The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Felicity (Felicitas)
d. 7 March 203 · Slave · Martyr of Carthage · Carthage
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Felicity (Felicitas) was
A pregnant slave, fellow-servant of Revocatus, arrested with Perpetua’s catechumen company. She feared only that her pregnancy would delay her martyrdom — the law forbade executing a woman with child — but she gave birth to a daughter in prison two days before the games, and when a warder mocked her cries, she answered with one of the age’s great sentences: “Now it is I who suffer; but there another will be in me who will suffer for me, because I too am to suffer for Him.” She entered the arena with Perpetua, the two women “meeting the crowd’s gaze,” and died by the sword after the wild cow had thrown them. Named ever after inseparably from Perpetua.
Also listed in martyrs and women.
Common questions
When did Felicity die?
Felicity (Felicitas) is dated d. 7 March 203 in the archive, which places Felicity in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313).
Which early sources mention Felicity?
Felicity (Felicitas) is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from The Passion (eyewitness redactor), The chronographer of 354 and Augustine of Hippo. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Felicity from?
The archive associates Felicity (Felicitas) with Carthage.
Who were Felicity’s contemporaries?
The archive links Felicity (Felicitas) to 5 other figures, including Vibia Perpetua, Revocatus, Secundulus and Saturus. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Passion of Perpetua and Felicity 15
c. AD 203‘Now it is I that suffer what I suffer; but there another will be in me who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer for Him.’ So she brought forth a girl-child, whom a sister reared as her own daughter.The Passion (eyewitness redactor) · 15 · source text
Depositio martyrum (Chronography of 354): 'Non. Mart. Perpetuae et Felicitatis, Africae'
c. AD 354Nonis Martiis: Perpetuae et Felicitatis, Africae — On the Nones of March, of Perpetua and Felicity, in Africa.The chronographer of 354 · Depositio martyrum · source text
Sermons 280–282 (preached on her feast at Carthage)
c. AD 410Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 135 · Bar Kokhba crushed; Aelia Capitolina, AD 135
- AD 144 · Marcion expelled at Rome, AD 144
- AD 156 · The New Prophecy erupts, AD 156
- AD 177 · Persecution at Lyon and Vienne, AD 177
- AD 180 · The Scillitan martyrs, AD 180
- AD 190 · The Quartodeciman controversy, AD 190
- AD 202 · Perpetua and Felicity martyred, AD 202
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Felicity.