 His name is spelled Escrivá in the memento of his first Mass.According to critics like Luis Carandell and Michael Walsh a former Jesuit priest, he also adopted the use of the conjunction "y" ("and") joining his father's and mother's surnames ("Escrivá y Albás"), a usage which he claims is associated with aristocratic families, even though that has been the legal naming format in Spain since 1870.On 16 June 1940, the Spanish "Boletín Oficial del Estado" ("Official State Bulletin") records that Escrivá requested of the government that he be permitted to change his "first surname so that it will be written Escrivá de Balaguer".