Dedication of Saint John Lateran Basilica

Dedication of Saint John Lateran Basilica
Feast
9 November

Today, is the Feast of the Dedication of the Papal Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist, which we call St John Lateran.

This, not Saint Peter’s Basilica, is the Cathedral Church of the Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope. The original was a gift to the Church from Emperor Constantine himself on land on which the Laterini family palace stood, which is where we get the name, Lateran.

Rome’s Cathedral was solemnly consecrated on 9 November 324. The Lateran Basilica is “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput… the Mother and Head of all the Churches of the City and the World”. It is one of the four major basilicas in the whole world, all other basilicas you may have heard of are minor league (triple A at best) Basilicas….The Major Basilicas are all in Rome, the other three being St Peter’s, St Paul outside the Walls, and St. Mary Major.

St John Lateran boasts the relics of the heads of Saints Peter and Paul, and the high altar is made of wood, encased now in marble, but it is said St. Peter himself used it to preside at Mass.

In 2017, while in Rome with my lovely wife and daughter, I received the sacrament of reconciliation at St. John Lateran from a jovial Dominican priest in a box. There are marble statues of the 12 apostles along the sides of the Nave…..beautiful…..