St Thecla: First Female Martyr

 Today we read about a very interesting saint. St Thecla (I'm really tempted to call her Saint The CLAW, like from Toy Story) was immensely popular in the early church. She heard Paul preach, and was so impressed by his teachings on virginity that she broke off her engagement with a young man and professed lifelong virginity. Her ex fiance and her mother were not pleased. They denounced her and she was condemned to death. The Romans lit a fire to burn her to death, but miraculously a thunderstorm rolled in and put out the fire. Two more times the authorities tried to kill her, once by feeding her to wild animals, and each time she was miraculously saved. She's considered the first female martyr because she refused to denounce her faith and they tried to kill her, but God saved her each time. This reminds me of St John, who was also condemned to death by being boiled alive in oil, but when they put him into the boiling oil, it did him no harm. Even though he is the only one of the twelve disciples who "died a natural death", he is still a martyr because he refused to give up his faith and they tried to kill him.

St Thecla then went on to help St Paul spread the gospel all over the known world, perhaps even into Africa. The frustrating thing about saints doing things without seeking the world's approval is that it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction in the lives of saints, especially those of the early church. She seems to have been miraculously transported back to Rome after Paul's death, and we have records of a St Thecla who was buried in Rome, probably this saint.

Looking back, we see that God was working through people like St Thecla to transform the world. He spread the gospel through His children to the known world, and even shared it with those in the Americas (see this article for more). When these saints died, it was probably tempting for those who remained to think, "How will the church survive with these saints gone?" But God raised up new saints, in every generation, to carry on the work of His church. How is God calling you, today, to carry on His work?

God, thanks for the life and example of this extraordinary young woman. St Thecla, pray for us.