Mary, Our Lady of the Snows

One of 100+ original illustrations of Marian devotion from The Complete Mary Collection, part of a five-collection set of books related to the Bible from Very Illustrated People. 8K digital file is perfect for large prints and posters.

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
Psalm 51:7

In the sweltering heat of August 352 AD, a wealthy, childless Roman couple prayed to Mary to show them how to dispose of their inheritance. Simultaneously, Pope Liberius had a dream in which Mary promised a sign.

On the morning of August 5th, the Esquiline Hill — one of the seven hills of Rome — was found covered in a thick, miraculous blanket of snow. 

The snow traced the exact perimeter where Mary wished a church to be built in her honor. This event led to the founding of Santa Maria Maggiore, the oldest church in the West dedicated to the Virgin. Rendered in fresh falling snow during summer on the Esquiline Hill of Rome.