OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS

OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS

1st JUNE



The Wikipedia entry provides that there are two inscriptions from the first centuries of Christianity related to the Virgin Mary: (the Theotokos, Mother of God) and (the Helper). The Fathers of the Church referred to our Lady as (the Helper). John Chrysostom used the title in a homily of 345 AD, Proclus in 476 AD and Sebas of Caesarea in 532 AD. After the Patristic period (that is, the period of the Early Church Fathers), in the 5th century, other significant figures in the Catholic Church used it, such as Romanos the Melodist in 518AD, (Patriarch of Jerusalem), Sophronius in 560AD, John of Damascus in 749AD and Germanus I of Contantinople in 733 AD.
Wikipedia states further:
“In the view of the Rev Johann G Roten SM, the invocation of Mary as Help of Christians is part of the oldest prayer addressed directly to Mary, the Sub Tuum Praesidium, which was found on papyrus dating, at the latest, from the end of the 3rd century. ‘Praesidium’ is translated as ‘an assistance given in time of war by fresh troops in a strong manner.’”
The words of the hymn to Our Lady are as follows:
“Sub tuum praesidium confugimus.
Sancta Dei Genetrix: nostras deprecations,
Ne despcias,
In necessitatibus:
Sed a periculis cunctis,
Libera nos semper,
Vigo gloriosa et benedicta.
“Under thy patronage we fly,
O holy Mother of God:
Reject not the prayers we send up to thee in our necessities,
But deliver us in time of peril,
O Virgin, glorious and blessed.”
The image from Wikipedia of the painting that Pope Leo XIII granted a Canonical coronation on 17 May 1903. The Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians, Turin.

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