1. Must be done before stations of the cross legitimately erected.
2. 14 stations are required. Although it is customary for the icons to represent pictures or images, 14 simple crosses will suffice.
3. The common practice consists of fourteen pious readings to which some vocal prayers are added.. However, nothing more is required than a pious meditation on the Passion and Death of the Lord, which need not be a particular consideration of the individual mysteries of the stations.
4. A movement from one station to the next is required. But if the stations are made publicly and it is not possible for everyone taking part to go from station to station, it suffices if at least the one conducting the exercise goes from station to station, the others remaining in their places.
5. Those who are "impeded" can gain the same indulgence if they spend at least one half and hour in pious reading and meditation on the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
22 November 2024
Stations of the Cross According to St Francis of Assisi
Why The Holy Roman Empire Was The WEIRDEST Country Ever
The Holy Roman Empire is not only an ironic concept, it's also weirdly complicated. Learn how many titles the rulers needed to see how cool they were trying to be or why the Emperor's rule was only semi-optional.
Nemesius, Aquinas, and Man as the Border of Creation
Aquinas maintains that human nature occupies a liminal space. He affirms that man is a horizon of creation that stands on the border between reality's immaterial and material domains. While this image is found in the Liber de Causis, it is central theme in Nemesius's On the Nature of Man. This paper will observe the latter work as a possible source for Aquinas's notion of man as a "border". In the first part, I will briefly introduce Nemesius and his sui generis synthesis of Christian and Platonic anthrolopogy. Second, I will juxtapose his language with that of certain passages of Aquinas, seeking to identify any connection between the too. In the final part, I will note how Aquinas modifies the "border" language. In particular, I will show that Aquinas leaves behind some of the original Platonic connotations of the image and grounds it in an Aristotelian scale of cognition. For Aquinas, the border between domains is not "Soul" in general nor even the human species in general. Rather, every individual human being, as his cognitive activity reveals, straddles the material and immaterial domains.
St Cecilia’s Feast Also Honours Two Brothers Who Were Martyred
Today is St Cecilia's Feast Day, but her husband, Valerian, and his brother, Tiburtius, are also honoured today, but they are only mentioned in the Martyrology, not the Office or the Mass.
From Aleteia
By Philip Kosloski
St. Cecilia's husband and his brother were also martyred shortly after their conversion to the Christian faith.While St. Cecilia is the primary saint honored on November 22, she is not the only martyr included on this feast day.
The Roman Martyrology mentions the martyrdom of her husband and his brother.
At Rome, St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr, who brought to the faith of Christ to her spouse, Valerian, and his brother Tiburtius, and encouraged them to martyrdom.
Many Eastern Christians mention their names as well, celebrating the "Virgin Martyr Cecilia and the Holy Martyrs Valerian, Tiburtius and Maximus at Rome" on November 22.
According to the various legends surrounding St. Cecilia, she was pressured by her parents into marrying Valerian, who was initially a pagan.
Conversion to Christianity
However, on their wedding night he sought to become a Christian, as the Catholic Encyclopedia explains:
When, after the celebration of the marriage, the couple had retired to the wedding-chamber, Cecilia told Valerianus that she was betrothed to an angel who jealously guarded her body; therefore Valerianus must take care not to violate her virginity. Valerianus wished to see the angel, whereupon Cecilia sent him to the third milestone on the Via Appia where he should meet Bishop (Pope) Urbanus. Valerianus obeyed, was baptized by the pope, and returned a Christian to Cecilia. An angel then appeared to the two and crowned them with roses and lilies.
Valerian's brother, Tiburtius, was impressed by his brother's actions and similarly was baptized. Then, "as zealous children of the Faith both brothers distributed rich alms and buried the bodies of the confessors who had died for Christ."
This caught the attention of the Roman prefect, who then sentenced them to death for their pratice of the faith.
Interestingly, Maximus, the Roman officer tasked with this duty also converted to the faith
When celebrating St. Cecilia's feast, it is appropriate to recall the heroic example of these brothers, who were inspired by St. Cecilia and similarly gave their lives to Christ.
The Life of St Cecilia
ST. CECILIA'S WEDDING NIGHT
And when this blessed virgin should be espoused to a young man named Valerian, and the day of the wedding was come, she was clad in royal clothes of gold, but under she ware the hair. And she hearing the organs making melody, she sang in her heart, only to God, saying: O Lord, I beseech thee that mine heart and body may be undefouled so that I be not confounded. And every second and third day she fasted, commending herself unto our Lord whom she dreaded.The night came that she should go to bed with her husband as the custom is, and when they were both in their chamber alone, she said to him in this manner: O, my best beloved and sweet husband, I have a counsel to tell thee, if so be that thou wilt keep it secret and swear that ye shall bewray it to no man.
To whom Valerian said that he would gladly promise and swear never to bewray it, and then she said to him: I have an angel that loveth me, which ever keepeth my body whether I sleep or wake, and if he may find that ye touch my body by villainy, or foul and polluted love, certainly he shall anon slay you, and so should ye lose the flower of your youth. And if so be that thou love me in holy love and cleanness, he shall love thee as he loveth me and shall show to thee his grace.
Then Valerian, corrected by the will of God, having dread, said to her: If thou wilt that I believe that thou sayest to me, show to me that angel that thou speakest of, and if I find veritable that he be the angel of God, I shall do that thou sayest, and if so be that thou love another man than me, I shall slay both him and thee with my sword.
Cecilia answered to him: If thou wilt believe and baptize thee, thou shalt well now see him. Go then forth to Via Appia, which is three miles out of this town, and there thou shalt find Pope Urban with poor folks, and tell him these words that I have said, and when he hath purged you from sin by baptism, then when ye come again ye shall see the angel.
THE CONVERSION OF CECILIA'S HUSBAND VALERIAN
And forth went Valerian and found this holy man Urban louting among the burials; to whom he reported the words that Cecilia had said, and St. Urban for joy gan hold up his hands and let the tears fall out of his eyes, and said: O Almighty God Jesu Christ, sower of chaste counsel and keeper of us all, receive the fruit of the seed that thou hast sown in Cecilia, for, like a busy bee she serveth thee; for the spouse whom she hath taken which was like a wood lion, she hath sent hither like as a meek lamb.And with that word appeared suddenly an old man clad in white clothes, holding a book written with letters of gold, whom Valerian seeing, for fear fell down to the ground as he had been dead. Whom the old man raised and took up, and read in this wise. One God, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, above all, and in us all, everywhere.
And when this old man had read this, he said: Believest thou this or doubtest thou it? Say yea or nay.
Then Valerian cried saying: There is nothing truer under heaven.
Then vanished this old man away. Then Valerian received baptism of St. Urban and returned home to St. Cecilia, whom he found within her chamber speaking with an angel. And this angel had two crowns of roses and lilies which he held in his hands, of which he gave one to Cecilia, and that other to Valerian, saying: Keep ye these crowns with an undefouled and clean body, for I have brought them to you from Paradise, and they shall never fade, ne wither, ne lose their savour, ne they may not be seen but of them to whom chastity pleaseth. And thou Valerian because thou hast used profitable counsel, demand what thou wilt.
THE CONVERSION OF VALERIAN'S BROTHER TYBURTIUS
To whom Valerian said: There is nothing in this world to me liefer than my brother, whom I would fain that he might know this very truth with me.To whom the angel said: Thy petition pleaseth our Lord, and ye both shall come to him by the palm of martyrdom.
And anon Tyburtius, his brother, came and entered into this chamber, and anon he felt the sweet odour of the roses and lilies, and marvelled from whence it came. Then Valerian said: We have crowns which thine eyes may not see, and like as by my prayers thou hast felt the odour of them, so if thou wilt believe thou shalt see the crowns of roses and lilies that we have.
Then Cecilia and Valerian began to preach to Tyburtius of the joy of heaven and of the foul creance of paynims, the abuse of idols, and of the pains of hell which the damned suffer, and also they preached to him of the incarnation of our Lord, and of his passion, and did so much that Tyburtius was converted and baptized of St. Urban. And from then forthon he had so much grace of God that every day he saw angels, and all that ever he required of our Lord he obtained.
VALERIAN AND TYBERTIUS ARE MARTYRED
After, Almachius, provost of Rome, which put to death many Christian men, heard say that Tyburtius and Valerian buried Christian men that were martyred, and gave all their goods to poor people. He called them tofore him, and after long disputation he commanded that they should go to the statue or image of Jupiter for to do sacrifice, or else they should be beheaded.And as they were led, they so preached the faith of our Lord to one called Maximus that they converted him to the Christian faith, and they promised to him that if he had very repentance, and firm creance that he should see the glory of heaven which their souls should receive at the hour of their passions, and that he himself should have the same if he would believe. Then Maximus gat leave of the tormentors for to have them home to his house, and the said Maximus, with all his household and all the tormentors, were turned to the faith.
Then came St. Cecilia thither with priests, and baptized them, and afterwards, when the morning came, St. Cecilia said to them: Now, ye knights of Christ, cast away from you the works of darkness and clothe you with the arms of light.
And then they were led four miles out of the town, and brought tofore the image of Jupiter, but in no wise they would do sacrifice ne incense to the idol, but humbly with great devotion kneeled down and there were beheaded, and St. Cecilia took their bodies and buried them. Then Maximus, that saw this thing, said that he saw in the hour of their passion angels clear shining and their souls ascend into heaven, which the angels bare up, wherefore many were converted to the Christian faith.
And when Almachius heard that Maximus was christened, he did do beat him with plummets of lead so long till he gave up his spirit and died, whose body St. Cecilia buried by Valerian and Tyburtius.
THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. CECILIA
And after, Almachius commanded that Cecilia should be brought into his presence for to do sacrifice to Jupiter, and she so preached to them that came for her that she converted them to the faith, which wept sore that so fair a maid and so noble should be put to death. Then she said to them: O ye good young men, it is nothing to lose the youth, but to change it, that is, to give clay, and take therefor gold, to give a foul habitation, and to take a precious, to give a little corner, and to take a right great place. God rewardeth for one simple, a hundredfold. Believe ye this that I have said?And they said: We believe Christ to be very God which hath such a servant.
Then St. Urban was called, and four hundred and more were baptized.
Then Almachius, calling tofore him St. Cecilia, said to her: Of what condition art thou?
And she said that she was of a noble kindred. To whom Almachius said: I demand thee of what religion art thou?
Then Cecilia said: Then begannest thou thy demand foolishly, that wouldst have two answers in one demand.
To whom Almachius said: From whence cometh thy rude answer?
And she said: Of good conscience and faith not feigned.
To whom Almachius said: Knowest thou not of what power I am?
And she said: Thy power is little to dread, for it is like a bladder full of wind, which with the pricking of a needle is anon gone away and come to nought.
To whom Almachius said: In wrong begannest thou, and in wrong thou perseverest; knowest thou not how our princes have given me power to give life and to slay?
And she said: Now shall I prove thee a liar against the very truth. Thou mayst well take the life from them that live, but to them that be dead, thou mayst give no life, therefore thou art a minister not of life, but of death.
To whom Almachius said: Now lay apart thy madness and do sacrifice to the gods.
To whom Cecilia said: I wot never where thou hast lost thy sight, for them that thou sayest be gods we see them stones, put thine hand, and by touching thou shalt learn that which thou mayst not see with thine eyes.
Then Almachius was wroth, and commanded her to be led into her house, and there to be burnt in a burning bain, which her seemed a place cold and well attempered. Then Almachius, hearing that, commanded that she should be beheaded in the same bath. Then the tormentor smote at her three strokes, and could not smite off her head, and the fourth stroke he might not by the law smite, and so left her there lying half alive and half dead, and she lived three days after in that manner, and gave all that she had to poor people, and continually preached the faith all that while; and all them that she converted she sent to Urban for to be baptized, and said: I have asked respite three days, that I might commend to you these souls, and that ye should hallow of mine house a church.
And then at the end of three days she slept in our Lord, and St. Urban with his deacons buried her body among the bishops, and hallowed her house into a church, in which unto this day is said the service unto our Lord. She suffered her passion about the year of our Lord two hundred and twenty three, in the time of Alexander the emperor, and it is read in another place that she suffered in the time of Marcus Aurelius, which reigned about the year of our Lord one hundred and seventy. Then let us devoutly pray unto our Lord that by the merits of this holy virgin and martyr, St. Cecilia, we may come to his everlasting bliss in heaven. Amen.
The Woman, the Alligator, and the Swamp
A very thought-provoking essay especially for this month of November, dedicated to the Poor Souls. I've not thought of having a Mass celebrated for someone I didn't know personally.
From One Peter Five
By Augustine Himmel
“As we love Christ in our neighbor, everywhere and always, He will draw us unto Himself… Christ always comes to us in others.” – Servant of God, Catherine Dougherty
In his essay, “Why I Had a Mass Offered for Janis Joplin,” Rick Becker suggested we do the same for other deceased personalities who have entertained or inspired us. This would, he noted, be a way of thanking them, and likely win for us their celestial prayers. I was glad Becker promoted such Masses, because I too have had them said—for the souls of authors Andre Dubus, Ernest Hemingway, and Kurt Vonnegut, as well as a songwriter who’s meant a lot to me, and who happened to know Joplin, the uniquely talented but tormented, Townes Van Zandt. Masses for the dead are a profound spiritual work of mercy, an expression of our Christian love that we can lavish upon anyone.
Becker said it didn’t matter if Joplin was Catholic, or even if she was religious. “Grace is grace is grace,” he wrote, “and Janis Joplin could benefit from a healthy dose like anybody else on the path to heaven.” Amen! Thanks to Becker’s benevolence and God’s foreknowledge of it, we can hope that Joplin, ridiculed in high school for her homeliness and addicted to both alcohol and heroin at the time of her 1970 death, was receptive to grace in her final seconds and, even if she must first endure purgatory, will ultimately enjoy the beatific vision.
The comments on Becker’s essay were overwhelmingly supportive, but one critic claimed having Masses offered for people like Joplin was a flirtation with Universalism—the heresy that all will be saved. I’d counter that this warning, though well-intentioned, is itself a flirtation with judgmentalism. Only God knows a person’s heart, and who will and will not be saved. Moreover, Jesus told St. Faustina that at the moment of death He calls a soul up to three times, trying to get it to turn to Him, and on another occasion He said, “The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy” (Diary, 723).
We should also remember that Becker was advocating for private Masses, offered by “some random priest somewhere” or “a missionary priest in the hinterlands,” and thus, there’d be no chance of causing in a local parish what is commonly called scandal. Nor would ill-informed Catholics be led to believe that lifelong hedonists, or individuals who had committed great evils, can be guaranteed salvation via the power of a Mass, which mystically makes present on the altar, Christ’s once-and-for-all sacrifice.
God is the judge, and our job is simply to love people, whether they be Catholics like Dubus and Hemingway—the author of The Old Man and the Sea was indeed Catholic—Protestants like Joplin and Van Zandt, or someone like Vonnegut, the self-proclaimed “Christ-loving atheist” who often wrote about the Sermon on the Mount. Yes, these artists are prime examples of our wounded humanity: they suffered from depression and substance abuse; the men were less-than-ideal fathers, with the two Catholics marrying a total of seven women; Hemingway committed suicide, Vonnegut attempted it, and Van Zandt, whatever his motives, once played Russian roulette with a .357 Magnum. Nonetheless, their art enriched our lives, and now that they’ve gone “the way of all flesh,” as another wounded person, King David, put it, the best way to love them is to have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for them.
But what about people who haven’t enriched our lives, the ones we only see briefly in a news segment or read about online? What about someone like Sabrina Peckham, the 41-year-old homeless woman who in 2023 was killed by an alligator in Largo, Florida? Articles stated she’d lived in a wooded area near the attack, and had previously been convicted of trespassing, theft, and drug possession. Is she not also worthy of our love? Is she not precisely who Jesus was talking about in Matthew 25:31-46, one of “the least of these” He identified with so closely?
It’s hard to be more “least” than a homeless woman who gets eaten by an alligator, but there are others who also have a special place in Our Lord’s Sacred Heart. Among them are veterans suffering from PTSD who freeze to death on the streets, commuters who get pushed in front of subway trains, convenience store clerks riddled with bullets for a few hundred dollars in cash drawers, and the multitudes who die each year in hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Were it printed out, the List of the Least would stretch to the stars. Rather than turn away from such sorrow—it is difficult to think about—we can choose anyone from that list, named or unnamed, and bless that person with a Mass.
Proving the paradox of the human condition, Peckham’s daughter, Breauna Dorris, said although her mother “chose the wrong path in life for sure,” she “was selfless” and “would give you the last piece of food off her plate,” and recalled how the homeless woman stopped by each day to spend time with her grandchildren. God created Sabrina Peckham out of love, and yet, long before her tragic death, something went wrong. She loved her family and they loved her, but she lived in the woods. Perhaps her drug use meant she couldn’t stay under the same roof as her grandhren. Maybe she had mental problems that made her more comfortable residing outdoors. We’ll never know. And it doesn’t matter.
During a 1999 interview with Ed Bradly, the guitarist Eric Clapton, who, unlike Joplin, overcame his alcohol and heroin addiction, revealed his substance abuse started as a child: he would consume sugar for its psychotropic effect. “When I was five, six years old,” said Clapton, “I was cramming sugar down my throat as fast as I could… I became addicted to sugar because it changed the way I felt.” The truth is, since the Fall—even after baptism—humanity is grievously compromised. Without God’s grace there isn’t an addiction or aberration or sin, no matter how heinous, of which we all aren’t capable. Once we admit that, we’re free to see Christ in our wounded brothers and sisters and to love them.
St. Teresa of Ávila compared life on earth to a night at a bad inn. However, it might be more accurate to say that since being expelled from the Garden of Eden, man has been trudging through a swamp. And if in this swamp we aren’t killed prematurely by an actual alligator, or by some other tragedy or addiction or disease, we will, with time, succumb to the multiple insect bites of old age. In preparation for that moment let’s practice the greatest spiritual work of mercy: let’s have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered not only for family and friends and artists who have enhanced our lives, but also for people who haven’t done anything for us, people we don’t even know, “the least of these” so quickly forgotten by most of the world, because as Teresa’s friend St. John of the Cross said when echoing Our Lord’s aforementioned gospel counsel, “In the evening of life, we shall be judged on love.”
Pictured: Sabrina Peckham (photo posted online by her family)
St Cecilia, Virgin & Martyr
St Cæcilia, Virgin & Martyr
Cæcilia united in her veins the blood of kings with that of Rome’s greatest heroes. At the time of the first preaching of the Gospel, more than one ancient patrician family had seen its direct line become extinct. But the adoptions and alliances, which under the Republic had knit more closely the great families by linking them all to the most illustrious among them, formed as it were a common fund of glory, which, even in the days of decline, was passed on intact to the survivors of the aristocracy.
It has now been demonstrated by the undeniable witness of monuments that Christianity from the very beginning took possession of that glory by adopting its heirs; and that by a wonderful disposition of divine Providence, the founders of the Rome of the Pontiffs were these last representatives of the Republic, thus preserved in order to give to the two phases of Roman history that powerful unity which is the distinguishing note of divine works. Heretofore bound together by the same patriotism, the Cornelii and the Œmilii, alike heirs of the Fabii, the Cæcilii, Valerii, Sergii, Furii, Claudii, Pomponii, Plautii, and Acilii, eldest sons of the Gentile Church, strengthened the connections formed during the Republic, and firmly established, even in the first and second centuries of Christianity, the new Roman society. In the same centuries, and under the influence of the religion preached by Saints Peter and Paul, there came to be grated on the ever vigorous trunk of the old aristocracy the best members of the new imperial and consular families, worthy by their truly Roman virtues, practices amid the general depravity, to reinforce the thinned ranks of Rome’s founders, and to fill up, without too sudden a transition, the voids made by time in the true patrician houses. Thus was Rome working out her destiny; thus was the building up of the eternal City being accomplished by the very men who had formerly, by their blood or by their genius, established her strong and mighty on the seven hills.
Cæcilia, the lawful representative of this unparalleled aristocracy, the fairest flower of the old stem, was also the last. The second century was passing away; the third, which was to see the empire fall from the hands of Septimus Severus first to the Orientals and then to the barbarians from the banks of the Danube, offered small chance of preservation for the remnants of the ancient nobility. The true Roman society was henceforth at an end; for, save a few individual exceptions, there remained nothing more of Roman but the name: the vain adornment of freedmen and upstarts who, under princes worthy of them, indulged their passions at the expense of those around them.
Cæcilia therefore appeared at the right moment, personifying with the utmost dignity the society that was about to disappear because its work was accomplished. In her strength and her beauty, adorned with the royal purple of martyrdom, she represents ancient Rome rising proud and glorious to the skies, before the upstart Cæsars who, by immolating her in their jealousy, unconsciously executed the divine plan. The blood of kings and heroes flowing from her triple wound is the libation of the old nobility to Christ the conqueror, to the Blessed Trinity the Ruler of nations; it is the final consecration, which reveals in its full extent the sublime vocation of the valiant races called to found the eternal Rome.
But we must not think that today’s feast is meant to excite in us a mere theoretical and fruitless admiration. The Church recognizes and honors in Saint Cæcilia three characteristics which, united together, distinguish her among all the Blessed in heaven, and are a source of grace and an example to men. These three characteristics are virginity, apostolic zeal, and the superhuman courage which enabled her to bear torture and death. Such is the threefold teaching conveyed by this one Christian life.
In an age so blindly abandoned as ours to the worship of the senses, is it not time to protest, by the strong lessons of our faith, against a fascination which even the children of the promise can hardly resist? Never, since the fall of the Roman empire, have morals, and with them the family and society, been so seriously threatened. For long years, literature, the arts, the comforts of life, have had but one aim: to propose physical enjoyment as the only end of man’s destiny. Society already counts an immense number of members who live entirely a life of the senses. Alas for the day when it will expect to save itself by relying on their energy! The Roman empire thus attempted several times to shake off the yoke of invasion: it fell never to rise again.
Yes, the family itself, the family especially, is menaced. It is time to think of defending itself against the legal recognition, or rather encouragement, of divorce. It can do so by one means alone: by reforming and regenerating itself according to the law of God, and becoming once more serious and Christian. Let marriage, with its chaste consequences, be held in honor; let it cease to be an amusement or a speculation; let fatherhood and motherhood be no longer a calculation, but an austere duty: and soon, through the family, the city and the nation will resume their dignity and their vigor.
But marriage cannot be restored to this high level unless men appreciate the superior element, without which human nature is an ignoble ruin: this heavenly element is continence. True, all are not called to embrace it in the absolute sense; but all must do honor to it, under pain of being delivered up, as the Apostle expresses it, to a reprobate sense. (Romans 1:28) It is continence that reveals to man the secret of his dignity, that braces his soul to every kind of devotedness, that purifies his heart and elevates his whole being. It is the culminating point of moral beauty in the individual, and at the same time the great lever of human society. It is because the love of it became extinct that the ancient world fell to decay; but when the Son of the Virgin came on earth, he renewed and sanctioned this saving principle, and a new phase began in the destinies of the human race.
The children of the Church, if they deserve the name, relish this doctrine, and are not astonished at it. The words of our Savior and of his Apostles have revealed all to them; and at every page, the annals of the faith they profess set forth in action this fruitful virtue, of which all degrees of the Christian life, each in its measure, must partake. St. Cæcilia is one example among others offered to their admiration. But the lesson she gives is a remarkable one, and has been celebrated in every age of Christianity. On how many occasions has Cæcilia inspired virtue or sustained courage; how many weaknesses has the thought of her prevented or repaired! Such power for good has God placed in his Saints, that they influence not only by the direct imitation of their heroic virtues, but also by the inductions which each of the faithful is able to draw from them for his own particular situation.
The second characteristic offered for our consideration in the life of St. Cæcilia is that ardent zeal, of which she is one of the most admirable models; and we doubt not that here too is a lesson calculated to produce useful impressions. Insensibility to evil for which we are not personally responsible, or from which we are not likely to suffer, is one of the features of the period. We acknowledge that all is going to ruin, and we look on at the universal destruction without ever thinking of holding out a helping hand to save a brother from the wreck. Where should we now be, if the first Christians had had hearts as cold as ours? If they had not been filled with that immense pity, that inexhaustible love, which forbade them to despair of a world, in the midst of which God had placed them to be the salt of the earth? Each one felt himself accountable beyond measure for the gift he had received. Freeman or slave, known or unknown, every man was the object of a boundless devotedness for these hearts filled with the charity of Christ. One has but to read the Acts of the Apostles, and their Epistles, to learn on what an immense scale the apostolate was carried on in those early days; and the ardor of that zeal remained long uncooled. Hence the pagans used to say: “See how they love one another!” And how could they help loving one another? For in the order of faith they were fathers and children.
What maternal tenderness Cæcilia felt for the souls of her brethren, from the mere fact that she was a Christian! After her we might name a thousand others, in proof of the fact that the conquest of the world by Christianity and its deliverance from the yoke of pagan depravity are due to such acts of devotedness performed in a thousand places at once, and at length producing universal renovation. Let us imitate in something at least, these examples to which we owe so much. Let us waste less of our time and eloquence in bewailing evils which are only too real. Let each one of us set to work, and gain one of his brethren: and soon the number of the faithful will surpass that of unbelievers. Without doubt, this zeal is not extinct; it still works in some, and its fruits rejoice and console the Church; but why does it slumber so profoundly in so many hearts which God had prepared to be its active centers?
This cause is unhappily to be traced to that general coldness, produced by effeminacy, which might be taken by itself alone as the type of the age; but we must add thereto another sentiment, proceeding from the same source, which would suffice, if of long duration, to render the debasement of a nation incurable. This sentiment is fear; and it may be said to extend at present to its utmost limit. Men fear the loss of goods or position, fear the loss of comforts and ease, fear the loss of life. Needless to say, nothing can be more enervating, and consequently more dangerous to the world, than this humiliating preoccupation; but above all, we must confess that it is anything but Christian. Have we forgotten that we are merely pilgrims on this earth? And has the hope of future good died out of our hearts? Cæcilia will teach us how to rid ourselves of this sentiment of fear. In her days, life was less secure than now. There certainly was then some reason to fear; and yet Christians were so courageous that the powerful pagans often trembled at the words of their victims.
God knows what he has in store for us; but if fear does not soon make way for a sentiment more worthy of men and of Christians, all particular existences will be swallowed up in the political crisis. Come what may, it is time to learn our history over again. The lesson will not be lost if we come to understand this much: had the first Christians feared, they would have betrayed us, for the word of life would never have come down to us; if we fear, we shall betray future generations, for we are expected to transmit to them the deposit we have received from our fathers. (Dom Gueranger, ubi supra)
The Passion Sancæ Cæciliæ is marked on the most ancient Calendars on the 16th of September, (Martyrology of Jerome) and took place, according to the primitive Acts, under the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. The great feast of November 22nd, preceded by a Vigil, was one of the most solemn on the Roman Cycle; it recalled the dedication of the church raised on the site of the palace which had been sanctified by the blood of the descendant of the Metelli, and had been bequeathed by her when dying to Bishop Urban, representative of Pope Eleutherius. This Urban having been later on confounded with the Pope of the same name, who governed the Church in the time of Alexander Severus, the martyrdom of our Saint was thought to have occurred half a century later, as we still read in the Legend of the Office.
It was most probably in the year 178 that Cæcilia joined Valerian in heaven, whence, a few months before, the Angel of the Lord had descended, bringing wreaths of lilies and roses to the two spouses.
She was buried by Urban, just as she lay at the moment of death. In the beginning of the following century, the family crypt was given by her relatives to the Roman church, and was set apart for the burial of the Popes. In the ninth century, Paschal I found her surrounded by these venerable tombs, and brought her back in triumph on May 8th, 822, to her house in the Trastevere, where she remains to this day.
On the 20th of October, 1599, in the course of the excavations required for the restoration of the basilica, Cæcilia was once more brought forth to the admiring gaze of the city and of the world. She was clad in her robe of cloth of gold, on which traces of her virginal blood were still discernible; at her feet were some pieces of linen steeped in the purple of her martyrdom. Lying on her right side with her arms stretched before her, she seemed in a deep sleep. Her neck still bore the marks of the wounds inflicted by the executioner’s sword; her head, in a mysterious and touching position, was turned towards the bottom of the coffin. The body was in a state of perfect preservation; and the whole attitude, retained by an antique prodigy during so many centuries in all its grace and modesty, brought before the eyes with a striking truthfulness Cæcilia breathing her last sigh stretched on the floor of the bath chamber.
The spectators were carried back in thought to the day when the holy bishop Urban had enclosed the sacred body in the cypress chest, without altering the position chosen by the bride of Christ to breathe forth her soul into the arms of her divine Spouse. They admired also the discretion of Pope Paschal, who had not disturbed the virgin’s repose, but had preserved for posterity so magnificent a spectacle. (Dom Gueranger, St Cécile et la société romaine…)
Cardinal Sfondrate, titular of St. Cæcilia, who directed the works, found also in the chapel called of the Bath the heating stove and vents of the sudatorium, where the Saint passed a day and a night in the midst of scalding vapors. Recent excavations have brought to light other objects belonging to the patrician home, which by their style, belong to the early days of the Republic.
Let us now read the liturgical history of the illustrious Virgin and Martyr.
Cæcilia, a Roman virgin of noble origin, was brought up from her infancy in the Christian faith, and vowed her virginity to God. Against her will, she was given in marriage to Valerian; but on the first night of the nuptials she thus addressed him: Valerian, I am under the care of an Angel, who is the guardian of my virginity; wherefore beware of doing what might kindle God’s wrath against thee. Valerian moved by these words respected her wishes, and even said that he would believe in Christ if he could see the Angel. On Cæcilia telling him that this could not be unless he received Baptism, he, being very desirous of seeing the Angel, replied that he was willing to be baptized. Taking the virgin’s advice, he went to Pope Urban, who on account of the persecution was hiding among the tombs of the Martyrs on the Appian Way, and by him he was baptized.
Then returning to Cæcilia, he found her at prayer, and beside her an Angel shining with divine brightness. He was amazed at the sight; but as soon as he had recovered form his fear, he sought out his brother Tiburtius; who also was instructed by Cæcilia in the faith of Christ, and after being baptized by Pope Urban, was favored like his brother with the sight of the Angel. Both of them shortly afterwards courageously suffered martyrdom under the prefect Almachius. This latter next commanded Cæcilia to be apprehended, and commenced by asking her what had become of the property of Tiburtius and Valerian.
The virgin answered that it had all been distributed among the poor; at which the prefect was so enraged, that he commanded her to be led back to her own house, and put to death by the heat of the bath. When, after spending a day and a night there, she remained unhurt by the fire, an executioner was sent to dispatch her; who, not being able with three strokes of the axe to cut off her head, left her half dead. Three days later, on the tenth of the Kalends of December, she took her flight to heaven, adorned with the noble glory of virginity and martyrdom. It was in the reign of the emperor Alexander. Pope Urban buried her body in the cemetery of Callixtus; and her house was converted into a church and dedicated in her name. Pope Paschal I translated her body into the city, together with those of Popes Urban and Lucius, and of Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus, and placed them all in this church of St. Cæcilia.
The Antiphons and Responsories of the 22nd of November are all taken from the Acts of the Saint, and are the same as were used in the time of St. Gregory. We choose such of them as will complete the foregoing history. The first Responsory represents the virgin as singing in her heart to God amid the profane music of the nuptial feast. It was this silent melody, superior to all earthly concerts, that inspired the happy idea of picturing St. Cæcilia as the queen of harmony, and proclaiming her patroness of the most attractive of arts.
℟. Amid the harmony of musical instruments, the virgin Cæcilia sang in her heart to the Lord alone, saying: * Let my heart, O Lord, and my body be spotless, that may not be confounded.
℣. During two days and three days of fasting and prayer, she commended to the Lord what she feared. * Let my heart.
℟. O blessed Cæcilia, who didst convert the two brothers, and overcome the judge Almachius. * Urban the bishop of angelic countenance thou didst show to them.
℣. As a busy bee thou didst serve the Lord. * Urban.
℟. The glorious virgin carried always the Gospel of Christ on her heart; and by day and by night she ceased not * From divine colloquies and prayer.
℣. With outstretched hands she prayed to the Lord, and her heart burned with a heavenly fire. * From divine.
℟. Cæcilia subdued her flesh with hair-cloth, and besought God with groanings. * Tiburtius and Valerian she called to their crowns.
℣. This is a vise virgin, one of those who are prudent. * Tiburtius.
℟. O Lord Jesus Christ, good Shepherd, Author of chaste resolutions, receive the fruits of the seed thou didst sow in Cæcilia: * Cæcilia thy handmaid serves thee like a busy bee.
℣. For the spouse whom she had received like a fierce lion, she led to thee as a gentle lamb. * Cæcilia. Glory be to the Father. * Cæcilia.
ANT. I have a secret, Valerian, which I wish to tell thee: I have an Angel of God, who loves me, and with diligent zeal watches over my body.
ANT. Blessed Cæcilia said to Tiburtius: Today I acknowledge thee for my brother, because the love of God has made thee become a contempter of idols.
ANT. We believe that Christ the Son of God, who chose for himself such a handmaid, is true God.
ANT. As dawn was breaking into day, Cæcilia cried out saying: Courage, soldiers of Christ, cast away the deeds of darkness, and put on the armor of light.
ANT. Cæcilia dying said: I have asked of the Lord three days’ delay, that I may consecrate my house into a church.
The two following hymns were approved by the Apostolic See in 1852.
Hushed be the music of earth: Cæcilia’s burning heart pours out the heavenly song she sings to her God alone.
While the noble house resounds with the nuptial joy, this dove alone is sad, and her pure heart sighs out:
O Christ, most sweet, to whom I am bound by love, preserve my purity of soul and body.
The diligent sheep converts the lion into a meek lamb; and he, washed in the mystic font, begins at once to fight for the King of heaven.
Sister now of Tiburtius, she frees him from darksome error, and bidding him follow his brother, points out the path to heaven.
Through her efforts an abundant harvest fills the heavenly granaries; powerful in word, she shares the glory of the Apostles.
An Angel comes down from the highest heavens to protect her; a rose and lily wreath entwines her flowing locks.
White and ruddy also is the crown brought to her spouse, whom heavenly love has led to emulate her purity.
May the happy choirs of virgins praise thee, O Jesus, their Spouse; to the Father and the Paraclete be equal and eternal glory. Amen.
Now haste ye to your crowns, cries Cæcilia to her brethren; and soon the virgin herself is led before the judge.
She despises his angry threats and laughs at his false gods; wherefore the innocent maiden is declared deserving of death.
She remains long enclosed in the bath, while the furnace rages beneath; but stronger is the divine fire that burns in the virgin’s heart.
Thrice does the barbarous lictor strike the innocent victim: he cannot accomplish his crime, for Christ has granted a delay to the martyr.
As her last hour draws nigh, she devotes her ancestral mansion to God, then free she wings her flight to the nuptials of the Lamb.
Hail! body of the martyr, long hidden in the somber crypt; shining with a new glory, thou art restored to thy mother Rome.
The Virgin of virgins watches over thee, lest thou fade as a flower in the darkness, while thou liest empurpled with the blood of thy martyrdom, and clad in thy golden robe.
Sleep in thy silent marble tomb, while thy spirit enthroned in heaven hymns its glad joy, and graciously receives our prayers.
May the happy choirs of virgins praise thee, O Jesus, their Spouse; to the Father and the Paraclete be equal and eternal glory. Amen.
It would need the language of Angels worthily to celebrate thy greatness, O bride of Christ! and we have but the faltering, timid accents of mortals and sinners. O queen, who standest at the King’s right hand, clad in the vesture of gold of which the Psalmist sings, look down upon us with a favorable eye, and deign to accept this offering of our praise, which we lay on the lowest step of thy lofty throne. We make bold to join thereto a prayer for the holy Church, whose humble daughter thou was heretofore, as now thou art her hope and her support. In the dark night of this present life the Bridegroom is long a-coming. In the midst of this solemn and mysterious silence he suffers the virgin to slumber till the cry shall announce his arrival. We honor the repose earned by thy victories, O Cæcilia, but we know that thou dost not forget us, for the Bride says in the Canticle: I sleep, and my heart watcheth.
The hour draws nigh when the Spouse is to appear, calling all who are his to gather under the standard of his Cross. Soon will the cry be heard: Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him. Then, O Cæcilia, thou wilt say to all Christians what thou saidst to the faithful band grouped around thee at the hour of thy combat: “Soldiers of Christ! Cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.” (Acta St Cæciliæ)
The Church daily pronounces thy name with love and confidence, in the Canon of the Mass; and she looks for thy assistance, O Cæcilia, knowing it will not fail her. Prepare a victory for her, by raising up the hearts of Christians to the realities, which they too often forget while they run after the vain shadows from which thou didst win Tiburtius. When the minds of men become once more fixed upon the thought of their eternal destiny, the salvation and peace of nations will be secured.
Be thou forever, O Cæcilia, the delight of thy divine Spouse. Breathe eternally the heavenly fragrance of his roses and lilies; and be unceasingly enraptured with the ineffable harmony of which he is the source. From the midst of thy glory thou wilt watch over us; and when our last hour draws nigh, we beseech thee by the merits of thy heroic martyrdom, assist us on our deathbed. Receive our soul into thy arms, and bear it up to the everlasting abode, where the sight of the bliss thou enjoyest will give us to understand the value of Virginity, of the Apostolate, and of Martyrdom. (Dom Gueranger, History of St Cecilia, conclusion.)