Sermon 281
SERMO 281
On the Feast of the Martyrs Perpetua and Felicity
In Perpetua and Felicitas, Christ unconquered.
Among the martyred companions, the worth and name of Perpetua and Felicitas, holy servants of God, shine and stand out. For there is a more glorious crown where the weaker sex is involved. Because certainly, a manly spirit in women has achieved something greater, especially when the feminine fragility did not fail under such burden. They had adhered well to one man, to whom the chaste virgin Church is uniquely presented. Well, I say, they had adhered to that man, from whom they drew the virtue to resist the devil: so that women might overthrow the enemy, who through a woman had overthrown a man. He appeared invincible in them, who for their sake became weak. He filled them with strength in order to harvest them; who, in order to plant them, emptied himself. He led them to these honors and praises, who for their sake heard reproaches and accusations. He made women die manfully and faithfully, who for their sake was born mercifully of a woman.
Perpetua's victory over the devil.
It delights a pious mind to behold such a spectacle as that which blessed Perpetua narrated had been revealed to her about herself, where she saw herself as a man contending with the devil. In that contest, she too was advancing into perfect manhood, into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Deservedly, the old and cunning enemy, in order not to miss any stratagems, who had deceived the man through the woman, because he sensed the woman acting manfully against him, tried to overcome her through a man. He did not use a husband, so that she who was already dwelling with heavenly thought in the heavens might remain stronger by despising any suspicion of fleshly desire; but he instructed her father with words of deception, so that the religious mind, which would not be softened by the instinct of pleasure, might be broken by the force of piety. Here holy Perpetua responded to her father with such moderation that she neither violated the commandment, which requires honor to parents, nor yielded to the wiles by which the higher enemy acted. Overcome on every side, he made her same father strike her with a rod; so that the one whose words she had despised might at least mourn his beatings. She indeed grieved for the injury to her aged parent; and though she did not offer consent, she kept affection. For she hated the foolishness in him, not his nature; and his unbelief, not her lineage. Therefore, with greater glory she bravely rejected her beloved father who was ill-advising, whom she could not see beaten without sorrow. Hence, that grief did not detract at all from the strength of her fortitude, and it added something to the praises of her suffering. For to those who love God, all things work together for good.
The birth and martyrdom of Felicitas.
Felicitas, however, was pregnant even in prison. In giving birth, she testified to the feminine condition with a feminine voice. Eve’s penalty was not absent, but Mary’s grace was present. What a woman owed was demanded: the one whom the Virgin bore helped. Finally, the birth was brought forth, mature at an immature month. For it was divinely ordained that the burden of the womb should not be laid down at its due time, lest the honor of martyrdom be deferred at its due time. It was, I say, divinely ordained that the fetus be brought forth on an unintended day, provided that Felicitas be returned to such a company: lest, if she had been absent, it might seem that not only had a companion to the martyrs been absent, but also the reward of the martyrs themselves. For that was the name of both, which is the gift of all. For why do the martyrs endure everything, if not to glory in perpetual happiness? Therefore, they were called by that which all are called. And so, when there was a great company in that struggle, the perpetuity of all was signified by the names of these two, the solemnity of all was marked.