Damasus - Spain - 4th Century

Not least of Damasus’ distinctions was that he wrote his own funeral speech. ‘He who calms the waves, and gives life to dying seeds in the earth, and loosed Lazarus from the darkness of his chains, will make Damasus rise again from the dust ‘. Jesus stressed living life before death, as the best recipe for the Kingdom. Damasus certainly lived for the day and praised its blessings. A pagan by birth, his choice as Pope was violently contested. He lived under the shadow of an anti-Pope and his supporters. He encouraged St. Jerome to make the Scriptures available to all of us. He restored the catacombs to the memory of Christian martyrs, and shortened the Mass.