Third
Century St. Cecilia
patroness of music
Sanctæ Cæcíliæ,
Vírginis et Mártyris, quæ ad cæléstem Sponsum,
próprio sánguine purpuráta, transívit sextodécimo
Kaléndas Octóbris.
St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr, who on the 16th
of September, purpled with her own blood, departed to her heavenly Spouse.
(Date Unknown) St Cecilia, or Cecily, Virgin and Martyr
For over a thousand years St Cecilia (the more traditional English form
of her name is Cecily) has been one of the most greatly venerated of the
maiden martyrs of the early Church and is one of those named in canon of
the Mass. Her “acts” state that she was a patrician girl of Rome and that
she was brought up a Christian. She wore a coarse garment beneath the clothes
of her rank, fasted from food several days a week, and determined to remain
a maiden for the love of God. But her father had other views, and gave her
in marriage to a young patrician named Valerian. On the day of the marriage,
amid the music and rejoicing of the guests, Cecilia sat apart, singing to
God in her heart and praying for help in her predicament. When they retired
to their room, she took her courage in both hands and said to her husband
gently, “I have a secret to tell you. You must know that I have an angel
of God watching over me. If you touch me in the way of marriage he will
be angry and you will suffer; but if you respect my maidenhood he will love
you as he loves me.” “Show me this angel,” Valerian replied. “If he be of
God, I will refrain as you wish.” And Cecilia said, if you believe in the
living and one true God and receive the water of baptism, then you shall
see the angel”. Valerian agreed and was sent to find Bishop Urban among the
poor near the third milestone of the Apian Way. He was received with joy
and there appeared a venerable old man bearing a writing: “One Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, above all, and in us all.”
“Do you believe this I” Valerian was asked, and he assented and was baptized
by Urban. Then he returned to Cecilia, and found standing by her side an
angel, who put upon the head of each a chaplet of roses and lilies. Then
appeared his brother, Tiburtius, and he, too, was offered a deathless crown
if he would renounce his false gods. At first he was incredulous. “Who”,
he asked, has returned from beyond the grave to tell us of this other life?”
Cecilia talked long to him, until he was convinced by what she told him of
Jesus, and he, too, was baptized and at once experienced many marvels.
From that time forth the two
young men gave themselves up to good works. Because of their zeal in burying
the bodies of martyrs they were both arrested. Almachius, the prefect before
whom they were brought, began to cross-examine them.
Answers he received from Tiburtius
he set down as the ravings of a madman, and, turning to Valerian, he remarked
that he hoped to hear more sense from him than from his crazy brother. Valerian
replied that he and his brother were under the charge of one and the same
physician, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who could impart to them His own
wisdom. He then proceeded at some length to compare the joys of Heaven with
those of earth. Almachius told him to cease prating and to tell the court
if he would sacrifice to the gods and go forth free. Tiburtius and Valerian
both replied: “No, not to the gods, but to the one God to whom we offer sacrifice
daily.” The prefect asked whether Jupiter were the name of their god. “No,
indeed”, said Valerian. “Jupiter was a corrupt libertine and, according to
the testimony of your own writers, a murderer as well as a criminal.”
Valerian rejoiced when they
were delivered over to be scourged, and cried out to the Christians present:
“Roman citizens, do not let my sufferings frighten you away from the truth,
but cling to the one holy God, and trample under your feet the idols of wood
and stone which Almachius worships.” Even then the prefect was disposed to
allow them a respite in which to reconsider their refusal, but his assessor
assured him that they would only use the time to distribute their possessions,
thus preventing the state from confiscating their property. They were accordingly
condemned to death and were beheaded in a place called Pagus Triopius, four
miles from Rome. With them perished one of the officials, a man called Maximus,
who had declared himself a Christian after witnessing their fortitude.
Cecilia gave burial to the
three bodies, and then she in turn was called on to repudiate her faith.
Instead she converted those who came to induce her to sacrifice; and when
Pope Urban visited her at home he baptized over 400 persons there: one of
them, Gordian, a man of rank, established a church in her house, which Urban
later dedicated in her name. When she was eventually brought into court,
Almachius argued with Cecilia at some length, and was not a little provoked
by her attitude she laughed in his face and tripped him up in his words.
At length she was sentenced to be suffocated to death in the bathroom of
her own house.
But though the furnace was
fed with seven times its normal amount of fuel, Cecilia remained for a day
and a night without receiving any harm, and a soldier was sent to behead her.
He struck at her neck three times, and then left her lying. She was not dead
and lingered three days, during which the Christians flocked to her side and
she formally made over her house to Urban and committed her household to
his care. She was buried next to the papal crypt in the catacomb of St Callistus.
This
well-known story, familiar to and loved by Christians for many ages, dates
back to about the end of the fifth century, but unfortunately can by no means
be regarded as trustworthy or even founded upon authentic materials. It must
be regretfully admitted that of St Valerian and St Tiburtius nothing beyond
the fact of their martyrdom, place of burial (the Praetextatus cemetery) and
date of commemoration (April 14) is
certainly known St Cecilia perhaps owed her original cultus
to her specially honourable place of burial as foundress of a church,
tile titulus Caeciliae. Nor are we any better informed about
when she lived. The dates suggested for
her martyrdom vary from 177 (de Rossi) to the middle of the fourth century
(Kellner).
Pope St Paschal 1 (817—824) translated the supposed
relics of St Cecilia (found, in consequence of a vision or dream, not in the
cemetery of Callistus but in that of Praetextatus), together with those of
SS. Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus, to the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere.
In 1599 Cardinal Sfondrati in repairing this church reinterred the relics
of the four martyrs, the body of Cecilia being alleged to be then still incorrupt
and complete, although Pope Paschal had enshrined the head separately,
and between 847 and 855 it was mentioned among the relics at the church of
the Four Crowned Ones. The story goes that in 1599 the sculptor Maderna was allowed to see the body and made
a life-size statue of what he is said to have seen, naturalistic and very
moving: “not lying upon her back like a body in a tomb, but upon the right
side, as a maiden in her bed, her knees drawn together, and seeming to be
asleep.” This statue is in the church of St Cecilia, under the altar contiguous
to the place where the relics were reburied in a silver coffin; it bears
the sculptor’s inscription: “Behold the most holy virgin Cecilia, whom I
myself saw lying incorrupt in her tomb. I have made for you in this marble
an image of that saint in the very posture of her body.” De Rossi located
the original burying-place of Cecilia in the cemetery of Callistus, and a
replica of Maderna’s statue now occupies the recess.
However, Father Delehaye and
others are not satisfied that there is any justification for the common
belief that the body of the saint was found entire in 1599 just as Maderna
has sculptured it. Both he and Dom Quentin call attention to the inconsistencies
in the accounts the contemporaries as Baronius and Bosio have left us of the
discovery. Another difficulty is caused by the fact that no mention is made
of a Roman virgin martyr named Cecilia in the period immediately following
the persecutions. There is no reference to her in the poems of Damasus or
Prudentius, in the writings of Jerome or Ambrose, and her name does not occur
in the Depositio martyrum (fourth century). Moreover, what
was later called the titulus Sanctae Caeciliae was originally
known simply as the titulus Caeciliae, i.e. the church founded
by a lady named Cecilia.
Today perhaps St Cecilia is most generally known
as the patron saint of music and musicians. At her wedding, the acta tell us, while the musicians played, Cecilia sang to the
Lord in her heart. In the later middle ages she was represented as actually
playing the organ and singing aloud; and in the first antiphon of Lauds on
her feast, referring to this incident, the words “in her heart” are omitted.
The
legendary passio is printed at full length in Mombritius
and summarized by Delehaye in his book cited below, while those portions of
the text which are of more practical interest may be found in Dom Quentin’s
article in DAC., vol. ii, cc. 2712—2738. There is a considerable literature,
and in particular the whole matter has been very fully discussed by H. Delehaye
in his book Etude su, le légendier romain (1936), pp.
73—96. He mentions, besides Quentin’s article just referred to, the following
authorities as particularly worth consulting De Rossi, Roma sotterranea,
vol. ii, pp. xxxii—xliii; Erbes, Die Heilige Caecilia
in Zusammenhang mit der Papstcrypta, in the Zeitschrift
für Kirchengeschichte, 1888, pp. 1—66 J.
P. Kirsch, Die Heilige Caecilia in der römischen Kirche
(i 91 o), and Die römischen Titelkirchen im Altertum
(1918), pp. 113—116 and 155—156; P. Franchi de’ Cavalieri, Recenti studi intorno a S. Cecilia In Note agiografiche,
vol. iv (1912), pp. 3—38 F. Lanzoni in Rivista di archeologia
cristiana, vol. ii, pp. 220—224 Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis,
vol. i, p. 297, and vol. ii, pp. 52-68 P. Styger, Römischen
Märtyrergrüfte (1935), pp. 83—84 and 88 and L. de Lacger in
Bulletin de littérature ecclésiastique (1923),
pp. 21—29. There is a full summary of Mgr J. P. Kirsch’s views, written
by himself, in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. iii, pp.
471—473.
In the fourth century appeared a Greek religious romance on
the Loves of Cecilia and Valerian, written, like those of Chrysanthus and
Daria, Julian and Basilissa, in glorification of the virginal life, and
with the purpose of taking the place of the sensual romances of Daphnis and
Chloe, Chereas and Callirhoe, etc., which were then popular. There may have
been a foundation of fact on which the story was built up; but the Roman
Calendar of the fourth century, and the Carthaginian Calendar of the fifth
make no mention of Cecilia.
It is said, however, that there was a church dedicated to S.
Cecilia in Rome in the fifth century, in which Pope Symmachus held a council in 500.
But Symmachus held no council in that year. That held at Easter, 502, was
in the "basilica Julii"; that on September 1, 505, was held in the "basilica
Sessoriana"; that on October 23, 501, was in "porticu beati Petri apostoli
que appelatur Palmaria."
The next synod, November 6, 502, met in the church of St. Peter;
that in 533, "ante confessionem beati Petri"; and that in 503 also in the
basilica of S. Peter. Consequently, till better evidence is produced, we
must conclude that S. Cecilia was not known or venerated in Rome till about
the time when Pope Gelasius (496) introduced her name into his Sacramentary.
In 821, however, there was an old church fallen into decay with
the dedication to S. Cecilia; but Pope Paschal I dreamed that the body
of the saint lay in the cemetery of S. Celestas, along with that of her husband
Valerian. He accordingly looked for them and found them, or, at all events,
some bodies, as was probable, in the catacombs, which he was pleased to regard
as those of Cecilia and Valerian. And he translated these relics to the church
of S. Cecilia, and founded a monastery in their honor.
The story of S. Cecilia is not without beauty and merit. There
was in the city of Rome a virgin named Cecilia, who was given in marriage
to a youth named Valerian. She wore sackcloth next to her skin, and fasted,
and invoked the saints and angels and virgins, beseeching them to guard
her virginity. And she said to her husband, "I will tell you a secret if
you will swear not to reveal it to anyone." And when he swore, she added,
"There is an angel who watches me, and wards off from me any who would touch
me." He said, "Dearest, if this be true, show me the angel." "That can only
be if you will believe in one God, and be baptized."
She sent him to Pope S. Urban
(223-230), who baptized him; and when he returned, he saw Cecilia praying in her chamber, and an angel by
her with flaming wings, holding two crowns of roses and lilies, which he
placed on their heads, and then vanished. Shortly after, Tibertius,
the brother of Valerian, entered, and wondered at the fragrance and beauty
of the flowers at that season of the year.
When he heard the story of how they had obtained these crowns,
he also consented to be baptized. After their baptism the two brothers devoted
themselves to burying the martyrs slain daily by the prefect of the city,
Turcius Almachius. [There was no prefect of that name.] They were arrested
and brought before the prefect, and when they refused to sacrifice to the
gods were executed with the sword.
In the meantime, S. Cecilia, by preaching had converted four
hundred persons, whom Pope Urban forthwith baptized. Then Cecilia was arrested,
and condemned to be suffocated in the baths. She was shut in for a night
and a day, and the fires were heaped up, and made to glow and roar their
utmost, but Cecilia did not even break out into perspiration through the
heat. When Almachius heard this he sent an executioner to cut off her head
in the bath. The man struck thrice without being able to sever the head from
the trunk. He left her bleeding, and she lived three days. Crowds came to
her, and collected her blood with napkins and sponges, whilst she preached
to them or prayed. At the end of that period she died, and was buried by
Pope Urban and his deacons.
Alexander Severus, who was emperor when Urban was Pope, did
not persecute the Church, though it is possible some Christians may have
suffered in his reign. Herodian says that no person was condemned during
the reign of Alexander, except according to the usual course of the law and
by judges of the strictest integrity. A few Christians may have suffered,
but there can have been no furious persecutions, such as is described in
the Acts as waged by the apocryphal prefect, Turcius Almachius.
Urbanus was the prefect of the city, and Ulpian, who had much
influence at the beginning of Alexander's reign as principal secretary of
the emperor and commander of the Pretorian Guards, is thought to have encouraged
persecution. Usuardus makes Cecilia suffer under Commodus. Molanus transfers
the martyrdom to the reign of Marcus Aurelius. But it is idle to expect to
extract history from romance.
In 1599 Cardinal Paul Emilius
Sfondrati, nephew of Pope Gregory XIV, rebuilt the church of S. Cecilia.
St. Cecilia is regarded as the patroness of music [because of
the story that she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married],
and is represented in art with an organ or organ-pipes in her hand.
Martyr Cecilia at Rome
The Holy Virgin Martyr Cecilia
and the Holy Martyrs Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus: St Cecilia was born
in Rome of wealthy and illustrious parents. From her youth she was raised
in the Christian Faith. She prayed fervently, she helped those in need, and
beneath her fine clothing she wore a hairshirt.
Though she had vowed to preserve her virginity for Christ, her
parents decided to give her in marriage to the noble pagan Valerian. The saint
did not dare oppose the will of her parents, but with tears she prayed to
God that her betrothed would believe in Christ, and that He would send an
angel to preserve her virginity.
On the night of their marriage, Cecilia told her husband that
an angel stood by to guard her. She warned him that he would be slain if he
dared to touch her. Valerian asked to see this angel, but his bride told him
that he could not see the angel until he had been cleansed of the impurity
of unbelief.
"How may I be cleansed?" he asked. She said that if he asked
Bishop Urban for Baptism, he would be able to see the angel. The saint persuaded
her fiancé to go with her to Bishop Urban, who was hiding from the
persecution in a cave along the Appian Way. The instructions of the wise bishop
permeated the soul of Valerian, and both he and his brother Tiburtius believed
in Christ and were converted to Christianity. The brothers distributed part
of their inheritance to the poor, cared for the sick, and buried Christians
tortured to death by the persecutors.
The governor Almachius, having learned of this, gave orders
to arrest the brothers and bring them to trial. He demanded that the saints
renounce Christ and offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, and the brothers refused.
Then they mercilessly began to scourge the brothers. St Valerian under torture
urged Christians not to be afraid of torments, but to stand firm for Christ.
The governor, wanting to prevent the holy preacher from influencing
the people, ordered that the martyrs be taken outside the city limits and
executed there. The detachment of soldiers accompanying the martyrs to execution
was commanded by Maximus. He was amazed at the courage of the saints, and
asked them why they did not fear death. The holy brothers answered that they
were relinquishing this temporal life for life eternal. Maximus wanted to
learn the teaching of Christians in detail. He took Sts Valerian and Tiburtius
to his own house and conversed with them all night. When she heard of this,
St Cecilia went with a priest to Maximus, and he with all his family accepted
holy Baptism.
On the following day when they beheaded the Martyrs Valerian
and Tiburtius, St Maximus confessed before everyone that he saw how their
holy souls had gone up to Heaven. For this confession the holy Martyr Maximus
was scourged to death with whips.
The governor wanted to confiscate
the property of the executed, but when he was told that St Cecilia had already
distributed all her remaining wealth to the poor and by her preaching had
converted 400 men, he ordered her execution. For three days they tormented
her with fire and smoke in a red-hot bath-house, but the grace of God helped
her. Then they decided to behead her. The executioner struck the saint three
times with a sword, but only wounded her. The holy Martyr lived three more
days in full consciousness, encouraging those around her, and died with prayer
on her lips.
Cecilia of Rome VM (RM) (also
known as Caecilia, Celia, Cecily)
2nd-3rd century (?). Cecilia is another of the problem saints,
though greatly revered from a very early time. Her name is even mentioned
in the canon of the first Eucharistic Prayer together with several other
saints with questionable elements in their stories.
St. Cecilia
Image of Saint Cecilia courtesy of Saint Charles Borromeo Church
First: "Cecilia, though wedded, according to Roman law, to a
nobleman by the name of Valerian, is always listed as a virgin, as well
as a martyr, because her husband respected her private vow to become the
bride of Christ and never exercised his marital rights" (Keyes).
Second: The Latin of first words of antiphon at Lauds on her
feast day are `cantantibus organis,' so since the 16th century she is depicted
as playing an organ and is the patron of church music and musicians. But
it means music made in her heart to God at her wedding to Valerian, not that
she herself played her own wedding music on the organ. The image is particularly
anachronistic because she would not be playing the pipe organ with which we
are familiar but an instrument similar to a calliope, which the early Christians
would have associated with the Roman circus and spectacles. Therefore, she
would have been more likely to trample such an instrument underfoot than to
play it.
Third: She is commonly listed as a martyr, but there is no evidence
of her martyrdom in Rome.
Cecilia is not mentioned in the early Deposito Martyrum of the
4th century, nor any of the early saints who were especially interested in
the martyrs (e.g., Saints Ambrose, Jerome, Damasus, and Prudentius). The
first mentioned of her name comes about the year 545 when the Passion of Saint
Cecilia was written. The author of her Life may be an African refugee who
came to Rome c. 488. He uses the argumentation of Augustine and Tertullian
that Saint Valerian and his brother Saint Tiburtius were real martyrs, but
Saint Cecilia is unconnected to them.
Even the date of her death is uncertain--estimated at anywhere
between 177 to the fourth century, though the martyrdom of her supposed husband
(according to the Roman Martyrology) was under Emperor Alexander, who ruled
222-35.
It is more likely that Saint
Cecilia was the founder of parish church of that name in the Trastevere section
of Rome. Founders of churches were often later turned into saints, not just
in Rome. See Vie des Saints by the monks of Abbaye Sainte-Marie for further
details on this aspect.
Her name, that she founded a church, and that she was buried
in the cemetery of Saint Callixtus (donated to the Church by Cecilia) is
all that is really known about Saint Cecilia. Her tomb in the cemetery was
the prominent feature of a crypt adjoining the papal crypt according to inscriptions
found there.
Her unreliable story, constructed of legends, tells us that
Saint Cecilia was born of a patrician family in Rome and raised as a Christian.
She wore a coarse horsehair garment beneath her clothes of rank, fasted, and
vowed herself to God.
Against her will she was married by her father to a young, pagan
patrician named Valerian. While everyone sang and danced at their wedding,
Cecilia sat apart, saying only the Psalms. Valerian turned out to be a man
of great understanding. On their wedding night, she told Valerian, "I have
an angel of God watching over me. If you touch me in the way of marriage,
he will be angry and you will suffer. But if you respect my maidenhood, he
will love you as he loves me."
Valerian replied, "Show me this angel." She told him that if
he believed in the living and one true God and was baptized, he would see
the angel. Thus, she persuaded Valerian to respect her vow of virginity.
He was impressed and attracted by his wife's Christian graces,
and so Valerian was baptized by Pope Saint Urban (which would be c. 222-230).
When he returned to Cecilia, he found her standing by the side of an angel
as she promised. The angel told him: "I have a crown of flowers for each of
you. They have been sent from paradise as a sign of the life you are both
to lead. If you are faithful to God, He will reward you with the everlasting
perfumes of heaven."
The angel then crowned Cecilia with roses, and Valerian with
a wreath of lilies. The delightful fragrance of the flowers filled the whole
house. At this point Valerian's brother, Tiburtius, appeared. He, too, was
offered salvation if he would renounce false gods. Cecilia converted him,
and he was baptized.
From that time the two young men dedicated themselves to good
works. Because of their ardor in burying the bodies of martyred Christians,
they were arrested. The prefect Almachius told them that if they would sacrifice
to the gods, they could go free. They refused, and Valerian rejoiced when
he was handed over to be scourged.
The prefect wanted to give them another chance, but his assessor
warned him that they would simply use the interim to give away their possessions
so that they couldn't be confiscated. They were beheaded in Pagus Triopius,
four miles from Rome. With them was an officer named Maximus, who had declared
himself a Christian after witnessing their fortitude.
Cecilia buried the three and
then decided to turn her home into a place of worship. Her religion was discovered
and she herself asked to refute her faith. She converted those who were sent
to convince her to sacrifice to the gods. When Pope Urban visited her at home,
he baptized over 400 people.
In court, Almachius debated with her for some time. She was
sentenced to be suffocated to death in the bathroom of her own house. The
furnace was fed seven times its normal amount of fuel, but the steam and
heat failed to stifle her. A soldier sent to behead her struck at her neck
three times, and she was left dying on the floor. She lingered for three
days, during which time the Christians thronged to her side, and she formally
made over her house to Urban and committed her household to his care.
She was buried next to the papal crypt in the catacombs of Saint
Callixtus. In 817, Pope Saint Paschal I discovered her grave, which had
been concealed from the Lombard invader Aistulf in 756, and translated her
body to beneath the main altar of what was later called the titulus Sanctae
Caeciliae, which translates as "the church founded by a lady named Cecilia."
In 1599, during the renovation of the church, Cardinal Sfondrati opened her
tomb and found her holy remains incorrupt. Even the green and gold of her
rich robe had not been injured by time. Thousands had the privilege of seeing
her in her coffin, and many have been blessed by miracles. The body disintegrated
quickly after meeting with the air.
Under the high altar in Saint Cecilia's Church is a beautiful
marble statue by Maderna portraying the "martyr" bathed in her own blood as
she fell after the stroke of the sword. A replica of this statue occupies
the the original resting place of the saint in the catacomb of Callixtus.
Other artists were allowed to paint pictures of her after her tomb was opened.
Until the middle ages, Pope Saint Gregory had been the patron
of music and musicians, but when the Roman Academy of Music was established
in 1584, it was put under the protection of Saint Cecilia; thus, her patronage
of music originated. Dryden wrote a "Song for Saint Cecilia Day" and Pope
an "Ode for Music on Saint Cecilia Day."
Valerian, Tiburtius, and Maximus are historical characters;
they were Roman martyrs, buried in the cemetery of Praetextatus, but nothing
else is known of them. Their story as outlined above may is a fabrication;
but it wasn't until recently that scholars were able to elucidate it, and
from the 6th century onwards Saint Cecilia, virgin and martyr, was held in
high honor by Christians in the West. Her legend was the basis for the Second
Nun's Tale in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Whatever the true story of Saint
Cecilia, the virtues assigned to her can be found in authoritative acta of
other saints and, thus, are worthy of our heeding and following the example
set down in the response and antiphon in the old Roman breviary for the Office
of Saint Cecilia:
"In the midst of the concert of instruments,
the virgin Cecilia sang to God alone in her heart: 'May my heart and my
body remain pure, O God. Let me not be confounded.'
"She imposed on herself fasts of three and four days. She prayed
and gave into God's keeping that for which she feared.
"Saint Cecilia, you triumphed over Almachius, the prefect, and
converted two brothers by showing them bishop Urban of the angelic face.
Like an industrious bee, you served the Lord.
"The glorious virgin forever carried the Gospel in her heart.
Day and night she prayed and communed with God. She stretched out her hands
to the Lord. Her heart was on fire with heavenly love.
"With her hairshirt, Cecilia subdued her body. She groaned and
cried out to God. She brought Tiburtius and Valerian to share the crown. She
was a wise virgin, to be numbered among the discreet.
"O Lord Jesus Christ, our good Shepherd, author of chaste vows,
receive the fruit of the seed that you sowed in Saint Cecilia. Your servant
Cecilia, like an industrious bee, spent herself in your service. The husband
that came to her like a fierce lion, she brought to you like a most gentle
lamb.
"There is a secret, Valerian, that I wish to tell you: 'I have
as my friend an angel of God who watches over my body with jealous care.
"Saint Cecilia said to Tiburtius: 'Today I greet you as my brother,
for the love of God has made you spurn idols.'
"We believe that Christ, the son of God, who chose unto himself
such a servant, is the true God.
"As the dawn was breaking, Cecilia cried: 'Awake, soldiers of
Christ. Cast away the works of darkness and clothe yourselves with the arms
of light.
"I asked the Lord to spare me yet for three days that I might
consecrate my house as a church." (Appleton, Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley,
Coulson, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Keyes, Melady, Sheppard, Walsh, White)
Saint Cecilia's emblem is, of
course, the organ in images dating after the 15th century. She is shown with
an organ, harp, or other musical instrument. Sometimes she is (1) crowned
with roses carrying a palm; (2) converting her husband, Saint Valerian; (2)
dragged by oxen (this is also told of Saint Lucy); (4) in a cauldron; (5)
pierced through the throat by a sword (a common attribute of many virgin martyrs);
(6) with Saint Valerian, crowned by angels; or (7) shown in ways similar
to Saint Dorothy (Husenbeth quotes several English rood-screens on which
her attributes seem to be similar) (Roeder). Representations without musical
instruments can be found in S. Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna (6th century),
Roman frescoes in the catacomb of Callixtus, and in Santa Maria Antiqua (Farmer).
After she was depicted by Raphael as an organist, her image has been a favorite
subject for stained glass in the choir loft (Appleton). Saint Cecilia is the
patroness of musicians (Roeder, White) and Albi cathedral.
|
1318 Martyr Michael the Prince
of Tver
The Holy Right-Believing Prince Michael of Tver was born in
the year 1272, already after the death of his father Great Prince Yaroslav
Yaroslavich, a brother of holy Prince Alexander Nevsky (November 23). On
the journey to the Horde, Prince Yaroslav fell ill, and was tonsured a monk
with the name Athanasius, then died. Michael's mother, Xenia, raised her
son in fervent love for God. Michael was educated and studied under the guidance
of the Archbishop (probably Clement) of Novgorod. He took the place of his
older brother Svyatoslav in the principality of Tver.
In 1285 he built a stone church in honor of the Savior's Transfiguration
in place of the wooden church of Sts Cosmas and Damian. Upon the death of
Great Prince Andrew Alexandrovich (+1305), Michael went to the Horde and received
the grant to the great princely throne by right of seniority. But Prince
Yurii Danilovich of Moscow would not submit to this, because he sought the
princely rule for himself. He was often at the Golden Horde of the new Khan
Uzbek, who had accepted Mohammedanism and was distinguished by his cruelty
and fanaticism. Prince Yurii knew how to please the Khan, and he married his
sister Konchaka and became Great Prince.
Even then he did not calm down, but instead began an internecine
war with Tver. In Yurii's army was a detachment of Tatars sent by Uzbek,
with Kavgadi at the head. But the men of Tver, with holy Prince Michael at
the head, on December 22, 1317 defeated Yurii. Many captives were taken,
including Kavgadi, whom St Michael released, and the Moscow prince's wife
Konchaka, who unexpectedly died at Tver.
Prince Yurii slandered St Michael before the Khan, accusing
him of poisoning Konchaka. The Khan became enraged, threatening to destroy
St Michael's princely holding, and demanded that he appear to give an account.
Not wishing to spill Russian blood in an unequal struggle with the Khan, St
Michael humbly went to the Horde, knowing that this meant death for him. He
bid his his family and the Tver people farewell, and received a blessing for
his exploit of martyrdom from his spiritual Father Igumen John.
"Father," said the saint, "I
was much concerned for the peace of Christians, but through my sins, I was
not able to stop internecine war. Now give me your blessing, so that if my
blood is spilled for them, they might have some respite, and that the Lord
will forgive my sins."
At the Horde an unjust trial
was held, which found the saint guilty of disobedience to the Khan, and sentenced
him to death. They removed him under guard and put him in a heavy wooden stock.
As was his habit, St Michael constantly read the Psalter in prison and blessed
the Lord for granting him to suffer for Him. He asked not to be abandoned
in his present torments. Since the hands of the holy sufferer were secured
in the stock, a boy sat before him and turned the pages of the Psalter. The
holy captive languished at the Horde for a long time, enduring beatings
and ridicule. They suggested that he flee, but the saint bravely answered,
"In all my life I never fled from an enemy. If I save myself and my people
remain in peril, what glory is that to me? No, let it be as the Lord wills."
Through the mercy of God, he was not deprived of Christian solace:
Orthodox priests attended to him, the igumens Alexander and Mark. Each week
he made his Confession and received the Holy Mysteries of Christ, thus receiving
a Christian preparation for his death. At the instigation of Prince Yurii
and Kavgadi, who took revenge on the holy prince for their defeat, assassins
rushed into the encampment where the captive was held. They fiercely beat
the martyr and kicked him with their feet, then one of them stabbed St Michael
with a knife.
The holy martyr's naked body was exposed for abuse, and later
they covered him with a cloth and placed him on a large board attached to
a cart. By night two guards were set to watch the body, but fear seized them
and they fled. In the morning, his body was not on the board.
On the previous night many, not only Orthodox but also Tatars,
had seen two radiant clouds shining over the place where the body of the martyr
lay. Although many wild animals roamed the steppes, not one of them had touched
him. In the morning everyone said, "Prince Michael is a saint, and was innocently
murdered." From the Horde the body of the prince was transferred to Moscow,
where they buried him in the church of the Savior-Wood in the Kremlin.
Just a year later, in 1319, the people of Tver learned the fate
of their prince. At the wish of his wife, the right-believing Princess Anna
of Kashin (October 2), and at the request of the people of Tver, the relics
of St Michael were transferred to his native city, and on September 6, 1320
were placed in the church he built in honor of the Transfiguration of the
Lord. Local veneration of the holy Prince began soon after the transfer of
his relics to Tver, and the general Church glorification of the saint took
place at a 1549 Council.
On November 24, 1632 the incorrupt relics of St Michael were
uncovered. The holy Prince has often helped the Russian land. In 1606 the
Polish and Lithuanians besieging Tver repeatedly saw a wondrous horseman
ride out from the city upon a white horse with sword in hand , turning them
to flight. Later, when they saw an icon of holy Prince Michael, they affirmed
with an oath to Archbishop Theoctistus of Tver that the horseman was indeed
St Michael himself.
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Mary Mother of GOD\
Saints of November 22 Décimo Kaléndas Decémbris
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s
1969 
Benedict XVI met
with Aram I Catholicos of Cilicia,
the highest authority of the Orthodox Church.
The Pope remembered
the martyrs of the Armenian Church and
the Armenian genocide, without explicitly
mentioning it, and denounced the persecution
of Christians in modern times.
Benedict XVI
May 26 1991 
New 
New 