Lesotho Set For Re-Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary

by Daluxolo Moloantoa · Published July 6, 2023 · Updated July 7, 2023

King of Lesotho Letsie III

A re-consecration of Lesotho to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is set to take place on Saturday, July 8 at St Louis Church in Matsieng, a small village in the Maseru region of Lesotho. Organised by four young people who belong to the Bana Ba Maria sodality, the event also forms part of the year-long silver jubilee celebration for the reigning king of the Basotho nation, King Letsie III. The occasion will also be a celebration of the king`s sixtieth birthday, which is on July 17. King Letsie III is the only reigning Roman Catholic monarch in Africa.

“We have organised a day for the re-consecration our nation to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It`s a day where we will have Holy Mass celebrated by Archbishop Gerard Tlali Lerotholi OMI of Maseru, who will lead the re-consecration in the presence of His Majesty King Letsie III and the royal family”.

Archbishop Gerard Lerotholi of Maseru

This will be a follow-up of the original consecration of our country in 1865 by Bishop Jean Francois Allard, the then vicar-apostolic of the Vicariate of Natal. It took place on the occasion of the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was as a response to a request made to Bishop Allard by King Moshoeshoe I, the founder of the Basotho nation,” organiser Lucy Matobo said.

In October 2013, King Letsie III was invested as a Bailiff Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George. The king`s investiture into the Constantinian Order took place at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Lesotho to Italy in Rome, and it was conducted by His Eminence Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, Grand Prior of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George.

King Letsie III meets with Pope Francis in 2013

The investiture took place as part of the wider visit of the monarch`s official visit to His Holiness Pope Francis. Queen Masenate Mohato Seeiso also attended the ceremony, together with senior ministers of the Lesotho government.

Holy Mass will be followed by the blessing of the royal family by Archbishop Lerotholi and by the cutting of the cake in celebration of the king`s birthday and his silver jubilee. Then there will be the recitation of a 1000 Hail Marys. “This is meant to highlight the importance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in our country`s existence from the first consecration up to today,” she said. This will be followed by the presentation of a brief history of the first consecration in 1865.

“The event is not organised under the auspices of the Ban ba Maria sodality, but by us as individual youth devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” she stated. The royal family live in Matsieng village, and St Louis church is their home parish.

For further details, please contact Lucy Matobo at Cell: +266 6931 6589 Email: .