SYLVESTER
371
SYLVESTER
of 275 bishops at Rome, are entirely legendary. The
pope, however, took part in the negotiations con-
cerning Arianism and the Council of NicKa, and the
expression 6iwovaLo$ was probably agreed upon with
him before the council. The pontiff also sent legates
to the first cecuracnical council. Still it is not cer-
tain whether Constantine had arranged beforehand
with Sylvester concerning the actual convening of the
council, nor whether there was an e.xpress papal con-
firmation of the decrees beyond the signatures of
the papal legates (cf. Funk in "Kirchengesch.
Abhandlungen und Untersuchungen", I, 9.5, 501 sq.).
During Sylvester's pontificate w'ere built the great
churches founded at Rome by Constantine, e.g. the ba-
silica and baptistery of the Lateran near the former
imperial palace where the pope lived, the basiUca of
the Sessorian palace (Santa Croce), the Church of St.
Peter in the Vatican, and several cemeterial churches
3ver the graves of martyrs. No doubt the pope helped
towards the construction of these churche.s. Sylves-
ter's memory is especially connected with the titular
Church of Equitius,
which takes its
name from a Ro-
man presbyter who
is .said to have
erected this church
on his property. It
was situated near
the IhertiuF of Dio-
cletian, and still ex-
ists. Parts of the
present building
may date from the
fourth century. No
doubt the pope
contributed to the
de\eloi)ment of the
liturgy of the
Church at Rome.
During his reign,
moreover, the first
martyrology of Ro-
man martyrs was
probably drawTi up.
Sylvester is con-
nected also with
the establishment
jf the Roman school of singing. On the Via Salaria
lie built a cemeterial church over the Catacomb of
Priscilla, the ruins of which have lately been brought
to light. In this church he was buried. His feast is
?iven under 31 December in the "Depositio episco-
porum", or hst of the burial days of the Roman
bishops, which was compiled barely a year after his
ieath; the same date is given in the "Calendar" of
Philocalus. This day, therefore, is doubtless the day
Df his burial. For his possiljle relations with Armenia,
see Gregory the Illuminator.
Liber pontificalis, ed. Duchesne. I, 170-201: introduction, cii K].: Jaffe. Regesia rom. ponl. ,2ad ed., I, 28-30; Vila bmli SuhfBtri in La.vd, Anecdota syriaca. III, 46 sq. and in ScRics. Vite mnct., VI, 1173 sq.; Laxoen, Gfsrh. der rSmischen Kirclie, I 395 sqq.: DoLLiNOER, Papal/abeln (2nd ed., 1800), 61 sqq.; Ma- BCCCHI, La basilica papale del cimitero di Priscilla (Rome. 190S). J. P. KiRSCH.
Sylvester 11 (Gerbert), Pope (999-100.3), b. at or near .\urillac, Auvergne, France, about 940-50, of humble parents; d. at Rome, 12 May, 1003. Gerbert entered the service of the Church and received his first trainmg in the Monastery of Aurillac. He was then taken by a Spanish count to .Spain, where he studied at Barcelona and also under .\rabian teachers at Cor- dova and .Seville, giving much attention Ui mathe- matics and the natural sciences, in which he made un- usual progress. From .pain he proceeded to Rome with Bishop H.atto of Vich, who had been his chief theological instructor, and John XIII recommended
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him to the Emperor Otto 1, who sent him to Reims
to the archdeacon Gerannus. There he was soon
appointed a teacher in the cathedral school by Arch-
bishop Adalbero. He undertook journeys of consider-
able length, e.g. to Ravenna, where he held a disputa-
tion with Ortricus of Magdeburg before Otto II. In
983 Otto II bestowed on him the Abbey of Bobbio,
but the abbey was very poor and Gerbert returned to
Reims. He again taught the most varied branches
with great success, devoted himself zealously to
study, and helped to raise Hugh Capet to the throne.
Adalbero wished Gerbert to be his successor, but
when the former died in 988 Amulph, a natural son
of King Lothaire, was raised to the see at the in-
stigation of Hugh Capet. Arnulph was deposed in
991 by a synod held near Reims for alleged trea-
son against the king, and Gerbert wa.s elected his
successor. Although Gerbert soon held a provincial
synod to condemn those who had injured the prop-
erty of the Church, and these decisions were con-
firmed at another synod held at Chela under the
presidency of Robert, King of France, there was much
opposition to Gerbert's elevation to the See of Reims.
Consequently John XV sent Leo, Abbot of >Sts. Boni-
face and Alexius at Rome, as legate to France. On
2 June, 995, Leo held a synod at Mouson. Gerbert
appeared personally to defend himself, but was tem-
porarily suspended from his episcopal office. He
sought to show that this decree was unlawful, but a
further synod (concilium Causeiensc), held on 1 July,
995, at which Gerbert was ])resent, declared Arnulph'a
deposition and Gerbert's elevation illegal and invalid.
Gerbert now went to the Court of the youthful Em- peror Otto III, whose teacher he became and whom he accompanied to It!ily for the coronation. As the Archbishopric of Reims was not restored to Gerbert, he remained in Italy, and in 998 Gregorys V appointed him .\rchbishop of Ravenna. Gerbert attended the Roman synod before which the marital affairs of King Robert of France were laid. When Gregory V died on 18 February-, 999, Gerbert was elected his successor through the influence of the emjjcror, and took the name of Sylvester. He was the first French pope. The new- head of the Church administered his high office with great earnestness and a profound sense of responsibility. His discourse upon the epis- copal office shows w-hat his view of the chief spiritual pastors of the Church was (".Sermo de informatione episcoporum ", P. L., CXXXIX, 169 sq.). He took energetic measures against the abuses in the life of the clergy caused by simony and concubinage, and w!is anxious that only capable men of spotless lives should receive the episcopal office. His relations with Otto III were very friendly, and he supported the em- peror's political ideas. Otto gave the pope eight Italian countships, which had formerly belonged to the .States of the Church, by a deed of gift the genu- ineness of which, however, is questioned (Wilmans, "Jahrbiicher des deutschen Reiches unter den sach- sischen Kaisern", II, pt. II, 233 sq.). At the same time the emperor declared the Donation of Constan- tine to be a forgery. During Otto's residence at Rome in the winter of 1000-1001 .Sylvester held a Roman synod on 1 February, 1001, in the presence of the emperor, at which among other matters the affairs of the convent of Gandersheim were discussed. A revolt at Rome directed against the emperor forced Otto and the pope to flee. .Sylvester was obliged to remain away for several months, during which the city suffered from party quarrels. On 27 December he called a second synod at Todi on account of the difficulties at Gandersheim, and shortly after w-aa present at Otto's death.
.Sylvester regulated important ecclesiastical mat- ters in various countries. Soon after his elevation to the papacy he confirmed anew- his former opjionent Amulph as Archbishop of Reims, and in the Bull which
