Men Who Love Mary: MFVA

sanctanomina Men Who Love Mary, , ,

Grace shared a link in the comments yesterday to an ah-MAZ-ing group of men — the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word (MFVA).

Check.Out.These.Names.

Rev. Fr. Patrick Mary
Rev. Fr. Leonard Mary
Rev. Fr. Anthony Mary
Rev. Fr. Joseph Mary
Rev. Fr. Mark Mary
Rev. Fr. Dominic Mary
Rev. Fr. Miguel Marie
Rev. Fr. John Paul Mary
Rev. Fr. Paschal Mary
Br. John Therese Marie
Br. Leo Mary
Br. Bernard Mary
Br. Tarcisius Maria
Br. Matthew Mary
Br. James Francis

I did search around a little trying to find an official explanation of why they use a form of Mary as their last names and how they choose their religious names, but couldn’t find anything. I did find this, from their Constitutions:

9. Our two pillars are the Eucharist and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the mantle of the Magisterium of the Church.

So yeah, they’re big Mary Men. I also love that Br. John Therese took Therese as part of his name! And I found this article, which gives a little paragraph about why Fr. Paschal took the name Paschal.

All in all, a very satisfying start to today’s name thoughts!

20 thoughts on “Men Who Love Mary: MFVA”

    • I noticed that too – the non-Marian name stands out. I bet it does have something to do with being a novice. It may in fact still be his real (birth/baptismal) name.

      This would be a really neat topic to research – naming patterns or traditions in different orders/communities. Very often there are specifics to a community. We are friends with the men in a new religious community in our locale the Servants of Christ Jesus – http://www.scjesus.org/community/. They have been in existence for just 12 years, and have had ordained clergy just the past almost 3 years. We have known them since they were seminarians and have known most by the birth name and then had to adjust to the new name when it was given. The names are given by the community/superior to the brother following prayer and consultation. The name patterns are very specific to their charism. The first name is an apostle and the second name comes from a Jesuit saint (the community has an Ignatian spirituality).

      So far they have:
      Fr. John Ignatius (Apostle: St. John the Evangelist, Jesuit: St. Ignatius Loyola)
      Fr. Paul Kostka (Apostle: St. Paul, Jesuit: St. Stanislaus Kostka)
      Br. James Claver (Apostle: St. James the Greater, Jesuit: St. Peter Claver)
      Br. Peter Francis (Apostle: St. Peter, Jesuit: St. Francis Xavier)
      Br. Philip Loyola (Apostle: St. Philip, Jesuit: St. Ignatius Loyola)
      Br. Nathanael Colombiere (Apostle: St. Nathanael/Bartholomew, Jesuit: St. Claude de la Colombiere)

      Cool huh?

      Amazing men. Hope you all read about their community. They do parish missions and camps around the country so maybe you will be fortunate to have them come to your area.

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  7. I’m new to your blog and love it as we’re currently praying about the name for baby #2 due in February. I just had to comment on this post because I know several of these “Mary Men” (Fr. Anthony Mary performed our marriage) and they are every bit as wonderful as their names, plus down-to-earth! 😉

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