When the University of Toronto reopened on January 7, 2002, the students found a display in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Josemaria in two large glass cases next to the main elevator in the St. Michael's College Library. "Elevators are places where you wait, so why not have them read some fascinating material about the Church", said Professor Elmar Kremer, a retired philosophy professor at the University of Toronto who organised the exhibit with the help of some of his colleagues.
He felt that the Centennial was a good opportunity to make written and visual information about Blessed Josemaria available to students and faculty, but the display became all the more timely with the Pope John Paul II's decision to canonize the founder of Opus Dei on October 6th, 2002. The library serves about 4000 undergraduate students. In addition, the library of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies is on the top floor of the same building.
The display included copies of Blessed Josemaria's writings published in a great variety of languages. There were for example editions of The Way, the most widely read book of the founder, not only in English and French, but also in Chinese, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, and Swahili. One graduate student who had attended recollections at Ernescliff College in the University campus, said that he was pleased and surprised to see a well-documented public display in commemoration of Blessed Josemaria's Centennial. Other students were impressed with the universal character of Opus Dei, which was clearly indicated by the great variety of foreign language editions of Blessed Josemaria's works. The display also included copies of several biographies about Blessed Josemaria, including the recent volume on the early years of his life by Andrés Vásquez de Prada. There were also photographs of the founder, and mounted texts about Blessed Josemaria and Opus Dei. In the central panel was an excerpt from a homily that presented Escriva's great dream:
I dream--and the dream has come true--of multitudes of God's children, sanctifying themselves as ordinary citizens, sharing the ambitions and endeavors of their colleagues and friends. I want to shout to them about this divine truth: if you are there in the middle of ordinary life, it doesn't mean Christ has forgotten about you or hasn't called you. He has invited you to stay among the activities and concerns of the world. He wants you to know that your human vocation, your profession, your talents, are not omitted from his divine plans. He has sanctified them and made them a most acceptable offering to his Father
Professor Kremer updated the contents from time to time, and included news about events surrounding the centennial commemoration such as the Mass celebrated by the Papal Nuncio in St. Michael's Cathedral. Many who looked at the display took prayer cards available to ask this intercessor for their own needs. There were undoubtedly a good number who were asking for help to prepare well their exams.