Standing Firm

Standing Firm

Society dictated that she obey her father, but she would not.

AT THE beginning of the third century, Vibia Perpetua, a twenty-two-year-old mother of an infant son, was the daughter of a noble family in Carthage (on the northern coast of present-day Tunisia). Perpetua, her brother, and her personal slave, Felicitas, were Christians, but the rest of her family were unbelievers. It is not known whether her husband believed.

In A.D. 202 the Roman emperor Septimius Severus issued an edict forbidding conversion to Christianity. Carthage was one of the cities where the edict was scrupulously enforced.

In Roman society, to defy the wishes of one’s father was unthinkable. As a new Christian, Perpetua was preparing for baptism as a catechumen under a Christian man named Saturus. Because government officials equated baptism with conversion, Perpetua and four other catechumens were arrested. She wrote in her diary what happened next:

While we were still under arrest, my father, out of love for me, was trying to persuade me and shake my resolution. “Father,” I said, “do you see this vase here for example, or water pot or whatever?”

“Yes, I do,” said he.

And I told him: “Could it be called by any other name than what it is?”

And he said: “No.”

“Well, so too I cannot be called anything other than what I am, a Christian.”

Apparently Perpetua and the others were held initially under house arrest. During this time Perpetua was baptized, a direct violation of the emperor’s edict against conversion. Consequently these Christians were taken to prison and placed in a dungeon. After a time two deacons bribed the guards, who transferred her and the others to a better section of the prison. There she was able to nurse her baby and receive her mother’s and brother’s visits. Her brother advised, “Dear sister, you are greatly privileged; surely you might ask for a vision to discover whether you are to be condemned or freed.” This she did.

Several days later the Christians were given a hearing to which her distraught father came. Again he tried to persuade Perpetua to think of her parents and her child and to give up her beliefs. Perpetua 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.”

Later Hilarianus, the governor, held a hearing during which her father appealed to her one last time to sacrifice to the Roman gods. However, Perpetua stood her ground and received her sentence. Perpetua records, “We were condemned to the beasts, and we returned to prison in high spirits.”

On March 7, 203, the group was herded into the amphitheater to be killed. First a mad heifer mauled the women; then a leopard pounced upon Saturus, the catechist; and finally the gladiators completed the task with their swords. During her last moments Perpetua encouraged her brother and the catechumens: “You must all stand fast in the faith and love one another, and do not be weakened by what we have gone through.”

The vision Perpetua requested and received of God while still in prison prepared her and the others for their deaths. She reported: “I saw a ladder of tremendous height . . . reaching all the way to the heavens, but it was so narrow that only one person could climb up it at a time. . . . Then I saw an immense garden, and in it a gray-haired man sat in shepherd’s garb. . . . And standing around him were many thousands of people clad in white garments. He raised his head, looked at me, and said: “I am glad you have come, my child.”

Reflection

Most Christians go through their lives never receiving a vision or audible word from God. But every Christian does receive the Holy Spirit, who is able to strengthen and enable us to meet any problem or crisis.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So you must never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for Christ. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the proclamation of the Good News.

2 Timothy 1:7-8