Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore

Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major) is one of the four Roman basilicas which bear the title "major". In August of 352 AD snow miraculously fell on the Esquiline Hill, and in it Pope Liberius traced the perimeter of the church on the site, popularly called "Our Lady of the snow". The Basilica was built by Pope Sixtus III (432-440 AD) in honour of Mary one year after the Council of Ephesus, the Patriarch of Constantinople had claimed that Mary was not the Mother of God.