St. Cecilia by John Melhuish Strudwick (1849 - 1935)
Most of the stories of the saint on today's liturgical calendar are legends enjoying scant historical foundation but still held with great affection in the hearts of believers. You can read some of those legends by clicking on Saint of the Day in the LINKS section of the sidebar or by reading here. (True or not-so-true, these are great stories! I'm especially hopeful that today's saint DID convert some 400 people to the Christian faith by her preaching!
Today is a day to be grateful for those who lead us in sung prayer in so many ways in the liturgy. Find a moment between now and the weekend to thank your parish Music Director, your parish organist and pianist, your cantors, your choir members, instrumentalists and don't forget the greatest choir of all: the people of God assembled to offer praise and thanks to the Father, through the Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
It seems only right and just that this post should have a musical element! Here's a video of the last two minutes of the Purcell's Ode to St. Cecilia. Benito Jaurez is conducting the Coral Universidade de São Paulo. (I would like to have provided more, but this is all I could find on the Internet.)
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Just listened to Ode to St. Cecilia. Very beautiful. I truly am grateful to our music team at Holy Family. We are blessed to have such talented people who share their gifts with us. I am also happy that more people seem to be singing at Mass. He who sings prays twice!!! About the story of St. Cecilia...WOW...some of the people who recounted the lives of the saints really had vivid imaginations is all I can say. If St. Cecilia's husband Valerian is not a saint, he should be!
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