Álvaro del Portillo

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is del Portillo and the second or maternal family name is Diez de Sollano.
Blessed Álvaro del Portillo
Prelate of Opus Dei

Álvaro del Portillo
Native name Álvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano
Church Roman Catholic Church
In office 1982—1994
Successor Javier Echevarría Rodríguez
Other posts Titular Bishop of Vita (1990-1994)
Orders
Ordination 25 June 1944
Consecration 6 January 1991
by Pope John Paul II
Personal details
Born (1914-03-11)11 March 1914
Madrid, Spain
Died 23 March 1994(1994-03-23) (aged 80)
Rome, Italy
Buried Church of Santa María de la Paz
Previous post General President of Opus Dei (1975-1982)
Motto Regnare Christum volumus ("We want Christ to Reign!")
Coat of arms {{{coat_of_arms_alt}}}
Sainthood
Feast day 12 May
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Title as Saint Blessed
Beatified 27 September 2014
Madrid, Spain
by Cardinal Angelo Amato
Attributes Bishop's attire
Patronage

The Blessed Álvaro del Portillo, full name Álvaro del Portillo y Diez de Sollano, (11 March 1914 – 23 March 1994), was a Spanish engineer and Roman Catholic bishop. He served as the prelate of Opus Dei between 1982 and 1994 as the successor to Saint Josemaría Escrivá.

He was beatified on 27 September 2014 in his birth city of Madrid in a mass celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Amato on behalf of Pope Francis.

Life

He studied civil engineering and after obtaining his doctorate at the University of Madrid taught at its School of Engineering. He briefly worked with the Bureau of Highways and Bridges in the provinces crossed by the rivers Júcar, Duero and Ebro.

In 1935, he joined Opus Dei and was subsequently ordained to the priesthood on June 25, 1944 by Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay of Madrid as one of the first three men ordained for Opus Dei [1] He continued his studies to obtain a doctorate in Philosophy and Letters in history in 1944 from Central University of Madrid, with a dissertation entitled Discoveries and Exploration on the California Coast.[2] In 1948 he earned a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum[3]

The beatification of del Portillo.

He then dedicated himself exclusively to the ministry and government of Opus Dei as its Secretary General. During the pontificate of Pope Pius XII (1939–1958), he worked in several Dicasteries of the Holy See.

In 1963, he was named by Pope John XXIII as a consultant on the Pontifical Commission for the revision of the Code of Canon Law. Pope Paul VI named him consultant on several post-Conciliar commissions. In 1975, he was chosen general president of the Opus Dei and successor of Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, and in 1982, the Holy See appointed him as the first Prelate of Opus Dei. In 1991, he was consecrated a bishop by Pope John Paul II, with Archbishops Giovanni Battista Re and Justin Francis Rigali serving as co-consecrators.

He has written extensively about pastoral and ecclesiological matters that examine among others, the role of the lay faithful in the Roman Catholic Church, the human side of priestly formation, the dynamics and functionality of pastoral structures. As Prelate, he also served as Grand Chancellor of the University of Piura in Peru.

Shortly after his 80th birthday, he returned to Rome on a pilgrimage from the Holy Land. He died shortly thereafter. He had celebrated his last Mass at the Church of the Cenacle [1]

Contribution to the Second Vatican Council

The history of del Portillo's involvement is as follows:

According to Salvador Bernal, his biographer: Del Portillo was the person who argued that there be a specific Decree for priests. Also one of the decisions of the Commission for the Discipline of the Clergy and the Christian People was "defend centuries-old traditions against those who regarded them as mere pietism. It discussed the presence of the priest in the world, and why he needed a good formation in the basic human virtues in order to serve the men and women of his time. But it also warned that priests should not adopt lay lifestyles, much less take on commitments of a partisan political nature. Finally, it asserted the freedom to join associations which in one way or another could help them achieve personal sanctification in the carrying out of their priestly ministry.”

“Not a week had gone by after the close of the Council when Cardinal Ciriaci, president of the commission of which Don Alvaro had been secretary, sent him a note expressing heartfelt gratitude and congratulations for the happy conclusion of a great achievement.” The note said: “You steered to a safe harbor your decree, which is by no means the least important of the decrees and constitutions of the Council.” The vote on the document was 2390 to 4, a nearly unanimous approval after thorough debate, on December 7, 1965. Ciriaci said: (History would regard this decree as) “a fresh, and practically unanimous, confirmation by the Second Vatican Council of ecclesiastical celibacy and the exalted mission of the priesthood.”

Pope Paul VI also commented on his work: “I am well aware of the extent to which this is a result of your prudent, tenacious, and courteous efforts. Without failing to respect the freedom of others to have and to express their own opinions, you never swerved from the track of fidelity to the great principles of priestly spirituality.”

Veneration

Process

On his death, John Paul II recalled del Portillo's "zealous priestly and episcopal life, the example he always gave of fortitude and of trust in divine providence and his fidelity to the See of Peter.”

The then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger referred to del Portillo's "modesty and availability in every circumstance,” in his work at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which del Portillo "enriched in a singular way with his competence and experience.”

On December 6, 2002, Msgr. Javier Echevarria Rodriguez ordered an investigation into the cause for canonization of Msgr. del Portillo.

In 2004, the Cardinal Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, said “The rather frequent occasions that I had to meet Bishop del Portillo imprinted on my soul the conviction that I found myself in the presence of an exemplary pastor.” He added: “In the firmness of his adherence to the doctrine of the Church, in his union with the Pope, in his pastoral charity, in his humility, and in his balance, he exhibited an extraordinary interior richness.” According to the Cardinal, “the service that Don Alvaro always provided to the Church of Rome and the prompt and effective way that he supported the Holy Father’s pastoral initiatives in this diocese showed the love of the Church that he had learned from St. Josemaría.”

Cardinal Ruini said that there is a desire for a “quick beginning of this cause of canonization” on the part of “so many members of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and of the people of God.” Also that there is “an abundant store of testimonies of people who knew him, among them, those of quite a few cardinals and bishops,” he said. He then added: “The Bishop’s Conference [of Italy] has unanimously expressed its favorable opinion” on beginning the cause.

For the process, 133 witnesses were interviewed. Among them were 19 cardinals and 12 bishops or archbishops. 62 of the witnesses belong to the Prelature; 71 do not belong to it. The documentation submitted to the Vatican comprised 2,530 pages in three volumes.

Venerable

On June 28, 2012 — as approved by Pope Benedict XVI — the Vatican announced that his life had been recognized as one of "heroic virtue"[2], a major step towards an eventual beatification. From this time on, Msgr. del Portillo was styled "Venerable Servant of God".

Beatification

On July 5, 2013 Pope Francis published a decree from the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints declaring the miraculous character of a cure of a Chilean boy attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Alvaro del Portillo.[4] Bishop del Portillo was beatified on September 27, 2014 in his birth city of Madrid by Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. May 12 was appointed as his feast day.[5]

Works

Excerpts from his works

"Authentic joy is based on this foundation: that we want to live for God and want to serve others because of God. Let us tell the Lord that we want nothing more than to serve him with joy. If we behave in this way we shall find that our inner peace, our joy, our good humour will attract many souls to God. Give witness to Christian joy. Show to those around you that this is our great secret. We are happy because we are children of God, because we deal with him, because we struggle to become better for him. And when we fail, we go right away to the Sacrament of joy where we recover our sense of fraternity with all men and women." Homily, 12 Apr 1984; quoted by Francis Fernandez Carvajal in In Conversation With God, vol.5, p. 155

References

  1. 1 2 "Brief biography of Bishop Alvaro del Portillo (1914-1994)"
  2. ↑ Coverdale, John F. Saxum: The Life of Alvaro del Portillo
  3. ↑ http://prelaturaspersonales.org/portillo-y-diez-de-sollano-alvaro-del-1914-1994/ Accessed 28 May 2014
  4. ↑ http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/05/5547328/john-paul-ii-and-john-xxiii-to.html
  5. ↑ https://twitter.com/donAlvaro14/status/515867474324381696

Sources

Catholic Church titles
New title Prelate of Opus Dei
28 November 1982 – 23 March 1994 		Succeeded by
Javier Echevarría Rodríguez
Preceded by
Francisco Orozco Lomelín		 — TITULAR —
Bishop of Vita
7 December 1990 – 23 March 1994		 Succeeded by
Pablo Cedano Cedano
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