Sylvester Gozzolini
Saint Sylvester Guzzolini | |
---|---|
Priest | |
Born | 1177 Osimo, Papal States |
Died | 26 November 1267 (aged 90) Fabriano, Papal States |
Venerated in | Catholic Church |
Beatified | 1267/69 by Pope Clement IV |
Canonized | 1598, Rome, Papal States by Pope Clement VIII |
Major shrine | Chiesa di Monte Fano |
Feast | 26 November[1] |
Patronage | Silvestrini |
Silvestro Guzzolini (1177 – 26 November 1267) was an Italian Catholic priest and the founder of the Silvestrini.[2] He served as a canon in Osimo but respectful rebukes of his bishop's inappropriate conduct led him to leave for a hermitage before the bishop could strip him of his position.[3] He remained in his hermitage with a determination to found a religious congregation and based it upon the Order of Saint Benedict after having a dream of Benedict of Nursia. His order received papal approval from Pope Innocent IV which allowed his order to expand across Italian cities to a significant degree.[4][5]
His beatification was confirmed in the 1260s after his death in 1267, and he was later canonized in 1598 as a saint.[2][4]
Life
Silvestro Guzzolini was born to Gislerio and Bianca Guzzolini in Osimo.[3] He was sent in 1197 to learn jurisprudence in the college at Bologna, for law, and the college in Padua. Finding no satisfaction in his studies and deeming them too secular, he felt called to the ecclesiastical state and abandoned his studies in law for theological and scriptural studies.[4]
On his return home in 1208 it is said that his father—angered at his change of purpose —refused to speak to him for ten years.[2][3] After the diocesan bishop ordained him in 1217, Guzzolini accepted a position as a canon at Osimo. He devoted himself to pastoral work with such zeal as to arouse hostility from his bishop, whom he had respectfully rebuked for the scandals that the prelate's irregular life had caused.[5]
The prelate threatened to strip him of his position, but Guzzolini decided to leave the world when, while presiding over a funeral, he saw the corpse of one who had once been noted for their looks.[4] He retired to a deserted place far from Osimo in 1227 and lived there in strict poverty until the owner of the land, the nobleman Corrado, recognized him and offered him a better site for his hermitage. The damp drove him from that place, and he established himself next at Grotta Fucile where he later built a convent for his future religious order. In this place his penances were most severe, for he lived on raw herbs and water and slept on the bare ground.[5][3] He may have been inspired by saint Bonfilius, a hermit who originally had also come from Osimo and lived his final years in a hermitage close to Filottrano.[6] Sylvester later build one of the first monasteries in his name close to this hermitage and likely also wrote the first biography of Bonfilius.[7]
Disciples flocked to him seeking his direction and it became vital for him to choose a Rule. His fame worried Pope Gregory IX in 1228, who decided to send the Dominican friars Riccardo and Bonaparte to him to invite him into their order, but he refused.[4] Legend suggests that the various founders appeared to him in a vision each begging him to adopt his Rule. Guzzolini chose for his followers that of Benedict of Nursia in 1231, after having a vision of him, and built his first convent on Montefano near Fabriano, after first removing the remains of a pagan temple.[2][4]
On 27 June 1248, he obtained from Pope Innocent IV a papal bull confirming his order as being canonical. By the time of his death Gozzolini has founded eleven monasteries under this approval.[5][4] He died on 26 November 1267 due to a severe fever; Doctor Andrea embalmed him and the room was filled with a sweet fragrance when he removed Guzzolini's bowels.[4] His remains were later disinterred and placed in a shrine, which is still present at the church of Monte Fano.[3]
Sainthood
The account of his miracles and the growth of his "cultus" (or longstanding veneration) can be found in Bolzonetti. Pope Clement IV beatified Guzzolini and Pope Clement VIII later canonized him in 1598. Pope Leo XIII included his Mass and office in the General Roman Calendar in 1890 with the rank of Double (third-class feast in the 1960 reform of Pope John XXIII) therefore reducing to the status of a commemoration that of Pope Peter I of Alexandria who shared that date. In 1970, that celebration was removed and relegated to the local calendar since it was not a feast of universal importance.[8][9]
See also
References
- ^ "St. Sylvester Gozzolini". catholic.org.
- ^ a b c d "Saint Sylvester Gozzolini". Saints SQPN. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Webster, Douglas Raymund (1912). "St. Sylvester Gozzolini". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. XIV. Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "San Silvestro Guzzolini". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
- ^ a b c d Alban Butler (12 January 2023). "Lives of the Saints".
- ^ Parolin, Pietro (3 June 2017). "ST SYLVESTER THE RELEVANCE OF A CHARISM". Symposium Held at Fabriano Monastery of St Sylvester.
- ^ Nicolini, Ugolino (1971). "BONFIGLIO, santo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Vol. 12. Retrieved 1 December 2022 – via Treccani.
- ^ Calendarium Romanum, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969, p. 147
- ^ "St. Sylvester Gozzolini". Catholic Online. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
External links
- Media related to Sylvester Gozzolini at Wikimedia Commons
- Saints SQPN
- Catholic Online
- v
- t
- e
Stages of canonization: Servant of God → Venerable → Blessed → Saint
- Gabriel
- Michael in the Catholic Church
- Raphael
- Anatolius
- Anthony of Kiev
- Athanasius the Confessor
- Chariton the Confessor
- Dominic
- Edward the Confessor
- Francis of Assisi
- Francis Borgia
- Homobonus
- Lazarus Zographos
- Louis Bertrand
- Maximus the Confessor
- Michael of Synnada
- Paphnutius the Confessor
- Paul I of Constantinople
- Peter Claver
- Salonius
- Sergius of Radonezh
- Theophanes the Confessor
- Pio of Pietrelcina
- Gregory the Great
- Ambrose
- Augustine of Hippo
- Jerome
- John Chrysostom
- Basil of Caesarea
- Gregory of Nazianzus
- Athanasius of Alexandria
- Cyril of Alexandria
- Cyril of Jerusalem
- John of Damascus
- Bede the Venerable
- Ephrem the Syrian
- Thomas Aquinas
- Bonaventure
- Anselm of Canterbury
- Isidore of Seville
- Peter Chrysologus
- Leo the Great
- Peter Damian
- Bernard of Clairvaux
- Hilary of Poitiers
- Alphonsus Liguori
- Francis de Sales
- Peter Canisius
- John of the Cross
- Robert Bellarmine
- Albertus Magnus
- Anthony of Padua
- Lawrence of Brindisi
- Teresa of Ávila
- Catherine of Siena
- Thérèse of Lisieux
- John of Ávila
- Hildegard of Bingen
- Gregory of Narek
- Irenaeus
Fathers
- Alexander of Alexandria
- Alexander of Jerusalem
- Ambrose of Milan
- Anatolius
- Athanasius of Alexandria
- Augustine of Hippo
- Caesarius of Arles
- Caius
- Cappadocian Fathers
- Clement of Alexandria
- Clement of Rome
- Cyprian of Carthage
- Cyril of Alexandria
- Cyril of Jerusalem
- Damasus I
- Desert Fathers
- Desert Mothers
- Dionysius of Alexandria
- Dionysius of Corinth
- Dionysius
- Ephrem the Syrian
- Epiphanius of Salamis
- Fulgentius of Ruspe
- Gregory the Great
- Gregory of Nazianzus
- Gregory of Nyssa
- Hilary of Poitiers
- Hippolytus of Rome
- Ignatius of Antioch
- Irenaeus of Lyons
- Isidore of Seville
- Jerome of Stridonium
- John Chrysostom
- John of Damascus
- Maximus the Confessor
- Melito of Sardis
- Quadratus of Athens
- Papias of Hierapolis
- Peter Chrysologus
- Polycarp of Smyrna
- Theophilus of Antioch
- Victorinus of Pettau
- Vincent of Lérins
- Zephyrinus
- Abda and Abdisho
- Boris and Gleb
- Charles de Foucauld
- Canadian Martyrs
- Carthusian Martyrs
- Child Martyrs of Tlaxcala
- Christina of Persia
- Devasahayam Pillai
- Dismas the Good Thief
- Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
- Four Crowned Martyrs
- Gerard of Csanád
- Great Martyr
- The Holy Innocents
- Irish Martyrs
- John Fisher
- Korean Martyrs
- Lorenzo Ruiz
- Martyrs of Lübeck
- Luigi Versiglia
- Martyrology
- Martyrs of Albania
- Martyrs of Algeria
- Martyrs of Cajonos
- Martyrs of Drina
- Martyrs of China
- Martyrs of Gorkum
- Martyrs of Japan
- 21 Martyrs of Libya
- Martyrs of La Rioja
- Martyrs of Laos
- Martyrs of Natal
- Martyrs of Otranto
- Martyrs of Prague
- Martyrs of Sandomierz
- Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War
- Martyrs of Zenta
- Maximilian Kolbe
- Óscar Romero
- Pedro Calungsod
- Perpetua and Felicity
- Peter Chanel
- Pietro Parenzo
- Philomena
- Saints of the Cristero War
- Stephen
- Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
- Titus Brandsma
- 17 Thomasian Martyrs
- Thomas Becket
- Thomas More
- Three Martyrs of Chimbote
- Ulma Family
- Uganda Martyrs
- Vietnamese Martyrs
- Valentine of Rome
- Victor and Corona
- Zanitas and Lazarus of Persia
- Adeodatus I
- Adeodatus II
- Adrian III
- Agapetus I
- Agatho
- Alexander I
- Anacletus
- Anastasius I
- Anicetus
- Anterus
- Benedict II
- Boniface I
- Boniface IV
- Caius
- Callixtus I
- Celestine I
- Celestine V
- Clement I
- Cornelius
- Damasus I
- Dionysius
- Eleuterus
- Eugene I
- Eusebius
- Eutychian
- Evaristus
- Fabian
- Felix I
- Felix III
- Felix IV
- Gelasius I
- Gregory I
- Gregory II
- Gregory III
- Gregory VII
- Hilarius
- Hormisdas
- Hyginus
- Innocent I
- John I
- John XXIII
- John Paul II
- Julius I
- Leo I
- Leo II
- Leo III
- Leo IV
- Leo IX
- Linus
- Lucius I
- Marcellinus
- Marcellus I
- Mark
- Martin I
- Miltiades
- Nicholas I
- Paschal I
- Paul I
- Paul VI
- Peter
- Pius I
- Pius V
- Pius X
- Pontian
- Sergius I
- Silverius
- Simplicius
- Siricius
- Sixtus I
- Sixtus II
- Sixtus III
- Soter
- Stephen I
- Stephen IV
- Sylvester I
- Symmachus
- Telesphorus
- Urban I
- Victor I
- Vitalian
- Zachary
- Zephyrinus
- Zosimus
- Agabus
- Amos
- Anna
- Baruch ben Neriah
- David
- Elijah
- Ezekiel
- Habakkuk
- Haggai
- Hosea
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Job
- Joel
- John the Baptist
- Jonah
- Judas Barsabbas
- Malachi
- Melchizedek
- Micah
- Moses
- Nahum
- Obadiah
- Samuel
- Seven Maccabees and their mother
- Simeon
- Zechariah (prophet)
- Zechariah (NT)
- Zephaniah
- Agatha of Sicily
- Agnes of Rome
- Angela of the Cross
- Æthelthryth
- Bernadette Soubirous
- Catherine of Bologna
- Brigid of Kildare
- Catherine Labouré
- Catherine of Siena
- Cecilia
- Clare of Assisi
- Eulalia of Mérida
- Euphemia
- Faustina Kowalska
- Faustina and Liberata of Como
- Genevieve
- Hiltrude of Liessies
- Joan of Arc
- Kateri Tekakwitha
- Lucy of Syracuse
- Maria Goretti
- María de las Maravillas de Jesús
- Narcisa de Jesús
- Patricia of Naples
- Rosalia
- Rose of Lima
- Teresa of the Andes
- Teresa of Calcutta
- Trasilla and Emiliana
- Ubaldesca Taccini
- Catholic Church portal
- Saints portal