Lateran Basilica dedicated (traditional date)
Julian date · ≈ Nov 10 on our calendar
Church tradition holds that the Lateran Basilica, Constantine's cathedral for the bishop of Rome built on the site of the disbanded Horse Guard's base, was dedicated on 9 November.
Background
After defeating Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312, Constantine controlled Rome. Maxentius' elite cavalry guard, the equites singulares, had fought against him; Constantine disbanded it and gave its barracks site on the Caelian Hill to the Christian church. There, on land that had belonged to the Laterani family, rose Rome's first great church, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome per the Liber Pontificalis, a later papal chronicle.
The Church has long celebrated the dedication on 9 November. The day is traditional rather than documented, and archaeologists date construction to the years after 312, perhaps finished around 324 disputed.
The basilica was a huge, plain-walled hall on the model of Roman public buildings, not temples. It still stands, much rebuilt, as St John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome. Its building was a visible sign that the new emperor would favour Christians, though Rome's old temples and priesthoods continued to function for decades.
⚠ Uncertain date: Traditional date and year (324, under Bishop Silvester); construction began soon after 312 and the dedication date is not documented in contemporary sources.
Sources
- Liber Pontificalis, Life of Silvester
- Wikipedia: Archbasilica of St John Lateran