ANOTHER HOLY COUPLE

It is interesting to note that the Opus Dei movement has perhaps more people up for canonization than the Benedictines-  14 at latest count.  In August  we did Blogs on a family of three- husband and wife Eduardo & Laura de Landazuri and his sister Guadalupe. Another very loving couple has come to attention who were faithful to the spirit of Opus Dei. They passed on to their children and to many other people their example of Christian life and marriage, of a “bright and cheerful home,” as St. Josemaria used to say.

SERVANT OF GOD TOMAS ALVIRA was born in Villanueva de Gallego, near Saragossa, on January 17, 1906, and died in Madrid on May 7, 1992. After earning a doctorate in chemistry, he taught at the Natural Science Institute in Madrid.

In 1937  he met Josemaría Escrivá , the founder of Opus Dei, where he heard for the first time the possibility of being holy in daily life, in professional work, both in celibacy and in marriage.

In 1939 he married Paquita in  Zaragoza and teaching at Ramiro de Maeztu , where he met an exceptional faculty, including  future Nobel laureate Vicente Aleixandre.

Tomas was famous for his pedagogy principle in which the teacher tries to awaken in the student the love of learning, considering it as a good in itself. He felt teachers should not encourage students to study for the prize or for the punishment, but rather for the pursuit of knowledge.  He managed to combine a demand for learning yet respect and genuine affection for his students.   Strength and tenderness; exigency and affection: possibly this was his secret.

In 1957 he was appointed National Councilor for Education. He subsequently participated in the creation of Development of Teaching Centers . From 1973 to 1976 he was Vice-director of the Experimental Center of the Institute of Education Sciences and then  Director of the University School for the Promotion of Teaching Centers. Its greatest innovation was the creation of the Living Classroom .

With Pope (St. ) John Paul II

He started the COU Center for the Promotion of Teaching Centers and the University School of Teachers of the same Institution, where he was director until 1986.

SERVANT OF GOD  PAQUITA ALVIRA was born in Borau, near Huesca, in 1912. She worked as a high school teacher during the Spanish Civil War years

She and Tomas had nine children, the first of whom, Jose Maria, died at five years of age. The young family moved to Madrid in November 1941, where Tomás took up his teaching position at the Natural Science Institute. Both were Supernumeraries of Opus Dei: Tomás since February 1947, and Paquita  1952.

They strove for sanctity through the heroic and persevering exercise of the Christian virtues. The Holy Mass was the center and root of their interior life. Assisted by divine grace and living in God's presence, they imbued their ordinary daily activities with supernatural meaning.

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Both suffered painful illnesses towards the end of their lives, and offered up their suffering with a deeply supernatural outlook.  She died in 1994 and Tomas in 1992.

 Their daughter, Maria Isabel, who currently lives in France, when asked about her parents relied:

Their being members of Opus Dei was a source of happiness which they radiated to those around them, starting with the family. Ever since I was a child, I saw that Opus Dei was first and foremost in the life of my parents; it made us desire to be like them. They transmitted to us a deep love for God, for the Church, for the Work and its founder in a very natural way and in an atmosphere of freedom, through their example and their everyday lives. I have always considered their vocation to Opus Dei as a great gift from God to the whole family.