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Icons by Br. Robert Lentz, ofm.
Influenced by his Russian Orthodox background and a period of study with a master iconographer, Lentz's unique style blends classical Eastern iconography with contemporary elements and "witnesses."
Dimensions: 7.25" x 2.5"
Saints Perpetua and Felicity (martyred March 7, 203)
Saints Perpetua and Felicity were North African friends martyred for their Christian faith in the amphitheater at Carthage. We know precise details of their imprisonment because Vibia Perpetua, a twenty-two-year-old of a distinguished noble family, kept a journal, the first known written document by a woman in Christian history, with a concluding narrative by an eye-witness.
Perpetua's greatest concern was that she have her baby son with her as long as she lived. Felicity was worried that she might not be allowed to die with her companions because of her pregnancy. In answer to prayer, she gave birth to a girl. The pain of the delivery was compounded by the mockery of the jailer, but she was assisted and comforted by Perpetua.
The companionship of these women inspired subsequent ages. Their feast has always been called by their two names. Together they are named in the Roman Canon of the Mass. Perpetua's journal became such a beloved text in North Africa that St. Augustine felt he had to warn people not to give it a reverence due only to Scripture.
© Robert Lentz, 1996
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