Saint Cecilia, Martyr, Celibate Spouse

November 22 is feast day of Saint Cecilia, Martyr, Celibate Spouse, patron saint of music and musicians. She is one of several virgin martyrs commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass in the Latin Church. She died a virgin, just like she had vowed to God, and was martyred for it.

Historical records suggest that she was born around the 2nd or 3rd century AD. According to legend, Cecilia was a noble lady of Rome who, with her husband Valerian, his brother Tiburtius, and a Roman soldier named Maximus, suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Alexander Severus.

During this period, anti-Christian activities were accusatory and not inquisitive. Christians were accused and prosecuted through a process termed cognitio extra ordinem. Trials and punishments varied greatly, and sentences ranged from acquittal to death. Many early Christians were jailed or exiled and some, refusing to renounce their faith, were tortured and killed in public stadiums for all to see.

The names of some of these saints, and specifically seven women are mentioned as part of the First Eucharistic Prayer of the
Mass known as the Roman Canon. The Canon of the Mass is the first of four general eucharistic prayers in the Roman Missal from which the priest may select. More commonly called Eucharistic Prayer 1, it is also known by its former title, “the Roman Canon,” and it served as the only eucharistic prayer in the Roman rite for more than a thousand years. Regarding mentioning the saints, the final seven names listed in the Roman Canon, each Eucharistic Prayer has its own characteristics. Before Pope John XXIII added St. Joseph, the Roman Canon traditionally listed 24 saints (12 apostles and 12 martyrs) in two separate groups.

The full list is:

First: Peter and Paul, Andrew, (James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude [apostles], Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, [5 Popes] Cyprian [bishop of Carthage], Lawrence [deacon], Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian [5 laymen]).

Second: John the Baptist, Stephen [deacon protomartyr], Matthias, Barnabas [apostles], (Ignatius [bishop of Antioch], Alexander [Pope], Marcellinus [priest, Peter [exorcist], Felicity, Perpetua [2 married laywomen of Carthage], Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia [4 virgins], Anastasia [laywoman of Sirmium]).


The final seven names listed in the Roman Canon (the “First Eucharistic Prayer” or “Eucharistic Prayer I”) are women saints of the Church. Sts. Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, and Anastasia are all saints of the Roman Empire in the early Church. Of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary is also mentioned by name in the Roman Canon;

Cecilia prayed often and had promised God she would remain a virgin till death. 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. 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

Valerian was baptized by Pope Urbanus, who was then Bishop of Rome. He found an angel standing beside Cecilia on his return, crowning her with a bouquet of roses and lilies.

Having witnessed Cecilia’s words to be accurate, he joined her commitment to a celibate marriage. When Valerian’s brother Tibertius heard of the angel and his baptism, he also got baptized.

Together, both brothers dedicated their lives to burying the martyrs killed every day by the Turcius Almachius, city prefect. It was a dangerous time to be a Christian in Rome.

Eventually, both brothers were arrested and presented before the prefect. Maximus, the city’s prefect executioner, was ordered to kill the brothers.

However, Maximus, stunned by their faith, got converted too. The brothers were executed after refusing to offer sacrifice to the gods of Rome with Maximus.

Following her husband and brother-in-law’s murder, she continued to preach the gospel of Christ. She was able to convert over 400 people, who were baptized mainly by Pope Urbanus.

Cecilia was soon arrested and sentenced to death by suffocation in her own bath. She was shut in, and the tub heated to a terrifying temperature, but Cecilia was miraculously saved unharmed.

Alarmed by her survival, Almachius, the city prefect, ordered her execution. Legend has it that Cecilia was struck three times with a sword to the neck and was not beheaded. The executioner fled, leaving her in a pool of her own blood. Cecilia lived for three days. She preached and prayed for the people who came to her. She donated her wealth to the poor and left a legacy that her house should be converted into a church.

Prayer to St. Cecilia

O glorious St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr, you won the martyr’s crown without renouncing your love for Jesus, the delight of your soul. We ask that you help us to be faithful in love for Jesus so that in communion with the saints, we may praise him twice our song for rejoicing for the blood that he shed, which gave us the grace to accomplish His will in our hearts. Amen