Birthplace
Rome
Pope from
January 1045
Pope until
10 March 1045
Died
c. 1063
Who he was
John, Bishop of Sabina, was chosen by the Roman faction that had driven out Benedict IX in 1044, and he took the name Sylvester. Within weeks Benedict came back and forced him to retire to his diocese, though Sylvester never gave up his claim.
What he is remembered for
He came to the Council of Sutri in December 1046, where his claim was rejected and he was sentenced to a monastery. Catholic-Hierarchy counts him among the popes and records him as Bishop of Sabina when he died, about 1063, while the Catholic Encyclopedia treats him as an antipope. He is otherwise little known.
Sources
All popes · Home · All saints