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Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 12

12 SPIRIT OF THE LEGION CHAPTER 3
diocese and the parish priest for any and every form of social
service and Catholic action which these authorities may deem
suitable to the legionaries and useful for the welfare of the
Church. Legionaries will never engage in any of these services
whatsoever in a parish without the sanction of the parish
priest or of the Ordinary.
By the Ordinary in these pages is meant the local Ordinary,
that is, the bishop of the diocese or other competent
ecclesiastical authority.
(a) “The immediate end of organisations of this class is the
apostolic end of the Church; in other words: the evangelization and
sanctification of men and the Christian formation of their conscience,
so as to enable them to imbue with the Gospel spirit the various social
groups and environments.
(b) The laity, cooperating in their own particular way with the
hierarchy, contribute their experience and assume responsibility in
the direction of these organisations, in the investigation of the
conditions in which the Church’s pastoral work is to be carried on, in
the elaboration and execution of their plan of action.
(c) The laity act in unison after the manner of an organic body, to
display more strikingly the community aspect of the Church and to
render the apostolate more productive.
(d) The laity, whether coming of their own accord or in response to
an invitation to action and direct cooperation with the hierarchical
apostolate, act under the superior direction of the hierarchy, which
can authorise this cooperation, besides, with an explicit mandate.”
(AA 20)

3

SPIRIT OF THE LEGION

The spirit of the Legion of Mary is that of Mary herself.
Especially does the Legion aspire after her profound humility,
her perfect obedience, her angelical sweetness, her continual
prayer, her universal mortification, her altogether spotless
purity, her heroic patience, her heavenly wisdom, her self-
sacrificing courageous love of God, and above all her faith,
that virtue which has in her alone been found in its utmost
extent and never equalled. Inspired by this love and faith of