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 SYLVIUS

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SYMBOLISM

est obsen'ance of poverty. At the death of St. 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 Por- tugal and Brazil :uid the Ceylon foundation men- tioned below, there have been no Sylvestrine monasteries outside Italy. Under St. Sylvester's immediate successors in the generalship, Giuseppe della Serra San Quirico (d. 1258), Blessed Bartolomeo di Cingoli (d. 1298), and Andrea Giacomodi Fabriano, the biographer of the founder, a number of houses were founded in the March of Ancona, Tuscany, and Umbria. Since 1.568 the congregation has pos- sessed at Rome the Church of San Stefano del Cacco in the neighbourhood of the Pantheon; the first pos- session of the Sylvestrines in Rome was the Church of San Giacomo in Settimania (or alia Lungara), granted to St. Sylvester himself by the Chapter of St. Peter's.

At the present day, besides the Roman monastery at San Stefano, which is the residence of the abbot- general and counts as the mother-house of the order, the Sylvestrines have monasteries at labriano, Sasso Ferrato, Perugia, Osimo, Serra San Quirico, and Matelica. Since 1855 they have also had a large mission in Ceylon with its headquarters in the Abbey of Saint Antony at Kandy. At the present day (1911) the congregation numbers some 100 members, of whom about 70 are choir monks; of the total about 40 are in Ceylon. The chief Sylvestrine saints are: the founder, St. Bonfilius, Bl. Giovanni del Bastonne, and the Bl. Giuseppe and Ugo di Serra San Quirico. The congregation is governed by an abbot-general assisted by a vicar; the head of each monastery is a prior or titular abbot. These officials were formerly elected for life, they were made triennial by Paul II in 1543, but since 1690 have been elected every four years. The Constitutions are still those which were confirmed by Alexander VIII in 1690 after the sever- ance of the short-hved union between the Sylvestrine and Vallumbrosan orders (1662-80). The Sylves- trine habit is similar in form to that of the Cassinese Benedictines but blvie in colour; fasts are strictly obscr\'ed 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, but the only convent now under Syl- vestrine rule is that of San Benedetto in Penigia. 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.

There is no satisfactorj- history of the order. The above is taken from Heimbucher, Orden u. Kongregationen, I (2nd ed., Paderboru, 1907); H^LYOT. UiMoire des ordres monastiqiies, VI (Paris, 18'>9): Fabrini, Breve Cronica delta Congregazione de* Monachi SilteMrini (Rome. 1706); Costituzioni della Congre- gazinne di S. Benedetto di Monte Fano (Camerino, 1610; Rome, 1690).

Ratmttnd Webster.

Sylvius, Francis, theologian, b. at Braine-le- Comte, Hainault, Belgium, l.iSl; d. at Douai, 22 Feb., 1649. He wa.s remarkable from an early age for his love of .study and his piety. After completing his humanities at Mons, he .studied philosophy at Louvain and theologv' at Douai, in a seminary founded by the bishojis of the Province of Cambrai in connex- ion with the faculty of theology. ^Miile studying theology he taught philosophy at the royal college. On 9 Nov., 1610, he was made doctor of theology with the highest honours. The faculty of theology wished to retain this promising scholar, but there was no chair vacant. An eminent professor, Barth(''lemy Pierre de Lintra, resigned his position in favour of Sylvius, but. upon the death of Estius (20 Sept., 1613), the great light of the University of Douai,

Sylvius succeeded him and later was called to direct the episcopal seminary in which he had been a stu- dent. He was appointed (1 Feb., 1618) canon of the collegiate Church of St. Amat, and finally dean (28 Jan., 1622), and to this title was added that of vice- chancellor of the university. Henceforth, absorbed by study and the discharge of his duties, his life was tran- quil and undisturbed for thirty years until his death. He was buried in the choir of the Chmxh of St. Amat, and an epitaph engra\'eil on his tomb recalled, with his titles and qualities, his attachment to St. Augustine and St. Thomas as a faithful disciple of one and a lucid interpreter of the other, also his liberality towards the poor and religious, whom he made his heirs.

To his piety and austerity, which were admirable, he united an unchangeable attachment to sound doctrines. At the commencement of his works, as at the beginning of his lectiu-es, he never failed to profess his intention to remain always united to the Faith, and submissive to the authority of the Roman Church. When in 1648 the theologians of Louvain sought to win the University of Douai over to Jansen- ism, Sylvius opposed them vigorously; but through- out the controversy he preserved the moderation and sweetness of his character; always refraining from angry responses to the attacks of his opponents. He gained his reputation as a theologian chiefly through his commentary on the "Summa" of St. Thomas Aquinas. With that of Cajetan it ranks among the best, and many even prefer it on account of its clear- ness and fullness; besides, Sylvius WTOte after the Council of Trent, and profited by its decisions. It contained four folio volumes, which he was prevailed upon to publish. He wTote also several treatises on dogmatic theology and controversy, and some on moral theology. Among his other works may be mentioned: (1) an edition with valuable notes, of Binsfeld's "Enchiridion theologia; pastoralis", which had great success in Belgium and France, where it was the first manual of theology used by seminarians; (2) resolutions of cases of conscience, in which he showed himself a Probabilist, moderate, solid, and clear. He wrote also commentaries on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, the learning, con- ciseness, and penetration of which were praised by Calmet. He adapted the "Instructions" of St. Charles Borromeo for use of the Church in Belgium, and he made additions to the "Summa Conciliorum' of Carranza. His complete works were published by Pere Norbert d'Elbecque at Antwerp in 1698, in six folio volumes, the first of which contains the life of Sylvius. This edition was re[)roduced at Venice in 1726; it is the best, though the editor omitted the works of Svlvius against Jansenism.

FoppENfi, Bihliotheca Belgica (Brussels, 1739), t. IV, 309, HuB- TER, Nomenclalor.

Antoine Degert. Symb olism may for our present purpose be defined to be the investing of outward things or actions with an inner meaning, more especially for the ex- pression of religious ideas. In a greater or less degree symbolism is essential, to every kind of external worship and we need not shrink from the conclusion that in the matter of baptisms and washings, of genuflexions and other acts of reverence, of lights and sweet smelling incense, of flowers and white vestures, of unctions and the imposing of hands, of sacrifice and the rite of the communion banquet, the Church has borrowed, without hesitation, from the common stock of significant actions known to all periods and to all nations. In such matters as these Christianity claims no monopoly. Religious symbolism is effec- tive precisely in the measure in which it is sufficiently natural and simple to appeal to the intelligence of the people. Hence the choice of suitable acts and ob- jects for this sjTnbolism is not so wide that it would be easy to avoid the api)earance of an imitation of