Santa Maria Maggiore

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major
Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore (Italian); Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris (Latin); Basilica Sanctae Mariae ad Nives (Latin);
	Façade of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore facing the Piazza
	Wikimedia \| © OpenStreetMap Interactive map of Santa Maria Maggiore's location in Rome
	41°53′51″N 12°29′55″E
Location	Rome
Country	Italy
Denomination	Catholic Church
Tradition	Latin Church
Website	Santa Maria Maggiore
History
Status	Papal major basilica
Dedication	Blessed Virgin Mary
Cult(s) present	Salus Populi Romani
Relics held	Holy Crib; Jerome;
Architecture
Architect(s)	Ferdinando Fuga
Architectural type	Basilica
Style	Roman architecture; Romanesque architecture (tower); Baroque architecture
Groundbreaking	432
Completed	1743
Specifications
Length	92 meters (302 ft)
Width	80 meters (260 ft)
Nave width	30 meters (98 ft)
Height	75 meters (246 ft)
Administration
Diocese	Rome
Clergy
Archpriest	Stanisław Ryłko
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Historic Center of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Designated	1980
Reference no.	91
Region	Europe and North America

The Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Italian: Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Italian pronunciation: [ˈsanta maˈriːa madˈdʒoːre]; Latin: Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris; Latin: Basilica Sanctae Mariae ad Nives),^[a] or church of Santa Maria Maggiore (also referred to as Santa Maria delle Nevi from its Latin origin Sancta Maria ad Nives), is one of the four major papal basilicas as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the largest Marian church in Rome, Italy. Santa Maria Maggiore is the first Marian sanctuary in the Western world and the mother of all sanctuaries.^[2]

The basilica enshrines the venerated image of Salus Populi Romani, depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary as the health and protector of the Roman people, which was granted a Canonical coronation by Pope Gregory XVI on 15 August 1838 accompanied by his papal bull Cælestis Regina.

Pursuant to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and Italy, the Basilica is in Italy and not the Vatican City.^[3] However, the Holy See fully owns the basilica, and Italy is legally obligated to recognise its full ownership thereof^[4] and to concede to it "the immunity granted by international law to the headquarters of the diplomatic agents of foreign states".^[3] In other words, the complex of buildings has a status somewhat similar to an embassy.

Names

The Basilica 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^[5] in connection with a legend that c. 352, during "the pontificate of Liberius, a Roman patrician John and his wife, who were without heirs, made a vow to donate their possessions to the Virgin Mary.^[6]

They prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honor. On 5 August, at the height of the Roman summer, snow fell during the night on the summit of the Esquiline Hill. In obedience to a vision of the Virgin Mary which they had the same night, the couple built a basilica in honor of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow.^[7]

The legend is first reported only after the year 1000.^[8] It may be implied in what the Liber Pontificalis of the early 13th century says of Pope Liberius: "He built the basilica of his own name near the Macellum of Livia".^[9] It is shown in the early 15th-century painting of the Miracle of the Snow by Masolino da Panicale.^[10]^[b]

The Blessed Virgin Mary overlooking Pope Liberius scrapes the outline of the foundation of the basilica into the snow. By Italian artist Masolino da Panicale, circa 15th-century, Museo di Capodimonte.

The feast was originally called Dedicatio Sanctae Mariae (Dedication of Saint Mary's),^[11] and was celebrated only in Rome until it was inserted into the General Roman Calendar, with ad Nives added to its name, in 1568.^[5] A congregation appointed by Pope Benedict XIV in 1741 proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from the Office and that the feast be given its original name.^[11] 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).^[5] The legend is still commemorated by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the celebration of the Mass and during the Second Vespers on the feast day.

The earliest building on the site was the Liberian Basilica 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 occurred and there marked out the area on which the church was to be built.^[12] Liberiana is still included in some versions of the basilica's name, and "Liberian Basilica" may be used as a contemporary as well as historical name.^[c]

On the other hand, the name "Liberian Basilica" may be independent of the legend, since, according to Pius Parsch, Pope Liberius transformed a palace of the Sicinini family into a church, which was for that reason called the "Sicinini Basilica". This building was then replaced under Pope Sixtus III (432–440) by the present structure dedicated to Mary.^[12] However, some sources say that the adaptation as a church of a pre-existing building on the site of the present basilica was done in the 420s under Pope Celestine I, the immediate predecessor of Sixtus III.^[13]

Long before the earliest traces of the story of the miraculous snow, the church now known as Saint Mary Major was called "Saint Mary of the Crib" ("Sancta Maria ad Praesepe"),^[14] a name it was given because of its relic of the crib or manger of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, four boards of sycamore wood believed to have been brought to the church, together with a fifth, in the time of Pope Theodore I (640–649).^[15]^[16] This name appears in the Tridentine editions of the Roman Missal as the place for the pope's Mass (the station Mass) on Christmas Night,^[17] while the name "Mary Major" appears for the church of the station Mass on Christmas Day.^[18