Dedication of the Basilica of St John Lateran (9 November)

Consecration, not inauguration

In the Latin liturgy, the dedication (or consecration) of a church is the rite by which the place of worship is set apart for the celebration of the holy mysteries. The bishop anoints the altar table, marks the consecration crosses on the walls, and the church receives its anniversary feast, as a person receives their own. For the local church, this feast is one of the highest days of the calendar.^[3]

The word "dedication" does not mean a civil inauguration. It means a consecration: in the eyes of faith, the building becomes an image of the Church, the People of God gathered around the altar. That is why the liturgy of this day speaks of living stones as much as of hewn stones.^[4][5]

Why the Lateran, and not another church

Rome counts four major basilicas; the Lateran is not one among others. It is the cathedral seat of the Bishop of Rome, that is, the church of the bishop's chair. Saint Peter, whose name is attached to the Vatican basilica, is the holder of the see; the Lateran is its cathedral.^[6]

That is why the feast of its dedication is universal: it concerns not one parish, nor one diocese. It concerns the whole Latin Church, which sees in it the sign of its unity with the See of Peter.

A church born of the peace of the Church

The archbasilica was built by Constantine around 324, shortly after the end of the great persecutions. It stands beside the palace of the Laterani, a great Roman family whose name remained attached to the place. The emperor built it in honour of Christ the Saviour, and intended it to be the seat of the Bishop of Rome.^[7][8]

The gesture is at once political and religious: the emperor of the Roman world offers the Church, newly come out of persecution, a mother church. The date of 324 is the date of tradition; the ancient sources do not agree on a precise year of consecration. The background article notes this: the basilica was "consecrated in 324 according to tradition".^[9][10]

A place of councils

The Lateran was not only a place of prayer: it was a place of decision. Five councils held their sessions there, from the First Lateran Council (1123) to the Fifth Lateran Council (1512-1517). This says the place of this church in the history of the Latin Church: when the Bishop of Rome gathers the episcopal world, it is at the Lateran that the bishops assemble.^[11][12]

Its rank in the calendar

The Dedication of the Lateran holds, in the calendar of the Latin Church, an exceptional rank: it takes precedence over an ordinary Sunday. This rank says the place the Church gives to this feast. It is celebrated on 9 November.^[13][14]

Nominis recalls its meaning in one sentence, which must be quoted as it stands: "The celebration of its anniversary is, throughout the Latin Church, a sign of love and unity with the See of Peter." The word love here renders a rare and precise term: it says not only obedience, it says affection.^[15]

The Preface of the Dedication

The liturgy of this day has its own Preface, which takes up the image of the house of prayer: "You wish to dwell in a house of prayer". This prayer speaks of a God who dwells in the house his faithful build for him, and who never ceases to draw men to it.^[16]

The liturgical text continues with the reading from the first letter of Saint Peter: "Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2, 4-5).^[17]

The stone and the people

The relationship between the two is the heart of the feast. The stone of the Lateran, laid by Constantine, is a sign; the people of the baptised is the reality. The Catholic Church does not separate the two: it honours the stone for what it signifies, and it honours the people for what they are by baptism.^[18][19]

That is why this feast, although attached to a place in Rome, concerns us: every local church, every community, is called to recognise itself in the spiritual house of which Saint Peter speaks.

A primacy of service

The expression "mother and head of all the churches" applied to the Lateran says a primacy of service, not domination. The mother church of Rome is the one that represents the bond of the Churches with one another and with the successor of Peter. The local Church of Amiens, Lyons or Quebec does not depend on it as on a guardianship; it recognises in it a visible sign of its unity.^[20]

When the pope celebrates the Dedication of the Lateran, he does not celebrate a personal possession. He celebrates the universal Church gathered around him, which on that day prays for the unity of all the baptised.

What the feast is not

It must also be distinguished from other feasts of the dedication of churches, which are local: each parish church or cathedral has its own dedication feast. That of the Lateran is the only one, together with those of Saint Mary Major and Saint Peter in the Vatican, to be celebrated at this rank throughout the West.^[21]

• The Basilica of St John Lateran: the background article on the building, its architecture and its history, including the section on what the feast of the Dedication on 9 November celebrates.
• Saint Peter the Apostle (about 64/67): the See of Peter, of which the Lateran is the cathedral, and of which the feast of the Dedication is the sign of unity.
• All Saints (1 November): the feast of all the saints, which comes a little more than a week before the Dedication of the Lateran in the November calendar.