20th century
Feast: June 26
On a crowded Madrid streetcar in 1928, a young priest suddenly understood that God was calling ordinary people — accountants, nurses, bus drivers — to become saints at their desks.
Josemaria Escriva was twenty-six when he founded Opus Dei, and his core idea was so simple it was almost offensive to the Catholic establishment of his time: laypeople don't need to become monks to become saints. They can become holy doing exactly what they're already doing — filing taxes, changing diapers, teaching classes — as long as they do it with love and offer it to God. This was 1928 Spain, where holiness was still largely associated with religious life. Escriva said the workplace was a path to God. He started with university students in Madrid, guiding them in a demanding spiritual routine: daily Mass, mental prayer, examination of conscience, and absolute dedication to professional excellence. The Spanish Civil War nearly destroyed the early group — Escriva spent months hiding from Republican forces, eventually crossing the Pyrenees on foot in winter. After the war, Opus Dei grew rapidly, spreading to dozens of countries. Escriva moved to Rome in 1946 and spent the rest of his life directing the organization, writing, and giving spiritual direction. He was intense, funny, sometimes short-tempered, and completely convinced that a dentist fixing teeth could be as holy as a Trappist monk at prayer. He died suddenly of cardiac arrest in 1975, in his study, at seventy-three.