The Army of Mary

WELCOME

THE ARMY OF MARY

The Army of Mary was founded on August 28, 1971 at the shrine of Our Lady of Etchemin, located in the diocese of Quebec. It brings together souls of good will resolved to live, with Mary, the Christian life to its perfection in all the demands of the duties of their state.

Shrine of Our Lady of Etchemin

At its very foundation, it was specified that “the Army of Mary will be recognized by this single trait: its fidelity to Rome and to the Pope.” Thus, the Army of Mary desires to serve the Church for the reign and the glory of God through Mary, in complete fidelity to the Pope, to the Magisterium of the Church.

The Army of Mary is the Catholic religion lived intensely.

The Goal of the Army of Mary
The goal of the Army of Mary is the sanctification of souls through devotion to the Triple White – the Eucharist, Mary and the Pope –, so as to instill anew in the world the evangelical message of peace and love, thus preparing the way for Christ the King’s return.

Our Lady of Fatima

His Holiness Pope Paul VI

Consecration to Mary
The members of the Army of Mary commit themselves through the consecration to Mary. This consecration which surrenders self to Love enriches our life. This consecration of our being with its powers, of our spiritual and natural endowments, does not require depriving ourselves of what we possess, but it commits us to using them to do good.

Interior Reform
His Holiness Paul VI, at the general audience of August 7, 1968, gave a wise, enlightened and precise directive when he sketched the portrait of “the ideal and perfect man”. Inspired by Saint Paul, the Holy Father indicated in what consists this “most necessary [interior] reform and the most difficult”:

“Change your thoughts, your tastes, according to the Will of God; correct those faults that we often boast of as our principles and qualities; search for a continual interior uprightness of feelings and resolutions. Let yourselves be really guided by the love of God and, consequently, by the love of your neighbour. Listen truly to the word of the Lord, and accustom yourself to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with humility and interior silence, nourish that ‘sense of the Church’ that makes it easy for you to understand how much of the divine and how much of the human is in it. Make yourselves available with simplicity and a spirit of sacrifice that facilitates charity and the generous following of Christ” (The Teaching of Pope Paul VI, 1968).

This program of life implies a progressive detachment which must begin first of all within oneself. To detach oneself from self is to accept the events that break us; it is to consent to diminish, to plunge oneself into humility so that Christ may live in us; it is to live our life in love... to smile while the heart is weeping; it is to give and to give of self in joy, etc.

Program of Life
The Knight of Mary must:
develop a spirit of prayer;

assist at Mass and receive Communion every day, if possible;

practice the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, and observe the Ten Commandments;

recite the rosary each day, the fifteen decades if possible;

do at least fifteen minutes of spiritual reading daily;

perform well the duties of his/her state;

look to his/her interior reform.

Priests should strive to follow this program of life in adapting it to their vocation; and religious, in adapting it to the spirit of their founder. Each one, in the pursuit of holiness, should pay particular attention to mental prayer and to communion with Mary. In short, we can resume the spirit and the program of the Army of Mary in this one sentence: “To render Mary present here on earth by a life of sanctity ever closer to her own, thus hastening the reign of her Immaculate Heart.”

Apostolate of the Knights of Mary

© 1998 - All rights reserved: ÉDITIONS CO. DAME, Quebec, Canada