How the icon came to Rome — the tradition
The story told for five centuries about how the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help travelled from Crete to Rome, and why Mary asked to be called "Holy Mary of Perpetual Help".
22 October 2026 · 2 min read
Alongside the documented history of the icon there is an older story, told since at least the sixteenth century, about how it reached Rome. It is a tradition rather than proven history, but it has shaped how generations have prayed before the icon, and it gave the icon its name.
From Crete to Rome
The story begins on the island of Crete, then under Venetian rule. A merchant took the icon from a church on the island and set sail. At sea a violent storm broke out. The merchant clung to the icon and prayed, and the ship came safely through.
He brought the icon to Rome and kept it in the house of a friend. When he fell ill and was dying, he made his friend promise to place the icon in a church, where it could be honoured publicly.
A promise not kept
The friend's wife had grown fond of the beautiful picture and did not want to give it up, so the promise was not kept. According to the story, Our Lady appeared to the friend more than once, asking that the icon be given to a church, but nothing was done.
"Holy Mary of Perpetual Help"
Finally Mary appeared to the family's young daughter. She told the girl to tell her mother and grandfather that Holy Mary of Perpetual Help wished to be placed in a church — the church of St Matthew the Apostle, between the basilicas of St Mary Major and St John Lateran.
This time the mother obeyed. In 1499 the icon was carried to St Matthew's, where, as the documented history records, it was venerated for the next three hundred years.
Another tradition from Crete
On Crete itself the Keras Kardiotissas monastery has its own tradition: that the icon in Rome is one of its icons, taken from the monastery in the late fifteenth century. Historians have not been able to confirm either account in detail.
Why the story matters
Whatever happened on the road from Crete, the story says something the devotion has always believed: that Mary herself chose the name by which she wished to be called — Perpetual Help — and asked to be placed where people could come to her.