origin

     The history of the Association of Children of Mary Immaculate is bound with the apparitions of the most Blessed Virgin to St. Catherine Laboure in 1830, in the chapel of the Mother-house of the Daughters of Charity, 140 Rue du Bac, Paris.

     The Association arose from a desire of the Queen of Heaven expressly made known to the young seer, who manifested it to her director, Fr John Mary Aladel, Vincentian Priest of the Mission in these terms: "Father, the Blessed Virgin wishes you to begin a Confraternity of Children of Mary, you are to be its founder and director."

     The distinctive mark, then, of this Association is its foundation by the Blessed Virgin herself. St Catherine Laboure recorded this origin of the Association in the narration she wrote about the famous apparition of Mary at the midnight of July 18 to 19, 1830, in the Rue du Bac Chapel. Thus she became the instrument of the Heavenly Queen, not only in giving to the world the universally known Miraculous Medal, but also in transmitting the ardent desire of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to have the souls of the youth consecrated to her service and love.

     Pope Pius XII described the beginnings of the Association of Children of Mary Immaculate with these words:

     "Sister Laboure realized the need of it, she felt it deep down in her heart that so burned with zeal and charity. She sympathized with the poor children of the district Reuilly, since these unfortunate little ones, mere children indeed of no more than eight twelve years of age, had to go to work and alas, all too frequently came to grief in the factories where  the labored, being in continual contact with the ignorance and corruption of their fellow workers. Poor little victims, they needed pure air, sunlight, spiritual nourishment. So somebody should come to their rescue; a club was opened for them; they were taught the Catechism; Sister Laboure distributed Miraculous Medals for them. All this was very useful and worthwhile, no doubt. But she was not content until an Association was formed for their mutual support, to assure the religious and moral guidance of those girls, and above all to bring them beneath the shelter of the maternal and virginal mantle of Mary. This done, what wonderful results followed! Who could reckon, since then, all the pious hosts of Children of Mary, veiled like the lily in white, the very name suggesting some fresh breeze charged with a sweet perfume of purity and piety?"

(Pope's address on July 28, 1947, the day after the Canonization of St. Catherine Laboure.)

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      The first Director of the Association, as requested by our Lady herself, was the Rev. Fr. John Mary Aladel, C.M.; the first associate, a pious orphan, Benigna Hairon, 16 years of age, in the orphanage school under the Daughters of Charity at Beaune, France. She received the Miraculous Medal with the Blue Ribbon as the badge of the Association, on December 8, 1838. The first unit composed of 18 Children of Mary Immaculate was established in the same School on February 2, 1840. Soon the Association multiplied in the house of the Daughters of Charity so that in less than 10 years there were already in France alone 25 units, and the number of Children of Mary Immaculate during the first half-century of canonical existence (1847-1897) was 410,000; and according to statistics of the last Marian Year (1954) the Association was flourishing (in 71 nations of all continents, and counted with 10,000 Marian Units a total of 500,000 associates.

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     In the Philippines, the Association was first established in the Colegio de la Immaculada Concepcion ("Concordia"), Manila, under the Daughters of Charity, on September 8, 1868. But since the early days of our evangelization, Filipina girls loved to join the Sodality of Our Lady under the name of "Hijas de Maria" (Children of Mary), of which we find flourishing units, perhaps among the first in the whole world, since 1605 in Tinagon, Samar and even before that date in Dulag, Leyte (cf. Jose Siguion, Las Cogregaciones Marians en Filipinas, Manila 1901)

     On April 6, 1914, the Holy See granted to the Vincentian Provincial of the Philippines, Fr. Angel Martinez, C.M. and his successors the faculty o subdelegate Parish Priests for erecting in the parishes the Association of Children of Mary Immaculate, a privilege which later, on March 25, 1931, memory of the Centennial of the Miraculous Medal was extended by Pope Pius XI to the whole word. During the last Marian Year (1954), the Association in the Philippines had 310 Units with an estimated total of 25,000 associates; in 1961, there were some 555 Units with around 50, 000 associates.

     It is good to recall here, before closing this brief historical note, that our Association has glory to count among her renewed members, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus at the end of the last century, and St. Mary Goretti at the beginning of our century.