Columbus Legion of Mary

The largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church with well over 2 million active members in most every country in the world. In 1996 the Legion celebrated its 75th anniversary worldwide. It has been active in the United States since 1931, has been approved by the last 6 Popes and was endorsed by the Second Vatican Council.

The following paragraphs are part of a report a few years ago from Legion of Mary headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.

“Since I last wrote to you Tommy McCabe, assistant treasurer of the Concilium and I spent three weeks in Korea on a visitation of the Legion of Mary in behalf of the Concilium. Since there are so many Korean Legionaries in the United States you may be interested in hearing something about that Country. We visited the two Senatus at Seoul and Kwangju, met the officers of some curiae and praesidia and got a very warm reception everywhere. In a country where there are less than 4 million Catholics it is extraordinary that Legionaries number 262,000. Most parishes would have 20 to 30 presidia. They are involved in all aspects of the Apostolate with particular emphasis on evangelization. They invite people to come to instruction classes, nurture them through their catechumenate and are sponsors at Baptism. Many converts immediately join the Legion and so they are immediately introduced to the Apostolate.

In case you have not heard the history of the Catholic Church in Korea, here are a few interesting facts. The Catholic Faith was introduced there only two centuries ago. Korean Catholics are very proud of the fact that the Church was founded there, not by foreign missionaries, but by their own lay people; something unique in the annals of the Church. In 1779 some envoys who visited Peking got a gift of books, one of which was entitled “Introduction to the Catholic Religion.” A group of scholars studied this book and became so convinced that this was the true faith that they set up their own “Faith Community” in 1784. Because a Priest could not get into the country, one of their members went to Peking to be baptized and he baptized others and so their numbers increased. When the first Priest reached them 11 years later, he was amazed to find 4,000 believers and that number grew to 10,000 by the time he was martyred 6 years later.

Severe persecution of the Catholics started in 1785 and lasted for almost one hundred years. The first Korean Priest, Fr. Andrew Kim, ordained in China in 1845, was martyred the following year. When Pope John Paul II went to Korea in 1984 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Church he canonized 103 martyrs. Of the 103 saints, 92 are lay people of whom 47 are women.

They have tremendous devotion to Our Blessed Lady. In 1890 the Catholic Church in Korea was placed under the patronage of the ‘Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary’ and when the Cathedral in Seoul was completed in 1898 it was dedicated to Our Lady under the same title.

In view of their history it is not surprising that there are so many dedicated and enthusiastic Legionaries. The first Praesidium was started by Bishop Henry of the Society of St. Columban, in 1953 when the country was devastated at the end of the Korean war. Now we find Korean praesidia all over the world (4 in Columbus, Ohio). The first little group of Catholics in a foreign country immediately start a Praesidium of the Legion of Mary as the best means of conserving their own faith and then reaching out to evangelize the non-Christians who must form a large percentage of the emigrants from Korea.

In Korea itself Catholics are a small minority - under 4 million in a population of 42 million. However, the Catholic Church is held in very high esteem and Catholics exert a good influence in many areas of life out of all proportion to their numbers.

~ Yours sincerely, Eileen O’Reilly, Dublin, Ireland

LEGION OF MARY
Founded September 7, 1921 in Dublin, Ireland. Established in USA in 1933. Now a worldwide organization of the Lay Apostolate.
“Concilium” - world headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.
“Senatus” - regional group that supervises Legion of Mary in parts of the Country.
“Curia” - supervises Legion of Mary in smaller area like a diocese or part of a diocese.
“Praesidium” - a parish unit of the Legion of Mary with 5 to 20 members.

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