Venerable Syncletica of Alexandria (+c. 350)

The Venerable Syncletica of Alexandria was the daughter of a well-to-do family. From childhood the charming maiden thought only of pleasing the Lord. She refused to marry and spent her days in fasting and prayer. After her parents’ death she distributed all her property to the poor, was tonsured a nun, and settled with her blind sister in a tomb belonging to a relative. When the news of the saint’s labours spread, many women and maidens came to that place. And the Venerable Syncletica instructed the sisters all her life. At the age of eighty the saint was struck by a grave disease. The valiant ascetic endured the trial with true Christian patience, and died in 350 at the age of eighty-three.