Dora del Hoyo

Dora del Hoyo Alonso, (11 January 1914 – 10 January 2004; born Salvadora Honorata del Hoyo Alonso in Leon, Spain) was a Spanish Catholic laywoman who was one of the first female members of Opus Dei.

A domestic worker by profession, del Hoyo was the first to join the Prelature of Opus Dei as an assistant numerary meaning that she dedicated herself professionally to caring for people and looking after the material needs of Opus Dei centers. From 1946 until her death, she lived in Rome, Italy where she collaborated first with Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, Opus Dei's founder, and later on with his successors Álvaro del Portillo and Bishop Javier Echevarría, in the domestic management of the first Opus Dei center there, later the movement's headquarters.

Biography Dora del Hoyo was born on January 11, 1914, in the village of Boca de Huérgano in Leon, Spain, the fifth of six children. Her father, Demetrio del Hoyo, was a farm-laborer and her mother, Carmen Alonso, a home-maker.

In 1944, del Hoyo was still working for the Duke when she came in contact with Opus Dei. Josemaria Escriva, founder of the then-new Opus Dei movement, had turned to the Daughters for Domestic Service for help in hiring household employees for a student dormitory he was opening called the Moncloa Residence.

Later on, del Hoyo decided to give up the job at the Dukes of Nájera to devote herself full-time to the Moncloa, even though the pay there was lower and the working conditions significantly worse. Later on when asked why she did this, del Hoyo said that she was moved "to see how hard they worked" and that she was also impressed by Escriva and his teaching.

In December 1946, del Hoyo moved to Rome at Escriva's request to take charge of the domestic management of the first Opus Dei center there, a center which would later be Opus Dei's central headquarters.

Del Hoyo died in Rome on 10 January 2004, after battling illness for several years. Her mortal remains lie close to the tomb of Escriva, in the crypt of Our Lady of Peace Church in Rome.

Beatification process On June 18, 2012, Echevarría presided at the opening of the canonical process on the life and virtues of Dora del Hoyo. Jose Luis Gutierrez was named the postulator of del Hoyo's Cause of Canonization. According to Gutierrez, "Presenting this kind of work as a path of holiness recognised by the Church will encourage the many faithful Christians who are enmeshed in the thousand circumstances of ordinary life and it is also a valuable contribution to the good of society."

According to Echevarría, “Dora was very important for Opus Dei, because of her faithfulness and her work well done, always with the humble desire to pass unnoticed, to ‘do and disappear.’ She took the Blessed Virgin Mary as her teacher, as Saint Josemaría had encouraged her, and because of this she was effective to the very end of her life. She wanted no glory or recognition, and she gave one hundred percent throughout her entire life."