Day 43 - Wednesday of Holy Week - St Mary Major

 The Piazza and Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, by Giovanni Paolo Pannini

This business about being the children of God and joint heirs with Christ, is the first message that Mary would like to share with us today, from Romans 8:  

"Whoever is led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  For you  have received the spirit of adoption as sons, and so we cry: Abba! (Father) . . . For the Spirit himself gives testimony, that we are the sons of God, and if sons, heirs also; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ,  if we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him . . .

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his name . . . What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?  He that did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, has he not also, with Him, given us all things? . . . 

Christ Jesus who died, and is risen again; who is at the right hand of God, intercedes for us.  Who then can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword?  I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8) 

This is the great witness of all the martyrs that we have been meeting the last few weeks.  There is no need to fear, whatever may come, for we are the children of our great God and King.  He has turned everything to our benefit, even when the circumstances may seem to indicate otherwise.  And in the meantime, all that Mother Church has is ours to enjoy — these magnificent churches, these lovable saints and martyrs, this glorious history.  

Below:  Santa Maria Maggiore - exterior Front

For the past 6 weeks, we have been visiting churches some of which are valued in the billions, even trillions of dollars.  Have you ever heard someone criticize the Church, saying that all its expensive art and property should be sold and the proceeds given to the poor?  Have you ever wondered if we Catholics should stop "wasting" our money on expensive churches?  Have you ever felt a little guilty at sitting comfortably in our local parish for Mass, or when visiting these beautiful cathedrals or basilicas?  Perhaps we really ought to sell our churches and buy food for the poor . . .

Interestingly,  Jesus, who certainly cared for the poor, did not seem to see it this way.  As an adolescent he yearned to spend time in Herod’s sumptuous Temple.   As an adult, He attended there often and defended its integrity against the moneychangers.  And remember, Jesus rewarded Mary for her extravagance when she emptied a bottle of perfume worth a whole years wages, bathing His feet, and anointing His head.

Model of the Second (Herod's) Temple

Did you know that this portion of the ancient Temple, not including Solomon's Portico, the court of the Gentiles, or its surrounding colonnade, was approximately the size of 3 American football fields, and the entire complex was the size of at least 12 football fields?  Oh, and by the way, that stuff that looks like gold?  It IS gold.

Francis of Assisi, who gave away all his possessions and lived a life of strictest poverty, begged for money, for what?  to buy materials to restore and beautify ruined churches which he rebuilt with his own hands.  So what about all these expensive treasures of architecture, art, stained glass, and sculpture? Should we sell them all and use the proceeds to buy food for the poor?  When that food has been consumed, what then will the poor have?  Their lives often have little or no beauty, should they also be deprived of even a vision of beauty?

Today, when the poor within the Church from all over the world have a chance occasionally to come to Rome or some other religious center, it is instructive to hear them speak of the overwhelming sense of awe and wonder and love that the beautiful cathedrals and basilicas inspire in them.  They do not begrudge the beauty and stately elegance; they are nurtured by it.  And they do not desire to exchange it for a morsel of bread.  

We are children of God, meant to live in magnificent grandeur.  A taste for the exquisite is programmed into our very essence.  Only because we are fallen are we unable to see this clearly. These magnificent churches are meant to communicate to us a mere token of what awaits us in Heaven.  As we wander within lavishly decorated basilicas, filled with the finest in craftsmanship, elegant tapestries, stately marble  columns, porphyry altars, achingly beautiful frescoes, warm, glowing gold, and rich jewelled mosaics, we are in awe.  We were meant to experience this awe.  It is an appetizer of the feast prepared for us in Heaven.    

Apse Mosaic of the Coronation of Mary, Mother of God

In Texas, we have a homestead law that seeks to guarantee that no matter what financial misfortunes might befall people, they will not lose their homes.  The loss of one’s home is a loss of one’s dignity. Our churches, from the local chapel to St. Peter’s Basilica, belong not to the hierarchy, but to the whole family.  They are like our home - a foretaste of our heavenly home.  They have been given to us by the hard work and contributions of our forebears, to remind us of our dignity as sons and daughters of the living God.  

We can look at our Mother Mary, and we know that it is right that she should be crowned with honor and glory. It is her message to us, that what our God has done for her, He desires to do for each of us.  He has a vision in which every one of his children may join Him in blessedness forever, crowned with glory and honor.  God spent thousands of years preparing us, his creation, for the events of that Holy Week just under 2 millenia ago. He felt no price was too great to make His vision reality for us.  The price He was willing to pay for the realization of His vision is the message of Holy Week.

The price to make our salvation a reality is too terrible for us to fully comprehend, and yet our God asks us to contemplate this price for an extended period every year, the period of Lent and Holy Week — to follow Jesus to Calvary and the tomb, but also to Resurrection! It is all beyond our capacity, our understanding.  We are like children listening to an adult conversation - we cannot apprehend fully what is being said, and yet we listen in fascinated reverence, sensing that something too awesome for words is just beyond our grasp. It will not forever be beyond our capacity to understand. These are whispers of Heaven. And each time we listen and ponder, we gain something new.  These are the whispers we have been following for the last 6 weeks.

These sacred spaces are meant for all of us, rich or poor, but especially for the poor, who may have no other beauty in their lives to cling to. A desperately poor woman once said to me, "It is enough that I have been here, that I have seen this.  To know that there is a place like this in the world, and that having been here, I can return at any time in my mind, is enough for me.  I am nourished by such awesome beauty, it truly feeds my soul."  All of us are poor in our own selves, but we are all rich in Christ, for all things belong to our Father, and He gives us of His riches. We are meant to inherit all good things, and all that is beautiful. As we meditate on the great treasures of the Church, may the “zeal for God’s house consume us” as it did Jesus and St. Francis, so that we may embrace the task of purification, renewal, building and rebuilding.  Let us hold dear to our hearts, the buildings and the art that have been provided for us to share with all who belong to the body of Christ.

The Borghese Chapel

Altar wall of the Borghese Chapel 

Now we want to join our Mother Mary in the chapel above, where she will share with us something that has brought numerous popes and countless pilgrims here on their knees.  In the photo above, notice that behind the high altar, in the center of the altar wall is a small framed figure.  The picture is an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, holding the child Jesus. 

Above: Salus Populi Romani - oldest Marian image in Rome

It looks small, doesn't it?  It is actually not small at all.  Is only seems small because of the relative scale of the chapel.  The image is five feet high by three and a quarter feet wide, meaning that Mary and Jesus are approximately life sized - very large for an icon, especially one from such an early date.

Salus Populi Romani - Protectress of the Roman People

This is a Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child.  Little Jesus holds a Book of the Gospels, and lifts his right hand in blessing..  Historically, this is  the most important Marian icon in Rome.  In 1953, the icon was paraded through Rome to initiate the first Marian year in Church history.  In 1954, the icon was canonically crowned by Pope Pius XII as he introduced a new Marian feast, the  Queenship of Mary (compare the image above with the image below).

Below: Salus Populi Romani - Crowned

Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and Pope Francis have all honoured the icon with personal visits and liturgical celebrations.

Mary wears a gold-trimmed dark blue mantle over a purple/red tunic. The letters in Greek at the top identify her as "Mother of God."  Mary's folded hands distinguish the image as a very early icon, prior to the development of the Hodegetria style of icon, appearing in the 10th century, in which Mary's right hand always points to Christ.  

Although neither Mary nor Jesus wears a crown in the original image, Mary holds in her right hand a mappa or embroidered ceremonial handkerchief, an imperial symbol, revealing Mary as Regina coeli or "Queen of Heaven".  When Pope Liberius initially had a church built here, prior to the present basilica, at the consecration he hung this venerated image there which had previously hung in the oratory of the popes. It was said to have been brought to Rome by St. Helena.  For centuries the icon hung above the door to the baptistery, and at least as early as 1240 it is recorded as being called Regina Caeli ("Queen of Heaven"). Later it was moved to the nave, but in 1613, the special altar tabernacle in the Pauline or Borghese Chapel was built for it by Pope Paul, and it still is in this location. 

The icon received its name because of its miraculous ending of plagues and other answers to prayer, while being carried in processions around Rome by various popes. To mention just a few, in 593 Pope Saint Gregory had the icon carried through Rome, praying for an end to the Black Plague, and the prayer was answered.   Pope Pius V in 1571 processed the image through the streets of Rome praying for victory at the Battle of Lepanto and the battle was won.  Pope Gregory XVI also did so in 1837 to pray for the end of a cholera epidemic.

In the photo below, Pope Pius XII is shown with the icon during the canonical coronation of the image in 1954.  You can easily see the relative size of the image.

Popular tradition records for us that the image was painted by St Luke in the home of John, while spending time with Mary in order to gather the information needed to write his Gospel.  According to tradition, it was painted on a table that had been made by Our Redeemer prior to the beginning of his ministry.

Prayer in front of  the Salus Populi Romani is powerful.  Why?  History and contemplation focuses us on what our dear Mother holds in her hand and in her arms. Let's read the icon.  Mary is Queen of Heaven; she holds the mappa, the symbol of her royalty, in her hand.  Her power comes from the Child, the Son, the God she holds in her arms, to whom she clings. She is there in Rome, she is here in our hearts, to offer her intercession for us through her power as Queen and as Mother.  Hers is a secondary or dependent power, and for that power she clings to the Child.  Little Jesus lifts his hand in blessing, but he holds the Gospel, the New Testament, written in his blood, as the definitive witness that His blessing is 100% assured and available to us.  Through Mary and through the Christ we have access to all we could ever need or even hope for.  As long as we stay within the Father's will, this silent witness on the wall of St Mary Major, is our guarantee that the very gates of Hell cannot prevail against us.  We are the Children of God, we are welcome in His Presence, we are known, we were planned for, and we are loved . . . . .

In honor of Our Mother Mary, here is a beautiful rendition of "Ave Maria":