Saint Cecilia

Desirous that Cecilia should be executed without publicity or tumult,
Almachius commanded that she should be taken home, and confined in the
bath-room of her palace, called by the Romans, the Caldarium.
This was to be kept intensely heated, until the suffocating atmosphere haddeprived her of life.
Cecilia joyfully entered the place of her martyrdom,and remained there the rest of the day, and the ensuingnight, without the fiery atmosphere she breathed, producing even the
slightest moisture upon her skin.
Almachius, on hearing of thisprodigy, was much disconcerted. He had hoped to avoid shedding the blood
of a Roman lady; and there was no
alternative but to send a lictor to behead the saintly virgin.The officer presented himself before her, armed with a sword.The lictor vigorously brandished his sword, but his arm was so unsteady, thatalthough he struck her three times, he could not succeed in severing the
head from the body. Terrified, he withdrew from the room, leaving the
virgin stretched upon the ground, bathed in her blood. The law forbade the
executioner, who, after three attempts, had not dispatched his victim, to
venture upon a fourth trial.
The dying virgin was about to receivethe visit of Saint Urban, who, as we have said, had been concealed in the
palace for several days. Until the present moment, prudence had prevented
the venerable old man from approaching the martyr, who was awaiting his
visit, before taking her flight to heaven.
The Pontiff entered the bath-room, and was deeply moved at
beholding his beloved daughter extended like a lamb offered in sacrifice,
upon the altar, inundated with her blood.“Father,” she said, “I asked this delay of three days, from our Lord,that I might place in the hands of your Beatitude,my last treasure, the poor whom I feed and who
will miss me. I also bequeath to you this house in which I have lived, that
you may consecrate it as a church, and that it may become the temple of the
Lord forever."
She thanked Christ.