Saint Valentine
12/02/06
You're in Rome; let's say during the third century A.D. Claudius II is emperor and Christianity is unyieldingly repressed. But love is in the air and you and your one-and-only want to get married in the Christian Church. What do you do? Why, you turn to Valentinus, the kind-hearted priest who secretly marries young couples against the rule and convention of the Empire. Better hurry. The power that is Rome is going to behead Valentinus for his good deeds; on February 14th, of course.
And so the martyred Valentinus becomes Saint Valentine. At least, that's the way the romantic medieval legends and romanticized English literature go. Actually, there were three Saint Valentines with feast days on February 14th mentioned in early Roman Martyrologies "...whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God" (496, Pope Gelasius I). You see, not much at all is known about any of them; or even if they actually existed.
Poor St. Valentine was finally dropped from the Roman Martyrology calendar in 1969 and our St. Valentine's day has always been strictly a secular affair; popularized by those romantic English and by one Mr. Joyce Hall(mark), who was looking for a way to pump up his greeting card sales in the early twentieth century.
And who do we Anglicans celebrate on February 14th? Why, it's the Feast of Cyril the monk and Bishop Methodius, missionaries to the hostile Slavs in the ninth century. Um, I think I'm going with Valentine's Day this year. You are getting me a card, aren't you?
And so the martyred Valentinus becomes Saint Valentine. At least, that's the way the romantic medieval legends and romanticized English literature go. Actually, there were three Saint Valentines with feast days on February 14th mentioned in early Roman Martyrologies "...whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God" (496, Pope Gelasius I). You see, not much at all is known about any of them; or even if they actually existed.
Poor St. Valentine was finally dropped from the Roman Martyrology calendar in 1969 and our St. Valentine's day has always been strictly a secular affair; popularized by those romantic English and by one Mr. Joyce Hall(mark), who was looking for a way to pump up his greeting card sales in the early twentieth century.
And who do we Anglicans celebrate on February 14th? Why, it's the Feast of Cyril the monk and Bishop Methodius, missionaries to the hostile Slavs in the ninth century. Um, I think I'm going with Valentine's Day this year. You are getting me a card, aren't you?