Mary, Mother of the Church, dominates the eternal city

The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, located on the top of the Esquiline Hill, is one of the four major basilicas of Rome, Italy. It is the largest and the oldest Marian church in Rome, from which size it receives the appellation "major."

Tradition has it that it was the Virgin herself who indicated and inspired the construction of her church on the Esquiline, by appearing in a dream to both the patrician John and Pope Liberius in August 356. She asked them to build her a church, at a location they would recognize because it would be covered with snow in the middle of summer. And indeed, on the morning of August 5, 356, the Esquiline Hill was covered with snow!

The Pope traced the perimeter of the new church and the nobleman John provided its financing. Nothing of that first church remains today, but recent excavations under the present basilica have helped reveal archaeological remains such as the remarkable 2^nd or 3^rd century calendar and partially visible Roman walls. The bell tower of today's Santa Maria Maggiore is the highest in Rome.

May Mary, the all-humble and all-faithful Mother of the Church, guard the eternal city and watch over it with her absolute and tender purity.

The Marie de Nazareth Team

Source: Vatican.va