Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saints Perpetua and Felicity, 03-07-17

FranciscanMedia.org ^ | 03-07-17 | Fr. Don Miller, OFM

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Fr. Don Miller, OFM

Image: Mary and Child with Saints Felicity and Perpetua (Sacra Conversazione) | Anonymous

Saints Perpetua and Felicity

Saint of the Day for March 7

(d. 203)

 

Saints Perpetua and Felicity’s Story

“When my father in his affection for me was trying to turn me from my purpose by arguments and thus weaken my faith, I said to him, ‘Do you see this vessel—waterpot or whatever it may be? Can it be called by any other name than what it is?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘So also I cannot call myself by any other name than what I am—a Christian.’”

So writes Perpetua: young, beautiful, well-educated, a noblewoman of Carthage in North Africa, mother of an infant son and chronicler of the persecution of the Christians by Emperor Septimius Severus.

Perpetua’s mother was a Christian and her father a pagan. He continually pleaded with her to deny her faith. She refused and was imprisoned at 22.

In her diary, Perpetua describes her period of captivity: “What a day of horror! Terrible heat, owing to the crowds! Rough treatment by the soldiers! To crown all, I was tormented with anxiety for my baby…. Such anxieties I suffered for many days, but I obtained leave for my baby to remain in the prison with me, and being relieved of my trouble and anxiety for him, I at once recovered my health, and my prison became a palace to me and I would rather have been there than anywhere else.”

Despite threats of persecution and death, Perpetua, Felicity–a slavewoman and expectant mother–and three companions, Revocatus, Secundulus and Saturninus, refused to renounce their Christian faith. For their unwillingness, all were sent to the public games in the amphitheater. There Perpetua and Felicity were beheaded, and the others killed by beasts.

Felicity gave birth to a girl a few days before the games commenced.

Perpetua’s record of her trial and imprisonment ends the day before the games. “Of what was done in the games themselves, let him write who will.” The diary was finished by an eyewitness.

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Reflection

Persecution for religious beliefs is not confined to Christians in ancient times. Consider Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who with her family, was forced into hiding and later died in Bergen-Belsen, one of Hitler’s death camps during World War II. Anne, like Perpetua and Felicity, endured hardship and suffering and finally death because she committed herself to God. In her diary, Anne writes, “It’s twice as hard for us young ones to hold our ground, and maintain our opinions, in a time when all ideals are being shattered and destroyed, when people are showing their worst side, and do not know whether to believe in truth and right and God.”

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Saint Felicity is the Patron Saint of:

Widows
Mothers of Deceased Sons

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Feel free to post information about other saints who might also celebrate a feast day today.

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Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saints Perpetua and Felicity, 03-07-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Mary Ann of Jesus of Paredes, 03-06-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint John Joseph of the Cross, 03-05-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Casimir, 03-04-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, Saint Katharine Drexel, 03-03-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, St. Agnes of Bohemia, 03-02-17
Day by Day -- Saints for All, St. David of Wales, 03-01-17

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Saint of the Day Lenten Series Ping!

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Perpetua

Posted by: Saints Posted in: March Comments: 0

Saint Perpetua

Feast Day: March 7
Canonized: Pre-Congregation

In the Opening Prayer on March 7 we pray, “Father, your love gave the saints Perpetua and Felicity courage to suffer a cruel martyrdom. By their prayers, help us to grow in love of you” (Sacramentary).

Perpetua and Felicity lived in Carthage, Africa, during a time of the persecution of Christians. Both women were catechumens who were preparing for their initiation into the Christian community. They were arrested and sentenced to death. While they were in prison, they were baptized and received new life in Christ. Perpetua kept a diary while in prison that tells us about her life and death.

Perpetua came from a wealthy family. Her father was a pagan and begged her to give up her faith. Perpetua told him that she would not lie about her belief in Jesus. Her father came and collected her infant son from the prison before his mother was put to death. Felicity was a slave who worked in Perpetua’s house. She gave birth to a daughter shortly before she was killed, and the child was adopted by a Christian.

The women were executed in the year 203, mauled by wild animals and then killed by a gladiator. Their faith was such an example that one of their guards became a Christian because of them.

The Church honors Perpetua and Felicity as saints. Their example reminds us to thank God for making us his children in the sacrament of Baptism. We pray for the grace and faith to live our faith each day.

[Melian]

St. Perpetua and St. Felicity, pray for us.

[Biggirl]

Amen.

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Perpetua and her Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, March 7, 202
The Passion Of Saints Perpetua And Felicity [MARTYRS] [Repost]
St.Perpetua: The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity

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Thursday, March 7, 2019

: St. Thomas Aquinas, CD Thursday, March 7, 2019 SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS Doctor of the Church (1225-1274) The great Saint Thomas was born of noble parents at Aquino near Naples in Italy, in 1225; his century was replete with great names and Christian works, yet he dominates it by the power of his thought and the perfection of his works. In his childhood he was the provider for the poor of the neighborhood during a famine; his father, meeting him in a corridor with the food he had succeeded in taking from the kitchen, asked him what he had under his cloak; he opened it and fresh roses fell on the ground. The nobleman embraced his son and amid his tears, gave him permission to follow thereafter all inspirations of his charity. The young student, like the holy man Job, made a pact with his eyes and forbade them to see anything which might favor in his heart any desires for a life of ease. At the University of Naples he led a retired life of study and prayer, and continued his charities, giving all he had which was superfluous. He was recognized already by his professors as a genius, but it was Saint Albert the Great who later said of his disciple whom some called "the mute ox", that "some day the lowing of this ox will resound throughout the entire world." At the age of seventeen he received the Dominican habit at Naples. His family opposed this choice, and he was set upon by his brothers on his way to Paris. They attempted in vain to remove his holy habit, but he was taken in custody and obliged to suffer a two years' captivity in their castle of Rocca Secca. Neither the caresses of his mother and sisters, nor the threats and stratagems of his brothers, could shake him in his vocation. His older sister was won over by him and renounced a brilliant marriage to embrace religious life; later she was Abbess of her convent in Capua. While Saint Thomas was in confinement at Rocca Secca, his brothers endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of his purity. Snatching from the hearth a burning coal, the Saint drove from his chamber the courtesan whom they had concealed there. Then marking a cross upon the wall, he knelt down to pray. Immediately, while he was rapt in ecstasy, an Angel girded him with a cord, in token of the gift of perpetual chastity which God had given him. The pain caused by the girdle was so sharp that Saint Thomas uttered a piercing cry, which brought his guards into the room. But he never related this grace to anyone save Father Raynald, his confessor, a short time before his death. Thus originated the Confraternity of the Angelic Warfare, for the preservation of the virtue of chastity. Having at length escaped, Saint Thomas went to Cologne to study under Blessed Albert the Great, and afterwards was sent with him to Paris, where for several years he taught philosophy and theology. The Church has ever venerated his numerous writings as a treasure of sacred doctrine; in naming him the Angelic Doctor she has indicated that his science is more divine than human. The rarest gifts of intellect were combined in him with the most tender piety. Prayer, he said, had taught him more than study. His singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament shines forth in the Office and hymns which he composed for the feast of Corpus Christi. To the words miraculously uttered by a crucifix at Naples, "Well hast thou written concerning Me, Thomas. What shall I give thee as a reward?" he replied, "Naught save Thyself, O Lord." Saint Thomas was loved for his unfailing gentleness and his readiness to lend his services or great lights to all who sought them. He died at Fossa Nuova in 1274, on his way to the General Council of Lyons, to which Pope Gregory X had summoned him. Reflection. The knowledge of God is for all, but hidden treasures are reserved for those who have ever followed the Lamb.