Saint Thecla

Life story

The main source on Thecla is the Acts of Paul and Thecla, a work composed around 180 and later included in the Acts of Paul. It presents her as a young woman of Iconium, today Konya in Turkey, who was engaged to a young man named Thamyris. After hearing Paul preach she resolved to follow the faith and refused the marriage.

The Acts say she was put on trial for this. She is described as escaping both fire and wild beasts in the arena, then following Paul and afterwards living an ascetic life. Most scholars today treat the story as legend, although some think it may reflect a real person. Writers of the ancient world were divided as well, and Tertullian and Jerome both rejected the work.

According to tradition, Thecla lived to old age at Seleucia, today Silifke in Turkey, and was buried there. The place became a major pilgrimage centre, and the traveller Egeria visited her shrine at Seleucia in the late fourth century. Devotion to her was also strong at Iconium and Nicomedia and spread to Egypt and Syria.

Her feast is 23 September in the West and 24 September in the East. The Western commemoration was dropped from the General Calendar in 1969, but her name remains in the Roman Martyrology. The birth year 30 and death year 90 in the project's list are conventional guesses that no document guarantees.

Works and witness

• Heroine of the Acts of Paul and Thecla, composed around 180
• In the Acts, broke off an engagement at Iconium to follow Paul's preaching
• According to tradition, lived to old age and was buried at Seleucia
• Her shrine at Seleucia was a major pilgrimage site in antiquity
• Honoured widely across the Christian East

Saints from the same country

Saint Paul, Saint Luke, Saint George, Saint Nicholas

References

• Acts of Paul and Thecla
• Martyrologium Romanum
• Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent) – St. Thecla

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.