Saint Cecilia’s Basilica was built on the site of the former house of the saint who was martyred around 230 A.D. According to tradition, the saint was tortured for three days in the calidarium (a room filled with extremely hot water) before being beheaded for having tried to convert several members of her family to Christianity.
Ancient writings state that Pope Urban I gave the body a worthy burial after having witnessed the saint’s sufferings, and he also consecrated her house as a church. Thanks to Saint Gregory the Great, the church became an early Basilica in the sixth century.
The body of the saint is venerated in the crypt. According to tradition it was found in the catacombs of Saint Callistus by Pope Paschal I, to whom Saint Cecilia had appeared in a dream, revealing to him the exact location of her remains. The Pope consecrated a new church on the site in 821, to replace the previous one.
When Cardinal Sfondrati opened the tomb in 1599, the saint’s body was found to be miraculously intact, she was dressed in white and had wounds in her neck. Stefano Maderno was entrusted with the task of producing a marble statue which reproduces the exact position in which the body was found.
