Book Review: The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity

     

    The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity is the autobiographic writing by St. Perpetua of her martyrdom along with that of  her companions. 

Saints Perpetua and Felicity lived in Northern Africa during the late second and early third centuries. During this time Emperor Caracalla sought to extinguish Christianity and he did so by capturing proclaimed believers in Christ and slaughtering them if they did not worship the pagan gods. This book relays the details of the gruesome passion which St. Perpetua and her companion Felicity suffered together for their faith. 

The main focus of this book frames the faith in and devotion to our Lord, which these martyrs lives proclaimed to their captors and the audience of their demise. In fact the St. Perpetua even had to deny her Father and give up her newborn son for the sake of her belief. Her father sought to dissuade her for the sake of her life but in her response you can see her unwavering trust in God; "Father, said I, seest though this vessel lying, a pitcher or whatsoever it may be?... And I said to him, Can it be called by any other name than that which it is? And he answered, No. So can I call myself nought other than that which I am, a Christian."[1] 

As the captives awaited their execution in the gladiator arena, St. Perpetua conversed with the Lord who gave her and one of her companions visions of what was to come to prepare them for the ultimate trial of their faith. The first vision she shares, results in the knowledge of the coming passion and of the true enemy which they are to fight, the devil. In addition to this, Perpetua sees a vision of her brother, who is suffering, at a well and unable to drink the cool water which will sooth him. She then prays for his soul and later receives a vision of him, now comforted and free to drink of the pool. These visions show the depth of her prayer life and the attention to interior contemplation and silence which she maintained in her day to day life. 

Perpetua was a young noble woman, and she had with her a servant whom she had befriended, Felicity. She suffered in a way similar to Perpetua as "she was eight months pregnant and very sorrowful as the day of the games drew near, fearing lest for this cause she should be kept."[2] The companions prayed earnestly for her, and "labour pains came upon her."[3] She gave birth to a baby girl, who was taken from the prison to be raised by a sister as her own. The acts of faith which these women, along with their companions performed, while in prison, had a significant impact on those who kept watch over them. As St. Perpetua writes of the day before the games, as they took part in the "Love Feast," "the adjutant of the prison now believed."[4] 

The day of their execution arrived, and as they entered the amphitheater, Perpetua writes that they went with "cheerful and bright countenance."[5] These men and women were so full of faith and joy at going to meet their Lord, that they refused to be dressed in the mocking garments of the roman gods, and stood to meet their assigned killers. In fact, when the crowd chanted for them to be scourged because they were singing, "they truly gave thanks because they had received somewhat of the sufferings of the Lord."[6] Their companion Saturus, they watched be mauled by a bear before a mad cow was sent to kill Perpetua and Felicity. This beast was prepared for them "as he would mock their sex."[7] Both women fearlessly entered the field with the beast, Perpetua even pinned up her hair and after being thrown about by the cow, fixed her robes to protect her modesty. 

As the martyrs went to the Gates of Life one by one, Perpetua had fallen into such a state of ecstasy that she had not felt the beatings of the cow upon her body. Seeing Felicity fallen, she went and helped her up and both faced the sword for not having been ended by the cow. But Perpetua, "that she might have some taste of pain, was pierced between the bones and shrieked out; snd when the swordsman's hand wandered still, herself set it upon her own neck."[8] Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are remembered on the day of their martyrdom, March 7th, 203 A.D.

This powerful description of the trials which the revered Sts. Perpetua and Felicity endured has inspired many, even St. Augustine who used this passion in several of his sermons. The strength of these women, and the faith with which they endured not only prison and death, but the surrender of each a newborn child and family, makes one take a look at their own interior life and faith. Furthermore, this book has been described as "indeed a powerful tribute to the life and strength of the burgeoning Church in Africa toward the end of the Second Century, generally regarded by scholars as an authentic reflection of it."[9] Though the author who added to and published Perpetua's writing is unknown, she conveys with real detail the experience of pain and relationship with the Lord that these Saints experienced. As a Catholic, the entire story held my attention, but the most moving part was the courage and joy with which the martyrs entered the arena. As is written of his sermons involving this passion, "Augustine styles Perpetua and Felicity as embodiments of feminine virtue and Christian orthodoxy."[10] Much can be gleaned from reading the passion of these women, for they gave their lives for love of Christ.

[1] St. Perpetua and Anonymous, The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity Tran. Walter Shewring (Hassell Street Press, 2021), 24.

[2] St. Perpetua The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, 35.

[3] St. Perpetua The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, 36.

[4] St. Perpetua The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, 37.

[5] St. Perpetua The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, 37.

[6] St. Perpetua The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, 38.

[7] St. Perpetua The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, 39.

[8] St. Perpetua The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity, 42.

[9] Christopher Bryan, "Perpetua," Sewanee Theological Review no. 56, 2 (2013), 107.

[10] Katherine E. Milco, "Augustine's Sermons on Sts. Perpetua and Felicity," Vigiliae Chrisianae (Milwaukee, WI: 2015), 69.