Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Love and Their Mother Sophia
Holy martyrs Saint Sophia and her daughters Faith, Hope and Love lived in Italy in second century A.D. Sophia was a wise and devout Christian, named her daughters by the names of Christian virtues and raised them in love of our Lord Jesus Christ teaching them to live the life pleasing to God in prayer, fasting, house-work and helping the poor. The girls grew in virtues and faith and stayed obedient to their mother.
In the palace of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, the young girls were given a choice to worship the pagan gods and be rewarded with great gifts, riches, honor and all the things of beauty and pleasure or face the cruel tortures and be executed. The daughters stood fast in their Christian faith and did not fear. The girls were beaten and thrown into a fire, a cauldron of boiling tar and burning stove but it neither shook their faith, nor did it harm them in any way. The girls sang and praised the Lord util they were beheaded receiving the martyr’s crowns.
St. Sophia was made to watch the tortures of her daughters, and she encouraged them to endure their torments for the sake of Heavenly Kingdom. After her daughters were beheaded, St. Sophia soon passed on to the Lord receiving a martyr’s crown for suffering in her heart for Christ. (Full Story)
This story is a great example of Christian faith which stands fast in face of sufferings. It is also a story of love of mother and her daughters. The girls did not falter but stayed true to her mother and her teaching and attained a heavenly crown by their faith.