The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity (203)

A young mother’s prison diary: one of the earliest surviving texts written by a Christian woman.

In the year 203, in Carthage in North Africa, a 22-year-old noblewoman named Vibia Perpetua and her enslaved companion Felicity were arrested for becoming Christians. Perpetua kept a diary in prison, recording her visions and her struggles with her father, who begged her to give up her faith.

An editor completed the account after the two women died in the arena. Perpetua and Felicity are still remembered by name in the Catholic Mass today.

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