75th Anniversary of the Legion of Mary in Ontario 2009

IN GRATITUDE AND PRAISE

Over 300 active members of the Legion of Mary, past and present, along with their Spiritual Directors, gathered on Saturday December 5th, 2009 at St. Patrick Basilica for the Rosary at 10:40 a.m. and Mass at 11:00 a.m. celebrated by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.

Legion of Mary, Senatus of Ontario Chronology 1934-2009 click here

LITANY OF THE LEGION OF MARY Senatus of Ontario 75th Anniversary 1934-2009

Saturday December 5th, 2009 at St. Patrick Basilica

Father Anthony Hannon led the rosary at 10:40 am. The prayers were immediately followed by mass celebrated by His Grace, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast.. There were about 300 in attendance and that included about thirty delegates from the Kingston Diocese who arrived by bus. Celebrating with the Bishop were 9 priests and two deacons . Among the celebrants were Monsignor Richard Siok Pastor of Saint Patrick Basilica, Father Anthony Hannon, Spiritual Director of the Legion of Mary in Ontario, Monsignor Latour Spiritual Director of Morning Star Praesidium of the Annunciation of the Lord Parish, Father Boyd from the Good Shepherd Parish, Father McEvoy who has led many Legion of Mary Retreats over the years, Father Larry McCormick, Fr. Pierre Champoux, Deacon Scheers, who is the Spiritual Director of Our lady of Victory Praesidium and Deacon Ken Davies. After mass we met in the SCAVI for a wonderful reception with over 250 in attendance. Father Anthony Hannon led the Angelus after which we had a delicious sit down lunch. The afternoon included interesting displays of the Legion of Mary over the years: numerous photographs and stories etc. and because Our Lady of Victory Praesidium was celebrating their 70th Anniversary of their Praesidium they had their own beautiful display of events past and present. Senatus President Sister Marilyn Montminny welcomed us all and thanked the Bishop, There were presentations and a few short speeches,

Special mention was made of our heroic longtime Legionaries. Marilyn mentioned that one of our Legion Pillars, Dorothy Harris of Morning Star Praesidium, Annunciation of the Lord Parish, has been a member of the Legion since 1925. In fact When Dorothy joined the Legion in London England, it was Frank Duff who opened her Praesidium which coincidentally was also called Morning Star. Dorothy was an ambassador during her early day in the legion of Mary and often during her visits to Legion Headquarters in Dublin she would visit Frank Duff and his mother.

After lunch, members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Praesidium of the Good Shepherd Parish sang the song "Our lady of Guadalupe" This Praesidium is the "new kid on the block". It was established by Jennifer Snell formerly of Morning Star and members held their first meeting October 2 of this year. Afterwards we were touched when a member of the Kingston Archdiocese asked us if we would go to Kingston and sing the hymn for them. Archbishop Prendergast had to leave shorthy after this for Confirmations but before he did he blessed 3,000 miraculous medals for us to distribute for Our lady! It was a wonderful afternoon. Each praesidium left the celebration joyfully with a handful of miraculous medals and a beautiful new legion banner which was designed and crafted after the Legion of Mary Logo. When the Kingston Pilgrims were getting ready to make their way back home, Marilyn gave them copies of the Legion songs to sing on the bus. But before the bus left Marilyn grabbed her guitar, boarded the bus and gave them a great send off by leading "All Is In the Hands of Mary" as everyone happily joined in. Thank you to all who made this such a joyous day and thank you Mary!!!

See Also the Archbishop's blogspot below

http://archbishopterry.blogspot.com/2009/12/trahe-nos-virgo-maria-solemnity-of.html