Our Lady's Blue Army


Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima

The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fátima, now mostly known as the World Apostolate of Fátima, is a public international association that has as its general purpose "the promotion of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church and the strict adherence to the tenets of the Gospel; the personal sanctification of adherents through faithful adherence to the Message of Our Lady of Fátima and the promotion of the common good by the spreading of that Message of Fátima."


The World Apostolate of Fátima has its world headquarters in the Domus Pacis ("House of Peace"), a pilgrim guest house in Fátima, Portugal. While the Blue Army was founded in 1947, because of its rapid spread worldwide, it became necessary to erect a new society. The Decree of Erection of the World Apostolate of Fátima was signed on 7 October (the Feast of the Holy Rosary), 2005. Then, on 3 February 2006, the World Apostolate of Fátima held an official ceremony for the decree's consignment and its statutes' approval at the Pontifical Council for the Laity in Rome.

Membership in its most basic sense is through making a Pledge promising the following:

The official pledge of membership is:


Dear Queen and Mother, who promised at Fátima to convert Russia and bring peace to all mankind, in reparation for my sins and the sins of the whole world, I solemnly promise to Your Immaculate Heart:


The daily offering mentioned is traditionally the following:

O my God in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary (here kiss the brown scapular). I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Jesus from all the altars worldwide, joining with it the offering of my every thought, word and action of this day.

O my Jesus, I desire today to gain every indulgence and merit I can, and I offer them, together with myself, to Mary Immaculate – that She may best apply them to the interests of Thy Most Sacred Heart. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!

Thus, the primary devotions of the World Apostolate are delineated. These are the devotions mandated by the Blessed Virgin Mary during the Apparitions at Fátima. Traditionally this pledge is printed and signed by the person who desires membership. It is also traditional that this signed pledge is then sent to the international headquarters in Fátima, where it is then taken and buried near the shrine there.

Aside from the daily offering, recitation of the rosary, the wearing of the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the five Saturdays in honour of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Apostolate also recommends to its members the practices of nine first Fridays in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Home Enthronement of the Sacred Heart, and family consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

A further practice associated with the World Apostolate is the Pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fátima. There are several designated "pilgrim statues"; however, the primary one is the international pilgrim statue which has traversed the globe several times since its sculpting in 1947 by José Ferreira Thedim. The purpose of the statue is to renew interest in Catholic parishes in the message of Fátima and to stir up affection for Our Lady.

Sérgio Horta 

Membership in the Apostolate


To become a World Apostolate of Fatima member, please make the following pledge.


I PLEDGE MYSELF TO OUR LADY AND WANT TO JOIN THE WORLD APOSTOLATE OF FATIMA


Dear Queen and Mother, who promised at Fatima to convert Russia and bring peace to all mankind, in reparation for my sins and the sins of the whole world, I solemnly promise to Your Immaculate Heart:

To offer up the sacrifices demanded by my daily duty every day.

To pray at least five decades of the Rosary daily while meditating on the Mysteries.

To wear the Scapular of Mount Carmel as a profession of this promise and as an act of consecration to you.

To accomplish the devotion of the Five First Saturdays of the month, including the fifteen-minute meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary.

I will renew this promise often, especially in moments of temptation.

Note: This pledge is not a vow and does not bind under sin. Nevertheless, it is a promise – your word to your Heavenly Mother.


BENEFITS

You know you are fulfilling Our Lady’s conditions to obtain the conversion and the peace of Christ for the world.

You obtain numerous indulgences through the Rosary and the Scapular.

You become eligible for the spiritual graces of Our Lady of Mount Carmel – graces in this life, at the hour of death and after death.

Your name is sent to Fatima and deposited at the site of the apparition.

You share in the prayers of millions of members.

You become a spiritual child of Saint Pio.

You participate in the New Evangelization taught by Saint John Paul II.

EMMI A MARIAN DEVOTION YOU CAN START ANYTIME

The Marian devotions are external pious practices directed to the person of Mary, mother of God, by members of certain Christian traditions. They are performed in Catholicism, High Church Lutheranism, Anglo-Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy but are generally rejected in other Christian denominations.

Such devotional prayers may be accompanied by specific requests for Mary's intercession with God. There is significant diversity of form and structure in Marian devotions practiced by different groups of Christians. Orthodox Marian devotions are well-defined and closely linked to liturgy. At the same time, Roman Catholic practices are wide-ranging—they include multi-day prayers such as novenas, the celebration of canonical coronations granted by the Pope, the veneration of icons in Eastern Christianity, and pious acts which do not involve vocal prayers, such as the wearing of scapulars or maintaining a Mary garden.

Marian devotions are essential to the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox traditions, as well as some Anglicans and Lutherans. Still, most Protestants do not accept them because they believe such devotions are not widely promoted in the Bible. They believe this devotion may distract attention from Christ. According to practitioners, devotion to the Virgin Mary does not amount to worship, which is reserved for God. Both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions view Mary as subordinate to Christ, but uniquely so, in that she is seen as above all other creatures. In 787, the Second Council of Nicaea affirmed a three-level hierarchy of latria, hyperdulia, and dulia that applies to God, the Virgin Mary, and the other saints.

The veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church encompasses various devotions, which include prayer, pious acts, visual arts, poetry, and music devoted to her. Popes have encouraged it while also taking steps to reform some manifestations. The Holy See has insisted on the importance of distinguishing "true from false devotion, and authentic doctrine from its deformations by excess or defect". There are significantly more titles, feasts, and venerative Marian practices among Roman Catholics than in other Western Christian traditions. The term hyperdulia indicates the special veneration due to Mary, greater than the ordinary dulia for other saints, but utterly unlike the latria due only to God.

Belief in the incarnation of God the Son through Mary is the basis for calling her the Mother of God, which was declared a dogma at the Council of Ephesus in 431. At the Second Vatican Council and in Pope John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Mater, she is spoken of also as Mother of the Church.

The growth of Roman Catholic veneration of Mary and Mariology has often come not from official declarations but from Marian writings of the saints, popular devotion, and at times reported Marian apparitions. The Holy See approves only a select few as worthy of belief, the most recent being the 2008 approval of certain apparitions from 1665.

Further pious veneration of Mary encouraged by Popes is exhibited in the canonical coronations granted to popular Marian images venerated in a particular locality all over the world. At the same time, Marian movements and societies with millions of members have arisen from belief in events such as Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fátima, Akita, and others.

Veneration for Mary is based on the reference in the Gospel of Luke to Mary as the selected handmaid of the Lord who is greeted and praised by both Elizabeth and the angel Gabriel. God's work is further illuminated in the Marian dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church, such as the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, and are, in the Roman Catholic view, part of the apostolic tradition and divine revelation. Catholics distinguish veneration from worship.

The theological development of devotion to Mary begins with Justin Martyr (100–165), who articulated Mary's role in salvation history as the Second Eve. This was followed up by Irenæus, whom Herbert Thurston calls "the first theologian of the Virgin Mother."

The Catholic Church's magisterium has identified four teachings about Mary as dogmas of faith. These include belief in her virginal conception of Jesus, taught by the First Council of Nicaea in 325. The Council of Ephesus in 431 applied the description "Mother of God" to her (Theotokos). The perpetual virginity of Mary was taught by the ecumenical Second Council of Constantinople in 553, which described her as "ever virgin". It was also expressed by the Lateran synod of October 649. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception states that from the first moment of her existence, Mary was without original sin. This doctrine was proclaimed a dogma ex-cathedra by Pope Pius IX in 1854. The dogma of the Assumption of Mary, defined by Pope Pius XII in 1950, states that, at the end of her earthly life, her body did not suffer corruption but was assumed into heaven and became a heavenly bod

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneration_of_Mary_in_the_Catholic_Church


From Mary to Christ 

To become a Third Order member, one must:

Most Reverend Pastor Eric Michel, Chaplain

Militia Immaculata Canada  

https://militiaoftheimmaculata.ca/

Maximilian Kolbe

Maximilian Maria Kolbe OFMConv (born Raymund Kolbe 1894–1941) was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II. He had been active in promoting the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, founding and supervising the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw, operating an amateur radio station (SP3RN), and founding or running several other organizations and publications.

On 10 October 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized Kolbe and declared him a martyr of charity. The Catholic Church venerates him as the patron saint of amateur radio operators, drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, and prisoners. self-published source] John Paul II declared him "the patron of our difficult century". His feast day is 14 August, the day of his martyrdom.

Due to Kolbe's efforts to promote consecration and entrustment to Mary, he is known as the Apostle of Consecration to Mary.

In 1907, Kolbe and his elder brother Francis joined the Conventual Franciscans. They enrolled at the Conventual Franciscan minor seminary in Lwow later that year. In 1910, Kolbe was allowed to enter the novitiate, where he chose a religious name, Maximilian. He professed his first vows in 1911 and final vows in 1914, adopting the additional name of Maria (Mary).

On 17 February 1941, the monastery was shut down by the German authorities. That day, Kolbe and four others were arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison. On 28 May, he was transferred to Auschwitz as prisoner 16670. Continuing to act as a priest, Kolbe was subjected to violent harassment, including beatings and lashings. Once, he was smuggled to a prison hospital by friendly inmates.

At the end of July 1941, a prisoner escaped from the camp, prompting the deputy camp commander, SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, to pick ten men to be starved to death in an underground bunker to deter further escape attempts. When one of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, "My wife! My children!" Kolbe volunteered to take his place.

According to an eyewitness, who was an assistant janitor then, Kolbe led the prisoners in prayer in his prison cell. Each time the guards checked on him, he stood or kneeled in the middle of the cell and looked calmly at those who entered. After they had been starved and deprived of water for two weeks, only Kolbe and three others remained alive.

The guards wanted the bunker emptied, so they gave the four remaining prisoners lethal injections of carbolic acid. Kolbe is said to have raised his left arm and calmly waited for the deadly injection. He died on 14 August 1941. His remains were cremated on 15 August, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.

The Immaculata prayer is a Traditional Catholic Marian prayer composed by Saint Maximillian Kolbe.

It is a prayer of consecration to the Immaculata, i.e. the immaculately conceived Virgin Mary.

The consecration prayer is as follows:

O Immaculata, Queen of Heaven and Earth, refuge of sinners, and our most loving Mother, God has willed to entrust the entire order of mercy to you. I, (name), a repentant sinner, cast myself at your feet, humbly imploring you to take me with all that I am and have, wholly to yourself, as your possession and property. Please make of me all my powers of soul and body, my whole life, death and eternity, whatever most pleases you.

If it pleases you, use all that I am and have without reserve wholly to accomplish what was said of you: "She will crush your head" and "You alone have destroyed all heresies in the whole world." Let me be a fit instrument in your immaculate and merciful hands for introducing and increasing your glory to the maximum in all the many strayed and indifferent souls, and thus help extend as far as possible the blessed kingdom of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. For wherever you enter, you obtain the grace of conversion and growth in holiness, since it is through your hands that all graces come to us from the most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

℣. Allow me to praise you, O Sacred Virgin

℟. Give me strength against your enemies

Amen