Editing Apostles of Infinite Love

{{Short description|Independent Catholic religious group}}
{{Infobox Christian denomination
| name = Apostles of Infinite Love
| image = Apostles-of-Infinite-Love-COA.png
| imagewidth =
| main_classification = [[Independent Catholicism|Independent Catholic]]
| orientation = [[Traditionalist Catholic]]
| polity = [[Episcopal polity|Episcopal]]
| founder = Michel Collin
| leader = 
| fellowships = 
| associations = 
| area = France, Canada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Italy, France, South Africa, United States<ref name="Lundberg2022"/>
| website = https://magnificat.ca
| hospitals = 
| nursing_homes = 
| aid = 
| congregations = 
| members = 
| ministers = 
| missionaries =
| temples = 
| primary_schools = 
| secondary_schools = 
| tertiary = 
| footnotes = 
}}
The '''Order of the Magnificat of the Mother of God''' ({{langx|fr|L’Ordre du Magnificat de la Mère de Dieu}}), also known as the '''Apostles of Infinite Love''' ({{langx|fr|Apôtres de l'amour infini}}), is a [[Traditional Catholic|traditionalist]] [[Independent Catholicism|Independent Catholic]] religious group active in various parts of the world, with its headquarters being near [[Mont-Tremblant]] in [[Quebec]].<ref name="MeltonBaumannBarrett2002">{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |last2=Baumann |first2=Martin |last3=Barrett |first3=David B. |title=Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices |date=2002 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-1-57607-223-3 |page=61 |language=English |quote=The Apostles of Infinite Love constitute a Catholic traditionalist group that sustains Quebec messianism, according to which Providence has saved...}}</ref><ref name="Lundberg">{{cite web |last1=Lundberg |first1=Magnus |url=https://wrldrels.org/2020/06/07/apostles-of-infinite-love/ |title=Apostles of Infinite Love|publisher=World Religions and Spirituality Project |access-date=6 March 2022 |language=English|quote=The Apostles of Infinite Love and the Order of the Mother of God were founded to preserve the traditional Catholic faith, which they thought was seriously threatened by the modernist development in the Roman Catholic Church, where most bishops and priests had apostatized.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Le phénomène religieux dans la Caraïbe: Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyane, Haïti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dih7YxHog54C&q=Le+ph%C3%A9nom%C3%A8ne+religieux+dans+la+Cara%C3%AFbe:+Guadeloupe,+Martinique,+Guyane,+Ha%C3%AFti |last=Hurbon |first=Laënnec |authorlink=Laënnec Hurbon |year=2000 |language=French |pages=328–32| publisher=KARTHALA Editions |isbn = 9782845861176}}</ref> It was founded by Michel Collin, a [[France|French]] Catholic priest in Lille, who proclaimed himself Pope Clement XV, after claiming to have received a vision from God crowning him with a [[papal tiara]].<ref name="Lundberg2022"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Importante opération policière chez les Apôtres de l'amour infini |url=http://www.gerard-collin.com/clement%20xv/presse.htm |publisher=[[Centre contre les manipulations mentales]] |date=October 1999 |accessdate=2009-08-15 |language=fr |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930093353/http://www.gerard-collin.com/clement%20xv/presse.htm |archivedate=2009-09-30 }}</ref> Initially heading a religious congregation that had Catholic archdiocesan approval, [[Jean-Gaston Tremblay]] merged his religious community with the Apostles of Infinite Love and led it for a time.<ref name="Lundberg2022"/> The Apostles of Infinite Love has attracted traditionalist Catholics unhappy with the modernizing changes made during the [[Second Vatican Council]].<ref name="Burke2011">{{cite news|last1=Burke|first1=Kerry|last2=Gendar|first2=Alison|last3=Alpert|first3=Lucas I.|title=Sect of Brooklyn 'nun' who falsely cried rape has bizarre history, mysterious members|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/sect-brooklyn-nun-falsely-cried-rape-bizarre-history-mysterious-members-article-1.133445|access-date=25 July 2015|work=Daily News|date=February 6, 2011}}</ref>

==History==
The Apostles of Infinite Love teach that they "were founded to preserve the traditional Catholic faith, which they thought was seriously threatened by the modernist developments in the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]], where most [[Bishop|bishops]] and [[Priest|priests]] had [[Apostasy|apostatized]]."<ref name="Lundberg2022">{{cite web |last1=Lundberg |first1=Magnus |url=https://wrldrels.org/2020/06/07/apostles-of-infinite-love/ |title=Apostles of Infinite Love|publisher=World Religions and Spirituality Project |access-date=6 March 2022 |language=English}}</ref> Their centre is located at the Monastery of Magnificat of the Mother of God in [[St. Jovite, Quebec]].<ref name="Lundberg2022"/>

Frenchman Michel Collin (sometimes spelled Colin),<ref>Most easily available sources use the form "Collin", but "Colin" is found in a [http://www.lcdpu.fr/livre/?GCOI=27000100215130 summary] of the book ''Clément XV, prêtre lorrain et pape à Clémery'' by Antoine Delestre.</ref> born in the village of [[Béchy]] in 1905 and [[Ordination|ordained]] a priest in 1933. In 1935, he experienced a vision in which Christ himself consecrated him as a bishop.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lundberg |first1=Magnus |title=A Pope of their Own: El Palmar de Troya and the Palmarian Church |page=48 |date=2020 |publisher=Uppsala University |location=Uppsala |edition=Second}}</ref> He founded a community called the Order of the Mother of God (a name later changed to "Apostles of Infinite Love"), in response to the 1846 request made by the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]], as reported later by [[Mélanie Calvat]], one of the seers of [[Our Lady of La Salette]]. Throughout the 1940s, Collin claiming "direct orders from Christ, Collin founded a chain of ''foyers-cenacles'', small house communities, where a consecrated host was on display at all times", claiming that he was restoring "the [[house church]]es of the apostolic times".<ref name="Lundberg2022"/> In 1950, he "reported having had a grand vision that God the Father, who put a [[papal tiara]] on his head", later embracing the name Pope Clement XV.<ref name=Smoke>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8OL9tyvN5YcC Michael W. Cuneo: ''The Smoke of Satan: Conservative and Traditionalist Dissent in Contemporary American Catholicism'' (JHU Press, 1999)] {{ISBN|0-8018-6265-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8018-6265-6}}, pp. 121&ndash;134</ref> [[Pope Pius XII]] [[Loss of clerical state (Catholic Church)|laicized]] him in 1951.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pope Clement XV |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904866,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022085549/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904866,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 22, 2008 |publisher=Time magazine |date=1971-03-15 |accessdate=2009-08-15}}</ref>

In 1952, Canadian Jean-Gaston Tremblay, along with Gilles de la Croix and Leónard du Rosaire, founded near [[Saint-Jovite, Quebec|Saint-Jovite]] in [[Quebec]], [[Canada]] a community under the name of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary with ecclesiastical approval from the Roman Catholic [[Archbishop of Montreal]] [[Paul-Émile Léger]].<ref name="Lundberg2022"/> He was previously a part of the [[Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God]].<ref name="Lundberg2022"/> Considering the religious community to be "too extreme", the archbishop's support waned and the brothers spent time searching for a permanent place to establish themselves.<ref name="Lundberg2022"/> In 1961, he met Michel Collin and the two decided to merge their communities into one called the Apostles of Infinite Love. Gregory stated that Colin was the man he saw in a vision he purportedly had twelve years prior, which had "the face of a future pope, chosen directly by God."<ref name="Lundberg2022"/> The following year Collin consecrated Tremblay a bishop.<ref name="Lundberg2022"/>

After the election of [[Pope Paul VI]] in the Catholic Church, Michel Collin denounced him as an [[antipope]].<ref name="Lundberg2022"/> The Saint-Jovite community grew rapidly in the first years of the [[Second Vatican Council]], exceeding 300 people in 1966.<ref name=Smoke/><ref name="Lundberg2022"/> Throughout the 1960s, the Apostles of Infinite Love protested against the changes in the Catholic Church, as well as the [[secularisation]] occurring in Canada, especially issues related to "the change of gender roles" and the "increasing number of schools and hospitals [that] moved from church to government."<ref name="Lundberg2022"/>

Since the 1960s, the Order of Magnificat of the Mother of God has accepted male and female [[Religious (Western Christianity)|religious]], who make vows of "[[Evangelical counsels|poverty, chastity, and obedience]]" and live under the Rule for the Apostles of the Latter Times, which they hold to be given by [[Our Lady of La Salette]] in 1846.<ref name="Lundberg2022"/>

In 1967, Collin claimed that he had been divinely instructed to bypass Tremblay as his designated successor; but in 1968, Tremblay claimed that he had mystically been made Pope under the name of Gregory XVII and, in the following year, Collin claimed that Tremblay was now Pope.<ref name=Smoke/> In France, Collin's movement broke up into different factions some years after his death in 1974.<ref>{{cite web|title=Clément XV — L'histoire résumée |url=http://www.gerard-collin.com/clement%20xv/histoire%20resumee.htm |publisher=Gérard Collin |accessdate=2009-08-15 |language=fr |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001202542/http://www.gerard-collin.com/clement%20xv/histoire%20resumee.htm |archivedate=2009-10-01 }}</ref>

In [[Guadeloupe]], the Apostles of Infinite Love established two convents, including one at [[Pointe-à-Pitre]], which became a place of [[Christian pilgrimage|pilgrimage]] after a girl in 1977 claimed to see a [[Marian apparition]] from Our Lady of Tears that lamented apostasy in the Catholic Church.<ref name="Lundberg2022"/>

Since the 1970s, the Apostles of Infinite Love has established a presence in various parts of the globe, including Guadeloupe, [[Guatemala]], the [[Dominican Republic]], [[Italy]], [[France]], [[South Africa]], and the [[United States]].<ref name="Lundberg2022"/>

Its Antipope Gregory XVIII was crowned in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hierarchy – Magnificat |url=https://magnificat.ca/odm/en/hierarchy/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=magnificat.ca}}</ref>

==Controversies==
From 1978 to 2001, the religious group was sued because of alleged abuses, including [[rape]], [[extortion]], and [[sexual abuse]]. Its [[millenarianism]], [[apocalypticism]], and its rejection of the world has led to frequent characterization of the group as a [[cult]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Grégoire XVII et les Apôtres de l'Amour Infini |url=http://classiques.uqac.ca/contemporains/rigal_cellard_bernadette/gregoire_xvii_apotres_amour_infini/gregoire_xvii_texte.html |publisher=Les Classiques des Sciences Sociales |author=Bernadette Rigal-Cellard |year=2005 |accessdate=2009-08-15|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2001-06-13 |title=Abuse charges stayed against cult members |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/abuse-charges-stayed-against-cult-members-1.262298 |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=[[CBC News]]}}</ref> In 1999, 100 police officers raided their reclusive community in St. Jovite.<ref>{{cite web|title=Descente chez les Apôtres de l'amour infini |url=http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/24/24889.htm |publisher=Radio-Canada |date=1999-04-14 |accessdate=2009-08-15 |language=fr |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930180644/http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/24/24889.htm |archivedate=2007-09-30 }}</ref> The co-accused was Reynald Huot, aka Father André. In 2001, the public prosecutor abandoned all charges against Jean-Gaston Tremblay after a 34-year investigation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Abandon des accusations contre le pape Jean |url=http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/Index/nouvelles/200106/13/005-PAPAJEAN.asp |publisher=Radio Canada |date=2001-06-13 |accessdate=2009-08-15 |language=fr |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018134708/http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/Index/nouvelles/200106/13/005-PAPAJEAN.asp |archivedate=2012-10-18 }}</ref>

In 2005, the city of [[Brébeuf, Quebec|Brébeuf]] obtained a decree from the Quebec government allowing it to [[expropriate]] the land of the religious group.<ref>{{cite news |title=Les "Apôtres de l'amour infini" seront expropriés |newspaper=La Presse |url=http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/200809/19/01-668496-les-apotres-de-lamour-infini-seront-expropries.php |publisher=La Presse Canadienne |date=2008-09-04 |accessdate=2009-08-15|language=fr}}</ref>

In 2011, the Apostles of Infinite Love once again attracted attention after a French Canadian [[Novice]] at the group's [[East Flatbush, Brooklyn|East Flatbush]] convent, Mary Turcotte, claimed that she had been raped by a Black man. After a police investigation began, Turcotte recanted her claim, with some media outlets claiming that she had made the accusation to cover up a consensual relationship with a Brooklyn local. Turcotte was later recalled to the group's headquarters in Quebec.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-02-06 |title=Sect of Brooklyn 'nun' who falsely cried rape has bizarre history, mysterious members |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2011/02/06/sect-of-brooklyn-nun-who-falsely-cried-rape-has-bizarre-history-mysterious-members/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=New York Daily News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-02-02 |title=Black men steamed by Brooklyn nun Mary Turcotte's fake rape claim |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2011/02/02/black-men-steamed-by-brooklyn-nun-mary-turcottes-fake-rape-claim/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=New York Daily News |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Antipope]]
* [[New religious movement]]
* [[Palmarian Catholic Church]]
* [[Sedevacantism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{in lang|fr|en|it|es}} [http://www.magnificat.ca/ Official site]

{{Traditionalist Catholicism}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Traditionalist Catholicism in Canada]]
[[Category:Christian organizations established in 1936]]
[[Category:Christian denominations established in the 20th century]]
[[Category:Millenarianism]]
[[Category:Christian new religious movements]]