The Lives of the Saints through 100 Masterpieces

Sylvester

The Lives of the Saints 200 Sylvester December 31 Sylvester was elected pope in 314, and thus had the joy of witnessing the end of the empire’s persecution of Christians, for it was under his reign that emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan proclaiming religious toleration. The emperor and the pontiff enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship . Tradition has it that Sylvester baptized Constantine and that Constantine, in turn, gave the pope his own tiara. It was under both men’s reign that the Council of Nicæa was held in 325, which produced the Nicene Symbol, the first form of the Creed. Most importantly, the emperor is said to have given the pope sovereignty over the empire of the West. For a long time, this belief was the justification for the temporal power of the papacy. The majority of paintings and frescoes of Saint Sylvester were intended to remind the monarchs of Europe of the legitimate authority the sovereign pontiff had over them. German Gothic School (fourteenth century) Pope Sylvester I Debating with the Jews, Crowned by Constantine, and Baptizing the Emperor Choir of the Cathedral of Cologne ...