After Julian the Apostate was cut off in full career by a Persian arrow,
the Church in the West enjoyed peace. That brave and capable soldier,
Valentinian, was not only a Christian but a Catholic. It was a time for
growth and development, and in St. Damasus the Church had a leader suited
to the time. Damasus was born in Rome of Spanish descent. He was elected
pope by a large majority, but a minority refused to accept the election and
set up Ursinus as antipope. Rome rang with tumult until finally Valentinian
exiled Ursinus.
Damasus was a capable administrator, a writer, and a holy bishop. He
repeatedly condemned heresy yet was so merciful to repentant heretics that
the dour old Arian-fighter, Lucifer of Cagliari, actually left the Church
in disgust to start a rigorist schism. While Arians still troubled the
Church new heresies added to the difficulties of Damasus. Macedonius was
teaching that the Holy Ghost was not divine. Apollinaris was holding that
Christ did not have a rational human soul. Both heresies were condemned
by Damasus.
In the East the Arians were enjoying a final fling. Valentinian's less
capable and less orthodox brother, Valens, was under Arian influence. He
made it hot for the orthodox, but in 378 Valens was ridden down by the
hard-charging Goths at Adrianople. His successor, Emperor Theodosius, threw
his support to the orthodox and asked that a council of the Church in the
Eastern Empire be held to settle the matter. This council met at
Constantinople in 381. Since it was an Eastern council, Pope Damasus does
not seem to have had any direct connection with it, but the council adopted
the Pope's teaching, recondemned Arianism and made a strong declaration of
the divinity of the Holy Ghost against the Macedonians. Damasus approved
the doctrinal decrees of the council and it became ranked as an ecumenical
council.
Damasus published a canon of Holy Scripture, that is, a list of the books
of the Old and New Testaments which are to be considered the inspired word
of God. To spread the knowledge of Holy Scripture, the Pope urged his
friend the great St. Jerome to translate the Bible. St. Jerome did so and
produced that Vulgate edition which has served the Church so long and so
usefully.
Damasus was noted, too, for his clear statement on the hierarchy in the
Church. Quoting the words of Christ to Peter, "Thou art Peter and upon this
rock I will build My church," Damasus says that the Roman Church is above
all others. Next in importance comes Alexandria, founded by St. Mark at St.
Peter's command, and Antioch, where St. Peter ruled before going to Rome.
Now that the persecutions were over, Damasus worked hard to foster devotion
to the martyrs. He encouraged pilgrimages to the catacombs. He built
stairways and light wells in the sacred vaults. On the martyrs' tombs he
placed inscriptions. Indeed, the Pope himself wrote many of these in
excellent verse. He diligently searched the records for accounts of
martyrdoms. Historians and archeologists as well as lovers of Holy Writ owe
much to this intelligent and pious pope.
Excerpted from "Popes
Through the Ages" by Joseph Brusher, S.J.
