Saints Perpetua and Felicity

In 203, under Emperor Septimius Severus, a group of catechumens was arrested in Carthage, in North Africa. Among them were Vibia Perpetua, a 22-year-old noblewoman nursing her baby son, and Felicity, a slave who was eight months pregnant. With them were Revocatus, Saturninus, Secundulus and their teacher Saturus. They were baptized in prison, and Perpetua refused the tearful pleas of her pagan father to sacrifice to the gods.

Perpetua kept a prison diary describing her visions and her struggle, which survives in the Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, one of the oldest Christian texts written by a woman. Felicity gave birth to a daughter two days before the games, and the baby was adopted by a Christian woman. On March 7, 203, they were exposed to wild beasts in the arena and then put to the sword. Their names are recited in the Roman Canon of the Mass.

Their names are prayed in Eucharistic Prayer I, so their memory is alive in every Mass that uses it. Many mothers, especially new and expectant mothers, ask their intercession, and women's groups often read passages of Perpetua's diary on this day.