Walking with the Saints l Feast of St. Damasus I, Patron Saint
of Archeologist l December 11
Today, we have another extraordinary person who exalted the Church due to his examples and good works. Pope St. Damasus I, was commended by ancient writers for his zeal for the purity of the Faith, for his love of the Scriptures, his innocence of manners, his Christian humility, his compassion for the poor, and for his
piety. St. Jerome, the translator of the Holy Bible from Greek to the Latin Vulgate called him “an incomparable man,” “the virgin doctor of the virgin Church” for his faithful practice of virginity. St. Damasus was born in Rome in the year 306. His father, with his mother’s consent, entered the priesthood and served the parish of St. Lawrence in Rome. When Damasus was ordained priest, he served in the same church. This became the Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls in Rome. When Pope Liberius died in 366, Damasus was chosen to succeed him. The election was marred by so much disorder and violence caused by other parties
interested in the papacy. Damasus struggled against an anti pope, but his election prevailed.
In 368 and 370 Pope Damasus conducted Councils in Rome and condemned the errors of Arianism, Apollinarism and Macedonianism, major heresies prevailing during his time, thus solidifying the faith of the Church. In order to have a uniform
listing of Biblical books Pope Damasus also presided over the Council of Rome in 382 that determined the canon or official list of the books of Sacred Scriptures. It was not an easy job and they struggled how to distinguish between the canonical and deutero-canonical books and the apocrypha. It was Pope Damasus who induced St. Jerome, who was his secretary for three years, to
undertake to translate and write the famous version of the Bible called VULGATE. He did not only commission the writing of the Vulgate, but he also changed the liturgical language of the Church from Greek to Latin. He also worked hard to preserve and restore the catacombs, the graves of the martyrs and the relics.
During his papacy, Constantine I became the ruler of the Western Roman Empire. As Emperor, he issued the Edict of Milan
in 313 granting religious freedom to Christians in all parts of the Roman Empire, including those in the East. But the emperor of the East rejected this Edict. This resulted in a civil war which made Constantine ruler of a reunited Empire. But it was also an occasion to form the religious group in Constantinople to rival the Roman See, the reason why the Church is divided between the Churches of East and the West with different leaders, which is
The primacy of the Apostolic See (Church of Rome) was greatly favored with imperial acts and edicts from Pope Damasus. He asserted that this ecclesiastical supremacy was based not on the decrees of councils but on the very words of Jesus Christ “… you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Pope Damasus sat on the Chair of Peter for eighteen years and two months. He died in 384 at the age of 78. According to a pontifical book
kept in the Vatican library, burning with fever, he ardently desired to be with Christ. After Holy Communion, he lifted his eyes to heaven and died.
Virtue: faith, purity, humility, good manners, innocence, compassion, patience, integrity
Prayer: “Thank you, Pope St. Damasus, for your holy life, your untiring efforts to exalt the Church and your great solicitude to provide us the list of the canonical Biblical texts.”
Reflection: Am I interested in reading the Bible so as to conduct my life according to its teachings?
