Flashback To Die For...

March 31, 2009

“In the blood of the martyrs lies the seed of the church.”
Tertullian, a Christian writer in the second and third centuries

View here -- a 4:00 clip on the martyrdom of Perpetua.

She was a young, well-born Christian woman who refused to observe minor rituals that acknowledged the authority of the Emperor, and in the year 203 was led into a Carthage arena, along with her companion and servant girl, Felicitas. As the animals were let loose for the kill, the two women turned to each other and bid farewell with a Christian gesture, the kiss of peace.

But while she was in prison awaiting her death and frantic over the fate of her newborn son, Perpetua kept this diary. Over the years, it's been one of our most visited pages.

And you might want to sample the full series from which this clip is taken, From Jesus to Christ -The Story of the First Christians. It's become a FRONTLINE classic since its first broadcast in April 1998.