St. Cecilia of Rome

St. Cecilia was born during the year 200 AD in Rome, Italy. St. Cecilia’s family was one of the most important families in Rome, Italy. St. Cecilia’s family decided to set her up an engaged marriage to a pagan man named Valerian who was from a noble family. St. Cecilia’s family engaged her to this marriage even though St. Cecilia was consecrated to God.

During St. Cecilia’s wedding night, St. Cecilia made it clear to Valerian that she promised God that she would remain a Virgin before God and she told Valerian that an Angel guarded her body to protect her from any violation.

St. Cecilia told Valerian that he would be able to see the angel if he went to the third milestone and was baptized by Pope Urban l. Therefore Valerian went and was baptized. St. Cecilia was later able to convert his brother.

During St. Cecilia’s lifetime it was illegal for anyone to bury the bodies of Christians, therefore Valerian and his brother who had just been baptized decided to dedicate their lives to burying all the bodies of Christians that they found.

This decision that they made led to them being arrested and they were brought in front of a judge and were told to worship the Roman god named Jupiter. However, they did not deny their faith which led to them being martyred.

After they had been martyred, the police decided to get St. Cecilia and they told her to deny her faith. St. Cecilia told them in reply that she would prefer to die instead of reject her faith. After they heard St. Cecilia’s response they decided to bring her to a large oven and had the intention of suffocating her with the toxic gasses that had been emitted. However this attempt did not work for them and instead of suffocating, St. Cecilia began to sing.

The prosecutors became upset that St. Cecilia started to sing and attempted to behead St. Cecilia, but after three strokes of the sword, St. Cecilia remained alive and St. Cecilia’s head was not cut off. The soldiers decided to leave her covered fully in blood in her home. St. Cecilia remained in her home for a total of three days before she passed away.

After St. Cecilia had passed away a church named Santa Cecilia was built to remember her and it was built where she used to live. St. Cecilia is the patron saint of Poets and musicians because St. Cecilia sang during her martyrdom when she was in the oven. St. Cecilia also heard very beautiful heavenly music play when she got married. Due to the massive love of music that St. Cecilia had she tends to be portrayed in art with an organ or other musical instruments in her hand.

When St. Cecilia's body was found in 1599, her body was incorrupt. St. Cecilia is one of the first incorrupt saints. St. Cecilia was found in a silk veil and she was wearing a beautiful gold embroidered dress. Many people who found St. Cecilia's body noted that a very mysterious but very amusing scent almost like a flower was coming from her coffin.

St. Cecilia died on November 22, 230 AD and her feast day is celebrated on November 22.

St. Cecilia is a beautiful saint who stood strong in her beliefs even during hard or difficult times. St. Cecilia found comfort in Christ through moments where it may have seemed hard for her to do so. St. Cecilia is a saint who can help each and everyone of us because she found comfort in Christ during hard and difficult moments in her life. By learning from St. Cecilia's example we may start to realize ourselves that sure we may be dealing with all the uncertainty and confusion that this world is throwing at us right now but this is a perfect time for us to take a step back from everything, silence our phones and humbly visit Christ and pray. This is a perfect time for each of us to repent for all the wrong we have done, and return to the arms of Christ. Christ is always waiting for us to give him another chance that is how humble Christ is, all we have to do is open our hearts to him and surrender ourselves to him.

Prayer to St. Cecilia:

St. Cecilia help us to find comfort in the Lord when we are enduring moments of pain, struggles and confusion. St. Cecilia help us to trust that the Lord knows what is the best for us, and that he will guide us through every hard situation that we may encounter. St. Cecilia help us to spread God’s love and mercy to everyone we meet regardless of what they have done to us. St. Cecilia help us to guide more people to Christ through our love and kindness towards other people. St. Cecilia help us to stay positive and close to God through all of our struggles and help us to trust in his will for our lives. We ask this through Christ Our Lord and Mary Our Mother in Heaven Amen St. Cecilia pray for us St. Joseph pray for us

May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.

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Works cited:

Information (read from, not taken):

Catholic Online. “St. Cecilia.” St. Cecilia - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online. Accessed 6 April 2021.

Images:

St. Cecilia. April 6, 2021.

st. cecilia - Google Search