St. Patrick’s Shrine Parish

A Brief History of Weekly Devotions at St. Patrick’s Shrine Parish
by Fr. Santo Arrigo, CSsR. 2016.

St. Patrick’s Shrine Church in Toronto, a Redemptorist parish, has been home to the weekly devotions to Our Mother of Perpetual Help since 1881 when the Redemptorists first arrived to assume the pastoral ministry of the Church by the invitation of Archbishop John Joseph Lynch of Toronto.

We read from the Annals of the Redemptorist community: December 4, 1881: “On this day, the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was solemnly blessed and carried in procession around the aisles of St. Patrick’s Church. A large concourse of people were present; indeed, many were obliged to go away, being unable to enter the Church.”

This was the beginning of the weekly devotions to Our Lady -- first every Saturday evening, then on Sunday. I should say, over the years, we Redemptorists, began to refer to Our Lady as Our Mother. Special Novenas and Triduums to mark Our Mother’s feast days became popular among the faithful in the city of Toronto. So much so, that in 1925, another service would be held on Wednesdays as well. December 11, 1929 saw the start of the continuous Novena on Wednesdays, with devotions, masses, rosary and opportunities for reconciliation being available throughout the day, much like it is today at St. Patrick’s.

Then, in 1941, a special ceremony was held to mark the 75th anniversary of the Enthronement of the Icon of our Mother of Perpetual Help in the Shrine at St. Alphonsus Church which is also the Redemptorist parish in Rome.

It was an entire year of special celebration.

Special novenas were celebrated in June for the Feast Day of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and in December for the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception. From June 13-22, Fr. Dan Ehman, a Redemptorist Priest, preached the Novena. Our annals record that there were 10 services each day during that week, and the faithful who gathered there numbered over 22,000.

That same year, Archbishop James McGuigan preached during the Novena on September 24, and congratulated the Redemptorists for their zeal in spreading devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help. He placed his diocese, the priests and all the faithful under her protection.

Over the next 50 years, St. Patrick’s Church continued to draw thousands each week for the Weekly Devotions. Novena Triduum celebrations would be conducted by guest preachers.

Cardinal McGuigan, Bishops Francis Allen and Francis Marrocco were among the guest preachers. Governor-General Georges Vanier, father of Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, was also a shrine visitor. Georges Vanier also had a devotion to some of our Redemptorist Saints and Blesseds such as Saint Alphonsus Ligouri and St. John Neumann.

As the devotions were being celebrated throughout Canada, St. Patrick’s in Toronto began to be known as the National Shrine because of its long history of devotions to Mary. And, as the Redemptorists went out into missions in places like Brazil, Philippines, Africa and India. Eastern Europe, Singapore, Japan and many remote places in Asia, they continued to introduce the Icon into the devotional life of the faithful, setting up Shrines and dedicated churches wherever they went.

We often say that while the Redemptorists went everywhere in the world bringing the Icon of Our Mother with them, here at St. Patrick’s, the world has come to us.

St. Patrick’s today is the spiritual home to many cultures and ethnicities coming to us over the century. Pilgrims have come to Toronto to find not only a new life, but also to seek out the shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help at St. Patrick’s in order to continue their devotions from their lives in their home country.

In 2004, the Shrine was restored to its present design, along with the restoration of the entire Church. The beauty and simplicity of the Church now continues to draw pilgrims each week to our 6 Masses dedicated to Our Mother of Perpetual Help and to the activity of parish life and outreach to the community at large.

Following in true Redemptorist tradition, St. Patrick’s Shrine Church is a place of compassion and mercy…… a ministry of presence and hospitality.

Redemptorists have always been known to be “close to the people” as St. John Paul II reminded us during one of our audiences with him.

We inherited that tradition from our founder, St. Alphonsus Liguori who had a great devotion to Mary himself, but taught us Redemptorists about the gift of the human person, and how we are called to proclaim “the good news of plentiful redemption”…. This is God’s gift to us…… This is the same gift that Mary draws us toward; her son Jesus.

We give thanks to God for our Shrine to Our Mother of Perpetual Help and we thank God for the millions upon millions of pilgrims who have found in St. Patrick’s a place of prayer, of meditation and devotion each week for over 135 years. We are a Shrine for the people, established on the prayers and confidence in Our Mother’s intercession and companionship in their life.