On the Esquiline Hill, the highest in the Eternal City, stands a magnificent church like a standard proclaiming Mary’s victory over her adversaries. The Basilica of St. Mary Major, whose dedication the Holy Church celebrates on August 5, has a beautiful history that takes us back to a past steeped in Marian faith and piety, and rife with battles against the enemies of the Mystical Bride of Christ. There has been no shortage of miracles and great events to mark its past.
So let us turn our gaze to the beginnings of what would be the oldest basilica dedicated to the Blessed Virgin in the West.
A miraculous dream
In August of 358, a Roman patrician named Giovanni, a pious man with many possessions but no descendants, wanted to bequeath his property to the Church. He asked the Queen of Heaven for a sign, so that he could carry out his intention in the way that was most pleasing to her. Lo, on the night before August 5, She appeared to him in a dream, instructing him to go to Mount Esquiline early the next morning, where he would find snow at the height of the Roman summer. On the area it covered, he was to build a church.
It happened, however, that on that very night the Supreme Pontiff was visited by the same dream. So, at the break of dawn, the two of them – Pope Liberius and the patrician Giovanni – were standing on top of the hill, in front of the white carpet formed by the snow that had miraculously fallen there, despite the usual torrid temperatures at that time of year. The sign was clear: by the command of the Blessed Virgin, the place of worship was to be built on that precise location.
“In front of a large crowd of faithful, Liberius drew the plan of the future church on the fresh snow, following the custom of the architects of antiquity who, before starting a building, drew the project to scale on the ground.”1 From this miraculous sign came the church’s first name: Santa Maria della Neve – St. Mary of the Snows.2 Thus, with the active participation of the inhabitants of Rome, moved by great devotion to the “Lady of the Snows”, construction began.
“The Foundation of Santa Maria Maggiore”, by Masolino da Panicale – National Capodimonte Museum, Naples (Italy)
The Marian temple was also called the Basilica Liberiana because it was built during the time of Pope Liberius. Over the centuries, it was given two other names: Sancta Maria ad Præsepe – St. Mary of the Crib – because during the pontificate of Theodore I it received the relics of the manger in which the Child Jesus was laid after His birth; and Santa Maria Maggiore – St. Mary Major – owing to the fact that it is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin and one of the four papal basilicas.3
Symbol of Mary’s victory
The greatest battle fought by the Mystical Bride of Christ in the first half of the 5th century was against Nestorianism, a heresy that attributed two persons to Our Lord Jesus Christ, and claimed that the Blessed Virgin was the mother of the man Jesus and not of God. The Council of Ephesus, held in 431 and led by the incomparable figure of St. Cyril of Alexandria, legate of the Supreme Pontiff Celestine I, condemned these errors and defined that in Our Lord there is only one Person and, therefore, that Mary is the Mother of God – Theotokos.
In this historical period, the Basilica of St. Mary Major played an eminent role as a “symbol and bulwark of orthodoxy against all forms of heresy.”4 To mark this milestone in Church history, Pope Sixtus III had the original building completely demolished in 432 in order to erect a more sumptuous edifice in honour of the Mother of God.
After a few years of intensive work, the new church was completed, a symbol for centuries to come of Mary’s victory over her adversaries.
Baldachin over the main altar
Historical milestones
The basilica would also be the scene of events that adorned it with glory. In the first centuries of the Middle Ages, heretical books were burned on its steps. Until the schism in the West, the Popes officially celebrated Masses there on three important solemnities: Easter, the Assumption and the Nativity of the Lord. On the first of these, by tradition, the choir did not respond to the invocation “Dominus vobiscum” by the celebrating Pontiff, respecting the memory of the miracle that occurred with Pope Gregory the Great, to whom the Angels of Heaven responded “Et cum spiritu tuo”.
During the period in which the Council of Trent was in progress, great theologians held working meetings in its sacred precincts, so as to prepare their theses and arguments against the errors being debated, in order to defend the truth and doctrine of the Church.5
It is noteworthy that the body of the great St. Pius V has rested there since 1588. This memorable Pontiff was a great devotee of the Queen of Heaven, and to his ardent prayers is due the victory of the Catholic troops at Lepanto in 1571, when the battle that decided the course of Christendom in the face of the Muslim invasions of Europe was fought.
Mary, “Salvation of the Roman people”
However, one of the greatest treasures that the Roman basilica houses is undoubtedly the historic icon of Our Lady venerated in one of its chapels.
A pious tradition states that the Evangelist St. Luke was a painter and that, due to his close relationship to the Blessed Virgin, of whom he had become an authentic biographer, he painted a portrait of her. This can be found today in the Pauline Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore, and is known by the name of Salus populi romani, that is, Salvation of the Roman people.
Although the origin of the icon is disputed, it is undoubtedly one of the most obvious signs of Our Lady’s protection of the Eternal City.
More than once, the Pontiffs had recourse to Salus populi romani in times of great affliction. To this day, St. Gregory the Great is remembered for his fight to ward off the plague that was spreading through the city by organizing a procession carrying the icon. During the pontificate of Leo IV in the 9th century, when a violent fire broke out in the town of the Vatican, the image was also carried in procession from Santa Maria Maggiore, and the flames were extinguished.
Multiple renovations
The original building underwent several modifications until reaching its current state. After having being rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III, it was enlarged by Eugenius III in the 13th century. One of its façades dates from the time of Clement X and was later restored by Pope Benedict XIV in 1741.
The wooden ceiling of the great basilica, designed by the architect Antonio da Sangallo, evokes a significant historical memory: it is said that it was covered with the first gold that Christopher Columbus brought back from America, and which Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile donated to Pope Alexander VI. “Santa Maria is entirely made of gold” was the saying that arose among the Romans in reference to the temple’s unparalleled splendour.6
In addition to the grandeur of its construction, the church is decorated with a variety of rich marbles and mosaics that vividly and attractively tell the story of salvation, from Abraham and the patriarchs to the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother.
White petals, snow and Mary’s graces
The dedication of the basilica is celebrated every year on August 5. On this day, great quantities of white petals are thrown from the top of the Pauline Chapel, alluding to the miraculous event of the midsummer snowfall on Mount Esquiline.
This is a beautiful act of Marian devotion, which reminds us of an essential truth enunciated by Leo XIII regarding Our Lady’s mediation. In his encyclical Octobri mense on the Holy Rosary, the Pontiff stated that “by the will of God, Mary is the intermediary through whom is distributed to us this immense treasure of mercies gathered by God […]. Thus, as no man goes to the Father but by the Son, so also no man goes to Christ but by His Mother.”7
These white petals could well represent the graces that Our Lord Jesus Christ distributes to mankind through the mediation of His Holy Mother. However, the image of the snow that fell at an apparently impossible time to mark the spot where a glorious Marian church should be built seems even more evocative for the present day.
In fact, nothing can prevent the Blessed Virgin from showering humanity with the finest and most sublime graces during our troubled times, with a view to establishing her domain. And just as the heat of the Roman summer could not melt that miraculous precipitation, the horrors of the modern world will never be able to suppress the graces that the Queen of Heaven bestows on those who will be living stones to found her glorious Reign. ◊
Notes
1 VICCHI, Roberta. Las basílicas mayores de Roma. Florencia: Scala, 2000, p.124.
2 Cf. GREGORI JÚNIOR, Henrique. Igrejas de Roma. São Paulo: Ave Maria, 1950, p.22.
3 Cf. Idem, p.22; 25.
4 VICCHI, op. cit., p.126.
5 Cf. DANIEL-ROPS, Henri. História da Igreja de Cristo. A Igreja da Renascença e da Reforma (II). São Paulo: Quadrante, 1999, v.II, p.90.
6 Cf. VICCHI, op. cit., p.134.
7 LEO XIII. Octobri mense, n.12.
