Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs

Perpetua, a young noblewoman of twenty-two nursing her baby son, and Felicity, a slave who was eight months pregnant, were arrested at Carthage in 203 with several other catechumens. Perpetua kept a diary in prison, which was preserved with the account of their death; it is one of the earliest writings by a Christian woman. She tells of her father, a pagan, begging her to give in, and of the dreams she had in prison.

Felicity gave birth to a daughter two days before the games, and a Christian woman took the child. On 7 March they were led into the amphitheater and attacked by a wild cow; the account tells that Perpetua, still alive, guided the trembling gladiator’s sword to her own throat. Both names are in the Roman Canon of the Mass.