On 9th June 2018, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to issue the decree approving a miracle attributed to the intercession of (1916-1975), a member of Opus Dei. The miracle was the instantaneous cure, in 2002, of Antonio Jesús Sedano Madrid, 76, who was suffering from a malignant skin tumour next to his right eye.
One night, a few days before the operation to remove the tumour, Antonio sought the intercession of Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri, asking with faith that the surgery be avoided. The next morning, the tumour had completely disappeared. Subsequent medical examinations confirmed the cure.
Antonio Jesús Sedano Madrid died 12 years later, in 2014, of heart disease. He was 88 years old. The skin cancer, which was cured through the intercession of Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri, never appeared again.
In an interview, the postulator of the cause, Fr Antonio Rodríguez de Rivera, describes Guadalupe as “a woman in love with God, full of faith and hope that, with her work and optimism, helped others in their spiritual and material needs. Her cheerfulness characterized everything she did, even in the most difficult situations.”
Guadalupe was born in Madrid on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1916. She studied chemistry at Madrid’s Central University. There were only five women in her class. During the Spanish Civil War, she comforted her father, who was in the military, in the final hours before his execution. She forgave those responsible for his death immediately. After the Spanish Civil War, she graduated and began to teach physics and chemistry in the “Colegio de las Irlandesas” (Loreto Nuns High School) and in the Lycee Francaise (French State High School) in Madrid.
Early in 1944, she became acquainted with the founder of Opus Dei, Saint Josemaría Escrivá through a friend. Saint Josemaría taught her that professional work and ordinary life can be places for finding God. She would later say: “I had the very clear idea that God was speaking to me through that priest.” In that same year, she asked for admission to Opus Dei.
From that moment onward, Guadalupe would live this dedication unconditionally, with great fidelity to Jesus Christ, whom she sought in a special way in the Eucharist, striving for holiness, with a passion to serve and to bring many people close to God. In Madrid and later in Bilbao, she attended to the Christian formation of young people as a first priority.
From 1950 to 1956, she lived in Mexico to get Opus Dei’s apostolic work started. Those who came to know her there recalled that her priority was to fulfil God’s will and that she was constant in her zeal to help each person. Moved by Guadalupe’s encouragement, many of her friends began to work for the common good, starting human and Christian initiatives such as training centres for peasants in rural areas in the state of Morelos. In her teaching career, she made friends easily with the university students, who appreciated her patience and affection, as well as the sense of humour with which she helped them in their academic and personal lives, as well as her affection for those around her. Landázuri enrolled in a doctoral programme in chemical sciences that she had begun in Spain. It was while in Mexico and its capital that she voiced concern for the poor and the old and set out to evangelize these people. Together with a doctor friend, she started a mobile clinic and the two went from house to house in poorer neighbourhoods to provide both free medicine and medical tests to people.
Landázuri relocated to Rome in 1956 where she was able to work with Escrivá in the internal governance of Opus Dei. But it was not long after her arrival that she noted a pain in her chest which turned out to be a serious heart condition that forced her to return to Madrid for an operation. Following her recovery, she returned to Rome but the worsening of her condition forced her to settle permanently in Spain where she continued with her academic work. During this time she began a research project on insulating refracting materials and the value of ash from rice husks; she won the prize Juan de la Cierva for this project and later completed and defended her doctoral thesis on 8 July 1965. For an unspecified period around this time, she worked at the Ramiro de Maeztu Institute and then at the Women's School for Industrial Sciences where she held a leadership position for the next decade. In 1968, she took part in the planning and establishment of the Centre of Studies and Research of Domestic Sciences (CEICID). At the same time, she continued to carry out tasks of Christian formation in Opus Dei. In all her actions, she reflected her desire to love God with her work, her friendship, and a deep joy that transmitted peace and serenity.
Despite her heart condition, she did not complain and tried not to concern herself with the tiredness that came from walking or climbing stairs as her condition continued to deteriorate over time. In 1975, the doctors said it would be best for them to operate despite there being some risks. Landázuri left her Madrid home to check into the Clínica Universidad de Navarra where she had a successful operation on 1 July. Just a week before her operation, Josemaría Escrivá died in Rome and she received this news of his sudden death with great pain. But she also found peace in the fact that Escrivá was now before God. Though the operation was successful, she developed sudden respiratory failure and died at 6:30am on 16 July, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, at the age of 59. Her remains were buried in Pamplona where she was born.
Since then, private devotion to Guadalupe has spread more and more. According to the postulator, people asking for her intercession have received different types of graces: cures, favours related to pregnancy and childbirth, getting employment, resolving conflicts between work and family obligations, resolution of money problems, family reconciliations, and helping friends and colleagues to get close to God. This is the third person from Opus Dei to be raised to sainthood. St Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei was canonised in 2006 by Pope John Paul II: his successor, Bishop Alvaro Del Portillo was beatified by Pope Francis in 2014.