Members become instruments of the Holy Spirit through a balanced program of prayer and service. Works include door-to-door evangelization, parishioner visitation, prison ministry, visitation of the sick or aged, crowd contact, religious education, visiting the newly baptized, Pilgrim Virgin Statue rotations, and meeting other spiritual needs of the parish community. Legionaries are under the guidance of a spiritual director named by the pastor. The Legion is, in essence, an extension of the heart and hands of the pastor.
Members meet once a week for prayer, planning and discussion in a family setting. Then they do two hours of definite work each week in pairs and under the guidance of their spiritual director.
The first step to becoming a member is to be a guest at a meeting of the Legion of Mary. If there is no Legion of Mary in your parish, you can participate in a group in another parish until you can start one of your own with the assistance of other Legionaries and in cooperation with the pastor.
Membership is divided into two categories:
Active Membership
Conditions of Active Membership
1. The Legion Of Mary is open to all Catholics who:
• faithfully practise their religion
• are animated by the desire to fulfil their role in the Church’s apostolate through membership of the Legion
• are prepared to fulfil each and every duty which active membership of the Legion involves.
2. Persons who wish to join the Legion must apply for membership in a Praesidium.
3. Candidates under the age of 18 can only be received in a junior praesidium.
4. No one will be admitted as a candidate for membership of the Legion of Mary until the president of the Praesidium, to which admission is sought, is after careful enquiry satisfied that the person seeking admission fulfils the conditions required.
5. Satisfactory probation of at least three months is required before the candidate can be enrolled in the ranks of the Legion, but from the first the candidate can participate fully in the works of the Legion.
6. A copy of the Tessera shall be given to every candidate.
7. Formal admission consists essentially in the Legionary Promise, and the entry of the name of the candidate on the membership roll of the Praesidium.
Call (02) 9660 6131 to ask about joining the Legion or contact us
Auxiliary Membership
“Every praesidium which has a sense of appreciation of the power of prayer will strive to possess a well-filled roll of auxiliary members. Consider the generosity of these auxiliaries who have given up to the Legion part of the precious breathings of their souls. What possibilities of sanctity are in them! The Legion is under infinite debt to them. That debt it can beautifully repay by leading those auxiliaries on to perfection.” (Hanbook Chapter 37:14)
This membership is open to priests, religious and laity. It consists of those who are unable or unwilling to assume the duties of active membership, but who associate themselves with the Legion by undertaking a service of prayer in its name. This service need not be offered directly on behalf of the Legion. It will suffice to offer it in honour of Our Blessed Lady.
This and all other Legionary services are to be offered to Our Lady as an unreserved gift to be administered according to her intentions.
Auxiliary Membership is divided into two degrees.
The Primary Degree: The Auxiliaries
This service consists in the daily recitation of the prayers comprised in the tessera, namely: the invocation and prayer of the Holy Spirit, five decades of the Rosary and the invocations which follow them, the Catena; and the concluding prayers.”
Higher Degree: The Adjutorians
It comprises those who will (a) recite daily all the prayers on the tessera and in addition (b) agree to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion daily, and to recite daily an Office approved by the Church.
Failure once or twice a week to fulfil the required conditions should not be regarded as a notable failure in the duty of membership. An Office is not required from Religious who are not bound by their rule to say one.
There are no age limits in the case of Auxiliary membership. Special appeal is addressed to Priests and Religious to become Adjutorians. The Legion earnestly desires union with this consecrated class, which has been specially deputed to lead lives of prayer and close intimacy with God, and which forms in the Church a glorious power-station of spiritual energy.
Auxiliary Members should be encouraged to subscribe to our monthly newsletter, soon available from this site.
Call (02) 9660 6131 to ask about joining the Legion or contact us