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On the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows (Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore)
Today is the Feast ofthe Dedication of the Basilica Our Lady of the Snows, a day on which snows fell on the Esquiline Hill in Rome whereon was found the trace of what became the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, one of the four Roman archbasilicas, the very place where the Crib in which the Newborn Baby Jesus was placed by Our Lady can be found, the Crib on which Saint Jerome rested his own head in adoration. It is no accident that Saint Jerome's relics themselves are to be found inside of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, whose history began on this very day, August 5, with the miraculous snows in the middle of a Mediterranean summer:
In the time of Pope Liberius, there lived at Rome a certain nobleman named John and a noble lady his wife, who had no children to whom to leave their substance. Then they vowed that they would make the most holy Virgin Mother of God their heiress, and earnestly besought her in some way to make known to them upon what godly work she would that the money should be spent. The blessed Virgin Mary graciously listened to their prayers and heart-felt earnestness, and by a miracle assured them of her will.
On the 5th day of August, which is that time when the heat of summer waxeth greatest in Rome, a part of the Esquiline Hill was covered by night with snow. And on this same night the Mother of God appeared in a dream to John and his wife separately, and told them that on that spot, which in the morning they should see clad with snow, they should build a Church, to be dedicated in the name of the Virgin Mary, for that this was the way in which she chose that they should make her their heiress. John went and told it to Pope Liberius, who declared that he also had been visited by a like dream.
Therefore he came in a solemn procession of Priests and people to the snow-clad hill, and traced upon that spot the plan of a Church which was built with the money of John and his wife. It was afterwards rebuilt by Sixtus III. At the beginning it was called by divers names, sometimes the Liberian Basilica, sometimes the Church of St Mary-at-the-Manger. Howbeit, since there are in Rome many Churches called after the Holy Virgin Mary, and this Church doth excel them all, both in honour, and because of the strange sign wherewith it was dedicated, it hath come to be called the Church of St Mary, the Greater. The memory of the dedication thereof is kept every year by a Feast-day that taketh name from the wonderful fall of snow which on this day took place. (Matins, The Divine Office, August 5, Feast of Our Lady of the Snows.)
Dom Prosper Guranger, O.S.B., elaborated on the events that resulted in the building of Santa Maria Maggiore, the Basilic of Saint Mary Major:
Rome, delivered from slavery by St. Peter on the first of this month, today offers to the world a wonderful spectacle. On seven hills had pagan Rome set up her pageantry and built temples to her false gods; seven churches now appear at the summits on which Christian Rome rests her now truly eternal foundations.
By their very site, the Basilicas of St. Peter and of St. Paul, of St. Laurence and of St. Sebastian, placed at the four outer angles of the city of the Caesars, recall the long siege continued for three centuries around the ancient pagan Rome, while the new Christian Rome was being founded. St. Helena and her son Constantine, recommencing the work of the foundations of the holy City, carried the trenches further out; nevertheless, the churches which were their own particular work—the Holy Cross in Jerusalem and the Archbasilica of Our Savior on the Lateran hill—are still at the very entrance of the pagan stronghold, close to the gates, and leaning against the ramparts; just as a soldier, setting foot within a tremendous fortress which has long been under siege, advances cautiously, surveying both the breach through which he has just passed, and the labyrinth of unknown paths opening before him.
Who will plant the standard of Sion in the center of Babylon? Who will force the enemy into his last retreat, and casting out the vain idols, set up his palace in their temples? O Thou to Whom was said this word of the Most High: "Thou art My Son; I will Thee the Gentiles for Thy inheritance," Thou mighty One, with Thy sharp arrows routing armies, listen to the cry re-echoing from the whole redeemed world: "With Thy comeliness and Thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously and reign!" (Ps. 45) But the Son of the Most High has a Mother on earth; the song of the Psalmist inviting Him to the triumph extols also the Queen standing at His right hand in a vesture of gold; if it is from His Father that He holds His power, it is from His Mother that He receives His crown, and He leaves Her in return the spoils of the mighty. Go forth then, ye daughters of the new Sion, and behold thy King in the diadem wherewith His Mother crowned Him on the joyful day, when, taking possession through Her of the capital of the world, He espoused the Gentile race.
Truly that was a day of joy, when Mary, in the Name of Jesus, claimed Her right as Sovereign and Heiress of the Roman soil! To the East, at the highest point of the eternal City, She appeared on that blessed morning, literally like the rising dawn; beautiful as the moon shining by night; more powerful than the August sun, surprised to see Her tempering his heat, and doubling the brightness of his light with Her mantle of snow; more terrible than an army; for from that date, daring what neither Apostles nor Martyrs had attempted, and what Jesus Himself would not do without Her, She dispossessed the deities of Olympus of their usurped thrones. As was fitting, the haughty Juno, whose altar disgraced the Esquiline, the false queen of those lying gods, was the first to flee before Mary's face, leaving the splendid columns of Her polluted sanctuary to the only true Queen of earth and Heaven.
Forty years had passed since the days of Pope St. Sylvester, when the "image of Our Savior, depicted on the walls of the Lateran, appeared for the first time to the Roman people" (Breviary Lesson for the Feast of the Dedication of the Archbasilica of Our Savior). Rome, still half pagan, beheld today the Mother of Our Savior; under the influence of the pure symbol (of snow) at which she gazed in surprise, she felt die down within her the evil ardor which once made her the scourge of nations, whereas now she was to become their mother; and in the joy of her renewed youth she beheld her once sullied hills covered with the white garment of the Bride of Christ.
Even from the times of the Apostolic preaching, the faithful, who gathered in large numbers in Rome in spite of herself, knew the Blessed Virgin Mary and paid to Her in those days of martyrdom a homage such as no other creature could receive; witness in the catacombs those primitive frescoes of Our Lady, either alone or holding Her Divine Child, but always seated (as a Queen), receiving from Her place of honor the praise, messages, prayers or gifts of prophets, archangels and kings (Cemeteries of Priscilla, of Nereus and Achilleus, etc.) In the Trastevere, where in the reign of Augustus a mysterious fountain of oil had sprung up, announcing the coming of the Anointed of the Lord, Pope St. Callistus in 222 had built a church in honor of Her who is ever the true fountain of oil, the source whence sprang Christ, and together with Him all unction and grace. The Basilica raised by Pope Liberius, the beloved of Our Lady, on the Esquiline Hill, was not, then, the most ancient monument dedicated by the Christians of Rome to the Mother of God; but it at once took, and has always kept, the first place among Our Lady's churches in the City, and indeed in the world, on account of the solemn and miraculous circumstances of its origin.
Hast thou entered, said the Lord to Job, into the storehouses of the snow, or hast thou beheld the treasures of the hail; which I have prepared for the time of the enemy, against the day of battle and war? (Job 38: 22-23) On the 5th of August, then, at God's command the treasures were opened, and the snow was scattered like birds lighting upon the earth, and its coming was the signal for the lightnings of His judgments upon the gods of the nations. The Tower of David now dominates over all the towers of the earthly city; from Her impregnable position Our Lady will never cease Her victorious sorties till She has taken the last hostile fort. How beautiful will Thy steps be in these warlike expeditions, O Queen, whose standard, by the will of Thine adorable Son, must wave over the whole world rescued from the power of the accursed serpent. The ignominious goddess, overthrown from her impure pedestal by one glance of Thine, left Rome still dishonored by the presence of many vain idols. But Thou, all-conquering Lady, didst continue Thy triumphal march. The Church of Sancta Maria de Ara Coeli replaced on the Capitol the odious temple of Jupiter; the sanctuaries and groves dedicated to Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, and Prosperine hastened to take the title of One who had been shown in their fables under disfigured and degraded forms. The deserted Pantheon awaited the day when it was to receive the noble and magnificent name of Sancta Maria ad Martyres. What a preparation for Thy glorious Assumption is the series of earthly triumphs which this day inaugurates! The Basilica of Sancta Maria ad Nives (St. Mary of the Snows), called also the Liberian Basilica from its founder Pope Liberius, and also the Basilica of Sixtus, after Pope Sixtus III, who restored it, owes to this last the honor of becoming the monument of the Divine Maternity proclaimed at the Council of Ephesus; the name of St. Mary Mother, which it received on that occasion, was replaced under Pope Theodore I, who enriched it with its most precious relic—that of the Crib of Jesus—by Sancta Maria ad Praesepe. All these noble titles were afterward gathered into that of St. Mary Major, which is amply justified by the facts we have related, by universal devotion, and by the pre-eminence always assigned to it by the Sovereign Pontiffs. Though the last in order of time of the Seven Churches upon which Christian Rome is founded, it nevertheless ranked in the Middle Ages next to the Archbasilica of Our Savior; in the procession of the Greater Litanies on April 25th, the Roman Ordo assigned to the Cross of St. Mary's its place between that of St. Peter's and that of the Lateran. The important and numerous liturgical Stations appointed at the Basilica on the Esquiline testify to the devotion of the Romans and of all Catholics towards it. It was honored by having Councils celebrated and Vicars of Christ elected within its walls; the Popes for a short time made it their residence, and were accustomed on the Ember Wednesdays, when the Station is always held there, to publish there the names of the Cardinal Deacons or Cardinal Priests whom they had resolved to create.
As to the annual solemnity of its dedication, which is the object of the present Feast, there can be no doubt that it was celebrated on the Esquiline at a very early date. It was, however, not yet kept by the whole Church in the thirteenth century, for Pope Gregory IX originally assigned this day as the Feast of the newly canonized St. Dominic. It was Pope Paul IV who in 1558 definitively fixed the Feast of St. Dominic on the 4th of August; and the reason he gave is that the Feast of the Dedication of St. Mary of the Snows having since been made universal and taking precedence over the other, the honor due to the Holy Founder might be put in the shade if his Feast continued to be observed on the same day. The Breviary of Pope St. Pius V soon after promulgated to the entire world the Office, of which the following are the lessons:
Under the Pontificate of Liberius, John, a Roman patrician, and his wife, who was of an equally noble family, having no children to whom they might leave their estates, vowed their whole fortune to the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, begging Her most earnestly and continuously to make known to them by some means in what pious work She wished them to employ the money. The Blessed Virgin Mary graciously heard their heartfelt prayers and vows, and answered them by a miracle.
On the Nones of August (August 5th), usually the hottest time of the year in Rome, a part of the Esquiline hill was covered with snow during the night. That same night the Mother of God appeared in a dream to John and his wife separately, and told them to build a church on the spot they would find covered with snow, and to dedicate it to the Virgin Mary; for it was in this manner that She wished to become their Heiress. John related this to Pope Liberius, who said he had dreamt the same thing.
He went, therefore, with a solemn procession of priests and people to the snow-clad hill, and chose the site of a church, which was built with the money of John and his wife. It was afterwards rebuilt by Pope Sixtus III. At first it was called by different names: the Liberian Basilica, St. Mary at the Crib. But since there are many churches in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and, as this one surpasses all other basilicas in dignity, and by its miraculous beginning, it is distinguished from them also by its title of St. Mary Major. On account of the miraculous fall of snow, the anniversary of the dedication is celebrated by a yearly solemnity on this day.
What recollections, O Mary, does this Feast of Thy greatest Basilica awaken within us! And what worthier praise could we offer to Thee today than to remind Thee of the graces we have received within its precincts, and implore Thee to renew and confirm them? United with our Mother-Church in spite of time and distance, have we not, under its shadow, tasted the sweetest and most triumphant emotions of the liturgical cycle, now nearing its end?
On the First Sunday of Advent, it was here that we began the Liturgical Year, in the place most suitable for saluting the approach of the Divine Birth, which was to gladden Heaven and earth and manifest the sublime portent of a Virgin Mother. Our hearts were overflowing with desire on the holy Vigil of the Nativity, when from early morning we were invited to the bright Basilica, where the Mystical Rose was soon to bloom and fill the world with its fragrance. The grandest of all the churches which the people of Rome have erected in honor of the Mother of God, it stood before us rich in its marble and gold, but richer still in possessing, together with the portrait of Our Lady painted by St. Luke (Salus Populi Romani), the humble yet glorious Crib of Jesus, of which the inscrutable designs of God have deprived Bethlehem. During the blessed night of the Nativity, an immense concourse of people assembled in the Basilica awaiting the happy moment when the monument of the love and humility of the God-Man was to be brought in, carried on the shoulders of the priests, like an Ark of the New Covenant, whose welcome sight gives the sinner confidence and makes the just man thrill with joy. A few months passed away, and we were again in the noble sanctuary, this time compassionating our Holy Mother, whose Heart was filled with poignant grief at the foresight of the Sacrifice which was about to take place. But soon the august Basilica was filled once more with new joys, when Rome justly associated with the Paschal Solemnity the memory of Her, who more than all other creatures, had merited its joys, not only because of the exceptional share She had in all the sufferings of Jesus, but also because of the unshaken faith wherewith, during those long and cruel hours of His lying in the tomb, She awaited His Resurrection. Dazzling as the snow which fell from Heaven to mark the place of Thy predilection on earth, O Mary, a white-robed band of neophytes coming up from the waters of Baptism formed Thy graceful court and enhance the triumph of that great day. Obtain for us all, O Mother, affections as pure as the white marble columns of Thy beloved church, charity as bright as the gold glittering on its ceiling, works shining as the Paschal Candle, that symbol of Christ the Conqueror of death, which in ancient times offered Thee the homage of its first flames. (Dom Prosper Gueranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, Feast of Our Lady of the Snows, August 5.)
Father Francis X. Weninger, S.J., also wrote a very poignant reflection for this great feast day:
The Catholic Church celebrates today the annual feast of the dedication of a very remarkable church at Rome, called St. Mary Ad Nives–” St. Mary of the Snow,” or ” St. Mary Major.” The origin of this church is as follows: In the middle of the fourth century, at the time of Pope Liberius, there resided at Rome a nobleman named John. Although rich in temporal goods, he was still wealthier in those which are not of this world, and his wife was his equal in birth, riches and virtue. They had been married many years without having been blessed with children, although they had often prayed to God for them. At last, they resigned themselves to the will of Providence, and resolved to employ all their wealth in honor of the Blessed Virgin, and make her heir to it, as they had always entertained great devotion for her. They were, as yet, uncertain as to the manner in which they should carry out their intention. They both sought refuge in prayer and alms, begging the Blessed Virgin to teach them how they might best appropriate their possessions to her honor.
Mary, the Divine Mother, deigned to make her wishes known to them. Appearing to them both in the night, she told them to go, on the following day, which was the fifth of this month, to the Aesquiline mount, in Rome, and to build a church in her honor on the spot which they would find covered with snow. This, she added, would be more agreeable to her than anything else they could do. When they awoke next morning and told each other their dream or rather their vision, they were filled with inexpressible joy, and immediately repaired to Pope Liberius to hear his opinion on the subject. As the Pope had had the same vision the same night, there was no longer reason to doubt the truth of the revelation. Assembling the clergy and people without delay, the Pontiff formed a procession to go to the appointed spot.
When they arrived there, they saw, in truth, a place large enough for a church, covered with snow. All were greatly surprised at this, which they could not but consider a miracle, since it was in the midst of summer, on the fifth of August, when neither in Rome nor within many miles of it, any snow could naturally have fallen. The pious couple drew from this fact the greatest comfort, as it was an indication that the Almighty and the Blessed Virgin were pleased with their intention. Therefore, hesitating no longer, they forthwith made all the necessary preparations for building a magnificent temple. The building was begun and very soon completed. All that was needed for its erection, as well as for its maintenance, was joyfully furnished. Pope Liberius most solemnly consecrated the new temple; and all the faithful went to it to venerate the Queen of Heaven. At first, this church was called the Basilica, signifying a palace, or the Liberian Basilica, on account of its royal magnificence. It was also called St. Mary ad Nives, for the reason mentioned above. Today it is known as the St. Mary Major, or the Great, as it is the greatest of all the churches of Rome built in honor of the Blessed Virgin, on account of its origin, magnificence and rich endowment. It is also called St. Mary ad Praesepe–St. Mary of the Manger–because in one of its chapels, the crib or manger, in which the new-born Saviour was placed by His virgin mother, is kept.
Pope Gregory the Great, in 509, formed and led the great procession, celebrated in the annals of the church, to implore God, through the intercession of Mary, to avert the dreadful pestilence which ravaged Rome. Its fury somewhat abated, but as it was still in the city, the Pope, in the following year, formed a second procession, headed by the picture of the Blessed Virgin painted by St. Luke, which is kept in the church of St. Mary ad Nives. During the procession, the pestilence left all those houses by which the picture passed, until, at last, when the faithful dispersed, the whole city was free from the terrible scourge. Another miraculous event occurred during the procession, which must not be omitted. Angels were heard singing: “Rejoice, O Queen of Heaven, Alleluia. He whom thou didst deserve to bear, Alleluia! is risen as He said, Alleluia!” The holy Pope, prostrating himself with all the people, finished the angels’ hymn of praise with the words: “Pray for us to God, Alleluia!” When the procession had reached the Mausoleum, or tomb of the Emperor Adrian, the Pope saw upon its summit an angel sheathing his sword, as a sign that the wrath of the Almighty was appeased by the intercession of Mary, and that the pestilence which had so long ravaged the city, would disappear. The rejoicing of the people, and the devotion which was from that time shown to the miraculous picture of the Blessed Virgin, cannot be worthily described.
Practical Considerations
Those who are not Catholics and who blame us for our veneration of the Queen of Heaven and for the churches built in her honor, may see by the origin of the church of St. Mary ad Nives, how ancient this pious practice is, and how agreeable to God. The building of this celebrated church took place in the fourth century, at a time when Protestants themselves say that the Catholic Church was still the true Church of God. Even at that remote period, Mary was venerated and churches were built in her honor. The church approved of it, and God confirmed it by special miracles. Who dares say that the Church of Christ erred, and that God Himself confirmed that error by a miracle? Even in countries where the population has ceased to be Catholics, we find ancient churches which were built in honor of the Blessed Virgin. Surely, if all Catholics were silent on the subject, the very stones of these sacred edifices would prove the devotion of the early ages to the Divine Mother. Would any one dare to accuse the pious Christians, who built these churches, of having erred? This would be no less foolish than arrogant. Why then do they oppose the church of ancient date? My Catholic reader, take my advice. Let no one disconcert you in your devotion to the Queen of Heaven, and never become cold in her service. (Father Francis X. Weninger, Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows—the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, August 5.)
Yes, let no one disconcert us in our own devotion to the Queen of Heaven, to whose protection we fly and intercession we implore with every beat of our hearts, consecraed as they must be to the Most Sacred Heart of her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart as we remember that a miracle took place on this day during the heat of the summer on the Esquiline Hill in Rome.
Why do we doubt that such a miracle will take place at some point during the "heat," if you will, of the Great Apostasy in which we find ourselves?
Indeed, this Great Apostasy is witnessing a remarkable and rapid convergence of all of the heretofore disparate forces of Judeo-Masonry make their "official reconciliation" with what most people think is Catholicism but is in fact her counterfeit ape, a sect of Modernism that has been from its very beginning a means to make the events through which we are living at this time possible to come to fruition.
Do not be agitated.
We need to rely upon Our Lady now as did the Roman patrician and his wife during the reign of Pope Liberius. We need pray for the miracle of the restoration of a true pope on the Throne of Saint Peter, a true pope who will then consecrate Russia with all of the world's true bishops in fulfillment of her Fatima Message. The devil fears this miracle as he knows that the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary spells doom from him and his forces of Judeo-Masonry that are preparing the way very rapidly for the ascent of Antichrist.
We entrust ourselves to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary to help us in this time of apostasy and betrayal as we seek to make reparation for our own sins, which have indeed stained our souls so terribly, and for those of the whole world as the consecrated slaves of her Divine Son, Christ the King, Whose Kingship is so mocked and reiviled by the lordds of Modernity in the world and in the counterfeit church of conciliarism, through her own Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart.
Isn't it time to pray a Rosary now?
Our Lady of the Snows, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Saint John the Evangelist, pray for us.
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us.
Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, pray for us.