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  • Essay / Perpetua and Felicitas Martyrs of Carthage: A History of...

    The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas gives an account of the final days of a group of Christian martyrs in the Roman African city of Carthage. The historical narrative focuses primarily on its namesake Perpetua, a young mother, and a little on Felicitas, an expectant mother. The text testifies to the strength of their beliefs before their inevitable death. Through the experiences of Perpetua and Felicitas; information can be gleaned from it on early Christian women and mothers, the influence of the Montanists, martyrdom and the place of visions in the church of third-century Carthage. The martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas takes place in 203 AD, on March 7. They were martyred during the military games organized in Carthage for the birthday of Emperor Geta. Carthage is located in North Africa, across the Mediterranean Sea from Sicily. In the third century, Carthage was a Roman city that had a large Christian population including Montanists and Catholics. At this time, in the North African province of Rome's empire, Montanism was becoming more apparent. Montanism was founded by Montanus, although at the time of the martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas the term Montanism was not yet in use. During the third century, followers of Montan were called Cataphrygians and considered themselves prophets and prophetesses. Montanism was a sect of Christianity that claimed to receive prophecies, which they considered to be just as important as the words of Jesus. They freely welcome martyrdom to the point of wanting it. Perpetua was a young catechumen when she and four others were arrested under an edict of Septimius Severus forbidding the conversion of Christians. She was a 22 year old newlywed with a young child when she...... middle of article ......author involvement in the text, the author uses words and expressions like "glorious history…, day of victory", "valiant and blessed martyrs" to mark the great scale of the events in the text. To counter the almost joyful nuances, Perpetua's father seems to introduce the point of view of a non -believing on the martyrs' willingness to die for their God a situation of sorrow and sorrow rather than joy. One of the central events of the text is a chain of visions that Perpetua and some of the others receive. Perpetua had a familiar element, for example familiar faces, like the vision about her brother In Perpetua's final visions and throughout her persecution, the author presents Perpetua as a warrior In the text, the visions. seem to be a welcome element in the Christian society of Carthage. The visions also seem to be a source of answers and comfort for the martyrs..