 | Basilica of St. John Lateran: Encyclopedia II - Basilica of St. John Lateran - Lateran Palace
Basilica of St. John Lateran - Lateran Palace
The site on which the Basilica sits was occupied during the Early Empire by the palace of the gens Laterani. The Laterani served as administrators for several emperors; Sextius Lateranus was the first plebeian to attain the rank of consul. One of the Laterani, Consul-designate Plautius Lateranus, became famous for being accused by Nero of conspiracy against the emperor. The accusation resulted in the confiscation and redistribution of his properties.
The Lateran Palace fell into the hands of the emperor when Constantine married his second wife Fausta, sister of Maxentius. Known by that time as the "Domus Faustae" or "House of Fausta," the Lateran Palace was eventually given to the Bishop of Rome by Constantine. The actual date of the gift is unknown but scholars believe it had to have been during the pontificate of Pope Miltiades, in time to host a synod of bishops in 313 that was convened to challenge the Donatist schism, declaring Donatism as heresy. The palace basilica was converted and extended, eventually becoming the cathedral of Rome, the seat of the popes as patriarchs of Rome.
The official dedication of the Lateran Palace and basilica was presided by Pope Sylvester I in 324, declaring both as Domus Dei or "House of God." In reflection of the basilica's primacy in the world as mother church, the words Sacrosancta Lateranensis ecclesia omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et caput are incised across the façade, meaning "Most Holy Lateran Church, of all the churches in the city and the world, the mother and head."
Twice the Lateran Palace and basilica have been rededicated. Pope Sergius III dedicated them to Saint John the Baptist in the 10th century in honor of the newly consecrated basilica baptistry. Pope Lucius II dedicated the Lateran Palace and basilica to Saint John the Evangelist in the 12th century. The church became the most important shrine in honor of the two saints, not often jointly venerated (but see Peruzzi Chapel, Santa Croce, Florence). In later years, a Benedictine monastery was established at the Lateran Palace, devoted to serving the basilica as a devotional to the two saints.
Every pope since Miltiades occupied the Lateran Palace until the reign of the French Pope Clement V, who in 1309 decided to transfer the official seat of the Church to Avignon, a papal fief that was an enclave within France. During the Avignon papacy, the Lateran Palace and the basilica began to decline. Two destructive fires rampaged through the Lateran Palace and the basilica, in 1307 and again in 1361. In both cases, the Avignon papacy sent money to their bishops in Rome to cover costs in reconstruction and maintenance. Despite the action, the Lateran Palace and the basilica lost its former splendor.
When the Avignon papacy formally ended and the Bishop of Rome again resided in Rome, the Lateran Palace and the basilica were deemed inadequate considering the accumulated damage. The popes took up residency at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere and later at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Eventually, the Palace of the Vatican was constructed, and the papacy moved in; the papacy remains there today.
Pope Sixtus V tore down the original Lateran Palace and basilica and commissioned replacements. The rebuilt Lateran Palace and the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano became separate entities. Today the Lateran Palace is home to the Pontifical Museum of Christian Antiquities.
The square in front of the Lateran Palace has a red granite obelisk, the largest in the world, erected by Tuthmosis III in Karnak. It was removed to Rome by Constantius in 357 and re-erected in the Circus Maximus. Sixtus V had it re-erected in 1587 on its present site.
The Lateran Palace has also been the site of five Ecumenical councils. See Lateran councils.
Other related archives"Donation" of the Papal States, 10th century, 12th century, 1307, 1309, 1360, 1361, 1369, 13th century, 1735, 1880, 313, 324, 460, 896, Alessandro Galilei, Arian, Avignon, Avignon papacy, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere, Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Benedictine, Catholic Church, Catholics, Charlemagne, Circus Maximus, Constantine, Constantine the Great, Constantius, Corinthian pilasters, Cosmatesque, Cosmati, Domenico Fontana, Donatism, Early Christian art and architecture, Early Empire, Ecumenical councils, France, Francesco Borromini, Gothic, Italian, Jerusalem, Karnak, Labarum, Lateran Baptistery, Lateran Palace, Lateran councils, Liber Pontificalis, Maxentius, Michelangelo, Nero, Palace of the Vatican, Peruzzi Chapel, Pontifical Museum of Christian Antiquities, Pope, Pope Clement V, Pope Clement XII, Pope Hadrian, Pope Innocent X, Pope John XXII, Pope Leo III, Pope Lucius II, Pope Miltiades, Pope Sergius III, Pope Sixtus III, Pope Sixtus V, Pope Sylvester I, Pope Urban V, Roman fleet, Romanesque, Saint John the Baptist, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Paul, Serlian motif, St Peter's, St. Leo the Great, St. Peter, St. Peter's Basilica, Triclinium, Tuthmosis III, Vandals, Vatican Museums, Vespasian, administrators, baptistry, basilica, bishops, cathedral, city walls, cloisters, columns, consul, devotional, ecumenical, emperors, feast, fountain of Life, gens, heresy, illuminated manuscripts, liturgical calendar, major basilicas, marble, monastery, motherchurch, narthex, obelisk, palace, palace on the Campidoglio, peristyle, plebeian, schism, stole, synod
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