The Word Among Us

Easter 2004 Issue

Finding Friends in an Unlikely Place

Life lessons from Sts. Perpetua and Felicity.

By: Hallie Riedel

"Holy martyrs, Perpetua and Felicity, pray for us." Many times in my life, I have heard Perpetua and Felicity mentioned in litanies of saints and prayers of the Church. Until recently, though, I never gave them much thought. I did have a vague sense that these two women—martyrs of the early church—must have been important to be singled out. But they seemed so distant and exalted, so far removed from my ordinary life as a wife and a mother of four young children. How could I possibly relate?

Then I came across the description of their martyrdom and the events that led up to it. Dating from the early third century, this...

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