Damasus,

Damasus, the name of two popes of Rome.—DAMASUS I. was born in 306, probably at Rome, became archdeacon of the Roman Church in 355, and pope in 366. The party of Ursinus, the rival of Damasus, were overpowered after a sanguinary struggle of three days in the streets of Rome, and afterwards in the Basilica Liberiana (S. Maria Maggiore), from which 137 corpses were carried out in one day, the 25th October 366. The Emperor Valentinian I. decided in favour of Damasus, and twelve years later, the schism still continuing, an edict of Gratian (378) made him the judge in the case of all the clergy of the hostile party who still lived in Rome. He was a zealous opponent of the Arians, and condemned the Illyrian bishops Ursacius and Valens at a synod which he held at Rome in 368, and Auxentius, Bishop of Milan, at a second synod there in 370. Damasus induced his friend Jerome to undertake the revision of the Italia (in 383 and 384), which led him to the preparation of the Vulgate version; and he did much for the preservation and adornment of the Roman catacombs. He died in 384, and was canonised. His festival falls on the 11th December. The writings of Damasus, which are chiefly letters and epigrams, were published at Rome in 1638 (new editions, Rome, 1754, and Paris, 1840). See Langen, Geschichte der römischen Kirche (vol. i. Bonn, 1881), and Rade, Damasus, Bischof von Rom (Freiburg, 1882).—DAMASUS II., previously Poppo, Bishop of Brixen, was elected pope in 1048, through the influ- ence of the Emperor Henry III., and died twenty-three days after his accession.