The influence of French Catholicism runs deep in New Orleans, and one of the most prominent images honored in the city is that of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, which is commonly translated as "Our Lady of Quick Help."
According to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor,
"Since 1727, long before her statue arrived in 1810 and was enshrined in the Ursuline Convent Chapel in the French Quarter, devotion to Notre Dame de Prompt Secours had spread among the Ursuline Sisters, their students and the women and men of New Orleans. Prayers for deliverance from wars, fire, pestilence, disease, storms, despair and hopelessness were made to Our Lady of Prompt Succor."
Whenever a crisis occurs in New Orleans, many invoke Our Lady of Prompt Succor for help and protection.
Here is a short prayer taken from an older novena that invokes her "quick" protecting help.
God, who beholds us encompassed on all sides by dangers and miseries, grant us in your goodness, that the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, your only Son, may defend us from the malignant enemy, and protect us against all adversity;
that she may ever by prompt succor, deliver us from all necessities of soul and body; and by her powerful hand, lead us in safety to the kingdom of heaven:
Through Jesus Christ your Son, Amen.
