St. Sophia of Rome Grieving Her Daughters

Not to be confused with the mid third-century virgin martyr St. Sophia of Fermo (Feast: April 30), this St. Sophia allegedly lived in the second century and hailed originally from Milan. She may or may not have been historical. According to tradition, St. Sophia was the widowed mother of three pre-teen daughters: SS. Faith, Hope, and Charity (or Love; respectively, in Latin: Fides, Spes, and Caritas; or in Greek: Pistis, Elpis, and Agape). Her own name Sophia in Greek means “Wisdom”; the seldom-used Latin form is “Sapientia.” Having moved to Rome, Sophia and her daughters came to the attention of the Roman authorities for their Christian beliefs under the Emperor Hadrian, who reigned from 117 to 138 A.D. The three girls, having refused to offer the obligatory incense to the Roman goddess Diana as directed, were cruelly tortured by various means and finally martyred by beheading in front of their mother. Although the authorities permitted her to live, Sophia’s great mental anguish earned her the title of martyr. She is said to have died of a broken heart at the tomb in which she buried her daughters three days after their martyrdom, here marked by a large tombstone topped by a cross and inscribed with the girls’ names. Both Braun and Schneider wood engravings—the black-and-white one from the 1845 book and the later colored one by a different hand--though somewhat melodramatic, are a study in a mother’s profound grief. + The cult of these martyrs, which is attested in the Latin West from the sixth century onwards, has been quietly suppressed in Roman Catholicism, which now views their story as an allegory on the three theological virtues. The Saints remain in good standing in Eastern Orthodoxy, are frequently portrayed on icons, and are celebrated in that Christian tradition on September 17