The Martyric Mothers: Sts. Perpetua and Felicity (+A.D. 202)
Tertullian, one of the early African Christian leaders of Carthage,
once wrote, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
No greater example of this can be found than the account of the two
African mothers Perpetua and Felicity.
Both came from Carthage in North Africa, today called Tunisia, and
were arrested as Catechumens (those under instruction in the Faith and
preparing for Baptism). Perpetua was twenty-two years old, a newly-married
noblewoman with a nursing infant at her breast. Felicity was eight months
pregnant, imprisoned with her spouse and fellow slave, Revocatus. Perpetua’s
pagan father brought her baby to her in prison, hoping thus to steer her
away from the Faith. But instead, this suffering purified her faith.
In her words: I suffered greatly because of my infant child.
My newborn was brought to me, and although I was already wasted away,
I gave milk to the starving child. As I held the infant to myself, I talked
with my mother, and exhorted my brother, and was touched when I saw how
they grieved for me. And so, since I had been exceedingly sorrowful for
great many days, I begged for the child to remain with me in prison. It
was granted, and my grief and suffering were lightened, and behold the
prison became a palace to me, as I desired to be there rather than anywhere
else.
I was distressed about the state of my father, who alone of
all my family did not rejoice in my suffering…. At that time we were all
condemned to the beasts, and rejoicing, we returned to the prison. Seeing
that the infant had become accustomed to remaining with me in prison where
I had nursed him, I sent Deacon Pomponion to my father to beg of him to
give me the infant. But Father didn’t give him to me. God provided that
after that the child did not desire the breast, nor did I suffer from
inflammation. So I did not suffer from the care of the child or from
pain of the bresire the breast, nor did I suffer from
inflammation. So I did not suffer from the care of the child or from
pain of the breasts.
Meanwhile, Felicity was mourning but not because she was about to be
martyred. On the contrary! According to the law, a pregnant woman could
not fight the wild beasts or be punished. She had a burning desire to
depart with the martyrs to be with Christ, but because she was eight
months pregnant, she would have to wait. Her husband, Revocatus, and
the other martyrs grieved with her. In the midst of their sufferings,
together they lifted up prayer that she might join them. Immediately
after the prayer, her labor began. Hearing her groans during labor,
some of the guards questioned her ability to endure in the arena.
She boldly replied, "Now I suffer what I suffer; there, however,
Another will suffer for me because I suffer for Him."
She gave birth to a girl, who was taken and raised by one of her sisters. Perpetua wrote regarding her, "She rejoiced in the health of the child, for now she was free to be martyred: from blood to blood, that is, from motherhood to single combat, for after the birth she would be washed by a second baptism, that is to say, in her own blood."
Shortly after this, St. Perpetua witnessed for the Faith as a martyr: a wild heifer was let loose in the amphitheater, which gored her with its horns. Their holy souls passed to the Kingdom of Christ and their blood was planted in the African Church that now enriches the entire world.
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