Thecla - Catacomb of Saint Tecla, Rome

Catacomb of Saint Tecla, Rome

In June 2010, on a wall of the Catacomba di Santa Tecla in Rome, Vatican archaeologists of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, using laser technology to remove layers of clay and lime rind, discovered a frescoed portrait of St Paul the Apostle, "recognizable by his thin face and dark pointed beard...with small eyes and furrowed brow," which they believe is the oldest image in existence of St Paul, dating from the late fourth century.

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