Sodality of Our Lady
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sodality of Our Lady (also known as the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary (in Latin, Congregationes seu sodalitates B. Mariæ Virginis) is an association of Catholics founded in 1563 in the Roman College of the Society of Jesus. On 5 December 1584, Pope Gregory XIII issued the Papal Bull Omnipotentis Dei commending this Sodality, enriching it with indulgences and establishing it as the Prima Primaria, that is, a mother Sodality which can communicate to other Sodalities affiliated with it the privileges and indulgences possessed by itself.
Subsequent Popes increased the privileges of the Sodality. The most remarkable of the Pontifical favours is the Bull Gloriosae Dominae of Pope Benedict XIV known as the "Golden Bull" because, in token of special honour for the Mother of God, the seal was not made of lead, as was customary, but of gold.
The growth of the Sodality was not confined to students of Jesuit Colleges. Others also were added who had never been Jesuit pupils at all, men from all vocations in life. Soon there were Sodalities of priests, of nobles, of merchants, of working-men, of clerks, of married men, of unmarried men, of soldiers, and so on, each confined to a particular class of people, and all affiliated to the Prima-Primaria Sodality in the Roman College.
Contents |
[edit] Notable Members
Among the members, known as Sodalists, were learned men and writers like Corneille, Lipsius, Bollandus; there were painters like Rubens; there were preachers like Bossuet, Fénelon, Segnari, Bourdaloue; there were magistrates, generals and ministers of State, like Tilly, Turenne, Don Juan de Austria; there were counts and dukes and princes of the blood royal, like Emmanuel of Savoy, Leopold of Austria, Albrecht von Wallenstein; there were kings and emperors, Bishops, Archbishops, Cardinals and Popes. In the seventeenth century alone seven Popes belonged to the Sodality of Our Lady.
[edit] Saints
On its rolls are the names of many saints, amongst whom may be mentioned: St. Charles Borromeo, the zealous reformer of Church Discipline; St. Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Church; St. Alphonsus Ligouri, the Bishop, Moral Theologian, Doctor of the Church, Founder of the Redemptorists; St. Camillus de Lellis, the patron of Catholic hospitals; St. Leonard of Port Maurice, the Franciscan preacher; St. John Baptist de Rossi, the Vincent de Paul of Rome; St. Peter Claver, the apostle of slaves; the humble Jesuit Brother, St. Alphonsus Rodriguiez; St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, foundress of the Religious of the Sacred Heart; St. Julie Billart, the foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur; St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes.
[edit] The Children of Mary
On 1 May 1835, St. Catherine Laboure told her Spiritual Director of a revelation she had received from the Blessed Virgin Mary during a series of apparitions she received in the Convent of the Rue du Bac, Paris, from 1830:
- "It is the Blessed Virgin's wish that you should found a Confraternity of the Children of MARY. She will give them many graces. The month of May will be kept with great splendour and MARY will bestow abundant blessings upon them."
These Children of Mary Sodalities first embraced the pupils and orphans of the schools and institutions of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. In 1847, Blessed Pius IX affiliated them to the Jesuit Roman Sodality.
[edit] Spirit and Aims
The Sodality is not a mere pious organisation. The first of its rules states that the Sodality:
- "is a religious body which aims at fostering in its members and ardent devotion, reverence, and filial love towards the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through this devotion, and with the protection of so good a Mother, it seeks to make the faithful gathered together under her name good Catholics, sincerely bent on sanctifying themselves, each in his state of life, and zealous, as for as their condition in life permits, to save and sanctify their neighbour and to defend the Church of Jesus Christ against the attacks of the wicked."
[edit] Today
Until the Second Vatican Council, the Sodality of Our Lady or the Children of Mary as it was commonly known, was a well-known part of the life of Catholic Communities worldwide. Since then, its character has been viewed as old-fashioned and the number of active Sodalities has dwindled. The Sodality of Our Lady is sometimes known today as the Christian Life Community.
During the 1950s and 1960s in Australia, young girls were encouraged from an early age to join the Children of Mary. They met as a group and attended Mass together one Sunday each month. After a period of aspirancy, usually about 6 months, they took on the garb of a Child of Mary consisting of a white dress, full blue cape with Peter Pan collar and a white net veil. They carried a small blue book, which included the Sodality of Mary 'office', a set of prayers which were designed to be said daily, much like an abridged version of those required of women entering religious life. When a Child of Mary married, she arrived at the Church in her Wedding gown, but draped in the blue cape. This was removed at the door of the Church before she walked down the aisle in what some would regard as a metaphorical 'de-flowering'.
