Happy Monday! We hope you're ready for another full week of rough and tumble saintly action. We kick things off with Perpetua vs. Cecilia as we head into the early third century.
Last week concluded with Thomas of Villanova routing Aloysius Gonzaga 72% to 28%, in the most lopsided matchup to date. No word on how this will impact this year's NCAA basketball tournament.
And since it's Monday, stay tuned for today's episode of Monday Madness which will be released later today.
Perpetua
Perpetua, along with other Christian catechumens, was arrested in 203 CE in Thurburbo Minus, just west of Carthage (modern-day Tunisia). Prior to the arrest, not much about Perpetua is known. Once she was arrested, however, she kept a journal of her experience in prison and during the trials that ultimately culminated in her martyrdom. Portions of her journal survive to this day in the text of The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas. Those journal entries may be the earliest extant Christian writings authored by a woman.
The journal narrates how Perpetua, a young 22-year-old mother of a nursing infant, repeatedly resisted pressure from her family to recant her faith. In the interactions, we see her father’s deep love and anguish for his daughter and her steadfast commitment to the Christian faith. Their tense exchanges are a sort of practice for her before she faces the regional governor. In each interchange, she states succinctly and clearly, “I am a Christian.” When she repeats the same before the Roman Emperor’s regent in court, she is condemned to death by wild beasts in the arena.
There is a certain humanity to her journals. In one entry, she narrates how her son was taken from her and given to her family. She expresses relief that her son did not go through the normal challenges of being weaned and is grateful that she herself did not experience pain in the process. It is noteworthy that her child is given to her family rather than to the father of the child and his family. One wonders if he was the one who turned her and her friends over to the authorities.
Throughout the journals, Perpetua also narrates visions and dreams she experienced while in prison. The visions give Perpetua agency and courage to stand fast in her faith. She embraced her fate and during games commemorating the fourteenth birthday of Geta, the younger son of the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus, she and the other catechumens were sent to the arena. In the arena, a wild heifer was set upon her and Felicitas (somehow under the logic that a female animal should be used to kill women). They survive the assault, with Perpetua in an ecstatic state, only to be killed by the sword in an anticlimactic execution.
Collect for Perpetua
O God, the King of Saints, who strengthened your servants Perpetua, Felicity, and their companions to make a good confession and to encourage one another in the time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith and win with them the palm of victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Cecilia
Cecilia has both inspired—and broken—the hearts of musicians, from George Frideric Handel to Paul Simon.
The patron saint of musicians was born into a noble family sometime around 200 CE in Rome. She grew up in the Christian faith and vowed as a young girl that she would remain a virgin. Still, when her parents arranged her marriage to a man named Valerian, she didn’t run away. Instead, Cecilia sang. The Golden Legend—a collection of stories of the saints read widely in late medieval Europe that paved the way for Lent Madness—recounts that when Cecilia heard the music begin at her wedding, she “sang in her heart, only to God, saying: O Lord, I beseech thee that mine heart and body may be undefouled so that I be not confounded.”
When her new husband approached her to consummate their marriage, she told him that an angel watched over her, and if he were to touch her, the angel would slay him. Unconvinced, Valerian told her to prove it. So, she told him to go to a place outside the city, where he would find Pope Urban among the poor, and ask the pope to baptize him. Only then would he see the angel. Valerian found the pope just as Cecilia described, was baptized, and returned home to find his wife indeed speaking with an angel, according to The Golden Legend. The angel crowned them both with roses and lilies and told them to keep their crowns and chastity.
The couple later converted Valerian’s brother, Tyburtius, to Christianity. The brothers became known for burying the remains of Christian martyrs and giving all they owned to people in need before they were martyred themselves. After burying her husband and brother, Cecilia was called before the Roman prefect Almachius. After sassing Almachius and refusing to offer a sacrifice to the Roman god Jupiter, she was sentenced to death. Her executioner struck her neck three times with a sword, but her head remained attached and Cecilia alive. For three days, she continued to preach and convert many people before she died.
Cecilia has been revered for centuries in poetry, art, music, and a number of Christian traditions, and her feast day on November 22 is celebrated with concerts and music festivals around the world.
Collect for Cecilia
Almighty and everlasting God, who chooses those whom the world deems powerless to put the powerful to shame: Grant us so to cherish the memory of your youthful martyr Cecilia, that we might share her pure and steadfast faith in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
143 comments on “Perpetua vs. Cecilia”
My vote is for Cecilia, in memory of my mother, a professional church organist & choir director, I vote for Cecilia. She had the fortitude to complete her certification studies via correspondence and two years of summer school, all the while helping my father to run our farm while traveling a good distance to reach our parish church where she worked. She also devoted time & energy to promoting music & education, and volunteered as a music therapist in the nearest (a distance) Veterans’ Admin. Hospital for vets with mental health problems. She was a strong woman.
Although Gonzaga was defeated here, his spirit will prevail in March Madness.
Oh, enough with the virginity worship! A synchretistic borrowing from Roman paganism that stunted both the Church and healthy attitudes about human sexuality. (And did the sleep-inducing Valerian root get its name from the restful, sleep-inducing state of Valerian and Cecelia's bedroom?)
My vote goes for Perpetua and her boots-on-the-ground journalism. And I pray that her poor child managed to have a long and healthy and beloved life.
Yup. Virginity is ridiculous.
Herbert Howells
"Sing for the morning's joy, Cecilia, sing,
In words of youth and praises of the Spring,
Walk the bright colonnades by fountains' spray,
And sing as sunlight fills the waking day..."
As a biblical storyteller, I love to perform the Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, including at my church last Hallowe'en! And as a deacon, I appreciate and hear the deacons' voices in the second half of the text, which tells "the deed of the games themselves." And as a writer, I feel this earliest writing by a woman deserves more prominence.
Thanks Deacon Beth - I do appreciate your Biblical Story Telling & readily voted for Perpetua today.
Perpetua's story is my favorite! Such an account of bold faith!
Tough choice but I voted for Cecelia.
Won’t let me vote!
I worked with a Sister Perpetua at a Catholic hospital years ago. She was such a kind and lovely woman. I read Perpetua's story and it has stuck with me all these years. I had to vote for her.
I’ve only been able to vote twice since Lent started. Maybe it would be better to have a few people cheat and vote too much then to lose the fans you have built for Lent Madness these past few years.
When I was working and we would call for the priest to come sister Cecelia would often show up in his place. She would minister to the sick as best she could and would always sing in her lovely, waverly voice. She, too, played the piano. By vote: St Cecelia
For my four years of boarding school, I sang in the choir, and every year at graduation we sang the Sanctus from Gounod's St. Cecilia Mass. It still makes me tear up. She's got my vote!
Perpetua - a young mother and a writer. I very much like Saint Cecilia, but will vote today for Perpetua.
Both women spoke to me as I am a musician and i grew up on the Oregon Coast near Cape Perpetua. It has one of the most stunning views on the Oregon Coast and I think Perpetua would have been proud to have it named for her so she got my vote!
Poor Pet! She is clearly an actual person who suffered, and left us her written account of what life was like for her and other believers, but there is no way she will be able to overcome the myth of Cecilia who is identified as the musicians' muse. Sigh.
Saints with a lot of “and then magic allegorical fantasies happened” like Cecelia are tough to support over a young martyr like Perpetua. I imagine her infant child was a girl or the father’s family would have demanded the infant. How terrible it must have been for her to know she would not live to see her child grow. But bless the good saint of God’s gift of music all the same.
As a former maternity nurse, Perpetua's story really moved me and as I can't carry a tune, voted for Perpetua.
Anyone that can keep her head in spite of it being attacked three times deserves my vote. Cecelia it is.
The rationale for voting is beyond my understanding. It is often based on feelings, not knowledge, on gender, or the internet. I used to look forward to LM ALL year long. That is no longer true. This will likely be my last year. There is no objectivity. My husband is a psychiatrist. He says, “Feeling are real, but they may not be based on the truth.” Mystics have a slim chance because too many disbelieve the legends. I believe in miracles and dreams. Long live our indispensable mystics. Sent with Christian love.
Two 3rd century martyrs. Both inspiring saints.
After laughing at those who voted because of school ties, I'm voting for Perpetua because I enjoyed my trip to Cape Perpetua many decades ago. Named by the European explorer who sailed by on her saint's day. Sorry Dedilia.
As a (Catholic) child, I had small illustrated books of saints. St. Cecelia was pictured in a beautiful red dress, playing the organ in a room where the floor was black and white tiles (not historically accurate, probably) her shining brown hair cascading down her back. I decided then and there to choose Cecilia as my confirmation name. Then it turned out that my grandmother's middle name was Cecelia, and that my grandfather's birthday was November 22. Now, at 66, I am in the church choir and married to a musician. I've got to follow Cecelia for as long as she lasts in Lent Madness!
I was prepared to vote for Perpetua just because I know she's got a great Cape. But her story was good and inspiring, too.
Perpetua is the first LGBTQ+ saint. That alone should put her above Cecilia.
Also The whole concept of virginity being the “ideal state” is ridiculous and shames people.
I can't vote for either one of these; neither inspire or even grab me.
Listen to this: https://youtu.be/ViSQRzLk68s
then vote for Cecelia!
Thank you for this lent opportunity to learn about some saints.
I do think that Perpetua was the more noble of the two contenders, I was disappointed with the outcome.