The Sylvestrines are a congregation of monks of the Order of St Benedict who form the Sylvestrine Congregation. The Sylvestrines use the post-nominal initials O.S.B. Silv.. The congregation was founded in 1231 by Sylvester Gozzolini. They are members of the Benedictine Confederation. The congregation is similar to others of eremitical origin, in that their houses are not raised to the status of an abbey, which would entangle the monasteries more strongly in the affairs of the world. The congregation, though, is led by an abbot general, the only abbot it has, who supervises all the houses of the congregation. History Sylvester Gozzolini (1177–1267) was born at Osimo near Ancona, Italy. As a young man he entered a community of Augustinian canons regular, who served Osimo Cathedral, and eventually was professed in that Order and received Holy Orders. Around 1227, he left the community to lead an austere, eremitical life. Disciples flocked to him, however, and in 1231 he built a hermitage by the mountain of Montefano in the March of Ancona (near the town of Fabriano). The congregation was approved in 1247 by Pope Innocent IV as the Ordo S. Benedicti de Montefano. The community that Sylvester founded followed the Rule of St. Benedict, but, as regards poverty in external matters, was far stricter than the general Benedictines of the time. At Sylvester's death in 1267, there were eleven Sylvestrine monasteries. At their peak, there were 56 monasteries in the congregation, mostly in Umbria and Tuscany, as well as in the March of Ancona. The Church of San Marco in Florence belonged to the Sylvestrines, but in 1437 through the efforts of Cosimo de' Medici, they were displaced in favor of the Dominicans, and moved to the smaller San Giorgio alla Costa. Like all religious communities in Europe, the Sylvestrines suffered throughout the 19th century from the upheavals of the French Revolutionary Army and the later unification of Italy. Their principal house was the Monastery of Santo Stefano del Cacco in Rome, dedicated to St. Stephen the Protomartyr, which was founded in 1563 to serve as the motherhouse of the congregation. The community there had about 60 choir monks at that time. By 1907, there were only nine Sylvestrine communities. Notable Sylvestrine include the founder, Sylvester Gozzolini, Bonfilius of Foligno, Bl. Giovanni del Bastonne, and the Bl. Giuseppe and Ugo di Serra San Quirico. Expansion For most of its history,