Today, November 22, is the feast of Saint Cecilia.
Patron saint of musicians.
Cecilia came from a well-known and wealthy Roman family. Her parents, who largely ignored her vow of perpetual virginity, arranged her marriage to nobleman Valerian.
On her wedding night, Cecilia successfully convinced Valerian to respect her vow of virginity and converted him to Christianity. Valerian, soon as he was converted, was rewarded with a vision of Cecilia’s guardian angel. Cecilia also converted her brother-in-law Tiburtius.
Valerian and Tiburtius developed a ministry of giving proper burial to martyred Christians. The anti-Christian forces found out about the brothers and had them beheaded. Cecilia buried them along the Appian Way.
This act of Cecilia brought her more trouble. She was arrested and made to choose between sacrificing to false gods or being killed. Cecilia chose to remain faithful to Jesus.
She was forced into a room with a suffocating vapor bath for an entire day, but she was unharmed. A veteran executioner was assigned to behead Cecilia. However, he felt sorry for having to execute a young and beautiful woman. As prescribed by law, three blows were needed to sever her head. The third blow failed to completely behead Cecilia, and so the executioner fled. For three days and nights, Cecilia was lying on the floor, in a praying position, with her half-severed head.
Historians state her death occurred in 177 AD. When her body was exhumed in 1599, it was found to be incorrupt.
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, and musicians.