{"id":14553,"date":"2025-12-31T23:49:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=14553"},"modified":"2025-12-31T23:49:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T23:49:50","slug":"the-pope-that-is-remembered-each-year-on-december-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=14553","title":{"rendered":"The pope that is remembered each year on December 31"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n \u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n

In many European countries, December 31, also known as New Year\u2019s Eve, is better known as St Sylvester\u2019s Day or simply Sylvester, named after a pope from the time of the\u00a0Council of Nicaea. This is the story \u2026<\/p>\n

New Year\u2019s Eve<\/strong><\/p>\n

Around the world New Year\u2019s Eve is marked by parties and fireworks at midnight. However, what is called New Year\u2019s Eve in the English-speaking world is better known as Sylvester by people from across many European countries, especially those of largely Catholic heritage. For German, Slovak and Slovenian speakers the day is called Silvester, for Hungarian speakers it is called Szilverster, for Czechs it is Silvestr, for Poles it is Sylwester, for Croats it is Silvestrovo. For French speakers it is the feast of la Saint-Sylvestre, and for Italians it is San Silvestro. But who was Sylvester?<\/p>\n

Sylvester<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not a lot is known about Sylvester\u2019s early life. Dates for his birth range from AD 250 to 285 in Rome or near Naples, and his parents were said to be called Rufinus and Justa. The sources do agree that he was from Italy and became a Benedictine abbot and priest, before being elected to succeed Miltiades as bishop of Rome (known as the Pope) in AD 314. This was a pivotal time because in 312 Emperor Constantine became a Christian and in 313, the Edict of Milan ended state persecution and granted the church legal standing and privileges in the Roman Empire.<\/p>\n

Pope Sylvester<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sylvester was then Pope for 21 years from 314 until he died. He is significant mainly because his long pontificate coincided with Christianity\u2019s transition from a persecuted religion, to being the official imperial religion. The Council of Arles happened during his first year in 314\u00a0and condemned the heresy of Donatism. It was during the papacy of Pope Sylvester, that the Nicene Creed was formulated in AD 325, which had its 1,700th anniversary in 2025. Pope Sylvester did not attend the council, but he was represented by legates and he accepted its decisions.<\/p>\n

Legends<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two legends arose from the story of Sylvester and Constantine. One was that Constantine was healed of leprosy when Sylvester baptised him, which echoes the story of Naaman in the Jordan (2 Kings 5:10). Today there is a small pilgrimage church called \u201cSantuario di San Silvestro Papa\u201d in Monte San Silvestro area of\u00a0Sant’Angelo a Scala near Naples, which is by a spring whose healing waters are said to have healed Emperor Constantine. The other legend was that Emperor Constantine granted temporal authority over Rome and the West to the Pope, which was a legend which later popes quoted to justify their power. Whatever the truth of these, and even modern Catholic historians reject them, Sylvester got on well with Emperor Constatine, and was the first Pope to govern with the help of imperial support and resources, and so is seen as the first institutional Pope.<\/p>\n

Churches in Rome<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under Sylvester, Constantine sponsored the building of some major churches in Rome significantly: Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem); San Giovanni in Laterano (St John Lateran), which is the Pope\u2019s official cathedral; and Basilica di San Pietro (St Peter\u2019s Basilica), which was replaced in the sixteenth century by the current St Peter\u2019s at the Vatican.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Death<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sylvester died in Rome on December 31, 335. He was originally buried in the catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria, but in 762 his remains were moved to a church dedicated to him called San Silvestro in Capite, on Piazza San Silvestro in Rome. San Silvestro (St Sylvester) holds masses in English and traditionally serves British and Irish Catholics in Rome. St Sylvester is regarded as a patron saint of stonemasons because of the great building projects which took place when he was Pope. Sylvester was never formally canonised but after his death he was known as St Sylvester. Sylvester was one of the first holy men who was not a martyr to be honoured as a saint. As commonly happened with saints his day of remembrance was the anniversary of his death, hence December 31, which became the Feast of St Sylvester or St Sylvester\u2019s Day, or just Sylvester.<\/p>\n

Order of St Sylvester<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Sylvester is the patron saint of a papal order of chivalry called the \u201cMilitia Aurata\u201d, or \u201cGolden Spur\u201d, which according to legend was founded by Emperor Constantine. In 1841, Pope Gregory XVI, created the Order of Pope St Sylvester. Since 1905, Pope St Pius X created four classes: Knight\/Dame, Knight\/Dame Commander, Knight\/Dame Commander with Star (Grand Officer), Knight\/Dame Grand Cross.<\/p>\n

St Sylvester\u2019s Day<\/strong><\/p>\n

St Sylvester\u2019s Day came synonymous with New Year\u2019s Eve in the Catholic tradition. Later after there were two other Popes by the name of Sylvester in the tenth and eleventh centuries, he became known as Pope Sylvester I.In 1582 when Pope Gregorian XIII reformed the calendar, January 1 became the official New Year\u2019s Day across much of Catholic Europe, instead of Lady Day, which made December 31 the definitive last day of the year. Therefore, the association of St Sylvester\u2019s day with New Year\u2019s Eve dates back to this time. For example, Polish people around the world will often gather for a \u201cbal sylwestrowy\u201d (Sylvester Ball).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Protestant Europe the marking of saints\u2019 days and remembering popes was mainly discontinued, and St Sylvester became forgotten. In Scotland celebrating New Year became Hogmanay.<\/p>\n

Dinner for One<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Germany and Scandinavia there is a tradition to watch an English comedy sketch called \u201cDinner for One\u201d. This British comedy sketch by Freddie Frinton and May Warden dates from 1963 and is loved in German-speaking countries and across Scandinavia where it is shown each year as part of traditional viewing for Sylvester, with its catchphrase \u201cSame procedure as every year\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we reflect on the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea we can remember Pope Sylvester who endorsed the Nicene Creed and took the opportunities for the Church, afforded by Emperor Constantine\u2019s conversion. Across much of central Europe New Year\u2019s Eve is simply known as Sylvester in his honour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock) In many European countries, December 31, also known as New Year\u2019s Eve, is better known as St Sylvester\u2019s Day or simply Sylvester, named after a pope from the time of the\u00a0Council of Nicaea. This is the story \u2026 New Year\u2019s Eve Around the world New Year\u2019s Eve is marked by parties and fireworks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2421,109,4129,165],"class_list":["post-14553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-christian-living","tag-december","tag-pope","tag-remembered","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}