20 JUNE – SAINT SILVERIUS (Pope and Martyr)

Silverius succeeded Pope Saint Agapetus to the See of Rome in 536 AD. During his papacy the emperor Justinian recovered Rome and most of Italy from the Ostrogoths. Silverius resisted interference in religious affairs by the empress Theodora and for that he was expelled from Rome and persecuted. After having been taken to Constantinople, he was exiled to the Italian island of Pandataria which had become infamous as a place of banishment to which the enemies of pre-Christian emperors had been sent. Here Pope Silverius died in 538 AD at the hands of his enemies.

Silverius was the son of Pope Saint Hormisdas who had been married before becoming a bishop. Silverius entered the Church as a subdeacon upon the death of Pope Saint Agapetus and succeeded him to the See of Peter in 536. During his pontificate the emperor Justinian recovered Rome and most of Italy from the Ostrogoths. The empress Theodora sought to have Pope Silverius enter into communion with the heretical Monophysites but he resisted and for that he was persecuted and exiled on the island of Palmarola in the Bay of Naples where he died in 537.

Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

At Rome, the demise of St. Novatus, son of the blessed senator Pudens and brother of the saintly priest Timothy, and of the holy virgins of Christ Pudentiana and Praxedes, who were instructed in the faith by the Apostles. Their house was converted into a church and bore the title of Pastor.

At Tomis in Pontus, the holy martyrs Paul and Cyriacus.

At Petra in Palestine, St. Macarius, a bishop who suffered much from the Arians and was banished to Africa where he rested in the Lord.

At Seville in Spain, the holy virgin Florentina, sister of the holy bishops Leander and Isidore.

And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.

Thanks be to God.