Editing Pope Damasus I

{{Short description|Bishop of Rome from 366 to 384}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[List of popes|Pope]] [[List of canonised popes|Saint]]
| name = Damasus I
| image = Pope Damasus - Biblia Sancti Martialis Lemovicensis, Folio 4v.png
| caption = Damasus I depicted in the 11th-century Second Bible of St Martial of Limoges
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| term_start = 1 October 366
| term_end = 11 December 384
| predecessor = [[Pope Liberius|Liberius]]
| successor = [[Siricius]]
| birth_date = {{circa|305}}
| birth_place = [[Rome]] or [[Lusitania]], Roman Empire
| death_date = 11 December 384 
| death_place = Rome, Roman Empire
| venerated = {{unbulleted list|[[Catholic Church]]}} [[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
| feast_day = [[December 11|11 December]] (Catholicism)<br />
| attributes = as a pope with patriarchal cross and model of a church
| patronage = [[Archaeologists]], against fever
| other = Damasus
}}
'''Pope Damasus I''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|æ|m|ə|s|ə|s}}; c. 305 – 11 December 384), also known as '''Damasus of Rome''',<ref>Dennis Trout, ''Damasus of Rome: The Epigraphic Poetry'' (Oxford University Press, 2015); Neil McLynn, "Damasus of Rome," in Therese Fuhrer (ed.), ''Rom und Mailand in der Spätantike: Repräsentationen städtischer Räum in Literatur, Architektur, und Kunst'' (De Gruyter, 2011), pp. 305–325.</ref> was the [[bishop of Rome]] from October 366 to his death in 384. It is claimed that he presided over the [[Council of Rome]] of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. 

Damasus spoke out against major heresies (including [[Apollinarianism]] and [[Pneumatomachi|Macedonianism]]), thus solidifying the faith of the [[Catholic Church]], and encouraged production of the [[Vulgate]] [[Bible]] with his support for [[Jerome]].  He helped reconcile the relations between the [[Western Church|Church of Rome]] and the [[Church of Antioch]], and encouraged the veneration of martyrs.

As well as various prose letters and other pieces Damasus was the author of Latin verse. [[Alan Cameron (classical scholar)|Alan Cameron]] describes his epitaph for a young girl called Projecta (of great interest to scholars as the [[Projecta Casket]] in the [[British Museum]] may have been made for her) as "a tissue of tags and clichés shakily strung together and barely squeezed into the meter".<ref>Cameron, 136-139; 136 and 137 are quoted in turn</ref> Damasus has been described as "the first society Pope",<ref>Cameron, 136</ref> and was possibly a member of a group of Hispanic Christians, largely related to each other, who were close to the Hispanic [[Theodosius I]].<ref>Cameron, 142-143</ref>

A number of images of "DAMAS" in [[gold glass]] cups probably represent him and seem to be the first contemporary images of a pope to survive, though there is no real attempt at a likeness. "Damas" appears with other figures, including a Florus who may be Projecta's father.  It has been suggested that Damasus or another of the group commissioned and distributed these to friends or supporters, as part of a programme "insistently inserting his episcopal presence in the Christian landscape".<ref>"DAMAS" on 4 glasses per Grig, 5 per Lutraan; Grig, 208-215, 216-220, 229-230, 229 quoted (examples illustrated); Lutraan, 31-32 and pages following</ref>

He is recognized as a saint by the [[Catholic Church]]; his feast day is 11 December.<ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Damasus-I|title = Saint Damasus I &#124; Biography, Pope, Legacy, & Facts}}</ref>

==Background==
His life coincided with the rise of [[Constantine I and Christianity|Emperor Constantine I]] and the reunion and re-division of the [[Western Roman Empire|Western]] and [[Eastern Roman Empire]]s, which is associated with the [[Edict of Milan|legitimization of Christianity]] and its later [[State church of the Roman Empire|adoption as the official religion of the Roman state in 380]].

The reign of [[Gratian]], which coincided with Damasus' papacy, forms an important epoch in ecclesiastical history, since during that period (359–383), [[Catholic Church|Catholic Christianity]] for the first time became dominant throughout the empire. Under the influence of Ambrose, Gratian refused<ref>McGuire, M. (1936). A new study on the political role of St. Ambrose. ''The Catholic Historical Review, 22''(3), 304-318. {{JSTOR|25013506}}</ref> to wear the insignia of the ''[[pontifex maximus]]'' as unbefitting a Christian, removed the [[Altar of Victory]] from the [[Roman Senate|Senate]] at [[Rome]], despite protests from the pagan members of the Senate. Emperor Gratian also forbade legacies of real property to the [[Vestals]] and abolished other privileges belonging to them and to the pontiffs.

==Early life==
Pope Damasus I was either born in Rome, or in [[Lusitania]] around 305, before moving to Rome at a young age with his parents.<ref>{{cite book| last = Kelly| first = J.N.D.| author-link = John Norman Davidson Kelly| date = 1988| title = The Oxford Dictionary of Popes| chapter = Damasus I| location = Oxford| publisher = Oxford University Press| page = 32| isbn = 0192820850}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Pope Saint Damasus I |url=https://www.newmanministry.com/saints/pope-saint-damasus-i |website=newmanministry.com |access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Saint of the Week: Pope St Damasus I |url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/saint-of-the-week/ |website=catholicherald.co.uk |date=December 2015 |access-date=5 September 2024}}</ref> Damasus' parents were Antonius, who became a priest at the Church of St. Lawrence (San Lorenzo) in Rome, and his wife Laurentia. Both parents originally came from the region of Lusitania. Damasus began his ecclesiastical career as a deacon in his father's church, where he went on to serve as a priest. This later became the basilica of [[San Lorenzo fuori le Mura|Saint Lawrence outside the Walls]] in Rome.<ref name=foley>{{cite web| url = http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1226| title = Foley OFM, Leonard. "St. Damasus I", ''Saint of the Day'', (revised by Pat McCloskey OFM), Franciscan Media}}</ref>

Damasus was [[deacon|archdeacon]] of the Roman church when Pope Liberius was banished by Emperor [[Constantius II]] to [[Veria|Berea]] in 354. Damasus followed Liberius into exile, though he immediately returned to Rome. During the period before Liberius' return, Damasus had a great share in the government of the church.<ref>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/DAMASUS.htm ST DAMASUS, POPE, CONFESSOR (A.D. 305–384)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070925175213/http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/DAMASUS.htm |date=25 September 2007 }} Butler, Alban. ''"The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints'', vol. III, ewtn</ref>

==Succession crisis==
In the early [[Catholic Church|Church]], bishops were customarily elected by the [[clergy]] and the people of the diocese. While this simple method worked well in a small community of Christians unified by persecution, as the congregation grew in size, the acclamation of a new bishop was fraught with division, and rival claimants and a certain class hostility between [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]] and [[plebeian]] candidates unsettled some episcopal elections. At the same time, 4th-century emperors expected each new pope-elect to be presented to them for approval, which sometimes led to state domination of the Church's internal affairs.

Following the death of [[Pope Liberius]] on 24 September 366, Damasus succeeded to the Papacy amidst factional violence.  The deacons and laity supported Liberius' [[deacon]] [[Antipope Ursicinus|Ursinus]]. The upper-class former partisans of [[Antipope Felix II|Felix]], who had ruled during Liberius' exile, supported the election of Damasus.

The two were elected simultaneously (Damasus' election was held in [[San Lorenzo in Lucina]]). [[J. N. D. Kelly]] states that Damasus hired a gang of thugs that stormed the [[Basilica Julia|Julian Basilica]], carrying out a three-day massacre of the Ursinians.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kelly|first=J. N. D.|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Popes|year=1989|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=USA|isbn=978-0192139641|pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00kell/page/32 32], 34|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00kell}}</ref> [[Thomas Shahan]] says details of this scandalous conflict are related in the highly prejudiced "Libellus precum  ad Imperatores" (P.L., XIII, 83–107), a petition to the civil authority on the part of [[Faustinus of Brescia|Faustinus]] and {{ill|Marcellinus (presbyter)|lt=Marcellinus|ru|Марцеллин (пресвитер)}}, two anti-Damasan presbyters.<ref name="ce"/> Such was the violence and bloodshed that the two [[prefect]]s of the city were called in to restore order, and after a first setback, when they were driven to the suburbs and a massacre of 137 was perpetrated in the basilica of Sicininus (the modern [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]]), the prefects banished Ursinus to [[Gaul]].<ref>[[Ammianus Marcellinus]], 27.3.12; 27.9.9. Translated by J.C. Rolfe, ''Ammianus Marcellinus'' (Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library, 1939), pp. 19, 61ff</ref> There was further violence when he returned, which continued after Ursinus was exiled again.

Another ancient narrative of events, the "Gesta" (dated to 368&nbsp;AD), provides more detail. It describes Ursinus as being the valid successor to Liberius, and Damasus as following a heretical interloper, Felix. This account also records that an armed force instigated by Damasus broke into the Basilica of Julius and a three-day slaughtering of those assembled there took place. After gaining control of the Lateran basilica Damasus was then ordained as bishop in the cathedral of Rome. However, Damasus was accused of bribing the urban officials of Rome to have Ursinus and chief supporters exiled, including some presbyters.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PWdzlUBhFLwC&pg=PA111|title=The Emergence of Christianity: Classical Traditions in Contemporary Perspective|last=White|first=Cynthia|date=2010-10-01|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=9780800697471|language=en}}</ref> As a result of this attempt, some of the (apparently quite numerous) supporters of Ursinus interrupted this process and rescued the presbyters, taking them to the Basilica of Liberius (identified as the "basilica of Sicinnius"), the apparent headquarters of the Ursinian sect. Damasus then responded by ordering an attack against the Liberian basilica, resulting in another massacre: "They broke down the doors and set fire underneath it, then rushed in...and killed a hundred and sixty of the people inside, both men and women."   Damasus next sent a final assault against some Ursinian supporters who had fled to the cemetery of Saint Agnes, slaying many.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McIntyre |first1=Thomas J. |title=The First Pontiff: Pope Damasus I and the Expansion of the Roman Primacy |date=2015 |publisher=Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 1277 |pages=15, 33, 34 |url=https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2355&context=etd |access-date=13 November 2018}}</ref>

Church historians such as [[Jerome]] and [[Tyrannius Rufinus|Rufinus]] championed Damasus. At a synod in 378, Ursinus was condemned and Damasus exonerated and declared the true pope. The former antipope continued to intrigue against Damasus for the next few years and unsuccessfully attempted to revive his claim on Damasus's death. Ursinus was among the [[Arianism|Arian]] party in [[Milan]], according to [[Ambrose]].<ref>Ambrose, ''Epistles'' iv</ref>

==Papacy==
Damasus faced accusations of murder and adultery<ref>M. Walsh, ''Butler's Lives of the Saints'' (HarperCollins Publishers: New York, 1991), 413.</ref> in his early years as pope. The accuracy of these claims has come into question with some suggesting that the accusations were motivated by the conflict with the supporters of [[Arianism]].

Damasus I was active in defending the [[Catholic Church]] against the threat of [[Schism (religion)|schism]]s. In two Roman synods (368 and 369) he condemned [[Apollinarianism]] and [[Pneumatomachi|Macedonianism]], and sent legates to the [[First Council of Constantinople]] that was convoked in 381 to address these [[Christian heresy|heresies]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/CONSTAN1.HTM |title=St Damasus I Constantinople-1 |access-date=20 January 2017 |archive-date=19 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219035703/https://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/CONSTAN1.HTM |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Council of Rome of 382 and the Biblical canon===
One of the important works of Pope Damasus was to preside in the [[Council of Rome]] of 382,{{sfn|Lampe|2015|p=304-305}} which determined the canon or official list of Sacred Scripture.{{sfn|Celenza|2021|p=41}} The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church states:
A council probably held at Rome in 382 under Damasus gave a complete list of the canonical books of both the Old Testament and the New Testament (also known as the '[[Gelasian Decree]]' because it was reproduced by Gelasius in 495), which is identical with the list given at Trent.{{sfn|Cross|Livingstone|2005|p=282}} American Catholic priest and historian [[William Jurgens]] stated: "The first part of this decree has long been known as the Decree of Damasus, and concerns the Holy Spirit and the seven-fold gifts. The second part of the decree is more familiarly known as the opening part of the Gelasian Decree, in regard to the canon of Scripture: {{lang|la|De libris recipiendis vel non-recipiendis.}} It is now commonly held that the part of the Gelasian Decree dealing with the accepted canon of Scripture is an authentic work of the Council of Rome of 382 A.D. and that Gelasius edited it again at the end of the fifth century, adding to it the catalog of the rejected books, the apocrypha. It is now almost universally accepted that these parts one and two of the Decree of Damasus are authentic parts of the Acts of the Council of Rome of 382 A.D."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jurgens|first1=William|title=The Faith of the Early Fathers: Pre-Nicene and Nicene Eras|year=1970 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l62q-d4Wi20C|page=404|publisher=Liturgical Press |isbn=9780814604328 }} Accessed 24 Mar. 2022.</ref>

===Jerome, the Vulgate and the Canon===
[[File:Hieronymus presents Vulgata.jpg|thumb|left|Jerome presents the Vulgate to Pope Damasus; miniature from the {{circa|1150}} Gospel Book of [[Lund Cathedral]] (Cod. Ups. 83)]]
Pope Damasus appointed [[Jerome|Jerome of Stridon]] as his confidential secretary. Invited to Rome originally to a synod of 382 convened to end the [[Schism (religion)|schism]] of [[Antioch]], he made himself indispensable to the pope, and took a prominent place in his councils. Jerome spent three years (382–385) in Rome in close intercourse with Pope Damasus and the leading Christians. Writing in 409, Jerome remarked: "A great many years ago when I was helping Damasus, bishop of Rome with his ecclesiastical correspondence, and writing his answers to the questions referred to him by the councils of the east and west..."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF2-06/letters/lette123.htm| title = ''Epistle'' cxx.10}}</ref>

In order to put an end to the marked divergences in the western texts of that period, Damasus encouraged the highly respected scholar Jerome to revise the available [[Vetus Latina|Old Latin]] versions of the [[Bible]] into a more accurate [[Latin]] on the basis of the Greek [[New Testament]] and the [[Septuagint]], resulting in the [[Vulgate]]. According to Protestant biblical scholar, [[F.F. Bruce]], the commissioning of the Vulgate was a key moment in fixing the biblical canon in the [[Western Christianity|West]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://media.sabda.org/alkitab-2/PDF%20Books/00059%20Bruce%20The%20Canon%20of%20Scripture.pdf|title=The Canon of Scripture|last=Bruce|first=F. F.|publisher=[[InterVarsity Press]]|year=1988|page=225|author-link=F. F. Bruce}}</ref> Nonetheless,  as the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' states:

{{Blockquote|In the Latin Church, all through the [[Middle Ages]] we find evidence of hesitation about the character of the deuterocanonicals. There is a current friendly to them, another one distinctly unfavourable to their authority and sacredness, while wavering between the two are a number of writers whose veneration for these books is tempered by some perplexity as to their exact standing, and among those we note St. Thomas Aquinas. Few are found to unequivocally acknowledge their canonicity.  
The prevailing attitude of Western medieval authors is substantially that of the Greek Fathers. The chief cause of this phenomenon in the West is to be sought in the influence, direct and indirect, of St. Jerome's depreciating Prologus.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Knight|first1=Kevin|title=. Canon of the Old Testament|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03267a.htm|website=New Advent|publisher=The Catholic Encyclopedia|access-date=26 November 2015}}</ref>}}

Significant scholarly doubts and disagreements about the nature of the Apocrypha continued for centuries and even into Trent,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jedin|first1=Hubert|title=Papal Legate At The Council Of Trent|date=1947|publisher=B. Herder Book Co|location=St Louis|pages=270–271}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Wicks|first1=Jared|title=Cajetan Responds: A Reader in Reformation Controversy|date=1978|publisher=The Catholic University Press of America|location=Washington}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Metzger|first1=Bruce|title=An Introduction to the Apocrypha|date=1957|publisher=Oxford|location=New York|page=180}}</ref>  which  provided the first infallible definition of the Catholic canon in 1546.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Catholic Encyclopedia|title=Canon of the Old Testament|date=1908|publisher=Robert Appleton Company|location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=H. Tavard|first1=George|title=Holy Writ or Holy Church|date=1959|publisher=Burns & Oates|location=London|pages=16–17}}</ref>

Jerome devoted a very brief notice to Damasus in his ''[[De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)|De Viris Illustribus]]'', written after Damasus' death: "he had a fine talent for making verses and published many brief works in heroic metre. He died in the reign of the emperor [[Theodosius I|Theodosius]] at the age of almost eighty".<ref>''De Viris Illustribus'', ch. 103</ref> Damasus may be the author of the anonymous ''[[Carmen contra paganos]]'' (song against the pagans).<ref name=ODB>{{ODB|authorlink=Barry Baldwin|first=Barry|last=Baldwin|title=Carmen Contra Paganos}}</ref>

====Letter of Jerome to Damasus====
{{further|Letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus}}
The letters from Jerome to Damasus are examples of the primacy of the See of Peter:
{{blockquote|Yet, though your greatness terrifies me, your kindness attracts me. From the priest I demand the safe-keeping of the victim, from the shepherd the protection due to the sheep. Away with all that is overweening; let the state of Roman majesty withdraw. My words are spoken to the successor of the fisherman, to the disciple of the cross. As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the church is built! This is the house where alone the paschal lamb can be rightly eaten. This is the ark of Noah, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood prevails. But since by reason of my sins I have betaken myself to this desert which lies between Syria and the uncivilized waste, I cannot, owing to the great distance between us, always ask of your sanctity the holy thing of the Lord. Consequently I here follow the Egyptian confessors who share your faith, and anchor my frail craft under the shadow of their great argosies. I know nothing of Vitalis; I reject Meletius; I have nothing to do with Paulinus. He that gathers not with you scatters; he that is not of Christ is of Antichrist.<ref>Letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus, 376, 2.</ref>}}

===Relations with the Eastern Church===

The Eastern Church, in the person of [[Basil of Caesarea]], earnestly sought the aid and encouragement of Damasus against an apparently triumphant [[Arianism]]. Damasus, however, harbored some degree of suspicion against the great [[Cappadocia]]n [[Doctor of the Church]]. In the matter of the [[Meletius of Antioch|Meletian Schism]] at Antioch, Damasus – together with [[Athanasius of Alexandria]], and his successor, [[Peter II of Alexandria]] – sympathized with the party of [[Paulinus, Bishop of Antioch|Paulinus]] as more sincerely representative of Nicene orthodoxy. On the death of [[Meletius of Antioch|Meletius]] he sought to secure the succession for Paulinus and to exclude [[Flavian I of Antioch|Flavian]].<ref>[[Socrates of Constantinople|Socrates]], ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' 5.15</ref> During his papacy, Peter II of Alexandria sought refuge in [[Rome]] from the persecuting Arians. He was received by Damasus, who supported him against the Arians.<ref name="ce"/>

Damasus supported the appeal of the Christian senators to Emperor [[Gratian]] for the removal of the altar of Victory from the Senate House,<ref>Ambrose, ''Epistles'' xvii, n. 10</ref> and lived to welcome the famous edict of [[Theodosius I]], "De fide Catholica" (27 February 380),<ref>''[[Codex Theodosianus]]'' XVI, 1, 2</ref> which proclaimed as the religion of the Roman State that doctrine which [[Saint Peter|Peter]] had preached to the Romans.<ref name="ce">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04613a.htm Shahan, Thomas. "Pope St. Damasus I." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 29 Sept. 2017</ref>
[[File:Epigramme Damase Agnès.jpg|thumb|Facsimile of a Damasan inscription by the late 4th-century lapicide Philocalus in the [[Catacombs of Saint Agnes]] beneath the Constantinian basilica of [[Sant'Agnese fuori le mura|Sant'Agnese ''fuori le Mura'']]]]

===Devotion to the martyrs===
Damasus also did much to encourage the veneration of the [[Christian martyrs]],<ref>M. Walsh, ''Butler's Lives'', 414.</ref> restoring and creating access to their tombs in the [[Catacombs of Rome]] and elsewhere, and setting up tablets with verse inscriptions composed by himself, several of which survive or are recorded in his ''Epigrammata''.<ref>[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0366-0383__SS_Damasus_I__Epigrammata__LT.pdf.html ''Epigrammata'' texts in Latin]; Grig, 213, 215</ref>

Damasus rebuilt or repaired his father's church named for [[Saint Lawrence|Laurence]], known as [[San Lorenzo fuori le Mura]] ("St Lawrence outside the walls"), which by the 7th century was a station on the itineraries of the graves of the Roman martyrs. Damasus' regard for the Roman martyr is attested also by the tradition according to which the Pope built a church devoted to Laurence in his own house, [[San Lorenzo in Damaso]].

Damasus was pope for eighteen years and two months. His feast day is 11 December.  He was buried beside his mother and sister in a "funerary basilica ... somewhere between the [[Via Appia]] and [[Via Ardeatina]]", the exact location of which is lost.<ref>Grig, 213 note 50</ref>

Since 2011, this saint has given its name to the [[San Damaso Ecclesiastical University]], a Catholic center of higher education belonging to the Archbishopric of Madrid, in Spain, where theology, Canon Law, Religious Sciences, Christian and Classical Literature, and Philosophy can be studied.

== See also ==
* [[List of popes]]
* [[List of Catholic saints]]
* [[Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/December 11|Pope Saint Damasus I, patron saint archive]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Literature ==
{{Refbegin}}
* Aste, Antonio, Gli epigrammi di papa Damaso I. Traduzione e commento. Libellula edizioni, collana Università (Tricase, Lecce 2014).
* [[Alan Cameron (classical scholar)|Cameron, Alan]], "The Date and the Owners of the Esquiline Treasure", ''American Journal of Archaeology'', Vol 89, No. 1, Centennial Issue (Jan., 1985), pp.&nbsp;135–145, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/504776 JSTOR]
* {{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=EnciclopediaDeiPapi|first=Carlo|last= Carletti|id=santo-damaso-i_(Enciclopedia_dei_Papi)/|title=Damaso I|volume=1|pages=349–372}}.
*{{cite book |title=The Italian Renaissance and the Origin of the Humanities: An Intellectual History, 1400-1800 |first=Christopher S. |last=Celenza |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-1-108-83340-0 }}
*{{cite encyclopedia |title=Damasus |encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |editor-first1=Frank Leslie |editor-last1=Cross |editor-first2=Elizabeth A. |editor-last2=Livingstone |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-280-290-3 }}
* Green, M.,  "The Supporters of the Antipope Ursinus,"  ''Journal of Theological Studies'' 22 (1971) pp.&nbsp;531–538. 
*Grig, Lucy, "Portraits, Pontiffs and the Christianization of Fourth-Century Rome", ''Papers of the British School at Rome'', Vol. 72, (2004), pp.&nbsp;203–230, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40311081 JSTOR]
*{{cite book |chapter=Trace of Peter Veneration in Roman Archaeology |first=Peter |last=Lampe |title=Peter in Early Christianity |editor-first1=Helen K. |editor-last1=Bond |editor-first2=Larry W. |editor-last2=Hurtado |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-8028-7171-8 }}304-305
* Lippold, A.,  "Ursinus und Damasus," ''[[Historia (classical antiquity history journal)|Historia]]'' 14 (1965), pp.&nbsp;105–128.
* Löx, Markus: ''Monumenta sanctorum. Rom und Mailand als Zentren des frühen Christentums: Märtyrerkult und Kirchenbau unter den Bischöfen Damasus und Ambrosius.'' Wiesbaden, 2013.
*Lutraan, Katherine L., [http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations/5338/ ''Late Roman Gold-Glass: Images and Inscriptions''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104204149/http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/opendissertations/5338/ |date=4 January 2014 }}, MA thesis, McMaster University, 2006, available online -"investigates the images and inscriptions that decorate the extant corpus of gold-glass vessel bases". 
* Nautin, P.  "Le premier échange épistulaire entre Jérôme et Damase: lettres réelles ou fictives?," ''Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie'' 30, 1983, pp.&nbsp;331–334.
* Reutter, Ursula: ''Damasus, Bischof von Rom (366–384). Leben und Werk'' (= ''Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum.'' Vol. 55). Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 2009, {{ISBN|978-3-16-149848-0}}.
* Reynolds, R. E., "An Early Medieval Mass Fantasy: The Correspondence of Pope Damasus and St Jerome on a Nicene Canon," in ''Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Medieval Canon Law, Cambridge, 23–27 July 1984'' (ed. P. Linehan) (Città del Vaticano 1988), pp.&nbsp;73–89. 
* Schimmelpfennig, Bernhard: '' Das Papsttum. Von der Antike bis zur Renaissance.'' 6th edition. Bibliographically revised and updated by Elke Goez. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 2009, {{ISBN|978-3-534-23022-8}}.
* Seppelt, Franz X.: ''Geschichte der Päpste von den Anfängen bis zur Mittel des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts.'' Vol.: 1: ''Die Entfaltung der päpstlichen Machtstellung im frühen Mittelalter. Von Gregor dem Grossen bis zur Mitte des elften Jahrhunderts.'' 2nd newly revised edition (by Georg Schwaiger). Kösel, Munich, 1955, pp.&nbsp;109–126.
* Sheperd, M. H.,  "The Liturgical Reform of Damasus," in ''Kyriakon. Festschrift für Johannes Quasten'' (ed. Patrick Granfield and J.A. Jungmann) II (Münster 1970) pp.&nbsp;847–863.
* Taylor, J.,  "St. Basil the Great and Pope Damasus," ''Downside Review'' 91 (1973), pp.&nbsp;183–203, 261–274.
*{{cite book|first=Williston |last=Walker|title=A History of the Christian Church}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Damasus I}}
{{EB1911 poster|Damasus}}
*[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01_01_0366-0383-_Damasus_I,_Sanctus.html ''Opera Omnia'' by Migne Patrologia] {{in lang|la}}
* {{DNB-Portal|118878689}}
* {{DDB|Person|118878689}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-rel|grt}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Pope Liberius|Liberius]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Rome]]|years=366–384}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Siricius]]}}
{{s-end}}

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{{Catholic saints}}
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{{Subject bar |portal1= Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Christianity |portal4= Italy}}
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[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:305 births]]
[[Category:384 deaths]]
[[Category:4th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:4th-century Romans]]
[[Category:Ancient Christians involved in controversies]]
[[Category:Church Fathers]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:4th-century popes]]
[[Category:4th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:4th-century Roman poets]]
[[Category:Portuguese popes]]