St. Valentine

I've been asked to do a post on St. Valentine. One of the difficulties is that, in the early Roman Martyrologies, there are three St. Valentines mentioned. The historical record is sketchy at best and, as with many of the early Saints, the legends attributed to this mysterious Saint are as inconsistent as the actual identification of the man. What is known is that St. Valentine was martyred and buried on the Via Flaminia to the north of Rome.

This Valentine was a priest (or possibly a Bishop) who lived in or near Rome in the third century. Some of the legends of his life include that he cured a judge's daughter of blindness, thus converting the judge and his whole family; that he was imprisoned for marrying Christian couples and aiding persecuted Christians; that he secretly married couples so that the husbands would not have to go to war and that he healed his jailer's daughter of blindness.

Valentine is believed to have been executed on February 14 - probably by beheading. The year of his execution is questionable, some time between 269 and 280. His association with romantic love is often attributed to his practice of performing marriages in opposition to Roman laws. However, it is also likely that this tradition dates from the middle ages when it was believed that birds started to pair up in mid-February, which made it also a good time for humans to pair up.

Whatever the true origins are of the secular feast of love that bears his name, we know that St. Valentine gave witness by his life to the Love that changes the world. This is evidenced by the devotion and veneration that soon followed his martyrdom. Less than 100 years after his death, Pope Julius I (333-356) built a basilica at the site which preserved St. Valentine's tomb. As you are probably aware, his feast day is February 14.