Salus Populi Romani Protectress and Health of the Roman People | |
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![]() The image as restored by the Vatican Museum in 2018 | |
Location | Basilica of Saint Mary Major |
Date | 590 AD (first arrival in Rome) |
Witness | Pope Gregory I |
Approval | Pope Gregory XVI Pope Pius XII |
Shrine | Basilica of Saint Mary Major |
Salus Populi Romani (Protectress, or more literally health or salvation, of the Roman People) is a Catholic title associated with the venerated image of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Rome. This Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child Jesus holding a Gospel book on a gold ground, now heavily overpainted, is kept in the Borghese (Pauline) Chapel of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.[1][2] Pope Francis has constructed a burial vault near the icon, intended to be his final resting place.[3]
The image arrived in Rome in 590 A.D. during the reign of Pope St. Gregory I. Pope Gregory XVI granted the image a canonical coronation on 15 August 1838 through the papal bull Cælestis Regina. Pope Pius XII crowned the image again and ordered a public religious procession during the Marian year of 1 November 1954.[4] The image was cleaned and restored by the Vatican Museum, then given a Pontifical Mass on 28 January 2018.
The phrase Salus Populi Romani goes back to the legal system and pagan rituals of the ancient Roman Republic.[5] After the legalisation of Christianity by Emperor Constantine the Great through the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, the phrase was sanctioned as a Marian title for the Blessed Virgin Mary.[6]