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Filipino Ministry: Committees | Perpetual Help Novena | Simbang Gabi | Photo Albums

Our Mother of Perpetual Help Novena

Wednesdays, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. except on Ash Wednesday and Holy Days.

Prayer to Our Mother of Perpetual Help

Mother of Perpetual Help, you have been blessed and favoured by God. You became not only the Mother of the Redeemer, but the Mother of the redeemed as well. I come to you today as your loving child. Watch over me and take care of me. As you held the child Jesus in your loving arms, so take me in your arms. Be a mother ready at every moment to help me. For God who is mighty has done great things for you, and God's mercy is from age to age on those who love God. Intercede for me, dear Mother, in obtaining pardon for my sins, love for Jesus, final perseverance, and the grace always to call upon you, Mother of Perpetual Help. Amen.

See you at the Novena!

Coordinator:Dulce Febre
Email: rgfebre@juno.com

Origin of the Our Mother of Perpetual Help Novena

The Wednesday of each week has become a day of prayer to Our Mother of Perpetual Help in many countries.

For more than five centuries to date, countless miracles, healings, inspirations, blessings and conversions are attributed to the intercession of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. In fact, it is even said that there was a bit of miracle on how the Redemptorists* in Rome received the original image ofOur Mother of Perpetual Help in the first place. You can read the interesting and detailed background at http://www.liguori.org/redemptorists/saints/omph/history.htm.

After PopePius IX entrusted the miraculous icon to theRedemptorists in 1866, the devotion quickly spread throughout Europe and gained a large and devoted following.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help in the Philippines

The Philippines is the only predominantly Catholic country in Asia. The Spaniards brought Christianity to the country when Ferdinand Magellan accidentally discovered Cebu (one of the major islands) on March 17,1521 while carrying out the mandates of theKing and Queen of Spain: to find and acquire spice in the Indies, to further the Christian missions and conversions into the Catholic faith.

The Filipinos were under the Spanish rule for 377 years. The execution of Dr. Jose Rizal (an optometrist, linguist, poet and author who wrote and spoke against Spanish injustices and depravities) sparked the Revolution led by Andres Bonifacio. On June 12, 1898, after toppling the Spanish conquistadores, the Republic of the Philippines was proclaimed independent.

The Redemptorists brought the devotion to the Philippines in 1906. The Novena in Baclaran Church began on the 23rd of June, 1948. Devotees multiplied to hundreds then thousands each year. On January, 1958, Baclaran Church was declared as the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and was consecrated by Archbishop Rufino Card. Santos of Manila on Dec. 1, 1958. Since the day the Shrine was opened, it has never been closed, either day or night.

Presently, there are 120,000 devotees who come to Baclaran to pray the Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help from 4:00 a.m. to midnight. Every Wednesday, there are 7 sessions of the Novena with Benedictions, 3 sessions of Novena-Masses; and 2 sung Masses. Hundreds of Petition and Thanksgiving letters are delivered to the Redemptorists each week. Many letters come even from foreign countires wherever Filipinos happen to live. Confessions are heard daily in the Shrine at almost every hour.

The feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is celebrated on June 27. A novena of nine consecutive days precedes the annual celebration of the feast.

*The Redemptorists is a religious order of men founded in 1732 by Saint Alphonsus Liguori. Their special mission is to spread the Gospel to the poor and most abandoned. In 1866, Pope Pius IX entrusted the miraculous icon to the Redemptorists and told them to "Make Her Known Throughout the World."

Print Out your own Perpetual Help Novena Pamphlet

To print the pamphet, you will need five 8-1/2" x 11" bond paper (one for the cover and four for the inside pages).

1. Open and print out the cover of the novena then fold into two with the image of Mother Mary showing outside.

2. The inside pages will be printed on the remaining four bond papers back to back. e.g. print page 1, then print page 2 on the other side; print page 3 then print page 4 on the same paper, etc.

3. Then fold each paper with the smallest page number showing outside and insert the folded papers into the others with the page numbers in chronological order. Either staple at the center fold if you have the commercial stapler or tie a ribbon or an elastic thread or yarn at the center fold and you're done!