Opus Dei

The following homily was given by Fr Andrew Soane in the Mass celebrated in honour of St Josemaria at St Thomas More, Swiss Cottage, on 28 June 2025

The historian José Luis González Gullón recounts some previously unpublished details of 26 June 1975, the day Saint Josemaría passed away.

The song “Aprite le finestre” was the piece with which singer Franca Raimondi won the popular Sanremo Music Festival in 1956, Italy’s most important musical competition. St. Josemaría liked it and saw it as a simple and radiant expression of Christian hope in eternal life. He told those around him that he would like it to be sung at the moment of his death.

As we commemorate the anniversary of St Josemaría’s death this month, we share three favours obtained through his intercession, all experienced within the family: recovery after a heart attack, a journey to reunite with loved ones, and a pregnancy after several miscarriages.

In 2025, Pentecost will be celebrated on Sunday, 8 June. The 10-day devotion to the Holy Spirit is a custom to prepare for this feast, 50 days after Easter.

26 June is the feast of Saint Josemaría. To mark the occasion, Masses will be celebrated in different cities and towns in Britain.

On 31 May, the Church celebrates the feast of our Lady visiting her cousin Elizabeth. "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb! And how have I deserved that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Lk 1:42)

Here are some of the notes in which Saint Josemaría described his affection for the Pope.

In this homily from "In Love with the Church," Saint Josemaria reflects on our love for our mother the Church and trust in the Holy Spirit.

On 2 May 1986, Bl. Alvaro del Portillo celebrated the dedication ceremony of the prelatic church of Our Lady of Peace. This is the Marian invocation to which the prelatic church of Opus Dei in Rome is dedicated, and it is the place where St. Josemaría Escrivá's mortal remains repose.