Perpetua and Felicity

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"Perpetua" redirects here. For other uses, see Perpetua (disambiguation).

Pre-congregation
Feast
ranchers
  • butchers
  • Carthage
  • Catalonia

    • Perpetua and Felicity (

    Roman province of Africa
    .

    The

    catechumens or Christians being instructed in the faith but not yet baptized. To this group of five was added a further man named Saturus, who voluntarily went before the magistrate and proclaimed himself a Christian. Perpetua's first person narrative was published posthumously as part of the Passion.[7][8]

    Imprisonment

    Perpetua's account opens with conflict between her and her father, who wishes her to recant her belief. Perpetua refuses, and is soon baptized before being moved to prison. Perpetua was imprisoned in Carthage in the days leading up to her martyrdom. She described these days and what she endured in her diary.[6]

    Perpetua described the physical and emotional torments that she suffered in the prison leading up to her martyrdom. Perpetua suffered physically due to the heat, rough prison guards, and the cessation of regular breastfeeding. Perpetua also described how the prison conditions improved after she was able to bribe the guards so that she and the other martyrs were moved to another part of the prison, with her infant. Her physical torment was also eased after she was able to breastfeed her child.[9] Perpetua described bodily ailments in detail and the most common in her narrative was the cycle of pain and relief she would feel in her breasts.

    At the encouragement of her brother, Perpetua asks for and receives a vision, in which she climbs a dangerous ladder to which various weapons are attached. At the foot of a ladder is a serpent, which is faced first by Saturus and later by Perpetua. The serpent does not harm her, and she ascends to a garden. At the conclusion of her dream, Perpetua realizes that the martyrs will suffer.

    The day before her martyrdom, Perpetua envisions herself defeating a savage Egyptian and interprets this to mean that she would have to do battle not merely with wild beasts, but with the Devil himself.

    Veneration

    Mosaic of Saint Perpetua, Euphrasian Basilica, Poreč, Croatia

    In Carthage a basilica was erected over the tomb of the martyrs, the Basilica Maiorum, where an ancient inscription bearing the names of Perpetua and Felicitas has been found.

    Saints Felicitas and Perpetua are among the martyrs commemorated by name in the Roman Canon of the Mass.

    The

    Philocalian Calendar, the fourth-century calendar of martyrs venerated publicly in Rome. When Saint Thomas Aquinas's feast was inserted into the Roman calendar, for celebration on the same day, the two African saints were thenceforth only commemorated. The Tridentine calendar, established by Pope Pius V, continued to commemorate the two until the year 1908, when Pope Pius X brought the date for celebrating them forward to 6 March.[10] In the 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar, the feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas was moved, and that of Saints Perpetua and Felicity was restored to their traditional 7 March date.[11]

    Other Churches, including the

    The Book of Common Prayer, 1962), but have since changed to the traditional 7 March date (Book of Alternative Services
    , 1985).

    Perpetua and Felicity are

    Episcopal Church on 7 March.[12][13]

    In the

    1 February.[1][2]

    See also

    References

    1. ^ a b Great Synaxaristes: (in Greek) Ἡ Ἁγία Περπέτουα ἡ Μάρτυς καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτῇ. 1 Φεβρουαρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
    2. ^ a b Martyr Perpetua, a woman of Carthage. OCA – Feasts and Saints.
    3. ^ "The Calendar" (PDF). Church of England. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
    4. ^ Lutheran Woman Today, Volume 11. Publishing House of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 1998. Perpetua is commemorated by the church on March 7.
    5. ^ Salisbury, Joyce Ellen (3 March 2019). "Perpetua: Christian Martyr". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
    6. ^ a b MELISSA, PEREZ. VIBIA PERPETUA'S DIARY: A WOMAN'S WRITING IN A ROMAN TEXT OF ITS OWN (PDF) (Thesis). Archived from the original on 6 December 2020. Retrieved 6 January 2021. She was "of good family, recently married, and well educated with an infant son at her breast."
    7. ISBN 9780199777570
      .
    8. ISBN 9780195385458
      .
    9. S2CID 164888397
      – via JSTOR.
    10. ^ "Calendarium", p. 89
    11. ^ "Calendarium", p. 119
    12. ^ "The Calendar". The Church of England. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
    13. ISBN 978-1-64065-234-7
      .
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