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Japanese A cathedral is the church that holds a bishop’s chair, the cathedra, and serves as the main church of his diocese. A basilica is a church the pope has honored with that title. Any building set apart for Christian worship is a church, and a chapel is a smaller place of worship that serves a particular group.
| Type | What makes it one | Who decides | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Church | A sacred building for worship that the faithful have the right to enter | The diocesan bishop must consent in writing before it is built | Any parish church |
| Cathedral | It holds the bishop’s chair and is the main church of a diocese | Named when the Holy See creates the diocese, or chosen by the bishop | St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Fifth Avenue, New York |
| Minor basilica | An honorary title that links the church to the pope | The pope, on the local bishop’s request | Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, Mulberry Street, New York |
| Major basilica | One of the four papal basilicas of Rome | Papal grant or ancient custom | St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome |
| Cathedral and basilica | A bishop’s church that also holds the papal title | Both of the above | Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Missouri |
| Chapel | A place of worship for a community or for certain people, not open to all by right | The bishop or another Church superior gives permission | The Sistine Chapel, Vatican |
The definitions in the table come from Catholic canon law and from the Vatican’s norms for basilicas. Other churches, among them the Orthodox and the Anglican, also have cathedrals, but only the pope grants the title of basilica.
What is the difference between a basilica and a cathedral?
The difference is what each title records. “Cathedral” names a job: the church where a bishop has his chair and leads his diocese. “Basilica” names an honor: the pope has recognized the church for its liturgical life, its history or its place in the devotion of a region. A diocese normally has one cathedral, while it may have several basilicas or none.
Of the two, the cathedral ranks higher. The Vatican’s 1989 norms for basilicas, Domus ecclesiae, open by saying that among the churches of a diocese “the cathedral church holds the first place and the greatest dignity.” The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1907 likewise notes that a basilica takes precedence over other churches, “not, however, before the cathedral of any locality.”
Is a cathedral a church?
Yes. Every cathedral is a church, and so is every basilica. The Catholic Code of Canon Law defines a church as “a sacred building designated for divine worship to which the faithful have the right of entry for the exercise, especially the public exercise, of divine worship” (canon 1214). A cathedral is the church in a diocese that holds the bishop’s chair. Most other churches are parish churches, which Domus ecclesiae calls “the homes of the various communities of the diocese.”
Size does not make a cathedral. A cathedral is often large, because the bishop leads worship there for the whole diocese, but what makes it a cathedral is the chair.
What makes a church a cathedral?
The bishop’s chair makes it one. The word comes from the Greek and Latin cathedra, a seat or throne. A teacher’s seat stood for authority: Jesus said that “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat” (Matthew 23:2). Domus ecclesiae calls the cathedra “the sign of the Bishop’s teaching authority and power, as pastor of the same diocese and the sign of communion with the Roman cathedra of Peter.” The Catholic Encyclopedia describes the cathedral as “the bishop’s church, wherein he presides, teaches, and conducts worship for the whole Christian community.”
A diocese is the area and the people entrusted to a bishop (canon 369), and only the Holy See can create one (canon 373). The papal document that creates a diocese often names its cathedral. In 1908 the Catholic Encyclopedia noted that in the United States the bishop was usually left free to choose his church. Canon law also asks that cathedrals and parish churches be dedicated “by the solemn rite” (canon 1217).
A cathedral can move. New York’s first cathedral, St. Patrick’s on Mulberry Street, broke ground in 1809. When the new St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue opened in 1879, the old church stopped being the seat of the diocese and became a parish church. Pope Benedict XVI made it a basilica on March 17, 2010. Today the Fifth Avenue church is the cathedral, and the Mulberry Street church is the basilica.
What is a basilica?
The word has two meanings. The first is a type of building. In ancient Rome a basilica was a large public hall used for markets and law courts; several were built in the Roman Forum between 184 and 121 BC. The typical plan was an oblong hall with a high central nave, lower aisles on each side divided off by columns, windows high up to let in light, and a rounded apse at one end. When Christians began to build large churches, they adopted this plan, and by the time of the emperor Constantine in the fourth century “basilica” was a common name for a Christian place of worship. The Catholic Encyclopedia explains the name as meaning a “kingly” hall.
The second meaning is a title. In the Catholic Church a basilica is a church that the pope has honored with that name. The title says nothing about the building’s plan: a modern church can be a basilica, and an old church built in the basilica shape may not hold the title at all.
Major and minor basilicas
There are two ranks. The four major basilicas are all in Rome: St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls. They are also called papal or patriarchal basilicas. Each has a holy door, and a visit to them has long been one of the conditions for gaining the jubilee indulgence in Rome. Every other basilica in the world is a minor basilica. The directory GCatholic.org lists 94 minor basilicas in the United States alone.
St. Peter’s Basilica is not the pope’s cathedral. The pope is bishop of Rome, and his cathedral is St. John Lateran. Vatican News calls the Lateran “the Pope’s Cathedral, insofar as he is Bishop of Rome,” and a Latin inscription on its front names it “Mother and Head of all Churches in Rome and the World.” It is at once a cathedral and a major basilica.
What makes a church a basilica?
Domus ecclesiae, issued on November 9, 1989, by the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, sets the conditions for a minor basilica:
- The church must have been dedicated to God by a liturgical rite, and it must stand out in the diocese for the way it celebrates Mass, confession and the other sacraments.
- It must be of a fitting size, with a sanctuary large enough for the liturgy.
- It should be known throughout the diocese, for example because it was built for a historical or religious event, because it keeps the body or major relics of a saint, or because a sacred image is venerated there. Its history and the worth of its art are also weighed.
- It needs enough priests for Mass and confession, including confessors available at set hours, along with servers and a choir.
The request comes from the local bishop. He sends the Vatican a petition, the approval of his national bishops’ conference, a report on the church’s history and activity, photographs of the building inside and out, and a completed questionnaire. If the request succeeds, the pope grants the title in a papal document, which is read aloud at the start of Mass on the day the title is proclaimed.
What privileges does a basilica have?
The 1989 norms list three. Catholics who visit a basilica and take part in a service there, or at least say the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed, may receive a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions (confession, Communion and prayer for the pope’s intentions) on six days a year:
- the anniversary of the basilica’s dedication;
- the feast of the saint or mystery the church is named for;
- the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29;
- the anniversary of the day the church received the title;
- one day a year chosen by the bishop;
- one day a year chosen by each visitor.
A basilica may also display the papal symbol of crossed keys on its banners, furnishings and seal. Its rector, the priest in charge, may wear a black mozzetta, a short cape, with red piping, buttons and buttonholes.
The title brings duties too. A basilica is expected to teach the faithful about the liturgy, to study and spread the documents of the pope and the Holy See, especially those on the liturgy, and to keep three days each year with special care: the feast of the Chair of Peter on February 22, Saints Peter and Paul on June 29, and the anniversary of the pope’s election or inauguration.
Two older symbols belong to basilicas by tradition: a large umbrella of red and yellow silk, called the ombrellino or conopaeum, and a bell, the tintinnabulum. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1907 lists both among a basilica’s privileges and says they were carried in procession “at the head of the clergy on state occasions.” The 1989 norms do not mention them.
Can a church be both a cathedral and a basilica?
Yes. The Cathedral of St. Louis in Missouri was already the seat of its archbishop when Pope John Paul II made it a basilica on April 4, 1997, and it is now the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. St. John Lateran in Rome is both a cathedral and a major basilica.
The two titles are granted separately, so a cathedral does not become a basilica by being a cathedral, and many basilicas are parish churches or shrines. St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in New York is a cathedral without the basilica title. St. Peter’s in Rome is a basilica, not a cathedral.
What is a chapel, and how is it different from a church?
A church is open to all the faithful by right. A chapel serves a particular community or particular people. Canon law has two terms for this. An oratory is a place of worship set aside, with the bishop’s or superior’s permission, “for the benefit of some community or group of the faithful,” which others may enter with the consent of the superior (canon 1223). A private chapel serves “one or more physical persons” (canon 1226). Both must be “reserved for divine worship alone and free from all domestic uses” (canon 1229). In ordinary speech, both are called chapels, and so are the side chapels inside a larger church and the chapels of hospitals, schools, convents and military bases.
One famous example is the Sistine Chapel, a chapel of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. By a 1996 constitution of Pope John Paul II, Universi Dominici gregis, the cardinals elect a new pope “exclusively in the Sistine Chapel.”
In the Russian Orthodox Church the difference is sharper. A chapel (chasovnya) is usually small and has no altar, so the Divine Liturgy cannot be celebrated in it, though other services, such as funerals and services of intercession, can be held there.
Do Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches have cathedrals?
Other churches led by bishops have cathedrals too. The Church of England has 42, and it describes each as “the mother church of its area and the seat of a bishop.” So do the Orthodox churches.
Some languages use their word for “cathedral” more loosely. In Russian a kafedralny sobor is the main church of a diocese, where the ruling bishop serves; his chair, the kafedra, stands behind the altar. The plain word sobor can also mean the main church of a monastery or a large church of special standing. The Orthodox magazine Foma gives St. Basil’s in Moscow, properly the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat, as an example. It is called a cathedral in English, but it is not a bishop’s seat.
Western European names can mislead in the same way. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that in Italy the cathedral is called il duomo, in parts of Germany der Dom, and in Strasbourg and other German cities Münster, from the Latin for monastery, because some cathedrals were once served by canons living in community. These names are also used for large churches that have no bishop. Ulm Minster in Germany, which now belongs to the city’s Protestant parish community, was begun in 1377 as a parish church for the townspeople and has never been a bishop’s seat.
