ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the Inquisitorial process against Father Franz Reittemberger, one of the last Jesuit missionaries in the Mariana Islands, a process which resulted from anti-Jesuit sentiments that eventually led to the suppression of devotion to Our Lady of Light. Father Reittemberger was accused of sexual impropriety by the Recollects, who were sent to the Mariana archipelago to replace the Jesuits. It explores the origin of Marian congregations, groups of people who banded together under the special protection of the Virgin Mary to pursue a lifestyle that sought to integrate Christian faith and virtues with everyday life and occupations. The chapter examines the importance of the "indirect relationship" between the Virgin Mary and the community through the agency of Father Reittemberger, who founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Light in Saint Ignatiusin 1758. At the same time, some of the congregants who had drawn themselves to Marian devotion were also able to resist Father Reittemberger's sexual appetites.
