Saint Silvia

Silvia, or Sylvia, (c. 515 – c. 592) was the mother of Gregory the Great. She is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church, which names her a patroness of pregnant women.

Life Little biographical information about her exists. Her native place is sometimes given as Sicily, sometimes as Rome. Apparently, she was of a distinguished family as her husband, the Roman regionarius, Gordianus, of the gens Anicia. She had, besides Gregory, a second son, whose name did not survive through the ages. Their house was on the Clivus Scauri.

Silvia was noted for her great piety, and she gave her sons an excellent education. After the death of her husband, around 573, she devoted herself to religion in the "new cell by the gate of blessed Paul" (cella nova juxta portam beati Pauli). She continued to provide Gregory's monastic house with vegetables from her garden. Gregory the Great had a mosaic portrait of his parents executed at the monastery of Saint Andrew; it is minutely described by Johannes Diaconus.

Two of her relatives, sisters-in-law Trasilla and Emiliana, are also venerated as saints, as well as her other sister-in-law Gordiana, and her husband Gordianus.