Saint Cecilia (
Latin: Sancta Caecilia), also spelled Cecelia, was a Roman virgin martyr and is venerated in
Catholic,
Orthodox,
Anglican, and some
Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden.[2] She became the patroness of music and musicians, it being written that, as the musicians played at her wedding, Cecilia "sang in her heart to the Lord".[3][4] Musical compositions are dedicated to her, and her feast, on 22 November,[5] is the occasion of concerts and musical festivals. She is also known as Cecilia of Rome.
Saint Cecilia is one of several virgin martyrs commemorated by name in the
Canon of the Mass in the
Latin Church. The church of
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, founded in the 3rd century by Pope
Urban I, is believed to be on the site of the house where she lived and died.
According to the story, despite her vow of virginity, her parents forced her to marry a pagan nobleman named
Valerian. During the wedding, Cecilia sat apart singing to God in her heart, and for that, she was later declared the saint of musicians.[4] When the time came for her marriage to be consummated, Cecilia told Valerian that watching over her was an
angel of the Lord, who would punish him if he sexually violated her but would love him if he respected her virginity. When Valerian asked to see the angel, Cecilia replied that he could see the angel if he would go to the third milestone on the
Via Appia and be baptized by
Pope Urban I. After following Cecilia's advice, he saw the angel standing beside her, crowning her with a
chaplet of roses and lilies.[4]
The martyrdom of Cecilia is said to have followed that of her husband Valerian and his brother at the hands of the prefect Turcius Almachius.[9] The legend about Cecilia's death says that after being struck three times on the neck with a sword, she lived for three days, and asked the pope to convert her home into a church.[10]
Cecilia is one of the most famous Roman martyrs, although some elements of the stories recounted about her do not appear in the source material.[10] According to
Johann Peter Kirsch, the existence of the martyr is a historical fact. At the same time, some details bear the mark of a pious romance, like many other similar accounts compiled in the fifth and sixth centuries. The relation between Cecilia and Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus, mentioned in the
Acts of the Martyrs, has some historical foundation. Her feast day has been celebrated since about the fourth century.[11] There is no mention of Cecilia in the Depositio Martyrum, but there is a record of an early Roman church founded by a lady of this name, Santa Cecilia in
Trastevere.[12]
The church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is reputedly built on the site of the house in which she lived. The original church was constructed in the fourth century; during the ninth century,
Pope Paschal I had remains that were supposedly hers buried there. In 1599, while leading a renovation of the church, Cardinal
Paolo Emilio Sfondrati had the remains, which he reported to be
incorrupt, excavated and reburied.[13]
Name
The name "Cecilia" applied generally to Roman women who belonged to the
plebeianclan of the
Caecilii. Legends and hagiographies, mistaking it for a personal name, suggest fanciful etymologies. Among those cited by
Chaucer in "
The Second Nun's Tale" are: lily of heaven, the way for the blind, contemplation of
heaven and the active life, as if lacking in blindness, and a heaven for people to gaze upon.[14]
Patroness of musicians
The first record of a music festival in her honour was held at
Évreux in
Normandy in 1570.[15]
From the name of Cecilia comes Cecyliada, the name of the festival of sacred, choral, and contemporary music, held from 1994 in
Police, Poland.
Legacy
Cecilia symbolizes the central role of music in the liturgy.[10]
The Cistercian
nuns of the convent nearby Santa Cecilia in Trastevere shear lambs' wool to be woven in the
palliums of new metropolitan archbishops. The lambs are raised by the
Trappists of the Abbey
Tre Fontane in Rome. The Pope blesses the lambs every 21 January, the Feast of
Saint Agnes. The pallia are given by the Pope to the new metropolitan archbishops on the
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June.
Cecilia is frequently depicted playing the viola, a
portative organ, or other musical instruments,[10] evidently to express what was often attributed to her, namely that while the musicians played at her nuptials, she sang in her heart to God, though the organ may be misattributed to her,[11] as the result of a mistranslation.[24]
Alessandro ScarlattiIl martirio di santa Cecilia, oratorio donné pour la première fois le
1er mars 1708; Messa di Santa Cecilia(1720).
Georg Friedrich Haendel composed two works for Saint Cecilia with
John Dryden: The Oratorio Alexander's Feast or The Power of Music (1736) and Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1739).
Joseph Haydn, Missa Sanctae Caeciliae ou Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae (1766–67).
Judith Shatin wrote The Passion of Saint Cecilia for piano and orchestra[29] and Fantasy on Saint Cecilia[30] for solo piano.[31]
Fred Momotenko composed "Cecilia", a composition for full mixed choir, "a hymn to the past as well as to the future of the monastic tradition". The world premiere was at
Koningshoeven Abbey on Saint Cecilia's feast day, 2014.[32]
Stalk-Forrest Group (later name changed to Blue Öyster Cult), recorded a song "St. Cecilia.". The EP was later released under the SFG name as the St. Cecilia Sessions.
Gerald Finzi composed "For St. Cecilia" for solo tenor, chorus (SATB), and orchestra. Setting of a work by English poet and author
Edmund Blunden. Duration ca 18 minutes.
On the 2015 Feast of Saint Cecilia,
Foo Fighters released their EP "Saint Cecilia" for free download via their website. The five-song EP features a track named after the EP "Saint Cecilia". The EP was recorded during an impromptu studio session at Hotel Saint Cecilia located in Austin, Texas.[36]
Informator Choristarum (organist and master of the choristers) at
Magdalen College, Oxford (1957–1981),
Bernard Rose's unaccompanied anthem for SATB choir (with divisions) Feast Song For St. Cecilia (1974) is a setting a poem of the same name by his son, musician Gregory Rose.[citation needed]
E. Florence Whitlock composed Ode to St. Cecilia, Opus 5, based on text by John Dryden, in 1958.[37]
Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist, Rik Emmett, composed the song "Calling St. Cecilia" on his 1992 LP Ipso Facto.[citation needed]
Blue Öyster Cult released a song, “The Return of St. Cecilia”, on their 2020 album “The Symbol Remains”
The Chicago band Turnt (now known as Everybody All The Time) released a song called Girls which refers to St Cecilia in the lyrics. The song was first performed at Northwestern University's Mayfest Battle of the Bands on Friday 24 May 2013 at 27 Live in downtown Evanston.[38]
The poem "Moschus Moschiferus", by Australian poet
A. D. Hope (1907–2000), is subtitled "A Song for St Cecilia's Day". The poem is of 12 stanzas and was written in the 1960s.
Cecilia is also the subject of Alexander Pope's poem "Ode on St. Cecilia's Day".
^
abcdeFr. Paolo O. Pirlo, SHMI (1997). "St. Cecilia". My First Book of Saints. Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate – Quality Catholic Publications. pp. 280–282.
ISBN978-971-91595-4-4.
^Verspaandonk, J. A. J. M. (1975). Het hemels prentenboek: Devotie- en bidprentjes vanaf de 17e eeuw tot het begin van de 20e eeuw. Hilversum: Gooi en Sticht. p. 15.
^The Gentleman's Journal, or Monthly Miscellany, November 1692, cited in
Rimbault's edition, London: Musical Antiquarian Society Publications, 1848, p. 2.
Connolly, Thomas (1995). Mourning into Joy: Music, Raphael, and Saint Cecilia. Yale.
ISBN9780300059014.
Hanning, Barbara Russano (2004). "From Saint to Muse: Representations of Saint Cecilia in Florence". Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography. 29 (1–2): 91–103.
ISSN1522-7464.
Lovewell, B.E. (1898).
The Life of St. Cecilia. Yale Studies in English. Boston: Lamson, Wolffe, and Company.
Kirsch, Johann Peter (1908). "St. Cecilia" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Luckett, Richard (1972–1973). "St. Cecilia and Music". Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association. 99: 15–30.
doi:
10.1093/jrma/99.1.15.
Mason, Daniel Gregory (1917). F. H. Martens; M. W. Cochran; W. D. Darby) (eds.).
A Dictionary-Index of Musicians. The Art of Music: A Comprehensive Library of Information for Music Lovers and Musicians. New York: National Society of Music.
Meine, Sabine (2004). "Cecilia without a Halo: The Changing Musical Virtues". Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography. 29 (1–2): 104–112.
ISSN1522-7464.
Rice, John A. (2022). Saint Cecilia in the Renaissance: The Emergence of a Musical Icon. University of Chicago Press.
ISBN9780226817101.
White, Bryan (2019). Music for St Cecilia's Day from Purcell to Handel. Boydell.
ISBN9781783273478.
External links
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