"Spread devotion to Mary, Help of Christians,
and you will see what miracles are"
- Don Bosco -

By Our Own Correspondent

May 15 - May 24: This year we remember 200 years from the first official celebrations of the Feast of Mary Help of Christians on May 24, 2016 after the official establishment of this liturgical Feast by the Pope Pius VII. When Pope Pius VII was elected he too was gaoled by Bonaparte, who kept him prisoner at Fontainebleau (Paris). The Holy Father vowed to God that if he were restored to the Roman See, he would institute a special feast in honour of Mary. Eventually Napoleon Bonaparte was forced to release the Pope and on 24 May, 1814 Pius VII returned in triumph to Rome. Next year 1815 the Pope decreed that the Feast of Our Lady Mary Help of Christians be kept on 24 May.

The devotion in the Oceania Catholic community goes back to the early days of Australian Church. The young church in Australia had a special reason for turning to Mary. No priests were sent to the colony in its early days and Mass was not allowed except for one brief year until 1820. It was largely the Rosary in those early days that kept the faith alive. The Australian Catholic community remained faithful to Mary and Australia was the first nation to choose her under the title, 'Mary Help of Christians' as principle Patroness. Over the years also the Chinese bishops (1921) have chosen Mary Help of Christians as the national Patroness and Pope Benedict XVI in his 2007 letter asked the Catholic Church to pray for China Catholic community especially on May 24.

During the pilgrimage to Valdocco we can admire the faith and trust of the missionaries who spread the Marian devotion to most of the early EAO missions - China, Thailand and Japan. There are four EAO provinces dedicated to Her - Australia, China, Philippines South (Cebu) and Myanmar and many shrines and parishes dedicated to Her as well.

During recent years in most of the EAO provinces we can see a steadfast growth in the devotion and following of Mary Help of Christians - with new shrines, chapels dedicated to her, with newly starting ADMA centers, with more animated devotion to Mary (local language translations).

This 200th anniversary year we have many reasons to pray through the intercession of Mary especially for those challenging situations like a new Don Bosco mission frontier of Malaysia, continue to join the China Church prayers as well to remember especially vocation dry Salesian Family groups or some EAO countries with very few local vocations.

Novena prayers available on the BOSCOLINK:

YouTube Video about the MHC devotion is produced by the Cl. Jerome Quinto (FIN)

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