Relics of him were kept in theChurch and Catacombs of San Valentino inRome, which "remained an important pilgrim site throughout the Middle Ages until the relics of St. Valentine were transferred to the church ofSanta Prassede during the pontificate ofNicholas IV".[6] His skull, crowned with flowers, is exhibited in the Basilica ofSanta Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. Other relics of him are inWhitefriar Street Carmelite Church,Dublin, Ireland, a popular place of pilgrimage, especially on Saint Valentine's Day, for those seeking love.[7][8] At least two different Saint Valentines are mentioned in the earlymartyrologies.[9] ForSaint Valentine of Rome, along withSaint Valentine of Terni, "abstracts of the acts of the two saints were in nearly every church and monastery of Europe", according to Professor Jack B. Oruch of the University of Kansas.[10]
Saint Valentine does not occur in the earliest list of Romanmartyrs, theChronography of 354, although the patron of the Chronography's compilation was a wealthy Roman Christian named Valentinus.[18]
In the Echternach recension of theMartyrologium Hieronymianum, there are mentions of a Valentinus martyred in Rome and a Valentinus martyred in Africa, but without a specific year or further identification.[19] TheMartyrologium was likely compiled in the 620s inLuxeuil, with many entries dating from an earlier list of saints fromAquileia.[20]
TheCatholic Encyclopedia[9] and otherhagiographical sources[21] speak of three Saints Valentine that appear in connection with February 14. One was a Roman priest, another the bishop of Interamna (modernTerni, Italy) both buried along theVia Flaminia outside Rome, at different distances from the city. The third was said to be a saint who suffered on the same day with a number of companions in theRoman province of Africa, of whom nothing else is known. Though the extant accounts of the martyrdoms of the first two listed saints are of a late date and contain legendary elements, "a common nucleus of fact" may underlie the two accounts and they may refer to "a single person".[22]
According to the official biography of the Diocese of Terni, Bishop Valentine was born and lived in Interamna and while on a temporary stay in Rome he was imprisoned, tortured, and martyred there on February 14, 269. His body was hastily buried at a nearby cemetery and a few nights later his disciples retrieved his body and returned him home.[23]
The 2001 and 2004 editions of theMartyrologium Romanum, the Catholic Church's official list of recognised saints, for February 14 list only one Saint Valentine: a martyr who died on the Via Flaminia.[24]
The widespread modern legend that the feast of St. Valentine on February 14 was first established in 496 byPope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among all those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God" is in fact based upon a statement in theGelasian Decree which mentions St George but not St Valentine, and is not in fact by Gelasius.[25]
The name "Valentine", derived fromvalens (worthy, strong, powerful), was popular inLate Antiquity. About eleven other saints with the name Valentine are commemorated in the Catholic Church.[26] Some Eastern Churches of the Western rite may provide still other different lists of Saint Valentines.[27] The Roman martyrology lists only seven who died on daysother than February 14: a priest fromViterbo (November 3);Valentine of Passau, papal missionary bishop toRaetia, among first patrons ofPassau, and later hermit in Zenoburg, near Mais,South Tyrol,Italy, where he died in 475 (January 7); a 5th-century priest and hermit (July 4);a Spanish hermit who died c. 715 (October 25); Valentine Berrio Ochoa, martyred in 1861 (November 24); and Valentine Jaunzarás Gómez, martyred in 1936 (September 18). It also lists a virgin,Saint Valentina, who was martyred in 308 (July 25) in Caesarea, Palestine.[28]
There is a popular idea that Saint Valentine is aChristianized version of the ancient godCupid, and the Saint's feast day to be anupdated version ofLupercalia, a fertility festival celebrated in February by ancient Romans. The antiquity of this association is not established by evidence. In fact, the "transformation of Valentine into an auxiliary or parallel to Cupid as sponsor of lovers" was a late development, well established by 1400.[29]
Saint Valentine of Terni oversees the construction of hisbasilica atTerni, from a 14th-century French manuscript. (BN, Mss fr. 185)Saint Valentine healing epilepsy, illustrated by Dr. František Ehrmann,c. 1899
The inconsistency in the identification of the saint is replicated in the variousvitae that are ascribed to him.
A common hagiography describes Saint Valentine as a priest of Rome or as the former Bishop ofTerni, an important town ofUmbria, in centralItaly. While under house arrest of Judge Asterius, and discussing his faith with him, Valentinus (the Latin version of his name) was discussing the validity ofJesus. The judge put Valentinus to the test and brought to him the judge's adopted blind daughter. If Valentinus succeeded in restoring the girl's sight, Asterius would do whatever he asked. Valentinus, praying to God,laid his hands on her eyes and the child's vision was restored.[30]
Immediately humbled, the judge asked Valentinus what he should do. Valentinus replied that all of theidols around the judge's house should be broken, and that the judge should fast for three days and then undergo the Christian sacrament ofbaptism. The judge obeyed and, as a result of his fasting and prayer, freed all theChristian inmates under his authority. The judge, his family, and his forty-four memberhousehold of adult family members and servants were baptised.[31]
Valentinus was later arrested again for continuing toevangelise. He was sent to the prefect of Rome, to the emperorClaudius Gothicus (Claudius II) himself. Claudius took a liking to him until Valentinus tried to convince Claudius toembrace Christianity. Claudius refused and condemned Valentinus to death, commanding that Valentinus either renounce his faith or he would be beaten with clubs and beheaded. Valentinus refused and was executed outside theFlaminian Gate on February 14, 269.[32]
An embellishment to this account states that before his execution, Saint Valentine wrote a note to Asterius's daughter signed "from your Valentine", which is said to have "inspired today's romantic missives".[33]
TheLegenda Aurea ofJacobus de Voragine, compiledc. 1260 and one of the most-read books of theHigh Middle Ages, gives sufficient details of the saints for each day of the liturgical year to inspire a homily on each occasion. The very briefvita of St Valentine states that he was executed for refusing to deny Christ by the order of the "Emperor Claudius" in the year 269.[34] Before his head was cut off, this Valentine restored sight and hearing to the daughter of his jailer. Jacobus makes a play with the etymology of "Valentine", "as containing valor".
A popularly ascribed hagiographical identity appears in theNuremberg Chronicle (1493). Alongside a woodcut portrait of Valentine, the text states that he was a Roman priest of exceptional learning who converted the daughter of Asterius and forty-nine others to Christianity before being martyred during the reign ofClaudius Gothicus.[35]
There are many other legends behind Saint Valentine. One is that the priest Valentine defied the order of the emperor and secretly performedChristian weddings for couples, allowing the husbands involved to escape conscription into the Roman army. This legend claims that soldiers were sparse at this time so this was a great inconvenience to the emperor.[36] The account mentions that in order "to remind these men of their vows and God’s love, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from parchment", giving them to thesepersecuted Christians, a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on St. Valentine's Day.[37]
There are many churchesdedicated to Saint Valentine in countries such as Italy. Saint Valentine was venerated no more than otherChristian martyrs and saints.[38]
A 5th- or 6th-century work calledPassio Marii et Marthae made up a legend about Saint Valentine's Basilica being dedicated to Saint Valentine in Rome. A laterPassio repeated the legend and added the adornment thatPope Julius I (357–352) had built the ancient basilicaS. Valentini extra Portam on top of his sepulchre, in the Via Flaminia.[39] This church was really named after a 4th-century tribune called Valentino, who donated the land on which it is built.[39] It hosted the martyr's relics until the 13th century, when they were transferred toSanta Prassede, and the ancient basilica decayed.[40]
Saint Valentine's Church in Rome, built in 1960 for the needs of theOlympic Village, continues as a modern, well-visited parish church.
Saint Valentine was also in theGeneral Roman Calendar for celebration as asimple feast until 1955, whenPope Pius XII reduced all such feasts to just acommemoration within another celebration. The 1969 revision of the General Roman Calendar removed this mention, leaving it for inclusion only in local calendars such as that ofBalzan,Malta. His commemoration was still in the 1962Roman Missal and is thus observed also by those who, in the circumstances indicated inPope Benedict XVI's 2007motu proprioSummorum Pontificum, use that edition.
July 6 is the date on which theEastern Orthodox Church celebrates the Roman presbyter Valentine; onJuly 30 it observes the feast of the Hieromartyr Valentine, Bishop of Interamna.[13][14] Members of theGreek Orthodox Church named Valentinos (male) or Valentina (female) may observe their name day on the Western ecclesiastical calendar date of February 14.[44]
English 18th-century antiquariansAlban Butler andFrancis Douce, noting the obscurity of Saint Valentine's identity, suggested that Saint Valentine's Day was created as an attempt to supersede the pagan holiday ofLupercalia (mid-February in Rome). This idea has lately been dismissed by academics and researchers, such as Jack B. Oruch of theUniversity of Kansas, Henry Ansgar Kelly of theUniversity of California, Los Angeles[45] andMichael Matthew Kaylor ofMasaryk University.[46] Many of the current legends that characterize Saint Valentine were invented in the 14th century in England, notably byGeoffrey Chaucer and his circle, when the feast day of February 14 first became associated withromantic love.[47]
Oruch charges that the traditions associated with "Valentine's Day", documented inGeoffrey Chaucer'sParlement of Foules and set in the fictional context of an old tradition, did not exist before Chaucer.[48] He argues that the speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among 18th-centuryantiquaries, notablyAlban Butler, the author ofButler's Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars. In the French 14th-century manuscript illumination from aVies des Saints (illustration above), Saint Valentine, Bishop of Terni, oversees the construction of his basilica atTerni; there is no suggestion here that the bishop was a patron of lovers.[49]
During the Middle Ages, it was believed that birds paired in mid-February. This was then associated with the romance of Valentine. Although these legends differ, Valentine's Day is widely recognised as a day forromance and devotion.
The flower-crowned alleged skull of St. Valentine is exhibited in the Basilica ofSanta 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 KingCarlos IV, who entrusted them to the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (Piarists). The relics have been displayed publicly since 1984, in a foundation open to the public at all times in order to help people in need.
Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church,Dublin, also houses some relics of St Valentine. On 27 December 1835, the Very Reverend Father John Spratt, Master of Sacred Theology to the Carmelite order in Dublin, was sent the partial remains of St Valentine by CardinalCarlo Odescalchi, under the auspices ofPope Gregory XVI. The relics and the accompanying letter from Cardinal Odescalchi have remained in the church ever since.[50] The remains, which include "a small vessel tinged with his blood", were sent as a token of esteem following an eloquent sermon Fr Spratt had delivered in Rome.[51]
On Saint Valentine's Day in Ireland, many individuals who seek true love make aChristian pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. Valentine in Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, which is said to house relics of Saint Valentine of Rome; theypray at the shrine in hope of finding romance.[52] Therein lies a book in which foreigners and locals have written their prayer requests for love.[7]
Saint Valentine's relics can also be found in Slovakia in two cities. The first isKošice, where the relic is placed in the Immaculate Conception (placed in 1720).[54] The second is Nováky, which they had in the church of St. Nicholas and the rare statue of Saint Valentine, which was stolen in the 1990s (according to one saved original part of the statue – the head, a new copy was created, which was ceremoniously placed in the church in 2000.[55]
^Webb, Matilda (2001).The churches and catacombs of early Christian Rome: a comprehensive guide. Sussex Academic Press. p. 254.ISBN9781902210575.It remained an important pilgrim site throughout the Middle Ages until the relics of St. Valentine were transferred to the church of Santa Prassede (Itinerary 3) during the pontificate of Nicholas IV (1288–92).
^abHecker, Jurgen (February 11, 2010)."Irish priests keep a candle for Saint Valentine".The Daily Telegraph.Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 6, 2018.A book in the church is filled with countless wishes addressed to the patron saint of lovers, while a steady stream of locals and visitors alike pray here for help in their amorous quests. 'God has someone in mind for me, and I obviously haven't met him yet. So I just hope that Saint Valentine will assist me, that I will find him,' said one female visitor. Another added: 'We just prayed to find the right one, and I believe I will be led to him when the time is right.'
^Chapman, Alison (2013).Patrons and Patron Saints in Early Modern English Literature.Routledge. p. 122.ISBN9781135132316.
^"Holy Days".Church of England (Anglican Communion). 2012. Archived fromthe original on December 25, 2018. RetrievedOctober 27, 2012.February 14 Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c. 269
^"XVI kalendas Martii Interamnae Via Flaminia miliario ab Urbe Roma LXIII natale Valentini" and"In Africa Valentini". In J. B. de Rossi, p. 20 (XVI KL. MAR.). See also M. Schoepflin, p. 40:"the original text".
^Lifshitz, Felice (2006).The Name of the Saint: The Martyrology of Jerome and Access to the Sacred in Francia, 627—827. Notre Dame: University Press.ISBN0-268-03375-7.
^René Aigrain,Hagiographie: Ses sources, ses méthodes, son histoire, (Paris 1953), pp. 268–269; Agostino S. Amore, "S. Valentino di Roma o di Terni?",Antonianum41. (1966), pp. 260–277.
^Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1983, p. 1423
^Palacios-Sánchez, Leonardo; Díaz-Galindo, Luisa María; Botero-Meneses, Juan Sebastián (October 2017)."Saint Valentine: Patron of lovers and epilepsy".Repertorio de Medicina y Cirugía.26 (4):253–255.doi:10.1016/j.reper.2017.08.004.Valentine placed his hands over her eyes, prayed to God, and Julia was able to see. Asterius, in awe of Valentine's power, converted to Christianity, along with 46 members of his family. He then also freed all Christians who were confined in his prison.
^Castleden, Rodney,The Book of Saints. 2006, p. 28.
^Kithcart, David (September 25, 2013)."St. Valentine, the Real Story".CBN.In the year 269 AD, Valentine was sentenced to a three-part execution of a beating, stoning, and finally decapitation all because of his stand for Christian marriage. The story goes that the last words he wrote were in a note to Asterius' daughter. He inspired today's romantic missives by signing it, 'from your Valentine.'
^Under the circumstances, Emperor Claudius was a detail meant to enhance verisimilitude. Attempts to identify him with the only 3rd-century Claudius,Claudius Gothicus, who spent his brief reign (268–270) away from Rome winning hiscognomen, are illusions in pursuit of a literary phantom: "No evidence outside several late saints' legends suggests that Claudius II reversed the policy of toleration established by the policy of his predecessorGallienus", Jack Oruch states, in "St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February",Speculum56.3 (July 1981), p. 536, referencingWilliam H. C. Frend,Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (New York, 1967, p. 326.
^Frank Staff,The Valentine & Its Origins, 1969, Frederick A. Praeger.
^Henry Ansgar Kelly, inChaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine. 1986, p. 62, says:As Thurston has noted, no English church is known to have been dedicated to St. Valentine (Thurston, Butler's Lives, 2:217). I should add that we have no record of a large number of churches in England.
^Jack Oruch identified the inception of this possible connection in Butler'sLives of the... Saints, 1756, and Douce'sIllustrations of Shakespeare, and of Ancient Manner,seeOruch, Jack B. (July 1981). "St. Valentine, Chaucer, and Spring in February".Speculum.56 (3):534–565.doi:10.2307/2847741.JSTOR2847741.S2CID162849518.
^BN, Mss fr. 185. The book ofLives of the Saints, withilluminations by Richard de Montbaston and collaborators, was among the manuscripts thatCardinal Richelieu bequeathed to the King of France.
^O'Sullivan, Michael (2018).Patrick Leigh Fermor: Noble Encounters Between Budapest and Transylvania. Budapest & New York: Central European University Press. p. 172.ISBN9786155225642.
Johannes Baptista de Rossi et Ludovicus Duchesne, ed., (1894).Martyrologium Hieronymianum: ad fidem codicum adiectis prolegomenis. Ex Actibus Sanctorum Novembris, Tomi II, pars prior. Bruxellis. lxxxii, 195 p.S. Valentinus, p. 20.
