When her father “kept trying to dislodge from beliefs,” Perpetua pointed to a small pitcher, asking him, “Is it able to be called by any other name other than what it is?” Her father, seeing her logic, answered “No.” She said, “I too cannot call myself by any other name other than what I am, a Christian.” Endurance of the flesh He persisted in thinking he could persuade Perpetua out of her faith, but for her, being a Christian was an identity. We don’t know who turned in Perpetua and her fellow catechumens, but it may have been someone close to her, like her father. Perpetua was well-educated and well-married, but her choice to confess the Christian faith caused conflict in her family.
Vibia Perpetua, the diarist, was a young noblewoman in Carthage, which was in the Roman Empire in North Africa (modern-day Tunisia). The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas is a diary, with additions by an editor, telling the story of a martyrdom in 203 ACE. Peter quoted it in his sermon in Acts 2, and so did the editor of the first text written by a Christian woman. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days I will pour out my spirit” (Joel 2:28-29). Remember that you are dust.Īt our Ash Wednesday service, we heard a reading from Joel: “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
One ancient text from the church demonstrates this with special power. Our bodies, dust though they are, are not too humble for the Lord to love. We feel differently, taking communion from handmade earthen vessels and ash on our foreheads. We taste differently, with a wafer instead of bread. We hear differently, with more silence in worship and a crotalus (the wooden knocker) instead of bells. We see differently, with a new crucifix and different colors around the nave. In Lent, we remember our bodies are a place where we can encounter the Lord.
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