Catholic Saints • Madrid • Spain • 1946
Saint Josemaría Escrivá and Franco: The 1946 Retreat at El Pardo
In the spring of 1946 a Spanish priest who had founded Opus Dei eighteen years earlier was invited to preach a retreat at the home of the head of state. The invitation is documented. How to read it is where historians and Opus Dei still differ.
Escrivá and Franco at a Glance
- Who
- Saint Josemaría Escrivá (1902 to 1975) and Francisco Franco (1892 to 1975)
- Where
- El Pardo, the Franco residence near Madrid
- When
- April 7 to 12, 1946, according to Opus Dei sources
- Arranged by
- Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay of Madrid, according to the same sources
- Opus Dei founded
- October 2, 1928
- Canonized
- October 6, 2002
- A caution
- Much of the detail comes from Opus Dei’s own publications
A Young Priest and a New Work
Josemaría Escrivá was born in Barbastro, Spain, on January 9, 1902, and was ordained a priest in 1925. On October 2, 1928, in Madrid, he said he saw what became Opus Dei, a lay-centered work to help ordinary Christians seek holiness in their jobs and daily lives.
The Spanish Civil War began in 1936 and was a dangerous time for priests in Madrid. Escrivá hid for a time and later crossed the Pyrenees to reach the nationalist side. He returned to Madrid when the war ended in 1939.
That year he published the book that made him widely known, The Way, a collection of short spiritual maxims that has been read by millions.
Part II
The Invitation to El Pardo
Opus Dei sources report that in April 1946 Escrivá preached a retreat at El Pardo, the residence of Francisco Franco near Madrid. The dates given are April 7 to 12.
Those same sources say the invitation came through Bishop Leopoldo Eijo y Garay of Madrid, who knew Escrivá and supported his work.
A retreat is a quiet stretch of prayer and instruction, and the priest’s role is to preach and hear confessions. It was not a political meeting, and the sources present it as an ordinary pastoral duty offered to a Catholic head of state.
Part III
A Source Note
Most of the detailed accounts of the retreat come from Opus Dei’s own biographies and publications. Those are valuable, but they are written by the movement and for the movement.
An honest telling says so. The date and the place are widely repeated. The inner details of what was said are harder to check against independent records.
That is why this article reports the retreat as a documented event and treats the finer claims with care.
Part IV
Opus Dei and the Franco Government
The wider question is how Opus Dei related to the Franco regime. Historians note that from 1957 several members of Opus Dei served as ministers in Franco’s governments, and those economic technocrats were prominent in the years of economic opening.
Opus Dei has always said its members acted as private citizens with personal responsibility, and that the work itself had no political program. Critics have argued the opposite, that the movement benefited from the regime and shaped it.
The two readings can both be held while checking the facts. Members served. Whether that proves institutional alignment is the point of dispute.
Part V
The Message Behind the Founder
Whatever one thinks of the politics around him, Escrivá’s central teaching is plain. Ordinary work, done well and offered to God, can be a path to holiness.
That message reached people far outside Spain. Opus Dei received the status of a personal prelature in 1982, and its members include lay people from many walks of life.
For readers of The Way, the lasting value is the practical one: how to pray, how to work, and how to begin again after failing.
Part VI
Death and Canonization
Escrivá died in Rome on June 26, 1975, a few months before Franco died on November 20 of the same year.
He was beatified on May 17, 1992, and canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 6, 2002. His canonization was welcomed by many and criticized by some, which fits the mixed record around him.
The retreat at El Pardo remains a documented moment in a long life, useful for what it shows about how a Church-minded priest was called into the house of a political ruler.
Part VII
Timeline
- 1902: Josemaría Escrivá is born in Barbastro.
- 1925: He is ordained a priest.
- 1928: He founds Opus Dei on October 2.
- 1936 to 1939: The Spanish Civil War.
- 1939: The Way is published.
- April 7 to 12, 1946: Retreat at El Pardo, according to Opus Dei sources.
- 1957: Members of Opus Dei enter Franco’s cabinet.
- 1975: Escrivá dies on June 26. Franco dies on November 20.
- 1982: Opus Dei becomes a personal prelature.
- 1992: Escrivá is beatified.
- 2002: He is canonized on October 6.
Holiness in Ordinary Work
Whatever view you take of Spain in 1946, Escrivá’s teaching about turning daily work into prayer is still widely read. The Saint Josemaría Escrivá prayer card is a simple companion for the working day.
View the Prayer Card →Frequently Asked Questions
