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Masses in suffrage for the soul of Bishop Álvaro del Portillo

Numerous Masses have been celebrated in cities throughout the world for the anniversary of the death of the Servant of God Álvaro del Portillo, which occurred in Rome on March 23, 1994. Ten years later his process of canonization was opened. On June 26 and on August 7 of 2008, the tribunals of the Vicariates of Rome and of the Prelature, respectively, concluded the investigative phase of the process and the records were sent to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.

Masses in suffrage for the Servant of God were celebrated in churches in many countries. We will record a few of them: the Basilica of St. Eugene in Rome, the Basilica of St. Ambrose in Milan; the church of Santa Generosa in São Paulo, the church of Nossa Señora da Paz in Rio de Janeiro, and the church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Curitaba, Brazil; the church of St. Joseph of Caparra, Puerto Rico; the church of our Lady in Amsterdam; the oratory of St. Josemaría in Lisbon; the parish of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Montevideo, Uruguay; the church of Our Lady of Loreto in Buenos Aires, the churches of St. Rose in Rosario, of St. Cecilia in Córdoba, and the chapel of St. Clement in San Juan, Argentina; the Cathedral Castrense in La Paz Bolivia; the chapel of Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya; and in Spain, the birthplace of the Servant of God, in the cathedrals of Seville, Caceres, Valladolid, Salamanca, Leon, Burgos and Santander; and in parishes in many cities such as Vigo, Santiago de Compostela, La Coruña, Ponteveda, Orense, Barcelona, Lleida, Tarragona, Alveria, Granada, Malaga, Marbella, Ronda, Jaen, Madrid, Córdoba, Huelva, Cadiz, Badajoz, Plasencia, Jerez, Algeciras, Mérida, Saragossa, Valencia, Oviedo, Gijón, Palencia, Zamora, etc.

In Cebu, in the Philippines, more than 750 students, professors and alumni from the Cebu Institute of Technology and Enterprise (CITE), gathered at the parish of St. Isidro Labrador to participate in the Mass for Bishop del Portillo, who had been directly involved in the promotion of that educational initiative. In his homily, Archbishop Cayetano Gelbolingo of Cebu recalled how Don Álvaro del Portillo had encouraged the faithful of Opus Dei living there to begin that institution and promoted the building of the structures that would serve to give formation to the less privileged people in the Visaya Islands region.

Romana, n. 50, January-June 2010, p. 153-154.

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