Raised in a pious family; his father was a priest in Rome, Italy
and Damasus served for a time as deacon in his father‘s church,
Saint Laurence. Priest. Assistant to Pope Liberius. Chosen 37th
pope in a disputed election in which a minority chose the anti-
pope Ursinus. The two reigned simultaneously in Rome which
eventually led to violence between their supporters and false
accusations of Damasus having committed a crime. His pontificate
suffered from the rise of Arianism, and from several schisms
including break-away groups in Antioch, Constantinople,
Sardinia, and Rome. However, it was during Damasus’s reign that
Christianity was declared the religion of the Roman state. He
enforced the 370 edict of Emperor Valentinian controlling gifts
to prelates, and opposed Arianism and Apollinarianism. He
supported the 374 council of Rome which decreed the valid books
of the Bible, and the Grand Council of Constantinople in 381
which condemned Arianism. Economic patron of his secretary,
Saint Jerome, commissioning him