The martyrdom of these young mothers, Perpetua and Felicity (3rd century), aimed to curb the growth of Christianity. It was forbidden to be a Christian. Now the prohibition was to become a Christian. They wanted to slowing down evangelization of the Church.
Perpetua, a young mother of 22, wrote in prison the diary of her arrest, of the visits she received, of the darkness. And she continued to write until the eve of martyrdom. She was born in Carthage. With her were imprisoned Saturnino, Revocato, Secondulo and Felicidad, a young slave of Perpetua's family, all catechumens.
In Prayer I of the Mass
Perpetua's name appears in the Eucharistic Prayer I, or Roman Canon of the Mass and in the litanies of the Saints. It is debated whether the Felicity that follows Perpetua is the Carthaginian martyr or the Roman namesake, who became in time a companion of martyrdom of Perpetua. The memory was concretized in the two holy women. As mothers of young children, they represented moral fortitude and love for their children. Christian faith.
The acts of martyrdom of the two women, collected from the 'Acts of the Martyrs' (vid. D. Ruiz Bueno, BAC), offer an example of putting the demands of faith before the ties of blood. You can consult it here. Perpetua's writings formed a bookThe story of the two women, 'Passion of Perpetua and Felicidad', completed later. It tells how the two women were thrown to a wild cow that gored them before being decapitated.
