Page 10 - StCecilia

Santa Cecilia

ness the last secret communings of her departing soul with the
divine object of all her love, she tranquilly expired. 8

The church as it is today

he present church was built over the ruins of Cecilia’s
house by Pope Paschal I (817-24). The body of Cecilia (said
T to be found incorrupt) and those of Valerian, Tibertius
and Maximus were exhumed from their original burial places and
enshrined in the new church.
During a restoration of the church in 1599, Cecilia was exhumed
again, and again she was found incorrupt, with three cuts in her
neck. The exhumation was carried out in front of several witness-
es, include a sculptor who made a statue of her body as he saw it
(more on this below).
The church facade was added by Ferdinando Fuga in 1725 and
more renovations were done in 1823, including enclosing the nave
columns inside piers. The ancient Roman buildings beneath the
church were excavated and too-creatively restored in 1897. The
church was restored again in 1990.

Details of the XIIth century mosaic above the portico; St Agatha, St Cecilia
and Pope St Lucius I, whose relics are buried in the church

8 These details respecting Cecilia's dying position are not mentioned in the
Acts: they are gathered from a more striking source, as we shall mention later.

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