The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity · §12 · Passion of Perpetua and Felicity

Clothed in white and kissed before the throne

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Saturus continues his own vision as the angels bring the martyrs inside to greet the Lord.

We drew near to a place whose walls looked as though they were built of light. At its doorway four angels met us as we entered and dressed us in white robes. Once inside, we heard a single voice crying without pause, “Holy, holy, holy” (Isaiah 6:3) (Revelation 4:8). Seated in that same place was one who looked like a white-haired man, with hair white as snow and a young face, though we could not see his feet. Four elders stood at his right and his left, and behind them a great many other elders.

We came forward in awe and stood before the throne, and the four angels lifted us up. We kissed him, and he passed his hand across our faces. Then the other elders said to us, “Let us stand for prayer.” So we stood and made peace with one another, and the elders said to us, “Go and play.”

At that I said to Perpetua, “You have what you want.” She answered me, “Thanks be to God. As I was cheerful in the body, so I am more cheerful here and now.”

Latin

Et uenimus prope locum, cuius loci parietes tales erant quasi de luce aedificati; et ante ostium loci illius angeli quattuor introeuntes uestierunt nos stolas candidas. Et introiuimus, et audiuimus uocem unitam dicentem: Agios, agios, agios, sine cessatione. Et uidimus in eodem loco sedentem quasi hominem canum, niueos habentem capillos et uultu iuuenili, cuius pedes non uidimus. Et in dextera et in sinistra eius seniores quattuor, et post illos ceteri seniores conplures. Introiuimus cum admiratione et stetimus ante thronum, et quattuor angeli subleuauerunt nos, et osculati sumus illum, et de manu sua traiecit nobis in faciem. Et ceteri seniores dixerunt nobis: Stemus ad orationem. Et stetimus et pacem fecimus. Et dixerunt nobis seniores: Ite et ludite. Et dixi Perpetuae: Habes quod uis. Et dixit mihi: Deo gratias, ut, quomodo in carne hilaris fui, hilarior sim et hic modo.

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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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