Archive for May 9, 2010
CECILIA by Linda Ferri
Saint Cecilia is listed in the Catholic Mass’ Commemoration of the Dead. Her feast day is easy to remember because it is the same day President Kennedy was assassinated: November 22. She is the patron saint of musicians and Church music because she is said to have sung as she was dying. According to hagiography, she was a Roman noble woman who converted to Christianity toward the end of the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.). An only child, she married a man, Valerian, who along with his brother preceded her in martyrdom for their mutually-held religion. Cecilia survived several attempted executions, but finally after lingering a few days, she, still young, passed into Church history. The verifiable information about Saint Cecilia’s life is quite sparse, and so a novelist has plenty of elbow room for embellishment. Linda Ferri’s CECILIA takes apt advantage of this opportunity for invention in the name of rounding out characters, time, and place.
May 9, 2010
Tags: Ancient Rome, early a.d, Europa, Historical Posted in: Real People Fiction, Spiritual, Time Period Fiction, Translated, italy 
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