Our Lady of Perpetual Help refers both to a title conferred upon the Blessed Mother as well as to a corresponding icon that dates to the late Middle Ages.

Painted on wood, the original icon has a Byzantine style and depicts the Blessed Mother holding the Christ Child. She is flanked by St. Michael and St. Gabriel, who hold the instruments of Christ’s passion, including a spear, nails and the Crown of Thorns. In the image, Christ seemingly leans into his mother’s embrace for comfort and strength as he contemplates these objects.

The icon is thought to have originated in Crete, but for 300 years was venerated in the Church of San Matteo in Merulana in Rome. Blessed Pope Pius IX entrusted the image to the Order of Redemptorists, who moved it to the Church of St. Alphonsus. He later established the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on June 27.

©LPi

Prayer provided by EWTN

O Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke thy most powerful name, which is the safeguard of the living and the salvation of the dying. O Purest Mary, O Sweetest Mary, let thy name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, O Blessed Lady, to help me whenever I call on thee, for, in all my needs, in all my temptations I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name, Mary, Mary.

O what consolation, what sweetness, what confidence, what emotion fill my soul when I pronounce thy sacred name, or even only think of thee. I thank God for having given thee, for my good, so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely pronouncing thy name: let my love for thee prompt me ever to hail thee, Mother of Perpetual Help.