Perpetua and Felicitas

Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas were martyred in Carthage, North Africa, on March 7, 203 A.D. (or 202 A.D.), together with three companions, Revocatus, Saturus, and Saturninus. Their martyrdom took place during the rule of Septimius Severus (193-211 A.D.), who issued an imperial decree forbidding all imperial subjects under severe penalties to become Christians. Vibia Perpetua was a young married lady of noble birth, and Felicitas was her pregnant slave. The Acta SS. Perpetuæ et Felicitatis is perhaps the most beautiful and famous of all extant (non-official) Acts of the Martyrs. It includes the autograph notes of Perpetua and Saturus, and an eye-witness's account of the martyrdom, which took place in Carthage's amphitheatre.

Sources and further details

• The prison diary of St. Perpetua (Tertullian refers to the Acts of Perpetua in his treatise on the soul--De anima ch. 55)
• Early Christian Writings: Acts of Perpetua
• The Passio Perpetuae
• Medieval Sourcebook: The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity
• Henry Wace, A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D. 1911
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Sts. Felicitas and Perpetua
• St. Perpetua and Acts of Perpetua in Wikipedia
• Listen to a BBC dramatisation of the martyrdom of Perpetua (RealAudio)