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feast day: November 9
about:
- built in the time of Constantine
- was consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324 A.D.
- This feast became a universal celebration in honor of the basilica called "the mother and mistress of all churches of Rome and the world" (omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput) as a sign of love for and union with the See of Peter.
- The Papal Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (Italian: Arcibasilica Papale di San Giovanni in Laterano), commonly known as St. John Lateran's Archbasilica, St. John Lateran's Basilica, and just The Lateran Basilica, is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome and the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome, who is the Pope.
- It is the oldest and ranks first among the four Papal Basilicas or major basilicas of Rome (having the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome), and the oldest church in the West. It claims the title of ecumenical mother church among Roman Catholics.
- St. John Lateran is Christendom's earliest basilica. Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, it became the Popes' own cathedral and official residence for the first millennium of Christian history.
- It was to Jesus the Savior that Constantine dedicated the original church, confirming Christ's superiority over the Capital's pagan gods and assuring the worldwide expansion of the Christian religion.
links/ sources:
- "Churches of Rome: Christianity's First Cathedral" (source: EWTN):
http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHRIST/LATERAN.HTM
- "Archbasilica of St. John Lateran" (source: Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_St._John_Lateran
- "Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica" (source: Catholic Culture):
http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2013-11-09
- "Saint John Lateran" (source: CatholicEncyclopedia):
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09014b.htm
