HISTORY OF THE ICON
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The Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome is an important centre of Christian spirituality and contains the original Picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
According to popular tradition the Picture was stolen on the island of Crete by a merchant who shipped it to Rome in the XV century. It is said that during the voyage a terrible storm threatened the lives of the passengers and that thanks to the intercession of Our Lady all were saved. A short time before his death the merchant decided to entrust the Picture to a friend so that it might be given to a city Church. The friend, however, retained the Picture until he was at the point of death. Then the Virgin appeared in a dream to his little daughter and expressed the desire to be venerated in a Church between the Basilicas of Mary Major and St. John Lateran. His wife finally consigned the Picture to the Church of St. Matthew.
For three centuries it was the centre of devotion in Rome, but after the destruction of the Church of St. Matthew by Napoleon’s troops, it was transferred to the Church of St. Mary in Posterula (Rome). The Picture remained there for almost seventy years until the Redemptorists came to Rome. They were building the Church of St. Alphonsus on the former site of St. Matthew’s and became interested in the Picture. It was rediscovered thanks to a happy coincidence. Fr. Michael Marchi, a Redemptorist, recalled having seen it when he was an altar server, in one of the chapels of St. Mary in Posterula.
In 1866, after the Picture had been restored by a Polish artist, Leopold Nowotny, Pope Pius IX officially entrusted it to the Redemptorist. A year later when it was being carried in solemn procession through Rione Monti, Our Lady worked a miracle by curing a child. This is recalled by a copy of the Picture which can be seen at the church in Via Merulana.
Since April 26, 1866, the original picture has been preserved in the Church of St. Alphonsus, which is today an important Marian Shrine. Piligrims come there in great numbers from every part of the world and find in the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help an oasis of prayer, a rich centre of sprituality and human friendliness. Everthing helps to facilitate an encounter with the Mother of God.