Today’s feast is not on the universal calendar, but we do love her dearly. I received my First Confession and First Holy Communion at OLPH in Ridley Twp PA, in a glorious church built in 1908. It was sadly replaced with a modernist monstrosity on my 14th birthday, and subsequently the original church burnt to the ground some years later. Sad. If you assist at Mass today, it could be a feria, but depending on the Mariology of the priest, you might get this one. Happy feast!
Today is the Traditional Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help which can be said in place of the Feria Mass. In the thirteenth century, a beautiful picture of Our Lady holding the Child Jesus, with the Archangels Michael and Gabriel on either side of her, was painted in the East. In the fifteenth century, this picture was brought from the Island of Crete and was taken to Rome. It was placed in the Church of Saint Matthew in Rome. There, for three hundred years, pilgrims came to reverence and pray before this holy picture, because everyone loved its simplicity, its beauty and its truth. After the French Revolution, when the vicious Napoleon desecrated thirty Catholic Churches in Rome, this precious picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was hidden away, but it was rediscovered in 1862. It was then placed in the Church of Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, founder of the Redemptorist Order, in Rome, where it is now kept. The purpose of this lovely picture is by way of simple and innocent symbol to teach us that Our Lady is our help in all things, and our help at all times. Many Catholic churches in all countries are called by the name, Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
| Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a feast in honor of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary: at whose solemnity the angels rejoice and join in praising the Son of God (Ps. 44: 2) My heart hath uttered a good word; I speak my works to the King. v. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. |
| The Lord be with you. R. And with thy spirit.Let us pray. Almighty and merciful God, Who hast given us a picture of Thy most blessed Mother to venerate under the special title of Perpetual Succor, mercifully grant us to be so fortified, among all the vicissitudes of this wayfaring life, by the protection of the same immaculate, ever Virgin Mary, that we may deserve to attain the rewards of Thine everlasting redemption. Who livest and reignest, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever. |
| Thou art all lovely and sweet, O daughter of Sion, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army in battle array. V. (Judith 13: 22) The Lord hath blessed thee by His power, because by thee He hath brought to naught our enemies. Alleluia, alleluia. V. (Luke 1: 28) Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. Alleluia. |
| By Thy clemency, O Lord, and the intercession of blessed Mary, ever a virgin, may this oblation profit us unto eternal and also present well being and peace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God Forever and ever. |
Complete propers of the Mass: https://tridentine-mass.blogspot.com/2024/06/our-lady-of-perpetual-help.html