Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help

The popularity of the novena became known due to the authorisation granted by the Holy See to propagate the icon, along with prayers which addressed the strengthening of marriages, healing of sicknesses, and helping find employment, thus earning it a quick following from the masses.

The earliest existing novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help was a booklet already in its third edition, and was published by the Bishop of Madrid, José María Cos y Macho, who granted his imprimatur in 1899.

By research within the United States, numerous texts vary from the Perpetual Help novena used in Redemptorist centers in Portland, Brooklyn, Boston, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Saint Louis, Missouri.

The specific acts of Benediction and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament during the novena service, however, remain the exclusive domain of the presiding priest.

[7] The Bishop of Madrid, José María Cos y Macho, granted his Imprimatur on the earliest compiled novena booklets in 1899,[8] followed by a re-print in 1902, 1917, 1927, 1935 etc.

The Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal George Mundelein gave an Imprimatur for the Perpetual Help novena in the Polish language on New Year's Eve 1934.