Our Mother of Perpetual Succour (Latin: Nostra Mater de Perpetuo Succursu), colloquially known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help), is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a 15th-century Byzantine icon and a purported Marian apparition. The image was enshrined in the Church of San Matteo in Via Merulana from 1499 to 1798 and is today permanently enshrined in the Church of Saint Alphonsus of Liguori in Rome, where the novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help is prayed weekly.
Pope Pius IX granted a pontifical decree of canonical coronation along with its official formalized title Nostra Mater de Perpetuo Succursu on 5 May 1866. The Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, Cardinal Ruggero Luigi Emidio Antici Mattei, executed the rite of coronation on 23 June 1867.
The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer serve as custodians of the icon. The image is alternatively named as the Virgin of the Passion in Eastern Orthodoxy. Novena prayers are held before its feast day on 27 June every year. Due to promotion by the Redemptorist priests, the image has gained popularity among Western and Eastern Catholics. Modern reproductions are often displayed in residential homes, commercial establishments, and public transportation.
The Cretan image originated as an Eastern Orthodox icon of the Virgin of the Passion called Amolyntos which depicted the Madonna and Child along with two angels carrying the Holy Instruments of the Passion of Jesus Christ.
The current title derives from the external door tymphanum of the Augustinian Church of San Matteo in Via Merulana, where the antiquated inscription from 1579 once bore the invocation:
Deiparæ Mater et Virginis Succursu Perpetui(Latin for 'Virginal Mother who bore God, May always Assist us')
The Order of Saint Augustine already had a devotion to this Marian title based on a namesake cloistered monastery "Our Lady of Help" (Italian: Madonna del Soccorso) in Corleone, Palermo, Sicily.
This posthumous title was formalized by Pope Pius IX based on the history of the older church that housed the icon in the present accorded title "Holy Mother of Perpetual Succour" (Latin: Sancta Mater de Perpetuo Succursu). The same decorative style is reconstructed in its current original shrine.
Painted by Andreas Rizo of Candia
According to many 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 high resemblance to the icon, many for export to Italy.
A pious tale later emerged through the published account of Jesuit priest Father Concezio di Carroci, who later alleged that the image was originally stolen from Lasithi, Crete by an anonymous Roman merchant. This pious account was popularized by the sensationalized tale of a Marian apparition to a young maiden, now related to the icon being transferred to the Church of San Matteo in Via Merulana.
The former Archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica, Cardinal Francesco Nerli Jr. also praised the icon for its miraculous claims of glorious wonder (Latin: Miraculorum Gloria Insignis).
According to the Keras Kardiotissas Monastery, the icon was painted by Lazarus Zographos (810–865 AD) and was known as the Panagia Kardiotissa (Greek: Παναγίας Καρδιώτισσας), due to the depiction of the Mother of God holding the Child Jesus near her heart. Historian Stergios Spanakis had argued that the miraculous icon was the reason for the founding of the monastery. The Italian Franciscan priest and traveler Cristoforo Buondelmonti visited Crete in 1415, wrote of a similar icon being miraculous:
"Βαδίζαµε ανάµεσα σε πυκνοδασωµένα πετρώδη βουνά µέχρι που φθάσαµε στην εκκλησία της Καρδιώτισσας, που πολλές φορές είχε φανερωθή στους πιστούς µε θαύµατα.(Greek for 'We walked between densely forested stony mountains until we reached the church of Kardiotissa, which had appeared to the faithful many times with miracles.')"
Accordingly, the icon alleging to be the same image was claimed to be stolen from the monastery in 1498 The earliest written account of the icon after its abduction comes from a Latin and Italian plaque placed in the church of San Matteo in Via Merulana where it was first venerated by the public in 1499. The writer of the icon is unknown, but according to a parchment attached to the painting that accompanied the icon, it was stolen by a merchant sailing to Rome from the island of Crete. The image remained in the private possession of a Roman merchant and his family until 27 March 1499, when the icon was transferred to the church of San Matteo where it remained for 300 years. The picture was then popularly called the "Madonna di San Matteo".
According to the Redemptorist Order
The Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer maintain a robust account of the icon and its passage from the private hands of a merchant family in Rome to its final and current location at Sant'Alfonso di Liguori, on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. The accounting includes the story of a merchant who secured the icon from Crete, and brought it to his family's home in Rome, during the late 15th century. The story includes a passage of a young member of the family, the six-year-old daughter of the merchant, who was visited by the Virgin Mary in a dream. Part of the accounting includes the following passage:
At last, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the six-year-old daughter of this Roman family and told her to tell her mother and grandmother that the picture of Holy Mary of Perpetual Help should be placed in the Church of Saint Matthew the Apostle, located between the basilicas of Saint Mary Major and Saint John Lateran.