The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity · §1 · Passion of Perpetua and Felicity

Why new martyrdoms must be written down

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The anonymous editor opens the work by arguing that recent visions and martyrdoms have the same authority as ancient ones.

Ancient examples of faith were set in order in writing because they bear witness to God's grace and build people up. When they are read, the events are made present again, so God is honored and people are strengthened. Why should new evidences not also be set in order when they serve those same two purposes? These new accounts will one day be ancient themselves and necessary for posterity, even if in their own time they are granted less authority because people assume that antiquity deserves reverence. Let those answer for it who judge the one power of the one Holy Spirit by the ages of time, since each newer work, as the latest, should be counted greater, in keeping with the abundance of grace decreed for the final stretches of the age.

For the Lord says in Scripture, "In the last days I will pour out my Spirit on all people, and your sons and daughters will prophesy; I will pour out my Spirit on my servants, both men and women, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams" (Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:17-18; the Latin follows the author's wording). So we recognize and honor prophecies and new visions alike as promised, together with the other powers of the Holy Spirit assigned as equipment for the church. He was sent to the church, administering all his gifts among all people as the Lord assigns to each one. Of necessity we set these accounts in order and celebrate them by reading to God's glory.

We do this so no weakness or despair in faith will suppose that divine grace dwelt only among the ancients, whether shown in the honor given to martyrs or in revelations. For God always does what he promised, for unbelievers for testimony and for believers for benefit. So what we heard and touched we announce also to you, brothers and little children (1 John 1:1-3). Then you who were present will remember the glory of the Lord, and you who now learn by hearing will have fellowship with the holy martyrs, and through them with the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom are glory and honor forever and ever, amen.

Latin

Si uetera fidei exempla, et Dei gratiam testificantia et aedificationem hominis operantia, propterea in litteris sunt digesta, ut lectione eorum quasi repraesentatione rerum et deus honoretur et homo confortetur: cur non et noua documenta aeque utrique causae conuenientia et digerantur? Uel quia proinde et haec uetera futura quandoque sunt et necessaria posteris, si in praesenti suo tempore minori deputantur auctoritati, propter praesumptam uenerationem antiquitatis. Sed uiderint qui unam uirtutem spiritus unius sancti pro aetatibus iudicent temporum: cum maiora reputanda sunt nouitiora quaeque ut nouissimiora, secundum exuperationem gratiae in ultima saeculi spatia decretam. In nouissimis enim diebus, dicit dominus, effundam de spiritu meo super omnem carnem, et prophetabunt filii filiaeque eorum; et super seruos et ancillas meas de meo spiritu effundam: et iuuenes uisiones uidebunt, et senes somnia somniabunt. Itaque et nos, qui sicut prophetias ita et uisiones nouas pariter repromissas et agnoscimus et honoramus, ceterasque uirtutes spiritus sancti ad instrumentum ecclesiae deputatas (cui et missus est idem omnia donatiua administrans in omnibus prout uni cuique distribuit dominus) necessario et digerimus et ad gloriam dei lectione celebramus, ut ne qua aut imbecillitas aut desperatio fidei apud ueteres tantum aestimet gratiam diuinitus conuersatam, siue in martyrum siue in reuelationum dignatione: cum semper deus operetur quae repromisit, non credentibus in testimonium, credentibus in beneficium. Sed nos itaque quod audiuimus et contrectauimus annuntiamus et uobis, fratres et filioli: ut et uos qui interfuistis rememoremini gloriae domini, et qui nunc cognoscitis per auditum communionem habeatis cum sanctis martyribus, et per illos cum domino Iesu Christo: cui est claritas et honor in saecula saeculorum, amen.

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About this text

The prison diary of Perpetua, a young mother of Carthage, with the visions of Saturus and an editor's account of how she, the slave woman Felicity and their companions died in the arena in 203.

This account was put together by Perpetua, Saturus, and an unnamed editor. Perpetua wrote her prison diary in her own hand, Saturus wrote his own vision, and the editor arranged and supplemented their words with a beginning and an end. It is addressed to fellow Christians, called brothers and little children, who will hear or read the account in the church.

It was written because new visions and martyrdoms had occurred. The editor holds that they should be written down and read in church like older examples, so that God is honored and faith is strengthened rather than supposing that grace worked only in the past. He argues that recent prophecies, visions, and martyrdoms carry the same authority as ancient ones because the Holy Spirit was promised for the last days and God still acts for believers and against unbelievers.

The reader will meet Perpetua, Felicity, Revocatus, Saturninus, Secundulus, Saturus, Dinocrates, Hilarianus, Tertius and Pomponius, Pudens, Optatus, and Aspasius, with Perpetua and Saturus speaking in the first person and the editor speaking around them. Here martyrdom means suffering from arrest to execution accepted as faithful witness, vision means sleep vision received as promised revelation, to confess Christ means to declare Christian identity before interrogation, wild beasts means the arena animals and the public execution, public games means the imperial birthday show where the sentence is carried out, baptism covers water baptism and blood as a second cleansing wash, relief means release from prison misery and suffering after death, and the devil is the opponent met as dragon, serpent, Egyptian, and cow. The work cites the last days promise of the Spirit in the form found in Acts, given here as Joel 2:28-29 and Acts 2:17-18, with ancient book and divine names in modern form such as Jesus Christ, Felicity, Revocatus, Ceres, Saturn, and Geta Caesar.

Printed text used

Translated from Oscar von Gebhardt, Acta martyrum selecta (Berlin: A. Duncker, 1902) (Latin)

This work has passed our source check. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Latin on any section, or the Latin source link, to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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