Image of grace of Our Lady of Perpetual Help
The miraculous image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a widespread miraculous image and a world-famous representation of Mary. The original from the 14th century probably comes from the island of Crete ( Cretan School ). The icon measures 41.5 × 53 cm and is painted on walnut wood. After changing locations, the picture was taken by Pope Pius IX in 1867 . entrusted to the Redemptorist Order for its Roman church of Sant 'Alfonso , where it has since adorned the high altar. The Redemptorists contributed decisively to the spread of the image through their popular missionary work.
description
The Mother of God is depicted on a gold background . She wears a red undergarment and a dark blue, shiny upper garment with a star on the head veil; this is surrounded by the halo . The Greek abbreviations “MP” and “ΘY” for the words “Mother” and “God” on both sides identify them as “Mother of God” (Μήτηρ Θεού). On her left arm she carries the baby Jesus dressed in green and gold . The head of the child is surrounded by a nimbus , on the right there is the abbreviation "IC-XC" for the name "Jesus Christ" (Ἰησοῦς Xριστός).
The child is held by the mother's left hand and grasps her right hand with both hands. However, his head is averted and his gaze goes over to the cross carried by the Archangel Gabriel. As if by a movement of anticipatory shock, the sandal has come off one foot and falls to the ground.
Angels float on both sides of the head of Mary , carrying the instruments of Christ's passion in veiled hands . They are also identified by Greek letters as the archangels Michael and Gabriel .
distribution
The image of grace was painted again and again in different colors and sizes and is one of the most common depictions of Mary. The Bavarian Redemptorist Max Schmalzl created a well-known copy in 1872 as a ceiling painting in the monastery chapel in Vilsbiburg .
In Germany this miraculous image was u. a. made famous by Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler , who brought it from Rome from the First Vatican Council and had it set up as a copy on his grave in Mainz.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help (French: Notre-Dame du Perpétuel Secours ) has been the patroness of Haiti since 1882 . Smallpox raged there in the winter of 1881/1882. The Archbishop of Port-au-Prince , Alexis-Jean-Marie Guilloux, and the pastor at the cathedral there , François-Marie Kersuzan, put up the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on February 5, 1882. The number of deaths quickly fell and the believers began to seek out the miraculous image. Copies and prints of the icon can be found in numerous Haitian churches. Their festival is a day of remembrance provided by the Haitian Bishops' Conference and is celebrated on June 27th.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ On the history of the miraculous image and its copy in Vilsbiburg
- ↑ Elie Lescot: Avant l'oubli. Christianisme et paganisme en Haiti et autres lieux . Henri Deschamps, Port au Prince 1974, p. 454.