Historical Notes Introduction

With the assistance of the Center for Documentation and Studies on Josemaria Escriva (CEDEJ), José M. Cejas provides the historical viewpoint on questions about the life of Opus Dei founder St Josemaria Escriva, his family, the origins of Opus Dei and the political and social background of the time, St Josemaria’s attitude to the Spanish Civil War and Franco, and many other questions. Tags: History

Was the Escriva family well off or short of money?

Both, at different times. Josemaria Escriva was born in 1902 into a comfortably-off middle-class family. Tags: The Escriva family, History

What sort of childhood did Josemaria Escriva have?

Josemaria’s home town was Barbastro, a small but prosperous city with its own cathedral, in the north-east of Spain. Tags: Barbastro, The Escriva family, Logroño, Josemaria Escriva

Why did Josemaria’s father’s business fail?

Between 1912 and 1915 the effects of successive bad harvests impacted on textile sales. Tags: Barbastro, The Escriva family, Poverty, Josemaria Escriva

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

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. Tags: Barbastro, The Escriva family

What difficulties did Opus Dei meet with at the start?

Difficulties arose from different directions. There were Catholics who couldn’t understand Opus Dei’s message that holiness was for everyone, including ordinary lay-people. Tags: October 2, 1928, Founding of Opus Dei

What kind of people did Father Josemaria Escriva work with in Opus Dei’s early years?

As a priest, Father Escriva ministered to all sorts of different people. Tags: Founding of Opus Dei, Youth

What was Father Josemaria Escriva’s attitude towards the Second Spanish Republic?

Like many other people in Spain at the time, Father Josemaria initially had high hopes of the Second Spanish Republic, because it seemed to offer a remedy for the serious social problems of the day. Tags: Spanish Civil War, History, Freedom, Politics

What was Father Josemaria Escriva’s reaction to the attempted military coup of July 18, 1936?

Like most people in Spain, Father Josemaria knew nothing about the military conspiracy against the Republican Government which culminated in the attempted coup on July 18, 1936. The rebellion took him by surprise, and he immediately had to go into hiding as his life was in danger in Madrid. Tags: Spanish Civil War, History, Freedom, Opus Dei, Politics, Franco

Where did the first Opus Dei members stand politically?

Most of the first members of Opus Dei were students on various courses, coming from different parts of Spain, and with all sorts of political sympathies. Tags:

Is it true that another priest was killed by mistake for Father Josemaria Escriva?

Hard facts about this episode are difficult to find. In August 1936, the month after the Spanish Civil War started, some women told Dolores Escriva, Father Josemaria’s mother, that someone looking very like him had been hanged in a street in Madrid. Tags: Spanish Civil War, History, Madrid, Opus Dei, Priesthood

Why did Father Josemaria go into hiding?

The right-wing military coup against the Republican Government of Spain was countered by a leftist revolution in the part of the country under the control of the Popular Front. Tags: Spanish Civil War, History, Freedom, Madrid, Opus Dei, Josemaria Escriva

How did Father Josemaria exercise his priesthood during the Spanish Civil War?

Throughout the three years the Spanish Civil War lasted, Father Josemaria exercised his priestly ministry in different ways according to the different circumstances in which he found himself. Tags: Spanish Civil War, History, Priesthood

How and why did Father Josemaria decide to escape across the Pyrenees Mountains?

Spain was divided into two conflicting zones by the Spanish Civil War. Tags: Spanish Civil War, History, Opus Dei, Crossing the Pyrenees, Josemaria Escriva

Why Burgos?

After getting through the Pyrenees mountains and arriving in Andorra at the end of 1937, Father Josemaria went via France to Pamplona, in the opposite zone of Spain. Tags: Spanish Civil War, History, Freedom, Opus Dei, Politics

Which side were Opus Dei members on in the Spanish Civil War?

Out of the few people who belonged to Opus Dei at that time, a number were imprisoned in the course of the Spanish Civil War. Tags: Spanish Civil War, History, Opus Dei, Franco, Josemaria Escriva

What did Father Josemaria think of Franco and his activities during the Spanish Civil War?

None of the people who lived with Father Josemaria during the Spanish Civil War could recall ever hearing him saying anything about Franco, not even a passing comment on his military or political actions. Tags: Spanish Civil War, Burgos

What contact did Father Josemaria have with the Franco regime?

While he was in Burgos, Father Josemaría had no contact of any kind with Franco. Tags: Burgos

What did Father Josemaria say about the reprisals carried out by Franco’s followers during the Spanish Civil War?

Whenever the subject of war and war-related violence and atrocities came up, he always talked about forgiveness, and advised people to avoid revenge and seek reconciliation instead. Tags: Opus Dei, Politics

What did Father Josemaria think of Hitler and the Nazis?

José Orlandis recalls that in September 1939 (…), “I was alone with the Father in his office and without my asking him anything, he confided to me, ‘This morning I offered Mass for Poland, a Catholic country, which is suffering terribly under the Nazi invasion’.” Tags: Opus Dei, Politics, Franco