Hilde Virtel The Irishman of the Century Frank Duff and «Legio Mariae» «Life with God», Brussels. 1990

Founded on September 7, 1921, the “Legio Mariae” was established and continuously led for many years, until 1980, by Frank Duff, an Irishman, and has since spread throughout the world, including a group of legionaries active in Krasnoyarsk, also led by an Irishman, Fr. Robert Bradshaw.

Many are aware of the Legion's activities, but few know what it is and how it began. The book offered to your attention contains, to date, the most successful biography of Frank Duff.

Like many recent publications from Brussels, “The Irishman of the Century” is excellently translated, written in a popular literary style, and has nothing in common with dry academic publications. The remarkable fate of Frank Duff can leave few indifferent, especially in Russia, for Russia holds a significant place both in the Legion's activities and in the biography of its founder (although Duff himself calls the Blessed Virgin the founder, and himself merely an executor of her will: this is most likely the case).

This book is still a bibliographic rarity in Krasnoyarsk, but by writing to the publisher's address in Brussels or to Moscow's “Truth and Life,” you can hope to obtain a copy.