"St. Sylvester" redirects here. For other uses, see Sylvester (disambiguation) and Saint-Sylvestre (disambiguation).
Pope Saint
Sylvester I
Bishop of Rome
14th-century head reliquary, Zadar
Church
Nicene Church
Papacy began
31 January 314
Papacy ended
31 December 335
Predecessor
Miltiades
Successor
Mark
Personal details
Born
285
Asculam, Roman Empire
Died
31 December 335 (aged 50) Rome, Roman Empire[1]
Sainthood
Feast day
31 December (Catholic)
2 January (Orthodox)
22 December (Armenian)
Venerated in
Catholic Church
Anglican Communion
Eastern Orthodox Church[2]
Armenian Apostolic Church
Lutheran Church
Attributes
Papal vestments
Papal tiara
Bull
Dragon
Patronage
Feroleto Antico[1]
Sylvestrine
Benedictines
Nonantola
Other popes named Sylvester
Pope Sylvester I (also Silvester, 285 – 31 December 335) was the bishop of Rome from 31 January 314 until his death on 31 December 335.[3][4] He filled the See of Rome at an important era in the history of the Western Church, though very little is known of his life.[5]
During his pontificate, he notably convened the Council of Arles in 314, which condemned the separatist Donatist sect, and the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which aimed to resolve the Arian controversy. His pontificate also coincided with the baptism of Roman Emperor Constantine I.[6]
Sylvester I's pontificate coincided with the construction of churches including Old St. Peter's Basilica, the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme), as well as the Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran.[6] His feast is celebrated as Saint Sylvester's Day, on 31 December in Western Christianity, and on 2 January in Eastern Christianity.[7]
^ ab"Patron Saints Index: Pope Saint Sylvester I". Saints.sqpn.com. 5 January 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2013.
^January 15, / January 2. https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/
^Annuario Pontificio per L'anno 2008 [Pontifical Yearbook for the year 2008] (in Italian). [Vatican City] Citta Del Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 2008. p. 8*. ISBN 978-88-209-8021-4.
^Lieu, Samuel N.C. (2006). "Constantine in Legendary Literature". In Lenski, Noel (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. Cambridge University Press. pp. 298–323. ISBN 978-0-521-52157-4.
^Cross, F. L.; Livingstone, E. A., eds. (2005). "Sylvester I, St.". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd rev. ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
^ ab"Pope St. Sylvester I: Saw beginning of Christian empire in Rome". Catholic News Herald. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
^Butler, Alban (1981). Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume 4. Christian Classics. p. 644. ISBN 978-0-87061-046-2. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
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Roman Catholic minor basilica and titular church in Rome dedicated to PopeSylvesterI (d. AD 335). It is located on the Piazza San Silvestro, at the corner...
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characterized by chastity and poverty; The period of Emperor Constantine I and PopeSylvesterI, characterized by the decline of the Church due to ambition and...
although Gregory VI continued to be recognized as the true pope. At the time, Sylvester III also reasserted his claim. A number of influential clergy...
church. In the fourth century, PopeSylvesterI was said to have inaugurated the first Schola Cantorum, but it was Pope Gregory I who established the school...
sacrament from PopeSylvesterI in the Baptistery of the St John Lateran. The painter has given Sylvester the traits of Clement VII, the Pope who had ordered...
Great on his deathbed in 337. A fifth-century legend evolved that PopeSylvesterI was the one to baptize Constantine, but this is dismissed by scholars...
Damasus, Siricius, Celestine and Virgilius. Alleged relics of PopesSylvesterI, Stephen I, and Dionysius were exhumed and enshrined beneath the high altar...
in the 4th century and is mentioned in a passage from the life of PopeSylvesterI in the Liber pontificalis: "[...] at that time, the emperor Constantine...
Maximus, consul suffectus 192 – Commodus, Roman emperor (b. 161) 335 – PopeSylvesterI 669 – Li Shiji, Chinese general (b. 594) 914 – Ibn Hawshab, founder...
is attempted. January 10 – Pope Miltiades' reign ends. January 31 – PopeSylvesterI succeeds Pope Miltiades as the 33rd pope. August 30 – Council of Arles:...
baptised by PopeSylvesterI in the Lateran Baptistery at Rome. This follows the account of Constantine's baptism given in the Acts of Sylvester and the Liber...
15th century, its roots go back to the 4th century and the reign of PopeSylvesterI. The choir's composition and numbers have fluctuated over the centuries...
John Lateran. Accordingly, at the request of Emperor Constantine I, PopeSylvesterI published a Papal Bull proclaiming the same immunity from punishment...
church houses the offices of the Province. The basilica was founded by PopeSylvesterI on a site donated by one Equitius (hence the name of Titulus Equitii)...
cross is a Christian cross, which serves as an emblem for the office of the Pope in ecclesiastical heraldry. It is depicted as a staff with three horizontal...
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