Young mother martyred at Carthage in North Africa in 203. Her own prison account has come down to us.
Life
Perpetua was a young mother from an educated family in Carthage, North Africa. In 203, under Emperor Septimius Severus, she was arrested with fellow catechumens and was baptized in prison. She had a nursing infant, and her father came again and again, begging her to renounce her faith.
She wrote down her own experiences and visions in prison, and this account, with additions by others, survives as the Passion of Perpetua and Felicity. With Felicity and their companions she was exposed to wild beasts in the arena and then killed by the sword. The names of both women appear in the Roman Canon.
Spirituality
Perpetua's spirituality is a Christian identity held even at the cost of what was dearest. She recorded that she told her father that just as a water jug cannot be called by any other name, she could not be called anything but a Christian. Even in fear she experienced, through her visions, the peace God gives.
Reflection
Perpetua held fast to her name: "I am a Christian." Where today can I show, without shame, that I am a Christian?