Her Blood Became a Seed of the Church

Vibia Perpetua was in her early twenties when singing a psalm went with joyful and radiant countenance to a martyr’s death.  She and her Christian companions were condemned to be thrown into the arena among wild animals and then to be killed by a gladiator’s sword. But Perpetua had got caught a glimpse of Christ’s sufferings on the Cross and she was not afraid.

Her Story

Perpetua lived in North Africa, at Carthage, where Christians from Rome had brought the Gospel. Vigorous Christian churches were springing up. The Roman emperor Septimus Severus, fearing the rising power of Christianity, issued an edict prohibiting Christians from teaching or making converts. Perpetua and her companions were among the first victims of this edict. The five others who suffered martyrdom with Perpetua were her maid servant, Felicitas, her teacher, Saturus and three fellow Christians. They knew the story of how Paul’s own conversion nearly two centuries earlier had followed soon after Stephen’s martyrdom. They were very confident that their martyrdom would win many like Paul, in the pagan city of Carthage.

Perpetua had been baptized only a short time before she was condemned. There is no record of her husband. It is assumed that he was either dead or had deserted her because she was a Christian. Her aged father came and pleaded her to renounce her faith. She said, “I cannot call myself anything else than I am, a Christian!” Her father threatened to beat her. She remained calm and firm.

While in prison they brought her infant son to her. She wrote: “I suckled my child who was already weak from want of nourishment. In my anxiety for him I spoke to my mother and brother and commended to their care, my son. Immediately I gained strength and being relieved from my anxiety about the child, my prison suddenly became to me a palace.”

When the day of her execution drew near, her father worn out with much suffering, came for the last time and cast himself down before her. She grieved for her unhappy old age. Her child was brought to her for the last time, and she confessed: “God so ordered it that it was no longer required sucking, nor did my milk inconvenience me.”

Felicitas, her maid was eight months old with child. Perpetua and her companions prayed that she be delivered of her child. Her labour pains came upon her a month early. A daughter was born. Felicitas gave her to her sister. Three days later she and Perpetua prepared themselves for death. For their last meal, instead of the meal usually given to condemned prisoners, they celebrated an agape, a religious meal partaken by early Christians in token of love and kindness.

On the day of their execution, the condemned Christians walked to the arena. Perpetua’s face was radiant. Behind her marched Felicitas with Saturus and the three other men. They spoke boldly to the Procurator: “You may judge us, but God will judge you.” This remark infuriated the people and they demanded that Perpetua and her companions be given extra scourges. The men faced the beasts first. They were attacked by a leopard, a bear and a wild boar. Saturus, the teacher was so covered with blood that the spectators cried out in scorn: “He is well baptized!”

Perpetua and Felicitas were thrown into the arena with a savage steer, which attacked Perpetua first. When she saw that Felicitas had been tossed by the infuriated animal, she went to her aid. Then she looked at herself and saw marks of injury on her body, but she felt no pain. She had been given victory over her senses and a consciousness of oneness with God.

During a moment of rest Perpetua asked for her brother and when he appeared, she begged him to stand fast in the faith. The message she asked him to take back to her family was that they must love one another and not allow suffering to keep them from the faith. Again she walked valiantly into the arena, this time to be beheaded. The gladiator was unskilled and gave her only slight wounds. After a cry of pain, she herself directed the gladiator’s sword to her throat and died. Perpetua and her companions met their death in the arena on a day in March, 203 AD, but they live in Christian history as noble martyrs. Because of their courageous spirit and sublime faith, the church grew and many others were attracted to a religion which produced such heroes.

Perpetua recorded her own story until the day before her death. Early church father Tertullian added this postscript: “O most brave and blessed martyrs, your dungeon is full of darkness, but you yourselves are light. Your dungeon has bonds, but God has made you free.”

I highlight Perpetua even among the five here, for taking the lead in their times of persecution. She also took time to write her own story and her companions', for which I think we all remain indebted. She was a leader in a time of adversity and she continues to inspire us!

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrew 12:1-2)


(Note: I have copied lines from Edith Deen’s, “Great Women of the Christian Faith”. Read the same book for more details)