Soon after the death of his patron Damasus ( 10 December 384 ), Jerome was forced by them to leave his position at Rome after an inquiry was brought up by the Roman clergy into allegations that he had an improper relationship with the widow Paula.

Two letters to Pope Damasus ( 15 and 16 ) complain of the conduct of both parties at Antioch, the Meletians and Paulinians, who had tried to draw him into their controversy over the application of the terms ousia and hypostasis to the Trinity.

He was the only Portuguese Pope, although Damasus I can also be considered Portuguese, as he was born in territory that is nowadays in Portugal, and Paul IV had a Portuguese grandmother.

During the period before Liberius ' return, Damasus had a great share in the government of the church.

On the death of Liberius on 24 September 366, one faction supported Ursinus ( or Ursicinus ), who had served as deacon to Liberius, while another faction, previously loyal to the Antipope Felix II, supported Damasus.

Jerome devoted a very brief notice to Damasus in his De Viris Illustribus, written after Damasus ' death: " he had a fine talent for making verses and published many brief works in heroic metre.

He had been commissioned by Damasus I in 382 to revise the Old Latin text of the four Gospels from the best Greek texts, and by the time of Damasus ' death in 384 he had thoroughly completed this task, together with a more cursory revision from the Greek Septuagint of the Old Latin text of the Psalms in the Roman Psalter which is now lost.

The shortness of Damasus II's reign led to rumors that he had been poisoned by a man named Gerhard Brazutus, a friend of Benedict IX and a follower of Hildebrand.

Through the exertions of Hydatius of Emerita, the leading Priscillianists, who had failed to appear before the synod of Hispanic and Aquitanian bishops to which they had been summoned, were excommunicated at Zaragoza in October 380, according to Sulpicius, a conclusion that was emphatically denied in a letter to Damasus, Liber ad Damasum episcopum ( McKenna, note 14 ).

A modern staircase, on the site of an ancient one, was built by Pope Damasus I, giving access to the region of the Popes, in which is to be found the crypt of the popes, where nine pontiffs and, perhaps, eight representatives of the ecclesiastical hierarchy had been buried-along its walls are the original Greek inscriptions for the pontiffs Pontian, Anterus, Fabian, Lucius I and Eutychian.

In the far wall Pope Sixtus II was also buried, after he was killed during the persecution of Valerian ; in front of his tomb Pope Damasus had carved an inscription in poetic metre in characters thought up by the calligrapher Furius Dionisius Filocalus.

In the region of Saints Gaius and Eusebius are some crypts set apart, opposite each other, with the tombs of Pope Gaius ( with an inscription ) and Pope Eusebius, who died in Sicily where he had been exiled by Maxentius and whose body was translated to Rome during the pontificate of Militiades ; on a marble copy of the end of the 4th century ( of which fragments may be seen on the opposite wall ) may be read of an inscription by Damasus on the schism provoked by Heraclius over the matter of the lapsi.

* For special feasts and on special occasions suitable lessons were chosen, thus breaking the continuous readings ; in the Middle Ages it was believed that St. Jerome ( died 420 ), in obedience to an order of Pope Damasus I, had arranged the lessons of the Roman Liturgy ; a spurious letter of his to the Emperor Constantius was quoted as the first comes, or list of lessons, for each day ; Victor, Bishop of Capua ( 541-554 ), may actually be the author

On arrival they received a letter from the synod of Milan, inviting them to a great general council at Rome ; they indicated that they must remain where they were, because they had not made any preparations for such long a journey ; however, they sent three — Syriacus, Eusebius, and Priscian — with a joint synodal letter to Pope Damasus, Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, and the other bishops assembled in the council at Rome.

There existed in Rome from the 4th century, at the foot of the Palatine Hill and above the Circus Maximus, a church which had been adorned by Pope Damasus ( 366-384 ) with a large mosaic.

The commentary itself was written during the papacy of Pope Damasus I, that is, between 366 and 384, and is considered an important document of the Latin text of Paul before the Vulgate of Jerome, and of the interpretation of Paul prior to Augustine of Hippo.

* Letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus

During the Middle Ages, Saint Jerome was considered the author of all the biographies up until those of Pope Damasus I ( 366 – 383 ), based on an apocryphal letter between Saint Jerome and Pope Damasus published as a preface to the Medieval manuscripts.

Church historians such as St. Jerome and Rufinus, championed Damasus.

Pope Damasus appointed St Jerome as his confidential secretary.

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 ..." If " east and west " do not betray the passage as an interpolation, Jerome spent three years ( 382 – 385 ) in Rome in close intercourse with Pope Damasus and the leading Christians.

It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations.

Pope Damasus I commissions a revision of the Vetus Latina, eventually resulting in the Vulgate of Jerome.

The Lindisfarne Gospels begins with a carpet page in the form of a cross and a major initial page, introducing the letter of St. Jerome and Pope Damasus I ( Backhouse 2004 ).

* 386: Saint Jerome moves to Jerusalem in order to commence work on the Vulgate, commissioned by Pope Damasus I and instrumental in the fixation of the Biblical canon in the West.

In addition, prefatory matter including prefaces to Paul's Epistles ( most of which are by Pelagius ), the Canon Tables of Eusebius, and the Letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus are included.

* St Jerome, Letter to Damasus

Church historians, such as Jerome and Rufinus, took the part of Damasus.

Summoned by Bishop Damasus ( who arranges lodging at Marcella's hospitality house ), Jerome arrived in 382.

In the 16th century, Onofrio Panvinio attributed the biographies after Damasus until Pope Nicholas I ( 858 – 867 ) to Anastasius Bibliothecarius ; Anastasius continued to be cited as the author into the 17th century, although this attribution was disputed by the scholarship of Caesar Baronius, Ciampini, Schelstrate and others.

Pope Damasus I placed an epitaph of eight hexameters over his tomb ; the epithet " martyr " contained in them is not to be

The remains asserted to be those of Sebastian are currently housed in Rome in the Basilica Apostolorum, built by Pope Damasus I in 367 on the site of the provisional tomb of St. Peter and Saint Paul.

The continuous use of Greek in the Roman Liturgy came to be replaced in part by Latin by the reign of Pope Saint Damasus I.

The text includes, in addition to the Gospels, the letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus ( known by its first two words Novum opus ), the prologue to Jerome's commentary on the Book of Matthew, the letter of Eusebius of Caesarea to Carpianus ( Ammonius quidam ) in which Eusebius explains the use of his Canon Tables, prologues to each of the Gospels, tables of capitula for each of the Gospels, tables for each of the Gospels indicating the festivals at which portions of that Gospel should be read, and the Eusebian Canon tables.

Thomas Shahan says that, according to Photius too, Pope Damasus approved the council, but he adds that, if any part of the council were approved by this pope, it could have been only its revision of the Nicene Creed, as was the case also when Gregory the Great recognized it as one of the four general councils, but only in its dogmatic utterances.

In order to put an end to the marked divergences in the western texts of that period, Damasus encouraged the highly respected scholar to revise the available 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.

* 382: The Council of Rome under Pope Damasus I sets the Canon of the Bible, listing the accepted books of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Likewise, Damasus ' commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible, c. 383, was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West.

Likewise, Damasus ' commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible, c. 383, was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West.

The Council of Rome in 382 under the authority of Pope Damasus I issued an identical canon, and his decision to commission the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible, c. 383, was instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West.

* Jerome's Letter to Pope Damasus: Preface to the Gospels

In addition to the text of the Gospels, the manuscript contains the letter of St. Jerome to Pope Damasus and of Eusebius of Caesarea to Carpian, along with the Eusebian canon tables.

The codex contains the Vulgate version of the four Gospels, the canon tables of Eusebius of Caesarea, the letter of St. Jerome to Pope Damasus ( Novum opus ), the prologue of St. Jerome to the Gospels ( Plures fuisse ), and prologues and chapter lists for each of the Gospels.