The Civil War and the Period in Burgos

Already in 1935, although there were hardly more than a dozen members of Opus Dei, St. Josemaría had thought about its expansion from Madrid to other Spanish cities. The start of the Spanish Civil War made it impossible to carry out these plans immediately. During the time the conflict lasted, St. Josemaría carried on with his ministry, first in Madrid, at grave risk to his life, and later, in Burgos, after making a dangerous crossing of the Catalan Pyrenees. In Burgos, a town of Castile, he dedicated himself tirelessly to renewing contact with those who formed part of Opus Dei, and to his other priestly activities.

Taking advantage of the time he now had, St. Josemaría decided to restart the project of his doctoral dissertation in law, centering it not on the subject he had decided on before (the documents he had left in Madrid were practically lost) but on an interesting ecclesiastical reality that existed in Burgos: the quasi-episcopal jurisdiction of the abbess of the Monastery of Las Huelgas. In 1939 he presented and defended his doctoral dissertation. Five years later, completing and amplifying his research, he published his third book, an extensive monograph on The Abbess of Las Huelgas.