All Topics  
Pope Silverius

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Pope Silverius
 
 
  Topics Pope Silverius Topic Home

Pope Saint Silverius was Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 from June 8, 536
536

Events...
 until March 537.

He was a legitimate son of Pope Hormisdas
Pope Hormisdas

Pope Saint Hormisdas was pope from July 20, 514 to 523.He was born at Frosinone, Campagna di Roma, Italy. Saint Hormisdas was a widower and a Rome deacon at the time of his accession to the papal throne....
, born before his father entered the priesthood. He was probably consecrated on June 8, 536
536

Events...
.

He opposed the restoration of the monophysite heretic
Monophysitism

Monophysitism , or Monophysiticism, is the christology position that Christ has only one nature , as opposed to the Chalcedonian position which holds that Christ has two natures, one divine and one human....
, former patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is the Archbishop of Constantinople ? New Rome ? ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox Church organization, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
 Anthimus, whom Agapetus
Pope Agapetus I

Pope Saint Agapetus I reigned as pope from 535 to 536....
 had deposed, and thus brought upon himself the hatred of Empress Theodora
Theodora (6th century)

Theodora , was empress of the Byzantine Empire and the wife of Emperor Justinian I. Like her husband, she is a saint in the Eastern Orthodoxy, commemorated on November 14....
. Theodora then sought to have Vigilius
Pope Vigilius

Pope Vigilius reigned as pope from 537-555. He belonged to a distinguished Roman family; his father Johannes is identified as a consul in the Liber pontificalis , having received that title from the emperor....
 made pope. During Silverius' papacy, it was alleged that he had purchased his elevation to the see of St.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Pope Silverius'
Start a new discussion about 'Pope Silverius'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Pope Saint Silverius was Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 from June 8, 536
536

Events...
 until March 537.

He was a legitimate son of Pope Hormisdas
Pope Hormisdas

Pope Saint Hormisdas was pope from July 20, 514 to 523.He was born at Frosinone, Campagna di Roma, Italy. Saint Hormisdas was a widower and a Rome deacon at the time of his accession to the papal throne....
, born before his father entered the priesthood. He was probably consecrated on June 8, 536
536

Events...
.

He opposed the restoration of the monophysite heretic
Monophysitism

Monophysitism , or Monophysiticism, is the christology position that Christ has only one nature , as opposed to the Chalcedonian position which holds that Christ has two natures, one divine and one human....
, former patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is the Archbishop of Constantinople ? New Rome ? ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox Church organization, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
 Anthimus, whom Agapetus
Pope Agapetus I

Pope Saint Agapetus I reigned as pope from 535 to 536....
 had deposed, and thus brought upon himself the hatred of Empress Theodora
Theodora (6th century)

Theodora , was empress of the Byzantine Empire and the wife of Emperor Justinian I. Like her husband, she is a saint in the Eastern Orthodoxy, commemorated on November 14....
. Theodora then sought to have Vigilius
Pope Vigilius

Pope Vigilius reigned as pope from 537-555. He belonged to a distinguished Roman family; his father Johannes is identified as a consul in the Liber pontificalis , having received that title from the emperor....
 made pope. During Silverius' papacy, it was alleged that he had purchased his elevation to the see of St. Peter from King Theodahad
Theodahad

File:Theodahad.jpgFile:Theodahad_534_536_Ostrogoth_minted_in_Rome.jpgTheodahad was the King of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536 and a nephew of Theodoric the Great through his sister....
.

On December 9 536
536

Events...
, the Byzantine general Belisarius
Belisarius

Flavius Belisarius is often described as one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Byzantine Emperor Justinian I's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Western Roman Empire, which had been lost just under a century previously....
 entered Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, with the approval of Pope Silverius. Theodahad's successor, Witiges
Witiges

Witiges or Vitiges was King of the Ostrogoths in Italy from 536 to 540.He succeeded to the throne of Italy in the early stages of the Gothic War , as Belisarius had quickly captured Sicily the previous year and was currently in southern Italy at the head of the forces of Justinian I, the Byzantine Empire....
, gathered together an army and besieged Rome for several months, subjecting the city to privation and starvation. It was alleged that Pope Silverius wrote to Witiges offering to betray the city.

He was deposed accordingly by Belisarius in March 537 on a charge of treasonable correspondence with the Goths
Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
, and degraded to the rank of a simple monk. He found his way to Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
, and Justinian I
Justinian I

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus , AD 482 or 483 ? 13 or 14 November 565, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and List of Roman Emperors from 527 until his death....
, who entertained his complaint, sent him back to Rome, but Vigilius was eventually able to banish his rival to the prison island Pandataria (Ventotene
Ventotene

Ventotene is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Campania, Italy. It is the remains of an ancient volcano, and is part of the Pontine Islands....
), where the rest of his life was spent in obscurity. The date of his death is unknown.

According to the Liber Pontificalis
Liber Pontificalis

The Liber Pontificalis is a book of biography of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the Liber Pontificalis stopped with Pope Adrian II or Pope Stephen V , but it was later supplemented in a different style until Pope Eugene IV and then Pope Pius II ....
, Pope St. Silverius was exiled not to Ventotene, but rather to Palmarola
Palmarola

Palmarola is a craggy, mostly uninhabited island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy. It is the second largest of the Pontine Islands and located about 10 kilometres west from Ponza....
, where he died a couple of months later, on June 20 537
537

Events...
.

Pope Silverius was later beatified
Beatification

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic church of a dead person's accession to Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name ....
 and made into a saint
Canonization

Canonization is the act by which a particular Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint and is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints....
 and is now the patron saint of the island of Ponza
Ponza

Ponza is the largest of the Italy Pontine Islands archipelago, located 33 km south of Cape Circeo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It also the name of the commune of the island, a part of the province of Latina in the Lazio region....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
.

He is also called Saint Silverius (San Silverio). According to Ponza Islands legend, fishermen were in a small boat in a storm off Palmarola and they called on Saint Silverius for help. An apparition of Saint Siverius called them to Palmarola
Palmarola

Palmarola is a craggy, mostly uninhabited island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy. It is the second largest of the Pontine Islands and located about 10 kilometres west from Ponza....
 where they survived. This miracle made him a saint.

According to the "New Catholic Encyclopedia" (1966), the dates of Pope Silverius' pontificate are in doubt: "June 1 or 8, 536, to c. Nov. 11, 537; d. Palmaria, probably Dec 2, 537." Likewise, he was never beatified or canonized, but simply acclaimed a saint by the people. The first mention of his name in a list of saints is in the 11th century.