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
“The souls of the Saints are rejoicing in heaven,
the Saints who followed the footsteps of Christ,
and since for love of him they shed their blood,
they now exult with Christ for ever.”—Entrance Antiphon for the Mass of Ss. Perpetua and Felicity
Spiritual bonus
On this day we also remember the Discalced Carmelite mystic Saint Teresa Margaret Redi. A member of the Carmel of Saint Teresa in Florence, Italy, she became known for her gifts of healing. Guided throughout her short life by her favorite phrase from Scripture—“God is love”—Saint Teresa Margaret died on March 7, 1770, at the age of twenty-two, and was canonized in 1934.
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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