Everyone is getting ready for Valentine's Day although down here in New Orleans it is Mardi Gras and Saints celebration week. Every 14th of February we are deluged with images of what we as a people have done to this day. Commercials with all things romantic as the media and the merchants have their way with our emotions and feelings.
The world tells me I really don't love my wife unless I purchase an expensive card, roses that miraculously cost much more today than any other day of the year, and spring for a romantic, and yes, expensive dinner. Oh, she's worth it; but why do I have to be told what day to do it.
In the official Dictionary of Saints, there he is: St. Valentine. He was a Priest in Rome and also a doctor. He was beheaded there under the rule of Claudius on Febraury 14, 269. There are confusing records that also refer to a Bishop Valentine from Terni about 60 miles from Rome. The most likely explanation was that Valentine was indeed a Priest in the Terni region, elevated to the office of Bishop and sentenced to die for his Christian witness. He would have been brought to Rome for the execution.
The custom of sending Valentine greetings on February 14th stems from a medieval belief that birds began to pair on that day.
The Dictionary of Saints also identifies another St. Valentine, a 5th century abbot and missionary Bishop, who died on January 7th.
I have often wondered why I never hear of St. Valentine in the Proper of Saints when reading through the Divine Office and it just seems that St. Valentine shares a feast day with two other prominent Saints, Sts. Cyril and Methodius.
So again, when the rest of the world celebrates Valentines Day the way the world tells them to do so, remember, this is a Catholic Saints feast day.
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