ABSTRACT
Damasus, who was pope at Rome from 366 to 384, was born in about 305 into a Christian family. His papacy was a troubled one but he managed to achieve an enormous amount, despite the difficulties of dealing with an anti-pope (Ursinus) and many different sects at Rome. Damasus worked hard to promote the primacy of Rome over all other sees, believing the Bishop of Rome to be the direct successor of St Peter. He was not, however, as energetic in promoting good relations with the Church in the eastern empire, failing, for example, to attend the Council of Constantinople in 381. And yet he did help to suppress Arianism, advanced the cult of the martyrs, and launched many church construction projects in Rome which served to turn the city from the centre of a pagan empire to the centre of the Christian Church. He also commissioned Jerome to work on the revision of the Latin text of the Bible, a work which would eventually result in the Vulgate text superseding the Old Latin, or Itala, text. Furthermore, he was cultivated and on good terms with the aristocracy: in fact his magnificent lifestyle helped to attract upper-class pagans to Christianity at a time when this was very necessary for the survival of the Church. All in all, this man, who was pope at such an exciting period of the Church’s development, was instrumental in laying a firm foundation for the Church in many crucial areas.
