E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Thec’la (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 Thecla, pronounced apocryphal by Pope Gela’sius, and unhappily lost. According to the legend, Thecla was born of a noble family in Ico’nium, and was converted by the preaching of St. Paul.
