The Epigrams of Pope Damasus I

O Christ, powerful over all things, founder of the returning age,

Voice and understanding of the Most High God, whom the Father

Pours forth from his lofty mind, and to whom he gave partnership in so great a kingdom,

You tamed the impious sins of our life,

Having suffered to clothe the world in a bodily form,

And to speak openly to the peoples, and to confess yourself a man.

Whom, enclosed in the Word, when the divine will was made known to Mary,

The virgin's womb swelled, and the unwedded Mother

Marveled that her inmost parts were filled by a mysterious birth,

About to bear her own Author, mortal hearts

Concealed the Craftsman of heaven and world, within her innermost

Breast, by which he embraces the whole world far and wide.

And he who is not contained by the spaces of the earth, nor the waves of the sea,

Nor by heaven, gathered himself into small limbs,

Nay, you even underwent the name and bonds of punishment:

That you might snatch us from death, and put death to flight,

So that grace of the voice might offer to the Lord and save those it calls;

Let whoever thirsts come, desiring to drink of the streams;

He will find waters that preserve sweet honey.

May your Blessedness pray for us, most blessed Pope.

By your death, soon carried up into the ethereal air,

Restoring purified light to bring you joy, may you cherish

The August Parent, so that on feast days often

He may celebrate the yearly fasts of the sincere Sacred Rite.

God rises again to his own seat after his exiled death, that he may teach believers that life is to come;

the angel sang these words, which, both reporting, thus he will come, thus it is right to believe of Christ.

In such great matters the Threefold Union of the world

Raises up human understanding to praise gracefully:

Our sole salvation, and the highest power of the world

Comes to loose the knot of sin by its fruit;

The highest salvation has shone forth to all lands through the ages.

By equal right reigns the common founder of the age,

And with the Father he reigns, holy and sublime, in the citadel,

He sits in the starry kingdoms by his holy divine will.

Whence he sees sea and lands, all things, by a single nod,

He supplies human affairs, and grants gifts to things.

Hope, Life, Salvation, Reason, Wisdom, Light,

Judge, Door, Giant, King, Gem, Prophet, Priest,

Messiah, Sabaoth, Rabbi, Bridegroom, Mediator,

Rod, Column, Hand, Rock, Son, Emmanuel,

Vine, Shepherd, Sheep, Peace, Root, Vine-branch, Olive,

Fountain, Wall, Lamb, Calf, Lion, Propitiator,

Word, Man, Net, Stone, House, All things, Christ, Jesus.

Long before, Saul, following the precepts of the leaders,

Since he wished to prefer the laws of his fathers to the Lord,

Refused to praise the holy prophets of Christ,

Desired with constant slaughters to tear apart the people,

When, blind, he was tearing at the holy pacts of the Mother,

After darkness he deserved to know the true Light.

Being tested, he felt what the glory of Christ could do,

As he received in his ears the voice and light of the Lord,

He composed his ways, following the precepts of Christ.

After his name was changed, he was pleased to be called Paul—

A wondrous faith of things—suddenly across the ether of heaven

He deserved to know what the rewards of life could be;

Caught up, the martyr ascended into the inner chambers of Christ,

The third light of heaven held him in paradise as he went,

He enjoys converse with the Lord, and keeps secrets in reserve.

Bidden to preach the truths to the nations and peoples,

To penetrate the depths of the sea, and to see night and day alike,

For whom it is enough to have lived hidden, great as he is,

Stripes, chains, hunger, stones, and savage rage,

The filth of prison, rods, torments, chains,

Shipwreck, tears, the dire poisons of the serpent—

He did not fear to bear the stigmata of Christ in his body.

He taught believers how they might overcome death.

Worthy of the love of God, he lives through the ages as teacher.

In these verses I confess, briefly, most holy teacher,

Paul, that I, Damasus, wished to show your triumphs.

The glory of a consecrated name, and expressing Life by your name, this beautiful glory of the blessed Cross proclaims you.

Andrew, apostle of Christ, by this very word you are signified, marked with this name, likewise adorned in mystic sense.

You whom the Cross carries on high, whom the blessed Cross loves, for whom the bitter Cross prepares the joys of future light.

In you the mystery grew, renowned by the twin mark, while you conquer disgrace through the Cross, and lay open the blood of the Cross.

Now cherish us, the weak, and take up care for us, that through the victory of the Cross we may seek the fatherland of heaven.

You should know that the saints dwelt here before,

Whoever you are that seek the names of Peter and Paul alike.

The East sent forth its disciples, which we willingly confess,

For the merit of blood, and following Christ through the stars,

They sought the ethereal bosoms and the kingdoms of the pious.

Rome rather deserved to defend her own citizens.

Let Damasus proclaim these new stars as your praises.

At the time when the sword cut through the pious inward parts of the Mother,

I, placed here as Rector, was teaching the heavenly commands;

But suddenly they came, who by chance seized the teacher:

Soldiers being sent, the people then gave up their necks.

Soon when the Elder learned who wished to take away

The palm, he offered himself and his own head first,

Impatient that fierceness might harm anyone else:

He showed Christ, who restores the rewards of life,

He himself guards the merit of the Shepherd, and the number of the flock.

A truthful ruler, because he foretold to the wretched that the lapsed must weep for their sins,

He was a bitter enemy to all. Hence fury, hence hatred follows, discord, strife,

Sedition, slaughter, the bonds of peace are dissolved:

Because of another's crime, who denied Christ in peace,

He was driven from the borders of his fatherland by the savagery of the tyrant.

Heraclius forbade the lapsed to grieve for their sins, Eusebius taught the wretched to weep for their crimes.

The crowd is split into factions as fury grows.

Sedition, slaughter, war, discord, strife:

alike driven out by the savagery of the tyrant as an example, while the Rector kept whole the bonds of peace, he endured exile entirely, joyful under the judge, and on the Trinacrian shore he left the world and life.

Such was the life of Marcus, which we all know.

That by the mouth of God he might learn to despise the world,

All the people prayed that they might learn this—

The great honor of a life held in contempt;

Virtue held the inner chambers of his heart,

O perfect guardian and friend of Christ.

And when Damasus renders honor to his tomb,

Here is Marcus, one with Marcus in life, faith, name,

And merits.

Blows, executioners, flames, torments, chains—

Faith alone was able to overcome these, O Laurence.

Damasus heaps these altars, a suppliant, with gifts,

Beholding the martyr's outstanding merit.

Felix in body, mind, and soul, and likewise Felix by name,

Consecrated in the number of the saints by Christ's triumphs,

Who grant everything to those who come to you with care,

And suffer no wayfarer to turn back sorrowful,

Since by your guidance I was preserved when I broke the bonds of death,

With these verses, Damasus, a suppliant, renders his vows to you.

The vow of St. Damasus.

Whoever you are who read this, venerate the tomb of the saints,

Antiquity could not keep their names or their number.

Damasus adorned the tomb—know this, O Ruler—

For the clergy's return, triumphing by Christ's grace,

The priest renders his vows to the holy martyrs.

Eutychius the martyr, that he was able to overcome the cruel commands of the tyrant and likewise a thousand ways of the executioners for doing harm, the glory of Christ showed.

After the filth of prison a new punishment follows;

over his limbs they prepare fragments of potsherds, that sleep might not come to him;

twice six days passed, food is denied him, he is thrown into the pit.

Holy blood washes away all the wounds which the dread power of death had inflicted;

in the sleep-bringing night dreams disturb the mind.

A hiding place shows what limbs of the innocent one it held;

he is sought, his youth is honored, cherished, all things are supplied.

Damasus expressed his merit—venerate his tomb.

Whoever you are that read this, know the equal merit of the two, whom Damasus the Ruler after their rewards restores their titles.

The Jewish people had struck down Stephen, who admonished them to better things, with stones—he who had carried off a trophy from the enemy.

The faithful deacon was the first to seize martyrdom.

When a hand, unhealthily raving, sought to make common to the profane Tarsicius the holy one, bearing the sacraments of Christ, he himself, struck down, chose rather to give up his soul, than to hand over the heavenly members to rabid dogs.

This tomb, beneath the great summit of the mountain, holds Gorgonius, who guards the altars of Christ.

Whoever comes here, let him seek the thresholds of the saints,

He will find that the blessed dwell in a neighboring seat,

Whom equally their devotion bore to heaven as they went.

By blood he changed his homeland, his life, and his race;

his origin among the Saints made him a Roman citizen.

A wondrous faith of the matter was afterward taught by his mighty death.

When Gratianus tore his pious limbs, raging like an enemy,

after he had vomited forth the poisons he had conceived from bile,

he could not compel you, O saint, to deny Christ;

he himself, through your prayers, deserved to depart confessing.

This is the voice of suppliant Damasus: venerate this tomb,

it is permitted to pay vows and pour out chaste prayers,

for here is the tomb of the holy martyr Saturninus.

This tomb holds the pious limbs of the martyr Maurus, whom Damasus, ruler of the people, long afterward, as a suppliant, adorned with finer honor, gracing the innocent boy,

for whom, though cast down, there was no penalty.

Long ago, as report tells, Greece sent you.

By blood you changed your homeland, and love made you both citizen and brother, having suffered for the holy name of the law. Now a dweller here, you who guard the altars of Christ,

grant, I pray, illustrious martyr, that you may favor the prayers of Damasus.

Marcellinus, and equally you, Peter, know your triumphs. The executioner reported to Damasus, when I was a boy,

that these were the orders he had given to the raging headsman:

that he should cut your necks then in the midst of thorns,

so that no one could recognize your tomb;

that you yourselves, eager, cleansed the graves with your own hands,

after you had lain hidden in a small white cave,

that afterward Lucilla, admonished by your devotion,

found it more pleasing to bury your most holy remains here.

On the holy martyrs Felix and Adauctus.

O Felix, truly named so, once and again,

who, with unshaken faith, scorning the Prince of this world,

confessing Christ, sought the heavenly kingdom.

O truly precious faith! Know, brothers,

that Adauctus likewise hastened as victor to heaven with him,

a true presbyter, at the bidding of Damasus the ruler,

built this tomb, adoring the thresholds of the Saints.

On the holy martyrs Nereus and Achilleus.

They had given their name to military service,

and bore alike a noble office, watching for the commands of the tyrant, ready to serve his orders, driven by fear.

A wondrous faith of the matter! Suddenly they laid aside their fury,

converted, they flee, they abandon the impious camp of their leader;

they cast away their shields, their trappings, and their bloody weapons;

confessing, they rejoice to bear the triumphs of Christ.

Believe, through Damasus, what the glory of Christ can do.

On the holy martyrs Protus and Hyacinthus.

The tomb lay hidden at the far edge of the mound of the Mount;

this Damasus reveals, since it preserves the remains of the pious.

You, Protus, the better realm of heaven keeps for itself.

In purple blood you follow, Hyacinthus, proven.

Brothers of the same blood, both of great courage:

this one deserved the palm as victor, that one the crown as the first.

On the same.

Behold the descent, you will see a wondrous deed done,

you see the monuments of the saints laid open from their tombs: here lies the tomb of the martyr Protus and of Hyacinthus,

whom, though the mountain, the earth, and darkness had long covered,

Theodorus the presbyter, being urgent, built this work,

so that greater works might hold the people of the Lord.

Here, with equal vows, one tomb keeps two names,

Chrysanthus and Daria—now a venerable honor.

Savage fury, disregarding the right of the tomb, made the graves of the saints the prey of its raging.

Out of poor means these now rise the better, yet by richer devotion to please God the more.

Mourn your wickedness, savage race;

the ragings have perished;

through your losses glory has grown in these temples.

Report tells that her holy parents long ago related that Agnes, when the trumpet had sounded its mournful strains,

suddenly left her nurse's lap;

that of her own will she trampled the threats of the savage and the fury of the tyrant:

when he wished to burn her noble body with flames,

with slight strength she overcame immense fear,

and gave her unbound hair and limbs,

lest her face, doomed to perish, should see the temple of the Lord.

O revered one to me, holy glory of nurturing chastity,

grant, I pray, illustrious Virgin, that you may favor the prayers of Damasus.

Behold, the day of Agatha the martyr,

of the exceptional virgin, shines forth,

on which Christ joins her to himself,

and adorns her with a twofold crown.

Comely in lineage, elegant in form,

but more so in deeds and in faith,

counting earthly prosperity as nothing,

binding the commands of God to her heart.

Stronger than fierce men,

she exposed her limbs to the lashes,

as her breast, once strong, showed,

when her twisted breast lay bare.

Prison was a delight to her;

Peter the shepherd restores this sheep.

More joyful and more ardent thereafter

she ran through all the lashes, exulting.

The pagan crowd, fleeing the pyre,

itself also deserves her aid;

those whom the title of Faith adorns,

let her herself the more subdue their lust.

Now shining like a bride in heaven,

pray for wretched Damasus.

So may she cause her feast to be honored,

that she may favor those who celebrate her.

Epitaph of his sister Irene.

In this tomb, consecrated to God, limbs now rest.

Here is the sister of Damasus, if you ask her name, Irene;

she had vowed herself to Christ, while life remained,

that her holy chastity itself might approve the merit of a virgin.

Her age had not yet completed twice ten winters,

yet her age had already outstripped it in the excellent manners of her life.

The venerable devotion of the girl's purpose

had given magnificent fruits in her better years.

You, sister, now witness of our love,

when she fled the world, gave me an honorable pledge,

whom, while the better kingdom of heaven then snatched her for itself,

I did not fear her death, since she went free to the heavens,

but I grieved, I confess, to lose the fellowship of her life.

Now, at God's coming, remember us, O virgin,

that your torch may afford me light through the Lord.

Epitaph of Projecta.

What shall I say, or shall I be silent—grief itself forbids confession.

This tomb holds tears: know the parent

of Projecta, who had first been joined to a husband,

lovely in her beauty, content with chastity alone;

alas, beloved enough by the love of her wretched mother,

learn what, after many bonds of her first marriage,

she departed, taken from the eyes of her father Florus,

desiring to ascend to the ethereal light of heaven.

Damasus offers these consolations for all these tears.

She lived. YEARS 16, MONTHS 10, DAYS 25. Buried the third day before the kalends of january, In the consulship of fl. Merobaudes and fl. SATURNINUS.

Here lies gathered, if you ask, a throng of the Pious,

venerable tombs hold the bodies of the saints,

the kingdom of heaven has snatched their exalted souls to itself.

Here the companions of Xystus, who bore trophies from the enemy;

here the number of elders who guard the altars of Christ;

here a priest lived long in peace, and was laid to rest;

here the holy confessors, whom Greece sent;

here youths, and boys, old men, and chaste grandsons,

who preferred more to keep their virginal purity.

Here, I confess, Damasus wished to lay his own remains,

but feared to disturb the holy ashes of the pious.

He who, walking, calmed the bitter waves of the sea,

who grants that dying seeds of the earth may live,

who was able to loose Lazarus from his bonds, after the darkness

of death, and after the third light of the sun gave back the brother

again to the heavens, to Mary his sister,

after ashes will make Damasus rise again—this I believe.

From here Father, exceptor, lector, deacon, priest—

from here I had grown by merits, since by better deeds:

from here, being advanced, Christ, whose is the highest power,

willed to grant me the honor of the apostolic See.

I confess I wished to build new roofs upon the arches,

and further to add columns on the right and left,

which should keep the very name of Damasus through the ages.

Waters were girding the hill, and with their gentle flow

were soaking the bodies of many, their ashes and bones.

Damasus could not bear this—that those buried under the common law

should, after their rest, pay sad penalties again.

At once, setting out to overcome a great labor,

he cast down the summits of the immense mound of the hill.

Searching carefully the inner depths of the earth

he dried up wherever the moisture had soaked,

he found the spring, which offers gifts of salvation.

This the faithful deacon Mercurius carried out.

Not by human resources, not by skilled art,

but with Peter's aid, to whom the gate of heaven was entrusted,

did Damasus, bishop of Christ, build this.

One is Peter's See, one and true the washing,

no bonds hold it; Achatius fulfills his vow.

A race to be consecrated for heaven is born here of a nurturing seed,

which the Spirit brings forth from fertilized waters.

Plunge in, O sinner, to be cleansed by this holy stream;

it will receive you old, and the wave will bring you forth new.

There is no distinction among those reborn, whom one

font makes one, one spirit, one faith.

By a virgin birth Mother Church bears children

whom she conceives by the breathing of God, and brings forth in the stream.

Wishing to be innocent, be cleansed in this washing,

whether you are burdened by the sin of your father, or your own.

This spring is life, and it that has washed the whole world,

taking its beginning from the wound of Christ.

Hope for the kingdom of heaven, you who are reborn by this font;

happy life does not admit those born but once.

Let neither the number of one's sins, nor their shape,

terrify anyone; he who is born of this stream will be holy.

An eight-sided holy temple has arisen for use;

The eightfold font is worthy of that gift.

It was fitting that the hall of sacred baptism should rise

in this number, by which true salvation returned to the peoples

through the light of Christ rising again, who loosens the bars of death,

and raises the lifeless from the tombs.

And absolving the confessed guilty of their stained sin,

he washes them in the flowing water of the pure font.

Here, whoever wishes to lay aside the sins of a shameful life,

let them wash their hearts; let them bear clean breasts.

Let them come here eagerly; however dark one dares

to approach, he will depart whiter than snow.

Here the saints shall bring forth—none is without these waters;

holy in these is the kingdom and counsel of God,

the glory of justice, for what is more divine than this?

That in one small moment the guilt of the people should fall away.

Bishop Damasus adorned the roofs with the honor of painting,

to which now beautiful metals give ornament.

The hall, richer in shining splendor, bears witness

to what effects faith can produce in things.

By the merits of Pope Hilarius, the devoted mind of Severus

and also of Cassia once gave these things to God.

All the things which you see, sought by my own labor,

when a pagan life had long remained mine,

I established, desiring to know the culture of the world.

After much judgment, following the better things of God,

having despised riches, I preferred to know Christ:

this was my care, to clothe those who sought clothing when naked,

to pour out to the poor whatever the year had granted;

and to sing psalms among the peoples, matching the Prophet's vow with melody:

thus as a priest I deserved to keep the people of Christ.

At the time when the sword cut the pious inward parts of the mother,

sixty-two, seized by the ferocity of the Tyrant,

straightway, when the leaders were sent, gave up their necks,

confessing Christ, having overcome the Prince of the world,

they sought the heavenly home, and the kingdom of the pious.

Learn what merit it is to be struck on behalf of the king;

a woman did not fear the sword, when her son perished;

confessing Christ she earned a name through the ages.

Restrain your tears, grief; you ask, holy people, for the Levite

suddenly taken away, whom the royal palace of heaven snatched to itself.

He was bringing forth sweet honey with nectar-like song,

celebrating the aged Prophet with sacred melody;

this was the praised life of his innocent youth:

unhappy envy at last, suppressed, is at rest;

now Paradise holds him, who took trophies from the enemy.

Following an ample life while chaste, Aphrodite

made her way to the stars, and now rejoices in Christ's hall:

she always resisted the world, seeking heavenly things,

the best keeper of the law, and teacher of the faith; she gave an excellent mind to the saints through the ages,

she reigns among the choice fragrances of paradise,

where every kind of grass blooms in continuous season:

and she awaits God, by whom she may rise to the upper airs.

This body she laid in the tomb, leaving mortal things behind,

and her husband Eva[lacuna] A. N. S. founded the place.

Buried on the day [lacuna]

In the consulship of Antonius and Suagrius.

Here there are many sacred things, here many worldly things;

of these, if any please, take up the verses, read.

You see meadows full of thorns, and an abundance of flowers;

if you wish to take the thorns, take also the roses.

Here shine the venerable volumes of the twofold law,

here the new is stored together with the old.

Saul was once his name, rightly held,

for as one worn out he pressed down the true teachings.

Who at last, thoroughly transformed by the true light,

deserved, as Paul, to be worthy of that name?

Deprived of the light of mind, he was forbidding sacred things;

when he regained sight, he abandoned all wickedness.

He hands down to the nations the true precepts of the Master,

and calls together all with honey-flowing teaching,

he unlocks blessed mysteries for closed hearts,

which at last, full of lightning, he prepares out of darkness.

Like the sun he shines, scattering his rays through the world,

and gleams more brightly than in all eloquence.

Caught up, he seeks the high things of heaven, following words

which it is scarcely permitted to relate with human mouth.

He is overwhelmed, sunk beneath the waves for the name of Christ,

he, innocent, is struck with manifold lashes.

These things he suffers, bearing the stigmata of Christ in his flesh,

victorious, and he ascends to the bright heights of heaven.

If you who read should inquire what was bidden to be,

look to what remains, which things may be of use.

But worshiping you with reverence, through incense he will cling in the hall

where the foul devil can never be.

He was wholly driven from the highest firm summit;

we are chosen as companions, freely, with honor.

The Easter of the wool-bearing flock blooms without threshold of care;

behold, I doubt that rest will be full there.

Lofty rumor will there be when we walk in the kingdom;

terror will be for the fallen, as the good man seeks the heights.

Who will be able to unfold the promised rewards of the heavens?

Hail, dear Father, receive what you also ask.

The suffering of the Redeemer was this path full of grief:

spittings, scourges, the outer places, the cross, the sponge of fury.

The onset of horror, and the savor of myrrh,

the terror of thorns, gall, nails, pallor, and the outcry

of grief, the water of sorrow, the lance, the drop of blood:

the holy signs of love break the heart of the sinner.