"Rejoice in God Our Savior" — Luke 1:47

The Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help

Enthroned January 28, 2007

In 2006, the Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, C.S.C., in preparation for the celebration of the 130th Anniversary of the Installation of John Lancaster Spalding as the Frist Bishop of Peoria, had an icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help commissioned to be enthroned in the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception. This icon is to be the central image of veneration for Catholics of the Diocese of Peoria during this year of the celebration around the theme, "Rejoice in God Our Savior," the phrase from Mary's Magnificat in the Gospel of Luke.

The word 'icon' means 'image', and the story of icons in the Christian Church is a story of learning to gaze into the mystery of God. A great deal of religious art can be merely decorative. It expresses the religious imagination of the artist and it is often charged with human emotions. Some of it is very precious to us. The icon, however, is a window through which we glimpse another world — the world of God. In the icon we are brought into the presence of the holy person or incident pictured; we 'see' the gospel before our eyes and the icon speaks to us. The icon is the occasion of a sort of revelation — in line and color — of the kingdom of God. Hence the very icon itself is a sacred reality.

The icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help belongs to the tradition of icons of the Passion dating from the14th century in Serbia. The two angels hold the instruments of the Passion, and the Infant Christ turns His head to look at them. In fear, He seeks refuge with His Mother, whose eyes speak of the sufferings to come. The original icon which we now call 'Our Lady of Perpetual Help' is in the Redemptorist Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome. Its history is shrouded in obscurity, but it is known to have come from the island of Crete over 500 years ago. It arrived in Rome in 1499 and eventually was installed in the Church of St. Matthew. When that Church was destroyed in 1798, the icon passed into the care of the Augustinians. It was only when another church — the present church of St. Alphonsus — was built near the site of the old St. Matthew's that the Pope requested that the icon be returned to its original site. In 1866, Pope Pius IX gave the icon into the care of the Redemptorists with the words, "make her known to the world." Today, Our Mother of Perpetual Help is one of the best loved icons of Our Lady.

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