[00:00] Today we celebrate the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. We Franciscans of the Immaculate had the privilege for many years of being the sacristans there, and it's a very important church and a very great privilege that we were allowed to do that. St. Francis himself had a great devotion to the Basilica of St. Mary Major back when

[00:39] Pope Honorius III gave us the permission to have the rule, that he ratified the rule of St. Francis at the same time that St. Dominic also received the permission to start an order. St. Francis went to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, and it was there that he was inspired to have the creche scene or the nativity scene at Greccio, where there was the famous miracle

[01:14] of St. Francis. He had the live nativity scene with the animals, and then the child Jesus, they were asking, "Well, where's the child Jesus?" And he said, "God would provide," and the baby Jesus appeared to him in his arms. And the reason why that has a connection with St. Mary Major is because St. Mary Major is housed on one of the oldest relics in the Catholic Church, which is the very manger

[01:46] that Jesus was born in. So there's the wood of the cradle there under one of the altars. So St. Mary Major is recognized as the Bethlehem of the West, and it is the oldest church in the West dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, especially under the title of Mary, Mother of God. And a quote from St. Bernard encapsulates that.

[02:25] "Of Mary was born the Son of Justice, through whom the world received its light." So our Lord was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and at the Council of Ephesus, she was proclaimed Mother of God in order to protect the teaching of the divinity, the true divinity of Jesus Christ, that although He appeared in the form of a man, He truly had human nature

[02:58] and divine nature united in the divine person. So that Mary, in giving birth to Jesus Christ, gave birth to the Son of God. She became the Mother of God. And it was also to protect, flowing from this, her spiritual maternity over all of her children in the Church. So the Basilica of St. Mary Major is significant in many different ways.

[03:33] It's also very special because of its origin. There was a great nobleman in Rome who owned that site, the present site of St. Mary Major, and he and his wife were wondering what they should do with all their wealth before they passed away. And this was in the year 358. So they prayed about what they were going to do, and they had a dream, and it happened

[04:05] to coincide with the exact dream that the Pope at that time, Pope Liberius, had as well. And that was that Mary appeared to them and showed them the spot, or actually said to them that where snow falls in Rome tomorrow, that will be the site of the Basilica that I want to be made or to be constructed.

[04:37] So the next morning, snow fell on the site, the exact site of St. Mary Major, which is quite the miracle considering how brutal the heat is in Rome. So Pope Liberius traced out the outline of the snow, and that became the foundation for St. Mary Major. And St. Mary Major is, for many, a great place of pilgrimage because it is there that saints

[05:11] throughout the centuries, you think from that it was started, the construction was started right after the Council of Ephesus in 432. But the miracle and the site that was indicated by Our Lady was around 358. So you think of the Catholic Church, and like my brother once said when he went to Rome, and we were there together visiting all the different shrines when I was there studying for the priesthood, and afterwards he said, "I can't believe that if anyone, or I can't

[05:47] believe that anyone wouldn't become Catholic if they visited Rome because of the history that goes back so many years." You think of 358, there's already people praying and receiving, you know, counsel from the Blessed Virgin Mary, apparitions and dreams from the Blessed Virgin Mary. You have the popes who are declaring that Mary is the Mother of God.

[06:18] So it's one of those places that the Church of the West venerates in a special manner because of the history, because of the miracle, and because of the many saints who went there to pray. Many crusaders who went there before they went to liberate the holy sites in the Holy Land from the Muslims. You have their mosaics. That's one of the things about St. Mary Major is that it still has the same construction

[06:55] and very little was built upon it throughout the centuries. You have mosaics depicting the infancy of our Lord, the incarnation, Mary as Mother of God, the prophets and the saints there. You have the whole ceiling which is gilded with gold that came from Christopher Columbus from the Americas. You have the holy crib that's there. You have St. Francis, St. Dominic, all these saints throughout the centuries who venerated

[07:28] the Blessed Virgin Mary there. And you also have one of the oldest icons of the Blessed Virgin Mary called Salus Populi Romani, on the health of the people of Rome. And it is said to have been made by St. Luke himself, a depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary through this icon. You know, some scholars when you go there will say, "Well, we're not exactly sure." But tradition has it that St. Luke himself made that icon.

[08:04] So every pilgrimage to St. Mary Major is a pilgrimage to the heart of Mary. In fact, one of the titles of St. Mary Major is called the Marian Heart of the Catholic Church. Every pilgrimage there is a pilgrimage to the heart of Mary because it is there where she is venerated as the Mother of God and also our spiritual mother.

[08:38] It is there that she requested that the basilica be made a church in her honor, but also a hospital in order to lead many souls to our Lord through that title of Mother of God. It is a church that has remained as a foundation among many churches in Rome, the four principal basilicas actually. And it is there that many people every year go to make a pilgrimage, asking her to intercede

[09:13] for them, whether it was the saints of old, the crusaders, those seeking for help of soul and body. We too can unite ourselves to them in honoring the Mother of God by praying to her and asking her to be our mother, to give us the graces we need as we journey on our pilgrimage on earth to heaven.