Jose María Escrivá de Balaguer
(Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás; Barbastro, 1902-Rome, 1975) Spanish priest, founder of Opus Dei.Ordained in 1925, he exercised the pastoral ministry both in rural and working class environments as well as in universities.Doctor of Law and Sacred Theology, he was a professor of Philosophy, Professional Ethics and Roman Law at the universities of Zaragoza and Madrid.Among other titles, he responded to that of Grand Chancellor of the Universities of Navarra and Piura (Peru), and was a member of the Pontifical Roman Academy.
Jose María Escrivá de Balaguer
As honorary prelate of His Holiness, he promoted works of apostolate throughout the world, a vocation that would culminate in 1928 with the foundation of Opus Dei.This association of the faithful, of which he was president general and which from 1946 he directed from Rome, had the purpose of spreading in all areas of society (without distinction of race, state or social condition) the evangelical message of the universal call to holiness and the apostolate, taking as a framework the circumstances of ordinary life and, above all, in the exercise of ordinary professional work.
Among its members were also admitted, as cooperators, those who did not profess the Catholic faith.At the time of his death, Opus Dei had already spread to the five continents and had come to have more than 60,000 members.Likewise, Escrivá de Balaguer was the author of works on spirituality, such as Camino , from 1934, of which 175 editions had already been made in 1982 and had been translated into 34 languages, Santo Rosario and Christ is passing by (1973), and the essay The abbess of Las Huelgas (1944).
Posthumously, a compilation of homilies was published, Amigos de Dios (1977), Via Crucis (1981) and Conversations with Monsignor Escrivá de Balaguer , a selection of some of the interviews he had given to the press.In 1981 he began his process of beatification and canonization.The ceremony of his beatification was celebrated in Rome on May 17, 1992.Ten years later, on October 6, 2002, he was canonized in Rome by Pope John Paul II.
Comments
Post a Comment