We celebrate the martyrs with the veneration of love and fellowship

Today, December 11, as our Church celebrates the Memorial of Damasus I, pope, we are encouraged to read and reflect on a passage of the apostle Paul to Titus (1:7-11:2:1-8), entitled "The teaching of the Apostle on the qualities and duties of bishops". Our treasure, which follows, is from a treatise against Faustus by Saint Agustine. bishop. The son of a Roman priest, possibly of Spanish extraction, Damasus was born around the year 305. He started as a deacon in his father's church, and served as a priest in what later became the basilica of San Lorenzo in Rome. He served Pope Liberius (352-366) and followed him into exile. He was admitted to the Roman clergy and in 366, during a period of upheaval in the Church, he was ordained bishop of Rome; but a minority elected and consecrated another deacon, Ursinus, as pope. The controversy between Damasus and the antipope resulted in violent battles in two basilicas, scandalizing the bishops of Italy. As pope, his lifestyle was simple in contrast to other ecclesiastics of Rome, and he was fierce in his denunciation of Arianism and other heresies. A misunderstanding of the Trinitarian terminology used by Rome threatened amicable relations with the Eastern Church, and Damasus was only moderately successful in dealing with that challenge. During his pontificate, Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman state, and Latin became the principal liturgical language as part of the pope's reforms. His encouragement of Saint Jerome's biblical studies led to the Vulgate, the Latin translation of Scripture which 12 centuries later the Council of Trent declared to be "authentic in public readings, disputations, preaching." He summoned synods to work against schismatics and heretics and widely promoted the cult of martyrs whose burial places he adored with sacred verse. He died in 384.  Saint Augustine was born at Tagaste in Africa in 354. He was unsettled and restlessly searched for the truth until he was converted to the faith at Milan and baptized by Ambrose. Returning to his homeland, he embraced an ascetic life and subsequently was elected bishop of Hippo. For thirty-four years he guided his flock, instructing it with sermons and many writings. He fought bravely against the errors of his time and explained the faith carefully and cogently through his writings. Augustine is perhaps the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul. He adapted Classical teaching and created a powerful theological system of lasting influence. He also shaped the practice of biblical exegesis and helped lay the foundation for much of medieval and modern Christian thought. Augustine is recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Communion. Saint Augustine is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. He is also a preeminent Catholic Doctor of the Church and the patron of the Augustinians. He died in 430. Against Faustus is Augustine's takedown of the Manichean bishop, Faustus.  He met Faustus long before he was even a Christian.  When he was trying to figure out what life was all about, he spent some time with a religious group known as the Manicheans.  He thought most of their ideas were kind of silly, but they insisted that if he just waited for Faustus, their renowned intellectual bishop, he would be able to answer everything.  When Faustus finally came, Augustine finally asked him his biggest questions, to which Faustus answered, "I guess I never really thought about any of that that.  I don't know."  Needless to say, Augustine was not impressed and didn't spend so much time with the Manicheans anymore Later in his life, Augustine found out that Faustus wrote a whole book about why Christianity was ridiculous and nobody should waste time on it.  In true Augustinian fashion, he republished what many people assume to be the entire text of Faustus's book with a line-by-line refutation of every one of Faustus's attacks.  A lot of the concerns Faustus raised are the same ones we hear today, and Augustine's defenses still hold steady.   Saint Paul's letter to Titus is the third of the Pastoral Epistles in the New Testament and is addressed to a different co-worker of Paul than are First and Second Timothy. The situation is different, too, for Titus is addressed as the person in charge of developing the church on the large Mediterranean island of Crete, a place Paul had never, according to the New Testament, visited. The tone is closer to that of First Timothy as three topics of church life and structure are discussed: presbyter-bishops, groups with which one must work in the church, and admonitions for conduct based on the grace and love of God that appeared in Jesus Christ. The warmer personal tone of Second Timothy is replaced by emphasis on church office and on living in the society of the day, in which deceivers and heretics abound.