At only age 22, Perpetua, was imprisoned in Carthage, north Africa, a fact that disgraced her patriarchal family, especially her husband and father. Along with her servant Felicitas, Perpetua was interned because she would not renounce her religion--Christianity.
The Roman emperor Septimus Severus had started cracking down on Christians, though he only asked them to sacrifice to the “official” gods, sort of like saluting another country’s flag. He certainly did not want any more martyrs for sympathy’s sake. So he gave Perpetua’s father three chances to persuade his daughter to the Roman way.
Her father probably pleaded something like, “Think of your mother, your brother, your aunt. Think of me, your aging father. Most of all, remember your baby. You cannot leave it motherless. Who will nurse it? Who raise it? Your husband cannot do that. The baby needs a mother.”
When the baby was brought to her in the dungeon, Perpetua wrote in her diary, “All at once I regained my health, relieved of my worry and anxiety about the child. My prison had suddenly become a palace, so that I wanted to be there rather than anywhere else.”
Perpetua was an educated woman, fluent in Latin and Greek. We know this through her prison diary. She was a recent Christian, baptized in prison. She is considered the first Christian woman writer. Two centuries later Augustine remembered her in his writings and speeches, noting that their names joined together--Perpetua Felicitas--meant everlasting happiness.
Roman society expected a noble daughter to obey her father. However, Perpetua’s loyalty to Christ’s body was stronger and above any obligations to her natural family.Felicitas (also a mother) and Perpetua were assured their new family--the church--would care for their infants.
After Perpetua’s final refusal, the emperor ordered her and Felicitas, who had beome like her sister, delivered to the arena with the wild animals.
According to reported stories, a “mad heifer”charged and tossed the two women into the air. Perpetua immediately arose and helped Felicitas to her feet. Perpetua called encouraging words the other Christians in the arena “to stand fast in the faith.”
The beasts failed to kill the women, so a soldier was ordered to “finish them off.” The soldier’s hand trembled so that Perpetua had to guide his sword to her throat, thus indicating she willingly gave her life.
Early Christian persecution stopped around 300 A.D. when Constantine was emperor.
Though we think those first 300 years were a terrible persecution time for the Christians, there have been more Christian martyrs in the last 50 years of the 20th century, according to Christian History Magazine. Were you aware of that? Do these numbers tell us something about this age? If so, what? What does it tell us about ourselves?
All Glory, Laud, and Honor