 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 entirely to religion in the "new cell by the gate of blessed Paul" ("cella nova juxta portam beati Pauli").Gregory the Great had a mosaic portrait of his parents executed at the monastery of Saint Andrew; it is minutely described by Johannes Diaconus ("P.L.," LXXV, 229-30).