Santa Maria Maggiore

The Bethlehem of the West
In the seventh century, the fragments of the cradle where Jesus was laid at birth were brought to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major). In 1290, Arnolfo di Cambio carved a nativity scene as a setting for the relics of the manger

by Cristina Terzaghi

There was a heavy snowfall in Rome on the night of August 4, 358 AD. In reality, the snow fell on just one point: the Cispian Hill. That same night, the Virgin appeared in a dream to both Pope Liberius and John, a wealthy Roman senator who was unable to have children and wanted to donate his possessions to the Church. The Virgin Mary had asked them to build a church dedicated to her where the snow fell. The next morning, Pope and senator visited the site. A large crowd had gathered. Following the custom of architects in that period, who before erecting a building would trace a plan in the dirt, the Pope traced the full-scale outline of the church in the snow.
The church, still called the “Basilica Liberiana,” was built on that very spot. It is not entirely clear whether the present church of Santa Maria Maggiore stands exactly on the site of the church founded by Pope Liberius. What is known is that the existing church is the same one that was built on the Esquiline by Pope Sixtus III about a century after these miraculous events.

Precious relics
Nothing happens by chance. The basilica was built at a delicate historical moment. The Council of Ephesus (431 AD) had proclaimed Mary the Mother of God, after a long and grueling struggle against the Nestorian heresy, which claimed that Christ exists as two different persons, the human and the divine, and therefore declared that the Virgin was only the mother of the human Jesus. After combating the heresies, the Pope did not hesitate to proclaim the divine maternity of Mary to all as he prepared to build the first basilica ever dedicated to her.
The interior of the church, a typical early Christian construction, has a nave and side aisles divided by columns. Over the centuries, it has been extensively remodeled and enriched with true masterpieces, such as the extraordinary mosaics by Jacopo Torriti decorating the apse. The central scene depicts the Coronation of the Virgin. Together with the wooden sixteenth-century ceiling, said to have been gilded with gold donated by Queen Isabella of Castile (1451-1504) and brought to Italy by Christopher Columbus, the mosaics enhance that overwhelming sensation of brightness that enfolds whoever enters the church.
But the treasures of art are not the only glory of the Basilica. During the pontificate of Theodore I (642-649), some extremely precious relics were brought here. They were the pieces of wood that had formed the cradle of the Infant Jesus and that today are preserved in the crypt of one of the side chapels, known as the Sistine Chapel.

Arnolfo di Cambio
Pope Nicholas IV (1288-1292), a Franciscan, was raised to the papal throne a few decades after the death of St. Francis. Following the example of the great saint, who was the inventor of nativity scenes, he ordered one to be created as a setting for the relics of the manger. The great sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio, then universally famous, was given the task of carrying out the work. His achievement is all the more singular if we think that Arnolfo not only sculpted the statues as if they were characters in a theatrical representation (and therefore were life-sized), long before the Sacred Mountains were ever created, but he conceived them to be placed in an oratory whose function was to recreate the grotto of Bethlehem.

New setting
During the late sixteenth century, it was decided to remodel the Basilica and extend it. At that time, the oratory opened onto a side aisle of the church, so that the faithful could see the relics from inside the Basilica itself. This was an unlucky position, however, because it was in the way of the new architectural project. That the whole chapel–not just its content–was considered of outstanding importance is shown by the decision not to demolish the small oratorio and move the statues elsewhere, but to move the whole complex together with its base and everything it contained (according to the report we have, drawn up by the lead architect Domenico Fontana). In this way, the Chapel of the Cradle was moved to the crypt of the present Sistine Chapel, though it certainly suffered from some alterations. The statues were moved too, obviously, but all that remains of the whole complex today are, unfortunately, only a few pieces. The greatest loss is the statue of the Virgin and Child. (The one that visitors see today is a sculpture from a later period.) All this indicates that the reconstruction of the structure was rather problematic. One fact, however, is clear: the Madonna was neither standing nor kneeling, as she is generally represented in later depictions, but reclining, in keeping with the celebrated Byzantine iconography.