The Legend of Pope St Silvester I
Constantine (who, like all good monarchs, sleeps in full regalia and a wearing a crown), has a dream in which the Apostles Peter and Paul appear to him, and tell him not to kill the children, but rather to seek out the Christian bishop of Rome, who will cure him of his leprosy. (Notice that the decorative pattern on Constantine’s robe passes through the space delineated by it without conforming to the folds of the cloth, another classic feature of medieval art on which the Renaissance will seek to improve.)
Constantine’s emissaaries (who are taller than the horses they are riding) ride out to seek Pope Silvester…
and find him (after turning the corner of the wall) on Mt Soracte to the north of Rome, hiding with other members of the clergy from the ongoing persecution of the Church. (Note the verticle tree in the background.)
Pope Silvester meets the Emperor and shows him an icon of Ss Peter and Paul, whom Constantine recognizes as the men who had appeared to him in his dream. He therefore accepts the truth of the vision…
In gratitude for his healing, Constantine then gives temporal authority over the city of Rome and “the Western regions” to the Pope, the so-called Donation of Constantine, as assertion of the Pope’s independence, as a secular ruler in his own right, from imperial control. This authority is symbolized by the hat which the Emperor passes to him, which is more elaborate than his miter. (When this fresco was made in the mid-13th century, the Donation of Constantine had not yet been recognized as a forgery; the man who revealed to be such, an Italian priest and humanist scholar named Lorenzo Valla, died in 1457, is in fact buried right up the street in the Lateran Basilica.)
The story continues on the opposite wall with Constantine’s mother, the dowager Empress St Helena, who holds a debate to determine which of the two monotheistic religions, Christianity or Judaism is true. A rabbi decides to prove the truth of Judaism by whispering what he claims to be the Divine Name into the ear of a ferocious bull, which immediately dies. However, (as recounted in the Golden Legend) Pope Silvester whispers into its ear, “O name of cursing and death, go out by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name I say to thee: o bull, arise, and return in all mildness to thy flock.” The bull immediately comes back to life and walks away. Helena and all those present, including the rabbis, become Christians.
She then goes on her great expedition to the Holy Land, where she discovers the site of Mt Calvary and the relics of the True Cross.
The last fresco in the cycle is badly damaged, but the story it tells is well-known. When the site of Mt Calvary was dug up, the uprights of the three crosses of Our Lord and the two thieves were found separated from the crossbars. The upright of the Cross was identified because the Title was still nailed to it, but the crossbars were indistinguishable from each other. The bishop of Jerusalem, St Macarius, therefore had a dying woman brought to the site, and touched with the wood of each in turn; she was, of course, healed completely by the third one, which was thus recognized as the Lord’s.
Source: http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2020/12/the-legend-of-pope-st-silvester-i.html
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