Pope Damasus I (approx. 305–384) – the one who changed the face of the Roman Church forever

St. Damasus in the apse of the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, frescoes by Federico Zuccari

St. Damasus in the apse of the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, frescoes by Federico Zuccari

We find ourselves in the Eternal City in the middle of the IV century. Christianity has not yet achieved the status of a national religion, but its importance is increasing, while the office of the bishop of Rome, thanks to the emperor's grants and privileges has become highly prestigious. This is not so much a shepherd but above all an administrator and a strategist. There were literal battles over the bishop's throne, no one had heard about the actions of the Holy Spirit (in that matter). During the conclave, churches turned into fortresses bringing together the supporters of one candidate or another. It was in such conditions that Damasus ascended to St. Peter’s throne.
St. Damasus in the apse of the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, frescoes by Federico Zuccari
St. Damasus and the Coronation of Mary (fragment), apse of the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, Federico Zuccari, pic. Wikipedia
Coronation of Mary with Saint Damasus and Saint Lawrence, apse of the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, Federico Zuccari, pic. Wikipedia
Pope Damasus I, the Constantine Hall, Apostolic Palace
The Pope Damasus I receives tribute from the bishops of the Eastern Church, Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, Luigi Fontana
The Pope Damasus I accepts the tribute of the bishops of the Eastern Church, (fragment), Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, Luigi Fontana
Alleged portrait of Pope Damasus I, pic. Wikipedia
Plaque with the image of Pope Damasus I, main altar, Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso, pic. Wikipedia
We find ourselves in the Eternal City in the middle of the IV century. Christianity has not yet achieved the status of a national religion, but its importance is increasing, while the office of the bishop of Rome, thanks to the emperor's grants and privileges has become highly prestigious. This is not so much a shepherd but above all an administrator and a strategist. There were literal battles over the bishop's throne, no one had heard about the actions of the Holy Spirit (in that matter). During the conclave, churches turned into fortresses bringing together the supporters of one candidate or another. It was in such conditions that Damasus ascended to St. Peter’s throne.
He was a son of a clergyman and similarly to him (as was customary) he also chose a career in the Church. Initially, he was a deacon for the Bishop of Rome Liberius, while after his exile from the city by Emperor Constantius II, he joined his opponent – a follower of Arianism, Felix II (anti-pope). When Liberius returned, Damasus once again changed his allegiances, to in the year 366 (after Liberius's death) try and claim the bishop's throne. Similar actions were taken by his rival – Ursinus. In times, when it was above all the populace of the city along with the clergy who decided on who was to hold this lucrative office, the selection of the pope led to constant struggles between factions. This time they turned out to be truly bloody. Ultimately Damasus bested his opponent in fights, where one hundred thirty-seven of Ursinus's supporters were killed. He himself was exiled from Rome by the prefect of the city, who supported Damasus. The new pope was accused of causing the death of his brothers in faith, but after a four-year trial and the intercession of influential supporters with the emperor, he was ultimately found innocent. At that time he proved himself to be an  ambitious, enterprising, and intelligent man of the world, familiar with ancient literature and willingly surrounding himself with the Roman aristocracy. He also knew, how to obtain support for his great plans of the Christianization of the Roman society, which to a large extent remained pagan. His principal support (financial and mental) came from a group of pious, educated Roman women (widows, virgins, and matrons) gathered around Marcella, who in her villa on Aventine Hill established a kind of a biblical study group. It was to become Damasus's support group in the struggle against his adversaries. It was not only the pagan Ammiano Marcellino who looked with disapproval upon Damasus who willingly surrounded himself with wealthy ladies, who guaranteed him and his clerics a life of luxury that was improper for their offices. It was also Saint Jerome, who stayed in Rome in the eighties of the IV century, who was critical of him. In truth, he did not criticize his patron Damasus but did so in the case of his elegant, well-dressed clerics visiting wealthy widows and matrons and participating in festive banquets. However, Jerome does not mention an ever-increasing problem of that time, namely the turning over of private properties to the Church (the clergy) which caused families to suffer as they had no inheritance. This procedure became so widespread that it caused a reaction from Emperor Valentinian I – who in an edict issued in 370, forbade the clergy and monks (and later also bishops and nuns) to solicit widows and orphans to obtain gifts and inheritances.

However, Damasus needed great financial means and a happy army of clergymen, to persuade the pagans to convert to the new faith. It had to be made attractive, both for the educated elites as well as for the commoners. The pope decided to stoke the flames of national pride and show Rome once again shining with the splendor of fame and renewed glory, no longer ancient but Christian. The former protectors of the city (Romulus and Remus) were to be replaced withnew protectors – the saints Peter and Paul, while the places of their burial were to draw throngs of the faithful. In order to achieve this goal the Vatican Basilica had to be embellished with new elements (a fountain in the atrium a baptistery inside), but most of all a new basilica dedicated to St. Paul (San Paolo fuori la mura) at via Ostiense, financed by the then emperors, Theodosius, Valentinian II, and Arcadius had to be built, which with its grandeur and decorations was to surpass St. Peter's Basilica. In this way, St. Paul was elevated to the status of the second patron of Rome.

In the city, which did indeed have a glorious past, but for quite some time had been second-rate at best, Damasus wanted to annex for himself the region of barren imperial residences, meaning the completely until then pagan Palatine Hill. Suddenly the place associated with the commemoration of Roman emperors had become a place of adoration of a martyr, one who had been completely unknown in Rome, but who had a pleasing name – Caesarius. His body was brought to Rome from Terracina which was about 130 kilometers away, while in one of Palatine palaces (Domus Augustana), an oratory was created in his honor. In this seemingly rather primitive way, the cult of Caesarius the martyr was established, his genealogy was changed to reflect that of Caesar and connected with the emperors, providing them with a de facto patron and protector. This is just one of the examples of the cult of martyrs which spread during Damasus’s reign. These were new heroes, true heroes of Christian Rome, whose numbers rapidly grew. Damasus recognized that Romans enjoyed processions, but also the peregrination to places of cult. However, there were not too many of them. The pope had requested that the existing places of burial (of Saint Lawrence, saints Marcellinus and Peter, or Saint Agnes acquire additional splendor, but in the Roman catacombs he “discovered” new martyrs, setting out new pilgrimage destinations. In this way, all previous bishops of Rome  had attained sainthood, while altars, crypts, and even small basilicas and marble slabs with poetic inscriptions authored by Damasus himself, appeared by their tombs. Renowned for his literary skills, the pope had become a true “poet of the martyrs”. Using refined, often complicated Latin, he wrote epigrams written in hexameter praising the saints, in which a constant element was the description of a commendable life and generally a martyr's death. This return to the tradition of ancient literature, which had to appeal to the educated elites, was also an excellent method of annexing the past for the needs of the present. The great impression that these places had on Roman citizens is shown in a description provided by Jerome: "When as a boy I was in Rome during my studies, I was in a habit of visiting the tombs of the apostles and martyrs every Sunday (…). We often entered the crypts dug in the depths of the earth. On the walls on both sides of the entrance lay the bodies of the buried. The crypts were so dark, that the saying of the prophet almost came true: «May they descend alive into hell» (Ps. 54, 16). (...) We can descend further only going step by step, since the dark night surrounding us from all sides, brings to mind the well-known poem of Virgil: «All things were full of horror and affright, And dreadful even the silence of the night»”.

The Romans (both rich and poor) could now, with a map in their hands walk from one tomb to another and let themselves be filled with the atmosphere of a city that was exceptional thanks to its sainthood. The saints were from now on always included in the sermons, while their legendary figures found great renown among the populace. In this way, imperceptibly a whole throng of saints appeared willing to help in all fields of life (fever, theft, headache, etc.), which is exactly what happened during ancient times with pagan deities. Christianity which was a monotheistic religion at its roots was enriched by a whole army of  saint intermediaries (intercessors) to whom the faithful turned hoping for their intercession with the Lord.

Art (sculpture, bas-relief, and mosaics), which had only recently been called idolatry, was also made to work in the service of religion, using well-known and valued iconographic motifs. In them, Christ was no longer shown as a Jewish shepherd but a lawgiver sitting on a throne who was similar to the emperor. Damasus's Rome – bereft of the signs of Judaism, with which both Christians and their religion were associated, was to become great once again through the glory of its martyrs. That is how Jerome saw it twenty years after the death of Damasus: "For all its gilding the Capitol is beginning to look dingy. Every temple in Rome is covered with soot and cobwebs. The city is stirred to its depths and the people pour past their half-ruined shrines to visit the tombs of the martyrs.”.On the other hand, the Church became more and more representative. The liturgy of the Holy Mass changed during the pontificate of Damasus was filled with customs previously unknown to Christians, it was more and more reminiscent of pagan rituals (processions, incense, luxurious dresses, the bishop’s throne).

Such a Church appealed to the Romans, they could identify with it, just as they accepted the fact that the bishop was more and more often referred to as pope, the most outstanding father and guardian of the faith, and he also acquired the right to go through the city in a carriage, which had until then been reserved only for high ranking officials of the state administration.Another important issue for Damasus was to establish the primacy of the bishop of Rome in all of the Church. It was only during his pontificate that the words of the Gospel according to St. Matthew “You are a rock, and upon this rock, I will build my church", became the foundation of the claims of St. Peter's successor to a privileged position in the whole Christian world. In 378 Damasus was granted by Emperor Gratian the highest until then reserved for the emperor, jurisdiction  over all Church matters in the Western Empire. It was the Roman pope who was to have the final say in matters regarding faith – a role which until then had been reserved for the general synod. It was he who issued edicts and decrees, in a commanding tone to until recently his equals, for instance, bishops in Spain.



As we may assume, this did not sit well with bishops of other great cities of the Eastern Empire, especially the bishop of Constantinople. The Council of Rome convened by Damasus in 382 was to unite the East and the West on religious matters, but the bishops of the Eastern Empire boycotted the meeting. In this way, the Council declared the primacy of the bishop of Rome.In Rome and the Western Empire Latin more and more predominantly replaced Greek. It also became the principal language of the Roman liturgy, as opposed to the East where Greek maintained its dominant role. That is why one of the most important decisions of Damasus was to order the Bible to be translated into Latin (Vulgate). This work was entrusted to Jerome, who completed the translations three decades later, thanks to the great support of his students – Roman female aristocrats.

Damasus died in the year 385 and was buried at via Ardeatina between the catacombs of Callixtus and the catacombs of Domitilla. The custom of a burial in the church had not yet been practiced at that time. Later his relics (since he too became a saint) were transported to the Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso in the center of the city.The later Doctor of the Church Jerome called Damasus „the virginal teacher of the virginal Church". As it would seem it was just the opposite.
The Christian Church during his pontificate had irrevocably lost its innocence. During his nearly twenty years in office, Damasus bestowed a truly imperial character upon the Church, one which has never been renounced since then.


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