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The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas
Western North Africa
Martyrdom of Perpetua & Felicitas
Tertullian
Cyprian
Donatists
Circumcellions
Augustine of Hippo
A graphic account of martyrdom comes from shortly after A.D. 200, when the wealthy Roman Perpetua and her slave Felicitas were martyred at Carthage in Roman Africa. We have several accounts which purport to be from eyewitnesses and they seem authentic. These women embraced martyrdom with what seems to twentieth-century people ghoulish enthusiasm, but we are told that the steadfastness of their witness and the kindness they showed to each other and to their captors led to the conversion of the jailer. Furthermore, churches retold their story as part of the worship service within a century or so as an example to others.
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From The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas Translated by Mark Reasoner © 1992 All reprints must include the full http address and this box. May not be reprinted for profit without permission |
2.1 Some teenagers in the churchÕs confirmation class were arrested: Revocatus, Felicitas (his fellow slave), Saturninus, and Secundulus. Vibia Perpetua was also a class member who was arrested. Perpetua was well-born, fully educated, respectably married, 2) having father, mother and two brothers, one of whom was also instructed in the churchÕs teaching, and an infant son she was nursing. 3) She was then about 22 years old. This whole sequence of her martyrdom that follows is what she herself narrated by the handwritten record she left, and the impression she left on others.
3.1 "YouÕve been involved in this Christian stuff enough now," my father said, when we were at the prosecutors. He wanted to dissuade me from my confession and persisted in trying to deprogram me, because of his love for me. "Dad," I said, "Do you see, for instance, the jar lying here, a small pitcher or some such thing?" "I see," he replied. 2) And I continued, "Is there some other name by which it can be called?" And he replied, "No." "So I cannot be called anything else, except what I am, a Christian," I said. 3) At the word "Christian," my father moved toward me in order to tear out my eyes, but he shook too much to do so and left; he and the devilÕs arguments were conquered. 4) Then for a few days while my dearest father was gone, I was refreshed and thanked the Lord that I could be alone. 5) In the same period of a few days we were baptized, and the Spirit indicated to me when I came out of the water that I should expect nothing but physical suffering. After a few days we were taken back to prison, and I was terrified, because I had never experienced such darkness. 6) Oh awful day, due to the roaring tumult of the crowd in prison, and the rush of the soldiers. Worst of all, I was extremely worried about my baby, who was with me in that situation. 7) Then Tertius and Pomponius, blessed deacons who were ministering to us, arranged by payment that for a few hours we might be relocated in the prison and go to a better place to refresh ourselves. 8) At that time, those who were moved were all left to themselves. I tried to nurse my infant, who was by now malnourished for lack of food. I unburdened my anxieties about him to my mother and comforted my brother. I placed my son into their care. I was in anguish when I saw them experience hardship on my account. 9) In such anxious care I spent many days. After getting permission, I took back my baby to stay with me in prison. Immediately he regained his health and I felt relieved from my care and concern about him. Suddenly I felt as though my prison had become a comfortable mansion, and I found myself wishing that I could be nowhere else.
4.1 Then my [Christian] brother said to me, "Worthy sister, now you are in high esteem, so much so that if you ask for a vision it will even be shown to you, whether there shall be a martyrdom or release for us. 2) And since I was certain of the things which I spoke with the Lord, whose great benefits I had experienced, I confidently gave my word to my brother saying, "IÕll let you know tomorrow." So I asked, and this is the vision that was shown to me. Perpetua describes a vision of a ladder leading upwards with a dragon guarding the foot. At the top she saw a previously martyred Christian friend who called her to come up. Stepping on the dragonÕs head she climbed into beautiful garden where a shepherd welcomed her with thousands of people surrounding them. The shepherd gave her a cup of milk and as she drank, he and the others said "Amen." 4.10 And at the sound of his voice I woke up, still savoring something sweet I did not know. And immediately I mentioned it to my brother. We therefore understood martyrdom to be ahead, and began to place no hope in this present world.
5.1 After a few days a rumor spread that we were to receive an official hearing. My father arrived from the city, very tired, and he approached me so as to dissuade me saying, 2) "have mercy, daughter, my sweetness; have mercy on your father, if I am worth being called "Father" by you, if I brought you with these hands to the flower of virginity, if I placed you before all your brothers, donÕt shame me by public disgrace! 3) Look at your brothers; look at your mother and aunt; look at your son who will not be able to live after you. 4) Ease up; donÕt forget about all of us! For no one shall speak freely about us, if you continue in this. 5) He was speaking these things as a devoted father, kissing my hand and prostrating himself at my feet and weeping, calling me not "daughter" but "woman." 6) And I was grieving at the plight of my father; of my whole family he was the only one who could not rejoice over my suffering. And I comforted him saying, "It shall happen in the defendantsÕ chamber as God wills. For I know that we are secure not in our own power, but in God." At that he was depressed, and left me.
6.1 On another day while we were eating breakfast, we were unexpectedly carried off for a hearing. We arrived at the forum. The report immediately spread through the areas around the forum and a great crowd gathered. 2) We walked up on the defendantsÕ platform. Others asked to recant were doing so. My turn came. And my father appeared at that moment with my son and pulled me from my place in line, saying, "Get out of this. Have mercy on your baby." 3) And Hilarianus the sergeant, who had then received the right to try and execute capital crimes on behalf of the recently retired proconsul Minucius Timianus, said, "Show consideration to your dear father and infant son, sacrifice for the welfare of the emperors." 4) ÔI will not," I responded. Hilarianus asked, "Are you a Christian?" And I replied, "I am a Christian." 5) Then when my father stood to dissuade me he was ordered by Hilarianus to be shoved down and struck with a rod. It pained me on account of my father, as if I had been struck, the more so because of his pitiable old age. 6) So he rendered judgment on us together and sentenced us to the beasts, and we returned happily to the prison. 7) Then because my baby had been accustomed to nurse at my breasts and remain with me in prison, immediately I sent to Father Pomponius, the deacon, asking for my child. But the father refused to grant my request. 8) And so God willed, for neither did the child long for breastfeeding anymore, nor did they want to complicate matters for me, lest I should be bothered by anxious care over the infant and the pain of breastfeeding. Perpetua has another dream and a vision where her brother, who had died many years before, was delivered from his suffering as a result of her fervent prayers
9.1 Then after a few days, Pudens, the soldierÕs assistant who was in charge of the prison, began to hold us in high esteem, thinking we had great virtue. He was allowing many to come see us, so that we and they both could benefit from such visits. 2) Now when the fateful day drew near, my father came to me, weakened by worry. He began to tear hair from his beard and drop it to the ground. Then he fell prostrate on his face and began to complain about his age and to say such words as would disturb the whole creation. 3) I was grieving because of the misery he was experiencing in his old age. Perpetua has a vision where a deacon leads her into the gladiatorial arena. In the dream, she is suddenly transformed into a male gladiator and has to fight an Egyptian. She defeated him and was led towards what she called the Gate of Life.
10.14 So from this dream I learned that I was not to be thrown to the beasts, but that I was to fight against the devil. Here I knew myself to be victorious. 15) I have written this right up until the day before my judgment; now that the day itself has come, if anyone wishes, let that person write.
Here the account relates the vision of another member of PerpetuaÕs prison group.
14.1 These are the more noteworthy visions of the most blessed martyrs, Saturus and Perpetua, which they put in writing themselves. 2) It was certainly God who summoned Secundulus while in prison for an earlier exit from this world; His grace was not missing also in that he was spared from the beasts. 3) Nevertheless, even if it was not his soul, his body experienced the sword.
15.1 In respect to Felicitas, the grace of the Lord also came in this way. 2) When she was eight months pregnant (for she was pregnant when she was arrested), the day of her judgment was approaching and she was in deep mourning, because she was still pregnant (for it was not allowed for pregnant women to appear for punishment) and she did not want to pour out her holy and innocent blood with common criminals who were to be executed later. 3) Even her co-martyrs were deeply saddened, because they did not want to leave a good friend who was like a fellow traveler all alone on the road to the same hope. 4) Therefore they joined together in a single sigh of prayer to the Lord on the third day before the execution. 5) Immediately after the prayer her labor pains came. And when she was experiencing the pain of labor due to the difficulty of giving birth in the eighth month, a certain one of the servants who ran the sluices into the prison said, "If you suffer so much right now, what will you do when you become food for the animals? You thought nothing of them when you refused to sacrifice!" 6) And she responded, "I only suffer what I suffer, but this other one in me will suffer on my account, because I will pass away before her. Then she bore a baby girl, and a sister raised it as her own daughter.
16.1 Therefore since the Holy Spirit permits or by permitting was willed that an account of this spectacle be committed to writing, even if I lack the capacity completely to describe such glory, nevertheless as if on command of the most holy Perpetua, or rather as her beneficiary, I add to this record one more instance of her patient and noble soul. 2) When the bailiff began to punish them, because on the warnings of some stupid people he wished to take precautions that the Christians would not vanish from prison by some magical spells, Perpetua responded to him in person. 3) "Why donÕt you allow us to refresh ourselves as we deserve, since we are the EmperorÕs prisoners and are to fight on his birthday. WouldnÕt it rather be to your advantage if we were more healthy when finally exhibited for our death?" 4) The bailiff turned red with embarrassment. And so he ordered that the prisoners were to be treated in a more humane way, and allowed PerpetuaÕs brothers and some others to come in and take sustenance with the prisoners. The soldierÕs assistant in charge of the prison was already a believer.
17.1 On the day before their end, they observed a final meal together. It is called the free party, but they did not hold a party. Instead they observed a Communion meal. They addressed the crowd in prison with the usual consistent spirit, warned them of GodÕs judgment, emphasized their happiness in suffering, and even made fun of those who came to see them just out of curiosity. Saturus said, 2) "WonÕt tomorrow be good enough for your folks? Why do you make sure to watch something you detest? Friends today, you who will be our enemies tomorrow, please observe our faces carefully now so that you will be able to recognize us tomorrow." 3) So they all left the prison shocked, and many of these people believed.
18.1 Dawn came on the ChristiansÕ victorious day. They moved in procession from the prison to the sports center happily, as if they were walking into heaven. Their facial expressions were controlled. If there was trembling, it was from joy rather than fear. 2) Perpetua marched along with a face that shone and an even step as the bride of Christ, GodÕs dear one, making spectators glance away when she met their eyes with her resolute expression. 3) There was Felicitas, happy to have borne her child so that she was able to fight the beasts. She was going from one bloody scene to another, from the midwife to the gladiator, prepared to purify herself after childbirth in a second baptism. 4) They were led to the entry chutes and the men were forcibly clothed with robes of CeresÕs priestesses. The fervent woman resisted this faithfully until the end. For she said, "Look, we came here by choice, so that we would not have to accept these robes. We made an agreement with you precisely to avoid this." Injustice knows when justice speaks. The bailiff agreed. They were to be led out into the arena just as they were clothed. Perpetua was singing a psalm, already walking over the EgyptianÕs head. Revocatus, Saturninus, and Saturus began to preach warnings to the spectators. When Hilarianus the Roman judge came into view, they began to point as if to say, "You sentenced us to this, but God will sentence you!" 9) With this the crowd went wild, demanding that these men be scourged by a row of gladiators. The Christians then really became happy that they could follow the Lord Jesus in the same kind of suffering he endured. The account here states that each of the martyrs received the kind of death each one had hoped for in prison
20.1 The devil arranged that a heifer, an extremely wild one, would be the animal for the young woman. The use of this kind of animal was not the norm; it was done to match the women with an animal of the same sex. 2) Their clothes were stripped off; they were put inside nets and brought into the arena. The spectators were aghast when they saw that one martyr was a delicate young woman and the other woman, breasts dripping, had recently borne a child. 3) So they were called back and clothed in oversized T-shirts. First Perpetua was thrown by the heifer and landed on her side. 4) There she sat up, pulling the torn shirt over her thighs, concerned with her honor more than her pain. 5) Then she asked for a hairpin to hold her disheveled hair in place, for it was not fitting for a martyr to die with her hair in disarray, lest one seem to be grieving when actually in oneÕs glory. 6) Then she stood up. When she saw Felicitas knocked down, she approached her, offered a hand and helped her to her feet. The two then stood together. 7) With this the crowdÕs hunger for violence was satisfied, so the women were called back to The SurvivorsÕ Gate. 8) There a member of the confirmation class named Rusticus stayed near Perpetua, supporting her. She awoke as if from sleep (for to that point she had been in a spiritual ecstasy), and began to look around. To everyoneÕs surprise she said, "When are we going to be brought to that heifer, or whatever itÕs called?" 9) And after she heard that it was already over, at first she would not believe it, until she saw signs of the struggle on her body and shirt. 10) Then calling her brother and one of the men in the confirmation class, she spoke to them saying, "Stand in faith and let all love each other, and donÕt be put off by our suffering."
21.1 Likewise in another gate Saturus encouraged Pudens the soldier, saying, "So far it is going according to every detail as I thought and predicted; so far not even one animal has brushed me. And now in order that you may believe with your whole heart, I make one more prediction: "Her I go into the arena, and I will be eaten by one bite by the leopard. 2) And all at once as the event was just about over, a leopard was thrown into the arena. After one bite, Saturus was so covered with blood that the spectators shouted as witnesses to his second baptism: "Great bath! Way to wash!" 3) And itÕs completely true; he did bathe well, since he washed in this way. 4) Then to Pudens the soldier Saturus said, "Take care; remember the faith and remember me. What youÕve seen shouldnÕt upset you; it should rather establish you. 5) At the same time he asked Pudens for a ring from his finger. After dipping it in his wound he returned it as an inheritance, a token and record of his death. 6) Then he was thrown with the rest of the martyrs and landed unconscious in the usual area of the sports center where the victims had their throats slit. 7) But the crowd changed their request to have the bodies brought into the center of the arena, so that their own eyes might be partners with the murderous sword that cut them. At this the martyrs rose and walked voluntarily to the place the crowd specified. Just before they took their places, they kissed each other and so brought their martyrdom to closure with the ritual of sharing the peace. 8) Some of the others were motionless, accepting the sword silently. This was especially so in SaturusÕs case. Since he climbed the stairs to that spot first, he was the first to give back his soul. For he was still waiting for Perpetua. 9) But Perpetua had to take more pain. She shouted when the sword hit bone and shifted the clumsy hand of the novice gladiator to her throat. 10) Perhaps this was because so great a woman, since she was feared by the evil spirit in the gladiator, could not be called in any way except if she wished it. 11) Oh, most brave and happy martyrs! Oh, those genuinely invited and chosen to share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! Anyone who magnifies, honors, and worships the Lord should read these accounts for the building up of the Church. They are just as helpful as the ancient martyrdoms. For these new acts of power show that it is one and the same Holy Spirit continually working up to today. They also point to the all-powerful Father God and his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom belongs renown and untapped power for all times. Amen.