Jacques Bonneville was the first Canadian to join Opus Dei. The Ottawa-born engineer and father of nine discovered the teachings of Saint Josemaria in 1955 while pursuing a doctorate in Boston, two years before the Work came to Canada at the invitation of Cardinal Paul-Emile Léger. Dr. Bonneville passed away on July 13 2011 at the age of 90; he was accompanied by Cecile, his wife of 65 years.
It was on June 7, 1957 that the first members of Opus Dei moved to Canada at the request of Saint Josemaria to start the apostolic work. A few weeks later, Opus Dei’s first centre opened its doors on rue Plantagenet near the Université de Montréal. Fr. John Martin and Fr. Joseph Escribano (currently the chaplain of Parkhill Residence, a university residence in Ottawa) were among the first to arrive, followed shortly afterwards by Alfonso Bielza, an aeronautical engineer from Spain.
A couple of years later, Joseph Atkinson, a young Albertan and who had recently obtained his Ph. D. in Chemistry from MIT and Ernest Caparros, a young law school graduate joined them. Mr. Caparros later became a professor in the law faculty at Université Laval and the University of Ottawa.
Read the rest at: http://www.catholichurch.net/2013/08/opus-deis-history-in-canada.html
No comments:
Post a Comment