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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

St. Cecilia Images

Today is the Memorial of St. Cecilia ...

Saint Cecilia in the Catholic Church is the patron saint of musicians and of the blind. Her feast day, celebrated both in the Catholic and Orthodox Church, is November 22. It was long supposed that she was a noble lady of Rome who, with her husband Valerian, his brother Tiburtius, and other friends whom she had converted, suffered martyrdom, C. 230, under the emperor Alexander Severus. The researches of de Rossi, however (Rom. sott. ii. 147), go to confirm the statement of Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers (d. 600), that she perished in Sicily under Marcus Aurelius between 176 and 180. ...

Cecilia, whose musical fame rests on a passing notice in her legend that she praised God by instrumental as well as vocal music, has inspired many a masterpiece in art, including the The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia by Raphael at Bologna, the Rubens in Berlin, the Domenichino in Paris and at San Luigi dei Francesi, and works by Artemisia Gentileschi, and in literature, where she is commemorated especially by Chaucer's Seconde Nonnes Tale, and by John Dryden's famous ode, set to music by Handel in 1736, and later by Sir Hubert Parry (1889). Other music dedicated to Cecilia includes Benjamin Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia, A Hymn for St Cecilia by Herbert Howells, a mass by Alessandro Scarlatti, Charles Gounod's Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile, and Hail, bright Cecilia! by Henry Purcell. ...

- Wikipedia


- St. Cecilia by JW Waterhouse


- The Martyrdom of St. Cecilia by Orazio Riminaldi


- The Ecstacy of St Cecilia (with Sts Paul, John Evangelist, Augustine and Mary Magdalene) by Raphael


3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Crystal!

4:31 PM  
Blogger Jeff said...

Beautiful images, Crystal.

Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.

5:22 PM  
Blogger crystal said...

Liam - thanks!

Jeff - I've liked the Waterhouse painting since college, but I hadn't seen the other two before. Thanks for the Thanksgiving wishes - I hope your's was good too :-)

7:03 PM  

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