Today the Church celebrates the anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. Built in the 5th century in celebration of the defining of the dogma of Mary as Mother of God (theotokos) it was built on a site on the Esquiline Hill on which snow appeared on this date in Rome. August in Rome is hot, humid and smoggy. So snow in August would be a miracle.
The Basilica contains the traditional relics of the crib in which Jesus was born.
Sergei Rachmaninoff wrote a beautiful setting of the Orthodox Vespers. Here is the Bogoroditse Devo, essentially the "Hail Mary".
No comments:
Post a Comment