St damascus i biography of martin

Damasus I was the thirty-seventh bishop of Rome. He reigned from 366 until 384 A.D, during a period of swift, monumental change for the Christian Church.

In his lifetime, Damasus saw Christianity go from a viciously persecuted minority sect to the state religion of the Roman Empire.

Origins

Damasus was born sometime between the years 304 and 306, during the Great Persecution, perhaps in the diocese of Hispania, territory which fell under the jurisdiction of the Western, and junior, Augustus Maximian.

St damascus i biography of martin luther

The persecution in the west was not as fierce as that in the east, under Diocletian and Galerius, but there were nonetheless a significant number of martyrs. The persecution undoubtedly had a formative impact on the young Damasus.

Years later, when Damasus composed the epigram for the tomb of the martyrs Marcellinus and Peter, he recalled hearing the story of their execution from the man who carried it out. Around the same year that Damasus was born, Maximian abdic