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

May. 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. He asks himself where these young people will complete their studies.

June 4. 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. 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 attending the Holy Father’s audiences and participating in Masses celebrated in Saint Peter’s Basilica, thus bearing witness to their attachment for the Vicar of Christ.

October. 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. 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.

February 2. Decree issued by Archbishop Peressin setting up the Community of the Sons of Mary as a Public Clerical Association of diocesan right.

March 25. 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. A first Son of Mary is ordained a priest by Pope John Paul II, in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

May 31. 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. Sixteen novices take the habit at L’Aquila during an apostolic voyage to Italy organized by the Army of Mary in honor of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in order to help renovate the Seminary at L’Aquila. This Seminary was placed at the disposal of the Community of the Sons of Mary for its novitiate, which is where the 16 new novices will reside.

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.

On Saturday, May 30, 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 in 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. 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. Mr. Raoul Auclair, a French writer, renowned especially in Catholic circles for his writings on Marian apparitions and on eschatology, takes the religious habit at the International Center of the Army of Mary in Quebec.

August 13. Three Sons of Mary are ordained priests by His Exc. Archbishop Mario Peressin, at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Collemaggio at L’Aquila in Italy.

October 7. 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. 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 French 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. Archbishop Mario Peressin appoints Father Pierre Mastropietro Superior General of the Community of the Sons of Mary.

January. 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. During the pilgrimage to Spain and France in honor of Mary Queen, a Son of Mary is ordained a priest at Lourdes by His Exc. Archbishop Mario Peressin, in the presence of His Exc. Bishop Joseph Molinari.

September 12. 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 in Collemaggio at L’Aquila in Italy.

February 14. 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. The ordination to the priesthood of four Sons of Mary by His Excellency Archbishop Mario Peressin was held at the shrine of San Gabriele dell’Addolorata in Teramo, Italy.

September 16. 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. His Exc. Bishop Egon Kapellari, Bishop of Gurk in Austria, entrusts the shrine at Kötschach to five Sons of Mary. For several years, he had welcomed these Sons of Mary for the summer months.

May 31. 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. His Exc. Bishop Eugène P. LaRocque, Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall in Ontario, Canada, welcomes the Sons of Mary into his diocese.

June 23. 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. 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. 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.

14 août. Ordination to the priesthood of three Sons of Mary by Bishop Colin Campbell at Arichat in Nova Scotia.

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. 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.

November. The Sons of Mary leave their mission in Jamaica to return to Quebec.

* * *

A fierce battle: From the time it was founded, the Community of the Sons of Mary has been subjected to attacks and calumnies from a certain part of the Church in Quebec. On several occasions, the bishops of Quebec proclaimed: “The Sons of Mary will never be ordained priests!” In 1985, Cardinal Vachon declared: “It must all be destroyed (the Work of the Army of Mary) and these future priests made to disappear.” Fortunately, Pope John Paul II intervened personally at that time, thus permitting the Sons of Mary to pursue their studies at the Angelicum in Rome (whereas Cardinal Vachon had tried to prevent them from doing so).

The battle against the Sons of Mary has been very strong, reaching all the way to the Roman Curia. The Congregation for the Religious appointed, one after the other, two Apostolic Visitors and two Pontifical Commissioners for this young Community, without telling it in what it was at fault in order to deserve to be supervised in this way. Unfounded accusations were made against the Sons of Mary without giving them an opportunity to defend themselves, and they were even asked to deny their Foundress, something they refused to do.

The harassment has not stopped: attempts were made to prevent them from exercising their ministry, celebrating Mass, etc. Fortunately, certain authorities took up their defence.

May 31. Father Eric Roy succeeds Father Victor Rizzi as the Superior General of the Sons of Mary.

April 4. His Exc. Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, the second Pontifical Commissioner appointed for the Sons of Mary, sent them a letter, setting out certain demands and interdictions that were incompatible with their charism.

Because of the battle being waged against them, the majority of the Sons of Mary who were exercising their ministry abroad or in other Canadian provinces (Ontario and Nova Scotia) had to cease their parish ministry and return to Quebec. This allowed them to return to their spiritual roots and to do apostolic work among the members of the Work. They are still present in France and in the United States, serving the members of the Work in those countries.

September 17. Ceremony of enthronement of the Father of the Church of John at Spiri-Maria.

January 7. Ordination to the diaconate of five Sons of Mary by Padre Jean-Pierre at Spiri-Maria.

June 1. Padre Jean-Pierre proceeds with the ordination to the priesthood of six Sons of Mary at Spiri-Maria.

February 11. Father Eric Roy is appointed Superior General of the Community of the Lady of All Peoples, a appointment that will take effect on May 31, 2008.

May 31. Always upon an indication from Heaven, Mother Paul-Marie appointed 12 apostles, 9 of whom are Sons of Mary priests.

November 21. Father Denis Laprise, having been in France for several months, was appointed the founding chaplain of the Paulians in Europe.

September 14. The Community of the Sons of Mary is made up of 37 Fathers, 23 Brothers and 2 novices.

May. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The Daughters of Mary open a residence in Chevrières (the Oise region) where they are involved in a pastoral apostolate: catechism classes for children, visits to the sick or the elderly, aid to the poor, etc. They would work in the parish until 2001.

October 10. His Exc. Bishop Eugène P. LaRocque, Bishop of Alexandria-Cornwall, requests the services of the Daughters of Mary for the Bishop’s House.

December 10. The Work of the Army of Mary is spreading in France. A pioneer in the Work, Sister Jeanne d’Arc Demers was the best person to open a new mission in Bouricourt, from which she would be able to radiate and contribute to the Work’s extension in France.

June. The Daughters of Mary leave the diocese of L’Aquila in Italy to return to Quebec.

May. 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. 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. After a mandate of almost four years, Sister Jeanne d’Arc is called back to Quebec where she is appointed Mother Paul-Marie’s assistant.

April 23. 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 bond, 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.

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. The Daughters of Mary leave their mission in Jamaica to return to Quebec.

February 22. 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.

March. The Daughters of Mary who were in Ontario (Green Valley and Cornwall) return to Quebec.

May. The Daughters of Mary in France return to Quebec.

November 21. Sister Suzanne Palud is appointed Superior General of the Community of the Daughters of Mary. She will take up the position on the following December 8.

The building "Mariacel" in Quebec City was sold and the Daughters of Mary living there moved to other residences of the Work. On March 21, a few of them moved into a building in Lac-Etchemin, which has been given the name "Mariacel", in order to carry on with the sewing required for the Works.

September 14. The Community of the Daughters of Mary has 65 Sisters.