Timeline of Opus Dei

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Opus Dei: A Historical Timeline shows the historical development of Opus Dei.

History of Opus Dei

1902: 9 January. Birth of the founder, Josemaria Escriva, in Basbastro Spain
1917: Escriva received "inklings" of a special call, after seeing "footprints in the snow," sign of the generosity of a monk who walked barefooted in winter
1925: 28 March. Escriva is ordained as a priest
1928: 2 October. Founding of Opus Dei. Having "no plans nor project" of his own, Escriva "saw Opus Dei." "On this day," he wrote, "our Lord started his Work. He founded Opus Dei"
1930: 14 February. Founding of the Women's branch of Opus Dei. Against his personal opinion, Escriva was shown that women belong to Opus Dei
1933: The first center of Opus Dei was opened in Madrid: Derecho y Arquitectura, an academy teaching law and architecture. This would later become a residence for students, the base for giving catechesis to children and for taking care of the poor and sick in the area.
1936: Start of Spanish Civil War which unleashed an aggressive religious persecution
1939: The Way, Escriva's best-selling spiritual considerations, was first published. Opus Dei started to expand to other cities outside of Madrid.
1941: Opus Dei is granted first diocesan approval by the Bishop of Madrid, who told its detractors that the Opus (the Work) is truly Dei (of God)
1943: 14 February. Founding of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, an organization for the sanctification of secular priests through their pastoral work. According to Escriva, God showed him during Mass the juridical solution to enable priests to be ordained for Opus Dei.
1944: 25 June. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Alvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano
1946: Beginning of Opus Dei in Portugal, Italy, and England. Escriva moves to Rome to establish the headquarters of Opus Dei there ("All with Peter to Jesus through Mary") and prepare for final recognition
1949: Opus Dei spreads overseas. It starts in Mexico and the United States
1950: 16 June. Opus Dei is given final and complete approval by Pius XII
1958: 28 October. John XXIII is elected Pope
1962: Start of the Second Vatican Council, which proclaimed the universal call to holiness and initiates the legal framework called the personal prelature
1963: 21 June. Paul VI is elected Pope
1975: 26 June. Death of the founder. Alvaro del Portillo, his closest associate, was elected as his successor. At the end of Escriva's life, there were 60,000 members of Opus Dei from 80 nationalities.
1975: 7 July. Consecration of the Shrine of Our Lady of Torreciudad in Aragon, Northern Spain
1978: 28 August. John Paul I is elected Pope, dies 33 days later on 28 September
1978: 16 October. John Paul II is elected Pope
1982: 28 November. Establishment of Opus Dei as a personal prelature. Pope John Paul II appoints Father Alvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano as Prelate of Opus Dei
1985: Inauguration of Roman Academic Center of the Holy Cross which in 1998 would become the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
1991 6 January. Pope John Paul II ordained Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo, to the Episcopate as Titular Bishop of Vita and Prelate of Opus Dei
1992: 17 May. Beatification of the founder. One third of the world's bishops asked for the beatification. Many referred to the biblical logic: "by their fruits you shall know them." The Pope said during the Beatification Mass: With supernatural intuition, Bl. Josemaria preached untiringly the universal call to holiness and apostolate
1994: Msgr. Javier Echevarria is appointed by John Paul II as the second successor of Escriva after the death of del Portillo
2002: 6 October. Canonization of the founder. John Paul II calls him the saint of the ordinary

(See Berglar 1994, p. 202, 327-330, passim; Coverdale 2002, Vasquez de Prada 1999 and other biographies)

Special Ordinations in its Presbyterate

1948: 25 April. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal
1951: 1 June. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo Goicoechea
1955: 7 August. Ordinations to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Javier Echevarria Rodriguez and Julian Herranz Casado
1957: 4 August. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Luis Sanchez-Moreno Lira

1959: 9 August. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Fernando Saenz Lacalle
1959: 20 December. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Rafael Llano Cifuentes
1960: 14 August. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Francisco de Guruceaga Iturriza
1961: 30 April. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Luis Sanchez-Moreno Lira as Titular Bishop of Nilopolis and Auxiliary Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru
1962: 5 August. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Juan Ignacio Larrea Holguin
1963: 11 August. Ordinations to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Luis Gleisner Wobbe and Francisco Polti Santillan
1964: 25 January. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo y Goicoechea as Titular Bishop of Ariassus and Prelate of Yauyos, Peru
1964: 13 March. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Antonio Arregui Yarza
1967: 21 May. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Francisco de Guruceaga Iturriza as Titular Bishop of Villa Regis and Auxiliary Bishop of Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela
1967: 27 August. Ordinations to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Hugo Eugenio Puccini Banfi and Juan Antonio Ugarte Perez
1968: 26 April. Appointment of Msgr. Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo y Goicoechea as Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru; appointment of Msgr. Luis Sanchez-Moreno Lira as Prelate of Yauyos, Peru
1969: 15 June. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Juan Ignacio Larrea Holguin as Titular Bishop of Cellae in Proconsulari and Auxiliary Bishop of Quito, Ecuador
1969: 18 June. Appointment of Msgr. Francisco de Guruceaga Iturriza as Bishop of Margarita, Venezuela
1970: 23 June. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Alfonso Delgado Evers
1970: 23 August. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Klaus Kung
1972: Start of international catechetical trips of Escriva
1973: 5 August. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Jaume Pujol Balcells
1973: 2 October. Appointment of Msgr. Francisco de Guruceaga Iturriza as Bishop of La Guaira, Venezuela
1977: 21 August. Ordination to the Presbyterate of Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne for Opus Dei
1978: 10 January. Resignation of Msgr. Luis Sanchez-Moreno Lira as Titular Bishop of Nilopolis
1978: 18 February. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Hugo Eugenio Puccini Banfi as Titular Bishop of Oppidum Consilinum and Auxiliary Bishop of Barranquilla, Colombia
1978: 15 August. Ordinations to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Antonio Augusto Dias Duarte, José Horacio Gomez, and Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano
1980: 28 June. Succession of Msgr. Juan Ignacio Larrea Holguin as Bishop of Ibarra, Ecuador
1983: 12 June. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Ricardo Garcia Garcia
1983: 5 August. Appointment of Msgr. Juan Ignacio Larrea Holguin as Military Ordinary of Ecuador and Titular Bishop of Novi
1983: 2 October. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Juan Antonio Ugarte Perez as Titular Bishop of Castrum and Auxiliary Bishop of Abancay, Peru
1985: 6 January. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Fernando Saenz Lacalle as Titular Bishop of Tabbora and Auxiliary Bishop of Santa Ana, El Salvador
1986: 25 April. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Alfonso Delgado Evers as Bishop of Santo Tomé, Argentina
1988: 20 August. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Adolfo Rogriguez Vidal as Bishop of Los Angeles, Chile
1989: 5 March. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Klaus Kung as Bishop of Feldkirch, Austria
1986: 18 October. Appointment of Msgr. Juan Antonio Ugarte Perez as Auxiliary Bishop of Cuzco, Peru
1987: 4 December. Appointment of Msgr. Hugo Eugenio Puccini Banfi as Bishop of Santa Marta, Colombia
1988: 25 March. Appointment of Msgr. Juan Ignacio Larrea Holguin as Coadjutor Archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, with right of succession
1988: 3 July. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne as Titular Bishop of Turuzi and Auxiliary Bishop of Ayacucho o Huamanga, Peru
1988: 20 August. Ordination to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Phillipe Jean-Charles Jourdan
1989: 7 December. Succession of Msgr. Juan Ignacio Larrea Holguin as Archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Resignation as Military Ordinary of Ecuador
1990: 29 June. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Rafael Llano Cifuentes as Titular Bishop fo Mades and Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil
1991: 6 January. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Julian Herranz Casado as Titular Archbishop of Vertara and Secretary of the dicastery for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, Roman Curia
1991: 15 August. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Luis Gleisner Wobbe as Titular Bishop of Mididi and Auxiliary Bishop of Rancagua, Chile
1991: 4 December. Appointment of Msgr. Juan Antonio Ugarte Perez as Auxiliary Bishop of Yauyos, Peru
1993: 13 June. Ordinations to the Presbyterate for Opus Dei of Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Errazuriz and Anthony Muheria
1993: 3 July. Appointment of Msgr. Fernando Saenz Lacalle as Apostolic Administrator of the Military, El Salvador
1994: 19 February. Resignation of Msgr. Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal as Bishop of Los Angeles, Chile
1994: 25 February. Appointment of Msgr. Alfonso Delgado Evers as Bishop of Posadas, Argentina
1994: 23 March. Death of Msgr. Alvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano
1994: 22 August. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Francisco Polti Santillan as Bishop of Santo Tome, Argentina
1995: 6 January. Episcopal consecration of Father Javier Echevarria Rodriguez as Titular Bishop of Cilibia and Prelate of Opus Dei, by Pope John Paul II
1995: 22 April. Appointment of Msgr. Fernando Saenz Lacalle as Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador
1995: 13 May. Appointment of Msgr. Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne as Archbishop of Ayacurcho o Huamanga, Peru
1996: 2 March. Appointment of Msgr. Luis Sanchez-Moreno Lira as Archbishop of Arequipa, Peru
1997: 15 March. Appointment of Msgr. Juan Antonio Ugarte Perez as Prelate of Yauyos, Peru
1997: 19 June. Resignation of Msgr. Fernando Saenz Lacalle as Apostolic Administrator for the Military, El Salvador
1998: 4 May. Death of Msgr. Ignacio Maria de Orbegozo y Goicoechea, Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru
1999: 9 January. Appointment of Msgr. Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne as Archbishop of Lima, Peru
2000: 24 May Installation of Msgr. Alfonso Delgado Evers as Archbishop of San Juan de Cuyo, Argentina
2001: 21 February. Elevation of Archbishop of Lima, Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne to Cardinal Priest of S. Camillo de Lellis, Rome
2001: 26 March. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father José Horacio Gomez as Titular Bishop of Belali and Auxiliary Bishop of Denver, Colorado
2001: 10 July. Appointment of Msgr. Luis Gleisner Wobbe as Auxiliary Bishop of La Serena, Chile
2001: 18 October. Resignation of Msgr. Francisco de Guruceaga Iturriza as Bishop of La Guaira, Venezuela
2003: 7 May. Retirement of Msgr. Juan Ignacio Larrea Holguin as Archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Appointment of Msgr. Antonio Arregui Yarza as Archbishop of Guyaquil, Ecuador.
2003: 21 October. Elevation of Archbishop Julian Herranz Casado, President of the Dicastery for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts as Cardinal Deacon of S. Eugenio, Rome
2003: 8 November. Death of Msgr. Adolfo Rodriguez Vidal, Bishop Emeritus of Los Angeles, Chile
2003: 22 November. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Ignacio Gonzalez Errazuriz as Bishop of San Bernardo in Chile
2003: 29 November. Appointment of Msgr. Juan Antonio Ugarte Perez as Archbishop of Cuzco, Peru; retirement of Msgr. Luis Sanchez-Moreno Lira as Archbishop of Arequipa, Peru
2004: 10 January. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Anthony Muheria as Bishop of Embu, Kenya
2004: 20 June. Installation of Msgr. Rafael Llano Cifuentes as Bishop of Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2004: 19 September. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Jaume Pujol Balcells as Archbishop of Tarragona, Spain
2004: 3 October. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano as Bishop of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay
2004: 7 October. Appointment of Msgr. Klaus Kung as Bishop of Sankt Pölten, Austria
2004: 4 December. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Ricardo Garcia Garcia as Prelate of Yauyos, Peru, with Cardinal Cipriani Thorne as principal consecrator
2005: 15 February. Installation of Msgr. José Horacio Gomez as Archbishop of San Antonio in Texas
2005: 12 March. Ordination to the Episcopate of Father Antonio Augusto Dias Duarte as Titular Bishop of Tuscamia and Auxiliary Bishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro
2005: 23 March. Appointment of Father Phillipe Jean-Charles Jourdan as Titular Bishop of Pertusa and Apostolic Administrator of Estonia (Episcopal consecration scheduled for September 8, 2005)

Sources

-- A study of Opus Dei based on the life story and work of its founder written by a professor of history at the University of Cologne
Salvador Bernal, Msgr. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer: a profile of the Founder of Opus Dei, Veritas 1978.
Dennis Helming, Footprints in the snow. A pictorial biography of the founder of Opus Dei. Scepter 1986. - the first biography written by an American.
Andres Vasquez de Prada: The Founder of Opus Dei. The Life of Josemaria Escrivá, Scepter Publishers 1997.
Pilar Urbano, El hombre de Villa Tevere: los años romanos de Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, Plaza & Janés, 1995. ISBN 84-9793-378-

[Personal Prelature of Opus Dei at Catholic Hierarchy Website]

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