Cecilia was a wealthy young Roman noble woman, a scion of the Cornelii family, betrothed to Valerian. Through her influence, Valerian and his brother Tiburtius were converted and baptized by Pope Urban I (pope from 222-230). Both brothers were martyred for the faith, and Cecilia herself was arrested for securing their remains and burying them in the Catacomb of Collistus. She herself was then also martyred. First, they tried to suffocate her in her own bath in her home in the Trastevere section of Rome. When that did not work, they tried to behead her there. After three blows, she was left to die. She was buried with her betrothed and his brother in the same catacomb, near the tombs of the popes.
She left her property to the Church. After the persecution ended in 313, there was a church built on her property - one of the earliest in Rome. In 821, while he was restoring the church, which was dedicated to her memory, Pope Pascal I had the remains of the three martyrs - plus the martyr Maximum - moved from the catacomb to the crypt of her church. At that time, Cecilia's remains were found to be completely incorrupt - the first known incorrupt saint in history.
The early Christians had clothed her body in rich robes of silk and gold. She had been buried just as she looked when she died - lying on her right side, facing downward, with her hands crossed in prayer and the sword slashes clearly visible on her neck under the fine veil placed over her body. Pascal I had her remains placed just as they were in a cypress coffin and interred in the crypt of her basilica.
777 years later, one of the most documented exhumations of a saint's body occurred in 1599, when Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati ordered the restoration of some parts of the basilica. On October 20th, two white marble sarcophagi were discovered near the high altar, which corresponded to the description left by Pascal I. After the marble covering was removed in the presence of witnesses of unquestionable integrity, the original cypress coffin was found in a good state of preservation. What was found inside was her body, just as fresh and whole as it had been when it was interred in 821. This was witnessed by the great Church historian, Cardinal Cesare Baronius and Antonio Bosio, the explorer of subterranean Rome. By order of Pope Clement VIII, her remains were allowed to be viewed by the public until her feast day, November 22nd, on which day they were re-interred. During that time the sculptor, Stefano Maderno, carved in marble an exact replica of Cecilia as she was seen at that time. The sculpture may be viewed under the high altar of her basilica in Trastevere.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Sfondrati wished to retain as a memorial of this touching event a small portion of the blood-stained linen, and he distributed tiny pieces of the cloth to many cardinals in Rome. Upon inspecting the last piece, which he had reserved for himself, he discovered a tiny fragment of Cecilia's bone, which had been dislodged by the sword and which an early Christian had unknowingly picked up with the cloth while staunching her wounds. Sfondrati preserved this relic as a dear and priceless treasure and ultimately displayed it in the basilica.
There are some places which claim and honor some of her relics. Her wellpreserved (mummified) right hand is in the church of San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna. And an ulna and - possibly - a skull are cherished in the cathedral of Saint Cecile in Albi, France. The skull is said to have been removed by Pascal I at the time of her interment in Trastevere and retained by the popes for centuries.
The relics at the Shrine of All Saints are a tiny bit of the linen soaked in her blood and a substantial portion of two bone fragments (from either a finger or a toe bone), which was released by the Vatican and signed and sealed by Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca, the Prefect of the Congregation of Rites (and relics) on September 5, 1835.
Throughout history, St. Cecilia has been regarded as the special patroness of music. This relic comes to our Shrine from the treasury of St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos.
She left her property to the Church. After the persecution ended in 313, there was a church built on her property - one of the earliest in Rome. In 821, while he was restoring the church, which was dedicated to her memory, Pope Pascal I had the remains of the three martyrs - plus the martyr Maximum - moved from the catacomb to the crypt of her church. At that time, Cecilia's remains were found to be completely incorrupt - the first known incorrupt saint in history.
The early Christians had clothed her body in rich robes of silk and gold. She had been buried just as she looked when she died - lying on her right side, facing downward, with her hands crossed in prayer and the sword slashes clearly visible on her neck under the fine veil placed over her body. Pascal I had her remains placed just as they were in a cypress coffin and interred in the crypt of her basilica.
777 years later, one of the most documented exhumations of a saint's body occurred in 1599, when Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati ordered the restoration of some parts of the basilica. On October 20th, two white marble sarcophagi were discovered near the high altar, which corresponded to the description left by Pascal I. After the marble covering was removed in the presence of witnesses of unquestionable integrity, the original cypress coffin was found in a good state of preservation. What was found inside was her body, just as fresh and whole as it had been when it was interred in 821. This was witnessed by the great Church historian, Cardinal Cesare Baronius and Antonio Bosio, the explorer of subterranean Rome. By order of Pope Clement VIII, her remains were allowed to be viewed by the public until her feast day, November 22nd, on which day they were re-interred. During that time the sculptor, Stefano Maderno, carved in marble an exact replica of Cecilia as she was seen at that time. The sculpture may be viewed under the high altar of her basilica in Trastevere.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Sfondrati wished to retain as a memorial of this touching event a small portion of the blood-stained linen, and he distributed tiny pieces of the cloth to many cardinals in Rome. Upon inspecting the last piece, which he had reserved for himself, he discovered a tiny fragment of Cecilia's bone, which had been dislodged by the sword and which an early Christian had unknowingly picked up with the cloth while staunching her wounds. Sfondrati preserved this relic as a dear and priceless treasure and ultimately displayed it in the basilica.
There are some places which claim and honor some of her relics. Her wellpreserved (mummified) right hand is in the church of San Giacomo Maggiore in Bologna. And an ulna and - possibly - a skull are cherished in the cathedral of Saint Cecile in Albi, France. The skull is said to have been removed by Pascal I at the time of her interment in Trastevere and retained by the popes for centuries.
The relics at the Shrine of All Saints are a tiny bit of the linen soaked in her blood and a substantial portion of two bone fragments (from either a finger or a toe bone), which was released by the Vatican and signed and sealed by Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca, the Prefect of the Congregation of Rites (and relics) on September 5, 1835.
Throughout history, St. Cecilia has been regarded as the special patroness of music. This relic comes to our Shrine from the treasury of St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos.
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