Our Lady of the Snows
August 5, 2014
The cupola of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome
THE BASILICA OF SANTA Maria Maggiore is the oldest church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The original structure was a fourth-century Roman palace. Since the 16th century, the church has also sometimes been referred to as Our Lady of the Snows. According to an ancient legend, the Mother of God caused a miraculous snowfall on the spot in the height of a Roman summer.
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows.
According to Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira:
Here you can see the beautiful role of legends. Synarchic (1) or technocratic minds do not like legends because they lack definite proof of truth. They do not understand that the legend exists to prove something superior to the concrete fact. In this story, for example, we find many things that tell us about Our Lady.
It can be disputed whether or not the snow actually fell on that day in August, but the legend reminds us that Our Lady has the power to transcend the laws of nature. There is an enormous distance between Heaven and earth. She can make nothing of this distance and appear to a Pope. Naturally speaking, it is marvelous for it to snow in the hot summer – July and August are terribly hot months in Rome – but she has the power to make this happen if she so desires.
Morally speaking, we experience this truth whenever she sends us consolations in the most heated hours of our battles, trials and sufferings. At such moments, she lets fall on us an immaculate, white and refreshing snow that gives us a pre-taste of Heaven. Therefore, even though someone can dispute the veracity of the legend of the snow that fell, he cannot dispute that Our Lady is able to make this miracle if she desires, and that in fact she does so frequently in a moral sense. This is the superior truth the legend contains.
