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They Opened Her Tomb in 1599

“But prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Douay-Rheims

The case

In 1599, a cardinal in Rome was restoring Saint Cecilia's church. Under the altar, he found the old coffins. Cecilia was an early Roman martyr. A pope had moved her body there around the year 820. The cardinal's name was Sfondrati. In one coffin lay a body, under a silk veil.

The evidence

Every quotation below is printed in the words of the edition named under it. Nothing is paraphrased.

“During the restoration of the church in the year 1599 Cardinal Sfondrato had the high altar examined and found under it the sarcophagi.”

Catholic Encyclopedia, article "St. Cecilia", public domain (1908) — read it at the source

“EN TIBI SANCTISSIMÆ VIRGINIS CÆCILIÆ IMAGINEM / QVAM IPSE INTEGRAM IN SEPVLCHRO IACENTEM VIDI / EANDEM TIBI PRORSVS EODEM CORPORIS SITV / HOC MARMORE EXPRESSI”

the Latin inscription in front of Maderno's statue, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome, as the source prints it — read it at the source

Our English: Behold the image of the most holy virgin Cecilia, whom I myself saw lying whole in the tomb. I have shown her to you in this marble in exactly the same position of the body.

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption.”

1 Corinthians 15:42 (Douay) — read it at the source

What’s established, and what isn’t

What the sources support, claim by claim — each one checked against the sources listed at the foot of this page:

Cecilia is one of the most venerated martyrs of Christian antiquity; her Roman feast is attested by the fourth century and kept on 22 November
Pope Paschal I (817-824) found her body and reburied it under the high altar of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (translation dated 821)
During the 1599 restoration, Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati had the high altar examined and found the sarcophagi (22 October 1599 per Wikipedia; 20 October per the V&A)
Antonio Bosio's account was published in 1600; he describes the body as perfectly preserved, on its right side, legs slightly bent, arms stretched forward, under a blood-stained silk cloth
All eyewitnesses report an unwillingness to disturb the veil; no one saw her face to confirm incorruption (O'Neil, via Wikipedia)
An anonymous eyewitness account published by Montanari in 2005 contradicts Bosio on her exact position
Maderno, aged 23, carved the statue, completed c. 1600; it lies beneath the high altar
The Latin inscription in front of the statue says the speaker saw her lying 'integram' in the tomb and shows her in the same position
Scholars consider the accuracy of the statue's claim uncertain and suggest ancient models for the pose; the V&A says scholars have shown the body was not found intact (no source given)

Where the record stops short:

The witnesses would not lift the veil, so by their own accounts nobody saw her face. Incorruption was never confirmed.
An anonymous eyewitness account of the 1599 opening, published in 2005, differs from Bosio on her exact position.
Whose voice the Latin inscription speaks in is disputed, and the V&A says scholars have shown the body was not found intact without giving a source.

For your men’s group

The famous part of this story is a preserved body. Why do you think the part about the veil gets left out?
If the evidence here turned out to be thin, what would still be true for a Catholic about the resurrection of the body?
She was a martyr before she was a relic. What did her faith cost her, and what does yours cost you?

Every source

Found an error? [email protected] — errata corrected the day they’re found.

Drafted with AI assistance, founder-directed, and checked against the sources linked here. Our editorial standards.

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