St. Cecilia

Saint Cecilia

Virgin & Martyr

The feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Presentation is not directly analogous to Our Lord’s Presentation, also known as Candlemas or the Purification of Our Lady. The Presentation of Our Lady instead celebrates the occasion when the Blessed Virgin, at the age of three, was presented to God at the Temple in Jerusalem by her parents, Ss. Joachim and Anne, in order that she serve there and be educated by the priests. This followed an ancient Jewish custom, as seen in the story of Samuel, and many other examples. A particular account of the Presentation is found in the apocryphal but beloved second century Proto-evangelium of James, from which is also drawn the names of Our Lady’s parents. Celebration of this feast day originated in the East in the early centuries of the Church, and eventually made its way into the West. Like the feasts of Joachim & Anne, it was briefly suppressed after the Council of Trent due to concerns over apocryphal origins, until further study and continued popular devotion led to its reinstatement. In many icons of the Presentation, Our Lady is portrayed as a miniature adult, rather than a child, representing her holy maturity and virtue that astounded all present when she entered the Temple.

Traditional Roman Martyrology for November 22nd

AT Rome, St. Cecilia, virgin and martyr, who brought to the faith of Christ her spouse Valerian and his brother Tiburtius, and encouraged them to martyrdom. After their death, being arrested by order of Almachius, prefect of the city, and exposed to the fire, from which she came out uninjured, she terminated her glorious sufferings by the sword, in the time of the emperor Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander.

At Colossae, in Phrygia, during the reign of Nero, Saints Philemon and Apphias, disciples of St. Paul. When the Gentiles rushed into the church on the feast of Diana, they were arrested whilst the other Christians fled, and by the command of the governor Artocles, were scourged, let down into a pit up to their waist, and overwhelmed with stones.

Also, at Rome, St. Maurus, martyr, who, coming from Africa to visit the tombs of the Apostles, was condemned to die, under the emperor Numerian, Celerinus being prefect of the city.

At Antioch, in Pisidia, the martyrdom of the Saints Mark and Stephen, under the emperor Diocletian.

At Autun, St. Pragmatius, bishop and confessor.

℣. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.

℟. Thanks be to God.