December 24

Saint Tharsilla

Roman Martyrology

Roman aunt of Pope Gregory the Great who gave her life to quiet prayer at home

Tharsilla lived in Rome in the sixth century. Almost all we know about her comes from her nephew, Pope Gregory the Great, who wrote about her in his sermons and in his Dialogues. She and her sisters Emiliana and Gordiana, sisters of Gregory’s father, chose to remain unmarried and to live a life of prayer and simplicity in their family home rather than in a monastery.

Gregory says Tharsilla held to this path with steady discipline. He records that after her death the skin on her knees and elbows was found hardened from long hours of kneeling in prayer. Her sister Gordiana later gave up the shared vow and married, which Gregory notes with sadness.

According to Gregory, Tharsilla died shortly before Christmas, peacefully and with great joy. He held up her quiet faithfulness as an example to his listeners, and Christians still remember her as a woman who sought God day after day in the ordinary setting of her own home.

There was also a prophetess named Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, who was well along in years. She had been married for seven years, and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.

Luke 2:36–37 · BSB

A prayer

Faithful God, you called your servant Tharsilla to seek you day after day in quiet and persistent prayer within her own home. Give us hearts that turn to you in the ordinary places of our lives, and keep us steady in our promises, so that we may welcome Christ with joy when he comes. Amen.