Felicitas and her sons

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Felicitas with the heads of her sons (illustration by Hartmann Schedel in the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493)
Felicitas and her sons are beheaded. (Engraving by Jan Luyken , 17th century)

Felicitas and her sons (* 2nd century in Rome , † around 166 in Rome) are early Christian martyrs .

Felicitas (also Felizitas) lived in Rome and was a victim of the persecution of Christians under the jointly ruling emperors Mark Aurel and Lucius Verus . According to tradition, she was executed by beheading along with her seven sons when she refused to renounce her belief.

Tradition gives the names of their sons: Alexander , Felix, Januarius, Martialis, Philippus, Silvanus (Silanus), Vitalis. These names are historically controversial. The Old Testament story of the Maccabean brothers ( 2. Makk.  6, 7) may also serve as a model for the Felizitas legend . The name Felizitas is Latin and means luck or bliss.

Felicitas is the patroness of women and mothers and of fertility in the Catholic Church . In art, Felicitas is portrayed with the attributes sword and martyr's palm , with her sons who surround her or whose heads she wears. Felicitas is buried in the Maximus catacomb on Via Salaria .

Felizitas is the patron saint of Vreden , where the relics of Felicitas were transferred in the 9th century when the women's monastery was founded. A valuable arm reliquary from the treasure of the collegiate church is in the cathedral chamber of Münster.

Other relics are in their consecrated church of Santa Felicita in Affile near Rome and consecrated in their monastery the Abbey Münsterschwarzach in Würzburg .

The feast day of St. Felicitas is

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : St. Felicitas  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Felicitas and her sons  - sources and full texts