Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, dating to before 1499.
The Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help is a booklet containing a set of prayers including the Roman Catholicnovena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, that was originally published in Jaén, Spain in 1899. It was then widely republished by American Redemptorist priests in 1927, then ultimately revised by Irish and Australian Redemptorist priests on 23 June 1948.
The present booklet was mainly co-authored by the Australian priest The Rev Leo James English, C.Ss.R, and Fra Gerard O'Donnell, and is officially presently used at the Church of San Alphonsus Ligouri in Rome each week, where the original icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is permanently enshrined.[1][2]
In the Catholic Church in the Philippines, the novena was first recited at the Redemptorist-run St. Clement's Church in La Paz, Iloilo following World War II[3] and is still recited every Wednesday. The practice of Wednesday novena has since spread to the Baclaran Church, a Redemptorist-run church in Metro Manila, elsewhere in the Philippines, and in the Filipino diaspora. The popularity of the novena became known due to the authorisation granted by the Holy See to propagate the icon, along with prayers which addressed the strengthening of marriages, healing of sicknesses, and helping find employment, thus earning it a quick following from the masses.
The earliest existing novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help was a booklet already in its third edition, and was published by the Bishop of Madrid, José María Cos y Macho, who granted his imprimatur in 1899. These were followed by re-printing in later years.
In the United States, the first novena prayers were compiled by Reverend Joseph Chapoton, the Vice-provincial of Portland, Oregon.[4] After his death in 1925, the laity added more prayers and hymns into the booklet.[5]
This perhaps was the main reason why for many years, there was no set of novena prayers designated for Perpetual Help. By research within the United States, numerous texts vary from the Perpetual Help novena used in Redemptorist centers in Portland, Brooklyn, Boston, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Saint Louis, Missouri. Several versions of the Novena were made and circulated from the now-closed St. Philomena's Church (Pittsburgh). One of these copies, dating from 1927, was brought to Manila in the Philippine Islands.
The novena was originally designed for exclusive recitation by the presiding priest. After the Second Vatican Council, the laity were encouraged to participate more in religious activities, thus necessitating a revision of the prayers for uniform use by the laity. The new set of prayers was used in Baclaran Church and became widespread in various Filipino congregations.
The Bishop of Madrid, José María Cos y Macho, granted his Imprimatur on the earliest compiled novena booklets in 1899,[8] followed by a re-print in 1902, 1917, 1927, 1935 etc.
An ordinary local permission to print the text was obtained via the vice-provincial of Portland, Oregon, Reverend Joseph Chapoton. To date, various texts were re-printed for private devotional use.
† In some communities, Salutaris Hostia and Tantum Ergo are sung in the original Latin.[10] The Church in the Philippines meanwhile uses a different tune for Tantum Ergo that is unique to the country.
Ejaculatory prayers for courtship, against temptations, financial help, and the Memorare are also often added to the set of prayers.
^"Archived copy"(PDF). www.redemptorists.com. Archived from the original(PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Baclaran version, Archdiocese of Manila, April 1973.
