Память святой мученицы Перпетуи и с нею святых юношей Сатира, Ревоката, Саторнила, Секунда и святой Филицитаты жены

Saint Perpetua came from a noble family and lived in the city of Carthage in 1106. She secretly received holy baptism from her pagan father and, despite his tearful requests and admonitions, remained unshakable in the true faith. At twenty-two years old, Perpetua was widowed, having in her arms an infant child whom she herself fed. Her brother Satyr, the maid Philicitatus and the young men: Revokat (servant), Satornilus and Secundus (of noble rank) were also preparing to receive holy baptism. All of them, together with Perpetua, were taken by pagan judges and imprisoned in a close prison. The father of Saint Perpetua, who appeared here, tried to shake the firmness of her faith, arousing in the martyr love for her infant child; but love for Christ was in Saint Perpetua above all earthly affections. Before her suffering, Saint Perpetua was granted the following vision 1107, which she herself described while in prison. “I saw,” says Saint Perpetua, “a golden staircase, extremely high, which reached from earth to heaven; it was so narrow that it was hardly possible to climb it alone; the sides of this staircase were hung and studded with sharp swords, knives, spears, daggers, nails, hooks and similar sharp objects. At the lower end of the stairs lived a terrible serpent, ready to rush at those who attempted to climb it. Not paying attention to this serpent, the Satyr fearlessly entered the stairs first. Having successfully reached the very last step, he turned to me with these words: “Perpetua! I am waiting for you, but beware that the serpent does not devour you." “I’m not afraid of him,” Perpetua answered him. And immediately I decided in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to go up the stairs. Approaching the stairs, she first of all stepped on the head of the serpent, as if on the first step. And when she climbed to the top of the stairs, she saw beautiful heavenly villages and many inhabitants in them. When Saint Perpetua told her companions about this vision, they all understood it as a prediction about their suffering deed. From that time on, they completely renounced earthly attachments and focused all their thoughts on eternity. After much suffering in prison, the holy martyrs were finally condemned to death. The young men were thrown to be torn to pieces by wild animals in the circus 1108, and a wild and mad cow was released on the holy women Perpetua and Filicitata so that it could gore them with its horns. But the beasts did not tear the holy martyrs to pieces, and therefore they were all beheaded with swords and knives. When they slaughtered Saint Perpetua, the hand of the executioner for a long time could not get into her larynx; then Perpetua herself brought his sword to her neck and thus courageously died for Christ 1109. Carthage is the oldest famous Phoenician colony in northern Africa, which in ancient times reached the highest degree of power and was destroyed in 146 BC; on the ruins of ancient Carthage, under the first Roman emperors, a new Carthage arose, which existed with great splendor for a very long time. In Carthage, the pagan Greco-Roman cult with all its superstitions was very developed. Records of suffering were kept in prison by the holy martyrs themselves: Perpetua and Satyr. The rest is completed by an eyewitness and for eyewitnesses; for it is said: “And we proclaim to you, brothers and sisters, what we heard and saw with our eyes, so that you who were present may remember again for the glory of God.” One of the martyrs, Secundus, died in prison. All these martyrs died around the year 203. You might be interested in: