17 Facts About Thecla

Thecla was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul the Apostle.

Paul was sent to prison, where Thecla visited him, kissed his bonds, and refused to leave him and return to her mother and fiance.

Paul was made to leave the city and Thecla was condemned to be burned.

However, Thecla was miraculously saved from burning at the stake by the onset of a storm.

Thecla then encountered Paul outside of Iconium, where she told him, "I will cut my hair off and I shall follow you wherever you go".

Thecla fought him off, tore his cloak, and knocked his coronet off his head, which caused her to be put on trial for assault.

Thecla was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts, but was again saved by a series of miracles.

Thecla rejoined Paul in Myra, "wearing a mantle that she had altered so as to make a man's cloak".

The martyrdom of Thecla is frequently referred to in the earliest Acts of the Martyrs.

Thecla was called "apostle and protomartyr among women" and "equal-to-apostles in sanctity".

Thecla was widely cited as an ascetic role model for women.

Thecla's veneration flourished particularly at Seleucia Cilicia, Iconium, and Nicomedia.

In Bede's martyrology, Thecla is celebrated on 23 September, which was her feast day in the West, though in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church removed Thecla's feast day from the Calendar of Saints for lack of historic evidence.

In Maaloula, Syria, a Greek Orthodox convent, the Convent of Saint Thecla, was built near her cave tomb, reached by steps in the mountainside, a pilgrimage site with a holy well.

The Catacomb of Saint Thecla is a Christian catacomb in the city of Rome, near the Via Ostiense and the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, in the southern quarter of the ancient city.

St Thecla created a culture of imitation in these women.

Thecla is counted as the patron saint of Tarragona and Sitges in Catalonia, where the cathedral has a chapel dedicated to her.