According to early adherents of Legio Maria, the Virgin Mary began appearing among the Luo people in the late 1920s. In their accounts, they say that she first appeared as an extraordinary itinerary woman. At a time estimated to be around 1935, this woman was walking at Awendo market in South Nyanza, when an empathizing tailor known as Omollo who was the son of Nyunja of Alego, Udida, gave her a dress gift. This woman is said to have promised Omollo an eternal name among the Luos. From that day on she began calling herself the mother of Omollo. By the 1940s, this woman is claimed to have visited the Catholic parish of Nyandago and conversed with over five members of its clergy about the mission of Ondetto. However, priests at Nyandago mission discounted the supposed apparitions, stating that Mary could not appear as a Black African.