2. The fruit of a meeting
FIAT was born out of a meeting of Bishop Suenens and Veronica O'Brien in 1947.
Veronica, after 1940, had taken on as her mission the establishment of the
Legion of Mary in France and other European countries. Bishop Suenens, then
auxiliary bishop of Malines, contacted her about this project.
In the course of events, Bishop Suenens gathered a small international apostolic group that resonated with the same spiritual vision. This group, focused on prayer and personal engagement at the service of the Church, played a significant role with a number of existing groups and already demonstrated the hopes of the Second Vatican Council.
During a retreat at Paray-le-Monial in 1981 this group felt called to enter into the "Fiat" of the Virgin Mary and discovered, through her, its special vocation at the heart of the Church. At the urging of Veronica the group spent a long time in prayer to discern the will of God.
In 1982 "The FIAT Group" was born rather informally and gained its missionary élan in 1984 with the FIAT rosary.
The Official establishment of the FIAT Association with its juridical statutes came on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 16 July 1987.