The simple Christian Cecilia, who lived in Rome around 200 - 230 years, suffered for faith, died a martyrdom and was canonized.
Its attributes are the rose and musical (keyboard or string) instruments.
Biography
Saint Cecilia was born into a noble Roman family. From a young age, she joined the holy sacraments of Christianity. She ardently wished to serve the poor and vowed to preserve purity and chastity until her death. Under the magnificent dresses she wore a rough hair shirt.
Parents found her a groom named Valerian. He was a pagan, like his brother Tivurtius. At the wedding, Cecilia heard heavenly music and told Valerian that an angel was watching her to punish someone who decided to break her virginity. Valerian wanted to see an angel. To do this, he had to be baptized.
After baptism, Valerian saw an angel crowning Cecilia with a wreath of roses and lilies. They began to live together as a sister and brother and help the poor. Later, the brother of Valerian Tivurtius came to Christianity. Young people actively helped the poor, and the prefect of Rome, Turkey Alhimai, did not like it. He demanded that they make sacrifices to the pagan gods, and when he was refused, he sent Valerian and Tivurtius to martyrdom under the whips outside the city. Their faith was so strong that they did not think about death, but introduced the chief of their guard Maxim to Christianity. After their execution, Maxim told how he saw their ascent to heaven, for which he was executed. During this time, St. Cecilia distributed all the property and converted four hundred Romans to Christianity.
Martyrdom
The young woman was also sent to the prefect, and she was to die from suffocation in the bathhouse. For three days and three nights she remained in it, but when the bath was opened, Saint Cecilia was alive. Then she was sent to the chopping block, but the executioner inflicted three wounds on her and could not cut off her head. After these tortures, he escaped. Three days later people went to the still alive, bleeding saint to nourish her lips and tissues with her blood (article by Saint Cecilia) and believe in Christ.
Relics of the saint
The body and head of the saint were buried in the catacombs. Christians prayed before them. In the 9th century, the imperishable relics of St. Cecilia were transferred to the church in Trastevere, and her head to the monastery of Santi Quattro Coronati. But when in 1599 the sarcophagus with the body was opened, it miraculously found its head. This shocked many, including the sculptor Stefano Maderno.
He sculpted a sculpture of a saint lying on its side. She is in the basilica in Rome, and her copy is in the catacombs.
Patroness of music and musicians
From the 15th century Cecilia of Rome was considered the patroness of music: she, going to the crown, prayed and sang spiritual hymns. The first mention of a music festival that was held in her honor is the year 1570, Evreux, Normandy. Pope Sixtus V issued a special bull, according to which Saint Cecilia is considered the patroness of music. It symbolizes the central part of the liturgy. Giovanni Palestrina organized a society of sacred music dedicated to her in Rome, later transformed into the Academy, which still exists today and is called the National Academy of Santa Cecilia. Henry Purcell and Georg Handel were the first to add "Odes for St. Cecilia. " It falls on November 22nd. This tradition will be continued by musicians of all centuries (Charpentier, Gounod, Britten, Mahler), including our time. So, in 1966, Macle Herden wrote the song "Anthem of St. Cecilia."
The classic work of Raphael
In 1513, Rafael Santi received an order from Cardinal Lorenzo Pucci in honor of St. Cecilia for the chapel of the Augustinians in Bologna. The patron of the chapel and the actual customer was Elena Duloli dal Olio. She was known for the ecstatic seizures her music provoked. Therefore, she asked for herself the image of St. Cecilia, who, by playing the organ, brought herself into ecstasy (based on the article “Rafal Santi”, translation from English). Rafael depicted precisely this moment. The organ is omitted, the saint sees the singing heavenly angels (detail).
Her face is full of quiet passion and delight. Her dark expressive eyes look up alone, brown hair revealing a clean face. The warm and radiant light of life emanates from her, for she listens to the music of heaven.
Iconography
This is not a picture, but an icon, and in it every detail carries a specific load. Five figures on it are not accidental. Five in Christianity means the four apostles and Christ. In the center stands the central face - Saint Cecilia. Rafael on both sides symmetrically arranged her companions. We define them by attributes.
The apostle Paul, the creator of Christian doctrine, stands leaning on his sword and holding paper in his hands. He looks down at the scattered broken musical instruments, and is deep in thought. Evangelist John, bowing his head to his right shoulder, looks at St. Augustine. A dark eagle peers out from beneath his mantle. Further to the right, holding a staff, St.
Augustine looks at John the Theologian
. Mary Magdalene, who went through atonement and is now clean, with a shiny dark vessel of alabaster, in her hands looks directly at the viewer who is looking at her. Thus, part of the views intersect. St. Paul, in addition to broken instruments, sees in them a rejection of earthly pleasures and, in addition, a simple belt that lies among them and is for the Renaissance a traditional symbol of chastity.
John the Theologian was the patron saint of virginity, and Paul praised for celibacy. The belt itself is a reminder of abstinence from carnal pleasures.
Angels in the open sky
Only Saint Cecilia sees them. Raphael portrayed six singing angels, whose vocals and cappella surpass the most harmonious sounds that people can make. Three (sacred number) angels sing in their book. The fourth hand joins them. The other two are in their own way. We get a series of numbers: 1, 3, 2, and in the total 6. 1 + 3 gives the quart, 3 + 2 - the fifth. Harmony is output if there is still an octave. But it exists, only deeply hidden in the musical theory of Pythagoras, into which we will not delve into.
Harmonious world
The whole picture of Raphael "Holy Cecilia" is a skillfully interwoven wave-like lines that are harmoniously and unobtrusively intertwined. Streams of lines are folds of clothes, the contours of figures of monumental bodies characteristic of the works of this period of the painter. They all keep the viewer's eye on the image. Rafael Santi chose a general golden brown color, on which only a black-haired man in a green robe and red cloak stands out. His powerful figure and the brightness of his clothes emphasize the enormous work he made for Christianity, creating a holistic teaching. The main idea of the picture is the glorification of purity and ideal beauty, which Cecilia expresses.