Perpetua & Felicity

Saturday is the feast day of Sts. Perpetua & Felicity (†200). Following is a short article on them from the bulletin:

In the Litany of Saints, we hear two unusual female names, but perhaps we’ve never learned who they were & why they have been continuously honored in the Church for over 1,800 years.

Perpetua was a beautiful young noble woman of Carthage & mother of an infant son. She would not renounce her faith in Christ despite the tearful pleading of her father & the threats of the civil authorities. She was imprisoned, along with Felicity, a slave & expectant mother, & three male catechumens. They were all baptized in prison & Felicity gave birth to a daughter immediately before the games (the children were raised by the Christian community). They died nobly in the arena, Perpetua taking care to ensure her hair was pinned up, “for it was not becoming for a martyr to suffer with disheveled hair, lest she should appear to be mourning” for her imminent return to the Lord.

Perpetua kept a journal the group’s arrest & imprisonment; an eyewitness completed the account of their martyrdom. This chronicle, & their incredible witness of faith, survives to this day.

The account of their martyrdom, thought to have been edited later by Tertulian, is extremely moving, but it’s spiritual value is priceless. Some historians felt that Perpetua may have belonged to the Montanist heresy, due to the emphasis on private revelation & visions, yet the Church in Rome has venerated these holy women & their companions at least as far back as the 4th century. Here are a couple of excerpts from the account.

After being arrested, found guilty, & awaiting execution in the coliseum by wild animals, Perpetua had a vision answering whether or not she & her companions would be freed:

I saw a golden ladder of marvellous height, reaching up even to heaven, & very narrow, so that persons could only ascend it one by one… And under the ladder itself was crouching a dragon of wonderful size, who lay in wait for those who ascended… I said, 'In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall not hurt me.' And from under the ladder itself, as if in fear of me, he slowly lifted up his head; & as I trod upon the first step, I trod upon his head. And I went up, & I saw an immense extent of garden, & in the midst of the garden a white-haired man sitting in the dress of a shepherd, of a large stature, milking sheep; & standing around were many thousand white-robed ones. And he raised his head, & looked upon me, & said to me, 'You are welcome, daughter.'

Following several days & more visions:

I awoke, & perceived that I was not to fight with beasts, but against the devil. Still I knew that the victory was awaiting me. This, so far, I have completed several days before the exhibition; but what passed at the exhibition itself let who will write.