For many centuries throughout the world, this picture has been revered as an icon of hope and inspiration.

The original picture of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is a product of Byzantine art. It is known to be at least five hundred years old in it present form. Painted in tempera on hard wood and only 17 by 21 inches, the picture my date back another 1,000 years to the ancient Madonnas of Constantinople. Some church legends even date the picture to the first century and the hand and brush of St. Luke the Evangelist.

It is only in the past 125 years that devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help has increased dramatically. In 1866, Pope Pius IX entrusted the miraculous icon to the Redemptorists and told them to "Make Her Known Throughout the World".

As they has cris-crossed the globe bringing the Good News of Salvation, Redemptorists priests and brothers have also erected churches and shrines to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. They have encouraged people to gather each week to pray the novena prayers and then to pray daily in their homes to Mary, Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

Countless miracles, healings, and conversions are attributed to Mary by those who pray to her as Our Mother of Perpetual Help. There's even a bit of the miraculous in the way the Redemptorists recieved the picture in the first place.

Historical records indicate that around the year 1490, the picture was located in St. Matthew's Church in Rome. Although it was a relatively small church located on the Via Merulana between the great Roman basilicas of St. John Lanteran and St. Mary Major, people came from miles to pray before the picture because of the many miracles attributed to this sacred icon.

For three hundred years the picture hung over the altar in the church of St. Matthew the Apostle and the miracles continued to occur. In 1798, the picture was taken into hiding by the monks who fled the city of Rome to avoid being captured by Napoleon's invading armies. The picture resurfaced some years later in a Augustinian monastery chapel.

Meanwhile the Redemptorists had built a new church on San Alfonso near the site of St. Matthew's which had been destroyed by Napoleon's invasion force. In time the Redemptorists learned about the miraculous picture of Our Mother of Perpetual Help that had been enshrined on that site for several centuries. They requested that the picture be placed there once again.

The Holy Father Pope Pius IX agreed, and on April 26, 1866, the original icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help was placed above the high altar in the Church of San Alfonso. To this day, the miraculous picture is there for all to see.

Look as the copy of the picture. Frightened by the vision of two angels showing hime the instruments of the Passion, the Christ Child has run to his Mother, almost losing, in his haste, one of the tiny sandals.Mary holds him in her arms reassuringly, lovingly. But notice her eyes. They look not at Jesus but at us. Is this not a touch of genius? How better to express Our Lady's interest in our lives and our spiritual growth?

Christ's little hands, too, are pressed into Mary's as a reminder to us that just as on earth he placed himself entirely in her hands for protection, so now in heaven he places each of us in her tender, loving care.

This is the principal message of the picture. A Byzantine icon, however, it is replete with other symbols. To view the meaning of these symbols, move your mouse over the picture (Flash required) 

Millions of copies of the picture can be seen around the world in churches and homes. Each week hundreds of thousands of people gather to pray the novena prayers to Our Mother of Perpetual Help while in their homes each day millions of people invoke the assistance of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

Mother of Perpetual Help, you have been blessed and favoured by God. You became not only the Mother of the Redeemer, but the Mother of the redeemed as well. I come to you today as your loving child. Watch over me and take care of me. As you held the child Jesus in your loving arms, so take me in your arms. Be a mother ready at every moment to help me. For God who is mighty has done great things for you, and God's mercy is from age to age on those who love God. Intercede for me, dear Mother, in obtaining pardon for my sins, love for Jesus, final perseverance, and the grace always to call upon you, Mother of Perpetual Help.