His Apocalypsis nova, which contained prophecies of a pope, the "Angelic Pastor", who would work with an emperor to restore harmony in the church and the world, was influential well into the next century, in Rome and the monarchies of Spain and Portugal.[1]
Silva married at eighteen, but left his bride the instant he was married, and went into Spain, where he fought against the Moors under John II. He then decided to become a monk, beginning his religious life in the Hieronymitemonastery of Santa María de Guadalupe, where he spent about ten years.[4] Desirous of joining the Franciscans, he abandoned that life and went to Úbeda, Castile, where he was received into the order in 1452, entering as a lay brother. He chose to seek Holy Orders after a few years, and was ordained in 1459. After that, while living in various friaries, chiefly in Milan, he attracted attention by his virtue and purported miracles. Under the protection of the Archbishop of Milan, he established the friary of Our Lady of Peace (1469) which became the center of a Franciscan reform. The Minister General of the Order, Francesco della Rovere, extended his protection to him. When later the Minister General became Pope Sixtus IV he called Amadeus to Rome to be his confessor.[5] Other foundations were then made in Italy, among them one at Rome. He returned to Milan, where he was taken sick, and died in August 1482.[6]
Legacy
Supernatural favors attributed to his intercession aided in the spread of his cultus, and the Bollandists testify to the authenticity of the title "Blessed" bestowed on him.
The friaries he founded continued, after his death, to form a distinct branch of the Minorites. These friars were called the Amadeans or Amadists, and they had twenty-eight houses in Italy, the chief one being Saint Peter de Montorio in Rome. Pope Innocent VIII gave them the friary of Saint Genesto near Cartagena, in Castile (1493). The successors of Amadeus: Georges de Val-Camonique, Gilles de Montferrat, Jean Allemand and Bonaventura de Cremona, preserved his foundation in its original spirit until Pope Pius V suppressed it, along with similar branches of the Franciscan Order, uniting them into one great family of Friars Minor Observants (1568).
Works
He composed a treatise entitled De revelationibus et prophetiis, two copies of which are mentioned by Nicholas Antonio. The work of another Amadeus, Homilies on the Blessed Virgin, has been erroneously attributed to him. His Apocalypsis nova is a dialogue with the ArchangelGabriel about Christian doctrines, which, in some parts, is a commentary on the Book of Revelation.
Besse, Jean. "João Mendes de Silva."The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 22 September 2022 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Alvino, Carmine. "I Sette Angeli nel Panorama Cattolico (the Seven Angels in the Catholic Context)". I Sette Arcangeli nel Cattolicesimo[The Seven Archangels in the Catholicism](PDF) (in Italian). Archived from the original on September 29, 2022.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain:Besse, Jean Martial Léon (1911). "João Mendes de Silva". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.10. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Amadeus_of_Portugal, and is written by contributors.
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