THE GREAT ST. VALENTINE'S DAY HOAX

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 14^th 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 14^th 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 14^th 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 5^th 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 6^th.

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.