Baring-Gould’s sources: Not mentioned in any Martyrology earlier than the 15th cent. The first to include him in the list of Saints was Peter dc Natalibus. Baronius inserted his name in the Modern Roman Martyrology. Authorities: — 'rhe Liber Pontificalis, and a Life by Liberatus, deacon of Carthage; also for some information, Procopius "De Bello Gothico.'*J Theodor i c the Ostrogoth, disturbed by the fierce contentions which followed the death of Pope John I. in 526, and being master of Italy, resolved to check the constantly recurring scandal, by taking into his own hands the nomination of the popes; and he appointed to the vacant throne Felix IV., a learned and blameless man. But both clergy and people of Rome united to resist this appointment, which deprived them of an exciting contest, by allowing them no voice in the matter.
Theodoric agreed to a compromise; he would suffer the pope to be elected by the suffrages of the clergy and [June ao. people of Rome, but not to take office till he had been confirmed by the sovereign. On this understanding the nomination of Felix was acquiesced in, and his peaceful pontificate lasted four years.
On the death of Felix a double election took place. Furious partisanships would have led to bloody contests in the streets of Rome, had not one of the candidates, Diodorus, opportunely, and possibly from natural causes, died and left his opponent, Boniface II., in undisputed possession of the throne (a.d. 530).
Boniface, conscious of the scandal caused among Catholics and Arians [followers of Arius, who taught that the Son is a created being, not fully God] by the disgraceful scenes of bloodshed and bribery which now seemed inveterate at every papal election, attempted by a bold measure to stop this crying evil. He proposed that each pope should, in his life-time, designate his successor, and he nominated for the purpose a deacon of firm character and ability, named Vigilius, the son of a consul, but one of unbounded ambition* and without conscientious scruple as to what he did to advance his own interests. An obsequious council ratified the extraordinary proceeding; but the clergy and people resented with stubborn hostility this attempt to wrest from them their undoubted privilege. In a second council they expressed their indignation at this daring innovation, and their refusal to tolerate it. The pope acknowledged that his decree had violated ecclesiastical and even civil law, burned it in public, and left the election of his successor to proceed in the old course.
Again, at the death of Boniface, did the same outrageous scenes break out, undisguised, unblushing bribery, fierce strife, and when all was over, shame and horror at what had taken place. The senate of Rome vainly endeavoured to interpose its authority and check vS. Sylverius.
these base and venal proceedings; but when all were greedy of gold, and ready to sell their votes to the highest bidder, their voice was unheeded. Vigilius the deacon, who had been nominated by Boniface, had hoped to succeed him; the superior influence of John II. countervailed. John II. reigned three years, and was succeeded by Agapetus in 535, again to | the disappointment of the ambitious Vigilius. In the j East reigned Justinian [Byzantine emperor 527–565], who meditated the re-conquest of Italy, now fallen from the strong grasp of Theodoric under the feeble sway of Theodotus, the murderer of his benefactress and queen, Amalaswintha. Theodotus, being apprized of the military preparations of Justinian, was filled with alarm, and sent the pope to Constantinople to ward off the impending danger. Agapetus arrived at the imperial city at a moment when he could not fail to be involved in the snares of Byzantine ecclesiastical intrigue. Justinian had raised an actress of disreputable history to share his throne. The empress Theodora, a bigot without faith, a heretic without conviction, by the superior force of her character domineered over the emperor, and took into her hands the direction of the affairs of the Church, and appointed to the highest dignities.
On the arrival of Agapetus in Constantinople, the see of the imperial city was vacant. Theodora gave it to Anthimus, bishop of Trebizond, who was strongly tinctured with Eutychian [followers of Eutyches, who said Christ had only a divine nature; condemned at Chalcedon in 451] views. Agapetus, informed of this, refused to communicate with him, till Anthimus had given him a plain confession of faith in the two natures of Christ. Anthimus refused, and charged Agapetus with Nestorianism [Nestorius (d. c. 451), whose teaching split Christ into two persons; condemned at Ephesus in 431]. The pope declined to acknowledge, and hold communion with, the empress’s favourite. Theodora appealed to Justinian, and de(Jane so.
nounced Agapetus as a heretic. The emperor summoned the pope before him, and demanded of him an account of his faith. Agapetus cleared himself of the charge before Justinian, but was resolute in his refusal to communicate with Anthimus.
“ With the bishop of Trebizond I will receive communion when he shall have returned to his diocese, and I has accepted the decrees of the council of Chalcedon and the Tome of S. Leo.”
Justinian’s mind now, under the influence of the pope, veered round, and he was induced to summon Anthimus before him, convict him of heresy, and degrade him from his see. S. Menas, an orthodox man of blameless life, was consecrated by pope Agapetus himself, who, in a circular letter notified that “the heretical bishop had been deposed by the apostolic authority, with the concurrence of the most religious emperor.” Almost immediately after, Agapetus died, Oct. 1st, a.d. 536. The ambitious deacon Vigilius had accompanied the pope to Constantinople. He saw his opportunity at once, made overtures to Theodora, undertook to acknowledge Anthimus, to refuse communion to Menas, and to reject the authority of the council of Chalcedon, if she would place him in the chair of S. Peter. Theodora readily consented; she furnished him with money to bribe the electors of Rome, and promised to send letters to Belisarius, the general, then in Italy, requiring him to support Vigilius with his troops.; Hoping to arrive in Rome before the news of the death of Agapetus, Vigilius flew to Italy, but found that the news had outsped him, and that Theodotus, for a bribe of tvto hundred pieces of gold, had appointed Sylverius, without an election, and Sylverius was enthroned and consecrated on June 8th, 536, the clergy jane so.] 61 Sylverius. 275 and people, trembling before the swords of the Arian Goths [Germanic peoples who invaded the Roman Empire, many of them Arian Christians], only giving a tardy consent after the pope was installed.1 Natalis, Alexander, Baronius [Cardinal Baronius (d. 1607), church historian who edited the Roman Martyrology] and others have endeavoured to exculpate the pope from the charge of simony, but it must be remembered at this period that such an event as an unbought promotion to the apostolic throne was an impossibility. If the gold was not given to the barbarian and Arian prince, it was lavished among the clergy and people of Rome, and their votes purchased.
Vigilius, finding himself too late, dissembled, ingratiated himself into favour with pope Sylverius, acted as his apocrisiarius, and waited till Belisarius appeared before the gates of Rome to break the power of the barbarian prince, and with it to displace his nominee, Sylverius.
Before long the army of Belisarius, taking advantage of the confusion caused among the Goths by the degradation of the usurper Theodotus, and the elevation of Vitiges, marched upon Rome, which had been deserted by the Goths save by a feeble garrison of four thousand soldiers.
A momentary enthusiasm of religion and patriotism then kindled in the minds of the Romans. They furiously exclaimed that the apostolic throne should no longer be profaned by the triumph of Arianism; and the deputies of the pope and clergy, of the senate and people, invited the lieutenant of Justinian to accept 1 The author of the Life in Anastasius says plainly “ Hie (Silrerius) eleratus cst a tyranno Theodohate sine delibcratione decretii qui Theodohatus corrupt us pecunia, talem timorem induxit clero, ut, qui non consentirct in qusordinationem gladio puniretur. Equidem sacerdotes non subscripserunt secundum morem antiquam, neque decretum confinnarerunt ante ordinationem. Jam autem ordinatio sub rl et metu Silrerio, propter adunationem Ecclcsi* et religinnis, k sbuscriperunt Presbyteri.'* their voluntary allegiance, and to enter the city, whose gates would be thrown open for his reception. Belisarius entered on Dec. 9th, 536, the garrison departed unmolested, and Rome, after sixty years’ servitude, was delivered from the yoke of the barbarians. The first days, which coincided with the old Saturnalia, were devoted to mutual congratulation and public joy; and the Catholics prepared to celebrate, without the irritating presence of Arian rivals, the approaching festival of the Nativity of Christ.
But this joy was speedily brought to a close by the news of the hostile preparations of Vitiges, who rapidly collected his forces, descended upon Rome, and proceeded to invest it.
During the siege a letter was intercepted, which assured the king of the Goths that the Asinarian gate, adjoining the Lateran [St. John Lateran, the pope’s cathedral in Rome] church, should be secretly opened to his troops. Belisarius had no sooner made himself master of the capital, than the consequence of the subjection of Rome to Byzantium had broken on the pope and on Rome.
Whether Sylverius, alarmed for the stability of his throne which he owed to the Goths, had any part in the treasonable offer to introduce them into the city, cannot be decided. Probably he had not; and the letter was employed simply as the excuse for his degradation. This task had been arranged beforehand. It had been committed to the hands surer than those of Belisarius — to those of his wife Antonina, the accomplice of the empress in all her intrigues, and her counterpart in the arbitrary power with which she ruled her husband. Belisarius summoned the pope before him, Sylverius denied having written the letter. The general sifted the evidence, and found that the letter had been written S. Sylverius.
by a lawyer and a soldier. They may have written it in pursuance of the designs of Antonina, with purpose that it might be intercepted. At the same time it must not be forgotten that Sylverius had by this time found cause of uneasiness. Vigilius was openly calling in question his election forced upon the Roman people by the Goths, and offering himself as a candidate for the throne vacant by the irregularity of the appointment of Sylverius. Theodora had furnished him with gold, and this was lavished in bribes.
Belisarius urged the pope to submit to the will of the empress, reject the council of Chalcedon, and acknowledge Anthimus, and so avert the blow which he was powerless to arrest. When he refused, “The empress commands, I must obey,” said the general, “ let those who seek the fall of Sylverius answer for it at the last day.”
The successor of S. Peter was rudely summoned to the Pincian palace, where Belisarius resided. The day was Nov. 1 6th, a.d. 537. He was introduced past the first and second veil, his attendants being required to tarry without. Sylverius had expected some catastrophe, and had spent the night in prayer in a church. His attendants waited trembling.
In the reception room sat Antonina on a bed, her husband reposing on the rug at her feet. “What have we done,” exclaimed the imperious woman, “ that you, Pope Sylverius, should attempt to betray the city and us to the Romans ?” Before Sylverius could answer, at her signal a subdeacon rent the pall from his shoulders, he was hurried by the guards into the outer room, stripped of his pontifical robes, and the coarse habit and cowl of a monk thrown over him. Thus was he brought forth to his [Jane so.
clergy without, and they were informed of the deposition of their pope. Vigilius, the archdeacon and apocrisiarius, had accompanied him; he remained in the presence of Antonina and Belisarius, and received from them assurance of support.
Next day Belisarius summoned the clergy of Rome, and bade them elect the archdeacon in the room of Sylverius, deposed on account of the illegality of his election, and his treason. 11 Some doubted, others scoffed,” but submitted,1 and Vigilius was ordained pope on November 22nd. Belisarius immediately demanded of him a fulfilment of his promise to the empress, but he, fearing the Roman clergy and laity, who were orthodox, hesitated and delayed performance. The most extraordinary part of this strange transaction is the utter ignorance of Justinian of the whole intrigue. From Patara, whither Sylverius was banished, the pope made his way to Constantinople, and to the amazement of the emperor, preferred his complaint of the unjust violence with which he had been expelled his sje. Justinian commanded his instant return to Rome, and the re-hearing of his case. If he were found guilty of treasonable correspondence with the Goths, then he must endure banishment, but if the charge fell to the ground, he was to be re-invested in his dignity. Theodora at once dispatched Pelagius, the apocrisiarius, who afterwards mounted the papal chair under the title of Pelagius I., to bear tidings to Rome, and forewarn and forearm her nominee. But Sylverius outsailed Pelagius, and surprised Vigilius by appearing before Belisarius at Naples with letters from the emperor. 1 "Quibus dubitantlbus et nonnullls ridentibua favorc Bclisarii ordinatus est Virgilius,” Li bar* tut.
June *a] *9. Filoarent. But Vigilius was not a man to be displaced without a struggle. He at once sent to Belisarius requiring him to deliver Sylverius into his hands. 44 Otherwise,” said he, 44 1 will not fulfil my promise to the empress.” Belisarius weakly obeyed, and the pope was delivered to the servants of Vigilius, who hurried him to the island of Pandataria, infamous as the place of exile to which the heathen emperors had consigned the victims of their tyranny.
On this wretched rock the life of Sylverius closed with suspicious celerity, and there can be little doubt that he was murdered by the servants of his successor. Vigilius now reigned without fear of his rival being able to recur to the emperor for support against his pretentions.
