Roman Catholics observe the Feast of St. Josemaria Escriva, a modern-day saint and the revered founder of the Opus Dei, on Sunday, June 26.
Since the feast falls on a Sunday, many parishes will celebrate the commemorative masses in his honor either on June 25 or June 27.
On Monday, June 27, Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles John Brown will preside over a concelebrated high mass in honor of St. Josemaria Escriva at 6 p.m. at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila. Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula will co-celebrate the mass together with other bishops and priests. The confessional will be available starting at 5 p.m.
Holy masses in commemoration of his liturgical feast will be celebrated in at least 75 churches in 32 cities across the country.
In a pastoral letter, the late Bishop Javier Echevarría, who served as St. Josemaria’s executive secretary, said: “St. Josemaria Escriva is proving to be a truly powerful intercessor for families more than forty years after his death. Forty-six years have gone by since that 26th of June in 1975 when God called our founder to the joy of heaven. How many gifts he has gained for us since then! And he has certainly fulfilled his promise.”
Born on Jan. 9, 1902 in Barbastro, Spain, St. Josemaria was a Roman Catholic priest from Spain who founded Opus Dei in 1928, an organization of laypeople and priests dedicated to the teaching that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity.
He died on June 26, 1975 and was beatified on May 17, 1992.
Then pope, now St. John Paul II, who canonized St. Josemaria on October 6, 2002, said the Spanish priest should be “counted among the great witnesses of Christianity.”