HomeDocumentationHistorical NotesIf Opus Dei had no members till the 1930s, why did Josemaria Escriva say it was founded in 1928?
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Historical Notes

If Opus Dei had no members till the 1930s, why did Josemaria Escriva say it was founded in 1928?

Tags: Barbastro, The Escriva family
D. José Escrivá, Josemaría's father
D. José Escrivá, Josemaría's father
Father Josemaria always said that “Opus Dei was founded on October 2, 1928,” because that was the day that God made him “see” Opus Dei, and what he had to do, deep in his soul. From that moment on, Opus Dei (which didn’t yet even have a name) already existed, as far as he was concerned. After that came the work of laying the foundations, building up its spirit, and looking for the people whom God would call with this new vocation.

Writing some personal notes on October 2, 1931, Father Josemaria said, “Three years ago today, in the Convent of the Vincentians, I put together into some order the loose notes I had been collecting up to that point. From that day on, the ‘mangy donkey’” (his term for himself) “realized the beautiful but heavy load that the Lord, in his inexplicable goodness, had placed on his shoulders. That day, the Lord founded his Work. From then on I began to do apostolate with lay-people, some students, others not, but all of them young. And to form groups. And to pray and get others to pray. And to suffer…”

And he added, “I received the illumination about the entire Work, while I was reading those papers. Deeply moved, I knelt down – I was alone in my room, at a time between one talk and the next, - and gave thanks to our Lord, and I remember with a heart full of emotion the ringing of the bells of the church of Our Lady of the Angels.” (Quoted in Vazquez de Prada, The Founder of Opus Dei, vol. 1, chapter 5, p. 220.)