Is Valentine’s Day Really What You Think It Is???
Valentine’s
Day is many things to many people. We as Americans believe it to be a day
honoring love and romance. Tokens of
love, candy of all types, dinners in fancy restaurants, red roses, special
music, poetry, and the list goes on, are given in abundance.
Regardless
of whether you love Valentine’s Day, are still on the fence about it, or you hate
it, you most probably will never believe how Valentine’s Day began. Let’s journey back into time to take a brief look
at how this celebration of “love” actually started.
To do
this, we must go back into time to third century Rome, where we learn of a Bishop
Valentine, a Christian priest, who was born and lived in Interamna.
 |
| St. Valentine |
While
on a temporary stay in Rome, this man was imprisoned, tortured, and martyred on
the 14th of February in the year, 273 [For more detailed information please see
the official English version, San Valentino: Biografia.. Diocese of Terni, which was written
in 2009 most probably after a very careful examination of all earlier
sources.]
There are many legends attributed to this mysterious
saint. One of the most common story about St. Valentine is that at one point in
his life, as the former Bishop of Terni, Narnia and Amelia, he was placed on
house arrest under Judge Asterius. While discussing religion and faith with the
Judge, St. Valentine pledged the validity of Jesus. The judge immediately put
Valentine and his faith to the test.
Judge Asterius presented St. Valentine with his blind
daughter whom many accounts suggest was adopted and challenged St. Valentine to
restore her sight. If he succeeded, the judge vowed to do anything St. Valentine
would choose for him to do. Placing his hands onto her eyes, Valentine restored
the child's vision.
Judge Asterius was humbled and obeyed Valentine's
requests. The Judge broke all the idols
around his house, fasted for three days and was baptized, along with his family
and the entire forty-four members of his household. The judge then freed all of
the Christian inmates under his control.
 |
| Christian Being Marytered |
We must
remember that compared to Rome’s chaos and heathenism, Christianity was very
peaceful and orderly. But for Roman politicians, the religion was a threat to
their authority. Roman law declared Christianity a crime, and practicing
Christians were punished in the worst ways imaginable.
While
Roman police conducted merciless witch hunts of Christian followers, Emperor
Claudius was still fighting off invaders at Rome’s borders. He needed all the
manpower he could get. He declared a ban on all marriages, so he’d have more
men ready to fight.
Again,
St. Valentine was a Roman priest who felt obligated to help his fellow Christians—even
if it threatened his very own life. According to legend, he defied Roman law by
aiding Christians fleeing persecution, while he continued to marry Christian
couples in secret.
In another version, St. Valentine was sent to Rome during
the reign of Emperor Claudius Gothicus (Claudius II). According to what is
believed to be the first representation of St. Valentine, the Nuremberg Chronicle, St. Valentine was
a Roman priest martyred during Claudius' reign. The story relates how St. Valentine
was imprisoned for marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians who were being
persecuted by Claudius in Rome.
As both of these acts were considered serious crimes,
a relationship of sorts developed between the saint and the emperor. The matter came to a head when St. Valentine
attempted to convince Claudius II of the validity of Christianity.
Claudius became enraged and sentenced St. Valentine to
death. Emperor Claudius II commanded St.
Valentine to renounce his faith. St.
Valentine refused to do so and was executed [beaten senseless with clubs, stoned and then
beheaded] outside the Flaminian Gate on the 14th of February 269.
In many tales of St. Valentine's life, the date of his
execution varies from the year 269 as above to 270, 273 or 280. Other
depictions of St. Valentine's arrests tell that he had secretly married couples
so husbands wouldn't have to go to war. Another variation of the legend of St.
Valentine says he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, was imprisoned and while
imprisoned he healed the jailer's blind daughter. On the day of his execution,
he left the girl a note signed, "Your Valentine."
It is known that the gate now called Porta del Popolo
was previously known as, Porta Valetini.
The romantic nature of Valentine's Day may have been derived
during the Middle Ages, when it was believed that birds paired by couples in
mid-February. According to English
18th-century antiquarians Alban Butler and Francis Douce, Valentine's Day was
most likely created to overpower the pagan holiday, Lupercalia. Regardless, since
the High Middle Ages, February 14th is associated with a tradition
of courtly love and recognized as a day set aside for romance, devotion
and love.
It is known that many of the legends which
characterize Saint Valentine were invented in the fourteenth century in
England, mostly by Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle of friends, when the
feast day of February 14 first became associated with romantic love [Jack
Oruch identified the inception of this possible connection in Butler's Lives
of the... Saints, 1756, and Douce's Illustrations of Shakespeare,
and of Ancient Manner, see Oruch, Jack B. (July 1981).
"St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February". Speculum. 56 (3):
534. doi:10.2307/2847741.]
Oruch charges that the traditions associated with
"Valentine's Day," documented in Geoffrey Chaucer's Parlement
of Foules and set in the fictional context of an old tradition, did
not exist before Chaucer [Oruch, Jack B. (July 1981). "St. Valentine,
Chaucer, and Spring in February". Speculum. 56 (3):
534–565. doi:10.2307/2847741]. He
goes on to argue that the speculative explanation of sentimental customs,
posing as historical fact, had their origins among 18th century antiquaries,
notably Alban Butler, the author of Butler's Lives of Saints,
and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars.
 |
| Saint Valentine of Terni Oversees the Construction of His Basilica at Terni |
In the French 14th-century manuscript illumination
from a Vies des Saints, Saint Valentine, Bishop of Terni, oversees
the construction of his basilica at Terni; there is no suggestion that the
bishop was a patron of lovers [BN, Mss fr. 185. The book of Lives of
the Saints, with illuminations by Richard de Montbaston and
collaborators, was among the manuscripts that Cardinal Richelieu bequeathed
to the King of France].
During the Middle Ages, it was believed that birds
paired in mid-February. This was then associated with the romance of Valentine.
Although all these legends may differ in ways, Valentine’s day is widely
recognized as a day for romance and devotion.
Regardless of who he was, St.Valentine really did exist,
as archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church
dedicated to St. Valentine. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a
celebration in honor of his martyrdom.
 |
| Skull of St. Valentine |
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. In 1836, other 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.
Fr. John Spratt received a gift from Pope Gregory XVI
in 1836 containing a "small vessel tinged" with St. Valentine's
blood. This gift now stands placed in Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin,
Ireland.
Other 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.
St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of bee keepers,
engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers,
plague, travellers, and young people.
In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church removed St.
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.
Happy
Valentine’s Day
