On January 25th, Fr. Stehlin gave a presentation on “1917-2017: Fr. Kolbe and 100 years of the Militia Immaculatae” in Bierbeek near Leuven, in Flanders (Belgium). The place itself is quite meaningful.
In his book on the True devotion to Mary, St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, one of the great inspirations for Fr. Kolbe, mentions a certain famous knight and monk as one of the first to have practiced the total consecration to Mary: “Vautier de Birback, a close relative of the Dukes of Leuven (Louvain), who about the year 1300 consecrated himself to the Blessed Virgin.” (‘Motives Which Recommend This Devotion’ §159) In fact, this ‘Vautier de Birback’ is ‘Walter van Bierbeek’, a knight in the noble family who owned Bierbeek, the village in which Fr. Stehlin gave a lecture on the Militia Immaculatae, 100 years after its founding by Fr. Kolbe! This knight, Walter van Bierbeek, fought in the third Crusade, and later became a Cistercian monk with a great devotion to Our Lady. How fitting that this warrior spirit should return to this place, so many centuries later!
For more than a year, a small group of men and women had been gathering here, in the spirit of the Militia Immaculatae, for monthly meetings. Those meetings started each time with a Holy Mass, after which the priest presented some chapters from ‘The practice of Christian perfection’ by Alphonsus Rodriguez. This book is no longer available in Dutch so one of our first publishing efforts is to make this available again as a demanding but reliable guide to becoming a saint.
For Fr. Stehlin’s visit, well over 30 people attended, welcoming the leader of the worldwide Militia Immaculatae who several days later officially established the MI in Belgium with the approval of the district superior. Finally, these people who had been preparing all this time would be able to become official members of the MI.
Fr. Stehlin gave a stirring exposition on Fr. Kolbe and especially his life’s work, the Militia Immaculatae — how it was a powerful, reliable but easy and concrete way of being a member of the Church Militant. The graces of the Militia Immaculatae will be needed in Flanders (Belgium). Of this once entirely catholic country, only one out of 20 people still attends Mass, and of those who do attend mass, 3 out of 4 is older than 65, and only 1 out of 50 is younger than 35. Interestingly, of those who were present for Fr. Stehlin’s lecture, 9 out of 10 were younger than 35. The road for the MI will be small and steep, but with the Immaculata, there is always the hope of victory!
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