An icon of the Passion
Pray the novena →An icon of Mary holding the Child, with angels showing him the instruments of the Passion. Pius IX gave it to the Redemptorists in 1866.
June 27
Help in every need
Mothers
Haiti
The icon, painted in the Cretan style, was venerated in Rome at the church of San Matteo until that church was destroyed in 1798. In 1866 Pius IX entrusted it to the Redemptorists, who placed it in Sant'Alfonso on the Esquiline, where it still hangs. The Raccolta gives three prayers to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, all indulgenced in 1866; this page repeats them in turn over nine days.
The Child's sandal hangs loose, as if he ran to his mother in fright at the angels' instruments of the Passion.
The Redemptorists were told by Pius IX to 'make her known throughout the world.'
Weekly 'Perpetual Help' devotions on Wednesdays spread from the Redemptorist parishes in the 1920s.
A novena is nine days of prayer for one intention, modeled on the nine days the apostles and Mary prayed between the Ascension and Pentecost (Acts 1–2). Pray this each day:
Day 1. Behold at thy feet, O Mother of Perpetual Succour, a wretched sinner who has recourse to thee, and confides in thee. O Mother of mercy, have pity on me. I hear thee 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 creature who recommends himself to thee, and who devotes himself to thy service for ever. O Mary, help me. O Mother of Perpetual Succour, never suffer me to lose my God.
Day 2. O Mother of Perpetual Succour, 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 succour me, whenever I call on thee; for, in all my temptations, in all my needs, I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name, Mary! Mary!
Day 3. O Mother of Perpetual Succour, thou art the dispenser of all the gifts which God grants to us miserable sinners; and for this end He has made thee so powerful, so rich, and so bountiful, in order that thou mayest help us in our misery. Come to my aid; I commend myself to thee. In thy hands I place my eternal salvation, and to thee I entrust my soul. Count me among thy most devoted servants; take me under thy protection, and it is enough for me.
Day 4. Behold at thy feet, O Mother of Perpetual Succour, a wretched sinner who has recourse to thee, and confides in thee. O Mother of mercy, have pity on me. I hear thee 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 creature who recommends himself to thee, and who devotes himself to thy service for ever. O Mary, help me. O Mother of Perpetual Succour, never suffer me to lose my God.
Day 5. O Mother of Perpetual Succour, 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 succour me, whenever I call on thee; for, in all my temptations, in all my needs, I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name, Mary! Mary!
Day 6. O Mother of Perpetual Succour, thou art the dispenser of all the gifts which God grants to us miserable sinners; and for this end He has made thee so powerful, so rich, and so bountiful, in order that thou mayest help us in our misery. Come to my aid; I commend myself to thee. In thy hands I place my eternal salvation, and to thee I entrust my soul. Count me among thy most devoted servants; take me under thy protection, and it is enough for me.
Day 7. Behold at thy feet, O Mother of Perpetual Succour, a wretched sinner who has recourse to thee, and confides in thee. O Mother of mercy, have pity on me. I hear thee 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 creature who recommends himself to thee, and who devotes himself to thy service for ever. O Mary, help me. O Mother of Perpetual Succour, never suffer me to lose my God.
Day 8. O Mother of Perpetual Succour, 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 succour me, whenever I call on thee; for, in all my temptations, in all my needs, I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name, Mary! Mary!
Day 9. O Mother of Perpetual Succour, thou art the dispenser of all the gifts which God grants to us miserable sinners; and for this end He has made thee so powerful, so rich, and so bountiful, in order that thou mayest help us in our misery. Come to my aid; I commend myself to thee. In thy hands I place my eternal salvation, and to thee I entrust my soul. Count me among thy most devoted servants; take me under thy protection, and it is enough for me.
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from Perpetual Help's story, and a nudge to keep going.
[Affiliate placeholder: Catholic Company Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help medal]
Image: Byzantine icon, Theotokos of the Passion, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Prayers to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour (no. 268), The Raccolta, or Collection of Indulgenced Prayers (London: Burns & Oates; New York: Benziger, 1910), public domain. The three prayers are said in turn over nine days.
