The word was out, a court hearing was about to take place. The young woman heard the jingle of a jailer’s keys. The fear in her soul melted as she caught sight of her father behind the burly guard through the grill of the door. He looked ashen, worried, and old. “They’re coming for you,” he whispered as the guard left them. His sad eyes fixed on her, “Have pity on my gray hairs!” The grief in his voice was palatable. She tried to reassure him knowing it was useless. How could she deny her very self?
Her father fell to his knees and grabbed her hands kissing them. “Have compassion on your little one I beg you, my Lady.” She’d always been his little girl. To hear him call her Lady pierced her heart. It pained her terribly to see him so broken. She loved her father with a passion, as only a daughter can. At his mention of her infant, now under his care, tears began to well in her eyes. She held them back valiantly, knowing the little one was in good hands. He had raised her. Surely her baby would also be the delight of his eyes if the outcome of the hearing were negative.
For a long silent moment her father knelt at her feet, sobbing uncontrollably. She ran her fingers through his graying hair sharing his pain, but their paths had parted. She hadn’t thought, at the outset of her catechumen classes, that there would be such terrible resistance from those she cared about most. In her youthful fervor, she was sure love could conquer all. Instead, it had brought immense suffering, confusion, and division. Now that she was facing capital punishment, it was tearing her family to shreds. She mouthed a silent prayer for strength, groping for a solution. She could not, would not break faith with what she knew was Truth.
Gently, she pulled her father up to kiss his cheek. When their eyes met she said, “Father, don’t grieve. Nothing will happen but what pleases God.”
As the jailer, who already waited at the door, escorted her father out, Perpetua crumpled onto the damp prison floor, the torrent of tears breaking loose.
St. Perpetua; Martyr A. D. 203 Feast: March 7
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