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Story of St. Valentine
"The story of Valentine's Day begins in the third
century with an oppressive Roman emperor and a humble Christian Martyr.
The emperor was Claudius II. The Christian was Valentinus.
Claudius had ordered all Romans to worship twelve gods, and
had made it a crime punishable by death to associate with Christians.
But Valentinus was dedicated to the ideals of Christ; not even the threat of
death could keep him from practicing his beliefs. He was arrested and
imprisoned.
During the last weeks of Valentinus's life a remarkable
thing happened. Seeing that he was a man of learning, the jailer asked
whether his daughter, Julia, might be brought to Valentinus for lessons.
She had been blind since birth. Julia was a pretty young girl with a
quick mind. Valentinus read stories of Rome's history to her. He
described the world of nature to her. He taught her arithmetic and told
her about God. She saw the world through his eyes, trusted his wisdom,
and found comfort in his quiet strength.
"Valentinus, does God really hear our prayers?"
Julia asked one day."Yes, my child, He hears each one.""Do you
know what I pray for every morning and every night? I pray that I might
see. I want so much to see everything you've told me about!""God
does what is best for us if we will only believe in Him," Valentinus said."Oh,
Valentinus, I do believe! I do!" She knelt and grasped his hand.
They sat quietly together, each praying. Suddenly
there was a brilliant light in the prison cell. Radiant, Julia screamed,
"Valentinus, I can see! I can see!""Praise be to
God!" Valentinus exclaimed, and he knelt in prayer.
On the eve of his death Valentinus wrote a last note to
Julia, urging her to stay close to God. He signed it, "From your
Valentine." His sentence was carried out the next day, February 14,
270 A.D., near a gate that was later named Porta Valentini in his memory.
He was buried at what is now the Church of Praxedes in Rome. It
is said that Julia planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near his grave.
Today, the almond tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship.
On each February 14, Saint Valentine's Day, messages of affection, love, and
devotion are exchanged around the world.
VALENTINE DAY
Roman Roots
The history of Valentine's Day is
obscure, and further clouded by various fanciful legends. The holiday's roots
are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia,
a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. Pope Gelasius
I recast this pagan festival as a Christian feast day circa
496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine's Day.
Valentines Galore
Which St.
Valentine this early pope intended to honor remains a mystery: according to the Catholic
Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints by that
name. One was a priest in Rome, another a bishop in Terni, and of a third St.
Valentine almost nothing is known except that he met his end in Africa. Rather
astonishingly, all three Valentines were said to have been martyred on Feb. 14.
Most scholars believe that the St.
Valentine of the holiday was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman
emperor Claudius II around
270. At this stage, the factual ends and the mythic begins. According to one
legend, Claudius II had prohibited marriage for young men, claiming that
bachelors made better soldiers. Valentine continued to secretly perform
marriage ceremonies but was eventually apprehended by the Romans and put to
death. Another legend has it that Valentine, imprisoned by Claudius, fell in
love with the daughter of his jailer. Before he was executed, he allegedly sent
her a letter signed "from your Valentine." Probably the most
plausible story surrounding St. Valentine is one not focused on Eros (passionate
love) but on agape (Christian
love): he was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion.
In 1969,
the Catholic Church revised its liturgical calendar, removing the feast days of
saints whose historical origins were questionable. St. Valentine was one of the
casualties.
Chaucer's Love Birds
It was not until the 14th century
that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love.
According to UCLA medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Chaucer
and the Cult of Saint Valentine, it was Chaucer who
first linked St. Valentine's Day with romance.
In 1381, Chaucer composed a poem in
honor of the engagement between England's Richard II and Anne of
Bohemia. As was the poetic tradition, Chaucer associated the
occasion with a feast day. In "The Parliament of Fowls," the royal
engagement, the mating season of birds, and St. Valentine's Day are linked:
For this
was on St. Valentine's Day,
When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.
When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.
Tradition of Valentine's Cards
Over the
centuries, the holiday evolved, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and
exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England.
Hand-made valentine cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and
hearts eventually spread to the American colonies. The tradition of Valentine's
cards did not become widespread in the United States, however, until the 1850s,
when Esther A. Howland, a Mount Holyoke graduate and native of Worcester,
Mass., began mass-producing them. Today, of course, the holiday has become a
booming commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of
all cards sent each year are valentines.
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