According to the early Christian text known as the Acts of Paul and Thecla, Thecla was a young noblewoman of Iconium so moved by Saint Paul's preaching that she renounced her arranged marriage to follow him, surviving repeated attempts at execution. She spent the rest of her life in a cave near Maaloula, healing the sick and living an ascetic life until her death in old age. Revered as a protomartyr and "equal to the Apostles," devotion to her is exceptionally strong in Lebanon, where an estimated 42 churches carry her name.