October 11, 2007

 

St. Mary Major (Santa Maria Maggiore)

General
St. Mary Major is the only one of the four great basilicas in Rome which has preserved the ancient Christian structures. It is a Vatican possession built in 432 AD as the Roman Empire was falling and after the Council of Ephesis defined that Mary is the Mother of God. It is built on the Esquilino Hill on the site of a former pagan temple dedicated to Rome’s mother goddess, Juno. The Virgin Mary appeared to Pope Liberio and the Roman patrician Giovanni in a dream telling them to build her a church where the snow falls. On Aug. 5 in the year 358, a snow fell on the Esquilino Hill and in that snow the Pope traced the perimeter of the future church and Giovanni financed it. NOTE: Our Lady confided to the 6 seers at Medjugorje that although the Church celebrates her birthday on Sept 8 and she doesn’t mind, it really is August 5.

 

 

Bernini’s tomb 1598-1680
A simple tomb in St. Major which we couldn’t find has the inscription: “The noble Bernini family here awaits the resurrection”
        Gian Lorenzo Bernini was a child prodigy in his father’s sculpting studio and grew up among Europe’s rich and powerful. He transformed the face of Rome, working fast and employing an army of assistants. He saw his own creativity as an extension of God’s. He was a sculpter, painter, architect, interior decorator and civil engineer. He laid out St. Peter’s Square with its imposing columns and sculpted fountains in Piazza Navona among many other work of great art and architecture.