Sophia of Rome

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint Sophia of Rome
Died ~304 AD
Rome
Honored in Roman Catholic Church; Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast May 15 (in Germany, celebrated as Sophientag)
Attributes palm, book, trough, and sword
Patronage invoked against late frosts

Saint Sophia of Rome (died ca. 304) is venerated as a Christian martyr. According to tradition, she was a young woman of Rome who was killed for her faith during the reign of Diocletian. She was buried in the cemetery of Gordianus and Epimachus.

Veneration

Pope Sergius II transferred her relics around 845 to the high altar of the church of San Martino ai Monti. Some of her relics were brought by Remigius of Strasbourg to the convent at Eschau in 778. She was invoked against frosts that occurred late in the year; thus she was called kalte Sophie 'cold Sophia' in Germany by those who invoked her aid in planting arable crops.[1] She is thus considered to be one of the "Ice Saints".[2] Sophia is also an "ice saint" in Slovenia and Central Europe, where St. Sophia's day ("Cold Sophie") is considered the last day of cold weather. There, Sophia is associated with rain and is nicknamed poscana Zofka 'pissing Sophie'[3][4][5][6] or mokra Zofija 'wet Sophia'[4][7][8] in folk tradition.

Sisymbrium sophia, called the Sophienkraut in Germany, is named after her. She is depicted on a column in the nave of the cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna; it dates from the 15th century.[1]

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Ekkart Sauser (1995). "Sophia von Rom". In Bautz, Traugott. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German) 10. Herzberg: Bautz. cols. 807–808. ISBN 3-88309-062-X. 
  2. *Ø* Wilson's Almanac free daily ezine | Book of Days | May 11 | Lemuria Spencer Percival prophetic dream Baron Munchausen Salvador Dali Mort Sahl
  3. Fajfar, Tone. 1966. Odločitev: Spomini in partizanski dnevnik. Ljubljana: Ljudska pravica, p. 480.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Baš, Angelos. 2004. Slovenski etnološki leksikon. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, p. 449.
  5. Frančič, Franjo, & Josip Osti. 2008. Kam se skrijejo metulji pred dežjem: izbrane kratke proze. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, p. 78.
  6. Bauer, Marjan. 2012. "Češnje zorijo pozimi". Finance, 10 February.
  7. Pavček, Tone. 1997. Čas duše, čas telesa. Ljubljana: Knjižna zadruga, p. 198.
  8. Keber, Janez. 1988. Leksikon imen. Celje: Mohorjeva družba, p. 398.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.