Editing Josemaría Escrivá (section)

==Biography==

===Early life===

José María Mariano Escrivá y Albás was born to José Escrivá y Corzán and his wife, María de los Dolores Albás y Blanc on 9 January 1902, in the small town of [[Barbastro]], in [[Huesca (province)|Huesca]], [[Restoration (Spain)|Spain]], the second of six children and the first of two sons. José Escrivá was a merchant and a partner in a textile company that eventually went bankrupt, forcing the family to relocate in 1915 to the city of [[Logroño]], in the northern province of [[La Rioja (Spain)|La Rioja]], where he worked as a clerk in a clothing store.<ref>{{Harvnb|Berglar|1994|pp=15}}</ref> Young Josemaría first felt that "he had been chosen for something", it is reported, when he saw footprints left in the snow by a [[monk]] walking barefoot.<ref name="VDP">{{Harvnb|Vázquez de Prada|2001}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Helming|1986}}</ref>

With his father's blessing, Escrivá prepared to become a [[Priesthood in the Catholic Church|priest]] of the [[Catholic Church]].  He studied first in Logroño and then in [[Zaragoza]], where he was ordained as deacon on Saturday, 20 December 1924. He was [[ordained]] a priest, also in Zaragoza, on Saturday, 28 March 1925. After a brief appointment to a rural parish in [[Perdiguera]], he went to [[Madrid]], the Spanish capital, in 1927 to study [[law school|law]] at the [[Complutense University of Madrid|Central University]]. In Madrid, Escrivá was employed as a private tutor and as a [[chaplain]] to the Foundation of Santa Isabel, which comprised the royal [[Convent of Santa Isabel]] and a school managed by the [[Little Sisters of the Assumption]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Berglar|1994|pp=86}}</ref>

===Mission as the founder of Opus Dei===
A prayerful retreat helped him to discern more definitely what he considered to be God's will for him, and, on 2 October 1928, he "saw" [[Opus Dei]] ({{langx|en|Work of God}}), a way by which Catholics might learn to sanctify themselves by their secular work.<ref name=Burger>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/the-real-st.-josemaria-escriva-and-the-film-version/ |title=Burger, John. "The Real St. Josemaria Escriva and the Film Version", ''National Catholic Register'', May 16, 2011 |access-date=March 20, 2016 |archive-date=April 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418173241/http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/the-real-st.-josemaria-escriva-and-the-film-version/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> He founded it in 1928, and Pius XII gave it final approval in 1950. According to the decree of the [[Congregation for the Causes of Saints]], which contains a condensed biography of Escrivá, "[t]o this mission he gave himself totally. From the beginning his was a very wide-ranging apostolate in social environments of all kinds. He worked especially among the poor and the sick languishing in the slums and hospitals of Madrid."<ref name="ACF" />

During the [[Spanish Civil War]], Escrivá fled from Madrid, which was controlled by the anti-clerical [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican]]s, via [[Andorra]] and [[French Third Republic|France]], to the city of [[Burgos]], which was the headquarters of General [[Francisco Franco]]'s [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalist]] forces.<ref>{{Harvnb|Berglar|1994|pp=135–145}}</ref> After the war ended in 1939 with Franco's victory, Escrivá was able to resume his studies in Madrid and complete a doctorate in law, for which he submitted a thesis on the historical jurisdiction of the [[abbess]] of [[Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas|Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas]].<ref name="Rocca">{{citation|first=Giancarlo|last=Rocca|title=Gli studi accademici di s. Josemaría Escrivá y Albás|language=it|journal=Claretianum|volume=49|pages=241–297|year=2009|url=http://www.opuslibros.org/libros/Rocca_est.htm}} (available in Italian and Spanish)</ref>

The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, affiliated with Opus Dei, was founded on Sunday, 14 February 1943.  Escrivá relocated to [[Rome]] in 1946. The decree declaring Escrivá "Venerable" states that "in 1947 and on Monday, 16 June 1950, he obtained approval of Opus Dei as an institution of pontifical right. With tireless charity and operative hope he guided the development of Opus Dei throughout the world, activating a vast mobilization of lay people ... He gave life to numerous initiatives in the work of evangelization and human welfare; he fostered vocations to the priesthood and the religious life everywhere... Above all, he devoted himself tirelessly to the task of forming the members of Opus Dei."<ref name="ACF" />

===Later years===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Stjosemariagettogethermen.gif|thumb|right|250px|''' Josemaría Escrivá''' in a meeting with men. Pope John Paul II called Opus Dei's founder the "Saint of Ordinary Life."]] -->

According to some accounts, at the age of two he suffered from a disease (perhaps [[epilepsy]]<ref>Luis Carandell, ''Vida y milagros de Monseñor Escrivá de Balaguer, fundador del Opus Dei''. The relevant passage is available in Spanish [http://www.opuslibros.org/libros/Carandell/torreciudad.htm here]</ref>) so severe that the doctors expected him to die soon, but his mother had taken him to [[Torreciudad]], where the Aragonese locals venerated a statue of the [[Virgin Mary]] (as "Our Lady of the Angels"), thought to date from the 11th century. Escrivá recovered and, as the director of Opus Dei during the 1960s and 1970s, promoted and oversaw the design and construction of a major shrine at Torreciudad. The new shrine was inaugurated on 7 July 1975, soon after Escrivá's death, and to this day remains the spiritual center of Opus Dei, as well as an important destination for pilgrimage.<ref>[http://www.josemariaescriva.info/article/our-lady-of-torreciudad "Our Lady of Torreciudad"], official Opus Dei website on Escrivá</ref> By the time of Escrivá's death in 1975, the members of Opus Dei numbered some 60,000 in 80 countries.<ref>"[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/192421/Saint-Josemaria-Escriva-de-Balaguer Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer]." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.</ref> As an adult, Escrivá suffered from [[type 1 diabetes]]<ref>{{Harvnb|Berglar|1994|pp=280}}</ref> and, according to some sources, also epilepsy.<ref>Jesús Ynfante, ''El santo fundador del Opus Dei'', see [http://www.opuslibros.org/libros/Santo_fundador/capitulo_9.htm chapter 9] (in Spanish)</ref>

In 1950, Escrivá was appointed an [[Honorary Prelate|Honorary Domestic Prelate]] by Pope [[Pius XII]], which allowed him to use the title of [[Monsignor]]. In 1955, he received a doctorate of theology from the [[Pontifical Lateran University]] in Rome.<ref name="Rocca"/> He was a consultor to two Vatican congregations (the Congregation for Seminaries and Universities and the Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|Canon Law]]) and an honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology. The [[Second Vatican Council]] (1962–65) confirmed the importance of the [[universal call to holiness]], the role of the laity, and the Mass as the basis of Christian life.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20021006_escriva_en.html|title=Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (1902-1975)|website=www.vatican.va|access-date=20 November 2017}}</ref>

In 1948 Escrivá founded the Collegium Romanum Sanctae Crucis ([[Roman College of the Holy Cross]]), Opus Dei's educational center for men, in Rome. In 1953 he founded the Collegium Romanum Sanctae Mariae (Roman College of Saint Mary) to serve the women's section (these institutions are now joined into the [[Pontifical University of the Holy Cross]].) Escrivá also established the [[University of Navarre]], in [[Pamplona]], and the [[University of Piura]] (in [[Peru]]), as secular institutions affiliated with Opus Dei.

Escrivá died of cardiac arrest on 26 June 1975, aged 73.

Three years after Escrivá died, the then Cardinal Albino Luciani (later [[Pope John Paul I]]) celebrated the originality of his contribution to Christian spirituality.<ref name="A. Luciani 1978"/>