Frank Duff
Also known as Francis Michael Duff
Life
Frank Duff was born in Dublin on 7 June 1889, the eldest of seven children. After schooling at Blackrock College he entered the Irish Civil Service at eighteen, eventually serving as Private Secretary to the Minister for Finance.
In 1913 he joined the Society of St Vincent de Paul, and his encounter with Dublin's poor — particularly homeless men and women trapped in the city's red-light district of Monto — shaped the rest of his life. Reading Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort's True Devotion to Mary in 1917 deepened his conviction that Marian devotion and lay apostolate belonged together.
On 7 September 1921, with a small group of women and a priest, he founded the first praesidium of what would become the Legion of Mary, originally called the Association of Our Lady of Mercy. The Legion drew on military structure, weekly meetings, and door-to-door visitation, sending ordinary lay Catholics out to do works of spiritual mercy under Mary's patronage. He resigned from the Civil Service in 1934 to dedicate himself fully to its expansion.
Under his leadership the Legion spread to every continent. He founded the Morning Star and Regina Coeli hostels for Dublin's homeless men and women, and was instrumental in the closure of the Monto brothel district. In 1965 Pope Paul VI invited him as a lay auditor to the Second Vatican Council, where he received a standing ovation.
He died on 7 November 1980 aged 91. His cause for beatification was introduced in Dublin by Cardinal Desmond Connell in July 1996, and he holds the title Servant of God. The Legion of Mary today numbers an estimated four million active and ten million auxiliary members in nearly two hundred countries.
Patronage
- lay apostolate
- Legion of Mary members
- evangelists
- Dublin
- the homeless
Suggested prayer
God our Father, You inspired your servant Frank Duff with a profound insight into the mystery of Your Church, the Body of Christ, and of the place of Mary the Mother of Jesus in this mystery. In his immense desire to share this insight with others and in filial dependence on Mary he formed her Legion to be a sign of her maternal love for the world and a means of enlisting all her children in the Church's evangelising work.
We thank you Father for the graces conferred on him and for the benefits accruing to the Church from his courageous and shining faith. With confidence we beg You that through his intercession you grant the petition we lay before You . ............... We ask too that if it be in accordance with Your will, the holiness of his life may be acknowledged by the Church for the glory of your Name, through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Sources
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