His life:
+ Damasus was born in Rome and was the son of the priest of San Lorenzo; he served as his father’s deacon.
+ When Pope Liberius died in 366, Damasus was elected Bishop of Rome.
+ During his pontificate, he held two councils condemning the Arian heresy, and another condemning the errors of the priest Apollinaris. Damasus also became the first pope to speak of the “Apostolic See” and he instituted a formal system of Church administration which took the form of decrees, rather than pastoral admonitions.
+ Saint Jerome served as Damasus’ secretary for a number of years and praised him as “an incomparable person, learned in Scripture, a virgin doctor of the Virgin Church.”
+ Pope Damasus was also a poet whose writings, particularly in honor of the early martyrs, show him to be a bright man of great eloquence and sensitivity. He restored the catacombs and had the bodies of many of the early martyrs enshrined in Rome’s churches.
+ Pope Saint Damasus died on December 11, 384. Because of his work in the catacombs, he is popularly honored as the patron of archaeologists.
For prayer and reflection:
“We venerate the martyrs with the same veneration of love and fellowship that we give to the holy men of God still with us.”—Saint Augustine of Hippo
Spiritual bonus:
On this day the Church also remembers the Servite priest Blessed Jerome Ranuzzi. Remembered for his learning and scholarship, he died around the year 1468 and devotion to him was confirmed by the Holy See in 1775.
Prayer
Grant, we pray, O Lord,
that we may constantly exalt the merits of your Martyrs,
whom Pope Saint Damasus so venerated and loved.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Father Silas Henderson, S.D.S.
