SILVERIUS
793
SILVESTER
vincial of India in 1555. The appointment was ap-
proved by St. Ignatius a few months before his death.
Fr. Gongalo's term of government in India lasted
three years. He proved a worthy successor of St.
Francis Xavier, who had left India in 1549, and his
apostolic labours and those of the hundred Jesuits
under him, were crowTied with much success, yet
he was not considered the perfect model of a superior.
He used to say that God had given him the great
grace of unsuitabihty for government — apparently
a certain want of tact in dealing with human weakness.
The new provincial Fr. Antonio de Quadros sent
him to the unexplored mission field of south-east
Africa. Landing at Sofala on 11 March, 1560, Fr.
Gongalo proceeded to Otongwe near Cape Corrientes.
There, during his stay of seven weeks, he instructed
and baptized the Makaranga chief, Gamba and
about 450 natives of his kraal. Towards the end of
the year he started up the Zambesi on his expedition
to the capital of the Monomotapa (q. v.) which ap-
pears to have been the N'Pande kraal, close by the
M'Zingesi river, a southern tributary of the Zambesi.
He arrived there on 26 December, 1560, and remained
until his death. During this interval he baptized
the chief and a large number of his subjects. Mean-
while some Arabs from Mozambique, in.stigated by
one of their priests, began to spread calumnies against
the missionaries, and Fr. Silveira was strangled in
his hut by order of the chief. The expedition sent
to avenge his death never reached its destination,
while his apostolate came to an abrupt end from a
want of missionaries to carry on his work.
Chadwick, Life nf the Ven. Gon^alo Da Silveira (Roehampton, 1910); Theal, Records of S. E. Africa, printed for the Govern- ment of Cape Colony, VII (1901) ; Wilmot, Monomotapa (Lon- don, 189G).
James Kendal.
Silverius, Saint, Poi^e (536-37), dates of birth and death unknown. He was the son of Pope Hor- misdas who had been married before becoming one of the higher clergy. Silverius entered the service of the Church and was subdeacon at Rome when Pope Agapetus died at Constantinople, 22 April, 536. The Empress Theodora, who favoured the Monophysites sought to bring about the election as pope of the Roman deacon Vigilius who was then at Constanti- nople and had given her the desired guarantees as to the Monophysites. However, Theodatus, King of the Ostrogoths, who wished to prevent the election of a pope connected with Constantinople, forestalled her, and by his influence the subdeacon Silverius was chosen. The election of a subdeacon as Bishop of Rome was unusual. Consequently, it is easy to understand that, as the author of the first part of the life of Silverius in the "Liber pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 210) relates, a strong opposition to it appeared among the clerg>'. This, however, was sup- pressed by Theodatus so that, finally, after Silverius had been consecrated bishop (probably on 8 June, 536) all the Roman presbyters gave their consent in writing to his elevation. The assertion made by the author just mentioned that Silverius secured the inter\'ention of Theodatus by payment of money is unwarranted, and is to be explained by the writer's hostile opinion of the pope and the Goths. The author of the second part of the life in the "Liber pontificalis" is favour- ably inclined to Silverius. The pontificate of this pope belongs to an unsettled, disorderly period and he himself fell a victim to the intrigues of the Byzan- tine Court.
After Silverius had become pope the Empress Theodora sought to win him for the Monophy- sites. She desired especially to have him enter into communion with the Monophysite Patriarch of Con- stantinople, Anthimus, who had been excommuni- cated and deposed by Agapetus, and with Severus of Antioch. However, the pope committed himself to
nothing and Theodora now resolved to overthrow
him and to gain the papal see for Vigilius. Troub-
lous times befell Rome during the struggle that broke
out in Italy between the Ostrogoths and the Byzan-
tines after the death of Amalasuntha, daughter of
Theodoric the Great. The Ostrogothic king, Vitiges,
who ascended the throne in August, 536, besieged the
city. The churches over the catacombs outside of
the city were devastated, the graves of the martyrs in
the catacombs themselves were broken open and
desecrated. In December, 536, the Byzantine general
Belisarius garrisoned Rome and was received by the
pope in a friendly and courteous manner. Theodora
sought to use Belisarius for the carrying out of her
plan to depose Silyerius and to put in his place the
Roman deacon Vigilius (q. v.), formerly apocrisary at
Constantinople, who had now gone to Italy. Anton-
ina, wife of BeUsarius, influenced her husband to act
as Theodora desired. By means of a forged letter
the pope was accused of a treasonable agreement with
the Gothic king who was besieging Rome. It was
asserted that Silverius had offered the king to leave
one of the city gates secretly open so as to permit the
Goths to enter. Silverius was consequently arrested
in March, 537, roughly stripped of his episcopal dress,
given the clothing of a monk and carried off to exile
in the East. Vigilius was consecrated Bishop of
Rome in his stead.
Silverius was taken to Lycia where he was sent to reside at Patara. The Bishop of Patara very soon dis(!Overed that the exiled pope was innocent. He journeyed to Constantinople and was able to lay be- fore the Emperor Justinian such proofs of the inno- cence of thee.xile that the emperor wrote to Belisarius commanding a new investigation of the matter. Should it turn out that the letter concerning the al- leged plot in favour of the Goths was forged, Silverius should be placed once more in possession of the papal see. At the same time the emperor allowed Silverius to return to Italy, and the latter soon entered the country', apparently at Naples. However, Vigilius arranged to take charge of his unlawfully deposed predecessor. He evidently acted in agreement with the Empress Theodora and was aided by Antonina, the wife of Behsarius. Silverius was taken to the Island of Palmaria in the Tyrrhenian Sea and kept there in close confinement. Here he died in con- sequence of the privations and harsh treatment he endured. The year of his death is unknown, but he probably did not live long after reaching Palmaria. He was buried on the island, according to the testi- mony of the "Liber pontificalis" on 20 June; his re- mains were never taken from Palmaria. According to the same witness he was invoked after death by the believers who visited his grave. In later times he was venerated as a saint. The earliest proof of this is given by a list of saints of the eleventh century (Melanges d'archeologie et d'histoire, 1893, 169). The "^lartyrologium" of Peter de NataUbus of the fourteenth century also contains his feast, which is recorded in the present Roman Martyrology on 20 June.
Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, I, 290-95; Liberatus, Breviarium causce Nestorianorum et Eutychianorum, XXII, in P. L., LXVIII, 1039 sq.; Procopius, De hello gothico, I, xxv; Acta SS., June, IV, 13-18; Jaff^, Regesta pont. rom., I, 2nd ed., 115 sq.; Lan'gen-, Gesch. der romischen Kirche, II, 341 sqq.; Grisar, Gesch. Roms u. der Pdpste, I, 502-04, and passim; Hefele, Konziliengesch., II, 2nd ed., 571.
J. P. KiRSCH.
Silvester. See Sylvester.
Silvester, Francis (Ferrariensis), theologian, b. at Ferrara about 1474; d. at Rennes, 19 Sept., 1526. At the age of fourteen he joined the Do- minican Order. In 1516 he was made a master in theology. He was prior first in his native city and then at Bologna, and in the provincial chap- ter held at Milan in 1519 he was chosen Vicar-
