In the first half of 2005, 297 faithful of the Prelature and 23 members of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross passed away.
The suffrages stipulated by Saint Josemaría have been offered for these deceased. As we continue to pray for them, let us thank God for the example they left us through their fidelity in striving to transform their professional work and the ordinary circumstances of their lives into an occasion for loving God and serving the Church and all souls. Their love for God constitutes the meaning and value of their lives, whether outstanding in the eyes of others, or whether quite ordinary, as was true in most cases.
In addition to the names of all who have died during this period, we have gathered a few biographical details about some of the deceased, which give an idea of the variety of circumstances and situations in which the faithful of Opus Dei live. For reasons of space, we are not including this data in the other cases, but we must not forget that we have a debt of gratitude towards all of them for the example of fidelity they have left us. These brief sketches will help us live the Communion of Saints better with those who have preceded us to heaven.

Luis Borobio Navarro was born in Saragossa, Spain, on June 19, 1924. He moved to Madrid to study architecture and lived in the Moncloa student residence, where he met St. Josemaría. In 1944 he asked for admission to Opus Dei. In 1953 he moved to Colombia, where he helped begin the apostolic activities of the Work. He was a professor at Colombia’s National University, in Bogotá, and at the Universidad Bolivariana, in Medellin. In 1968 he joined the faculty of the School of Architecture at the Unversity of Navarre, where he worked until his retirement, except for three years at the University of Seville, where he held the chair of Esthetics. At the request of St. Josemaría, he prepared the illustrations for the book Santo Rosario that were used in many of the early editions. He died on January 2, 2005 in Pamplona, after a long sickness.

Odette Bretton was born on May 20, 1919 in Marseille, and died on March 13, 2005 in Geneva. She was a member of the Prelature since March 5, 1979, and one of the first Supernumeraries in Switzerland. The mother of 15 children, she strove to keep her family united amid the trying circumstances she faced on various occasions, confronting them with supernatural outlook and serenity. A few months after the death of her husband, she was diagnosed with cancer in an advanced stage. She offered her final suffering for the Pope, for the Prelate of Opus Dei, and for her large family.

Chus Calvo Revuelta was born in Villalcázar de Sirga, Palencia, Spain, on April 29, 1958. She met the Work in Pamplona, where she asked for admission as a Numerary Assistant. She was always surrounded by young people, whom she trained in the work of the domestic administration for the centers of Opus Dei. She died as a consequence of a grave sickness in Barcelona, on April 25, 2005.

Dudley Cleary was born in Dublin on December 16, 1943. He asked for admission to Opus Dei in 1964, while at the university. After finishing his studies in physics, he also obtained a degree in secondary school education, before going to Rome in 1969, where he studied theology. He was ordained a priest in 1974 and returned that same year to Ireland. He carried out his pastoral work in Dublin and Galway, and also for three years in Canada. He was characterized by cheerfulness and good humor. He was especially diligent and generous in his attention to the sick. He died suddenly on January 2, 2005, while engaged in a sporting activity.

María Eugenia Colombes de Morelli was born in Bremen, Germany, on August 8, 1915 and died in Montevideo on June 8, 2005. The mother of ten children, she was a member of Opus Dei since August 19, 1966. She dedicated herself energetically to the formation of other Supernumeraries and friends until impeded by her health. A person of great self-sacrifice, she accepted suffering with naturalness and discretion. She went with great faith to the means of formation in the Work. Although this became more and more difficult for her in recent years, she continued doing so in an exemplary way, with punctuality and perseverance. She brought her relatives and many other people closer to God.

Lola Fisac Serna was born in Daimiel, Ciudad Real, Spain, on December 15, 1909, and died in Madrid on March 31, 2005. She requested admission to Opus Dei on August 7, 1937, during dramatic moments of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Until the war ended she remained in Daimiel, where she managed to send food to the Founder of Opus Dei, to his mother, and to the people who were with him in Madrid. After 1940 she dedicated her professional work to the domestic administration of centers of the Work. She was responsible and effective in her apostolic work. When her sickness was already well advanced, she spoke forcefully to young people who came to see her at home about the importance of fidelity to their dedication. She always put her relationship with God in first place by faithfully fulfilling the plan of life that the Founder himself had given to her in writing. Her faithfulness to what she learned from St. Josemaría was notable; she made it part of her own life and repeated it again and again, often in the same words.

Juan Antonio Galarraga Ituarte was born in San Sebastian, Spain, on January 29, 1920. In 1940, as a university student in Madrid, he met St. Josemaría and asked for admission to the Work. He carried out an intense apostolic work and was director of the residences of Jenner and Moncloa in Madrid, Albayzín in Granada, and Netherhall House in London. At the same time he made notable contributions in the academic and scientific world. He received the Extraordinary Prize for his Licentiate and was a member of the Biochemical Society of London. From 1946 on he lived in London, and collaborated in beginning the apostolic work of Opus Dei there. Ordained a priest in 1953, he was Counsellor of Opus Dei in Great Britain until he returned to Spain in 1972. In Seville he was rector of the church of El Señor San José for several years. Starting in 1999 he suffered from a grave infirmity which progressively immobilized him. He died on April 25, 2005.

Margaret Catherine Horsch was born on May 28, 1915. She was the first Australian Supernumerary. She requested admission to the Work in 1955, when living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She returned to Australia before the beginning of the apostolic work of Opus Dei there with women, and helped get it under way. She showed great generosity and naturalness in responding to the commitments that fidelity to her vocation entailed. She took part in the means of formation with exemplary punctuality. In her last years she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Towards the end of her life she did not recognize individuals, but always reacted positively when vocal prayers were said with her. She died on March 30, 2005.

Javier Irastorza Revuelta was born on January 10, 1929 in Santander, Spain, and died in Madrid on April 22, 2005. He asked for admission to the Work as a Supernumerary in 1953. There we no children in his marriage. An economist, he held a chair in economics at the Complutense University in Madrid. He took an active and generous part in beginning the School of Business and Economics at the University of Navarre and carried out a broad apostolate with his friends and relatives. For the last 26 years he suffered from Parkinson’s disease, which progressively reduced his mobility and ability to communicate but not his cheerfulness.

Juan Izquierdo Brousset was born in Mexico on July 20, 1932. On September 3, 1950 he requested admission as a Numerary. Two years later he moved to Monterrey to begin the apostolic work of Opus Dei in that city and to continue his university studies in chemical engineering. After receiving a doctorate in canon law he was ordained as a priest on August 9, 1959. Since then he has worked in Guatemala. He was Counsellor of Opus Dei in Central America from 1962 to 1966. In recent decades he devoted himself selflessly to taking care of seminarians and priests, especially in the diocese of Sololá, where he served as spiritual director of the major seminary. In addition he was appointed a tribunal judge of the Ecclesiastical Curia for the Archdiocese of Guatemala City. He also was Postulator of the cause of beatification of Doctor Ernesto Cofiño. When in February of 2005 he was diagnosed with brain cancer, he accepted God’s will calmly. He died on June 20, 2005, in Pamplona, Spain.

Frank McGuinness was born in County Donegal, Ireland, on April 15, 1943. He requested admission to Opus Dei in 1963 in Dublin, where he had moved to study physics. He worked in various companies and also obtained a master’s degree in business administration. He was also the director of a student residence in Galway, where he remained until 1975, when he returned to Dublin to form part of the Regional Commission of Opus Dei. In 1998 he was found to have a brain tumor. He bore this sickness with simplicity, never for a moment losing his good humor. He died quietly at home on the morning of May 6, 2005.

Josefina de Miguel Cavero was born on August 30, 1909, in Eyea de los Caballeros, Saragossa, Spain. She was one of the first women Numeraries, having requested admission on October 10, 1945. In 1954 she went to Colombia to carry out a professional project and to begin the apostolic work of Opus Dei in that country. She returned to Spain in 1976. She was a cheerful and generous woman. She died in Saragossa on March 22, 2005, at the age of 95.

Antonio Millan Puelles was born on February 11, 1921 in Alcalá de los Gazules, Cadiz, Spain, and died in Madrid on March 22, 2005. He was an exemplary father. His good humor and simplicity were combined with an intellectual prestige that resulted in his being described in the press, at the time of his death, as “one of the most fruitful and brilliant thinkers in contemporary Spain.” He held the chair of philosophy in Madrid’s Complutense University and was a member of the Royal Academy of Political and Moral Sciences as well as the author of more than thirty books, translated into various languages. He liked to recall his first meeting with Cardinal Wojtyla, in Rome, on the occasion of a symposium for priests in 1974. The future John Paul II showed him the Italian translation of one of his books which he happened to be reading at that time, and told him that their philosophical paths were very similar.

Isidoro Rasines Linares was born on June 18, 1927 in Matanzas, Cuba. He received his doctorate in chemistry from the Complutense University in Madrid. He requested admission to the Work on April 25, 1948. For a number of years he dedicated himself to educational activities, helping start Gaztelueta high school in 1951, a corporate work of Opus Dei near Bilbao, of which he was the first director. Between 1970 and 1979 he was Secretary General of the University of Navarre and professor of Inorganic Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy. His research work as a member of the Council of Advanced Scientific Research gave him international prestige. The author of numerous scientific publications, he was a member of the Spanish Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO (1967–1981) and a contributor to the most important journals in the field of chemistry. He is remembered as a person who always had time to advise his students, to counsel his friends, and to give encouragement to everyone. His prudence and friendly manner were noteworthy, as was his great refinement. He died on March 3, 2005.

Teodora Sánchez Velásquez de Barranco, was born on April 1, 1916. A member of Opus Dei since 1970, she was a native of Chalcatzingo, Morelos, Mexico, and had met the Work in Montefalco, a training center for village people in that region. After her marriage she dedicated herself to her home and to the education of her 14 children. She managed to combine material poverty with dignity and cheerfulness, something that gave her family a quiet prestige in the circle of her relationships. She saw to it that things lasted as long as possible in her home and she was generous in her support of the apostolic work of Opus Dei. Among her grandchildren and great-grandchildren there are a number of Numerary Assistants. She was always diligent in attending the formational activities of the Work and in taking good advantage of them. She was sick for the last eight years of her life and during that time she asked one of her daughters to help her to pray. While she was conscious and able to speak she always showed a supernatural outlook and a sense of humor. She died on February 17, 2005.

Rose Seitz was one of the first American Numeraries. She was born on March 17, 1914. She took an active part in the apostolic work in Madison and Milwaukee. A teacher for more than forty years, she was characterized by cheerfulness, a youthful spirit, and a deep supernatural outlook. She bore her final sickness with great calm and with total abandonment in God’s hands. She died on April 4, 2005.

Shiro Shoji was born in Tokyo, in a Christian family, on March 31, 1916. After the Second World War, which he spent in the Philippines, he obtained his doctorate in medicine at the University of Osaka. He worked at the Tuberculosis Hospital in Kiyose, Tokyo, and became its director. He met Opus Dei in 1988. At the age of 86 he attended the canonization of St. Josemaría in Rome, and he continued working until the age of 88. His family and the people who knew him were edified on seeing how he appreciated the means of formation, especially weekly sacramental confession. He died on March 9, 2005.

Federico Suárez Verdeguer was born in Valencia on March 30, 1917. In 1940 he asked for admission as a Numerary. In 1948 he obtained the chair of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Santiago de Compostela. In June of that year he was ordained a priest. From that time on he carried out an intense pastoral work, first in Santiago and later in Pamplona and Madrid, while continuing to work as an historian and writing many books of history and spirituality. He also wrote noteworthy essays and articles for the press. An extremely hard worker, no one was surprised that his death occurred while he was working, soon after he finished preaching a retreat. The Holy Mass, prayer and devotion to our Lady were the pillars of his interior life. His well-known books The Sacrifice of the Altar and Mary of Nazareth helped hundreds of thousands of people to grow in their interior life, and are the fruit of his own spiritual experience. He was very faithful in following the teachings of St. Josemaría. Always closely united to the Prelate and to the directors of the Work, he accepted with full availability the most diverse tasks. He died in Madrid on January 1, 2005.

Virginio Tabacco was born in Argegno, Como, Italy, on August 24, 1925. An engineer and business manager, he belonged to Opus Dei since 1968. In Milan he eagerly dedicated himself to helping start various apostolic activities, including a youth club, a school, and a center for family development. His diligence and sense of responsibility were admirable. He had the joy of seeing his wife and two children also receive a vocation to the Work. He bore with patience a grave kidney disease that, in his last ten years, required continual sessions of dialysis and that resulted in his death on April 6, 2005.