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Opus Dei

Opus Dei (Work of God) is an institution of the Catholic Church that, by an alleged divine inspiration, was founded in Spain in 1928 by Catholic priest Josemaría Escrivá. Its stated mission is to help its lay and clerical members to seek Christian perfection in their everyday occupations and within their societies. Opus Dei has long attracted significant controversy regarding its political activities and its alleged cult-like practices. However, a growing number of people, find the spiritual support and philanthropic initiatives intriguing. One example of an article about the theology of the secularity of the lay faithful has been published in 2005 by the eminent canonist Professor Jorge Miras. Another example is a book published in 1972 by Blessed Alvaro del Portillo. Fr Paul Hayward, of London UK and the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, has also published in 2013 a more recent consideration of some of these unfolding matters.

Opus Dei is officially recognized within the Catholic Church, though its status has evolved. It received final approval by the Catholic Church in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. Pope Saint John Paul II made it a personal prelature in 1982 by the apostolic constitution Ut sit; that is, the jurisdiction of the Opus Dei's head covers members wherever they are, rather than geographical dioceses. On 14 July 2022, Pope Francis issued the apostolic letter Ad charisma tuendum, which transferred responsibility for the Opus Dei from the Dicastery for Bishops to the Dicastery for the Clergy and decreed that the head of the Opus Dei cannot become a bishop. While Opus Dei has met controversies, it remains influential within the Church.

Lay people make up the majority of its membership; the remainder are secular priests under the governance of a prelate elected by specific members and appointed by the Pope. Opus Dei is Latin for "Work of God"; hence the organization is often referred to by members and supporters as the Work.

As of 2023, there are 95,890 members of the Prelature: 93,784 lay persons and 2,106 priests. These figures do not include the diocesan priest members of Opus Dei's Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, estimated to number 2,000 in the year 2005. Members are located in more than 90 countries. About 70% of Opus Dei members live in their own homes, leading family lives with secular careers, while the other 30% are celibate, of whom the majority live in Opus Dei centers. Aside from their personal charity and social work, Opus Dei members organize training in Catholic spirituality applied to daily life; members are involved in running universities, university residences, schools, publishing houses, hospitals, and technical and agricultural training centers.

Foundational period
Opus Dei was founded by Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer on 2 October 1928 in Madrid, Spain. According to Escrivá, on that day he experienced a vision in which he "saw Opus Dei". He gave the organization the name "Opus Dei", which in Latin means "Work of God", in order to underscore the belief that the organization was not his (Escrivá's) work, but was rather God's work. Throughout his life, Escrivá held that the founding of Opus Dei had a supernatural character. Escrivá summarized Opus Dei's mission as a way of helping ordinary Christians "to understand that their life... is a way of holiness and evangelization... And to those who grasp this ideal of holiness, the Work offers the spiritual assistance and training they need to put it into practice."

Initially, Opus Dei was open only to men, but in 1930, Escrivá started to admit women, based on what he believed to be a communication from God. When the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, Escrivá was able to return to Madrid after three years of hiding. Escrivá later recounted that it was in Spain where Opus Dei found "the greatest difficulties" because of "enemies of personal freedom", and traditionalists who he felt misunderstood Opus Dei's ideas. Despite this, Opus Dei grew during the years of the Franquismo, spreading first throughout Spain, and after 1945, expanding internationally.

In 1939, Escrivá published The Way, a collection of 999 maxims concerning spirituality for people involved in secular affairs. In the 1940s, Opus Dei found an early critic in the Jesuit Superior General Wlodimir Ledóchowski, who told the Vatican that he considered Opus Dei "very dangerous for the Church in Spain," citing its "secretive character" and calling it "a form of Christian Masonry."

In 1947, a year after Escrivá moved the organization's headquarters to Rome, Opus Dei received a decree of praise and approval from Pope Pius XII, making it an institute of "pontifical right", i.e. under the direct governance of the Pope. In 1950, Pius XII granted definitive approval to Opus Dei, thereby allowing married people to join the organization, and secular clergy to be admitted to the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross.

Several Opus Dei members such as Alberto Ullastres were ministers ("Opusdeistas") under the dictator Franco in Spain (see Opus Dei and politics).

Post-foundational years
In 1975, Escrivá died and was succeeded by Álvaro del Portillo. In 1982, Opus Dei was made into a personal prelature. This means that Opus Dei is part of the Catholic Church, and the apostolate of the members falls under the direct jurisdiction of the prelate of Opus Dei wherever they are. As to "what the law lays down for all the ordinary faithful", the lay members of Opus Dei, being no different from other Catholics, "continue to be [...] under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop", in the words of John Paul II's Apostolic Constitution, Ut Sit.

One-third of the world's bishops sent letters petitioning for the canonization of Escrivá. Escrivá was beatified in 1992 in the midst of controversy prompted by questions about his suitability for sainthood. In 2002, approximately 300,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square on the day Pope John Paul II canonized him. According to John L. Allen Jr., "Escrivá is... venerated by millions".

There are other members whose process of beatification has been opened: Ernesto Cofiño, a father of five children and a pioneer in pediatric research in Guatemala; Montserrat Grases, a teenage Catalan student who died of cancer; Toni Zweifel, a Swiss engineer;  Tomás Alvira and wife, Paquita Domínguez, a Spanish married couple; Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma, an Argentinian engineer;  Dora del Hoyo, a domestic worker; Fr. José María Hernández Garnica; and Father José Luis Múzquiz de Miguel, a Spanish priest who began Opus Dei in the United States.

During the pontificate of John Paul II, two members of Opus Dei, Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne and Julián Herranz Casado, were made cardinals.

In September 2005, Pope Benedict XVI blessed a newly installed statue of Josemaría Escrivá placed in an outside wall niche of St Peter's Basilica, a place for founders of Catholic organizations.

During that same year, Opus Dei received attention due to the success of the novel The Da Vinci Code, in which both Opus Dei and the Catholic Church itself work against the protagonists. The film version was released globally in May 2006, further polarizing views on the organization.

In 2014, Pope Francis through a delegate beatified Álvaro del Portillo and said that "he teaches us that in the simplicity and ordinariness of our life we can find a sure path to holiness.

At the end of 2014, the prelature has been established in 69 countries, while its members are present in 90 countries.

Javier Echevarría Rodríguez, the second prelate of Opus Dei, died on 12 December 2016, and was succeeded by Fernando Ocáriz. He was elected the new prelate of Opus Dei on 23 January 2017, and on the same day was appointed by Pope Francis as such.

In 2019, Guadalupe Ortiz de Landázuri, one of the first women who joined Opus Dei, was beatified in Madrid, Spain. She is the first lay faithful, as well as the first woman, in Opus Dei to be beatified.

In 2005, the first publicly-known sexual abuse case of Opus Dei in the US, against C. John McCloskey, was settled for $977,000. Opus Dei publicly acknowledged a sexual abuse case within the organisation for the first time in its history in July 2020, this one involving priest Manuel Cociña in Spain.

Pope Francis: "Safeguard the charism"
On 22 July 2022, Pope Francis issued the apostolic letter in the form of a motu proprio Ad charisma tuendum, which seeks to "safeguard the charism," or original foundational spirit; it is "intended to confirm the Prelature of Opus Dei in the authentically charismatic sphere of the Church, specifying its organization in keeping with the witness of the Founder." Among other things, the new disposition decrees that the head of the Opus Dei "shall not be honoured with the episcopal order", but "is granted, by reason of his office, the use of the title of Supernumerary Apostolic Protonotary with the title of Reverend Monsignor and therefore may use the insignia [including heraldic devices] corresponding to this title". It also transfers responsibility for the personal prelature Opus Dei from the Dicastery for Bishops to the Dicastery for the Clergy, conforming to the apostolic constitution Praedicate evangelium, and mandates revision of the statutes of the personal prelature to bring them into conformity with these reforms. This reform became effective on 4 August 2022, and Pope Francis explained that this action was carried out in consultation with canon lawyers of Opus Dei and had no negative connotation for he has very positive sentiments for Opus Dei.

On 8 August 2023 Pope Francis issued a new motu proprio which stated that personal prelatures such as Opus Dei, are "similar to public clerical associations of pontifical law", such as the Community of Saint Martin and the Family of Mary.

Doctrine
Opus Dei is an organization of the Catholic Church. As such, it shares the doctrines of the Catholic Church and has "no other teaching than the teaching of the Magisterium of the Holy See", as per the founder.

Opus Dei places emphasis on certain aspects of Catholic doctrine. A central point of focus in Opus Dei's theology is the lives of the Catholic laypeople. Opus Dei emphasizes the "universal call to holiness": the belief that everyone should aspire to be a saint, as per Jesus' commandment to "Love God with all your heart" (Matthew 22:37) and "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) Opus Dei also teaches that sanctity is within the reach of everyone, given Jesus' teaching that his demands are "easy" and "light," as his divine assistance is assured.

Opus Dei does not have monks or nuns, and only a minority of its members are priests. Opus Dei emphasizes uniting spiritual life with professional, social, and family life. Members of Opus Dei lead ordinary lives, with traditional families and secular careers, and strive to "sanctify ordinary life". Pope John Paul II called Escrivá "the saint of ordinary life". Similarly, Opus Dei stresses the importance of work and professional competence. Opus Dei exhorts its members and all lay Catholics to "find God in daily life" and to perform their work as a service to society and as an offering to God. Opus Dei teaches that work not only contributes to social progress but is a "path to holiness".

The biblical roots of this Catholic doctrine, according to the founder, are in the phrase "God created man to work" (Genesis 2:15) and Jesus' time as a carpenter in a small town. Escrivá also points to the gospel account that Jesus "has done everything well" (Mark 7:37).

The foundation of the Christian life, as stressed by Escrivá, is divine filiation: Christians are children of God, identified with Christ's life and mission. Other main ideals of Opus Dei, according to its official literature, are freedom, respecting choice, taking personal responsibility, charity, and love of God above all and love of others.

At the bottom of Escrivá's understanding of the "universal call to holiness" are two dimensions, subjective and objective, according to Fernando Ocariz, a Catholic theologian and prelate of Opus Dei since 2017. The subjective is the call given to each person to become a saint, regardless of their place in society. The objective refers to what Escrivá calls Christian materialism: all of creation, even the most material situation, is a meeting place with God, and leads to union with him.

Prayers
All members – whether married or unmarried, priests or laypeople – are trained to follow a 'plan of life', or 'the norms of piety', which are traditional Catholic devotions. This is in order to follow the teaching of the Catholic Catechism: "pray at specific times...to nourish continual prayer".

Mortification
Public attention has focused on Opus Dei's practice of mortification. Examples include fasting, "corporal mortifications" such as self-inflicted pain (self-flagellation), sleeping without a pillow or sleeping on the floor, and if compatible with their family or professional duties, remaining silent for certain hours during the day. Mortification has a long history in many world religions, including the Catholic Church. It has been endorsed by popes as a way of 'following Christ', who died of crucifixion and who, speaking of anybody that sought to be his disciple, said: "let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).

Governance
In Pope John Paul II's 1982 decree known as the Apostolic constitution Ut Sit, Opus Dei was established as a personal prelature, an official structure of the Catholic Church, similar to a diocese in that it contains lay people and secular priests led by a bishop. However, whereas a bishop normally has a territory or diocese, the prelate of Opus Dei is pastor to the members and priests of Opus Dei worldwide, no matter what diocese they are in. Opus Dei is the only personal prelature in existence. In addition to being governed by Ut Sit and by the Catholic Church's general law, Opus Dei is governed by the church's Particular Law concerning Opus Dei, otherwise known as Opus Dei's statutes. This specifies the objectives and workings of the prelature. The prelature is under the Congregation for Bishops.

Opus Dei's highest assembled bodies are the General Congresses, which are convened once every eight years. There are separate congresses for the men's and women's branches of Opus Dei. The General Congresses are made up of members appointed by the prelate and are responsible for advising him about the prelature's future. The men's General Congress also elects the prelate from a list of candidates chosen by their female counterparts. After the death of a prelate, a special elective General Congress is convened. The women nominate their preferred candidates for the prelate and is voted upon by the men to become the next prelate—an appointment that must be confirmed by the Pope.

The head of the Opus Dei prelature is known as the prelate. The prelate is the primary governing authority and is assisted by two councils—the General Council (made up of men) and the Central Advisory (made up of women). The prelate holds his position for life. The current prelate of Opus Dei is Fernando Ocáriz Braña, who became the third prelate of Opus Dei on 23 January 2017. The first prelate of Opus Dei was Álvaro del Portillo, who held the position from 1982 until his death in 1994.

Membership
, the faithful of the Opus Dei Prelature numbered 95,318 members, of which 93,203 are lay persons, men and women, and 2,115 priests. These figures do not include the priest members of Opus Dei's Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, estimated to number 2,000 in the year 2005.

About 60 percent of Opus Dei faithful reside in Europe, and 35 percent reside in the Americas. Women comprise 57% of the total membership. According to the study of John Allen, for the most part, Opus Dei faithful belong to the middle to low levels in society in terms of education, income, and social status.

Opus Dei is made up of several different types of faithful. According to the Statutes of Opus Dei, the distinction derives from the degree to which they make themselves available for the official activities of the Prelature and for giving formation according to the spirit of Opus Dei.

Supernumeraries, the largest type, currently account for about 70% of the total membership. Typically, supernumeraries are married men and women with careers. Supernumeraries devote a portion of their day to prayer, in addition to attending regular meetings and taking part in activities such as retreats. Due to their career and family obligations, supernumeraries are not as available to the organization as the other types of faithful, but typically contribute financially and lend other types of assistance as their circumstances permit.

Numeraries, the second largest type of the faithful of Opus Dei, comprise about 20% of the total membership. Numeraries are celibate members who give themselves in "full availability" (plena disponibilitas) for the official undertakings of the Prelature. This includes full availability for giving doctrinal and ascetical formation to other members, for staffing the internal government of Opus Dei if asked by the regional directors, and for moving to other countries to start or help with apostolic activities if asked by the prelate. Numeraries are expected to live in gender-specific centers run by Opus Dei, and the question of which particular center a numerary will live in depends upon the regional needs. "Numerary" is a general term for persons who form part of the permanent staff of an organization. It is considered very important for numeraries to participate in daily meals and "get-togethers" in which the sharing of news and conversation takes place. Numeraries generally have jobs outside of Opus Dei, although some are asked to work internally full-time, and thus change their professional goals in order to be available for the Prelature. The majority of numerary income is contributed to the organization.

Numerary assistants are a type of numerary that exists in the Women's Branch of Opus Dei. Their full availability for the Prelature is lived out as full availability for doing a specific type of work, namely looking after the domestic needs of conference and residential centers of Opus Dei. Assistants live in centers run by Opus Dei and do not have jobs outside said centers.

Associates are celibate faithful who take on one or more apostolic assignment(s) from the Prelature in giving doctrinal and ascetical formation and/or coordinating activities. They differ from numeraries in not making themselves "fully" available to staff the official undertakings of the Prelature, instead giving themselves in additional social realities, such as through their profession or to their own families. Because of this difference in availability for the official activities of Opus Dei, unlike numeraries the associates do not live in Opus Dei centers but maintain their own abodes.

Only ordained clergymen are recognized members of the personal prelature by the Catholic church, per canon law. Laymen, such as numeraries, have no recognized status by the Catholic Church, as confirmed by the Vicar General Mariano Fazio.

The Clergy of the Opus Dei Prelature are priests who are under the jurisdiction of the prelate of Opus Dei. They are a minority in Opus Dei that makes up about 2% of Opus Dei members.

The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross consists of priests associated with Opus Dei. Part of the society is made up of the clergy of the Opus Dei prelature—priests who fall under the jurisdiction of the Opus Dei prelature are automatically members of the Priestly Society. Other members in the society are diocesan priests—clergymen who remain under the jurisdiction of a geographically defined diocese. These priests are considered full members of Opus Dei who are given its spiritual training. They do not, however, report to the Opus Dei prelate but to their own diocesan bishop. , there were roughly two thousand of these priests.

The Cooperators of Opus Dei are non-members who collaborate in some way with Opus Dei—usually through praying, charitable contributions, or by providing some other assistance. Cooperators are not required to be celibate or to adhere to any other special requirements, and are not even required to be Christian. There were 164,000 cooperators in the year 2005.

In accordance with Catholic theology, membership is granted when a vocation or divine calling is presumed to have occurred.

Activities
Leaders of Opus Dei describe the organization as a teaching entity whose main activity is to train Catholics to assume personal responsibility in sanctifying the secular world from within. This teaching is done by means of theory and practice.

Its lay people and priests organize seminars, workshops, retreats, and classes to help people put the Christian faith into practice in their daily lives. Spiritual direction, one-on-one coaching with a more experienced lay person or priest, is considered the "paramount means" of training. Through these activities, they provide religious instruction (doctrinal formation), coaching in spirituality for lay people (spiritual formation), character and moral education (human formation), lessons in sanctifying one's work (professional formation), and know-how in evangelizing one's family and workplace (apostolic formation). The official Catholic document, which established the prelature, states that Opus Dei strives "to put into practice the teaching of the universal call to sanctity, and to promote at all levels of society the sanctification of ordinary work, and by means of ordinary work." Thus, the founder and his followers describe members of Opus Dei as resembling the members of the early Christian Church—ordinary workers who seriously sought holiness with nothing exterior to distinguish them from other citizens.

Opus Dei runs residential centers throughout the world. These centers provide residential housing for celibate members and provide doctrinal and theological education. Opus Dei is also responsible for a variety of non-profit institutions called "Corporate Works of Opus Dei." A study of the year 2005 showed that members have cooperated with other people in setting up a total of 608 social initiatives: schools and university residences (68%), technical or agricultural training centers (26%), universities, business schools, and hospitals (6%). The University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, and the Austral University in Buenos Aires, Argentina, are both examples of the corporate work of Opus Dei. These universities usually perform very high in international rankings. IESE, the University of Navarra's Business School, was adjudged one of the best in the world by the Financial Times and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The total assets of non-profits connected to Opus Dei are worth at least $2.8 billion.

Relations with Catholic leaders
Leopoldo Eijo y Garay, the bishop of Madrid, where Opus Dei was born, supported Opus Dei and defended it in the 1940s by saying that "this opus is truly Dei" (this work is truly God's). Contrary to attacks of secrecy and heresy, the bishop described Opus Dei's founder as someone who was "open as a child" and "most obedient to the Church hierarchy." In the 1950s, Pope Pius XII told the most senior Australian bishop, Cardinal Norman Gilroy, that Escrivá "is a true saint, a man sent by God for our times". Pius XII gave Opus Dei the canonical status of "pontifical right", an institution depending directly and exclusively on the Vatican in its internal governance.

In 1960, Pope John XXIII commented that Opus Dei opens up "unsuspected horizons of apostolate". Furthermore, in 1964, Pope Paul VI praised the organization in a handwritten letter to Escrivá, saying: Opus Dei is "a vigorous expression of the perennial youth of the Church, fully open to the demands of a modern apostolate... We look with paternal satisfaction on all that Opus Dei has achieved and is achieving for the kingdom of God, the desire of doing good that guides it, the burning love for the Church and its visible head that distinguishes it, and the ardent zeal for souls that impels it along the arduous and difficult paths of the apostolate of presence and witness in every sector of contemporary life."

The relationship between Paul VI and Opus Dei, according to Alberto Moncada, a doctor of sociology and ex-member, was "stormy." After the Second Vatican Council concluded in 1965, Pope Paul VI denied Opus Dei's petition to become a personal prelature, Moncada stated.

Pope John Paul I, a few years before his election, wrote that Escrivá was more radical than other saints who taught about the universal call to holiness. While others emphasized monastic spirituality applied to lay people, Escrivá "it is the material work itself which must be turned into prayer and sanctity," thus providing a lay spirituality.

Criticisms against Opus Dei have prompted Catholic scholars and writers like Piers Paul Read and Vittorio Messori to call Opus Dei a sign of contradiction, in reference to the biblical quote of Jesus as a "sign that is spoken against". John Carmel Heenan, Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster said "One of the proofs of God's favor is to be a sign of contradiction. Almost all founders of societies in the Church have suffered. Monsignor Escrivá de Balaguer is no exception. Opus Dei has been attacked, and its motives misunderstood. In this country and elsewhere, an inquiry has always vindicated Opus Dei."

One of Opus Dei's most prominent supporters was Pope John Paul II. John Paul II cited Opus Dei's aim of sanctifying secular activities as a "great ideal." He emphasized that Escrivá's founding of Opus Dei was ductus divina inspiratione, led by divine inspiration, and he granted the organization its status as a personal prelature. Stating that Escrivá is "counted among the great witnesses of Christianity," John Paul II canonized him in 2002 and called him "the saint of ordinary life." Of the organization, John Paul II said: [Opus Dei] has as its aim the sanctification of one's life, while remaining within the world at one's place of work and profession: to live the Gospel in the world, while living immersed in the world, but in order to transform it, and to redeem it with one's personal love for Christ. This is truly a great ideal, which right from the beginning has anticipated the theology of the lay state of the Second Vatican Council and the post-conciliar period.

One-third of the world's bishops petitioned for the canonization of Escrivá. During the canonization, there were 42 cardinals and 470 bishops from around the world, generals superior of many religious institutes, and representatives of various Catholic groups. During those days, these church officials commented on the universal reach and validity of the message of the founder. For his canonization homily, John Paul II said: With the teachings of St. Josemaría, "it is easier to understand what the Second Vatican Council affirmed: 'there is no question, then, of the Christian message inhibiting men from building up the world ... on the contrary, it is an incentive to do these very things' (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, n. 34)."

Concerning the group's role in the Catholic Church, critics have argued that Opus Dei's unique status as a personal prelature gives it too much independence, making it essentially a "church within a church" and that Opus Dei exerts a disproportionately large influence within the Catholic Church itself, as illustrated, for example, by the rapid canonization of Escrivá, which some considered to be irregular (27 years). In contrast, Catholic officials say that church authorities have even greater control of Opus Dei now that its head is a prelate appointed by the Pope, and its status as a prelature "precisely means dependence." Allen says that Escrivá's relatively quick canonization does not have anything to do with power but with improvements in procedures and John Paul II's decision to make Escrivá's sanctity and message known. The canonizations of John Paul II himself and Mother Teresa were much faster than Escrivá's. Pope Benedict XVI has been a particularly strong supporter of Opus Dei and of Escrivá. Pointing to the name "Work of God," Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) wrote that "The Lord simply made use of [Escrivá] who allowed God to work." Ratzinger cited Escrivá for correcting the mistaken idea that holiness is reserved for some extraordinary people who are completely different from ordinary sinners: Even if he can be very weak, with many mistakes in his life, a saint is nothing other than to speak with God as a friend speaks with a friend, allowing God to work, the Only One who can really make the world both good and happy.

Ratzinger spoke of Opus Dei's "surprising union of absolute fidelity to the Church's great tradition, to its faith, and unconditional openness to all the challenges of this world, whether in the academic world, in the field of work, or in matters of the economy, etc." He further explained: the theocentrism of Escrivá ... means this confidence in the fact that God is working now and we ought only to put ourselves at his disposal ... This, for me, is a message of greatest importance. It is a message that leads to overcoming what could be considered the great temptation of our times: the pretense that after the 'Big Bang' God retired from history.

Pope Francis is "the first Pope who has dealt with Opus Dei closely as a bishop," and according to James V. Schall, S.J., is a "friend of Opus Dei". Francis referred to St. Josemaria as "a precursor of Vatican II in proposing the universal call to holiness." In the analysis of John Allen, Pope Francis' strong dislike for clericalism, which he calls "one of the worst evils" in the church, is a key factor for "what Francis admires about Opus Dei since Escrivá’s emphasis on the dignity of the laity was a challenge to the ultra-clerical ethos of Spanish Catholicism in the late 1920s." He has a devotion to St. Josemaria, and he prayed before his relics for 45 minutes when he once visited the church of the prelature in Rome. Francis beatified Alvaro del Portillo, the successor of Escrivá. What Bergoglio most liked about Opus Dei was the work done for the poor by one of its schools in Buenos Aires. He thanks Opus Dei for its work to further the holiness of priests in the Roman Curia.

Controversy
Throughout its history, Opus Dei has been criticized from many quarters, prompting journalists to describe Opus Dei as "the most controversial force in the Catholic Church" and founder Josemaría Escrivá as a "polarizing" figure. Criticism of Opus Dei has centered on allegations of secretiveness, controversial and aggressive recruiting methods, strict rules governing members, elitism and misogyny, and support of or participation in authoritarian or right-wing governments, including the fascist Franco regime which governed in Spain until 1978. The mortification of the flesh practiced by some of its members is also criticized. Opus Dei has also been criticized for allegedly seeking independence and more influence within the Catholic Church.

However, according to several journalists who have researched Opus Dei separately, many criticisms against Opus Dei are based on fabrications by opponents.

In recent years, Opus Dei has received international attention due to the novel The Da Vinci Code and its film version of 2006, both of which prominent Christians and others criticized as misleading, inaccurate and anti-Catholic.

Critics such as the Jesuit Wladimir Ledóchowski refer to Opus Dei as a Catholic, Christian, or white form of Freemasonry.

Supporting views
According to several journalists who have worked independently on Opus Dei, such as John L. Allen Jr., Vittorio Messori, Patrice de Plunkett, Maggy Whitehouse, and Noam Friedlander, many of the criticisms against Opus Dei are myths and unproven tales. Allen, Messori, and Plunkett say that most of these myths were created by its opponents, with Allen adding that he perceives that Opus Dei members generally practice what they preach.

Allen, Messori, and Plunkett also state that accusations that Opus Dei is secretive are unfounded. These accusations stem from a clerical paradigm which expects Opus Dei members to behave as monks and clerics, people who are traditionally known and externally identifiable as seekers of holiness. In contrast, these journalists continue, Opus Dei's lay members, like any normal Catholic professional, are ultimately responsible for their personal actions, and do not externally represent the organization which provides them religious education. Writer and broadcast analyst John L. Allen Jr. states that Opus Dei provides abundant information about itself. These journalists have stated that the historic roots of criticisms against Opus Dei can be found in influential clerical circles.

As to its alleged participation in right-wing politics, especially the Francoist regime, British historians Paul Preston and Brian Crozier state that the Opus Dei members who were Franco's ministers were appointed for their talent and not for their Opus Dei membership. Also, there were notable members of Opus Dei who were vocal critics of the Franco regime such as Rafael Calvo Serer and Antonio Fontán, who was the first President of the Senate in Spain, following the adoption of a democratic Constitution. The German historian and Opus Dei member Peter Berglar calls any connection made between Opus Dei and Franco's regime a "gross slander". At the end of Franco's regime, Opus Dei members were 50:50 for and against Franco, according to John Allen. Similarly Álvaro del Portillo, the former prelate of Opus Dei, said that any statements that Escrivá supported Hitler were "a patent falsehood" that were part of "a slanderous campaign". He and others have stated that Escrivá condemned Hitler as a "rogue", a "racist" and a "tyrant". Opus Dei spokespersons also deny claims that Opus Dei members worked with General Pinochet. Various authors and researchers state that Escrivá was staunchly non-political, and detested dictatorships. Allen wrote that, compared with other Catholic organizations, Opus Dei's stress on freedom and personal responsibility is extraordinarily strong. There are many Opus Dei members who are identified with center or left-wing politics, including Ruth Kelly, Jorge Rossi Chavarría, Mario Fernández Baeza, Mario Maiolo, and Jesus Estanislao.

While Opus Dei spokespersons have admitted mistakes in dealing with some members and do not, as a rule, contest their grievances, supporters have rejected generalizations merely based on negative experiences of some members.

Opus Dei is not "elitist" in the sense in which people often invoke the term, meaning an exclusively white-collar phenomenon, concluded John Allen. He observed that among its members are barbers, bricklayers, mechanics and fruit sellers. Most supernumeraries are living ordinary middle-class lives, he said.

Regarding alleged misogyny, John Allen states that half of the leadership positions in Opus Dei are held by women, and they supervise men.

As regards the claim that religious people in Spain, including Opus Dei members, were involved in the abduction of children during the Franco era, an investigation found that DNA analysis of 81 cases ruled out that they were stolen babies. The supreme court of Spain did not consider the first case of stolen babies to be proven, and the chief prosecutor of the Basque Country, said that "not even reasonable evidence" of any abduction of babies had been found, after special investigations of the police.

Criticism
Critics of Opus Dei include María del Carmen Tapia, an ex-member who was a high-ranking officer of Opus Dei for many years; liberal Catholic theologians such as Fr. James Martin, a Jesuit writer and editor; and supporters of liberation theology, such as journalist Penny Lernoux and Michael Walsh, a writer on religious matters and former Jesuit.

Critics state that Opus Dei is "intensely secretive"—for example, members generally do not disclose their affiliation with Opus Dei in public. Further, under the 1950 constitution, members were expressly forbidden to reveal themselves without the permission of their superiors. This practice has led to much speculation about who may be a member. Due in part to its secrecy, the Jesuit-run magazine America referred to it as "the most controversial group in the Catholic Church today".

Opus Dei has been accused of deceptive and aggressive recruitment practices, such as showering potential members with intense praise ("love bombing"), and instructing numeraries to form friendships and attend social gatherings explicitly for recruiting purposes.

Critics allege that Opus Dei maintains an extremely high degree of control over its members—for instance, past rules required numeraries to submit their incoming and outgoing mail to their superiors for inspection, and members are forbidden to read certain books without permission from their superiors. Critics charge that Opus Dei pressures numeraries to sever contact with non-members, including their own families. Exit counselor David Clark has described Opus Dei as "very cult-like".

Critics assert that Escrivá and the organization supported radical right-wing governments, such as those of Franco, Augusto Pinochet  and Alberto Fujimori of Peru during the 1990s. Both Pinochet's and Fujimori's ministries and prominent supporters allegedly included members of Opus Dei, but there are also prominent Opus Dei members in parties that opposed those governments. Likewise, among Opus Dei members there were also strong detractors of Franco, such as Antonio Fontán. There have also been allegations that Escrivá expressed sympathy for Adolf Hitler. One former Opus Dei priest, Vladimir Felzmann, who has become a vocal Opus Dei critic, says that Escrivá once remarked that Hitler had been "badly treated" by the world and he further declared that "Hitler couldn't have been such a bad person. He couldn't have killed six million [Jews]. It couldn't have been more than four million."

Opus Dei has also been accused of elitism through targeting of "the intellectual elite, the well-to-do, and the socially prominent".

As members of Opus Dei are Catholics, Opus Dei has been subjected to the same criticisms targeted to Catholicism in general. For example, Opus Dei's position has been "to oppose sexual freedoms and promote conservative morals", according to an investigative report produced by the advocacy group Catholics for Choice. The report further cites a study from sociologist Marco Burgos alleging Opus Dei interference in sex education programs in Honduras that contradict the Catholic faith.

Between 1950 and 1980, as many as 300,000 illegal adoptions occurred in Spain in a scandal known as the lost children of Francoism. Many Catholic clergy and religious sisters at church-sponsored hospitals or other charitable organizations in Spain are alleged to have been involved, including members of Opus Dei.

The Opus Dei organisation has been described as a "Holy Mafia" or "Santa Mafia" in the 1970s due to alleged "inscrutable business practices".

After conducting a critical study of Opus Dei, Catholic journalist John L. Allen Jr. concluded that Opus Dei should (1) be more transparent, (2) collaborate with members of religious institutes, and (3) encourage its members to air out in public their criticisms of the institution.

An article published by the Financial Times in March 2024 accused Opus Dei of practices akin to modern slavery. The piece draws on testimony from 16 women who served as Numerary Assistants over several decades in several countries. They report having been "coerced into domestic servitude ... through a rigid system of psychological control".

Other views
Sociologists Peter Berger and Samuel Huntington suggest that Opus Dei is involved in "a deliberate attempt to construct an alternative modernity," one that engages modern culture while at the same time is resolutely loyal to Catholic traditions. Van Biema of Time magazine emphasises Opus Dei's Spanish roots as a source of misunderstandings in the Anglo-Saxon world, and suggests that as the United States becomes more Hispanic, controversies about Opus Dei (and similar Catholic organizations) will decrease.

In her 2006 book on Opus Dei, Maggy Whitehouse, a non-Catholic journalist, argues that the relative autonomy of each director and center has resulted in mistakes at the local level. She recommends greater consistency and transparency for Opus Dei, which she sees as having learned the lesson of greater openness when it faced the issues raised by The Da Vinci Code and other critics.

One of the documents of the second vatican council, known as the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern world provides some good context. In 2005, John Allen published his text about Opus Dei with the penguin group. In 2012 Eric Sammons published a short work "Holiness for Everyone" about the practical spirituality of St Josemaria Escriva. For wider interesting reading, the biography of St Giuseppe Moscati, also made into a movie "Guiseppe Moscati - Doctor to the poor", provides an edifying example of what is possible when ordinary faithful roll up their sleeves.

Opus Dei official sites

 * The founder of Opus Dei: Official Site
 * Writings of the founder of Opus Dei
 * St. Josemaría Escrivá Historical Institute, Rome
 * YouTube Channel – Opus Dei
 * YouTube Channel – St. Josemaria
 * YouTube Channel – St. Josemaria

title: Opus Dei


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Talk:Direct sum of modules

Other direct sums
Although the text refers to the direct sum of abelian groups, it does not discuss the direct sum of non-abelian groups (let alone semi-direct sums or subdirect products, etc. of same).

Although as time has gone by, I've learned enough to enjoy the "big picture" of algebra, I needed something a bit more specific when I was going around the block the first time. And category theory is still a bit far off in the mists for me.

Perhaps in this case, a "direct sum of groups" page should be added which can back link to this page, which could be retitled something like "Algebraic direct sums" or just stay "direct sums". I could make a similar comment about direct product which is currently (mostly) a "direct product of groups" page. Any thoughts? chas 19:39 7 oct 02 (UTC)
 * As I mentioned in one of the edits, "direct sum of groups" really should redirect to "free product of groups". Revolver 18:32, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Linear algebra
I've only taken a linear algebra course so I found the article rather incomprehensible. My definition of a direct sum goes like this: Let V be a v.sp. and U1,...,Um be subspaces of V. Then V is a direct sum denoted V = U1 (+) ... (+) Um iff each v ∈ V can be written uniquely as a sum u1 + ... + um st each ui ∈ Ui.

Comments welcomed! Goodralph 23:20, 11 May 2004 (UTC)

That's an internal direct sum; you are already provided with the ambient V. Charles Matthews 05:45, 12 May 2004 (UTC)

Direct sum & Cartesian product
I'm a bit confused as to the relationship between the direct sum and the Cartesian product. It appears that if I have two abelian groups, $$(G, *_G)$$ and $$(H, *_H)$$, I can take the direct sum of those groups to be
 * $$(G, *_G) \oplus (H, *_H) = (G\times H, *_{G\oplus H})$$

where $$*_{G\oplus H}$$ is defined by
 * $$u *_{G\oplus H} v := (u_G *_G v_G) \oplus (u_H *_H v_H)$$.

Is that correct? If so, should "direct sum" be mentioned on the Cartesian product page? —Ben FrantzDale 14:24, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

 * seems that the issue is just semantics. as your notation indicates, the underlying set is the Cartesian product of sets, on which you define an operation, and call this pair the direct sum of the two modules (or the direct product of groups, etc). On the other hand, one also speaking of the Cartesian product of two algebras, where the algebra operations are defined in a similar way on the Cartesian product of sets. In that context, the direct sum refers to just the resulting module structure. Mct mht 23:23, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Quality
This article is still rated as Start Class above and I agree that it leaves much to be desired. But there is little active editing - just some edit warring over tags now. I am restoring the tag relating to the need for footnotes which the article lacks completely. Other editors are invited to discuss their plans for improvement of this article. Colonel Warden (talk) 12:18, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

 * Please be careful about WP:POINT. There is no need to add a tag unless you feel it will be addressed.  Work is already underway to improve citations, but inline citations are not added until the article is preparing for GA status (which this article is not).  WP:WPM has hundreds of active participants. JackSchmidt (talk) 13:47, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

 * The tag is fine for now. I'm surprised there has been any "warring" over it.  There hasn't been much active editing of this article for a long time.  The basic core of the article is unchanged from 2002.  --C S (talk) 14:04, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

 * Yeah, I did not remove it, since eventually it will be addressed, possibly when the article is pushed to B-class, but more likely after it has sat as B-class for a while. This is a pretty basic topic and the article gives pretty minimal and very standard coverage, so any "inline citation" in the current article is found by opening one of the references and looking for direct sum in the index, or even in the table of contents.  The tag is just superfluous right now. JackSchmidt (talk) 14:12, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

 * If anything the article needs a tag that says "Wikipedia is not a verbatim copy of the dullest part of the textbook." This article is just a list of obvious definitions and factoids with no indication of their motivation, utility, or history.  It's easy to believe it hasn't changed since 2002.  Many of the oldest articles are like this: lift the bold parts from the textbook and walk away.  It's like an article on tying your shoe that just shows pictures of the basic components, mentions one or two tips on getting the job done and ends.  Have you seen Polster's Shoelace book, ?  This book takes something dull and makes it interesting.  Rather than work on inline citations, editors to this article should address how we somehow reversed the process and made something interesting so boring in this article. JackSchmidt (talk) 14:20, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

 * Jack, consider the possibility that you're wrong about the need for inline citations. Perhaps you are not exempt from the typical arrogance of mathematics editors on Wikipedia.  After all, even though many articles such as theatre lack proper (or any) sourcing, these are real topics that have been written nicely by well-meaning editors.  Math articles on the other hand are typically on obscure topics of no real interest to many people and the math writers like to glorify their Ph.D. knowledge to other such experts.  --C S (talk) 14:21, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

 * What do you mean? The article needs inline citations for GA status.  It is a crap article right now.  The article is a start, but it needs at the very least:
 * A history section
 * An examples / motivation section
 * A generalisation section (direct summand and pure submodule)
 * Images would be worth another 50k of text
 * The lead has to be rewritten to include a summary of the article
 * The sections currently present need to be rewritten into summary style
 * The bulleted lists need to be made into prose
 * Yes it needs inline citations, but it needs so much more than that. To be clear, this is nowhere near our worst article.  We have about ten thousand worse than this, all needing more work than this.  Our articles need a ton of work.  The point of tags like inline is to direct the editors to the most efficient use of their time on the article.  I check the failed verification and disputed tags daily at WP:WPM/CA and help with that.  Usually the tags are correct, but sometimes people place those tags when the article just needs copyeditting.  My point is: this article needs a lot of work, because it is start class, and emphasizing the need for inline citations is premature. JackSchmidt (talk) 14:30, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

 * I usually find the process of searching for specific sources helps improve the general content because you turn up unexpected details. Writing to the sources also helps reduce OR and synthesis though these may perhaps be less of an issue with maths topics. Colonel Warden (talk) 20:39, 25 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Certainly it would have been more efficient had the original article included the inline citations as it was written. When you have some of the references in hand, you can sort of see the verbatim lifting going on, but they do come in chunks. In some sense, this article is the opposite of WP:SYNTH!  However, I agree, inline citations would make that more clear.  Imagine:  (MacLane 1991, p 241) blah blah (MacLane 1991, p 241) blah blah (MacLane 1991, p 242) blah blah (MacLane 1991, p 244)  Image:Figure from MacLane 1991 p 243.
 * I think now though, the more efficient way to improve the article is to address the big concern: What is this stuff for? (motivations, history, applications, examples all basically answer this question). I think you mentioned such a concern somewhere before. JackSchmidt (talk) 21:12, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Vector space terminology
I changed "The cartesian product V × W can be given the structure of a vector space K" to "The cartesian product V × W can be given the structure of a K-vector space", thinking it uncontroversial, as I have never seen the former wording used before, and found it actually confusing (the K is in apposition to the "vector space"). That was reverted so I've changed again to "vector space over K", which is pretty standard I think. Richard Pinch (talk) 06:26, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

"Direct sum" of algebras
The procedure described for constructing the "direct sum" of algebras actually gives the product in the category of algebras. Thus it should really be called direct product of algebras instead. When one hear the "direct sum", one expects the coproduct in the category, which is the free product in the case of algebras, and not the direct product. The terminology "direct sum of algebras" should therefore be avoided, although it is very widespread, especially in Lie theory. I suggest these things should be pointed out, including perhaps a proof (for people in doubt) that the direct product of two algebras does not satisfy the requirement of a coproduct in the category of algebras. Fistel (talk) 18:42, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

 * Thank you Fistel for the remarks on category language. Your frank statement that the terminology is "very widespread, especially in Lie theory" admits that this encyclopedia reflects common usage. Your note concerning "one expects the coproduct in the category" shows your concern for a particular kind of reader, not the general reader. Your note is important as mathematics communication evolves on the basis of attending to such matters. For the moment I am putting Joseph Wedderburn as a reference to confirm the present usage.Rgdboer (talk) 20:42, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Direct sum of a subspace and its orthogonal complement?
I was reading an article by Nashed&Wahba(1974) "Generalized inverses in reproducing kernel spaces..." in SIAM J.Math.Anal., #5 — where the authors consider a linear operator A between Hilbert spaces X and Y. They immediately make the following claim: "It is well known and can be easily shown that if A is a bounded operator, or if A is a densely defined closed operator, then [generalized inverse] A† exists on ℜ(A) ⊕ ℜ(A)⊥, where ℜ(A) is the range of A." So I don't seem to understand the difference between this direct sum ℜ(A) ⊕ ℜ(A)⊥, and the entire space Y — could someone clarify this? //  st pasha  »  04:39, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Direct sum of modules


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Mortification of the flesh

Mortification of the flesh is an act by which an individual or group seeks to mortify or deaden their sinful nature, as a part of the process of sanctification.

In Christianity, mortification of the flesh is undertaken in order to repent for sins and share in the Passion of Jesus. Common forms of Christian mortification that are practiced to this day include fasting, abstinence, as well as pious kneeling. Also common among Christian religious orders in the past were the wearing of sackcloth, as well as self-flagellation in imitation of Jesus Christ's suffering and death. Christian theology holds that the Holy Spirit helps believers in the "mortification of the sins of the flesh." Verses in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) considered to be precursors to Christian ideas of self-mortification include Zechariah 13:6 and 1 Kings 18:28–29.

Although the term mortification of the flesh, which is derived from the King James version of Romans 8:13 and Colossians 3:5, is primarily used in a Christian context, other cultures may have analogous concepts of self-denial; secular practices exist as well.

Etymology
The term mortification of the flesh comes from the Book of Romans 8:13 in the New Testament: "For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live." The same idea is seen in other verses, such as Colossians 3:5 ("Put to death what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry") and Galatians 5:24 ("And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires"). Support for such behavior in the Old Testament is found in some verses such as Proverbs 20:30: "Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts."

According to Christian exegesis, "deeds of the body" and "what is earthly" refer to the "wounded nature" of man or his concupiscence (evil inclinations as a consequence of the Fall of Man); humanity suffers the consequences of the original sin through temptation to sin. The Apostle Paul, who authored Romans, expected believers to "put to death" the deeds of the flesh. The word for 'flesh' in Koine Greek, the language in which the New Testament was originally written, is (σάρξ), a word denoting the fallen or sinful elements, parts, and proclivities of humanity. This word is juxtaposed in Romans 8:13 with the term used for 'body' (σῶμα), which more strictly refers to the physical body of a human. Thus in Romans 8:13, Paul draws a parallel between fallen people, with proclivities to sin without chance of redemption, and redeemed people, who are so changed that mortification of their fleshly sin can turn to bodily life, from σάρξ to σῶμα.

Forms of mortification
In its simplest form, mortification of the flesh can mean merely denying oneself certain pleasures, such as permanently or temporarily abstaining (i.e. fasting), from meat, alcoholic beverages, sexual relations, or an area of life that makes the person's spiritual life more difficult or burdensome. It can also be practiced by choosing a simple or even impoverished lifestyle; this is often one reason many monastics of various Christian denominations take vows of poverty. Among votarists, traditional forms of physical mortification are chain cilices and hair-shirts. In some of its more severe forms, it can mean using a discipline to flagellate oneself and a spugna to beat oneself.

Purposes
Mortification of the flesh is undertaken by Christians in order to repent of sins and share in the Passion of Jesus.

Through the centuries, some Christians have practiced voluntary penances as a way of imitating Jesus who, according to the New Testament, voluntarily accepted the sufferings of his passion and death on the cross at Calvary in order to redeem humankind. Some Christians note that the cross carried by Jesus is the crossbar or patibulum, a rough tree trunk, which probably weighed 80–110 lb. Jesus also fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, an example of submission to the first person of the Trinity, God the Father, and as a way of preparing for ministry.

The early Christians mortified the flesh through martyrdom and through what has been called "confession of the faith": accepting torture in a joyful way. As Christians experienced persecution, they often embraced their fate of suffering due to their love for Christ and the transformation they said they experienced from following him; these individuals became martyrs of the Christian faith. St. Jerome, a Western church father and biblical scholar who translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate), was famous for his severe penances in the desert.

Instruments of penance
Christians practicing mortification of the flesh often use instruments of penance as they repent, with the purpose of being contrite and sharing in the suffering of Jesus. These include the following:
 * Discipline, a scourge usually having seven tails (representing the seven deadly sins and seven virtues) for self-flagellation of the back
 * Hairshirt, a garment made of camel's hair or sackcloth worn to cause the Christian mild discomfort
 * Chain cilice, a wire chain worn around the legs to cause the penitent mild discomfort
 * Spugna, a round cork containing metal studs, metal spikes, or needles that is used to beat one's chest
 * Cross, which is carried in the imitation of Christ, especially in Lenten processions

Catholicism
Some canonized Catholic saints and founders of Catholic religious organizations practiced mortification in order to imitate Christ. Another way of mortification that developed quickly in the early centuries was celibacy, which the Catholic tradition interprets as renouncing the joy of human marriage for a superior chastity and higher supernatural ends (cf. Works of Supererogation). for the sake of Christ.

Lutheranism
The Augsburg Confession of the Lutheran Church supports the practice of mortification of the flesh, stating: "For they [our teachers] have always taught concerning the cross that it behooves Christians to bear afflictions. This is the true, earnest, and unfeigned mortification, to wit, to be exercised with divers afflictions, and to be crucified with Christ. Moreover, they teach that every Christian ought to train and subdue himself with bodily restraints, or bodily exercises and labors that neither satiety nor slothfulness tempt him to sin, but not that we may merit grace or make satisfaction for sins by such exercises. And such external discipline ought to be urged at all times, not only on a few and set days. So Christ commands, Luke 21:34: Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting; also Matt. 17:21: This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Paul also says, 1 Cor. 9:27: I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. Here he clearly shows that he was keeping under his body, not to merit forgiveness of sins by that discipline, but to have his body in subjection and fitted for spiritual things, and for the discharge of duty according to his calling." In the Lutheran tradition, mortification of the flesh is not done in order to earn merit, but instead to "keep the body in a condition such that it does not hinder one from doing what one has been commanded to do, according to one's calling (juxta vocationem suam)." In The Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther stated that "inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh." He practiced mortification of the flesh through fasting and self-flagellation, even sleeping in a stone cell without a blanket.

Methodism

Samuel Wesley Sr. examined the writings of Thomas à Kempis on the mortification of the flesh and concluded that "mortification is still an indispensable Christian duty." His son, John Wesley, the evangelical Christian progenitor of the Methodist Church continued "to hold à Kempis in high regard". As such, he likewise wrote that "efforts to manifest true faith would be 'quickened' by self mortification and entire obedience". Moreover, he "spoke approvingly of 'voluntary instances of mortification' in his journals". Methodist circuit riders were known for practicing the spiritual discipline of mortifying the flesh as they "arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees without food or drink or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end". John Cennick, the first Methodist itinerant preacher, prayed nine times a day, fasted and "fancying dry bread too great an indulgence for so great a sinner as himself, he began to feed on potatoes, acorns, crabs, and grass". The Methodist evangelist John Wesley Childs was known for "limiting what he would eat" and choosing "to walk beside his horse rather than to ride in order to demonstrate his willingness to suffer for his calling and to try[ing] to heighten his religious experience through subjecting himself to trials." The Wesleyan Methodist Magazine in 1813 published a statement written by Matthew Henry for Christian believers: "By using yourselves to consideration, you will come to be aware of the snares that your spiritual enemies lay for you, of the snake under the green grass, and will not be imposed upon so easily as many are by the wiles of Satan; and by habituating yourselves to self-denial and mortification of the flesh, and a holy contempt of this world, you will wrest the most dangerous weapons of the hand of the strong man armed, and will take from him that part of his armour most trusted, for it is by the world and the flesh that he mostly fights against us: nay, and this sober-mindedness will put you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day; and so to resist the devil, that he may flee from you."

Western Orthodoxy
The Antiochian Western Rite Vicariate states that "mortification of the flesh, or the putting to death of the passions which hinder attainment of the kingdom of heaven, is practiced with three disciplines of self-denial". These spiritual disciplines include "unostentatious fasting or self-denial; increased prayer, by attending to worship and various devotions; and the sacrificial giving of alms (charitable donations)."

Other Christian viewpoints
It became "quite common" for members of the Oxford Movement within the Anglican Communion to practice self-flagellation using a discipline. Congregationalist writer and leader within the evangelical Christian movement, Sarah Osborn, practiced self-flagellation in order "to remind her of her continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God". According to other evangelical Christian commentators, using Paul's writings and other passages from the New Testament to justify the practise of mortification of the flesh is a complete misinterpretation, arguing that Paul shows a very high view of Christ's redeeming work in the verses leading up to Colossians 1:24.

"'He understands this redemptive work to be finished, completed, and perfected. Nothing remains to be done, and the suffering of Christ's followers does not put the finishing touches on the triumph of Calvary. Paul does not believe that suffering has any atoning benefit for himself or for others. It does, however, 'serve to increase Paul's living knowledge of Christ.''"

This suffering Paul refers to comes as one takes on the commission to share the gospel. Persecution and suffering such as that experienced by Christ will follow and Christians should see this suffering as a divine necessity. In chapter 9, "Paul compares the evangelistic lifestyle of believers to athletes who sacrifice normal pursuits for the sake of strict training and a competitive edge". In the Corinth church there were grey areas of lifestyle and behaviors not specifically covered by the Mosaic law, and Paul was encouraging them to discipline themselves to abstain from those behaviors and practices for the sake of winning others to Christ.

Indigenous practices and shamanism
Some indigenous cultures' shamans believe that endurance of pain or denial of appetites serves to increase spiritual power. In many indigenous cultures, painful rites are used to mark sexual maturity, marriage, procreation, or other major life stages. In Africa and Australia, indigenous people sometimes use genital mutilation on boys and girls that is intentionally painful, including circumcision, subincision, clitoridectomy, piercing, or infibulation. In some Native American tribes enduring scarification or the bites of ants are common rituals to mark a boy's transition to adulthood. Human rights organizations in several areas of the world have protested some of these methods, which can be forced upon the participants, although some are voluntary and are a source of pride and status.

Shamans often use painful rites and self-denial such as fasting or celibacy to attain transformation, or to commune with spirits.

Secular practices
It has been speculated that extreme practices of mortification of the flesh may be used to obtain an altered state of consciousness to achieve spiritual experiences or visions. In modern times, members of the Church of Body Modification believe that by manipulating and modifying their bodies (by painful processes) they can strengthen the bond between their bodies and spirits, and become more spiritually aware. This group uses rites of passage from many traditions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and shamanism, to seek their aims.

In some contexts, modern practices of body modification and plastic surgery overlap with mortification. Often, secular people will undergo painful experiences in order to become more self-aware, to take control of their bodies or "own" them more fully, to bond with a group that is spiritual in its aims, or to overcome the body's limitations in ways that do not refer to any higher power. Many times these rites are intended to empower the participant, rather than humble them. This represents a very different aim than many traditional mortifications.

Roland Loomis re-creates Sun Dance ceremonies and suspensions for those who believe these painful procedures expand their consciousness. Fakir Musafar explained his use of these rites as a way to awaken the spirit to the body's limits, and put it in control of them. Others who have used these experiences to transcend physical limitations report a feeling of mastery over their physical circumstance, along with a widened perspective.

title: Mortification of the flesh


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Ethel Merman

Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann; January 16, 1908 – February 15, 1984) was an American actress and singer. Known for her distinctive, powerful voice, and her leading roles in musical theater, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." She performed on Broadway in Anything Goes, Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, and Hello, Dolly!

She is also known for her film roles in Anything Goes (1936), Call Me Madam (1953), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). Among many accolades, she received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Call Me Madam, a Grammy Award for Gypsy, and a Drama Desk Award for Hello, Dolly!

Merman introduced many Broadway standards, including "I Got Rhythm" from Girl Crazy, "Everything's Coming Up Roses", "Some People" and "Rose's Turn" from Gypsy, and the Cole Porter songs "It's De-Lovely" (from Red, Hot and Blue), "Friendship" (from Du Barry Was a Lady), and "I Get a Kick Out of You", "You're the Top", and "Anything Goes" (from Anything Goes). The Irving Berlin song "There's No Business Like Show Business", written for Annie Get Your Gun, became Merman's signature song.

Early life
Ethel Merman was born on January 16, 1908, in her maternal grandmother's house in Astoria, Queens, but she later insisted that the year of her birth was 1912. She was an only child. Her father, Edward Zimmermann, was an accountant with James H. Dunham & Company, a Manhattan wholesale dry-goods company, and her mother, Agnes (Gardner) Zimmermann, was a schoolteacher. Edward Zimmermann had been raised in the Dutch Reformed Church and his wife was Presbyterian. Shortly after they married, they joined the Episcopal congregation at Church of the Redeemer, where their daughter was baptized. Merman's parents were strict about church attendance and she spent every Sunday attending morning services, Sunday school, afternoon prayer meetings, and evening study groups for children.

Merman's parents insisted she have an education with training in secretarial skills, in case her entertainment career failed. Merman attended P.S. 4 and William Cullen Bryant High School (which later named its auditorium in her honor), where she pursued a commercial course that offered secretarial training.

She was active in numerous extracurricular activities, including the school magazine, the speakers' club, and student council, and she frequented the local music store to peruse the weekly arrivals of new sheet music. On Friday nights, the Zimmermann family took the subway into Manhattan to see the vaudeville show at the Palace Theatre, where Merman saw Blossom Seeley, Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, and Nora Bayes. At home, she tried to emulate their singing styles, but found her own distinctive voice difficult to disguise.

After graduating from Bryant High School in 1924, Merman was hired as a stenographer by the Boyce-Ite Company. One day during her lunch break, she met Vic Kliesrath, who offered her a job at the Bragg-Kliesrath Corporation for a US$5 increase above the weekly $23 salary she was earning, and Merman accepted the offer. She eventually was made personal secretary to company president Caleb Bragg, whose frequent lengthy absences from the office to race automobiles allowed her to catch up on the sleep she had lost the previous night when she was out late performing at private parties. During this period, Merman began appearing in nightclubs, first hired by Jimmy Durante's partner Lou Clayton. At this time, she decided the name Ethel Zimmermann was too long for a theater marquee. She considered combining Ethel with Gardner or Hunter, which was her grandmother's maiden name. Her father strongly disapproved of these considerations, so she abbreviated Zimmermann to Merman to appease him.

Early career
During a two-week engagement at a club in midtown Manhattan called Little Russia, Merman met agent Lou Irwin, who arranged for her to audition for Archie Mayo, a film director under contract at Warner Bros. He offered her an exclusive six-month contract, starting at $125 per week, and Merman quit her day job, only to find herself idle for weeks while waiting to be cast in a film. She urged Irwin to cancel her agreement with Mayo; instead, he negotiated her a better deal allowing her to perform in clubs while remaining on the Warner Bros.'s payroll. Merman was hired as a torch singer at Les Ambassadeurs, where the headliner was Jimmy Durante; the two became lifelong friends. She caught the attention of columnists such as Walter Winchell and Mark Hellinger, who began to give her publicity. Soon after, Merman underwent a tonsillectomy, which she feared would damage her voice, but after recovering, she discovered it was more powerful than ever.

While performing on the prestigious Keith Circuit, Merman was signed to replace Ruth Etting in the Paramount film Follow the Leader (1930), starring Ed Wynn and Ginger Rogers. Following a successful seven-week run at the Brooklyn Paramount, she was signed to perform at the Palace for $500 per week. During the run, theater producer Vinton Freedley saw her perform and invited her to audition for the role of San Francisco café singer Kate Fothergill in the new George and Ira Gershwin musical Girl Crazy. Upon hearing her sing "I Got Rhythm", the Gershwins immediately cast her, and Merman began balancing daytime rehearsals with her matinee and evening performance schedule at the Palace. Merman introduced the songs "Sam and Delilah" and "Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!" as well as "I Got Rhythm" in the show.

Girl Crazy opened on October 14, 1930, at the Alvin Theatre, where it ran for 272 performances. The New York Times noted Merman sang "with dash, authority, good voice and just the right knowing style", and The New Yorker called her "imitative of no one." Merman was indifferent to her reviews, prompting George Gershwin to ask her mother: "Have you ever seen a person so unconcerned as Ethel?"

During the run of Girl Crazy, Paramount signed Merman to appear in a series of 10 short musical films, most of which allowed her to sing both a rousing number and a ballad. She also performed at the Central Park Casino, the Paramount Theatre, and a return engagement at the Palace. As soon as Girl Crazy closed, her parents and she departed for a vacation in Lake George in upstate New York, but after their first day there, Merman was summoned to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to help salvage the troubled latest edition of George White's Scandals. Because she was still under contract to Freedley, White was forced to pay the producer $10,000 for her services, in addition to her weekly $1,500 salary. Following the Atlantic City run, the show played in Newark, New Jersey, and then Brooklyn before opening on Broadway, where it ran for 202 performances.

Merman's next show, Humpty Dumpty, began rehearsals in August 1932 and openedand immediately closedin Pittsburgh the following month. Producer Buddy DeSylva, who also had written the book and lyrics, was certain it could be reworked into a success, and with a revamped script and additional songs by Vincent Youmans, it opened with the new title Take a Chance on November 26 at the 42nd Street Apollo Theatre, where it ran for 243 performances. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times called it "fast, loud, and funny" and added Merman "has never loosed herself with quite so much abandon." Following the Broadway run, she agreed to join the show on the road, but shortly after the Chicago opening, she claimed the chlorine in the city's water supply was irritating her throat, and returned to Manhattan.

Merman returned to Hollywood to appear in We're Not Dressing (1934), a screwball comedy based on the J. M. Barrie play The Admirable Crichton. Despite working with a cast including Bing Crosby, Carole Lombard, and Burns and Allen, under the direction of Academy Award-winning director Norman Taurog, Merman was unhappy with the experience, and she was dismayed to discover one of her musical numbers had been cut when she attended the New York opening with her family and friends. She also appeared on screen with Eddie Cantor in Kid Millions (also 1934), but her return to Broadway established her as a major star and cemented her image as a tough girl.

Anything Goes was the first of five Cole Porter musicals in which Merman starred. In addition to the title song, the score included "I Get a Kick Out of You", "You're the Top", and "Blow Gabriel Blow". It opened on November 21, 1934, at the Alvin Theatre, and the New York Post called Merman "vivacious and ingratiating in her comedy moments, and the embodiment of poise and technical adroitness" when singing "as only she knows how to do." Although Merman always had remained with a show until the end of its run, she left Anything Goes after eight months to appear with Eddie Cantor in the film Strike Me Pink (1936). She was replaced by Benay Venuta, with whom she enjoyed a long but frequently tempestuous friendship.

Merman initially was overlooked for the film version of Anything Goes (1936). Bing Crosby insisted his wife Dixie Lee be cast as Reno Sweeney opposite his role as Billy Crocker, but when she unexpectedly dropped out of the project, Merman was cast in the role. From the beginning, it was clear to Merman the film would not be the enjoyable experience she had hoped it would be. The focus was shifted to Crosby, leaving her in a supporting role. Many of Porter's ribald lyrics were altered to conform to the guidelines of the Motion Picture Production Code, and "Blow Gabriel Blow" was eliminated, replaced by a song, "Shang Hai-de-Ho", which Merman was forced to perform in a headdress made of peacock feathers while surrounded by dancers dressed as Chinese slave girls. The film was completed $201,000 over budget and 17 days behind schedule. Richard Watts Jr. of the New York Herald Tribune described it as "dull and commonplace", stating that Merman did "as well as possible", but she was unable to register "on screen as magnificently as she does on stage."

Merman returned to Broadway for another Porter musical, but despite the presence of Jimmy Durante and Bob Hope in the cast, Red, Hot and Blue closed after less than six months. Back in Hollywood, Merman was featured in Happy Landing, one of the top-10 box-office hits of 1938 comedy with Sonja Henie, Cesar Romero, and Don Ameche. She also starred in the box-office hit Alexander's Ragtime Band, a pastiche of Irving Berlin songs interpolated into a plot that vaguely paralleled the composer's life, and Straight, Place and Show, a critical and commercial flop starring the Ritz Brothers. She returned to the stage in Stars in Your Eyes, which closed short of four months as the public flocked to the 1939 New York World's Fair. Merman followed this with two more Porter musicals. Du Barry Was a Lady, with Bert Lahr and Betty Grable, ran for a year, and Panama Hattie, with Betty Hutton (whose musical numbers were cut from the show on opening night at Merman's insistence), June Allyson, and Arthur Treacher, fared even better, lasting slightly more than 14 months.

Shortly after the opening of the latter, Mermanstill despondent about the end of her affair with Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsleymarried her first husband, William Smith, Treacher's agent. She later said she knew on their wedding night that she had made "a dreadful mistake", and two months later, she filed for divorce on grounds of desertion. Shortly after, she met and married Robert D. Levitt, a promotion director for the New York Journal-American. The couple eventually had two children and divorced in 1952 due to Levitt's excessive drinking and erratic behavior.

In 1943, Merman was a featured performer in the film Stage Door Canteen and opened in another Porter musical, Something for the Boys, produced by Michael Todd. In 1944, she was set to star as the title character in the musical play Sadie Thompson with a score by Vernon Duke and Howard Dietz, directed and produced by Rouben Mamoulian. The musical play was based on the short story "Rain" by W. Somerset Maugham. The serious nature of the production was a departure from Merman's string of successful musical comedies. During rehearsals, Merman had difficulties memorizing the lyrics, and she blamed Dietz for his use of sophisticated and foreign words. She had her husband tone down some of the lyrics. Dietz took exception to Merman's singing the altered lyrics and gave her an ultimatum to sing his original lyrics or leave the show. In response, Merman withdrew from the production. Commentators have speculated that Merman's departure was probably due to her reluctance to assume such a serious role in her first dramatic musical. June Havoc left her starring role in Mexican Hayride and assumed the role, instead.  Sadie Thompson opened on Broadway on November 16, 1944, to mixed reviews. Havoc received almost uniformly favorable reviews. Reactions to the score and the book were mixed, with the score called "undistinguished." The show only lasted 60 performances and closed on January 6, 1945.

In August 1945, while in the hospital recovering from the Caesarean birth of her second child, Merman was visited by Dorothy Fields, who proposed she star as Annie Oakley in a musical her brother Herbert and she were writing with Jerome Kern. Merman accepted, but in November, Kern suffered a stroke while in New York City visiting Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein (the producers of the show) and died a few days later. Rodgers and Hammerstein invited Irving Berlin to replace Kern, and the result was Annie Get Your Gun, which opened on May 16, 1946, at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for nearly three years and 1,147 performances. During this time, Merman took only two vacations and missed only two performances due to illness. Merman lost her role in the film version to Judy Garland (who eventually was replaced by Betty Hutton), but starred in a Broadway revival two decades later at Lincoln Center alongside Bruce Yarnell, who was cast as Frank E. Butler, Annie Oakley's husband and manager. Yarnell was 27 years younger than Merman.

Merman and Berlin reunited for Call Me Madam in 1950, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, and she starred in the 1953 screen adaptation as well, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance. The following year, she appeared as the matriarch of the singing and dancing Donahue family in There's No Business Like Show Business, a film with a score written by Berlin.

Merman returned to Broadway at the behest of her third husband, Continental Airlines executive Robert Six, who was upset she had chosen to become a housewife in Colorado following their wedding in 1953. He expected her public appearances to generate publicity for the airline, and her decision to forgo the limelight did not sit well with him. He urged her to accept the lead in Happy Hunting, with a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse (who had written Call Me Madam) and a score by Harold Karr and Matt Dubey. Merman acquiesced to her husband's demands, although she clashed with the composers from the start and soon was at odds with co-star Fernando Lamas and his wife Arlene Dahl, who frequently attended rehearsals. The show opened in New York with an advance sale of $1.5 million, and despite Merman's dissatisfaction with it, garnered respectable reviews. Although Brooks Atkinson thought the score was "hardly more than adequate", he called Merman "as brassy as ever, glowing like a neon light whenever she steps on the stage." Several months into the run, she insisted that two of her least-favorite numbers be replaced by songs written by her friend Roger Edens, who, because of his exclusive contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, credited them to Kay Thompson. She lost the Tony Award to Judy Holliday in Bells Are Ringing, and the show closed after 412 performances, with Merman happy to see what she considered "a dreary obligation" come to an end.

Later career
Gypsy was based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee and starred Merman as Rose Hovick, her domineering stage mother. The musical opened on May 21, 1959, at the Broadway Theatre. In the New York Post, Richard Watts called Merman "a brilliant actress", and Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times wrote that "She gives an indomitable performance, both as actress and singer." Despite the acclaim, Merman lost the Tony Award to her close friend Mary Martin in The Sound of Music, and jokingly quipped "How are you going to buck a nun?" Shortly after she divorced Robert Six, his affair with television actress Audrey Meadows became public, and she found solace in her work.

Throughout the 702-performance run of Gypsy, Mervyn LeRoy saw it numerous times, repeatedly assuring Merman that he planned to cast her in the film adaptation he was preparing. Before the show's closing, it was announced that Rosalind Russell instead had been signed to star. Russell's husband, theater producer Frederick Brisson (whom Merman later called "the lizard of Roz"), had sold the screen rights to the Leonard Spigelgass play A Majority of One to Warner Bros. on the condition that his wife would star in both films. Because Russell was still a major box-office draw with the success of Auntie Mame a few years earlier, and Merman having never established herself as a popular screen presence, the studio agreed to Brisson's terms. Merman was devastated at this turn of events and called the loss of the role "the greatest professional disappointment of my life."

Following the Broadway closing of Gypsy on March 25, 1961, Merman halfheartedly embarked on the national tour. In San Francisco, she severely injured her back, but continued to perform for packed houses. During the Los Angeles run, LeRoy visited her backstage and claimed Russell was so ill that "I think you're going to end up getting this part." Believing the film version of Gypsy was within her grasp, she provided him with the many house seats he requested for friends and industry colleagues, only to discover she had been duped. Merman's role in Gypsy earned her an estimated $130,000 per year, plus an additional 10% of the box-office receipts.

In 1963, Merman starred in the ensemble comedy film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World alongside Spencer Tracy, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Phil Silvers, Buddy Hackett, and Mickey Rooney. Merman played Mrs. Marcus, the loudmouthed mother in-law of Milton Berle. The film was a major box-office success, earning $60 million on a budget of $9.4 million and becoming the third-highest grossing film of 1963. It received six Academy Award nominations and one win.

Merman also starred in the flop The Art of Love (1965). She made dozens of television appearances on variety shows hosted by Perry Como, Red Skelton, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Ed Sullivan, and Carol Burnett, talk shows with Mike Douglas, Dick Cavett, and Merv Griffin, and in episodes of That Girl, The Lucy Show, Match Game, Batman, Tarzan, and others.

Producer David Merrick encouraged Jerry Herman to compose the score of Hello, Dolly! specifically for Merman's vocal range, but when he offered her the role, she declined it. She finally joined the cast on March 28, 1970, six years after the production opened. On Merman's opening night, her performance was continually brought to a halt by prolonged standing ovations, and the critics unanimously heralded her return to the New York stage. Walter Kerr in The New York Times described her voice: "Exactly as trumpet-clean, exactly as penny whistle-piercing, exactly as Wurlitzer-wonderful as it always was." He wrote: "Her comic sense is every bit as authoritative, as high-handed, really, as her voice." The seventh actress to portray the scheming matchmaker in the original Broadway production, she remained with the musical for 210 performances until it closed on December 27, 1970. Merman received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance for what proved to be her last appearance on Broadway.

For the remainder of her career, Merman worked as frequently as offers were made. She appeared on Match Game in the spring of 1976, in which she told Match Game regular Brett Somers to "shut up" in one of the series' self-proclaimed "Gold Star" episodes.

In 1979, she recorded The Ethel Merman Disco Album, with many of her signature songs set to a disco beat. She was a guest host on an episode in the first season of The Muppet Show. Her last screen role was a self-parody in the 1980 comedy film Airplane!, in which she portrayed Lieutenant Hurwitz, a shell-shocked soldier who thinks he is Ethel Merman. In the cameo appearance, Merman leaps out of bed singing "Everything's Coming Up Roses" as orderlies sedate her. She appeared in several episodes of The Love Boat (playing Gopher's mother), guest-starred on a CBS tribute to George Gershwin, did a summer concert tour with Carroll O'Connor, played a two-week engagement at the London Palladium, performed with Mary Martin in a concert benefiting the theater and museum collection of the Museum of the City of New York, and frequently appeared as a soloist with symphony orchestras. She also volunteered at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center (now Mount Sinai West) working in the gift shop or visiting patients.

Performance style
Merman was known for her powerful mezzo-soprano voice, belting, precise enunciation, and pitch. Because stage singers performed without microphones when Merman began singing professionally, she had a great advantage, despite never taking vocal lessons. Broadway lore holds that George Gershwin advised her never to take such lessons after she opened in Girl Crazy.

Caryl Flinn's 2007 biography includes many quotes from reviews of Merman's work, most of which were compliments to her. Brooks Atkinson summed up her talent:

Marriages and children
Merman was married and divorced four times. Her first marriage, in 1940, was to theatrical agent William Smith. They were divorced in 1941. Later that same year, Merman married newspaper executive Robert Levitt. The couple had two children: Ethel (born July 20, 1942) and Robert Jr. (born August 11, 1945). Merman and Levitt were divorced in 1952. In March 1953, Merman married Robert Six, the president of Continental Airlines. They separated in December 1959 and were divorced in 1960. According to Merman's son, he, his sister and mother and even his elderly grandparents had suffered emotional and physical violence from Six. Merman's fourth and final marriage was to actor Ernest Borgnine. They were married in Beverly Hills on June 27, 1964. They separated on August 7, 1964, and Borgnine filed for divorce on October 21, 1964. Merman filed a cross-complaint shortly thereafter charging Borgnine with extreme cruelty. She was granted a divorce on November 18, 1964. An oft recounted story from their short marriage demonstrated the volatility of their relationship. When Borgnine asked Merman how her audition had gone, she replied: "Well, they were mad about my 35-year-old body, my 35-year-old voice, and my 35-year-old face." "Is that so?" Borgnine responded. "And what did they think of your 65-year-old cunt?" Without missing a beat, Merman retorted: "You weren’t mentioned once."

In a radio interview, Merman said of her numerous marriages: "We all make mistakes. That's why they put rubbers on pencils, and that's what I did. I made a few lulus!" In her 1978 autobiography Merman, the chapter entitled "My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine" was a blank page.

Ethel Levitt, her daughter, died on August 23, 1967, of a drug overdose that was ruled accidental. Her son Robert, Jr., was married to actress Barbara Colby. Colby, at the time estranged from Robert, was shot and killed (along with a friend, James Kiernan), in a parking garage in Los Angeles in July 1975. The shooting was by apparent gang members who had no clear motive.

Profanity
Merman was notorious for her brash demeanor and for telling vulgar stories at public parties. For instance, she once shouted a dirty joke across the room at José Ferrer during a formal reception.

While rehearsing a guest appearance on The Loretta Young Show, Merman exclaimed "Where the hell does this go?" Young, who was a devout Catholic, advanced towards Merman waving an empty coffee can, saying, "Miss Merman, you said the 'H' word! That'll be twenty-five cents."—to which Merman replied, "Tell me, Loretta, how much will it cost me to tell you to go fuck yourself?"

Politics
Merman, a lifelong Republican, was a frequent guest of Dwight D. Eisenhower's at the White House. She was noted as saying, "Eisenhower was my war hero and the President I admire and respect most." On January 20, 1981, she performed "Everything's Coming up Roses" at the inauguration of Ronald Reagan. She had previously sung the same song at an inaugural gala for John F. Kennedy, but it was never broadcast.

Autobiographies
Merman co-wrote two memoirs. The first, Who Could Ask for Anything More? (1955), was published by Doubleday & Co. and written with the assistance of Pete Martin. The second, Merman (1978), was published by Simon & Schuster and written with George Eels.

Later life and death
Merman became forgetful with advancing age, and on occasion, had difficulty with her speech. At times, her behavior was erratic, causing concern among her friends. On April 7, 1983, she was preparing to travel to Los Angeles, to appear on the 55th Academy Awards telecast, when she collapsed in her apartment. Merman was taken to Roosevelt Hospital (Mount Sinai West), where doctors initially thought she had suffered a stroke. After undergoing exploratory surgery on April 11, she was diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma. The New York Times reported that she underwent brain surgery to have the tumor removed, but it was inoperable and her condition was deemed terminal (doctors gave Merman eight and a half months to live). The tumor caused her to become aphasic, and as her illness progressed, she lost her hair and her face swelled. According to her biographer Brian Kellow, Merman's family and manager did not want the true nature of her condition revealed to the public. Merman's son, Robert, Jr., who took charge of her care, later said he chose not to publicly disclose his mother's condition because she strove to keep her personal life private. He stated, "Mom truly appreciated [her fans'] presence and their applause. But you shouldn't attempt to be personal—she drew lines, and she could cut you off."

Merman's health eventually stabilized enough for her to be brought back to her apartment in Manhattan. On February 15, 1984, 10 months after she was diagnosed with brain cancer, Merman died at her home at the age of 76. On the evening of Merman's death, all 36 theaters on Broadway dimmed their lights at 9pm in her honor. A private funeral service for Merman was held in a chapel at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church on February 27, after which Merman was cremated at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel. In accordance with her wishes, Merman's remains were given to her son Robert Jr. Merman was interred in the Shrine of Remembrance Mausoleum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, next to her daughter Ethel.

Upon her death, Merman left an estate estimated to be worth $1.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ) to be divided between her son and two grandchildren.

On October 10, 1984, an auction of her personal effects, including furniture, artwork, and theater memorabilia, earned over $120,000 at Christie's East. The 56th Academy Awards, held on April 2, 1984, ended with a performance of "There's No Business Like Show Business" as a tribute to Merman.

Discography
Hit records
 * "How Deep Is the Ocean?" (1932) #14 US Billboard Best Sellers
 * "Eadie Was a Lady" (1933) US #8
 * "An Earful of Music" (1934) US #11
 * "You're the Top" (1934) US #4
 * "I Get a Kick Out of You" (1935) US #12
 * "Move It Over" (1943) US #14
 * "They Say It's Wonderful" (1946) US #20 (with Ray Middleton)
 * "Dearie" (1950) US #12 (with Ray Bolger)
 * "I Said My Pajamas (And Put On My Prayers)" (1950) US #20 (with Ray Bolger)
 * "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" (1950) US #15
 * "You're Just in Love" (1951) US #30 (with Dick Haymes)
 * "Once Upon a Nickel" (1951) US #29 (with Ray Bolger)

Awards and nominations
She received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. One for her contribution to the motion picture industry at 7044 Hollywood Boulevard and one for recording at 1751 Vine Street.

Merman was in the augural class of inductees to the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1972.

title: Ethel Merman