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Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 113

CHAPTER 18 ORDER OF THE PRAESIDIUM MEETING 113
“Some Christians see little more in Mary than a creature infinitely
pure and exquisite, the tenderest and gentlest Woman that ever
existed. Therein, they run the risk of having for her only a
sentimental devotion, or — if they are of a forceful character — of
feeling but little attraction towards her. They have never realised that
this Virgin so tender, this Mother so gentle is, as well, the Woman
above all the most indomitable, and that never was there man so full
of character as this Woman.” (Neubert: Marie dans le Dogme)

10. The recitation of the Catena Legionis. At a fixed time,
which experience has shown to be approximately mid-way
between the signing of the minutes and the end of the
meeting (that would be an hour after the opening of a
meeting which usually lasts an hour and a half), the Catena
Legionis (see chapter 22, The Prayers of the Legion) is recited,
all standing.
The Antiphon is recited by all present; the Magnificat in
alternate verses by the Spiritual Director (or in his absence, by
the President) and by the members: the Prayer by the Spiritual
Director (or President) alone.
The sign of the cross is not made before the Catena. It is
made by all at the first verse of the Magnificat. It is not made
after the Prayer because at once the Allocutio begins.
There is nothing in the Legion more beautiful than this
united recitation of the Catena. Whether it finds the
praesidium immersed in joy or disappointment or treading
wearily the way of routine, it comes like a breeze from
Heaven, all steeped in the fragrancy of her who is the Lily and
the Rose, refreshing and gladdening most wonder fully. No
mere picturesque description this — as every legion ary knows
full well!

“I lay special stress on the Magnificat because it seems to me that it
may be considered, in a way perhaps not commonly realised, a
document of outstanding importance in its bearing on Mary’s
Motherhood of grace. The most holy Virgin, identified with Christ, as
we know her to have been from the moment of the Annunciation,
proclaims herself the representative of the entire human race,
intimately associated with ‘all generations,’ and bound up with the
destinies of those who are truly her own. This canticle of hers is the
song of her spiritual maternity.” (Bernard, O.P.: Le Mystère de Marie)
“The Magnificat is Mary’s prayer par excellence, the song of the
Messianic times in which there mingles the joy of the ancient and
new Israel. As Saint Irenaeus seems to suggest, it is in Mary’s canticle