Martyrs (d. ca. 203)
Their story
+ Saints Perpetua and Felicity suffered martyrdom during the persecution ordered by the emperor Septimus Severus in Carthage, North Africa.
+ The women were both young mothers. Along with four other companions they were beheaded after being mauled by wild animals around the year 203.
+ The account of the martyrdom of these saints is one of the most important documents that has come down to us from the early Church and devotion to Perpetua and Felicity was widespread. Saint Perpetua is mentioned in the First Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass. It seems, however, that the Felicity who is mentioned is probably a Roman martyr from the year 162.
For prayer and reflection
“Bravest and happiest martyrs! You were called and chosen for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”—Saint Thomas More
Spiritual bonus
On this day we also the martyrs Blessed Luc Sy and Blessed Maisam Pho Inpèng. Both were married layman who were killed in Den Din, Vientiane, Laos, on March 7, 1970, during the anti-religious persecutions of the Pathet Lao Theravada Buddhist-communist political movement. They were beatified with other martyrs from Laos in 2016.
Prayer
O God, at the urging of whose love
the Martyrs Saints Perpetua and Felicity
defied their persecutors and overcame the torment of death,
grant, we ask, by their prayers, that we may ever grow in your love.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.
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