March 7th.

SS. Perpetua & Felicity.

These martyrs of Carthage in North Africa died in the persecution of Septimius Severus in 203. There is a famous contemporary account of their martyrdom, possibly by the writer Tertullian. Along with them were Felicity’s husband, Revocatus, and two others, Saturninus and Secundulus, but the account concentrates on the women. The Emperor had just forbidden fresh conversions to Christianity when Perpetua, aged 22 and with a new-born child, was arrested, followed by the others. They first were put under house arrest, then imprisoned, where Perpetua had a series of visions about her impending experience. Felicity now also gave birth to a child, the captives celebrated their last agape [love] meal together, and prepared for the Games in the amphitheatre where they were to be thrown to the animals. The men were thrown to a wild boar and a leopard, the women to a mad heifer. Perpetua was in a kind of trance and, when helped up by Felicity, did not realise she had already been attacked once. Grievously wounded, they all gave each other the kiss of peace and were then finished off by a gladiator, Perpetua guiding his hand to her throat. In 1907, an ancient inscription recording their deaths was found in the ruins of the Basilica Maiorum in Carthage itself; they were celebrated in many early Christian calendars and their names entered the Roman Canon of the Mass.