SILVERIUS, Pope, Saint. - A native of Frosinone, son of Pope Hormisdas, he was elected pontiff in June 536, through the intervention of the Gothic king Theodahad, despite being a subdeacon and despite the opposition of the clergy.
His brief pontificate was embroiled and troubled by the political and religious struggles that in those years disturbed Italy and of which S. fell victim. Shortly after his election his protector, Theodahad, died, and Belisarius occupied Rome (Dec.) on behalf of the Byzantine Emperor, driving out the Gothic king Witigis. The latter returned the following February, laying siege to Rome for about a year, during which he devastated churches and cemeteries, especially in the Salaria region, where he had encamped.
During the siege, meanwhile, there arrived in Rome from Constantinople, where he was apocrisiarius, the deacon Vigilius with letters from the Empress Theodora in which she recommended to Belisarius that he work to have Vigilius elected to the pontifical see. It seems that the latter had promised Theodora to restore to the Church of Constantinople the patriarch Anthimus, already deposed by Pope Agapetus, and especially to annul the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon. Belisarius, eager to obey the Empress, but at the same time unable to depose the legitimate pontiff, by whom moreover he had been well received, summoned S. to his palace, seeking to persuade him to accede to the imperial demands. Naturally the Pope refused; recourse was then had to calumnies, and a supposed letter of S. to Witigis was circulated, in which he promised to hand over Rome to him by opening the Asinarian Gate near the Lateran. Belisarius summoned S., who easily cleared himself of the calumny, and in order to remove every suspicion and pretext from his enemies he went to live near the church of St. Sabina. The intrigues against him, however, did not cease; in March 537 for the third time he was summoned to the palace of Belisarius, and while his clerics were detained in the antechamber, S. was brought in accompanied only by Vigilius. Suddenly a deacon stripped the pallium from him while two others dressed him in a monastic habit. To the clerics waiting it was announced that S. was no longer pope and that they should think about electing the successor: naturally the one elected was Vigilius! S. was sent into exile at Patara in Lycia; there he was able to make known to the local bishop the true state of affairs, and the latter, with holy boldness, went to Justinian, reproaching him for the atrocious crime. The Emperor then ordered that S. be brought back to Rome and subjected to a regular trial, but upon arriving in Italy he was handed over to Vigilius, who had him relegated to the island of Palmaria, where he died of hardship and hunger. His tomb became a destination for pilgrimages, and the Lord even worked miracles there. In the Roman Martyrology S. is commemorated on 20 June, but this is a date arbitrarily established by Ado.
Bibliography7 works
Agostino Amore