For his final resting place, Francis asked for the same simplicity with which he had lived his life. In his will, which the Vatican released Monday, Francis asked to be buried “in the earth,” in a simple, undecorated tomb with only the inscription “Franciscus.”
He also asked that his “last earthly journey” end at the “very ancient Marian shrine,” of Santa Maria Maggiore, or St. Mary Major, in Rome.
With St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, it is one of four basilicas in Rome granted special status by the pope. In his will, he wrote that he had visited the Marian basilica at the beginning and the end of every apostolic trip he took during his 12-year papacy.
He asked that his tomb be placed in the aisle next to the Pauline Chapel, where an important Marian icon, the Salus Populi Romani, is located.
According to the basilica’s website, since the Jesuit order was founded, Jesuits have “fostered devotion to the icon” and it was an image Francis was particularly devoted to. On his first day as pope in 2013, he slipped out of the Vatican to pray at the basilica.
He visited the church every time he was dismissed from stays in the hospital. And in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, as millions died and many more lived in fear, he had the icon brought to St. Peter’s Square during a moving and dramatic moment of prayer delivered on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica.
“We find ourselves afraid,” the pope said at the time. “And lost.”
Tradition has it that the church was founded in the fourth century by Pope Liberius on the site of a miraculous snowstorm said to have taken place in the summer of Aug. 5, 356. That event is recreated every Aug. 5, drawing thousands of faithful and tourists.
For the faithful, the basilica is best known for the icon which, according to tradition, was created by St. Luke, the patron saint of painters. The basilica also houses what is believed to be a relic of the holy crib, part of the manger where Jesus Christ lay as a baby.
The first midnight Mass was celebrated there, and popes carried on that tradition for centuries, according to the Vatican.
For art lovers, the Basilica houses some of the oldest extant mosaics in Rome, dating to the fifth century, while the mosaics in the apse are by Jacopo Torriti, one of the most celebrated artists of the 13th century.
A sculpted Nativity scene by Arnolfo di Cambio, the 13th century sculptor and architect, is now in the basilica’s museum.
Like St. Peter’s, the basilica has a Holy Door for pilgrims to walk through.
Francis had disclosed his desire to be buried in the basilica in a 2023 interview with a Mexican TV program. On Saturday, he will have his wish fulfilled.
In the preface to a soon-to-be published book on old age by Cardinal Angelo Scola, Francis wrote: “Death is not the end of everything, but the beginning of something.”
Elisabetta Povoledo is a Times reporter based in Rome, covering Italy, the Vatican and the culture of the region. She has been a journalist for 35 years.
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