Picture of saint perpetua biography
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Saints Perpetua and Felicity Feast Day
The following story appeared in the February 24 Idaho Catholic Register.
Most saints’ lives of the early centuries are hidden in legends. However, St. Perpetua, who was martyred in A.D., wrote about her experiences in prison. Two others – a fellow martyr and an eyewitness to the execution – contributed to her writing, creating a little book called, “The Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Felicity and their Companions.”
Perpetua’s book became so important to the early Christians that it was included in their liturgical readings. Through the centuries, the book has been valued by religious and secular historians as a unique glimpse into Ancient Rome and the Church.
Vibia Perpetua, which is the full name she gives herself at the beginning of her journal, does not provide a lot of details of her early life, but historians in general agree that she was born in A.D. in Carthage (modern day Tunisia). Her parents were wealthy nobles.
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National Museum in Warsaw, via Wikimedia Commons
March 7: Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs—Memorial
(Optional Memorial if Lenten weekday)
Saint Perpetua: c. –
Patron Saint of boskap and martyrs
Invoked against the death of children
Saint Felicity: Unknown–
Patron Saint of martyrs, help to have male children, and widows
Invoked against sterility and the death of children
Pre-Congregation canonizations
Liturgical Color: Red (Purple if Lenten Weekday)
Version: Full &#; Short
Podcast channels:
Apple – Spotify – iHeart – Google – Audible
Quote:
Now dawned the day of their victory, and they went forth from the prison into the amphitheater as it were into heaven, cheerful and bright of countenance; if they trembled at all, it was for joy, not for fear. Perpetua followed behind, glorious of presence, as a true spouse of Christ and älskling of God; at whose piercing look all cast down their eyes. Felicity likewise, rejoicing that she had borne a child in safety, t•
Saints Perpetua and Felicity
Image: Mary and Child with Saints Felicity and Perpetua (Sacra Conversazione) | Anonymous
Saints of the Day for March 7
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Saints Perpetua and Felicity’s Story
“When my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith, I said to him, ‘Do you see this vessel—water pot or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a Christian.’”
So writes Perpetua: young, beautiful, well-educated, a noblewoman of Carthage in North Africa, mother of an infant son and chronicler of the persecution of the Christians by Emperor Septimius Severus.
Perpetua’s mother was a Christian and her father a pagan. He continually pleaded with her to deny her faith. She refused and was imprisoned at
In her diary, Perpetua describes her period of captivity: “What a day of horror! Terrible heat,