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At 03:39 PM 8/6/96 +0100, George wrote: >Today, 5 August, is the feast of ... > >* dedication of basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (?) > - this Roman basilica is also known as Sancta Maria ad Nives, from >a tradition that Mary chose this place for a church dedicated to her by a >miraculous fall of snow upon this spot in summer Does anybody know when and why this feast got added to medieval English calendars? It's included in all or most of the printed editions of the Sarum breviary (dated 1492 and thereafter), and even has an office with proper lessons in the folio editions of 1516 and 1531. That seems to be a sudden development, since it's not present in manuscript copies of the Sarum breviary (some of which are almost as late as the printed editions). Sherry Reames (English Dept., Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%