THE SYLVESTRINES
The Sylvestrines are a minor monastic Order or, strictly speaking, congregation following in general the Rule of Saint Benedict but distinct from the Black monks and not forming a part of the confederation of Benedictine congregations.
The Sylvestrines were founded by Saint Sylvester Gozzolini on Monte Fano near Fabriano in 1231. The Rule of Saint Benedict was observed in its primitive form, but in many points the founder went considerably beyond it in point of austerity, laying special stress on the strictest observance of poverty.
At the death of Saint Sylvester in 1267 eleven monasteries were under his leadership of which some had been founded by him, while others, though of older foundation, had adopted his institute. The congregation had been formally sanctioned by Innocent IV twenty years before the founder's death.
Except for a few houses in Portugal and Brazil and a foundation in Ceylon [Sri Lanka], there have been no Sylvestrine monasteries outside Italy.
Under Saint Sylvester's immediate successors in the generalship, Giuseppe della Serra Quirico (died 1258), Blessed Bartolomeo di Cingoli (died 1298), and Andrea Giacomo di Fabriano, the biographer of the founder, a number of houses were founded in the March of Ancona, Tuscany, and Umbria.
The Sylvestrine habit is similar in form to that of the Cassinese Benedictines but blue in colour; fasts are strictly observed and flesh meat is never eaten except in case of illness. A convent of Sylvestrine nuns was founded at Serra San Quirico during the lifetime of the founder. The arms of the order are three green hills on a blue ground, surmounted by a golden crozier with two rose branches in flower at its side.
From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913
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