(Port-au-Prince, Haiti) – The Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is celebrated on June 27th. There was a solemn celebration held in Haiti because the country was consecrated to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on December 8, 1942, by Msgr. Le Gouaze, archbishop of Port-au-Prince. The feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help has a special connotation for the Haitian people. It is a celebration in which the Haitian people thank God for the intercession of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and seeks Her help to save Haiti as she did in 1882.
136 years have passed since the Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, interceded on behalf of the Haitian people as she had done at the wedding at Cana. The epidemic of cholera and smallpox that had triggered death in Haitian families, particularly those in Port au Prince, disappeared in less than three days thanks to a procession with the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in 1882. The image of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is also present in numerous Haitian public stamps used by the Haitian post office. In January 2010, Pope Benedict XVI invoked Our Lady of Perpetual Help for Haiti’s earthquake relief through Archbishop Louis Kébreau.
Thus, for the various challenges facing the people of Haiti, the Christian from Haiti recalls the powerful intercession of Mother of Perpetual Help and always resorts to her with much faith and trust.
This beautiful prayer is always there in the mouths of the Haitians:
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, help us,
protect Haiti,
protect the Church,
protect the whole world,
protect our homes and bless our children.
In Haiti, we are sure that if we faithfully invoke the Mother of Perpetual Help she will faithfully help us.
Father Kénol Chéry CSsR
