The modern road follows the historic route Pope Gregory XIII created for religious processions between the two basilicas during the Jubilee of 1575.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, is a Byzantine icon painted on wood believed to date back to the 13th century.
The icon was brought from Greece to Rome near the end of the 15th century and was enshrined in 1499 in the Church of St. Matthew, which was located on what is now the Via Merulana, where pilgrims venerated the image for centuries.
The icon shows the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus, who is being shown the cross, nails, and other instruments of his Passion by the archangels St. Michael and St. Gabriel. In the image, the child Jesus has lost his sandal, which has led some to interpret that the depicted child ran with haste to the arms of Our Lady.
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