A virgin named Cecilia, who came from an incredibly wealthy family in Rome always invoked the saints, angels, and virgins. She fasted and begged them to protect her virginity while wearing a sackcloth close to her skin.

Despite St. Cecelia's dedication to God, her family, following the custom of the time, engaged her to a pagan nobleman by the name of Valerian. The night of their wedding, Cecilia told Valerian that an angel was watching over her body to keep her virginity safe from being violated and that she had pledged to God to stay a virgin. She said that if Valerian traveled to the third milestone on the Via Appia and was baptized by Pope Urban I, he would be able to see this angel.

When Valerian went back to his wife after his baptism, he saw the angel by her side. The angel then adorned Cecilia with a chaplet of rose and lily. When Tibertius, Valerian's brother, learned about the angel and his brother's baptism, he too underwent baptism.

Since it was illegal to bury Christian bodies at the time, newly baptized Valerian and his brother committed their lives to burying the remains of every Christian killed by Turcius Almachius, the city's prefect. They were ultimately detained and taken before a magistrate for this, who commanded them to worship the Roman god Jupiter. When they refused to give up their Christian faith, they were executed as martyrs.

While her husband and brother-in-law buried the dead, St. Cecilia spent her time preaching and was able to convert over 400 individuals throughout her lifetime, the majority of whom were baptized by Pope Urban.

Cecilia was eventually apprehended by the police, who sternly ordered her to give up her beliefs. She responded by telling them that she would rather die than abandon her true faith. Legend has it that when they heard her answer, they took her to a big oven where they planned to suffocate her with the hot, poisonous gases it released. But Cecilia started to sing instead of choke.

Almachius dispatched an executioner to chop off her head after learning of this. The executioner struck her three times but was unable to decapitate her, so he left her bleeding for three days and she survived. Crowds gathered around her and collected her blood while she preached or prayed. She passed away on the third day, and Pope Urban and his deacons buried her.

Officials unearthed her body in 1599 and discovered her to be incorrupt, making her the first incorrupt saint. She donned a gold-embroidered garment and was covered in a silk veil. In an act of holy reverence, officials merely peered through the veil; they conducted no other inspections. Furthermore, they described a "mysterious and delightful flower-like odor which proceeded from the coffin."

The relics of St. Cecilia were moved to Trastevere and positioned beneath the high altar of her titular church. The church of St. Cecilia was reconstructed in 1599 by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, the nephew of Pope Gregory XIV.

Despite her dedication to God, St. Cecelia is renowned for "singing in her heart to the Lord" on her wedding day. Because of this belief, as well as the story of her supposedly singing in the oven during her martyrdom, she is revered as the patron saint of poets and musicians. She is depicted in liturgical art holding an organ or organ pipes. Her feast day is celebrated on November 22.

Other Saints of the Day
Saint Devniolin
Saint Lucretia
Saint Maurus
Saint Philemon
Saint Tigridia