# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for St. Silvester, Abbot (Nov 26, sharing
# the date with St. Peter of Alexandria — see st-peter-of-alexandria.yml)
# — SanctiM/11-26.txt inherits the whole day (`@Sancti/11-26`) with no
# Nocturn 2/3 override, so this saint's own vita is sourced from the
# Tridentine track exactly as for a pre-1955 saint (see memory
# vu-matins-pre1955-saints, vu-matins-sanctim-saints).
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/11-26.txt, English/Sancti/11-26.txt.
# Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one continuous vita, no genuine
# source break. No responsory given in the source.
id: st-silvester-abbot
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Silvester, Auximi in Piceno nobili genere ortus, statim puerílem ætátem litteris ac
        bonis móribus mirifice exornavit. Adoléscens, Bonóniam ad stúdia jurisprudéntiæ
        missus a patre, cum sacris litteris, a Deo mónitus, dedísset operam, parentis
        incurrit indignatiónem; quam æquo animo toto decennio pértulit. Ob egregiam ejus
        virtútem a canonicis cathedralis Auximanæ ecclésiæ socius honoris eléctus est; in
        quo munere pópulo oratiónibus, exemplo et conciónibus opem tulit.


        Inter funus nobilis cujusdam defuncti, in aperto tumulo formosi viri suique
        propinqui deforme cadáver conspíciens: Ego, inquit, sum, quod hic fuit; quod hic
        est, ego ero. Et mox, peracto funere, illa sibi Dómini occurrénte senténtia: Qui
        vult veníre post me, ábneget semetípsum, et tollat crucem suam, et sequátur me; in
        solitúdinem, majoris perfectiónis studio, secessit, ibique vigiliis, oratiónibus
        jejuniisque deditus, crudas tantum herbas in cibum sæpius adhibuit. Ut autem magis
        latéret hómines, varias mutavit sedes; ac demum pervenit ad montem Fanum, locum,
        quamvis prope Fabrianum, eo tamen témpore desértum, ibique in honórem sanctíssimi
        patris Benedicti templum eréxit, congregatiónisque Silvestrinórum fundaménta jecit,
        sub regula et habitu in visióne sibi ab eodem Sancto osténsis.


        At ínvidens sátanas variis terróribus illíus monachos turbare nitebátur, noctu
        monasterii jánuas hostíliter invadens. Sed vir Dei, hostis impetum ita repressit, ut
        monachi in sancto instituto magis confirmaréntur ac patris sanctitátem
        agnoscerent. Spíritu prophetíæ aliisque donis enituit. Quæ ut semper profúnda
        humilitate conservavit, ita contra se dæmonis invidiam concitavit; a quo præceps
        actus per scalas oratórii, et prope interimendus, præsentíssimo Vírginis benefício
        incolumitáti redditus est. Quod benefícium perpetua et singulari in illam pietáte
        commendavit ad ultimum usque vitæ spíritum, quem, fere nonagenarius, sanctitáte et
        miraculis clarus, Deo réddidit anno salútis millesimo ducentésimo sexagesimo
        séptimo, sexto Kalendas Decembris. Ejus Offícium ac Missam Leo décimus tertius
        Pontifex maximus ad universam exténdit Ecclésiam.
      en: >-
        This Silvester was born of a noble family at Osimo, in Picenum, and in his childhood
        was a wonderful example both in regard to letters and good living. When he grew older
        his father sent him to Bologna to study the law, but God warned him to give himself to
        divinity, and he thereby incurred the wrath of his father, which he bore with
        complacency for ten full years. On account of his eminent graces he was elected an
        honorary canon of the Cathedral of Osimo, in the which dignity he ministered to the
        people by his prayers, his example, and his sermons.


        At the funeral of a certain nobleman he perceived in an open grave the disfigured
        corpse of a kinsman of his own who had been very comely in his lifetime, and he said
        to himself, I am what he was, and what he is I shall be. Straightway after the funeral
        he read the words of the Lord, If any man will come after Me let him deny himself and
        take up his cross and follow Me. Thereupon he withdrew into the desert to seek after
        greater perfection, and then gave himself up to watching, praying, and fasting, very
        often taking no food but uncooked herbs. In order, however, to cut himself off the
        more from men, he moved from one place to another, and at length came to Mount Fano,
        which is hard by Fabriano, but was itself then absolutely uninhabited. Then he built a
        church in honour of the holy Father Benedict, and founded the congregation of
        Silvestrians, with a rule and dress which were revealed to him in a vision by the holy
        Patriarch himself.


        Satan envied him, strove to trouble his monks by diverse terrors, and made an hostile
        attack by night upon the gates of his monastery, but the man of God so overcame the
        assault of the enemy that his monks were the more confirmed in their Institute and
        recognised the holiness of their father. He shone with the spirit of prophecy and
        other gifts. These things he always preserved by the deepest lowliness, whereby he so
        stirred up against him the ill-will of the devil that that evil spirit cast him
        headlong down the stairs of his oratory, and went near to slay him, but he was
        restored to soundness by the helpful gift of the Virgin. This help he remembered with
        an unceasing and singular love toward her until the last breath of his life, the
        which breath he resigned to God, famous for holiness and miracles, aged almost ninety
        years, upon the 26th day of November, in the year of salvation 1267. The Supreme
        Pontiff Leo XIII extended his Office and Mass to the whole Church.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
