I Tawt I Taw an Antipope

Why aren't there more popes called Sylvester?  Seriously, what an awesome name for a pope.  Sylvester just oozes papocity (or do I mean papality?).  Sylvester is a name designed to wear a mitre.  I mean look at what we've got now; Francis.  Pope Frank??  People could be forgiven for assuming that Frank Sinatra had entered the church (although; catholic, arrogant, mafia connections?  He sounds pretty well qualified).  But surely Sylvester is a little better than Frank.  There were three popes called Sylvester but for a few reasons the name never really gained the papal popularity it deserved.

The first Sylvester was pope at the time that the Roman emperor Constantine decided to make Christianity the number one religion in the empire (God had backed him in the battle that won him the imperial crown and this was Constantine's quid pro quo).  It was an exciting time to be pope, churches were being built all over the place, councils were being held and all the persecutions were happening to somebody else for a change.  How much more auspicious a beginning can you get for the name Sylvester?

Despite this amazing leg up it took six centuries before anybody else adopted the name Sylvester.  Sylvester 2.0 was also the first French pope and he took the name because he saw himself as adviser to the Holy Roman emperor Otto III as the first Sylvester had been to Constantine (which was stretching the relationship a bit but whatever).  The second Sylvester was a great admirer of Arabic learning (which he encountered in Spain) and reintroduced a lot of knowledge into Europe that had been lost with the collapse of the Roman empire.  He also took steps against corruption in the church which it must be admitted is still a work in progress over a thousand years later.  Being so close to the emperor had its disadvantages such as when the population of Rome rose in revolt against Otto and drove him from the city.  Poor Sylvester had to run too and he didn't get back until after Otto was dead whereupon he died himself.

After that it has to be admitted that things went into a bit of a decline for the name Sylvester.  There was a third who was pope for about a fortnight in 1045 but since his predecessor was still alive (and Sylvester was widely considered to have got the job through bribery) his tenure didn't last long.  His predecessor excommunicated him and took his job back (that guy's name was Benedict.  Coincidence?  Maybe but if I was Francis I'd be double locking the doors).  Strangely despite his dubious appointment and the manner of his removal Sylvester III is still considered an official pope of the Catholic church, possibly his only genuine achievement.

However what really put the kiss of death on Sylvester as a papal name was Sylvester IV.  "But there were only three popes called Sylvester" I hear you cry.  Or at least you should cry if you have been paying attention so far.  Very true; Sylvester IV was an antipope (cue dramatic music).  From time to time for various reasons (usually political but occasionally personal and, very rarely, moral) it is decided that God has made a bit of a mess of determining who should lead the Catholic church.  When this happens the person in question is declared an antipope and is generally considered to be a bad guy.

Sylvester IV was elected pope by the Roman nobility with the support of the German king Henry V despite the fact that the church had a fairly serviceable pope already in the form of Paschal II.  Paschal turned up in Rome the very next day breathing fire and Sylvester ran like a rat for safer pastures.  A few years later Henry cut a deal with Paschal which included cutting Sylvester adrift and he was forced to resign from his pretensions.

So as you can see the name Sylvester has a somewhat patchy track record within the church.  It's fair to say that early promise wasn't fulfilled.  Still its been over eight hundred years since that last bit of "unpleasantness".  Even with a corporate memory as long as the Vatican's surely its time to give the name Sylvester another chance.  At least the new pope Sylvester would be starting from a pretty low benchmark.