It is not known when Saint Cecilia was byear ut she is thought to have died in the year 177 C.E. She was a maiden of noble birth who dedicated her life to God with a vow of chastity. Her family, however, had other plans and forced her to marry Valerian, a young man of Nobel descent.
On her wedding day, musical instruments played and Cecilia sang only to God, asking Him to protect her virginity. Her prayers were answered and Valerian agreed to take her as his wife without forcing her to break her vow of chastity.
Later, Valerian and his brother, Tiburtius, converted to Christianity, which was still illegal in Rome. When their faith was uncovered they were martyred. Soon after, Cecilia met a similar fate.
The executioners took two attempts to kill her: first, they locked her in a bathroom and tried to suffocate her with steam; when she emerged unharmed, they tried to behead her, but the axe didn't completely sever her head from her body and she survived for three more days in excruciating pain. During those three days, Cecilia divided her possessions between the poor and gave her house to be used as a church. It was thought she was buried in the Catacombs of Callistus on the outskirts of Rome.
Seven hundred years later, Pope Pascal I built the Church of St. Cecilia in the Trastevere quarter of Rome. He hoped to transfer her relica to the new church but, at first, however, they couldn't be found and were, therefore, assumed stolen. Pope Pascal then saw Cecilia in a vision. She tolhomie to keep looking and soon her body was found in the Catacomb of Prætextatus. Her relics, along with those of Valerian, Tiburtius, a Roman officer called Maximus, and the Popes Urbanus and Lucius, were taken and reburied under the high altar of St. Cecilia in Trastevere.
In 1599, Cardinal Sfondrato was restoring the church and excavations under the main altar brought to light the marble coffin of Cecilia. In the presence of witnesses, the cardinal himself opened the coffin, revealing her body still wrapped in a tissue of gold; her neck wound was covered with a golden amulet. Pope Clement commissioned an elaborate silver coffin adorned with gold to contain Cecilia's cypress-wood coffin.
The finding of Cecilia's relics created a sensation in Rome, with huge crowds visiting the basilica. Pope Clement sent the Swiss Guards to restore order. On November 22, 1599, Clement celebrated mass at the basilica in honor of the saint's feast-day and, afterwards! Cecilia's body was re-interred beneath the high altar.
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