Cyril: "The Holy Virgin is the Mother of God"

"IF anyone will not confess that the Emmanuel is very God, and that therefore the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God (Θεοτόκος), inasmuch as in the flesh she bore the Word of God made flesh [as it is written, “The Word was made flesh”] let him be anathema.

"Nestorius: If anyone says that the Emmanuel is true God, and not rather God with us, that is, that he has united himself to a like nature with ours, which he assumed from the Virgin Mary, and dwelt in it; and if anyone calls Mary the mother of God the Word, and not rather mother of him who is Emmanuel; and if he maintains that God the Word has changed himself into the flesh, which he only assumed in order to make his Godhead visible, and to be found in form as a man, let him be anathema."

~ First of "Twelve Anathemas by St. Cyril Against Nestorius," Council of Ephesus (431).

Artwork: Virgin salus populi romani, the oldest Marian icon in Rome, probably Early Christian (rather than Medieval); Borghese or Pauline Chapel of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome.

See also,
• Salus Populi

• History and Virtual Tour of Santa Maria Maggiore (an outstanding visual presentation)

• Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Wikipedia
• Basilica, Catholic Ency.

Council of Ephesus: "Most blessed Peter"

"Philip the presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See said: There is no doubt, and in fact it has been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince (ἔξαρχος) and head of the Apostles, pillar of the faith, and foundation (θεμέλιος) of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him was given the power of loosing and binding sins: who down even to today and forever both lives and judges in his successors. The holy and most blessed pope Cœlestine, according to due order, is his successor and holds his place, and us he sent to supply his place in this holy synod, which the most humane and Christian Emperors have commanded to assemble, bearing in mind and continually watching over the Catholic faith. For they both have kept and are now keeping intact the apostolic doctrine handed down to them from their most pious and humane grandfathers and fathers of holy memory down to the present time, etc."

~Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431); Extracts from the Acts, Session III.