In the image
St JosemarIa in the University in 1967.
"From his student years at the University of Saragossa, where he was studying law at the same time as his priestly studies, St. Josemaría was particularly interested in university life, with an appreciation that he repeatedly manifested throughout his life".
This was pointed out by Blessed Alvaro del Portillo, his successor, at the in memoriam ceremony held after the death of the first Chancellor. “I consider myself a university student, and I am passionate about everything that has to do with the university," he himself had said in 1966.
Thus the idea of founding a university had been on St. Josemaría's mind from very early on, certain of the great influence that the intellectual professions have on society.
José Javier López-Jacoiste, one of the first Professors of the School of Law in the Estudio General de Navarra, the beginning of what is now the University, was one of the witnesses of the development of that dream. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the School of Law, the first school, I recalled how, from the outset, the project seemed almost impossible. It was not the first time that, throughout history, the project of building a university in Navarra had been initiated, without success. But if the experience of history was not enough, it should be added that at that time the creation of universities was the exclusive competence of the State.