Saint Cecilia, Patroness of Music and Musicians

On November 22, the Church remembers St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr, the patroness of music; specifically, the patron of church music.

St. Cecilia was a well-educated, cultured daughter of a noble or senatorial family in Rome. She was a pious Christian from early in her childhood, but as a young woman, she was given in marriage to a noble pagan, Valerianus. Once the marriage celebration had taken place, Cecilia informed Valerianus that an angel guarded her body, and that Valerianus must respect and not violate her vow of virginity. Valerianus said that he would respect Cecilia's wish if he could see the angel, and Cecilia told him that he would need to be purified in order to do so. Valerianus went to be baptized by the Pope, and he returned to Cecilia as a Christian. Soon after, the angel appeared to them and crowned them both with roses and lilies.

Tiburtius, the brother of Valerianus, came to Cecilia, and soon after, he became a Christian as well. Tiburtius and Valerianus, who became zealous children of faith, distributed alms and buried the bodies of the confessors who had been killed for their dedication to Christ. For this, a prefect named Turcius Almachius condemned them to death. Maximus, an officer of the prefect, was appointed to carry out the execution. Instead, he, too, was converted to Christianity and was martyred along with Tiburtius and Valerianus. The widowed Cecilia buried the three men together.

The martyrdom of Cecilia is said to have followed that of her husband, his brother, and Maximus. Because Cecilia buried the three Christian men, she was condemned to death. She arranged to have her home preserved as a church before she was arrested. When the officials arrived at her house, they attempted to kill her by burning her body. However, when they checked on her the next day, Cecilia was not only alive and well, but kneeling in prayer and was not even sweating. It was then ordered that she be beheaded. The officers were unsuccessful after three attempts of beheading her. Cecilia would not die until she received the sacrament of Holy Communion. She lay bleeding and praying on the spot where the attempted beheading took place for three days before she died. It is said that Cecilia sang to God as she laid in her cell for the last three days of her life.

The people by her cell knew immediately that she was to become a saint in heaven. When her incorruptible body was found long after her death, it was found that on one hand she had two fingers outstretched and on the other hand just one finger, denoting her belief in the Trinity.

Patroness of Music

Naming Cecilia as the patroness of music and of church music came later than the original veneration of the early Christian saint, and was based largely on the following description in the 6th century story of her life:

“While the profane music of her wedding was heard, Cecilia was singing in her heart a hymn of love for Jesus, her true spouse.”

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the veneration of St. Cecilia grew in popularity. This phrase boosted her popularity as a patron of musicians, particularly those who wrote and/or performed pious, reverent music.