Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - The only existing Personal Prelature in the Catholic Church celebrates is 25th anniversary as a prelature. Opus Dei is currently present in 61 countries in the world, with over 85,000 members. It was founded in 1928, by a Spanish priest named Father Josemaria Escriva, who died in 1975 and was canonized a saint in 2002, by Pope John Paul II. The ecclesial status of personal prelature was canonically established after the Second Vatican Council. Opus Dei - the “work of God” - acquired this status through the Apostolic Constitution “Ut sit”, presented to the work in November 1982.
The creation of the Prelature and its meaning, the history and mission it lives, the service it offers the Universal Church, and the steps that it has taken to arrive at its juridical configuration and civil recognition, have all been the focus of the Study Day which took place in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, on March 10.
In his speech, Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and Prelate of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarria told the story of the Prelature, from its foundations until the pontifical recognition. “After years spent in prayer, Saint Josemaria received the illumination for the entire work,” i.e., he understood that what the Lord asked of him would come to pass. In the years following 1928, a time marked by a great division and wounding of the relations between civil life and the Church, Saint Josemaria felt called to found an institution for everyday Christians, convinced that, “the faith can and should motivate the human experience from within.” Therefore, from the beginning, one of the essential characteristics of the Prelature was to lead all common Christians of all social classes and professions, to the sanctification of their work and daily life, In this sense, from its dawn until today, the mission of Opus Dei can be summed up in the formation of its members, that all may carry out an apostolic activity within their own geographic location and ecclesial situation.
In 1941, Opus Dei received diocesan approval from the Bishop of Madrid. In 1947, it was approved by the Holy See, and in 1950, received its definitive approval by Pius XII. Prior to the Second Vatican Council, the Founder began a long search to find what juridical configuration would be appropriate for Opus Dei. “A seed has been planted; and sooner or later it will give fruit.” These were the words of Saint Josemaria, who died June 26, 1975, before ever seeing those long-awaited fruits. With this in mind, Bishop Echevarria and the entire work of Opus Dei renew their appreciation in recognition of John Paul II, the Pope who made their founder’s wish a reality.
Another address was given on this Study Day, by Cardinal Julian Herranz, on the steps leading up to the “Ut sit,” focusing on the fact that the Apostolic Constitution has given “a just form to a charism that has always exercised its service in delicate communion with ecclesiastical authority.” A rare harmony between charism and norma, between freedom and rights, which has also been an expressed wish of Benedict XVI, in the speech written for the encounter to be held in the University La Sapienza: “(…in the faculty of jurisprudence) it is a matter of giving the right form to human freedom, which is always a freedom in reciprocal communion: Law is the presupposition of freedom, not its antagonist.”
“I am grateful to the Prelature for the great service it performs for the Church in Rome, as well as in other places.” These were some of the words pronounced in the brief yet concise contribution to the Day, by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar General of the Holy Father for the Diocese of Rome. The Prelature shares in the mission entrusted to the Bishops, based on holiness; the mission of the Church is holiness. The living action of Opus Dei, according to the Cardinal Vicar, is “a service that is carried out in a natural harmony, within the dioceses,” whose fruits of sanctity and apostolic life are at the disposition of every person. (PC) (Agenzia Fides; righe 53, parole 694)
