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"OUR LADY OF THE SNOWS."
(10ᵗʰ S. i. 246.)
Those who refer to Kipling's poem should not omit the "the." I believe that "Notre Dame des Nieges" is the dedication of some chapels among the mountains in Switzerland, but I do not know whence Kipling got the title. He told me, however, that it had been floating in his mind for some time before the occasion for the verses arose. The facts of their composition constitute so remarkable an illustration of his genius as to be worth mention, and I think he will not mind their narration.
The news of the Canadian diminution of the duty on imports from England arrived one Saturday morning. I was then staying at Torquay, and Kipling, who was living near, came over the following Monday morning. He spoke of the Canadian action, and said that, while cycling the day before, some lines had come into his mind about it, but he had not written them down. He recited them to me, and said that he thought of working them up for a week or two and then publishing them. I urged him to do so at once, while the subject was fresh in the mind of the public (we were sitting in a garden looking over the bay towards the west). He said, "I will come to your rooms, then, and write them out." He did so, and then read them, discussed a line or two, made a few alterations, wrote them out again, put them in an envelope for the Times, and dismissed them from his mind. After lunch I sent them off by train; they appeared in the Times next morning, and the same evening, having been telegraphed to Canada, were recited there at a meeting of, I think, the imperial League. The verses seem to me a marvellous example of work struck off while the iron is still glowing on the anvil, their spirit breathing the warmth of feeling which inspired them, and their form more effective than that which any hammering at the cold metal could produce. The Canadian objection to their title is surely an instance alike of ingratitude and of perverted over-sensitiveness.
The phrase is at least seven or eight centuries old, and the title of "Our Lady of the Snow (or Snows)" is known to every well informed Catholic.
"Sancta Maria ad Nives" is one of the several titles given in the course of ages to the great basilica in Rome dedicated to Our Lady, and now generally known as that of Santa Maria Maggiore, or Saint Mary Major.
The French expression "Notre Dame des Nieges" or "Sainte Marie des Nieges" is equivalent to the German "Maria zum Schnee," the Italian "La Madonna della Neve," and the Spanish "Maria de las Nieves." The last was the baptismal name of the princess of Braganza who in 1871 became the wife of Alphonso de Bourbon, brother of Don Carlos, and no doubt the motive of her being so called was the fact that she was born on 5 August (1852), the day of the dedication of the said basilica, which in the Roman kalendar was observed as a feast of St. Mary under the above title. It is of interest to note further that it was not owing to her complexion, but to her baptismal name of Maria de las Nieves, that this Spanish princess was popularly known as Doña Blanca.
The pious legend to which the "pretty phrase" no doubt owes its origin is given in extenso in the Roman Breviary for the Nones of August. There it is related how one John, a Roman patrician, and his wife, having a large fortune, but no children to inherit it, vowed their wealth to the service of the Mother of God. They were, however, at a loss to know how best to dispose of it. After they had sought Divine guidance in prayer, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to each separately in sleep, as also to the reigning Pontiff, Pope Liberius, and to have made it clear to them that she desired that the money should be devoted to the building of a church in her honour. On the same night, though it was August, snow fell on the Esquiline hill. This occurrence was taken to be a supernatural indication of the site chosen. The plan of the church was marked out in the snow as it lay on the ground, "deep and crisp and even," and the church was commenced forthwith. It was at first known in history as the Liberian Basilica; it was later on practically rebuilt—and dedicated to the Mother of God—by Sixtus III. It may be conjectured that it was in connexion with this dedication that the aforesaid legend sprang up, but apparently not for some hundreds of years afterwards. Be this as it may, however, the truth of the legend seems to lack any solid evidence in its support. (Cf. 'The Holy Year of Jubilee,' by the Rev. H. Thurston, S.J., pp. 197 et seqq.)
In the thirteenth century the feast of S. Maria ad Nives was not universally observed in the Church; on the other hand, before the time of Paul IV. in 1558 the feast
