THE ORDER OF SAINT SYLVESTER, POPE
This order—as we saw previously—was instituted by Pope Gregory XVI in 1841 to replace the Order of the Golden Spur, but since the name of “Militia Aurata” was perpetuated, the order was spoken of as a combination of the two. In 1905 Pope St. Pius X “separated” the two orders and made the Order of Saint Sylvester the lowest ranking of the Pontifical Orders of Knighthood.
The order has three degrees, the second being subdivided into two classes: Knights of the Grand Cross; Knight Commanders with and without emblem; simple Knights. The emblem is an eight-pointed white cross with a medal of St. Sylvester in the center, the reverse side of the medal bearing the dates 1841-1905 in Roman figures to commemorate the order’s founding by Gregory XVI and its renovation by St. Pius X. The emblem is a silver star with the cross of the order superimposed. The colors of the grand cordon, collar and ribbon on which the cross hangs, according to the different degrees, are three bands of red and two of black. The uniform of the order is black.