It was during his lifetime that the story of St. Cecilia received a continuation, of which he himself has left us a full account.  In the year 1599, Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, Cardinal of the Title of St. Cecilia,[I] undertook a thorough restoration of the old basilica erected by Paschal.  He possessed a large collection of relics, and determined that he would place the most precious of them under the high altar.  For this purpose the vault containing the sarcophagi in which St. Cecilia and her companions lay must be opened, and on the 20th of October the work was undertaken.  Upon breaking through the wall, two sarcophagi of white marble were discovered.  The Cardinal was on the spot, and, in the presence of numerous dignitaries of the Church, whom he had sent for as witnesses, he caused the heavy top of the first of these stone coffins to be lifted.  Within was seen the chest of cypress-wood in which, according to the old story, the Saint had been originally placed.  Sfondrati with his own hands removed the lid, and within the chest was found the body of the virgin, with a silken veil spread over her rich dress, on which could still be seen the stains of blood, while at her feet yet lay the bloody cloths which had been placed there more than thirteen centuries before.  She was lying upon her right side, her feet a little drawn up, her arms extended and resting one upon the other, her neck turned so that her head rested upon the left cheek.  Her form perfectly preserved, and her attitude of the sweetest virginal grace and modesty, it seemed as if she lay there asleep rather than dead.[J]—­The second sarcophagus was found to contain three bodies, which were recognized as being, according to tradition, those of Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus.

[Footnote I:  The Titoli of Rome correspond nearly to Parishes.  They date from an early period in the history of the Church.]

[Footnote J:  “Dormientis instar,” says Bosio, in his Relatio Inventionis et Repositionis S. Caeciliae et Sociorum.  The discovery of the body of the Saint in this perfect state of preservation has, of course, been attributed by many Romanist authors to miraculous interposition.  But it is to be accounted for by natural causes.  The soil of the catacombs and of Rome is in many parts remarkable for its antiseptic qualities.  The Cavaliere de Rossi informed us that he had been present at the opening of an ancient tomb on the Appian Way, in which the body of a young man had been found in a state of entire preservation, fresh almost as on the day of its burial, and with it was a piece of sponge which had apparently been soaked in blood,—­for his death had been by violence.  In the winter of 1857, two marble sarcophagi were found in one of the passages of the Catacombs of St. Callixtus, in which excavations were then going on, and upon being opened, a body was found in each, in a state, not of entire, but of almost perfect preservation.  The skin had become somewhat shrunk, and the flesh