Luca Evangelista (attr.), Salus Populi Romani (Essential)

Description

The icon of the Salus Populi Romani (i.e. ‘Salvation of the Roman people’) depicts the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus in her arms, according to the Byzantine type called Hodigitria (‘she who shows the way’). Mary is portrayed frontally, half-length, with an expression at once solemn and gentle. She wears a dark blue mantle edged in gold, decorated with three stars (on her forehead and shoulders), a symbol of her virginity before, during and after childbirth. With her left hand she holds Jesus, while with her right she points at him, presenting him as ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’. The Child Jesus is seated on his Mother's left arm; in his left hand he holds a book, symbol of the Word and divine Wisdom, while with his right hand he blesses those who look at the icon. He has a mature and knowing face, as is often the case in Byzantine iconography. The icon is considered acheropite, or ‘not painted by human hand’, according to Eastern Christian tradition, and is venerated for the miracles attributed to it over the centuries.

In 2024, Bottega Tifernate made, at the request of His Holiness Pope Francis, a faithful reproduction of the Salus Populi Romani, the historic Byzantine icon venerated in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The Pope wanted to place it in the so-called ‘Room of the Madonna’, inside the Apostolic Palace, where he usually receives privately: a gesture that confirms the Holy Father's deep spiritual bond with the Virgin Mary and with this image, a symbol of protection for all the Christian people.