Main Events in the History of the Community of the Sons and Daughters of Mary

WELCOME

MAIN EVENTS IN THE HISTORY
OF THE COMMUNITY OF THE
SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF MARY

“Every day is a sowing for eternity.”

Setting sun seen through the church steeple

The Sons of MaryThe Daughters of Mary

The History Through Pictures

THE SONS OF MARY

L’Aquila, Italy - The Sons of Mary
Some Community members, Sons of Mary

May 31, 1981	The founding of the Community of the Sons and Daughters of Mary, by Mother Paul-Marie, at the International Center of the Army of Mary in Quebec City. The first six Sons of Mary living at the Center of the Immaculate take the habit.
May 1984	With the consent of his Superiors, Father Denis Laprise, a Camillian, takes on the responsibility of the group of men religious who wish to become priests. In May 1984, he asks himself where these young people will complete their studies.
June 4, 1984	While the Army of Mary is on pilgrimage in Europe, during a Mass being celebrated at the grotto in Lourdes, Mary “indicates” to Mother Paul-Marie that “these young people will study in Rome at the Angelicum” and that they “could be lodged with the Passionists”. She is quite surprised, for this is an unexpected opening. The following day, during a Mass celebrated at the Basilica of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde in Marseille, Mary “confirms” the indications given to Mother Paul-Marie the preceding day at the grotto in Lourdes. A few days later, in Rome, Father Denis undertakes to make the necessary arrangements and the group of students is accepted by both the Passionist Fathers and the Angelicum. Providentially, the Passionist Fathers had just decided to accept university students at their Generalate House, located on grounds belonging to the Vatican, behind the Coliseum, a residence surrounded by magnificent gardens.
October 1984	So that is how, at the beginning of October 1984, Father Denis and fifteen Sons of Mary leave Quebec for Rome. In mid-October, a first group of Sons of Mary begins to study at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, commonly referred to as the Angelicum. In Rome, they often have the privilege of being able to attend the Holy Father’s audiences and participate in Masses celebrated in Saint Peter’s Basilica, thus bearing witness to their attachment for the Vicar of Christ.
October 1985	In October 1985, nearly all the members of the Community of the Sons of Mary leave Quebec for Rome. This time, there are thirty-two of them who will be living at the Passionist Fathers, under the guidance of Father Denis Laprise. Twenty-nine of them will study at the Angelicum with a view to becoming priests. Religious authorities in Rome advise Father Denis to find a bishop protector for the Community, suggesting, among others, the name of the Archbishop of L’Aquila, His Excellency Archbishop Mario Peressin.
January 1, 1986	On January 1, 1986, His Exc. Archbishop Mario Peressin consents to taking the Community of the Sons and Daughters of Mary under his protection, approving its Constitutions “ad experimentum”. He invites the Community to establish itself in his archdiocese and sets up the Community of the Sons of Mary as a Public Clerical Association of diocesan right.
February 2, 1986	Decree issued by Archbishop Peressin setting up the Community of the Sons of Mary as a Public Clerical Association of diocesan right.
March 25, 1986	In another decree, Archbishop Peressin establishes that the Aquilain Seminary for the Sons of Mary will be located “de Urbe” at the Generalate House of the Passionist Fathers in Rome where they live.
May 25, 1986	A first Son of Mary is ordained a priest by Pope John Paul II, in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
May 31, 1986	The founding of the missionary branch of the Community, the Sons and Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, takes place at L’Aquila, in the presence of Mother Paul-Marie. Father Denis Laprise becomes the Founder and Superior General of the male missionary branch.
September 13, 1986	In September 1986, the Army of Mary organizes an apostolic voyage to Italy, in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in order to help renovate the Seminary at L’Aquila which has been placed at the disposal of the Community for the novitiate of the Sons of Mary. This new novitiate welcomes a first group of sixteen novices who take the habit on September 13 at L’Aquila.
September 14, 1986	The following day, September 14, on the solemnity of the Triumph of the Cross, His Exc. Archbishop Mario Peressin proceeds with the ordination to the diaconate of six Sons of Mary. Three other Brothers will be ordained deacons a short time later.
May 30, 1987	On Saturday, May 30, 1987, more than seven hundred pilgrims from Canada and the United States, as well as several hundred Knights of Mary from France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy, are present in the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio at L’Aquila. They have gathered there for the ordination to the priesthood of nine Sons of Mary, which will be conferred upon them by His Excellency Most Reverend Mario Peressin, Archbishop of L'Aquila. This latter entrusts to the newly ordained Sons of Mary an entire pastoral zone in the Archdiocese of L’Aquila, in which they will be parish priests in several parishes and chaplains of a monastery of cloistered nuns. One of the newly ordained priests enters the service of the Canadian Armed Forces as a military chaplain. In the years that follow, other pilgrimages to Italy and other countries in Europe are organized by the Family of the Sons and Daughters of Mary, pilgrimages which coincide with ceremonies marking the taking of the habit or religious professions within the Community of the Sons and Daughters of Mary, or ceremonies of ordination to the diaconate or the priesthood conferred by the Community’s Bishop Protector.
October 1987	In October 1987, a group of Sons of Mary returns to the Center of the Immaculate in Quebec, thus offering a place where new vocations can be accepted.
October 15, 1987	In 1987, the Community is pleased to accept as one of its members, Mr. Raoul Auclair, a French writer, renowned especially in Catholic circles for his writings on Marian apparitions. Responding to a call to a religious vocation, Raoul takes the religious habit at the International Center of the Army of Mary in Quebec on October 15, 1987.
August 13, 1988	On August 13, 1988, three Sons of Mary are ordained priests by His Exc. Archbishop Mario Peressin, at the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio at L’Aquila in Italy.
October 7, 1989	The ordination to the priesthood of five Sons of Mary by His Exc. Most Reverend Mario Peressin, Archbishop of L’Aquila, in Italy, is held on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
October 18, 1989	At the request of His Exc. Bishop Adolphe-Marie Hardy, Bishop of Beauvais, Noyon and Senlis in France, the Community of the Sons of Mary opens its first mission at Grandfresnoy. In November, Bishop Hardy appoints a Son of Mary as the parish priest for a group of parishes within his diocese.
November 12, 1989	On November 12, 1989, Archbishop Mario Peressin appoints Father Pierre Mastropietro Superior General of the Community of the Sons of Mary.
January 1990	His Excellency Bishop Joseph Molinari, newly appointed bishop of Rieti, welcomes members of the Community of the Sons and Daughters of Mary into his diocese, in the service of the Bishop’s House.
September 8, 1990	During the pilgrimage to Spain and France in honor of Mary Queen, a Son of Mary is ordained a priest on September 8, 1990 by His Exc. Archbishop Mario Peressin, in the presence of His Exc. Bishop Joseph Molinari, Bishop of Rieti in Italy.
September 12, 1991	In the course of the pilgrimage to Greece, Turkey and Italy from September 3 to 17, 1991, a pilgrimage in honor of the Glorious Cross, the ordination to the priesthood of three Sons of Mary is held at the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio at L’Aquila in Italy.
February 14, 1992	At the request of His Exc. Bishop Paul Michael Boyle, Apostolic Vicar of Mandeville in Jamaica, the Community of the Sons of Mary opens a mission in Bull Savannah, Jamaica.
May 28, 1992	From May 22 to June 2, 1992, the pilgrimage in honor of the Co-Redemptrix takes place in Italy. On May 28 is held, at the shrine of San Gabriele dell’Addolorata in Teramo, Italy, the ordination to the priesthood of four Sons of Mary by His Excellency Archbishop Mario Peressin.
September 16, 1993	Ordination to the priesthood of six Sons of Mary by His Exc. Archbishop Peressin at Noyon in France, in the presence of His Exc. Bishop Adolphe-Marie Hardy, Bishop of Beauvais, Noyon and Senlis, France, and of His Exc. Bishop Paul Michael Boyle, Apostolic Vicar of Mandeville, Jamaica.
September 1993	For several years, His Exc. Bishop Egon Kapellari, Bishop of Gurk in Austria, welcomed five Sons of Mary during the summer months. At the same time as they studied German, these latter helped him in his diocese. In September 1993, Bishop Kapellari entrusts the shrine at Kötschach to the Sons of Mary.
May 31, 1994	Ordination to the priesthood of one Son of Mary by His Exc. Archbishop Peressin, in Klagenfurt, Austria, in the presence of His Exc. Bishop Egon Kapellari.
January 1996	His Exc. Bishop Eugène P. LaRocque, Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall in Ontario, Canada, welcomes the Sons of Mary into his diocese.
June 23, 1996	Ordination to the priesthood of four Sons of Mary by His Exc. Bishop LaRocque, with the permission and in the presence of His Exc. Bishop Paul Michael Boyle, in Cornwall, Ontario.
January 1, 1997	The Sons of Mary leave the dioceses of L’Aquila and Rieti in Italy for other missions. Several of them, including the Superior General, Father Pierre Mastropietro, return to Quebec.
June 4, 1998	At the request of His Exc. Bishop Colin Campbell, Bishop of Antigonish in Nova Scotia, Canada, the Sons of Mary open a mission in his diocese.
Year 2000	Spiri-Maria becomes the Mother House of the Community of the Lady of All Peoples and several members of the Community of the Sons of Mary move into Spiri-Maria Pietro, the wing to the right of the Eucharistic and Marian Center Spiri-Maria.
August 22, 2000	Father Victor Rizzi is appointed Superior General of the Sons of Mary and Father Pierre Mastropietro becomes Co-Director of the Community of the Lady of All Peoples, with a view to succeeding the Foundress, Mother Paul-Marie.
November 2001	The Sons of Mary leave their mission in Jamaica to return to Quebec.
May 31, 2003	Father Eric Roy succeeds Father Victor Rizzi as the Superior General of the Sons of Mary.

THE DAUGHTERS OF MARY

Part of the Community of the Daughters of Mary

Parallel to the Community of the Sons of Mary is that of the Community of the Daughters of Mary which is also developing at an interesting pace, with new members taking the habit every year.

May 31, 1981	Founding of the Community of the Sons and Daughters of Mary. The first Sisters to take the habit total six in number. For several years, they had been residing at the International Center of the Army of Mary which now becomes the Mother House of the Community and the first religious house of the Community of the Daughters of Mary.
May 1984	The Daughters of Mary now number twenty-nine and they must consider finding new quarters. Therefore, they rent the two upper floors of the Residences La Mennais at Lac-Etchemin, the top floor being reserved for the novitiate which, in the fall, will welcome twelve novices and postulants.
August 15, 1985	Sister Jeanne d’Arc Demers is appointed Superior General of the Daughters of Mary, succeeding Sister Geneviève Benoît. Sister Jeanne d’Arc is the “bosom friend” which the Lord had “announced” to Marie-Paule in 1958 and whom she met seven years later. From the very beginning, she became Marie-Paule’s closest confidante, and she remains a faithful and devoted collaborator.
October 1985	When the Sons of Mary leave for Rome, a group of Daughters of Mary goes to live at the Center of the Immaculate.
January 1, 1986	The contemplative branch of Sisters is founded at the Mother House by Mother Paul-Marie. On that same day, His Excellency Archbishop Mario Peressin takes the Community of the Sons and Daughters of Mary under his protection and approves its Constitutions “ad experimentum”.
May 31, 1986	Archbishop Peressin becomes the co-founding Bishop of the missionary branch of the Community, founded on this day: the Sons and Daughters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sister Thérèse Laprise – Father Denis Laprise’s mother who was widowed in 1970 and entered the Daughters of Mary in 1982 –, becomes the Foundress and Superior General of the women’s missionary branch.
September 1986	In September 1986, the first group of Sisters, Daughters of Mary, goes to live at the Seminary at L’Aquila, Italy, in a section specifically reserved for them, in order to assist the Sons of Mary by rendering many services. They help them in the kitchen and look after many household tasks; they make religious habits and liturgical vestments. Besides, they participate in a varied apostolate within parishes: teaching catechism, directing youth choirs, bringing aid to families, etc.
July 1988	In order to accommodate the growing number of candidates, the Community purchases the Résidences La Mennais at Lac-Etchemin, in which it had rented space from 1984 to 1986. The building will henceforth be known under the name “Virgo Fidelis”. The two upper floors are reserved for the Daughters of Mary, one for the novitiate and the other for the professed Sisters, while the two lower floors have been converted to accommodate Oblate men and women residents. Nurses and their aides care for the elderly or sick Sisters. A part of their premises is transformed into a large room, known as “L’Angelot”, in order to accommodate children and thus provide assistance to families in distress, the prey to illness or other trials. The Sisters are also responsible for another residence for Oblate members, where different workshops are organized for these elderly people who wish to participate in an apostolic endeavor.
September 22, 1988	On September 22, 1988, the Family of the Sons and Daughters of Mary becomes the owner of a building known as “Mariacel”, located in Quebec City. Various secretariats, a music room, a store selling religious articles, sewing and painting workshops are established there, all under the direction of the Daughters of Mary. In this same building, Daughters of Mary working in the liturgical vestments workshop make priestly vestments and liturgical ornaments.
January 4, 1990	At the request of His Excellency Bishop Joseph Molinari, a few Daughters of Mary go to help him at the Bishop’s House in Rieti.
February 14, 1992	At the request of His Exc. Bishop Paul Michael Boyle, Apostolic Vicar of Mandeville in Jamaica, the Community of the Daughters of Mary opens a mission in Black River, Jamaica.
June 1992	In order to assist the Sons of Mary in their ministry in France, the Daughters of Mary open a mission in Chevrières where they are involved in a pastoral apostolate: catechism classes for children, visits to the sick or the elderly, aid to the poor, etc.
October 10, 1993	His Exc. Bishop Eugène P. LaRocque, Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall, requests the services of the Daughters of Mary for the Bishop’s House.
June 1995	The Daughters of Mary leave the diocese of L’Aquila in Italy to return to Quebec.
May 1996	After ten years of apostolate in Italy, the Daughters of Mary, who had continued their mission in the diocese of Rieti, leave to return to Quebec.
July 18, 1996	With the consent of His Exc. Bishop LaRocque, seven Daughters of Mary take possession of the residence vacated by the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Green Valley, a few kilometers from Cornwall. This will become the novitiate for the Daughters of Mary.
April 23, 1997	Election of Mother Paul-Marie as the Superior General of the Community of the Daughters of Mary. In fact, the death of Georges, her husband, frees her from any bound, thus allowing her to fulfill the desire of her youth of becoming a religious. Given this providential event, Sister Marie-Claude Bouffard, Superior General, resigns after four years of dedicated service to her Sisters. The Sisters from Jamaica, Ontario and France are informed of this by fax. Under the direction of Sister Jeanne d’Arc Demers, the ballots are collected in a sealed box, and on April 23, after all the Sisters have voted, Father Victor Rizzi proceeds with the counting of the ballots, after the Mass celebrated for the liturgical feast of Saint George. The votes of the Sisters in Jamaica and France had been transmitted by fax that very morning. Mother Paul-Marie is unanimously elected Superior General of the Community with 68 votes. In the days that follow, Mother Paul-Marie forms her council and appoints Sister Jeanne d’Arc Demers her assistant and responsible for visiting the various residences. Thus, she becomes our Mother’s spokesperson for the different houses.
Year 2000	Spiri-Maria becomes the Mother House of the Community of the Lady of All Peoples, and several members of the Community of the Daughters of Mary, including Mother Paul-Marie come to live at Spiri-Maria Alma, the wing to the left of the Eucharistic and Marian Center Spiri-Maria.
July, 2001	The Daughters of Mary leave their mission in Jamaica to return to Quebec.
February 22, 2002	The Foundress and several Daughters of Mary, particularly those working in the secretariat and publishing sectors, move to the Residence of the Lady, located next to Spiri-Maria.

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