Sylvester I
33rd pope and saint (reigned 314-335)
Feast: 31 December (current Roman calendar, optional memorial) · 31 December (1962 Missal, II class)
Who they were
Sylvester, a Roman priest, became Pope in 314, the year after Constantine and Licinius gave Christians full freedom of worship. He was the first Pope of a Church no longer hiding in the catacombs, and saw the building of the great Constantinian basilicas: St Peter's over the apostle's tomb, the Lateran basilica and baptistery, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and St Paul Outside the Walls.
His part in the Council of Arles and the Council of Nicaea in 325 is uncertain. When he died he was at once honoured publicly as a 'confessor', one of the first to receive that title, given to those who, without martyrdom, spent their lives for Christ.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: Sylvester was among the first saints honoured who were not martyrs. The Pontifical Order of St Sylvester is named after him.
Why that counted as sanctity
Sylvester guided the Church through the passage from persecution to freedom, and his contemporaries honoured his holiness as soon as he died.
Connected on this site
- Mark Saint“Mark succeeded Sylvester I as pope on 18 January 336.” — Wikipedia
- Paschasius of Vienne Saint“Paschasius is said to have been the recipient of a papal bull dating from approximately 322 from Pope Sylvester I (c.” — Wikipedia
- Vatican News - Saint of the day (Italian): Pope Sylvester I
- Wikidata Q47149 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Pope Sylvester I (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.