Saint Sylvester was born in Rome around the year 250. Not much is known about him, but legends surround him. Some legends state that at a young age, Sylvester was put under the care of a priest to be formed in the practice of religion and sacred literature. He enjoyed providing shelter to Christians passing through the city, and would take them with him, wash their feet, serve them at table and give them all the care the needed in the name of Christ.

Under the tyranny of Diocletian, the persecution of Christians grew worse while Sylvester was still a young priest. Most Christians that went abroad were put to the test of offering sacrifice, with the alternative of apostasy or death. During this difficult time, Sylvester strengthened the confessors and martyrs, and God preserved his life from many dangers.

A memorable story from Sylvester’s pontificate involved Constantine, who was attacked by leprosy. He was still a pagan at the time, and unconcerned for the Christians, whose doctrine was entirely unknown to him.

One night Saint Peter and Saint Paul appeared to him and commanded him to call for Pope Sylvester, who would cure him by giving him Baptism. He obeyed, and the Pope baptized him, with which came Constantine’s conversion.

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.

His faith so moved his contemporaries, that they publicly honored him as “confessor”, i.e. one who, though not suffering martyrdom, lived a life completely given to Christ. Pope St. Sylvester also contributed to the development of the liturgy. It was most probably during his reign that the first Roman Martyrology was composed, and his name is associated with the creation of the ancient Roman school of sacred song.

Pope St. Sylvester is patron of the chivalric order called the Militia Aurata, or “of the Golden Spur”, which, as tradition would have it, was founded by Emperor Constantine I in person. After various events throughout the centuries, in 1841, Pope Gregory XVI, in the framework of a vast reform of the equestrian orders, separated the Order of Pope St. Sylvester from the Militia Aurata, assigning to the Order of St. Sylvester particular statutes and decorations. In 1905, Pope St. Pius X made further amendments, which are still in force. The Order includes four classes: Knight/Dame, Knight/Dame Commander, Knight/Dame Commander with Star (Grand Officer), Knight/Dame Grand Cross.
with inputs from Franciscan media, Vatican News

Other Saints of the Day
1. Saint John Francis Regis
2. Saint Columba of Sens
3. Saint Melania the Younger
4. Saint Marius Aventicus
5. Saint Zoticus of Constantinople

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