The Catholic Patriotic Minute #27: Our Lady of Prompt Succor
Catholics For Catholics Special Edition | January 6th, 2025
Our Lady of Prompt Succor and the Battle of New Orleans
It was the War of 1812, and the British had just burned down Washington D.C. in August of 1814. Their eyes were set on New Orleans next. If the British would have taken New Orleans on January 8, 1815, then they would have split the United States in two and stopped the nation’s expansion to the west.
However, at the Battle of New Orleans, the United States prevailed. General Andrew Jackson emerged as a war hero from this battle, but gratitude for this victory is largely given to the Blessed Mother, under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor.
The Virgin Mary’s title–Our Lady of Prompt Succor–originates from an Ursuline nun, Mother St. Michel, in France. Because of the Reign of Terror in 1793-1794, she was required to flee her convent. Most of her religious sisters were executed at the guillotine or exiled.
After the French Revolution ended in 1799, Mother St. Michel began planning how to proceed in her vocation. The Ursuline Order is dedicated to the education of young women, and so she started to work out plans for a boarding school in Montpelier, until she received a letter from her cousin in America.
Mother St. André Madier asked for Mother St. Michel because there were only seven nuns at the Ursuline Convent of New Orleans. Founded in 1727, the convent served colonists, Indians, and African Americans at their boarding school, orphanage, and hospital. Louisiana was under the dominion of France until Spain took possession of it in 1763, when the Spanish began joining the Ursuline Order in New Orleans. When France took control of Louisiana again in 1800, sixteen Spanish Sisters left the Convent of New Orleans, leaving the French Sisters in shortage of help.
Mother St. Michel felt called to leave France for America. She asked Bishop Fournier, whose response was, “THE POPE ALONE CAN GIVE THIS AUTHORIZATION. . . THE POPE ALONE!”. His referral to the Pope was equivalent to a refusal, in large part due to the dire state of the Catholic Church in France after the Revolution.
The possibility of Mother St. Michel receiving authorization from Pope Pius VII would be nearly impossible. From 1809 to 1814, Napoleon held the Pope captive in Savona, Italy, after the Pope had excommunicated Napoleon. Communication with the Pope was not permitted. However, Mother St. Michel wrote a letter to Pope Pius VII on December 15, 1808, asking for his approval for her transfer to the Ursuline Convent of New Orleans. She could not find a way of sending the letter until March 19 of the following year.
One day, she prayed before a statue of the Blessed Mother, imploring, “O Most Holy Virgin Mary, if you obtain a PROMPT and FAVORABLE answer to my letter, I promise to have you honored in New Orleans under the title of OUR LADY OF PROMPT SUCCOR.”
Mother Mary answered Mother St. Michel’s prayer in full. She received the imprisoned Pope’s prompt answer in a letter, dated April 28, 1809. The letter read,
Madame, I am charged by Our Holy Father, Pope Pius VII, to answer in his name. His Holiness cannot do otherwise than approve of the esteem and attachment you have fostered for the Religious state, and the spirit of the Institute of St. Ursula you have maintained. The Holy Father experienced the greatest consolation on learning that a Monastery of so useful an Order as that of the Ursulines, and which has rendered such signal services to the Church, is established in Louisiana, and that piety, peace, and the most exact regularity reign therein. His Holiness approves of your placing yourself at the head of your religious aspirants, to serve as their guide during the long and difficult voyage you are about to undertake. . .
With the Pope’s favorable answer, Mother St. Michel commissioned a statue to be carved of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, and Bishop Fournier blessed it. Once she arrived in New Orleans on December 30, 1810, she ensured that the statue was placed in the Convent Chapel.
Devotion to Mary under this title grew and was intensified by two events, a fire and a battle. In 1812, a fire spread through New Orleans. It was heading towards the convent when Sr. Anthony put a statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, so that the Blessed Mother faced the fire. Mother St. Michel called for her, “Our Lady of Prompt Succor, we are lost, unless you hasten to our help.” Immediately after this prayer, the wind shifted, and the flames died down. Those praying in the convent exclaimed in thanksgiving, “Our Lady of Prompt Succor has saved us!”.
A few years later, General Andrew Jackson made his way to New Orleans after hearing word that the British were planning an attack. Once he arrived in January 1814, Jackson asked the people of New Orleans to leave, as he suspected the British might burn down the port city just as they torched the capitol city. The Ursuline Sisters refused to leave, however, and Jackson responded by requesting their prayers.
On the eve of the Battle of New Orleans, the sisters, relatives of Jackson’s soldiers, and residents united in prayer in the Convent Chapel, before Our Lady’s statue. On the morning of January 8, 1815, the Bishop of New Orleans offered Mass at the chapel, with Our Lady’s statue above the main altar. Here, the Ursuline Sisters vowed to ensure that a High Mass of Thanksgiving be celebrated on the anniversary of the battle, if Jackson and his men won.
During Communion, a courier announced that the Americans won the Battle of New Orleans. All considered this victory as a gift from Our Lady of Prompt Succor, especially considering that the odds were stacked against Jackson’s 5,700 men, who faced 8,000 British soldiers. There were 2,034 British casualties, a drastic number in comparison to the 71 American casualties. General Andrew Jackson visited the Ursuline Sisters afterwards, to show his gratitude for their prayers.
On September 27, 1851, Pope Pius IX authorized and blessed the feast of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, as well as the annual Thanksgiving Mass on January 8th. On June 21, 1894, Pope Leo XIII asserted in a decree, allowing for the “Solemn Coronation of the Miraculous Statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, exposed to the public veneration in the Chapel of the Ursuline Convent, New Orleans.” The National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor was consecrated on January 6, 1928. In June of the same year, the Vatican assigned Our Lady of Prompt Succor as the patroness of New Orleans and Louisiana. To this day every year, Mass is celebrated on January the 8th, the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans and the feast of Our Lady of Prompt Succor.
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