Legion of Mary
The office bearers of the Legion of Mary (English) are:
| President | : | Ms. Millie Menezes (+91 98454 26746) |
| Vice President | : | Ms. Assumpta D'souza |
| Secretary | : | Ms. Zorina Mathias |
| Treasurer | : | Ms. Amala Joseph |
The President of the Legion of Mary (Tamil) is Mr. John Leonard (+91 99168 96446)
The English group meets every Monday at 4:15 PM.
The Tamil group meets every Sunday from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM.
The Legion of Mary is the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church, with well over 3 million active members in
almost every country of the world. It was founded in Dublin, Ireland by Frank Duff on September 7th 1921.The Legion has been set up for the
purpose of rejuvenating the Catholic faith and rededicating one's life to God through prayer and Apostolic work.The Legionaries hope to render
themselves worthy of their great Heavenly Queen by their loyalty, their virtues and their courage.
The basic unit of the Legion is called a Praesidium, which is normally based in a parish. The Praesidium, usually a group of 3-20 members, meets
weekly in its parish. The Curia is the next level up, and one Curia supervises several Praesidia.
The first Praesidium of the Legion of Mary had its birth in Karnataka on 9th November 1936 at St. Patrick's Church, under the name 'Comforter
of the Afflicted'. Sr. Mary Everett was responsible for starting this Praesidium, and it has, since then, had over 4800 meetings. At present,
the Praesidium has 9 members. Its Spiritual Director is Rev. Fr. McDonald Fernandis. The Praesidium at St. Patrick's Parish is the oldest in Karnataka, and it has celebrated its Platinum Jubilee in the year 2011. Our Parish also has a Tamil Legion and now a Junior Legion.
Meetings are conducted every Monday at 4:15PM. Along with the Holy Rosary and Tessera1 Prayers at the meeting, the Legion also carries out
weekly duties like visiting the sick, visiting hospitals & homes for the aged, visiting orphanages, teaching poor students, doing Church support
work etc. The Legion also conducts and participates in various functions like Acies2, indoor functions, outdoor functions, pilgrimages, picnics and
reunion functions.
References:
1. Tessera Prayers: the prayers contained in the leaflet of the Legion, which is called a Tessera
2. Acies: a Church function which is held annually about the Feast of the Annunciation for the members to renew their consecration to Mary