AFTER a holy childhood, Colette joined a society of devout women called the Beguines; but not finding their state sufficiently austere, she entered the Third Order of St. Francis, and lived in a hut near her parish church of Corbie in Picardy. Here she had passed four years of extraordinary penance when St. Francis, in a vision, bade her undertake the reform of her Order, then much relaxed. Armed with due authority, she established her reform throughout a large part of Europe, and, in spite of the most violent opposition, founded seventeen convents of the strict observance. Continue reading →

St. Perpetua had just become a mother and St. Felicitas was on the point of becoming one, when they were thrown into prison at Carthage during the persecution of Severus. They prayed that they might become martyrs and were filled with joy at their condemnation. They were put to death in the amphitheatre in 202. They were the first saints to be included from outside Rome in the Roman Calendar of the Fourth Century. They are named in the Canon of the Mass.

(Source: Fr. Lasance, The New Roman Missal)