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Process of Canonization opened for Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri

The Cardinal Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio María Rouco, presided over the inaugural session of the process of canonization for Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri on November 18, in the Zurbaran student residence. After signing the decree introducing the Cause and appointing a tribunal to collect documentation and the testimony of witnesses, Cardinal Rouco spoke to those attending the ceremony. “The Church wants the saints to be known and recognized,” he said. “She wants those of us who are still pilgrims on earth to know—with names and surnames, with specific faces, with lives that can be depicted in a biography—that the Church is called to this destiny. This is what we seek to recognize in the life of Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri.”

Cardinal Rouco emphasized that the Church and the world need holy lay people. He reminded those present of the message of Opus Dei’s founder, “whose charism was centered on highlighting this essential aspect of the Christian vocation and making it relevant in the life and mission of the Church of the twentieth century, of the present century, and of all centuries to come.”

Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri was born on December 12, 1916 in Madrid and died in Pamplona, with a reputation for sanctity, on July 16, 1975. She met Blessed Josemaria in 1944 and soon saw clearly that God was calling her to form part of Opus Dei, seeking sanctity in ordinary life through its spirit. The founder relied on her to spread the Work, and in 1950, asked her to go and start the apostolic work in Mexico. There she began the Copenhague university residence, and with the help of the women who resided there began various activities for the advancement of women in rural areas in the Mexico City region and in Monterrey, Tacámbaro, Amilpas and other places. After her return to Spain, she worked as a teacher in Madrid. She had a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Madrid. Her students and colleagues praised the quality of her classes, the friendly attention she gave to everyone, her respect for freedom and the Christian view of life that imbued her classes.

Guadalupe’s life, noted the vice-postulator of the Cause, Rev. Benito Badrinas, was that of a Christian woman who sought sanctity by carrying out very small things with love. Guadalupe, the Postulator said, “worked hard for love of God, helped many people to meet him, and showed great concern for the educational and spiritual needs of those around her, acting always with much kindness.”

The Cause of Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri was opened three years after that of her brother Eduardo (1910-1985), an eminent doctor and, like Guadalupe, one of the faithful of the Opus Dei Prelature.

Romana, n. 33, July-December 2001, p. 208-209.

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