In Dedicatione Archibasilicæ Ss. SalvatorisDedication of the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour

Lesson I

From the Book of Revelation

Rev 21:9-11

And there came one of the seven angels, who had the vials full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying: Come, and I will shew thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he took me up in spirit to a great and high mountain: and he shewed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God, and the light thereof was like to a precious stone, as to the jasper stone, even as crystal.

Lesson II

Rev 21:12-15

And it had a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and in the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east, three gates: and on the north, three gates: and on the south, three gates: and on the west, three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them, the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that spoke with me, had a measure of a reed of gold, to measure the city and the gates thereof, and the wall.

Lesson III

Rev 21:16-18

And the city lieth in a foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth: and he measured the city with the golden reed for twelve thousand furlongs, and the length and the height and the breadth thereof are equal. And he measured the wall thereof an hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, which is of an angel. And the building of the wall thereof was of jasper stone: but the city itself pure gold, like to clear glass.

Lesson IV

The Rites whereof the Church of Rome maketh use for the hallowing of Churches and Altars were first instituted by the blessed Pope Sylvester. From the very time of the Apostles there had been places set apart for God, where assemblies took place upon the first day of every week, and where the Christians were used to pray, to hear the word of God, and to receive the Eucharist, which places were by some called Oratories and by others Churches. But these places were not dedicated with so solemn a form, nor did they set up therein an Altar for a pillar, and pour chrism thereon, (Gen. xxviii. 18,) for a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is Himself our Altar, our Victim, and our Priest.

Lesson V

But when the Emperor Constantine had by the Sacrament of Baptism received health both of body and soul, then first in a law by him published was it allowed to the Christians throughout the whole world to build Churches, to the which holy building he exhorted them by his example as well as by his decree. He dedicated in his own Lateran Palace a Church to the Saviour, and built hard by it a Cathedral in the name of St. John the Baptist, upon the place where he had been baptized by holy Sylvester and cleansed from his leprosy. This Cathedral was hallowed by the said Pope upon the 9th day of November. It is this consecration, the memory whereof is still celebrated upon this day, the first whereon the public consecration of a Church ever took place in Rome, and the image of the Saviour was seen by the Roman people painted upon the wall.

Lesson VI

The Blessed Sylvester afterwards decreed, when he was consecrating the Altar of the Prince of the Apostles, that Altars were thenceforward to be made of stone only, but notwithstanding this the Lateran Cathedral hath the altar made of wood. This is not surprising. From St. Peter to Sylvester the Popes had not been able, by reason of persecutions, to abide fixedly in one place, and they celebrated the Holy Liturgy in cellars, in burying-places, in the houses of godly persons, or wherever need drove them, upon a wooden altar made like an empty box. When peace was given to the Church, holy Sylvester took this box, and to do honour to the Prince of the Apostles, who is said to have offered sacrifice thereon, and to the other Popes who thereon had been used to execute the mystery even unto that time, set it in the first Church, even the Lateran, and ordained that no one but the Bishop of Rome should celebrate the Liturgy thereon for all time coming. s/$/~/

The original Lateran Cathedral, cast down and destroyed by fires, pillage, and earthquakes, and renewed by the constant care of the Popes, was at last rebuilt afresh, and solemnly consecrated by Pope Benedict XIII, a Friar Preacher, upon the 28th day of April, in the year 1726, the memory of which Festival he ordained to be kept upon this day. In the year 1884 Leo XIII took in hand a work which had received the sanction of his predecessor Pius IX. The great sanctuary, the walls of which were giving way with age, was lengthened and widened, a task of immense labour. The ancient mosaic had been renewed previously in several places; it was now restored according to the original design, and transferred to the new apse, the embellishment of which was carried out with great magnificence. The transept was redecorated, and its ceiling and woodwork repaired. A sacristy, a residence for the canons, and a portico connecting with the baptistery of Constantine, were added to the existing buildings.

Lesson VII

From the Holy Gospel according to Luke

Luke 19:1-10

At that time: Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And so on.

Homily by St. Ambrose, Bishop (of Milan.)

Bk. viii. on Luke.

Zacchaeus was little of stature, that is, he was not raised aloft among men by nobility of birth, and, like the most of the world, he possessed few merits. When he heard that the Lord and Saviour, Who had come unto His Own, and Whom His Own had not received, (John i. 11,) was coming, he desired to see Him. But the sight of Jesus is not easy; to any on the earth it is impossible. And since Zacchaeus had neither the Prophets, nor yet the Law, as a gracious help to his nature, he climbed up into a sycamore tree, raising his feet above the vanity of the Jews, and straightening the crooked branches of his former life, and therefore he received Jesus to lodge within his house.

Lesson VIII

He did well to climb up into a tree, that a good tree might bring forth good fruits, (Matth. vii. 17,) and that the slip of the wild olive, grafted, contrary to nature, into the good olive, might bring forth the fruits of the law. (Rom. xi. 17, 24.) For the root is holy, however unprofitable the branches. Their barren beauty hath now been overshadowed by the belief of the Gentiles in the Resurrection, as by a material upgrowth. Zacchaeus, then, was in the sycamore tree, and the blind man by the way-side, (xviii. 35.) For the one, Jesus stood waiting to show mercy, and asked him before He healed him, what he would that He should do for him; being unbidden of the other, He bade Himself to be his Guest, knowing how rich was the reward of receiving Him. Nevertheless, albeit He had heard no words of invitation, yet had He seen how his heart went.

Lesson IX

Commemoration of: St. Theodore, Martyr

This Theodore was a Christian soldier, who was arrested in the reign of the Emperor Maximian for having set fire to a temple of idols. The Commander of the Legion offered him pardon if he would profess repentance and curse the Christian faith, but, as he refused to swerve as regarding the confession of his belief, he was cast into prison. There he was tormented with iron claws. As they were tearing the flesh off his ribs, he sang joyfully (the 33rd Psalm) I will bless the Lord at all times. Thereafter he was thrown upon an heap of burning wood, and there, still praying and praising God, he gave up his soul to Christ, upon the 9th day of November, (in the year of salvation 304.) The Lady Eusebia wrapped his body in a winding-sheet, and buried it on her own farm.

Te Deum