For many centuries, Muslim fleets seized Catholic ships and invaded Catholic lands and took away men, women and children into slavery. The Catholic population in many countries, especially in Italy, Spain and Portugal lived in constant fear of being carried off into slavery. France, Britain, Holland, Ireland, and even Iceland suffered similar attacks and some of their population were captured and sold in the Islamic slave market of North Africa and the Middle East.
It was perilous in the extreme to their eternal salvation for Catholics to live as slaves in Muslim society because of their grossly immoral customs. Women were in special danger because they were habitually sold into Muslim harems.
Novena to Our Lady of Good Remedy
But God did not leave His people unaided. He inspired several religious institutions to work towards the rescue of the Catholic slaves from their Muslim slave masters.
One of these was the Trinitarian Order, which was founded by Saint John Matha in 1198. This Order was founded to redeem Catholic slaves from the Islamic slave markets and to set them free.
However, only by raising large sums of money could the Trinitarians carry out their mission of buying back Catholic slaves. To be successful in raising such huge sums of money, they confided their fundraising efforts to the merciful protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
And She did not let them down. In fact, the Mother of God was so generous in answering their pleas for funds, that they called Her "Our Lady of Good Remedy."
And so, the Trinitarians were able to free many slaves from the bondage of slavery and, above all, to free them from the moral evils of sin that was prevalent in those decadent Muslim societies.
Today, we need Our Lady’s help more than ever in our personal lives, to resolve complicated personal situations and to find solutions for troubles we face in our families.
Above all, we need Our Lady of Remedy's powerful intercession to help us turn back the rising tide of radical Islamic Terrorism that is destabilizing the world. Our country and the world desperately need Our Lady’s powerful and unfailing help.
Novena to Our Lady of Good Remedy
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