Yeah, this door is pretty cool, but it was not the first thing that caught my eye about this church. Nope, not the door, not the cool front gate or the mosaic work above the entrances. What caught my eye was whom the church was dedicated to - Our Lady of Snows. After a brief chuckle, my next thought was... who was this Lady?Well, Wikipedia links me with a few pages. Not so much with the helpful. Google lead me to some interesting links for other churches dedicated to the same Saint. Hmmm...
After half an hour of link diving, I think I have a basic story of the origin of the name. Some powerful guy in the 300's wanted to have kids with his wife but they were barren. They prayed to Our Lady (Mary of Jesus) to help them out. In a vision they were told to build a church at a particular place, on a hill top covered in snow.
That's all you get. 'They' have no other historical reference point for this story, nor do we necessarily know if their prayers/actions produced an heir. But there is a church build on a hill outside of Rome that tends to get snow. Our Lady of Snows. Tada!
I'm not normally this cynical about names, but I do find that Mary has so too many titles. I love Mary, probably more than my protestant self should. I find many of her images and icons inspiring, breathtaking and moving. I get disgruntled when I have to use a reference text to tell me that the church is dedicated to Jesus' Mom. Just sayin'.
Taken June 2010 - Detail of the West Door, Parish Church Sanctuary - Our Lady of Snows, La Spezia, Italy
And funny how you never see "Jesus' Mom's Church." :-)
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