De sancta Sophia et tribus filiabus
The Witness of Faith, Hope, and Charity
Sophia and her three young daughters arrive in Rome and face the initial persecutions of Emperor Hadrian.
Regarding her: 'The great temple of the holy martyrs Sophia and her three daughters—Faith, Hope, and Charity—is called Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, and Sophia herself wisely raised her three daughters in the fear of God.' The first was eleven, the second ten, and the third eight years old. She came to Rome and visited the churches every Sunday, winning many women over to Christ. They were accused before Hadrian, who was so taken by their beauty that he wanted to adopt them as his daughters, but they rejected him as if he were filth. Faith was first beaten by thirty-six soldiers; then her breasts were cut off and torn out in front of everyone. Milk flowed from the wounds, but blood flowed from the breasts. The onlookers cried out against the Emperor's unjust judgment, and the virgin, rejoicing, even mocked him. Third, the girl was placed on a glowing gridiron and remained unharmed; fourth, she was thrown into a pan filled with oil and wax; fifth, she was ordered to be beheaded. Her sister, Hope, was also summoned, but she couldn't be swayed to offer sacrifices to idols.
The Martyrdom of the Mother and Her Children
Following the miraculous endurance of her daughters, Sophia joins them in death, and their persecutor meets a divine end.
For this reason, she was first placed into a cauldron filled with fat, wax, and resin, from which drops of the burning mixture sprayed out and killed the unbelievers; finally, she was ordered to be finished off by the sword. Then the mother encouraged her third daughter, Charity, who, though she was still a little girl, would not flatter Hadrian in any way nor would she obey him; for this reason, the most wicked man ordered her to be stretched out first and to have her limbs and joints pulled apart, then to be beaten with clubs, thirdly to be whipped with rods, and fourthly to be thrown into a burning furnace, from which a fire leaped out sixty cubits and killed six thousand idolaters, while the virgin walked unharmed in the middle of the fire, so that she shone like gold. Fifthly, she was pierced with red-hot iron spikes, and thus, with the joy of a martyr, she passed through the sword to her crown. The noble mother buried the remains of her noble daughters in the presence of many people, and placing herself over the tomb, she said, 'My dearest daughters, I long to be with you.' So, Saint Sophia passed away in peace and was buried by those standing by alongside her dearest daughters, for she had suffered each of the torments of her daughters and was therefore more than a martyr. Hadrian, however, rotted away completely, confessing that he had unjustly inflicted injuries upon the saints of God.
Read the original Latin
ejus, ‘Item sanctarum martirum Sophiae et trium filiarum suarum, Fidei, Spei et Caritatis maximum templum — Constantinopoli ad sanctam Sophiam dicitur et ipsa sancta Sophia tres filias suas in Dei timore sapienter nutrivit. Prima XI, secunda X et tertia VIII fuit annorum. Venit ergo Romam et omni die dominica ecclesias visitavit et multas Christo matronas lucrabatur. Accusantur Adriano et earum cest pulchritudine sic allectus, ut eas in filias vellet adoptare, quem ut fimum refutant. Fides primo a XXXVI militibus caeditur, secundo mamillae praecisae coram cunctis evelluntur, lac de vulneribus, sed de mamillis sanguis profluit. Clamant videntes injustum Caesaris judicium et virgo gaudens eidem etiam insultat. Tertio candenti craticulae puella imponitur illaesa, quarto in sartagine oleo et cera plena mittitur, quinto jubetur decollari. Advocatur etiam soror illius Spes, sed non potuit flecti ad sacrificia ydolorum.
Idcirco primo in caldarium adipe, cera et resina plenum mittitur, a quo guttae exhibentes infideles cremabant: novissime jubetur gladio consummari. Tunc mater tertiam filiam Caritatem confortabat, quae cum parvula esset, Adriano in nullo adulatur nec sibi obedire voluit, quare impiissimus jubet eam primo extendi et per membra et juncturas dirumpi, secundo fustibus caedi, tertio virgis flagellari, quarto in caminum ignitum projici, a quo per sexaginta cubitos ignis exiens sex millia ydolatrorum occidit, virgo autem illaesa in igne medio ambulabat ita, ut quasi aurum radiaret. Quinto candentibus perforatoriis perforatur et sic cum martiris tripudio transiit per gladium ad coronam. Mater optima filiarum optimarum reliquias cum multis praesentibus recondidit et super sepulchrum se ponens dixit: desidero, filiae carissimae, vobiscum esse. Sie ergo in pace migravit et ab adstantibus sepulta est cum carissimis filiabus sancta Sophia, quae cum singula passa fuerat filiarum tormenta et ideo plus quam martir fuit. Adrianus autem totus putrefactus emarcuit confitens sanctis Dei injuste injurias intulisse
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