Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/256

244 241 ST. THECLA Paul, uud found liim and his friends : thoj had been fasting for six days and praying for her in a tomb by the road- side. Thecla cut off her hair and went with St. Paul to Antioch in Pisidia. There, Alexander, one of the chief men of Antioch, saw Thecla and seized and kissed her. She cried out that she was the handmaid of God and was the daughter of nobles in loonium, and she tore his robes and pulled off his golden crown, formed of figures of gods and of the emperor. He was very angry, and accused her to the governor, as guilty of sacrilege ; and as Alexander was giving games to the people of Antioch, Thecla was ordered to be cast to the beasts. But the people, instead of being pleased, murmured at the sentence. Thecla stood before the governor, and made him swear that she should be kept in purity until they threw her to the beasts; and as he granted her this, St. Tbyphena (2), a rich queen who lived there and whose daughter had lately died, took Thecla to dwell safely in her house. The queen's daughter appeared to her in a dream and bade her adopt this persecuted stranger, *' that she may pray for me, that I may pass into the place of the righteous." When the beasts were brought into the theatre, the men fetched Thecla, and when they had set her in the theatre they let loose a huge lioness against her, but the lioness, instead of injuring her, caressed and fondled her. The people again complained of the cruel sentence which cast Thecla to the beasts, and they all invoked the help of God. Other boasts were let loose against her, but none of them touched her. All this time Tryphena had been standing at the door of the theatre, weeping for Thecla, and she was now allowed to lead her away. She took her home and begged her to pray that God would save her again the next day from the beasts and also that He would grant that the queen's daughter might live for ever. The queen wept and mourned that Thecla also would be taken from her. At dawn, Alexander fetched Thecla, to be devoured by the beasts; but Tryphena frightened him away by her bitter cries. When the governor sent men to fetch the girl, Tryphena said, "Go Thecla, thy God will help thee," but she kept hold of her hand, and said, " Alas, I acoompanied my own daughter to her tomb and now I am accompanying thee and leading thee to be devDured by the beasts I" Thecla praised God, Who had deliyered her from fire and from beasts, and prayed that He would recompense Tryphena, who had compassion on her and had kept her in purity. Thecla was taken from the queen and led into the theatre amid a great uproar, while some cried impatiently to have her thrown to the beasts as a violator of the temple of the gods, and others deplored her cmel and unjust doom and said that the city would be destroyed, and they would all be mined in consequence ; the women especially bewailed her fate. Meantime, Thecla stood praying. Many savage beasts were let loose against her, but some defended her against others, and none of them did her any harm. Seeing a groat reservoir of water, she said that she would cast herself into it and be baptized. The women and many of the people cried out to her not to plunge into that water, because there were horrible monsters in it ; even the governor wept; but Thecla leapt into the water and at the same moment the monsters were all killed by a flash of lightning. When more wonders oc- curred and the tumult was great, Tiy- phena at the door thought Thecla was dead and she fell down in a faint Her slaves broke out into cries of distress and said that the queen was dead. Then the governor stopped the games. Alexander was terrified, for he thought that the emperor would be veiy angry when he heard of the death of his kinswoman, Tryphena ; so he begged the governor to send Thecla away. The governor sent for Thecla, and when he had talked with her, he ordered her clothes to be brought to her and bade her put them on. She said, ^^May God clothe your soul in the day of judgment ! " and he proclaimed that Thecla, the servant of God, was released. The queen hearing this, revived and went to meet Theela and took her to