It is said that in Malta and Gozo there is a church for each day of the year. But have we ever thought of the first church the Catholic Church has built in her 2,000-year-old history? This is precisely the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome.
The original name of the basilica was Christ the Saviour and was built by Emperor Constantine I. Then it came to be called: Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran.
Constantine defeated his adversary Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on October 28, 312, notwithstanding all the disadvantages he had to face. He confessed that his victory came about through the intervention of God in the person of Christ.
In less than a year from his victory, Constantine legalised the Christian religion in the whole Roman empire and started to build the first basilica of the whole Christian world. He built it on purpose within the walls of Rome to prove that thenceforth Christians had the right to live their faith publicly in the whole empire. We must remember that all this happened after 300 years of severe persecutions against Christians who had shed their blood for Christ in thousands.
Unlike the Roman temples, which were too small to fit anything more than a cult statue, this first church was big enough to gather thousands of Christians for their liturgical celebrations. No one would be left out, no one excluded.
The Basilica of St John Lateran was consecrated on November 9, 324 by Pope St Sylvester I. Those persecuted Christians could admire its glorious interior. Huge clerestory windows bathed the vast space with light glinting off precious chandeliers, candelabra and sheets of red, green and yellow marble. Gilt bronze columns glowed around the triumphal arch poised above the altar.
Christ said he is the light. In the apse mosaic of this basilica, made of glittering tiles of glass and gold, there is the face of Christ. This public image of Christ was a great historical fact for all Christians after having spent three centuries practising Christian faith underground in hidden houses or catacombs.
St John Lateran has since undergone many changes: It has been burnt down, crumbled by an earthquake and sacked many times, but the strong foundations laid in 313 have allowed the church to be rebuilt each time.
On November 9 each year the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome where the Pope has his cathedra as the teacher of the universal Church. This basilica is called the Mother and Head of all the churches of the city (Rome) and of the world.