ST. CECILIA

Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)

id you know that St. Cecilia invented the organ, that wonderful musical instrument in our churches? Cecilia was born in Rome sixteen hundred years ago. She was a beautiful young girl who loved music and composed many hymns. The organ she dedicated to God's service.

When Cecilia was married, her husband, a rich nobleman, was converted and baptized. He knelt by the side of Cecilia, and an angel crowned them with crowns made from roses which bloomed in paradise. The first thing Valerian asked was that his brother, who was a heathen, might be converted too. They sent for the brother, and when he came and found the room filled with the sweet fragrance of roses, though it was not the rose season, then he too became a Christian.

The people of Rome were very unkind to Cecilia and Valerian and his brother because they preached the story of Jesus, the Christ. At last they killed them. St. Cecilia is the guardian saint of music and is always shown in art with the organ, as you see in this picture by Raphael. The man standing at the left of the picture with his hand up to his face is St. Paul. This is the most famous picture of St. Paul. Raphael shows the group listening to the heavenly choir while the earthly instruments of music have fallen at Cecilia's feet broken and out of tune.

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HELENA FOURMENT RUBENS AND HER
SON AND DAUGHTER

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

his picture of "Helena Fourment Rubens and Her Son and Daughter" was really painted to honor the boy. It has always been the custom in Europe to pay special attention to the boys in the home and keep the girls very much in the background. It is very easy to see how pert the little Albert Rubens is, and how subdued and meek is his sister. The boy has the "Lord of Creation" air that would not be good for him in America. We love the picture, for Rubens, the father, shows us plainly the old idea that the boy rules the home. Naturally the father would know the traits of his own children but not always would he allow us to know them too.

Rubens was so wonderful as an artist, as a man to settle quarrels, and as a beautiful gentleman that all Europe did him honor. He was sent to see the ruling powers in England, in Spain, in Italy, and in France. Each ruler entertained him as a royal guest, and Rubens painted masterpieces for each in return. His paintings were the wonder of the age. It is said that his fellow-artists looked with jealous eyes at his flesh tints, and that all painters since have been in despair trying to equal him. He left hundreds of pictures and hundreds of sketches. The sketches alone are bringing many hundreds of times their weight in gold.

Fig. 33. Helena Fourment and Her Son and Daughter. Rubens. Louvre, Paris

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