Today is the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome.

Why?

It’s the Pope’s church, as Bishop of Rome – so, in a sense, it’s the parish church of every Catholic.

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome. This is not St. Peter’s, but it is the Pope’s cathedral. Also called the Church of Holy Savior or the Church of St. John Baptist, it was the baptism church of ancient Rome. It was built in the time of Constantine and was consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324. This feast became a universal celebration in honor of the basilica called "the mother and mistress of all churches of Rome and the world" (omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput) as a sign of love for and union with the See of Peter.

A very cool aerial shot.

The Wikipedia article is good, with excellent links.

I will forever associate St. John Lateran with Zadok, who guided us on a wonderful Sunday afternoon tour of this, St. Mary Major, and points in between. As stunning as the basilica itself is, with the usual plethora of interesting factoids and details, not surprisingly, my favorite spot on the property was the baptistry. I am fascinated by baptistries in general, and this one, dating from the 5th century, reeks of the antiquity that I find so grounding.

A brief account of our tour of the Lateran

On the statue of St. Francis and companions that stands across from the Basilica,

Zadok has a good photo of that statue and its positioning.

Gashwin has photos up from his last visit – a visit on which we literally ran into him in the courtyard of San Clemente. We knew he was going to be in Rome  but because of the timing of both of our visits, really didn’t know if we could plan to meet – so we didn’t. But then…when was it – the last Sunday we were there? I don’t remember – I was in the gift shop at San Clemente, and Michael came in from outside, and said, "Come see who’s here." I hadn’t met Gashwin yet, but Michael had, last fall, when he spoke at a Diocese of Charleston event.  One of the many awesome things about Rome – if you know a lot of Catholics, odds are good that at any given time, one of them just might be in Rome.