Felicitas was a wealthy Roman widow whose generosity to the poor and active proselytism attracted official attention during the persecution of Marcus Aurelius. The prefect Publius brought her with her seven sons before the courts in the Forum, demanding they sacrifice to the gods. Felicitas refused first, then encouraged each son in turn to refuse.
The seven were martyred separately in different ways — Januarius, scourged to death; Felix and Philip, beaten with whips; Silvanus, thrown from a cliff; Alexander, Vitalis, and Martial, beheaded. Felicitas was kept four months longer in prison so that she might suffer the loss of each son before her own martyrdom. She was finally beheaded c. 165.
St. Augustine, three centuries later, said of her: 'For your love of Christ, you have endured a sevenfold martyrdom in your sons and an eighth in yourself.' Her name appears in the Roman Canon of the Mass.