The Statutes of the Association
The current statutes
Since it is desirable that those who take up the spiritual way recommended by St. Louis de Montfort by the consecration should be enrolled in the Association, we give here the new text of the Statutes, drawn up in conformity with the directives of Vatican II and the new Code of Canon Law.
STATUTES OF
THE MONTFORTIAN ASSOCIATION OF
“MARY QUEEN OF ALL HEARTS”
1. NATURE AND PURPOSE
Art. 1 – The Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts gathers together the faithful, clerics or lay, who, desiring to be witnesses to the truth of the Gospel (They are witnesses to the truth after the example of Jesus, who claimed before Pilate that he came to bear witness to the truth (Jn 18, 37); after the example of all the martyrs, lay people are Collaborators with the truth (Cf. 3 Jn 8; Apostolicam Actuositatem, 6) –“The will of the father is that we recognize in every human being Christ our brother, and that we love each one for his good, in word and deed, thus bearing witness to the truth” (Gaudium et Spes, 93)), intend to live the commitments of their Baptism with the help of a total consecration to Christ through the hands of Mary. To this end, they commit themselves to the perfect practice of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin taught by Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort, whom they choose as spiritual Guide and Master (Cf Redemptoris Mater, 48).
Art. 2 – §1 – Organically united to the Company of Mary, the Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts does not possess any autonomous juridical structure (Cr cnn. 303 and 312, § 2). Its members participate, each in his or her own life situation, in the mission of the Montfortians in the Church: to prepare the Reign of Jesus through Mary (Cf. TD 227 and our Constitutions, art. 9 and 39).
§ 2 – The Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts is thus an “extension” of the Company of Mary, not in the sense that the Congregation would seek to recruit all for itself, but rather that “in the near or distant future the Blessed Virgin will have more children, servants and slaves of love than ever before, and that through them Jesus Christ, my beloved Master, will reign more than ever in the hearts of men and women” (TD 113 ).
§ 3 – The Association is thus not at the service of the Company of Mary but, with the Company of Mary, at the service of the Queen, the service of the holy Church, the service of souls, the service of the people of God, the service of the Reign of Jesus through Mary.
CENTERS
Art. 3 – The international center of the Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts is established at the General House of the Company of Mary. Each country may have a national (regional, …) center erected by the Superior General or his delegate.
Art. 4 – § 1 – The Superior General of the Company of Mary is the Director General of the Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts. He has the power to name, for the various centres, a national, regional, or local director delegate.
§ 2 – If the Superior General desires to name a secular priest as director of a center of the Association, he must first obtain the accord of the Ordinary of this priest; in the case of a religious priest who is not a Montfortian, he will first ask authorization of the Major Superior of this religious.
ROLE OF THE DIRECTORS
Art. 5 – § 1- The Director General communicates to the Directors of the Centres directives and instructions which he judges useful and sees to their application.
§ 2- It belongs to the Director General to authorize the erection of new centers; equally it belongs to him to examine and approve, with the consent of his councilors, the statutes of each center.
Art. 6 – § 1- The Directors of the Centers are at the service of the members of the Association, in order to help them to better know and deepen, and to better live the spiritual path passed on by Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort. They encourage them to have a perfect baptismal fidelity, that is, a faithful following of Christ, who is Wisdom Eternal and Incarnate for the salvation of the world, by means of a total abandonment of oneself to her through whom, by the all powerful action of the Holy Spirit, He desired to come to us.
§ 2- They will recall to the members their duty – especially by the example of their lives – to make others around them know this path of life, so that the Reign of Jesus through Mary might come even more (Non only priests but “all the laity must cooperate in the spreading and the growth of the Kingdom of Christ in the world… Every lay person ought to be, before the world, a witness of the resurrection and of the life of the Lord Jesus and a sign of the living God” (Lumen Gentium, 35 and 38).
Art. 7 – If the members have a true right to receive the formation which they need and which they have come to seek, the directors have the obligation to provide directly or indirectly for their initial and ongoing formation (Cf Cn 677, § 2). To this end, the Superior General will take care to prepare or have prepared a program or a manual, where he will establish with clarity the stages to cover before the candidate may be enrolled in the Association, as well as the obligations of ongoing formation. He will submit the program or the manual to the judgement and approbation of the general council.
MEMBERS
Art. 8 – The Association of Mary, Queen of All Hearts is open to all the faithful (lay persons, clergy, religious) who desire to engage themselves in the spiritual and apostolic journey proposed by Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort. For religious can 307, §3 will be taken into account.
Art. 9 – One who, after the necessary formation and preparation, pronounces the consecration to Jesus, Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom, by the hands of Mary, according to the formula of Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort, may be received into the Association. The incorporation is made, following the motivated request of the candidate and acceptance by the Director, at the moment when the consecration is made in the presence of the Director or his delegate and its inscription in the register of the Association.
COMMITMENTS
Art. 10 – The consecration by which a person engages himself or herself in the Association implies the commitment to live, in one’s own state of life, in one’s own milieu, in one’s own work, the spirit and the spirituality left us by Montfort. The members will seek to make it the heart of their lives, impregnating all their activities and apostolate. Renewing their consecration each day, members collaborate, according to their possibilities and their own condition, in the apostolate of the Company of Mary following the directives of the Director General.
Art. 11 – For the members who might desire such, the Director General could create, within the Association:
- a group of associates who commit themselves by promises or by vows, according to their state in life, to live the evangelical counsels in the spirit and the spirituality of Saint Louis-Marie;
- groups who commit themselves to a specific apostolate, always with the spirit and the spirituality of Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort.
Art. 12 – The Director General will prepare, to this end, particular statutes which respond both to the call of these members and to the nature of the Association. It belongs to him, with his councilors, to examine and to approve them, if they are judged apt to guide the faithful on the path that leads to Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus, Son of God and of Mary.
SHARING OF SPIRITUAL GOODS
Art. 13 – By their entrance into the Association, the members are in spiritual communion with the entire Montfortian Family. They delight in celebrating the liturgical feasts which are the sign and fulfillment of this communion: the Annunciation of the Lord, March 25th, is the principal feast of the Association (Cf TD 243). The Nativity, December 25th; the Immaculate Conception, December 8th; and the feast of Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort, April 28th, are also celebrated with a special character by the members of the Association. The members participate as well in the spiritual riches which Mary pours out on the Montfortian Family, she “who gives herself completely in a wondrous manner to those who give themselves completely to her” (TD 144).
Art. 14 – Entrance into the Association creates a reciprocal bond of fraternity and solidarity among all the members of the Montfortian Family. The new member participates in the joys and sorrows of this new family. If one is happy to drink from the spiritual treasures of this family, one strives to enrich it more by prayer and the offering of one’s life animated by the Montfortian consecration.
MODIFICATION OF STATUTES
Art. 15 – With the consent of his councilors, the Superior General may bring to the present Statutes, approved by the Holy See, modifications which do not touch the nature and purpose of the Association. Servatis caeteris de jure servandis.
