About Our Lady of Perpetual Help
A Mother Always Near — A History Rooted in Love
Our Lady of Perpetual Help is one of the most beloved titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Her icon — the famous image of Mary holding the Child Jesus — is known and venerated by Catholics around the world. But the story of this image is just as beautiful as its meaning.
History:
The original icon is believed to have been painted in the 13th or 14th century. According to tradition, it was stolen from a church in Crete by a merchant who wanted to profit from it. But along the way, something changed in his heart.
As the story goes, the merchant fell ill and, before dying, revealed to a Roman friend the miraculous power of the icon. He begged him to place it in a church where it could be honored. Eventually, after years of being hidden, the icon was placed in the Church of St. Matthew in Rome in 1499, and the people immediately recognized its holiness.
In 1866, Pope Pius IX entrusted the icon to the Redemptorist Fathers, instructing them to “make her known throughout the world.” Since then, the devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help has spread across the globe, with countless miracles and conversions attributed to her powerful intercession.
Quick Facts About Our Lady of Perpetual Help
- Official Title: Our Lady (or Mother) of Perpetual Help, also known as Our Mother of Perpetual Succour.
- Feast Day: June 27 (celebrated worldwide).
- Special Day: Wednesday is traditionally dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
- Original Icon Location: The miraculous icon is enshrined in the Church of Saint Alphonsus Liguori on Via Merulana, Rome, cared for by the Redemptorist Fathers.
- Origin: Byzantine-style icon, likely painted in Crete (Greece) between the 13th–15th century.
- How it reached Rome: Brought from Crete by a merchant in the late 1400s and solemnly placed in the Church of San Matteo in 1499.
- Pope’s Involvement: In 1866, Blessed Pope Pius IX entrusted the icon to the Redemptorists and ordered its public veneration.
- Icon Meaning: It shows Mary holding the Child Jesus, who is looking fearfully at the instruments of His Passion (cross, nails, spear, sponge) carried by Archangels Michael and Gabriel. Mary’s eyes look directly at us, inviting us to turn to her Son.
Symbolism Highlights:
- Mary’s hands gently hold Jesus while presenting Him to us.
- Jesus’ sandal is slipping off — a sign of His human fear and haste to seek comfort in His Mother.
- Greek letters: ΜΡ ΘΥ = Mother of God; IC XC = Jesus Christ.
- The gold background represents heavenly glory and the Resurrection.
Devotion Strength: This icon is famous for countless reported miracles, healings, and answered prayers, especially in impossible or urgent cases. The weekly Perpetual Novena (every Wednesday) draws thousands worldwide.
How to Pray the Novena
- Pray once a day for 9 consecutive days
- Best time: Morning or before bed
- Optional: Light a candle, have an image or statue of St. Jude
| Novena Begins: | June 18 |
| Feast Day: | June 27 |
Name meaning: Forever Helping
Patron Saint of: Italy, Redemptorist Order, Haiti, Philippines, Oklahoma City, South Dakota, Kansas, England, Georgia
Day 1 – Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your powerful name, the protection of the living and the salvation of the dying. Purest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, Blessed Lady, to rescue me whenever I call on you. In my temptations, in my needs, I will never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary.
What a consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul when I utter your sacred name or even only think of you! I thank the Lord for having given you so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me ever to hail you Mother of Perpetual Help. Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me and grant me the favor I confidently ask of you.
(Mention your request here…Then say three Hail Mary’s)
Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary…Say 1: Glory Be…
Day 2 – Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your powerful name, the protection of the living and the salvation of the dying. Purest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, Blessed Lady, to rescue me whenever I call on you. In my temptations, in my needs, I will never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary.
What a consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul when I utter your sacred name or even only think of you! I thank the Lord for having given you so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me ever to hail you Mother of Perpetual Help. Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me and grant me the favor I confidently ask of you.
(Mention your request here…Then say three Hail Mary’s)
Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary…Say 1: Glory Be…
Day 3 – Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your powerful name, the protection of the living and the salvation of the dying. Purest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, Blessed Lady, to rescue me whenever I call on you. In my temptations, in my needs, I will never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary.
What a consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul when I utter your sacred name or even only think of you! I thank the Lord for having given you so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me ever to hail you Mother of Perpetual Help. Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me and grant me the favor I confidently ask of you.
(Mention your request here…Then say three Hail Mary’s)
Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary…Say 1: Glory Be…
Day 4 – Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your powerful name, the protection of the living and the salvation of the dying. Purest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, Blessed Lady, to rescue me whenever I call on you. In my temptations, in my needs, I will never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary.
What a consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul when I utter your sacred name or even only think of you! I thank the Lord for having given you so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me ever to hail you Mother of Perpetual Help. Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me and grant me the favor I confidently ask of you.
(Mention your request here…Then say three Hail Mary’s)
Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary…Say 1: Glory Be…
Day 5 – Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your powerful name, the protection of the living and the salvation of the dying. Purest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, Blessed Lady, to rescue me whenever I call on you. In my temptations, in my needs, I will never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary
What a consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul when I utter your sacred name or even only think of you! I thank the Lord for having given you so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me ever to hail you Mother of Perpetual Help. Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me and grant me the favor I confidently ask of you.
(Mention your request here…Then say three Hail Mary’s)
Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary…Say 1: Glory Be…
Day 6 – Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your powerful name, the protection of the living and the salvation of the dying. Purest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, Blessed Lady, to rescue me whenever I call on you. In my temptations, in my needs, I will never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary.
What a consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul when I utter your sacred name or even only think of you! I thank the Lord for having given you so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me ever to hail you Mother of Perpetual Help. Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me and grant me the favor I confidently ask of you.
(Mention your request here…Then say three Hail Mary’s)
Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary…Say 1: Glory Be…
Day 7 – Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your powerful name, the protection of the living and the salvation of the dying. Purest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, Blessed Lady, to rescue me whenever I call on you. In my temptations, in my needs, I will never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary.
What a consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul when I utter your sacred name or even only think of you! I thank the Lord for having given you so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me ever to hail you Mother of Perpetual Help. Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me and grant me the favor I confidently ask of you.
(Mention your request here…Then say three Hail Mary’s)
Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary…Say 1: Glory Be…
Day 8 – Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your powerful name, the protection of the living and the salvation of the dying. Purest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, Blessed Lady, to rescue me whenever I call on you. In my temptations, in my needs, I will never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary.
What a consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul when I utter your sacred name or even only think of you! I thank the Lord for having given you so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me ever to hail you Mother of Perpetual Help. Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me and grant me the favor I confidently ask of you.
(Mention your request here…Then say three Hail Mary’s)
Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary…Say 1: Glory Be…
Day 9 – Mother of Perpetual Help Novena
Let us begin, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Oh Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke your powerful name, the protection of the living and the salvation of the dying. Purest Mary, let your name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, Blessed Lady, to rescue me whenever I call on you. In my temptations, in my needs, I will never cease to call on you, ever repeating your sacred name, Mary, Mary.
What a consolation, what sweetness, what confidence fills my soul when I utter your sacred name or even only think of you! I thank the Lord for having given you so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me ever to hail you Mother of Perpetual Help. Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for me and grant me the favor I confidently ask of you.
(Mention your request here…Then say three Hail Mary’s)
Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Say 1: Our Father… Say 1: Hail Mary…Say 1: Glory Be…
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Our Lady of Perpetual Help Prayer
“O Mother of Perpetual Help,
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, for,
in all my needs, in all my
temptations I shall never cease
to call on Thee, ever repeating
Thy sacred name, Mary, Mary.
O what consolation, what
sweetness, what confidence,
what emotion fill my soul when
I pronounce Thy sacred name,
or even only think of Thee.
I thank God for having given
Thee, for my good, so sweet,
so powerful, so lovely a name.
But I will not be content with
merely pronouncing Thy name:
let my love for Thee prompt
me ever to hail Thee,
Mother of Perpetual Help.“
[Recite Nine Hail Mary’s]
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