medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Soteris (d. ca. 304?). We know about Soteris (whose name in some texts is spelled medievally as Sotheris) chiefly from writings of St. Ambrose of Milan (_De virginibus_ 3. 7; _Exhortatio virginis_, 12). According to Ambrose, she was a relative of his from a previous generation (but at a time when the family was already of consular rank) who suffered martyrdom during a persecution which he does not identify. Versions B and C of the sixth- or seventh-century Passio of St. Pancras of Rome (BHL 6240, etc.) say that Soteris was martyred at the same time as was Pancras and that their deaths occurred in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. Ambrose says that Soteris, who had consecrated herself to Christ, was physically very beautiful, that after refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods she was tortured, that her suffering included severe facial disfigurement, and that she ultimately perished by the sword.
A funerary inscription from the city of Rome in the year 401 (_CIL_ VI, 9811) shows both that Soteris was then celebrated liturgically there and that today was then considered her _dies natalis_. 11. February is also one of the days under which she is entered in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology. Later martyrologies, including the RM prior to its revision of 2001, entered her under 10. February. Soteris was buried in a cemetery on the Via Appia that later was named for her. Pope Stephen II (752-57) restored a martyrial church that had been erected over her grave. Along with those of many other saints her remains were brought into the city by pope Sergius II (844-47) and deposited in the newly rebuilt church of San Martino ai Monti.
Best,
John Dillon
(matter from an older post lightly revised)
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