We publish, in 3 parts, an article by Gonzalo Jesús García Ruiz, a Redemptorist layman, History teacher, graduate of the University of Piura and member of the Brotherhood of the Virgin of Perpetual Help in Piura.
To speak of devotion to the Virgin of Perpetual Help is to speak of the faith of a people who turn to the welcoming and loving gaze of a Mother who offers us her only Son for the forgiveness of our sins.
The story of a picture of the Virgin, stolen by a merchant in Crete, which arrived in Rome and, after many wonders and signs, was exhibited for the veneration of the many devotees who went in search of Mary’s Perpetual Help. The Virgin of Perpetual Help is an icon (picture) painted in tempera on a panel. It measures 53.4 cm high by 41.8 cm wide. As for the date of composition of the icon, it is most likely to be dated to the middle of the 15th century. We
We are guided by the data provided by the famous tablet.
The devotion in the city of Piura began in the early years of the 20th century. It was 1907, when three courageous priests French Redemptorist Missionaries arrived in these hot lands: Father Alfonso Baumer (who would be the first superior of the Piura community), the young Father Leon Dellétre, soul of the foundation because of his spirit of struggle up to the impossible, and Father Armando Buonodiere, a great preacher. They came with a great dream: to make known the message of the Abundant Redemption in Christ.
A devotion that began in the Port
The Redemptorist foundation in this part of the country was very difficult at first. The founding priests had no place to establish themselves as a community and were scattered in the region, either as chaplains in a hospital (as was the case of Father Baumer) or as collaborators in a parish.
The Vice-Provincial Superior sent a communiqué announcing that he would go to Piura, as he had received an order from his older confreres to desist from the Foundation and to withdraw. Father Leon Dellétre, who was the Cooperator Vicar of Paita, received the news. He had been carrying out his missionary work in the chapel of Las Mercedes, preaching, hearing confessions and attending to the sick who requested his presence.
The bubonic plague was ravaging the population of the port and this missionary was ready to attend 24 hours a day to help the dying. It was in this work that he found a painting of the Virgen del Perpetuo Socorro (Our Lady of Perpetual Help), who had a large number of devotees. Father Leon was obliged to gather his confreres to tell them the sad news that his departure was imminent.
As a farewell to the ‘ephemeral’ mission, the founding Redemptorists organised a triduum in honour of the Mother. At the Farewell Mass, so many of the faithful, devoted to the love of the Mother of Perpetual Help, turned back the missionaries from their decision to leave the port. This, perhaps, was the impulse, the starting point of this great journey that the congregation has in the city of Piura.
During the months that the Redemptorists stayed in Paita, the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Saint Alphonsus was founded, as if guessing that the Virgin wanted to stay in these lands.
The archconfraternity built an altar in the church of San Francisco de Paita which was presided over by the Virgin of Perpetual Help in the centre, above the tabernacle, to her right by Saint Alphonsus Maria de Ligorio and to her left by Saint Gerard Mayela. This altar still exists today. This is where the devotion to the Virgin was born in these lands.
Gonzalo Jesús García Ruiz,
Professor of History, graduate of the University of Piura.
