Fortibus Parentibus
TO THE BRAVE PARENTS
News Northfield Prays for Iraq Heeding the call of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines President Socrates Villegas, and in union with Pope Francis’ Mass for Peace and Reconciliation (in Korea) on Monday August 18, 2014, the entire PAREF-Northfield community were all together praying the Rosary for Iraq in their classrooms at exactly 815 in the morning. The Year V students led the prayer for Grades 1-4, while the other levels were with their advisers along with some Faculty and staff who joined them. Each level had his own style of praying: some were standing facing the image of our Lady, others sat down, and still a few were walking around with the Hail Marys. One teacher even heard a class interrupting the monotony of the recitation of the prayer by singing the “Gloria Patri” every decade. It was at the Angelus prayer on July 20th when Pope Francis cried with pain: “Our brothers and sisters are persecuted, they are pushed out, forced to leave their homes without the opportunity to take anything with them. To these families and to these people I would like to express my closeness and my steadfast prayer. Dearest brothers and sisters so persecuted, I know how much you suffer; I know that you are deprived of everything. I am with you in your faith in Him who conquered evil!” The staff of Fortibus Parentibus hope that the community praying of the Rosary leads all of us to pray more for the same intention.
Grade 4 Students Listen to their first Platica Last July 23, the Grade 4 students headed to the oratory for their first monthly platica preached by our school chaplain. Platica is the Spanish term for “talk” or “lecture,” which would aptly describe what took place that afternoon. The Chaplain stood by the oratory lectern, giving a short overview on the virtue of the quarter. As he spoke, the boys actively listened, raising their hands to answer questions or to ask questions themselves, as they would have in a classroom lecture. It barely lasted for ten minutes, which was just enough time for the boys to learn, in front of the tabernacle, in an environment of
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Photo by Mr. Rommel Trinidad
August 2014 Newsletter
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Fortibus Parentibus A Tribute to Brave Parents’ of a Devotion Soon-to-be-Blessed This year, on September 27, two parents shall receive the highest honors that could ever be achieved: having a child who will be “raised to the altars.” They may no longer be here on earth, but they certainly deserve their tribute for being such “Brave Parents”—Fortibus Parentibus—for inculcating the early Christian formation of the man who will be beatified very soon. The Founder of Opus Dei, St. Josemaria, used to remark that ninety per cent of one’s vocation is owed to the parents. It would not be perhaps inaccurate to say that the sanctity of Alvaro Del Portillo largely depended on the holiness of his parents, Clementina and Ramon. Both are definitely PAREF-Northfield parents’ role models, exemplifying the virtues of Humility, Order, Piety and Excellence. Together, the couple created an atmosphere of sanctity, a dwelling for a saint, a home for the brave. Both were unafraid of the challenges of parenting (they had eight children!), constant in disciplining amidst mischief, consistent with the way they live the faith, and courageous through the friendship they made with each and every fruit of their marriage. Don Alvaro (as he was often called, literally translated as “Father or Bishop Alvaro”), remembered that when he was a little boy, he would often swipe something from his mother’s dessert plate, and she would say to him, “from your mouth your children will one day take things away!” And Don Alvaro added that in times past, whenever he remembered
this, he’d thought his mother had been mistaken; but no… Clementina Diez de Sollano Portillo was a beautiful and distinguished woman and a good Catholic. Born in the Mexican city of Cuernavaca, she lived there until the outbreak of the Mexican Civil War in 1910, at which time her parents decided to return to Spain. But she always kept her Mexican citizenship and her soft, gentle Mexican accent. She did part of her studies in London, at a school run by Servants of the Sacred Heart. Besides English (which she could speak quite well), she may also have learned there something else: how to live a thoroughly Christian life with flexibility, without sentimentality, with common sense and a supernatural outlook. A woman of great culture, she loved to read books, and her favorites were biographies and spiritual works. She always kept close at hand a copy of The Imitation of Christ, and she went to Mass every day. Alvaro used to call her “Mamacita” when he was little. Her son Alvaro inherited some of her natural characteristics, such as her friendliness, her delicacy in dealing with people, the smile with which she made even the most difficult decisions, the totally understanding spirit which made it impossible for her to criticize or speak ill of anyone. And also something less lofty: the capacity to eat the hottest European meals with no problem at all. Never were they as spicy
and tasty for him as good old Mexican chile chipotle. PIETY. In the family home little Alvaro acquired a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin, mostly by way of praying the rosary. Also he learned from the lips of his mother a simple, popular prayer to Mary which he recited every day: Sweet Mother, never go away. Keep watch on me both night and day. Come with me wherever I go, and never, ever, leave me alone. Since you most truly are my mother, Please protect me like no other. Get me the blessings I need most From the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. HUMILITY. Though she had too much delicacy of soul ever to speak of this, Alvaro found out that his mom used to rise very early (about four in the morning), take a cold bath as a mortification, and then do an hour of prayer. Don Alvaro thought that she did this out of concern about the faith of someone close to her, someone she loved very much. ORDER & EXCELLENCE. Her husband, Ramon del Portillo Pardo, was born
1921 The Del Portillo Family.
lar remembers him as “neat and correct about everything, very educated and elegant, extremely punctual and very meticulous.” What stood out most in his character was his preciseness, his exactness, his seriousness. “But he was not severe,” says his son Carlos. “I can’t remember one time when he was ever harsh or unfeeling or cold.” That really quite amiable and downto-earth man loved to go to bullfights and also loved to read. But when he got older he began to lose his sight. Actually, that problem must have been in the family. It seems, that one day he told his wife, as they were eating, that he was very upset because some sanctimonious old woman, not looking where she was going, had pushed ahead of him into the church. And she replied, “So it was you who almost knocked me over?” BRAVE. Clementina and Ramon had eight children: Ramon, Paco, Alvaro, Pilar, Pepe, Angel, Tere, and Carlos. Alvaro was born in their second home, which was at 75 Alcala Street. The day: March 11, 1914. He was baptized six days later at the parish of San Jose (on Alcala Street). His godparents were an aunt and an uncle: Maria del Carmen del Portillo and Jorge Diez de Sollano. His full given name was Alvaro Jose Maria Eulogio. (In Spain it is customary to include the name of the saint on whose feast day the baby is born. March 11 is the feast day of Saint Eulogius.) On December 28, 1916, Alvaro received the sacrament of Confirmation at the hands of the bishop of Siguenza, Bishop Eustaquio Nieto y Martin, at the church of La Concepcion. (At that time in Spain, it was customary
in Madrid and studied law at Madrid’s Universidad Central. He worked for an insurance company called Plus Ultra. Orderly and hard-working, he was very much a family man. His daughter Pi-
Fortibus Parentibus to administer Confirmation to little children.) On his seventy-fifth birthday, in 1989, Don Alvaro celebrated Mass in the prelatic church of Our Lady of Peace in Rome. In his homily he reviewed with gratitude some of the many blessings which he had received from our Lord throughout his life, starting with the fact of having been born in the warmth of a Christian family in which he could learn true piety. His mother, he said, “instilled in me a special devotion to the Sacred Heart and to the Holy Spirit, and a particular veneration for the Blessed Virgin under the tide of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.” And then he added, “Our Lord God arranged for me to be friends with my father, which obviously helped keep me from getting into bad friendships.” Don Alvaro told people on several occasions that as a child he had been very shy. That was how he explained, for example, why he had not become a lawyer, like his father, and why he blushed so easily. However, it’s also possible that he interpreted as timidity what was really a sense of modesty, since he always brought this up while he was addressing with obvious confidence thousands of people. The Del Portillo siblings loved each other, and this could only be possible if the parents showed the way. As a child Alvaro had some rather serious illnesses. When he was just two or three years old, for instance, he suffered attacks of rheumatism. At that time, after supper, his two older brothers were given a big glass of milk with an egg yolk beaten in, while he, instead, had to take his medicine. He used to envy them and say, using a Mexican expression (“Que
suertasa teneis”), “You’re so lucky—you get egg yolks, and I get Sanatogen.” Sanatogen was an evil-smelling concoction, a benzene derivative often prescribed for rheumatism. Actually, he must have had some congenital predisposition to this ailment, for he suffered another attack of it when he was about twenty. And after all these years, his sister Pilar still recalls what his doctor, Gregorio Maranon, prescribed for him, perhaps because it was so unusual: a few drops of minced garlic soaked in alcohol. Alvaro was prone to the normal transgressions and mischief of all children, and sometimes his father felt obliged to punish him. But often he would give him the slip: when his father came up behind him to get hold of him, he would escape by running as fast as he could and hiding under the big dining room table. Even when he was very little, his father used to take him to Sunday-morning Mass with his brothers and sisters. They would walk from their home on Conde de Aranda Street to the nearby church of San Manuel y San Benito. After Mass they would cross Alcala Street and take a walk in Retiro Park, where Don Ramon would treat them all to potato chips and lemonade. This coming September 27, perhaps together in Heaven, Ramon and Clementina are so happy to see that on earth, their third-born who used to enjoy the simple chips and lemonade they provide, is officially proclaimed here and now a model for sanctity, an effective intercessor for all needs, a ‘Blessed’ really and formally. To get to know him more, please visit and like www.facebook.com/alvarodelportillodaily.
...Their first Platica (continued) prayer, a few concrete points about the virtue, such as not bragging when one got a high score in a test, or striving to do better when one gets a low score. The monthly platica is just one of the means of formation that will be made available in Northfield this school year for grade school students, in order to instill in them a thirst for God amidst their schoolwork. While it is not meant to be as profound and penetrating as an actual thirty-minute meditation, it certainly helps the younger students learn to set aside a few minutes of their time to talk to God, with the aid of a priest, about the ordinary circumstances of their life -- their studies, their friends, and their families. As Jose Urteaga says in his book God and Children, “if your children learn to pray with simplicity now, they will continue to treat the Lord with sincerity and naturalness all through their life, with no affectation, no mere formulas, no mere repetition of habits.”
Photo by Mr. Rommel Trinidad