AMEDEO MENZE DE SYLVA, Blessed. — Franciscan, born in Ceuta in 1420 to Rodrigo Gomez de Sylva, a royal prince of Castile, and Isabella Menez of the noble family of Villa Reale in Portugal; hence he is sometimes called Spanish and sometimes Portuguese. He died in the convent of Santa Maria della Pace in Milan on 10 August 1482. He was the brother of the Blessed Beatrice de Sylva. Having enlisted under the command of John II against the Moors and gravely wounded in the arm, in 1442 he retired among the Hermits of St Jerome in Guadalupe, where he remained until 1452, when, by divine inspiration, he went to Assisi and asked the Minister General, Fr. Angelo da Perugia, for admission to the Franciscan Order. The request was granted only three years later, after the death of Fr. Angelo, when Fr. Giacomo da Mozzanica succeeded him. In 1456, Amedeo was sent by the latter to the convent of San Francesco in Milan, where he lived as a solitary in the company of Fra Giorgio da Valcamonica. From Milan, in 1457, he moved to Moriano Comense, then to Orano, and later to Bressanoro. Amedeo’s edifying life aroused the admiration of his superiors, who in 1459 ordained him priest; of Bianca Maria Sforza, Duchess of Milan, who sent him as extraordinary ambassador to Pope Pius II on matters concerning the spiritual welfare of the State of Milan; and of his confreres. Many of these, with the approval of the superiors, gathered around Amedeo, choosing him as their director and guide for a stricter observance of the Franciscan Rule. Thus he found himself at the head of that movement of Franciscan reform which, from his name, was called the “Congregation of the Amadeists.” Sixtus IV, a devotee of the blessed man, summoned him to Rome, assigning him the convent of San Pietro in Montorio as his residence. By immemorial cult, though not officially recognized by the Church, he is called Blessed.
The Amadeists, who at the founder’s death numbered 21 convents and later rose to 39, were united in 1517 by the bull *Ite et vos* of Leo X to the Order of Friars Minor of the Observance. Yet, since they were not fully merged into it, they continued in part to exist independently until Pius V incorporated them completely in 1568.
While residing at San Pietro in Montorio, Amedeo wrote a prophetic work that remained unpublished, entitled *Apocalypsis nova*, containing eight “raptures,” to which are added four psalms, four canticles, four sermons on St John the Baptist, and ten other sermons and exhortations. The original is considered lost; the surviving manuscripts, replete with puerilities and doctrinal errors, are deemed interpolated.