Annual Acies

Annual Acies of the Legion of Mary

MORRISTOWN  Bishop Serratelli presided at the annual Acies of the Legion of Mary March 13 in St. Margaret of Scotland Church here.

The Legion of Mary is a worldwide organization in which men, women and youth join in prayer and in the apostolic work in union with Our Lady and under the guidance of a priest. Msgr. John Demkovich, diocesan mission director and former pastor of St. Mary Parish, Passaic, is spiritual director of the Passaic County Curia while Msgr. Robert Carroll, pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Highland Lakes, is spiritual director of the Morris County Curia.

The organization’s motto is “Ad Jesum Per Madam” (“To Jesus Through Mary.”) The Acies, Latin for “a standing army,” is the solemn expression of union with and dependence on the Blessed Virgin Mary, where Legionaries assemble as a body and renew their consecration to Jesus through Mary.

The Legion was founded in Dublin, Ireland, on Sept. 7, 1921, by Frank Duff (1889-1980) with the purpose of making its members better Catholics, mobilizing the Catholic laity and raising the spiritual level of interest of the entire community.

The Acies takes place worldwide every March near the Feast of the Annunciation of Mary (March 25).