Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/531

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

CEDAR


473


CEDAR


vicinity of Rome. The relics of St. Cecilia with those of Valerianus, Tiburtius, and Maximus, also those of Popes Urbanus and Lucius, were taken up by Pope Paschal, and reburied under the high altar of St. i in Trastevere. The monks of a convent 1 in the neighbourhood by the same pope were charged with the duty of singing the daily Office in this basilica. From this time the veneration of the holy martyr continued to spread, and numerous churches were dedicated to her. During the restora- tion of tlic church in the year 1599 Cardinal Sfondrato had the high altar examined and found under it the sarcophagi, with the relics of the saints, that Pope Paschal had transported thither. Recent excaya- i ions beneath the church, executed at the instigation and expense of Cardinal Hampolla, disclosed remains of Roman buildings, which have remained accessible. A richly adorned underground chapel was built be- neath the middle aisle, and in it a latticed window, opening over the altar, allows a view of the recept- acles in which the bones of the saints repose. In a side chapel of the church there have long been shown the remains of the bath in which, according to the Acts, Cecilia was put to death.

The oldest representations of St. Cecilia show her in the attitude usual for martyrs in the Christian art of the earlier centuries, either with the crown of martvr- dom in her hand (e. g. at S. Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, in a sixth-century mosaic) or in the attitude of i irayer, as an Orans (e. g. the two sixth and seventh- century pictures in her crypt). In the apse of her church in Trastevere is still preserved the mosaic

i 1. under Pope Paschal, wherein she is represented

in rich garments as patroness of the pope. Medieval

,i saint are very frequent; since the four-

teenth and fifteenth centuries she is given the organ tttribute, or is represented as playing on the organ, evidently to express what was often attributed in panegyrics and poems based on the Acts, viz., that while tin- musicians played at her nuptials she sang in her heart to God only ("cant ant ibus organisilla in corde suo soli domino decantabat"); possibly the mtOrus nrganis was erroneously interpreted of Cecilia herself as the organist. In this way the saint was brought into closer relation with music. When tin- Academy of Music was founded at Rome (1584) she was made patroness of the institute, whereupon In r veneration as patroness of church music in general became still more universal; to-day Cecilian societies (musical B aociations) exist, everywhere. The organ is now her ordinary attribute; with it Cecilia was rep- resented by Raphael in a famous picture preserved at Bologna. In another magnificn it masterpiece, the marbli neatb the high altar of the. above-

mentioned church of St. Cecilia at Rome, Carlo Maderna represented her lying prostrate, just as she had received the death-blow from tin' executioner's hand. Hi r feast is celebrated in the Latin and the Greek Church on 22 November. In tin' 'Martyrolo- giuni Hieronymianum" are commemorated other martyrs of this name, but of none of them is there any exact historical information. One suffered mar- tyrdom in Carthage with Dativus in .'iii4.

ttoMBRiTIUS, Sanctvarium, I. 1*6 sqq.; Bosio, Atti di S.

■••■In rum (Venice,

■ 58] V], iiii -S'i . Laderchj, S. CacUitB virg. it mart, acta ac

Rome, 17-'-' . B0LLANDI8T8 fil .

hagiographica tm - is 'in . I. 221; Simki.n

in /' G i \\ I; Basonios, Atmalet, ad an.

821, § xv iiIip spurious Document of Pope Paschal I); Urn.-

■iriitm ConsUmiinapolitanum (Brussels.

Nfl, 1. xciii sq.,

TlLLBMONT, //' ' well . Ill, _'.">9 sqq.;

II, wmi sq., 1 1; i , Gukran-

oer. II 19; .'rul o.l . ls. r ,2>; Idem,

,187! Hi v . Hihks.

anii H'l.K. Hi I Bfii Les rhri tirns

dansVfmpxrii Pari 188] 152 sqq.; Allard,

fu, 1. 427 sqq.; Kkhes, Die heiiige • •a Zusammenhano mi/ der Paprtcrypta towit dt Kinhc Roms. in Zeittchrifi fur Kirchengesrhichle. IX, 1888, 1


SrpwfiaTioc ApxmoAoyiKi wahre Zeilalter der heil (Tubingen, 1902), 237 s Dufourcq, Les Gesta m> 293 sqq.; Marucchi, 1902), 438 sqq.; Bian (Rome, 1902i; Detzei. 1896), 220 sqq.; Rum I. pi. 16-17; P six ii , <n si ' '

Bphemerides I, in: ,. i accounts in Butler, L,


Bns-ilai:.


sqq.; P. A. Kirsch, Die heiiige Ciieilui, Jungfrau und Martyrin (Katisbon, 1901); Idem. !>•/• 7'<«/,--7h-r hiiluini t'ncilia, in 42 77; KBLLNER, Das ■ ■••■•!• • !•• Quartalschrift sqq ; (190.">', 2. r >Ssqq.; (Paris. PIOOi. 116 sqq., Rami (Rome. .■ i , ilia < ■•• basUica Freiburg im Br.,

■, , / - ,1, I, ,' -1 il'i III !/..■ w I,

/;-,, historico-liturgiccB de

i,i . i'.io7 ,-.•.' also the i , 22 November ,1. P. Kirsch.

Cedar [IIS (£r&), «'opos, mints], a coniferous tree frequently mentioned in the Bible. The Hebrew erez, like the corresponding Arabic arz, the Greek KtSpos, the Latin cedrus, or the English cedar, may be applied to several different species of conifers, but usually it, designates the celebrated cedar of Libanus (Cedrus Libani). In Lev., xiv, 1, li, 49, ">'_'. and Num.. xix. 6, the cedar of Libanus seems out of the question, as the tree must be one whose wood the Israelites could readily obtain during their sojourn in


the desert, which is plainly not the case with the cedar of Libanus. Juniperus Phaenicea, a species of juniper which is found in the Arabah, and probably also in the adjoining Sinaitic Peninsula, and whose wood, like that of the cedar, possesses aromatic properties, is most, likely the tree meant in these texts. In Num., xxiv, (5, too, the cedar of Libanus, which thrives best on high, dry ground, can hardly be intended, unless, as has been suggested, the terms of comparison in the last two members have been accidentally transposed. In all the other passages the cedar of Libanus is referred to, though in a few cases a doubt might be raised as to whether it is meant exclusively. The cedar is described as a tree "of a high stature" (Ezech.,xxxi, 3;Is.,ii, 13; xxxvii, L' I ; IV K.. xix, 23), whose" height was exalted above all the trees of the country" (Ezech., xxxi, .5; cf. Judges, ix. 15; HI K., iv, 33; IV K., xiv, 9; Amos, ii, 9). It is "the cedar of God" (Ps. lxxix, 11), the tree of the Lord which He has planted [Ps. civ, 16 (Hebr.)]. It is the type of strength [Ps. xxviii, 5; Job, xl. 12 (Hebr. 17)]. the symbol of lofty pride (Ps. xxxvi. 35; Is., ii. 13), the emblem of greatness and power (Jer.. xxii, 7; Zach., xi, 2), and of surpassing excellence i Ecclus., \\iv. 17). It is the "glory of Libanus" (Is., Ix, 13), "most beau- tiful for his greatness and fur tin- spreading of his branches" (Ezech., xxxi, 3, 6, 7).

All this is verified in the cedar of Libanus, which is the stateliest and most majestic tree of Palestine. It. often reaches a height of 100 feet and more, and the girth of the trunk in old trees may exceed 40 feet. The branches, with their numerous ramifications, spread out horizontally and are of such size th infrequently the spread of the tree exceeds its height The leaves are dark green and grow in tufts like those