Born on March 11, 1914 in Madrid, Spain, Alvaro del Portillo was Saint Josemaria Escriva’s faithful co-worker and his first successor at the head of Opus Dei. As an exemplary priest, he spent his whole life in the service of the Church, including work on various commissions at the Second Vatican Council. He was ordained a bishop in 1991 by Pope St. John Paul II. He died in Rome on March 23, 1994 a few hours after returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His Cause for Canonization was opened in Rome in 2004 and he was beatified in Madrid on September 27, 2014.