Case file · Apparition / miracle
Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the 1882 epidemic
When smallpox struck Port-au-Prince in 1882, the city made a procession and novena to an icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Bel Air church, and the epidemic was said to stop.
1882 CE · 18.55, -72.34 · status: legend
The account
Haitians credited the end of the outbreak to her, and she became the national patroness. Her feast on 27 June is a public occasion.
The sceptical view
Smallpox epidemics end on their own as susceptible people are infected or immunised.