The
Latin word basilica (derived
from Greek, Basiliké Stoà, Royal Stoa, the tribunal of a
king), was originally used to describe a Roman public building (as in Greece
, mainly a
tribunal), usually located in the forum of a Roman town. In
Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in
the 2nd century BC.
Basilicas were also used for religious purposes. The remains of a
large subterranean
Neopythagorean
basilica, dating from the 1st century, were found near the
Porta Maggiore in 1915; the stuccoes on the
interior vaulting have survived, though their exact interpretation
remains a matter for debate. The groundplan of Christian basilicas
in the 4th century was similar to that of this Neopythagorean
basilica, which had three naves, and an apse.
After the
Roman Empire became
officially
Christian, the term came by
extension to specifically refer to a large and important
church that has been given special
ceremonial rites by the
Pope. Thus the word
retains two senses today, one architectural and the other
ecclesiastical.
Architecture

Floor plan of the Basilica of
Maxentius and Constantine.
In architecture, the Roman
basilica was a large
roofed hall erected for transacting business and disposing of legal
matters. Such buildings usually contained interior
colonnades that divided the space, giving aisles
or arcaded spaces at one or both sides, with an
apse at one end (or less often at each end), where the
magistrates sat, often on a slightly raised dais. The central aisle
tended to be wide and was higher than the flanking aisles, so that
light could penetrate through the
clerestory windows.
The oldest known basilica, the Basilica Porcia, was built in Rome
in
184 BC by
Cato
the Elder during the time he was
censor. Other early examples include
the one at Pompeii (late 2nd century BC).
Probably the most splendid Roman basilica (see below) is the one
constructed for traditional purposes during the reign of the pagan
emperor
Maxentius and finished by
Constantine I after 313. As early as
the time of Augustus, a public basilica for transacting business
had been part of any settlement that considered itself a city, used
like the late medieval covered markethouses of northern Europe
(where the meeting room, for lack of urban space, was set
above the arcades).
Basilicas in the Roman Forum
Palace basilicas
In the early Imperial period, a basilica for large audiences also
became a feature in the palaces. In the 3rd century AD, the
governing elite appeared less easily in the forums. "They now
tended to dominate their cities from opulent palaces and country
villas, set a little apart from traditional centers of public life.
Rather than retreats from public life, however, these residences
were the forum made private." (Peter Brown, in Paul Veyne, 1987).
Seated in the tribune of his basilica the great man would meet his
dependent
clientes early every morning.
A private
basilica excavated at Bulla
Regia
(Tunisia), in the "House of the Hunt," dates from
the first half of the 4th century. Its reception or audience
hall is a long rectangular nave-like space, flanked by dependent
rooms that mostly also open into one another, ending in a circular
apse, with matching transept spaces. The
"crossing" of the two axes was emphasized with clustered
columns.
Christianization of the Roman basilica
In the 4th century, Christians were prepared to build larger and
more handsome edifices for worship than the furtive meeting places
they had been using. Architectural formulas for temples were
unsuitable, not simply for their pagan associations, but because
pagan cult and sacrifices occurred outdoors under the open sky in
the sight of the gods, with the temple, housing the cult figures
and the treasury, as a backdrop. The usable model at hand, when
Constantine wanted to memorialize his imperial piety, was the
familiar conventional architecture of the basilicas . These had a
center nave with one aisle at each side and an apse at one end: on
this raised platform sat the bishop and priests.
Constantine built a
basilica of this type in his palace complex at Trier
, later very
easily adopted for use as a church. It is a long rectangle
two stories high, with ranks of arch-headed windows one above the
other, without aisles (no mercantile exchange in this imperial
basilica) and at the far end, beyond a huge arch, the apse in which
Constantine held state. Exchange the throne for an altar, as was
done at Trier, and you had a church. Basilicas of this type were
built not only in Western Europe but in Greece, Syria, Egypt, and
Palestine.
Good early examples of the architectural
basilica are the Church of the Nativity
at Bethlehem (6th century), the church of St Elias
at Thessalonica (5th century), and the two great basilicas at
Ravenna
.
The first basilicas with
transepts were
built under the orders of
Emperor
Constantine, both in Rome and his "New Rome," Constantinople:
- "Around 380, Gregory
Nazianzen, describing the Constantinian Church of the Holy
Apostles at Constantinople, was the first to point out its
resemblance to a cross. Because the cult of the cross was spreading at about the same time, this
comparison met with stunning success." (Yvon Thébert, in Veyne,
1987)
Thus a Christian symbolic theme was applied quite naturally to form
borrowed from civil semi-public precedents.
In the later 4th
century other Christian basilicas were built in Rome: Santa Sabina
, St John Lateran and St Paul's-outside-the-Walls
(4th century), and later San Clemente (6th century).
A Christian basilica of the 4th or 5th century stood behind its
entirely enclosed
forecourt ringed with a
colonnade or arcade, like the
stoa or
peristyle that was its ancestor or like the
cloister that was its descendant. This
forecourt was entered from outside through a range of buildings
along the public street.
This was the architectural groundplan of
St Peter's
Basilica
in Rome, until first the forecourt, then all of it
was swept away in the 15th century to make way for a great modern
church on a new plan.
In most basilicas the central nave is taller than the aisles,
forming a row of windows called a
clerestory.
Some basilicas in the Caucasus, particularly those of Georgia
and Armenia
, have a central nave only slightly higher than the
two aisles and a single pitched roof covering all three. The
result is a much darker interior. This plan is known as the
"oriental basilica."
Famous existing examples of churches constructed in the ancient
basilica style include:
Gradually in the early Middle Ages there emerged the massive
Romanesque churches, which
still retained the fundamental plan of the basilica.
Ecclesiastical basilicas
The Early Christian purpose-built basilica was the
cathedral basilica of the
bishop, on the model of the semi-public secular
basilicas, and its growth in size and importance signaled the
gradual transfer of civic power into episcopal hands, underway in
the fifth century. Basilicas in this sense are divided into
classes, the major ("greater"), and the minor basilicas, i.e.,
three other
patriarchal and several
pontifical minor basilicas in Italy, and over 1,400 lesser
basilicas on all continents.
As of
December 31, 2007, there were 1,524 basilicas (well up from 1,476
in March 26, 2006), of which the majority are in Europe (532 in
Italy
alone, including all those of elevated status; 167
in France
; 105 in
Poland
; 101 in
Spain
; 69 in Germany
; 29 in Austria
; 26 in Belgium
; 15 in the Czech Republic
; 13 in Hungary
; 12 in Switzerland
; 20 in the Netherlands
; 8 on Malta
; 7 each in
Croatia
and Slovakia
; 6 each in Portugal
and Slovenia
; 5 in Lithuania
; and fewer in many other countries), many in the
Americas (62 in the United
States
; 50 in Brazil
; 43 in
Argentina
; 27 in Mexico
; 25 in
Colombia
; 21 in Canada
; 14 in
Venezuela
; 12 in Peru
; 9 in
Chile
; 8 in Bolivia
; 5 in Uruguay
; 4 in El
Salvador
and smaller
numbers elsewhere), and fewer in Asia (15 in India
; 12 in the
Philippines
; nine in the Holy Land
(Israel
/Palestine); and smaller numbers elsewhere), 16 in
Africa (several countries have one or two) and Australasia (five in
Australia and one in Guam
) and five
(or six depending on definition) in New Zealand
.
The
privileges attached to the status of
basilica, which is conferred by
papal
brief, include a certain precedence before other churches, the
right of the
conopaeum (a
baldachin resembling an umbrella; also
called
umbraculum,
ombrellino,
papilio,
sinicchio, etc.) and the bell (
tintinnabulum), which are carried side by
side in procession at the head of the clergy on state occasions,
and the
cappa magna which is worn by the
canons or secular members of the
collegiate chapter when assisting
at the
Divine Office. In the
case of major basilicas these umbraculuae are made of
cloth of gold and red velvet, while those of
minor basilicas are made of yellow and red silk—the colors
traditionally associated with both the Papal See and the city of
Rome.
Churches designated as patriarchal basilicas, in particular,
possess a papal
throne and a papal
high altar from which no one may celebrate Mass
without the pope's permission.
Numerous basilicas are notable
shrines, often
even receiving significant
pilgrimages,
especially among the many that were built above a confession or the
burial place of a martyr, although now a term usually designating a
space sunk lower than the present floor level before the high
altar, which in the case of the Vatican and Lateran basilicas offer
more immediate access to the burial places of their respective
apostles and in the case of the Liberian basilica enshrines the
relics of the
manger of Bethlehem.
Ranking of churches
The papal or major basilicas outrank in precedence all other
churches. Other rankings put the
cathedral
(or co-cathedral) of a bishop ahead of all other churches in the
same diocese, even if they have the title of basilica. If the
cathedral is that of a
suffragan diocese,
it yields precedence to the cathedral of the
metropolitan see. The cathedral of a
primate is considered to rank
higher than that of other metropolitan(s) in his circonscription
(usually a present or historical state). Other classifications of
churches include
collegiate
churches, which may or may not also be minor basilicas.
Major or papal basilicas (in Rome)
To this class belong just four great papal churches of Rome, which
among other distinctions have a special "
holy
door" and to which a visit is always prescribed as one of the
conditions for gaining the
Roman
Jubilee. Upon relinquishing the title of
Patriarch of the West,
Pope Benedict XVI renamed these basilicas
from "Patriarchal Basilicas" to "Papal Basilicas".
- St. John
Lateran
, also called the Lateran Basilica, is the cathedral
of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. It is
the only one called an "archbasilica". Its full official names are
"Papal Basilica of Saint John Lateran", "Archbasilica of the Most
Holy Saviour and of Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist at
the Lateran", "Cathedral of Rome".
- St. Peter's Basilica
, also called the Vatican Basilica, is a major
pilgrimage site, built over the burial place of Saint Peter. Perhaps the largest church
in the world, it is used for most of the chief religious ceremonies
in which the Popes participate. Its official name is "Papal
Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican".
- Basilica
of Saint Paul Outside the Walls
, also known as the Ostian Basilica, because
situated on the road that led to Ostia, is
built over the burial place of Paul the
Apostle. Its official name is "Papal Basilica of Saint
Paul outside the Walls".
- St. Mary Major
, also called the Liberian basilica, because the
original building (not the present one) was attributed to Pope Liberius, is the largest church in Rome
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin
Mary , whence its name of Saint Mary Major, i.e. the
Greater. Its official name is "Papal Basilica of Saint Mary
Major".
These four papal or major basilicas were formerly known as
"patriarchal basilicas".
Together with the minor basilica of St Lawrence
outside the Walls
, they were with the five ancient patriarchal sees of Christendom (see Pentarchy): St John Lateran was associated with
Rome, St Peter's with Constantinople
(present Istanbul; in Asia Minor), St Paul's with
Alexandria
(Egypt), St Mary Major with Antioch
(the Levant) and St Lawrence with the junior,
Jerusalem
.
These four major basilicas are also distinguished by their having a
holy door, opened only in a
jubilee year. Furthermore, no one may celebrate
mass at their high altars except the pope and those specially
delegated by the pope to act in his stead. At least until recently,
these churches were also open twenty-four hours a day and their
staffs included a college of priests whose sole function was to be
continually available to hear confessions.
Pontifical and patriarchal minor basilicas in the rest
of Italy
There are four other "pontifical" (a word that in this context
means "papal", referring to the title
pontifex maximus) basilicas in Italy:
Until
Pope Benedict XVI, the title
"patriarchal" was officially given to two churches associated with
Saint
Francis of Assisi situated
in or near his home town:
The description "patriarchal" also applies to the next class of
basilicas, associated with archbishops who have the title of
patriarch, notably
Other minor basilicas
The minor basilicas form the vast majority, including some
cathedrals, many technically parish churches, some shrines, some
abbatial or conventual churches.
Some oratories, semi-private places of worship,
have been raised to the status of a minor basilica, such as
Saint
Joseph's Oratory
in Montreal
.
Notre-Dame
de Québec Cathedral
in Quebec
City
was the first basilica in North America, so
designated by Pope Pius IX in
1874. The Basilica of
Saint Mary
in Minneapolis
became the first Basilica in the United States
in 1926, by Pope Pius
XI. In Colombia
, the Las Lajas Cathedral
has been a minor basilica since 1954.
In
Africa, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of
Yamoussoukro
, in Cote
d'Ivoire
is
reported to be slightly larger than St Peter's
Basilica.
There was a pronounced tendency in the twentieth century to
increase the number of churches that were granted the title of
minor basilica.
Examples among the many are the church
containing Francisco Franco's tomb
and those of many others in the monumental Valley of the Fallen
near Madrid
, the
Mission San Carlos Borromeo de
Carmelo
, in Carmel, California
, Manila
Cathedral
(also known as the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate
Conception in Intramuros
or the original Spanish settlement of Manila
) and the
Mission Basilica
San Juan Capistrano. Towards the end of the century,
stricter rules were applied and it was decided, for instance, that
since cathedrals outrank basilicas in any case, the title of minor
basilica would no longer be granted to them.
Gallery
While the great majority of ecclesiastical basilicas are found in
Western Europe, there are basilicas in
Eastern Europe, the
Middle East,
Africa,
Asia,
Australasia
and the
Americas.
Europe
File:Downside abbey2.jpg|British Isles
: the Basilica of St Gregory the Great, Downside,
UK
File:Basílica de Begoña.jpg|Western Europe: the Basilica of Our Lady of
Begoña, Bilbao
,Spain
File:Basilica2.JPG|Eastern Europe: St Stephen's Basilica,
Budapest
Africa and the Middle East
File:Basilique Notre-Dame d Afrique
Alger.jpg|North Africa: the Basilica of
Our Lady of Africa, Algiers
File:Church of All Nations2.jpg|Middle East: the Basilica of the Agony in the
Garden, Jerusalem
Asia and Oceania
File:Goa
Velha Basilica Bom Jesus.jpg|Asia: the Basilica
of Bom Jesus, Goa Velha, India
File:Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
Side.JPG|South East Asia: the
Basilica of Our Lady, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
File:Basilica del Santo Nino.jpg|Asia: the Basilica of the Holy Child, Cebu, Philippines
File:Manila_Cathedral_Front.jpg|Asia: Manila Cathedral, Manila
, Philippines
File:St-Marys-church-geelong-victoria-australia.jpg|
Australia:
the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels, Geelong,
AustraliaFile:StMarysCathedral
fromHydePark.JPG|Australia: St Mary's
Cathedral, Sydney
, AustraliaFile:Sschurch1.jpg| Asia: The Basilica Minore de San
Sebastian, Quiapo, Manila
.
The only all steel Minor Basilica in
Asia.
The Americas
File:BasilicaFromTheNorth.jpg|United States
: Basilica of St. Josaphat
, Lincoln
Village, Milwaukee
, Wisconsin
File:2008-0705-BasilicaStMary.jpg|United States
: Basilica of St. Mary
, Minneapolis
, Minnesota
File:Basilique du Sanctuaire National de
l'Immaculée Conception.jpg|United States
: Basilica of the National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception
, Washington
, DC
File:Carey Ohio Shrine Basilica Exterior
Front.jpg |United
States
: Basilica and National Shrine of Our Lady
of Consolation
inFile:St_Mary's_Cathedral_Basilica,_Galveston.jpg|United States
: Cathedral Basilica of Saint
Mary
, Galveston
, Texas
File:Basilica de Zapopan atrio.jpg|Mexico
: the
Basilica of Our Lady of
ZapopanFile:Carmo-recife-10.jpg|Brasil
: the Basilica of Our Lady of Carmel,
RecifeFile:Buenos Aires - La Plata1.jpg|Argentina
: the Immaculate Conception Basilica, La Plata,
Buenos
Aires
See also
Sources and references
Architecture
Ecclesiastical basilicas
References
External links