Saint Cecilia

Feast Day: 22nd November

Virtue: Prayer

Cecilia is one of the most famous and most loved of the Roman martyrs. According to

legend, she was a young Christian of high rank promised in marriage to a Roman named Valerian. Through her example he was converted and was martyred along with his brother.

An inscription of the fourth century refers to a church named after her. Her feast has been celebrated at least since 545. The legend about her death is very beautiful.

Cecilia refused to sacrifice to the gods. The judge condemned her to be suffocated to death. But God protected her. Then the judge ordered a soldier to kill her with a sword. He struck her three times but did not cut off her head. She fell down badly wounded and for three days she remained alive. After receiving Holy Communion she died in 117. Cecilia is honored as the patroness of religious music. Like any good Christian she sang in her heart and sometimes with her voice. She has become a symbol of the Church’s teaching that good music is an important part of the liturgy.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Feast Day: 25th November

Virtue: Wisdom

Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a canonized saint in the Catholic Church who, per

Christian tradition, was martyred around 305 in Alexandria, Egypt. The young saint was born around 287 in Alexandria, Egypt. At that time, Alexandria was one of the finest cities in the world, and a center of learning and culture as well as faith. Christian tradition states she was of noble birth, possibly a princess. As a member of the nobility, she was also educated and was an avid scholar.

Around the age of fourteen, she experienced a moving vision of Mary and the infant Jesus, and she decided to become a Christian. Although she was a teenager, she was very intelligent and gifted. When the emperor Maxentius began persecuting Christians, Catherine visited him to denounce his cruelty. Rather than order her execution, Maxentius summoned fifty orators and philosophers to debate her. However, Catherine was moved by the power of the Holy Spirit and spoke eloquently in defense of her faith.

Her words were so moving that several of the pagans converted to Christianity and were immediately executed. Unable to defeat her rhetorically or to intimidate her into giving up her belief, the emperor ordered her to be tortured and imprisoned. Catherine was arrested and scourged. Despite the torture, she did not abandon her faith. Word of her arrest and the power of her faith quickly spread and over 200 people visited her. According to some legends, the emperor's own wife, Valeria Maximilla was converted by Catherine.

Following her imprisonment, Maxentius made a final attempt to persuade the beautiful Catherine to abandon her faith by proposing marriage to her. This would have made her a powerful empress. Catherine refused, saying she was married to Jesus Christ and that her virginity was dedicated to him Unable to torture her to death, the emperor simply ordered her beheaded.

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