Today’s the memorial of Saints Perpetua and Felicity. I’m on KVSS radio this morning, talking about their “Passion,” which is one of the most remarkable documents of the early Church. Composed by Perpetua herself, it is certainly the most detailed account of a woman’s experience of Christianity during those formative years (she died in North Africa in 203 A.D.). Perpetua’s narrative concerns itself with many experiences we don’t often find in the Fathers — childbirth and breastfeeding, for example. We also glimpse how a woman exercised spiritual leadership in the ancient Church. Perpetua’s Passion is an important early witness for the study of liturgy, sacramental theology, and the doctrine of purgatory. It is one of the key texts discussed in one of my favorite books, Robin Darling Young’s In Procession Before the World: Martyrdom As Public Liturgy in Early Christianity.

You can listen to my interview via the live feed at the station’s website, or pick up the program at the Aquilina page later on. Eventually, Junior will move it to my own audio page.