Rome holds the four most important church buildings in Catholicism. St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican is one, of course, and the three others are the Basilica of St. John Lateran, where the pope presides as bishop of Rome; the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, where the apostle Paul is buried; and the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

The Church honors these four churches in the liturgical year because they are pilgrimage sites and they connect all the faithful with the pope and the universal Church. The Basilica of St. Mary Major is so called because it is the oldest church dedicated to God in honor of Mary. It serves the Church as the oldest Marian shrine for pilgrims.

The origins of this Basilica are wrapped in legend. Two Roman Christians, a Roman official named John and his wife, received a vision from Mary in 358. They were childless and wanted to dedicate their estate to Mary, so they prayed to her for a sign as to how this should be done. She appeared to them both in dreams and told them that a prominent hill in the city would be covered with snow, and this is where they should build a church.

John immediately told the pope, who had the same dream, and they went to the hill to find it covered in snow on this date, during the hottest time of the year. The pope then walked through the snow to mark out the outline of the church that was to be built there.

This story probably cannot be trusted, but it is the origin of one of Mary’s titles, Our Lady of the Snow. The church building was actually originally the palace of a prominent family before being transformed into a church in the 300s. Later it was restored and consecrated to Mary after the Council of Ephesus in 432, where the Church came to understand and proclaim Mary as Mother of God. It was decorated with artwork depicting Mary and Jesus, and a relic from the manger in Bethlehem was used in a reconstruction of the nativity there.

On this feast day in the Basilica in Rome, flower petals are dropped from the ceiling to recall the legend of Our Lady of the Snow. The Basilica of St. Mary Major is also the site of an important commemoration of Christmas in Rome because of its famous nativity scene.

Notre Dame’s own Basilica of the Sacred Heart contains relics from the nativity as well—pieces of the manger that held Jesus, and parts of the cloth in which he was swaddled.

On this feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, let us honor Mary as the Mother of God!