Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, this popular icon of Mary made its first public appearance in the Church of San Matteo, in Rome in 1499.  It seems to have come from Crete and features a dominant image of Mary holding Jesus, who clings to her as the ominous instruments of his passion loom above him in the hands of St. Michael and St. Gabriel, the Archangels.  Mary looks out at us, whose sins are the reason for Jesus' sufferings, and who are also the beneficiaries of them.  The original icon is in the care of the Redemptorist Fathers at the church of Sant' Alfonso di Ligouri in Rome, but copies and devotion to Mary under this title  have spread globally.  The Cathedral in Boston, MA is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and today, a Saturday normally consecrated to Mary, is the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.   What further incentive do we need to turn to Mary for help in all our needs, doubts and fears, and to place our country and world into her hands for succor?
Bro. Rene