Together on the Journey: A Weekly Word from Archbishop Hebda
In the course of the liturgical calendar, we’re accustomed to an occasional feast or memorial being inserted into the liturgical season, often on the date of a saint’s passing on to eternal life. We’ve recently celebrated, for example, the feast of St. Francis and the memorial of Pope St. John the XXIII, days when we celebrate their example and ask for the grace and perseverance to follow in their footsteps.
We’re also used to feasts throughout the year that celebrate some event in the life of Our Lord or the Blessed Mother—think about the Transfiguration or the Assumption. They help us to meditate on the mysteries of our faith.
What might seem odd, however, are those feasts and memorials that recall the dedication of a Church building. Next month, for example, we will be celebrating the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome (November 9) and the optional memorial of the dedication of the Churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, also in Rome (November 18). In August we similarly celebrated the memorial of the dedication of St. Mary Major in Rome. For us in the United States, that might seem a little strange, especially if we have never been to those churches, as historic as they might be.
On each of those occasions, however, the Universal Church is celebrating something far more significant than a building. Consider, for example, the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran, which, for all of you Catholic trivia buffs, is the cathedral Church of the diocese of Rome (most people think that it is St. Peter’s). The Universal Church uses that feast to teach about the singular importance of the papacy and particularly about the significance of the pope’s teaching office, beginning with St. Peter and extending all the way to Pope Francis. It’s in the Church of St. John Lateran that we find THE chair, called the cathedra, in which the Pope would sit in the event that he was proposing an infallible teaching. Look at the Bull appointing Bishop Izen to this Archdiocese, or the Bull that will soon be displayed here when Bishop-elect Kenney is ordained and you’ll see that it is signed by the Pope “ex Laterano”—that is, it comes from the seat of his authority, the Lateran.
In the years that I lived in Rome, I would also take visitors to the Lateran. I loved the inscription on the face, proclaiming that church building to be the “mater et caput” (mother and head) of all the Churches in the world. That’s something that you’re not going to find in Pittsburgh!
The feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran is also used to mark a particularly pivotal moment in Christian history. The land under the Lateran Basilica was owned by the emperor, and it was there that he built for the Successor of Peter the first Papal residence and cathedral once Christianity was no longer illegal. It was during Constantine’s reign that being a Christian was decriminalized, bringing early persecutions to an end. This meant that, for the first time, Christians – who for centuries had celebrated Masses in homes or in the catacombs, would no longer have to hide from persecutors and would have a designated space in which to freely worship.
Today, the 14th of October, our local church celebrates the dedication of our “local St. John Lateran,” the magnificent Cathedral of St. Paul. Historical accounts describe how Archbishop John Ireland, whose vision had inspired the construction of this sacred and majestic space, was moved to tears at his first Mass in the new Cathedral, seeing thousands of the faithful whose donations – big and small – had brought this dream to fruition. The Archbishop said that day, “You built it… it is your home, purchased with the fruits of your toil.”
I feel the same way today: The Cathedral belongs to each of you. Your prayers, participation, and generosity over the years have ensured the Cathedral remains a beacon of light not just in St. Paul, but for our whole Archdiocese (and, I would argue, for our country). I’ve often been told that Pope Benedict XVI would say that our Cathedral is the most beautiful Cathedral in all of the United States.
If you get this early enough, I hope that you will please join me in celebration this evening for a 7 p.m. Mass in honor of the dedication of the Cathedral of St. Paul. It is the second of several special liturgies during this Year 2 focused on the Mass and another wonderful opportunity to gather in celebration as one local church. I hope to see you there.
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