Lateran

In a corner of Rome which has been left behind by the centuries is the church of St. John Lateran. Dozens of churches can lay claim to greater beauty and adornment, but this church, said the Pope in a letter last week, is "the mother and head of all the churches of the city and of the world.''

On Nov. 9 the Catholic World will celebrate the 16th centenary of this most famous of all "St. Johns." About the year 324, Constantine the Great, "sentimental before he was great and great before he was Christian," bought a mansion from a rich Roman pagan family, named Laterano. This mansion the Emperor gave to Pope Sylvestre. Within the house a chapel was erected and for 600 years called the "chapel in the Laterano house"; finally, after having been twice burned and rebuilt, it was dedicated to St. John the Baptist and became San Giovanni nel Laterano. It was early regarded as the Pope's own church, and hence as the centre of Roman Christendom. Pope Pius XI will not be able to say mass in his own church on the day of the festival, of course, because he is a prisoner, self-imprisoned in the Vatican, miles away.

A U. S. church--St. Jean Baptiste, Manhattan -- claims to be the only church in the world directly affiliated with the Laterano church. Visitors to the Manhattan church may receive all the privileges of a visit to the mother church. Thus on Nov. 9 it will dispense, like the Lateran, a plenary indulgence.