HOLY CHEMIST- UPDATE

Sharing a birthday with me  (December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe) is a soon to become Spanish saint. (see BLOG 8/19/2017)

On May 18 in Madrid, GUADALUPE ORTIZ de LANDAZURI a laywoman, will become the first numerary of Opus Dei to be beatified. A chemist, university teacher, and close associate of St. Josemaría Escrivá, she was known for her strong character, big heart, and cheerfulness.

Opus Dei was made a personal prelature by St. John Paul II in 1982. It was founded by St. Josemaría in 1928 and teaches that everyone is called to personal holiness in and through their ordinary lives.

Bl. Guadalupe met St. Josemaria in 1944. She later said, “I had the very clear idea that God was speaking to me through that priest.” From that point she felt a calling to serve Christ through her life and work, and several months later, at the age of 27, she became a numerary  (someone who makes  herself fully available to the work of the prelature).

In 1950, St. Josemaria asked her to bring Opus Dei to Mexico. While there, she enrolled in a doctoral program in chemical sciences. She and her associates emphasized concern for the poor and service to the Church and society.

Among the initiatives they spearheaded was a mobile medical clinic which went home-to-home in the poorest neighborhoods providing free care and medicine. She also promoted education among poor, indigenous Mexicans.

Six years later she was asked to go to Rome, but not long after arriving she began to suffer conditions of a heart condition which meant she had to return to Spain. Despite the symptoms of the condition, including tiredness from walking and climbing stairs, she never complained.

She was known to make frequent visits to the Blessed Sacrament to speak with Christ and was also devoted to friends and students and those with whom she lived.

In 1975, doctors decided to operate on her heart. The operation, at the university clinic in Navarra, was successful, but several days afterward she died..

Her brother and sister-in-law  are also up for canonization- 
(Venerable Eduardo Landazuri and Venerable Laura Otaeguri-  BLOGS  8/2017)