Bishop Javier Echevarría presided over Sunday’s ceremony, which was held in front of the Shrine of Torreciudad since the church could not accommodate the 7,000 participants.
The prelate asked the new priests to be “pious, learned, joyful and athletes in the supernatural and human spheres.”
The second successor of Monsignor Josemaría Escrivá pointed out the coincidence of the ordination with the centenary of the birth and forthcoming canonization of the Opus Dei founder, on Oct. 6. Bishop Echevarría appealed to the faithful to undergo a “daily conversion” and to take “recourse to the Virgin” to “receive fruitfully so much grace from God.”
The new priests come from the United States, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, the Philippines, Nigeria, New Zealand, France, Italy, Peru, the Netherlands, Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela.
The youngest is Mexican Mario Arroyo, 28, and the oldest is Basque Eduardo Martínez Bernaola, 57, philologist and professor.
