New Year's Eve-St. Sylvester

Today is the day honoring St. Sylvester, who was Pope in the 4th century. He was not a martyr (at least not in the sense we know of); he reigned through a relatively calm period, according to sufferings; he was called to be something else. He converted Constantine, who had been told that the way to cure his leprosy was to bathe in infant blood. Constantine was told by the Apostles Peter and Paul in a dream to contact Pope Sylvester instead. By doing this, he was cured and proceeded to rebuild Christianity. All thanks to Sylvester. This holy pope also was important in fighting Arianism. Too bad we don't hear much about people like this anymore! Anyway, our beloved Abott Gueranger tells us in this small portion that I have selected what St. Sylvester is known for:

'...The Church would therefore grace this glorious Christmas Octave with the name of one of her children, who should represent at Bethlehem the whole class of her unmartyred Saints. She chose a Confessor--St. Sylvester: a Confessor who governed the Church of Rome; and therefore the universal Church; a Pontiff whose reign was long and peaceful; a Servant of Jesus Christ adorned with every virtue, who was sent to edify and guide the world immediately after those fearful combats that had lasted for three hundred years, in which million of Christians had gained victory by martyrdom, under the leadership of thirty Popes--predecessors of St. Sylvester--and they, too, all Martyrs.
So that Sylvester is messenger of the Peace which Christ came to give to the world, of which the Angels sang on Christmas Night. He is the friend of Constantine; he confirms the Council of Nicea; he organizes the discipline of the Church for the new era on which she is now entering: the era of Peace. His predecessors in the See of Peter imaged Jesus in his triumph. His appearance during this Octave reminds us that the Divine Child who lies wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and is the object of Herod's persecution, is, notwithstanding all these humiliations, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the world to come."

St. Sylvester, pray for our current Holy Father and the Bishops, that they may pass on the entire Truth as you saw it.

Thank you.