Saint
Perpetua's powerful memoir of her final weeks resonates with Christian mothers.
Few first-hand accounts from the early martyrs have survived the centuries.
Even within that category, Vibia Perpetua's story is unique. She was a North
African noblewoman who lived under Roman rule.[1] She was married, and nursing
a small baby. She and her pregnant slave, Felicity, became convinced of the
truth of Christianity during a time when new converts to the faith faced severe
penalties.[2] Before their baptism, they were arrested together with other
catechumens and sentenced to death. Her public execution occurred at the public
games in the amphitheater in Carthage on March 7, 203 [3] to celebrate the
birthday of the son of Emperor Septimius Severus.[4]
Perpetua was a
well-educated woman around twenty years old who valued truth and family. She
was a favored child of a prominent family. She was at least trilingual,
speaking Greek, Punic, and Latin.[5] She owned slaves, including Felicity, who
became a close friend. Perpetua married, and eventually bore a son. Around the
same time, she and Felicity decided to enter into the church. Soon Perpetua's
brother also came to Christ.[6] Perpetua's charismatic personality may have
helped her to persuade him to follow God, no matter the cost.
[Image 1, see footnotes for source]
Perpetua and Felicity
were arrested, along with their fellow catechumens.[7] Thankfully, Perpetua's
brother was not targeted by authorities. Her arrest separated her from her
child [8], who was “at the breast.”[9] The catechumens were placed on house
arrest initially, and then thrown in a dark dungeon prison to await trial. They
united in prayer and praise of God, strengthening one another in faith through
fellowship.[10] Perpetua emerged as a leader in encouraging the others. Their
catechist turned himself in to authorities, and joined the group.
Perpetua writes, “My
condition was aggravated by my anxiety for my baby.”[11] Her breasts were
swollen and aching.[12] As a mother, I can sympathize with Perpetua’s angst
during the period of separation. As I return to work, I am realizing the
powerful bond that breastfeeding creates between a mother and child. My
workplace is not yet equipped to provide a private place to nurse or pump, and I
have not been able to express milk for my child as regularly as I would have
liked during training to keep him fed. Yet my difficulties as a working mother pale
in comparison to the trials that Perpetua faced during an extended involuntary separation.
The physical discomfort of a nursing mother who cannot feed her child was
likely compounded by the emotional distress about her baby’s well-being. She
also may have worried that her body would stop producing milk for her little
one.
By the time that local
church members managed to bribe prison officials to secure visitation time with
the families, Perpetua’s baby was emaciated [13]. According to Perpetua, he was
“already weak with hunger.”[14] Her mother and brother offered words of
encouragement to Perpetua in her tribulations as she offered life-giving
nourishment to her baby.
Clearly, her family had
yet to find a wet nurse or source of milk for the baby during their visit to
prison. Perpetua advocated with prison officials for a solution: with their
consent, her child would remain in prison with her. Authorities eventually agreed
to the arrangement, though Perpetua was in agony in the interim.[15] As she
held the baby in her arms, her fears dissipated. Perpetua tells readers, “Being
relieved of my anxiety and concern for the infant, I immediately regained my
strength. Suddenly, the prison became my palace, and I loved being there rather
than any other place.”[16]
[Image 2]
Her father pleaded with her numerous times to recant her
confession of Christianity for the sake of her family. He implored her, “Have
pity on your son!”[17] Though she cared deeply for her child, she did not lie
to the court or offer sacrifice to false gods. She told the judge simply, “I am
a Christian.”[18]
After her final sentencing,
her father took the child away from her, refusing to return the baby to her
care. Miraculously, both mother and child were delivered of the need to
breastfeed. Perpetua observes, “God saw to it that my child no longer needed my
nursing, nor were my breasts inflamed. After that, I was no longer tortured by
anxiety about my child or by pain in my breasts.”[19] The child was cared for
by her family, and God prepared her spiritually for her martyrdom.
At her brother’s
suggestion, Perpetua sought revelation from God regarding her fate. Her four
ensuing visions gave her comfort and consolation to face her imminent execution.[20]
During prayer one day, she was led by the Holy Spirit to pray for her brother
Dinocrates, who died of cancer in childhood. She received a vision of him in a
place of torment, and interceded for him fiercely for weeks. She then received
a vision of his soul in a peaceful place of provision and refreshment. [21] In
a sense, she was a spiritual mother to him since her prayers gave him eternal
life in God’s presence.[22]
Meanwhile, another
mother stood by her side. Felicity’s pregnancy progressed in prison. She was in
her eighth month.[23] Their close-knit group of catechumens who had received
baptism together looked forward to eternal life with God and the saints in each
other’s company. As the scheduled date of their execution approached, it seemed
unlikely that she would give birth in time to join her fellow prisoners. Instead,
she would be alone in prison without fellowship. With the help of the local
church, she found a Christian woman willing to adopt her baby. She began to
pray that she had the baby before the date, so that she would not need “to shed
her holy and innocent blood among common criminals.”[24] The sentiment was
mutual. Perpetua notes, “Her friends in martyrdom were equally sad at the
thought of abandoning such a good friend to travel alone on the same road to
hope.”[25] On March 5, they asked God for labor to begin. Felicity began to
feel contractions, and suffered intensely.[26] A prison guard mocked her, but
she boldly retorted that she suffered for Christ, and He would strengthen her
to face her martyrdom.[27] Though premature, her newborn daughter survived to
be raised in the faith.
Sts. Perpetua and
Felicity faced martyrdom together. They were stripped naked and led out only in
nets. A narrator kindly added to St. Perpetua’s diary with a record of their
martyrdom. He recorded, “How horrified the people were as they saw that one was
a young girl, and the other, her breasts dripping with milk, had recently given
birth to a child.”[28] Both died in the arena. Their story lived on, maintained
by the church. Their prison warden became a believer,[29] and countless others
were moved to faith by their testimony of the power of faith. As mothers, they
stood together in Christ.
[Image 3]
[Image 4]
[Image 5]
Their story reminds all
mothers to keep perspective. When we place Christ first, our families will
receive the care they need. It is easy to get wrapped up in the daily cares of
raising children. Many mothers set aside full participation in church and
prayer as child-rearing claims more attention. The saints offer timeless wisdom
as they whisper to us all that eternal life trumps any duty in this life: God
will provide. He always has, and he always will.
Image sources:
[Image 1] Tracey L.
Christianson, "St. Perpetua and St. Felicity print,"
2013, https://www.portraitsofsaints.com/collections/saint-fine-art-prints?page=6.
[Image 3] “Martyrs –
Perpetua and Felicity,” http://daybydaywithjesus.com/martyrs-perpetua-felicity/.
[Image 4] Lacey Baldwin
Smith, Fools, Martyrs, and Traitors: The
Story of Martyrdom in the Western World (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc,
1997), 88.
[Image 5] Foxe's
Christian martyrs of the world; the story of the advance of Christianity from
Bible times to latest periods of persecution (1907), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foxe%27s_Christian_martyrs_of_the_world;_the_story_of_the_advance_of_Christianity_from_Bible_times_to_latest_periods_of_persecution_(1907)_(14597219839).jpg.
[1] Cecil M.
Robeck, Jr., Prophecy in Carthage:
Perpetua, Tertullian, and Cyprian (Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press, 1992),
1.
[2] Robeck, Prophecy in Carthage, 11.
[3] Robeck, Prophecy in Carthage, 13.
[4] Emanuela
Prinzivalli, "Perpetua the Martyr," in Roman Women, ed.
Augusto Fraschetti, tr. Linda Lappin (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
2001), 118.
[5] Joyce Salisbury, Perpetua’s Passion: The Death and Memory of
a Young Roman Woman (New York: Routledge, 1997), 46.
[6] Emanuela
Prinzivalli, "Perpetua the Martyr," 122.
[7] Redactor to the
Martyrdom of Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” in In Her Words: Women’s Writings in the History of Christian Thought, ed.
Amy Oden (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1994), 27. Section 2.
[8] Robeck, Prophecy in Carthage, 20.
[9] Redactor, “The
Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 27. Section 2.
[10] Perpetua, “The
Martyrdom of Perpetua,” in In Her Words:
Women’s Writings in the History of Christian Thought, ed. Amy Oden
(Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1994), 30. Section 7.
[11] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 27. Section
3.
[12] Lacey Baldwin
Smith, Fools, Martyrs, and Traitors: The
Story of Martyrdom in the Western World (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc,
1997), 108.
[13] Emanuela
Prinzivalli, "Perpetua the Martyr," 123.
[14] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 28. Section
3.
[15] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 28. Section
3.
[16] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 28. Section
3.
[17] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 30. Section
6.
[18] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 30. Section
6.
[19] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 30. Section
6.
[20] Robeck, Prophecy in Carthage, 61 and 93.
[21] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 31. Section
8.
[22] Salisbury, Perpetua’s Passion, 46.
[23] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 33. Section
15.
[24] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 33. Section
15.
[25] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 33. Section
15.
[26] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 34. Section
15.
[27] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 34. Section
15.
[28] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 35. Section
20.
[29] Perpetua, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” 34. Section
16.
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