The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity Analysis The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas is a diary of a Christian woman. This diary shows the personal struggles of Christians in the 202 or 203 era. Many Christians converts who were preparing for their conformations, were arrested in Carthage. The diary belongs to a young woman who is around 22 years old and has an infant son. She had two brother, and one was a catechumen like herself. This is a very good diary to read to understand the hardships that the early Christians had to overcome. In the third century carthage, the Christian community stayed strong and supported each other. “A few days later we were lodged in the prison; and I was terrified, as I had never before been …show more content…
The children of a typical Roman family were suppose to cease all their rights to their father. “At this my father was so angered by the word 'Christian' that he moved towards me as though he would pluck my eyes out. But he left it at that and departed, vanquished along with his diabolical arguments.” Perpetua demonstrates the opposite of this tradition when she goes against her father and keeps her Christian beliefs. This was a very rare circumstances for the Romans to deal with in this era. In the beginning of this diary, Perpetua portrayed all Romans that she encountered as anti-Christians and they would never consider converting. The Romans treated the Christians in this era horrible. “Then Hilarianus passed sentence on all of us: we were condemned to the beasts…” This was just one of the cruel and barbarous punishments that Christian had to bare with because of their beliefs. Some Romans on the other hand had a change of heart. “Some days later, an adjutant named Pudens, who was in charge of the prison, began to show us great honour, realizing that we possessed some great power within us. And he began to allow many visitors to see us for our mutual comfort.” This quote shows how some of the Romans started to open their minds to the unique possibilities with this new religion. Some of the Romans changed their views towards the Christians. Some of them even converted themselves. Even though some of the Romans …show more content…
Because Perpetua was a Christian, she went against traditional Roman. The Christian faith goes against every traditional culture norm. So technically, in a way the two go hand in hand. They get punished for believing deeply in their beliefs. The romans would punish the Christians because they were scared that the religion might surpass their own. The Romans did not like that their was another religion that went against their usual norms. The Romans in this time believed heavily in polytheism, which is completely different than