Our Lady of Boston Perpetual Relief

Patrona de Boston

La devoción a Our Lady of Perpetual Help was entrusted by Pope Pius IX to the Redemptorists in 1866, when he gave them the original icon to be venerated at the church of San Alfonso in Rome and asked them to make it known throughout the world. This mission explains the rapid spread of the advocation where redeemer communities were established, especially in Europe and America.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción a Our Lady of Perpetual Help was entrusted by Pope Pius IX to the Redemptorists in 1866, when he gave them the original icon to be venerated at the church of San Alfonso in Rome and asked them to make it known throughout the world. This mission explains the rapid spread of the advocation where redeemer communities were established, especially in Europe and America.

In this context the history of the Basílica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, popularly known as “Mission Church”, a redeemer temple where the devotion to the Perpetual Relief and its ninth in the United States was particularly rooted. The foundation of the church and the development of devotion in Boston are well documented, but it is not available in the consulted sources for a detailed and complete chronology of milestones (exact dates of the arrival of the icon, first miracles, etc.); therefore, many concrete data no constan with precision.

The local tradition, spread in pastoral and devotional fields, attributes to Our Lady of the Boston Perpetual Relief numerous favors and curesto the point of considering the basilica as a place of special graces and of pilgrimage for the sick. However, although this fame of miracles and favors is constant in the testimony of faithful and redeemers, no constan in accessible sources listed officially and critically verified of canonically recognized miracles specifically linked to this sanctuary.

The image and the sanctuary

The venerated image in Boston is a réplication of the Byzantine icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Relief, originally from Crete and today exposed on the main altar of the church of San Alfonso Maria de Ligorio, in Rome. The original icon is painted on wood, with a golden background, and represents the half-body Virgin, with red robe and dark blue mantle, holding the Child Jesus, while the archangels Michael and Gabriel show her the instruments of the Passion. The image of Boston reproduces this essential iconography: Mary as Mother of the constant Reliefto which the Son comes with confidence before the proclamation of the cross.

The sanctuary is the Basílica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, also known as "Mission Church," a temple entrusted to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (redeemers). In ecclesial documentation and in the ordinary denomination it is presented as minor basilica; is part of the Archdiocese of Boston and is one of the main redeemer centers of Marian devotion in the United States. They do not contain, in the sources consulted, complete technical details about the architectural style, dimensions or exact date of the granting of the title of basilica, although the church is usually described as a great urban temple of marked pastoral and devotional importance for the city.

Sponsorship and coronation

Our Lady of Perpetual Relief enjoys a very broad patronage in the universal Church and in various places, but no constain the specific accessible documentation, that the Boston advocation has been officially proclaimed as patron of the city of Boston, its archdiocese or another specific civil constituency. The basilica works, above all, as a reference centre for devotion to the Perpetual Relief in the Redemptorist field and as a Marian sanctuary of national reach.

As for the canonical coronation of the venerated image in the Mission Church, does not contain a documented canonical coronation (with date, decree and pontifical delegate clearly identifiable) in the available regular sources. There may be local or liturgical coronation, but, in the absence of safe documentation, this prudent formulation should be maintained.

Party and devotion

La fiesta litúrgica de Our Lady of Perpetual Help is celebrated in the Latin Church the 27 June, as the Redemptorist tradition and the liturgical calendars that follow this Marian memory reflect. Around this date, the Boston Basilica organizes solemn celebrations in honor of the Virgin, although the data of a detailed and stable program year after year no consta publicly systematized.

What characterizes this sanctuary is, in a particular way, the novena to Perpetual Socorro, a central tradition of Redemptionist spirituality and one of the main vehicles for the spread of this devotion in the United States. The ninth life consists of the weekly (or ordinary) celebration of a trade or Mass with prayers of its own, pleas and invocation to the Virgin, in which requests and thanks are presented for the favors received. In the Mission Church, this practice has been deeply rooted and has led to a significant influx of faithful over the years, many of whom come to ask for help in situations of illness, suffering or family problems, and to thank for supposed healing and assistance.

The oral and pastoral tradition describes the basilica as a place of "countless favors and healings" attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of the Boston Perpetual Relief, which has consolidated her reputation as a sanctuary of hope for the sick. However, they do not contain, in the sources consulted, official statistics of pilgrims or detailed lists of these graces recognized by formal canonical processes.

Link to the Rosary

There is no evidence in the available documentation that there is a unique or exclusive practice of the Rosary officially linked to the advocation of Our Lady of the Boston Perpetual Relief that distinguishes her from other Marian shrines. The main devotion is articulated, above all, by the novena to Perpetual Socorro and the Eucharistic celebrations in honor of the Virgin.

However, as in every Marian sanctuary of Latin Catholic tradition, the prayer of the Rosary It takes an important place in the piety of the faithful: it is an ordinary way of accompanying the ninth, of preparing for the Mass or of extending the prayer stay before the icon of the Virgin. The Rosary, by contemplating the mysteries of the life of Christ next to Mary, is theologically in line with the message of the icon of the Perpetual Relief: in it, the Child Jesus contemplates the instruments of Passion and is welcomed under the protection of his Mother, just as the one who prays the Rosary contemplates with Mary the mysteries of salvation and seeks in it permanent relief in the midst of the crosses of life.