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| Musicians pay on St. Cecilia's Day at Holy Cross Church, Kurla this year. |
-Brian Mendonca
Just before Advent
begins we celebrate the feast of St. Cecilia on 22 November. In recent times
she has been projected more as a patron of sacred music and musicians than as a
virgin martyr of the early Christian church.
Sacred music is an
important element to nurture devotion and promote our faith. We remember the hymns
we sang for Mass in our childhood. Action songs help children to see Jesus as their
friend. However, many of the elements of the Mass, like the Nicene Creed, owe
their origin to the early Christian church.
Early
Christian Church
The early Christian
church is regarded as the period from the death of Jesus (30 AD) to the Council
of Nicaea (325 AD). The Council, convened by Emperor Constantine I, acknowledged
Jesus as a divine being of the trinity. Amid this ferment of debate, and the churn
of Roman politics, St. Cecilia was born.
St. Cecilia (200 AD - 230 AD) was a Roman noblewoman born in Sicily, Rome during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus. She believed she had to remain a virgin for God. She converted her husband Valerian and his brother Tiburtius to Christianity. She was sentenced to death by the Roman authorities.
She was locked up in her own
Roman bath which was heated. She was later beheaded partially. She died after 3
days, after donating her wealth to the poor, and asking the then Pope, Pope
Urban I (223 AD -230 AD), who witnessed her suffering, to build a church for
her. The Pope, buried her in the catacombs where the early Christians were practising
their faith underground. The Pope was martyred the same year.
Basilica of
St. Cecilia
After around 600
years Pope Paschal I exhumed the body of St. Cecilia in 821 AD. It was found to
be incorrupt. The remains now lie in the crypt under the main altar of the basilica of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, Italy, which was built over the place where she lived. Under the main altar there is the famous life-like figure in white marble of the saint sculpted by Stefano Maderno in 1600.
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| Marble statue of St. Cecilia under the main altar; Basilica of St. Cecilia, Trastevere, Italy. |
Devotion to St. Cecilia
St. Cecilia is one of the seven virgin martyrs mentioned in the canon of the church. The devotion to her continues specially in schools of music dedicated to teaching how to play various musical instruments.
Churches like Holy Cross Church, Kurla, Bombay have musical performances (pic above) to celebrate St. Cecilia's Day. Don Bosco, Fatorda, Goa organizes a special Mass where musicians can play from the pews accompanying the hymns that are sung.
Let us be inspired by the witness of St. Cecilia and pray to her to help us increase our devotion through sacred music.
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