Saint Sylvester I

Lives of the Saints

by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. edition

[1894]

December 31.—ST. SYLVESTER, Pope.

SYLVESTER was born in Rome toward the close of the third century. He was a young priest when the persecution of the Christians broke out under the tyrant Diocletian. Idols were erected at the corners of the streets, in the market-places, and over the public fountains, so that it was scarcely possible for a Christian to go abroad without being put to the test of offering sacrifice, with the alternative of apostasy or death.

During this fiery trial, Sylvester strengthened the confessors and martyrs, God preserving his life from many dangers. In 312 a new era set in. Constantine, having triumphed under the “standard of the Cross,” declared himself the protector of the Christians, and built them splendid churches.

At this juncture Sylvester was elected to the chair of Peter, and was thus the first of the Roman Pontiffs to rule the flock of Christ in security and peace. He profited by these blessings to renew the discipline of the Church, and in two great Councils confirmed her sacred truths.

In the Council of Arles he condemned the schism of the Donatists; and in that of Nicæa, the first general Council of the Church, he dealt Arianism its death-blow by declaring that Jesus Christ is the true and very God. Sylvester died A. D. 335.

Pope Sylvester I

Seventh Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord Saint Sylvester , Pope] 1 Jn 2:18-21/Jn 1:1-18 (204) Pss Prop.

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/saints/sylvester-775
CATHOLICISM SAINTS ST. SYLVESTER

*Pope Sylvester I (also Silvester, 285 – 31 December 335) was the bishop of Rome from 31 January 314 until his death. He filled the see of Rome at an important era in the history of the Western Church, yet very little is known of him. The accounts of his pontificate preserved in the seventh-or eighth-century Liber Pontificalis contain little more than a record of the gifts said to have been conferred on the church by Constantine I, although it does say that he was the son of a Roman named Rufinus. His feast is celebrated as Saint Sylvester’s Day, on 31 December in Western Christianity, and on 2 January in Eastern Christianity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sylvester_I

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.

Ps 102:25–27