Tag Archive | Pope Vigilius

S. Cecilia (Sancta Caecilia)

Nov19

S. Cecilia (Sancta Caecilia) VM 2nd-3rd century

(Martyred circa A.D. 280. In all the Calendars. Sarum Ep. and Gosp. : Ecclus. xli. 9-12; St. Matt. xiii. 44-52.)

As early as the 4th century, S. Cecilia (of Rome) was considered as one of the most famous of martyred Roman maidens. Born of distinguished lineage, she was eminent for her piety, and had vowed virginity. In those days, martyrdom was always a possibility. But to the one who practiced, with perfect fidelity, the maxims of Christianity ,‘To die for Christ is not to lose youth but to renew it.’ 

Martyred for proclaiming faith, and God, and Christianity, and Jesus Christ, this reputed patroness of music and musicians, was initially entombed in a cypress coffin in the cemetery of S. Callistus (Catacombe di San Callisto) on the Appian Way in Rome. Even though the cemetery bears his name, Pope S. Callistus I (217-222) himself is interred elsewhere, in the cemetery of Calepodius on the Via Aurelia.

In 821, Pope S. Paschal I (817-24) initiated the transfer of the relics of Cecilia from the Catacomb to the Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome. For five weeks all Rome streamed to the Basilica to venerate her body; and it was not until S. Cecilia’s Day that it was again sealed up in its coffin and marble sarcophagus.

The splendid Basilica di Santa Cecilia, rebuilt in 822, is believed to have been erected by Pope S. Urban I (222-30) on the spot where Cecilia lived and died. To this day, notwithstanding various rebuilding, it bears traces of its origin. It was in this old Basilica that on November 22, 545 while celebrating the Feast of S. Cecilia when Pope Vigilius (537-555) was arrested on the order of Empress Theodora of Constantinople.

Ever since 1599 (during the reign of Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605)) to this day, S. Cecilia’s alleged relics rest in the crypt beneath the high altar of this basilica in Trastevere. Feast: November 22.

‘I am a gentlewoman born,’ Cecilia had said; ‘among men Iam called Caecilia, but my noblest name is Christian.’

  1. Image source: commons.wikimedia.org: Top) Guercino – St. Cecilia, Google Art Project, Dulwich Picture Gallery; Middle) Carlo Saraceni – The Martyrdom of St Cecilia, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Bottom) Orazio Gentileschi and Giovanni Lanfranco, Saint Cecilia and an Angel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
  2. In memory of my beloved wife Renate Elisabeth who left for heavenly abode on August 24, 2023

(© Joseph Sébastine/Manningtree Archive)