Perpetua, in full Vibia
Perpetua (born c.
182—died March
7, 203, feast day March 7,Carthage [now a residential suburb of Tunis,
Tunisia]) Christian martyr who wroteThe
Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, a journal recounting
her trial and imprisonment that was continued by a contemporary who described
Perpetua’s death in the arena. Both her martyrdom and its account have been
highly revered by ancient and modern Christians. Her text is one of the rare
surviving documents written by a woman in the ancient world.
Carthage in the 2nd century ad had a vibrant Christian community that
included the Church Father Tertullian. Among those
drawn to the growing church was a young mother, Perpetua, the daughter of a
prosperous provincial family. Sometime after 201, the Roman emperor Septimius Severus forbade conversion to Christianity or Judaism, and in 203 the governor of
Carthage, Hilarian, enforced this edict. Perpetua and four companions were
arrested. In clear violation of the emperor’s edict, all five were catechumens(people
preparing for baptism). Another Christian voluntarily joined the small group.
The six were tried, refused to renounce their faith, and were condemned to death
in the arena.
Perpetua began her diary with an account of her imprisonment and
continued it with descriptions of her trial and her father’s impassioned but
fruitless plea for her to renounce her Christian identity. Most of Perpetua’s
text concerns her prison dreams (which she believed were prophetic) offering
visions of her entry into heaven, her deceased younger brother Dinocrates, and
her ordeal in the arena. On the evening before her scheduled death, Perpetua
gave her diary to another Christian, who then continued the story of the
martyrdom of Perpetua and her fellow Christians. He described how one of
Perpetua’s companions—the pregnant slave Felicity—gave birth while in prison; he
also wrote of the young Christians’ bravery in the arena when they were attacked
by wild beasts and, finally, of Perpetua’s voluntary acceptance of death by the
sword.
Perpetua’s diary was read annually in Carthage’s churches for centuries.
It was so influential that it was praised by orthodox Christians and
heretical Montanists alike, and 200 years later the Church
Father Augustine (354–430) wrote sermons commenting on the
young martyr’s words. Perpetua’s text, with its powerful, personal voice,
continues to draw readers. Britannica.
