Legion of Mary

SEPTEMBER 7th IS THE BIRTHDAY OF THE LEGION OF MARY
IN 2024 IT IS 103 YEARS OLD!
READ SOMETHING OF ITS HISTORY BELOW!

The LEGION OF MARY page will explain how membership in the Legion of Mary is the natural consequence and progression of a devotion to Mary. The entire Legion of Mary Handbook takes its inspiration from St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's book, True Devotion to Mary. Our "beginner's devotion" to Mary (Rosary, Scapular, Prayers, etc.) should grow into a TRUE DEVOTION to Mary, by the making of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort's True Devotion Consecration, whereby we give ourselves entirely to Our Lady.

However, the making of that consecration is, as St. Louis himself says, merely a seed that we plant, that should grow into the "Tree of Life", which is Mary living and acting through us. The Legion of Mary is the organized structure that helps us live, augment and perfect the True Devotion Consecration once we have made it. As a little side note, one might imagine that blue is the official color for the Legion of Mary, but that is not so! Red is the official color, since it represents the Holy Ghost, who is Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Who guides the Legion of Mary through His spouse, Our Lady.

Article 1
What happened on Wednesday night, September 7th, 1921?
THE LEGION OF MARY WAS BORN ON THE EVE OF OUR LADY'S NATIVITY
Happy Birthday, Legion of Mary! You are 103 years old this year!

The Legion of Mary is a lay organization which is, in effect, an extension of the priest. It is entirely based upon the spirituality of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary and is, therefore, a natural progression or practical consequence of the True Devotion Consecration. The consecration plants the seed of True Devotion to Mary, whereas the Legion of Mary is that same seed grown into a mature “Tree of Life.” — "One reason why so few souls come to the fullness of the age of Jesus Christ, is that Mary is not sufficiently formed in their hearts. He who wishes to have the fruit well-ripened and well-formed, must have the tree that produces it; he who wishes to have the fruit of life, Jesus Christ, must have the tree of life, which is Mary .... If Mary, who is the tree of life, is well cultivated in our soul, by fidelity to the practices of this devotion, she will bear her fruit in her own time, and her fruit is none other than Jesus Christ." (St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary, §164 & §218).

The Active Members of the Legion of Mary form a body of lay men and women, who meet weekly to discuss and report upon their allocated apostolic work, given to them by their parish priest. Work can include working with fallen-away Catholics; potential converts; teaching the Catechism at varying levels; visiting the sick and elderly at home, in hospitals and nursing homes; working with the youth; distributing Catholic literature; spreading the True Devotion of St. Louis De Montfort; organizing and running a Fatima Pilgrim Virgin Statue campaign; organizing Rosary Rallies; working in various ways to raise the spiritual fervor of their local parish, etc.

The parish priest, when faced by the multitude of possible apostolates, can do very little with the time he has at his disposal. Hence the need for dedicated co-workers, under his guidance and encouragement, in order to be able to reach more places and more souls.

The Auxiliary Members of the Legion of Mary do not do any active work. On the contrary, they supply the active workers with the graces that they so badly need in order to successfully accomplish their work. Their sole obligation is to recite the Rosary daily, together with a few other short Marian prayers that are contained on a Legion Prayer Sheet called the Tessera.

THE ORIGINS OF THE LEGION OF MARY

"The Legion of Mary is an Association of Catholics who, with the sanction of the Church and under the powerful leadership of Mary Immaculate, Mediatrix of all Graces (who is fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and--to Satan and his legionaries--terrible as an army set in battle array), have formed themselves into a Legion for service in the warfare which is perpetually waged, by the Church, against the world and its evil powers." (Legion of Mary Handbook—Chapter 1—"Name and Origin")

"The Legionaries hope to render themselves worthy of their great heavenly Queen by their loyalty, their virtues, and their courage. The Legion of Mary is therefore organized on the model of an army, principally on that of the army of ancient Rome, the terminology of which is adopted also. But the army and the arms of legionaries of Mary are not of this world. This army, now so considerable, had the most humble of beginnings. It was not a thought-out organization. It sprang up spontaneously. There was no premeditation in regard to rules and practices. A suggestion was simply thrown out. An evening was fixed, and a little group came together, unaware that they were to be the instruments of most loving Providence." (Legion of Mary Handbook—Chapter 1—"Name and Origin")

The founding of the Legion of Mary was not the result of a thought out plan for engaging in the Lay Apostolate but was rather a spontaneous result of a desire to visit the neglected poor in hospital. The circumstances were as follows:

The St. Vincent de Paul Society acquired premises called Myra House in the Parish of St. Nicholas of Myra, Francis Street, Dublin, Ireland. The parish had many poor people. The St. Vincent de Paul Society had two conferences in the parish who visited the poor in their homes, bringing them badly needed material relief and spiritual solace. They visited those "clients" of theirs who were sick and in hospital in the South Dublin Union Hospital. Frank Duff was President of the St. Patrick's Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in 1917.

Myra House became a center for other activities including a meeting place for the local branch of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart. At this time, membership of the St. Vincent de Paul Society was confined to men only. The Pioneer Association, however, was open to both men and women.

The Pioneers held a monthly meeting. The proceedings at the meeting were somewhat similar to a Legion meeting. The Rosary was recited. A variety of activities was reviewed, including the business of a branch of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Society. The meeting closed with the recitation of the Angelus, when the bell of the church opposite rang out for the Angelus at 6 p.m.

The custom developed of having an informal talk on some subject of a religious nature—followed by tea. These meetings continued for some years. In 1921 Frank Duff, who had recently studied the "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary" by St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, gave a series of talks to the group on the True Devotion to Our Blessed Lady.

At one of the meetings Mr. Matt Murray, later caretaker of Myra House, described his visitation, as a member of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, to the male patients in the South Dublin Union, now known as Saint Kevin's Hospital. The ladies present were deeply moved and immediately sensed the need for a similar work in the visitation of the women's wards of that vast institution. Therefore having volunteered their services and agreeing to recruit others, they fixed a meeting date, which happened to be Wednesday, 7th September, 1921. This was the start of what became the Legion of Mary.

The first group of Legionaries assembled around a table on which one of the first arrivals had set up an altar having a statue of Our Lady of Grace (as in the Miraculous Medal). The statue was flanked by two vases of flowers and two candlesticks with lighted candles—all on a white cloth. This simple devotional setting, spontaneously arranged by an early comer, became the official setting for all future meetings of the Legion.

Assembled around that table were fifteen girls, mostly in the late 'teens or early twenties, a priest, the late Father Michael Toher, and a layman, Mr Frank Duff. The girl who arranged that first Legion altar, named Alice Keogh, later became a religious in the Little Sisters of the Assumption, serving in London, New York and Montreal. She died in Montreal, on 7th September, l943, the anniversary of the foundation of the Legion. Frank Duff, who is universally acknowledged as the founder of the Legion of Mary, and was its inspiration, guide and mentor, never claimed to be more than "a founding member".

At that first meeting, the members began with the invocation and prayer to the Holy Ghost and then recited the Rosary. Then they discussed their proposed work for the "least of Christ's brethren" in the wards of the South Dublin Union. Father Toher, then a curate of the Parish of Saint Nicholas of Myra, gave the first Allocutio, or address, outlining for the members the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ. He told them that, in visiting the poor, suffering, and sometimes degraded, patients in that huge institution they must always see and serve Christ in each person visited, and must do so in the spirit of Mary, serving her Divine Son, in the home of Nazareth.

Mrs. Elizabeth Kirwan, a New Zealander by birth, who was the only one among that first group who was not young, was selected as president, and later, when a Curia, the precursor of the Concilium, was formed, she became its first president. Work was assigned to the members. Each pair was to visit a number of patients and report at the next meeting. In their work emphasis was to be placed on charity, perseverance and patience, and the urgent need of prayer for their work.

The new members went out on their first visits, regarding themselves as the humble instruments of Our Lady in her mothering of souls. In speaking to the patients they offered them warm human sympathy and listened attentively to their tales of sorrow, of neglect, and of real or imagined grievances. They offered to write letters for them, to seek out relatives and friends and do other little services. Then, having demonstrated a practical sympathy, they offered advice and inspiration, showing them how they might offer their sufferings to win for others the grace of conversion, and requested them to undertake the regular recitation of the Rosary.

Thus, among the patients and among their own relatives, friends, and fellow-workers they recruited a large number of spiritual supporters, who soon formed the Legion's auxiliary membership. The aims and methods employed were foreshadowed in the pamphlet "Can We Be Saints" written by Frank Duff some years earlier.

The organization was known as the Association of Our Lady of Mercy during the first four years of its life. Later, in November 1925, the name "Legion of Mary" was adopted. In December 1930, the title Praesidium was introduced and at the same time the term Concilium marking the final "Latinization" of the nomenclature of the organization.

Left to right: FR. CREEDON, FRANK DUFF, FR. TOHER around the time of the birth of the Legion of Mary in 1921

FRANK DUFF towards the end of his life

Undoubtedly, as the Legion gladly acknowledges, its early formation was influenced by the ready-made model of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul. From it was adopted the weekly meeting with its definite ritual of prayer, the weekly work-assignment, the individual report by each member, the work in pairs, the secret-bag collection, and officerships--a Spiritual Director, President. Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer--for each branch. In addition, there was the spirit and tradition of a solid and persevering performance of active work, especially the visitation of persons or families, either in their homes or in institutions. All of these were carried over to the Legion and enshrined in its rules and constitutions.

The monthly meeting at Myra House, referred to above, preceded the foundation of the Legion by several years and developed out of the Saint Patrick's Conference of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. Hence, the deep intangible roots of the Legion might be said to stretch back into the foundation in Myra House of Saint Patrick's Conference in 1917. Accepting this thesis, one sees a remarkable trinity of events in that fateful year: Our Lady's appearance at Fatima, the Russian Revolution and the "conception" of the Legion of Mary.

Frank Duff, in later years, remarked that the group who formed the first Praesidium of the Legion of Mary had been meeting together for some years and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Then suddenly they embarked on a heroic and dynamic Apostolate, which in a few short years, was to extend the Legion throughout the whole world. How could this happen? What made the difference? Frank Duff answered the question himself. The difference was the introduction of devotion to Mary in the talks on De Montfort's "True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary". He said that it was as if the electricity was switched on and a machine, which was idle, was given power and put into motion.

Article 2
THE LEGION OF MARY IS AN ARMY FOR TODAY AND THE FUTURE

1917 was probably the most significant year for the Church in the 20th century. The First World War was devastating Europe and it seemed as though the end was not near. Lenin and his followers sparked the Communist Revolution in Russia which would soon set ablaze many parts of the world with the evils of Communism. It was also during 1917 that Our Lady was appearing at Fatima, offering peace to nations and aiding her children in the struggle against the growing Russian Revolution. History reveals much about the Divine Plan, for during the same time that these pivotal events were occurring, Our Lady was beginning to raise an army of her own. This army, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and having as its end spiritual goals, came from Ireland and was known as the Legion of Mary. It would not be long before this spiritual army of Our Lady would become a major enemy to the Communists in their revolutionary takeover of China during the 1950’s.

What the Legion of Mary achieved in the face of Communist persecution in China, the Legion of Mary (if properly organized and used correctly) can also achieve in the face of the persecutions that are yet to come.

During 1917 the foundations for the Legion of Mary were being laid. Frank Duff and other members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society were at that time holding monthly meetings and doing spiritual and corporal works of mercy. They continued this format for the next five years, and from this gathering of Catholics emerged the Legion of Mary.

On the eve of the Feast of Our Lady’s Nativity, September 7th, 1921, a priest, Frank Duff, and fifteen young women gathered together in the top back room of a flat in the poor section of Dublin. Kneeling before an image of Our Lady, the Holy Spirit was invoked and the Rosary recited. Afterwards, the small band discussed their proposed work of visiting cancer patients in South Dublin Union Hospital. From that day on the group performed weekly apostolic work assignments and attended the weekly Praesidium meeting (a Praesidium is the smallest cell of the Legion system. It has anywhere from a hadful of members up to around 20 to 30 members). The membership soon grew to four Praesidia and on the Legion’s first anniversary there were almost 100 active members in Dublin.

1927 marked the first year that a branch was started outside Dublin, this being in Waterford. In 1928 the Legion was taken to Glasgow, Scotland and the following year, to England and Wales. From there it spread to India, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The first Legion envoy left Ireland in 1934 and came to the United States. Two years later, Edel Quinn began her envoyship in missionary Africa, establishing thousands of Praesidia before her death in 1944. From 1930 to 1950 over thirty full-time envoys were sent throughout the world to found and build up the Legion, During these years envoys labored in Central America, France, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, the Philippines, and China.

The Legion of Mary was brought into China in 1937, but for the next nine years it was little known. However, the appointment of Archbishop Riberi as Interuncio to China in 1946 marked the beginning of the spread of the Legion throughout China.1 The Archbishop had met Edel Quinn while in Africa, and had witnessed what the Legion had accomplished there. Seeing the desperate condition of the Church in China, he asked Fr. Aedan McGrath, a Columban Father, to undertake the work of spreading the Legion.2 The Internuncio spoke to Father McGrath saying, “Have you realized the impossibility of the situation? Five hundred million people and only 5,000 priests Even if I doubled and tripled that number the conversion of China is still impossible.”3 Clearly the faith and the ideals which this great Archbishop had shone forth.

Fr. Aeden McGrath had come to China in 1930, and spent the next fifteen years running from Mao Tse-Tung. Mao Tse-Tung had set up a Communist government at Hankow in 1928, and after World War II he extended his rule over most of mainland China, forcing the nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek to withdraw to Formosa.4 When the Communists proclaimed the People’s Republic at Peking in October of 1949, there were 4,000,000 Catholics, 3,080 foreign priests, 2,351 foreign sisters, 2,557 Chinese priests and 5,112 Chinese sisters.5

Ten years before Archbishop Riberi came to China, Bishop Galvin had given Fr. McGrath the Legion handbook. To Fr. McGrath’s surprise the Legion took hold in his parishes, and by 1943 he had six Praesidia at work and these had already instructed 700 adult converts. However in 1943 the Japanese took him out of T’sien kiang and put him under house arrest in Hanyang. After two and a half years, Father returned expecting to find chaos. Instead, he found perfect order. His parishes were running perfectly, children had been baptized, adults had been instructed and marriages corrected.6 It was then that Father knew the value of the Legion in his parishes, which could survive and flourish even in the absence of a priest.

Now, with the coming of Archbishop Riberi, the Legion was able to operate on a large scale in China. Once Father McGrath was assigned to spread the Legion, he set out immediately and went to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chungking and other major parts of China. The Legion spread with amazing rapidity. Within one year there were 1,000 Praesidia. Within two years, 2,000! 8

By this time, 1949, the Communists were in control of nearly all China and became aware of this rapidly growing movement. They ordered Fr. McGrath to stop his Legion activities in Chungking, but he protested saying that the Legion was a purely spiritual organization. He gave them a copy of the Handbook and invited them to attend a meeting to see for themselves. This they did, and afterwards returned the Handbook, with permission for the Legion to resume its work in Chungking. Their comment was, “This is a great organization, just like Communism.” 9 It is interesting to note that there are striking similarities between the Legion and International Communism. Each adopted the nomenclature of the Roman legion and both organizations use the terms 'Praesidium' (the name for their group and the group meetings) and 'tessera' (the title of the membership prayer card listing obligatory prayers). Another interesting point is that the color of the Communists is red, and the Legion’s color is red.10

All remained fairly quiet during the first year of the Communist occupation. But then persecution of the Church began, directed first against foreign missionaries. Priests and sisters were arrested, falsely convicted and expelled from China. Many hundreds were sentenced to long prison terms within the Bamboo Curtain.11

Up to this point, there had been no unfavorable mention by the Communists of the Legion. Then in the Summer of 1950 the Communists proclaimed their intention to establish “Patriotic Churches” which would be run by the government and be separated from Rome.12 This was called the Three Autonomies Movement and it began on July 28, 1950. “Under the guise of self-rule, self-support and self-propagation they demanded absolute separation of the Chinese Churches from any alignment with foreign congregations.”13 These same tactics had been followed in Communist-dominated countries of Europe, since setting up an “independent” church has always signified independence from all control except that of the Communist government.14 Newspaper propaganda in the official press supported this to such a degree that “for months the Peking People’s Daily devoted daily space to the patriotic obligation of Catholics, throughout China, to participate in the movement.”15

The real challenge had come. The Chinese hierarchy refused to support this new movement, and the Legion of Mary set to work informing and instructing the Catholic faithful about the issues at stake in this undermining plot.16

When the Communists realized that the effort to separate Chinese Catholics from Rome was failing, they began a violent attack in the Communist press directed against Archbishop Riberi, the Catholic Central Bureau and the Legion of Mary. Within a year, the Internuncio was expelled from China and most of the leading priests were jailed, including Fr. McGrath.17 The Legion came under very fierce attack by the press, which described Frank Duff as “that imperialist” and “of the party of those who are in power in Ireland.” 18 It also stated:

"This Handbook speaks without evasion of the fact that the Legion of Mary is like the legion of the ancient imperialists of Rome, which acted only for the tyrants of the age and killed people, as one cuts down grass; this shows us that the Legion of Mary is, indeed, founded on these principles, without any doubt. We may know thus that the Legion is a secret army, which, under the guise of religion, really works for the imperialists." 19

Why was the Legion vilified in such a way? The Catholics in China were a small and comparatively uninfluential minority, and the Legion numerically less substantial. Fr. McGrath believes that the main reason was the “part played by the Legionaries in frustrating the Communist plan for a schismatic Catholic Church in China.” 20

The next Communist move was to suppress the Legion in Tientsin, Shanghai and other centers. Legionaries were ordered to register their names with the police. In Shanghai, where there were fifty-one Praesidia, about fifty registration centers were set up, and manned by a highly trained Communist staff who had undergone an intensive training course, which even included study of the Legion handbook. 21 A six foot high notice-board outside each center proclaimed, “Secret Subversive Organization, Legion of Mary-Meaberi Registration Center.” 22 On each side of the notice-board stood soldiers, in full battle attire. Even more alarming was the form which each member was expected to sign. It read:

AI, the undersigned joined the reactionary Legion of Mary on ... and conducted secret counter-revolutionary and evil activities against the government, the people, and Soviet Russia. I hereby resign from the Legion of Mary and promise never to participate in such activities in the future." 23

To register under these terms was equal to signing one’s death warrant, since with “revolt against the country and having contact with imperialism” there came a punishment of death or life imprisonment. 24 Signing this also meant admitting to the false charges brought against the Legion and removed the member’s name from the ranks of Mary’s army.

Only a handful signed the forms, and most of these later returned and withdrew their registrations. The Legionaries as a body refused to give up their membership. Those in Shanghai wrote a letter, signed in their own blood, to the Bishop of Shanghai. “Monsignor, we will follow you wherever you go,” said the letter. “We are proud to live in this age of persecution and there can be no compronises.” 25

The refusal of Legionaries to register led to the arrest of thousands. Soon, every Legion officer was in prison. Among these was Johanna Hsiao, a girl in her early twenties, who before being jailed had set up three hundred and sixty-two Praesidia in the North of China. She was imprisoned in 1951, and nothing has been heard of her since.26 Even very young Legionaries showed heroic courage. Led by their 19 year-old President, the members of a Junior Praesidium marched down the public streets singing from their St. Matthew’s Gospel, “Blessed are you when they shall persecute and calumniate you and say all that is evil against you untruly in My Name. Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in Heaven.” 27

The total number of those executed by the Communists is almost unbelievable. In the 1950’s Time Magazine estimated that, between the years 1949 and 1952, 20,000,000 people were put to death under Mao TseTung.28 A recent figure estimates that between the years 1949 and 1970, that number increased to 60,000,000.29 As for Fr. McGrath, he was released from prison in May, 1954 and saw the state that the Chinese Church was in:

“At the end of 1954 only 61 (foreign missionaries) were still in the country of whom 21 were in prison. In 1955 there were still two foreign bishops and 20 priests in China. Of these one bishop and 17 priests were imprisoned. Of the Chinese priests about 500 had been imprisoned.” 30

The Communists still pressed on, attempting to establish an independent Church from Rome. Their plans had been frustrated by the faithful priests, bishops and members of the Legion. In 1954, Pius XII wrote the encyclical Ad Sinarum Genten, which took issue with the three autonomies and strengthened the support against a Reform Church.31 However, in 1954 and 1955, a new wave of arrests and persecutions assailed the loyal Catholics. The Communists began winning over priests and bishops and by 1957 the Association of Patriotic Priests was founded.32 The next year, 1958, the Patriotic Church was formally established.

What is the state of the Church in China today? Before the Communist takeover, there were approximately 3,500,000 Catholics. Today it seems as though there is only the Patriotic Chinese Church with its glorious parishes in Peking, Shanghai, Canton, etc. But this is only a facade. The Roman Catholic Church is still alive inside China although it is seldom able to communicate with Rome. It is now being discovered that in the center of China there are between six and seven million Catholics.33 These Catholics have no churches, but hear Mass in straw houses, and do not wish to have anything to do with the Chinese Patriotic Church. It seems that after most of the priests and bishops had been imprisoned in the 1950’s, and after almost all of the foreign missionaries had been expelled, the Chinese laity held the Church together. For years the laity had very few priests but they continued to evangelize, instruct and baptize. Legion of Mary members were among these laity.34

A word should be mentioned also about the Legion’s effect in South Korea and the Philippines. The Legion was started in South Korea by the Columban Fathers after they had been expelled from China in the early 1950’s. There were 350,000 Catholics in South Korea at that time.35 The Church was growing rapidly and the Legionary work was evangelization and catechetical instruction. In just 30 years, by 1982, the Legion had grown to 47,000 active members and 3400 Praesidia.36 A statistic of February 1984 shows there were 87,000 active Legion members and 6700 Praesidia!37 South Korea alone brought in 60,000 converts during 1981 38 and had, in the Cathedral parish, approximately 2000 parishioners attending daily Mass.39

The Legion came into the Philippines in 1941 when a Praesidia was started at Santo Thomas University. During the next forty years the Legion grew at an incredible rate and, by 1982, there were 200,000 active members and 14,700 Praesidia. 40 Today Santo Thomas University has 18 Praesidia, and there are now 15,500 Praesidia in the Philippines.41 The late Archbishop O’Dougherty of Manila, who had seen the change in the Philippine Church since the advent of the Legion stated, “I can now dream dreams and I say to myself ‘this is the only Catholic nation of the Orient, why should it not convert the Orient?’” 42 In fact, these words of the late Archbishop are being fulfilled today. At this moment Fr. McGrath is stationed in the Philippines training hundreds of Legionaries for the missionary life. He is teaching then Chinese. When the Bamboo Curtain opens, the soldiers of Mary will be ready, and the Queen of Heaven will lead her spiritual army into China and once again offer them her Divine Son.

Notes

1 Father Henry, O.F.M. Cap., Ed, The Capuchin Annual 1956-57 (Wexford John English 1957). P. 364.
2 Ibid, p. 365.
3 Ibid, p. 365.
4 Newman C. Eberhardt C.M., A S of Catholic History (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1962), II, P. 805.
5 Kurt Hutten, Iron Curtain Christians: The Church in Communist Countries Today (Kenosha: Augsburg Publishing House, 1967), page 421.
6 Ibid, p. 6.
8 Fr. Aeden McGrath, "The Church in China," Christendom College, Front Royal, Va., 1 December 1983,
9 Henry, p 366
10 Ibid, p. 282.
11 Ibid, p. 366.
12 Ibid, p. 366.
13 Thomas J. Bauer, M.M., The Systematic Destruction of the Catholic Church in China (New York World Horizons Reports, 1954), page l0.
14 Ibid, p. 10.
15 Ibid, p. 10.
16 Henry, P. 367.
17 Ibid, p. 367.
18 Ibid, p. 367.
19 Ibid, p. 368.
20 Ibid, p. 368.
21 Ibid, p. 368.
22 Ibid, p. 368.
23 Bauer, p. 13..
24 Ibid, p. 13.
25 Henry, p. 368.
26 McGrath, "The Church in China."
27 McGrath, "Heroic Witness of Legionaries in China," p. 8.
28 McGrath, "The Church in China."
29 Ibid,
30 Hutten, p. 426.
31 Ibid, 428.
32 Ibid, 431.
33 McGrath, "The Church in China."
34 Ibid,
35 Msgr. Charles Moss, "True Devotion," Washington Retreat House, Washington, D.C., 24 February 1984.
36 Ibid,
38 McGrath, "The Church in China."
39 Ibid p. 108.
40 Ibid p. 111.
41 McGrath, "The Church in China."
42 Henry, p. 285.

Article 3
THE LEGION OF MARY BEGINS TO GROW

The Legion of Mary was born on the first vespers of the Nativity of Mary, September 7, 1921, in Dublin, Ireland.

At the invitation of Frank Duff (1889-1980) several people had arranged to meet in a building named Myra House. The group was comprised of a priest, Father Michael Toher; an employee at the ministry of finances; some fifteen women, almost all office workers or store employees; and Frank Duff. They wished to devote themselves to an active spiritual apostolate, similar to that of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. They met around a table on which had been placed a statue of the most Blessed Virgin.

After the recitation of the Veni Sancte Spiritus and the Rosary, Duff spoke of the discovery he had just made of the Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin by St. Louis Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716). His first reading of it had repelled him. The language of holy slavery was strange. But the doctrine of the universal mediation of Mary had struck him and he was convinced that that doctrine is the source of life. He was determined to draw out of the Marian mediation its apostolic consequences.

With contagious ardor he explained to the members assembled there that a sincere devotion toward Mary must be active―it obliges us to work for Mary, to help her save the souls for whom she had suffered so much. A century after St. Louis de Montfort, Blessed William Joseph Chaminade (1761-1850) would present this doctrine in the more appealing language of filial commitment to Mary. In the twentieth century Mary’s apostolic mission and our participation in it would be popularized by Marianist Father, Emile Neubert S.M., with whom Frank Duff had extensive correspondence.

As for the original work, it was initially decided that they would go, two by two, to visit the United Hospital of Dublin to give spiritual encouragement to the patients and that, on the following week, they would return to the Myra House to give a report on the results and to receive new tasks. Gradually the group grew and organized itself. It took the name of Legion of Mary―because it was efficiently organized like a Roman legion. In this way, it avoided giving the group an Irish or local identity, since it meant to extend itself to all the countries of the world.

Growth came slowly for the Legion. Five years after its foundation, it was still confined to the limits of the Archdiocese of Dublin. But, then, declared Cardinal Leon Suenens in a report about the Legion in 1950, “behold, a tempest blast arose: in 1927, the Legion began to move into all the dioceses of Ireland; in 1928, it crossed the seas and took root in Scotland.” Then, in 1929, England opened its gates to it. In 1931, it entered America; in 1932, Australia; in 1933, Africa; in 1937, Asia, through China; in 1940, the Philippines; in 1948, Japan.

There are now millions of active and auxiliary members of the Legion. It is, in fact, difficult to give exact figures, for what is valid today may be too small tomorrow. At the end of 1953, the Tessera (the Legion Prayer Sheet) was being prayed in some seventy languages. A report from Dublin at the end of February 1956, noted:

The Legion is working in more than nine hundred dioceses, with an increase of about two per week. On the average, a new praesidium (the local Legion of Mary unit) is formed every day in the Belgian Congo, in the Philippines, in Central America. Last year, 150 praesidia were founded in 150 days. Other places also show numbers just as elevated.

The only part of the world where the Legion did not exist in the mid and latter twentieth century is the “Russian part,” that is, Russia itself and the adjacent countries behind the iron curtain. Of course, it is possible that the Legion existed in secret in those countries, but there was no information verifiable at that time.

All the Vatican apostolic nuncios and delegates then and now are in favor of having the Legion in the countries where they serve.

Today the Legion of Mary is found in about 170 countries, and numbers more than three million members and many more auxiliary members. It is believed to be the largest lay apostolate organization in the Church.

The Servant of God Frank Duff, whose cause for canonization was introduced in 1996, guided the worldwide extension of the Legion until his death in 1980.

Article 4
THE VARIOUS WORKS UNDERTAKEN BY THE LEGION OF MARY
Part 1

The Legion of Mary Handbook lists the wide variety of works that are undertaken by the members of the Legion of Mary, under the guidance of the priest who is their Spiritual Director. Here, first of all, is that list as is found in the Handbook. We will then briefly cover those different works by giving a further explanation of them to furnish you with a greater insight.

(1) Apostolate in the Parish
(2) Visitation of the Homes of the People
(3) Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in the Homes
(4) The Making of the Parish Census
(5) Visitation of Hospitals, including Psychiatric Hospitals
(6) Work for the Most Wretched and Dejected of the Population
(7) Works for the Young
(8) The Book-Barrow
(9) Crowd Contact
(10) Mission to the Catholic Domestic Worker
(11) Work for the Armed Services Personnel and People on the Move
(12) The Dissemination of Catholic Literature
(13) Promoting the Practice of Daily Mass and Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament
(14) The Recruiting and After-Care of Auxiliaries
(15) Work for the Missions
(16) Promoting Retreats
(17) Pioneer Total Abstinence Association of the Sacred Heart
(18) Other Duties Assigned by Pastor

SUGGESTIONS AS TO WORKS

In this section are set down methods, shown by general experience to be especially fruitful, of employing the work-obligation of the Legion. They represent, however, only suggestions, and particular needs may call for particular works. It is urged that enterprising and difficult work should not be withheld from the Legion, which is admirably adapted to the doing of such work. Trivial tasks will react unfavorably on the spirit of the legionaries.

As a principle, every Praesidium should be doing some work which can be called heroic. Even at the beginning it should not be impossible to find two members with a heart for such adventure, and let them be assigned to it. Then their example will be a headline―towards which their fellow-members will almost automatically ascend. When the general level has in this way been lifted, the original intrepid two should again be sent in pursuit of the heroic. This progressive pioneering provides a means of continually raising standards. For the natural limitations do not exist in the supernatural order. The more one plunges into God, the wider become the horizons, and the greater the possibilities.

But at once there is dissent. The idea of running risks for religion disturbs a lot of people. These make the air resound with cries of “improper” and “imprudent.” But the world is not talking in that weak-way, and the Legion should not be less spirited. If a work is necessary to souls, and if a high headline is vital to the forming of the character of the Christian community, then caution must take a second place and courage must precede it. Weigh these words of Cardinal Pie: “When prudence will be everywhere, then courage will no longer be anywhere. You will find that we will die of prudence!”

Do not let the Legion die of prudence!

1. APOSTOLATE IN THE PARISH

Some of the ways in which the legionaries may help the growth of a true community spirit are as follows:

(a) Visitation of the homes of the people;
(b) Conducting para-liturgical services on Sundays and holidays of obligation in places where there is no priest available to celebrate Mass;
(c) Conducting religious instruction classes;
(d) Visitation and care of the handicapped, the sick and the old, including, when necessary, making arrangements for a visit of the priest;
(e) Recitation of the Rosary at wakes and funerals;
(f) Promotion of Catholic Associations and Parish Societies, including Church Confraternities or Sodalities. Where they exist, by recruiting new members and encouraging existing members to persevere;
(g) Collaboration in every apostolic and missionary undertaking sponsored by the parish and so help to bring every soul in some manner into the protective network of the Church, thus securing the safety alike of the individual and the community.

There are certain other parochial works which, though important, would not satisfy, except in special cases, the work obligation for senior legionaries. Among these works are: Altar Society work, the keeping of the church clean and beautiful, stewarding at Church services, Mass serving, etc. Where necessary, the legionaries could organize and superintend the performance of these duties, which would be a source of blessing to the persons undertaking them. The legionaries could then make the more difficult, direct approaches to souls.

2. VISITATION OF THE HOMES OF THE PEOPLE

The visitation of the homes has been traditionally the preferred work of the Legion, its special occupation everywhere and its avenue of greatest good. It is a characteristic of the Legion. Through this visitation, personal contact can be made with a great many people and the Church’s concern for every person and every family can be shown. The Praesidium must think out its methods of approach to the homes. Obviously, the legionaries have to introduce themselves and to explain why they are there. Visitation for the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in the homes, for the making of the Parish Census and the dissemination of Catholic literature described in the following pages, are among some of the ways in which approach to the homes may be undertaken.

Not only Catholics who are living the Christian life, but all can be brought within the sphere of the legionary apostolate through the visitation of the homes. Contact can be made with non-Catholics and non-Christians, and with Catholics who are estranged from the Church. Attention will be given also to those in irregular marriage situations as referred to above, to those in need of instruction, to the lonely and the infirm. Every home should be viewed from the angle of rendering service. The legionary visitation will be marked by humility and simplicity. People may have incorrect ideas concerning the visitation, expecting to be lectured in a superior way. On the contrary, legionaries should aim initially at listening instead of talking. Having listened patiently and respectfully, they will have won the right to be heard.

3. ENTHRONEMENT OF THE SACRED HEART IN THE HOMES

It will be found that the propagation of the devotion of the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart in the home provides a specially favorable introduction and avenue to the friendship of families. Those detailed to this work may take to themselves in fullness the Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart. Even the tenth: “I will give to the priests the grace to touch the most hardened hearts,” belongs in a measure to those who go as the priest’s representatives. Specially encouraged by this thought, the legionaries will go with perfect confidence to grapple with the cases branded “hopeless.” The Enthronement visitation forms the most fruitful of all introductions, striking the right note of simple piety from the very commencement, facilitating acquaintance and hence repeated visits, and rendering easy the development of the Legion apostolate. As it is the mission of Mary to bring about the reign of Jesus, so there is a special appropriateness (which should attract the special graces of the Holy Spirit) in the Legion of Mary propagating the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart.

4. THE MAKING OF THE PARISH CENSUS

This work provides an excellent way of getting in touch with the Catholics who need attention or who have drifted into the category of lapsed, that is, those who have lost all association with the Church. Going in the name of the priest, visitation should if possible be from door to door. It is taken as a matter of course by the persons visited that particulars as to religion should be asked, and as a rule they are cheerfully given. Included in what is learned is much that will form subject for long-continued effort on the part of Priest and legionaries.

But discovery is only the preliminary, and the easiest, step. To restore to the fold each one of those so found must be regarded as being in a measure a trusteeship conferred upon the Legion by God — one to be entered upon with joy and pursued with invincible spirit. Let not the Legion, through any cause in its own power, fail in the fulfillment of that trust, no matter how long-drawn-out the battle, how arduous the labors, how great the rebuffs, how hardened the cases, how hopeless the prospect.

5. VISITATION OF HOSPITALS, INCLUDING PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS

The visitation of a hospital for the poor was the first work the Legion ever undertook and for a while it did no other. It teemed with blessings for the infant organization, and the Legion desires that this work will ever be attended to by its Praesidia. Legionary visitation should be used to educate the patients to at true conception of their sufferings, that they may bear them in the proper spirit.

They must be persuaded that what they regard as so intolerable is in reality a molding to the likeness of Christ, and as such a great favor. It is not difficult to bring home to people this aspect of suffering which, when once grasped, deprives it of half its sting. They should be helped to realize the greatness of the spiritual treasures which they can acquire, by repeating often to them the exclamation of St. Peter of Alcantara to one who had long endured a most painful illness with admirable patience: “O happy patient, God has shown me how great a glory you have merited by your illness. You have merited more than others can gain by prayer, fasting, vigils, scourging, and other penitential works.”

It is desirable that the spending of these spiritual treasures should possess a variety which is lacking in the earning of them. Moreover, a gathering for self will not exercise so potent an appeal. So the legionary will unfold the idea of the apostleship of suffering. The patients should be taught to busy themselves in the spiritual affairs of the world, offering the treasures of their sufferings for its myriad needs, and conducting a campaign whose force must be irresistible because it is at once prayer and penance.

“Such hands, raised to God,” cries Bossuet, “break through more battalions than those that strike.” It will aid towards perseverance if the patients feel a personal interest in what they are praying for. So it is important that particular needs and works (notably the legionary’s own) be singled out and described to them. This new view of life opened up to them, the patients, some of whom had touched the depths of misery in the thought of being so useless and a burden, will taste the supreme joy of feeling that they are of use to God.

6. WORK FOR THE MOST WRETCHED AND DEJECTED OF THE POPULATION

This will involve the visitation of their haunts; and of lodging-houses, hostels and jails; and it may be, the conducting of hostels staffed by legionaries, resident and outdoor. As soon as the Legion in any centre is in possession of members of sufficient experience and caliber, this work for the least of the least ones of Christ is to be undertaken. Too often it is to be found neglected, with consequent reproach to the Catholic name.

There should be no depths to which the Legion will not penetrate in its search for the lost sheep of the House of Israel. False fears will be the first obstacle. But false or founded, someone must do this work. If capable and trained legionaries, safeguarded by their prayerful and disciplined system, cannot essay it, then no one can. Till the Legion in any centre can say with truth that its members know personally, and are in touch in some way with each and every individual member of the degraded classes, its work must be regarded as being still in a stage of incomplete development, and efforts in this direction must be intensified.

Moreover, the outlook of a campaigning soldier must be brought to bear on this work. Obvious inconveniences will face the legionaries. Perhaps to the ‘slings and arrows’ of outrageous words, worse things may be added. The ‘rifle-fire’ of blows or the ‘artillery’ of injuries may be turned upon them. Such things may humiliate and pain, but they must not intimidate; they should hardly even disconcert.

Here lies the test of the solidity of the soldierly professions which have so often passed through the mind of the legionary and have so many times been uttered by him. He has spoken of a warfare. He has talked of seeking for the worst of people; now that he has found them, it would be inconsistent of him to complain. Why should it cause surprise to see that the bad behave badly, and that the worst act vilely!

In short, in every circumstance of special difficulty, or in face of danger, the legionary should remind himself: “A war is on!” This phrase that nerves a war-ridden people to sacrifice, should steel the legionary in his warfare for souls and hold him to his work when most others would desist. If there is any reality in the talk of precious and eternal souls, there must be readiness to pay a price of some sort for them. What price, and by whom paid?

The answer is that if ever lay persons are to be asked to face a risk, who are they to be — if not those who are striving to be worthy of the title of Legionaries of Mary? If ever great sacrifices are to be required from lay Catholics, from whom — if not from those who have so deliberately, so solemnly enlisted in the service of her who stood on Calvary? Surely they will not fail, if called upon!

Work for the derelict or abandoned classes will always be a difficult, long-drawn-out one. Its keynote must be a supreme patience. A type is being dealt with which will only rise after many fallings.

If discipline be put first in dealing with them, nothing will be accomplished. In a short time the rigid system will have lost all the subjects it was constituted to treat, and will have as patients those who least require treatment. Therefore, the work must proceed upon the principle of values reversed, that is, it shall concern itself especially with those whom even the optimist would term utterly hopeless cases, and whose warped minds and initial insensibility to appeal would seem to justify this description.

The vile, the malevolent, the naturally hateful, the rejects and black-listed of other societies and people, the refuse of cities, shall all be determinedly persevered with in spite of rebuffs, utter ingratitude, and apparent failure. Of these a considerable proportion will form a life-long task.

To be continued in the next article

Article 5
THE VARIOUS WORKS UNDERTAKEN BY THE LEGION OF MARY
Part 2

7. WORKS FOR THE YOUNG

Children are certainly the object of the Lord Jesus’ tender and generous love. To them He gave His blessing, and, even more, to them He promised the Kingdom of Heaven. (cf. Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:14). In particular Jesus exalted the active role that little ones have in the Kingdom of God. They are the eloquent symbol and exalted image of those moral and spiritual conditions that are essential for entering into the Kingdom of God and for living the logic of total confidence in the Lord: “Truly I say to you, unless you convert and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-5; cf. Luke 9:48).

If the preservation of the young in Faith and innocence can be assured, how glorious the future! Then, like a giant refreshed, the Church could throw itself into its mission of converting the pagan world, and make short work of it. As it is, the great bulk of the Church’s effort is absorbed by the painful treatment of internal sores.

Furthermore, it is easier to preserve than later on to restore. The Legion will attend to both, for both are vital. But certainly it should not neglect the easier work of the two — that of preservation. Many children can be saved from disaster―for the trouble it will later take to remake just one debased adult.

Some aspects of the problem are as follows:

(a) Children’s Mass attendance. A bishop, delivering a program of work to legionaries, placed as the item of first importance the conducting of a Sunday Mass Crusade amongst children. Mass-missing by children he held to be one of the chief sources of all later trouble. A Sunday morning visitation of the homes of children (whose names should be ascertained from school rolls, etc.) will be found to be of sovereign efficacy.

Incidentally, it is to be borne in mind that children are seldom bad of themselves. Where they are found to be exempting themselves from this elementary Catholic requirement, it can be taken as certain that they are the victims of parental indifference and bad example, and the Legion apostolate should proceed mindful of this additional evil. In the case of children, more even than in other directions, a spasmodic or short-term visitation will accomplish little or nothing.

(b) Visitation of the homes of children. In connection with the visitation of children in their own homes, stress is laid upon an important consideration. It is that an entry to families which otherwise would be, for various reasons, inaccessible to religious workers, may readily be secured when the stated purpose is the approaching of the children of that family. For it is a fact, springing from the natural relation of parent to child, that zeal for the child is above zeal for self. Ordinary parents have regard for the interests of their child even when they are forgetful of their own. The hardest heart softens somewhat at the thought of its own child. Persons may be dead to religion themselves, but deep-rooted impulses bid them not to wish their children the same fate, and instinctive joy is felt at seeing the movements of grace in their children. As a consequence, one who would repulse rudely and even violently those who seek to approach him directly on a spiritual mission, will tolerate the same workers when their mission is to his children.

Competent legionaries, once admitted to the home, will know how to make all the members of that family feel the radiation of their apostolate. A sincere interest in the children will usually make a favorable impression on the parents. This can be skillfully utilized to cultivate in them the seed of the supernatural so that, as the children had been the key to their parents’ home, likewise they will prove to be the key to their parents’ hearts and eventually to their souls.

(c) Teaching Christian Doctrine to children. This supremely valuable work should be supplemented by the visitation of the homes of the children whose attendance is not satisfactory, or generally for the purpose of manifesting personal interest in the children, and of getting in touch with the other members of the families. Incidentally, the Legion can serve the purpose of a local branch of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. See appendix 8.

The following instance shows the efficacy of the application of the Legion system to the Sunday Catechism classes in a populous parish. Despite earnest efforts of the Priests, including appeals from the pulpit, the average attendance of children had fallen to fifty. At this stage a Praesidium was formed which added to the work of teaching, the visitation of the homes of the children. A year’s work was sufficient to bring the average attendance at the classes to 600. And this surprising figure does not take count of the spiritual benefits conferred on innumerable careless relatives of the children.

In all works, the legionary watchword should be “How would Mary view and treat these, her children?’’ In this work, even more than in others, that thought should be vivid. There is a natural tendency towards impatience with the children. But a worse fault would lie in the imparting to the instruction of a mere businesslike and secular tone, in such a way that these classes would only be regarded by the children as additional hours of school. If this comes to pass, nine-tenths of the harvest will be left unreaped. So once again consider: “How would the Mother of Jesus instruct those children, in each one of whom she sees her own Beloved?”

In teaching the young, memorization and audio-visual aids play an important role. Special care is needed in selecting catechetical material which fully conforms to the Church’s teaching. A partial indulgence is granted to the person who teaches Christian doctrine also to the person who receives such instruction.

(d) The non-Catholic or State school. The life of the child who is not attending a Catholic school is one continual crisis, and it may be hard to prevent it developing in later years into one of the problems. Such measures of remedy as have been approved by the ecclesiastical authorities of each place will be taken up by the Legion and applied with all its might.

(e) Sodalities for the young. For children who have been at good schools, the crisis comes at school-leaving age. They are then freed from school with its sound influences, its protective restraints, its minute safeguards. Sometimes they were entirely dependent upon that support by reason of the fact that their homes did not provide religious or controlling influences.

There is the further complication that the withdrawal of these things occurs about the age of greatest moral difficulty, and unfortunately, too, when those young people have ceased to be children without becoming adults. Naturally, appropriate provision for that twilight stage is difficult, and accordingly is frequently lacking. Then, when that transition period passes, and the adult safeguarding system opens its arms to them, it usually does so unavailingly. The perilous charms of freedom have been tasted.

Therefore the supervision which was maintained in school must in some measure be carried on when those children leave. A method which is recommended is that of forming, under the auspices of the Legion, Juvenile Sodalities, or at least special juvenile sections in the ordinary Sodalities. Before the children are due to leave school, those in authority will see that the names of such children are supplied to the legionaries. The latter will then call to their homes to make their acquaintance and to persuade them to join the Sodality. The children, who cannot be induced to join, should be made the subject of special visitation, as also those who attend irregularly.

Each legionary would be allocated a certain number of the young Sodality members, for whom he or she will be held responsible. Before each Sodality meeting, those members will be called upon to remind them of their duty to attend. An Annual Retreat (enclosed, if possible) and an annual entertainment should form part of the system.

There is no better way, in fact there is no other definite way, of ensuring a regular frequentation of the Sacraments by the young during the post-school period.

The case of young people discharged from Juvenile Detention Centers or Orphanages requires special attention in the above direction. Sometimes they are without parents altogether; sometimes they are the victims of bad parents.

(f) The conducting of children’s clubs, Boy Scout and Girl Guide Troops, J.O.C. units, Sewing Classes, branches of the Holy Childhood, etc. Probably these would be carried on rather as the employment of the work-obligation of part of the membership of a Praesidium than as the whole work of a Praesidium. But it would be quite in order that a Praesidium should devote itself solely to some special work, such as those mentioned. In this case, however, it must be understood that a distinct Praesidium meeting shall be held and carried out fully according to rule. It will not supply the place of the meeting if, as has been suggested, the members are gathered together, as an item of the evening’s Special Work, for the purpose of reciting the prayers, reading the minutes, and rushing through a few reports. Possibly in this manner the essentials of a meeting might be conformed to, but a reading of chapter 11 on the Scheme of the Legion will show how little of the spirit of the rules is reflected in such an expedient.

It is the desire of the Legion that during each session of a Special Work which is under the control of the Legion, the Legion prayers should be recited at the opening, intermediate, and concluding stages. If it is not possible to include the Rosary, at least the remainder of the Tessera prayers should be said.

(g) A Legionary youth formula. It would seem to be necessary to propose some guiding principles to legionaries who are running Clubs or Youth groups. Usually the methods being followed depend entirely on the individuals in charge of such groups, so that wide diversity of system prevails, ranging from a daily to a weekly session, and from pure amusement or pure technical instruction to pure religion. Obviously these variants will work out to very different results, not always for the best. For instance, unmixed amusement represents dubious training for the young, even on the supposition that it ‘keeps them out of trouble’. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” — runs the well-known saying. But this has been wittily complemented by another one which is still more true: “All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.”

The Praesidium system has shown itself to be a standard which is suited to all types of people and works. Is it possible similarly to devise a simple standard system for applying generally to youth?

Experiments have suggested that a scheme on the following lines will operate satisfactorily, and Praesidia in charge of Youth Groups are urged to make trial of it:

● Maximum age 21, no minimum age; age-segregation desirable.
● Every member must attend a regular weekly session. If a group meets more frequently than once a week, these rules are optional in their application to the additional meetings.
● Each member to say daily the Catena Legionis.
● At the weekly session the Legion altar shall be erected, either on a table as in the case of the Praesidium meeting, or apart, or raised up for the purpose of safety.
● At each session the Legion prayers, inclusive of the Rosary, shall be said, divided up as at a Praesidium meeting.
● The total length of the session shall not be less than one hour and a half, but may exceed that time.
● Not less than half an hour shall be devoted to business and instructional purposes. The remainder of the time may, if desired be applied to recreation. By “business” is meant the conduct of the affairs which would naturally arise out of the running of certain groups, for example, football or other sports clubs, etc. By “instructional” is meant any sort of training or educational influence, religious or secular, which is brought to bear.
● Each member to receive Holy Communion not less frequently than once a month.
● Members should be stimulated towards auxiliary membership of the Legion, and the notion of service of one’s neighbor and of the community should be instilled into their minds.

“It would be easy to dwell upon the many lessons of the extraordinarily active life of St. John Bosco. I select only one, because of its extreme and lasting importance, namely, his view of the relations which should exist between teachers and taught, superiors and subjects, masters and pupils, in school, or college, or seminary. He rightly held in extreme abhorrence the spirit of aloofness, of keeping at a distance, of exaggerated dignity which, sometimes on principle, sometimes from thoughtlessness, at times from pure selfishness, makes superiors and masters almost inaccessible to those whose training and formation God has entrusted to them. St. John Bosco never forgot the words: ‘Have they made thee ruler? Be not lifted up; be among them as one of them: have care of them.’ (Ecclesiasticus 32:1).” (Cardinal Bourne)

Article 6
THE VARIOUS WORKS UNDERTAKEN BY THE LEGION OF MARY
Part 3

8. THE BOOK-BARROW

Legionaries might conduct a Book-barrow or a portable bookstall in a public place, preferably in or near some busy street. Experience has shown the immense value of this as a legionary work. There is no more efficacious way of carrying on a comprehensive apostolate directed to the good, the mediocre, and the bad, or of bringing the Church to the notice of the unthinking many. Therefore the Legion earnestly desires that in every large centre there should be at least one of these.

It should be made so as to afford the greatest possible display of titles. It should be stocked with an abundant supply of inexpensive religious publications. Legionaries would form the staff.

Besides those whose primary purpose is to look through the stock with a view to purchase, almost every type of person will be drawn towards this. Catholics desirous to talk with their co-religionists; the thoughtless and the indifferent, killing time or led by curiosity; the mildly-interested who are not of the Church, and who would be reluctant to place themselves more directly in touch with it. All these will enter into conversation with the gentle and sympathetic legionaries in charge, who should be trained to look upon the enquiries and purchases as so many openings for the establishment of friendly contact.

The latter will be utilized to lead on all of those encountered to a higher plane of thought and action. Catholics would be induced to join “something Catholic.” Non-Catholics would be helped towards an understanding of the Church. One person will leave determined to undertake daily Mass and Holy Communion; another to become a legionary, active — or auxiliary, or a Patrician; a third to make his peace with God; another bearing in his heart the seeds of conversion to the Church. Visitors to town will be interested in the Legion (which otherwise they might not see), and may be induced to start it in their own places.

Legionaries are encouraged, however, not to wait passively for people to come to them at the Barrow. They should not hesitate to approach people in the vicinity, not necessarily for the purpose of selling more literature, but in order to establish a contact, which can be used as described in the preceding paragraph.

It should be unnecessary to remind legionaries that the persevering following up of the introductions and friendships initiated is a necessary part of the whole work.

The proposal to start such a work will always elicit the objection that exceptionally well-versed Catholics would be required to do it, and are not available. It is true that special knowledge of Catholic Doctrine would be most useful. But the lack of this need not deter legionaries from starting. For the personal appeal will be the great consideration. As Cardinal Newman says: “Persons influence us, voices melt us, looks subdue us, deeds inflame us. Many a man will live and die upon a dogma: no man will be a martyr for a conclusion.” In a word, earnestness and sweetness are more important than deep knowledge. The latter is inclined to lure those who possess it into deep water and tortuous channels which lead nowhere, whereas a candid confession of one’s weakness: “I do not know, but I can find out”, will keep a discussion on bedrock.

It will be found that the vast bulk of the difficulties which are voiced spring from a great ignorance, and that the ordinary legionary is well able to deal with them. Less simple points will be brought to the Praesidium or to the Spiritual Director.

Attacks on the Church on the score of evil-doing, persecution, and lack of zeal could be argued indefinitely, and hopelessly confuse the issue. An element of truth may underlie some charges, and thus add complication to confusion. To satisfy the hostile critic on these and all other minor points of dispute is completely impossible, even if great erudition is enlisted in the task. The course to be taken by the legionary must be that of persistently reducing the discussion to its very simplest elements: that of insisting that God must have left to the world a message — what men call a religion: that such religion, being God’s voice, absolutely must be one, clear, consistent, unerring, and must claim divine authority.

These characteristics are to be found only in the Catholic Church. There is no other body or system which even claims to possess them. Outside the Church, there is only contradiction and confusion, so that, as Cardinal Newman crushingly puts it: “Either the Catholic religion is verily the coming of the unseen world into this, or that there is nothing positive, nothing dogmatic whither we are going.”

There must be a true Church. There can be only one true Church. Where is it, if it is not the Catholic Church? Like blows, ever directed to one spot, this simple line of approach to the Truth has overwhelming effect. Its force is manifest to the simple. It is unanswerable in the heart of the more learned, though he may continue to talk of the sins of the Church. Remind such a one briefly but gently that he proves too much. His objections tell at least as much against any other religious system as they do against the Church. If he proves the Church to be false by proving that Churchmen did wrong, then he has only succeeded in proving that there is no true religion in the world.

The day has gone when a Protestant would claim that his own particular sect had a monopoly of the truth. Nowadays he would more modestly contend that all Churches possess a portion or facet of the truth. But a portion is not enough. That claim is equivalent to an assertion that there is no known truth and no way of finding it. For if a Church has certain doctrines that are true and therefore others that are untrue, what means are there of recognizing which is which; when we pick, we may take the ones that are untrue! Therefore the Church which says of its doctrines: “Some of these are true”, is no help, no guide for the way. It has left you exactly where you were without it.

So, let it be repeated until the logic penetrates: There can be but one true Church; which must not contradict itself, which must possess the whole truth; and which must be able to tell the difference between what is true and what is false.

“The world can find no helper more powerful than thee. It has its apostles, prophets, martyrs, confessors, virgins, good helpers to whom I pray. But thou my Queen, art higher than all these intercessors. That which they can all do with thee, thou alone canst do without them. And why ? Because thou art the Mother of Our Savior. If thou art silent, no one will pray, no one will come to help us. If thou prayest, all will pray, all will help.” (St. Anselm: Oratio Eccl.).

Article 7
THE VARIOUS WORKS UNDERTAKEN BY THE LEGION OF MARY
Part 4

9. CROWD CONTACT

Apostleship views bringing the full riches of the Church to every person. The basis of this work must be the individual and persevering touch of one warm soul on another soul, what we call by the technical name of “contact”. In the measure that personal “contact” weakens so does real influence. According as people become a crowd they tend to escape from us. We may allow the crowd to keep us from the person. These crowds are made up of individuals, each one representing a priceless soul. Each member of that crowd has his or her private life but much of their time is spent in crowds, of one kind or another — in the street or gathered together in any place. We have to turn those crowds into individuals and thus enable us to establish contact with their souls. How must Our Blessed Lady look on those crowds? She is the Mother of each individual soul comprised in them. She must be in anguish at their necessities, and her heart must yearn for someone to help her in her work of mothering them.

The value of a book-barrow in a public place has been already shown, however, a comprehensive apostolate to the crowd can be carried out as a separate work. An approach to people with a polite request to speak with them on the subject of the Faith can lead to fruitful contacts. This approach can be made on the streets, in parks, in public houses, in the vicinity of railway and bus stations and in other public places where people gather. Experience has shown that such an approach is generally well-received. Legionaries engaged on this work must remember that their speech and their manner are their instruments of contact. Therefore, they should be unassuming and deferential. In discussion they should avoid any word which suggests that they are battling with the other person, or anything that sounds like a preaching at them, or a laying down of the law, or anything showing superiority. They should believe most firmly that Mary Queen of Apostles gives weight to their weakest word and that she is almost infinitely anxious to make their apostolate fruitful.

10. MISSION TO THE CATHOLIC DOMESTIC WORKER

This can be carried out as part of visitation work or as a special work in itself. Only too often placed in households indifferent or hostile to the Faith, viewed as mere machines, isolated, frequently migrants or immigrants with no friends, and reduced to forming chance acquaintanceships full of the possibilities of disaster, Catholic domestic workers are in need of special care and support. Making contact with them forms an apostolate of a notable kind.

To them, the regular visits of legionaries solicitous for their welfare, will come as rays of light. Generally the object will be to bring them into membership of Catholic societies or clubs, into suitable friendships, and perhaps, in many cases into legionary membership itself. This work will help to direct many on new and happier paths, leading on to safety and holiness.

“At first sight we might certainly have anticipated that much state and dignity would have been allotted to God’s great Mother during some portion, at least, of her life upon the earth. How different was the reality as arranged by the Providence of God. We find Mary in her poor dwelling discharging such humble duties as sweeping the floor, washing the linen, cooking the food, going to and from the well with a pitcher on her head, engaged in that kind of work which we, in face of the example set by Jesus, Mary and Joseph, venture to call menial. Mary’s hands were doubtlessly reddened and hardened by toil; she was often weary and overworked; hers were the anxieties of a working man’s wife.” (Vassall-Phillips: The Mother of Christ).

11. WORK FOR ARMED SERVICES PERSONNEL AND PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

The circumstances of these people’s lives incline them to neglect of religion and expose them to many pitfalls. Therefore an apostolate among them is doubly desirable.

(a) As access to military establishments may not always be easy to civilians, effective work for soldiers may require the setting up of Praesidia composed of soldiers. This has already been done in many places with signal success.

(b) Work for seamen will call for the visitation of ships and the provision of various facilities on shore. Praesidia undertaking this work should affiliate with the recognized international society, the Apostolatus Maris, which has branch-headquarters in the majority of maritime countries.

(c) The legionaries must exhibit meticulous respect for military and marine discipline. Their actions must never run counter to regulations or traditions. In fact, they must aspire to earn for their apostolate the unreserved admission that it uplifts the personnel in every way and represents an unmixed asset to those services, and more than an asset — a positive necessity.

(d) Travelling people, gypsies and circus personnel are among people on the move who should be brought within the sphere of the legionary apostolate. Migrants and refugees should also be part of that apostolate.

“Among the great changes taking place in the contemporary world, migration has produced a new phenomenon: non-Christians are becoming very numerous in traditionally Christian countries, creating fresh opportunities for contacts and cultural exchanges, and calling the Church to hospitality, dialogue, assistance and in a word, fraternity. Among migrants, refugees occupy a very special place and deserve the greatest attention. Today, there are many millions of refugees in the world and their number is constantly increasing. They have fled from conditions of political oppression and inhuman misery, from famine and drought of catastrophic proportions. The Church must make them part of her overall apostolic concern.” (RM 37).

Article 8
THE VARIOUS WORKS UNDERTAKEN BY THE LEGION OF MARY
Part 5

12. THE DISSEMINATION OF CATHOLIC LITERATURE

The lives of countless people, like St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Ignatius of Loyola, illustrate how reading of influential books, recommended to them by people, whose judgment they respected, proved to be instrumental in leading them to higher things. The dissemination of Catholic literature affords great opportunities for apostolic contacts with a wide variety of people, with whom matters of the Catholic Faith can be easily brought up. Without on-going religious adult education, people living in a secularized world are greatly disadvantaged. The Church teaches them one world and they live in another. The voice of the secularized world speaks louder than that of the Church. The imbalance must be corrected. The Christian’s mandate is to win the secularized world for Christ. This demands that we have the right values and attitudes — the Christian ones.

Without underestimating other kinds of communication, serious reading, that is, reading to learn, is a very rich and influential source of ideas. A little reading done regularly is much more helpful than a lot of reading done occasionally when one feels like it. There is a real problem of getting people to read religious books. Their interest must be aroused and if interest is not to evaporate, reading material must be easily available. Here is an opening for apostolic Catholics.

As well as religious books and booklets, there are Catholic newspapers and magazines, whose purpose is to
(1) give a reasoned synthesis of current affairs and a thought-out evaluation of them;
(2) act as a necessary corrective to distorted views or calculated silences;
(3) review and give guidelines on current media offerings;
(4) develop a healthy pride and concerned interest in the affairs of the Universal Church, and
(5) cultivate a taste for reading of a more lasting relevance. In addition to the printed word, audio-visual material plays a valuable role in handing on the Faith.

Before using any kind of material touching religion, it is always important to confirm from trustworthy sources that it fully agrees with the Church’s teaching. Self-styled Catholic publications should be deserving of the name. “It is not names that give confidence in things, but things that give confidence in names.” (St. John Chrysostom)

Among the tried and tested means of disseminating Catholic literature are the following:
(1) House to house canvassing for subscribers;
(2) Delivery of newspapers or periodicals to homes;
(3) Staffing of Church kiosks and bookshops;
(4) Staffing of a book-barrow or portable bookstall in public places;
(5) Use of the Patricians to recommend follow-up reading material.

Book displays and their stands should be attractive and well maintained. In advertising the Catholic Church slipshod methods are not good enough.

During visitation for the purpose of disseminating Catholic literature, legionaries will try to pursue an apostolate directed towards the influencing of every member of the family.

“Mary is the inseparable companion of Jesus. Everywhere and always the Mother is beside her Son. Therefore, what binds us to God, what places us in possession of the things of Heaven is-not Christ alone, but that Blessed pair- the Woman and her Seed. Hence, to separate Mary from Jesus in religious worship is to destroy the order established by God Himself.” (Terrien: La Mére des Hommes).

13. PROMOTING THE PRACTICE OF DAILY MASS AND DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

“Every day, as is desirable, and in the greatest possible numbers, the faithful must take an active part in the sacrifice of the Mass, avail themselves of the pure, holy refreshment of Holy Communion and make a suitable thanksgiving in return for this great gift of Christ the Lord. Here are words they should keep in mind: ‘Jesus Christ and the Church desire all Christ’s faithful to approach the sacred banquet every day. The basis of this desire is that they should be united to God by the sacrament and draw strength from it to restrain lust, to wash away the slight faults of daily occurrence and to take precautions against the more serious sins to which human frailty is liable. (AAS 38 (1905), 401) More is required. Liturgical laws prescribe that the Blessed Sacrament be kept in churches with the greatest honor and in the most distinguished position. The faithful should not fail to pay it an occasional visit. Such a visit is a proof of gratitude, a pledge of love, an observance of the adoration due to Christ the Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament.” (MF 66).

Probably this will be carried on less as a work in itself than as one to be kept in mind and assiduously pursued as part and parcel of every legionary activity. See Legion Handbook, Chapter 8: The Legionary and the Eucharist.

“We see how the Eucharist, sacrifice and sacrament, sums up in the abundance of its richness all that the Cross offered to God and procured for men. It is the Blood of Calvary and the dew of Heaven at one and the same time: the Blood that cries for mercy, and the vivifying dew that raises up the drooping plant. It is the price paid for us, and the blessing brought to us. It is life and the price of life. The Cross was not worth more, nor the Supper, nor the two together, and all of it endures, and all of it is fraught with the hopes of humanity. For these reasons the Mass is well called the Mystery of Faith; not only because the whole Christian dogma — which is the dogma of our ruin in Adam and of our restoration in Jesus Christ — is summed up in it, but also and chiefly, because the drama, the heroic action by which was accomplished that sublime uplifting of humanity and superabundant compensation for our former losses, continues in our midst by means of it. And it is not a repetition by way of a mere symbol, but actually realizes in our midst what was accomplished by Christ Himself.” (De la Taille: The Mystery of Faith).

Article 9
THE VARIOUS WORKS UNDERTAKEN BY THE LEGION OF MARY
Part 6

14. THE RECRUITING AND AFTER-CARE OF AUXILIARIES

Every Praesidium which has a sense of appreciation of the power of prayer will strive to possess a well-filled roll of auxiliary members. It is the duty of each legionary to gain auxiliaries and to try to keep in touch with them.

Consider the generosity of these auxiliaries who have given up to the Legion part of the precious breathings of their souls. What possibilities of sanctity are in them! The Legion is under infinite debt to them. That debt it can beautifully repay by leading those auxiliaries on to perfection. Active members and auxiliaries, both are children of the Legion. The active members are the elder children, and the Mother of the Legion, as in every family, will look to them to help her with the younger ones. She will not merely supervise that help. She will make it effective, so that in the “aftercare” of auxiliary by active legionary lie wonderful things for both of them. In the soul of the auxiliary rises a great edifice of sanctity; and for the active legionary there is the builder’s reward.

This work for the auxiliaries is so full of possibilities that it seems to call for the specialized attention of some highly spiritual members of the Praesidium, who will pursue it in the spirit of the “elder children”.

“I think it is evident that in these days of awful sin and hatred of God, Our Blessed Lord wants to gather round him a legion of chosen souls who will be devoted, heart and soul, to him and his interests; and upon whom he may always count for help and consolation; souls who will not ask ‘How much must I do ?’ but rather ‘How much can I do for his love?’: a legion of souls who will give and will not count the cost, whose only pain will be that they cannot do more, and give more, and suffer more for him who has done so much for them: in a word, souls who are not as the rest of men, and who may be fools, perhaps in the eyes of the world; for their watch-word is sacrifice and not self-comfort.” (Father William Doyle: Life by Msgr. Alfred O’Rahilly).

“Then the legion of little souls, victims of merciful Love, will become as numerous ‘as the stars of Heaven and the sands of the seashore’. It will be terrible to Satan; it will help the Blessed Virgin to crush his proud head completely.” (St. Thérèse of Lisieux)

15. WORK FOR THE MISSIONS

Concern for the missions is an integral part of a truly Christian life. It comprises prayer, material support and the fostering of missionary vocations, in accordance with each one’s circumstances.

Legionaries might, for example, run a branch of the Holy Childhood and surround themselves with a host of children whom they will inspire with love for the missions. Or again, they might gather about them a group of those unsuited for full Legion membership and (perhaps organize them on the basis of the auxiliary degree of Legion membership) set them to sew, make vestments, etc. Here are three works done in one — (a) the legionary sanctifies himself; (b) he sets many others to sanctify themselves; (c) the work of the missions is helped in a practical way.

In connection with this work, it is especially necessary to stress two points which, however, apply generally:

(a) No Praesidium is to be turned into a mere collecting agency for any purpose whatsoever.

(b) The superintendence and regulation of persons engaged in sewing would be a satisfactory employment of work obligation. But the work of sewing, by itself, is not deemed to represent a substantial active work for a senior legionary except in very special circumstances, such as, for instance actual physical disability.

“The four societies — Propagation of the Faith, St. Peter the Apostle, Holy Childhood and the Missionary Union have the common purpose of fostering a universal missionary spirit among the People of God.” (RM 84)

16. PROMOTING RETREATS

Having personally experienced the benefit of a Retreat, legionaries should organize for them, spread abroad the idea of them, and where they are not yet established, aim to have this done.

This is the recommendation of His Holiness Pope Pius XI, in the Encyclical quoted below, to those “companies of pious lay people who have ambition to serve the Apostolic Hierarchy by the works of Catholic Action. In these sacred Retreats they will see clearly the value of souls and be inflamed with the desire of helping them; likewise, they will learn the ardent spirit of the apostolate, its diligence, its deed of daring.”

The emphasis laid by that great Pope on the forming of apostles is to be noted. Sometimes that purpose is not served; apostles do not emerge. In that case the utility of those Retreats is to be doubted.

Legionaries need not be deterred from trying to cast abroad the benefits of a Retreat by reason of the fact that there is no possibility of providing sleeping accommodation. Practical experience has proved that a form of Retreat, with manifest fruits, can be accomplished in a single day from morning to night: indeed there is no other way of bringing the system to the masses. Almost any sort of premises with some grounds attached can be converted to this use for a day, and the expense of providing a few simple meals will not be great.

“The Divine Master himself was wont to invite His Apostles to the friendly silence of retreat: ‘Come apart into a desert place, and rest a little.’ (Mark 5:31) When he left this Earth of sorrows to go to Heaven, he willed that these same Apostles and His disciples should be polished and perfected in the upper chamber at Jerusalem. There for the space of ten days ‘persevering with one mind in prayer’ (Acts 1:14), they were made worthy to receive the Holy Spirit: surely a memorable retreat, which first foreshadowed the Spiritual Exercises; from which the Church came forth endowed with virtue and perpetual strength; and in which, in presence of the Virgin Mary Mother of God, and aided by her patronage, those also were instituted whom we may rightly call the precursors of Catholic Action.” (MN).

Article 10
THE VARIOUS WORKS UNDERTAKEN BY THE LEGION OF MARY
Part 7

17. PIONEER TOTAL ABSTINENCE ASSOCIATION OF THE SACRED HEART

An admirable activity for a Praesidium would unquestionably be the recruiting of members for this Association. The primary aim of the Association is the glory of God through the promotion of sobriety and temperance; its chief means of attaining this aim are prayer and self-sacrifice. Members are inspired by their personal love of Christ

(a) to be independent of alcohol in order to do good;
(b) to make reparation for the sins of self-indulgence, including their own sins;
(c) to win, through prayer and self-sacrifice, grace and help for those who drink excessively and for those who suffer as a result of excessive drinking.

The main obligations of members are:
(1) to abstain for life from all alcoholic drink;
(2) to recite the Heroic Offering (prayer) twice daily;
(3) to wear the emblem publicly. The Heroic Offering is as follows:

For your greater glory and consolation, O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
For your sake to give good example, to practice self-denial,
To make reparation to you for the sins of intemperance and for the conversion of excessive drinkers,
I will abstain for life from all intoxicating drinks.

An arrangement exists:
(1) whereby a Praesidium may, with the approval of the Central Director of the Pioneer Association, be constituted a Pioneer Centre;
(2) that in areas where a Centre of the Association is already established a Praesidium would be permitted, subject to the consent of the existing Centre being obtained, to attach itself to that Centre for the purpose of promoting and recruiting for the Association. (see appendix 9).

18. EACH PLACE HAS ITS OWN SPECIAL NEEDS

Legionaries will employ any other means of achieving the objects of the Legion which local circumstances may suggest, and which may be approved by the governing authority of the Legion, conformity with ecclesiastical authority being always understood. Once again it is insisted that the outlook on possible works should be one of enterprise and courage.

Each deed of heroism done under the Catholic flag has an effect, which may be styled electrifying, upon the modes of thought of that place. All, even the irreligious, are startled into a new seriousness towards religion. Those new standards will modify the way of living of the entire population.

“‘Be not afraid!’ said Jesus. So let us put away fear. We want no timid ones among us. If ever there is need to repeat those words of Christ: ‘Be not afraid,’ it is unquestionably in relation to the apostolate. For fear unfits the mind for action and deprives us of the power to judge truly. So―I say it again―fear must be put far from us―fear of every kind save one alone: that kind I would wish to teach you: it is the fear of God. Possessing it, you will not fear men nor the spirits of this world. And as for prudence, it must be such as Holy Scripture defines it and does not tire in recalling: the prudence of the sons of God, the prudence of the spirit. It must not be — it is not — the prudence of the flesh — weak, lazy, stupid, selfish, miserable!” (Discourse of Pope Pius XI: May 17th, 1931).