Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

Cecilia is one of the best-loved martyrs of Rome, and her name is in the Roman Canon of the Mass, but what is told of her comes from her Acts, written in the 5th century. They say she was a Christian of a noble family who, married against her will to Valerian, brought him and his brother Tiburtius to the faith; both were put to death. Arrested herself, she was shut in the steam bath of her house to be suffocated, and when that failed, the executioner struck her neck three times but could not cut off her head, and she lived three days. Her house in Trastevere became the church of St Cecilia. Because the Acts say she sang to God in her heart while the instruments played at her wedding, she became the patron of musicians.