Blessed Josemaria Escriva and Our Lady

by Father John McCloskey

On May 17, 1992, the Holy Father beatified Msgr. Josemaria Escriva in a ceremony at St. Peter's Square. The beatification was an endorsement of the spirituality of Opus Dei (The Work of God), founded by Blessed Escriva, as an exemplary way for the ordinary layperson to pursue holiness in the world.

The beatification process began six years after his death in 1975. This ended with a declaration of heroic virtue in April 1990 and approval by the Congregation of the Saints in 1991 of the miraculous cure of a Spanish Carmelite nun from a fatal illness through Monsignor Escriva's intercession.

Blessed Escriva was a spiritual giant in love with Mary and who had a particular devotion to Our Lady Of Fatima. He was born in 1902 in Barbastro, Spain, ordained a priest in 1925, and founded Opus Dei on October 2, 1928, the feast of the Guardian Angels, while he was making his yearly retreat in Madrid.

Monsignor Escriva lived in Rome from 1946 until his death on June 26, 1975, watching over the growth of Opus Dei. During these years, the Work spread to five continents and counted over sixty thousand members and a thousand priests. After the founder's death, Opus Dei became the Church's first personal prelature under his successor, the Prelate Bishop Alvaro del Portillo.

The Blessed Josemaria wrote in his spiritual best seller The Way: "Love of Our Lady is proof of a good spirit, in works and in individuals. Don't trust the undertaking that lacks this characteristic." His own life was characterized by an exceptional devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary from an early age. Through his seminary years, and particularly in the period before 1928, he sought Our Lady's help in finding out exactly what God wanted of him. The result was Opus Dei. Even more importantly, in later years he propagated his love for Our Lady to the millions who have felt his spiritual influence throughout the world. He suggested the praying of the daily Rosary as well as the Memorare, wearing of the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the three Hail Mary's before retiring, the recital at noon of the Angelus–not to mention frequent Marian aspirations, the production of millions of images of Our Blessed Mother and regular pilgrimages to many Marian shrines.

He had a special relationship with Our Lady of Fatima. In the words of Bishop Alberta Cosme de Amaral of Leiria-Fatima: "In the decade of the forties, he made his first visits to Portugal in order to lay down the foundations of Opus Dei in our country that he loved so much and which he liked to call 'The Land of Mary.' For him, to come to Portugal was the same as going to Fatima and there, in the Cova da Iria, he dedicated the first fruits of Opus Dei, destined to produce wonderful work among Portuguese of all social conditions."

Sister Lucia

"In the late forties in Tuy he visited Sister Lucia, then a Dorothean nun, who understood admirably the spirit of Opus Dei: holiness in everyday, ordinary life. For a member of Opus Dei, the street is his cell. As a Carmelite in Coimbra, she received on several occasions visits from the Founder of Opus Dei, who ardently loved the religious life and particularly the contemplative orders. The Carmel of St. Teresa in Coimbra and the Cova Da Iria were obligatory stops for Monsignor Escriva, profoundly Marian and contemplative."

Monsignor Escriva's beatification greatly amplifies the message that the Church needs millions of dedicated Marian souls to live holy lives in the world. A favorite aspiration of Bl. Escriva was, "All with Peter, to Jesus through Mary!"

For further information of Bl. Monsignor Escriva of the Prelature of Opus Dei, contact the Vice-Postulation of Monsignor Escriva at 300 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10025.

First appeared in Soul Magazine in the July-August ,1992, issue.