Sunday Homily 11-9-08, Lateran Basilica
Readings: Ezekiel 47, 1-12; Psalm 46; 1 Corinthians 3, 9-17; John 2, 13-22
Why the Lateran Basilica?
If you are like me, when you heard that today we celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome, you want to say, "What??" "What has that got to do with me, with my life?" I even got a call from our man Federico asking if we were having our Mass at the Lateran Basilica today. It would have been fun.
I do not remember doing any research on this celebration in the past. This is due partly, I discovered, to the fact that the celebration always takes place on November 9, which does not show up on Sunday very often. My research did give me an idea, however. Namely, that we are exploring our roots today, like we search out our family trees. Today we explore an ancient, prominent ancestor of our religious family tree. Two observations: the meaning & the story.
1. First, the meaning of 'basilica.' In Roman times a basilica was a large rectangular hall where the Romans met for business or meetings.
From what I can discover, when a church or chapel is designated by Rome a basilica, it is an honorary title, like a priest being named a monsignor. There are five or six levels of basilicas & churches. On the most elemental level is the church or chapel, like St. Mark's or All Saints. Then comes a minor basilica. This could be like the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The first basilica in the U.S. is St. Mary's in Minneapolis and it is, I think, a minor basilica. Above a minor basilica is the bishop's cathedral. For instance, while Mexico City has the Basilica of Guadalupe, the Bishop's cathedral is in the Zocalo, the center of the city. The cathedral may simultaneously be a minor basilica and it is where the bishop has his throne and special altar.
Next comes the papal basilica, which has a throne & altar that only the pope uses and which is used by others with the pope's permission. Then a major basilica of which there are only 4 in the world, all in Rome, Mary Major, Paul outside the Walls, St. Peter's, and our subject today, the Lateran.
Finally we have at the top, an arch-basilica. One only in the whole world. The Lateran. Why? Age & historical significance.
2. The story. In the time of the Caesars & Jesus the place where the Lateran is had two buildings. One was a fort & residence for the special calvary that defended the emperor. These guys chose to defend the emperor against Constantine around 300. He, of course, won and destroyed their fort.
Next to the fort was a palace owned by the Lateran family, the members of which worked as administrators in the government. Constantine married a woman named Fausta and with her came the palace. Constantine did not need it, so he gave it to the Christians to whom he granted freedom to worship in 313, a big date in Christian history.
Legend had it that Peter had said Masses around the area and he had used a table that still existed 300 years later. The Christians built a church where the fort was, placing in it the table Peter had used. They used the Lateran palace as a residence. This church, therefore, became the first Christian church in the whole world. It was not built over a tomb like St. Peter's or St. Paul's, but it had the table.
Around this same time along comes Constantine's pious mother, whom I mentioned recently, because she had discovered where Jesus' cross stood and built a church there, the Church of the Sepulcher. She also found what she thought were the steps in Pilate's house which Jesus had climbed for his trial. She moved the marble steps to Rome and set them up in the Lateran, where they are today. This is around 313 A.D., the famous year.
Consequently, for the next 1000 years the popes lived in the Lateran Palace and used the church as their cathedral. Want to know what happened at the end of 1000 years? The Avignon Papacy: for about a century, 1300 to 1400, the popes lived in Avignon, France. With two, sometimes three rival popes, this is a story worth telling, but another Sunday.
When the popes returned to Rome around 1400 they continued to use the Lateran Basilica as their primary church, the bishop of Rome's cathedral, but they lived at St. Peter's because the Lateran Palace had deteriorated badly in their 100 year absence. The popes still reside at the Vatican Palace and still use the Lateran Basilica as their #1 Cathedral.
The Lateran Basilica was sacked by the barbarians in the 5th century, destroyed by an earthquake in 900, burned twice in the 15th century, and last remodeled in 1730. In the 10th century it was dedicated to John the Baptist, in the 13th century dedicated to John the Evangelist, and since it had also been dedicated to Christ, its official title as the mother of all churches in the world is the Lateran Basilica of Christ our Redeemer, John the Baptist, and John the Evangelist.
So what? What is this? Churches or temples or sacred places go back to the dawn of our evolution as humans. Outside Mexico City are the temples of Teotijuacan,' whose builders not even the Aztecs of 1521 seemed to know (the year the Spaniards & Cortes arrived). In Egypt up the Nile River are the temples of Luxor, near which was found the tomb of Tutankhamen. These temples go back 2000 years B.C.
Churches used to be sanctuaries. You could run there if the law was after you. Today the sanctuary is more spiritual and psychological. We go into such a sanctuary to calm our spirit, to converse with God, to regain perspective on life. Granted these temples can equally be found outside, like in Yosemite. I find there the same peace and perspective.
I also think it is fun and fascinating to look back at our religious family tree, to get in touch with our Christian roots.
Today we celebrate an ancient ancestor in the Lateran Basilica. It has been a sanctuary of peace for many of our ancestors.
Where do you find your sanctuary of peace and perspective?
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-11-09.mp3
Picture 1: Mass with T.J. serving
Picture 2: Bob & Jackie McGrath (54th Anniversary) and Maggie McGrath & Chloe Zurchin
Picture 3: Tom Quinn and his granddaughter