Chapter 4: Legion of Christ 44. When people hear about the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, especially in Europe, one of the first things they question is its name, which in some countries sounds like a military organization. Why the name "Legionaries of Christ"? In 1946, five years after founding the congregation, Fr Maciel takes the first group of Legionaries to Spain to undertake their studies in humanities and philosophy at the Pontifical University of Comillas. The first name was "Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady of Sorrows," but there were already a number of religious congregations with similar names, and besides, this name would not give some people an exact idea of our spirituality and we wanted the name to express our apostolic dynamism. That is why we looked for other possibilities. Around that time was when I met Pope Pius XII, in 1946. After I explained my plans for the congregation, the Holy Father quoted a verse from the Song of Songs (6:4,10) where the husband evokes the beauty of his bride, "terrible as an army in battle array" ("sicut castrorum acies ordinata"). Naturally the Pope was referring to the combat of faith that Saint Paul speaks of (2 Tim 4:7). The apostle himself begs Timothy to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Tim 2:3), and Ephesians 6 promotes the whole idea of a Christian's battle for the good: "Put God's armor on so as to be able to resist the devil's tactics" (verse 11), with a description of a Christian's armor: "So stand your ground, with truth buckled round your waist, and integrity for a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to put out the burning arrows of the evil one. And then you must accept salvation from God to be your helmet and receive the word of God from the Spirit to use as a sword" (verses 14-17). No one reads militarism into Saint Paul just because he used these comparisons. Clearly the Apostle to the Gentiles is here trying to get across to his Christians that their life will be a struggle against evil, requiring them to clothe themselves with the Christian virtues that he mentions. Moved by the Bible verse that the Pope quoted, the passages from Paul, and the witness of the Cristeros who gave their lives for their faith, we finally chose the name Legionaries of Christ, which is intended to convey the idea of a well-organized, united and compact group of men who are well-prepared to serve Christ and his Gospel, which as we know is the Good News of love, mercy, forgiveness, acceptance and respect. Our name also certainly expresses the vigor, dynamism and strength we should bring to proclaiming this message of salvation. At the time I was unaware that countries such as France and Spain had military units with the name "Legion". It was principally the discipline, strength and effectiveness of the Roman legions that caught my attention — their cohesion and effective organization. We know from Church history that many of the men who spread Christianity throughout the empire during the first centuries of the Christian era were actually soldiers of the Roman legions. As I wanted to embody the courage, devotion and boldness of the men that God would call to make this project a reality, it seemed to me that Legionaries would be a good name, so that they would dedicate themselves with the same passion and conviction to their mission of spreading Christ's Kingdom in society. Our name has nothing to do with any present-day military group or organization, of which I was quite simply unaware; it has to do with those Bible passages, the Roman legions and the witness of the Cristeros who gave their lives for their faith. All this, and the words of Pius XII, came together in the name Legionaries of Christ. I said earlier and I want to repeat, our battle for Christ's Kingdom is a battle fought in love, peace and service to our brothers and sisters. Our only desire is that each of them finds the way to heaven and the fullness of his or her vocation in Christ. The Legion of Christ is a legion of love and peace.