Home
St Cecilia in Trastevere is a 5th-century church in Rome, Italy. The first church on this site was founded probably in the 3rd century by Pope Urban I. It was devoted to the young Roman woman Cecilia, martyred in A.D. 222. Tradition holds that the church was built over the house of the saint. The baptistery associated with this church, together with the remains of a Roman house of the early Empire, was found during some excavations under the Chapel of the Relics. By the late 5th century, at the Synod of 499 of Pope Symmachus, the church is mentioned as the Titulus Ceciliae. Pope Paschal I rebuilt the church in 822 and moved the relics of St Cecilia from the Catacombs of St Calixtus to the site. Since 1527, a community of Benedictine nuns has lived in the monastery next to St Cecilia and has had charge of the basilica. The church has a façade built in 1725 by Ferdinando Fuga, which encloses a courtyard decorated with ancient mosaics, columns and a water vessel. Among the artifacts remaining from the 13th century edifice are a mural painting depicting the Last Judgment (1289–93) by Pietro Cavallini. The Last Judgement fresco which remains today, covers the entire width of the west wall of the entrance. The apse has remains of 9th century mosaics depicting the Redeemer with Sts Paul, Cecilia, Paschal I, St Peter, Valerian, and Agatha. Under the ciborium that shelters the main altar, is a glass case enclosing the white marble sculpture of St Cecilia (1600) by the late-Renaissance sculptor Stefano Maderno. The sculpture depicts the three axe strokes described in the 5th-century account of her martyrdom.  St Cecilia Exterior Views 
St Cecilia Interior Views Cecilia is one of the most famous Roman martyrs, although some elements of the stories recounted about her do not appear in the source material. According to the story, Cecilia's parents forced her to marry a pagan nobleman named Valerian. During the wedding, Cecilia sat apart singing to God in her heart, and for that, she was later declared the saint of musicians. When the time came for her marriage to be consummated, Cecilia told Valerian that watching over her was an angel of the Lord, who would punish him if he sexually violated her but would love him if he respected her virginity. When Valerian asked to see the angel, Cecilia replied that he could see the angel if he would go to the third milestone on the Via Appia and be baptized by Pope Urban I. After following Cecilia's advice, he saw the angel standing beside her, crowning her with a chaplet of roses and lilies. The martyrdom of Cecilia is said to have followed that of her husband Valerian and his brother. The legend about Cecilia's death says that after being struck three times on the neck with an axe, she lived for three days, and asked the pope to convert her home into a church. The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull Ratione congruit, issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western musical history: Gregory the Great, for whom the Gregorian chant is named, and Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. Reference: 'Santa Cecilia in Trastevere' on WikiPedia.org 'Saint Cecilia' on WikiPedia.org All Photographs are from Commons.WikiMedia.org 
4th International Archaeological Congress Crypt of St Cecilia in Catacombs of St Calixtus 55-57 (1938) Domenico Cardinal Bartolucci Centenary of Birth Former Director of the National Academy of St Cecilia 1651 (2017) |
