Today is the feast day of St Cecilia, also known as Cecilia of Rome. 10 things you might not know about her:
She is the patron saint of Music, organ builders, luthiers, singers, musicians and poets.
Her story goes that she made a vow of virginity, but her parents wanted to marry her off to a pagan nobleman named Valerian. At her wedding, she sat apart and sang to God in her heart, hence her patronage of music.
When Valerian came to her on their wedding night, wanting his conjugal rights, Cecilia told him she was being watched over by an Angel who would punish him if he had sex with her, but love him if he didn’t. Valerian demanded that she show him the angel. She said he’d be able to see it if he went to the third milestone on the Via Appia to be baptized by Pope Urban I. He did as she said, and could indeed see an angel then, standing beside his wife, crowning her with Roses and lilies.
Cecilia was martyred along with Valerian and his brother, at the hands of the prefect Turcius Almachius. Cecilia was struck three times on the neck with a sword, but lived for three more days.
As she died, she asked the Pope to convert her house into a church. The church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is reputedly built on the site of the house.
Geoffrey Chaucer retells the story of Cecilia in The Second Nun's Tale in The Canterbury Tales. She has even featured in Carry on films. She is mentioned in Carry On Abroad as a group of monks search for her tomb with an elixir named after her.
It’s possible Cecilia wasn’t actually her name at all. The name "Cecilia" was applied to Roman women from the plebeian clan of the Caecilii. Hence the meanings of the name suggested by Chaucer (lily of heaven, the way for the blind, contemplation of heaven) could be completely made up.
As patron saint of music, numerous music festivals have been held in her honour. The first known was held at Évreux, Normandy in 1570. She has also been inspiration for composers from Henry Purcell, Handel and Gounod to Benjamin Britten, whose birthday is on her feast day. He wrote Hymn to St Cecilia, based on a poem by WH Auden. Even pop music has a tribute to her. Paul Simon has suggested that the Simon and Garfunkel hit Cecilia is about her, and the song might therefore be about the frustration of fleeting inspiration in songwriting and the vagaries of musical fame.
The famous luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume produces a line of Violins and violas under the name St. Cécile.
She has appeared on a UK banknote. She appears in miniature, under Worcester Cathedral, on the back of the old £20 note featuring Sir Edward Elgar.
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Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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