St. Sylvester I

Biography

St. Sylvester I (d. 335) was a Roman priest elected Bishop of Rome on January 31, 314, not long after the Emperor Constantine had granted Christians freedom of worship in 313. His long pontificate of nearly twenty-two years coincided with a new era for the Church, which could now worship openly and build publicly. During these years Constantine built great churches in Rome, including the Lateran Basilica, the cathedral of Rome, and the first Basilica of St. Peter over the Apostle's tomb on the Vatican Hill. Sylvester sent representatives to the Council of Arles in 314, and in 325 he sent two priests, Vitus and Vincent, as his legates to the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council, which condemned the Arian heresy and proclaimed that the Son is 'one in being with the Father.' Few reliable details of his personal life survive. Later legends claimed that he cured Constantine of leprosy and baptized him; in fact Constantine was baptized shortly before his death in 337. The so-called Donation of Constantine, which claimed that the emperor gave Sylvester authority over the Western Empire, was a forgery written centuries later. Sylvester died on December 31, 335, and was buried in the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. He was among the first saints honored by the Roman Church who were not martyrs.

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