Page 178 - 聖母軍團員手冊（英文版，2014年5月-2022年1月更新版）

Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 173

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FUNCTIONS

The duty of periodically bringing together the members of
the Legion in any district in order that they may know each
other and that the spirit of unity may be fostered, is imposed
upon each Curia.
The following are the functions of the Legion.

1. THE AClES
Bearing in mind the importance of devotion to Mary in the
Legion system, each year there shall be a consecration of
legionaries to Our Lady. The consecration — which shall
comprise both an individual and a collective consecration —
will take place on the 25 March or on a day close thereto, and
will be known as the Acies. This Latin word, meaning as it
does an army ranged in battle array, is approp riate to a
ceremony in which the legionaries as a body assemble to
renew their fealty to Mary, Queen of the Legion, and from her
to receive strength and blessing for yet another year’s battle
with the forces of evil. Moreover, the word is in effective
contrast with praesidium, which contemplates the Legion, no
longer drawn up in united array, but split up into its various
sections, each engaged in its own particular sphere of duty.
The Acies is the great central annual function of the Legion,
so that it is necessary to stress the importance of attendance
on the part of every member. The essential idea of the Legion,
upon which all else is built, is that of working in union with
and in dependence on Mary, its Queen. The Acies is the
solemn expression of that union and dependence, the
renewal—individual and collective—of the legionary
declaration of fealty. Hence it is manifest that any legionaries
who can attend, and yet fail to do so, have little or none of
the spirit of the Legion in them. The membership of such
persons is not an asset to the Legion.
The following is the procedure:
On the day fixed for the ceremony, the legionaries shall
assemble — if possible in a church. At a convenient spot is
placed a statue of the Immaculate Conception, suitably
decorated with flowers and candles. In front of the statue will

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