London: Cardinal to celebrate Thanksgiving Mass for beatification of Bishop Alvaro del Portillo

Blessed Bishop Alvaro del Portillo

Cardinal Vincent Nichols will celebrate Mass at Westminster Cathedral next Tuesday in thanksgiving for the beatification of Bishop Alvaro del Portillo.

Bishop Alvaro, (1914-1994), first successor of St Josemaría at the head of Opus Dei, was beatified in Madrid, Spain, in September 2014. He is the second member of Opus Dei to be raised to the altars.

Alvaro was born in Madrid and met St Josemaría Escrivá in 1935, becoming one of the first members of Opus Dei which had been founded only seven years before. Trained as a Civil Engineer, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1944. From then on he spent his life working closely with St Josemaría as well as taking on various assignments for the Holy See, especially during the Second Vatican Council. After the founder's death in 1975 he took over at the head of Opus Dei.

In 1982, when Opus Dei was established as a personal Prelature, he became its first Prelate, and was ordained a bishop in 1991 by Pope St John Paul II. Bl. Alvaro loved Britain having spent prolonged periods in London from the 1950s onwards. He accompanied St Josemaría every summer between 1958 and 1962, and came again several times in the 1980s. He often mentioned that his Mexican mother had been at school in London for a time. His feast day was fixed by Pope Francis to be celebrated on 12 May.

The Mass for the feast of Blessed Alvaro will be celebrated by Cardinal Nichols on the occasion of his first feast day, at Westminster Cathedral, on Tuesday 12 May at 7pm.

Further information is available at: www.alvarodelportillo.org