The Martyr Who Would Not Return

In March of 203 AD, a young Carthaginian noblewoman named Vibia Perpetua sat in a dank North African prison, nursing her infant son. Her father — a man of wealth and standing — came to her cell repeatedly, weeping. He pulled at his beard. He kissed her hands. He called her not "daughter" but "lady," debasing himself before her. "Think of your father's gray hairs," he pleaded.…