CECILIA, SAINT (d. c. 176), patron saint of music and of the blind, is commemorated on Nov. 22. She was supposed to have been a noble Roman who with her husband and converts suffered martyrdom (c. 230), under the emperor Alexander Sever us, but the researches of de Rossi (Roma Sotteranea ii. confirm the statement of Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers (d. 600), that she perished in Sicily under Marcus Aurelius (c. 176). The 4th century church at Rome in her honour was rebuilt by Pope Paschal I. (c. 82o) and again in 1599. Cecilia, whose musical fame rests on a passing notice in her legend that she praised God by instrumental and vocal music, has inspired many a master piece in art, including the Raphael at Bologna, the Rubens in Berlin, the Domenichino in Paris, and in literature she is com memorated by Chaucer's "Seconde Nonnes Tale" and by Dryden's famous ode, set to music by Handel in 1736 and later by Sir Hubert Parry (188g).
Another St. Cecilia, who suffered in Africa in the persecution of Diocletian (303-304), is commemorated on Feb. I I.