Have you heard of "The Work of Mary"?

It all started in 1943, in Trento, Italy, during WWII’s heavy bombings. During the long stays in the bomb shelters, some young women of Catholic Action began to read the Gospel together, in order to live it out in service of the poor, once the alert had passed. The leader of the group was a 23-year-old philosophy student named Chiara Lubich.

She wrote: "In the midst of the general collapse brought on by hatred, the Undying One appeared to our young hearts... We decided to love one another, to repay his love ... Striving to be in perfect unity became our life goal. We felt His presence every time unity prevailed."

The group decided to live as a community with a “family fireside” (focolare in Italian), in order to spread love to others. As Italy was then predominantly fascist, people began looking suspiciously at these "Focolarine" (fireside families), thinking they might be communists or members of a Protestant sect. The bishop was alerted, but after talking with them, he actually gave them his blessing and full support!

In 1948, when a young electrician came to make some repairs, he was so struck by the atmosphere of their community that he asked to become a "focolarino" himself. Two other men joined him. The first male residence was built in a former chicken coop!

Chiara Lubich’s Focolare Movement quickly became a meeting place for religious sisters and brothers, priests, and married people, attracted to this spirituality of sharing. They themselves came to share their joys and sufferings, as well as the meager resources the post-war period afforded.

The movement spread to all Europe, then to other continents. In 1960 the Holy See recognized the “Focolari” as a spiritual and fraternal movement, under its official name of “The Work of Mary.”

Collection of Marian Stories 1975

Marie de Nazareth