HUNDREDS of Brisbane Catholics gathered to celebrate the centenary Mass of the Legion of Mary in Australia at St Stephen’s Cathedral last month.
Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, who celebrated the Mass, said the Legion of Mary was in his DNA.
“Way back in the 1950s in Adelaide, in fact, I was a member of what was called the junior praesidium of Our Lady of the Way in the parish of Tranmere.
“Our apostolic work was to deliver on our bicycles the Catholic newspaper – The Southern Cross.”
He said in his early life as a priest, he was the spiritual director to the local Legion of Mary group.
It was all part of a “richer story” of the 100 years of the legion.
The Legion of Mary, which formed after the First World War by layman Frank Duff, put the mission of the Church in the hands of lay people.
While at first this drew suspicion from a heavily clerical Church, the legion was approved Pope Pius XI who saw the legion as the work of God.
“At the heart of it all, there is faith – lay people who want to go more and more deeply into the life of faith, which becomes the life of discipleship,” he said.
He said it was about listening to God, like how their patron Mary listened to God and then to say ‘Yes’, as Mary did “again and again”.
Legion of Mary Brisbane Comitium president Antonita Sanidad said she was confident this was the first centenary with many more to come.
She thanked God for the milestone and said it was a long time, praying it “goes on forever in service of God through Mother Mary”.
“Throughout its 100 years, there has been little change regarding to its physical, organisational and spiritual structure,” she said.
“The original place where it all began on 7th September 1921 at Myra House, Francis St Dublin, still stands although it has undergone restoration.
“The weekly meetings are still the same; however, the works of the Legion of Mary have changed in some ways over the years.”
The hospital and home visits have been brought up to safeguarding standards and the pandemic had seen a few technological changes to how things were done, she said.
If you are interested in joining the Legion of Mary, email lombrisbanecomitium@outlook.com for further information or visit the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/legionofmarybrisbanecomitium
