1. Forewardto theLegenda de Origine By: Fr. Franco M. Azzalli, OSM and Fr. Gino M. Leonardi, OSM

2. The Legenda de OrigineOrdinisfratrumServorumVirginisMariae (LO) – a title added by the copier at the end of the document – or Introduction to the Legendabeati Philippi servorumbeataeVirginisMariae – as the title at the beginning has it –, narrates the history of the beginnings of the Order of the Servants of Mary: the experience of the first group of the seven from 1233 to 1249/51 and consequent developments up to 1267, the beginning of the Generalate of Saint Philip Benizi.

3. The document, as it has come down to us, must have been drawn up shortly after 1317, after the translation of the body of Saint Philip Benizi which happened in the 10th of June in Todi. Fra Peter of Todi, prior general from 1314 to 1344, was present at the translation. The document is usually attributed to him, even though other authors have been suggested.

4. Thereis only one manuscript of the Legenda, preserved in the General Archives of the Order of the Servants of Mary in Rome, -copy of the original one (lost)- most probably written in 1375.

5. The text is divided into three parts. An introductory part, centered on the figure of Saint Philip Benizi and his relationship with the Order, of which the honor and the obligations deriving from the fact of having been founded directly by “Our Lady” are underlined.

6. A central part which is a real Legenda de Origine and which sketches out, without any precise references to people or dates, the spiritual journey and the first developments Of the first group of Servites.

7. A third part, taking up the theme interrupted, clarifying the role of Saint Peter of Verona in the evolution of the original group of Servants in the years 1244-45 and the successive steps of its development into juridically recognized communities, up to 1267.

8. You may therefore recognize an ancient nucleus, -maybe the De origineOrdinis by Phillip Benizi- focused on the religious experience of the Seven from the time when they still lived in the world up totheirdecision to welcome other brothers and to open new convents.

9. A different spiritual climate is found in the parts that can be attributed to the final editor,in which at the center have to be found the action of the Virgin and the fundamental events of the life of Saint Philip, who is the great model presented for the imitation of all Servants.

10. By means of the mention of the repeated interventions of the Virgin, the commitment to Marian service, the figure of Philip and the witness of fra Alexis, Fra Peter of Todi seeks to harmonize the Marian character which the Order already had at the start of the 14th century and the fundamental primitive elements. The END