Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are among the martyrs of the early Christian Church, having been executed in AD 203 in Carthage, North Africa, present day Tunisia. It was during the reign of Emperor Severus who had forbidden anyone to be baptised to become a Christian that these two young women were executed because of their loyalty to their faith in Jesus Christ.
Very often, legends and traditions surround the lives of saints and martyrs who lived so many years ago. However with these two martyrs, we have the oldest and most reliable information from a diary that Perpetua kept during her last days before she was executed, including an eyewitness account of her death.
Perpetua was a twenty-two-year-old noblewoman who was still nursing her baby son. Felicity was her slave woman, eight months pregnant.
They were catechumens, studying the Christian Faith in preparation to be baptised. In fact, Perpetua and her friends were baptized secretly in prison before their execution. Together with four other catechumens they were tried and sentenced to be thrown to the wild beasts.
Perpetua’s mother had brought her son to the prison so that she continued to nurse him until her death, when the boy was taken to be raised by her family.
Felicity gave birth to a baby girl, before her execution. The girl was then adopted and raised by a Christian family.Both saints are honoured by the Catholic Church as they are not only included in the Liturgical Calendar but also in Liturgical Prayers.
Perpetua’s father, a pagan and a wealthy man pleaded with her to change her mind and renounce becoming a Christian, but to no avail. Perpetua insisted that she wanted to be known by no other name but that of a CHRISTIAN.
We are baptized Christians. What does it really mean to be a Christian?
- Seek an opportunity to point out to the children that being a CHRISTian means to aim to be CHRISTlike.
- Talk to the children to explore with them what they think were some of the characteristics of Jesus while He lived on earth. These would be our children’s first steps in building a personal relationship with Our Lord.
- Suggest character qualities that Jesus showed during His life:
kindness, love of others including children, friendship ( He had twelve special friends), forgiveness, spending time in prayer. - Explore with them suggestions how they can be CHRISTlike in their life with family – friends – others.
Perpetua and Felicity were imprisoned together, they suffered together and died side by side, despite differences in class. They continued to support each other, to hold on steadfastly to their Christian identity through their imprisonment and tortures, strengthened by the bonds of friendship.
Look for opportunities to talk to the children about the characteristics of true friendship, what it means to be a true friend. Building healthy friendships help children to develop morally and emotionally besides enhancing life skills of empathy, self-control and problem-solving.
Elicit from the children what they expect from a friend/ how they can prove to be real friends themselves.
Discuss with them what makes a good friend/ a bad friend.
Listen to your children when they relate their experiences with friends, both positive and negative ones. Process with them outcomes of these experiences.
For Family Prayer Time consider reading the story of Zaccheus from the Children’s Bible (Luke 19, 1-10) pointing out that in spite of the fact that Zaccheus was known to be a cheater and a sinner, Jesus did not shun him but showed that He wanted to be his friend and invited Himself to his house!
Encourage children
- to thank God for providing us with friends (let them mentioning them by name)
- to pray for someone they do not really like as a friend, – and for those who do not have anyone to pray for them for young mothers who together with their young ones have to flee their country – for generous people who choose to foster or adopt children and love them as their own.
In one of his morning homilies, Pope Francis said that CHRISTIANS must have “cheerful faces and eyes full of Joy” because the One that they are following is Jesus Christ.
Sing together “I have decided to follow Jesus” .
These two young ladies while they were preparing to be baptised they got arrested. They were baptised in prison and after some time, they got killed. They are true martyrs because they got killed because they wanted to get closer to God and Faith.
Activity
Do you remember your baptism? Do you know why baptism is important for Catholics?
Look at this video to learn more about baptism.
Baptism is the first step to show how much you love God that you want to be part of His Church and walk in Jesus’ footsteps. Thus, we are going to remember this by this lovely activity.
You need, an A4 coloured cardboard (choose your favourite colour), white paint and paint brush.
- Paint one of your foot with white paint and make a footprint on your coloured cardboard.
- Next to your footprint write ‘ walk by faith’.
- It should turn like this:
If you wish you can paint on canvas instead of cardboard.
Don’t forget to share with us this lovely activity!
This week’s content
About
This new bekids.mt aims to offer an even more comprehensive catechetical formation for children preparing to receive the sacraments.
