The History of

Saints Felicitas and Perpetua Parish

           The parish of Saints Felicitas & Perpetua came into existence on the feast of St. Luke, October 18, 1938, as it was on that day Reverend William Fox arrived from Newport Beach to begin his pastoral duties.  In the Mission of St. John the Baptist, located at 3104 Foothill Blvd. in Pasadena, the first parochial Mass was celebrated.  However, because it was not centrally located, the Pasadena Women’s Club on Sierra Madre Blvd. was rented for divine services.

            In 1939, the Archbishop of Los Angeles purchased three acres near the northwest corner of San Gabriel Blvd. and Huntington Dr. in San Marino.  The three acres consisted of many fine oak trees and the one hundred year-old adobe know as Casa Blanca.  The adobe was renovated and alterations made to provide for both church and rectory.  Although the church was small, it fulfilled the needs of the parish until 1947.  At the end of Word War II, the parish had grown in numbers and the need for a larger church was apparent.  Permission to erect the beautiful new church was granted and a groundbreaking ceremony took place on October 19, 1947.

            Construction took less than one year with completion in the summer of 1948.  The church was built in the early Italian style of reinforced concrete with a tile roof.  A beautiful bell tower was constructed.   Inside the edifice there are thirty-two beautiful, stained glass windows of various saints that glow in many colors, and were donated by many generous families of the parish.  A circular stained glass window in the back of the church, depicting Christ’s resurrection, shines brilliantly in the afternoon sun.

        Saints Felicitas & Perpetua School was completed in 1950.  A two-story structure of reinforced concrete consists of rooms for eight grades and a kindergarten.  The rectory was completed in 1962, the convent in 1963, and the social center shortly thereafter.

            (In 1962 the old rectory or Casa Blanca Adobe was demolished for the building of the new rectory.  In 2004 it would have been 175 years old.)

History of Saints Felicitas and Perpetua

History of Patron Saints

            From the martyrdom –narratives of the early Church, we learn about the barbarity to which these saints were subjected.  Also we see their Christian patience as derived from a diary that was written by St. Perpetua while she was in prison.

            The diary reveals that three men and two women had been arrested for the crime of being “Christians”.  The two women were Felicitas and Perpetua.  One of the men was probably a blood brother of Perpetua and another of the men was the slave, husband of Felicitas.  All five of them were “catechumens”, the name given to those preparing for Baptism.  This diary verifies tremendous courage and endurance exemplified by these saints during their sufferings.

            Perpetua belonged to a noble family of Carthage.  Her father was a pagan, but her mother may have been a Christian.  With her in prison was her baby son.  Her companion, Felicitas, also referred to as Felicity, was married to a slave and was expecting her first child when they were arrested.  The anti-Christian edict of the Emperor Severus demanded the death penalty for being a Christian.

            While in prison, Perpetua experienced several visions.  She interpreted these as indicating that she and her companions must suffer and give up the joys of this world in exchange for the only true joy – that of being with God in heaven.  Felicitas suffered from a great fear.  It was against the law for a woman with child to be exposed for punishment.  Felicitas feared that her martyrdom would be delayed because of her condition.  Two days before the persecutions she gave birth to a little girl.  The next day the children of both mothers were taken from them.

            On the infamous day, the martyrs–to-be proceeded with joy into the amphitheater and the ordeal began.  The punishment called for the two women being attacked by a wild heifer.  Felicitas and Perpetua stood side by side and received repeated maulings from the wild beast.  After a brief rest, the crowd demanded more blood.  When Felicitas and Perpetua heard this they proceeded to the center of the amphitheater where the gladiators awaited them.  The Saints embraced, kissed each other, and received the sword.  Our saintly patrons died for Christ with serenity and even joy.

Saturo, godparent of Felicitas and Perpetua

In the early dawn of the church, around the year 202 A.D., the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus ordered the persecution of all those who gathered around the fountain of water, a community faithful to the memory of Jesus who had himself been baptized at the Jordan river and who had water gush from his side at the Crucifixion.  Saturo was a member of this community and he had been put in charge of Perpetua and Felicitas.  He would be their lifeguard as they prepared to immerse themselves in the waters of Baptism.  Perpetua was a young woman of about 21 years of age.  She came from a white, noble, pagan family of wealth.  Felicitas, on the other hand, was Perpetua’s slave, the color of the earth from her African homeland.

One day as they gathered at Saturo’s house to talk over their plans for the forthcoming Baptism, Roman soldiers broke the door down and arrested all of them.  They were placed in jail and sentenced to die in the arena at the mercy of the lions kept there for such purposes.  We know what happened next because Perpetua kept a diary as she waited for her martyrdom. 

As they huddled in fear, Saturo, Perpetua’s and Felicitas’ godfather-to-be, comforted them and asked them to follow his example.  When the time for Saturo’s execution came, he calmly walked into the arena and was asked once more to renounce his Baptism.  Saturo not only refused, but warned the Emperor that these was someone mightier than he that would hold the Emperor accountable.  With that act of resistance, the Emperor gave the sign, and the lions were let loose.  One lion immediately fell upon Saturo and broke his neck. 

Perpetua and Felicitas heard the gasp of the crowd and they knew what had happened.  In the prison cell, there no longer was master or slave, black or white, rich or poor.  Perpetua and Felicitas hugged each other as sisters who had already died, died to the racial differences of this world, died to their past lives and now ready to enter a new one.  After the roar of the crowd settled, they sat down and fell asleep waiting for their execution which would come in the morning.

Perpetua wondered about what would happen now that Saturo was no longer with them.  She wrote in her diary that when Saturo died, her courage fell.  She was not sure she could go through with her execution.  As she fell asleep, she asked, “Where is Saturo now?”

As if in answer to her question, Perpetua had a dream.  She dreamt of a marvelous bronze ladder to which were attached various instruments of torture and death: knives, swords, and sharp spikes.  The ladder was so narrow that only one person could climb it at a time and if you slipped or fell you would immediately be injured by those terrible attachments.  But, even more alarming, a fierce and frightening dragon waited at the foot of the ladder.  It was then that she heard Saturo’s voice: “Perpetua, do not be afraid of the dragon.  Come up the steps and follow me.”  Perpetua’s lifeguard had not abandoned her, nor had he drowned.  On the contrary, Perpetua lifeguard was still watching over her, guiding her, coaching her for her red Baptism.  On hearing Saturo’s voice, Perpetua’s courage returned and she started to go toward the ladder.  The dragon saw her and began to lift his head but Perpetua—full of joy and courage at having heard Saturo’s invitation—stepped confidently on the dragon’s head and started to climb the stairs.  What she saw next can only be described in her own words:

“I climbed the stairs and I saw a great and marvelous garden and sitting in the middle of the garden, with his back turned to me was a tall man with grey hair dressed as a shepherd and tending his sheep.  Thousands of people dressed in white surrounded the shepherd.  The shepherd turned his head to me and said, ‘Welcome, daughter.’”

Perpetua and Felicitas were martyred the next morning not with fear in their hearts but with a song of joy on their lips.  Their Baptism would be with water of the red kind, the kind that gives life to the church and promises her posterity.  And their godfather taught them how to handle that water.  Their godfather led them by his example and encouragement not to be afraid of the water but to immerse themselves without fear.