SILVESTER I, Pope, Saint. - Despite his long pontificate (31 Jan. 314-31 Dec. 335), little is known of his life and activity, since it coincided with the prominence of Constantine (v.), the first Christian emperor, who dominated and filled with himself the life of the Empire and of the Church in the first half of the 4th century.
The author of the Lib. Pont. himself dwells at length on enumerating the buildings of Constantine, while he gives only brief mentions of the Pope's activity. S. is said to have promulgated decrees on the consecration of chrism by the bishop, on trials and judgments concerning clerics, on the intervals necessary for access to the sacred Orders, on liturgical vestments and on the manner of receiving heretics into the Church. The founding of the "titulus Equitii" on the Esquiline (S. Martino ai Monti) is attributed to him, but it seems that it was older and that S. had only exercised his ministry there before being elected pope. It is certain, however, that by the end of the 4th century the name and cult of S. were linked to that titulus and that in the 6th century it was already called "titulus s. S."
During his pontificate the Church was troubled by the Donatist and Arian questions, but it does not appear that S. did much for the condemnation of the heretics, although he was well informed of matters. The first, in fact, was decided in the Council of Arles (314) convoked by Constantine, in which the Pope did not participate, but was informed of the decisions by a synodal letter; the second, on the other hand, was decided in the Council of Nicaea (325), also convoked, presided over and directed by Constantine, and in which Osius bishop of Cordoba and two Roman presbyters participated as papal legates. Even in the subsequent phases of the Arian question S. played only a secondary part.
He was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria nuova. His name is already found in the Depositio Episcoporum and is commemorated with the same date and place by the martyrologies, by the Itineraries of the 7th century and by the Sacramentaries.
The person of S., however, did not escape the legend that handed down to posterity a rather heroic figure, to be set against that of Constantine, by whom he had been so meanly overshadowed. Among the so-called "Symmachian Apocrypha" (v. SIMMACO), in fact, three concern precisely S.: they are the Actus beati S., the Constitutum and the so-called Synod of the 275. In the first, of which there exist versions in Latin, Greek and Syriac and which was falsely attributed to Eusebius of Caesarea, a romanticized life of S. is recounted. As a young man he exercised the duties of hospitality toward pilgrims and, enrolled among the clergy, was ordained priest by Miltiades. Elected pontiff, in order to escape the persecution of Constantine he withdrew to Mount Soratte, from which he descended to baptize Constantine himself, converted, and to free him from leprosy. Constantine's building fervor, however, aroused the anger of his mother Helena, who provoked a dispute between S. and some Jews on the true religion; S. remained the victor and Helena embraced Christianity. She then went to the East where she found the Cross of Jesus, while Constantine founded Constantinople.
The "Constitutum" and the "Synod" are a collection of 20 decrees and of the decisions of a supposed synod held by S. in the baths of Trajan after the Baptism of Constantine and in his presence, to validate the decisions of the Council of Nicaea, with which S. is said to have exchanged letters. To these apocrypha in the 8th century was added the famous Donatio Constantini, by which Constantine, transferring his seat to the East, left to S. all his sovereign rights over Rome and conferred many privileges on him and on his clergy.
Bibliography5 works
Valentini-G. Zucchetti, Codice topografico della città di Roma, II, ibid. 1942, pp. 13, 192 ff.
Agostino Amore