Author: David Opderbeck

These are some of my favorite quotes from the Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas.

“And Hilarian the procurator – he that after the death of Minucius Timinian the proconsul had received in this room the right and power of the sword – said: ‘Spare your father’s grey hairs; spare the infancy of the boy. Make sacrifice for the Emperor’s prosperity.’ And I answered: ‘I am a Christian.’”

“And when they had been brought to the gate and were being compelled to put on, the men the dress of the priests of Saturn, the women the dress of the priestesses of Ceres, the noble Perpetua remained of like firmness to the end, and would not. For she said: ‘For this cause came we willingly unto this, that our liberty might not be obscured.’”

‘The said he [Saturus] to Pudens the soldier: ‘Farewell; remember the faith and me; and let not these things trouble you, but strengthen you. And therewith he took from Pudens’ finger a little ring, and dipping it in his wound gave it back again for an heirloom, leaving him a pledge and memorial of his blood.’”

“But Perpetua, that she might have some taste of pain, was pierced between the bones and shrieked out; and when the swordsman’s hand wandered still (for he was a novice), herself set it upon her own neck. Perchance so great a woman could not else have been slain (being feared of the unclean spirit) had she not herself so willed it.”

This is a summary of the Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas.

The document is the prison diary of Vibia Perpetua. Perpetua’s account of her pending execution is framed by a prologue and after-word that may have been composed by Tertullian or another witness to the executions.

Perpetua and a number of other catechumens (people who were preparing to join the Christian Church) are arrested shortly after their baptism. Two deacons in the local church, who apparently had not been arrested, pay bribes to gain access to the prisoners and to permit Perpetua to nurse her infant and visit with her family. During a visit, Perpetua’s brother, who also is a Christian cathecumen, relates that the Lord told him Perpetua should “ask for a vision” about whether she would be released or martyred.

Perpetua seeks a vision from the Lord concerning whether she will be released or martyred. She receives a vision of a ladder to heaven guarded by a serpent. She understands this to mean that she will be required to overcome her fear and receive martyrdom.

Perpetua’s father is permitted to visit her and tries to convince her to renounce her Christian faith so that she would be spared. There is a moving account of his grief and his efforts to manipulate Perpetua into avoiding martyrdom.

After a few more days in prison, while the group is praying, Perpetua “uttered a word and named Dinocrates,” her brother, who had died of an ulcerating disease at age seven. She begins to pray for Dinocrates. That night, she has a vision of Dinocrates in distress, reaching towards a fountain of water that was too high for him. Perpetua continues to pray for Dinocrates and receivedsanother vision of him appearing clean, healthy, and drinking from a golden cup. She notes “[t]hen I understood that he was translated from his pains.”

The day before her execution, Perpetua receives a final vision in which she “became a man” and defeated an Egyptian warrior in the arena. She understands this vision to mean that “I should fight, not with beasts but against the devil; but I knew that mine was the victory.”

Following the narrative of Perpetua’s final vision, the document recounts a vision received by Saturus. It seems that Saturus was imprisoned after the first group of cathecumens that had been captured along with Perpetua. His is a vision of heaven, where he and Perpetua met other martyrs. Also present in Saturus’ vision are “Optatus the bishop” and “Aspasius the priest and teacher,” who are involved in a dispute. Perpetua speaks with Optatus and Aspasius “in Greek” and then they are addressed by the angels.

The document then describes the martyrdom of Perpetua and the other prisoners. Felicty, a cathecumen who was a slave, is afraid that she will not be martyred, because she is pregnant, and it was illegal to subject a pregnant woman to capital punishment. The other prisoners pray that Felicity would deliver her baby in time. The baby is born and entrusted to Felicity’s sister. The martyrs enjoy a final love feast together, apparently a “last meal” of the same sort we provide people on death row today.

The prisoners refuse to dress as Roman priests and priestesses for the spectacle. They speak boldy to the Roman Procurator, Hilarian, about God’s judgment. The crowed is outraged and Hilarian orders them to be flogged. Wild animals are uncaged, including a boar (which gores and kills its handler), a bear (which fails to attack), a “savage cow,” and a leopard. They report a sort of ecstatic state in which they feel no pain as the animals attack. A soldier named Pudens finishes off the mauled and bleeding prisoners with a sword. Before dying, Saturus gives Pudens a blood-soaked ring as a memorial.