The Feast of the Guardian Angels was of seminal importance to Josemaría Escrivá, who considered himself to have been inspired by God to found Opus Dei on October 2, 1928.
The optional memorial of Saint Patrick on 17 March is a solemnity in Ireland, the memorial of Saint Josemaría Escrivá on 26 June is a solemnity within the prelature of Opus Dei, and the optional memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on 16 July is a solemnity for the Carmelites.
Patrice de Plunkett in his L'Opus Dei : enquête sur le "monstre" (Opus Dei: Inquiry on the "monster"), said that the ones who started the hostilities against Opus Dei are the "extreme wing of the Franco regime in Spain of the 1940s, because Josemaria Escriva refused to integrate with the official ideology of the times."