Who is St. Cecilia?

Life and Influence of the Forgotten Saint.

Simon Vouet, “Saint Cecilia”, ca. 1626, painting, at https://commons.wikimedia.org

Virgin, Martyr

Lived within the second or third century

Patroness of musicians and composers

Feast day: November 22 

First known incorruptible saint

     Saint Cecilia is not well known today, except perhaps by name in Catholic choirs; however, she was regarded as an eminent martyr in the early Church. An inspiration within her life and at the time of her death for the persecuted Church, she became a source of grace directing the eyes of the faithful toward her Heavenly Spouse. The extraordinary life of this virgin martyr blessed her with the privileged mention within the Roman Canon of Holy Mass (the first Eucharistic prayer), and Pope St. Urban happily granted the request of this noble virgin that her home become a church at her death. God also blessed his young virgin with the honor of being the first known incorruptible saint. Proper understanding of her patronage in music reveals her timeless significance as recognized within the early Church, significance extending beyond the realm of hymns and other musical compositions. She is a saint well-deserving of the traditional respect given her, and her life can be an inspiration and lesson today as it was for early Christians. 

     Some people challenge the authenticity of the Acts of St. Cecilia, which was written within the fifth century and is the earliest surviving written record of her life; a small minority even claim Cecilia was merely a legend of Catholic romance.¹ However, a mere legend does not become traditionally honored within the universal Church and officially placed within the Canon of Holy Mass. Dom Gueranger, an abbot of the nineteenth century, did extensive research to provide historical and archaeological evidence to support the authenticity and general accuracy of the Acts. He explains that St. Cecilia's incorrupt body was found in the position and with the adornment mentioned within the Acts.² Further, the Church greatly esteemed the Acts, witnessing to the authenticity of the work through incorporating it within the liturgy for St. Cecilia's feast.³ More information on Dom Gueranger's supporting evidence can be found in his book, Saint Cecilia. Besides Dom Gueranger, others also defended through research the traditional devotion to this saint.⁴

Nicolas Poussin, “St. Cecilia,” ca. 1627-1628, painting, at https://www.wikiart.org

     Who is this noble virgin so venerated in the early Church? Much of the information of her life is uncertain. We do not know when she was born. However, some sources hold she died around AD 177 under Lucius Aurelius Commodus; others, which seem to have more traditional support, hold her death was around AD 230 during the reign of Alexander Severus. The Acts of St. Cecilia reports she knew Pope Urban I, seeming to indicate death in the third century.⁵ The Roman Martyrology similarly states that she died under Alexander Severus.⁶

     Some challenge this later date under the reasoning that Alexander did not persecute Christians. However, this is only partly true. Alexander, tolerant of Christians for his Christian mother's sake, did not outlaw Christianity, but many of the magistrates under his rule did persecute Christians and Alexander did not tend to revenge their deaths. Christians commonly suffered accusations of witchcraft through presumed association with omens. They were condemned for sacrilege on account of refusal to worship Roman gods. Also, with Christianity a suspicious minority, the magistrate could intiate mob-rising against Christians and blame the Christians of being disturbers of the peace. Through these means, those ruling under Alexander's authority could persecute Christians without laws explicitly condemning Christianity.⁷

Jacques Stella, "St. Cecilia," ca. 1626, painting, at https://www.wikiart.org

     Regardless of her date of death, St. Cecilia was from the noble, respected, family of the Cecilii, descended from Caia Cecilia Tanquil who was the wife of Tarquin the elder. This pagan Cecilia was greatly honored within Rome, and the Cecilii family held particular honor as descended from her.⁸ However, our Christian Cecilia with her heart focused on heavenly treasures, lived a life of prayer, reading and mediating daily on the words of the Holy Scripture which she kept in a pocket pressed by her heart.⁹ With growing love of God, she made a vow of virginity, not regarding the worldly honor of the noble house. This vow was not respect by her pagan father, who could not understand the holy love which motivated her desire. He promised her in marriage to a noble patrician named Valerian. Cecilia's love for her heavenly Spouse would not permit this marriage to defile her vow, yet she had no ability to prevent the marriage. She turned to her Spouse with prayer, penance, and fasting. As Valerian sought to reveal his affection and bring her joy, Cecilia turned to her heavenly Spouse with tears and love.¹⁰ 

     With the marriage approaching, Cecilia's prayer did not cease. As she heard the clamor of music for the pagan marriage ceremony, it is said she turned to the silence of her heart to hear the hymns of the angels. She prepared her heart for that which her Spouse desired. After the marriage ceremony, when she and Valerian were alone, she explained to him her vow and the Christian faith, warning him that she had an angel protecting her virginity and requesting he respect her vow. Through her love and respect for him and through the grace she had obtained for him through her prayers, she not only obtained his respect for her wishes; he was also baptized. With the joy he attained at his baptism, he desired that his brother, Tiburtius, also obtain that same blessing. God granted his request, and Cecilia, Valerian, and Tiburtius performed works of faith together, using their wealth in providing for the poor and in attaining proper burial for the martyrs.¹¹ 

     These works eventually provided Valerian and Tiburtius with martyrs' crowns. Accused of associating with enemies of the state, they were brought before the judge. They professed their faith. Valerian was beaten; then, both brothers were beheaded. However, in their witness, they converted Maximus, a Roman notary assigned to their execution, along with his family and his soldiers.¹² 

Carlo Saracino, "The Martyrdom of St Cecilia," ca. 1610, at https://commons.wikimedia.org

     St. Cecilia buried the brothers herself and soon followed them to the Roman judge. She was sentenced to suffocation by steam bath. She spent a day and night in the furnace-like heat, but when the executioners proceeded into the steamed room expecting to find her dead body, they found she miraculously did not even have moisture upon her skin. She was therefore sentenced to beheading. She joyfully greeted her executioner, bowing her neck before the sword which would grant her the crown. Failing to sever her head in the prescribed three blows, the executioner left her shedding her life's blood. For three days, she greeted and encouraged Christians who came to provide their support, the smile not leaving her face while she offered her loving sacrifice to her Spouse. She also spoke lovingly to the poor her were attending she who had provided them with much. On the third day, Christians parted for Pope Urban's arrival. Cecilia informed the Holy Father of the three days delay she had requested of her Spouse so that she may speak with him. She submitted to the Pope Urban the care of the poor who were her "last treasure" and offered her property to be consecrated as a church.¹³ After this final conversation committing all she had left to the Holy Father, she conversed silently with her Beloved as she prepared for death. She died lying upon her right side with her arms extended, stretching forth three fingers on her right hand and one on her left as profession of the Trinity. Having detached herself from any worldly concern and focused only on her Spouse, she turned her face to the ground to converse secretly in her last moments, and she died.¹⁴

Stefano Maderno, "Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia," ca 1600, sculpture, at https://commons.wikimedia.org 

     Her body was laid to rest in the same position in which she died. Discovered incorrupt centuries later, she still lay in the garments of her nobility in the position with which she gave her final witness of faith and love.¹⁵ Find out more here 

     It is in context of this life that we must understand her patronage. As outwardly the clamor of pagan music played for a marriage in which she would have preferred not to participate, inwardly, in the silence of her heart, she listened to the music of the angels. This inward contemplation is the spirit in which she lived from her daily reading of Scripture to her placing all concerns at the feet of her Beloved. Facing the possibility both of the disfavor of parents who had already refused her request to respect her vow and of the wrath of her husband, she first fasted and prayed as others celebrated the engagement; with loving trust, she received an angel to safeguard her virginity and the conversion of her new husband and his brother. Further, motivated by charity, she requested her death be delayed three days so that she may attain the care of the poor and may offer her house as a temple for her Beloved. Constantly developing her interior conversation with her Beloved, Cecilia developed the song in the silence of her heart, which was expressed in every word and action. She heard in the silence the song of the angels in constant praise of God, and her heart sang along in a burst of love throughout the sufferings of life.

Raphael, "St. Cecilia with Sts. Paul, John Evangelists, Augustine and Mary Magdalene [Ecstasy of St. Cecilia],"  1513 – 1516, at https://www.wikiart.org

     This can be more fully understood through reflection on Raphael's "Ecstasy of St. Cecilia" (above). Cecilia's focus is on the music of Heaven, and earthly instruments are at her feet. She is not the patron of music because of composition of earthly music;¹⁶ as far as we know, she never composed any. Nor do we hear explicitly that she habitually sang vocally. However, we do hear that she internally sang prayers of love to her Beloved. In the medieval view, which draws further light on this intimate union of this interior song of the heart, music symbolized expression of conversion and spiritual growth.¹⁷ This interior music, therefore, expressed growth of the interior life by which the soul gains union with God; through developing the interior conversation with the Beloved, she began to hear in her heart an interior song, the song of Heaven heard by the heart, not merely the physical ears.¹⁸ Experiencing the interior sadness and suffering of the approaching marriage, she cried out to her Beloved in silent love and heard in that silence the music of harmony and transcendence of faith in Divine Providence; she rejected her own will and the lack of trust it would signify in order to embrace the joy of faith and love.¹⁹ This is the song which defined her life. However, this song is not only for her; rather, through her contemplative heart she sought to bring her husband from the sorrow of sinful pagan life to this joy in Christ, the joy of love which the world cannot take away (see John 16:22), and she likewise invites others to this joy.²⁰

Raphael, "St. Cecilia with Saints (detail),"  1513 – 1516, at https://www.wikiart.org

     It is interesting to note that this understanding of Cecilia seems to be the Holy Father, John Paul II's, perspective; in his homily at the Church of St. Cecilia on her feast in 1984, he mentions her patronage as a brief summary after describing the spirit with which she lived.²¹ John Paul II begins: "I will make you my bride forever. I will make you my bride in justice and in law, in benevolence and in love" (Hosea 2:19). This verse which the liturgy applies to St. Cecilia, he explains, is a summary of her life; she was first a virgin and martyr and these were her very identity. The faith and love which defined her life works is a message for us. The Holy Father proceeds to quote St. Augustine who speaks of the martyrs: those who give testimony to Christ through being disgraced and undergoing all manner of suffering bring their testimony to the level of martyrdom.²² However, in Scripture, the martyr asks that God remove his shame (Ps. 118[119]:31). Why, Augustine asks, would the martyr seek this, seeing as though it is through this shame at the hands of enemies that the martyr gains the crown. Because, Augustine answers, the martyr is praying in charity for his enemies; it is this shame inflicted upon the martyr which is death to the ones persecuting him. The martyr seeks that his enemies may reverence God's "martyrdoms" or testimonies revealed through the suffering so that they may attain salvation.²³ It is this martyr's charity, proper love of God and neighbor, which filled Cecilia's life.²⁴ This was developed through constant vigilance, prayer, and meditation. She lived focused on the interior life. It is in this, the pope concludes, that St. Cecilia fittingly gains her patronage; as in Raphael's painting she has earthly instruments abandoned at her feet so as to contemplate celestial melodies, so was her life's focus on those celestial melodies far surpassing any which on earth seek to please the ear of man. St. Cecilia was first of all a virgin and a martyr in love with her Heavenly Spouse, and it is this spirit which gained her a most fitting patronage.²⁵

Lelio Orsi, "Die Hl. Cäcilie und der Hl. Valerian," ca. 1555, painting, at https://commons.wikimedia.org

     It is, therefore, the interior song of the heart which gained for the Cecilia her patronage; St. Cecilia is patroness of music, because the interior hymn is primary. It is from this interior hymn that the heart may burst forth in song, professing through song, word, and action that which is in the soul, while also continually stimulating interior growth within its own soul and in those of its neighbors. Further, song professed in this spirit, a spirit which continually rejoices in love even as suffering envelops it, is that which will profess to all the joy of the faith. Whether it be interior song of prayer or song professed also through outward voice, this song will attain the interior growth, development of interior worship of the Lord, for which it was sung and inspire the listener to forsake the earthly pleasures and seek the treasure of Heaven with the song of praise in the silence of the heart.²⁶

Sancta Cecilia, ora pro nobis!

Footnotes:

¹ H Wendell Howard, “Who's Cecilia? What is she?” Logos 18 no. 3 (2015), 17-18.

² Dom Prosper Gueranger, Saint Cecilia (Fitzwilliam: Loreto Publications, 2011), 219-226, 297-302.

³ Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 153-164. 

⁴ Howard, “Who's Cecilia? What is she?” 17-18.

⁵ Acts of St. Cecilia in Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 53-54. 

⁶ The Roman Martyrology (Baltimore: John Murphy Publishers, 1897), 364, at Internet Archives, at https://archive.org/stream/romanmartyrology00cath?ref=ol#page/n7/mode/2up.

⁷ Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 13-14, 18.

⁸ Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 21-42.

⁹ Pope John Paul II, Homily During a Visit to the Parish of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (22 November 1984), §3.

¹⁰ Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 43-51.

¹¹ Homily of John Paul II, §4; Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 53-83.

¹ﱣ² Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 83-102.

¹³ Acts of St. Cecilia in Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 121.

¹⁴ Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 100-122.

¹⁵ Gueranger, Saint Cecilia, 219-226, 297-302.

¹⁶ Nathan Mitchell, “Doing ritual means making music,” Worship 85 no. 5 (2011), 461.

¹⁷ Katherine A. McIver, “Mourning into joy: music, Raphael and Saint Cecilia,” The Sixteenth Century Journal 27 no. 2 (1996), 645-646 

¹⁸ McIver, “Mourning into joy: music, Raphael and Saint Cecilia,” 645-646.

¹⁹ McIver “Mourning into joy: music, Raphael and Saint Cecilia,” 645-646; Calvin Stapert, “Does God Manifest Himself in the World in Trickles of Music?” Theology Today 6 (2006), 63-65.

²⁰ H Wendell Howard, “Who's Cecilia? What is she?” Logos 18 no. 3 (2015), 17.

²¹ Homily of John Paul II, §1-4

²² Augustine, "Exposition on Psalm 119," §23, at New Advent, at http://www.newadvent.org.

²³ Augustine, "Exposition on Psalm 119," §23.

²⁴ Homily of John Paul II, §1-3.

²⁵ Homily of John Paul II, §4.

²⁶ Pope Pius XII, Encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy Mediator Dei (20 November 1947), §23-24.