Cecilia Cesarini

{{Infobox saint

|honorific_prefix=Blessed

|name=Cecilia Cesarini

|image=Blessed cecilia cesarini.png|honorific_suffix= O.P.

|birth_date=1203

|birth_place=

|death_date=1290 (aged about 87)

|death_place=Bologna, Italy

|titles = Nun

|feast_day= August 4

|venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church

|beatified_date=24 December 1891

| beatified_place = Saint Peter's Basilica, Papal States

|beatified_by=Pope Leo XIII

|major_shrine=Convent of Saint Agnes, Bologna

|attributes=lily|tradition=

}}

{{Quote box

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| fontsize = 85%

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| title_fnt =

| title =

| quote = ...Blessed Diana d'Andalò and the other two members of the community who were beatified with her personify the three essential graces of monastic life: Amata, deep humility, Cecilia, the prioress, wise and creative authority; Diana, the greatest grace of them all, perfect love.

| salign = right

| source = Gerald Vann, O.P.{{Cite book|last=Vann|first=Gerald|title=To Heaven with Diana!: A Study of Jordan of Saxony and Diana d'Andalò|publisher=iUniverse|year=2006|isbn=0-595-38586-9|location=New York|pages=30|oclc=931336962}}

}}

Cecilia Cesarini (1203-1290), also Caecilia,{{Cite book|last=Dorcy|first=Mary Jean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iL-cCwAAQBAJ&q=Blessed+Amata&pg=PT125|title=St. Dominic's Family: Over 300 Famous Dominicans|publisher=TAN Books|year=1983|isbn=978-1-5051-0346-5|location=Charlotte, North Caroline|language=en}} was a Dominican nun. Cecilia, described as "a high-spirited young Roman", was born into the Cesarini family, a well-established family of the minor nobility. The reason she entered into a religious life is unknown.{{Cite web|date=8 June 2020|title=Three Dominican Nun Saints|url=https://www.marburydominicannuns.org/three-dominican-nun-saints/|access-date=16 June 2020|publisher=Dominican Nuns|location=Marbury, Alabama|language=en-US}}

As part of Dominic's reform of monastic life in the 13th century, when Cecilia was 17 years old, her monastery, Santa Maria in Rome, was moved to San Sisto Vecchio, under the Dominican order. She knew Dominic personally.{{Cite web|title=The Nuns|url=https://opnuns.org/st-dominic/the-nuns/|access-date=16 June 2020|publisher=Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary|location=Buffalo, New York|language=en}} She used her family's influence to assist his reforms, urged her prioress to support his cause, and according to tradition, was the first to receive the Dominican habit. Two years later, in 1223 or 1224, she and three other nuns, including Diana degli Andalò and Amata, were sent to Bologna to found a new monastery, St. Agnes, where she remained until her death.Butler, Alban (1998). Butler's lives of the saints (8 ed.). Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Burns & Oates. p. 34. {{ISBN|0-8146-2377-8}}. OCLC 33824974. She was the monastery's first prioress, and was reported to be "very strict".

In her late 80s, almost 50 years after Dominic's death, Cecilia was asked by Theodore of Apoldia to record her memories about the early days of the Dominican movement. She dictated to another nun her memories of Dominic, including his physical description, several of his miracles, and a spiritual depiction about his "deep trust and confidence in God". Her account was the "only first-hand description" of Dominic.{{Cite web|title=Three 13th Century Nuns: Friends of Dominic and Sources of Earliest Dominican History|url=https://www.sinsinawa.org/join-us/dominican-women.html|access-date=16 June 2020|publisher=Dominican Women of Sinsinwa|location=Sinsinwa, Wisconsin}}

Cecilia died in 1290. She was buried at St. Agnes with Andalò and Amata; the three are always associated together. Their relics were transferred several times but always together. They were beatified in 1891. Her feast day is, depending on the source, is August 4.