Historical Setting
The martyrdoms took place at Carthage, in Roman North Africa (in present-day Tunisia), under the Emperor Septimius Severus, who reigned from 193 to 211. According to the sources, an imperial decree forbade subjects of the empire, under severe penalty, from becoming Christians. The executions were carried out in the amphitheatre during games, traditionally associated with festivities honoring the birthday of Geta, son of Septimius Severus.
The traditional date of the martyrdom is 203, though some scholars have proposed a later date in the years 209 to 211 on the basis of the references to the imperial birthday celebrations. The Orthodox synaxarion places the commemoration on February 1; in the Western calendars the feast is kept on March 7.
The Companions
Perpetua was a noblewoman of a patrician family of Carthage, well educated and recently married. According to the sources, she came to faith in Christ and was baptized after her arrest, refusing the demands of her father that she recant. Felicitas was an enslaved woman who was pregnant during her confinement and gave birth in prison shortly before the day of execution.
Their fellow martyrs were Saturninus, Revocatus (an enslaved man), and Secundulus, together with Saturus, who is said to have presented himself voluntarily before the magistrates and proclaimed himself a Christian. The synaxarion describes the whole company as catechumens — Christians receiving instruction but not yet baptized when they were seized. The sources record that Secundulus died in prison before the day of the public spectacle.
Imprisonment and the Prison Account
A surviving text known as the Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity preserves what is presented as Perpetua's own prison diary, completed after her death by an editor who added an eyewitness account of the executions. The identity of this editor is uncertain, though some have proposed Tertullian. The work is counted among the most famous of the non-official Acts of the Martyrs and includes material attributed to both Perpetua and Saturus.
In the account Perpetua describes the hardships of confinement — the heat, harsh guards, and the difficulty of nursing her infant son — and relates that after the guards were bribed, conditions improved and she was able to keep her child with her. She also records a series of visions: ascending a perilous ladder set with weapons and confronting a serpent at its foot; and, on the day before her death, an image of spiritual combat in which she overcame an adversary. The text further relates a vision of her deceased brother, who had died of an illness, appearing first in distress and afterward at peace and restored. Saturus is likewise said to have recorded a vision of being carried by angels into a garden.
The Martyrdom
According to the sources, the martyrs were exposed to wild beasts in the amphitheatre and afterward put to death by the sword. The account relates that Perpetua took an active part in her own death, guiding the executioner's sword to her throat. Felicitas, having given birth only shortly before, suffered together with her.
Veneration and Legacy
A basilica known as the Basilica Maiorum was raised over the tomb of the martyrs at Carthage, where an ancient inscription bearing their names has been found. The names of Perpetua and Felicitas were commemorated by name in the Roman Canon of the Mass, and they appear in the fourth-century Philocalian Calendar, witnessing to the antiquity and breadth of their veneration.
Perpetua's prison account is regarded as one of the oldest texts authored by a Christian woman. The martyrs are honored across Christian traditions: in the Orthodox Church on February 1, and in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran calendars on March 7.
