SILVERIUS  ,

pope from June 536 to March 537, successor of Pope Agapetus I., was a legitimate son of Pope Hormisdas, born before his father entered the priesthood . He was consecrated on the 8th of June 536, having purchased his elevation from the Gothic king Theodotus . Six months afterwards (Dec . 9) he was one of those who admitted Belisarius into the city . He opposed the restoration of the patriarch Anthimus, whom Agapetus had deposed, and thus brought upon himself the hatred of Theodora, who desired to see Vigilius made pope . He was deposed accordingly by Belisarius in March 537 on a charge of treasonable correspondence with the Goths, and degraded to the rank of monk . He went to Constantinople, and Justinian, who entertained his complaint, sent him back to Rome, but Vigilius was ultimately able to banish his rival to Pandataria, where the rest of his life was spent in obscurity . The date of his death is unknown .