St Perpetua and Felicitas and Companions March 7th

Many martyrdom stories seem made up, often too extreme to take seriously.  But Vivia Perpetua of Carthage told her own story in her own words. It has a ring of authenticity.  In 203AD, the educated, noble 22 year old, against her father’s advice, decided to become a Christian.  He beat her up and she was glad that her arrest as a Christian, kept her safe from him.  She was arrested with her small group of converts and teacher: two slaves, Felicity and Revocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus. Their instructor, Saturus chose to share death with his flock.Perpetua had a baby and Felicitas was pregnant.

Prison conditions were atrocious, crowded and stifling hot particularly for the women.  Perpetua was separated from her breast feeding baby. Her father came to beg his daughter to recant, but she refused.  They were, however, treated better as they bribed the jailors who allowed her to have her baby with her and moved them to better cells.

For the martyrdom, she persuaded the jailors to allow the condemned to be cleaned up and dressed in their own clothes. Her argument was that this was better for the honour of the Emperor Severus, whose birthday the Games celebrated.  Perpetua acted with immense dignity during the proceedings of the Games in the Amphitheatre. She also encouraged the crowd to adopt Christianity. 

When they were taken out to face the wild animals, she told her fellows to stand calmly.  The men had to face bears, leopards, and wild boars, while the women were stripped to face a rabid heifer.  The crowd reacted against their treatment. So, they were allowed to be dressed and to meet their ends at the hand of the gladiators’ swords.

Perpetua and Felicity (the enslaved woman) are the patron saints of mothers and  expectant mothers.  Presumably because of the heifer in the story, they are also the patron saints of ranchers and butchers!  Their feast day is celebrated on March 7

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=48

On this Day

321 AD Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that Sunday (the dies Solis Invicti) is the day of rest in the Empire. For more on the naming of days of the week, see my blog post here.

First published in 2024, revised 2025