Cecilia of Rome C. is a poorly documented but much celebrated martyr of the Via Appia, absent from the _Depositio Martyrum_ of the Chronographer of 354 but attested liturgically from the sixth century
onward, when her legend was already in existence in some form. This
makes her a virgin betrothed to a pagan husband, Valerian, who
preserved her virginity and who, after his conversion to Christianity,
actively proselytized along with C. and suffered martyrdom along with
her. The story, which includes among its _personae_ pope St. Urban I and the martyrs Tiburtius and Maximus, is a typical late antique confection uniting various catacomb worthies in a single narrative.
A resting place in a part of the Catacomb of Callistus first used
towards the end of the second century was believed in the early Middle
Ages to have been C.'s. It was rediscovered by de Rossi in the
nineteenth century.
onward, when her legend was already in existence in some form. This
makes her a virgin betrothed to a pagan husband, Valerian, who
preserved her virginity and who, after his conversion to Christianity,
actively proselytized along with C. and suffered martyrdom along with
her. The story, which includes among its _personae_ pope St. Urban I and the martyrs Tiburtius and Maximus, is a typical late antique confection uniting various catacomb worthies in a single narrative.
A resting place in a part of the Catacomb of Callistus first used
towards the end of the second century was believed in the early Middle
Ages to have been C.'s. It was rediscovered by de Rossi in the
nineteenth century.
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