In 1922 Teresa Merlo made her vows, along with nine other women, as Daughters of St. Paul, a new community in the Church with a very unique mission.

As her name suggests, Thecla was dedicated to the mission of serving God through media and communications. As she told her sisters, “Our Master dwells in the Tabernacle. From there he preaches to our mind and heart by means of the Gospel… We must always live united to Jesus. The Holy Trinity dwells in those persons who are united to Jesus.”

In her notes, Maestra Thecla outlined the three main characteristics of her spiritual life. They provide a spiritual tripod upon which the interior life can rest secured, by…

1.   listening to Jesus the Master

2.   imitating the Master

3.   living the Master

Maestra Thecla encapsulated her sense of mission as, “to do good, to help souls, and to contribute to their salvation.” She was a woman of her time, but a woman whose vision reached toward a new millennium.

Thecla: A Prophetic Voice in Media Evangelization traces Mother Thecla's path through the first half of the twentieth century when she first emerged as the humble leader of a new adventure in the Church's history. As early as 1915, she believed that women could be associated with the active preaching apostolate through the "Good Press," and in collaboration with Blessed James Alberione, she made that charismatic gift to the Church a reality.

Availing himself of a wide array of documentation and using his characteristic flair, author Domenico Agasso sketches out the profile of this prophetic woman who was quite extraordinary in the monumental tasks she accomplished. Thecla Merlo, one of the first members of the Daughters of St. Paul, collaborated in all of its charismatic and organizational development.

Thecla Merlo was certainly a woman who #PutOthersFirst. Why not learn more about her and order Thecla: A Prophetic Voice today?