On January 3rd, we celebrate the 84th anniversary of the founding of the religious Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ and, together with them and through them, the Regnum Christi.
Emergence of a new “missionary work”
The Legion of Christ was founded on January 3, 1941, in Mexico City. What happened that day? The “Apostolic Mission of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” was born, which at that time was created as a separate section of the Diocesan Seminary of Cuernavaca, with the authorization of the bishop of that diocese, Mons. Francisco González Arias, and the archbishop of Mexico City, Mons. Luis María Martínez. The new “missionary work” was formed by a group of teenagers with a very specific purpose: to shape a new religious congregation. In fact, the diary of that first community refers to these teenagers as “future members,” and a group of these adolescent seminarians would establish a novitiate on March 25, 1946. However, it was an de facto foundation, lacking formal recognition from the Church of Rome.
Read more about the history of the Legion of Christ
Beginnings of Regnum Christi
A long historical trajectory, begun in the 1940s, has led to the birth of the movement Regnum Christi. Already in the Nihil Obstat granted to the Legion in 1948 by the Congregation for Religious, there is reference to a form of collaboration with the Catholic laity by the emerging Institute: one of the stated aims was assistance to Catholic Action.
The text of the 1948 Constitutions was even more explicit: “the specific purpose of the institute is the creation of special organizations of laity that unconditionally collaborate in the establishment of the kingdom of Christ according to the demands of Christian justice and truth.” It also indicated that the task of these organizations was to work so that “not only men profess an integral Christianity, but that society itself is governed and behaves Christianly.”
In the 1950s, the Legionaries of Christ envisioned this project as a “second Legion,” but it was too early to put that idea into practice. The final part of a promotional video from 1952, prepared by the community of the Rome College, declared that the seminarians living there were preparing to carry out their concrete apostolate among the laity once they became priests. In fact, this is what happened. By the early 1960s, the Legion of Christ had already opened some schools, which allowed for intensified work with laypeople.
To this end, in March 1963, the Inter-American Cultural Center was inaugurated in Mexico City, and simultaneously, some student groups with various names emerged: Milites Christi, Crusaders of Christ the King, Perficit Groups, in which the content of the Gospel message was discussed and assimilated. However, these groups did not continue and disbanded. Nevertheless, still in 1963, the final name of the new lay organization was chosen. Likely using an expression from the original Latin text of the Legion’s Constitutions, it was called Regnum Christi. In the following years, the Congregation persisted in the effort and began to develop a more organized action among the laity. Moreover, the same Second Vatican Council reminded all Christians of the vocation to holiness and apostolate. In the Decree Apostolicam actuositatem, dated November 18, 1965, it was read that:
«Our times do not demand less zeal from the laity, but rather, current circumstances call for a much more intense and broader apostolate. Because the number of men, increasing day by day, the progress of sciences and technology, and closer relationships among people have not only expanded the vast fields of the laity’s apostolate, partly open only to them, but have also raised new problems that require their diligent care and concern»
and the nature, character, and variety of the laity’s apostolate were explained by stating “the fundamental principles” and providing “pastoral instructions for their greater effectiveness.”
Read more about the beginnings of Regnum Christi
Letter from the General College of Directors on the occasion of the 84th anniversary
The General College of Directors has sent a letter to all members of Regnum Christi, inviting them to see this date as a “reminder of God’s providence to evoke the charism that He wished to give to His Church to proclaim God’s merciful love to all and lead them to the redemptive encounter with Christ and become His apostles in the world, with passionate zeal (2Cor 5:14), through personal experience of Jesus Christ’s love”.
Regnum Christi is made up of four vocations: Legionaries of Christ, Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi, Laity of Regnum Christi, and Associated Laity; each vocation contributes its own dynamism to the service of the common mission.
«From the certainty that springs from the charism, as a gift from God, and from a profound Christian perspective of the world from which we are called and to which we are sent, we renew our desire and commitment to make the Kingdom of Christ present in hearts and society, here and now in the world» (Communiqué of the 2024 General Convention).
This 84th anniversary is also marked by the Jubilee 2025 called by Pope Francis for the entire Church. Regnum Christi has always promoted full adherence to the Pope and his Magisterium, so we are all invited to live this year of grace by joining the celebrations that will take place throughout the year.
“From those beginnings” – says the letter from the General College of Directors –, “God has blessed our spiritual family with countless fruits: men and women transformed by their encounter with Christ, communities of apostles seeking to extend His Kingdom, and a living testimony of charity in the diversity of vocations. We have traveled a path that has not been without challenges, but throughout we have experienced God’s fidelity guiding our mission”.
Let us not miss the opportunity to thank God for this anniversary and to renew our commitment to extend the Kingdom of Christ in our hearts and in others’.
To read the letter from the General College of Directors, click here.
With information from the Office of Communication of Regnum Christi
