From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Of a Pure Mind and Simple Intention  (3)   
      
      As iron cast into fire loses its rust and becomes glowing white, so he who   
   turns completely to God is stripped of his sluggishness and changed into a new   
   man. When a man begins to grow lax, he fears a little toil and welcomes   
   external   
   comfort, but when he begins perfectly to conquer himself and to walk bravely in   
   the ways of God, then he thinks these things less difficult which he thought so   
   hard before.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Book 2, Chapter 4   
      
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   August 5th - Our Lady of the Snow   
      
   The feast day of Our Lady of the Snow is also the day of the   
   dedication of the Basilica of Santa Maria of the Snows, or Santa Maria   
   Maggiore [Saint Mary Major] in Rome.   
      
   Since the 7th century it was known also as Maria ad Præsepe because   
   the Basilica has some pieces of wood from the Manger in which Our Lord   
   was born. The ceiling of the Basilica is gilded with the first gold   
   that came from the Americas.   
      
   This was the first church in Rome to be dedicated to Our Lady. In the   
   4th century Pope Liberius added a lateral hall to a large existing   
   hall of a Roman patrician palace and dedicated it to the cult; for   
   this reason it was called the Basilica Liberii [Liberian Basilica].   
   Pope Sixtus III (432-440) restored it almost a century later and   
   dedicated it to the Virgin, who the Council of Ephesus had defined as   
   Theotokos, that is, the Mother of God. It was then that the Basilica   
   received the name of Santa Maria Maggiore, Santa Maria Mayor.   
      
   A beautiful legend tells us that Our Lady appeared in dreams   
   simultaneously to Pope Liberius and to the Roman patrician who owned   
   the property where the church would be erected. She commanded the Pope   
   to build a basilica on Esquiline Hill on the site that would be   
   covered with snow the next day. Indeed, during that night of August   
   4-5, 352, in the very heat of the summer, a miraculous snow fell on   
   the summit of the Hill, indicating the place for the church to be   
   built. This is why this basilica is also called Our Lady of the Snow.   
      
   The patrician had a similar dream indicating that he should donate the   
   palace and land for the church to be built. Our Lady also told him   
   that she would send the snow as a sign.   
      
   To commemorate the Miracle of the Snow, every August 5th a cascade of   
   white petals descends from the coffered ceiling onto the altar place   
   during the religious festivities.   
      
   It was in this church that one Christmas night Our Lady placed the   
   Divine Infant into the arms of St. Cajetan of Thiene. It was here on   
   another Christmas night that St. Ignatius of Loyola celebrated his   
   first Mass. In this church, St. Pius V prayed the Rosary that obtained   
   for the Catholic warriors the victory of Lepanto. There is a chapel in   
   the Basilica that has a picture of Our Lady that, according to   
   tradition, was painted by St. Luke. St. Charles Borromeo used to pray   
   often in front of this Madonna, and in testimony of his gratitude to   
   her, he wrote the Rule of the Canons of Santa Maria Maggiore.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   Here you can see the beautiful role of legends. Synarchic (1) or   
   technocratic minds do not like legends because they lack definite   
   proof of truth. They do not understand that the legend exists to prove   
   something superior to the concrete fact. In this story, for example,   
   we find many things that tell us about Our Lady.   
      
   It can be disputed whether or not the snow actually fell on that day   
   in August, but the legend reminds us that Our Lady has the power to   
   transcend the laws of nature. There is an enormous distance between   
   Heaven and earth. She can make nothing of this distance and appear to   
   a Pope. Naturally speaking, it is marvelous for it to snow in the hot   
   summer - July and August are terribly hot months in Rome - but she has   
   the power to make this happen if she so desires.   
      
   Morally speaking, we experience this truth whenever she sends us   
   consolations in the most heated hours of our battles, trials and   
   sufferings. At such moments, she lets fall on us an immaculate, white   
   and refreshing snow that gives us a pre-taste of Heaven. Therefore,   
   even though someone can dispute the veracity of the legend of the snow   
   that fell, he cannot dispute that Our Lady is able to make this   
   miracle if she desires, and that in fact she does so frequently in a   
   moral sense. This is the superior truth the legend contains.   
      
   Surrounding this basilica is an atmosphere permeated with History. You   
   can find many magnificent things there: wood from the Manger where Our   
   Lord was born in Bethlehem, the famous icon of the Virgin Mary said to   
   be painted by St. Luke known as Salus Populi Romani [the salvation of   
   the Roman people], and the basilica's ceiling gilded with gold from   
   the mines of America and presented by the Sovereigns of Spain,   
   Ferdinand and Isabella, to the Pope. It is a very beautiful gesture to   
   take the first gold from America and, instead of putting it in a bank   
   vault, offer it to the Church so it can be “uselessly” placed on the   
   ceiling of a church dedicated to Our Lady. To send the first riches,   
   the first fruits of America, and use it to honor Our Lady is an   
   implicit recognition that she is the Mediatrix of all Graces.   
      
   Also, the excerpt duly recalls that incident when St. Pius V was in   
   Santa Maria Maggiore meeting with some cardinals and he stopped to   
   pray the Rosary. During it he had a revelation that the Catholics had   
   won the Battle of Lepanto. I don’t know why the selection doesn’t   
   mention that the body of this holy Pope is buried there. Whoever   
   visits the Basilica can venerate the body of that General Inquisitor   
   and great enemy of Protestants and Muslims, as I had the grace to do.   
      
   The impressive parade of Saints and many important relics present   
   there are testimony to the Catholic tradition that lives in Santa   
   Maria Maggiore. In that monument one finds many traces of great   
   historical events - one of them the Incarnation of the Divine Word   
   itself. All this reveals the splendor of tradition in Catholic   
   Civilization.   
      
   This feast day tells us of the importance of both tradition and the legend.   
      
   Let us pray to Our Lady that under this very poetic invocation of Our   
   Lady of the Snow, she will help us to love and fight for the sacred   
   traditions of the Church and open our souls to the most astonishing   
   miracles during the days of the chastisement predicted at Fatima.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)