Bishop Niall Coll was the homilist at the celebration of Mass at the International and Eucharistic Marian Shine in Knock, Co. Mayo, Archdiocese of Tuam, for the Annual Legion of Mary Pilgrimage to Knock Shrine on Sunday, September 27. Legion of Mary founder Frank Duff and St Thérèse of Lisieux both carried God to “the less obvious people” and shared a “real love for souls”, according to the organiser of this week’s visit of the saint’s relics to the Legion’s Dublin headquarters.
The relics will be at Morning Star Avenue this Friday and Saturday, October 2-3, 25 years after they first toured Ireland in 2001.
Legionary Loirin O’Leary told The Irish Catholic that Duff stressed the need to bring Jesus to those “society has turned their back on”. St Thérèse, she said, showed the same devotion through her missionary spirit.
“We would see her as a real patron of our work, of the work that the Legion does, not only in Ireland but throughout the world, of spreading the faith, bringing back people who have lapsed, encouraging those who maybe have no faith,” Ms O’Leary said.
She credits the saint with a hand in the Legion’s growth among young people. “She’s a very powerful saint, and we do believe that she did help us, particularly with the development of our youth section days,” which began around the time of the 2001 visit and have grown since.
Some of the young legionaries inspired by St Thérèse now sit on the Legion’s Concilium or hold other positions of responsibility within the organisation, said Ms O’Leary.
The relics will be available for veneration at the Legion headquarters, the Regina Coeli Women’s Hostel and the Morning Star Men’s Hostel. Pupils from local schools and other visitors will be welcomed for talks on the saint’s life.
The visit comes days after the Bishop of Raphoe, Dr Niall Coll, preached at the Legion’s annual pilgrimage to Knock on September 27. He said Duff saw that baptism “is not simply something we receive. It is a calling”.
“Decades before the Church began speaking so much about synodality, he was already putting into practice something very close to its heart: that the Church is not simply something we receive from others, but something in which all the baptised share,” Bishop Coll said.
He prayed that the Legion would continue to “bring ordinary people closer to Christ and bring Christ closer to the world”.