History

The name of Our Lady of Perpetual Help derives from one of the most famous of all pictures of Mary, an icon of the fourteenth century painted in Crete.

There is a tradition from the 16th Century that tells us about a merchant from the isle of Crete who stole a miraculous picture from one of its churches. He hid it among his wares and set out westward. It was only through Divine Providence that he survived a wild tempest and landed on solid ground. After about  a year, he arrived in Rome with his stolen picture.

It was there that he became mortally ill and looked for a friend to care for him. At his hour of death, he revealed his secret of the picture and begged his friend to return it to a church as a form of restitution. His friend promised to fulfill his wish, but because the merchant’s wife did not want to relinquish such a beautiful treasure, the friend also died without fulfilling the promise. At last, Our Lady appeared to the youngest daughter of the family and asked that the image be brought to the Church of St. Matthew, "between the Basilicas of St. Mary Major and St. John Lateran," where it could be venerated by the faithful. To this young child, Our Lady also revealed herself as " Holy Mary of Perpetual Help." The tradition relates how, after many doubts and difficulties, the mother obeyed and after consulting with the clergy in charge of the church, the picture was placed in Saint Matthew’s on June 27th, 1499.

The picture

The original picture is painted on a wood panel and is about seventeen by twenty-one inches. Two angels in the picture, Michael and Gabriel, are showing the instruments of the Passion to the Child JESUS, who clings to the Mother’s Hand, shaking loose a sandal. The Mother reassuringly holds tightly to the CHILD’s Hand. The Child JESUS looks with anguish upon the cross whilst Mary's face is turned, not toward Her SON, but to those who gaze upon the picture. The sufferings that await Her SON are vividly portrayed and She looks at the viewer as a reminder of the great suffering that CHRIST had to endure to achieve the Salvation of the world.

A  legend tells us that when our dear LORD was yet a small Boy, HE loved to play in the garden. On one occasion the Archangels, Michael and Gabriel, appeared to HIM and held before His tender Eyes the instruments of His future torture - the cross, the nails, the lance. The little JESUS, in terror, fled into the house and sought refuge in the Arms of His Mother. In His haste the CHILD nearly lost one of His sandals. In this picture it is seen falling from His foot. "From the meaning of this picture we see that Our LORD Himself went to Mary, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, when HE was in danger and in need." His love for Mary is, consequently, the source of our own love for Her, for how would love have been born in us had HE not loved Her first and translated a spark of that fire into our hearts? 

(from several sources)