This particular image of the Blessed Mother can be traced back to at least the year 1495, but it may have originated earlier. According to tradition, the icon was stolen from a church in Crete (an island in Greece) by a merchant who ended up in Rome. When the merchant became mortally ill, he revealed to a caretaker friend the truth about the icon and begged him to return it to a church. Though the friend promised to do so, he reneged on his promise because his wife didn’t want to let go of such a treasure. The friend eventually died without returning the icon to a church. The Blessed Mother then appeared to the young daughter of this family and told her to tell her mother that the picture of Holy Mary of Perpetual Help should be placed in the Church of St. Matthew the Apostle, located between the basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran in Rome. This happened on March 27, 1499. The icon remained there and was venerated for the next 300 years.

When the church was destroyed in 1798 by Napoleon’s forces, the icon was taken by the Augustinian monks who were the caretakers of the church. When those monks moved to the nearby monastery of Santa Maria in Posterula, Italy, they took the icon with them. There it faded into obscurity for 60+ years.

Brother Augustine Orsetti, one of the monks who had been transferred to the monastery, however, was a young religious in the Church of St. Matthew during the time the icon was kept there. He recognized the icon, to which he had a great devotion, and he would often tell one of the altar boys he was training, Michael Marchi, that the icon was an old and miraculous image. He told Michael never to forget it. Michael eventually became a priest.

In January 1855, the Redemptorists purchased a tract of land on which the Church of St. Matthew had once stood. In May 1855, construction of a new church began. It was dedicated to St. Alphonsus Liguori, founder of their Congregation. It also served as the place where young men who began the novitiate were housed. One of those men was Michael Marchi, who entered the Congregation in December 1855.

The icon was mentioned one day to Fr. Marchi by another priest who had heard in a sermon given by a famous Jesuit preacher, Fr. Francesco Blosi, that an icon of the Blessed Mother was once housed in a church that stood on the very same piece of land where they were located. Because Fr. Marchi had often seen the icon, especially in 1850-1851 when he was a student, he knew not only the very image being spoken of, but he also knew where it was kept—in the Augustinian monastery. He remembered what Brother Augustine had told him about the icon.

When the Redemptorists heard this, they asked their Superior General, Fr. Nicolas Mauron, to procure the icon from the Augustinians so that they could place it in their own church which now stood on the site of the Church of St. Matthew. Fr. Mauron then obtained an audience with Pope Pius IX and told him the story of the icon. The Pope was convinced that the icon should be publicly venerated in the place requested by the Blessed Mother, so he contacted the Superior of the Augustinian monastery at Santa Maria and requested that the icon be returned to the place indicated by Our Lady. He told the Redemptorists, “Make her known throughout the world!”

On April 26, 1866 the icon was brought to the Church of St. Alphonsus in a solemn procession, followed by three days of celebration that included Mass, Benediction, and special devotions. Miraculous cures began to take place immediately, and word of the icon spread rapidly. The faithful would come by the hundreds to see and venerate the image of Our Lady. The icon remains in this church to this day.

Devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help spread quickly to the United States, and miraculous cures followed. Between the years of 1871 and 1884 alone, well more than 300 miraculous cures had been reported by a Redemptorist priest living in the Boston area, where his order had established a mission church under the title of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Eventually, devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help began to spread in major cities (St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, and Chicago). In some locations, it was not uncommon for thousands of people to attend weekly devotions, necessitating the construction of larger churches. Before long, the custom of hosting weekly devotions in honor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help spread worldwide.

The icon is associated with special graces and numerous miraculous cures, most of which are medical in nature. The image is so important that it has been venerated by many Popes.

Icon Details
It is a Byzantine icon that is painted on wood and measures about 20" tall. It depicts the Blessed Mother, under the title of “Mother of God,” holding the child Jesus. The image belongs to a class of icons known as kardiotissa, from the Greek word kardia, meaning “heart.” This type of icon portrays mercy, compassion, and tenderness because the Blessed Mother holds the child Jesus close to her heart.

Icons are not meant to be merely physical representations of the subject matter but instead artistic portrayals of eternal truths. In this case, the artist has the child Jesus contemplating the vision of His future passion, and in His anguish He runs to His mother to be consoled. Notice that His left sandal is dangling from His foot, because that indicates the haste with which He ran to His mother.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help is the most widely known icon in the world.

The Meaning of Its Symbols
The central image is, of course, the Virgin Mary. The Greek letters MP and ƟY at the top of the image are abbreviations for Meter Theou, which means “Mother of God.” Mary is wearing the colors of virgins (red) and motherhood (blue), but they are also the colors of royalty. Her face is serene and dignified, yet she is sorrowful. Her eyes are directed not at her Son but at us, the viewer, as if to remind us that sin is what caused her Son’s suffering. At the same time, just as she comforts her Son, she also comforts us in our times of affliction because she is our spiritual mother. We can always turn to her in times of need to receive her help. Her main goal is to lead us to her Son. Hence, her eyes are also filled with compassion and love.

The eight-pointed star on Mary’s veil reminds us that she is the dawn announcing the coming of Christ, the Star of the Sea who leads us to her Son.

Mary’s mouth is small to indicate her spirit of silence and prayer. Her eyes are large, for they see all of our troubles and needs, and are always turned toward us.

The child is Jesus, who is portrayed like a miniature adult rather than a child. This could indicate Jesus’ infinite, divine knowledge as God. The letters next to Him, IC XC, are an abbreviation for Iesous Christos, the Greek form of “Jesus Christ.” Though God in the flesh, in His humanity He still feels anguish over His impending passion, and consequently He flees to His mother for comfort and grasps her hand.

Christ’s hands, turned palms down into His Mother’s, indicate that He has placed the graces of the Redemption in her keeping. Our Lady’s hand does not clasp those of her Son, but remains open, inviting us to put our hands in hers along with those of Jesus.

There are two angels in the image who bear the instruments of Christ’s passion. The abbreviations next to them identify who they are. St. Michael is on the left, bearing a spear, the wine-soaked sponge, and the crown of thorns. St. Gabriel is on the right, bearing the cross and nails. Their hands are covered with a cloth, much like the cloth (humeral veil) used by a priest during Benediction when he blesses the congregation with the Blessed Sacrament contained in a monstrance (a metallic stand that usually has a star-burst design).

The color gold is a symbol of the resurrection and of Heaven, where both Jesus and Mary now reign in glory. Hence, it is used as the background color and the color of Jesus' tunic. Also golden are the crowns or halos around Jesus and Mary, indicating their triumph as the King of Kings with His Queen Mother. So even though the icon depicts a foreboding vision of Christ’s suffering, it also conveys His victory over sin and death.

We are very grateful to the following sources of information about the history and meaning of this icon:
The Redemptorist websites:  redemptorist.net and cssr.news
Sr. Mary Agatha, CMRI
www.catholiccompany.com