Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri Fernández de Heredia

Blessed Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri Fernández de Heredia
Ortiz de Landázuri in mid-1972.
Born	December 12, 1916 ( Madrid , Spain )
Deceased	July 16, 1975 ( Pamplona , Navarra , Spain )
beatification	May 18, 2019 in Palacio Vistalegre , Madrid, Spain by Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu
Holiday	May 18
Patron saint	Teacher

The blessed Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri Fernández de Heredia (born December 12, 1916 , † July 16, 1975 ) was a Spanish Roman Catholic professor and a member of the Opus Dei personal prelature . She was one of the first women to join Opus Dei after meeting its founder Josemaría Escrivá in 1944. She helped spread Opus Dei in Mexico and worked with Escriva in Rome. A severe heart attack ended her life in 1975.

After some inquiries from people she knew, her beatification process began on November 3, 2001. In mid-2017, Pope Francis confirmed her heroic virtues and proclaimed her Venerable Servant of God . In June 2018, he confirmed a miracle in which her advocacy is believed to have helped cure a cancer patient. The beatification took place in Madrid on May 18, 2019.

Life

Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri Fernández de Heredia was born on December 12, 1916, the fourth of five children (and only daughter) of military officer Manuel Ortiz de Landázuri and Eulogia Fernández-Heredia. Her three older siblings were Manuel, Eduardo and Francisco, who died in childhood. Her brother Eduardo (who was a doctor and university professor) and his wife (they married in 1941) were both appointed servants of God .

Her father's career in the military meant that the Ortiz de Landázuris had to move with each new assignment. In 1927 they moved to Tétouan in Morocco . In 1932 they returned to Spain and lived in Madrid , where their father was a lieutenant colonel and Guadalupe graduated from the Instituto Miguel de Cervantes. In June 1933, she enrolled in chemistry at the Universidad Central de Madrid , where she was one of only five women in a class of 70 students. Ortiz de Landázuri was aiming for a PhD because she wanted to teach chemistry at university level.

After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in the mid-1930s, her father was captured and sentenced to execution. A few hours before his death, Ortiz de Landázuri accompanied her brother Eduardo and her mother to bid him farewell. After this event, she moved to Valladolid with Eduardo and her mother in 1937 , where her older brother Manuel lived. She stayed there until the end of the civil war, a few months before the outbreak of World War II .

In 1939 she returned to Madrid, where she worked as a teacher. At a Holy Mass in 1944, she felt something that she interpreted as a sign from God . Ortiz de Landázuri returned home to meet with a friend and requested to see a priest . The friend gave her the telephone number of the famous priest Josemaría Escrivá and Ortiz de Landázuri met him for the first time on January 25, 1944. A short time later, Ortiz de Landázuri went on a retreat and on March 19 sent a letter to Escrivá in which she asked for inclusion in Opus Dei.

On March 5, 1950, at the invitation of Escrivá, she moved to Mexico to spread the message of Opus Dei. There Ortiz de Landázuri registered for a doctoral program in chemistry so that she could continue her studies that she had started in Spain. In Mexico City , she set up a student apartment for female students in order to create a conducive environment for successful studies, variety in health and friendship. She also helped found the Montefalco School and other social projects that supported locals. For example, she and a doctor friend of hers created a mobile medical clinic that allowed them to go from house to house in poor areas and to provide residents with free medicine and medical tests.

Ortiz de Landázuri returned to Rome in 1956 to work with Escrivá in the leadership of Opus Dei. Shortly after arriving, she noticed chest pain, which turned out to be a serious heart condition. So she returned to Madrid for an operation. After a partial recovery, she continued her academic work in Spain. During this time she began a research project on isolating refractive materials from rice hulls , for which she won the Juan de la Cierva Prize. She defended her doctoral thesis on July 8, 1965. She also worked at the Ramiro de Maeztu Institute and the Women's School for Industrial Sciences, where she held a leadership position that she held for a decade. From 1968 she was involved in the planning and founding of the Center of Studies and Research of Domestic Sciences.

In 1975, despite the risks, the doctors recommended another operation. Ortiz de Landázuri went to the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, where she was operated on on July 1st. Although the procedure was successful, she suffered from respiratory failure that caused her death at 6:30 a.m. on July 16. Her mother died in the same clinic a week later on July 23. Her remains were buried in Pamplona, ​​where she was born, but were transferred to Madrid on October 5, 2018.

beatification

In 2001, the prelate of Opus Dei, Javier Echevarría, took the necessary steps to begin the process of beatification. On March 30th, the forum responsible for the diocesan process of the matter was transferred from the Archdiocese of Pamplona y Tudela to the Archdiocese of Madrid , where the Congregation for the Causes of Saints confirmed on November 3rd that there was nothing against the process and appointed her Servant of God has been. Cardinal Antonio María Rouco Varela opened the diocesan process on November 18 and closed it on March 18, 2005. From 2002 to 2003, 66 sessions were held with 32 witnesses from Madrid who were supposed to provide evidence of their virtues. In a week-long session in Mexico in mid-2003, 22 witnesses were heard in 37 sessions. The congregation later received all documents that were collected up to 2005 (3008 pages in seven volumes) and confirmed the process on February 17, 2006. The postulate sent the position dossier in 2009 to the congregation for evaluation.

Theologians gave a positive vote on June 7, 2016 after evaluating the position paper. The congregation also gave its approval at their meeting on May 2, 2017. Pope Francis appointed Ortiz de Landázuri on May 4th as Venerable Servant of God and confirmed her a Christian life of heroic virtues.

Ortiz de Landázuri's beatification depended on the confirmation of a miracle brought about by her intercession. It had to be a cure that cannot be scientifically explained. A corresponding case was reported in Barcelona at a meeting chaired by Lluís Martínez Sistach on May 25, 2007 and investigated until January 16, 2008. The congregation confirmed the process on October 24, 2008, and a panel of medical experts confirmed at the October 5, 2017 meeting that the healing was a miracle. The panel also examined the diagnosis of the symptoms and the healing within a few hours without treatment. The experts declared the incident to be scientifically inexplicable. The position paper on the miracle was sent to the Congregation on January 2, 2018. The theologians gave their approval on March 1st and found a connection between the healing and Landázuri's intercession. The Congregation confirmed the case on June 5, recommending recognition as a miracle and asking the Pope for his approval. In a decree of June 8, Pope Francis approved recognition as a miracle, which made her beatification possible. The beatification was held on May 18, 2019 in the Palacio Vistalegre in Madrid.

The current postulator is Fr. Antonio Rodríguez de Rivera.

Beatification miracle

The miracle that led to Ortiz de Landázuri's beatification was the healing of Antonio Jesús Sedano of Madrid from Barcelona from a basocellular carcinoma on the night of November 28th to 29th, 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Venerable Servant of God Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri . Opus Dei Press Office. 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Serva di Dio Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri Fernández de Heredia . Santi e Beati. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
3. ^ Life of Spanish chemistry professor shows 'holiness is in the ordinary' . Retrieved August 21, 2018. 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri to be Beatified on 18 May 2019 . Opus Dei . October 26, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
5. ^ ^{A b} The miraculous cure of Antonio Jesús Sedano Madrid, attributed to Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri . Opus Dei. June 9, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
6. ↑ Guadalupe's Beatification will be held at Vistalegre Arena (Madrid) . Opus Dei . November 5, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
7. ↑ Interview with Postulator for Cause of Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri . Opus Dei. May 4, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2018.

Web links

• Hagiography Circle