More than 10,000 local Catholics visited and prayed before a revered image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that survived three months underwater during communist-French fighting nearly six decades ago.
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Image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help |
Maria Vu Thi Thu Hien, 20, looked pale and thin as she knelt on the floor before the image in a glass-covered frame at Redemptorist-run Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Ho Chi Minh City, 1,710 kilometers south of Ha Noi. Hien, who said she is three months pregnant after being raped, put her hands together and prayed, "May Mother bless me and my child." The young woman from the central province of Dac Lac said her mother died and her father remarried. The parish borrowed the image for 10 days from La Ma church, in Ben Tre province´s Giong Trom district, 115 kilometers away. Four Redemptorists and 300 lay Catholics including parish council and choir members went in six buses to La Ma on June 16 to bring the image back. The Redemptorists told UCA News they wanted to borrow the Marian image for display at their church during their traditional novena before the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, June 27. They said they hoped this would promote awareness of Marian devotion among local Catholics.
According to local Church records, French forces fought against communists in the area that La Ma parish covers. On Feb. 2, 1950, local Catholics fleeing the fighting brought along the 40-by-50-centimeter Marian image from the church. As they tried to escape the fighting, the image ended up in a stream. Three months later, on May 5, a follower of the indigenous Cao Dai religion who was fishing in the stream found the framed image, which had turned black. She gave it to a Catholic neighbor, who put it on his altar at home. On Oct. 7 that year, French soldiers and communists fought again in that area, and Catholics hid behind the altar. After the fighting ended, they saw the house had been damaged, but the framed Marian image was not harmed and reportedly had become clear. "Miracle! Miracle!" they shouted, beckoning their neighbors to come see the image. Bishop Pierre Ngo Dinh Thuc of Vinh Long, whose diocese covers Ben Tre province, has allowed Catholics to make pilgrimages to the La Ma church, where the image has been since 1952. As the Marian image arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, local Catholics marched in procession, carrying it from the nearby Redemptorist abbey to the church, where children danced and offered flowers to it. Thirty priests concelebrated the opening Mass, which thousands attended.
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Maria Vu Thi Thu Hien (extreme right) as she kneels on the floor before the Marian image. |
During the June 16-25 novena, between 10,000 and 20,000 Catholics including people from neighboring Dong Nai province visited, prayed, recited the rosary, went to confession and attended Masses, Father Vincent Pham Trung Thanh, Redemptorist provincial superior, told UCA News. They offered flowers, candles and incense to the image, and others tried to touch the image and then their heads and faces, and those of their children. Therese Nguyen Thi Linh, from St. Paul Parish in the city, told UCA News she urged her husband and children to attend Masses and pray before the image during the novena for "our daughter to overcome her marriage challenges." Linh, 54, said her son-in-law, who committed adultery, wants to divorce her daughter, even though she and others advised him not to do so. "We pray to Mother Mary, who can help change our son-in-law´s intention," she stated. Father Joseph Cao Dinh Tri, Redemptorist vice provincial superior, told local Catholics that during the novena, the Blessed Mother helps many people to have peace in mind and live a holy life. Many went to confession and prayed to Mary at the church, he added. Thousands of people bought Our Lady of Perpetual Help images from the Catholic bookstore in the compound of the church, he noted. On the morning of June 26, local Catholics returned the borrowed Marian image to La Ma church. END