Legion of Mary celebrates 100 years in Cashel and Emly

The Centenary Celebrations of the Legion of Mary began on Saturday June 11 in the Edel Quinn Hall Thurles, with a lovely gathering of young people for Holy Mass celebrated by Fr. Vincent Stapleton C.C Thurles.

This was followed by a talk and open discussion led by Fr. Vincent.

On the following day Trinity Sunday, after Rosary and Legion prayers at 2:30pm there was a Concelebrated Mass of Thanksgiving at which Archbishop Kieran O’Reilly was the chief celebrant assisted by 16 priests representative of the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly and the diocese of Waterford and Lismore.

There were in excess of 200 Legionaries from the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly as well from the diocese of Limerick, Killaloe and Waterford and Lismore present.

It was the Legion privilege to have Mary Murphy the President of the Concilium of the Legion - that is the world governing body of the Legion of Mary based in Dublin. Also Rose Caulfield a long time legionary serving at headquarters.

The liturgy was enhanced by the beautiful choir led by Liam McGrath and Margaret Heaphy with John O'Gorman organist.
In his homly the Legion of Mary received wonderful support and encouragement from Archbishop O’Reilly for the future and also wholesomely acknowledging the great work of the Legion of Mary in the parishes of the Archdiocese since it’s foundation.
After the Mass of Thanksgiving, all assembled at the Anner Hotel for refreshments and entertainment where they had a wonderful opportunity of recalling memories of the Legion of Mary in the Archdiocese for the past ninety years.

The highlight of the gathering in the Anner Hotel was the most inspiring talk given my Mary Murphy Concilium President, in which she gave a wonderful overview of the Legion of Mary throughout the world, particularly in Africa where she herself served as a Legion of Mary envoy in Kenya for four years in the early 70s.

As a follow-up to the celebrations, the Legion received many congratulatory messages and among them was one from Maura Stapleton, a former teacher in the Sisters of Charity School Clonmel, and who is an aunt of Fr. Vincent Stapleton. She included an article written by the late Peggy Hickey, former Nationalist reporter on Maura's P.P.C (Peregrinatio Pro Christo) work August 1972 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she was mostly engaged with eighteen other Legionaries in crowd contact at the University of Buenos Aires during the Peron Regime.

One of the wonderful glimpses of encouragement for the future was the presence and the active participation in the ceremonies by the junior legionary members of Thurles Junior Praesidium.