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Also Known as: The Church
of the Most Holy Savior, Rome
The residence of the Popes which was named the Lateran Palace was built by
Lateranus Palutius, whom Nero put to death to seize his goods. It was
given in the year 313 by Constantine the Great to Saint Miltiades, Pope,
and was inhabited by his successors until 1308, when they moved to Avignon.
The Lateran Basilica built by Constantine near the palace of the same
name, is the first Basilica of the West. Twelve councils, four of which
were ecumenical, have assembled there, the first in 649, the last in 1512.
If for several centuries the Popes have no longer dwelt in the Palace, the
primacy of the Basilica is not thereby altered; it remains the head of all
churches. Saint Peter Damian wrote that “just as the Savior is the Head of
the elect, the church which bears His name is the head of all the
churches. Those of Saints Peter and Paul, to its left and its right, are
the two arms by which this sovereign and universal Church embraces the
entire earth, saving all who desire salvation, warming them, protecting
them in its maternal womb.”
The Divine Office narrates the dedication of the Church by the Pope of
Peace, Saint Sylvester:
“It was the Blessed Pope Sylvester who established the rites observed by
the Roman Church for the consecration of churches and altars. From the
time of the Apostles there had been certain places dedicated to God, which
some called oratories, and others, churches. There, on the first day of
the week, the assembly was held, and there the Christian people were
accustomed to pray, to hear the Word of God, and to receive the Eucharist.
But never had these places been consecrated so solemnly; nor had a fixed
altar been placed there which, anointed with sacred chrism, was the symbol
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who for us is altar, victim and Pontiff. But
when the Emperor Constantine through the sacrament of Baptism had obtained
health of body and salvation of soul, a law was issued by him which for
the first time permitted that everywhere in the world Christians might
build churches. Not satisfied to establish this edict, the prince wanted
to give an example and inaugurate the holy labors. Thus in his own Lateran
palace, he dedicated a church to the Savior, and founded the attached
baptistery under the name of Saint John the Baptist, in the place where he
himself, baptized by Saint Sylvester, had been cured of leprosy. It is
this church which the Pontiff consecrated in the fifth of the ides of
November; and we celebrate the commemoration on that day, when for the
first time in Rome a church was thus publicly consecrated, and where a
painting of the Savior was visible on the wall before the eyes of the
Roman people.”
When the Lateran Church was partially ruined by fires, enemy invasions,
and earthquakes, it was always rebuilt with great zeal by the Sovereign
Pontiffs. In 1726, after one such restoration, Pope Benedict XIII
consecrated it anew and assigned the commemoration of that event to the
present day. The church was afterwards enlarged and beautified by Popes
Pius IX and Leo XIII.
Source:
http://magnificat.ca/cal/engl/11-09.htm
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