1700th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

When Emperor Constantine recognised freedom of worship for Christians in 313 A.D., many places were built to honour and glorify the Lord. The emperor himself, wishing to offer the fledgling church a suitable place to fully carry out its spiritual ministry, had a basilica built on Mount Caelian in Rome, on the site of the ancient Lateran Palace. Consecrated in 324 by Pope Sylvester I, the Papal Basilica of the Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and Evangelist in the Lateran is considered by Christians to be the principal, mater et caput of all churches in the world. The early Constantinian Basilica, was very similar in plan to the present one, also with five naves, and the perimeter walls more or less coincide with the present ones. In the early Middle Ages, the Cathedral was a precious treasure trove of works of art; the Emperor Constantine, having desired the great Basilica, enriched it with a marvellous ciborium for the high altar. Unfortunately, the early splendours of the 4th century were followed by alternating events that marked, for better or worse, the complex history of the Lateran Archbasilica for over a millennium. Destroyed several times over the centuries, it was always rebuilt, and its last rebuilding took place under the pontificate of Benedict XIII, who reconsecrated it in 1724. The feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica allows us to remember the journey of the Christian people and, at the same time, reminds us that today each one of us, in the risen Jesus, is ‘God's house’ (1 Cor 3:16). The anniversary stamp shows a perspective view of the façade of the Basilica and the Lateran Palace.