The time of the harvest

Vol 8 Issue 47 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward KrierNovember 21, 2015 ~ Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (43)
2. Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost
3. Saint Cecilia
4. Christ in the Home (18)
5.Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

As we reach the end of the liturgical year and meditate upon Christ’s Second Coming and the Signs that beckon it, it would seem that certainly “wars and rumors of wars” has not been wanting. Nor has the natural disasters that give vent to the moaning of creation for the sins of mankind. Yet, though Hollywood has profited off the expectation of a world end, Catholics seem to shrug it off as “But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32); and forget “Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour” Matthew 25:13. That is, they are not watching for the Coming of Christ, that is, preparing for His Coming, knowing that through the centuries all Catholics looked forward when Christ would come as they battled the forces of antichrist—sometimes physical, sometimes spiritual, but always present. Today we, too, are fighting the spiritual forces that seem so strong that they should have prevailed, but the faith—however dim—still shines and invites mankind to its embrace. We, too, are fighting the physical forces that deprive and limit our ability to live our faith freely and even are attacked with its venomous hatred of all that is good. If we are prepared to meet Christ as He comes, surely in death we will be ready to meet Him. If we are not ready to meet Him as He comes in the Clouds of heaven, we will surely not be ready to meet Him as He comes to judge us at the hour of our death. There cannot be a dichotomy in life, since our life expresses our faith and therefore our life must be to watch for His Coming, ready in all our good works:

Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come he shall find so doing. Amen I say to you, he shall place him over all his goods. But if that evil servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming: And shall begin to strike his fellow servants, and shall eat and drink with drunkards: The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not, and at an hour that he knoweth not: And shall separate him, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [Matt. 24:46-51]

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit.—The Editor

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Baptism

Means of Salvation

Sacrament of Baptism

The Church Defines her Teachings on Baptism

Saint Augustine

The Donatists were not willing to simply accept the teachings of the Catholic Church, and Augustine found himself having to answer each of their arguments, even though they themselves did not live up to their demands of non-Donatists. Addressing the question as to how can a Sacrament be sacred when the person receiving or administering is defiled by sin Augustine takes St. Cyprian’s words and expands:

The comparison of the Church with Paradise [Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. ad Jubaian. 10] shows us that men may indeed receive her baptism outside her pale, but that no one outside can either receive or retain the salvation of eternal happiness. For, as the words of Scripture testify, the streams from the fountain of Paradise flowed copiously even beyond its bounds. Record indeed is made of their names; and through what countries they flow, and that they are situated beyond the limits of Paradise, is known to all; Genesis 2:8-14 and yet in Mesopotamia, and in Egypt, to which countries those rivers extended, there is not found that blessedness of life which is recorded in Paradise. Accordingly, though the waters of Paradise are found beyond its boundaries, yet its happiness is in Paradise alone. So, therefore, the baptism of the Church may exist outside, but the gift of the life of happiness is found alone within the Church, which has been founded on a rock, which has received the keys of binding and loosing. Matthew 16:18-19 “She it is alone who holds as her privilege the whole power of her Bridegroom and Lord;” by virtue of which power as bride, she can bring forth sons even of handmaids. And these, if they be not high-minded, shall be called into the lot of the inheritance; but if they be high-minded, they shall remain outside. (Ibid. lib. 4, c. 1, 1)

For despite the fact that there are saints and sinners in the Church, “the Church herself is uncorrupt, and pure, and chaste.” [Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. ad Jubaian. 10]

Now, therefore, the question is, how could men of the party of the devil belong to the Church, which has no spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, of which also it is said, “My dove is one?” Song of Songs 6:9 But if they cannot, it is clear that she groans among those who are not of her, some treacherously laying wait within, some barking at her gate without. Such men, however, even within, both receive baptism, and possess it, and transmit it holy in itself; nor is it in any way defiled by their wickedness, in which they persevere even to the end. Wherefore the same blessed Cyprian teaches us that baptism is to be considered as consecrated in itself by the words of the gospel, as the Church has received, without joining to it or mingling with it any consideration of waywardness and wickedness on the part of either minister or recipients; since he himself points out to us both truths,— both that there have been some within the Church who did not cherish kindly Christian love, but practised envy and unkind dissension, of whom the Apostle Paul spoke; and also that the envious belong to the devil’s party, as he testifies in the most open way in the epistle which he wrote about envy and malignity. Wherefore, since it is clearly possible that in those who belong to the devil’s party, Christ’s sacrament may yet be holy—not, indeed, to their salvation, but to their condemnation, and that not only if they are led astray after they have been baptized, but even if they were such in heart when they received the sacrament, renouncing the world (as the same Cyprian shows) in words only and not in deeds; [Cypr. Ep. xi. 1.] and since even if afterwards they be brought into the right way, the sacrament is not to be again administered which they received when they were astray; so far as I can see, the case is already clear and evident, that in the question of baptism we have to consider, not who gives, but what he gives; not who receives, but what he receives; not who has, but what he has. For if men of the party of the devil, and therefore in no way belonging to the one dove, can yet receive, and have, and give baptism in all its holiness, in no way defiled by their waywardness, as we are taught by the letters of Cyprian himself, how are we ascribing to heretics what does not belong to them? How are we saying that what is really Christ’s is theirs, and not rather recognizing in them the signs of our Sovereign, and correcting the deeds of deserters from Him? Wherefore it is one thing, as the holy Cyprian says, “for those within in the Church, to speak in the name of Christ, another thing for those without, who are acting against the Church, to baptize in His name.” [Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 14.]  But both many who are within act against the Church by evil living, and by enticing weak souls to copy their lives; and some who are without speak in Christ’s name, and are not forbidden to work the works of Christ, but only to be without, since for the healing of their souls we grasp at them, or reason with them, or exhort them. For he, too, was without who did not follow Christ with His disciples, and yet in Christ’s name was casting out devils, which the Lord enjoined that he should not be prevented from doing; Luke 9:49-50 although, certainly, in the point where he was imperfect he was to be made whole, in accordance with the words of the Lord, in which He says, “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad.” Matthew 12:30 Therefore both some things are done outside in the name of Christ not against the Church, and some things are done inside on the devil’s part which are against the Church. (Ibid., lib. 4, c. 10, 17)

. . . when baptism is given in the words of the gospel, however great be the perverseness of understanding on the part either of him through whom, or of him to whom it is given, the sacrament itself is holy in itself on account of Him whose sacrament it is. And if any one, receiving it at the hands of a misguided man, yet does not receive the perversity of the minister, but only the holiness of the mystery, being closely bound to the unity of the Church in good faith and hope and charity, he receives remission of his sins—not by the words which do eat as does a canker, but by the sacraments of the gospel flowing from a heavenly source. But if the recipient himself be misguided, on the one hand, what is given is of no avail for the salvation of the misguided man; and yet, on the other hand, that which is received remains holy in the recipient, and is not renewed to him if he be brought to the right way. (Ibid., lib. 4, c. 12, 19)

And to the argument one might have even today whether or not there is salvation in those outside the Church, St. Augustine continues further:

We do not, therefore, “acknowledge the baptism of heretics,” [Cypr. Ep. lxiii. 12: quando a nobis baptisma eorum in acceptum refertur.] when we refuse to baptize after them; but because we acknowledge the ordinance to be of Christ even among evil men, whether openly separated from us, or secretly severed while within our body, we receive it with due respect, having corrected those who were wrong in the points wherein they went astray. However as I seem to be hard pressed when it is said to me, “Does then a heretic confer remission of sins?” so I in turn press hard when I say, Does then he who violates the commands of Heaven, the avaricious man, the robber, the usurer, the envious man, does he who renounces the world in words and not in deeds, confer such remission? If you mean by the force of God’s sacrament, then both the one and the other; if by his own merit, neither of them. For that sacrament, even in the hands of wicked men, is known to be of Christ; but neither the one nor the other of these men is found in the body of the one uncorrupt, holy, chaste dove, which has neither spot nor wrinkle. And just as baptism is of no profit to the man who renounces the world in words and not in deeds, so it is of no profit to him who is baptized in heresy or schism; but each of them, when he amends his ways, begins to receive profit from that which before was not profitable, but was yet already in him.

“He therefore that is baptized in heresy does not become the temple of God; but does it therefore follow that he is not to be considered as baptized? For neither does the avaricious man, baptized within the Church, become the temple of God unless he depart from his avarice; for they who become the temple of God certainly inherit the kingdom of God. But the apostle says, among many other things, “Neither the covetous, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 6:10 (Ibid. lib. 4, c. 4, 6, 7)

The Donatists, to defend their position, ended rejecting the validity of Catholic baptism, taking the words of St. Paul: One Lord, one faith, one baptism. (Eph. 4:5) Augustine conjoins this quote they wrongly interpret and shows it must be understood with Paul’s words to the Corinthians:

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment. . . . Now this I say, that every one of you saith: I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I am of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul then crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I give God thanks, that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Caius; Lest any should say that you were baptized in my name. (1 Cor. 10, 12-15)

Baptism did not belong to the Donatists, but to Christ through His Church, the Church that is Apostolic. The Donatists, in their roots, did not go back to the Apostles, not even to St. Cyprian, but to Secundus in 311, more than 50 years after St. Cyprian. St. Cyprian remained united with the Catholic Church and defended that unity of the Catholic Church. How could the Donatists now say the Catholic Church, which had not changed, be now not the Church? Whereas the Donatists were introducing that which had been rejected by the Catholic Church even before St. Cyprian? This was also the argument of St Optatus and Augustine reiterates it, as he writes:

But as regards his [Cyprian] saying, “Nor let any one affirm that what they have received from the apostles, that they follow; for the apostles handed down only one Church and one baptism, and that appointed only in the same Church:” this does not so much move me to venture to condemn the baptism of Christ when found among heretics (just as it is necessary to recognize the gospel itself when I find it with them, though I abominate their error), as it warns me that there were some even in the times of the holy Cyprian who traced to the authority of the apostles that custom against which the African Councils were held, and in respect of which he himself said a little above, “In vain do those who are beaten by reason oppose to us the authority of custom.”(De baptism contra Donat., lib. 4, c. 6, 9)

Despite the length of his work, the synopsis can be set in his words already quoted above: [S]o far as I can see, the case is already clear and evident, that in the question of baptism we have to consider, not who gives, but what he gives; not who receives, but what he receives; not who has, but what he has.(Ibid., lib. 4, c. 10, 17) As St Optatus, the concept of ex opere operato is presented that would be a pillar of Sacramental theology.

Saint Augustine would go on to expound on this work On Baptism in specific points as the Donatists would attempt to rebuttal. In reply to one such effort, Augustine writes:

If then, the man whom he baptizes receives faith, and not guilt; if, then, the baptizer is not his origin and root and head, who is it from whom he receives faith? Where is the origin from which he springs? Where is the root of which he is a shoot? Where the head which is his starting-point? Can it be, that when he who is baptized is unaware of the faithlessness of his baptizer, it is then Christ who gives faith, it is then Christ who is the origin and root and head? Alas for human rashness and conceit! Why do you not allow that it is always Christ who gives faith, for the purpose of making a man a Christian by giving it? Why do you not allow that Christ is always the origin of the Christian, that the Christian always plants his root in Christ, that Christ is the head of the Christian? Do we then maintain that, even when spiritual grace is dispensed to those that believe by the hands of a holy and faithful minister, it is still not the minister himself who justifies, but that One of whom it is said, that “He justifies the ungodly?” Romans 4:5 But unless we admit this, either the Apostle Paul was the head and origin of those whom he had planted, or Apollos the root of those whom he had watered, rather than He who had given them faith in believing; whereas the same Paul says, “I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase: so then neither is he that plants anything, nor he that waters, but God that gives the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 Nor was the apostle himself their root, but rather He who says, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” John 15:5 How, too, could he be their head, when he says, that “we, being many, are one body in Christ,” Romans 12:5 and expressly declares in many passages that Christ Himself is the head of the whole body?(Answer to Petilian the Donatist, lib I, cap. 7, 8)

By the time the Council of Carthage of 419 gathered, it seems the influence of the Donatists had waned to such an extent that there is only mention in Canon 48: But we suggest that we decree what was set forth by the wisdom of the plenary synod at Capua, that no rebaptisings, nor reordinations should take place, and that bishops should not be translated.

Finally, with regard to faith, Augustine held it as essential and in its profession necessary to baptism. The following introduces his instructions to catechumens on the (Apostles’) Creed, the Creed always required before Baptism since Apostolic times:

Receive, my children, the Rule of Faith, which is called the Symbol (or Creed). And when you have received it, write it in your heart, and be daily saying it to yourselves; before ye sleep, before ye go forth, arm you with your Creed. The Creed no man writes so as it may be able to be read: but for rehearsal of it, lest haply forgetfulness obliterate what care has delivered, let your memory be your record-roll: what you are about to hear, that are you to believe; and what you shall have believed, that are about to give back with your tongue. For the Apostle says, With the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For this is the Creed which you are to rehearse and to repeat in answer. These words which you have heard are in the Divine Scriptures scattered up and down: but thence gathered and reduced into one, that the memory of slow persons might not be distressed; that every person may be able to say, able to hold, what he believes. For have ye now merely heard that God is Almighty? But ye begin to have him for your father, when you have been born by the church as your Mother.

(To be continued)

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Last Sunday after Pentecost

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK

“Walk worthy of God”

1. Christ is coming to judge the heavens and the earth; “For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the proper things of the body according as he hath done, whether it be good or evil” (II Cor. 5: 10). The liturgy beseeches almighty God to give us the grace to “walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing” (Epistle). If we have done so, we can go to meet our judge without fear.
2. “Walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing.” The Epistle instructs us how we may thus walk: “Be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” It is the will of Holy Mother the Church that we be filled with a spiritual and supernatural wisdom and foresight. She wishes us to understand what she intends for us and does for us. She would have us grow in our understanding of the mysteries of the incarnation, the redemption, the operation of grace in our souls, our incorporation in Christ, and our participation in divine life, grace, and eternal life. According to the mind of the liturgy, the Christian should live in a world of the spirit, so “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph. 1: 17). Through this wisdom and understanding we have “knowledge of the will of God”; that is, knowledge of the benevolent providence of God, which determined from all eternity to send His divine Son, that He might through His suffering and death reconcile us to the Father and adopt us as the very sons of God. Inspired by such a knowledge, we “walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing.” A profound knowledge of what God is, and what He did for us, and what He will yet do for us in eternity, cannot but influence our lives. It will make us “fruitful in every good work, . . . strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory, in all patience and long suffering with joy” (Epistle). We should first know God, what He is, and what He means to us, and then only should we look upon ourselves. Only then shall we acquire a joyful consciousness of our participation in the life of God.

“Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins” (Epistle). We have received three great graces from God. Though born into the world as children of anger and destruction, we become partakers of the lot of the saints in light, since we share the light of faith here on earth and are one day to share in the light of glory and blessedness in heaven. Although we were born into the world as the slaves of Satan, God has freed us from the domination of the powers of darkness and has made us members of the kingdom of His beloved Son and of His Church. As members of the Church, we become members of the body of Christ, branches of the living vine, living by the Spirit of Christ, filled with Christ, and destined one day to share His inheritance in heaven. Finally, Christ has redeemed us through His suffering and death, and has obtained for us the remission of sins. We should give “thanks to God the Father” by our continual consciousness of the graces He has poured forth upon us in Christ Jesus. Our lives should be an unbroken “Thanks be to God,” an uninterrupted eucharist, a continual act of gratitude to God the Father.

3. The object of the liturgy during the past year has been to give us a better understanding of the benefits God has bestowed on us in the incarnation of His only-begotten Son and in His life and teaching, in His suffering and death, in His resurrection, ascension, and glorification; she has striven to teach us the meaning of our incorporation in Christ and to induce us to live the life of the sons of God. She has sought to make us understand the importance of the Eucharist, which is offered by the priest each day and given to us as our spiritual nourishment. She would have us understand that Christ still operates in Us and will continue to do so until we are finally prepared to share with Him His eternal glory and blessedness. We should continually meditate on these truths.

“Brethren, we cease not to pray . . . that you may be filled with the knowledge of the will of God in all wisdom” (Epistle). Once we are able to live in the knowledge of what God is and what He has done for us, and we are absorbed by this thought in spite of all the bitter trials that come to us, in spite of all misfortunes, difficulties, failures, and setbacks, then we are truly perfect Christians. Such a knowledge of God is not easily acquired. To keep one’s gaze fixed on God and Christ throughout the day is not an easy task. The world about us tends to distract our attention from the part that Christ and God play in our redemption and sanctification. Our own efforts to work out our salvation tend to take the place of primary importance. In a world in which evil is so predominant, the grace and work of Christ and God appear remote and unreal. We are occupied too much with ourselves and too little with God, our Savior; we therefore are no longer able to view life in its proper perspective. Thus, too, we lose that spirit of Christian joy and confidence which characterized the life of St. Paul. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, … nor things present nor things to come, nor might … nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:38). God should occupy the first place in our lives.

PRAYER

Arouse, we beseech Thee, 0 Lord, the wills of Thy faithful, that by more earnestly seeking the fruit of the divine work, they may reo ceive more abundantly the gifts of Thy loving kindness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The time of the harvest

1. “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven . . . . They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty” (Gospel). When evil has reached its climax, the Lord will appear, “and then that wicked one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming” (II Thess. 2:8). The good shall be separated from the wicked as “the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:32). Then the number of the elect shall be filled. This day of the harvest, the Last Judgment, is at hand.
2. “Suffer both to grow until the harvest” (Matt. 13:30). The growth of the wheat and the cockle side by side is a type of good and evil, of the children of light and the children of darkness, of the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of Christ. These two kingdoms, each commanded by its king, will oppose each other until the end of time. In the one kingdom the law of the flesh rules supreme, and in the other the law of the spirit. In the one, men devote themselves to the search for fortune and transitory pleasure; in the other they live for the hope of a blessed eternity. In the kingdom of Satan men place a high value on the things of this earth; in the kingdom of Christ only that which is supernatural is important. Although these two kingdoms exist side by side here on earth, they are separated in their ideals and objectives by an immense chasm. The same sun rises upon the members of these two kingdoms, and they breathe the same air; their fields are made fruitful by the same rains, but the two kingdom are as far apart as day and night. The cockle and the wheat grow side by side, and as they reach maturity the difference between them becomes more acute. Evil is gathering its forces for one last effort, for the decisive battle. But when Christ will appear for judgment, those who were opposed spiritually will also be separated physically: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire” (Matt. 25:41). But to His own He will say:

“Come, ye blessed of My Father” (Matt. 25:34). Christ has known His own from the beginning, and He has remained with them in the world, there redeeming and blessing them. He has permitted the evil ones to continue also, either that He might convert them from their evil, or that they may be the cause of the increase of virtue in the good. “Suffer both to grow until the harvest.”

“In the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle and bind it into bundles to burn; but the wheat gather ye into my barns” (Matt. 13:30). The Day of Judgment is the day of the return of the Lord, the day of reckoning, the day when a dear and decisive distinction will be made between the good and the evil, between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan. The Last Judgment will conclude the work of divine providence, which has watched over the course of the world for thousands of years. The Last Judgment will perfect the work of divine providence and will confirm and make final all the judgments of God from the beginning. Then the history of the world and all the events that have occurred since the beginning of time will be laid before us like an open book. This is the day on which the justice of God’s decisions will be confirmed, and they who accuse Him of having been harsh, will be confounded (Matt. 25:24). On that day the wisdom of God will triumph, for all men will see how mildly, wisely, and justly God has governed the world. All will then see that God has treated everyone according to his just due. “Thou hast delivered us, O Lord, from them that afflict us, and hast put them to shame that hate us” (Gradual).

At the Last Judgment we shall see the triumph of the charity of God, who has always lent a willing ear to the petitions of men, who has entertained only thoughts of peace and good will, and who has turned away from thoughts of bitterness and affliction. (Introit). It will be apparent that God has left nothing undone to save those who have gone astray. The Day of Judgment will be a day of triumph for the power of God, who bends even the powers of evil to His own purpose and allows it to exist, although He despises it, that He may show His mercy to sinners and lead the virtuous to greater virtue through the molestations of evil men. On the Day of Judgment all will be forced to confess: “Thou art just, O Lord, and thy judgment is right” (Ps. 118: 137); “All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth” (Ps. 24: 10). The Day of Judgment will see the separation of all that is unclean, false, and unjust from all that is good, true, clean, and sublime. In that day truth will triumph over falsehood, justice over injustice, faith over unbelief, adherence to Christ over apostasy. The cockle shall be gathered into bundles to be burned, and the wheat into the barns of the Lord.

3. Christus vincit; Christus regnat; Christus imperat. “Christ conquers; Christ reigns; Christ commands.” In this belief we await His coming. “Thy kingdom come.” Because of our faith in His return in power and glory, we accept willingly the difficulties we meet in the world, many of which are hard for us to understand. Our faith is tested without ceasing; but we shall not go astray. We know that the day of the harvest is to come, the day when darkness will be separated from the light. “Walk then as children of the light” (Eph. 5:8) with Christ and His Church.

PRAYER

Be propitious. O Lord, to our supplications and … turn all our hearts unto Thee, that being delivered from earthly desires, we may pass on to heavenly desires. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Secreta.)

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NOVEMBER 22

St. Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

1. Cecilia is one of the most highly venerated virgin-martyrs of the Church; her name occurs in the Canon of the Mass. There are no reliable records regarding either her person or her martyrdom. She may have gained her crown in the persecution of Alexander Severus (222-235), or in that of Valerian (258) or in that of Diocletian (304). One fact stands, however: that there was in the fourth century a church in Rome founded by a Cecilia. Tradition affirms that she was of noble stock and that she was married to a certain Valerian, against her will. On the first evening they were together she persuaded him not to touch her, by promising that he would be able to see the Guardian Angel at her side if he would go to Pope Urban and receive baptism. Thus did she preserve her virginity and gain a convert to Christ; in fact, both Valerian and his brother Tiburtius suffered martyrdom for the Faith. Then Almachius, the Prefect of Rome, arrested Cecilia, who had already given all Valerian’s possessions to the poor. An attempt to murder her in her home by means of steam met with failure; an executioner then vainly attempted to cut off her head, and left her dying after three strokes of his axe. Her house was converted into a church, to which her body was transferred by order of Pope Paschal I (817-824), after resting for a time in the Catacombs of St. Callistus.
2. “I will reveal a secret to you, Valerian: the angel of God is my protector and he jealously guards my body.” Although Cecilia submitted to marriage with the pagan Valerian, she was determined to preserve her virginity and to lead her husband to Christ. While the noisy merriment of the wedding celebration was in progress she spoke to our Lord: “Keep my heart unspotted and let me not be confounded” (Vesper antiphon). She had promised Him to remain a virgin and she trusted in His help, in spite of the marriage forced upon her by her parents. Valerian was impressed by her sincere promise that he should see her angel, and he respected her convictions. After receiving baptism and seeing the angel, he went at once to lead his brother to the font. By a miracle God had rewarded Cecilia’s filial obedience and trust; she remained a virgin after marriage.

“Be bold, you soldiers of Christ; throwaway the weapons of darkness and take up those of light.” These were Cecilia’s last words to her husband and his brother as they were led away to death. She was seized and locked in her bathroom, which was then heated until it seemed certain she must suffocate. She prayed, however, and remained unharmed. She joyfully exposed her neck for the stroke of the axe, but had to linger three days in her blood before she secured the crown of life. “Behold, the bridegroom is on his way; go out to meet him” (Gospel). “Come, spouse of Christ, receive the crown that the Lord has prepared for thee from eternity. For love of Him, thou hast shed thy blood” (Responsory at Matins).

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