Santa Cecilia

Last Friday I took a walk through Trastevere and visited my church, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. You might be thinking, "Lauren, I didn't know you had a church. Come to think of it, since when are you Catholic?" Well, I do and I'm not. I've come to call Santa Cecilia in Trastevere "my church" because it houses a sculpture of Saint Cecilia by a 17th century artist, Stefano Maderno. I am writing my Master's thesis on this sculpture. If you are one of the few people out there who has never heard me talk (ramble on and on) about my thesis, here's the back story.

Cecilia was a 2nd century CE Roman woman who refused to worship the Roman gods because she was a Christian. This didn't sit so well with the authorities and she was ordered to be executed. First they tried to boil her in the baths of her home. The intense spa treatment had little effect; Cecilia claimed to have found the bath "quite comfortable." Next they opted for beheading. According to Roman law, the executioner was only allowed to swing the axe three times. He carried out his duty, but the axe never quite made it all the way through Cecilia's neck. She remained alive for another three days, hanging out, blessing folks and giving away her belongings. She finally succumbed to her wounds and she was buried in the Christian catacombs.

In the 9th century her body was removed and taken to the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, which was built on the site of her house. Her body was entombed under the high altar. Fast forward 800 years to 1599. For a church to have the body of saint buried within its walls is unbelievably important to the Catholic institution. To legitimize the sanctity of the church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, they decided to unearth the body of the saint, verifying her actual resting place. The presence of her bones would increase the holiness of the space. Just think of a celebrity going to a new restaurant or buying an article of clothing. Suddenly everyone wants to go there or buy that because it has been marked by notoriety. The same thing works with saints. If their bones are present in the church, the church is that much holier, that much more efficacious and spiritual. This is Art History for neophytes, folks.

Saint Cecilia was in fact quite present in the crypt of the church. Period viewers claim upon exhumation, her body was miraculously preserved, intact and beautiful albeit 1400 years after her death. A sculpture was commissioned at the time of the exhumation. The remains of the saint were reinterred and the sculpture of her body was installed into the high altar of the church. You can still see it here today.

The sculpture and body of Saint Cecilia have consumed my thoughts for the last year and half. Last Friday, I got to see it for the first time in 9 years! It's my own personal version of celebrity. To be able to see the work in its (mostly) original context is only going to aid and inspire my thinking. I plan to visit at least once a week, if not every other day. To read the rest of my ruminations on the subject, you'll just have to check out my thesis....

Funny. Bones is writing about bones.