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. 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.