LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

 

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Saint Cecelia, Martyr

This year, we will, as is most appropriate, celebrate Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, November 22nd. For many, it will be a day for a special and festive dinner, perhaps watching one of the several football games which traditionally take place on that day. Hopefully, it will also be a day for giving thanks to God our Creator.

I wonder how many also know that November 22nd is the Feast of Saint Cecelia who lived in the 2nd and 3rd centuries and was one of the most venerated martyrs in the early Roman Church. She converted her husband Valerian and his brother Tibertius from paganism to Christianity, both of whom were martyred for their faith. Cecelia herself also died for her witness to the Christian Religion, and was buried in the tomb of Saint Callistus. In the 9th century, her relics were moved to a church named in her honor in the city of Rome.

Cecelia is frequently represented as playing the organ, and is the patroness of church music and church musicians.


[From the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church and the Anglican Breviary]


A Collect for the Feast of Saint Cecelia

O God who makes us glad with the yearly festival of blessed Cecelia, Virgin and Martyr, grant we pray, that as we celebrate her love and devotion to you, we may profit by her example and be aided by her prayers. Through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

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To learn more about St. Cecelia from Wikipedia.org, click here.

 

 

 

This page last modified on Friday, April 11, 2008 09:40 PM