Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore For other uses, see Santa Maria Maggiore (disambigua- 13th century, says of Pope Liberius: “He built the basil- tion). ica of his own name (i.e. the Liberian Basilica) near the Macellum of Livia".[6] Its prevalence in the 15th century The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (English: Basil- is shown in the painting of the Miracle of the Snow by Masolino da Panicale.[7][Notes 3] ica of Saint Mary Major, Latin: Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris),[2] or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is the largest Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy. Other churches in Rome dedicated to Mary include Santa Maria in Trastevere, Santa Maria in Aracoeli, and Santa Maria sopra Minerva, but the greater size of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major justifies the adjective by which it is distinguished from the other 25. According to the 1929 Lateran Treaty, the basilica lo- cated in Italian territory is owned by the Holy See and enjoys extraterritorial status similar to that of foreign embassies.[Notes 2] The building is patrolled internally by police agents of Vatican City State, not by Italian police. It is located on Piazza del Esquilino, number 34, some five blocks southwest of the Stazione Termini. 1 Other names The church is sometimes referred to as Our Lady of the Snows, a name given to it in the Roman Missal from 1568 to 1969 in connection with the liturgical feast of the anniversary of its dedication on 5 August, a feast that was then denominated Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae ad Nives (Dedication of Saint Mary of the Snows). This name for the basilica had become popular in the 14th century[3] in connection with a legend that the 1911 Catholic Encyclo- pedia reports thus: “During the pontificate of Liberius, the Roman patrician John and his wife, who were with- out heirs, made a vow to donate their possessions to the Virgin Mary. They prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honour. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman sum- mer, snow fell during the night on the summit of the Es- quiline Hill. In obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary The Blessed Virgin Mary overlooking Pope Liberius as the Pontiff which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica scraped the foundation of the basilica into the snow. By Italian in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered artist Masolino da Panicale. circa 15th-century. Museo di with snow. From the fact that no mention whatever is Capodimonte. made of this alleged miracle until a few hundred years later, not even by Sixtus III in his eight-line dedicatory The feast was originally called Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae inscription ... it would seem that the legend has no his- [4] [4] (Dedication of Saint Mary’s), and was celebrated only torical basis.” in Rome until inserted for the first time into the General The legend is first reported only after the year 1000.[5] It Roman Calendar, with ad Nives added to its name, in may be implied in what the Liber Pontificalis, of the early 1568.[3] A congregation appointed by Pope Benedict XIV 1 2 3 HISTORY OF THE PRESENT CHURCH in 1741 proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office and that the feast be given its original name.[4] No action was taken on the proposal until 1969, when the reading of the legend was removed and the feast was called In dedicatione Basilicae S. Mariae (Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary).[3] The legend is still com- memorated by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the celebration of the Mass and Second Vespers of the feast. The earliest building on the site was the Liberian Basil- ica or Santa Maria Liberiana, after Pope Liberius (352-366). This name may have originated from the same legend, which recounts that, like John and his wife, Pope Liberius was told in a dream of the forthcoming summer snowfall, went in procession to where it did occur and Map by Giacomo Lauro and Antonio Tempesta depicting Saint there marked out the area on which the church was to be Mary Major among the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome in 1599, built.[8] Liberiana is still included in some versions of the in view of the Holy Year of 1600. basilica’s formal name, and “Liberian Basilica” may be used as a contemporary as well as historical name.[9] immemorial custom, hold the title of basilica are minor On the other hand, the name “Liberian Basilica” may basilicas. be independent of the legend, since, according to Pius Until 2006, the four major basilicas, together with Parsch, Pope Liberius transformed a palace of the the basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls Sicinini family into a church, which was for that reason were referred to as the five “patriarchal basilicas” of called the Sicinini Basilica. This building was then re- Rome,[Notes 4] associated with the five ancient patriarchal placed under Pope Sixtus III (432-440) by the present sees of Christendom (see Pentarchy). Saint Mary Ma- structure dedicated to Mary.[8] However, some sources jor was associated with the Patriarchate of Antioch. In say that the adaptation as a church of a pre-existing build- the same year, the title of “patriarchal” was also removed ing on the site of the present basilica was done in the from the basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. 420s under Pope Celestine I, the immediate predecessor of Sixtus III.[10] The former five patriarchal basilicas with the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem and San Sebastiano fuori le Long before the earliest traces of the story of the mirac- mura formed the traditional Seven Pilgrim Churches of ulous snow, the church now known as Saint Mary Ma- Rome, which are visited by pilgrims during their pilgrim- jor was called Saint Mary of the Crib (Sancta Maria age to Rome following a 20 kilometres (12 mi) itinerary ad Praesepe),[11] a name it was given because of its relic established by Saint Philip Neri on 25 February 1552, of the crib or manger of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, especially when seeking the plenary indulgence on Holy four boards of sycamore wood believed to have been Years.[19][20][21] For the Great Jubilee of 2000, Pope John brought to the church, together with a fifth, in the time Paul II replaced Saint Sebastian’s church with the Shrine of Pope Theodore I (640-649).[12][13] This name appears of Our Lady of Divine Love. in the Tridentine editions of the Roman Missal as the place for the pope’s Mass (the station Mass) on Christ- mas Night,[14] while the name “Mary Major” appears for the church of the station Mass on Christmas Day.[15] 3 History of the present church It is agreed that the present church was built under Pope 2 Status as major basilica Sixtus III (432-440). The dedicatory inscription on the triumphal arch, Sixtus Episcopus plebi Dei, (Sixtus the bishop to the people of God) is an indication of that See also: Major basilica and minor basilica Pope’s role in the construction.[22] As well as this church No Catholic church can be honoured with the title of on the summit of the Esquiline Hill, Pope Sixtus III is basilica unless by apostolic grant or from immemorial said to have commissioned extensive building projects custom.[16] Saint Mary Major is one of the only four that throughout the city, which were continued by his succes- today hold the title of major basilica. The other three sor Pope Leo I, the great.[23] are Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter and Saint Paul outside the Walls.[17] (The title of major basilica was once used The church retains the core of its original structure, de- more widely, being attached, for instance, to the basilica spite several additional construction projects and damage of Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi.)[18] All the other by the earthquake of 1348. Catholic churches that, either by grant of the Pope or by Church building in Rome in this period, as exemplified 3 Miri Rubin believes that the building of the basilica was influenced also by seeing Mary as a one who could rep- resent the imperial ideals of classical Rome, bringing to- gether the old Rome and the new Christian Rome: “In Rome, the city of martyrs, if no longer of emperors, Mary was a figure that could credibly carry imperial memories and representations.”[29] When the popes returned to Rome after the period of the Avignon papacy, the buildings of the basilica became a temporary Palace of the Popes due to the deteriorated state of the Lateran Palace. The papal residence was later moved to the Palace of the Vatican in what is now Vatican City. The basilica was restored, redecorated and extended by various popes, including Eugene III (1145–1153), Nicholas IV (1288–92), Clement X (1670–76), and Benedict XIV (1740–58), who in the 1740s commis- sioned Ferdinando Fuga to build the present façade and to The Piazza and Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, by Giovanni modify the interior. The interior of the Santa Maria Mag- Paolo Pannini giore underwent a broad renovation encompassing all of its altars between the years 1575 and 1630. in Saint Mary Major, was inspired by the idea of Rome 4 Architecture being not just the centre of the world of the Roman Em- pire, as it was seen in the classical period, but the centre of the Christian world.[24] Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the first churches built in honour of the Virgin Mary, was erected in the immedi- ate aftermath of the Council of Ephesus of 431, which proclaimed Mary Mother of God.