The Virgin of the Snow and the Roman Basilica

Monte Esquilino, Rome · Night from 4 to 5 August of the year 352

The dream of the patron John

In the summer of 352, Pope Liberio reigned in Rome. A wealthy marriage of the Roman aristocracy - known in tradition as the patron John and his wife - had no offspring. Desiring to dedicate their goods to the Virgin Mary, they prayed to her to show them what to do with her fortune.

On the night of August 4-5 - full Roman summer, with suffocating heat - the Virgin appeared in dreams to both the patrician and Pope Liberio, giving them the same message: to build a church in their honor in the place where they found fresh snow at dawn. The next day, Mount Esquilino - one of the seven hills of Rome - appeared covered with snow in the exact area where today the basilica rises.

Santa Maria la Mayor - the oldest Marian shrine in the West

Pope Liberio himself drew the perimeter of the future church on the snow, following the outline of the white mantle. The patron John cost the construction, and thus the first basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the West was born. Pope Sixto III reconstructed and expanded it between 432 and 440, after the Council of Ephesus (431) that proclaimed Mary Theotos - Mother of God, and it is essentially that fifth-century building that has come to this day.

The Basilica of St. Mary the Major has within it one of the most venerated relics of Christianity: the wooden splits of the manger of Bethlehem, known as Holy Cot - the sacred crib -, stored in a glass and silver urn under the main altar.

The rain of white petals - living tradition

Every 5 August, the diocese of Rome celebrates the feast of "Our Lady of the Snow" with a ceremony that symbolically reproduces the miracle: from the dome of the basilica a rain of thousands of white rose petals falls on the faithful gathered in the central ship. This tradition, which dates back to the 15th century, brings together thousands of pilgrims year after year in which it is also the largest papal basilica dedicated to the Virgin.

The holiday of August 5 is held throughout Spain, especially in the Canary Islands, where the Virgin of the Nieves is the patron of La Palma, and in many locations of the southern Peninsular.

"Our Lady of the Snow, white as the purity of your yes to the Lord,
cover our hearts with your mantle. "