Social Compass, XXXIII/1, 1986, 65-74

Thérèse DEVALLÉE

Devotion to the Virgin Mary in Sri Lanka:

Letters to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour

A partir de lettres dédiées à Notre-Dame du Perpétuel Secours

dans une paroisse de Colombo, l’auteur de cet article étudie les
caractéristiques sociales, économiques et politiques des pratiquants
de la devotion. Ceux-ci appartiennent à une classe moyenne urbaine,
dans une société en transition vers le mode de production capita-
liste. Dans une première partie, l’analyse factorielle permet de
découvrir les divers modèles culturels véhiculés au sein de ce groupe
social. Ensuite, en recourant à une démarche de type structural,
l’auteur dévoile l’idéologie sous-jacente au discours, afin de cer-
ner le type de représentations religieuses d’où pourraient émerger
les grands pôles d’une mentalité

1. Introduction
Our study is based on two hundred hand-written letters, in English, sent
to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. These letters, collected in a parish of Colom-
bo in Sri Lanka, bear witness to a devotion which is still alive in the heart of
a population only recently converted to Christianity and its customs.
The devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour is practiced in the Our
Lady of Fatima Parish in Colombo. Every Wednesday, believers from all over
the town leave their letters at the foot of a painting of the Virgin. Some of
these letters are read out during Mass by the celebrant, as a purpose of prayer.
The sample available for analysis includes a certain number of letters collected
during the weeks prior to and following August 15th, the Feast of the Assump-
tion of the Virgin. It is important to point this out, because it could partly
explain the extent and density of the movement. The devotion dates back to
the nineteenth century, when the Redemptionist Fathers introduced it in Colom-
bo and in other parts of the globe. To begin with, it fell within the period of
British Colonization, following the Portuguese evangelization of the sixteenth
century.
Two obvious characteristics of the letter-writers can already be inferred
from this context. The first is their Christian and Catholic denomination,
through which they form part of the 6.9% of Ceylanese who make up the Is-
land’s Catholic minority. The second characteristic which can be attributed to
them is Westernization, the first sign of which being the correct and everyday
use of English (even if all do not master it to the same extent). Some aspects
of the content of the letters are also revealing in this respect: school situations

65
to be improved, certain diplomas to be obtained, the desire to emigrate to Great
Britain, certain professional situations in which both employees and employ-
ers are to be found... And finally, in the background, the urban nature of this
population can be discerned.
study, we have used the factorial analysis method.
In the first part of this
This is amathematical method which enables one to discern the underlying
logics articulating the opinions voiced by a group of people, when these opin-
ions constitute a coherent model of representations. In the case we are con-
cerned with, it has enabled us to discern the logics underlying the requests (or
thanks) formulated in the letters. By pinpointing the various &dquo;cultural models&dquo;
conveyed in the letters, we have been able to establish the various socio-economic
characteristics of the population involved.
The second part of the study has a different objective. Using the prayers,
we set out to define a type of religious representations from which the major
poles of a mentality could emerge. What directed us was not a classification
in terms of structures and social classes, but rather the desire to understand,
through a language, the inner workings of a thought. In order to do this, we
chose to work using a structural method. We have used Jules Gritti’s frame
of analysis, and more particularly, the «Qualifying Landscape».

2. Study of Cultural Models

We have managed to list ten significant cultural models, which combine
several types of indicators: objects of prayer, the beneficiaries of prayers and
the personal states expressed, and also peoples’ representations of the Virgin.
We then tried to carry out a classification within these models, in order to see
whether they came under the public or private sphere, and within the latter,
the material or affective field. From this grouping together, it emerges that
the majority of models and prayers to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour are orient-
ed towards a material improvement in living conditions (in the broad sense)
on the private, individual or family level.

2.1. Models in the Private Sphere

The model most frequently encountered lies in the affective field, where
it expresses difficulties in family life, and more particularly on the couple lev-
el. It seems to correspond to a lack of stability in the couple: the family model
seems threatened. This kind of destructuring can be explained by several fac-
tors, the main ones being the move from the village to the town, and from
the broader family to the nuclear family. The middle classes are a recent
phenomenon and the process of social change has taken place rapidly. In the
town, the family model is changing: traditionally rural populations are uprooted
and moved into an urban milieu in transition to capitalism. With the change
in scale it undergoes (being reduced in size, closed in on itself in an anony-
mous town) the family loses the determining role it once played, without being
able to adapt itself to its current situation. The patriarchal or matriarchal fa-
mily as it existed in traditional society (centred on the village) has disappeared.
It has been replaced in the town by smaller, closed, anonymous units. The fa-
mily changes from being a polyvalent institution to being a group restricted
to family life, and thus loses its ancestral functions. These functions are in turn
replaced by specific institutions, such as the school for example. Families can
appreciate all the dangers which threaten them, but are unable to analyse them.
66
The only course left open to them returns them to the old system of requests
peculiar to traditional societies, in an attempt to solve the new problems caused
by the transition to the capitalist mode of production. Through prayers, peo-
ple appeal to a supernatural person to find a solution to the problems they
encounter in their everyday lives.
A second very important model also tells us, though on another level, about
the threat hanging over the traditional family (indeed even its destruction) as
a result of its transposition to the town. Love and mariage (i.e. meeting some-
one) are a matter of chance over which people have no control, above all when
they move from the closed and structured world of the traditional village and
family to the vague universe of the town. In the village context, belonging to
the group was very important. It was the very basis of both material and social
life. It is on this background that we can understand that mariage was governed
by clearly defined rules. The dominance of the kinship system in the mode of
social organization no longer needs to be established: matrimonial exchanges
were governed by rituals instituted within the group and left little room for
feelings. In particular, one’s spouse was chosen by one’s parents. Nowadays,
mariage no longer obeys these collective rules. In theory, only feelings and love
are the «decision-makers». Exchanges no longer take place on the level of
reduced spheres. Instead, the range of possibilities, where the choice of spouse
is concerned, has widened very considerably. «Emancipation» from the group
has been accentuated by the isolated and anonymous way of life in the town.
Furthermore, work and the professional environment play a significant part
in this middle class. Atomized individuals try to control their social, profes-
sional and affective universe in a traditional way, in a symbolic field in which
they await outside divine help. Even if this appeal does not enable them to solve
their problems, does it not at least help them to face them? It thus brings psy-
chological relief by giving a certain «illusion» of a solution.
The third model described in this study sums up by itself the whole prac-
tice we are trying to analyse here. In it, religion is viewed as an &dquo;avenue&dquo; to
an improvement in one’s material situation, above all on the limited level of
the couple. In these religious devotions the middle class looks for (and finds?)
an answer to the diffuse worries generated by the social transformations to which
it is subjected. Experiencing difficulties in dominating its social and material
universe rationally and scientifically, this group, which is not marginalized eco-
nomically, turns to the symbollic (and religious) field in the hope of improving
its living conditions and solving its problems.
The next cultural model expresses a respect for and trust in the Virgin.
Those who practice the devotion speak to her as to a mother who protects her
children, who loves them and knows what is good for them. The request for
protection basically concerns the momentary separation of members of a fa-
mily, during a long trip abroad for example, often by plane. Some elements
of the modern world do not yet seem completely assimilated and the Virgin
is called on to protect the family from dangers encountered during these (often
new and unknown) trips. It is not surprising that this request for protection
goes hand in hand with a prayer for the children to succeed at school and, to
a lesser extent, with a clearly expressed state of anxiety. In the third world,
academic (and social) success often necessitates doing part of one’s studies
abroad, in well-known universities and, in Sri Lanka at any rate, according

67
to the western model (often in Great Britain, the old colonizing country whose
model has been reproduced in Sri Lanka). Members of the middle class are
very much concerned with their own, or their close relatives’, social ascendan-
cy. The means available to the population to achieve this aim are not always
reliable or, quite simply, do not exist. This is why these people make their re-
quests to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, using the traditional system of re-
quests to a «deified» person.
Focusing, even unconsciously, their prayer and thought structure on the
expression of a personal state of confidence, humility and respect for the Vir-
gin, (people admit to being sinners or trusting), people who express this logic
make very realistic and precise requests: where the family sphere is concerned
(here the beneficiaries are one’s parents and one’s children) the object of pray-
er is not affective in nature, but material, in that it corresponds to a deep desire
to emigrate. The countries considered are basically Great Britain and Austra-
lia, and the objective is to (re)start a new life there, which would be materially
and sometimes socially successful. In general, we encounter here the same desire
for economic and social advancement as that already discussed (particularly
where the previous model was concerned). The foreign land is seen as the place
offering a (last) chance and a happy future, after some professional, financial
and sentimental setbacks suffered in Sri Lanka. Depending on the case, what
is being considered may be a whole family’s more or less definitive departure
into the unknown, or else going to join relatives or again, leaving as a &dquo;pion-
neer&dquo;, until the rest of the family can make the trip too (unless an improve-
ment in the financial situation permits a return to the Island). There is no lack
of financial and administrative hurdles, and sometimes these might well
jeopardize the journey. It is in order to solve these problems and to get protec-
tion during the venture that people appeal to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.
Finally, the people who express the last logic seem to be looking for a so-
lution to problems of controlling random phenomena whether natural (health)
or social (studies). In his relationship to nature, man sticks to an analogical
type of thought. He has neither control nor scientific knowledge of nature and
its mechanisms. This relationship remains very much subjected to the indeter-
minate. Faced with this situation, he must find defences: when he cannot find
them in reality (the appropriate medical science for example) he tries to find
them in an appeal to supernatural forces. He turns towards the only field which
seems to him likely to contain a valid answer to his problem: the symbolic field.
Where studies are concerned, the random remains ever-present (success or
failure in exams for example). Education is one of the most sought after avenues
for social ascendancy in Third World societies. It is very important to be able
to get access to it and to be successful in the studies embarked upon. These
studies, which can be done abroad, often lead straight to the key posts in the
country’s civil service or in various firms.
2.2. Models in the Public Sphere
In contrast with the previous models, which are basically focused on the
family or on increasingly smaller units, this model expresses the move from
local political units to the Nation, the State and even the World. The middle
classes find themselves in an urban milieu in which there is very strong compe-
tition and tremendous instability. The main avenues for social mobility are,
in addition to religion and education, the State and the professional milieu.

68
The life of this social group is strongly centred around the &dquo;myth of the bridge&dquo;:
the fear of proletarianization from below and the lure of higher positions in-
cite people to become bourgeois through the ascendancy of the best and the
most able. But the importance of the uncertain is such that in a modern world,
people ask the Virgin for social ascendancy: they have little control over the
means of access.
In the next cultural model the strongest correlations combine indicators
from the political-social field and thus the public sphere, although two other
types of beneficiaries (oneself and one’s relations) are also involved, though
to a lesser extent. One turns to the Virgin in the hope of obtaining an improve-
ment in the political situation for one’s friends and society as a whole, and
even for oneself and one’s own family in the broad sense. The political situa-
tion in the country is thus something which concerns everyone, the whole na-
tion (more or less directly, depending on the case). It affects all groups of men,
from the macro- to the microsociety, from wider to narrower, more personal,
circles. Even though politics concerns everyone, it is not however within every
citizen’s reach. Power is restricted to an elite which decides alone. Individuals
can exercise no control and political parties increasingly lock themselves away
in an untouchable bureaucracy, on a far wider scale than that of the tradition-
al village. In addition, there is much turmoil in the country (political, social
and racial struggles, riots). What drives Christians in Colombo to make such
requests to the Virgin is their vulnerability and political impotence. Today, the
only people capable of improving the political situation are the &dquo;specialists&dquo;,
the politicians, whereas previously this role was reserved for another category
of specialists, directly in touch with the divinities. The invocation to Our Lady
of Perpetual Succour, to the benefit of the whole nation, is today performed
in this traditional way.
2.3. More general models at the intersection between the private and the pub-
lic sphere
The first model of this type displays all the features of an economic or
even commercial transaction. It focuses on how the letter-writers portray them-
selves to the Virgin. By describing themselves as «clients» (and what is more,
worried and unlucky) in the relationship, they expect help from the Virgin in
the form of a «transaction». This model might seem logical. The description
of oneself and the things asked for (economic and social relations and materi-
al living conditions) form a coherent whole. One could infer from all this that
a certain dependence on the Virgin might increase the relationship this devo-
tion has with other practices proper to traditional social formations, which fea-
ture &dquo;supernatural&dquo; and &dquo;superhuman&dquo; beings.
Finally, in the last model, which is the most weakly expressed, people seem
to extend their concerns to their group of friends and thus move away from
the strictly nuclear family. To a certain extent they go back to the traditional
networks of relations: neither completely closed nor completely open to the
world at large, they stay within the limits of &dquo;average&dquo; relations between neigh-
bours and acquaintances. The request for general protection is very vague and
can encompass all the situations previously described. In this context, super-
natural support offers overall psychological security and appeasement to a group
of people who feel socially and physically vulnerable.

69
3. Study of the Qualifying landscape
In addition to its standard meaning, all writing includes an ideological zone
which it owes to the very constraints of the language used. Language is never
a mere tool which exactly reflects the thought and intentions of the person
expressing himself. Unconsciously, cultural presuppositions are at work in a
text, in a story. More real than the ideology intended by the author, these pre-
suppositions betray him and bind him to modes of expression common to the
social group to which he belongs.
The Colombo devotion is no exception to this rule and we can infer the
underlying ideology by studying the letters’ structure and mode of expression.
Originally designed for analyzing press articles, Jules Gritti’s frame can aptly
be applied to all types of written text, whether long or short. The different
aims behind it consist in studying the communicatability of a text (by iden-
tifying the speaker’s presence in the message), its ideological background (by
identifying all kinds of connotations), the protagonists’ cultural position and
also the narrativity codes used (study the unfolding of the story). In order to
do this, six fields of investigation are proposed, without it being necessary to
study them together: the presupposed culture, communication relations, the
terms compared or key oppositions, the qualifying landscape, the forms of
deployment, the ideologically marked places.
In the case we are concerned with, it is the analysis of the qualifying lands-
cape which enables us to identify the linguistic mechanism and also the ideo-
logy and cultural presuppositions. This procedure consists in identifying the
terms intended to appreciate or depreciate, whether adjectives, nouns or pre-
positions, and then, after listing them, in classifying them according to cate-
gories of oppositions. It is important to take these terms
(appreciative/depreciative) by themselves without bothering about the object
they qualify. At a later stage, they must be put into different spheres or regis-
ters (Marvellous, Biological, Inspired by passion, Rational) articulated around
a central sphere (Almightiness of the Virgin and Weakness of Man), in a mea-
ningful system. Finally, the search for archetypes of the divine and of the human
continues the analysis using the same technique. It involves going back to the
central register around which the whole model was articulated and dividing
the terms in it up again into four spheres which are as suited as possible to
the vocabulary to be classified (for the archetype of the divine, we find regis-
ters of interiority, exteriority, mediation and direct action; the archetype of
the human includes registers of saintliness, sin, dynamism and apathy).
The study of the qualifiers used in the devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual
Succour enables us to clearly define the divine pole, chiefly represented by the
Virgin, and the human pole. In this way we therefore have two reversed ima-
ges which echo or complement oneanother in two ways. Firstly, as regards the
sign, whether negative or positive, given to the qualifiers and secondly, as
regards the underlying meaning of the expressions identified.
3.1. The Divine Landscape
A radiant, clear and luminous Virgin, described in positive terms is con-
trasted with the blackness and sadness of man, described in very negative terms.
The interesting thing is that the image men have of the Virgin includes, as it
were, all they feel lacking in. Firstly, they are sinners, in contrast with a Virgin

70
who is pure and full of kindness. Secondly, they are earthly, limited beings,
who are not always in good health, in contrast with a heavenly, marvellous
and infinite person. And finally, their great need for protection is fulfilled by
Mary’s power. What the archtypes teach us is along the same lines. A media-
ting and active Virgin &dquo;complements&dquo; discouraged and demoralized man. A
noble-hearted, good and unassuming woman contrasts with sinning man, whose
good deeds are rarer than his negligence or sins. As we can see, these few ele-
ments allow an impressive Manicheism to filter through. The Virgin and Hea-
ven represent Good; Man and Earth embody Evil. In our study, everything
concurs to back up this hypothesis. Putting themselves constantly in a posi-
tion of inferiority, in a situation of guilt, the letter-writers do not cease singing
the praises of a Virgin who is superior in goodness and virtue and who has
total power over men’s hearts. As these constant oppositions between Good
and Evil are to be found right throught the qualifying landscape and the archety-
pes, we can see what &dquo;line&dquo; Sri Lankan Christians adopt, where such a view
of the world comes from and what conclusions follow from it.
In this connection, a rather peculiar fact springs to mind. The qualifiers
of the Virgin sometimes sound like &dquo;litanies&dquo;, whereas the terms which des-
cribe men make one think, especially where sin is concerned, of the main «deadly
sins». The phrases in the Litanies of the Missal and the Antiphons can be divi-
ded into five groups. They describe the Virgin Mary as a &dquo;Saint&dquo;, &dquo;Mother&dquo;,
&dquo;Virgin&dquo;, &dquo;Queen&dquo;, or use a word denoting an object or a situation (&dquo;throne&dquo;,
&dquo;mirror&dquo;,> &dquo;vase&dquo; > &dquo;rose&dquo; &dquo;tower&dquo;,&dquo;house&dquo;,&dquo;arch&dquo;,&dquo;door&dquo;,&dquo;star&dquo;,&dquo;sal-
vation&dquo;, &dquo;refuge&dquo;, &dquo;comforter&dquo;, &dquo;succour&dquo;, &dquo;root&dquo;). The first four types
of qualifier are often found in the letters. From time to time the more specific
terms used in the litanies are also found in the devotion to Our Lady of Perpe-
tual Succour: &dquo;star&dquo;, &dquo;salvation&dquo;, &dquo;refuge&dquo;, &dquo;comforter&dquo;, &dquo;succour&dquo;. The
most precious expressions such as &dquo;throne&dquo;, &dquo;mirror&dquo;, &dquo;vase&dquo;, &dquo;rose&dquo;,
&dquo;tower&dquo;, &dquo;house&dquo;, &dquo;arch&dquo;, &dquo;door&dquo;, &dquo;root&dquo;, are not found at all though.
Of course, these terms give only a first impression of the litanies as a whole.
We must add to them the qualities attributed in each case to the Virgin. Here
we find ourselves back on ground familiar to us from the qualifying landscape
contained in the letters: &dquo;Mother of God&dquo;, &dquo;Mother of Christ&dquo;, &dquo;Mother of
the Creator&dquo;, &dquo;Mother of the Saviour&dquo;, &dquo;Divine Grace&dquo;, &dquo;Purity&dquo;, &dquo;Virgi-
nity&dquo;, &dquo;nice&dquo;, &dquo;a good counsellor&dquo;, &dquo;worthy of praise and honour&dquo;, &dquo;lenient&dquo;,
&dquo;faithful&dquo;, &dquo;justice&dquo;, &dquo;wisdom&dquo;, &dquo;joy&dquo;, &dquo;devotion&dquo;, &dquo;heavenly&dquo;, &dquo;refuge
of sinners&dquo;, &dquo;comforter of the afflicted&dquo;, &dquo;peace&dquo;... Most of these terms are
found in the letters, admittedly in a different order or in different combina-
tions, but that is only of minor importance. We can therefore say that the devo-
tion as a whole, as it appears in the collection of letters, resembles a huge litany
in honour of the Virgin. Adapted and highly simplified, it seems to have the
same roots, the same foundation as the official litanies recognized by the
Church. In this connection, we should also mention that one letter (which may
be no more than an exception) quotes whole phrases from the official prayer
to Mary, the &dquo;Hail Mary&dquo;. It all looks as if the faithful in Colombo have inter-
nalized a whole series of notions - the most simple and the most &dquo;classic&dquo; -
belonging to the heritage of the Catholic Church. At any rate, we find few
personal or original elements in the letters. These featuires seem to convey a
kind of traditionalism, since a practice such as the litanies is today tending to

71
die out among the current generation of Christians. Only a minority of elderly
people still seem to use such prayers.
3.2. The Human Landscape
We can proceed in the same way with the vision of Man expressed in the
prayers to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. To do this, we just need to com-
pare the faults detected in the study of the human qualifying landscape and
the human archetype with the list of sins proposed by the Church. There are
ten categories of sin in the Missal: sins against faith, hope, Charity towards
God, Charity towards one’s neighbour, the virtue of prudence, the virtue of
justice, the virtue of religion, the other virtues connected with justice, the vir-
tue of strength, the virtue of temperance. If we turn to the faults «confessed
to» in the letters, we observe that they do not cover all these categories. They
only fall into six of them. The only types of sin never encountered in the letters
are those against faith, hope, Charity towards God and the virtue of religion.
Does this mean that from this point of view the faithful of Colombo are exem-
plary Christians? We do not think so. On the contrary, this discovery is fun-
damental, as it means that all the faults acknowledged as such or, at any rate,
all those the faithful openly admit to, are, when all is said and done, part of
a kind of secular moral code. Using the classification of the Missal, we have
identified sins against Charity towards one’s neighbour (e.g. harbouring hos-
tile feeling about one’s neighbour and showing them outwardly), against the
virtue of prudence (e.g. trying to achieve one’s ends through cunning, and in
a roundabout way), against the virtue of justice (e.g. insulting one’s neighbour,
slandering him and speaking ill of him), against the other virtues connected
with justice (e.g. disobeying those who have legitimate authority - one’s parents
for example -, sinning through ungratefulness), against the virtue of strength
(e.g. sinning through laziness), against the virtue of temperance (e.g. letting
oneself be carried away by unjustified or immoderate anger, sinning through
pride). In the letters we find no sin which is &dquo;specifically religious&dquo; or which
involves a failing where faith is concerned. All the faults mentioned are inade-
quacies with respect to others or oneself. However, what distinguishes Chris-
tianity from plain natural morals, from this point of view, is its openness to
a transcendent being, an openness which shatters temporal data by orienting
them towards a supreme cause. This aspect is not found in the letters though.
Or rather, in them God appears as a harsh and powerful judge who, annoyed
by human faults, could explode with anger and inflict a terrible punishment
on men.

4. Conclusions
In the comparison with both the litanies of the Virgin and the list of deadly
sins, we can detect in Christian circles in Colombo (at least, in a group of belie-
vers) a traditional and fairly backward, undeveloped way of thinking, very like
the ideas expressed over here during the last century. This phenomenon can
be explained by the weight of the evangelization which accompanied the English
colonization in the nineteenth century. The missionaries (whose good faith and
honesty we are not challenging here) put all their strength and fervour into evan-
gelizing new and foreign peoples. The soundest and simplest method was to
copy the existing Christian model and transpose it directly to Ceylon. This is
what happened in most cases. New ideas, which were often quite unrelated to
72
the modes of thought in the colonized country, were superposed, with no pre-
vious foundation and without being adapted, on a population of quite recent
converts. We should not forget that, prior to Portuguese colonization in the
sixteenth century, most of the Island was Buddhist. Since then, religious ideas
have barely evolved. At any rate, they do not seem to have followed the gene-
ral movement which has been taking shape in the Church over the last few years
and in particular since the Second Vatican Council.
All that we can say on this matter is that the Christian community in Sri
Lanka still seems to have close links with the socio-political group of the area.
For the moral code we discussed earlier on, after describing the sins mentio-
ned in the letters, closely resembles a code of principles dictated by social and
cultural pressures. This can easily be explained, if one acknowledges that reli-
gious history is generally divided into two main periods. In the first, the reli-
gious group and the social group merge, while in the second, they are distinct
from oneanother and the religious group begins to claim a universal vocation.
In the first period, the natural social group is unified by essentially religious
themes. For a long time, many peoples, tribes and nations tried to find their
unity in religion (primitive religions for example). In them social unity can hardly
be distinguished from religious unity, and political authority from religious
authority. On the contrary, the two are often closely mingled. With Christia-
nity, religion achieves a degree of universality through which political aware-
ness (and in many cases national awareness) is no longer determined in religious
terms. The separation of the religious and the political is apparent on both the
level of the agents and on that of functions. But it is difficult to get beyond
the political field in this way: the religious field is never completely &dquo;free&dquo; from
political influences. In many cases values are overturned and at times this risks
giving primacy to the political and in some way subjecting the religious to it.
This is the case, in particular, with English colonization in Ceylon. Whereas
in addition to the real socio-political objectives, Portuguese colonization gave
itself the &dquo;religious mission&dquo; of developing preaching and spreading the Catholic
faith, British colonization aimed in part at establishing colonial political power
in the Island better by allying to the latter part of the local population (elites,
upper classes, middle classes). The Christian population on the Island is thus
still very dependent on the clergy and consequently linked to the political-
economic power. Without questioning the foundation or the value of this
group’s beliefs, we can say that one of its main characteristics is its considera-
ble closeness to the religious institution. Supporting an &dquo;official&dquo; faith, the
faithful develop fairly elementary ideas about Mary, God and the world about
them. Should this lead us to regard this faith as what Bergson calls a &dquo;static
religion&dquo;, based on a morality of obligation and pressure, linked to the group’s
idiosyncracies and its survival? This conception would then contrast with a
&dquo;dynamic&dquo; conception of religion, whose morality of aspiration is the keys-
tone in an appeal to the universal sense of the human. In actual fact, the ele-
ment of ritual and convention which sustains this devotion stands out at the
first reading of the phenomenon; however, the analysis of the archetypes has
had the effect of revealing a dynamic facet peculiar to the letters sent to Our
Lady of Perpetual Succour, viz. the mediating role attributed to the Virgin Mary
as it has always been by Christian tradition. The Catholic Church has always
felt the need to put intercessors or intermediaries between itself and God the
Creator. Regarded as the perfect embodiment of the Christian message, while

73
at the same time sharing the human condition, they constitute models to be
followed and mediators capable of guiding men towards salvation. Even if the
real mediation takes place in Jesus Christ, it is nevertheless Mary, his mother,
who is considered by the faithful to be the favoured being who can exercise
mysterious power over her son’s heart, and through him, on God himself.
Because not only is she the mother of the Saviour, but also she has experien-
ced the condition of ordinary people with all that can mean in the way of suf-
fering.
The Virgin’s interiority and retiring manner also play a major part. The
kindness and gentleness attributed to her arouse trust and facilitate her role
of mediator. Gentle and sensitive, she has nevertheless exercised true autho-
rity over Christ, first when he was a child and then when he was an adult. She
played a part in his coming, in his first miracle and finally, was present at his
death with all her compassion. The believers think that the outcome of their
request for intercession depends on the mediator’s merit. From this point of
view, Mary’s mediation is that of a mother beseaching her almighty son for
the benefit of her other needy children. The object of men’s requests, which
is often material, concrete and not as spiritual as one would like to think, might
sometimes shock certain people who would not hesitate to call such a proce-
dure childish, barbaric or even pagan. Indeed, this study has confirmed that
the help requested form Our Lady of Perpetual Succour was often temporal
(curing of illnesses, financial worries, all kinds of catastrophies, moral or social
issues, human weaknesses and wickedness...). But is it not precisely in these
small everyday matters that a mother can help her child?

74