ON SAINT SOTERIS, ROMAN VIRGIN AND MARTYR,
UNDER DIOCLETIAN.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Soteris, Virgin Martyr, at Rome (Saint)
By J. B.
Section I. The name, homeland, family, and Acts of Saint Soteris.
[1] Soteris is a Greek name, derived from sozo or soo, meaning "I save," just as soter means Savior; yet it was especially used by the Latins and was formerly given to several Roman women: as Baronius observes from ancient inscriptions published by Aldus Manutius in his book On the Principles of Orthography, The name of Saint Soteris, in common use among the Romans: where, under the word Femina, mention is made of Aurelia Soteris; and under Hadrianus, Avillia Soteris is named. There is, moreover, no Saint Soteris in the Greek Menaia; she is the only one mentioned in the Latin Martyrologies on February 10, and by some on the sixth, as we shall say below. I would prefer to say Soteridem, were I not held back by the reverence due to the Martyrologies, and especially the Roman one. Although their authors received the form from Saint Ambrose, in whom the nominative is Soteris. She is called Sotera in the Spanish Chronicle published under the name of L. Flavius Dexter. And formerly Soteira was a surname of Minerva among the Athenians, as if one were to say Liberatrix or Salvatrix. That which John Tamayus Salazar says in his Notes on the Spanish Martyrology -- that all agree it should be written Soter in the nominative -- is so far from being true that we have not yet found it so written in Latin in a single author, except in Wandelbert, who perhaps believed it to be a proper name for a man. Certainly of the two inscriptions which Tamayus cites from Janus Gruter, one is false, the other is not pertinent. Gruter attests that both exist at Rome: the latter he records on page 1010, number 1, which reads thus: Sacred to Lucina. L. Soter and Staphile. No one denies that Soter can be said in the nominative; but it is a man's name, not a woman's. The other inscription is this, on page 662, number 3: To the departed spirits. For Crescentilla, their sweetest daughter, Crescens the father and Soteris the mother made this. She lived eleven years, six months, and eleven days. Epaphroditus, her grandfather, erected this. But enough about the name.
[2] The homeland, family, and deeds of our Soteris, or Soteridem, are briefly explained by Saint Ambrose, himself descended from the same holy Virgin's lineage. He, in book 3 On Virgins, after relating the heroic deed of the Antiochene Virgins who cast themselves into the middle of a river channel lest sacrilegious brigands violate their modesty, thus addresses his sister Marcellina: But why should I use foreign examples with you, sister, whom the inspired succession of hereditary chastity, she herself also a Roman, poured in from a parent who was a Martyr, has instructed? For whence did you learn, you who had no place from which to learn, being situated in the country, with no companion Virgin, instructed by no teacher? You did not therefore act the part of a disciple, which cannot happen without a master, but an heiress of virtue. For how could it be that Saint Soteris was not the author of your mind, who is the author of your family? She who, in the age of persecution, raised even by slavish insults to the summit of suffering, even offered her very face to the executioner -- that face which amid the torments of the whole body is accustomed to be free from injury and rather to behold torments than to endure them -- for the faith she is beaten with blows to the face: so brave and patient that, when she offered her tender cheeks to punishment, the executioner gave out from striking sooner than the Martyr would yield to the insult. She did not turn her face away; she did not avert her countenance; she uttered no groan, shed no tear. And when at last she had overcome all other kinds of punishment, she found the sword which she sought.
[3] The same holy Doctor, near the end of his Exhortation to Virgins, speaks thus of Saint Soteris: Many, while professing the pursuit of chastity, seek the aids of beauty, so that they may go forth more adorned, with a more radiant face, than becomes the sacred ministers of the Lord. To these I respond with the Apostolic word: You who have died with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you still decree, as if living, concerning this world? Col. 2:20 Touch not, he says, taste not, handle not, which are all things destined to perish. But not so Saint Soteris, to bring forward the domestic example of a pious parent. For we priests have our own nobility, to be preferred to prefectures and consulships. We have, I say, the dignities of the faith, which know not how to perish. But, as I said, Soteris took no care of her appearance: she who, though exceedingly beautiful of face, she neglects feminine adornment: and a noble Virgin of the lineage of her ancestors, held sacred faith above the consulships and prefectures of her parents, and when ordered to offer sacrifice, did not comply. Her savage persecutor commanded her to be beaten with open hands, so that the tender Virgin might yield to pain or to shame. But she, when she heard this sentence, uncovered her face, she offers her face to those striking her: veiled to the sun alone and untouched by martyrdom; and willingly she went to meet the insult, offering her face, so that where there is usually the trial of modesty, there might be the sacrifice of martyrdom. For she rejoiced that by the loss of beauty, the peril to her integrity was removed. But they were able indeed to plough her face with the welts of wounds; yet the face of her virtue and the grace of her inner beauty they were by no means able to plough. Ancient fables relate that a certain Etruscan youth, since on account of the admirable beauty of his own face he inflamed women with love, ploughed his own face with scars, lest any woman should be able to fall in love with him. I shall consider whether his spirit was chaste; yet his impulse was not innocent, on account of which he would punish himself. He, however, received wounds only so as not to harm others: she bore back the triumphal scars of martyrdom, so as to preserve the image of God which she had received.
[4] Thus Saint Ambrose. From which it is clear that Saint Soteris was not a foreigner, whose deeds he places alongside the foreign examples of the holy Virgins from Syria. She was therefore Italian, and indeed Roman, of noble ancestral lineage; of illustrious family, also of the consulships and prefectures of her parents. She was a blood-relative of Ambrose himself and Marcellina: therefore he says he brings forward her example as a domestic example of a pious parent. and a blood-relative of Saint Ambrose. And in the former passage he calls her a "parent who was a Martyr," that is, a kinswoman; as the same author often speaks elsewhere, and many writers of that age. In almost the same phrase he says that she is the "author of the family" of Marcellina; not because she had given birth to her -- for she remained a Virgin -- but because from the same stock, among the ancestors of Marcellina, she had shone forth with the glory of religion and martyrdom. To the same point pertains the expression "the inspired possession of hereditary chastity," and this: "You acted the part of an heiress of virtue." And finally this: "We priests have our own nobility, to be preferred to prefectures and consulships," etc., where he means the ornaments of faith and virtue belonging to his kinsmen, not merely the kinship of faith with any holy persons whatsoever: not, I say, as if Bishops and Priests could and should possess and boast of no other nobility than that which has been gained for the whole Church, and especially for themselves, by the benefactions of any Saints whatsoever; but because they are commended more by the contests of their ancestors for the faith than by their prefectures and consulships.
[5] By whom were her Acts written? The deeds of the same holy Virgin are faithfully and accurately described, from Saint Ambrose and Baronius, by Antonius Gallonius in his Italian history of the holy Roman Virgins. And somewhat more briefly by Silvanus Razzius in volume 1 of his Lives of Women Illustrious for Holiness, and Philip Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy.
[6] Roderic Carus in his annotations on the Chronicle of Dexter cites the Acts of Saint Soteris: but these appear to be none other than what Saint Ambrose wrote about her. N. Guerrosius, in his French history of the Saints whose relics are held in the diocese of Troyes, explains and amplifies what is said in the Martyrologies and in Saint Ambrose -- that Saint Soteris had overcome all other kinds of punishment -- as follows: that she had been stripped by the torturers to the waist, in order the more to mock her modesty and bashfulness, tied to a stake, beaten with rods and scourges: then that her head and shoulders had been pierced with monstrous nails. Then he expressly adds the following, elsewhere exaggerated: but in French: They were able, says Saint Ambrose, to plough her beautiful face, breast, and shoulders with wounds, blows, and nails; yet the Angelic face of her virtue and the grace of her inner beauty they could not offend. But where does Saint Ambrose say all this? The same author adds that Baronius writes that he has the genuine Acts of that holy Virgin in his hands. But Baronius nowhere writes this; the ancient ones do not survive: rather his words in the Notes on the Martyrology for February 10 are these: There was a cemetery named after Saint Soteris, which Pope Stephen II restored, as the author Anastasius attests in the Acts of the same Pope Stephen. We have these among us in manuscript. Namely, those of Pope Stephen, but not those of Saint Soteris.
[7] John Tamayus writes other things about Saint Soteris in his Notes on the Spanish Martyrology. That she went to Spain to avoid the persecution, and near Paelemon, a city of the province of Tarraconensis, she lived for some time in a small dwelling, devoted to the praises of God and to the relief of her neighbors. other matters of uncertain reliability. That she was then seized and brought before the Governor Dacianus, loaded with chains, and repeatedly questioned about her origin and family; she answered only that she was a Christian: and for this reason was enclosed in a horrible dungeon. When the Governor had learned from other sources that she was born of a consular house, having been brought out of custody, he attempted by a lengthy speech to persuade her to abandon her purpose: and when he felt that he was wasting his words, he ordered her face to be beaten with slaps. She herself willingly removed the veil from her face, which savage soldiers struck most cruelly not only with open hands, as they had been ordered, but also with daggers. At last, having undergone many other torments, she was put to death by the sword. Thus he, from the Chronicle of Dexter, as he says, and from a manuscript Legendarium. But to which Church did this belong? How ancient was it? Does it contain all the things that have been narrated? Why are its very words not produced?
Section II. The time, day, and place of the martyrdom of Saint Soteris.
[8] That Saint Soteris completed her martyrdom under the Emperor Diocletian is reported by the Martyrology printed at Cologne in the year 1490, and by the Doctrinale Clericorum published in the same year at Lubeck. Baronius proves that it occurred in the year 304 from the Acts of Saint Pancras, in which the following is read: At the same time there suffered a most sacred Virgin, she appears to have suffered under Diocletian, Soteris by name, born of noble stock, under Diocletian Augustus for the ninth time and Maximian for the seventh time as Emperors. Thus we find in four manuscripts. Baronius, volume 2, at the year 304, number 27, advises that "Emperors" should be read as "Consuls." in the year 304, or perhaps 293. But the ninth consulship of Diocletian and the seventh of Maximian do not agree with each other; whereas the ninth year of the reign of the former and the seventh of the latter fall in the year 293 of the common era. Surius, who admits that he somewhat polished the style of those Acts of Saint Pancras, expressed the date thus: Diocletian IX and Maximian VIII; but immediately added: it is uncertain whether this refers to the year of their reign or their consulship. Now Diocletian was Consul for the ninth time and Maximian for the eighth time in the year 304; and thus Baronius read or corrected it. The manuscript Florarium, under May 12, having established that the martyrdom of Saint Pancras occurred in the year 305, adds: But at that same time there also suffered a most holy Virgin, Sotheris by name, of noble birth, under Aurelian Augustus, in the year of salvation 287. These statements manifestly contradict one another. Nevertheless, it should not be concealed that in certain Acts of Saint Pancras these details are not found; and in all the copies of those Acts that we have seen, it is said that Pancras was baptized by Pope Saint Cornelius, and was killed at the age of fourteen or fifteen, under Valerian and Gallienus as some manuscripts have it, others under Diocletian — an inextricable anachronism. We shall examine those Acts on May 12. Surius omitted the name of the Pope.
[9] Concerning the day of the martyrdom of Saint Soteris there is also a controversy. For not only the more recent writers — Molanus, Canisius, and the slightly older Bellinus of Padua in the Paris edition, entered in the Martyrologies under February 6, and Hermann Greven — assign her to February 6; but also Notker, Rabanus, the published Bede, and the ancient manuscripts of Saint Maximin at Trier, the Aachen manuscript, the Reichenau or Augia Dives manuscript, and the most ancient Roman Martyrology prefaced with the name of Saint Jerome; likewise the Roman Martyrology of the monastery of Saint Cyriacus, and others. But certain of the aforementioned authors have her again on February 10: Canisius, and the 10th, Bellinus in both editions, Notker, the Reichenau manuscript, the one bearing Jerome's name, and likewise an old Roman Martyrology published by Rosweyde; moreover Usuard, Ado, Maurolycus, Galesinius, Felicius, Ferrari, Peter de Natalibus, and the recent Roman Martyrology. Some of these authors perhaps regarded them as different persons.
[10] The difficulty concerning the place of martyrdom is greater; for some write that she suffered at Rome, others in the East, and some even in Spain. Usuard writes thus under February 10: In the East, Saint Soteris the Virgin, who, having been severely and most persistently beaten with slaps, and having overcome all other kinds of punishment as well, she is said to have suffered in the East, completed her martyrdom by the sword. Thus all manuscript and printed copies have it. Likewise Ado, Notker, Bellinus, Peter de Natalibus, the manuscript of the Church of Saint Gudula at Brussels, the larger manuscript of Saint Maximin at Trier (which elsewhere generally agrees with Rabanus), the manuscript of the Jesuit college at Louvain, and likewise the manuscript of the Professed House at Antwerp (which bears the name of Bede), the manuscript of the Carmel at Cologne; also the Doctrinale Clericorum and the Cologne Martyrology cited above; finally, though in other words, Maurolycus, Galesinius, Felicius, Canisius, the manuscript Florarium, the manuscripts of Saint Lambert at Liege and of Centula, both bearing the name of Bede. But under February 6, Maurolycus has: Likewise in the East, Sotera, Virgin. Galesinius assigns no place on that day, and weaves a long eulogy in the words of Saint Ambrose, but on the tenth day he shows what he thinks by writing: In the East, Saint Soteris, Virgin and Martyr, concerning whom see February 8. The place is not specified on February 10 by the old Roman Martyrology published by Rosweyde, nor by the Laetian manuscript; nor on February 6 by Bellinus in the Paris edition, the Aachen manuscript, or the Carmelite manuscript of Cologne. The published Bede on February 6 appears to recognize two Soteres, for he writes: At Rome, on the Appian Way, in the cemetery of the same, the passion of Saint Soteris the Virgin; and then, with many entries intervening: In the East, Saint Soteris the Virgin, who, having been severely and most persistently beaten with slaps, and having overcome a hundred kinds of punishment, completed her martyrdom by the sword. But a manuscript of the monastery of Richeberg in Bavaria, with which Rosweyde had compared the text published under the name of Bede, assigns this second Soteris to the tenth day with the same eulogy transcribed from Usuard, in which she is said to have overcome not a hundred kinds of punishment, but the remaining kinds.
[11] But the manuscripts that report her as having died a martyr at Rome are more ancient, by others she is placed at Rome, on the Appian Way, February 6, and the most authoritative authors support them. Under February 6, the Reichenau manuscript has: At Rome, Soteris the Virgin. The lesser manuscript of Saint Maximin at Trier: At Rome, the deposition of Saint Soteris the Virgin. The Tournai manuscript of Saint Martin, which is inscribed to Eusebius, Jerome, and Bede the Priest: At Rome, the passion of the holy Virgins Dorothy and Soteris. Canisius: Likewise at Rome, the passion of Saint Soteris the Virgin. The most ancient manuscript Roman Martyrology, which we often cite under the name of Saint Jerome, as it is inscribed: At Rome, on the Appian Way, the birthday of Soteretis. The Roman manuscript of the monastery of Saint Cyriacus: At Rome, on the Appian Way, the passion of Soteris the Virgin. Molanus has the same. And the published Bede: At Rome, on the Appian Way, in the cemetery of the same, the passion of Saint Soteris the Virgin; and the same is found in Rabanus and Notker.
[12] But on the tenth day of February, the Reichenau manuscript and the lesser Trier manuscript have: by others likewise, but on February 10, At Rome, Soteris. Jerome's: At Rome, the birthday of Soteris. A notable manuscript Martyrology in our possession, apparently brought from Italy, written about a thousand or eleven hundred years ago: Likewise at Rome, Saint Soteris the Virgin. The manuscript of the monastery of Saint Martin at Trier: At Rome, Soteris the Virgin, who, having been severely beaten with slaps, completed her martyrdom by the sword. The Cassino Martyrology, as Baronius attests, concurs, as do others. Finally, the Roman Martyrology enlarged by Baronius: Likewise at Rome, on the Appian Way, Saint Soteris, Virgin and Martyr, who (as Saint Ambrose writes), born of noble stock, despised the consulships and prefectures of her parents for the sake of Christ, and when ordered to offer sacrifice, would not comply; she was severely and most persistently beaten with slaps, and when she had overcome all other kinds of punishment as well, she was struck with the sword and joyfully departed to her Spouse.
[13] The Spanish Chronicle, published under the name of Dexter, at the year 300, commentary 2, number 21, has the following: In the eastern part of Spain, in the city of Palemo, Saint Sotera, Virgin and Martyr, who, having received slaps to the face in the manner of slaves, completed her illustrious martyrdom in the Lord. Her example of chastity was cited by Saint Monica, the worthy mother of Augustine. by others in Spain, She came to Spain on account of the persecution, in the year 304. Roderic Carus and Francis Bivarius eagerly embrace these statements in their commentaries on that Chronicle, as does John Tamayus in his Notes on the Spanish Martyrology, and Francis Laherius in his great Menologium of Virgins. Bivarius complains that the text of the Roman Martyrology was changed, without sufficient authority and consideration, on the testimony of two manuscripts, when all the authors of the Martyrologies stand in opposition, who report her as having been killed in the East; that is, in the eastern — not a province of Asia, but a town of Spain, Palamos — to which evidently the holy Virgin, he says, fleeing persecution, had traveled when she was seized for punishment. Perhaps her parents had estates in Spain, and she was traveling thither. In harsher words Tamayus attacked Baronius: that the foundations of the Purple-clad writer were weak... that the correction of the Cardinal of Saint Nereus should be rejected, as it should rather be called a destruction, since it rests on a false basis, etc.
[14] How little solid this censure is, however, is clear from the words of the Martyrologies already cited. Nor will they easily convince anyone who is not Spanish that Dexter, educated under the discipline of his father Saint Pacian (a man of refined eloquence, and distinguished in life no less than in speech), produced this so unpolished and crude a work. Is this what it means to weave a complete history, which Saint Jerome predicates of him — to drag men renowned for any distinction from everywhere, as if by the scruff of the neck, into Spain? with little probability. Spain possesses innumerable true and magnificent distinctions, so that it need not be adorned with these fabrications. But let others judge this Chronicle. I ask, who has ever spoken in such a way as to say "in the East" to mean the coast of Spain facing eastward? This could scarcely be tolerated if someone in Portugal, Baetica, or Castile were writing in that phrase; what then, when Usuard and Ado were writing in Gaul, Notker in Germany, and others in Italy — why did they not rather say "in the West"?
[15] You will press the point: why do those same authors write that she suffered in the East, if she suffered in Italy? whence did that expression "in the East" creep in? I frankly suspect it is an error. N. Guerrosius thinks that some half-educated person, because the name was Greek, wrote that she was killed in the East. Perhaps some careless scribe inserted those words from elsewhere; others thoughtlessly followed. What if Usuard, who is the most ancient of those who wrote thus, used an old manuscript in which "in the East" was written, but because the names of Saints that should have followed were either worn away, or torn off, or omitted, he immediately attached Soteris? Bede, Rabanus, Notker, and others support our view. why entered under two days? Why her name was entered in the Martyrology under two days escapes our explanation as well. Perhaps she was killed on one and buried on the other.
Section III. The cemetery, burial, and translation of Saint Soteris.
[16] Among the various places in which Christians formerly buried the bodies of the dead at Rome (which places were commonly called Cemeteries, as if you were to say Dormitories, and sometimes Areas, Tombs, Catacombs, the cemetery of Saint Soteris, Sand-pits, or Crypts), there was, I say, also the cemetery of Saint Soteris, concerning which Antonius Bosius and Paulus Arengus treat more fully in their Roma Subterranea, book 3, the latter in chapter 19, the former in chapter 20. It is probable that it was built by her on some estate of her own for the burial of holy Martyrs, just as we read that others were constructed on the properties of other matrons or noble Virgins, at their expense or through their efforts. on the Appian Way, This cemetery of Saint Soteris was situated, as we have reported above from the Martyrologies of Bede, Rabanus, and Notker, on the Appian Way; and, as Bosius and Arengus observe, it was not far distant from the cemetery of Callistus, near that of Callistus, and perhaps connected to it, and a part of it. It was built, however, not by Pope Saint Soter, as some have thought, but by Saint Soteris the Virgin. This is clear from Anastasius Bibliothecarius, who writes thus of Pope Stephen III: He restored the roof of the cemetery of Saint Soteris, which had fallen. For Arengus attests that in two manuscripts of the best quality, the Vatican and the Cava codex, restored in the eighth century, the word "Sanctae" is written with distinctly marked characters. Stephen III (who is commonly called the Second) held office from the end of March 752 to April 26, 757.
[17] Saint Soteris was therefore buried in this cemetery of hers. Those who believe she was killed in Spain nevertheless admit that her body was afterward brought back to this cemetery — Bivarius and John Tamayus among them. From there her relics were transferred into the City, to the church of Saints Sylvester and Martin, in the second region called the Montes, she herself was buried in it, situated near the Baths of Trajan on the Esquiline. Pope Symmachus built that church, where the ancient Titulus of Equitius, or church, had already long existed. Anastasius writes in the Life of Symmachus: afterward into the City, to the church of Saint Sylvester, Within the city of Rome he built from the foundations the basilica of Saints Sylvester and Martin, near the Baths of Trajan. Symmachus held office from November 22, 498, to July 19, 514. Sergius II restored this basilica and, having translated thither the bodies of many Saints, built by Pope Symmachus, among them that of Saint Soteris the Virgin, adorned it magnificently. Sergius governed the Church from February 10, 844, to April 12, 847. The same Bibliothecarius attests this in his Life, writing: Therefore the consummate and most blessed Pope, protected by God, with pious devotion solicitous restored by Sergius II for the beloved love of Saints Sylvester and Martin, completed from the foundations — by the favor of God's clemency — their church, which had been consecrated in their holy name; which from the beginning of his priesthood until he was elevated to the height of the pontificate he had diligently governed; and which through long ages had grown decrepit with age and, broken by ruin, had long remained in ancient disrepair — he brought it to a better and more beautiful state. He also painted its apse, adorned with golden mosaic colors, and variously adorned, with great love. And to the honor of almighty God, he placed the body of the most blessed Bishop Sylvester, together with the most blessed Fabian and Stephen and Soter, Martyrs and Pontiffs, and likewise Asterius the Martyr with his most holy daughter, and Saint Cyriacus and Maurus, Largus and Smaragdus, and Anastasius, with other Saints, and Innocentius the Pontiffs, together with Saint Quirinus and Leo the Bishops, and likewise Artemius, Nicander, and Crescentian the Martyrs; with whom also the Blessed Soteris and Paulina, as well as Memmia, Juliana and Quirilla, Theopiste, and Sophia, Virgins and Martyrs, translated, and Blessed Quiriaca the widow, with many others whose names are known to God alone — he dedicated and placed them both beneath the sacred altar. Thus Anastasius.
[18] Baronius quotes these words from him in volume 10, at the year 847, number 3, and notes that this work was begun by Sergius and completed by his successor Leo IV — which Anastasius also wrote in the Life of Leo. Baronius testifies in the same place that nearly the same account of the translated bodies of the Saints in that basilica can be read, by the same Sergius, or Leo IV, inscribed on a marble tablet from that very period, with this addition: These bodies of the Saints were translated from the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. Granting in perpetuity an indulgence of three years and three Lenten periods to all who devoutly visit them on their feast days. But not all those bodies were translated from the cemetery of Saint Priscilla; some came from other cemeteries. with indulgences granted.
[19] N. Guerrosius, in the history of the Saints of Troyes cited above, testifies that in the Benedictine convent of Bricolium, which not long ago was transferred to the suburbs of the town of Sezanne and is called Saint Mary of the Forest, relics in France, relics of Saint Soteris, Virgin and Martyr, are piously preserved enclosed in a reliquary. One bone of hers is religiously preserved in the Jesuit church at Luxembourg, and at Luxembourg, having been brought there from Rome in previous years, together with the body of Saint Tertullinus the Martyr, concerning whom we shall treat more fully below on February 24, the date on which that translation was made.
[20] Philip Ferrari, in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, not at Dordrecht in Holland, writes under this day in his Notes that the body of this Saint Soteris is held in the highest honor at Dordrecht in Holland; and he cites Molanus, who treats of another Soteris, or Sura, of Batavia, concerning whom we also shall speak below. The same Ferrari, however, in his general Catalogue of Saints, after repeating the same, appears to doubt whether the Sura of Dordrecht and the Soteris of Rome are the same, and wishes the matter to be settled from the Acts of both.
[21] John Tamayus writes that the relics of another Saint Soteris, a Roman Virgin and Martyr, are honorably preserved in the devout Cistercian convent at Madrid, the body of another at Madrid, which is dedicated to the Most Holy Sacrament. On what day she is venerated, we have not yet ascertained.
[22] Moreover, on February 10, a commemoration of Saint Soteris is customarily made in very many churches, the commemoration of Saint Soteris, as is evident from the Breviaries of Wurzburg, the old Brussels Breviary, and others.