As thou wentest on the way.
I saw the tomb
wherein The Living One had lain,
I saw His Glory as He Rose again;
Napkin and linen clothes,
and Angels twain:
Yea, Christ is Risen,
my hope, and He
Will go before you into Galilee.
We know that Christ indeed
has Risen from the grave.
Hail, Thou King of Victory,
Have Mercy, Lord, and Save.
Amen.
Alleluia.
As at Christmas, The Station is made at Saint Mary Major, on this Greatest Feast of the whole year. The Church never separates Jesus and Mary, and, today, in one and the same Triumph, she honours The Mother and The Son. Before all else, The Risen Christ offers The Homage of His Gratitude to His Father in Heaven (Introit).
The Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.
Photo: October 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Maros M r a z (Maros). (Wikimedia Commons)
In her turn, The Church gives thanks to God, inasmuch as, by The Victory of His Son, He has re-opened The Way to Heaven, and implores Him to assist us that we may attain this, our final goal (Collect). For this, Saint Paul tells us, just as the Jews eat the Paschal Lamb with the unleavened bread, so we must feast on The Lamb of God, with the unleavened bread of Sincerity and Truth (Epistle and Communion), that is free from the leaven of sin.
English: The Nave,
Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, Rome.
Deutsch: Basilika Santa Maria Maggiore, Hauptschiff.
Photo: February 2012.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
In the Gospel and the Offertory, we read of the coming of The Holy Women to The Sepulchre to embalm Our Lord. They find an empty tomb, but an Angel proclaims to them The Great Mystery of The Resurrection.
Let us joyfully keep this day on which Our Lord has restored Life to us in His Own Rising from The Dead (Easter Preface), and affirm with The Church that "The Lord is Risen Indeed", and, like Him, make our Easter a passing to an entirely New Way of Life.
Every Parish Priest celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.
Mass: Resurréxi.
Sequence: Victimæ Paschali Laudes.
Preface: For Easter.
Communicantes: For Easter. Until The Saturday before Low Sunday, inclusive.
Hanc Igitur: For Easter. Until The Saturday before Low Sunday, inclusive.
Photo: April 2011.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.The Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major (
Italian: Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore,
Latin: Basilica Sanctæ Mariæ Maioris), or Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is the largest
Catholic Marian Church in
Rome.Other Churches in Rome, Dedicated to Mary, include
Santa Maria-in-Trastevere,
Santa Maria-in-Aracœli, and
Santa Maria sopra Minerva, but the greatest size of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major justifies the adjective (Papal Basilica) by which it is distinguished from the other twenty-five.
According to The 1929
Lateran Treaty, the Basilica, located in Italian territory, is owned by The Holy See and enjoys Extra-Territorial Status, similar to that of foreign
embassies. The building is patrolled internally by Police agents of Vatican City State, not by
Italian Police.
The Church may still sometimes be referred to as “Our Lady of The Snows”, a name given to it in The
Roman Missal, from 1568 to 1969, in connection with The
Liturgical Feast of The Anniversary of its Dedication on 5 August, a Feast that was then denominated “Dedicatio Sanctæ Mariæ ad Nives” (Dedication of Saint Mary of The Snows).
This name for the Basilica had become popular in the 14th-Century, in connection with a legend that The 1911
Catholic Encyclopedia reports thus: “During the Pontificate of
Liberius, the Roman Patrician, John, and his wife, who were without heirs, made a vow to donate their possessions to The Virgin Mary. They Prayed that she might make known to them how they were to dispose of their property in her honour”.
English: Decorated wall murals in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, Rome.
Magyar: Santa Maria Maggiore, Róma. A főbejárat feletti belső faldíszítés.
Date: 2008-08-27 (original upload date). Taken on 2005.04.22.
(Wikimedia Commons)
On 5 August, at the height of the Roman Summer, snow fell during the night on the summit of The Esquiline Hill. In obedience to a vision of The Virgin Mary, which they had the same night, the couple built a Basilica in honour of Mary on the very spot which was covered with snow.
The legend is first reported only after the year 1000. It may be implied, in what The
Liber Pontificalis of the Early-13th-Century says of Pope Liberius: "He built the Basilica of his own name (i.e. the Liberian Basilica) near the
Macellum of Livia". Its prevalence in the 15th-Century is shown in the painting of The Miracle of The Snow by
Masolino da Panicale.
The Feast was originally called “Dedicatio Sanctæ Mariæ” (Dedication of Saint Mary's), and was Celebrated only in Rome, until inserted for the first time into The
General Roman Calendar, with “ad Nives” added to its name, in 1568.
A Congregation, appointed by
Pope Benedict XIV in 1741, proposed that the reading of the legend be struck from The Office and that The Feast be given its original name. No action was taken on the proposal until 1969, when the reading of the legend was removed and The Feast was called “In dedicatione Basilicæ S. Mariæ (Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary)”. The legend is still Commemorated by dropping White
Rose Petals from the
Dome during the Celebration of The
Mass and Second
Vespers of The Feast.
English: Basilica of Saint Mary Major, Rome.
Português: Capela lateral e parte da nave,
Date: 2005.
Source: Taken by Ricardo André Frantz.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The earliest building on the site was the Liberian Basilica, or Santa Maria Liberiana, after
Pope Liberius (352 A.D. - 366 A.D.). This name may have originated from the same legend, which recounts that, like John and his wife, Pope Liberius was told in a dream of the forthcoming Summer snowfall, went in procession to where it did occur and there marked out the area on which the Church was to be built. “Liberiana” is still included in some versions of the Basilica's formal name, and “Liberian Basilica” may be used as a contemporary, as well as historical, name.
No
Catholic Church can be honoured with the title of Basilica unless by
Apostolic Grant or from Immemorial Custom. Saint Mary Major is one of the only four Basilicas that today hold the Title of
Major Basilica. The other three are
Saint John Lateran,
Saint Peter, and
Saint Paul-without-the-Walls. (The Title of Major Basilica was once used more widely, being attached, for instance, to the Basilica of Saint Mary of The Angels, in Assisi.) All the other Catholic Churches that, either by Grant of the Pope or by Immemorial Custom, hold the Title of Basilica, are
Minor Basilicas.
Until 2006, the four Major Basilicas, together with the Basilica of
Saint Laurence-without-the-Walls, were referred to as the five “Patriarchal Basilicas” of Rome, associated with the five ancient
Patriarchal Sees of Christendom (see
Pentarchy). Saint Mary Major was associated with the
Patriarchate of Antioch. In the same year, the title of “Patriarchal” was also removed from the
Basilica of Saint Francis, in
Assisi.
English: Cupola over a Side-Altar.
Basilica of Saint Mary Major, Rome.
Deutsch: Santa Maria Maggiore, Rom.
Kuppel eines Seitenaltars.
Photo: February 2008.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The former five Patriarchal Basilicas, with the
Basilica of The Holy Cross-in -Jerusalem, and
San Sebastiano-fuori-le-mura, formed the Traditional
Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, which are visited by Pilgrims during their Pilgrimage to Rome, following a twenty-kilometres (twelve miles) itinerary, established by
Saint Philip Neri on 25 February 1552, especially when seeking The
Plenary Indulgence in
Holy Years. For The
Great Jubilee of 2000,
Pope John Paul II replaced Saint Sebastian's Church with The
Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love.
It is agreed that the present Basilica was built in the Reign of
Pope Sixtus III (432 A.D. - 440 A.D.). The Dedicatory Inscription on The Triumphal Arch, “Sixtus Episcopus plebi Dei” (Sixtus the
Bishop to the people of God) is an indication of that Pope's role in the construction. As well as this Church on the summit of The
Esquiline Hill, Pope Sixtus III is said to have commissioned extensive building projects throughout the City, which were continued by his successor,
Pope Leo I (The Great).
Church Building in Rome in this period, as exemplified in Saint Mary Major, was inspired by the idea of
Rome being, not just The Centre of The World of The
Roman Empire, as it was seen in The Classical Period, but The Centre of The
Christian World.
Photo: April 2011.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the first Churches built in honour of The Virgin Mary, was erected in the immediate aftermath of The
Council of Ephesus of 431 A.D., which proclaimed Mary, Mother of God.
Pope Sixtus III built it to Commemorate this decision.
When the Popes returned to Rome after the period of The
Avignon Papacy, the buildings of the Basilica became a temporary
Palace of the Popes, due to the deteriorated state of The
Lateran Palace. The Papal Residence was later moved to The
Palace of the Vatican, in what is now
Vatican City.
Basilica of Saint Mary Major
(Santa Maria Maggiore), Rome.
Photo: March 2006.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Basilica was restored, re-decorated and extended by various Popes, including
Eugene III (1145–1153),
Nicholas IV (1288–1292),
Clement X (1670–1676), and
Benedict XIV (1740–1758), who, in the 1740s, commissioned
Ferdinando Fuga to build the present
façade and to modify the Interior. The Interior of Santa Maria Maggiore underwent a broad renovation, encompassing all of its Altars, between 1575 and 1630.
The original architecture of Santa Maria Maggiore was Classical, and Traditionally
Roman, perhaps to convey the idea that Santa Maria Maggiore represented Old Imperial Rome, as well as its
Christian future.
