A Female Teacher in the Third Century

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in French by ServirEnsemble. Vous pouvez lire cet article dans la langue originale en cliquant ici.

This summer, I had the good luck to find myself in Florence for a few days. Between two gelatos, we visited the can’t-miss Uffizi Galleries, a museum full of artistic masterpieces with numerous variations on certain religious themes. While I strolled halls filled with “Virgin and Childs,” one painting drew my attention: a representation of Saint Cecilia.

I didn’t know much about Saint Cecilia, except that she is the patron saint of musicians. But this painting drew my attention. In one of the vignettes, Cecilia is painted standing, surrounded by seated people who appear to be listening to her. The inscription confirms the impression this creates: “Cecilia preaches a sermon.”

My curiosity was piqued. Once I was back at home, I plunged into The Golden Legend, a medieval compendium that retells the lives of the saints—of which my husband, an enthusiast of literature and theology, certainly had a copy in his personal library.^[1]

The Story of Saint Cecilia

In the third century, Saint Cecilia was a Roman noblewoman who had consecrated her life to God from a young age, taking a vow of virginity. Married against her will to a man named Valerian, she revealed both her faith and her vow to her spouse. Valerian (after verifying her claim) agreed to respect her vow, had his own spiritual experience, and converted to Christianity. He was baptized by Pope Urban I, followed by his brother Tiburtius, who had been deeply touched by the faith of Cecilia and Valerian.

Cecilia and her companions became devout disciples, dedicating their lives to distributing alms and burying the bodies of martyrs. This illegal activity attracted the wrath of the prefect, who began by arresting the two brothers. They were then put to death, but not before having testified about their faith and leading the soldier who was guarding them to God. The prefect then sought to arrest Cecilia, but she in turn preached the gospel to the more than four hundred soldiers the prefect sent and entrusted them to Pope Urban for baptism.

In the end, Cecilia was condemned to death. She miraculously survived three days of her martyrdom, during which she took the time to commend “all the faithful whom she had converted” to Pope Urban (who is decidedly not very active in the story and appears to simply wait for Cecilia to take the initiative!). Cecilia died around the year 200 under the Emperor Alexander Severus, and Saint Urban, after having buried her, turned her house into a church as she had asked.

Present-Day Echoes

Of course, her story contains its share of oddities, as is often the case with the lives of the saints. It talks about her fiercely protected virginity, of an angel who was her lover, of crowns of invisible flowers, and of boiling water which felt cold. But in reading between the lines, what stands out above all else is her position of authority and her teaching: to her husband, to her brother-in-law, and to the hundreds of people who crossed her path. Cecilia reminds us that women have always had a place in the teaching and transmission of the Christian faith. This painting and the story behind it encouraged me. In sharing it, I hope to encourage other women in their ministries—both their recognized ministries and their invisible ones.

Editor’s note: Readers interested in further exploring the life of St. Cecilia can consult an English translation of The Golden Legend, vol. 6, free online at The Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Translation by Mikaela Bell.

[1] Jacobus, La légende dorée, trans. by Teodor de Wyzewa (Editions du Seuil, 1998), 71925.

Related Resources

Popular Articles