Sign in

San Lorenzo in Damaso

Saints & Tombs Not Applicable
Rome, Italy 4th century Feast day: December 11

A church holding relics of St. Damasus.

St. Damasus →
Save to my journey Mark as visited
Plan a trip here

The Story

The Basilica of San Lorenzo in Damaso is one of the historic churches of central Rome, dedicated to the deacon-martyr St. Lawrence and wholly incorporated into the Renaissance Palazzo della Cancelleria near Campo de' Fiori. According to tradition, the church was founded in the 380s by Pope St. Damasus I in his own residence, and a 'Titulus Damasi' is documented at the synod of 499. Damasus, who governed the Church from 366 to 384, is remembered as the pope who commissioned St. Jerome's Latin translation of the Scriptures — the Vulgate — and who adorned the tombs of the Roman martyrs in the catacombs with his famous verse inscriptions. In the eighth century, under Pope Adrian I, the relics of St. Damasus were translated to this church from his family tomb on the Via Ardeatina, and they have rested beneath the high altar ever since, together with the relics of Pope St. Eutychian. The ancient basilica was demolished at the end of the fifteenth century when Cardinal Raffaele Riario built the Palazzo della Cancelleria (1489–1513), and the present church was raised within the palace itself; it was restored again after a fire in 1944. Today it serves as a parish, a titular church of the Roman clergy, and a quiet place of pilgrimage where visitors venerate the relics of the pope who did so much to honor the martyrs and to give the Church her Bible.

Church Recognition

San Lorenzo in Damaso is a minor basilica and titular church of Rome; the relics of Pope St. Damasus I, translated here in the eighth century, rest beneath the high altar together with those of Pope St. Eutychian.

Catholic Teaching

The basilica embodies the Church's veneration of the martyrs and the relics of the saints (CCC 1674) and recalls the apostolic continuity of the Church of Rome, whose early bishops — like St. Damasus, patron of Scripture scholarship — guarded and handed on the faith (CCC 857–862).

Plan Your Visit

Open only what you need.

Practical

Additional Information

Pilgrims find the basilica inside the Palazzo della Cancelleria, steps from Campo de' Fiori; visitors venerate the relics of Pope St. Damasus beneath the high altar, with his feast kept on December 11 and that of St. Lawrence, the church's titular, on August 10.

Go Deeper

For further study, see the Epigrammata Damasiana — the verse inscriptions Pope St. Damasus composed for the martyrs' tombs — along with the Catechism on the veneration of the saints (CCC 1674) and any good guide to the titular churches of Rome.

Location

See it on the interactive map →

In the Area

Other sacred sites within 40 miles.