Thecla of Lentini

Saint Thecla of Lentini was a wealthy Christian woman of Lentini in Sicily in the 3rd century, regarded as the founder of the Christian Church in that city and the one who spread the veneration of the martyrs Alphius, Cyrinus and Philadelphus.

According to tradition she had known the three young men personally and been healed by them of paralysis. When they were imprisoned in the persecution of Decius, Thecla and her cousin Justina paid the Roman guards for permission to visit them. After their martyrdom Thecla bought their bodies and buried them. When the persecution ended she built a church in honor of the three martyrs, took in hand the organization of the Church in the city, and set the newly baptized Neophytus over it as bishop.

She reposed peacefully on 10 January 264, so she is not a martyr, but her veneration spread across the island. She is regarded as one of the pillars of the Church of Lentini, of which she is patron, and is also honored at Carlentini. A temple dedicated to her in the Santa Venera quarter was destroyed by the earthquake of 1693. She is commemorated on 10 January, by the Western calendar (new style), as a saint of the undivided Church.