Saint Sylvester Gozzolini

Sylvester (1177–1267) was born in Osimo, Italy, studied law and became a canon of the cathedral. According to tradition, his life changed when he looked into the open coffin of a once-handsome relative and realized how quickly earthly beauty passes. Around the age of fifty he became a hermit, and the disciples who gathered around him became a new branch of Benedictines at Montefano, near Fabriano, approved by the pope in 1247. He lived humbly and prayerfully until his death at about ninety.

His monks are called Sylvestrines and still live in Italy and in missions in Asia and Australia. According to tradition, the Virgin Mary once appeared to him and gave him Holy Communion.