Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Remembered

My Logo is taken from a small icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour which I painted for my own home.

My childhood church, is that of St. Matthew in West Derby Liverpool. The building is listed as Grade II, and the interior architecture has the appearance of a downsized basilica.
Its bell tower is tall, and points to the heavens like the finger of a saint;  it has long been a local landmark.  As times changed, the bells in the tall tower that had rang out to declare the celebration of Mass, fell silent. Muted by a growing number who preferred to not be so reminded.

I remember how men would doff their caps in reverence for the Lord as they passed by. A large Iron iron cross embedded in the road for such purposes, reminded them to do so.
The place was always full on Sundays, at all four masses, and there was always a priest on hand if needed. The Choir loft held the organ that had the most imposing sound which rung the rafters along with the congregation. (No faint-hearted crooners here!)
Along with Sunday Mass my parents (and grandparents) would encourage us to attend parish retreats. I remember well the Passionist preacher, whose tale of eternity used the image of a sparrow brushing its wings against a great rock, yet never wearing it down. When it was standing room only, mum and dad would happily  alternate juggling the two youngest of their six children in their arms.

The Wednesday Novena

My youth and childhood was punctuated with the Wednesday Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.  This devotion in our family had spanned three generations at the church of St. Matthew.

The words of the prayer told of Mary's relationship to her son, and our own call to personal holiness.  As I gazed at the Icon of Our Lady tenderly holding her son, we began the opening prayer, it began like this:

"Dear Mother of Perpetual Help, throughout your life you were open to Gods Holy Spirit: faithful in prayer, wiling in obedience, and generous in love. Pray for us that we may be open to God's word, and filled with the Holy Spirit....."

The Marian tryptich which formed the reredos was splendid with its twisted candy - cane  pillars. Two beautiful angels flanked the image of Our Lady, and the marble altar sparkled with the presence of Lit candles. The priest would prepare the altar with incense in readiness for the " big event" ; Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The ornate monstrance made the the presence of Christ enthroned all the more awesome to a  small child from a small house with few comforts.

​When the service was over, we walked the mile and a half home. We carried with us more than the smell of incense which seemed to cling to our clothes and hair. We had felt loved, and thereby strengthened on our return to the outside world.

Meaning of the Icon of
Our Lady of Perpetual Help 

My interest in the meanings within sacred images was instigated from childhood by the Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.

Re-ordering

​ My dad was eventually ordained as a Deacon of St.Matthews, it meant a great deal to him to be able to continue the Novena by which three generations of our family had received so many graces.
One day dad told us that the Lady chapel was to be re- ordered.  The lady chapel was to be a rehearsal room for the folk group,  and somewhere for tea and biscuits to be consumed. It caused him some distress.

 The Lady chapel was sealed off from the main church by means of a huge white wall.  It cut through the red brick rhythm of Byzantine arches like a cold hearted bully, demanding attention.
A large heavy curtain was drawn across the Triptich and altar, to hide it from view.

The row of "confessionals" which had stood like sentry boxes for the guarding of souls, morphed into a single room.  The baptistry, once housed at the far end of the lady chapel was uprooted and moved to the entrance  the church; benches which had once been filled by parishioners to "crush level" were removed.​
 Dad had been a plasterer all his life, and worked on all manner of buildings.  He sensed that cutting off  the view of the confessionals, and the Lady chapel; would have an impact on parishioners attending either. 

A little History

Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour; painted for my dad.

Historically, the original Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help had been placed in the church of St. Matthew in Rome by Our Lady's request, and the first copy of this icon came to Bishop Eton in Liverpool, on April 26th 1866.
From there, it was a natural progression for this devotion to come to the church of St. Matthew in West Derby.
The church was  built  partly  as  a  memorial  to  the Liverpool architect,  of the same name: Matthew Honan who was killed in 1916, and who left over £14,000 towards the building of a church.  Sadly, this man to whom we owe a prayer for his generosity, is no where memorialised - even with a small plaque.
If "Out of sight, is out of mind," holds true for Matthew Honan, then so too the devotion to Our Blessed Mother, when that curtain was drawn across Her Triptych.
A rich seam of Marian and Eucharistic devotion and had been denied to the next generation; along with the awesome beauty of the triptych and its altar.

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To ease the blow for dad,  I painted my first Icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour for him. He retired early from the diaconate, plagued by a long illness related to heart problems and cancer. He offered his suffering for fallen away Catholics.
This Icon always reminds me of my dad, and my mum with babies in their arms - and of the veiled altar at St. Matthews, wondering will it ever be seen again.

A happy post-script to this story, is that the chapel is now being used again, and the altar has been uncovered; although the chapel itself is in need of some structural attention having been neglected for some time. Dad would be happy!