| abstract | - Salus Populi Romani, meaning Protectress (literally salvation or health of the Roman People) is the title given in the 19th century to the Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child, reputed to date to Early Christian times, in the Borghese or Pauline Chapel of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome. It has historically been the most important Marian icon in Rome, and although devotion to it declined somewhat relative to other images, such as Our Mother of Perpetual Help, over the centuries, it regained some status by being crowned by Pope Pius XII in 1954. Recent papal devotion includes Pope Benedict XVI who venerated the Salus Populi Romani on different occasions, referred to Mary, the mother of God with that title, as he asked her to "pray for us". The phrase Salus Populi Romani (as 'Health or well-being of the Roman people') goes back to the legal system and pagan rituals of the ancient Roman Republic, where Livy tells us that the augur would ask the gods for permission for the praetors to pray for it.
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