Legion of Mary begins offering meetings in Spanish

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The Legion of Mary is affiliated with several parishes in the Diocese of Salt Lake City, and members regularly participate in the annual Intercultural Marian Celebration.

OREM —The Legion of Mary, which has met for several years at Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Orem, recently has started gathering in Spanish as well as English.

The Legion of Mary is a worldwide organization of Catholic laity – men, women and youth – who pray and undertake apostolic work in union with Our Lady under the guidance of a priest.

“We used to translate [into Spanish] to our group, because we were only doing it in English,” said Adriana Perez, who is responsible for the parish’s Legion of Mary. Deacon Vicente Vazquez is the group’s spiritual director.

The St. Francis of Assisi praesidium, which is the organization’s basic unit, holds a weekly meeting. Once a month they go to a curia, which is the meeting for all praesidiums in Utah.

“Because we were the only parish doing it bilingual, I took the initiative and started translating at every curia,” said Perez, which resulted in interest in having the Legion of Mary in Spanish in the other praesidiums.

In the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City the other parishes participating in the Legion of Mary are St. Francis Xavier in Kearns, St. Ann in Salt Lake City, St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Midvale and St. James the Just in Ogden.

Each weekly meeting offers members the recitation of the rosary, a spiritual reading, a short talk by the spiritual director, a discussion of Catholic doctrine and devotion, and an evaluation of the work program. At the meeting, each member is assigned two hours of apostolic work that is to be performed during the week. They report on it at the following meeting.

“We go to visit the sick, we go out and evangelize, we work with the youth. … We work within the spiritual needs of the parish and of the community, among other works,” Perez said.

According to the Concilium Legionis Mariae, “the general and essential means by which the Legion of Mary is to effect its object is personal service acting under the influence of the Holy Spirit, having Divine Grace as its moving principle and support, and the glory of God and the salvation of souls as its final end and purpose.”

“People who wish to join the legion must approached their parish praesidium,” Perez said.

After a successful period of probation, members are called to make the Legionary Promise (this is only applicable for members over 18 years).

The Legion of Mary was first organized in Dublin, Ireland, on Sept. 7, 1921. Within 10 years it had spread to England, Wales and Scotland. In the next decade, the legion spread to the United States, Canada, India, Australia and Africa, followed in the next 10 years by the whole of Europe. It then moved to Latin America, so nowadays the legion exists on all continents.

“It is estimated there are about 5 million active and 12 million praying members throughout the world,” Perez said.

For information in English about joining the Legion of Mary or Legion de Maria en español, contact Adriana Perez, 801- 221-0750.