Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (2025) - Fr Matthew Boland, OP

Today we celebrate the 1,701st anniversary of the dedication of the Church known as St John Lateran in Rome, which took place in 324. As is well known, there are four major basilicas in Rome: St John Lateran, St Peter’s in the Vatican, St Paul’s outside the walls, and St Mary Major. However, despite there being four major basilicas, we only celebrate the dedication of St John Lateran’s. In fact, the order in which the major basilicas are listed above is their order of ranking. So, St John Lateran is first in rank of the basilicas, St Peter’s second, St Paul’s third, and St Mary’s fourth.

The reason that St John Lateran is preeminent among these unique and ancient Churches is that it is the oldest and most esteemed of them. It was the first basilica to be built after the edict of toleration of Constantine in 313, and was consecrated just 11 years later by Pope Sylvester I. This edict of toleration, also known as the Edict of Milan, made by Constantine in the West and Licinius in the East, granted freedom of worship to all, which included legal protection for Christians and the return to them of confiscated property. Just before the Edict of Milan, Constantine gave to Pope Miltiades the palace of a Roman family known as the Laterani, hence the name “Lateran.” This was also the pope’s residence until the Avignon period in the 14th century. Initially, it was dedicated to the Most Holy Redeemer, but later on was dedicated to John the Baptist, and eventually to John the Evangelist. It remains today the cathedral church of the Diocese of Rome and the seat of the bishop of Rome, the pope.

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What, then, is the significance of this oldest public church in Rome? Primarily, St John Lateran represents the establishment of the public worship of the Church after the turmoil of the persecutions of the first centuries. As such, it is known as the mother church of the Catholic faithful. In fact, inscribed of the front wall is a plaque which reads: “Most Holy Lateran Church, mother and head of all the churches in the city and the world.”

Today, we celebrate not only the anniversary of a great building, but our unity with the pope and the connection to our mother church in Rome, the basilica of St John Lateran. Many martyrs, that is, “witnesses” (from μάρτυς, “witness” in Greek), shed their blood in Rome, bearing witness to their faith in Jesus Christ, our Saviour. It was from this witness, and these sacrificial offerings, that the Good News reached the ears, and eventually the heart, of the emperor himself. The blood of the martyrs truly is the seed of the Church, as Tertullian is purported to have said in about AD 197. It was this witness which led to the establishment of a Church where Christians could worship freely without fear of persecution, at least for a time, and from where the Word of God would go out to the whole world.

We hear in the first reading of the river flowing from the Temple and bringing life where it flows. That water of life can be taken to represent the Holy Spirit, the life of God, flowing from the side of Christ in his Passion, and bringing a share in the life of God to all who believe in him and are baptised. This water of life, this grace which is a share in God’s very life, has, symbolically, flowed from Rome, from St John Lateran, to every parish church in the world, no matter where it is located—it is due to our unity with that Church that we have Christ truly present among us, in sacrament and in congregation, wherever we gather together in our parish church to celebrate the sacraments.

Today, brothers and sisters, let us make sure that the life-giving water which has flowed to our place, to our parish, no matter where we are, from the heart of the Church, does not stop here, but continues to flow out into the world with us, as we bear witness to the love and self-gift of our Saviour, so that many may come to know and to believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and our God.

Fr Matthew Boland, OP is the Master of Students, assigned to St Dominic's Priory, Melbourne.