# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for Ss. Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs
# (Mar 6). Sourced directly from web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/03-06.txt,
# English/Sancti/03-06.txt. Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one
# continuous account. No Lectio7-9 in the source (6-lesson office).
id: ss-perpetua-and-felicity
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Perpetua et Felicitas, in persecutione Severi imperatoris, in Africa, una cum
        Revocato, Saturnino et Secundulo comprehensæ sunt et in tenebricosum carcerem
        detrusæ; quibus ultra adjunctus est Satyrus. Erant adhuc catechumenæ, sed paulo
        post baptizatæ sunt. Paucis diebus interjectis, e carcere ad forum deductæ cum
        sociis, post gloriosam confessionem, ab Hilarione procuratore damnantur ad bestias.
        Inde hilares descendunt ad carcerem, ubi variis visionibus recreantur et ad
        martyrii palmam accenduntur. Perpetuam, nec patris senio confecti iteratæ preces et
        lacrimæ, nec erga filium infantem pendentem ad ubera maternus amor, nec supplicii
        atrocitas, a Christi fide dimovere umquam potuerunt.


        Felicitas vero instante spectaculo die, cum octo jam menses prægnans esset, in
        magno erat luctu, ne differretur; leges quippe vetabant prægnantes supplicio
        affici. At precibus commartyrum accelerato partu, enixa est filiam. Cumque in
        partu laborans doleret, ait illi quidam de custodibus: Quæ sic modo doles, quid
        facies objecta bestiis? Cui illa: Modo ego patior; illic autem alius erit in me,
        qui patietur pro me, quia et ego pro illo passura sum.


        In amphitheatrum, toto inspectante populo, producuntur tandem generosæ mulieres,
        Nonis Martii, ac primum flagellis cæduntur. Tunc a ferocissima vacca aliquamdiu
        jactatæ, plagis concisæ et in terram elisæ sunt. Demum cum sociis, qui a variis
        bestiis vexati fuerant, gladiorum ictibus conficiuntur. Harum sanctarum Mártyrum
        festum Pius decimus Pontifex maximus ad ritum duplicem pro universa Ecclesia evexit
        ac diei sextæ Martii adsignari mandavit.
      en: >-
        Perpetua and Felicity were arrested during the persecution of the emperor Severus in
        Africa, together with Revocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus, and were cast into a dark
        dungeon, where Satyrus was added to their company. They were as yet catechumens but
        shortly afterwards they were baptized. After a few days they and their companions
        were led forth from prison to the court, and, after a glorious profession of faith,
        were condemned by the procurator Hilarion to the beasts. Thereupon they went down to
        the prison rejoicing, and there they were refreshed with many visions, and fired
        with longing for the martyr's palm. Neither the repeated prayers and tears of
        Perpetua's father, a man of extreme old age, nor her motherly love for her baby son
        still at the breast, nor the atrocity of the torture, could shake her faith in
        Christ.


        As the day of the spectacle came close, Felicity was afflicted with great sorrow
        lest it should be put off, since she was eight months with child; and the law
        forbade expectant mothers to be put to the torture. But at the prayers of her
        fellow-martyrs her delivery was hastened, and she gave birth to a daughter. While
        she was groaning in the pains of childbirth, one of the jailers said to her: What
        wilt thou do when thrown to the beasts, if thou groanest thus now? She replied: Now
        it is I who suffer; but then Another will be within me, who will suffer on my
        behalf, seeing that it is for him that I am to suffer.


        At length the noble-hearted women were brought into the amphitheatre, in the sight
        of all the people, on the 7th day of March, and were first beaten with scourges.
        Then they were tossed for some time by a ferocious cow, beaten with lashes, and
        dashed on the ground. Lastly, together with their companions, who had been attacked
        by various beasts, they were slain with blows of the sword. Pope Pius X raised the
        feast of these holy Martyrs to the rite of a double for the Universal Church, and
        ordered it to be kept on March 6th.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
