The liturgical calendar year of 2025 has been filled with many special feasts. A number of special feast days have fallen on the weekends versus the ordinary experience of having them fall during the weekdays. This weekend we have another special feast that we celebrate: The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.
For those of you who have made a pilgrimage to Rome, especially to visit the holy places throughout the city, you have most likely made a visit to St. John Lateran. Just as the Roman Empire was becoming Christian, and Christianity was being recognized as an official religion, construction would begin on the Lateran Basilica. This Church is one of the four major basilicas of Rome. It would become the 1st Christian Basilica in Rome.
Why is this particular Church so important to our faith and our tradition? This Church would become the Basilica of the Bishop of Rome (who is the Pope). This is the Church that holds the Cathedra of the Bishop of Rome and is the Mother Church (most everyone thinks that it is St. Peter’s, but it really is St. John Lateran). For many centuries, it would also serve as the Papal residence. During a brief period in our Church history, where the Pope moved to France, the Papacy then returned to Rome and the Papal residence became St. Peter’s and St. John remained the Pope’s Cathedral.
This feast day is also special because it reminds us of the connection that we have to the Bishop of Rome, the head of the Church, and how Christians are united to him, the Vicar of Christ. On this day, let us especially keep our Holy Father, Pope Leo, in our prayers. May he continue to teach us and inspire us to bring ourselves closer to Christ.
This coming Tuesday is Veterans Day. Let us thank those who have served and protected our country over the years as well as those Veterans who are no longer with us.