Pope St. Sylvester I

  Posted on December 30, 2023  by admin  No comments

Born: Roman

Papal Ascension: 314

Died: 31 December 335 at Rome, Italy, relics transferred to the Church of Saint Sylvester in Capite in Rome in 761

Patronage: animals, for good harvests, stone masons, Order of Saint Sylvester, Calvisano, Italy, Castroreale, Italy, Feroleto Antico, Italy, Poggio Catino, Italy

St. Sylvester was the first Pope of Rome to reign entirely under the liberty of the Church, guaranteed by the Edict of Milan in 313. Sylvester – a priest of Rome and the son of one Rufinus, according to the Liber pontificalis – was elected to the See of Peter in 314. During Sylvester’s reign, the city began its transition into its Christian era, with the construction of the great Constantinian basilicas – including the Basilica of St. Peter on the Vatican Hill, which was erected above a temple dedicated to Apollo, to mark the burial place of the first Bishop of Rome. St. Sylvester and Emperor Constantine also collaborated on the the Lateran Basilica and  Baptistery, which were built adjacent to the former imperial palace where the Pontiff lived, as well as  the (Roman) Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, and the Basilica of St. Paul outside the walls. Sylvester’s memory, however, is most closely tied to the church of St. Martin and Sylvester (known as the titulus Equitii, owing to its building site’s having been donated by a priest, Equitius) which still stands in Rome’s Monti neighborhood.

“Confessor of Faith”

It is uncertain, however, what role Sylvester hade – if any – in the negotiations regarding the Donatists at Arles, or over Arianism at the first Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325. According to some, he did not even have the opportunity to intervene.