A Strike and a Lazy Day

We had a quiet beginning to this day and intended to go back to Philip Neri's church before going up to the Nocetta (which is behind St Peter's) to lunch at the SMA (Society of Missionaries of Africa) whose Generalate is there. We stood at the bus stop at Termini for some time with crowds of people before finding out that the buses were on strike. The taxi queue was extremely long so went back and emailed Derek (at SMA) about our predicament. After lunch we went down to St Mary Maggiore.

St Mary Major, or as the local's say, Santa Maria Maggiore.



The church is also called Our Lady of the Snow, or of the Snows. This name for the basilica had become popular in the 14th century in connection with a legend that "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. 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 as thepainting shows. Our Lady of the Snows church in Fox Glacier was named after this church.

Steve continued on looking at churches - back to St John Lateran and Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Holy Cross of Jerusalem) while Leona wondered the shops and bought nothing!! According to tradition, the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme was consecrated around 325 to house the relics of the true cross brought to Rome from the Holy Land by Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I. At that time, the basilica floor was covered with soil from Jerusalem, thus acquiring the title in Hierusalem - it is not dedicated to the Holy Cross which is in Jerusalem, but the church itself is "in Jerusalem" in the sense that a "piece" of Jerusalem was moved to Rome for its foundation.



Relicries of the Holy Cross

St Helena

In the evening Steve met with Vera a friend who was the archivist at the Irish College and her boyfriend James while Leona met with Derek and Tom (two SMA priests). She managed eventually to find her way to Campo de Fiori after getting off the bus. There was a lot of entertainment as we sat and I had scrumptious Vegetable Lasagne.