Background
This lapse caused a schism, which occasioned bloodshed at the time of his own election and recurrent strife and discord during most of his pontificate (366-384). Nevertheless, his pontificate was marked by considerable achievements. The policy of reconciliation and peace inaugurated by Liberius was successfully continued by Damasus, with the result that Arianism was gradually overcome and the Nicene Creed, thanks to the powerful support of St. Basil, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, and St. Gregory of Nyssa, won out in the E. This victory was already assured when the emperors Theodosius I and Gratian issued in 380 a decree commanding all subjects of the Empire to embrace the faith which the Apostle Peter had delivered to the Romans, and which was professed by Damasus of Rome and Peter of Alexandria. A close friendship joined Damasus and St. Jerome, who at the pope's behest undertook a new translation of the Holy Scriptures, which was later known as the Vulgate. His feast day is December 11.