He Brought Christ Through Mary

He Brought Christ Through Mary

Frank Duff – The Legion of Mary.

Two names that the Church will forever link together in the history of the Lay Apostolate of the 20th century , . . two names spiritually related to St. Louis Marie de Montfort and his apostolic form of Marian spirituality; bringing Christ to the world of souls through Mary.

A warm, humble, gentle- hearted man, friend of the poor, loyal son of the Church, adviser to Popes and Prelates, scholar, theologian and Marian Apostle are a few of the epithets that come to mind when I think of Frank Duff.

We here at The Queen, were honored with a visit from Frank Duff. On December 6, 1956, the one and only time he came to our country. On that occasion, he recalled how he first became acquainted with St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary.

Frank Duff and True Devotion to Mary

Here is how he described that first reading of Fr. de Montfort’s book in 1920. “At some time in that reading, I made what you might call a discovery. And that was, that that book was true! Now I don’t mean merely that whatever that book says is true; or that those arguments are important; or that thing is convincing.  It came quite suddenly to me – and that was; That book is true! That‘s an authentic message to man from God Himself. Fantastic as so many of the things that it declared in regard to Our Lady, that book is true! Then I went on from that wonderful grace to the logical consequence of it.

“I said to myself: I must be dreadfully ignorant, because there’s a chasm between that book, if it is true, and my outlook on Our Lady – a dreadful chasm. And I had the grace to say to myself; now that chasm has got to be crossed, because the book is too drastic. The things it says there are just things you cannot shut your eyes to, and pretend not to exist. The thing is too drastic, too desperate! Because the Mary that is talked of in that book is not the conventional Mary that was being taught around the place – a different person altogether; so different a person that there was no comparison … You’ve got to do something about it!”

And Frank Dull did do something about it.

THE LEGION OF MARY

On September 7, 1921, he founded the organization now known as the Legion of Mary whose apostolate is rooted in this total commitment of its members to Christ through Mary, the Montfort Way. Frank Duff died on November 7, 1980, at the age of 91. He died after an incredibly active life in the field of the lay apostolate. He lived to see the
Legion literally encircle the globe with close to two million active members, not to mention the countless millions of auxiliary members.

Invited as a lay observer during Vatican II, he was singled out one day by Cardinal Heenan of London to the Council Fathers assembled in St. Peter’s as “Mr. Frank Duff, the Founder of the Legion of Mary.” At which the entire Assembly stood up as one man and gave him a standing ovation right there in St. Peter’s Basilica where Peter, the first of the Apostles is buried.

The Vatican Honors Frank Duff

On December 11, 1965, three days after the close of Vatican II, in a private audience, Pope Paul VI said to him; “Mr. Duff, I want to thank you for your services to the Church and also to express appreciation for all that the Legion of Mary has done.   The Legion of Mary has served the Church faithfully and the Church will protect the Legion.*

Is this not ample reason for the Legionaries around the world to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Frank Duff, their founder and model in the field of the lay apostolate?

For more information on the life of Frank Duff and the Legion of Mary, we invite you to read Father Robert Bradshaw’s illustrated biography of this great apostle (link to Montfort Publications).