The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica commemorates the consecration of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome and therefore the mother church of all Christendom, which bears above its doors the ancient title "mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world." First given to the Church by the Emperor Constantine and dedicated in the early fourth century under Pope Sylvester I, it was for a thousand years the chief residence of the popes.

Because it is the cathedral of the pope as Bishop of Rome, its dedication is celebrated not only in the city but throughout the whole Church as a sign of the unity of all the faithful with the See of Peter and of love for the Church of Rome, which presides in charity. The feast, kept on 9 November, honors this venerable basilica as a visible symbol of the one Church built upon the rock of the apostolic faith.