Pope Sylvester I

Pope Sylvester I served as pope from 31 January 314 to 31 December 335, succeeding Pope Miltiades.^[2] He filled the See of Rome at an important era in the history of the Catholic Church, yet very little is known of him.^[3] The accounts of the papacy of Pope Sylvester I preserved in the Liber Pontificalis (7th or 8th century) are little else than a record of the gifts said to have been conferred on the Church by Constantine I,^[4] but it does say that he was the son of a Roman named Rufinus.^[5]

During his pontificate were built the great churches founded at Rome by Constantine, e.g. the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, St. Peter's Basilica, and several cemeterial churches over the graves of martyrs.^[5][6]

Sylvester did not himself attend the First Council of Nicaea in 325, but he was represented by two legates, Vitus and Vincentius, and he approved the council's decision.

Part of the Symmachean forgeries, the Vita beati Sylvestri (c. 501–508), which has been preserved in Greek and Syriac, and in Latin in the Constitutum Sylvestri, is an apocryphal account of an alleged Roman council, introduced legends of Sylvester's close relationship with the first Christian emperor. They also appear in the Donation of Constantine.^[5]

Legacy

Long after his death, the figure of Sylvester was embroidered upon in a fictional account of his relationship to Constantine, which successfully seemed to support the later Gelasian doctrine of papal supremacy, papal auctoritas ("authority") guiding imperial potestas ("power"), the doctrine that is embodied in the forged "Donation of Constantine" of the eighth century. In the fiction, of which an early version is represented in the early sixth-century "Symmachean forgeries" emanating from the curia of Pope Symmachus (died 514), the Emperor Constantine was cured of leprosy by the virtue of the baptismal water administered by Sylvester. The Emperor, abjectly grateful, not only confirmed the bishop of Rome as the primate above all other bishops, he resigned his imperial insignia and walked before Sylvester's horse holding the pope's bridle as the papal groom. The generous pope, in return, offered the crown of his own good will to Constantine, who abandoned Rome to the pope and took up residence in Constantinople.^[7] "The doctrine behind this charming story is a radical one," Norman F. Cantor observes: "The pope is supreme over all rulers, even the Roman emperor, who owes his crown to the pope and therefore may be deposed by papal decree". Such a useful legend quickly gained wide circulation; Gregory of Tours referred to this political legend in his history of the Franks, written in the 580s.

Pope Sylvester II, himself a close associate of Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, chose the name Sylvester in imitation of Sylvester I.

In the West, the liturgical feast of Saint Sylvester is on 31 December, the day of his burial in the Catacomb of Priscilla.^[5] This is the last day in the year and, accordingly, in German-speaking countries and in some others close to them, New Year's Eve is known as Silvester. In other countries too, the day is usually referred to as Saint Sylvester's Day or the Feast of Saint Sylvester. In Brazil, the long-distance running event Corrida Internacional de São Silvestre (Saint Silvester Road Race) occurs every year on 31 December.

Fictional

The Donation of Constantine is a document fabricated in the second half of the eighth century, purporting to be a record by the emperor himself of his conversion, the profession of his new faith, and the privileges he conferred on Pope Sylvester I, his clergy, and their successors. According to it, Pope Sylvester was even offered the imperial crown, which, however, he refused.^[8]

"Lu Santu Papa Silvestru", a story in Giuseppe Pitrè's collection of Sicilian fables, recounts the legend as follows: Constantine the king wants to take a second wife, and asks Sylvester. Sylvester denies him permission, calling on heaven as witness; Constantine threatens him and Sylvester, rather than give in, escapes into the woods. Not long after Constantine falls ill; when he is desperate of ever regaining his health he sees a dream which commands him to send for Sylvester. He obeys, and Sylvester receives his posse in his cave and swiftly baptizes them, whereafter (having shown them several miracles) they lead him back to Constantine, whom he baptizes also. In this story Constantine and his posse are not pagans but Jews.^[9]

Another myth has Sylvester slaying a dragon. He is often depicted with the dying beast.^[10]

See also

• List of 10 longest-reigning popes

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• The Life of St. Silvester, the Pope who slew a Dragon
• Opera Omnia by Migne

Pope Portal · 
Catholicism Portal ·