St Cecilia

St. Cecilia is one of the few martyrs whose name we know, along with St. Agnes, St. Agatha, St. Sebastian, St. George, and St. Lucy, among others. She was martyred by Emperor Marcus Aurelius between the years 176 and 180 AD. Cecilia was arrested and condemned to be suffocated in the baths. She was shut in for one night and one day, as fires were heaped up and stoked to a terrifying heat - but Cecilia did not even sweat. When the Emperor heard this, he sent an executioner to cut off her head in the baths. The executioner struck her three times but was unable to decapitate her so he left her bleeding and she lived for three days. Crowds came to her and collected her blood while she preached to them or prayed. On the third day, she died and was buried by Pope Urban and his deacons. St. Cecilia is regarded as the patroness of music because she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married and is represented in art with an organ or organ-pipes in her hand. Officials exhumed her body in 1599 and found her to be incorrupt, the first of all incorrupt saints. She was draped in a silk veil and wore a gold embroidered dress. That year, Cardinal Paolo Sfondrati built a church to honor her and ordered a marble statue in the catacombs to be crafted. A few musical compositions were written in her honor. Among them are the ‘Ode to St. Cecilia’ by Henry Purcell, a cantata by Georg Frederic Handel and ‘Hymn to St. Cecilia’ by Benjamin Britten. Paul Simon also wrote a song in her honor, entitled ‘Cecilia.’

In her honor I list here my 20 favorite pieces of music, what you might call my Desert Island Discs:

1. JS Bach - B Minor Mass, 

2. Hector Berlioz - Requiem Mass, 

3. Ludwig van Beethoven - 9 Symphonies, 

4. Gioacchino Rossini - Overtures, 

5. Antonio Vivaldi - Any Concerto for Flute, 

6. Miklos Rosza - Ben Hur soundtrack, 

7. Franz Joseph Haydn - The Creation, oratorio, 

8. WA Mozart - Symphonies 25-41, 

9. Philip Glass – Powaqaatsi - Anthem, 

10. Tomas Luis de Victoria - Responsories for Tenebrae, 

11. Mascagni – Cavalleria Rusticana, 

12. GF Handel – The Messiah, 

13. John Philip Sousa – Marches, 

14. Ludwig van Beethoven – ‘Emperor’ Concerto for piano, No. 5, 

15. JS Bach – Flute Sonatas, 

16. Franz Schubert – 9 Symphonies, 

17. PI Tchaikovsky – 1812 and Capriccio Italien, overtures, 

18. Antonio Vivaldi – Sacred Choral Music, 

19. Nicolo Paganini – Violin Concertos, 

20. Angelo Pullicino, Anthony Aquilina, Vincenzo Ciappara and Emanuel Bugeja - Maltese Marching Bands