Also known as
• Felicity
memorial
• 23 November
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The meanest nun in Our Lady of Solace my late sister Marie had to deal with in her tenure there was named after today’s saint. The name paradoxically means “Happiness.” Sister Mary Felicitas. She was long gone by the time I got there; mine was Sister Mary Muriel.
Our saint for today was a rich widow in the second century Rome. She was also a Christian as were all her children all of whom were martyred. Their names were:
• Alexander
• Vitalis
• Martial
• Januarius
• Felix
• Philip
• Silvanus
Felicity was well known for her devotion and charity to the service of the poor. These good deeds were detected by the Empire’s Sinister Agents, because of her kindness she was arrested. To prove she was not a Christian, Felicity was ordered at that time to worship the pagan gods; fat chance.
As an incentive to her becoming an apostate, her sons were arrested and given the same order; they also told the Emperor to take a hike. After a series of appeals, all of which were turned down, they were all ordered executed by emperor Antoninus.
Felicity was forced to watch as her children were murdered one by one; after each one she was given the chance to denounce her faith. When there were none left, I guess the game was up and the Emperor had her join her sons…..Because she was a Roman Citizen, she was beheaded which is almost always effective in making a martyr, this in the year 165. Her relics are in the Capuchin church at Montefiascone, in Tuscany, where there are no houses to rent.
Our saint today is not the same Felicity as the one mentioned in the excruciatingly long Roman Canon; Eucharistic Prayer #1. That Felicity is the companion of Saint Perpetua, their feast is in March.
Patronage
• against the death of children
• against sterility
• martyrs
• Invoked to have male children (I assume you do this because we all know female children all break their father’s heart sooner or later)
• widows
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