By Leon Bent –
Saint Cecilia is the patroness of musicians. It is written that as the musicians played at her wedding she “sang in her heart to the Lord”. Her feast day is celebrated in the Latin Catholic, Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and in the Anglican Communion on November 22. She is one of seven women, in addition to the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. The names of the martyrs listed in the Roman Canon include today’s saint, Cecilia. From one perspective, that is all we need to know. She lived. She was martyred. She was remembered. Cecilia’s name was included in the only Eucharistic Prayer then said at Sunday Mass.
A number of musical compositions are dedicated to her, and her feast day has become the occasion for concerts and musical festivals.
St. Cecilia lived during the Roman Empire in the 3rd century and was born to a wealthy Roman family. She vowed her virginity to Christ, but her parents married her off anyway. She then converted her husband to the Christian faith, and he in turn respected her virginity and converted his brother.
St. Cecilia is most remembered today as the patron of musicians due to this legend:
“While the profane music of her wedding was heard, Cecilia was singing in her heart a hymn of love of Jesus, her true spouse.”
The story of how she converted her husband is quite remarkable. On her wedding night she made her vow known to him, and informed him that an angel guarded her purity. Her husband replied that he would believe her and honour her vow if he could also see her angel. Cecilia instructed him to first be baptized, and afterwards he was able to see her angel.
Together her husband and his brother took up the task of burying martyred Christians, which was illegal, and resulted in their martyrdom. St. Cecilia responded by burying her husband and converting hundreds of people through her Christian witness and strength of faith. This, and her refusal to worship false gods, resulted in her being arrested.
Officials exhumed her body in 1599 and found her to be incorrupt, the first of all incorrupt saints. She was draped in a silk veil and wore a gold embroidered dress. Officials only looked through the veil in an act of holy reverence and made no further examinations. They also reported a “mysterious and delightful flower-like odour which proceeded from the coffin.” St. Cecilia’s remains were transferred to Cecilia’s titular church in Trastevere and placed under the high altar.
St. Cecilia is typically portrayed in art, statues, rosaries, and medals with a harp or other musical instruments. St. Cecilia gifts remind us to invoke the prayers of Saint Cecilia for those musicians lifting their talents up to God.
During some restoration work on the Basilica in 1599, Cecilia’s body was uncovered and found to be incorrupt. Before contact with the atmosphere caused her fragile skin and bones to disintegrate, an artist carefully noted what he saw. His sculpture of Saint Cecilia is evocative and justly famous. The marble itself seems to rest in peace. It is not a forward, glorious pose in the Counter Reformation tradition. The marble is white, reflecting Cecilia’s purity. The saint’s face and hair are mysteriously covered by a sheet, inviting the mind to wonder. Cecilia’s fingers seem to form a cryptic Christian symbol of the Trinity—Three in One. And her neck is sliced by the stroke of an axe. The sculptor’s personal testimony is embedded in the floor near his work: “Behold the body of the Most Holy Virgin, Cecilia, whom I myself saw lying incorrupt in her tomb. I have in this marble expressed for thee the same saint in the very same posture and body.” We don’t know the full story of our saint, but we are certain of her end—a generous act of self gift to Christ.
Now, this gold nugget Like any good Christian, Cecilia sang in her heart, and sometimes with her voice. She has become a symbol of the Church’s conviction that good music is an integral part of the liturgy, of greater value to the Church than any other art.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.
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