The image of Our Lady Help of Christians in the parish church of Our Lady Help of Christians in Toronto is a copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady Help of Christians from Brezje. The copy was made by the academic painter Fr. Blaž Farčnik, OFM, at the request of Fr. Bernard Ambrožič in 1927, when the first church was built for the then Slovenian parish of St. John Vianney in Detroit, Michigan. The copy painted by Fr. Blaž remained in the St. John Vianney church in Detroit until it was demolished, and under the pastoral care of the famous Slovenian missionary Fr. Odilo Hanjšek, OFM, a new church was built. Fr. Odilo claims that the image of Our Lady Help of Christians was also in the new church for some time. However, it is certain that in 1940, when Fr. Bernard passed through Detroit on his way to Canada, the image was no longer in the church. He inquired about it and found it, then took it with him to Grimsby, Ontario. At that time, the parish priest in Grimsby was the later auxiliary bishop of Toronto, B. I. Webster, now bishop of Peterborough, Ontario. Fr. Bernard Ambrožič met him and managed to secure the church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Vineland, which was then, and still is, a mission church of St. Joseph’s in Grimsby. Here, Fr. Bernard gathered Slovenes, who after the First World War established a large farming settlement in Vineland. The image of Our Lady Help of Christians was again honored here. On August 18, 1940, it was solemnly installed in the church. The ceremony was attended by Fr. B. I. Webster, who blessed the image before its installation and also preached at the occasion. Thus, the first Canadian Brezje were established in Vineland, though they could not develop for various reasons. In 1941, Fr. Bernard left Vineland and Grimsby, but left the image of Our Lady Help of Christians there. It is not known how long the image remained in the church. When Fr. Bernard visited Vineland again in 1950, he found the image abandoned in the rooms under the church. It once again traveled with him to Malvern, Ontario, where Fr. Bernard’s brother, Mr. Lojze Ambrožič, had settled with his family on a Carmelite farm after World War II. Soon after, the current Slovenian pastor in Toronto, Rev. Jakob Kolarič, C.M., requested the image to be placed in the future Slovenian church, for which a lively campaign had already begun among the Slovenian community in Toronto, especially among the new immigrants.
On August 27, 1950, the image of Our Lady Help of Christians, accompanied by many Slovenes and led by Bishop Dr. Gregorij Rožman, traveled to Midland. There, the consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was renewed before the image in the Canadian Martyrs shrine.
Shortly before New Year’s 1951, the image of Our Lady Help of Christians was hung on the back wall near the door of Mount Carmel church, where regular Sunday services had been held since the first Sunday of Advent in 1949. The image remained there until September 1954, when it was removed to be placed in a new frame made of mahogany wood. In the Ave Marija Calendar 1951 on page 99, Fr. Odilo Hanjšek writes that the image of Our Lady Help of Christians was waiting in Malvern to be solemnly installed elsewhere, most likely in Toronto, “if a Slovenian church ever comes to be.”
By God’s infinite goodness and the merciful favor of the Blessed Virgin, the Slovenian church in Toronto came into being. And when, at the conclusion of the Year of Mary, on December 8, 1954, Bishop Gregory Rožman of Ljubljana celebrated the first Mass in the new church, the Slovenian faithful again saw before them the image of Our Lady Help of Christians, now shining brightly with a gleaming crown on her head.
The image of Our Lady Help of Christians had already had a sort of crown in Vineland. When the image arrived in Toronto, it was without a crown. Fr. Bernard did not think the original one was suitable anymore, so he did not take it with him. Upon request, the academic painter, Mr. Božo Kramolc, painted a crown for Mary and Baby Jesus in 1950. It was already anticipated that metal crowns would eventually be made, large enough to completely cover the painted crowns. This was only achieved just before the blessing of the new church, when suitable crowns for Mary and Baby Jesus in her arms were obtained. The money for the crowns was donated by Dr. Anton Štih and his wife Minka, and they were made by Mrs. Tvrdka Houghton from Toronto, under the guidance of academic sculptor France Goršek.
We hope that this image, which has already been forgotten twice, will henceforth be continually honored, and that Our Lady Help of Christians will grant countless graces to all who pray before her.