St. Cecilia, a young Roman noblewoman martyred for Christ in the early centuries of the Church, is the patron saint of musicians, singers and church music. Her name is spoken in the oldest Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass, and for centuries choirs, organists, composers and music students have asked her prayers. Below are prayers to St. Cecilia for musicians and singers, for choirs before Mass or a concert, and for music students, the traditional prayer of her feast, Scripture about singing to God, and the story of why she became music’s patron.
A prayer to St. Cecilia
Written for this page:
St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr,
you loved Jesus with an undivided heart
and sang to him in your heart even amid the noise of the world.
Pray for me, that my whole life may become a song of praise to God.
Obtain for me the grace I ask: (name your intention).
Help me to stay faithful to Christ in every trial,
as you were faithful to the end. Amen.
A prayer for musicians and singers
St. Cecilia, patron of music,
bless all who sing and play to the glory of God.
Make our voices and our hands instruments of his praise.
Keep us from pride and envy;
help us to practice with patience and to perform with joy,
and let the beauty we make lead others to the Beauty of God. Amen.
This prayer was written for this page.
A prayer for a choir before Mass or a concert
Lord God, we gather to sing your praise.
Through the prayers of St. Cecilia,
unite our voices and our hearts,
calm our nerves and sharpen our attention,
and let our music help your people to pray.
May we sing not for our own glory but for yours. Amen.
This prayer was written for this page. Choirs often add St. Paul’s words:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, in all wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to God.
All whatsoever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
A prayer for a music student
St. Cecilia, watch over me as I learn my instrument (my voice).
Give me perseverance in practice, courage in lessons and recitals,
and humility to learn from my teachers.
May every skill I gain be a gift I return to God. Amen.
This prayer was written for this page. See also patron saints of professions and patron saints of sports and hobbies.
The prayer of her feast
The Collect of St. Cecilia’s Mass in the traditional Roman Missal, translated for this page:
O God, who gladden us each year with the feast of blessed Cecilia, your virgin and martyr,
grant that we who honor her in this celebration
may also follow the example of her holy life.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Gradual of that Mass takes its words from Psalm 44 (45 in modern Bibles):
Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father’s house.
And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore.
Psalm 150: praise him with strings and organs
The last psalm of the Psalter calls every instrument to praise God:
Praise him with sound of trumpet: praise him with psaltery and harp.
Praise him with timbrel and choir: praise him with strings and organs.
Praise him on high sounding cymbals: praise him on cymbals of joy: let every spirit praise the Lord. Alleluia.
Why St. Cecilia is the patron of music
The account of her martyrdom, written in the fifth century, tells that on her wedding day, while the musical instruments played, Cecilia sang in her heart to the Lord alone, asking him to keep her body and heart pure. The Church’s liturgy took up the scene in an antiphon for her feast that begins Cantantibus organis, “while the instruments played.” Over time the image of Cecilia singing became the image of Cecilia the musician, and artists began to paint her at the organ.
Music has honored her ever since. The Academy of St. Cecilia in Rome grew from a society of musicians founded in 1585. Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel wrote odes for St. Cecilia’s Day, and Benjamin Britten, born on her feast day, wrote his Hymn to St. Cecilia. In the nineteenth century the Cecilian movement worked to restore Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony to the Mass.
The life of St. Cecilia
Cecilia was one of the most honored martyrs of the Roman Church, and her name is included in the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I). Little is known for certain of her life. According to her Acts:
- She was a Christian noblewoman of Rome who had promised her virginity to God, but was given in marriage to a young pagan named Valerian.
- On their wedding night she told Valerian that an angel guarded her. Valerian was baptized by Pope Urban and saw the angel; his brother Tiburtius also became a Christian.
- The two brothers were martyred for burying the bodies of Christians. Cecilia was then arrested. The authorities tried to suffocate her in the steam bath of her own house; when she survived, a soldier struck her neck three times but could not sever her head. She lived for three days, giving her goods to the poor, and asked that her house become a church.
Her body was buried in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus. In 821 Pope Paschal I moved her relics to the Basilica of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, built on the traditional site of her house. When her tomb was opened in 1599, the sculptor Stefano Maderno carved the famous statue of her lying on her side, as her body was reported to have been found.
Feast day and patronage
- Feast day: November 22. In 2026 November 22 is the Solemnity of Christ the King, so her memorial is not celebrated at Mass that year; musicians can still pray to her.
- Patron of: musicians, singers, composers, organists, choirs, poets and church music.
- Symbols: an organ or other instrument, roses and lilies, and the martyr’s palm.
Frequently asked questions
What is St. Cecilia the patron saint of?
Music and musicians: singers, instrumentalists, composers, organists and choirs. She is also invoked by poets.
When is St. Cecilia’s feast day?
November 22.
Did St. Cecilia play music?
The early accounts do not say she played an instrument. They say she “sang in her heart to the Lord” while the wedding music played. The image of Cecilia at the organ came later, in medieval and Renaissance art.
Is St. Cecilia in the Mass?
Yes. She is one of the seven women martyrs named in the Roman Canon, Eucharistic Prayer I: Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia and Anastasia.
More prayers and saints
- Prayers to popular saints
- Saint feast days
- Responsorial psalm guide for cantors
- Catholic funeral hymns
- St. Lucy prayer
- St. Agnes and other saints of the day
Texts and sources
- Scripture: Colossians 3:16–17; Psalm 44:11–12 (45:11–12 in modern Bibles); Psalm 150:3–5, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
- Collect of St. Cecilia (November 22), traditional Roman Missal; English translation made for this page. The antiphon Cantantibus organis is from the traditional Roman Breviary.
- The other prayers were written for this page.