Perpetua and Felicity

Vibia Perpetua was born around 182, likely in Carthage in Roman North Africa, into a noble and educated family. Recently married and still nursing her infant son, she embraced Christ as a catechumen despite her father’s pleading that she renounce the faith. Arrested with fellow catechumens—among them Felicity, a slave who was pregnant—Perpetua was baptized and then confined in a harsh prison, where she endured heat, cruelty, and the anguish of separation from her child. In her own moving account, she describes visions that strengthened her courage, revealing that her coming trial was not only against beasts but against the Evil One. In 203, Perpetua and Felicity, along with their companions, were condemned to die in the public games at Carthage, offering their lives as a radiant witness to the Gospel. Honored from the earliest centuries and named in the Roman Canon, they are venerated as patrons of mothers, expectant mothers, and those facing difficult childbirth. Their feast day is March 7.