Women of Faith · Week 2 · Grades 6–8
Guided Notes: Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
- Name
- Date
- Class
Follow along as your teacher presents. Fill in each section when its slide is on the screen.
Carthage, year 203
Carthage was one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire, in what is now blank 1. Rome allowed many religions. It also expected everyone to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods for the emperor’s well-being.
Christians worship only the one blank 2, so they could not do this. Officials often saw their refusal as disloyalty.
Vibia Perpetua was about 22, well educated, from a respected family, and nursing a baby son. Felicity was enslaved and eight months pregnant. Both were catechumens, people preparing for blank 3.
In 203 they were arrested with several blank 4. They were baptized soon afterward.
Their story in time
Write what happened at each point.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| c. 181 | Write your answer |
| 193 | Write your answer |
| 203 | Write your answer |
| 203 | Write your answer |
| March 7, 203 | Write your answer |
| c. 400 | Write your answer |
| Today | Write your answer |
Check the facts
Why were Christians in Carthage arrested? Circle one.
- A They refused to pay taxes to the emperor
- B They refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods
- C They tried to take over the city government
- D They would not serve in the Roman army
Why is that the right answer?
Choices in the dark
Perpetua wrote about the heat, the darkness and her fear for her baby. Two deacons paid the guards to move the blank 5 somewhere better. When her son was allowed to stay with her, she wrote that the prison became like a palace.
Her father visited and begged her to give up her faith. She pointed to a jar and asked whether it could be called anything other than what it was. In the same way, she said, she could only be called a Christian.
Felicity gave birth to a girl, and a Christian woman raised the child. On March blank 6 the companions went to their deaths together.
Why it matters
Why is Perpetua’s diary so important to historians? Circle one.
- A It is the oldest book ever written in Latin
- B It was written by the Roman judge at her trial
- C It gives the laws that Christians had to obey
- D It is a rare first-person account by an early Christian woman
Why is that the right answer?
Solidarity or going along?
Perpetua and Felicity stood together when it cost them. Sort each choice. Check one box for each.
| Item | Standing with someone | Going along with the crowd |
|---|---|---|
| Messaging a classmate who was mocked in the group chat | ||
| Liking a post that makes fun of someone’s photo | ||
| Saying you are Catholic when friends joke about faith | ||
| Staying silent while a teammate is harassed in voice chat | ||
| Sitting with the new student at lunch | ||
| Leaving a group chat quietly so no one asks what you think | ||
| Reporting an account that is bullying a friend | ||
| Changing your opinions to match whoever is popular |
Think it through
What does their friendship show about the early Church? Circle one.
- A Faith made people of different ranks one family
- B Only wealthy people could become Christians
- C Christians avoided anyone unlike themselves
- D Enslaved people were kept out of Baptism
Why is that the right answer?
Talk it over
Perpetua said she could not be called anything other than what she was. Felicity and Perpetua crossed a huge social divide to stand together. Where do you see people hide who they are, or stay inside their own group, online?
Think: my idea before we talk
Sentence starters: “People hide who they are online when ...”“A divide at our school or online is ...”“One way to cross that divide is ...”“The hardest part of being honest about my faith is ...”
Pair: something my partner said
Let us pray
Lord Jesus, you made us one family in Baptism.
Give us courage to be who we are, in person and online.
Teach us to stand with anyone who stands alone.
Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, pray for us.
Amen.
My own prayer or intention:
Well done!
Two young mothers showed that faith makes strangers into sisters. Their feast day is March 7.
One thing I learned today:
One question I still have:
How could the example of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity shape the way I live, online and offline?
Challenge: Choose one of the three virtue practices and do it before next week’s saint.