In the stories, there is truth

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

	St. Cecilia When: Second to fourth century, but there's no proof she existed. Where: Rome Feast: Nov. 22 Patron: Of musicians and music

Christians have recounted the deeds of St. Cecilia for much of Christian history. These stories hail her virtue, her zeal in spreading the faith and her bravery, even in the face of a slow martyr's death. There's only one problem: there's no proof that any of these stories eer happened or even that she ever existed.

But what stories! It's said she was born in Rome to a Christian family sometime between the second and fourth centuries.

Despite being of noble birth, she wore coarse garments beneath the clothes of her ranks, fasted several days a week and was determined to remain unmarried. But her father ignored her wishes and arranged her marriage to Valerian.

On their wedding night, she told Valerian of her desire to remain a virgin for God and said that her angel protector would harm him if he touched her. Naturally, he asked for proof. Become a Christian and you will see the angel, she said. He did, and he did. Cecilia then converted Valerian's brother, Tiburtius. And the two brothers began doing good works, including burying Christian martyrs, which led to their own martyrdom.

Cecilia went to bury their bodies and the body of a Roman official who was killed after converting to Christianity because of the example of Valerian and Tiburtius. She was arrested and ordered to repudiate her faith. Instead, she converted her captors. Pope Urban then came to her house and baptized more than 400 persons and eventually dedicated a church at the site.

Next, she was brought to court, where she argued with Almachius, the prefect. He ordered that she be suffocated to death in the bathroom of her house. The furnace was given seven times its normal fuel, but she stayed there a day and a night without dying.

Then, a soldier was sent to behead her. He struck at her neck three times and left, but she lingered three more days as Christians flocked to her side. She was buried next to the papal crypt in the catacomb of St. Callistus.

While these stories about her have been told since the end of the fifth century and her feast has been celebrated since at least 545, there is no way to verify them in the writings of the time.

Still, people believe them, perhaps because of the lessons of faith they teach. But how did Cecilia ever become the patron saint of music and musicians? The stories say that at her wedding, she sang to the Lord in her heart while the musicians played wedding songs and other merry music. In the Middle Ages, she was pictured playing a musical instrument and singing.