​Perpetua was a 23 year old young lady who was martyred for her Christian faith in 203 AD in Carthage (in present day Tunisia). Her story is unique among the early martyrs in two ways; it is the most detailed description we have of a female martyr, and we know it in her own words. The diary gives an account of her experience together with her beliefs and motivations. She smuggled it out of her captivity shortly before she was executed, and someone else (Tertullian?) completed it giving an account of her public torture and execution.
 

​Perpetua was a member of a well-to-do noble family and was married with an infant child. She had a strong Christian faith and faced martyrdom by choice. They came to arrest her slave Felicitas for being a Christian, and Perpetua insisted on being arrested also, much to the chagrin of her non-Christian father. Even during her imprisonment, Perpetua could have avoided martyrdom by acknowledging the Roman gods, which her father urged her to do. The Romans basically had a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude towards Christians at the time; they allowed people to practice their own religions as long as they recognized the official Roman gods by attending one of the large public sacrifices. Perpetua refused. On the final day Perpetua and Felicitas courageously walked into the arena where they were to be the victims of an angered bull. The bull gored them both, but at the end, Perpetua remained alive. A Roman soldier then tried to execute her with his sword, but he missed and hit her shoulder. Perpetua then placed her hands on his to help guide the sword to her throat.

​ Her’s is a story of a courageous act of Christian witness. It was reported that many in the crowd admired the courage of Felicitas and Perpetua, and church tradition holds that some of her jailors were converted because of her witness.  The first recorded martyr in the Bible is Stephen.  To learn about the martyrdom of Stephen, which played a role in the conversion of Paul, read Acts 7:1-60, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

 Jim