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The feast day of St. Cecelia is celebrated on November 22. She is a martyr and the patron saint of musicians.

St. Cecelia by Guarino — St. Cecelia
by Guarino

St. Cecelia was born in Rome to an esteemed family late in the first century. She lived a life of prayer. She was given in marriage to a young pagan named Valerian. Cecelia shared her promise of celibacy and consecration to God with her husband. During the wedding, it is said that she sat apart, singing to God in her heart with thanksgiving.

Valerian converted to Christianity and he honored her desire to remain a virgin. He helped Cecilia in her charity toward the poor. Because of this, he was arrested and put to death.

Almachius, the Prefect of Rome, feared her nobility and charity to the poor. He had her imprisoned in the steam bath of her own home, trying to suffocate her. After a full day and night in stifling steam, Cecilia survived without harm. This resulted in Almachius sending an executioner to behead her. She was struck three times, but she was not beheaded. She fell to the floor. After several days of bleeding in her own bath, Christians rushed in to help her. On the third morning the venerable Bishop Urban visited Cecilia. As she lay dying, she requested that her palace be made into a church for the poor. She died praying, after receiving the Eucharist. Her body was buried in the Catacomb of Saint Callistus. The year of her death is unknown bu it is believed her martyrdom took place during the pontificate of Urban I (222-230).

In 817, her tomb was discovered by Pope Paschal I. Her body was one of the first of over a hundred saints whose bodies were discovered to be incorrupt. Her body remained as it was when she died. Her relics were put into the crypt in the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trasrevere. When her tomb was opened in 1599, her body was perfectly incorrupt. Her neck still had marks of being struck with a sword.

St. Cecelia is the patron saint of musicians, because of the zeal with which she sang the divine praises of thanksgiving. Her spirituality included a love of music. St. Cecilia is often venerated in poetry and music.

“To sing is to pray twice.”

St. Augustine; Feast day August 28

St. Cecelia in Art

November is the Month of the Holy Souls

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St. Gregory the Great Public Domain Image — St. Gregory the Great

The feast day of St. Gregory the Great is celebrated on September 3.

St. Gregory the Great was born in Rome, Italy around the year 550. He was born into a wealthy family. By the age of 23, he had become the prefect of Rome. The following year his father died. He decided to leave office and to become a monk. St. Gregory is the patron saint of musicians, students, singer and teachers.

St. Gregory turned his family home into a monastery which he dedicated to St. Andrew. He built six other monasteries on family land in Sicily and gave the remainder of his inheritance to the poor. As a monk he devoted time to prayer, study and meditation. He studied the writings of the Latin fathers.

After four years of prayer as a monk, Pope Pelagius II ordained Gregory a deacon and sent him to Constantinople. He returned to Rome in 586 to serve Pope Pelagius until his death four years later.

Although Gregory was only a deacon he was elected Pope by popular acclaim. His first act was to organize a three day penitential procession asking God to end the plague. The plague ended after the procession reached the church of St. Mary Major.

As pope, Gregory negotiated for peace when the Lombards threatened Rome.

Over sixty of Pope Gregory’s sermons have survived, as well as over 80 letters he wrote. He organized the liturgy and is given credit for the Gregorian Chant becoming popular.

Pope Gregory was well known for his compassion. During a famine Pope Gregory ordered the church to use its assets to feed the poor. He also ordered the clergy to go into the streets to help the poor. If they did not they were replaced.

While Pope Gregory considered the Bishop of Rome to be the first among the bishops he also considered bishops to be equal. Pope Gregory considered the Bishop of Rome to be likened to a final court of appeal. He referred to himself as “the servant of the servants of God.”

Pope Gregory suffered from arthritis in his later years. Pope Gregory was acclaimed a saint by popular decree. St. Gregory the Great died on March 12, 604.

For it was not poverty that led Lazarus to heaven, but humility; nor was it wealth that prevented the rich man from attaining eternal rest, but rather his egoism and his infidelity.

Quote of St. Gregory the Great

September is the Month of Our Lady of Sorrows

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Tag Archives: patron saint of musicians

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Cecelia, Feast Day November 22

Prayers, Quips and Quotes: St. Gregory the Great, Feast Day Sept. 3

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