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When in Rome, See This Treasure:
Saint Cecilia in Trastevere: Patron Saint of Singers, Composers, and Musicians
A quiet Trastevere via opens to a large landscaped courtyard, which fronts this Basilica that was built over the home where Cecilia lived and died.
The courtyard is a lovely neighborhood playground — where you’re bound to see mammas circling strollers around the central Roman urn and nuns chatting away after mass.
In third century Rome, Cecilia was known as the girl who heard angelic harmonies — she could play any instrument or sing any song. She secretly swore to be a chaste Christian, but went through with a marriage her parents arranged anyway. On the wedding night, she broke the news to her husband Valerian, telling him the only way he could touch her was to become a Christian, so he ran off to get baptized. When he returned, he found their bridal chamber transformed — full of flowers and Cecilia wearing a crown of lilies and roses. This miracle swept Valerian into the faith. He made it his mission to help the poor and bury Christian martyrs, and was beheaded for his belief.
Then Cecilia was tortured for her faith, forced into a tub of boiling water in her own bathtub. She sang all…
