Homage and Veneration to Mary in New Orleans (I)

In 1803, the boarding school and orphanage in a New Orleans convent founded by French Ursuline nuns was short on teachers… The Mother Superior requested reinforcements in the form of more sisters from France. Mother Saint Michael, a woman of rare ability and a teacher crowned with success, was running a Catholic boarding school for girls. Although the bishop declined to send any sisters, Mother Saint Michael was given permission to appeal to the pope. The pope was a prisoner of Napoleon, and it seemed unlikely he would even receive her letter of petition. So Mother Saint Michael prayed, “O most Holy Virgin Mary, if you obtain for me a prompt and favorable answer to this letter, I promise to have you honored at New Orleans under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor.” She sent her letter on March 19, 1809, and against all odds, received a response on April 29, 1809. The pope granted her request, and Mother Saint Michael commissioned a statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor holding the Christ Child. Her bishop blessed the statue and the nun’s work.