Every May 24, the Church celebrates the Mother of God under the title of ‘Holy Mary, Help of Christians’ (Mary Help of Christians), popularly known as Santa María Auxiliadora, or simply, María Auxiliadora.
“In heaven we will be pleasantly surprised to know everything that Mary Help of Christians has done for us on earth,” Saint John Bosco, founder of the Salesian family, and the greatest spreader of love for the Mother of God under this, used to say. invocation.
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Certainly, this beautiful expression of filial piety has been present in the life of the Church since ancient times, every time a Christian, knowing himself to be a son of the Virgin Mary, invokes his Mother from Heaven in the midst of some difficulty.
Deep Rooted Devotion
The Christians of the first centuries invoked the Virgin with the name of “helper.”
The two most frequent titles that could be read in the inscriptions of ancient churches or monuments of the East were: “Mother of God” (Theotokos) and “Helper” (Boeteia). Great saints such as Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Sabas and Saint Sophronius frequently used both titles when referring to the Mother of God.
Saint John Chrysostom, Patriarch of Constantinople and Father of the Church of the East, defined the Virgin Mary in the 4th century: “Most powerful, strong and effective help of those who follow Christ”; For her part, Saint John Damascene, in the 8th century, was the first to spread an ejaculation dedicated to Her: “Mary Help of Christians, pray for us.”
In the same century, around the year 733, Saint Germanus of Constantinople wrote this beautiful text, in full coincidence with the Damascene: “O Mary, you are powerful Helper of the poor, brave Helper against the enemies of the faith. Helper of the armies to defend the country, Helper of the rulers so that they achieve our well-being, Helper of the humble people who need your help. These beautiful lines constitute in themselves a filial prayer.
Mary, Help of Christians
In the 16th century, Pope Saint Pius V (1504-1572), a great devotee of the Virgin, after the Christian victory over the Muslim armies in the battle of Lepanto, ordered that it be included in the corpus from the Marian litanies the invocation to “Mary, Help of Christians.”
More than two centuries later, during the time of Napoleon, Pope Pius VII (1742-1823) was arrested by orders of the French “emperor.” The Pontiff asked for Mary’s help to overcome the terrible situation that had arisen – a Church kidnapped by imperial power -, promising that, once her freedom was recovered, he would decree a new Marian feast for the Catholic Church.
Once Napoleon had fallen, the Holy Father returned triumphantly to the papal see on May 24, 1814 and decreed that, from then on, that date would be set aside to celebrate the feast of Mary Help of Christians.
Don Bosco
A year after those turbulent events, Juan Bosco (1815-1888) was born, to whom the Virgin would appear in dreams years later, asking him to build a temple in her honor, using the title of “Auxiliadora.”
For this reason, the Italian saint would begin the construction of two “monuments”: a physical one, which is the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin; and a “living” one, made up of the nuns who make up the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.
Take advantage of the Mother who always helps us!
Saint John Bosco used to educate young people by telling them stories in which he and many other faithful devotees of the Help of Christians had obtained great favors from Heaven. The means par excellence to obtain these graces – said the saint – are the prayer of the novena to Mary Help of Christians and the constant repetition of the ejaculation of Saint John Damascene.
“Always trust in Jesus Blessed and Mary Help of Christians and you will see what miracles are,” the founding father of the Salesians stated, without hesitation.
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Central Editorial
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