LATERAN was originally the proper name of a man; whence it descended to an ancient palace in Rome, and to the buildings since erected in its place; particularly a church called St John of Lateran, which is the principal see of the popedom.
Councils of the LATERAN, are those held in the basilica of the Lateran; of these there have been five, held in 1123, 1139, 1179, 1215, and 1513.
Canons Regular of the Congregation of the LATERAN, is a congregation of regular canons; whereof that church is the principal place or seat.
It is pretended there has been an uninterrupted succession of clerks, living in community, from the time of the apostles; and that a number of these were established in the Lateran in the time of Constantine. But the canons were not introduced till the time of Leo I. and these held the church 800 years, till the reign of Boniface, who took it from them, and placed secular canons in their room: 150 years after, the regulars were reinstated.