Mary, Help of Christians
There are two inscriptions from the first centuries of Christianity in Greek related to Mary: θεοτοκος (Teotokos, Theotokos, Mother of God) and βοηθεια (Boetheia, the Helper).
After the Patristic period (5th century), other persons used it like Romanos the Melodist in 518, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius in 560, John of Damascus in 749 and Germanus I of Constantinople in 733.
This second form contains the invocation Auxilium Christianorum warriors returning from the Battle of Lepanto (7 October 1571) visited the Loreto, and saluted the Holy Virgin there for the first time with this title.
The Italian religious author Orazio (Horatio) Torsellini (1597) and the Roman Breviary (May 24, Appendix) claim that Pope Pius V inserted the invocation in the Litany of Loreto after the Battle of Lepanto.
By order of Napoleon I of France, Pope Pius VII was arrested on 5 June 1808, and detained a prisoner first at Grenoble, and then at Fontainebleau.
For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace...By her maternal charity, Mary cares for the brethren of her Son who still wander through this world in the midst of dangers and difficulties until they are led to the happiness of their heavenly home.
It was established due to the great appreciation of Don Bosco for this Marian title and the development of the Salesian works in many countries since the second half of the 19th century.
[10] In memory of the liberation of Pope Pius VII from the captivation and imprisonment of Lord Napoleon Bonaparte, which the Pope credited to be by supernatural assistance, the following congregations honored the Blessed Virgin Mary under this title: The Church of Notre Dame du Bon Secours in Blosseville, France, was also inaugurated under this Marian title "Help of Christians", dating back to the original church structure in the 13th century.
It was finalized in 1840 and Pope Benedict XV ultimately granted a pontifical decree that raised the shrine to the status of minor basilica on 12 February 1919.
[12] Under this title, the Virgin Mary is venerated by the Chinese Catholics, particularly at the Shrine of our Lady of Sheshan, the only minor papal basilica in mainland China.
In May 2007, Pope Benedict XVI designated 24 May her feast for the Catholics in China, who face persecution and restriction from the Chinese Communist Party.
In the Austro-Hungarian Empire and among German-speaking Catholics, there was particular devotion to Maria, Hilfe der Christen, as shown by the Church of Mariahilf and other shrines, including some in the U.S.[13][14]
