LEGION MARIA

Legion Maria of African Church Mission — also known as Legion Maria — 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 Quinn’s lay catholic mission on behalf of the Legion of Mary 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. Legion 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, His most peaceful Baba Simeo Melchior Ondetto, died in 1991 and was buried in Got Calvary, in Migori County.

Official hierarchy

The full official title for Simeo Ondeto became Baba Simeo Lodvikus Melkio, the eternal spiritual leader and mediator of Legion Maria.

The administrative duties of the church were put under a Pope. So far, there have been five such Popes:

• Pope Timothy Joseph Blasio Atila (1963–1998).
• Pope Maria Pius Lawrence Jairo Chiaji K’Adera (1998–2004)
• Pope Raphael Titus Otieno (2004–2009)
• Pope Romanus Alfonsius Ogola Ong’mbe (2009-2020)
• Pope Laurence Ochieng’ Kalul (2020- present)