It is the feast day of St Thecla (above) in the Orthodox calendar. She was converted by St Paul and joined him as a missionary at the age of 18, and was successful enough to be sent off to have her own apocryphal adventures. According to Orthodox hagiography, ‘the Lord had seen fit to make Thecla superhuman’, so that even lances bounced right off her body. Places are named for her across the world, including the Welsh town of Llandegla.
The Second Council of Nicea had its opening session today in the year 787. The Council was called by Empress Irene to restore icons, 50 years after they had been banned from Eastern churches by Emperor Leo III. The celebrations by lovers of divine portraiture were somewhat muted, since Irene had deposed, blinded and killed her son in order to do it.
St Thérèse of Lisieux took the veil on this day in 1890, having entered a nunnery as a novice at age 15. It was the command of her superior to write her spiritual autobiography that catapulted her into spiritual celebrity.
Pope Liberius died today in the year 336. He was the first Pope not to be made a saint. He forfeited the traditional eternal handshake by succumbing to the Arian Emperor’s demands and excommunicating St Athanasius, which turned out to be a bad move, as Athanasius was more Orthodox than God.
Image: IslandsEnd