Our Lady of Perpetual Help is one of the most common Marian images. This gentle reminder of a mother who always comes to our aid can be found in churches and homes around the world.
But did you know this very familiar image has a wild and exciting history? Among other things, the original icon was lost to the world for more than 60 years before it was rediscovered and devotion to it spread.
Here are 3 especially fascinating parts of the icon’s eventful history.
1We’re not really sure where it came from
The exact origins of the icon are a history mystery. There are lots of theories, though!
Some of the earliest traditions claim that this icon was one of the images of Our Lady and Christ written by St. Luke.
According to the Keras Kardiotissas Monastery, the icon was painted by Lazarus Zographos (810—865 AD) and was known as the Panagia Kardiotissa, meaning "Our Lady of the Heart" or "Holy Mother of the Heart," as the Mother of God holds the Child Jesus near her heart.
According to some art historians, the image was painted by the leading painter of the Cretan school, Andreas Rizo de Candia (1421–1492), who created several works bearing resemblance to the icon, many for export to Italy.
Ultimately, we don’t really know how old the original icon is, or who painted it. What we do know is that it came from Crete to Rome around the year 1498. One legend says that a merchant stole the icon, while others say it was purchased and brought freely.
2It’s always been associated with miracles
Assuming the icon is the one from the Keras Kardiotissas Monastery, it was known for miracles for centuries. As far back as 1415, an Italian Franciscan priest and traveler named Cristoforo Buondelmonti visited Crete and documented a similar icon:
We walked between densely forested stony mountains until we reached the church of Kardiotissa [“Our Lady of the Heart”], which had appeared to the faithful many times with miracles.
Similar stories were reported of the icon in Rome beginning in 1499, and everywhere the devotion spread.
In the United States, for example, there is this report covering only a brief time:
Between the years of 1871 and 1884, according to Fr. John Byrne, C.SS.R., “no less than 331 well-authenticated cures had been reported, some of which had been wrought in favor of people living so far away as West Virginia and Texas.”
Our Lady of Perpetual Help is also the principal patroness of Haiti, and many Haitians credit her with performing miracles to prevent a smallpox outbreak in 1882. Our Lady of Perpetual Help can be found on Haitian postal stamps.
It’s safe to say that wherever this image appears, incredible acts of God’s grace and goodness follow.
3Monks broke the law to save the icon
The icon hung in the Church of St. Matthew in Rome for some 300 years, where it was “one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the world.”
But when the French army under Napoleon invaded Rome in 1798, they ordered the horrific destruction of 30 churches — including St. Matthew’s.
A small band of Augustinian monks courageously defied the edict. They snuck into the church at night and carried away the icon to their nearby chapel before the rest of the church was destroyed.
At that point, the icon remained hidden for 67 years. Its real history and identity were known only to a few men of the order. One of them, a lay brother, passed down the story to a young altar boy.
The boy became a priest himself and eventually, when it was safe to do so, shared the story with his own order, the Redemptorists. By a remarkable coincidence, his order had just purchased land to build a new church — exactly where the now-demolished Church of St. Matthew had once stood.
He testified to the order, and eventually to the pope, that the hidden and forgotten icon in the monastery chapel was indeed the famous and miraculous icon that was thought to be long lost. It was restored to its former place and is honored there still to this day.
Since its reinstatement in 1867, its devotion spread rapidly around the world. Redemptorists brought the devotion to the U.S. in the 1870s and hundreds of miracles were reported in the following years.
These three stories are only a small part of the many, many extraordinary events in the history of this icon and devotion. You can read more details over at The Catholic Wire and Canisius Books.
This feast day, after learning some of the absolutely wild events in the history of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, we find ourselves praying for her intercession with new fervor. Our Lady, pray for us!
