JOSEMARÍA ESCRIVÁ DE BALAGUER 
  

 

Chronology of the Cause for Canonization

1975 - 1980

After the death of Msgr. Escrivá de Balaguer on June 26, 1975, the Postulation for the Cause of his beatification and canonization received many testimonies and postulatory letters from people all over the world. Accounts of thousands of favors attributed to his intercession were also received, showing the extent of private devotion to him.
 

1980

In accordance with established norms, the Postulation solicited the opening of the Cause of beatification and canonization of Msgr. Escriva from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on the fifth anniversary of his death. This petition was presented through the Vicariate of Rome as Msgr. Escriva had passed away in that city.

1981

On January 30, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, after studying the documentation presented by the Vicariate of Rome gave the nihil obstat, which allowed Cardinal Vicar to promulgate the Decree opening the Cause. On February 5, the Pope ratified the Congregation’s decision and on February 19, Cardinal Poletti, Vicar of Rome, published the Decree.  

On March 14, the Congregation approved the creation by the Archbishop of Madrid of a tribunal, which, along with the tribunal constituted by the Vicariate of Rome, would receive the testimonies of those witnesses who either lived in Spain or preferred to give their testimony in Spanish. 

On May 12, the Roman process on the life and virtues of the Servant of God was opened. On May 18, the process in Madrid was opened under a Cardinal Enrique y Tarancon. 

1982

On January 21, another tribunal to document a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Servant of God was created and presided over by Cardinal Enrique y Tarancon. The miracle had occurred in 1976 with the sudden cure of a Carmelite nun suffering from terminal cancer. On April 3, this tribunal was concluded and a certified copy of the proceedings was sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.

1984

On June 26, the Madrid tribunal concluded its process on the life and virtues of the Servant of God under Cardinal Angel Suquía, the new Archbishop of Madrid. A complete, certified copy of the proceedings was submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

1984

On November 20, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints during its Ordinary Congress declared that the process on the miracle was valid.

1986

On November 8, the Roman process on the life and virtues of the Servant of God was concluded under Cardinal Vicar of Rome. The Postulation began preparing the Positio, a compilation of documents to be examined by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The Positio would include the testimonies from both processes (in Rome and Madrid), a critical study on the life and heroic virtues of the Servant of God, testimonies obtained in both tribunals in Rome and Madrid together with abundant documentary appendices. It would be submitted and examined by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. From the material collected in the Roman and Madrid tribunals, under the direction of Father Ambrogio Eszer, O.P., Relator for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

1987

On April 3, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints declared the validity of the Roman and Madrid processes on the heroic virtues of the Servant of God and their conformity with all legal prescriptions.

1988

In June, the elaboration of the Positio on the life and virtues of the Servant of God was finalized and submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for its definitive study. The document contained more than 6 000 pages in 4 volumes.

1989

On September 19, the Meeting of Theologian Consultants issued an affirmative verdict on the Positio.

1990

On March 20, the Ordinary Congregation of Cardinals and Bishops also gave an affirmative verdict.

On April 9, the Holy Father ordered the publication of the Decree on the heroic virtues of the Servant of God. After the promulgation of this Decree, the Postulation could present to the Congregation the Positio of the Madrid process on the proposed miraculous cure. 

On June 30, the Medical Consultants of the Congregation, in their technical report, concluded that the cure could not be explained by natural causes.  

On July 14, after examining the case, the Meeting of Theologian Consultants affirmed the miraculous character of the cure and attributed its cause directly to the intercession of the Servant of God.

1991

On June 18, the Ordinary Congregation of Cardinals and Bishops examined the documentation on the proposed miracle and gave an affirmative verdict. On July 6, the Pope promulgated the Decree, which declared the miraculous nature of the cure. Having fulfilled all the legal requirements established for the causes of saints, the Holy Father decided to proceed to the beatification.

1992

The Holy Father, olyJohn Paul II, beatified Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer in Rome on May 17.

1993

By way of letter dated March 15, 1993, the Postulation of the Cause received news about the miraculous cure of Dr. Manuel Nevado Rey. With the help of Dr. Nevado, the Postulation documented and carried out an exhaustive study on the disease he had suffered. Once the extraordinary character of the cure was clear, on December 30, the Postulation submitted the documentation and petitioned the Bishop of Badajoz (a diocese in Southern Spain) to open a process on the miracle. 

1994 

The diocesan investigation was carried out by the Episcopal Curia of Badajoz from May 12 - July 4. This was followed by a formal study carried out by the Congregation for Causes of the Saints after the diocesan proceedings were sent to Rome. 

1996

On April 26, the Congregation declared that the process of the miracle had fully complied with the prevailing legal norms and praxis (Decree of Validity).

1997

On July 10, the Medical Consultants of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously affirmed Dr. Nevado's cure of a cancerous state of chronic radiodermatitis in its third and irreversible stage to be very quick, complete, lasting and scientifically unexplainable.

1998

On January 9, the Theologian Consultants of the Congregation unanimously affirmed the preternatural character of the cure and attributed the disappearance of the disease to the invocation of Blessed Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer.

2001

On September 21, the Ordinary Congregation of Cardinal and Bishop members of the Congregation unanimously confirmed the miraculous character of Dr. Nevado's cure and its attribution to Blessed Josemaria Escriva. The decree on the miracle was read before the Holy Father on December 20.

2002

On February 26, the Pope presided over the Ordinary Public Consistory of Cardinals, which gave its approval for the canonization of several Beati. Among them was Blessed Josemaria Escriva, whose canonization date was announced for October 6, 2002.