Cecilia of Rome
c. 200–230 AD — c. 230 AD
Cecilia of Rome consecrated her virginity to God, converted her pagan husband Valerian through an angelic vision, and endured a threefold beheading — surviving three days to preach and witness before dying. The tradition that she 'sang in her heart to the Lord' at her wedding feast made her patroness of sacred music for fifteen centuries.