image of
Opus Dei's characteristic method of apostolate?that of doing it from within the
social body? is also found, slightly retouched, in the founder's Instruction of
19 Mar 1934, no. 42, where he says, "We are an intravenous injection in the cir
culatory system of society."
[189] Apuntes,no. 12.
[190] This does not, however, mean that there is not a true "mission spirit" in
Opus Dei with regard to the diffusion of the Catholic faith and the teaching of
Catholic doctrine. As the founder explained to Archbishop Gastone Mojaisky Perel
li, the nuncio in Kenya, "Opus Dei is, and should always be, whether in the Afri
can jungle or on the pavements of great cities, eminently missionary" (AGP, RHF,
EF-571116-1). And in a letter to all his children he said, "From the very outse
t the Lord wanted his Work to have a Catholic, universal heart. In the fulfillme
nt of our divine mission?without being able, or wanting, to call ourselves missi
onaries?we have to reach all countries and people of every race, language, and w
alk of life" (Letter 16 Jun 1960, no. 1).
[191] Apuntes,no. 9 (March 1930).
[192] Apuntes,no. 8 (March 1930).
[193] Apuntes,no. 11 (March 1930).
[194] Apuntes,no. 5 (March 1930).
[195] Instructionof 9 Jan 1935, no. 252. See also The Way, no. 542, and Letter 9
Feb 1932, no. 22.
[196] Apuntes,no. 51 (16 Jun 1930).
[197] Apuntes,no. 9.
[198] Apuntes,no. 12.
[199] Apuntes,no. 46 (15 Jun 1930).
[200] Apuntes,no. 56 (16 Jun 1930).
[201] Apuntes,no. 87 (25 Aug 1930).
[202] In the summer of 1968 the Father took with him to Sant'Ambrogio Olona (a p
lace near Varese where he spent a few weeks working) the notebooks of his Apunte
s intimos with the intention of rereading them. (It had been years since he had
seen them.) There he found those "famous succinct summaries" of Opus Dei's proje
cted apostolates, resources, formation programs, spirit, etc., that he had writt
en in outline form and then transcribed into these notebooks. And among them are
included "the apostolate of giving" and "the apostolate of not giving." See Apu
ntes, nos. 205 and 206 (15 Jul 1931). The latter principle appears in point no.
979 of The Way, which begins: "It is human nature to have little appreciation fo
r what costs but little. That is why I recommended to you the 'apostolate of not
giving.'"
[203] See Apuntes,note 10 of Don ?lvaro.
[204] In many of the works of corporate apostolate it is the practice to offer p
artial scholarships, for example, to students whose families do not have the mea
ns to pay the full amount. The laborers who come to evening classes after their
workdays are taught by the same teachers, and use the same class materials, as t
he day students, but they pay considerably less. In the Congo, at present, in th
e clinics and hospitals that are run by people of the Work, the services are par
tly charged for or are free depending on the financial situation of the patient'
s family.
[205] Apuntes,no. 474 (11 Dec 1931). He called these entries "Catherines" (Catal
inas) in honor of Saint Catherine of Siena. See volume 1 of this biography, pp.
254-55.
[206] Apuntes,no. 65 (16 Jun 1930).
[207] Apuntes,no. 66 (16 Jun 1930).
[208] Apuntes,nos. 67 and 71 (16 Jun 1930). In another writing he elaborates on
this idea, saying, "When God wants to carry out an enterprise, he uses totally i
nadequate means, so that the work may be clearly seen to be his. Hence you and I
, who know well the overwhelming weight of our wretchedness, should say to the L
ord: 'Although I see my own wretchedness, I don't cease to be aware that I am a

divine instrument in your hands.' 1 have never doubted that the works carried ou
t during my life in the service of the holy Church have been done not by me, but
by the Lord, although he has made use of me" (Letter 24 Mar 1931, no. 31).
7. The Era of Vatican II

1. Daily life
2. The Council (1962-1965)
3. The post-conciliar years
4. The last romantic
5. The Marquis of Peralta
6. "De facto, we are not a secular institute"
7. The Special General Congress (1969-1970)

* * *

1. Daily life

During the sixties, the Father was deprived, to some extent, of the valuable hel
p of Don ?lvaro, who was taking part in the preparations for the Second Vatican
Council. Such was his workload that he had to cut down on his travels. However,
it did not keep him from following, step by step, the Council-related tasks. In
fact, his life proceeded without any great changes, since he kept to a tight sch
edule.
As soon as awakened in the morning, he knelt on the floor and kissed it, saying,
"Serviam!" ["I will serve!"]. Then, he said this prayer: "I offer you, O Lord,
all my thoughts, words, and actions of this day and my whole life for love."[1]
Sometimes this first act of the day was not easy.[2] The founder was familiar wi
th the burden of a body exhausted by fatigue, and with the effort it could take
to get down on the floor without hesitation. One need only recall those days whe
n, as a young priest in Madrid, he would get home so worn out that later he coul
d not get up. Now, in contrast, wake-up time almost always found him already wid
e awake. He began working before daybreak? setting up his work schedule, making
notes, and assigning tasks. In the past he had often spent hours in vigil before
the Blessed Sacrament, on the balcony of his office which looked out onto the o
ratory. But in 1968 the doctors ordered a minimum of seven and a half hours ' of
rest, because of his insomnia. They ordered him to stay in bed until he was tol
d it was time to get up.[3]
Facing his bed was a glazed-tile plaque which read, "Take away from me, Lord, ev
erything that takes me away from you." His bouts with insomnia brought him close
r to the Lord. They afforded him more time to reflect on his blessings, to prepa
re himself for celebrating Mass, and to share in the dreams of his children and
accompany them in those places where it was now daytime. And if a good idea came
to mind, he always had pencil and paper right there on his nightstand.
One night, at about four in the morning, he asked to have a doctor son of his ca
lled, because of a cramp in his leg.
"Father, you haven't slept?" the doctor asked him.
"No, my son," he answered, "I was weeping." The grief of knowing that one of his
sons wanted to leave the Work had been keeping him awake.[4]
His bedroom was about ten feet by ten. The floor was of blue and white tile, the
furniture simple and austere?a metal-frame bed, a nightstand, a desk with a cha
ir, a wooden armchair, and a standing lamp. On the wall, above the head of the b
ed, was a rosary with oversized beads, together with a glazed-tile plaque bearin
g the inscription "Iesus?Christus?Deus?Homo," a picture of the Holy Family, and
a crucifix.[5] Next to the bed was a bell that he had had put there before his d
iabetes was cured. Though he now had no great need of it, he kept it there becau
se "I don't want to die without the Last Sacraments."[6]
One reason the Father was so punctual in getting up was to make sure he had time
to leave everything in order. After shaving, he carefully cleaned the basin. Th
en, after seeing to it that the floor was also clean, he aired out the room and
put everything in its place, to minimize the housekeeping work. He was also care

ful about extending the life of his clothing. Of his two cassocks, the older one
had served him for more than twenty years. Encarnita Ortega tells us, "He had o
ne mended cassock that he usually wore, and a better one that he put on when he
had visitors. I am an eyewitness to that. I even counted the patches on that cas
sock?there were seventeen."[7]

* * *

From his room he would go to the oratory for a half hour of mental prayer. Then
came the celebration of his Mass?the high point of his day. Fairly often he woul
d say his Mass in private, in what was called "the Father's oratory," the Orator
y of the Blessed Trinity. (If someone spoke to him of "your oratory," he would c
orrect the person, saying, "I don't have any oratory of my own. It's the oratory
of the Father; I am only using it temporarily."[8]) While vesting, he prepared
himself with great recollection, since, as he put it, the Mass, being "the gift
of the Blessed Trinity," is "the center and the source of a Christian's life" an
d "the aim of all the sacraments."[9]
The founder's nephew Santiago tells us an illuminating story. One day, when he w
as little, he ran into the sacristy to tell his uncle something. But Father Jose
mara, who was vesting for celebrating Mass, looked at him and said, "Child, now I
am Christ."[10] Those words made a strong impression on him. And to be present
at the Father's Mass was to learn the deep meaning of them. The testimonies all
concur in expressing amazement at how Father Josemara, without doing anything unu
sual, would become transformed at the altar. From back in his days at the Founda
tion for the Sick, when the students who served his Mass would return to the sac
risty with tears in their eyes, up to the last days of his life, the fervor of t
he Father never diminished. On the contrary, it kept getting stronger through th
e years, Mass after Mass, day after day. As he approached the altar, he would tr
emble with excitement and love. "I go up to the altar eagerly," he confessed to
his children, "and more than put my hands on it, I embrace it with affection and
kiss it like a man in love, which is what I am?a man in love!" [11]
He knew himself to be acting within a divine framework. He realized that he was
surrounded by angels adoring the Blessed Trinity, and that he was accompanied by
our Lady and all the saints; he was aware that they in some way were present at
that holocaust of universal redemption. And when he gave the greeting of "Domin
us vobiscum," even if no one was there except him and the altar server,he addres
sed it "to the whole Church, to everyone on earth, to all of creation, even the
birds and the fishes."[12] There, Father Josemara represented Jesus Christ, the e
ternal Priest.

The Mass is, I insist, an action of God, of the Trinity. It is not a merely huma
n event. The priest who celebrates fulfills the desire of our Lord, lending his
body and his voice to the divine action. He acts, not in his own name, but in pe
rsona et in nomine Christi?in the Person of Christ and in his name.[13]

He lovingly carried out the rubrics of the liturgy and stayed absorbed in the sa
cred mysteries. His readings, his genuflections, his kisses of the altar, even a
simple inclination of the head, infused great devotion through the reverence an
d faith they revealed.[14] There were times when the celebration of holy Mass le
ft him exhausted, as a result of his identification with Christ's sufferings on
Calvary. He would end up in a sweat, and worn out, as though from a great physic
al effort.[15]
He carried on his priestly shoulders the weight of Opus Dei. In the Offertory, a
s he offered the sacred host, he placed on the paten the illnesses and tribulati
ons of his daughters, his sons, and everyone else. At the Commemoration of the L
iving, his "tongue twister" as he called it, he prayed for his daughters and son
s, for their parents and other relatives, and "for all those who have gotten inv
olved with the Work in one way or another, whether to try to do us harm or to tr
y to help us. If it's to do us good, to thank them; and if it's to harm us, to f
orgive them with all my heart, so that God will forgive me."[16]


* * *

After Mass he spent ten minutes in thanksgiving, and then had breakfast. This co
nsisted of a little coffee (which he usually took cold and with milk) and a piec
e of bread or a roll. Then he would spend a few minutes reading the paper. He an
d Don Alvaro would share the paper, exchanging the sections when they had read t
hem. The problems in the world and in the Church led him to pray for the people
involved. He would rest his head in the palm of his right hand, close his eyes,
and gently sink into prayer. This practice of going into prayer upon reading the
paper went back to his first years in Madrid, as we know from his personal jour
nal; and it accelerated in the last years of his life.[17] But he was not in the
clouds. He would check right away, as he leafed through the pages, to see if th
ere were any strikes going on, in transportation or other services, and he would
notify his daughters of any possible cutoffs of gas or electricity, or of any c
losings of stores.[18]
After that, either in the oratory or in the room where he worked, he would pray
the Divine Office, and then do a little reading from the New Testament, often jo
tting down a passage to use in his preaching or to take to his personal prayer.
Almost always he worked in Don Alvaro's office, beginning with matters having to
do with the governing of the Work. First he would put himself in the presence o
f God and pray for the light and help of the Holy Spirit. During those working h
ours he often raised his heart to God, thanking him for the benefits received in
his Communion that morning. Thus he would prolong the Mass of that day until no
on, when he would pray the Angelus and then start preparing himself for the next
day's Mass.[19]
When the tasks related to governing the Work were done, it was time to open the
mail. Official correspondence was separated from the personal letters to the Fat
her?letters from sons and daughters, friends, and acquaintances. Don Alvaro assu
res us that the Father never read any letter without praying for the person who
had written it or for a solution to the problem that had occasioned it.[20]
After that he would receive visitors, who came from all over the world in search
of consolation or spiritual counsel. Starting in 1958, he received them not onl
y at Villa Tevere, but also at Villa Sacchetti, the adjacent center for the wome
n of the Work.[21] The scheduled time for a visit was fifteen minutes. It would
be extended if necessary, but, to make the best use of the time, the Father gene
rally spoke only of God. Before the meeting he would pray, in private, the psalm
verse "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord" (Ps 141:3), and afterwards he would p
ray for the visitor to his or her guardian angel.[22] As a memento he would give
the person a rosary, "to be worn out by praying it," or a commemorative medalli
on of the Work. But from their visit to Rome they would above all bring back pre
cious words of advice for their soul.
At 1:20 he would pray, with the General Council, the "Preces" of the Work, and a
t 1:30 he sat down to the main meal of the day. For years, even after the cure o
f his diabetes, he had to keep to a strict diet. Accompanied in the dining room
by his two "custodes," Don Alvaro and Father Echevarra, he would have some vegeta
bles with a little olive oil and salt, and then some meat or fish, usually grill
ed and with no garnishings. He scarcely touched the bread, and did not partake o
f the wine except on feast days. His supper was even more frugal. He would have
either soup, vegetables with a little cheese, or a plain omelet, and then a piec
e of fruit.[23] What was common to both meals was that he would "put the cross o
nto each plate," which is to say, mortify himself at every meal, by spacing out
his drink of water, for example, and not making comments on the food. He would t
ake a little less of what he liked, and a little more of what he did not like so
much.[24] If there happened to be guests at the table, his cheerfulness and liv
ely conversation would keep them from noticing how little he was eating.
After lunch he would make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and then join the me
mbers of the General Council for a get-together of a half hour or so. In these g
et-togethers, conversation usually revolved around events of the day, apostolic
plans, and amusing anecdotes.

Then he would do his spiritual reading, using, mainly, classical works. After th
at, he would go back to work. At 4:40 he would have a cup of coffee, a glass of
water, or a piece of fruit. After that, he would devote half an hour to meditati
on, and then say the part of the Rosary corresponding to the day. (The other two
parts he would have already prayed, in the course of the day.)[25]
There were days when the Father, at this point in the late afternoon, could not
shake off the fatigue caused by the insomnia of the previous night and the inten
se work of that day. One of his "custodes" recalls that he once said to them:

Yesterday afternoon, when I went to do my half hour of prayer, I was quite tired
. I went into the oratory and told the Lord, "Here I am, like a faithful dog at
the feet of its master. I don't even have the strength to tell you that I love y
ou. But you already see that!"[26]

He would then continue working, until suppertime. Ordinarily, he would watch the
evening news; and there would happen the same thing as when he was reading the
morning paper. The reported events would lead him to God, to prayer for the Chur
ch and for remedies to people's misfortunes.[27] When the news was over, he woul
d go back to work.

* * *

The Father had a very quiet, unobtrusive availability to those in need. It was m
ade up of silence and sacrifice, and was, without a doubt, one of the most attra
ctive features of his character. He never ignored anyone.[28] He lent a hand, ma
terially or spiritually, to all those who visited him telling him of their suffe
rings and joys, and to those who wrote, opening their hearts to him. The Father
answered all the letters he received, always offering a solution or at least som
e words of encouragement.
The freedom that all his children had to write him increased the bonds between t
hem. He wanted to be informed of the important events in the lives of his childr
en and their families?illnesses, births, deaths....
As the Work grew and the tasks of directing it multiplied, the daily work of the
Father took on new characteristics, which he clearly recognized. In 1963 he wro
te to the directors of the Commission in Spain:

When I write you, I realize that ever since we started doing the work of governm
ent in this methodical way (which is easier and more reliable), quite a few year
s ago now, our letters haven't had the same flavor as in the early days. So, sin
ce the spiritual and material problems come in "administrative prose," please al
ways include some little story whenever you write me, so that I can savor the gr
ace?the poetry ?of your apostolic endeavors. It's a good thing that when you see
me, you tell me so many wonderful things. God bless you!
Pray for me. Ask the Lord and his Blessed Mother to make me good and faithful?se
mper ut iumentuml[29]

The Work had made big strides, and the amount of paperwork had inevitably increa
sed, although the Father fought to keep it to a minimum. He liked hearing about
apostolic initiatives and seeing how his sons and daughters were launching out i
nto new adventures, bringing the spirit of Opus Dei into undreamed-of places and
situations. In the midst of the laboriousness of his everyday work, he had a ye
arning for "apostolic poetry." But it was not only with regard to governmental m
atters that things had changed. While going through some old papers, he perceive
d the changes that the times had brought about. He writes to Father Florencio Sa
nchez Bella:

Before, I wrote things by hand or with a more or less archaic machine?and even t
hen the corrections were in my handwriting. But now, since 1950 or thereabouts,
I've been using a tape recorder, and in all this time you've seen no trace of my
handwriting. It's better, faster, and easier for me to keep working this way. I

speak to the machine, they bring me what I said typed out and double spaced, an
d the tape can be used lots of times. So it's inexpensive, too.[30]

In the greetings he sent his daughters and sons for Christmas 1966, he returned
to that consideration, saying, "The Work is growing every year; the initiatives
are multiplying, and more and more souls are taking part in the apostolic work.
Even with this growth, always preserve our family atmosphere?the bond of unity."
[31]
One thing the Father did to preserve that "family atmosphere" was to congratulat
e his sons when they turned forty. One's fortieth birthday is an important miles
tone in one's life. It can be a joyful affirmation of one's maturity. But for so
me it can be more an affirmation that they are no longer young. It is not easy t
o send congratulations without calling attention to the person's age. So for his
daughters, the Father used a different approach. He sent greetings to only a fe
w of them, and he did so with great sensitivity, subtracting years. To Mercedes
Morado he wrote:

As you can see, we're making an exception and sending you these lines?to celebra
te your youth. Next year don't forget to celebrate your 39th. You, my daughters,
just keep getting better.[32]

With his sons he could be more free and easy, as this string of examples shows:

A thousand congratulations on your fortieth spring?now starts your youth.[33]

Forty years, no matter how you look at it, is not a lot?two times twenty.
A thousand greetings, for your birthday, and because I know that you, like all o
f us, will be forever young?ad Deum, qui laetificat iuventutem![34]
A thousand greetings, because you're getting old?40!?and you've spent your first
youth with divine finesse.[35]
I didn't forget today to pray specially for you, because you are now a "mature g
entleman"?forty years old![36]
I almost consider myself, too, to be forty?20 plus 20. Because I started my Opus
Dei with 26 years of age, and now I have 62?the same two digits.[37]

* **

The last stretch of the day was particularly tiring for the Father. His workday
continued until 9:30, at which time he gathered with the members of the general
council for an evening get-together. At ten on the dot, he went to the oratory a
nd made his examination of conscience, and then, in silence, he retired to his r
oom.
Before going to bed, the Father, prostrate on the floor, prayed Psalm 51. With t
his prayer for mercy he ended the day that had begun with his morning "Serviam!"
Afterwards, continuing a custom he had begun during the civil war, he got on hi
s knees, and with his arms in the form of a cross said "three Hail Mary's for pu
rity," asking this virtue for everyone in the Work, everyone in the Church, and
everyone in the
world.
He placed his crucifix in the pocket of his pajamas, to be able to kiss it durin
g the night, and he sprinkled his bed with holy water. He mentally reviewed the
day, with great sorrow for his failings, and summed up with the words "pauper se
rvus et humilis."[38] Then, focusing his attention on the Communion that he woul
d be receiving on the next day, he gave himself up to the Lord with a short and
simple prayer, such as "Jesus, I abandon myself to you, I trust in you, I rest i
n you," and soon fell asleep.

2. The Council (1962-1965)

At the beginning of October, 1958, word spread that the Pope was gravely ill in

his residence at Castel Gandolfo. Pope Pius XII died the morning of October 9. M
onsignor Escriv had followed his illness closely, offering prayers and urging his
children to do the same. He had great affection for this fragile, refined Pope,
who had granted Opus Dei its definitive approval in 1950, and now he sorrowfull
y followed the solemnities preceding the papal funeral?the cortege bearing the P
ope's body through the streets of Rome, the viewing of the body by throngs of mo
urners who filed by silently, the subsequent novena of mourning.[39] The funeral
took place on October 19, with the Requiem Mass said by Cardinal Eugenio Tisser
ant, assisted by the College of Cardinals. (From behind the Iron Curtain, only C
ardinal Wyszynski of Poland was able to come. Cardinals Stepinac of Yugoslavia a
nd Mindszenty of Hungary were not allowed to attend.)
As the conclave assembled that would elect the new pope, Monsignor Escriv said, "
Let's love him before he comes, like good children."[40] Speculation about papab
ili focused on several Italian names: Ottaviani, Ciriaci, Lercaro, Siri, Ruffini
, Masella. And then other names as well: Roncalli, Tisserant, Agagianian. The co
nclave doors were sealed on October 25. For three days only black smoke came fro
m the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. On October 28, at 5:00 p.m., the chimney be
gan emitting an ambiguous gray cloud. Then came the cry, "White smoke!" and the
people began crowding into St. Peter's Square.
Others were following the event by television or radio. Without waiting to learn
who had been elected, the founder knelt down and prayed for him: "Oremus pro Be
atissimo Papa nostro: Dominus conservet eum et vivificet eum. [May God protect h
im and give him strength; may he make him happy here on earth, and free him from
his enemies ...]."
And now from the balcony on the facade of St. Peter's, the dean of the College o
f Cardinals proclaimed in Latin, "I announce to you a great joy: we have a Pope
... Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli." Visibly moved, Monsignor Escriv received
the first blessing given by Pope John XXIII to the crowd at St. Peter's and to t
hose watching on television.[41]
Pope John XXIII was noted for his kindness and optimism. Almost eighty years old
, he had had a long, varied career: secretary to the bishop of Bergamo, a medic
and chaplain in the Italian army during World War I, called to Rome in 1921 to w
ork with the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In 1925 he was named apos
tolic visitor to Bulgaria, in 1934 apostolic delegate to Greece and Turkey, at t
hat time under the harsh, secularist rule of Kemal Ataturk. Also difficult were
his contacts with the Greek authorities, General Ioannis Metaxas and the Orthodo
x metropolitan, Giorgos Damaskinos. In 1945, he went to Paris, as apostolic nunc
io to France. There he had to deal with pressures for the resignation of bishops
accused of collaborating with the Germans. In 1953 he was named cardinal, and s
hortly afterwards, patriarch of Venice. It was then that he took advantage of a
trip to Spain to visit a number of student residences operated by members of Opu
s Dei.[42]
On January 25,1959, Pope John announced his intention to convoke an ecumenical c
ouncil. A commission to make preliminary preparations was set up on May 17 under
Cardinal Tardini. In June he sent a letter to all the cardinals, bishops, super
iors of religious orders, and heads of universities and schools of theology, ask
ing for suggestions for the council. In the meantime, commissions and secretaria
ts were created to examine the responses and develop schemas to be presented to
the council fathers. At Christmas 1961?almost three years after the first announ
cement?Pope John officially convoked the Council for 1962.[43] Among its objecti
ves were strengthening the faith of the Church, showing its unity and vitality,
and encouraging Christian unity.
On October 11, 1962, Pope John read his opening address to the council fathers,
observers, and civil authorities gathered in St. Peter's Basilica. Despite the p
redictions of fearful and pessimistic people who "in modern times see nothing bu
t deception and ruin," he said, the Council was timely. Its principal objective
was to preserve and teach the sacred deposit of revealed truth entrusted to the
Church more effectively and in a pure and integral form. Moreover, in view of th
e unity that Christ desired for his Church, it was imperative to work for the un
ity of the great Christian family.

Pope John's optimism was in contrast with the deeply troubled state of the world
including its division into opposing blocs pitting the democracies against the
Communist dictatorships. Confrontation was constant. The nuclear arms race was a
ccelerating. The Cuban missile crisis took place the very month the Council open
ed. Peace was fragile in the face of nuclear deterrence which had created a bala
nce of terror.
Monsignor Escriv saw in Vatican II the breath of the Holy Spirit at work, renewin
g and revitalizing the Church. He hoped renewal would pave the way for the messa
ge of holiness that he had been preaching since 1928.[44] He was convinced that
the Council would produce abundant fruit for the good of the Church. Responding
to the Pope's request for prayer and penance for the Council's success,[45] he k
ept vigils and directed the members of Opus Dei to pray and mortify themselves,
from the Council's preparatory phase to its conclusion and after.[46]
Wanting the Pope to know that he had the support of these prayers, he asked Pope
John's secretary to tell him that "in Opus Dei we are ceaselessly praying for h
is beloved person and for his intentions."[47] On the Pope's birthday, November
25, a month and a half after the solemn opening of the Council, he wrote again,
repeating this request.[48]
The founder's personal contribution to Vatican II was, first and foremost, ongoi
ng and intense prayer. He studied the papal documents and addresses closely and
was delighted with the Pope's intention to give the assembly a pastoral orientat
ion. He felt that having council fathers from all over the world meet in Rome wo
uld give a great boost to the evangelizing mission of the Church. He also saw in
the Council a stimulus for the spiritual renewal of all Christians. And he was
hopeful it would open up canonical channels for the new vehicles of spirituality
and forms of Christian life, including Opus Dei.[49]
In response to Cardinal Tardini's letter asking for suggestions, Monsignor Escri
v established a Villa Tevere task force to develop proposals for the preconciliar
studies.[50] Along with urging prayer, he encouraged some of his close collabor
ators to assist with the Council, taking on extra work for himself in order to f
ree them for such duties. "It doesn't matter, my sons," he said, "it's what the
Holy Father wants. We must always serve the Church as the Church wants to be ser
ved."[51] In the initial phase, Don Alvaro, secretary general of Opus Dei, serve
d as head of the "Antepreparatory Commission for the Laity," then later, as a me
mber of another preparatory commission. Finally, he was made secretary of the "C
ommission for the Discipline of the Clergy and of the Christian People" and an a
dvisor to three other conciliar commissions.[52]
As president of a secular institute, the founder could have been a council fathe
r. But he feared that would imply his acceptance of the Work's current canonical
framework. As we will see later, for years he had sought to have Opus Dei's can
onical situation changed. That being so, he could not in conscience claim a plac
e as a council father. The Curia understood his reasoning, and Monsignor Capovil
la, Pope John's secretary, suggested he consider being a peritus, or expert obse
rver.[53] The founder expressed his thanks but said he preferred not to accept i
t, while leaving the decision in the hands of the Pope. The Council included som
e bishops from among the clergy of Opus Dei: for example, Ignacio de Orbegozo, b
ishop of Yauyos, in Peru, and Auxiliary Bishop Luis Sanchez-Moreno, of Chiclayo,
also in Peru. There was also an Associate of the Priestly Society of the Holy C
ross: Auxiliary Bishop Alberto Cosme de Amaral of Oporto, Portugal. But, apart f
rom occasionally giving advice when asked, the founder's contribution to the Cou
ncil was, as we shall see, of a different nature.[54]

* * *

During the preliminary preparations for the Council, Monsignor Escriv sought an a
udience with Pope John. The date set was March 5, 1960. The meeting was cordial.
Having described the apostolic work Opus Dei was doing in many parts of the wor
ld, the founder spoke of the inadequacy of its canonical framework and asked for
a solution to this problem. The Pope could only promise to turn the question ov
er to the Curia once the Council ended.[55]

Monsignor Escriv also spoke to him of the inclusivity of Opus Dei's apostolic wor
k. As he later related it:

I once told the Holy Father John XXIII... : "Holy Father, in our Work all people
, Catholic or not, have always found a welcome. I have not learned ecumenism fro
m Your Holiness." The Pope laughed, for he knew that way back in 1950, the Holy
See had authorized Opus Dei to receive in the Association, as Cooperators, peopl
e who are not Catholics or even Christians.[56]

Pope John had served as a diplomat in countries separated from Rome by schism, a
nd among the goals of the Council he had included promoting union with "our sepa
rated brethren." He was well aware of Opus Dei's outreach to non-Catholics and n
on-Christians.[57]
Time passed. The institutional question continued to nag at him. Knowing it woul
d be hard for him to see Pope John after the Council began, he asked for another
audience, and on June 27, 1962, he laid out his concerns to the Pope in detail.
As before, Pope John was impressed with the work being done for the Church by O
pus Dei. Writing to the members of the Work about that "unforgettable audience,"
Monsignor Escriv said of the Pope: "He knows and understands us perfectly."[58]
The founder did not, of course, make public the details of his private conversat
ion with Pope John. But something can be gleaned from his dealings with the Pope
's secretary. On June 30, 1962, three days after the audience, the founder wrote
to Monsignor Capovilla asking for an appointment. "Aside from having the pleasu
re of meeting you," he explained, "I will fulfill the mandate of the Holy Father
that I place in your hands documents having to do with Opus Dei."[59]
After this meeting and in response to a letter from Monsignor Capovilla, the fou
nder wrote to him on July 21, remarking on "how quickly the Holy Father has gras
ped the spirit and aims of Opus Dei, which are to pursue evangelical perfection
and do apostolate, each one in their own job or profession, without becoming a f
riar or a religious, even though we love and venerate those in the Church who se
rve God in this way."[60]
The first session of the Council closed on December 8,1962. It was to resume the
following September.
A few months later, in a note accompanying some publications, he added, "How ple
ased I would be to get to see His Holiness!"[61] But that was not to happen. The
Pope died on June 3,1963.

* * *

Cardinal Montini of Milan was elected pope in the conclave that followed. He too
k the name Paul VI. A few days later in a note to Monsignor Capovilla, expressin
g condolences on Pope John's death, Monsignor Escriv recalled that the newly elec
ted pontiff was "the first person to extend a friendly hand to me when I arrived
in Rome back in 1946."[62]
Not long before, the founder had received a number of documents having to do wit
h the history of the Work from Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay. Perhaps the aged bi
shop foresaw that the hour was approaching for him to leave this world. By lette
r the founder asked him, "Will we see you soon in Rome?"[63] There was no answer
. Bishop Eijo died a few weeks later. The founder wrote to Madrid's auxiliary bi
shop:

You can imagine my sorrow for I always truly loved him. Although I am sure God w
ill have rewarded him with heaven for his long and fruitful priesthood, I am mak
ing suffrages for the eternal rest of his soul. And I trust that he will have re
ceived a great reward for the supernatural vision and courage with which he came
to the defense of Opus Dei and this sinner when need arose.[64]

Pope Paul VI opened the second session of the Council on September 29,1963. It c
oncluded in December, after which, early in the New Year, the Pope went on pilgr
image to the Holy Land. When he returned he received the founder of Opus Dei in

a private audience on January 24. In a long conversation, they shared memories o

f Monsignor Escriv's move to Rome and his canonical struggles in the offices of t
he Curia. The founder went into this last matter at length, since it was still n
ot definitively settled. At the end of the audience, he gave Pope Paul a letter
expressing Opus Dei's admiration and gratitude.[65]
Later Monsignor Escriv summarized the conversation in a letter to Bishop de Orbeg
ozo in Peru.

A few days ago the Holy Father received me in a long and most cordial audience?m
ore than three-quarters of an hour?and I spoke of everything, with the confidenc
e given me by the love for Peter placed in my heart by the Lord. He embraced me
several times, looking very moved while recalling old times, and I too got a lit
tle mushy. At the end, I told him that Alvaro had accompanied me, and he had him
come in, to recall with your brother their frequent meetings since 1946. The Po
pe said to Alvaro, "Sono diventato vecchio" ["I'm becoming old"].
And your brother answered, causing the Holy Father to get emotional again, "Sant
ita, e diventato Pietro" ["Your Holiness, you're becoming Peter"]. Before saying
good-bye to us (with a long, affectionate blessing for both branches, for each
person, for each activity, for each intention), he had two photos taken of himse
lf with us, while murmuring to Alvaro in a low voice, "Don Alvaro, Don Alvaro."
[66]

Pope Paul's affectionate reception encouraged the founder to tell him in confide
nce, things he had kept to himself until then, on matters that meant a lot to hi
m. He did this, with the sole desire of helping souls, in a long letter dated Ju
ne 14,1964.[67] On August 15 he wrote to Bishop Angelo Dell'Acqua in the Secreta
riat of State requesting another audience. The Pope received him on October 10,
and the founder again explained the matters that concerned him.[68] More on this
below. Here it is enough to say that once more he was deeply moved by his frien
dly reception by the Pontiff.[69] "How well paid I felt for everything offered i
n laetitia [in joy] to the Lord in these thirty-seven years!" he wrote to the Co
unsellor of Spain[70]

* * *

From the beginning the founder followed the progress of the Council closely. Hav
ing gotten permission from the president and the secretary of the Council to spe
ak with the council fathers (within the limits required by secrecy of office), h
e spent some time doing this every day, starting with those council fathers who
were members of Opus Dei.[71] "Every evening," says one of these, "he spoke with
us for an hour, helping us and giving us advice and enlightening us about the s
ubjects under consideration."[72]
His vision of the Church was broad, deep, and universal, reflecting not only his
reading but the experience he derived from long stays in Spain, Italy, and Engl
and, and the governance of Opus Dei in more than twenty countries. This extensiv
e experience led Cardinal Siri, among others, to consult with the founder, as a
kind of bridge between diocesan experience and the Council's worldwide scope.[73
]
Some prelates had already met the founder and many others sought to be introduce
d to him during the Council. Some wanted to know his views on matters debated in
the sessions, while others were looking for insights on the question of the lai
ty. All were impressed by his prudent counsel and supernatural perspective.[74]
More and more visitors came to Villa Tevere. Joaquin Mestre, secretary of Archbi
shop Marcelino Olaechea of Valencia, often accompanied the archbishop to Opus De
i's central headquarters, where he found that the bishops entering and leaving t
hat house "sometimes had to wait their turn to speak with the founder."[75] "A t
ime of talking with him," says Cardinal Francois Marty, "seemed like a time of p
rayer."[76]
On one of those days, one of a group of French-speaking prelates remarked that i
t is the role of the laity to infuse the structures of the temporal order with a

Christian spirit in order to transform them. "If they have a contemplative soul
, Your Excellency!" Monsignor Escriv replied with a smile, "Otherwise they won't
transform anything. Rather, they will be the ones transformed, and instead of Ch
ristianizing the world, the Christians will become worldly."[77]
The founder exerted the influence of moral authority on the council fathers who
visited him. "I didn't see him at the sessions," says Bishop Juan Hervas, "but h
is spiritual presence?respectful toward what the fathers did, with no attempt to
impose a viewpoint?was very much in evidence and of great importance to those o
f us participating in that great assembly." [78]
He expected a lot from the Council? a confirmation of Catholic teachings on fait
h and morals, along with an updating of apostolic activities that preserved quod
semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est, that is to say, the untoucha
ble deposit of faith.[79] Insisting on the need to fully respect the Pope's auth
ority, he foresaw that attacks would be made to undermine papal authority in the
interests of bringing the Church's hierarchic structure more in line with conte
mporary ideas of democracy. These forebodings, based on the history of ecumenica
l councils and their aftermath, were soon borne out.[80]
Shortly after the opening of the Council's second session, he wrote to all his c
hildren in Opus Dei, saying:

You know very well, dearly beloved daughters and sons, my concern and my uneasin
ess about the doctrinal confusion? theoretical and practical?that is spreading m
ore and more widely everywhere. This confusion is due to various circumstances o
f our times, and also to certain erroneous interpretations, biased insinuations,
and false reports that have reached everyone regarding the Second Vatican Ecume
nical Council.[81]

The media's picture of the Council did violence to the reality and transmitted?t
o the public and to the council fathers themselves?a distorted image of what was
transpiring. Reporters interpreted the debates as a series of clashes between t
he old and the new, the traditional and the modern. The Holy Spirit seemingly ha
d very little to do with it all. Especially saddening to the founder was that ev
en some Catholic media exhibited no sense of the supernatural, and promoted ideo
logies condemned by the Church's magisterium.[82]
The third session of the Council, in 1964, took place, from September 14 to Nove
mber 21. Before it began, the founder wrote two letters to members of the Work t
ouching on these subjects.[83] In one, he spoke of "impatient and extreme reform
ists, pathologically hostile to the concept of authority.?[84] Lamenting the act
ivities of a "legion of fly-by-night reformers, including even some clergy and r
eligious," who childishly sought to change customs and institutions just for the
sake of changing them, he said: "They are dazzled, by the progress of the moder
n world, and, without grasping the deep values or the best signs of the times, t
hey embark on a feverish race that brings harm to their souls, sterility to thei
r endeavors, and an ironic smile to the lips of the enemies of the Church or the
state."[85]
Worried about the drift of things, Pope Paul decided to move up the date for the
closing of the Council. He communicated this to his closest collaborators, amon
g them Bishop Dell'Acqua.[86] The founder wrote to Pope Paul on April 23:

I make bold to share with Your Holiness the feelings of pain and distress that a
ssail me upon seeing how the present ecumenical council, from which the Holy Spi
rit will draw abundant fruit for his holy Church, has up to now been an occasion
for producing grave unease?I dare to say confusion?in the minds of the shepherd
s and their flocks: priests, seminarians, and faithful.... Finally, Holy Father,
I would like to add that I am praying, and all of Opus Dei is praying, for your
august and most beloved person and your intentions, so that the present council
may soon come to an end, and also for the huge task to be done in the postconci
liar period.[87]

The Council's fourth and final session opened September 14,1965. On October 4, P

ope Paul addressed the United Nations, and upon returning to Rome, he promulgate
d several decrees and declarations of Vatican II. The conciliar process was almo
st at its end. Before the final documents appeared, the founder exhorted his chi
ldren to close ranks around the Holy Father. "Be very close to the Roman Pontiff
, il dolce Cristo in terra," he wrote them. "Keep up with his teachings, meditat
e on them in your prayer, defend them in your speech and with your pen."[88]
As slights and lack of affection for the Pope multiplied, the founder strove to
tell him news that might cheer him up. Pope Paul was aware of this, and wanted p
ublicly to show his appreciation.
A few weeks before the close of the Council, which had been set for December 8,
1965, Bishop Dell'Acqua passed on word that the Pope wanted the inauguration of
Centro ELIS to take place while the Council was in session. Centro ELIS was an e
ducational center for young laborers, located in the Tiburtino section of Rome.
The project had begun when Pope John XXIII decided to use the funds collected on
the occasion of Pope Pius XII's eightieth birthday for a social project whose d
evelopment and operation he entrusted to Opus Dei.[89] Pope Paul wanted to make
it possible for the council fathers to visit the Center and see what the Pope wa
s doing on behalf of the poor and how well disposed he was toward Opus Dei.[90]
Pope Paul dedicated the parish church and the adjoining buildings on November 21
. In his address for the occasion, he expressed deep gratitude to those who had
made the project a reality, calling it "another proof of love for the Church." I
n his reply, Monsignor Escriv sketched the Center's history and purpose?to help y
oung people learn "how work that is sanctified and sanctifying is an essential p
art of the vocation of a Christian."[91] Both men clearly were moved. "Qui tutto
e Opus Dei!" ("Here everything is Opus Dei!"),[92] Pope Paul exclaimed, embraci
ng the founder before returning to the Vatican.

3. The post-conciliar years

For some time Monsignor Escriv had been thinking about the possibility of beginni
ng Opus Dei in Greece. With Vatican II over, he suggested that he and Don Alvaro
go there for a closer look, and so it was that they left from Naples on Februar
y 26,1966.
In Greece, their sightseeing was limited to a short walk around the Acropolis in
Athens. Their focus was on the prospects for future apostolic work there.[93] I
n the churches, they found only a few women praying. In Athens and Corinth, walk
ing where, according to tradition, the apostle Saint Paul had preached, the Fath
er was absorbed in prayer. On March 14 he was back in Rome. Several weeks later
he told Bishop Dell'Acqua that while in Greece, he and Don Alvaro had done "prac
tically nothing but pray for the Vicar of Christ."[94]
Monsignor Escriv returned from Greece feeling that, as matters stood then, there
was little or no chance of beginning the Work there. The social and religious cl
imate was not favorable. With prayer, mortification, and work, it would happen.
But not now.[95] He wrote Bishop Dell'Acqua to share impressions about Greece th
at he thought might interest the Pope.[96]
Also on his mind, at this time, was the urgent need to create a school of theolo
gy at the University of Navarre. From Athens, before returning to Rome, he wrote
to his friend Archbishop Olaechea, now chairman of the Seminaries Committee of
the Spanish Bishops' Conference:

I write to ask that you kindly let me know how the matter of the new school of t
heology at the University of Navarre is going. It would make me happy, given my
secular-priest spirit, to see it move forward?for it will move forward in any ca
se?with the support of your venerable colleagues, in whose service that effort w
ill be carried out.[97]

Four days later the archbishop of Valencia officially informed the founder that
the bishops, gathered in plenary assembly, had greeted the plan for a new school
with great pleasure.[98] Monsignor Escriv wanted to comply with a provision of V

atican II's declaration on religious education (Gravissimum Educationis), that C

atholic universities with no school of theology should at least have a theology
institute or curriculum to encourage research and promote dialogue "with our sep
arated brethren and with non-Christians."[99] The doctrinal confusion arising at
the time of the Council persuaded him of the idea's merit. In November of the p
revious year, the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Pamplona had urged h
im, as Chancellor, to ask the Holy See to establish such a school.[100] But he p
referred to get the opinions of the rest of the Spanish bishops as well. Now act
ing at the request of the entire Spanish episcopate, he sent the Holy Father a r
equest for the canonical establishment of a school of theology at the university
.[101]
The response of the Curia was that this matter would have to be put on hold.[102
] Six months went by. In December, the plenary assembly of the Spanish Bishops'
Conference repeated its request,[103] which Monsignor Escriv passed along to the
Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities.[104] The answer was ambival
ent. The matter called for a new study "so that this Sacred Dicasteries can be p
roperly informed about the real capability of Opus Dei, above all in terms of te
aching personnel, to carry out such a demanding enterprise."[105] By then it was
common knowledge that the project was being blocked. Reports to that effect wer
e coming from bishops. On March 2,1967, he wrote Bishop Dell'Acqua, to say that
he was hearing rumors of "schemes and pressures, as if someone wants to prevent
the setting up of that school." In a postscript he noted that this unexplained b
locking of a project undertaken in response to the Council and desired by the Sp
anish episcopate placed him in the position of being caught between a rock and a
hard place. This was an implied request to Bishop Dell'Acqua to find a way to g
et him out of this predicament:

I am really in an embarrassing situation, because, on the one hand, I can't give

the venerable Spanish bishops the impression that I don't want to take their re
quest into account. On the other hand, neither can I give them an answer, since
I would necessarily have to point out that we are waiting to hear from the Holy
See, and that would be equivalent to suggesting that their decision to create a
new school has not been well received.[106]

* * *

With the approach of summer and the intense Roman heat, Monsignor Escriv's doctor
s recommended rest each year. He accepted the idea in principle and commended it
to everyone else, but he rarely put it into practice. "This summer I'm going to
have to rest a bit," he told his brother and sister-in-law in July, 1966, "sinc
e I haven't been able to do that for three years now, although I have gotten awa
y from Rome."[107]
In 1964 he had spent part of the summer in Elorrio, a village in the Basque coun
try. From there he had written to his sons:

In this cool and moist corner of the world, we are walking?r you won't believe t
his?more than two hours a day. We're part of the landscape by now. We've become
familiar to the farmers, the cows, and the dogs, which hardly bark at us anymore
.
I think that if we can also find a bit of time for a walk every day in Rome, aft
er years of being cooped up like monks (against everything we've laid down?mea c
ulpal?and against common sense), we will be healthier and better able to serve o
ur Lord in his Opus Dei. Now you're going to have to help me keep this difficult
resolution. And that way we'll make Don Alvaro keep it, since it's a necessary m
edicine for him.[108]

In July 1965 the two of them escaped the Roman heat by going to a town near Flor
ence called Cafaggiolo. There they stayed in an old farmhouse owned by a very el
derly lady which was isolated and had no telephone. In that "medieval mouse hole
" as they called it, they prepared letters and documents for publication. Althou

gh they took an occasional outing in the Tuscan countryside, work won out in the
end. "I didn't get any rest this summer," he wrote to Santiago in September, ad
ding that he nevertheless continued to keep going "like a good little donkey."[1
09]
The summer of 1966 found them back in that "corner of Tuscany," where they worke
d from July 14 to August 17, except for a short stay in Rome towards the end of
July. Returning to Villa Tevere, they set out immediately for Paris?though befor
e leaving Rome, the founder wrote to Father Pedro Arrupe, superior general of th
e Jesuits, telling him he'd had a hundred Masses celebrated for the success of t
he forthcoming general congregation of the Society of Jesus.[110]
After visiting Opus Dei centers in France, he spent a few weeks in Spain where,
among other things, he had a checkup at the University of Navarre Hospital. On O
ctober 7, 1966, he received the title of "Adopted Son of Barcelona," which the c
ity council had voted him in 1964.
On October 12 he was back in Rome. Among the thank-you notes for the attentions
given him during these trips, there is one addressed to Dr. Eduardo Ortiz de Lan
dazuri, the doctor who was in charge of the medical tests. The note reads:

Now that I have returned to Rome, I want to send you these lines to reiterate on
ce again my gratitude to you and that whole marvelous team at the University of
Navarre Hospital. I ask that you pass this on to everyone there: I am deeply imp
ressed by your affection, your dedication, and your competence.[111]

The records of his medical tests show that he was suffering from arterial hypert
ension, vascular alterations, and a gradual loss of kidney function. On Septembe
r 26, he was given a diet to follow. On December 2 the University of Navarre Hos
pital was informed in a communication from Rome that the hypertension and the me
tabolic problems had normalized.[112]

* * *

When those involved in the planning of the second Vatican Council decided in 196
2 that it should consider the spirituality and apostolate of the laity, the foun
der of Opus Dei was overjoyed. "If you could only see how happy I am that the Co
uncil is going to take up these subjects which have filled our life since 1928!"
he wrote.[113] Unquestionably, the spirit and apostolate of Opus Dei did have a
profound influence on the Council.[114] Many of the texts parallel things Monsi
gnor Escriv had been saying some thirty years before?things many at that time jud
ged to be harebrained, even heretical.
Take, for instance, the universal call to holiness. In 1930 he had written:

Sanctity is not something for the privileged. It's something to which the Lord c
alls everyone. From everyone he expects Love?everyone, wherever they may be, wha
tever their state, their profession, or their job.[115]

And here is Vatican H's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, nos.
40 and 41:

It is therefore quite clear that all Christians in any state or walk of life are
called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love....
Accordingly all Christians, in the conditions, duties, and circumstances of thei
r life and through all these, will sanctify themselves more and more if they rec
eive all things with faith from the hand of the heavenly Father and cooperate wi
th the divine will, thus showing forth in that temporal service the love with wh
ich God has loved the world.

Or consider the Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, Presbyterorum Ordini
s, nos. 2 and 12:

The Lord Jesus "whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world" (Jn 10:36)
makes his whole Mystical Body sharer in the anointing of the Spirit wherewith he
has been anointed: for in that Body all the faithful are made a holy and kingly
priesthood....
By the sacrament of Order priests are configured to Christ the priest as servant
s of the Head. Like all Christians they have already received in the consecratio
n of baptism the sign and gift of their great calling and grace. So they are ena
bled and obliged even in the midst of human weakness to seek perfection.

One recalls in those words the founder's early efforts among diocesan priests, a
s well as his spiritual direction of lay people, men and women, by which he soug
ht to instill the ideal of a contemplative life lived with "a priestly soul and
a lay mentality." In a letter written in 1940 he said, "All of us, therefore, ar
e called to form part of this divine unity. With a priestly soul, making the hol
y Mass the center of our interior life, we seek to be with Jesus between God and
human beings."[116] Similarly, the same decree's description of the holy Mass a
s "center and root" echo his oft-repeated statement that the Mass is "the center
and root of the interior life."[117]
The Council also made clear the nature and role of the lay apostolate, including
its special characteristics. Here is what the Decree on the Apostolate of the L
aity, Apostolicam Actuositatem, no. 2, says:

The Church was founded to spread the kingdom of Christ over all the earth for th
e glory of God the Father, to make all men partakers in redemption and salvation
, and through them to establish the right relationship of the entire world to Ch
rist. Every activity of the Mystical Body with this in view goes by the name of
"apostolate"; the Church exercises it through all its members. In fact, the Chri
stian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well.
The characteristic of the lay state being a life led in the midst of the world a
nd of secular affairs, laymen are called by God to make of their apostolate, thr
ough the vigor of their Christian spirit, a leaven in the world.

In 1932 the founder had written:

We have to reject the prejudice that the ordinary faithful must limit themselves
to helping the clergy, in ecclesiastical apostolates. There is no reason why th
e apostolate of the laity has to be simply a participation in the hierarchy's ap
ostolate.
They themselves have the duty to do apostolate???
And this is not because they receive a canonical mission, but because they are p
art of the Church.[118]

The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, ta
kes a new and optimistic approach to the earthly city. The Church, it insists, m
ust be present to culture and technology, proclaiming the dignity of the human p
erson created in the image of God, and calling upon Christians to involve themse
lves in what concerns the world.
The Council also says (in Gaudium et Spes, no. 34) that work is part of the divi
ne plan: "Individual and collective activity, that monumental effort of man thro
ugh the centuries to improve the circumstances of the world, presents no problem
to believers: considered in itself, it corresponds to the plan of God." Moreove
r, the mandate given in Genesis that human beings are to subject earthly things
to their rule, ordering them to the Creator, "holds good also for our daily work
," it declares.
"In the light of Opus Dei's spirit," the founder wrote, "it was clearly a great
joy for us to see the Council solemnly declare that the Church does not reject t
he world it lives in, with its progress and development, but understands and lov
es it."[119] The Council's theological affirmation that work is a point of encou
nter between God and the life of the ordinary Christian would serve as a megapho

ne for the message of Opus Dei. It was a source of great joy for him to have the
magisterium put its stamp of approval on what he had called the "divine paths o
f the earth":

One of my greatest joys was to see the Second Vatican Council so clearly proclai
m the divine vocation of the laity. Without any boasting, I would say that, as f
ar as our spirit is concerned, the Council has not meant an invitation to change
but, on the contrary, has confirmed what, with the grace of God, we have been l
iving and teaching for so many years.[120]

Yet along with the gratification, he spoke of hard times ahead. As the Council w
as closing, he wrote to the members of Opus Dei: "My heart trembles at the thoug
ht that it [the postconciliar era] could be the occasion of new wounds in the bo
dy of the Church." He added:
The years following a Council are always important years, that demand docility i
n applying the decisions made, along with firmness in the faith, a supernatural
spirit, love for God and for God's Church, fidelity to the Roman Pontiff.[121]
Earlier, the founder had given the members guidelines regarding the writings of
authors suspected of doctrinal deviations. He told them to hold fast to the norm
s in the Council's dogmatic constitution on Sacred Scripture Dei Verbum, to be g
uided by the basics of Saint Thomas Aquinas's teaching, and to be docile and fai
thful to the magisterium and the Pope.[122]
Monsignor Escriv gave firm assent and full obedience to the constitutions and dec
rees of the Council.[123] Where options were provided, he recommended as head of
Opus Dei, those which best favored the life of piety of its members.[124]
He had no patience with liturgical abuses. Aberrations in the celebration of the
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass especially pained him.
We have to integrate this vast ??? People into liturgical worship, teaching them
?as we are taught by the Church, always remaining faithful to what the hierarchy
legitimately prescribes?to love the holy Mass, without diluting the deep meanin
g of the liturgy into a mere communitarian symbol. For in the liturgy there must
also take place the mysterious personal encounter of individuals with their God
, in a dialogue of praise, thanksgiving, petition, and reparation.[125]

He was sensitive to any alteration, no matter how small, in the rubrics of the M
ass. On October 24,1964, he wrote to his sons in Spain:

They have changed the liturgy of the holy Mass again. At my almost sixty-three y
ears of age, I am striving with the help of Javi to obey Holy Mother Church even
in the smallest details, although I cannot deny that I am pained by certain unn
ecessary changes. But I will always obey joyfully.[126]

And a few months later he reported that he was "trying to celebrate holy Mass wi
th the carefulness of a priest saying his first Mass." But he added: "How marvel
ous it is...to learn to obey and to want to obey!"[127] As the years went by, th
e divine memories that filled the different parts of his Mass had been making it
denser, richer.[128]
Meanwhile, of course, a crisis was taking shape in the Church. Monsignor Escriv h
ad a clear but nuanced view of what was happening.
As I see it, the present doctrinal position of the Church could be called "posit
ive" and at the same time "delicate," as in all crises of growth. Positive, undo
ubtedly, because the doctrinal wealth of the Second Vatican Council has set the
entire Church, the entire priestly People of God, on a new, supremely hopeful tr
ack of renewed fidelity to the divine plan of salvation entrusted to it. But del
icate as well, because the theological conclusions reached are not, let us say,
of an abstract or theoretical nature. They are part of a supremely living theolo
gy, with immediate and direct applications in the pastoral, ascetic, and discipl
inary fields and touching very deeply upon the internal and external life of the
Church: liturgy, organizational structures of the hierarchy, apostolic forms, m
agisterium, dialogue with the world, ecumenism. And so this theology at the same

time touches very deeply upon the Christian life and the very conscience of the
faithful.[129]
It was a delicate moment. The interpretation given to conciliar texts by those w
ho regarded novelty as an instrument of Church renewal led to widespread confusi
on in matters of faith and morals. Justification for this was sought in an imagi
nary "spirit" of the Council, based on quasi-theological fads of the time. The s
elf-designated reformers proclaimed themselves the vanguard of progress, while b
randing as "reactionaries" and "ultraconservatives" those who stood by the teach
ings of the magisterium. (Some of these, of course, did indeed cling to the old
without admitting so much as the possibility of development or growth.) Predicta
bly, Monsignor Escriv was accused of paternalism, conservatism, triumphalism, and
other crimes against political correctness.[130] His reply was, "Conservatism!
Progressivism! What I want is to integrally conserve the treasure of the faith a
nd to make progress in knowledge of it."[131]
In other circumstances he would have adopted his old tactic?keep silent, forgive
, pray, serve. But this was not possible in the face of so much falsehood, so mu
ch havoc wreaked upon Church doctrine, so much dissension sown among people in t
he Church. He sent his children in Opus Dei a long letter, dated March 19,1967,
which begins: "Fortes in fide, that's how I see you, dearest daughters and sons?
strong in the faith in every setting testifying with that divine fortitude to y
our beliefs.[132] Describing the letter as "exclusively pastoral," he wrote:

The intent...is to teach you to safeguard and defend the treasure of Catholic do
ctrine, increasing its supernatural fruit in your souls and in the society you l
ive in. No one can truthfully say that if I'm alerting you not to let the presen
t environment corrupt your faith, I must be a conservative or a progressive, a r
eformer or a reactionary. To call me any of those things would be unjust and fal
se. I am a priest of Jesus Christ who loves clear doctrine expressed in precise
terms with well-established content, and who admires and gives thanks to God for
, all the great advances made by human knowledge, because?if they are truly scie
ntific?they help bring us closer to the Creator.[133]

Calm and hopeful throughout, this long document ends on a high note:

These bad times will pass, as those before have always passed. The Church has ne
ver been without sick people and sicknesses....
Be optimistic and cheerful! God is with us! For that reason I am filled with hop
e every day. The virtue of hope makes us see life as it is: beautiful, from God.
[134]

The founder had a number of rather lengthy conversations with Cardinal Joseph Ho
ffner about the crisis that the Church was going through. The cardinal recalls h
is own surprise at the supernatural hope of Monsignor Escriv, who, he says, assur
ed him that "this did not frighten him, and neither did the identity crises conv
ulsing priests and religious, because the Lord and the Holy Spirit are alive and
active in the Church."[135]
Time went by, and the situation did not improve. In 1972, Pope Paul publicly exp
ressed disappointment and that of many others. Once the Council was over, a sple
ndid new dawn for the Church was anticipated. "Instead," said the Pope, "there c
ame a day of clouds, of storms, of darkness, of anxious searching, and of uncert
ainties."[136]Not only that, he continued, "something preternatural appeared in
the world, with the intention of spoiling and suppressing the fruits of the Ecum
enical Council." The founder, meanwhile, prayed and acted to keep Opus Dei faith
ful to the doctrine of Christ and immune to the evils threatening the People of
God.

* * *

Doctrinal confusion pointed to the need of solid, intellectually rigorous religi

ous formation for Catholics. The founder, as Chancellor of the University of Nav

arre, considered it more urgent than ever to establish a school of theology ther
e. He put it this way:

A man who lacks religious formation is a man whose education is incomplete. That
is why religion should be present in the universities, where it should be taugh
t at the high, scholarly level of good theology. A university from which religio
n is absent is an incomplete university; it neglects a fundamental facet of huma
n personality, which does not exclude but rather presupposes the other facets.[1
37]

But this project was becoming a nightmare. For over a year, shadowy obstacles an
d unexplained delays had blocked his every effort.
Yet he and all the bishops of Spain knew who was behind all this.[138] As the Fa
ther put it in a letter to Bishop Dell'Acqua, the problem was "a certain person
whose behavior does not seem reasonable."[139]
Since the responses of the Sacred Congregation were delaying tactics?asking for
supplementary information or setting new conditions?and not definitive, Monsigno
r Escriv thought of a new approach: to seek authorization ad experimentum, to sta
rt the theological program on an experimental basis. In a letter dated March 31,
1967, Don Alvaro, following the indications of the Father, proposed this idea to
Archbishop Gabriel Garrone, the head of the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries
and Universities.[140] Two months passed without an answer. Don Alvaro tried aga
in.[141]
At last the anxiously awaited response of the Sacred Congregation arrived, in a
letter dated June 19 signed by Cardinal Pizzardo. It was carefully worded. The d
oor was left open for starting theology courses and for considering, at the righ
t moment, the possibility of canonical establishment of the school. But then cam
e this remark: "I must add that delicate circumstances of a local nature counsel
us against sayinganything ... about the official starting of the courses."[142]
Nevertheless, the decision of whether or not to start up the courses was left t
o the discretion of the Chancellor, an indispensable concession.
The "delicate circumstances of a local nature" soon became clear. Some priests o
f the diocese had written to the Holy See accusing the archbishop of Pamplona of
having ceded some goods of the Church to the University of Navarre without cons
ulting the city council. In a letter to Cardinal Garrone, dated August 26, 1967,
Don Alvaro flatly denied the accusations. "I am writing to tell you once again,
" he wrote, "that the University of Navarre has never asked for or received one
penny or one square foot of land from His Excellency the Archbishop of Pamplona.
"[143]
The decree canonically establishing the School of Theology of the University of
Navarre was finally received by the Chancellor on November 13,1969.[144]

4. The last romantic

The difficulties that the Work encountered in the sixties did not come just from
the opposition of one particular person or group. The founder faced all kinds o
f resistance, as often happens with any institution of historic significance. Of
course, when speaking of resistances and oppositions, we should not lose sight
of the positive response that Opus Dei's message received in the world, and of t
he rapid expansion of its apostolic efforts in a great many countries. But it di
d run into obstacles too numerous to mention in detail. Some of these have alrea
dy been mentioned, in connection with the turbulence that surrounded the Council
. Others arose from the political arena. Defamatory campaigns originating in Spa
in soon spread to other countries.
The founder by now was so used to them that, more than rob him of his peace, the
y generally just robbed him of time, leaving his cheerfulness intact. Behind the
attacks on the Work he could see the hand of God. Thus he wrote to his children
:

Never have we failed to see the involvement of Divine Providence when, periodica
lly, with a frequency that reveals the not very clean hand of certain individual
s and their chorus of supporters, these mudslinging spates occur.
Blessed be God. When the Nile overflows its banks, it soon returns to its bed?ev
erything returns victoriously to its bed?and the flooded fields are left dry and
fertile.[145]

He had no desire to fight with those who insulted him. His was a battle of love,
an effort always to sow peace and joy. The same letter continues:

All over the world we are surrounded by the prayer, affection, and material assi
stance of millions of hearts. And Peter?Peter!?looks on us with special love.
So carry on, being pious, hardworking, studious, apostolic without discriminatio
n, putting love where there is no love. Thus the Blessed Virgin, our Mother, wil
l continue to smile as she looks upon this open, shoreless sea that is her Son's
Work?Opus Dei?and we will be able to sow peace and joy among all human beings (
even those who do not want to have a big heart, poor fellows), putting this excl
usively supernatural, spiritual, apostolic effort into operation, for Jesus, fro
m pole to pole.[146]

Opus Dei's spirit and apostolic vigor clashed at times with rigidly traditional
ways of doing things. Its message entailed the struggle to sanctify familial, pr
ofessional, and civic activities, including those of a political nature; a strug
gle that would both require and produce a real change of mentality among Catholi
cs. Particularly in the political situation that Spain was in, as we will later
see.
In those inevitable clashes, those campaigns of denigration, there was seldom an
y lack of strong feelings, partisanship, or bad faith. Which, when it comes down
to it, are human failings that every faithful Christian has to bear with charit
y. The founder advised "being understanding when they don't understand us."[147]
A generous attitude of being quick to forgive mistakes and to take on the senti
ments of Christ, in our dealings both with fellow Catholics and with those enemi
es of the Church who are out to return Christians to the catacombs. The founder
wrote:

Let's not blow things out of proportion. It's logical that the enemies of God an
d of his Church don't like us. And it's also logical that, in spite of everythin
g, we love them: "Caritas mea cum omnibus vobis in Christo Iesu!" ["My love be w
ith you all in Christ Jesus!"?1 Cor 16:24].[148]

Both by mouth and in writing, the founder never tired of speaking to his childre
n about freedom. One might well see this as being because of the strained situat
ion there now was in Spain, after so many years of authoritarian government. But
Monsignor Escriv's insistence on freedom was not focused on the current scene in
this or that country. In 1954 he wrote:

I will never tire of repeating, my children, that one of the most obvious charac
teristics of the spirit of Opus Dei is its love for freedom and understanding. I
n the human realm, I want to leave you as legacy a love for freedom and good-nat
uredness.[149]

He kept the flag of freedom very high and liked to call himself "the last romant
ic," and "a lover of freedom."[150] The reason he felt so strongly about freedom
was that without it love cannot be expressed. He thanked God, with all his hear
t, for "the great adventure of freedom."[151] He taught this freedom to his sons
and daughters as soon as they came to the Work. He would treat them as mother d
ucks do their ducklings: "Ducks give their little ones independence. They watch
over them discreetly, so that they learn to exercise their freedom?so that as so
on as possible they start swimming on their own."[152]
He wanted to die as an enamored romantic. And that is how he died. His life was

a continual fight for freedom of spirit, since only this personal freedom makes
one "capable of meriting or of offending, of pardoning or of harboring resentmen
t, of hating or of loving."[153]Furthermore, so necessary was that "precious gif
t of freedom" that where there was no freedom, the apostolates of Opus Dei would
suffocate. For "freedom and the resultant responsibility are, as it were, the s
eal of lay activity, in the apostolate as well."[154]
Freedom as "an essential characteristic" of the spirit of Opus Dei was implicit
since 1928 in the life and apostolate of its members. And, through a foundationa
l grace, it had come into clear focus on August 7,1931, when that young priest,
at the moment of raising the sacred host at Mass, understood that "it will be th
e men and women of God who will raise the cross, with the teachings of Christ, t
o the pinnacle of every human activity." He continues, "And I saw the Lord trium
ph, drawing all things to himself."[155]
But to prepare the way toward this exalting of Christ in all human activities, h
e first had to erase the erroneous ideas most Catholics had about apostolic acti
vity.
It is quite common to find, even among apparently responsible and devout Catholi
cs, the error of thinking that they're only obliged to carry out their familial
and religious duties. They seldom want to hear any mention of civic duties. The
problem is not selfishness; it's simply a lack of formation.[156]
But it was not just a matter of duties. The founder also energetically defended
the right of Catholics to participate actively in public life. And to those who
devoted themselves specifically to political work, whether with a certain party
or in government or whatever, he repeatedly emphasized that they were doing this
on their own. This principle was already fixed from the very beginning. The fou
nder wrote that in political matters each member of the Work had complete freedo
m and therefore the sole responsibility for his or her activity. "Never," he dec
lared, "can the directors of the Work impose any political or professional?in a
word, temporal?guideline on their brothers or sisters."[157]
The following words were directed to those who chose politics as their professio
nal vocation:

Like all the other members of the Work in their temporal occupations, when actin
g in that field you do so without calling attention to your being Catholics or m
embers of Opus Dei; without using either the Church or the Work. For you know th
at you can't mix up either God's Church or the Work in contingent things....
Those of you who find yourselves with a vocation to politics should work without
fear and realize that if you didn't do so, you would sin by omission. Work with
professional seriousness, paying attention to the technical demands of that wor
k of yours, setting your sights on Christian service to all the people of your c
ountry, and fostering harmony among all nations.[158]

Opus Dei, then, stays out of politics. "Freedom, my children. Never expect the W
ork to give you temporal instructions."[159] And besides making all these statem
ents, the founder also took practical measures. He directed, for example, that O
pus Dei, as such, would never have any magazine, newspaper, or other publication
of its own, with the exception of the official newsletter of the prelature (Rom
ano). He did this to prevent what so often happens in certain countries and poli
ticalparties: "twenty smart alecks imposing themselves on a whole multitude."[16
0]

* **

The rights to political choice and activity that every citizen should enjoy have
not always been respected, and certainly they were not in the Spain of that tim
e. The Franco regime had its origins in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and wa
s mounted on a platform that justified authoritarian personal power. When in 195
7 Franco had to restructure the government,[161] he gave representation to the p
olitical forces making up the National Movement: the Falangists, the Carlist Tra
ditionalists, the Francoist Christian Democrats, the Dynastic Monarchists, and,

the same as in every other cabinet of his, some trustworthy high-level bureaucra
ts with special expertise.[162] The purpose of the change was to work out and pu
t into effect the social, political, administrative, and economic reforms that F
ranco thought thecountry needed. But at the same time, the new cabinet was a refl
ection of his basic ideas of national, political, and social unity?ideas which i
mpeded political and social pluralism.[163]
One of the new government's aims was an integration of the Spanish economy into
the framework of the Western world. Consultations with the IMF and the OECD led
to a plan for stabilization and to deregulation measures proper to a market econ
omy.[164] That economic operation was piloted by the Minister of the Treasury, M
ariano Navarro Rubio, and by the Minister of Commerce, Alberto Ullastres Calvo,
and enjoyed the support of most of the economic leaders. The stabilization plan
was approved in July 1959. Two years later studies began that led to the plans f
or development and economic expansion. The fact that there were in the Spanish g
overnment members of Opus Dei (Navarro Rubio and Ullastres) gave rise to gossip
of various kinds in the social and political spheres. Some groups in the Nationa
l Movement disparagingly called them technocrats.[165] With this term they wante
d to point out, in a cryptic way, their belonging to Opus Dei, and to discredit
them politically.
It must be noted, first of all, that if they were ministers, that was due to the
decision of Franco, who had full control of the state; and, of course, to their
free acceptance of their appointments. Their belonging to Opus Dei had no beari
ng on their decision from a political standpoint, although it may well have been
reflected in the professional rigor and moral sensibilities with which they car
ried out their work. Like their colleagues in the government who were also Catho
lics, they tried to make their decisions, in matters social as well as political
, in accord with their conscience, and were conscious of the fact that their pol
itical actions should reflect the faith that they professed.[166]
Upon hearing of the appointment of Alberto Ullastres, a cardinal felt that he sh
ould congratulate the founder. But the founder said decisively, "To me it's neit
her here nor there; I don't care. Minister or street cleaner, it's all the same
to me. The only thing I care about is that he become holy through his work."[167
]
The success of the stabilization plan laid the groundwork for the development pl
ans.[168] At the same time, throughout 1962, rumors of changes in the government
were flying, because of the need to respond to the challenges that were arising
in a society growing ever more conscious of its political and social rights.[16
9] There was something of a crisis in the government.[170] And during this time
it came to the attention of the founder that in some sectors the Work was consid
ered a political group. To dispel this erroneous notion, the office of the Gener
al Secretariat of Opus Dei issued, on June 17,1962, a communique stating the fol
lowing: "The members of Opus Dei are completely free in their political thought
and action, the same as all other Catholic citizens. Within the association ther
e is room for, and there in fact are, people of differing and even conflicting p
olitical ideas; and Opus Dei has nothing to do with the merits or demerits of th
e personal conduct of its members. It should, therefore, be clear that Opus Dei
is not tied to any political person, regime, or idea.?[171]
The founder received many visits, from authorities both civil and ecclesiastical
. They all had questions to ask him: "Why doesn't Opus Dei take a definite polit
ical stand, so that people will know what they should do?" "Why don't you give y
our followers some instructions or at least guidelines in this area?" And the fo
under never tired of giving this answer:

Members of Opus Dei take part in politics (to the extent each one sees as opport
une) with complete freedom and, therefore, with personal responsibility. They ea
ch do so according to the dictates of their conscience, as a Catholic citizen, w
ithout allowing anyone else to be implicated in the decisions that they have leg
itimately made.[172]

He was pressured by several authorities to order the members of Opus Dei to with

draw from the government. But it was not in his power, he told them, to diminish
or co-opt the freedom of any son or daughter of his. And as for making an autho
ritative pronouncement on a political regime from a doctrinal standpoint, this w
as not his job but that of the Holy See or the bishops of the country in questio
n.[173] To order his sons to resign from that government, or from any that was n
ot denounced by the ecclesiastical authorities, would have meant betraying the s
pirit of Opus Dei.
During the sixties, when a strong campaign against the Work was being launched i
n several countries, he said to one of the directors of the Regional Commission
of Spain: "My son, I would be rid of a lot of problems if those brothers of your
s weren't ministers. But if I were to hint at that, I would not be respecting th
eir freedom and I would be destroying the Work."[174]
The years went by, and the founder, who lived in Rome from 1946 on, lived true t
o the norm he had imposed on himself, of hiding and disappearing. He did not att
end public ceremonies organized by the civil authorities of any country, nor did
he attend the receptions at the embassies in Rome. He declined the invitations
because they were offered to him as President General of Opus Dei. He wanted to
show, in this very clear way, that the Work had no connection with any governmen
t or any particular country.[175]
In 1966, he wrote a letter thanking his sons and daughters for their faithfulnes
s and affection, saying, "You have made my necessary voluntary exile of over twe
nty years easier to bear. I say exile because that's what it is. And not a few t
imes I've had to fight off an 'exile complex,' although I have a great affection
for Italy and especially for Rome." He then continued:

I've said this exile is necessary. And it is, for supernatural reasons. On the p
ositive side, it's required by the universality of the Work, which was born cath
olic and must manifest itself to everyone as Roman. And on the negative side, th
ere was also the urgent necessity of avoiding any implication in a political sce
ne?like that which developed in my absence?as well as to make it easier for ever
yone to manifest clearly the freedom that all my children enjoy, each working ac
cording to the dictates of their own honest conscience, in all temporal things.[
176]

To a man of his exuberant inner vitality, a man also brimming with physical ener
gy, always eager "to pound the pavement" for apostolic purposes and visit his ch
ildren, the silence was hard to bear, and even more so being shut up inside the
house. In the way he refers to his years in Rome ("monk-like enclosure"), or to
the house in II Trebbio where he did much of his summer work ("a medieval mouse
hole"), his feelings come through.
But neither his absence from Spain nor the silence of his presence in Rome was e
nough to quiet certain groups. Their unfair treatment of him and the Work, and e
ven the slanders that some newspapers printed about him, did not upset him; to h
im they were no big deal. But when the attacks on the Work turned into attacks o
n the Church, the founder changed his habit of bearing injuries in silence. This
happened in the first months of 1964, when a fierce campaign against Opus Dei w
as launched in the Netherlands. The motive? The fact that Princess Irene, a daug
hter of the Dutch queen, had converted to Catholicism and an Opus Dei priest had
been God's instrument in her conversion.
The Father, to calm down the fears of his children in the Netherlands, wrote to
them reminding them of the strategy that had worked so well for him throughout h
is life:

When the Lord allows these groups of fanatics to "give vent" to so many slanders
, it's a sign that you and I need to keep quiet, pray, work, smile?and wait. Don
't give those idiocies any importance; truly love all those souls. Caritas mea c
um omnibus vobis in Christo Iesu![177]

We can get some idea of the severity of that campaign from a letter the founder
sent on March 27,1964, to Bishop Jan Van Dodewaard of Haarlem, as an Easter gree

ting:

There are still coming to me from that beloved nation publications loading on us
insults, false interpretations, and slanders that are so wild that, despite bei
ng almost an aged priest, I never could have imagined them, not even remotely. B
ut don't worry, Your Excellency, because this only makes me love even more the N
etherlands and all the Dutch people.[178]

A few days later he had to answer a letter from Carrero Blanco, Franco's right-h
and man. He did it in these few words:

Your lines gave me real joy and renewed the complex I have over being an "exile"
in the service of God. I hope he will arrange things so that I can at some poin
t spend a good amount of time in Spain, without worrying that the trip shows a l
ack of the virtue of poverty, because I'll be able to do some good priestly work
.[179]

That brief letter closes an era, because within a few short weeks the founder ga
ve a small, but important, twist to his way of viewing opposition in a supernatu
ral light. In writing to his sons in Ireland about the lack of understanding tha
t some Catholics have toward fellow Catholics, he says:

It can at times happen to us?as one sadly sees in connection with the Council?th
at we are understanding and conciliatory with those who do not share our faith (
and this is good?it's been our spirit since 1928), but are less so with our brot
hers (and this is not good?we have to keep it from happening).[180]

And further on:

I'm getting old. Or, if you prefer, I'm ceasing to be young. Maybe that's the re
ason I find myself pondering sad experiences in the world, which can't be remedi
ed until one can speak out clearly, once the Council is over.[181]

The matter must have been important, since, in another letter written on that sa
me day, he finds it urgent to tell the Counsellor of Spain about this recent eve
nt that leads him to "speak out clearly."

I want to let you know that I've stoked up the devotion, which in me goes back a
long time, to Saint Catherine of Siena? because she knew how to love the Pope w
ith a filial love, because she knew how to serve God's holy Church sacrificially
, and because she knew how to speak out heroically.
I am thinking of declaring her our patroness (intercessor) in heaven for our pub
lic opinion apostolates.We shall see![182]

In his customary program for dealing with opposition ("Keep silent, pray, work,
and smile") the recommendation of silence was changed to that of proclaiming the
truth, taking up the defense of God's honor, and that of the Church and of the
Roman Pontiff. And he immediately put this into practice.
This change of behavior derived from his firm resolution not to tolerate defamat
ions of God and his servants. As for insults directed at him personally, these h
e was ready to continue bearing as before.
The decision to speak out clearly is reflected in the correspondence of those da
ys. On May 23,1964, he wrote to His Royal Highness Don Francisco Javier de Borbo
n-Parma:

Your Highness:
I received your affectionate lines and, with great pleasure, am writing you this
letter to tell you that Your Highness has no need to thank me, because I've don
e nothing more than fulfill my priestly duty, which makes me serve all souls wit
hout taking into account any other consideration, especially if it's temporal or

political (as I have said to Your Highness in person), any such thing being a l
ong way off from our Work, which is solely and exclusively spiritual and apostol
ic....
I am truly sorry about those unmerited attacks which are taking place in the Net
herlands against the princess. In that country, which I love, there is coming at
us ourselves, against us?for no rational reason?a continual campaign of gross s
landers and unheard-of insults, which we are joyfully offering to God for those
good souls and for our sanctification. Omnia in bonum![183]

But courtesy does not do away with courage. The letter was accompanied by a note
, also for Don Francisco Javier de Borbon-Parma, also dated May 23. It said:

Although I am very much in favor of political freedom and am very respectful tow
ard everyone's opinions, I was struck by the fact that at the meeting in Monteju
rra, all that was on display was a few posters insulting some sons of mine who,
in use of their freedom, honorably think as they see fit. Especially when in Spa
in there are so many who don't agree with the Carlists. I am still amazed; I can
not understand that "predilection." Nevertheless, I respect the vexatious freedo
m of those gentlemen in Montejurra, and am not making any complaint.
However, I have received a leaflet that is called "Red Beret"?it doesn't say who
published it, but the content is Carlist?no. 89, year 12, and it contains an ar
ticle, entitled "To Spaniards" and signed "Some veterans," in which the Work is
slanderously attacked. I cannot tolerate this; and I am ashamed that people belo
nging to the so-called Carlist Communion go in for defamations of this kind. I h
ope that, out of Christian justice, the heads of the organization will put a sto
p to these lamentable incidents. If they happen again, I will have to take some
steps, since it is a matter not of an attack on me, which I am always ready to b
ear in silence, but of a vile attack on our Lord God and those who serve him, an
d who have consecrated their lives to him.[184]

* * *

Inspired by the daring of Saint Catherine, and feeling morally bound to do this,
the founder tried later to explain clearly to Pope Paul his assessment of the c
omplex religious and political situation of Spain, while touching also on other
points. Instead of presenting him. with an expository document, he decided to do
it in letter form, using an easy and familiar style. The letter (of June 1964)
is a long one. It is a matter, the founder confesses in the first lines, of "ope
ning my heart once again to the Holy Father," telling him things that "I have ne
ver before now put in writing," trusting that "with this letter I am faithfully
serving God's Church and the Supreme Pontiff."[185]
Among many other things, the letter contains a review of the history of Spain fr
om 1900 to 1964, including the fall of the monarchy, the coming of the Republic
in 1931, the civil war, and the postwar peace. In the letter he speaks of the co
ncern he has for his country's future because of the fact that "in Spain everyth
ing depends on the life of a man who, in good faith, is convinced that he is pro
vidential."[186] He also speaks of the religious renewal that has taken place in
Spain since 1939. However, along with that bright light of a revived Church, th
e picture of religion in Spain also has dark spots: a lack of doctrine, an exces
sive pietism, irregularities in liturgical worship ... And then he gets to one o
f the crucial points of his letter:

At present, given Franco's age, the situation is bound to become serious, unless
measures are taken that will lead to a transition and preferably a speedy one.
For this turn to take place, he says, the hierarchy in Spain will needto change
the mentality of Catholics so that they will freely get involved in civic matter
s. "You might ask what I have been doing in this regard," he writes, and then he
gives this answer:

Forming doctrinally well-prepared people who will be able to work better than I
can. I have spent myself in working, because I know that work is prayer; and in
praying, because that is the foundation of all action.

The rest of the letter is liberally seasoned with anecdotes, from each of which
one could extract a profitable lesson.
The founder also wanted his sons and daughters to commit themselves to this atti
tude of defense of the Church, its teachings, and its institutions. He therefore
drew up a letter to them, dated August 15, 1964.
He starts it by stating that "in order to fulfill our mission of giving doctrine
, in order to carry out that immense catechesis that is the Work of God, we have
to be bearers of the truth and filled with the charity of Jesus Christ."[187] T
hen he says:

My daughters and sons, you are familiar with the history of the Church, and you
know that God normally uses simple and strong souls to make his will known in ti
mes of confusion or torpor in Christian life. Personally, I am enamored of the f
ortitude of a Saint Catherine, who speaks truths to the highest persons, with a
burning love and a crystalline clarity.[188]

With crystalline clarity the founder identifies the blights of the day, which, h
e says, are simply manifestations of human failings. When the Church calls her c
hildren to interior renewal and to sanctity, we weaken that call with our person
al failings, which stem from cowardice.
Humanity raises up a loud clamor, and what should lead toan intimate dialogue wi
th God, and from that to an increase in sanctity, gets distorted, making it diff
icult for the poor, the simple people, the new shepherds of Bethlehem, to prompt
ly recognize the Messiah's voice, the Messiah's reflection, amid the din of our
failings.[189]

* * *

In November 1964 he made a trip to Pamplona, and while he was there he sent a fe
w lines to Franco, to inform him of his presence in Spain. It was a standard cou
rtesy, but a gesture expressive of his resolve to maintain, in line with the adv
ice of Saint Paul, a respectful attitude toward political authorities:

Your Excellency:
Upon stepping on Spanish soil (for the purpose of presiding at a ceremony in whi
ch honorary doctorates will be awarded to two presidents of universities, at tha
t of Navarre), I am fulfilling the pleasant duty of presenting to Your Excellenc
y my respectful greetings.
I never fail to pray each day for our beloved Spain and for all Spaniards, espec
ially Your Excellency and your family, and all those who have the duty of govern
ing our native land.[190]

The relations between Monsignor Escriv and Franco were anchored in the necessary
respect between the Chief of State and a priest who classified himself as a subj
ect in voluntary exile. Two years later, while again visiting, the University of
Navarre, the founder repeated that gesture, using almost the same words.

Your Excellency:
Upon setting foot on this blessed land of Navarre, I consider it my pleasant dut
y to send to Your Excellency this greeting filled with respect and affection, si
nce I will not be able to go to Madrid.[191]

The period between the one letter and the other, from the autumn of 1964 to the
autumn of 1966, was one of continual defamatory campaigning against Opus Dei, by
various people. At this time the founder advised his children to speak out.
You should be always on the alert?vigilate et orate! [watch and pray!], always s

erene, with the joy, the peace, and the courage of one who is acting uprightly.
We cannot keep silent, because this Mother of ours is and always will be under a
ge, although the years go by; and she needs her sons and daughters to defend her
veritatem facientes in caritate [doing the truth in charity]. I have written to
the Holy Father three times already, and a fourth time today, because it is nec
essary to get rid of this mud. I want you to know that the Pope has a lot of aff
ection for us, and shows it.[192]
A week later he said it again:

Now you need to keep in mind the Gospel counsel, vigilate et orate! We can no lo
nger put up with calumny, or venomous insinuation. And of every hundred cases, a
ll hundred of them have their origin in that beloved Spain of mine. Enough is en
ough![193]

Starting with the above-mentioned letter of June 1964, Monsignor Escriv tried to
periodically send to the Vatican Secretariat of State news that its members migh
t find useful. The correspondence between him and Bishop Dell'Acqua is abundant,
and expressive of their warm, fraternal friendship; and all of the letters from
the founder show a deep affection for and devotion to the Roman Pontiff. On one
occasion he writes:

I ask Your Excellency to excuse me if I tell you these things; without any retic
ence. But, toward God and toward the Pope, I ??? want to always be as sincere an
d spontaneous as a child. At the same time, I would like to be able to continual
ly offer to the Holy Father plenty of reasons for consolation and joy.
I recall how, back in 1946, the then-undersecretary to His Holiness, Monsignor M
ontini, had the goodness to tell me once that he very much liked hearing me talk
about Opus Dei, because ordinarily the only news that reached him was bad news
about what was not going well in this world. Therefore I find it very painful to
have to include among the news items that I am sending, because I think they co
uld truly be useful, some that are not so consoling.[194]

Indeed, not all the news he sent the Pope was pleasant. Such were the times. He
had resolved not to keep quiet about things that were injurious to the Church or
the Work. Sometimes he had to pick up his pen, because splatterings from certai
n press campaigns in France and Spain had reached Rome?smears impugning the spir
itual nature of Opus Dei and its universal scope.[195] He would explain to the P
ope what the facts really were, the falseness of the accusations, and their orig
ins.
Naturally, these unpleasant events, while not taking away his inner peace, did a
ffect him somewhat. In a letter to Father Richard Stork, the Counsellor for the
United Kingdom, he says:

It hurt me to read that obscene, sarcastic thing that was sent anonymously from
Spain. It is inevitable that the devil isn't happy; when things are going well f
or the sheep, they aren't going well for the wolves. I burned that scrap of pape
r. Stay calm, because your work and that of your brothers and sisters?Opus Dei?i
s reaching heaven as a pleasing fragrance.[196]

Well, what could he do to counteract those slanders? One tactic he thought of wa

s to get interviews with correspondents from several nations and publications. T
he first of these on May 16,1966, was with a correspondent of Le Figaro.[197]His
procedure was simple: tell the truth clearly, tirelessly reiterating that in Op
us Dei everyone works with complete personal freedom, differences of activity or
opinion not being a problem for the Work, since "the diversity which exists and
will always exist among the members of Opus Dei is a sign of good spirit, of an
honest life, of respect for the legitimate opinion of each individual."[198]
Looking back, it seems that the Work, by God's will, had to undergo this trial.
What happened was that in connection with some upcoming union elections in Spain
, commentaries and articles appeared that argued for greater representation in t

he unions. The authors of some of those articles were members of Opus Dei. This
sparked violent outbursts in the regime's newspaper chain (the Movement Press) a
nd in Pueblo, a daily paper put out by the Spanish Labor Organization. Monsignor
Escriv intervened, not because of the damage those papers could cause, but becau
se the uproar "was based on slander, and was therefore an offense against God."[
199] At his suggestion, Opus Dei's Counsellor in Spain, Father Florencio Sanchez
Bella, visited the leaders of the Movement and of the unions to protest this ca
mpaign. Not having gotten any results, he made another visit in October, this ti
me to the secretary general of the Movement, again without success.[200]
The founder, meanwhile, was learning more about the campaign and its instigators
. And his take on them was that they were people "who cannot digest anything spi
ritual; even if you poured into their heads and hearts the wine from the marriag
e feast at Cana, it wouldn't do any good, because they would immediately convert
it to vinegar."
The buyer and the sellers, like those portrayed by Cervantes, all of them rogues
in the end, are capable of beating up a woman, who cannot defend herself, or th
rowing handfuls of mud at a priest, who shouldnot defend himself, because he is
obliged to show meekness. What those people are showing is a cowardly villainy,
which has to be forgiven and which, of course, we do forgive.[201]
But this priest knew how to defend himself. He wrote a letter? clear, blunt, but
very charitable?to Jose Solis Ruiz, the secretary general of the Movement. (Thi
s was a cabinet position.)

Rome, October 28,1966

Dear Friend:
Word has reached me here about the campaign that the press of the Falange, which
operates under Your Excellency's authority, has been so unjustly waging against
Opus Dei.
Once again I repeat that the members of Opus Dei?each and every one of them?are
personally completely free, as free as if they did not belong to Opus Dei, in al
l temporal matters and in the theological ones that the Church leaves us free to
disagree about. It therefore makes no sense to bring up in discussions of quest
ions political, professional, social, etc., the fact that a particular person be
longs to the Work?just as it would not make sense for anyone, when speaking of y
our own political activities, to bring in your wife and children, your family.
The publications connected with your ministry are operating in that misguided wa
y, and all that they are thereby accomplishing is to offend God by confusing the
spiritual and temporal orders, since it is obvious that the directors of Opus D
ei can do nothing to curb the legitimate and complete personal freedom of its me
mbers (who, for their part, never hide the fact that each assumes full responsib
ility for his or her own actions). The plurality of opinions among the members o
f the Work is and always will be just one more manifestation of their freedom an
d one more proof of their good spirit, which leads them to respect the opinions
of others.
When attacking or defending the ideas or public action of a fellow citizen, have
the decency, which justice demands, to not make reference to Opus Dei, from any
point of view. This spiritual family does not involve itself, nor can it ever i
nvolve itself, in political or earthly questions of any kind, because its aims a
re exclusively spiritual.
I hope that you will have understood my surprise, both at the announcement of th
at defamatory campaign and at seeing it carried out. I'm sure that by now you mu
st be aware of the gross mistake being made, and of the responsibility in consci
ence which all those involved in this campaign are assuming before God's tribuna
l. For it is a great mistake to denigrate an institution which does not?and cann
ot?influence the use that its members, spread over five continents, make of thei
r personal freedom as citizens, while never evading their personal responsibilit
y for their actions.
I beg you to put an end to this campaign against Opus Dei, since Opus Dei has do
ne nothing to deserve it. Otherwise, I will have to conclude that you have not u
nderstood me?in which case it will be clear that Your Excellency is not capable

either of understanding or of respecting freedom, qua libertate Christus nos lib

eravit [the freedom for which Christ set us free (see Gal 1:5)], the freedom of
Christian citizens. Fight when you must (though I am not fond of fights). But do
not commit the injustice of dragging into those battles what is above any human
passions.
I do want to take this opportunity to convey to you my best wishes and to send m
y blessing for you and yours.
In Domino.[202]

The founder truly was a "romantic," who fought for freedom without getting invol
ved in politics.[203] And one big reason is that while politics is the art of go
verning, and affords many possibilities and very varied inspiration, it must not
be forgotten that it is also a gateway to power. For Monsignor Escriv, respect f
or human freedom was the best guarantee of the internal unity of the Work, where
as ambition for power would lead directly to its disintegration. Such is the hum
an condition: there is a perennial temptation to impose one's own will on one's
fellow citizens. Apart from the supernatural ones, these considerations were the
founder's basis for affirming that "an Opus Dei involved in politics is an imag
inary figure that has never existed, does not exist, and never could exist. Were
that impossible situation to occur, the Work would immediately be dissolved."[2
04]

5. The Marquis of Peralta

The correspondence of the founder with important people in political life is not
very copious. With Franco he always kept a respectful distance, and in the case
of Don Juan de Borbon, the head of the royal house of Spain, a courteous and af
fectionate political impartiality.[205]The first time that, setting aside protoc
ol, he writes to Don Juan very frankly, with deference but also a certain famili
arity, is in a letter dated November 21,1966:

Sir,
I just read your affectionate letter of the 15th of this month, and it gave me g
reat joy. How I would like to see Your Majesty and have a good, long talk! You w
ouldn't by any chance be thinking of coming to Rome, would you?
You already know that I pray every day for my King and for all the royal family.
With this I'm only maintaining personallythe ideals of loyalty that I learned f
rom my father, may he rest in peace.
But my job?and I never forget it?is not to get involved in politics, but to defe
nd the legitimate Christian freedom of choice in the temporal realm, a freedom t
hat each and every person should enjoy. I well know that Your Majesty has the sa
me belief: that winning is not enough; it is necessary to win over, through one'
s conduct and by teaching.
The ceremonies in London went very well. The Queen was both enchanted and enchan
ting.[206]
Allow me, sir, to give you my best wishes.
Yours in Domino,
JosemEscriv de B.[207]

The bond of friendship that the founder had with Don Juan was sustained by the l
oyalty that his father, Don Jose Escriv, had always professed toward the Spanish
crown. From his earliest years, Josemaria had heard his parents speak of the his
tory of their family. The illustrious ancestry of the family, love for the king,
and high patriotic ideals were faithfully recorded in his memory. Those ideals
took root in the tender soul of Josemara, when he was little and when he came int
o adolescence. Of the family heritage, all that survived was his devotion to his
parents and his faithfulness to the ideals inculcated in their home. His warmth
toward Don Juan (which, by the way, he showed only privately) was not born eith
er of political consideration or of personal interest. It stemmed, rather, from

family memories and traditions, and the desire to inwardly honor the memory of h
is father.[208]
Almost lost in all this correspondence of the founder is another story of filial
devotion. It shows up in a letter to his brother, Santiago, that was written in
1964, on March 20?the Friday that was the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows that yea
r. Here is the paragraph in question:

I am happy to write today, on the saint's day of our mother, may she rest in pea
ce, because these children of mine have asked that the saint's day of the Grandm
other continue tobe celebrated in our centers throughout the world. Out of devot
ion to the Blessed Virgin and affection for Mama, they have obtained from the Ho
ly See that for us this feast will not be suppressed. You can't imagine how happ
y this makes me. Please pray for me, that I always be good, faithful, and cheerf
ul.[209]

Both Doa Dolores ("the Grandmother") and "Aunt Carmen" entered into the history o
f Opus Dei through their merits and sacrifices. What the first members of Opus D
ei felt for the Escriv family was not only a wholehearted, spontaneous affection,
but also a supernatural gratitude. The founder had been placed in the home of t
he Grandparents by the wishes of divine providence, and from there came his read
iness for dedication. We have previously told that story, up to June 20,1957, wh
en Carmen Escriv died in Rome. For Santiago, this was like being orphaned again.
To alleviate that pain, the founder invited him to live for a while with some me
mbers of Opus Dei. But events quickly developed.
By September of that same year, the date was already set for requesting the hand
of Miss Gloria ("Yoya") Garcia-Herrero in marriage to Santiago.[210] Monsignor
Escriv, as head of the family, left Rome on January 21,1958, to do the requesting
.[211] On April 7, the wedding was celebrated. Monsignor Escriv was not present;
but for him that was nothing unusual. He habitually offered to the Lord, as a sa
crifice, not attending big ceremonies. As a rule, he did not even attend the fir
st Masses of his priest sons.
The couple moved to Rome and lived there until 1962, when they settled permanent
ly in Madrid. God blessed them with many children?a total of nine. The founder k
ept up with the births and the baptisms, and the little ones' physical and spiri
tual development. The parents gave them good religious instruction, and whenever
it came time for a First Communion, they always set a date that was convenient
for him, so that their children could receive it from their uncle.[212] He never
failed to send greetings to Yoya and Santiago on the occasions of their birthda
ys, their wedding anniversary, and other family celebrations. The children also
wrote a few letters to their uncle, telling him of their adventures, their frien
ds, and whether or not the Three Kings had brought them the toys they asked for.
... And their uncle, apart from the lines he usually included for them in letter
s to their parents, occasionally wrote to them individually, especially if they
had "serious" matters to discuss.

Rome, March 29,1968

Dear Mariajos ?since I'm devoting today to answering important letters, I'm also g
oing to answer yours.
What an impressive cake you sent me?so well drawn by you?for our saint's day! It
's too bad it couldn't be eaten? next time it will be tastier, even if not as bi
g.
I would love to see you, so that you can tell me all aboutwhat you pray for, wha
t you're studying, the good friends you have, and so many other things.
A hug and a blessing from your uncle,
Josemaria [213]

He prayed every day at Mass for that whole family, together with the relatives o
f all his children in Opus Dei, and the benefactors of the Work, and those who t
ried not to be such. He would have been very happy to be surrounded by all his n
ieces and nephews, he wrote on one occasion.[214] But he never even thought abou

t making a special trip to see them, he himself having so many spiritual sons an
d daughters, scattered around the world, whom he had never been able to visit.
From what we know about the birth of Santiago, it seems reasonable to suppose th
at this new family was a fruit of the faith shown by Josemaria when, as a young
man, he had told his father that he wanted to be a priest. Let us also recall th
at in front of the body of his father, in the presence of his mother, sister, an
d little brother, he had promised to never abandon his family and to care for th
em as if he were the father.[215]
On July 15,1968, just before leaving Rome for the summer, he wrote to Yoya and S
antiago: "I hope you'll have a pleasant summer in the peace of the Lord, and a j
oy-filled feast of the apostle Saint James. I will pray for this?I pray for it e
very day?at holy Mass."[216] Then he advises his brother to put himself in the h
ands of a good doctor to follow a weight-loss program.
But the really important point, where a bottled-up complaint escapes him, comes
in the next paragraph:

I can't hide from you the fact that you're making me suffer, because I never rec
eive a letter from you. Not even now, when it would help me so much, in this mom
ent in which?for those little ones?I am fulfilling a duty that is costing me no
small amount of trouble.

Those lines give one the impression that behind them is some kind of bad news. A
few days earlier, the standing committee of the Council of State had given its
opinion on a request presented by Monsignor Escriv, in agreement with his brother
, some months earlier. On July 12 the cabinet considered it, and on July 24, at
the request of the Minister of Justice, the Chief of State signed a decree which
read:

Acceding to what has been requested by Don Jose Maria Escriv de Balaguer y Albas,
in conformity with the provisions in the law... I am rehabilitating in his favo
r, without prejudice to the claims of third parties with prior rights, the title
of Marquis of Peralta, for him and his legitimate successors, pending payment o
f the special tax and other complementary requirements.[217]

As was the usual procedure, the party in question thanked the Chief of State by
letter. But the letter is somewhat surprising in that, apart from an identifying
of the decree by its number, there is not the slightest indication of the matte
r being referred to. And why does this recipient of a favor go out of his way to
explain that "more than exercising a right," he has fulfilled a "most burdensom
e" duty? Here is the letter:

Rome, August 3,1968

Your Excellency:
It is my great pleasure to thank you for the goodness youhave shown my family, i
n signing Decree 1851 /1968, of July 24.
At the same time, I feel obliged to tell Your Excellency that, more than exercis
ing a right, I have fulfilled a duty that for me was most burdensome, and that h
as been lightened thanks to Your Excellency's noble understanding.
Remaining, most gratefully and affectionately, yours inDomino,
JosemEscriv de B.[218]

* * *

Shortly after the end of the civil war, Father Josemaria had already begun to be
considered, by some churchmen and university people, a saint. And for his child
ren he was something even more: a saintly founder whose apostolate would expand
to the point of filling the whole world. The followers of that saintly priest we
re few, but fully conscious of the magnitude of the enterprise that they had bef
ore them. It is quite true that they were still just starting out, but those who
had lived with the founder before the war already felt a responsibility to cons

erve?in order to hand down to posterity?his teachings, the accounts of his found
ational graces (at least those graces he left written accounts about, which were
far from all of them), and the documents and other papers which constituted bio
graphical witness. That information included stories from his childhood, about h
is home and relatives; recollections of the family's stays in Barbastro, Logrono
, Saragossa, and Madrid; accounts of his first realizations of his callings to b
ecome a priest and to found Opus Dei... Through all the vicissitudes of the war,
they managed to save that famous trunk that was stuffed with papers and memorab
ilia, that trunk whose care had for a few years been entrusted by the founder to
the Grandmother.
Later, when Don Alvaro was Secretary General of Opus Dei, there began a second s
tep, of gathering the documents that would one day serve to complete the biograp
hy of the founder. Around 1962, motivated by filial piety and thinking of those
who would come later, some of his followers tried to draw up a genealogical reco
rd of his family.[219] They went through the archives of the parishes of the reg
ion, and obtained copies of records of births, baptisms, and marriages. (It woul
d not have made sense if they, knowing, as they did, the historic stature of the
founder and what he represented, had not concerned themselves with finding all
the documents that had to do with him.[220])That search turned up links of paren
tage with personages of the Aragonese nobility?links so direct as to make it pro
bable that the Escriv family had a right to certain titles of nobility.[221]
In 1965 Don Alvaro decided that they should investigate that possibility, workin
g some more on the family tree, provided that this would not impose any financia
l burden on the Work.[222] When the tree was completed, a genealogical expert co
nnected with the kingdom of Aragon certified that Monsignor Escriv actually had a
right to two titles: that of Baron of San Felipe, by both lines, and that of Ma
rquis of Peralta, by his mother's.[223]
When the founder was informed of all this, including the fact that his right to
the two titles had been confirmed by a professional who was not connected with t
he Work and who was a recognized expert in the field, he refused to solicit the
titles and strictly forbade his sons to take any action in this regard. No one d
ared protest, since his reasons were obvious. How could, in his particular case,
the idea of "All for the glory of God" be reconciled with the ostentation of a
title? Furthermore, the personal adornment of a marquisate would not fit in very
well with that motto he had lived by for all of his life: "Hide and disappear."
And after all, what difference would it make?
The surprising thing in this story is that when he was told of his right to two
titles of nobility, he was not the least bit surprised. Probably he already knew
about it from his parents, since he did know about more distant family connecti
ons. He knew, for instance, that he was related to Saint Joseph of Calasanz, and
to the heretic Michael Servetus.[224]
For the time being, the investigation was suspended, because the founder had no
interest in requesting this recognition. But, after prudently waiting a while, s
ome of his sons?among them, Don Alvaro and Father Casciaro?again brought up the
subject, this time presenting it not as a matter of like or dislike, but as one
involving a debt of justice.[225] To get the titles rehabilitated for the purpos
e of transferring them to Santiago would be a way of compensating the Escriv fami
ly for the many sacrifices, including financial ones, that they had made for Opu
s Dei. He did have a debt of gratitude outstanding, and, to satisfy it justly, h
e would have to not invoke his detachment from worldly honors. As the firstborn
son, he was the only one who had a legal right to claim the titles.[226]
Up to that point, none of the honors and distinctions received by the founder ha
d been solicited by him.[227] They were ecclesiastical, civic, or academic honor
s that he accepted basically to keep from slighting those who wished to honor hi
m. But the rehabilitation of the titles of nobility was different, in that he ha
d to personally claim them. This was repugnant to him because of his natural ave
rsion to privileges and exceptions.
It happened, not rarely, that a cardinal, a bishop, or some high civil official
would address him as "Your Excellency." And he would reply, "Call me Father Jose
maria, Father Escriv, or just plain Father. I don't like ceremonious titles."[228

]
When in 1960 rumors which were not unfounded began to spread about an appointmen
t as bishop, he told Cardinal Tardini that he did not aspire to any title or pos
ition, either within or outside of the Church. "I wouldn't even accept the miter
of Toledo, with a cardinal's hat," he said, "even if they offered it to me insi
stently."[229]
Some of the decorations he received were civil recognitions of the social or ben
eficent activity of the corporate works of Opus Dei. The founder then attributed
any merit not to himself, but only to the grace of God and the work of his daug
hters or sons. He used to repeat in that regard an Italian saying: "II sangue de
l soldato fa grande il capitano" ["The blood of the soldier makes the captain gr
eat"].[230]
His filial gratitude must have weighed heavily upon him to induce him to reexami
ne the case, because its consequences were to be quite disagreeable. He could fo
resee that as soon as he claimed a title of nobility, his detractors would react
ivate their press campaigns and let loose a whole new barrage of slanders, innue
ndos, criticism, backbiting, and caricatures.
The founder, as always, brought the problem to his prayer. Then he spoke with hi
s two custodes and asked for more prayer that the Lord might enlighten him. And
then he asked the advice of members of the hierarchy whom he knew to be intellig
ent and sensible: eminent churchmen, cardinals of the Curia, virtuous prelates,
such as (in the Curia) Cardinals Dell'Acqua, Antoniutti, Larraona, and Marella,
and (in Spain) Cardinal Jose Maria Bueno Monreal and Bishops Casimiro Morcillo,
Abilio del Campo, and Enrique Delgado.[231]
The opinion of Cardinal Larraona was the deciding one. He told him that reclaimi
ng the title was not just a right, but a duty?and not just a duty with respect t
o his family. Also as founder of Opus Dei he had an obligation to claim that tit
le. Had he not taught his children always to fulfill their civil obligations and
to exercise all their rights as citizens? If he as founder renounced a right th
at everyone agreed that he had, what would his followers do? In the face of this
argument the founder had to give in.[232] He found himself, as the saying goes,
between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, to claim the title would be t
o expose himself to the misconstruing of an act which for him was obligatory, bu
t which other people could judge as frivolous and vain. On the other hand, he ha
d to set for his children an example of the spirit of Opus Dei, thus showing, on
ce again, that the path of sanctification passes through he cross.
Very reluctantly, he prepared himself to exercise what he rather euphemistically
referred to as an "unpleasant duty."[233] Really it was a heroic act made up of
filial piety, justice, humility, and courage. For that title was neither agreea
ble to him nor did he intend to take any advantage of it. What could he hope to
get out of it, other than annoyances and mortifications? He, personally, assumed
allresponsibility in the matter; and he imposed on his children the condition th
at any expenses would not be borne by Opus Dei.[234]
The administrative process moved quickly. The request for the recognition of the
title of Marquis of Peralta was presented to the Ministry of Justice on January
15, 1968. Ten days later, anticipating what was about to come down on him, Mons
ignor Escriv wrote the Counsellor of Spain a substantial explanatory letter:

Rome, January 25,1968

Dear Florencio?may Jesus safeguard for me those daughters and sons in Spain.
In this life, and not a few times, despite my weakness and wretchedness, the Lor
d has given me the strength to be able to fulfill with serenity duties that are
rather unpleasant.
Today, after quietly considering the matter in God's presence and after searchin
g out good advice, I have taken up a duty that is unpleasant only for me, becaus
e of my personal circumstances; for anyone else, it would be something pleasant
and problem-free.
From the perspective of my sixty-six years, there comes back to me the memory of
my parents, who, I am sure, had to suffer as much as they did because the Lord
had to prepare me to be an instrument (unwieldy as I am), and I am now convinced

that this is the first time that, in things of this world, I am carrying out th
e "sweetest precept of the Decalogue." I ask pardon for not having given you goo
d example up to now. My -family served me as a means for getting the Work going.
That includes Carmen and, to some extent, Santiago.
I have also been motivated to act as I did, in the present case, not only by the
fact that it seems to be clearly our real right, but also by the possibility of
helping my brother's children.
Moreover, I am rightly observing the spirit of the Work: being the same as the r
est. This was pointed out to me by a cardinal in the Curia, last week. "Given Op
us Dei's way of being,"he said, "your conduct is consistent and reasonable."
Yesterday I asked Alvaro to tell you, when he spoke to you on the phone, that I'
m not concerned about the gossiping that will be done (which wouldn't occur if i
t was anyone else, any other Spanish citizen). I ask that if something bothersom
e is said or written (which, be it what it may, will be unjustified), you turn a
deaf ear to it.
However, if you can prudently prevent that gossiping from occurring, it would be
better to do so, though in the end it doesn't really make any difference.
I have opened my conscience to you: it is, as I see it, a commonsense and supern
atural duty.
A strong embrace. Happy to see all the spiritual work you are carrying out in th
at so beloved land of ours.
Love and a blessing from your Father,
Mariano[235]

When the legally prescribed waiting period of three months ended without anyone
having contested the petition for the title, the pertinent documentation was pre
sented, on April 26,1968.[236] The decree of July 24 states that the petition is
being answered in the affirmative. The official writ of rehabilitation is dated
November 5,1968.[237]
The founder was not wrong in his forecast. There was criticism, clamor, and rend
ing of garments. Through all of this, he did not open his mouth. He did not even
mention the title.[238] After a few months the commotion started subsiding, and
when enough time had gone by, he, as he had planned from the outset, ceded the
title to his brother.[239]
On July 22,1969, after thirty years of governing, Franco, in virtue of the Law o
f Succession (enacted in 1947), had the Spanish parliament approve the designati
on as successor to the Chief of State, and as king, Juan Carlos de Borbon y Borb
on. Monsignor Escriv wrote to Juan Carlos affirming what he had written in 1966 t
o his father, Don Juan de Borbon. In the letter he reiterates that Opus Dei does
not engage in any partisanship or political activity, and he also confirms the
personal freedom of decision that each of its members has in temporal questions.

Rome, September 16,1969

Your Highness:
I am pleased to take advantage of this occasion to send you these lines assuring
you of my personal allegiance to the dynasty, which has always been supported b
y my ancestors? both on my father's side and on my mother's side?since the reign
of Philip V.
Both your father, Don Juan, and Your Highness have extended your friendship to m
e for many years now, to which I have always tried to reciprocate. But, at the s
ame time, I have called your attention to the reality, clear and undeniable, tha
t Opus Dei is an association with exclusively apostolic and spiritual ends, an a
ssociation that leaves each of its members completely free in all things tempora
l?as free as if they did not belong to the Work.
Therefore I am sure that Your Highness will have seen as completely natural the
fact that only a few members of Opus Dei in Spain (and not as members of the Wor
k, but as free citizens) have in these recent times publicly shown themselves to
be partisans of Your Highness. The other members either are indifferent, in tha
t particular political question, or have made clear their opposition.
I received this news from outside sources, since within the Work temporal affair

s cannot be discussed. I immediately thought of taking advantage of the first op

portunity to make known to Your Highness the objective facts about these matters
. And that is my principal reason for writing to you today, though I am happy to
tell you that I am asking the Lord to assist and enlighten you, so that Your Hi
ghness will win the free allegiance of all Spaniards.
With a great desire to see you, I pray every day for YourRoyal Highness, for Pri
ncess Sofia, and for your children, and remain
Devotedly yours in Domino,
JosemEscriv de B.[240]

6. "De facto, we are not a secular institute"

In May 1962, in a letter addressed to those in the Work with positions responsib
le for governance and formation, the founder explained the canonical situation o
f Opus Dei, and he sounded worried. "The boat we one day embarked in with Christ
is in danger," he said.[241] Little by little, he added, "The clear blue sky th
at shone over our apostolate on February 24,1947, when we received the decretum
laudis and believed, perhaps naively, that we wouldn't be harmed by the concessi
ons we had to maketo get canonical recognition, has been covered with clouds....
we are sailing under storm clouds."[242]
The apostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia, of February 2, 1947, brought
secular institutes into being. Three years later, in 1950, the founder sought an
d obtained definitive approval of Opus Dei from the Holy See. Thanks to that, it
was able to extend its apostolic efforts on a global scale. But ongoing interpr
etation of the norms regulating secular institutes, and the lumping together int
o that one category of very different societies and apostolic movements, blurred
the new institutions' canonical nature. The notion of secularity, supposedly th
e proper and distinctive characteristic distinguishing them from religious order
s and congregations, gradually became broad and indistinct.
The founder, at that time, had no choice; if Opus Dei was to be approved by the
Holy See, it would have to be as a secular institute. So he accepted what couldn
't be helped, while seeing to it that the Work's real spirit was clearly stated
in the documents presented to the Curia.
Even so, the erroneous idea gained currency that Opus Dei was simply one more st
age in the evolution of religious life. Secular institutes were, after all, unde
r the Sacred Congregation for Religious.[243]Yet they were highly diverse in nat
ure and spirituality, ranging from simple apostolic movements to institutions th
at really were forms of religious life. This gave rise to a tendency to apply an
d interpret the norms proper and exclusive to secular institutes in a manner mor
e suited to religious congregations. One consequence was that in 1951, Opus Dei,
with its membership of priests and laity, men and women, came close to being sp
lit up; it very nearly took an act of God to prevent that from happening.[244]
As a response to this problem, prayer came first; but next came insistence that
Opus Dei did not conform to the model being imposed upon the secular institutes.
Thus:

In fact we are not a secular institute, nor should this name be applied to us in
the future. Its current meaning differs greatly from its genuine meaning, which
it had when the Holy See used those words for the first time in granting us the
decretum laudis in 1947.[245]

This is from a letter dated October 2, 1958?the thirtieth anniversary of Opus De

i's founding, in which he sums up his views on the lack of agreement between the
nature, spirit, and apostolate of Opus Dei and its legal configuration as a sec
ular institute.
To avoid any misunderstanding about Opus Dei's secularity, he changed much of it
s internal nomenclature, so that, for example, "superiors" became "directors." H
e reaffirmed (with the knowledge and permission of the Holy See) the prohibition

against members' "attending the congresses or assemblies of those said to be li

ving in the 'state of perfection.?[246] Above all, he calls for those in the Wor
k to pray that the anomalous situation would be remedied.[247]
Before broaching his ideas about the revision of Opus Dei's canonical status to
Pope John XXIII, he sought a meeting with Cardinal Domenico Tardini, the Vatican
Secretary of State. In anticipation of that meeting he prepared a memorandum, d
ated March 19, I960.[248]Setting out the reasons for his petition, he outlined t
he history of the Work, starting with October 2,1928. Then he first "saw" Opus D
ei as an institution whose members were neither religious nor their equivalent.
Its apostolate in the midst of the world had to be carried out by lay people, th
rough their professional work.[249]
Asking that Opus Dei no longer be under the Sacred Congregation for Religious, h
e requested that it be put, instead, under the Consistorial Congregation.[250] H
e suggested the creation of a prelature nullius, with a very small territory of
its own, in which to incardinate the priests.[251]
This initiative came to a premature end. Don Alvaro went to the Secretariat of S
tate to deliver the documentation. He was in the waiting room, when Cardinal Val
erio Valeri, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious, arrived. Realizin
g that the Cardinal would soon enough hear what was afoot, Don Alvaro decided it
would be best to speak to him about the matter as they waited. Cardinal Valeri
failed to see the point and immediately opposed the idea of having Opus Dei shif
ted to another congregation. When it was Don Alvaro's turn, and he handed Cardin
al Tardini the documentation, the Cardinal said, "Questo non lo guardo neppure,
e inutile" [Italian for "I won't even look at this; it's useless"].[252]
It was not a momentary no. During a visit by the founder himself on June 27, the
Secretary of State said that it was not the right time to petition the Pope in
that regard. It would be better to let things take their course. And, he said, "
.Siamo ancora molto lontani" ["We still have a long way to go"].[253]
But Monsignor Escriv had no intention of giving up. Results would come in due cou
rse. "What we are asking," he wrote to those in the Work early the next year, "i
s the measly privilege of being able to breathe."[254] Once again he asked for p
rayers and sacrifices.
Cardinal Tardini died in June 1961. And soon afterward, Cardinal Ciriaci, who wa
s familiar with the problem, assured the founder that this was the time to move
the matter forward.[255] In view of the Cardinal's insistence about this, he con
curred although, he said, it was "against my better judgment."[256]
On January 7, 1962, the founder sent Cardinal Amleto Cicognani, the new Secretar
y of State, a letter for Pope John XXIII, formally requesting the revision of Op
us Dei's statutes. Two possible ways were suggested "to definitively make clear
the secular character of the Institute." One would be to establish Opus Dei as a
prelature nullius, and the other would be to entrust a prelature nulliusto Opus
Dei's president.[257]
Weeks passed with no response.[258] Turning as usual to our Lady, Monsignor Escr
iv, on April 16 made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii. He had a
very clear intention: "that Opus Dei's juridical format finally be settled." In
a note for the archives, he expressed his confidence that a happy conclusion wou
ld be reached.
With much faith in our Lord God and in the protection of our Mother, holy Mary,
I trust that (now or down the road) the formula will be found (whether the one w
e now have in mind or another), so that I can go before the Lord's judgment seat
with serenity, having succeeded in fulfilling his holy will.[259]
An answer soon came: No. By a letter dated May 20, 1962, the Secretary of State
said the proposal of establishing Opus Dei as a prelature nullius "cannot be acc
epted, because it is far from offering a solution; on the contrary, it presents
canonical and practical difficulties that are almost insuperable."[260]
Though saddened, the founder took the news calmly and with full submission to th
e Pope. In one way or another, he was sure, the solution would eventually come.[
261]

* * *


Pope John XXIII died, and Pope Paul VI succeeded him. On October 2, 1963, the fo
under wrote to Pope Paul requesting approval of some minor additions and other a
lterations to the Work's statutes.[262] The following January 24, he was given a
n audience with Pope Paul, during which the Pope asked where the institutional q
uestion stood. In his letter thanking the Pope for the audience, he wrote: "We a
re not in a hurry?however, we do have high hopes for a definitive framework."[26
3]
"We are not in a hurry" was becoming something of a refrain. In a confidential n
ote to the Holy Father accompanying the thank-you letter the founder says:

We are not in a hurry, since we are sure that, in the end, the holy Church will
not fail to give us an adequate juridical solution.[264]

And six months later he wrote to Bishop Dell'Acqua:

I that at any moment, the Lord could say to me, "Redde rationem villicationis tu
ae" ["Give me an account of your stewardship"]. I hope, however, that when the C
ouncil is over you will perhaps be able to study our question.[265]

Monsignor Escriv had put a great deal of physical and spiritual energy into the l
ong search for an appropriate canonical garb for Opus Dei. The Holy See had give
n its definitive approval, but the Work still lacked a legal garment tailored to
its theological and pastoral dimensions. His eagerness to find one never waned.
Behind that "I am not in a hurry" lay a holy impatience to finish the job. But
God, it seems, was truly in no rush, though the founder was certain that God wou
ld care for the Work as he had done since 1928. Meanwhile, of course, the failur
e of the initiative undertaken at Cardinal Ciriad's insistence had for the momen
t brought efforts to resolve the institutional problem to a halt. At the end of
May 1962 the founder wrote a long letter explaining the situation to those holdi
ng leadership positions in Opus Dei. After quoting the words of the psalmist, "D
o not cast me off in the time of old age" (Ps 71:9), he said:

Also now, when I am entering the last stage of my life and am getting old?or rat
her, am old (even though the vitality you see in me makes you think I am quite y
oung)?I know that my Father God will not let go of my hand, lest I lose my peace
and joy at seeing the possibility that problems and misunderstandings about the
Work may persist even in the twilight of my life.[266]

Nevertheless during his second audience with Pope Paul, on October 10,1964, the
Pope tried to allay his concern by assuring him that once the Council was over,
the way to a definitive juridical solution would appear.[267] For the time being
it was necessary to wait.

7. The Special General Congress (1969-1970)

Among the major themes of the Second Vatican Council were the universal call to
holiness and the mission and dignity of the laity; and on these matters Monsigno
r Escriv was a precursor of Vatican II: far ahead of his time, both in his theory
and in its living out in the pastoral phenomenon which is Opus Dei. The Council
for its parts showed an openness to new ecclesiastical structures and procedure
s to accommodate such developments. So, for instance, the Decree on the Ministry
and Life of Priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, makes provision for "international
seminaries, special dioceses, or personal prelacies and other institutions" for
"special pastoral projects" for the benefit of different social groups in the li
ght of apostolic needs.[268]
On August 6, 1966, Pope Paul issued the motu proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae,which set
out with greater precision the figure of the personal prelatures.[269] But the
founder's joy at seeing the institutional solution that suited Opus Dei almost a

t hand, was tinged with sorrow at the current situation of the Church. A sicknes
s called "the spirit of the Council" had plunged the People of God into doctrina
l confusion. He wrote to Bishop Dell'Acqua about the crisis of the Church, and a
bout the perplexing lack of trust toward himself that he continued to encounter
in some ecclesiastical settings.[270]
He also went on pilgrimage to several Marian shrines?a pilgrimage of reparation
and prayer for the Church, the Pope, and the Work. He visited Lourdes (France);
Sonsoles, Our Lady of the Pillar, and Our Lady of Ransom (Spain); Einsiedeln (Sw
itzerland); and Loreto (Italy).
In the spring of 1969, rumors reached him that a commission had been established
within the Roman Curia whose purpose, apparently, was to make changes in the st
atutes of Opus Dei without consulting him.[271] The danger of distorting Opus De
i's true nature was obvious. He needed to act quickly to prevent that plan from
going through. But to whom should he go to express his concerns?
He turned first to the supernatural means?prayer and mortification?and then to t
he natural ones: considering the problem carefully and lovingly. In a meditation
preached to his sons, on the feast of the Epiphany in 1970, he told them, "Stay
calm, stay calm." And he added: "They won't be able to do anything, Lord.... I'
m sure of it." [272]
Earlier, on May 20, 1969, he had written to Cardinal Ildebrando Antoniutti, the
prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes, asking
permission to hold an assembly in line with the recommendation in Ecclesiae Sanc
tae that religious orders and secular institutes update themselves according to
the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the spirit of their founders. At
first, for obvious reasons, he had seen no need for Opus Dei to take this step,
but now, in view of the circumstances, he saw it as a way to forestall intervent
ion by the curial commission. "We would like," he said, "to proceed now to the r
enewing and adapting of our current particular law."[273] Approval was forthcomi
ng on June 11. Two weeks later he convoked a Special General Congress, to begin
on September 1.[274]
Since the founder wanted all the regions to be represented, this assembly brough
t together 192 persons (87 men and 105 women), of very different backgrounds, ag
es, and situations in life.[275] The Congress was to take place in two parts, ea
ch lasting two weeks, with the second part a year after the first. The work was
to be done in parallel assemblies, one for the men and the other for the women,
and each assembly was divided into four committees.
When the first part closed (on September 15,1969, for the men, and the next day
for the women), a total of 177 proposals had been presented. Wanting as many as
possible of the Work's more than 50,000 members to participate, even if indirect
ly, in the decisions to be made the following year, Monsignor Escriv directed tha
t work weeks be held in the various regions to study the proposals.[276] For the
time being, he explained to the Holy See in a letter dated October 22,1969, it
seemed best "to stick to the elaborating of the basic considerations."[277]
These were considerations he had often repeated. The canonical form of secular i
nstitute was not suited to the sociological, spiritual, and pastoral reality of
Opus Dei. To obtain the Holy See's approval, it had been obliged to accept a sta
tus that included classification as an "institute of perfection," whereas one of
its essential characteristics was the secularity proper to ordinary lay people
and diocesan priests. In light of all this, the Congress had expressed a desire
to put aside this canonical framework?especially since the Second Vatican Counci
l had opened up the possibility of "canonical forms with a government of univers
al character that do not require profession of the evangelical counsels on the p
art of those who make up those moral persons."[278] Lest there be any doubt of w
hat he is referring to, he immediately specified personal prelatures citing Pres
byterorum Ordinis, no. 10, and Ecclesiae Sanctae, no. 4.
The plan of holding the Congress in two parts, one in September 1969 and the oth
er in September 1970, was intended to head off intervention by those who wanted
to change Opus Dei without involving its founder.
On the day that the first part of the Congress closed, the founder wrote to Pope
Paul, asking him to allow the pursuit of juridical adaptation according to the

direction of Vatican II to continue, as envisaged by the motu proprio Ecclesiae

Sanctae. "Should this filial hope be frustrated," he added, "and it turn out tha
t (for reasons unknown to me) a premature interruption was planned of the legiti
mate and peaceful exercise of that right (which all the institutes dependent on
the Holy See have been making use of), I still dare ask Your Holiness to graciou
sly consider and weigh the reasonings set forth in the enclosed memorandum."[279
] Enclosed with this letter was another, also dated September 16 and addressed t
o Pope Paul, that served as an introduction to a lengthy memorandum. Finally, th
ere was a formal appeal to the Holy See regarding the activities of the special
commission charged with deciding the canonical future of Opus Dei.[280]Here is t
he letter:
Most Holy Father:
In view of the possibility that a special commission of the Holy See will make d
ecisions regarding Opus Dei without we ourselves having been informed of the rea
sons or having been asked our opinion, I?after having reflected on this at lengt
h in the presence of Our Lord, and with a concern for the eternal salvation of m
y soul, and also for the many thousands of members and associates of Opus Dei, w
hose vocation could be compromised?do not want the judgment of history to accuse
me of not having done everything in my power to safeguard the genuine configura
tion of Opus Dei. Therefore, I respectfully ask Your Holiness to graciously take
into consideration the attached memorandum.

The memorandum begins as follows:

As for years has been the case, I am the last person in Rome to hear the news an
d rumors circulating in the Roman Curia. Now, too, having returned to Rome to pr
eside over the first part of our General Congress, I have been told of rumors ap
parently already in circulation for three or four months. It is said that a spec
ial commission has been created for the purposes of judging Opus Dei (with regar
d to some not very precise accusations) and of introducing modifications into th
e Work's constitutions. Supposedly this commission is secret and is to make its
decisions without consulting us.[281]

Among other things, he raised the question of why Opus Dei's law should be revis
ed when no one had asked for this, and the Pope had even spoken of the advisabil
ity of postponing the whole matter. While opposing the study of Opus Dei's jurid
ical situation, he requested that, should such study be deemed necessary, it not
be carried out by the curial commission, and that Opus Dei be allowed to reply
to criticisms and correct any erroneous interpretations. He closes with these wo
rds:
Finally, I declare that if I have expressed myself with my customary frankness,
I have done so out of my love for God's holy Church, my love for and loyalty to
the Supreme Pontiff, and my desire to serve souls?especially those whom the Lord
has entrusted to me and who are scattered all over the world?and because I want
to save my soul too. And I have done all this after having prayed long and hard
, asking the help of the Mother of God and placing myself in our Lord's presence
, fully aware of my personal responsibility.
Rome, September 16,1969[282]

In a meeting on October 9, Cardinal Jean Villot, who by now was the Vatican Secr
etary of State, told Monsignor Escriv that the special commission had a very limi
ted purpose: that of examining the constitutions of secular institutes whose mem
bership included priests. The cardinal also gave him to understand that some of
what he had written had displeased the Holy Father. In particular, it was not we
ll received that he had insisted so much on his rights.[283] Conceivably this su
mming up by the cardinal, who was not fluent in Italian did not altogether accur
ately capture the Pope's thinking. But whether it did or didn't, the possibility
that he might have offended the Holy Father was deeply disturbing to Monsignor
Escriv.

"Your Eminence," he replied, "please pass on from me to the Holy Father that I a
m neither Luther nor Savonarola; that I accept wholeheartedly whatever the Holy
Father decides, and that I will write him a letter reiterating my genuine submis
sion to the desires of the Roman Pontiff, in the service of the Church."[284]

Two days later, he wrote that letter to Pope Paul. In it he thanked Pope Paul fo
r the information he had received from him, via the Secretary of State, regardin
g the special commission. Expressing regret for any pain caused by what he had w
ritten and declaring himself "a good son of the Church, faithful to the Holy Fat
her till death," he asked pardon?and then returned to the matter at hand, his ye
arning for a definitive resolution of the institutional question. Hence his desi
re for a careful study by the General Congress that will reflect the reality of
Opus Dei. That done, he assured Pope Paul, he would calmly await "the good judgm
ent of the persons that you, Your Holiness, in your wise prudence, choose for th
e study of our canonical situation."[285]
Not wanting to leave any loose ends, on October 14 the founder met with Bishop G
iovanni Benelli, the Undersecretary of State for Ordinary Affairs. On the one ha
nd, the conversation was "affectionate and cordial"; both parties "took advantag
e of the occasion to explain, with Christian loyalty and sincerity, their respec
tive views and impressions."[286] On the other hand, he requested another meetin
g with Bishop Benelli, to discuss unspecified issues.[287] Evidently their agree
ment at the first meeting was less than total.

* * *

In a series of work weeks in late 1969 and early 1970 members of the Work were b
rought up to date on what had taken place in the first part of the Congress: the
emphasis was on the need for an appropriate canonical configuration. More than
fifty thousand people from seventy-seven countries took part in these sessions.
The results were 54,781 proposals that were sent to Rome, to be passed on eventu
ally to the committees of the General Congress.[288]
In April, 1970, Monsignor Escriv again went on pilgrimage to seek the intercessio
n of our Lady. He received a pleasant surprise in Madrid before setting out. The
statue of Our Lady of Torreciudad had been moved temporarily to the Diego de Le
on center after being repaired in a workshop in Madrid. He had not seen it since
1904, when his parents had brought him from Barbastro to Torreciudad at the age
of two to offer him to our Lady in thanksgiving for his cure. Sixty-six years h
ad gone by since then. Now he addressed these words to the Virgin:

Forgive me, my Mother! From two to sixty-eight. What a sorry thing I am! But I l
ove you very much?with all my heart. It gives me great joy to come kiss you, and
it gives me great joy to think of the thousands of souls who have venerated you
and have come to tell you they love you, and of the thousands of souls who will
come.[289]

From Madrid he went to Saragossa to visit Our Lady of the Pillar. As a seminaria
n, he had prayed there, "Domina, ut sit!" ["My Lady, let it be!"], without knowi
ng what it was that he was asking for.[290]
On April 7, he and his companions headed north, toward the Pyrenees. The sight o
f the landscape brought a flood of childhood memories. But, anxious to keep his
promise to make a pilgrimage, he did not want to stop in Barbastro.
About half a mile from the shrine of Our Lady of Torreciudad, they had placed a
marker on the roadway. The roadway was unpaved and covered with gravel and pebbl
es.[291] Taking off his shoes and socks, the Father started praying the Rosary.
It began to drizzle. For almost an hour he walked with his little group of compa
nions, praying the Rosary. At the old shrine, they prayed and rested. Then they
went to the esplanade where the new shrine was being constructed. There was a la
rge excavation where the crypt and forty confessionals were to go and the Father
blessed it.[292]
After returning to Madrid, he set out by car for Fatima on April 13. A good numb

er of Portuguese members of the Work were waiting at the shrine. As at Torreciud

ad, he took off his shoes and socks and, praying, went on foot to the chapel of
the Virgin. He felt welling up in his heart a lot of confidence and optimism. "T
oday, here, more optimism than ever," he told his companions.
When it came time to bid farewell, he said, "I've tried to put into my little ti
mes of chatting with the Virgin, in silence, everything that's in me, everything
that I have been praying for in these months, and everything that my children h
ave been praying for."[293]

* * *

He returned to Rome on April 20. But then he determined to continue his Marian p
ilgrimage. On May 15,1970, accompanied by Don Alvaro and Father Javier, he lande
d in Mexico. He told Father Pedro Casciaro, whom he had sent to Mexico twenty ye
ars earlier, and the others at the airport that evening, "I have come to see Our
Lady of Guadalupe, and, while I'm at it, see you too."[294]
His first encounter with our Lady in the basilica was one of contemplative excit
ement. He spent an hour and a half on his knees, eyes glued to the miraculous im
age of our Lady. "Ihave no virtues to bring you, my Lady," he said. "If your Son
had found a dirtier rag than me, I wouldn't be the founder of Opus Dei."[295] H
e appealed to his status as a son of a merciful Mother, a son who had no better
credentials.
The Father prayed in union with all his sons and daughters, in the name of all t
he faithful of Opus Dei. He said to our Lord, "We are asking you like a little c
hild, like a little family, and I want the Work always to be that?a little famil
y very united, even though we're spread out all over the world. And we are askin
g you demandingly, making use of your Mother's intercession, knowing that you ha
ve to listen to us.[296] And then he said, "Mother, we turn to you. You have to
listen to us. We are asking things that are for serving the Church better, for c
onserving better the spirit of the Work. You can't fail to hear us! You want ful
filled all that your Son wants, and your Son wants us to be saints, to carry out
Opus Dei. You have to listen to us!"[297]
The Father persevered in his prayer for the "special intention" that Opus Dei's
legal framework would conform to its theological reality. Later, when he had fin
ished the novena, he turned to the second reason for his trip: his sons and daug
hters. "My children," he said, "I've come to Mexico not to teach, but to learn."
But teach he did, and a lot, to numerous groups in Mexico City and elsewhere. O
n June 3 he spoke to farm workers and others from the area around Amilpas, in th
e state of Morelos, where members of Opus Dei conducted a retreat house and othe
r apostolic enterprises, including a training center for farmers and schools for
farm women.
No one is greater than anyone else?no one! We are all equal! Each of us is worth
the same, worth the blood of Christ. Just think how wonderful this is. For ther
e are no races, there are no languages. There is only one race: the race of God'
s children.[298]
Look at the beautiful, magnificent face that holy Mary left in the hands of Juan
Diego, on his cloak. You can see that her features are both Indian and Spanish.
For there is only the race of God's children.[299]
From the ninth to the seventeenth of June, he was in Jaltepec, next to Lake Chap
ala. One day, after speaking to a group of priests, he went to a bedroom to rest
, and there he found a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe giving a rose to Juan
Diego. His companion heard him say, "That's how I would like to die: looking at
the Blessed Virgin, and her giving me a flower."[300]
On June 22, the eve of his departure from Mexico, he went to say farewell to Our
Lady of Guadalupe. The Shrine Square was filled with people?mostly members of O
pus Dei and people who were assisting in the apostolates of the Work. He left de
eply moved, and feeling certain that our Lady had already heard his prayer on Ma
y 24, when the novena ended.

* * *


The Special General Congress reconvened on August 30 in Rome. Its committees foc
used on examining the suggestions of the regional assemblies. Since revising the
particular law of the Work was a job for specialists, however, a Technical Comm
ittee was established. The conclusions of the Congress, whose plenary sessions e
nded on September 14, were to "ground and guide" the work of the Technical Commi
ttee.[301]
The first of the conclusions, voted upon and approved unanimously, was this: "Th
e Founder and President General of Opus Dei is asked to renew before the Holy Se
e, at the moment and in the way that he considers most opportune, his humble and
hopeful petition that Opus Dei's institutional problem be definitively resolved
."[302] The choice of timing was his; and Monsignor Escriv decided that the prude
nt course was to wait for better times.
In a real sense the "foundational" journey of Opus Dei that began in 1928 was no
w completed, although the founder himself would not see its resolution. Monsigno
r Escriv died without seeing Opus Dei established as a personal prelarure, but wi
th the certainty that it would be.
[1] ?lvaro del Pornllo, Sum. 320.
[2] Point 206 of The Way reads: "The heroic minute. It's time to get up, on the
dot! Without hesitation, a supernatural thought and?up! The heroic minute; here
you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does not weaken your bod
y."
[3] See ?lvaro del Portillo, Sum. 320.
[4] See Jose Luis Pastor Dominguez, Sum. 320.
[5] See Rosalia Lopez Martinez, Sum. 7006, and Carmen Ramos Garcia, Sum. 7365. "
His room," says Bishop Echevarra (in Sum. 3087), "got very hot in the summer and
very cold in the winter. But he never complained, to avoid expenditures. In 1964
there was a problem with the sewage system. It was most disagreeable to stay in
the room for even a few minutes, because of the bad smell. But the founder did
not want to change rooms while they found the source of the problem and made the
necessary repairs, which took quite a while."
[6] AGP, RHF, T-15729 (testimony of Jesus Alvarez Gazapo), p. 5. See also Javier
Echevarra, Sum.2733.
[7] Encarnacion Ortega, Sum. 5329.
[8] See Alvaro del Pornllo, Sum. 332, and Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2011.
[9] Christ Is Passing By, no. 87.
[10] Santiago Escriv de Balaguer Garcia-Herrero, Sum. 7307.
[11] AGP, P01 1969, p. 304.
[12] Ibid. See also Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2013.
[13] Christ Is Passing By, no. 86.
[14] During the last two decades of his life, he was assisted at Mass by Father
Javier Echevarra, who (in Sum. 2014) gives this testimony: "During those twenty y
ears, in which I kept paying close attention in order to learn from his piety, I
never had to call his attention to any instance of his having gotten into a bad
habit, any of those little faults that one tends to unconsciously fall into, su
ch as, for example, a speeded-up enunciation, a wrong posture, a more rushed gen
uflection, or not looking at the eucharistic Lord for a few moments." And Archbi
shop Julian Herranz (in Sum. 3876) gives this testimony: "In the twenty-two year
s that I lived with him, I had many opportunities to attend his Mass, to assist
him, and, on special occasions, to concelebrate with him. He was punctilious in
the observance of the rubrics. I was always profoundly impressed by his great pi
ety, his complete recollection, and the loving sensitivity with which he renewed
the Holy Sacrifice. I recall perfectly the measured way in which he read the li
turgical texts, the contrite demeanor with which he said the penitential prayer,
the very noticeable trembling of his fingers when he purified them in the 'lava
bo' or when he presented the host and the chalice for adoration after the Consec
ration, and the profound adoration that accompanied the elevation of the sacred
species. All of his movements were accompanied by the solemnity that was in keep

ing with their nature. In short, everything gave one to understand with what lov
e and spirit of prayer he lived each moment of the Mass."
[15] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 338.
[16] Alvaro del Portillo, Letter 30 Sep 1975, no. 29.
[17] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 321.
[18] See AGP, RHF, T-06210 (testimony of Blanca Fontan).
[19] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2012.
[20] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 322.
[21] See AGP, RHF, T-07902 (testimony of Mercedes Morado), p. 81.
[22] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 322, and Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3070.
[23] See Dora del Hoyo, Sum. 7041, and Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3070.
[24] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3064
[25] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 325, and Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4690.
[26] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2558. "When you find the excessive workload a bit ove
r whelming," he writes to Jesus Urteaga, "remember that work?excessive work?is a
n incurable illness for us who are God's children in Opus Dei. And smile, and pa
ss on to others that good spirit" (AGP, RHF, EF-640510-5).
[27] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 325.
[28] Bishop del Portillo relates (in Sum. 299) an instance of heroic generosity
on the part of the founder. It happened around 1942. A girl wanted to enter a co
nvent, but did not have any funds for the required dowry. Not knowing where to t
urn, she went to consult the founder, at the Diego de Leon center. Father Josema
ra called in the administrator, Isidoro Zorzano, and asked him for all the money
they had available at that time, and gave it to the girl.
[29] AGP, RHF, EF-630522-1. (The Latin means "always like a donkey!")
[30] AGP, RHF, EF-661110-1.
[31] AGP, RHF, EF-661220-5.
[32] AGP, RHF, EF-640722-2.
[33] AGP, RHF, EF-620611-1 (a letter to Andres Rueda).
[34] AGP, RHF, EF-631218-1 (a letter to the author of this biography). The Latin
means "to God, who gives joy to youth"; it is from the opening prayer of the Tr
identine Mass.
[35] AGP, RHF, EF-601100-3 (a letter to Juan Bautista Torello).
[36] AGP, RHF, EF-611207-1 (a letter to Jesus Urteaga).
[37] AGP, RHF, EF-640611-1 (a letter to Lorenzo Martin Nieto).
[38] ?A poor and humble servant.?
[39] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2353.
[40] AGP, P01 X-1958, p. 65.
[41] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2354.
[42] One of these residences was that of La Estilla, in Santiago de Compostela.
On July 23,1954, impressed by the atmosphere of the place, he wrote this short s
tatement in its guest book: "Angel Jose, Cardinal Roncalli, Patriarch of Venice.
Obedience, Joy, and Peace." He also stayed at Miraflores, in Saragossa.
[43] See Humanae Salutis, no. 16.
[44] See Giacomo Barabino, Sum. 4526. Monsignor Barabino met the founder at the
beginning of the Second Vatican Council, and was at that time Cardinal Siri's se
cretary.
[45] Humanae Salutis, no. 18.
[46] The decision to convoke the Council had hardly been announced when the foun
der communicated it to all of his children, asking them to redouble their prayer
for the person and intentions of the Holy Father "with a great desire to second
the will of the Pope so that the Holy Spirit, through the Blessed Virgin Mary,
will pour down his graces for the success of his initiative" (Ignacio Celaya, Su
m. 5926).
As soon as Pope John announced his intention of calling a council, the founder "sent
a circular note to all the centers, asking for prayer, the offering of a five-d
ecade Rosary every day, holy Mass, some mortifications, and whatever else the pe
rsonal piety of each individual might suggest, so that the Holy Spirit would giv
e light to the Pope and his collaborators" (Ernesto Julia, Sum. 4142).
[47] AGP, RHF, EF-620925-1. As of 1961, the Pope's secretary was Monsignor Loris

Francesco Capovilla. (In 1967 he was made an archbishop.) The correspondence be

tween the founder and the various organisms and persons that made up the Holy Se
e is written in Italian.
[48] AGP, RHF, EF-621125-1.
[49] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 947.
[50] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2456.
[51] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 949, and Julian Herranz, Sum. 3932.
[52] One of the other members of Opus Dei who collaborated in the preparation an
d development of the Council was Fattier (now Archbishop) Julian Herranz; he was
on the Commission for the Discipline of the Clergy and of the Christian People,
and also on the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of Canon Law. Another wa
s Monsignor Salvador Canals, who served as an auditor of the Roman Rota and as a
peritus(expert observer) on several conciliar commissions. And several who were
theology or canon law professors collaborated in the application of the norms o
f the Council?such professors as Father Amadeo de Fuenmayor and Xavier de Ayala,
and Dr. Pedro Lombardia. See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 954.
In a letter of June 28, I960, the founder gave to Cardinal Tardini, in response to a
n official request from him, a list with the names of twelve members of Opus Dei
, from whom he could choose those he wanted to serve on the preparatory commissi
ons. (See AGP, RHF, EF-600628-1.)
[53] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 953 and 954. Among the appointments that the
founder did receive at that time was that of Advisor of the Pontifical Commissio
n for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law. He received this ap
pointment on March 21,1961.
[54] Requests from some of the conciliar commissions for some help (by way of th
e offering of suggestions, opinions, or advice) gave rise to specific, concrete
collaboration in the conciliar work. On March 1, 1963, for example, the secretar
y of the council's Commission for the Discipline of the Clergy and of the Christ
ian People, Father Alvaro del Portillo, officially asked the founder for his opi
nion on what subjects should be included in the manual for pastors and in the ca
techetical directory. (See AGP, RHF, D-15263, a document which also contains the
response, with the requested opinion.)
[55] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 950.
[56] Conversations,no. 22.
[57] From the earliest days of the Work, the founder had felt the need to carry
out a deep apostolate of bringing people to the Faith. When he first requested f
rom the Holy See permission to admit non-Catholics as Cooperators of Opus Dei, t
he response of the Curia was that no one had ever asked for anything like that,
and the request was denied. "Monsignor," they said, "you are always asking for s
omething new!" A little while later he made the request again, and this time the
response was not a categorical no, but, rather, a dilata("pending"). The questi
on was put on hold. The dilata, the founder remarked, "is a very wise formula, e
ncountered in the Roman Curia, for answering when the person is right but they c
an't say so" (Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2145).
He waited for a good amount of time and then, in 1950, on the occasion of the defin
itive approval of Opus Dei's statutes, managed to get included in them a clause
about non-Catholic Cooperators. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 541 and 542; Joaq
uin Alonso, Sum. 476; and Mario Lantini, Sum. 3582.)
Cooperators, without being members of Opus Dei, help out in its apostolic activitie
s with their prayers and donations and, often, with their work. What had for yea
rs been "a reality in spirit and in fact" was approved by the Holy See in 1950.
In Letter 12 Dec 1952, no. 33, the founder gives this beautiful description of t
hat reality:
"Protestants of many different denominations, Jews, Mohammedans, pagans, are led by
a noble friendship with a daughter or a son of mine to take part in our apostoli
c works. And thus, as by an inclined plane, they have an opportunity to get to k
now the richness of spirit that Catholic doctrine contains. God will grant a goo
d number of them the grace of the faith, thus rewarding their good will, shown i
n their loyal collaboration in good works."
[58] AGP, RHF, EF-620712-1. The founder classifies this letter as a "circular."

A copy was sent to the Pope's secretary, Monsignor Capovilla, with the desire th
at he take it to the Holy Father, so that he could feel the love there was for h
im in Opus Dei. See also AGP, RHF, EF-620716-1.
[59] AGP, RHF, EF-620630-1.
[60] AGP, RHF, EF-620721-1. Taking into account the work of the Council, the cor
respondence of the founder with Monsignor Capovilla is quite extensive: ten lett
ers in ten months. The matters they deal with include the sending of autographed
photographs of Pope John, which the founder wanted to have in all the centers o
f the Work, and?on the Pope's initiative?the setting up of two plaques commemora
ting the stay of the then-Cardinal Roncalli in the student residences in Saragos
sa and Santiago de Compostela that were run by Opus Dei. See AGP, RHF, EF-620802
-1 and EF-621125-1.
[61] AGP, RHF, EF-630428-1.
[62] AGP, RHF, EF-630624-1.
[63] AGP, RHF, EF-630618-1.
[64] AGP, RHF, EF-630902-1 (a letter to Bishop Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguera).
[65] AGP, RHF, EF-640124-1. During the audience, the Pope showed interest in the
canonical situation of Opus Dei and asked the founder for a copy of its statute
s. A few days later, on February 14, a letter was sent to Bishop Dell'Acqua, for
Pope Paul, together with a copy of the statutes, a copy of a document on the sp
irit of Opus Dei (De Spiritu), and a summarizing note (Appunto) on the nature, s
pirit, and canonical configuration of Opus Dei. The packet also included the let
ter of the founder to the members of Opus Dei on the institutional nature of Opu
s Dei. The original of this letter is in AGP, RHF, EF-581002-1, but the complete
text of it can also be found in Amadeo de Fuenmayor, Valentin Gomez Iglesias, a
nd Jose Luis Illanes, The Canonical Path of Opus Dei, trans. William H. Stetson
(Princeton, 1994), pp. 537-10.
[66] AGP, RHF, EF-640205-1.
[67] See AGP, RHF, EF-640614-1.
[68] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 568, and Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2358.
[69] See AGP, RHF, D-15239 (a handwritten inscription by the Pope to the founder
of Opus Dei; it is dated October 1,1964).
[70] AGP, RHF, EF-641024-2.
[71] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 956.
[72] Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo, Sum. 7283.
[73] See Giacomo Barabino, Sum. 4524.
[74] See Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7119.
[75] Joaquin Mestre, Sum. 6534. Another witness speaks of "an impressive number
of cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, from everywhere" (Juan Udaondo, Sum.5045
).
[76] He says this in a testimonial letter written to Pope John Paul II, dated Ja
nuary 8, 1979.
[77] Julian Herranz, Sum. 3933. A little later in that conversation, someone aff
irmed that the proper mission of the laity is to order secular structures accord
ing to the divine will; and the founder quickly added, "Yes, but first they them
selves have to be well ordered within, being men and women of deep interior life
, souls of prayer and of sacrifice.
Otherwise, instead of bringing order to those familial and social realities, they wi
ll bring there their own personal disorder."
[78] See Beato Josemara Escriv de Balaguer: un hombre de Dios. Testimonios sobre e
l Fundador del Opus Dei (Madrid, 1994), p. 199. (This book will hereafter be cit
ed as Testimonios.)
[79] See Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5927. (The Latin means "what has been believed alw
ays, everywhere, by everyone.")
[80] In addition to a deep faith in the action of the Holy Spirit in the Council
, the founder had a keen theological understanding of the issues involved and a
great capacity for discernment with regard to people. Monsignor Rolf Thomas test
ifies that after having seen a television broadcast in which Father Hans Kiing d
iscussed themes debated in the Council, the founder spoke very sadly about the p
ainful impression that Father Kiing had made on him. This showed an extraordinar

y clear-sightedness, considering later developments. (See Rolf Thomas, Sum. 7700

.)
[81] Letter 2Oct 1963, no. 1.
[82] See Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4705. In general, the press and other media tried
to explain the stances of the conciliar fathers as postures showing opposing sid
es. Dividing them into two camps?progressives and fundamentalists, good guys and
bad guys, fanatical defenders of dogma and advocates of revision?they assigned
them the role of adversaries in hypothetical battles. "It's no wonder, then, tha
t in the last sessions of the Council, many of the suggestions and reactions of
the fathers were conditioned, much more than they themselves imagined": Louis Bo
uyer, Cattolicesimo in decomposizione (Brescia, 1969), p. 22.
[83] These are Letter 14 Feb 1964 and Letter 15 Aug 1964.
[84] Letter 15 Aug 1964, no. 10. The letter of February 14 is addressed particul
arly to those doing study and research in the philosophical and theological scie
nces, in it he establishes the principle of "sharing the sentiments of Christ's
Church," always and in everything. The founder encouraged full freedom in resear
ch, with no limitations other than those set by the magisterium. He counseled hi
s children that they should defend the authority of the Roman Pontiff against an
y attacks, and that the ones involved in those studies should "prudently flee fr
om all extremism and from an excessive ??? yen for novelties." They should, he s
aid, "stay on the safe side, always favoring what is most in keeping with Tradit
ion" (Letter 14 Feb 1964, nos. 12-13).
[85] Letter 5 Aug 1964, no. 56.
[86] Angelo Dell'Acqua was born on December 9,1903, in Milan. He was ordained to
the priesthood on May 9,1926; he was made a bishop on December 27,1958; and on
February 17,1963, he was appointed to the Vatican position of Undersecretary of
State for Ordinary Affairs. In the consistory of June 26,1967, Pope Paul made hi
m a cardinal, and on the following January 13 he was named Vicar of the Diocese
of Rome. He died on August 27,1972.
Bishop Echevarra (in Sum. 2466) tells us that Bishop Dell'Acqua, in his frequent
conversations with the founder, "communicated to him that the Holy Father, Paul
VI, was greatly concerned about the problems and opinions being manifested at th
e Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, that he was continually bringing this situa
tion to his personal prayer, and that he consulted many of his collaborators to
get their opinions on the advisability of speeding up the conciliar work and bri
nging it to a conclusion." (See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 958.)
[87] AGP, RHF, EF-640423-2. The founder sent that letter to Bishop Dell'Acqua, a
long with one to him (EF-640423-1) saying, "I am enclosing a letter for the Holy
Father, dictated only by the love I have for the holy Church and for the Roman
Pontiff. Anyway, I leave it to your best judgment" ("it" meaning the decision as
to whether or not to put the letter in the Pope's hands).
"This correspondence," Bishop del Portillo comments, "was not simply a result of the
close friendship that united them; it was encouraged by the Holy Father himself
" (Sum. 957).
When the founder was writing these things about the crisis in the Church, it was al
ready a fact. A famous Church historian, Monsignor Hubert Jedin, who at first re
sisted admitting it, was forced to end up recognizing the gravity of the situati
on. "The crisis," he writes, "was present. It had arisen because some were not s
atisfied that the Council was coming to its conclusion, but saw it as an initial
charge that would unleash radical innovations which, in reality, went contrary
to the decrees of the Council": Hubert Jedin, Storia delta mia vita (Brescia, 19
87), p. 324.
Some other authors, such as the French philosopher Jacques Maritain, felt that the c
risis had already existed before the Council, in the form of immanent apostasy?t
he stance of people who decided to believe whatever they wanted to, while stayin
g in the Church. At the beginning of the Council this attitude began to flourish
, with the help of subtle manipulation of the media, as basically a growing illn
ess, popularizing the idea of "change" in the Church, accelerating manifestation
s of the so-called spirit of the Council. See Jacques Maritain, Le paysan de la
Garonne (Paris, 1966), p. 16.

[88] Letter 24 Oct 1965, no. 73. (The Italian phrase means "the sweet Christ on
earth.")
[89] From the time that the Vatican Secretariat of State consulted with the foun
der about this project of Pope John, until 1965, when the project was completed,
the founder had to make many sacrifices. The entire Work, and especially those
in Italy, had to give up a number of apostolic projects in order to carry out th
is one and dedicate the number of personnel required for a social work of such m
agnitude. Also, a great deal of extra work had to be put into it. (See Umberto F
arri, Sum.3421, and Teresa Acerbis, Sum. 4962.)
The project consisted of the Centro ELIS itself ("ELIS" standing for "Educazione? La
voro [Labor]?Istruzione [Instruction]?Sport"), the SAFI School (Women's Internat
ional School of Hospitality Services), and the parish church of San Giovanni Bat
tista, in Collatino. The Centro ELIS had a residence, a center for professional
technical training (in mechanics, electronics, carpentry, etc.), clubs, librarie
s, sports facilities, and family development programs. The SAFI School, with its
various programs, was run by Opus Dei women, and the parish was staffed by Opus
Dei priests.
[90] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 988, and Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2358. Many o
f the cardinals and bishops who were in Rome during those days visited the Cente
r and the School to observe their methods of human and Christian formation, with
a view toward developing future social apostolic initiatives in their dioceses:
see Teresa Acerbis, Sum.4964.
[91] L'Osservatore Romano, 22/23 Nov 1965.
[92] See Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7109, and Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2359. The fou
nder came out of that meeting with the Pope so moved that he spoke about it seve
ral times in the next few days. On one of these occasions he said, "I was deeply
moved. I've always gotten very emotional, with Pius XII, with John XXIII, and w
ith Paul VI, because I have faith" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 786). And there wa
s, says Monsignor Angelicchio, a moment in which, while welcoming the Pope, he w
as scarcely able to control his voice (he who was so accustomed to speaking in p
ublic) and the pages that he was reading trembled in his hands (see Francesco An
gelicchio, Sum. 3518).
[93] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3081.
[94] AGP, RHF, EF-660421-2. Through Bishop Dell'Acqua, he sent to Pope Paul, as
a token of filial affection, a little icon that he had bought in Greece.
[95] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 846.
[96] The note, which he entitled "Apostolic Work in Greece," was enclosed with a
letter to Bishop Dell'Acqua (AGP, RHF, EF-660428-1). Of special interest is thi
s paragraph:
"With a view to the possibility of an apostolic effort, I see the determining factor
to be the close tie between the temporal power and the Orthodox religious autho
rities. So much so that I am convinced that if a foreigner were to try to spread
Catholic doctrine, he would run the risk of being accused of threatening the un
ity of the country. Therefore I think the only possible way to develop an aposto
late would be to give a formation to the Catholic citizens of the country, in th
e best way possible, and outside of Greece. Then, when they return to their nati
ve land, they will be able to gain the trust and esteem of their compatriots and
fellow citizens, by giving an example of sincere love for their homeland, acqui
ring professional prestige, and showing a spirit of loyal understanding and of d
ialogue."
[97] AGP, RHF, EF-660310-2.
[98] See AGP, RHF, EF-660321-1 (a letter from the founder to Archbishop Olaechea
).
[99] See Gravissimum Educationis, nos. 10 and 11.
[100] See AGP, RHF, D-15291. The letter was signed by four prelates: the archbis
hop of Pamplona and the bishops of Jaca, San Sebastian, and Calahorra.
[101] See AGP, RHF, EF-660421-1.
[102] See AGP, RHF, D-15293 (the letter, dated 16 May 1966,from the Sacred Congr
egation for Seminaries and Universities).
[103] See AGP, RHF, EF-661205-3 (a note enclosed with a letter from the founder

to Bishop Dell?Acqua).
[104] See AGP, RHF, EF-661227-1 (a letter addressed to Archbishop Gabriel Garron
e, the head of the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities).
[105] AGP, RHF, D-15295. (This letter is dated 16 Mar 1967.)
[106] AGP, RHF, EF-670302-1.
[107] AGP, RHF, EF-660717-2.
[108] AGP, RHF, EF-640815-1.
[109] AGP, RHF, EF-650915-1. In May and June of that year he had started that su
mmer work, getting ready for the printer some very long old letters and also fin
ishing up for publication a series of instructions on the spirit and apostolates
of Opus Dei. "It's about time!" he writes in May. "However, the fourth edition
of the catechism is on hold. One must have patience. It could be the present for
the end of the year. As we all know, everyone is swamped with work, and 'one ca
n't both ring the bells and march in the procession'" (AGP: RHF, EF-650525-2: a
letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella).
[110] AGP, RHF, EF-660817-2. "I am sure," he says in the previous paragraph, "th
at with the grace of God and the help of his Blessed Mother, you and I and the m
any holy Jesuit fathers ... will succeed in having the charity of Christ shine f
orth always, no exceptions."
That letter of August 17 was written in answer to this letter (AGP, RHF, D-30804) f
rom Father Arrupe, dated July 27:
Dearest Msgr. Escriv:
I received your letter of last June 26 and ask your forgiveness for the delay in an
swering you. I was starting my retreat during that time, and also I wanted to ge
t the chance to communicate to Fr. Zeigler's superior your request, so that he c
ould advise him about the matter that you mention in your letter.
I don't need to tell you, Monsignor, how much I deplore those kinds of statements o
n the part of members of the Society. They are individuals' rash judgments, far
from representative of the way the Society of Jesus regards the spirit and works
of Opus Dei, which is with great esteem and appreciation.
The second session of our general assembly is coming up, and I hope you will pra
y for us in a special way at this time, since all the matters and studies that w
ill be worked out there are of great importance and are big responsibilities.
I thank you very much for your greetings for my saint's day, and for your prayer
s.
With sincere affection...
[111] AGP, RHF, EF-661015-2.
[112] See AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[113] Letter 25 May 1962, no. 92.
[114] When Pope John XXIII announced on December 8, 1962, that from then on the
name of Saint Joseph, the patron of the Council, would be included in the canon
of the Mass, Cardinal Larraona immediately telephoned the founder and said, "Con
gratulations!" He was certain that this would be a great joy to him because of h
is deep devotion to this holy patriarch, his patron saint, who set an example of
spending years doing simple and effective work in the hidden life of Jesus. (Se
e Christ Is Passing By, no. 44.)
"On how many occasions, during the approving of the documents of the Council, would
it have been appropriate to speak to the founder of Opus Dei and say, 'Congratul
ations, because what you have in your soul, what you have taught untiringly sinc
e 1928, has been proclaimed, with all solemnity, by the magisterium of the Churc
h!'" (Alvaro del PoruHo, Mons. Escriv de Balaguer, testigo del amor a la Iglesia
[Madrid, 1976], p. 8).
[115] Letter 24 Mar 1930, no. 2. Consider also this text from 1939: "You have th
e obligation to sanctify yourself. Yes, even you. Who thinks this is the exclusi
ve concern of priests and religious? To everyone, without exception, our Lord sa
id: 'Be perfect, as my heavenly Father is perfect'" (The Way, no. 291).
[116] Letter 11 Mar 1940, no. 11.
[117] Archbishop Julian Herranz, for instance, in Sum. 3876, quotes him as sayin
g, "As I wrote and repeated many times, I considered the holy Mass to be "centru
m et radix vitae interioris," a phrase that was incorporated verbatim in the con

ciliar decree Presbyterorum Ordinis, no. 14." See also Christ Is Passing By, no.
87, and Letter 28 Mar 1955, no. 5.
[118] Letter 9 Jan 1932, no. 32.
[119] Conversations,no. 26.
[120] Conversations,no. 72. On the recognition accorded by eminent churchmen of
the precursory relationship of Monsignor Escriv's teachings to those of Vatican I
I, see the 26 Jul 1975 issue of Milan's Awenire(the article by Cardinal Sebastia
no Baggio); the 9 Nov 1975 issue of Milan's Corriere delta Sera (the article by
Cardinal Franz Konig); and Cardinal Joseph Frings, Fiir die Menschen bestellt (C
ologne: Erinnerungen des Alterz-bischofs von Koln, 1973), pp. 149-50.
Cardinal Baggio also gave this testimony (in Sum. 5259): "The life, work, and messa
ge of Msgr. Escriv de Balaguer (of whom I had occasion to write shortly after his
death) constitute a change, or, more exactly, a new and original chapter in the
history of Christian spirituality, if one thinks of that as a path under the gu
idance of the Holy Spirit.... Only the passing of time will permit an evaluating
of the historic scope of his teachings, which in so many respects are truly rev
olutionary and precursory of the solemn message proclaimed by the Second Vatican
Council, precisely in what could be defined as its essence: the universal call
to sanctity."
Pope John Paul II has also publicly recognized the founder of Opus Dei as a precurso
r of the Council, stating that he anticipated the theology of the laity that has
characterized the Church from the time of Vatican II on. (See the 20-21 Aug 197
9 issue of L'Osservatore Romano.) And more recently, at the "Theological Study C
onference on the Teachings of Blessed Josemara Escriv" that was held at the Roman
Athenaeum of the Holy Cross in October 1993, Pope John Paul gave an address in w
hich he said this: "The action of the Holy Spirit has as its purpose the constan
t renewal of the Church, so that it can fulfill effectively the mission which Ch
rist entrusted to it. In the recent history of ecclesial life, this process of r
enewal has a fundamental reference point: the Second Vatican Council.... The pro
found consciousness that the present Church has of being at the service of a red
emption which concerns all the dimensions of human existence was prepared, under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by a gradual intellectual and spiritual progre
ss. The message of Blessed Josemara, to which you have dedicated these days of yo
ur conference, constitutes one of the most important charismatic impulses in tha
t direction" (L'Osservatore Romano, 22 Oct 1993).
[121] Letter 24 Oct 1963, no. 4.
[122] See Rolf Thomas, Sum. 7702, and Letter 24 Oct 1965, no. 18.
[123] See Franz Konig, Sum. 5254; Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo, Sum. 7284; Alvaro d
el Portillo, Sum. 964; and Francesco Angelicchio, Sum. 3527.
[124] See Giuseppe Molteni, PR, p. 709; Umberto Farri, Sum. 3392; and Pedro Casc
iaro, Sum. 6315.
[125] Letter 15 Aug 1964, no. 19. "With regard to the liturgical reforms, he acc
epted the successive dispositions of the Holy See. But he showed a careful prude
nce in distinguishing between the spirit of the Council and the patent abuses wh
ich were being committed in the celebrating of Mass and in the translating of th
e liturgical texts" (Joaquin Alonso, Sum.4705).
Regarding the intolerance that reigned in some of these liturgical commissions, the
theologian Louis Bouyer relates that when he, together with another person, bega
n to translate the Roman Canon of the Mass into French, he was told that they sh
ould avoid words like "oblation," "sacrifice," "immolation," etc. And when both
of them protested about this, they were removed as translators. See Louis Bouyer
, Le metier de theologian (Paris, 1979), p. 79.
[126] AGP, RHF, EF-641024-2. Bishop Jose Maria Garcia Lahiguera recalls how much
it cost the founder to celebrate Mass in accord with the new dispositions: "He
had always put such intensity into the celebration of the holy Mass that even th
e seemingly most insignificant rubric had for him an enormous value.... The ferv
or that he put into the celebration was so extraordinary that it gave the effect
of his being transfigured at the altar. The slightest change, therefore, could
distract him, and this caused him great suffering" (Testimonios, p. 169).
[127] AGP, RHF, EF-650409-2.

[128] See AGP, RHF, EF-650409-2, and Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4705.
[129] Conversations,no. 23.
[130] See Rolf Thomas, Sum. 7702.
[131] See Vincenzo Montillo, PR, p. 1013. "The arbitrary distinction between pro
gressive and conservative Catholics saddened him because he considered it obviou
s proof of a loss of any deep sense of unity and Christian charity, and a sympto
m of a lack of supernatural vision in confronting doctrinal and moral questions"
(Joaqun Alonso, Sum. 4705).
With regard to the safe and firm position taken by the founder?which was neither
that of a progressive nor that of a conservative?Father Ambrogio Eszer, O.P., R
elator General of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, tells us this: "Fro
m the ecclesial point of view, Josemaria Escriv starts his operations in a situat
ion in which the traditional pastoral responses are beginning to show the first
signs of inadequacy in the face of the great challenge of atheistic or agnostic
humanism. And in the last years he witnesses the crisis of the dreams of those w
ho are trying to overcome that impasse by advocating an adaptation of the Church
to the world. Here, too, his response does not change with time, and, with its
characteristic direct style, it appears perfectly suited to the new exigencies.
It is a return to a radical, Christ-centered, God-centered Christianity, centere
d in the affirmation of the primacy of grace, of communion of life with Christ t
hrough prayer and the sacraments, which generate the new man and transform him i
nto a witness to Christ in his own professional milieu" (Asi le vieron: Testimon
ios sobre Mons. Escriv de Balaguer [Madrid, 1992], p. 69).
[132] Letter 19 Mar 1967, no. 1. He also used that expression "strong in the fai
th" (which comes from 1 Pt 5:9) in Letter 2 Oct 1963, no. 8.
[133] Letter 19 Mar 1967, no. 3. This letter is a review, summary but complete,
of fundamental truths, starting with those articulated in the Nicene Creed.
[134] Letter 19 Mar 1967, nos. 149 and 150.
[135] Joseph Hoffner, Sum. 3763. Jacques Maritain, in his reflections on the his
toric events of the Second Vatican Council, describes the situation of the postc
onciliar era with a very apt image. The Church, depositary of the treasure of re
velation, and always assisted by the Holy Spirit, finds itself under attack by a
furious and confused beating of waves. And "thus appears the Council: as a smal
l island guarded by God's Spirit, in the midst of an ocean that is dragging ever
ything, whether false or true, into tumult" (Le paysan,p. 79).
[136] He said this in a homily. See Insegnamenti di Paolo VI, Rome, 1972.
[137] Conversations,no. 73.
[138] See AGP, RHF, EF-670502-2.
[139] Ibid.
[140] See AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," University of Navarre, School of T
heology, 1/2, 156. With the letter was sent exhaustive documentation of negotiat
ions and precedents, amounting to some sixty pages.
[141] See AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," University of Navarre, School of T
heology, 1/3, 192 (a letter from Don Alvaro to Archbishop Garrone, dated June 3,
1967). Around this time it was announced that Archbishop Garrone was going to b
e made a cardinal.
[142] See AGP, RHF, D-15300.
[143] See AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," University of Navarre, School of T
heology, 1/3, p. 258. The city council, in a meeting on June 16,1967, had decide
d to place at the disposition of the University of Navarre some offices at the c
athedral, for the purpose of setting up there the university's theology center.
The university's board of directors agreed to accept the conditions laid down by
the city council: namely, that a committee set up by the city council would dir
ect and supervise the work of adaptation of the offices; that all expenses, incl
uding the costs of the construction work, would be borne by the university; and
that the use of the offices would be provisional, the maximum period of use bein
g five years.
The agreement, we might add, was beneficial to the city council, since these off
ices happened to be in very bad condition.
See also AGP, RHF, EF-670603-1 (a letter from the founder to Bishop Dell'Acqua).

[144] The decree of establishment came from the Sacred Congregation for Catholic
Education; it was signed on November 1, 1969, by its prefect, Cardinal Garrone.
See AGP, section "Apostolic Expansion," University of Navarre, School of Theolo
gy, II/2, 419.
[145] AGP, RHF, EF-640229-2.
[146] Ibid.
[147] See Vicente Mortes, Sum. 7234.
[148] AGP, RHF, EF-651002-1. With regard to this holy tolerance and understandin
g, Fernando Valenciano tells an interesting story: On one occasion a visitor sai
d to Monsignor Escriv, "Father, I am a Jew." The founder answered, "So?" And the
man continued, "I'm also a Mason." And the Father replied, "But you're also a so
n of God, aren't you?" and gave him an embrace. (See Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7
097.)
Referring to slanderous criticisms coming at the Work from Marxist sources, the
founder once remarked, "It's logical that the Communists speak ill of Opus Dei.
But it is not logical, and never will be, for members of Opus Dei to speak ill o
f Communists. Now, of Communism we have no choice but to speak the truth: that i
t is a load of heresies and that it reduces man to mere matter, taking no accoun
t of the most basic rights of the human person" (Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2264).
[149] Letter 31 May 1954, no. 22.
[150] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 652.
[151] Letter 8 Dec 1949, no. 61.
[152] Ibid., no. 67.
[153] Letter 30 Apr 1946, no. 1
[154] Letter 12 Dec 1952, no. 37.
[155] Apuntes,no. 217.
[156] Letter 9 Jan 1932, no. 46. The founder wanted even the children's catechis
ms to include explanation of the principles that must govern the civic life of e
very Catholic, including "the obligation to act, to not abstain, to offer one's
own collaboration and serve with loyalty, and with personal freedom, the common
good" (Letter 9 Jan 1932, no. 45).
A reply to those who try to restrict religion to the private depths of the indiv
idual conscience can be found in Furrow, no. 301: "It is not true that there is
opposition between being a good Catholic and serving civil society faithfully. L
ikewise there is no reason why the Church and the state should clash when they p
roceed with the lawful exercise of their respective authorities, in fulfillment
of the mission God has entrusted to them.
"Those who affirm the contrary are liars?yes, liars! They are the same people wh
o honor a false liberty and ask us Catholics to 'do us the favor' of going back
to the catacombs."
[157] Letter 9 Jan 1932, no. 50.
[158] Letter 9 Jan 1959, no. 51.
[159] Ibid., no. 36. Rafael Calvo Serer, a member of Opus Dei who took active pa
rt in the movement of the Monarchist partisans of Don Juan de Borbon, was led by
this political involvement to write in the French magazine Ecrits de Paris, in
1953, an article severely criticizing, on the basis of the very principles of th
e Francoist regime, the conduct of the Spanish government of 1951. As a result h
e was dismissed from his position with the Council of Advanced Scientific Resear
ch. The founder always defended the political freedom of that son of his, as he
did that of all his children. But when he learned that that member of the Work h
ad received the insult of being called "a person without family," he went to his
defense. He went from Rome to Madrid and asked immediately for a meeting with F
ranco, and he told him that he could not tolerate having it said of one of his s
ons that he had no family, since he did have one?a supernatural family, the Work
?and a father, that being himself. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 650, and Javie
r Echevarra, Sum. 2245.)
[160] Letter 8 Dec 1949, no. 68.
[161] His previous relatively important changes in government occurred in Septem
ber 1942, July 1945, and July 1951.
[162] The governmental positions and personnel of 1957 were the following: Presi

dential Undersecretary, Luis Carrero Blanco (a military man, fully identified wi

th the ideas of Franco); Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fernando Maria de Castiell
a y Maiz (a Francoist Christian Democrat); Minister of the Interior, Camilo Alon
so Vega (a military officer, Francoist and Monarchist); Minister of Justice, Ant
onio Iturmendi Baftales (a Carlist Traditionalist); and these departments and th
eir heads: Army, Antonio Barroso y Sanchez-Guerra (a military officer and Monarc
hist); Air Force, Jose Rodriguez y Diaz de Lecea (a military officer); Navy, Fel
ipe Jose Abarzuza Oliva (a naval officer); Treasury, Mariano Navarro Rubio (a la
wyer with the Council of State); Industry, Joaquin Planell Riera (a military off
icer and industrial engineer); Commerce, Alberto Ullastres Calvo (an economics p
rofessor); Public Works, Jorge Vigon Suerodiaz (a military officer and Dynastic
Monarchist); Agriculture, Cirito Canovas Garcia (an agriculturalist); Labor, Fer
min Sanz-Orrio y Sanz (a Falangist); Housing, Jose Luis Arrese y Magra (a Falang
ist); Education, Jesus Rubio Garcia-Mina (a Falangist); Information and Tourism,
Gabriel Arias-Salgado y de Cubas (a Francoist); and Secretary General of the Mo
vement, Jose Soils Ruiz (a Falangist); and finally, Minister without Portfolio [
i.e., not assigned to a department], Pedro Gual Villalbi (an economist).
[163] See, in the 28 Feb 1957 issues of ABC, YA, Arriba, etc., the new governmen
t's manifesto, of February 27,1957.
[164] IMF = International Monetary Fund, and OECD = Organization for Economic Co
operation and Development.
[165] Alberto Ullastres said, years later, "We were servants of the state, and i
n a way they were right in calling us that. We had been called in because the po
liticians did not understand economics, which at that time was practically a new
science in Spain, and they called us technicians. Especially me, who considered
myself and still consider myself a technician. But it bothered some politicians
a lot" (Laureano Lopez Rodo, Memoirs, vol. 1 [Madrid, 1990], p. 91).
[166] We should mention here that the Church hierarchy in Spain never made any p
ronouncement against the participation of Catholics in the political institution
s of the Franco regime.
Also, some of the ministers were members of lay associations, and it should be m
entioned that they did not represent those associations in the government.
[167] See Julian Herranz, Sum. 3905
[168] The Development Plan Board of Commissioners was created on January 26,1962
, at the suggestion of the World Bank and the OECD. The one named as Commissione
r was Laureano Lopez Rodo. The board was put under the Ministry of the Interior,
despite the objections of Navarro Rubio, who thought it should be put under the
Ministry of the Treasury. He thereupon submitted his resignation, but Franco di
d not, at that time, accept it. See Enrique Baon, ed., Franco visto por sus mini
stros (Barcelona, 1981), p. 90.
[169] To get an idea of how Spanish society was evolving, and of the problems it
was facing, it would be good to recall some of the significant events that took
place during 1962. There were serious problems involving the workforce and the
labor unions, especially acute in Vizcaya, Asturias, and Barcelona. There was a
crisis mentality in the university union. There was a meeting of both internal a
nd external opposition groups, on the occasion of the Congress of the European M
ovement, which was held in Munich, in June. There was also a petition by the Spa
nish government for acceptance into the Common Market, and an intensification of
dissent in the Catholic workers' organizations. In addition, in May, Prince Jua
n Carlos de Borbon got married, which solidified Franco's choice of him as succe
ssor. And in the life of the Church, there was the opening of the Second Vatican
Council, which was also to have many repercussions in the life of Spain.
[170] One of the most significant changes in the government of 1962, say some hi
storians, was the entry of Manuel Fraga Iribarne as Minister of Information and
Tourism. Fraga had proposed, as an important objective of his ministerial work,
the promulgation of press laws that would guarantee greater freedom of informati
on. Also among the new ministers was Gregorio Lopez Bravo, a naval engineer who
since 1960 had held the post of Director General of the Spanish Institute of For
eign Currency. Lopez Bravo was a supernumerary member of Opus Dei.

[171] To understand a little where these mistaken ideas about Opus Dei were comi
ng from, one has to realize that in the Spain of that time, there was no freedom
of political association. Nor were there channels for generating pluralism. And
so a political coloring tended to be given to religious, cultural, and social g
atherings which, by their nature, were far removed from the field of political s
truggle. Furthermore, those who had these views of Opus Dei did not have present
on their mental horizon the fact that Opus Dei is by its nature, and was by the
n already beginning to be so in fact, a global reality. That may be why, in thei
r reasonings, they gave universal meanings to things that were actually nothing
more than contingent and short-term circumstances of a specific country, in this
case, Spain.
[172] Letter 7 Oct 1950, no. 36. Vicente Mortes, one of the witnesses in the pro
cess for beatification of the founder, was a supernumerary member of Opus Dei. S
ince April 1957 he had held high political posts, and from October 1969 to June
1973 he was Minister of Housing. Here is his testimony on this point: "On variou
s occasions I expressed to [the Father] the pain I felt over the misunderstandin
gs and even calumnies that certain persons or political groups in Spain had spre
ad regarding Opus Dei and politics. He always answered me that we must practice
charity, drown evil in an abundance of good, give good things for bad, and under
stand those who do not understand us. However, all this notwithstanding, he poin
ted out to me that I had an obligation, for the good name of the Church and of t
he Work, to make the truth clear, as forcefully as necessary, being careful not
to offend persons, but just to point out the errors. And this always in a cordia
l and conciliatory tone. He recommended that I always listen to the others, let
them express their opinions with full freedom, and when I explain my own, begin
with the observation that there are no dogmas other than those that the Church h
as defined, and therefore almost everything in politics is debatable" (Sum. 7234
).
[173] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2247
[174] Cesar Ortiz-Echagiie, Sum. 6845. See also Conversations, nos. 38 and 48.
[175] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2259. "Since 1950," the founder wrote to Pope Pa
ul, "neither I nor the Secretary General of Opus Dei have taken part in any offi
cial ceremony, religious or not" (AGP, RHF, EF-640614-1).
[176] AGP, RHF, EF-661019-3.
[177] AGP, RHF, EF-640320-2. Two months later he again wrote to them with supern
atural serenity, saying, "My dear children?may Jesus safeguard for me all of you
, in laetitial [in joy!]. I hope?I know?that we have lots of very good things in
store for us in that marvelous land of the tulips. Eat, sleep, see the funny si
de to everything, since there's no reason not to" (AGP, RHF, EF-640519-1).
[178] AGP, RHF, EF-640327-1.
[179] AGP, RHF, EF-640403-1.
[180] AGP, RHF, EF-640510-1 (a letter addressed to Patrick Cormac Burke).
[181] Ibid.
[182] AGP, RHF, EF-640510-4.
[183] AGP, RHF, EF-640523-1. The Latin means "All for the good!"
[184] Ibid. The founder sent a copy of this note to Bishop Dell'Acqua, to be com
municated to His Holiness (see AGP, RHF, EF-64052&-1).
[185] AGP, RHF, EF-640614-1. On June 12 the founder wrote to Bishop Dell'Acqua,
enclosing the letter to the Holy Father, with this note: "I earnestly ask you to
read this, and, only in the case that Your Excellency considers it appropriate,
to have it placed in the august hands of the Pope. I will readily go along with
your wise and kind judgment and cheerfully accept your decision, whatever it ma
y be" (AGP, RHF, EF-640612-1).
[186] On this subject he goes on to say: "A providential man, I repeat, is what
Franco has been called all these years, in every possible way and on every possi
ble occasion. I could present Your Holiness with a thick anthology of episcopal
addresses and documents?from practically all the bishops?in which "the Leader" i
s eulogized with hyperbole. He is, of course, a good son of the Church subjectiv
ely, and often objectively as well. And the Church hierarchy, along with the rel
igious orders and congregations, have greatly benefited from (and, if I may be a

llowed to say so, have at times taken advantage of) the good disposition of the
Generalissimo toward the Church."
[187] Letter 15 Aug 1964, no. 1.
[188] Ibid., no. 13.
[189] Ibid., no. 9. He gives a couple of examples of these points of doctrine th
at need defending because of having been distorted: how Catholics should treat o
ne another, and what the "return to the early Church" should be understood to me
an. "If," he says, "one extends a hand to those who have the misfortune of not b
elieving, but with the other hand gives one's brother in the faith a slap, we ca
nnot reasonably call that a noble dialogue; rather, it is a reprehensible gestur
e. And if the return to the life of the early Christians, that blessed reality w
hich is standard practice in the Work, is understood as a desire to relegate the
Church to the catacombs (but actually they want to put it in the sewers, with t
he rats, not with people), we, with all the Church's magisterium, will try to ma
ke them see that the Holy Spirit has not been working in vain for twenty centuri
es" (ibid., no. 20).
[190] AGP, RHF, EF-641129-1. The recipients of those first two honorary doctorat
es granted by the University of Navarre were Miguel Sancho Izquierdo and Juan Ca
brera y Felipe.
[191] AGP, RHF, EF-660927-1.
[192] AGP, RHF, EF-660927-1.
[193] AGP, RHF, EF-651009-2. With regard to the erroneous reports about Opus Dei
, the founder said in 1971: "Their origin is in Spain and only in Spain. They co
me from the religious jealousy of some people, the political passion of a few ot
hers (a very few), and the superficiality of those who repeat what they hear bec
ause they find it amusing" (24 Mar 1971 issue of Madrid's ABC).
[194] AGP, RHF, EF-650604-1. The heap of news items and other things mentioned i
ncludes the giving of the first copy of the collector's edition of The Way to Po
pe Paul (see EF-660125-1), and that of a copy of the first Polish edition to Car
dinal Wyszynski (see EF-661220-3); the expansion of the Work to Nigeria, and the
plans for establishing a university in Africa (see EF-650524?1); and an exhorta
tion to the faithful about the universal call to sanctity?an exhortation that th
e Pope had made during one of the general audiences at the Vatican, stating that
it had been the message of the Council, which had deeply moved the founder (see
EF-660322-1).
Of special importance is the private audience that he got with the Holy Father, thro
ugh Bishop Dell'Acqua. "I find it impossible," he says, "to grow accustomed to t
hese happy encounters, although I always have a good time, speaking like a son w
ith his father" (EF-660129-2).
The audience took place on January 25,1966. In it he gave to the Holy Father a note
about the diocese of Barbastro, because there were rumors that it was soon to be
suppressed. He also spoke of the proposal to create a school of medicine at the
Catholic University of Fribourg and a couple of student residences in that city
.
[195] False information was spread by several newspapers and magazines, includin
g Le Monde and Le Croix (see AGP, RHF, EF-641112-1, EF-650919-1, EF-650921-1, an
d EF-660511-1). And a campaign was actually organized by Le Nouvel Observateur a
nd Le Canard Enchaine (see EF?660611?1).
[196] AGP, RHF, EF-661121-3.
[197] The correspondent was Jacques Guilleme-Brulon. That interview and the ones
that took place in 1967 and 1968 (on such subjects as postconciliar movements a
nd trends, religious organizations, apostolates of Opus Dei, and so forth) are w
hat make up the book Conversations with Monsignor Escriv. The Le Figaro article a
ppears under the title "The Apostolate of Opus Dei on Five Continents" (see Conv
ersations, nos. 34-47).
[198] Conversations,no. 38.
[199] See AGP, RHF, EF-661029-1 (a letter to Bishop Dell'Acqua). See also EF-661
201-1.
[200] See Cesar Ortiz-Echagiie, Sum. 6845. Those who wanted to portray Opus Dei
as a monolithic organization and deny the legitimate pluralism of its faithful w

ere disconcerted to learn that there were members of Opus Dei in Franco's govern
ment, as well as in the general secretariat of the Movement and in the union org
anization, just as it disturbed them when members of Opus Dei, together with oth
er individuals, strongly criticized the unions for failing to represent workers
as they should.
[201] AGP, RHF, EF-661101-1 (a letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella). A few
days earlier he had written to Father Sanchez Bella, "You well know that I, like
all the other priests in Opus Dei, never speak about politics. My job is to pra
y, and to be on the cross with both arms wide open, and thus help ensure that no
soul feels rejected" (AGP, RHF, EF-661019-3).
[202] AGP, RHF, EF-661028-1.
On October 29, 1966, the founder sent Bishop Dell'Acqua a note that contains the
following paragraph: "I'm enclosing a copy of a letter that I've sent to Minist
er Soils. I think it will make an impression on him, and I hope that when he not
ices that, in setting out the supernatural and logical arguments I consider appr
opriate, I address him as 'Your Excellency' instead of 'you,' it will cause him
to reflect" (AGP, RHF, EF-661029-1).
A copy of that letter to Solis was also sent to Don Juan de Borbon, who wrote ba
ck on November 15, from Estoril, in Portugal, this letter (AGP, RHF, D-30752):
My dear Father Jose Maria:
A copy of your brilliant and spirited letter to the Secretary General of the Mov
ement protesting the unjust press campaign against Opus Dei has been delivered t
o me by hand.
I believe that it was a very wise move to clarify things that certain persons ha
ve not wanted to understand from the beginning, and that it is absolutely necess
ary to put a stop to this once and for all.
I was also happy to read about the visit of the Queen Mother of England to Nethe
rhall House, in London, and to note the favorable comments that the press made a
bout it afterwards.
Commending myself to your valuable prayers, I send you my very best wishes, kiss
ing your hand.
Yours truly ...
[203] See AGP, RHF, EF-661121-1.
[204] ABC (Madrid), 24 Mar 1966
[205] See AGP, RHF, EF-641129-1, EF-660927-1, and EF-680803-1 (letters to Franco
, the first two sent from Pamplona); and EF-640105-1, EF-661121-1, EF-670624-1,
EF-680201-1, and EF-680621-1 (letters to Don Juan de Borbon).
[206] j_je js referring to the Queen Mother's presence at the inauguration of Ne
therhall House, which took place on November 1. ???
[207] AGP, RHF, EF-661121-1. Very well known, since the founder on several occas
ions told it to his children, is a story related by Alfredo Lopez Martinez (in S
um. 5749). "He once told me," says Lopez, "that the head of the Spanish Royal Ho
use had visited him, and that, in a friendly tone of voice and with a smile, he
[the founder] had said to him, 'Your Highness, I have sons who are monarchists,
but I also have some who are republicans."
[208] In his conduct the founder always remained faithful to his principle of re
specting all opinions in political matters, personally staying out of these disc
ussions. In an exceptionally long letter to Don Juan de Borbon, he makes clear r
eference to the principles on which he bases his behavior. This letter (AGP, RHF
, EF-711110-1) is written in reply to a letter from Don Juan dated November 6, 1
971. Here are the pertinent lines:
I wasn't aware of any of that, because I live in another environment, and becaus
e no one speaks to me about politics, and especially not about Spanish politics.
So all the news you give me is new to me....
This letter is written in accord with my whole policy of staying out of temporal
affairs, and within the framework of a refined but clear demonstration of the l
oyalty that I owe to Your Majesty....
My attitude is not one of neutrality. I reject that stance?neutrality?because in
supernatural things one has to be either with Christ or against Christ; it's no
t possible to be neutral. However, in earthly things, I have an obligation not t

o judge, and to lavish lots of charity on everyone?this is the teaching I transm

it to my children....
We neither take neutral positions nor employ worldly tactics. We politely respec
t the legitimate opinions of others in temporal matters, as I have had the joy a
nd honor of telling you, constantly, for so many years. And we do so even though
in some cases there are those who make me suffer personally. For, above any con
sideration, I need to refrain from taking sides in earthly things so that I can
tend spiritually to whatever soul, without distinction.... You can be very sure,
sir, that neither the intrigues of some nor the incredible slanders and defamat
ions of others will change the sure priestly approach that?by the grace of God?h
as been and always will be my rule of conduct.
[209] AGP, RHF, EF-640320-1.
[210] See AGP, RHF, EF-571002-1 (a letter from the founder to Santiago).
[211] See AGP, RHF, EF-571231-2 (a letter to Jose Sinues Urbiola), and Alvaro de
l Portillo, Sum.507.
[212] See AGP, RHF, EF-660617-2 (a letter to Santiago and Gloria).
[213] AGP, RHF, EF-680329-13.
[214] See AGP, RHF, EF-631200-3 (a letter to Santiago and Gloria).
[215] See volume 1 of this biography, pp. 73, 78, and 135.
[216] AGP, RHF, EF-680715-2. "Santiago" is Spanish for "Saint James."
[217] In Boletin Oficial del Estado no. 186 (3 Aug 1968), on page 11539, there a
ppears this decree?no. 1851/1968 (dated 24 Jul 1968)?"by which there is rehabili
tated, without prejudice to the claims of third parties with prior rights, the t
itle of Marquis of Peralta in favor of Don Jose Maria Escriv de Balaguer y Albas.
"
[218] AGP, RHF, EF-680803-1.
[219] See Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7489.
[220] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2043.
[221] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 386. However, as Bishop Echevarra notes (in S
um. 2043), whenever the Father was speaking at a get-together and there came up
some story about an illustrious or noble family that was related to the Escrivs o
r the Blancs, he would immediately nip in the bud, with a humorous comment, any
notion that this relationship was of any importance.
[222] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 386. Father Florencio Sanchez Bella (in Sum.
7489) tells us that he himself, "taking advantage of apostolic trips or vacatio
ns," personally visited the archives of the crown of Aragon, the archives of the
kingdom of Valencia, and Vienna's general archives.
[223] The first consultations were made to Don Gregorio Arranz, counselor for th
e Ministry of Justice, and the documents that accompanied the rehabilitation req
uest in 1968 were prepared by Don Adolfo Castillo Genzor, Secretary of the St. L
ouis Royal Academy of Noble and Fine Arts, in Saragossa. Don Adolfo was the gene
alogical expert who certified Monsignor Escriv's right to the two titles. (See Fl
orencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7489.)
[224] See volume 1 of this biography, p. 491.
[225] See Pedro Casciaro, Sum. 6321.
[226] See the royal decree of July 8,1922, and the royal ordinance of October 21
,1922.
[227] Among the appointments and titles of an ecclesiastical nature were the fol
lowing: Honorary Member of the Pontifical Roman Theological Academy (conferred o
n December 19,1956; see AGP, RHF, D-15099); Advisor of the Sacred Congregation f
or Seminaries and Universities (July 23,1957; see D-15101); Chancellor of the Un
iversity of Navarre (by a decree, dated October 15, 1960, of the Sacred Congrega
tion for Seminaries and Universities; see D-15102); and Advisor of the Pontifica
l Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law (March 21
,1961; see D-15103).
Among the civil honors and distinctions not previously mentioned, there were the Spa
nish Grand Crosses. Whenever he was congratulated on receiving one of these, he
would say in response, "I assure you before God that to me it's neither here nor
there, it's nothing I can get excited about; the only cross that matters to me,
that I love and that I want to wear with style every day, is the cross of my Lo

rd Jesus Christ" (Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2765). His receiving of the Grand Cross
of St. Raymond of Penafort (January 23,1954) served him as an occasion to write
to Franco a thank-you letter (AGP, RHF, EF-540126-1) in which he stresses that e
ven though Opus Dei originated in Madrid, it is universal. By a decree dated Jul
y 10,1960, he was given the Grand Cross of Charles in, and when Sergio Fernandez
Larrain wrote congratulating him, he wrote back: "Help me give thanks to our Lo
rd God for the cross that he chose to place on my shoulders thirty-two years ago
already; and pray for me that I always bear it with elegance and joy" (EF-60080
5-3). Four years later he received the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Benefic
ence (November 26,1964)?the one with the white emblem?in consideration of his me
rits and services in the area of social welfare activity, as the Minister of the
Interior officially stated. And in his letter thanking the Minister (Camilo Alo
nso Vega), the founder wrote: "The thought keeps coming to me that I have reache
d old age, and that the Lord has wanted me never to be without his holy cross. B
ut now I have to thank you for the one you have chosen to place on me, without a
ny merit on my part. Thank you for that Grand Cross of Beneficence, which is des
erved by my children?not me, I repeat?because of the constant, generous work the
y do on behalf of the neediest people in our beloved Spain. I ask you to also co
nvey my respectful thanks to His Excellency, the Chief of State" (EF-641128-1).
See also Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7490 and 7491.
[228] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2286.
[229] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2764, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 385.
[230] See Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7491.
[231] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 387 and 388; Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2045, and
Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7489.
[232] See ibid. The founder told his children, "It's often more difficult to exe
rcise a right than to fulfill a duty" (see Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7081).
[233] He once, in a gathering with a small group of Spanish prelates, explained
in this way his reasons for requesting the rehabilitation of the title: "I didn'
t do it for myself; I don't need it, nor will I ever make use of it.... I went a
fter it exclusively as a right that would help my family, and that could be lost
by my negligence. It was a duty of piety toward my brother and my nieces and ne
phews, since, being the head of the family, I was the only one who could have ma
de that petition." (This is related by Bishop Enrique Delgado: see Testimonios,p
. 139.)
[234] The costs of the request and process were taken care of, "with great gener
osity, by Don Jose Badrinas" (Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7489).
[235] AGP, RHF, EF-680125-2.
[236] The formal request is dated January 11. The file of evidence presented was
prepared by the above-mentioned specialist Don Adolfo Castillo Genzor. (See AGP
, RHF, D-15105.)
[237] Both documents are in AGP, RHF, D-15105.
[238] See Rolf Thomas, Sum. 7676.
[239] His cession of the title was done in writing, before a notary, and so was
his brother's acceptance of it, which is dated June 22,1972. Both documents are
in AGP, RHF, D-15105.
[240] AGP, RHF, EF-690916-1.
[241] Letter 25 May 1962, no. 24.
[242] Ibid.
[243] This process of assimilating the secular institutes to the religious congr
egations distorted their secular nature. As the founder put it, "People?not just
the man in the street and the civil authorities, but also many churchmen, inclu
ding some of the hierarchy?regard as religious all those who form part of a secu
lar institute, for the simple reason that they are members of those associations
and are under the Sacred Congregation for Religious" (Letter 25 May 1962, no. 2
3).
[244] According to Provida Mater (2.1.2), the Sacred Congregation for Religious
could apply to the secular institutes, as supplementary law, some particular pre
scriptions of the law for religious. It was prescribed in canon law (canon 500 i
n the 1917 Code) that "without a special apostolic indult, no religious order of

men can have subject to it women's congregations, or provide care or direction

to such religious as if they were especially entrusted to it." Obviously, theref
ore, the institutional unity of the members of Opus Dei was not effectively prot
ected by the legislation for secular institutes, and thus was exposed to grave r
isks.
[245] Letter 2 Oct 1958, no. 9.
[246] Ibid., no. 12.
[247] "By so doing," he says, "we are placing filial confidence in God, that he
will deign to put an end to this spiritual worry. With the same filial confidenc
e, and asking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother?Cor Marine
Dulcissimum, iter para tutum! [Sweetest heart of Mary, provide a safe path]?I w
ill inform the Holy See, at the right moment, of that situation, of that concern
" (ibid., nos. 10 and 11).
[248] This note is in AGP, RHF, EF-600319-1.
[249] See ibid., no. 2. He also points out another serious reason the canonical
situation needs to be changed. This is that, from the very beginning, people (no
w numbering in the thousands) have dedicated themselves to the service of the Ch
urch in Opus Dei precisely on the understanding that they will continue to be or
dinary Catholic faithful, not religious or the equivalent of religious.
[250] This Congregation was later renamed (by Pope Paul VI) the Congregation for
Bishops.
[251] It is important to note that "from now on the founder began earnestly to s
eek a solution within the categories and structures belonging to the realm of or
dinary ecclesiastical jurisdiction" (Fuenmayor, Gdmez Iglesias, and Illanes, p.
309).
[252] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 563.
[253] AGP, Juridical Section, 6, D-15611.
[254] Letter 25 Jan 1961, no. 62
[255] See AGP, RHF, EF-620420-2 (a note written by the founder for the archives)
.
[256] Ibid.
[257] AGP, RHF, EF-610107. See also EF-620107-1 (the accompanying letter to Card
inal Cicognani). The texts of both letters can also be found in Fuenmayor, Gomez
Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 543-A6.
[258] A little later on, the Cardinal Secretary of State asked Cardinal Ciriaci
his opinion regarding the petition. So the founder prepared for Cardinal Ciriaci
a memorandum (dated March 8, 1962) giving the history of the Church's approvals
of Opus Dei, the reasons for the petition, proposed solutions, etc. Cardinal Ci
riaci insisted that he send a supplementary memorandum clearing up the doubts th
at some prelates had about the proposed solutions.
[259] AGP, RHF, EF-620420-2. His prayer for this intention was very intense. On
April 1, 1962, in a meditation he was giving, he kept saying, insistently, "Lord
, shine forth! Do what only you can do! Let it be seen that it is you!" (AGP, P0
11982, p. 1378).
[260] See Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and manes, p. 547.
[261] On June 3 the founder wrote to Cardinal Cicognani, acknowledging receipt o
f the denial of his request. In this letter (AGP, RHF, EF-620603-1) he said, "I
cannot but thank Your Eminence for having communicated this to me, for thereby y
ou have given me one more occasion to show my complete and absolute adherence to
the Holy See." (The text of the whole letter can be found in Fuenmayor, Gomez I
glesias, and Illanes, p. 548.)
On June 27 the founder was given a private audience with Pope John, from which h
e emerged moved by the affection that the Pope showed him.
[262] By a letter dated August 2, 1950, the Sacred Congregation for Religious ha
d authorized him to propose changes, clarifications, or complementary modificati
ons that he considered opportune for expanding the Work and meeting its needs. S
ee Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, p. 528.
[263] AGP, RHF, EF-640214-2. The complete text of this letter can also be found
in Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 550-51.
[264] AGP, RHF, EF-640214-2, no. 20 of the enclosed confidential note.

[265] AGP, RHF, EF-640815-2. For the complete text, see Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesia
s, and Illanes, pp. 551-54.
[266] Letter 25 May 1962, no. 1.
[267] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 568, and Mario Lantini, Sum. 3631.
[268] Presbyterorum Ordinis, no. 10. (This document was promulgated on December
7, 1965.)
[269] "Furthermore, in order to accomplish special pastoral or missionary tasks
for various regions or social groups requiring special assistance, prelatures ma
y usefully be established by the Apostolic See. These would consist of the secul
ar clergy specially trained and under the rule of a prelate of their own and gov
erned by statutes of their own.... There is no reason why laymen, whether celiba
te or married, should not dedicate their professional service, through an agreem
ent with the prelature, to its works and enterprises" (Ecclesiae Sanctae, no. 4)
.
[270] See AGP, RHF, EF-670302-1.
[271] See AGP, RHF, EF-690916-2 (a note attached to a letter to Pope Paul).
[272] Ibid., pp. 115-16.
[273] AGP, RHF, EF-690520-2. (The complete text can be found in Fuenmayor, Gomez
Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 554-55.) One of the things that led him to change hi
s mind was, as he mentioned to several of the Curia prefects, his need to make i
t clear that Opus Dei did not fit into the framework of the consecrated life.
[274] Cardinal Antoniutti's response of June 11 can be found in Fuenmayor, Gomez
Iglesias, and Illanes, p. 555.
[275] See Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, p. 354, and AGP, "Minutes of t
he Special General Congress," 1,2 Sep 1969.
[276] As soon as the first part of the Congress was dosed, Don Alvaro, as Secret
ary General of Opus Dei, informed the Holy See of the progress of the Congress a
nd the preparations for the second part. See Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illa
nes, p. 556 (the progress-report letter sent by Don Alvaro to Cardinal Antoniutt
i).
[277] AGP, RHF, EF-691022-1. The text of this letter from the founder to Cardina
l Antoniutti can also be found in Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 55
8-60.
[278] Ibid. (Profession of the evangelical counsels had come to typify the so-ca
lled consecrated life, the way of life proper to the religious state.)
[279] AGP, RHF, EF-690916-2.
[280] Here are some of the points in the appeal. (The same points are also inclu
ded in the memorandum.)
Appeal: Having taken note of the setting up of a special pontifical commission t
o examine, in iure et in facto, some aspects of the juridical organization and a
postolic activity of Opus Dei... by the present act we formally set forth an exc
eptio suspicionis against three of the five members of the aforementioned pontif
ical commission....
[Then come the names of those formally challenged, and the juridical consequence
s of such a challenge that are established by canon law no. 1613.]
The case for the exceptio suspicionis can be adequately documented and proven, a
nd therefore we request ample authorization to prove it. And, according to canon
1614, the exceptio should be examined, not by that commission itself, but by th
e one who appointed it. Since in the present case it is a pontifical commission,
we deem that the exceptio suspicionis should be evaluated by the Roman Pontiff
[281] Memorandum,no. 1.
[282] Conclusions,no. 4.
[283] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 804, and Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2360.
[284] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2360.
[285] AGP, RHF, EF-691011-2.
[286] AGP, RHF, EF-691029-1 (a letter from the founder to Bishop Benelli).
[287] Ibid. The letter does not say anything about a possible intervention by Bi
shop Benelli in the matter.
In a footnote added to the above-mentioned memorandum of September 16, 1969, Bishop
del Portillo says that the special commission "did not manage to carry out any W

ork related to the canonical situation of Opus Dei and, in fact, was immediately
dissolved."
[288] See AGP, Juridical Section, 7, D-15256 (minutes of the Congress).
[289] AGP, P011970, p. 501.
[290] See volume I of this biography, pp. 133-34. ?NOTE
[291] See Cesar Ortiz-Echague, Sum. 6860, and AGP, P011982, pp. 1488ff. Shortly
before reaching Torreciudad, he had composed lyrics for a folk song. He had made
them up right there in the car: "The love of an Aragonese peasant / is hard to
get; / but, though the years go by, / it is a love that is true."
[292] AGP, P01 1982, p. 1499.
[293] Ibid., p. 1508.
[294] Ibid., p. 1317.
[295] AGP, P01 1970, p. 937.
[296] AGP, P01 1982, p. 1321.
[297] Ibid. "In this context of universal prayer, open to all the needs of human
beings," Bishop Echevarra writes (on May 1,1995) to the faithful of the Prelatur
e, "he prayed perseveringly for the Work, that the Lord, in his infinite goodnes
s and power, would protect his Work and keep whole and inviolate?including by me
ans of the adequate juridical sanction on the part of the ecclesiastical authori
ty?the spirit, the nature, and the apostolic methods proper to Opus Dei."
[298] AGP, P011970, p. 950.
[299] Ibid.
[300] AGP, P011976, p. 451. (The now-Father Alberto Pacheco was at that time a l
awyer.)
[301] See Fuenmayor, Gomez Iglesias, and Illanes, pp. 560-62 ("Conclusions of th
e Special General Congress of Opus Dei; September 14,1970).
[302] Ibid.
8. The Holiness and Splendor of the Church

1. "I suffer for the Church"

2. Some divine locutions
3. In "the house of the Common Father"
4. "Fight, for love, to the last moment"
5. The catechetical trip through the Iberian Peninsula (1972)

* * *

1. "I suffer for the Church"

By the end of his novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, every trace of the spiritual
tension that had kept him for all those days, hour after hour, on his knees with
his eyes glued to the miraculous image, had disappeared. The pain that had fill
ed his eyes had flowed away, and his face, calm and smiling as he made his depar
ture, reflected the peace in his spirit. He said, "Now I don't ask you for anyth
ing more, Mother. I have left in your hands all that was weighing on my soul, my
heart, my head, my whole being. I am sure that you have heard me, and I am leav
ing here happy and peaceful."[1]
The whole Work had been praying in unison, ever since the close of the first par
t of the Special General Congress, and especially since Christmas of 1969, when
the Father had urged all his children to unite themselves to his intentions.[2]
And thus, supported by one another, everyone felt sure of attaining, thanks to p
ersevering prayer, what the Father was asking for. There would, no doubt about i
t, be fulfilled the promise that had been given him on December 12, 1931: the "p
romise that the Work of God will overcome the obstacles; inter medium montium pe
rtransibunt aquae, that the waters of its apostolate will flow through all the o
bstacles that present themselves."[3] The founder had not forgotten that promise
.[4]
In May 1970, during his stay in Mexico, he received photos of the plaster model
of a work he had commissioned a Roman sculptor to create. It was a life-sized fi
gure, in gilded bronze, of Christ crowned with thorns and nailed to the cross, b

ut still alive; eyes open, looking upon the world with love. The Father had comm
issioned it in view of the future attainment of the "great intention," or "speci
al intention": the definitive canonical configuration of Opus Dei. The sculpture
was to go into the small shrine of the Holy Cross being constructed at the new
site of the Roman College, one of the possible sites for the future prelatic chu
rch of Opus Dei.[5] For the Father did actually see in advance, with the eyes of
faith, the coming about of the personal prelature. He also saw the sad circumst
ances that the People of God would go through, and offered up, as a sacrifice, t
he fact that he would not enter the promised land; that is, live to see his fina
l foundational intention fulfilled. In a meditation that he gave to his sons, he
put it this way:

Forty-four years have gone by, and we are still walking in the desert?more years
than that long pilgrimage of the Chosen People through Sinai. But in this deser
t of ours, flowers and fruits have sprung up, marvelously, such that it is all a
luxuriant oasis, even though this seems like a contradiction.[6]

In compensation, he had the deep joy of knowing that the institutional question
was, if not canonically resolved, at least duly focused. So this problem became
for him a secondary one, especially in view of the big preoccupation that was ea
ting away at him.[7]
One morning in 1970, Father Javier Echevarra noticed that the founder was uneasy;
he seemed upset by something. Just before entering the oratory to say Mass, he
gave out a deep sigh and exclaimed, "My God!" Father Javier asked, "What's the m
atter, Father?" And he replied, "The matter is, I'm suffering for the Church."[8
]
The Holy Father publicly lamented the sad situation of the Church, the consequen
ce in part of "a false and unauthorized interpretation of the Council, an interp
retation which would like a break with tradition, also as regards doctrine, and
which goes so far as to repudiate the preconciliar Church, and arbitrarily conce
ive a 'new' Church, ?reinvented? as it were, from the inside, in its constitutio
n, dogma, morals, and law."[9] Again and again Pope Paul denounced the "lack of
confidence in the Church" being shown by many Catholics, including priests and r
eligious.[10] The Pope denounced this negative criticism which was appearing on
all sides: the attraction of violence, the unrest which ravaged consciences, the
tendency to imitate atheistic sociologies, and the seduction of Marxist ideolog
y, burdened with anti-Christian stimuli, such as hatred, subversion, and class s
truggle. "It is impossible," Paul VI summed up, "not to take into account the gr
ave and dangerous effects that this brings to the Church: confusion and sufferin
g in consciences, impoverishment of religious spirit, sad defections among those
consecrated to God, danger to the faithfulness and indissolubility of marriage,
weakening of the ecumenical movement and moral insufficiency to counteract the
eruption of hedonism."[11]
The constant bad news came to the Father like the sad remains of a shipwreck was
hed up on the shore. During this time, he learned from the newspapers of two sac
rilegious robberies, which took place one after the other. Thieves had broken th
e locks on tabernacles and had dumped the Sacred Hosts out on the floor before c
arrying off the ciboria.[12]
Unfortunately, many of the wounds inflicted on the Mystical Body of Christ, whic
h is the Church, came not at the hands of outsiders, but of some who should have
protected her.[13] More than a few ecclesiastical structures became visibly unh
inged, and, in some sectors of the clergy, there spread doubts about the "identi
ty" and ministerial function of the priest. Abuses committed in the celebrating
of Mass sometimes prevented the faithful from receiving the benefits of the infi
nite treasure of the eucharistic sacrifice. One day the founder mentioned someth
ing that had happened in Germany: a member of the Work had gone to Mass, and had
ended up leaving the church without receiving Communion; he was convinced that
he had not participated in the Holy Sacrifice, since the priest, instead of sayi
ng the words prescribed for the Consecration, had said, "This is my community wi
th Christ."[14] Statues, liturgical objects, and confessional booths piled up in

the sacristies or storage rooms of churches; and at times the tabernacle was re
legated to an obscure corner. Products of religious piety were regarded as outda
ted leftovers, and those that had artistic value were sold at a loss. One day th
ere arrived in Rome a statue of Our Lady, a gift to the Father. It was a beautif
ul life-size one, made of wood, but somewhat deteriorated. Along with his joy at
seeing it rescued for religious veneration, the Father could not contain his so
rrow at the thought that it had been torn from the piety of the faithful and han
ded over to a dealer in secondhand goods. Looking at it, he exclaimed sadly, "Mo
ther, from where have they thrown you out!"[15] And, in reparation, he instructe
d that fresh flowers be continually placed at the feet of the statue until it wa
s completely restored.[16]
Just as the churches were being dismantled, widespread assaults were also being
made on dogma and on the idea that legitimately established Church authority mus
t be obeyed.[17] The rate of defection in religious communities reached the poin
t that some monasteries and convents were completely emptied. So were many semin
aries. And in many places the rules of cloister were bitterly contested.
Meanwhile, during those years of 1969 and 1970, the Father went as a pilgrim fro
m shrine to shrine, seeking our Lady's intercession for the Church. At the begin
ning of 1969 he wrote to his children in Spain:

A new year, in which we have to ask, all as one, that the Lord, through the inte
rcession of his Blessed Mother, restore unity and authority to this Church of Go
d's, which in the eyes of the whole world seems half destroyed. But that is not
the case, since the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, governs her.[18]

Reaffirming his fidelity to the Church, the Father opened wide his heart to his
children and to whoever else could understand him. He wrote to Cardinal Dell'Acq
ua:

It has made me very happy to see, once again, that God has given you the grace t
o deeply grasp our spirit?and, as essential points of it, the love for and const
ant loyalty to the Church and the Pope, and the apostolic yearning to bring all
souls to Christ. This affectionate understanding of yours has been for us, and i
s for us, a great stimulus and consolation, helping us to love more each day our
Mother the Church and Christ's Vicar on earth.[19]

* **

The founder recognized, with singular clarity, the terrible crisis that the Chur
ch was going through.[20] Naturally, therefore, it caused him untold anguish. Bu
t not all Catholics shared that anguish. Many did not realize the serious situat
ion that the Church was in, and did not regard her as a Mother and share her suf
fering like good children.
Long before, in The Way (no. 518), he had written, "What joy to be able to say w
ith all the fervor of my soul: I love my Mother, the holy Church!" And then (no.
519), "Serviam!?I will serve!' That cry is your determination to serve the Chur
ch of God faithfully, even at the cost of fortune, of reputation, and of life."
Was it not possible that in the cases of a good number of those Catholics, their
loss of faith was preceded by a collapse of their loyalty to the cause of the C
hurch? For, as the founder saw it, the natural virtue of fidelity is inseparable
from the supernatural virtue of faith.
From the beginning, in fact, he had pointed out the need to develop together the
natural and supernatural virtues. He considered this of extraordinary importanc
e as regards the integral formation that he tried to give to souls in Opus Dei.
"My daughters," he wrote in 1948, "foster in everyone's heart and mind a spirit
of loyalty (which is sheer Christian charity), which today is almost unknown amo
ng people, even among those who call themselves Catholics."[21]
What is the Church? In 1972, in a homily entitled "Loyalty to the Church," he ga
ve this answer:
Gens sancta, a holy nation, composed of creatures with infirmities. This apparen

t contradiction marks an aspect of the mystery of the Church. The Church, which
is divine, is also human, for it is made up of men, and men have their defects?
When the Lord permits human weakness to appear, our reaction ought to be the sam
e as if we were to see our mother ill or treated with disdain: to love her all t
he more, to bestow on her a greater manifestation of affection, both external an
d internal. If we love the Church, there will never arise in us a morbid interes
t in airing, as the faults of the Mother, the weaknesses of some of her children
. The Church, the spouse of Christ, does not have to intone any mea culpa. But w
e do: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa....
Our Mother is holy, because she was born pure and will continue without blemish
for all eternity. If at times we are not able to perceive her fair face, let us
wipe clean our own eyes.[22]
In the life of the Father, suffering was like a cleansing eyewash. It made his i
nterior vision so clear that he had constantly before him, unvarnished and in de
tail, the terrible consequences brought in its wake by the dismantling of the fa
ith in the contemporary world. Now the future of history was shown to him like a
n open book, in which could be seen the disastrous course toward which humanity
would drift if supernatural realities were weakened. And, in the background of i
ts pages, there opened a dark abyss into which souls were throwing themselves he
adlong. Suffering had prepared the founder for such perceptions, as a result of
a very intense love of Christ and of his Church. This made him feel responsible
for the mission of the Church.
Seeing this danger of souls being lost, the Father urgently called for prayer. "
We must," he said, "pray for souls, for the Church, because they want to nail Ch
rist to the cross once again."[23] In those bitter circumstances, he mobilized a
ll the internal energy he could muster, and the whole of his affective life, bec
ause his spirit had attained a powerful and harmonizing compenetration of supern
atural and human forces?a compenetration that translated into an impassioned apo
stolic zeal.[24] He suffered for souls; and that acute suffering brought forth h
ot tears. "I've never been a crybaby," he told his sons, "but those were very sw
eet tears, that burned my eyes; God gave them to me."[25]
The Father made great efforts to keep it from being seen that his sufferings wer
e on a par with those tears. Only in his prayer did he freely unburden himself.
But he could not hold back the tears when celebrating Mass and making his thanks
giving afterward. Fearing that the problem might be an eye infection, he was bro
ught to an ophthalmologist, but there turned out to be nothing medically wrong.
Most likely it was a case of the divine gift of tears.[26]
Bishop Javier Echevarra, who witnessed that great sorrow, testifies that the Fath
er's soul was crushed "starting in the sixties, when there began the great deser
tion of priests and religious all over the world. It was a sorrowful cry that he
continually gave voice to. He suffered for the Church, as he was always mention
ing; he suffered for those souls who abandoned their vocations; he suffered for
the souls who were scandalized by those desertions; he suffered at seeing the co
nfusion that the enemies of the Church were managing to stir up."[27]
He was not indifferent to anything that happened around him. He was naturally di
sposed to share in others' joys and sorrows. If he knew that someone was sufferi
ng, he felt affected too, even physically, in the depths of his paternal being.
When one of those spontaneous reactions would occur, he would offhandedly say to
those present, "Don't worry, I get it from my family; my good mother was affect
ed right away whenever something like this happened."[28] How could he be indiff
erent under such circumstances, when, on a daily basis, he was witness to so man
y offenses committed against the Lord, who had so generously paid with his blood
for humanity's redemption?
At that time, physical sufferings accompanied the moral ones. Around 1970 he was
afflicted by ailments caused by kidney dysfunction. His joints swelled, causing
him severe pain, which he hid as best he could.[29] In a conversation with his
custodes (Fathers Alvaro del Portillo and Javier Echevarra), he said:
This thing that I have is a very little thing. I want to offer it continually to
the Lord. And also the other thing?my suffering for the Church?which, yes, is r
eally big. The result is a good mix! The physical pain is taxing, but it is more

taxing when united with a moral pain borne for some time. But one has to say fi
at, cheerfully accepting God's will.[30]
"I am very tired," he said to them on another day (December 14, 1970), "but I ke
ep going by means of aspirations."[31] His physical sufferings, and also his emo
tional ones, flowed into a very painful concern for the Church and for souls?a c
oncern that on several occasions found clear expression. One example: "I love th
e Church with all my heart; and I've burned up my youth, my middle years, and my
old age serving her. I don't say it with regret, for I'd keep doing the same if
I had a thousand lifetimes."[32] And another: "The situation in the Church make
s me suffer. But what are we going to do? We have to hope and ask the Lord to pu
t an end to this avalanche."[33]
One day?it was November 1,1970?he spoke with obvious emotion to those on the Gen
eral Council. In life, he said, there come at times moments of darkness. Only wi
th faith can they be overcome, because at those times God seems to have gone int
o hiding. Undoubtedly the Father was shouldering some heavy burden, because on t
hat same day, while he was praying, his sons heard him say, "I am giving you, Lo
rd, the last little coins. Non ne posso piu![34] He was giving everything, with
total generosity; and God, in return, was loading him down with more suffering.
Bishop Echevarra recalls a remark made by the founder in 1971:

I don't know what it is to not have troubles. My life has been filled with suffe
ring, accepted with peace and supernatural joy. At first, I managed to make sure
no one noticed it. In this last while, the Lord has really been laying it on (a
nd doing this well!) so that I learn to take good advantage of everything and us
e it for purification, and also because I deserve it. I want to learn how to tak
e advantage of this passive mortification, loving tenderly the loveable will of
God.[35]

The nights when he got little or no sleep, his sons already knew the reason. It
was his concern about souls, about the risks to which they were being exposed.[3
6]
Reparation had to be made for thousands and thousands of defections. And to take
on such an enormous burden, he had to have recourse to the action of the Holy S
pirit, who continues to assist the Church in times of grief and darkness, "even
in the face of events we do not understand or which produce sighs or sorrow."[37
] He commented to his sons:

I realize perfectly well that I don't gain anything by getting sad, but I can't
help it. I suffer for the Church, and I suffer for souls! I am filled with sadne
ss, even though within I am filled with peace because I know that the Lord canno
t fail. Many times, I finish the day very fatigued by the effort to pray continu
ally?always begging, always begging!?with the confidence that the Lord has to li
sten to me; and then I try to convert the weight of that tiredness into prayer a
s well, and I offer to God my miseries, my good desires, and the good eagerness
to do many things that I would like to accomplish, but that I don't get to becau
se I don't have the time. I say with total abandonment, "Lord, for your Church,
for all souls, for my daughters and my sons, for me! Look, it's your Church, we
are your children, and souls are yours!" Thus I ready myself to take up once aga
in my struggle and my prayer.[38]

As the years went by, the intimacy of his conversation with our Lord in the Euch
arist had not been dimmed by routine. He kept fresh in his memory that trembling
that had come over him when, as a deacon, he had for the first time touched the
sacred host. With that great sensitivity he celebrated Mass on November 14, 1970
, saying silently to our Lord, "Lord, may I never grow used to being close to yo
u; may I love you like back then, when I touched you trembling with faith and lo
ve."[39]
With humility and deep gratitude he turned to God, our Father, on every occasion
. When he did anything the least bit wrong, he immediately begged pardon. He rep
ented even for involuntary distractions in his prayers. And he expressed gratitu

de for all the good things he received, including those he was unaware of or did
not remember. On April 19, 1971, he was breaking in some new shoes, and in the
get-togethers he had with his daughters and sons that day, many of them heard hi
m say, "I give thanks to God, for seeing to it that I have shoes, for looking af
ter me, for feeding me. Before, I didn't give thanks for all this; but now I do,
because I see that all these things are gifts from him. I also thank him for my
having two hands, two eyes, being normal."[40] Living, as he was, with a consta
nt concern for the battered Church, he sometimes viewed even the world of nature
from the perspective of that suffering. If the day dawned splendidly sunny?"out
there partying," as he put it?he regarded such euphoria as little less than an
insult, given the Church's affliction. But if the day was gray and rainy, it was
a welcome balm to his tear-burned eyes.[41] Externally, nevertheless, he had to
fight off the sadness that kept tugging at him and trying to mire him in melanc
holy. He had always cautioned his children against "long faces," recommending "a
constant smile, which so many times costs, and costs a lot; serving the Lord ch
eerfully, and serving others, also cheerfully, for him." [42] That was the spiri
t of Opus Dei. And with God's grace, the Father rose above his sufferings.
One of his daughters tells us that at that time, when he was suffering so much b
ecause of the damage being done to the Church, "one could, from day to day, see
hope growing in his soul, with a certitude that God would not fail to help the p
ersecuted Church.... And he invited us to be optimistic and cheerful, but with a
n optimism based on prayer and on reparation." [43]
He clung to the firm rock of divine filiation and meditated, with optimism, on h
ow everything comes to us from the merciful providence of God our Father. He aba
ndoned himself to him, totally putting himself in his hands. That abandonment wa
s not the soft quietism of a sleepy soul, but a strong, determined response, as
he explained to his sons on December 11,1972:

Moments come when it is necessary to ignore one's memory, give up one's understa
nding, submit one's will. It's hard, I repeat, because that activity of the soul
is only logical, like that of a clock that's been wound up and necessarily has
to go tick-tock. It is at times very hard, for it means reaching the age of seve
nty as a real infant, abandoning oneself completely. I put myself in the arms of
my Father-God, and go to my Mother, holy Mary, and trust fully, despite the rou
ghness of the path.[44]

Counting on the prayer of all his children, he felt fortified to keep pressing f
orward. He relied in a special way on the prayers of those on the General Counci
l and the Central Advisory, and in a very special way trusted in the efficacy of
the prayer and mortification of his numerary-assistant daughters.[45]

2. Some divine locutions

It was February 1962. In a get-together with his sons at the Roman College of th
e Holy Cross, the Father said, "Pray that things move forward. If it works out,
I'll tell you; if it doesn't, I'll tell you that it didn't work out."[46] He was
no more explicit than that. But in dialogue with the Lord, he asked him to show
his omnipotence and mercy by granting the special intention; by, that is, provi
ding Opus Dei with its definitive canonical configuration. Sometimes, when givin
g a meditation to those on the General Council, he would look at the tabernacle
and say, "Lord, shine forth! Do one of your things! Let it be seen that it's you
!"[47] He was not asking for a miracle in the strict sense, but for one of those
surprises that, for God's glory, leave everyone dumbfounded.
This was around the time that, at the insistence of Cardinal Ciriaci, he request
ed of the Holy See the establishment of Opus Dei as a prelature nullius, since i
n reality the Work was no longer a secular institute. As we have seen, that requ
est was not granted.
The founder accepted humbly the negative response of the Holy See. He was disapp
ointed, but not surprised. Keeping his promise, he told his children about the f

ailed attempt. And, at the same time, he insisted that they never lose their sup
ernatural perspective on everything, and that they keep praying for the special
intention, pestering our Lord God constantly, with perseverance, giving him no b
reak or truce.
God, who is the giver of every grace, who called us to his eternal glory through
Jesus Christ, will himself, after we have suffered a little while, restore and
establish and strengthen us (1 Pt 5:10). Therefore I say to each and every one o
f you, "Clama, ne cesses, quasi tuba exalta vocem tuam" (Is 58:1); cry out, do n
ot tire of praying, raise your voice, let it resound like a trumpet.[48]
The echo of that cry was often accompanied by tears. As founder, and as Father,
he had to guard the spiritual health of his children, opening their eyes to what
was happening.[49] He had to keep them strong in the faith, firmly rooted in so
und doctrine, faithful to the Church's magisterium. "In Opus Dei, as I have tire
lessly repeated to you, we strive always and in everything to sentire cum Eccles
ia,to feel with Christ's Church, our Mother"[50]

* * *

The life of the Father had become a silent holocaust. God made him share, in a v
ery up close and personal way, in the cross of his Son. "At my seventy years," h
e confessed, "with all the beating I've taken, I see it all as purification, bec
ause I am a wretch."[51]His life actually had been a continual purification, sta
rting with his childhood, when he had to suffer the losses of his three little s
isters and the hardships brought on by the family's financial setbacks. Then, in
the seminary and throughout his years as a priest, he had faced a multitude of
difficulties?humiliations, serious setbacks, persecution, and all kinds of other
sufferings. His capacity to bear so much with such serenity and cheerfulness wa
s truly amazing. The supernatural energy came to him, undoubtedly, from consider
ation of his divine filiation. Love had completely triumphed over suffering, bec
ause, as he explained to his children, even what seems bad to us is sent by God
for our good. "Don't forget," he said, "that if the Lord sends us something joyf
ul, it's because he loves us, and if he sends us something painful, it's to see
whether we love him."[52]

* * *

On May 8,1970?a week before his pilgrimage to Mexico, and eight years after the
solemn inauguration of the Second Vatican Council, * ??? when he had written his
children asking them to pray for the Church and the Work without pause or respi
te?the founder heard clearly in his soul the voice of the Lord. What he heard wa
s, "Si Deus nobiscum, qui contra nos?" ("If God is for us, who can be against us
?" [Rom 8:31]).[53] This locution brought him peace and the security of divine s
trength, since the arm of God is invincible. He does not lose battles, nor does
he fail to come to the aid of his children.
Upon his return from Mexico, the Father spent a few weeks in Premeno (a town in
northern Italy, close to Lake Maggiore), resting and working. On the morning of
August 6,1970, Father Javier went to serve the Father's Mass, as usual, and he f
ound him in front of the altar, absorbed in prayer. There were echoing in his so
ul some words of consolation by which God had given him to understand how pleasi
ng to him was that incessant clamor for the Church and the Work, and how intentl
y he listened to it.[54] Several years later, the founder spoke of this in a get
-together, using third person to keep himself out of the limelight.

Once there was a soul who was going through a time of great suffering. (This is
no holy soul; it's a soul like yours, that has its ups and downs, that has to be
braced up, with big braces.) And when he least expected it, while he was prayin
g hard for something that still hasn't happened, he heard in the depths of his h
eart, "Clama, ne cesses!" That soul didn't want to hear anything; he was sufferi
ng. But he listened: "Keep praying, clamorously, with strength; don't stop prayi
ng, because I do listen to you. Clama, ne cesses![55]


Only rarely did the Father mention these supernatural events; he would not do it
unless he considered it necessary for the good of the Work and of his children.
So we know little about the extraordinary graces that he received. But we do kn
ow some of them: for instance, that of August 23,1971. He was spending a few day
s in Caglio, a little village near the town of Como, in northern Italy. That mor
ning, after celebrating Mass, he was reading the newspaper, and suddenly, with g
reat clarity and irresistible force, there was imparted to his soul a divine loc
ution: "Adeamus cum fiducia ad thronum gloriae, ut mise-ricordiam consequamur" (
"Let us confidently approach the throne of glory, to obtain mercy").[56] After t
he locutions of 1970, which helped him so much in his persevering prayer for the
Church, there soon followed a "discovery": the action, the effusion, of the Hol
y Spirit in the Mass. This broadened his apostolic vision, enabling him to conte
mplate how, by divine goodness, there had come about "the flowering of Opus Dei
in souls of every race, language, and nation."[57] Monsignor Escriv felt the need
for another consecration of the family of Opus Dei. He would offer the Work to
the Holy Spirit, so that it might always be a faithful instrument in the service
of the Church.[58]
On May 30 (Pentecost Sunday), 1971, in the General Council's oratory, he consecr
ated the Work to the Holy Spirit. Behind the altar was a large illuminated stain
ed-glass window depicting the scene of Pentecost. The text of the consecration w
as read by Don Alvaro.[59] It implored that the Holy Spirit pour out on his fait
hful his gifts, one by one: the gift of understanding; the gift of wisdom; the g
ift of knowledge; and that of counsel; and that of fear; and that of fortitude,
"that it may make us firm in our faith, constant in our struggle, and faithfully
perseverant in the Work of God." And, finally, the gift of piety, "that it may
give us the feeling of our divine filiation, the joyful and supernatural conscio
usness of being children of God and, in Jesus Christ, everyone's brothers and si
sters."[60]
There was also a prayer for the People of God and its pastors, whose situation w
as the cause of so many tears:

We pray that you always assist your Church, and in particular the Roman Pontiff,
so that he may guide us with his word and with his example, and so that he may
attain eternal life together with the flock that has been entrusted to him. We p
ray that good shepherds never be lacking. And we pray that, with all of the fait
hful, we may serve you with holiness of life and integrity of faith and thus rea
ch the glory of heaven.[61]

Those painful tears born of love brought on a shower of graces. The "clama, ne c
esses!" stirred up in the soul of the Father a new spirit of vigilance which kep
t him on high alert, always closely attentive to God. Each divine locution was a
step up, a rung on the ladder, a silent game between God and his soul. Stamped
by fire, indelibly, on his spirit, the words opened up new channels of love.
At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, he sought refuge in the Sacred Heart of Jes
us, the tabernacle of the divine mercy. When, at the beginning of September 1971
, he returned from Caglio, he counseled his children to recite often the aspirat
ion "Cor Iesu Sacratissimum et Misericors, dona nobis pacem!" ("Most sacred and
merciful heart of Jesus, grant us peace!").[62] Thus, little by little, in a pie
cemeal way, the Father was showing his children something of the action of the H
oly Spirit in his soul. In October 1971, for example, he spoke to them of the ac
t of abandonment that he had composed: "O Lord, my God, into your hands I abando
n the past and the present and the future, what is small and what is great, what
amounts to a little and what amounts to a lot, things temporal and things etern
al." And then, looking very pensive, he said to them, "To arrive at this act of
abandonment, you have to lose your skin."[63]
The divine locutions led the Father to a complete detachment. Shortly after hear
ing the "Clama, ne cesses," he told his children: "I am always on the alert for
God; I am more off the earth than on it."[64] These locutions redirected his int
erior life, sending it along new channels of love, towards the merciful sentimen

ts of the heart of Jesus. "In any profession," he said disconsolately, "after so

many years, I would now be a master. In the love of God I am always an apprenti
ce."[65]
The brief locutions were touches of grace that strengthened his soul and sustain
ed him in the constant struggle against discouragement. They were simple brushst
rokes painted by the divine artist to provoke heroic responses in the founder?wh
ich they did. By this time the Father had more than enough experience to be able
to recognize that unmistakable "something" that marks the words of God. In his
particular case, he described that the distinctive notes of the locutions: they
were "brief, concrete, without being heard by the ear?and came without being sou
ght."[66]

* * *

Not infrequently does it happen that people think they can do without God; they
see no reason they can't turn their backs on him and just live on their own. "Th
ey deceive themselves," the founder said. "Though they may not know it, they are
stretched out like the paralytic at the pool of Bethsaida?unable to move toward
the waters which save, toward the doctrine which puts joy into the soul."[67] T
hey do not realize that they have in their souls a vacuum; that what they really
have inside is sadness, spiritual desolation.
There are also Catholics who, knowing themselves to be in the Church, feel very
satisfied. "To be in the Church is already much, but it is not enough. We must b
e the Church, because our Mother must never be a stranger to us, something exter
nal, foreign to our deepest thoughts."[68]
Undoubtedly, people who think and act in such ways have not penetrated into the
supernatural reality of the Church, into its mystery. Perhaps they see only a hu
man structure, and not an institution of divine origin; they do not perceive the
indivisible unity between the People of God and its head, which is Christ, the
Spouse and sanctifier of his Mystical Body. Perhaps they forget the weakness of
the human condition, the fact that the Church necessarily has in it lots of peop
le with lots of faults and failings, and that it is also governed by human being
s, even though they are assisted by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps they look at things
from an earthbound perspective, superficially, without rising to the sanctifyin
g mystery of the Church, which, as the founder sang, penetrates to life eternal
for the salvation of mankind:

Holy, holy, holy, we dare sing to the Church, evoking a hymn in honor of the Ble
ssed Trinity. You are holy, O Church, my mother, because the Son of God, who is
holy, founded you. You are holy, because the Father, source of all holiness, so
ordained it. You are holy, because the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the souls of t
he faithful, assists you, in order to gather together the children of the Father
, who will dwell in the Church of heaven, the eternal Jerusalem.[69]

In the face of human wretchedness shines the great mercy of the Church. After ad
mitting us to her bosom by Baptism, she sanctifies us with maternal care. Her gr
eatness stands out in the priestly power which proceeds from Christ. And the sav
ing mediation between God and mankind is perpetuated in the Church.
The Father lived in contemplation of the ineffable mystery of the Church. He suf
fered at seeing some Catholics foolishly tearing apart its unity. He loved the C
hurch madly, because it was the reason for his life and the reason for the exist
ence of Opus Dei. Because why would he want Opus Dei if it were not to serve the
Church? Had he lived in a time of persecution and been called upon to witness h
is faithfulness to the Church by martyrdom, he would happily have done so.[70] "
My children," he often said, "the good of the Church above everything! The faith
of the Church must be defended continually and constantly with one's very life,
in all circumstances.?[71]
The wounds to the Church caused the Father great suffering. It was as if stones
were ripped out of a cathedral. He wished he could lovingly kiss those blocks of
stone and put them back in place.[72]

For him it was all really a question of love.[73] The Church, wounded and mistre
ated, asked of her children fidelity. She needed them; and the best way to make
reparation was to love more and better. As a first measure, the founder offered
his life for the Church and for the Pope; he started doing this every single day
.[74] And thus he reached the morning of June 26,1975. On that morning he prayed
at Mass for the Church and for the Pope, and, just hours before his death, rene
wed his offering of "my life, and a thousand lives if I had them." [75]

* * *

What to do? The Father asked himself this question a thousand times. What remedy
could be found for all this rebellion and contempt that had broken out against
the Church? How contain an avalanche that threatened to destroy centuries-old be
liefs, customs, and devotions?
He saw very clearly that the Church needed for all Catholics to come actively to
her defense. And so, on Palm Sunday (April 4) of 1971, he preached a homily enc
ouraging the faithful to increase their loyalty to Christ's doctrine, no one thi
nking they are exempt.
The Father called for "a beautiful war of peace," explaining that the violence i
nvolved "is not directed against others. It is a violence used to fight your own
weaknesses and miseries, a fortitude which prevents you from camouflaging your
own infidelities, a boldness to own up to the faith even when the environment is
hostile."[76]
The Father preached the need for an interior battle against selfishness, sensual
ity, and pride, pointing out that those who do not constantly struggle expose th
emselves to all sorts of slavery?slavery to power, to money, to vanity, to sensu
ality?and that the only effective way to conduct the battle is by the means of p
rayer, mortification, and frequent use of the sacraments. "I'll tell you," he sa
id, "a secret, an open secret: these world crises are crises of saints."[77] And
with that he returned to his point of departure, the initial theme of his inces
sant preaching: the universal call to sanctity.
As shepherd of the Work, the Father had the responsibility of spiritually guidin
g this portion of the People of God, and primarily by example. His piety was a m
arvelous lesson on faith for those who lived with him. Especially instructive wa
s the passionate love that emanated from his actions, expressions, and words rel
ating to the Blessed Sacrament, in his visits to the oratory, the Masses he cele
brated, Eucharistic processions, and other liturgical ceremonies.[78]He also she
pherded souls by staying vigilant on doctrinal matters, so that the faithful of
Opus Dei and the others involved in its apostolates received clear guidelines re
garding the books that were showing up on the market, the drifts of the new publ
ications, the leanings of their authors. Finally, he kept attentive watch over t
he fulfillment of the norms of piety, the administration of the sacraments, the
liturgical carefulness, and the intense pastoral labor of the priests of the Wor
k. He took every measure he could to facilitate the faithfulness of his children
.
In the face of the danger that souls were in, the Father took upon himself the r
esponsibility of keeping the faithful of Opus Dei safe. But he adopted a positiv
e attitude. Armed with the security that the faith provides, he called for advan
ce and not retreat; it was necessary to purify the world. As made by God, the wo
rld was not bad; but it had been made so by people. He was not unaware that retu
rning it clean to God would require a gigantic cleaning operation, carried out i
n all sectors and for many, many years.
The Father often spoke about boats and nets?the barque of Peter, the nets of Chr
ist, and the mission of the twelve apostles, whom the Lord had turned into "fish
ers of men." And he also connected the dots between ecological concerns, which w
ere at that time just beginning to receive widespread attention, and spiritual o
nes. In a meditation that he gave on the involvement of the men and women of Opu
s Dei in the apostolic task of fishing for souls, he said:

Well, it could happen that some of those fish, some of those people, on seeing w

hat is happening all over the world and within God's Church, on being faced with
that sea that looks covered with filth, and those rivers seemingly filled with
disgusting slime, where they can find neither food nor oxygen?if those fish coul
d think (and we are talking about fish that can think, since they have souls), t
here might come into their heads the decision to say, "That's enough; I'll take
a leap and get out! There's no point to living this way. I'll take refuge on the
shore, and there I'll give a few gasps and breathe a little oxygen. I've had en
ough!"
No, my children; we have to continue on in the midst of this putrid world, in th
e midst of this sea of turbid waters; in the midst of those rivers that pass thr
ough the big cities and tiny hamlets, and that don't have in their waters the ab
ility to fortify the body, or to quench thirst, because they are polluted. My ch
ildren, we must always be in the middle of the street, in the middle of the worl
d, striving to create around us a pool of clean water, so that other fish can co
me, and together we can broaden the pool, purifying the river, restoring the qua
lity of the water in the sea.
Never give in to discouragement. Come on! Swim against the current. How? With an
invocation of our Lady, of the maternal and most pure Heart of Holy Mary: "Sanc
ta Maria, refugium nostrum et virtus! You are our refuge and our strength." Stay
calm. We don't want to leave the world. We don't want to shorten the days, even
when they get very long for us; even when we see that those who could be doing
so are not purifying the waters, but, rather, contributing to the contamination
of the rivers by dumping toxic substances into the midst of the great oceans, wh
ich cannot be freed of all that evil....
This, my children, is what, in your name and mine, I often ask of the Lord. That
this world that he has made, and that we human beings are defiling, may revert
to being what it was when it came forth from his hands: beautiful, uncorrupted,
an antechamber to paradise.[79]

3. In "the house of the Common Father"

In the visit that Pope Paul made to Centro ELIS on November 21,1965, the venerat
ion that the founder had for the Vicar of Christ was obvious. He could not hide
the fact that he was moved by the presence of the Holy Father. His trembling han
ds betrayed his emotions as he read the words of welcome. On the following day h
e expressed his thanks to His Holiness, saying that the opportunity to have him
physically present there and experience "your paternal affection so closely and
warmly" had been for all of them a special cause of encouragement and joy.[80]
A week later he felt the need to thank the then-Bishop Dell'Acqua, the Vatican's
Undersecretary of State, for his role in the preparing of the visit. He wrote:

I can tell you, with fraternal confidence, that I was deeply moved the whole tim
e that I had the great honor of accompanying His Holiness. I am?as I've had occa
sion to tell Your Excellency at other times?a poor sinner, but, by the grace of
God, one with strong faith and a great love for Jesus Christ, for his Church, an
d for his Vicar. So it filled me with deep emotion to find myself so close to th
e "sweet Christ on earth"? and in a special way on this occasion, because of the
great affection that I have for His Holiness.
Indeed, there came to my memory, the recollection of how very kind the Holy Fath
er has been to me over so many years. It was the then Msgr. Montini who obtained
for me the joy of having His Holiness Pius XII, of happy memory, grant me an au
dience. It was the first time I had a chance to speak with the pope!
The intense emotion I felt at that encounter was made possible thanks to him, as
I told him back then. And I am telling you all this because I know that thus Yo
ur Excellency will be able to understand me better and not be surprised if I con
fess that I feel a great?holy?envy because you have the good fortune to get to s
ee and speak with the Holy Father frequently.[81]

Scarcely had the Council closed when reforms of all sorts were introduced?in ecc

lesiastical organization, in pastoral matters, in the liturgy?often on an experi

mental basis and without due authorization from the Holy See or the bishops. The
actual contradiction between some of those practices and the directives of the
Church authorities led to disorder. As Pope Paul himself had observed when he se
rved as the Vatican's Undersecretary of State, bad news always reaches the Holy
Father right away, but no one sees to it that good news also reaches him.[82] So
the founder took every opportunity to give joy to the Holy Father, telling him
in writing, either directly or by way of the Undersecretary of State, of his abs
olute and filial adherence to the chair of Peter, and sharing with him apostolic
news that would make him happy.
At the request of Bishop Dell'Acqua, the founder sent to the Secretariat of Stat
e his views on various questions. This (together, of course, with the close frie
ndship there was between them) accounts for the large amount of correspondence b
etween the Father and the Undersecretary of State.
But this kind of contact with the Roman Pontiff, supplemented by some personal l
etters to him, was not enough. The founder wanted direct contact, face to face.
He wanted to hear the Pope's voice, see his face, be close to him. What happened
, however, is that when he did manage to get an audience, he enjoyed it so much
that the time flew by, and he did not get to all the matters he had wanted to co
ver.
By December 1965, the printings of The Way had reached the two million mark. To
commemorate this, a special edition was published. It was a collector's edition,
in Spanish; and the proceeds were to go to a social-service project run by Opus
Dei members in Seville. The founder wanted to give, in person, the first copy t
o the Pope, as an act of thanksgiving to God and of adherence to the Vicar of Ch
rist on earth.[83]
An audience arranged by Bishop Dell'Acqua took place on January 25, 1966. Four d
ays later, Monsignor Escriv thanked the bishop by letter, saying:

You can't imagine the profound joy and intense emotion I always feel when I am p
ermitted to speak with His Holiness. I give thanks to God for the love and great
veneration for the Roman Pontiff that he has given me. I am unable to "get used
" to these happy encounters, even though I always feel completely at home, like
a son speaking with his father. I think that only after a month of frequent conv
ersation with the Holy Father could I manage to express fully what I feel inside
.[84]

A year and a half later, the founder requested another audience with Pope Paul,
in order to give him in person some medals commemorating that visit to Centro EL
IS in 1965?and really, as he himself put it, "to take advantage of the occasion
and speak with the Holy Father exclusively about things that give him consolatio
n and joy."[85]
The audience took place on July 15, 1967, in the morning. In the afternoon of th
at very same day, the founder sent to the now-Cardinal Dell'Acqua a thank-you le
tter saying, "To be received by the Vice Christ on earth is always for me a most
precious gift from the Lord, a cause of great consolation, and a vigorous boost
for my soul and for the apostolic work of all of Opus Dei."[86]
The founder, after giving the Holy Father the commemorative medals, spoke to him
about the fruitful apostolic work of his daughters and sons, knowing the Pope w
ould enjoy the good news. "Amid the daily and overwhelming concerns that his mos
t high mission and untiring apostolic zeal impose upon him, they seem to be a li
ttle ray of joy," he wrote to Cardinal Dell'Acqua. And he continued:

Your Eminence, with the marvelous audience of this morning I feel recompensed fo
r the many sufferings that the Lord, in his loving providence, has permitted me
to undergo during these last 40 years. And I owe all this to Your Eminence. Plea
se be assured that, just as I pray every day for God's Church and for the Pope,
I also remember Your Eminence daily in my prayers. Praying is the only thing I c
an do. My poor service to the Church boils down to this. And every time I consid
er my limitations, I feel filled with strength because I know and feel that it i

s God who does everything, intervening with his power to give effect to the smal
lness of creatures like me, that have nothing to give and that are nothing.[87]

At the beginning of September 1967 the founder was at Castel d'Urio, a retreat h
ouse and conference center near Lake Como, in northern Italy; and from there he
went on to Paris where he wrote to Cardinal Dell'Acqua to say that his prayer fo
r the health of the Holy Father was constant, although, he expected that he woul
d soon recover. He then told the cardinal an anecdote which he hoped would get a
smile out of the patient.
This is the story: When the founder and Don Alvaro were passing through Avignon,
they got out of the car, to stretch their legs, in front of the Papal Palace. T
here three soldiers of the Foreign Legion, completely drunk, on seeing them in c
assocks came up to them. The wine must have strengthened their religious enthusi
asm, because the three of them, turning to Don Alvaro, asked him in chorus about
the health of the Pope, "parce que nous aimons beaucoup le Pape," they said ver
y seriously. Don Alvaro allayed their concerns and urged them to pray for the Ho
ly Father. Which they promised to do; and then they staggered away.[88]
The founder's love for the Pope had deep theological roots. Regardless of the pe
rsonal qualities of the reigning pontiff, whether this was Pius XII, John XXIII,
or Paul VI, the founder saw him as the Vicar of Christ and the common father of
all Catholics. But, besides being motivated by theological considerations, that
affection was also a deeply human one, as is evidenced by the attitude the foun
der showed in the face of some distressing events he had to deal with in the yea
rs that followed.

* **

From the time of his encounter with the legionnaires until that of his return to
Rome, exactly one month had elapsed. Having spent that time making apostolic vi
sits to several countries, he now went to Spain to preside, as Grand Chancellor
of the University of Navarre, at a ceremony in which six honorary doctorates wou
ld be awarded, and then at the second assembly of the Friends of the University
of Navarre. On October 8, 1967, he celebrated Mass on the university campus, bef
ore some thirty thousand people from all over Spain and from other countries. He
was tired after those weeks of intense activity, but the prospect of the pastor
al endeavors to come revived him. There before him was a crowd that to him repre
sented, as he put it, "a moving manifestation of faith and of love for the holy
Church; and also (though it embarrasses me to say so) of affection for me, who a
m a sinner who loves Jesus Christ."[89]
From Spain he returned to Rome, where (after resting for a few days) he met with
Cardinal Dell'Acqua, to discuss some problems that were preoccupying him. And h
e found in the cardinal "a sincere and priestly understanding" that led him to a
fterwards take up his pen and fraternally unburden himself to him. (How often it
had been the other way around, he giving consolation and advice to the Undersec
retary of State!) He hesitated a little before starting to write, because what h
e had to write about was no small matter. If he wavered, it was not for fear tha
t his assertions might prove unfounded, for there was plenty of evidence. It was
because he knew himself; he knew how prone he was to speaking the truth too cle
arly. So he paused and considered the gravity of what he had to say, before putt
ing it into writing on October 29,1967.
Forgive me, Your Eminence, these confidences of mine. I am always calm, happy, a
nd cheerful. But a bow cannot stay always taut. That is why I feel the deep need
to tell someone of this sorrow that has been weighing on my soul for so many ye
ars now. Believe me, Your Eminence, that I am not exaggerating, because there ar
e a lot of sad facts that I won't mention. Then again, Your Eminence already kno
ws me quite well. And I think that the Holy Father, too, knows that I speak very
sincerely, without bitterness or resentment, and that I like to say things with
the greatest clarity and the greatest charity. It is the charity of Christ that
now impels me to defend this Work of God that he has entrusted to my hands, and
the efficacious, holy, and silent apostolic life of my children.[90]

The letter is filled to the brim with sorrow, not because it is about new slurs,
but because this time they were coming from a consultor of the Curia, who was a
iring his opinions as though they reflected the official position of the Secreta
riat of State.[91] Further on in the letter, the founder asks:

Don't you think, Your Eminence, that it's high time that?in nomine Domini?an end
be put to this absurd opposition, for which there's no reason (because what evi
l have we done?) and which is perfectly avoidable, since it's coming from the ho
use of the Common Father?[92]

His reflections then turn to the considerable number of people who seem to have
no understanding, either theoretical or practical, of the spirit and apostolates
of Opus Dei.

I suppose that the human cause of such an attitude has to be sought in the fact
that these people don't know?it doesn't enter into their heads?what a layperson
is. They don't understand what it means to work without ambition in the service
of the holy Church, without compromising her, using the holy freedom that any la
yperson enjoys in the field of action conferred upon him or her by the fact of h
aving been baptized, of just being one of the faithful. Such is their idea of th
e layman that, when they want to show that they love him, they right away think
about what? Making him a deacon.

After that, in a confidential tone, he continues:

I will keep striving to love and serve the Church better each day. Yesterday, th
inking about this during the celebration of Holy Mass, I shed bittersweet tears.
When I was young I did this often, but now it's been several years since this h
appened to me. Don't worry, Your Eminence; all the upsetting incidents I've ment
ioned do not prevent us from constantly growing in our love for the holy Church
and the Pope. As you know, I recently went on a trip. Its purpose was not to loo
k for applause, but to serve the Church and to save souls.
Finally, he mentions to the cardinal that the formula for the consecration of th
e Work to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is recited each year, on the feast of
Christ the King, by all his daughters and sons, includes this sentence: "Give u
s a great love for the Church and the Pope, which is expressed in deeds of servi
ce." [93]

* * *

When Monsignor Escriv complained to Cardinal Dell'Acqua about that sad situation,
the cardinal had already left his position as Undersecretary of State for Ordin
ary Affairs in the hands of his successor, Bishop Giovanni Benelli.[94] The new
Undersecretary, a former advisor of the nunciature in Madrid, had been consecrat
ed bishop on September 11, 1966, and had served as apostolic pro-nuncio in Seneg
al and apostolic delegate for West Africa before being called to Rome, to the Se
cretariat of State, in June 1967.[95]
The departure of Cardinal Dell'Acqua and the arrival of Bishop Benelli represent
ed for the founder, and for the history of the Work, something more than a chang
e of players. There was also a change of scene, an ushering in of new procedures
and policies. With regard to the Work, the atmosphere in certain sectors became
less cordial. In the first place, the communication channel created during the
Dell'Acqua era disappeared; news about Opus Dei no longer easily reached the ear
s of the Holy Father. And then there was, as we saw earlier, the Curia's protrac
ted delaying of the establishing of the school of theology at the University of
Pamplona.
Months went by, and the founder felt a need to communicate in person to the Holy
Father news about the apostolic work of members of Opus Dei, as well as the ste
ps being taken toward a resolving of the institutional question. He had not fail
ed, during all of this time, to keep periodically assuring His Holiness of his "

filial and unquestioned adherence to the Chair of Peter" and of the fervent pray
ers of his children.[96] Since he had no one to facilitate for him a meeting wit
h the Pope, he decided to request it through the Prefect of the Apostolic Palace
. He did this in December 1968. But the weeks went by without his hearing anythi
ng back. So, on February 4,1969, he wrote to Bishop Benelli, asking his help in
obtaining an audience. He sent along with this letter one for Pope Paul, in whic
h he expressed his great need to manifest the profound veneration and gratitude
that he felt for him.[97]
In the following week he received a handwritten letter from the Holy Father, ack
nowledging that show of filial devotion and paternally thanking him for the cons
olation given him by the good news about the apostolic work of Opus Dei.[98] But
there was no mention of the requested audience.
In the spring of 1969 he learned that a special commission had been created for
the purpose of revising Opus Dei's statutes. We have already seen how his pruden
t and quick intervention succeeded in deflecting the danger. But the disappearan
ce of that special commission did not imply a favorable change in the attitudes
of certain individuals within the Curia toward Opus Dei. The blockings of the ne
gotiations continued?a clear sign that it was not a good time to resubmit any pr
oposal concerning the institutional question.
Unfortunately, these episodes were not isolated events. From comments made to hi
m by several Church officials, Monsignor Escriv learned that around him was being
created a vacuum, fenced in by a circle of hostility, without the knowledge of
the Holy Father.[99]
Those who declared their friendship for the founder also fell into official disg
race, and he was deeply grateful for the loyalty of so many. On April 27,1970, h
e wrote to Cardinal Dell'Acqua:

It has made me very happy to see, once again, that God has given you the grace t
o deeply grasp our spirit?and, as essential points of it, the love for and const
ant loyalty to the Church and the Pope, and the apostolic yearning to bring all
souls to Christ. This affectionate understanding of yours has been for us, and i
s for us, a great stimulus and consolation, helping us to love more each day our
Mother the Church and Christ's Vicar on earth.
I am deeply moved, and deeply grateful, at seeing the courage with which Your Em
inence takes every opportunity to spread the truth about our Work. It is a great
service you are rendering to the Church, but?it is only fair that I say this?it
is also a heroic service, given the present circumstances.[100]

Were the circumstances so perilous as to warrant describing the cardinal's loyal

ty as heroic? It seems incredible, but the facts speak for themselves. The situa
tion had to be serious indeed if the founder felt it necessary to go to Marian s
hrines in Spain and Portugal, imploring help from heaven.
A few days after that letter was written, as we noted earlier, God made resound
in the founder's soul these words: "Si Deus nobiscurn, quis contra nos?" ("If Go
d is for us, who can be against us?"). And on August 6, 1970, came that other en
couraging locution, "Clama, ne cesses!" ("Cry out, without ceasing!").
When Cardinal Dell'Acqua was named Cardinal Vicar of Rome, the founder right awa
y sent congratulations. He wrote to him on November 10, 1970, saying that he wan
ted to see him, but "in the present circumstances, my presence in your office at
the Lateran could somehow entail or give rise to difficulties for Your Eminence
."[101]
Otherwise, to spare His Holiness any unpleasant news, and because of the great l
ove that he had for the Church, he preferred to keep quiet, as he had done for a
lmost forty years.[102] He imposed on himself a voluntary silence?but not a ster
ile passivity. He kept praying, and he kept working at forming souls apostolical
ly. "As for me," he writes to the cardinal, "I continue praying and working, esp
ecially writing. Because, as you well know, for many years now, for love of the
Church and souls, Escriv de Balaguer has been maintaining a scrupulous silence?bu
t Escriv escribe!"[103]

* **

From the time of the changeover in the Secretariat of State, in the summer of 19
67, the founder had not been able to see the Pope again. His requests for an aud
ience had not reached the ears of Pope Paul. Some in Rome went around saying tha
t Opus Dei was not well regarded. It was completely unfounded. However, this fab
rication helped intensify the attitude of distrust that a few had towards Mon-si
gnor Escriv and his Work.[104]
In that historical context, he received a letter from Cardinal Jean Villot, date
d January 25,1971. In it he was asked to give the Secretariat of State the names
of all the members of Opus Dei who worked in the Roman Curia. By this time he h
ad already heard, from several cardinals who were friends of his, that they had
received indications, which they found rather shocking, that they were not to gi
ve any ecclesiastical position to any member of Opus Dei. The request made by Ca
rdinal Villot?such a dry one, presented with no explanation was probably motivat
ed by the calumnious rumors that some irresponsible individuals were circulating
. Opus Dei, it was being said, was trying to control the government of the Churc
h. It was clear that a witch hunt had been launched.[105]
The founder answered the cardinal in a carefully written letter, dated February
2,1971:

I received your esteemed letter of January 25. With the greatest pleasure I hast
en to comply with your request, although it concerns information that has alread
y been in the possession of the Holy See for a long time now.
Indeed, all the members of Opus Dei who are currently working in the Roman Curia
?and they are well known to be such, since, like any other member of the Work, t
hey have never hidden their belonging to our Association?occupy their respective
positions by explicit request of the Holy See itself, which, therefore, is awar
e of their belonging to the Work before their appointment.[106]

Then come the requested data: the name of each member, the position he holds, th
e name of the cardinal who had him appointed to the Curia, etc. It was a short l
ist. In all, there were four with regular positions, and another four or five wh
o worked there on an occasional basis, as advisors of Sacred Congregations or Co
mmissions.[107]
The letter closes with a brief reference to a possible plot being organized by s
ome detractors of Opus Dei:

With the assurance of having responded exhaustively to what Your Eminence asked
of me, I remain entirely at your disposition for any further clarifying. I trust
, however, that this won't be necessary, since the members of Opus Dei, as well
as the corporate apostolic activities they organize in service of souls and of t
he Church, are well known everywhere and by everyone. Furthermore, as requests o
f this type are not very frequent, when I am offered an opportunity to meet with
Your Eminence let me tell you certain anecdotes that might explain how such a r
equest could have come about.[108]

Prior to these events, Cardinal Villot had always shown himself to be cordial an
d sympathetic to Opus Dei.[109] The same was true of Bishop Benelli; during the
years when he held posts in Spain, France, and Senegal, he had maintained an aff
ectionate friendship with the founder.[110] But shortly after their appointments
to the Secretariat of State, both of these men began to behave more coldly, goi
ng from cordiality to a certain wariness. Monsignor Escriv took this treatment wi
th equanimity, without harboring the least bit of rancor toward anyone. He praye
d for those who were making him uncomfortable, and tried to find out the reasons
for the odd behavior of the two dignitaries; he wanted to correct himself if he
had done something wrong. But it was all to no avail. He sought dialogue, and e
ncountered silence.
Various causes could have provoked this negative attitude against Opus Dei. This
was an era of postconciliar agitation and of doctrinal tensions. And it is not

surprising that the clarity of ideas preached by the founder, the growth of the
apostolates of the Work, and the different way of focusing the mission of the la
y Christian in the life of the Church could be misunderstood.[111] Nevertheless,
there is no doubt that the root cause of the problem has to be sought elsewhere
, if we want to understand such a sudden change.
The explanation perhaps lies in the fact that Bishop Benelli?undoubtedly in his
desire to serve the Church?thought that he should intervene in Spain's political
situation, which was undergoing a transition that seemed to pose difficulties f
or the Church.[112] The point here was the question of the freedom of the laity
in temporal matters, which had already caused considerable misunderstanding and
trouble for the founder in the past. Bishop Benelli never told Monsignor Escriv t
he reason for his change of attitude, but this seems the most logical hypothesis
.[113]
(With the passing of time, his suspicion of Opus Dei disappeared and there bloss
omed, instead, a sincere affection, evidenced by his deeds. As soon as he heard
about the death of the founder, he showed up, clearly moved, to pray before his
mortal remains. And on May 3, 1979, by which time he was Archbishop of Florence
and a cardinal, he wrote to the Holy Father requesting the introduction of the c
ause of beatification of Monsignor Escriv. His premature death prevented him from
giving testimony in the process, but this is what he said in the above-mentione
d letter: "The memory that I have of the founder is that of a man of virtues, an
imated by a great love for the Church. He always seemed to me to be very determi
ned when it came to seeking the good of the Church and of souls, showing himself
most faithful in following the directives of the Holy See, to which he professe
d unconditional devotion." He closed with these lines: "Reflecting on these fact
s, I think it would be good to consider the appropriateness of proposing the fig
ure of Monsignor Escriv as a model of Christian virtues to priests and to laypeop
le, initiating the cause of his beatification."[114])
The prejudices and harassment on the part of some individuals in the Curia conti
nued for years. They sowed distrust, slowed down the progress of the work of apo
stolate, and looked for ways to humiliate the founder.[115] Another sad episode
took place in the fall of 1972.
The founder, who had spent two months preaching in Spain and Portugal, found on
his return a "strictly confidential" letter, dated October 30, 1972, from Cardin
al Villot, asking that he give him "explicit assurance" that neither the particu
lar law nor the praxis of Opus Dei "involves the obligation or the custom [on th
e part of its members] to reveal to their superiors, or to other designated indi
viduals, things learned in their service to the Church or the Holy See in genera
l," and in particular, to certain ecclesiastical organs.[116]
The founder immediately wrote back, assuring him that "neither the law nor the p
raxis of Opus Dei ever leads, either directly or indirectly, to any violation of
professional secrecy." He then added, "I also take advantage of this occasion t
o state that the spirit and asceticism of Opus Dei foster, on the contrary, a co
mpletely different way of acting."[117]
The request touched upon nothing less than his priestly honor, which he had guar
ded so carefully since his ordination. It seemed to be a calculated suggestion o
f doubt. The founder firmly rebutted the insinuation, though his response is cal
m, spiritual, and mild:

I cannot hide from you the fact that the implication of the question produced in
my heart a feeling of surprise and of understandable sadness, born exclusively?
believe me?of the great love I have for the Church, to which for so many years I
have dedicated my life (and I think not in vain). Born also of the firm assuran
ce I have of the good spirit with which my children serve it everywhere, often i
n circumstances that are difficult and, humanly speaking, thankless. Nevertheles
s, I can at the same time assure you that the Lord, faithful support of my weakn
ess, has immediately helped me lift my spirits.

And he continues on the next line:

I would appreciate it, Your Eminence, if you would kindly let the Holy Father kn
ow that I returned yesterday from a long trip, of two months' duration. Every da
y, and for quite a lot of hours each day, I did nothing but insist to many thous
ands of people, of every social class, on the need, now more than ever, to reinf
orce and augment in their hearts their love for the Church and for the Pope, fou
ndation and guardian of unity and truth, as successor of Saint Peter. With that
I was simply continuing to do what, with God's help, I have been doing since 192
5, the year I was ordained to the priesthood.[118]

* * *

With the passing of time, the situation improved. And finally, 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 me
eting. "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 ho
w 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, exclaime
d, "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 fr
om himself by saying, "Here on earth there is only one saint [santo]: the Holy F
ather [el Santo Padre].?[119]
The Pope's conviction was shared by many, including bishops and cardinals, nunci
os and advisors, people in the Curia and administrative employees, theologians a
nd canonists.[120] Although the founder's firm attitude was not always understoo
d by some of them, this made no difference. His very opponents were often the fi
rst to respect and admire him and consider him a man of God, a holy man.[121] He
was strong-minded, but at the same time pleasant and friendly, someone constant
ly being sought out for a word of advice or consolation.
He saw the Roman Pontiff as our "Common Father," and for him the Vatican was "th
e house of our Common Father, and not an anonymous administrative center."[122]
He was, for all of his life, a great defender of the Roman Curia. "In it," he sa
id, "there is hidden a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of holiness, that
goes unnoticed by most people."[123]

4. "Fight, for love, to the last moment"

In his personal journal there is an entry, probably made on December 31,1932, th

at consists of a few reflections on life and the fleetingness of time, presumabl
y ideas for a meditation or talk:

1932. End of year. The conclusion of the year lends itself to serious and profit
able reflections, which it is important that we not miss.
We're just passing through ... like a comet... or a river... We are not convince
d! A year has disappeared! One more year of life? One year less![124]

Then come further considerations on the transitory nature of our earthly life an
d on the final moment when we will be stripped of our garment of flesh:

Look at how the end approaches: like the waves that break, one after the other,
on the beach; or the leaves that eventually all fall. A few at first... then tha
t one and the other... and you and me. Our homeland: heaven.[125]

A lot of years of the Father's life had gone by when on December 31, 1971, in th
e evening, he reflected on the course of history. Not the happy events of the fo
undation, but the situation in which the Church now found herself. He seemed tir
ed, very tired. "It's not the years; I think it's the love,"[126] he told his so
ns on the General Council, who listened to him in silence.

At the other side of the garden, students of the Roman College of the Holy Cross
were singing Christmas carols, and the sound floated into the Villa. The Father
started speaking again, but this time slowly, as if in a soliloquy. He tried to
capture in a few words his feelings about that year that was ending. That very
day, he had written himself a note on the subject, and now he took it out and re
ad it to them: "This is our destiny on earth: to struggle, for love, until the l
ast moment. Deo gratias!"[127]
Then he spoke to them of his sorrow and love for the Church, which was going thr
ough a long period of tribulation. "We can't wash our hands of this," he said. "
We have denied ourselves an earthly love in order to save souls. We have a great
er duty and a greater right!"[128]
He had cast a quick glance back over that last year, 1971. Not letting discourag
ement drag him down, he decided to begin again a new life?a fresh, clean life de
dicated in generous sacrifice to the Lord. It was not that any drastic changes w
ere needed, and it was not really because he was on the threshold of a new year.
The fact is, as he told them, life is a continual starting over; one is always
having to repair the rips in one's interior life, make acts of contrition, throw
oneself, repentant, in the arms of God, like the prodigal son. "Human life is i
n some way a constant returning to our Father's house. We return through contrit
ion."[129]
On that December 31 he made a general confession and got ready to begin a new li
fe of service to the Church. Thus he transformed the old refrain "A new year, a
new life" into his motto for 1972: "A new year, a new struggle." One year was no
t much time in which to change the world. But the Father was not a pessimist. Ye
s, those twelve months would fly, but a willingness to improve in the interior l
ife would, with the help of grace, make them supernaturally fruitful.
Time is a treasure that melts away. It escapes from us, slipping through our fin
gers like water through the mountain rocks. Yesterday is gone, and today is pass
ing by. Tomorrow will soon be another yesterday. Our lives are so very short. Bu
t what a great deal can be done for the love of God in this short space of time!
[130]
He therefore dedicated himself to instilling in the souls of all he came in cont
act with, and especially, of course, his sons and daughters, the need to grow in
love for the Church and make reparation for the many offenses being committed.
For, as the Father explained, ??? \s "holiness means having defects and fighting
against them, but we will die with defects."[131]

* * *

On the first day of 1972, early in the morning, the Father, in a get-together wi
th his sons at the Roman College, read to them the note that he had read the eve
ning before to those on the General Council: "This is our destiny on earth: to s
truggle, for love, until the last moment. Deo gratias!" And he alerted them to t
he need to begin again the interior battle, reminding them of the words of holy
Scripture, "Is not man's life on earth just warfare?" (Job 1:7).[132] The sacram
ent of Confirmation makes Christians soldiers of Christ. "Don't be ashamed of be
ing soldiers of Christ, people who have to fight!"[133]
You, my sons, will always struggle, and I too will try to always struggle, to th
e last moment of my life. If we don't struggle, that says we're not doing well.
On earth we can never have the comfortable tranquillity of those who give themse
lves over to pleasure because they know the future is secure. The future for all
of us is uncertain, in the sense that we could become traitors to our Lord, our
vocation, and the faith.[134]
They had to fight to keep themselves from being enslaved by sin, and thus to obt
ain peace. "Peace is a consequence of war, of struggle, of the intimate ascetica
l struggle which each Christian must keep up against everything in his life whic
h does not belong to God. He is called to overcome pride, sensuality, selfishnes
s, superficiality, and meanness of heart."[135]
While giving a meditation or taking part in a get-together with his children, wh
ile giving spiritual advice or just engaging in conversation, the Father reitera

ted these ideas. He preached and demanded struggle in the interior life.
At the beginning of 1972, with reference to the fact that on January 9 he would
turn seventy, the Father jokingly insisted that he was about to become a seven-y
ear-old [since the zero doesn't count]. It was a kind of reminder of the perenni
al spiritual youth of Christians, and of the path of spiritual childhood that he
had embarked on years before. And then, with the clear conscience that comes of
closeness to God, he would say, "Josemaria: so many years, so many brays.?[136]
For his birthday, the members of the General Council gave him a small white-marb
le bas-relief showing the Good Shepherd with the lost or injured sheep on his sh
oulders, the sheepdog, the pouch hanging from the shoulder, and the shepherd's c
rook. And at his feet was an inscription in Latin, added by Don Alvaro, saying,
"January 9, 1972: to our Father, on the seventieth anniversary of his birth. Wit
h all affection."[137]
His daughters had made for him a chasuble of gold brocade, out of pieces from ol
d vestments. On it was embroidered a rose and a text that held deep memories for
the Father: "Adeamus cum fiducia ad thronum gloriae, ut misericordiam consequam
ur."[138] They had also made a pall, embroidering on it "Bonus Pastor" as a than
k-you from the whole Work for the pains he took as its father and shepherd. Inde
ed, in that hour of struggle, and of so many people going astray, he had been th
inking of the spiritual health of his children.
I don't want my sons and daughters to be lost in this waterless desert that the
Church seems to have become today, where the springs of the sacraments seem to b
e drying up. But despite that aridity and that drought, there are in Christ's Ch
urch many oases of peace, with abundant water and green pastures for souls. One
of those very green spots is Opus Dei, and it is up to each of us to see that it
continues to be such.[139]
In the middle of the morning of that January 9, his sons at the Roman College to
ok part in the Mass that he celebrated in the oratory of Our Lady of Peace. In h
is homily he said:

You and I can't pray the prayer of the Pharisee. Let's pray that ??? > of the publ
ican: "Lord, I don't deserve to be here, but I love??? "t you. Lord, I don't deser
ve your grace, but you give it to me abundantly, and that is why I am a soul of
prayer. Lord, I don't deserve to be in your Church, but you want me to support a
tiny little bit, with my clean life, with my faith, my hope, and my love, your
holy Church."[140]

The intentions of his Mass were "the same as always: the Church, the Pope, the W
ork."[141]
Throughout that year the Father continued to speak out about the Church's sad si
tuation, it being public knowledge and painfully obvious to everyone. Sometimes
he spoke in very strong language. He said, for example, that the Mystical Body,
the Church, "seems to be a corpse in the midst of decomposing." But then, right
away, he reassured his children with faith and optimism, saying, "Don't worry, I
said seems, because that body, the Church, is immortal; the Holy Spirit assists
and vivifies it in an ineffable way."[142]
Really, what was happening was sad, very sad. It was not enough, the Father insi
sted, to just lament things, or look at them coolly, as if the events taking pla
ce in the Church were "archaeological things, of mere historical interest. No! T
hey are stabs in the Heart of Christ."[143]It was therefore necessary to make re
paration, spread the truth, and reach out a hand to those who were wavering?and
to do all this with a lot of love and without losing one's serenity.
Even on March 19?the feast of Saint Joseph, his patron saint? amid all the festi
vities, the founder did not forget to urge his children to keep struggling, all
well united, shoulder to shoulder, with optimism. "Certainly," he said, "it some
times seems that a battle is lost; but you can be sure that Christ will not lose
the war."[144]
In Holy Week, following a custom initiated by some members of the Work, hundreds
of young men and women came to Rome from different countries to unite at the he
art of the Church. On Wednesday of Holy Week the Pope received them in audience,

and during that week they had a number of get-togethers with the Father. Here,
too, the Father did not fail to remind them that they needed to fight if they lo
ved peace, because peace of soul is a consequence of war. He said, "I don't beli
eve in pacifists who don't struggle against themselves interiorly. Because, whet
her we like it or not, we all have to carry on that internal, personal, continua
l war."[145]
Right after Easter the Father, although he had a slight cold, left for Spain, st
opping at Lourdes to pray to our Lady, since "it would be bad manners to pass by
there without dropping in on her."[146] He arrived in Pamplona on April 6, in t
he afternoon. He went to the university hospital for a checkup, and turned out t
o have a touch of pneumonia with a fairly high fever.[147] In get-togethers with
the university's students, he encouraged them to be "men of struggle," ready to
fight throughout their lives. In war, he said, a battle?or two, three, whatever
?can be lost, but it doesn't matter as long as the last one is won. Nevertheless
, in the interior life, which is also war and battles, "it is better not to lose
any, because we don't know when we are going to die."[148]
On April 14 he arrived in Madrid. As soon as he had a free moment, he had a gettogether with those at the study center. He spoke to them of war and peace, of t
he struggle and the last battle, and warned them, "Every day I'll be telling you
the same thing, because it is something that goes very deep with me."[149]

* * *

He spent the months of July and August in Civenna, a little town near Lake Como,
in the Italian foothills of the Alps. In that mild climate, he had no trouble f
ollowing the advice of his doctors: every day he got plenty of exercise, taking
walks along the shores of the lake or visiting the nearby villages. And he got p
lenty of rest?but with pen in hand. He could justifiably say, "I've written more
than El Tostado!"[150]
At Castel d'Urio, a course of study and formation for university students in the
Work was under way. The Father of course visited them, and of course touched on
the subject of the situation in the Church. At this time the Summer Olympics we
re going on, in Munich, and the Father would now and then see some of the televi
sed competitions. He took special notice of the pole vaulting; and there came to
be etched in his memory the image of an athlete who, after failing, went back,
with his head down, concentrating, to try the jump again. He found this striking
ly applicable to the interior life. But he was not at all in favor of the body w
orship that some seemed to be into, or that "sacred fire" that burned during the
games. He had nothing against sport, but the sight of so much Olympic ceremony
stirred up his sadness at the spreading of abuses in the liturgy of the Church.
"Now " he complained, "when all the civil, military, and academic ceremonies are
being filled with 'liturgical' gestures, they are taking away from our Lord the
worship that is his due."[151] And as the Church weakened, the world was being
impoverished.
It was necessary, as the Father told the young men at Castel d'Urio, to go forth
in defense of the Church. The Lord himself said, "I have come to bring not peac
e but war" (see Mt 10:34). But what weapons did the Father have?
From the beginning I have been teaching that the only weapon we have in Opus Dei
is prayer: praying day and night. And now I keep repeating the same thing: Pray
! Because it is very much needed. Pray, because the sharp decline that the world
has suffered is due to the fact that people in the Church have stopped praying.
[152]

5. The catechetical trip through the Iberian Peninsula (1972)

The Father was clearly not satisfied with having spoken about God to a few hundr
ed young people over the last few months. Quantitatively this represented very l
ittle at that critical hour of history, in which the devil was going around sowi
ng discord in the world and more than a few of those who should have been preach

ing the truth at the top of their lungs were keeping their mouths shut. Ignoranc
e and lack of religious instruction were the principal causes of erroneous think
ing and conduct. It was, therefore, of the utmost urgency to awaken the multitud
es, to spread sound doctrine very widely to counteract the confusion reigning ev
erywhere.
In Civenna, in that summer of 1972, a plan of apostolic action took shape. A few
weeks later, when someone publicly asked him what his chief preoccupation was,
the Father unhesitatingly replied:

I don't usually have preoccupations. Occupations, lots?one after the other. I do

n't wear a watch, because I don't need one; when I finish one thing, I start ano
ther, and that's that. But the big occupation of my life and of my soul is lovin
g the Church, because she is a mother with so many disloyal children, who show b
y their deeds that they don't love her. You and I have to love the Church and th
e Holy Father a lot.[153]

They decided to make what the Father called a "catechetical trip."[154]But, thou
gh they were quite optimistic when drawing up the plan, their calculations fell
short of the mark. The number of people who wanted to see and hear the Father wa
s far beyond what the organizers had foreseen, both in terms of the number of ga
therings and in terms of the capacities of the locales. The plan was to cross th
e Iberian Peninsula from top to bottom and back, stopping in the main places whe
re people in contact with the apostolic activities of Opus Dei could assemble.[1
55] And they would begin with Pamplona, since, as chancellor of the University o
f Navarre, he was to take part in an academic ceremony there at the beginning of
October.
But had they taken his health into consideration? In the summary of his clinical
history, around this time, there are some simple notes: "On October 9,1972 we s
aw him in Pamplona. We found him well." (This was when the trip began.) On the l
ast days of his stay in Spain after another exam, a note says: "On November 2, 1
972 we saw him in Barcelona. He had a sinus inflammation and pharyngitis. Otherw
ise he seems very well, in spite of the intense rhythm of work to which he has b
een subjected during the last two months."[156]
The statistics tell the story. The Father held an average of three or four gathe
rings per day, many of them consisting of several thousand people. He also was c
ontinually meeting with smaller groups and families, at all hours of the day. In
all, more than a hundred fifty thousand people attended his catechetical talks.
That pastoral trip really put to the test his physical endurance. But since he
did not complain, or say anything at all about his physical condition, or give t
he slightest indication of being exhausted, everyone agreed that the Father, who
was so smiling, so energetic, so ready for whatever was necessary, was not in p
oor health. But to get some idea of his physical condition, even if only an obli
que one, it is enough to read what he wrote to the Counsellor of Spain ten days
after the trip ended: "I imagine that you must be very tired, after the beating
you've taken in these two months of traveling all over the peninsula."[157] And
he suggested that the Counsellor go stay for a while in some quiet place, to rec
uperate.
As for himself, it never crossed his mind to take a rest. Upon his return to Vil
la Tevere, he found on his desk that letter from Cardinal Villot requesting expl
icit assurance that the members of Opus Dei who worked in the Holy See were guar
ding the secrets of office. In contrast to the summary medical report for Novemb
er, which exudes optimism, the one for December reveals disturbing data and symp
toms: an elevated rate of sedimentation in the blood, a decrease in the count of
red blood cells, a tendency to high levels of urea in the blood, etc.[158] Pres
umably it was a delayed reaction; the effort exerted in that pastoral work was t
aking a toll on his health. It was not a dramatic development, but it did show a
loss of vital reserves.

* * *

On October 4 the Father arrived in Pamplona, from France. He had, of course, sto
pped again at Lourdes where he put the trip under our Lady's protection. The fir
st big gathering took place on October 6, in an assembly hall. From the very out
set, the joy that suffused the atmosphere, the simple and affectionate tone of v
oice that the Father spoke in, and his willingness to answer all kinds of questi
ons?turned every assembly into a family get-together. He would begin by saying,
"I've come to talk about whatever you like. I'm not going to deliver an address.
So bring up the subjects that interest you."[159] And, ice broken, the question
s rained down: "Father, how can you know if you have a vocation to Opus Dei?" "W
hat can you tell us for our parents?" "Father, we here are a group of country pe
ople ..."
On the seventh he presided over the granting of honorary doctorates to three pro
fessors: Paul Ourliac, of the University of Toulouse; the Marquis of Lozoya, of
the University of Madrid; and Erich Let-terer, of the University of Tubingen. Th
e ceremony ended with an address given by the Chancellor.[160]
During those days, the Friends of the University of Navarre were holding a gener
al assembly. The Father met with them to express his appreciation for their coop
eration and financial sacrifices. He greeted the professors, the staff, the clea
ning people, and the administrative personnel; and on Sunday, October 8, he had
a meeting with members of the Work and a large crowd of Cooperators from Navarre
and the adjoining provinces. The Father got the impression that they were deepl
y concerned about what was going on in the world and in the Church. And he said:

Isn't it true that when one of the faithful approaches a priest, it's to seek st
rength, light, and advice? Often they come with hunger, with good will, with the
desires to be helped to go forward, and instead of good advice, strength, and f
aith, they find only doubt and darkness. And I don't want to think that this cou
ld be happening. I don't want to! Let's pray, all of us together, that this does
not happen.[161]

On October 10 he went to Bilbao. He stayed at the Islabe Conference Center, wher

e he mainly received visits from small groups, but also had a get-together with
a good number of priests. The Father opened his heart to them. He spoke at lengt
h about many pastoral problems of the day, and about the liturgy, and, above all
, about the charity they should show toward all their brothers, the priests all
over the world.

We've often heard it said that a priest is not saved or condemned alone ??? So l
et us save priests; it's a duty of justice.
But we won't save them if we become like burrs. We have to treat them with affec
tion; we have to win them over. We can't form a little group. We have to open ou
rselves up, like this, with arms outstretched. Let them see that we love them wi
th deeds![162]

He recalled with joy the time he had spent, shortly after his ordination, in rur
al parishes. And then he knelt in front of all those priests, to receive a joint
blessing from them before departing.
At a high school, Gaztelueta, he spoke to hundreds of parents about their childr
en's need for formation, and about their own educational role. "It's not enough,
" he said, "to bring children into the world; animals also do that." One has to
form them and nurture their faith. He related a conversation he had had a little
earlier with one of the boys at that school:

"Father, I have a friend who says, 'Why do they teach us the Catholic religion f
rom childhood? They should teach us all the religions.'" And I answered him, ver
y sincerely: "My son, tell that friend that when he was born, his mother should
not have given him?pardon me?her breast, but alfalfa, and hay, and barley... and
also her breast, so he could choose."[163]

From the thirteenth to the thirtieth of October, he was in Madrid. Morning and e

vening he held get-togethers, in schools and residences. The site for the larges
t gatherings was the assembly hall of the Tajamar Institute, in Vallecas, a subu
rb of Madrid. During the years of the Second Republic, the founder had frequentl
y crisscrossed that out-of-the-way place to visit the sick, hear the confessions
of children, and dry the tears of the sorrowing. Some time later his sons had s
tarted giving classes to the kids in that area, and by now the old farm stables
they had used as classrooms had been replaced by modern school buildings compara
ble to the best in Madrid.
The Tajamar hall, though very large, was not large enough. But the Father called
even those jam-packed gatherings "get-togethers," because what took place in th
em was really conversation, in the form of questions and answers. This was, by t
he way, the method he had always used in giving catechesis to children.
The Father did not preach or sermonize; he spoke simply, even when he was speaki
ng to thousands. His words and demeanor had the marvelous effect of making the c
rowd seem like a little group. And if applause broke out, he would complain, "I
wish you wouldn't applaud, because it's going to make the people who see us thin
k that this is a crowd, when really we are a family, a very close family."[164]

The get-togethers generally began with a few words from the Father on some curre
nt situation, or with a note or two taken from his recent spiritual readings. On
his last day in Madrid, as soon as he entered the Tajamar assembly hall, he ann
ounced: "Saint Paul tells you and me that we have to keep our conversation in he
aven, and that is what we're going to do here." And in answer to one of the firs
t questions, he urged everyone to meditate on the life of our Lord. He said:

Think about his three years of public life. Think about the Passion, about the c
ross, which was the worst insult. Think about Christ's death, about his resurrec
tion. Think about those get-togethers that the Lord had, especially after his re
surrection, when ... he spoke about so many things, everything his disciples ask
ed him about. Here we're imitating that a bit, because you and I are disciples o
f the Lord and we want to exchange ideas; we're having a get-together. Think abo
ut his ascension into heaven.[165]

The Father was brought from place to place, from get-together to get-together. D
uring these car trips he would often ask, "To whom are we speaking?"[166] And on
ce he knew whether it was going to be young people, families, or perhaps people
of all ages, walks of life, and professions, he would mentally gather his ideas.
But the norm was spontaneity; he would basically just pray to the Holy Spirit a
nd then answer the questions. And he did not beat around the bush. He spoke out
clearly on any topic having to do with God. So, for instance, commenting on how
some women go around scantily clad because they believe that by exhibiting thems
elves they will catch a husband, he said that what they will really catch is a c
old.[167]
On October 30 he arrived in Oporto, a city in Portugal. He stayed at Quinta de E
nxomil, a retreat house in the suburbs. He was happy, but sorry that he did not
speak Portuguese. Groups, some small and some ??? consisting of hundreds of peop
le, came to see him, from several cities: Oporto, Coimbra, Braga, Lamego, and Vi
seu.
On the morning of November 2 he and those with him went to Coimbra, and there th
ey stopped in to visit Sister Lucia, the surviving visionary of Fatima, at the C
armelite convent of Santa Teresa. The explanation shows up in this sentence from
the letter he wrote a month later to the prioress of the convent: "Both Don Alv
aro and I have, for many, many years now, been including in every day's Mass a '
memento' for this beloved community, and especially for Sister Lucia, who was th
e instrument the Lord made use of so that Opus Dei could begin its work in Portu
gal."[168]
The visit lasted about two hours. As they were leaving, Sister Lucia gave them s
ome leaflets (written in Spanish) that encouraged the praying of the Rosary; she
asked that they distribute them during their trip back through Spain.
From there the Father went to make one of his customary visits to the ancient mo

nastery of Santa Clara, where the remains of Saint Elizabeth of Portugal are pre
served in a silver casket. He and she had something in common: she, too, was of
Aragonese descent. So he addressed her in a familiar way, tapping on her catafal
que and calling her "my compatriot [paisana], Elizabeth of Aragon." And, while h
e was at it, he commended to her the Work's endeavors in Portugal.[169]
Then he went on to Fatima. The instant he arrived there, at about four in the af
ternoon, the scattered groups awaiting him gathered around him. They did not ent
er the basilica, since Mass was in progress, but at his suggestion they prayed a
five-decade Rosary at the first of the Stations of the Cross. When they finishe
d, they entered the basilica. Afterwards the Father and those with him went to t
he capelinha and prayed a Hail, Holy Queen before heading on for Lisbon.
On the next day, November 3, a get-together for married couples was held in the
pavilion of the Xenon Club. Despite his fatigue, the Father was feeling happy an
d even rejuvenated. He told them that he was praying as he spoke to them. It was
obvious that he kept everyone conscious of the presence of God, and that everyo
ne experienced, as a palpable reality, what that priest was telling them: that O
pus Dei "is great for living and for dying, without fear of life and without fea
r of death."[170] Thus he continued his catechesis, without rest, until the sixt
h, when he left Lisbon by plane for Seville.
In Seville the Father saw many daughters and sons of his. But it was in Pozoalbe
ro, a retreat house near Jerez de la Frontera, that thousands came together to b
enefit from his catechesis. An area next to the house, open on one side to the g
arden of the estate, was fitted out for the purpose. At one time it had been a p
lace for keeping the farm equipment, and had a wine press. At the moment the are
a was covered by a large tent, not so much because of the heat as because the pr
evious week had been rainy. Against the back wall, in front of which the Father
would be speaking while walking back and forth on a wide platform, there was hun
g a large tapestry with the inscription "Siempre fieles, siempre alegres, con al
ma y con calma" ["Always faithful, always joyful, with spirit and with peace"].
These were the words of a toast that he himself had given there in Pozoalbero on
October 2,1968.
During one of the get-togethers, a young man asked him about that motto. He want
ed to know what it meant, and how one could apply it to one's dealings with God.
And the founder responded, "It means that one needs to have courage, and to tak
e one's time. That 'alma, calma' means just that: that one must be valiant, with
out being rash."[171]
The questions had to do with all kinds of things: work-related anxieties, illnes
s, the meaning of suffering, the rebelliousness of children ... His smile altern
ated with a look of deep seriousness. But at one point he suddenly, without bein
g asked, opened his soul. He spoke of how he prayed, using an illustration that
in Pozoalbero had a special meaning: the work of those who crushed the grapes in
the wine press.
I get, not inside myself, but on top of myself. I stomp on myself, plenty hard:
"You are nothing, you are worth nothing, you can do nothing, you know nothing, y
ou have nothing... And nevertheless you are a tabernacle of the Trinity, because
the Holy Spirit is in our soul through grace, making our life be not that of an
animal, but that of a child of God."[172]
Someone asked him how he felt on seeing himself together with so many children o
f his, when years ago he had had only a dozen or so people in the Work. This mad
e him recall "the first hours" of the founding, and he felt as if he was now see
ing for the first time a movie in color, after all those silent films.
I have told you (you have heard me say this often, and in very hard times): Drea
m, and your dreams will fall short. Isn't it true? I told you this when you were
few. Now I again repeat to you the same thing: Dream, and your dreams will alwa
ys fall short.[173]
On November 13 the Father left for Valencia, where he remained until the twentie
th. The day after his arrival at La Lloma, a retreat house near the city, he too
k up his catechesis once again.
Being there brought back many memories. He thought of his first trips to Valenci
a, and of his walks along the shore with a few Saint Raphael boys. In the midst

of the chaos of 1936, when everything was collapsing, he had remained firm in hi
s hope and had made preparations for expansion of the Work to Valencia and to Pa
ris. Then came the civil war, and then those postwar travels ... He recalled the
first retreat he gave in Burjasot; and El Cubil, that humble apartment where he
spent practically a whole day bundled up in some old drapes, shivering with chi
lls and fever; and the first printing of The Way, which was done in Valencia.[17
4] More than thirty years had passed, but the echo of those memories was alive i
n his soul.
Next to the entrance patio of La Lloma, on a large chest, there was a copy of Th
e Way. On the first page the Father wrote, "Electi mei non laborabunt frustra. V
alentiae, 14-XI-1972" ["My chosen ones shall not labor in vain. Valencia, 14 Nov
1972"].[175] He was still young. He possessed an incredible capacity for aposto
lic enthusiasm, a strong disinclination to rest on his laurels, and an interior
life in continuous and vigorous development. His apostolic recollections did not
peter out into a tame complacency, but, rather, broke out into acts of thanksgi
ving.
On November 17 he consecrated the altar in the student residence of La Alameda U
niversity. There he left a document that includes these lines:
How great was my yearning, years ago now, to have Opus Dei come to this city. An
d then the Lord generously granted to his servant that here too he would have so
ns and daughters. On returning to Valencia, I lifted my heart, the heart of a ha
ppy Father, in countless acts of thanksgiving to God.[176]

* * *

In conjunction with the catechetical get-togethers, there were also visits to cl

oistered convents in the cities that the Father passed through. The nuns, too, w
anted to hear him. And they had a right to, since with their prayers they collab
orated in the apostolic endeavors of Opus Dei all over the world. This was actua
lly pointed out to the Father by the abbess of the convent of San Jose de Alloz,
in Navarre. He accepted her invitation with the greatest pleasure, because of t
he great love he had for the souls that dedicated their lives to God in the cloi
ster. As he put it when speaking to the Carmelite nuns in Cadiz, "There are many
convents and monasteries, all over the world, that have this spiritual bond wit
h us. They allow us to share in their spiritual goods, which are so abundant, an
d we let them share in our apostolic work. So here with you I feel like a brothe
r with his sisters."[177]
He started his visits to the convents by going to speak with the Cistercian nuns
at Alloz, as if it were just one more get-together. He began by explaining that
the faithful of Opus Dei are not religious, and then telling them what the voca
tion to Opus Dei consists of. This "special call from God," he said, is such tha
t "I do not say that I envy you, because my vocation is that of a contemplative
in the middle of the street."[178] He went on to caution them against the danger
s of any weakening in their religious discipline, saying emphatically, "Mother A
bbess?fortitude, fortitude, fortitude! Abbess, fortitude!"[179]
Amid tears and smiles, the nuns continued their dialogue with the Father.
During his stay in Madrid he could not fail to visit the Augustinian nuns at the
Royal Foundation of Santa Isabel, of which he had been rector. The original chu
rch had been torched during the Spanish Civil War, but the premises, the altar,
and the nuns' Communion rail brought back to him very profound memories.
We have mentioned his long visit with the Carmelite nuns in Coimbra. After that,
when he was in Pozoalbero, he found a free moment in his tight schedule for a q
uick escape to Cadiz, to visit the Carmelite convent there. And during his stay
at La Lloma, he visited yet another Carmelite convent. This one was in Puzol, an
d was set amid orange groves. His initial greeting was both a compliment and an
expression of gratitude to the nuns for their love for the Church. He said:

You are the treasure of the Church. Without you the Church would be arid, and we
would not be able to say, "Draw joyfully the waters of the Savior's fountains."
It is you here who draw the waters, so that we can turn the dry land into a gro

ve full of oranges. Without your help we wouldn't accomplish a thing. So I have

come to thank you.... A thousand blessings![180]

The last of these visits to cloisters was made to a convent of the Poor Clares,
in Pedralbes, Barcelona. When the Father entered the church, he was greeted by w
ay of the organ, which resounded joyously through the nave. (The speaking room w
as next to the Blessed Sacrament chapel.) He told the nuns that he was there to
learn, not teach. They listened in recollected silence when he said, "You will n
ot lack vocations if you don't grow lax in your way of life, if you are aglow wi
th love, because love works great miracles."[181] The time passed like the wink
of an eye. The Father's talk was sprinkled with humor, and now and then the nuns
laughed with delight. When it came time to say good-bye, he begged them to give
him, for love of God, the alms of prayer that he might be good and faithful in
these times of disloyalty.

* * *

On November 20, when he arrived in Barcelona, the Father found waiting for him a
multitude of Catalonians, as well as people from other regions and other countr
ies. Get-togethers took place, one right after the other, for ten days?in gyms,
auditoriums, retreat centers, high schools, and agricultural schools. But his fi
rst visit was to the shrine of Our Lady of Ransom, the patroness of the city.
At the get-togethers, the Father spoke especially about how to sanctify work and
business, Barcelona being such a great business metropolis. He alerted people t
o the fact that often the efforts they made were not authentically Christian bec
ause they were only after money, not motivated by anything higher. One of the ge
t-togethers in which it seemed necessary to touch on this subject was held in th
e auditorium of Barcelona's graduate business school. The place was filled with
professors and entrepreneurs, financiers and business executives.
When the Father came up to the podium, he was holding a book, among the pages of
which could be seen some strips of paper, used as markers. Right after greeting
the people, he told them of his absolute ignorance with regard to money questio
ns. "Just seeing three pennies together gets me confused," he said. And then he
said, quite seriously, "Some people view you with suspicion, and others grumble
about those involved in business. But it is the Lord himself who commends your w
ork. Jesus has some very interesting things to say."[182]
The Father now opened the book. It was a copy of the New Testament. He read from
Luke 19: "A nobleman ... called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coin
s and told them, 'Engage in trade with these until I return.'" He read the whole
story, about the ones who acted rightly, returning the money with profit, and a
bout the fearful one who brought on himself condemnation by not doing even so mu
ch as to put the money in the bank and thus have it earn interest. And then he s
aid, "Is this not a business deal? A modest deal, of a type that you yourselves
wouldn't like to get involved in. But a business deal nonetheless. And the Lord
approves of it. So I have no choice but to praise it as well."[183]
Then he brought up other business transactions spoken of in the Gospels. He turn
ed to Saint Matthew, "who understood a lot about dough." It is only Matthew who
relates Jesus' comparisons of the kingdom of heaven to a hidden treasure, a cost
ly pearl, and a fishing net.[184]
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and
covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that fie
ld." Here, said the Father, we have "a sure investment."
As for the fine pearl, as soon as the merchant lays eyes on it, his heart skips
a beat. He sells everything he has and buys it, because he knows he is not likel
y to find such a valuable pearl again in his whole life. That, too, is a very as
tute business decision.
And then we come to that third business: that of fishing. This, said the Father,
is not such a great business, since the net, when it is drawn up, brings in all
kinds of fish, good ones and ones of no use, and the latter have to be thrown o
ut.

The Father, as we see, did his commenting on the parables in a humorous way. But
when he arrived at this point, the time to do a little summarizing, he grew mor
e serious and said, "The Lord lauds your business dealings. But if you don't put
love into them, a bit of Christian love?if you don't add in the desire to pleas
e God?you are wasting your time."[185]
With the Gospel in hand, he went on speaking about difficulties in business, abo
ut illegal competition... "What is it, then, that hinders a businessman from com
mitting himself to live a truly Christian life? Is it not, at times, fear? Worri
es about what other people will think?" The Father seemed to have an answer for
everything. He mentioned another Gospel text, the story of Zacchaeus, and commen
ted that this very rich and very short man had, without worrying about being mad
e fun of, climbed a tree to see Jesus ...
The Father possessed a real gift of tongues: an ability to make himself understo
od by all sorts of people. God had given him the grace of this particular gift t
hat was so appropriate to his particular charism?to preach the message of God's
universal call to holiness? to be sought in the exercise of any honorable profes
sion.
[1] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2404.
[2] See AGP, RHF, EF-691220-2 (a Christmas-greetings letter to his daughters; he
sent his sons one with the same message).
[3] Apuntes,no. 476. (See volume I of this biography, pp. 298-99.)
[4] AGP, RHF, EF-691215-1 (a letter to Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica).
[5] Bishop Echevarra, in Sum. 2814, quotes the Father as saying, "I have ordered
the making of a statue of Christ crucified, but not yet pierced by the lance: a
living Christ, who is dying in the midst of the most atrocious sufferings. And h
e is dying gladly?he gave himself up voluntarily?to win our redemption and our l
ove. I want us to be able to look at that image?of Christ suffering, filled with
peace, for you, for me, for everyone?so that we will decide to respond with a t
otal dedication, no dodging, even if we have to give up our lives." For more on
this sculpture and the Holy Cross shrine, see AGP, P01 1982, pp. 1308ff.
[6] AGP, P011972, p. 916.
[7] "In those years," testifies Monsignor Joaquin Alonso, "I often heard him say
that the canonical question of the Work?his special intention?had for him moved
into the background; now the most urgent need was to work passionately, with al
l his strength, proclaiming everywhere loyalty to Catholic doctrine and morality
, union with the Pope, and the search for holiness" (PR, p. 2058).
[8] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2658.
[9] This is from "Hope and Confidence for the Church's Work in the World Today,"
an address given on June 23,1972, to the College of Cardinals; see The Teaching
s of Pope Paul VI: 1972 (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, 19
73), p. 273.
[10] Ibid., p. 272.
[11] Ibid., pp. 273-74.272.
[12] See Francisco Vives, Sum. 7456.
[13] In "Let Us Lift Up Our Hearts in Hope That Will Never Die," an address give
n on September 10, 1969, Pope Paul said: "How could the Pope and those who bear
the responsibility of giving the Church pastoral guidance together with him not
suffer as they see that the major difficulties are today arising out of the Chur
ch herself, that the most poignant pain comes to her from the indocility and the
infidelity of certain of her ministers and some of her consecrated souls, that
the most disappointing surprises come to her from circles that have been the mos
t assisted, the most favored, and the most beloved? How can they not feel sorrow
at the waste of so many energies, used, not to give increase, but to engage in
superfluous and sophistic efforts to raise problems and make them complicated an
d irritating?" (The Teachings of Pope Paul VI: 1969 [Citta del Vaticano: Libreri
a Editrice Vaticana, 1970], p. 265).
[14] See Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 476.
[15] AGP, P011972, p. 57. See also Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2607, and Alvaro del Po

rtillo, Sum. 1145. The event occurred in 1971.

[16] See Jose Luis Pastor, Sum. 6066.
[17] "The crisis," said Pope Paul, "seems to consist in a lack of trust?in the C
hurch as it is.... An honest and proper but hasty desire for revision has turned
into corrosive self-criticism, even into self-mutilation" (address "We Must Tru
st the Church of Christ," October 22, 1969, in The Teachings of Pope Paul VI: 19
69, p. 265). "You have certainly heard of these discussions of our times, and fa
ithful as you are, you have realized how these different conceptions of the Chur
ch aim, fundamentally, at decreeing her end, or contesting her existence as it s
till appears in our times. The difficulties arise when...the structure is accuse
d of being unauthorized, deformed, temporary, harmful; in other words, of being
useless now, or so much in need of and liable to change that every criticism of
it is to be considered justified, and every hypothesis concerning its dissolutio
n, or radical transformation, well-founded. This structure is, in this view, an
illegitimate, or at least unnecessary, derivation from the authentic formula of
the apostolic Church" (address "Structures of the Church and Action of the Spiri
t," November 24, 1971, in The Teachings of Pope Paul VI: 1971 [Washington, D.C.:
United States Catholic Conference, 1972], p. 187).
[18] AGP, RHF, EF-681216-1.
[19] AGP, RHF, EF-700427-2.
[20] In homilies, papal audiences and addresses, etc., Pope Paul spoke clearly a
nd forcefully of this crisis. In, for example, "Avoid Two Dangerous Deviations,"
an address given on January 7,1970, he said: "If this course is not modified, i
t even gives rise to the conviction that it is right to look forward to and form
the hypothesis of a Church completely different from our Church of today. A Chu
rch, it is said, invented for the new times, where all bonds of troublesome obed
ience will be done away with, together with all limits upon personal freedom and
every form of sacred commitment. This deviation is unfortunately possible; but
it is to be hoped that its obvious excesses will reveal the error in it. It is c
ertain that 'aggiornamento? the renewal of the Church fostered by the Council, i
s not intended to produce such disintegration of tested historical and instituti
onal reality" (The Teachings of Pope Paul VI: 1970 [Washington, D.C.: United Sta
tes Catholic Conference, 1971], p. 12).
[21] AGP, RHF, EF-480129-2.
[22] Josemaria Escriv, In Love with the Church (New York: Scepter Publishing, 198
9), nos. 6-8.
[23] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2660.
[24] As we mentioned earlier (see chapter 18, section 5, and chapter 21, section
1, of this volume), the Father often pointed out that he loved God with the sam
e heart with which he loved his children. For more on this fusion of the superna
tural virtue of charity with authentic human affection, and on the cordiality an
d delicacy with which he adorned his charity so that it would be attractive and
effective, see Juan Udaondo, Sum. 5054; Teresa Acerbis, PR, p. 1913; and Giusepp
e Molteni, Sum. 3839.
[25] AGP, P011972, p. 21. When the founder heard about certain offenses against
God, he immediately responded, "Souls make me suffer" (see Mercedes Morado, Sum.
6930).
[26] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 838. "Years ago," said the founder, "when one
could already see this whole disaster coming upon the holy Church, I couldn't g
o up to the altar without starting to cry like a baby. It affected my eyes, and
I had to go to an ophthalmologist" (AGP, P011972, p. 20).
[27] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2870.
[28] Javier Echevarra, PR, p. 1519.
[29] See AGP, RHF, D-15111, which is the University of Navarre Hospital's summar
y record of the founder's medical history. In the introduction, it says: "This w
hole succinct report of facts revolves around a nephroangiosclerotic process, wi
th progressive renal insufficiency, arterial hypertension, and vascular alterati
ons, which in its final Phase presented serious circulatory problems, the last o
f which resulted in his death "
[30] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3138.

[31] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2758.

[32] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2660. See also Giacomo Barabino, Sum. 4528.
[33] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2661.
[34] AGP, RHF, T-07920 (testimony of Jose Luis Soria), p. 23. (The Italian means
"There's no more I can do!")
[35] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2870.
[36] See AGP, RHF, T-07920, p. 26.
[37] This is from a homily entitled "Loyalty to the Church"; see In Love with th
e Church, no. 13.
[38] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2659.
[39] AGP, RHF, T-07920, p. 15.
[40] AGP, RHF, T-04861 (testimony of Maria Begona Alvarez), p. 9. Similar expres
sions of gratitude, heard on different days of 1971, are picked up by Javier Ech
evarra (in Sum. 2784) and Jose Luis Soria (see AGP, RHF, T-07920, p. 10).
[41] "Today the weather isn't good, you can't go out for a walk," he would somet
imes tell his children. "To me it doesn't matter?I am sad looking at our Mother
the Church, and I am glad that even nature, at times, is sad too. That rain seem
s to me to be made of tears. So, then, why am I smiling? Because, at the same ti
me, I am happy. With God's help we will be faithful" (AGP, P01 1973, p. 311).
[42] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2754.
[43] Teresa Acerbis, Sum. 4984.
[44] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2747.
[45] See AGP, RHF, T-04861 (testimony of Maria Begona Alvarez), p. 20. Marlies K
ucking likewise testifies (in Sum. 7177) that for what the Father was doing, "pr
ayer was the means and source of this energy, and he trusted, in a special way,
in the prayer of the numerary assistants." And Bishop del Portillo corroborates
these testimonies, saying, "I lived for many years at the side of our Father, an
d I constantly heard him repeat, with total conviction, that he felt a holy envy
of, and a very deep admiration for, the vocation of his numerary-assistant daug
hters"; although the Father loved everyone in the Work with the same affection,
"he allowed himself one exception, which he did not hide: he had a predilection
for his little daughters, as he liked to call the numerary assistants" (AGP, P02
1977, p. 827).
[46] AGP, P01 1982, p. 1378.
[47] Ibid.
[48] Letter IS May 1962, no. 44.
[49] See Letter 19 Mar 1967, no. 3.
[50] Ibid., no. 5.
[51] Francisco Vives, Sum. 7471.
[52] AGP, P01 1972, p. 862.
[53] See AGP, P01 1982, p. 1248; Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3276; Ernesto Julia, Sum.
4245; and Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4934.
[54] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3275.
[55] Ibid. See also Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4934, and Ernesto Julia, Sum. 4245. "No
w I don't cry anymore," he said on one occasion to his sons, "but since August 6
,1970,1 have clamored without ceasing?'Clama, ne cesses!' (Is 58:1)?with full co
nviction that God wants this" (AGP, P01 1979, p. 983).
[56] This is Hebrews 4:16, with one difference: "throne of glory," instead of "t
hrone of grace." The founder explained that our Lady is the throne of glory, in
virtue of her constant and unalloyed intimacy with the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. It is good that by means of her intercession we betake ourselves to
God, appealing humbly to his mercy. (See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1130.) The f
ounder was in the habit of doing that, and so this locution "confirmed him in hi
s need to always go to her" (Javier Echevarra, Sum. 3276). He directed Don Alvaro
to communicate this locution, in writing, to those on the General Council; this
was, Ernesto Julia testifies, the only occasion on which he proceeded in this w
ay (see Sum. 4245).
Archbishop Julian Herranz tells us something interesting. He heard about this su
pernatural incident from the founder himself, shortly after the return from Cagl
io. At this time the work on Cavabianca (the definitive seat of the Roman Colleg

e of the Holy Cross) had already begun, and the Father asked that they put there
a stone bas-relief which would show our Lady seated on a throne and being crown
ed by the Blessed Trinity. At its base would be engraved the words of the locuti
on. The Father suggested that while they awaited the juridical solution to the i
nstitutional problem of the Work, those words should be prayed as an aspiration,
to obtain from our Lady the desired solution. That was a suggestion that his ch
ildren acted on for years. "And so," concludes Archbishop Herranz, "very great w
ere our joy and our gratitude to the Blessed Virgin when the Pope (who knew noth
ing about this) made public his decision to establish Opus Dei as a personal pre
lature on August 23,1982?the anniversary of the special divine light received by
the founder eleven years earlier" (Sum. 4030). See also Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 49
35; Mario Lantini, Sum. 3741; and Blanca Fontan, PM, fol. 1087.
[57] AGP, P01 1971, p. 498. For more on the "discovery," see AGP, RHF, T-07920 (
testimony of Jose Luis Soria), p. 78.
[58] See Ernesto Julia, Sum. 4114.
[59] For the ceremony of the consecration, which is renewed every year in all th
e centers of the Work, the Father composed a text, which he gave to Don Alvaro t
o see if he had any suggestions to make. To the original text was added a refere
nce to the founder, to emphasize the faithfulness that his children should alway
s show. The Father would have preferred to go unnoticed, which is why he had Don
Alvaro do the reading of the text for the ceremony. That passage now reads: "Pr
eserve forever in your Work the spiritual gifts that you have granted it; that,
in accordance with your most lovable will, and inseparably united to our Father,
the Father and all our brothers and sisters?cor unum et anima una?we may be hol
y, an effective leaven of sanctity among all men. Grant that we may always be fa
ithful to the spirit that you have entrusted to our founder, and that we may pre
serve and transmit it in all its divine integrity." See PR vol. 17, Documenta, v
ol. 2, Opus Dei (Consagraciones), p. 17. (The Latin means "one heart and one spi
rit.")
[60] PR vol. 17, Documenta, vol. 2, Opus Dei (Consagraciones), p. 15.
[61] Ibid., p. 16.
[62] To the aspiration he had used in 1952 for the consecration of the Work to t
he Sacred Heart, he was now adding "and merciful." See AGP, RHF, T-07920, p. 17,
and AGP, P01 1982, p. 1251.
[63] AGP, RHF, T-07920, p. 89.
[64] AGP, P01 1982, p. 1402. At Christmastime in 1971, the Father wrote to all h
is daughters and sons: "May [Jesus] and his most holy Mother, our Mother?adeamus
cum fiducia ad thronum gloriae, to Mary, ut misericordiam consequamur?grant us
a holy Christ mas and give us the grace of a dedication that is more fine-tuned
and generous each day. It is the desire of the Lord, and it will also be a great
joy for this Father of yours, that we pray hard?clama, ne cesses!" (AGP, RHF, E
F-711200-2).
[65] Jess Alvarez .Gazapo, Sum.4498. (The founder said this on November 12,1971.)
[66] See AGP, RHF, T-07920 (testimony of Jose Luis Soria), p. 50, and also, on t
he brevity of the locutions, Daniel Cummings, Sum. 6194
[67] In Love with the Church, no. 15.
[68] Ibid., no. 16. See also Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5937
[69] In Love with the Church, no. 8.
[70] See Giacomo Barabino, Sum. 4528.
[71] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2655.
[72] See Luigi Tirelli, Sum. 4554.
[73] Monsignor Joaquin Alonso (in PR, p. 2211) testifies that in those years of
serious crisis in the Church, between 1965 and 1975, "he suffered a lot, seeing
in such events, above all, a lack of love of God. In those years I often heard h
im speak and preach about the distressing situation of the Church; his reaction,
he said, was to try to make reparation, loving more. This love was expressed in
various ways: he encouraged all the members of Opus Dei to devote more attentio
n to the liturgy, to eucharistic adoration, and to dignity in worship."
[74] In the last years of his life his acts of offering became more and more fre
quent. He asked the Lord to take his life and, in exchange for it, "pour down up

on the Church a new wave of holiness, of good doctrine, and of supernatural spir
it" (Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 790). See also Julian Herranz, Sum. 3925, and Mar
io Lantini, PR, p. 638.
[75] Carmen Ramos Garcia (in Sum. 7382) testifies that a few hours before he die
d, she heard the Father say, literally, that he was ready to offer for the Churc
h and the Pope "my life, and a thousand lives if I had them."
Giuseppe Molteni (in Sum. 3866) tells us that early in the morning of that same day
(June 26,1975), the founder asked him to speak with a friend of Pope Paul's and
tell him that for years he had been offering his life each day for the Church an
d for the Pope. And Bishop Echevarra, who was present at that conversation betwee
n the founder and Giuseppe Molteni and Francisco Vives, corroborates that testim
ony, saying (in Sum. 3288) that "he asked them to go visit Dr. Piazza (a friend
of the Holy Father, Paul VI), whose health was bad, and to transmit his affectio
n.. I was impressed?we all were?by the affection and strength with which the fou
nder spoke ..., the sincere strength with which he said, so that they could pass
it on to Dr. Piazza, that that morning, as always, he had offered his Mass for
the Church and for the person of the Pope, adding that, with the grace of God, h
e would gladly give his life for the Vicar of Christ."
[76] Christ Is Passing By, nos. 76 and 82. (The homily is entitled "Interior Str
uggle.") Starting in those years of rampant disloyalty to the Church, the insist
ence of the
Father on interior struggle is constant. "My daughters and sons," he writes to those
in the United States, "be faithful, for this is the hour of loyalty. Carry on y
our personal struggle with a sporting spirit, conscious of your weakness?no one
should trust in oneself?and knowing that our Father-God loves us madly.... Pray
for our Mother the Church, which is so in need of faithfulness in these times of
confusion; and pray for me, who loves you so much" (AGP, RHF, EF-720608-2).
[77] The Way, no. 301.
[78] See Giuseppe Molteni, Sum. 383; Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2018 and 2580; and Bl
anca Fontan, Sum. 6978.
[79] AGP, P011973, pp. 276-77. Ecological issues were not for him just useful me
taphors for spiritual ones. In December 1971 he wrote to Manuel Gomez Padres, ma
yor of Barbastro: "I enjoyed reading what you told me about the growth of our be
loved Barbastro. But let me confide to you one concern, although I'm quite sure
that you have already taken it into account. It has become fashionable?and it ha
s become so because this is a sad reality?to talk about how the new industries,
construction, etc., usually bring with them a certain contamination of the atmos
phere, of the countryside, of the rivers, if measures are not taken to prevent t
his. I think we shouldn't fail to consider these things a little in advance, so
that in our region one can continue to enjoy that healthy and wholesome climate
and those clean waters that we have always had" (AGP, RHF, EF-711220-1).
[80] See AGP, RHF, EF-651122-1.
[81] AGP, RHF, EF-651130-2.
[82] In a meeting with the founder, he had said, "All we usually get here are pa
ins and sorrows. The Holy Father will be very happy to hear about all the good t
hings you are doing" (see Immersed by God, p. 6). This was the line of conduct t
he founder continued to follow during whatever pontificate: he went to the papal
audiences, not as if the Roman Pontiff were a shoulder to cry on, but, on the c
ontrary, to encourage him and lift his spirits with good news.
[83] See AGP, RHF, EF-660125-1 (a letter to Bishop Dell'Acqua).
[84] AGP, RHF, EF-660129-1.
[85] See AGP, RHF, EF-670708-1 (a letter to Cardinal Dell'Acqua). The official p
etition for the audience was made by Don Alvaro, by letter to Bishop Nasalli Roc
ca, Prefect of the Apostolic Chamber.
[86] AGP, RHF, EF-670715-1. "Everything coming from [the Roman Pontiff], he reve
red as coming from Christ himself" (Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5938).
[87] AGP, RHF, EF-670715-1.
[88] See AGP, RHF, EF-670914^1. (The French means "because we love the Pope very
- much.")
[89] AGP, RHF, EF-671016-2 (a letter to Cardinal Dell'Acqua). The homily he gave

at that Mass is, as we have mentioned before, included in Conversations, under

the title "Passionately Loving the World." In it he said:
... God is calling you to serve him in and from the ordinary, material, secular
activities of human life. He waits for us every day, in the laboratory, in the o
perating room, in the army barracks, in the university chair, in the factory, in
the workshop, in the fields, in the home, and in all the immense panorama of wo
rk. Understand this well: there is something holy, something divine, hidden in t
he most ordinary situations, and it is up to each one of you to discover it.
I often said to the university students and workers who were with me in the thir
ties that they had to know how to "materialize" their spiritual life
There is no other way. Either we learn to find our Lord in ordinary, everyday li
fe, or else we shall never find him. (See Conversations, no. 114.)
[90] AGP, RHF, EF-671029-1.
[91] As the founder mentions in this letter, the consultor was Monsignor Sotero
Sanz. He had attacked the Work on several occasions, but the one referred to her
e had taken place during a recent conversation between him and Spain's Minister
of Public Works, Federico Silva Muoz. He had told the minister that he was very w
ell thought of in the Secretariat of State, except for the fact that he belonged
to Opus Dei. As the minister then made clear to him, he did not belong to Opus
Dei. But afterwards, upset and scandalized that the monsignor had spoken that wa
y about good Catholics who were serving the Church, he mentioned it to friends o
f his who did belong to the Work.
Later, from 1970 to 1977, Monsignor Sanz served as Chile's apostolic nuncio. Dur
ing that time he, with great nobility, came to recognize that he had been mistak
en, and to make amends. When the Father was in Santiago in 1974, the monsignor i
nsisted on coming in person to beg his pardon. The Father affectionately interru
pted him, saying, "Dearest Sotero, let's forget all that stuff in the past!" (se
e ibid., note 1).
[92] AGP, RHF, EF-671029-1.
[93] See PR vol. 17, Documenta, vol. 2, Opus Dei (Consagraciones), p. 12.
[94] See AGP, RHF, EF-670529-1 and EF-680113-1 (letters to Cardinal Dell'Acqua).
[95] Bishop Benelli was Undersecretary of State for Ordinary Affairs until June
1977, when he was named Archbishop of Florence and was made a cardinal. He died
on October 26,1982.
As soon as he received official notice of his appointment to the Secretariat of
State, the founder wrote to him congratulating him on the confidence placed in h
im by His Holiness, and promising to visit him "to personally manifest to you ag
ain all my esteem and friendship" (AGP, RHF, EF-670701-4). See also EF-660831-1
and EF-661115-1 (earlier letters to Bishop Benelli).
[96] See AGP, RHF, EF-680712-2 (a letter to Pope Paul).
[97] See AGP, RHF, EF-690224-1 and EF-690224-2.
[98] See AGP, RHF, D-15106. The next letter from the founder to Pope Paul is a C
hristmas greeting sent on his own behalf and that of the whole Work, assuring hi
m of everyone's prayers and feelings of filial union with him; see AGP, RHF, EF691215-3.
[99] For more on how this net of suspicions and misunderstandings was being wove
n, see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 803, and Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4699.
[100] AGP, RHF, EF-700427-2.
[101] AGP, RHF, EF-701110-1. See also EF-701114-1.
[102] See AGP, RHF, EF-671029-1. He would have suffered anything rather than cau
se the Pope the least trouble, because "the Pope's sorrow was for him a real ago
ny" (Giacomo Barabino, Sum. 4528).
[103] AGP, RHF, EF-701110-1. ("Escribe" is Spanish for "writes.")
[104] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 805 and 1174.
[105] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 805. (Cardinal Villot was at this time, as w
e men tioned before, the Vatican's Secretary of State.)
[106] AGP, RHF, EF-710202-1.
[107] The four who had official appointments were Monsignor Salvador Canals; the
lawyer Antonio Fraile Gonzalez (who came in at the request of Cardinal Adeodato
Giovanni Piazza); the then-Father Julian Herranz Casado (personally requested b

y Cardinal Pietro Ciriaci); and Father Julio Atienza Gonzalez, secretary of Card
inal Udebrando Antoniutti. (At the request of Cardinal Antoniutti, Father Atienz
a came on board as a minor adjunct official.) See AGP, RHF, EF-710202-1.
[108] AGP, RHF, EF-710202-1.
[109] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 802.
[110] See Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2375.
[111] See Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4702.
[112] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 802.
[113] Bishop del Portillo, in Sum. 806, tells us that the then-ambassador of Spa
in to the Holy See, Antonio Garrigues Diaz-Canabate, being aware of the attitude
that Bishop Benelli had toward the founder, and wanting to get things cleared u
p, invited them both to dinner. In the conversation, the founder, very calmly an
d nicely, asked the Undersecretary of State to tell him if he had committed any
error or was acting wrongly, because in that case he would correct himself then
and there, his only desire being to serve the Church. Bishop Benelli replied tha
t he had nothing to say about that. And the founder, with the peaceful conscienc
e that comes of harboring no rancor against any one, said simply, "Well, then, Y
our Excellency, why are you harassing us?"
Bishop Benelli did not say a word. However, as the months went by, he gradually
changed his stance and started showing once again his esteem for Opus Dei. See a
lso Julian Herranz, Sum. 4040, and Francesco Angelicchio, PR, p. 337.
[114] AGP, RHF, D-30805. Cardinal Benelli saw to it that an article was publishe
d in L'Osservatore Romano on the occasion of the founder's death. (See Alvaro de
l Portillo, Sum.806.)
[115] "I recall," testifies Bishop Echevarra, "that they asked us, from the Vicar
iate, for information about the date for the setting up of a center, because it
had come down from the Secretariat of State that they wanted to know even the sm
allest particulars, which gave us to understand that everything was under study,
as if that venia [approval] was not definitive" {Sum.2376).
[116] Vatican Secretariat of State, Protocol no. 208080 (30 Oct 1972).
[117] AGP, RHF, EF-721201-2.
[118] Ibid.
[119] See Immersed in God, p. 9, and also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 787. That re
sponse had come to his lips spontaneously, so great was his filial reverence for
the Pope; see Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2363.
[120] It would take a long time to catalog his relations with churchmen, startin
g with ??? me hundreds of Spanish priests that he dealt with in the early years
of the Work and ending with the high dignitaries of the Roman Curia, which he be
gan to frequent in 1945. we have already spoken to a considerable extent of his
relations with the popes Pius XII, John XXIII, and Paul VI?but not so much of th
ose with the prelates, nuncios, and other ecclesiastics of the countries to whic
h Opus Dei had spread. And one must Wonder at not only the incalculable number o
f priestly souls that he was in contact with but also the broad range of their o
ccupations and ranks. Beginning with the Roman Curia and limiting ourselves to t
he cardinals, and then to only the Italian ones, we find quite a long list of fr
iendships, many of them very close (see Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 795-98). He ha
d frequent and affectionate contact with Cardinals Dell'Acqua, Larraona, Palazzi
ni, Pizzardo, Antoniutti, Parente, Marella, Ottaviani, Baggio, Traglia, Pignedol
i, Marchetti-Selvaggiani, Violardo, Lavitrano, Tedeschini, Tardini, Piazza, Schu
ster, Cento, Mimmi, Siri, Ciriaci, and Agagianian?among others. See Julian Herra
nz, Sum. 3925; Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4698; Jose Luis Miizquiz, Sum. 5815; and Fer
nando Valenciano, Sum. 7111.
[121] This observation was also the case with Bishop Benelli. See AGP, RHF, EF-7
40727- 1, EF-740814-1, EF-740830, and EF-750210-1.
[122] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1170.
[123] Javier Echevarra, Sum. 2372.
Not often does one hear anybody sing the praises of the members of the Curia. Mo
nsignor Escriv does it in one of his letters to his children, saying: "They serve
the Church with humility, and their service does not bring them personal gain i
n material goods. They do not desire honors, but, rather, dedicate themselves ge

nerously to their spiritual task without expecting any praise. It fills the hear
t with joy to think of the hidden heroism of so many, so very many, holy souls w
ho, with good doctrine and firm
fidelity to the Apostolic See, have spent their lives for God's Church Look at how
they work; they have lived poor and have died poor; they have given their orders
gently and with fortitude; they have listened to everyone, paid attention to ev
eryone, deciding justly and seeking the advice of learned and upright persons" (
Letter 15 Aug 1964, no. 73).
[124] Apuntes,no. 1703.
[125] Ibid.
[126] AGP, RHF, T-07920 (testimony of Jose Luis Soria), p. 25.
[127] Ibid. See also AGP, P01 1972, p. 59. (The Latin means "Thanks be to God!")
[128] AGP, RHF, T-07920, p. 25.
[129] Christ Is Passing By, no. 64.
[130] Friends of God, no. 52.
[131] AGP, P06, 2, p. 333.
[132] [The word translated in some editions of the Bible as "drudgery" is though
t by many to refer to military service. The Vulgate gives "militia," which can m
ean either warfare or military service. Ed.]
[133] AGP, P011972, p. 60.
[134] Ibid., p. 59.
[135] Christ Is Passing By, no. 73.
[136] AGP, P01 1972, p. 15; see also AGP, P01 1969, p. 442. The "brays" refer to
his frequent reference to himself as a donkey. As for the joke about being a se
ven-year-old, he explained it to his children in this way: "We have to truly bec
ome like children before God, renewing our youth every day. In the history of th
e Church there have been many holy souls who have known, in their old age, how t
o become children, in many different ways. So doesn't it seem reasonable to you
when I tell you that I don't want to be more than seven years old?" (AGP, P01197
2, p. 11).
[137] AGP, P01 1972, p. 14.
[138] 5ge nofe 56 ?NOTE
[139] AGP, P011972, p. 138.
[140] Ibid., p. 146.
[141] Ibid., p. 136.
[142] Ibid., p. 316.
[143] AGP, RHF, T-07920 (testimony of Jose Luis Soria), p. 26.
[144] AGP, P011972, p. 349.
[145] Ibid., p. 420.
[146] Ibid., p. 559.
[147] The analysis also showed an abnormal level of urea in his blood. This bega
n to go down, and on April 28,1972, it was reported that "its evolution is satis
factory." He did some exercise (walks) each day, and his weight was 147 lbs. See
AGP, RHF, D-15111 (his medical records).
[148] AGP, P01 1972, p. 564.
[149] Ibid., p. 661.
[150] AGP, P04 1972, 1, p. 81. Alonso Tostado de Madrigal was a professor (at th
e University of Salamanca) who was also a great writer, theologian, philosopher,
and jurist. He died as Bishop of Avila, in 1455. His being such a prolific auth
or gave rise to the popular expression "to write more than El Tostado."
[151] AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 81.
[152] AGP, P01 1972, p. 940.
[153] AGP, P04 1972, p. 170.
[154] See Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7483.
[155] See Cesar Ortiz-Echagiie, Sum. 6860.
[156] AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[157] AGP, RHF, EF-721210-3. (The Counsellor of Spain was Father Florencio Sanch
ez Bella.)
[158] See AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[159] AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 41.

[160] The address was published in Josemarta Escriv de Balaguer y la Universidad,

Pamplona, 1993.
[161] Ibid., p. 47.
[162] AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 93.
[163] Ibid., p. 18.
[164] AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 535.
[165] Ibid., p. 225.
[166] "He let himself be taken to wherever we drove him. We got in the car, he p
rayed, and before we arrived he would ask me, 'To whom are we speaking?' And he
would begin filled with enthusiasm" (Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7483).
[167] See AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 205.
[168] AGP, RHF, EF-721214-2 (letter to Mother Maria das Merces de Jesus, O.C.D.)
.
[169] See AGP, P01 1972, p. 53. Other saints that the founder referred to as com
patriots were Saint Joseph of Calasanz and Saint Vincent Ferrer.
[170] AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 315.
[171] Ibid., p. 400.
[172] Ibid., p. 268.
[173] Ibid., p. 428.
[174] See volume 1 of this biography, pp. 447-^8, and volume 2, pp. 261,266, and
289.
[175] AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 451. (See Isaiah 65:23.)
[176] AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 450.
[177] Ibid., p. 837.
[178] Ibid., p. 827.
[179] [In Spanish this rhymes: "Madre Abadesa: fortaleza! fortaleza!fortaleza! Abadesa
fortaleza." Ed.]
[180] AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 837.
[181] Ibid., p. 841.
[182] Ibid., p. 604.
[183] Ibid., p. 605.
[184] See Matthew 13:44-50.
[185] AGP, P04 1972,1, p. 606.
9. "I seek your face, Lord"

1. The three last follies

2. The third ringing of the bell
3. The trip to South America (1974)
4. The Andes: "I'm not a high-level person"
5. His golden jubilee (1975)
6. His last days and his death

* * *

1. The three last follies

The Father arrived back in Rome, from his catechetical trip through Spain and Po
rtugal, on November 30, 1972. The demanding pace of travel and work had really p
ut his physical endurance to the test. But those two months would bear great fru
it in the future, especially since (thanks to the foresight of Don Alvaro) many
of the gatherings were filmed.
He came home with a heart full of joy?but not without a note of sadness. During
his stay in Barcelona, he had had to cut short one of the get-togethers. "A sick
man is waiting for me," he had announced, "and I have no right to make him wait
, a sick person being Christ... He needs his father and his mother, and I am his
father and mother."[1]
Father Jose Maria Hernandez Garnica (nicknamed Chiqui), one of the first three p
riests of Opus Dei, was dying in an Opus Dei center in Barcelona. A few hours af
ter visiting him, the Father said:

Today I was with a brother of yours. I had to make very great efforts in order n
ot to shed tears, because I love you with all my heart, like a father and like a
mother. I hadn't seen him in several months; now he almost looked like a corpse
. He has worked hard and with a lot of love; perhaps our Lord has decided that i
t is now time to give him the glory of heaven.[2]

At the beginning of 1972 Father Jose Maria had been diagnosed with an incurable
illness. As soon as the founder learned of it, he wrote to the Counsellor of Spa
in, urging that the patient receive all the care and affection possible. Father
Jose Maria was in Pamplona. In February the Father wrote to his ill son:

I know that your days are very full, and this makes me happy. Thus it will be ea
sier for you to unite yourself to the intentions of my Mass and my prayer, and o
ur Mother, holy Mary, will obtain for us from her divine Son an end to these ter
rible, unbelievable times of trial that the Church and souls are going through.
I am sure that Jesus, our Love, will listen to you in a special way while you ar
e suffering from that illness that he has sent you. Take advantage of that privi
lege.[3]

Some months later, after expressing his gratitude to the Blessed Virgin for the
peace and acquiescence with which his son was accepting his illness, the founder
encouraged him to continue that fruitful living with suffering:

Keep it up, my son. Your pains are a loud cry of prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ
for this holy Church of his that the devil is trying to take over.[4]

A week after his arrival in Rome, the Father was told of the death of Father Jos
e Maria. He gathered the members of the General Council, and, as one of them rel
ates it in the diary entry for that day:

Between tears, he told us that they had just telephoned from Madrid to inform hi
m of the death of Jose Maria. It happened last night, in Barcelona. He himself h
ad asked for the Last Rites to be administered.
The Father immediately celebrated Mass for his soul. At first he said we could a
ttend if we wanted to. Later Javi told us that the Father was very much upset an
d that we should go to the Mass that Don Alvaro would be celebrating.[5]

Right away the founder sent Fathers Pedro Casciaro and Jose Luis Miizquiz identi
cally worded letters:
I just received the sad news of the death of Chiqui (R.I.P.). The Lord wanted to
take him from us well purified. I cannot hide from you that I have suffered, th
at I am suffering a lot, that I have wept.[6]

The Father took very personally the death of any son or daughter of his. He alwa
ys suffered deeply, and never got used to it, even though he received such news
more and more frequently.
He was deeply thankful for the affection that had been shown to Chiqui by those
who had been at his side.[7]
That loss was "a very hard blow," but incomparably greater was the pain he was t
hen experiencing on account of what was going on in the Church. In a letter date
d December 12, 1972, he expresses his sentiments with great spiritual clear-sigh
tedness, saying:

I cannot deny to you that if the Lord and his most dear Mother weren't helping u
s with their special assistance, the times that the Church is now going through
would make us suffer too much.
... Be faithful for me. Fulfill the norms. Don't neglect your prayer. Work with
joy. Make reparation, with Love.
Then, we will see how this whole sad, terrible situation of humanity will be rem
edied. And there will come the day? which we can anticipate, starting now?when w

e will give continuous thanks to God; "ut in gratiarum semper actione maneamus."
[8]

At Christmas he chose this counsel?"Always give thanks"?as his motto for the upc
oming year.
But hardly any days went by before his concern again began to rob him of sleep.
"Last night I got almost no sleep," he told his sons. "It must be also because o
f that worry about souls. I feel like a caged animal."[9] That anguish shows up
in his Christmas-greetings letter, where he speaks of "the terrible problems tha
t the Church is undergoing."[10] However, the desire to finish up the many pendi
ng matters seemed to urge him on. From time to time, with ever greater frequency
, he was heard to say in conversation with his sons, "Any day now, I'll be going
."[11] For him that was not a sad thought, but a happy one. It spurred him to ma
ke good use of his time, without pausing to be sad.
Around that time he wrote to Cardinal Mario Casariego, saying that, both by natu
re and by gift from heaven, he was optimistic and serene.

Do not think that I am a pessimist. Our Lord God has made me an optimist; the sp
irit of the Work is one of optimism; and the holy Gospel also fills me with opti
mism. I ask, however, even with my breathing, that we may see again the true fac
e of the Spouse of Christ as soon as possible, and that the mercy of our heavenl
y Father may shorten these times, making the waters run in their channels, so th
at so many souls will stop being lost....
I have to admit to you that, although I am suffering from it very much, I am ver
y joyful?I am always happy. Sadness? "amaritudo mea amarissima!" [my bitterness
is most bitter!]?never robs me of my joy or peace. Only for a moment or two do I
lose my smile; which I have as an unmerited gift that Jesus chose to give me al
most permanently.[12]

"I am in the dark," he said one day to his sons on the General Council. "All I c
an see is the need to make reparation and that I need your help."[13]

* * *

In Holy Week of 1973, two thousand young people from all over the world came to
Rome, some of them at great personal sacrifice, to see the Pope and to spend tim
e in get-togethers with the Father. In his greeting to them, he told them how gr
atified and impressed he was by their having made that effort:
If you're here, it's because you are wonderful rebels. Unfortunately, in the wor
ld today all the drive is toward garbage. There is constant talk of sexual thing
s, of violence, of getting rich in whatever way, of not looking out for the othe
rs. And no talk of God.
But you, having realized that world is trying to get you to live the life of an
animal, have answered, "No! I do not want to be a beast."[14]
The Roman College's twenty-fifth anniversary was celebrated in June. In that qua
rter century its students from forty countries had written more than five hundre
d doctoral theses on subjects of Theology, Canon Law, Philosophy, or Education.
One of the walls in Villa Tevere was inscribed with the name and year of the doc
torate of one student from each country. The first of these is Don Alvaro. The d
ate inscribed by his name is June 10,1949.[15]
The Father spent the second half of the summer in Civenna, as he had the year be
fore. From there he wrote to his daughters on the Central Advisory: "During this
time I have continued to be deeply immersed in my habitual 'occupation': prayin
g, without a break, for the Church and for souls."[16] And on the same date (Aug
ust 20) he wrote to his sons on the General Council:

Here we're praying a lot and working. No need for me to tell you that I haven't
managed to rest. I suffer for the Church, and I suffer for souls! I live, day an
d night, in one continual petition to the Lord, and still I want to know how to
ask more and better. I therefore ask that you unite yourselves to the intentions

of my Mass, getting in on these "occupations" of mine, so as to maintain an uni

nterrupted presence of God, always through the intercession of holy Mary?refugiu
m nostrum et virtus [our refuge and our strength]?and of Saint Joseph.[17]

He spent the month of September at Castelldaura, a conference center near Barcel

ona, because of an operation that Don Alvaro had to undergo. He himself also had
a medical checkup at the University of Navarre Hospital. The analyses showed an
elevated amount of urea in the blood. On September 29 he was back in Rome.[18]
For the Father, moral sufferings and physical problems seemed to go hand in hand
. He wrote on November 17:

Pray for me. Since it is impossible to turn a blind eye when you come face to fa
ce (unfortunately, it will happen often) with the sad results of the confusion r
eigning within the Church, pray that it will end soon. And unite yourselves to t
he intention of my Mass, because I am really going through a bad time, a very ba
d time; but I stay filled with a peace and joy given me from heaven.[19]

The medical notes made on November 30, 1973, are preceded by this succinct obser
vation: "His tiredness and afternoon fatigue together with nightly insomnia cont
inues to be present."[20] This wake-fulness was closely tied to what the Father
called his "habitual occupation": his praying "day and night, without a break,"
for the Church and for souls.

* * *

At the beginning of the fifties the Father had asked the Counsellor of Spain to
go and pray to Our Lady of Torreciudad, to whom his parents had offered him in 1
904 in thanksgiving for his cure. The ancient shrine, which from the height of a
crag dominated the valley of Cinca, was half in ruins. During the civil war, th
e militias, in their iconoclastic fury, had destroyed the altarpiece and burned
the furnishings of the shrine. Fortunately, a local villager had managed to save
the statue of our Lady, hiding it in the mountains.
In 1955 the founder had mentioned his desire to build a shrine to our Lady in th
e United States, under the title of Mother of Fairest Love.[21] His idea was to
place the holiness of families under the protection of the Blessed Virgin.
As the years went by, these intentions kept growing stronger. Hoping to see at l
east one such project accomplished in his lifetime, the Father made an offer to
the bishop of Barbastro, Bishop Jaime Flores: If Opus Dei were entrusted with th
e care of the shrine, it would commit itself to fostering devotion to Our Lady o
f Torreciudad.
What was it that moved the Father to do this? Above all, it was love of our Lady
, and the desire to spread Marian devotion. And, of course, it was his own grati
tude and that of the whole Work for the favors received at the hand of the Bless
ed Virgin.
The use of the shrine with its buildings and the surrounding land was ceded in p
erpetuity on September 24,1962.[22]
The first step was restoration work on the statue of our Lady. And, at the same
time, the Father requested of the Holy See a canonical coronation of the statue.
[23] But there was also the problem of how to provide space for a substantial nu
mber of pilgrims. To do this, it would be necessary to construct a new shrine on
the nearby hillside, after doing extensive excavation to form a large level are
a.
In June 1967 the Father spoke with Heliodoro Dols, the architect for the project
, and made suggestions, taking into account recent indications of the Council re
garding worship. Afterwards he wrote a letter to his children in Spain giving hi
s reasons for wanting that new shrine built, and what he hoped for from it:

I hope for an outpouring of spiritual graces, that the Lord will deign to grant
to those who have recourse to his Blessed Mother before that little statue, so v
enerated for centuries. Therefore I would like to see many confessionals there,

so that people can get themselves cleansed in the holy sacrament of Penance and?
with their souls renewed?strengthen or renew their Christian life, learning to s
anctify and love work, bringing to their homes the peace and joy of Jesus Christ
: "Peace I give you, peace I leave you." Thus they will receive with gratitude t
he children sent them by God, using nobly the matrimonial love that makes them s
harers in God's creative power. And God will honor those homes by choosing souls
who will dedicate themselves, with a personal and free dedication, to the servi
ce of divine interests.
Other miracles? No matter how many and how great they might be (should the Lord
choose to honor his Blessed Mother in that way), those will not seem to me any g
reater than the ones I've just mentioned, which will be many, very frequent, and
hidden, in the sense that no one will be able to give statistics.[24]

When visiting many of the Marian shrines in Europe, such as those of Lourdes, Fa
tima, and Einsiedeln, the Father would drink the water of their springs like any
other devout pilgrim, but without asking or even hoping for miracles. In this l
etter to Spain he continues:

At Torreciudad, wherever we put water for quenching the thirst of the faithful,
there's going to be a sign that says clearly and categorically, "Natural drinkin
g water."
The water awaiting us in those cliffs?that of my, of our Mother?will be like a f
resh and bracing spring ceaselessly welling up unto eternal life.[25]

It was to be a place of prayer and penance where souls would be helped to encoun
ter God. As the Father put it, "We will not ask her for external miracles." He a
nd his children would go to Our Lady of Torreciudad begging that she work "many
internal miracles": changes of heart, conversions .. .[26]
On April 6,1970, in Madrid, the Father got his first chance to see the restored
statue. The work had just been completed, at a workshop in Madrid, and the statu
e had been taken to the Diego de Leon center so that he could see it. The worksh
op had been able to date it as having been carved at the end of the eleventh cen
tury.
The Father was taken by its beauty. "It's gorgeous!" he enthusiastically exclaim
ed. Afterwards he remained for a time absorbed in contemplating the image, and t
hen, for about ten or twelve minutes, he carried on a dialogue of love with our
Lady.[27]
From Madrid, the Father went to Torreciudad, to see the site chosen for construc
tion of the new shrine. Standing at the edge of the excavation, he blessed the f
uture crypt, in which forty confessionals would be installed. He dreamed of a co
mplex of buildings that would invite one to prayer and to penance, and where eve
rything would contribute to catechesis. The main altar would have a large reredo
s with scenes from the life of the Blessed Virgin. "A catechesis in stone," that
would stir up in the pilgrims love for God.[28] A catechesis that everyone woul
d understand?intellectuals and simple folk from the villages.
The Father also decided that inside the church there would be a sculpture of Chr
ist, showing him as nailed to the cross but still alive, with his eyes open, as
if saying lovingly to the faithful, "Look, I suffered all of this for you."[29]
And he wanted the Blessed Sacrament to have a prominent place in the church. A r
ich tabernacle set in an "oculus" [opening] in the upper part of the reredos wou
ld preside over all the apostolic activities "carried on amid those Aragonese cr
ags, in honor of his Mother, for the good of all souls and in service of the hol
y Church."[30]
The Father would not return to Torreciudad until May 1975?the month before his d
eath. Nevertheless, his faith, his prayer, his work, and his urging on of those
carrying out the project were such that it is fair to say that Torreciudad is "a
monument to the Father's faith in our Lady's intercession."[31] To launch such
a costly enterprise was a folly, but a necessary one. Reflecting on the difficul
ty of venturing it, the Father said, "Torreciudad?when we began it, all that we
had materially was that wooden statue. But you, Mother, know how we love you, an

d you will pull us through!"[32]

He felt the need to open the shrine to the faithful as soon as possible. And he
urged that nothing be the least bit delayed; that each stage be completed on sch
edule. But a financial crisis arose. An important part of the work did have to b
e postponed. He received a precise report on the critical situation, and he resp
onded with words of encouragement that revived hopes and stirred everyone to act
ion. He said, "Don't forget that dead men don't finish things."[33]
The Father's habit of putting apostolic exigencies ahead of financial considerat
ions translated into a painful living day to day, on donations. Contributions ca
me in from thousands of people?money they had scraped up by making household sac
rifices, taking on extra work, or depleting their savings. Generous donations, a
ll of them, coming from all over Spain and from other countries, but in quantiti
es that never managed to free the enterprise from debt.[34]
An attempt was made to save on the acquisition of construction materials. As the
area behind the El Grado Dam, which was just below the shrine, began to fill wi
th water several of the nearby villages would end up flooded. The Father suggest
ed the possibility of buying some of the construction material in these villages
: tiles, cut stones, doors, window frames. They also were able to recover materi
al from old houses that had been demolished.[35]
Despite all that, there was no lack of gossip about the supposed "luxuriousness"
of the buildings, or of attacks directed personally at the founder, accusing hi
m of aspirations to grandeur, because of being so magnanimous in his devotion to
Our Lady of Torreciudad.[36]
Accomplishing what seemed impossible, construction was finished and the shrine w
as opened to the faithful in 1975. It was all due to the Father's tenacity and h
is confidence in God and our Lady.[37]
* * *

By 1970, with the rapid growth of the Work, the central headquarters of Opus Dei
in Rome, built with so much sweat and sacrifice, was already too small. It had
now been over twenty years since the Roman College of the Holy Cross was set up
there on a provisional basis. The number of students living there had continued
to grow, thanks be to God, but the available space was more inadequate each year
. The Father wanted his sons to have fresh air and recreational facilities. It w
as high time to do away with that "provisional" setup, especially since the cent
ral organs of government, whose work had also been expanding, needed the space o
ccupied by the Roman College.[38]
The Father was now over sixty-five. With all those years of hard work behind him
, he might well have taken a well-deserved rest. But that was never his mentalit
y. Instead, facing what remained to be done, he demanded more and more of himsel
f.
"Night is falling on me, my children," he said. "We must hurry!"[39]He decided t
hat the Roman College could not continue to be housed in Opus Dei's central head
quarters. It had to be moved elsewhere, and quickly. A search was made for a pos
sible new site within the metropolitan area. In Rome there were plenty of old pa
laces and big houses that were in a bad state of repair. But to renovate them fr
om within, adapting them to the specific needs of the Roman College, would have
been more expensive than starting from scratch by just demolishing them?which wa
s something that the city statutes did not allow. After several consultations, t
he Father decided, in November 1967, that the most economical thing would be sim
ply to build from the ground up in the city's outskirts.[40]
It took two years to complete the architectural plans. Obtaining city approval a
nd the needed construction permits also took time. The site was on an embankment
overlooking the broad valley of the Tiber. Down below was the Via Flaminia?the
street on which Constantine's legionnaires had camped before defeating the troop
s of Maxentius. It was after that victory that Constantine had issued the Edict
of Milan, which gave freedom to the Christians. The Father liked to recall this
history, and also the fact that the name of the property, Cavabianca, derived fr
om a nearby quarry. He saw that as a wonderfully appropriate name, given that th
is center of formation would be providing him with well-polished blocks of stone

on which he could build.[41]

The first hurdle was to finance the project, although lack of funds was for the
Father an old story. He put full trust in Divine Providence, and saw Cavabianca
as being the last of the construction projects that would be passing through his
hands.[42] (He had, indeed, been shepherding construction projects for a long t
ime, without a break. The last stone of Villa Tevere had been laid on January 9,
1960, after twelve years of work. In April 1960, work was begun on the Roman Co
llege of Saint Mary, at Castel Gandolfo. Then Tor d'Aveia was renovated, so that
summer activities could be carried out there; it started being used for that pu
rpose in 1967.[43] And in 1970, when excavation at Torreciudad was under way, th
e Father was already beginning the Cavabianca project.)
As always, he had to go at God's pace, neither faster nor slower. Of one thing h
e was convinced: he had to give formation to those young men and women who would
later scatter throughout the world to form, in their turn, the many people God
would send to Opus Dei. But first he had to provide accommodations for them. As
he used to say, where there are many birds, many birdcages are needed. In Barcel
ona, during that long trip he made in 1972, he said:
In Rome, very close to Villa Tevere (which also needs some touching up, since we
did it in a big hurry), we decided to acquire a few acres, and there is being b
uilt there a house for over three hundred "birds." Bishops from all over the wor
ld come to see me, and they say to me, "But you are crazy ..." And I answer them
, "I am sane as can be. When you have birds and you don't have a birdcage, what
you need is a birdcage. I need to form there?keeping them there for one, two, th
ree years at the most?my intellectual children from all over the world.[44]
Some churchmen, on hearing him speak of the project and all it involved, tried t
o dissuade him. Such an ambitious enterprise seemed very crazy indeed, especiall
y given the severe crises there were among Catholics in all countries. How did h
e expect to maintain and fill those buildings? It was surely a folly. He had to
be making a big mistake.[45]
The Father was the first to admit it. The project was a real folly?but an exempl
ary and necessary folly. So he never considered going back on it.
On December 6,1971, when the work had been going on for a year, the Father asked
the architects to pray to Saint Nicholas for a solution to the financial proble
m. Also, he told them that the work had to be finished by three years from that
day.[46]
But obstacles arose, some foreseen, but others unexpected. These included impedi
ments of a technical and bureaucratic nature: labor strikes; sudden increases in
the costs of materials ... All of this in years of social instability, trade-un
ion tensions, kidnappings, and large-scale terrorism.[47] More than one friend s
uggested to him that it might be better to give up the project at Cavabianca and
build somewhere other than Rome, perhaps even in some other country. But he fel
t it necessary to go ahead with Cavabianca, for a spiritual reason: its "Romanne
ss" was a guarantee of unity and apostolic effectiveness.[48]
The Father reminded the Roman College students that the buildings would be built
with other people's money?the fruit of the sweat of many of their brothers and
sisters?and with the help of Cooperators and other friends, some of whom were no
t even Catholic.[49] And, he said, the devil was not thrilled about the project
and was doing what he could to hinder it.[50] And so, as in the case of Villa Te
vere: funds were lacking, and malicious talk was not.
Torreciudad and Cavabianca were two follies of love, carried out at the same tim
e. Both gave expression to the Father's love for souls and devotion to our Lady.
Both were founded on magnanimity and poverty, and begun with hope. Both were ca
rried out with great care, down to the last detail, and were completed with cons
tancy and sacrifice.[51]
One day the Father was speaking with his sons about Cavabianca, and, as he often
did, he referred to it as his "next-to-last folly." And when someone asked him,
"What will the last one be?" he replied, "To die in good time."[52] What he mea
nt by that was that he hoped not to live long enough to become a burden to his c
hildren.


2. The third ringing of the bell

Things moved along at Cavabianca, amid the noise of excavating machines, trucks,
and cement mixers. The Father followed the progress of the executing of the pla
ns. He often visited the architectural studio and made suggestions. He did not l
ike massive buildings. Cavabianca would, in accord with his suggestions, be a co
mplex made up of small buildings, so that it would have the warm, friendly feel
of a little village. There would be little gardens, and fountains, and open spac
es?squares, streets, fields. He told his sons, "I'm eager to see the trees plant
ed, even though I won't be sharing in the enjoyment of their fruit or shade. It
gives me great joy to plant a tree so that the others, my children, will enjoy i
ts shade."[53]
He was making quite a few comments of that nature, such as "I am seventy-one, an
d any day now I'll be going,"[54] and "I'm asking God to take me for the Church.
Here I'm just a hindrance; in heaven I'll be able to help better."[55] He also
was often asking God for the grace of "dying without being a pain."[56]
Was there, behind all these reflections, an actual presentiment of being not far
from the end? At first glance, there seems to be no indication of this. But on
the other hand it was enough to recall his years, his fatigue, and his chronic i
nfirmities. ???
Nevertheless, his clear command of his faculties, his disciplined will, and the
moral energy he always showed contravened the idea that he was going downhill, t
hat he was starting to waste away. And so, whenever he was heard to say, "I don'
t know how much more time God will give me to live," those words did not seem to
mean much of anything.[57] But it was a very different story when he would say
that he had spent his life "playing the double bass."[58] For in this case he wa
s making an examination of conscience, and a contrite confession of his whole li
fe, which he saw as empty, poor, lacking in virtues, frail, and always having to
be repaired. In this regard he mentioned that during his trip through Portugal
in 1972, his children had presented him with a porcelain soup tureen whose only
value was in the message repeated all over it: "I love you." The bowl had broken
and had been put back together with staples. The Father saw himself in that hum
ble tureen. To him, that was the story of his life: it was broken and put back t
ogether with staples; more and more staples, as the years went by.[59]
The Father did feel that time was slipping away from him. And so, when he gave h
imself to a task of service, he went at it with full force, shaking off his tire
dness and the weight of his years. And then he was transformed, as if into a new
person. It seemed as though, by some kind of magic, he recovered his youthfulne
ss, his spirit pulling his body up. Probably there was still echoing in his hear
t that divine locution, "Love is deeds, and not sweet words." Love for the Churc
h, for the Work, and for all souls moved him to try to make up, until the very l
ast instant, what he considered the lost time in his life?all that time spent "p
laying the double bass."

* * *

The problem that caused the founder the most pain in the last years of his life
was the situation of the Church. That was for him an unending source of sorrow.
His last three letters to all his children had as their focus this "time of tria
l" for all Catholics. Two of these letters were written in the spring of 1973, a
nd the third was written in February 1974.
In the first letter (dated March 28,1973), fulfilling his pastoral duty with a f
atherly solicitude, he reminds them of the dangers to which they are being expos
ed in this "time of severe trial" that has come upon the Church:

For years I've been warning you of the symptoms and causes of this contagious fe
ver that has been introduced into the Church and that is imperiling the salvatio
n of so many souls.

The reason I go on about this is that I want you to remain vigilant and persever
e in prayer: "vigilate, et orate, ut non intretis in tentationem" (Mt 26:41). On
the alert and praying! That must be our posture, in the midst of this night of
drowsiness and treason, if we want to follow Jesus Christ closely and be consist
ent with our vocation. It is not the time for sleep; it is not the moment for a
siesta; we have to persevere awake, in a continual vigil of prayer and of sowing
.
On the alert and praying! Let none of us consider ourselves immune to the contag
ion.[60]

And to that end he gives them timely counsels: Remain firm in the faith; take ca
re with liturgical ceremonies; make your whole life a continuous act of praise o
f the Blessed Trinity; live well the Mass, "the center and root of your interior
life"; and cultivate "a strong spirit of expiation," begging pardon "for so man
y criminal acts being committed against God, against his sacraments, against his
doctrine, against his morality."[61] Granted, it is always the right time to lo
ve the Lord, but we have to draw even closer to him in these times of indifferen
ce and bad behavior. "And this obliges us to seek greater intimacy with God each
day."[62]
The letter, from beginning to end, amounts to one incessant harping on the super
natural means, or weapons, that are necessary and always available for perseveri
ng in love for Christ. It is also a call to the task of apostolate, in which eac
h one must be "like a lighted street lamp, filled with the light of God, in the
darkness that surrounds us."[63]
Finally, at the close of the letter, the Father puts a stress on serene joy, bec
ause the Lord wants to see his own be loyal and unshakably optimistic. He points
out that in other times of profound crisis in the history of the Church, a hand
ful of determined people sufficed to put up effective resistance to the agents o
f evil.

Those few have filled with light, once again, the Church and the world. My child
ren, let us feel the duty of being loyal to all that we have received from God,
so as to transmit it faithfully. We can't, we don't want to, surrender.
Don't let yourselves be dragged along by the environment. Bring the atmosphere o
f Christ to every place. Strive to leave the mark of God, with charity, with aff
ection, with clarity of doctrine, on all who cross your path. Don't let the mira
ge of novelty snatch the piety from your souls. God's truth is eternally young a
nd new. Christ never becomes out-of-date. "Iesus Christus heri et hodie, ipse et
in saecula" (Heb 13: S).[64]

Not even three months had passed when, in view of how things were going, he took
up his pen again. In this second letter, dated June 17,1973, he discusses in mo
re detail the errors that are infiltrating into the beliefs and customs of Catho
lics. The Church, he says, is in the midst of a terrible storm, "and in this lon
g spell of tempest and shipwreck, we have to be for many the ark of salvation."[
65] Many Catholics, unfortunately, have lost their supernatural outlook; they ar
e no longer living with their eyes fixed on the eternity toward which we all are
journeying. Dazzled "by the mirages of the temporal," they are adopting a criti
cal posture toward tradition and are rebelling against even the idea of dogma. T
hey advocate a mistaken "adult Catholicism."[66]The Father invites these people
to go to the Gospel and hear what the Lord says: "Truly, I say to you, unless yo
u turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt
18:3).
More and more people are preaching a life stripped of supernatural faith. Their
goal is to supplant God everywhere.
Especially with Marxism, which is the aggregate of all the errors, we are witnes
sing a total subversion: eternity is replaced by history, the supernatural by th
e natural, the spiritual by the material, divine grace by human effort ???
For some, it seems as if instead of it being the Church?the Church of always, th
e one that Jesus Christ founded and that Jesus Christ has continually assisted o

ver these twenty centuries?that is the salvation of the world, it is the world t
hat has to be the salvation of the Church.[67]
In his Christmas-greetings letter for 1973, he continues to comment on the centr
al theme of those two long letters of the preceding months, because, he insists,
"I have the duty to tell you these sad truths, to warn you, to open your eyes t
o reality, at times so painful."[68] And then he promises them a third long lett
er. "I will write to you soon," he says. "I will make the ??? Trig bell' sound a
gain, so that no one is overcome by a bad sleep." But "Christmas is not an occas
ion of grief or of pessimism. We have to be filled with serenity, with supernatu
ral hope, with faith. The Lord will come; that is for sure."[69]
Several weeks later, the Father sent out to the whole family of the Work that pr
omised letter. He dubbed it "the third ringing of the bell," alluding to the old
custom (still observed today in some villages and cities) of calling people to
Mass with three soundings of the bell, duly spaced out, the last of which immedi
ately precedes the liturgical celebration. The letter begins:

Dearest ones: may Jesus safeguard for me my daughters and my sons. Once again I
greet you, "ringing the bell" again. I feel it my duty to alert you, and I do so
in the traditional way of summoning the faithful to the Sacrifice of Jesus Chri
st: repeating the calls. Three would be given, to announce the start of Holy Mas
s. The people, upon hearing the now-familiar pealing, would finally step up thei
r pace, hurrying to the house of the Lord. This letter is like a third invitatio
n, within less than a year, urging you to face squarely the demands of our vocat
ion, in the midst of the hard trial that the Church is undergoing.
I would like this ringing of the bell to forever awaken in your hearts the same
joy and the same vigilant spirit left in my soul?now almost a half century ago?b
y those bells of Our Lady of the Angels.[70]

He was obliged, as Father, to show them the stark reality, not disguising it or
playing it down. So he took it upon himself to open their eyes to the sad events
afflicting the Church. He had them look at the situation in the light of faith
and hope.[71] And, in vigorous style, he kept his children awake in conscience s
o that they would intensify their interior life and avoid getting bogged down in
discouragement.
I hope, by these lines, to spur you to seek with greater effort the presence, th
e conversation, and the company of, and intimacy with, our Lord God, Three and O
ne, through a tender devotion to the "earthly trinity." May this habitual commun
ion with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph be for us and those around us a continual catec
hesis, an open book helping us to take part in the mercifully redemptive mysteri
es of the God made Man.[72]
His aim was not to be a prophet of disaster and bitterness, but to bring peace a
nd balance to souls. He is exhorting his children in order to provoke in them no
t "a mere emotional response," but, rather, "a sincere feeling of sorrow." And,
with it, joy. This is, in fact, the toast he gives his children at the beginning
of 1974. He says, "For everyone, joy, and for me?along with joy? contrition."[7
3]
But the sense of urgency comes through loud and clear. He says, for example:

We have to throb, my children, we have to throb. We will have to render an accou

nt of time wasted. For us, time is the glory of God; time, each moment of it, is
an unrepeatable opportunity to sow good doctrine. There is never an excuse for
neglecting the apostolate.[74]

The stance taken by the founder?that of remaining firm in his faith, not "ceding
even a fraction of an inch," and of being faithful to his commitments, prudent
in his decisions, and tenacious and responsible?kept the unity of the Work intac
t. In the letter, he gives his children the rationale of his conduct:

My daughters and sons, I want to state very clearly that I feel the responsibili
ty I have before God on account of his having entrusted to me so many souls, and

that after praying a lot and getting others to pray over a long period of time,
I have communicated to you the attitudes I thought prudent, so that you would h
ave, in the midst of this ecclesiastical chaos, some safe guidelines to go by.[7
5]

And further on he says:

We can't harbor anyone in Opus Dei who wants to undo the compact unity?and I use
the word "compact" deliberately? of faith and good spirit by which, despite our
personal miseries, we try to stay very close to the Lord.[76]

* * *

In his third "ringing of the bell," the Father acknowledged the great joy that h
is daughters and sons had given him with their faithfulness and their upright Ch
ristian lives. All had shown their availability for the service of God in the Wo
rk, going from one place to another, or tirelessly persevering in the same place
, and the Lord had "poured out" on that generosity "his sanctifying efficacy?con
versions, vocations, fidelity to the Church?everywhere in the world."[77]
But the Father, too, had contributed in person to the making of the history as w
ell as "prehistory" of the Work's expansion in Europe, with the trips he made th
ere. He was always going somewhere, opening centers and "filling the roads with
Hail Mary's and songs." And obviously not doing so by caprice, since, when the d
octors finally advised him to leave Rome to get some fresh air and some rest, he
answered them, "I have to stay in Rome; it is my cross, and I cannot stop embra
cing it."[78]
He had had no direct, personal acquaintance with the apostolic activities of his
children in the Americas, except for Mexico, where he had made that pilgrimage
in 1970. He wanted to see the others, too, "in their element," but no good oppor
tunity had presented itself. They wrote him; they called him; they insisted on h
is coming to visit them. But the reply he gave them was always, invariably, the
same: he was poor; he did not do any touring; and he went not where he wanted to
go, but where he was sent. During a get-together in 1969, he was asked about th
e possibility of making a catechetical trip in the Americas, and this was the an
swer he gave:

I can't make plans on my own. I don't know; I don't give the orders. Here decisi
ons are made collegially. We can't have a dictator in Opus Dei. I'm just one mor
e vote. I have to do what the majority wants. I would very much like to go, not
just to the Americas, but also to other places, in Africa and in Asia. Someday,
if the moment's right, they'll tell me, "Father, you should go." And I'll go.[79
]

Of course, if it depended only on his wishes, the Father would have gone around
the world several times to be with all his children. But that "someday" when it
would be "advisable" for him to go to the Americas was closer than he could have
imagined, and actually caught him by surprise and without any desire to make a
trip. What happened was that, around March of 1974, his sons began to suggest to
him, gently, that he repeat his catechetical trip of 1972, but this time in Lat
in America. In principle the Father liked the idea, because it would satisfy his
zeal to help souls; it offered the possibility of strengthening in the faith th
ousands and thousands of people. But on the other side there was his deep aversi
on to being the center of general attention, to finding himself exposed to recei
ving applause, lavish praise, and public demonstrations of affection.[80]
By March 25, when he wrote to Cardinal Casariego (the archbishop of Guatemala Ci
ty), he already had tentative plans for a trip to Latin America. "Don't stop pra
ying," he says, "that everything will be resolved and we can go?with Fr. Alvaro
and Fr. Javier?to those beloved lands."[81] And a month later he wrote again to
the cardinal, saying, "I'm hoping within a few months to be able to go to those
countries."[82]

On May 9 he presided at a ceremony at the University of Navarre in which honorar

y doctorates were awarded to Bishop Franz Hengs-bach, of Essen, and Professor Je
rome Lejeune, of the University of Paris. The address he gave was focused on the
inviolable sanctity of human life. "Human lives," he said, "being holy, since t
hey come from God, cannot be treated as mere things, as numbers in a statistic."
[83]
From there he went to Madrid, to give First Communion to one of his nephews.[84]
And then, when he was on the point of returning to Rome, his sons proposed a ch
ange of plans. The weeks that he had before him, they said, would be a good chan
ce, perhaps his only one, to make that projected trip to Latin America. They spo
ke to him of the many spiritual benefits to be obtained from it. In the first pl
ace, the spiritual betterment and enrichment of the interior lives of so many of
his children. He might, in addition, give useful advice to the directors of the
various regions, and sow good doctrine among the people ... ??? As was expected
, this appeal to the Father's apostolic zeal worked. They quickly made the prepa
rations for the trip, allowing for a long stay in Latin America.[85]
But a serious question had to be asked: Was the Father in good enough physical s
hape to undertake the trip? A few days earlier, he had had a checkup in Pamplona
. Nevertheless, he now got another, more thorough one in Madrid, by a medical te
am from the University of Navarre Hospital.
Aside from the kidney problems, which had grown steadily worse with the years, a
nd not counting the severe bouts of fatigue, and the residual effects of past il
lnesses, and other minor chronic ailments, the general state of the Father's hea
lth was, in the opinion of the doctors, "satisfactory."[86] The Father agreed fu
lly with this favorable pronouncement on his health, since it gave him plenty of
scope for working. And as for the doctors, we have to bear in mind that their j
udgment was in part based on a knowledge of their patient that went beyond the l
imits of science. Thus, in the medical report, anticipating possible objections,
they say, "After careful consideration, we have decided to respond in the affir
mative to the possibility of his trip to Latin America, despite the indicated im
pressions."[87] Further down, they explain that "the affirmative medical respons
e to the carrying out of the trip was made taking into account the personality o
f Msgr. Escriva."
According to all his doctors, he was a docile patient, always smiling and cooper
ative. They never heard him complain. During the medical exams, when they asked
about his health, he would invariably answer, "I'm doing fine," and then, pointi
ng to Fathers Alvaro and Javier (his custodes), he would add, "but they can tell
you what they think."[88] However, all of that is not to say that he was an eas
y patient.
In reality, and in defense of his doctors, one would have to say that he was a q
uite unusual patient. For example, he enjoyed the exhausting work he did on his
catechetical trip throughout Spain in 1972, although he showed the effects soon
afterward. The doctors could not come up with any convincing reason for this. No
r could they explain why the alarming changes reflected in the clinical analyses
seemed to have no effect on his vitality.
When they decided in favor of his trip to Latin America, the doctors were taking
very much into account, despite the risks, the benefits that would derive from
his visit, and also the impalpable spiritual energy he had. Nevertheless, they p
rudently recommended a restriction of activity, with frequent periods of rest, a
nd the company of a doctor throughout the trip.[89] That last recommendation was
the most feasible one. Dr. Alejandro Cantero was at his side from the moment th
ey left Madrid. But as for that other business, of moderating activity and takin
g the prescribed rests, that would be a different story .. . ???
Meanwhile, his enthusiasm for the proposed journey to Latin America had cooled s
omewhat. As almost always happened in such cases, he ended up going in spite of
himself, without at all feeling like it. When his sons were speaking to him abou
t the trip on the night before his departure, he, without beating around the bus
h, let them know his state of mind. He said, "I have no desire to go; but I have
never done things because I wanted to."[90]
Relying on the prayer of his daughters and sons, he undertook the crossing of th

e Atlantic.

May Jesus watch over my daughters in Rome for me!

My dear daughters?within a few days we'll be embarking on our trip to South Amer
ica, and we need you to help us with your prayer and your work. It gives me grea
t joy to think that you are accompanying us in this way.
All your sisters here are doing very well. An affectionate blessing from your Fa
ther,

Mariano [91]

3. The trip to South America(1974)

The plane that the Father took in Madrid on the morning of Wednesday, May 22,197
4, landed in Rio de Janeiro in the late afternoon. As soon as the engines stoppe
d, some members of the Work climbed up the stairs and came into the plane. "Pax,
my fellow Aragonese!" This was the Father's greeting to Father Xavier de Ayala,
the Counsellor, who, like the Father, was from Aragon.
Once they had taken care of the formalities of entry into the country, they boar
ded another plane. Night fell suddenly. After an hour that seemed very long, the
y arrived at Sao Paulo, where the Father was greeted by a good number of his chi
ldren. At nine o'clock he entered the oratory at Sumare, the seat of the Regiona
l Commission, to greet our Lord and place beside the tabernacle a red camellia t
hat one of his daughters had given him at the airport.
The next day was the feast of the Ascension. In the morning the Father had his f
irst get-togethers with the members of the Advisory and those of the Administrat
ion. At the outset he suggested to his daughters that the fruit they should draw
from the month of May was the resolve to go "to Jesus, through Mary, with Josep
h."[92]
By noon he had already met with three different groups. And to those who tried t
o protect him from getting fatigued after that long trip of the day before, he r
eplied that he had come to Brazil not to rest but to work. He said, only half in
jest, "If you don't give me work to do, I'm out of here."[93] Right away anothe
r get-together was set up? one for six o'clock that evening, with the young men
of the Study Center, whose house was next to that of the Commission.
He began by telling the young men that the Counsellor, after several years of pe
stering him to come to Brazil, had finally gotten his way. He said, "He brought
me! He brought me! And I am so grateful to him." And then, looking at the Counse
llor, he said, "But it wasn't you. God made use of you." And then, looking again
at everyone, he said, "It was God who brought me, so that I could see you, for
it is an immense joy to see your expressions, your faces, your eagerness to beha
ve well, to struggle." [94]
The Father, who had appeared so unenthusiastic about the trip just before he set
out, seemed to have made a complete turnaround. First he reflected on the fasci
nating adventure on which he had embarked. (The instant he left the plane and st
epped foot on Brazilian soil, he had said in a low voice, "I need all my human f
aith to believe that I am in Brazil."[95]) And that very morning, the morning af
ter his arrival, during those first meetings he had with his daughters, he was a
lready like a new person?totally recovered, his heart overflowing with affection
and attentions to his daughters. And now, in the evening, he said to his sons a
t the Study Center:
When I see all that surrounds me, when I see you, I feel very happy and give a l
ot of thanks to God. I am getting so much rest just by being with you! I have on
ly been in Brazil a few hours, and already I have fallen in love with this count
ry.[96]
He spoke to them about the Christian vocation, about the ascetical struggle, abo
ut sincerity. And they asked him questions as if they had known him all their li
ves. They even got him to tell them what he was planning to eat: vegetables with
no salt or oil, a one-egg omelet, and, for dessert, a piece of fruit.

He gave them his blessing, and encouraged them to multiply many times over.
On Friday, May 24, in a get-together with his daughters at Casa Nova, the seat o
f the Regional Advisory, he also started out by speaking about Brazil, calling i
t "a marvel, a continent." Indeed, many races and countries were represented rig
ht there in that room. It thrilled his heart to see before him Niseis and other
Asians, and Africans, and Nordics, and Latin Americans. And they were just as th
rilled. Most of them had never gotten to see him before. They listened eagerly,
hanging on every word.
The Lord is happy with my daughters in Brazil. But he wants more. He has fallen
in love with you, and he isn't satisfied if you give him only a little part of y
ourself. He wants your whole being! And thus he will light the fire of love, not
just in Brazil, but far beyond?from Brazil. In Brazil and from Brazil. Do you u
nderstand? ... From this continent you've got to go to the others. All of Asia!
All of Africa! So many Africans came here against their will. I ask the Lord to
bring us many Africans.[97]
He had come to Brazil not to teach but to learn, he told them. He was, during th
ose first days, keeping "eyes and heart wide open," to allow all the good things
he saw to enter freely into his heart.[98] On the third day of his stay, he met
with a large group of people who were helping out in the apostolates of the Wor
k. "I've been here forty-eight hours, and already I've learned a lot," he told t
hem.[99] And later on he said:
Brazil! The first thing I've seen is a great mother, beautiful, fruitful, tender
, who opens her arms to all, irrespective of language, race, or nationality, and
calls them all her children. Brazil is unbelievable! And then I saw the fratern
al way you treat one another, and I was moved.[100]
He was happy thinking about how much could be done, and would be done, "in Brazi
l and from Brazil." They would begin by setting fire to the country. They would
make of it a bonfire of love. A forest in flames is something fearful, impressiv
e, devastating... All right, so too would Opus Dei, with the help of God, spread
through all of Brazil, and then, from that marvelous platform, the love of God
would leap to other continents. "We will eliminate paganism from the world?espec
ially in Brazil and from Brazil," the founder insisted.[101]Soon after arriving
at Sumare, he had written in the center's diary two words: ?Ut eatis.?[102]When
someone asked him what they meant, he answered, "They need you in Japan and Afri
ca. That's why I wrote 'Ut eatis'!"[103]
Another day, he was at the Commission's center, having a get-together with his o
lder sons, and one of them asked him to bless them. They knelt down, expecting t
he usual blessing. But the Father, filled with a sense of the apostolic greatnes
s of the mission entrusted to his children, made over them the Sign of the Cross
and said slowly and solemnly, as if he were one of the ancient prophets or patr
iarchs:

May you multiply:

like the sands of your seashores,
like the trees of your mountains,
like the flowers of your fields,
like the aromatic grains of your coffee.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.[104]

In a get-together with his older daughters, at Casa do Moinho, he said to them,

"Do you know how much you've cost me, my daughters? More than the men. Do you kn
ow that you sometimes made me cry, when I was young?"[105] And he told them, as
if for the first time, the things he had on innumerable occasions told his daugh
ters: that they did not have a foundress; that their foundress was the Blessed V
irgin; that he had been chosen by God to bring them into the world of the Church
with (to borrow the words of Saint Paul) the pains of childbirth; and that he l
oved them with the heart of a father and a mother. He also praised them for thei
r spiritual strength. He said:
I like to call you "women," because the Lord, from the cross, addressed his moth
er as "woman." A woman has more courage and more willpower than a man. And you a

re more obstinate. A woman has a heart that is?did you think I was going to say
more delicate and more refined than a man's? No, no. Yours is tougher. You have
a very big, maternal heart. You have a mother's heart that loves the virtue of h
oly purity, and you have this spiritual maternity. I know it because I too have
the heart of a mother?our Lord has given it to me. But in the apostolate you hav
e to do all that the men do, and, in addition, you have to carry out the apostol
ate of apostolates, which is the Administration. ???
If the Administration doesn't function well, everything will collapse on us. For
me, the most important thing in the Work is the Administration.[106]
The Father stayed in Brazil for two weeks. He spent practically every hour of hi
s day with his daughters and sons, in an open "classroom," going over the histor
y of the Work, giving doctrine, and answering questions. He also met daily with
families?of supernumeraries, friends, or Cooperators. The large get-togethers (o
f which there were about forty) took place in either the auditorium of the Study
Center, the Aroeira Conference Center, the Parque Anhembi Convention Hall, or t
he Maua Auditorium, which had a capacity of about twenty-five hundred. Those hal
ls proved too small. Four thousand people packed the Anhembi reception hall.
The difference of language was no problem. He spoke to them in Spanish, and they
asked their questions in Portuguese, and by means of body language, tone of voi
ce, and the spiritual energy the Father put into his words, everything was under
stood.
On May 28 he went by helicopter to the shrine of Brazil's patroness, Nuestra Seor
a Aparecida [Our Lady Who Appeared], where hundreds of people accompanied him in
praying the Rosary.
Late in the evening of June 6, the day before his departure, the Father could no
t bring himself to say good-bye to his sons. He excused himself with spiritual c
onsiderations:

You know that I'm not going; I'm staying here. Besides, in Opus Dei we are never
separated from one another. We don't say "Good-bye," or "See you later," becaus
e we are always consummati in unum [all united as one]. I love you with all my h
eart! You have made me very happy! Pray for me. I will go to be with the Lord be
fore you do. Some of you I will see again on earth, others in heaven ...
At this point someone cried out, "No, Father!"

And he responded:

Yes, my son; by the law of nature I will go before you. Pray for me. I tell you
what the two disciples from Emmaus told our Lord: Night is falling! We have to m
ake good use of our time here on earth! Help me to take advantage of it![107]

* * *

On Friday, June 7,1974, the Father arrived at the airport of Ezeiza, in Argentin
a. It was a clear, cool, sunny day, the wind having blown away the clouds of the
day before. En route to La Chacra, the conference center where he would be resi
ding during his stay in Argentina, the Father asked about everything that attrac
ted his attention. On entering La Chacra, he did what he always did when enterin
g a center: he went straight to the oratory, to greet our Lord, and then went to
the Administration area to greet his daughters. It only took a few words and a
glance around for him to see the cleanliness and order that reigned there in eve
n the smallest things, and to appreciate, instantly, the obvious love for God.
By twenty-four hours after his arrival, he had already had several long get-toge
thers with his daughters and his sons. Very quickly he caught on to the extent o
f the apostolic activity in Argentina. "I knew that the apostolic work was growi
ng very well," he confessed, "but I didn't realize how much. I am giving thanks
to God. Now I don't need faith. It's enough for me to see you."[108]
From the first day, it was clear how happy he was to be there. His two custodies
kept this joke going at all the get-togethers:

FATHER JAVIER: "And to think that the Father left Rome thinking he would be back
in a week."
THE FATHER (causing everyone to laugh): "They always do the same thing?they boss
me around."
DON ALVARO (with a guilty smile): "It was all planned."
THE FATHER: "Unbelievable! I left Rome, having no idea they would bring me here.
These two tricked me. And I'm very glad they tricked me! I'm very happy!"[109]

On the first page of the journal for that part of the trip (Diario de la visita
de nuestro Padre a la Argentina) he wrote in Latin: "May the most just and most
lovable will of God be done, fulfilled, praised, and eternally exalted above all
things. Amen. Amen. ? La Chacra, June 7, 1974. Mariano."
To get an idea of what it felt like to be with the Father, it is enough to skim
through some of the comments made in that diary. One example: "And we laughed, a
nd at times there fell some silent tears; and we had the clear impression that o
ur Lord was in our midst."[110] And another: "How easily you can see that wherev
er the Father is, there is the heart of the Work!"[111]
On Tuesday, June 11, at ten in the morning, he was driven to Buenos Aires. At el
even he met with Cardinal Antonio Caggiano. They spoke about the sad situation o
f the Church. The Father came out of the visit deeply moved by the affection sho
wn him by the cardinal. He and his sons then traveled through the downtown area
to Palermo Park, where they took a long walk. After lunch, he had an unforgettab
le get-together with the regional directors and some priests.
Were they itching to do things? The Father sketched out for them a program of am
bitious projects. He didn't go around repeating, in systematic fashion, the same
things everywhere, but he did say this: "In Argentina and from Argentina! This
country has to provide people." And then he said, "To the zeal of my Argentinean
children I offer the whole world. Besides Argentina itself, which is nothing to
sneeze at!"[112] He had dreams for the future, and he did not want his children
to fall short.
The Father looked upon those get-togethers at La Chacra as a gift from heaven. H
e was transmitting the spirit of Opus Dei to those children of his.
In contrast to them, he could dream backwards, through dreams realized and promi
ses fulfilled. He said:

I am so happy! Can you imagine what it is to have twenty-six years of age, the g
race of God, and nothing else; to hear some bells and see God's will, something
completely impossible, ??? with no human resources; and to start dreaming, and a
fterwards see it realized all over the world?[113]

Another day, also at La Chacra, they listened attentively as he spoke of the yea
rs of the "presentiments," when he incessantly repeated the aspiration "Domina,
ut sit!" ["Lady, let it be!"]. "At times," he confided to his children, "I think
it is all a dream, all a dream. 'Oh, my God! Can it be that I made up something
, my God? Is it all a dream?' It hurts!"[114]
It was not a dream. He, as we already know, had back then inscribed that aspirat
ion on the base of a statue of Our Lady of the Pillar; many years later, the sta
tue was found.
The Father enjoyed telling that story about his prayer. " 'Lady, let it be! Let
it be! This thing that is I don't yet know what!' And what was it? It was you, m
y sons. And your sisters."[115]
The Father spent three weeks at La Chacra: June 7-28. To that conference center,
which was on the grounds of an old estate near Buenos Aires, came hundreds of h
is daughters and sons. Every day, several times, the living room was filled up,
with members of the Work, Cooperators and friends, priests and laity. The Father
also visited the centers in Buenos Aires, and clubs, student residences, and ot
her corporate works. At those get-togethers were people of all ages and walks of
life: the young and the not so young, fathers and mothers ... They came not onl
y from other cities of Argentina, but also from Uruguay and Paraguay. He consecr
ated a number of altars? including that of the oratory of the Administration of

La Chacra. In the document attesting to this dedication we read: "While making t

his consecration he fervently asked the Lord, who made his handmaid Queen and Mo
ther, to bestow his great mercy on his daughters who work here."[116]
On Wednesday, June 12, he made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lujan,
Patroness of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. (Lujan is in Argentina, a few hou
rs' drive from Buenos Aires.) The word had spread, and when he reached the espla
nade there was a big crowd waiting to pray the Rosary with him.
Meanwhile, plans were being made for some huge get-togethers, not only for Opus
Dei members and their families and friends, but also many people who knew little
about the Work. Finding suitable places for these get-togethers was not easy. B
ut they did, almost miraculously, get two dates at the General San Martin Confer
ence Center: June 15 and 16. And for the eighteenth and the nineteenth, which we
re workdays, they were able to reserve the auditorium of the Colegio de Escriban
os, which was centrally located and had good facilities. (However, the capacity
of both of these halls turned out to be insufficient.) Another place they decide
d to rent was the Coliseum Theater. Someone with experience in such things said
to them, "Ask for it if you like?maybe you can get it?but you won't fill it." It
had an immense floor level and three balconies, in the shape of a horseshoe. Th
ey were able to get it for two days (the twenty-third and the twenty-sixth), and
on each of those days it was packed beyond capacity, with five thousand people.
Happily, the cameras were rolling. There remains a splendid collection of docum
entary films of the Father's catechesis in Latin America, starting with some of
the get-togethers in Brazil.
The Father usually opened with a friendly greeting or a brief religious commenta
ry. It was the prelude to a conversation. Right away the questions started comin
g. Several microphones had been set up, together with a system of red lights to
indicate where the people were who wanted to speak. Interruptions were allowed,
although the person with the microphone had precedence. This made the Father a t
arget of opportunity. He could not evade the questions; he answered them as God
gave him to understand that he should; and it was obvious that the Holy Spirit w
as breathing on him, because his words left peace and joy in the souls of those
who brought him their problems.
Ordinarily the discussions had to do with family and the education of children,
spiritual life, clarity of ideas in the midst of doctrinal confusion, the work o
f apostolate, confession... But in the general get-togethers the questions were
more varied, and the personal stories not always so rosy. From time to time, fro
m amid that sea of people, there would be heard a voice crying out for help. On
Sunday, June 23, in the Coliseum Theater, a woman managed to get hold of one of
the microphones. She had just lost a son. She belonged to the Work and wanted th
e Father to explain to everyone the peace and joy with which suffering is borne
in Opus Dei. The Father told them that God is not a tyrant, and that neither doe
s he behave like a hunter, lying in wait to fire a deadly shot at his target. Go
d, he said, takes our loved ones so that they can bask in his glory and his love
.
He went on consoling that woman, but when he saw that everyone was getting carri
ed away by the emotion of it all, he sought another question. A red bulb lit up
at the back of the theater, and there was heard the voice of an elderly lady, wh
o was trying to read from a sheet of paper, but was not succeeding.
"Father," she said, "I am asking Jesus to perform the miracle of Naim." A great
silence fell over the multitude, because her voice was choked up and she was sta
rting to cry. Then the Father came to her aid, while a shiver of expectation ran
through the hall. "Tell me," he said. "Tell me, and calmly."
The woman sitting next to her took the sheet of paper and the microphone, and re
ad: "I am asking Jesus to repeat the miracle of Naim. I am a widow, and I have a
n only son who gave me the greatest joy of my life when he was ordained a priest
, and also the greatest pain, because I see him going in a very bad direction no
w. I would like to ask you to pray for fidelity for him, and for me strength, so
that I can help him."
The Father responded:

Daughter, yes; love him more. Love your son a lot. Maybe it's that we don't pray
enough. You do pray a lot; I will pray more. Those of us who pray are few, and
we pray little. And we have to pray a lot for priests, for all priests! Your son
will make it; he will be a great apostle. Pray, ask. You have already been hear
d, but the Lord wants you to pray more. My prayer will be joined to yours. And I
am sure that the hearts of these people, of all these people from up there on t
op to the last seat, are moved with the same desire to ask of the Lord that your
son be a saint. And he will be.
It's that there's like a kind of sickness going around. You, with God's grace, p
laced in your son's soul the seed of a vocation. Keep praying that that seed not
prove unfruitful.
You will see it give forth branches, flowers, and fruit once again. Don't worry,
my daughter. We're all with you, and with your son, who deserves affection and
understanding! It's a sickness that's going around. Let's pray to the Lord for p
riests, for the holiness of priests. You are a brave mother. May God bless you!
Our Lord hears you! Don't worry![117]

The Father did not forget about that promise of prayers. "On the trip back to La
Chacra," we read in the journal, "the Father became quieter than usual. It was
obvious that he was praying, and from time to time he turned to Father Emilio (t
he Counsellor) and said that he should try to help that priest who was not doing
well. One could very clearly see how this hurt the Father."[118]
The last huge get-together in Argentina was the one held on June 26 in the Colis
eum Theater. On this occasion, one of the subjects the Father spoke of at length
was the communion of saints. It was, he said, thanks to this that they were abl
e to be having this affectionate conversation. Brothers and sisters of theirs we
re praying throughout the world ...
We form a great communion of saints. They are sending us streams of arterial blo
od; blood filled with pure, clean oxygen. That's why we're able to converse like
this; that's why we're so at ease.[119]
He could see on all their faces the request that some voiced: "Father, stay here
." He said:

Thanks, my children. I give thanks to God, thanks to you, and thanks to Our Lady
of Lujan, because I have come, and because I am going but I will return?and the
n I will
stay.[120]

The night before this huge get-together at the Coliseum Theater, the Father had
been assailed by a fear that in doing this kind of catechesis he was putting God
to the test. Was it possible that so many thousands of people could come togeth
er to hear a priest talk about God, without anything bad happening? Not to menti
on that it did not make sense, humanly speaking, for people to take off from the
ir jobs in the middle of the morning "to see a priest who says nothing but what
everyone already knows." But when he was leaving the get-together, he seemed to
hear our Lord reproaching him, saying to him, "O man of little faith! Why did yo
u doubt?"[121]
The day before his departure for Chile was spent entirely at La Chacra. At midmo
rning he went to the Administration area to be with his daughters. (They were fr
om Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.) "I'm not here to take my leave of you," he
announced as he entered. "The Father never says 'Good-bye' or 'See you later';
the Father is staying.... You know that I'm not going away. It will be very easy
for me to close my eyes, and come here, and remember you and pray for each one,
for all of you. Don't abandon me; let's not abandon each other."[122]
Did they really understand what he wanted to tell them? His strong emotions were
forcing him to use expressions that were somewhat ambiguous, although their spi
ritual meaning was clear.
At noon he prayed the Angelus with his daughters, and then he returned to his ro
om, accompanied by his custodes and the Counsellor.
At a moment when Don Alvaro and Father Javier were absent, he told the Counsello

r (Father Emilio Bonell) that there had been a time when he thought he knew the
day of his death, and that his custodies knew this, but that he now didn't know
anything.[123]
In the afternoon he had his last get-together with his sons, most of whom were q
uite young. One of them asked him why he was going, and he immediately replied,
"Because I don't have the gift of ubiquity, and I would have to be everywhere. T
hat's why. But I'm not going. I'm staying. I'm staying with you, with all of you
."[124] Then he briefly went over the essential points of the spirit of Opus Dei
, entrusting it to their hands, as a legacy. "And," he said, "that's it. I don't
have anything more to tell you. Oh, yes! To love Saint Joseph a lot. Never sepa
rate him from Jesus and Mary."
And then, his voice breaking with emotion, he added:

This is coming to an end, for now! But I will be staying around here. Around her
e and around the other centers in Argentina. When you don't realize it, the Fath
er will be walking around here, seeing his sons a little. And you will accompany
me. When you hear that the Lord has said to me, "Redde mihi rationem villicatio
nis tuae," "Give me an account of your stewardship," you will pray for the Fathe
r, that the Lord will forgive me all of my sins.
If you help me a little, maybe we'll leap right over the pit. If we die of Love,
it is possible. I think that's the sickness there is in Opus Dei: dying of Love
.[125]

By now it was clear what the Father's train of thought was, so someone ventured
to ask him this question: "Father, what is the face of the Blessed Virgin like?"
And he replied, "Well"?here he paused a bit?"'Vultum tuum, Domine, requiram!' [
'Lord, I long to see your face!']?tell him sometime to show you that. And you'll
have to wait, my son, till we see it in heaven, because the Lord doesn't have t
o do any extraordinary thing for you ??? But it is good that you want to see the
face of the Mother of God, because she is our Mother."[126]
The directors, who on the preceding Saturday, June 22, had lunched with the Fath
er at La Chacra, certainly knew where he was going with that answer. At the tabl
e that day, he had told them that in his morning prayer he had repeated many, ma
ny times, "Vultum tuum, Domine, requiram," with a real desire to see our Lord's
face, to see him face to face.[127]

4. The Andes: "I'm not a high-level person"

With his visits to Brazil and Argentina, the Father had acquired more than enoug
h experience to know how to carry out a fruitful catechesis in the rest of these
countries. While he was still at La Chacra, the Counsellors of the other Latin
American regions met him there so that together they could work out the details.
On June 12, Father Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal, the Counsellor of Chile, arrived in
Buenos Aires with what seemed a very ambitious plan: a seven-day stay for the Fa
ther in Chile. Don Alvaro modified the plan, increasing that stay to nine days t
o allow for eleven general get-togethers. The arrival in Chile was planned for F
riday, June 28.[128]
And so it was also with his projected stays in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuel
a, and Guatemala. They drew up tentative dates and locations for those stays, an
d for the get-togethers to be held during them, and talked about possible side t
rips. In general, the first part of each visit would be dedicated to his daughte
rs and sons; then there would take place the larger get-togethers, at centers of
corporate works; and toward the end of the visit there would be held one or two
massive get-togethers, if necessary and possible. But, as it turned out, unfore
seen circumstances would result in radical changes to this schedule.
The Father did arrive in Chile right on schedule: at noon on Friday, June 28. Fo
r those awaiting him at the airport, it was like a dream, to be seeing the Fathe
r for the first time. And his being there also felt to him like a dream. "I don'
t believe it," he said. "It can't be true that I'm in Chile." And then, with a t

winkle in his eye, he added, "Where are the Andes? You're fooling me. I have to
have faith, a frightful amount of faith, to swallow this, that over there are th
e Andes, that whole immense mountain range. I certainly haven't seen it!"[129] T
his would be his refrain for the first few days, while the mountains stayed hidd
en by haze and clouds.
Shortly after getting settled in the Regional Commission headquarters, the Fathe
r mentioned that he preferred to get together with his children in places where
apostolic work was being carried out. A large gathering in a public place?in a t
heater, for example?would not have the intimacy of a family get-together, and, g
iven the political circumstances of the country at that time, could be badly int
erpreted by some. So the general get-togethers were held in the dining hall of T
abancura High School; and for the other smaller ones, various centers were used,
notably Alameda which had an auditorium.
On the twenty-ninth (the day after his arrival), he had two get-togethers in the
auditorium at Alameda: one with his daughters and the other with his sons. For
the next day, there was scheduled a general get-together, to be held at Tabancur
a at eleven in the morning. It was expected that people from several provinces,
including Rancagua, Via del Mar, and Aconcagua, would be there. But because of he
avy rains and the fact that the streets were not paved, the place was almost imp
ossible to get to, either by foot or by car; the whole area was a quagmire. The
situation just kept getting worse, because the rains kept coming, and most peopl
e were not able to make it to Santiago. The scheduled get-together had to be pos
tponed. But quite a few people had defied the elements and shown up. So the Fath
er, not wanting to disappoint them, invited them to gather at Alameda. They crow
ded into the auditorium, where most of them had to remain standing, for lack of
space.
The Father greeted them with these words:

I, in the first place, tell you that you are very brave, and the ladies, besides
being beautiful, are braver than the men, to have come in this weather! I don't
know how you kept from being swept away by the water. It's incredible! It is th
e devil. Obviously he doesn't seem to like what we're doing.[130]

The Father told them, right up front, that he never discussed things that were n
ot of the supernatural order. "I only speak of God and of the soul," he said. "S
o I never talk about political things." Then, having made that clear, he asked t
hat in their social interactions they try to be understanding, without renouncin
g their Christian beliefs. "May you Chileans understand one another, make allowa
nces for one another, get along with one another, love one another."[131]
He tried not to flag in his preaching because of this, but he was physically aff
ected by the bad weather. On the previous day, during that first get-together wi
th his daughters, that fact had come up in the conversation. He was talking to t
hem about the importance of sincerity, and he used as an example a sick person.
When one is sick, he said, one has to be transparent about it, not trying to hid
e the symptoms, if one wants to be cured. And he mentioned that he himself, afte
r having spoken for hours and hours in big places where he had had to raise his
voice to be heard, had recently come down with a slight case of laryngitis. A do
ctor, after examining his throat had prescribed some medication that he had to t
ake every three hours. We also have to be docile, he told them, in regard to the
sicknesses of our soul.
But the cause of that throat ailment that he had brought with him from Argentina
turned out to be more complicated than he had thought. During the flight to San
tiago, he had experienced symptoms of a cold?notably, a loss of voice and a feve
r. On July 2 an analysis was done at the main clinical laboratory of the Catholi
c University. Dr. Hector Croxatto, the head of the laboratory, told him that he
had a seriously high level of urea in his blood and that he should stay in bed a
nd undergo a program of dialysis.[132]
In those circumstances, the Father wrote a letter to the governing junta, thanki
ng them for the friendly welcome they had given him upon his arrival and explain
ing why he would not be able to accept their invitation to meet with them. His "

priestly trip to the Americas," he said, had no other purpose than to increase i
n souls their "desire to know God and to be better Christians and, therefore, be
tter citizens of their countries." And then he added:

On receiving Your Excellencies' invitation, I find myself down with a case of th

e flu, that prevents any activity. I would like, however, to let you know how mu
ch I pray, have prayed, and have gotten others to pray, for this great nation, e
specially when it found itself menaced by the scourge of the Marxist heresy. (I
speak as a priest?my sole vantage point.) And I can assure Your Excellencies tha
t I will continue to pray to God, through the intercession of his most holy Moth
er, that he always watch over the authorities and people of Chile and guide them
toward a greater spiritual and social well-being.[133]
A few days of relative relaxation put the Father in condition to return to his s
chedule of get-togethers with renewed spirit and a stronger voice. The weather i
mproved, and, at last, the Andes appeared, outlined on the horizon.
The Father had barely recovered when, on Friday, July 5, the Counsellor received
a letter from the prioress of a Carmelite convent, saying that she had heard of
the arrival of Monsignor Escriva. "In his travels through Spain," she said, "he
has visited several Carmelite convents, because of the deep love he has for our
Mother Teresa. So we are hoping that, between his many commitments, he might fi
nd a little time to come over here. Since the more you hope for, the more you ge
t, we are hoping to obtain from the Father this great favor. But should it not b
e possible for him, we will always keep him in our prayers as if we had received
his visit."[134]
The letter touched the heart of the Father. That very morning, he found a little
space in his schedule of get-togethers and visited the convent, accompanied by
Fathers Alvaro, Javier, and Adolfo. They were escorted to the visiting parlor, w
here the Father began by saying:

??? I have a very great love for the vocation of contemplative souls, because we
in Opus Dei are contemplatives in the middle of the street. I understand you ve
ry well, and the Carmelite sisters all over the world understand us very well an
d help us with their prayer. I come to beg an alms of prayer: pray. You see that
the Church is in a very bad way. Well, the ??? Church, no; the Church is holy,
she is the spouse of Jesus Christ?always beautiful, always young, always without blemi
h, always sweet and good. It's the churchmen. Pray.[135]

On the other side of the screen, in the semidarkness of the "locutory," the nuns
listened attentively. He advised them to be on guard against those who, at all
costs, were trying to impose changes. He said:

Don't give way in anything. Don't be foolish. For the devil is seeking someone t
o devour, and you are a very appetizing morsel.... If one of these "dovecotes" i
s ruined, a great force in the Church is destroyed. Be saints. If you are, you w
ill help us be saints. Pray for us priests, that we be such. And for Opus Dei, f
or these men and these women who are on all the pathways of the world, divinizin
g them.[136]

He spoke about vocation and the life of piety, with a lot of conviction and ener
gy. He spoke for over twenty minutes?for as long as he could before having to he
ad out for the next scheduled get-together Before leaving, he gave the nuns his
blessing and asked Father Adolfo to place in the revolving window the box of can
dy that he had had bought for them. He took his leave of them by saying, "You ha
ve sweetened my soul, and I am sweetening your palates."[137]
During those days he consecrated altars, visited centers, paid his respects to t
he Cardinal-Archbishop of Santiago, and took part in twenty-five public gatherin
gs, and as many private ones, all without showing any sign of exhaustion. A cons
tant theme of his preaching was the Sacrament of Penance, as a necessary startin
g point for those souls that had abandoned the practice of the faith and wanted
to get close to God again. He preached this very emphatically. At one get-togeth

er, for example, he said:

Go to confession, to confession, to confession! For Christ is full of mercy for

his children. Things don't go well because we don't go to him, to be cleansed, p
urified, enkindled....
The Lord is waiting for many to take a good bath in the Sacrament of Penance! An
d he has ready for them a great banquet, a wedding banquet, that of the Eucharis
t; the wedding ring, the ring of eternal fidelity and friendship. Bring people t
o confession! You, my daughters and sons?bring souls to confession. Don't let my
coming to Chile have been in vain! May many people come to receive God's pardon
![138]
*READ
On the morning of Monday, July 8, the eve of the Father's departure for Lima, th
ere was a get-together at Tabancura. Some could not make it, because of work. Bu
t at lunchtime, many of these took to the highways to meet him at the shrine of
Our Lady of Lo Vazquez. It is fifty miles from the city. When the Father reached
the esplanade in front of the church, he was moved at seeing the multitude of p
eople who had gone without lunch in order to accompany him in the praying of the
Rosary. The nuns who took care of the shrine had dressed our Lady in her finest
regalia, and lots of flowers had arrived. Before leaving the esplanade, the Fat
her put on sunglasses, and not just for protection from the sun. It was more bec
ause he was overcome with emotion at the thought that he would not be seeing tho
se people again.
He arrived in Lima on the next day, July 9?the twenty-first anniversary of the s
tarting up of Opus Dei in Peru. Staying at the seat of the Regional Commission,
Los Andes, he allowed himself no downtime. No sooner had he arrived than he had
the first get-together; and from that moment on, he assiduously carried out the
set schedule.
Especially moving was the get-together he had in the Cultural Traditions Center
on Friday, July 12. All of those present were sons of his, and among them were a
good number of priests from the prelature of Yauyos. As soon as he entered the
room and saw them, he exclaimed, "I'm not saying one word if these priest sons o
f mine don't first give me their blessing. I'm hungry for your blessings!"[139]
More than fifty priests surrounded him and gave him their blessing, saying the i
nvocations in unison. And then, kneeling down, he started kissing the hands of t
hose priests. When Father Javier indicated that this might take a bit long, he r
eplied, "It may take a while, but I am going to kiss the hands of them all, as I
have always done!" [140] The Father kept kissing hands, and spoke words of affe
ction to each priest. After a while, realizing that to some it must have seemed
an eternity, he said, "This isn't a put-on. I am proud of you, and it gives me g
reat joy to kiss your hands. It's not something I'm just doing here; I've done t
his all my life. So it's a family custom. You are very good to me."[141]
Saturday, July 13, was an especially busy day. At nine-thirty in the morning the
Father went to see the Cardinal-Archbishop of Lima, and from there he went to t
he town of San Vicente de Canete. It was festively arrayed, because at noon ther
e would be a get-together with the Father at Valle Grande, an Opus Dei education
al and training center for farm workers. People came from Lima and from nearby v
illages, some having set out before daybreak. In the crowd one could see Indian,
mulatto, and oriental faces; shopkeepers, farm workers office workers, teachers
, truck drivers,... and the women who were going to Condoray, a training school
run by women of the Work.
The Father spoke about work, saying that one should do it to perfection, to plea
se God, and not "like a foreigner" (an expression used by the Indians to refer t
o work done poorly). He also preached about devotional practices, and, above all
, he invited his listeners (most of whom were Indians) to get cleansed internall
y with a good confession, opening up their souls, and making a resolution to giv
e up alcohol. When this was necessary, he called very emphatically for a change
of life, and his impassioned words did cause flickers of emotion to pass across
the normally impassive faces of the Indians.
The Father visited Condoray, and then St. Joseph's Academy, where the seminarian

s for the prelature of Yauyos lived and did their studies. He was on his way bac
k to Lima by six in the evening, but when he arrived it was evident that he had
caught a cold.
The first general get-together was held the next day, in the garden of Miralba,
an Opus Dei center. It was a cold, gray Sunday morning, but some fifteen hundred
people showed up. There were entire families, including grandparents and very s
mall children. The Father began by apologizing for not being able to speak very
loudly. He said:
I don't know if you can hear me well, because I've got a cold. My voice is half
gone. But Saint Paul, whose voice is not gone, wrote to those in Ephesus, "In no
vitate vitae ambulemus." And it's not just to those of Ephesus, but to all of us
that he says this, that we have to walk with a new life. So that there can be n
o doubt about this, he writes to the Romans, "Indui-mini Dominum nostrum Iesum C
hristum"; "Put on our Lord Jesus Christ."
The life of the Christian is this: putting on, and putting on again, one suit an
d another, each time cleaner, each time more beautiful, each time more filled wi
th virtues that please the Lord, with self-conquests, with little sacrifices, wi
th love. The life of the Christian is made up of renunciations and affirmations,
beginning and beginning again.[142]
In the afternoon it was suggested that he take a walk around Lima, to get a litt
le relaxation. He visited St. Francis Church and the cathedral; but he returned
home very tired. That night he slept poorly. In the morning he celebrated Mass a
nd had breakfast. At about ten, a lung specialist came to see him, and diagnosed
the beginnings of bronchopneumonia.[143] So the get-togethers scheduled for tha
t day were put on hold.
The doctor, in fact, advised that he stay in bed for the rest of the week. Gifts
began to arrive for him: flowers, candy, letters, with the affection and the pr
ayers of all of his children for his recovery. In the diary of his stay in Lima,
for Saturday, July 20, we read: "Today he was able to be up for a short time, b
ut by doctor's orders he's not celebrating Mass yet. It is an example to all of
us, to see the pain it causes the Father to not be able to celebrate, but since
he puts so much effort into it, he would get exhausted from saying Mass, which w
ould not be good for him and could slow down his recovery."[144]
On Sunday he celebrated Mass in his room, and, after lunch, had a get-together w
ith some of the Regional Commission directors and with Bishop Ignacio de Orbegoz
o, who entertained him and the others with stories about the beginnings of the W
ork in Yauyos and his adventures in the mountains. The Father needed three more
days to recuperate, and so the schedule was adjusted so that everyone could get
to see him.
The Father, by the way, was not the only one who was sick. A flu epidemic had st
ruck almost half the population of Lima.
On July 24 he had a get-together with some of his daughters. From then till the
end of July he kept to a somewhat limited schedule. He had not yet fully recover
ed, and speaking in public cost him great effort.
On the twenty-ninth more than three thousand people gathered on the grounds of L
arboleda, a conference center in a town near Lima, to be with the Father. It was
obvious that he was not yet over his illness. Rather than make a big deal of it
, he remarked that a world without suffering would be a sad thing?something like
a picture without shadows, which is not a picture?whereas "suffering borne for
Love is something delightful, marvelous."
So, to want to free ourselves from suffering, from poverty, from misery, is fine
; but that is not liberation. Liberation is something else. Liberation is... bea
ring poverty joyfully! Bearing suffering joyfully! Bearing illness joyfully! Bea
ring with a smile, a nasty cough![145]

* * *

On August 1 he left Peru. His sons and daughters in Ecuador awaited him impatien
tly, hoping he would soon be well. But not only did he fail to recover, he got e
ven worse. He came down with altitude sickness, an illness that afflicts many tr

avelers who are not accustomed to the high altitudes of the Andes. The house tha
t he stayed in is close to the capital, Quito, more than nine thousand feet abov
e sea level.
To the poor physical condition in which the Father arrived, other problems were
now added. He did not sleep well at night. He awoke fatigued and had trouble bre
athing. He had dizzy spells that made it impossible for him to walk alone, and t
hat he believed were side effects of the medication he was taking. Dr. Guillermo
Azanza, who attended him soon after he arrived, found that the bronchopneumo-ni
a he had suffered in Lima had reactivated.[146] He had to wear an oxygen mask, r
emain seated, and speak in a subdued voice.
There was, of course, the hope that he would adapt to the altitude. And there wa
s always the hope of one of those surprising turnarounds that so often occurred
in his physical condition. In the previous months, when his catechetical activit
y was in full swing, it had repeatedly happened that he suddenly triumphed over
exhaustion and fever. As Don Alvaro explained to those they were staying with at
La Chacra, the Father's vitality and lucidity "were part of his foundational gr
ace."[147]
However, the process of getting acclimated is a very slow one, even for people w
ho are otherwise well. The doctor, in fact, mentioned that he advised tourists i
n Quito who were suffering from altitude sickness to just leave the city. The Fa
ther did not like hearing that. He immediately replied, "Yes, my son, but I am n
ot a tourist. I am prepared to stay here for however long it takes me to get ada
pted, so that I can talk about God, since that's what I came for."[148] But that
abrupt rise from sea level to an elevation of nine thousand feet was difficult
to overcome. And it was soon clear that there would not be any sudden recovery f
rom his fever and fatigue. And so, following the advice of those in the know, he
decided to descend from the heights of Quito to Caracas, Venezuela, six thousan
d feet lower.
God was clearly changing the direction of his plans. Accustomed to preaching to
multitudes with a strong, resonant voice, he now could hardly make himself heard
by a small group of his children. Days earlier, in the get-togethers, he had be
en in constant motion, going from one spot to another, in the room or on the pla
tform. Now he was sunk in an armchair, unable to stand. And he, a man of dynamic
, spirited conversation, had moments when, for lack of breath, he could not resp
ond with anything but a wan smile or an affectionate glance.
Before leaving for Venezuela, he received a small group in the garden of the hou
se where he was staying. After having preached for half a century on the way of
spiritual childhood, he told them, he had been left "reduced to an infant" by th
e Lord. "For a child of seven," he said, "this is too much height all at once."
When they heard him say that, some of them apologized to him, "for the altitude,
Father, for the altitude." But he replied:
It's just that I am not a high-level person. So it wasn't Quito that played a jo
ke on me. It was our Lord, who knows what he's doing, and who plays with us. Loo
k, the Holy Spirit says it: "Ludens coram eo omni tempore, ludens in orbe terrar
um"; all over the earth he is playing with us, like a father with his little chi
ld. He's said, "This one, who is so enamored of the life of childhood, of a spec
ial life of childhood, now I'm really going to make him feel it." And he's turne
d me into an infant. It's quite funny, isn't it![149]
After a successful catechetical trip in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Peru, it w
as no small setback to find himself "turned into an infant."
Now he could not do his catechesis with words; he had to do it with silences. Hi
s teaching was an eloquent lesson in docility and sacrifice "In Ecuador," he wou
ld later say, "all of my catechesis consisted in not speaking, because the Lord
didn't permit me to speak."[150]
How often he had said, in imitation of Jesus, "I have come not to be served, but
to serve." And now Don Alvaro and Father Javier had to support him by the arm.
"What an embarrassment! But I accept it. I'm very happy," he told his children.
And he composed a personal prayer:
Jesus, I accept living under the conditions of these days and for the rest of my
life, whatever you want. You will give me the grace, the joy, and the good humo

r needed for me to have a really great time and serve you, and for my acceptance
of these trifles to be a prayer filled with love.[151]
Our Lord God always makes use of little things. I thought I would be traipsing f
rom one part to another of your beautiful city, and of this enchanting land; I t
hought I would be visiting so many, many people ... The Lord did not will it.[15
2]
He felt frustrated. "I feel the protest of the little boy who has to go held by
the hand, by Dad and Mom. Me, I like to go running ... What a humiliation!"[153]
Living the life of spiritual childhood meant that he had to accept being played
with as a little child by his Father-God. In a get-together held on August 14, t
he eve of his departure from Ecuador, he said:
I have to tell you that, since I get dizzy at times, I haven't been able to cele
brate Holy Mass, and they've been giving me Communion every day. At those times
I am much more moved, and love all the more this Quito and this Ecuador.
The small consecrated host, which I receive on my tongue, reminds me that Jesus
became a child, and that I have to joyfully accept these children's games that h
e is playing with me.[154]
He had not remained inactive during his stay in Quito. He was leaving the memory
of a lesson on how to conform oneself to God's will:
I have no choice but to leave; I can't make unreasonable demands on our Lord.
It's not that I haven't done anything, because my impatience and unease over not
being able to work are, in God's eyes, prayer. So something did get accomplishe
d, but not the plan that I had in mind to carry out here. Patience! It means tha
t although I already knew that Ecuador is a great nation, the nation of the Hear
t of Jesus, I didn't know that it was a nation of such select souls that it was
going to cost me a bit of an illness.[155]
A few weeks later, passing over what he had suffered, he wrote to an old friend
in Ecuador: "Despite the fact that I am not a high-level person, what a marvelou
s time I had in Quito, and how much I learned from all of you and from the peopl
e of that dearly beloved country!"[156]
His external activity in Ecuador had, to be sure, been very restricted. It basic
ally consisted of one tour around Quito, on August 11; a tour in which he stoppe
d by the centers of the Work and blessed them, without leaving the car. His soul
, on the other hand, as he later said, had expanded. His longstanding devotion t
o Saint Joseph, teacher of the interior life, had intensified. From what he said
to his daughters during a get-together on August 12, one can see the track that
his prayer life was on: he was still avidly seeking the face of the Lord.
"Tell him," he said, "that you have immense longings to see his face, just as we
have desires, when we are far away from loved ones, to look at photographs of t
hem. But from God we are not far away. We not only are not far from him, but can
identify with him. And you and I feel the obligation of seeking that identifica
tion."[157]

* * *

The Father's visit to Venezuela is recorded, in good part, in the journal kept a
t Altoclaro, the conference center he stayed in, which is a few miles from Carac
as. In the first pages we read: "The Father arrived a little tired. We are tryin
g to see to it that he gets some rest here and catches his breath a little, afte
r more than two months of exhaustive apostolic activity."[158] (Upon arriving at
Altoclaro, he did not keep to his custom of going to see his daughters in the A
dministration area right after greeting our Lord in the oratory. He sent Don Alv
aro to visit them on his behalf, because he still could not stay on his feet.[15
9])
Going by the short lines in which, from time to time, news is given of his healt
h and physical condition, it is not easy to tell whether his convalescence was a
dvancing or at a standstill.
?Friday, August 16: "The Father was able to rest.... One can see that the Father
is improving a lot. He bore the burden of the get-together."
?Saturday, August 17: "Today the Father is feeling better, although he is still

very tired."
?Monday, August 19: "It's a cloudy morning. The Father still isn't recovered fro
m his exhaustion.... Last night the Father didn't get much sleep."
?Tuesday, August 20: "The Father woke up today much
better, but at noon he wasn't feeling well and did not come down to the dining r
oom."
The weather was rainy, which did not encourage one to leave the house. At times
the Father was seen rereading the letters that Fernando Valenciano had brought t
o Venezuela a few days earlier. "I do what mothers do," he said. "I read the let
ters of my children a number of times." [160] In the get-togethers held after lu
nch or supper, he related many things about the history of the Work and spoke a
lot about apostolate and about devotion to Saint Joseph, of whom there were a nu
mber of paintings in the house.
At the end of the first week the Father was still far from recovered. One clear
indication was that he was still not celebrating Mass, for fear he might became
nauseous. And another was that he had not yet gone to greet his daughters in the
Administration area. On the preceding Sunday they had sent him some orchids and
some ceramic donkeys, with a card saying, "We are very happy to have you at Alt
oclaro. We love you very much. August 18, 1974." He immediately wrote back, on t
he same card, in red ink, "Me too. Mariano," and drew on it a duck with its bill
open.[161] (The strokes of his pen were not his usual, energetic ones. They wer
e weak, indecisive, slumped, and wobbly, a striking image of his physical debili
ty. No one would have recognized the writing as being his.)
In the Altoclaro diary it is noted that the Father is wearing, on a chain under
his cassock, a cross-shaped reliquary that has in it a splinter of the True Cros
s, and that he at times takes the reliquary out to give it a kiss.[162]
There can be no doubt that the Father was consumed by impatience to celebrate th
e Holy Sacrifice. One afternoon, accompanied by some of his sons, he was walking
in the courtyard of Altoclaro, the one with the fountain, and he sat down in a
corner protected from the wind, and was heard to say something in a low voice.
"What did you say, Father?" they asked him.
"Vultum tuum, Domine, requiram!" he answered. And then, more emphatically, he sa
id:
"Vultum tuum, Domine, requiram! Vultum tuum, Domine, requiram!" Yesterday, since
I couldn't celebrate Mass, I repeated this to the Lord many times, saying, "Lor
d, I seek your face! Lord, I am longing to see you!" Yes, I am longing to see wh
at the Lord looks like, but not by faith anymore, but face to face![163]
After a number of days, he experienced a slight improvement, which he quickly to
ok advantage of. On the morning of August 26 he was finally able to go into the
Administration area of Altoclaro to see his daughters.
Several get-togethers were then organized, to take place in the living room of A
ltoclaro. Obviously they could not be very large. The first one was for women of
the Work; it was held on August 28; and on the next day there was one for the m
en. A third, more general one took place on the thirtieth. It was attended by a
few supernumeraries, some parents of members of the Work, and some priests. It w
as evident that the Father was in better health, although during the last get-to
gether he did have a slight fever. With a great sense of humor and a wonderful w
ay with words, he told his children about something that had happened the day be
fore.[164] Making use of a teaching of Saint Paul, he started talking about the
"parable" of the two vessels, the one "for a noble purpose" and the other "for a
n ignoble one" (see Rom 9:21). He said:
Well, this vessel of ignominy was such a clean one that it proved to be a vessel
of election.
The treasure of Opus Dei is the joy of knowing oneself to be a treasure, each on
e being what each one is: a poor thing, clean, that serves its purpose, that is
at everyone's disposal. There, we've said it all in a very refined way.[165]
In these conversations his energies rallied, and he found many chances to speak
of apostolate, of the value of work, of the role of the woman in the family and
in society. He encouraged his children, and went on the offensive against the "l

ethargy of the tropics."[166]'; Several times, in public and in private, he prom

ised that he would return to Venezuela soon, as soon as possible. He left in the
afternoon of August 31, from the Caracas airport. He was very happy about his s
tay, but made this comment on his physical condition: "I am leaving like Don Qui
xote de la Mancha: riding a broken-down old horse."[167]

* * *

Throughout his stay in.Latin America, from the day he first stepped foot on Braz
ilian soil, the Father had not ceased repeating, "I have come in order to learn.
" On August 28, three days before returning to Europe, he wrote to Cardinal Casa
riego, "How much I've learned in the Americas! My faith and piety have become st
ronger, deeper, more 'Josephine,' because I have discovered with more clarity an
d depth the figure of my father and lord Saint Joseph."[168]
He went from discovery to discovery. Certainly he was not starting from scratch
in his devotion to his patron saint; but he did receive, toward the end of his l
ife, as a generous gift from heaven, a new discovery of the figure and spiritual
stature of the man who in some real sense had been father to the Lord on earth.
As he put it to his children at La Chacra, the Lord "did not deign to teach me
this, to let me see it, until just recently."[169]
The long process of growth of this devotion had begun in his early childhood. Wh
en he went to the home of his grandmother Florencia, he knew that on top of a ch
est of drawers was a niche of ornamented wood that had in it a small statue of S
aint Joseph. But he was not tall enough to see it easily, so he would get up on
tiptoes and hold onto the edge of the chest of drawers to see the statue and ask
the saint for something. His interior life, from then on, and the history of th
e nascent Opus Dei as well, would be sprinkled with lively and constant memories
of the Holy Patriarch.[170]
As the years went by, that affectionate devotion grew "impetuously," but it had
some "gaps." The Father thought about the fact that Saint Joseph had not been pr
esent at Calvary when Jesus died on the cross. What could be done to keep him fr
om being missed? In Brazil, while traveling by car, he found the solution. He wo
uld take his place. He would serve as his proxy at the foot of the cross, imagin
ing and taking on the sentiments that Saint Joseph would have had if he had been
there. What sorrow, what love for the Blessed Virgin and for Christ![171] In Ar
gentina he said:
Saint Joseph has such enormous influence with our Lord! He acted as his father.
Chosen by him from all eternity; endowed with such perfection. After the Mother
of God, there is no human being more perfect or more holy than Joseph.[172]
He pictured him as young and handsome. ("Why would a girl of fifteen or sixteen
marry an old man?") And he saw the two Spouses, always together, accompanying Je
sus in the Blessed Sacrament.
The Mother of God and Saint Joseph, united around the Eucharist. Don't separate
them! I don't understand this, I don't know how to put it in words, but, in some
way, they keep him company in the tabernacle. In some way that's?ineffable! I d
on't know how to describe it.[173]
During his stay in Chile, when he entered the oratory of the Antullanca Conferen
ce Center, he saw a picture that really moved him. Just hours earlier, while in
the car, he had been meditating on the joyful mysteries of the Rosary, and he ha
d imagined Saint Joseph, young and handsome, accompanying his spouse to the home
of Saint Elizabeth. And now, for the first time, he was seeing a picture of thi
s: of Saint Joseph accompanying the Blessed Virgin there.[174]
He told his children:
Love Saint Joseph a lot, for he is really powerful, if you want to acquire inter
ior life. Interior life consists in being in contact with God; and no one has ev
er been in closer contact with our Lord God and with the Mother of God than Sain
t Joseph. I am happy that you are making me repeat this every day, in these gettogethers.[175]
Sacred Scripture, he pointed out to those in Peru, tells us very little about Jo
seph. But "we have to love him a lot and thank him for taking such good care of

the Child Jesus." Joseph was full of fortitude and strength, and, at the same ti
me, gentleness. In the liturgy "we read something very touching: that Saint Jose
ph looked after the Child and hugged him and kissed him. How wonderful! Just lik
e our fathers did with us."[176]
In Ecuador he saw several devout representations of Saint Joseph with the Child
Jesus. His attention was particularly caught by a painting, adorned with gold, t
hat was near the entrance to his room. In it one sees the Christ Child crowning
Saint Joseph. The Father was very happy. He found it beautiful and very theologi
cally sound. Every time he passed it he greeted it with an act of love. "It took
me years," he said, "to discover that Josephine theology, and here I had only t
o open my eyes to see it confirmed." So much did he appreciate this discovery th
at, being now in Venezuela, and having had that memory come back to him, he said
to his children, "Even if it were only because I came across so many pictures o
f Saint Joseph being crowned by his Son, my trip to Quito would have been well w
orth it."[177]
The Father often relived the memory of these depictions of "theological affectio
n" and of the help they had given to his devotion to the Patriarch. He considere
d himself indebted to him who is the teacher of interior life. Therefore, when F
ather Roberto, the Counselor, brought up the possibility of building a church in
Caracas, the Father suggested that it be dedicated to Saint Joseph or to the Ho
ly Family.[178]

5. His golden jubilee (1975)

After two weeks in Venezuela, the Father had still not recovered from his fatigu
e. The conditions at Altoclaro could not have been better. The mild climate and
quiet surroundings had promised a happy and speedy recovery of his strength. But
still not feeling well, he decided to return to Europe instead of going on to G
uatemala, where he was impatiently awaited by all his children in Central Americ
a, and by Cardinal Casariego.
On the eve of his return to Europe he wrote to the cardinal, telling him of the
change of plans. For months, he said, he had been eagerly looking forward to the
trip to Guatemala, but the doctors had advised him to put it off for three or f
our months. It made him sad to have to give up that trip, but what could he do?
"I have thought it over carefully," he said, "and, looking at things in the pres
ence of God, I think they're right, since my absence has been overly prolonged.
I am sure it will all be for the best?omnia in bonuml"[179]
His resolve to later resume his catechesis, which in Venezuela he would be leavi
ng only half completed, was announced to his children in Caracas on August 30, i
n a get-together at Altoclaro. It was almost noon when the Father showed up in t
he living room. Without beating around the bush, he opened his heart to them, sa
ying, "I love you so much! I love you like a mother and like a father. It's hard
to believe that it can be this way, but if it's what God wants .. ."[180]
He easily and affectionately kept up the conversation, which now consisted of qu
estions and answers. But something happened which took his listeners by surprise
. In the middle of the get-together, he suddenly, and without raising his voice
(since he was in no condition to speak loudly), gave them a wonderful promise. H
e said:
I don't have any time left, because this all happened very quickly and I have to
take off to Europe. But I will come again soon. I will be back, and not be in a
hurry. I will dedicate to each of you as much time as you want. Firm commitment
, okay? The commitment of an Aragonese![181]
He was deeply thankful for having been able to meet with thousands and thousands
of people who loved the Lord and wanted to serve the Church and all souls. He w
as leaving Latin America after having experienced, in all the countries he visit
ed, the truth that "the Lord is a really good payer, already here below."[182] I
n his catechetical trip he had gotten as far as the Lord had allowed him to get.
He did not feel guilty about having run out of strength. For if his reserves of
physical energy were totally used up, it was because of generosity, because he

had been unstinting in his apostolic self-giving. And in any case, he had given
a strong blow to the devil, confirming his children in the faith and preaching s
ound doctrine to multitudes. His body had weakened, but his spirit had maintaine
d its faithfulness. The breaches of loyalty to the Church still distressed him,
acutely; but above and beyond that suffering, he felt the certitude that God doe
s not lose battles, as he wrote to Archbishop Marcelo Gonzalez Martin:
In spite of everything, my life is filled with a healthy optimism, because I am
convinced that everything will turn out all right, and that souls throughout the
world will find God's light and the certainty they are seeking.[183]
He had, in fact, a supernatural optimism that made him confident that the curren
t situation was something passing. He hoped that sunrise would soon come and dis
sipate the darkness. For this, he trusted in the power of prayer; and he prayed
relentlessly. "In this time of Advent," he wrote to the secretary of the Central
Advisory, "I am going to our Lady, begging that she, who brought the Savior int
o the world, vouchsafe to shorten this time of darkness and restore light and pe
ace to souls and to the Church."[184]
In the months of catechetical work, he had tried to forget completely himself an
d his ailments, to work intrepidly for Christ and his Church. As they went from
country to country, he and Don Alvaro sent some lines to Archbishop Benelli, the
Vatican's Undersecretary of State. The first letter was written in Brazil, "whe
re the Lord is blessing in an extraordinary way the efforts of our Work," and is
signed by "Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer" and "Alvaro del Portillo."[185] The o
ne sent from Lima was written by Don Alvaro. It says:
Once more I am writing to Your Excellency, with affectionate greetings from Peru
. Here continues this most fruitful cate-chesis, in which our founder is speakin
g for many hours each day to crowds, bringing them to love the Church and the Vi
car of Christ. It's incredible, the number of conversions and confessions. I thi
nk that what I am writing will be a consolation to the Holy Father.
Alvaro del Portillo?Josemaria Escriva[186]
After his weeks of preaching in Brazil and Argentina, the Father had begun to fe
el very fatigued. He went to the get-togethers with migraine headaches, drowsine
ss, some fever, and a general lack of strength. Also, the cataracts which had st
arted developing around 1971 were getting worse. The vision in one eye was great
ly impaired.
But he got around that last problem with admirable decorum and naturalness. Duri
ng the huge get-togethers, when all kinds of questions were coming at him from t
his or that end of the hall, he would calmly walk from place to place on the sta
ge. Very few people knew that his sight was severely impaired. He could hardly m
ake out the red light that came on when someone wanted the microphone. He locate
d the questioner as best he could?and spoke as if he were alone with that person
. Occasionally he used the expedient of having some boy come up on the platform
or stage. He would give him his arm, ostensibly just to get himself some support
, and would follow the indications that the boy spontaneously gave him, as to th
e direction of the microphone being used.[187]

* * *

On his arrival in Madrid on September 1, the Father was noticeably tired, but sm
iling. As was to be expected, he right away went in for a checkup, and the docto
rs imposed a period of rest. A second checkup on September 13 showed the patient
much improved: without a cough, with an appetite, and walking steadily. But the
analyses did show a worsening of the renal insufficiency and clear signs of a c
ardiac insufficiency due to a weakening of the left ventricle.[188] A checkup do
ne at the end of the month confirmed that he was much better: more animated, and
able to go up and down stairs without help. However, some of the test results w
ere alarming; for example, the amount of urea in his blood. There is in the repo
rt this notation:
"The remarkable observation in this examination is the contrast between his gene
rally satisfactory condition and some significantly pathologic test results."[18
9]

Meanwhile, letters were starting to pour in from all over Latin America, thankin
g him for the catechesis he had done there. A sizable heap of them came from Col
ombia. The Father happily read them, one by one. They helped him to do his praye
r, and he prayed for each person and for each need. But, between the lines, he c
ould perceive how unhappy his Colombian daughters were, not only about his poor
health, but also about the longed-for visit that had never become more than a pr
omise. So he wrote to them:
Don't make a tragedy of this, since there's no reason to. This time around, sinc
e the Lord disposed it thus, I wasn't able to be with you. I hope?and am plannin
g?to be seeing within a very short time my Colombian daughters, in their element
and multiplied by a hundred. So many souls are waiting for us in that dearly be
loved country![190]
He spent the second part of September at Castelldaura (the conference center nea
r Barcelona), resting. Resting, that is, without giving up his work habits. He d
id not want any exemptions from the daily schedule nor to be relieved of any of
his duties of government. And he never lost his patience or cheerfulness. His do
ctors recommended that, to improve his lung capacity, he do some breathing exerc
ises. With great good humor he applied himself to blowing up balloons, doing dee
p exhalations, breathing through a straw, and raising a swarm of bubbles in a gl
ass of water.[191]

* * *

During his brief stay at Castelldaura, the Father worked on documents pertaining
to the issue of Opus Dei's classification in canon law. He was obeying the Pope
, following his directives. A year earlier, in that audience he was given on Jun
e 25,1973, he had informed Pope Paul of the work being done on the revising of O
pus Dei's juridical structure. The Pope was happy when he heard this news, and e
ven happier when he learned that the Technical Commission charged with that task
(a commission headed by Don Alvaro) was moving along at a good pace. Pope Paul,
on that occasion, had encouraged the founder to present the documents to the Ho
ly See as soon as they were ready.
With that, Opus Dei would be given a canonical configuration appropriate to its
foundational charism. This was the "special intention" for which the whole Work
had been praying for so many years, and the Father himself for over half a centu
ry.
From the outset, he had adopted as his motto, "Deo omnis gloria" ["All glory to
God"], and had been guided by docility to the divine inspirations. He had behave
d as a most faithful instrument in the carrying out of God's commands; and God h
ad never let go of his hand. Since the moment that he had him "see" Opus Dei, he
had accompanied him in the fulfilling of this mission.
'. God led me by the hand, quietly, little by little, in the making of his "cast
le." "Take this step," he seemed to say; "now put this here; take this from in f
ront and put it over there." Thus the Lord has built his Work, with firm lines a
nd fine details, old and new, like Christ's word.... What I have had to do is le
t myself be led.[192]
During his stay in Venezuela, he related some personal details of the history of
the Work. He said that he had always seen himself as "God's secretary," as a pe
rson taking down dictation, trying to follow what someone else was dictating.[19
3]
On September 30 the Father returned to Villa Tevere. By now the Codex Iuris Part
icularis of Opus Dei was completely finished and had been examined by the Genera
l Council of the Work. It was presented to the founder, and on October 1 "he app
roved it in all its parts."[194]There had been incorporated all the changes need
ed for it to accord faithfully to the foundational charism, of which the Father
was, "by the divine will, the sole and exclusive depositary."[195] This provided
the foundation for the definitive canonical structure of Opus Dei. Foreseeing t
hat moment, the last paragraph of the minutes of approval noted that: "This Code
x will be presented to the Holy See at the time of requesting the new canonical
configuration which the Work desires, within the perspectives opened up by the d

ispositions and the norms of application of the decrees emanating from the Secon
d Vatican Council."[196]
The objectives of the Special General Congress were fulfilled, and everything wa
s prepared and ready for that last step. A rigorous revision of the statutory pr
ovisions had been made, and all those elements that the founder had been forced
to concede were retrieved. Thus the points referring to the projected canonical
garb and those referring to the spirit and physiognomy proper to Opus Dei were i
n concordance.
The Father was not sure that the moment for presenting to the Holy See the reque
st for that institutional change would come during his lifetime. But that did no
t worry him. A few months earlier, in Argentina, when speaking to some of his so
ns about the special intention, he advised them to keep a supernatural outlook o
n it?to stay very calm, very happy, and very united to him. "And," he said, "if
the Lord disposes of my life before this materializes, be united to the one who
succeeds me; even more united. Make the resolution to love him with all your hea
rt."[197]
From then on, whenever he touched on this theme of the institutional question, h
e did so with great serenity, not wanting the quest to be rushed, but insisting
that it be taken to heart, responsibly. "Not one," he said, "but a hundred lives
, if you had them, you should give in order that the Work attain the definitive
juridical solution."[198] By this time, every word he said to his children had i
n their ears a special resonance, a kind of impression of a last will and testam
ent. Then again, for the Father, who lived every moment with an eye on eternity,
the present was always driven by the future.
This sense of urgency comes through loud and clear in the letter that he sent ou
t for Christmas 1974. In it he stresses the obligation that all of his children
have to do Opus Dei. And this call to carry the Work forward?is it not an echo o
f that question that the founder had asked his followers back in the beginning,
"Will you continue the Work if I die?" ,The letter is quite long. Here is an excerpt:
My dear children: May Jesus watch over my daughters and sons for me!
As I send you these lines with my warmest greetings for Christmas, I would like
to repeat to you once more, so that it will get etched deep in your souls, that
the Lord is depending mightily on us, on each one, and that we all have to feel
on our shoulders, with optimism and a genuinely universal outlook, the blessed b
urden of responsibility for bringing the Work forward, as God expects. A burden
that, since it comes from the Lord ("iugum meum suave est et onus meum leve" ["m
y yoke is easy, and my burden light"]?Mt 11:30), does not distress or overwhelm.
...
Feel in your hearts the certainty that we are engaged in a divine task, one will
ed by God, to which we have to respond with loyalty, with faithfulness in both t
he big and the little things, without letting up in our personal struggle. For i
f we neglect the seemingly unimportant details, then right through there?that li
ttle open window?will come into our spiritual castle, to destroy it, like a gang
, all kinds of sins and all kinds of operational errors.[199]
In the get-togethers held during those days, he also said things of that kind. O
n Christmas morning, for instance, he said to his sons:
The world is in a terrible mess, and so is the Church. Perhaps the world is as i
t is because the Church is the way it is.... I would like you to have deep in yo
ur heart that cry of the blind man in the Gospel, so that you can be made to see
correctly, with clarity, the things going on in the world. For that, all you ne
ed to do is obey in those few things that are asked of you, following the indica
tions that the directors give you.
Tell the Lord many times, while seeking his presence, "Domine, ut videam! Lord,
that I may see!" Ut videamus! That we may see things clearly in the midst of thi
s apparent revolution, which really isn't one; it's something satanic.[200]
Such was his insistent repeating of those aspirations that it did drive into the
ir souls the cry of that blind man from Jericho.
Domine, ut videam! That each of us may see! Ut videamus! Let us pray that the ot
hers may see. Ut videant! Let us request that divine light for all souls, withou
t exception.[201]

In the greeting he gave his daughters on Christmas Day, the Father proposed to t
hem those same aspirations.
Domine (Lord), ut videam! (that I may see!). Domine, ut videant! That they may s
ee! That we may see by the light of the soul, with clarity, with a supernatural
outlook, the things of earth ?those that seem big to us and those that seem litt
le to us, because everything becomes big when there is love and supernatural vis
ion. And that we may see by the light of the intellect, with clarity of ideas, n
ow when the world and the Church are filled with falsehoods, with heresies from
all eras, which have risen up like serpents.
Let us ask the Lord to keep us united, as he has up till now, in the truth of th
e faith. And then, that all of us?all?may, by the light of our eyes, see the thi
ngs of earth in such a way that we don't make too much of them. They are passing
things.[202]
Beneath this discourse, the Father was dialoguing with his quiet suffering for C
hrist's Church. Certainly he was not asking light for his impaired eyes, as was
the blind man from Jericho. He was seeking a purer vision of the world, which he
loved passionately but without being carried away by its attractions. Very few
knew about his physical condition. At this time the Father was suffering a prett
y severe loss of sight; and it was moving to see the grace with which he bore th
is infirmity.[203]
The year of 1974 came to an end. On New Year's Eve, the Father was back with his
sons in Rome. They brought him a carved image of the Christ Child. He very gent
ly and lovingly took it in his hands and unabashedly did, as he put it, "childis
h stuff." There came to his memory that statue of the Christ Child in the conven
t of Santa Isabel, in Madrid?that little statue that he had often danced around
with, singing. Now, looking with tenderness at this other image of the Christ Ch
ild, he covered it with kisses and confessed to his sons, "It doesn't embarrass
me to kiss the Child as I did when I was little. Now that I am leaving the world
, it doesn't at all embarrass me."[204]He blessed them with the statue and then
gave it to them, to take to Cavabianca. It was the "first stone" of the Roman Co
llege of the Holy Cross.
On the next day, the Father gave New Year's greetings to his daughters, saying:
This year will be a very good year. There will be sufferings ahead, but borne wi
th God's grace and a good attitude, they won't be bad things, but good; you have
to draw good from everything.
It will be a good year, my daughters, because we will come close to our Lord lik
e never before.[205]
That night his renal insufficiency produced a fluid buildup in his lungs, which
resulted in serious cardiac distress. He was immediately attended to, both spiri
tually and medically. The next morning, despite the seriousness of the attack an
d the fact that he had gotten little sleep, he was back on his feet. On January
3 he went to Spain to get a thorough physical from the doctors who knew his medi
cal history.[206]Then, from Madrid, he went to spend a few days at La Lloma, the
conference center he had stayed in when doing his catechetical work in Valencia
, in 1972. While there, he had his eyes examined by an ophthalmologist to find o
ut if he should have an operation. And there, close to the sea near Valencia, he
had several get-togethers with his children. He refreshed their memories of som
e of the great events in Opus Dei's history, and then grew more pensive. He said
:
I am now seventy-three?well, I will be in a few days?and I am on my way out of t
his world. Soon we'll be celebrating the Work's fiftieth anniversary. And what's
fifty years for an institution? But we've been kicked around quite a bit; that'
s why we're so spread out.[207]
He got back to Rome on January 8, the day before his birthday. The doctors were
surprised by how quickly and well he had recovered from his eye problems and oth
er ailments. On January 13 he wrote to Cardinal Casariego to assure him that he
would very soon "be able? finally!?to realize my dream of going to Guatemala."[2
08]
As he had done the year before, he asked the advice of the doctors, and they pon
dered the pros and cons of the trip he was thinking of making to Venezuela and G

uatemala in February.
He seemed to be getting stronger by the day. So, after careful consideration, th
e doctors gave their okay, with some conditions. There was to be less moving aro
und and more rest; he was not to go above an altitude of five thousand feet; and
, finally, he must at all times be accompanied by a doctor.[209]
The Father also made his own preparations for the trip. In mid-January he mobili
zed thousands of people to pray and offer sacrifices to our Lord and our Lady fo
r the work he hoped to do in Latin America.[210] And before crossing the Atlanti
c, he wrote (in connection with the golden jubilee that he would be celebrating
two months later) a letter to all the members of Opus Dei:
My dear children: May Jesus watch over my daughters and sons for me!
I am writing you to ask that on this coming March 28, the fiftieth anniversary o
f my ordination to the priesthood, you pray for me in a special way?invoking as
intercessors our Mother holy Mary and Saint Joseph, our father and lord?that I m
ay be a good and faithful priest.
I don't want any ceremony planned, because I want to spend this jubilee in accor
d with what has always been my ordinary norm of conduct: to hide and disappear,
so that only Jesus shines forth.
But I also ask that we all be very united on that day, with a deeper gratitude t
o the Lord (this March 28th is Good Friday), who has spurred us to share in his
holy cross, that is, in that Love which sets no conditions.
Help me to thank God for the immense treasure of the call to the priesthood and
for the other divine vocation, to the Work, and for all his mercies and all his
benefactions, "uni-versa beneficia sua, etiam ignota"?even the ones I haven't no
ticed. Let us give thanks, my daughters and sons, because even though we are of
such little worth?nothing?our Father in heaven, in his infinite goodness, has ex
panded our hearts and, with that fire that he came to bring into the world, has
sparked in our souls a great Love. Let us also show him a filial acknowledgement
of our having learned in his Work to love the holy Church and the Roman Pontiff
with deeds and in truth.
Accompany me in adoring our Redeemer, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, in
all the "repositories" of all the churches in the world, on this Good Friday. L
et us spend that day in intense and loving adoration.
Let us ask pardon for all our sins, and for the sins of all people, with an eage
rness to do purification and reparation in the face of so much blindness. Ut vid
eamus! Ut videant! That we may see; that they may see.
Let us spend that day closely united to the Blessed Virgin? contemplating her be
side the cross of her Son?in recollected adoration, thanksgiving, reparation, an
d petition.
Joy and sorrow come together there, iuxta Crucem Iesu [beside the cross of Jesus
], and all the ceremonial words and gestures known to humanity are inadequate fo
r praising the Love that gives itself there. So, my daughters and sons, let us c
ommemorate this priestly anniversary by renewing the resolution that we will gra
tefully, each day, at the foot of the cross?of the altar?share in the Life that
Jesus Christ gives us; that the holy Mass will be always the center and root of
our existence. That is the best celebration of priesthood.
I am already deeply moved by the affection that you will put into commemorating
in this way my fifty years as a priest. Strive to observe this feast closely uni
ted to my intentions, especially that of my Mass. You will be amazed to see how
many lights and mercies we will receive from our Lord, if we strive to stay with
in easy reach of his glance, praying and ; working in his presence consummati in
unum, forming a single heart with ever greater eagerness to serve the holy Chur
ch and souls.
An affectionate blessing from your Father,
Mariano[211]
On January 29 he left Rome for Madrid; and on February 4 he continued on to Cara
cas.

* * *

He had more than one motive for going back to Venezuela: the need to keep his wo
rd, the promise he had made to return; the desire to meet with the hundreds of h
is sons and daughters born to the Work in the Americas, whom he would never see
again in this world; his uncon-tainable apostolic zeal...
"Father," one of his daughters said, a few days after his arrival, "what a gift
of God to have you here!" And he agreed. He said, "We're together not by chance,
but because our Lord has chosen to give me this joy."[212]
From the first moment, the Father placed himself entirely at the disposal of the
directors of the Work in Venezuela. He put it this way: "I'm just an inert obje
ct here; so I'll do whatever you want. Is that clear? I'll do whatever you want.
" [213]
Altoclaro did not have that quiet, secluded look of a few months earlier. On the
sports field a stage had been set up, and, under the protection of a huge tent,
since the sun would be fierce, thousands of chairs were set up. The Father was
prepared to follow a program of comings and goings, receive all the foreseen vis
its, attend the planned get-togethers, and observe the house schedule. But to th
ink that in any of those activities he was going to conserve his energies was sh
eer imagination. Suffice it to read what was entered in the diary of Altoclaro o
n February 11, when the large gatherings had just begun: "Our Father devotes him
self to souls, to people, superabundantly giving of himself, with a cheerful spi
rit and a youthful energy that never quits. But when the tension of the get-toge
ther is over, one can see, by looking at the Father, the great effort he put int
o it."[214]
The Father, evidently, was losing much of his strength, but without realizing th
e extent of his fatigue. He shook off his tiredness with supernatural considerat
ions. This phenomenon was particularly noticeable in his conversations with youn
g people, during which his spirit would lift theirs to high ideals. His physical
vitality might have declined, but his ability to enthuse souls had certainly no
t. He said to a group of girls:
In Venezuela, and from Venezuela, many great things must be done, and for that a
re needed young, fired-up hearts, clear heads, likable and wonderful people, lik
e my daughters and the friends of my daughters. Let's see if you're game? becaus
e God sure is! But you have to leave your comfort-loving, easy-going ways behind
![215]
The Father had a way of combining joking with speaking seriously. In a get-toget
her on February 13, when a numerary assistant was asking him a question, he affe
ctionately interrupted her, saying:
I have a tremendous envy of you. Since I am a man, I can't be a numerary assista
nt. But I have often thought, "Josemaria, what would you like to do?"
And?this may surprise you a bit?I've answered myself, "To not be in Opus Dei." B
ut why? So that I could ask admission and take the last place.
If I were a woman, how marvelous! Because then I would be a numerary assistant,
for sure.[216]
The Father was continually giving advice to souls, and governmental guidelines t
o the directors. Upon his arrival he did not have a chance to see the capital, b
ecause they drove directly from the airport to Altoclaro. Nevertheless, on the v
ery next day he was urging them on, broadening their apostolic horizons. He said
:
I haven't seen anything of Caracas, but on the way over here, I saw from the hig
hway those miserable shacks. In Opus Dei there is room for everyone. The vocatio
n to it is not just for the v college-educated. You do have to deal, yes, with t
he rich, but also with those people who are hungry, and, especially, hungry for
God. The Work is for everyone. You have to reach those who have money and those
who don't have anything.[217]
That all the visits and other activities were carried out as planned is rather s
urprising. Granted, the Father had, for the first time in his catechetical trips
, agreed to spend more time in bed, and even to lie down from time to time durin
g the day, so that he could appear in public more refreshed at the next get-toge
ther. But this behavior did not have a restorative effect on him. On the contrar
y, it was an expedient that masked his tiredness and hid the fact that he was no

t really in shape for taking part in those huge get-togethers that left him exha
usted. But he braced himself with the thought, "God knows if I'll ever see these
children again here on earth!"[218]
On February 15 he left Venezuela for Guatemala. Meeting him at the airport were
Cardinal Casariego and Father Antonio Rodriguez Pedrazuela, the Counsellor for C
entral America. As soon as he had descended from the plane, he gave them each a
warm embrace; and the cardinal said in greeting, "The Church in Guatemala is ver
y happy to have you here, Father."[219]
There had been plenty of time to prepare for his arrival. Members of the Work, f
riends, Cooperators, and many others had come to Guatemala from nearby countries
, such as Costa Rica and El Salvador, and from more distant places, including Co
lombia, the United States, and Canada. There was a sense of great expectancy sin
ce they were not really sure of getting to see him. Even the Father himself seem
ed to feel the need to verify his presence. On the day after his arrival, he wro
te in a copy of the first edition of The Way this inscription:
To my daughters and sons in Guatemala, an affectionate blessing, upon the joy of
finding myself?at last!?in this blessed land. Guatemala City, Feb. 16,1975.
Mariano.[220]

On that same day, there began the get-togethers with various groups. In the midd
le of the afternoon the Father went by car to the city to bless the centers of t
he Work and the land on which the definitive headquarters of the Regional Commis
sion would be built. He recollected himself in the car for a few seconds, in sil
ence, and then, when they arrived at each place, he slowly and deliberately gave
his blessing.
On the morning of the eighteenth he had a get-together with a good-sized group o
f diocesan priests. "I am very eager to learn things, so I can put them into pra
ctice," he told them before beginning his conversation with them.[221] In the af
ternoon he visited Altavista (the conference center), and specifically its Maria
n shrine, to bless a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The shrine was dedicate
d to our Lady under this title "in memory of our Father's sister, Carmen, who, w
ith the Grandmother, generously and selflessly helped and sustained the apostola
tes of the Work."[222]
February 19 was Don Alvaro's name day. The sun was bearing down and the Father w
as feeling the weight of its rays. Someone asked, "What does one need to do to b
e faithful like Don Alvaro?" A resounding applause broke out, and the Father joi
ned in it. But it was obvious that he was not feeling well. The glare of the sun
was hurting his eyes, and the dry air was choking his voice.
That night he came down with bronchitis, laryngitis, fever, and severe exhaustio
n. The get-togethers planned for the remaining four days of his stay in Guatemal
a had to be put on hold. It was doubtful not just when he would recover, but whe
ther he would. This time he was completely depleted, like a squeezed lemon. The
logical thing was to return to Europe.
He, of course, accepted the will of God. He said:

My children, I am happy with the work being done in these lands. You need to kee
p working along the same path. It's hurt me a lot not to be able to stay with yo
u. Patience! At first I was sad; now I'm happy. I've offered it all to the Lord
for the work in Central America. In your neighbors' country I was very well, and
I came here hoping to speak with many people. But God has not permitted it. We
are offering it up to him with joy.[223]
It was certainly a big disappointment. Entire families had set out days earlier.
Some people had spent their savings to see and hear the Father. But once the in
itial reaction of dismay had passed, everyone took it well and didn't lose their
cheerfulness.
On the day of his departure, February 23, thousands of people congregated at the
airport, in the hope of getting to hear him speak. At the least, they wanted to
bid him farewell.[224] The Father was very moved. At the runway itself, the car
dinal asked a blessing for the crowd. It was a request the Father could not turn
down; and before getting into the plane, he greeted and blessed all those peopl

e. Three days later he wrote from Madrid:

My dear Cardinal:
I just got back to Europe, and I feel the need to write to you right away, becau
se so many things are going through my head and my heart. I see in them all the
loving hand of the Lord, although at times it is hard to understand his plans.
I am happy?most happy! I started this new trip, as Your Excellency requested, wi
th the desire to continue my cateche-sis in the Americas, to speak of God with s
o many souls, and to learn to better love and serve our Master. I wasn't able to
carry out everything that had been planned for me, but I renew my continual tha
nksgiving to the Blessed Trinity, because I did have the joy of seeing some of t
he results of the copious apostolic work that my daughters and sons are doing in
those countries?accompanied, in Guatemala and El Salvador, by the most special
affection of Mario....
I want to end by thanking you for all the fuss you made over me, which this sinn
er does not deserve. I have already "forgiven" you for making me give a blessing
at La Aurora Airport to that multitude of people who with such affection pray f
or their cardinal?though I think the one who prays for you the most and is most
fond of you is myself.[225]

* * *

Upon his arrival in Rome he plunged back into his usual work, happy that the Lor
d was giving him "good enough health to be able to cope with my daily work in no
rmal fashion." [226]
On the morning of March 19, the feast of Saint Joseph, he went to Cavabianca, no
t to preach to his sons, but to open wide his heart to them. He started by sayin
g, "Last night I thought about so many things from years ago. Certainly I always
tell you that I am young, and it is true?'ad Deum qui laetificat iuventutem mea
m!' I am young with the youthfulness of God. But it is a lot of years."[227]
He had spent a long time that night reliving his vocation and the early steps of
the history of the Work, reflecting with amazement on the path that had been tr
aveled. He thought about those presentiments he had had as a teenager, and about
the work he had done as a young priest with a universal mission to fulfill. Bef
ore his eyes there passed those dying people in the hospitals, the poor in the s
lums of Madrid, the children he had catechized, and the abandoned, lonely sick h
e had comforted... So many memories came rushing back, clamoring to be voiced, e
ach of them representing one of God's mercies toward the founder.
My sons, I am relating to you a bit of what my prayer of this morning was. It al
l just fills one with embarrassment and gratitude, and more love. Everything don
e up till now is a lot, but it's also little?in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in t
he Americas, and in Oceania. Everything is the work of Jesus, our Lord. Everythi
ng has been done by our heavenly Father.[228]
The path was now well marked out. The mission he had received from God had been
carried out.
You have ahead of you so much road that's already been traveled, you can't go wr
ong. With what we have done in the theological realm?a new theology, my children
, and the good kind?and in the realm of canon law; with all that we've done with
the grace of the Lord and his Mother, with the providence of our father and lor
d Saint Joseph, with the help of the guardian angels, you can't go wrong now, un
less you are scoundrels.
Let us give thanks to God. You already know that I am not needed here that I've
never been needed.[229]
How quickly the years had gone by. And how many changes and new things they had
brought. A few days earlier, he had heard that The Way had been translated into
Quechuan. That seemed a dream. Forty years back, there had been printed in Cuenc
a Consideraciones espirituales, the predecessor of The Way.[230] The weight of t
he years was making itself felt. He felt it keenly when he had to write to one o
f his children a letter of condolence upon the death of their father or mother.
This was occurring almost every day, since the family of Opus Dei had multiplied

astonishingly. By now he was more than a Father; he had become a patriarch, of

people from every continent and of many races and tongues. The history of the Wo
rk was the product of God's grace and of a half century of intense priestly work
. He had been ordained a priest in Saragossa on March 28,1925, not yet knowing t
he ultimate reason for his vocation, still crying out, "Domine, ut videam!" Now
he was going to be celebrating his golden jubilee as a priest, on Good Friday.
For months he had been preparing in the depths of his soul for his celebration o
f that feast. And as much as he examined his life, he could not find any notable
progress. His state of spiritual advance was, in his eyes, not even like that o
f a baby taking its first steps. He was not ashamed to express this when praying
aloud before the tabernacle on Holy Thursday. He said, "After fifty years, I am
like a stammering child. I am beginning, beginning again, every day. And thus I
will be to the end of the days that remain to me: always beginning again."[231]
He took a glance back and saw a forest of crosses: "an immense panorama?so many
sorrows, so many joys. And now, all joys, all joys. Because we have the experien
ce of sorrow being the hammering of the divine artist who wants to make out of e
ach of us?out of the formless mass that we are?a crucifix, a Christ, the alter C
hristus that we need to be. Lord, thanks for everything. Many thanks!"[232]
On the next day (the day of his jubilee) he tried to draw up a balance sheet of
his life. The result was a very positive one?but not in his favor, but the Lord'
s. All he could do in the end was laugh at himself.
I wanted to take stock of these fifty years, and I ended up laughing out loud. I
laughed at myself, and was filled withgratitude to our Lord, because it is he w
ho has done everything.[233]
He spent the day interiorly recollected. He celebrated the feast interiorly. In
accord with his ordinary norm of hiding and disappearing, he did indeed "spend t
hat day in intense and loving adoration."[234] But his daughters and sons did gi
ve him presents: a large reliquary for a fragment of the True Cross, and some sa
cred vessels. And he deeply appreciated it, because the objects were destined fo
r divine worship. For him, he thought, they were too much; but for God, very lit
tle.[235]

6. His last days and his death

Work had been under way at Torreciudad for five years, without interruption. At
the end of March 1975 it was estimated that the work on the shrine would be comp
leted by the beginning of summer. The construction time limits had been rigorous
ly adhered to, and even the sculptor had hurried along, not for a moment taking
it easy. Thus the execution of the altarpiece was moving ahead at the same pace
as the rest of the construction work. The ceremony of inauguration of the shrine
was already being planned when the Father stated that it would be good to open
it up to the public as soon as it was finished, but that he himself would not be
taking part in the opening ceremony. He said, "I won't be going to the inaugura
tion of Torreciudad. Once the work is finished, the Counsellor will bless the pl
ace, with the 'benedictio loci' formula, and then the liturgical services will b
egin."[236]
A few weeks later, however, he felt obliged to change his plans and visit the sh
rine.

* **

In spite of having left it when he was only thirteen, the founder always felt li
nked, with a very lively affection, to Barbastro, the city of his birth. The cor
respondence that he kept up with its local authorities and with some families re
lated to his by marriage kept alive his feelings for his little hometown. Though
ts of Barbastro, he wrote to its mayor in 1971, "fill me with joy," because "I a
m very much a Barba-stran and try to be a good son of my parents."[237] And of t
his he gave good proof by the exceptional services that he rendered to his compa
triots and their entire province, the first of which was the effective mediation

he did to keep the diocese of Barbastro from disappearing when the Spanish dioc
eses were restructured after the civil war.[238]
The city council, without consulting him, decided in 1947 to confer on him the t
itle of Favorite Son of Barbastro. But, although he was happy about that show of
affection and respect, he avoided having the city give him a public tribute in
1948. (He was, by the way, a master of the art of eluding honors or extricating
himself from ceremonies without offending their organizers.)
Around 1960, in Saragossa, it was decided to name a street after him. As soon as
he heard about this, he took the opportune measures to dissuade the promoters f
rom continuing this effort. He also succeeded in preventing his compatriots from
carrying out a similar plan in Barbastro. Nevertheless, around 1971, without pr
eviously consulting the interested party, Barbastro's city council went ahead an
d named the principal avenue of a new suburb "Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer."[23
9] Also, by that same procedure of fait accompli, giving the founder no say in t
he matter, the full council, in its session of September 17, 1974, unanimously d
ecided to award him the Gold Medal of the City of Barbastro, "in recognition of
the outstanding attributes of exemplariness and universal renown which were comb
ined in him, and of his constant interest in, and concern for the improvement of
, on every level, the inhabitants of Barbastro and its region."[240]
At the time that the city council was gathering to make that decision, the found
er was still recuperating from his apostolic exertions in Venezuela and Guatemal
a. And when, a little later, he arrived at Villa Tevere, he found waiting for hi
m a letter from the mayor, communicating the prestigious honor bestowed on him b
y his compatriots. His prolonged absence from Rome, and the fact that he had pro
mised to return again to the Americas, inclined him to refrain from making addit
ional trips. But his children made him see that he could not for a third time re
fuse the homage that Barbastro wanted to pay him. Especially since the celebrati
on would really be a family one. So he expressed his sentiments to the mayor, fo
r him to relay to the other members of the city government:
I, too, have the eager hope that the Lord will grant me the grace of getting to
be with my "home folks" in the near future. I am really desirous of this, becaus
e I am convinced that (although I find it impossible to imagine) it will increas
e my affection and prayer for Barbastro and its region.
I ask you to pray for me and for my priestly work, invoking Our Mother of Torrec
iudad, who has brought and will bring so much good to souls. I place at her feet
all your dreams and projects, so that she will bless and watch over them.[241]
The Shrine of Our Lady of Torreciudad is a half hour's drive from Barbastro. Whe
n he went there for the medal presentation ceremony, the Father would also be ab
le to visit the shrine and give on-site any final recommendations that might be
necessary. That was the reason he decided at the last minute to return to his bi
rthplace.
The trip was set for May 1975. The first days of that month, the Father was fati
gued and his health did not seem good, but it did not seem bad enough to cause g
reat concern or to warrant canceling the trip, though it was postponed for a few
days. On the fifteenth he left Rome for Madrid. There he stayed in his old room
at Diego de Leon, which shared a wall with the oratory of the house, so full of
memories. His program of work, visits, and get-togethers in Madrid went along q
uite normally, but then, on the night before his trip to Torreciudad and Barbast
ro, he suffered a serious cardiac incident (involving a pulmonary edema), from w
hich, fortunately, he promptly recovered.[242] He was expected at Torreciudad at
noon on the twenty-third, and he did not disappoint them.
The last time he had been there was that rainy day in April 1970 when, walking b
arefoot, he had prayed the Rosary and had then blessed the excavation where the
chapel with the confessionals would be built. The five years since then had been
ones filled with hopes and hard work. And now, with the visit of the Father, th
ere began days of rejoicing and celebrating. It was, indeed, about noon when a h
elicopter was seen on the other side of the reservoir, and a joyful pealing of b
ells broke out. The helicopter landed on the esplanade of the shrine, and, as th
e Father got out, the peals echoed across the mountains and valleys.
He visited the old shrine and spent some time looking at the building complex th

at surrounded the new one: the two conference centers, the research center, the
tower, the porticos ... Everything was made of brick, and had a dignified and gr
aceful but vibrant look about it. "From humble material, taken from the earth, y
ou have made divine material," he told the architects.[243]
Then, still early in the afternoon, accompanied by a good number of his sons, he
paid a long visit to the new shrine. Everything about it? the proportions of th
e area, the bold, modern design of the space, the originality of the brickwork,
the dignity and grandeur of the altar? forcefully attracted his attention. He sa
t down on a bench to contemplate it all. He raised his eyes to the reredos, and
even though it was still scaffolded, he was lost in admiration.
In the sanctuary, from in back of the choir stalls to the point at which the cei
ling began, the composition rose, framed with braids of chain links and foliage,
and embellishments sprinkled with thistles, roses, and stars.
In a niche in the center of the reredos was the statue of Our Lady of Torreciuda
d: the old Romanesque statue, now restored. Above it, as a central theme, was a
depiction of the Crucifixion, and above this, an oculus for the Blessed Sacramen
t. The two side panels of the structure showed scenes from the life of our Lady:
her espousal, the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus ... And at the very top, fin
ishing it all off, was a depiction of the coronation of our Lady by the Blessed
Trinity.
In between the vertical dividing lines, there were vaulted niches for Opus Dei's
patron saints and intercessors.
The entire work was executed in alabaster (a material fairly plentiful in that r
egion), polychromed in soft tones.
The Father could not take his eyes off it. He said:
It's a marvelous reredos.
What sighs the old ladies will let out here! And the young people! What sighs! G
ood! Only we Opus Dei crazies can do this, and we are very happy to be crazy.[24
4]
Note was taken of his observations about where the organ should go, how the nich
e for our Lady should be fitted out, and how the figure of Christ in the Blessed
Sacrament chapel should be illuminated.
On the following day, May 24, the Father consecrated the main altar, and when th
e ceremony was over, he spoke a few words to those present, reminding them that
the altar is an altar of sacrifice. He said:
I have just consecrated another altar. There are many others all over the world:
in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in the Americas, in Oceania. On these altars, yo
ur brothers offer to the Lord the sacrifice of their lives, joyfully, because a
sacrifice done with Love is an immense joy, even in the hardest moments. You all
have a bit of experience of that. But don't exaggerate it. Let's not compose tr
agedies. We have to take life a little as a comedy, since there are many things
to laugh at....
Whenever I consecrate an altar, I try to draw out personal implications.
Look at what is done to an altar to consecrate it to God. First, it is anointed.
You and I were anointed when we became Christians: on the chest, and on the bac
k, with holy oil. We also were anointed the day we were confirmed. Those of us w
ho are priests have been anointed on the hands. And I hope that, God willing, we
will be anointed on the day we receive Extreme Unction, which doesn't frighten
us. What joy, to experience being anointed from the day one is born to the day o
ne dies! To realize that one is an altar of God, something of God's, a place whe
re God carries out his sacrifice, the eternal sacrifice according to the order o
f Melchizedek.[245]
Late that evening, he was given the news that a son of his, Monsignor Salvador C
anals, had died, in Rome. Once again, that saying "nulla dies sine cruce" was pr
oved true; the Father never went a day without some kind of cross.
On Sunday, May 25, in Barbastro's city hall, the gold medal ceremony took place.
After the conferring of the honor, the Father replied with some words of thanks
. But he had hardly said three sentences when he had to interrupt his own speech
, because of being choked up. His voice breaking, and his eyes brimming with tea
rs, he asked pardon of all those present. He said:

Sorry. I am very overcome with emotion, for two reasons. First, because of your
affection; and second, because late yesterday I received notice from Rome of the
death of one of the first ones I sent to do Opus Dei in Italy. A pure soul, an
outstanding intellect....
He served the Church with his virtues, with his talent, with his effort, with hi
s sacrifice, with his cheerfulness, with this spirit of Opus Dei which is one of
service. I should be happy about having one more in heaven, since an event of t
his kind is bound to occur so frequently in such a numerous family. But I am ver
y tired, very tired, very overwhelmed. You will forgive me, and be happy to know
that I have a heart. I continue.[246]
He then resumed the reading of his address.
Later that afternoon he and his companions went out to the esplanade of the shri
ne to see the ceramic murals representing the mysteries of the Rosary. (Each of
the mysteries has its own altar.) As they walked along, they prayed the Rosary,
and they finished it in the crypt, in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Pillar. Then
the Father asked where there was a confessional that was ready for use, and he
there and then went to confession to Don Alvaro. Afterward, Don Alvaro went to c
onfession to him. And thus the confessionals at Torreciudad were inaugurated.[24
7]
The Father was already back in Madrid by Monday, May 26, and on the thirty-first
he flew from there back to Rome. One event worth mentioning, although it went r
elatively unnoticed at the time, is documented in the founder's medical records:
"While in Madrid, during the early hours of May 30, there was another attack of
dyspnea [labored breathing] and tachycardia [rapid heart rate] similar to that
of May 21. It ended quickly and after a good sleep, he felt well again."[248]
It is difficult to imagine that, in the face of what happened, the Father was no
t aware of the seriousness of his condition. But, to help us understand the atti
tude with which he awaited death, there is another item that is of obvious biogr
aphical eloquence. A few hours after coming out of the cardiac crisis of May 22,
he wrote in one of his personal notes: "So thin is the membrane separating us f
rom the other life that it is worth it to be always prepared to embark on that t
rip with joy."[249]
That was a reflection pulled from his own experience. We must go to the next lif
e cheerfully, since we don't have a permanent dwelling here. The barrier separat
ing the one life from the other is very fragile. So the Christian has to be read
y to welcome death with a smile.

* * *

Those nocturnal crises of the last days in May could be seen as a warning, of an
approaching end. The Father acknowledged this, but without being dramatic about
it or calling any attention to himself. After each of these incidents he immedi
ately resumed his normal work life, "without fixating on his health or dwelling
on his physical well-being or lack thereof."[250] He kept a tranquil attitude of
holy abandonment, consuming in the service of the Church and of the Work the da
ys that the Lord chose to grant to him.
He did not envision the departure from this world as something rough. The founde
r had discovered, by divine mercy, that he was in that stage of life in which it
is natural to go over the "days that are left," with the hope of making them mo
re fruitful.[251] Surely there was present to him that consoling thought that th
e bishop of Avila had written to him, and that he had included in The Way: "No,
for you he will not be a judge?in the harsh sense of the word. He will simply be
Jesus."[252] For in describing death, he made use not of gloomy images, but of
comparisons that imbue the soul with a joyful serenity.[253]
It is possible that the Father had a presentiment that his time was short, not s
o much because of the alarming failings of his health as because of the irresist
ible attraction toward God that he felt in his soul. Death would find him prepar
ed and in the company of his custodes. And should it arrive suddenly and unexpec
tedly, that for him would be a joyful event. It would be "as if the Lord surpris
ed us from behind and, when we turned around, we found ourselves in his arms." H

e also said that when his "good sister death" opened the door to Life, he would
cross the threshold holding onto our Lady's hand, to be presented to the Blessed
Trinity.[254]
Clearly, however, he was suffering greatly from the thought that he had not adeq
uately responded to the graces he had received. And this sorrow born of love led
him, one day, to make a forceful declaration. He was in a get-together with his
sons on the General Council when, in a quiet but clear voice, he said:
The Father? A sinner who loves Jesus Christ, and who can't quite get the lessons
that God gives him. A great big fool? this was the Father! Say that to those wh
o ask you, to those who will ask you.[255]
He continued to tell his children that on earth he was nothing but an encumbranc
e, but that from heaven, on the other hand, he would be able to help everyone be
tter. He had an enormous craving to see the face of the Lord. He had lovingly sc
oured the pages of the Gospel in search of it. He had followed the footsteps of
the Master, preaching his teachings and spreading the "bonus odor Christi"?the d
ivine fragrance of his humanity?but without being able to see his face.[256] He
had Christ's features engraved in his soul. He wanted to see his face; but the d
ivine countenance as he was picturing it was like a reflection in a fogged mirro
r. And the movies that showed scenes from the life of Jesus of Nazareth always p
roduced in him a deep uneasiness, although he knew that they were helpful in the
lives of other people.[257]He could not find even a remote similarity between h
is interior image, born of love, and those artificial cinematic representations.
His whole being longed for face-to-face contemplation of Christ's gloriously be
autiful countenance. In his last days he continued to cry out, "Vul-tum tuum, Do
mine, requiram! I seek your face, Lord. I want to see your face, Lord. I long to
see your face."[258]
His work life constituted the environment of his contemplative existence. Indust
riousness was a virtue deeply ingrained in him. But he could not totally hide th
e weight of years that he was carrying, although he dispatched his pastoral and
governmental duties as though he still enjoyed his full physical faculties. Duri
ng the day, he managed to hide his fatigue, but the weakness of his legs was obv
ious when he walked, and there was from time to time a slight trembling of his h
ands. And he arrived at the evening get-togethers clearly exhausted. Being at ho
me with his family, he did not mind letting his sons see this. His gestures had
become gentler, more paternal. But the apostolic force of his words and teaching
s was more powerful than ever.[259]
He was always thinking about how he could transmit integrally and faithfully the
legacy that he was leaving to his children: the spirit of Opus Dei and the carr
ying out of the apostolic work in more than thirty countries.[260] He thought ab
out those who now made up the Work, and about those who would come to it in the
course of the centuries. And, right now, he wanted to finish the new seat of the
Roman College of the Holy Cross.
Before leaving for Spain, he had made a visit to Cavabianca, where his sons were
alternating study with various other tasks. At that time they were busy with ga
rdening, the cleaning of floors, and the painting and decorating of the Holy Cro
ss chapel. He told those who were working in the chapel that he envied them, and
in response to the surprised looks on their faces, he explained that he had had
the chapel built for two purposes: one based in supernatural piety, the other i
n natural piety. It was to foster devotion to the Holy Cross, and it was to serv
e as a mortuary chapel for those whom the Lord decided to take to heaven while t
hey were at the Roman College.[261]
He had been back in Rome for only a week when on Saturday, June 7, he showed up
again at Cavabianca. In anticipation of his arrival, his sons had cleared out th
e oratory of Our Lady of the Angels, taking down the scaffolding so that he coul
d see the results of the painting they had done there.
Among the groups, he went looking for those sons who were leaving for Spain to b
e ordained as priests that summer. He had come, of course, to greet them, not to
say good-bye, "since we never say 'Good-bye,' but only 'See you later.'"[262] H
e had a long get-together with his sons, which began with a consideration about
continuity:

You are starting out in life. Some are starting and others finishing, but we are
all the same Life of Christ. There is so much to do in the world! Let us ask th
e Lord, always, that he grant it to all of us to be faithful, to continue the wo
rk, to live that Life, with a capital "L," which is the only one worth living. T
he other one is not worthwhile; it slips away, like water through one's hands. I
n contrast, that other Life!.. .[263]
On Sunday, June 15, he returned once more to Cavabianca and met with his sons in
the reading room. Before this he had made a tour of the property, on foot, goin
g from one place to another, inspecting the garden, the sports fields, the orato
ries, and the fountains. He was worn out, and he told them in a low voice, "I ha
d to sit down. You wouldn't think so, but we took quite a walk out there... What
a walk!" Cavabianca was becoming, he said, all that he had hoped it would be: a
pleasant place for work and for relaxation, for prayer and for sport. And with
the concrete help they were giving, by painting walls, cleaning floors, watering
the new plants, and so forth, they were continuing the tradition that Opus Dei
had had from the time that the first center was opened. The difference, he said,
was that back then it had been done "with less means than now?with just our rep
utation as crazies. They said of me that I was a young and crazy priest. They we
re right, and they still are now. I'm delighted to be crazy." At this point Don
Alvaro interjected that he was still young. And he replied, "Young? My legs tell
me no, quite often."[264]
On Sunday, June 22, he again made the rounds at Cavabianca, to make some recomme
ndations before leaving Rome. He focused especially on the oratory of Our Lady o
f the Angels. In the reading room, with the bookcases still empty, he spoke of j
oy, but not without letting a sigh of weariness escape him. "I'm tired," he said
. "I'm not used to doing a lot of walking, and I've been walking around from one
end to the other here."[265]
Cavabianca was at the point of completion, although there were still lots of lit
tle details to finish up. "Father," someone asked him, "will there be a celebrat
ion for the last stone?" And he replied, "The last stone? A very short celebrati
on: ten minutes. To give thanks to God; for ten minutes."[266]

* * *

On Wednesday, June 25, there was a family celebration of the anniversary of the
ordination of the first three priests. "Chiqui" was already in heaven; the other
two, Don Alvaro and Father Jose Luis Miizquiz, were still on earth. The founder
had remembered all three very specially in his Mass, and also those he had orda
ined after them, and those who were to be ordained within a few weeks. And he ha
d asked of the Lord that all of his sons and daughters always have a priestly so
ul. How much he had prayed for all of them, "and specifically that each of his d
aughters be deeply imbued with a priestly soul."[267]During the get-together aft
er dinner, his happiness and good humor were very much in evidence. Several time
s, he took out of his pocket a little clay whistle (given him a few days earlier
by some girls in a youth club), turned towards Father Javier, and blew the whis
tle, to the amusement of everyone.
In the evening he went to the oratory of the Holy Family, for Benediction. The d
ay had been an intense one, filled with prayer, and by evening he was quite tire
d. As he went down the stairs for the evening get-together, he was carrying the
tray with the chamomile tea that the doctor had prescribed. Those accompanying h
im wanted to relieve him of the tray so that he could more easily see the steps,
since he could hardly make them out. But he resisted, and jokingly complained,
"You won't even let me make these small sacrifices!"[268]
Across from where he was sitting while drinking the tea, there was a little stat
ue of our Lady, at which he glanced frequently, silently saying aspirations.[269
] And afterwards, during the late-evening get-together, he seemed absorbed, imme
rsed in prayer. What thoughts were going through his mind?
On the following day, Thursday, June 26, he celebrated Mass at eight in the morn
ing, assisted by Father Javier.[270] It was the votive Mass for the Blessed Virg
in Mary?the Mass in whose opening prayer the priest asks for "continual health i

n mind and body." Those words must have moved him in a very special way that day
, because the last ones he would ever write on a page of his notebook, despite t
he fact that he very well knew it by heart, were the final words of that prayer:
"a praesenti liberari tristitia et aeterna perfrui laetitia"?"so that freed fro
m present sorrows we will enjoy forever the joy that never ends."[271]
At nine-thirty, accompanied by Don Alvaro, Father Javier, and the architect Javi
er Cotelo, he went by car to Castel Gandolfo, where his daughters were awaiting
him. As he and his companions set out from Villa Tevere, they began to say the j
oyful mysteries of the Rosary. The trip took a little longer than usual, because
of some work being done on the roadway. During the trip he commented that perha
ps in the afternoon they could visit Cavabianca, to check on some details concer
ning the oratory of Our Lady of the Angels.
Upon arriving at Villa delle Rose, the center in Castel Gandolfo, he went into t
he oratory and spent a few minutes on his knees. Afterwards he had a get-togethe
r with his daughters, in the living room. In this room there was a picture of ou
r Lady gently resting her face on the head of little Jesus, drawing it towards h
erself, and gracefully holding a soft-hued rose between the fingers of her other
hand.
The founder fixed his gaze on this picture. (He never failed to greet our Lady u
pon entering or leaving a room.)
The picture had belonged to Dona Dolores, and had received the last glances she
gave before dying. It was popularly called "Our Lady of the Well-Groomed Child,"
because the Child Jesus?a plump, rosy-cheeked child of about two or three, with
a candid smile?has his hair carefully parted and combed.
An armchair had been brought in for the Father, but he ceded it to Don Alvaro, a
nd took an ordinary chair. He said to his daughters, "I very much wanted to come
here. We've got to use our last hours of being in Rome to take care of some unf
inished business, so as far as everybody else is concerned, I'm already gone; I'
m just here for you."[272] And then he said:
Yesterday you celebrated, I'm sure, the anniversary of the ordination of the fir
st three priests, and surely you are praying as well for the fifty-four who are
about to be ordained. Fifty-four?that seems like a lot, an almost unbelievable n
umber for these days, if you think about what's going on around us. Yet really t
hey are very few; they disappear so soon. As I'm forever telling you, this water
of God which is the priesthood always gets quickly absorbed by the soil of the
Work. These drops of water, our priests, they disappear at once.
You, my daughters, have priestly souls. You know I tell you this every time I co
me here. And your brothers who are
laymen have priestly souls also. Each of you can and should help, with that prie
stly soul of yours; and in this way, with the grace of God and with the minister
ial priesthood of us, the priests of the Work, we will all be able to do an effe
ctive job.[273]
The conversation continued in this calm and pleasant vein. There were anecdotes,
recommendations ... About twenty minutes into it, he started to feel ill. The g
et-together was ended. He felt dizzy, and had to go lie down. After a little whi
le, since he was still not feeling well, he took his leave, asking his daughters
' pardon for the trouble he had caused.
It was eleven-twenty. The trip back to Rome was made by the shortest possible ro
ute. The heat was oppressive, and the Father attributed his indisposition to thi
s. There were no traffic slowdowns on the trip back, and they entered Villa Teve
re a few minutes before noon. The Father got out of the car easily and with a ch
eerful expression on his face. No one suspected anything more than a slight indi
sposition.
He stepped into the oratory and made his customary genuflection: slow, devout, w
ith a greeting to the eucharistic Lord. Then, immediately, he headed for the roo
m he usually worked in. Father Javier, who had stayed behind to close the elevat
or door, heard him call him from, inside the room. He went to him. "I don't feel
well," he said in a weak voice. And at that point he collapsed.
The paragraphs that follow are taken from a letter that Don Alvaro, as Secretary

General of Opus Dei, wrote to the members of the Work on June 29,1975, from Rom
e:
We did everything possible, spiritually and medically. I gave him absolution and
Extreme Unction, while he was still breathing. There was an hour and a half of
struggle, of hopes: oxygen, injections, cardiac massages. Meanwhile, I renewed t
he absolution several times....
We found it hard to believe that he had died. To us, of course, it was a sudden
death. But surely for the Father it was something that had been maturing, I woul
d dare say, more in his soul than in his body, because each day he was more freq
uently offering his life for the Church....
We placed him in front of the altar in the oratory of our Lady, with all venerat
ion and affection, first taking away the votive candelabra that is always there.
The Father was still dressed in his black cassock....
Four candlesticks were brought. The body of our Father was carefully arranged, w
ith all affection. A little later, there were put on him?over the black cassock?
an amice, an alb, a stole, and a chasuble. The alb was of cambric, ivory-colored
, over red silk and (from the waist to the feet) under Brussels lace. It was the
alb that he used on feast days....
The Father's face looked extremely serene?a serenity that infused a great peace
in whoever saw it.
He died as he had wanted to die: greeting an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He
received from the hands of our Lady the rose that opened the gates of eternity t
o Love.

[1] AGP, P04 1972, 2, p. 638. This get-together was one of the ones held in the
gymnasium of the Brafa Sports Club.
[2] AGP, PCM 1972,2, p. 641.
[3] AGP, RHF, EF-720920-1.
[4] AGP, RHF, EF-720219-3. As a prudent measure, in the case of a terminal illne
ss the Father called for seeking the right moment in which to communicate to the
patient the gravity of the illness, but always leaving sufficient time for the
patient to make the preparations necessary for a good death. Thus, in February 1
972, in a letter to the Counsellor of Spain, he recommended that a certain close
relative of Chiqui's "speak to the rest of the family/' and then added, "Let hi
m know, however, that you will inform Chiqui of the gravity of his illness, at t
he right moment; and that, therefore, they should try not to alarm him unnecessa
rily" (AGP, RHF, EF-720207-1).
[5] AGP, section N, file 3.430.06 (Villa Tevere diary, entry for December 7,1972
). "Javi" is the then-Father Javier Echevarria.
[6] AGP, RHF, EF-721207-1.
[7] See AGP, RHF, EF-721210-3 (letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella).
At that time Sofia Varvaro, a young numerary, was in a hospital in Rome. She had li
ver cancer, and the doctors had given up hope of a recovery. The Father went to
see her on December 18,1972, and, Don Alvaro relates (see Immersed in God, p. 79
), "consoled and encouraged her, speaking to her of heaven."
"Father," Sofia confided to him, "sometimes I'm afraid that I won't hold out to the
end, because I am not a strong person."
The Father promptly answered her, "My daughter, don't be afraid?Jesus is waiting for
you! I am asking him to cure you, but may his will be done. Sometimes it is har
d to accept that divine will, when we cannot understand, but the Lord must laugh
at us a little at times like this, because he loves and looks after us like a d
oting father, with a mother's heart. Do you understand? Tomorrow I will place yo
u on the paten at Mass, with the Sacred Host, and will offer you to the Lord. An
d you, whether here or in heaven, must forever stay very united to the Father, t
o the intentions of the Father, because I need all of you to support my supplica
tions."
[8]. AGP, RHF, EF-721212-1 (letter to Father Xavier de Ayala). See also Colossia
ns 3:15- 17.

[9] AGP, RHF, T-07920 (testimony of Jose Luis Soria), p. 26

[10] AGP, RHF, EF-721200-1.
[11] AGP, P011973, p. 309.
[12] AGP, RHF, EF-730725-1.
[13] AGP, RHF, T-07920, p. 100.
[14] AGP, P01 1973, p. 363.
[15] This may be the appropriate moment to note that the Father, out of gratitud
e and fairness, had been pointing out, by word and by deed, what Don Alvaro's fa
ithful example, total dedication, and fruitful work meant for Opus Dei. He had,
for example, had some of the milestone dates of Don Alvaro's life marked as such
on the Work's family calendar.
[16] AGP, RHF, EF-730820-1.
[17] AGP, RHF, EF-730820-2. He also requested the support of his daughters in Sp
ain, saying to them, "I am counting on the faithfulness of each of you. You are
the subject of my continual prayer, and you are also my credentials before the L
ord" (AGP, RHF, EF-730820-6). And to Father Mario Lantini, the Counsellor of Ita
ly, he wrote, "May everyone be convinced that I need every day the fidelity of e
very one of you, expressed in constant prayer and in work well done, in the pres
ence of God" (AGP, RHF, EF-730825-1).
[18] See AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[19] AGP, RHF, EF-731117-2 (a letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella).
[20] 20AGP,RHF,D-151U.
[21] See AGP, RHF, EF-550120-9 (a letter to Father Muzquiz), and Alvaro del Poit
illo, Sum.828.
The architect Jesus Alvarez Gazapo tells us that on March 17,1958, he mentioned to th
e Father that one of the oratories under construction at Villa Tevere was going
to be too small, and that the Father's response was, "Don't worry; the time will
come for us to build cathedrals." Alvarez, too, testifies that the Father had i
t in mind to build a shrine in the United States that would facilitate a great p
astoral initiative promoting holiness in families, and that he wanted its name t
o be Sancta Maria Mater Pulchrae Dilectionis (Holy Mary, Mother of Fairest Love)
. There would also be many altars and confessionals in the crypt. See Jesus Alva
rez Gazapo, Sum. 4484.
[22] See AGP, RHF, D-15419 (the deed of cession). The beneficiary of this deed w
as the "General Castilian Real Estate Company, Inc." The beneficiary was given p
ossession of the shrine with the consent of the cathedral chapter and the dioces
an administrative council. It agreed to make a payment at the time of receiving
the deed, and then annual payments. It also obligated itself to keep alive the v
eneration of the statue of our Lady, and to have the statue restored.
The reason for setting up a corporation with civil status was to broaden the financi
al base and thus facilitate raising the funds needed for the restorations.
[23] The request was made in a letter, dated May 6, 1966, to Cardinal Paolo Mare
lla, Archpriest of the Vatican Basilica and Prefect of the Fabric of Saint Peter
[the pontifical commission responsible for the administration, care, and preser
vation of the Vatican Basilica]. In the letter, the founder gave the history of
the origin and growth of devotion to Our Lady of Torreciudad. (See AGP, RHF, D-1
5431; the original is in the archive of the Vatican's Parish of Saint Peter.) Th
e decree of coronation of the statue of Our Lady of Torreciudad, and of concessi
on to Monsignor Escriva of the faculty of personally crowning it, is dated June
20,1966. (See AGP, RHF, D-15104.)
[24] AGP, RHF, EF-670617-3.
[25] Ibid.
[26] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2614.
[27] AGP, RHF, T-08250 (testimony of Father Florencio Sanchez Bella), p. 15; see
also Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2614. Bishop Echevarria (in Sum. 2404) notes that
in those intimate colloquies that the Father repeatedly had with the Blessed Vir
gin during his stay in Madrid, he would speak to her "with the tenderness of a c
hild and with the heart of a man in love."
[28] See Cesar Ortiz-Echague, Sum. 6877.
[29] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1033, and Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4828. The wax

model for that figure of Christ was made by the sculptor Sciancalepore. From it
two originals were made, the second one being for the international center in Ca
vabianca.
[30] AGP, RHF, EF-670617-2 (a letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella).
[31] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2615.
[32] Ibid. See also Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1147.
[33] Florencio Sanchez Bella, Sum. 7546.
[34] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2530. See also AGP, RHF, EF-740330-1 (a letter
to Martin Sambeat Valon) and EF-740402-1 (a letter to Manuel Gomez Padros).
[35] Ibid. See also Cesar Ortiz-Echagiie, Sum. 6893.
[36] See Maria del Carmen de Otal Marti (the Baroness of Valdeolivos), Sum. 5993
; Encarnacion Ortega, Sum. 5349; and Julian Herranz, PR, pp. 877-78.
[37] That the reredos was finished by the summer of 1975 was in itself a real mi
racle. The reredos is the work of the sculptor Joan Mayne, and is done in polych
romed alabaster. It measures about fourteen hundred square feet, and consists of
eight panels, each representing a scene from the life of our Lady. Cesar OrtizEchagiie, who closely followed the work on the reredos, relates an incident that
took place in 1974. "The Father," he says, "asked me when the main reredos, the
one in which the statue would be placed, would be finished. I answered him that
, taking into account that the reredos had been started one year earlier, and th
at five hundred tons of alabaster would have to be carved, and that, according t
o our studies, reredos of similar size (those of Huesca, Our Lady of the Pillar,
etc.) had taken between fifteen and twenty years to complete, we foresaw a peri
od of seven more years for the one at Torreciudad. The Father immediately told m
e that it had to be finished in one year, so that the shrine could be opened wit
h everything completed. He gave me some suggestions, which I right away put into
effect. And one year later, when he went to Torreciudad, the reredos was finish
ed" (Cesar Ortiz-Echague, PM, fol. 1012).
[38] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 613; Mario Lantini, Sum. 3600; and Ignacio Ce
laya, Sum. 5906.
[39] Jesus Gazapo, Sum. 4319.
[40] See Jesus Gazapo, PR, p. 1345.
[41] Ibid.
[42] The Father asked everyone to pray hard; he continued working on the Cavabia
nca project; and he assured people that the Lord would not leave them in the lur
ch. "The means will come," he told them. He made his children see that a lot of
money was needed, but that they should not worry, since the Lord was already tak
ing care of that problem. (See Vincenzo Montillo, PR, p. 1040, and Jesus Alvarez
Gazapo, Sum. 4379.)
From the very beginning of his foundational work, when he had absolutely no financia
l or other material resources, he had lived in this complete dependence on and t
rust in God, as we see in Apuntes, no. 1755: "Jesus of my soul, I tell you once
again: this is really something. Here I am, working for you, and you're going to
deny me the materials?"
[43] Until 1966 the Salto di Fondi estate had been the summer site of the Roman
College of the Holy Cross. With the growth of housing in the area, and with all
the construction work going on along the beach, it had ceased to be a quiet plac
e for study and recreation. The next year, the summer activities were moved to a
place in the mountains, in the Abruzzi region, very close to L'Aquila. The plac
e was called Tor d'Aveia.
[44] AGP, P04 1972,2, p. 608.
[45] See Alvaro del Porullo, Sum. 829.
[46] See Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4323. In two years (starting in 1968 and end
ing in 1970) they did all the studies and produced all of the architectural plan
s they needed to submit in order to get the required approvals for construction;
and in March 1971 they were able to start the construction work. (See Alvaro de
l Pornllo, Sum. 613.)
[47] See Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4320. "Here," the Father wrote, "it's the sa
me as always?one strike after another?and this is delaying the completion of Cav
abianca. Patience. This way we have one more thing to offer to the Lord" (AGP, R

HF, EF-741107- 2: a letter to Father Florencio Sanchez Bella).

[48] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 829.
[49] See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1040.
[50] See Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, Sum. 4323.
[51] The architects, by explicit request of the Father, made sure that the detai
led plans were carefully done. (See Jesus Alvarez Gazapo, PR, pp. 1359 and 1404.
)
The reredos of the oratory dedicated to Our Lady of the Angels in Cavabianca is wor
ked in polychromed marble and shows scenes from our Lady's life. The tabernacle,
being "the heart and the center" of Cavabianca, is in an oculus in the upper pa
rt of the reredos.
The desire of the Father to stir up devotion in the faithful is evidenced particular
ly by the interest with which he followed the work of the Roman sculptor Scianca
lepore. He made a great number of specific suggestions when he commissioned him
to make that sculpture of Christ crucified but still alive. From the model, as m
entioned earlier, two originals were made?one for the shrine of Our Lady of Torr
eciudad, and the other for the little chapel of the Holy Cross at Cavabianca. Bo
th were of gilded bronze. (See Joaquin Alonso, Sum.4828; Luigi Tirelli, Sum. 456
5; and Ignacio Celaya, Sum. 5939.)
[52] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1144, and AGP, P011977, p. 213.
[53] AGP, P01 1972, p. 163.
[54] AGP, P01 1973, p. 309.
[55] See AGP, P011975, p. 655, and Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1656. Bishop Echeva
rria (in Sum. 2050) also tells us that the founder, to make it clear that he did
not consider himself indispensable, would sometimes say, "From heaven I'll help
you more; here I am nothing but a hindrance."
[56] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 3290.
[57] See AGP, P011973, p. 493.
[58] Jesiis Alvarez Gazapo relates (in Sum. 4498) a conversation that took place
on January 24,1974. The Father, after one of his sons played something on the v
iolin, asked him how long he had been playing it. He answered, "Twenty-two years
." And the Father replied, "Well, I've been at it for seventy-two years. But tha
t's how it is with the interior life?you have to practice every day, not omittin
g a single day, with perseverance, with patience ... And with the patience of th
e others! For seventy-two years I've been playing the violin, and the double bas
s!" (The Spanish expression "tocar el violon," which translates as "to play the
double bass," means to do something useless and out of place.)
[59] See AGP, P01 1974, p. 951.
[60] Letter 28 Mar 1973, nos. 2 and 3. (The Latin means "Watch and pray, that yo
u may not enter into temptation.")
[61] Ibid., nos. 7 and 8.
[62] Ibid., no. 8.
[63] Ibid., no. 18.
[64] Ibid. (The Latin means "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and fo
rever.")
[65] Letter 17 fun 1973, no. 18.
[66] Ibid., no. 10.
[67] Ibid., no. 12.
[68] AGP, RHF, EF-731200-1.
[69] Ibid.
[70] Letter 14 Feb 1974, no. 1. He is referring to the ringing of the bells of t
he Church of Our Lady of the Angels on the morning of October 2,1928, the day th
at Opus Dei was founded. (See volume I of this biography, p. 220.)
[71] In the letter, the paternal exhortations to keep up devotional practices an
d stay loyal to the Church are mingled with the calling of the reader's attentio
n to the crude spectacle of the human comedy. Here is one example:
We have had to endure?and how it hurts my heart to mention this?a whole deplorable
parade of characters who, behind the mask of prophets of new times, have tried t
o hide, although not with total success, the face of the heretic, of the fanatic
, of the carnal man, or of the proud one with a chip on his shoulder.

Children, it hurts, but I have to make sure, with these "warning bells," to wake up
your consciences so that this tide of hypocrisy doesn't catch you sleeping. Sham
eless people are brazenly trying to justify, and even to praise, apostasy and de
fection as signs of authenticity. And not infrequently after their clamorous des
ertions, these unscrupulous, disloyal people keep their positions as teachers of
religion in Catholic institutions, or pontificate from the semi-ecclesiastical
bodies that have so proliferated in recent years" (ibid., no. 13).
[72] Ibid., no. 1.
[73] Ibid., no. 22. "Let us serve the Lord with joy! This is our desire, a whole
program for a holy life, at the beginning of the new year. He has pushed us to
travel this divine path of the Work in order for us to serve him" (ibid., no. 2.
)
[74] Ibid., no. 9.
[75] Ibid., no. 18.
[76] Ibid., no. 19.
[77] Ibid., no. 5.
[78] Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1091. To a similar question he responded, "I wi
ll go to the Americas, which I've been wanting to do, and will travel all over t
he place, when there is a good reason?when a father of a large and poor family w
ould go, because it would be something very good for the family" (Alvaro del Por
tillo, PR, p. 1092).
[79] AGP, RHR D-15111 (medical record; final comment).
[80] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1579; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2049; and Isabe
l La Porte Rios, Sum. 5185.
[81] AGP, RHF, EF-740325-1.
[82] AGP, RHF, EF-740423-1.
[83] The defense of life was the point of convergence of the work of the two new
doctors, as the Chancellor pointed out when he spoke of the "courageous and unt
iring preaching of the faith" by Bishop Hengsbach. "It is not by chance," he sai
d, "that his first writing, in 1934, dealt with the defense of life, in the face
of aberrant viewpoints that were then making their way into his country. Likewi
se, the firm defense of human life has carried all over the world the name of Pr
ofessor Lejeune, of the University of Paris. In the scientific community he is u
nanimously recognized as one of its first and greatest researchers in the field
of genetics" (Josemara Escriv de Balaguer y la Universidad, p. 106).
[84] See AGP, RHF, EF-740400-1 and EF-740400-2 (letters to Santiago Escnv de Bala
guer y Albas, and to his son Santiago Escriva de Balaguer Garcia-Herrero), and J
oaquin Alonso, PR, p. 1658.
[85] Later, referring to that hectic month of May 1974 and the instructions he g
ave to Father Javier before they left Rome for Spain, the founder said, "I have
to be honest; I went to Latin America not wanting to go. I left here and told Ja
vi, 'Pack lightly, because we only have to attend the function in Navarre, and t
hen catch the plane back from Madrid.' And the trip ended up lasting four months
" (Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 1092).
[86] AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[87] Ibid.
[88] The doctors testify that he accepted good-naturedly and with complete obedi
ence every medical directive, without asking about the nature of his illness; an
d that he did the same with regard to medicines, never asking what they were for
or what they did. They also say, "In the medical visits that we made to him, we
were struck by his docility, his patience, and a veritable eagerness to coopera
te with us. He never showed any indication of being bothered by the discomfort i
nvolved in any medical exploration" (ibid.).
[89] In another section of the medical report, they say, "We are modifying the p
harmaceutical treatment, adjusting the diet still more, and calling for a lifest
yle that includes a less intense apostolic activity than on previous similar occ
asions. The fact that a doctor will accompany him during the trip contributed to
the affirmative opinion."
[90] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1568.
[91] AGP, RHF, EF-740516-1 (a letter to the Central Advisory). On the same day,

he wrote to Father Muzquiz: "Try to accompany me with your prayer during this ti
me of catechesis that I'm going to have in Latin America. Through the intercessi
on of our Mother, and of our father and lord Saint Joseph, and with the help of
my children, I am sure that the Lord will grant us ever greater blessings" (AGP,
RHF, EF-740516-2).
[92] AGP, P05 1974,1, p. 30.
[93] Fernando Valenciano, Sum. 7115.
[94] AGP, P04 1974,1, p. 47.
[95] Ibid., p. 24.
[96] Ibid., p. 209.
[97] AGP, P05 1974,1, p. 37.
[98] Ibid., p. 202.
[99] AGP, P04 1974,1, p. 77.
[100] Ibid., p. 244.
[101] Ibid., p. 251.
[102] "Go forth": see John 15:16.
[103] AGP, P04 1974,1, p. 209.
[104] Ibid., p. 255.
[105] AGP, P05 1974, 1, p. 119. (This get-together took place on May 27, just af
ter he consecrated an altar at Casa do Moinho.)
[106] Ibid., p. 121. (The Saint Paul reference is Galatians 4:19.)
[107] AGP, P04 1974,1, pp. 306-307.
[108] AGP, section N, file 3.1057.1 (Diario de la visita de nuestro Padre a la A
rgentina, 7 a 28 de Junio de 1974), p. 36.
[109] Ibid., pp. 83 and 197.
[110] Ibid., p. 84.
[111] Ibid., p. 142. ?NOTE POSITION
[112] Ibid., pp. 34-35.
[113] Ibid., p. 38.
[114] Ibid., pp. 187-88.
[115] Ibid., p. 188. (See also volume 1 of this biography, pp. 133-34.)
[116] AGP, P05 1974,1, p. 318.
[117] AGP, P041974,1, p. 666. See also AGP, P05 1974,11, p. 537. His ability to
deal with delicate matters in a constructive, not at all sanctimonious way is al
so shown by the response he gave to an artist during that same get-together. A w
ell-known painter asked him what she could do to help her painter colleagues und
erstand that a clean life and a clean focus in one's artistic endeavors are not
obstacles to being considered a true artist. He said:
My daughter, they already know that. I don't mind telling you that I very much like
classical nude statues, and they bring me to God. In the Capitoline section of
Rome there's a statue of Venus. It wasn't brought there by Satan, but by the pop
es, and now it is in a museum, alone in a hall. I saw it a few years ago. I look
ed at it, in its chaste nudity, and blessed God. Without any bad thought, any ba
d desire.
They know it. They know that they debase their pencils and brushes when they soil th
eir art with brutish, obscene things. My daughter, be an artist. An artist of so
uls and an artist of colors! And tell them with affection not to be coarse. That
they are not to become beasts, when they could be children of God. And that you
heard a priest who loves very much the Blessed Virgin, Mother most chaste and i
mmaculate Virgin, say that he has given thanks to God while admiring the Capitol
ine Venus. (See AGP, P05 1974,1, p. 551, and P04 1974,1, p. 679.)
[118] Diario de la visita .. .a la Argentina,p. 158.
[119] AGP, P04 1974,1, p. 695. See also AGP, P05 1074,1, p. 608.
[120] Ibid.
[121] See Diario de la visita.. .a la Argentina,p. 184. It was at that time not
safe to be out on the streets in Argentina; there were, among other things, a lo
t of kidnappings going on. The Father had bodyguards with him at these assemblie
s, because as he was entering and leaving, so many people pressed in on him, wan
ting to see and touch him. During one of the get-togethers he referred to his bo
dyguards as his "guardian angels."

[122] AGP, P05 1974,1, pp. 632-35.

[123] Diario de la visita .. .a la Argentina,p. 197. That conversation took plac
e on June 27. In the entry for June 19 (Diario, p. 124) there is a similar confi
dence: "[When I was younger] I thought I knew everything about myself, including
when the Lord was going to call me. Now I don't know anything. The Lord is keep
ing me from knowing anything."
[124] Ibid., p. 204. See also AGP, P04 1974,1, p. 703.
[125] AGP, P04 1974,1, pp. 705-706. (The scripture passage is from Luke 16:2.)
[126] AGP, P04 1974,1, pp. 706-707. See also Diario de la visita ...a la Argenti
na, p. 208. (The scripture passage is from Psalm 27:8. It appears in the New Vul
gate as "Faciem tuam, Domine, exquiram.")
[127] See Diario de la visita .. ,ala Argentina,p. 147.
[128] At that time the Counsellors of the Latin American countries were the foll
owing: Father Xavier de Ayala (Brazil); Father Emilio Bonell (Argentina); Father
Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal (Chile); Father Vicente Pazos (Peru); Father Antonio Arr
egui (Ecua dor); Father Ugo Puccini (Colombia); Father Agustin Falceto Calvo (Ur
uguay); Father Ramon Taboada del Rio (Paraguay); Father Roberto Salvat Romero (V
enezuela); and Father Antonio Rodriguez Pedrazuela (for the countries of Central
America).
[129] AGP, P041974,2, p. 18.
[130] AGP, P04 1974,2, p. 56.
[131] Ibid.
[132] See AGP, RHF, D-15111; Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1500; and Javier Echevarr
ia, Sum.3140.
[133] AGP, RHF, EF-740703-1. On August 13,1974, during his stay in Quito, he wro
te a similar letter to the President of Ecuador, General Guillermo Rodriguez Lar
a. It reads: Your Esteemed Excellency:
Yesterday I received your kind letter wishing me a happy stay in this beloved natio
n of Ecuador, and I hasten to express my appreciation for your so affectionate c
ourtesy.
I have come to the Americas as a priest?the only perspective of my life? and I have
come in order to learn. I carry in my heart the great treasure of piety and vir
tues that I have found here.
I will not fail to pray, with affection and with admiration, for this blessed count
ry, with the certainty that the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus will watch over with
predilection the Ecuadorean people and its esteemed authorities. (See AGP, RHF,
EF-740813-1.)
There is also the letter written a few months later to the President of Guatemal
a, Kjell Eugenio Laugerud Garcia, in which he insists that, "as has always been
standard practice in my life," the aims of the catechesis he will be giving are
exclusively pastoral ones. "I place," he says, "at the feet of the Lord, through
the intercession of the Virgin and of Saint Joseph, my priestly work in this co
untry, because that is all I aspire to be: a faithful priest" (AGP, RHF, EF-7502
17-1).
[134] AGP, P04 1974, 2, p. 106.
[135] Ibid.
[136] Ibid., p. 107. ?NOTE
[137] Ibid., p. 110. A few days later, the Father received from the prioress a l
etter thanking him for his visit and teachings. "We are," she said, "happy and v
ery indebted to you and your Work. They will always be in our prayers" (ibid.).
See also AGP, P05 1974,2, p. 95.
When, a year later, the Carmelite nuns of that convent (St. Joseph's, in Santiag
o) learned of the death of the Father, they decided to have a solemn Mass celebr
ated in his memory. However, they did not want it to be a Mass for the dead, sin
ce they had decided to sing the Gloria, feeling sure that the Father was in heav
en. See Javier Echevarria, PR, p. 2066.
[138] AGP, P04 1974,2, p. 214.
[139] Ibid., p. 252.
[140] Ibid. Many of those priests worked at "St. Joseph's Academy," the prelatur
e's major seminary, in San Vicente de Canete. At that time the bishop of Yauyos

was the Most Reverend Luis Sanchez-Moreno Lira (see Sum. 6429).
[141] AGP, P04 1974,2, p. 252.
[142] AGP, P04 1974,2, p. 320. The quotes are from Romans 6:4 and Romans 13:14.
That morning, Dr. Cantero had examined him, and had recommended to his companion
s that since he had gotten little sleep the night before and had almost lost his
voice, they cancel that get-together. But the Father, as soon as he learned of
this, said that he still wanted to have it. (See Alejandro Cantero, Sum. 6648.)
[143] See AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[144] AGP, section N, file 3.1056.4 (Diario de la estancia de nuestro padre en P
eru),entry for July 20.
[145] AGP, PCM 1974, 2, p. 427.
[146] See Alejandro Cantero, Sum. 6595.
[147] Diario de la visita .. .a la Argentina,p. 192.
[148] 148AGP,RHF,D-15111.
[149] AGP, P04 1974, 2, p. 496.
[150] AGP, P05 1974, 2, p. 563.
[151] AGP, P04 1974, 2, p. 498.
[152] Ibid., p. 527.
[153] Ibid., p. 496.
[154] Ibid., p. 527.
[155] Ibid., p. 499.
[156] AGP, RHF, EF-740915-2: a letter to Carlos Manuel Larrea Ribadeneira, writt
en from Barcelona. This friendship went back to the forties, when Don Carlos ser
ved as Ecuador's representative before the Holy See. Some time after his leaving
Rome, he asked admission to Opus Dei as a supernumerary.
On August 12 the founder wrote to his daughters in Quito, "I have to admit that
I am going through one suffering that I am offering up for Ecuador with all my h
eart, and that is that I can't celebrate Mass these days. Don Alvaro has given m
e Communion; today too ... And the instant I feel the little particle on my tong
ue, I am moved" (AGP, P05 1974,2, p. 479).
[157] AGP, P05 1974, 2, p. 531.
[158] AGP, section N, file 3 leg.413.28 (Diario de Altoclaro, en los dias en que
el Padre, por primera vez, estuvo en Venezuela: 15-VIII-1974 a 31-VIII-1974).
[159] See AGP, P05 1974, 2, p. 551. The Father once gave this rationale for the
custom: "You already know that in our centers, first comes the tabernacle; then
your sisters (who live five hundred miles away); and after them, in last place,
ourselves" (AGP, P01 1973, p. 578).
[160] Diario de Altoclaro, p. 18.
[161] AGP, P051974,2, p. 564. His drawings of ducks were very sketchy, but every
duck had its bill open, as if asking for more. This symbolized his daughters' i
ncessant praying, and their propensity to loquaciousness.
[162] See Diario de Altoclaro, p. 59.
[163] AGP, P04 1975, p. 213. In The Way of the Cross, one of the points for medi
tation that he gives for the sixth station reads:
Get to know the Sacred Humanity of Jesus.... And he will place in your soul an insa
tiable hunger, an "uncontrollable" yearning, to contemplate his face.
In this longing, which it is impossible to satisfy on earth, you will often find
your consolation. (See also Diario de Altoclaro, p. 51, and Psalm 27:8.)
[164] "At the end of one day," narrates the keeper of the diary, "we went with t
he Father for a moment to the little parlor. On passing by the entrance hall, th
e Father noticed an old strongbox that is sitting by the front door, as a decora
tive piece. He asked us, 'What treasure are you keeping here?' Father Roberto, t
hinking it was empty, opened it very forthrightly, to show the Father that we we
ren't keeping anything in that poor, beat-up strongbox. But?surprise!?there appe
ared a chamber pot. It was clean, but it was a chamber pot. Someone, perhaps to
leave clear of accessories the spare front bathroom, had hidden, precisely in th
is box, the utensil in question; and there, inside the box, its homely figure sh
one forth." ?NOTE
[165] AGP, P04 1974,2, pp. 613 and 617.
[166] Ibid., p. 615.

[167] Ibid., p. 648.

[168] AGP, RHF, EF-740828-1.
[169] Diario de la visita.. .a la Argentina,p. 199.
[170] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2619ff. There are innumerable examples of the
founder's devotion to Saint Joseph. Our Lady and Saint Joseph are the patrons of
the entire Work. When, in the Ferraz Street residence, the Father was setting u
p our first oratory and making the arrangements for obtaining the needed permiss
ions, he en trusted the matter to the Holy Patriarch, whom he called "our father
and lord Saint Joseph." Afterwards, in thanksgiving, he directed that the key t
o the tabernacle of every Opus Dei oratory should be on a small chain with a med
al of the saint, and have engraved on it "He ad Ioseph" ["Go to Joseph"]. He ent
rusted to him the apostolate, particularly by means of a simple prayer to be sai
d on March 18, the eve of his feast day. He also recommended invoking him as the
patron saint of a happy death, and instituted the practice within the Work of o
bserving the devotion of the Seven Sundays of Saint Joseph. Since he acted, for
many years, as head of his birth family, he liked to imagine that the home of hi
s mother and siblings was that of Nazareth, which helped him behave toward them
as would Saint Joseph. And he was very happy when, during the pontificate of Pop
e John XXIII, it was decided to include mention of Saint Joseph in the canon of
the Mass. His merging of his two first names into one was also a sign of his lov
e for and devotion to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
On January 19, 1973, his brother, Santiago, presented him with a statue of Saint
Joseph that had been in the home of their maternal grandparents. It was made in
France, of plaster, unpainted; with a simple patina emphasizing the shadows and
details. The statue had also been in Aunt Carmen's house in Rome. (See Alvaro d
el Portillo, Sum. 1152.)
Dr. Jose Luis Soria recalls a wonderful brief description that the founder made
of the Holy Patriarch on March 18,1974: "Saint Joseph is marvelous! He is the sa
int of devoted humility?of the permanent smile and the shrugging of shoulders" (
AGP, RHF, T-07920, appendix 2, p. 24). It was his way of expressing how absolute
ly disposed the Holy Patriarch was, day and night, to do the will of God; how se
renely and confidently he opened up paths through difficulties, staying attentiv
e to those whom God had placed under his protection.
[171] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 354.
[172] Diario de la visita.. .a la Argentina,p. 199.
[173] Ibid.
[174] AGP, P04 1974,2, p. 73.
[175] Ibid., p. 85.
[176] Ibid., p. 245.
[177] Diario de Altoclaro, p. 22.
[178] Ibid., p. 38.
[179] AGP, RHF, EF-740828-1.
[180] AGP, P04 1974,2, p. 632.
[181] Ibid., p. 640.
[182] AGP, RHF, EF-740828-1 (a letter to Cardinal Casariego, written in Caracas)
. Dur ing both of his catechetical trips, the one in 1972 through the Iberian Pe
ninsula and this one of 1974 in Latin America, the founder had been able to see
for himself the great work being done by his children in very diverse fields: ed
ucation, doctrinal formation, social projects for the poor. . . There were many
such enterprises, and very many souls who by means of them were receiving the he
lp they needed to get closer to God.
Among the corporate initiatives of the Work and other projects undertaken by members
of Opus Dei as personal apostolates, there were several high schools, and also
some family farm schools, for the religious education, professional training, an
d personal development of country folk. In Peru the Father was also able to spea
k with professors and students from the University of Piura. (Piura is a city in
the northern part of the country.) This is a university started by Opus Dei mem
bers in 1969; the founder was named its chancellor. By 1974 it had already attai
ned solid prestige in the academic world. Because of his health problems, the fo
under was not able to go to Piura during his visit to Peru.

[183] AGP, RHF, EF-720219-2.

[184] AGP, RHF, EF-731205-1. In another letter to this same person (Carmen Ramos
Garcia), and in many other letters as well, he recommended praying "that the Lo
rd will deign to shorten the time of trial that the holy Church is undergoing" (
see AGP, RHF, EF-740502-1).
[185] AGP, RHF, EF-740531-1.
[186] AGP, RHF, EF-740727-1. See also EF-740814-1 and EF-740830-1.
[187] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1505. In May of 1974 he was examined by Dr.
Alejandro Mann Lillo, who observed an opacity of the lens and that he had only a
third of normal visual acuity in his right eye. See AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[188] See AGP, RHF, D-15111. The uremia level was six times the normal one.
[189] Ibid. These last tests were run in Barcelona, at the San Jose hospital.
[190] AGP, RHF, EF-740910-2.
[191] AGP, RHF> D-15111.
[192] Letter 25 Jan 1961, no. 4. The metaphor of castle-making refers to childre
n playing with building blocks.
[193] In Diario de Altodaro, in the entry for August 17,1974, we read: "He told
us that he has always been a simple secretary, scribe, Escriva. He has been a se
cretary of God's."
On more than one occasion he had been asked, "Why did you found Opus Dei?" And somet
imes he had given an answer taking himself completely out of the equation: "I ha
ve to say that I did not found Opus Dei; Opus Dei was founded in spite of me. It
was a wish of God's, that was carried out in spite of me, something God wanted,
that got realized, and that's that. I am a poor man who did nothing but get in
the way. So don't call me the founder of anything." (See AGP, P04 1975, p. 90.)
[194] "Act Approving the Codex Iuris Particularis of Opus Dei; October 1,1974,"
section V: see Amadeo de Fuenmayor, Valentin Gomez Iglesias, and Jose Luis Illan
es, The Canonical Path of Opus Dei, trans. William H. Stetson (Princeton, 1994),
p. 570, and also pp. 387-92.
[195] Ibid., p. 569. The founder had this document drawn up in order to "give ev
idence" of (a) "the approval of the Codex Iuris Particularis of Opus Dei," (b) "
the stages of its composition," and (c) "the binding force which is attributed t
o the norms which make it up" (see ibid., p. 565). After this statement there is
a brief history of the sessions of the Special General Congress, of its proposa
ls and conclusions, and of how, in the past, it had been necessary "to include i
n our particular statutes some expressions or norms proper to the general part o
f the apostolic constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia, accepting a canonical garb
which did not correspond to the nature of our spirit."
To this document is attached, as an appendix, a literal transcription of the final c
onclusions of the Special General Congress, which were approved, unanimously, on
September 14,1970. And the first of these conclusions is the decision to reques
t that the institutional problem of Opus Dei be resolved by her being granted "a
juridical configuration different from that of the 'secular institute': one whi
ch would substantially conserve our present particular law, but which would perm
it the suppression of the elements proper to the institutes of perfection; that
is to say, the profession of the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity
, and obedience, and the obligatoriness of that profession by means of bonds of
a sacred character" (ibid., p. 561).
[196] Ibid., p. 570. The next sentence reads: "The Holy See is then to be asked
for the suppression of the norms relative to the profession of the evangelical c
ounsels, and for the approval of the modifications that must be introduced into
the Codex Iuris Particu laris, inasmuch as they are demanded by the new canonica
l configuration."
[197] And he continued, "I say this because I, when I was young, thought I even
knew the time when I was going to die. But don't tell people how foolish I was,
okay? So now, now I'm not certain about anything about myself. Blessed be God! C
arry on! As God wishes, when God wishes, where God wishes" (Diario de la visita.
. .a la Argentina, p. 99).
A few days later, the Father mentioned again?twice?this thing about the time of his
death (see Diario de la visita .. .ala Argentina, pp. 124 and 197). This makes

us suppose the repetition was a conscious and deliberate one.

[198] AGP, P01 1982, p. 1266. (He said that to the members of the General Counci
l, during a get-together on December 10,1974.)
[199] AGP, RHF, EF-741200-2. The founder is alluding here to an old folk tale wh
ich many of the classic spiritual writers make use of in their discourses. At th
e stroke of midnight, when everyone in the mansion is asleep, and the embers in
the hearth, and all the candles, have been extinguished, a band of robbers who h
ave been lying in wait creep up to the house. All the doors are locked and bolte
d, and all the windows are barred?except for one very small window quite high up
. The robbers get a small boy in through it, and once he is inside, he unbolts a
nd opens the doors.
[200] AGP, P01 1975, p. 779.
[201] Ibid., p. 782.
[202] Ibid.
[203] His right eye, as we have mentioned, had lost two-thirds of its visual acu
ity; and when, on December 19,1974, he was examined in Rome, the ophthalmologist
noted an opaque area in the center of the lens of his left eye, with some alter
ation of the retina. This diagnosis was later confirmed in Madrid, by Dr. Marin.
But by the end of January 1975, after treatment, his vision had improved. See A
lejandro Cantero, Sum. 6596, and AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[204] AGP, P01 1975, p. 65. See also volume 1 of this biography, pp. 310 and 593
.
[205] AGP, P01 1975, p. 784.
[206] ?NOTE ggg javier Echevarria, Sum. 3142, and Alejandro Cantero, Sum. 6596.
He had suffered another serious heart attack, with an acute pulmonary edema, on
the night of November 10, 1974. At that time he had been attended by Don Alvaro,
Father Javier, and Dr. Soria. Two days later he had been brought to Madrid, whe
re he had been examined by Drs. Alejandro Cantero, Eduardo Ortiz de Landazuri, D
iego Martinez Caro, and Jose Manuel Martinez Lage. See AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[207] AGP, P011975, p. 149.
[208] AGP, RHF, EF-750113-1.
[209] See AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[210] See AGP, RHF, EF-750114-2, EF-750121-1, and EF-750122-1 (letters to Juan B
autista Torello, Jose Ramon Madurga, and Richard Rieman, respectively).
[211] AGP, RHF, EF-750128-2.
[212] AGP, PCM 1975, p. 56.
[213] Ibid., p. 21.
[214] AGP, section N, 3 leg. 1058-2 (Diario de Altoclaro), entry for February 11
,1975.
[215] AGP, P05 1975, p. 148.
[216] Ibid., p. 185.
[217] AGP, section N, 3 leg. 1058-2 (Diario de Altoclaro), entry for February 5,
1975. In one of the get-togethers, in answer to a question about how to raise ch
ildren, he said:
I'd have them spend a bit of time in those districts surrounding the big city of
Caracas. I'd put my hand over their eyes, and then remove it so that they could
see the shacks, one after the other?then you'll have answered them! Let them kn
ow that if they have money, they have to use it well; that they must learn how t
o administer it such that everyone in some way shares in the goods of this earth
. Because it is very easy to say "I'm a very good person" when you've never suff
ered any great deprivation.
A friend of mine, a fellow with a lot of money, once said to me, "I don't know if
I'm a good man, because I've never had a sick wife and found myself without work
and without a cent. I've never seen my children debilitated by hunger, and been
without work and without a cent. I've never been out on the street, having no s
helter. I don't know if I'm an honest man?what would I have done if all of that
had happened to me?"
Look, we've got to try to see to it that that doesn't happen to anyone. We have
to equip people so that, with their work, they can secure themselves a modicum o
f well-being, make it peacefully through old age and illness, take care of their

children's education, and so many other necessary things. Nothing that happens
to others should be a matter of indifference to us. From our place in society, w
e have to try to see to it that charity and justice are fostered.
(See AGP, P04 1975, pp. 83-84.)
[218] Javier Echevarria, Sum. 3144.
[219] AGP, P04 1975, p. 225.
[220] Ibid., p. 240.
[221] Ibid., p. 253.
[222] The blessing was commemorated by a stone plaque, on which appear those wor
ds. See AGP, P04 1975, p. 272.
[223] Ibid., p. 325.
[224] Shortly before leaving the house for the airport, the Father, accompanied
by some of his sons and Cardinal Casariego, went into the oratory to say good-by
e to the Lord. There before the altar, he said the prayer for blessing a trip. T
hen the cardinal boldly stepped forward, took off his skullcap, and, gesturing t
oward the tabernacle and toward the others present in the oratory, said, "Father
, in the presence of our Lord God and of these sons of yours, I am not moving fr
om here until you give me your blessing." The cardinal knelt down, and the Fathe
r made over him the Sign of the Cross.
As they were leaving, the Father said, "Mario, you've gotten something that no o
ne else has gotten." And the cardinal replied, "I couldn't miss the chance to ge
t the blessing of a saint." (See Alvaro del Portillo, PR, p. 2023, and AGP, P04
1975, p. 337.)
[225] AGP, RHF, EF-750226-1.
[226] AGP, RHF, EF-750328-1 (a letter to Cardinal Casariego).
[227] AGP, P011975, p. 800. (The Latin is from the first half of Psalm 43:4?"I w
ill go up to the altar of God, the God who gives joy to my youth"?which until a
few years after Vatican II was prayed at the beginning of every Mass.)
[228] Ibid., p. 803.
[229] Ibid.
[230] See AGP, RHF, EF-750312-1 (a letter to Father Dermot Molloy McDermott).
[231] AGP, P011975, p. 809.
[232] Ibid., p. 810.
[233] Ibid., p. 809.
[234] AGP, RHF, EF-750128-2.
[235] Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1629.
[236] AGP, P011975, p. 814.
[237] AGP, RHF, EF-710328-1 (a letter to Manuel Gomez Padros). See also EF-71033
0-1 and EF-750324-1 (letters to, respectively, Martin Sambeat Valon and Manuel G
omez Padros).
[238] See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1448.
[239] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 3252 and 3253; AGP, P05 1975, p. 828; and Alva
ro del Portillo, Sum. 390.
[240] Municipal archive of Barbastro, and AGP, RHF, D-11770. For more on the awa
rd ing of the Gold Medal of the City of Barbastro, see Manuel Garrido Gonzalez,
Barbastro y el Beato Josemaria (Barbastro, 1995), pp. 127-34.
Barbastro's city council also, "at the request of the Special Committee of Leadi
ng Authorities, Community Leaders, and Various Representations, in a session hel
d on August 6, 1975, unanimously agreed to name Monsignor Escriva de Balaguer, p
osthumously, as Barbastran of the Year" (municipal archive of Barbastro, and AGP
, RHF, D-11770). The title was publicly presented on September 7,1975. See also
Garrido, pp. 135 and 193-94.
[241] AGP, RHF, EF-741003-1.
[242] Dr. Cantero, who lived at Diego de Leon, relates: "On the night of May 21
to 22, 1975, Father Javier Echevarria woke me up, telling me to hurry down to th
e room that Father was using. This was at the Diego de Leon center, in Madrid. W
hen I got there I saw that Father Alvaro del Portillo and Father Javier were alr
eady there with the Father, who was complaining of a sharp pain in his chest. He
had over thirty respirations per minute, and his pulse count was over one hundr
ed fifty per minute. His sputum was pink, meaning that he had a very serious acu

te pulmonary edema. In those circumstances, I witnessed him requesting absolutio

n from Father Alvaro del Portillo" (Alejandro Cantero, Sum. 6646).
[243] AGP, P011975, p. 819. Soon after arriving, the Father?who characterized hi
mself as "nitpicking"?had observed from an upper-story window some of the detail
s of the brickwork. The layers of brick that he saw were finished with the utmos
t professional skill: the bricks were all of exactly the same height, the result
being perfectly horizontal lines. And he commented to one of his sons, "Looking
this morning at how the bricks are laid in places that are hardly visible, I wa
s happy to see that you have taught the workers to work well, facing God" (Cesar
Ortiz-Echague, Sum. 6893). (Probably he was thinking of those stonecutters of t
he cathedral of Burgos, who produced the Gothic filigree and ornaments on the hi
gh pinnacles which could hardly be seen from below.) That work, done for God, wa
s operatio Dei: a human work with a divine value.
[244] AGP, P011975, p. 820.
[245] Ibid., p. 824.
[246] ?NOTE The ceremony addresses can be found in three places: Scritti editi s
parsi (Rome, 1983), pp. 89-90; AGP, P011975, pp. 829-35; and the May 27,1975 iss
ue of Saragossa's El Noticiero. The first two sources include these impromptu re
marks made by the Father.
[247] "TheFather had hardly arrived at Torreciudad," recalls Cesar Ortiz-Echague
, "when he asked us if the confessionals were finished. And when we told him yes
, he s^id, 'Well, tomorrow is my day for confession, and I will have the joy of
being the first to use one of them'" (Sum. 6872). See also Jesus Alvarez Gazapo,
Sum. 4348.
[248] AGP, RHF, D-15111.
[249] Julian Herranz, Sum. 3963. See also Giuseppe Molteni, Sum. 3828, and Alvar
o del Portillo, Una vida para Dios (Madrid, 1992), p. 89.
[250] ?NOTE Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2099. And, Bishop Echevarria adds, he asked
the doctors "not to treat him with indulgence or to think he should dedicate mor
e time to rest or disengage himself from tasks which were of the utmost importan
ce for the service of God."
Sufferings as such did not matter to him, says Archbishop Herranz (in Sum. 4004)
, "but he accepted them and even loved them because he saw them as 'caresses fro
m the Lord,' as means of personal purification. The most important thing was to
keep the Work going. I always noticed, with admiration, that he lived a normal l
ife of the most intense work, cheering the others on in theirs, communicating to
everyone his peace and supernatural joy."
[251] See AGP, P011975, p. 761. "The months of November 1974 to June 1975 went b
y as a period of spiritual preparation for the definitive embrace with the Lord,
in a continu ous crescendo" (Ernesto Julia, Sum. 4250).
[252] The Way, no. 168.
[253] He always viewed all aspects of death from the standpoint of a supernatura
l hope. Bishop Echevarria quotes him as saying, "God is the Lord of life and of
death. So he watches over us and calls us at the most propitious moment, the one
that is best for us" (Sum. 2735).
That was something he knew by experience, having seen the way that hundreds of d
aughters and sons of his had gone to their deaths. When they had learned that th
ey had only a few days to live, they had prepared themselves to die well, offeri
ng up their sufferings with a supernatural joy. That is why he said that for tho
se whom the Lord calls to Opus Dei, it is "the best place to live and the best p
lace to die" (Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2732).
This perspective of leaving this world for a joyous encounter with God (the God
of justice and of mercy), he saw expressed, metaphorically, in the lyrics of an
Italian song of the fifties; and he told his children to sing it at the hour of
death: " Aprite le finestre al nuovo sole, e primavera ..." ["Open the windows t
o the new sun, spring is here ..."]. See Ernesto Julia, Sum. 4256, and AGP, RHP,
T-04861 (testimony of Maria Begofia Alvarez), p. 10.
Many years earlier the founder had made use of harsh, stark images (see, for exa
mple, The Way, nos. 741 and 742), but always in a context filled with supernatur
al hope.

[254] Umberto Farri, PR, p. 139.

[255] This took place on April 5,1975, during the get-together after dinner. See
Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1632, and Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4712.
[256] The scripture reference is 2 Corinthians 2:15.
[257] Monsignor Joaquin Alonso comments, "I was always very impressed by the str
ength and energy, rilled with love, with which he spoke of his desire to meet Je
sus Christ. He had us meditate on the greatness of this encounter, and he wonder
ed out loud what the face of Jesus would be like and how he would look at us. It
was something that went very deep with him.
During showings of films about the life of Christ, in which there were scenes sh
owing the Lord, it was very rare for him to stay to the end. Usually he would, a
fter just a few minutes, leave the auditorium [of Villa Tevere] where the movie
was being shown, and go back to work. He was never satisfied with the cinematic
representations of Jesus Christ, because of the richness of the image of the Lor
d that he had inside him" (Sum. 4811).
Archbishop Herranz gives corroborating testimony. He notes that from the age of
sixteen, the founder had meditated by "putting himself in the scenes of the Gosp
el and relating to the supremely lovable humanity of our Lord." Whenever a film
on the life and Passion of our Lord was shown, the actor playing Christ would sc
arcely have appeared on the screen when the founder would get up from his seat a
nd leave in silence. "He could never bear to see an actor representing the perso
n of Christ; it hurt him to the core
He had, as though burned into him by fire (the fire of love of a contemplative s
oul), an image that was much more perfect, richer, more vivid, and more his own,
of the most holy, gentle, and lovable humanity of Christ our Lord" (Sum. 3945).
[258] He often, even as a boy, recited and meditated on this verse (Psalm 27:8).
See Alvaro del Portillo, Sum. 1294; Javier Echevarria, Sum. 2725 and 3291; and
Xavier de Ayala, Sum. 7631.
[259] See Jesus Gazapo, Sum. 4330.
[260] The final period of his life was, as we have seen, also one that he spent
defending doctrine and the faith, through his catechetical trips. The expansion
to new countries, in Asia and Africa, he left confidently in the hands of his so
ns and daughters, accompany ing them with his prayer, his counsel, and his work.
In this period, the apostolic expansion continued into several countries: Austr
alia (starting in 1963), the Philippines (1964), Nigeria (1965), Belgium (1965),
Puerto Rico (1969).
There remains to be mentioned, however, another aspect of his life: his books an
d other writings. Although he realized that he had an aptitude for writing, the
founder renounced from the beginning a taking of the literary path, in order to
put all of his time and effort at the service of his vocation. His written work
is very abundant, and is a product of the interior richness of his soul. Particu
larly outstanding are his teachings on the universal call to sanctity and on apo
stolate. Thus, The Way, for example, has a very special origin. But really the s
ame can be said of Furrowand The Forge. They, too, are collections of thoughts;
Conversationsis a collection of interviews with reporters; and Friends of God an
d Christ Is Passing By are collections of his homilies selected from the many th
at the founder preached during his life. (See, in the present volume, chapter 6,
section 6: "The foundational charism.")
[261] See AGP, P011975, p. 611.
[262] Ibid., p. 846.
[263] Ibid., p. 847.
[264] Ibid., p. 857.
[265] Ibid., p. 859.
[266] Ibid., p. 861.
[267] Letter of 29 Jun 1975 from Don Alvaro to all the members of the Work. ?NOT
E
[268] Julian Herranz, Sum. 3879. ?NOTE
[269] ?NOTE "jj[e was seatecj m a corner of the living room, and he spoke very l
ittle during that family gathering; instead, he devoted himself to looking at th
e Madonna that was in front of him. That is how I remember him: looking at the B

lessed Virgin and seeking refuge in her protection" (Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4762).
[270] See Javier Echevarria, Sum. 3287.
[271] See Joaquin Alonso, Sum. 4762, and Julian Herranz, Sum. 4032.
[272] AGP, P01 1975, p. 673.
[273] Ibid. (See also Immersed in God, p. 196.)
TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS

AGP ? General Archive of the Prelature (Archivo General de la Prelatura)

Apuntes ? Personal Notes (Apuntes intimos)

AVF ? Assorted writings of the Founder (Autografos Varios del Fundador)

D ? Document

EF ? Personal letters of the Founder (Epistolario del Fundador), cited by number

IZL ? Section of AGP corresponding to the Servant of God Isidore Zorzano Ledesma

Letter ? Letters written to all the members of the Work, cited by date and secti
on number

P01, P02 etc. Collections of printed documents (sections within AGP)

PM ? Madrid Process of beatification (Proceso Matritense), followed by folio num

ber

PR ? Roman Process of beatification (Proceso Romano),followed by page number

RHF ? Historical Register of the Founder (Registro Historico del Fundador[sectio

n within AGP])

Sum. ? Summariumof the Cause of beatification and canonization. Positiosuper vit

a et virtutibus, Rome, 1988. The name of the witness, followed by the correspond
ing section number of the Summarium.

T ? Testimonial