With calm and heavenly authority, Cecilia replied: “If thou wilt follow my counsel, Valerianus, if thou wilt consent to be purified in the fountain of eternal life, if thou wilt believe in the one true and living God, thou shalt behold my Guardian Angel.” Eagerly Valerianus cried, “And who will purify me, that I may see him?” “There is a holy old man who thus purifies mortals,” she said. “And where shall I find him?” Valerianus asked. In Cecilia’s reply to this question we have a wonderfully vivid picture of Christian life in Rome at that time: “Thou must go out of the city by the Appian Way as far as the third milestone. There thou wilt find some poor beggars who will ask an alms of thee. I have always taken care of them, and they well know my secret. Give them my blessing and say: ‘Cecilia sends me to you that you may conduct me to the holy old man, for I have a secret message which I must bring to him.’ And thou, Valerianus, when thou art in the presence of Urban, relate to him all my words, and he will purify thee and clothe thee in new white garments, and then, when thou returnest to this chamber, thou shalt see the holy Angel, who will evermore be thy friend and obtain for thee all that thou shalt ask of him.” Valerianus believed. The innocent, yet earthly love, which a few moments earlier had fired his heart, was transfigured into a heavenly flame which aspired to God. Without an instant’s delay he set out, alone, on foot, and in the dead of night—his wedding night—to traverse the whole city and miles of the solitary road beyond, to find the dispenser of Grace. All was as Cecilia had told him; the beggars gladly obeyed her commands and led him to the refuge where Urban prayed and whence he governed the Church. And what a revelation it must have been to the brilliant young officer to discover, concealed beneath the ground over which he must often have led his company of cavalry in all their pomp of golden helmets and shining armour, the subterranean city of the Christian Faith! Throwing himself at Urban’s feet, Valerianus poured out his story, and the venerable Servant of God was so overcome with joy that he fell on his knees, and, while tears of gratitude coursed down his cheeks, thus gave thanks for the noble young soul called to great salvation: “Lord Jesus Christ, sower of chaste counsels, receive the fruit of that which Thou didst sow in Cecilia! Lord Jesus Christ, good Shepherd, Cecilia Thy handmaid hath served Thee like a faithful[15] lamb. The spouse who was like an untamed lion, she has made into a most gentle lamb, for he who is here, did he not believe, would not have come. Therefore, Lord, open the gate of his heart to Thy Words, that he may know Thee for his Creator, and that he may renounce the Devil with his pomps and idols.”