The icon at Bishop Eton,is the first of millions of copies to flood the world and make the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour the most popular of all images of the Virgin and Child.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour originated in Crete and was venerated in Rome in the Church of St. Matthew from the end of the 15th Century until the destruction of the church by Napoleon's forces in 1798. It was thought that the icon had also been lost, but the Augustinians who served the church had saved it and kept it in their private chapel.
Over sixty years later it was discovered and, on the orders of Pope Pius IX, enthroned in 1866 for public veneration in the Redemptorist church of St. Alphonsus built in 1854 on the original site of St. Matthew's. He also told the Redemptorists, "Make her known throughout the world".
A month later, at Bishop Eton, Our Lady was asked to intercede for a seriously ill priest in the community, Fr. Francis Hall, who made a remarkable recovery. The Redemptorist Superior General in Rome was so impressed by this that when the first two copies of the original icon were made, one was given to Pope Pius IX and the other to Bishop Eton.
It is kept in the community oratory and venerated in the church and is brought into the church for the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, June 27th.
The permanent shrine (see below) in the church has a later copy.
