Frank Duff
Francis Michael Duff, L.O.M. (7 June 1889 – 7 November 1980), known as Frank Duff, is known especially for bringing attention to the role of the laity during the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church as well as for founding the Legion of Mary in his native city of Dublin, Ireland. Early life. He was born in Dublin on 7 June 1889, at 97 Phibsboro Road, the eldest of seven children of John Duff (died 23 December 1918) and his wife, Susan Letitia (née Freehill, died 27 February 1950). The wealthy family lived in the city at  St Patrick's Road, Drumcondra. Duff attended Blackrock College. Early career. In 1908, he entered the Civil Service and was assigned to the Irish Land Commission. Six years later, he joined the Society of St Vincent de Paul and was exposed to the real poverty of Dublin. Many who lived in tenement squalor were forced to attend soup kitchens for sustenance, and abject poverty, alcoholism, and prostitution were rife in parts of Dublin. Duff joined and soon rose through the ranks to President of the St Patrick's Conference at St Nicholas of Myra Parish. Duff, having concern for people  he saw as materially and spiritually deprived, got the idea to picket Protestant soup kitchens as he considered they were giving aid in the form of food and free accommodation at hostels in return for not attending Catholic services. Duff set up rival Catholic soup kitchens and, with his friend, Sergeant Major Joe Gabbett, who had already been working at discouraging Catholics from patronizing Protestant soup kitchens. They succeeded in closing down two of them over the years. In 1916, Duff published his first pamphlet, "Can we be Saints?". In it, he expressed the conviction that all, without exception, are  called to be saints, and that through Christian faith, all have the means necessary. He briefly acted as private secretary to Michael Collins, the chairman of the Provisional Government and the commander-in-chief of the National Army. In 1924, he was transferred to the Department of Finance. Legion of Mary. He retired from the Civil Service in 1934 to devote all of his time to the Legion of Mary. Inspired by St. Louis de Montfort's "True Devotion to Mary", he founded the Legion of Mary. Along with a group of Catholic women as well as Michael Toher, a  priest of the Dublin Archdiocese, Duff formed the first branch of what was to become the first praesidium of the Legion of Mary on 7 September 1921. For the rest of his life, with the help of many others, he guided the Legion's worldwide extension. The Legion of Mary is a lay apostolate organisation at the service of the Roman Catholic Church, under ecclesiastical guidance. Its twofold purpose is the spiritual development of its members and the advancement of the reign of Christ through Mary. The first legionairies were women. Today, the Legion of Mary has an estimated four  million active members and 10 million auxiliary members in close to 200 countries in almost every diocese in the Catholic Church. Frank Duff's Writings. A former member of the Senatus of Ontario, and with the approval of Spiritual Director Father James Whalen scanned several articles written by Frank Duff most of which were taken from Maria Legionis Magazine Frank Duff Interviews / A Living Autobiography /"BY Msgr. Charles T. Moss". "When I was in Manila this past January I showed one of Frank Duff's video interviews to the officers of the Senatus and the staff of Maria Legionis. Sitting  next to me was Pacita Santos who had done heroic work in spreading the Legion in the Philippines especially during the years of the Japanese Occupation. During the viewing she turned to me and said with a voice choked with emotion: "As I sit here watching and listening to him, I find it difficult to believe that he's dead. He's so natural, so much the man I've met many times in Dublin. I feel like he's here in the room with us now." Msgr. Charles T. Moss" A Letter to Frank Duff from the Bishops "ON  THE OCCASION OF THE 5OTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE LEGION OF MARY ST. PATRICK’S COLLEGE MAYNOOTH 23 June, 1971.The Most Reverend John McCormack D.D., The Most Reverend Eugene O'Doherty D.D., Secretaries to the Bishops. ON THE OCCASION OF 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LEGION OF MARY AND BROTHER DUFF'S REPLY" Later life. In 1965, Pope Paul VI invited Duff to attend the Second Vatican Council as a lay observer. When Duff was introduced to the assembly by Archbidhop Heenan of Liverpool he received a standing ovation. Duff made promotion of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus  part of the Legion's apostolacy. Death. Duff died at 91 on 7 November 1980 in Dublin and was interred in that city's Glasnevin Cemetery. In July 1996, the cause of his canonization was introduced by Cardinal Desmond Connell.