Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/253

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ST. TEXELINA 241 Valerian's persecution, with Antonia, another consecrated virgin; two bishops; a certain woman with twin babes; and others, at Certha in Nnmidia. B,M. AA,SS. St. TertuUa (2). (See Autorioia.) SS. TertuUa (3, 4), May 31, MM. St. TertuUa (5), June 1, M. with St. Aucbga. St. Tescelina, Texelina. St. Tesia, queen of the Lombards. Wife of Katchis. Mother of St. Epi- phania (2). Wion calls Tesia " Saint." St. Testula, Tertula (i). St. Tetha, Teath. St. Tetta (i Gebetrude. St. Tetta (2), Detta or Thecla, Dec. 17, Feb. 22. 8th century. Abbess of Wimbome. She was bom of the royal family of Wessex. She govemed with admirable prudence, two commu- nities — one of five hundred nuns whom she trained up in all learning as well as virtue ; the other of clerics who had no access at all to the nuns but received their superior from the abbess, and depended on her for their exterior government. St. Lioba was one of her disciples and related several miracles wrought by her. One of her nuns, who had held sundry important posts in the community but whose harsh temper made her hated by the other nuns and par- ticularly by the younger ones, died and a mound of earth was raised over her grave ; the young nuns jumped on the mound, rejoicing to be freed from the severity of the departed sister, cursing her cruelty and insulting her memory until the earth sank down six inches under them, leaving a hollow instead of a tumulus. When Tetta discovered it she was horrified at the barbarity of her disciples and at the sufferings of the departed soul indicated by the sinking of the grave. She rebuked her daughters and ordered three days of fasting and prayer for the soul of their sister in purgatory. At the end of the three days, Tetta herself lay before the altar, weeping and praying while litanies were sung, until the grave was seen to rise and the hollow to fill up gradually: a proof of the release of the soul and of the sanctity of the intercessor. She is VOL, II. mentioned in the Life of St. Ina, king of Wessex, and is numbered among the saints by some authors. BriL Sancta, AA.SS,, Prater, Feb. 22. Mrs. Hope, Bonifctce. B. Teudelaine, Theodolind. St. Teusea or Teussa, Jan. 17, M. in Africa. AA,SS. St. Teussa, Teusea. St. Teutechild, Theodechild. St. Teutela, Tutela, V. M. SS. Teuteria or Theoderia and Tusca, May 5, W. + c. 650. Tusca is worshipped June 10, but their history is always told in one. Teuteria was of royal descent. She was bom in England when that country was for the most part in heathen darkness. Oswald, a king of the English, loved her on account of her beauty, but she^ having been secretly instructed in the Christian faith, would not listen to him. As he persecuted her she fled from her country. Aft^r long wandering she came to Verona. There she often visited Tusca, who was leading a saintly life in a ceU outside the walls of the city ; she was sister of St. Proculus, bishop of Verona. The messengers of King Oswald traced Teu- teria to Verona, and were on the point of finding and capturing her^ near the cell of her friend, when Teuteria en- treated Tusca to conceal her, and managed to squeeze herself into the little cell, through the narrow window. The spiders spun their webs across it immeduitely and destroyed all trace of her passage, so that the king's servants gave up the pur- suit in despair. Teuteria lived as a holy recluse, under the direction of Tusca, and by her prayers obtained of God the conversion of Oswald. After living to- gether in peace and sanctity, with fasts and vigils, for a long time, Teuteria died in May and Tusca in June, about 650 ; some writers have erroneously placed the story in 236. A church was built in their honour on the spot where their cell had stood. AA,SS. Bucelinus. St. Texelinai Teixelika, or Tesce- LiNA, May 5. In the time of the Goths. She was so distinguished for sanctity that a church was built over her grave at Coimbra. It was destroyed by the Moors. She is cited as a Saint by B