The Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr on November 22. She is the patron saint of music and musicians. St. Cecilia is one of the most famous and most venerated of Roman martyrs. Her body was discovered in 822 and was transferred to the title church that bears her name in Trastevere in Rome.
Who is St. Cecilia?
Cecilia was so highly venerated by the ancient Roman Church that her name was placed in the Canon of the Mass. Already in the fourth century there was a church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, erected on the site where her home had stood. Her martyrdom probably occurred during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, about the year 230. In 1599 her grave was opened and her body found in a coffin of cypress wood. It lay incorrupt, as if she had just breathed forth her soul.
It is said that this 3rd-century Roman noblewoman Cecilia vowed her virginity to an angel of God. When she was married against her will, Cecilia sat apart at her wedding, singing ‘in her heart’ to God as the musicians played. It was this act that would later earn her the patronage of music.
Cecilia told her husband of her vow of virginity and that, if he tried to violate that vow, he would be punished by the angel watching over her. Her husband promised to uphold her wish only if he saw the angel himself. All he had to do was be baptised and he would be able to see the mighty apparition of the angel. He did so, and he was met by the vision of Cecilia talking to the angel. His brother followed suit, and after beholding the visions, both brothers were martyred.
The story goes on to say that she was burned at the stake. Incredibly enough though her purity protected her and she wasn’t harmed at all. Then she was condemned to suffocate, trapped for 24 hours in a Roman bathhouse as the coals were piled onto the fire and the temperature spiked. But this wasn’t successful either. It is also said that three attempts were made to behead Cecilia with a sword, and yet, through incredible tenacity and strength of character, she lived through each one. She remained alive for another three days before finally succumbing to her injuries, during which time she spoke to the pope to request that her home be made into a church. From this violent end, Cecilia became St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music and musicians. Her final resting place is Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, a 5th-century church in Rome.
Music and iconography
An explicit link between Saint Cecilia and music is documented from the late Middle Ages. The reason for the association is traceable, according to some, to an incorrect interpretation of an excerpt from the Passio; according to others, to the entrance antiphon on the Mass of her feast day, which reads, “While the organs played, she sang in her heart only to the Lord.” Starting in the second half of the 14th century, in different parts of Europe, Cecilian iconography began to proliferate and enrich itself with musical elements. The Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia, Raffael’s masterpiece for the Church of San Giovanni in Monte in Bologna, depicting her with a portable organ in her hand and various musical instruments at her feet, solidified the connection between the Roman martyr and music, for which she is now invoked and celebrated as the protector of musicians and singers. The Academy of Music founded in Rome in 1584 was named for her.
