Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church at 32615 Bowie St. PO Box 249., White Castle, LA 70788-0249 US - History of Our Patron

OUR LADY OF PROMPT SUCCOR AND NEW ORLEANS History books do not record Mary's role in protecting New Orleans in the battle fought there in 1815. For Catholics of the city, however, it is a well-remembered fact; and yearly on January 8, the anniversary of what is called the Battle of New Orleans, a Mass of Thanksgiving is offered. The War of 1812 was over, the treaty of peace having been signed on December 24, 1814, by the British and American commissioners, but word had not yet reached America. The plan of the British army was to win the Mississippi Valley, and their force of nearly 10,000 was advancing toward New Orleans. General Andrew Jackson, who had been fighting in Alabama, rushed to the defense of the city. With cotton bales for fortifications, the greatly outnumbered, untrained Americans awaited the British. Meanwhile, on the eve of the battle, the women of the city fled to the Ursuline Convent chapel, where, with the nuns, they spent the night in prayer before the statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. There was great fear the Jackson's brave little band would be defeated and the city destroyed. (Rumor was that General Jackson would set fire to the city rather than let the British capture it.) The nuns, through their superior, promised to have a Mass offered annually on January 8th in Thanksgiving for Our Lady's intercession. On the morning of January 8th, the Vicar-General celebrated Mass on the main altar, above which the statue had been placed. Before the end of Mass, a messenger arrived to announce the end of the battle and the defeat of the British. The Battle had lasted less than twenty minutes! In the annals of the Ursulines, we read that General Jackson went in person to the convent to thank the nuns for their prayers. (It is interesting to recall that aftyer this victory the career of Andrew Jackson, hailed as hero of New Orleans, soared. He served as governor of Florida, United States Senator, and then in 1829 became our seventh President.) According to the Ursulines, this was the second time that Our Lady of Prompt Succor had interceded for New Orleans. In 1812, when a fire was ravaging the city, and the wind was driving the flames toward the Ursuline Convent and the nearby buildings, one of the sisters, before fleeing from the cloister, placed a small statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor on a window sill facing the fire. At the same time, another sister prayed aloud: "Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to our help or we are lost." Scarcely had she uttered the last word when the wind changed direction and the convent and environs were saved. Witnesses attested to this fact. The Ursulines had come to New Orleans in 1727 under the auspices of King Louis XV of France to teach the children of the colonists and to nurse the sick in a hospital. The statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor was brought from France by one of the sisters. In fact, it was this holy nun, Mother St. Michel, who had given Mary this title when she had received a speedy answer to her prayers. Before coming to New Orleans, she had the special statue made, and she promised Our Lady to have her honored in New Orleans under that title. Pope Pius V authorized the celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Prompt Succor as well as the singing of the yearly Mass of Thanksgiving on January 8th. In 1894, Pope Leo XIII issued a decree granting the "Solemn Coronation of the Miraculous Statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, exposed to public veneration in the chapel of the Ursuline Convent, New Orleans." With the approval of the Holy See, the bishops of the diocese of Louisiana, in June 1928, chose Our Lady of Prompt Succor as the patroness of the city of New Orleans and of the state of Louisiana and designated January 15th as the patronal feast. The statue is venerated in the National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, 2635 State Street, New Orleans 70118, where countless favors have been reported.

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