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Mother of Perpetual Help

Pray for Us .



Sty? of

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BY THE

Rev. Clarence A. Seidel, C.SS.R.

l

BASED UPON THE AUTHENTIC WORK

“MATER DE PERPETUO SUCCURSU”

OF THE

Rev. Clement M. Henze, C.SS.R.

Rome, Italy



Nihil obstat.

Arthur J. Scanlan, S.T.D.

Censor Librorum.

Imprimatur.

* Patrick Cardinal Hayes
Archbishop of New York

.

New York, June 3, 1936

Imprimatur

.

^ Karl J. Alter, D.D.
Bishop of Toledo .

April 3, 1936

Imprimi Potest.

Andrew B. Kuhn, C.SS.R.

Provincial Superior.

Brooklyn, N. Y., March 23, 1936



CONTENTS

Our Lady’s Most Popular Picture 7

The Apostolic Masterpiece and Perpetual Help .... 8
The Picture Described 10

Real Meaning 11

Symbolic Meaning 13

Sister Pictures 15

Date of Picture 15

Birthplace of the Picture 16

The Artist 16

The Historical Tablet of Perpetual Help 17

The Historical Tablet Explained 20

The Title of Perpetual Help 22

The First Shrine of Perpetual Help 25

The Silence of the Sepulchre 27

The Resurrection 30

Reenthronement 37

The Crowning of the Picture 40

The Archconfraternity of Perpetual Help 41

Perpetual Supplication 42

Perpetual Help and Church Unity 43

The Coredemptrix and Mediatrix of all Graces .... 45
A Work of Christian Art 56

A Sermon in Colors 57

Perpetual Help Wafers 60

The Nine Wednesdays 61

Prayers in Honor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help .... 62



Published by

THE REDEMPTORIST FATHERS
389 East 150th Street

New York City



(libr Utory of Jlrrprtual llfHp

Our Lady's Most Popular Picture

“Not only art Thou prompt to help

The dwellers of the Roman lands,

But e’en the world at large, where stands

Thy picture beautiful.”

K H "SHUS sings the poet when he recalls the world-wide
conquest of our Lady’s most popular picture, the

J-L miraculous picture of Perpetual Help. And true, in-

deed, is his song; for the sun shines on no land where our

Lady’s picture is not enshrined. Perpetual Help smiles on the

icy snows of Siberia, children venerate it on the burning sands

of Africa, the almond eye of Japan looks lovingly upon it

and says, “It is beautiful.” The Americas, both North and

South, count it as their most precious heritage. France, Eng-

land, Ireland, Germany, Italy—in fact, all Europe joins in the
melodious harmony of praise to our Mother of Perpetual Help.

Numerous confraternities, totalling some 5,000,000 mem-

bers, have been established throughout the world and are as-

sociated with the Archconfraternity in Rome.

Schools and churches have been dedicated to the Mother

of Perpetual Help. Thousands of churches and chapels have

a Perpetual Help shrine. France alone has enshrined the

picture in some 12,000 churches and chapels.

All the rooms (85) occupied by the Zouave soldiers, more

commonly known as the Papal Guard, have the picture hang-

ing on the walls.

Many books, pamphlets, periodicals, magazines have been

published in its honor. To count the number of pictures,

medals, statues of Perpetual Help that have been sent all over

the globe were impossible. One might form some faint idea

of this wonderful distribution, were he to imagine the sky as

a mirror and each star a reflection of a picture on earth.

[ 7 ]



The popularity of the picture may also be gleaned from

the examples of several holy Pontiffs. Pius IX had the

picture in his private chapel
;
he was the first to have his

name inscribed in the records of the Archconfraternity; and

was always delighted when people brought him pictures of

Perpetual Help to be blessed. When the Catholics of Zhitomir,

Russia, asked him for a copy of the most popular picture of

our Lady in Rome, he sent them the picture of Perpetual

Help. Leo XIII kept the picture constantly on his desk. Pius

X sent this picture as a gift to the Empress Taitou of Abys-
sinia; and annexed an indulgence of 100 days to the recitation

of the aspiration: “Mother of Perpetual Help, pray for us.”

Benedict XV placed the picture above his throne, and had it
struck on the medal commemorating the Jubilee Year of 1916.

Pius XI, now gloriously reigning, decreed the picture to be

the official seal of the Pontifical Mission for Russia.

Following the examples of the Holy Pontiffs, Catholics

everywhere have enshrined the picture both in their hearts and

their homes. They need our Lady’s protection; they know

the picture is miraculous; they find in it an appeal to the

heart which is ever seeking love, strength, and consolation

in the warfare of life; and they draw trust and confidence

from its very title, Perpetual Help. These are some of the

reasons why the miraculous picture of our Lady has become

her most popular picture throughout the Catholic world.

The Apostolic Masterpiece and

Perpetual Help

7p) arent traits are often found in the offspring. This fact^ enables us to trace the origin of Perpetual Help down the
centuries to Apostolic times, to the time when St. Luke the

Evangelist painted his masterpiece, the Hodegetria. This

painting of our Lady, sad to relate, was destroyed on May 30,
1453 by the ruthless soldiers of Mohammed II. History

happily preserves for us a description of the painting.

[ 8 ]



The Virgin Mother is painted standing, but only the upper

half of her body is visible; large eyes; elegantly arched eye-

brows; long, straight nose; small mouth; long tapering fin-

gers. Her garments are neat and modest: a tunic reaches

to the neck, a mantle covers the head, a finely woven coiffure

catches up the hair. She holds the Infant Jesus, Whose en-

tire figure is seen, in her left hand, while her right lays on

her breast. The Infant looks straight out from the picture;

He holds a scroll in His left hand; He lifts His right hand

as if to teach or to bless. He wears a tunic bound with a

cincture, and over this a large mantle or cloak.

In the above description we can see a resemblance to Per-

petual Help. There are differences, however, that make Per-

petual Help more attractive, artistic, and instructive. To

illustrate: Our Lady’s head inclines sweetly towards her Son,

a feature that lends to Mary’s posture an appearance far more

tender and compassionate. To the royal majesty of her coun-

tenance is added a most profound sorrow, an effect produced

by her half-closed eyes indicative of shedding tears.

Greater differences appear in the portrayal of the Divine

Child. The position of His body is so proper to our picture

that it is found in no other. The Child turns His head out-

ward where He is seriously and attentively contemplating

some object. His body is so artfully bent towards His

Mother’s breast, that these two holy Persons appear as if

contained in the outlines of one figure. Both His hands are

joined in His Mother’s right. His legs are crossed, and the

right foot, starting out suddenly from under His garment,

strikes the left with such a shock that the left sandal is loos-

ened, and is about to fall.

These were changes, to be sure, but changes that brought

perfection and beauty and love; changes that eclipsed the

splendor that was. St. Luke’s Hodegetria has passed away;

it was but the bud, ours the blossom; the dawn, ours the sun-

set; the mother, ours the daughter—but the daughter of
whom the poet sings:

“O daughter fairer far than thy fair mother.”

[ 9 ]



The Picture Described

npHE original picture of Perpetual Help is painted in water-
color, after the Byzantine style, on a piece of hard, en-

durable nut-wood, twenty-one inches long and seventeen wide.

The chief character in the picture is the Blessed Virgin

Mary, represented as the Mother of God, the Theotokos of

Ephesus. This we learn from the Greek letters that appear

above her shoulders. Over her right shoulder appear the

letters “MR”, abbreviated from “Meter”, meaning Mother;

over her left shoulder appear the letters “Th U”, abbreviated

from “Theou”, meaning of God . Putting both together we

have “Mother of God”. She is painted in half-figure, in a

standing posture, holding the Child gracefully though securely

in her left arm. Her face is oval, complexion olive, eyes brown,

arched over by big brown eye-brows, finely drawn lips, small

mouth, fingers slender and tapering. She is portrayed as the

ideal type of Oriental beauty. She wears a red tunic, covered

by a bluish-purple mantle, bordered with gold and neatly lined

with green. A white-streaked coiffure of green holds back
her hair. On her forehead appear an eight pointed, w’ell-de-
fined star, and highly ornamental cross. The bejeweled crowns

were not in the original picture; but added only after many

years.

Opposite the Christ Child’s head appear the Greek letters,

“IS ChS”, abbreviated from “Iesous Christos”, meaning Jesus

Christ . He looks outward to contemplate some frightening

object. His tiny well-formed hands clutch in a help-imploring

grasp the extended right hand of His Mother. In the sudden

twist of His body the legs are crossed, and the sandal falls

but is caught by a tiny strap. His features resemble somewhat

those of His Mother: full round face, curved eye-brows, eyes

quick and alert, long nose, small mouth, high forehead, and

thick, curly hair. He wears a long green tunic, girded with a

carmine sash. A yellowish-brown cloak hangs over the
shoulder.

The character to the left of the picture is the Archangel

[ 10 ]



Michael
;
the one to the right is the Archangel Gabriel. This

we know from the abbreviations of their names, namely, “O

AR M”, “O Archaggelos Michael”, and “O AR G”, “O
Archaggelos Gabriel”. The Archangels are attired in violet

tunics. Michael’s mantle and head veil are green, while

Gabriel’s are violet. Gabriel carries an ancient Greek cross,

with four nails. Michael holds the lance, the sponge-tipped

reed, and the “vessel full of vinegar”.

Real Meaning

in' very picture has a meaning. The real meaning of the^
picture of Perpetual Help is contained in the following

poem, originally written in Greek, which appears on some an-

cient pictures.

“Gabriel, who first proclaimed: ‘Hail, full of grace’

Now comes with Calv’ry’s cross and cruel nails;
Heaven’s God, a mortal Child, first glimpses Death!

And choking fright His human heart assails.”

A study of the picture and of this poem gives us a clear
idea of what the artist tried to portray. Two Archangels
(only Gabriel is mentioned in the poem) drop down from

Heaven carrying the instruments of Christ’s future Passion

and Death. At sight of these instruments “Heaven’s God”,

now “a mortal Child”, with all humanity’s frailties and emo-

tions, “first glimpses Death and choking fright His human

heart assails.” He trembles and grows afraid. He turns at

once to His Mother, clutches her hand with both His own,

as if to make doubly sure of her protection, and implores

her help; for every mother to every child is perpetual help;

she can help it, for so it believes, in any and every emergency

;

and somehow she always does. Thus we see the artist sought

to impress upon us the thought that our Divine Savior, even

as a Child, was fully acquainted with His future Passion and

Death; and that He found strength to endure it in His

Mother’s presence.

St. Alphonsus has written words that aptly described the

picture’s significance; “The prophet Isaias says of our Lord

[ 11 ]



that He was ‘a man of sorrows, acquainted with infirmity’,

because this Man was created on purpose to suffer, and from
His infancy began to endure the greatest sorrows any man

ever suffered. He did not pass a moment of His life without

sorrow and anguish; for even from a child He was afflicted

by the foresight of all the sufferings and ignominy that He
would have to endure during His life, and especially at His

death, when He was to close that life immersed in a tempest
of sorrow and opprobrium. Even from the womb of Mary,

Jesus Christ accepted obediently the sacrifices which His

Father desired Him to make. So that even from the womb

of Mary He foresaw the scourges and presented to them His
flesh; He foresaw the thorns and presented to them His head;

He foresaw the blows and presented to them His cheeks; He

foresaw the nails and presented to them His hands and His

feet; He foresaw the cross and offered His life. Hence it is

true that even from His earliest infancy our Blessed Re-

deemer, every moment of His life, suffered a continual mar-

tyrdom; and He offered it every moment for us to His Eter-

nal Father.”

Mary, too, was well aware of Her Child’s future sufferings

from the prophetic words of the aged Simeon: “Behold this

child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many

in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted
;
and

thy own soul a sword shall pierce.”

There is also a similarity between our picture and what

transpired in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the Garden

Christ was afflicted almost to death when He beheld in vision

the terrible tortures of His Passion and Death. “My soul,”
He said, “is sorrowful even unto death.” The picture shows

the Child trembling and affrighted at the thought of His

future Passion and Death. In the Garden an angel appeared to

comfort Christ when “His sweat became as drops of blood,

trickling down upon the ground.” In the picture angels be-

speak courage and comfort. In the Garden Christ grew weary

and sought consolation from His disciples; but He found them

asleep. In the picture He turns to His Mother, but She seems

[ 12 ]



more concerned about Her adopted children than about Her

Son. She looks at us and begs us not to wound Her Son by

“And for Him thine eyes are pleading,

While to us they look and cry:

‘Sinners, spare my Child

!

Your Savior seek not still to crucify’

Symbolic Meaning

TJesedes the real meaning of a picture, there is also the

^ symbolical meaning. Symbolism, derived from the Greek,
may be defined as the sign-language of art. It consists of

colors, gestures, objects, and draper}-. Perpetual Help is re-

plete with symbolism.

The gold background signifies Heaven. St. John saw

Heaven in a vision, and said: “The City itself was of pure

gold”

The various colors have the following meanings: white,

purity and innocence; red, sacrifice; green, eternal hope;

brown, humility; purple, royalty.

Mary’s extended right arm signifies Her powerful inter-

cession. This thought comes from Holy Scripture. “Remem-

ber,” says Moses, “the Lord thy God brought thee out of

Egypt with a stretched-out arm.” Her open hand shows the

gesture of one pleading. “I stretched forth my hands to Thee;

hear me speedily, O Lord,” cried David. It also indicates her
willingness to help us. “She hath opened her hands to the

needy.”

It was an ancient custom to portray Mary with large eyes

and a small mouth to symbolize that she had “very large eyes

in her soul for contemplation, but a very small mouth for

talking.”

The star in Mary’s forehead recalls her title of “Star of the

Sea” and reminds us of that beautiful hymn:

“Hail, foamy ocean’s Star,

Hail, heav’nly Queen!

Oh, be our guide

To endless joys serene.”

[ 13 ]



The cross on her forehead bespeaks the life-long sufferings

of Mary at the thought of Her Child’s future Passion and

Death.

The joining of hands seems to signify the perfect conform-

ity of Mary’s will with Her Son’s, and that together with

Him, she participated in the work of the Redemption.

The under-crossing of the Child's right leg seems to recall

the story of Ephraim and Manasses. When Joseph, the son
of the Patriarch Jacob, placed his own two sons, Ephraim and

Manasses, before him to be blessed, Jacob crossed his hands,

putting “his right on Ephraim, the younger brother, and his

left on Manasses, who was the elder.” This signified that

Manasses, though the first born and entitled to Jacob’s inherit-

ance, was rejected, and Ephraim became the heir. When we

reflect that Manasses represents the Jewish nation and

Ephraim the Gentile nations, we can easily understand that

by this crossing of his hands Jacob typified the rejection of the

Jewish people and the acceptance of the Gentile people by

God.

The falling sandal seems to be a warning to the sinner

not to sin again, lest like the sandal he fall away from God,

and be lost.

The uncovered heel hints at the continual presence of

Satan. “Thou shalt lie in wait for his heel.” The Evil Spirit

is ever lying in wait for us to lead us into sin. But if we

pray to Jesus and Mary, we shall not be conquered by him.

The Child’s sash or girdle signifies chastity. “Let your

loins be girt.” If we would preserve this delicate virtue, we

must bind ourselves in chains of prayer and penance.

The crowns remind us of our heavenly reward. “I have

fought a good fight,” cries St. Paul, “I have finished my

course, I have kept the faith. As to the rest, there is laid up

for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just Judge,

will render me in that day.”

The lily-like design of the hanging ornaments on Mary’s

sleeve recall to mind the words of Cornelius a Lapide: “As

the lily is a remedy against serpents and venomous things, so

[ 14 ]



is the invocation of Mary a specific remedy by which we may

overcome all temptations, and especially those against purity,

as all find who put it into practice.”

Finally the veiled hands of the angels inculcate reverence

for holy things.

When we discover such an amount of meaning in this
picture of Perpetual Help, we naturally think of the words

of Gregory the Great : “What a writing is to those who read,

that a picture is to the unlettered who behold it.”

Sister Pictures

There are many pictures dispersed throughout the worldwhich at first sight appear to be Perpetual Help pictures.
But a close and careful examination of these pictures shows

them to be merely copies or reproductions of the original paint-

ing of Perpetual Help. Perpetual Help was their inspiration.

Like all masterpieces, so Perpetual Help was copied over and

over again; artists trying to reproduce its beauty and charm:

all of them failed. This was due to the fact that they tried to

improve on the work of a master
;
they tried to gild a lily.

Date of Picture

To determine the exact date of the picture of PerpetualHelp is impossible, for no records exist to give us informa-
tion. The only date we have concerning its early existence

is found in an authentic statement that the picture “was placed

in St. Matthew’s church in 1499.” But the picture was vener-

ated on the Isle of Crete years before that. Some who have

studied the picture, its theme, its art, its probable master-

artist, claim for the picture a date as early as the Thirteenth

century. Suffice it to say, that it breathes the spirit of the

glorious Middle Ages, the ages of faith.

[ 15 ]



Birthplace of the Picture

HPHE birthplace of the picture of Perpetual Help was the
once famous Isle of Crete. The Isle that received the faith

from the great Apostle of the Gentiles, St. Paul. On this
lonely Isle in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea the picture

was conceived and immortalized in colors. And there it would

have remained even unto this day, perhaps, had our Lady not

become displeased with the Cretans on account of their long,

open and obstinate rebellion against Christ’s Vicar on earth,

the Pope of Rome. But even as of old there went forth from

the plains of Judea the Christ to dwell in all the tabernacles

of the world, so too there went forth from the Isle of Crete

the picture of Perpetual Help to be enshrined in countless

churches, homes and hearts.

The Artist

npHE name of the artist who wrought such a miracle in colors

as Perpetual Help, has been lost to posterity. Perhaps

his humility restrained him from painting his name on the

picture, as many did at that time, wishing only that our Lady

be known and loved and revered throughout the world. Some

have suggested the name of Andreas Rico de Candia as the

artist; but proofs are lacking. All we really know about the

artist, we glean from his work itself. He must have been an

original thinker to conceive the beautiful theme of Perpetual

Help; he must have been an expert at his art, as we see

from his skillful painting. One authority says: “There is a

detail in your picture which is quite remarkable and which,

in default of other proofs, would, because of its extreme diffi-

culty, stamp it as the work of a master. This detail is the

foreshortening of the sole of the Infant’s foot: a piece of

work so highly successful that it evidences a profound knowl-

edge of foreshortening, one of the most difficult tasks to per-

form in painting.” Finally he must have been a very pious

man, an artist of whom we may say: “This holy genius prayed

while he painted, and painted while he prayed.” Whoever

[ 16 ]



he may have been, may our Lady bless him ; and may she in-

spire others to paint, not on canvas or wood, but on the

fibres of the human heart her holy picture of Perpetual Help,

and the soul-saving lessons it teaches.

The Historical Tablet of Perpetual Help

F
or three centuries (1499-1798) there hung before the

miraculous picture of the Mother of Perpetual Help in St.

Matthew’s Church the following account of the picture’s early

history:

—

“How the Picture of the Virgin Mary was brought to

this church of St. Matthew, the Apostle

“A certain merchant who was a native of Crete stole this

picture of the Virgin, which had wrought many miracles in

a church of that island. With the picture concealed among

his wares, he boarded a ship and set out to sea. But soon a

great storm arose, and all the sailors began to despair of their

safety, Though they knew nothing of the picture on board,

they prayed most fervently to God and the Virgin to be

saved from the impending danger. And as it was God’s will,

they reached the port which they sought.

“A year later, the merchant came to Rome, bringing the

picture along with him. There he was laid low by a malignant

disease. Immediately he summoned to his bedside a Roman

friend of his with whom he was well acquainted; he asked
his friend to care for him in his present illness, promising at

the same time to return the favor, should God see fit to restore

his health. The Roman received the merchant into his house,

and did all in his power to relieve his every want. But the

disease continued to grow more violent. Seeing that his last

day was approaching, the sick man called his friend and, with

tears in his eyes, besought him to grant his one last request.

The Roman promised that he would refuse him nothing. Hav-
ing obtained this assurance the merchant divulged the entire

story of the picture
;
how he had stolen it from a church where

[ 17 ]



it had wrought many miracles; and that it was to be found

among his effects. ‘Because of this I beg of you/ he said,

‘when death which is so near shall have deprived me of the

power of taking the picture where I would—I beg of you to
put it in some church where, you think, there is a place more

appropriate for such a picture/

“After the merchant’s death, the picture was found among

his belongings. But the wife of the dead man’s friend pre-

vailed upon her husband by her entreaties not to take the

picture out of the house. Instead she placed it in her bed-

room, and kept it there for nine months.

“The Blessed Virgin, however, counselled the Roman in a

vision not to keep the picture, but to put it in some more

honorable place. He neglected to do so. A certain period
of time having elapsed, the Virgin returned and advised him

as before, saying, that he should not keep the picture in his

house. But this apparition he likewise disregarded. Where-

fore the Virgin admonished him again, adding, that if he did

not take the picture to some church he would die a miserable

death. Whereupon the Roman began to fear. Next morning

he related this whole occurrence to his wife, and begged her

to donate the picture to some church. In reply his wife de-

clared that she was astonished at his saying such silly things.

‘Why’, she said, ‘I am not an infidel but a Christian
;
and be-

sides, we are not the only ones who keep a picture like this

in their house: in fact, she said, ‘no Christian is of so evil a

life as not to have a picture of the Virgin, or of Christ Cruci-

fied, or some other picture of this kind in his house/ With

this the Roman submitted to his wife.

“The Virgin again appeared to the Roman and said: ‘Be-

hold, several times have I warned you, and even tried to

frighten you with threats, so that you might remove me from

this place
;
but you would not heed me. It is now necessary,

therefore, that you depart first, so that I may thereafter find

a more suitable abode*. At that moment the Roman was de-

livered up to a horrible disease, and died.

“The Virgin then appeared in a vision to the Roman’s six-

[ 18 ]



year old daughter, saying: ‘Go and admonish your mother

and grandfather, saying to them: “Holy Mary of Perpetual

Help commands you to take her out of your house, otherwise

you shall all die at once.” * The girl recounted the apparition

to her mother, and her mother hearing it began to tremble,

for she, too, had had a similar vision: and realizing that she

had been the cause of her husband’s death, she began to weep.

At the same time she firmly resolved to remove the picture

from her house. But a neighbor of hers, seeing her weeping

inquired after the reason. She told her all about her husband’s

visions, and how he, because she had opposed him, had dis-

regarded them, and as a result died. She confessed therefore

that she was lamenting and weeping because she had been

the cause of her husband’s death. To this her neighbor re-

plied, saying: ‘You are mistaken. Why it is foolish to believe
such things. The Virgin Mary is in heaven and does not

care what we do with her painted pictures here below. Why,

if you were to put it into the fire, the fire would bum it up

just like any other piece of wood. And if you are so timid,

give it to me.’ In a similar strain she continued to heap

insulting slurs upon the picture. When this neighbor returned
home that evening, she w~as stricken with a miraculously-sent

infection. But on making a solemn promise to the picture she

was cured.

“Finally, the Blessed Virgin appeared a second time to the

above-mentioned little girl, commanding her to tell her mother

to place her picture between St. Mary Major’s and St. John
Lateran’s in a certain church dedicated to St. Matthew, the

Apostle. The mother did as she was told, and sent for the

Augustinian Friars who were then in charge of that church.

In the presence of the clergy and all the people, they removed

the picture to St. Matthew’s Church, where, on that same day,

this miracle— the first to happen— occurred: A man who
was so paralyzed in both his right arm and side that he could

scarcely move, by humbly recommending himself to God and
the Virgin, and promising a votive offering, was instantly

cured.

[ 19 ]



“In this manner the picture of the most Blessed Virgin was

enshrined in the above-mentioned church of St. Matthew, the

Apostle, on the 27th of March, 1499, in the pontificate of Our

most holy Father and Lord in Christ, of our Lord Pope

Alexander VI, in the seventh year of his pontificate.”

The Historical Tablet Explained

The name of the church in Crete where this picture wasenshrined and from which it was stolen by the unnamed
merchant is unfortunately not given in the historical account

;

hence we do not know its name.

What motive led the merchant to steal the picture, we do

not know either; it might have been greed or fear. Fear lest

the picture be desecrated by the Turks, for which there does

not seem to be sufficient evidence. Or greed, hoping to sell

the picture to some church in Rome for a considerable sum.

“Those were the times,” writes Carucci, “when occurred in

Christendom what was called the hunt for relics. A Christian
city that did not possess a relic of some Saint seemed un-

worthy of the name. Not seldom were relics stolen, and in

stealing them, they did not refrain from using means that

were both violent and deceptive.” Another reason for believ-

ing that the merchant stole the picture is the fact that he made

no mention of the picture being on board when the ship was in

danger. “He feared,” saj'S the Rev. B. D’Orazio, C.SS.R.,

“lest his fellow-voyagers would consider the storm a punish-

ment for his crime, and would cast him, like Jonas of old,

into the raging sea.”

The exact date the picture came to Rome, we do not

know. But we do know that it came at a most critical period

of her history, that period commonly designated as the Ren-

aissance or the rebirth of letters, when men misguided in their

sanguine zeal and over-respect for the past, sought to over-

throw Christianity’s grand culture and bring back the w’anton

days of Paganism. In Pagan times, they said, the arts flour-

ished, learning was esteemed, letters were honored and sung.

[ 20 ]



So they hastened back to the art that was Rome and the cul-

ture that was Greece. In their wild enthusiasm to drink at the

fountainheads of art and culture, they overlooked the poison

that lurked in their limpid waters. They drank, and drank

deep, and felt refreshed from their drinking. But alas! only

too late did they discover their mistake. Conquered by their

own folly they lay, like the slain upon the battlefield, victims

to vice and sin. Christ they had forgotten; His Teaching they

had spumed. Instead of worshipping the One, True, Holy

God, they worshipped pagan poets and pagan philosophers.

Like the widow bewailing the glory that was once Jerusa-

lem’s, Rome, Christian Rome, looked on and wept
;
and tears,

great scalding tears, were
,

wrung from her eyes as she

watched, impotent, the blood-stained hands of Immorality

pluck the heart of virtue from the sheep of Christ. Then it

was that She “who alone is the destroyer of all heresies in the

entire world” appeared upon the scene. Hearts were glad-

dened and faces smiled; prayers, joyous, grateful prayers

sounded from even* lip, for She had come. She who was their

strength, their life, their hope, in fine, their Mother of Per-

petual Help. She would help them and She did. The evil She

uprooted, the vice She put to flight, the sin She blotted out,

—ah who can tell? Who can tell the souls She saved, the
faith She excited, the hearts She quickened into glowing life?

And as She did then, She still does today wherever Her

beautiful name of Perpetual Help is invoked.

It may seem strange to some that Heaven should have in-

tervened with so many apparitions (seven in all) just for the

sake of a painted picture; and they might even smile at its

seeming absurdity*. But we would caution them against too

hasty a judgment. God’s ways are not our ways. When we
act we know not the future; God does. He knows perfectly

well the outcome of His deed. With His all-seeing eye He

looked down the years
;
He saw the inestimable blessings, the

numberless graces, the strength of soul, the patience, the hope,

the inspiration this picture of Perpetual Help was to bring

into the World
;
He saw sinners turned from sin and unbe-

[ 21 ]



lievers embracing the Faith; He saw the healing of wounds,

the flight of human ills. He saw virtue lauded, purity prac-

ticed, authority respected
;
and last of all, but most of all, He

saw, and was pleased with the sight, the spark that was to

consume the world with love for its God and the Mother of

that God. All this He saw, and more. And how true the
vision

!

Indeed men may have thought those apparitions strange,

but there was one who by reason of his superior intellect

thought otherwise. Satan saw clearly what glory and honor

would accrue to God from the public exposition of such a

picture, and so he left no means untried in his eager attempt

to prevent its veneration. Had the storm at sea sunk the ship

with the picture, he would have triumphed
;
had the Roman’s

wife remained firm in her will not to part with the picture;

and had that malicious woman succeeded in casting it into

the flames, he would have triumphed again, and his triumph

would have been complete. But he was fighting the Queen

of Heaven who was destined to crush his head
;
he calculated

not his foe
;
he forgot that she was “as strong as an army in

battle-array,” and he lost. Three centuries later in 1798,

when the French destroyed St. Matthew’s Church in Rome,

he thought he had won at last. Its shrine demolished, the

Picture was forgotten. But scarce half a century passed when

Perpetual Help arose from her sepulchre and mounted once

more her throne atop the hills of Rome, and there She still

remains, true to her title, true to her office of Perpetual Help.

reat names come from heaven, the name of Jesus came

on angel lips. “Thou 9halt call his name Jesus,” said the

angel to the Virgin, “he shall be great—and God shall give
him a throne—and he shall reign forever.” The name of Per-
petual Help was also heaven-sent

;
it fell not from angel lips,

however, but from Mary’s very own. To her little messenger

she revealed it: “Holy Mary of Perpetual Help.” And, but

The Title of Perpetual Help

[ 22 ]



for her modesty, she might have added: it shall be great

—

and God shall give it a throne—and it shall reign forever.
How true is all this. Perpetual Help is surely great; ,it ranks
high among the world’s great Madonnas; God gave it a

throne on one of Rome’s eternal hills, the Esquiline; and

there is no doubt that it shall reign there forever. Yes, from

Mary’s own lips the title of Perpetual Help was first heard

on earth. How often it has been uttered since! A beautiful
title it is, and one we never tire repeating. Perpetual Help

—

what a name it is! It is power in battle, and glory in gain;

the echo of goodness, the melody of love, the song in the

lonely night; it is faith, it is hope, it is that the world holds

dear; it is purity to virgins, holiness to priests, patience to

mothers, kindness to fathers
;
a spur to the young on the way

of perfection, the balm of old age in the winter of life
;

it is

cheer, it is bliss, it is heaven itself—for Perpetual Help is
Mary, and she, we sing, is the “cause of our joy.”

Mary chose that title herself. Such a statement naturally

arouses our curiosity, and, like inquisitive children seeking to

know a mother’s heart, we innocently ask the reason why. The

answer, we believe, is to be found in the picture itself. There

we see Mary portrayed as a loving Mother—and all mothers
are perpetual help to their children. But the only way Mary

can perpetually help her children is by her constant inter-

cession—that is symbolized by her outstretched arm. And,
then, the reason why God wills to be dependent, so to speak,

on Mary’s intercession for the distribution of His graces, is

to be sought in her joint sufferings with her Son, Jesus. To
find proof of these assertions, let us examine the picture.

If we look at our picture, we shall see that Mary is vividly

represented there as a loving Mother
;
and at once, as we said

above, the thought flashes across our minds that every mother

to every child is perpetual help. Every child, by 9ome inex-

plainable instinct implanted in its very nature, seeks help in

all emergencies from its mother. Should a child desire any-

thing, it runs to mother. Should a child stub its toe or bruise

its finger, it runs to mother. Its mother may not be a doctor,

[ 23 ]



yet the child feels certain its mother can help it, and, some-

how or other she usually does.

If then Mary is our Mother, she, like all mothers, must

wish to be her children’s perpetual help. But Mary, we all

know is our Mother. For did she not give birth to Jesus,

Who, because He assumed our human nature, is rightly called

our Brother,-
—
“The firstborn among many brethren,” as St.

Paul calls Him. And if Jesus is our Brother, Mary must also

be our Mother. Again, did not Jesus decree from the throne

of His bleeding cross that Mary was to be the Mother of all

men! To her He said: “Behold thy ston.” And turning to St.

John who stood there as the representative of all mankind,

He addressed those immortal words, “Son, behold thy

Mother.”

How fitting was it that God should confer upon Mary the
dignity and office of universal motherhood on the blood-

stained stones of Calvary. For it was there especially that by

the voluntary oblation she made of her own sufferings for

man’s salvation, she merited this exalted honor. But God did

not rest with this: He would honor Mary more. So He

decreed, out of the goodness of His Heart, that, as a reward

for her sufferings, she should become “the dispenser of all

the gifts which God grants to men.” Hence, Pius X wrote:
“Because of Mary’s share with the sorrows of Christ, and

the union of her will with His, she has most justly merited

to become the dispenser of all the gifts which Jesus purchased

by His sufferings and death.” Pope Benedict XV also declares
“that all the graces which we receive from the treasury of

the Redemption come to us through the ministering Hands

of our Sorrowful Mother.”

It is evident, therefore, that if we wish to attain Heaven,

we must have constant recourse to the Mother of God, cease-

lessly begging her to help us by her all-powerful intercession.

Like children, we must run to her for perpetual help.

But I hear you say, we cannot run to Mary as a child runs

to its mother; Mary is no longer upon earth. And you are

right. Mary does not now, indeed, live among men. That is

[ 24 ]



precisely why she has given us her picture. In her picture we

see clearly reflected what she is doing for us in Heaven. See

how we are reminded of her continual intercession with God

for us by her outstretched arm and open hand—the gesture of
one pleading. Indeed she would be untrue to her title did she

not help us perpetually by her intercession. If for a moment

she failed to intercede for us how could we call her our Per-

petual Help! Remark further how Jesus, in putting His

hands into Mary’s, seems thereby to be giving her absolute

control over them, so that she can do with them, that is, with

their omnipotent power, whatever she wishes; moreover, He

seems by this same act, to be imparting to her, or better;

emptying His hands of, all His graces so that she may dis-

tribute them to men according as she sees fit ! And we seem to

hear her say: “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love
as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both

are infinite.” Besides, by seeking help from His Mother, Jesus

teaches us to go to Mary for strength and fortitude. And

from the fact that our Lady is looking out at us, instead of at

her Son, we ought to understand that she is thinking of us

uninterruptedly and of how- she can come to our assistance.

Like all good mothers, she dearly loves her children, and can-

not cease from providing for them in their necessities. She

will never rest until she sees them all in Heaven; and even

there her happiness will greatly consist in seeing her children

happy; and her children in turn, will rejoice to give her their

love. Their Perpetual Help on earth, she will be forever in

Heaven their Perpetual Delight

!

The First Shrine of Perpetual Help

HPhe location of most of Mary’s famous shrines has been
^ chosen by the Mother of God herself. So it was with

Lourdes and Guadalupe. And so it was with Perpetual Help.

“Tell your mother,” she said to her little six-year old messen-

ger, “to place my picture between St. Mary Major’s and St.

[ 25 ]



John Lateran’s, in a church dedicated to St. Matthew the

Apostle.”

Why our Lady employed such cumbersome phraseology
in designating the church in which she wished to be honored,

may at first sight strike one as very strange. Why did she not
simply say: “In St. Matthew’s church,” instead of adding

those seemingly unnecessary words: “Between St. Mary

Major’s and St. John Lateran’s”? Undoubtedly the people

living at the time thought those words wasted and meaning-

less: they could see no reason for them. That is not seldom

the case with man; very often he thinks God’s ways are

foolish and to no purpose. But if he could only look into

-the future, how often would he change his mind. So it was

with Perpetual Help. Strange indeed at the time of their

utterance, these words became wisdom with the years. Today

we can understand clearly why they were spoken: when St.

Matthew’s church should be but a mass of ruins they were

to serve as a star pointing out to all the very spot on which

Mary had willed her picture to be enshrined in the long ago.

And as a matter of historical fact, it was precisely by means

of this star that Perpetual Help was brought forth from its

sixty-eight years of oblivion and exposed once more “between

St. Mary Major’s and St. John Lateran’s”; not in “St. Mat-

thew’s church”, for that had long since perished, but in the

church built upon its very ruins, known today as the church

of San Alfonso.

The first church in which Perpetual Help was enshrined

was very small and unattractive in appearance. We some-
times wonder why our Lady chose such a humble home amidst

such unpretentious surroundings, when in the city of Rome

itself there were so many splendid basilicas and gorgeous

shrines she could have had for the asking. Our wonder grows

when we consider how poorly populated this locality was,

and how undeveloped its barren and stubborn soil. But in all

this we can clearly discern another characteristic of Mary’s,

her love for nature. It was this love which led her even in

our own days to enshrine herself in the rocks of Lourdes, and

[ 26 ]



to appear several times on mountain tops, as at La Salette,

Pontmain, and Guadalupe. In choosing this secluded spot

atop the Esquiline, she teaches us again by her example to

cherish and practice that beautiful virtue for which all gen-

erations shall call her blessed, humility. She who might have

reigned beneath a golden dome is quite content to dwell in

this her humble home. Insignificant too was Bethlehem, that

town where Christ was born; but Bethlehem today is great,

because Christ made it so. The lonely Esquiline, the site of

Mary’s first shrine, sat a solitary thing in days of yore
;
today

its glory shines around the world
;
and Mary has made it so.

This first shrine of Perpetual Help attracted pilgrims from

far and near. Princes and peasants; Saints and sinners; rich

and poor came for help. History records such names as King

James III of England, Queen Casimiria of Poland, St. Clem-

ent Hofbauer, possibly St. Alphonsus Liguori, and thousands

of others.

Around the shrine hung many votive lights and other

tokens of gratitude to her who w'as true to her title of

Mother of Perpetual Help.

The Silence of the Sepulchre

otrength in weakness, joy in sorrow, light in darkness

—

^ that and more was Perpetual Help for three hundred
years (1499-1798) to the faithful of Rome. The glory of

the Esquiline it was, and one of the city’s brightest jewels.

Such splendor had never been seen before. But all that splen-

dor was to pass, even as the splendor of the sun must go when

the shades of night come sweeping on. Already clouds—dark,
ominous, forbidding clouds—were gathering in the sky, and
up from the East shot fingers of lightning, as it were, tracing

a message of warning to all who had eyes to see. Already the

sound of horses’ hoofs, the blare of trumpets, the cries of

frenzied troops came rattling and rumbling over the hills to

Rome. War was up and abroad, wearing his martial cloak.
Out for plunder, he naturally and most wisely turned

[ 27 ]



towards the Papal States—towards Rome, the home of an-
cient treasures—treasures of a thousand years.
Drunk with the wine of new-won victory, Napoleon Bona-

parte was already exacting of Rome more than Rome could

pay. But even this was not enough. What Napoleon wanted

was not taxes: he wanted Rome itself—Rome the eternal.
Taxation was slow, too slow—the tool of tardy rulers per-
haps, but to men of ambition, men who could brook jio delays

to their plans, it was worse than death. A new scheme there-
fore must be set on foot. “We will sow discontent among
the Romans; they will clamor for peace; the Pope will not

be able to give it, but Napoleon will. Ah, that's the thing."

And so it was done.

But before Bonaparte could fully realize his plan, he was

called to Egypt. His place was filled by Marshal Berthier.

He was told to carry out his general's plans. In accordance
with these plans a popular insurrection was instigated in

Rome. The Papal Troops tried to stem the tide of revolt. In

the fray—this was not, however, anticipated—General
Duphot, an attache of the French embassy, was mortally

wounded and died. A splendid cause this for war! What
more did Berthier want? Here was his chance clear cut as a

finished diamond. Man and horse, they dashed down upon
the city. Opposition? Practically none. With no trouble he

hoisted his country's flag. With a boldness born of hatred, he

defiantly proclaimed on the 10th of February, 1798, the

“Free Roman Republic." Pius VI, then white with the snows

of two and eighty years, he drove into dreary exile at Valence,

France. There, within six weeks, the harsh treatment he

received sent him down to his grave. His last words—only a
Saint could utter them!—were these: “May my successor,
whoever he may be, forgive the French as sincerely as I do."

Poor old man—his words were but the echo of his Master's

:

“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

Berthier was succeeded by Massena. Massena thought as

his predecessor: Religion was too strong in Rome. Some-

thing must be done. But they did not tell the people that: they

[23



told them a different story. They told them that it was nec-

essary, in fact, vital, strategically speaking, to demolish sev-

eral of the city’s churches if Rome was to endure. So with a

wave of his hand he ordered the complete destruction of

more than thirty churches. One of these—sad to relate—was
Mary's shrine on the heights of the Esquiline, old St. Mat-

thew’s. Rock by rock the church fell, and faded from view.

A thing of ruins that passers-by might point to and say

—

“That was once the famous shrine of our Mother of Per-

petual Help.” Innocent children might inquire of their

mothers where they had taken the “miraculous picture.” And

in reply mothers would only look, significantly, towards the

heap of ruins; and the children seemed to understand. Some

idea of the destruction wrought may be gained from these

words of Pius VII: “St. Matthew’s church was so utterly

uprooted from its very foundations that not only was its

worship discontinued but not the slightest vestige of it could

be found.” As days wore on less and less was spoken of the

picture. Indeed few there were but believed it buried in the

ruins. But was it?

At the first sound of the approaching trouble the Augus-

tinian Fathers loving their picture dearly had rushed to its

protection. “They may destroy the church,” it seems they

thought, “but never Perpetual Help.” So for the first time

in three hundred years they took the picture down from its

lofty throne and removed it to the private oratory in the

church of St. Mary in Posterula. It was not enshrined over

the high altar, because there was already there the miraculous

picture of Our Lady of Grace.

For sixty-seven years the picture of Perpetual Help re-

mained hidden and unknown in this little oratory. Only one

aged priest, Reverend Augustine Orsetti, remembered its

early history, and he often spoke of it to his little altar boy,

Michael Marchi, who later on became a Redemptorist mis-

sionary. To him we are indebted for the scant knowledge
we have of the picture during these years of oblivion. Under

oath Father Marchi testified:

[ 29 ]



“Concerning this venerable Image, known as Perpetual

Help, I can say that from childhood days up to the moment

I entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, I

always saw it over the altar of the private chapel in the mon-

astery of St. Mary in Posterula under the care of the Au-

gustinian Fathers. Without honor, without ornamentation of

any sort, it was, so to speak, utterly abandoned. It was cov-

ered with dust and not so much as a candle burned before it.

I had often served Mass there, and had often looked up won-

deringly and admiringly at the Picture.” Little did he dream

as he knelt on those altar steps that one day he was to be

the principal cause in restoring that inspiring picture to the

veneration of the world. Little did he imagine that he was

the one appointed by Divine Providence to rend the great

silence of sixty-seven years, that held Perpetual Help in ob-

livion and trumpet back to the world the glories of a picture

that was. And lastly, little did he fancy that, like a knight

of old, he would become to his Lady Love the restorer of a

lost throne—the throne of the Mother of Perpetual Help.

The Resurrection

God,” says St. Alphonsus, “was pleased that Mary shouldin all things resemble Jesus.” How singularly true is
this saying of a Saint, we can readily see in the following apt

comparison between our Saviour’s Burial and Resurrection

and the Rediscovery of our Lady’s miraculous picture of Per-

petual Help.

Christ, we know, willingly submitted to the ignominy of

the grave. Perpetual Help freely suffered the humiliation of

a long and neglected sepulchre. Christ lay in the tomb until

“an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back

the stone.” Perpetual Help remained in hiding until her ser-

vants came to roll away the stones of silence. Christ rose

glorious and immortal, to reign forever in the kingdom of

heaven. Perpetual Help came forth to sit enthroned eter-

nally on the heights of the Esquiline. Lastly, Christ by His

[ 30 ]



Resurrection brightened the world with beams of joy. Per-

petual Help by her reappearance reenkindled in the breasts

of sinners the hope of final salvation.

Thus far for the likeness—the prologue as it were. Now-
let us pull aside the curtain and witness the drama itself.

It happened in 1862. The Redemptorists of San Alfonso’s

at Rome were enjoying the noon-day recreation. Conversa-

tion happy and friendly was passing from lip to lip, covering

missions, retreats, and recent conversions. Then, of a sudden

—so suddenly, in fact, that his words went by almost un-
noticed—one of the Fathers the Reverend Edward Schwind-
enhammer, mentioned in an offhand sort of way that he had

discovered in an old, dusty tomb a statement to the effect that

on the very spot now occupied by San Alfonso’s, there

formerly stood the ancient church of St. Matthew, the

Apostle; moreover, he declared, it was in this same church

that the storied Madonna of Perpetual Help was enshrined

for three centuries and that here it wrought many miracles.

‘‘However,” he concluded somewhat sorrowfully, “no one

knows what became of this picture of Perpetual Help.”

“Perpetual Help”—those words struck hard on the ears of
the Reverend Michael Marchi, one of the missionaries sitting

in the circle. “Perpetual Help”—that made him think; he sat
back in his chair, his cheeks waxed ruddy

;
his eyes, well, they

seemed to be looking down the dim, dreamy vistas of the past.

And they were : they were visioning a little chapel ; they were

gazing upon an aged priest offering the Sacrifice of the Mass

;

they were contemplating a little boy, a very little boy, kneel-

ing silently on the altar steps. That little boy was Michael

himself; and that aged priest was Augustine Orsetti, an

Augustinian Friar. Memories—a host of memories came
breaking through the barricaded years, crowding the courts

of his mind. “I know where that picture is,” he said with a

start. “I have often seen it myself in the convent chapel of

St. Mary in Posterula.” Attention showed clear in every

eye: here was something important, they instinctively felt.

Father Marchi went on to recount how the aged Augustinian

[ 31 ]



used to point his trembling hand at that picture over the

altar, saying: “That picture in days gone by was held in

high veneration in St. Matthew’s church; and in its honor

a solemn festival was celebrated every year.” All this to the

youthful Marchi meant next to nothing; he saw nothing

strange, nothing exciting about it all. This unconcern, ap-

parently, did not escape the searching eye of the aged priest.

He spoke to him therefore more plainly. “Understand me

now, Michael
;

this Madonna is the one that was so long

venerated in old St. Matthew’s.” And to make his meaning

more impressive, “Mind now,” he continued, “don’t forget

what I am telling you. What I say is true, perfectly true.”

Then to convince himself that Michael had grasped his

meaning he questioned him directly; “Michael, my boy, do

you understand me?” Michael must have replied that he

did, for the aged priest concluded in a pensive, reflective

strain: “It was a miraculous picture.”

Poor old man! We wonder if he thought that some day
perhaps that picture would again be restored to public venera-

tion
;
we wonder if, as he uttered those significant words, he

believed they would span the years, like a bridge binding the

past with the present, carrying to millions of Mary’s clients

a message of happiness, of peace, of salvation. High, indeed,

was his commission
;
a -prophet he was, all unconscious of his

prophecy. The prophecy’s fulfillment, the day of the picture’s

restoration to public cult was not granted him to behold. He

was wanted in Heaven where pictures are no longer necessary,

but where the Realities are beholden.

Happy for us that Augustine had spoken. Happy for us

that he had spoken of Perpetual Plelp. Happy for us that

he had spoken to Michael Marchi, or else—and how we
shudder to say it—we would never have possessed Perpetual
Help.

The first stone of silence had been removed; and with its

removal there came an unsuspected echo to Redemptorist ears

They knew that St. Matthew’s church—its ruins could still
be seen in 1855 when they purchased the property—had

[ 32 ]



stood exactly where now rose aloft the imposing Gothic

structure that was the church of San Alfonso. They knew,

that St. Matthew’s had once sheltered the miraculous pic-

ture of Perpetual Help. They knew, finally, that that pic-

ture was still in existence at St. Mary in Posterula. But

they did not know that it was our Lady’s express will to be

enshrined between St. Mary Major’s and St. John Lateran’s,

which spot at that time was occupied by San Alfonso’s. That

information—that heavenly command—was to come to them
through a sermon, which the learned Jesuit, Father Francis

Blosi, delivered on February 7, 1863. Blosi’s was the laudable

custom of preaching every Saturday on one of Mary’s

Miraculous Madonnas. The Saturday in question, he se-

lected for his topic: “The Miraculous Picture of Perpetual

Help.” His opening words were as follows:

“Today, my brethren, I come to speak to you about a

picture of our Lady, which in days gone by was very fam-

ous for its miracles but which has given no signs of its

existence for now seventy (sic) years.

“Would to heaven that there were someone among my

many hearers, who knows where this Holy Picture lies

neglected; let him tell whoever may have it in his keeping,

that Mary desires that it should be publicly exposed for the

veneration of the faithful in that church which is situated

between the Caelian and the Esquiline Hills!”

And somewhat prophetically he thus concluded:

“Who knows but that the honor of finding this picture has
been reserved for our own days. Who knows what blessings
may come upon the world from a revival of devotion to Mary

under her chosen title of Perpetual Help.”

The secret was out
;
a hidden truth had been revealed

;

everybody was speaking of the Madonna’s wish to be en-

shrined between St. Mary Major’s and St. John Lateran’s.

Nor did they need to inquire what church occupied that

exalted and prominent position, for all could see it was

San Alfonso’s.

San Alfonso’s had been built in 1855, when at the special

[ 33 ]



request of Pius IX the Redemptorists transferred their Cen-

tral House to the Eternal City. “Something mere than

chance,” writes the Rev. H. Castle, C.SS.R., “seems to

have led the Fathers to this part of Rome.” And he asks:

“Had not our Lady of Perpetual Help herself led the sons

of St. Alphonsus to this spot in order that she might take

possession of the church built by them hard by her ancient

sanctuary?” In purchasing that property little did the Re-

demptorists dream, that they had come into possession of a

field wherein was hidden “a pearl of great price”—the shrine
of Perpetual Help. Happy indeed were these sons of St.

Alphonsus when they unearthed this pearl of surpassing splen-

dor, its dazzling lustre struck them with a certain awe and

wonderment. Its brilliance lit up the past, clarified the pres-

ent, illumined the future. The past in that they now rea-

lized how Divine Providence has carefully directed them to

this promised land
;
the present, in that it made clear the

ways they were going
;
the future, in that it gave sure token

of ultimate success and final victory in their Redemptoristic

work. It all simply meant Heaven’s approbation, and the

thought was overpowering. It was all so unusual, so un-

heard of, so strangely wonderful; it seemed almost a fairy

tale that one is wont to tell at sleeping hours. But it only

“seemed” so, for never was tale or story more true, more

worthy of firm telief. Like an oft-recurring refrain there

kept ringing in Redemptorist ears: Perpetual Help wishes

San Alfonso’s as her shrine.

With such information at their disposal, we should ex-

pect to hear of the Redemptorists hastening at once to re-

claim the buried Treasure; but such was not the case. The

Most Rev. Nicholas Mauron, their highest Superior, was

a prudent and cautious man. He was unwilling to act in an

affair of such moment as this until he had found positive in-

ternal conviction that such was the will of God and of His

Blessed Mother. What? Had he not been told that such

was Their holy will? Yes, but only by man. He sought

stronger proof; he wanted Heaven’s evidence. So he prayed

[ 34 ]



and prayed hard for enlightenment and assurance. And his

prayer was answered—but not until three years had passed
away—years that were trying in suspense, years that were
full of thought and reflection, years spent in constant quest

for all manner of guidance. But with the passing of the years,

there passed, too, all his anxiety, all his fear of mistake, all

his worry for the future. Clear as a beacon light on a frosty

night there stood revealed in his calm mind Mary’s holy will

to be enshrined in San Alfonso’s.

Without further delay he hastened to the Vatican. There

he was granted a private audience with that most saintly

Pontiff, Pius IX. In utter simplicity and child-like candor,

he related the captivating story of Perpetual Help. The Pope

was wrapt in attention. He listened with a sunny smile upon

his lips, and a joy that sparkled in his eyes. Perpetual Help

—that name conjured up forgotten memories of his own
childhood days. As a little boy, he recalled how his mother

took him one day to old St. Matthew’s to see the wondrous

Picture of Perpetual Help. At sight of it, his heart, like

clouds before the setting sun, caught fire with love for Mary

;

and the ensuing years served only to fan its flame into a

mighty conflagration. “From the days of my boyhood,” he

himself assures us, “I have always loved this most gracious

Mother of all mankind with my soul’s deepest affection, and

have ever striven to honor her with filial piety and trustful

reverence.” No wonder he was so anxious to define her Im-
maculate Conception; no wonder he was now again anxious

to add to her glory by restoring to public veneration her holy

picture of Perpetual Help. The measure of his joy may in

some way be imagined from the fact, that upon hearing of

Mary’s express will to be in San Alfonso’s church, he forth-

with dispensed with the usual exacting formalities of such

transactions, and seizing pen and paper hurriedly wrote the

following

:

“December 11, 1865. The Cardinal Prefect of the Propa-

ganda shall send for the Superior of the little community of

St. Mary in Posterula and shall tell him that it is Our wish

[ 35 ]



that the picture of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary be re-

enshrined between St. Mary Major's and St. John Lateran’s,

with the obligation on the part of the Superior of the

Redemptorists to replace it by some other suitable picture.

Pius, PP.IX.”

Upon Father Mauron’s return to his expectant community

that evening, he appeared more like an angel bringing glad

tidings of great joy, than a man merely announcing the Papal

approbation for the Picture's restoration.

His announcement sent happiness smiling through the de-

lighted community. It is quite unnecessary for us to say that

the conversation that night centered solely around the pic-

ture's return to San Alfonso's. Much of the time, it may

well be imagined, was spent in suggesting motives that may

have inspired our Lady of Perpetual Help to bestow her

picture on the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.

By that bestowal she openly espoused the cause of the sons

of St. Alphonsus, giving as her dowry her own picture of

Perpetual Help. By that act she placed in Redemptorist

hands the future lot of her holy picture as well as the devo-

tion to herself under the special title of Perpetual Help. By

it she approved the missionary activities and apostolic labors

of the Congregation. By it, finally, she manifested towards

that same Congregation her deep mother-love and affection,

and rewarded in a most striking way its holy Founder, St.

Alphonsus Liguori, who had written so beautifully and

tenderly about our Blessed Lady, had never let an oppor-

tunity go by when he could preach her glories, and had al-

ways striven to enkindle in the hearts of the faithful love

and devotion to the Queen of Heaven.

Another strange incident: in 1732 Alphonsus and his first

companions assembled at Scala, Italy, to make a three-day

retreat in preparation for the inauguration of the Institute.

During the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament this extra-

ordinary apparition took place: in the Sacred Host the Cross

was seen surrounded by the Instruments of the Passion, the

Lance, Sponge, and Nails. This apparition was witnessed

[ 36 ]



by Alphonsus and his companions and the entire congrega-

tion for a period of three days. Feeling that it was the will of

God, Alphonsus chose this apparition for the official seal of

the Congregation. And now one hundred and fifty years

later is given to the Redemptorists a picture that shows forth

those same Instruments of the Passion : Cross, Lance, Sponge,

and Nails! “That picture was given us,” wrote the Most

Rev. Patrick Murray, C.SS.R., “to teach us again what the

Sacred Host of Scala taught Alphonsus and his companions

and what the Congregation’s coat of arms or the official seal,

still teaches us, that both our own salvation and the salvation

of others is wrought through the Cross of Christ.”

Reenthronement

npn e night of oblivion was over
;
its darkening shadows had

^ concealed the picture for 67 years. Years they were, dur-
ing which Perpetual Help, that picture whose glory once

bridged a triplet of centuries, was not spoken of nor even

thought of; it lay like a thing of death, unhonored and

unsung. Now however those years, those idle years, were
gone; for the day of liberation from captive silence had

dawned in the east. And even as of old two disciples could

be seen running in haste to the Master’s grave to see whether

or not He be risen, so now, on the morning of January 19,

1866, two Redemptorist Fathers, clad in modest black, could

be seen going with lusty step towards the Augustinian church

of St. Mary in Posterula. From their countenances one

gleaned that they were bent on some very important mission
;

they appeared like adventurers seeking some fabulous treasure

;

and they were. Rev. Frs. Michael Marchi and Ernest Bres-

ciani had been sent out as legates by their Congregation to

treat with the Augustinian Fathers of St. Mary’s concerning

the restoration of the miraculous picture of Perpetual Help

to its ancient throne on the Esquiline.

Upon presenting the Pope’s official approbation of their

mission they were welcomed with brotherly affection and

[ 37 ]



listened to with intensest interest. It was all so thrilling, this

story of Perpetual Help, and to think that never before had

they known of our Lady’s express will to be enshrined in

that church which was situated “between St. Mary Major’s

and St. John Lateran’s,” and that church, it was most ob-

vious, was San Alfonso’s. Little did the superior of the

Augustinians realize during those years that he was the pos-

sessor of a treasure more valuable than richest gold or

brightest pearls. Without delay he conducted our Lady’s

envoys to the little oratory where exactly as Fr. Marchi

had described it some time before, they found hanging above

an impoverished altar the beautiful picture of Perpetual

Help. No explorer ever beheld with greater delight the
land of his quest; no Israelite ever looked more fondly upon

the Promised Land, than did these two Redemptorists upon

the loving Madonna of Perpetual Help.

With a sense of mingled reverence and awe they pro-

ceeded to take down the picture. It was a little dusty, but

that was all. Its well preserved condition after almost 400

years, was most surprising. Of course some of the colors

had faded, but none of the Madonna’s soft and sweet

expression or the Child’s frightened look had disappeared

with the years. Man had done far more damage than time.
He had, it pains us to say it, driven several nails into a

cross-beam, used for reinforcement, which protruded through

the front of the picture. Save for these little injuries which

could easily be repaired the picture was in excellent

condition.

The two Redemptorists, happier than words can tell, with

their treasure under their arms turned their steps homeward.

Before leaving, they had promised—as the Pope had ordered
—to give in return another picture of the Augustinians’ own
choosing. What a joy it was when the superior declared that

he preferred none other than a copy of the picture of Per-

petual Help. His request was granted, and as soon as a

copy could be made it was sent to him.

In the possession of their adopted Madonna the Redemp-

[ 38 ]



torists of San Alfonso’s were indeed happy. They could do

naught now but await the day of the picture’s reenthrone-

ment. That day, the 26th of April, 1866
,
dawned with

heaven’s greatest glory; the sun shone bright in its dome of

blue
;
the breezes gently wafted from the sea spread health

and life throughout the city; and even the feathered folk

were chanting their most tuneful lays in honor of their

celestial Queen. Nature and man had joined hands in their

endeavor to make the day of reenthronement one long to be

remembered. The streets along which the procession was

to pass were cheerfully festooned for the august occasion.

Homes were decorated with buntings and streamers of every

hue and flowers hung from the windows. The procession

began at three o’clock in the afternoon. Starting from the

Redemptorist monastery next to San Alfonso’s, it wound

its way through several of the city’s streets and terminated

at the church itself. Redemptorists, Franciscans, Carmelites,

Canons of St. Peter’s, and secular priests from the neighbor-

ing parishes headed the procession. As they marched they

chanted psalms and sang hymns in honor of the Mother of

God. Several bishops preceded deacons in dalmatics who

were the bearers of a most gorgeously ornamented canopy

shielding the coveted picture of Perpetual Help. Flower-

girls scattered flowers along the way. Next came the su-

periors of various religious orders, followed by large

numbers of the faithful reciting the Rosary. Last came the

celebrated “foreign Carabinieri” decked in all their regi-

mental splendor, with their military band playing martial

airs in tribute to their Heavenly Queen’s triumph.

Two miracles occurred during the procession. A little
four-year old boy was suddenly cured of a serious fever ac-

companied by meningitis. An eight-year old girl was cured

of paralysis of the leg.

The procession over, the picture was carried into San Al-

fonso’s church, which had been beautifully decorated with

flowers and streamers of all colors. And as hearts beat with

heavenly joy and lips whispered pious prayers for help, the

[ 39 ]



sacred picture was raised above the main altar, there to be

where the Mother of God willed it to be. A solemn high
Mass concluded the ceremonies of reenthronement.

The Crowning of the Picture

he following year, 1867, the picture of Perpetual Help

was solemnly crowned. In accordance with this ancient

custom, only those pictures of our Lady may be crowned that

have received the approbation of the Church for public vene-

ration; that have been venerated for many years; and that

have been famous for their miraculous power. Since these

three conditions were present in the case of the picture of

Perpetual Help, the Holy Father, Pope Pius IX, set the

23rd of June, 1867, for the official crowning of the picture.

A triduum was preached in preparation for the great event,
and all were asked to “implore Mary’s protection upon

Rome and the universal Church.”

San Alfonso’s was especially decorated for the auspicious

occasion; outside, streamers of rainbow colors floated in the

breeze; inside, flowers and banners and candles hailed the

coronation of Heaven’s Queen. The church was crowded

with pious clients of Mary’s, as it had never been before;

not a few had to remain outside. At the end of the Solemn

Pontifical High Mass, the Celebrant, the Right Rev. R.

Aloysius Antici-Mattei, later Cardinal, intoned the “Regina

Coeli, Laetare!” (O Queen of Heaven, rejoice!), and at

that moment the beautiful golden crowns studded with

various jewels were placed upon the heads of the Child

Jesus and His Blessed Mother.

As the picture was elevated to its throne above the high

altar, the entire congregation broke out in the strains of that

magnificent hymn of praise and thanksgiving, the “Te

Deum.” After the ceremony fireworks were discharged,

bombs exploded, and cannons roared forth their fiery salvos

to the countryside—all attesting to the jubilant spirits of
the citizens of Rome, who might well rejoice since their

[ 40 ]



city had been chosen as the home of the Mother of Per-

petual Help.

These never-to-be-forgotten celebrations came to a most

sensational end when a pen of flame traced the name,

“Mary,” in the evening sky. With one shout the people

cried out: “Long live Mary! Long live the Mother of

Perpetual Help!”

The Archeonfraternity of Perpetual Help

|7rom the earliest times numbers of the faithful have
^ banded themselves together in little groups for the pur-

pose of performing some definite pious or charitable work.

These little groups or associations, when they are established

and guided by competent ecclesiastical authority, are called

“confraternities.” One of these is our own Archconfratemity

of Perpetual Help.

To Ireland, the Isle of Saints and Scholars, belongs the

glory of being the first to establish a confraternity of Per-

petual Help. There in the year of 1868 the citizens of

Limerick met and formed the confraternity that was to be-

come so helpful and powerful an agent in spreading the devo-

tion to the Mother of Perpetual Help. So successful has

been the work of this confraternity that “there is scarcely an

Irish home today in town or country where the sweet pic-

ture is not known or loved.”

Confraternities soon sprang up in Belgium, France, and

Italy. The confraternity was established at Rome on May

23, 1871. The name of St. Alphonsus was added that he

who was such a great devotee of Our Lady might become

the inspiration and guide to all lovers of Perpetual Help.

Five years later these various confraternities became so

numerous and popular, that it was decided to erect them

into an Archconfraternity; this meant, that they would all

be united and participate in certain greater privileges, in-

dulgences, and prayers. Over 5,000,000 now belong to this

Archconfraternity of the Mother of Perpetual Help and St.

[ 41 ]



Alphonsus. To become a member nothing else is required

than to have one’s name inscribed on the official register.

While no obligations are imposed, yet members are coun-

selled to have constant recourse to the Mother of Perpetual

Help in all their spiritual and temporal needs; and to strive

to imitate her virtues, especially her purity and humility. In

order to help the members carry out these recommendations,

they are counselled to wear or carry about with them a

medal or picture of Perpetual Help and St. Alphonsus; to

place the picture of Perpetual Help in their homes
;
to recite

morning and evening three “Hail Mary’s” in honor of the

Blessed Virgin and a “Glory be to the Father” in honor of

St. Alphonsus; to renew every month their act of consecra-

tion to the Mother of Perpetual Help and St. Alphonsus;

to celebrate our Lady’s various feasts by attendance at Mass

and the reception of Holy Communion; and finally, to take

part in all devotions, especially novenas, held in her honor.

In return for this devotion, they receive many plenary in-

dulgences, participate in all the prayers, good works, and

mortifications of the members of the Congregation of the

Most Holy Redeemer, and are remembered in a Solemn

High Mass that is offered for them, whether living or

dead, every year on the feast of the Mother of Perpetual Help.

This Archconfraternity is, in the words of St. Alphonsus,

“An Ark of Safety, wherein Christians in the midst of the

world find a sure refuge from the storms of temptation and

that deluge of sin which threatens to sweep all before it.”

Perpetual Supplication

HHhe giant tree of the Archconfraternity of Perpetual Help,
T

its roots gripping deep into the hearts of Rome, reaches

forth its beneficent branches over the whole earth, yielding

buds and blossoms and plentiful fruits of every form and

hue. In Buenos Aires we find a House of the Handmaids

of Perpetual Help; there a pious association for the protec-

tion of young girls; an institute for the safeguarding of

[ 42 ]



Christian marriage; and in Santiago the Society of Per-

petual Supplication.

This society of Perpetual Supplication was founded in

1878 by the Rev. P. Merges, C.SS.R. The purpose of the

society was to have groups of individuals keeping constant

vigil before the picture of Perpetual Help, and beseeching

the Mother of God to send down her blessings upon the

world. “Perpetual Supplication,” wrote Pius X, “shall be

made by the faithful in the presence of the sacred image;

they shall be portioned off into little groups and shall re-

main constantly before the image, pouring out their prayers

uninterruptedly.” This society was inaugurated on Christ-

mas Day, 1878, and ever since then groups of sixes and

sevens, sometimes more, take their turns before the picture,

reciting the Rosary and praying for the needs of the members

of the Archconfraternity. When the society started there
were 600 supplicants

;
five years later their number increased

to 1,400. The society is strong today and has branches in

several countries, outstanding among which is Spain where

the number of supplicants is very great. In some countries

Perpetual Supplication is made during the time of a mission,

and great good is done.

Perpetual Adoration in honor of our Eucharistic Lord is

prominent enough in this country; but the day may come

when Perpetual Supplication to our Mother of Perpetual

Help may also be made by vast numbers of the faithful.

Perpetual Help and Church Unity

What a beautiful picture Christ must have presentedwhen in the midst of His beloved Apostles, “lifting up
His eyes to Heaven,” He prayed thus to His heavenly Father:

“And not for them (that is, the Apostles) only do I pray,

but for them also who through their word shall believe in

me; that they all may be one as Thou, Father, in me, and

I in thee; that they also may be one in us.” These words

are a standing refutation of the oft-repeated falsehood, that

[ 43 ]



all religions are equally good; if they were, Christ would

never have prayed that prayer. He knew full well that a

house divided against itself cannot stand. The greatest mis-

take man ever made was to spell the word, “church”, in

the plural. There is only one church, not churches; one

religion and that is the Roman Catholic Religion. All others

are false, and contrary to the teaching of Christ Who
taught that there should be but “one fold and one shepherd”.

It is, therefore, with a deep sense of sorrow and sadness

that we recall how these words of the Master’s were openly

disregarded, indeed deliberately despised, when in the elev-

enth century (1054) our Brothers of the East, under the

leadership of that proud and haughty Michael Caerularius,

broke asunder the bonds of unity, threw off the sweet yoke of

Christ’s own Church, and determined to go the way of their

own choosing. Then it was that these dissatisfied sons of the

Church—prodigal sons they were, leaving the wealth and
riches of their Father’s House for the satisfaction of per-

sonal pride and passion—chose no longer to obey Christ’s
Vicar on earth, the visible Head of the Church, the Pope

of Rome. By that act of wilful disobedience they inaugurated

what is known as the Greek Schismatic Church, or “Ortho-

dox” Church. It is called “Schismatic” because it refuses

obedience to the Divinely appointed successor of St. Peter,

the Pope of Rome. Like another Holofernes cutting off

Bethulia’s water-supply, Caerularius shut off from the

Greeks the only source of true and heavenly wisdom, an

infallible Pope. That schism has grown and today it counts

over 125,000,000 adherents. Those millions belong to

Rome; they were begotten to the faith by Rome, they were

fed and nourished by Rome, and by Rome they were con-

stantly cared for and protected. Sons of Rome they are,

and if sons of Rome, they are our brothers though they

live separated from us. Why should they not come tripping
home to their Father’s House, where they will be received

with open arms, and made to sit down at table where the

Bread of Life will be broken to them?

[ 44 ]



Many overtures have been made to these prodigal sons to

return
;
but only with little success. “Success in such an un-

dertaking,” declared Pope Leo XII, “is to be sought most of

all in constant prayer and petition to the Divine Godhead.”

He further declared that the Mother of God will be the

greatest means of bringing them back to their true Home.

“Mary is to be prayed to,” he wrote, “that the blessing of

unity may be effected in the Christian Family.”

Hope of reunion is based largely upon their devotion to

the Mother of God. They did much to spread devotion to

her, and have raised large and beautiful basilicas in her

honor.

The picture of Perpetual Help is dear to them, and it

may play a large part in leading them back to Rome. This

picture serves as the frontispiece in the “Balcan”, a magazine

for the promotion of Church Unity; it appears on other

magazines and pamphlets circulated among them
;

it hangs in

the Pontifical Institute for Oriental Studies in Rome, where

Asiatic and European students gather to study the question

of Reunion; and it was given as the seal for the Relief

Mission sent into Russia. This picture has been chosen be-

cause of its appeal to the Greeks; its style is Greek, its

author was a product of Greek culture; Greek letters ap-

pear on it, and it seems to be an offspring of that picture,

the Hodegetria, so long venerated in Constantinople. The

Greeks feel therefore that the picture somewhat belongs to

them. As a reward for their devotion to this Mother of

Perpetual Help, may this good Mother bring them back to

the source of spiritual life, which is Rome.

PERPETUAL HELP
The Coredemptrix and Mediatrix

of all Graces

TQerpetual Help has conquered the world! That over-
^ whelming assertion naturally leaps from our lips when
we consider the picture’s world-wide distribution and devo-

[ 45 ]



tion; and realizing that such a universal distribution and

rapid rise of devotion could not have taken place save for

the power of God, we are at once reminded of the Sacred

Writers inspired words: “This is the finger of God!”

Unquestionably, in all this God had His own special designs

and His own definite purpose; and although we are aware

that “His ways are incomprehensible”—for, as St. Paul
asks, “who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has

been His counsellor?” and although we hesitate to rush in

where angels fear to tread, yet, inquisitive beings that we

are, we cannot but try in our own childlike way to get a

slight glimpse into God’s great plan, and to discover, if

possible, the purpose He had in spreading the picture of
Perpetual Help throughout the world.

His primary purpose, we feel safe in asserting, was that

His Blessed Mother should reign in the hearts of the faith-

ful; for He comprehends most clearly that where Mary is,

Jesus must also be ; They cannot be separated any more than

can be separated the light from the sun. It was this truth

that forced from Blessed Grignon de Montfort his immortal

words: “That the kingdom of Christ may come, let the

kingdom of Mary come I” Or as St. Alphonsus used to say

:

“To Jesus through Mary; to the Redeemer through the

Coredemptrix.”

As a secondary purpose, however, we believe that God

willed by this means to call the attention of the faithful to

those two and most important prerogatives of His Blessed

Mother, which of late have been extensively discussed by

theologians throughout the world and which, we hope, may

soon be raised to the dignity of defined dogmas of faith

—

namely, her prerogatives of Coredemptrix, and Mediatrix

of all graces.

We shall endeavor to explain these prerogatives by our
picture of Perpetual Help.

That Mary justly deserves the title of Coredemptrix, no

one who gives the matter the least consideration will deny.

By the use of this title we do not wish to be understood as

[ 46 ]



implying any absolute equality between Jesus and Mary, as

if to assert that the Blessed Virgin was just as capable of

effecting man’s salvation as (was) her Divine Son, Jesus;

or that she perfected the work done by Christ. By no means;

for we comprehend clearly that only an Infinite Person, as

was Christ, was capable of making adequate reparation for

man’s infinite offense against the Triune God; and we com-

prehend further that Christ’s work was of and in itself

wholly perfect, nay, superabundant, needing no addition

from without. He redeemed man de condigno, as they say,

that is, by a right founded in justice; but Mary, we claim,

co-operated in man’s redemption de congruo, that is, by a

right founded not in justice but simply on the will of God,

in as much as God willed and decreed that by her sufferings

she would share in the work of redemption. Or to quote

the words of Pius X: “Summoned by Christ to the work

of human salvation she merited for us de congruo , what

Christ merited for us de condigno
”

An illustration may make this clear. Suppose a king had

decided to free his slaves from bondage. If he willed, he

could do so without further delay, for he possesses supreme

power in his kingdom. But suppose he so loved his queen

that he willed her also to participate in the glory of the

slaves’ liberation, and therefore decreed that upon her con-

sent would depend their freedom. When therefore she con-
sents, she can rightly be said to have taken an active part

—

though this part be subordinate and only secondary to that

of the king’s—in their deliverance; and if the king for his
deed is called the “liberator,” she, we think, may justly be

called the “liberatrix.” In such an affair everybody recog-

nizes that had the king not willed to free his slaves, his

queen’s wish or will to do so would have been of no avail,

for independent of the king she possesses no power whatever.

So it was with our redemption. Slaves to sin, God decreed

to free us by His Son’s sufferings and death—that would
have been sufficient—but He willed to honor His Mother,
so He decreed that upon her consent man’s salvation should

[ 47 ]



depend. Since therefore she willingly consented, and thereby

took an active—though subordinate and secondary part in
man's redemption she, if Christ be called the “Redeemer,”

may rightly be called the “Coredemptrix.”

Such procedure on the part of God seemed only natural

and what we should expect, for, as St. Bernard says, “as

one man (Adam) and one woman (Eve) co-operated in our

ruin, so it was proper that another man and another woman

should co-operate in our redemption, and these two were

Jesus and Mary. Nor is there any doubt,” he goes on to

say, “that Jesus Christ alone was more than sufficient to

redeem us; but it was more becoming that both sexes should

co-operate in the reparation of an evil in causing which both

had shared.”

In view of the fact, therefore, that God willed that Mary

should participate in man's redemption, it will be of service

to state here in just what that participation consisted. It con-

sisted, we find, first, in her free consent to Christ's Incarna-

tion. Expressive of this free consent are the words addressed

to the Virgin Mary by the great St. Bernard: “The price of

our redemption is offered to you
;
we shall at once be freed

if you consent. Say the word which earth, hell, and heaven

are waiting for!”

In so far, therefore, that God had willed to place man's

redemption in Mary’s consent or refusal to the Incarnation,

we can truly say that had Mary not consented, man would

not have been redeemed.

Secondly, it consisted in her willing sacrifice of her own

Son on Calvary. That means that she had to prepare, as far

as in her lay, the Victim for the Sacrificial Altar. This she

did by giving Him of her own flesh and blood, by nursing

Him, and caring for Him to the very last. Let us substan-

tiate this by the words of Pius X. He says: “It was not

only the glory of the Mother of God ‘to have presented the

Only-Begotten Son of God who was to be bom of human

members’ the material by which He was prepared as a Vic-

tim for the salvation of mankind, but hers also was the office

[ 48 ]



of tending and nourishing that Victim and at the appointed

time of offering Him at the Altar.”

And thirdly, Mary’s participation consisted in the joint

offering she made of her own sufferings with those of her

Son, or, as Pius X so beautifully puts it: “From the com-
munion of pain and will between Mary and Christ she well

merited to become the restorer of a lost world that is, the

Coredemptrix.

Because of this threefold participation in man’s redemp-

tion Mary has most justly been given the expressive title of

Coredemptrix . Thus was she styled even in the first days of

the Church by such great Saints as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,

and Ephrem, as well as by the heretic, Tertullian. No mod-

ern theologian of repute denies her the coveted title. Where-

fore the Holy Office in its decree of June 26, 1913, openly

acclaimed the Mother of God as the “Coredemptrix”; and

Benedict XV boldly declared that in view of her sacrifice of
her Son in which sacrifice she herself suffered most bitterly,

“it may rightly be said that Mary with Christ redeemed

the human race.”

That these three points, substantiated by the testimonies

of Saints, and Popes, are aptly illustrated by the picture of

Perpetual Help the following will leave undoubted.

In the picture we are reminded of her free consent to

Christ’s Incarnation by the presence of the Archangel

Gabriel, for he it was who announced that she was chosen to

be the Mother of God’s only Begotten Son, Christ the Lord.

And Mary “in the place of all human nature,” as St. Thomas

so profoundly remarks, “freely gave her consent, saying

:

'Behold the handmaid of the Lord : be it done to me accord-

ing to Thy word.’
”

In consenting to become the Mother of the Redeemer,

Mary knew plainly from her readings and study of the Old

Testament, that Her Son would be to her “a bundle of

myrrh,” that is, would cause her untold sorrow and suffer-

ing by His Bloody Death on Calvary’s cruel Cross. Look

at the picture for a moment; see how fully the Mother and

[ 49 ]



the Child realize the future Crucifixion. Yet, Mary was

willing, and scorned not the pain. Almost too evident to

mention is the portrayal of the Mother's “communion of

pain" with her Son. The sorrow of her countenance, the

tearful expression in her eyes, the little cross over her right

eye indicating her mental agony; all forcibly point to “that

never dissociated manner of life and labor of the Son and

the Mother," as Pius X declared, “which permits the appli-
cation to both the words of the Psalmist: ‘My life is con-

sumed in sorrow and my years in groans/
”

Wherefore we can see how truthfully the Rev. C. Henze,

C.SS.R., has observed : “Hardly could a picture of our Lady

be imagined that would better portray this idea of the

Coredemptrix."

Perpetual Help: Mediatrix of all Graces

Because of the important part Mary played in man’s re-

demption, God was pleased to confer upon her, as a kind of

reward, the exalted office and distinguished title of “Media-

trix of all graces
*'

“From Calvary,

Dear Lady, thou shalt be

Love’s arbiter for all eternity

—

When we say that Mary is the Mediatrix of all graces, we

mean that she both obtains for us by her intercession and

actually dispenses to us all the graces necessary for our salva-

tion. Hence her office of mediation is twofold
;
first, she begs

God to grant us graces; and second, she herself distributes

them to us. Owing to this latter office she has been most

appropriately styled the “Dispenser of grace."

“From Him the Grace: through her it stands

Adjusted, meted, and applied:

And ever, passing through her hands,

Enriched it seems, and beautified.”

The historic proof—and it is irrefragable—that Christ
listens to and grants His Mother’s petitions is found in the

[ 50 ]



pages of Holy Writ where we read that at Mary’s interces-

sion Christ “changed water into wine,” though His “time

had not come” I In this Saints have discovered Christ’s will

to grant graces through Mary’s intercession and they have

never ceased to proclaim to the world this most consoling

doctrine.

“Every good thing that we have from God,” says St. Al-

phonsus, “we have received through the intercession of

Mary.” This intercession, asserts the learned Suarez, “is

not only useful, but necessary.” “This necessity,” aptly ex-

plains Alphonsus, “is not absolute, but moral,” that is, it

“proceeds from the will of God itself” who has decreed in the

present order of things “that all graces should pass through

Mary’s hands.” And St. Bernard confirms this, declaring:

“Such is God’s will, that we should have all through Mary.”

Mary’s office as Dispenser of grace is clearly taught by

sacred writers—all of them calling her “The Mother of
Divine Grace.”

“We are admonished by St. Alphonsus,” so run the
statutes of the Archconfraternity of Perpetual Help, that

this is the order, wonderful and full of love, of Divine

Providence, that no grace is given to man which does not

pass through Mary’s hands. For by her Divine Son, Jesus,

she has been constituted the treasurer and the universal

Dispenser of all graces, be they spiritual or temporal.

Whence it follows that invocation to Mary must necessarily

be made
;

and whosoever recommends himself with con-

fidence and perseverance to this best of all mothers will most

assuredly obtain whatever he asks.”

This, in short, is the great doctrine of Mary’s universal

mediation. To St. Alphonsus, honored with the title of

“Doctor of the Church,” this doctrine appeared as “the heart

of all true devotion to Mary” and he bent all his efforts to

enkindle it in the hearts of his hearers. To his everlasting
glory be it said that “he was the first to propose this doctrine

in the form of a thesis and to vindicate it before his ad-

versaries.” Watchwords like these fall from his lips, and

[ 51 ]



unto death was he prepared to defend them: “Mary is

omnipotent because by her prayers she obtains whatever she

wills.” “That it is most useful and holy to have recourse

to the intercession of Mary can only be doubted by those

who have no faith.” Quoting the words of Richard of St.

Laurence, he says: “Our salvation is in Mary's hands”;

and he concludes, “he who is protected by Mary will be

saved, he who is not, will be lost.”

And to him who would object to his teaching with the

words of St. Paul that “there is one Mediator of God and

men, the man Christ Jesus, in Whom we have redemption
through His Blood, the remission of sins,” he replies that

“Jesus Christ is our only Mediator of justice, and that He
by His merits has obtained our reconciliation with God. But,

on the other hand it is impious to assert that God is not

pleased to grant graces at the intercession of His Saints, and

more especially of Mary, His Mother, whom Jesus desires

so much to be honored and loved by all.” Therefore, he says,

“there can be no doubt that by the merits of Jesus, Mary

was made Mediatrix of our salvation; not indeed a Media-

trix of justice, but of grace and intercession; as St. Bonaven-

ture expressly calls her, ‘Mary, the most powerful Mediatrix

of our Salvation.' ” And St. Bernard agrees perfectly with

St. Alphonsus: “There is no doubt that Jesus is the only

Mediator of justice between men and God
;
that, by virtue

of His own merits and promises, He will and can obtain

us pardon and divine favors; but because men acknowledge

and fear the Divine Majesty which is in Him as God, for

this reason it was necessary to assign us another advocate

to whom we might have recourse with less fear and mere

confidence, and this advocate is Mary, than whom we can-

not find one more powerful with His Divine Majesty, or

one more merciful towards ourselves.”

The manner of Mary's intercession is thus explained by

Blessed Raymond Jordano: “Mary, as our most loving Ad-

vocate, herself offers the prayers of her servants to God, and

especially those that are placed in her hands; for as the Son

[ 52 ]



intercedes for us with the Father, so does she intercede with

the Son, and does not cease to make intercession with Both

for the great affair of our salvation, and to obtain for us the

graces we ask.” And Pope Leo XIII quoting the words of

St. Bernadine of Sienna says: “Every grace that is sent to

the world has a triple procession, for it is dispensed in the

following order: “From God to Christ, from Christ to the

Virgin, from the Virgin to us.”

By far the greatest triumph for this Marian doctrine of

universal mediation was scored in 1921, when Pope Bene-

dict XV—that modern troubadour of Heaven’s Queen

—

granted first to Belgium, and then to the Catholics of the

whole world permission to celebrate, on May 31, a new feast
in honor of the Mother of God under the especial title of

“Mary, Mediatrix of all graces.” And in the Divine Office

of that day he bade us pray: “Lord Jesus, our Mediator

with the Father, who hast deigned to appoint the Blessed

Virgin Thy Mother to be our Mother and Mediatrix with

Thee, graciously grant that whosoever comes to Thee ask-

ing favors may have the joy to obtain all things through

her.”

No longer then does any doubt exist regarding Mary’s

universal mediation, for the whole world now proclaims her

“Mediatrix of all graces.” And in no small degree do we

believe that instrumental in spreading this devotion was our

miraculous picture of Perpetual Help, for it tells us in

language all can understand—the artist’s language of color

—

that Mary is truly and really man’s great Mediatrix of

grace.

In the picture we see symbolized by Mary’s extended right

arm and open palm the gesture of one who is supplicating

or interceding. “Mary is always in the Divine Presence,

acting as our Advocate and interceding for us with God by

her prayers,” as we are taught by the Blessed Amadeus.

And in the position of the Child’s hands we think we see

symbolized the emptying of His own hands of all their

graces into Mary’s hand so that she may dispense them “as

[ 53 ]



she pleases” (St. Bernard). This harmonizes with the teach-

ing of Benedict XV who wrote: “All graces which the
Author of every good gift deigns to bestow upon the poor

children of Adam, are, in accordance with a gracious design

of Divine Providence, dispensed by the hands of the most

Blessed Virgin.”

“Oh, ever help me, Mary Mother mine,

And ask thine Infant Jesus for the grace

That I do need! See, with a beaming face

He places both His little hands in thine;

As, while His eyes with tender mercy shine,

He gives all gifts and graces unto thee,

That with them, thou mayst aid and succor me.”

In a more obvious way, however, Mary’s mediation is

taught by the picture’s title of Perpetual Help . Chosen

by herself, this title of Mary’s was to draw thousands to put

all their trust in her. Perpetual Help!—what does it mean?
It means that she must be ready to help us at all times, under

all circumstances, in every need
;

it means that she must help

us not only at certain times, but perpetually, all our lives,

and more especially at the hour of death; it means, too, and

this is strengthening indeed, that she must be willing to

help us even when we fall, yes, even when we are in sin;

even then, if we pray to her, she must help us to regain the

grace of God. “O Mary,” cries William of Paris, “thou art

obliged to help sinners in view of all the gifts, the graces, and

high honors comprised in the dignity of Mother of God,

which thou hast received.”

But how, you may ask, can Mary help us perpetually

?

She can do this in two ways: first, by asking God to give

us the graces we need; and second, by dispensing them to

us by her own hands. In these two ways we see revealed the

nature of Mary’s mediation, as explained above—namely,
her intercession and her dispensation of grace. Hence the

titles, Perpetual Help, and Mediatrix of all graces, are

synonymous, interchangeable, identical. When therefore we

beg Mary to be our Perpetual Help, we imply that we ex-

[ 54 ]



pect her to obtain for us some special favor by her all-

powerful intercession, and to bestow that favor upon us

with her own hands.

What a happy choice was this title of Perpetual Help ! for

it keeps constantly before our minds Mary’s office of Media-

trix of all graces. “No other title,” writes a client of Mary,

“can be found in the Litany of Loretto, which so clearly ex-

emplifies this truth of Mary’s continual assistance and inter-

cession, as this title of Perpetual Help. For the title of

Mother of Divine Grace indicates in particular that she gave

birth to Christ, the Author of Divine Grace, and its mean-

ing would still be true even if she did not help us by her

perpetual intercession and by her prayers procure for us

each and every grace. So also the title of Help of Christians

could be proved to be true even if this most Blessed Virgin

were to assist Christians only at extraordinary times, and

not to help us—as our title demands—in every circumstance
of our life, so that we are obliged to confess to her all our

affairs.”

Another argument in favor of our contention that Mary’s

universal mediation is best expressed by the title of Per-

petual Help is drawn from the fact that, on May 17, 1866,
Pius IX richly indulgenced the oft-heard prayer: “O

Mother of Perpetual Help, thou art the dispenser of all the

graces which God grants to us miserable sinners.”

Mindful of all this we are now in a position to answer

the question proposed: what purpose did God have in view

in spreading the picture of Perpetual Help throughout the

world! We shall let the brilliant Fr. Henze reply: “It
appears that it was in accordance with the dispositions of

Divine Providence, that our Image with its title of Per-

petual Help should have been so widely spread throughout

the world and that, as a result, it should inspire the faith-

ful everywhere to embrace and to put into practice the

doctrine of Mary’s universal mediation so as to obtain

by their perpetual recourse to the Mother of God her per-

petual help at all times, in all places, and in all their wants.”

[ 55 ]



A Work of Christian Art
Qince not every work of art, but only a work of Christian
^ art may be placed within the hallowed walls of a Catho-
lic church, we may justly ask: Is Perpetual Help a work of

Christian art?

A work of Christian art must possess three qualities: it
must be beautiful, worthy of its theme, and instructive.

Perpetual Help possesses these three qualities.

Perpetual Help is beautiful: “How beautiful it is!” ex-
claims everyone who beholds the picture in Rome. Moreover

it possesses both beauty of execution—how perfectly are the
figures drawn, the colors blended, the expression vitalized

—

and beauty of detail—how complete the picture is, nothing
wanting, nothing superfluous, everything in its proper place.

Perpetual Help is worthy of its theme. “Our Lady,”

writes George Bennigsen, art-critic, “is represented not as a

human mother, but as the Mother of God, the Theotokos,

the Queen of Heaven, the Intercessor.” “She is not a mortal

woman,” says another critic, “but the divine conception of

the Mother of God.” We may say the same of the Child;
He is more of heaven than of earth, the God-man, not an

ordinary child. He is worthy to be called the Son of God.

Perpetual Help is instructive. It teaches some of the most

weighty of Catholic truths: the redemption of mankind

through the sufferings of Christ, the Son of God
;
the neces-

sity of carrying our cross with resignation to God’s Holy

Will
;
the divine maternity of the Blessed Virgin

;
the neces-

sity of Mary’s intercession
;

the necessity of prayer and

penance; love of God and His Blessed Mother; faith and

humility. As from a throne Jesus and Mary speak to us

constantly, warning, consoling, encouraging, correcting, in-

spiring us with thoughts that spell happiness here and

hereafter.

[ 56 ]



A Sermon in Colors
TTN the Middle Ages cathedrals were called “The Layman’s
^ Bible,” because one could see depicted in their architec-

ture, statuary, and painted windows all of the striking

scenes and memorable events recorded in the Bible.

In the same way Perpetual Help may be said to be a

“Sermon in Colors,” teaching many salutary lessons of life.

The picture teaches first of all the love borne us by Jesus

and Mary. That love They proved by suffering and sacrifice,

the real test of love. “The whole life of Jesus was a cross

and a martyrdom,” writes the Author of the Imitation, “for

our Lord Jesus Christ was not for one hour of His life (our

Picture shows Him suffering from infancy) without the an-

guish of His Passion.” Christ died for us. “Greater love

than this no man hath than lay down His life for his

friends.” And St. Alphonsus says of our Blessed Mother:

“Mothers generally love those children most, the preserva-

tion of whose lives has cost them the most suffering and

anxiety; we are those children for whom Mary, in order to
obtain for us the life of grace, was obliged to endure the

bitter agony of herself offering her beloved Jesus to die an

ignominious death, and had also all to see Him expire before

her own eyes in the midst of the most cruel and unheard-of

torments.”

“If any man will come after me,” said the Savior, “let him

deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.” Self-

denial and mortification, basic principles in Christian teach-

ing, are expressed in the Picture. “The instruments of the

Passion shown in the picture admonish us,” writes the Most

Rev. Patrick Murray, C.SS.R., “to be animated with a

spirit of Christian mortification and self-denial, and to ful-

fill with all exactness the Commandments of God, and the

duties of our state in life.”

To Perpetual Help the “God of all comfort” seems to

have intended that men should turn to seek from it the

remedy for the manifold ills that beset them in all the walks

[ 57 ]



of life. When heavy-laden with care and anxiety, when
crushed beneath the yoke of daily trial and trouble, when

perplexed and weary with things as they are, when doubts

disturb the mind, when questions that vex every man clamor

for solution, such as, why do the good suffer and wicked

prosper, why do the poor groan and rich rejoice, why am I

who am trying to lead a good clean Christian life so afflicted

with misfortune and tribulation, and meet with nothing but

defeat in all my plans?—when these questions arise, turn
to Perpetual Help; listen to her five words of consolation

and peace of heart will be yours.

Perpetual Help’s first word of consolation is this, that all

sufferings come from God. “I am the Lord and there is

none else; I form the light and create darkness, I make

peace, and create evil : I the Lord do all these things.” God

allows suffering and pain for our own ultimate good. The

picture shows us angels bringing down from Heaven the

instruments of the Passion; angels bring from Heaven the

instruments of our sufferings too. “The souls that are dear-

est to my Father,” Christ once revealed to St. Teresa, “are

those afflicted the most.” And St. Alphonsus reminds us

again that this earth is “a place of merit; and therefore a

place of suffering.”

Perpetual Help’s second word of consolation is this: that

we should not complain when things go wrong and misfor-

tunes track our path. For did not Jesus and Mary endure

trial and tribulation though they did no wrong? Souls pure

and undefiled They were, yet who can measure the greatness

of Their sufferings? We, poor sinners, should rejoice that

we are able to atone for our many sins by bearing our cross

with patience and resignation.

Perpetual Help’s third word of consolation is this: that

since Jesus and Mary suffered for love of us, should we not

willingly accept the sufferings of life for love of Them?

“Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the clean of

heart; blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice’

sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” are the words of

[ 58 ]



the Master. Offer up your pangs of poverty, your mortifi-

cation of the flesh, your persecution by the world for the

love of Jesus and Mary; and this offering will lighten your

burden and make it easier to bear.

Perpetual Help’s fourth word of consolation is this: “In

the cross is salvation.” Recall the great sufferings of Jesus

and Mary from the cradle to the grave, and try to realize

that: “If Christ (and the Blessed Mother) ought to have

suffered these things, and so enter into glory, ought not we

through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God?” No
cross, no crown; the heavier the cross, the brighter the

crown.

Perpetual Help’s fifth word of consolation is this: “Come

to me in constant, truthful prayer and I will be your per-

petual help.” “Who ever prayed to her,” asks Pope Innocent

III, “and was not helped by her?” “This good Mother’s

compassion is so great,” says St. Alphonsus, “and the love

she bears us is such that does not even wait for our prayers

;

but as it is expressed in the Book of Wisdom, ‘she preventeth

them that covet her, so that she first showeth herself to

them.’ ” And again he says : “Her love for us is so tender

that in our wants she anticipates our prayers, and her mercy

is more prompt to help us than we are to ask her aid.” The

example of the Christ Child turning to His Mother when

frightened by the vision of His Passion and Death, should

induce us to have recourse to our Mother in all the necessi-

ties of life and death. Her prayer for us to Jesus will be

heard, even as it was at Cana.

Faith and humility, the very foundation stones of our

spiritual edifice, are taught us by Perpetual Help. The star

shining in Mary’s forehead reminds us of faith; for even as

the Wise Men from the East believed and followed the star

which led them to the Savior in Bethlehem; so faith if we

believe in Christ and His Church will lead us to our God

in Heaven. Humility is taught us by the veiled hands of the

Archangels Michael and Gabriel. By these hands they show

their unworthiness so much as to touch the instruments of

[ 59 ]



Christ’s Passion and Death. Humility it was that saved

some of the angels for Heaven; pride precipitated the others

into Hell ;— those who would not adore their God in
human form, as if it were beneath their high dignity.

Humility is further taught by Christ Himself Who under-
went the greatest of all humiliations, the humiliation of the

cross.

To mothers and daughters Perpetual Help teaches mod-
esty and decency of dress. To fathers and sons Perpetual
Help teaches strength and courage in trying moments. To
all Perpetual Help teaches the awfulness of sin. Sin, that

greatest of evils that crucified a God, crushed the heart of

His Mother, and robs us of eternal happiness. That falling

sandal should caution sinners not to sin again, lest they fall en-

tirely away from God into the dust of eternal death.

These are but a few of the lessons Perpetual Help brings

home to the one who meditatively regards the picture. In

moments of sorrow and distress and perplexing doubts turn

to these twin hearts of Jesus and Mary and you will find

“peace that surpasseth understanding.”

Perpetual Help Wafers

B
Y Perpetual Help wafers we mean those tiny tissue-paper

pictures of Perpetual Help which are given to the sick

to be swallowed in time of sickness. They hope, by this

exterior expression of their interior devotion, to obtain from

the Mother of God, whom they invoke in trustful prayer,

cessation of pain, if not a perfect cure of their malady.

Some individuals object to this practice, saying it is su-

perstitious and harmful to the body.

Superstition means to attribute to some object a power it

does not possess, as when the Jews attributed to the Golden

Calf power to heal their ills. Catholics do not believe that

these little tissue-paper prints of Perpetual Help possess any

“hidden virtue or power”
;

if they did, they would be guilty

of superstition, as the Council of Trent teaches. They sim-

[ 60 ]



ply believe that “the honor shown to them is referred to the

prototypes they represent.”

Nor is this practice harmful to the body. Surely no one

will say that to swallow a tiny piece of tissue-paper, smaller

in size than a postage stamp, will harm the body even of an

invalid. Nor is the ink used to print the picture on the paper

any more harmful than the smallest piece of artificially-col-

ored candy. And who would object to eating such candy?

Moreover the practice has the approbation of the Church,

which knows of this practice and does not condemn it. On
the other hand, the Church has accepted miracles wrought by

this means in the processes of canonization of various Saints:

Sts. Francis Caracciolo and Antoninus, for instance. Finally,

St. Alphonsus himself approved and taught this practice

when he advocated the use of the Immaculate Conception

leaflets or wafers common in his day.

The Nine Wednesdays*
npHE Nine Wednesdays is a special form of devotion to

Our Mother of Perpetual Help. It consists in attending

the public devotions held at some shrine of Our Mother of

Perpetual Help on nine Wednesdays one following the other

without a break, and in worthily receiving the Sacraments of

Confession and Holy Communion at least once during that

time. Those making the Nine Wednesdays are urged when

possible, to attend Holy Mass and receive Holy Communion

every Wednesday during the Novena,—if convenient, in
their own parish-church. If it is impossible to receive Holy

Communion on the Wednesdays of the Novena, it might be

possible to receive on the Sundays.

MARVELS AND WONDERS

The Nine Wednesdays, as a special form of devotion to

Our Mother of Perpetual Help, is fast sweeping the country.

*(Or whatever day of the week selected for the devotions).



Every Wednesday of the year, thousands are thronging

around Our Mother’s shrines, making their prayers to God

through the loving hands of this Good Mother and obtaining

help and aid in every need and trouble of life, in every want

and distress of body or soul. Help to the poor, help to the

unemployed, help to those in financial straits, help to those

carrying the cross of sickness, help to parents concerned

about their children, help to the young in the struggles and

difficulties of life, help to those beset with temptations and

waging a losing battle against sin, help to all in the temporal

wants and in the spiritual needs of life—and that, too, in
almost miracle-fashion—such is the answer Mary is giving
to those of her devout clients who are proving their love

these days in the Perpetual Novena Devotions of the Nine

Wednesdavs.

COME TO MARY
If you vrould have Mary prove herself your Perpetual

Help, come to her in the devotions of the Nine Wednesdays

—

(1) place your petitions in the petition-box before her shrine;

(2) attend the public Novena devotions faithfully for Nine

Wednesdays

;

(3) receive the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Communion

just as fervently and frequently as you can during the weeks

of your Novena.

Do all this and Mary will not fail you; She will hear your
prayers, grant your request, and make of you an apostle to

go out and preach to others the love of Her Mother-Heart

and the tender mercies of the Heart of Her Divine Son.

Prayers in Honor of Our Lady

of Perpetual Help

l

(To be recited aloud by the entire congregation.) (Pause at the *.)

TBjehold at thy feet, O Mother of Perpetual Help, * a
wretched sinner who has recourse to thee and confides

in thee. * O Mother of Mercy, have pity on me. * I hear thee

[ 62 ]



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 crea-

ture * who recommends himself to thee, * and who devotes

himself to thy service forever. * I bless and I 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 miser-

ably fallen into sin * because I had not recourse to thee. * I

know, however, that with thy help I shall conquer
;

* I know,

too, that thou wilt assist me * if only 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 Per-
petual Help, * never suffer me to lose my God. (One “Hail

Mary.”)

2

O Mother of Perpetual Help, * grant that I may ever in-
voke 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 when-
ever I call on thee, * for, in all my needs, in all my tempta-

tions * I shall never cease to call on thee, * ever repeating

thy sacred name Mary, Mary. * Oh, what consolation, what

sweetness * what confidence 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. (One

“Hail Marv.”)

3

O Mother of Perpetual Help, * thou art the dispenser of
all the goods * which God grants to us miserable sinners, *

[ 63 ]



and for this reason has He 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, then,

to my help, dearest Mother, * for I recommend myself to

thee. * In thy hands I place my eternal salvation * and to

thee do I entrust my soul. * 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 devil, because thou

art more powerful than all hell together; * nor even from

Jesus, my Judge Himself, * because by one prayer from thee

He will be appeased. * But one thing I fear, * that in the
hour of temptation * I may neglect to call on thee and thus

perish miserably. * Obtain for me, then, the pardon of my

sins, * love for Jesus; * final perseverance,
*

and the grace

ever to have recourse to thee, * O Mother of Perpetual
Help. (One “Hail Mary.”)

V— Thou hast been made for us, O Lady, a refuge.
R— A Helper in need and tribulation.

LET US PRAY

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast given us Thine own
Mother Mary, whose glorious image we venerate, to be our

Mother ever ready to come to our help; grant, we beseech

Thee, that we unceasingly imploring her motherly help, may

merit always to experience the fruit of Thy Redemption.

Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

May the Mother of Perpetual Help be perpetual help to

all those who condescend to read this humble work!

[ 64 ]