Pope Saint Damasus I is the bishop of Rome from 366 to 384.
He was born around 305, probably near the city of Idanha-a-Velha (in Lusitania, Hispania), in what is present-day Portugal, then part of the Western Roman Empire.
His life coincides with the rise of Emperor Constantine I and the reunion and re-division of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, which is associated with the widespread legitimization of Christianity and the later adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman state.
Damasus is known to have been raised in the service of the Basilica of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls in Rome, and following the death of Pope Liberius, he succeeds to the papacy amid factional violence.
A group of Damasus' supporters, previously loyal to his opponent Felix, attack and kill rivals loyal to Liberius' deacon Ursinus in a riot that requires the intervention of Emperor Valentinian I to quell.
Damasus faces accusations of murder and adultery (despite having not been married) in his early years as pope.
The neutrality of these claims have come into question with some suggesting that the accusations were motivated by the schismatic conflict with the supporters of Arianism.
His personal problems were contrasted with his religious accomplishments, which included restoring Saint Lawrence outside the Walls, encouraging his personal secretary Saint Jerome in his Vulgate translation of the Bible, and presiding over the Council of Rome in 382, which set down the canon of Scripture.
He also did much to encourage the veneration of the Christian martyrs.
