The Holy Helpers

The help of the saints in special emergencies

The fourteen emergency helpers have been called to as patron saints since the Middle Ages (around 1400). The Prayer is directed vicariously to God himself. Trusting in God's help and through the support of the saints, they give comfort and hope. One can also go deeper and find help from the lives of the saints themselves by reflecting on how they themselves dealt with these situations. To do this, you have to study the lives of the saints a little, delve into their life stories and understand the psychological components. Understanding the psychological depth dimension opens up access for modern people to an ancient practice of faith.

Verse of the 14 helpers in need on a prayer tablet from the baroque period in Memmingen: 

S. Blasius - offers intercession because of a sore throat 

S. Georgius - to be invoked in danger of war 

S. Erasimus - for intestines and body pains 

S. Vitus - a great friend of children's hearts 

S. Pantaleon - patron saint of doctors, powerful with God 

S. Christoph - for hagl and weather he protects powerfully 

S. Dionysus - in main pain is called to 

S. Cyriacus - can help those who are possessed by the devil 

S. Achatius - he nimbly helps the Christian warriors 

S. Eustachius - averts sorrow in marriage 

S. Aegidius - helps to recognise secret sins 

S. Margaretha - where devil's guile finds an entrance 

S. Katharina - when wisdom is lacking in study 

S. Barbara - in death the sacrament is attained

In the Ancient Celtic Church we commemorate the holy helpers in the circle of the year and thus keep alive the tradition and the wisdom for which these saints stand.

Prayer to the Holy Fourteen Helpers in Need

(Source: Basilica & Place of Pilgrimage Vierzehnheiligen)

You holy helpers in need, you faithful followers of Christ, who for the salvation of all people took upon himself the fear of death, pain, suffering and death, we ask you to intercede for the hardships that assail us:

Ye Saints Dionysius, Blasius, and Erasmus: to you we especially commend those who suffer bodily pain, the sick, the wounded, the tortured, and the crucified. Christ, the Man of Sorrows, grant them relief and willingness to share his redemptive suffering of death for this time.

Saints George, Pantaleon and Vitus, to you we commend those stricken with incurable disease - Christ grant them the strength to bear their cross and bear witness to life everlasting.

Saint Christopher, through your intercession, God save us from accident and sudden death.

We also bear before you the terrible spiritual distress and pray especially to St. Eustace, St. Aegidius, St. Catherine and St. Margaret for all those whose lives seem hopelessly entangled, for all those who cannot bring the right word of confession, consolation and forgiveness to their lips, for those who in the distress of their guilt cannot find the way to repentance, for mothers who fearfully face a difficult birth: May the Lord of all life release their guilt and entanglement and bring everything to a good end. We especially bear before you the distress of death.

St. Achatius, St. Cyriakus and St. Barbara, pray to the Lord, who knows the heart of every human being, to protect us from fear at the hour of our death and to lead us home happily to eternal joy.

Amen.

Lord,

you know that many people worry from morning till night about how everything will go on. You warn us against anxious worry and invite us to cast all our cares upon you. The fourteen emergency helpers entrusted themselves completely to you and thus gave us the example of Christian worry.

We beseech thee:

Through their intercession, free us from all excessive worry about tomorrow and grant us that holy serenity with which you have distinguished your saints. So we pray through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

God, our Father

you strengthen your people through the joy of the glorification of the fourteen holy helpers. They followed Christ on the way of the cross and completed their lives as witnesses of faith.

Give us also a share in the inheritance of your saints and let the power of their intercession become visible in our time.

So we pray through Christ our Lord.

Amen.