Devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help

My father was a Greek Catholic. In other words, his faith is recognized by Rome as one of the Eastern Rite Catholics. Russian is the official language for the Greek Catholic liturgies, although most who practice the faith are Ukrainians or Polish. They teach their faith through the sacred images preserved on beautiful religious icons. These works of art are passed down through hundreds of years of worship. One of the most widely recognized icon is Our Lady of Perpetual Help. My mother always had this icon in our house in Baltimore, Maryland.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help feast day is celebrated on June 27, and novenas to honor her are often scheduled for the public during the weeks leading up to that date.

Recently, in a dream, I recall seeing this icon speaking to me. Of course, I recognized the familiar image. When I saw the icon, I called out, "Mary?", as though we were having a conversation. She said, "Yes. But they do not recognize me. They do not know who I am." In my dream, she was referring to people who were somehow gathered nearby, in a room, but no specific person came into the discussion.

I woke up, contemplating what the dream might mean. So, I decided the icon must be asking me to spread the devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Therefore, I am putting the history and the novena prayers to the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help into this blog for everyone to access. My source is the Redemtorists.

History of the Miraculous Picture “It is our will that this picture of the Blessed Virgin be returned to the Church between St. Mary Major’s and St. John Lateran’s.”

About the time when Christopher Columbus brought his ship, the “Santa Maria”, to the shores of the Americas, another sailing vessel was bringing this wonder-working image to the shores of Europe. Who painted it, or when, we do not know. It had been venerated in the isle of Crete, and from Crete it came to Rome. (Michael Dubruiel writes about how the icon was stolen from Crete and taken to Rome.)

There it was retained by a private family until our Blessed Mother herself appeared to the little girl of the household and told her that she wished her picture to be placed in a Church. She even designated the place—“between my beloved Church of St. Mary Major’s and that of my beloved son, St. John of Lateran.”

On March 27, 1499, the picture was exposed for veneration, as she ordered, in the Church of St. Matthew where it remained for three long centuries drawing pilgrims from all parts of the Christian world. In 1798 war demolished the venerable structure, but the picture was not allowed to perish. The good Augustinian Fathers, who all these years had been in charge of St. Mathew’s, took it with them to the new monastery granted them by Pope Pius VII in another part of the city. The very last member of their Order to be professed in old St. Mathew’s was Brother Augustine Orsetti, In his new home he had as a frequent visitor a youth named Michael Marchi, who later became a Redemptorists priest. The Redemptorists came to Rome in 1855 and built a Church in honor of their founder, St. Alphonsus, on the site of the ancient St. Matthew’s. The old Brother had often spoken to the young Michael about the Madonna in the monastery Chapel saying, “Don’t forget now—mind me well—the picture in our Chapel is the one that was venerated in old St. Matthew’s. It was indeed a miraculous picture.

So when Father Marchi told them of the miracle-working image in the Augustinian monastery, the Redemptorists petitioned Pope Pius IX to have the Image placed in the Church on the spot chosen by Our Lady herself. And the Pope in granting the request said: “It is our will that this picture of the Blessed Virgin be returned to the Church between St. Mary Major’s and St. John Lateran’s.”

At the same time he commanded the Redemptorists to “make her known” all over the world. On April 26, 1866, a solemn procession carried the miraculous Madonna to her chosen spot in the Church of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, one of Mary’s greatest lovers and defenders. Today the original painting reposes in Rome while millions of replicas bring her and her Perpetual Help to all men everywhere.

Published by the Redemptorists Fathers; Printed in U.S.A., Barton-Cotton, Inc., Baltimore. Copyright 1948 by The Redemptorist Fathers. X Imprimi potest: John M. Frawley, C.Ss.R. Provincial Superior Nihil obstat: John M. Fearns, S.T.D. Censor Librorum Imprimatur: Francis Cardinal Spellman Archbishop of New York June 20, 1948. (Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help)

Mother Dear, O Pray for Me

1. Mother dear, O pray for me,

Whilst far from Heaven and Thee I wander in a fragile bark. O’er life’s tempestuous sea. O Virgin Mother, from Thy throne, So bright in bliss above, Protect They child, and cheer my path With Thy sweet smile of love.

Chorus Mother dear, remember me, And never cease Thy care, Till in heaven eternally They love and bliss I share.

2. Mother dear, O pray for me Should pleasure’s siren lay E’er tempt Thy child to wander far From virtue’s path away. When thorns beset life’s devious way And darkling waters flow, Then, Mary, aid They weeping child, Thyself a Mother show.

Novena Prayers To Our Mother of Perpetual Help (Priest and People) Behold at Thy feet, O Mother of Perpetual Help! l a wretched sinner who has recourse to Thee, and confides in Thee.

O Mother of mercy! Have pity on me

I hear Thee called by all, the Refuge and the Hope of sinners;

be then, my refuge and my hope. Assist me, for the love of Jesus Christ; stretch forth Thy hand to a miserable fallen creature, who recommends himself to Thee, and who devotes himself to Thy service forever. I bless and thank Almighty God, Who in His mercy has given me this confidence in Thee, which I hold to be a pledge of my eternal salvation. It is true, dearest Mother, that in the past I have miserably fallen into sin, l because I had not recourse to Thee.

I know, that with Thy help, I shall conquer. I know, too, that Thou wilt assist me, if I recommend myself to Thee; but I fear, dear Mother, that in time of danger, I may neglect to call on Thee, and thus lose my soul. This grace, then, I ask of Thee, and this I beg, with all the fervor of my soul, that, in all the attacks of hell, I may ever have recourse to Thee.

O Mary! Help me; O Mother of Perpetual Help, never suffer me to lose my God.

9 Hail Marys

O Mother of Perpetual Help! l grant that I may ever invoke Thy most powerful name, which is the safeguard of the living and the salvation of the dying. O purest Mary! O Sweetest Mary! let Thy name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, O Blessed Lady! to help me whenever I call on Thee; ever repeating Thy Sacred Name, Mary! Mary! O, what consolation, what sweetness, what confidence, what emotion fills my soul when I utter They Sacred Name, or even only think of Thee! I thank the Lord for having given Thee, for my good, so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering Thy name, let my love for Thee prompt me ever to hail Thee, O Mother of Perpetual Help.

9 Hail Marys

O Mother of Perpetual Help, Thou art the dispenser of all the gifts l which God grants to us miserable sinners; and for this end He has made Thee so powerful, so rich and so bountiful, in order that Thou mayest help us in our misery. Thou art the advocate of the most wretched and abandoned sinners who have recourse to Thee; come to my aid, dearest Mother, for I recommend myself to Thee. In Thy hands I place my eternal salvation, Count me among Thy most devoted servants; take me under Thy protection, and it is enough for me. For, if Thou protect me, dear Mother, I fear nothing; not from my sins, because Thou wilt obtain for me the pardon of them; nor from the devils, because Thou art more powerful than all hell together; nor even from Jesus, my Judge, because by one prayer from Thee, He will be appeased. But one thing I fear, that in the hour of temptation, I may through negligence fail to have recourse to Thee, and thus perish miserably. Obtain for me, therefore, the pardon of my sins, love for Jesus, final perseverance, and the grace to have recourse to Thee, O Mother of Perpetual Help.

Priest: Let Us Pray O Lord Jesus Christ who didst give us Thy Mother Mary, whose renowned image we venerate, to be a Mother ever ready to help us, grant, we beseech Thee, that we who constantly implore her maternal aid may merit to enjoy perpetually the fruits of Thy redemption, Who livest and reignest forever and ever. Amen.

Invocations to Our Lady Priest: O Mother of Perpetual Help, thou whose very name inspires confidence.