Beyond the ordinary
The Role and Spirit of the Legion
The Legion of Mary is an international Catholic lay organisation, which aims to collaborate in the Church's mission of evangelisation. Its members engage in the direct religious apostolate, especially towards those most remote from the Church's influence. In the spiritual formation of its members the Legion places much emphasis on the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, on seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and on the performance of apostolic work in union with Mary.
Members place themselves at the service of Mary, and wish to help her in her mission as "Mother of the Church."
Can We Be Saints? when he was just 26 years old. As well he wrote most of the Legion Handbook which is one of the great spiritual classics of the 20th Century.
Frank Duff - Founder His Story
Servant of God Frank Duff
Founder of the Legion of Mary, Frank Duff was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 7, 1889. He entered the Civil Service at the age of 18. At 24 he joined the Society of St. Vincent de Paul where he was led to a deeper commitment to his Catholic faith and at the same time he acquired a great sensitivity to the needs of the poor and underprivileged.
Along with a group of Catholic women and Fr. Michael Toher, Dublin Archdiocese, he formed the first praesidium of the Legion of Mary on September 7, 1921. From that date until his death, November 7, 1980, he guided the world-wide extension of the Legion with heroic dedication. He attended the Second Vatican Council as a lay observer.
His profound insights into the role of the Blessed Virgin in the plan of Redemption, as also into the role of the lay faithful in the mission of the Church, are reflected in the Legion Handbook which is almost entirely his composition.
Download a short pamphlet on promoting the cause of Frank Duff.
Prayers for the Beatification of Servant of God Frank Duff
God our Father, You inspired your servant Frank Duff with a profound insight into the mystery of Your Church, the Body of Christ, and of the place of Mary the Mother of Jesus in this mystery. In his immense desire to share this insight with others and in filial dependence on Mary he formed her Legion to be a sign of her maternal love for the world and a means of enlisting all her children in the Church’s evangelising work.
We thank you Father for the graces conferred on him and for the benefits accruing to the Church from his courageous and shining faith. With confidence we beg You that through his intercession you grant the petition we lay before You . ............... We ask too that if it be in accordance with Your will, the holiness of his life may be acknowledged by the Church for the glory of your Name, through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Venerable Edel Quinn - Her story
Edel Quinn was born in Kanturk, Co. Cork, Ireland on 14 September 1907. As a girl her ambition was to enter a contemplative convent, but she was prevented from doing so by ill-health. At the age of 20 she joined the Legion of Mary in Dublin and was an enthusiastic member.
In 1932 she became seriously ill and spent a long period in hospital. She resumed her activities in the Legion but for the remainder of her life was impaired due to that illness.
In 1936 Edel was appointed Legion of Mary Envoy to East Africa – to countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mauritius. She encountered obstacles in this pioneering work and overcame them despite her poor health and harsh conditions. She had great faith in God’s love and a limitless trust in the maternal care of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Edel was gifted with a clear practical mind. She had notable organising ability, an indomitable will and a depth of warmth and human empathy. Her infectious joyousness of spirit never failed her. These qualities quickly won everyone to her side.
Although often working alone and in a state of ill-health and exhaustion, Edel established the Legion of Mary on a firm footing in the countries she visited – even as far as Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Hundreds of Legion branches and higher councils of the Legion were established – meaning that thousands of Africans were mobilised in the service of the Church.
After eight years of heroic labour, Edel died in Nairobi on 12 May 1944 where she is buried in the Missionaries’ Cemetery.
The Diocesan Process, the first step towards her beatification, was set in motion in 1957 by the Archbishop of Nairobi. She was declared Venerable on 15 December 1994 by Pope John Paul II
Edel’s favourite prayer
‘Dear Jesus make Thyself to me, a living bright reality.
More present to Faith’s vision keen, than any outward object seen,
More dear, more intimately nigh than e’en the sweetest earthly tie.’
Prayers for the Beatification of
Venerable Edel Quinn
Eternal Father, I thank you for the grace you gave to your servant, Edel Quinn, of striving to live always in the joy of your presence, for the radiant charity infused into her heart by your Holy Spirit and for the strength she drew from the Bread of Life to labour until death for the glory of Your name in loving dependence on Mary, Mother of the Church.
Confident, O Merciful Father, that her life was pleasing to you, I beg you to grant me, through her intercession, the special favour I now implore ..........., and to make known by miracles the glory she enjoys in Heaven, so that she may be glorified also by your Church on earth, through Christ Our Lord, Amen
Servant of God Alphonsus Lambe His Story
The Servant of God, Alphonsus Lambe, (known as Alfie) was born in Tullamore, Ireland on the feast of St. John the Baptist, Friday, 24th June 1932, during the international Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.
Like St. John he was a precursor - the precursor of the Legion of Mary, which Pope Paul VI described as "the greatest movement which has been established for the good of souls since the era of the great religious orders".
After spending a period of his youth in the novitiate of the Irish Christian Brothers, which he had to leave because of delicate health, he found his vocation in the Legion of Mary, and was appointed Envoy in 1953. With Seamus Grace, he left for Bogota, Columbia on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel 16th July of that year.
For almost six years he worked ceaselessly in promoting the Legion of Mary in Columbia, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay and Brazil. After a short but grave illness he died in Buenos Aires on the feast of St. Agnes, 21st January 1959.
God had bestowed on him great natural gifts, a personality which attracted souls to the service and love of God, an infectious enthusiasm, and a facility for learning languages, which enabled him to rapidly attain fluency in Spanish and Portuguese.
During his years in South America he set up a great number of branches of the Legion of Mary, and trained a multitude in the apostolate of the Legion. His devotion to Mary was outstanding, and in contacts with Legionaries and others he explained and urged the practice of the True Devotion to Our Lady.
He is buried in the vault of the Irish Christian Brothers, in the Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires.
Prayer for the Beatification of Alphonsus Lambe
God, who by your infinite mercy inflamed the heart of your servant, Alphonsus Lambe with an ardent love for you and for Mary, our Mother; a love which revealed itself in a life of intense labour, prayer and sacrifice for the salvation of souls, grant, if it be your will, that we may obtain, by his intercession, what we cannot obtain by our own merits. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen