Скачать или смотреть Viva Santa Tecla | Santa Tecla, Acireale, Catania, Sicilia

Once a year, on Santa Tecla's Day, villagers of Santa Tecla (Acireale, Catania, Sicily) parade a statue of their patron saint from the local church to a waiting boat, which then takes it to nearby seaside villages. Medieval costumes are worn for the procession. The flame motif on flags and drums recalls the legend that Santa Tecla (Thecla, from the Ancient Greek Θέκλα, Thékla) was saved from burning at the stake by the onset of a storm. This is reported in the first or second-century text "Acts of Paul and Thecla" (see below).

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The following is from Edgar J. Goodspeed's English version of The Acts of Paul and Thecla:
"In his prison he [Paul] is visited by Thecla, who escapes by night from her mother's house by bribing the doorkeeper with her bracelets, and gains admission to the prison by giving the jailer her silver mirror. In the prison she listens joyfully to the teachings of Paul, sitting at his feet and kissing his fetters. Meanwhile her family and her betrothed, aroused by her disappearance, are searching the city for her. The confession of the doorkeeper reveals her whereabouts, and her friends surprise her listening in the prison, with many others, to the apostle's preaching. They inform the prefect. He orders Paul and Thecla to be brought before him. Paul is scourged and cast out of the city, but Thecla, at her mother's instance, is condemned to be burned. The pile of fagots is prepared in the theater, and Thecla, encouraged by a vision of the Lord, stretches out her hands in the form of the cross and ascends the pile. But no sooner is the torch applied than a flood of rain extinguishes the fire, and Thecla is delivered."

Full text of "The Acts of Paul and Thecla": https://archive.org/stream/jstor-3136...

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