The Story of the Icon

There is a tradition from the 16th century that tells us about a merchant from the isle of Crete who stole a miraculous picture from one of its churches. He hid it among his wares and set out westward.

It was only through Divine Providence that he survived a violent tempest and eventually arrived safely in Rome.

Before his death, the merchant revealed the secret of the sacred image and begged that it be returned to a church where the people could venerate it once more.

The icon was enthroned in the Church of St. Matthew the Apostle where it remained for almost three centuries.

Pilgrims flocked to the humble church to pray before the miraculous image of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

During the war in 1798, the church was destroyed and the icon was hidden away for many years in another chapel in Rome.

Brother Augustine Orsetti carefully guarded the memory of the hidden icon during its years of obscurity.

He often told a young altar boy named Michael Marchi never to forget the miraculous image hidden upstairs.

Those stories would later help rediscover the icon for the whole Church.

In 1855, the Redemptorists acquired the land where St. Matthew’s once stood and built the Church of St. Alphonsus.

Soon after, they learned about the lost image once venerated in that very place.

Father Michael Marchi then revealed that he knew exactly where the icon had been hidden all those years.

Pope Pius IX ordered that the icon be returned to the Church of St. Alphonsus and entrusted to the Redemptorists.

His famous instruction was: “Make Her known throughout the world.”

On April 26, 1866, the restored icon was solemnly enthroned and devotion rapidly spread worldwide.

In 1990, the Vatican Museum carefully restored the icon after years of environmental damage.

Scientific studies dated the wood to between 1325 and 1480, confirming the image’s ancient origins.

Today, the icon continues to inspire millions of devotees around the world as a symbol of hope, mercy, and perpetual help.