Traditional date: 352 ca. under Pope Liberius (352-366)

Current church: 432 ca. under Pope Celestine I (422-432) and Pope Sixtus III (432-440)

Apse renovation: 1295 by Iacopo Toriti under Pope Nicholas IV (1288-1292)

Rear facade renovation: 1673 by Carlo Rainaldi under Pope Clement X (1670-1676

Interior renovation: 1750 by Ferdinando Fuga under Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758)

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• In 352, Mary was said to have appeared to the patrician Giovanni in a dream to indicate a miraculous snowfall on a hill where he was to build a church. He went to tell Pope Liberius of his dream but Mary had also appeared to him and said to look for snow on the Esquiline hill. After finding snow there they built the Basilica Liberiana. This is where S. Maria Maggiore now stands. Although this story is not documented until medieval times, there is mention of a Basilica Liberiana at the time of Pope Damasus I (366-384)

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• After the Council of Ephesus (431) affirmed Mary as Mother of God (Theotokos) against Nestorius (451 d.), Pope Celestine I (422-432) and Pope Sixtus III (432-440) built this church dedicated to Mary. Because it was the first church in the world dedicated to her, it eventually became known as St. Mary Major