St. Cecilia, virgin martyr

The Catholic Church marks the feast of Saint Cecilia, a Roman virgin martyr, on November 22.

Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran churches, like the Church of Sweden, venerate her.  She was born between 200 and 230 AD and died between 222 and 235 AD in Rome.

She is one of the luminaries of Christian music and liturgy. She is the patroness of hymns, great musicians, poets, and pipe organs.
 
Despite dedicating her life to God, Cecelia was engaged to Valerian, a pagan prince. She came from a wealthy family in Rome. On the night of their wedding, Cecilia told Valerian that she had vowed to God that she would remain a virgin and that an angel watched over her body to keep her promise. To this, Valerian agreed and respected it. Later, with divine intervention, Valerian and his brothers became Catholics and believed in God.
  
Additionally, Valerian and his brother devoted themselves to burying the bodies of newly converted Christians in Rome. However, authorities arrested them and ordered them to renounce their Christian faith and return to worship the Roman god Jupiter, a demand they vehemently rejected.

They were killed for refusing to forsake their Christian faith. After killing the duo, the police came to Cecilia and asked her to renounce their faith as well, to which she refused to yield. Her reply to the police was that she would rather die for her true faith than renounce it, despite the threat to her life.

Legend has it that when they heard her answer, they took her to a big oven and turned it on so that the hot, poisonous gases would suffocate her. Cecilia started to choke, but she stopped and started to sing. Cecilia's attackers, consumed by anger, attempted to sever her head with three sword strokes, but she miraculously remained alive and her head remained intact.

The soldiers then left her in her own bloody home, where she stayed for three days before she died. In 1599, they found her body still intact and appearing as if she were asleep.

She became the patron saint of musicians and writers because she sang in the oven while being killed.

Her inspiring life, willing sacrifice, and unwavering faith in God serve as a model for Catholics to learn how to deal with life's problems and encourage people to find God in music.