This week in our Saintly Summer series, we reflect on the life of St. Cecilia, patron saint of music.

St. Cecilia was a young Roman noblewoman known for her beauty and musical talent. Although the world placed great value on these qualities, Cecilia understood that they could never provide lasting happiness. Her deepest desire was to love and follow Christ.

Even after her marriage, Cecilia and her husband chose to make Christ the center of their lives. Their faith ultimately led them to martyrdom.

In a world that often tells us that beauty, talent, success, and recognition are what will make us happy, St. Cecilia reminds us that these things do not last forever. Our relationship with Christ is what endures.

Saintly Summer: Full Text

This week’s saint is St. Cecilia and Saint Cecilia is the patron saint of music. She was a beautiful young Roman who is a noble and she was known for musical ability. And St. Cecilia, had to make a difficult choice. She got married off because of her beauty to a young nobleman and because her musical talent was highly sought after as a bride more than anything else St. Cecilia loved Christ. So her and her new husband decided to make Christ the most important thing in their lives. And as a result, both of them were martyred for their faith. Now in our time and age where beauty and talent is so important, St. Cecilia can be a powerful model to remind us that Jesus is so much more important than those things. Beauty and talent are fading, but our love for Christ and our relationship with him is what lasts forever. St. Cecilia had everything the world would consider to make her happy. But she longed for something more, because she realized that her beauty and her talent wouldn’t ultimately make her happy it was only having a relationship with Christ. Sometimes like St. Cecilia we need to make those hard choices and not put all of the importance into the things of the world and instead to choose Jesus who will ultimately make us happy as well.