- The St. Valentine who inspired the holiday may have been two different men. ...
- In all, there are about a dozen St. Valentines, plus a pope. ...
- Valentine is the patron saint of beekeepers and epilepsy, among many other things. ...
- You can find Valentine’s skull in Rome. ...
- English poet Geoffrey Chaucer may have invented Valentine’s Day. ...
Was St Valentine a real person?
Yes, there was at least one real St. Valentine There was at least one real St. Valentine, though experts have found three overlapping accounts of the historical figure. Credit: AP This January 2, 2014 photo shows a book next to the altar of St. Valentine in the Carmelite Church in Whitefriar Street, Dublin.
Who was the real St. Valentine?
Valentine's Day celebrates the life of St. Valentine of Rome, a priest who was martyred on February 14. February 14 marks the popular holiday of Valentine’s Day, a day to show your love to ...
Why was St Valentine executed?
— G.L. Answer: According to tradition, St. Valentine (or Valentinus) was a Roman priest who, sometime around A.D. 270, was jailed and sentenced to be executed for secretly performing Christian wedding ceremonies in violation of an edict from Emperor Claudius II.
What is the true story of Saint Valentine?
While Valentine's Day might be associated with romantic love, the real story behind its namesake, St. Valentine, is full of bloodshed and heartbreak. There are multiple St. Valentines in history, and the historical origins of the figure are shaky ...
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How many St Valentines have there been?
three different SaintValentine are unclear. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of 14 February.” One was a priest in Rome, the second one was a bishop of Interamna (now Terni, Italy) and the third St.
Is there more than one St. Valentine?
There were multiple St. Valentines (including decapitated ones), but it was a medieval poet who first established the holiday's romantic tradition. There were multiple St. Valentines (including decapitated ones), but it was a medieval poet who first established the holiday's romantic tradition.
Was there a real Saint Valentine?
Officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, St. Valentine is known to be a real person who died around A.D. 270.
Is Valentine still a saint?
Chaucer's words stuck, and today St. Valentine is the patron saint of love, but that's not all he represents. Europeana says he is also the patron saint of beekeepers and epileptic people.
Why was St. Valentine removed from the Catholic church?
Valentine as a saint of the church, he was removed from the General Roman Calendar in 1969 because of the lack of reliable information about him. He is the patron saint of lovers, epileptics, and beekeepers. By some accounts, St.
WHO officially chose 14th February for Saint Valentine's day?
Pope GelasiusValentine's Day Meaning: A Day of Romance and Love Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed—as it was deemed “un-Christian”—at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day.
What was St. Valentine the patron saint of?
He is still identified as a saint by the Catholic church, and his feast day celebrates his life on the day he was killed - 14 February. What is Saint Valentine the patron saint of? Saint Valentine is the patron saint of lovers, epileptics, and beekeepers.
Who is the saint of love?
St ValentineSt Valentine the Patron Saint of Love Representing love, young people and happy marriages, St Valentine's Day became the day for exchanging love messages.
Where is St Valentines skull?
the Basilica of Santa Maria in CosmedinMyth and mystery shroud third-century Catholic martyr St. Valentine, who is believed to have been executed on February 14. His skull is said to be housed in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, in Rome, Italy, one of several European churches that lay claim to his remains.
What does the Bible say about Valentines?
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
When did Saint Valentine became a saint?
The first official Saint Valentine's Day was declared on 14th of February by Pope Galasius in 496, in memory of a 3rd century martyred priest in Rome.
Three on Feb. 14
Two of the St. Valentines honored on Feb. 14 have very similar stories and might truly have been the same person. When people started honoring someone on this date is also unclear. While the hometown of one of the two men says his feast dates to the seventh century, any real mention of St. Valentine linked to romance dates only to the 14th century.
Different dates in the East
The Eastern Orthodox churches are a bit more clear about stating that there were two men who died as martyrs in the same year: A.D. 270. They do so by having two separate feast days for them:
Poems and birds
We can thank the English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, with letting us know about another link to romance on Valentine’s Day through Valentine’s link to birds.
How many times can you celebrate Valentine's Day?
You can celebrate Valentine’s Day several times a year. Because of the abundance of St. Valentines on the Roman Catholic roster, you can choose to celebrate the saint multiple times each year. Besides February 14, you might decide to celebrate St. Valentine of Viterbo on November 3.
Why is Valentine called Valentine?
Because “Valentinus”—from the Latin word for worthy, strong or powerful —was a popular moniker between the second and eighth centuries A.D., several martyrs over the centuries have carried this name. The official Roman Catholic roster of saints shows about a dozen who were named Valentine or some variation thereof.
Who is the most recently beatified saint?
The most recently beatified Valentine is St. Valentine Berrio-Ochoa, a Spaniard of the Dominican order who traveled to Vietnam, where he served as bishop until his beheading in 1861.
Who beheaded Valentine?
One account from the 1400s describes Valentine as a temple priest who was beheaded near Rome by the emperor Claudius II for helping Christian couples wed. A different account claims Valentine was ...
Did Chaucer write Valentine's Day?
No record exists of romantic celebrations on Valentine’s Day prior to a poem Chaucer wrote around 1375. In his work “Parliament of Foules,” he links a tradition of courtly love with the celebration of St. Valentine’s feast day–an association that didn’t exist until after his poem received widespread attention.
Acknowledgement
Saunders, Rev. William. "History of Saint Valentine." Arlington Catholic Herald.
The Author
Father William Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Potomac Falls, Virginia. He is dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College. The above article is a "Straight Answers" column he wrote for the Arlington Catholic Herald.
Multiple Martyred Saint Valentines
Valentine was a popular name in ancient Rome, and there are at least 50 stories of different saints by that name. But Forbes said the earliest surviving accounts of the two February 14 Valentines, written starting in the 500s, have a whole lot in common.
Tracing Valentine's Day to Lupercalia
Saint Valentine’s Day has also been associated with a Christian effort to replace the older holiday of Lupercalia, which Romans celebrated on February 15. Some modern stories paint Lupercalia as a particularly sexy holiday, when women wrote their names on clay tablets which men then drew from a jar, pairing up random couples.
A Chaucer Poem Links Romance to Valentine
So how did Chaucer create the Valentine’s Day we know today? In the 1370s or 1380s, he wrote a poem called "Parliament of Fowls" that contains this line: “For this was on Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird comes there to choose his mate.”
Why is Valentine's Day celebrated?
Valentine's Day. Another common legend states that St. Valentine defied the emperor’s orders and secretly married couples to spare the husbands from war. It is for this reason that his feast day is associated with love.…. martyr.
What is the Roman Catholic Church?
Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism, Christian church that has been the decisive spiritual force in the history of Western civilization. Along with Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism, it is one of the three major branches of Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church traces its….
Overview
Saint Valentine (Italian: San Valentino; Latin: Valentinus) was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his Saints' Day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. He is also a patron saint of Terni, asthma and beekeepers. Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a
Identification
Saint Valentine does not occur in the earliest list of Roman martyrs, the Chronography of 354, although the patron of the Chronography's compilation was a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus. However, it is found in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, which was compiled between 460 and 544 from earlier local sources. The feast of St. Valentine of February 14 was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among all those "... whose na…
Hagiography and testimony
The inconsistency in the identification of the saint is replicated in the various vitae that are ascribed to him.
A common hagiography describes Saint Valentine as a priest of Rome or as the former Bishop of Terni, an important town of Umbria, in central Italy. While under house arrest of Judge Asterius, and discussing his faith with him, Valentinus (t…
Churches named after Saint Valentine
There are many churches dedicated to Saint Valentine in countries such as Italy. Saint Valentine was venerated no more than other Christian martyrs and saints.
A 5th- or 6th-century work called Passio Marii et Marthae made up a legend about Saint Valentine's Basilica being dedicated to Saint Valentine in Rome. A later Passio repeated the legend and added the adornment that Pope Julius I (3…
Saint Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine of Rome was martyred on February 14 in AD 269. The Feast of Saint Valentine, also known as Saint Valentine's Day, was established by Pope Gelasius I in AD 496 to be celebrated on February 14 in honour of the Christian martyr.
February 14 is Saint Valentine's Day in the Lutheran calendar of saints. The Chu…
Associated Christian relics
The flower-crowned alleged skull of St. Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.
St. Valentine's remains are deposited in St Anton's Church, Madrid, where they have lain since the late 1700s. They were a present from the Pope to King Carlos IV, who entrusted them to the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of G…
See also
• La Fête du Baiser
• Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire
• Saint Fructus, 8th-century Spanish martyr
• Saint Valentine, patron saint archive
Notes
1. ^ Jones, Terry. "Valentine of Terni". Patron Saints Tom. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
2. ^ Palacios-Sánchez, Leonardo; Díaz-Galindo, Luisa María; Botero-Meneses, Juan Sebastián (2017). "Saint Valentine: Patron of sex and epilepsy". Repertorio de Medicina y Cirugía. 26 (4): 253–255. doi:10.1016/j.reper.2017.08.004.