SOTER
152
SOTO
selves on Monte Senario, took up the sorrows of Mary,
standing under the Cross, as the principal devotion
of theii' order. The corresponding feast, however,
did not originate with them: its celebration was
enacted by a provincial synod of Cologne (l^llS) to
expiate the crimes of the iconoclast Hussites; it was
to be kept on the Friday after the third Sunday after
Easter under the title; " Commemoratio angustiae
et doloris B. Marise V'.". Its object was exclusively
the sorrow of Mary dm-ing the Crucifixion and Death
of Christ. Before the sixteenth century this feast
was limited to the dioceses of North Germany, Scan-
dinavia, and Scotland. Being termed "Compassio"
or "Transfixio", "Commendatio, Lamentatio B. M.
v.", it was kept at a great variety of dates, mostly
during Eastertide or shortlj' after Pentecost, or on some
fixed day of a month (IS July, Merseburg; 19 July,
Halberstadt, Ltibeck, Meissen; 20 July, Naum-
burg; cf. Grotefend, "Zoitrechnung", II, 2, 166).
Dreves and Blume (Analecta hymnica) have pub-
lished a large number of rhythmical offices, sequences,
and hymns for the fea.st of the Compassion, which
show that from the end of the fifteenth century m
several dioceses the scope of this feast was widened
to commemorate either five dolours, from the im-
prisonment to the burial of Christ, or seven dolours,
extending over the entii-e life of Mary (cf. XXIV,
122-53; VIII, 51 sq.; X, 79 sq., etc.). Towards the
end of the sixteenth century the feast spread over
part of the south of Europe; in 1506 it was granted
to the nuns of the Annunciation under the title
"Spasmi B. M. V.", Monday after Passion Sunday;
in 1600 to the Servite nuns of Valencia, "B. M. V.
sub pede Crucis", Friday before Palm Sunday.
After 1600 it became popular in France and was
termed "Dominse N. de Pietate", Friday before
Palm Sunday. To this latter date the feast was as-
signed for the whole German Empire (1674). By a
Decree of 22 April, 1727, Benedict XIII extended it to
the entire Latin Chm-ch, under the title "Septem
dolorum B. M. V.", although the Office and Mass re-
tain the original character of the feast, the Compas-
sion of Mary at the foot of the Cross. At both Mass
and Office the "Stabat Mater" of Giacopone da Todi
(1306) is sung.
(2) The second feast was granted to the Servites, 9 June and 15 September, 1668, double with an oc- tave for the third Sunday in September. Its object from the beginning has been the popular devotion of the seven dolours of Mary (according to the rc- sponsories of Matins: the sorrow (a) at the ])roph- ccy of Simeon; (b) at the flight into Egypt; (c) having lost the Holy Child at Jerusalem; (d) meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary; (e) standing at the foot of the Cross; (f) Jesus being taken from the Cross; (g) at the burial of Christ). This feast was extended to Spain (1735); to Tuscany (double of the second class with an octave, 1807). After his return from his exile in France Pius VII extended the feast to the Latin Church (18 September, 1814, major double) ; it was raised to the rank of a double of the second class, 13 May, 1908. The Servites cele- brate it as a double of the first class with an octave and a vigil. Also in the Passionist Order, at Florence and Granada (N. S. de las Angustias), its rank is double of the first class with an octave. The hymns which are now used m the Office of this feast were probably composed by the Servite Callisto Palum- bella (eighteenth century). On the devotion, cf. Kellner, "Ileortology", p. 271. The old title of the "Compassio" is preserved by the Dioce.se of Hildcsheim in a sim])le feast, Saturday after the oc- tave of Corpus Christi. A feast, "B. M. V. de pietate", with a beautiful medieval office, is kept in honour of the sorrowful mother at Goa in India and Braga in Portucal, on the third Sunday of October; in the ecclesiastical province of Ilio de Janeiro in
Brazil, last Sunday of May, etc. (cf. the corresponding
calendars). A special form of devotion is practised
in Spanish -speaking countries under the term of
"N. S. de la Soledad, to commemorate the solitude
of Mary on Holy Saturday. Its origin goes back to
Queen Juana, lamenting the early death of her hus-
band PhUip I, King of Spain (1506).
To the oriental churches these feasts are unknown; the Catholic Ruthenians keep a feast of the sorrowful Mother on Friday after the octave of Corpus Christi.
NiLLES, Kaletidarium mnn. (Innsbruck, 1896) ; Holweck, Fasti Mariajii iFreiburg, 1892); Calve.serios, Kal. Marianum, 17 March in Summa Aurea, III, 590 sq.; Albem, Bliithen- krdnze, V (Paderborn, 1894), 40-190.
F. G. Holweck. Soter, Saint, Pope. See Caius and Soter, Saints.
Soto, Dominic, Dominican, renowned theologian, b. at Segovia, 1494; d. at Salamanca, 15 Nov., 1560. His first studies were made in his native city. He next studied at the University of AlcaU under St. Thomas of ViUanova, and later went to Paris, where he obtained his baccalaureate in philosophy. Having studied theology for a time at Paris, he returned to Alcald about 1520, and was made professor of phi- losophy in the College of San Ildelfonso. In this capacity he distinguished himself by securing a complete triumph of moderate Realism over the errors of NominaUsm. Already enjo.ving a wide reputation as a professor, and apparently destined for higher honours, he was suddenly moved in 1524 to abandon his chair as teacher and join a religious order. Straightway he made a retreat at the Bene- dictine monastery of Montserrat, and then sought admission into the Order of Preachers at Burgos, where he was received and entered upon his novitiate in the Convent of St. Paul. The following year (23 July, 1525) he was admitted to profession, and was made at once professor of dialectics in his convent. In 1529 appeared his first work called "Summulae", which in simpUcity, precision, and clearness was a decided improvement on the manuals of logic then in use. After teaching in his convent for seven years, he was called to a chair of theology in the LTniversity of Salamanca on 27 Nov., 1532, and continued to teach there till 1545, when he was chosen by Charles V imperial theologian at the Council of Trent. Dur- ing his labours at the council he rendered great service in helping to formulate dogmatic decrees and in solving theological difficulties. The general of his order, Albertus Casaus, having died just before the opening of the council, it fell to Soto to represent his order during the fu'st four sessions. In the following sessions he represented the newlv-electcd general, Franciscus Romaeus. It waa at Trent that Soto wrote and dedicated to the fathers of the council his treatise "De natura et gratia", in which he clearly and ably expounds the Thomistic teaching on original sin and grace. When the council was interrupted in 1547, Soto was summoned by Charles \ to Germany as his confessor and spiritual director. He refused the Bishopric of Segovia offered him by the emperor, and in 1550 was permitted to return to his convent at Salamanca, where he was elected prior the same year. Two years later he succeeded Melchior Cano in the principal chair of theology at the University of Salamanca, at that time the metropohs of the intellectual world. In 1556 Soto resigned his pro- fessorial chair. Chief among his philosophical works, besides the "Summute", are: "In dialecticam Aris- totelis commentarii" (Salamanca, 1544); "In VIII libros physicorum" (Salamanca, 1.545). The follow- ing are his best-knnwn tlieological works: "De natura et gratia libri III (Venice, 1547); "De ratione tegendi et detegendi socretum" (Salamanca, 1541); "De JU3- titia et jure libri X" (Salamanca, 1556); "Comment, in Ep. ad Romanos" (.Vntwerp, 1.550); "In IV sent, libros comment." (Salamanca, 1555-56).
