from ursulineneworleans.org/This could be a bad omen for the Seattle Seahawks playing the New Orleans Saints on Saturday, January 8 - the feast day of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. Geaux Saints!
Ursuline Mother St. Michel and several other French Sisters answered a call for assistance from the New Orleans Ursuline Sisters in 1785. There was, however, much political and religious unrest in Europe at that time which made it necessary for the Sisters to obtain a special permission from Pope Pius VII to come to the New World (that might take years of waiting). Mother St. Michel found a tiny statue of Our Lady in the convent attic and prayed, “My good Mother, if you will promptly remove these obstacles, I shall carry this image of you to New Orleans where I promise to do all in my power to have you honored.”
Very soon after, Sister St. Michel was on a ship on her way to New Orleans. At that time, Mother St. Michel commissioned a statue to be carved in France. (Thus, the name “Our Lady of Prompt Succor”…“quick help.”) That beautiful, large, gold statue resides in the Shrine on State Street, but arrived at the Old Ursuline Convent on Chartres Street in the French Quarter on December 10, 1810.
Our Lady of Prompt Succor is the Patroness of Louisiana and enjoys a reputation of performing miraculous life saving intercessions for the residents of New Orleans…quick help to overcome losses from great fires, floods, disease and wars. For example, throughout the night of January 7–8, 1815, the residents of New Orleans and the Ursuline Sisters prayed that they would be spared loss of life in the Battle of New Orleans led by General Andrew Jackson against the formidable British Army. In spite of overwhelming odds including huge numbers of highly trained British soldiers, the Battle was won. General Jackson, publicly, and in a letter to the Sisters, acknowledged “heavenly intercession” in that victory. The Sisters welcomed the many injured British soldiers and nursed them back to health. (Jackson’s letter resides in the Ursuline Museum on State Street.
In years after the Battle, President Jackson’s trips to New Orleans always included visits to the Ursuline Convent.) Every year, since 1815, a solemn promise has been kept to honor Our Lady in a Mass of Thanksgiving on January 8 celebrated by the Archbishop of New Orleans in the National Shrine. This promise has been kept, without fail, for that many years, and is attended by many devotees from across the Nation.
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