The Lateran & Surroundings

🚌 Getting here

The metro line San Giovanni (Line A) has a stop right by St. John Lateran, but you will come up outside the walls of Rome. As you come up to street level, just look above the wall to see the heads of the statues that top the Basilica and head that way! There are also several bus lines with stops near San Giovanni (16, 51, 77, 81, 85, 87).

The Church of St. John Lateran is the “mother and head of all the churches of the city of Rome and the world.” It is the oldest  As Bishop of Rome, the Pope has a Cathedral, and that Cathedral is actually St. John Lateran.

The Popes lived at the Lateran Palace, connected to the basilica, for over a millennium, and only moved to the Vatican “recently” in the fourteenth century.  (To some, the fourteenth century is ancient history, but not for the Church!) This means the Lateran was home to the Popes longer than the Vatican has been. When you think of various events in Church history—Pope Leo the Great going forth to meet Attila the Hun, Gregory the Great sending missionaries to convert the Anglo-Saxons, Francis of Assisi seeking papal approval for his order—all of that happened here, not across town in the Vatican.

Originally the Basilica of the Savior; eventually dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and now it’s also considered a church to St. John the Evangelist. There is no saint named “John Lateran.” In Laterano refers to the original owner of the land, Platutius Lateranus. 

Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano

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The main center doors of St. John Lateran came from the Senate House in the Forum. That means they’re almost 2000 years old. Inside, what we see today was done by the artist-architect Borromini in 1650; most consider it to be “painfully modernized.” Borromini encased the ancient columns with the huge pilasters we see today. The nave is lined with large statues of the Apostles, many of whom are holding the instruments of their martyrdom. Above the center altar, behind the gold bars, are busts of Peter and Paul that hold relics of their skulls. Inside the main altar is the wooden altar St. Peter celebrated Mass on at the house of Pudens–part of the table has been preserved in Santa Pudenziana. One of the greatest treasures in the basilica is one that goes unnoticed by most tourists. High on the wall above the tabernacle, on the left hand side of the sanctuary, is a simple piece of wood behind glass. In front of it is a golden bas-relief of Christ and his apostles. This piece of wood is believed to be from the table of the Last Supper.

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