ICONOGRAPHIE CHRÉTIENNE

Anonymous (Greater Poland), Sacra Conversazione Mary with the Child, St Felicity of Carthage and St Perpetua, circa 1520, tempera on wood, 163 x 132, National Museum in Warsaw. Before 1520: commissioned by Jan Lubrański 19th century: transferred to Kwilecki family, Wróblewo 1945: transferred to National Museum in Warsaw (MNW)

Saintes Perpétue et Félicité

Martyres à Carthage (+ 203)

Perpétue est une jeune patricienne, Félicité une jeune esclave. Elles avaient toutes deux demandé le baptême à l'évêque de Carthage. L'empereur Septime Sévère ayant interdit le christianisme, le groupe des catéchumènes, dont elles faisaient partie, est arrêté, avec Sature, Saturnin, Révocat et Secondule. Pendant plusieurs mois, ils connurent la prison dans des conditions très dures, d'autant qu'ils étaient dans l'incertitude du sort exact qui les attendait. Félicité était enceinte et Perpétue, jeune mariée, allaitait son enfant. Le père de la jeune femme tenta en vain de la faire sacrifier aux dieux au nom de l'amour maternel. Quant à Félicité, elle mit au monde une petite fille dans sa prison. Trois jours après la naissance, elle était martyrisée et l'enfant fut adoptée par une chrétienne de la ville. Comme leurs compagnons, Perpétue et Félicité furent livrées aux bêtes du cirque, enveloppées dans un filet, et livrées à une vache furieuse. Elles attirèrent la pitié des spectateurs devant ces jeunes mères torturées. On les acheva en les égorgeant. Selon les "acta" de leur martyre, des témoins disaient :"Leur visage était rayonnant et d'une grande beauté. Il était marqué non de peur mais de joie." Le culte des deux jeunes femmes connut très vite une grande popularité : leur jeunesse, leur situation de mère de famille, leur courage, le fait qu'elles soient des catéchumènes les font figurer en tête des martyres mentionnées dans la première prière eucharistique de la liturgie latine.

Un internaute nous signale: "Sainte Perpétue est la patronne de la ville de Vierzon dans le Cher."

Sainte Perpétue de Carthage à Vierzon...

Elles sont fêtées le 1er février pour les Églises d'Orient.

Chaque année le dimanche le plus proche du 7 mars, un pèlerinage est organisé à Vierzon par la Fraternité Sainte Perpétue. Voir aussi Sainte Perpétue de Carthage à Vierzon...

Le 7 mars, au martyrologe romain, mémoire des saintes martyres Perpétue et Félicité. En 203, sous l'empereur Septime Sévère, elles furent arrêtées à Carthage avec de jeunes catéchumènes. Perpétue était l'une d'elles, patricienne d'environ vingt-deux ans, mère d'un enfant à la mamelle; Félicité était une esclave; comme elle était enceinte, elle devait, d'après les lois, attendre d'avoir enfanté; elle gémissait dans les douleurs à l'heure de l'enfantement, mais se réjouissait d'être exposée aux bêtes. Elles s'avancèrent de la prison à l'amphithéâtre, le visage radieux, comme pour le ciel.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/768/Saintes-Perpetue-et-Felicite.html

Sainte Perpétue et sainte Félicité. Missel romain. XIVe.

Saintes Félicité & Perpétue

Lors de la persécution ordonnée par Septime Sévère[1], Perpétue et Félicité furent arrêtée à Thuburbo, ville épiscopale de la Proconsulaire (aujourd’hui Tebourba, en Tunisie). Perpétue, âgée de vingt deux ans, était patricienne ; elle était encore catéchumène et mère d’un tout jeune enfant. Félicité qui était esclave, était enceinte et elle accoucha d’une fille dans la maison. Malgré les supplications de son père qui l’implore de se soumettrez et malgré son angoisse d’avoir à priver son enfant de sa mère, Perpétue demeure ferme jusqu’au bout. Perpétue et Félicité sont martyrisées dans l’amphithéatrum Castrense de Carthage, le 7 mars 303, avec Saturus, Satuminus, Revocatus et Secundulus.

« Le jour se leva, où les martyrs allaient remporter la victoire, et ils sortirent de la prison pour s’avancer vers l’amphithéâtre comme s’ils allaient au ciel. Ils avaient des visages gais et radieux, et s’ils tremblaient, c’était de joie, non de peur. Perpétue, la première, fut frappée par les cornes d’une vache furieuse et tomba à la renverse. Puis elle se releva et voyant que Félicité avait été précipitée sur le sol, elle s’approcha, la prit par la main et l’aida à se redresser. Toutes deux demeurèrent debout. La cruauté du peuple s’apaisa et on les fit sortir par la porte des Vivants. Là, Perpétue fut accueillie par un certain Rustique, alors catéchumène qui était à son service et, comme si elle sortait du sommeil (tellement elle avait été ravie en extase), elle se mit à regarder autour d’elle et dit, à la surprise de tous : ‘ Quand donc serons nous exposés à cette vache dont on parle ? ’ Et quand elle apprit que cela avait déjà eu lieu, elle ne le crut pas avant d’avoir reconnu sur son corps et sur ses vêtements les marques des coups. Alors, après avoir appelé son frère et ce catéchumène, elle les exhorta ainsi : ‘ Demeurez fermes dans la foi, aimez vous tous les uns les autres, et ne soyez pas ébranlés par nos souffrances ’. De même, Saturus, à une autre porte, s’adressait ainsi au soldat Pudens : ‘Finalement, comme je l’avais pensé et annoncé par avance, je n’ai vraiment rien souffert d’aucune bête jusqu’ici. Et maintenant, crois de tout ton coeur: voici que je vais au devant du léopard, et par une seule de ses morsures je parviens au but ’. Et aussitôt, à la fin du spectacle, il fut livré à un léopard. A la première morsure, il fut tellement inondé de sang que le peuple, lorsqu’il revint, cria, comme si l’on était aux bains : ‘ Baigne toi et bonne santé ! Baigne toi et bonne santé ! ’ Ce cri témoignait qu’il avait reçu le second baptême, celui du sang. Et, certes, après un tel bain, il avait trouvé le salut. Alors il dit au soldat Pudens : ‘ Adieu, garde mon souvenir et garde la foi. Que tout cela, au lieu de t’ébranler, te fortifie ’. En même temps il lui demanda l’anneau qu’il portait au doigt et, après l’avoir plongé dans sa blessure, il le lui remit en héritage, lui laissant cette relique, ce mémorial de son sang. Puis, comme il est inanimé, on le jette avec les autres dans le local où l’on devait les égorger. Mais, comme le peuple les réclamait au milieu de l’arène pour être témoin oculaire de leur mise à mort en voyant l’épée s’enfoncer dans leurs corps, ils se levèrent d’eux mêmes et se portèrent à l’endroit voulu par le peuple. Mais d’abord ils s’embrassèrent pour achever la célébration de leur martyre par le rite du baiser de paix. Tous reçurent le coup d’épée, immobiles et silencieux; en particulier Saturus qui rendit l’esprit le premier, lui qui était monté le premier à l’échelle de la vision de Perpétue, pour attendre celle-ci. Perpétue, quant à elle, devait faire l’expérience de la douleur: frappée entre les côtes, elle poussa un grand cri ; puis, comme la main du gladiateur débutant hésitait, elle la poussa elle même sur sa gorge. Sans doute une telle femme ne pouvait elle être mise à mort autrement, elle qui faisait peur à l’esprit mauvais: il fallait qu’elle même le veuille ».

De temps immémorial les saintes Félicité et sainte Perpétue (citées au canon de la messe, première prière eucharistique) étaient honorées le 7 mars sous le rite simple ; en 1901, saint Pie X éleva leur fête au rite double et la fixa au 6 mars. Paul VI remit leur fête au 7 mars.

[1] Sous Septime Sévère (193 211), fondateur de la dynastie syrienne, s’annonce pour le christianisme une phase de développement inexorable. Des chrétiens occupent à la cour des positions influentes. Dans la dixième année de règne (202), l’Empereur change radicalement de position : un édit prescrit de graves peines pour ceux qui se convertissent au judaïsme et à la religion chrétienne. On ne peut comprendre le changement soudain de l’empereur que si on pense qu’il s’est rendu compte que les chrétiens s’unissent toujours plus fortement en une société religieuse universelle et organisée, dotée d’une grande capacité intime d’opposition qui, en vertu de la raison d’État, lui semble suspecte. Les dommages les plus importants seront encourus par Alexandrie et les communautés chrétiennes d’Afrique.

SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/03/07.php

Martirio di santa Perpetua e dei suoi compagni nell'anfiteatro, vetrata della chiesa di Notre-Dame di Vierzon, XIX secolo

Saintes Félicité et Perpétue et leurs compagnons

Morts en 203

Félicité et Perpétue, deux jeunes femmes chrétiennes de l'Afrique du nord, ainsi que trois compagnons, ont été jetés aux animaux sauvages et tués pour leur foi à Carthage le 7 mars de l'an 203. Nous avons un récit saisissant de leurs derniers jours, écrit par Perpétue, une jeune femme noble de vingt-deux ans, et mère d'un petit enfant. Un chrétien de Carthage a rassemblé les textes narratifs et y a ajouté un commentaire, laissant ainsi un compte rendu saisissant qui figure parmi les premiers et les plus dramatiques documents du martyre. La passion de Sainte Félicité, Sainte Perpétue, et leurs compagnons était un texte très connu dans l'église primitive, et servait de document d'instructions sur comment les chrétiens devaient se comporter face à la persécution. Félicité, Perpétue, et leurs compagnons vivaient sous le règne de l'empereur romain Septime Sévère (193-211) à une époque où les chrétiens étaient persécutés. Le père de Perpétue était un païen âgé, sa mère était chrétienne. Félicité, son esclave domestique, était enceinte quand elles ont été arrêtées. Les femmes ont été baptisées, et ensuite emmenées en prison. Perpétue raconte les difficultés de leur vie en prison, et elle évoque une anxiété pour son jeune enfant. Éventuellement, on a permis à la mère de Perpétue de lui rendre visite en prison, accompagnée de son jeune fils, qu'elle a pu allaiter et garder avec elle en prison. En attendant, le père de Perpétue essayait de la convaincre d'abandonner sa foi chrétienne. Au tribunal, les chrétiens ont refusé de faire un sacrifice aux dieux romains pour la sécurité de l'empereur. Après avoir été fouettés, ils ont été jetés aux animaux sauvages; les hommes à un sanglier, un ours et un léopard, les femmes à une génisse sauvage. Après avoir été blessés par les animaux, les chrétiens ont été tués par l'épée. Perpétue a écrit le compte-rendu suivant :

Quelques jours plus tard, on nous a mis en prison et j'ai eu très peur parce que je n'avais jamais connu une telle obscurité. Quel jour d'horreur! Une chaleur terrible à cause de la foule! Un traitement très rude de la part des soldats! Pour couronner le tout, j'étais tourmentée d'anxiété pour mon bébé. Mais Tertius et Pomponius, ces diacres bénis qui ont pourvu à nos besoins, ont versé un paiement qui nous a permis d'être mises dans une meilleure partie de la prison pendant quelques heures, et nous avons été quelque peu soulagées. Tout le monde a quitté la prison et nous sommes restées seules. On m'a amené mon bébé, et je l'ai allaité parce qu'il était déjà affaibli par manque de nourriture. J'ai parlé avec anxiété à ma mère à propos de lui, j'ai encouragé mon frère, et j'ai confié mon fils à leurs soins. J'ai eu bien de la peine quand j'ai vu les soucis qu'ils avaient à mon égard. Pendant bien des jours j'ai souffert de telles anxiétés, mais j'ai obtenu la permission de garder mon enfant en prison avec moi. J'ai vite repris la santé quand je n'avais plus cette détresse et ces soucis à son égard. Tout à coup, ma prison est devenue pour moi un palais, et je n'aurai voulu être nulle part ailleurs. Ensuite, mon frère m'a dit: "Ma chère soeur, tu es très bénie; tu pourrais certainement demander une vision qui te permettrait de savoir si tu va être condamnée ou mise en liberté." Je lui ai promis fidèlement que je le ferais, car je savais que je pouvais parler au Seigneur, ayant vécu ses grandes bénédictions. Alors j'ai dit: "Je te dirai demain." J'ai ensuite fait ma demande et voici la vision que j'ai eue: J'ai vu une très grande échelle en bronze qui allait jusques aux cieux, mais elle était tellement étroite que seulement une personne à la fois pouvait la grimper. Aux côtés de l'échelle étaient attachées toutes sortes d'armes en métal: il y avait des épées, des lances, des crochets, des poignards et des pointes; ainsi, si quelqu'un essayait de grimper avec insouciance, ou en ne faisant pas attention, il serait mutilé et sa chair resterait attachée aux armes. Au pied de l'échelle il y avait un dragon énorme qui attaquait ceux qui essayaient de grimper, et essayait de les terrifier pour les en dissuader. Et Saturus était le premier à monter, lui qui par la suite s'était rendu de son propre gré. C'est lui qui nous avait donné des forces, même s'il n'était pas là lors de notre arrestation. Et il est arrivé en haut des escaliers, et il s'est retourné pour me dire, "Perpétue, je t'attends. Mais fais attention, ne te fais pas mordre par le dragon." "Il ne me fera pas mal," j'ai dit, "au nom de Christ Jésus." Lentement, comme s'il avait peur de moi, le dragon a sorti la tête d'en dessous de l'échelle. Ensuite, me servant de sa tête comme la première marche, j'ai mis le pied dessus, et je suis montée. Ensuite, j'ai vu un jardin immense où il y avait un homme aux cheveux gris assis, habillé comme un berger; il était grand, et il faisait la traite des brebis. Debout autour de lui, il y avait des milliers et des milliers de personnes habillées en vêtements blancs. Il a levé la tête, m'a regardée, et a dit, "Je suis heureux que tu sois venue, mon enfant." Il m'a appelée vers lui et m'a donnée, pour ainsi dire, une bouchée de ce lait qu'il était en train de traire; et je l'ai prise dans mes mains en coupe, et je l'ai consommée. Et tous ceux qui étaient debout tout autour ont dit: "Amen!" Au son de cette parole j'ai repris conscience, et j'avais toujours un goût sucré à la bouche. J'ai immédiatement raconté cela à mon frère, et nous nous sommes rendus compte que nous allions souffrir, et qu'à partir de ce moment là, nous n'aurions plus d'espoir dans cette vie. [1]

Dieu saint, comme vous avez donné beaucoup de courage à Perpétue et Félicité et à leurs compagnons, permettez aussi que nous soyions dignes de grimper à l'échelle du sacrifice et à être reçus dans le jardin de la paix, grâce à notre Seigneur Jésus Christ. Amen.-- Celebrating Common Prayer [recueil de prières], 437.

Frederick Quinn

Notes :"Church History Documents: The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas," www.churchhistory.net/documents/perpetua.html.

Cet article est reproduit, avec permission, de African Saints: Saints, Martyrs and Holy People from the Continent of Africa [Saints africains: saints, martyres et personnes saintes du continent africain], copyright (c) 2002 par Frederick Quinn, Crossroads Publishing Company, New York, New York. Tous droits réservés.

SOURCE : http://www.dacb.org/stories/tunisia/f-felicitas_perpetua.html

SOURCE : https://sanctoral.com/fr/saints/saintes_perpetue_et_felicite_et_leurs_compagnons.html#:~:text=Sous%20la%20pers%C3%A9cution%20de%20Septime,%C3%A9t%C3%A9%20%C3%A9crit%20par%20elle%2Dm%C3%AAme.

Perpetua, Felicitas, Revocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus, Menologion of Basil II

Мц. Перпетуя, мчч. Сатир, Ревокат, Саторнил, Секунд и мц. Филицитата. Миниатюра Минология Василия II. Константинополь. 985 г. Ватиканская библиотека. Рим

Saintes Perpétue et Félicité

et leurs Compagnons

Martyrs

(† 203)

Sous la persécution de Septime-Sévère, au début de l'an 203, on arrêta à Carthage quelques jeunes catéchumènes. Parmi eux se trouvaient Félicité, jeune esclave, récemment mariée, qui était enceinte, et une jeune femme de bonne famille, nommée Perpétue. Le récit de la passion de ces martyrs, a été écrit par elle-même. C'est une des plus belles pages des Actes des Martyrs de la Primitive Eglise.

Dès la mise en accusation de ces confesseurs, Perpétue subit les assauts répétés de son vieux père, demeuré païen. «Nous étions encore avec nos persécuteurs, raconte Perpétue, lorsque mon père vint faire de nouveaux efforts pour m'ébranler et me faire changer de résolution.

– Mon père, lui dis-je, vous voyez ce vaisseau de terre que voici. Peut-on lui donner un autre nom que celui qu'il a?

– Non.

– De même, je ne puis être autre que ce que je suis: je suis chrétienne.

À ces mots, mon père se jeta sur moi, furieux et confus de n'avoir pu vaincre ma résolution. Après cette scène, je fus quelques jours sans le revoir. Ce fut pendant ce petit intervalle que nous fûmes baptisés.»

Peu de temps après, les confesseurs furent jetés dans une prison ténébreuse et infecte, où néanmoins ils pouvaient recevoir des visites. La mère et le frère de Perpétue lui apportaient même son enfant, et jusqu'à la fin, elle put l'allaiter et l'embrasser. Quand on apprit qu'ils allaient passer en jugement, le père de Perpétue redoubla ses instance pour amener sa fille à renoncer à sa foi, allant jusqu'à se jeter à ses pieds. Ce qui affligeait le plus la jeune femme, c'était la pensée que seul de sa famille, son père ne se réjouirait pas de son supplice, mais demeurerait obstinément rivé à la terre. Tous furent alors condamnés à être livrés aux bêtes.

Dans l'enthousiasme, la foi de Perpétue était plus forte que les larmes de son père et les cris enfantins de son fils: Elle ne se possédait pas de joie. «Vivante, j'ai toujours été gaie; je le serai plus encore au ciel.»

Félicité, au contraire s'affligeait: la loi défendait de mettre à mort les femmes enceintes. Elle attendait sa délivrance et appréhendait de ne pas l'être avant les fêtes de l'amphithéâtre, quand, par la miséricorde divine, l'enfant vint au monde. Au milieu des douleurs de l'enfantement, il lui échappait quelques gémissements. Un geôlier la raillait en disant: «Que diras-tu en face des bêtes?» Félicité lui fit cette belle réponse: «Aujourd'hui, c'est moi qui souffre; alors il y en aura un autre qui souffrira pour moi, parce que je souffrirai pour lui.» Elle mit au monde une fille qu'une chrétienne adopta.

Lorsque les martyrs furent appelés à l'amphithéâtre, ils dirent au procurateur: «Tu nous juges maintenant; Dieu te jugera un jour.» On lâcha les bêtes; elles déchirèrent Saturnin et l'avocat Révocat liés ensemble sur une estrade, mais épargnèrent Saturus. On lâcha alors un léopard qui le mordit. Leur compagnon, Secondule, était mort dans la prison.

Quand à Perpétue et Félicité, enfermées dans un filet, elles furent exposées à la fureur d'une vache qui souleva Perpétue et la lança en l'air. La pudique chrétienne retomba sur les reins et eut pour premier souci de ramener les plis de son vêtement qui s'était déchiré. Se relevant, elle alla vers Félicité rompue par la violence de sa chute, la prit par la main et la remit sur ses pieds.

À un court instant de sympathie de la part des assistants succéda bientôt un violent accès de férocité et de soif du sang: la populace demanda que les trois survivants fussent achevés de la main du bourreau, non dans le spoliarium, mais au milieu de l'amphithéâtre. Dès que ceux-ci en furent informés, ils se levèrent malgré leurs blessures et se rendirent eux-mêmes au milieu de l'arène. On les vit se donner le baiser de paix et recevoir le coup de la mort sans faire le moindre mouvement et dans un solennel silence.

Ainsi tombèrent ces glorieux héros de l'Afrique chrétienne, le 7 mars de l'année 203.

J.-M. Planchet, Nouvelle Vie des Saints, 2e éd. Paris, 1946

SOURCE : http://hodiemecum.hautetfort.com/apps/m/archive/2008/03/05/6-mars-sainte-perpetue-sainte-felicite-et-leurs-saints-compa.html

Saint Perpetua, Church of St Saviour and St Peter, Eastbourne

- Sainte Perpétue & sainte Félicité, et leurs saints compagnons, martyrs. 202.

Pape : Saint Zéphirin.

Empereur : Sévère.

" La pensée de Dieu sanctifie les douleurs : la pensée de les offrir à Dieu les allège ; la pensée de les supporter pour la cause de Dieu les rends délectables. Je ne suis pas seul, disait saint Paul au milieu des persécutions et des travaux, les grâce de Dieu est avec moi."
I Cor., XV, 10.

La fête de ces deux illustres héroïnes de la foi chrétienne est rapportée la journée de demain, 7 mars, anniversaire de leur triomphe ; mais la mémoire de l'Ange de l'école, saint Thomas d'Aquin, brille avec tant d'éclat au 7 mars, qu'elle semble éclipser celle des deux grandes martyres africaines. Le Saint-Siège a donc permis en certains lieux d'anticiper d'un jour leur fête.

Leurs deux noms, comme l'observe saint Augustin, sont un présage du sort que leur réserve le ciel : une perpétuelle félicité. L'exemple qu'elles donnent de la force chrétienne est à lui seul une victoire qui assure le triomphe de la foi de Jésus-Christ sur la terre d'Afrique. Encore quelques années, et le grand Cyprien fera retentir sur cette plage sa voix mâle et éloquente, appelant les chrétiens au martyre ; mais n'y a-t-il pas un accent plus pénétrant encore dans les pages écrites de la main de cette jeune femme de vingt-deux ans, la noble Perpétue, qui nous raconte avec un calme tout céleste les épreuves qu'il lui a fallu traverser pour aller à Dieu, et qui, au moment de partir pour l'amphithéâtre, remet à un autre la plume avec laquelle il devra écrire le dénouement de la sanglante et sublime tragédie ?

En lisant de tels récits, dont les siècles n'ont altéré ni le charme, ni la grandeur, on se sent en présence des glorieux ancêtres de la foi, on admire la puissance de la grâce divine qui suscita de tels courages du sein même d'une société idolâtre et corrompue ; et considérant quel genre de héros Dieu employa pour briser les formidables résistances du monde païen, on ne peut s'empêcher de dire avec saint Jean Chrysostome :

" J'aime à lire les Actes des Martyrs ; mais j'avoue mon attrait particulier pour ceux qui retracent les combats qu'ont soutenus les femmes chrétiennes. Plus faible est l'athlète, plus glorieuse est la victoire ; car c'est alors que l'ennemi voit venir sa défaite du côté même où jusqu'alors il triomphait. Ce fut par la femme qu'il nous vainquit ; et c'est maintenant par elle qu'il est terrassé. Elle fut entre ses mains une arme contre nous ; elle devient le glaive qui le transperce. Au commencement, la femme pécha, et pour prix de son péché eut la mort en partage ; la martyre meurt, mais elle meurt pour ne pas pécher. Séduite par une promesse mensongère, la femme viola le précepte de Dieu ; pour ne pas enfreindre sa fidélité envers son dite vin bienfaiteur, la martyre sacrifie plutôt sa vie. Quelle excuse maintenant présentera l'homme pour se faire pardonner la mollesse, quand de simples femmes déploient un si mâle courage ; quand on les a vues, faibles et délicates, triompher de l'infériorité de leur sexe, et, fortifiées par la grâce, remporter de si éclatantes victoires ?" (Homil. De diversis novi Testamenti locis.).

Sous l'empereur Sévère, on arrêta en Afrique (à Carthage) plusieurs jeunes catéchumènes : entre autres Révocatus et Félicité, tous deux de condition servile ; Saturnin et Sécundulus ; enfin parmi eux se trouvait Vivia Perpétua, jeune femme de naissance distinguée, élevée avec soin, mariée à un homme de condition, et ayant un enfant qu'elle allaitait encore. Elle était âgée d'environ vingt-deux ans, et elle a laissé le récit de son martyre écrit de sa propre main :

" Nous étions encore avec nos persécuteurs, dit-elle, lorsque mon père, dans l'affection qu'il me portait, vint faire de nouveaux efforts pour m'amener à changer de résolution.

" Mon père, lui dis-je, il m'est impossible de dire autre chose si ce n'est que je suis chrétienne."

A ce mot, saisi de colère, il se jeta sur moi pour m'arracher les yeux ; mais il ne fit que me maltraiter, et il se retira vaincu ainsi que le démon avec tous ses artifices. Peu de jours après nous fûmes baptisés ; le Saint-Esprit m'inspira alors de ne demander autre chose que la patience dans les peines corporelles. Peu après, on nous renferma dans la prison. J'éprouvai d'abord un saisissement, ne m'étant jamais trouvée dans des ténèbres comme celles d'un cachot.

Au bout de quelques jours, le bruit courut que nous allions être interrogés. Mon père arriva de la ville, accablé de chagrin, et vint près de moi pour me faire renoncer à mon dessein. Il me dit :

" Ma fille, aie pitié de mes cheveux blancs, aie pitié de ton père, si je mérite encore d'être appelé ton père. Regarde tes frères, regarde ta mère, regarde ton enfant qui ne pourra vivre si tu meurs ; laisse cette fierté et ne sois pas la cause de notre perte à tous."

Mon père me disait toutes ces choses par tendresse ; puis se jetant à mes pieds tout en larmes, il m'appelait non plus sa fille, mais sa dame. Je plaignais la vieillesse de mon père, songeant qu'il serait le seul, de toute notre famille qui ne se réjouirait pas de mon martyre. Je lui dis pour le fortifier :

" Il n'arrivera de tout ceci que ce qu'il plaira à Dieu ; sache que nous ne dépendons pas de nous-mêmes, mais de lui."

Et il se retira accablé de tristesse.

Un jour, comme nous dînions, on vint nous enlever pour subir l'interrogatoire. Arrivés sur le forum, nous montâmes sur l'estrade. Mes compagnons fuient interrogés et confessèrent. Quand mon tour fut venu, mon père parut tout à coup avec mon enfant ; il me tira à part, et me suppliant :

" Aie pitié de ton enfant."

Le procurateur Hilarien me dit aussi :

" Épargne la vieillesse de ton père, épargne l'âge tendre de ton fils ; sacrifie pour la santé des empereurs."

Je répondis :

" Je ne le ferai pas : je suis Chrétienne."

Alors le juge prononça la sentence, qui nous condamnait aux bêtes, et nous redescendîmes joyeux à la prison. Comme je nourrissais mon enfant, et que je l'avais eu jusqu'alors avec moi dans la prison, je l'envoyai aussitôt réclamer à mon père ; mais mon père ne voulut pas me le donner. Dieu permit que l'enfant ne demandât plus à téter, et que je ne fusse pas incommodée par mon lait."

Tout ceci est tiré du récit de la bienheureuse Perpétue, qui le conduit jusqu'à la veille du combat.

Quant à Félicité, elle était enceinte de huit mois lorsqu'elle avait été arrêtée ; et le jour des spectacles étant si proche, elle était inconsolable, prévoyant que sa grossesse ferait différer son martyre. Ses compagnons n'étaient pas moins affligés qu'elle, dans la pensée qu'ils laisseraient seule sur le chemin de l'espérance céleste une si excellente compagne. Ils unirent donc leurs instances et leurs larmes auprès de Dieu pour obtenir sa délivrance. C'était trois jours seulement avant les spectacles ; mais à peine avaient-ils fini leur prière que Félicité se sentit prise par les douleurs. Et parce que l'accouchement étant difficile, la souffrance lui arrachait des plaintes, un guichetier lui dit :

" Si tu te plains déjà, que feras-tu quand tu seras exposée aux bêtes, que tu as bravées cependant en refusant de sacrifier ?"

Elle lui répondit :

" Maintenant, c'est moi qui souffre ; mais alors il y en aura un autre qui souffrira pour moi, parce que je devrai souffrir pour lui."

Elle accoucha donc d'une fille qui fut adoptée par l'une de ses autres sœurs.

Le jour de la victoire étant arrivé, les martyrs partirent de la prison pour l'amphithéâtre comme pour le ciel, avec un visage gai et d'une beauté céleste, émus de joie et non de crainte. Perpétue s'avançait la dernière ; ses traits respiraient la tranquillité, et sa démarche était digne comme celle d'une noble matrone chérie du Christ. Elle tenait les yeux baissés, pour en dérober l'éclat aux spectateurs. Félicité était près d'elle, remplie de joie d'avoir accompli ses couches assez à temps pour pouvoir combattre les bêtes. C'était une vache très féroce que le diable leur avait préparée. On les enveloppa chacune dans un filet pour les exposer à cette bête. Perpétue fut exposée la première. La bête la lança en l'air, et la laissa retomber sur les reins. La martyre revenue à elle, et s'apercevant que sa robe était déchirée le long de sa cuisse, la rejoignit proprement, plus jalouse de la pudeur que sensible à ses souffrances. On la ramena pour recevoir un nouveau choc ; elle renoua alors ses cheveux qui s'étaient détachés : car il ne convenait pas qu'une martyre, en son jour de victoire, parût les cheveux épars, et montrât un signe de deuil dans un moment si glorieux. Quand elle fut relevée, ayant aperçu Félicité, que le choc avait toute brisée, étendue par terre, elle alla à elle, et lui donnant la main, elle la releva. Elles se présentèrent pour recevoir une nouvelle attaque ; mais le peuple se lassa d'être cruel, et on les conduisit vers la porte Sana-Vivaria. Alors Perpétue, sortant comme d'un sommeil, tant l'extase de son esprit avait été profonde, et regardant autour d'elle, dit, au grand étonnement de tous :
" Quand donc nous exposera-t-on à cette vache furieuse ?"

Lorsqu’on lui raconta ce qui était arrivé, elle ne put le croire qu'après avoir vu sur son corps et sur ses vêtements les traces de ce qu'elle avait souffert. Alors, faisant approcher son frère et un catéchumène nommé Rusticus, elle leur dit :

" Demeurez fermes dans la foi, aimez-vous les uns les autres et ne soyez pas scandalisés de nos souffrances."

Quant à Sécundulus, Dieu l'avait retiré de ce monde, pendant qu'il était encore renfermé dans la prison. Saturnin et Revocatus, après avoir été attaqués par un léopard, furent encore vivement traînés par un ours. Saturus fut d'abord exposé à un sanglier, puis exposé à un ours ; mais la bête ne sortit pas de sa loge, en sorte que le martyr, épargné deux fois, fut rappelé. A la fin du spectacle, il fut présenté à un léopard, qui d'un coup de dent le couvrit de sang.

Le peuple, comme il s'en retournait, faisant une allusion à ce second baptême, s'écria :

" Sauvé, lavé ! Sauvé, lavé !"

On transporta ensuite le martyr expirant au lieu où il devait être égorgé avec les autres. Le peuple demanda qu'on les ramenât tous au milieu de l'amphithéâtre, afin de repaître ses regards homicides du spectacle de leur immolation par le glaive. Les martyrs se levèrent, et se traînèrent où le peuple les demandait, après s'être embrassés, afin de sceller leur martyre par le baiser de paix. Ils reçurent le coup mortel sans faire aucun mouvement et sans laisser échapper une plainte ; surtout Saturus, qui expira le premier.

Quant à Perpétue, afin qu'elle goûtât du moins quelque souffrance, l'épée du gladiateur s'arrêta sur ses côtes, et lui fit pousser un cri. Ce fut elle qui conduisit elle-même à sa gorge la main encore novice de cet apprenti. Peut-être aussi que cette sublime femme ne pouvait mourir autrement, et que l'esprit immonde qui la redoutait n'eût osé attenter à sa vie, si elle-même n'y eût consenti.

HYMNE

" Epouse du Christ, célèbre aujourd'hui dans de pieux cantiques deux femmes au cœur invincible ; chante avec transport deux cœurs d'hommes dans le sexe le plus faible.

Toutes deux nées sous le soleil de l'Afrique, toutes deux aujourd'hui, dans l'univers entier, brillent de l'éclat que leur ont acquis de sublimes combats ; le front de chacune est ceint de lauriers glorieux.

La noblesse du sang recommande d'abord Perpétue ; une récente alliance l'a unie à un époux illustre ; mais il est à ses yeux une illustration plus haute encore : elle préfère à tout le service du Christ.

Quoique libre, elle met sa gloire à servir un si grand roi ; quant à Félicité, la condition d'esclave est son sort ici-bas ; mais dans la lutte glorieuse elle suit d'un pas égal la noble Perpétue ; elle s'élance vers la palme avec une même ardeur.

En vain le père de Perpétue emploie pour l'abattre et les menaces et les pleurs ; elle n'éprouve qu'une filiale compassion pour l'erreur du vieillard ; bientôt il lui faut donner le dernier baiser à l'enfant qu'elle allaite.

Dans la prison, Félicité éprouve les douleurs dont Eve notre mère a attiré les rigueurs sur son sexe ; elle souffre et enfante en gémissant, celle qui bientôt doit souffrir pour Dieu avec allégresse.

Dans une vision, Perpétue voit s'ouvrir les portes du ciel ; il lui est permis de jeter ses regards dans ce séjour de délices ; elle apprend que des combats lui sont réservés, et aussi quel repos Dieu lui prépare après ces combats.

Elle voit une échelle d'or qui monte jusqu'au séjour céleste ; mais ses deux côtés sont armés de pointes menaçantes. Ceux qui viendraient à tomber de ces degrés périlleux, un affreux dragon couché au pied de l'échelle les recevrait dans sa gueule.

Monte, Ô femme, ne crains pas le dragon ; pose ton pied sur sa tête humiliée, comme sur le degré d'où tu montes vaillamment jusqu'au delà des astres.

Au sommet de l'échelle s'ouvre pour Perpétue un délicieux jardin : c'est là que l'aimable Pasteur comble ses brebis de caresses : " Ma fille, lui dit-il, ma fille tant désirée, te voilà donc enfin ", et il lui fait part d'un mets plein de douceur.

Une autre fois, elle se sent entraînée au milieu du cirque ; là un homme repoussant, d'un aspect horrible, brandissant un glaive, s'élance sur elle ; mais bientôt il est abattu et foulé sous le pied d'une faible femme. Reçois, Ô Perpétue, le prix de tes hauts faits.

Le jour de gloire, celui qui doit éclairer la victoire, se lève enfin pour les athlètes du Seigneur. Avancez, Ô martyres ! Le ciel tout entier t'attend, Ô Perpétue ! La cour des élus te désire, Ô Félicité !

Une bête farouche froisse cruellement les membres délicats de Perpétue ; bientôt c'est le tour de sa compagne ; mais, Ô Félicité, ta noble soeur se relevant de l'arène vient te tendre la main et te disposer à des luttes nouvelles.

Enfin Dieu, qui du haut du ciel contemple les combats de ces deux héroïnes, les appelle à la couronne ; il est temps qu'à travers leur sang qui s'épanche sur la terre, leurs âmes s'élancent dans le sein du Christ.

Bientôt le glaive d'un licteur comble le désir des martyres en les immolant. Le bras qui doit égorger Perpétue tremble en s'essayant ; mais la main de l'héroïne conduit elle-même sur sa gorge l'épée qui doit la traverser.

Et maintenant, Ô femmes magnanimes, goûtez à jamais près de l'Epoux les joies qui vous sont préparées ; il vous montre à nous comme les modèles du courage ; accordez votre puissant secours à ceux qui vous implorent.

Gloire éternelle au Père, louange égale au Fils et au divin Esprit qui les unit ; et vous, chrétiens, célébrez en tous lieux la force victorieuse que le ciel a donnée aux Martyrs.

Amen."

PRIÈRE

" Perpétue ! Félicité ! noms glorieux et prédestinés, r vous venez luire sur nous en ces jours, comme deux astres bienfaisants qui nous apportent à la fois la lumière et la vie. Les Anges vous répètent au ciel dans leurs chants de triomphe, et nous, sur la terre, nous vous redisons avec amour et espérance. Vous nous rappelez cette parole du livre sacré : " Le Seigneur a inauguré de nouveaux combats ; à la suite des guerriers, la femme s'est levée comme une noble mère dans Israël." (Judic. V, 7.). Gloire à la Toute-Puissance divine qui, voulant accomplir à la lettre la parole de l'Apôtre, choisit " ce qu'il y a de faible pour confondre ce qui est fort " ! (I Cor. 1, 27.). Gloire à l'Eglise d'Afrique, fille de l'Eglise de Rome, à l'Eglise de Carthage qui n'a pas encore entendu la voix de son Cvprien, et qui déjà produit de si grands cœurs !

La chrétienté tout entière s'incline devant vous, Ô Perpétue ! elle fait plus encore : chaque jour, à l'autel, le sacrificateur prononce votre nom béni parmi les noms privilégiés qu'il redit en présence de l'auguste victime ; votre mémoire est ainsi pour jamais associée à l'immolation de l'Homme-Dieu, auquel votre amour a rendu le témoignage du sang. Mais quel bienfait il a daigné nous départir, en nous permettant de pénétrer les sentiments de votre âme généreuse dans ces pages tracées de votre main, et qui sont venues jusqu'à nous à travers les siècles ! C'est là que nous apprenons de vous ce qu'est " cet amour plus fort que la mort " (Cant. VIII, 6.), qui vous rendit victorieuse dans tous les combats. L'eau baptismale n'avait pas touché encore votre noble front, et déjà vous étiez enrôlée parmi les martyrs. Bientôt il vous fallut soutenir les assauts d'un père, et triompher de la tendresse filiale d'ici-bas, pour sauver celle que vous deviez à cet autre Père qui est dans les cieux. Votre cœur maternel ne tarda pas d'être soumis à la plus terrible des épreuves, lorsque cet enfant qui, sous les voûtes obscures d'un cachot, puisait la vie à votre sein, vous fut enlevé comme un nouvel Isaac, et que vous demeurâtes seule, à la veille du dernier combat.

Mais dans ce combat, Ô Perpétue, au milieu des compagnons de votre victoire, qui est semblable à vous ? Quelle est cette ivresse d'amour qui vous a saisie, lorsqu'est arrivé le moment de souffrir dans votre corps, au point que vous ne sentez pas même la cruelle brisure de vos membres délicats lancés sur le sol de l'arène ? " Où étiez-vous, dirons-nous avec saint Augustin, lorsque vous ne voyiez même pas cette bête furieuse à laquelle on vous avait exposée ? De quelles délices jouissiez-vous, au point d'être devenue insensible à de telles douleurs ? Quel amour vous enivrait ? Quelle beauté céleste vous captivait ? Quel breuvage vous avait ravi le sentiment des choses d'ici-bas, à vous qui étiez encore dans les liens d'un corps mortel ?" (In Natali SS. Perpétua et Felicitatis.).

Mais, avant la dernière lutte, le Seigneur vous avait préparée par le sacrifice. Nous comprenons alors que votre vie fût devenue toute céleste, et que votre âme, habitant déjà, par l'amour, avec Jésus qui vous avait tout demandé et à qui vous aviez tout accordé, fût dès lors comme étrangère à ce corps qu'elle devait sitôt abandonner. Un dernier lien vous retenait encore, et le glaive devait le trancher; mais afin que votre immolation fût volontaire jusqu'à la fin, il fallut que votre main conduisît elle-même ce fer libérateur qui ouvrait passage à votre âme si rapide dans son vol vers le souverain bien. Ô femme véritablement forte, ennemie du serpent infernal et objet de sa haine, vous l'avez vaincu ! Votre grandeur d'âme vous a placée parmi les plus nobles héroïnes de notre foi ; et depuis seize siècles votre nom aie privilège de faire battre tout cœur chrétien.

Recevez aussi nos hommages, Ô Félicité ! car vous avez été jugée digne de servir de compagne à Perpétue. Dans le siècle, elle brillait au rang des matrones de Carthage; mais, malgré votre condition servile, le baptême l'avait rendue votre sœur, et vous marchiez son égale dans l'arène du martyre. A peine relevée de ses chutes violentes, elle courait à vous et vous tendait la main ; la femme noble et l'humble esclave se confondaient dans l'embrassement du martyre ; et les spectateurs de l'amphithéâtre pouvaient déjà pressentir que la nouvelle religion recelait en elle-même une vertu sous l'effort de laquelle succomberait l'esclavage. Vous aviez dit, Ô Félicité, que lorsque l'heure du combat aurait sonné, ce ne serait plus vous qui souffririez, mais le Christ immortel qui souffrirait en vous : il a été fait selon votre foi et votre espérance ; et le Christ est apparu vainqueur dans Félicité comme dans Perpétue. Jouissez donc, ô femme bénie, du prix de vos sacrifices et de vos combats. Du haut du ciel, vous veillerez sur cet enfant qui naquit d'une martyre dans une prison ; déjà, sur la terre, une si noble naissance lui a fait rencontrer une seconde mère. Honneur à vous qui n'avez pas regardé en arrière, mais qui vous êtes élancée à la suite du Christ ! Votre félicité est éternelle au ciel, et ici-bas votre gloire durera autant que le monde.

Maintenant, Ô sœurs illustres, soyez-nous propices en ces jours. Tendez vos palmes vers le trône de la divine majesté, et faites-en descendre sur nous les miséricordes. Nous ne sommes plus cette société païenne qui se pressait aux jeux de l'amphithéâtre pour voir répandre votre sang ; la foi chrétienne victorieuse par vous et par tant d'autres martyrs a triomphé des erreurs et des vices de nos aïeux ; et ceux-ci nous ont transmis le sacré symbole pour lequel vous aviez tout sacrifié. Mais, pour n'être pas aussi profondes, nos misères n'en sont pas moins lamentables. Il est un second paganisme qui se glisse chez les peuples chrétiens et qui les pervertit. Il a sa source dans l'indifférence qui glace le cœur et dans la mollesse qui énerve la volonté. Ô Perpétue, Ô Félicité ! demandez que vos exemples ne soient pas perdus pour nous, et que la pensée de vos héroïques dévouements nous soutienne dans les sacrifices moindres que le Seigneur exige de nous. Priez aussi pour nos nouvelles Eglises qui s'élèvent sur le rivage africain que vos souffrances ont illustré ; elles se recommandent à vous ; bénissez-les, et faites-y refleurir, par votre puissante intercession, la foi et les mœurs chrétiennes."

John Foxe, Christian martyrs of the world; the story of the advance of Christianity from Bible times to latest periods of persecution, 1907

SAINT SATURNIN, SAINTES PERPÉTUE, FÉLICITÉ ET LEURS AUTRES COMPAGNONS

Saturnin, ordonné évêque par les disciples des Apôtres, fut envoyé dans la ville de Toulouse. Or, comme, (395) à son entrée, les démons cessèrent de rendre des réponses, un des gentils déclara que si on ne tuait Saturnin; on n'obtiendrait certainement rien de leurs dieux. On se saisit donc du saint qui ne voulait pas sacrifier, on le lia aux pieds d'un taureau qu'on pressa à coups d'aiguillons et on, le précipita du haut de l’escalier du capitole; le saint eut la tète brisée, la cervelle écrasée et consomma ainsi heureusement son martyre. Deux femmes prirent son corps à la dérobée, et l’enterrèrent dans un endroit profond par crainte des gentils ; ses successeurs en firent dans la suite une translation dans un lieu plus convenable. — Il y eut un autre Saturnin que le préfet de Rome retint longtemps en prison et qu'il fit mettre sur le chevalet où il fut déchiré à coups de nerfs, de cordes, et de fouets 'garnis de fer ; ensuite ou lui brûla les côtes, on le détacha du chevalet et il fut décapité vers l’an du Seigneur 286, sous Maximien. — Il y eut un troisième Saturnin en Afrique. Il était frère de saint Satyre et souffrit le martyre avec lui, Révocat et Félicité, sa soeur, nommée Révocate et avec Perpétue d'une race noble. On fait la mémoire de leur martyre dans un autre temps. Le proconsul leur ayant dit de sacrifier aux idoles, ils s'y refusèrent obstinément, ils furent alors mis en prison. Le père de Perpétue, voyant cela, accourut à la prison et dit : « Ma fille, qu'as-tu fait? tu as déshonoré ta famille; Jamais aucun de tes ancêtres n'a été incarcéré. » Mais ayant appris que sa fille était chrétienne, il se jeta sur elle, et il voulut lui arracher les,yeux avec les doigts ; puis il sortit en poussant des exclamations. Or, la bienheureuse Perpétue eut une vision qu'elle raconta ainsi le lendemain à ses compagnons : « J'ai vu une échelle d'or d'une grandeur admirable; elle allait jusqu'au ciel, et était si étroite qu'une personne seule et petite pouvait la monter. A droite et à gauche étaient fixées des lames et des épées de fer aiguës et luisantes, de sorte que celui qui montait ne pouvait regarder ni autour, ni au-dessous de lui; mais il était forcé de se tenir toujours droit vers le ciel. Sous l’échelle, se tenait un dragon hideux et énorme faisant peur à celui qui voulait monter. J'ai vu aussi Satyre sur les degrés d'en haut qui regardait vers nous en disant : « Ne craignez point ce dragon, mais montez avec confiance afin de pouvoir être avec moi. » En entendant ces choses, tous rendirent grâces, parce qu'ils connurent qu'ils étaient appelés au martyre *.

Ils furent amenés devant le juge, et comme ils ne voulaient pas sacrifier, il fit séparer Saturnin et les autres hommes des femmes, et dit à Félicité : « As-tu un mari? » Elle répondit : « J'en ai un, mais je n'en ai souci. » Il lui dit : « Aie pitié de toi, jeune femme, afin de vivre, surtout puisque tu portes un enfant dans ton sein. » Elle lui répondit : « Fais de moi tout ce que tu veux, car tu ne sauras jamais m’entraîner à céder à ta volonté. » Alors les parents de Perpétue accoururent avec son mari et lui amenèrent son petit enfant encore à la mamelle : en la voyant débout devant le préfet, son père tomba la face contre terre et dit : «Ma très chère fille, aie pitié de moi, de ta malheureuse mère que voici et de ce mari infortuné qui ne pourra pas te survivrez » Mais Perpétue restait immobile. Alors le père jeta son enfant à son cou et lui-même sa mère et son mari, lui tenant les mains et pleurant, l’embrassaient en disant : « Aie pitié de nous, ma fille, et vis avec nous. » Mais Perpétue rejetant son fils et les repoussant : « Éloignez-vous de moi, dit-elle, ennemis de Dieu, car je ne vous connais pas. » Le préfet, voyant la constance des martyrs, les fit fouetter très durement, puis mettre en prison. Les saints très affligés par rapport à Félicité qui était dans le huitième mois de sa grossesse, prièrent pour elle; alors l’es douleurs de l’enfantement la saisirent tout à coup et elle accoucha d'un fils vivant. Or, un des gardes lui dit: « Que feras-tu, quand tu seras en présence du préfet, si maintenant tu souffres si, cruellement ? » Félicité répondit : « Maintenant c'est moi qui souffre, mais là, ce sera Dieu qui souffrira à ma place. » On les tira de la. prison, les mains liées derrière le dos, et on les dépouilla de leurs habits pour les conduire à travers les rues. Les bêtes furent lâchées. Satyre et Perpétue furent dévorés par les lions, Révocat et Félicité mangés par les léopards. Quant à saint Saturnin il eut la tête, tranchée vers l’an du Seigneur 256, sous les empereurs Valérien et Galien.

* Dodwel, dans sa Dissertation sur la huitième épître de saint Cyprien, où il est question des visions prophétiques, parle de celle de sainte Perpétue et reconnaît que les actes de ces saints martyrs ont été écrits par un contemporain. Ces actes ont été. ici compilés par le Bienheureux Jacques de Voragine.

La Légende dorée de Jacques de Voragine nouvellement traduite en français avec introduction, notices, notes et recherches sur les sources par l'Abbé J.-B. M. Roze, chanoine honoraire de la Cathédrale d'Amiens, Édouard Rouveyre, éditeur, 76, Rue de Seine, 76 Paris MDCCCCII Tome I - Tome II - Tome III

SOURCE : https://livres-mystiques.com/partieTEXTES/voragine/tome03/175.htm

Saintes Perpétue et Félicité, martyres

Martyrisées à Carthage avec quatre compagnons en 202-203. Leurs noms sont inscrits au martyrologe le 7 mars. Fête célébrée à Rome dès le IVe siècle. Leurs noms sont cités au Canon de la messe.

Leur fête fut réduite à une commémoraison en 1568 quand saint Pie V éleva St Thomas d’Aquin au rang de double. Saint Pie X anticipa alors la fête des deux martyres au 6 mars.

Ant.au Bénédictus et au Magnificat Le royaume des cieux leur appartient en effet, à celles-ci qui ont méprisé la vie de ce monde, sont parvenues aux récompenses du royaume céleste et ont lavé leurs robes dans le sang de l’agneau.

Leçons des Matines avant 1960

Quatrième leçon. Perpétue et Félicité furent, durant la persécution de Sévère, arrêtées en Afrique avec Révocat, Saturnin et Secundulus et jetées dans une prison obscure ; on leur adjoignit ensuite Satyrus. Elles étaient encore catéchumènes, mais reçurent le baptême peu après. Quelques jours s’étant écoulées, elles furent conduites de la prison à la place publique avec leurs compagnons et, après une confession glorieuse de la foi, condamnées aux bêtes, par le procurateur Hilarion. C’est avec joie qu’elles revinrent du forum en prison, où diverses visions affermirent encore leur courage et les embrasèrent d’ardeur pour la palme du martyre. Ni les prières ni les larmes répétées de son père accablé de vieillesse, ni l’amour maternel envers son fils tout enfant, suspendu à son sein, ni l’atrocité du supplice ne purent jamais détourner Perpétue de la foi du Christ.

Cinquième leçon. Le jour du spectacle approchant, Félicité, qui était au huitième mois de sa grossesse, se trouvant dans une grande douleur, craignait d’être ajournée : les lois en effet interdisaient de supplicier les femmes enceintes. Mais sa délivrance fut avancée grâce aux prières de ses compagnons de martyre et elle mit au monde une fille. Comme elle gémissait au milieu des douleurs de l’enfantement, un des gardes lui dit : « Vous qui vous plaignez ainsi maintenant, que ferez-vous, jetée devant les bêtes ? » Elle répondit : « Maintenant, c’est moi qui souffre ; mais là un autre sera en moi qui souffrira pour moi, parce que moi aussi je souffrirai pour lui. »

Sixième leçon. Aux nones de mars, ces femmes généreuses furent exposées dans l’amphithéâtre, à la vue de tout le peuple et d’abord frappées de verges. Ensuite elles se virent pendant quelque temps le jouet d’une vache très féroce, qui les couvrit de blessures et les foula sur le sol ; enfin elles furent achevées par des coups de glaive, ainsi que leurs compagnons qui avaient été tourmentés par divers animaux. Pie X, Souverain Pontife, a élevé la fête de ces Saintes Martyres au rite double pour l’Église universelle et ordonné de la fixer au sixième jour de mars.

Dom Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique

La fête de ces deux illustres héroïnes de la foi chrétienne se rapportée la journée de demain, anniversaire de leur triomphe ; mais la mémoire de l’Ange de l’École, saint Thomas d’Aquin, brille avec tant d’éclat au sept mars, qu’elle semble éclipser celle des deux grandes martyres africaines. Le Saint-Siège a donc permis en certains lieux d’anticiper d’un jour leur fête ; et nous nous autorisons de cette liberté pour proposer dès aujourd’hui à l’admiration du lecteur chrétien le sublime spectacle dont fut témoin la ville de Carthage en l’an 203. Rien n’est plus propre à nous faire comprendre le véritable esprit de l’Évangile, sur lequel nous devons réformer, en ces jours, nos sentiments et notre vie. Les plus grands sacrifices sont demandés à ces deux femmes, à ces deux mères ; Dieu leur demande non seulement leur vie, mais plus que leur vie ; et elles obéissent avec cette simplicité et cette magnanimité qui a fait d’Abraham le Père des croyants.

Leurs deux noms, comme l’observe saint Augustin, sont un présage du sort que leur réserve le ciel : une perpétuelle félicité. L’exemple qu’elles donnent de la force chrétienne est à lui seul une victoire qui assure le triomphe de la foi de Jésus-Christ sur la terre d’Afrique. Encore quelques années, et le grand Cyprien fera retentir sur cette plage sa voix mâle et éloquente, appelant les chrétiens au martyre ; mais n’y a-t-il pas un accent plus pénétrant encore dans les pages écrites de la main de cette jeune femme de vingt-deux ans, la noble Perpétue, qui nous raconte avec un calme tout céleste les épreuves qu’il lui a fallu traverser pour aller à Dieu, et qui, au moment de partir pour l’amphithéâtre , remet à un autre la plume avec laquelle il devra écrire le dénouement de la sanglante et sublime tragédie ? En lisant de tels récits, dont les siècles n’ont altéré ni le charme, ni la grandeur, on se sent en présence des glorieux ancêtres de la foi, on admire la puissance de la grâce divine qui suscita de tels courages du sein même d’une société idolâtre et corrompue ; et considérant quel genre de héros Dieu employa pour briser les formidables résistances du monde païen, on ne peut s’empêcher de dire avec saint Jean Chrysostome : « J’aime à lire les Actes des Martyrs ; mais j’avoue mon attrait particulier pour ceux qui retracent les combats qu’ont soutenus les femmes chrétiennes. Plus faible est l’athlète, plus glorieuse est la victoire ; car c’est alors que l’ennemi voit venir sa défaite du côté même où jusqu’alors il triomphait. Ce fut par la femme qu’il nous vainquit ; et c’est maintenant par elle qu’il est terrassé. Elle fut entre ses mains une arme contre nous ; elle devient le glaive qui le transperce. Au commencement, la femme pécha, et pour prix de son péché eut la mort en partage ; la martyre meurt, mais elle meurt pour ne pas pécher. Séduite par une promesse mensongère, la femme viola le précepte de Dieu ; pour ne pas enfreindre sa fidélité envers son dite vin bienfaiteur, la martyre sacrifie plutôt sa vie.

Quelle excuse maintenant présentera l’homme pour se faire pardonner la mollesse, quand de simples femmes déploient un si mâle courage ; quand on les a vues, faibles et délicates, triompher de l’infériorité de leur sexe, et, fortifiées s par la grâce, remporter de si éclatantes victoires [1] ? »

Les Leçons de l’Office de nos deux grandes martyres reproduisent les principaux traits de leurs glorieux combats. On y a fait entrer un fragment du propre récit de sainte Perpétue. Il inspirera sans doute à plus d’un lecteur le désir de lire en entier, dans les Actes des Martyrs, le reste de ce magnifique testament de notre héroïne.

Sous l’empereur Sévère, on arrêta en Afrique (à Carthage) plusieurs jeunes catéchumènes : entre autres Révocatus et Félicité, tous deux de condition servile ; Saturnin et Sécundulus ; enfin parmi eux se trouvait Vivia Perpétua, jeune femme de naissance distinguée, élevée avec soin, mariée à un homme de condition, et ayant un enfant qu’elle allaitait encore. Elle était âgée d’environ vingt-deux ans, et elle a laissé le récit de son martyre écrit de sa propre main, « Nous étions encore avec nos persécuteurs, dit-elle, lorsque mon père, dans l’affection qu’il me portait, vint faire de nouveaux efforts pour m’amènera changer de résolution. « Mon père, lui dis-je, il m’est impossible de dire autre chose si ce n’est que je suis chrétienne. » A ce mot, saisi de colère, il se jeta sur moi pour m’arracher les yeux ; mais il ne fit que me maltraiter, et il se retira vaincu ainsi que le démon avec tous ses artifices. Peu de jours après nous fûmes baptisés ; le Saint-Esprit m’inspira alors de ne demander autre chose que la patience dans les peines corporelles. Peu après, on nous renferma dans la prison. J’éprouvai d’abord un saisissement, ne m’étant jamais trouvée dans des ténèbres comme celles d’un cachot. Au bout de quelques jours, le bruit courut que nous allions être interrogés. Mon père arriva de la ville, accablé de chagrin, et vint près de moi pour me faire renoncer à mon dessein. Il me dit : « Ma fille, aie pitié de mes cheveux blancs, aie pitié de ton père, si je mérite encore d’être appelé ton père. Regarde tes frères, regarde ta mère, regarde ton enfant qui ne pourra vivre si tu meurs ; laisse cette fierté et ne sois pas la cause de notre perte à tous. » Mon père me disait toutes ces choses par tendresse ; puis se jetant à mes pieds tout en larmes, il m’appelait non plus sa fille, mais sa dame. Je plaignais la vieillesse de mon père, songeant qu’il serait le seul , de toute notre famille qui ne se réjouirait pas de mon martyre. Je lui dis pour le fortifier : « Il n’arrivera de tout ceci que ce qu’il plaira à Dieu ; sache que nous ne dépendons pas de nous-mêmes, mais de lui. » Et il se retira accablé de tristesse.

Un jour, comme nous dînions, on vint nous enlever pour subir l’interrogatoire. Arrivés sur le forum, nous montâmes sur l’estrade. Mes compagnons fuient interrogés et confessèrent. Quand mon tour fut venu, mon père parut tout à coup avec mon enfant ; il me tira à part, et me suppliant : « Aie pitié de ton enfant », me dit-il. Le procurateur Hilarien me dit aussi : « Épargne la vieillesse de ton père, épargne l’âge tendre de ton fils ; sacrifie pour la santé des empereurs. » Je répondis : « Je ne le ferai pas : je suis chrétienne. » Alors le juge prononça la sentence, qui nous condamnait aux bêtes, et nous redescendîmes joyeux à la prison. Comme je nourrissais mon enfant, et que je l’avais eu jusqu’alors avec moi dans la prison, je l’envoyai aussitôt réclamer à mon père ; mais mon père ne voulut pas me le donner. Dieu permit que l’enfant ne demandât plus à téter, et que je ne fusse pas incommodée par mon lait. » Tout ceci est tiré du récit de la bienheureuse Perpétue, qui le conduit jusqu’à la veille du combat. Quant à Félicité, elle était enceinte de huit mois lorsqu’elle avait été arrêtée ; et le jour des spectacles étant si proche, elle était inconsolable, prévoyant que sa grossesse ferait différer son martyre. Ses compagnons n’étaient pas moins affligés qu’elle, dans la pensée qu’ils laisseraient seule sur le chemin de l’espérance céleste une si excellente compagne. Ils unirent donc leurs instances et leurs larmes auprès de Dieu pour obtenir sa délivrance. C’était trois jours seulement avant les spectacles ; mais à peine avaient-ils fini leur prière que Félicité se sentit prise par les douleurs. Et parce que, l’accouchement étant difficile, la souffrance lui arrachait des plaintes, un guichetier lui dit : « Si tu te plains déjà, que feras-tu quand tu seras exposée aux bêtes, que tu as bravées cependant en refusant de sacrifier ? » Elle lui répondit : « Maintenant, c’est moi qui souffre ; mais alors il y en aura un autre qui souffrira pour moi, parce que je devrai souffrir pour lui. » Elle accoucha donc d’une fille qui fut adoptée par l’une de nos sœurs.

Le jour de la victoire étant arrivé, les martyrs partirent de la prison pour l’amphithéâtre comme pour le ciel, avec un visage gai et d’une beauté céleste, émus de joie et non de crainte. Perpétue s’avançait la dernière ; ses traits respiraient la tranquillité, et sa démarche était digne comme celle d’une noble matrone chérie du Christ. Elle tenait les yeux baissés, pour en dérober l’éclat aux spectateurs. Félicité était près d’elle, remplie de joie d’avoir accompli ses couches assez à temps pour pouvoir combattre les bêtes. C’était une vache très féroce que le diable leur avait préparée. On les enveloppa chacune dans un filet pour les exposer à cette bête. Perpétue fut exposée la première. La bête la lança en l’air, et la laissa retomber sur les reins. La martyre revenue à elle, et s’apercevant que sa robe était déchirée le long de sa cuisse, la rejoignit proprement, plus jalouse de la pudeur que sensible à ses souffrances. On la ramena pour recevoir un nouveau choc ; elle renoua alors ses cheveux qui s’étaient détachés : car il ne convenait pas qu’une martyre, en son jour de victoire, parût les cheveux épars, et montrât un signe de deuil dans un moment si glorieux. Quand elle fut relevée, ayant aperçu Félicité, que le choc avait toute brisée, étendue par terre, elle alla à elle, et lui donnant la main, elle la releva. Elles se présentèrent pour recevoir une nouvelle attaque ; mais le peuple se lassa d’être cruel, et on les conduisit vers la porte Sana-Vivaria. Alors Perpétue, sortant comme d’un sommeil, tant l’extase de son esprit avait été profonde, et regardant autour d’elle, dit, au grand étonnement de tous : « Quand donc nous exposera-t-on à cette vache furieuse ? »

Lorsqu’ on lui raconta ce qui était arrivé, elle ne put le croire qu’après avoir vu sur son corps et sur ses vêtements les traces de ce qu’elle avait souffert. Alors, faisant approcher son frère et un catéchumène nommé Rusticus, elle leur dit : « Demeurez fermes dans la foi, aimez-vous les uns les autres et ne soyez pas scandalisés de nos souffrances. »

Quant à Sécundulus, Dieu l’avait retiré de ce monde, pendant qu’il était encore renfermé dans la prison. Saturnin et Revocatus, après avoir été attaqués par un léopard, furent encore vivement traînés par un ours. Saturus fut d’abord exposé à un sanglier, puis exposé à un ours ; mais la bête ne sortit pas de sa loge, en sorte que le martyr, épargné deux fois, fut rappelé. A la fin du spectacle, il fut présenté à un léopard, qui d’un coup de dent le couvrit de sang. Le peuple, comme il s’en retournait, faisant une allusion à ce second baptême, s’écria : Sauvé, lavé ! Sauvé, lavé ! On transporta ensuite le martyr expirant au lieu où il devait être égorgé avec les autres. Le peuple demanda qu’on les ramenât tous au milieu de l’amphithéâtre, afin de repaître ses regards homicides du spectacle de leur immolation par le glaive. Les martyrs se levèrent, et se traînèrent où le peuple les demandait, après s’être embrassés, afin de sceller leur martyre par le baiser de paix. Ils reçurent le coup mortel sans faire aucun mouvement et sans laisser échapper une plainte ; surtout Saturus, qui expira le premier. Quant à Perpétue, afin qu’elle goûtât du moins quelque souffrance, l’épée du gladiateur s’arrêta sur ses côtes, et lui fit pousser un cri. Ce fut elle qui conduisit elle-même à sa gorge la main encore novice de cet apprenti. Peut-être aussi que cette sublime femme ne pouvait mourir autrement, et que l’esprit immonde qui la redoutait n’eût osé attenter à sa vie, si elle-même n’y eût consenti.

Nous donnons ici, en les réunissant sous une seule doxologie, les trois Hymnes que le Siège Apostolique a approuvées en l’honneur de nos saintes martyres.

HYMNE.

Épouse du Christ, célèbre aujourd’hui dans de pieux cantiques deux femmes au cœur invincible ; chante avec transport deux cœurs d’hommes dans le sexe le plus faible.

Toutes deux nées sous le soleil de l’Afrique, toutes deux aujourd’hui, dans l’univers entier, brillent de l’éclat que leur ont acquis de sublimes combats ; le front de chacune est ceint de lauriers glorieux.

La noblesse du sang recommande d’abord Perpétue ; une récente alliance l’a unie à un époux illustre ; mais il est à ses yeux une illustration plus haute encore : elle préfère à tout le service du Christ.

Quoique libre, elle met sa gloire à servir un si grand roi ; quant à Félicité, la condition d’esclave est son sort ici-bas ; mais dans la lutte glorieuse elle suit d’un pas égal la noble Perpétue ; elle s’élance vers la palme avec une même ardeur.

En vain le père de Perpétue emploie pour l’abattre et les menaces et les pleurs ; elle n’éprouve qu’une filiale compassion pour l’erreur du vieillard ; bientôt il lui faut donner le dernier baiser à l’enfant qu’elle allaite.

Dans la prison, Félicité éprouve les douleurs dont Eve notre mère a attiré les rigueurs sur son sexe ; elle souffre et enfante en gémissant, celle qui bientôt doit souffrir pour Dieu avec allégresse.

Dans une vision, Perpétue voit s’ouvrir les portes du ciel ; il lui est permis de jeter ses regards dans ce séjour de délices ; elle apprend que des combats lui sont réservés, et aussi quel repos Dieu lui prépare après ces combats.

Elle voit une échelle d’or qui monte jusqu’au séjour céleste ; mais ses deux côtés sont armés de pointes menaçantes. Ceux qui viendraient à tomber de ces degrés périlleux, un affreux dragon couché au pied de l’échelle les recevrait dans sa gueule.

Monte, ô femme, ne crains pas le dragon ; pose ton pied sur sa tête humiliée, comme sur le degré d’où tu montes vaillamment jusqu’au delà des astres.

Au sommet de l’échelle s’ouvre pour Perpétue un délicieux jardin : c’est là que l’aimable Pasteur comble ses brebis de caresses : « Ma fille, lui dit-il, ma fille tant désirée, te voilà donc enfin », et il lui fait part d’un mets plein de douceur.

Une autre fois, elle se sent entraînée au milieu du cirque ; là un homme repoussant, d’un aspect horrible, brandissant un glaive, s’élance sur elle ; mais bientôt il est abattu et foulé sous le pied d’une faible femme. Reçois, ô Perpétue, le prix de tes hauts faits.

Le jour de gloire, celui qui doit éclairer la victoire, se lève enfin pour les athlètes du Seigneur. Avancez, ô martyres ! Le ciel tout entier t’attend, ô Perpétue ! la cour des élus te désire, ô Félicité !

Une bête farouche froisse cruellement les membres délicats de Perpétue ; bientôt c’est le tour de sa compagne ; mais, ô Félicité, ta noble sœur se relevant de l’arène vient te tendre la main et te disposer à des luttes nouvelles.

Enfin Dieu, qui du haut du ciel contemple les combats de ces deux héroïnes, les appelle à la couronne ; il est temps qu’à travers leur sang qui s’épanche sur la terre, leurs âmes s’élancent dans le sein du Christ.

Bientôt le glaive d’un licteur comble le désir des martyres en les immolant. Le bras qui doit égorger Perpétue tremble en s’essayant ; mais la main de l’héroïne conduit elle-même sur sa gorge l’épée qui doit la traverser.

Et maintenant, ô femmes magnanimes, goûtez à jamais près de l’Époux les joies qui vous sont préparées ; il vous montre à nous comme les modèles du courage ; accordez votre puissant secours à ceux qui vous implorent.

Gloire éternelle au Père, louange égale au Fils et au divin Esprit qui les unit ; et vous, chrétiens, célébrez en tous lieux la force victorieuse que le ciel a donnée aux Martyrs. Amen.

PERPÉTUE ! Félicité ! Noms glorieux et prédestinés, r vous venez luire sur nous en ces jours, comme deux astres bienfaisants qui nous apportent à la fois la lumière et la vie. Les Anges vous répètent au ciel dans leurs chants de triomphe, et nous, sur la terre, nous vous redisons avec amour et espérance. Vous nous rappelez cette parole du livre sacré : « Le Seigneur a inauguré de nouveaux combats ; à la suite des guerriers, la femme s’est levée comme une noble mère dans Israël. » [2]. Gloire à la Toute-Puissance divine qui, voulant accomplir à la lettre la parole de l’Apôtre, choisit « ce qu’il y a de faible pour confondre ce qui est fort » ! [3] Gloire à l’Église d’Afrique, fille de l’Église de Rome, à l’Église de Carthage qui n’a pas encore entendu la voix de son Cvprien, et qui déjà produit de si grands cœurs !

La chrétienté tout entière s’incline devant vous, ô Perpétue ! elle fait plus encore : chaque jour, à l’autel, le sacrificateur prononce votre nom béni parmi les noms privilégiés qu’il redit en présence de l’auguste victime ; votre mémoire est ainsi pour jamais associée à l’immolation de l’Homme-Dieu, auquel votre amour a rendu le témoignage du sang. Mais quel bienfait il a daigné nous départir, en nous permettant de pénétrer les sentiments de votre âme généreuse dans ces pages tracées de votre main, et qui sont venues jusqu’à nous à travers les siècles ! C’est là que nous apprenons de vous ce qu’est cet amour plus fort que la mort » [4], qui vous rendit victorieuse dans tous les combats. L’eau baptismale n’avait pas touché encore votre noble front, et déjà vous étiez enrôlée parmi les martyrs. Bientôt il vous fallut soutenir les assauts d’un père, et triompher de la tendresse filiale d’ici-bas, pour sauver celle que vous deviez à cet autre Père qui est dans les cieux. Votre cœur maternel ne tarda pas d’être soumis à la plus terrible des épreuves, lorsque cet enfant qui, sous les voûtes obscures d’un cachot, puisait la vie à votre sein, vous fut enlevé comme un nouvel Isaac, et que vous demeurâtes seule, à la veille du dernier combat.

Mais dans ce combat, ô Perpétue, au milieu des compagnons de votre victoire, qui est semblable à vous ? Quelle est cette ivresse d’amour qui vous a saisie, lorsqu’est arrivé le moment de souffrir dans votre corps, au point que vous ne sentez pas même la cruelle brisure de vos membres délicats lancés sur le sol de l’arène ? « Où étiez-vous, dirons-nous avec saint Augustin, lorsque vous ne voyiez même pas cette bête furieuse à laquelle on vous avait exposée ? De quelles délices jouissiez-vous, au point d’être devenue insensible à de telles douleurs ? Quel amour vous enivrait ? Quelle beauté céleste vous captivait ? Quel breuvage vous avait ravi le sentiment des choses d’ici-bas, à vous qui étiez encore dans les liens d’un corps mortel [5] ? » Mais, avant la dernière lutte, le Seigneur vous avait préparée par le sacrifice. Nous comprenons alors que votre vie fût devenue toute céleste, et que votre âme, habitant déjà, par l’amour, avec Jésus qui vous avait tout demandé et à qui vous aviez tout accordé, fût dès lors comme étrangère à ce corps qu’elle devait sitôt abandonner. Un dernier lien vous retenait encore, et le glaive devait le trancher ; mais afin que votre immolation fût volontaire jusqu’à la fin, il fallut que votre main conduisît elle-même ce fer libérateur qui ouvrait passage à votre âme si rapide dans son vol vers le souverain bien. O femme véritablement forte, ennemie du serpent infernal et objet de sa haine, vous l’avez vaincu ! Votre grandeur d’âme vous a placée parmi les plus nobles héroïnes de notre foi ; et depuis seize siècles votre nom ait privilège de faire battre tout cœur chrétien.

Recevez aussi nos hommages, ô Félicité ! car vous avez été jugée digne de servir de compagne à Perpétue. Dans le siècle, elle brillait au rang des matrones de Carthage ; mais, malgré votre condition servile, le baptême l’avait rendue votre sœur, et vous marchiez son égale dans l’arène du martyre. A peine relevée de ses chutes violentes, elle courait à vous et vous tendait la main ; la femme noble et l’humble esclave se confondaient dans l’embrassement du martyre ; et les spectateurs de l’amphithéâtre pouvaient déjà pressentir que la nouvelle religion recelait en elle-même une vertu sous l’effort de laquelle succomberait l’esclavage. Vous aviez dit, ô Félicité, que lorsque l’heure du combat aurait sonné, ce ne serait plus vous qui souffririez, mais le Christ immortel qui souffrirait en vous : il a été fait selon votre foi et votre espérance ; et le Christ est apparu vainqueur dans Félicité comme dans Perpétue. Jouissez donc, ô femme bénie, du prix de vos sacrifices et de vos combats. Du haut du ciel, vous veillerez sur cet enfant qui naquit d’une martyre dans une prison ; déjà, sur la terre, une si noble naissance lui a fait rencontrer une seconde mère. Honneur à vous qui n’avez pas regardé en arrière, mais qui vous êtes élancée à la suite du Christ ! Votre félicité est éternelle au ciel, et ici-bas votre gloire durera autant que le monde.

Maintenant, ô sœurs illustres, soyez-nous propices en ces jours. Tendez vos palmes vers le trône de la divine majesté, et faites-en descendre sur nous les miséricordes. Nous ne sommes plus cette société païenne qui se pressait aux jeux de l’amphithéâtre pour voir répandre votre sang ; la foi chrétienne victorieuse par vous et par tant d’autres martyrs a triomphé des erreurs et des vices de nos aïeux ; et ceux-ci nous ont transmis le sacré symbole pour lequel vous aviez tout sacrifié. Mais, pour n’être pas aussi profondes, nos misères n’en sont pas moins lamentables. Il est un second paganisme qui se glisse chez les peuples chrétiens et qui les pervertit. Il a sa source dans l’indifférence qui glace le cœur et dans la mollesse qui énerve la volonté. O Perpétue, ô Félicité ! demandez que vos exemples ne soient pas perdus pour nous, et que la pensée de vos héroïques dévouements nous soutienne dans les sacrifices moindres que le Seigneur exige de nous. Priez aussi pour nos nouvelles Églises qui s’élèvent sur le rivage africain que vos souffrances ont illustré ; elles se recommandent à vous ; bénissez-les, et faites-y refleurir, par votre puissante intercession, la foi et les mœurs chrétiennes.

[1] Homil. De diversis novi Testamenti locis.

[2] Judic. V, 7.

[3] I Cor. 1, 27.

[4] Cant. VIII, 6.

[5] In Natali SS. Perpétua : et Felicitatis.

Louis Lassalle. Sainte Perpétue et sainte Félicité. Gravure. XVIIIe.

Bhx Cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum

Ces illustres héroïnes, qui font partie d’un groupe comprenant quatre autres martyrs, Révocat, Secundulus, Saturnin et Saturas, n’appartiennent pas à l’Église de Rome puisqu’elles consommèrent leur martyre à Carthage, le 7 mars 202 ou 203. Toutefois, leur popularité et leur renommée, la diffusion de leurs Actes — rédigés, semble-t-il, par Tertullien — et les relations continuelles qui existaient alors entre la capitale de l’Afrique proconsulaire et Rome, firent que le natale de Vibia Perpétua et de Félicité le 7 mars se trouve déjà noté dans la liste romaine des Natalitia Martyrum, rédigée vers 336. Perpétue et Félicité seraient donc, avec saint Cyprien, l’objet des premières fêtes de caractère non local accueillies par Rome dans son Calendrier du IVe siècle. En conséquence, les diptyques romains de la messe contiennent eux aussi les trois noms de ces martyrs africains.

La fête de ce jour apparaît également dans le Sacramentaire Gélasien de l’époque carolingienne quoiqu’elle ait été effacée du. Grégorien au temps d’Hadrien Ier. Il n’est pas difficile d’ailleurs de deviner la cause de cette suppression. Alors que le fond du Gélasien évoque une période de libre efflorescence liturgique, les fêtes cimitérales des martyrs étant encore célébrées avec un grand concours de peuple, le Grégorien représente au contraire une réforme postérieure, sévère et générale, de la liturgie stationnale à Rome. Le Carême qui ne constituait pas encore, au ive siècle, un cycle liturgique spécial, avait acquis, peu à peu, une importance particulière ; le sacrifice eucharistique était offert solennellement tous les soirs au coucher du soleil, au lieu de l’être seulement le mercredi et le dimanche, comme au temps de saint Léon ; aussi, vers l’époque du pontificat de saint Grégoire Ier, le jeûne et les stations quotidiennes durent, par une conséquence naturelle, exclure toute autre station festive, et, en particulier, les antiques Natalitia Martyrum des siècles précédents. C’est ainsi que s’éclipsèrent, non seulement la fête des saintes Perpétue et Félicité, mais aussi celle de la Chaire de saint Pierre, de saint Lucius, de saint Caius et de plusieurs autres insignes pontifes.

Cependant le souvenir des grandes martyres carthaginoises survécut dans la dévotion du peuple à cette exclusion liturgique ; il se conserva même si fidèlement que leur fête, avec le rite d’une simple commémoraison, fut associée, durant le bas moyen âge, à celle de saint Thomas d’Aquin, mort également le 7 mars. Dernièrement, à l’occasion de la découverte à Carthage, parmi les ruines de la basilica Maiorum où avait prêché le grand saint Augustin, de l’épigraphe sépulcrale de Perpétue, Félicité et leurs compagnons, Pie X éleva leur office au rite double, fixant leur fête à la veille de leur natale, à cause de la solennité suivante au jour anniversaire de la mort de saint Thomas d’Aquin.

Voici le texte de cette importante épigraphe, l’unique relique que Carthage contemporaine conserve encore du groupe de martyrs fêtés aujourd’hui par toute l’Église latine :

HIC • SVNT • MARTYRES

SATVRVS • SATVRNINVS

REBOCATVS • SECVNDVLVS • PAS • NON • MART

FELICIT • PERPETV

Un fragment de peinture dans le cimetière de Callixte, appartenant comme certains le supposent, à la tombe des martyrs Marc et Marcellien ou, selon d’autres opinions, à celle des martyrs grecs, démontre à quel point les Actes de sainte Perpétue étaient alors populaires à Rome. On y voit en effet deux martyrs montant vers le Christ au moyen d’une échelle dont un serpent, placé à ses pieds, tente d’empêcher l’accès. L’inspiration de l’artiste est évidente, comme aussi sa dépendance de la célèbre vision de la martyre carthaginoise, narrée par elle avec tant de fraîcheur et de foi dans l’autobiographie de son martyre, ce chef-d’œuvre de l’antique littérature chrétienne qui mériterait d’être entre les mains de tous les fidèles et d’être étudié à fond.

La messe est celle du Commun des Martyres, Me exspectavérunt, dont les collectes, de même que celle après la communion, qui est propre, sont identiques à celles assignées déjà à la fête de ce jour dans le Sacramentaire Gélasien.

Souvent la Croix nous effraie, parce que nous ne considérons que son amertume, sans tenir compte de cette vérité, que quand nous souffrons pour Jésus-Christ, ce n’est pas tant nous qui-souffrons alors, que Jésus qui souffre en nous. C’est ainsi que Félicité, gémissant dans sa prison à cause des douleurs de l’enfantement, répondit avec dignité aux païens qui lui demandaient, en la raillant, comment elle ferait pour subir les peines du martyre, puisqu’elle se plaignait : « Maintenant c’est moi qui souffre ; mais alors un autre souffrira en moi, parce qu’alors je souffrirai pour Lui. »

Châsse de sainte Perpétue en l'église Notre-Dame de Vierzon.

Sarcofago di santa Perpetua nella chiesa di Notre-Dame di Vierzon.

Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide dans l’année liturgique

Le Christ souffre en moi.

Les saints : Jour de mort : 7 mars 202 ou 203, à Carthage. — Tombeau : Inconnu. L’épitaphe a été retrouvée récemment à Carthage. Image : On les représente au moment où elles se disent adieu, ou bien quand on les jette devant une vache furieuse. Vie : Vibia Perpetua était une jeune femme et mère, d’une condition distinguée ; Félicité était une esclave qui, trois jours avant son martyre, donna naissance à un enfant. L’une et l’autre étaient catéchumènes. C’est précisément aux catéchumènes qu’on s’en prenait surtout pendant la persécution de Septime Sévère. Elles souffrirent le martyre le 7 mars, à Carthage. Le bréviaire raconte cet épisode émouvant ; Le jour des jeux, pendant lesquels elles devaient être jetées aux bêtes, était imminent.

Félicité était toute triste dans la crainte d’être obligée d’attendre plus longtemps que les autres. Car elle était enceinte de huit mois et, d’après les lois, on n’avait pas le droit de l’exécuter avant la naissance de l’enfant. Cependant la prière des autres martyrs hâta la naissance et elle mit au monde une fille. Comme elle souffrait les douleurs de l’enfantement, un des gardes lui cria ; « Si tu souffres tant déjà, que feras-tu quand tu seras exposée aux bêtes sauvages ? » — « Maintenant c’est moi qui souffres » répondit-elle, « mais, là-bas, il y en aura un autre en moi, qui souffrira pour moi parce que, moi aussi, je souffrirai pour lui. » Pendant le travail de l’enfantement, elle laissait échapper des plaintes, mais sa joie éclata quand elle fut exposée aux bêtes » (Martyrologe). Le 7 mars enfin, les héroïques femmes furent conduites à l’amphithéâtre et, d’abord, cruellement fouettées. Elles furent ensuite exposées à une vache très féroce qui les traîna un certain temps, les déchira et finalement les jeta par terre. — Au Canon de la messe, on fait tous les jours mention, avec honneur, de ces deux saintes femmes. — Nous disons la messe du Carême avec mémoire des deux martyres.

Les Actes. L’histoire du martyre de ces saintes nous a été conservée par des actes authentiques rédigés en partie par les saintes elles-mêmes, en partie par des témoins oculaires (peut-être Tertullien). Ces Actes sont parmi les plus beaux morceaux de la littérature chrétienne antique. Il en existe des traductions françaises. Citons-en un passage ; « Comme nous étions encore avec les gardes, raconte Perpétue, mon père, dans son amour pour moi, ne cessait de m’exhorter à apostasier. Alors je lui dis : « Tu vois, par exemple, ce vase qui se trouve ici, une cruche ou quelque chose de semblable ? » Il dit : « Oui, je le vois. » Alors je lui demandais : « Peut-on le désigner autrement que par ce qu’il est ? » Il répondit : « Non. » « Je ne puis pas non plus me nommer autrement que par ce que je suis : une chrétienne. » Mon père, irrité par cette parole, se jeta sur moi pour m’arracher les yeux. Il ne fit cependant que me tourmenter et s’en alla. Pendant les quelques jours où je fus débarrassée de mon père, je remerciai le Seigneur, et pendant son absence, je repris des forces. Dans cet intervalle de quelques jours, nous fûmes baptisées et l’Esprit m’inspira, après le baptême, de ne demander que l’endurance de la chair. Quelques jours après, nous fûmes enfermées dans le cachot et cela me fit horreur, car je n’avais jamais connu encore une telle obscurité. Ô jour effroyable ! une chaleur horrible y régnait, car les soldats y entassaient littéralement les gens ; enfin, j’étais tourmentée à cause de mon enfant. C’est alors que les excellents diacres, Tertius et Pomponius, qui nous servaient, nous obtinrent, à prix d’argent et pour quelques heures, une meilleure place dans la prison et nous pûmes trouver un peu de fraîcheur. Tous sortirent du cachot et se reposèrent. Je nourris mon enfant qui était déjà à moitié mort. Je m’occupai de ma mère et la consolai. J’encourageai mon frère et lui recommandai mon fils. Je souffrais beaucoup de les voir souffrir à cause de moi. Je fus en butte à de telles angoisses pendant plusieurs jours, mais j’obtins que mon enfant restât confié à mes soins dans la prison. Il se rétablit et je me sentis soulagée par les soins que je donnais à mon enfant. La prison me sembla tout d’un coup un palais et je m’y plaisais mieux que n’importe où.

Quelques jours après, le bruit courut que nous allions subir un interrogatoire. Mon père vint aussi de la ville, dévoré de chagrin. Il se rendit auprès de moi pour m’amener à apostasier ; il me dit : « Ma fille, aie pitié de toute ma maison. Aie pitié de ton père, si tu me juges encore digne d’être appelé ton père. Si ces mains t’ont élevée jusqu’à cet âge florissant, si je t’ai préférée à tous tes frères, ne m’abandonne pas à la raillerie des hommes. Regarde tes frères, regarde ta mère et ta tante, regarde ton enfant qui, après ta mort, ne pourra pas survivre. Fais violence à tes sentiments, ne nous perds pas, car aucun d’entre nous ne pourra parler librement s’il t’arrive quelque chose de mal. » Ainsi parlait-il dans son amour paternel. Il me baisait les mains, se jetait à mes pieds et, en versant des larmes, m’appelait non plus sa fille, mais sa dame. Je m’affligeais du sort de mon père, voyant que, seul de ma famille, il ne se réjouissait pas de mes souffrances. Je le consolais par ces paroles : « A ce tribunal, il n’arrivera que ce que Dieu veut ; car sache que nous ne sommes pas en notre pouvoir, mais au pouvoir de Dieu. » Et il s’en alla tout triste. »

SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/06-03-Stes-Perpetue-et-Felicite#nh5

Actes des martyres de Perpétue et Félicité

Septime-Sévère, successeur de Commode, interdit les conversions au christianisme par un édit en 202. Cependant le martyre de Perpétue et Félicité semble dépendre plutôt de la cruauté du proconsul Scapula, en exercie à Carthage.

Une partie de ce document est écrite de la main de Perpétue, ce qui lui confère une valeur éminente, tant sont rares les témoignages rédigés par les martyrs eux-mêmes, et plus encore des martyrs femmes !

La passion est vécue comme une lutte contre Satan, et elle s’accompagne de visions et de phénomènes mystiques. Elle ne donne pas seulement la mesure d’un courage humain, mais montre combien ces chrétiens ressentaient au plus intime d’eux-mêmes la présence de l’Esprit et cherchaient à s’incorporer au Christ en partageant ses souffrances.

• Préface

LES EXEMPLES DE FOI de nos pères, qui attestent la grâce de Dieu et édifient les hommes, ont soigneusement été consignés par écrit. Leur lecture, qui évoque ces hauts faits, rend gloire à Dieu et réconforte l’homme. Pourquoi ne pas noter également les exemples nouveaux qui présentent les mêmes avantages ? À leur tour ces faits nouveaux deviendront anciens ; ils seront nécessaires à la postérité, même si aujourd’hui on leur attribue une moindre autorité, à cause de l’engouement pour l’antiquité.

Qu’ils ouvrent donc les yeux, ceux qui apprécient d’après le nombre des générations la puissance toujours identique d’un même Esprit Saint ! Bien mieux, il faudrait faire plus grand cas des prodiges récents, puisqu’ils sont les derniers en date et que la grâce doit s’épancher toujours de plus en plus dans les derniers temps du monde. « Dans les derniers jours, dit le Seigneur, je répandrai mon Esprit sur toute chair ; vos fils et filles prophétiseront. Oui, je répandrai mon Esprit sur mes serviteurs et mes servantes ; les jeunes gens auront des visions et les vieillards des songes » (Jl 2, 28-29).

Voilà pourquoi nous acceptons les prophéties et les visions nouvelles que Dieu nous a promises. Nous les honorons comme les autres manifestations de l’Esprit, qui servent l’Église. Ce même Esprit a été envoyé à l’Église pour dispenser tous les dons, dans la mesure où le Seigneur les distribue à chacun de nous.

Il est donc nécessaire de mettre par écrit toutes ces merveilles et de les faire lire pour la gloire de Dieu. De la sorte nous ne serons ni pusillanimes ni méfiants à l’égard de la grâce ; nous n’irons pas nous imaginer que seuls les anciens avaient reçu la grâce divine, soit dans les martyres soit dans les révélations. Dieu accomplit toujours ses promesses, pour servir de témoignage aux incroyants, de soutien aux fidèles.

C’est pourquoi, chers frères et fils, nous vous annonçons ce que nous avons entendu, ce que nous avons touché. Ainsi, vous qui avez assisté à ces événements, vous vous souviendrez de la gloire du Seigneur. Et vous qui les apprenez en lisant cet écrit, vous entrerez en communion avec les saints martyrs, et par eux avec le Seigneur Jésus-Christ, à qui appartiennent la gloire et l’honneur dans les siècles des siècles. Amen.

• Arrestation à Thuburbo

On arrêta des jeunes gens, des catéchumènes : Revocatus et Félicité, sa compagne d’esclavage, Saturninus et Secundulus. Avec eux se trouvait Vibia Perpétue. Elle était de noble naissance, elle avait reçu une éducation brillante et avait fait un beau mariage. Perpétue avait encore son père et sa mère, deux frères - dont l’un était également catéchumène -, et un enfant encore à la mamelle, un garçon. Elle avait environ vingt-deux ans. Elle a raconté elle-même toute l’histoire de son martyre. La voici, écrite de sa main et d’après ses impressions.

• Récit de Perpétue

Nous étions encore avec nos gardes (à Thuburbo), raconte-t-elle, que déjà mon père m’entreprenait. Dans sa tendresse, il s’évertuait à ébranler ma foi.

• Père, lui dis-je, vois-tu le vase qui traîne par terre, cette cruche ou bien cette autre chose ?

• Je le vois, dit mon père.

• Peux-tu lui donner un autre nom que celui qu’il porte ? lui dis-je.

• Non, répondit-il.

• Et bien, moi de même, je ne puis me donner un autre nom que mon vrai nom : je suis chrétienne.

Mon père fut exaspéré par cette parole, il se jeta sur moi, pour m’arracher les yeux. Il se contenta de me maltraiter et s’en alla, vaincu, avec les arguments du démon.

Pendant plusieurs jours, je ne revis plus mon père ; j’en remerciai Dieu ; cette absence me fut un soulagement. C’est précisément pendant ce court laps de temps que nous fûmes baptisés. L’Esprit Saint m’inspira de ne rien demander à l’eau sainte, sinon la force de résister dans ma chair.

Quelques jours plus tard, nous fûmes transférés dans la prison (de Carthage). J’en fus épouvantée : jamais je ne m’étais trouvée dans de pareilles ténèbres. Jour douloureux ! La chaleur qui se dégageait de la foule des détenus était suffocante ; les soldats cherchaient à nous extorquer de l’argent. Enfin, j’étais dévorée d’inquiétude à cause de mon enfant. Alors Tertius et Pomponius, les diacres dévoués qui prenaient soin de nous, obtinrent à prix d’argent qu’on nous autorisât à nous reposer, pendant quelques heures, dans un endroit plus agréable de la prison. À ce moment-là, tous les détenus quittaient le cachot et faisaient ce qu’ils voulaient. Moi j’allaitais mon enfant, qui mourait de faim. Comme j’étais inquiète de son sort, j’en parlais à ma mère. Puis je réconfortais mon frère, en lui recommandant mon fils. Je souffrais beaucoup de voir les miens souffrir à cause de moi. Durant de longs jours, ces inquiétudes me torturèrent. Je finis par obtenir que mon enfant demeurât avec moi en prison. Aussitôt il reprit des forces, et je fus délivrée de la peine et des soucis qu’il m’avait causés. D’un coup, la prison se changea pour moi en palais, et je m’y trouvai mieux que partout ailleurs.

Un jour mon frère me dit : « Madame ma soeur, te voilà maintenant en crédit auprès de Dieu. Tu es en mesure de lui demander de te manifester par une vision ce qui nous attend : le martyre ou la mise en liberté. » Moi, je savais bien que j’avais des entretiens avec le Seigneur dont j’avais reçu tant de bienfaits. Pleine de confiance, je le promis à mon frère, en ajoutant : « Demain, je te donnerai la réponse. » Je me suis mise en prière et voici ma vision.

Je vis une échelle d’airain d’une hauteur si étonnante qu’elle s’élevait jusqu’au ciel. Elle était si étroite que l’on pouvait y monter seulement un à un. Aux montants de l’échelle étaient fixés toutes sortes d’instruments de fer : des glaives, des lances, des crocs, des coutelas. Celui qui serait monté sans précaution, sans regarder en haut, en aurait été déchiqueté, laissant des lambeaux de sa chair accrochés à ces pointes. Au pied de l’échelle était couché un dragon d’une taille énorme ; il tendait des pièges à ceux qui voulaient monter et leur faisait peur pour les en empêcher.

Saturus monta le premier. Il s’était livré lui-même, après notre arrestation, à cause de nous. C’est lui qui nous avait convertis. Il était absent quand nous avions été arrêtés.

Parvenu au sommet de l’échelle, il se retourna et me dit : « Perpétue, je t’attends, mais prends garde que le dragon ne te morde. »

Je répondis : « Par le nom de Jésus-Christ, il ne me fera aucun mal. »

De dessous l’échelle, le dragon dressa lentement la tête, comme s’il avait peur de moi. En prenant mon élan, comme pour gravir le premier échelon, je lui écrasai la tête, d’un coup de talon.

Puis je montai. Je vis alors un immense jardin. Au milieu se tenait un homme chenu, de haute taille, habillé comme un berger. Il était occupé à traire des brebis. Autour de lui se tenaient des gens vêtus de blanc ; il y en avait des milliers. Il leva la tête, m’aperçut et me dit : « Tu es la bienvenue, mon enfant. » Il m’appela et me donna comme une bouchée du fromage qu’il préparait. Je la reçus, les mains jointes, je la mangeai, et tous les assistants disaient : Amen. Au bruit des voix, je me suis réveillée, savourant je ne sais quelle douceur.

Je rapportai aussitôt cette vision à mon frère ; et nous comprîmes que c’était le martyre qui nous attendait. Dès lors, nous n’eûmes plus aucun espoir dans les choses d’ici-bas.

Quelques jours plus tard, le bruit couru que nous allions être interrogés. Mon père arriva en hâte de Thuburbo, brisé de douleur. Il monta près de moi pour m’ébranler.

« Aie pitié, ma fille, de mes cheveux blancs, me dit-il. Aie pitié de ton père, si je suis encore digne que tu m’appelles ton père. Je t’ai élevée de mes mains jusqu’à la fleur de l’âge ; je t’ai préférée à tous tes frères ; ne me livre pas à la risée des hommes. Songe à tes frères, songe à ta mère et à ta tante ; songe à ton enfant, qui ne pourra pas vivre sans toi. Reviens sur ta décision, ne ruine pas ta famille tout entière. Personne parmi nous ne pourra plus parler en homme libre, si tu es condamnée. »

Voilà ce que disait mon père par affection. Ce faisant, il me couvrait les mains de baisers, il se jetait à mes pieds ; dans ses larmes, il ne me disait plus « ma fille » mais « Madame ». Je souffrais de voir mon père en cet état : seul de toute ma famille, il ne se réjouirait pas de ma passion. Je le réconfortais en lui disant : « Il n’arrivera sur cette estrade du tribunal que ce que Dieu voudra. Sache bien que notre sort ne dépend pas de nous, mais de Dieu. » Alors il se retira, désolé.

Un autre jour, en plein repas, on nous entraîne soudain au tribunal. Nous arrivons au forum. La nouvelle se répand rapidement dans les quartiers voisins ; il y eut bientôt foule. Nous montons sur l’estrade. On interroge les autres, qui confessent leur foi. Mon tour arrive, quand brusquement apparaît mon père, portant mon fils dans les bras. Il me tire de ma place et me dit : « Aie donc pitié de l’enfant. » Le procurateur Hilarianus, qui remplaçait Minutius Timinianus, le proconsul défunt, et avait le droit de glaive, à son tour insista : « Prends en pitié les cheveux blancs de ton père, le tendre âge de ton enfant. Sacrifie pour le salut des empereurs. »

• Moi je réponds : « Je ne sacrifierai pas. »

• Hilarianus : « Es-tu chrétienne ? »

• Je lui réponds : « Je suis chrétienne. »

Mon père restait à mess côtés pour me fléchir. Hilarianus donna un ordre : on chassa mon père et on le frappa d’un coup de verge. Ce coup m’atteignit, comme si c’était moi qu’on eût frappée. Je souffrais de sa vieillesse et de sa souffrance.

Alors le juge prononça la sentence : nous étions tous condamnés aux bêtes. Et nous partîmes tout heureux vers la prison.

Comme mon enfant prenait encore le sein et restait habituellement avec moi en prison, j’envoyai sur-le-champ le diacre Pomponius à mon père pour réclamer l’enfant. Mais mon père refusa de le donner. Depuis ce jour mon fils ne demanda plus le sein et je ne fus plus incommodée par le lait. Ainsi cessèrent les inquiétudes au sujet de mon enfant et les douleurs de mes seins.

Peu de jours après nous étions tous en prière, quand soudain un nom m’échappa, celui de Dinocrate. Je fus stupéfaite de n’avoir jamais pensé à lui jusqu’alors et je fus toute triste en songeant à ses malheurs. Je compris que je pouvais maintenant prier pour lui et que c’était mon devoir. Et je me suis mise en oraison, adressant au Seigneur, pour lui, en gémissant, d’instantes prières.

La nuit suivante j’eus une vision. Je vis Dinocrate sortant d’un lieu ténébreux, où il y avait beaucoup de monde. Il avait très chaud et mourait de soif. Sa tenue était négligée, son teint pâle. Il portait sur son visage la plaie qu’il avait en mourant. Ce Dinocrate était mon frère selon la chair. Il avait sept ans quand il mourut misérablement d’un cancer au visage. Sa mort avait fait horreur à tous. C’était pour lui que j’avais prié. De lui à moi, maintenant qu’il était là, il y avait une grande distance : nous n’aurions pas pu nous rejoindre. À l’endroit où se tenait Dinocrate, il y avait une piscine pleine d’eau, avec une margelle plus haute que la taille de l’enfant. Dinocrate se haussait en vain pour boire ; je m’affligeais en voyant cette piscine pleine d’eau, dont la margelle était trop haute pour que l’enfant puisse boire.

Là-dessus, je me réveillai. Je comprenais que mon frère souffrait, mais j’étais convaincue que je pouvais le soulager dans ses souffrances. Je priai donc pour lui tous les jours, jusqu’au moment où nous fûmes transférés dans la prison militaire. Nous devions, en effet, combattre dans les jeux militaires, donnés pour l’anniversaire du César Géta. Je continuai à prier pour mon frère, jour et nuit, en demandant sa grâce dans les gémissements et les larmes.

Un jour que nous étions dans les fers, j’eus une nouvelle vision. Je revis l’endroit que j’avais vu la première fois. Dinocrate, cette fois, était guéri, bien habillé et joyeux. Au lieu de la plaie, une cicatrice. La margelle de la piscine était plus basse, elle arrivait à la ceinture de l’enfant et celui-ci puisait l’eau sans effort. Sur la margelle, il y avait une coupe d’or, pleine d’eau. Dinocrate s’en approcha et se mit à boire. Mais la coupe restait toujours pleine. Quand il fut désaltéré, il s’approcha de la piscine pour jouer avec l’eau, comme le font les enfants. Il s’amusait beaucoup. Là-dessus, je me réveillai ; je compris qu’on lui avait remis sa peine.

Peu de jours après, Pudens, un adjudant préposé à la garde de la prison, devint fort bienveillant à notre égard. Il comprenait que la force de Dieu était avec nous. Il laissait entrer beaucoup de visiteurs, ce qui nous permit de nous encourager mutuellement.

Cependant le jour des jeux approchait. Alors mon père vint me voir. Le chagrin le minait, il se mit à s’arracher la barbe, à se rouler par terre, à se prosterner sur la face. Il maudissait ses années, et trouvait des mots qui eussent ébranlé n’importe qui. Moi, je pleurais sur les infortunes de la vieillesse.

Aujourd’hui, veille de la date fixée pour notre combat, je viens d’avoir la vision suivante. Le diacre Pomponius était venu à la porte de la prison et frappait avec violence. Je sortis pour lui ouvrir. Il portait une tunique blanche, sans ceinture, ainsi que des chaussures gauloises à multiples cordons. Il me dit : « Perpétue, nous t’attendons, viens. » Il me prit la main et nous voilà engagés dans un sentier escarpé et sinueux. Nous arrivâmes, non sans peine, à l’amphithéâtre ; nous étions tout essoufflés. Il me conduisit au milieu de l’arène et me dit : « N’aie pas peur, je suis avec toi, je t’aiderai. » Et il s’en alla.

Je vis alors une grande foule, qui semblait frappée de stupeur. Je savais que j’étais condamnée aux fauves, aussi étais-je fort surprise qu’on n’en lançât pas contre moi. Alors s’avança contre moi un Égyptien repoussant. Avec ses suppôts, il s’apprêtait à me combattre. Au même moment de beaux jeunes gens se rangèrent à mes côtés. C’étaient mes aides et mes partisans. On me déshabilla et je devins un homme. Mes partisans se mirent à me frictionner avec de l’huile, comme cela se fait pour la lutte. Je voyais, en face, l’Égyptien se rouler dans le sable.

Alors s’avança un homme d’une taille extraordinaire ; il était si grand qu’il dépassait le faîte de l’amphithéâtre. Il portait une tunique flottante, couleur de pourpre sur la poitrine, entre deux bandes ; ses chaussures gauloises étaient ornées d’or et d’argent. Il tenait dans sa main une verge comme un chef de gladiateurs, et un rameau vert avec des pommes d’or. Il demanda le silence et dit : « Si l’Égyptien est vainqueur de cette femme, il la frappera du glaive ; si elle est victorieuse, elle recevra ce rameau. » Et il se retira.

Nous nous affrontons, nous échangeons des coups de poing. L’Égyptien essaie de me saisir les pieds, je lui martèle le visage à coups de talon. Soudain je suis soulevée en l’air, et je peux le frapper sans fouler le sol. Mais comme le résultat final se fait attendre, je joins les mains en entrelaçant les doigts, et je saisis la tête de l’Égyptien, il tombe par terre et, d’un coup de talon, je lui écrase la tête.

La foule m’acclame, mes partisans chantent victoire. Je m’approche du chef des combats et reçois le rameau. Il m’embrasse et me dit : « Ma fille, la paix soit avec toi. » Fière de mon triomphe, je me dirige vers la Porte des Vivants [1].

À ce moment, je me réveillai. Je compris que je combattrais, non pas contre les fauves, mais contre le Diable. Et j’étais sûre de la victoire. Voilà ce que j’ai relaté jusqu’à la veille des jeux. Si quelqu’un veut raconter le combat lui-même, qu’il le fasse !

• Récit de Saturus

Le bienheureux Saturus eut, lui aussi, une vision. La voici telle qu’il l’a racontée lui-même par écrit.

Notre martyre était accompli et nous avions quitté notre corps. Quatre anges nous emportèrent vers l’Orient, mais leurs mains ne nous touchaient pas. Nous montions, non pas couchés sur le dos et la face tournée vers le ciel, mais comme des voyageurs qui gravissent une pente douce. Quand nous eûmes passé les premières sphères du monde, nous vîmes une lumière éclatante. Je dis alors à Perpétue qui se tenait à mes côtés : « Voici ce que nous a promis le Seigneur ; nous y sommes parvenus. »

Toujours portés par les quatre anges, nous avons atteint une immense esplanade, qui ressemblait à un jardin, avec des lauriers-roses et toutes sortes de fleurs. Les arbres avaient la taille des cyprès et leurs feuilles chantaient sans cesse. Dans ce jardin se trouvaient quatre anges plus éblouissants que tous les autres. Quand ils nous aperçurent, ils nous accueillirent avec de grandes marques de déférence et dirent aux autres anges, avec admiration : « Les voici, les voici ! » Intimidés, les autres anges qui nous portaient nous déposèrent sur le sol.

Nous cheminons alors à travers un stade, par une large avenue, et nous rencontrons Jocundus, Saturninus et Artaxius qui avaient été brûlés vifs dans la même persécution. Quintus qui mourut dans la prison était également présent. Quand nous demandons des nouvelles des autres, les anges nous disent : « Venez d’abord, entrez, et allez saluer le Seigneur. »

Nous arrivons près d’un palais dont les murs semblent construits de lumière. Sur le seuil se tiennent quatre anges ; à notre entrée ils nous revêtent de robes blanches. Nous pénétrons et nous entendons un chœur qui redit sans cesse : « Saint, Saint, Saint ! » Dans la salle est assis un homme vêtu de blanc. Son visage est jeune et ses cheveux éclatants comme neige. On ne voit pas ses pieds. À ses côtés se tiennent quatre vieillards. Derrière eux, beaucoup d’autres vieillards, debout. Nous avançons émerveillés, et nous nous arrêtons devant le trône. Quatre anges nous soulèvent, et nous embrassons le Seigneur, qui nous caresse de la main. Puis les autres vieillards nous disent : « Debout ! » Nous obéissons et nous échangeons le baiser de paix. Enfin les vieillards nous disent : « Allez vous distraire ! »

Et je dis à Perpétue : « Tu possèdes ce que tu désires ! »

Elle me répond : « Oui, Dieu merci. J’étais gaie de mon vivant, je le serai davantage ici. »

En sortant du palais, nous trouvons devant la porte, à droite, l’évêque Optat, à gauche, le prêtre et docteur Aspasius. Ils semblent en désaccord et tristes. Ils se jettent à nos pieds, en disant : « Rétablissez la paix entre nous, vous êtes partis sur notre brouille. » Nous leur répondons : « N’es-tu pas notre père, et toi, un prêtre ? » Comment pouvez-vous vous jeter ainsi à nos pieds ?

Et tout émus, nous les embrassons. Perpétue se met à parler avec eux en grec, et nous les emmenons dans le jardin, sous un laurier-rose. Nous parlions avec eux, quand survinrent les anges : « Laissez les martyrs se reposer, dirent-ils. Si vous avez des difficultés entre vous, pardonnez-vous mutuellement. » Ce qui ne laissa pas de les troubler. Et s’adressant à Optat, ils ajoutèrent : « Corrige tes fidèles. Quand ils se réunissent autour de toi, on dirait qu’ils reviennent du cirque ; ils se disputent comme des factieux ! »

Et il nous sembla que les anges voulaient leur fermer la porte au nez. Nous reconnûmes beaucoup de frères, des martyrs comme nous. Tous, nous avions pour nourriture un parfum ineffable, qui nous rassasiait.

Alors, tout joyeux, je me réveillai.

• Récit du rédacteur anonyme

Voilà les visions les plus remarquables des bienheureux martyrs Saturus et Perpétue, telles qu’ils les ont rédigées eux-mêmes.

Quant à Secundus, Dieu, par une mort prématurée, l’avait rappelé à lui pendant qu’il était en prison. La grâce divine l’avait soustrait à la dent des fauves. Mais si son âme n’a pas connu le glaive, son corps du moins en avait senti la menace.

Félicité, elle aussi, obtint du Seigneur une grande grâce. Elle était enceinte de huit mois, au moment de son arrestation. À l’approche du jour des jeux, elle se désolait, à la pensée qu’on ajournerait son martyre, à cause de son état : la loi interdisant d’exécuter des femmes enceintes. Elle craignait aussi qu’elle n’eût à verser plus tard son sang pur et sans tache dans une fournée de criminels. Ses compagnons de martyre étaient profondément tristes à la pensée de laisser seule une si bonne compagne, une amie qui avec eux marchait vers une même espérance.

Aussi, trois jours avant les jeux, tous ensemble, dans une supplication commune, adressèrent au Seigneur leur prière. À peine avaient-ils terminé leur demande, que les douleurs saisirent Félicité. En raison des difficultés inhérentes à un accouchement au huitième mois, elle souffrait beaucoup et gémissait. Alors, un des geôliers lui dit : « Si déjà tu gémis ainsi maintenant, que feras-tu une fois livrée aux fauves, que tu as bravés en refusant de sacrifier ? » Félicité lui répondit : « Maintenant c’est moi qui souffre ce que je souffre. Mais, là-bas, un autre sera en moi qui souffrira en moi, parce que c’est pour lui que je souffrirai. » Félicité mit au monde une fille, qu’une chrétienne adopta comme son enfant.

L’Esprit Saint nous a permis - et sa permission fut un ordre - de consigner par écrit le récit du combat dans les jeux. Malgré notre indignité, nous complétons l’histoire d’un martyre si glorieux. Nous pensons ainsi exécuter le désir et même la mission que la très sainte Perpétue a daigné nous confier.

Rapportons d’abord un trait de sa fermeté et de sa grandeur d’âme. Le tribun traitait assez durement les détenus. Abusé par les avertissements de personnes sans cervelle, il redoutait que les prisonniers ne pussent s’échapper par des incantations magiques. Perpétue lui lança en pleine figure : « Pourquoi refuses-tu des adoucissements à de si nobles condamnés, qui doivent combattre pour l’anniversaire de César ? N’y va-t-il pas de ta réputation d’exhiber dans l’arène des prisonniers bien gras ? »

Le tribun, décontenancé, rougit. Il donna ordre de traiter les prisonniers plus humainement. Si bien que les frères de Perpétue et tous les autres visiteurs eurent la faculté d’entrer dans la prison et d’apporter leur réconfort. D’autant que le chef de la prison venait de se convertir.

La veille des jeux, eut lieu le dernier repas des condamnés, qu’on appelle « le repas libre ». Les martyrs, autant qu’ils le pouvaient, changèrent ce repas d’orgie en agapes. Ils parlaient à la foule, avec leur courage habituel, en les mettant en garde contre le jugement de Dieu. Ils proclamaient leur bonheur de donner leur vie et raillaient la curiosité des badauds. « La journée de demain ne vous suffit-elle pas, leur disait Saturus, pour contempler à votre aise ceux que vous détestez ? Aujourd’hui amis, demain ennemis ? Fixez bien nos traits, afin de nous reconnaître, au jour du jugement. » Tous les païens se retirèrent, confus ; beaucoup parmi eux se convertirent.

Le jour de la victoire se leva enfin. Les martyrs quittèrent la prison et s’acheminèrent vers l’amphithéâtre ; on eût dit qu’ils montaient au ciel. Leurs visages étaient radieux, ils étaient beaux. Ils étaient émus non de peur, mais de joie. Perpétue marchait derrière, d’un pas tranquille, comme une grande dame du Christ, comme la petite bien-aimée de Dieu. L’éclat de son regard forçait tous les spectateurs à baisser les yeux. Félicité la suivait ; elle était toute joyeuse de son heureuse délivrance qui lui permettait d’affronter les fauves ; elle était ravie d’aller du sang au sang, de l’accoucheuse au rétiaire, pour se purifier par un second baptême.

Quand ils furent arrivés à la porte de l’arène, on voulut les forcer à revêtir des costumes sacrilèges : pour les hommes celui des prêtres de Saturne, pour les femmes celui des prêtresses de Cérès. Mais Perpétue résista fermement jusqu’au bout ; elle refusa avec une invincible ténacité. « Si nous sommes venus ici volontairement, disait-elle, c’est pour défendre notre liberté. Si nous sacrifions notre vie, c’est pour n’avoir pas à faire pareille chose. Sur ce point nous avons passé un contrat avec vous. » L’injustice dut céder devant la justice. Le tribun consentit à les faire entrer avec leurs vêtements ordinaires.

Perpétue chantait ; déjà elle broyait la tête de l’Égyptien. Révocatus, Saturninus et Saturus menaçaient le peuple de la colère divine. Quand ils passèrent devant la loge d’Hilarianus, ils lui dirent par gestes et par signes : « Tu nous juges, mais Dieu te jugera ! » Le peuple, exaspéré, demanda qu’on les fît fouetter par les chasseurs rangés en file. Les martyrs s’en réjouirent ; ils pouvaient ainsi partager les souffrances du Seigneur.

Celui qui a dit : Demandez et vous recevrez accorda à chacun le genre de mort qu’il avait souhaité. Les jours précédents, quand ils en parlaient entre eux, Saturinus avait déclaré qu’il voulait être exposé à toutes les bêtes, pour remporter une couronne plus glorieuse. Or, dès l’ouverture du spectacle, Révocatus et lui furent attaqués par un léopard, puis, sur l’estrade, ils furent déchirés par un ours.

Saturus, lui, avait la plus grande horreur des ours. Il comptait bien être tué, d’un coup de crocs, par un léopard. Or, on lança d’abord sur lui un sanglier, mais le chasseur qui avait déchaîné la bête sur le martyr fut éventré par la bête et mourut peu de jours après les jeux. Saturus fut seulement traîné sur le sable. On l’attacha ensuite sur le pont de l’estrade pour être livré à un ours, mais l’ours refusa de quitter sa cage. Une seconde fois, Saturus fut ramené sans blessure.

Pour les jeunes femmes on avait réservé une vache furieuse. Le Diable avait inspiré aux bourreaux de se procurer cet animal inaccoutumé dans les jeux, comme pour mieux insulter leur sexe. On les enferma toutes nues dans des filets et on les produisit ainsi dans l’arène. Le public en frémit de honte, en voyant que l’une d’elles était toute frêle, et que l’autre relevait à peine de couches, et perdait le lait de ses seins. Les ayant fait revenir, on les revêtit de tuniques sans ceinture.

Perpétue, la première, fut lancée en l’air. Elle retomba sur les reins. Dès qu’elle put s’asseoir, elle s’aperçut que sa robe s’était déchirée sur le côté ; aussitôt elle la tira pour cacher ses jambes, plus attentive à la pudeur qu’à la douleur. Ensuite, elle chercha une épingle et rattacha ses cheveux, qui s’étaient dénoués ; car une martyre ne peut pas mourir les cheveux épars, pour ne pas avoir l’air d’être en deuil, le jour de sa gloire. Puis elle se releva et aperçut Félicité qui semblait brisée ; elle s’approcha d’elle, lui tendit la main et l’aida à se relever. En les voyant toutes deux debout, la cruauté inhumaine de la foule fut vaincue : on les fit sortir par la porte des Vivants.

Là, Perpétue fut accueillie par un catéchumène, appelé Rusticus, qui lui était fort attaché. Elle sembla se réveiller d’un profond sommeil, tant avait duré l’extase de l’Esprit. Elle regarda autour d’elle et tous les assistants furent stupéfaits, quand elle demanda : « Quand serons-nous donc exposées à cette vache ? » Comme on lui disait que la chose avait déjà eu lieu, elle ne voulut pas le croire et ne se rendit à l’évidence qu’en voyant sur sa robe et son corps les traces du supplice. Ensuite, elle appela son frère et le catéchumène. Elle leur dit : « Demeurez fermes dans la foi. Aimez-vous les uns les autres. Que nos souffrances ne soient pas pour vous un sujet de scandale. »

Pendant ce temps, Saturus encourageait le soldat Pudens à une autre porte : « En fin de compte, lui disait-il, comme je l’espérais et le prédisais, je n’ai été touché jusqu’ici par aucune bête. Crois maintenant de toute ton âme. Le moment est venu où je vais m’avancer dans l’arène ; d’un seul coup de dent, un léopard va me blesser à mort. » C’était presque la fin du spectacle ; on lâcha contre Saturus un léopard, qui, d’un seul coup de crocs, le baigna dans son sang. La foule lui cria, comme pour témoigner d’un second baptême : « Le voilà bien lavé, le voilà sauvé ! » Assurément, il était bien sauvé, celui qui était ainsi lavé dans son sang.

Saturus dit alors au soldat Pudens : « Adieu. Souviens-toi de ma foi. Que ceci ne t’ébranle pas, mais te fortifie ! » En même temps, il lui demanda l’anneau qu’il portait au doigt, il le trempa dans le sang de sa blessure et le lui rendit comme pour lui laisser en héritage un souvenir et un gage de son martyre. Puis il s’évanouit.

On l’étendit à terre pour l’égorger avec les autres dans la salle du spoliaire. Mais le peuple demanda qu’on ramenât les blessés au milieu de l’arène, pour savourer des yeux le spectacle du glaive pénétrant dans les corps vivants et rendre ainsi les regards complices de l’homicide. Les martyrs se levèrent d’eux-mêmes et se portèrent où le désirait la foule. Ils se donnèrent d’abord le baiser de paix, pour consommer le martyre selon le rite de la foi. Tous demeurèrent immobiles et reçurent en silence le coup mortel.

Saturus, qui dans la vision montait le premier, fut le premier à rendre l’âme, car il devait attendre Perpétue. Perpétue eut le temps de savourer la douleur : frappée entre les côtes, elle poussa un grand cri ; puis elle saisit elle-même la main tremblante du gladiateur novice et rédigea le glaive sur sa gorge. Sans doute une telle femme ne pouvait mourir autrement que par son propre gré, tant le démon la redoutait.

Ô très vaillants et bienheureux martyrs ! Vous avez été choisis et élus pour la gloire de notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Celui qui le magnifie, l’honore et l’adore, doit lire ces nouveaux exemples pour l’édification de l’Église, parce qu’ils ne sont pas moins beaux que ceux d’autrefois. Ils rendent témoignage que l’unique et même Esprit agit toujours, ainsi que le Dieu tout-puissant et son Fils Jésus-Christ, notre Seigneur, à qui appartiennent la gloire et la puissance souveraine dans les siècles des siècles. Amen.

Sources :

BRUNO CHENU ET ALII, Le livre des martyrs chrétiens, Centurion, Paris 1988, p. 68-81.

[1] Une porte de la ville de Carthage.

SOURCE : http://www.patristique.org/Actes-des-martyres-de-Perpetue-et-Felicite.html

Saint Felicity of Carthage

Maestranze ravennati, Santa Perpetua e santa Felicita (fine V - inizio VI secolo), mosaico; Ravenna, Basilica Sant'Apollinare Nuovo.

Also known as

Felicitas

Memorial

7 March

Profile

Lay-woman. Convert. Maid, friend, and fellow convert of Saint Perpetua. Martyred with her. In centuries past their story was so popular that Saint Augustine of Hippo warned against giving it the weight of Scripture.

Died

mauled by wild beasts and beheaded 7 March 203 at Carthage, North Africa

pregnant woman holding a cross

woman with a sword by her

woman with a bull or ox in an amphitheater

Additional Information

Acts of the Early Martyrs, by Father James A M Fastré, S.J.

An Old English Martyrology, by George Herzfeld

Catholic Encyclopedia

Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler

New Catholic Dictionary

Passion of Saints Felicity and Felicitas, by Tertullian

Saints of the Canon, by Monsignor John T McMahon

Saints of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein

Short Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly

books

Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

other sites in english

Christian Biographies, by James Keifer

Christian Iconography

Franciscan Media

Independent Catholic News

John Dillon

R C Spirituality

Saints Stories for All Ages

uCatholic

Walther’s Saints of the Week

images

Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas

audio

video

YouTube PlayList

webseiten auf deutsch

Abbé Christian-Philippe Chanut

sitios en español

Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición

Mercaba

sites en français

fonti in italiano

Cathopedia

Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition

Conference of the Polish Episcopate

websites in nederlandse

Heiligen 3s

nettsteder i norsk

Den katolske kirke

strony w jezyku polskim

spletne strani v slovenšcini

Svetniki

Readings

The day of the martyrs‘ victory dawned. They marched from their cells into the amphitheater, as if into heaven, with cheerful looks and graceful bearing. If they trembled it was for joy and not for fear. Felicity was the first to be thrown down, and she fell prostrate. She got up and, seeing that Felicity was prostrate, went over and reached out her hand to her and lifted her up. Both stood up together. Rousing herself as if from sleep (so deeply had she been in spiritual ecstasy), she began to look around. To everyone’s amazement she said, “When are we going to be led to the beasts?” When she heard that it had already happened she did not at first believe it until she saw the marks of violence on her body and her clothing. The people, however, had demanded that the martyrs be led to the middle of the amphitheater. They wanted to see the sword thrust into the bodies of the victims, so that their eyes might share in the slaughter. Without being asked they went where the people wanted them to go; but first they kissed one another, to complete their witness with the customary kiss of peace. Bravest and happiest martyrs! You were called and chosen for the glory and our Lord Jesus Christ. – from a story of the death of the martyrs at Carthage

MLA Citation

“Saint Felicity of Carthage“. CatholicSaints.Info. 16 May 2024. Web. 6 March 2025. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-felicity-of-carthage/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-felicity-of-carthage/

Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Catalonia, Spain

Saint Perpetua and Saint Agnes, St Hilary's, Wallasey,

Saint Perpetua

Also known as

Vibia Perpetua

Vivia Perpetua

Memorial

7 March

Profile

Lay-woman born to a noble pagan family. Convert to Christianity. Wife and mother. Martyred with her maid, friend, and fellow convert Saint Felicitas. In centuries past, their story was so popular that Saint Augustine of Hippo warned against giving it the weight of Scripture.

Died

mauled by wild beasts and beheaded 7 March 203 at Carthage, North Africa

Carthage, Tunisia

Representation

cow

woman with a sword beside her

woman with a bull, ox, leopard or lion in an amphitheater

Additional Information

Acts of the Early Martyrs, by Father James A M Fastré, S.J.

An Old English Martyrology, by George Herzfeld

Catholic Encyclopedia

Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler

New Catholic Dictionary

Passion of Saints Felicity and Felicitas, by Tertullian

Saints of the Canon, by Monsignor John T McMahon

Saints of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein

books

Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

Perpetua’s Passion: The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman, by Joyce E. Salisbury

other sites in english

Christian Biographies, by James Keifer

Christian Iconography

Facebook

Franciscan Media

Independent Catholic News

John Dillon

R C Spirituality

Saints Stories for All Ages

uCatholic

Walther’s Saints of the Week

images

Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas

Wikimedia Commons

audio

video

YouTube PlayList

webseiten auf deutsch

Abbé Christian-Philippe Chanut

sitios en español

Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición

Mercaba

sites en français

fonti in italiano

Cathopedia

Martirologio Romano, 2005 edition

Conference of the Polish Episcopate

websites in nederlandse

Heiligen 3s

nettsteder i norsk

Den katolske kirke

strony w jezyku polskim

spletne strani v slovenšcini

Svetniki

Readings

The day of the martyrs‘ victory dawned. They marched from their cells into the amphitheater, as if into heaven, with cheerful looks and graceful bearing. If they trembled it was for joy and not for fear. Perpetua was the first to be thrown down, and she fell prostrate. She got up and, seeing that Felicity was prostrate, went over and reached out her hand to her and lifted her up. Both stood up together. Rousing herself as if from sleep (so deeply had she been in spiritual ecstasy), she began to look around. To everyone’s amazement she said, “When are we going to be led to the beasts?” When she heard that it had already happened she did not at first believe it until she saw the marks of violence on her body and her clothing. The people, however, had demanded that the martyrs be led to the middle of the amphitheater. They wanted to see the sword thrust into the bodies of the victims, so that their eyes might share in the slaughter. Without being asked they went where the people wanted them to go; but first they kissed one another, to complete their witness with the customary kiss of peace. Bravest and happiest martyrs! You were called and chosen for the glory and our Lord Jesus Christ. – from a story of the death of the martyrs at Carthage

MLA Citation

“Saint Perpetua“. CatholicSaints.Info. 16 May 2024. Web. 6 March 2025. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-perpetua/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-perpetua/

Sts. Felicitas and Perpetua

Martyrs, suffered at Carthage, 7 March 203, together with three companions, Revocatus, Saturus, andSaturninus. The details of the martyrdom of these five confessors in the North African Church have reached us through a genuine, contemporary description, one of the most affecting accounts of the glorious warfare of Christian martyrdom in ancient times. By a rescript of Septimus Severus (193-211) all imperial subjects were forbidden under severe penalties to become Christians. In consequence of this decree, five catechumens atCarthage were seized and cast into prison, viz. Vibia Perpetua, a young married lady of noble birth; the slave Felicitas, and her fellow-slave Revocatus, also Saturninus and Secundulus. Soon one Saturus, who deliberately declared himself a Christian before the judge, was also incarcerated. Perpetua's father was a pagan; her mother, however, and two brothers were Christians, one being still a catechumen; a third brother, the child Dinocrates, had died a pagan.

After their arrest, and before they were led away to prison, the five catechumens were baptized. The sufferings of the prison life, the attempts of Perpetua's father to induce her to apostatize, the vicissitudes of the martyrs before their execution, the visions of Saturus and Perpetua in their dungeons, were all faithfully committed to writing by the last two. Shortly after the death of the martyrs a zealous Christian added to this document an account of their execution. The darkness of their prison and the oppressive atmosphere seemed frightful toPerpetua, whose terror was increased by anxiety for her young child. Two deacons succeeded, by sufficientlybribing the jailer, in gaining admittance to the imprisoned Christians and alleviated somewhat their sufferings. Perpetua's mother also, and her brother, yet a catechumen, visited them. Her mother brought in her arms toPerpetua her little son, whom she was permitted to nurse and retain in prison with her. A vision, in which she saw herself ascending a ladder leading to green meadows, where a flock of sheep was browsing, assured her of her approaching martyrdom.

A few days later Perpetua's father, hearing a rumour that the trial of the imprisoned Christians would soon take place, again visited their dungeon and besought her by everything dear to her not to put this disgrace on her name; but Perpetua remained steadfast to her Faith. The next day the trial of the six confessors took place, before the Procurator Hilarianus. All six resolutely confessed their Christian Faith. Perpetua's father, carrying her child in his arms, approached her again and attempted, for the last time, to induce her to apostatize; the procurator also remonstrated with her but in vain. She refused to sacrifice to the gods for the safety of the emperor. The procurator thereupon had the father removed by force, on which occasion he was struck with a whip. The Christians were then condemned to be torn to pieces by wild beasts, for which they gave thanks to God. In a vision Perpetua saw her brother Dinocrates, who had did at the early age of seven, at first seeming to be sorrowful and in pain, but shortly there after happy and healthy. Another apparition, in which she saw herself fighting with a savage Ethiopian, whom she conquered, made it clear to her that she would not have to do battle with wild beasts but with the Devil. Saturus, who also wrote down his visions, saw himself and Perpetua transported by four angels, towards the East to a beautiful garden, where they met four other North African Christians who had suffered martyrdom during the same persecution, viz. Jocundus, Saturninus, Artaius, and Quintus. He also saw in this vision Bishop Optatus of Carthage and the priestAspasius, who prayed the martyrs to arrange a reconciliation between them. In the meanwhile the birthday festival of the Emperor Geta approached, on which occasion the condemned Christians were to fight with wildbeasts in the military games; they were therefore transferred to the prison in the camp. The jailer Pudens had learnt to respect the confessors, and he permitted other Christians to visit them. Perpetua's father was also admitted and made another fruitless attempt to pervert her.

Secundulus, one of the confessors, died in prison. Felicitas, who at the time of her incarceration was with child (in the eighth month), was apprehensive that she would not be permitted to suffer martyrdom at the same time as the others, since the law forbade the execution of pregnant women. Happily, two days before the games she gave birth to a daughter, who was adopted by a Christian woman. On 7 March, the five confessorswere led into the amphitheatre. At the demand of the pagan mob they were first scourged; then a boar, a bear, and a leopard, were set at the men, and a wild cow at the women. Wounded by the wild animals, they gave each other the kiss of peace and were then put to the sword. Their bodies were interred at Carthage. Their feast day was solemnly commemorated even outside Africa. Thus under 7 March the names of Felicitasand Perpetua are entered in the Philocalian calendar, i.e. the calendar of martyrs venerated publicly in the fourth century at Rome. A magnificent basilica was afterwards erected over their tomb, the Basilica Majorum; that the tomb was indeed in this basilica has lately been proved by Pere Delattre, who discovered there an ancient inscription bearing the names of the martyrs.

The feast of these saints is still celebrated on 7 March. The Latin description of their martyrdom was discovered by Holstenius and published by Poussines. Chapters iii-x contain the narrative and the visions of Perpetua; chapters xi-ciii the vision of Saturus; chapters i, ii and xiv-xxi were written by an eyewitness soon after the death of the martyrs. In 1890 Rendel Harris discovered a similar narrative written in Greek, which he published in collaboration with Seth K. Gifford (London, 1890). Several historians maintain that this Greek text is the original, others that both the Greek and the Latin texts are contemporary; but there is no doubt that theLatin text is the original and that the Greek is merely a translation. That Tertullian is the author of these Actsis an unproved assertion. The statement that these martyrs were all or in part Montanists also lacks proof; at least there is no intimations of it in the Acts.

Sources

HOLSTENIUS, Passio SS. MM. Perpetuae et Felicitatis, ed. POSSINUS (Rome, 1663); RUINART, Acta sincera martyrum (Ratisbon, 1859), 137 sqq.; Acta SS., March, I, 633-38; HARRIS and GIFFORD, The Acts of Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas (London, 1890); ROBINSON, The Passion of S. Perpetua in Texts and Studies, I (Cambridge, 1891),2; FRANCHI DE'CAVALIERI, La Passio SS. Perpetuæ et Felicitatis in Röm. Quartalschr., supplement V (Rome, 1896); Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina, ed. BOLLANDISTS, II, 964; Analecta Bollandiana (1892), 100-02; 369-72; ORSI, Dissertatio apologetica pro SS. Perpetuae, Felicitatis et sociorum martyrum orthodoxiâ (Florence, 1728); PILLET, Les martyrs d'Afrique, Histoire de Ste Perpetua et de ses compagnons (Paris, 1885); AUBÉ, Les actes des SS. Felicite, Perpétue et de leurs compagnons in Les chrétiens dans l'Empire Romain (Paris, 1881), 509-25; NEUMANN, Der ramische Staat und die allgemeine Kirche, I (Leipzig, 1890), 170-76, 299-300; ALLARD, Histoire des persecutions, II (Paris, 1886), 96 sqq.; MONCEAUX, Histoire littéraire de l'Afrique chrétienne, I (Paris, 1901), 7 0-96; DELATTRE, La Basilica Maiorum, tombeau des SS. Perpetue et Félicité in Comples-rendus de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1907), 516-31.

Kirsch, Johann Peter. "Sts. Felicitas and Perpetua." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 6 Mar. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06029a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett. Dedicated to JoAnn Smull.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06029a.htm

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity

Facts

Feastday: March 7

Patron: of mothers, expectant mothers, ranchers and butchers

Death: 203

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity were Christian martyrs who lived during the early persecution of the Church in Africa by the Emperor Severus.

With details concerning the lives of many early martyrs unclear and often based on legend, we are fortunate to have the actual record of the courage of Perpetua and Felicity from the hand of Perpetua herself, her teacher Saturus, and others who knew them. This account, known as "The Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Felicitas, and their Companions," was so popular in the early centuries that it was read during liturgies.

In the year 203, Vivia Perpetua, a well-educated noblewoman, made the decision to follow the path of her mother and become a Christian, although she knew it could mean her death during the persecutions ordered by the Emperor Severus. Her surviving brother (another brother had died when he was seven) followed her leadership and became a catechumen as well, meaning he would receive instruction from a Catechist in the Catholic Christian faith and be prepared for Baptism.

Her pagan father was frantic with worry and tried to talk her out of her decision. At 22-years-old, the well-educated, high-spirited woman had every reason to want to live -- including a baby son whom she was still nursing. We know she was married, but since her husband is never mentioned, many historians assume she was already a widow.

Perpetua's answer was simple and clear. Pointing to a water jug, she asked her father, "See that pot lying there? Can you call it by any other name than what it is?"

Her father answered, "Of course not." Perpetua responded, "Neither can I call myself by any other name than what I am -- a Christian."

This answer upset her father and he attacked her. Perpetua reports that after that incident she was glad to be separated from him for a few days -- even though that separation was the result of her arrest and imprisonment.

Perpetua was arrested with four other catechumens, including two slaves, Felicity and Revocatus, and Saturninus and Secundulus. Their instructor in the faith, Saturus, chose to share their punishment and was also imprisoned.

Perpetua was baptized before taken to prison. She was known for her gift of "the Lord's speech" and receiving messages from God. She tells us that at the time of her baptism she was told to pray for nothing but endurance in the face of her trials.

The prison was so crowded with people that the heat was suffocating. There was no light anywhere and Perpetua "had never known such darkness."

The soldiers who arrested and guarded them pushed and shoved them without any concern. Perpetua had no trouble admitting she was very afraid, but during all this horror, her most excruciating pain came from being separated from her baby.

The young slave, Felicity was even worse off, for Felicity suffered the stifling heat, overcrowding, and rough handling while being eight months pregnant.

Two deacons who ministered to the prisoners paid the guards to place the martyrs in a better part of the prison. There, her mother and brother were able to visit Perpetua and bring her baby to her.

When she received permission for her baby to stay with her she recalled, "my prison suddenly became a palace for me." Once more her father came to her, begging her to give in, kissing her hands, and throwing himself at her feet. She told him, "We lie not in our own power but in the power of God."

When she and the others were taken to be examined and sentenced, her father followed, pleading with her and the judge. The judge, out of pity, also tried to get Perpetua to change her mind, but when she stood fast, she was sentenced with the others to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena.

Perpetua recanted how her brother spoke to her, "Lady sister, you are now greatly honored, so greatly that you may well pray for a vision to show you whether suffering or release is in store for you." Perpetua, who spoke to the Lord often, told her brother she would tell him what happened the next day.

While she prayed, Perpetua was shown a golden ladder of the highest length, reaching up to heaven. On the sides of the ladder were swords, lances, hooks and daggers so that if anyone did not climb looking up on Heaven, they would be severely injured. At the bottom of the ladder laid a large dragon to try to scare those journeying up away from Heaven.

Perpetua first saw Saturus go up. After he reached the top of the ladder he said, "Perpetua, I wait for you, but take care that the dragon does not bite you." To which she replied, "In the name of Jesus Christ, he will not hurt me," and the dragon put his down his head.

Perpetua traveled up the ladder and saw a beautiful vast garden with a tall man with white hair dressed like a shepherd and milking sheep. 'Thou art well come, my child," he said to Perpetua, giving her some of the curds from the milk. She ate and all those around her said, "Amen."

Perpetua woke from her dream with a sweet taste still in her mouth. At once, she told her brother what happened and together, they understood they must suffer.

Meanwhile, Felicity was also in torment. It was against the law for pregnant women to be executed. To kill a child in the womb was shedding innocent and sacred blood. Felicity was afraid that she would not give birth before the day set for their martyrdom and her companions would go on their journey without her. Her friends also didn't want to leave so "good a comrade" behind.

Two days before the execution, Felicity went into a painful labor. The guards made fun of her, insulting her by saying, "If you think you suffer now, how will stand it when you face the wild beasts?" Felicity answered them calmly, "Now I'm the one who is suffering, but in the arena, another will be in me suffering for me because I will be suffering for him."

She gave birth to a healthy girl who was adopted and raised by one of the Christian women of Carthage.

The officers of the prison began to recognize the power of the Christians and the strength and leadership of Perpetua. In some cases, this helped the Christians: the warden let them have visitors -- and later became a believer. But in other cases, it caused superstitious terror, as when one officer refused to let them get cleaned up on the day they were going to die for fear they'd try some sort of spell.

Perpetua immediately spoke up, "We're supposed to die in honor of Ceasar's birthday. Wouldn't it look better for you if we looked better?" The officer blushed with shame at her reproach and started to treat them better.

There was a feast the day before the games, so that the crowd could see the martyrs and make fun of them. But the martyrs turned this all around by laughing at the crowd for not being Christians and exhorting them to follow their example.

The four new Christians and their teacher went to the arena (the fifth, Secundulus, had died in prison) with joy and calm. Perpetua in usual high spirits met the eyes of everyone along the way. We are told she walked with "shining steps as the true wife of Christ, the darling of God."

When those at the arena tried to force Perpetua and the rest to dress in robes dedicated to their gods, Perpetua challenged her executioners. "We came to die out of our own free will so we wouldn't lose our freedom to worship our God. We gave you our lives so that we wouldn't have to worship your gods." She and the others were allowed to keep their clothes.

The men were attacked by bears, leopards, and wild boars. The women were stripped to face a rabid heifer. The two were thrown out and attacked, but the crowd cried out they had had enough. The women were removed and clothed again. Perpetua and Felicity were thrown back into the arena to face the gladiators.

Perpetua called out to her brother and other Christians, "Stand fast in the faith, and love one another. Do not let our sufferings be a stumbling block to you."

Perpetua and Felicity stood side by side and were killed by sword at Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are the patron saints of mothers, expectant mothers, ranchers and butchers. Their feast day is celebrated on March 7.

In Their Footsteps:

Perpetua said that she couldn't call herself any other name but Christian. Write down a list of names and designations that people could call you. Is Christian high on that list? How can you help make your name as Christian be more important? Live today as if that was the only name you could be called by.

Prayer:

Saints Perpetua and Felicity, watch over all mothers and children who are separated from each other because of war or persecution. Show a special care to mothers who are imprisoned and guide them to follow your example of faith and courage. Amen

SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=48

Sts. Felicitas and Perpetua

In the year 203, St. Perpetua made the decision to become a Christian, although she knew it could mean her death during Septimus’ persecution. Her brother followed her leadership and became a catechumen as well.

Her father was frantic with worry and tried to talk her out of her decision. We can easily understand his concern. At 22 years old, this well-educated, high-spirited woman had every reason to want to live — including a baby son who was still nursing. We know she was married, but since her husband is never mentioned, many historians assume she was a widow. Perpetua’s answer was simple and clear. Pointing to a water jug, she asked her father, “See that pot lying there? Can you call it by any other name than what it is?” Her father answered, “Of course not.” Perpetua responded, “Neither can I call myself by any other name than what I am — a Christian.”

This answer so upset her father that he attacked her. Perpetua reports that after that incident she was glad to be separated from him for a few days — even though that separation was the result of her arrest and imprisonment. Perpetua was arrested with four other catechumens including two slaves Felicity and Revocatus, and Saturninus and Secundulus. Their catechist, Saturus, had already been imprisoned before them.

She was baptized before taken to prison. Perpetua was known for her gift of “the Lord’s speech” and receiving messages from God. She tells us that at the time of her baptism she was told to pray for nothing but endurance in the face of her trials. The prison was so crowded with people that the heat was suffocating. There was no light anywhere and Perpetua “had never known such darkness.” The soldiers who arrested and guarded them pushed and shoved them without any concern. Perpetua had no trouble admitting she was very afraid, but in the midst of all this horror her most excruciating pain came from being separated from her baby.

The young slave, Felicity was even worse off for Felicity suffered the stifling heat, overcrowding, and rough handling while being eight months pregnant.

Two deacons who ministered to the prisoners paid the guards so that the martyrs would be put in a better part of the prison. There her mother and brother were able to visit Perpetua and bring her baby to her. When she received permission for her baby to stay with her “my prison suddenly became a palace for me.” Once more her father came to her, begging her to give in, kissing her hands, and throwing himself at her feet. She told him, “We lie not in our own power but in the power of God.”

When she and the others were taken to be examined and sentenced, her father followed, pleading with her and the judge. The judge, out of pity, also tried to get Perpetua to change her mind, but when she stood fast, she was sentenced with the others to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. Her father was so furious that he refused to send her baby back to Perpetua. Perpetua considered it a miracle that her breasts did not become inflamed from lack of nursing.

While praying in prison, she suddenly felt “gifted with the Lord’s speech” and called out the name of her brother Dinocrates who had died at seven of gangrene of the face, a disease so disfiguring that those who should have comforted him left him alone. Now she saw a vision that he was even more alone, in a dark place, hot and thirsty — not in the eternal joy she hoped for him. She began to pray for Dinocrates and though she was put in stocks every day, her thoughts were not on her own suffering but on her prayers to help her brother. Finally she had another vision in which she saw Dinocrates healed and clean, drinking from a golden bowl that never emptied.

Meanwhile Felicity was also in torment. It was against the law for pregnant women to be executed. To kill a child in the womb was shedding innocent and sacred blood. Felicity was afraid that she would not give birth before the day set for their martyrdom and her companions would go on their journey without her. Her friends also didn’t want to leave so “good a comrade” behind.

Two days before the execution, Felicity went into a painful labor. The guards made fun of her, insulting her by saying, “If you think you suffer now, how will stand it when you face the wild beasts?” Felicity answered them calmly, “Now I’m the one who is suffering, but in the arena Another will be in me suffering for me because I will be suffering for him.” She gave birth to a healthy girl who was adopted and raised by one of the Christian women of Carthage.

The officers of the prison began to recognize the power of the Christians and the strength and leadership of Perpetua. In some cases this helped the Christians: the warden let them have visitors — and later became a believer. But in other cases it caused superstitious terror, as when one officer refused to let them get cleaned up on the day they were going to die for fear they’d try some sort of spell. Perpetua immediately spoke up, “We’re supposed to die in honor of Ceasar’s birthday. Wouldn’t it look better for you if we looked better?” The officer blushed with shame at her reproach and started to treat them better.

There was a feast the day before the games so that the crowd could see the martyrs and make fun of them. But the martyrs turned this all around by laughing at the crowd for not being Christians and exhorting them to follow their example.

The four new Christians and their teacher went to the arena (the fifth, Secundulus, had died in prison) with joy and calm. Perpetua in usual high spirits met the eyes of everyone along the way. We are told she walked with “shining steps as the true wife of Christ, the darling of God.”

When those at the arena tried to force Perpetua and the rest to dress in robes dedicated to their gods, Perpetua challenged her executioners. “We came to die out of our own free will so we wouldn’t lose our freedom to worship our God. We gave you our lives so that we wouldn’t have to worship your gods.” She and the others were allowed to keep their clothes.

The men were attacked by bears, leopards, and wild boars. The women were stripped to face a rabid heifer. When the crowd, however, saw the two young women, one of whom had obviously just given birth, they were horrified and the women were removed and clothed again. Perpetua and Felicity were thrown back into the arena so roughly that they were bruised and hurt. Perpetua, though confused and distracted, still was thinking of others and went to help Felicity up. The two of them stood side by side as all five martyrs had their throats cut.

Perpetua’s last words were to her brother: “Stand fast in the faith and love one another.”

SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saints-perpetua-and-felicity/

Perpetua and Felicity MM (RM)

Died in Carthage, Tunisia, 203.

Sometimes we have the impression that Christians were persecuted always and everywhere prior to the Edict of Milan in 312; conversely, many do not know about persecutions that occurred in Europe after Christianity was the established religion. Neither was the case. Persecutions tended to be sporadic and localized. Today's martyrs died during a local persecution at Carthage in North Africa.

Why was popular sentiment so set against Christianity? For some good insights you might pick up the book The Christians as the Romans saw them by Robert L. Wilken (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984). Basically, Christians were seen as outsiders--they refused to belong to trade guilds, attend theatrical performances or the games, or enter private houses, the baths, nor markets because in each of these places the gods were honored and sacrifices made.

Christians were also believed to celebrate mysterious rites at night that included human sacrifice (we eat the body and drink the blood of Christ), while impiously refusing due sacrifice to the gods--a patriotic obligation of every Roman citizen. The gods of conquered peoples were incorporated into the life of Rome; why did these Christians stand aloof?

The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity with their four male companions is perhaps the most moving and impressive of the authentic narratives of the early martyrs. The document was written in part by Perpetua herself, in part by another of the martyrs, Saturus (her brother), and completed by an anonymous hand (believed to have been Tertullian) after the martyrdom. It is detailed and reads like a diary in the sections written by Perpetua. The story's fascination is so great that Saint Augustine had to forbid his priests from placing it on the same level as the Holy Scriptures.

In 202 AD in Carthage, Emperor Septimius Severus issued an edict that no one was to become a Christian. Vibia Perpetua was a 22- year-old catechumen with a small son at her breast. She may have been a widow for her husband is never mentioned. Her father was a Roman proconsul and a pagan, her mother a Christian, her brother a catechumen. Her son was taken away and she was imprisoned in a private home with other catechumens--Felicity (her slave), Revocatus (Felicity's husband and a slave), Secundulus, Saturninus. There they were all baptized, probably by their catechist, Saturus, who joined them of his own free will to strengthen them.

Later they were all transported to prison. Perpetua was given permission to keep her child with her in prison. She who had been so gently nurtured found prison conditions almost unbearable, yet she persisted in her faith. Conditions were so bad that Secundulus died in prison. The Bible speaks joyfully of songs in the nights, and Perpetua and her companions prayed and sang in their darkest hour to the glory of God.

Her brother asked her to pray to discern their fate; thus, she dreamed of a ladder beset with knives and with a dragon at its base. Saturninus climbed first, she followed, trampling on the head of the dragon. She stepped off the ladder into a pasture, where a Shepherd sat with His flock. He greeted her, "Welcome, child." and gave her "milk and cheese that He had milked."

Saturus writes that he saw another vision of the elders before the throne of God who told her: "Go and play." In the vision, Perpetua observed, "I was happy in the flesh. Now I am far happier."

Thrice she refused her father's plea to renounce her faith outwardly. When she was taken before the tribunal, her father took her baby, who thereafter, miraculously did not need his mother's milk and her breasts dried up.

She prayed for her brother Dinocrates, who died at age seven without having been baptized, and came to know he was in heaven. I believe that this passage attests to the antiquity of the belief in purgatory--that it was a common understanding. Remembering that Perpetua is a catechumen who had been raised in a pagan family helps to put the passage in perspective.

"7. A few days after, while we were all praying, suddenly in the midst of the prayer I uttered a word and named Dinocrates; and I was amazed because he had never come to my mind save then; and I sorrowed, remembering his fate [he had died at age seven]. And straightway I knew that I was worthy, and that I ought to ask for him. And I began to pray for him long, and to groan unto the Lord. Forthwith the same night, this was shown me.

"I beheld Dinocrates coming forth from a dark place, where there were many others also; being both hot and thirsty, his raiment foul, his color pale; and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother in the flesh, seven years old, who being diseased with ulcers of the face had come to a horrible death, so that his death was abominated of all men. For him therefore I had made my prayer; and between him and me was a great gulf, so that either might not go to the other. There was moreover, in the same place were Dinocrates was, a font full of water, having its edge higher than was the boy's stature; and Dinocrates stretched up as though to drink. I was sorry that the font had water in it, and yet for the height of the edge he might not drink.

"And I awoke, and I knew that my brother was in travail. Yet I was confident I should ease his travail; and I prayed for him every day till we passed over into the camp prison. (For it was in the camp games that we were to fight; and the time was the feast of Geta Caesar.) And I made supplication for him day and night with groans and tears, that he might be given me.

"8. On the day when we abode in the stocks, this was shown me.

"I saw that place which I had seen before, and Dinocrates clean of body, finely clothed, in comfort; and where the wound was before, I saw a scar; and the font I had seen before, the edge of it being drawn down to the boy's navel; and he drew water thence which flowed without ceasing. And on the edge was a golden cup full of water; and Dinocrates came up and began to drink therefrom; which cup failed not. And being satisfied he departed away from the water and began to play as children will, joyfully.

"And I awoke. Than I understood that he was translated from his pains" (translation by Walter Shewring).

Perpetua had another dream of fighting an Ethiopian before a celestial umpire in the amphitheater. This let her understand that the final battle would be one against evil.

Felicitas was due to give birth in another month, and it was forbidden to give a pregnant woman to the beasts, so she was anxious lest she not be allowed to die with the others. In birth pangs, she was taunted with the pains she would suffer when she would be thrown to the beasts and replied, "Now it is I who suffer. But there, Another will be within me, who will suffer for me, and I for Him." A Christian woman adopted her baby daughter, who was one month premature.

Their final meal together on the eve of the Emperor's birthday was celebrated as a "love-feast." The jailer Pudens was converted to Christ by this spiritual grace and grandeur. The next day they entered the amphitheater and freely gave their lives.

Perpetua, we are told, was radiant and high-spirited. She was young and glorious, and all who saw her were moved by her youth and beauty as without hesitation she stepped into the stadium, refusing to wear the vestments of the pagan temple. They were scourged in union with Christ's passion. Saturninus and Satyrus were lacerated by a leopard and a bear, but not killed.

The women were stripped, but reclothed because their tortured bodies offended the crowd, and given to a mad cow. Perpetua went first; after the ordeal, she fixed her hair beforehand, lest it be thought that she was grieving, then went to Felicitas and lifted her from the ground--not knowing that they had already withstood the test.

When next it was the turn of her brother and Rusticus, she begged them to stand firm. After all had been tortured, they were thrown together for the deathstroke. There they managed to exchange the Kiss of Peace. When the executioner came to Perpetua, he hesitated and his first blow failed. She herself guided the sword for a second, fatal blow. "Perhaps so great a woman, feared by the unclean spirit, could not have been slain unless she so willed it."

Their feast soon gained fame in the Christian Church and is recorded in the earliest Roman and Syriac calendars. They were buried in the Basilica Majorum in Carthage.

These details need to be combined with those found elsewhere for a more complete story (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill, Martindale, Sheed, White).

I highly recommend that anyone reading this far, find and read the original, well-authenticated account written by Saint Perpetua herself. It reads like a diary. A translation of the complete Passio can be found in Sheed's Saints are not sad, pp. 7-18; I've also found it other places.

In art, SS. Perpetua and Felicity are two maidens with a wild cow or ox in the amphitheater (Roeder).

SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0307.shtml

Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, Martyrs

from the Liturgical Year, 1870

The real Feast of these two illustrious heroines of the Faith is to-morrow, which is the anniversary of their martyrdom and triumph; but the memory of the Angel of the Schools, St. Thomas of Aquin, shines so brightly on the seventh of March, that it almost eclipses the two glorious stars of Africa. In consequence of this, the Holy See allows certain Churches to anticipate their Feast, and keep it today. We take advantage of this permission, and at once offer to the Christian reader the glorious spectacle, of which Carthage was the scene, in the year 203. Nothing could give us a clearer idea of that spirit of the Gospel, according to which we are now studying to conform our whole life. Here are two women, two mothers; God asks great sacrifices from them; he asks them to give him their lives, nay, more than their lives; and they obey with that simplicity and devotedness which made Abraham merit to be the Father of Believers.

Their two names, as St. Augustine observes, are a presage of what awaits them in heaven: a perpetual felicity. The example they set of Christian fortitude, is, of itself, a victory, which secures to the true Faith, a triumph in the land of Africa. St. Cyprian will soon follow them, with his bold and eloquent appeal to the African Christians, inspiring them to die for their Faith: but his words, grand as they are, are less touching than the few pages written by the hand of the brave Perpetua, who, though only twenty-two years of age, relates, with all the self-possession of an angel, the trials she had to go through for God; and when she had to hurry off, to the amphitheatre, she puts her pen into another's hand, bidding him go on where she leaves off, and write the rest of the battle. As we read these charming pages, we seem to be in the company of the Martyrs; the power of divine grace, which could produce such heroism amidst a people demoralised by paganism, appears so great that even we grow courageous; and the very fact that the instruments employed by God for the destruction of the pagan world, were frequently women, we cannot help saying with St. John Chrysostom: "I feel an indescribable pleasure in reading the Acts of the Martyrs; but when the Martyr is a woman, my enthusiasm is doubled. For the frailer the instrument, the greater is the grace, the brighter the trophy, the grander the victory; and this, not because of her weakness, but because the devil is conquered by her, by whom he once couquered us. He conquered by a woman, and now a woman conquers him. She that was once his weapon, is now his destroyer, brave and invincible. That first one sinned, and died; this one died that she might not sin. Eve was flushed by a lying promise, and broke the law of God; our heroine disdained to live, when her living was to depend on her breaking her faith to Him who was her dearest Lord. What excuse, after this, for men, if they be soft and cowards? Can they hope for pardon, when women fought the holy battle with such brave, and manly, and generous hearts?"

The Lessons appointed to be read on the Feast of our two Saints, give us the principal incidents of their Martyrdom. The passage from the account written by Perpetua herself, which is quoted in these Lessons, will make some of our readers long to read the whole of what she has left us. They will find it in our first volume of the Acts of the Martyrs.

During the reign of the Emperor Severus, several Catechumens were apprehended at Carthage, in Africa. Among these were Revocatus and his fellow servant Felicitas, Saturninus and Secundulus, and Vivia Perpetua, a lady by birth and education, who was married to a man of wealth. Perpetua was about twenty-two years of age, and was suckling an infant. She has left us the following particulars of her martyrdom. "As soon as our persecutors had apprehended us, my father came to me, and, out of his great love for me, he tried to make me change my resolution. I said to him: 'Father, I cannot consent to call myself other than what I am,--a Christian. At these words he rushed at me, threatening to tear out my eyes. But he only struck me, and then he left me, when he found that the arguments suggested to him by the devil, were of no avail. A few days after this, we were baptised; and the Holy Ghost inspired me to look on this baptism as a preparation for bodily suffering. A few more days elapsed, and we were sent to prison. I was terrified, for I was not accustomed to such darkness. The report soon spread that we were to be brought to trial. My father left the city, for he was heartbroken, and he came to me, hoping to shake my purpose. These were his words to me: 'My child, have pity on my old age. Have pity on thy father, if I deserve to be called Father. Think of thy brothers, think of thy mother, think of thy son, who cannot live when thou art gone. Give up this mad purpose, or thou wilt bring misery upon thy family.' Whilst saying this, which he did out of love for me, he threw himself at my feet, and wept bitterly, and said he besought this of me, not as his child, but as his lady. I was moved to tears to see my aged parent in this grief, for I knew that he was the only one of my family that would not rejoice at my being a martyr. I tried to console him, and said: 'I will do whatsoever God shall ordain. Thou knowest that we belong to God, and not to ourselves.' He then left me, and was very sad.

"On the following day, as we were taking our repast, they came upon us suddenly, and summoned us to trial. We reached the forum. We were made to mount a platform. My companions were questioned, and they confessed the faith. My turn came next, and I immediately saw my father approaching towards me, holding my infant son. He drew me from the platform, and besought me, saying: 'Have pity on thy babe!' Hilarian, too, the governor, said to me: 'Have pity on thy aged father, have pity on thy babe! Offer up sacrifice for the Emperors.' I answered him: 'I cannot; I am a Christian.' Whereupon, he sentences all of us to be devoured by the wild beasts; and we, full of joy, return to our prison. But as I had hitherto always had my child with me in prison, and fed him at my breast, I immediately send word to my father, beseeching him to let him come to me. He refused; and from that moment, neither the babe asked for the breast, nor did I suffer inconvenience; for God thus willed it."

All this is taken from the written account left by the blessed Perpetua, and it brings us to the day before she was put to death. As regards Felicitas, she was in the eighth month of her pregnancy, when she was apprehended. The day of the public shows was near at hand, and the fear that her martyrdom would be deferred on account of her being with child, made her very sad. Her fellow-martyrs, too, felt much for her, for they could not bear the thought of seeing so worthy a companion disappointed in the hope, she had in common with themselves, of so soon reaching heaven.

Uniting, therefore, in prayer, they with tears besought God in her behalf. It was the last day but two before the public shows. No sooner was their prayer ended, than Felicitas was seized with pain. One of the gaolers, who overheard her moaning, cried out: 'If this pain seem to thee so great, what wilt thou dowhen thou art being devoured by the wild beasts, which thou pretendedst to heed not when thou wast told to offer sacrifice.' She answered: 'What I am suffering now, it is indeed I that suffer; but there, there will be another in me, who will suffer for me, because I shall be suffering for Him.' She was delivered of a daughter, and one of our sisters adopted the infant as her own.

The day of their victory dawned. They left their prison for the amphitheatre, cheerful, and with faces beaming with joy, as though they were going to heaven. They were excited, but it was from delight, not from fear. The last in the group was Perpetua. Her placid look, her noble gait, betrayed the Christian matron. She passed through the crowd and saw no one, for her beautiful eyes were fixed upon the ground. By her side was Felicitas, rejoicing that her safe delivery enabled her to encounter the wild beasts. The devil had prepared a savage cow for them. They were put into a net. Felicitas was brought forward the first. She was tossed into the air, and fell upon her back. Observing that one side of her dress was torn, she adjusted it, heedless of her pain, because thoughtful for modesty. Having recovered from the fall, she put up her hair which was disheveled by the shock, for it was not seemly that a martyr should win her palm and have the appearance of one distracted by grief. This done, she stood up. Seeing Felicitas much bruised by her fall, she went to her, and giving her her hand, she raised her from the ground. Both were now ready for a fresh attack; but the people were moved to pity, and the martyrs were led to the gate called Sana-Vivaria. There Perpetua, like one that is roused from sleep, awoke from the deep ecstacy of her spirit. She looked around her, and said to the astonished multitude: 'When will the cow attack us? They told her that it had already attacked them. She could not believe it, until her wounds and torn dress reminded her of what had happened. Then beckoning to her brother, and to a catechumen named Kusticus, she thus spoke to them. 'Be staunch in the faith, and love one another, and be not shocked at our sufferings.'

God soon took Secundulus from this world, for he died whilst he was in the prison. Saturninus and Revocatus were exposed first to a leopard, and then to a bear. Saturus was exposed to a boar, and then to a bear, which would not come out of its den; thus was he twice left uninjured : but at the close of the games, he was thrown to a leopard, which bit him so severely, that he was all covered with blood, and as he was taken from the amphitheatre, the people jeered at him for this second baptism, and said: 'Saved, washed! Saved, washed!' He was then carried off, dying as he was, to the appointed place, there to be despatched by the sword, with the rest. But the people demanded that they should be led back to the middle of the amphitheatre, that their eyes might feast on the sight, and watch the sword as it pierced them.

The Martyrs hearing their request, cheerfully stood up, and marched to the place where the people would have them go; but first they embraced one another, that the sacrifice of their martyrdom might be consummated with the solemn kiss of peace. All of them, without so much as a movement or a moan, received the swordman's blow, save only Saturus, who died from his previous wounds, and Perpetua, who was permitted to feel more than the rest. Her executioner was a novice in his work, and could not thrust his sword through her ribs: she slightly moaned, then took his right hand, and pointing his sword towards her throat, told him that that was the place to strike. Perhaps it was that such a woman could not be otherwise slain than by her own consent, for the unclean spirit feared her.

Prayer :

Perpetua! Felicitas! Oh! glorious and prophetic names, which come like two bright stars of March, pouring out upon us your rays of light and life! You are heard in the songs of the Angels; and we poor sinners, as we echo them on earth, are told to love and hope. You remind us of that brave woman, who, as the Scripture says, kept up the battle begun by men: The valiant men ceased: who will follow them? A Mother in Israel (Judges, v. 7). Glory be to that Almighty power, which loves to choose the weak things of the world that it may confound the strong (I. Cor. i. 27)! Glory to the Church of Africa, the daughter of the Church of Rome; and glory to the Church of Carthage, which had not then heard the preachings of her Cyprian, and yet could produce two such noble hearts!

As to thee, Perpetua, thou art held in veneration by the whole Christian world. Thy name is mentioned by God's Priests in the Holy Mass, and thus thy memory is associated with the Sacrifice of the Man God, for love of whom thou didst lay down thy life. And those pages written by thine own hand, how they reveal to us the generous character of thy soul! how they comment those words of the Canticle: Love is strong as death (Cant. viii. 6)! When the hard trial came of resisting a father, who wished thee to lay down the palm of martyrdom,--how bravely didst thou not triumph over thy filial affection, in order to save that which is due to our Father who is in heaven! Nay, when the hardest test came,--when the babe that fed at thy breast was taken from thee in thy prison,--even then thy love was strong enough for the sacrifice, as was Abraham's, when he had to immolate his Isaac.

Thy fellow-martyrs deserve our admiration; they are so grand in their courage; but thou, dear Saint, surpassest them all. Thy love makes thee more than brave in thy sufferings, it makes thee forget them. "Where wast thou," we would ask thee in the words of St. Augustine, "where wast thou, that thou didst not feel the goading of that furious beast, asking when it was to be, as though it had not been? Where wast thou? What didst thou see, that made thee see not this? On what wast thou feasting, that made thee dead to sense? What was the love that absorbed, what was the sight that distracted, what was the chalice that inebriated thee? And yet the ties of flesh were still holding thee,the claims of death were still upon thee, the corruptible body was still weighing thee down (Sermon for the Feast of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas)!" But our Lord had prepared thee for the final struggle, by asking sacrifice at thy hands. This made thy life wholly spiritual, and gave thy soul to dwell, by love, with Him, who had asked thee for all and received it; and thus living in union with Jesus, thy spirit was all but a stranger to the body it animated.

It was impatient to be wholly with its Sovereign Good. Thy eager hand directs the sword that is to set thee free; and as the executioner severs the last tie that holds thee, how voluntary was thy sacrifice, how hearty thy welcome of death! Truly, thou wast the Valiant, the Strong Woman (Prov. xxxi. 10), that conqueredst the wicked serpent! Thy greatness of soul has merited for thee a high place among the heroines of our holy Faith, and for sixteen hundred years thou hast been honoured by the enthusiastic devotion and love of the servants of God.

And thou, too, Felicitas! receive the homage of our veneration, for thou wast found worthy to be a fellow-martyr with Perpetua. Though she was a rich matron of Carthage, and thou a servant, yet Baptism and Martyrdom made you companions and sisters. The Lady and the Slave embraced, for Martyrdom made you equal; and as the spectators saw you hand in hand together, they must have felt, that there was a power in the Religion they persecuted, which would put an end to Slavery. The power and grace of Jesus triumphed in thee, as it did in Perpetua; and thus was fulfilled thy sublime answer to the pagan, who dared to jeer thee,--that when the hour of trial came, it would not be thou that wouldst suffer, but Christ, who would suffer in thee. Heaven is now the reward of thy sacrifice; well didst thou merit it. And that babe, that was born in thy prison, what a happy child to have for its mother a Martyr in heaven! How wouldst thou not bless both it and the mother who adopted it! Oh! what fitness, in such a soul as thine, for the Kingdom of God (St. Luke, ix. 62)! Not once looking back, but ever bravely speeding onwards to him that called thee. Thy felicity is perpetual in heaven; thy glory on earth shall never cease.

And now, dear Saints, Perpetua and Felicitas, intercede for us during this season of grace. Go, with your palms in your hands, to the throne of God, and beseech Him to pour down His mercy upon us. It is true, the days of paganism are gone by; and there are no persecutors clamouring for our blood. You, and countless other Martyrs, have won victory for Faith; and that Faith is now ours; we are Christians. But there is a second paganism, which has taken deep root among us. It is the source of that corruption which now pervades every rank of society, and its own two sources are indifference, which chills the heart, and sensuality, which induces cowardice. Holy Martyrs! pray for us that we may profit by the example of your virtues, and that the thought of your heroic devotedness may urge us to be courageous in the sacrifices which God claims at our hands. Pray, too, for the Churches which are now being established on that very spot of Africa, which was the scene of your glorious martyrdom: bless them, and obtain for them, by your powerful intercession, firmness of faith and purity of morals. Amen

Saint Gerasimus

St. Gerasimus, Abbot and Sts. Felicitas and Perpetua, Martyrs

by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1877

On March 5th, in the year 475, the celebrated Abbot and hermit Gerasimus closed his earthly career. He was a native of Syria. His early years were devoted to the Divine service, for as a child he entered a monastery and passed many years in it, with the reputation of a Saint. Later, he repaired to a monastery on the banks of the Jordan, in the Holy Land. His virtue and sanctity induced the monks to choose him for their Abbot. Reluctantly he accepted the office, and discharged its duties to the spiritual benefit and satisfaction of his inferiors. He was a model of all virtues, and led the monks to perfection by example rather than by exhortation. In some respects he was admirable rather than imitable; for instance, during Lent he did not taste a morsel of food, his whole nourishment being the Blessed Eucharist. This was wonderful indeed.

He merited many special graces and favors by his holy life; and yet God, in His hidden designs, allowed Gerasimus to be led-astray by an Eutychian heretic, named Theodosius; for he embraced and tenaciously held a great error against the Faith. However, this was the result only of simplicity and inexperience. As soon as the holy Abbot Euthymius represented his error to him, he instantly submitted his judgment. He bewailed his sin long and bitterly, and humbly thanked Euthymius for bringing him back to the path of truth. From this moment the penitent Gerasimus redoubled his fervor in the service of God, striving to retrieve what he had neglected during his erroneous course. He continued this zealous mode of life until death transferred him to a better life.

The history of his life contains, as an undoubted fact, the following wonderful event: One day as, the Saint was walking along the banks of the Jordan, meditating on the Divine Mysteries, he was met by a lion, howling fearfully. The beast held up one of his paws, in which there was a long thorn, which caused the foot to swell and fester, and occasioned intense pain. When quite near the Abbot, the lion lifted his foot as if to show it to the holy man and to ask for relief. Gerasimus sat down, and tenderly taking hold of the injured limb, he extracted the thorn, cleansed the wound and bound a cloth around it, and bade the lion to depart in the name of God. The lion, however, would not leave his benefactor, but followed him like a dog. The Abbot considered this a proof of Divine Providence, in order to teach us gratitude to the Lord, our greatest benefactor. He therefore brought him to the monastery and supplied him daily with food. Later, a still more strange occurrence happened with regard to this same lion. The monastery possessed a beast of burden, which was accustomed to carry the water from the river to the monastery. Gerasimus had trained the lion to guard this animal while pasturing. One day a driver of camels was passing along, and noticing the ass, at a distance from the lion, secretly carried him away. When the Abbot saw the lion returning home alone, he thought the poor ass had been devoured by the lion. He therefore imposed upon him the task formerly performed by that animal, to which he patiently submitted. One day, when the thievish driver was leading some camels and other beasts of burden, laden with provisions, to Jerusalem, the lion espied his old companion, who had been stolen. He ran forward, and, seizing the bridle, led back the ass to the Abbot. His innocence being proved, he was released from the labor imposed on him. The lion was absent when St. Gerasimus died, and on his return sought his benefactor everywhere, but not finding him he howled piteously. The monks offered him his ordinary food, but he would not touch it, but continued searching and howling. At last one of the monks said to him: "Come, I will show you where our dear father lies buried." The lion followed, and on reaching the spot, the monk knelt down to pray for the dead. He said to the animal: "Look, here lies our holy Abbot, who fed you until now." The lion, as if he understood every word, sank down on the grave, and, howling, lowered his head to the ground and died.

The writer who related these occurrences heard them from the monks, and adds that God ordained these events to glorify his Saint and to instruct us. The lessons contained in them are obedience and gratitude to God for the many favors received from His bountiful hand; for if a brute showed such obedience and thankfulness for one favor received from a human being, what should not our conduct be? An irrational animal obeys man and is faithful to him; why should not man, endowed with reason, be faithful and obedient to an all-merciful God? A wild beast shows its gratitude for one small service. What is the reason that man does not return thanks for the numberless and immense benefits received from God? Is it not a shame that man should act more unreasonably than a brute?

Procession en l'honneur des Saintes-Martyres Perpétue et Félicité à Carthage le 7 mars 1901

I will now subjoin a short account of the holy martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas. They lived, during the reign of Septimus Severus and Antoninus, in Mauritania, a country of Africa. Both were married and remarkable for their holy lives. They were unexpectedly arrested and thrown into prison with four other Christians--Satirus, Saturninus, Revocatus, and Secundulus. St. Felicitas was soon to be a mother, whilst Perpetua was nursing an infant. They all prepared themselves by prayer for their approaching martyrdom, and besought the Lord for His powerful assistance. During the night, St. Perpetua beheld a golden ladder extending from the earth to the sky, but bristling with sharp knives and swords, so that it was almost impossible to mount it without injury. At the foot lay an enormous dragon, breathing fire, who obstructed the approach to the ladder. She also noticed that Satirus, her fellow-martyr, was safely mounting, though not without receiving some wounds, and when he had reached the summit was crying out, not to fear the dragon, but to advance boldly. She related her dream the next day, and all concluded that they would conquer heaven by martyrdom. This caused them great joy, and whilst thanking God, they incessantly begged of Him to assist them in their trials.

They were shortly afterwards brought before the judge, who commanded them to worship the idols or suffer the most cruel torments. They were not frightened, but showed themselves ready to undergo all for the love of Christ. As St. Felicitas was near her time, she was led back to prison, and her sentence was postponed until after her confinement. The judge employed promises and caresses, and even sent her grey-Headed father to St. Perpetua, in order to weaken her resolution, and bring her over to the service of the gods. The father did his utmost: falling at her feet, he conjured her to pity his grey hairs by obeying the imperial mandate. He took her babe, and holding it up before her, besought her to have mercy on this innocent being. She remained unshaken, and replied: "Dearest father, in everything else I owe you obedience, but in the present affair, I must obey God rather than you." When the judge saw that every effort was vain, he ordered Perpetua to be stripped and most cruelly scourged, and then to be cast again into a dungeon. The holy matron returned thanks to God for his support in this first trial, and begged for renewed constancy for the future tortures. The others also were arming, by prayer, for the storm, and asked the favor of not being separated from one another in their martyrdom. They petitioned the Lord to hasten the confinement of St. Felicitas, that she might belong to their band. Their prayers ,were heard, and St. Felicitas was safely delivered. During the throes of childbirth, the sufferings drew forth groans from her. On hearing them, the prison-keeper said: "If you cannot bear this pain, how will you be able to undergo the tortures of tomorrow?" She replied: "Today I am suffering, but tomorrow Christ will surfer in me and with me. Today nature struggles with natural pains, but tomorrow the grace of God will overcome all suffering and torments." The sequel proved the truth of her words.

The six martyrs were again brought before the judge, and as they steadfastly refused to deny Christ, he ordered them to be led naked through the streets, and then to be given a prey to the wild beasts. This order was fulfilled. The Saints, gladdened by the approach of their execution, sang, in a clear voice, the verses of the Psalmist: "The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the work of the hands of men; the gods of the Gentiles are devils, but the Lord made the heavens. They have mouths and speak not, they have ears and hear not, etc., etc." The judge, enraged at their singing, commanded it to be stopped by blows and cuffs. But it was in vain, for they continued praising God until they reached the place of their martyrdom. The wild beasts were let loose, and the two holy matrons, with St. Satirus, were torn to pieces; St. Saturninus and Revocatus perished by the sword; whilst Secundulus died in prison. The holy martyrs Felicitas and Perpetua are frequently mentioned in terms of praise by the Fathers of the Church.

Practical Consideration

I. St. Gerasimus takes no nourishment during the fast of Lent. The Lord does not exact the same of you. He only expects of you the faithful observance of the fast of Lent and the other prescribed days, according to the commands of his holy Church. This obligation binds you under the penalty of eternal damnation. Do not fancy yourself unable to comply with the fast; for what thousands before you have done you also will have the strength to perform. Do not believe heretics, when they assert that the Church has no authority to impose fasting. The Church is your mother and lawful spiritual superior, and therefore can enjoin what is necessary or advantageous for your salvation. Do not give ear to those who would persuade you that the violation of the fast is only a venial offence : because the precepts of the Church, say they, are only the laws of man. You commit grievous sins by breaking the laws made by man, as St. Paul teaches in his Epistle to the Romans. Besides, Christ Himself has commanded us to hear and obey the Church. Hence, when you transgress one of the precepts of the Church, you also offend against the Divine commands, which certainly is sinful. Obedience to the Church is obedience to God. "You know," says St. Paul, "what precepts I have given you . . . for he that despiseth these things, despiseth not man, but God, who also hath given His Holy Spirit in us" (Thess., chap, iv.). But what does such contempt of God deserve? Of what is it the sure mark? St. John gives the answer: "He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error" (I. John, iv.). The spirit of error, that is Satan, teaches us to disobey the Church, and reject her precepts, because they are the laws of man. Now, whoever is swayed by this spirit does not acknowledge God for his master--he is not of God: he belongs not to God, but to the devil, the spirit of error. Moreover, it is a sure mark of eternal damnation to disobey the precepts of the Church: "He that is not of God heareth us not."

II. The holy Perpetua and Felicitas led a most exemplary life, even in their childhood. St. Gerasimus dedicated his early years to the Almighty in a monastery, in the practice of the fear of the Lord, and of all virtues. How did you spend the years of youth? What was your I course of life? Reflect on the past. Have you not reason to cry out, with David: "The sins of my youth and I my ignorance do not remember" (Ps. xxiv.). Awaken in your heart, today and for the future, sincere contrition for the sins of your youth. Be sorry for your sloth in the Divine service, and ask pardon. Still this is not sufficient, but, like St. Gerasimus, who endeavored to satisfy for what he had neglected while in his heretical errors, do you strive to make amends for your negligence in the things of God. Serve the Lord more faithfully, be zealous in the performance of good works, and neglect nothing that may be conducive to your eternal welfare. Perhaps the end of your days is nigh, and then comes the night in which you are unable to work for salvation. A traveller who has tarried too long at some spot, when he perceives the approach of night, quickens his step to make up for the time lost and reach his destination. Imitate his example. Make haste on your road to heaven. Gain what you have lost. For a long time you have overlooked your sloth, or perhaps imagined that you might secure heaven, even in your negligence. But you will be terribly deceived. Remember the dream of St. Perpetua. The ladder reaching up to heaven is not covered with roses, but with knives and swords. Blood is the price of its ascent, that is to say, we must exert ourselves, and suffer, if we desire to be saved. Salvation is not obtained by quietly reposing and doing nothing. St. Perpetua and St. Felicitas mounted the ladder without being frightened at the dragon of hell, and the threats of cruel tortures. This was their way to heaven. If you wish to enter there, renew your fervor in the service of Jesus Christ, bear patiently the trials sent from above, and let there be no delay. Let us hasten, therefore, as St. Paul says, to enter into that rest.

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March 7

SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, with Their Companions, Martyrs

From their most valuable genuine acts, quoted by Tertullian, l. de animâ, c. 55. and by St. Austin, serm. 280. 283. 294. The first part of these acts, which reaches to the eve of her martyrdom, was written by Saint Perpetua. The vision of St. Saturus was added by him. The rest was subjoined by an eye-witness of their death. See Tillemont, t. 3. p. 139. Ceillier, t. 2. p. 213. These acts have been often republished: but are extant, most ample and correct, in Ruinart. They were publicly read in the churches of Africa, as appears from St. Austin. Serm. 180. See them vindicated from the suspicion of Montanism, by Orsi, Vindicæ Act. SS. Perpetuæ et Felicitatis.

A.D. 203.

A VIOLENT persecution being set on foot by the emperor Severus, in 202, it reached Africa the following year; when, by order of Minutius Timinianus, (or Firminianus) five catechumens were apprehended at Carthage for the faith: namely Revocatus and his fellow-slave Felicitas, Saturninus, Secundulus, and Viba Perpetua. Felicitas was seven months gone with child; and Perpetua had an infant at her breast, was of a good family, twenty-two years of age, and married to a person of quality in the city. She had a father, a mother, and two brothers; the third, Dinocrates, died about seven years old. These five martyrs were joined by Saturus, probably brother to Saturninus, and who seems to have been their instructor: he underwent a voluntary imprisonment, because he would not abandon them. The father of St. Perpetua, who was a pagan, and advanced in years, loved her more than all his other children. Her mother was probably a Christian, as was one of her brothers, the other a catechumen. The martyrs were for some days before their commitment kept under a strong guard in a private house: and the account Perpetua gives of their sufferings to the eve of their death, is as follows: “We were in the hands of our persecutors, when my father, out of the affection he bore me, made new efforts to shake my resolution. I said to him: ‘Can that vessel, which you see, change its name?’ He said: ‘No.’ I replied: ‘Nor can I call myself any other than I am, that is to say a Christian.’ At that word my father in a rage fell upon me, as if he would have pulled my eyes out, and beat me: but went away in confusion, seeing me invincible: after this we enjoyed a little repose, and in that interval received baptism. The Holy Ghost, on our coming out of the water, inspired me to pray for nothing but patience under corporal pains. A few days after this we were put into prison: I was shocked at the horror and darkness of the place 1 for till then I knew not what such sort of places were.

We suffered much that day, chiefly on account of the great heat caused by the crowd, and the ill-treatment we met with from the soldiers. I was moreover tortured with concern, for that I had not my infant. But the deacons, Tertius and Pomponius, who assisted us, obtained, by money, that we might pass some hours in a more commodious part of the prison to refresh ourselves. My infant being brought to me almost famished, I gave it the breast. I recommended him afterwards carefully to my mother, and encouraged my brother; but was much afflicted to see their concern for me. After a few days my sorrow was changed into comfort, and my prison itself seemed agreeable. One day my brother said to me: ‘Sister, I am persuaded that you are a peculiar favourite of heaven: pray to God to reveal to you whether this imprisonment will end in martyrdom or not, and acquaint me of it.’ I, knowing God gave me daily tokens of his goodness, answered full of confidence, I will inform you to-morrow. I therefore asked that favour of God, and had this vision. I saw a golden ladder which reached from earth to the heavens; but so narrow that only one could mount it at a time. To the two sides were fastened all sorts of iron instruments, as swords, lances, hooks, and knives; so that if any one went up carelessly he was in great danger of having his flesh torn by those weapons. At the foot of the ladder lay a dragon of an enormous size, who kept guard to turn back and terrify those who endeavoured to mount it. The first that went up was Saturus, who was not apprehended with us, but voluntarily surrendered himself afterwards on our account: when he was got to the top of the ladder, he turned towards me and said: ‘Perpetua, I wait for you; but take care lest the dragon bite you.’ I answered: ‘In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, he shall not hurt me.’ Then the dragon, as if afraid of me, gently lifted his head from under the ladder, and I, having got upon the first step, set my foot upon his head. Thus I mounted to the top, and there I saw a garden of an immense space, and in the middle of it a tall man sitting down dressed like a shepherd, having white hair. He was milking his sheep, surrounded with many thousands of persons clad in white. He called me by my name, bid me welcome, and gave me some curds made of the milk which he had drawn: I put my hands together and took and eat them; and all that were present said aloud Amen. The noise awaked me, chewing something very sweet. As soon as I had related to my brother this vision, we both concluded that we should suffer death.

After some days, a rumour, being spread that we were to be examined, my father came from the city to the prison overwhelmed with grief: ‘Daughter,’ said he, ‘have pity on my gray hairs, have compassion on your father, if I yet deserve to be called your father; if I myself have brought you up to this age: if you consider that my extreme love of you, made me always prefer you to all your brothers, make me not a reproach to mankind. Have respect for your mother and your aunt; have compassion on your child that cannot survive you; lay aside this resolution, this obstinacy, lest you ruin us all: for not one of us will dare open his lips any more if any misfortune befall you.’ He took me by the hands at the same time and kissed them; he threw himself at my feet in tears, and called me no longer daughter, but, my lady. I confess, I was pierced with sharp sorrow when I considered that my father was the only person of our family that would not rejoice at my martyrdom. I endeavoured to comfort him, saying: ‘Father, grieve not; nothing will happen but what pleases God; for we are not at our own disposal.’ He then departed very much concerned. The next day, whilst we were at dinner, a person came all on a sudden to summon us to examination. The report of this was soon spread, and brought together a vast crowd of people into the audience chamber. We were placed on a sort of scaffold before the judge, who was Hilarian, procurator of the province, the proconsul being lately dead. All who were interrogated before me confessed boldly Jesus Christ. When it came to my turn, my father instantly appeared with my infant. He drew me a little aside, conjuring me in the most tender manner not to be insensible to the misery I should bring on that innocent creature to which I had given life. The president Hilarian joined with my father and said: ‘What! will neither the gray hairs of a father you are going to make miserable, nor the tender innocence of a child, which your death will leave an orphan, move you? Sacrifice for the prosperity of the emperors.’ I replied, ‘I will not do it.’ ‘Are you then a Christian?’ said Hilarian. I answered: ‘Yes, I am.’ As my father attempted to draw me from the scaffold, Hilarian commanded him to be beaten off, and he had a blow given him with a stick, which I felt as much as if I had been struck myself, so much was I grieved to see my father thus treated in his old age. Then the judge pronounced our sentence, by which we were all condemned to be exposed to wild beasts. We then joyfully returned to our prison; and as my infant had been used to the breast, I immediately sent Pomponius, the deacon, to demand him of my father, who refused to send him. And God so ordered it that the child no longer required to suck, nor did my milk incommode me.” Secundulus, being no more mentioned, seems to have died in prison before this interrogatory. Before Hilarian pronounced sentence he had caused Saturus, Saturninus, and Revocatus to be scourged; and Perpetua and Felicitas to be beaten on the face. They were reserved for the shows which were to be exhibited for the soldiers in the camp, on the festival of Geta, who had been made Cæsar four years before by his father Severus, when his brother Caracalla was created Augustus.

St. Perpetua relates another vision with which she was favoured, as follows; “A few days after receiving sentence, when we were altogether in prayer, I happened to name Dinocrates, at which I was astonished, because I had not before had him in my thoughts; and I that moment knew that I ought to pray for him. This I began to do with great fervour and sighing before God; and the same night I had the following vision: I saw Dinocrates coming out of a dark place, where there were many others, exceedingly hot and thirsty; his face was dirty, his complexion pale, with the ulcer in his face of which he died at seven years of age, and it was for him that I had prayed. There seemed a great distance between him and me, so that it was impossible for us to come to each other. Near him stood a vessel full of water, whose brim was higher than the statue of an infant: he attempted to drink, but though he had water he could not reach it. This mightily grieved me, and I awoke. By this I knew my brother was in pain, but I trusted I could by prayer relieve him: so I began to pray for him, beseeching God with tears, day and night, that he would grant me my request; as I continued to do till we were removed to the camp prison: being destined for a public show on the festival of Cæsar Geta. The day we were in the stocks 2 I had this vision: I saw the place which I had beheld dark before, now luminous; and Dinocrates, with his body very clean and well clad, refreshing himself, and instead of his wound a scar only. I awaked, and I knew he was relieved from his pain. 3

Some days after, Pudens the officer, who commanded the guards of the prison, seeing that God favoured us with many gifts, had a great esteem of us, and admitted many people to visit us for our mutual comfort. On the day of the public shows my father came to find me out, overwhelmed with sorrow. He tore his beard, he threw himself prostrate on the ground, cursed his years, and said enough to move any creature; and I was ready to die with sorrow to see my father in so deplorable a condition. On the eve of the shows I was favoured with the following vision. The deacon Pomponius, methought, knocked very hard at the prison-door, which I opened to him. He was clothed with a white robe, embroidered with innumerable promegranates of gold. He said to me: ‘Perpetua, we wait for you, come along.’ He then took me by the hand and led me through very rough places into the middle of the amphitheatre, and said: ‘Fear not.’ And, leaving me, said again: ‘I will be with you in a moment, and bear a part with you in your pains.’ I was wondering the beasts were not let out against us, when there appeared a very ill-favoured Egyptian, who came to encounter me with others. But another beautiful troop of young men declared for me, and anointed me with oil for the combat. Then appeared a man of a prodigious stature, in rich apparel, having a wand in his hand like the masters of the gladiators, and a green bough on which hung golden apples. Having ordered silence, he said that the bough should be my prize, if I vanquished the Egyptian: but that if he conquered me, he should kill me with a sword. After a long and obstinate engagement, I threw him on his face, and trod upon his head. The people applauded my victory with loud acclamations. I then approached the master of the amphitheatre, who gave me the bough with a kiss, and said: ‘Peace be with you, my daughter.’ After this I awoke, and found that I was not so much to combat with wild beasts as with the devils.” Here ends the relation of St. Perpetua.

St. Saturus had also a vision which he wrote himself. He and his companions were conducted by a bright angel into a most delightful garden, in which they met some holy martyrs, lately dead, named Jocundus, Saturninus, and Artaxius, who had been burned alive for the faith, and Quintus, who died in prison. They inquired after other martyrs of their acquaintance, say the acts, and were conducted into a most stately palace, shining like the sun: and in it saw the king of this most glorious place surrounded by his happy subjects, and heard a voice composed of many, which continually cried, “Holy, holy, holy!” Saturus, turning to Perpetua, said, “You have here what you desired.” She replied, “God be praised, I have more joy here than ever I had in the flesh.” He adds, “Going out of the garden they found before the gate, on the right hand, their bishop of Carthage, Optatus, and on the left, Aspasius, priest of the same church, both of them alone and sorrowful. They fell at the martyrs’ feet, and begged they would reconcile them together, for a dissension had happened between them. The martyrs embraced them, saying: “Are not you our bishop, and you a priest of our Lord? It is our duty to prostrate ourselves before you.” Perpetua was discoursing with them; but certain angels came and drove hence Optatus and Aspasius; and bade them not to disturb the martyrs, but be reconciled to each other. The bishop Optatus was also charged to heal the divisions that reigned among several of his church. The angels, after these reprimands, seemed ready to shut the gates of the garden. “Here,” says he, “we saw many of our brethren and martyrs likewise. We were fed with an ineffable odour, which delighted and satisfied us.” Such was the vision of Saturus. The rest of the acts were added by an eye-witness. God had called to himself Secondulus in prison. Felicitas was eight months gone with child, and as the day of the shows approached she was inconsolable lest she should not be brought to bed before it came; fearing that her martyrdom would be deferred on that account, because women with child were not allowed to be executed before they were delivered: the rest also were sensibly afflicted on their part to leave her alone in the road to their common hope. Wherefore they unanimously joined in prayer to obtain of God that she might be delivered against the shows. Scarcely had they finished their prayer, when Felicitas found herself in labour. She cried out under the violence of her pain: one of the guards asked her, if she could not bear the throes of child-birth without crying out, what she would do when exposed to the wild beasts? She answered: “It is I who suffer what I now suffer; but then there will be another in me that will suffer for me, because I shall suffer for him.” She was then delivered of a daughter, which a certain Christian woman took care of, and brought up as her own child. The tribune, who had the holy martyrs in custody, being informed by some persons of little credit, that the Christians would free themselves out of prison by some magic enchantments, used them the more cruelly on that account, and forbade any to see them. Thereupon Perpetua said to him: “Why do you not afford us some relief, since we are condemned by Cæsar, and destined to combat at his festival? Will it not be to your honor that we appear well fed?” At this the tribune trembled and blushed, and ordered them to be used with more humanity, and their friends to be admitted to see them. Pudens, the keeper of the prison, being already converted, secretly did them all the good offices in his power.

The day before they suffered they gave them, according to custom, their last meal, which was called a free supper, and they eat in public. But the martyrs did their utmost to change it into an Agape, or Love-feast. Their chamber was full of people, whom they talked to with their usual resolution, threatened them with the judgments of God, and extolling the happiness of their own sufferings. Saturus, smiling at the curiosity of those who came to see them, said to them: “Will not to-morrow suffice to satisfy your inhuman curiosity in our regard? However you may seem now to pity us, to-morrow you will clap your hands at our death, and applaud our murderers. But observe well our faces, that you may know them again at that terrible day when all men shall be judged.” They spoke with such courage and intrepidity, as astonished the infidels, and occasioned the conversion of several among them.

The day of their triumph being come, they went out of the prison to go to the amphitheatre. Joy sparkled in their eyes, and appeared in all their gestures and words. Perpetua walked with a composed countenance and easy pace, as a woman cherished by Jesus Christ, with her eyes modestly cast down: Felicitas went with her, following the men, not able to contain her joy. When they came to the gate of the amphitheatre the guards would have given them, according to custom the superstitious habits with which they adorned such as appeared at these sights.—For the men, a red mantle, which was the habit of the priest of Saturn: for the women, a little fillet round the head, by which the priestesses of Ceres were known. The martyrs rejected those idolatrous ceremonies; and by the mouth of Perpetua, said, they came thither of their own accord on the promise made them that they should not be forced to anything contrary to their religion. The tribune then consented that they might appear in the amphitheatre habited as they were. Perpetua sung, as being already victorious; Revocatus, Saturninus, and Saturus threatened the people that beheld them with the judgments of God: and as they passed over against the balcony of Hilarian, they said to him: “You judge us in this world, but God will judge you in the next.”

The people enraged at their boldness, begged they might be scourged, which was granted. They accordingly passed before the Venatores, 4 or hunters, each of whom gave them a lash. They rejoiced exceedingly in being thought worthy to resemble our Saviour in his sufferings. God granted to each of them the death they desired; for when they were discoursing together about what kind of martyrdom would be agreeable to each, Saturninus declared that he would choose to be exposed to beasts of several sorts in order to the aggravation of his sufferings. Accordingly he and Revocatus, after having been attacked by a leopard, were also assaulted by a bear. Saturus dreaded nothing so much as a bear, and therefore hoped a leopard would despatch him at once with his teeth. He was then exposed to a wild boar, but the beast turned upon his keeper, who received such a wound from him that he died in a few days after, and Saturus was only dragged along by him. Then they tied the martyr to the bridge near a bear, but that beast came not out of his lodge, so that Saturus, being sound and not hurt, was called upon for a second encounter. This gave him an opportunity of speaking to Pudens, the jailor who had been converted. The martyr encouraged him to constancy in the faith, and said to him: “You see I have not yet been hurt by any beast, as I desired and foretold; believe then stedfastly in Christ; I am going where you will see a leopard with one bite take away my life.” It happened so, for a leopard being let out upon him covered him all over with blood, whereupon the people jeering, cried out, “He is well baptized.” The martyr said to Pudens, “Go, remember my faith, and let our sufferings rather strengthen than trouble you. Give me the ring you have on your finger.” Saturus, having dipt it in his wound, gave it him back to keep as a pledge to animate him to a constancy in his faith, and fell down dead soon after. Thus he went first to glory to wait for Perpetua, according to her vision. Some with Mabillon, 5 think this Pudens is the martyr honoured in Africa, on the 29th of April.

In the mean time, Perpetua and Felicitas had been exposed to a wild cow; Perpetua was first attacked, and the cow having tossed her up, she fell on her back. Then putting herself in a sitting posture, and perceiving her clothes were torn, she gathered them about her in the best manner she could to cover herself, thinking more of decency than her sufferings. Getting up, not to seem disconsolate, she tied up her hair, which was fallen loose, and perceiving Felicitas on the ground much hurt by a toss of the cow, she helped her to rise. They stood together, expecting another assault from the beasts, but the people crying out that it was enough, they were led to the gate Sanevivaria, where those that were not killed by the beasts were despatched at the end of the shows by the confectores. Perpetua was here received by Rusticus, a catechumen, who attended her. This admirable woman seemed just returning to herself out of a long ecstasy, and asked when she was to fight the wild cow. Being told what had passed, she could not believe it till she saw on her body and clothes the marks of what she had suffered, and knew the catechumen. With regard to this circumstance of her acts, St. Austin cries out, “Where was she when assaulted and torn by so furious a wild beast, without feeling her wounds, and when after that furious combat, she asked when it would begin? What did she, not to see what all the world saw? What did she enjoy who did not feel such pain? By what love, by what vision, by what potion was she so transported out of herself, and as it were divinely inebriated, to seem without feeling in a mortal body?” She called for her brother, and said to him and Rusticus: “Continue firm in the faith, love one another, and be not scandalized at our sufferings.” All the martyrs were now brought to the place of their butchery. But the people not yet satisfied with beholding blood, cried out to have them brought into the middle of the amphitheatre, that they might have the pleasure of seeing them receive the last blow. Upon this, some of the martyrs rose up, and having given one another the kiss of peace, went of their own accord into the middle of the arena; others were despatched without speaking, or stirring out of the place they were in. St. Perpetua fell into the hands of a very timorous and unskilful apprentice of the gladiators, who, with a trembling hand, gave her many slight wounds, which made her languish a long time. Thus, says St. Austin, did two women, amidst fierce beasts and the swords of gladiators, vanquish the devil and all his fury. The day of their martyrdom was the 7th of March, as it is marked in the most ancient martyrologies, and in the Roman calendar as old as the year 354, published by Bucherius. St. Prosper says they suffered at Carthage, which agrees with all the circumstances. Their bodies were in the great church of Carthage, in the fifth age, as St. Victor 6 informs us. St. Austin says, their festival drew yearly more to honour their memory in their church, than curiosity had done to their martyrdom. They are mentioned in the canon of the mass.

Note 1. The prisons of the ancient Romans, still to be seen in many old amphitheatres, &c. are dismal holes; having at most one very small aperture for light, just enough to show day. [back]

Note 2. These stocks, called Nervus, were a wooden machine with many holes, in which the prisoners’ feet were fastened and stretched to great distances, as to the fourth or fifth holes, for the increase of their torment. St. Perpetua remarks, they were chained, and also set in this engine during their stay in the camp-prison, which seems to have been several days, in expectation of the day of the public shows. [back]

Note 3. By the conclusions which St. Perpetua was led to make from her two visions, it evidently appears that the church, in that early age, believed the doctrine of the expiation of certain sins after death, and prayed for the faithful departed. This must be allowed, even though it should be pretended that her visions were not from God. But neither St. Austin, nor any other ancient father, ever entertained the least suspicion on that head. Nor can we presume that the goodness of God would permit one full of such ardent love of him to be imposed upon in a point of this nature. The Oxonian editor of these acts knew not what other answer to make to this ancient testimony, than that St. Perpetua seems to have been a Montanist. (p. 14.) But this unjust censure Dodwell (Diss. Cypr. A. n. 8. p. 15.) and others have confuted. And could St. Austin, with the whole Catholic church, have ranked a Montanist among the most illustrious martyrs? That father himself, in many places of his works, clearly explains the same doctrine of the Catholic faith, concerning a state of temporary sufferings in the other world, and conformably to it speaks of these visions. (L. de Orig. Animaæ, 1. l. c. 10. p. 343. & 1. 4. c. 18. p. 401. t. 10. &c.) He says, that Dinocrates must have received baptism, but afterwards sinned, perhaps by having been seduced by his pagan father into some act of superstition, or by lying, or by some other faults of which children in that tender age may be guilty. Illius ætatis pueri et mentiri et verum loqui, et confiteri et negare jam possunt. Lib. l. c. 10. See Orsi, Diss. de Actis SS. Perpetuæ et Felicitatis. Florentiæ. 1738, 4to. [back]

Note 4. Pro ordine venatorum. Venatores, is the name given to those that were armed to encounter the beasts, who put themselves in ranks, with whips in their hands, and each of them gave a lash to the Bestiarii, or those condemned to the beasts, whom they obliged to pass naked before them in the middle of the pit or arena. [back]

Note 5. Analect. t. 3. p. 403. [back]

Note 6. Victor. 1. l. p. 4 [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume III: March. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/3/072.html

The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas, by Tertullian

Preface

If ancient illustrations of faith which both testify to God’s grace and tend to man’s edification are collected in writing, so that by the perusal of them, as if by the reproduction of the facts, as well God may be honoured, as man may be strengthened; why should not new instances be also collected, that shall be equally suitable for both purposes, – if only on the ground that these modern examples will one day become ancient and available for posterity, although in their present time they are esteemed of less authority, by reason of the presumed veneration for antiquity? But let men look to it, if they judge the power of the Holy Spirit to be one, according to the times and seasons; since some things of later date must be esteemed of more account as being nearer to the very last times, in accordance with the exuberance of grace manifested to the final periods determined for the world. For “in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy. And upon my servants and my handmaidens will I pour out of my Spirit; and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” And thus we – who both acknowledge and reverence, even as we do the prophecies, modern visions as equally promised to us, and consider the other powers of the Holy Spirit as an agency of the Church for which also He was sent, administering all gifts in all, even as the Lord distributed to every one as well needfully collect them in writing, as commemorate them in reading to God’s glory; that so no weakness or despondency of faith may suppose that the divine grace abode only among the ancients, whether in respect of the condescension that raised up martyrs, or that gave revelations; since God always carries into effect what He has promised, for a testimony to unbelievers, to believers for a benefit. And we therefore, what we have heard and handled, declare also to you, brethren and little children, that as well you who were concerned in these matters may be reminded of them again to the glory of the Lord, as that you who know them by report may have communion with the blessed martyrs, and through them with the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and honour, for ever and ever. Amen.

Chapter 1 – Argument – When the Saints were apprehended, Saint Perpetua successfully resisted her father’s pleading, was baptized with the others, was thrust into a filthy dungeon. Anxious about her infant, by a vision granted to her, she understood that her martyrdom would take plavce very shortly.

The young catechumens, Revocatus and his fellow-servant Felicitas, Saturninus and Secundulus, were apprehended. And among them also was Vivia Perpetua, respectably born, liberally educated, a married matron, having a father and mother and two brothers, one of whom, like herself, was a catechumen, and a son an infant at the breast. She herself was about twenty-two years of age. From this point onward she shall herself narrate the whole course of her martyrdom, as she left it described by her own hand and with her own mind.

“While” says she, “we were still with the persecutors, and my father, for the sake of his affection for me, was persisting in seeking to turn me away, and to cast me down from the faith, – ‘Father,’ said I, ‘ do you see, let us say, this vessel lying here to be a little pitcher, or something else?’ And he said, ‘ I see it to be so.’ And I replied to him, ‘ Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’ And he said, ‘No.’ ‘Neither can I call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.’ Then my father, provoked at this saying, threw himself upon me, as if he would tear my eyes out. But he only distressed me, and went away overcome by the devil’s arguments. Then, in a few days after I had been without my father, I gave thanks to the Lord; and his absence became a source of consolation to me. In that same interval of a few days we were baptized, and to me the Spirit prescribed that in the water baptism nothing else was to be sought for bodily endurance. After a few days we are taken into the dungeon, and I was very much afraid, because I had never felt such darkness. O terrible day ! O the fierce heat of the shock of the soldiery, because of the crowds! I was very unusually distressed by my anxiety for my infant. There were present there Tertius and Pomponius, the blessed deacons who ministered to us, and had arranged by means of a gratuity that we might be refreshed by being sent out for a few hours into a pleasanter part of the prison. Then going out of the dungeon, all attended to their own wants. I suckled my child, which was now enfeebled with hunger. In my anxiety for it, I addressed my mother and comforted my brother, and commended to their care my son. I was languishing because I had seen them languishing on my account. Such solicitude I suffered for many days, and I obtained for my infant to remain in the dungeon with me; and forthwith I grew strong and was relieved from distress and anxiety about my infant; and the dungeon became to me as it were a palace, so that I preferred being there to being elsewhere.

“Then my brother said to me, ‘My dear sister, you are already in a position of great dignity, and are such that you may ask for a vision, and that it may be made known to you whether this is to result in a passion or an escape.’ And I, who knew that I was privileged to converse with the Lord, whose kindnesses I had found to be so great, boldly promised him, and said, ‘To-morrow I will tell you.’ And I asked, and this was what was shown me. I saw a golden ladder of marvellous height, reaching up even to heaven, and very narrow, so that persons could only ascend it one by one; and on the sides of the ladder was fixed every kind of iron weapon. There were there swords, lances, hooks, daggers; so that if any one went up carelessly, or not looking upwards, he would be torn to pieces and his flesh would cleave to the iron weapons. And under the ladder itself was crouching a dragon of wonderful size, who lay in wait for those who ascended, and frightened them from the ascent. And Saturus went up first, who had subsequently delivered himself up freely on our account, not having been present at the time that we were taken prisoners. And he attained the top of the ladder, and turned towards me, and said to me, Perpetua, I am waiting for you; but be careful that the dragon do not bite you.’ And I said, ‘ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall not hurt me.’ And from under the ladder itself, as if in fear of me, he slowly lifted up his head; and as I trod upon the first step, I trod upon his head. And I went up, and I saw an immense extent of garden, and in the midst of the garden a white-hatred man sitting in the dress of a shepherd,of a large stature, milking sheep; and standing around were many thousand white-robed ones. And he raised his head, and looked upon me, and said to me, ‘Thou an welcome, daughter.’ ‘And he called me, and from the cheese as he was milking he gave me as it were a little cake, and I received it with folded hands; and I ate it, and all who stood around said Amen. And at the sound of their voices I was awakened, still tasting a sweetness which I cannot describe. And I immediately related this to my brother, and we understood that it was to be a passion, and we ceased henceforth to have any hope in this world.

Chapter 2 – Argument. Perpetua, when besieged by her father, comforts him. When led with others to the tribunal, she avows herself a Christian, and is condemned with the rest to the wild beasts. She prays for her brother Dinocrates, who was dead.

“After a few days there prevailed a report that we should be heard. And then my father came to me from the city, worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might cast me down, saying, ‘ Have pity my daughter, on my grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. If with these hands I have brought you up to this flower of your age, if I have preferred you to all your brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of men. Have regard to your brothers, have regard to your mother and your aunt, have regard to your son, who will not be able to live after you. Lay aside your courage, and do not bring us all to destruction; for none of us will speak in freedom if you should suffer anything.’ These things said my father in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet; and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady. And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father, that he alone of all my family would not rejoice over my passion. And I comforted him, saying, ‘On that scaffold whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power, but in that of God.’ And he departed from me in sorrrow.

“Another day, while we were at dinner, we were suddenly taken away to be heard, and we arrived at the town-hall. At once the rumour spread through the neighbourhood of the public place, and an immense number of people were gathered together. We mount the platform. The rest were interrogated, and confessed. Then they came to me, and my father immediately appeared with my boy, and withdrew me from the step, and said in a supplicating tone, ‘Have pity on your babe.’ And Hilarianus the procurator, who had just received the power of life and death in the place of the proconsul Minucius Timinianus, who was deceased, said, ‘Spare the grey hairs of your father, spare the infancy of your boy, offer sacrifice for the well-being of the emperors.’ And I replied, ‘I will not do so.’ Hilarianus said, ‘Are you a Christian?’ And I replied, ‘I am a Christian.’ And as my father stood there to cast me down from the faith, he was ordered by Hilarianus to be thrown down, and was beaten with rods. And my father’s misfortune grieved me as if I myself had been beaten, I so grieved for his wretched old age. The procurator then delivers judgment on all of us, and condemns us to the wild beasts, and we went down cheerfully to the dungeon. Then, because my child had been used to receive suck from me, and to stay with me in the prison, I send Pomponius the deacon to my father to ask for the infant, but my father would not give it him. And even as God willed it, the child no long desired the breast, nor did my breast cause me uneasiness, lest I should be tormented by care for my babe and by the pain of my breasts at once.

“After a few days, whilst we were all praying, on a sudden, in the middle of our prayer, there came to me a word, and I named Dinocrates; and I was amazed that that name had never come into my mind until then, and I was grieved as I remembered his misfortune. And I felt myself immediately to be worthy, and to be called on to ask on his behalf. And for him I began earnestly to make supplication, and to cry with groaning to the Lord. Without delay, on that very night, this was shown to me in a vision. I saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid colour, and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age? who died miserably with disease – his face being so eaten out with cancer, that his death caused repugnance to all men. For him I had made my prayer, and between him and me there was a large interval, so that neither of us could approach to the other. And moreover, in the same place where Dinocrates was, there was a pool full of water, having its brink higher than was the stature of the boy; and Dinocrates raised himself up as if to drink. And I was grieved that, although that pool held water, still, on account of the height to its brink, he could not drink. And I was aroused, and knew that my brother was in suffering. But I trusted that my prayer would bring help to his suffering; and I prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show. Then was the birth-day of Gets Caesar, and I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me.

“Then, on the day on which we remained in fetters, this was shown to me. I saw that that place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment. And where there had been a wound, I saw a scar; and that pool which I had before seen, I saw now with its margin lowered even to the boy’s navel. And one drew water from the pool incessantly, and upon its brink was a goblet filled with water; and Dinocrates drew near and began to drink from it, and the goblet did not fail. And when he was satisfied, he went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children, and I awoke. Then I understood that he was translated from the place of punishment.

Chapter 3 – Argument – Perpetua is again tempted by her father. Her third vision, wherein she is led away to struggle against an Egyptian. She rights, conquers and received the reward.

“Again, after a few days, Pudens, a soldier, an assistant overseer of the prison, who began to regard us in great esteem, perceiving that the great power of God was in us, admitted many brethren to see us, that both we and they might be mutually refreshed. And when the day of the exhibition drew near my father, worn with suffering, came in to me, and began to tear out his beard, and to throw himself on the earth, and to cast himself down on his face, and to reproach his years, and to utter such words as might move all creation. I grieved for his unhappy old age.

“The day before that on which we were to fight, I saw in a vision that Pomponius the deacon came hither to the gate of the prison, and knocked vehemently. I went out to him, and opened the gate for him; and he was clothed in a richly ornamented white robe, and he had on manifold calliculae. And he said to me, ‘Perpetua, we are waiting for you; come!’ And he held his hand to me, and we began to go through rough and winding places. Scarcely at length had we arrived breathless at the amphitheatre, when he led me into the middle of the arena, and said to me, ‘Do not fear, I am here with you, and I am labouring with you;’ and he departed. And I gazed upon an immense assembly in astonishment. And because I knew that I was given to the wild beasts, I marvelled that the wild beasts were not let loose upon me. Then there came forth against me a certain Egyptian, horrible in appearance, with his backers, to fight with me. And there came to me, as my helpers and encouragers, handsome youths; and I was stripped, and became a man? Then my helpers began to rub me with oil, as is the custom for contest; and I beheld that Egyptian on the other hand rolling in the dust. And a certain man came forth, of wondrous height, so that he even over-topped the top of the amphitheatre; and he wore a loose tunic and a purple robe between two bands over the middle of the breast; and he had on calliculae of varied form, made of gold and silver; and he carried a rod, as if he were a trainer of gladiators, and a green branch upon which were apples of gold. And he called for silence, and said, ‘This Egyptian, if he should overcome this woman, shall kill her with the sword; and if she shall conquer him, she shall receive this branch.’ Then he departed. And we drew near to one another, and began to deal out blows. He sought to lay hold of my feet, while I struck at his face with my heels; and I was lifted up in the air, and began thus to thrust at him as if spurning the earth. But when I saw that there was some delay I joined my hands so as to twine my fingers with one another; and I took hold upon his head, and he fell on his face, and I trod upon his head? And the people began to shout, and my backers to exult. And I drew near to the trainer and took the branch; and he kissed me, and said to me, ‘Daughter, peace be with you:’ and I began to go gloriously to the Sanavivarian gate. Then I awoke, and perceived that I was not to fight with beasts, but against the devil. Still I knew that the victory was awaiting me. This, so far, I have completed several days before the exhibition; but what passed at the exhibition itself let who will write.”

Chapter 4 – Argument – Saturus, in a vision, and Perpetua being carried by angels into the great light, behold the martyrs. Being brought to the throne of God, are received with a kiss. They reconcile Optatus the bishop and Aspasius the presbyter.

Moreover, also, the blessed Saturus related this his vision, which he himself committed to writing: – ” We had suffered,” says he, “and we were gone forth from the flesh, and we were beginning to be borne by four angels into the east; and their hands touched us not. And we floated not supine, looking upwards, but as if ascending a gentle slope. And being set free, we at length saw the first boundless light; and I said, ‘Perpetua’ (for she was at my side), ‘this is what the Lord promised to us; we have received the promise.’ And while we are borne by those same four angels, there appears to us a vast space which was like a pleasure-garden, having rose-trees and every kind of flower. And the height of the trees was after the measure of a cypress, and their leaves were falling incessantly. Moreover, there in the pleasure-garden four other angels appeared, brighter than the previous ones, who, when they saw us, gave us honour, and said to the rest of the angels, ‘Here they are! Here they are!’ with admiration. And those four angels who bore us, being greatly afraid, put us down; and we passed over on foot the space of a furlong in a broad path. There we found Jocundus and Saturninus and Artaxius, who having suffered the same persecution were burnt alive; and Quintus, who also himself a martyr had departed in the prison. And we asked of them where the rest were. And the angels said to us, ‘Come first, enter and greet your Lord.’

“And we came near to place, the walls of which were such as if they were built of light; and before the gate of that place stood four angels, who clothed those who entered with white robes. And being clothed, we entered and saw the boundless light, and heard the united voice of some who said without ceasing, Holy! Holy! Holy!’ And in the midst of that place we saw as it were a hoary man sitting, having snow-white hair, and with a youthful countenance; and his feet we saw not. And on his right hand and on his left were four-and-twenty elders, and behind them a great many others were standing. We entered with great wonder, and stood before the throne; and the four angels raised us up, and we kissed Him, and He passed His hand over our face. And the rest of the elders said to us, ‘Let us stand;’ and we stood and made peace. And the elders said to us, and enjoy.’ And I said, ‘Perpetua, you have what you wish.’ And she said to me, ‘Thanks be to God, that joyous as I was in the flesh, I am now more joyous here.’

“And we went forth, and saw before the entrance Optatus the bishop at the right hand, and Aspasius the presbyter, a teacher, at the left hand, separate and sad; and they cast themselves at our feet, and said to us, ‘Restore peace between us, because you have gone forth and have left us thus.’ And we said to them, ‘Art not thou our father, and thou our presbyter, that you should cast yourselves at our feet?” And we prostrated ourselves, and we embraced them; and Perpetua began to speak with them, and we drew them apart in the pleasure-garden under a rose-tree. And while we were speaking with them, the angels said unto them, ‘Let them alone, that they may refresh themselves; and if you have any dissensions between you, forgive one another.’ And they drove them away. And they said to Optatus, ‘Rebuke thy people, because they assemble to you as if returning from the circus, and contending about factious matters.’ And then it seemed to us as if they would shut the doors. And in that place we began to recognise many brethren, and moreover martyrs. We were all nourished with an indescribable odour, which satisfied us. Then, I joyously awoke.”

Chapter 5 – Argument – Secundus dies in the prison. Felicitas is pregnant, but with many prayers, she brings forth in the eighth month without suffering, the courage of Perpetua and of Saturus unbroken.

The above were the more eminent visions of the blessed martyrs Saturus and Perpetua themselves, which they themselves committed to writing. But God called Secundulus, while he has yet in the prison, by an earlier exit from the world, not without favour, so as to give a respite to the beasts. Nevertheless, even if his soul did not acknowledge cause for thankfulness, assuredly his flesh did.

But respecting Felicitas (for to her also the Lord’s favour approached in the same way), when she had already gone eight months with child (for she had been pregnant when she was apprehended), as the day of the exhibition was drawing near, she was in great grief lest on account of her pregnancy she should be delayed, – because pregnant women are not allowed to be publicly punished, – and lest she should shed her sacred and guiltless blood among some who had been wicked subsequently. Moreover, also, her fellow-martyrs were painfully saddened lest they should leave so excellent a friend, and as it were companion, alone in the path of the same hope. Therefore, joining together their united cry, they poured forth their prayer to the Lord three days before the exhibition. Immediately after their prayer her pains came upon her, and when, with the difficulty natural to an eight months’ delivery, in the labour of bringing forth she was sorrowing, some one of the servants of the Cataractarii said to her, “You who are in such suffering now, what will you do when you are thrown to the beasts, which you despised when you refused to sacrifice?” And she replied, “Now it is I that suffer what I suffer; but then there will be another in me, who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer for Him.” Thus she brought forth a little girl, which a certain sister brought up as her daughter.

Since then the Holy Spirit permitted, and by permitting willed, that the proceedings of that exhibition should be committed to writing, although we are unworthy to complete the description of so great a glory; yet we obey as it were the command of the most blessed Perpetua, nay her sacred trust, and add one more testimony concerning her constancy and her loftiness of mind. While they were treated with more severity by the tribune, because, from the intimations of certain deceitful men, he feared lest thay should be withdrawn from the prison by some sort of magic incantations, Perpetua answered to his face, and said, “Why do you not at least permit us to be refreshed, being as we are objectionable to the most noble Caesar, and having to fight on his birth-day? Or is it not your glory if we are brought forward fatter on that occasion?” The tribune shuddered and blushed, and commanded that they should be kept with more humanity, so that permission was given to their brethren and others to go in and be refreshed with them; even the keeper of the prison trusting them now himself.

Moreover, on the day before, when in that last meal, which they call the free meal, they were partaking as far as they could, not of a free supper, but of an agape; with the same firmness they were uttering such words as these to the people, denouncing against them the judgment of the Lord, bearing witness to the felicity of their passion, laughing at the curiosity of the people who came together; while Saturus said, “To-morrow is not enough for you, for you to behold with pleasure that which you hate. Friends today, enemies to-morrow. Yet note our faces diligently, that you may recognise them on that day of judgment.” Thus all departed thence astonished, and from these things many believed.

Chapter 6 – Argument – From the prison they are led forth with joy into the amphitheatre, especially Perpetua and Felicitas. All refuse to put on profane garments. They are scourged, they are thrown to the wild beasts. Saturus twice is unhurt. Perpetua and Felicitas are thrown down; they are called back to the Sanavlvarian gate. Saturus wounded by a leopard, exhorts the soldier. They kiss one another, and are slain with the sword.

The day of their victory shone forth, and they proceeded from the prison into the amphitheatre, as if to an assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenances; if prechance shrinking, it was with joy, and not with fear. Perpetua followed with placid look, and with step and gait as a matron of Christ, beloved of God; casting down the luster of her eyes from the gaze of all. Moreover, Felicitas, rejoicing that she had safely brought forth, so that she might fight with the wild beasts; from the blood and from the midwife to the gladiator, to wash after childbirth with a second baptism. And when they were brought to the gate, and were constrained to put on the clothing – the men, that of the priests of Saturn, and the women, that of those who were consecrated to Ceres – that noble-minded woman resisted even to the end with constancy. For she said, “We have come thus far of our own accord, for this reason, that our liberty might not be restrained. For this reason we have yielded our minds, that we might not do any such thing as this: we have agreed on this with you.” Injustice acknowledged the justice; the tribune yielded to their being brought as simply as they were. Perpetua sang psalms, already treading under foot the head of the Egyptian; Revocatus, and Saturninus, and Saturus uttered threatenings against the gazing people about this martyrdom. When they came within sight of Hilarianus, by gesture and nod, they began to say to Hilarianus, “Thou judgest us,” say they, “but God will judge thee.” At this the people, exasperated, demanded that they should be tormented with scourges as they passed along the rank of the venatores. And they indeed rejoiced that they should have incurred any one of their Lord’s passions.

But He who had said, “Ask, and ye shall receive,” gave to them when they asked, that death which each one had wished for. For when at any time they had been discoursing among themselves about their wish in respect of their martyrdom, Saturninus indeed had professed that he wished that he might be thrown to all the beasts; doubtless that he might wear a more glorious crown. Therefore in the beginning of the exhibition he and Revocatus made trial of the leopard, and moreover upon the scaffold they were harassed by the bear. Saturus, however, held nothing in greater abomination than a bear; but he imagined that he would be put an end to with one bite of a leopard. Therefore, when a wild boar was supplied, it was the huntsman rather who had supplied that boar who was gored by that same beast, and died the day after the shows. Saturus only was drawn out; and when he had been bound on the floor near to a bear, the bear would not come forth from his den. And so Saturus for the second time is recalled unhurt.

Moreover, for the young women the devil prepared a very fierce cow, provided especially for that purpose contrary to custom, rivalling their sex also in that of the beasts. And so, stripped and clothed with nets, they were led forth. The populace shuddered as they saw one young woman of delicate frame, and another with breasts still dropping from her recent childbirth. So, being recalled, they are unbound.

Perpetua is first led in. She was tossed, and fell on her loins; and when she saw her tunic torn from her side, she drew it over her as a veil for her middle, rather mindful of her modesty than her suffering. Then she was called for again, and bound up her dishevelled hair; for it was not becoming for a martyr to suffer with dishevelled hair, lest she should appear to be mourning in her glory. So she rose up; and when she saw Felicitas crushed, she approached and gave her her hand, and lifted her up. And both of them stood together; and the brutality of the populace being appeased, they were recalled to the Sanavivarian gate. Then Perpetua was received by a certain one who was still a catechumen, Rusticus by name, who kept close to her; and she, as if aroused from sleep, so deeply had she been in the Spirit and in an ecstasy, began to look round her, and to say to the amazement of all, “I cannot tell when we are to be led out to that cow.” And when she had heard what had already happened, she did not believe it until she had perceived certain signs of injury in her body and in her dress, and had recognised the catechumen. Afterwards causing that catechumen and the brother to approach, she addressed them, saying, “Stand fast in the faith, and love one another, all of you, and be not offended at my sufferings.”

The same Saturus at the other entrance exhorted the soldier Pudens, saying, “Assuredly here I am, as I have promised and foretold, for up to this moment I have felt no beast. And now believe with your whole heart. Lo, I am going forth to that beast, and I shall be destroyed with one bite of the leopard.” And immediately at the conclusion of the exhibition he was thrown to the leopard; and with one bite of his he was bathed with such a quantity of blood, that the people shouted out to him as he was returning, the testimony of his second baptism, “Saved and washed, saved and washed.” Manifestly he was assuredly saved who had been glorified in such a spectacle. Then to the soldier Pudens he said, “Farewell, and be mindful of my faith; and let not these things disturb, but confirm you.” And at the same time he asked for a little ring from his finger, and returned it to him bathed in his wound, leaving to him an inherited token and the memory of his blood. And then lifeless he is cast down with the rest, to be slaughtered in the usual place. And when the populace called for them into the midst, that as the sword penetrated into their body they might make their eyes partners in the murder, they rose up of their own accord, and transferred themselves whither the people wished; but they first kissed one another, that they might consummate their martyrdom with the kiss of peace. The rest indeed, immoveable and in silence, received the sword-thrust; much more Saturus, who also had first ascended the ladder, and first gave up his spirit, for he also was waiting for Perpetua. But Perpetua, that she might taste some pain, being pierced between the ribs, cried out loudly, and she herself placed the wavering right hand of the youthful gladiator to her throat. Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself had willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit.

O most brave and blessed martyrs! O truly called and chosen unto the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! whom whoever magnifies, and honours, and adores, assuredly ought to read these examples for the edification of the Church, not less than the ancient ones, so that new virtues also may testify that one and the same Holy Spirit is always operating even until now, and God the Father Omnipotent, and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, whose is the glory and infinite power for ever and ever. Amen.

Elucidation.

The avidity with which the Latin controversial writers seize upon this fanciful passage, (which, in fact, is subversive of their whole doctrine about Purgatory, as is the text from the Maccabees,) makes emphatic the utter absence from the early Fathers of any reference to such a dogma; which, had it existed, must have appeared in every reference to the State of the Dead, and in every account of the discipline of penitents. Archbishop Usher ingeniously turns the tables upon these errorists, by quoting the Prayers for the Dead, which were used in the Early Church, but which, such as they were, not only make no mention of a Purgatory, but refute the dogma, by their uniform limitation of such prayers to the blessed dead, and to their consummation of bliss at the Last day and not before. Such a prayer seems to occur in II Timothy 1:18. The context (verses 16-18, and 4:19) strongly supports this view; Onesiphorus is spoken of as if deceased, apparently. But, as Chrysostom understands it, he was only absent (in Rome) from his household. From 1:17 we should infer that he had left Rome.

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-passion-of-the-holy-martyrs-perpetua-and-felicitas-by-tertullian/

Silius, simulacro delle Sante Martiri Perpetua (sx) e Felicita (dx) duranti i festeggiamenti di giugno.

Sante Perpetua e Felicita Martiri

7 marzo

† Cartagine, 7 marzo 203

Chiusa in carcere aspettando la morte, una giovane tiene una sorta di diario dei suoi ultimi giorni, descrivendo la prigione affollata, il tormento della calura; annota nomi di visitatori, racconta sogni e visioni degli ultimi giorni. Siamo a Cartagine, Africa del Nord, anno 203: chi scrive è la colta gentildonna Tibia Perpetua, 22 anni, sposata e madre di un bambino. Nella folla carcerata sono accanto a lei anche la più giovane Felicita, figlia di suoi servi, e in gravidanza avanzata; e tre uomini di nome Saturnino, Revocato e Secondulo. Tutti condannati a morte perché vogliono farsi cristiani e stanno terminando il periodo di formazione; la loro «professione di fede» sarà il martirio nel nome di Cristo. Le annotazioni di Perpetua verranno poi raccolte nella «Passione di Perpetua e Felicita», opera forse di Tertulliano, testimone a Cartagine. (Avvenire)

Etimologia: Perpetua = fede immutabile, dal latino - Felicita = contenta, dal latino

Emblema: Palma

Martirologio Romano: Memoria delle sante martiri Perpetua e Felicita, arrestate a Cartagine sotto l’imperatore Settimio Severo insieme ad altre giovani catecumene. Perpetua, matrona di circa ventidue anni, era madre di un bambino ancora lattante, mentre Felicita, sua schiava, risparmiata dalle leggi in quanto incinta affinché potesse partorire, si mostrava serena davanti alle fiere, nonostante i travagli dell’imminente parto. Entrambe avanzarono dal carcere nell’anfiteatro liete in volto, come se andassero in cielo.

Insieme con san Cipriano, le sante Perpetua e Felicita rientrano nel numero dei martiri africani più illustri della cristianità. Queste due spose e madri subirono il martirio sotto l’Imperatore Settimio Severo insieme a Saturo, Revocato, Saturnino, Secondino. Vibia Perpetua, un’aristocratica e colta matrona di 22 anni, sposa e mamma di un bambino, era con i suoi servi, compagni di martirio, originaria di Thuburbo Minus, antica città dell’Africa proconsolare, l’attuale Tebourba, in Tunisia, terra che nel III secolo era tappezzata di chiese, come risulta dalle mappe storiche, tanto che qui sorsero tre Papi: Vittore I (189-199), Milziade (311-314), Gelasio I (492-496).

Ma con l’invasione degli arabi (VII secolo) venne imposta l’islamizzazione (oggi il 98,6% della popolazione è di religione musulmana); per quest’ultima ragione, fuorché a Cartagine, non si trova più traccia in Africa del culto reso a Perpetua e Felicita, tuttavia esso passò (fra il III e IV secolo) in Italia e in Spagna.

L’anniversario del loro martirio è ricordato nella Depositio martyrum, calendario romano del IV secolo. Tracce della devozione le ritroviamo su di un sarcofago di Bureba (Spagna, metà del IV secolo); inoltre nel corteo trionfale dei martiri presente in Sant’Apollinare Nuovo a Ravenna e nella basilica di Parenzo (città situata sulla costa occidentale della penisola istriana, IV secolo). Infine, i nomi di tutti i membri del gruppo dei martiri compaiono nel Martirologio geronimiano. La prigionia, i preliminari del martirio e il martirio stesso sono narrati nella Passio che viene spesso considerata l’archetipo delle passioni dei martiri cristiani.

La Passio è un documento composito, redatto subito dopo il martirio. È costituito da quattro parti: una prefazione di carattere oratorio (§ 1), seguita da un breve capitolo in cui l’autore anonimo presenta i catecumeni, per dare subito dopo la parola a Perpetua, riproducendo ciò che ella scrisse nel suo Diario di prigionia (§ 2). Questa parte descrive ciò che avvenne dopo l’incarcerazione, gli sforzi di suo padre per allontanarla dalla fede e le quattro visioni che ebbe durante la prigionia (§§ 3-10).

Il racconto si interrompe alla vigilia dei giochi nell’anfiteatro di Cartagine e si conclude con le seguenti parole della santa: «Questo è quello che ho fatto fino alla vigilia dei giochi; quanto a ciò che accadrà durante i giochi stessi, se qualcuno vorrà, lo scriva» (§ 10-15). In seguito troviamo un breve racconto del catechista Saturo, che rivela una sua visione del Paradiso (§§ 11-13).

La quarta e ultima parte descrive i giochi, in cui i cristiani furono messi a morte. Gli studi hanno condotto a presumere che l’originale della Passio sia stata redatta in latino e non in greco (versione ritrovata alla fine del XIX secolo) e che l’autore sia Tertulliano, il quale, senza modificare i racconti personali di Perpetua e di Saturo, li avrebbe intercalati con una parte narrativa (§§ 14-21), inserendo il tutto fra un prologo e un epilogo. Tuttavia lo studioso René Braun ha proposto la tesi che il narratore potrebbe essere il diacono Pomponio, più volte menzionato da Perpetua, nonché suo maestro nella fede.
In tutta la letteratura agiografica non si trovano molti testi ricchi di così spontanea freschezza quanta ne mostra questa Passio. La vita dei martiri nel carcere è descritta in modo esemplare. Poco dopo l’arresto, i catecumeni, ben presto battezzati, sono rinchiusi in una buia segreta di un carcere di Cartagine. Due diaconi, Terzio e Pomponio, si adoperano per alleviare un poco le loro sofferenze. Perpetua, dal canto suo, è torturata non per sé, ma per il suo bambino. Scrive: «Oh giorno terribile! Caldo soffocante provocato dall’affollamento […] mi struggevo di preoccupazione per il mio bambino, lì. Allora Terzio e Pomponio […] pagando una mancia, ci ottennero di essere traferiti per poche ore in una parte migliore del carcere, dove potevamo trovare ristoro. Allora, uscendo dal carcere (sotterraneo) tutti avevano modo di pensare a sé: io allattavo il bambino ormai stremato dall’inedia; preoccupata com’ero per lui, parlavo con mia madre, facevo coraggio a mio fratello, raccomandavo mio figlio. Mi tormentavo proprio perché li vedevo tormentarsi a causa mia. Sopportai tali preoccupazioni per molti giorni e ottenni che il bambino rimanesse con me in carcere; e subito si riprese e fui sollevata dalla pena e dalla preoccupazione […] e il carcere diventò per me all’improvviso una reggia, tanto che preferivo essere lì piuttosto che in qualsiasi altro luogo» (§ 3, 6-9). Questa santa madre che vuole la vita per suo figlio e la morte per sé, non cede alla volontà dell’autorità, che la processa e le chiede di fare sacrifici agli dei, e non soccombe all’apostasia che il padre pagano le propone in tutti i modi.

Delle quattro visioni, la prima è la più ricca di immagini e simboli, di cui si è nutrita la più antica tradizione iconografica. La santa vide una stretta scala di bronzo alta fino al cielo, sui lati della quale c’erano diversi strumenti di ferro: spade, lance, arpioni, coltelli, spiedi. Se la persona non era accorta veniva dilaniata nelle carni. Ai piedi della scala si trovava un serpente gigantesco, pronto ad impedire la salita a chi si avvicinava, ma Perpetua calcò il suo capo come fosse il primo gradino e proseguì per giungere in un immenso giardino, abitato da migliaia di persone vestite di bianco, dove al centro c’era un pastore che, mentre mungeva delle pecore, le diede il benvenuto, poi la chiamò per nome e le offrì un boccone di formaggio che mungeva «e io lo presi con le mani giunte e lo mangiai; e tutti all’intorno dissero: “Amen”. Al suono di quella voce mi svegliai avendo ancora in bocca non so che di dolce. E subito riferii a mio fratello, e comprendemmo che ci sarebbe stata passione e cominciammo a non riporre più alcuna speranza nel mondo» (§ 4, 9-10).

Nell’episodio finale subentra Felicita (forse moglie di Revocato), madre del bimbo che porta in grembo da otto mesi. È profondamente afflitta: teme che il suo martirio possa essere rinviato a causa della gravidanza, infatti la legge romana proibiva l’esecuzione capitale delle donne incinte. Ma dove non può intervenire l’uomo, a chi ha fede, interviene Dio, così due giorni prima dei giochi romani, dove i cristiani saranno dati in pasto alle belve feroci, il gruppo si unisce in preghiera e avviene il miracolo: Felicita dà alla luce una bambina, che una «sorella nella fede allevò come fosse sua figlia» (§ 15,7).

La mattina del 7 marzo lasciano il carcere per entrare nell’arena. Nella Passio l’autore definisce Perpetua matrona Christi (sposa di Cristo), Dei delicata (prediletta di Dio), mentre di Felicita viene detto: «gioiosa di aver partorito senza danno, così da poter combattere contro le fiere, passando dal sangue al sangue, dalla levatrice al reziario [una delle classi gladiatorie dell’antica Roma, ndr], pronta a ricevere, dopo il parto, il bagno di un secondo battesimo» (§ 18,3).

Il coraggio che il Signore diede a Perpetua fu lo stesso che elargì a Felicita, la quale, mentre era nel travaglio del parto, rispose ad un inserviente del carcere che le chiedeva che cosa avrebbe fatto di fronte alle fiere se già adesso lamentava il dolore delle doglie: «Ora sono io a soffrire ciò che soffro; là invece ci sarà in me un altro che soffrirà per me perché anch’io soffrirò per lui» (§ 15,6).

Autore: Cristina Siccardi

Giovanni Gottardi. Martyre de sainte Perpétue et de sainte Félicité. XVIIIe.

Chiusa in carcere aspettando la morte, tiene una sorta di diario dei suoi ultimi giorni, descrivendo la prigione affollata, il tormento della calura; annota nomi di visitatori, racconta sogni e visioni degli ultimi giorni. Siamo a Cartagine, Africa del Nord, anno 203: chi scrive è la colta gentildonna Tibia Perpetua, 22 anni, sposata e madre di un bambino. Nella folla carcerata sono accanto a lei anche la più giovane Felicita, figlia di suoi servi, e in gravidanza avanzata; e tre uomini di nome Saturnino, Revocato e Secondulo. Tutti condannati a morte perché vogliono farsi cristiani e stanno terminando il periodo di formazione; la loro “professione di fede” sarà la morte nel nome di Cristo. Le annotazioni di Perpetua verranno poi raccolte nella Passione di Perpetua e Felicita, opera forse del grande Tertulliano, testimone a Cartagine. Il racconto segnala le pressioni dei parenti (ancora pagani) su Perpetua e su Felicita, che proprio in quei giorni dà alla luce un bambino. Per aver salva la vita basta “astenersi”. Ma loro non si piegano.

Questo accade regnando l’imperatore Settimio Severo (193-211), anche lui di origine africana, che è in guerra continua contro i molti nemici di Roma, e perciò vede ogni cosa in funzione dell’Impero da difendere; e tutto vorrebbe obbediente e inquadrato come l’esercito. Con i cristiani si è mostrato tollerante nei primi anni. Ma ora, in questa visione globale della disciplina, che include pure la fede religiosa, scatena una dura lotta contro il proselitismo cristiano e anche ebraico. Cioè contro chi ora vuole abbandonare i culti tradizionali. Per questo c’è la pena di morte: e morte-spettacolo, spesso, come appunto a Cartagine. Perpetua, Felicita e tutti gli altri entrano nella Chiesa col martirio che incomincia nell’arena, dove le belve attaccano e straziano i morituri. E poi c’è la decapitazione.

Perpetua vive l’ultima ora con straordinarie prove di amore e di tranquilla dignità. Vede Felicita crollare sotto i colpi, e dolcemente la solleva, la sostiene; zanne e corna lacerano la sua veste di matrona, e lei cerca di rimetterla a posto con tranquillo rispetto di sé. Gesti che colpiscono e sconvolgono anche la folla nemica, creando momenti di commozione pietosa. Ma poi il furore di massa prevale, fino al colpo di grazia.

Nei Promessi sposi, il Manzoni ha chiamato Perpetua la donna di servizio in casa di don Abbondio; e il nome di quel personaggio letterario così fortemente inciso è passato poi a indicare una categoria: quella, appunto, delle “perpetue”, addette alla cura delle canoniche. Cesare Angelini, il grande studioso del Manzoni, ritiene che egli abbia tratto quel nome dal Canone latino della Messa, "dov’è allineato con quelli dell’altre donne del romanzo: Perpetua, Agnese, Lucia, Cecilia...".

Autore: Domenico Agasso

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/Detailed/22950.html

De hellige Perpetua og Felicitas av Kartago og deres ledsagere (d. 203)

Minnedag:

7. mars

Den hellige Perpetua eller Vibia Perpetua [Vivia] ble født rundt 180 i Kartago i Nord-Afrika (Africa Proconsularis), i dag ruiner i en forstad til Tunis, hovedstaden i Tunisia. Hun kom fra en adelig familie hvor moren var kristen, mens faren var hedning. Perpetua var hans favorittbarn. En av Perpetuas brødre var allerede kristen, en annen var katekumen som hennes selv, mens en tredje, Dinocrates, var død som syvåring. Perpetua giftet seg med en mann av høy rang, og når denne historien begynner, var hun 22 år og hadde et par måneder tidligere blitt mor til en sønn. Hun kan ha vært enke, for hennes mann nevnes aldri. Den hellige Felicitas (it: Felicita), hennes jevnaldrende slave, var datter av hennes tjenere og gravid i åttende måned. Både Perpetua og Felicitas var katekumener, det vil si at de forberedte seg til dåpen og ble undervist i den kristne tro.

Keiser Septimus Severus (193-211), som opprinnelig kom fra Afrika, var i begynnelsen av sin regjeringstid tolerant overfor de kristne. Men han var i kontinuerlig krig med Romas mange fiender, og hans ønske om indre disiplin ble utvidet til også å gjelde det religiøse området. I 202 utstedte han et edikt som forbød nye konversjoner til kristendommen, og de påfølgende forfølgelsene nådde Afrika året etter. Da ble de to kvinnene begge arrestert sammen med tre andre afrikanske katekumener, Felicitas' mann og medslave Revocatus (it: Revocato), Secundulus (it: Secondulo) og Saturnin (lat: Saturninus; it: Saturnino). De ble først satt i husarrest i et privathus. Deres lærer Saturus (Satur, Satyrus; it: Saturo), som trolig var Saturnins bror, som hadde undervist dem i troen, ville ikke etterlate dem alene og sluttet seg frivillig til dem. Han døpte dem mens de satt i husarrest, og dermed beseglet de sin skjebne. Kort tid etter ble de satt i det vanlige fengslet.

Der var det Perpetua fikk den første av sine drømmer eller visjoner om sin egen martyrskjebne, hvor hun på en stige gikk like inn i himmelen. Hun fikk også besøk av sin forvirrede gamle far, som var hedning og manet henne til å avsverge sin tro av hensyn til slektningene og sitt barn, men hun nektet dette og ville dø som en kristen sammen med sin slavinne. Hun bekymret seg for sitt barn, som til slutt ble tatt fra henne og ført til hennes mor.

De ble forhørt av Hilarion (Hilarianus, Helarianus, Elarianus), provinsens prokurator. Secundulus døde i fengselet før forhøret på grunn av den harde behandlingen de fikk. I rettssaken mot dem ble de alle dømt til døden, og de skulle kastes for de ville dyrene på stadion (ad bestias). Da Perpetua var ført tilbake til fengslet, hadde hun en bemerkelsesverdig visjon om seg selv: Hun ble ført til arenaen, avkledd og forvandlet til en mann, og i en fysisk kamp fikk hun bukt med Satan i skikkelse av en skummelt utseende egypter og trampet på hodet hans.

Saturus hadde også en visjon om sin ankomst til himmelen og de eldste foran Guds trone, og han så seg selv og Perpetua ble ført østover av fire angler til en vakker hage, hvor de møtte fire andre nordafrikanske kristne som hadde lidd martyrdøden i den samme forfølgelsen, nemlig de hellige Jocundus, Saturnin, Artaius og Quintus. Han så også i sin visjon den hellige biskop Optatus av Kartago og presten Aspasius, som mante martyrene til å arrangere en forsoning seg imellom. Saturus fortalte Perpetua om sin visjon, og hun sa: «Jeg var lykkelig da jeg var i live, men nå er jeg enda mer lykkelig».

Hedningene henrettet ikke gravide kvinner, og det plaget Felicitas at hun ikke skulle få følge sin frue til paradis. Men så skjedde underet, hun fødte sitt barn en måned for tidlig. Da hun stønnet under store fødselsveer, ropte fangevokterne: «Du som skriker for de plager du nå kjenner, hvordan skal du tåle den smerte som venter deg når du blir kastet for ville dyr?» Felicitas svarte: «Nå er det jeg som lider, men da skal en annen være i meg og lide for meg». Hun fødte en jente, som straks ble adoptert av en medkristen.

Den 7. mars 203 (eller 202) arrangerte keiseren en rovdyrforestilling på den enorme arenaen i Kartago i anledning fødselsdagen til sin sønn Geta (Publius Septimius Geta) (7. mars 189-26. desember 211), og der skulle de kristne drepes. Secundulus var død i fengselet, så de var fem martyrer som gikk inn på arenaen «med muntre, tapre miner som om de var på vei til himmelen». «Du dømmer oss – Gud vil dømme deg», ropte de til den presiderende prokurator Hilarion. Perpetua kom til slutt, «Kristi sanne brud og Guds yndling; hennes gjennomborende blikk gjorde alles øyne forlegne».

Til de unge mennene som ble angrepet av en leopard, en bjørn og et villsvin, ropte hun «Stå fast i troen! Vær ikke forbauset over våre lidelser». Perpetua og Felicitas ble angrepet av en vill ku, et dyr som vanligvis ikke ble brukt under slike leker, men som var valgt fordi den var av samme kjønn som ofrene. Perpetua ble kastet i været, men var fortsatt i live da hun falt ned. Hun trodde at hun våknet av en dyp søvn, men sårene på kroppen overbeviste henne om hvor hun var. Da hun satte seg opp, hadde kjolen revnet i siden, og hun trakk den over for å dekke låret – hun var mer opptatt av anstendigheten enn av smerten. Deretter satte hun opp sitt tilsjuskete hår med en nål, for det passet seg ikke å møte martyriet med sjusket hår. Ved sitt martyrium over 1300 år senere var den hellige Thomas More (1478-1535) spøkefull og vittig til det siste og ordnet omhyggelig sitt lange skjegg, slik som Perpetua hadde ordnet sitt pjuskete hår på Kartagos arena.

Ingen av dem fem ble drept av de ville dyrene, så det ble bestemt at de skulle få halsen skåret over. Da kysset de hverandre «for at deres martyrium kunne fullendes med fredshilsenen». Til slutt ble hver enkelt drept med sverd gjennom strupen. Et første klossete støt med sverdet var forfeilet og drepte ikke Perpetua. Hun skrek av smerte, men styrte selv sverdet til det andre støtet. «Kanskje kunne en så storsinnet kvinne, som måtte fryktes av den urene ånd, ikke slås i hjel uten at hun selv ville det».

Fortellingen om Perpetuas og Felicitas' lidelse og død sammen med sine fire mannlige lidelsesfeller er kanskje den mest levende og uttrykksfulle autentiske beretning om tidlige martyrer. Passio Sancti Perpetuae et Felicitatis cum sociis earum konsentrerer seg mest om kvinnenes martyrium. Dokumentet ble delvis skrevet av Perpetua selv, delvis av en annen av martyrene, Saturus, og skrevet ferdig etter martyriet av et øyenvitne, en ikke navngitt person, muligens den kjente kirkelederen og forfatteren Tertullian (Quintus Septimius Florente Tertullianus) (ca 160-235), som var fra Kartago. Den ble æret så høyt at den på 300-tallet ble lest høyt i kirkene i Nord-Afrika. Fortellingen fikk stor innflytelse på beretninger om andre martyrier. Fortellingens mulige montanistiske opphav og feministiske synsvinkel hindret ikke at den ble brukt med entusiasme av Augustin og andre kristne forfattere. Over Perpetua og Felicitas' grav ble det senere reist en basilika, Basilica Maiorum. Der ble det i 1907 funnet en inskripsjon til deres ære.

De led og døde altså i Kartago, ikke i Tuburbium Minus (35 kilometer vest for Kartago), som det feilaktig ble hevdet også i Martyrologium Romanum, eller i Tuburbium Maius (seks mil sørvest for Kartago). Dette har gjort at de ofte, men feilaktig har blitt kalt «de tuburbitanske hellige». Dette er i stedet de hellige Maxima, Donatilla og Secunda, som led martyrdøden i Tuburbium Maius under keiserne Valerian (253-60) og Gallienus (253-68), på et tidspunkt da Perpetua og hennes ledsagere allerede ble æret som hellige. Flere kilder hevder imidlertid at Perpetua og Felicitas ble arrestert i Tuburbium Minus før de ble ført til Kartago for henrettelse.

Antakelsen om at de døde i Tuburbium bygger på en setning i en preken av Augustin, men det dreier seg trolig om andre hellige.1

Perpetua og Felicitas nevnes i Canon Romanus eller Den romerske kanon (Eukaristisk bønn I) etter forvandlingen blant de syv kvinner som blir anropt som forbedere i strofen Nobis quoque (Felicitas og Perpetua, Agathe, Lucia, Agnes, Cecilia og Anastasia). Noen mener at det er den hellige Felicitas av Roma som nevnes i Canon og ikke Felicitas av Kartago. De to kvinnene avbildes gjerne sammen mens de tar farvel, med en vill ku mellom seg. Perpetua har mange ganger et barn på skulderen, og hun avbildes også ofte med en himmelstige. Perpetua er avbildet i mosaikker i Ravenna fra 500-tallet, mens åtte episoder fra hennes liv finnes på et alterfrontstykke fra 1300-tallet i Barcelona.

Festen for disse martyrene ble snart svært berømt i hele den kristne verden, og ble nevnt i de eldste romerske og syriske kalendere og i den hellige Hieronymus' martyrologium. Deres fest ble holdt den 7. mars i mange århundrer, men ble en tid flyttet til 6. mars for å gi plass til festen for den hellige Thomas Aquinas. Men i 1970 ble den flyttet tilbake til sin gamle dag, 7. mars. I Østkirken minnes Perpetua og Felicitas den 1. eller 2. februar og 4. mars.

Les den originale beretningen om deres martyrium (engelsk)

1 «Sed dura est, inquis, via: quis per istam ilium sequatur? Erubesce barbare, erubesce; a virtute vir diceris. Feminae secentae sunt, quarnm hodie natalitia celebramus. Feminarum martyrum Tuburbitanaram solemnitatem celebramus.» (Augustin, Opp., ed. Bened. V. 933, Berm. 345, § 6)

Kilder: Attwater (dk), Attwater/John, Attwater/Cumming, Farmer, Bentley, Hallam, Lodi, Butler (III), Benedictines, Delaney, Bunson, Chenu, Engelhart, Schnitzler, Schauber/Schindler, Melchers, Gorys, Dammer/Adam, KIR, CE, CSO, Patron Saints SQPN, Infocatho, Bautz, Heiligenlexikon, Stadler, santiebeati.it, en.wikipedia.org, CIN, CB, fordham.edu - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden - Opprettet: 2000-09-28 21:04 - - Sist oppdatert: 2008-04-09 00:12

SOURCE : https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/perpetua