Start here
The story, in brief
The account of Perpetua and Felicity does not begin with remote, invulnerable heroes. Perpetua worries about her infant and grieves over her father’s anguish. Felicity faces imprisonment while pregnant. Their story has endured because faith appears amid bodily vulnerability and difficult human attachments. [EX-03]
Maria Stein’s directory associates both saints with number 902. That printed pairing fits their shared remembrance, but it leaves the physical object question open: the directory does not tell us whether the number represents one object or several, what material is present, or how it was attributed to either woman. [MSP-01; MSP-02]
Two lives in one remembered witness
The early narrative presents Perpetua and Felicity as companions in imprisonment and martyrdom. [EX-03]
A shared directory number
Maria Stein lists number 902 under both names. [MSP-02]
No object-level identification
The published directory supplies neither material nor an authenticum or provenance. [MSP-02]
Explore the chapters
Perpetua’s voice and the cost to her family
The narrative introduces Perpetua as an educated young mother and then presents a section as her own account. She describes the darkness of prison, anxiety over feeding her baby, and relief when she is able to keep him with her. The literary form matters: readers are being invited into a prisoner’s account of faith, rather than merely given a list of honors after death. [EX-03]
Her father presses her to abandon the course leading to execution. The account does not erase her pain at his suffering. It presents Christian identity as something she cannot deny, even under emotional pressure from a person she loves. That is the central conflict, more than a simple opposition between courage and fear. [EX-03]
Felicity and the community around a mother
The text introduces Felicity among the imprisoned catechumens and identifies her as a servant. Its later narrator describes her pregnancy and the companions’ concern that she might be separated from their fate. After her daughter is born, another Christian woman undertakes to raise the child. The episode brings communal responsibility into a story often remembered only for death. [EX-03]
Felicity’s answer to a taunt about the pain of childbirth distinguishes her present suffering from the help she trusts Christ will give during martyrdom. The account’s religious claim is not that she feels no pain. It is that she expects not to face the final ordeal by her own strength alone. [EX-03]
A narrative with more than one voice
The surviving account includes material attributed to Perpetua, visions associated with fellow prisoner Saturus, and a narrator’s continuation describing the execution. It should not be presented as though Perpetua wrote every detail, including events after her own death. The text makes those shifts of voice visible. [EX-03]
Its final scenes emphasize companionship as well as endurance, including Perpetua helping Felicity to stand. A modern reader can recognize the text’s devotional purpose while still asking historical questions about its composition and transmission. Neither approach creates a provenance for a modern shrine object. [EX-03; MSP-02]
The museum image associated with this file is a later artistic depiction. It belongs to the saints’ visual remembrance and supplies no identification of material corresponding to Maria Stein’s number 902. [MEDIA-01]
Why the Church remembers martyrs’ bodies
Catholic communion with the saints is understood as continuing fellowship in Christ, not mere admiration of exceptional personalities. Martyrs are remembered as witnesses whose fidelity points to him. Prayer in their company is intended to deepen the believer’s own faith and love, rather than to make suffering desirable for its own sake. [EX-01]
Relic veneration adds the conviction that the body belongs to that history of faith. Benedict XVI’s explanation of John Damascene connects honor for saints’ remains with the Incarnation and resurrection. In this case, the mothers’ bodily vulnerability makes that theology particularly concrete: holiness does not mean escape from ordinary human dependence. [EX-02; EX-03]
What number 902 leaves unanswered
The official directory establishes that the two names appear with the same number. It does not specify a shared reliquary, separate relic particles, a physical material, or a certificate. Those possibilities cannot be selected simply because they would fit familiar display practices. [MSP-02]
The next useful evidence would be an inventory entry tied to identifiable objects, together with any inscriptions, seals, acquisition history, and attribution documents. Until such records are available, authenticated physical relics of these two saints remain unresolved here. Their early narrative supplies a substantial reason to engage the page without filling the documentary gap with invented details. [MSP-01; MSP-02; EX-03]
Catholic reflection & discussion
Let the object open a larger question
Pause over what this object brings to mind: a person, a place, an act of devotion, or a question about the past. Let that curiosity guide a careful reading of both its history and its meaning.
These editorial prompts invite reflection on the article. They are distinct from Church teaching and the evidence findings.
Pause and reflect
- What draws your attention to this object, and what are you hoping to understand through it?
- How does the article distinguish the object's documented history from the meaning people give it?
- If an attribution remains uncertain, which questions about faith, memory or devotion would still be worth exploring?
Discuss with family or a group
Choose questions suited to your readers' ages and experiences. Anyone can pass or keep a response private.
- Begin with a familiar family keepsake. What can an object help someone remember, and what would be needed to establish its history?
- Choose one image or description in the file. Which things can you observe, and which would you need a source to know?
Questions people ask
Open any question for a fuller answer and its sources.
Does the shared number mean one reliquary?
The directory does not say. It establishes a repeated number associated with both saints, not a physical configuration. [MSP-02]
Did Perpetua write the whole martyr account?
The text attributes part of the account to her and explicitly continues in another voice. It also contains material associated with Saturus. [EX-03]
Why are motherhood and friendship important to the story?
The account describes concern for children, support from fellow Christians, and the women’s mutual assistance. These make the witness personal rather than abstract. [EX-03]
What the evidence can establish
Evidence verdict: unresolved
Does the available evidence establish that Maria Stein Shrine holds authenticated relics of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas?
The official directory linked by Maria Stein Shrine prints number 902 under both 'St. Felicitas, m.' and 'St. Perpetua, m.' That establishes the directory labels. The public sources do not establish whether the shared number represents one or multiple physical objects, what material is involved, or whether either saint's identity is authenticated, so the relic claim remains unresolved.
Church or institutional status
Official shrine directory label
- Authority
- Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics
- Scope of the finding
- The printed association of directory number 902 with Saint Felicitas and Saint Perpetua.
- Limits of the finding
- The saints' commemoration or canonization does not authenticate any physical object or material, and the directory alone does not establish one.
Sources and notes
Back to the overviewSource labels describe a document's type and role, not the strength of a claim. Where provided, notes explain its use, access limits, and outstanding checks.
Provides current collection context and directly links the shrine's relic directory. What it does not establish: Collection-wide statistics are not evidence about any physical object corresponding to directory number 902.
Prints the repeated directory number 902 under both Saint Felicitas and Saint Perpetua. What it does not establish: Provides no physical-object type, class, authenticum, provenance, or material.
Documents the image source and The Met Open Access / CC0 1.0 rights record. What it does not establish: Later artistic depiction; not any relics.
- EX-01Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 946–959: the communion of saints (opens in a new tab)Official sourceCited in this file
Read the source note for the passage used and any limits on what it supports.
Explains Catholic fellowship with the saints, their intercession, and union in Christ; it does not authenticate a particular object.
- EX-02Benedict XVI, audience on John Damascene, 6 May 2009 (opens in a new tab)Official sourceCited in this file
Read the source note for the passage used and any limits on what it supports.
Explains Christian honor for matter, images, and saints’ remains through the Incarnation; it is not an object-specific authentication.
- EX-03The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, early Christian martyr narrative (opens in a new tab)Primary sourceCited in this file
Read the source note for the passage used and any limits on what it supports.
Primary narrative, including passages attributed to Perpetua and an editor’s account of Felicity and the execution; this text does not trace any Maria Stein object.
Corrections and updates
Expanded this file with a sourced narrative, 5 chapters and 4 answers to common questions. The existing evidence verdict label and institutional status are retained. Independent human review remains pending.