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"In His law he meditates day and night" Psalm 1:2
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Martyrdom – Perpetua and Felicity
Volume 13, Number 15
Wayne Burger |
December 28, 2008 |
Meditating on the Word
"In His law he meditates day and night" Psalm 1:2
"Meditating on the Word," edited by Wayne Burger, is a work of the Columbine church of Christ, 7453 S. Zephyr Ct., Littleton, Colorado, 80128. E-mail: burgpreach@prolynx.com -- Suggested topics are welcomed.
Vol. 13 No. 15 December 28, 2008
Martyrdom – Perpetua and Felicity (Latin – Felicitas)
Taken from The New Encyclopedia Christian Martyrs, complied by Mark Water, pp. 176 – 179.
Date: March 7, 202 (203??) –Carthage (Conflict on the year, p. 176 & 178 – GWB)
Emperor: Septimius Severus
Details in a diary the martyrs kept and a narrative by others:
Name: Vivia (also spelled “Vibia”) Perpetua who was a catechumen (a convert, but not yet baptized)
• Well educated and from a prosperous family
• About 22 years of age
• Married and apparently recently widowed
• She had a baby who was still nursing
• She had two brothers and both parents were living
• Her father was not a Christian
• Felicitas was a slave girl who was advanced in pregnancy
• Along with them Revocatus (also a slave), Saturninus, and Secundus
• They were arrested and placed in a dungeon
• After a few days two deacons visited the prison and by a gift of money to the jailers arranged that those arrested could be moved to a better part of the jail to refresh themselves and that Perpetua could keep her baby with her
• Perpetua had a vision in which she saw a golden ladder, guarded by a fierce dragon, but she climbed it, stepping on he dragon’s head to do so. At the top, she found herself in a green meadow, with many white-robed figures, and in their midst a shepherd, who welcomed her, and gave her a morsel of cheese from the seep-milk. When she awoke she understood the vision to mean that their martyrdom was certain.
Perpetua wrote:
After a few days there was a report that we were to have a hearing in court. And 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 brother, 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.”
I said, “Father, do you see this waterpot lying here?” “I see it,” he said. And I said to him. “Can it be called by any other name than what it is?” And he answered, “No.” “So also I cannot call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.”
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 kindred would have no joy in my death. 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 sorrow.
Then I thanked the Lord for being parted for a few days from my father, and was refreshed by his absence. During these few days we were baptized…
The procurator Hilarian said to me, “Spare your father’s white hairs: spare the tender years of your child. Offer a sacrifice for the safety of the Emperors.” And I answered, “No.” “Are you a Christian!” said Hilarian. And I answered; “I am.” Then he passed sentence on all of us, and condemned us to the beasts.
Her narrative continues:
After a few days, Pudens, an assistant overseer of the prison, began to hold us in high esteem, seeing that God was with us, and he admitted many of the brethren to see us, that we and they might be mutually refreshed.
Perpetua had another vision, in which she saw herself fighting against a gladiator in the arena, and winning. She understood this to signify victory over the devil.
The narrator writes:
Now Felicitas was eight months pregnant, and the law did not allow a pregnant woman to be executed. She was accordingly fearful that her death would be postponed, and instead of dying with her fellow Christians she would be put to death later in the company of some group of criminals. She and her companions accordingly prayed, and Felicity went into labor, with pains normal to an eight-month delivery. And a servant of the jailers said to her, “If you cry out like that 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 Another will be in me, who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer for Him.” Thus she brought forth a little girl, whom a certain sister brought up as her own.
Their death:
The day of their victory shone forth, and they proceeded from the prison to the amphitheater, as if to an assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenance. At the gate, the guards were going to dress them in the robes of those dedicated to Saturn and to Ceres. But that noble-minded woman (Perpetua) said, “We are here precisely for refusing to honor your gods. By our deaths we earn the right not to wear such garments.” The guards recognized the justice of her words, and let them wear their own clothing.
The men of their company were scheduled to be killed by beasts, but the wild boar turned on its keeper instead, and the bear refused to leave its cage. The leopard, however, attacked Saturus and mortally wounded him. He bade farewell to his guard, Pudens, encouraging him to obey God rather than man, and then fell unconscious.
For the young women the Devil made ready a mad heifer, an unusual animal selected for this reason, that he wished to match their sex with that of the beast. And after being stripped and enclosed in nets they were brought into the arena. The people were horrified, beholding in the one a tender girl, in the other a woman fresh from childbirth, with milk dripping from her breasts.
When Perpetua’s turn came to receive the sword, she was struck on the bone and cried out, and herself guided to her throat the wavering hand of the young untried gladiator.
Wayne Burger
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