This year the Singapore Senatus of the Legion of Mary celebrated its 60th anniversary with a Mass held at the Church of the Risen Christ.

The origins of the Singapore Legion of Mary date back to the 1940s. It was on 5 December 1947 that the first Legion of Mary praesidium (basic unit of the Legion) had its first meeting here.

Since then, the Legion of Mary here has been growing and there are an estimated 1600 active Legionaries in Singapore, organised into 147 praesidia, or Legion units. In Singapore, the Legion of Mary is organised into various curiae based on different languages, geographical locations (Districts), a Junior Curia (for the secondary schools) and a Tertiary Curia (institutions of higher learning).

Besides English, there are also Legion groups that conduct their sessions in Mandarin and Korean.

Existing as the national and regional council, the Singapore Senatus (the highest superior council in a region) was formed on January 10, 1960, to serve the Church in Singapore, East Malaysia and Brunei.

The Legion of Mary’s main work is represented through the symbolic image of Mother Mary’s work of crushing the head of the serpent thereby signifying the extension of the kingdom of God.

The spirituality of the Legion of Mary is essentially based on the approach of St Louis Marie de Montfort. His book titled “True Devotion to Mary”, promotes a “total consecration” to Mary that would facilitate a perfect devotion to and imitation of Jesus Christ.

The essential aim of the Legion of Mary is evangelisation and the sanctification of its members through active cooperation with the Church. Besides attending weekly meetings, legionaries are required to perform the work allocated to them, especially in the spirit of contact work covering the 3Cs of Consolation, Conservation and Conversion.

Consolation involves speaking to and engaging with persons who are for instance depressed, lonely, sick or in mourning. Conservation is about speaking to and engaging with lapsed Catholics, to hopefully bring them back to the faith. In the case of Conversion, this will include bringing the Gospel to others and inviting them to receive the Catholic faith

The Legionaries are also involved in Spiritual Works of Mercy, where Our Lord is seen to be served by his Mother. The Legionaries are also roped in to assist with any work that may be requested at the Archdiocese or Parish level or by the clergy.

Some of the activities include visiting the homes of persons, hospital visits, as well as outreach to youth.

Many Legionaries are also involved in the churches as catechists, RCIA sponsors or facilitators, altar boys, church wardens, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, among other roles as part of their Legionary work.

The Legionaries come from all walks of life. Many parishes will have a few Legion of Mary praesidia, while for our Catholic schools there would be the junior praesidia. There are also praesidia in the local universities.

For Andrew Kong, Senatus Assistant Secretary, President of Our Lady of Guadalupe Praesidium, “To be in the Legion of Mary is the closest thing to living a consecrated life as a layman. The Legion spirituality in working in union with Mary’s work of crushing the serpent’s head, thus sanctifying ourselves and building the Kingdom of Christ puts us at the battle front of the Church.”

For Christel Lim, a legionary, she shared that “The Legion work has made me more conscious of my responsibility as a Catholic, on how I should use my time to serve God and others through the apostolate. I am always edified and inspired by the sharing of other members during Legion meetings.”

In the case of Gloriane Lim, “The Legion of Mary is a powerful way of promoting evangelisation among the Catholic laity while keeping true to the Catholic understanding and love for Mary, the Mother of God.”

Reference : Catholic News

Founded on the evening of Sept 7, 1921 in Dublin, Ireland by Servant of God Frank Duff, the Legion of Mary (LOM) is the largest lay Catholic organisation with over 10 million members worldwide. In keeping with the spirit of the Legion, the Singapore Senatus (a senatus oversees the LOM in a country) held a Centennial Mass celebrated by Archbishop William Goh on Sept 5 which was live-streamed to over 3,200 viewers on YouTube participating from Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

The Senatus also organised public talks throughout the year; in March, Father Edward Seah spoke on Mary, our mother, companion and role model. Then in May, Fr Ferdinand Purnomo, OCD, expounded on “Ignite and Shine through Mary”. Finally, in Aug, Fr Henry Siew preached about Joseph, Mary and the Spirit of Legionaries.

In his closing remarks after the Mass, His Grace recounted an experience when he was the Spiritual Director (SD) of a Singapore Polytechnic Praesidium (a unit of the Legion). The Praesidium started out with only five members meeting weekly right after lunch at 2pm. Membership soon dwindled to just two members. His Grace admitted that he began to question the wisdom of travelling all the way to minister to just two members. But, inspired by the faithfulness of the two youths who kept coming, he decided to persevere. Soon, the group grew to about 20 persons and even formed a new Praesidium when it reached 40 members. His Grace emphasised that prayer, faith and perseverance are key for Legionaries in their apostolate work.

Spirituality and ministry

Imitating our Queen and Mother, Legionaries hopes to live the virtues of faith, humility and obedience to the Word of God so that they can, like her, can be channels of God’s mercy and grace to serve the Church and humanity at large. Structured as a Roman Legion, members renew and consecrate themselves at the annual Acies (Latin for an army ranged in battle array) ceremony on or around March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, with the words: “I am all yours, my Queen my Mother, and all that I have is yours”. This is based on the book “True Devotion to Mary” by Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort. Like an army, Legionaries see their duty as being at the battlefront of the Church’s mission to the world, where courage, obedience and perseverance are required. The activities of the LOM are largely hidden or kept secret because of the commitment to confidentiality by its members. Its work or apostolate is the sanctification of members and the work of evangelisation. This two-fold aim of LOM is interconnected and requires active members to regularly attend weekly meetings to report on their allocated or assigned work.