Rev. Gus Puleo: Celebrating the selfless life of St. Cecilia

Saint Cecilia was a Roman virgin and martyr, who is now venerated as the patron saint of music and musicians.  Cecilia was born into an affluent and noble family in the city of Rome during a time when Romans persecuted Christians.

This future saint was not only a Catholic with a deep faith, but she also wore a sackcloth, fasted, performed penitential acts and pledged her life to Christ alone as his bride.  However, as a young woman Cecilia’s father gave her in marriage to a nobleman named Valerian against her wishes.  Valerian was a pagan.  During their wedding, Cecilia sang her own hymn in her heart, “a  song for the Lord.”  This hymn was praising God, that is a true prayer to her true spouse in heaven, which is why she became the patron saint of musicians.

After their wedding, Cecilia revealed to her new husband that she was a Catholic and that she had made a vow of virginity to her heavenly spouse.  She also told her husband that an angel was sent by God to her to guard her virginity and that the angel would deal fiercely with anyone who tried to violate it.  Valerian asked to see the angel, and Cecilia told him that he had to go see Pope Urban I first.  Valerian found the Pope, was instructed in the faith and became baptized.  When he returned to Cecilia, Valerian not only saw the angel who guarded her, but also her angel placed on her head a dual crown of white lilies, symbolizing her purity, and red roses, symbolizing her martyrdom.

As a new Catholic, Valerian shared his faith with his brother, Tiburtius, who also converted and was baptized.  Valerian and Tiburtius were very active in the Christian community of that time devoting themselves to doing good works and burying those who were martyred for their faith.  Eventually, Prefect Almachius, a Roman official, ordered them to offer sacrifice to the Roman god Jupiter.  When they refused, a Roman officer named Maximus was commanded to behead them.  When this soldier attempted to carry out this order, he had a heavenly vision that led to his instant conversion.  However, once he professed his faith, he, too, was martyred with Valerian and Tiburtius by beheading and Cecilia buried them all.

Shortly after, Cecilia was arrested.  The Prefect Almachius tried to convince her save herself by sacrificing to the Roman gods.  However, she refused.  Almachius knew that everyone in the community loved and respected Cecilia and thus was afraid of a backlash if he killed her publicly.  So, he ordered the guards to take her to her home, lock her in her bathroom and boil water so that the steam would suffocate her and her death could be blamed on an accident of her own doing.  The plot backfired and Cecilia survived.  Then, Almachius was angry and ordered her to be beheaded at home.

A soldier was dispatched and struck her neck three times, but she remained alive. Cecilia remained alive for three days during which time the Christian community went to her home to see her.  During these days, Cecilia explained to them that “I have been given three days to guide these souls to you, my God, and wish my home to become a church.”   She distributed all her property to the poor and donated her house to the Pope so that he could transform it into a church.  Toward the end, she suffered so much that she could no longer speak.  So, to honor God, she held up her thumb and two fingers to represent the Most Holy Trinity and her index finger on the other hand to represent the one divine nature they shared.

When she died, she was buried in the Catacomb of Saint Callistus and Pope Urban transformed her house into a church.  Later, her body was exhumed and she was found miraculously preserved. At that moment when they opened the coffin, they reported a “mysterious and delightful flower-like odor which proceeded from it.”

Pope Paschal I had her body moved to a basilica in Trasteverehich, which now bears her name. Under the main altar there is a marble sarcophagus by the artist Stefano Maderno.  It is believed that Maderno had a vision of Cecilia, clothed in a silk and with a gold dress.  He, then, created the sarcophagus with Saint Cecilia dressed as he had seen her and with her face turned towards the ground in deep prayer.

Saint Cecilia’s name was inserted into the Roman Canon, in Eucharistic Prayer I during the Mass along with other saints and Roman martyrs.  This wonderful saint was a devoted follower of Christ and died a martyr.  Though we do not have all the historical facts, we have an inspiring legend of her life that was written down in a book called The Passion of Saint Cecilia written in the fifth century.  Her feast day is November 22.  Saint Cecilia, pray for us.

The Rev. Gus Puleo serves as director of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the Spanish Department at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where he also teaches English and Spanish. He is a graduate of Norristown High School and attended Georgetown University, where he received B.A. and B.S. in Spanish and linguistics. He has master’s degrees in Spanish, linguistics and divinity from Middlebury College, Georgetown University and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the former pastor of St. Patrick Church in Norristown.