''Cecilíu saga'' is an Old Norse-Icelandic saints' saga that recounts the legend of St Cecilia. It is preserved in three manuscripts, but is only complete in

Kirkjubæjarbók Kirkjubæjarbók (Codex AM 429 12mo) is an Icelandic manuscript produced in around 1500 containing female saints' sagas. It is notable for being the only extant Old-Norse Icelandic legendary which exclusively deals with female saints and for being ...

. The version of the saga preserved in Stock. Perg. fol no. 2 includes two Icelandic miracles of St Cecilia. These are notable for being one of the very few examples of miracles performed by non-native saints, and as an example of early hagiographic composition in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

rather than translations from Latin exemplars. Cormack notes that while these miracles may be late compositions, "they give the impression of being genuine records of an early ''cultus''". Cecilia's feast day November 22 was adopted as Holy Day of Obligation in Iceland in 1179 under Þorlákr Þórhallsson. The saga also includes an account of the passions of Sts Tiburtius and Valerian. Cecilia appears in three Old Norse-Icelandic poems: ''Vísur Cecilíu'' (ca. 1300-1500); ''Cecilíudiktur'' (ca. 1400-1550); and the fourteenth-century ''Heilagra meyja drápa'' (stanzas 18-21).

Bibliography

A comprehensive bibliography can be found in Wolf's ''The Legends of the Saints in Old Norse-Icelandic Prose''.

Manuscripts

* AM 235 fol. * AM 429 12mo (

) * Stock. Perg. fol no. 2

Editions

* * * * odern Icelandic edition

References

{{Saints' sagas Sagas of saints