Soline

Saint Soline (also called Solène) is a virgin and martyr from Poitou in France, canonized by the Catholic Church and commemorated on 17 October. It seems that very little precise or reliable information about her life exists.

According to Charles-⁠Auguste Auber and the Bollandists, she came from a prosperous Gallo-⁠Roman family that wished to marry her advantageously. From her youth she was close to the group of the Lord's disciples led by Saint Martial, first bishop of Limoges, who brought her to baptism and to a vow of chastity. She fled and, led by Providence, reached a Marian pilgrimage at Chartres, where she settled, brought many pagans to the faith, especially women, and united the new Christians. The Roman authorities arrested her and, since she did not renounce her faith, she died a martyr in that city. Some sources place the martyrdom at the end of the third century, around 290, others in the year 80.

The village of Sainte-⁠Soline in Poitou and the village of Sainte-⁠Soulle in Charente bear her name; the church of Saint Peter at Chartres has a stained-⁠glass window with her image.