Pope John XXIII, now Blessed John XXIII, was fond of reminding us that "history is the teacher of life." He repeated this in his famous address at the opening of the Second Vatican Council in October, 1962.

George Santayana, the Spanish-born philosopher and prolific author, had made the same point when he penned his oft-quoted line that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

There are many lessons to be learned from history, whether the history of the world, of a nation, or indeed of the Church itself.

Without a knowledge of, and a respect for, history, we are tempted to confuse our own limited experience with the whole of reality, and are led to believe that various ways of thinking and acting that happen to be familiar to us can never change because, in our minds, they have always been so.

Church history yields countless sources of corrective wisdom, any one of which makes the point.

Since the feast of Damasus I (pope from 366 to 384) is about to be observed on December 11, his story provides as instructive a lesson as any other might.

First, he was the son of a priest --- a salutary reminder that Roman Catholic priests were not bound by celibacy during most of the First Christian Millennium.

Second, as a deacon Damasus was in the service for a time of an antipope (or rival claimant to the papacy), Felix II, in defiance of an oath taken by the Roman clergy not to recognize anyone else as Bishop of Rome while Pope Liberius was still alive, in enforced exile.

This was a remarkably significant lapse on the part of someone who, later as pope, would argue vigorously on behalf of the supremacy of the papacy --- a lapse that those who always cite Damasus in support of papal primacy do not mention.

Third, following the death of Liberius, who had been allowed eventually to return to Rome, a bitter controversy erupted over the choice of his successor.

A faction that had remained loyal to Liberius met immediately and elected the deacon Ursinus, who was consecrated as Bishop of Rome. However, another, larger faction that was loyal to the antipope Felix met in another church and elected Damasus.

According to one account, Damasus and his allies hired a gang of thugs to storm the site of the first election, routing the supporters of Ursinus in a three-day massacre. Damasus was then consecrated in the Lateran basilica after his supporters had seized the church.

Bloody fighting ensued on the streets of Rome. At first Damasus appealed to the city prefect, who, with the emperor's approval, sent Ursinus and two of his deacons into exile. But when the violence continued, Damasus dispatched his own forces to attack Ursinus's allies, who had taken refuge in what is now the basilica of St. Mary Major.

A contemporary historian reported that 137 died in the battle. The bishops of Italy were so dismayed by Damasus's resort to violence that, when they gathered in a synod to honor Damasus's birthday, they refused his request to approve of what he had done and to censure Ursinus. The bishops said that they had come to celebrate a birthday, not to condemn someone without a hearing.

The conflict between the two factions continued throughout Damasus' 18-year pontificate.

Fourth, although Damasus is recognized as a saint, he enjoyed great favor with the imperial court and the aristocracy, especially women of wealth. In fact, the Roman gossip mill nicknamed him "the matron's ear-tickler." His grand lifestyle and lavish hospitality endeared him to upper-class pagan families.

At the same time, he was harsh in his repression of Arianism and other dissident movements within the Church and, like most other Western bishops, failed to grasp the significance of contemporary developments in the East, backing a polarizing candidate for the patriarchal see of Antioch. Basil (later St. Basil the Great), bishop of Caesarea, described Damasus as impossibly arrogant.

Fifth, although he was tireless in promoting the primacy of Rome and insisted on papal approval for almost everything of significance, Damasus took no part in the ecumenical council of Constantinople which, in 381, defined the divinity of the Holy Spirit.

He did organize the papal archives (which may be why he is patron saint of archaeologists), established Latin as the principal liturgical language in Rome, and commissioned his secretary, Jerome (later St. Jerome), to revise existing translations of the New Testament on the basis of the original Greek.

But he is hardly the brightest star in papal history, much less in the saintly firmament.

Father Richard P. McBrien is the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.