Pope Damasus I

Damasus I (ca. 305-383) was pope from 366 to 383. His father was Antonius; the name of his mother, Laurentia, was not discovered until the beginning of the 21st century. Damasus seems to have been born at Guimarães, in today what is Portuguese territory. It is certain that he grew up there in the service of the church of the martyr St. Laurence in Rome.

Related Topics:
305 - 383 - Pope - 366 - 21st century - Guimarães - Portuguese - St. Laurence - Rome

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In 366, the death of Liberius led to a division in the church at Rome. One faction supported Ursinus, who had served as deacon to Liberius, while the other faction, previously loyal to the Antipope Felix II, supported Damasus. This dissension climaxed with a riot which led to a three-day massacre and to the rare intervention of Emperor Valentinian I to uphold public order. Damasus prevailed, but only with the support of the city prefect. Once he was securely consecrated bishop of Rome, his men attacked Ursinus and his remaining supporters who were seeking refuge in the Liberian basilica, resulting in a massacre of one hundred and thirty seven supporters of Ursinus. Damasus was also accused of murder before a later prefect, but his rich friends secured the personal intervention of the emperor to rescue him from this humiliation. The reputations of both Damasus and the Roman church in general suffered greatly due to these two unseemly incidents.

Related Topics:
366 - Liberius - Church - Ursinus - Antipope Felix II - Emperor - Valentinian I

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Many in both pagan and Christian society saw in Damasus a man whose worldly ambitions outweighed his pastoral concerns. His entertainments were infamous for their lavishness. A wealthy aristocrat called Praetextatus, who was a priest in the cults of numerous gods, is reputed to have said jokingly to Damasus, "Make me bishop of Rome and I will become a Christian". Some of his critics used to call him "The ladies' ear-tickler". An accusation of adultery was laid against him in 378 in the imperial court, but he was exonerated by Emperor Gratianus himself.

Related Topics:
Pagan - Christian - Praetextatus - Adultery - 378 - Gratianus

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Damasus is notable for his association with Jerome whom he appointed his confidential secretary: "A great many years ago when I was helping Damasus, bishop of Rome with his ecclesiastical correspondence, and writing his answers to the questions referred to him by the councils of the east and west," Jerome remarks (if "east and west" do not betray the passage as an interpolation) in his letter of 409 (letter cxx.10 http://www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF2-06/letters/lette123.htm). Jerome's apparent surviving letters of fulsome praise emphasizing the primacy of the see of Peter, however, are actually part of the 9th century Pseudo-Isidorian forgeries, however they are still often quoted as if genuine.

Related Topics:
Jerome - 409 - Peter - 9th century - Pseudo-Isidorian forgeries

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Damasus encouraged the highly respected scholar to revise the available Old Latin versions of the Bible into a more accurate Latin, resulting in the Vulgate. Jerome devotes a very brief notice to Damasus in De viris illustribus, written after Damasus' death: "he had a fine talent for making verses and published many brief works in heroic metre. He died in the reign of the Emperor Theodosius at the age of almost eighty" (ch. 103).

Related Topics:
Old Latin - Bible - Latin - Vulgate - Theodosius

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Damasus also contributed greatly to the liturgical and aesthetic enrichment of the city churches. He employed a calligrapher, one Dionysius Philocalus, to adorn the shrines of martyrs and Roman bishops with epigrams.

Related Topics:
Liturgical - Dionysius Philocalus

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These ceremonial embellishments and the emphasis on the Roman legacy of Peter and Paul amounted to a general claim to the Roman upper classes that the real glory of Rome was Christian and not pagan. All this made it more socially acceptable for the upper classes to convert to Christianity. Often, the women of the family were the first to abandon pagan ways, while the men tended to hold on to them longer, being generally more conservative in their idealised views on the greatness of the Empire. This was often more for aesthetic and antiquarian reasons, rather than strictly religious ones. To these elegant, austere citizens, the pagan zeal of the previous Emperor, Julian was an embarrassment nearly as grating as that of any Christian evangelist.

Related Topics:
Peter - Paul - Christianity - Julian

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Damasus was the first bishop of Rome to invoke the "Petrine text" (Matthew 16:18) in terms that sought to establish a serious theological and scriptural foundation on which the primacy of the Roman church could be based. From Damasus onwards, there is a marked increase in the volume and importance of claims of authority and primacy from the Roman bishops, claims reinforced by the forged correspondence with Jerome (see below).

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Damasus spoke of Rome in terms of the "Apostolic See", as his predecessor Liberius had also done. This is one of the most noteworthy qualities of his reign, as it allowed him to emphasise his powerful apostolic inheritance. His reign is also one of the more important landmarks in the progression towards the development of the Papacy proper.

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It was during Damasus's papacy that Emperor Theodosius called the First Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.). The following year, Damasus presided over the Council of Rome at which, according to Catholic tradition and the 6th century document Decretum Gelasianum, the modern Catholic canon of scripture was first set down.

Related Topics:
First Council of Constantinople - 381 - Following year - Council of Rome - Decretum Gelasianum - Canon of scripture

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