As we know, on November 22, 1937, Saint Josemaría found in the church of Pallerols a golden wooden rose that meant for him the proof he had asked the Lord to know if it was right to continue his journey to Andorra or he had to return to Madrid, where he had left on 8 October.

To know the truth about this fact, it is best to read directly what St. Josemaría himself tells us.

A month after finding the rose in Pallerols, specifically on December 22, 1937, while taking a recess course in Pamplona, ​​he wrote the nº 1440 of the Apuntes Íntimos (a kind of personal diary in which he wrote down thoughts and phrases of the Lord). No. 1440 says:

"I remember the golden rose -of golden wood!- that the Lord gave me in Pallarols. With the archpriest of Pons, we visited the desecrated church of Pallarols. I was looking closely, with all interest, at the church and sacristy, to see if there was anything small that could take me as a souvenir. There was nothing.

Then, with an inner motion that coerced my will, I said to the Lord, "If you are happy with me, make me find something," and I thought of a flower or wooden ornament of the missing altarpieces. I went back to the church (it was in the sacristy), looked around the same places I had looked before ..., and immediately found a stewed wooden rose. I was very happy and I blessed God, who gave me that comfort, when I was full of concern about whether or not Jesus would be happy with me. "

If we analyze this point 1440 we see that it has two parts:

a) The first part corresponds to the 20th or 21st of November, as we are told in the historical writings of the time. One of these days he went up to Pallerols with the archpriest of Ponts, Mn. Nicolau Auger i Ortodó, who was hiding in Vilaró.

Also on the night of the 21st to the 22nd, when they arrived at the rectory, some went down to the church -Paco Botella remembers in his memoirs- and among them also Saint Josemaría. And they saw nothing.

b) The second part corresponds to the morning of the 22nd. This morning, after asking God for a sign, he found the rose.

Analyzing all the historical documents, we have clear the following points:

1.- He spent the night of 21 to 22 November 1937 crying because he thought he was not doing God's will, marching towards Andorra.

2.- Early in the morning of the 22nd, Saint Josemaría went down alone to the church of Pallerols, where he found the golden wooden rose.

3.- In a few minutes he went back up to the place where they had spent the night, very happy, carrying a golden wooden rose in his hand, and celebrated the Eucharist.

If we are wondering where the Rose was found, we must say that all the historical writings say that in the church.

Pedro Casciaro in his Memoirs written in 1975, says:

"He had found -perhaps among the ruins of the hermitage- a rose of gold, of stewed wood which, since then, he always carried with him in the passage through the Pyrenees: that rose which is sometimes reproduced under the seal of the Work."

In conversations with Mn. Joan Juventeny and Arturo Garcia tell us that in 1982 they accompanied Juan Jiménez Vargas to Pallerols and took some tiles from the church to take to Rome.

a) They took 6 tiles from the church in front of the altar of the Virgin of the Roser, where Joan Jiménez Vargas told them. They did not remove any more tiles from the church. Today you can see the exact place where they were taken.

b) They also removed some tiles from the staircase leading up to the rectory through the main door.

This could indicate, according to Juan Jiménez Vargas, that the rose was found on the floor of the church, in front of the altar of the Virgin of the Roser. But we obviously have no certainty that it was so.

We want to end this brief summary detailing some places where there is some representation of the Rose of Pallerols:

- The original rose is in the seat of the Prelastic Church of Opus Dei in Rome.

- In the Vatican, there is a statue of St. Josemaría and the rose of Pallerols is engraved on the chasuble.

- At the suggestion of Saint Josemaría, the image of the Virgin of Torreciudad carries the rose of Pallerols in her hand.

- In the church of Pallerols, the Virgin of the Roser also carries a copy of the rose of Pallerols.

- In the church of Sant Julià de Lòria (Andorra), Mn. Jaume Argelaguer had a stained glass window built in the 1940s, with the rose of Rialb, moved by the story told to him by Saint Josemaría. It is located behind the bell tower. It was restored in 2020.

- Other images of the Virgin Mary from around the world show the Virgin Mary with the rose of Pallerols. In this writing we attach some photos.

Note.- In order to be able to read the original historical documents that show everything we have just said, we recommend that you go to the book "Camino de Liberación", on pages 44 to 58 and 237 to 243.