Decree of Virtues of Montse Grases

On the 26th of April this year, the Holy Father decided that Montse's Decree of Virtues should be published and so bring Montse one step closer to being Beatified.

CONGREGATION OF THE CAUSES OF SAINTS

BARCELONA

BEATIFICATION AND CANONISATION

OF THE SERVANT OF GOD

MARÍA MONTSERRAT GRASES GARCÍA

LAYWOMAN

OF THE PERSONAL PRELATURE OF THE HOLY CROSS AND OPUS DEI

(1941-1959)

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DECREE OF VIRTUES

“I am a daughter of God.” “When You wish, as You wish and in what­ever You wish.” “ Omnia in bonum.”

These three aspirations, which María Montserrat Grases often repeated, are a good way of describing her spiritual journey. Her very keen awareness of her divine filiation led her to fulfil the will of God the Father lovingly, with the assurance that everything He sends us is always for our good.

María Montserrat Grases García, known to family and friends as Montse, was born in Barcelona, Spain, on 10 July 1941 and was baptised nine days later. She was the second of nine children born to Manuel and Manolita Grases.

The childhood and adolescence of the Servant of God were spent in the serene atmosphere of a Christian family. Montse’s parents were members of Opus Dei and, in keeping with St Josemaría Escrivá’s teachings, they sought to make their house a bright and cheerful home.

After completing her secondary education, which she combined with learning to play the piano, Montse went to a professional training college. She liked sports, hiking, music, country dancing and performing plays. She had many friends, boys and girls.

Her parents taught her to deal with Jesus with a lot of confidence, and helped her develop the characteristic features of her personality: cheerfulness, simplicity, forgetfulness of self, and concern for the spiritual and material well-being of others. During her teens, together with some of her classmates, she would visit poor families in Barcelona, and give catechism classes to children and sometimes take them toys or sweets. She had a lively, spontaneous temperament, and at times her reactions could be a little brusque, though her relatives and teachers recall that she fought to overcome this and be friendly and jovial with everyone.

In 1954, her mother suggested that she might like to go to a Centre of Opus Dei which offered Christian and human formation to young girls. Little by little Montse came to see that God was calling her to this path of holiness and on 24 December 1957, after meditating and praying and asking her parents’ advice, she asked to join Opus Dei, with total dedication to God in apostolic celibacy.

From then on she strengthened her determination and constancy to seek holiness in her everyday life. She set herself a demanding daily plan of spiritual life, which included Holy Mass, the Holy Rosary, reading from the New Testament and spiritual books, and other practices of piety. In addition, she lived a real spirit of penance, including generous corporal mortifications, offering Our Lord many little sacrifices during the course of the day, and struggled to improve her character.

Likewise, she was constant in her efforts to bring her friends and companions closer to God as she went about her ordinary life. For example, when playing sports, she saw there an opportunity to give herself to others and to transmit to them the peace she experienced from living close to God.

In December 1957, on a mountain excursion, she fell and hurt her knee badly. It didn’t seem serious at the time, but after some days the pain only got worse. After consulting several doctors, in June 1958 they diagnosed an Ewing Sarcoma in her left femur. When her parents told her that her illness was incurable and terminal, Montse took it with immense peace and supernatural outlook, and carried on in her efforts to please God in her daily life.

The illness caused her intense and ever-increasing pain. The Servant of God offered her sufferings for the Church, for the Pope, for Opus Dei and for the many specific intentions her relatives and friends asked her to pray for. She thought of her neighbour more than herself, and never complained about her situation. On the contrary, her cheerfulness was always infectious. She brought many of those who came to visit her nearer to God. Those who lived with Montse bore witness to how she grew closer to God and how she transformed her suffering into prayer and apostolate: into true sanctity. One of her friends said that when she saw her praying, her closeness to Christ was palpably evident.

From when she asked for admission to Opus Dei, the Servant of God had undertaken a serious quest for holiness in the middle of the world, so that her illness found her well prepared to live the virtues with complete heroism.

She died peacefully on Holy Thursday, 26 March 1959. She was buried two days later. In 1994, her mortal remains were transferred to the crypt of the oratory of Santa María de Bonaigua, in Barcelona, where they are today.

From the very first moment, there have been many testimonies of her reputation for holiness – now spread to many countries – as well as news of graces and favours obtained through her intercession.

Montse died in the fullness of youth, not long before her eighteenth birthday. Though short, her life was a real gift of God for those who knew her then and for those who have come to know her afterwards, because she went about her ordinary occupations filled with love for God and other people. She brought many souls to Jesus with her piety, her smile and her simple, heroic generosity. Her youthful response to God’s love is an example that will help many people, especially the young, to understand the beauty of following Christ in their daily lives.

The process to gather information regarding the reputation for holiness, the virtues in general and the miracles was held in Barcelona from 1962 to 1968. When new legislation on causes of canonisation was promulgated, the Archbishop of Barcelona, after appointing a commission of historical experts to gather relevant documents, ordered an additional diocesan process to take place, and this was done in 1993.

The special Congress of theological consultors, which took place on 30 June 2015, responded in the affirmative to the question whether the Servant of God had practised the virtues to a heroic degree. The most Eminent and Excellent members of the Congregation gave the same answer at the Ordinary Session convened on 19 April 2016, at which I, Cardinal Angelo Amato, presided.

The undersigned Cardinal Prefect presented to the Supreme Pontiff Pope Francis a detailed account of all the phases listed above. The Holy Father, receiving and ratifying the evaluation of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, with today’s date, has solemnly declared that: Proofs exist of the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, towards both God and neighbour, and also of the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude, with their annexed virtues, in heroic degree, and of the reputation for holiness of the Servant of God María Montserrat (Montse) Grases García, laywoman of the Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei, in the case and to which effect this relates.

The Holy Father has ordered that this Decree be published and transcribed in the Acts of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Given in Rome, the 26th day of the month of April in the year of Our Lord 2016.

ANGELO CARDINAL AMATO, S. D. B.

Prefect

L. + S.

MARCELLO BARTOLUCCI

Titular Archbishop of Bevagna

Secretary

For a documentary on her life click here: https://opusdei.org/en-ke/video/life-of-montse-grases/