Cecilia

Cecilia, St, the patroness of music, especially church music, is said to have suffered martyrdom in 230 A.D. Her heathen parents belonged to a noble Roman family, and betrothed their daughter, already a secret convert to Christianity, to a heathen youth named Valerian, who also was soon converted, and ere long suffered martyrdom together with his brother Tiberius. Cecilia, when commanded to sacrifice to idols, firmly refused, and was condemned to death. She was first thrown into a boiling bath, from which she emerged unhurt; next the executioner struck three blows upon her neck with a sword, then fled in horror. Three days later his victim died of her wounds, and received the martyr's crown. She was buried by Pope Urban in the catacombs of Callistus. As early as the 5th century, there is mention of a church dedicated to St Cecilia at Rome; and in 821, by order of the Pope Paschal, her bones were deposited there. St Cecilia is regarded as the inventor of the organ, and in the Roman Catholic Church her festival-day, November 22, is celebrated with splendid music. Some of our greatest poets, as Chaucer, Dryden, and Pope, have laid poetic tributes on the shrine of St Cecilia—the greatest is Dryden's splendid ode. The most famous paintings of St Cecilia are those of Raphael at Bologna, Carlo Dolce in the Dresden Gallery, Domenichino in the Louvre, and Rubens in the Berlin Museum.—Another St Cecilia was born in Africa, and suffered martyrdom by starvation under Diocletian. Her festival falls on the 11th of February.