By Corazon Damo-Santiago
On the eve of February 13, a prisoner doomed for execution the following day wrote a farewell note to a friend. He signed it: Your Valentine.
The friend is Julia, the blind daughter of Asterius, his jailer. Valentine restored Julia’s miraculously. Julia, according to John Foxe in Voices of Martyrs, planted a pink-blossomed almond tree near Valentine’s grave.
“Today the tree remains a symbol of abiding love and friendship,” Foxe said.
Charismatic evangelizer
Valentine, who became a bishop of Interemma (modern Terni), was born in 176. He wore a purple amethyst ring customarily worn by Christian bishops. It has the image of Cupid, a symbol associated with love.
During Valentine’s lifetime, Christians were persecuted. Unafraid, he remained faithful to the Catholic Church.
Married soldiers were so attached to their wives and children, so Marcus Aurelius Valerius wanted his soldiers to remain single.
But the soldiers preferred married life, so when they recognized Valentine through his ring, they requested that he perform their marriage rites. He did. He officiated clandestine Christian marriages. To remind them of their marriage vows, he gave them cutout of hearts from parchment. He gave the hearts to persecuted Christians, too.
Valentine was arrested and interrogated by Emperor Cladius. Impressed by his personality, the emperor attempted to make Valentine denounce Christianity to save his life. But, Valentine, instead, tried to convince him to be a Christian, which enraged the emperor.
In jail, Valentine met the jailer, Aurelius, who vowed to do anything in return for a favor if the sight of her daughter is restored.
Valentine placed his hands on the eyes of Aurelius’ daughter, prayed to bring back her sight.
Overjoyed, Aurelius broke all the idols they adored at home, fasted for three days and was baptized together with 44 members of his household.
On the day of his execution, Valentine was dragged before the prefect of Rome. He was condemned to be beaten until death and beheaded on January 14 in Flamian Gate.
John Foxe, an English historian of the Order of Carmelites, wrote that Valentine was buried in the church of Praxedes in Rome, located near the Cemetery of Saint Hippolytus.
While Church biographers agree that Valentine was born in 176, they did not agree on the year of his death. Three authors on the lives of saints, however, listed his death in 269. They are Robert Ellsberg in (All Saints); Fr. Paolo O Pirlo, SHMI, (My First Book of Saints and A Year with the Saints); and A.J.M. and J.K. Mausolfe (Saint Companions for Everyday).
Pope Julius I (337-352) had a church constructed in his memory near Ponte Mole Porta Valentini, now Porta del Popolo.
His relics were kept in the Catacombs of San Valentino in Rome, which was an important pilgrim site during the Middle Ages.
Pope Nicholas IV (1288-1292) transferred his relics in Santa Prassede.
Februa, Feast of Lupercalia
The date of his death, as noted by History.com, may have been intermingled with the Feast of Luperalia, a festival of love.
At a Fertility Rite, women who wish to conceive were stricken by a goatskin called luperci. Priestesses of the goddess Vesta offered cakes, too. During the feast, the names of women who desire to be married were placed on a box and drawn by men.
Internet information added that the Roman pastoral festival was performed to purify the city of evil spirits and release good spirits of health and fertility on Februa, the spring cleansing ritual
Pope Gelasius I in 496 put an end to the feast and declared February 14 as Valentine’s Day.
In 1969 the Catholic Church removed Saint Valentine from the General Roman Calendar but continued to recognize him as a saint honoring him on February 14 in the Roman Martyrology.
Relics
Many religious and administrators of religious sites claim possession of Saint Valentine’s relics.
The friars of Saint Francis Church attested that his remains, placed in a wooden casket, were deposited with them by a French collector of religious memorabilia in 1868.
Fr. John Spratt received a gift from Pope Gregory XVI in 1896. History.com noted that the vessel contained the blood of Saint Valentine now under the safekeeping of religious in Whitefair Church in Dublin, Ireland.
His relics can also be found in Prague, Church of Saint Peter and Paul at Vysehrad, Saint Mary’s Assumption in Chelmo Poland, Balzan Malta Stephansdam, Viena, and Blessed John Dus Scotus Church in Gorbals, Glasglow, Scotland. Since 1835, the Carmelite Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin claimed to possess the saint’s relics.
Patron Saint of Love, Happy Marriages
Saint Valentine is not only the patron saint of lovers and happy marriages but also of bookkeepers and people who suffer epilepsy, which is sometimes called Saint Valentine Malady.
He has inspired artists to make Valentine keys and Valentine cards to express love.
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Santiago is a former regional director of the Department of Education National Capital Region. She is currently a faculty member of Mater Redemptoris Collegium in Calauan, Laguna, and Mater Redemptoris College in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija.
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons