Solemnity of Our Lady, Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia - 24 May
24th May 2024
Sacred Heart Parish Inverell invites everyone to join us in honouring the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title 'Our Lady, Help of Christians' today with the praying of the Holy Rosary at 7am followed by Holy Mass at 7.30am.
May 24 is the Solemnity of Our Lady, Help of Christians. This is an important Feast in Australia because Our Lady, under the title “Help of Christians”, is a spiritual Patron of Australia.
The title “Help of Christians” is of very ancient lineage, with Saint John Chrysostom, who died in 407AD, having used the title in a homily. According to Fr Johann G Roten, the invocation of Mary under the title of Help of Christians is part of the oldest prayer addressed directly to Mary, the Sub tuum praesidium, found on a papyrus dating from the third century.
Under this title, the Virgin Mary is also honoured by many Chinese Catholics, particularly at the Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians of Sheshan, in the Diocese of Shanghai.
The feast day of Mary Help of Christians has been celebrated in Australia since 1844 but the history to this day dates back to the start of the 1800s. The infant Church in Australia had a special reason for turning to Mary. In those early and mostly priestless days, it was largely the Rosary that kept the faith alive. Catholics in Australia remained faithful to Mary, and Australia was the first nation to choose her, under the title of Help of Christians, as Principal Patron.
The Melbourne-based Classicist, Michael Daniel, summarised the recent history of devotion to the Virgin Mary under this title in the following paragraph:
"In 1844, Mary, under the title of Our Lady Help of Christians was chosen as the patroness of Australia at the First Provincial Synod of Sydney. Our Lady has been invoked under the title Auxilium Christianorum or Help of Christians since at least the sixteenth century. After the battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1671, at which a Turkish fleet was defeated by a Christian fleet, Pope Pius V, who had previously called upon Catholics to invoke Mary’s assistance so that the Turkish threat may be averted, inserted the title “Help of Christians” into the Litany of Our Lady as he believed that the threat of invasion had been averted through Mary’s intercession. Our Lady was again to be invoked under the title Help of Christians early in the nineteenth century. Pius VII was elected to the Papacy in 1800, soon after Napoleon had seized power in France. Although Pius VII and Napoleon had signed a concordat in 1801, Pius later refused to accede to many of Napoleon’s demands to whittle away the Church’s prerogatives. In a fruitless attempt to coerce Pius VII Napoleon kept him under close arrest in Savona in Italy and other locations from 1809-1814, forbidding cardinals and other Church officials to meet him. A prayer campaign was organised amongst Catholics throughout the world to obtain the Pope’s freedom, particularly the freedom for him to exercise the Petrine office. Pius VII attributed his eventual freedom in 1814 to Our Lady Help of Christians and decreed that the feast be celebrated on the anniversary of the day upon which he re-entered Rome, 24 May."
Most images of Our Lady Help of Christians depict the virgin standing on a globe of the world, holding the child Jesus in one arm and a sceptre in another. Her head is always crowned and the child Jesus in her arms in often crowned as well. In some images, the map of Australia is featured on the globe to signify the Virgin’s special relationship to Australia under this title.
The Sydney-born poet, James McAuley, wrote the hymn “Help of Christians Guard this Land”. It was published in the 1961 Living Parish hymn book and was set to music by Richard Connolly. It continues to be used at St. Mary’s Cathedral Sydney for very solemn Masses and is often used in parishes across Australia for Masses said on Australia Day, 26 January.
Poem: Help of Christians Guard this Land
Help of Christians guard this land,
From assault or inward stain;
Let it be what Christ has planned,
His new Eden where you reign.
Teach us that in Christ your son
Lies the wisdom to be free
For the Cross which we would shun
Is man’s Tree of Liberty
Should the powers of hell arise
And our peace be trampled down,
In that night or blood and lies
Show us still your twelve starred crown.
Take from us the coward heart,
Fleeting will, divided mind,
Give us sight to play our part,
Though the world around is blind.
Image of the risen life
Shining in eternity,
Glimmer throughout earthly strife,
Draw us to your victory.
Prayer for the Solemnity of Our Lady, Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia
O Mary, Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia, Mother of Mercy, Queen of Heaven and earth, refuge of sinners, we consecrate ourselves to your Immaculate Heart. To you we consecrate our country, our families, our hearts and souls, and all that we have. And in order that this consecration may be truly effective and lasting, we renew today the promises of our Baptism and Confirmation; and we undertake to live as good Christians - faithful to God, the Church, and the Holy Father. We desire to pray the Rosary, partake in the Holy Eucharist, attach special importance to the first Saturday of the month and to work for the conversion of sinners. Furthermore, we promise, O most holy Virgin, that we will zealously spread devotion to you, so that through our consecration to your Immaculate Heart and through your own intercession the coming of the Kingdom of Christ in the world may be hastened. Amen. 💐🙏💖