Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week of Ordinary Time

Saint Gerard of Csanád was born in Venice to a noble family sometime between 977 and 1000. As a child he survived a grave illness, and in gratitude his parents entrusted him to the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio, where he received a deep monastic formation and wide learning. Longing to pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 1020, he set sail, but a storm forced him to land near Istria. There he was drawn instead toward the young Christian kingdom of Hungary, where Bishop Maurus of Pécs and King Stephen I recognized in him a gifted preacher for the people’s conversion. Gerard became tutor to the king’s son, Saint Emeric, and later sought silence as a hermit in the Bakony Hills near Bakonybél. Around 1030, Stephen appointed him the first bishop of the newly established Diocese of Csanád, where—assisted by Hungarian-speaking Benedictines—he preached, taught, and strengthened the Church’s foundations. He died a martyr’s death in 1046 and is venerated as a patron of Hungary and the dioceses of Szeged–Csanád and Zrenjanin. His feast day is September 24.

Saint Thecla was born in Iconium (in today’s Turkey), a young noblewoman whose heart was seized by the Gospel through the preaching of Saint Paul. Tradition says she listened for days from her window, and in that quiet perseverance found the courage to break her engagement, embrace Christ, and follow the apostle in a life of chastity and discipleship. Her new faith quickly drew opposition: Paul was imprisoned and driven out, and Thecla herself was condemned to death. Yet again and again she was delivered—saved from the flames by a sudden storm and later protected in the arena from wild beasts, signs that God guarded His servant amid public hatred. Clothed for travel and mission, Thecla is remembered as a fearless witness who encouraged others, especially women, to live with undivided devotion to the Lord. Later devotion places her long years of prayer and healing near Seleucia and in Syria, where pilgrims still honor her memory. She is patroness of Biniamar, Este, Malosco, Mirto, Santa Tecla, and Tarragona. Her feast day is September 24.