St. Perpetua was an awe-inspiring woman who valued her faith in God more than her own life. She happily went to her death as a martyr rather than pretend not to believe in Christ.
Normally, we do not have much information about Saints who lived so long ago (almost 2,000 years!), but St. Perpetua kept a diary at the end of her life. Someone who was there when she died added the story of her death to the diary. We can still read the words of this great Saint today.
Perpetua lived in Carthage, Africa, which is now called Tunis, Tunisia. At the time of her arrest, she was married and had a baby boy. She was arrested with four others who were studying to be baptized in the Christian faith. The prison was crowded, dark, and hot, but Perpetua was tortured most because she was separated from her son, whom she was still nursing.
Perpetua’s father tried many times to convince her to change her mind and just say that she no longer believed in God, but Perpetua would not deny her faith. In her diary, she shared one story of a conversation they had one day:
'Father,' said I, 'do you see this vase here, for example, or waterpot or whatever?'
'Yes, I do', said he.
And I told him: 'Could it be called by any other name than what it is?'
And he said: 'No.'
'Well, so too I cannot be called anything other than what I am, a Christian.'
Despite her father’s desperate attempts to get Perpetua to change her mind, she would not.
Due to the kindness of some deacons, the Christians were moved to a better part of the prison and allowed visitors. Perpetua’s mother brought her son to see her. The baby had not eaten since her arrest, but Perpetua was able to feed her son and got permission to keep the boy with her in prison. Once she was no longer worried about her son, Perpetua was joyful to be in prison and to suffer for her faith.
She was not afraid because she knew that her death would lead her to heaven. In a dream, she saw a vision of a tall ladder which lead all the way to heaven. Next to the ladder were weapons of all kinds and there was a dragon at the bottom. To reach the top of the ladder, one had to climb with their eyes fixed on the top, on heaven. If someone stopped looking towards heaven, they would be injured by the weapons. This vision confirmed for Perpetua that she would die the death of a martyr, but if she kept her faith and her eyes fixed on God, she would reach heaven without pain.
Perpetua gave her son to her brother to raise and prepared for her death. She spent her last days in joy, preparing not for death, but for new life in heaven. Even as she and her companions walked to the area where they would be killed, they proclaimed the love of God and the need for His mercy. Perpetua even sang a hymn as she walked to her own death.
The martyrs were led in front of a crowd and wild animals were brought to attack them, but the animals did not kill them. After being attacked by a cow, Perpetua asked when she was to be tortured. She had not felt any pain from the animal’s attack or even been aware that it was near her. God had protected her from this pain. Perpetua and her companions continued to encourage other Christians even to the moment of their deaths, saying:
You must all stand fast in the faith and love one another,
and do not be weakened by what we have gone through.
In the end, Perpetua even helped guide the hand of the soldier who killed her after he failed in his first try. The Christians who witnessed this said that Perpetua’s faith was so strong, that the devil could not beat her and she would only die when she was willing.
St. Perpetua is remembered today, along with one of her companions, St. Felicity, in the first Eucharistic Prayer. The devotion to this great Saint is still strong after many centuries.