The Life

On June 26, 1975 Saint Josemaría Escrivá died in Rome. On September 15 the same year, Álvaro del Portillo was elected to succeed him as President General of Opus Dei. Don Álvaro had worked almost forty years at Saint Josemaría’s side and was at that moment the General Secretary of Opus Dei.

Monsignor Álvaro del Portillo was born on March 11, 1914, in Madrid, Spain. The third of eight children, he grew up in a deeply Christian family. In 1935 he joined Opus Dei, which had been founded seven years earlier; thanks to his intelligence and availability he soon became Saint Josemaría’s strongest support. Always faithful to his vocation, he strove to sanctify his professional work and daily duties, and he carried out a broad apostolate with his classmates and colleagues.

He held doctorates in engineering, history, and canon law. On June 25, 1944, he was ordained a priest. From then on he dedicated himself exclusively to his pastoral ministry, serving the members of Opus Dei and all souls. In 1946, he moved to Rome with Saint Josemaría. His tireless service to the Church was seen in his dedication to the tasks the Holy See entrusted to him, including consultor for several Dicasteries in the Roman Curia, and especially in his active participation in the work of the Second Vatican Council.

On September 15, 1975 he was elected as Saint Josemaría’s first successor. The Holy Father John Paul II appointed him Prelate of Opus Dei on November 28, 1982, when Opus Dei was established as a personal Prelature. He was ordained a bishop by John Paul II on January 6, 1991.

In 1985, fulfilling a long-held wish of Saint Josemaría, Bishop Álvaro del Portillo founded the Roman Academy of the Holy Cross, which soon became the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. During his nineteen years as prelate of Opus Dei, the apostolic activity of the Prelature spread to twenty new countries. Bishop Álvaro del Portillo’s governance was characterized by his fidelity to the founder and his message, and by his eagerness to serve the Church. Bishop del Portillo used to say that the death of the founder of Opus Dei was the end of the foundational stage, but also the beginning of the “stage of continuity”. In this spirit he personally promoted and encouraged countless apostolic initiatives among people of all social conditions, especially in favour of the most needy, in the service of society, not only in the field of education and social assistance, but also in the sphere of the family.

His dedication to the mission he had received was always based, following the teachings of Saint Josemaría, on a deep sense of his divine filliation, fruit of the Holy Spirit’s action. This led him to seek identification with Christ in trusting abandonment to the Will of God, constantly nourished by the celebration of the Mass, prayer, love for the Eucharist, and a tender devotion to the Virgin Mary.

His love for the Church was seen in his close communion with the Pope and the bishops. A spiritual portrait of his soul would include his charity toward everyone, his tireless concern for his daughters and sons in Opus Dei, as well as humility, prudence, fortitude, simplicity and self-forgetfulness, along with the kindness, serenity, and good humor which he always spread around him. His ardent zeal to win souls for Christ was reflected in his Episcopal motto: Regnare Christum volumus! We want Christ to reign!

Early in the morning of March 23, 1994, God called his good and faithful servant to Himself. Bishop del Portillo had returned only a few hours before from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, where, with deep prayer and piety, he had followed Jesus’ footsteps from Nazareth to the Holy Sepulcher. He celebrated his last Mass on earth in the Church of the Cenacle in Jerusalem.

On that same March 23, 1994, the Holy Father John Paul II prayed before Bishop del Portillo’s remains which now lie in the crypt of the Prelatic Church of Our Lady of Peace –Bruno Buozzi, 75, Rome where he is constantly accompanied by the prayer and affection of the faithful of Opus Dei and of thousands of others.
Bibliography

Bernal, Salvador, Alvaro del Portillo, Bishop Prelate of Opus Dei,, Scepter Publishers, Princeton New Jersey, 1999