Since I am still behind by a day due to computer issues, today we will do a pair of Saints to get caught back up.
The names of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are very familiar to Catholics. They are included in the litany of Saints in Eucharistic Prayer I at Mass. However, many do not know much about these ladies beyond their names.
Perpetua and Felicity lived at the turn of the third century in the Roman Provence of Africa, in the city of Carthage. Perpetua wad a young, well-born, well-educated mother of an infant; Felicity was a pregnant slave. The two women were rounded up with other recent Christian converts during a period of persecution. Perpetua's pagan father tried to get her to renounce her faith in order to save her life, but she held her ground knowing this would mean martyrdom.
Felicity, eight months pregnant at the time the Christians were sentenced to death, was more concerned about being allowed martyrdom than about her delivery. Roman law prohibited the execution of pregnant women (even the Romans recognized the rights of the unborn). Two days before the scheduled execution, Felicity gave birth to a daughter, freeing her to receive the martyr's crown.
My favorite part of the story is that we know all this because Perpetua kept a diary. Hers is the oldest surviving writing by a Christian woman.
Their feast day is March 7.
The names of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are very familiar to Catholics. They are included in the litany of Saints in Eucharistic Prayer I at Mass. However, many do not know much about these ladies beyond their names.
Perpetua and Felicity lived at the turn of the third century in the Roman Provence of Africa, in the city of Carthage. Perpetua wad a young, well-born, well-educated mother of an infant; Felicity was a pregnant slave. The two women were rounded up with other recent Christian converts during a period of persecution. Perpetua's pagan father tried to get her to renounce her faith in order to save her life, but she held her ground knowing this would mean martyrdom.
Felicity, eight months pregnant at the time the Christians were sentenced to death, was more concerned about being allowed martyrdom than about her delivery. Roman law prohibited the execution of pregnant women (even the Romans recognized the rights of the unborn). Two days before the scheduled execution, Felicity gave birth to a daughter, freeing her to receive the martyr's crown.
My favorite part of the story is that we know all this because Perpetua kept a diary. Hers is the oldest surviving writing by a Christian woman.
Their feast day is March 7.
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