Romana

On October 6, 2008, in Vilnius, Lithuania, a solemn Mass was celebrated in the Church of All Saints for the 80th anniversary of the foundation of Opus Dei. Cardinal Audrys Juozas Backis, the Archbishop of Vilnius, was the principal celebrant. At the end of the Mass, the Cardinal blessed a painting of St. Josemaría on a side wall of the church. Following this, a relic of St. Josemaría was made available for the veneration of the faithful.

Also on October 6, the sixth anniversary of his canonization, a statue of St. Josemaría was blessed in the Chapel of Chaithanya, in Kottayam, Kerala (India). The ceremony was presided over by the Archbishop Emeritus of Kottayam, Mar Kuriakose Kunnacherry, who was accompanied by Mar Mathew Moolakkatt and Mar Joseph Pandarasserril, present Archbishop and Auxiliary Bishop respectively. The statue, approximately 4 ft 7 in. (140 cm.) tall, is the work of the sculptor T.J. Vincent of Trichur. After Holy Mass, in the auditorium of the pastoral center, there was a presentation of the first edition of The Way in Malayalam (Divyapathâ).

On November 8, 2008, a statue of St. Josemaría was enthroned and blessed in the Old Basilica of Nuestra Señora Aparecida (Our Lady who Appeared), which the Founder of Opus Dei had visited on May 28, 1975, during his stay in Brazil. The ceremony was presided over by Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, who is the President of the Latin American Bishops Council. At the end of Mass the Archbishop gave the faithful a blessing with a relic ex ossibus of St. Josemaría.