Feast day: August 5

The Dedication of St. Mary Major

Marian Feast

Patron of —

Commemorates the dedication of the great Roman basilica of St. Mary Major, the oldest church in the West dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, also called Our Lady of the Snows.

On August 5 the Church celebrates the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome — the oldest and greatest of the churches of the West dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and one of the four major basilicas of the city. It stands on the Esquiline Hill, and within it is kept some of the most precious art and devotion of the Roman Church, including an ancient and beloved icon of Mary.

The basilica's origins are tied to the great Council of Ephesus of 431, which had solemnly defined that Mary is truly the Mother of God. In the burst of Marian devotion that followed that definition, a magnificent church was built and adorned in Rome to honor her under that title — a monument in stone and mosaic to the truth the council had proclaimed.

A cherished legend gave the basilica another of its names, 'Our Lady of the Snows.' By that tradition Mary appeared to a wealthy Roman couple and to the pope, asking that a church be built where snow would fall — and on a August morning, in the heat of a Roman summer, snow miraculously outlined the plan of the church on the Esquiline Hill, marking the very spot.

To this day, each year on the feast, white flower petals are showered down from the basilica's ceiling to recall the miracle of the snow. The feast celebrates not only a building but the place that Mary, the Mother of God, holds in the heart of the Church — honored in the most ancient of her Roman shrines for nearly sixteen hundred years.

Legend says Mary marked out the church by a miraculous August snowfall on the Esquiline Hill — and each year white petals are showered down to recall it.