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DAMASUS I

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 786 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DAMASUS I . was See also:pope from 366 to 384. At the See also:time of the banishment of Pope Liberius (355), the See also:deacon Damasus, like all the See also:Roman See also:clergy, made energetic protest. When, however, the See also:emperor See also:Constantius sent to See also:Rome an See also:anti-pope in the See also:person of See also:Felix II., Damasus, with the other clergy, rallied to his cause. When Liberius returned from See also:exile and Felix was expelled from Rome, Damasus again took his See also:place among the adherents of Liberius. On the See also:death of Liberius (366) a consider-able party nominated Damasus successor; but the irreconcilables of the party of Liberius refused to See also:pardon his trimming, and set up against him another deacon, See also:Ursinus. A seriousconflict ensued between the See also:rival factions, which quickly led to rioting and See also:hand-to-hand fighting. In one of these encounters the then new See also:basilica, called the Liberian Basilica (S. Maria See also:Maggiore), was partially destroyed, and 137 dead bodies were See also:left in the See also:building. On several occasions the See also:secular See also:arm had to intervene, although the See also:government of the emperor Valentinian was averse from involving itself in ecclesiastical affairs. From the outset the See also:prefect of Rome recognized the claims of Damasus, and exerted himself to support him. Ursinus and the leading men of his See also:faction were expelled from Rome, and afterwards from central See also:Italy, or even interned in See also:Gaul. They, however, persisted obstinately in their opposition to Damasus, combating him at first by riots, and then by calumnious See also:law-suits, such as that instituted by one See also:Isaac, a converted and relapsed See also:Jew.

To the See also:

official support, which never failed him, Damasus endeavoured to join the popular sympathy. From before his See also:election he had been in high favour with the Roman See also:aristocracy, and especially with the See also:great ladies. At that See also:period the See also:urban masses, but recently converted to See also:Christianity, sought in the See also:worship of the martyrs a sort of substitute for polytheism. Damasus showed great zeal in discovering the tombs of martyrs, adorning them with See also:precious See also:marbles and monumental inscrijitions. The See also:inscriptions he composed himself, in mediocre See also:verse, full of Virgilian reminiscences. Several have come down to us on the See also:original marbles, entire or in fragments; others are known from old copies. In the interior of Rome he erected or embellished the See also:church which still bears his name (S. Lorenzo in Damaso), near which his See also:father's See also:house appears to have stood. The See also:West was recovering gradually from the troubles caused by the Arian crisis. Damasus took See also:part, more or less effectually, in the efforts to eliminate from Italy and See also:Illyria the last champions of the See also:council of See also:Rimini. In spite of his See also:declaration at the council convened by him in 372, he did not succeed in evicting See also:Auxentius from See also:Milan. But Auxentius died soon afterwards, and his successor, See also:Ambrose, undertook to bring these hitherto abortive efforts to a successful conclusion, and to See also:complete the return of Illyria to the confessions of See also:Nicaea.

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East, however, under the direction of St See also:Basil, were involved in a struggle with the emperor See also:Valens, whose policy was favourable to the council of Rimini. Damasus, to whom they appealed for help, was unable to be of much service to them, the more so because that episcopal See also:group, viewed askance by St See also:Athanasius and his successor See also:Peter, was incessantly combated at the papal See also:court by the inveterate hatred of See also:Alexandria. The Eastern bishops triumphed in the end under See also:Theodosius, at the council of See also:Constantinople (380, in which the pope and the Western church took no part. They were invited to a council of wider See also:convocation, held at Rome in 382, but very few attended. This council had brought to Rome the learned See also:monk See also:Jerome, for whom Damasus showed great esteem. To him Damasus entrusted the revision of the Latin See also:text of the See also:Bible and other See also:works of religious erudition. A See also:short time before, the pope had received a visit from the Priscillianists after their condemnation in See also:Spain, and had dismissed them. Damasus died in 384, on the rrth of See also:December, the See also:day on which his memory is still celebrated.

End of Article: DAMASUS I

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