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BEYOND THE THRESHOLD -- A LIFE IN OPUS DEI |
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10. PORTRAITS On January 13, 1902, in Barbastro, the pastor of the cathedral, Father Angel Malo, solemnly baptized a baby boy born at 10 P.M. on the ninth, legitimate son of Mr. Jose Escriba, born in Fonz, and Mrs. Dolores Albas, born in Barbastro, spouses, residents, and merchants of the city. The paternal grandparents were Mr. Jose, of Peralta de la Sal, deceased, and Mrs. Constancia Corzan, of Fonz. The maternal grandparents were Mr. Pascual, deceased, and Mrs. Florencia Blanc, of Barbastro. The baby was christened Jose Maria Julian Mariano. His godparents were Mr. Mariano Albas and Mrs. Florencia Albas, uncle and aunt, both residents of Huesca, whose authorized representative was Mrs. Florencia Blanc, to whom I directed the ritual warnings. [1] A marginal annotation reads: By order of the very illustrious episcopal delegate of this diocese of Barbastro, given May 27, 1943, the surname Escriba on this certificate is changed "to Escriva de Balaguer," so that hereafter it shall be written: Jose Maria Julian Mariano Escriva de Balaguer Albas, legitimate son of Mr. Jose Escriva de Balaguer and Mrs. Dolores Albas.
Barbastro, June 20, 1943 [2] Note that the names with which he was christened were Jose, Maria, Julian, and Mariano. His biographers claim that devotion to the Virgin led him to combine the first two names. I heard Monsignor Escriva explain that he signed internal documents of the work "Mariano" out of devotion to the Blessed Virgin. The font in which Monsignor Escriva was baptized was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. Opus Dei had it reassembled and transported to the central house in Rome. International Who's Who for 1967-68 contains the following entry on p. 387: Escriva de Balaguer, Mgr. Josemaria, D.IUR., S.T.D., Spanish ecclesiastic; b. 9 Jan. 1902; ed. Saragossa, Madrid, and Lateran Pontifical Univs. Ordained 25; founded Opus Dei 28; former Superior, [3] Saragossa Seminary, Rector, Real Patronato de Santa Isabel, Prof. of Philosophy, Madrid School of Journalism, Prof. of Roman Law, Univ. of Madrid and Saragossa, [4] Doctor, h.c. of Univ. of Saragossa, memo Colegio de Aragon, Grand Chancellor Univ. of Navarra; memo A[c]cademia Theologica Romana, Consultor (Adviser) of the S.c. of Seminaries and Univs. of the Pontifical Comm. for the Aurhentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law, Holy See; Pres. Gen. Opus Dei. Publs. The Way, Holy Rosary, The Abbess of Las Huelgas, Spiritual Considerations, The Apostolic Constitution Provida Mater Ecclesia and Opus Dei, [5] and works of ascetic literature, law and history. Viale Bruno Buozzi 73, Rome, Italy. According to Escriva's biographer, Andres Vazquez de Prada, [6] Monsignor Alvaro del Portillo petitioned the Holy See for the nomination of Monsignor Escriva as "Domestic Prelate of His Holiness the Pope" which was granted to him on May 25, 1947, by official letter from His Eminence Cardinal G. B. Montini. [7] Circumstances surrounding his doctorate in law have never been clarified. One of his official biographers, Peter Berglar, mentions on page 388 of his work, cited above: "In December 1939, Monsignor Escriva obtains the doctorate in Law at the University of Madrid." This academic degree was never discussed in Opus Dei, and it does not seem that anyone has ever seen the diploma. The topic of the thesis for the degree was also never mentioned. La Abadesa de las Huelgas by Monsignor Escriva, published in 1944 by Rialp, can hardly be the doctoral thesis for his law degree. However, Escriva did use this book as a thesis for the doctorate in theology granted by the Lateran University. In its official documents Opus Dei does not indicate when this latter degree was granted. As nearly as I can calculate, it must have been between 1957 and 1961. The Spanish Ministry of Justice Official Guide to Grandezas y Titulos del Reina announced that Monsignor Escriva had been granted the title of Marquis of Peralta on November 5, 1968. [8]
PERALTA, Marquis of
DON JOSE MARIA ESCRIVA DE BALAGUER
Y ALBAS Several years before this public notice appeared, a brief document informed Opus Dei members that this title had been granted to Escriva. The same document instructed us not to speak about it. On November 17, 1972, that is four years later, this same Ministry of Justice publication announced that the title was being officially transferred to Monsignor Escriva's brother, Santiago Escriva de Balaguer y Albas, previously named Baron of San Felipe. Opus Dei distributes the following profile of Monsignor Escriva to the general public. [9] Blessed Josemaria Escriva was born in Barbastro, Spain, on January 9, 1902. He was ordained to the priesthood in Saragossa on March 28, 1925. On October 2, 1928, in Madrid, by divine inspiration he founded Opus Dei, which has opened up a new way for the faithful to sanctify themselves in the midst of the world, through the practice of their ordinary work and in the fulfillment of their personal, family and social duties. They thus become a leaven of intense Christian life in all environments. On February 14, 1930, Blessed Josemaria Escriva by God's grace understood that Opus Dei was meant to develop its apostolate among women as well. And on February 14, 1943, he founded the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, inseparably united to Opus Dei. Opus Dei received the definitive approval of the Holy See on June 16, 1950. On November 28, 1982, it was erected as a personal Prelature, a juridical form desired and foreseen by Blessed Josemaria Escriva. He guided and inspired the growth of Opus Dei throughout the whole world with constant prayer and penance and by the heroic practice of all the virtues. In doing so, he showed loving dedication and untiring concern for all souls, and a continual and unconditional surrender to God's will. When he yielded up his soul to God, Opus Dei had spread to five continents with over 60,000 members of 80 nationalities, serving the Church with the same veneration for and complete union with the Pope and bishops that Blessed Josemaria Escriva always lived. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was the center and root of his interior life. His profound awareness of being a son of God, expressed in a constant presence of the Holy Trinity, moved him to seek complete identification with Christ in everything, to live a deep and tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, and to enjoy a continual and confident friendship with the holy guardian angels. This made him a sower of peace and joy along all the ways of the earth. Msgr. Escriva had repeatedly offered his life for the Church and the Pope. Our Lord accepted this offering, and on June 26, 1975, in Rome in the room where he worked, he surrendered his soul to God with the same holy simplicity that characterized his entire life. His body rests in the Prelatic Church of Our Lady of Peace at Viale Bruno Buozzi 75, Rome. There it is accompanied by the constant prayer and gratitude of his sons and daughters and countless others who have come closer to God through his example and teaching. His cause of canonization was introduced in Rome on February 19, 1981. Pope John Paul II, on April 9, 1990, declared that he lived the Christian virtues to a heroic degree, and on July 6, 1991, decreed that a cure attributed to his intercession was miraculous. The Founder of Opus Dei was beatified by Pope John Paul II on May 17, 1992, in Rome. This is the way the world outside Opus Dei is shown Monsignor Escriva from baptism to death. I am not going to debate this profile. I am simply going to sketch a picture of Monsignor Escriva with a few strokes, using the colors available on my palette. Monsignor Escriva was called "Father" because he determined that Opus Dei was a family. This idea is foundational to the Work and everything else rests on it. Other members of the Work are "sisters" or "brothers"; Monsignor Escriva's sister Carmen is "aunt" and his brother Santiago is "uncle." Likewise, their parents were "grandparents." The Work was a family, to be sure, the link was the Founder's family, not that of its members. To distinguish our families from the "family" of the Work, the former were called "blood families." The way Monsignor Escriva worshipped his deceased parents bore no resemblance to the way in which Opus Dei members were allowed to treat their own families. The "grandparents" were even removed from the cemeteries where they were interred, to be buried in the house at Diego de Leon, 14, in Madrid. Monsignor Escriva told us that his mother and his siblings, Carmen and Santiago, had given everything to the Work in its foundational period, including what should have gone to Carmen and Santiago as their inheritance. I also heard Monsignor Escriva say very often that his mother and sister made the foundation of the Women's Branch possible by taking charge of the administration of the first houses of men. I have never challenged this because I do not have data to do so, although there are members of the Work who do not share the opinion; in any case, the Escrivas were generously compensated. Before Lola Fisac, the first acknowledged Opus Dei woman numerary, there existed a small group of women, whose spiritual director was Monsignor Escriva. Except for Laura Fernandez del Amo, a strong person who comes from an old Spanish family, cultivated by Monsignor Escriva in his early days in Madrid, no one ever knew exactly what happened to them, nor who they were. This was one of a number of taboos inside Opus Dei. I once asked Carmen whether she had known them, and she said yes, and added: "They were crazy. They were all unbalanced." Carmen apparently knew about the earliest period of Opus Dei of which many numeraries were virtually ignorant. I recall that the last time we sent a present for Santiago from Venezuela was after Carmen's death. Then word came from the central government in Rome that the Father had said that presents should no longer be given to Santiago. The order puzzled us, because no reason was given. Later we found out that the reason was that Santiago was going to get married, and the Father was very displeased by his choice. Monsignor Escriva had assigned Opus Dei priests in Spain the task of finding a fiancee for his brother among eligible female Spanish aristocrats, but Santiago was indifferent to his brother's opinion in such a personal matter. Priests of the Work in Spain counseled Monsignor Escriva, who was extremely irritated by his brother's independence; as head of the family, he ought to go to Zaragoza on Santiago's behalf to request the hand in marriage of Yoya, Santiago's fiancee. Escriva grumbled that he would only go if he were lodged at the Palace of Cogullada in the same room where Francisco Franco had stayed. Members of the Work had to spend a great deal of time negotiating this deal, but were finally successful, and Monsignor Escriva went to Zaragoza and was lodged at the Palace of Cogullada. Relations between Monsignor Escriva and Yoya were rocky at the beginning. A supernumerary, Mercedes Jimenez de Andrade y Fernandez de Cordoba, wife of an economics professor, Javier Irastorza, was charged with advising the young woman about how to dress, what perfumes to use, "so as not to displease the Father." Monsignor Escriva did not want his brother and sister to stay in Spain and brought them to Rome. Later, Carmen wished to return to die in Spain, but Monsignor Escriva refused. Carmen is buried in a niche in the central house in Rome. On the wall, bronze letters set in pink marble spell "CARMEN" with the date of her death. Santiago returned to Spain after his sister's death. Santiago died at Christmas 1994. One of his sons also named after his uncle, Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer, attended one of the Opus Dei schools in Madrid and became an Opus Dei numerary. Although it sounds comic, Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer left Opus Dei as a numerary. This was kept secret by Opus Dei superiors who retained the young man as an Opus Dei supernumerary. At this writing I am not sure whether or not he is still an Opus Dei supernumerary, although for some time he dated a young woman who was one. One of his sisters, who also became a numerary and was posted to Peru, left Opus Dei as well. Numeraries could not have family photographs in their rooms, much less in the common rooms of the house where they lived. By contrast, in every house of the Work, there are photographs of the "Grandparents" and of "Aunt Carmen." The grandmother's photograph is taken from a portrait, itself based on an old photograph, in which she appeared in a simple black dress. The painter modified the photograph by adding an ermine neckpiece over the dress to make it more distinguished. I remember clearly that while I was in Rome, we were requested via the intercom from the director's office to provide "a collar of white ermine," because the painter needed it. Once the painting was complete, it was photographed, and this is the representation present in every house of the Work. One fine day while I was in Rome in the 1950s, Monsignor Escriva said that we had to learn to make "crespillos," a dessert his mother used to make when he was a child. From then on, this dessert has been served at the main meal in the houses of the Work on the grandmother's saint's day (Our Lady of Sorrows). From the time I met him at the end of the 1940s, Monsignor Escriva planned his road to sainthood. Convinced that he would be canonized, he had his tomb built in the central house in Rome as if it were the most natural thing in the world. He instructed the superiors: "But don't leave me here for too long. Let them take me after a while to a public church so that they will leave you alone so that you can work." He also liked to tell us: "My daughters, if when you open my tomb, you find that I have not decayed, I will have cheated the Work. They should only find skin and bones." The move of Monsignor Escriva's remains to the church of St. Eugene -- which now has the status of an Opus Dei public church -- strikes me as a curious irony. He repeatedly remarked about that church that "it looks like a bathroom," to stress Pius XII's bad taste. In the photographs, corpore insepulto, before his burial, Monsignor Escriva wears Eucharistic vestments, violating his own rule that we should all be prepared for burial wrapped in "a simple white sheet." The reader may recall that it was necessary to include this instruction in one's will. All personal items that Monsignor Escriva ceased to use were kept as future relics in the central house in Rome and in the houses he visited, especially on his last trips to South America. Such items ranged from handkerchiefs or a bathrobe belt, to the little bottle of holy water, the soap he used, and even the ribbon from a box of chocolates he brought the women numeraries in one of the houses of the Work. Now and then Monsignor Escriva would give the numeraries things he no longer used, like nail scissors, pencils, as well as his photographs with an ejaculation written on the back. Also, during his lifetime, in houses he visited and especially in countries where his visits were infrequent, plates or cups he used were set aside. Even the flowers on the altar where Monsignor Escriva celebrated Mass would be framed, and a mark would be made on the chairs on which he had sat. After his death and before the burial, part of his hair was cut off and distributed to different houses around the world, as were pieces of the cassocks he had worn. Shadows and lights show up what are important for me or for persons whom I knew well. At the same time and as a backdrop, a picture of Monsignor Escriva's successor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo takes shape. Don Alvaro del Portillo was a witness to and cooperated in the fabrication of this devotion to the Father. The late Alvaro del Portillo was born in Madrid March 11, 1914; incorporated into Opus Dei as a numerary in 1935, he was ordained a priest on June 25, 1944. Upon the death of Monsignor Escriva on June 26, 1975, Monsignor Alvaro del Portillo was elected the second president general of Opus Dei on September 15, 1975. When Opus Dei changed its status from secular institute to personal prelature, Alvaro del Portillo was named prelate of the prelature of the Society of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei by Pope John Paul II on November 28, 1982. The Pope consecrated him a bishop on January 6, 1991. Alvaro del Portillo was close to Monsignor Escriva ever since he entered Opus Dei and they were never separated after his ordination. One of Escriva's biographers recalls that from 1940 on he prayed for his son Alvaro, with the idea that he might be his successor. [10] With Don Alvaro del Portillo, Monsignor Escriva compensated for certain personal deficiencies so he kept Alvaro nearby in part because the latter belonged to a high social class and his family connections were important to the Work; also, he was a civil engineer, a prestigious profession, particularly in Spain at that time; but principally because he was a man of diplomatic tact and good manners, who moved with ease internationally and had command of Italian and French and a knowledge of some German and English as well. Escriva frequently described to members of the Work, as one of his biographers does, [11] the engineer's dress uniform that Alvaro del Portillo wore on June 4, 1943, when he was received by His Holiness Pius XII in a private audience along with Jose Orlandis. To be sure, his dedication to Opus Dei kept Don Alvaro from acquiring much experience in engineering. Don Alvaro del Portillo was a sensitive, courteous person, although one never knew what he really thought. Nobody in Opus Dei was sure who directed whom. Did Monsignor Escriva tell Alvaro del Portillo what he had to do? Was it Alvaro del Portillo who told Monsignor Escriva what he should not do? Only Monsignor Alvaro del Portillo knew, and he went to the grave with his customary tact. However, the relation between them was very peculiar. Monsignor Escriva did not know how to be alone. When Don Alvaro had some duty outside of the house, for instance in the Vatican, Monsignor Escriva went to the Roman College of the Holy Cross to talk to the men or sometimes even to the Villa Sacchetti, especially while the Women's Branch government offices were there. On his journeys, Monsignor Escriva was always accompanied by Don Alvaro del Portillo, a numerary doctor who looked after his health, and his chauffeur, Armando Castro, the first Portuguese numerary. Within the Women's Branch, Don Alvaro del Portillo enjoyed respect and affection. He was invariably polite to us and knew how to say "please," "thank you," and "excuse me." Monsignor Escriva very seldom said "please," and instead of "thank you" he would say, "May God pay you." Monsignor Escriva did not have natural good manners. He was rough, brusque, and rude. When he was angry and had someone to reproach, he had no measure of charity in his language. His offensive, violent words profoundly wounded persons. I remember vividly that when I went to the Vatican in 1973 and visited His Eminence Cardinal Arturo Tavera, then prefect of the Sacred Congregation of Religious and Secular Institutes, he asked how many years I had spent in Opus Dei, and when I told him eighteen, he commented: "And you needed eighteen years to realize how rude Jose Maria Escriva is?" His language was frequently crude. One Easter Sunday, the numeraries of the women's central government had been told to go up to the Villa Vecchia dining room to greet the Father for Easter after his lunch. As we entered the dining room, Don Alvaro was smoking, with his usual ivory cigarette holder. Monsignor Escriva was talking through a wide-open window that overlooked the Villa garden. He was speaking to a group of numeraries from the Roman College of the Holy Cross, although we could not see them from where we were. He said with a great guffaw: "Have a brandy as I told you, but be careful, don't do what that Monsignor Galindo, my fellow countryman, did, who used to warm up the snifter in his fly" (Monsignor Pascual Galindo was the rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Madrid). We could all hear that Don Alvaro tried to tell Escriva that we had arrived, calling: "Padre! Padre!," but he did not hear. When he realized we were there, he slammed the window shut and beamed at us piously: "My daughters, may God bless you." We were forbidden to discuss this event even among ourselves. A former Opus Dei male numerary recalls a similar incident that took place in Pamplona, Spain, in the presence of at least fifty male numeraries. Seated in front of the group, Monsignor Escriva unbuttoned his cassock to take off a sweater (the day was warm) and remarked: "Well, I already have the behind of an abbess." Then he dressed himself again in public. What wounded me most deeply during the last months in Rome leading up to my dismissal were not Monsignor Escriva's scoldings and violent insults but his lack of charity. He put his rank of president general and his prestige as Founder ahead of his priestly role. There was never a shadow of a doubt that I might be innocent; he passed judgment and sentence without hearing me, based on assessments of other people. Monsignor Escriva taught that one should be "intransigent with sin, but tolerant with the sinner," but this was not what he practiced. If he heard a numerary say she felt "sorry" for someone, he would say, "Be sorry for the Work!" He was especially harsh in his attitude toward those who left the Work. He forbad all contact with them, and he did not provide them with the slightest financial assistance, whether they left the institute or were dismissed. Monsignor Escriva was never concerned, did not even contemplate in either of the two versions of Opus Dei's Constitutions written in his lifetime, that numerary members including servants or priests should have social security for old age or sickness. Moreover, it is explicitly stated in the Constitutions that numeraries who, under any circumstances, abandon Opus Dei may not seek any compensation for the work they have done inside the institution. This injustice has led to financial problems, not only for women numeraries, but also for numerary priests who left Opus Dei. The Work not only did not help them, but in more than one case slandered them, insinuating sexual misconduct. The Father's scoldings were famous throughout the Work. He was saintly before the multitudes, frequently calling himself a sinner, but he was capable of the most terrible insults for the slightest reason. For instance, if a fried egg was not done to his taste, he would abuse the director of the house. If an altar cloth did not hang exactly at the stipulated number of centimeters above the floor, he was capable of scolding the director; similarly, he would go into a rage if there was noise in the kitchen when the pots and pans were scrubbed. However, you could not write in the house diary, "The Father was angry or caused a row," but had to say: "The Father taught us this or that today." One of the best descriptions of Monsignor Escriva's character was given by Alberto Moncada, who wrote that the Father "is charming, pleasant, and persuasive when one is on his side. He is intolerant, intractable, and crude when his standards are not accepted." [12] Monsignor Alvaro del Portillo was present at all times and by never showing disagreement seemed to condone such conduct. This frightens me even more than the Founder's own fits, because it seems to reflect a cold, calculating attitude. Could Bishop Alvaro del Portillo believe that Monsignor Escriva's frequent behavior was justified because it reflected "holy anger"? Power and high office attracted Monsignor Escriva. He claimed, "I am a descendant of a princess from Aragon," [13] and claimed that the famous sixteenth-century Aragonese physician and heretic, Miguel Servet, was an ancestor. By his express order, shields of his seven noble surnames were engraved near the main altar of the Basilica of Torreciudad in the vicinity of Barbastro, his birthplace. His residence in Spain was always listed as Diego de Leon, 14, purchased for the princely sum of six million pesetas. He conveniently forgot the more modest houses in Madrid, where he actually lived with his family, notably the house on Martinez Campos, 4, which survives with a modest bar, "Vinos El Majuelo," on the ground floor. Landing at Barajas Airport in Madrid, Monsignor Escriva would enter by the hall for "Authorities." In addition, while Jesus Romeo Gorda, connected with Opus Dei, was president of Iberia Airlines, his car awaited Monsignor Escriva at the steps of the plane. He took care that we were frequently reminded that he was "the Founder." "In my life I have known several popes," he would say, "many cardinals, a pile of bishops, but only one Founder -- me." Then he often added: "God will demand much of you for having known me." At one of the Men's Branch general congresses, Monsignor Escriva told Antonio Perez-Tenessa to propose that members of Opus Dei should greet the President General by genuflecting with the left knee touching the floor. The rule was quickly adopted. When Monsignor Escriva notified those of us who were superiors of the Opus Dei Women's Branch, he said: "My daughters, it is not for my sake; I know you love me very much and respect me. I am doing it for the poor soul who will follow me." When the Estudio General de Navarra became a university, Monsignor Escriva arranged to be named grand chancellor. From then on, he began to appear before crowds in theaters and large lecture halls, which were recorded in movies and photographs. Opus Dei directs an entity named UNIV, headquartered in Rome. Under the leadership of local Opus Dei members in any given country, UNIV organizes trips to Rome to attend a Mass celebrated by the Holy Father and also to visit the Opus Dei prelate: Monsignor Escriva when he was alive, subsequently Bishop del Portillo and presently Bishop Echevarria, the current prelate. The visit to the Opus Dei prelate is a well-staged question-and-answer period in which the questions have been carefully selected by Opus Dei group leaders, who check them out first with the prelate in order to prepare his appropriate responses, which seem spontaneous to the young people who are unaware of the well-prepared operation. The format of previously prepared questions and answers is standard when the Opus Dei prelate appears in public. For instance, when the current Opus Dei prelate, Monsignor Echevarria, visited Brussels in October 1994, a gathering was staged in a hall at a Sheraton hotel. Since Monsignor Echevarria speaks neither French nor Flemish, an Opus Dei priest translated. To questions such as "What is the difference between Opus Dei and Christian people?" or "Why do people say that Opus Dei takes children away from their parents?" standard answers were given: "We are exactly like other people and we are interested in the same problems"; "Parents wish to live a Christian life, but do not have enough time for their children; but Opus Dei has the time to give those children a strong formation, new perspectives in life." Everything is planned beforehand. The trips Monsignor Escriva made to different countries during the final years of his life seemed extravagant to many numerary women on account of the expense they entailed. To be sure, there was a cultic reverence for the Founder on his visits, and he considered as proof of "good spirit" that the supernumeraries chartered international flights, sent flowers for his Mass, brought organically raised chickens from villages for his meals, and had crates of oranges available in case he wanted juice, even though oranges were not in season. An amusing anecdote may be recounted here. Monsignor Escriva was once invited to lunch at Dr. Faelli's house. They served some cheese with "little flowers on the labels." He recommended that we buy some. After tramping all over Rome to find them, I entered Allemagna in Piazza Colonna and discovered a pile of boxes of cheese, in which one portion in each box had a label with the "little flower." Delighted, I pulled out a box and the decorative pyramid came tumbling down. Since there was only one piece of cheese with the "little flower" in each box, we had to buy several boxes to serve Monsignor Escriva the cheese with the "little flower," which turned out to be an edelweiss. During the last years of his life, I am convinced that Monsignor Escriva suffered from some psychological disorder since, otherwise, it would be totally inconceivable that a priest, with the aura of a Founder, would say things such as "If I knew that my parents had not desired me when I was conceived, I would have spit on their tomb." [14] Again, I have heard of an occurrence (in 1962) at the home of Maria Paz Alvarez de Toledo, who was a friend and classmate in the French Dominican Sisters School in Valladolid. My absence from Madrid has kept me from obtaining confirmation, but my source is trustworthy. Apparently, Monsignor Escriva was smitten with a tapestry that the family had in its dining room. (In Opus Dei jargon this translated to "The Father likes the tapestry.") He did not hesitate to tell the Opus Dei Women's Branch superiors in Madrid to request it for the Work. Maria Paz politely and generously said that she could not give it away because it belonged to the family patrimony, but she offered a million pesetas to buy another tapestry for Monsignor Escriva. Alvaro del Portillo was present at many of the events I have described in this book and probably at many others I don't know of, above all, in relations with the Vatican. He, like Bishop Echevarria, myself, and others who worked closely with Monsignor Escriva, all heard him express pejorative opinions about supreme pontiffs and even about Vatican II: "Pray for the next Pope, who will have to mend many things." Or again, he referred to the Jesuits either as "the little ones" (los pequenitos) or the "usual ones" (los de siempre). Monsignor Escriva was terrified -- as Alvaro del Portillo knew better than anyone else -- that Pius XII might appoint the Jesuits as official visitors to Opus Dei women's houses. Similarly, those around Escriva could see his lack of affection, to put it mildly, for the Theresians, despite having been their chaplain in Salamanca during the Spanish Civil War. Escriva never judged them to be a legitimate secular institute; one suspects that he may have been uncomfortable that their founder, Father Pedro Poveda (assassinated early in the Civil War by leftist militiamen), conceived of an apostolate suspiciously like that of Escriva's but twenty years before Escriva. My concern for all these facts is that Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, whom I had always considered a thoughtful, fair person, should close his eyes to reality and push a cause, ignoring the harm that it might do to many Catholics as well as to many Christians from other denominations. Bishop del Portillo, like his successor Bishop Echevarria, knew well how to manipulate the process of beatification, how slander and defamation were used in order that church tribunals reject as untrustworthy witnesses certain persons able to supply clarifying testimony. It is painful to read the Summary of the Process for the Cause of Beatification, where each paragraph repeats references to Monsignor Escriva such as that he offered "his own life to the Lord and a most intense prayer and mortification to obtain the conversion of those persons" (who left the Work) or "he carried on with such heroic exercise of virtues that it stirred up those of us who were at his side." I always heard Monsignor Escriva repeat when someone left the Work: "... only the dry branches fall. And it is best that they fall," using the image written in The Way in reference to tribulations. [15] Due to my concern about Monsignor Escriva's process of beatification I sent His Holiness John Paul II two letters included in Appendix C as a secret of conscience, to which I have received no reply, although they reached the hands of the Holy Father through his secretary, His Eminence Cardinal Angel Sodano. However, His Eminence Cardinal Ratzinger had the courtesy of acknowledging receipt of copies of those letters. The following are directives which Opus Dei women numeraries received to expand the devotion to Monsignor Escriva. All such directives were known by Bishop Alvaro del Portillo. Devotion to our Father. In filial piety and justice with the church, we all have the serious duty to continually expand private devotion to our Father. We must take advantage of the opportunities that arise to distribute numerous holy pictures and information bulletins. We must try to give them to persons in certain professions where their impact will be multiplied. Parishes and churches are an effective distribution center. In the case that a member has special relations with a pastor, there should be no difficulty in leaving a small pile of holy pictures and bulletins. (Not too many. It is preferable that they be exhausted and that more be requested.) If there is no objection, these can be left visible with other pious objects, books, and so forth, which are sometimes in churches or in parish centers. We should not distribute them ourselves at the church entrance. Remember that it is important to obtain donations for the expenses involved in printing the bulletins and holy pictures. The thanks for a favor received, the resolution to support a petition with the sacrifice of alms, penance, or in general, the desire to help the spread of this private devotion, which does so much good to many, many souls, can be motives to stimulate generosity, whether in the form of large or small contributions. During his lifetime, Monsignor Escriva started to plan for the third Opus Dei generation, or to be more precise, to train "the third Father." For this reason he seems to have chosen two young numeraries, Javier Echevarria and Antonio Ugalde. Both accompanied him on many of his trips, completed their theological studies, and were ordained priests at the same time. However, long before Antonio Ugalde, currently a distinguished sociology professor in the United States, left Opus Dei and then obtained secularization from the Holy See, Javier Echevarria had clearly been designated heir apparent. The Most Reverend Alvaro del Portillo died on March 23, 1994, and Monsignor Javier Echevarria was duly elected Opus Dei prelate on April 21, 1994, less than a month later. Javier Echevarria was born in Madrid on June 14, 1932. He entered Opus Dei in September 1948 at age sixteen. Two years later he was sent to the central house in Rome. Unfortunately, Javier Echevarria never had the opportunity to act on his own; he always formed part of a trio accompanying Monsignor Escriva and Monsignor del Portillo on their trips around the world. His main mission on such trips was to supervise and demand perfection in all material preparations for Monsignor Escriva and Don Alvaro del Portillo. Javier Echevarria, or "Javi" as Monsignor Escriva called him, was close to the Founder, first as his secretary, later on as one of his custodes. He completed his priestly and secular studies in Rome in a somewhat peculiar fashion: according to a colleague of his, from 1951 to 1953, he finished two years of philosophy and four of theology, plus a doctorate in canon law at the Angelicum (now Pontifical University of St. Thomas), but no studies of law took place in Rome until 1953. He was ordained a priest on August 7, 1955. In the official biography by Opus Dei, Monsignor Escriva appointed Javier Echevarria in 1953 as his secretary. Opus Dei also says that Echevarria holds a doctorate in civil law from the Lateran University in Rome, but it is not clear when Bishop Echevarria studied civil law nor when he obtained this doctorate. Opus Dei requires that to be ordained a person must not only have finished such studies but also to have had professional experience; Echevarria had none and may have been ordained before completing his doctorate. In regard to the Opus Dei administration, he managed to get any rescript or norm that originated in Rome transmitted to regional vicars in the shortest time. Outside Opus Dei Echevarria is unknown. His philosophical and theological writings are nonexistent, as are his publications on civil law. It is impossible to imagine Bishop Echevarria giving a public lecture on theology or law at Harvard University or any of the campuses of the University of California, where one is challenged in a question period. For somewhat different reasons, it is also difficult to imagine him giving a talk on freedom or on human rights to some world organization. So far my brush strokes sketch the portrait of these very different men united in the exercise of power. Lamentably, that power is covered by the mantle of the church and is exercised over Opus Dei members, who, with the noblest intentions, desire to grow close to God. To this end these people leave the good things God provided for them in this life on the altar of Opus Dei. Their north star and guide has been Monsignor Escriva. Alvaro del Portillo continued that path and did not hesitate to show those he guided a mirage of sanctity. With his lack of charisma, Bishop Echevarria assumes now the gigantic task of living the letter of Opus Dei to the hilt in order to conserve its spirit. So I would like to add a plea to Bishop Echevarria that I made in the Spanish edition of this book in anticipation of his prelature: Please God, may he reflect on his basic errors and help him take a new path toward love rather than power; to be more charitable, more Christian, and more Catholic. _______________ 1. Luis Carandell, Vida y milagros de Monsenor Escriva de Balaguer, fundador del Opus Dei (Barcelona: Laia, 1975), pp. 79-80. 2. Ibid., p. 80. 3. Monsignor Escriva liked to say that he had been superior of the Seminary before being ordained, and so Vazquez de Prada calls him in El Fundador del Opus Dei, pp. 82 and 548. However, "superior" is quite misleading, and Vazquez de Prada hedges (as Monsignor Escriva did not) by adding that the position was called "inspector" and that there were two senior seminarians each year who were inspectors. 4. Here the English-speaking numerary who composed the biographical blurb for Escriva erroneously transcribes what we were all given to understand, namely, that Escriva was never a professor at two universities. Vazquez de Prada (El fundador del Opus Dei, pp. 19, 101, and 107) says that Escriva taught at the Instituto Amado in Zaragoza and the Academia Cicuendez in Madrid. Such schools were tutoring services to help students cram for examinations, particularly entrance examinations for universities or technical schools. 5. No one knows of this publication. Since neither a publisher nor a periodical is mentioned, it is not clear whether it was just a manuscript, if indeed it existed. Since Opus Dei is no longer a secular institute, it is not mentioned by Vazquez de Prada. 6. Vazquez de Prada, El fundador del Opus Dei, p. 249. 7. See Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 1947, 39, and de Fuenmayor et al., El itinerario juridico del Opus Dei, p. 538, Appendix 25. 8. Ministerio de Justicia, Grandezas y Titulos del Reino (Madrid: Centro de Publicaciones, 1967-1969). p. 341. 9. The Venerable Servant of God, Josemaria Escriva: Founder of Opus Dei: Bulletin on the Life of Monsignor Escriva, no. 8 (New York: Office of Vice Postulation of Opus Dei in the United States, n.d.), p. 2. With slight variations, this same text is printed on back of the widely distributed holy picture with Monsignor's picture. 10. Vazquez de Prada, El fundador del Opus Dei, p. 263. 11. Ibid., p. 234. 12. Alberto Moncada, El Opus Dei, p. 126. 13. In Cronica, internal publication of Opus Dei Men's Branch, according to a former numerary. 14. Maite Sanchez Ocana told me this story in Madrid. She heard it from a numerary priest who arrived from Rome in 1967 and had been present himself when Monsignor Escriva made the remark. 15. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, no. 685.
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