Apostles of Infinite Love
Canadian Christian denomination
The Order of the Magnificat of the Mother of God (French: L’Ordre du Magnificat de la Mère de Dieu), also known as the Apostles of Infinite Love (French: Apôtres de l'amour infini), is a traditionalist Independent Catholic religious group active in various parts of the world, with its headquarters being near Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. It was founded by Michel Collin, a 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. 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. The Apostles of Infinite Love has attracted traditionalist Catholics unhappy with the modernizing changes made during the Second Vatican Council.
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 Roman Catholic Church, where most bishops and priests had apostatized." Their centre is located at the Monastery of Magnificat of the Mother of God in St. Jovite, Quebec.
Frenchman Michel Collin (sometimes spelled Colin), born in a village of Lorraine in 1905 and ordained a priest in 1935, announced in 1936 that he had been ordained a bishop by Christ himself. 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 La Salette. Throughout the 1940s, Collin and those who followed him "propagated the adoration of the Sacred Hearts of Christ and Mary" and 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", stating that he was restoring "the house churches of the apostolic times". 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. Pope Pius XII laicized him in 1951.
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