Faith of Rome

Holy Martyr Faith of Rome was the eldest of the three daughters of Saint Sophia, with Hope and Love. She suffered in the year 137, at the age of twelve, under Emperor Hadrian.

In the second century, in the time of Hadrian (117-138), there lived in Rome a devout widow, Sophia (the name means "wisdom"). She had three daughters, named after the chief Christian virtues: Faith, Hope and Love. Sophia raised them in the love of God and taught them not to cling to earthly goods. The news reached the emperor, who wished to see the three sisters and their mother. All four confessed without fear the faith in the risen Christ. Astonished at the girls' courage, the emperor sent them to a pagan woman to persuade them to renounce it, but her words changed nothing. Brought again before Hadrian, they indignantly refused to sacrifice to the gods and said that they would remain children of the heavenly God.

In fury the emperor ordered various torments. Faith was beaten first, before the eyes of her mother and sisters, then laid on a red-⁠hot iron grate, but the fire did not harm her. Thrown into a cauldron of boiling pitch, she stayed unharmed, for the cauldron cooled. She was condemned to be beheaded and said that she went joyfully to her Lord. She bowed her head and gave her spirit to God. Hope and Love, strengthened by her courage, endured similar torments, the fire did not hurt them, and then they were beheaded. Sophia was not tortured in body, but was condemned to a still greater pain of soul, the separation from her children. She buried the bodies of her daughters and stayed two days at their grave. On the third day the Lord gave her a quiet death. Faith was twelve years old, Hope ten and Love only nine.

The saint is commemorated on 30 September, in the new style, together with her sisters and their mother.