ON SS. THECLA, VIRGIN, AND JUSTINA, AT LEONTINI IN SICILY.
Third Century
PrefaceThecla, virgin at Leontini in Sicily (S.) Justina, at Leontini in Sicily (S.)
[1] At Leontini, an ancient and celebrated city of Sicily situated roughly midway between Etna and Syracuse, some thousands of paces from the sea, St. Thecla the Virgin and St. Justina are venerated on this day, as Octavius Caietanus, one of our own, attests in his Idea of the work on the Saints of Sicily, The feast of SS. Thecla and Justina and as Philippus Ferrarius states in the general catalogue of the Saints. Mention of them is made in the Acts of SS. Alphius, Philadelphus, and Cyrinus on May 10; in the life of SS. Isidora and Nephyta on April 17; and of St. Neophytus the Bishop on September 1.
[2] We present a brief life of them from the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy by Philippus Ferrarius, Readings and Office concerning them who received it from the Readings recited about them in the proper offices of the Church of Leontini, approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites under Pope Paul V. In these Readings, as the same author attests, the title of "holy virgins" is given to them both, though only Thecla is called a virgin; Justina is called a married woman.
LIFE FROM PHILIPPUS FERRARIUS.
Thecla, virgin at Leontini in Sicily (S.) Justina, at Leontini in Sicily (S.)
[1] Thecla sustains the Martyrs. Thecla, a noble virgin of Leontini, daughter of St. Isidora, was instructed by her mother in the precepts of the Christian faith. She sheltered many of the faithful who were fleeing the persecution of tyrants on her own estates, and redeemed with money the bodies of the Martyrs and gave them burial.
[2] She is healed of paralysis. While engaged in these works, she suffered from paralysis for six years, lying in bed. Having commended herself to Saints Alphius, Philadelphus, and Cyrinus, who had come to visit her, she was restored to her former health. From that time onward she did not cease to visit those same holy Martyrs and to supply them with necessities, and she extracted their bodies from a well and buried them.
[3] She is summoned before Governor Tertullus. When Governor Tertullus learned of this, he summoned her to trial. To defend her, about five hundred of her servants assembled, but she, trusting in God alone, dismissed them. (a) The Governor died; and she herself summoned the Blessed Bishop (b) Agatho of (c) Lipari, who was hiding on her estate together with the Presbyter Neophytus, to come to (d) Leontini to preach the faith of Christ publicly. After they departed for Rome, she devoted herself energetically to increasing the company of the faithful, She labors for the conversion of unbelievers and spent enormous wealth on building churches. She built one dedicated to the holy brothers, another to the twenty holy soldiers, and to (e) SS. Neophyta and Isidora; and she purged an old pagan temple of its idols and dedicated it to the Virgin Mother of God. She builds churches. She also built the episcopal residence most magnificently and assigned a very ample endowment to it.
[4] She foreknows her own death. At length, occupied in such works of piety, and devoted to prayer and almsgiving, she was forewarned of her death by the holy brothers in a vision a month beforehand. When she departed this life on January 10, her body was entombed by Bishop Neophytus in the church of those same holy brothers. As for Justina, she too was of noble birth, and nobler still in the Christian religion. She was Thecla's kinswoman and companion in the conversion of the people of Leontini. When she recovered the eye she had lost through the prayers of St. (f) Alphius, she burned more fervently with charity Justina miraculously recovers her eye; she builds churches and distributed her entire substance in building churches; and she took flight to the heavenly homeland, which had often been foretold to her by the holy children.
Annotationsa Concerning his death, Octavius Caietanus writes under July 14: "At Leontini, the wondrous victory of the holy Martyrs Alphius, Philadelphus, and Cyrinus against the impious Tertullus, Governor of Sicily; when he, by God's vengeance for the shed blood of so many innocents, was struck down from heaven by the holy brothers, and miserably perished."
b We shall treat of him on June 27.
c Lipara, or Liparae, is the chief of the Aeolian, or Vulcanian, islands, on which there is a city of the same name, still distinguished by an episcopal see, under the Archbishop of Messina.
d So Ptolemy also gave the name of the city. Both the town and its inhabitants are commonly called Leontini by the ancient Greek and Latin writers, as may be seen in Cluverius, Sicilia antiqua, book 1, chapter 10.
e That is, her aunt and mother.
f In the Readings on SS. Alphius and his brothers, this is attributed to all of them: "They healed St. Justina, who had lost an eye."