St Damasus

Damasus grew up serving in the Church.  His father was a priest for the Church and Damasus spent many hours there with his father, helping in the Church however he could.  When he grew up he became a Deacon (the first step to becoming a priest) and, when Pope Liberius died, he was chosen to be the next Pope.  At this time in the Church there was a lot of fighting between Rulers in Rome and Rulers of the Church.  There ended up being two Popes: one in Rome (the true Pope following St. Peter) and one in Constantinople, as people fought to have control over the Church.  Pope Damasus fought hard to keep the Catholic Church following the teaching of Jesus.  He hired St. Jerome to translate the bible into Latin so that more people could read it.  He also had the language of Mass changed from Greek into Latin so that people could understand what was happening during Mass.  He wrote many short sayings that helped people learn more about God and get closer to Him.  One of the things he wrote were short explanations about the names of Jesus – “Son” because He is the only Son of God; “Shepherd” because he is a guardian; “Life” because he is the Creator; “Lion” because he is the King; “Rock” because He is firm.