PEROZZI, SILVIO. — Jurist, born at Vicenza on 2 December 1857, died at Bologna on 4 January 1931. He pursued his studies at the University of Padua, where he obtained degrees in law in 1879 and in letters in 1880. He was professor of Roman law, first at Perugia and, as a full professor, at Macerata (from 1885), Messina (from 1889), Parma (from 1891), and finally Bologna (from 1902). In 1928 he was appointed a national member of the Accademia dei Lincei.
A representative of the dogmatic school, he was one of the most original scholars; among his works, almost all of a critical nature, particular mention should be made of the 1903 inaugural lecture at Bologna, Le obbligazioni romane, which marked an epoch in the study of this fundamental institution. His Istituzioni di diritto romano (2 vols., Firenze 1906; 2nd ed., Roma 1927) are classical, above all because of the enormous number of observations and the problems they raised. His numerous contributions, scattered through journals and academic proceedings, were recently collected under the title Scritti giuridici (3 vols., Milano 1948).
PERPETUA, FELICITA and COMPANIONS, saints, martyrs. — The Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis recounts the martyrdom of the three catechumens Saturo, Saturnino, and Revocato; of P., a young woman from a distinguished family; and of her slave F., which took place in the arena at Carthage on 7 March 202.
During the persecution of Septimius Severus, while the procurator Hilarianus was governing the proconsular province of Africa following the death of the proconsul Minucius Timinianus, Vibia P., a 22-year-old noblewoman, already married and with a nursing child; F., a slave in an advanced state of pregnancy; and Revocato, Saturnino, and Secundulo—all five catechumens—were arrested at Thuburbo minus. A few days later Saturo, who had been absent at the time of the arrest and was the catechist of the others, was also associated with them. While they were still in private custody, the five catechumens received Baptism, and P. had to withstand her father’s first affectionate assault: he, the only pagan in his entire family, sought to make her apostatize. Transferred to prison, P. had a vision in which there appeared to her a ladder guarded by a great dragon and strewn with every kind of weapon, which prevented and obstructed the ascent; P., treading on the dragon, succeeded in climbing and found herself in a beautiful place: she understood that they would suffer martyrdom. Once again P.’s father repeated his attempt to persuade her, and renewed it for the third time during the interrogation held in their presence before the people; despite her immense love for her father and her pain at his distress, she nevertheless remained steadfast in the faith. The trial ended with their condemnation to the beasts, to be carried out in the spectacles celebrating the anniversary of Caesar Geta; they were therefore returned to prison while awaiting this. P. then had further visions revealing to her that her little brother Dinocrates, who had died at the age of seven from cancer of the face, was happy in heaven. A few days before the spectacle, the martyrs were transferred to the military prison, where P. had her final vision, which confirmed her in the certainty of her imminent final victory, while to Saturo the imminent eternal blessedness appeared in the form of a highly polished and fragrant building amid a beautiful garden. As the day of the spectacle approached, although they rejoiced in their imminent victory, the martyrs were sad because F. could not be with them, since the law forbade exposing women in her condition. They all prayed together for her, and three days before the execution, although she was in her eighth month of pregnancy, she gave birth to a little girl. While she was complaining of the natural pains, she replied to a guard who mocked her: «Modo ego patior quod patior; illic autem alius erit in me qui patietur pro me, quia et ego pro illo passura sum». Finally, the five were led into the amphitheatre (Secundulo had already died in prison); after being scourged, P. and F. were exposed to a maddened heifer, while Saturo, Revocato, and Saturnino were exposed to the bites of a leopard and a bear. All were then slaughtered before the crowd. The Passio also recalls four other martyrs—Giocondo, Saturnino, Artasio, and Quinto—who had already perished previously in the same persecution; from this it was sometimes erroneously asserted that there were ten martyrs.
Chapters 3–10 were written by P. herself, while 11–13 are by Saturo. The first and final chapters, that is, the editing of the Passio, are in all probability to be attributed to Tertullian. It appears that the Latin text is the original and the Greek text a translation, though it is not certain that the latter is Tertullian’s work. The Passio is famous for its account of the visions (the ladder of paradise; the good shepherd, etc.) and is also important for the ideas about martyrdom held by ancient Christianity. The Passio was known in the African Church. It is mentioned by Tertullian (De anima, 55, 4); Augustine (Sermons, 280, 281–82; De natura et origine animae, 1–10, 12, etc.; Eucaristiones in psalm., 47, 13); Ps. Augustine (Sermo, 394); Quodvultdeus (Sermo de tempore barbarico; Sermo de IV feria; Tractatus de natale sanctarum P. et Felicitatis); and Ps. Fulgentius (Sermo 70).