CHAPTER 4 page 193-209
DATE/NUMB
ERS
PLACE/THINGS
PERSONS
1950
1951
Fondi Lake in Terracina
Marquis Giovanni Bisleti
Don Alvaro suggested
The Father and Don Alvaro saw a twofold
purpose
June 1, 1951, the
founder wrote to the
General Council in
Spain
MILESTONE
he now faced a tremendously difficult twofold
task: to promote the cohesion of the Work while, at the same time, fostering
its worldwide expansion
1950, as we have seen, how to pay for God’s work was much on his
mind. In earlier times, kings and patrons had built churches and hospitals,
founded colleges, and endowed charitable institutions.
The founder wrote to his daughters and sons; give thanks to Divine Providence for the
current situation,see all your goals accomplished,don’t try to rely on anything except: the powerful help of
divine grace; your life generously dedicated to the service of God and
of souls , practice of your professional work, carried out
with full effort
1951 a partial solution to their financial problems appeared
A friend of Don Alvaro’s and owned a large farm near Fondi Lake in Terracina on the coast south of Rome, and he wanted to sell the property
This was to buy the whole farm at a reasonable price, on credit, then divide the thousand or so hectares of land into plots to be offered for sale, on very reasonable
terms, to the three hundred farm families.
solve some of Opus Dei’s financial problems as well as helping the tenant farmers, and Opus Dei would have an opportunity to do apostolic work in Terracina.
“Don’t send any more money for the Roman College, because we have that problem taken care of; we’ll only accept help, a little or a lot, from the Americans.”
The Terracina operation
promised to be of great
help
cheese, eggs, fruit, and
meat-coming from Salto di
Fondi
A small part of the farm, which included the old main house, was to be converted into a conference center, and a place where the Roman College students could get
some rest. Another section would be used to grow food for the centers in Rome
Don Alvaro
Aug-16
Starting in 1952, and
continuing until
1967
He was grateful for the small quantities of these
ask Carmen to take charge of the house at Terracina, as she had at La Pililla and at Molinoviejo.
Carmen and Santiago arrived in Rome.
Tenant farmers became owners paying for their farms in installments and being cared for spiritually by Opus Dei priests.
the Roman College students living at Villa Tevere took turns going out to Terracina in the summer to rest and study. While by no means a recreational paradise, it was a
relief from the heat of Rome. That area of Terracina, consisting of dried marshland, dunes, and pinewoods, was in the center of a long arc of solitary low beaches, lapped
by the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea. At the north, the arc ended with the promontory of Mount Circeo, while at the southern end, one could see the village of Sperlonga,
often through a light haze
The Salto di Fondi project
within the general picture of the material needs of the Work in those years, was another of those continual financial breaks that God gave the founder
“opposition by the good,”
which would not allow them to work in peace.
Father made a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Saint Nicholas of Bari, in southern Italy
as we recall, was Opus Dei’s intercessor for financial matters, and the founder had had recourse to him in the midst of the material difficulties involved in setting up the
first centers of the Work in Madrid.
July 6, 1954.
Saint Nicholas,
In the following
year, 1955
On April 20, 1955, t
November 22, 1956 Rome
In 1958
The Father’s first letter of
1959
May. 1962
Second Vatican Council
Leonardo Castelli
the founder met Leonardo Castelli, a hardworking and very generous man who had become good friends with Don Alvaro, and who had a family construction company
there was signed with the Castelli company a contract whereby, as of the following month, it took over the responsibility for the construction work. Thanks to this
arrangement, it became possible to pick up the pace of the work.
Alvaro is not slowing down, even though he’s still doing pretty badly. The doctor is making him take a heap of medicines, and he is improving, gradually— perhaps
because the doctor writes on all the prescriptions (together with the prescribed medicines) these words: “molto riposo” [“lots of rest”]. And until the financial situation
clears up, he neither wants to take that “riposo,” nor do I dare impose it on him
Don Alvaro underwent a thorough medical checkup. During the last days of 1958 he was so seriously ill that the doctors considered doing surgery
I am constantly repeating the [aspiration] “Omnia in bonum” [“All for the good!”], although at times our minds cannot grasp what the Lord’s plans are. I say this because
Alvaro, after an improvement that lasted for forty-eight hours, has suffered a relapse. Last night he had a fever of 40
They did have to operate. And three years later, in May 1962, Don Alvaro had another serious relapse
Preparatory Work of Alvaro
spring of 1955
1951
1956
The signing of the contract with the Castelli company
Molinoviejo-The first
general congress was held
The second was to be held
in 1956
JULY 3 1956
25th of AUGUST
President General
AUG. 19
Spanish
Casteli Castilian
Bishop del Portillo
be adopted as the official language for the assemblies of members of Opus Dei from different countries, and also for the publishing of internal documents.
The Work originated in Castile; Castilian is the native tongue of the founder ; and the earliest documents of the Institute are written in Castilian.
second session, August 24, the congress considered the move of the General Council to Rome and new appointments to the council.27 The results were communicated a
few days later to the Holy See, in a letter addressed to Cardinal Valerio Valeri:
a letter addressed to Cardinal Valerio Valeri: I have the pleasure of communicating to Your Eminence that, in
accord with the decisions made at the Second General Congress of
Opus Dei, recently held in Einsiedeln, the General Curia of said
Institute has been moved to Rome, to 73 Bruno Buozzi. Also, in
fulfillment of my duty, I am sending you the attached list of the new
members of the General Council of Opus Dei elected at that
Congress
by then Prelate of Opus Dei, offered this assessment: “It turned out to be a real blessing, because the constant, daily, physical presence of the founder with his sons on
the General Council was the decisive factor for maintaining a good spirit, for the unity of the Work, and for its expansion.”
Carmen Escrivá
the founder’s sister, died in Rome on June 20, 1957. She first went there in April, 1948, at his request, to lend help to the women who took care of the tasks of
administration. He called on her again in 1952, as we have seen, to get Salto di Fondi in operation. She saw to the renovation of the old estate’s main house—working in
isolation, without drinking water, without a telephone, and with no one to help her. A year later, Salto di Fondi was ready for regular use by the Roman College students.
August 24,
Rome, September
10, 1956
The death of Aunt Carmen
(1957)
Via degli Scipioni-small
house
Carmen and Santiago lived
Chato
Chuchi and Pistón
Carmen
In the dining room of Villa
Vecchia,
Carmen and Santiago
end of 1956
March 4, 1957
was a memorable day at
Villa Tevere.
For its site, the Father chose Einsiedeln, a quiet place with a good hotel in which to spend a few days in work and prayer. Einsiedeln is a Swiss village with a population of
a few thousand. Its main attraction is a basilica dedicated to our Lady; the open spaces, restrained baroque style, and broad esplanade (Klosterplatz) of the basilica are
impressive
when he started asking for prayers. “Pray, and get others to pray, for the work of the upcoming general congress.”,
To make
sure everything was ready at the Pfauen Hotel , where the participants would be staying
Father, as President, communicated to the Holy See the time and place of the event.
nine of the Opus Dei electors presented in Rome a motion to be submitted for consideration by the assembly at Einsiedeln. None of the signers was Spanish, or from a
region in which Spanish was spoken. (They were from the United States, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, and England.)
Bishop Antonio Samoré
Encarnación Ortega-Central Secretary, had
accompanied Carmen to
the doctor’s office.
a very well-bred and good-natured bulldog, was a fixture.
who were livelier but not so loud
Carmen loved nature. In her sewing room she had a big birdcage that she had to move aside so that her visitors and she could see one another. There were flowers in the
garden that supplied roses for the oratories of the Work, and on the terrace she grew strawberries.
a display cabinet lined with orange velvet held cups, glasses, a crystal and silver punch bowl, and some other glass and ceramic objects— the remnants of china that had
been in Doña Dolores’ house.
brought some family belongings with them. From Madrid came a sampler stitched by their grandmother Florencia—the equivalent of a master’s thesis for an educated
young lady of the previous century.
Carmen begun to suffer from chronic weakness and fatigue. She lost her appetite and had frequent dizzy spells. Finally she saw a doctor.
had been invited to consecrate the altar of the oratory of the Most Holy Trinity, where the Father would ordinarily say Mass. On that same day the General Council was
completed, and its altar was consecrated by the Father
When they returned, the director of the women’s center told Don Alvaro that the diagnosis was cancer of the liver.
was that the cancer was advanced. Two days later, the Father wrote to Santiago, who was then in Madrid:
I am praying for you and your intentions in a special way during
these days of your absence from Rome. The Lord has let us suffer the
pain of learning that Carmen has a kind of cancer that is very difficult
to treat. This is what the doctors tell us after many tests and X-rays.
She has a lot of company and is calm. When you write her, don’t say
anything about what I am telling you. If she does not improve, we will
tell her when the time is right.
news on April 23
Alvaro
Dearest Santiago:
gave her the news,” the founder wrote to Madrid, “and she—Laus Deo!—took it like a holy person of Opus Dei: with courage, with serenity, with peace
On May 15
1941
On his way to Paris
Doctor to Carmen
The doctors said Carmen had 2 months to live
Father Jenaro Fernández, Procurator General of
the Augustinian Recollects,
Don Alvaro asked to look after Carmen
not really at ease about leaving, the founder and Don Alvaro left for France. The day before, he visited his sister. The supernatural optimism of their conversation was
superimposed on a great heaviness of heart that neither spoke of
when he set out for Lérida to give a priests’ retreat, leaving his mother sick in Madrid
he made a visit to Lourdes to ask our Lady to cure his sister. When he got back to Rome, he went directly to the house on the Via degli Scipioni.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
may my soul rest in peace
with you;” “Jesus, Mary,
and Joseph, assist me in my
last agony.”
Carmen recited aspirations that brought her comfort as she waited for death.
priest-brother
page 204 to 209
On June 18
Don Alvaro
On the next day he
brought his sister
viaticum
Villa Tevere
José Luis Pastor
two-thirty in the
morning of June 20
the feast of Corpus Christi.
Villa Tevere-Get together
happened
Father Said
Father Fernandez
in the crypt of Our Lady of Peace
on June 23
Via degli Scipioni to the
central headquarters of
Opus Dei
1975
sealed envelopeFiat, adimpleatur
prepared her for death, speaking of heaven, the Blessed Trinity, our Lady, the angels and the saints, and encouraging her “to transform her bodily pains into glory.”
“Carmen,” her brother said to her one day, “your remains will be next to mine.”
he asked her if she would like to receive the Anointing of the Sick, and she happily said yes.
put on the surplice and stole and administered the anointings, while the Father stood sorrowfully in a corner of the room
He explained the rites and helped her say the responses:
“Do you believe that the sacred host that I hold in my hand is the
Body of Christ?”
“I do believe!”
“Now say with me: Lord, I am not worthy
After administering the viaticum, the Father returned here and worked until evening, then returned to his sister’s house for his second
sleepless night at her bedside. Kneeling at the foot of her bed, eyes fixed on
the triptych of our Lady at its head, he continually repeated the “Blessed be
your purity” prayer, each time ending with the plea, “Don’t leave her, my
Mother, don’t leave her.”
Carmen's doctor giving her an injection and found no pulse and who told father that she had died.
the Father got ready to say Mass in the oratory that had been set up in Carmen’s house.50 He told those present that he would say the Mass for the repose of Carmen’s
soul. He celebrated the requiem Mass with great devotion, yet, oddly,
did not think at all of Carmen either at the Commemoration of the Living,
or the Commemoration of the Dead. oyfully he recounted what had happened to
Don Alvaro and Javier Echevarría, adding that he would leave a written
account.5
During a get-together here that day he said: “The tears ended
the moment she died. Now I’m happy, my sons; grateful to the Lord, who
has taken her to heaven. I’m filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” Commend her soul to God, say prayers for her,
but I am sure that she is already enjoying God—ma proprio certo;
completely sure.
“It’s like what we told you about Isidoro, only better,” he added. And as he was leaving he said, “I came so that you could see that the Father is hap-py, con-tent”
(stressing each syllable) “with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”
the Augustinian who came for her spiritual needs in the last months of her life, said he had never seen another sick person so united to God
Her remains, as her brother had promised, are interred close to his
The coffin was brought from Via degli Scipioni to the central headquarters of Opus Dei . The inscription on the tomb, in letters of gilded bronze, reads: “CARMEN. 16–
7–1899—20–6–1957.”
Our Lady of Sorrows;- was built in Tor d’Aveia
center (near
L’Aquila in central Italy) and the other to Our
to express gratitude to his mother and sister for all the sacrifices they had made for the Work, he directed that two shrines to our Lady be constructed
Lady of Mount Carmel (Nuestra Señora del
Carmen)-was built
at the Roman College of the Holy Cross in Rome
“Not to be opened until after my death. Mariano, 2–VII–
1957.”
God’s Most Holy Will, He slowly prayed the prayer that gives peace:
“a clear sign” that Carmen had already entered in gaudium Domini sui [into the joy of her Lord].
Rome, June 25, 1957
When fr wrote the letter after Carmen died.
stone bearing the
inscription:
“Ad perpetuam omnium Operis Dei defunctorum memoriam” [“In perpetual memory of all the deceased members of Opus Dei”].
When the construction of Villa Tevere began, despite a glaring lack of funds, he strove mightily to make his sons and daughters aware that they needed to lend a hand.
Speedy expansion of the Work, and its great service to the Church, depended on speed in completing this project.
were filled with ceaseless anxiety and dire poverty. But eventually there were results.
the founder finally had priests to send out. His joy is all but tangible in these words, written to the Counselors of Mexico, the United States, and Chile:
be able to count on getting new people every year—if you respond to my calls, which are calls from God.
The formation battle
years 1949 to 1954
August of 1954
December
inside the letter toconselors
of Mexico
“birds” (which, by God’s grace, are not lacking), and “birdseed” (up to now we haven’t been able to get enough of it). We also need the “birdcage”: the buildings of the
Roman College of the Holy Cross. Consider: Until we get to the end—the last stone, the last chair—it’s as if the “house of the Work” were on fire
The founder wrote the Counselor of Mexico:
Columbia
January 9, 1960
Roman College students
At eleven in the
morning of January
9
Don Alvaro
“first stones,”
You’d like six priests? I’ll send them to you and as many more every year if you don’t abandon us to these builders and these financial worries.
without the priests to care for them.63 And sending priests to the regions required a lot of “students, prayers, sacrifices, and financial contributions.
— the founder’s fifty-eighth birthday, The construction at Villa Tevere was completed
worked tirelessly at painting ceilings and providing the final touches
, after everyone had wished him a happy birthday, a ceremony took place marking the completion of that arduous building project that he had called a “continuous
miracle.” 66 Its launching had taken faith; its continuation, a kind of divine madness, and its completion, heroic fidelity. “Love is deeds, not sweet words” he had once
been told. Perhaps that is why, pointing to the walls of Villa Tevere he would say, “They seem made of stone, but they’re really made of love.”
read aloud a thanksgiving to the Lord for the completion of the work. The parchment was placed in a small lead box along with coins from the countries where Opus Dei
had members
Before the construction foreman sealed the box in a niche in the apse, the Father said a few words. He was not keen on “first stones,” he remarked, having seen projects
that never made it beyond the ground-breaking; what really counted was the laying of the last stone