Many martyrdom stories seem made up, often too extreme to take seriously. But Vivia Perpetua of Carthage told her own story in her own words and it has a ring of authenticity. In 203AD, the educated, noble 22 year old, against her father’s advice, decided to become a Christian. He beat her up and she was glad that her arrest as a Christian, kept her safe from him. She was arrested with her group of converts and teacher: two slaves, Felicity and Revocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus and instructor, Saturus, who chose to share death with his flock.
Prison conditions were atrocious, crowded and stifling hot particularly for the women. Perpetua was separated from her breast feeding baby, and the slave was pregnant.
Her father came to beg his daughter to recant but she refused. They were, however, treated better after bribing the jailors she was allowed to have her baby with her. She prevailed on her jailors to allow the condemned to be cleaned up and dressed in their own clothes suggesting that this was better for the honour of the Emperor Severus, whose birthday the Games celebrated. She acted with immense dignity during the proceedings of the Games in the Amphitheatre where she encouraged the crowd to adopt Christianity.
When they were taken out to face the wild animals she told her fellows to stand calmly. The men had to face bears, leopards, and wild boars, while the women were stripped to face a rabid heifer. The crowd reacted against their treatment, and they were allowed to be dressed and to meet their ends at the hand of the gladiator’s swords.
Sts. Perpetua and Felicity are the patron saints of mothers and expectant mothers. Presumably because of the heifer in the story they are also the patron saints of ranchers and butchers! Their feast day is celebrated on March 7
https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=48