St Valentine

St Valentine presents the interesting case of being a familiar name to a large part of the world’s population through the appropriation of his feast by those in love. No one really knows how the tradition that surrounds St. Valentine's Day started or for that matter to how to disentangle the facts from the traditional legends.

The early editions of the Roman Martyrology records “at Rome, on the Via Flaminia, the birthday of St Valentine, Priest and martyr, who after many wondrous works of healing and teaching, was scourged with rods and beheaded under Claudius Caesar” and this is followed by another entry which says “At Terni (60 miles north of Rome), St Valentine, Bishop and Martyr, who after lengthy ill-treatment was imprisoned and since he could not be overcome, he was brought out of prison in the silence of midnight and beheaded at the command of Placidus, prefect of the city”.

It is now generally accepted that if two saints of the same name are celebrated on the one day, they are in fact the same person. It is possible that Valentine was a priest in Rome who was appointed bishop of Terni, was martyred in Rome and his body taken back and buried in Terni. This remains conjecture but it would explain the Rome and Terni connections.
One thing for certain is that the feast has become a celebration of love with both Roman and Christian origins that have been modified over the passing centuries. Today the real origin of St. Valentine's Day is shrouded in mystery but there are popular legends as to how this day became a part of our celebrated traditions

The legends agree that this day seems to stem from Imperial Roman times - although it wasn't St. Valentine's Day then. Sometime in the third century an annual Roman celebration called The Feast of Lupercus was born. Lupercus was a protective deity who kept the wolves from over-running Rome and a festival was held in his honour during mid February. One of the customs associated with this festival was the drawing of girl's names from a vase. On Lupercus Eve the young men would draw a name and the girl he chose would be his "girlfriend" for the year

In some cases it was the perfect match and the couple would fall in love and marry or enter into an arranged marriage.

During the reign of the Emperor Claudius the Second, the Roman Empire was involved in several bloody and unpopular wars and there was a difficulty in enlisting men into the army to fight in these campaigns. Claudius believed that to keep his army strong it was better that his men did not marry and have families that would "tie them down" and affect their work. So, during his reign, he decided to eliminate this conflict and saw the best solution as the forbidding of betrothals and marriages. In addition to forbidding marriages, he also decreed that any priest who married a young couple would be put to death.

He also decreed that all citizens must worship the state religion’s idols. Not to do so was punishable by death. As a result there were many Christian martyrs during his reign.
Some young people were so in love that they still wanted to participate in the union of marriage and pledge their eternal devotion to each other. These young couples found a saviour in priest Valentine or Valentinus, a ‘romantic’ at heart.

Valentine was a priest working in Rome at the time. He was dedicated to the ideals of Christ and not even the threat of death could keep him from practicing his faith. He ministered to Christians, among them, those facing death. Valentine also agreed to marry the desperate couples secretly. Valentine was clearly defying the Emperor, who eventually found out. Upon apprehension Valentine was ordered to renounce his faith. Valentine blatantly refused and was sentenced to death

The legend goes that one day the jailer came to Valentine bringing his blind daughter in his arms. He had learned of Valentine’s medical and spiritual healing abilities, and appealed to Valentine to treat his daughter who had been blind since birth. Valentine knew that her condition would be difficult to treat but he gave the man his word that he would do his best. The little girl was examined, given an ointment for her eyes and a series of re-visits were scheduled.

Seeing that he was a man of learning, the jailer asked whether his daughter, Julia, might also be brought to Valentine for lessons. Julia was a pretty young girl with a quick mind. Valentine 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 in his wisdom, and found comfort in his quiet strength.

One day she asked if God really existed and Valentine assured her that He did. She went on to tell him how she prayed morning and night that she might be able to see and Valentine told her that whatever happened would be God’s will and would be for the best.
Several weeks passed and the girl’s sight was not restored. Yet the man and his daughter never wavered in their faith and returned on a regular basis.

On the eve of his death, Valentine, knowing his execution was imminent wrote a last note to Julia. In it he urged her to stay close to God, and he signed it “From Your Valentine.” His sentence was carried out the next day, February 14, 269 A.D.,

Because of St. Valentine’s association with honouring true love in the people’s mind, the pagan custom of drawing girls' names then became associated with him.

Sometime during the Middle Ages men and women began to exchange hand-made cards on St. Valentine's Day. Another tradition had been born. These cards were elaborately decorated and contained love dedications and even proposals of marriage. They were never signed, as this was considered bad luck, and thus the tradition of the "secret admirer" started.

Another tradition associated with this day is that of giving flowers to the one you love. The crocus, which flowers around the time of the feast, is in some places known as St. Valentine’s Flower. A legend tells of Valentine making a present of a flower from his garden to young visitors who fell in love and married and so was born the custom of giving flowers.

St Valentine and the Irish Carmelites
In 1835, an Irish Carmelite, Dr John Spratt was visiting Rome. He was well known for his skills as a preacher and for his work among the poor and destitute in Dublin’s Liberties area. He was also responsible for the building of the new church to Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Whitefriar Street and the installation of the ancient oak figure venerated under the title of Our Lady of Dublin. He worked very closely with both the Capuchin Apostle of Temperance, Fr Matthew and Daniel O’Connell the Liberator.

His fame as a preacher had gone before him, no doubt brought to Rome by some Jesuits who had heard him preaching in Dublin. The elite of Rome flocked to hear him and he came home laden with tokens of esteem from churchmen in Rome. One such token came from Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) - a casket containing the relics of St Valentine.

These sacred relics had been exhumed by command of the Holy Father from the cemetery of St Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtinaon on the 27th December, 1835. On the 10th November, 1837, a reliquary sealed by the Holy See and containing the holy relics arrived in Dublin and was brought in solemn procession from the docks to Whitefriar Street (Aungier Street) where they were rest to this day.