St. Cecilia was believed to be born in 2nd century Rome. She was an only child in a wealthy Roman family, was well-educated, and had been a devout Christian from early in her childhood. Cecilia had vowed her virginity to God, but she was promised in marriage to a pagan man named Valerian. She wore sackcloth, fasted, and prayed to the saints and angels hoping to keep her promise to God. On their wedding night, Cecilia informed Valerian that an angel guarded her body and that Valerian must not disrespect her vow of virginity. Her prayers were answered, and Valerian was willing to take her as his wife without forcing her to break her vow. Her husband wanted to see the angel that guarded her, but Cecilia told him that he would need to be baptized in order to do so. Valerian went to be baptized by Pope Urban, and returned to Cecilia as a Christian. When he returned, he saw Cecilia praying in her bedroom. Next to her was an angel with flaming wings, and he was holding two crowns of rose and lilies. He crowned both and them, and then vanished.
Shortly after their crowning, Valerian’s brother Tibertius had heard the story of how they had attained their crowns, and he also wanted to be baptized. After the two brothers were baptized, they dedicated themselves to burying the martyrs put to death daily by the prefect of the city, Turcius Almachius. In turn, they were arrested and brought before the prefect, and when they refused to sacrifice to the gods, they were sentenced to death and executed. An officer of Almachius was appointed to carry out the execution. Instead, he too was converted to Christianity and was martyred along with Tibertius and Valerian. At this time, Christianity was still illegal in Rome. In the meantime, Cecilia con...
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...better. Being in band and playing the flute taught me that sometimes doing things that are deemed uncool by popular culture make you a better person in the long run. I have learned so much about life and friendship in those five years that I could not have learned anywhere else. I also chose the name Cecilia since she is the patron saint of church music. Because I love to sing, I joined my school’s choir last year, and I was also in the choir in elementary school. She is truly an inspiration to me, and I admire her for what she did during her life. I hope that she will bless me and guide me throughout the rest of my life here on earth.
Works Cited
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=34
http://www.saintcecilia.us/
http://www.aquinasandmore.com/catholic-articles/Saint-Cecilia/article/207
http://www.viarosa.com/VR/StCecilia/Rosaries+Chaplets.html
The text is presented in a very matter of fact way that even though there are religious quotes throughout and thanks to God, Christina is rarely put on a pedestal. There are few moments outside of the opening of the story in which she is painted as an angelic being that is more than human. In fact, the presentation of her mother’s pregnancy being given a sign that she was carrying a religious child almost does not fit the narrative because few treated Christina worse than her mother, Beatrix. The image of a dove surrounded by light seeking shelter in Beatrix’s tunic reads, presently, as a bit ludicrous (2). However, when analyzing the document and accounting for the level of religious superstition in the twelfth century, whether this event occurred or not, similar situations are ascribed to most religious figures, most notably with Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus.
She is a spiritual woman who is able to express her faith and faith led life through the stories she writes down in this diary. She claims to be a Christian woman in all of these stories. “And Hilarianus the procurator, who at that time had received the right of capital punishment in the place of the dead proconsul Minucis Timinainus, said, “Spare the white hairs of your father, spare your infant son. Perform the rite for the health of the emperors!” And I responded: “I will not do it.” HIlarianus said: “Are you a Christian?” And I responded: “I am a Christian”” (Perpetua). This dialogue shows that even in a time where her father and her child were on the line, she would still claim in front of the forum that she is a Christian. This is extremely important, because many people would be likely to hide their faith to save their family members, while she thought it was more important to express her faith
Martyrdom of Saint Demetrios is a Cretan icon of the Byzantine period (figure 1). It is dated to the late fifteenth century CE. The icon consists of a tempera painting adorned with gold foil on a wooden board measuring seventeen inches tall by fourteen and one quarter inches wide by five eighths of an inch thick. Though Martyrdom of Saint Demetrios originally hung on the wall of a church or cathedral, it now resides in the Menil Collection. As the title suggests, the scene is that of Saint Demetrios’ Martyrdom. The fourth century emperor Galerius ordered Saint Demetrios’ death after the emperor lost his favorite gladiator to a Christian whom Saint Demetrios had blessed before the fight.
He professed to the congregation that he would go to the proconsul to be tried and in so doing, he would be martyred in front of his congregation willingly and they would become “partners in the graces” with him. It was recorded that Galerius Maximus, issued and judged the trial and after Cyprian denied the religion of Rome, he was acceptably sentenced to death. This martyr, would set off a ricochet of fellow martyrs from the Christian church, causing fear and loss of leadership to continue to damage the Christians throughout the empire. Valerian’s persecutions would be the most devastating actions from the emperor up until the time of Diocletian, the motivation behind the persecutions were in some way similar to his predecessor’s, Decius, but also involved many other problems, which will now be discussed below.
The Torment of Saint Anthony The Torment of Saint Anthony (c. 1487-88), an oil and tempera on a panel, is believed to be the first painting by Michelangelo inspired by an engraving by Martin Schongauer (c. 1470-75) when Michelangelo was 12 or 13 years old (Vogel. 2009). The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Second It is one of the four surviving panel paintings by Michelangelo, who, according to one biographer, had spoken with disdain of oil painting in later life. It was purchased by an American art dealer at a Sotheby’s auction in July 2008 for $2MM. It was brought to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it was cleaned of grime, overpainting and discoloration.
Teresa Sánchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada lived in Avila, Spain where she was born in 1515 and lived during the Reformation until her death at age 67. She was canonized in 1622, forty years after her death. St. Teresa's grandmother was forced to be converted from a Jew into a Christian during the Inquisition. Without her grandmother’s conversion, St. Teresa would never have become a Christian saint. Her parents were Godly people and showed tremendous integrity.
The Life of Saint Faustina was very different from how we live today. She saw many things that most people couldn't even imagine of. The stories Faustina tells us still amazes me till this day. Faustina was born on August 25, 1905. She was the third child out of ten in her family. She was very poor and lived with her siblings. She was baptised and her name was actually used as Helena. This was very weird to me on how she lived but in the end she obeyed god and whatever he told her to do. In Faustinas childhood, she spent her whole life praying, going to church, and pulling her full focus into God. Putting God over all is not easy to do, whats her story?
...nd she was condemned. the judges believed that he visions were from the devil and she was burned at the stake in Rouen in the marketplace on May 30, 1431 at the age of nineteen.
Throughout the rise of early Christianity in rome persecution ranged from commoners to emperors and was a common practice. The unfair oppression of Christians came from a place of fear from the emperors, However the commoners believed Christians disrespected the rank of the gods. Because of the inferior label put on Christians and their “shameful” behavior during this time persecution was an ongoing sequence.
Music has always been an important part of my life. Upon entering the fifth grade, my parents bought me a flute, at my insistence. After moderate success playing the flute, I saw greener grass on the other side of the musical fence. Singing just had to be easier than making music with a long metal pipe. My perception and reality did not exactly match. Singing has its own subtleties and complexities which are not readily apparent to the casual observer. Abandoning the flute for singing, I began taking voice lessons in the tenth grade. My voice teacher was very experienced and encouraged me to pursue my interest in music beyond high school. After much deliberation, I decided to major in voice during college. This path would be fraught with unforeseen difficulties and exciting challenges.
she became Father Damien. This calls into question how important an identity Sister Cecilia is
Once the Roman occupation occurred, various sources described not just the procedure but the fear and tactic involved in crucifixion. The Romans operated in maintaining The Pax Romana, the time of peace in Rome, through “militarism and violence”. The violence of focus for this paper is their form of execution for most slaves and criminals, death by crucifixion. This form of death could be observed as a psychological control. The Romans did not merely kill the criminals, but set them to be a spectacle in one of the busiest and most crowed roads, to be observed. A deterrent effect, which rarely affected the wealthy, yet, still occupied a spot in their minds. An example, is when a nobleman in 63 B.C, was threatened with crucifixion, Ciscero in his defense, disputed that “the very mention of the cross…was intolerable for a respectable Roman citizen.” Yet this deterrent inhibited open resistance to Roman occupation, thereby maintaining their Pax Romana intact.
During the first half century after the crucifixion of Jesus, the Roman government including governors in the eastern provinces took no active measures against Christians. The attitude of the higher Roman authorities had always been that Christianity was merely a sect of Judaism, and as such, were entitled to share in its privileges as a recognized religion. In 64 A.D. this attitude suffered a severe alteration. On July 19, 64 A.D. occurred the great fire of Rome. Half a million people were left homeless. Popular rumor persistently asserted that the fire was started by incendiaries acting under the orders of the Emperor Nero. It was said that Nero wanted the city burnt down so he could build a new city which was to be re-named after himself. Nero felt that something must be done to deflect the public indignation against him. To do this he contrived that accusations should be brought against the Christians. So Nero began an aggressive persecution of the Christians in Rome. Those who confessed their guilt were brought to trail. During these trials a great number of other Christians were uncovered and were also brought to trial. Oddly enough, these people were not charged with starting the great fire of Rome, but rather for “hatred of the humankind.”
•The execution of “this Christ” suppressed the “dangerous religious movement” of the Christians for a time, but then it quickly broke out again, first in Judea, but then spreading rapidly as far as Rome
In the western provinces of the empire, there is very little evidence of Decian martyrs from Spain, Gaul, and Sicily. This implies that although Decius’ edict was enforced, historians have no knowledge of any Christian deaths.