VATICAN INSIDER: THE “BEST OF”
Tune in for a surprise this weekend when we offer a “best of” Vatican Insider: one of my stories on the Vatican Observatory (1st segment of the show) and A Visit to Rome (second segment), a conversation with the postulator of Saint Mother Teresa’s cause for canonization. No news summary or Q&A this week!
IN THE UNITED STATES, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (stations listed at www.ewtn.com) or on channel 130 Sirius-XM satellite radio, or on http://www.ewtn.com. OUTSIDE THE U.S., you can listen to EWTN radio on our website home page by clicking on the right side where you see “LISTEN TO EWTN.” VI airs at 5am and 9pm ET on Saturdays and 6am ET on Sundays. On the GB-IE feed (which is on SKY in the UK and Ireland), VI airs at 5:30am, 12 noon and 10pm CET on Sundays. Both of these feeds are also available on the EWTN app and on www.ewtnradio.net ALWAYS CHECK YOUR OWN TIME ZONE! For VI archives: go to https://www.ewtn.com/radio/audio-archive and write the name of the guest for whom you are searching in the SEARCH box. Below that, will appear “Vatican Insider” – click on that and the link to that particular episode will appear.
OUR LADY AND THE AUGUST SNOWFALL IN ROME
Right now, if snow were to really fall on the Eternal City, you’d have a few million happy people who have been suffering extremely hot temperatures for almost three months. Of course, we’d have to rush for sweaters and coats but that would be welcome clothing – and we’d probably want sunshine again tomorrow!
Snow is falling in Rome as I write, falling from the ceiling of one of the four papal basilicas in Rome, Our Lady of the Snows, aka St. Mary Major.
It was just too hot today to stand in line for security and then stand in a jam-packed church for some time so I offer some photos I took a few years ago (I now have far better camera!).
The other three papal basilicas, by the way, are St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s Outside the Walls and St. John Lateran. By the way, these four basilicas, with three others, constitute the 7 must-visit pilgrim churches in Rome. The remaining three: St. Sebastian, Holy Cross in Jerusalem (with relics of the crucifixion) and St. Lawrence – San Lorenzo al Verano.
Now about the annual snowfall:
The year was 358 A.D. John, a Roman patrician, and his wife, unable to have children, had been praying faithfully to the Virgin, asking her to give them a sign as to whom they should leave their enormous patrimony. The night of August 4-5, one of the hottest of the year, Mary appeared to the couple in a dream and requested that they build a church in her honor where snow would fall that night.
John and his wife went to tell their friend Pope Liberius of their dream and to their amazement discovered that the pontiff had had the same dream. That morning, August 5, one of Rome’s seven fabled hills, the Esquiline, was covered in snow, as witnessed by John, his wife, the Pope and his entourage, and a throng of Romans.
Pope Liberius took a stick and traced the sign of the future basilica in the snow, a basilica that would be forever known as Our Lady of the Snows, in addition to the name it bears today, St. Mary Major, the greatest – and the oldest – Marian church.
The feast of Our Lady of the Snows was introduced that year and has been commemorated ever since on August 5. Each year, there are two celebrations on that day. In late afternoon during a liturgy, usually vespers, thousands of white flower petals, symbolizing the miraculous snowfall, are released through one of the square panels of the basilica’s glorious gilt ceiling. In the evening, about 9 pm, outside the basilica, white flower petals are showered down on the faithful who have gathered to commemorate that event.
The snowfall:
The basilica:
If you are ever in Rome on August 5 go to St. Mary Major in mid-afternoon or about 9 at night to witness the snowfall and participate in a liturgy (put that on your calendar for next year!)
I did a brief video on my very first trip years ago (see following link) but want to return next year with my now far superior phone camera (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9LTZk-k2k8).
Joan's Rome 