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Saint Cecilia
Saint Cecilia by Guido Reni, 1606[1]
Died	176–180
Major shrine	Rome
Feast	November 22
Attributes	flute, organ, roses, violin
Patronage	Church music, musicians, poets; Albi, France; Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska
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Saint Cecilia (or Sancta Caecilia in Latin) is the patron saint of musicians^[2] and Church music^[3]. Her feast day, celebrated both in the Catholic and Orthodox Church, is November 22. She is one of seven women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. It was long supposed that she was a noble lady of Rome who, with her husband Valerian(us) and his brother Tiburtius, suffered martyrdom, C. 230, under the emperor Alexander Severus.

The research of Giovanni Battista de Rossi, however^[4], appears to confirm the statement of Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers (d. 600), that she perished in Sicily under Marcus Aurelius between 176 and 180. A church in her honor exists in Rome from about the 5th century, was rebuilt with much splendour by Pope Paschal I around the year 820, and again by Cardinal Sfondrati in 1599. It is situated in Trastevere, near the Ripa Grande quay, where in earlier days the Ghetto was located, and is the titulus of a Cardinal Priest, currently Carlo Maria Martini.

The martyrdom of Cecilia is said to have followed that of her husband and his brother by the prefect Turcius Almachius.^[5] The officers of the prefect then sought to have Cecilia killed as well. She arranged to have her home preserved as a church before she was arrested. At that time, the officials attempted to kill her by locking her in an overheated bathhouse. However, the attempt failed, and she was to be beheaded. The executioner attempted to decapitate her three times unsuccessfully, at which time he fled. Cecilia survived another three days before succumbing. ^[6]

Cecilia, whose musical fame rests on a passing notice in her legend that she praised God, singing to Him, as she lay dying a martyr's death, has inspired many a masterpiece in art, including the The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia by Raphael at Bologna, Rubens in Berlin, the Domenichino in Paris and at San Luigi dei Francesi, and works by Artemisia Gentileschi, as well as in literature, where she is commemorated especially by Chaucer's Seconde Nonnes Tale, and by John Dryden's famous ode, set to music by Handel in 1736, and later by Sir Hubert Parry (1889). Other music dedicated to Cecilia includes Benjamin Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia (based on a text by W. H. Auden), A Hymn for St Cecilia by Herbert Howells, a mass by Alessandro Scarlatti, Charles Gounod's Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile, Hail, bright Cecilia! by Henry Purcell, and an opera, Cecilia, by Licinio Refice, SJ (1934).

Cecilia's role as a patroness of musicians has led commercial songwriters to make references as well. "Sankta Cecilia" is the title of a 1984 Swedish hit song sung by Lotta Pedersen and Göran Folkestad at the Swedish Melodifestivalen 1984. Additionally, the American pop-rock band Jars of Clay opened their 2007 Christmas Songs album with an instrumental track titled "The Gift of St. Cecelia."

She is the patron of music.

The skull of Saint Cecilia is kept as a relic in the cathedral of Torcello - Santa Maria Assunta - which is the oldest historical church in Venice - which also kept the oldest known written document regarding the city, an edict of emperor Heraclius.^{[citation needed]}

Saints Cecilia, Valerian, and Tiburtius by Botticini

Saint Cecilia and Saint Valerian

In a clear walled city on the sea. Near gilded organ pipes - slept St. Cecily

Traditionally translated from Latin as, "The way for the blind", the meaning of the name "Cecilia" as given by Chaucer in The Seconde Nonne's Tale from The Canterbury Tales, has five interpretations, each poetically describing various virtues and qualities of the Saint. They are: lily of heaven; the way for the blind; contemplation of heaven and the active life; as if lacking in blindness; a heaven for people to gaze upon.

• Another St Cecilia, who suffered in Africa in the persecution of Diocletian, is commemorated on February 11.

• The source of the connection between Cecilia martyred in Sicily around 176 AD and the art of which she has become the patron saint does not seem to date back much before the 15th century.^{[citation needed]} Innumerable paintings and stained glass windows depict her at the organ (inevitably one more advanced than any she could have known). She soon became popular, and by the second half of the 16th century substantial festivals and celebrations in her honor (and that of music in general) began to be recorded, the earliest of them in Normandy. It was just over 100 years before the fashion crossed the channel [to England] with the festivities of 1683 which attracted three celebratory Odes, all set to music by Purcell.

• St Cecilia was featured on the reverse of the £20 note in the UK, from 1999 to 2007, accompanied by composer Sir Edward Elgar

1. ^ http://www.wga.hu/html/r/reni/1/cecilia.html
2. ^ St. Cecilia - Catholic Encyclopedia article
3. ^ St. Cecilia - Catholic Encyclopedia article
4. ^ Rom. sott. ii. 147.
5. ^ The Life of Saint Cecilia - Golden Legend article
6. ^ St. Cecilia - Catholic Encyclopedia article

• Why Cecilia?

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