in 1960 the Redemptorists purchased part of the former General Otto H. Falk estate on Crooked Lake for the purpose of having a permanent retreat center. Retreats started in the fall of 1961.

The estate was remodeled and the construction of a building with 58-rooms was completed to house retreatants. The first retreat in the new retreat center building was held on October 12, 1963. That weekend, 91 retreatants renewed their love for God. The center was dedicated in honor of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

After so many years of preaching lay retreats in Oconomowoc, the Redemptorists continue to remain true to the spirit of Saint Alphonsus by this apostolate. In turn, a very large number of men and women over the years have searched and discovered a connection with God in this place of peace.

Our Patron Saint is St. Alphonsus Liguori, C.Ss.R., a Bishop, Doctor of the Church, and the founder of the Redemptorist Congregation.

St. Alphonsus was born on September 27, 1696, at Marianella, near Naples, Italy. In 1723, he had a vision and was told to consecrate his life solely to God. On December 21, 1726, he was ordained and spent the next six years giving missions throughout Naples.

St. Alphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on November 9, 1732. For thirteen years Alphonsus lived in Goths near Naples where he fed the poor, instructed families, reorganized the seminary and religious houses, and wrote.

St. Alphonsus died on August 1,1787, was beatified in 1816, and canonized in 1839. And in 1871, Alphonsus was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX.

His writings on moral, theological, and ascetic matters had great impact and have survived through the years, especially his Moral Theology and his Glories of Mary. He is the patron of confessors, moral theologians, and the lay apostolate.

In 1866 Pope Pius IX entrusted the miraculous icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help to the Redemptorists at St. Alphonsus Church in Rome because this was the location where this icon was first venerated before the church was destroyed.

The Pope told the Redemptorists “to make her known throughout the world,” thus establishing the church as a Shrine housing this treasure. Ever since, Our Mother of Perpetual Help has been the special protector of the Redemptorists, and they have strived to make her known throughout the world.

The Redemptorist Congregation of priest and brothers are the only religious order currently entrusted by the Holy See to protect and propagate a Marian religious work of art, the Icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

For more information, please visit the website devoted to Mary as Our Mother of Perpetual Help: www.maryprayforus.org