Saint of the Day: Pope St. Damasus I

Patron Saint of Archaeologists (ca. 305-384)

His life

+ Damasus was born in Rome and was the son of the priest of San Lorenzo; he served as his father’s deacon.

+ When Pope Liberius died in 366, Damasus was elected Bishop of Rome.

+ During his pontificate, he held two councils condemning the Arian heresy, and another condemning the errors of the priest Apollinaris. Damasus also became the first pope to speak of the “Apostolic See” and he instituted a formal system of Church administration which took the form of decrees, rather than pastoral admonitions.

+ Saint Jerome served as Damasus’ secretary for a number of years and praised him as “an incomparable person, learned in Scripture, a virgin doctor of the Virgin Church.”

+ Pope Damasus was also a poet whose writings, particularly in honor of the early martyrs, show him to be a bright man of great eloquence and sensitivity. He restored the catacombs and had the bodies of many of the early martyrs enshrined in Rome’s churches.

+ Pope Saint Damasus died on December 11, 384. Because of his work in the catacombs, he is popularly honored as the patron of archaeologists.

For prayer and reflection

“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another.”—John 15:16-17

Prayer

Grant, we pray, O Lord,
that we may constantly exalt the merits of your Martyrs,
whom Pope Saint Damasus so venerated and loved.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.