Josemaría Escrivá and controversy, both within the Catholic Church and in the worldwide press.[8][9] Several independent jour- nalists who have investigated the history of Opus Dei, among them Vatican analyst John L. Allen, Jr., have argued that many of these accusations are unproven or have grown from allegations by enemies of Escrivá and his organization.[8][10][11][12] Cardinal Albino Luciani (later Pope John Paul I),[13] John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Francis, and many Catholic leaders have strongly en- dorsed Escrivá's teaching on the universal call to holiness, the role of laity, and sanctification of work.[14] Accord- ing to Allen, among Catholics Escrivá is “reviled by some and venerated by millions more”.[8] 1 Biography Coat of arms of Josemaría Escrivá 1.1 Early life Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (9 January 1902 – 26 June 1975; also known as José María or Jose- José María Mariano Escrivá y Albás was born to José maría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás, born José María [1] Escrivá y Corzán and his wife, María de los Dolores Al- Mariano Escriba Albás ) was a Roman Catholic priest bás y Blanc on 9 January 1902, in the small town of from Spain who founded Opus Dei, an organization of Barbastro, in Huesca, Aragon, Spain, the second of six laypeople and priests dedicated to the teaching that every- children and the first of two sons. José Escrivá was a mer- one is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to chant and a partner in a textile firm which eventually went sanctity. He was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, bankrupt, forcing the family to move in 1915 to the city who declared Saint Josemaría should be “counted among of Logroño, in the northern province of La Rioja, where the great witnesses of Christianity.”[2][3][4] he worked as a clerk in a clothing store.[15] Young Jose- Escrivá gained a doctorate in civil law at the Complutense maría first felt that “he had been chosen for something”, University of Madrid and a doctorate in theology at the it is reported, when he saw footprints left in the snow by Lateran University in Rome. His principal work was the a monk walking barefoot.[16][17] foundation, government and expansion of Opus Dei. Es- With his father’s blessing, Escrivá prepared to become a crivá's best-known publication was The Way, which has priest of the Catholic Church. He studied first in Logroño been translated into 43 languages and has sold several [5] and then in Zaragoza, where he was ordained as deacon million copies. on Saturday, 20 December 1924. He was ordained a Escrivá and Opus Dei have aroused controversy, primar- priest, also in Zaragoza, on Saturday, 28 March 1925. ily revolving around allegations of secrecy, elitism, cult- After a brief appointment to a rural parish in Perdiguera, like practices within Opus Dei, and political involve- he went to Madrid, the Spanish capital, in 1927 to study ment with right-wing causes, such as the dictatorship law at the Central University. In Madrid, Escrivá was of General Franco in Spain (1939–1975).[6][7] After his employed as a private tutor and as a chaplain to the Santa death, his canonization attracted considerable attention Isabel Foundation, which comprised the royal Convent of 1 2 2 PERSONALITY AND ATTITUDES Santa Isabel and a school run by the Little Sisters of the Lady of the Angels”), thought to date from the 11th cen- Assumption.[18] tury. Escrivá recovered and, as the head of Opus Dei in the 1960s and 1970s, promoted and oversaw the de- sign and construction of a major shrine at Torreciudad. 1.2 Mission as the founder of Opus Dei The new shrine was inaugurated on 7 July 1975, shortly after Escrivá's death, and to this day remains the spiri- A prayerful retreat helped him to further discern what he tual center of Opus Dei, as well as an important destina- considered to be God’s will for him, and, on 2 October tion for pilgrimage.[23] By the time of Escrivá’s death in 1928, he “saw” Opus Dei (English: Work of God), a way 1975, the members of Opus Dei numbered some 60,000 by which Catholics might learn to sanctify themselves in 80 countries.[24] As an adult, Escrivá suffered from through their secular work. According to John Paul II’s type 1 diabetes[25] and, according to some sources, also decree on Escrivá's “cause of canonization”, which con- epilepsy.[26] tains a condensed biography of Escrivá, extquotedbl[t]o In 1950, Escrivá was appointed an Honorary Domes- this mission he gave himself totally. From the beginning tic Prelate by Pope Pius XII, which allowed him to use his was a very wide-ranging apostolate in social environ- the title of Monsignor. In 1955, he received a doctor- ments of all kinds. He worked especially among the poor ate in theology from the Pontifical Lateran University in and the sick languishing in the slums and hospitals of Rome.[21] He was a consultor to two Vatican congrega- [19] Madrid.” tions (the Congregation for Seminaries and Universities During the Spanish Civil War, Escrivá fled from Madrid, and the Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Inter- which was under republican control, via Andorra and pretation of the Code of Canon Law) and an honorary France, to the city of Burgos, held by the nationalist member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology. The forces of General Francisco Franco.[20] After the war Second Vatican Council (1962–65), was to confirm fun- ended in 1939 with Franco’s victory, Escrivá was able damental aspects of the spirit of Opus Dei to the Coun- to resume his studies in Madrid and complete a doctorate cil’s teachings on the universal call to holiness, the role in law, for which he submitted a thesis on the historical of the laity and the importance of the Mass as the center jurisdiction of the Abbess of Santa María la Real de Las and root of Christian life.[27] [21] Huelgas. In 1948 Escrivá founded the Collegium Romanum Sanc- The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, attached to Opus tae Crucis (Roman College of the Holy Cross), Opus Dei, was founded on Sunday, 14 February 1943. Escrivá Dei’s educational center for men, in Rome. In 1953 he moved to Rome in 1946. The decree of his cause of can- founded the Collegium Romanum Sanctae Mariae (Ro- onization states that “in 1947 and on Monday, 16 June man College of Saint Mary) to serve the women’s branch. 1950, he obtained approval of Opus Dei as an institution (These institutions are now fused into the Pontifical Uni- of pontifical right. With tireless charity and operative versity of the Holy Cross.) Escrivá also established the hope he guided the development of Opus Dei throughout University of Navarre, in Pamplona, and the University the world, activating a vast mobilization of lay people ... of Piura (in Peru), as a secular institutions affiliated with He gave life to numerous initiatives in the work of evan- Opus Dei. When Escrivá died on 26 June 1975, aged gelization and human welfare; he fostered vocations to 73, Opus Dei covered five continents and had more than the priesthood and the religious life everywhere... Above 60,000 members from 80 nationalities. all, he devoted himself tirelessly to the task of forming Three years after Escrivá died, the then Cardinal Albino [19] the members of Opus Dei.” Luciani (later Pope John Paul I) celebrated the originality of his contribution to Christian spirituality.[13] 1.3 Later years According to some accounts, at the age of two he suffered from a disease (perhaps epilepsy[22]) so severe that the doctors expected him to die shortly, but his mother had 2 Personality and attitudes taken him in arms to Torreciudad, where the Aragonese locals venerated a statue of the Virgin Mary (as “Our 2.2 Towards God 3 2.1 Attitudes in general extquotedbl, John L. Allen, Jr. writes after watching some films on the founder of Opus Dei in 2005, “is his effervescence, his keen sense of humor. He cracks jokes, One of the persons who knew Escrivá most was the makes faces, roams the stage, and generally leaves his au- Bishop of Madrid, where Opus Dei was founded, Bishop dience in stitches in off-the-cuff responses to questions Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, for Escrivá would visit and re- from people in the crowd.”[31] port to him quite frequently and the two established very strong bonds of friendship. In a 1943 report to Rome, Critics, such as Spanish architect Miguel Fisac, who was the bishop stated: “The distinctive notes of his charac- one of the earliest members of Opus Dei and who re- ter are his energy and his capacity for organization and mained close to Escrivá for nearly twenty years before government; with an ability to pass unnoticed. He has breaking with him and Opus Dei, have given a very dif- shown himself most obedient to the Church hierarchy -- ferent picture of Escrivá as a pious but vain, secretive, and one very special hallmark of his priestly work is the way ambitious man, given to private displays of violent tem- he fosters, in speech and in writing, in public and in pri- per, and who demonstrated little charity towards others [32] vate, love for Holy Mother Church and for the Roman or genuine concern for the poor. According to British Pontiff.” Bishop Eijo y Garay wrote to the Jesuit Provin- journalist Giles Tremlett, “biographies of Escrivá have cial of Toledo, Carlos Gomez Martinho, S.J.