They were martyred at Carthage (in present day Tunisia) during the persecution of Septimius Severus. There is a detailed contemporary account of their arrest, trial, sufferings and martyrdom written partly by the Saints themselves and partly by an eyewitness. Vibia Perpetua was a recently married, well-educated noblewoman, said to have been 22 years old at the time of her death, and mother of an infant son she was nursing. Felicity, a slave imprisoned with her and pregnant at the time, was martyred with her.
They were martyred on the Emperor’s birthday.
Devotion to them spread rapidly and they are mentioned in the Roman canon of the Mass.
In Prison Perpetua had three Extraordinary visions. In vision 1 there is a Jacob’s ladder, at the foot of which a dragon seeks to deter everyone from ascending.
But, following her brother, Saturus, Perpetua ascends without fear by using even the dragons’ head, as the lowest rung, and enters into a paradise like garden.
Perpetua’s first vision is reminiscent of the Eucharist:
“Then I went up I saw an enormous garden. In the middle there was a tall man dressed as a shepherd. He was engaged in milking sheep. Around him, in thousands, were men clothed in white. He raised his head looked at me and said, “welcome my child.” He called me and gave me a mouthful of the cheese he was preparing. I received it with hands joined. I ate it and they all said, “Amen.” At the sound of the voices I woke up with a taste of a strange sweetness in my mouth. I related this vision at once to my brother, Saturis and we understood that it was martyrdom that awaited us.
In Vision 2 she sees her brother Dinocrates, who had died of cancer at the age of seven, suffer agony and pray for him daily, with the result that he appears healed. On the day before her martyrdom she sees herself entangled with the devil in a victorious fist fight in the amphitheatre. She sees this as a sign of her victorious martyrdom.
Vision three contains heavenly visions of Sarturus, who in his own words speaks of encounters with martyyrs who died earlier.
Felicity was eight months pregnant when she was arrested. Labour pains came upon her. She was suffering a great deal and groaning. One of the goalers said to her, “if you are already crying out like this what will you do when you are thrown to the wild beasts?” Felicity answered him, “then there will be another within me, who will suffer for me, because it is on his account that I am suffering.”
Perpetua was tossed in the air first by a furious bull. She fell on her back. As soon as he could sit up…. she pinned back her hair. A martyr cannot die with dishevelled hair, lest she seem to be in mourning on the day of her glory. Then she got up and noticed Felicity, who seemed to have collapsed.
She went to her, gave her hand and helped her to her feet. When they saw both of them standing up the cruelty of the crowd was subdued. The marchers were taken out through the gates of the living.
There Perpetua was welcomed by a catechumen, Rusticus who was very much attached to her. She seem to awake out of a deep sleep, so long had the ecstasy lasted. She looked around her and asked, “when shall we be delivered to the bull?” When she was told it had already taken place, she could not believe it and refused to accept the evidence until she saw on her dress and on her body is the traces of the ordeal. Then she called her brother and the catechumen. She said to them, “remain steadfast in the faith. Love one another. Do not let our sufferings be a subject of scandal for you.”
The people demanded that the wounded be brought back into the arena, so that they could enjoy the spectacle of the sword piercing the living bodies.
The martyrs came to the place that the crowd wanted.
They gave one another the kiss of peace to consummate their martyrdom in accordance with the rite of faith.
All of them remained motionless to receive the fatal blow.
Perpetua’s brother Saturus had also had a vision:
“Martyrdom was over. We had left our bodies behind. Four angels carried us towards the east, but their hands did not touch us …When we had gone through the first sphere that encircles the Earth we saw a great light.
“Then I said to Perpetua, who was at my side: “This is what the Lord promised us.” We had reached a vast open plain that seemed to be a garden with oleanders and every type of flower. The trees were as tall as cypresses and their leaves sang without ceasing.
We arrive at a place whose walls seem to be made of light.
We go in and hear a choir repeating, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” In the hall is seated a man clothed in white.
He has a youthful face and his hair shines white as snow.
On either side of him stand four elders.
We go forward in amazement and we kiss the Lord, who caresses us with his hand.
The elders say to us, “Stand Up!”
We obey and exchange the kiss of peace.
We recognized many of the brethren martyrs like us.
For food we all had an ineffable perfume that satisfied us wholly.