When you think of this pope, you think of the Edict of Milan, the emergence of the Church from the catacombs, the building of the great basilicas, Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter’s and others, the Council of Nicea and other critical events. But for the most part, these events were planned or brought about by Emperor Constantine.

    A great store of legends has grown up around the man who was pope at this most important time, but very little can be established historically. We know for sure that his papacy lasted from 314 until his death in 335. Reading between the lines of history, we are assured that only a very strong and wise man could have preserved the essential independence of the Church in the face of the overpowering figure of the Emperor Constantine. The bishops in general remained loyal to the Holy See and at times expressed apologies to Sylvester for undertaking important ecclesiastical projects at the urging of Constantine.

    Comment: It takes deep humility and courage in the face of criticism for a leader to stand aside and let events take their course, when asserting one’s authority would only lead to useless tension and strife. Sylvester teaches a valuable lesson for Church leaders, politicians, parents and others in authority.

The night of the Holy Sylvester, the last night of the year, was from times of old the night of fools and a frolicking good time. The saint of this day, Pope Sylvester I, according to legend is the man who healed from leprosy and baptized the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. At this point in history the fate of the Christian Church turned as persecutions ended and the Occident was won for Christianity. Pope Sylvester lead the Church from 314 until his death, December 31, 335 into a period of peace.

Many old pagan gods lost their rank of deity in this new era, but they were not dead. As sprightly devils, wicked demons, and clever goblins, they made their reappearance. Many of them locked on to a human soul and moved in. Mummers in noisy processions (video clips and description in German), with crackers, whips, and rattles in the streets, would drive out evil spirits and light up the darkness of the new year.

In religious households Christians may have opened the Bible, and read the place to which it opened, as a sign foretelling the future, yet the interpretation of dreams and Bleigiessen (pouring molted lead) came to serve the same purpose.

While the great year-end celebrations were of a pious nature, in the night of the Holy Sylvester awakens once more something of the frolicking good time of life. When the old year disappears in the misty fogs of the past, people cheer one another as if they were brothers, with others they don fools caps' and make noise with all sorts of noise-making equipment.

In many of the German-speaking areas the change of the year is celebrated noisily and merrily. Guests are invited, and groups attend a "Silvester Ball." There is eating, drinking, dancing and singing. It may be accompanied by the popular "Silvester" custom of Bleigiessen. A small piece of lead will be melted over a flame in an old spoon and dropped into a bowl of cold water. From the shape you can supposedly tell your fortune for the coming year. At midnight, when the old year is almost spent and the new year is about to start, glasses are filled with champagne or wine, and toasts and hugs go with wishing each other a "gutes neues Jahr". Some go out into the streets and listen to the bells ringing throughout the land. Others participate in shooting in the New Year, or put on their private fireworks. 

Happy New Year!!!