Saints Perpetua Research Paper

St. Perpetua was a very young and intelligent Christian women who was martyred in the third century. She grew up in the city of Carthage in England and lived there til her death in approximately 203 A.D. St. Perpetua was raised by her father who was a pagan and her mother who was a Christian. She followed in the footsteps of her mother and became a strong believing Christian, even though her father tried to convince her against it. At a young age, 22, St. Perpetua was put in prison for her faith. At the time, she was married and had a young baby son. While in prison, she still nursed her son and no matter how hard they tried to convince her to leave her faith, she wouldn’t under any circumstance. "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!" (St. Perpetua’s father). Her father tried very hard to make her deny her faith, but she didn’t change her mind at all. She was condemned to death by Hilarianus, and so was put in a stadium with a bunch of wild beasts too. People in the crowd were getting anxious and so instead of waiting a long time for a beast to kill her, she was put in a line with

In an era of male domination and patriarchy in the Roman society, St. Perpetua’s chronicles in Passion stands out to many historians. St. Perpetua demonstrated her deep faith in Christianity by using it as a means to break through social norms for women imposed by the Roman Empire. Although she is able to overcome the social norms in many occasions of her time in prison, one of her last acts falls right back into societies expectations because of vanity. This is seen when she feels the need to fix her hair before she takes her last breath. Having come from a wealthy family it came to a great surprise to many that she was willing to cut all ties with her family in order to devote her life to God through the Christian faith and oppose the Roman

The greatest Christian Apologist and martyr, in the turn of the second century, who stood firm in defending the belief of Christianity, was the great philosopher and early Christian apologist and martyr - Justin Martyr. Justin Martyr (100-165CE), was born in Samaria, near Jacob’s well, around turn of the century in modern day Palestine. Justin was a Gentile and well educated, who has traveled extensively in search for the life’s meaning in the philosophies of his day.

By comparing the following primary sources, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas” and “The Rape of Lucretia,” historians can learn about the archetypes of Roman society. The former text, written in 202 or 203 CE, is a prison diary of a young martyr in Carthage. The protagonist, Perpetua, is arrested and sentenced to death because she refused to renounce her Christian faith. Despite having a newborn and hearing consistent outcry from her father to renounce her faith, Perpetua refused to absolve from Christianity. Prior to her execution, she and her comrades experience visions of entering Heaven and specifics of how their deaths would be bestowed upon them. These visions provided comfort to the prisoners because they legitimized the belief in God, as well as sanctioned the power of God to perform miracles. As God willed it, Perpetua, the “most valiant and blessed martyrs”, was ultimately executed in the arena. The latter text, written in 17 AD by Roman historian, Livy, is a story of propaganda about the rape of a honorable woman named Lucretia. Lucretia, Tarquinius Conlatinus’s wife, was the quintessential example of a Roman martyr. She was applauded for her modest, hospitable, and dutiful nature. Tragically, she was forcibly raped by the emperor’s son, Sextus Tarquinius. Consequently, Brutus, Tarquinius, and Lucretia’s father, did not object while witnessing Lucretia commit suicide in order to preserve her and her family’s

“The Martyrdom of Perpetua” was written around 202 CE in Rome during the persecution of Christians (Bennett, 12). Perpetua was an early Christian who was willing to die for the Christian cause, despite others attempts at trying to dissuade her (Perpetua, p.35, col. 1). During this time period Rome was mostly pagan and persecuted Christians that did not follow their traditions (Bennett, 12). Perpetua was caught in this as she was declaring her Christian faith before Constantine became emperor. However, Perpetua refused to renounce her faith and characterizes her vision where she is to fight a wild animal which she then comes to the conclusion is the devil. Nonetheless, Perpetua survives her experience,

Saint Rose of Lima is the patron saint of beauty due to her remarkable appearance.Rose is an innovation to many, because unlike many people today, she loathed her beauty due to being too alluring. I chose Saint Rose because she didn’t like people being tempted by her or staring at her. Rose only wanted to satisfy her parents and God. I also chose this saint because throughout her early life, she did things people normally would not contemplate or endeavour. Her feast day is on August 23th on the modern calendar, and in some countries it is on August 30th.

As Christianity was spread throughout Rome, people began to question the teachings of Jesus. Out of fear, officials arrested and killed a multitude of Christians as a result. The everyday plebeian became impressed with these people dying for a belief. Although persecutions became more common, the number of Christians stayed the same and maybe even grew because of the influx of polytheistic Romans converting to the monotheistic religion of Christianity. People were converting quicker than they were being killed off because of the likeable teachings of love, the bravery of these people dying because of what they believed in, and their appealing message to those not in the affluent classes.

Justin Martyr answered the Romans objection to Christianity by writing his Apologies. Justin’s Apology 2 to the Romans shows how Christians make better citizens of Rome than do other Romans because of their reason and virtues. Justin gives a thorough discussion of Christian virtues of not being afraid to die and their truthful nature. And he also discusses their belief in the Logos as being Christ and that Christians are definitely not atheist he shows reasonable objections to the Roman’s beliefs concerning Christians.

The early church was hated by the society and government of the Roman Empire for various reasons, such as the refusal of Christians to sacrifice to the gods. The Empire went through many phases of demanding that the Christians sacrifice which meant denying their faith or be killed. The earliest attacks claimed the lives of many of the apostles.This text is the story, from around 160 AD, of the martyrdom of Polycarp, the Bishop of the church in Smyrna, a city in Asia Minor (modern Izmir in Turkey) devoted to Roman worship. The account is in the form of a letter from eye-witnesses to other churches in the area. It is the earliest chronicle of a martyrdom outside the New Testament.Polycarp was an old man, at least 86, and probably the last surviving person to have known an apostle, having been a disciple of St. John. This was one reason he was greatly revered as a teacher and church leader. One interesting feature of the letter is that the writer is very conscious of how Polycarp’s death followed the pattern of Christ’s. As you read it, look for parallels between this story and the Easter story in the gospels. We are writing to you, brothers, with an account of the martyrs, especially the blessed Polycarp, whose death brought to the persecution to a close. Almost all the events that led up to it reveal it to be another martyrdom in the divine pattern that we see in the Gospel. For he waited for his betrayal, just like the Lord did, so that we might follow him, in looking out

Perpetua was a true woman of faith. Perpetua was a twenty-two-year-old, a Christian, a mother, a daughter, and a martyr. The story of The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas is the story of the execution of Perpetua and her Christian companions. This story reveals the difficulty Christian’s went through during this time, the chasm between the Roman and Christian communities, and the experience of Christian persecution for going against the Roman cultural norms. Perpetua’s personal prison diary expresses her extremely deep faith in Christianity. Perpetua and her Christian companions were prepared to be tortured, publicly humiliated, and in the end, lose their lives for their faith. Perpetua had a young baby still nursing her and Felicitas was

The persecutions of the martyrs strengthened Christianity because the martyrs if they were willing to be killed for their faith then it must be very significant to them. The martyr’s suffering mirrored Jesus’ suffering and reinforced faith among Christians. “They looking upon her in her conflict, beheld with their eyes, through their sister, Him who had suffered for them in order to persuade those who trust in Him

With this spread Romans became very suspicious about the Christian cult. In fact in 35AD, the Senate decreed it a “strange and unlawful11.  They did not like the idea of monotheism, believing to favor one God so highly above others would anger them. The idea of polytheism also supported the Roman Empire, as by worshipping the gods an individual in turn worshipped the emperor in a way and believed the signs of priests and words to the emperors to be directly from the Gods12. Christians also refused to pledge allegiance to the emperor believing their allegiance could only be sworn to God and Jesus13.  Theophilius of Antioch described it as such “The emperor, given authority by God, must be honored with a proper respect, but he must not be adored. You see, he is not God; he is a man whom God has placed in that office not to be adored, but in order that he exercise justice on earth… As the emperor may not tolerate that his title be taken over by those subject to him, so no one may be adored, save God”14. Romans also found the idea that Christians did not make sacrifices to be very disturbing, especially when combined with the fact that they would gather to “drink the blood and body of Christ”15. Sacrifice was the norm throughout polytheism and the fact that Christians refused sacrifice of any kind, to

Saint Peter was born in Bethsaida Gaulanitis, Syria Roman Empire at around 1 AD. Peter’s feast day is on the twenty ninth of June. Bethsaida Gaulanitis was near where the Jordan River enters the Sea of Gennesaret. This place was abandoned at around 65 AD. Peter’s original name appointed to him by his parents was Simon, it became Peter when Jesus changed his name. His father’s name was Jonah. Jonah was a physically strong individual, hence he became a fisherman. Peter deeply followed in his father’s footsteps. His mother’s name was Perpetua. Not much is known about her. Peter also had a brother named, Andrew. Andrew was another one of Jesus’s twelve disciples. Peter did not go to school, he was just taught by his father in the trade of fishing

Everyday is a day to be thankful for because unimaginable events can happen at any given moment. Such unimaginable moment happened during the year of 1755 on All Saints Day. An earthquake, five-day fire, and three tsunamis occurred in one single day, which brought extreme destruction. The city of Lisbon was eliminated along with the community living in this city. With such extreme event, individuals question if this destruction had a meaning or reason. The impact of this disastrous day will be evaluated for greater meaning.

With its insistence on exclusive monotheistic worship of the Christian God it won where paganism could only fail, in demanding solitary allegiance to its movement (pp. 201-204). In demanding such commitment, those won to Christianity were far more allied to its goals and purposes than adherents to pagan movements that were non-exclusive. Further, the possibility of publicly suffering for their faith offered Christians the hope of enormous communal esteem. For those already firmly committed, the benefits of esteem and other-worldly reward far out-weighed whatever cost in suffering martyrdom might bring. Paganism had nothing analogous to win such enthusiastic commitment. Whereas, Christianity promised life after death in heaven while in the Roman religion, only gods went to heaven; emperors were considered gods, everyone else went to the underworld.