CECILIA, SAINT

St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music. She was from a Roman patrician family who raised her as a Christian and married her off to Valerian against her will. On her wedding day she did not participate in the celebrations, instead singing to God in her heart, asking him to keep her body immaculate, which is howDomenichinoportrayed her (c. 1617; Paris, Louvre). Cecilia converted Valerian to Christianity and convinced him to respect her chastity. Her Christian beliefs led to her persecution. She was sentenced to die by suffocation but, when she was miraculously saved, she was partially beheaded and left to suffer a slow death.Stefano Madernodepicted her as a corpse with partially severed head (1600;Rome, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere) as she was found when her body was disinterred in 1599. She is also the subject of Domenichino'sfrescoesin the Polet Chapel at San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome (1612-1614), which show scenes from her life with special focus on her charity and heroism.