Soter

ON SAINT SOTER,

Roman Pontiff.

In the Year 171.

Soter, Roman Pontiff (Saint)

BY G. H.

[1] Famous is the memory of various Roman Pontiffs scattered throughout the month of April: of these, in the first century of Christ flourished Saint Cletus, to whose Acts on April 26 the date of the See of Saints Linus, On the earlier Pontiffs treated in the month of April. Clement and Anacletus is also established. Another is Saint Sixtus I, who in the second century of Christ succeeded Saint Alexander, where at the same time from his very ancient Acts the year in which Saint Sixtus presided over the Church is confirmed. His birthday (natal day) is the sixth of April. A third Pontiff is Saint Anicetus, commemorated on April 17, at which day are broadly discussed the dates of his predecessor Hyginus and his successor Pius, who, as we have demonstrated from the ancient Catalogues of the Roman Pontiffs, died in the consulship of the two Augusti, M. Aurelius Verus and L. Aelius Verus the brothers, in the year 161. To him then succeeded Saint Soter, who in an earlier Catalogue is said to have sat nine years, three months, two days: the rest, because of some gap, pertain to his successor Saint Eleutherius. The said nine years are attributed to the pontificate of Saint Soter, Saint Soter sat nine years, in the third and fourth century of Christ, when the earlier Catalogue was composed by Saint Anterus the Pope, and afterwards continued to the times of Saint Damasus. The same nine years are reported in another Catalogue, which was composed in the sixth century of Christ; likewise in a third, composed in the eighth century, and carried down to Pope Stephen III: nor do the Lives of the Roman Pontiffs extend further in another MS. of Freher, and in a very ancient MS. of the monastery of Saint Bertin.

Afterwards Anastasius the Librarian continued the Lives of the Pontiffs down to Pope Nicholas, that is, to the year 867, and William the Librarian and others extended the same down to Pope Martin V, that is, the year 1431: and by all of them nine years are assigned to Pope Soter, as also is done with great consensus in Luitprand's Lives of the Roman Pontiffs, likewise in the Liber Pontificalis, and in the ancient Roman Breviaries manuscript and printed in the years 1479, 1490, 1522, and 1524, which we have in our possession: and finally in the Breviary issued by order of Pius V, in which the pair of Consuls under whom Soter began and completed his pontificate is omitted; which in other Breviaries and in the remaining treatises is recorded again with the greatest consensus in these words: "He held office from the consulship of Rusticus and Aquilinus to that of Cethegus and Clarus." We have said above that his predecessor Saint Pius is reported to have departed from this life in the consulship of the two Augusti; to whom succeeded in the year of Christ 162, Q. Junius Rusticus and Vettius Aquilinus. The later consuls, Cethegus and Clarus, were in the year of Christ 170. And that these two pairs of consuls are mentioned by Damasus in the Life of Saint Soter is attested by Onuphrius in his Commentary on the second book of the Fasti, at the year from the founding of the City 915 and 923. Died A.D. 171. Saint Soter, moreover, seems to have lived beyond these consuls, down to April 22 of the following year 171, when the consuls were Septimius Verus, or Severus, and Herennianus, in whose consulship is assigned the beginning of the pontificate of his successor Saint Eleutherius. Saint Soter therefore sat in his pontificate for nine years, from the year of Christ 162 until the 21st or 22nd of April of the year 171. Concerning the day and month on which he began to sit, there is not the same certainty. Anastasius, besides the said nine years, adds three months, which also in all the mentioned Breviaries are noted; without mention of days, to which in the earlier Catalogue only two are added. In the MS. codices of Anastasius from the library of the Most Christian King Mazarin and of Freher, likewise in Platina, Johannes Stella, and others, twenty-one days are added, and thus from the beginning of January, or on the 20th or 22nd of that month, he would have begun the pontificate. But in the second and third Catalogue, and in the MSS. of the Acts, and also in Luitprand and Abbo of Fleury, six months; in the Liber Pontificalis, seven months are expressed. Then the beginning of Saint Soter would have to be set at September or October of the year 161, when Saint Pius is said to have died on July 11. Disregarding months and days, nine years are attributed to Saint Soter, among the Greeks, by Saint Nicephorus Bishop of Constantinople, and Georgius Syncellus in his Chronography; among the Latins, by Notker and others in their Martyrologies, to be indicated below. Eusebius in the Preface to the fifth book of Ecclesiastical History writes that Soter, Bishop of the city of Rome, died after the eighth year of his episcopate. Which nearly coincides with the opinion of others. But how little Eusebius is to be trusted in matters concerning the Roman Pontiffs will soon appear, when we treat of Saint Caius the Pontiff and successor of Saint Eutychianus, and on April 26 in the Acts of Saint Marcellinus, where we shall show that Saint Marcellus, who yet lived in the age of Eusebius, was wrongly omitted by him.

[2] To this chronology In these things, then, which belong to the Roman Church, we hold with Cardinal Baronius that greater trust should be given to its own children than to others: from whom because of the common consent of all ages we are forced to depart in that he places Saint Soter as having sat for four years less twelve days, from the year 175 to the year 179, to which year he assigns the death of Saint Soter, adding these words: "If anyone shall find a more certain Chronography concerning the years of Soter, by which however Cletus is not excluded from the number of Roman Pontiffs, nor the sincere testimony of the letter of the Martyrs of Lyons scorned, we shall not unwillingly assent." So Baronius. We retain Cletus in the number of the Roman Pontiffs, and we say he is distinct from Anacletus, as appears in his Acts, illustrated on April 26; and this we do following the same authors from whom we have already established the date of the see of Saint Soter. the testimony of the Martyrs of Lyons agrees. Moreover, we admit with all veneration the testimony of the letter of the Martyrs of Lyons, as will soon be evident from the Acts of Saints Epipodius and Alexander, Martyrs of Lyons. Nay, relying on this testimony, we judge necessarily that Saint Eleutherius, from the death of Saint Soter, before the persecution was stirred up in Gaul, presided over the Church for some time, and that his virtues became known to the Christians of Lyons; who then, cast into prison for the faith, sent him a letter asking that the peace and concord of the Church might be preserved, acting as "ambassadors for the peace of the Churches," as is read in Eusebius, book 5 of Ecclesiastical History chapter 3 near the end; and in chapter 4 it is indicated that these letters were carried to Rome by Saint Irenaeus, whom Baronius asserts to have been appointed Bishop of Lyons in the year 180 in place of Saint Pothinus, who in the previous year had passed from this life by glorious martyrdom.

[3] A very ancient memorial of Saint Soter is in the letter of Saint Dionysius, Bishop of the Corinthians, reported by Eusebius in book 4 of Ecclesiastical History chapter 23. That letter was written to the Romans, whose way of life is praised in these words: [Saint Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, praises the benevolence of the Romans and of Saint Soter toward poor and pilgrim Christians.] "This has been your custom from the very beginning of your religion, to treat all the brethren with various kinds of benefactions, and to send the necessities of life to very many churches established in individual cities. And by this means you relieve the poverty of the needy, and supply necessities to the brethren who labor in the mines: through these gifts which from the beginning you have been accustomed to send, you Romans preserve the custom and institution of the Romans received from your ancestors. And this custom your blessed Bishop Soter not only observed but even increased, both by bountifully supplying the gifts destined for the saints, and by consoling with blessed words the brethren who came from afar, as a most loving father comforts his children." Thus Saint Dionysius, who flourished at this very time, as was said on April 8, his natal day.

[4] To these we add a eulogy from the second Catalogue, which we said was composed in the sixth century of Christ, and which reads thus: "Soter, a Campanian by nationality, of the father Concordius, from the city of Fundi, sat nine years, six months, twenty-one days. He was in the times of Severus, from the consulship of Rusticus and Aquilinus to that of Cethegus and Clarus. He established that no nun should touch the consecrated pall, Eulogy from the ancient Catalogues of the Pontiffs, nor offer incense within the holy Church. He held ordinations in the month of December: 17 Priests, 8 Deacons, 11 Bishops in various places. He was buried next to the body of blessed Peter, on the 10th day before the Kalends of May. The episcopate was vacant for 11 days." So it stands there, and nearly the same things are found in the others cited above, especially Anastasius, with small differences regarding the number of consecrated Bishops, his native land was Fundi, Priests or Deacons, and the days during which the episcopate was vacant. The native land of Saint Soter is Fundi, a very ancient city of Italy, on the Appian Way between Formiae and Terracina, among the Aurunci, once assigned to Latium, afterwards commonly held to be an episcopal city of Campania, and at this time counted as part of the Neapolitan kingdom. Saint Soter sat in the times of M. Aurelius Antoninus Verus, and his brother L. Aelius Verus. M. Aurelius Verus also called Severus; Galen, who at that time lived at Rome, in his book against those who have written on types, calls him not Verus but Severus, and they both had a maternal great-grandfather, Catilius Severus, twice consul; and so with Galen in the said Catalogues he is called Severus.

[5] Finally, since there is no mention among the ancients of the martyrdom of Saint Soter, Onuphrius judges, in his annotations to Platina, that this and some other Pontiffs, although they did not depart by a violent death, why is Saint Soter a Martyr? nevertheless suffered many things from the raging crowd and unjust magistrates, who maintained a perpetual hatred against Christians, but that such men are called Confessors by Cyprian: memory on April 21 and 22. and in a very old book of the Vatican library, written six hundred years ago, they are openly and clearly called Confessors, others of the remaining as Martyrs: there are also some that have neither the designation of Martyr nor of Confessor. His sacred memory stands on April 21 and 22. On the former day, Ado in several MSS., Notker, the author of the supposititious Bede, and Molanus in the first edition of Usuard have the following: "At Rome, of Saint Soter the Pope, who sat in the episcopate for nine years, buried in the cemetery of Callistus. He established that no nun should touch the consecrated pall in church, nor offer incense." In the Vatican MS. of the church of Saint Peter, and in various others, on this 22nd day is listed the birthday (natal day) of Saint Soter the Pope at Rome: with Bellinus and Molanus in the later editions of Usuard is added, "a Campanian by nationality." In some Martyrologies, written about three hundred years ago and in others printed, he is said to have been crowned with martyrdom or to have suffered under Marcus Antoninus or under Aurelius Commodus his brother; with which the modern Roman Martyrology agrees, together with the Breviary issued by order of Pope Pius V.

[6] His burial. Saint Soter was buried, according to the MS. Catalogue of Queen Christina of Sweden, next to the body of Saint Peter: but according to Anastasius and others, on the Appian Way in the cemetery of Callistus. Ciacconius has it: "He rested in peace at Rome, and was buried on the Appian Way in the cemetery which he himself constructed and which was called of Soter from his name." But that this cemetery received its name from Saint Soter, the Virgin and Martyr, we said in her Life on February 10, § III, and Anastasius confirms in the Life of Pope Stephen III in these words: "He also restored the roof of the cemetery of Saint Soter, which had fallen." Consult Aringhi, book 3 of Roma Subterranea, chapter 19, but he by a lapse of memory ascribes to Onuphrius what we have brought forth from Ciacconius. Certainly the latter in the Commentary on the Roman Pontiffs, both separately and printed with Platina, writes that Saint Soter was "buried on the Appian Way at the Catacombs, which afterwards was called of Callistus."

[7] The body of this saint was translated by Sergius II, as authors everywhere gather from Anastasius, who in the Life of Sergius has the following: "The most blessed Pope, solicitous with pious devotion for the desirable love of Saints Silvester and Martin, the church which had been consecrated to their holy name, which from the beginning of his priesthood, translation to the church of Saints Silvester and Martin. until he was brought to the summit of the pontificate, he had vigorously governed, and which through olden times had withered away through failing age, broken by ruins and long torn asunder in antiquity, with the favor of God's clemency, he completed from the foundations into a better and more beautiful condition. He also painted the apse with immense love, suffused with golden mosaic colors.

And to the honor of Almighty God and of the same most blessed Silvester the Overseer, he placed the body together with the most blessed Fabian, Stephen, and Soter, Martyrs and Pontiffs… dedicating it beneath the sacred altar." Thus there. We ourselves have seen the inscription set in marble a few centuries ago, whose beginning was this. Indulgence — by whom was it granted for that place? "In the times of the lord Sergius the Younger the Pope, there have been enshrined in this sacred altar the bodies of blessed Silvester and Martin, Pontiffs, likewise the bodies of the most blessed Fabian, Stephen, and Soter, Martyrs and Prelates." The whole inscription was published by Giovanni Antonio Filippini in a pamphlet on the antiquity and veneration of this church, printed in 1639. We said it was engraved a few centuries ago, convinced by the form and completeness of the Latin letters, far different from those whose use prevailed in the age of Sergius II; as also other learned men at Rome, and most experienced in such matters, judged. This we note here because a great and otherwise prudent writer allowed himself to slip, holding that the marble was set in place at the very time of the said Translation. We do not, however, deny that the testimony of the aforesaid translation seems to have been taken from an older source, whether marble or parchment. But that this Sergius established every year on the feasts of the saints who are named an indulgence of three years and three forty-day periods to all who devoutly approach those bodies, which seems there consequently to be stated, no one would prudently believe: because it is most certain that this form of granting indulgences is much later. This grant must therefore have come from some Pontiff sitting in the eleventh century, and perhaps from Sergius IV, who died in 1012. Since the diploma or memory of this was kept in the said church without the addition of which by that name of Pontiff had decreed the indulgence, nothing was more natural than that some sacristan, in the 14th or 15th century, taking care to renew the ancient inscription, would add something about indulgences as though granted by the same one who had first translated the bodies. So we know that indulgences were sometimes attributed to Saint Gregory the Great, which had their origin either from Saint Gregory VII of that name, Relics said to be preserved at Toledo. or even from Saint Gregory X, a man likewise of great sanctity and venerated as a saint among the Marseillais; or from some one between the two.

[8] At Toledo in Spain, the body of Saint Soter is said to be; and therefore in the proper offices printed at Madrid in the year 1607, it is prescribed for this April 22 that a double office of Saints Soter and Caius be celebrated in the mother church. But in the Proper Offices reprinted at Madrid in the year 1738, a double Office of Saint Soter alone is prescribed, the feast of Saint Caius being transferred to the next day. Tamayo Salazar inscribed this same Saint Soter in his Spanish Martyrology, asserting that in the catalogue of Relics of the holy Church of Toledo, in the autograph of a visitation made in the year 1600 by the Most Eminent Don Bernardo de Rojas y Sandoval, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and Prelate of Toledo, he found these words, no. 3: "There is a silver case in which the body of Saint Eugene, sent by the King of France, was translated; in it there are enshrined Relics from the ashes of Saint Dionysius and his Companions, and from the bones of Saint Eugene, and from the garments of all of them: and the Body in dust of Saint Soter, Pope and Martyr." From which Tamayo concludes that the ashes of Saint Soter came to Toledo before the year 1565, in which the body of Saint Eugene was translated. Antonio de Quintanadueñas, in his book on the Saints of Toledo, treats of Saint Soter the Pope, but confesses he could not determine when, or on what occasion, the body was brought to the Church of Toledo.

At Antwerp in the church of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus, a thick little bone is preserved, with particles of Soter, Pope and Martyr, which together with the Relics of Saints Hyginus and Urban, Pontiffs and Martyrs, and some others, Father Jan Melander, Priest of this Flanders-Belgian Society, received in the year 1545 from Didacus de Campo, Apostolic Protonotary and Canon of the Basilica of the Prince of the Apostles, private chamberlain of our Lord Pope Paul III: as is evident from the attestation, confirmed by the autograph of Didacus himself and of the Secretary Angelo Corradi. These Relics are preserved in an exceedingly elegant white reliquary, together with the relics of other holy Martyrs and Pontiffs, to be commemorated more fittingly in their proper place and time.