Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help - June 27th

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Our Lady of Perpetual Succour
(Or Our Lady of Perpetual Help.)
Taken from the 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia

The picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour is painted on wood, with background of gold. It is Byzantine in style and is supposed to have been painted in the thirteenth century. It represents the Mother of God holding the Divine Child while the Archangels Michael and Gabriel present before Him the instruments of His Passion. Over the figures in the picture are some Greek letters which form the abbreviated words Mother of God, Jesus Christ, Archangel Michael, and Archangel Gabriel respectively. It was brought to Rome towards the end of the fifteenth century by a pious merchant, who, dying there, ordered by his will that the picture should be exposed in a church for public veneration. It was exposed in the church of San Matteo, Via Merulana, between St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran. Crowds flocked to this church, and for nearly three hundred years many graces were obtained through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. The picture was then popularly called the Madonna di San Matteo. The church was served for a time by the Hermits of St. Augustine, who had sheltered their Irish brethren in their distress. These Augustinians were still in charge when the French invaded Rome (1812) and destroyed the church. The picture disappeared; it remained hidden and neglected for over forty years, but a series of providential circumstances between 1863 and 1865 led to its discovery in an oratory of the Augustinian Fathers at Santa Maria in Posterula.

The pope, Pius IX, who as a boy had prayed before the picture in San Matteo, became interested in the discovery and in a letter dated 11 Dec., 1865 to Father General Mauron, C.SS.R., ordered that Our Lady of Perpetual Succour should be again publicly venerated in Via Merulana, and this time at the new church of St. Alphonsus. The ruins of San Matteo were in the grounds of the Redemptorist Convent. This was but the first favour of the Holy Father towards the picture. He approved of the solemn translation of the picture (26 April, 1866), and its coronation by the Vatican Chapter (23 June, 1867). He fixed the feast as duplex secundae classis, on the Sunday before the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, and by a decree dated May, 1876, approved of a special office and Mass for the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. This favour later on was also granted to others. Learning that the devotion to Our Lady under this title had spread far and wide, Pius IX raised a confraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and St. Alphonsus, which had been erected in Rome, to the rank of an arch-confraternity and enriched it with many privileges and indulgences. He was amongst the first to visit the picture in its new home, and his name is the first in the register of the arch-confraternity. Two thousand three hundred facsimiles of the Holy Picture have been sent from St. Alphonsus's church in Rome to every part of the world. At the present day not only altars, but churches and dioceses (e.g. in England, Leeds and Middlesborough; in the United States Savannah) are dedicated to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. In some places, as in the United States the title has been translated Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

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Mary from thy Sacred Image
with those eyes so sadly sweet
Mother of Perpetual Succour
see us kneeling at thy feet.

In thine arms thy Child thou bearest;
Source of all thy joy and woe;
What thy bliss, how deep thy sorrows,
Mother thou alone canst know.

On thy face He is not gazing,
Nor on us is turned His glance
For His anxious look He fixes
On the Cross and Reed and Lance.

To thy hands His hands are clinging
As a child would cling in fear,
Of that vision of the torments
Of His Passion drawing near.

And for Him thine eyes are pleading
While to us they look and cry:
"Sinners spare my Child your Saviour,
seek not still to crucify."

Yes, we hear thy words sweet Mother,
But poor sinners we are weak;
At thy feet thy helpless children
Thy Perpetual Succour seek.

Succour us in clouds of sadness;
Hide the light of heaven above;
Hope expires and faith scares lingers;
And we dare not think we love.

In that hour of gloom and peril,
Show to us thy radiant face,
Smiling down from thy loved Image,
Rays of cheering light and grace.

Succour us when stormy passion,
Sudden rise within the heart.
Quell the tempest, calm the billows,
Peace secure to us impart.

Through this life of weary exile
Succour us in every need;
And when death shall come to free us,
Succour us ah! then indeed.

Source

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Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Taken from here

The Picture

The original picture painted on gold ground, is the work of a devout and skillful master. The best judges concede that it must have been painted in the 13th or 14th century, in the East, as its Grecian or Byzantine style plainly shows. The Blessed Mother, in half-figure, has her child on her left arm, and in her right hand, she holds the hand of her Divine Infant. Her beautiful eyes are directed towards the beholder with an expression of tender reproach, and speak eloquently of her great anguish at the sufferings of her Son. On either side of her head are four Greek letters, which stand for the words "Mother of God."

The Divine Infant is in full figure. On his head is a crown. He wears sandals, one of which is fastened to his left foot, the other hangs loose from the right. Over his left shoulder are the Greek letters signifying "Jesus Christ." He clasps his mother's right hand in both his own, as though seeking protection from the instrument of His Passion, presented to Him by the two angels at his side. The Angel on the right, over whom are to be seen in Greek the initials of the name of "Michael the Archangel," presents to the Holy Child, the Lance, the Reed and the Sponge of His future Passion, while the Angel on the left holds up before His gaze four nails and a cross, with two beams, as well as the tablet of the inscription; over Him are the initials in Greek of "Gabriel the Archangel." The drapery of the picture is exquisite.

History of The Picture

The original picture, just described, was venerated for many years in the Island of Crete (now called Candia), when upon an invasion by the Turks, about 400 years ago, it was taken away by a pious merchant of that Island to escape profanation. Having been the means of enlisting the power of the Mother of God during a violent storm which occurred on the voyage, a landing was finally made at Ostia, near Rome. At Rome, by a clear manifestation of God's will, the picture was to remain. The pious merchant, falling grievously ill, and feeling death's approach, summoned his host and friend, and exacting from him a strict promise that he would have the picture set up for veneration in one of the churches of Rome, he confided the precious treasure to his care, and then breathed his last. Now become manifest the wondrous ways of God. The wife of the man who had the holy picture confided to him, conceiving a strong natural affection for the Madonna, deaf to her husband's representations, finally prevailed upon him to disregard his promise and retain the picture. Three different times the Blessed Mother appeared in a dream to the unhappy man to remind him of his obligation. Affrighted, he related these occurrences to his wife, who only laughed at his credulity. A fourth time Our Blessed Lady appeared, and said to him in a tone of great severity: "I have now warned thee three times, but in vain,--I see there is no other means of leaving thy house, than that thou be first carried out of it." Very soon after the man died.

The husband's death seems to have been no warning to the obstinate widow. A new warning was at hand. One day her daughter, a young innocent girl, came running to her, saying: "Mother, I have just seen, in our house, oh, such a beautiful Lady, who said to me, 'Go tell your mother and your grandfather that the 'Mother of Perpetual Help' (for the Blessed Virgin gave herself this sweet title) 'wishes her picture to be set up for public veneration in one of the churches in Rome.'" The mother, deeply moved, was about to comply. But a wicked woman of the neighborhood, hearing of the mother's determination, violently opposed the plan, and at the same time insulted and blaspemed Our Blessed Lady. Instant retribution followed. She was stricken down with mortal illness, but repentant and confessing her crime, was permitted to touch the holy picture, when she was instantly cured. The evident miracle conquered the widow's obstinacy. But now the question presented itself: "To which of the three hundred churches of Rome shall the picture be given?" Our Blessed Lady herself graciously deigned to answer this question, by appearing a second time to the child and saying to her: "I desire to have my home between my beloved Church of St. Mary Major, and that of my dear adopted son John (St. John Lateran)." Between these two Basilicas stood the Church of St. Matthew, at that time in charge of the religious of the Augustinian Order. To the Prior, then, of these religious the Picture was given.

On March 27th, 1499, by a triumphant procession through the streets of Rome, the picture was solemnly installed over the High Altar of the Church of St. Matthew, where, for three hundred years it was the fruitful source of numberless graces and favors to the Romans and their neighbors. In the year 1600, a Roman historian writes: "In the Church of St. Matthew is a picture of the Blessed Virgin, which, from the numbers of miracles wrought and the countless graces received, well merits to be regarded as Miraculous.

During the French occupation of Rome (1809—1814) the Church of St. Matthew was demolished by order of the usurping government, compelling the Augustinian Fathers to abandon their monastery. On removing to the Church of Santa Maria, in Posterula, they took with them the miraculous picture but no longer exposed it for public veneration, dreading sacrilegious profanation. One by one the older members of the Community, who had known the Church of St. Matthew in happier days, passed away. In the year 1846, however, two persons were praying in the oratory of the Augustinian Monastery of Santa Maria, in Posterula, one an old man of more than seventy years, the other a youth. Suddenly the old man, pointing out to the youth this long-forgotten picture of the Madonna of Perpetual Help, on the wall of the oratory, said impressively, "This picture was formerly held in great veneration in the Church of St. Matthew, and every year a feast was celebrated in its honor." The speaker was an Augustinian Brother, Orsette by name, the last survivor of the Community of St. Matthew. The youth, Michael Marchi by name, looked attentively at the picture, but attached no great importance to the old Brother's words. Towards the close of his life, Brother Orsette, now almost blind, took great pleasure in conversing with young Marchi of his dear Madonna, her glory and the magnificent feasts of former days. He would sometimes say, with great earnestness and in a mysterious way, "You understand, Michael, that the Madonna, so long venerated in St. Matthew's is the one you see here in the chapel. Mind, don't forget it," adding, "I tell you, Michael, this is certain. Do you hear me? Do you understand what I say? Oh, how many miracles this picture has wrought! Oh, it was indeed miraculous!" The young Marchi listened and "kept all these things in his heart."

Not long after the death of Orsette (1853), Pope Pius IX. ordered the Superior-General of the Redemptorists to transfer the Central House of the Order from Naples to Rome; hence, the Redemptorists, in June, 1854, purchased, on the Esquiline, the Villa Caserta, an old Roman palace, in the garden of which were still visible some ruins of the Church of St. Matthew. The house was transformed into a monastery, and a new church was built close by, dedicated to St. Alphonsus, the founder of the Redemptorist Order. One of the Fathers of Villa Caserta, searching one day among some old books and manuscripts for historical information concerning the site on the Esquiline, discovered some valuable documents relating to the ruined Church of St. Matthew, and in particular to a Picture of Our Lady, famous for its many miracles. When he gave an account of what he had found out, one of the Fathers suddenly exclaimed, "I know where this miraculous Madonna is. I have seen it myself many a time, in the chapel of the Augustinians of Sancta Maria, in Posterula." The Father who thus spoke was none other than the youthful confidant of Brother Orsette, Michael Marchi, who had become a Redemptorist soon after the foundation of the Villa Caserta. He died there in January, 1886.

One Saturday, in February, 1863, Father Blosi, S. J., preaching on the glories of Mary, took for his subject the ancient and miraculous "Picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help," recalling its past glory and how the Blessed Mother had made known her will, that the picture should be placed for veneration in a church situated between St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major. The Redemptorists were deeply impressed when they heard of this sermon, for many providential circumstances pointed clearly to their own Church of St. Alphonsus as the new sanctuary chosen by Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The Very Rev. Father Mauron having waited two years longer and after many prayers offered to ascertain God's will, on December 11th, 1865, had an audience with Pope Pius the IXth, in which he presented a supplication, that His Holiness would deign to grant to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer the possession of that venerable picture. Pius IX. gladly signed the petition, and January 19th, 1866, after a banishment of sixty years, Our Lady of Perpetual Help was again brought back to a sanctuary between St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran.

On April 26th, the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, and of St. Cletus, the Pope, who first built the Church of St. Matthew, the holy picture was carried in solemn procession through decorated streets, amid the acclamations of more than 20,000 people, to its place in the Church of St. Alphonsus.

During the Triduum more than 50,000 persons came to honor the sacred picture. Again, as in 1499. Mary strewed her path with graces and miracles. On May 5th, Pius IX. himself came to honor the Madonna. He had already placed a copy of the original picture in his Chapel.

The Chapter of St. Peter at Rome has the custom of crowning with a golden diadem the most illustrious and venerated pictures of the Madonna. On the Sunday preceding the Feast of St. John Baptist, the Dean of the Chapter confided the crown to the Most Rev. Father-General of the Redemptorists, after receiving from him an oath, that it would always remain over the picture. Mass and the ceremony of coronation followed, whilst outside the roaring of cannon and the pealing of bells announced, that the Picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was numbered among those worthy of the title miraculous.

The beneficent action of miraculous pictures is generally confined within certain limits, and does not extend beyond the shrine where the original picture is venerated, but not so in regard to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Her sweet influence extends wherever this devotion is practised.

The devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help soon spread throughout the Christian world. Exact copies of the beautiful picture were made, and a greater value was given them by the fact that they were touched to the original picture in Rome. Notwithstanding the unholy carpings of captious critics, there is nothing unreasonable in this practice. If we treasure a lock of hair of some dear departed one; if we stand with reverent mien in the apartment used by a saint of God, and there yield our soul to holy reveries; if we value at an unspeakable price a shred of the garment, or a tiny bone of God's heroes and heroines; if we kiss with reverent love those spots pressed by the Saviour's feet; why should we not place a special value upon that which has touched a wonder-working picture, made illustrious by God's holy Mother?

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THE MESSAGE OF THE ICON
Taken from here

As one looks at the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual help, it is important to remember that it is an Icon, painted by an anonymous artist, in the style of the Virgin of the Passion that represents the Christian mystery of Redemption.


1. What Is an Icon?

The Greek word "eikon," from which comes the word "icon," means "image." Christians first used the word to describe Jesus Christ: He is the image [icon] of the invisible God [Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3]. Nevertheless, when we speak of an icon we usually mean not only a representation of Christ, but the Blessed Virgin or a Saint, that has been painted according to specific technical and theological norms.

An icon is much more than a simple representation of events or persons of the past. An icon makes present that which it remembers. It is a meeting point between the mystery of God and the reality of Man. An icon is not an altar decoration so much as it is an altar in of itself. This is why in the Oriental liturgies, the icons are venerated along with the Word of God.

An icon is the fruit of prayer. The artists that painted icons would compose the pictures in an atmosphere of penance and prayer. While they worked and prayed they would think of those who one day would pray before the icon that they were painting. icon artists were usually monks who meditated on the mysteries of God and presented in images and colors, their spiritual insights. They shared their faith and spirituality with others through art.

An icon is an object of meditation. When we come before an icon with at prayerful attitude, we can deepen our understanding of the mysterious reality that it represents and better appreciate the value of liturgical prayer. Icons were created to foster contemplation.


2. An Unknown Artist

The great majority of icon artists are hidden in anonymity. Among the few known that painted icons of the Virgin of the Passion, Andrea Rizo de Candia [1422-1499]. of the school of Crete, is remembered as producing outstanding works of art.

The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual help belongs to this school, but we cannot pinpoint the exact date of it completion. What we can say with all probability, is that the artist was a monk and lived in Crete. An ancient legend attributes the first icon of the Virgin of the Passion to St. Luke the Evangelist. In this way the artists of Marian icons established a connection between their works and the first Christian community that had personally known Christ and His Mother. This legend is more a theological resource than a historical affirmation, since the techniques used in paintings of the 1st century are quite different than those used in the painting of icons. the earliest icons were painted in the 6th century, while most of the known icons are actually dated from the 12 century and later.


3. The Virgin of the Passion

The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is painted on a plaque of wood measuring  little over 21 inches high and about 14 inches wide. Throughout history it has received two basic titles. For artistic reasons and in accord with the style of the image, it has been called: "the Virgin of the Passion." Icons of the Virgin of the Passion usually represent the Mother of God holding her Son Jesus and to the sides, the angels carrying the instruments of the Passion of Christ.

The other title that it bears comes from the devotion that surrounds it: "our Mother [or Lady] of Perpetual Help." In our icon, the Mother of God is depicted looking tenderly at her devotees and every ready to help them in whatever need.

The icon shows four holy images: The Virgin Mother of God, the Christ child, and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. These personages are identified by the letters that appear in the icon. Only half of the Virgin's body is depicted but the impression is that she is standing. She wears a red tunic, a dark blue hooded cape [in the original-----some reproductions have darkened the cape to black as in image, version 2, next page] with a green lining, a cobalt blue head dress that covers her hair and forehead. In the center of her head on the hood, there is a star of eight golden linear rays; next to it is gold cross in the form of a star. The circular halo around her head, typical of the Cretan school, at one time had a jeweled crown, that has been removed in the original but retained in some reproductions.


SYMBOLS

The Greek letters are thus, using approximations because most browsers do not have Greek fonts installed: MP - OY [O is really the letter theta] = Mother of God, on the two sides of the upper part of the icon; IC - XC = Jesus Christ, to the right of His head; OAM = Archangel Michael, above the Angel on the left as you look at the icon; OAT [the Greek letter tau] = Archangel Gabriel, above the Angel on the right, as you look at the icon.

The Virgin's face is slightly inclined toward the Christ Child whom she holds in her left hand. Her larger right hand [its long fingers typical of images that indicate the way], holds the hand of Jesus. With a sad tenderness, she looks not to her Son but appears to be in dialogue with whomever gazes upon her [the universal perspective]. Her almond-shaped, honey colored eyes and emphasized eyebrows impart a sense of solemn beauty.

The Child Jesus is shown in full proportion, resting in the left arm of the Virgin while His hands clutch her right hand. He is dressed in a green tunic, a red cincture and cloak,. he is wearing sandals but the one on the right foot is loose so that one can see the sole of his foot. We have no definitive knowledge of what this loose sandal represents but traditionally there are three explanations, artistic, medical, and cultural:

Artistic: In many icons, to show the sole of the foot is equivalent to depicting the human nature of the Person [person] in the picture, and this is the one generally accepted by the Church. Medical: The degree of a person's consciousness can be perceived according to the reflexes in the sole of the foot [Babinski's Reflex]. A sudden movement in the nape of the neck causes a movement in the sole of the foot. Cultural: In ancient Israel, when someone wanted to cede their rights to another, he would take off his sandal and give it to the beneficiary [Ruth 4; 7-8].

Christ has brown hair and the features associated with a child. His feet and neck position appear to express a brusque movement caused by something that He suddenly senses, perhaps His coming Passion, represented by the cross and nails in the hands of the Archangel Gabriel. The Archangel Michael presents Him with the other instruments of His Passion: the lance, the pole with a sponge, and a vessel containing vinegar.


4. The Mystery of the Redemption

The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is not a decoration so much as a message, a dissertation about the central mystery of our Catholic Faith. The different elements in the icon tell us about God-with-us, the Way of the Cross, the loving intercession of Mary and the glory of the Divine Light - the golden background.

In Mary's body the promise of salvation became a fleshed reality when the Son of god took on our human nature. When His human life ended on the Cross, she was there as His first disciple. It was in those last moments that Jesus designated her to be the Mother of the Church: "Behold your Mother [ John 19:27]."

The largest figure in the painting is Mary, but she is not the focal point. The center is rather in the joining of her hand with those of Jesus and the manner in which she points out that her Son is Jesus Christ, the son of God Who offer His life for the Redemption of all and the Salvation of repentant sinners. Mary points out and directs us to Jesus our Savior.

The Christ Child appears as a victim to be offered, much the same as in the Presentation in the Temple [Luke 2:22-40]. Mary's attitude reminds us of the Gospel words: "Mary stood at the foot of the Cross" [John 19:25], not collapsed in pain but erect, strong and valiant. All the elements of the composition accentuate the reality of suffering, as noted in our Mother Mary's face, the movements of the Child Jesus, and the instruments of the Passion. At the same time there is an emphasis on Christ's triumph, represented by the golden background and in the way the Angels carry the instruments of the Passion, less as weapons of death, than as trophies of victory, as if they were taken from Calvary on Easter morning.

It is understandable why the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help draws us to pray: it is the synthesis of the mysteries of Salvation. One can understand why some many like to say the Rosary before an image of this icon.

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A reminder ...