Saint Cecilia
![[Saint Cecilia holy card]](saintc04.jpg "21kb jpg Saint Cecilia holy card, artist unknown; if you have information on this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
- Cecily;
Cicilia
- Memorial
- 22 November
- Profile
- Cultivated young patrician woman whose ancestors loomed large in Rome's history.
She vowed her virginity to God, but her parents married her to Valerian of Trastevere.
Cecilia told her new husband that she was accompanied by an angel, but in order to see it, he must be purified.
He agreed to the purification, and was baptised; returning from the ceremony, he found her in prayer accompanied by a praying angel.
The angel placed a crown on each of their heads, and offered Valerian a favor; the new convert asked that his brother be baptised.
The two brothers developed a ministry of giving proper burial to martyred Christians.
In their turn they were arrested and martyred for their faith.
Cecilia buried them at her villa on the Apprian Way, and was arrested for the action.
She was ordered to sacrifice to false gods; when she refused, she was martyred in her turn.
The Acta of Cecilia includes the following:
"While the profane music of her wedding was heard, Cecilia was singing in her heart a hymn of love for Jesus, her true spouse."
It was this phrase that led to her association with music, singers, musicians, etc.
- Died
- martyred c.117;
suffocated for a while, and when that didn't kill her, she was beheaded;
her grave was discovered in 817, and her body removed to the church of Saint Cecilia in Rome;
the tomb was opened in 1599, and her body found to be incorrupt
- Name Meaning
- blind
- Patronage
-
Academy of Music, Rome;
Albi France;
composers;
martyrs;
music;
musicians;
musical instrument makers;
archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska;
poets;
singers
- Representation
-
musical instruments, especially a lute or organ;
roses
- Prayers
- Prayer to...
- Images
- Gallery of images of Saint Cecilia [19 images, 555 kb]
- Storefront
- Commercial Links related to Saint Cecilia
- Additional Information
-
Catholic Encyclopedia, by J P Kirsch
The Golden Legend, by Jacob Voragine
Google Directory
Shrine of Saint Cecilia
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Patron Saint of Church Music, by Bethany Jenkins
New Catholic Dictionary
Patron Saints for Girls
Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
In God's Garden, by Amy Steedman
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