A confraternity is a supernatural fellowship, organized and officially recognized by the Catholic Church, to which men and women commit themselves in order to pursue some good together. The bond of charity that unites members of a confraternity reflects the communion of the Holy Trinity and makes the pursuit of the common good easier and more delightful for the members. Some confraternities stand under the patronage of certain saints, such that their members enjoy a special relationship to their heavenly patrons and consequently are given privileged graces and spiritual benefits through that patron’s intercession.

The Angelic Warfare Confraternity is a supernatural fellowship of men and women bound to one another in love and dedicated to pursuing and promoting chastity together under the powerful patronage St. Thomas Aquinas and the Blessed Virgin Mary. The title of “Angelic Warfare” honors St. Thomas being girded by the angels. But the name is also appropriate because the pursuit of chastity is often a fierce struggle with the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world, the flesh, and the devil all work together to destroy chastity. The Holy Spirit, the good angels, and the confraternity work together to build up chastity.

There are three essential practices of those who belong to the confraternity:

Enrollment. In order for someone to be a member of the confraternity, the director of the confraternity must enter that person’s name into the confraternity’s official register. This normally happens after going through the solemn rite of reception into the confraternity (also known as the enrollment ceremony). In this ceremony, new members declare their intention to join the confraternity before a Dominican priest (or another duly appointed priest), and the priest in turn confers a special blessing upon the cord and medal of St. Thomas Aquinas and upon the person who will wear it. Once the ceremony has been completed, the priest sends an enrollment form to the director of the confraternity, who enters the new member’s name in the register.

Wearing the cord (or medal). Members wear either the blessed cord of St. Thomas or blessed medal of St. Thomas (or both) as continuously as one reasonably can.

Prayer. Members say the daily prayers for purity for oneself and all the members of the Confraternity. The daily prayers consist of two special prayers for chastity and fifteen Hail Mary’s.

The cord of St. Thomas is a thin cord with fifteen knots in it and blessed by a priest. It is worn around the waist underneath one’s clothing. In place of the cord, one may also wear the medal of the confraternity. On one side, the medal has the image of St. Thomas being girded by the angels, and on the other side it has the image of Our Lady of the Rosary. It too is blessed by a Dominican priest, and is worn like any other medal.

Any priest may bless the cord and medal as long as he uses the following prayer of blessing:

Priest: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, lover and guardian of purity, we implore your great mercy, that as you preserved St. Thomas Aquinas from stain of body and soul by girding him with a cord of chastity through the ministry of the Angels, you may deign to † bless and sanctify † these cords (medals) to your honor and glory, so that who ever reverently carries and wears them around his waist (bears and wears them) may be purified from all uncleanness of mind and body and may merit to be presented worthily to you by the hands of the Angels in his passing from this life. You who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.

Not necessarily. All confraternity members wear the blessed cord or medal as continuously as reasonably possible for the rest of their lives. The cord or medal or both are also worn while bathing and sleeping. Experience reveals the advantages of wearing the blessed cord or medal as continuously as possible.

However, members ought to use their common sense and prudence in this matter. Sometimes, there are circumstances that require one to remove the cord or medal, e.g. during surgery, during athletic events, perhaps during intimate moments in marriage, etc.. When such circumstances pass, the members put the cord or medal back on.

Fifteen Hail Mary’s

In honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, members say fifteen Hail Mary’s for chastity for themselves and all the members of the Confraternity. It is also sufficient to dedicate fifteen of the Hail Mary’s of the Rosary as being “for the Confraternity.”

The Two Prayers of Saint Thomas

In devotion to Saint Thomas, members also say the following two prayers:

The Prayer to St. Thomas for Purity

Chosen lily of innocence, pure St. Thomas, who kept chaste the robe of baptism and became an angel in the flesh after being girded by two angels, I implore you to commend me to Jesus, the Spotless Lamb, and to Mary, the Queen of Virgins. Gentle protector of my purity, ask them that I, who wear the holy sign of your victory over the flesh, may also share your purity, and after imitating you on earth may at last come to be crowned with you among the angels. Amen.

The Prayer of St. Thomas for Purity

Dear Jesus, I know that every perfect gift, and especially that of chastity, depends on the power of Your providence. Without You a mere creature can do nothing. Therefore, I beg You to defend by Your grace the chastity and purity of my body and soul. And if I have ever sensed or imagined anything that could stain my chastity and purity, blot it out, Supreme Lord of my powers, that I may advance with a pure heart in Your love and service, offering myself on the most pure altar of Your divinity all the days of my life. Amen.

The Popes have heaped many indulgences upon the Confraternity as a sign that they want people to join. All the members are eligible to receive a plenary indulgence in the following ways:

Once on the day of enrollment.

Every year on the feasts of Christmas, Easter, St. Thomas (Jan. 28), the Annunciation (March 25), the Assumption of the B.V.M. (Aug. 15), and All Saints Day (Nov. 1). Members gain a plenary indulgence on these days given the following four conditions:

1. Receive Holy Communion on that day with the intention of gaining the indulgence.

2. Go to the Sacrament of Penance within eight days before or after that day.

3. Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Apostle’s Creed for the intentions of the Holy Father

4. Renew privately the intention to live according to the practices and statute of the confraternity.

St. Thomas Aquinas becomes an official personal patron of each Confraternity member, the treasure chest of graces merited by the Dominican Order is opened up to all in the Confraternity to draw upon, and the prayers of thousands of other members of the Confraternity come to the aid of all the other members every day. People often say they no longer feel isolated in the pursuit of chastity but tied to others in the same pursuit. They often say they feel stronger and more equipped for the struggle.

Many people testify to a noticeable and sometimes great difference in their lives after joining.

Some people who join the Confraternity still fall into sexual sin. But even those who fall again still feel better off for having joined. The Confraternity is not a magic wand. The point of joining is not to find an instant solution to sin, but to find help in growing in chastity over time. And large numbers of people find that help in the Confraternity.

Furthermore, there is no additional gravity added to sexual sin because one is a member of the Confraternity. Members make no promise to succeed at chastity. They promise only to strive for chastity. The point of the Confraternity is to assist members in their striving rather than to shame them for their failures.

No. Since membership adds no gravity to sins committed, it is irrelevant to confession.

No. The Church has decreed that in no confraternity does a person commit sin by failing to observe any of its practices. Members should wear the cord or medal and say the daily prayers more out of love for one another than out of fear of sin.

Yes. The Confraternity is not just for those who have fallen into sexual sin or who struggle with it. Many people who have led a basically chaste life join the Confraternity in order to preserve their chastity in the future and to be of help to others through prayer.

One can join the Confraternity and petition the Lord to give the graces to someone else outside the Confraternity, and our Lord is known to hear such generous prayers when they are made with humility, confidence, and perseverance. Through special petitions, another person might thus benefit from one’s membership, but not in the same way as if he or she were a full member who intentionally seeks chastity and wears the blessed cord or medal.

Yes.

Since the Confraternity is an officially established Public Association of the Faithful, and members are deputed by the Church for the promotion of chastity, membership in the Confraternity is limited to those who are Baptized, Confirmed, and in full communion with the Catholic Church. Acknowledging that we share a great deal with our separated brothers and sisters in Christ, those Christians who are not Catholics are welcome to join us in receiving the blessing, wearing the blessed cord and medal, and saying the daily prayers. But their names cannot be inscribed in the Register as official members.

Membership in the Confraternity requires that one make a free and lifelong commitment to wearing the blessed cord and medal of St. Thomas. The law of the Church does not recognize those under seven years of age as being able to make such a free choice. Furthermore, membership presupposes the grace of Confirmation. Since the current practice of the Church generally (though not universally) is to Confirm people who are in the eighth grade and older, most Catholics younger than high school students are not eligible to be enrolled. For those Catholics who are in junior high and already Confirmed, the question remains of how maturely the person grasps the Church’s teaching on sexuality and chastity.

For children in junior high or younger who show signs of interest and desire in joining the confraternity, it is good for the child to wear a blessed medal of St. Thomas, to learn the daily prayers, and to look forward to full enrollment in the Confraternity at a more mature age. Such a time of waiting can be looked upon as a period of formation and preparation for membership as the child learns the meaning of human sexuality and chastity.

The blessing of a cord and medal of St. Thomas is special because it is, in effect, a blessing of one’s human sexuality. One’s human sexuality consists of all those natural and personal instincts, desires, and emotions that tend toward love, relationships, marriage, and the procreation and education of children. This intimate structure within each of us is naturally a source of joy and new life for human beings. But on account of the wounds of original sin there is also a disturbance in our human sexuality. We are weak, vulnerable to temptation, and are prone to act on sexual impulses outside of the right time and place rather than to act in accord with wisdom and seek the higher good. When the priest blesses the cord and medal of St. Thomas, the priest says: “may all who wear these cords and medals be purified from all uncleanness of mind and body” and later on: “May the Lord gird you with the cincture of purity and by the merits of St. Thomas extinguish within you every evil desire…” Through the priest’s words of blessing, the Spirit of Christ comes not only upon the cord and medal, but also to the person who will wear them. The Spirit comes to address the wounds of original sin as they afflict the man or woman’s human sexuality. The Spirit comes to move the whole person down the often long road of healing, liberation, and growth in chastity.

Chastity, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, is a quality of one’s being. It is an abiding orderliness among all of one’s sexual instincts, emotions, thoughts, and aims. As a result of having this abiding inner orderliness, one’s sexual impulses do not control the person but the person controls his or her sexual impulses with ease and joy. The chaste person is thus free to live out his or her sexuality in a way that leads to true happiness and avoids counterfeit happiness. Chastity comes from grace and the practice of self-control. Without it, people tend to fall into sexual sin and contract still further physical, psychological, and spiritual wounds. These wounds conspire to make self-control still harder. Chastity is often, therefore, something one arrives at over time. There is a road to chastity. It can be a hard road with many falls and frequent repentance. But it is a road that gradually frees the person from enslavement to sexual impulses and leads a man or woman to a happy self-mastery.

Joining the confraternity brings healing for the wounds of one’s past sexual sins, but not without one’s cooperation. The Holy Spirit moves in the Confraternity to heal members of the wounds of their sexual sins. One of the daily prayers says: “if I have ever imagined or felt anything that can stain my chastity and purity, blot it out, Supreme Lord of my powers, that I may advance with a pure heart…” This is a prayer for inner healing, and so members daily pray for the healing of wounds of sexual sin. Experience has proven that this prayer works, but not in a way that one might imagine at first hearing it. Rather than all the memories and wounds of past sin simply vanishing, the Holy Spirit gradually works a deep and very personal process of inner renewal and renovation of the heart. There is such a thing as a new innocence.