The Filipino community has erected this Chapel. Our Lady of Perpetual Help (or Succor) reminds us of our Heavenly Mother’s maternal care for us, her children. Our Lady is always there to nurture us with the Grace of Her Son.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
According to the legend, the Evangelist Luke painted a picture of the Blessed Mother while she was still living in Jerusalem. And when St. Luke presented her with the picture, she said, “my grace will go with it everywhere”. That picture was placed by St. Pulcheria at the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople and was known as the Leader of the Way. Many miracles happened attributed to the picture. The picture remained there and was venerated for a thousand years until 1453.
In 1499, a similar picture called Mary of Perpetual Help was placed in the Church of St. Matthew the Apostle, now called St. Alphonsus, in Rome. The devotion to our Mother of Perpetual Help began to spread during the time of Pope Pius IX, as he told the Redemptorists, “Make her known throughout the world”.
The Redemptorists brought the miraculous picture of Our Mother of Perpetual Help to the Philippines in 1906. The Novena began in 1948 at the Redemptorists Church in Barlaran, a suburb of Manila. In the same Church today, thousands of devotees come every Wednesday to pray the Novena. Miracles happened to many people through devotion, as attested by their thanksgiving prayers/petitions placed at the altar every day. The devotion spread in the different churches in the Philippines.