St. Valentine & Valentines Day
Saint Valentine of Rome, is a third-century Roman saint widely celebrated and commonly associated with courtly love. St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of love, lovers, affianced couples, engaged couples, happy marriages, young people, travelers, greetings, bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting and plague. He is often represented in pictures with birds and roses and his feast day is celebrated on February 14.
Although not much of St. Valentine's life is reliably known, and whether or not the stories involve two different saints by the same name is also not officially decided, it is highly agreed that St. Valentine was martyred and then buried on the Via Flaminia to the north of Rome.
Many legends attributed to the mysterious saint are as inconsistent as his actual identification. One common story about St. Valentine is that, as the former Bishop of Terni, Narnia and Amelia, he was on house arrest with Judge Asterius. While discussing religion and faith with the Judge, Valentine pledged the validity of Jesus. The judge immediately put Valentine and his faith to the test by presenting him with a challenge for proof.
He was tested with restoring sight for the judge's blind daughter. If he succeeded, the judge vowed to do anything for Valentine. It is said, after placing his hands onto the girls eyes, Valentine had restored her vision. Judge Asterius was humbled and obeyed Valentine's requests. Asterius, along with the entirety of his 44 member household broke all the idols around his house, fasted for three days and became baptized. The now faithful judge then freed all of his Christian inmates. Another popular story tells that he was arrested for refusal to sacrifice to the pagan Gods and while imprisoned, he healed the jailer's blind daughter.
According to what is believed to be the first representation of St. Valentine, the Nuremberg Chronicle, Valentine was a Roman priest martyred during Claudius II's reign. Later he was, once again, arrested for continuing to try to convert people to Christianity. He was sent to Rome under the Emperor Claudius Gothicus. As the story is told, St. Valentine was imprisoned for marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians in Rome who were being persecuted by Claudius. Both acts were considered serious crimes. Soon a relationship between the saint and emperor had began to grow, until Valentine attempted to convince Claudius of the Christianity religion. Claudius became utterly furious and sentenced Valentine to death, commanding him to renounce his faith or face being beaten with clubs and later beheaded. The Holy priest refused to renounce his faith and was executed outside the Flaminian Gate on February 14, 278 A.D.
Other accounts suggest Saint Valentine was executed either in the years 269, 270, 273 or 280. Various depictions of St. Valentine's arrests tell that he secretly married couples so husbands wouldn't have to go to war. On the day of his execution, he left the girl a note signed, "Your Valentine."
According to English 18th-century antiquarians Francis Douce and Alban Butler, Valentine's Day was most likely created to overpower the pagan holiday, Lupercalia. Lupercalia was a very ancient, possibly pre-Roman[2] pastoral festival, observed on February 15, to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility. Lupercalia subsumed Februa, which gave the month of February (Februarius) its name. The festival, which is of Spring washing or cleaning (associated also with the amount of precipitation during this time of the year) is ancient, and possibly of Sabine origin.
The romantic nature of Valentine's Day may have derived during the Middle Ages, when it was believed that birds paired couples in mid-February. Although the exact origin of the holiday is not widely agreed upon, it is widely recognized as a day for love, devotion and romance.
In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom. In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church removed Saint Valentine from the General Roman Calendar, because so little is known about him. However, the church still recognizes him as a saint, listing him in the February 14 spot of Roman Martyrolgy. Whoever he was, Valentine did really exist, because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to St. Valentine. Pope Julius I is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole in his memory, which for a long time gave name to the gate Porta del Popolo, formerly, Porta Valetini.
In 1836, relics were exhumed from the catacombs of Saint Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina and were identified as Valentine's. These were transported for a special Mass dedicated to those young and in love. Father John Spratt received a gift from Pope Gregory XVI in 1836 containing a small vessel tinged with St. Valentine's blood. This gift is now held in Dublin, Ireland at the Whitefriar Street Church. Alleged relics were found in Prague in the Church of St Peter and Paul at Vysehrad; in the parish church of St. Mary's Assumption in Chelmno Poland; at the reliquary of Roquemaure in France; in the Stephansdom in Vienna; in Balzan in Malta and also in Blessed John Duns Scotus' church in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland. Other widely known relics of St. Valentine can be found all over the world. A flower-crowned skull of St. Valentine can be found in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.
I hope you enjoyed this tidbit of information. I'll be spending the day, as I do each year, with my kids. There's no better gift. Now be off, romance your loved ones. But don't forget to honor the Patron Saint Valentine during this holiday. For without him, it probably wouldn't exist. Also remember, Christianity was build on love and acceptance, not hatred and discrimination.
