Although the pontificate of Pope Saint Sylvester I was the tenth longest in history (twenty-one years), he himself does not appear as a very dynamic personality. He seems rather to have been used by the first Christian emperor Constantine for his own purpose of bring unity to the empire. Patrick Duffy writes his story.
A figurehead during the reign of Constantine I
Sylvester was chosen pope in succession to Pope Miltiades (311-314). His pontificate coincided with the reign of the first Christian emperor, Constantine I. But he himself does not appear to have been an outstanding character in any way; rather he appears simply as a figurehead whom Constantine used to achieve his won purpose, - the unity of his empire. He saw Christianity, which even during the persecutions had become a prestige religion, as a means to achieve this.
Basilicas built in Rome
It was during the pontificate of Sylvester that Constantine gave over to the Church the Domus Faustae (the Lateran palace) and that new churches were built - the basilica and baptistery of the Lateran, the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (formerly the Sessorian palace) the original basilica of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.
Council of Nicea (325)
Although the First Council of Nicaea defining the divinity of Jesus in 325 took place during his reign, he played no part in its proceedings. It was Constantine who convened and presided over it.
The Donation of Constantine
The Donation of Constantine is a document which purports to be from the fourth century. In it Constantine I grants to Pope Sylvester I and his successors, as inheritors of St. Peter, dominion over lands in Judea, Greece, Asia, Thrace, Africa, as well as the city of Rome, with Italy and the entire Western Roman Empire, while Constantine would retain imperial authority in the Eastern Roman Empire from his new imperial capital of Constantinople. The text claims this was Constantine's gift to Sylvester for instructing him in the Christian faith, baptizing him and miraculously curing him of leprosy. The poet Dante Alighieri in his Divine Comedy lamented it as the root of papal worldliness. In fact, according to the contemporary account of the historian Eusebius of Caesarea, Constantine was baptised on his deathbed at by the bishop of that city, another Eusebius. It was not until the mid 15th-century, with the revival of classical scholarship and textual criticism, that the Church realised that the document could not possibly be genuine and that it was proved to have been a forgery drafted in Rome in Rome in the middle of the eighth century. It was probably because of The Donation of Constantine that Sylvester in the Middle had taken on the appearance of a great pope.
In a ceremony on 11th May 330 Constantine set up Constantinople at the ancient port of Byzantium and gave up his interest in the other part of the empire and in this way confirmed the medieval myth of his "donation" of the West to the bishop of Rome. He had Arius taken back into the church and when Athanasius objected, Constantine convened a council composed only of Arian bishops at Tyre in 335, had him dethroned as Patriarch of Alexandria and sent into exile.
His death and liturgical feast
Sylvester was unable to intervene and he died on 31st December 335 and was buried in the Catacomb of Priscilla. This is the last day in the year and, accordingly, in German-speaking countries and in some others close to them, New Year's Eve is known as Silvesterabend. In other countries too, the day is usually referred to as Saint Sylvester's Day or the Feast of Saint Sylvester (in French as la Saint-Sylvestre). |
