Dedication of St. Mary Major - Rome - IT SNOWED!

Today I had the privilege of attending Mass at St. Mary Major - one of the 4 Papal Basilicas - on this, the day we celebrate the church's dedication (consecration) to Mary, the Mother of God.  It was not long after the Council of Ephesus, when Mary was declared the "theotokos" or the "God-bearer" (and thus the actual Mother of God), that the following events took place.

Today’s Feast is now known as the Dedication of St. Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore)—celebrating one of only four major basilicas of the Roman Catholic Church and the largest (and possibly first) church dedicated to Mary in Rome.  The following photos show the church from the outside - the beautiful pancreator which is in the loggia outside the basilica - and the lit dedication candle.  Now before getting to the main story - there are, in many churches, candles on the walls of the church - making the spots where the walls were anointed at its dedication.  Today is the day they are lit - and here is one of the lit candles at St. Mary Major this morning...

Now, how does it snow in Rome.  Every year on August 5, white rose petals are dropped into the sanctuary from an opening in the coffered ceiling of Saint Mary Major to commemorate its legendary origin in the fourth century. 

As the story goes, during the night of August 4-5, 352 (or 358, in some accounts) the Mother of God appeared simultaneously in the dreams of Pope Liberius and of a wealthy, Roman named Giovanni Patrizio, who with his wife, had decided to leave everything they had to the Church. The Blessed Mother instructed them to build a church where her children could go to their Mother with their needs and prayers. Snow fall (in Rome’s sweltering August heat!) the following morning would indicate the site of the new church. Early in the morning of August 5, Pope Liberius was informed that snow had fallen on Esquiline Hill, including on land owned by Patrizio. A famous painting by  Masolino depicts the Pope using a stick to delineate in the snow the outer foundation of what would become St. Mary Major.

The earliest name for the church was the Liberian Basilica, after Pope Liberius. It was also called Santa Maria della Neve (St. Mary of the Snow) and Santa Maria Del Presepe (St. Mary of the Crib) after 4 or 5 planks of wood, said to have come from Jesus’ crib, were given to St. Mary Major. They can still be venerated there.

During his pontificate, Pope Sixtus III (432-440) saw to a major renovation of the basilica and dedicated it to the Mother of God, following the declaration of Mary as Theotokos at the Council of Ephesus (431).

The basilica is home to 1600 years of some of the most exquisite art ever created, beginning with an icon of Mary—said to be painted by St. Luke—known as “Salus  Populi Romani”  (the salvation [or the “health”] of the Roman people). On the morning after his election, Pope Francis  went to St. Mary Major to pray before this icon of the Madonna. It is also the site of many miracles and  events of great significance in the life of the Church. For example, St. Ignatius Loyola celebrated his first Mass in St. Mary Major one Christmas night. On another Christmas Eve, the Blessed Mother placed the Infant Jesus into the arms of St. Cajetan of Thiene. 

Francis has since celebrated Mass at St. Mary Major and will return  to celebrate Mass on August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, as popes have done for centuries.

And HERE IS THE SNOW!!!!!