A Dominican who lived from ca. 1460 to 1523, Silvester was the author of what he intended to be the ultimate confessional work, incorporating, comparing and reconciling all of the teachings to be found in the major Summae of his medieval predecessors. To illustrate his purpose, he himself called it the Summa summarum (c.1516), which in fact rendered obsolete much of what had been said before. The number of printed editions thereafter clearly outnumbered those of other authors in the field, while the truly encyclopedic format discouraged later attempts to attempt further Summae confessorum. In this way, Silvester’s work marked the culmination and close of this literary genre.

Entry by: KP rev BP 2015