Saint Perpetua one of the firstmartyr from Africa. Died in Carthage in the year 203 (current Tunisia)
Perpetua is a young patrician, Félicité a young slave.
They had both requested baptism from the bishop of Carthage. The Emperor Septimius Severus having banned Christianity, the group of catechumens, of which they were a part, was arrested, along with Sature, Saturninus, Revocate and Secondulus. For several months, they knew the prison in very harsh conditions, especially as they were uncertain of the exact fate that awaited them.
Relics of Saint Perpetua at Relics.es
Félicité was pregnant and Perpétue, a young bride, was nursing her child. The young woman's father tried in vain to have her sacrificed to the gods in the name of maternal love. As for Félicité, she gave birth to a little girl in her prison. Three days after the birth, she was martyred and the child was adopted by a Christian from the city.
Like their companions, Perpetua and Felicite were delivered to the beasts of the circus, wrapped in a net, and delivered to a furious cow. They drew the pity of the spectators in front of these tortured young mothers. They were finished off by slaughtering them.
According to the acta of their martyrdom, witnesses said: Their face was radiant and of great beauty. He was marked not with fear but with joy.e. »
The cult of the two young women very quickly enjoyed great popularity: their youth, their status as mothers, their courage, the fact that they were catechumens put them at the top of the list of martyrs mentioned in the first Eucharistic prayer of the liturgy. Latin.
They are celebrated by the Churches of the East on February 1st.
Perpetua and Felicity are mentioned in the litany of the saints during the Easter Vigil in the Catholic Church, as well as at the end of Eucharistic prayer number 1, also called the Roman Canon, in the Ordinary of the Mass.
Procession of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity in Carthage on March 7, 1901
According to Berry tradition, therelics of Saint Perpetua, martyred on March 7, 203, were transferred in 439 to Rome, then from there, in 843, by the archbishop of Bourges Raoul to the abbey of Dèvres (or Deuvre), at Saint-Georges-sur-la -Pre. After this abbey was sacked by the Normans in 903, it was transferred to Vierzon in 926, and therelics of Saint Perpetua with her, on the site of the current Hôtel-de-Ville. From there, these relics were again transferred to the Church of Notre-Dame de Vierzon in 1807, where they are kept today. Perpetua is the patron saint of Vierzon and, following her martyrdom, is invoked for the protection of herds of cattle.
