Valentine’s Day, or lesser known as Saint
Valentine’s Day, or Feast of Saint Valentine, is observed on 14th of
February each year by various Christian denominations, including Anglican
Cummunian, the Lutheran Church, and the Roman Catholic Church. However, in the 1969 revision of the Roman
Catholic Calendar of Saints, the Feast of Saint Valentine was removed from the
General Roman Calendar.
The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates St.
Valentine’s Day on 6th July, to honour a Roman presbyter, Saint
Valentine. In addition of that, the
Eastern Orthodox Church observes the Feast of Hieromartyr Valentine, Bishop of
Interamna, on 30th July.
Saint
Valentines
The name Valentine derived from ‘valens’ ( means worthy, strong, powerful
) was popular in Late Antiquity ( c 2nd - 8th century ).
There are numerous early Christian martyrs whom
were named Valentine. Yet, the
Valentines honoured on February 14 are Valentine of Rome and Valentine of
Terni.
Valentine of Terni
became Bishop of Interamna in AD 197. he
was martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian, and was also buried
on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at
the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni.
Valentine of Rome
was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269. He was buried on the Via Flaminia, an ancient
Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum. His relics are at the Brasilica of Santa
Prassede in Rome, and Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Ireland. A flower-crowned skull of Valentine of Rome
is exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome.
Valentine of Rome was a priest during which
Christian were persecuted. St. Valentine
secretly perform Christian wedding for soldiers whom were forbidden to
marry. He also cut heart from parchment
and gave them to the persecuted Christians to remind them of God’s love and to
encourage them to remain faithful Christians.
St. Valentine was executed by Emperor Claudius II. Before his execution, he performed a miracle
by healing Julia, the blind daughter of his jailer Asterius.
Yet in Chronographer
of 354 ( a manuscript from AD 354 ), the name Valentine cannot be found in
the earliest list of martyrs.
But it already can be found in the Maryrologium Hieronymianum ( a
compilation of Christian martyrs from 460-544 AD ).
Roman
Martyrology ( the official martyrology of the Roman Catholic
Church, published in 1583 by Pope Gregory XIII ) recognized only one Valentine,
presumably Valentine of Rome.
The Catholic
Encyclopedia ( published by Robert Appleton Company, NY, USA, in 1905 )
also speaks of a saint named Valentine who was
martyred on February 14. He was martyred
in Africa with a number of companions.
His skull was preserved in the abbey of New Minster, Winchester.
Valentine’s
Day
There is no hard evidence of the origin of
Valentine Day, nor any link with an ancient Roman festival Lupercalia.
For centuries, the Romans celebrated Lupercalia on
February 15, an archaic rite linked to mythical god Lupercus. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the
name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual
companion for the year.
The then Pope Gelasius I changed the lottery to
have both young man and woman draw the names of saints whom they would emulate
for the year. The patron of the feast
was replaced with Valentine. Some claim
that Gelasius replaced Lupercalia with the Feast of the Purification of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.
Yet the Roman Catholic in 1969 dropped Feast of
Saint Valentine from its calendar.
Nevertheless, it’s observed by various other Christian denominations,
and the rest of the world.
