A quiet life of prayer and work.
January 2
Not verified yet
Monk
Nothing reliable is known of Silvester. Tradition makes him a monk of the order of St. Basil at the convent of St. Michael in Bari.
Legends credit him with many miracles: that he once walked to Catania and back in a winter's day, and that he went into a baker's furnace to rake the embers together when the baker lost his shovel, and came out unhurt. These are traditions only.
Thin entry · the 1914 book gives only 194 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.
Saint Silvester, of whom nothing authentic is known, is traditionally said to have been a monk of the order of S. Basil, in the convent of S. Michael, at Bari. Various miracles are attributed to him, as his having gone one winter day to Catania and back on foot. He is also said to have entered a baker's furnace to scrape the living embers together for him, when he had lost his shovel, and to have come forth unhurt.
Build up the community you belong to. This life was lived with and for a community.
Learn from the kind of life it was. A quiet life of prayer and work.
Saint Silvester, of whom nothing authentic is known, is traditionally said to have been a monk of the order of S. Basil, in the convent of S. Michael, at Bari. Various miracles are attributed to him, as his having gone one winter day to Catania and back on foot. He is also said to have entered a baker's furnace to scrape the living embers together for him, when he had lost his shovel, and to have come forth unhurt.
Oblation of an Infant to a Religious Community. After a Miniature in the Burgundy Library at Brussels.
The Octave of S. John, the Evangelist.
S. Anteros , Pope and M., at Rome , a.d. 236. S. Florentius , B.M., at Vienne, in France, circ. a.d. 258. SS. Zosimus and Athanasius , MM., in Cilicia, circ. a.d. 290. S. Peter Balsam , M., at Aulane in Palestine , a.d. 291. S. Gordius , M., at Cæsarea, circ. a.d. 320. SS. Theognis, Primus, and Cyrinus , MM., circ. a.d. 320. S. Melor , M., in Cornwall, circ. a.d. 411. S. Genoveva , V., at Paris , a.d. 512. S. Bertilia , V., at Marolles , a.d. 687.
Feast: January 2
One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Silvester of Trani's story, and a nudge to keep going.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new and revised edition (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1914; first edition 1872). Public domain.
From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new and revised edition (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1914; first edition 1872). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.