"Spiritual combat is another element of monastic life which needs to be taught anew and proposed once more to all Christians today. It is a secret and interior art, an invisible struggle in which monks engage every day against the temptations, the evil suggestions that the demon tries to plant in their hearts." — Pope John Paul II, on spiritual combat and discernment of spirits.
In order to further serious efforts in the Catholic lay community regarding the subject of spiritual warfare, we have established the Knights of St. Mary.
This decision was reached after much prayer and seeking God's will. We felt the Blessed Mother herself was guiding us and showing us that the best and most practical approach to spiritual warfare was to revive and promote a serious practice of many of the old Catholic devotions and prayers.
To this end, we formed the Knights of St. Mary as a brotherhood of spiritual chivalry dedicated to Our Lady, whose members would include both men and women.
The age of knighthood is long past and we do not pretend to any such honors or ancient lineage, nor do we have any interest in dressing up and playing knights and princes.
Rather, we espouse a true chivalry of the heart inspired by Our Lady and a spiritual knighthood of prayer and spiritual growth according to the 2,000 year-old traditions of the Catholic Church.
The Knights of St. Mary consecrate themselves to a rule of prayer and a rule of life under the patronage and protection of the Holy Virgin, with their spiritual formation being guided by the age-old teachings of the Saints.
Inspiration
Many of us were drawn to the deep spirituality and the mystery the Church evoked in its ancient traditions and Tridentine Rite.
We could see that there were a great many treasures of the Catholic Church that were being lost and forgotten, traditions that should and could be saved.
We were inspired by the old Catholic devotions and practices, and turned to them frequently in our own exercises of spiritual warfare.
We believe we were chosen by our patron Mary, the Theotokos, the holy Mother of God, beloved and universally venerated by the Church in both the East and the West, to undertake this work.
We knew that many others were also searching for something deeper, more soulful, a spiritual refreshment that could be gained by opening the great treasury of spiritual teachings of the saints of the Church. We wanted to make these teachings a part of our
life and practice and to share them with those who hunger for traditional Catholic Christian
spirituality amidst the spiritual famine of our times.
We understood that it was the evil one who had brought division and conflict to Christ's Church and that we could only gain the victory by taking up the crusader's cross and waging unceasing prayer and spiritual warfare against the devil and all his works.
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