The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity

03/12/21 • 37 min

“Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself had willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit.”

This is the first-hand account of the events leading up to and including the martyrdom of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, documented by Perpetua herself while in prison. Alongside her testimony is another text written by one of her companions, Saturus, as well as an eyewitness account of the executions themselves.

Originally written in Latin, the document is considered to have been at least edited by Tertullian, though whether he composed the narrator portions himself or not remains unknown.

Additional narration provided by Karina Majewski.

Links

Full text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1678&repos=8&subrepos=0&searchid=2097575#

Way of the Fathers Ep. 15—Perpetua: A Rare Female Voice from Antiquity https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/perpetua-rare-female-voice-from-antiquity/

Catholic Culture Audiobooks: The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/martyrdom-st-polycarp/

SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268

DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio

“Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself had willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit.”

Originally written in Latin, the document is considered to have been at least edited by Tertullian, though whether he composed the narrator portions himself or not remains unknown.

Additional narration provided by Karina Majewski.

Links

Full text at CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/view.cfm?recnum=1678&repos=8&subrepos=0&searchid=2097575#

Way of the Fathers Ep. 15—Perpetua: A Rare Female Voice from Antiquity https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/perpetua-rare-female-voice-from-antiquity/

Catholic Culture Audiobooks: The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/martyrdom-st-polycarp/

SUBSCRIBE to Catholic Culture Audiobooks https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/catholic-culture-audiobooks/id1482214268

DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Previous Episode

Joseph Ratzinger - What Will the Church Look Like in 2000?

"The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already... but the Church of faith."

In 1969, Fr. Joseph Ratzinger gave a radio address in which he made some predictions for the Church heading into the new millennium. The notion often attributed to him that the church would become “smaller and purer” is derived from this speech.

Interestingly, the phrase “smaller and purer”—often misconstrued to suggest that Ratzinger wanted to drive people away from the Church—does not actually occur anywhere in the address. Instead, Ratzinger states that the Church of tomorrow will be “a more spiritualized and simplified Church.” Far from driving people away, this Church, sifted through the crucible of trials, will be discovered by those outside of it as something wholly new and attractive.

To cast into the future this way, Ratzinger looks to the time of Enlightenment—the historical moment which Ratzinger sees as most analogous to the times in which the Church finds herself today. “It is precisely in times of vehement historical upheaval,” Ratzinger writes, “that men need to reflect upon history.”

Links

Joseph Ratzinger - Aspects of Christian Meditation audiobook: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/joseph-ratzinger-aspects-christian-meditation/

Next Episode

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet - St. Joseph: A Man after God's Own Heart

“Joseph merited the greatest honors because he was never touched by honor. The Church has nothing more illustrious, because it has nothing more hidden.”

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet was a seventeenth-century French theologian and bishop. During his life, he was highly regarded for that for which today he is still most remembered: his preaching. His style and accomplishment as an orator has seen him numbered among the likes of Augustine and Chrysostom—two of the Church’s greatest preachers—and the most celebrated of his written works, Discourse on Universal History, has been favorably compared to Augustine’s own City of God. St. Junipero Serra and Pope Pius XII are included among those who cherished Bossuet’s writings, the latter of whom kept a copy of Bossuet by his bedside table.

For all his fame as an orator and French stylist, however, Bossuet was also a man of great love for the study of Sacred Scripture, and for devotion to retirement and the interior life. It was only at the urging of St. Vincent de Paul (under whose spiritual direction Bossuet had prepared for the priesthood) that he moved to Paris and devoted himself entirely to preaching in the first place.

Though he would eventually go on to become the court preacher of Louis XIV, Bossuet continued to esteem hiddenness. In today’s reading, Bossuet observes: “The Christian life should be a hidden life, and the true Christian should ardently desire to remain hidden under God’s wing.”

Indeed, it is Joseph’s hiddenness that Bossuet recognizes is most essential to his greatness. Bossuet’s reflections here have fresh significance today, in our modern prestige economy played out on the Internet and in social media.

May Bossuet—among the best of preachers—convict us with his words; and may St. Joseph—the best of Teachers—teach us to be hidden.

St. Joseph, pray for us!

Links

St. Joseph: A Man after God's Own Heart full text: https://catholicexchange.com/saint-joseph-man-gods-heart

Meditations for Lent, Sophia Institute Press: https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/meditations-for-lent

Donate at: http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio