St Cecilia

Today is the day of St Cecilia, patron saint of music. She was a Christian, the daughter of a Roman senator and married a noble pagan called Valerianus. On the wedding night, Cecilia told her husband that she was in fact already betrothed to an angel who fiercely guarded her body so he should not violate her virginity. Sceptical, Valerianus demanded to see the angel and Cecilia sent him to the third milestone on the Appian Way where he should meet Pope Urbanus. Valerianus did this. was baptised by the Pope and returned to his wife. An angel then appeared to them both and crowned them with roses and lilies.
They then converted Valerianus' brother Tiburtius and the three went on to lead a Christian life, giving alms and burying the bodies of Christian martyrs. They were all condemned to death by the prefect Turcius Almachius. The two brothers were sought out by the officer Maximus but they succeeded in converting him. Turcius Almachius was so infuriated that he had all three men executed and Cecilia buried them in a single tomb.
Cecilia herself was then captured and condemned to death by suffocating in her bath. She survived that, however, and so they decided to behead her, which they managed after three attempts. As she was dying, she sang to God.