ST. AMBROSE boasts of this saint as the greatest honor of his family.
St. Soteris was descended from a long series of consuls and prefects:
but her greatest glory was her despising, for the sake of Christ, birth,
riches, great beauty, and all that the world prizes as valuable. She
consecrated her virginity to God, and to avoid the dangers her beauty
exposed her to, neglected it entirely, and trampled under her feet all
the vain ornaments that might set it off. Her virtue prepared her to
make a glorious confession of her faith before the persecutors, after
the publication of the cruel edicts of Dioclesian and Maximian against
the Christians. The impious judge commanded her face to be buffeted. She
rejoiced to be treated as her divine Saviour had been, and to have her
face all wounded and disfigured by the merciless blows of the
executioners. The judge ordered her to be tortured many other ways, but
without being able to draw from her one sigh or tear. At length,
overcome by her constancy and patience, he commanded her head to be
struck off. The ancient martyrologies mention her.