January 8th in the Archdiocese of New Orleans is the Solemnity of our patroness, Our Lady of Prompt Succor

 

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us

 

Our Lady of Prompt Succor – Feast Day – January 8

Our Lady of Prompt Succor is the title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a promise by Mother Saint Michel while seeking her intervention on receiving a prompt letter from the then head of the church, Pope Pius VII. The Blessed Virgin Mary, under this title is celebrated on January 8.

Saint Our Lady of Prompt Succor’s Life History

Notre Dame du Prompt Secours, french for, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, is a title given to a wooden devotional image of the Madonna and Child enshrined in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The title was coined by Mother Saint Michel as a promise to the Blessed Virgin Mary that if she received a prompt reply to a letter she was sending to the then Napoleon’s prisoner, Pope Pius VII, she would have her honored in New Orleans under that title. She had been requested, together with other sisters by Mother Saint Andre Madier, to travel from France to the USA to assist the nuns there in their schools.

The church was suffering great distress then, especially in France, where there were persecutions from the revolution under Napoleon, while in USA, it was facing fears of the anti-clerical sentiments posed by the French who had taken over from the Spanish.

Mother Saint Michel, on receiving the request from the church in the USA, approached Bishop Fournier of Montpelier to request a transfer, but the bishop advised the nun that the Pope was the only one with the authority to grant that request. She then sent her petition on March 19, 1809 and received a letter from Pope Pius VII, granting her request.

She commissioned a statue upon being granted the transfer request and took it to Bishop Fournier for its consecration. She then set for New Orleans and arrived there with the statue on December 31, 1810 and it was placed in the monastery chapel of the Old Ursuline convent on Chartres Street in the French Quarters.

In 1812, there was a great fire at the Vieux Carre and the Ursuline convent was facing imminent danger. Due to this, they were instructed to evacuate the premises, however, Marthe Delate, placed a small statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor on a window seat and St Michel began to pray aloud, and immediately the wind that threatened to set their convent ablaze immediately switched direction and a couple of buildings, including theirs, were spared from the inferno. This was the first major historical miracle.

Three years later, America’s 6000 troops, under General Andrew Jackson were to face 15000 British soldiers. On the eve of the battle of New Orleans, the residents joined the sisters of the Ursuline convent to pray overnight to implore Our Lady of Prompt Succor. The Superior had made a vow to have a thanksgiving mass sung annually if the American forces win and during a mass, at the time of communion, a courier ran into the chapel to inform all present that the British had been defeated. Ever since then, on January 8, an annual thanksgiving mass has been sung.

Pope Pius IX decreed devotion of the feast of Our Lady of Prompt Succor on September 21 1851. Pope Leo XIII approved the canonical coronation of the wooden image on June 21 1894 and on June 13 1928, Pope Pius XI declared the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title Our Lady of Prompt Succor as the Patroness of Louisiana.