What’s so Saintly about St. Valentine? As it gets closer, it’s common to hear people saying “Hallmark Holiday” or “Singles’ Awareness Day” and these statements are not without some truth. It’s easy to focus on commercial giving and over the top romantic gestures. (A quick tip: If your sweetie made a New Year’s resolution to shed a few pounds, stick with giving flowers instead of chocolates!) But don’t make an apology if you get swept away by the notion of finding the perfect card or gift because there may also be some truth in where these traditions originated.
Here’s the scoop. There are several St. Valentine’s that the church recognizes as martyrs. They all lived in the earliest centuries of Christianity, so scholars will admit that the details of their history are obscure at best. However, there is one St. Valentine in particular that seemed to earn his fame for defying the Roman government in the name of love. As legend has it, Valentine was a priest in Rome during the third century under Emperor Claudius II. The emperor decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, so he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realizing the injustice, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. Valentine was imprisoned and later put to death. But, before he died, he allegedly fell in love with the jailer’s daughter and wrote her a note signed… you guessed it… “from your Valentine.”
Blog Update (Jan 30, 2015) – There are many conflicting stories of St. Valentine and up to three early saints share that name. This makes his legends, which were written long after his death, hard to verify. For this reason St. Valentine was removed from the Roman Catholic calendar in recent times. The following however is another legend of St. Valentine. He was a priest who was arrested for refusing to worship the pagan idols. His jailer was a good man who had adopted a blind girl, who sought out St. Valentine for prayer. Legend says he wrote her a note with his name signed on it and when she opened it her sight was restored. The jailer and his daughter were baptized as Christians.
A Prayer on Valentine’s Day
“Most Gracious Heavenly Father, You gave Saint Valentine the courage to witness to the gospel of Christ, even to the point of giving his life for it. Help us to endure all suffering for love of you, and to seek you with all our hearts; for you alone are the source of life and love. Grant that we may have the courage and love to be strong witnesses of your truth to our friends and family and to the whole world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”