Today we celebrate an unusual feast – the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. The Lateran Basilica, better known as St John Lateran, is the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, better known as the Pope. So the feast is really one of the Pope, of the unity and catholicity of the Church gathered around our bishops who, in turn, gather around the Pope. But what is a cathedral?
It surprises visitors to Rome to discover that the great St Peter’s in the Vatican is not a cathedral. That is because many people have the mistaken idea that a cathedral is simply a big church. In fact, it takes its name from cathedra, a Latin word for a seat from the Greek kathedra. At his installation each bishop is seated on a special chair that becomes a symbol of his leadership and service to the Church. The chair is often decorated or on a rather grander scale than your usual sort of chair! So the cathedra gives its name to the building where it is located. So, on the whole, there is just one cathedral church in each bishop’s diocese or area. So, as Bishop of Rome, the Pope’s cathedral is St John Lateran.
Our archbishop has his cathedra in St David’s cathedral in Charles Street. That’s just behind Marks and Sparks for those who have never visited! Make a visit and you will see a grand oak chair located just to the right of the main altar. The use of this is reserved to the Archbishop, and so priests celebrating Mass use another, smaller one. You will see him on it at the Chrism Mass and other occasions when he presides there.
St John Lateran dates way back to the fourth century, but St David’s only to the 1880’s, and it became a cathedral in the early twentieth century. Naturally, the history of the Church in South Wales goes back much further than that – to the mists of the Celtic age, and for nigh on a thousand years the cathedral of the Bishop in our area was at Llandaff, where it still stands. It’s being looked after by our Anglican friends… but that’s another story.
Fr Matthew