Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic) - Marian Movements and Societies

Marian Movements and Societies

Throughout the centuries the devotion to and the veneration of the Virgin Mary by Roman Catholics has both led to, and been influenced by a number of Roman Catholic Marian Movements and Societies. These societies form part of the fabric of Roman Catholic Mariology. As early as the 16th century, the Holy See endorsed the Sodality of Our Lady and Pope Gregory XIII issued a Papal Bull commending it and granting it indulgences and establishing it as the mother sodality, and other sodalities were formed thereafter.

The 18th and 19th centuries saw a number of missionary Marian organisations such as Company of Mary, the Marianists, Marist Fathers and Marist Brothers. Some of these missionaries, e.g. Saint Peter Chanel were martyred as they travelled to new lands. The 20th century witnessed the formation of Marian organisations with millions of members, e.g. the Legion of Mary and Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima.