medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (2. January) is also the feast day of:
Sylvester of Troina (d. 1072? or 1164? or 1185?). Like Lawrence of Frazzano' (30 December), Conus or Cono of Naso (a.k.a. Conon or Cono of Nesi; 28 March), and Nicholas Politi (blessed; 17 August), Sylvester is a poorly documented Greek saint from insular Sicily during its period of Norman and Swabian rule.
The basic details of S.'s life as these are usually recounted come from the early modern hagiographer Filippo Ferrari's summary in the _Catalogus sanctorum Italiae_ of information derived from the office for S. at Troina. According to this (see _Acta Sanctorum_, Januar. tom. I., pp. 124-25), S. was born at Troina, entered the monastery of St. Michael the Archangel there, and quickly outstripped his fellow monks in self-denial and general severity of lifestyle. Among his miracles perhaps the most famous is his journey from Troina to Catania by foot in the middle of winter in order to pray at the tomb of St. Agatha and thence back again, all in a single day (an apparently related miracle involving a Greek monk from Troina occurs in abbot-bishop Maurice's account of Agatha's translation from Constantinople; see _Acta Sanctorum_, Feb. tom. I., p. 647).
Returning to Palermo from a trip to Rome, S. predicted and by his prayers obtained the recovery to good health of the future king William II (in hindsight, some might wonder if this were really such a good thing to have done). Evading an attempt to make him abbot of his monastery, S. became a hermit in the woods not far from Troina and died there in 1185. He is Troina's patron saint.
See Alessandro Galuzzi, "Silvestro di Troina, santo", in _Bibliotheca Sanctorum_, vol. 11 (1968), cols. 1074-75, where however Pertusi's death date for S. is erroneously given as 1172 (P., following the _Akolouthia tou hosiou patros hemon Silvestrou tou neou poleos Trounes prostatou_ published in 1626, moves S. back a century and dates his death to 1072).
Best,
John Dillon
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