The seat of the Pope, precious heritage, and stage for the expansion of Catholicism, the Lateran Basilica has become a symbol of the Catholic faith.
Newsroom (09/11/2020 2:52 PM, Gaudium Press) The Lateran Basilica[1] with its elongated naves, its rafters resting on its colonnades, completed by a vestibule and an apse, in which its altar is located, is built on the foundations of what was then called the “new barracks“[2] of the soldiers of the imperial cavalry of Sever Severus (193-211 AD), the former residence of the Roman army’s elite.
When, under the command of the usurper Maxentius, the elite of the Roman cavalry was defeated at the Battle of Ponte Milvia by Constantine, the rightful emperor ordered the barracks to be completely destroyed by his troops.
However, the land of the barracks was offered to the so-called “Lateran people,” newly elevated to nobility by the appointment of Sextius Lateranus, the consul.
After the Edict of Milan (313 A.D.) liberated Catholic worship in the Roman domains, the area was donated by Constantine to the Bishop of Rome, and new premises were built on it.
From then on, the Lateran Basilica was used as the main papal seat.
Witness to the persecutions suffered by the Church in the time of the catacombs and the freedom of worship granted by Constantine, the Lateran Basilica became a stage in the history of the Church and one of its greatest legacies.
Having accompanied the expansion of Catholicism throughout the world, remembering the importance of this building is both a duty and an acknowledgment.
Thus, even today, it can be considered a work worthy of our admiration and a symbol of faith, because its walls confirm the Savior’s promise about the perenniality of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Church.
By Renan Costa
[1] Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris et Sanctorum Iohannes Baptista et Evangelista in Laterano.
[2] Castra Nova equitum singularium.
