Pope Damasus I

Pope Damasus I (c. 305 – 11 December 384), known as Damasus of Rome, served as bishop of Rome from October 366 until his death. He led the Council of Rome in 382, which set the official list of biblical books. Damasus opposed heresies like Apollinarianism and Macedonianism, strengthening Catholic doctrine, and backed Jerome in creating the Vulgate Bible.

Jerome, the Vulgate and the Canon

He worked to improve ties between the churches of Rome and Antioch and promoted honoring martyrs. Besides letters and other writings, he composed Latin verse; one epitaph for a young girl named Projecta was called by scholar Alan Cameron a clumsy string of clichés barely forced into meter. Damasus has been called "the first society Pope" and may have belonged to a group of related Hispanic Christians close to Emperor Theodosius I. Several gold glass cups bearing the name "DAMAS" likely show him, making these the earliest surviving contemporary images of a pope, though they do not aim for a true likeness.

One cup also features a Florus, possibly Projecta’s father. It is thought Damasus or his circle commissioned and gave out these cups to friends or supporters as part of a campaign to insert his episcopal presence into Christian spaces. The Catholic Church honors him as a saint, with his feast day on 11 December.

Background

Damasus’s life spanned the rise of Emperor Constantine I and the shifting unity of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, a time when Christianity gained legitimacy and became the state religion in 380. Under Emperor Gratian, who reigned during Damasus’s papacy, Catholic Christianity became dominant across the empire. Influenced by Ambrose, Gratian refused the title of pontifex maximus as unfit for a Christian, removed the Altar of Victory from the Senate, and ended property legacies and other privileges for Vestal Virgins and pagan priests.

Early life

Damasus was likely born around 305, either in Rome or Hispania, and moved to Rome young with his parents, Antonius and Laurentia, both from Lusitania. His father became a priest at the Church of St. Lawrence. Damasus started as a deacon there, later serving as a priest, at what became the Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls. He was archdeacon when Pope Liberius was exiled in 354; Damasus followed him into exile but soon returned to Rome, taking a major role in church governance during Liberius’s absence.

Succession crisis

After Liberius died on 24 September 366, a violent succession crisis erupted. Deacons and laity backed Liberius’s deacon Ursinus, while upper-class former supporters of Felix (who had ruled during Liberius’s exile) backed Damasus. Both were elected at the same time—Damasus at San Lorenzo in Lucina.

According to J. N. D. Kelly, Damasus hired thugs who stormed the Julian Basilica and massacred Ursinians over three days. Thomas Shahan notes that details come from a biased petition by two anti-Damasan presbyters. The violence was so severe that city prefects intervened; after a setback where 137 were killed in the Basilica of Sicininus, they exiled Ursinus to Gaul. Further violence occurred when he returned, continuing after a second exile.

Another ancient account, the "Gesta" from 368, claims Ursinus was the rightful successor and Damasus a heretic, recording that Damasus’s armed force broke into the Basilica of Julius and slaughtered those inside for three days. After taking the Lateran basilica, Damasus was ordained bishop. He was also accused of bribing officials to exile Ursinus and his supporters, though some supporters interrupted the process and rescued the presbyters at the Basilica of Liberius.