Every winter we Catholics celebrate the birth of our Savior, every spring we celebrate his Resurrection, and every summer we rejoice in the Assumption of our Mother. Throughout the year, days are set aside to venerate the most renowned saints and angels, encouraging the faithful to imitate their lives and pray for their intercession. Feast days are an undeniably important part of the liturgical year, directing the faithful to look beyond their earthly lives and celebrate the saints who now dwell in heaven.
However, there are two November feasts, the Dedication of the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran (November 9) and the Dedication of the Basilicas of the Apostles Peter and Paul (November 18), that do not seem to fit in with the rest of the year’s feasts. Rather than commemorating a saint in heaven or a biblical event, they celebrate brick and mortar, earthly buildings located in Rome.
Of course it would be a mistake to consider these churches as just any simple buildings. The Lateran Basilica is the Pope’s own parish church, and therefore the most important Catholic church in the world. Originally a palace used by the Roman Emperor, the Basilica was consecrated as the Cathedral of Rome in AD 324. It stands today as an important symbol of the Church’s triumph over her initial persecution and of the fortitude of the martyrs who died while their religion was still forbidden.
The Basilicas of Peter and Paul hold similar importance as prominent churches. Built atop ancient burial grounds of Christian martyrs, the high altars of these churches stand directly above the bones of their namesake saints, honoring the relics of the two Apostles responsible for bringing the faith to the capital of the world’s most powerful empire. St. Peter’s also holds the distinction of being the largest church in the world and holds the Church’s most important events, such as canonization masses and papal funerals.
The fact remains, however, that these churches are still simply buildings, unable to be venerated like the saints who occupy most dates on the liturgical calendar. Why then do they deserve their own feasts? Because, as is mentioned in the entrance hymn to their festal Masses, every church is a “house of God and gate of heaven.” By dedicating feast days to the most important basilicas, Catholics are reminded of the importance of all of the world’s churches, which house the tabernacles in which Our Lord dwells and the altars on which He is consecrated.
Furthermore, these feast days remind us the important role that physical things in general play in our faith. Unlike the Manichaeans, who believed that all matter is evil and that the soul is trapped in a bodily prison, Catholics contend that physical matter is good and that the body and the soul are both essential and intertwined parts of the human person. God himself took a physical form at the Incarnation, so it is illogical to believe that matter is an inherent evil.
The Catholic emphasis on the Sacraments is based upon this high view of physical matter. As Aquinas explains, “the condition of human nature is such that it has to be led from things corporeal and sensible to things spiritual and intelligible.” Unlike many non-Catholic Christians, who rely on a purely abstract relationship with God, Catholics are able to receive grace in a physical and certain way through participation in the sacraments.
Therefore, blessed medals and icons are specially aside for religious use, physical actions such as kneeling and genuflection are utilized to signify devotion, and the words “I absolve you” spoken by a priest at confession truly remove from a person the stain of sin. Perhaps most importantly, the Lord is physically present in the Blessed Sacrament, meaning that even in this life Catholics can stand in God’s presence.
What seems at first as an oddity in the liturgical year, a celebration of earthly structures when most feasts celebrate people’s heavenly perfection, is actually a perfect opportunity to reflect on one of the most beautiful aspects of the Catholic faith. The grace of God is conveyed through the physical sacraments that take place in churches such as the Basilicas of John, Peter, and Paul, making their celebration absolutely merited.
Featured image courtesy of Ferras via Wikimedia
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