Legio Maria

Legio Maria (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 initiating among the Luo people of western Kenya, which is 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 Roman Catholic 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 Quinne's lay catholic mission 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.

Legio Maria developed gradually and eventually separated from mainstream Roman Catholicism in 1963. What is now Legio Maria started from the Catholic lay movement as far back as 1938-1940. Central to its formation are the local Luo myths about a mystery woman, min Omolo Ka-Nyunja, who walked Luo land during these years. A number of Legio Maria faithfuls believe that this woman was responsible for the mythical stories such as Nyamgondho Kombare in Gwassi, Homa Bay County, and Simbi Nyaima in Karachuonyo, Homa Bay County. According to Tobias Oloo, a Legio Maria Deacon and researcher, "every religion has mythical elements and the Legio Maria movement's development relied massively on the crystallization of local myths with their beliefs." Apart from the myths that probably preceded Legio Maria, Deacon Oloo affirms that the Fátima Visitation of Virgin Mary was a key ingredient to the formation of Legio Maria. "As legios, we recognize the three Fatima mysteries. However, the most important for us is the third mystery which predicted the appearance of Our Lord in the 1960s. Though this mystery is controversial because the Roman Catholic did not reveal it for generations and what they eventually revealed is still contested by many Christians, we have faith that through the third mystery Mary promised the coming of Simeo Ondetto."