In this article
Why the Lateran, and which Saint John?
If you picture the pope celebrating Mass in front of Saint Peter’s, it can come as a surprise to find another Roman church on the calendar. Saint John Lateran is where the pope has his seat as bishop of the Diocese of Rome. The feast begins with that local relationship. When he gathers the faithful of his diocese there, the pope stands in the same relationship to them that your diocesan bishop has to your local church. Pope Leo XIV’s homily at the Lateran Basilica
The names preserve different parts of the story. The Laterani were the family associated with the estate. In the fourth century, under Emperor Constantine, a basilica was built there and dedicated to Christ the Savior. Both John the Baptist and John the Evangelist came to be honored in its name. Someone looking for the saint whose personal feast falls on November 9 will find something different here. The anniversary belongs to the church’s dedication to God. Benedict XVI’s account of the dedication
A dedication sets a church apart for worship. What began as Rome’s own anniversary spread through the Roman Rite. When the Lateran is called the mother church, the family language helps explain why another parish keeps its anniversary. You can celebrate the church that serves as a sign of your communion with Rome without ever having set foot there. Benedict XVI on the meaning of the feast
What to listen for in the readings
As you read, ask what each writer means by a temple. The word can evoke the same picture of a building each time, yet the readings ask you to look in three different directions.
In Ezekiel’s vision, follow the water. It starts at the temple and flows out into country where its effects can be seen. Fish thrive and trees bear fruit along its course. A listener could spend the whole reading trying to picture the sanctuary and miss the people downstream who will eat that fruit. Ezekiel 47:1–12, NABRE
In his letter to Corinth, Paul is writing to a community divided over its leaders. His picture of a building gives those Christians a way to understand what they owe one another. Different workers contribute, Christ is the foundation, and the people together are the temple where God’s Spirit dwells. Imagine hearing the letter read aloud beside someone on the other side of a parish disagreement. Both of you belong to the community Paul is asking you to care for. 1 Corinthians 3, NABRE
In John’s Gospel, listen for the narrator’s explanation after Jesus speaks about raising the temple. The people speaking with him think of the years spent building it. John identifies the temple in Jesus’ saying as his body and tells us that the disciples understood his words in light of the Resurrection. That detail brings a feast about a Roman building back to the person to whom it was dedicated. John 2:13–22, NABRE
A way to keep the feast in your own parish
After Mass, stand for a moment where the congregation comes out. Think of someone whose place among them you know by sight. Perhaps it is the reader who now has trouble getting to church, or a family still learning people’s names. A phone call to the reader or an invitation to sit together next Sunday is one way to care for the people Paul calls God’s temple.
If you are reading at home, open your diocese’s website and look for the name of its cathedral. With a child, write down the names of your parish, your cathedral and Saint John Lateran. Ask which two share a bishop, then explain why that bishop and the bishop of Rome pray in communion with one another. If you live in Rome, the last two names will be the same.
For help recognizing other observances in a parish bulletin, see our guide to feasts, solemnities and memorials.