How to Tell the Difference Between a Church, a Cathedral, and a Basilica

so we made a video about a year ago highlighting the top 14 Catholic cathedrals but unknowingly included some basilica's and a chapel we didn't know there was a difference between them but there is a difference between a chapel a cathedral basilica and a shrine assuming many are you in the same boat we decided to do a video explaining the difference between them all so let's start let's start with the obvious Church Church is a word that covers pretty much all of the Catholic places of worship that are used for mass in the diocese so Chapel Basilica Cathedral and a shrine all can be churches so what is a chapel then a chapel in the Catholic Church means another room of worship associated with a larger Church a chapel has no permanent parish priest as the priest typically is associated with a larger Church or a parish masses can be said in the chapel or can be used for prayer or adoration for example you may see a side Chapel inside a larger church that's where the tabernacle is the chapel can be quite large it all depends on how the building is being used size is irrelevant though naturally chapels tend to be smaller because they're used less regularly here are five examples of Catholic chapels that you may be familiar with the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican the Chapel of the bones in Portugal sainte-chapelle and france silent night Chapel in Germany and the Chapel of the Holy Cross in the United States Cathedral before we dig into what a Cathedral is let me first explain what a diocese is a diocese is the district or area under the care of a bishop in the Catholic Church it is basically the area that the bishop runs for the church so every diocese in the Catholic world has a cathedral as its main Church for that diocese the cathedral is the church associated with the bishop using New York as an example st. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan is the Cathedral of the New York status and is the church associated with the Bishop of New York it is not uncommon to hear someone refer mistakenly to an especially large or magnificent church as a cathedral but it's not the size or the decor that matters it's the bishop that matters that said there's one feature that sets a cathedral apart from all other churches and that is the bishops throne the latin word for a raised chair or throne is cathedra which is the source of the English word Cathedral so to recap the cathedral is the Church in the Diocese of the bishop where he is officially associated with a real world example let's use the Pope the Pope is the Bishop of Rome his Cathedral is the cathedral of st. John Lateran in the city of Rome it's not st. Peter's Basilica which is the church in the Vatican here are five additional examples of magnificent cathedrals in the world Cologne Cathedral in Germany notre-dame Cathedral in Paris France st. vitus cathedral in prague czech republic milan cathedral and lastly st. Stephen's Cathedral Vienna Austria so then what makes a church a basilica so we have to go back into history a bit to explain a basilica in ancient Roman times the word Basilica refer to a large high ceiling hall with three long aisles the Romans used basilica's as courts public meeting areas and even indoor markets but in the fourth century after the Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire many bishops modeled their churches and cathedrals on the Roman Basilica design setting up the altar of the far end of the hall now only one person can give a church the title of Basilica and that person is the Pope now the church has designated four major basilica's and therefore the four greatest churches in Rome they are st. Peter's Basilica the Basilica of st. John Lateran the Basilica of st. Mary major and the Basilica of st. Paul Outside the Walls now when the Pope grants a church the title Basilica he's actually granting it the title of minor Basilica now he does this to a church that has historical significance or as especially sacred because of the presence of a relic there are over 1,400 minor basilica's around the world and 527 of those are in Italy alone here are five of our favorite minor Basilica the Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Lourdes Saint Mark's Basilica of Venice the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris Cathedral Basilica of st. Louis and Basilica of Our Lady of the Pilar Zaragoza a shrine while a Cathedral and a basilica must meet certain criteria just about anything can be a shrine the statue of Saint Francis in your backyard is a shrine the replica of the Lourdes grotto behind your parish church can be a shrine a place where a saint was born or died the site of a miracle or an apparition these are all shrines but an official shrine is regulated by the local bishop and the National Shrine is designated by the National Conference of Bishops official and national shrines traditionally attract many pilgrims and usually it's because they possess an aport relic wonder-working of a sacred image or some type of apparition happened five examples of shrines include the shrine of Saint James the greater in Spain the shrine of the holy house in Loretto Italy the shrine of the Black Madonna in Poland the shrine of Tepeyac Mexico City and the shrine of the Divine Mercy in Krakow Poland

Channel: Top5 Stories

Views: 1,175,889

Keywords: cathedral, notre dame cathedral, cologne cathedral, notre dame, notre-dame cathedral, paris, cathedrals, catedral, great cathedral, cathedral facade, church, german cathedral, cathedral window, national cathedral, christian cathedral, history, france, basilica, st. peter's basilica, vatican, taal basilica, vatican city, basilica of peace, st louis basilica, st mark's basilica, st peters basilica, st. peters basilica, basilica of st louis, the vatican

Id: nFRp1i93dpA

Length: 9min 49sec (589 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2019