Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

"The snow of August: the miracle that Santa Maria the Major drew"

Rome, Italy

In the heart of Rome, on Mount Esquilino, the Basilica of Santa Maria la Mayor, with the oldest Marian basilica in the West. To her is one of the most affectionate legends of Christianity. According to the traditionon the night of 4-5 August of the 4th century - the fountains doubt between 352, 358 and 364 -, the Virgin Mary appeared in dreams at Papa Liberio y a un Roman patricio called John and his wife, asking them to raise a temple for him in the place she would point out with a prodigy.

At dawn, the heat of the Roman summer had given in to a miracle: Mount Esquilino appeared covered with fresh snow, precisely delineating the perimeter of the future temple. The Pope drew on the snow the outline of the church, and the patron John would have financed the work. So the old one was born basílica Liberiana, also called Our Lady of the Snow, a remote origin of the present Saint Mary the Major.

It's a page to well distinguish tradition and history. It's Pious Legend, narrated as such even in the Italian cultural media, the oniric apparition to Liberio and to the patron John and the miraculous snow: no consta contemporary chronicle that describes it, and the first written mention is very later. Instead, it is documented that in the fourth century there was a basilica linked to the Pope Liberus in the Esquilino, and that the great building of the temple is due to the Pope Sixto III (432-440)after the Council of Ephesus that proclaimed Mary TheotokosMother of God. The liturgical feast of dedication is held on August 5.

Inside the basilica the very dear icon is also venerated Salus Populi Romani, «Salvación del Pueblo Romano», invocado en pestes y calamidades y llevado en procesión por las calles de Roma; su atribución a san Lucas es Pious traditionwhile the veneration and processions are documented. On Rosary, no consta a specific historical link between the snowfall of August and this prayer, although it is natural that in such a great Marian sanctuary it is part of ordinary devotional life.