Forja

St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer was born in Barbastro (Huesca, Spain) on January 9, 1902. He began his ecclesiastical studies in 1918 at the Seminary of Logroño, and continued them, from 1920, at the Seminary of St. Francis of Paola in Zaragoza, where he was appointed Superior in 1922. In 1923 he enrolled in the Civil Law course at the University of Zaragoza. Ordained a Deacon on December 20, 1924, he received the Priesthood on March 28, 1925. On October 2, 1928, St. Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei. In 1934 he was appointed Rector of the Santa Isabel Patronage. During the Spanish Civil War he exercised his priestly ministry in Madrid, and then in Burgos. In 1946, he established his residence in Rome, where he remained until the end of his life. St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer was a Consultant to the Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law and to the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities; Honorary Prelate of His Holiness, and Academician "ad honorem" of the Pontifical Roman Academy of Theology. He was also Grand Chancellor of the Universities of Navarra (Pamplona, ​​Spain) and Piura (Peru). St. Josemaría Escrivá died on June 26, 1975. St. John Paul II proceeded with the Beatification of St. Josemaría Escrivá on May 17, 1992, and subsequently, on October 6, 2002, with his Canonization. Among his published works are books on spirituality that have been translated into numerous languages: The Way, The Holy Rosary, Christ is Passing By, Friends of God, Stations of the Cross, Furrow, and The Forge.