Everything about Pope Silverius totally explained
Pope Saint Silverius was
pope from
June 8,
536 to March
537).
He was a legitimate son of
Pope Hormisdas, born before his father entered the priesthood. He was probably consecrated on
June 8,
536.
He opposed the restoration of the
monophysite heretic, former
patriarch of Constantinople Anthimus, whom
Agapetus had deposed, and thus brought upon himself the hatred of
Empress Theodora. Theodora then sought to have
Vigilius made pope. During Silverius' papacy, it was alleged that he'd purchased his elevation to the see of St. Peter from King
Theodahad.
On
December 9 536, the Byzantine general
Belisarius entered
Rome, with the approval of Pope Silverius. Theodahad's successor,
Witiges, 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, and degraded to the rank of a simple monk. He found his way to
Constantinople, and
Justinian I, who entertained his complaint, sent him back to Rome, but Vigilius was eventually able to banish his rival to the prison island Pandataria (
Ventotene), where the rest of his life was spent in obscurity. The date of his death is unknown.
According to the
Liber Pontificalis, Pope St. Silverius was exiled not to Ventotene, but rather to
Palmarola, where he died a couple of months later, on
June 20 537.
Pope Silverius was later
beatified and
made into a saint and is now the patron saint of the island of
Ponza,
Italy.
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 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.
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