The Salus Populi Romani: The Protectress of the Roman People. Sometimes translated the Health or the Salvation of the Roman People. Pope Francis has brought this image to the attention of the world.
1Tradition says St. Luke (the Gospel writer) painted it
The Marian image is one of the oldest that exists, and it is traditionally attributed to St. Luke.
According to tradition St. Luke was a very talented young man. He not only wrote a Gospel account and the Acts of the Apostles, he was also a Greek physician and an artist. It is believed that he was close to Our Lady, as his Gospel is the only one with certain details of the Annunciation and the birth of Jesus.
He is held by the Eastern Church as the original “iconographer,” responsible for writing the first icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Many painters throughout the centuries have depicted this scene by placing St. Luke in front of an easel, painting a portrait of the Blessed Mother holdng the Child Jesus.
There exist multiple traditions surrounding what happened to the original icon(s) that St. Luke wrote. Whatever truth there is behind these traditions, one of the images that is attributed to St. Luke is this favorite of Pope Francis, known as Salus Populi Romani.
2St. Helena is said to have found the image
Similar to Our Lady of Czestochowa, it is believed this image was discovered by St. Helena (the mother of Emperor Constantine) and taken first to Constantinople. By the 6th century the image was transferred to Rome and ever since has been enshrined in the church of Saint Mary Major.
3Painted on cedar
The icon is painted on a cedar panel and depicts Mary with a dark blue mantle trimmed with gold over a purple tunic, the typical dress of figures of power in 5th-century Rome. It is approximately 46 x 31 inches.
She is holding the Christ Child, who is shown with a book in his left hand, presumably the Gospel. Unlike the 3rd-century representations of similar scenes, we see Mary, rather than Jesus, looking directly at the viewer.
4The icon is housed in St. Mary Major, Rome's biggest Marian church
According to tradition, the founding of one of Rome’s most important Catholic churches took place on an extraordinary snowfall day, not in the winter, but in August of 352.
On August 5, 352, a wealthy Roman nobleman and Pope Liberius both had dreams in which snow was falling over the Esquiline Hill, one of Rome’s seven hills. The two men resolved to visit the place of the unusual event, bumped into one another and testified to the unusual snowfall. It so happened that the nobleman had been looking for a way to donate some of his possessions to the Catholic Church. He then resolved to build a beautiful place of worship on top of the hill where the miraculous snow fell.
Pope Liberius then proceeded to trace the perimeter of the soon-to-be-church by moving a stick over the thick white blanket. Since then, Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major) has become one of the most important worship sites for Catholics and it is the largest Marian church in Rome. It is the oldest shrine in the West dedicated to the Mother of God. It is one of the four papal basilicas, along with St. Peter's, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls.
The miraculous snowfall is commemorated each year on the feast of the dedication of the major basilica. During the celebration, thousands of rose petals fall from the dome onto the crowd in memory of the miraculous snowfall. Pope Francis attended the celebration last year.
5Used to fight plagues -- in 6th century and in 21st
During the 6th century there was a deadly plague that ravaged Italy. It killed a great number of people and was spreading like wildfire.
To counteract this epidemic, St. Gregory the Great (pope from 590 to 604) turned to God and led a procession throughout the streets of Rome. The Golden Legend narrates this event and explains what happened next.
A procession with the same image was repeated in 1348, during a similar plague. An early 20th-century Pilgrim’s Guide to Rome describes this miracle.
It was this same image that Pope Francis has brought to St. Peter's Square on March 27, 2020, during the Covid epidemic. During the lockdown, the Holy Father had left the Vatican to pray before the image. He also made another stope: at the foot of a wooden crucifix that protected Rome from a great plague. (This crucifix was also brought to St. Peter's for the momentous 'urbi et orbi' during the pandemic.)
6Pope Francis gave her a Golden Rose
On December 8, 2023, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis presented her with a "golden rose."
It was not the first golden rose given to this image of Our Lady. His predecessors Julius III and Paul V made the same gesture at Santa Maria Maggiore in 1551 and 1613.
7The image got a "face-lift" in 2018
In early 2018, the Vatican released images of the icon following restoration. The restoration uncovered the “delicate” colors of the faces of Mary and Jesus and the “brilliance of the child’s golden robe and the blue of Mary’s tunic,” said Barbara Jatta, the head of the Vatican Museums, according to an AP report.
In an article in L’Osservatore Romano, Jatta said that the restoration revealed that the work was painted between the 11th and the 13th century. Tradition had it dating from the 5th century — or even earlier, as it was said to have been painted by St. Luke himself.
8Pius XII prayed to her to save Rome from bombing in WWII
Like many European cities, the Eternal City was at risk of being destroyed in World War II. But the Romans, led by their bishop, Pope Pius XII, called upon the Virgin Mary.
On June 4, 1944, Pope Pius XII and the Catholics of Rome invoked Our Lady of Divine Love. Then in the church of St. Ignatius, they prayed fervently before the icon of the Salus Populi Romani, asking the Mother of God's intercession that their city might be spared.
9Francis visited her 126 times as Pope, and often beforehand
“Before beginning a trip, and when I get back, I always go to see the Virgin, the Salus Populi Romani, so that she will accompany me during the trip as a mother — to tell me what I need to do, to watch over my words and my actions. With the Virgin, I go with certainty.”
This was an explanation the Pope offered about why he would start and end apostolic trips with a visit. He also started his pontificate with her, visiting March 14, the day after his election. And he thanked her with a visit after his hospital stays. His last visit was the day before Palm Sunday, 9 days before his death.
Pope Francis loved St. Mary Major even before he was pope: “When I came [to Rome], I always went there on Sunday mornings, I stayed there for a while. There is a very strong bond,” he said in an interview in 2023.
10Pope Francis' tomb is near her, but not in her chapel
An alcove near the Pauline Chapel, where the famous icon is located, was chosen for Pope Francis' final resting place.
The Pontiff did not want to be buried inside the Pauline Chapel, which houses the icon of the Salus, “because the faithful who come there must pray to the Lord, venerate the Virgin Mary, not look at the tomb of a pope," Francis had told the archpriest of the basilica.
The image was placed in the sanctuary to the right of the altar during Pope Francis' funeral.
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While Pope Francis loved this image of Our Lady, he had other favorites too. See article below:
