A noble woman of Rome during the second century, Felicity professed and lived the Christian faith in works of charity and prayer. Her example led others to convert to the faith angering the pagan priests who complained to the emperor.
Felicity was arrested and ordered to make a sacrifice to the idols, which she refused. Her sons were then threatened if she would not make the sacrifice, she refused again and was forced to watch one by one as each of her seven sons was killed in various horrible ways.. She held firm to her faith and proclaimed “my sons will life forever if, like me, they scorn the idols and die for their God.” Months after her sons executions, Felicity too was beheaded. It could be said she suffered martyrdom eight time, watching each son die before her own death.
Images of St. Felicity often show her surrounded by the faces of her seven sons. Felicity is a patron to those watching their loved ones suffer and an inspiration of holding fast to God in the face of great loss.
