Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 5: St. Silverius

Silverius became pope under difficult political circumstances. The Ostrogoth leader Theodahad wanted a pope who was pro-Goth, and not finding someone he liked among the existing possibilities, he had Silverius elected and consecrated in 536. Prior to becoming pope, Silverius was a subdeacon, a position that does not usually lead directly to the throne of St. Peter.

Less than a year later, the Byzantine general Belisarius entered Rome, and while Silverius apparently welcomed his arrival Belisarius had him removed from office and banished (along with a number of senators, all of whom were adjudged as conspiring with the Goths).

Things did not improve for Silverius when he was returned to Rome for trial. He was instead put into the custody of his replacement, Vigilius, who promptly had him banished to an uninhabited island off the west coast of Italy, where he starved to death some months later.

Silverius was acclaimed a saint by the 11th century. One miracle attributed to him involved a fishing boat from Ponza that he saved from sinking during a storm. Not surprisingly this made Silverius a big deal on Ponza, and when a number of people from there settled in the Morrisania section of the Bronx, they brought their saint with them. Today, there's a San Silverio feast every June 20, but it's now held out of a church in Yonkers.