Saints Perpetua & Felicity, Martyrs
Ss. Perpetuae et Felicitatis Martyrum
Saints Perpetua and Felicity were young mothers martyred at Carthage in the year 203, whose courage in the arena is preserved in one of the most moving and authentic accounts of the early Church.
On the sixth of March the Church venerates Saints Perpetua and Felicity, two women whose martyrdom at Carthage in North Africa is among the best attested of all the early persecutions. Their story survives in a precious early document, The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, which contains what is believed to be the prison diary of Perpetua herself, together with an eyewitness account of their death — a text so revered that it was once read aloud in the churches of Africa. Their names were inscribed in the Canon of the Mass, where they are remembered to this day.
Vibia Perpetua was a young noblewoman of about twenty-two, recently a mother, and still nursing her infant son when she was arrested in the persecution that took place under the Emperor Septimius Severus, whom later Christian writers associated with a decree against conversions to the faith. Felicity was a servant, with child at the time of her imprisonment, who gave birth shortly before her death. With them were arrested several companions, among them the catechumens who were baptised even in prison as they awaited their trial.
Constancy unto Death
Perpetua’s own words, handed down in her diary, reveal a soul tried by the tenderest of bonds. Her aged father, who was not a Christian, came again and again to beg her to deny the faith and spare herself and her family; and her love for him, and for the child at her breast, made the trial bitter. Yet she would not call herself other than what she was — a Christian — and she entrusted her infant and her grief to God, who gave her peace. Felicity, for her part, feared only that her pregnancy might delay her martyrdom and separate her from her companions; she gave birth to a daughter in prison and went to her death rejoicing.
On the appointed day the holy martyrs were led into the amphitheatre, where they were exposed to wild beasts and at last slain by the sword. The ancient account records that Perpetua and Felicity encouraged one another and their companions to the end, and gave each other the kiss of peace before they died. Their serenity and joy in the face of death astonished the onlookers and have edified the faithful ever since. In them the Church beholds the strength that grace gives to the weak, and the truth of the Lord’s promise that it is the Spirit who speaks in His witnesses in the hour of trial.
The Collect
Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord our God, to venerate with unceasing devotion the triumphs of Thy holy Virgins and Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity: that we who cannot worthily celebrate them, may at least honour them with humble service. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.
Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine Deus noster, sanctarum Martyrum tuarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis palmas incessabili devotione venerari: ut, quas digna mente non possumus celebrare, humilibus saltem frequentemus obsequiis. Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Patronage
Saints Perpetua and Felicity are invoked especially by mothers and by expectant mothers, and are honoured throughout the Church as among its most celebrated early martyrs; their names are spoken in the Canon of the Mass.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar Saints Perpetua and Felicity are observed on 7 March as an obligatory memorial.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saints Perpetua and Felicity?
In the 1962 calendar their feast is kept on 6 March as a Third Class feast, in red. In the modern calendar it is observed on 7 March.
Who were Saints Perpetua and Felicity?
They were young mothers martyred at Carthage in the year 203. Perpetua was a noblewoman and Felicity a servant; both were put to death in the arena for refusing to renounce the Christian faith. Their courage is recorded in an early and authentic account.
Why are their names in the Canon of the Mass?
Because of the great fame and veneration of their martyrdom in the early Church. Their names were included among the holy martyrs commemorated in the Roman Canon, where the faithful continue to honour them at every traditional Mass.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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