OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP
The image is also known as “Our
Lady of Perpetual Succor.” The icon (about 54 x 41.5 centimeters) depicts
our Blessed Mother Mary, under the title “Mother of God,” holding the Child
Jesus. 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. In spite of that, 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. In a very beautiful way, the Child
Jesus grasps the hand of the Blessed Mother. He seeks comfort from His
mother, as He sees the instruments of His passion. The position of Mary’s
hands– both holding the Child Jesus (who seems like a small adult) and
presenting Him to us– convey the reality of our Lord’s incarnation, that He is
true God who became also true man. In iconography, Mary here is
represented as the Hodighitria, the one who guides us to the
Redeemer. 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. 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 fifteenth 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 image should be displayed for public veneration.
His friend, who retained the 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 image, 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 three hundred
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 forty
years. There, the image was neglected and forgotten. By divine
providence, the forgotten image was rediscovered. In 1866, Blessed Pope
Pius IX entrusted the image to the Redemptorists, who had just built the Church
of St. Alphonsus, down the street from St. Mary Major. As a boy, the Holy
Father had prayed before the image in the Church of St. Matthew. He
ordered the public display and veneration of the image, and fixed the feast of
Our Lady of Perpetual Help as the Sunday before the Feast of the Nativity of
St. John the Baptist. In 1867, when the image 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.
