Basilica (title)

Tintinnabulum and Padiglione , insignia of the basilica

Basilica is a canonical and canonical honorary title of the Catholic Church . It is intended to honor particularly venerable, meaningful churches and is awarded by the Pope . It is important to note the conceptual difference to the building type basilica .

Gradations of the title

There are gradations within the title:

• The church of the Pope in Lateran in Rome is called the Archbasilica
• The six highest-ranking places of worship in the Catholic Church are called Basilica maior , four in Rome and two in Assisi .
• Twelve churches that are directly subordinate to the Pope are called Papal Basilica
• For more symbolic reasons, the basilicas of Catholic bishops with the title of patriarch are called patriarchal basilica , of which there are only three
• Over 1,500 churches worldwide, Bishop Churches (canon law: Cathedrals ) and others, as major sanctuaries or mission historically important mother churches (Urkirchen) that popes have the title of minor basilica awarded

history

The basilica comes from οἶκος βασίλεος 'royal house', and went over to the Roman hall buildings . Since the Edict of Milan in 313 in particular , the term has also been used to refer to sacred buildings, regardless of their structural form, from that time to modern times basilica and ecclesia have been largely synonymous with 'church'. The term became canonical in the sense of a title only in the 18th century, before that it meant a church " par excellence , an outstanding example of the expressing, concrete and lasting Catholic faith"

In the 4th century, individual churches in Rome were reserved as patriarchalis basilica for the patriarchs of early Christianity , if they were in Rome. These churches, 4 in number, all set up up to 451, are today assigned according to the type of title churches , i.e. a purely titular dignity, since the patriarchates partly perished, partly without claim to the church itself, or are otherwise void. These were Sancti Petri in Vaticano (Patriarchate Constantinople), Sancti Pauli ex Muros (Alexandria), Sanctæ Mariæ Maior (Antioch) and Sancti Laurenti ex Muros (Jerusalem). A fifth church, Sancti Ioanni in Laterano , was the archibasilica (' Archbasilica '), for the Bishop of Rome and Patriarch of the West , which represented the Justinian Pentarchy . She was by Pope Gregory XI. ( Super Universa 1372) towards the end of East Stream , in addition to being appointed the first of all churches, the mother and main church of (Catholic) Christianity ( Omnium Urbis et Orbis Ecclesiarum Mater et Caput ) There was also the Patriarchal Basilica of Sanctæ Mariæ Assunta in Aquileia since 567 ( today listed as titular archbishopric ), and Sanctæ Eufemiæ in Grado since 575 (this title was transferred to San Marco in Venetia in 1457 ).

In the course of the 16th century, other churches in Rome, the collegiate churches , were also run with the rank of basilica, and by the 18th century 122 churches had come together, which are today Basilicae ab immemorabili (tempore) ("from ancient times, since time immemorial ”). They were entitled to run the patriarchal basilicas, umbraculum (Conopæum) and Tintinnabulum (silk umbrella and bell) (these have been documented since 1391, on the occasion of the canonization of St. Brigid). Of these churches - without the papal basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le mura - 37 in Rome, 64 - without the papal basilica in Assisi and Pompeii, Padua, Loreto and Bari - in the rest of Italy, 7 in Spain, 3 in Portugal and one in Poland.

Already at the beginning of the 18th century (earliest known mention in 1727) the four Roman churches of San Giovanni in Laterano, San Pietro in Vaticano, San Paolo ex Muros and Santa Maria Maggiore (the arch basilica and three of the patriarchal basilicas) were then called Basilicæ Maiores .

1783 was by Pope Pius VI. ( Supremus Ille , from June 27, 1783) the Augustinian Church of San Nicola di Tolentino (in Venice) was the first church to be canonically elevated to a minor basilica , followed in 1804 by two more, San Clemente in Velletri and San Flaviano in Recanati , and in 1805 (at the instigation of Napoleon , of the new emperor) Notre-Dame de Paris . As a result, many (but not all) of the basilicas were assigned the status of basilica minor "from time immemorial", and with 1836  (Lucerina) the specific rights were canonized. By 2001 1,414 minor basilicae (immemorable and canonical) had been built, in 2011 there were over 1,500.

In addition, in 1756 with San Francesco in Assisi (for the Franciscan orders ) and in 1909 with Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi (for the Friars Minor of the Franciscans ) two further Basilicae maiores (and basilicas of the Patriarchate of the West) were added. In 1889 the Patriarchate of Jerusalem was re-established, and San Lorenzo fuori le mura transferred to the Church of Ss. Sepulchris (the Church of the Holy Sepulcher) .

With 2006, when Pope Benedict XVI. resigned the title of Patriarch of the West , the six Basilicae Maiores were renamed from Patriarchal Basilicas to Papal Basilicas , so that today there are 12 papal basilicas (five in Rome, six in the rest of Italy, one in Spain) and three patriarchal basilicas (Jerusalem, Aquileia, Venice ) gives.

See also

• List of basilicas in Italy (with the majority of all basilicas)
• List of basilicas in German-speaking countries
• List of basilicas (other countries)

literature

• Sergio Bianchi: Le Basiliche Minori. Marianum, Rome 1976, OCLC 51205557 . (with an introduction to the concept of the basilica)
• Gabriel Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas. Historical and Canonical Development . M.Div. Hons., Toronto, Ontario 2003 (English, web link , excerpt, pdf , both gcatholic.org [accessed November 16, 2011]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Basilique . In: Dictionnaire de droit canonique . Founded by Fulcran Grégoire Vigouroux . vol. 2, 1937, pp. 242 (French, complete works Encyclopédie des sciences ecclésiastiques ).
2. ↑ shows about the 13th century for the church (today basilica) Santo Francisco Assisi ; after Sergio Bianchi: Le Basiliche Minori . 2.
3. ↑ "Churches par excellence, the exemplars that express the Catholic faith in an outward, tangible and lasting manner." Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas . 2003, Introduction , p. 1 .
4. ↑ Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas . 2003, 1. Patriarchal Basilicas 1.1.1. At Rome .
5. ↑ Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas . 2003, Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, Rome At Rome .
6. ^ Inscription on the facade by Clemens XII. around 1730.
7. ↑ Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas . 2003, 3.1.1 Distinguished Collegiate Churches in Rome , p. 16 .
8. ↑ Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas . 2003, 3.1.2 Immemorial Basilicas , p. 16 .
9. ↑ Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas . 2003, 4.2 Insignia of minor Basilicas: Canopy and Bell , p. 43 .
10. ↑ Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas. 2003, p. 17 and A.4 Minor Basilicas in Different Countries , p. 65.
11. ↑ Sergio Bianchi: Le Basiliche Minori , second, by Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas . 2003, 2 Major Basilicas 2.1 History , footnote 37.
12. ↑ Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas . 2003, 3.1.3 Canonically Created Minor Basilicas , p. 17 .
13. ↑ Chow Hoi-Yan: Basilicas . 2003, 4.1 Historical Development of the Privileges , p. 41 .
14. ↑ Cataloging after Sergio Bianchi 1976; added after Chow Hoi-Yan 2003.
15. ↑ John Trigilio Jr., Rev. Kenneth Brighenti, James Cafone: Catholic Mass for Dummies . John Wiley & Sons, 2011, ISBN 978-0-470-76786-3 , Part III Tools of the Trade , Section Minor basilicas , p. 231 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - still without the 2006 renaturation).
16. ↑ Sancti Francisci was elevated to the papal church in 1288 by Pope Nicholas IV , himself a former general of the Franciscan order in the poverty struggle
17. ↑ in particular the portiuncula , the original church rebuilt with the large church under Pope Pius V, is a papal chapel
18. ↑ The two other present-day patriarchal seats of the Latin churches, Santa Maria Maior in Lisboa for the Patriarchate of Lisbon since 1716, and Santa Catarina in Goa for the Patriarchate of the East Indies since 1886 ( Goanese Schism ) are not basilicas and are called the Patriarchal Cathedral .