Opus Dei was founded by Saint Josemaría Escrivá on 2 October 1928. As a young priest he was doing a retreat in Madrid when he saw the job that God had given him to do, which was to remind all men and women that everyone is called to holiness.

In 1998, Cardinal Basil Hume celebrated a public Mass on Opus Dei's 70th anniversary. In his homily he said:

"It was on this feast day in 1928, when the founder of Opus Dei understood that he was to urge men, and indeed women as well, in all walks of life, to seek holiness and carry out an apostolate in the midst of the world, through the excercise of their profession or trade, without change of life. (...) Already those words, 70 years ago, anticipated the Vatican Council's decree on the place and the role of the laity in the world: the laity to live out their lives and to grow in holiness."

St Josemaría visited Britain several times between 1958 and 1962, and referred to it as "a great and beautiful place - a crossroads of the world". He was canonised in 2002.

Devotion to the saint is widespread. Some of the favours received through his intercession are reported in the Newsletter and on the website www.josemariaescriva.info 

The photo shows the stained-glass window of St Josemaría in the church of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, Hereford, in the Archdiocese of Cardiff.

The anniversary Mass will be in Westminster Cathedral on Wednesday 8 October at 5.30pm. Confessions before the Mass from 5.00pm.