Silvestro

Profile

Silvestro is recalled by Dante among the very first followers of San Francesco d'Assisi: in Canto XI of the Paradiso, the tercet that concludes the account of the Franciscan origins names him alongside Egidio as one of those who, moved by the poverty and the peace seen in the bridegroom, went barefoot and ran after him. A note on the passage clarifies that going barefoot is the gesture, already performed by Francesco, by which the choice of poverty is designated, and that this gesture is followed by the swift running of the new followers. In another place in the work, Inferno XXVII, Dante instead recalls Pope Silvestro, with a brief mention of the Constantine who sought him, in a context of historical summary that does not concern the scene of the otherworldly journey. Authoritative sources add no further biographical data on this second Silvestro, who thus remains linked exclusively to the Dantesque citation.