The original icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, known traditionally as “Our Lady of Perpetual Succour,” is venerated above the principal altar of the Shrine Church of Saint Alphonsus in Rome on the Esquiline Hill. 

The original icon is painted on wood, and seems to have originated around the 13th century. The icon depicts the Holy Virgin holding the Christ Child. The Archangels Michael and Gabriel, hovering in the upper corners, hold the instruments of the Passion—St. Michael (in the left corner) holds the spear, the wine-soaked sponge, and the crown of thorns, and St. Gabriel (in the right corner) holds the cross and the nails. The intent of the artist was to portray the Child Jesus contemplating the vision of His future Passion. The anguish He feels is shown by the loss of one of His sandals. Though He is God, Jesus is also human and walks the streets of this world filled with suffering and trial. Nevertheless, the icon also conveys the triumph of Christ over sin and death, symbolized by the golden background (a sign of the glory of the resurrection) and the manner in which the angels hold the instruments, i.e. like trophies gathered up from Calvary on Easter morning.

The Child Jesus grasps the hand of His Blessed Mother. He seeks comfort from His mother, as He sees the instruments of His passion. Mary here is represented as the Hodighitria, the one who guides us to the Redeemer. The position of her hands—both holding the Child Jesus (who seems like a small adult) and presenting Him to us. She also is our Help, who intercedes on our behalf with her Son. The star painted on Mary’s veil, centered on her forehead, highlights her role in the plan of salvation as both the Mother of God and our Mother too.

According to popular tradition, a merchant acquired the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help from the island of Crete and had it shipped to Rome towards the end of the 15th century. During the voyage, a terrible storm arose, threatening the lives of all on ship.  The passengers and crew prayed to our Blessed Mother, and were saved.

Once in Rome, the merchant, dying, ordered that the icon should be displayed for public veneration. His friend, who retained the hallowed image, received further instructions: in a dream to his little daughter, the Blessed Mother appeared and expressed the desire for the image to be venerated in a church between the Basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran in Rome. The icon, consequently, was housed at the Church of St. Matthew, and became known as “The Madonna of Saint Matthew.”  Pilgrims flocked to the church for the next 300 years, and great graces were bestowed upon the faithful.

After Napoleon’s troops destroyed the Church of St. Matthew in 1812, the image was transferred to the Church of St. Mary in Posterula, and remained there for nearly 40 years.  There, the icon was neglected and forgotten.

By divine providence, the forgotten image was rediscovered. In 1866, Pope Blessed Pius IX, who had prayed before the icon in the Church of St. Matthew as a boy, entrusted the icon to the Redemptorists, who had just built the Church of St. Alphonsus, down the street from St. Mary Major. He commissioned the Redemptorists to: “Make her known to the world!” Pius IX ordered the public display and veneration of the icon. In 1867, when the icon was being carried in a solemn procession through the streets, a young child was cured, the first of many recorded miracles attributed to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

On 15th August 1868, the first copy of the icon was brought to the United States and placed in the private chapel of the Redemptorist Novitiate in Annapolis. On 12th December 1869, an exact copy was received at Most Holy Redeemer, a parish established by the Redemptorists in New York City in 1844 to serve the German immigrant population of the East Village. Devotion to the image spread rapidly. Many cures and favors granted by Our Lady were reported. In 1870 the cure of a woman was announced from Saint Francis Hospital on Fifth Street. 

On 10th February 1871, a Papal Indult was received granting a 300 days indulgence to all who devoutly pray before the icon enshrined in Most Holy Redeemer.

In 1903, a solemn crowning ceremony of Our Mother of Perpetual Help was held. Pious women donated their jewelry—the crown is gold, set with twelve diamonds and precious stones. The altar of this chapel was consecrated on 15th December 1914.

Today, devotions to Our Mother of Perpetual Help are conducted at Most Holy Redeemer following the daily Mass when the Rosary is recited in her honor. A Solemn Mass is offered in this chapel every year on 27th June, the feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

 

OUR LADY'S SHRINE

"Close to the Sacred Heart, it nestles fair-

A marble poem; an aesthetic dream

Of sculptured beauty, fit to be the theme

Of angel-fancies; a Madonna prayer

Uttered in stone.

Behold,

Her maiden image in that shrine of snow, 

Looks outward on the hearts that bleed below;

Looks upward to the skies of blue and gold,

As to Her Son, each pain of ours is told."

"LADY CHAPEL AT EDEN HALL"

The image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was introduced into America in 1868. That year August 15th a copy was placed in the private chapel of the Redemptorist Novitiate at Annapolis.

Four months later, it was exposed for public cult at St. James' Church, Baltimore. Yet it was not until May, 1870, that her miraculous picture was publicly enthroned in Most Holy Redeemer Church. It is hardly possible that the Fathers, in that interval of two years, did nothing to instill this devotion into the hearts and minds of the faithful.

That May 1, 1870 was one of the most memorable in parish history. The Solemn Vespers were intoned, as a prelude to the blessing of the picture, which had been set up in the sanctuary. Then followed a procession through the church and the enthronement of the picture near the Blessed Virgin's altar. This was but the beginning of a Triduum in honor of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. For the next three days, the faithful were enlightened on the history of the picture. Books had been printed and distributed to enshrine the history more indelibly on their hearts. Pictures and medals were given as additional aids to promote the devotion. In a very short time Our Lady had found Her way, not only into every home in the parish, but throughout the State. Large crowds, particularly of the sick and infirm, flocked to Her Shrine, seeking relief from their woes. Within two years, the devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help had become so popular that the New York "Sun" remarks: "Many indeed are the temporal blessings obtained through the devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Baltimore, New York, and elsewhere; but so numerous are the spiritual favors, conversions from heresy, from unbelief and from lives of sin and crime that to relate but one half of them would require several volumes. No wonder then that a devotion so evidently blessed by God should become popular in so short a time…"

During those days of Our Lady's first public audience in Holy Redeemer Church, she gave positive evidences of her pleasure. During the Triduum, the cure of a woman from the 5th Street Hospital was announced. From that time on, she has repeated this evidence. The faithful were exhorted to record any favors granted. Whilst we have no copies of the favors received from 1870 on, we know from a letter of a later date, that such records were kept and published yearly. We quote the letter in question. It came from the Superioress of St. Joseph's Convent, Toungee, India.

The original is inserted in the annals for 1893 and dated October 14th. It was sent to one of the Fathers at Third Street and reads in part:

"Reverend and dear Father: …….And now that the power of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is known more and more and more among us and that nothing is impossible to her, you will be good enough to insert in her annals, the following fact: Two of our orphan girls imprudently ate poisonous food. They were already at death's door and the doctor had given them up when we thought of the wonderful cures obtained through the intercession of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Soon we began a novena and promised the publication of the cure of these half dead girls. After two days, their bodies, which had become as cold as ice, recovered their natural temperature. Now they are able to work again. Glory be to our good Mother. At present, I beg you to be so kind, to pray for a young girl who is declared hopeless by the doctor. With my religious respect, I remain, 

Yours sincerely,

Sr. M. J. Caffarel

From 1897 on, a more faithful record was kept of Our Lady's favors. Miss A. Kennedy, this city, writes:

"A poor mother had a son who was a great drunkard. She had nothing left to do but to break up her home and leave him to his fate. I sent her those tissue pictures. She put them into his food. The result was, he went to the Sacraments, and the last time I heard from her, he was doing well."

Miss Elizabeth Doyle of Tomahawk, Lincoln Co., Wisconsin in a letter dated December 10th, 1897, writes:

"A woman friend of mine was suffering from a poisoned face. I gave her the little tissue pictures of the B. V. Mary and they seemed to work a miracle, for her face began to heal at once."

Mrs. P. K. Formes, 511 Leavenworth St., San Francisco, California, writes September 7th, 1898:

"Send me a few of those miraculous pictures of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. So many sick people ask me for them and are relieved and cured."

Whether it was Saginaw, Michigan; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Charleston, South Carolina; Toungee, China; Linwood, Ontario, Canada- Holy Redeemer Church was the clearing house, it seems, for these and hundreds of other letters, from that blessed day Our Lady of Perpetual Help made Her home in this Church. For the annals are replete with letters, dated and signed. To record them on this occasion of the Jubilee would require a separate booklet.

More and more the faithful became conscious of power that went forth from Our Lady's Shrine. More and more they felt Our Lady must have some public recognition of thanks for all She had done. 

In 1897, a Brooklyn lady approached Father Tewes. Many a time she had knelt at Our Lady's Shrine and knew the mercy and blessing of her powerful aid. As she knelt there, she often wondered why her Heavenly Queen was not adorned with a more precious crown than one of tin and colored glass. She begged Father Tewes to do something about it. It was a noble idea, but Father Tewes did not see how it could be realized at once. Time and time again the same woman would meet the Father. Each time her conversations were on the same theme. But one day, she showed Father Tewes how that dream could be fulfilled. She placed in his hand three jewels. From that time on, Father Tewes worked more earnestly to achieve this dream. Other lovers of Mary began to show in substantial ways their gratitude. Thus the day dawned for the Crowning of Our Lady's picture, May 31st, 1903.

A better time could not have been chosen than this day of the May Devotion's closing. After the Rosary and Blessing of the Picture, Father Tewes delivered the sermon, in English, then German. He revealed that Mrs. McLoughlin had been the inspiration of this reality. She had given the three costly jewels. Mrs. Vollmer had contributed $100 for the new frame encircling the picture and decorations for the altar. Mrs. Schwarz and Werckle had given liberal donations toward the crown of Our Lady and the Infant. After an expression of thanks to all who had helped to bring about this remarkable event, Father Tewes exhorted all present always to have recourse to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. He made a special appeal to all, who, at one time or another, had been her faithful clients and then forsaken her. 

His final remark was, "Just as this picture of Our Lady has been renewed by fresh colors, frame and a crown, so each client of Mary ought to renew his love and devotion to this most gracious Mother." The solemn procession that followed and the Solemn Benediction with the closing strains of "Grosser Gott" are memories still sacred to the hearts of many parishioners today. 

From 1870 until 1910, the shrine of Our Lady remained inside the Communion railing on the wall next to the Altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On November 21st, 1910, the Shrine was placed on the wall outside the railing, replacing the space occupied by the statue of St. Anthony which was removed to the rear of the church, at the Epistle side, where it still stands. The statue of St. Gerard, which occupied a pillar in the sanctuary on the Gospel side was removed at this time to the vestibule of the church. 

December 15, 1914, the Most Rev. Thomas Cusack, Coadjutor Bishop of New York, solemnly consecrated a new altar to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. This is the altar that the faithful today see in the rear of the church on the Epistle side. It was the gift of two sisters, Misses Josephine and Anna Werckle, as a memorial to their father and mother. 

In 1937, when Father Behr became rector of the parish, there was a decided upward swing in devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The Fathers were called upon to conduct Triduums and Novenas in many churches in New York. Every Tuesday, Father Gerstenlauer preached five sermons at the Perpetual Help devotions, in St. Bernard’s Church, New York, in 1938. That same year, Mother of Perpetual Help devotions were started at Holy Eucharist Church, Yonkers, NY, and continuously conducted on Tuesdays till the end of the year. Father Frederick Andres introduced the devotions in that parish. Fridays during the year devotions were conducted in St. Joseph’s Church, this city, by Father Andres. The reader can see from this schedule that each week, besides the regular Wednesday devotions in our church, Our Lady’s cause was being spread in New York City and its environs. 

November 7, 1938, Our Lady was enshrined in the Bowery’s famous Holy Name Church, of which Father McCoy was pastor. Father Andres introduced the devotions and conducted them each Monday. Shortly afterward the old church was closed and another erected at Bleecker Street and given the name “Our Lady of Perpetual Help”.

A portable bronze image of Our Lady’s picture was donated by Mrs. Catherine Meighan, April 29, 1938, for use at the Wednesday devotions. This altar is usually rolled out to the Epistle side of the sanctuary, where the clients of Mary have the image of their Mother ever before them during the services.

From the schedules we have given, the reader can see that the Fathers of the community were engaged on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, making known the power of their favorite Mother of Perpetual Help. In so doing, they were only heeding the instructions she left the world, that she wishes to be publicly honored not only by being enthroned in our churches, but in the hearts of men. Every silent suppliant, kneeling at her shrine, is like a voice proclaiming:

"Here now we seek cool refuge

And turn from the noisy street,

And carry our burdens of sorrow

And leave them at Mary’s feet.”

1. PROCTOR

Just at present, the greatest and most universal burden of most hearts, are sons and daughters in far flung battle fronts. These sons’ and daughters’ names have been inscribed on an Honor Roll and placed at Mary’s feet at the Shrine. There is hardly a client of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, who does not stop there sometime during the day to write a little note to Our Lady and pick up the ornamented card with the prayer for those in the service. When one considers the size of this parish, the list is terrifying. Out of a parish of only 1100 people, 236 are in the service.