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St Cecilia

Saint Cecilia lived in the Third Century and is the Patron of Musicians. A cultivated young Patrician, her family loomed large in Rome’s history. After her acceptance of Baptism she vowed herself to God through a promise of perpetual virginity but her parents married her to Valerian of Trastevere. She told her new husband that she was often visited by an angel of heaven but in order to see the angel himself he must also receive Baptism. He agreed and took instruction and was Baptised into the Catholic faith by Pope St. Urban (223-230AD) . Returning from the ceremony, he found her in prayer accompanied by an angel. The angel placed a crown on each of their heads and offered Valerian the grace of bringing his brother to the Faith.

During the great persecutions of this time, the two brothers risked their lives by secretly burying the bodies of Christians who had been executed for the Faith. They were arrested, martyred for Christ and buried by Cecilia at her villa on the Appian Way. Cecilia was also arrested and ordered to sacrifice to the pagan gods of Rome which she refused to do. The prefect Almachius shut her up in the baths where for two days she was left to be suffocated. In spite of little air and the intense heat of the baths she remained unharmed. An executioner was sent to cut off her head but was unable to kill her after three attempts. For another three days she remained living though mortally wounded to the neck, praying for and exhorting the crowds who visited her to accept Baptism and remain steadfast in the Faith. She died and was buried by Pope Urban. Her grave was rediscovered in 817AD and her body transferred to the church of St. Cecilia in Rome. Her tomb was again opened in 1599 and again found to be miraculously incorrupt. The account of 1599 states, “The body lies on its side, the limbs a little drawn up; the hands are delicate and fine…they are not locked, but crossed at the wrist: the arms are stretched out. The drapery is beautifully modeled and modestly covers the limbs. The head is enveloped in linen, but the general form is seen.” The feast day of St. Cecilia is November 22nd.