Case file · Apparition / miracle
Our Lady of the Snows, Esquiline
Legend says that on a night in August in the time of Pope Liberius (352–366), snow fell on the Esquiline Hill to mark where the Virgin wished a church built, today Santa Maria Maggiore. Petals are still dropped from the dome each 5 August.
358 CE · 41.90, 12.50 · status: legend
The sceptical view
The legend is first attested centuries later; the basilica was built under Sixtus III (432–440).