Milizia dell'Immacolata - Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VIII, p. 603

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

MILIZIA DELL'IMMACOLATA. – An association of Catholic-Marian prayer and apostolate,

under the ideal of the Immaculate, founded in Rome, at the international Seraphic College of the Friars Minor Conventual at S. Teodoro, on 17 October 1917, by the Servant of God Fr. Massimiliano M. Kolbe (v.), a Pole, together with six other confrères, as a reaction against Freemasonry and socialism, then dominant, and against all the enemies of the Church in every age. Encouraged by Benedict XV on 4 April 1918 and canonically approved as a « Pious Union »

by the Vicariate of Rome on 2 January 1922, it was enriched with indulgences and privileges and erected as a « primary » by Pius XI (briefs of 18 December 1926 and 23 April 1927); praised by Pius XII on 12 March 1942, it expanded its organization with the new statutes, approved by the Vicariate of Rome on 24 March 1942.

The purpose of the M. dell'I., as an active and militant devotion of apostolate (such is the meaning of its name and its

(courtesy of Msgr. A. P. Fruton)
MILIZIA DELL'IMMACOLATA — The Praesidium of Our Lady of Good Counsel — Suez.

Its spirit of « Marian chivalry »), is to promote the personal sanctification of the members (« soldiers » or « knights of the Immaculate », divided into 3 grades: ordinary soldiers, organized activists and zealous members; apostles and missionaries; all of them, as an external sign, wear the miraculous medal [v.]) through perfect consecration and devotion to the Immaculate, and the conversion of sinners and of all the enemies of the Church, by every means of apostolate. The dogmatic foundations of the M. dell'I. are the Mysteries, or Marian Offices, of the Immaculate Conception, spiritual motherhood, mediation and universal kingship. Its spirituality is based on the concept of chivalrous love and service to the Immaculate Virgin, understood as perfect interior consecration and consecration of personal activity, explicitly directed toward the broader Catholic and social apostolate, for the conquest of souls for the Immaculate and for Christ.

In accordance with the « statute », the M. dell'I. is organized with a supreme moderator (who is always the minister general of the O.F.M. Conv.), a general directorate (in Rome), national and regional centers, local Marian centers, simple branch headquarters and propaganda centers (headquarters in formation). At the founder's death (1941), it was spread across various nations, with 70 headquarters, 39 of them in Italy, and with important centers in Poland and Japan. Today (8 Dec. 1949) it has 4 national centers (Italy, Romania, Poland, Hungary), a special regional center in the United States of America (Carey, Ohio), and others elsewhere; it is spread across 12 European nations and numbers approximately 2,100,000 members.

The apostolate of the press has been of particular importance for the M. dell'I. during these thirty years. Worthy of mention are the two « cities of the Immaculate », or large publishing centers founded by Fr. Kolbe in Poland (Niepokalanów, 1927) and in Japan (Mugenzai-no-Bono, near Nagasaki, 1930).

Among the more recent activities, mention should be made of the First National Conference of the directors of the M. dell'I. of Italy (Assisi, Sept. 1948) and various regional congresses; preaching and Marian missions, catechetical apostolate, visits to hospitals and prisons, various cultural and welfare activities of the Marian circles and « recreation centers », workshops and schools of dressmaking, embroidery, etc.; works involving the consecration of families to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the « Visitation of Mary » in families, schools, institutions and workshops; the « Living Rosary »; the Day of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (13 May, with a special « supplication » to the Blessed Virgin of Fátima); the « Azzurra International », an organization of fraternity and social assistance (founded on the centenary of C. Marx's « manifesto », 1948), with its two periodicals: L'Immacolata e il suo Cuore, since 1945, for consecrated families (12,000 copies monthly), and l'Internazionale Azzurra, since 1947 (Center of Genoa, with its own « Tipografia dell'Immacolata »).

Affiliated with the M. dell'

I. are the two associations of the Piccoli militi e Piccoli cavalieri dell'Immacolata, founded in 1932 and 1934, for the Marian formation of children approximately from 7 to 15 years of age

Vedi tav. LXVI.

BIBL.: anon., La M. di Maria I. (illustrated album), Assisi 1938; B. M. Hess, La M. dell'I. nel suo 5° di fondazione, 1917-42, Padova 1942; Latin text, Rome 1942; C. M. Stano, Piae Unionis marianae Militiae M. Immaculatae prima quinque lustra, in Miscell. franciscana, 42 (1942), pp. 175-203; E. Campana, Maria nel culto cattolico, II, 2nd ed., Turin 1946, pp. 480-83; Statuto e norme direttive della M. dell'I., Padova 1946; L. Di Fonzo, La M. e le Città dell'I., in Ecclesia, 5 (1946), pp. 561-66; G. Masiero, Conoscere la M. dell'I., Padova 1946; F. M. Castagnaro, Cavalieri dell'era mariana, 2nd ed., Padova 1949; F. Rossetti, Cavalleria mariana, there 1949; V. also the various biographies of Fr. Kolbe under this entry.

Lorenzo Di Fonzo