266 DAYS=19*2*7 DAYS (SATURDAY)=WOMAN IN PREGNANT=LUNAR PHASE (36=4*9) (1+2+3+4+...36=666)
10/3-30/11 (JANUKAH=JOHN 10 22=24/9-KISLEV HAGGAI 2 10 )=266 DAYS
10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet,11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law:12 ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, “No.”13 Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.”14 Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean.15 Now then, consider from this day onward.[a] Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord,16 how did you fare? When[b] one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty.17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.18 Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider:19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.”
El gobierno porteño izó la bandera del Vaticano en la Plaza de la República, en honor al recientemente elegido Papa cardenal Jorge Bergoglio. También iluminarán sitios emblemáticos de la Capital Federal.
14/03/2013
La Ciudad izó hoy la bandera del Vaticano en la tradicional Plaza de la República, en honor de quien fue cardenal y arzobispo de Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio, consagrado ayer nuevo Papa de la Iglesia Católica Apostólica y Romana, e iluminará también esta noche sitios emblemáticos de la Capital Federal.
La celebración por la llegada de Bergoglio al máximo cargo eclesiástico de la Iglesia comenzó ya anoche cuando el Gobierno de la Ciudad iluminó con luces amarillas dos lugares distintivos de Buenos Aires.
Fueron la histórica Pirámide de Mayo y el Monumento a La Carta Magna y las Cuatro Regiones Argentinas, ubicado en la intersección de las avenidas Del Libertador y Sarmiento y más conocido como el Monumento de los Españoles, que esta noche volverán a lucir con los colores del Vaticano y a los que se les sumará el Planetario Galileo Galilei.
Being the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius certainly qualifies as a "great star". It "burns" in the sense that the name "Sirius" means "scorcher" plus the phrase "Dog Days of summer" derives from Sirius's nickname "Dog Star". Even the "seven days" (sept jours) part relates to Sirius in that ancient Egyptians called the star Spd, Spdt, or Sept, resonating with the French sept meaning "seven. ("Seven days" can also allude to the 7-day festival Saturnalia, Dec 17-23.)
Saturnalia (Dec 17-23) was another important window we were watching very closely... (Saturnalia starts on Pope Francis's birthday, by the way.) My tweet from Nov 24:
Los Carmelitas descalzos obtuvieron un Breve apostólico de Paulo V para edificar conventos de su Orden en cualquier parte de la Cristiandad; fue este el primero que fundaron en la última parte del Monte Quirinal el año de 1606.
La iglesia se fundó en 1605 como una capilla dedicada a san Pablo para los carmelitas descalzos. La propia orden dotó de fondos a la obra del edificio hasta el descubrimiento en las excavaciones de la escultura conocida como el Hermafrodita Borghese. Scipione Borghese se apropió de ella, pero a cambio, y quizá para compensar su pérdida de influencia debido a la muerte de su tío y patrón, financió el resto de la obra de la fachada y prestó a la orden a su arquitecto, Giovanni Battista Soria. Estas concesiones, sin embargo, sólo se llevaron a efecto en 1624, aunque la obra se acabó dos años más tarde.
Después de la victoria católica en la batalla de la Montaña Blanca en 1620, que hizo retroceder la Reforma en Bohemia, la iglesia fue consagrada de nuevo a la Virgen María. Una imagen maltrecha había sido recuperada del ámbito de aquella batalla por Fray Domingo de Jesús María, de dicha Orden, de las ruinas de la casa de campo de un noble cristiano bohemio, a la cual se le atribuyó la victoria, llamándola Santa María de la Victoria. La imagen fue llevada a Roma por Fray Domingo, depositándose en Santa María la Mayor en presencia de Gregorio XV.
El nombre de Santa María de la Victoria, se dio ulteriormente, en conmemoración por haber reconquistado el emperador Fernando I la ciudad de Praga en 1671. Estandartes turcos capturados en el Sitio de Viena de 1683 cuelgan en la iglesia, como parte de este tema victorioso.
La iglesia es la única estructura diseñada y completada por el arquitecto del Barroco temprano, Carlo Maderno, aunque el interior padeció un fuego en 1833 y requirió una restauración. Su fachada, sin embargo, fue erigida por Soria en vida de Maderno (1624-1626), mostrando la inconfundible influencia de la cercana Santa Susanna de Maderno.
Su interior tiene una sola nave, amplia, bajo una bóveda segmentada baja, con tres capillas laterales interconectadas detrás de arcos separados por colosales pilastras corintias con capiteles dorados que apoyan un rico entablamento. Revestimientos de mármol que contrastan entre sí están enriquecidos con ángeles y putti de estuco blanco y dorado en bulto redondo. El interior fue enriquecido progresivamente después de la muerte de Maderno; su bóveda fue pintada al fresco en 1663 con temas triunfales dentro de compartimentos con marcos ficticios: La Virgen María triunfa sobre la Herejía y Caída de los ángeles rebeldes ejecutados por Giovanni Domenico Cerrini.
Sin duda, parte de la fama de este templo se debe a albergar una de las obras maestras del Barroco, la capilla Cornaro, espectacular y teatral espacio presidido por el grupo escultórico que representa el Éxtasis de Santa Teresa, de Gian Lorenzo Bernini, quizá la obra más conocida de este autor en el campo de la escultura. En la capilla situada frente a esta, dedicada a San José, se encuentra un grupo escultórico que representa el tema del Sueño de San José, obra del escultor Domenico Guidi, que se inspira en la obra de Bernini delante de la cual se halla.1
JANUKAH La palabra Hebrea Chanukkáh o Hanukkáh", ("dedicación", "consagración"), proviene del Hebreo "hanakh" Ignauración ("entrenamiento"), significando a su vez: "dedicar", "dar", "empezar", "comenzar". Esta palabra hebrea quiere decir cambio y dedicación La misma palabra expresa renovación.
La palabra Hebrea "Chanoch" o "Hanokh" ("Henoch"), tiene el mismo significado que la palabra Hebrea "HANUKKÁH", y vienen de la misma raíz Hebrea "hanakh", y por lo tanto, son sinónimos. La festividad de Jánuca evoca la época de la hegemonía helénica en Israel, iniciada con la conquista de Alejandro Magno, en el año 332 a. C.; y como tal, no se hace mención a ella en las Escrituras. Cuando se corona como rey de Siria a Antíoco IV Epífanes (175 y 164 a. C.), éste decide helenizar al pueblo de Israel, prohibiéndole así a los judíos poder seguir sus tradiciones y costumbres. Un grupo de judíos conocido como los macabeos (dado que su líder era Yehudá Macabi), provenientes de la zona de Modi'ín, comenzaron a rebelarse contra los soldados griegos, ya que se negaban a hacer actos que iban en contra de su propia religión. Tuvieron una lucha difícil, y eran una minoría luchando contra el ejército griego, sin embargo sus estrategias, su decisión y fe les llevaron a lo que es el milagro de Jánuca, ganar pocos contra muchos. Cuando terminan la guerra, los macabeos regresan a Jerusalén a las sinagogas y las encuentran destruidas, ellos encuentran la menorá (un candelabro de siete brazos) apagado, y aceite para encenderlo un sólo día. Tardaron ocho días en tener listo más aceite y sin embargo ese poco aceite que tenían mantuvo prendido la menorá durante los ocho días hasta que tuvieron más aceite.
La fiesta de Jánuca se celebra durante ocho días, del 25 de kislev al 2 de tevet (o el 3 de tevet, cuando kislev cuenta con sólo 29 días). Durante esta festividad se prende una januquiá o candelabro de ocho brazos (más uno mayor). En la primera noche únicamente se prende el brazo mayor y una vela, y cada noche se va aumentando una vela, hasta el último día en el que todo el candelabro se enciende completo. Este hecho conmemora el milagro de que el aceite duró ocho días. PUES VARIAS COSAS OCURRIERON EN ESTA FIESTA • Se echo fuera el Espíritu Griego • Se renovó el templo • Se comenzó de nuevo la verdadera Adoración • Se produjo el milagro La idolatría y el paganismo invadieron el verdadero culto. El espíritu Heleno. Aunque ya Grecia esta muerta, es el que controla las artes y el mundo. Y es un espíritu que ataca la mente y el intelecto del hombre llevándolo hacer anárquico e indiferente con Dios, este demonio de asimilación es peligroso para la vida del Mesiánico. Recordemos que cuando los Griegos dominaban ellos trataron de implantar su cultura llena de costumbres paganas y sus dioses que van en contra de los principios que Hashem estableció en su palabra Hoy el creyente se debe cuidar del espíritu Griego que es el demonio que domina la mente y la conducta del mundo Recordemos que nuestro Mesías no es Griego EL NO SE LLAMA JESUS sino Yahshua el es judío, el León de la tribu de Judah y su nombre es Yahshúa ha Mashiaj Recordemos que el mismo demonio de contaminación en el cuerno pequeño que es la iglesia Romana cambio las fiestas y metió las fiestas paganas de la Navidad y muchas mas quitando la esencia judía del verdadero culto a YHVH En estos días hace falta un espíritu profético que empiece a restaurar el verdadero culto como al principio y echar fuera el demonio del paganismo que domina el culto en lo que hemos conocido como Iglesia.
LA VERDADERA ADORACION. En este tiempo YHWH esta buscando verdaderos adoradores que le adoren en espíritu y en verdad. Nesecitamos la energía y la fe de los Macabeos para desterrar el espíritu pagano que domina la iglesia Eso demonio pagano que domina a los creyentes y que esta metido en el culto,Teología e ideología Cristiana(Evangélicos,Protestantes,) JANUKAH Estos son días para activar el aceite el poder milagroso y sobrenatural del Espíritu Santo. Días para Tomar Desiciones y Restaurar Nuestra Vida a una Correcta Adoración….SON DIAS DE CAMBIO Y TRASFORMACION Janukah Sameaj Rabino Raúl Vargas
Acabamos de ver que el simbolismo de las dos puertas solsticiales, en Occidente, existía entre los griegos y más en particular entre los pitagóricos; se lo encuentra igualmente entre los latinos, donde está esencialmente vinculado con el simbolismo de Jano. Como ya hemos hecho alusión a éste y a sus diversos aspectos en muchas ocasiones, no consideraremos aquí sino los puntos referidos más directamente a lo que hemos expuesto en nuestros últimos estudios, aunque, por otra parte, sea difícil aislarlos por completo del conjunto complejísimo de que forman parte.
Jano, en el aspecto de que ahora se trata, es propiamente el ianitor [‘portero’] que abre y cierra las puertas (ianuae) del ciclo anual, con las llaves que son uno de sus principales atributos; y recordaremos a este respecto que la llave es un símbolo “axial”. Esto se refiere, naturalmente, al aspecto “temporal’ del simbolismo de Jano: sus dos rostros, según la interpretación más habitual, se consideran como representación respectiva del pasado y el porvenir; ahora bien: tal consideración del pasado y el porvenir se encuentra también, como es evidente, para un ciclo cualquiera, por ejemplo el ciclo anual, cuando se lo encara desde una u otra de sus extremidades. Desde este punto de vista, por lo demás, importa agregar, para completar la noción del “triple tiempo”, que entre el pasado que ya no es y el porvenir que no es aún, el verdadero rostro de Jano, aquel que mira el presente, no es, se dice, ninguno de los dos visibles. Ese tercer rostro, en efecto, es invisible porque el presente, en la manifestación temporal, no constituye sino un inaprehensible instante[2]; pero, cuando el ser se eleva por sobre las condiciones de esta manifestación transitoria y contingente, el presente contiene, al contrario, toda realidad. El tercer rostro de Jano corresponde, en otro simbolismo, el de la tradición hindú, al ojo frontal de Çiva, invisible también, puesto que no representado por órgano corporal alguno, ojo que figura el “sentido de la eternidad”; una mirada de ese tercer ojo lo reduce todo a cenizas, es decir, destruye toda manifestación; pero, cuando la sucesión se transmuta en simultaneidad, lo temporal en intemporal, todas las cosas vuelven a encontrarse y moran en el “eterno presente”, de modo que la destrucción aparente no es en verdad sino una “transformación”.
Volvamos a lo que concierne más particularmente al ciclo anual: sus puertas, que Jano tiene por función abrir y cerrar, no son sino las puertas solsticiales a que ya nos hemos referido. No cabe duda alguna a este respecto: en efecto, Jano [Ianus] ha dado su nombre al mes de enero (ianuarius), que es el primero, aquel por el cual se abre el año cuando comienza, normalmente, en el solsticio de invierno; además, cosa aún más neta, la fiesta de Jano, en Roma, era celebrada en los dos solsticios por los Collegia Fabrorum; tendremos inmediata oportunidad de insistir sobre este punto. Como las puertas solsticiales dan acceso, según lo hemos dicho anteriormente, a las dos mitades, ascendente y descendente, del ciclo zodiacal, que en ellas tienen sus puntos de partida respectivos, Jano, a quien ya hemos visto aparecer como el “Señor del triple tiempo” (designación que se aplica también a Çiva en la tradición hindú), es también, por lo dicho, el “Señor de las dos vías”, esas dos vías, de derecha y de izquierda, que los pitagóricos representaban con la letra Y[3], y que son, en el fondo, idénticas al deva-yána y al pitr-yna respectivamente[4]. Es fácil comprender, entonces, que las llaves de Jano son en realidad aquellas mismas que, según la tradición cristiana, abren y cierran el “Reino de los cielos” (correspondiendo en este sentido al deva-yna la vía por la cual se alcanza aquél)[5], y ello tanto más cuanto que, en otro respecto, esas dos llaves, una de oro y otra de plata, eran también, respectivamente, la de los “grandes misterios” y la de los “pequeños misterios”.
En efecto, Jano era el dios de la iniciación[6], y esta atribución es de las más importantes, no solo en sí misma sino además desde el punto de vista en que ahora nos situamos, porque existe una conexión manifiesta con lo que decíamos sobre la función propiamente iniciática de la caverna y de las otras “imágenes del mundo” equivalentes de ella, función que nos ha llevado precisamente a considerar el asunto de las puertas solsticiales. A ese título, por lo demás, Jano presidía los Collegia Fabrorum, depositarios de las iniciaciones que, como en todas las civilizaciones tradicionales, estaban vinculadas con el ejercicio de las artesanías; y es muy notable que esto, lejos de desaparecer con la antigua civilización romana, se haya continuado sin interrupción en el propio cristianismo, y que de ello, por extraño que parezca a quienes ignoran ciertas “transmisiones”, pueden aún encontrarse vestigios en nuestros mismos días.
En el cristianismo, las fiestas solsticiales de Jano se han convertido en las de los dos San Juan, y éstas se celebran siempre en las mismas épocas, es decir en los alrededores inmediatos de los solsticios de invierno y verano[7]; y es también muy significativo que el aspecto esotérico de la tradición cristiana haya sido considerado siempre como “johannita”, lo cual confiere a ese hecho un sentido que sobrepasa netamente, cualesquiera fueren las apariencias exteriores, el dominio simplemente religioso y exotérico. La sucesión de los antiguos Collegia Fabrorum, por lo demás, se transmitió regularmente a las corporaciones que, a través de todo el Medioevo, mantuvieron el mismo carácter iniciático, y en especial a la de los constructores; ésta, pues, tuvo naturalmente por patronos a los dos San Juan, de donde proviene la conocida expresión de “Logia de San Juan” que se ha conservado en la masonería, pues ésta no es sino la continuación, por filiación directa, de las organizaciones a que acabamos de referirnos[8]. Aun en su forma especulativa” moderna, la masonería ha conservado siempre también, como uno de los testimonios más explícitos de su origen, las fiestas solsticiales, consagradas a los dos San Juan después de haberlo estado a los dos rostros de Jano[9]; y así la doctrina tradicional de las dos puertas solsticiales, con sus conexiones iniciáticas, se ha mantenido viva aún, por mucho que sea generalmente incomprendida, hasta en el mundo occidental actual.
Jano - xano - xacobo - Jacobo - san yago - santiago Jano - Iano - Ianus - Ianua - Iacobus
el Hermes no es equiparable...es hermafrodita y bicéfalo el Jano es bifronte ya quisieran el Hermes y el Shiva tener lo del Jano...
Es que todos ellos son mensajeros,el contacto entre dioses y los hombres , arquitectos del universo y además poseen dos "vertientes"
JANUS CON LA LLAVE Y EL GALLO
El Primer Día del Año, es decir, el Día Primero de Enero de cada Año es dedicado al Dios Jano, Janus, Cronos o Saturno, Iao, Baco, Iod-Hevé, Thoth, Hermes y Mercurio.
"Dupuis fue el primer erudito que identificó a San Pedro como Janus [el término janitor, originalmente el que tiene las llaves, deriva de janus]. Janus alternadamente deriva de Dianus (Día), un Dios de las horas de la luz del día, la forma masculina de Diana la Deidad “Lunar” [Venusta, mejor dicho]. Janus es considerado el Dios de las Puertas, especialmente responsable [como San Pedro] del Portal del Cielo. El mes de Enero es llamado después Janus. (...). En los antiguos días Janus estaba en el cielo medio en la salida del Sol alrededor del Solsticio de Invierno, abriendo así un Año Nuevo. Janus es no solamente competente para abrir y cerrar días y años, sino también guerra y paz. (...) Así como Janus conduce el círculo anual de los signos zodiacales, San Pedro conduce a los Doce Apóstoles del Cristianismo Romano. Hércules es llamado un Portador de la Maza, pero Llave y Maza pueden ser expresados como sinónimos en Latín: Hércules es por lo tanto, un portador de las Llaves igual que Janus."
"Las regiones del Cercano Oriente tienen la mayoría de la lluvia en invierno. Esto conduce al cuadro de Janus como Barquero a través de la inundación del invierno. (...) Janus como Barquero se refiere otra vez a la actividad de Pedro como pescador. Janus fue representado no solamente con la Llave del Cielo, sino también con una Vara Larga que puede ser reinterpretado como la Vara del pastor con la que San Pedro mira a las Ovejas (...)"
Antigua Gema Gnóstica con la figura del Abraxas y el Nombre Inefable de Dios IAW (IAO), el Anubis y Hermes-Cristo de los Gnósticos.
En la obra "The Gnostics and Their Remains", en el capítulo titulado "The Abraxas", su autor "Charles William King", [1887]", en referencias al Dios ANUBIS, lo describe
"... portando el caduceo de Hermes para denotar su oficio de conductor de almas [psicopompo], no… a través de las sombras del submundo, sino a lo largo del sendero planetario hasta su final reposo en el Pleroma. Así el Evangelio Gnóstico "Pistis Sophía", describiendo al Salvador [Jesús Cristo] después de haber recibido su Vestidura de Luz, con las cinco palabras de poder inscritas y con los nombres de todas las Dominaciones encontradas en su Ascensión, lo hace venir primero a la Puerta del Firmamento, luego al Dios de la esfera, luego a la esfera del Destino, y finalmente a los Doce grandes Aeones: cuyos Poderes todos cuando vieron sus propios nombres escritos en su vestidura quedaron impresionados con temor y comenzaron a cantar himnos a Él."
"Este ANUBIS-HERMES aparece algunas veces ondeando una rama de palma, para proclamar su victoria sobre los Poderes del Mal; o presidiendo a la psychostasia "peso de las almas", la escena comúnmente pintada en el Ritual Egipcio de la Muerte. En el último carácter, él aparece aquí como Cristo, el Juez;… En las antiguas Gemas griegas Hermes es a menudo representado inclinándose hacia adelante, con el caduceo en la mano, y por su mística virtud asistiendo a un alma emergiendo de la profundidad de la tierra -- una extraña coincidencia en forma, probablemente también en origen, con la medieval pintura del Salvador [Jesús el Cristo] sacando almas del Purgatorio…" […]
"Hermes en este particular carácter de Psychopompos, fue muy utilizado por los Naasenos (Ofitas) como el profético representante del Salvador en su grandioso oficio. Ellos interpretaron a Hermes conduciendo a las almas a través de la oscuridad dentro del Elysium así como Cristo guía las mentes del iluminado, fuera de la ignorancia, dentro del Conocimiento [Gnosis], en todo su especial sentido de las palabras…"
Un poco más adelante, este mismo autor, dice:
"Este doble carácter de ANUBIS es... expresado… [como[ el Buen Pastor, cargando un cordero sobre sus hombros, recostado sobre su cayado, sus lomos atados con un cinto [o ceñidor]… Pero un examen más detenido … se resuelve en el Dios de dos cabezas de Egipto… el "ladrador Anubis"… " ("The Gnostics and Their Remains".)
El "ladrador Anubis", en dos palabras: ¡El Veltro!
"... el gallo, heraldo del Sol, estaba consagrado al Dios Mercurio..." (Fulcanelli, “Las Moradas Filosofales”).
El Gallo (GAIO, o I.A.O.) es el atributo del Apóstol Pedro. Cuando el Gallo de la Alquimia, de la Pasión, Canta por tercera vez, es el anuncio de la Resurrección.
“El Gallo" es el emblema de la Resurrección. Simboliza también al Mercurio de la Alquimia, las Energías Creadoras Sexuales, que el Alquimista Transmuta por medio de “La Llave" que es el Arte y la Ciencia de la Transmutación Sexual, tal y como está en las Obras de nuestro Venerable y Amado Maestro Samael Aun Weor, de nuestro Venerable y Amado Maestro Rabolú y del V.M. Thoth-Moisés. (Ver nuestro Trabajo titulado “Preparación para ser un Fiel Discípulo de la Logia Blanca“).
El Divino Jerarca de la Ley de Dios Anubis es asimismo Hermes y Thoth:
"Hermanubis (Egipcio).- O sea: Hermes-Anubis, "el revelador de los misterios del mundo inferior" -no del infierno o Hades, como se ha interpretado erróneamente, sino de nuestra Tierra (el mundo más inferior de la cadena septenaria de mundos) -y también de los misterios sexuales. Kreuzer debe haber adivinado la verdadera interpretación, por cuanto denomina a Anubis-Thoth-Hermes "un símbolo de la ciencia y del mundo intelectual".
"Estaba siempre representado teniendo en la mano una cruz,..." (G.T. H.P.B.)", el "Ankh", la Cruz de Thoth.
In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus (/ˈdʒeɪnəs/JAY-nəs; Latin: Ianvs[ˈi̯aːnʊs]) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways,[2] passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus (Ianuarius).[3] According to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs, Juno was mistaken as the tutelary deity of the month of January,[4] but Juno is the tutelary deity of the month of June.
Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The gates of a building in Rome, named after him (not a temple, as it is often called, but an open enclosure with gates at each end), were opened in time of war and closed to mark the arrival of peace. As a god of transitions, he had functions pertaining to birth and to journeys and exchange, and in his association with Portunus, a similar harbor and gateway god, he was concerned with travelling, trading and shipping.
Janus had no flamen or specialised priest (sacerdos) assigned to him, but the King of the Sacred Rites (rex sacrorum) himself carried out his ceremonies. Janus had a ubiquitous presence in religious ceremonies throughout the year. As such, Janus was ritually invoked at the beginning of each ceremony, regardless of the main deity honored on any particular occasion.[citation needed]
While the ancient Greeks had no known equivalent to Janus, there is considerable overlap with Culśanś of the Etruscan pantheon.
Iānus would then be an action name expressing the idea of going, passing, formed on the root *yā- < *y-eð2- theme II of the root *ey- go from which eō, ειμι.[7] Other modern scholars object to an Indo-European etymology either from Dianus or from root *yā-.[8]
From Ianus derived ianua ("door"),[9] and hence the English word "janitor" (Latin, ianitor).
Three etymologies were proposed by ancient erudites, each of them bearing implications about the nature of the god.[10] The first one is based on the definition of Chaos given by Paul the Deacon: hiantem, hiare, "be open", from which the word Ianus would derive by the loss of the initial aspirate. In this etymology, the notion of Chaos would define the primordial nature of the god.[11][12]
Another etymology proposed by Nigidius Figulus is related by Macrobius:[13]Ianus would be Apollo and DianaIana, by the addition of a D for the sake of euphony. This explanation has been accepted by A. B. Cook and J. G. Frazer. It supports all the assimilations of Janus to the bright sky, the sun and the moon. It supposes a former *Dianus, formed on *dia- < *dy-eð2 from the Indo-European root *dey- shine represented in Latin by dies day, Diovis and Iuppiter.[14] However the form Dianus postulated by Nigidius is not attested.
A third etymology indicated by Cicero, Ovid and Macrobius, which explains the name as Latin, deriving it from the verb ire ("to go") is based on the interpretation of Janus as the god of beginnings and transitions.[15]
Different depictions of Janus from Bernard de Montfaucon's L'antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures
While the fundamental nature of Janus is debated, in most modern scholars' view the god's functions may be seen as being organized around a single principle: presiding over all beginnings and transitions, whether abstract or concrete, sacred or profane.[16] Interpretations concerning the god's fundamental nature either limit it to this general function or emphasize a concrete or particular aspect of it (identifying him with light,[17] the sun,[18] the moon,[19] time,[20] movement,[21] the year,[22] doorways,[23] bridges,[24] etc.) or else see in the god a sort of cosmological principle, interpreting him as a uranic deity.[25]
Almost all of these modern explanations were originally formulated by the ancients.[26]
His function as god of beginnings has been clearly expressed in numerous ancient sources, among them most notably Cicero, Ovid, and Varro.[27] As a god of motion, Janus looks after passages, causes actions to start and presides over all beginnings. Since movement and change are interconnected, he has a double nature, symbolised in his two-headed image.[28] He has under his tutelage the stepping in and out of the door of homes,[29] the ianua, which took its name from him,[30] and not vice versa.[31] Similarly, his tutelage extends to the covered passages named iani and foremost to the gates of the city, including the cultic gate of the Argiletum, named Ianus Geminus or Porta Ianualis from which he protects Rome against the Sabines.[32] He is also present at the Sororium Tigillum, where he guards the terminus of the ways into Rome from Latium.[33] He has an altar, later a temple near the Porta Carmentalis, where the road leading to Veii ended, as well as being present on the Janiculum, a gateway from Rome out to Etruria.[34]
The connection of the notions of beginning (principium), movement, transition (eundo), and thence time was clearly expressed by Cicero.[35] In general, Janus is at the origin of time as the guardian of the gates of Heaven: Jupiter himself can move forth and back because of Janus's working.[36] In one of his temples, probably that of Forum Holitorium, the hands of his statue were positioned to signify the number 355 (the number of days in a lunar year), later 365, symbolically expressing his mastership over time.[37] He presides over the concrete and abstract beginnings of the world,[38] such as religion and the gods themselves,[39] he too holds the access to Heaven and to other gods: this is the reason why men must invoke him first, regardless of the god they want to pray to or placate.[40] He is the initiator of human life,[41] of new historical ages, and financial enterprises: according to myth he was the first to mint coins and the as, first coin of the liberal series, bears his effigy on one face.[42]
Janus frequently symbolized change and transitions such as the progress of past to future, from one condition to another, from one vision to another, and young people's growth to adulthood. He represented time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other.[43] Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as at marriages, deaths and other beginnings. He represented the middle ground between barbarism and civilization, rural and urban space, youth and adulthood. Having jurisdiction over beginnings Janus had an intrinsic association with omens and auspices.[44]
Plutarch in his Parallel Lives mention that Numa Pompilius made January the first month in the calendar instead of March by the next reason: "he wished in every case that martial influences should yield precedence to civil and political. For this Janus, in remote antiquity, whether he was a demi-god or a king, was a patron of civil and social order, and is said to have lifted human life out of its bestial and savage state. For this reason he is represented with two faces, implying that he brought men's lives out of one sort and condition into another."[45]
Leonhard Schmitz suggests that he was likely the most important god in the Roman archaic pantheon. He was often invoked together with Iuppiter (Jupiter).[46]
In several of his works, G. Dumézil proposed the existence of a structural difference in level between the Proto-Indo-European gods of beginning and ending, and the other gods whom Dumézil postulated fall into a tripartite structure, reflecting the most ancient organization of society. So in IE religions there is an introducer god (such as VedicVyu and Roman Janus) and a god of ending, and a nurturer goddess who is often also a fire spirit (such as Roman Vesta, Vedic Saraswati and Agni, AvesticArmaiti and Anit) who show a sort of mutual solidarity.
The concept of 'god of ending' is defined in connection to the human point of reference, i.e. the current situation of man in the universe, and not to endings as transitions into new circumstances, which are under the jurisdiction of the gods of beginning, owing to the ambivalent nature of the concept. Thus the god of beginning is not structurally reducible to a sovereign god, nor the goddess of ending to any of the three categories on to which Dumézil distributed goddesses. There is though a greater degree of fuzziness concerning the function and role of goddesses, which may have formed a preexisting structure allowing the absorption of the local Mediterranean mother goddesses, nurturers, and protectresses .[47][48]
As a consequence, the position of the gods of beginning would not be the issue of a diachronic process of debasement undergone by a supreme sky god, but rather a structural feature inherent to the culture's theology. The descent of primordial sky gods into the condition of deus otiosus is a well-known phenomenon in many religions. Dumézil himself observed and discussed in many of his works the phenomenon of the fall of archaic celestial deities in numerous societies of ethnologic interest.[49]
Mircea Eliade evaluated Dumezil's views (1946)[47] positively, and recommended their use in comparative research on Indo-European religions.[50]
According to Macrobius who cites Nigidius Figulus and Cicero, Janus and Jana (Diana) are a pair of divinities, worshipped as Apollo or the sun and moon, whence Janus received sacrifices before all the others, because through him is apparent the way of access to the desired deity.[51][52]
A similar solar interpretation has been offered by A. Audin who interprets the god as the issue of a long process of development, starting with the Sumeric cultures, from the two solar pillars located on the eastern side of temples, each of them marking the direction of the rising sun at the dates of the two solstices: the southeastern corresponding to the Winter and the northeastern to the Summer solstice. These two pillars would be at the origin of the theology of the divine twins, one of whom is mortal (related to the NE pillar, nearest the Northern region where the sun does not shine) and the other is immortal (related to the SE pillar and the Southern region where the sun always shines). Later these iconographic models evolved in the Middle East and Egypt into a single column representing two torsos and finally a single body with two heads looking at opposite directions.[53]
Numa, in his regulation of the Roman calendar, called the first month Januarius after Janus, according to tradition considered the highest divinity at the time.
The temple of Janus with closed doors, on a sestertius issued under Nero in 66 AD from the mint at Lugdunum
Numa built the Ianus geminus (also Janus Bifrons, Janus Quirinus or Portae Belli), a passage ritually opened at times of war, and shut again when Roman arms rested.[54] It formed a walled enclosure with gates at each end, situated between the old Roman Forum and that of Julius Caesar, which had been consecrated by Numa Pompilius himself. About the exact location and aspect of the temple there has been much debate among scholars.[55] In wartime the gates of the Janus were opened, and in its interior sacrifices and vaticinia were held, to forecast the outcome of military deeds.[56] The doors were closed only during peacetime, an extremely rare event.[57] The function of the Ianus Geminus was supposed to be a sort of good omen: in time of peace it was said to close the wars within or to keep peace inside;[which?] in times of war it was said to be open to allow the return of the people on duty.[58]
A temple of Janus is said to have been consecrated by the consul Gaius Duilius in 260 BC after the Battle of Mylae in the Forum Holitorium. It contained a statue of the god with the right hand showing the number 300 and the left the number 65—i.e., the length in days of the solar year—and twelve altars, one for each month.[59]
The four-sided structure known as the Arch of Janus in the Forum Transitorium dates from the 1st century of the Christian era: according to common opinion it was built by the Emperor Domitian. However American scholars L. Ross Taylor and L. Adams Holland on the grounds of a passage of Statius[60] maintain that it was an earlier structure (tradition has it the Ianus Quadrifrons was brought to Rome from Falerii[61]) and that Domitian only surrounded it with his new forum.[62] In fact the building of the Forum Transitorium was completed and inaugurated by Nerva in AD 96.
Another way of investigating the complex nature of Janus is by systematically analysing his cultic epithets: religious documents may preserve a notion of a deity's theology more accurately than other literary sources.
The main sources of Janus's cult epithets are the fragments of the Carmen Saliare preserved by Varro in his work De Lingua Latina, a list preserved in a passage of Macrobius's Saturnalia (I 9, 15–16), another in a passage of Johannes Lydus's De Mensibus (IV 1), a list in Cedrenus's Historiarum Compendium (I p. 295 7 Bonn), partly dependent on Lydus's, and one in Servius Honoratus's commentary to the Aeneis (VII 610).[63] Literary works also preserve some of Janus's cult epithets, such as Ovid's long passage of the Fasti devoted to Janus at the beginning of Book I (89–293), Tertullian, Augustine and Arnobius.
As may be expected the opening verses of the Carmen,[64] are devoted to honouring Janus, thence were named versus ianuli.[65] Paul the Deacon[66] mentions the versus ianuli, iovii, iunonii, minervii. Only part of the versus ianuli and two of the iovii are preserved.
The manuscript has:
(paragraph 26): "cozeulodorieso. omia ũo adpatula coemisse./ ian cusianes duonus ceruses. dun; ianusue uet põmelios eum recum";
(paragraph 27): "diuum êpta cante diuum deo supplicante." "ianitos".
Many reconstructions have been proposed:[67] they vary widely in dubious points and are all tentative, nonetheless one can identify with certainty some epithets:
Cozeiuod[68]orieso.[69]Omnia vortitod[70]Patulti; oenus es
The above-mentioned sources give: Ianus Geminus, I. Pater, I. Iunonius, I. Consivius, I. Quirinus, I. Patulcius and Clusivius (Macrobius above I 9, 15): Ι. Κονσίβιον, Ι. Κήνουλον, Ι. Κιβουλλιον, I. Πατρίκιον, I. Κλουσίβιον, I. Ιουνώνιον, I. Κυρινον, I. Πατούλκιον, I. Κλούσιον, I. Κουριάτιον (Lydus above IV 1); I. Κιβούλλιον, I. Κυρινον, I. Κονσαιον, I. Πατρίκιον (Cedrenus Historiarum Compendium I p. 295 7 Bonn); I. Clusiuius, I. Patulcius, I. Iunonius, I. Quirinus (Servius Aen. VII 610).
Even though the lists overlap to a certain extent (five epithets are common to Macrobius's and Lydus's list), the explanations of the epithets differ remarkably. Macrobius's list and explanation are probably based directly on Cornelius Labeo's work, as he cites this author often in his Saturnalia, as when he gives a list of Maia's cult epithets[74] and mentions one of his works, Fasti.[75] In relating Janus' epithets Macrobius states: "We invoke in the sacred rites". Labeo himself, as it is stated in the passage on Maia, read them in the lists of indigitamenta of the libri pontificum. On the other hand, Lydus's authority cannot have consulted these documents precisely because he offers different (and sometimes bizarre) explanations for the common epithets: it seems likely he received a list with no interpretations appended and his interpretations are only his own.[76]
Pope Francis, the pontiff revered by millions of Catholics around the world whose popular appeal reached far beyond his global congregation, has died at the age of 88.
Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said: “At 7.35 this morning, the bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church.″
The official declaration of the pope’s death is expected on Monday evening, when his body will be placed in its coffin. The cause of death is also likely to be disclosed.
Francis’s body will be transferred to St Peter’s basilica on Wednesday morning to allow members of the public to pay their respects.
Cardinals will meet on Tuesday morning to decide the date of the pope’s funeral, which must take place between four and six days after death. The funeral will be followed by nine days of official mourning.
Francis, who had chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on 14 February for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalisation of his 12-year papacy.
He was discharged from hospital on 23 March and made his last public appearance on Sunday, when he spoke briefly to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square for Easter mass.
Pope Francis appears on St Peter's Square for Easter Sunday mass - video
King Charles said he and the queen – who met the pope in Rome last week – had “heavy hearts” at the news of his death, adding that Francis would be remembered for his compassion and tireless commitment.
President Trump posted on social media: ““Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!” Former president Joe Biden said Francis would be “remembered as one of the most consequential leaders of our time”, and Barack Obama said he was a “rare leader who made us want to be better people”.
In Italy, Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, said: “I had the privilege of enjoying his friendship, his advice and his teachings, which never failed even in moments of trial and suffering.”
Loved by many Catholics for his humility, Francis simplified rites for papal funerals last year and previously said he had already planned his tomb in the basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in the Esquilino neighbourhood in Rome, where he went to pray before and after trips overseas. Popes are usually buried with much fanfare in the grottoes beneath St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
Amid intense mourning over the coming days and weeks, manoeuvring within the Vatican over who is to succeed Francis and become the 268th head of the Catholic church is certain to begin. Cardinals from around the world will head to Rome for a conclave, the secret, complex election ritual held in the Sistine Chapel and involving about 138 cardinals who are eligible to vote.
The conclave must begin its deliberations within 20 days of the pope’s death.
Some of the potential contenders mooted before Francis’s death were Matteo Zuppi, a progressive Italian cardinal, Pietro Parolin, who serves as the Vatican’s secretary of state, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, from the Philippines.
Francis greets cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi during a mass for the conclusion of Catholic Social Week in Trieste, Italy, last year. Photograph: Vatican Pool/Getty Images
His death is likely to exacerbate sharp divisions within the curia, with conservatives seeking to wrest control of the church away from reformers.
During his 12-year papacy, Francis – the first Jesuit pope – was a vocal champion of the world’s poor, dispossessed and disadvantaged, and a blunt critic of corporate greed and social and economic inequality. Within the Vatican, he criticised extravagance and privilege, calling on church leaders to show humility.
His views riled significant numbers of cardinals and powerful Vatican officials, who often sought to frustrate Francis’s efforts to overhaul the ancient institutions of the church. But his compassion and humanity endeared him to millions around the world
Francis, who was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, was elected pope in March 2013. He immediately signalled his style of papacy by taking the bus, rather than papal car, to his hotel, where he paid his bill before moving into the Vatican guesthouse, eschewing the opulent papal apartments. At his first media appearance, he expressed his wish for a “poor church and a church for the poor”.
Francis leading a procession at the opening of the special assembly of the synod of bishops for the pan-Amazon region in October 2019. Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images
He focused papal attention on poverty and inequality, calling unfettered capitalism the “dung of the devil”. Two years into his papacy, he issued an 180-page encyclical on the environment, demanding the world’s richest nations pay their “grave social debt” to the poor. The climate crisis represented “one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day”, the pope said.
He called for compassion for and generosity towards refugees, saying they should not be treated as “pawns on the chessboard of humanity”. After visiting the Greek island of Lesbos, he offered 12 Syrians refuge at the Vatican. Prisoners and the victims of modern-day slavery and human trafficking were also highlighted in his frequent appeals for mercy and social action. During his recent period in hospital, he kept up his telephone calls to the Holy Family church in Gaza, a nightly routine since 9 October 2023.
A boy shakes Francis’s hand as he greets people at Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos in April 2016. Photograph: Reuters
One of the biggest issues with which Francis had to contend was that of clerical sexual abuse and the church’s cover-up of crimes committed by priests and bishops. In the first few years of his papacy, as wave after wave of scandals engulfed the church, Francis was accused by survivors and others of failing to understand the scale of the crisis and the urgent need to proactively root out abuse and its cover-up.
In 2019, Francis summoned bishops from around the world to Rome to discuss the crisis and later issued an edict requiring priests and nuns to report sexual abuse and its cover-up to the church authorities, and guaranteeing protection for whistleblowers. It was a significant move towards the church taking responsibility for the scandals, and went much further than his predecessors.
Francis attending the unveiling of a sculpture called Angels Unaware depicting a group of 140 migrants of various cultures and from different historic times in St Peter’s Square in 2019. Photograph: Vatican Pool/Corbis/Getty Images
Also during his tenure as the head of the Catholic church, Francis was obliged to respond to repeated acts of terrorism and persecution. He was at pains to stress that violence had no part to play in true practice of religion, and that people should not conflate acts of terrorism with Islam. “I think it is not right to identity Islam with violence,” he said after the murder of a Catholic priest in France in 2016. “I think that in nearly all religions there is always a small fundamentalist group,” he said, adding: “We [Catholics] have them.”
Francis spoke with compassion on issues of sexuality (famously responding “who am I to judge?” to a question about gay priests), the family and the role of women in society – while adhering to traditional Catholic doctrine on marriage, contraception and abortion. Although many on the left strove to claim Francis as one of their own, he could not easily be defined as liberal or conservative.
On his many trips abroad, Francis was greeted like a rock star, with hundreds of thousands – sometimes millions – waiting for hours for a glimpse of the diminutive, white-robed figure in his open-sided popemobile. His appeal was particularly strong among young people, whom he frequently urged to reject materialism and overdependence on technology. “Happiness … is not an app that you can download on your phones,” Francis told Catholic youth in April 2016.
People greet Francis and take photos of him with their mobile phones as he arrives for a weekly general audience in January 2019. Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images
The deliberations and final choice of the Catholic church’s cardinal electors in the coming days and weeks will determine whether Francis’s efforts to reform its institutions and to shift its emphasis towards the poor will be a durable legacy.
On Saturday afternoon Pope Francis went to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to pray.
In another surprise visit by Pope Francis early Saturday afternoon, Vatican sources confirmed that the Pontiff visited the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome and stopped to pray before the icon of the Virgin, Salus Populi Romani, on the eve of Palm Sunday and Holy Week.
The Pope's previous surprise events
On Thursday, Pope Francis visited St. Peter's Basilica to check the progress of the restoration of two funerary monuments, those of Popes Paul III and Urban VIII, whose works will be presented on Sunday.
Before moving on to the tomb of Pius X, where he gathered in prayer, the pope, who was wearing trousers and a poncho instead of his usual white suit, met two restorers who were on site to carry out the final touches. He had them called by the Vatican gendarmerie and thanked them in person.
The Pope is still recovering after a long stay at the Gemelli polyclinic with double pneumonia. Nonetheless, he met the British royals on Wednesday during an unscheduled interview as they visited Rome. Last Sunday, he appeared in St. Peter's Square at the end of the mass for the Jubilee of the sick and healthcare workers.
In this image released by Vatican Media, Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla meet Pope Francis at The Vatican, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. Vatican Media via AP
Situated on the summit of the Esquiline Hill, although enriched by subsequent renovations, St. Mary Major is the only patriarchal basilica of the four in Rome to have preserved its paleochristian structures.
According to the legend, Giovanni, a rich Roman patrician, childless, decided with his wife to dedicate a church to the Virgin Mary, appeared to them on an August night in 352. Our Lady informed them that a miracle would show the site where to build the church. Pope Liberius had the same dream, and the following day he went to the Esquiline: he found the hill covered with snow. The pope himself traced the perimeter of the building and the church was financed by the couple.
Even today, like every year, the miracle of snow is commemorated on August 5 with a special celebration: on this occasion white petals are released into the air from the top of the basilica, creating a truly evocative and must-see effect.
In the basilica, you can admire the first inanimate crib in history, The Nativity of Arnolfo di Cambio, brilliant Tuscan artist and well-known sculptor perfected at the workshop of Nicola Pisano (la bottega di Nicola Pisano).
Between the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century, the basilica, with its essentially medieval appearance, underwent profound transformations: Sixtus V and Paul V erected two large side chapels, called Sistine and Pauline, and the palace next to the facade.
Between 1670 and 1676 Carlo Rainaldi redesigned the apse in its present form; inside there are important works of art. On the walls of the nave, above the entablature, there are mosaic panels dating back to the fifth century.
The ceiling dates back to the time of Alexander VI Borgia (1492-1503) and, according to tradition, it was gilded with the first shipment of American gold, a gift from Isabella of Spain.
The triumphal arch is decorated with mosaics from Storie dell’infanzia di Gesù (stories of Jesus' childhood) in the time of Sixtus III. In the apse basin there is a beautiful mosaic of the thirteenth century made and signed by Iacopo Torriti.
The Obelisco Esquilino (14.75 m) stands in Piazza dell' Esquilino, at the rear of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The obelisk dates back to the second century CE and once stood outside the Mausoleum of Augustus, where it was paired with the Obelisco Quirinale.
The obelisk was unearthed (broken into several pieces) in 1519, near the ruins of the mausoleum. However, it wasn’t until the reign of Pope Sixtus V (r. 1585-90) that it was re-erected. In 1587 the pope had it set up in the piazza in front of the entrance to his property, Villa Peretti Montalto. The villa was destroyed in the 19th century to make way for the building of Stazione Termini, Rome's main railway station.
The base sports four inscriptions, which were added at the behest of Pope Sixtus V.
South-west face: SIXTVS V PONT MAX / OBELISCVM / AEYGPTO ADVECTVM / AVGVSTO / IN EIVS MAVSOLEO / DICATVM / EVERSUM DEINDE ET / IN PLVRES CONFRACTVM PARTES / IN VIA AD SANCTVM / ROCHVM IACENTEM / IN PRISTINAM FACIEM / RESTITVTVM / SALVTIFERAE CRVCI / FELICIVS / HIC ERIGI IVSSIT AN D / MDLXXXVII PONT III. (Pope Sixtus V bade the obelisk lying in the street by San Rocco, which had been transported from Egypt and dedicated to Augustus at his mausoleum, then broken up into several pieces, to be restored to its original appearance and erected here in more auspicious wise to the Cross which brings salvation, in the year of the Lord 1587, the third of his pontificate.)
South-east face: CHRISTVS / PER INVICTAM / CRVCEM / POPVLO PACEM / PRAEBEAT / QVI / AVGVSTI PACE / IN PRAESEPE NASCI / VOLVIT. (May Christ, who during the peace of Augustus consented to be born in a manger, grant peace to his people through the invincible Cross.)
North-east face: CHRISTI DEI / IN AETERNVM VIVENTIS / CVNABVLA /LAETISSIME COLO /QVI MORTVI / SEPVLCRO AVGVSTI / TRISTIS / SERVIEBAM. (I who in sadness formerly served the tomb of the dead Augustus with greatest joy revere the cradle of Christ, the everliving God).
North-west face: CHRISTVM DOMINVM / QVEM AVGVSTVS / DE VIRGINE / NASCITVRVM / VIVENS ADORAVIT / SEQ DEINCEPS / DOMINVM / DICI VETVIT / ADORO. (I worship Christ the Lord, whom Augustus in his lifetime worshipped on the eve of his birth from a Virgin and subsequently forbade himself to be called Lord.)
Santa Maria Maggiore, one of four papal basilicas in Rome and the largest of the Marian churches (dedicated to the Virgin Mary) in the city. Founded in 432 CE, the basilica houses what is believed to be a relic of the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid in Bethlehem as well as the Marian icon Salus Populi Romani. The basilica contains several series of remarkable mosaics and the tombs of seven popes. A favorite church of Pope Francis (reigned 2013–25), who visited it frequently during his papacy, Santa Maria Maggiore gained world renown after Francis revealed in 2023 that he intended to break from long-standing tradition and be buried there rather than in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
Located on the Esquiline Hill (one of the Seven Hills upon which Rome was built), Santa Maria Maggiore stands near the site of a temple dedicated to the goddess Juno. According to legend, on August 5, 358, Pope Liberius (reigned 352–366) had a vision of Mary in which she told him to build a church where snow would fall that same night, despite its being summer. In remembrance of this miracle, every August 5 it “snows” white flower petals from the ceiling above the altar in the basilica’s Pauline Chapel. For this reason, Santa Maria Maggiore is also known as Our Lady of the Snows. Pope Sixtus III (reigned 432–440) consecrated the basilica after the Second Council of Ephesus in 431, an assembly of bishops that affirmed the doctrine that Mary truly is the mother of God.
The present building has gone through many stages of construction, though the interior retains many of the basilica’s original elements. The central nave is lined with marblecolumns that were salvaged from pre-Christian temples and other early Roman buildings that had been demolished. The blue-and-gold mosaics in the nave date from the time the church was built and depict stories from the Old Testament. Lining the triumphal arch are more mosaics—also from the 5th century and exceptionally well preserved—that portray Jesus as a child. In the 13th century Pope Nicholas IV (reigned 1288–92) commissioned artist Jacopo Torriti to create another series of mosaics, representing scenes from the life of Mary, to decorate the newly built apse.
Santa Maria Maggiore has several chapels, including the Sistine Chapel (distinct from the famous Sistine Chapel of the Vatican Palace), built by Domenico Fontana between 1585–87. At the time of its construction, the Sistine Chapel was the largest chapel in Rome. Also known as the Chapel of the Nativity, it contains frescoes by Cesare Nebbia and Giovanni Guerra that portray scenes from Jesus’ childhood, as well as a gilded bronzetabernacle by Ludovico del Duca. Just outside the Sistine Chapel are the tombs of sculptors Pietro and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, whose workshop was located behind the Pauline Chapel. The father and son contributed numerous sculptures to Santa Maria Maggiore, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini is believed to have designed the spiral staircase made of travertine that connects the Hall of Popes to the sacristy.
The basilica’s facade is Neoclassical, built in the mid-18th century by the Florentine architect Ferdinando Fuga. The Loggia of Benedictions, also designed by Fuga, shimmers with 13th-century mosaics by Filippo Rusuti that narrate the story of Mary’s apparition to Liberius and the founding of the basilica. Outside, the Romanesquecampanile (a freestanding bell tower) stands at a height of nearly 250 feet (76 meters) and is the tallest tower in Rome.
Pope Francis at Santa Maria Maggiore, 2013Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis frequently visited the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome to pray before the Marian icon known as the Salus Populi Romani.
Relics, the Salus Populi Romani icon, and papal tombs
The church’s most famous treasure is the Crib of Christ relic—five pieces of sycamore wood bound by bits of iron. The relic is kept in a crib-shaped crystal reliquary above the papal altar in the confessio (or crypt). Its presence has lent the church another of its many alternate names—the Bethlehem of the West. Other relics housed at Santa Maria Maggiore include the remains of St. Matthew the Apostle and St. Jerome. The icon of Mary known as the Salus Populi Romani (Latin: “Health of the Roman People”), which hangs above the altar in the Pauline Chapel, is believed to have been made by St. Luke the Evangelist. The icon, on a cedar panel measuring 46 × 31 inches (117 × 79 cm), shows Mary holding the baby Jesus. Tradition says that the icon was taken on a procession led by Pope Gregory I (reigned 590–604) through the streets of Rome in 590 while the city was being racked by plague. At the top of Hadrian’s Tomb (now the Castel Sant’Angelo), Gregory had a vision of St. Michael the Archangel, convincing him that Rome would be spared further devastation.
Statue of Pope Clement VIIIPope Clement VIII, funerary statue by Silla Longhi, 1608–12; in the Pauline Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.
Seven popes are buried in the basilica:
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Pope Francis’s announcement in 2023 that he wished to be buried at Santa Maria Maggiore came as no surprise to many followers of his travels and activities. After his election in 2013 Francis became known for visiting the church to pray before the Salus Populi Romani icon for Mary’s protection before and after every one of his apostolic journeys. In March 2020, during the first deadly surge of the COVID-19pandemic in Italy, Francis left the Vatican to make a pilgrimage on foot to Santa Maria Maggiore to pray before the Marian icon for an end to the pandemic.
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