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January 5, 2017The statue of Our Lady under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor came to New Orleans in 1810, and gained favor among the people of New Orleans for her prayers and intersession to protect the city during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. At that time, the Ursuline Sisters and the Archbishop of New Orleans promised the every year on January 8, a Mass to give thanks and honor Our Lady under that title would be celebrated. Archbishop Aymond will once again fulfill that promise with the celebration of the Mass at 4 pm on January 8 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, 2701 State St. in New Orleans. All are welcome to celebrate with us!
Over the following two centuries, the Ursuline Sisters have shared this devotion to Our Lady of "Quick Help" with many who pray to the Mother of God in moments of pain or need, joy or thanksgiving, or simply out of desire to live their lives with deepening fidelity and love.
A Brief History of Our Lady of Prompt Succor
French Ursulines arrived in New Orleans in 1727 and established the oldest school for girls currently operating in what is now the United States. During a per iod of crisis after a large group of nuns left New Orleans for Cuba in 1803, Mother St. Andre Madier, one of the seven nuns who remained, appealed to her cousin, an Ursuline in France whom the reign of terror had forced to leave her monastery at Pont-Saint-Espirt. She was Mother St. Michel Gensoul, a remarkable woman of great talent and interior piety, who, during the exile in Montpellier, opened a boarding school for girls there. Fearing for the flourishing school, Bishop Fournier refused to request her leave, saying that only the Pope, then a prisoner of Napoleon, could give such a permission. One day while praying before a statue of the Blessed Mother, she was inspired to say, "O most holy Virgin Mary, if you obtain a prompt and favorable answer to my letter, I promise to have you honored in New Orleans under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor."
Since the end of December 1810, when Mother St. Michel, her companions and the statue arrived in New Orleans, devotion to Our Lady of Prompt Succor has grown in New Orleans and Louisiana, and has spread through the United States and even beyond. In the late 19th century, Pope Leo XIII granted the solemn crowning of the statue, an honor carried out splendidly by Archbishop Janssens on November 10, 1895. In 1912 this devotion was officially approved by Rome.
From conversations, letters, contributions, requests for Masses of thanksgiving and similar sources, generations of Ursulines and friends of Our Lady of Prompt Succor have learned about many of the favors granted through the intercession of Our Lady in response to pleas for quick and favorable help. We will never know them all. But those we know are a source of encouragement and hope to all who count on Our Lady's help.
Among them, two interventions of Our Lady in particular come from early New Orleans as important to the city and its people. The first has to do with one of the great fires which periodically threatened the city, the Ursuline Convent included. Frightened residents joined the sisters in the convent chapel, begging Our Lady to save them and their homes from the raging wind and flames. Finally, as the blaze drew too near, the Superior ordered all to evacuate the building. Before leaving, one of the sisters put a small statue of Mary with her Son into a window facing the approaching fire, with the prayer "Our Lady, unless you hasten to save us we are lost!" Then she followed the others to safety. Within minutes, the wind turned back on itself, and in a short time, the fire had lost its momentum and burned out, leaving the remainder of the city unharmed.
The second well-known intervention of Our Lady of Prompt Succor concerns the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. During the night of January 7, Andrew Jackson and his relatively small, little-prepared and ill-equipped band of soldiers organized their defenses against the large, very well equipped British army which would attack the city before dawn. At the same time, many citizens not directly involved in the army joined the Ursuline Sisters in an all-night vigil in their chapel on Chartres Street, imploring Our Lady of Prompt Succor to give the victory to Jackson for the United States, saving the city of New Orleans from British control. During the night, the Superior, Mother Ste. Marie Olivier de Vezin, promised Our Lady that if Jackson and his men won, a Mass of thanksgiving would be sung every year in memory of her saving help to the city on that day. As dawn was breaking, Fr. DuBourg began a Mass for the same intention. At the very moment of Communion a courier rushed into the chapel announcing that Andrew Jackson and his men had won the victory, and the Mass ended with the joyous singing of the Te Deum.
Prayer to Our Lady of Prompt Succor
O Mary, Mother of God, who amid the tribulations of the world, watch over us and over the Church of your Son, be to us and to the Church, truly Our Lady of Prompt Succor. Make haste to help us all in our necessities, that in this fleeting life you may be our succor, and obtain for us (here ask the particular favor you desire). As you once saved our beloved city from ravaging flames and our country from an invading army, have pity on us and obtain for us protection from hurricanes and all other disasters. Be to us truly Our Lady of Prompt Succor now and especially at the hour of our death.
Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Hasten to Help Us.
