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Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Succour) History and Full Explanation of the Miraculous Icon | Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary Channel | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Succour) History and Full Explanation of the Miraculous Icon
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This text recounts the legendary history and symbolic meaning of the icon "Our Lady of Perpetual Help," detailing its journey from Crete to Rome and its eventual veneration, emphasizing its miraculous nature and the divine messages embedded within its imagery.
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it is nearly impossible to know the name of the artist who conceived the sublime idea
and was so singularly privileged to paint this favorite picture of the madonna judging from the
style and manner of the original painting it must have been executed about the 13th or 14th century
originally it was on the island of crete however many believe that the painting was painted by
saint luke the evangelist we know that saint luke after recording the journeys of saint paul
became the apostles close companion and disciple their travels at one point brought them to crete
where their unfinished labors were entrusted to a faithful convert saint titus whom they
made the first bishop of that island since the only document concerning the history of
our famous icon refers exclusively to crete it is reasonable to conclude that sanglo could have left
this miraculous picture with saint titus as he was known famously to paint pictures of
our lady how it afterwards came to be set up for a public veneration in 1499 in rome is
recorded on a well verified document a copy of which was recently found the original document
hung near the picture in the now destroyed roman church of saint matthew the apostle this vatican
document dating back to the 15th century narrates a story of a wealthy and pious merchant from crete
who sheltered their pitcher in his house after taking it from a chapel apparently his intention
was to protect the sacred image from desecration by the muslims who are then swiftly descending
upon southern europe as the muslim army moved closer to greece many cretians became anxious
this ever increasing threat prompted great numbers to flee from the island to safer mainland
countries the merchant whether through avarice or misplaced devotion is not certain stole away the
image of the virgin which had worked many miracles in the church on the island of crete taking
passage on a ship he wrapped up the pitcher in his belongings and boarded a vessel sailing for italy
bring with him of course the painting of our lady of perpetual help when the ship reached
deep waters there suddenly rose a most terrible storm as waves began to completely cover the
helpless vessel even the experienced sailors feared all would be lost amidst the confusion
and despair the cretian merchant quickly retrieved the holy portrait from his cabin
and returning to the deck he held it up to the sky repeatedly beseeching the mother of god for aid
the other passengers following his example and toned the same prayer within a few minutes the
skies were cleared and the ocean calmed thus enabling the ship to continue safely to port
this event besides marking the first recorded miracle attributed to the pitcher is the earliest
known invocation of our mary's patronage under her consoling title our lady of perpetual help
upon arriving in italy the merchant went to rome taking up residence in a friend's house
he was filled with deep gratitude for the special favor granted him by the mother of god and was
confident that divine providence has brought him and the picture safely to the eternal city
indeed he felt it might very well be god's design for the picture one day to act as a
channel of great grace for christians throughout italy and pilgrims from all parts of the world
when therefore the merchant began to suffer from a sudden critical illness he confided in his roman
friend the history of the treasured picture and the events that fold are quoted here from the
vatican document calling his friend he tearfully besought him to promise one last favor promise was
solemnly given then the dying man told the whole story of the pitcher concealed in his merchandise
and added since my death will prevent the restoration of the pitcher to the public
veneration and the place where i had determined to bring it i beg you to have it placed in whichever
church of rome you may deem most suitable the friend to whose care the dying merchant had
committed this precious picture was a man of weak and fickle character who allowed himself
to be dominated by his erratic and hot-tempered wife moreover his father a crafty and greedy old
man dwelt with him on the weaknesses and passions of these three the the devil expended all his arts
that he might persuade them to exert a rigorous resistance to the design of the mother of god
the wife charmed by the beauty of the picture found among the belongs of the christian merchant
took immediate possession of it and put it in her bed chamber the husband hesitated to oppose
the wishes of his wife who was determined that the beautiful picture should not leave
the house to overcome the culpable weakness of the dead merchant's friends some extraordinary
sign from heaven was necessary one night he had a dream one of those exceptional dreams that
gave clear evidence of their origin and of their purpose he seemed to behold the blessed virgin
who reminded him in an affectionate yet serious tone that he was doing wrong in retaining
possession of that picture which should be exposed in a public church on awakening the man felt
serious doubts of conscience for his inexcusable failure to fulfill his promise nevertheless he
felt incapable of opposing the wishes of his wife and so he tried to persuade himself that
the incurrence was not a heaven sent warning but only the meaningless fantasy of a dream
our blessed lady repeated the warning but the result was the same a third time she spoke adding
solemnly if you do not have my picture placed in some church you shall die terrified by this dread
threat the man mustered up the courage to give an account of his dreams to his wife asserting at the
time his intention to fulfill the promise made to the dying merchant enraged at her husband's words
the woman burst into a torrent of abuse at his supposed stupidity and gullibility and trusting
so readily in dreams she said do you think i'm a heathen she cried unworthy of possessing a picture
of our lady am i not a christian overwhelmed by her violent reaction the weakling lost
all of his courage and remained silent and thus filled up the measure of his iniquity
however the mother of god and her mercy and compassion wished to warn the unhappy man
of his approaching punishment in order that although unable to avoid the death of the body
as she had warned he might at least escape the death of the soul and so for the last time
she appeared to him in sleep and said i have warned you repeatedly to bring me forth from
here and you have disobeyed my command now you yourself must leave this house a few days later
they are issued from the door of the house a mournful procession bearing the body of the man
which showed himself so unfaithful to the promise made at the deathbed of the cretian merchant the
widow and her father-in-law do not seem to have discerned the connection between the sudden
death of the master of the house and the threefold warning that had come to him in sleep at any rate
they continue to keep possession of the pitcher as if nothing had happened it was necessary for
our lady herself to intervene again in order to overcome the blind stubbornness one night the
blessed virgin warned the headstrong woman in a dream to give up the picture for public exposition
adding that if her command were disobeyed the woman and her father-in-law would be punished with
death the woman was terrified and resolved to obey but the old man succeeded in deterring her from
this resolution by painting in glowing colors the rich reward that they would accrue from the sale
of the pitcher and that would prove a providential means of restoring the family fortune it seems
incredible that these two could so obstinately resist the repeated warnings of god fortunately
they were dealing with mary so good and so merciful who was willing to give this
disobedient pair yet another chant the woman had a little daughter a child about seven years old
it was through this innocent little one that the our lady finally overcame the evil stubbornness of
the old man and his daughter-in-law one day while the child was alone in the room where the picture
was hanging she saw before her a most beautiful lady of kind and gracious means who said to her go
and say to your mother and to your grandfather the blessed virgin mary of the perpetual help
reprimands you to take her from your house or you shall die
these few words of god's holy mother contain a revelation of the utmost importance
the expression the blessed virgin mary a perpetual help had never been heard before and so was by the
lips of our lady herself that this consoling title was first pronounced up to that time
our pitcher had no special title the nearest approach to such being was our lady of crete
the cretian merchant had not mentioned the title under which it was venerated in his native land
or if he had done so the name probably in greek and henceforth difficult to remember had been
forgotten a blessed lady herself desired to assume this new title of perpetual help in order to
express the inexhaustible power of the protection in the unlimited goodness of her maternal heart
the little girl so highly favored as to be chosen by mary as her messenger ran immediately to her
mother and told with her innocent lips the story which the child herself could not have invented
the mother was overcome with emotion and began to weep aloud realizing clearly that she had despised
the commands of our blessed lady and had thus been the cause of her husband's death a woman who lived
nearby heard the cries and hurried to find out the reason for so great in affliction this time satan
strove by means of the circumstance to destroy the sacred image hearing the cause of the weeping the
neighbor smiled with an air of sympathetic condescension said poor foolish creature
to believe such nonsense our lady is in heaven and does not concern herself about a mere picture
here i'll take it if you have not the courage yourself and i will throw it into the fire and
you'll see that it will burn up like any other piece of wood the widow however rejected this
proposal and asked her neighbor to leave because of this the neighbor is full of disdain at what
she considered superstitious stupidity but that very evening the irreverent woman was
seized with what appeared to be a dangerous fever that coursed like fire through her veins
the unhappy creature recognized in this sudden illness the hand of god chastising her for the
insults she had offered to the picture of our lady and with tears streaming from her
eyes hastened to the pitcher and implored pardon for her offense how bountiful the mercy of god's
mother in a single instant the woman was cured of her dreadful melody and then the two women
deeply moved and braced each other and promised to have the picture publicly exposed as soon as
possible under the title of our lady perpetual help the spirit of darkness was vanquished and
our lady was victorious nothing now remained but to select one of the many churches of rome to be
the sanctuary of the mother of perpetual help again our lady appeared to the widow's daughter
having already witnessed the death of her husband and the cure of her neighbor as well as her own
apparition from the virgin mother the woman was most anxious to learn of the child's second vision
the little girl told her that mary wanted her image venerated between the basilicas of saint
mary major and that of saint john lettering of the hundreds of churches in rome at this
time only one satisfied our lady's specific directions that was the augustinian father's
church of saint matthew the apostle the widow wishing to comply immediately with our lady's
latest request surrendered the pitcher to the care of the augustinians after explaining its history
and the events that happened to her family the prior at saint matthews gratefully accepted the
sacred image and began to make arrangements for its solemn enshrinement and on march 27 1499
a procession through the streets of rome blessed by an abundance of spectacular miracles
became the first public veneration of the holy picture in the eternal city rome immediately
there followed a ceremony for its enthronement above the main altar of saint matthews
where for 300 years it remained a source of great consolation to sinful men little did
anyone realize in 1499 that the glories of this ancient icon would be one day be temporarily
all but forgotten in 1798 with the invasion of rome by the french masonic forces under napoleon
saint matthews and 30 other catholic churches were reduced to ruins the augustinian fathers evacuated
their beloved church in advance of the hateful deed retiring to saint mary's church in pasta rula
they took with them the miraculous portrait and privately venerated for some 68 years protecting
it from satanic revolutionaries the avowed enemies of the holy catholic church led by satan had won
a major battle in uprooting public devotion to our lady through her favorite painting but
the same woman whom the book of ecclesiastic is prophetically described as the mother of holy hope
did not forsake her suffering children of the church forces of darkness enjoyed only
a temporary triumph as the blessed virgin mary and her patients prepared the means of
restoring and tremendously increasing the former glories of her famous portrait and destined to be
highly instrumental in this her victory was the congregation of the most holy redeemer
the redempturists were founded by the great doctor of the church saint alphonsus marie de
la gori who died in 1787 his disciples moved from their original house to rome in 1855 by
requests of pope pius ix for their new monastery the congregation purchased an old roman palace
the palace itself they converted into a residence and next to it they constructed a beautiful church
in honor of saint alphonsus now in choosing the site on the via marulana the only road between
saint mary major and saint john lateran they had unknowingly built their church almost on
the exact spot where saint matthew's church once stood decades before close to 60 years later had
elapsed since the destruction of that augustinian church in the transfer of this picture to apostle
ruler when in 1863 the first step towards restoring the paintings previous fame was taken
a redemptious priest discovered the interesting facts about the old church that once stood on the
present site of saint alphonsus church and about the miraculous portrait that it once sheltered
and mentioning this to his fellow religious during recreation one evening stirred more
than trivial interests another senior priest father michael marche then remembered having
seen the picture of our lady perpetual help at the augustinian monastery and pasta rula
often having served mass there as a young boy he had befriended one of the old brothers who
showed young michael the beautiful icon and told them of the once famous church of saint matthew
all were impressed by the story but no one including father marching knew
of the blessed mother's command that the relic be venerated on that location
one month later however the redemptionist fathers came to discover this heavenly directive
at a church in rome a jesuit priest preached on the lost madonna of perpetual help telling
in his discourse of our lady's repeated request that her image be enshrined between
the two famous basilicas news of the sermon stirred excitement in the redempturous house
where for several weeks the story told by father margie had been a topic of great interest the
facts at hand seemed to indicate our lady's will that the pitcher be entrusted to the redemptorists
and honored at their church of saint alphonsus the superior general of the order at that time
most reverend nicholas moran cautiously waited two years before taking decisive action in the matter
while the redemptions community at large committed themselves to art and prayer
for all two years petitioning mary to choose them as the guardians of her sacred image finally on
december 11 1865 father moran presented all the facts concerning the picture to pope pius ix
the holy father upon hearing the story expressed much interest in proceeding that very day to make
the necessary arrangements for the transfer of the holy icon back to the site chosen by our lady
five weeks later the redemptorists could receive the miraculous portrait and on april 26
1866 it was solemnly enshrined at the church of saint alphonsus the picture was carried through
the streets of rome as it had been 367 years before when a procession led to saint matthews
the blessed mother may known her pleasure by showering the faithful who lined the streets
with tremendous favors and miracles the pope himself visited the new shrine during the trinidad
of thanksgiving that commenced the following day thousands of pilgrims followed his example
as great crowds filled the church weeks after the festivities were over on june 23 1867
the vatican took the final measures in officially recognizing the painting as truly miraculous
two gold crowns were placed on the heads of jesus and mary an honor bestowed by the dean of the
vatican chapter approving public veneration of the image its miracles and its history
as a result devotion to our lady perpetual help grew tremendously throughout the world
within nine years pope pius ix had organized an arch car fraternity to promote the new devotion
and had established the feast of our lady perpetual help as the sunday immediately preceding
the feast of saint john the baptist the feast is now currently on june 27th the image is still
venerated in the church of saint alphonsus in rome it is not very large but it is of great
significance to many catholics who have sought the intercession of the blessed virgin mary
now the meaning of the miraculous image in the icon of our mother of perpetual help
the child jesus is not portrayed with the physical proportions of an infant
but appears almost as an adult in a miniature form this has been interpreted
to indicate that he is in fact god having infinite knowledge yet is human as well
for he clings to his mother's hand in fear while gazing up towards the angel over his shoulder one
of his sandals have come loose indicating the haze with which he had run to her also you'll notice
the foot with the falling sandals symbolizes christ's divine nature barely clinging to the
earth his human nature is symbolized in the other foot to which the sandal is more firmly bound
christ has two natures human and divine and one divine person why is the child jesus so frightened
the angels in the picture are holding instruments of his passion and death with the angel on the
left bearing the gall the lance and the reed while the angel on the right holds the cross and nails
the face of our lady is grave and sorrowful with her large eyes directed not at jesus but at us one
feels that she is pleading with us to avoid sin which has caused her son to suffer so much for us
her gaze makes us a part of the picture and the pain it portrays will you love my son who has
loved you so much she seems to say to us our lady is clothed in the colors of royalty her tunic is
of dark red and our mantle is a dark blue with a green lining the red tunic is the color worn by
virgins at the time of christ while the dark blue mantle is the color won by mothers in palestine
mary is both virgin and mother jeweled crowns were placed under the heads of both mother and
child of the original icon by the vatican in 1867. the crowns were removed when the icon underwent
restoration in the 1990s the greek initials next to the head of our lady identify her as
mother of god while those next to the child are the abbreviation for jesus christ the letters
over the angels heads indicate the one on the left as say michael and the one on the right as saint
gabriel the eight pointed star on our lady's veil tells us that she is the star of the sea the star
that leads us to jesus the small ornate cross to the left of the star reinforces this concept
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 our needs and are always turned towards us
christ's hands turn palms down into his mothers to indicate that he has placed the graces of
redemption in her keeping our lady's hand does not clasp those of her son it remains open inviting
us to put our hands in hers along with those of jesus this will also explain why our lady wanted
this picture in between saint john letter in church which is dedicated to our divine savior and
also the mother church of the catholic church and saint mary majors in rome through mary to jesus
as in other icons the background of the painting is gold to symbolize heaven
where jesus and mary now reign in glory this light of heaven shines through their clothing
illuminating not only the picture itself but those who behold it this radiance speaks to us of god's
light and grace strengthening and consoling us as we journey through life to our heavenly goal
finally it is of no small significance that our blessed mother herself referred to the icon by the
title of holy mary and perpetual help surely this along with the symbolism we see in the picture
should assure us of loving concern and tenderness our blessed mother has for us and her ardent
desire to be a source of perpetual help to all who call upon her our lady perpetual help pray for us
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