The Sodality of Our Lady was first established in Ireland in 1598 by Father Henry Fitzsimon, S.J. When it was first established the people as a whole were firmly attached to the faith but defections from the faith, external conformity to Protestantism and assistance at heretical services were not unknown. The Sodality’s first task was thus the revival of piety and religious practice. Early Sodalities “At a time when it was unusual for Catholics to communicate more than once a year, the Sodality introduced the practice of monthly confession and communion and fervent Sodalists communicated every week. Other Catholic practices such as the family rosary, were also developed, and it was not unusual for Sodalists to devote a certain fixed time every day to meditation, spiritual reading and examination of conscience. The works of charity and mercy prescribed by the rules were accurately carried out. The chief of these were: fostering vocations in the young, the care of the sick, the relief of the poor, the instruction of the ignorant, the visitation of prisons. Sometimes Sodalists were called on to undertake more hazardous tasks. On occasions of danger, the younger Sodalists would act as scouts to warn the priest of a …
Spain, 1930 – 1950 The Virgin’s Mirror (Courtesy of Ann Ball – www.annball.com) December 13, 1944 was an exciting day for a number of the students at the Carmelite Sisters of Charity’s high school on the Plaza de San Francisco in Madrid. Recently, a Sodality of Our Lady had been formed, and the girls were to make their consecration and choose their motto that day. Thirteen year old Teresita Quevado wrote out her chosen motto in which she had expressed an immense aspiration: “Mother, may those who see me, see you.” The motto was etched on her medal of the sodality. Baptized with the long name Maria Teresa Josephina Justina Gonzalez Quevedo y Cadarso, she had always been called Teresita, but she lived the Maria of her name. She had a special fondness for the Blessed Virgin from her earliest days, but in her own words, “Since I have become a Sodalist, I love the Blessed Virgin infinitely more than before.” Teresita kept this love for the Virgin, trying hard each day to mirror her virtues for love of Jesus, until the final moments of her life. Her last words were, “How beautiful, O Mary, how beautiful you are!” Explaining her …
Chile – Argentina, 1891 – 1904 Willing Young Victim for Love (Courtesy of Ann Ball – www.annball.com) Beaten and bruised, the young girl was dying of severe internal injuries. Her mother and the Salesian sisters stood by her bedside, praying and keeping watch with her. It was time to tell her secret. As her mother leaned close, Laura whispered, “Mama, I’m dying, but I’m happy to offer my life for you. I asked Our Lord for this.” Stunned, Mercedes Vicuna fell to her knees sobbing. She realized what her daughter meant, and begged Laura’s forgiveness as well as the forgiveness of God. She promised to begin her life again. Laura Vicuna was born in Santiago, Chile, on April 5 of 1891. Her father was a soldier who belonged to a noble Chilean family. Mercedes was a simple country girl, and his family never fully accepted his marriage to a wife whom they felt was beneath his station. A revolution and civil war had broken out the previous January, and Senor Vicuna carried his wife Mercedes and his infant daughter into political exile in the Andes mountains. The baby’s health was poor and neighbors feared she would die or be handicapped. However, …
Hungary, 1916 – 1935 Sodalist, boy scout, athlete, and Jesuit novice (Courtesy of Ann Ball – www.annball.com) As the nurse and the priest entered the room where the dying young man lay, they realized he was no longer conscious. His open eyes were fixed on the crucifix and Marian medal in his hands, but he did not see the visitors. They found his final message, scrawled on a paper on the patient’s bedside table: “God be with you! We will meet in Heaven! Do not weep, this is my birthday in Heaven. God bless you all!” The priest anointed him and gave him absolution and the papal blessing. Then Stephen Kaszap stopped breathing and his soul slipped quietly away. Only a few weeks before, Stephen had written in his journal, “Finally! Eureka! I found what I have for so long searched for, but could not find. What is it? … It is grace, the grace to recognize God’s gifts always, and never to resist it but to follow it and trust in it, so that it can mould our souls.” If that day he had only just realized the grace he writes of, it had nonetheless worked, hidden in the soul …
Ireland, 1903 – 1908 LITTLE NELLIE OF HOLY GOD (Courtesy of Leo Madigan – leomadigan@mail.telepac.pt ) William Organ, Nellie’s father, says of his family, “The branch to which I belonged had been settled for generations in and around Dungarvan. I may say they were very humble Catholic folks, whose sole inheritance was that sterling faith, which has survived for centuries of Ireland’s bitter sorrow. Mary Aherne, Nellie’s mother, a native of Portlaw, Co. Waterford, like me, her husband, came of a humble Catholic family poor in world’s wealth, but rich in those gifts of heaven, for the lack of which no boon on earth can compensate.” William Organ was married to Mary Aherne on 4th July, 1896, in the village of Portlaw, Co. Waterford. The Sisters of Mercy say of Mary when she was at school there, “She was a light-hearted, innocent girl, full of fun and frolic, but generous, straightforward and devout.” Her husband said to his sister, a Sister of Mercy, “It was Mary’s piety that won me.” Their marriage was blessed with four children: Thomas, David, Mary, and lastly Nellie, who was born on 24th August, 1903, at the Royal Artillery Barracks, as her father had joined up in …
Saint Joseph’s Workshop, the Catholic Literature Guild of the the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Patrick, makes some of its publications available through lulu.com, which you can access here.
The Sodality promotes the devotion of Night Adoration of the Sacred Heart. The devotion is an accompaniment to the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in homes. The devotion originated with Father Mateo Crawley-Boevey, SS.CC., the great apostle of the Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in homes as a fulfilment of the desire of Our Lord “I will bless the homes in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honoured.” In 1907, he was healed of serious illness while visiting Paray-le-Monial, the scene of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary. From that time, he dedicated himself to promoting the Enthronement of images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in homes, schools, hospitals, religious houses and all manner of institution. It was a fitting prelude to the act of Pope Pius XI, by his Encyclical Quas Primas establishing the feast of Christ the King to remind the world of the dominion of Christ over the whole universe. However, it is not enough to display the image of the Sacred Heart, it must be honoured too. The devotion of Night Adorer promises to make one hour of adoration once a month during the night between 9 …
The Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Patrick meets on the first Wednesday of each month after 11 a.m. Mass in the Church of St. Francis Xavier, Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin 1, Ireland.