“We find our sanctity in the middle of the world”: Father José Luis Múzquiz and the Beginnings of Opus Dei in the United States, 1949–1961

Servant of God Father José Luis Múzquiz de Miguel helped found and consolidate Opus Dei in the United States between 1949 and 1961. Having worked closely with Opus Dei’s founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá, during the 1930s and 1940s in Spain, Múzquiz was prepared to introduce Opus Dei in the context of 1950s U.S. Catholicism. While showing great fidelity to the foundational charism, Múzquiz strove to “Americanize” Opus Dei. This study of Múzquiz’s role in spreading the message of the universal call to holiness and Opus Dei’s teachings on the sanctification of work and society highlights continuities and discontinuities between Opus Dei’s message and pre-conciliar U.S. Catholicism.