Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer (January 9, 1902 – June 26, 1975; also known as José María or Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albás, born José María Mariano Escriba Albás) was a Roman Catholic priest from Spain who founded Opus Dei, an organization of laypeople and priests dedicated to the teaching that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. He was canonized in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, who declared Saint Josemaría should be “counted among the great witnesses of Christianity.”
Escrivá gained a doctorate in civil law at the Complutense University of Madrid and a doctorate in theology at the Lateran University in Rome. His principal work was the foundation, government and expansion of Opus Dei. Escrivá’s best-known publication was The Way, which has been translated into 43 languages and has sold several million copies.