DENVER – The Redemptorists of the Denver Province are proclaiming the 2016 Jubilee Year of Our Mother of Perpetual Help on Sunday, April 26 – the exact date the ancient icon of the Mother of God that enjoyed ‘great veneration and fame for its miracles’ was first presented for public veneration a century and a half ago in the Redemptorist church of Sant’Alfonso in Rome.
The Jubilee Year of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is being ushered in with two special events: noted iconographer Brother Dan Korn will share the spirituality of the beloved icon with the hundreds of people expected to attend the Seelos Healing Mass in New Orleans; and a special replica of the original Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, written by a Polish Redemptorist specifically for the Jubilee Year, will be presented to the Redemptoristine community in Liguori, Mo., for veneration. The Redemptorists plan a three-year celebration of the 150th anniversary of the date Pope Pius IX gave the congregation the beloved icon with the mandate, “Make her known throughout the world!”
Year I (2015) is a preparation year for renewed devotion to Mary as Our Mother of Perpetual Help.   The spirituality of the icon is being shared at presentations throughout the Denver Province. Earlier this year, Br. Korn presented a reflection on the icon at Locus Benedictus Retreat Center in Greenwood.
Year II (2016) will focus on the anniversary celebration for the entire worldwide congregation and those who have a special devotion to Mary as Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Highlights of this 150th Jubilee Year include a Denver Province celebration at the site of the first public Tuesday novenas to Our Mother of Perpetual Help – St. Alphonsus “Rock” Church in St. Louis – on Monday, June 27, 2016.  It was from this historic church that the world-wide practice of ‘weekly’ novena prayers spread throughout the entire country. The Most Rev. Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Indianapolis, will preside at the celebration, which will be telecast to every ministerial site in the Denver Province. Each ministerial site plans a procession of the icon and a special viewing of the celebration in St. Louis. Pope Francis will be invited to participate in the worldwide celebration at the Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help at Sant’Alfonso Church in Rome.
Year III (2017) will be a renewal the Redemptorist ministry to proclaim the Gospel, especially through the Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help as a tool of evangelization. The Jubilee Icon will be sent as a ‘missionary icon’ to each ministerial site in the Denver Province, as well as to other churches and arch/dioceses that request the presence of this miraculous icon.
For more information about events planned throughout the Denver Province, please contact local Redemptorist ministerial sites.
The Redemptorists are a religious congregation of Catholic priests and Brothers founded in 1732 by St. Alphonsus Liguori in Naples, Italy. Approximately 5,000 Redemptorists are currently working for the poor and most abandoned in nearly every part of the world. More than 400 Redemptorist priests, Brothers and students represent the Denver Province in much of the United States, as well as Brazil and Nigeria.