Robert Schuman and the Virgin Mary

Robert Schuman (1886-1963) was a French statesman who served as finance minister in 1946, during a difficult period of recovery for the country. In August 1948, he became the head of Foreign Affairs. Schuman had a dream about European unity:

"Europe will not happen overnight, it will be built by concrete achievements, first by creating a true solidarity." The culminating moment of his life came on May 9, 1950, when he made his famous "Declaration," which constitutes the birth certificate of the communitarian Europe.

"Europe is not the negation of the motherland," Robert Schuman said. "In the same way that the motherland is not the negation of the native province." In 1958, he was unanimously elected President of the European Parliamentary Assembly. German Chancellor Adenauer said that "it is thanks to his wisdom and courage that the foundations of the reconciliation between our two peoples and the building of a united Europe have been laid."

After his funeral service in the cathedral of Metz, his coffin was carried in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary. Robert Schuman had a deep devotion to the Mother of God, about whom he said he had learned a great deal from Father Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort.

Jeanne Tallier

In the Legion of Mary’s magazine "L'Etoile," (The Star), issue no. 162