ST THECLA OF LEONTINI, VIRGIN - 10 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 10th of January

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST THECLA OF LEONTINI, VIRGIN 

Saint Thecla of Leontini is mentioned in both the Passion of St Alphius and in the short biography of St Justina. 

SHE DEVOTED HERSELF TO THE CORPORAL WORK OF MERCY OF BURYING THE DEAD

According to the legend, at the intercession of the former, she had been cured of six years of paralysis, and from then on she devoted herself and her entire very large fortune to the care of the holy martyrs and to the dignified burial of their corpses. 

HER CONTRIBUTION TO THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL

She also made a contribution to spreading the Gospel in her native city by giving St Agathus and St Neophytus refuge on one of her estates. Once the persecution had ceased, the latter became a bishop there. 

HER HOLY DEATH

After countless works of godliness and charity, she closed her eyes in the course of the third century. St Neophytus is buried in a church she built. Let us add that she is said to have been a daughter of St Isidora - and thus we have mentioned just about everything that pious tradition tells us about her. 

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)