Our Lady of Perpetual Help: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers

Jun 27, 2023

2 min read

Updated: Oct 3

Feast day: June 27 (kept by the Redemptorists and in many places; not on the General Roman Calendar)

Patron of: Those in need of Mary's constant help; the Redemptorist missions.

About Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Our Lady of Perpetual Help is the name of a famous Byzantine-style icon painted on wood and venerated in Rome since the late fifteenth century. It shows the Virgin holding the Christ Child, who has run to her so quickly that one of His sandals is falling off. On either side, the archangels Michael and Gabriel hold the instruments of the Passion, the cross, the nails, the lance, and the sponge. The Child has seen His future suffering and clings to His Mother's hand, and she looks not at Him but at us.

After the church that housed the icon was destroyed in 1798, the image was nearly forgotten. In 1866 Blessed Pope Pius IX entrusted it to the Redemptorists, the congregation founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori, asking them to "make her known throughout the world." They did, and copies of the icon now hang in homes and churches everywhere, with weekly novenas held in many parishes. The icon teaches a simple lesson: when we are afraid, we may run to Mary as her Son did, and she will lead us to Him.