Tetha (; ), also known as Teath (), Tecla, and by a variety of other names, was a 5th-century

virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

and

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

. She is associated with the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

St Teath St Teath (; ) is a civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish and Churchtown, Cornwall, village in north Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. Geography The village is situated approximately southwest of Camelford and northeast of Wadebrid ...

in Cornwall. Baring-Gould gives her

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

as 27 October, but this has been called a mistaken conflation with Saint Ia.Bartrum
p. 687: "St. Tecla"
In 1878, it was held on the movable feast of

Whit Tuesday Whit Tuesday (syn. ''Whittuesday'', ''Whitsun Tuesday'') is the Christian holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost Monday, the third day of the week beginning on Pentecost. Pentecost is a movable feast in the Christian calendar dependent up ...

. Other sources place it on 1 May, 6 September, and (mistakenly) 15 January. It is no longer observed by either the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

The Church in Wales.
The Book of Common Prayer for Use in the Church in Wales: The New Calendar and the Collects
. 2003. Accessed 18 Nov 2014. or

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church in

.The Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Liturgy Office: November 2015
. Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, 2014. Accessed 18 Nov 2014.

Name and identity

Early

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

records give the companion of Breaca and patron of St Teath the name Tecla, a form of the name

Thecla Thecla (, ) was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul the Apostle. The earliest record of her life comes from the ancient apocryphal '' Acts of Paul and Thecla''. Church tradition The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla ...

borne by the first female martyr in

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. The

Acts of Paul and Thecla The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' () is an apocryphal text describing Paul the Apostle's influence on a young virgin named Thecla. It is one of the writings of the New Testament apocrypha. Edgar J. Goodspeed called it a " religious romance". ...

was a common

apocrypha Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...

l work in the early church and the name was formerly relatively common.Baring-Gould, Sabine & al
''The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain'', Vol. IV, pp. 219 ff
Chas. Clark (London), 1908. Hosted at Archive.org. Accessed 25 Nov 2014. The editor of the

Bollandists The Bollandist Society (; ) is an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints in Christia ...

' mention of the saint and Bartrum consider the name mistaken or fictitious, but do not account for the early appearance of the name in records at St Teath itself. Accounts of Breaca's journey give her the additional name Etha,Bartrum
p. 698: "St. Tetha"
which some have considered a corruption of "Itha". This in turn has led to the saint becoming confused and conflated with the Irish saint Íde of Killeedy. Meanwhile, other accounts credit St Teath to a daughter of

Brychan Brychan ap Anlach of Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, alternatively Breconshire) in Mid Wales. Name variations Brychan had Irish ancestry and came from Ireland to Wales, therefore his original name ...

Brycheiniog Brycheiniog was an independent kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Normans ...

named Tedda,Bartrum, Peter C
''A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. 1000'', p. 687: "St. Tedda"
National Library of Wales, 1993. Tethe, &c.

Life

In Cornish sources, Tetha was listed among the daughters of

, king of

,Orme, Nicholas
''English Church Dedications: With a Survey of Cornwall and Devon'', p. 119
University of Exeter Press (Exeter), 1996. making her the sister of numerous other saints in

and

. She is listed among Saint Breaca's companions, who missionized

from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

around AD 460, by Leland and

William of Worcester William Worcester (c. 1415 – c. 1482) was an English antiquary, author, and historian known for his detailed writings on medieval England. He served as the secretary to Sir John Fastolf, a prominent military commander during the Hundred Year ...

. Unlike some of her companions, she does not seem to have been

martyred A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In colloquial ...

by Tewdwr Mawr, the hostile king of

Penwith Penwith (; ) is an area of Cornwall, England, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former Non-metropolitan district, local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after one ...

. (Note, however, that Borlase was of the opinion that the saint's name had been inserted in the list of Breaca's companions by mistake.)

Legacy

A church of 'St Tecla' is attested in

as early as 1201. The present Church of St Tetha largely consists of 15th-century improvements to a Norman original. It is listed as a Grade I protected building.English Heritage
"Church of St Tetha"
2014. Accessed 30 Nov 2014.

References

{{authority control 5th-century Welsh people Welsh royalty 5th-century Christian saints Female saints of medieval Wales Medieval Welsh saints Female saints of medieval Cornwall Medieval Cornish saints

Name and identity

Life

Legacy

See also

References