SYLVESTER GUZZOLINI WAS A CANON OF OSIMO CATHEDRAL. LATE IN HIS LIFE HE FELT THE CALL TO THE LIFE OF A HERMIT AND ABANDONING THE TRAPPINGS OF HIS CHURCH POSITION WENT INTO THE MOUNTAINS OF CENTRAL ITALY TO FOLLOW A REGIMEN OF PRAYER AND ASCETICISM. HE SOON ESTABLISHED A REPUTATION AS A HOLY MAN AND MANY CAME TO SEE HIM AND SEEK HIS ADVICE WHILE SOME ALSO WISHED TO STAY WITH HIM. FROM HIS READING HE CAME TO LOVE THE RULE OF ST BENEDICT AND IN 1231 HE FOUNDED A MONASTERY AT MONTEFANO FOR HIMSELF AND HIS FOLLOWERS UNDER ST BENEDICT'S RULE. ST SYLVESTER HOPED TO RETURN TO A PURER AND SIMPLER LIFESTYLE IN CLOSE ACCORD WITH THE ANCIENT BENEDICTINE RULE. IN 1248 POPE INNOCENT IV APPROVED THE COMMUNITY AS THE ORDER OF ST BENEDICT OF MONTEFANO WHICH LATER BECAME KNOWN AS THE SYLVESTRINE CONGREGATION OF THE ORDER OF ST BENEDICT AND SOON THERE WERE A NUMBER OF HOUSES IN CENTRAL ITALY. FOR MOST OF ITS EXISTENCE THE ORDER WAS CONFINED TO ITALY BUT AFTER 550 YEARS IT MADE A FIRST FOUNDATION OUTSIDE OF ITALY AT KANDY IN CEYLON. TODAY THEY ARE ALSO FOUND IN THE UNITED STATES, INDIA, THE PHILIPPINES AND AUSTRALIA.

THE SYLVESTRINES ARE A COMPARATIVELY NEW ARRIVAL IN AUSTRALIA AS FAR AS CATHOLIC ORDERS GO. IN 1949 FR FARINA OSB ARRIVED IN AUSTRALIA AND WAS ENTRUSTED WITH THE NEW PARISH OF SMITHFIELD, AN AREA OF MARKET GARDENS AND SMALL FARMS WITH A SIGNIFICANT ITALIAN POPULATION. THE ORDER WAS TO SERVE THE PEOPLE OF SMITHFIELD FOR 54 YEARS UNTIL WITHDRAWING IN 2003. DESPITE THEIR WILLING COMMITMENT TO THE PARISH ST GERTRUDE'S MONASTERY WAS REALLY JUST A LARGE PRESBYTERY AND THE MONKS FELT A NEED TO DEVELOP A TRUE COMMUNITY IN THE BENEDICTINE TRADITION OF WORK AND PRAYER AWAY FROM THE WORLDLY BUSTLE OF A RAPIDLY GROWING SUBURB. IN THE 1960's THEY PURCHASED LAND AT ARCADIA ON SYDNEY'S NORTHERN RURAL FRINGE AND ESTABLISHED ST BENEDICT'S MONASTERY WHERE TODAY THEY STILL MAINTAIN BENEDICT'S VISION OF A SELF-CONTAINED COMMUNITY WHILE EXTENDING CHRISTIAN HOSPITALITY TO ALL WHO SEEK.

THE SYLVESTRINES JOINED THE BENEDICTINE CONFEDERATION IN 1973 AND ARE CURRENTLY ORGANISED INTERNATIONALLY INTO EIGHT PRIORIES AND SEVERAL DEPENDANT HOUSES. ARCADIA BECAME AN INDEPENDANT PRIORY OF THE CONGREGATION IN 1983.

ARCADIA
1961

SMITHFIELD
1949