Perpetua

ON ST. PERPETUA, WIFE OF ST. PETER THE APOSTLE, MARTYR AT ROME,

FIRST CENTURY.

Perpetua, wife of St. Peter, martyr at Rome. (S.)

BY J. V. D. G.

[1] The Fathers commemorate the wife of St. Peter, That the prince of the apostles was joined in matrimony the sacred books openly testify, since they record that his mother-in-law was healed by Christ the Lord Matt., VII, 14, 15; Mark, I, 29, 30; Luke, IV, 38.. No further notice, however, of his wife herself is introduced in Scripture, but the holy Fathers hand down a number of things, uncertain though they are, which it will be useful to gather here as into a bundle. For some merely mention the wife of Peter, namely Pseudo-Clement, who relates that he travelled with her [P. L., vol. I, p. 1365, Recogn., VII, 25. Cf. Homily XIII, ibid., vol. II, p. 330.]; the Pseudo-Ignatian interpolator, affirming that both Peter and Paul and all the apostles lived in matrimony: ὡς Πέτρου καὶ Παύλου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀποστόλων τῶν γάμοις προσομιλησάντων P. G., vol. V, p. 825.; Tertullian, who admitted that Peter alone is designated a husband in the scriptures, by way of his mother-in-law P. L., vol. II, p. 939.; Ambrose, asserting that all the apostles, except John and Paul, had wives P. L., vol. XVII. p. 320.; and likewise Origen P. G., vol. XIII, p. 1316. and Jerome P. L., vol. XXIII, p. 245.. St. Epiphanius adds P. G., vol. XLI, p. 444. that Peter's spouse came from the city of Capernaum; he thinks moreover, with Clement of Alexandria P. G., vol. VIII, p. 1156, 1158., that he begot children. Yet the ecclesiastical writers also agree in asserting that St. Peter, after he had been raised to the dignity of the apostolate, declined the conjugal work. St. Avitus teaches similar things, when he writes that his own spouse followed the Lord Peter, Peter: the carnal use having ceased, a spiritual solace remained Epist. to Gundobad in Baluze, Miscellanea, vol. II, p. 9, ed. Mansi.; indeed Epiphanius the monk relates that Peter, after his mother-in-law died, handed over his wife to the Mother of God: καὶ τῆς πενθερᾶς Πέτρου τελευτησάσης τὴν γυναῖκα ὁ Πέτρος παρέδωκε τῇ Θεοτοκῷ P. G., vol. CXX, p. 218.. Not otherwise do Jerome Loc. cit., and P. L., vol. XXII, p. 963., Ratramnus P. L., vol. CXXI, p. 325. and Hincmar P. L., vol. CXXVI, p. 148. speak of the continence of Peter once made an apostle. How the heterodox tried to twist these things, especially in the sixteenth century, when the plague of the Protestants inveighing against ecclesiastical celibacy was raging, who called the apostles married not as though they had been such only before taking up the apostolate, and, having entered upon it, had left their wives with all the other things they had possessed, but in such a way that those whom Christ had called to himself married remained constant in the use of this state to the end of life, is plain, for example, from the dissertations either of Friedrich Maier De Petri conjugio. Wittenberg, 1684. or of Franz Georg Buckfisch De Apostolis uxoratis. Helmstedt, 1704., which however the form of our work and the emptiness of the argument compel us to pass over here.

[2] whose martyrdom they relate. That the spouse of St. Peter was adorned with the glory of martyrdom Clement of Alexandria sets forth in book VIII of the Stromata in the following words: Φασὶ γοῦν τὸν μακάριον Πέτρον θεασάμενον τὴν αὐτοῦ γυναῖκα ἀγομένην τὴν ἐπὶ θάνατον, ἡσθῆναι μὲν τῆς κλήσεως χάριν, καὶ τῆς εἰς οἶκον ἀνακομιδῆς, ἐπιφωνῆσαι δὲ εὖ μάλα προτρεπτικῶς τε καὶ παρακλητικῶς ἐξ ὀνόματος προσειπόντα· Μεμνήσθω, αὐτῇ, τοῦ Κυρίου [Strom.. book VII, P. G., vol. IX, p. 487. Perhaps it is better to read: Μέμνησο, ὦ αὕτη, τοῦ Κυρίου, as very many editors advise, relying especially on the testimony of Eusebius, who, reciting Clement, gives the last words according to the more correct formula indicated.]. They say indeed that blessed Peter, when he had seen his wife being led to death, rejoiced that she was called and that she was being brought back home, exhorted and consoled her, and addressed her by name,

and said to her: Remember the Lord. The same things are repeated in their Histories both by Eusebius Book III, chapter 30. and by Nicephorus Callistus P. G., vol. CXLV, p. 880.. On this passage of Clement, Grabe noted the following Spicileg. SS. Patrum, 2nd ed. Oxford, vol. I, p. 30.: The name of Peter's wife is not expressed by Clement of Alexandria in the passage cited, but it is read in the fragment which is had published under the name of Heleca, bishop of Saragossa, p. 109 of the Saragossa edition. St. Peter, says that author, is held in honour in the Spains, and his wife Concordia, who suffered under Nero, not long before he himself suffered. She was (as Maximus teaches in his Commentaries on the epistle of St. Peter) the daughter of Aristobulus, or Zebedee, and of Salome, and also the mother-in-law of Andrew, who married another sister of Concordia, and of James and John. Now Aristobulus, surnamed Zebedee, was the brother of Barnabas, apostle of the Lord.

[3] Of the name and genealogy of the wife of St. Peter, There is no need to discuss at greater length this genealogy handed down by Heleca, which also appears in Epiphanius the monk: καὶ ὁ μὲν Σίμων ἔγημε τὴν θυγατέρα Ἀριστοβούλου, ἀδελφοῦ Βαρνάβου τοῦ ἀποστόλου, and Simon indeed married the daughter of Aristobulus, brother of Barnabas the apostle P. G., vol. CXX, p. 218., since it has no certain foundation, inasmuch as nothing settled may be established about the name of Peter's wife, whom the bishop of Saragossa calls Concordia, but others by the Hebrew appellation Mary Buckfisch, De Apostolis uxoratis, p. 10.. As has been said, the Gospel and the Fathers are silent about this name; moreover we have heard Clement of Alexandria saying only indeterminately that St. Peter addressed his wife by name. We are taught by Cotelier In note 39 to Pseudo-Clement's Const. Apost., P. G., vol. I, p. 772. that Symeon, magister and logothete, in an unedited Chronicle which lies hidden in a codex of the Paris library marked no. 1712, calls the wife of St. Peter Joanna, καὶ Ἰωάννα· αὐτὴ δὲ ἦν ἡ γυνὴ Πέτρου (fol. 60), whom he cites among the myrrh-bearing women who came to anoint the Lord. Further, Grabe strives to prove from this that the Metaphrast deserves no credit in this matter Op. cit., p. 330., because, just as in the preceding he had erred in making Mary, the mother of James the less, the wife of Jude the brother of the Lord, whereas James the less, brother of Jude the brother of the Lord, was by no means her son, so here too he blundered, confusing the wife of Peter with Peter's mother. This appears clearly from another recension of the parents and homeland of the apostles, which Cotelier likewise most diligently copied from the Paris codices now marked nos. 1085, 1115, at the last chapter of book II of Pseudo-Clement's Apostolic Constitutions P. G., vol. I, p. 755.. For there you have this: Peter and Andrew, brothers, of the father Jonah, the mother Jonna, fishermen by trade, from the village of Bethsaida. Yet Epiphanius the monk, who certainly alludes to this passage of Symeon P. G., vol. CXX, p. 210., since he himself numbers Joanna among the seven myrrh-bearing women, affirms only doubtfully that she was the wife of Peter, saying: καὶ Ἰωάννα· αὕτη, φασί τινες, γυνὴ Πέτρου, ἄλλοι δὲ, μήτηρ Κλήμεντος, and Joanna; she, as some say, was the wife of Peter, but as others, the mother of Clement. It will perhaps not be beside the point to compare these passages of Epiphanius the monk and of Symeon the logothete with one another, so that the likeness may be plain.

CHRONICLE OF SYMEON

(P. G., vol. I, p. 772.)

Greek text only in the Acta; the English here is translated from the Greek.

Μυροφόροι δὲ ἦσαν ἑπτὰ· ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ Μαρία ἀφ᾽ ἧς ἐξέβαλεν ὁ Χριστὸς τὰ ἑπτὰ δαιμόνια. Καὶ Σαλώμη ἡ μαῖα· καὶ ἡ μήτηρ τῶν ὑιῶν Ζεβεδαίου. Καὶ Μαρία ἡ μήτηρ μὲν Ἰακώβου τοῦ μικροῦ, γυνὴ δὲ Ἰούδα τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου. Καὶ ἡ μήτηρ Ἰωσῆ· αὐτὴ δὲ ἦν θυγάτηρ Σαλώμης τῆς ἐξαδέλφης τῆς Θεοτόκου, ἥτις ἀναθρέψασα τὸν Ἰωσῆ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ ἐλέγετο. Καὶ Ἰωάννα· αὐτὴ δὲ ἦν ἡ γυνὴ Πέτρου. Καὶ ἡ ἀδελφὴ τῆς μητρὸς τοῦ Κυρίου Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Κλωπᾶ, ἥ ἔστι θυγάτηρ Ἰωσὴφ, καὶ ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ· αὐτοῦ Κλωπᾶ.

Now the myrrh-bearers were seven: Mary Magdalene, from whom Christ cast out the seven demons. And Salome the midwife; and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. And Mary, the mother of James the less, and the wife of Jude the brother of the Lord. And the mother of Joses; she was the daughter of Salome the cousin of the Mother of God, who, having brought up Joses, was called his mother. And Joanna; she was the wife of Peter. And the sister of the mother of the Lord, Mary the wife of Clopas, who is the daughter of Joseph, and the wife of his brother Clopas.

EPIPHANIUS THE MONK

(P. G., vol. CXX, p. 210.)

Greek text only in the Acta; the English here is translated from the Greek.

Μυροφόροι δὲ ἦσαν ἑπτά· Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ, καὶ Σαλώμη, καὶ ἡ μήτηρ τῶν ὑιῶν Ζεβεδαίου, καὶ Μαρία Ἰακώβου τοῦ μικροῦ, μήτηρ Ἰούδα, γυνὴ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ Ἰωσῆ μήτηρ ἡ ἀναθρέψασα τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ Ἰωάννα· αὕτη, φασί τινες, γυνὴ Πέτρου, ἄλλοι δὲ μήτηρ Κλήμεντος, καὶ ἡ ἀδελφὴ τῆς μητρὸς τοῦ Κυρίου Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Κλεωπᾶ, γυνὴ ἀδελφοῦ Ἰωσήφ.

Now the myrrh-bearers were seven: Mary Magdalene, and Salome, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and Mary the mother of James the less, mother of Jude, wife of the brother of the Lord, and the mother of Joses, who brought up the brother of the Lord, and Joanna; she, some say, was the wife of Peter, but others the mother of Clement; and the sister of the mother of the Lord, Mary the wife of Cleopas, wife of the brother of Joseph.

In the martyrologies, however, as Grabe Loc. cit., Thilo Actorum SS. Petri et Pauli, later part. Halle, 1838, p. 20. and Lipsius Die Quellen der römischen Petrus-Sage, p. 148. Cf. ibid., pp. 112, 145. also observe, the wife of St. Peter is said with unanimous consent to have been named Perpetua. But of her cult in the fasti of the saints we must now speak more thoroughly.

[4] and of her cult. St. Perpetua has not received a place in the Roman martyrology, although Baronius related the very history of her martyrdom in his Annals, reworked according to Clement of Alexandria At the year 69, no. XXXII., adding only that it is unknown at what time she suffered, whereas from the words of Eusebius it is plainly gathered that she underwent martyrdom a little before St. Peter. The cult of St. Perpetua and her memory is most celebrated in Usuard and his additions: for it is found in the very great Antwerp copy, in the Utrecht, Leiden, Louvain and Brussels copies; and also in Molanus, Ferrari, Arturus in the Gynaeceum, and Maurolico, where the formula runs thus: On the same day, the natal day of St. Perpetua, spouse of blessed Peter the apostle. Others recite almost word for word the passage excerpted from Clement of Alexandria; so the old Cologne martyrology, the Viola Sanctorum, the martyrology of Canisius and the Cologne Carthusians, where these words are read: On the same day, of St. Perpetua, martyr, wife of St. Peter the apostle, whom, when she was being pressed to martyrdom by the torturers, St. Peter boldly exhorted in the Lord with these words: My wife, be mindful that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered for you; and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot destroy your soul. And strengthened in the Lord by these words, she joyfully, patiently and bravely endured death for Christ. Somewhat more is had in a manuscript Florarium of the saints, a copy of which we found in the Bollandian collections preserved in the codex marked no. 8932 of the royal library of Brussels: The natal day of St. Perpetua, spouse of blessed Peter the apostle: which most holy woman, having followed Peter, came to Rome, where she most constantly preached Christ to all. At length, by order of the most impious emperor Nero, she was seized and long tortured, and finally condemned to death. While therefore she was being led to her passion, the disciples weeping, Peter exulted with great joy on account of her constancy and the hard punishment which she had fervently endured, and calling her by her own name, cried out after her, saying: O Perpetua, my spouse, remember the Lord. At length, beheaded at Rome, she celebrated her martyrdom in her own blood in the year of salvation LX, shining with very many miracles. That it says she preached Christ must be understood thus, that by the examples of a most holy life and by words too in private meetings she endeavoured to persuade the Roman women of the Christian religion. The sixtieth year of Christ is the eighth of Nero; yet it is likely that St. Perpetua was slain somewhat later.

[5] Of the sources of the legend of St. Perpetua, Sollerius confesses that he does not know who first placed this name Perpetua in the fasti of the saints Martyrologium Usuardi, at 4 Nov., p. 651., which, for the rest, the most learned Thilo asserts without doubt to be fictitious Op. cit., p. 20.. But Zahn [Acta Joannis. Erlangen, 1880. p. LXXVIII. Cf. Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen, 1880, p. 1226.], Lipsius [Die Quellen der römischen Petrus-Sage, pp. 112, 145; Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden, vol. II,1 p. 82.] and Hilgenfeld Novum Test. extr. can., vol. IV, p. 73. have been of the opinion that the whole history of the martyrdom of St. Perpetua, which, as has been said, Clement of Alexandria first narrated, was taken by him from the apocryphal Acts of St. Peter. The question nevertheless remains, not yet solved, to which of the various recensions, if indeed there really were several, which has not been so certainly demonstrated either, namely the catholic, the Ebionite or the Gnostic, this history is to be attributed. However that may be, this nevertheless seems to be admitted as more probable, which Lipsius contends against Zahn Die apokryphen, etc., p. 82., that Clement of Alexandria, in narrating the martyrdom of the wife of St. Peter, does not report the very words of the text of the Acts, since he brings the matter forward as from hearsay, φασὶ γοῦν. The rest can only be conjectured, namely, what Lipsius holds against Hilgenfeld Loc. cit., that the history comes not from the catholic πράξεσι Πέτρου καὶ Παύλου, but more probably derives from an Ebionite source, since the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies and Recognitions [Clem. Rom., Recogn., VII, 25; Homil. XIII, 1; cf. P. G., vol. I, p. 1365, vol. II, p. 330.], which are said to belong to that workshop, rather frequently mention the wife of St. Peter; indeed from a Gnostic source, if Lipsius is to be heard, because Clement of Alexandria sometimes drew from that same source [E.g. in the adumbration on 1 Ep. John, ed. Potter, p. 1009, in which passage there seem to have been taken up those Gnostic traditions which are found in Thilo, Fragmenta Actuum Ioannis. Halle, 1847, pp. 20 ff.]. Hence, if these things are rightly established, this little narrative of the martyrdom of St. Perpetua was fabricated as early as the close of the 2nd century.

[6] and of its historical truth. Therefore, to sum up the whole inquiry in a word, this seems to be retained about St. Perpetua: that while it is clear from the Gospel that St. Peter was joined in matrimony, all the rest, namely what is put about both concerning the name and concerning the martyrdom of the apostle's wife, smacks of fable. Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius are to be thought to have composed the narrative of the martyrdom which they hand down from the apocryphal Acts of the apostles, and from that recension which is lost. Moved by their authority, Usuard transferred that holy woman into his hagiological canon. Yet not all the compilers of the hagiological fasti followed him. Certainly formerly, before the apocryphal acts became known and diminished the credit of many histories which the Fathers repeat, it was natural to grant Clement of Alexandria a fuller authority; which even Ruinart himself Acta primorum martyrum, 2nd ed., p. XXIV., a quite weighty and severe expunger of apocryphal traditions, by no means denied, when, in refuting Dodwell, who contended from the homilies of the Fathers that, if the genuine were separated from the supposititious, few martyrs would remain whose feasts were celebrated,

adduces Clement of Alexandria narrating the martyrdom of the wife of St. Peter the apostle, intending to show what the testimonies of the Fathers are worth in hagiographical matters. Now, however, this tradition, of which Clement of Alexandria made himself the witness, seems certainly to be of less account, even if it is not altogether to be rejected as plainly false. For on the one hand it is only made persuasive, but not strictly demonstrated, that this tradition was dug out of the apocryphal Acts of the apostles; and on the other hand it has not been proved that whatever is found in these Acts is to be rejected as supposititious. Accordingly the caution of the Roman martyrology, which has not yet granted a place to St. Perpetua, wife of St. Peter the apostle, is altogether to be praised; that it was wisely applied in this matter is demonstrated by what we have endeavoured to investigate concerning St. Perpetua.