Lord, our God, who in your admirable providence wanted the Mother of your Son to experience the anguish and suffering of humans; through the intercession of Mary, consolation of the afflicted and liberator of captives, grant to those who live in any sort of slavery, the true freedom of the children of God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Pope Pius IX, in 1868, declared Our Lady of Ransom patroness of the Diocese of Barcelona, and in 1888, Bishop Jaume Català solemnly crowned her image in the Cathedral. Her first church was built by the Mercedarians next to the sea. The image dates back to the 14^th Century, and the present church to the end of the 18^th Century. The Solemnity of La Mercè is tied to the historical memory of the foundation of the Mercedarian Order for the ransom of captives, revealed, according to tradition, to Saint Pere Nolasc, Saint Ramon de Penyafort and King Jaume I.
(From the Liturgy of the Hours).