St. Josemaría Escrivá

Josemaría Escrivá was a Spanish priest who founded Opus Dei, teaching that people could seek holiness through ordinary work, family responsibilities, and daily life. His ministry developed amid major upheavals in Spain, including the Civil War, and later expanded internationally. He moved to Rome in 1946.

His early life included family bereavement and the failure of his father's business. He prepared for priesthood while also studying law and was ordained in 1925. Work in Madrid provided the setting for the foundation of Opus Dei in 1928, before civil war disrupted both public and religious life.

Escrivá preached retreats, wrote spiritual works, and guided the growth of the institution he had founded. His emphasis on the vocation of lay Christians became central to its identity. He died in Rome in 1975, was beatified in 1992, and was canonized by John Paul II in 2002. His June 26 feast marks the anniversary of his death.

During the war he exercised ministry clandestinely before escaping through France. Later retreats and international journeys carried his message to varied audiences. The institution's own biography is a valuable account of its founder, although it presents his life from within the movement he established rather than as an independent institutional history.

Escrivá's preparation included two distinct academic paths: legal studies culminating in a doctorate after the Spanish Civil War, and a later theology doctorate in Rome. These studies provide a concrete background for a priest whose teaching frequently addressed professional life. His biography places intellectual work within, rather than outside, his pastoral responsibilities.

The Opus Dei account also describes large catechetical gatherings during his later travels through Europe and the Americas. These meetings connected a general teaching about ordinary life with questions from different audiences. As a founder's institutional biography, the source explains how the movement understands this continuity; it should be read as that perspective rather than as a complete assessment of every later institutional development.