‘Victories of the Martyrs’ by Saint Alphonsus Liguori; 1888; ss. CECILIA, VIRGIN; VALERIAN, HER …
[St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori – XVII-XVIII Century AD; Marianella, Kingdom of Naples/Pagani. Kingdom of Naples; spiritual writer, composer, musician, artist, poet, lawyer, theologian; Bishop; Doctor of the Church]
“ST. CECILIA, virgin and martyr, has always been most celebrated in the Church of God; even from the fourth century a church has been dedicated to her honor in Rome; and honorable mention is made of her, not only in all the martyrologies, but even in the Canon of the Mass. In the eighth century there was a report that Astulphus, King of the Longobards, had carried off the body of our saint from Rome; but she appeared, in a vision, to Pope Paschal I., assured him that the report was false, and encouraged him to seek her relics. The holy pontiff found them, in the cemetery of Praetextatus, on the Appian road; and, having rebuilt her church, placed them there in the year 821. After a lapse of nearly eight centuries, when the place in which the saint s body had been deposited …More
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"St. Valerian and St. Tiburtius had left all their property to St. Cecilia, who, foreseeing that her death was not far distant, sold all, and distributed the proceeds among the poor."
"Fearing that the public execution of such a person might cause a sedition, he ordered that she should be shut up in an oven and suffocated. This, however, not having produced the desired effect, an executioner was sent to cut off her head. The law, in such case, permitted only three strokes; these the executioner gave with all his might, but, failing in his attempt, left her still alive, although weltering in her blood."