A
quick Google search of St. Valentine reveals a mishmash of information. There
could have been three or more Christian saints and martyrs by that name. Some of them were
buried various churches in Rome where their relics were relocated from distant
places where they died.
In the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints February 14th was celebrated as the
date of the martyrdom of one of these saints. Little else is known of him
except that his death occurred in North Africa. In 1969, Pope Paul VI removed
this martyr’s feast day from the church calendar.
Apparently
it wasn’t until the late 14th century that there was any connection
of St. Valentine’s Day with romantic love. In 1382 Geoffrey Chaucer, the English
mediaeval poet, wrote a poem celebrating the engagement of King Richard II to
Princess Anne of Bohemia. In modern English one line of the poem read, “For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird
cometh there to choose his mate."
There
is an American legend with no historical basis whatsoever that on the eve of
his martyrdom, St. Valentine wrote a letter to the blind daughter of his jailer
whom he had healed and befriended. This is supposed to have been the first valentine.
Certainly the greeting card and chocolate manufacturers and the florists must love
promoting the legend and relationship. Next to Christmas, Valentine’s Day is a
bonanza for their business.
There
are two possible ways to substantiate the connection of February 14th
with romance. The Romans had a fertility festival called Lupercalia which they celebrated from February 13-15. This had been
adapted from an earlier Greek mid-winter festival dedicated to the marriage of the
gods Zeus and Hera. The Christian Church banned this festival at the end of the
5th century CE. But such a ban may not have changed the celebration
by the common people. Fertility in human relationships cannot be so easily
controlled.
There
are also hints of the legend about St. Nicholas of Myra in our modern Valentine’s
Day. His reputation for giving gifts expressing love is a major part of our
modern way of celebrating St. Valentine’s Day. Of course, his generosity is
still remembered more at the end of the year in our modern commercial world
under the guise of Santa Claus. That festival was adapted from the early Dutch
settlers in the United States in their practice of celebration of the feast of St.
Nicholas (Sinterklaas) on December 6th.
I
have always found St. Valentine’s Day at least a little boring and at most
embarrassing. It was just that in my elementary school days when our teachers
insisted on having a valentine exchange in our classroom. These days I much
prefer expressing my love for my wife of more than sixty years on her birthday
just a few days earlier in February.
