Cecilia lived about 100 to 150 years after Jesus. From the day St. Cecilia was born to the day she died, following God and serving him were her biggest priorities. St. Cecilia grew up with strong faith and helped those who were less fortunate than her. St. Cecilia’s parents wanted her to get married to a man named Valerian, but Cecilia was not content with this idea and prayed to the Lord to help her.
After the wedding of Valerian and Cecilia, she then told Valerian of her dedication and commitment to Christ. Valerian was deeply moved and decided to be baptised and to join Cecilia as a disciple of Jesus. Together Cecilia and Valerian became teachers of the faith and they may have brought up to 400 people to Christ.
Cecilia was a dedicated virgin. In those days to be a virgin meant to be a woman of selfpossession. This means that Cecilia was considered to be a strong, intelligent, and independent woman. This was very unusual for the time. Not only was Cecilia a dedicated Christian but she was a competent young lady. This was very dangerous! At this time being a Christian was also very dangerous and could get you killed. Valerian and his brother took it to them to bury the bodies of those who died for their faith, which was illegal. Soon the Emperor found out about this and had Valerian and his brother killed.
Even after St. Cecilia’s husband was killed she continued to preach about Christ and his ways. This made the Emperor very mad so he sent someone to suffocate her in a Roman steam house and made it so hot that it could kill someone, but this had no effect on Cecilia. So the Emperor sent a guard to behead her with his sword. The guard hit Cecilia three times with his sword but was unable to kill her. He ran away in fear.
After the guard ran away St. Cecilia was left to die on the street. When Cecilia’s friends approached her they found that she was not dead but alive. Cecilia was strong even in dying and continued to be a faithful witness to God’s love for three days, until she died and then was known as St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music.
St. Cecilia inspires me because back then Catholics and Anglicans didn’t really exist. The church was all one, and I feel that is nice because St. Cecilia wasn’t Catholic or Anglican, and I believe God doesn’t want us to be divided. Certain saints shouldn’t be just for certain people. Along with the fact that St. Cecilia was a very confident and independent woman, which back then you could get in trouble for having those traits. I feel the world isn’t any better now because you can get called some pretty nasty things for being strong and knowing what you believe.