O Mother of Perpetual Help,
grant me ever to be able to call upon your powerful name,
since your name is the help of the living
and the salvation of the dying.
Ah, Mary most pure, Mary most sweet,
grant that your name from this day forth
may be to me the very breath of life.
Dear Lady, delay not to come to my assistance
whenever I call upon you;
for in all the temptations that assail me,
in all the necessities that befall me,
I will never leave off calling upon you,
ever repeating: Mary, Mary.
What comfort, what sweetness,
what confidence, what tenderness fills my soul
at the sound of your name,
at the very thought of you!
I give thanks to our Lord,
who for my sake has given you a name so sweet,
so lovable, so mighty.
But I am not content merely to speak your name;
I would utter it for very love of you;
it is my desire that love
should ever remind me to name you,
Mother of Perpetual Help.
The Columbans are a society of missionaries, including priests and lay people, who minister to people of various cultures as a way of witnessing to the universal love of God.