medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (31. September) is the feast day of:
Sylvester I, pope (d. 335). Bishop of Rome from 314, S. was in office for most of the reign of Constantine I. He attended neither the Synod of Arles (314) nor the Council of Nicaea (325), sending instead representatives to these major assemblies. Little else is known about him as pope, though one can suppose that he will have had some hand in the design of the major Roman churches endowed by Constantine. S. was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. In 762 his remains were removed to the later much rebuilt church that now is known as San Silvestro in Capite; in 1601, when the present structure was being consecrated, they (along with the remains of two other popes) were reinterred under the high altar. Which, presumably, is where they are still.
S.'s being such a blank historically may have had a lot to do with the ease with which legends about his relationship with Constantine took hold from the fifth century onward. In their standard form, S. had fled from persecution by the pagan emperor Constantine and was in hiding on Mount Soracte when C. sought his aid in curing the leprosy with which C. was now afflicted. S. descended from the mountain and healed the emperor, who in gratitude converted to Christianity, was baptized by S. in the Lateran Baptistery, and then richly endowed the Roman church. In the early Middle Ages this supposed endowment came to include a grant of supreme temporal power in the western territories of the empire, the so-called Donation of Constantine.
In 747 the Frankish king Carloman retired to Mt. Soracte, where he either expanded an already existing monastery (one is attested to from the late sixth century) or established a new one. In either event, he was subsequently viewed as the imperial founder of the monastery of St. Stephen located on the upper reaches of this height overlooking the Tiber plain and Rome. This lasted until the nineteenth century: remaining now are the restored twelfth-century church and some fragments of other structures. A couple of brief, illustrated Italian-language accounts of what's now called the Eremo di San Silvestro are here:
http://www.avventurasoratte.com/storia%20cultura.htm
http://www.prolocosantoreste.com/leggende.htm
Single views:
front:
http://www.romecity.it/Montesoratte02.htm
http://www.romecity.it/Montesoratte03.htm
http://tinyurl.com/yhqgtb
rear:
http://tinyurl.com/kne5t
http://www.romecity.it/Montesoratte04.htm
http://tinyurl.com/yfjzmp
A view showing a side seldom photographed:
http://www.smgaribaldi.it/carolingia/immagini/oreste05.jpg
Interior:
http://www.smgaribaldi.it/carolingia/oreste06.htm
http://www.smgaribaldi.it/carolingia/sor07.htm
http://www.smgaribaldi.it/carolingia/sor09.htm
http://www.smgaribaldi.it/carolingia/sor10.htm
http://www.smgaribaldi.it/carolingia/sor04.htm
San Silvestro: a ghostly presence or just poor lighting?:
http://www.smgaribaldi.it/carolingia/sor08.htm
One may compare the present austerity of this site with the richness of the papal chapel dedicated to S. at Rome's fortified church of Santi Quattro Coronati. Here are some expandable views of the chapel's cosmatesque floor and of its frescoes of 1246 depicting scenes from the legend of S. and Constantine:
http://www.giovannirinaldi.it/page/rome/santiquattro/
Some details of the frescoes:
1) C.'s messengers approaching S. on Mt. Soracte:
http://www.giovannirinaldi.it/page/rome/santiquattro/image17.htm
2) C. transferring temporal power (symbolized by the tiara) to S.:
http://www.maryfalco.altervista.org/img/san_silvestro.jpg
3) C. holding the bridle of S.'s horse; S. wearing the tiara:
http://www.giovannirinaldi.it/page/rome/santiquattro/image25.htm
Happy Sylvester to all,
John Dillon
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