Legionary Symbols

1945

The Legionary Shield

The acronym ART stands out on the shield of the Congregation. Its first known representation dates back to 1945 and can be found on the cover of the Regnabit magazine. At that time, it was the emblem of the “Apostólica Misional del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús” and soon became the symbol of the Congregation. Giulio Zamagni, an expert in ecclesiastical heraldry and author of the 2003 book Il valore del simbolo. Stemmi, simboli, insegne e imprese degli Ordini religiosi, delle Congregazioni e degli altri Istituti di perfezione, states that: “The symbol is a universal language that offers multiple meanings accessible to all. The symbol is the language of the sacred that transforms spiritual realities that would otherwise be impossible to represent and communicate.”

The description and symbolism of the Legionary shield appear in Giulio Zamagni’s book as follows:

“The shield of the Legionaries of Christ features a large cross on a blue field, and at the center of the cross is the Sacred Heart of Jesus in red, surrounded by flames, crowned with thorns, and radiating light.

On the three arms of the cross are the letters A, R, T, in gold. It is the acronym for Adveniat Regnum Tuum!, ‘May Your Kingdom Come!’ The heart crowned with thorns, burning with love, and radiating light in all directions, symbolizes the love of Jesus for every person. It is precisely this Christian love, which seeks to respond to the love of Christ, that the Legionaries strive to live and bring to each person through the creation of Christian groups convinced of their faith. In this way, they aim for the integral realization of the Christian vocation in any state of life. The flames emerging from the burning Heart of Christ symbolize the zeal with which the Legionaries of Christ prepare to communicate the fire of love to the entire world. This is the desire expressed in the arms of the cross: Adveniat Regnum Tuum!, May Your Kingdom Come!”

[1] Version of the Legionary shield used at the Colegio Mayor del Sagrado Corazón de Comillas, Spain (1940s). [2] Version of the Legionary shield used at the Legionary Novitiate of Salamanca, Spain, in the late 1950s. [3] Version of the Legionary shield as it appears in the volume Il valore del simbolo by Giulio Zamagni, 2003.

February 6, 1965

The motto: “Thy Kingdom Come!”

And while the name has changed, the motto and the shield that distinguish the Congregation have remained unchanged and are part of the symbolic heritage directly inherited from the first Apostólica of Mexico City. Referring to the acts of piety of the first minor seminarians who gathered on January 3, 1941, the diary states that “Upon rising, the Te Deum will be alternated, and the official ejaculation will be recited three times: Cor Jesu Sacratissimum, Adveniat Regnum Tuum.” The use of this ejaculation was confirmed in the following years. In the 1945 edition of the magazine Regnabit, it says: “It is the phrase that the new apostolic first learns because we repeat it constantly. Upon waking, it is the magic wand with which we shake off sleep.

In the chapel, we repeat it before and after each exercise of piety. In classes, it marks the beginning and end of them. In the refectory and before recreation, it is the signal that indicates we can begin to talk or engage in play.” Adveniat Regnum tuum! – Thy Kingdom Come! – Over time, the acronym ART! of this ejaculation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus became a symbolic invocation to the Divinity with which the Legionaries of Christ begin all their writings, regardless of their nature. This symbolic invocation soon became a true motto that encompasses a whole program of life.

This aspect was embraced by Saint John Paul II, who in 1992 said to the capitular fathers: “You cannot doubt God’s loving providence over your lives and the work you represent. Therefore, you are called to ever-growing generosity, deeply motivated by love for Christ and for men, a love that always commits you when you repeat your motto: Adveniat Regnum tuum!”

Frontispiece of the diary of the “Apostólica Misional del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús” dated 1941: The first document in which the acronym A.R.T., Adveniat Regnum tuum, is used.

Score of the Legionary Hymn taken from the Ritual of the Congregation published in 2017.

1969

The Legionary Hymn

The Legion of Christ also has its own hymn called Himno Legionario. It was officially used for the first time in 1969 and was created at the initiative of the superiors and religious members of the center in Salamanca, with the collaboration of two prestigious Spanish artists of the time: José María Pemán (1897-1981), a poet, humanist, and professor at the Royal Spanish Academy, who wrote the original verses, and Ernesto Halfter (1905-1989), a master composer, disciple of Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), and a renowned musician who composed a score with vigorous melodic contrasts. The aim was to lyrically express some of the main points of Legionary mysticism. Here are the verses:

Legionaries, it will be in this war, // that we fight in pursuit of Love. // Man, the earth; the saint, the flower.

Chorus: Legionaries of Christ and of Rome, // life and death, for our illusion. // Captain of another world that dawns, Lamb, lion, // Beloved King, dove. // Your name is also: Legion.

According to the manual Principles and Norms of the Legion of Christ, distributed in 1984, “Singing the Legionary Hymn in community is a way to cultivate the spirit of unity, to forge the heart in the struggle for the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom, and to express, united in one voice, the full dedication of the person to the ideals that inspire the life of the Legionary.” It is usually sung during some Legionary feasts after the solemn rosary. However, despite the undeniable musical and literary merits of the hymn, the 2005 General Chapter expressed the possibility of exploring other proposals for its replacement.

1971

«The Head of Christ»

In 1940, a year before the foundation of the Legion of Christ, the famous American painter Warner Sallman (1892-1968) painted The Head of Christ, a work that became one of the main examples of Christian devotional art in the 20th century, serving as the base image for a representation of Jesus for hundreds of millions of Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Evangelical faithful. From the 1950s onward, this modern image of the face of Jesus, capable of conveying both strength and compassion simultaneously, was adopted by the Legionaries of Christ, who began to display it regularly in meeting and work spaces, identifying it as “the Legionary Christ.”

In 1971, The Head of Christ was also placed on the cover of the Manual of Regnum Christi, providing further testimony of how this image symbolizes and somehow encapsulates a Christocentric ideal for the members of the Movement and for the Legionaries of Christ.

The Head of Christ, painted in 1940 by Warner Sallman (1892-1968).

This section has been taken from the publication «Historia Institucional de la Congregación de los Legionarios de Cristo y del Movimiento Regnum Christi» (2015), prepared by the General Historical Archive of the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi and published on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Congregation.

Published originally in Spanish and Italian.

Texts: Salvatore Luciano Bonventre | Translations: Fr. Gonzalo Franco, LC | Selection of photographs: Salvatore Luciano Bonventre and Luigi Baldassarri | Coordination: Fr. Jaime Rodríguez, LC and Fr. Rodrigo Ramírez, LC