Ave Maria House of the Winona Curia

A few families received help through the St. Vincent dePaul Society and a few also returned to the faith of their youth. The children received instruction they never would have had, and the Legionaries who worked with them wondered whether they or the children received the greatest good.

Early in our years as a Senatus, we were privileged to have Father Aldan McGrath, a Columbian Mission­ary, as our guest. He introduced the Legion to the Co­lumbian method of recruiting. Once again Legionaries from many praesidia cooperated by talking to prospec­tive members as they exited Church after Sunday Mass. Then they went to their homes to discuss the Legion more fully. The Columbian Drives proved to be a fruit­ful way of starting new groups or increasing member­ship in existing praesidia.

Bridie Fitzpatrick of the Chicago Senatus (right) visits Our Lady of Fatima Praesidium in Baraboo, 1986.

As the Senatus proceeded, another interesting work took shape: Peregrenatio Pro Christo. Most of our work had been done in our own communities or at least in our own city. Now, it was time to move into other communities and other cities. The Legionaries became aware of many areas in the United States where the people had never seen a Catholic.

With the help of lists made up by the various Senati in the United States, groups of legionaries spent a week or two of their summer vacation in the “No Priest” lands, especially Kentucky and Appalachia. More recently the Legionaries have extended their work to Minnesota and the Dakotas. We are happy that some Legionaries look forward each year to spending their vacations doing Mary’s work.