June 27 - Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The icon has been venerated for more than 500 years.

It features the Madonna looking solemn and facing the viewer. To the left is the Archangel St. Michael holding the lance and sponge used during Christ's Passion. On the right is the Archangel St. Gabriel carrying nails and a crucifix with 3 bars. The infant Jesus is startled with one sandal dangling off of his foot as he clings to his mother.

O MOTHER of Perpetual Help,
Grant that I may ever invoke
Your most powerful name,
Which is the safeguard of the living
And the salvation of the dying.

O purest Mary!
O sweetest Mary!
Let your name henceforth be ever on my lips.

Delay not, O Blessed Lady, To succor me
Whenever I call on you.

In all my temptations,
In all my needs,
I will never cease to call on you
Ever repeating your sacred name,
Mary, Mary!


Oh, what consolations,
What sweetness, what confidence,
What emotion fills my soul
When I utter your sacred name,
Or even only think of you!

I thank the Lord for having given you,
For my good, so sweet, so powerful,
So lovely a name.

But I will not be content
With merely uttering your name.
Let my love for you prompt me
Ever to hail you, Mother of Perpetual Help.

Mother of Perpetual Help,
Pray for me and grant me the favor
I confidently ask of you.

Hail Mary (3 times).