Saint Cecilia’s Day

The 22nd November is officially Saint Cecilia’s Day – a little known fact is that Cecilia is my real name – I was named after this Catholic saint.

In the Middle Ages, Saint Cecilia became a very popular saint. She is remembered today as the patron saint of musicians, composers, instrument makers, and poets. There is a story that Saint Cecilia was said to have heard heavenly music inside her heart when she was forced to marry the pagan Valerian. During her wedding, Cecilia sat and sang to God in her heart. Thus, she was declared to be the patron saint of musicians.

Musical compositions, poems, art, and festivals have also grown out of the story of Saint Cecilia – the most famous is maybe Henry Purcell’s Ode to Saint Cecilia or is it Simon and Garfunkel’s Cecilia? The latter was also an influence in my naming…I’m a Seventies baby, you know! All of this seems quite appropriate as I was the musical one out of two siblings, a perfect example of nominative determinism? Anyway, Cecilia is also an Anglo-French name meaning Angelic…so erm….maybe I didn’t grow into my name after all!

Here I am trying to write a song for medieval times, which ends up somewhere else completely…

My angelicism (that is not even a word) or lack of it is the subject of my new show, called “Angelic”. What do you think? It’s on from next Autumn. If I’ve written it by then…