MARIA LEGIO

also called Legio Maria, or Legion Of Mary Church, largest African, independent church with a Catholic background, which had a meteoric rise in the 1960s. The church should not be confused with a less successful predecessor in Kenya, the Dini ya Mariam (Religion of Mary) of the 1950s. Maria Legio originated with two Catholics of the Luo group, Simeon Ondeto and Gaundencia Aoko, who claimed to have undergone prophetic experiences that directed them to reject traditional magic and divine healers and to form an all-African church to be named Maria Legio (after the Catholic Legion of Mary), which offered free healing by prayer and exorcism of evil spirits. The first year (1963) an estimated 90,000 fringe, or nominal, Catholics and non-Christians, mostly Luo, joined the church; by 1970 membership had dropped to about 50,000. Catholic worship, symbols, and hierarchy have been imitated and pentecostal features added. The sect rejects Western and traditional medicines, alcohol, tobacco, and dancing but accepts polygamy and is strongly nationalistic. Internal tensions over the statues of the highly charismatic Gaundencia as Holy Mother and failure of the church to cooperate in Kenyan development plans have rendered the future of the church uncertain.