What's in a Name?

Today is the feast day of Perpetua & Felicitas. 

Their story of fidelity and martyrdom is among the most eloquent in the Christian canon. They were martyred in the year 203, just after Polycarp and Justin Martyr, for insisting that they were members of the new family of Christians. 

As the story goes, Perpetua, a young (in her 20's) woman of noble blood and bearing, and her pregnant slave, Felicitas, were arrested for refusing to proclaim allegiance to the emperor, insisting on their intractable fidelity instead to Christ. Their crime was the refusal to call themselves anything other than Christians. And it is possible that this is where Shakespeare got Romeo's line about a rose being just as sweet by any other name. For when Perpetua's father came to see her in prison and asked her to call herself something other than a Christian in order that she might avoid the sentence of death, Perpetua pointed to a vase on the table. And she asked her father for its name. And her father said "it is a vase." And she responded that no matter what he called the vase, it would still be a vase.....and she would still be a Christian. 

This is a story of ridiculous, outrageous, unfathomable faith and courage and integrity.  It is hard to imagine in this day and age, anyone who would be willing die to be called Christian.....but it was even harder to imagine in the year 203.


Here is a bit of Perpetua's prison diary:

5.            A few days later there was a rumour that we were going to be given a hearing.  My father also arrived from the city, worn with worry, and he came to see me with the idea of persuading me.

'Daughter,' he said, 'have pity on my grey head--have pity on me your father, if I deserve to be called your father, if I have favoured you above all your brothers, if I have raised you to reach this prime of your life.  Do not abandon me to be the reproach of men.  Think of your brothers, think of your mother and your aunt, think of your child, who will not be able to live once you are gone.  Give up your pride! You will destroy all of us! None of us will ever be able to speak freely again if anything happens to you.'

This was the way my father spoke out of love for me, kissing my hands and throwing himself down before me.  With tears in his eyes he no longer addressed me as his daughter but as a woman.  I was sorry for my father's sake, because he alone of all my kin would be unhappy to see me suffer.

I tried to comfort him saying: 'It will all happen in the prisoner's dock as God wills; for you may be sure that we are not left to ourselves but are all in his power.'

And he left me in great sorrow.

And when it was all said and done, Perpetua and Felicitas and a few more kindred spirits, were indeed killed for their faithfulness. Perpetua never flinched for a moment. and in fact, she herself ended up guiding the shaky executioner's sword to her own throat. The last verse of the account reads:

Perpetua, however, had yet to taste more pain.  She screamed as she was struck on the bone; then she took the trembling hand of the young gladiator and guided it to her throat. It was as though so great a woman, feared as she was by the unclean spirit, could not be dispatched unless she herself were willing.

Perpetua's story is sometimes linked to the early Montanist movement which was very grounded in ecstatic utterances of the spirit through human beings. And whether or not Perpetua was indeed a Montanist, the perpetual presence of the Holy Spirit was surely visible in her prophetic persona.
Long live the spirit of Perpetua!

Click here to read more of Perpetua's prison diary.

Click here to read the account of Perpetua on PBS's Frontline, "From Jesus to Christ."


In this season of Lent, as we pray our way through the wilderness, let us put our hearts on Perpetua and her courage.

And as they say: If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Take a moment today and sit and list the evidence that marks you unequivocally as a Christian. Is it enough?