Personal prelature of Opus Dei
Seal of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei: "A cross embracing the world"
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| Formation | October 2, 1928 |
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| Type | Personal prelature |
| Purpose | Spreading the universal call to holiness |
| Headquarters | Viale Bruno Buozzi, 73, 00197 Rome, Italy |
| Coordinates | 41°55′18.4″N 12°29′2.6″E / 41.921778°N 12.484056°ECoordinates: 41°55′18.4″N 12°29′2.6″E / 41.921778°N 12.484056°E |
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Region served
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Worldwide |
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Membership
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94,776 (2016) |
| Fernando Ocariz | |
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Main organ
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General Council Central Advisory |
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Parent organization
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Catholic Church |
| Website | opusdei |
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (Latin: Praelatura Sanctae Crucis et Operis Dei), is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the governance of a prelate elected by specific members and appointed by the Pope.Opus Dei is Latin for "Work of God"; hence the organization is often referred to by members and supporters as the Work.
Founded in Spain in 1928 by the Catholic saint and priest Josemaría Escrivá, Opus Dei was given final Catholic Church approval in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. In 1982, by the apostolic constitution Ut sit, St. John Paul II made it a personal prelature—that is, the jurisdiction of its own bishop covers the persons in Opus Dei wherever they are, rather than geographical dioceses.
As of 2016, there were 94,776 members of the Prelature, 92,667 lay persons and 2,109 priests. These figures do not include the diocesan priest members of Opus Dei's Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, estimated to number 2,000 in the year 2005. Members are in more than 90 countries. About 70% of Opus Dei members live in their private homes, leading traditional Catholic family lives with secular careers, while the other 30% are celibate, of whom the majority live in Opus Dei centers. Opus Dei organizes training in Catholic spirituality applied to daily life. Aside from personal charity and social work, Opus Dei members are involved in running universities, university residences, schools, publishing houses, hospitals, and technical and agricultural training centers.
Opus Dei was founded by a Catholic priest, Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, on 2 October 1928 in Madrid, Spain. According to Escrivá, on that day he experienced a vision in which he "saw Opus Dei". He gave the organization the name "Opus Dei", which in Latin means "Work of God", in order to underscore the belief that the organization was not his (Escrivá's) work, but was rather God's work. Throughout his life, Escrivá held that the founding of Opus Dei had a supernatural character. Escrivá summarized Opus Dei's mission as a way of helping ordinary Christians "to understand that their life... is a way of holiness and evangelization... And to those who grasp this ideal of holiness, the Work offers the spiritual assistance and training they need to put it into practice."
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