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St. Sylvester Gozzolini
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Saints and feasts
St. Sylvester Gozzolini
Abbot, Founder of the Sylvestrine Monks
Sylvester left his canonry at Osimo for retirement and later established the community at Monte Fano. His monks followed the Rule of St. Benedict and became known as the Sylvestrines.
The reading
ⓘ Butler source
Alban Butler, The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints, Volume XI (November), Thomas Richardson and Son, Derby, for the Catholic Book Society, 1846; November 26, “St Sylvester Gozzolini, Abbot, Founder of the Sylvestrine Monks,” pp. 518-519.
Sylvester was born at Osimo and studied law and theology at Bologna and Padua. As a canon of his native city he devoted himself to prayer, religious reading and instruction. Butler relates that his efforts to correct wrongdoing brought opposition, including hostility from the bishop whom he had admonished.
The sight of a dead man whom people had admired in life deepened his desire to leave worldly ambition behind. He withdrew from the city to a solitary place. Others eventually sought to share his way of life, and in 1231 he established a monastery on Monte Fano near Fabriano.
The new community followed the Rule of St. Benedict. Butler records papal confirmation of the institute under Innocent IV and the growth of further houses under Sylvester’s direction. The congregation became known by its founder’s name. His death on November 26, 1267, brought to an end a long religious life in which an initial desire for solitude had led to responsibility for a community of monks.
Historical note
An original Novena Regina reading adapted and summarized from the cited pre-1962 sources. This is not a transcription of Butler’s words.
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