Solemnity of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome

What was on this spot before me?

As we observe the Solemnity of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome this weekend, the spiritual meaning is real and clear: we are part of one Body in Christ, the Church. We unite in a communion of faith in the Creed, life in the Sacraments, and Community in the one history of salvation going back in time to Jesus and his fulfillment of all things in his Cross and Resurrection. No matter where we worship, no matter how grand or how humble the sacred spaces of Catholicism, it is part of the one and same Church across place and across time.

But what was the spot before what we see now? Ancient buildings like St. John Lateran naturally lead us to such historical reflections as well, fascinating in themselves. These places stand as islands in the stream of time – for St. John Lateran especially, where two currents meet: at the intersection of Imperial Rome’s dominance and power (the “basilica” was a civil architecture form for gathering large groups to conduct Rome’s business), and the Kingdom of God gradually growing from origins that were small, humble, and often persecuted in the midst of the Empire.

The site of today’s basilica had been owned by the Laterani family, involved in Imperial administration. One of the Laterani was suspected of treason by the infamous Emperor Nero, so the Empire claimed the land for its own purposes around the time of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul. About a century after St. John the Apostle died, in 193 the Emperor Septimus Severus build a fort with stables for the horses of his bodyguards on that land, about 1.5 miles ESE of the Colosseum. When a later Emperor, Maxentius, was defeated by the invading Constantine at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, the guard was abolished and the fort demolished.

The Lateran Palace then fell into the hands of Constantine when he married his second wife Fausta, sister of the Maxentius he had defeated, a move to align his former enemies.

The Palace then was eventually given to Pope Miltiades in 313, another effort to pacify the many competing powers around him.

The palace basilica was converted and extended, becoming the residence of Pope Sylvester I, eventually becoming the Cathedral of Rome in 324, the seat of the Popes as the Bishops of Rome, dedicated over time to Christ the Savior, St. John the Baptist, and St. John the Evangelist.

It fell into disrepair and suffered two fires while the Popes were living in Avignon, France, from 1309-1376. Returning to Rome, the papal residence moved a couple of times and eventually settled in the at the Vatican, next to St. Peter’s Basilica, the third church built over the tomb of St. Peter the Apostle.

Why that whirlwind survey of centuries? The churches familiar to us in our ACC and Diocese were not discovered by our ancestors like mountains or rivers. They were human edifices of faith, skill, sacrifice, and generosity on land that may have been farms, wetlands, hunting grounds, encampments, forests, prairie. Some of our ancestors walked and worked those lands; many people unknown to us and them did the same, long before. God’s rain, snow, sunshine, and storm came upon that land. Things happened there, overseen by God’s providence, long before “our pew” stood in place.

Like St. John Lateran’s stables, not every chapter of church history is noble and regal. All Things New naturally makes us look at our own history and the faith of those who preceded us in our parish communities. Looking back is not intended simply to engage in history, nostalgia or even grief, though those are real. It also helps us look to the future we are preparing. Long after “our pew” is dust, Jesus will remain yesterday, today, and forever, and we will belong to him.