The Legion of Mary are looking for Catholic Magazines to distribute on their weekly visit to the nursing homes.
if you have some, please leave them on the book stand at the back of the Church.
Many thanks.
We, the members of the Legion of Mary, meet in the Villa each Thursday after the 10.30 am Mass.
We are engaged in visiting nursing homes & visitation to homes in our community.
We would love new members—men or women to join us.
Call into us if interested.
Frank Duff was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 7th 1889, the eldest of seven children. In 1913 he joined the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and was greatly influenced by the spirit of the Society. As a member, he gradually came to have a great love for the poor and underprivileged in whom, as in everybody he met, he recognised and honoured Christ. In 1916, aged 27, he published his first pamphlet “Can we be Saints ?”. In it he expressed one of the strongest convictions of his life, namely, that all without exception are called to be saints and that through our Catholic faith we have available all the means necessary to attain this. In 1917 he came to know the Treatise of St. Louis Marie de Montfort on the True Devotion to Mary, a work which changed his life completely. On September 7th, 1921 Frank Duff founded the Legion of Mary. This is a lay apostolic organisation at the service of the Church, under ecclesiastical guidance. Its twofold purpose is the spiritual development of its members and advancing the reign of Christ through Our Lady. The Legion, which is to be found in almost every country in the world, has nearly 3 million active members and many more auxiliary (praying) members. In 1965 Pope Paul VI invited Frank Duff to attend the Second Vatican Council as a Lay Observer, an honour by which the Pope recognised and affirmed his enormous work for the lay apostolate. On November 7th 1980 Frank Duff died and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. In July 1996 the Cause of his canonisation was introduced by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Desmond Connell.
Favours attributed to the intercession of Frank Duff should be reported to:
Legion of Mary,
De Montfort House,
Morning Star Avenue,
Brunswick Street,
Dublin, 7,
Ireland.
One day in 1937 a Dutch priest was driving an Irish girl to a Legion of Mary meeting some miles from his mission in Africa. They came to a river in such flood that the bridge across it could not even be seen. He was about to turn back when the girl cried out, “Oh Father, please go on, I’m sure Our Lady will protect us”. He was aghast but found he couldn’t resist such faith. Some men standing by formed a human chain to see if the bridge was still there. It was, so he drove on blindly. The water flooded the engine and plugs but the impetus carried the car across and up an incline at the far side. He dried the plugs and tried the starter. The car got going and they were in time for the meeting. The girl was Edel Quinn and the incident typical of her story. In 1936 she had been sent from Dublin to establish the Legion in East and Central Africa. The difficulties were enormous but she met every challenge with unwavering faith and courage. When others faltered her invariable response was, “Why can’t we trust Our Lady?” or “Our Lady will see after things”. For nearly eight years, her health steadily declining, she worked over the vast territories committed to her. Hundreds of Legion praesidia and many higher councils were set up on an enduring basis. As a result, thousands of Africans are engaged in the Church’s work of evangelization. At the source of all Edel’s activity was her deep union with God, sustained by constant prayer. The Eucharist was the centre of her life: “What a desolation life would be without the Eucharist”, she wrote. Her devotion to Mary was marked by childlike trust and utter generosity. She said she could never refuse Our Lady anything she thought she wanted. Mary’s rosary seemed to be always in her hand. Edel died in Nairobi on May 12, 1944. In 1957 the Archbishop of Nairobi initiated the process for her Beatification and many witnesses were examined, mostly in Africa and Ireland. Their evidence, pubiished by the Holy See, points not only to outstanding holiness but to holiness in its most attractive form. The words love, joy, peace appear in almost every testimony. The Vicar General of Mauritius was speaking for many when he said “I want to lay special emphasis on her constant joy; she was always smiling; she never complained; she was always at people’s disposal, never stinting her time”. In the meantime, hundreds of Bishops have written to the Holy Father in support of the Cause, most of them, it is understood, stressing its special relevance for the young people of our time. Edel, in the words of a Spanish Cardinal, was “an image of the eternal youth of the Church”. On December 15, 1994 Pope John Paul II declared Edel Quinn “Venerable”. One miracle attributed to her intercession is still required for her Beatification.
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, he had to leave because of delicate health, but found his vocation in the Legion of Mary. He was appointed Envoy in 1953. With Seamus Grace, he left for Bogota, Columbia on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16) 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, January 21, 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 Recolera Cemetery, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Cause for his Beatification was introduced by the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires in 1978.