A Reflection for the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows (S. Mariæ ad Nives) — III Classis
Tempora: Feria tertia infra Hebdomadam VIII post Octavam Pentecostes — I Augusti
Readings:
- Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 24:14–16
- Luke 11:27–28
On this day, when Holy Mother Church honors Sanctæ Mariæ ad Nives—Our Lady of the Snows—we contemplate the mystery of Mary, not merely as Mother, but as the living sanctuary of Divine Wisdom. The sacred texts of today’s Mass invite us to dwell upon her not only in her exalted privileges but in her hidden life of obedience to the Word.
“In the holy dwelling place I ministered before him”
— Ecclus. 24:14
In the passage from Ecclesiasticus, the Church applies to Mary the words of Divine Wisdom personified. “From the beginning, and before the world, was I created,” Wisdom says, “and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be.” The early Fathers, especially in the Marian tradition of typology, recognized that this sapiential text, while first speaking of Wisdom, finds a most perfect fulfillment in the Blessed Virgin Mary.
St. Augustine writes that “Mary is more blessed in receiving the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ” (Tract. in Joannem, 10.3). This distinction, far from diminishing her dignity, exalts her even further: she is the Throne of Wisdom not merely by her divine maternity, but because she received the Word into her heart before she bore Him in her womb.
Mary’s dwelling in the “holy place” before God evokes the image of the Ark of the Covenant, overshadowed by the Shekinah in the Old Testament—now fulfilled in the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost in the Annunciation (cf. Luke 1:35). As St. Ephraem the Syrian poetically declared, “You carried the fire of Divinity in your virginal bosom, O holy Mother of God, as once the bush burned with fire and was not consumed.”
Thus, when Wisdom speaks in Ecclesiasticus—“I took root in an honourable people, in the portion of the Lord’s inheritance”—we may see in this both the mystical presence of Christ’s Wisdom in Israel and the unique flowering of that Wisdom in Mary, who stands at the heart of the faithful remnant of Israel, the true Sion, the House of David from which the Messiah would spring.
“Blessed is the womb that bore Thee”
— Luke 11:27
Today’s Gospel also leads us into the mystery of true beatitude. A woman, moved by admiration, exclaims to Our Lord: “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breasts that nursed Thee!” (Luke 11:27). Her words echo the natural piety of Israel, in awe before the Messiah and His Mother. And yet Christ gently redirects her praise, not to deny His Mother’s dignity, but to elevate it: “Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.”
St. John Chrysostom observes here that “He does not deny His Mother, but shows that she is great not only because she bore Him, but because she kept the word of God.” (Hom. on Matthew, 44.2). It is precisely in her perfect obedience—Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum—that Mary’s greatness is sealed.
The lex orandi of the Church has always perceived this “blessedness” of Mary as both singular and exemplary. In the Secret of today’s Mass for S. Mariæ ad Nives, we pray: “munera nostra… beátæ Maríæ semper Vírginis intercessióne salúbriter expédiat”—may our gifts be made efficacious through the intercession of the ever-virgin Mary. Her intercession, her place in the economy of grace, is inseparable from her union with the Word in faith and love.
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows: A White Sign from Heaven
The dedication of Sancta Maria ad Nives—a title rooted in the miraculous snowfall on the Esquiline Hill in August—is a poetic sign of heavenly election. Snow in the Roman summer becomes a symbol of purity, of supernatural origin, and of Divine favor. As St. Ambrose once wrote, “The Virgin’s womb is like the earth covered in snow: it has not been plowed, yet it yields the fruit of life.” (De Institutione Virginis, I.3)
This white mantle from heaven, leading to the construction of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, speaks not only of Mary’s privilege but of God’s providence in marking out for Himself a dwelling on earth. The physical temple erected by the snow mirrors the living temple of Mary’s body, the tabernacle of the Incarnate Word.
Closing Reflection: The Snow of August
In the blazing heat of the world’s passions and errors, the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows offers a cool and pure repose in the contemplation of Mary. She is the garden enclosed, the fountain sealed, the dew descending from heaven. But her greatness lies not only in what she received—but in her docility to the Divine Word.
Let us, then, imitate her interior silence, her listening heart, her unwavering Fiat. For in so doing, we shall fulfill the words of Christ: “Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.”
Suggested Spiritual Practice:
Spend time today reciting the Angelus with attention to the mystery of the Incarnation. Meditate on Mary’s “yes” and ask her to intercede for the grace to receive the Word into your own life—through obedience, purity, and prayer.
Collect from the Feast (S. Mariæ ad Nives):
Deus, qui per annuam beátæ Maríæ semper Vírginis festivitátem, famulis tuis bene vivéndi spíritum largíris: da nobis gratiam in præsenti et gáudium sempitérnum in futúro.
O God, who through the yearly feast of Blessed Mary Ever Virgin, dost bestow upon Thy servants the grace of a godly life: grant us both grace for the present and everlasting joy in the future.
Ad Jesum per Mariam.