On August 5, 2021, the 38th edition of the evocation of the miracle of Our Lady of the Snows in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, one of Rome’s four Papal Basilicas, was dedicated to “Pope Francis’ generous heart.”
Architect Cesare Esposito said this, who in a letter invited the Holy Father “to give testimony of the representation of the Virgin of the Snows, so that it may become a symbol of hope and love for all the faithful and the city,” reported ADNKronos.
In the General Audience of last Wednesday, August 4, 2021, when greeting the Italian faithful, the Pope said: “I entrust you to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary, whom tomorrow’s liturgy, the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, invites us to contemplate in the icon of Our Lady Salus Populi Romani.”
The Pope’s Special Place
The Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where the image of Our Lady of the Snows is found, is a special place for the Holy Father. He always visits it both before and after undertaking an Apostolic Journey.
In March of 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pontiff went to the Basilica to pray before this icon, and then to the church of Saint Marcellus, in the Corso, where the miraculous Crucifix is kept, which, in the 16th century, saved the Eternal City from the plague.
Last July 15, when he was discharged from the hospital after a scheduled colon operation and before returning to the Vatican, the Successor of Peter went to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major where, before the icon of the Virgin Mary Salus Populi Romani, he thanked Her for the “success of his surgical intervention, and said a prayer for all the sick, especially those he met during his stay in the hospital.”
The Basilica’s History
The history of this Papal Basilica records that in the year 338 of the 4th century, the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to Pope Liberius and to patrician John and instructed them to build a church in Her honor in the place She would indicate.
On August 5, 358, a light snowfall fell on Esquiline Hill. The snowfall at the height of summer on the summit of this Hill was interpreted as the Virgin’s sign for the Basilica’s site. It is Rome’s oldest church dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
