(St.), styled in Greek martyrologies the proto-martyress, as St. Stephen is the proto-martyr. All
that is known of her is from a book called the Periods, or Acts of Paul and Theela, pronounced apocryphal by Pope Gelasius,
and unhappily lost. According to the legend, Thecla was born of a noble
family in Iconium, and was converted by the preaching of St. Paul.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
