O Mother of Perpetual Help, with the greatest confidence I come before thy sacred Picture in order to invoke thine aid. Thou hast seen the wounds which Jesus has been pleased to receive for our sake; thou hast seen the Blood of thy Son flowing for our salvation; thou knowest how thy Son desires to apply to us the fruit of His Redemption. Behold I cast myself at thy feet, and pray thee to obtain for my soul the grace I stand so much in need of. O Mary, most loving of all mothers, obtain for me from the heart of Jesus, the source of every good, this grace (here mention it). O Mother of Perpetual Help, thou desirest our salvation far more than we ourselves; thy Son has given thee to us for our Mother; thou hast thyself chosen to be called Mother of Perpetual Help. I trust not in my merits, but in thy powerful intercession; I trust in thy goodness; I trust in thy motherly love. Mother of Perpetual Help, for the love thou bearest to Jesus, thy Son and my Redeemer, for the love of thy great servant Alphonsus, for the love of my soul, obtain for me the grace I ask from thee. Amen.
This Prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual Help comes from the Redemptorist Fathers’ novena of 1948, prayed before her miraculous icon. A second traditional prayer, asking the grace to call on her holy name, follows.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help, 15th-century icon, Church of St. Alphonsus, Rome. Public domain.
O Mother of Perpetual Help, grant that I may ever invoke thy most powerful name, which is the safeguard of the living and the salvation of the dying. O Purest Mary, O Sweetest Mary, let thy name henceforth be ever on my lips. Delay not, O Blessed Lady, to help me whenever I call on thee, for, in all my needs, in all my temptations I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name, Mary, Mary.
O what consolation, what sweetness, what confidence, what emotion fill my soul when I pronounce thy sacred name, or even only think of thee. I thank God for having given thee, for my good, so sweet, so powerful, so lovely a name. But I will not be content with merely pronouncing thy name: let my love for thee prompt me ever to hail thee, Mother of Perpetual Help.
Pray it in any need, naming the grace you ask where the prayer invites it. Many parishes keep a Perpetual Novena on Wednesdays, and her feast is June 27. The first prayer is from the Redemptorists’ 1948 novena booklet; the second follows EWTN.
The icon shows Mary holding the Child Jesus, who has run to her at the sight of the angels carrying the instruments of His Passion; one sandal has slipped from His foot. Mary looks at us, not at her Son, inviting us to bring our needs to her. Pope Pius IX entrusted the icon to the Redemptorists in 1865 with the words “Make her known throughout the world.”
Her feast is June 27. The Redemptorists and many parishes also keep a weekly Perpetual Novena, usually on Wednesdays.
No. Catholics ask Mary to pray with and for us. Every grace comes from God through Christ, and true devotion to the Mother of God always leads us to her Son.
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