Pope St. Damasus I (about 304–384) led the Church of Rome from 366 to 384, defended the faith in the Holy Trinity, and asked his secretary, St. Jerome, to revise the Latin Bible, the work that became the Vulgate, the Bible of the Western Church for more than a thousand years. He also loved the martyrs: he searched out and restored their tombs in the catacombs and wrote verse inscriptions for them, many of which can still be read today. His feast day is December 11. Below are his story, his love for the martyrs and for Scripture, and a prayer to St. Damasus.
A short prayer to Pope St. Damasus, written for this page:
Pope St. Damasus, you honored the martyrs and gave the Church the Scriptures in her own tongue.
Pray that I may love the Word of God,
remember the witnesses who died for it, and hold fast to the faith of the Church. Amen.
Who was Pope St. Damasus?
Damasus was born about 304, probably in Rome, the son of a priest of Spanish origin who served at the church of St. Lawrence. He grew up in the service of that church and became a deacon of the Roman Church. When he was elected pope in 366, a rival faction chose the deacon Ursinus, and violent riots followed before Damasus was recognized. As pope he condemned the heresies that denied the full divinity of the Holy Spirit and the full humanity of Christ, worked with St. Basil and the bishops of the East, and sent legates to the Council of Constantinople (381). In 380 the emperor Theodosius declared that all his subjects should hold the faith professed by Damasus, bishop of Rome. Damasus died on December 11, 384.
St. Jerome and the Vulgate
About 382 Damasus asked St. Jerome, then his secretary, to correct the many differing Latin translations of the Gospels against the original Greek. Jerome went on to translate most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew, and his work became the Vulgate, the “common” Latin Bible of the Church. Damasus is also associated with a list of the books of Scripture drawn up at a Roman synod. See the St. Jerome prayer.
St. Paul’s words on the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16–17, Douay-Rheims):
All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice,
That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work.
The pope of the martyrs
Damasus drained, restored and decorated the catacombs, made the martyrs’ tombs accessible to pilgrims, and composed Latin verses in their honor, carved in beautiful letters by the calligrapher Furius Dionysius Filocalus. In one of them, in the crypt of the popes in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus, he wrote that he would have liked to be buried there among the saints, but feared to disturb the ashes of the holy ones. He was buried instead in a small church he built on the Via Ardeatina.
What is Pope St. Damasus the patron saint of?
Pope St. Damasus is honored as a patron of archaeologists, especially those who study the catacombs, and of Bible translators.
Feast day
The optional memorial of Pope St. Damasus I is December 11, the day of his death.
Frequently asked questions
What is Pope St. Damasus known for?
Commissioning St. Jerome’s revision of the Latin Bible, restoring the tombs of the martyrs, and defending the faith in the Holy Trinity.
When was Damasus pope?
From 366 to 384.
When is the feast of Pope St. Damasus?
December 11.
More saints
- St. Jerome prayer
- St. Lawrence prayer
- Sts. Basil and Gregory
- Pope St. Sylvester I
- Prayer for the Pope
- Saint of the day
Texts and sources
- 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (Douay-Rheims).
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Pope St. Damasus I,” public domain (Wikisource).