Among the various meanings, which the word praesidium can have, there is a fairly wide variety. The base meaning of the word over the whole period from Classical to Late Medieval Latin is "protection." In this sense, we find, for example, the Latin translation of a second century Coptic prayer to the Most Holy Mother of God, Sub Tuum Praesidium, the prayer that is generally rendered in English as something like: "we flee to your patronage, O Holy Mother of God. Despise not our prayers in our necessities, but you, who alone are pure and blessed, deliver us from all danger."
The rest of the meanings of this word are connected to this base meaning and are born from it. For example, the word can also mean a military detachment. In this sense, by the height of the Classical period this word had replaced the earlier word "manipulum" (maniple) to mean a small group of soldiers from a legion. What may have hastened the demise and replacement of the latter word was the fact that by the end of the Classical period a maniple was already becoming a fancy purse worn on the left arm by gentlemen and ladies doing business in the market. Then too, also equally connected to the base meaning is the derivative meaning of praesidium as a "garrison." This meaning of the word survives in several Romance languages, such as Spanish and Rumanian. In fact, near where my parents live there are very impressive ruins known as the Presidio San Saba, an old Spanish garrison, which takes its proper name because it is on the San Saba River.
As far as the thinking of legionaries in regard to the praesidium, it seems to me that there is a two-fold assignment. First, we must hold to the base meaning of the word in a full and real way and we must embrace the consequences that the derivative meanings show us in relation to the base meaning.
In terms of the base meaning, our obligation is reducible to the following: Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God, must be our protection. Our faith and our hope have to be, in a special way, in her. We need to have a deep confidence and a great sense of accountability to Our Most Holy Lady. In a chapter entitled "Consultation with Mary," Father Emile Neubert in his book Life in Union with Mary, asks an important rhetorical question when considering the will's responsibilities vis-a-vis the silencing of the passions and self-love, "how many human beings are afraid to look at their passions and egotism?" He goes on to answer, "Close to Mary, we do not fear to look; close to her the passions are calm, egotism is ashamed of itself; close to her we are sincere. 'Every man is a liar," says the Holy Spirit. We deceive our neighbor; even more often, we deceive our own conscience. But we cannot deceive our heavenly Mother. To her, we confess all: egotism, hypocrisy, cowardice; before her, we recognize the rights of truth, no matter how exacting. For, even if we love ourselves very much, we love her more. Hence, we never see our duty so clearly and so quickly as when we examine it in the presence of Mary." Thus, we see in the light of this quote that the Most Holy Mother of God is indeed our protection and help and we have unlimited access to that protection and help through consultation, through putting all our works before her and asking her in sincerity of heart to accept or reject them. Those inspirations, which she accepts, we follow through with, while those she rejects, we reject with complete confidence in her. Thus, she acts affirmatively in our defense as an ever-present guide.
But, this brings us to derivative meanings of the word praesidium. First, it is worth noting that the Hebrew word for garrison is metsudah. This word is used by King David many, many times in the Psalms to describe God Himself. God is David's metsudah, Who keeps him safe even in the most trying circumstances. As we have said, we put our faith and our confidence in the Most Holy Mother of God as our metsudah, but, do we look upon the praesidium as a visible manifestation of that protection? Further, do we believe that the sure guidance of the Most Holy Mother of God comes to us through the praesidium? Do we allow the voice of the Mother of God in the praesidium to be a commanding voice, or do we just allow the praesidium to affirm us in what we wanted to do anyway? Does the voice of the Mother of God in the praesidium have the power to impose hardship and inconvenience by obliging us to do something that is contrary to our will? Does it make us stretch beyond what we find agreeable?
Let us beg the Most Holy Mother of God to be our praesidium in the all the ways of our life. Let us consult her concerning every action and place before her every option, and with confidence let us trust her, gently conforming us to her Son, Who said, "I have not come to do My own will, but the will of Him, Who sent Me, the Father."
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