Toronto Catholic District School Board

aint Cecilia is the patroness of musicians and Church music. It was said that she sang to God as she was dying.Saint Cecilia was an only child.Her feast day, which is on November 22, is celebrated not only by the Roman Catholic Church but also by the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Excluding the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Cecilia is one of seven women commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass.Saint Cecilia perished in Sicily under Emperor Marcus Aurelius between 176 and 180. A church in her honor exists in Rome from about the 5th century, was rebuilt with much splendor by Pope Paschal I around the year 820, and again by cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati in 1599. It is situated in Trastevere, near the Ripa Grande quay, where in earlier days the ghetto was located, and is the titulus of a Cardinal Priest, currently Carlo Maria Martini.