Sylvester

Sylvester (Silvester) (d. 335) pope. The son of a Roman called Rufinus, Sylvester became bishop of Rome in 314, soon after the Edict of Milan recognized Christianity, ended persecution against it and tolerated all religions. Surprisingly little is known of him, but legends abound and were very influential in the Middle Ages. Sylvester was represented by legates at a synod of Arles against the Donatists and in 325 at the Council of Nicea. The Lateran palace was given to him by Constantine and this became the cathedral church of Rome; he also built other churches in Rome; probably the first churches at St. Peter's, Holy Cross, and St. Laurence-outside-the-walls. He was buried in a church which he built at the cemetery of Priscilla; but in 761 his relics were translated to the church of ‘St. Silvester in capite’ which is the church assigned to the English.

Some of the principal but unhistorical legends about Sylvester include his supposed baptism of Constantine (in reality Constantine was baptized only on his death-bed after the death of Sylvester), his curing him of leprosy at the Lateran Baptistery, and his receiving the forgery called the ‘Donation of Constantine’ which give considerable temporal power to the papacy, especially in Italy, and purported to confer on him the primacy over other patriarchs. In the develop-ment of these legends the character of Constantine was also transformed into that of an ideal, but quite unhistorical, Christian emperor. These legends have considerably influenced the portrayal of Sylvester in art; his principal emblems are a chained dragon (or bull) and a tiara; the principal scene represented is that of the baptism of Constantine. Feast: in the West, 31 December; in the East, 2 January.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• L. Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, i. 170–201
• W. Levison, ‘Konstantinische Schenkung und Silvester-Legende’ in Miscellanea Francesca Ehrle, ii (1924), 159–247
• N. H. Baynes, Constantine the Great and the Christian Church (1929)

Sylvester I
Sylvester I and the Emperor Constantine
Birth name	Sylvester
Papacy began	January 31, 314
Papacy ended	December 31, 335
Predecessor	Miltiades
Successor	Mark
Born	??? ???
Died	December 31 335 ???
Other popes named Sylvester

Styles of Pope Sylvester I
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Pope Saint Sylvester I or Silvester I was pope from January 314 to December 31, 335, succeeding Pope Miltiades.

The accounts of his Papacy preserved in the Liber Pontificalis (7th or 8th century) and in Anastasius are little else than a record of the gifts said to have been conferred on the Roman Church by Emperor Constantine I.

He was represented at the First Council of Nicaea, and is said to have held a council at Rome to condemn the heresies of Arius and others.

Pope Sylvester I portrayed slaying a dragon and resurrecting its victims

The legend of his having baptized Constantine is fictional, as contemporary evidence shows the emperor to have received this rite near Nicomedia at the hands of Eusebius, bishop of that city.

According to the 19th century historian Ignaz von Döllinger, the entire legend of Sylvester and Constantine, with all its details of Constantine's leprosy and the proposed bath of blood, cannot have been composed later than the close of the 5th century, while it is certainly alluded to by Gregory of Tours and Bede.

The so-called Donation of Constantine was long ago shown to be spurious, but the document is of very considerable antiquity, and in Döllinger's opinion, was forged in Rome between 752 and 777. It was certainly known to Pope Adrian I in 778, and was inserted in the false decretals towards the middle of the next century.

Sylvester's legendary relationship to Constantine was important in the Middle Ages. Pope Sylvester II (999-1003), himself a close associate of Emperor Otto III, chose the name Sylvester in imitation of Sylvester I.

As the feast day of St. Sylvester is December 31st, New Year's Eve is known as or also referred to as Sylvester in certain countries.

His relics are housed in the church of San Silvestro in Capite, in Rome.

The controversial author Malachi Martin alleges that Sylvester once met the Desposyni, members of Jesus's family.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of 10 longest-reigning popes

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External Links

• Opera Omnia by Migne

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Miltiades	Bishop of Rome Pope 314–335	Succeeded by Mark

Popes of the Catholic Church (chronologically)
Peter Linus Anacletus Clement I Evaristus Alexander I Sixtus I Telesphorus Hyginus Pius I Anicetus Soter Eleuterus Victor I Zephyrinus Callixtus I Urban I Pontian Anterus Fabian Cornelius Lucius I Stephen I Sixtus II Dionysius Felix I Eutychian Caius Marcellinus Marcellus I Eusebius Miltiades Sylvester I Mark Julius I Liberius Damasus I Siricius Anastasius I Innocent I Zosimus Boniface I Celestine I Sixtus III Leo I Hilarius Simplicius Felix III Gelasius I Anastasius II Symmachus Hormisdas John I Felix IV Boniface II John II Agapetus I Silverius Vigilius Pelagius I John III Benedict I Pelagius II Gregory I Sabinian Boniface III Boniface IV Adeodatus I Boniface V Honorius I Severinus John IV Theodore I Martin I Eugene I Vitalian Adeodatus II Donus Agatho Leo II Benedict II John V Conon Sergius I John VI John VII Sisinnius Constantine Gregory II Gregory III Zachary Stephen II Paul I Stephen III Adrian I Leo III Stephen IV Paschal I Eugene II Valentine Gregory IV Sergius II Leo IV Benedict III Nicholas I Adrian II John VIII Marinus I Adrian III Stephen V Formosus Boniface VI Stephen VI Romanus Theodore II John IX Benedict IV Leo V Sergius III Anastasius III Lando John X Leo VI Stephen VII John XI Leo VII Stephen VIII Marinus II Agapetus II John XII Leo VIII Benedict V John XIII Benedict VI Benedict VII John XIV John XV Gregory V Sylvester II John XVII John XVIII Sergius IV Benedict VIII John XIX Benedict IX Sylvester III Benedict IX Gregory VI Clement II Benedict IX Damasus II Leo IX Victor II Stephen IX Nicholas II Alexander II Gregory VII Victor III Urban II Paschal II Gelasius II Callixtus II Honorius II Innocent II Celestine II Lucius II Eugene III Anastasius IV Adrian IV Alexander III Lucius III Urban III Gregory VIII Clement III Celestine III Innocent III Honorius III Gregory IX Celestine IV Innocent IV Alexander IV Urban IV Clement IV Gregory X Innocent V Adrian V John XXI Nicholas III Martin IV Honorius IV Nicholas IV Celestine V Boniface VIII Benedict XI Clement V John XXII Benedict XII Clement VI Innocent VI Urban V Gregory XI Urban VI Boniface IX Innocent VII Gregory XII Martin V Eugene IV Nicholas V Callixtus III Pius II Paul II Sixtus IV Innocent VIII Alexander VI Pius III Julius II Leo X Adrian VI Clement VII Paul III Julius III Marcellus II Paul IV Pius IV Pius V Gregory XIII Sixtus V Urban VII Gregory XIV Innocent IX Clement VIII Leo XI Paul V Gregory XV Urban VIII Innocent X Alexander VII Clement IX Clement X Innocent XI Alexander VIII Innocent XII Clement XI Innocent XIII Benedict XIII Clement XII Benedict XIV Clement XIII Clement XIV Pius VI Pius VII Leo XII Pius VIII Gregory XVI Pius IX Leo XIII Pius X Benedict XV Pius XI Pius XII John XXIII Paul VI John Paul I John Paul II
Currently: Benedict XVI

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