1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Siricius
SIRICIUS, pope from December 384 to November 399, the influence of the monks, and did not treat Jerome with the favour with which he had been honoured by preceding popes, with the result that Jerome left Rome and settled at Bethlehem. Some years later, however, Siricius condemned the anti-ascetic doctrines of Jovinianus. Several of the decretal letters of Siricius are extant, in which, at the request of certain groups of Western bishops, he sets forth the rules of ecclesiastical discipline. It was under his pontificate that a general council was convened at Capua in 391, at which various Eastern affairs were brought forward. Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, at the request of Siricius, had two important disputes settled by two councils held in 393 at Caesarea and Contantinople, relating respectively to the sees of Antioch and Bostra. The council of Capua, inspired by the pope, deferred to the council of Macedonia the affair of Bonosus, bishop of Sardinia, who had been accused of heresy. To safeguard the authority of the Holy See over the bishops of Illyricum, Siricius entrusted his powers to the bishop of Thessalonica, who was henceforth the vicar of the pope in those provinces. In 386 Siricius had protested against the attitude of Bishop Ithacius, the accuser of Priscillian, and this protest he resolutely maintained, although he disapproved of the doctrines taught by the Spanish doctor. It was during his pontificate that the last attempt to revive paganism in Rome was made (392-394) by Nicomachus Flavianus. Siricius died on the 26th of November 399. (L. D.*)