Legio Maria
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- For a Catholic association, see Legio Mariae.
Legio Maria (Latin, “Legion of Mary”) is a new religious movement among the Luo people of western Kenya which incorporates traditional Luo religious customs into a Christian framework. It is a kind of syncretic Animist/Christian cult originally prevailing only in Luoland, but ultimately spreading widely in East Africa. It originated in the early 1960s as a breakaway of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), declared a pope ("anti-pope" to conventional Catholics), and asserted that it has replaced the "Church in Rome" as the "true" Catholic Church.
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[edit] History
The "Legio Maria of African Church Mission" was founded by a former catechist of the RCC among the Luo people in Kisii Diocese of western Kenya. In 1962, Blasio Simeo Malkio Ondetto — known as "Baba Messiah" by Legio Maria followers and as the "Black Messiah" or "Black Jesus" by others — split from the RCC taking 90,000 adherents with him. His "second in command" was a woman known as “Mother Maria” and today revered as the true “Mother of God". Both were excommunicated by the RCC in the 1960s. By 1980 the church numbered 248,000 adherents[1].
In the 21st century, total church membership has been estimated at over three million. [2]
[edit] Got Kwer
The Legio Maria headquarters and center is the village of Got Kwer, a community that the devout refer to as “Jerusalem”. This village of about 600 is approximately 15 km west of the southwestern Kenya town of Migori. Here is Simeo’s old family homestead and the tomb of the “Messiah” himself which is viewable as a long, cloth-covered plinth with numerous devotional objects scattered around. Both are lovingly maintained by the devout.
[edit] Popes
Baba Messiah, although sometimes referred to as a pope, was technically considered a god. He has been followed by a succession of three popes to date:
- Pope Timothy Blasio Ahitler (1991-1998).
- Pope Maria Pius Lawrence Chiaji Adera (1998-2004)
- Pope Raphael Titus Otieno (2004 – date)
[edit] Other sacred sites
- A large rock formation on the Kisumu-Bondo road about 29 kilometers west of Kisumu — Kit-Mikayi — has become a popular local pilgrimage site for Legio Marians who come to the rock to pray and fast for several weeks at a time.
[edit] References
- ^ Barrett, David and John Padwick (1989), Rise Up and Walk!: Conciliarism and the African Indigenous Churches, 1815 - 1987, Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 199, 66
- ^ Rambaya, Samwel, “Legio Pope Blasts Leaders”, The Standard (Kenya), Monday, 25 October 2004.
