Santa Maria Maggiore

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While exploring the city of Rome, one can find themselves amongst a multitude of Christian basilicas and cathedrals built as soon as the early fourth century. One of the most important, beautiful, and significant churches built in early Christian Rome was the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Sponsored by Pope Sixtus III from 432 to 440 CE , this basilica was the first church in the Christian faith that was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. With its elaborate mosaics, grand size, and several important relics found inside, the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore reveals through its history, art, and architecture, the theological importance of the Virgin Mary, and the roots of Marian devotion.
The history of Santa Maria Maggiore begins with its legend …show more content…

As the Edict of Milan in 313 CE claimed Christianity to be the religion of Rome, Christians no longer had to hide their religion and beliefs in fear of persecution or martyrdom.8 In the early fourth century, Christians practiced their religion and worshiped in small house churches called “tituli” that were owned by several different wealthy Christian families, and spread amongst the city. Although these house churches gave Christians a place to worship, they were not extremely visible in the community. After the Edict of Milan, several major basilicas in the fourth century began to be built, giving Christianity a sense of power and visibility it had never experienced before. Thus, the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore was an important architectural advocate for the relatively newly accepted religion of Christianity in Rome. Also, as this basilica was sponsored and funded by Pope Sixtus III, it also was a great representative of papal power. As it further exposed Rome to the religion of Christianity, it also shed a light on the importance of the role of the pope in the Christian faith, and the kind of power that the pope was entitled to as the head of the church. As the history behind Santa Maria Maggiore displays the importance of Virgin Mary in the Christian faith, its art, architecture, and layout provides an even more deep understanding of the role of

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