In practically all the countries of the world, National Head-quarters have been established and entrusted with the task of gathering the membership and assisting in the formation of prayer cenacles.

On the 8th of May, 1972, Father Stefano Gobbi, a priest from Milan, Italy, was taking part in a pilgrimage to Fatima. While praying in the Chapel of the Apparitions for some priests who, besides having given up their own vocations, were attempting to form an association in rebellion against the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, an interior voice urged Fr. Gobbi to have confidence in the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

What Fr. Gobbi had just experienced was an interior locution. It is not an apparition or other communication perceived by the human senses, but a spiritual phenomenon present in the life of the Church and described in manuals of Catholic theology. The messages (interior locutions) are the gift by which God wishes to make something known to humanity, in Fr. Gobbi's particular case by means of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In July 1973, Fr. Gobbi began to write down these interior locutions which he was receiving. The messages, dating from July 1973 to December 1997, are published in the book, "To the Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons."


In a message to him on August 29, 1973, Our Lady told Fr. Gobbi:

"Whatever I communicate to you, my son, does not belong to you alone, but it is for all my priest-sons, whom I love with predilection.

Above all it is for the priests of the Marian Movement of Priests whom I love most tenderly and whom I want to form and lead by the hand to prepare them for their great mission.

Therefore gather together in a booklet whatever I have told you…"

And thus, by means of these messages, Mary began to make use of Fr. Gobbi as a humble instrument to gather all priests who would accept her invitation to consecrate themselves to her Immaculate Heart, to be strongly united to the Pope and to the Church in union with him, and to bring the faithful into the secure refuge of her motherly Heart. Thus a powerful cohort would be formed and spread throughout every part of the world, created not with human means of propaganda, but with the supernatural power that emanates from silence, prayer, suffering and constant faithfulness to one's duties.

In September of 1973, the first national gathering took place, with twenty-five priests taking part out of the eighty already enrolled. Beginning in 1974, the first cenacles of prayer among priests and faithful took place. These gradually spread, and by the end of 1996, Fr. Gobbi had many times visited the six continents.

The M.M.P. has succeeded in expanding in a powerful and extraordinary way. In practically all the countries of Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, National Headquarters have been established and entrusted with the task of gathering the membership and assisting in the formation of prayer cenacles.

The worldwide membership of the M.M.P. now numbers at least 400 cardinals and bishops, more than 100,000 priests, and millions of religious and faithful around the world.


IN THE UNITED STATES…

…the Marian Movement of Priests was initiated in 1975, with a temporary Headquarters in Lewiston, Maine. In 1977, its National Headquarters was permanently established in St. Francis, Maine, on the banks of the St. John River that separates Canada from the United States.

Our Lady's choice of St. Francis as the home for her U.S. Headquarters is truly a meaningful one. It was St. Francis of Assisi who was called by Jesus to go "rebuild his Church", and Our Lady's Marian Movement of Priests has been called by her to this same mission.

As of the year 2000, the M.M.P membership in the U.S. has reached sixty-three thousand, including four thousand members of the clergy - bishops, priests and deacons. Diocesan priests from all 50 states are enrolled, as well as women and men religious from hundreds of communities.

In addition to the existing membership, thousands have since gone on to their eternal reward. Our Lady's cohort is forever expanding in heaven as well as here on earth.

Below is the logo of the MMP in the United States.
Click on it for an explanation of its meaning.

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