St. Perpetua: Early Church Martyr Quiz

Answer: She was a married noblewoman and the daughter of a nobleman

Perpetua had many benefits from being raised as the daughter of a nobleman. She knew how to read and write, which was a rare gift from her family -- most women were not trained to do this. This gift would come in handy when Perpetua would later write a record of her martyrdom.

She also had elite status because she was married to a nobleman. However there is no record of Perpetua's husband where her recorded story begins. Scholars speculate on whether her husband had died or if he had abandoned her for being a Christian, which was common in that time period.

Answer: preparing to be baptized

Perpetua was one of five new Christians who were preparing to be baptized. In that church, new believers were often put in courses of discipleship before they were baptized into the faith. While Perpetua was participating in this, Roman soliders came and broke into the meeting where Perpetua and her fellow Christians were, arresting them all.

She was eventually baptized during her imprisonment.

Answer: Felicitas was a slave.

One of the things that repelled Romans from Christianity was how Christians treated their slaves as brothers and sisters. Slaves in that time period were mainly seen as property and not individual souls or humans with rights. Masters had the right to legally kill their slaves for any reason. Christians like Perpetua saw things from a different perspective though.

She treated her slaves with kindness and shared her faith with them, giving them the choice to believe or not. One of her slaves, Felicitas, became a believer through Perpetua's faith. Felicitas was an expectant mother at the time she was arrested with Perpetua and eventually gave birth to her child in prison.

Answer: her father

Perpetua's father was not a Christian and gave the strongest effort to persuade Perpetua to give up her beliefs. Christians were considered a shame to their families, and Perpetua's beliefs brought dishonor to her father's position as a nobleman. He could not understand why Perpetua was so firm in her desire to be a Christian.

He repeatedly brought her newborn baby with him to the prison for Perpetua to nurse. Eventually Perpetua was allowed to keep her baby with her in the prison. Her father continued to visit her and tried to make a way for her to be released.

Answer: a dragon

In her vision Perpetua tried to climb a ladder that was fixed with many traps and obstacles. At the bottom of the ladder was a dragon that tried to kill anyone who tried to climb the ladder. Perpetua rebuked the dragon and climbed to heaven where she saw an old shepherd among several believers. He told her she and her friends would have to suffer, but they would be eternally rewarded.

Answer: a vase

Perpetua had several confrontations with her father. During one argument Perpetua pointed to a vase and asked her father if it could be known as anything other than what it was. Perpetua's father had to agree and say no. Perpetua used this illustration to firmly declare that just as a vase could not be anything else, she could not be anything other than a Christian.

Answer: She was asked to sacrifice to the emperor.

During her trial, her father rushed in and interrupted the court begging Perpetua to have mercy on her child and her father's old age. Although Perpetua was grieved at the suffering of her family, she still refused to make the sacrifice. The governor ordered her father to be beaten and then asked Perpetua if she was a Christian.

She gave the firm answer that she was. For her answer, she and the rest of her fellow believers were sentenced to death.

Answer: they were executed by sword

Perpetua and Felicitas were first charged by a wild cow. When the cow mangled her friend but did not kill her, Perpetua tried to help and got hurt as well. A leopard was also loosed and did more severe damage. However, their deaths were not quick enough for the crowds. Perpetua and her fellow believers were lined up and executed by the sword.

Answer: her father

Perpetua's father was given charge over her baby and, during her imprisonment before the games, took care of her newborn. Perpetua was able to give her father one last goodbye before she was placed in the arena games to be executed. Perpetua was comforted in that her baby no longer needed her.

Felicitas, Perpetua's friend, was afraid she would not suffer martyrdom with the rest of the believers because Romans wanted to have the appearance of mercy, postponing her execution until she had delivered her child. She did however have her child in the prison before the arena games came. She gave birth to a girl. Her daughter was given over to the care of the church when she faced her martyrdom with Perpetua.

Answer: True

It was unusual for most women to be able to write, but Perpetua had been gifted as a nobleman's daughter to be educated. She was able to use her skill to record most of her own story in her diary. When Perpetua could no longer write she gave her journal to the charge of one of the other believers who finished the story and gave the detailed description of her last trials and execution.