LATER AN CHURCH AND COUNCILS: The
church of St. John Lateran in Rome and the councils held in the palace connected with it. The palace was the official residence of the popes for over a thousand years. It was originally the property of the rich patrician family of Plautius Lateranus, but was confiscated by Nero, and later became an imperial residence. A portion of it, bestowed. by Maximian on his daughter Fausta, second wife of Constantine, became known as the Domus Fausta?, and she lived there until her husband beheaded her. Constantine then gave it (312) to Pope Melchiades, confirming the donation to Sylvester, in whose pontificate the first basilica was built here and consecrated in 324. It was overthrown by :m earthquake in 896, and rebuilt by Sergius III. (904- 911). This second church was destroyed by fire
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Iiasco Latimer
in 1308, and a third in 1360. The fourth was erected by Urban V (1362-70), and still contains remnants of the fourth- and tenth-century buildings. The church of St. John Lateran is properly speaking the cathedral of the Roman diocese; here the pope is bishop of Rome, while St. Peter's is the seat of his universal jurisdiction. Hence the inscription on the west front, designating it " the mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world."
Of the numerous councils and synods convened in the Lateran basilica five are designated as ecumenical by the Roman Catholic Church. These are: (1) The first general council held in the West, reckoned as the ninth ecumenical, under Calixtus
II. (1123), attended by over 300 bishops; its principal purpose was the settlement of the investiture controversy (see Investiture) by the confirmation of the Concordat of Worms (see Concordats and Delimiting Bulls, I., § 1). (2) The tenth ecumenical, under Innocent II. (1139), with about 1,000 members; to heal the schism caused by the antipope Anacletus II. and to condemn the heresies of Peter of Bruys and Arnold of Brescia (qq.v.). (3) The eleventh ecumenical, under Alexander III. (1179), attended by 400 bishops and 600 abbots and other dignitaries; to end the schism caused by Frederick Barbarossa and to condemn the Waldensian and Albigensian doctrines. (4) The twelfth ecumenical, under Innocent III. (1215; see Innocent III.), attended by 412 bishops and 800 abbots and priors; for the recovery of the Holy Land and the general improvement of the Church, including the condemnation of the Cathari and Albigensians (see New Manicheans, II.). It is notable as containing in its decrees the first official sanction of the term transubstantiation and the requirement of annual confession. (5) The eighteenth ecumenical, under Julius II. and Leo X. (1512-17), with an average attendance of 100 to 150 members; the Pragmatic Sanction (q.v.) was abolished and a concordat concluded with Francis I. for the regulation of the status of the Gallican Church (see Concordats and Delimiting Bulls,
III, 2 § 1). Other important Lateran synods were those held by Melchiades in 313 on the Donatist question (see Donatism); by Martin I. in 649 against Monothelitism (see Monothelites) ; by Stephen IV. in 769 against the iconoclasts (see Images and Image- Worship, II.); and several reforming synods in the Hildebrandine epoch, of which that under Nicholas II. in 1059 is noteworthy for its regulation of papal elections and its imposition of clerical celibacy. See Councils and Synods.
Bibliography: The literature on the councils is given under the articles Councils and Synods; Calixtus II.; Innocence II.; Alexander III.; Innocence III.; Julius II.; and Leo X. Cf. KL. vii. 1498-1502.
LATIMER, HUGH: English reformer; b. at Thurcaston (4 m. n.e. of Leicester), Leicestershire, about 1480; burned at the stake at Oxford Oct. 16, 1555. He studied at Christ's College, Cambridge (B.A., 1510; M.A., 1514; B.D., 1524), and was at first a bitter antagonist of the Reformation, obtaining his baccalaureate of theology by a disputation against the teachings of Melanchthon.
Among his auditors, however, was Thomas Biluey (q.v.), who so influenced him that his antipathy to the Roman Catholic Church equaled his former enthusiasm for it. In his sermons he laid stress on the utter corruption of man and on atonement through the death of Christ, opposing indulgences and the belief in tradition, and urging the need of a translation of the Bible. His opponents now induced Nicholas West, Bishop of Ely, to forbid him to preach in the diocese, but the Augustinian prior Robert Barnes, whose monastery in Cambridge was exempt, opened his church to him, and a large number, including West himself, came to hear him. At the request of the Roman Catholics, Cardinal Wolsey examined Latimer, but acquitted him and gave him permission to preach anywhere in England. In 1530 he preached before the king, and shortly afterward received the living of West Kington, Wiltshire. His sermons caused excitement in his parish, and he was cited to London, threatened with excommunication, and freed only at the intervention of the king, who was pleased with his attitude and talents. At the recommendation of Cranmer, he was appointed chaplain to Anne Boleyn and in 1535 was made bishop of Worcester, where he actively promoted the Reformation. Four years later he resigned, since he would not sign the Six Articles (see Six Articles, Act of the), and then lived in retirement until detected by the spies of Gardiner, when he was confined in the Tower until the accession of Edward. He declined an invitation to resume his bishopric and preferred to live in the archiepiscopal palace, where a wide field of activity opened to him, since he was now the confidant of Cranmer, whom he assisted in the preparation of the Book of Homilies (See Homilies). At the same time he was conspicuous for his charity and his justice, while he was untiring as a preacher, sparing no hypocrisy and no tyranny. His theology, though his sermons were drawn immediately from the Bible, was Lutheran, but his theory of the Eucharist later became Calvinistic through the influence of Cranmer. His activity was checked by the accession of Mary. While on a preaching-tour he was cited to appear before the council, and refused a proffered opportunity to escape. On Sept. 13, 1553, he was imprisoned in the Tower, being placed in the same room with Cranmer, Ridley, and Bradford. In March of the following year Latimer, Cranmer, and Ridley were taken to Oxford, and on Apr. 18 Latimer was examined, but refused to dispute, basing his arguments solely on the New Testament. After a year and a half of imprisonment, he and Ridley were sentenced to death Oct. 1, 1555, and died at the stake in front of Balliol College two weeks later.
(C. ScHOELLtO Bibliography: Sources for a life are his Sermons and Remains, ed. G. E. Corrie for the Parker Society, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1844-45; and Select Sermons and Letters, in British Reformers, vol. iv., London, 1830. Sketches have been written by: J. C. Ryle, in Bishops and Clergy of Other Days, London, 1854; idem, in The Bishop, the Pastor and the Preacher, ib. 1854; W. Gilpin, ib. 1755; J. Tulloch, in Leaders of the Reformation, Edinburgh, 1859; W Beck, London, 1861; J. J. Ellis, New York, 1890; K M. and A. J. Carlyle, London, 1899; R. Demaus, ib.
Latitudinarians Laud