Rome: on 5/8 snow miracle in S. Maria Maggiore, the creator writes to the Pope ‘come, hope is needed’

Dedicated to the ‘generous heart of Pope Francis’. The 38th edition of the commemoration of the miracle of the Madonna della Neve in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome designed by the architect Cesare Esposito will be dedicated to the pontiff, and in a letter the same architect invites the Pope to attend the event which will take place on August 5 close to 21: “I invite you Holiness to testify on the occasion of the commemoration of the Madonna della Neve, so that it becomes a symbol of hope and love for all the faithful and the city”. In the letter addressed to Pope Francis, the architect Esposito recalls the many difficulties he had to face in life and how “the anniversary of August 5 has become an important appointment for the faithful, so much so that in 1987 Pope John Paul II took part in the ceremony giving a speech on the snow prodigy in front of thousands of faithful present “. The architect Esposito in the letter still remembers when he created “the first snowfall in 1983, the mayor of the time was Luigi Petroselli and after him Ugo Vetere who together with the then councilor for Culture, Renato Nicolini, approved my project and gave me the ‘task of creating the event. There were no funds and so my parents pledged everything, even the wedding ring, to help me realize the first edition of the historical re-enactment of the Miracle of the Madonna of the snow. And since then, since 1983, the architect Esposito has organized and set up the event at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for the commemoration of the Miracle of the Snow. The square is transformed into a theater of lights to commemorate the event of August 5, 358 AD, when the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to Pope Liberius with the request to erect a Basilica where the following day he would find fresh snow. The following morning the miracle occurred and Pope Liberius traced the perimeter of the Basilica, following the shape of the veil of snow left on the Esquiline hill, building the first Basilica in the world dedicated to the Madonna della Neve.