The tradition surrounding St. Cecilia is that she was a Christian of noble birth and promised in marriage to a non-Christian named Valerian. But, as she had already made a vow of virginity to God, she let her husband know that she did not want to consummate their marriage. As a result, her husband and his brother, Tiburtius, themselves became Christians. They were arrested and martyred about the year 230 under the Emperor Alexander Severus. For her part, St. Cecilia refused to offer pagan sacrifice and converted some of her persecutors to Christianity, but was promptly sentenced to death because of her unwillingness to deny Christ.
St. Cecilia’s example reminds us that we cannot stand still or just cling to what we have. The only way to gain is to let go, to give, and to share – even to the point of offering our very lives, if necessary. This is an attitude very foreign to many people’s way of thinking. How many people in our world today are convinced that life consists of amassing more and more, that security is in having? But the Gospel way is really the only way that makes sense. It is not in collecting, but in sharing that generates wealth – the wealth that truly matters.
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El culto de Santa Cecilia, bajo cuyo nombre fue construida en Roma una basílica en el siglo V, se difundió ampliamente a causa del relato de su martirio, en el que es ensalzada como ejemplo perfectísimo de la mujer cristiana, que abrazó la virginidad y sufrió el martirio por amor a Cristo.
Santa Cecilia es muy conocida en la actualidad por ser la patrona de los músicos. Sus “actas” cuentan que, al día de su matrimonio, en tanto que los músicos tocaban, Cecilia cantaba a Dios en su corazón.
Oremos. Te pedimos, Oh Dios, que nos concedas imitar la constancia en la fe de Santa Cecilia, cuyo martirio recordamos cada año llenos de veneración. Por nuestro Señor Jesucristo. Amén.”
