It was on this day in the year 434 that the Basilica of Mary Major in Rome was consecrated. It still stands as one of only four major basilicas in the world. It is also known as the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows, and of St. Mary of the Crib, because relics of the crib of Jesus Christ are kept there. St. Ignatius Loyola offered his first mass as a priest at the altar of the crib on Christmas Day in 1538. He had been waiting for 18 months after his ordination to the priesthood, hoping to offer his first mass in the Holy Land. Eventually, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to go to the Holy Land, so he settled for the second best: the altar in Rome of the crib of Christ.
Ignatius was in no hurry to start saying mass following his ordination. At that time, there simply was not that much need for one more priest. There were too many priests with scandalous lifestyles. Their bad examples were undercutting the proclamation of the gospel and empowering the Protestant reformers to reject the divine institution of the sacred hierarchy. The real need was for priests to practice what they preached, to repent and believe in the gospel. Ignatius started with himself, preparing himself carefully for ordained ministry, mindful of the warning of Pope St. Gregory the Great: “certainly no one does more harm in the Church than one who has the name and rank of sanctity, while he acts perversely.”
Let your priests be clothed with holiness, O God, and let your faithful ones ring out their joy.