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late 1926 - summer 1929 Cristero war in Mexico.
Maciel is abused as a youth by his father’s ranch hands, Juan Vaca says Maciel told him.
May 1934 Maciel feels called to the priesthood, according to Legionary history.
19 June 1936 As a minor seminarian Maciel feels called to be a founder, according to Legionary history.
3 January 1941 Maciel founds the Missionary Apostolic School of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Mexico City, the day the Legionaries consider their foundation date.
26 November 1944 Maciel is ordained a priest in the old Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica, Mexico City, by Cuernavaca Bishop Francisco Gonzalez y Arias. The ordination is filmed in color.
September 1946 The first group of future Legionaries arrives in Spain to begin studies at the University of Comillas.
25 May 1948 The Holy See grants first approval to the congregation within the diocese of Cuernavaca by granting the nihil obstat.
13 June Cuernavaca Bishop Alfonso Espino y Silva grants diocesan approval to the congregation.
fall 1950 Center for Higher Studies opens in Rome, now Legion and Regnum Christi headquarters.
February 1954 Instituto Cumbres founded in Mexico City.
24 August 1954 Legionary Brother Federico Domínguez, prefect of studies of the Legionary apostolic school in Mexico City, reports Maciel’s shortcomings in a long letter to Rev. Francisco Orozco Lomelí, vicar general of the Mexico City archdiocese: Maciel doesn’t follow the religious rule, disrespects confidentiality in matters of conscience, uses “lies, distortions, exaggerations,” and acts as if “the ends justify the means.” He lacks the spirit of religious poverty, travels first class, eats luxurious food rather than that prepared for the community, spends more time in the houses of women donors than in his own religious houses. He considers his desire for sexual gratification to be a urological problem. He gives himself narcotic injections and carefully conceals it. “Under the effect of the drugs, he makes magnificent plans of apostolate and talks publicly about the private defects of those he is with. This is understood by the religious who don’t know what is going on as a proof of Father Maciel’s ‘spiritual clairvoyance.’”
3 January 1956 Legionary novice master Father Rafael Arumí finds Maciel in a stupor in the Legionary house in Rome and summons from Mexico Father Luis Ferreira Correa, rector of the apostolic school at Tlalpan in Mexico City and Legionary vicar general. The crisis lasts for days. Arumí, Ferreira, and Father Antonio Lagoa consider Maciel’s replacement as superior and how to deal with the scandal.
28 January 1956 Franciscan Callisto Lopinot, a consultor to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, writes to the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious that he knows from a Catholic doctor in Rome (Walter Behrens) that Father Maciel is addicted to narcotics.
February 1956 Cardinal Valerio Valeri, prefect of the Vatican Congregation of the Affairs of Religious, approves the new name “Legionaries of Christ.”
spring 1956 Valeri sees Maciel in poor condition detoxing in Salvator Mundi Hospital in Rome in the presence of Juan Vaca.
summer 1956 By June at least four Mexican bishops know at least something about the Maciel problem, the archbishops of Mexico City, Morelia, and Yucatan and the bishop of Cuernavaca.
14 August 1956 Cuernavaca Bishop Sergio Méndez Arceo writes to Arcadio Larraona, Secretary of the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious, recommending Maciel’s removal and an investigation of three charges: “devious and lying behavior, use of narcotic drugs, acts of sodomy with boys of the congregation.”
23 August 1956 Legionary Father Luis Ferreira Correa, rector of the apostolic school at Tlalpan in Mexico City and Legionary vicar general, reports in a long letter to Rev. Francisco Orozco Lomelí, vicar general of the Mexico City archdiocese, a number of cases of Maciel’s “impurely touching” apostolic school boys and his explanation that he was in pain and must have been unconscious. He reports the story of Maciel’s drug crisis in Rome in early January, specifying Dolantin, Sedol, and Demerol, Maciel’s lies and evasions, and his theory of a urological problem that requires emission of semen.
31 August 1956 Mexico City Archbishop Miguel Darío Miranda writes to Arcadio Larraona agreeing that “immediate intervention is necessary” in the Maciel case and reiterating the charges: “sins against the sixth commandment committed with members of the congregation,” drug addiction, and mendacity to achieve his ends.
August or September 1956 Maciel asks Legionary José Domínguez, Federico’s brother, to help draft an official fourth religious vow, never to criticize a superior and to report those who do.
15 September 1956 Maciel in a long letter addressed to all the Legionaries of the Front of Mexico explains the “second private vow: “The Private Vow guards against all external criticism, not only [of] acts of government and authority of the Superior but also his entire human personality: temperament, character, physical, intellectual and moral defects and his way of proceeding in any area outside the exercise of his authority. Consequently the Superior MUST SIMPLY BE RESPECTED regardless of any negative aspect whatsoever.”
20 September 1956 Larraona sends the documentation to Domenico Tardini, Secretary of the Roman Curia, suggesting the Pope be informed and that Maciel step down and find help.
21 September Msgr. Sapinelli, an official of the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious, asks Angelo Dell’Acqua, a deputy at the Secretariat of State, to send back to the Apostolic Delegation in Mexico City Maciel’s suspension as superior general. The document is signed by Cardinal Valeri. The relaying of Maciel’s suspension through the Apostolic Delegation in Mexico, as Larraona had asked, sidesteps Giuseppe Pizzardo, Secretary of the Holy Office, a Maciel friend.
3 October Maciel, having arrived in Rome by October 1, writes Cardinal Valeri, respectfully accepting suspension by the Congregation and exile to Spain, “with absolute submission and unconditional compliance,” and agreeing “to go to a clinic, suspended for that time from the exercise of my responsibility of superior general of the Institute,” though claiming good health and declaring himself the victim of calumny.
Legionary administration is taken up by Legionary Fathers Lagoa, Arumí, and Ferreira, as vicar general, assisted by Brother Domínguez.
10 October Maciel gives a tearful farewell speech to the congregation: “The Legion is said to be a good work, but what is the chance that the Legion, the tree, the branches, and the fruits are good, but I, the trunk, am evil? What sense is there in that?”
Father Lagoa tells seminarians that the visitators are “evil people, of bad intentions, enemies of God, out to get Maciel,” according to Arturo Jurado and Juan Vaca.
13 October Cardinal Valeri appoints as apostolic visitator Anastasio (of the Holy Rosary) Ballestrero, general superior of the Discalced Carmelites.
October 1956 to February 1957 Anastasio investigates of the Legionary College in Rome, assisted by Discalced Carmelite vicar general, Benjamin (of the Holy Trinity) Lachaert.
first week of December 1956 Discalced Carmelite Father Ippolito (of the Holy Family) visits the Legionary apostolic school in Ontaneda (Santander) Spain.
11 February 1957 Anastasio reports, concluding the Legion was “juridical chaos” with structures in violation of canon law and spiritually fragile; its young members had been “fanaticized” by the founder; “but it is substantially healthy and well-intentioned and offers hope insofar as it can be freed from fanaticism. Which seems doubtful.” He recommends: return Legionary headquarters and schools to Mexico from Rome and Spain; allow the Legion new members only at the discretion of the Holy See; add Mexican episcopal oversight; name an appropriate new superior from outside the institute; revise the Constitutions radically, abolishing the idiosyncratic Legionary vows. “Maciel must be removed from office as fundamentally responsible for the many serious juridical irregularities and administrative abuses. Silence about the rest appears prudent for internal and external reasons, at least for the moment.”
10 July 1957 Cardinal Valeri names Nepomucenum rector Msgr. Alfredo Bontempi and Franciscan missionary to Chile Polidoro van Vlierberghe as apostolic visitators for Rome and Mexico and Spain. Polidoro adopts Maciel’s versions of events.
15 January 1958 Anastasio criticizes Polidoro’s perspective to Larraona, but does not prevail. He writes, “The problem of this visitation is precisely to try to avoid the passion pro and con. At least for now it’s necessary to prescind from personalities and judge deeds with a strictly juridical criterion.”
24 January 1958 Bontempi tells the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious that he is impressed by the Legionary “spirit of piety” and has told Arumí that his report will reflect favorably on the founder because “the tree is known by its fruits.”
5 September 1958 Legionary novitiate building begun in Salamanca, Spain.
10 September 1958 Redemptorist Domenico Mozicarelli, an official at the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious, proposes the compromise that concludes Maciel case: leave to Valeri when eventually to restore Maciel, reserve the right to further visitations, appoint to the congregation the counsel general and financial officer required by canon law, and forbid Maciel from giving spiritual direction, hearing confession, or having access to the internal forum of members of the congregation.
9 October 1958 Pope Pius XII dies.
13 October 1958 Congregation of the Affairs of Religious writes Cardinal Clemente Micara, vicar general of Rome, reinstating Maciel on the terms of the Mozzicarelli compromise.
28 October 1958 Pope John XXIII is elected.
12 December Legionary church Our Lady of Guadalupe begun in Rome, blessed by Cardinal Clemente Micara, vicar of Rome and past pro-prefect of the Congregation of Rites.
6 February 1959 Cardinal Micara writes Maciel, reinstating him, at the request of the Congregation for Religious.
1 July 1961 Bundoran, Co. Donegal, Ireland, first large group of high school graduates arrive at Bundrowes House to being their Legionary postulancy.
26 August 1961 first Irish postulants fly to Lourdes with Father Maciel on their way to the novitiate in Salamanca, Spain, where they will take the habit on 15 September and become the first Irish Legionary novices.
15 September 1962 first Irish novices receive “special permission from Nuestro Padre” to take their first vows after only one year of novitiate.
October Legionaries from Salamanca travel to Rome to serve Mexican bishops hosted at Legion college, Via Aurelia 677, for Vatican II’s first session.
1964 Universidad Anáhuac begun in Mexico City.
6 February 1965 Holy See grants the Legion preliminary definitive approval with the first decretum laudis.
June 1966 First Legionary Mano Amiga school founded in Mexico City, educating children in need.
5 November 1967 Cardinal Antonio Riberi, Apostolic Nuncio to Spain, preaches to Legionaries in Rome: “Today's liturgy reminds me of the torments that your Congregation - and above all, Father Maciel, your Founder - had to pass through: difficulties and contradictions that were not slight. But certainly, would not Jesus Christ have said to him, just as he said to the apostles, just as has so often said to us: why do you fear, men of little faith? No; not to him. And so, today we are able to celebrate the triumph of his faith: this prodigious faith that he has always had in God's Providence, in the Sacred Heart of Christ, in this devotion lies so deep within the heart of your institute and of which, one might say, it was born.”
1968 first Irish-born Legionary priest, Maurice McGowan, is ordained. He will leave the Legion and the priesthood within a few years.
1969 first group of Irish-born Legionaries is ordained at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Rome, on the 25th Anniversary of Fr. Maciel’s priestly ordination: Thomas Moylan (still with LC), Jack Sherlock (now a diocesan priest), Brian Farrell (presently a bishop with the Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity), and Paul Lennon (Founder of the Schools of Faith, Full Time Missionaries, who left the Legion in 1984 and the priesthood in 1989).
1970 Father Maciel accepts the Prelature of Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico, from Pope Paul VI and the first Legionary bishop, Jorge Bernal, is ordained to that see. The mission is staffed, according to Paul Lennon, by mostly Irish-born and Mexican priests and brothers who are not comfortable with the Legion’s apostolate to the rich elite.
1971 in Mexico City Paul Lennon and Patrick Kavanagh found the first Legionary School of Faith with Father Maciel’s mandate.
25 December 1977 Maura Degollado Guizar, “Mama Maurita,” Father Marcial Maciel’s mother, dies at 82 and is buried in Cotija de la Paz, Michoacan.
29 June 1983 Holy See grants the Legion final definitive approval with the final decretum laudis.
1990 First edition of Father Maciel's Integral Formation of Catholic Priests.
3 January 1991 Pope John Paul II ordains 60 Legionaries at St. Peter’s to observe the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Legion.
1991 Pontifical College Maria Mater Ecclesiae is founded for training diocesan priests.
August 1993 Touring Mexico, Pope John Paul II praises Father Maciel as an “efficacious guide to youth.”
15 September Legionary university Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum opens in Rome.
23 February 1997 Berry and Renner’s “Head of Worldwide Catholic Order Accused of History of Abuse” appears in the Hartford Courant. Father Maciel and the Legionaries, represented by Kirkland & Ellis, deny the charges.
Mexico City Archbishop Norberto Rivera Carrera defends Maciel as the victim of a conspiracy.
3 March William Donohue writes to the Courant: “To think that any priest would tell some other priest that the pope gave him the thumbs up to have sex with another priest - all for the purpose of relieving the poor fellow of some malady - is the kind of balderdash that wouldn't convince the most unscrupulous editor at any of the weekly tabloids. The wonder is why this newspaper found merit enough to print it.”
8 March 1997 Father Richard John Neuhaus writes: “One cannot help but be greatly impressed by both the discipline and the joy evinced by so many young men who have followed the vision of Father Maciel in surrendering their lives to Christ and His Church. I confidently pray that your apostolate will survive and flourish long after these terrible attacks have been long forgotten.”
Deal Hudson in Crisis calls on the Courant to “withdraw its false article and apologize to Father Maciel, the Legionaries of Christ, and faithful Roman Catholics.”
17 October 1998 On behalf of eight accusers of Father Maciel, Jose Barba and Arturo Jurado, represented by Martha Wegan, bring canonical complaint in Rome before Cardinal Ratzinger’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.
20 February 1999 the CDF officially records the complaint as a case in its tribunal.
24 December Wegan informs Jurado that the CDF will not pursue the matter.
26 April 2002 ABC’s 20/20 airs news story about the Maciel case.
30 April William Bennett writes, “The flourishing of the Legionaries is a cause for hope in a time of much darkness. I look forward to continuing my involvement with and support of the Legion of Christ.”
13-14 May New Haven-Hartford ABC airs news story alleging improprieties at Legionary seminaries in New Hampshire and Connecticut.
23 May Mary Ann Glendon writes, “The recent revival of long discredited allegations against Father Maciel would come as a surprise were it not for the fact that the U.S. is currently experiencing a resurgence of anti-Catholicism. One would have thought that Father Neuhaus's meticulous analysis of the evidence in First Things had put the matter to rest once and for all. As one who sat near Father Maciel for several weeks during the Synod for America, I simply cannot reconcile those old stories with the man's radiant holiness.”
24 June George Weigel writes, “If Father Maciel and his charism as a founder are to be judged by the fruits of his work, those fruits are most impressive indeed."
15 October The Diocese of Columbus withdraws endorsement and support from Regnum Christi and forbids Legionary priests to be active in any way in the diocese.
December Regain discussion board begins.
19 June 2003 Legionary Father Antonio Lagoa, administrator of the Legion during the years of the apostolic visitation, who had died 5 September 2001 at 80, is eulogized by Maciel as “close to me in the great trials and tribulations of the Legion: he remained faithful, unmoved, and he unconditionally bore witness to his love for Christ by fulfilling his mission.”
24 February 2004 Berry and Renner publish Vows of Silence.
26 November To observe Maciel’s 60th ordination anniversary, the decretum laudis is granted the Regnum Christi statutes and pope John Paul II gives the Legion care of the Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem.
December St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Harry J. Flynn informs parishes that the Legionaries are "not to be active in any way in the archdiocese."
December Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prefect Cardinal Josef Ratzinger reopens investigation of Maciel under Msgr. Charles Scicluna.
January 2005 Father Maciel declines reelection as Congregation’s General Director. Rev. Álvaro Corcuera is elected to succeed him.
20 May Legionaries release an unsigned fax from the Vatican Secretariat of State apparently informing Director General Corcuera that “at this time there is no canonical process underway regarding [Father Maciel] nor will one be initiated.” The National Catholic Register announces the exoneration of Maciel.
19 May 2006 Vatican publishes a press Communiqué stating, “After having attentively studied the results of the investigation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the guidance of the new prefect, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, decided - bearing in mind Fr. Maciel's advanced age and his delicate health - to forgo a canonical hearing and to invite the father to a reserved life of penitence and prayer, relinquishing any form of public ministry. The Holy Father approved these decisions. Independently of the person of the Founder, the worthy apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ and of the Association 'Regnum Christi' is gratefully recognized.”
According to Zenit, “Father Maciel, with the spirit of obedience to the Church that has always characterized him, has accepted this communiqué with faith, complete serenity and tranquility of conscience, knowing that it is a new cross that God, the Father of Mercy, has allowed him to suffer and that will obtain many graces for the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement.”
Father Neuhaus writes in First Things, “Since there was no canonical hearing, there is no canonical judgment regarding his guilt or innocence... It should be noted that “penitence” in this connection does not connote punishment for wrongdoing.” Mexico City Archbishop Cardinal Rivera Carrera supports this interpretation.
15 October 2006 Rafael Guízar Valencia (1878-1938), bishop of Veracruz-Jalapa, Mexico is canonized, great uncle of the absent Father Maciel.
30 April 2007 Beirne, Maynard & Parson representing the Legion sends cease and desist letter to Regain.
July 2007 Cardinal Franc Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, tells Regnum Christi members in Atlanta: “To assimilate and get a deeper grasp of your Movement’s particular charism, apply what the Church tells the religious: the Founder’s interpretation of the charism is the authentic interpretation. So read, meditate on, and absorb the words of the man God chose to transmit this spirit to you: your Founder, Father Maciel. This is the most effective way that God imprints your Movement’s charism in your conscience, your heart, and your action.”
22 August Legion sues Regain in Virginia court for theft of proprietary documents.
2007 Pope Benedict does away with the private fourth Legionary vow never to speak ill of a superior and to report those who do.
30 January 2008 Father Maciel dies (reportedly) in Houston and is buried privately in Cotija February 2.
21 March 2008 Good Friday Regain discussion board comes to an end.
2008 Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, recognizing coercive spirituality, aversion to transparency, and “heavily persuasive methods on young people,” decides to ban the Legion from Baltimore, but is talked out of it by three Vatican cardinals.
3 February 2009 New York Times reports that Father Maciel “fathered a daughter just as he and his thriving conservative order were winning the acclaim of Pope John Paul II.”
4 February Director General Corcuera writes to Regnum Christi, “I am grateful to [Father Maciel] for being the instrument God used to give my entire life meaning… it would be impossible to find enough words to thank him."
5 February Germain Grisez calls for an “orderly termination of the existing Institute, election of a small group to serve as founders of its replacement, and the preparation of an entirely new and reformed body of particular law for the new institute.”
8 February Legionary Father Berg begs “forgiveness for the disastrous response which this crisis has received from our upper LC leadership.” and says, “I am deeply, deeply sorry, and I personally apologize with my heart in my hand to each and every one of you.”
8 February Vatican prefect of religious orders Cardinal Franc Rodé is reported to intend to let the Legionaries work the scandal out for themselves without intervention.
9 February George Weigel calls for a “brutally frank analysis of the institutional culture” and a “personal delegate empowered to take over the governance of the Legion of Christ and to conduct the moral and institutional audit required.”
24 February Mardi Gras “Major statement” by Legionaries fails to appear.
25 February Ash Wednesday Baltimore Archbishop O’Brien suspects Father Maciel was “a man with an entrepreneurial genius who, by systematic deception and duplicity, used our faith to manipulate others for his own selfish ends.”
5/6 March Sydney Archbishop Cardinal Pell calls for “an intervention, perhaps a visitation.”
24 March Toronto Archbishop Collins calls for “a massive reordering of the Legionaries.”
31 March Release of Vatican Secretary of State Bertone’s 10 March letter informing Director General Corcuera that Pope Benedict has decided to carry out an Apostolic Visitation of the Legionaries.
21 April Southern Catholic College in Dawsonville, Georgia signs a memorandum of understanding to become a Legion institution. College President Jeremiah J. Ashcroft says: “We are excited about this development. By collaborating with the Legion, we’ll be able to attract students from across North America and develop programs with institutions around the world. This expanded reach and support greatly enhances our ability to achieve our mission to prepare moral and ethical leaders who will enlighten society and glorify God.”
5 May Ilsussidario.net reports the names of four apostolic visitators: Tepic, Mexico Bishop Ricardo Watty Urquidi; Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput; Alessandria, Italy Bishop Giuseppe Versaldi; and Gregorian Rector Gianfranco Ghirlanda.
7 May Fr. Thomas Berg announces he is leaving the Legion of Christ and taking the Westchester Institute with him. He says: “In my opinion, the serious issues within the congregation will require its thorough reformation if not a complete re-foundation. I am hopeful that the upcoming Apostolic Visitation of the Legion will be a first step toward a new beginning for the Legionaries and members of Regnum Christi.”
week of 11 May Legion lays off some 15% of employees in development and media in the United States.
14 May Exlcblogger reports that 23 Legionary priests, including 15 Americans, are about to separate from the Legion to form a new religious group and that Fr. Alvaro Corcuera has asked them not to take any action until the Vatican concludes the visitation.
14 May Benedict XVI, Zenit reports, blesses the cornerstone of the Magdala retreat center the Legionaries are building in the Galilee in Israel, an extension of the Pontifical Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center, where the Pope visited two days before to lead a meeting for interreligious dialogue. The dedication ceremony was led by Legionary Father Juan Solana, director of the Center. Benedict was accompanied by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone; Bishop Fouad Twal, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; Bishop Antonio Franco, apostolic nuncio to Israel; Father Álvaro Corcuera, Legionary general director; and Father Luis Garza, the Legionary vicar general.
20 May Legion announces the closing of Gateway Academy High School in Chesterfield, Missouri. On the pending apostolic visitation, Legionary Territorial Director Fr. Scott Reilly reportedly claims, “there are two kinds of visitation, one high and one low. We are under the low one."
27 June At the Vatican the five apostolic visitators meet for the first time, reportedly, together with Cardinals Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, CDF prefect William J. Levada, and Religious prefect Franc Rodé. According to Sandro Magister, they received the conclusions of the CDF investigation before 2006 and a travel budget of 10,000 Euros and will first report to the Vatican in the fall.
8 July Legionaries announce that Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone officially informed General Director Alvaro Corcuera that the apostolic visitation will begin on July 15th and that the visitators will be Bishop Ricardo Watty Urquidi, M.Sp.S., Bishop of Tepic (Mexico) for Mexico and Central America; Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput, O.F.M., Archbishop of Denver (USA) for the United States and Canada; Bishop Giuseppe Versaldi, Bishop of Alessandria (Italy) for Italy, Israel, South Korea, and the Philippines; Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, S.D.B., Archbishop of Concepción (Chile) for South America; and Bishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Bishop of Bilbao (Spain) for Europe (with the exception of Italy).
15 July The apostolic visitation officially begins.
The Church should become more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ and his Gospel and, instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal. John Paul II Tertio millennio adveniente
About Me
- Cassandra Jones
- Cassandra Jones (a pseudonym) has been a close observer of the Legionaries of Christ for a number of years. As the Legionaries face a new future, I will occasionally publish pieces here to help assist, as I hope, a John Pauline “purification of memory” of the Legionary past. I am a faithful Roman Catholic, professing every particular of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church. I revere the liberal orthodoxy of Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI.
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A Legionary Timeline
late 1926 - summer 1929 Cristero war in Mexico.
Maciel is abused as a youth by his father’s ranch hands, Juan Vaca says Maciel told him.
May 1934 Maciel feels called to the priesthood, according to Legionary history.
19 June 1936 As a minor seminarian Maciel feels called to be a founder, according to Legionary history.
3 January 1941 Maciel founds the Missionary Apostolic School of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Mexico City, the day the Legionaries consider their foundation date.
26 November 1944 Maciel is ordained a priest in the old Our Lady of Guadalupe Basilica, Mexico City, by Cuernavaca Bishop Francisco Gonzalez y Arias. The ordination is filmed in color.
September 1946 The first group of future Legionaries arrives in Spain to begin studies at the University of Comillas.
25 May 1948 The Holy See grants first approval to the congregation within the diocese of Cuernavaca by granting the nihil obstat.
13 June Cuernavaca Bishop Alfonso Espino y Silva grants diocesan approval to the congregation.
fall 1950 Center for Higher Studies opens in Rome, now Legion and Regnum Christi headquarters.
February 1954 Instituto Cumbres founded in Mexico City.
24 August 1954 Legionary Brother Federico Domínguez, prefect of studies of the Legionary apostolic school in Mexico City, reports Maciel’s shortcomings in a long letter to Rev. Francisco Orozco Lomelí, vicar general of the Mexico City archdiocese: Maciel doesn’t follow the religious rule, disrespects confidentiality in matters of conscience, uses “lies, distortions, exaggerations,” and acts as if “the ends justify the means.” He lacks the spirit of religious poverty, travels first class, eats luxurious food rather than that prepared for the community, spends more time in the houses of women donors than in his own religious houses. He considers his desire for sexual gratification to be a urological problem. He gives himself narcotic injections and carefully conceals it. “Under the effect of the drugs, he makes magnificent plans of apostolate and talks publicly about the private defects of those he is with. This is understood by the religious who don’t know what is going on as a proof of Father Maciel’s ‘spiritual clairvoyance.’”
3 January 1956 Legionary novice master Father Rafael Arumí finds Maciel in a stupor in the Legionary house in Rome and summons from Mexico Father Luis Ferreira Correa, rector of the apostolic school at Tlalpan in Mexico City and Legionary vicar general. The crisis lasts for days. Arumí, Ferreira, and Father Antonio Lagoa consider Maciel’s replacement as superior and how to deal with the scandal.
28 January 1956 Franciscan Callisto Lopinot, a consultor to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, writes to the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious that he knows from a Catholic doctor in Rome (Walter Behrens) that Father Maciel is addicted to narcotics.
February 1956 Cardinal Valerio Valeri, prefect of the Vatican Congregation of the Affairs of Religious, approves the new name “Legionaries of Christ.”
spring 1956 Valeri sees Maciel in poor condition detoxing in Salvator Mundi Hospital in Rome in the presence of Juan Vaca.
summer 1956 By June at least four Mexican bishops know at least something about the Maciel problem, the archbishops of Mexico City, Morelia, and Yucatan and the bishop of Cuernavaca.
14 August 1956 Cuernavaca Bishop Sergio Méndez Arceo writes to Arcadio Larraona, Secretary of the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious, recommending Maciel’s removal and an investigation of three charges: “devious and lying behavior, use of narcotic drugs, acts of sodomy with boys of the congregation.”
23 August 1956 Legionary Father Luis Ferreira Correa, rector of the apostolic school at Tlalpan in Mexico City and Legionary vicar general, reports in a long letter to Rev. Francisco Orozco Lomelí, vicar general of the Mexico City archdiocese, a number of cases of Maciel’s “impurely touching” apostolic school boys and his explanation that he was in pain and must have been unconscious. He reports the story of Maciel’s drug crisis in Rome in early January, specifying Dolantin, Sedol, and Demerol, Maciel’s lies and evasions, and his theory of a urological problem that requires emission of semen.
31 August 1956 Mexico City Archbishop Miguel Darío Miranda writes to Arcadio Larraona agreeing that “immediate intervention is necessary” in the Maciel case and reiterating the charges: “sins against the sixth commandment committed with members of the congregation,” drug addiction, and mendacity to achieve his ends.
August or September 1956 Maciel asks Legionary José Domínguez, Federico’s brother, to help draft an official fourth religious vow, never to criticize a superior and to report those who do.
15 September 1956 Maciel in a long letter addressed to all the Legionaries of the Front of Mexico explains the “second private vow: “The Private Vow guards against all external criticism, not only [of] acts of government and authority of the Superior but also his entire human personality: temperament, character, physical, intellectual and moral defects and his way of proceeding in any area outside the exercise of his authority. Consequently the Superior MUST SIMPLY BE RESPECTED regardless of any negative aspect whatsoever.”
20 September 1956 Larraona sends the documentation to Domenico Tardini, Secretary of the Roman Curia, suggesting the Pope be informed and that Maciel step down and find help.
21 September Msgr. Sapinelli, an official of the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious, asks Angelo Dell’Acqua, a deputy at the Secretariat of State, to send back to the Apostolic Delegation in Mexico City Maciel’s suspension as superior general. The document is signed by Cardinal Valeri. The relaying of Maciel’s suspension through the Apostolic Delegation in Mexico, as Larraona had asked, sidesteps Giuseppe Pizzardo, Secretary of the Holy Office, a Maciel friend.
3 October Maciel, having arrived in Rome by October 1, writes Cardinal Valeri, respectfully accepting suspension by the Congregation and exile to Spain, “with absolute submission and unconditional compliance,” and agreeing “to go to a clinic, suspended for that time from the exercise of my responsibility of superior general of the Institute,” though claiming good health and declaring himself the victim of calumny.
Legionary administration is taken up by Legionary Fathers Lagoa, Arumí, and Ferreira, as vicar general, assisted by Brother Domínguez.
10 October Maciel gives a tearful farewell speech to the congregation: “The Legion is said to be a good work, but what is the chance that the Legion, the tree, the branches, and the fruits are good, but I, the trunk, am evil? What sense is there in that?”
Father Lagoa tells seminarians that the visitators are “evil people, of bad intentions, enemies of God, out to get Maciel,” according to Arturo Jurado and Juan Vaca.
13 October Cardinal Valeri appoints as apostolic visitator Anastasio (of the Holy Rosary) Ballestrero, general superior of the Discalced Carmelites.
October 1956 to February 1957 Anastasio investigates of the Legionary College in Rome, assisted by Discalced Carmelite vicar general, Benjamin (of the Holy Trinity) Lachaert.
first week of December 1956 Discalced Carmelite Father Ippolito (of the Holy Family) visits the Legionary apostolic school in Ontaneda (Santander) Spain.
11 February 1957 Anastasio reports, concluding the Legion was “juridical chaos” with structures in violation of canon law and spiritually fragile; its young members had been “fanaticized” by the founder; “but it is substantially healthy and well-intentioned and offers hope insofar as it can be freed from fanaticism. Which seems doubtful.” He recommends: return Legionary headquarters and schools to Mexico from Rome and Spain; allow the Legion new members only at the discretion of the Holy See; add Mexican episcopal oversight; name an appropriate new superior from outside the institute; revise the Constitutions radically, abolishing the idiosyncratic Legionary vows. “Maciel must be removed from office as fundamentally responsible for the many serious juridical irregularities and administrative abuses. Silence about the rest appears prudent for internal and external reasons, at least for the moment.”
10 July 1957 Cardinal Valeri names Nepomucenum rector Msgr. Alfredo Bontempi and Franciscan missionary to Chile Polidoro van Vlierberghe as apostolic visitators for Rome and Mexico and Spain. Polidoro adopts Maciel’s versions of events.
15 January 1958 Anastasio criticizes Polidoro’s perspective to Larraona, but does not prevail. He writes, “The problem of this visitation is precisely to try to avoid the passion pro and con. At least for now it’s necessary to prescind from personalities and judge deeds with a strictly juridical criterion.”
24 January 1958 Bontempi tells the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious that he is impressed by the Legionary “spirit of piety” and has told Arumí that his report will reflect favorably on the founder because “the tree is known by its fruits.”
5 September 1958 Legionary novitiate building begun in Salamanca, Spain.
10 September 1958 Redemptorist Domenico Mozicarelli, an official at the Congregation of the Affairs of Religious, proposes the compromise that concludes Maciel case: leave to Valeri when eventually to restore Maciel, reserve the right to further visitations, appoint to the congregation the counsel general and financial officer required by canon law, and forbid Maciel from giving spiritual direction, hearing confession, or having access to the internal forum of members of the congregation.
9 October 1958 Pope Pius XII dies.
13 October 1958 Congregation of the Affairs of Religious writes Cardinal Clemente Micara, vicar general of Rome, reinstating Maciel on the terms of the Mozzicarelli compromise.
28 October 1958 Pope John XXIII is elected.
12 December Legionary church Our Lady of Guadalupe begun in Rome, blessed by Cardinal Clemente Micara, vicar of Rome and past pro-prefect of the Congregation of Rites.
6 February 1959 Cardinal Micara writes Maciel, reinstating him, at the request of the Congregation for Religious.
1 July 1961 Bundoran, Co. Donegal, Ireland, first large group of high school graduates arrive at Bundrowes House to being their Legionary postulancy.
26 August 1961 first Irish postulants fly to Lourdes with Father Maciel on their way to the novitiate in Salamanca, Spain, where they will take the habit on 15 September and become the first Irish Legionary novices.
15 September 1962 first Irish novices receive “special permission from Nuestro Padre” to take their first vows after only one year of novitiate.
October Legionaries from Salamanca travel to Rome to serve Mexican bishops hosted at Legion college, Via Aurelia 677, for Vatican II’s first session.
1964 Universidad Anáhuac begun in Mexico City.
6 February 1965 Holy See grants the Legion preliminary definitive approval with the first decretum laudis.
June 1966 First Legionary Mano Amiga school founded in Mexico City, educating children in need.
5 November 1967 Cardinal Antonio Riberi, Apostolic Nuncio to Spain, preaches to Legionaries in Rome: “Today's liturgy reminds me of the torments that your Congregation - and above all, Father Maciel, your Founder - had to pass through: difficulties and contradictions that were not slight. But certainly, would not Jesus Christ have said to him, just as he said to the apostles, just as has so often said to us: why do you fear, men of little faith? No; not to him. And so, today we are able to celebrate the triumph of his faith: this prodigious faith that he has always had in God's Providence, in the Sacred Heart of Christ, in this devotion lies so deep within the heart of your institute and of which, one might say, it was born.”
1968 first Irish-born Legionary priest, Maurice McGowan, is ordained. He will leave the Legion and the priesthood within a few years.
1969 first group of Irish-born Legionaries is ordained at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Rome, on the 25th Anniversary of Fr. Maciel’s priestly ordination: Thomas Moylan (still with LC), Jack Sherlock (now a diocesan priest), Brian Farrell (presently a bishop with the Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity), and Paul Lennon (Founder of the Schools of Faith, Full Time Missionaries, who left the Legion in 1984 and the priesthood in 1989).
1970 Father Maciel accepts the Prelature of Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico, from Pope Paul VI and the first Legionary bishop, Jorge Bernal, is ordained to that see. The mission is staffed, according to Paul Lennon, by mostly Irish-born and Mexican priests and brothers who are not comfortable with the Legion’s apostolate to the rich elite.
1971 in Mexico City Paul Lennon and Patrick Kavanagh found the first Legionary School of Faith with Father Maciel’s mandate.
25 December 1977 Maura Degollado Guizar, “Mama Maurita,” Father Marcial Maciel’s mother, dies at 82 and is buried in Cotija de la Paz, Michoacan.
29 June 1983 Holy See grants the Legion final definitive approval with the final decretum laudis.
1990 First edition of Father Maciel's Integral Formation of Catholic Priests.
3 January 1991 Pope John Paul II ordains 60 Legionaries at St. Peter’s to observe the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Legion.
1991 Pontifical College Maria Mater Ecclesiae is founded for training diocesan priests.
August 1993 Touring Mexico, Pope John Paul II praises Father Maciel as an “efficacious guide to youth.”
15 September Legionary university Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum opens in Rome.
23 February 1997 Berry and Renner’s “Head of Worldwide Catholic Order Accused of History of Abuse” appears in the Hartford Courant. Father Maciel and the Legionaries, represented by Kirkland & Ellis, deny the charges.
Mexico City Archbishop Norberto Rivera Carrera defends Maciel as the victim of a conspiracy.
3 March William Donohue writes to the Courant: “To think that any priest would tell some other priest that the pope gave him the thumbs up to have sex with another priest - all for the purpose of relieving the poor fellow of some malady - is the kind of balderdash that wouldn't convince the most unscrupulous editor at any of the weekly tabloids. The wonder is why this newspaper found merit enough to print it.”
8 March 1997 Father Richard John Neuhaus writes: “One cannot help but be greatly impressed by both the discipline and the joy evinced by so many young men who have followed the vision of Father Maciel in surrendering their lives to Christ and His Church. I confidently pray that your apostolate will survive and flourish long after these terrible attacks have been long forgotten.”
Deal Hudson in Crisis calls on the Courant to “withdraw its false article and apologize to Father Maciel, the Legionaries of Christ, and faithful Roman Catholics.”
17 October 1998 On behalf of eight accusers of Father Maciel, Jose Barba and Arturo Jurado, represented by Martha Wegan, bring canonical complaint in Rome before Cardinal Ratzinger’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.
20 February 1999 the CDF officially records the complaint as a case in its tribunal.
24 December Wegan informs Jurado that the CDF will not pursue the matter.
26 April 2002 ABC’s 20/20 airs news story about the Maciel case.
30 April William Bennett writes, “The flourishing of the Legionaries is a cause for hope in a time of much darkness. I look forward to continuing my involvement with and support of the Legion of Christ.”
13-14 May New Haven-Hartford ABC airs news story alleging improprieties at Legionary seminaries in New Hampshire and Connecticut.
23 May Mary Ann Glendon writes, “The recent revival of long discredited allegations against Father Maciel would come as a surprise were it not for the fact that the U.S. is currently experiencing a resurgence of anti-Catholicism. One would have thought that Father Neuhaus's meticulous analysis of the evidence in First Things had put the matter to rest once and for all. As one who sat near Father Maciel for several weeks during the Synod for America, I simply cannot reconcile those old stories with the man's radiant holiness.”
24 June George Weigel writes, “If Father Maciel and his charism as a founder are to be judged by the fruits of his work, those fruits are most impressive indeed."
15 October The Diocese of Columbus withdraws endorsement and support from Regnum Christi and forbids Legionary priests to be active in any way in the diocese.
December Regain discussion board begins.
19 June 2003 Legionary Father Antonio Lagoa, administrator of the Legion during the years of the apostolic visitation, who had died 5 September 2001 at 80, is eulogized by Maciel as “close to me in the great trials and tribulations of the Legion: he remained faithful, unmoved, and he unconditionally bore witness to his love for Christ by fulfilling his mission.”
24 February 2004 Berry and Renner publish Vows of Silence.
26 November To observe Maciel’s 60th ordination anniversary, the decretum laudis is granted the Regnum Christi statutes and pope John Paul II gives the Legion care of the Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem.
December St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Harry J. Flynn informs parishes that the Legionaries are "not to be active in any way in the archdiocese."
December Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prefect Cardinal Josef Ratzinger reopens investigation of Maciel under Msgr. Charles Scicluna.
January 2005 Father Maciel declines reelection as Congregation’s General Director. Rev. Álvaro Corcuera is elected to succeed him.
20 May Legionaries release an unsigned fax from the Vatican Secretariat of State apparently informing Director General Corcuera that “at this time there is no canonical process underway regarding [Father Maciel] nor will one be initiated.” The National Catholic Register announces the exoneration of Maciel.
19 May 2006 Vatican publishes a press Communiqué stating, “After having attentively studied the results of the investigation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the guidance of the new prefect, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, decided - bearing in mind Fr. Maciel's advanced age and his delicate health - to forgo a canonical hearing and to invite the father to a reserved life of penitence and prayer, relinquishing any form of public ministry. The Holy Father approved these decisions. Independently of the person of the Founder, the worthy apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ and of the Association 'Regnum Christi' is gratefully recognized.”
According to Zenit, “Father Maciel, with the spirit of obedience to the Church that has always characterized him, has accepted this communiqué with faith, complete serenity and tranquility of conscience, knowing that it is a new cross that God, the Father of Mercy, has allowed him to suffer and that will obtain many graces for the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement.”
Father Neuhaus writes in First Things, “Since there was no canonical hearing, there is no canonical judgment regarding his guilt or innocence... It should be noted that “penitence” in this connection does not connote punishment for wrongdoing.” Mexico City Archbishop Cardinal Rivera Carrera supports this interpretation.
15 October 2006 Rafael Guízar Valencia (1878-1938), bishop of Veracruz-Jalapa, Mexico is canonized, great uncle of the absent Father Maciel.
30 April 2007 Beirne, Maynard & Parson representing the Legion sends cease and desist letter to Regain.
July 2007 Cardinal Franc Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, tells Regnum Christi members in Atlanta: “To assimilate and get a deeper grasp of your Movement’s particular charism, apply what the Church tells the religious: the Founder’s interpretation of the charism is the authentic interpretation. So read, meditate on, and absorb the words of the man God chose to transmit this spirit to you: your Founder, Father Maciel. This is the most effective way that God imprints your Movement’s charism in your conscience, your heart, and your action.”
22 August Legion sues Regain in Virginia court for theft of proprietary documents.
2007 Pope Benedict does away with the private fourth Legionary vow never to speak ill of a superior and to report those who do.
30 January 2008 Father Maciel dies (reportedly) in Houston and is buried privately in Cotija February 2.
21 March 2008 Good Friday Regain discussion board comes to an end.
2008 Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, recognizing coercive spirituality, aversion to transparency, and “heavily persuasive methods on young people,” decides to ban the Legion from Baltimore, but is talked out of it by three Vatican cardinals.
3 February 2009 New York Times reports that Father Maciel “fathered a daughter just as he and his thriving conservative order were winning the acclaim of Pope John Paul II.”
4 February Director General Corcuera writes to Regnum Christi, “I am grateful to [Father Maciel] for being the instrument God used to give my entire life meaning… it would be impossible to find enough words to thank him."
5 February Germain Grisez calls for an “orderly termination of the existing Institute, election of a small group to serve as founders of its replacement, and the preparation of an entirely new and reformed body of particular law for the new institute.”
8 February Legionary Father Berg begs “forgiveness for the disastrous response which this crisis has received from our upper LC leadership.” and says, “I am deeply, deeply sorry, and I personally apologize with my heart in my hand to each and every one of you.”
8 February Vatican prefect of religious orders Cardinal Franc Rodé is reported to intend to let the Legionaries work the scandal out for themselves without intervention.
9 February George Weigel calls for a “brutally frank analysis of the institutional culture” and a “personal delegate empowered to take over the governance of the Legion of Christ and to conduct the moral and institutional audit required.”
24 February Mardi Gras “Major statement” by Legionaries fails to appear.
25 February Ash Wednesday Baltimore Archbishop O’Brien suspects Father Maciel was “a man with an entrepreneurial genius who, by systematic deception and duplicity, used our faith to manipulate others for his own selfish ends.”
5/6 March Sydney Archbishop Cardinal Pell calls for “an intervention, perhaps a visitation.”
24 March Toronto Archbishop Collins calls for “a massive reordering of the Legionaries.”
31 March Release of Vatican Secretary of State Bertone’s 10 March letter informing Director General Corcuera that Pope Benedict has decided to carry out an Apostolic Visitation of the Legionaries.
21 April Southern Catholic College in Dawsonville, Georgia signs a memorandum of understanding to become a Legion institution. College President Jeremiah J. Ashcroft says: “We are excited about this development. By collaborating with the Legion, we’ll be able to attract students from across North America and develop programs with institutions around the world. This expanded reach and support greatly enhances our ability to achieve our mission to prepare moral and ethical leaders who will enlighten society and glorify God.”
5 May Ilsussidario.net reports the names of four apostolic visitators: Tepic, Mexico Bishop Ricardo Watty Urquidi; Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput; Alessandria, Italy Bishop Giuseppe Versaldi; and Gregorian Rector Gianfranco Ghirlanda.
7 May Fr. Thomas Berg announces he is leaving the Legion of Christ and taking the Westchester Institute with him. He says: “In my opinion, the serious issues within the congregation will require its thorough reformation if not a complete re-foundation. I am hopeful that the upcoming Apostolic Visitation of the Legion will be a first step toward a new beginning for the Legionaries and members of Regnum Christi.”
week of 11 May Legion lays off some 15% of employees in development and media in the United States.
14 May Exlcblogger reports that 23 Legionary priests, including 15 Americans, are about to separate from the Legion to form a new religious group and that Fr. Alvaro Corcuera has asked them not to take any action until the Vatican concludes the visitation.
14 May Benedict XVI, Zenit reports, blesses the cornerstone of the Magdala retreat center the Legionaries are building in the Galilee in Israel, an extension of the Pontifical Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center, where the Pope visited two days before to lead a meeting for interreligious dialogue. The dedication ceremony was led by Legionary Father Juan Solana, director of the Center. Benedict was accompanied by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone; Bishop Fouad Twal, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; Bishop Antonio Franco, apostolic nuncio to Israel; Father Álvaro Corcuera, Legionary general director; and Father Luis Garza, the Legionary vicar general.
20 May Legion announces the closing of Gateway Academy High School in Chesterfield, Missouri. On the pending apostolic visitation, Legionary Territorial Director Fr. Scott Reilly reportedly claims, “there are two kinds of visitation, one high and one low. We are under the low one."
27 June At the Vatican the five apostolic visitators meet for the first time, reportedly, together with Cardinals Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, CDF prefect William J. Levada, and Religious prefect Franc Rodé. According to Sandro Magister, they received the conclusions of the CDF investigation before 2006 and a travel budget of 10,000 Euros and will first report to the Vatican in the fall.
8 July Legionaries announce that Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone officially informed General Director Alvaro Corcuera that the apostolic visitation will begin on July 15th and that the visitators will be Bishop Ricardo Watty Urquidi, M.Sp.S., Bishop of Tepic (Mexico) for Mexico and Central America; Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput, O.F.M., Archbishop of Denver (USA) for the United States and Canada; Bishop Giuseppe Versaldi, Bishop of Alessandria (Italy) for Italy, Israel, South Korea, and the Philippines; Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, S.D.B., Archbishop of Concepción (Chile) for South America; and Bishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Bishop of Bilbao (Spain) for Europe (with the exception of Italy).
15 July The apostolic visitation officially begins.
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