About Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church is a Catholic parish serving the Northside (Mafolie/Estate Elizabeth) area of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It belongs to the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, one of only four parishes on St. Thomas, alongside Holy Family (Tutu), St. Anne (Frenchtown) and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. The parish is well known locally for its weekly Wednesday Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a Friday Holy Hour, and a daily Mass schedule that reflects the rhythms of an island Catholic community. Its parish office can be reached at (340) 774-0885.
- Patron
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help
- Diocese
- Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands
Why belong here
Our Lady of Perpetual Help is one of four parishes serving St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands and offers a full week of Masses — including a Sunday 6:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. schedule, weekday Masses, and a Saturday vigil. The parish's devotional life is anchored by the Wednesday Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and a Friday Holy Hour, making it a natural destination for anyone drawn to Marian devotion. As a parish of the small but tight-knit Diocese of St. Thomas, it provides an intimate worship community rooted in the Catholic history of the Virgin Islands that dates to the 1700s.
Mass times at Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Saturday 5:30 p.m.
Adoration times
- Friday 6:30 p.m. – Holy Hour
About Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church is a Roman Catholic parish in the Mafolie/Northside area of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, listed at 8i Estate Elizabeth, Saint Thomas, VI 00803. It is one of four parishes on St. Thomas in the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, which itself is the only suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Washington. The parish's main contact is the rectory at (340) 774-0885, with fax (340) 774-5896.
- Parish type: Catholic parish
- Diocese: St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands
- Address: 8i Estate Elizabeth, Saint Thomas, VI 00803
- Phone: (340) 774-0885
- Fax: (340) 774-5896
- Listed on GCatholic as Church ID 15279
Devotions: OLPH Novena and Holy Hour
Devotional life at Our Lady of Perpetual Help is centered on the Blessed Mother and Eucharistic adoration. The parish keeps the traditional Wednesday novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the devotion from which the parish takes its name, and follows it with a Friday Holy Hour — both at 6:30 p.m. — giving the community two evenings a week of structured prayer in addition to the daily Mass schedule.
- Wednesday Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH): 6:30 p.m.
- Friday Holy Hour: 6:30 p.m.
Parish Staff
The parish lists a Staff page on its usvi.net site. A priest publicly associated with the parish in recent years is Rev. Eduardo Ortiz-Santiago. The parish operates within the small diocesan presbyterate of the Diocese of St. Thomas, currently led by Bishop Jerome Feudjio (since 2021).
- Rev. Eduardo Ortiz-Santiago — priest (public profile)
- Diocesan Bishop: Most Rev. Jerome Feudjio
Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands
Our Lady of Perpetual Help belongs to the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, the Catholic diocese covering St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. The diocese was erected in 1960 as a Territorial Prelature (separated from the Diocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico) and elevated to a full diocese in 1977. The mother church is Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Charlotte Amalie. As of 2025 the diocese has four parishes on St. Thomas (Holy Family in Tutu, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Northside, St. Anne in Frenchtown, and the cathedral parish) plus parishes on St. Croix and St. John, four schools, and is currently led by Bishop Jerome Feudjio, appointed by Pope Francis in 2021.
- Established: April 30, 1960 (as prelature)
- Elevated to diocese: 1977
- Cathedral: Saints Peter and Paul, Charlotte Amalie
- Current bishop: Most Rev. Jerome Feudjio (since 2021)
- Ecclesiastical province: Archdiocese of Washington
Catholic History of St. Thomas and the Virgin Islands
Catholic life on St. Thomas goes back to 1773, when Italian Franciscan Fr. Petro Sellaroli began celebrating weekly Mass in a rented apartment. He later bought a Danish Crown building that became the first church; it burned in 1804 and was rebuilt and consecrated on January 12, 1806 as Saints Peter and Paul. In 1917 Denmark sold St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas to the United States during World War I. Bishop John Carroll of Baltimore was asked by the Vatican in 1804 to send priests to the islands to serve Spanish merchants and French planters. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria (2017), Catholic Charities opened five soup kitchens in the territory to aid storm victims — a reminder that the diocesan community continues to minister in a hurricane-exposed Caribbean setting.
- 1773: Fr. Petro Sellaroli begins Mass on St. Thomas
- 1804: First church destroyed by fire
- January 12, 1806: rebuilt Saints Peter and Paul consecrated
- 1917: Danish West Indies sold to the United States
- 2017: Catholic Charities opens five soup kitchens after Hurricanes Irma and Maria
Parishes of St. Thomas
The island of St. Thomas is served by four Catholic parishes. Our Lady of Perpetual Help covers the Northside/Mafolie hills above Charlotte Amalie. The other parishes — Holy Family (Tutu), St. Anne (Frenchtown), and the cathedral parish of Saints Peter and Paul (Charlotte Amalie) — round out the island's Catholic footprint.
- Holy Family — Tutu
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help — Northside (Mafolie)
- St. Anne — Frenchtown
- Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral — Charlotte Amalie
Visit, Contact, and Location
The parish is located at 8i Estate Elizabeth on St. Thomas, with a mailing address of Saint Thomas, VI 00803. The rectory can be reached by phone at (340) 774-0885 and by fax at (340) 774-5896. The parish maintains a presence on the broader usvi.net territorial directory, where visitors can find Mass and devotion times, links, and parish bulletins/calendar references. The church sits at roughly 803 feet elevation in the Northside hills of St. Thomas.
- Address: 8i Estate Elizabeth, Saint Thomas, VI 00803
- Phone: (340) 774-0885
- Fax: (340) 774-5896
- Approximate elevation: ~803 ft (USGS Central St. Thomas quadrangle)