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The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is associated with the Redemptorist Order of Priests and Brothers. 150 years ago, this year, the original icon, which had been lost, was restored and entrusted to the Order to be kept in their shrine at the Via Merulana in Rome. In entrusting the icon to the Redemptorists, Pope Pius IX said “Make her known to the whole world.” 10 copies were made of the icon, one of which is the famous icon of Our Lady in the Redemptorist Church at Mount St. Alphonsus n Limerick. In commemoration of the 150th anniversary, this icon is visiting all the Redemptorist communities in Ireland as well as all 26 Cathedrals in Ireland. We are privileged to welcome the icon in Carlow Cathedral on Tuesday 12th. And Wednesday13th. April.
In preparation for this visit, the Cathedral parish will hold a novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help starting on Monday April 4, continuing every day and culminating in the arrival of the icon in the Cathedral on April 12th. Our parish novena begins the day after the feast of the Divine Mercy and so our novena will link this Jubilee Year of Mercy with the visit of the icon to Carlow. This is a significant occasion for the Cathedral Parish. We are privileged to welcome the icon of Our Lady to Carlow, particularly considering the tremendous attachment to Our Lady of Perpetual Help among Carlow people, as shown by the great devotion to her in the novena prayers prayed in the Cathedral each Saturday morning.