There are sometimes figures in the history of the church that we don’t know much about but whose actions affect us still so many centuries later. Today, the memorial feast of Pope St. Damasus, we remember just such a figure.
Damasus was born in Rome around the year 305. His parents were of Spanish origin, and his father was a priest of Rome. Damasus eventually studied and became a deacon, serving under his father.
This was quite the time in church history as in 313, Christianity was finally legalized by the Emperor Constantine, Christians were eventually given pride of place in society, and money from the coffers of the Roman State were awarded to the church. But it was also a time of conflict due to the rise of the Arian heresy, which denied that Jesus was divine. Pagan Senators of Rome fought with the new religion or tried to coopt it to serve their own purposes.
So it was that in the year 366, Pope Liberius died, and Damasus, at this time 60 years old, was made the bishop of Rome. But some Arians in the city disapproved of the choice, and so an anti-pope named Ursinus was chosen resulting in fights and riots, much to the chagrin of Damasus who tried to bring peace. The Emperor Gratian eventually had to step in and settle the matter. But all of that turmoil is not why we remember Damasus so well today. We do so because Damasus changed the Western Christian church in ways that we still experience.
It was Pope Damasus who decided that the language used in the Mass would be changed from Greek to Latin. You see, many people in Rome spoke Greek as it was often the language of trade, diplomacy, and education. For the early Christians, Greek was the language of the faith. After all, the entire New Testament is written in Greek, and parts of the Old Testament was originally written in that language. The Mass was all in Greek. However, the common folk of Rome and the surrounding areas who had no use for Greek only spoke Latin. So, now that the Church of Rome was safe and had some influence, Damasus believed it needed to use the local, common language.
Damasus had the Latin language become the official language of what would later be called the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, he personally wrote a prayer that we still use today at Mass, especially on big feast days, called the First Eucharistic Prayer or the Roman Canon. That’s the one where the priest lists the names of the saints and pope, “Linus, Cletus, Sixtus, Cornelius….” Damasus wrote that way back then, and we still us it 1700 years later.
But wait, there’s more, it was Damasus who saw the talent of a young scholar named Jerome, made him his secretary, and then tasked him with the gargantuan task of translating the entire Bible directly from the Hebrew and the Greek into Latin. St. Jerome’s translation is still used today by scholars and is known as the Vulgate, which gets its name from the Latin word for “the people” the vulgus. Damasus wanted the common people to have access to the scriptures and to the Mass and so he made sure it happened with a proper translation from the original languages. This is why he's often portrayed with a book in his hand.
Is there more? Yes, yes there is. With the new-found favor that Rome gave the church also came money. And “the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.” (1 Tim. 6:10) There were, therefore, some clerics who lived rather lavishly and who would charge widows and orphans for sacramental services. Damasus and the Emperor put a stop to all of that. Though he's often depicted in fine ropes, the truth is that he didn't spend the money that the church received from the state on himself. Damasus used it to renovate the shrines of the holy martyrs who are buried all over Rome and even built one or two shrines. You can go see those shrines and his work for yourselves in Rome, today. In fact, I’m taking a group to Rome in October, 2025 to do just that! Go here for details.
Surely that’s all Damsus did! Nope. It was while he was Pope that Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and so Damasus had the pagan Altar of Victory removed from the Senate House in Rome and made the Emperor give up the title Pontifex Maximus, a title created for the chief priest of Rome by the second king of Rome Numa Pompilius around the 660’s BC. Damasus then took that title himself so that, to this day, the bishop of Rome, the Pope, is called the Pontifex Maximus.
I could go on, but I’ll leave it there. Pope St. Damasus died of natural causes in the year 384 and was buried near his mother away from the crypt of the popes that he helped renovate. He wrote in a stone inscription in that crypt even today that, “I, Damasus, wished to be buried here, but I feared to offend the ashes of these holy ones." A man of vision, of determination, and ultimately of humility, Pope St. Damasus is a reminder to us all that through our Lord Jesus Christ little works today can and do echo into eternity.
Pope St. Damasus, pray for us!
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