Opus Dei

"Dora was always coherent with her Christian life. She lived the normal circumstances of each day with a generous self-giving and a cheerfulness that was evident," says Mons. Javier Echevarria, Prelate of Opus Dei.

“Dora once said that she thought she was the happiest woman in the world,” remembers Ezia Mucciarelli, who worked with Dora for 25 years, from August of 1971 until March of 1996.

Dora del Hoyo's example is an inspiration for the young people working in the Jahazi Conference Centre in Mombasa, Kenya. The first phase of Dora's cause of canonization was recently concluded in Rome.

Reactions from people who knew Dora personally, or who know of her life from other channels... all of them agree on one thing: Dora was somebody who was close to others, through her friendship and in her work.

On October 24 in Rome, at the closing of the first phase of the Servant of God's cause of canonization, Bishop Javier Echevarria summed up her life with these words: "serenity, peace, desires to be faithful."

​Some time ago, we decided to change part of the floor of the house. When the workers went to collect the new wood we had chosen, they found that the batch that was available had already been sold.

"What I like about Dora is the way that she loved others," says Lucka from the Czech Republic. Lucka is 15 years old and got to know Dora by reading her biography, ‘A Lighted Lamp’. "Of course, no one is born a saint, but Dora struggled to be one. In her presence, everyone felt loved and at the same time, she loved each person in a special way, without having preferences. I think that if we were more like her, we would make life more pleasant for others."

With this story, I wish to thank Dora for all the times she has lent me a hand. If it were not for her, many times I wouldn't make it to the end of day.

My dog Romulus, a three-month old puppy, had been sick for some time. We brought him to the vet twice, and then finally they kept him there overnight. It turned out that he had a rotavirus.

Dora del Hoyo, whose cause of canonization has been opened, recalls her first memories of Saint Josemaria, in this interview done in 2000, four years before her death at the age of 90.