1468-0254.00070

Scinditur in partes populus:Pope Damasus and the Martyrs of Rome

Marianne Saghy

Pope Damasus (366384) was the impresario of the late antique cult ofthe martyrs at Rome. Damasus celebrated the martyrs with epigramswritten in Virgilian hexameters which he had engraved in exquisitelettering on their tombs. This article investigates the specically Romancontext of these activities as a means of shedding new light on Damasus'purposes. The enhancement of the cult of the Roman martyrs was morethan a stage in the process of christianisation, creating Christian but stilldistinctively Roman holy patrons for the urbs. It was also directed againstrival Christian traditions, including Nicene splinter groups such as theUrsinians and Luciferians who contested Damasus' election. The epi-grams allowed Damasus to inscribe very specic and carefully shapedmeanings on strategic and often contested sites within the Christiantopography of Rome. By placing the Damasan epigrams in the context ofa bloody ecclesiastical factionalism in Rome, this paper argues that thesevery public celebrations of the martyrs were used to promote concord andconsensus within the Catholic community in Rome.

Following his contested election, Pope Damasus (366384) initiated abold new enhancement of martyr cult in Rome by executing a complexartistic program in the city's catacombs. According to the LiberPonticalis, he `found (invenit) numerous saints' bodies that he gloriedin verse.'1 This inventio, however, was by no means a passive or hap-hazard enterprise. By placing Virgilian epigrams on large marble blocksin a number of martyr shrines, engraved in exquisite lettering by themaster artist Furius Dionysius Filocalus, Damasus contributed his ownnovel theology of martyrdom to the Catholic spirituality of the fourthcentury,2 and discovered a medium of divine afrmation for hisuncertain position as bishop.

1 Liber ponticalis, ed. L. Duchesne (Paris, 1886), pp. 21213: `multa corpora sanctorum requisivitet invenit quorum etiam versibus declaravit.'

2 Ch. Pietri, Roma christiana. Recherches sur l'Eglise de Rome, son organisation, sa politique et sonideologie de Miltiade a Sixte III (311440), (Rome, 1976).

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Throughout his ponticate, Damasus was preoccupied with problemsstemming from the Arian heresy and with the struggle against schis-matics,3 and it will come as no surprise that Damasus' management of thecult of the martyrs was connected with his polemic against rival Catholicfactions. On the basis of two sets of sources the epigrams that the popehad engraved on the tombs of the martyrs, and the pamphlets writtenagainst Damasus by his opponents I attempt to reinterpret a number ofDamasian carmina in the context of the power struggles among NiceneChristian factions in late fourth-century Rome. Taken under papal con-trol, the cult of the martyrs could compete with the cult practices of schis-matic Christians and eclipse the untidy rites of Catholic splinter groups.

Damasus' intervention in this uid and formative period of publicChristianity was certainly strategic and selective. Recent research onDamasus has suggested that his inscriptions were the rst `ofcial' signsthat the church placed in and around the huge imperial martyria builtunder Constantine; that from among the many heroes of the faithburied in Rome they commemorate almost exclusively a select society ofclerics, and that they convey a clear message of concordia directed at theCatholic community.4 Following on these studies, the present essay willattempt to articulate how Damasus used his epigraphic poetry to offeran ideologically charged reading of the recent Christian past and toclaim control of martyr cult for the papacy while undermining thecounter-claims of his rivals.

The Memory of the Martyrs

Defunctorum delium animae quae beatitudine gaudent nobis opitulentur.

By the 360s, the cult of the martyrs had a splendid if short history atRome. The Roman Church's veneration for its saints had started sometime in the third century, when the custom was imported to Rome fromAfrica.5 Although the community remembered its founders, Peter and

3 Damasus, Ep. I; Theodoret, Historia Ecclesiastica V, 10; Jerome, Ep. XV, XVI; Siricius, Ep. I.4 J. Guyon, `Damase et l'illustration des martyrs', in M. Lamberigts and P. Van Deun, eds.,

Martyrium in Multidisciplinary Perspective. Memorial Louis Reekmans (Leuven, 1995), pp. 15779; H. O. Maier, `The Topography of Heresy and Dissent in Late Fourth-Century Rome',Historia 44 (1995), pp. 23249; P.-A. Fevrier, `Un plaidoyer pour Damase: les inscriptions desnecroples romaines', in M. Christol, S. Demougin, Y. Duval, C. Lepelley, and L. Pietri, eds.,Institutions, societe et vie politique dans l'empire romain au IVe siecle ap. J. C. (Rome, 1992),pp. 497506.

5 Cf. H. Delehaye, Les origines du culte des martyrs (Bruxelles, 1933), pp. 2623; A. Grabar,Martyrium. Recherches sur le culte des reliques et l'art chretien antique, 2 vols (Paris, 1946);V. Saxer, Vie liturgique et quotidienne a Carthage vers le milieu du IIIe siecle, Studi di antichitacristiana 29 (Vatican, 1969); idem, Morts, martyrs et reliques en Afrique chretienne aux premierssiecles (Paris, 1980); Y. Duval, Loca sanctorum Africae. Le culte des martyrs en Afrique du IVe auVIIe siecle, 2 vols. (Rome, 1982). The Coptic calendar begins with the `Period of the Martyrs'in 284, cf. C. Cannuyer, Les Coptes (Turnhout, 1996).

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Paul, before the third century, these reminiscences were remarkablyvague.6

Public commemoration of the Christian martyrs began after theConstantinian turn in 312. The Emperor Constantine (305337)honoured the martyrs of Rome in particular the holy apostles Peterand Paul, but also Saint Lawrence by commissioning the constructionof luxurious shrines at the sites where they had been buried. Constantinedid not build on a living and vigorous tradition of celebrating themartyrs: rather, it was his great imperial `judgement halls of God', withtheir glittering gold reecting the strong bond between imperial andsupernatural power, which triggered an interest in the martyrs, andcreated, at the same time, a convenient spot for glorifying them.7 Butthe martyrs' mid-century revival was not celebrated exclusively in new,Christian construction in the Urbs. Outside the city limits the cata-combs, ancient remnants of the once underground Christian movement,also became popular places of meditation and prayer.8 Ambrose, Jerome,Augustine and Prudentius register Roman activity at the tombs of themartyrs at or shortly after the time of Damasus.9

There was, moreover, a close connection between the new attentionto the martyrs of old and the rise and spread of the ascetic movement inthe West from the 350s onwards. Having renounced the saeculum anddivested themselves of their earthly possessions, the ascetics monks,virgins, and bishops felt a deep spiritual empathy with the martyrs:they sought the same freedom from worldly temptations in order tobe possessed only by Christ. The ascetic `revolution' also seems to havehad political overtones in the West in that it was interpreted as areaction to the imperial church policy of Emperor Constantius II(337361).10 In the difcult times of the Arian conict Damasus waselected pope a less than decade after the Arian crisis had ended in Rome

6 H. Chadwick, `St. Peter and St. Paul in Rome: The Problem of the `` Memoria Apostolorum adCatacumbas''', Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 8 (1957), pp. 3951; A. G. Martimort, `Vingt-cinq ans de travaux et de recherches sur la mort de saint Pierre et de sa sepulture', Bulletin delitterature ecclesiastique 3 (1972), pp. 8998; M. Guarducci, Pietro in Vaticano (Roma, 1983).

7 Jean Guyon, Le cimitiere aux deux lauriers. Recherches sur les catacombes romaines (Rome, 1987),p. 325: ce n'est pas pour les martyrs qu'aurait ete creee la basilique, mais bien la basilique quiaurait cree les martyrs.

8 Jerome, C. Vigil. 8, 12; Ep. 107, 1.9 Ambrose: Hymn X: `tantae per urbis ambitum/stipata tendunt agmina/trinis celebratur viis/

festum sacrorum martyrum'. Jerome: as preceding note. Augustine: Conf. VI. II. 2. Prudentius:Peristephanon. On pilgrimage to Rome, see G. Bardy, `Pelerinages a Rome vers la n du IVesiecle', Analecta Bollandiana 67 (1949), pp. 22435. Sermons on the apostles are also post-Damasian: see, for example, Augustine, Hom. 295, 296, 279, 280; Petrus Chrysologus, Hom.107; Leo the Great, Hom. 80.

10 R. Lizzi, `Ascetismo e monachesimo nell'Italia tardoantica', Codex Aquilarensis 5 (1991),pp. 5376.

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the renunciation of the world could be presented as a proper Christianattitude. The `honourable retreat' (otium honorabile) was a safe decisioncompared to the engagement of the Arian and Nicene bishops.11

Damasus in the catacombs

Haud procul extremo culta ad pomeria vallo mersalatebrosis crypta patet foveis.

Damasus belonged to the generation that had personally witnessed theConstantinian transformation of Rome. He had heard poignant storiesof the martyrs' suffering12 and had seen grand basilicas rising on theground where they had been buried. When, following his election, heundertook work in the catacombs surrounding the city, he not onlywanted to honour the martyrs of Rome, but also expected to impressRoman Christians. As Charles Pietri put it in a seminal article,`Damasus' interest in the martyrs was not solely that of a pious archae-ologist.'13 Rome's murky underworld was full of hitherto unexploitedpossibilities.

The intervention of Damasus in the Roman necropolis took placein three clearly distinguishable phases: rst, architectural renovation;second, artistic embellishment of the tombs; and third, poetic com-memoration of the martyr. After having a particular site cleared, thepope caused it to be decorated with architectural elements14 and put averse inscription on the tomb. The architectural and/or artistic decor-ation of the locus sanctus was optional; the only stable element of theprogram was his own verse.

There were two intensely personal features in this process: the choiceof the martyr and the presentation of his or her story. Althoughknowledge about the martyrs was informed by the collective memory ofthe Roman church, Damasus was free to pick whom he pleased from themany thousand dead, and to tell his own version of what happened tothe martyr. The pope knew the list of martyrs (depositio martyrum) and

11 Cf. Y.-M. Duval, L'extirpation de l'arianisme en Italie du Nord et en Occident (Vermont, 1998).12 Epigrammata damasiana, ed. A. Ferrua (Vatican, 1942), no. 28, p. 161: `Marcelline tuum pariter

Petriq. sepulcrum/ percussor retulit Damaso mihi cum puer essem.'13 `Concordia apostolorum et renovatio urbis. Culte des martyrs et propagande pontificale', in

Melanges d'archeologie et d'histoire de l'Ecole Francaise de Rome (Paris, 1961), pp. 275322 atp. 309: `l'interet de Damase pour les martyrs n'etait pas seulement d'une pieuse archeologie.'

14 Ph. Pergola, `Nereus et Achilleus martyres: l'intervention de Damase a Domitille', in SaeculariaDamasiana (Vatican, 1986), pp. 20324; J. Guyon, `L'oeuvre de Damase dans le cimetiere `auxdeux lauriers' sur la Via Labicana', ibid., pp. 22558; L. Reekmans, `L'oeuvre du pape Damasedans le complexe de Gaius a la catacombe de S. Callixte', ibid, pp. 259321.

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bishops (depositio episcoporum) preserved for us by the Codex-Calendarof 354, a luxurious book decorated by the same Furius DionysiusFilocalus whom he commissioned to engrave his epigrams on marble.The artist declared himself Damasi papae cultor atque amator.15 Themartyrs cultivated by Damasus evidently overlap to some extent withthe martyrs' register of 354;16 but this dry list of names completed withoccasional brief historical notes17 were the dry bones onto which thepope pinned the flesh and blood story of the martyrs. Damasus'epigrams therefore are his personal contribution to the cult.

Jerome praised Damasus' literary skills: elegans in versibus componendisingenium habuit.18 Appreciating the complexity of the Damasian corpus,modern literary criticism has revised the earlier negative evaluation ofDamasus, the poet19 and found a place for his verse within the frame-work of late antique aesthetics.20 Damasus' output cannot be measuredby the standards of Vergil and Horace. A poet lacking substantial poeticinvention, Damasus should rather be seen as the inventor of Christianpublic poetry, the creator of a new genre which drew on Virgilianthemes to marry classical poetic language with Christian content. It wasa genre that soon found followers in the martyrological poetry ofPaulinus of Nola and Prudentius of Saragossa.21 Similarly, the twentieth-century editor of the epigrammata, Antonio Ferrua distinguishedbetween fty-nine authentic, Damasian poems and eighteen `pseudo-damasiana'.22 These late antique and early medieval copies of theDamasan verse attest the popularity of the new style.

It is through this new medium of the Christian epigram thatDamasus chose to broadcast a call for unity under his leadership.23 Thepope's literary strategy served to emphasize the peaceful coexistence ofold and new, classical and Christian, as well as to highlight the ideal ofpeace in a city torn apart by violent tensions. In contrast to his rhetoric

15 Epigr. 18, ed. Ferrua, p. 131.16 V. Saxer, `Damase et le calendrier des fetes des martyrs de l'Eglise romaine', in Saecularia

damasiana, pp. 5988.17 M. Salzman, On Roman Time: the Codex Calendar of 354 (Berkeley, 1989), p. 48.18 De vir. inl., 103.19 E.g. `Minime vero poetae nomen meruit, quod clamat carminum indoles': M. Ihm,

Epigrammata damasiana (Leipzig, 1895) p. VIII. `Damasum vere poetam fuisse nemo contendetqui eius carmina legerit': A. Ferrua, Epigrammata damasiana, (Vatican, 1942), p. 12.

20 J. Fontaine, `Damase poete theodosien: l'imaginaire poetique des Epigrammata', in Saeculariadamasiana, pp. 11345.

21 D. Trout, Paulinus of Nola. Life, Letters, and Poems, (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 1999);C. Conybeare, Paulinus noster. Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola (New York,2000); A. M. Palmer, Prudentius and the Martyrs (Oxford, 1989); M. Roberts, Poetry and theCult of the Martyrs (Ann Arbor, 1998).

22 Epigrammata damasiana, ed. A. Ferrua (Vatican, 1942).23 J. Fontaine, `Damase poete theodosien', p. 131: `Damase invente de nouveaux media,

susceptibles de reconstituer autour du culte des martyrs romains l'unanimite d'une eglise quiemerge des grandes divisions de la crise arienne.'



in doctrinal matters, when he fully exploited the antitheses betweenpagan and Christian culture,24 the epigrams, as Charles Pietri hasunderlined, were intended to publicize the concordia apostolorum, the`peace of the apostles' in Rome:25

This place, you should know, was once the abode of saints;Their names, you may learn, were Peter and likewise Paul.The East sent hither these disciples, as gladly we confess.For Christ's sake and the merit of their blood they followed himamong the starsAnd sought the realms of heaven and the kingdoms of the righteous.Rome was worthy to retain them as her citizens.May Damasus offer them these verses, new stars, in their praise!26

The heroes of the Damasian epigrams are clergymen: apostles, popes,deacons.27 The most important gure among them is the `peacemakerbishop', such as Marcellus, Eusebius, Hippolytus. The pope had apenchant for `twin martyrs'28 and for groups of saints.29 This accordswell with Peter Brown's view of the cult of the saints as a `pacier',possessed of the power to recreate consensus and concordia amongwarring Christian factions.30 The undistinguishable mass of dead bodiesexpressed not only the grim equality of Christians in death, but also theprofound unity of the members of the Church. The martyrs, whoanked Christ in a solemn and harmonious procession in Paradise,formed a wall of unshakeable unity.

As guarantor of this unity, Damasus drew where he could on themartyr's association with imperial power. Jean Guyon has noted thatDamasus was anxious to place the stamp of the Roman church on

24 In a letter written to the Council of Constantinople in 381 against the episcopal election of theCynic philosopher Maximus, Damasus aked `What harmony is there between the temple ofGod and idols? What part has Christ in Belial?' Damasus, Ep. V, in PL 13, cols. 36569, tr.J. T. Shotwell-L. R. Loomis, The See of Peter (New York, 1965), pp. 6778.

25 Pietri, `Concordia apostolorum et renovatio urbis'.26 Epigr. 20 (in the Platonia or tomb chamber of the Basilica Apostolorum on the Via Appia), ed.

Ferrua, p. 142, tr. Shotwell and Loomis, See of St Peter, p. 446.27 There are inscriptions dedicated to the memory of his mother (Epigr. 10) and his sister

(Epigr. 11); Damasus also composed the text of his own epitaph (Epigr. 12); one epigram com-memorates the daughter of a friend (Epigr. 51).

28 Faustinus and Viatricus (Epigr. 6); Felix and Adauctus (Epigr. 7); Nereus and Achilleus (Epigr. 8);Felicissimus and Agapitus (Epigr. 25); Marcellinus and Petrus (Epigr. 28, 29); Felix and Philip(Epigr. 39); Chrysantus and Daria (Epigr. 45); Protus and Hyacinthus (Epigr. 47).

29 Epigrams to Vitalis, Martialis and Alexander (Epigr. 41); to the martyrs buried in Agro Verano(Epigr. 34); in the cemetery of Thraso (Epigr. 42); and to sixty-two martyrs buried on the ViaSalaria Nova (Epigr. 43).

30 P. R. L. Brown, The Cult of the Saints. Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago,1981), pp. 93105.

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imperial constructions.31 Many epigrams were placed in Constantinianfoundations, basilicae and mausolea: in St. Peter's on the Vatican Hill;in St. Agnes' on the Via Nomentana; in St. Lawrence's on the ViaTiburtina; in the coemeterium on the Via Labicana. Damasus could notcompete either with the splendour of the imperial foundations or withthe aristocratic generosity of a Pammachius or of the Probi who lavishedwealth on St. Peter's in the Vatican. It is therefore likely that thecatacombs became the chosen ground of papal `propaganda' not onlybecause of the profound spiritual content inherent in martyrdom, butalso because the erection of marble tombstones was a less expensiveenterprise than the construction of churches. Yet, within the frameworkof a boldly orchestrated cult of the saints that included publicprocessions to their tombs on their feast days, the revamping of thecatacombs offered as much opportunity to impress as any basilica.

The Damasan epigrams also served the important function ofdistinguishing orthodox Catholic martyrs from the heroes venerated byschismatic Christians. By putting his own party label onto the holygraves, Damasus transferred his battle against his opponents theUrsinians, the Novatianists and the Luciferians to the Romannecropolis where he led his campaign against Catholic splinter groupswith the help of the Roman martyrs.

The control of the shrine

After the death of Pope Liberius on 24 September 366, a savage strugglebroke out for the bishopric of Rome. Two deacons of the dead Popewere elected bishops: Damasus and Ursinus. The Ursinians held thatDamasus had betrayed the (orthodox) cause of Liberius when the latterwas exiled by the Arian Emperor Constantius II in 355,32 but as opposedto the Eastern bishops, still deeply divided by the Arian teaching,Ursinus and Damasus did not ght over doctrinal issues: they bothconfessed the Nicene creed. Since what was at stake was schism ratherthan heresy, it seems reasonable that the victor of the contest would haveto present himself as an impresario of Christian unity.

The combat against the `antipope' Ursinus and his party is knownin all its grim details. Damasus' strong-arm methods, his hiring ofcharioteers and grave-diggers against his opponents, the massacre of theUrsinians in the basilica Iulii were recorded by the pro-Ursinian GestaLiberii, the Christian ascetic Jerome, and the pagan historian Ammianus

31 Guyon, La cimetiere des deux lauriers, p. 413.32 Gesta Liberii, in Collectio Avellana, ed. O. Guenther, CSEL 35, I (Vienna, 1895), pp. 12.



Marcellinus.33 While Damasus won the day, he never eradicated thechallenge to his authority. Until the end of his pontificate he had to dealnot only with the Ursinian movement, but also with other splintergroups who expressed criticism of his management of the Church.

In the words of the pro-Ursinian Quae gesta sunt inter Liberium etFelicem episcopos a pamphlet written by a supporter of Ursinus at theclose of the rst round of the conict in 368 Damasus led a `war'against the Ursinians.34 The rst clash lasted three days and producedmany deaths; by the end of October Damasus had `collected thegladiators, charioteers and grave-diggers' who besieged the Ursinians inthe basilica Liberii on the Esquiline, and killed one hundred sixtypeople.35 Another onslaught was organized in November against theUrsinians near the tomb of Saint Agnes in the cemetery of the ViaNomentana. The Ursinians were exiled by the urban prefect, theChristian Viventius, in 366. However, in 367 Emperor Valentinian I,whilst restoring the basilica Liberii to Damasus, offered the Ursiniansamnesty on condition that they would never again disturb the peace ofRome.36 A year later, however, the city prefect Praetextatus was author-ized to banish them again,37 and imperial rescripts of 370 and 378repeatedly prohibited the Ursinians from entering the urbs.38 Imperialedicts permitted the conscation and destruction of heretics' churchesand meeting places and ordered them to be banished, but neither theurban prefect, nor the local bishop were authorized to kill them.39

Moreover, the measures employed by Damasus were unusually brutal inthat, despite the fact that their doctrinal disagreements stemmed fromthe Arian controversy, the Ursinians were not heretics. Schismaticgroups enjoyed imperial protection and were by law allowed to keeptheir churches and cemeteries in Rome.40

The Ursinians gathered in areas around imperial memoriae andmausolea built on imperial property. In the cemetery on the Via

33 Gesta Liberii, ed. Guenther, pp. 14; Jerome, Chronicon, 2382; Ammianus Marcellinus, Resgestae XXVII. 3. 11. tr. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, Mass., and London,1986); cf. E. Wirbelauer, `Die Nachfolgerbestimmung im romischen Bistum, 3.-6.Jh.Doppelwahlen und Absetzungen in ihrer herrschaftssoziologischen Bedeutung', Klio 76(1994), pp. 40026; N. B. McLynn, `Christian Controversy and Violence in the FourthCentury', Kodai 3 (1992), pp. 1624.

34 Preserved in the Collectio Avellana, a sixth-century compilation containing imperial edicts,letters to bishops, and various short narratives, ed. O. Guenther, CSEL 35, I (Vienna, 1895), p. 1.

35 Ibid.36 Rescripts Ea nobis and Dissensionis auctore, in Collectio Avellana, ed. Guenther, pp. 4950.37 Rescripts Tu quidem and Omnem his, ed. Guenther, Collectio Avellana, pp. 512.38 Edict of Gratian and Valentinian II, from 378, ed. Guenther, Collectio Avellana, pp. 548: `We

wish to have our previous edicts enforced. The adherents of Ursinus have been ordered towithdraw to a distance of one hundred miles from Rome. [_] Ursinus himself is now in prisonat Cologne'.

39 Codex Theodosianus [hereafter: CTh] XVI. 5. 46.40 CTh XVI. 5. 2.

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Nomentana, Constantine's daughter, Constantina, had built a basilicain honour of Saint Agnes; the construction was completed in the 350s.41

In the basilica of Saint Agnes, a pseudo-Damasan acrostichon praisedConstantina's outstanding Christian piety and generosity in creating anabode for the virgin that glittered with gold.42 There was, however,another imperial construction, a mausoleum, within the same com-pound, in which two Constantinian princesses had been buried quiterecently: Constantina in 354, and Helena, the wife of Julian the Apostatein 360.43 The imperial family held the church and the mausoleum underclose control, and it is probable that they also kept an eye on thecatacomb area.44

Damasus took care to bring the devotion to Saint Agnes under papalcontrol by composing an epigram about the saint. One of the rare`sentimental' poems of the Damasian corpus, this epigram plasticallynarrates the martyrdom of the young girl and the suffering of her frailbody. The verse was engraved in Filocalian letters on a huge marbleblock and put on the martyr's tomb. At the end of the poem, Damasusemphatically asked Agnes to hear his own prayers: `I ask you, excellentmartyr, to hear favourably Damasus' prayers.'45 Visitors to Agnes' shrinewho recalled Damasus' graveyard raid of 366 against the Ursiniansgathered there might have read this line as a warning.

By referring to schisms which had beset the Roman Church duringthe Great Persecution, Damasus was able to allude to the `anger, hatred,discord, strife' of his own age. The expressions that Damasus employedin two epigrams dedicated to martyr bishops of Rome implied com-parisons with the conicts of 366. Both Marcellus and Eusebius had toconfront clerical opposition. A party of laxity let the lapsi thoseChristians who compromised themselves with the pagan authoritiesduring the Great Persecution re-enter the Church without performingpenance.

Pope Marcellus (308309) lay in the catacomb of Priscilla on the ViaSalaria Nova. His elogium, written by Damasus, was placed in thechurch of Saint Silvester, which had been built in the meantime over thecemetery. Damasus evokes the division of the Christian ock into two

41 F. W. Deichmann, `Die Lage der konstantinischen Basilika der heiligen Agnes', Rivista diarcheologia cristiana 22 (1946), pp. 21334; A. P. Frutaz, Il complesso monumentale di Sant'Agnese(Rome, 1960).

42 Epigr. 71, ed. Ferrua, p. 248.43 F. W. Deichmann, `Das Mausoleum der Kaiserin Helena und die Basilika der heiligen

Marcellinus et Petrus an der Via Labicana vor Rom', Jahrbuch der Deutschen ArchaologischenInstituts 72 (1957), pp. 44110.

44 J. Guyon, La cimetiere, p. 413.45 Epigr. 37, ed. Ferrua, p. 176.



parties, with rigorists refusing the charitable call of the bishopsummoning them back into the church:

A venerable pastor, for he bade the apostates mourn their guiltAnd was a bitter enemy to all wretches.Thence arose anger, hatred, discord, strife,Mutiny, bloodshed; the bonds of peace were loosed (soluuntur foederapacis).Accused by one who in peace denied Christ,He was driven by the cruel tyrant from his own country.This in brief Damasus ascertained and recorded,That the people might know the virtue of Marcellus.46

Soluuntur foedera pacis: peace was what was most needed in thedivided Christian community after 366. Instead of peace, however, theDamasian church offered only the occasional ceasere.

Pope Eusebius (309/310), buried in the cemetery of Callistus, offered asimilar model of a peacemaker-bishop undermined by the fractiousnessof the populus:

Heraclius forbade the apostates to grieve for their sins.Eusebius taught the wretched to mourn their guilt.The people were rent in factions and anger mounted,Mutiny, bloodshed, war, discord, strife.Both were driven alike from the temple by the cruel tyrant,Though the pastor was keeping unbroken the bonds of peace.Gladly he suffered exile under the Lord's judgment;On the Sicilian shore he departed from earth and life.TO EUSEBIUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR.47

These Damasian epigrams can also be read as a list of recent eventswithin the Roman congregation. Fourth-century readers of the epigramscould pick up on common themes suggested by allusions to the divisionof Christians into factions as well as to the `mutiny, bloodshed, war'which broke out between the opposing parties. The bishops' efforts tomaintain peace are praised by Damasus. If Damasus, mutatis mutandis,identied himself with Eusebius, that his friends did so as well is shownby Filocalus' affectionate endorsement on the margins of the sameinscription: Damasi pape cultor atque amator Furius Dionysius Filocalusscribsit.

46 Epigr. 40, ed. Ferrua, p. 181.47 Epigr. 18, ed. Ferrua, p. 131.

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Another point of evidence concerning the extension of episcopalcontrol over graveyard areas can be found in the letter of supplicationwritten by two followers of Lucifer of Cagliari in 383 and addressed tothe Emperors Valentinian II and Theodosius.48 The presbyters Faustinusand Marcellinus described in detail the manner in which their group wasbeing harassed by Pope Damasus. Arrested in a private house, theLuciferian preacher Macarius was beaten up by Damasus' hired men anddriven out from Rome; he died of his wounds in nearby Ostia. Underthe circumstances it was likely that a cult managed by the Luciferianswould soon develop around the grave of the holy man at leastFlorentius, bishop of Ostia and Pope Damasus thought so: episcopus lociillius nomine Florentius communicans Damaso cum quaedam uenerationesuspexerit. Macarius was buried by his brethren in a certain old monu-ment, in quodam uetusto monumento, but Florentius, who was on goodterms with Damasus, had the body transferred to the basilica of SaintAsterius under the attering pretext that the old tomb was far toomodest, indigna sepultura videretur.49 This transfer can be interpreted asthe bishop' decision to kill the Luciferians by kindness. Florentiuswanted to take under his control any kind of religious worship that heand Damasus expected to develop at Macarius' tomb. Burying Macariusnext to Asterius, who already had an established cult and a basilica, theyhoped to nip in the bud the veneration that they feared would burgeonaround Macarius' body and thus channel the worshippers' devotion intothe `right' direction, that is, towards Saint Asterius.

Fighting Schismatics

Beati pacici, quoniam lii Dei vocabuntur.

Schisms and rival pontiffs were nothing new to the Roman Church inthe fourth century. The Novatianist church were an imperially endorsedgroup of schismatics in Rome whose bishop was invited to the council ofNicaea by Constantine.50 They adhered to the archaic conception of a`Church of the Pure', plebs sancta et pura, an ideal which becameincreasingly difcult to maintain during the fourth century, when theCatholic Church became a church for the masses.51

The third-century Roman presbyter Novatian was a rigorist, whocondemned the laxity of Pope Cornelius during the Decian persecu-tion in 251. He was elected bishop by a group of intransigents, but soon

48 Libellus precum, in Collectio Avellana, ed. Guenther, pp. 544.49 Libellus precum, ed. Guenther, pp. 57.50 Socrates, Historia ecclesiastica I. 10; CTh XVI. 5. 2.51 H. J. Vogt, Coetus sanctorum. Der Kirchenbegriff Novatians und die Geschichte seiner

Sonderkirche (Bonn, 1968).



after he was excommunicated by a synod of sixty Italian bishops. Hedied a martyr's death and was buried on the Via Tiburtina in agroVerano. It is not certain that this martyr was identical with theschismatic bishop,52 but contemporaries believed so and venerated thetomb as his resting place.

Opposite Novatian's tomb and cultplace on the Via Tiburtina, therelay another third-century scholar and antipope, Hippolytus. His identityis still an unsolved problem.53 Three poems and two fragmentaryinscriptions were found on his grave. Damasus' epigram celebrated themartyr for breaking with the Novatian schism:

Presbyter Hippolytus is said to have remainedin the schism of Novatus while the laws of the tyrant prevailedBut when the sword cut the marrow of the pious motherDevoted to Christ, he was looking for the kingdom of the faithful.When asked by the people which way to chooseHe answered that the Catholic faith should be followed by allThus he deserved to be venerated as our own martyr.Damasus tells this story as he heard it, with the approval of Christ.54

This epigram suggests that the Church forgives lost sheep andincludes them among its saints on condition that they acknowledge theirerrors and return to the Catholic ock. The poem can be read asDamasus' pastoral program: as a call to the Novatianists who gatheredright across the street around Novatian's tomb, to give up theirseparation from the Catholica and return to the bosom of the Romanchurch.55

Damasus' teaching about schismatics returning safely to unity was notlost on Prudentius. He presented Hippolytus' story in terms of theopposition between Catholic orthodoxy and the `vicious doctrine' ofschismatic fallacy and stated unequivocally that the gift of martyrdomwas the reward of those who adhered to the universal Church.56 Heprovided an imaginary dialogue between Hippolytus and his followers.

52 P. Mattei, `La figure de Novatien chez Pacien de Barcelone', Augustinianum 38/II (December1998), p. 362, n. 34; cf. R. Giordani, `Novatiano beatissimo martyri Gaudentius diaconus fecit:Contributo all'identificazione del martire Novaziano alla catacomba anonima sulla ViaTiburtina', Rivista di archeologia cristiana 68 (1992), pp. 23358.

53 A. Brent, Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the Third Century. Communities in Tension beforethe Emergence of a Monarch-Bishop (Leiden 1995).

54 Epigr. 35, ed. Ferrua., p. 171, my translation.55 Another poem dedicated to Hippolytus, composed by the presbyter Leo, glorifies the Catholic

martyr who kept the faith, without referring at all to Hippolytus' schismatic past: Epigr. 35/1, ed.Ferrua, p. 173.

56 Prudentius, Peristephanon, ed. and tr. H. J. Thomson, Loeb Classical Library 398 (Cambridge,Mass., 1953), XI, 1924.

284 Marianne Saghy


En route to martyrdom, Hippolytus instructs his disciples and con-fesses that he too had lived in error. Now, however, he directs themtowards the `right way' of Catholic truth:

Being asked [by the people] which teaching was the better,[Hippolytus] answered: `O, my poor friends, shun the accursedschism of Novatus and return to the orthodox people. Let the faith bestrong in its unity, the faith that was established in the early Churchand which Paul and the chair of Peter hold fast. What I taught, Iregret having taught; now that I am bearing witness I see that what Ithought foreign to the worship of God is worthy of reverence.' Withthese words he turned the people away from the path on the left andbade them follow where the way on the right calls _

57

It is particularly interesting to read these lines bearing in mind that thecult-places of the schismatic Novatian and of the orthodox Hippolytuslay literally on the two sides of the alley in the catacombs of the ViaTiburtina.

The martyr Lawrence was buried in the same cemetery and on histomb a basilica was built by Constantine. Damasus placed an epigramon the tomb listing in general terms the torment of the martyr andemphasizing Lawrence's faith.58 The cult of Saint Lawrence counter-balanced the devotions of the Novatianist church in the graveyard area.59

According to Prudentius, the Ferragosto feast centred aroundHippolytus eclipsed the feast of Lawrence in the second half of thefourth century. This puzzled Hippolyte Delehaye who suspected thatPrudentius might have confused the cults.60 In the light of the Catholiccampaign deployed by Damasus against schismatic groups, it is possiblethat Hippolytus might have become a popular saint in the catacombs ofthe Tiburtina where his story the story of `the converted schismatic' provided a moral lesson and his cult had a propagandistic purpose.

Engraved on large marble blocks, the Damasan epigrams functionedas monumental billboards that advertised the celebration of the cult of`orthodox' saints. These topoi became `licensed public places' whereCatholics could gather undisturbed, their festivities secured by ponticalauthority. The tombs signalled by the Damasian epigrams were the

57 Prudentius, Peristephanon, 2736, Thomson's translation.58 Epigr. 33, ed. Ferrua, p. 167.59 R. Giordani, `Novatiano beatissimo martyri', pp. 25051.60 Delehaye, Les origines, p. 269: `S'il fallait prendre a la lettre les descriptions de Prudence, la fete

de S. Hippolyte a Rome, le jour des ides d'aout, aurait a peine cede en solennite a celle desapotres. On ne trouve pas de trace d'ailleurs de cette extraordinaire popularite de S. Hippolyte,et l'on se demande s'il n'y a pas quelque confusion dans l'esprit du poete, avec la fete deS. Laurent, qui se celebrait trois jours auparavant, et presque au meme endroit'.



`right' places for the Catholics, as opposed to the `wrong' places of theschismatics.

Conclusion

The examination of some aspects of the cult of the martyrs in the contextof conicts among various Catholic groups in Rome allows us to thinkthat Pope Damasus' development of the loca sancta was the by-product ofa spin-doctored police operation against his opponents. As one ofDamasus' purposes in the renovation and artistic decoration of martyrtombs of the catacombs and of basilicas seems to have been a desire toeclipse schismatic gatherings in the cemetery area, he concentrated hiswork on cults where he could be seen to make a visible difference (SaintAgnes; Saint Hippolytus; the case of Macarius and Saint Asterius).

The Damasan epigrams written in honour of the martyrs reect tosome extent the pope's propagandistic program and, in a number ofcases, the hastiness of the campaign against the splinter groups. Thismay explain why the pope's poems are highly impersonal. In contrastwith Paulinus of Nola, Damasus does not betray any personalattachment to the martyrs he celebrates and avoids gossip and miraclestories about the saints. He seems to have been uninterested in whathappened to the martyrs: their torture and suffering is represented ingeneral terms. Individual characters leave him cold. The epigrams onLawrence, for example, suggest a lack of knowledge or a rejection of thestories circulating about the deacon who was said by Ambrose andPrudentius to have been roasted on a grill. (Legends and miracles con-cerning Lawrence also appear soon after Damasus in the martyr poetryof Prudentius.61) Despite the fact that Damasus made attempts toparticipate in the cult of Lawrence, his work focuses on his ownintramural church, San Lorenzo in Damaso, rather than on the martyr'stomb developed by emperors and senatorial aristocrats in Rome.62

Since Damasus' aim is to glorify the unity and the peace of theChurch, his hero is the martyr bishop, the pastor who dies for his ock.The pope is equally enthusiastic about pairs and groups of saints,members of the body of Christ. With the exception of Saint Agnes, layChristians, women, or soldiers63 who died a martyr's death are not

61 Prudentius, Peristephanon II.62 Four Roman churches were dedicated to Lawerence: San Lorenzo fuori le mura; San Lorenzo in

Damaso; San Lorenzo in Lucina; San Lorenzo in Panisperna (the place of Lawrence'smartyrdom on the Viminal). On aristocratic veneration of Lawrence: Gerontius, The Life ofMelania the Younger, 1114; 15; 17; 1822, tr. E. A. Clark (Lewiston, 1984).

63 The Christian soldier became the ideal type of the martyr in the Eastern church at about thesame time: Saint George; Saints Sergius and Bacchus; Saint Menas. Cf. E. Key-Fowden, TheBarbarian Plain. Saint Sergius between Rome and Iran (Berkeley Los Angeles, 1999).

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mentioned in the poems. Advertising the gure of the `the good pastor'and the forgiveness of the Church, Damasus' epigrams can be read aspart of a program intended to re-establish unity within the RomanChurch. Damasus' material renovation of martyr tombs and his spiritualreconstruction of events that occurred during the Great Persecution orbefore to this end were not only substantial undertakings in and ofthemselves: they required a re-interpretation of the Christian past and anew representation of the gure of the martyr, which in turn con-tributed not only to the early medieval view of the martyr, but also tothe early medieval view of the bishop.

Eotvos Lorand University andCentral European University, Budapest



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