ROME—More than 300,000 people squeezed in and around St. Peter's Square in Rome on Oct. 6 to see Pope John Paul II declare Opus Dei's founder, Josemaría Escrivá, a saint of the universal Church.

It brought together Opus Dei members and supporters from 84 countries. Organizers said a third came from Italy, a third from other European countries and a third from outside Europe. About 4,000 people came from the United States.

During the solemn ceremony, which 29 television networks beamed to five continents, even the numerous children present were quiet and composed as a white-clad John Paul pronounced the words of the canonization.

The Holy Father, who in 1982 made Opus Dei a “personal prelature” (a sort of global diocese) recalled how Msgr. Escrivá dedicated his life to spreading the word that “we are all called to holiness, regardless of race, class, culture or age.”

In his homily later, John Paul praised the message and teaching of the new saint, who encouraged Catholics to seek holiness in ordinary, everyday life, especially through work. “This teaching is increasingly urgent and important today,” the Pope said, “as materialism threatens to dissolve the genuine identity of Christ's disciples.”

Opus Dei (Latin for “Work of God”), the movement founded by the charismatic Spanish priest in 1928, now numbers approximately 84,000 members worldwide. They come from a range of backgrounds and do a wide variety of jobs but all strive to live out their faith according to the same guidelines set out by Msgr. Josemaría Escrivá.

The mood among those present at the canonization was one of sober jubilation.

“It's really encouraging to see so many people who think and live as I do,” said Emmanuel Bala, a 40-year-old civil servant from Nigeria who said he came into contact with Opus Dei five years ago through a friend. Currently a collaborator with the group, Bala said he was considering becoming a full member in the next few years.

“The canonization is wonderful because this message is so needed today,” said Mary Zeidler, 20, a student from St Louis. “Most of us spend 90% of our time working, so to know that you can be a saint by doing this—and not be doing anything astounding—is tremendously important.”

The head of Opus Dei, Bishop Javier Echevarría Rodriguez, made a similar point in an official statement released the day before the canonization. Bishop Echevarría, who lived and worked with Msgr. Escrivá for 25 years, said he had witnessed the new saint's daily struggles to achieve holiness precisely in the way he prescribed to others.

“The founder used to say that the nub of the message that God had placed in his soul was the sanctification of work and of ordinary life,” Bishop Echevarría said. “I think the new saint speaks to working men and women, saying, ‘Cheer up, because there, in the heart of your less-than-exciting days, you can discover Christ.’ It is this ordinary existence which can and must become full of the love of God.”

For Rolando Castro, a publisher from Peru who traveled to Rome with his family, one of the important points about the canonization of Opus Dei's founder is that it draws the whole Church's attention to Msgr. Escrivá's ideas, announcing that his message is one for all Catholics. “This is something we've been waiting for for a long time, and it's very satisfying,” he said.

Castro said he had been a numerary member of Opus Dei for 10 years and that it had strongly affected his approach to running his book business.

“I think I treat my workers better than many other bosses,” he said. “I pay them decent wages and don't yell at them. Also, I approach the accounting and other chores with a new spirit—I'm doing it for God.”

Elizabeth Heil, 26, an American Opus Dei member working at the Vatican museums, said the spirituality also causes her to look inward.

“This canonization is a call to look at your own life, put it against his and take this as an impetus go deeper,” she said.

“I'm a long way from sainthood, there's no doubt about that,” she added with a smile. “But St. JosÈmaria is okay about that and it's such a comfort. When I mess up, I always remember how he said the point was to get up and start again, not to never mess up.”

Chorus of Critics

Opus Dei and its founder have faced their share of controversy over the years. Some of its critics have been priests and members who left the movement, complaining about restraints on their psychological freedom. It has also been targeted in the secular press and accused of being a secretive society wielding surreptitious power both in the Church and in politics.

“We've had some bad press over the years, but it's fading now as people start to understand our message and way of working,” said Father Tom Bohlin, a high-ranking official in Opus Dei who is responsible for relations with the Holy See and bishops. In an interview with the Register, Father Bohlin stressed that the only area in which the members have to abide by strict tenets is in matters of spirituality and theology, which remain very much within the Catholic mainstream.

Father Bohlin, 48, from New Jersey, admitted that a few priests had left Opus Dei over the years, and that a few had even left the priesthood. He said precise figures were not available but assured that in both cases the number was very small.

“Becoming a priest in Opus Dei is a long and careful process which usually takes at least 10 years,” he explained. “So people know what to expect and don't usually have second thoughts.”

Father Bohlin, who himelf became one of Opus Dei's 1,200 priests five years ago, said the movement had aroused initial suspicion, even in the Church, because of its “new approach.”

Members don't wear priestly garb or go about preaching and yet they make binding promises to serve God, he noted.

“Even our legal status as a papal prelature is a new thing—it's not surprising people didn't know what to think to begin with.” Opus Dei's early years in a Spain riven by civil war and under the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco had also thrown a cloud of politics over the underlying mission, he added.

Whatever confusion there may have been in the past, Opus Dei's message is getting through loud and clear these days.

John Paul's wholehearted support for the movement has brushed away many cobwebs and contributed to making the movement attractive to thousands of young Catholics keen on a secular career but also determined to live out their faith in as deep a way as possible.

Of Opus Dei's 82,000 lay members worldwide, most are married, and there are about an equal number of men and women. There are about 3,000 formal members in the United States.

Martin Penner writes

from Rome.