Feast day: March 7
Sts. Perpetua & Felicity
A young noblewoman and her pregnant servant, martyred together in Carthage's arena; Perpetua's prison diary is the earliest surviving text by a Christian woman.
In the year 203, during a persecution under the Emperor Septimius Severus, a group of catechumens — Christians preparing for baptism — were arrested at Carthage in North Africa. Among them were Vibia Perpetua, a young married noblewoman of about twenty-two who was still nursing an infant son, and Felicity, a slave who was eight months pregnant. With three companions they were imprisoned and condemned to die in the arena.
What makes their story unique is that much of it survives in Perpetua's own words. Her prison diary — one of the earliest writings we have by a Christian woman — records her visions, her trust in God, and above all the heartbreaking visits of her pagan father, who came again and again, weeping and pleading, even bringing her baby, begging her to save herself by a simple act of sacrifice. Each time, gently but immovably, she refused: she could call herself nothing other than what she was, a Christian.
Felicity's great fear was that, because the law forbade the execution of a pregnant woman, she would be parted from her companions and miss her martyrdom. Three days before the games she gave birth to a daughter, who was taken to be raised by a fellow Christian, and so she was able to go to the arena with the others.
On the day of the games the little band went out, the account says, joyful, 'as though going to heaven.' Exposed to wild beasts and then finished by the sword, Perpetua and Felicity died together, mistress and slave made equal and sisters in Christ. Their names were placed in the Canon of the Mass, where they are still spoken today, and their 'Passion' remains one of the most moving documents of the early Church.
Felicity gave birth in prison days before execution — so she could legally die with her friends, since Rome wouldn't execute a pregnant woman.
“I cannot call myself anything other than what I am: a Christian.”
— Sts. Perpetua & Felicity
Image: Authors of Menologion of Basil II (circa 985 AC, Constantinople), Byzantine manuscript illuminators[1]: Pantoleon with G (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: newadvent.org/cathen/06029a.htm
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