 | This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. (February 2022) |
| Formation | 1961 |
|---|---|
| Type | New religious movement, African initiated church, Independent Catholic syncretism |
| Headquarters | St. Mary Basilica church, Got Kwer; also Got Okwon'g, Migori, Kenya. |
Membership | est. 3.5–4 million[citation needed] |
Official language | commonly Luo, English, Swahili and Latin in Mass |
Lodvikus | Baba Simeo Lodvikus Melkio Ondetto |
Key people | Pope Timotheo Atila, Pope Lawrence Chiaji, Pope Rafael Adika, Pope Romanus Ong'ombe, Pope Lawrence Ochieng, Cardinal Otang, Cardinal Deacon Maurice Akelo, Cardinal Abala Rafael, Cardinal Paul M Kitili, Arch-Bishop Romanus Odongo, Bishop Petro Onyango Abuto, Bishop Daniel Ayot |
Budget | Kenya Shillings 21 million annually[clarification needed] |
Staff | over 700 priests, 120 bishops, 29 cardinals, and a pope |
Legio Maria (ungrammatical Latin, "Legion of Mary")—also known as Legio Maria of African Church Mission, and Maria Legio—is an African initiated church or new religious movement among the Luo people of western Kenya. It emerged as an extension of an interpretation of the Three Secrets of Fátima to a new, albeit African, context. The religious movement was initiated by repeated appearances of a mystic woman to several Catholic Church members delivering messages about the incarnation of the Son of God as a black man. These appearances are said to have begun around 1938, almost simultaneous with the beginning of Edel Quinn's lay Catholic mission for the similarly named Legion of Mary to Africa.
By the early 1960s, the movement had assembled a good number of catechists, acolytes, and believers in a spiritual return of Jesus Christ. The continuous expansion of this movement coupled with its belief in Simeo Ondetto as the returned Son of God led to theological tension, and eventual break with the lay Catholic movement, the Legion of Mary. Legio Maria was legally registered in Kenya in 1966 as a church, expanded massively in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and eventually spread to many countries in Africa, including Uganda, Tanzania, Congo, Zaire, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Nigeria. In 1966, one of its founders, Mama Maria, died and was buried at Efeso Church, in Nzoia, Siaya County, while the principal founder, Simeo Ondetto, died in 1991 and was buried in Got Calvary, in Migori County.
