Our Lady of Prompt Succor: Help for These Troubled Times

Prayer to Our Lady of Prompt Succor

(Suggested by Fr. Gabriel for these days)

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, thou art after Jesus our only hope. O Most Holy Virgin, whose merits have raised thee high above angel choirs to the very throne of the Eternal and whose foot crushed the head of the infernal serpent, thou art strong against the enemies of our salvation. O Mother of God, thou art our Mediatrix most kind and loving. Hasten, then to our help, and as thou didst once save thy beloved city from ravaging flames and our country from an alien foe, do now have pity on our misery, and obtain for us the graces we beg of thee. Deliver us from the wiles of Satan, assist us in the many trials which beset our path in this valley of tears, and be to us truly Our Lady of Prompt Succor, now and especially at the hour of our death. Amen

We are praying for peace throughout America during the post-election confusion, that Donald Trump's election is verified and respected, for a smooth transition into the next four-year presidency, that the process of elections is rehabilitated and corrected to prevent fraud and regain the trust of the American people, and that Christ reigns as King, His Mother as Queen over our country, issuing in a new age of Godliness, morality and wholesomeness.

The History of  the Marian Title, Our Lady of Prompt Succor

One of the earliest orders of Sisters to help settle the new world, a group of Ursulines accompanied Fr. Jean-Baptiste LeMoyne to New Orleans as early as 1727. Arriving from Rouen, France they founded a convent, school, and orphanage in the settlement. By 1809, the work of the quickly growing mission had begun to overwhelm the few Sisters, and superior at the time, Mother St. Andre, wrote to her cousin, Mother St. Michel Gensoul, in France, to join her in New Orleans -- and bring more Sisters! Sr. St. Michel wished nothing more than to cooperate in bringing the faith to the New World, but protocol had to be followed; the Sisters had to apply for permission from the Order and receive the official blessing of the pope on the endeavor. Mother St. Michel, anxious to begin her mission work,

St. Mary's, known as " the Old Ursuline Convent"
at original site on Chartres St., New Orleans

prayed to Our Lady for a "quick and favorable" answer from the Vatican, approving the undertaking, promising to have a statue made honoring the Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor if her prayer were answered in speedy fashion. 

Any kind of "prompt succor" at this particular time in history, however, would have been deemed by almost anyone as miraculous, as France was at war at the time and Pope Pius VII was being held captive, but such obstacles cannot hinder the Mother of God! Within five weeks, Mother St. Michel received a letter of permission! Within about a year's time, she and her Ursuline Sisters arrived in New Orleans, bearing the specially carved and gilded statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. 

A dozen years later, New Orleans, suffered a tragedy not uncommon at that time of timber construction: fire, practically impossible to control. There were no fire brigades at that time, of course and no hydrants. Inhabitants could only flee, but the Ursulines refused to abandon their chapel and buildings. As danger neared, they placed the statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in the convent window that faced the fire -- and prayed! Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us or we are lost! Miraculously, the wind immediately changed direction and the convent was preserved, when almost all else around it perished in the flames. This marks the first public miracle attributed to the Blessed Mother under this title.

See how the back of her robes were carved to look
as if they are flowing backward due to her hurry?

The second occurred during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 when 10,000 British troops descended upon New Orleans. The American soldiers, led by General Andrew Jackson, were outnumbered almost 2:1. Defeat more a probability than a possibility, the people of the city fled to the Ursuline convent for safety while the American soldiers fought from behind bales of cotton. The nuns and townspeople held vigil through the night, praying in the chapel before the image of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. Miraculously, the Americans defeated the British, with almost no casualties (13 casualties to the British 285; 30 wounded to the British 1,265), and General Jackson (no Catholic, to be sure!), convinced of the heavenly support delivered by the Sisters' prayers, thanked the Ursulines in person. To this day, the Ursuline nuns celebrate an annual Mass on the day of the victory, January 8th, to thank the Blessed Mother for her intercession.

Pope Pius IX authorized the public devotion to this Marian title on September 21, 1851, designating January 8th as its local feast day. The Miraculous

Statue received the honor and approbation of the Church with the blessing of Pope Leo XIII in November, 1894 with the  Canonical Coronation of the statue and the Baby Jesus. In June of 1928, Pope Pius XI declared the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor the Patroness of Louisiana. 

The original statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, moved in the 1920s from the original site of the Ursuline convent in the French Quarter, can be seen at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor on the State Street campus of the Ursuline Academy and Convent.