Confraternities and archconfraternities
Angelic Warfare Confraternity
AWC · Angelic Militia of St Thomas Aquinas · Militia Angelica
St Thomas Aquinas whose girding it remembersBenedict XIII approved it
Order of Preachers (Dominicans). It is an official public association of the faithful directed by the friars, with regional promoters who keep the register.
SacramentalsThe blessed cord of St Thomas, or the blessed medal, worn for life.
The long way round
In person, with a priest. Free to be enrolled. The pre-knotted cord is $4.00, the medal $6.00, and the full enrollment packet with cord, medal, booklets and form is $12.95 from New Hope Publications. The ritual booklet and enrollment form are free downloads.
How to be enrolledYou order a cord or medal, download the enrollment form and ritual booklet, then arrange the rite of solemn reception with a Dominican priest or with a local priest who has requested the faculty from the regional promoter, and finally mail the signed form to the promoter so your name goes in the register.
This is a fellowship for people who want help living chastely, whether they are single, married, or consecrated. A member wears a small blessed cord with fifteen knots around the waist under their clothes, or a blessed medal of St Thomas Aquinas, and says a short set of prayers each day: fifteen Hail Marys plus two prayers of St Thomas asking for purity. The point is not a quick fix. People say the real change is that they stop feeling alone in the struggle, because thousands of other members are praying the same prayers for them every day.
Where it comes from
Organised as a confraternity in the mid 1600s at Louvain by Fr Francis Duerwerders, O.P., and established for the whole Church in 1727 by Pope Benedict XIII. The devotion to the cord of St Thomas goes back to the fifteenth century.
What you promise
Three things. Have your name entered in the official register by the Confraternity director, normally after going through the solemn rite of reception with a priest. Wear the blessed cord of St Thomas or the blessed medal, or both, as continuously as you reasonably can, for life. Say the daily prayers: fifteen Hail Marys for chastity for yourself and all members, plus the Prayer to St Thomas for Purity and the Prayer of St Thomas for Purity. Members promise only to strive for chastity, not to succeed at it, and the Church has decreed that failing to keep a confraternity practice is not itself a sin.
What the Church attaches
St Thomas Aquinas becomes a personal patron; members draw on the merits of the Dominican Order and on the daily prayers of all other members. A plenary indulgence is available on the day of enrollment and each year on Christmas, Easter, the feast of St Thomas (28 January), the Annunciation (25 March), the Assumption (15 August) and All Saints (1 November), under the usual conditions plus a private renewal of the intention to live by the confraternity's statute.
Enrollment checked 2026-10-22. Details change without notice and parish practice varies. Confirm before relying on this sheet.