Our Lady of the Snows was the first church in Rome to be dedicated to Our Lady. In the 4th century Pope Liberius added a lateral hall to a large existing hall of a Roman patrician palace and dedicated it to the cult; for this reason it was called the Basilica Liberii.
Pope Sixtus III (432-440) restored it almost a century later and dedicated it to the Virgin, who the Council of Ephesus had defined as Theotokos, that is, the Mother of God. It was then that the Basilica received the name of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Apparition
Our Lady appeared in dreams simultaneously to Pope Liberius and to the Roman patrician who owned the property where the church would be erected. She commanded the Pope to build a basilica on Esquiline Hill on the site that would be covered with snow the next day. Indeed, during that night (August 4-5, 352) in the very heat of the summer, a miraculous snow fell on the summit of the Hill, indicating the place for the church to be built. This is why this basilica is also called Our Lady of the Snow.
The patrician had a similar dream indicating that he should donate the palace and land for the church to be built. Our Lady also told him that she would send the snow as a sign.
It was in this church that one Christmas night Our Lady placed the Divine Infant into the arms of St. Cajetan of Thiene. It was here on another Christmas night that St. Ignatius of Loyola celebrated his first Mass. In this church, St. Pius V prayed the Rosary that obtained for the Catholic warriors the victory of Lepanto. There is a chapel in the Basilica that has a picture of Our Lady that, according to tradition, was painted by St. Luke. St. Charles Borromeo used to pray often in front of this Madonna, and is testimony of this gratitude to her, he wrote the Rule of the Canons of Santa Maria Maggiore.
Prayer to Our Lady of Snows
Our Lady of the Snows,
Immaculate Queen of the Universe,
from this privileged sanctuary,
You have bestowed so many countless graces and pledges of love
upon the hearts and souls of millions.
O Mother, from this cradle of Christianity,
this Mother Church of all churches,
deign to shower forth the graces of thine Immaculate Heart
upon the remnant faithful throughout the world,
wherever they may be, and grant them
the graces of a childlike love and unwavering fidelity
to the holy truths of our faith.
Grant, good Mother, to the faithful Bishops of the Church
the grace to defend Her sacred teachings,
and to persevere courageously
against all the enemies of the Holy Church. Amen.
