J.M.J. The fourth century Pope, Saint Damasus I, today graces the pages of the General Roman Calendar. A snippet from The Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04613a.htm) tells some of the story of his unrelenting efforts on behalf of the preservation of the graves of the early martyrs.
"Damasus restored his own church (now San Lorenzo in Damaso) and provided for the proper housing of the archives of the Roman Church (see VATICAN ARCHIVES). He built in the basilica of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way the (yet visible) marble monument known as the 'Platonia' (Platona, marble pavement) in honor of the temporary transfer to that place (258) of the bodies of Sts. Peter and Paul, and decorated it with an important historical inscription (see Northcote and Brownlow, Roma Sotterranea). He also built on the Via Ardeatina, between the cemeteries of Callistus and Domitilla, a basilicula, or small church, the ruins of which were discovered in 1902 and 1903, and in which, according to the 'Liber Pontificalis ', the pope was buried with his mother and sister."
Mary, Queen of Martyrs, pray for us.
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