VATICAN CITY (RNS) — After the pomp of his funeral in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday (April 26), Pope Francis’ casket will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major, outside the Vatican, where no other pope has been buried since 1669.
St. Mary Major is one of the four papal basilicas in Rome — the “major” refers not to the Virgin Mary but to these four “major” ancient basilicas, along with St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran and St. Paul Outside the Walls. While St. Mary Major is an important landmark, Francis’ choice to be buried there may seem a typical break from tradition for the late pontiff, whose predecessors have mostly chosen St. Peter’s, since it was built in the 1500s, or elsewhere inside the Vatican.
Ludovica Schmidt, a Roman tour guide and an expert in the history of Christianity, said the pope’s choice of St. Mary Major represents “a rupture with tradition, since the last pope to be buried there was in the 17th century.” Given Francis’ penchant for breaking protocol — evident in his choice to live in the Domus Sancta Martha instead of the Apostolic Palace — it makes sense that he would choose to be different from other popes.
But Francis has always loved St. Mary Major, and a closer look at its founding and history shows that it neatly summarizes three main spiritual themes of Francis’ life and pontificate: his devotion to the Virgin Mary, his Franciscan spirit and his Jesuit background.
A legend from the year 358 C.E. says that Mary herself pointed supernaturally to where the basilica should be built with a miraculous snowfall. Pope Sixtus III ordered the construction of the basilica in 432 C.E. to represent Mary as the mother of God, which had recently been established in the Council of Nicaea. It is the largest and oldest shrine to Mary in the world, and its interior is said to be largely unchanged from when it was built.
Francis asked in his will, opened after his death Monday, that he be entombed close to the basilica’s chapel of St. Francis of Assisi, honoring the medieval mystic whose name the pope took on his election. A simple marble slab reading “Franciscus” will be placed above his tomb in the Pauline Chapel, which houses an icon of Mary with the Christ Child, the Salus Populi Romani, that popes have prayed to over the centuries, including Francis.
People visit the Pauline Chapel, where the icon of Madonna and Child Jesus is displayed, inside the Vatican’s Basilica of St. Mary Major, in Rome Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023. Pope Francis said during an interview he wants to be buried in St. Mary Major, not in the grottoes of the Vatican like other popes. He says that is so he can be near his favorite icon of the Madonna. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
“Francis asked to be buried as close as possible to the image that he venerated,” said the Rev. Roberto Regoli, a church historian at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. “It may be an unusual choice compared to his predecessors, but it’s not revolutionary. But for Pope Francis, the choice to be buried in St. Mary Major isn’t the result of ecclesial politics, but a symbol of his personal devotion to Mary.”
Francis would often visit when he was a bishop, and later, as pope, he would come before and after making important decisions or traveling abroad. Francis often said that if he were to retire, he’d live in St. Mary Major to perform simple priestly duties, such as hearing confessions, and throughout his pontificate he sent gifts to the basilica, including a pulpit and a candelabra for the Easter candle.
After leaving the Gemelli Hospital in Rome in March, the pope once again laid flowers before the icon of Mary.
Tradition holds that the icon was painted by the gospel writer St. Luke, but a recent restoration dated the image to the 11th century. Schmidt explained that the Lukan origin of the icon may not be entirely false. “Byzantine-inspired icons were often recreated and repainted,” she said, adding that “painters of icons were asked to not have any creativity or innovation and paint in a prayerful state.”
The icon was sometimes led through the city regardless of weather conditions and handled by centuries of believers. It’s not unlikely, Schmidt said, that a previous icon was replaced as its condition deteriorated.
FILE – Pope Francis touches an icon of the Virgin Mary after he recited the holy rosary at the St. Mary Major Basilica, in Rome, Saturday, May 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
The icon was carried by Pope Gregory I in 593 in a procession through the city, beseeching Mary to put an end to a plague that had decimated Rome, allegedly killing Gregory’s predecessor. According to tradition, at the end of the procession the pope had a vision of the archangel sheathing his sword, a sign that the plague had ended.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Pope Francis prayed to the icon asking Mary to heal the infected and put an end to the pandemic.
But the basilica’s ornamentation also conveys a message of Catholic hope for heaven, Schmidt explained. The images beneath its main apse show the birth of Christ and Mary lying on her deathbed. Above them, mosaics portray Jesus carrying a small image of Mary toward heaven, where she is seen seated on a throne and crowned by her son.
“I can understand the beauty of choosing this as your resting place,” Schmidt said. “It’s a message of hope for faithful, that we also might be led up to heaven like Mary.”
Six other popes are buried in St. Mary Major, three of whom are closely tied to St. Francis of Assisi: Pope Honorius III, who approved the establishment of the Franciscan order; Pope Nicholas IV, the first Franciscan pope; and Sixtus V, who was also a Franciscan. The oldest known representation of St. Francis, a mosaic, is found in the church.
It also contains five parts of what is believed to be the manger where Jesus lay when he was born, donated to the basilica by the Patriarch of Jerusalem in 644 C.E. St. Francis of Assisi was the inventor of the creche, the displays that today commonly show Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus, and the Franciscans take the Christ child’s humble beginnings as a core inspiration.
Francis was in turn deeply inspired by his namesake saint, visible in his appeals in favor of the poor, his personal humility and his emphasis for the care of creation. His 2015 “green” encyclical, ‘Laudato Sì,’ urging humanity to protect and safeguard the environment, was named after St. Francis’ prayer for creation, “The Canticle of Canticles.”
As the first pope belonging to the Jesuit order, Francis had another tie to St. Mary Major: On Christmas night in 1538, St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, celebrated his first Mass there in a chapel that was constructed to resemble the cave in Bethlehem where Jesus was born. (The chapel has since been moved beneath the chapel of Pope Sixtus V.)
Not everything about the basilica may have pleased Francis: Its ceiling is adorned with gold that the Spanish monarchy took from the Americas and gave to the papacy as a gift. The first pope from South America, a vocal critic of past and modern forms of colonialism, likely turned a blind eye on his way in and out of his beloved shrine.