The object of the Legion of Mary is the glory of God through the holiness of its members developed by prayer and active co-operation in Mary’s and the Church’s work. The unit of the Legion of Mary is called a praesidium, which holds a weekly meeting, where prayer is intermingled with reports and discussion. Persons who wish to join the Legion must apply for membership in a Praesidium. The Legion sees as its priority the spiritual and social welfare of each individual. The members participate in the life of the parish through visitation of families, the sick, both in their homes and in hospitals and through collaboration in every apostolic and missionary undertaking sponsored by the parish. Every legionary is required to carry out a weekly apostolic work in the spirit of faith and in union with Mary.
History
The Legion of Mary was founded by Frank Duff on 7 September 1921 at Myra House, Francis Street, in Dublin, Ireland. His idea was to help Catholic lay people fulfil their baptismal promises to be able to live their dedication to the Church in an organized structure, which would be supported by fraternity and prayer. The Legion draws its inspiration from Louis de Montfort’s book True Devotion to Mary. Duff subsequently laid down the system of the Legion in the Handbook of the Legion of Mary in 1928. The Legion soon spread around the world.
Our Chapter/ Praesidium
Our Praesidium started while Father Bins Chethalil was the Vicar in 2011. We joined the St. Petersburg comituum in the Tampa Curia Region. We had Tampa Curia meetings every month at St. Francis Church on the first Sunday and praesidium meetings every week at Knanaya Sacred Heart Church. In the praesidium meetings, we pray the rosary followed by the Tessera Prayer. The Legion aims to bring Mary to the world as the infallible means of winning the world to Jesus and legionary service is based on the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ. The first president was Ammini Kulangara who served from 2011 to 2016. In 2017, under the presidency of Jessy Vettuparapurathu, we began our independent praesidium and no longer joined the Tampa Curia Region. Currently the president is Mercy Kandarapally. We have fifteen active members at this time.
Our duties are to provide nursing home visits and homebound visits to the sick where we provide meals for those in need. We provide transportation for the sick to doctor/ hospital visits or to attend church. We also teach faith formation (CCD) classes to the children. We make and distribute rosaries to those in need. We assist with the Music Ministry and serve as Eucharistic Ministers during Mass. We also raise money and collect donations for charity to assist with building homes in India for the underprivilege.
Each year we seek to renew and express publicly our Consecration to Mary in the condensed and beautiful formula; “I am all yours my Queen and my Mother and all that I have is yours”. This is called the Acies. The Acies is the solemn expression of that union and dependence. It is the renewal (individual and collective) of the legionary declaration of loyalty.
The essential aim of the Legion of Mary is the sanctification of its members through prayer, the sacraments, devotion to Mary and the Trinity, and of the whole world through the apostolate of the legion.
