Shrines around the World: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rome

by Gunther Simmermacher · October 2, 2025

Our Lady of Perpetual Help icon housed in St Alphonsus Liguori church in Rome. Photos: Wikipedia, Gunther Simmermacher

Where’s that: In central Rome.
Our Lady’s connection: Miraculous icon

Around the corner from Rome’s dazzling basilica of St Mary Major is the relatively sober 19th-century church of St Alphonsus Liguori, the mother church of the Redemptorist order, which houses the original icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

The icon, measuring 54 x 41,5cm, depicts the Blessed Virgin with the Child Jesus. The Archangels Michael and Gabriel hover in the upper corners, holding instruments of the Passion, as Jesus contemplates his future torment, symbolised by the loss of one of his sandals and the way he clutches Mary’s hand. However, the golden background signifies the glory of the resurrection. The star painted on Mary’s veil emphasises her role in the plan of salvation as both the Mother of God and our Mother.

The icon was produced in Crete between 1325 and 1480. In 1498, a Roman merchant apparently stole the icon. During the voyage to Rome, a terrible storm threatened the lives of all aboard. The passengers and crew prayed to Our Lady, and they were saved.

In 1499, the icon was housed in the church of St Matthew, on the Via Merulana which connects the basilicas of St Mary Major and St John Lateran. For 300 years, it was much loved by the faithful.

When war broke out in Rome in 1798, the icon was transferred to the church of St Mary in Posterula, where it remained for nearly 40 years, neglected and forgotten. In 1866, when two Redemptorists retrieved the image, Pope Pius IX entrusted it to their order, which had just built the church of St Alphonsus on the site where St Matthew’s had been demolished in 1810.

The icon is displayed above the altar in the church, where the novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help is prayed weekly. The feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is celebrated on June 27.