About Saint Valentine

On 14 February, around the year 270, a Roman priest called Valentine was stoned and beheaded. In 496, Pope Gelasius marked 14 February as St. Valentine’s Day in dedication of his martyrdom.
For centuries, St. Valentine has been associated with romance, love and devotion. Yet little is known about his life – it is not even clear whether he was one person, or two.
The Golden Legend’ of 1260 claimed St. Valentine refused to deny Christ before the emperor Claudius II Gothicus (214-270) and was executed outside the Flaminian Gate as a result.
His martyrdom on 14 February became his Saints’ Day, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine’s Day).
One popular legend describes St. Valentine as a former bishop of Terni, in central Italy. While under house arrest by the judge Asterius, the two men discussed their respective faiths.
Asterius brought his adopted blind daughter to St. Valentine, and asked him to help her see again. Valentine, praying to God, laid his hands on her eyes and the child regained her sight.
Immediately humbled, the judge converted to Christianity, became baptised, and released all his Christian prisoners – including Valentine.
As a result, Valentine became the patron saint of – among other things – healing.
Years after his release, Valentine was arrested once again for evangelising and sent to Claudius II. The emperor was said to have taken a liking to him, until Valentine tried to persuade him to embrace Christianity.
Claudius refused and condemned the clergyman to death, commanding that Valentine either renounce his faith or face death.
On the day of his execution, he wrote a note to Asterius’ daughter – the child he had healed from blindness and befriended.
According to legend, he signed the letter “from your Valentine”.
According to the official biography of the Diocese of Terni, Valentine’s body was hastily buried at a cemetery near where he was killed before his disciples retrieved his body and returned him home.
In the early 19th century, the excavation of a catacomb near Rome produced the skeletal remains and other relics now associated with St. Valentine.
As per tradition, these remains were distributed to reliquaries around the world.
His skull, adorned with flowers, is on display in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosemedin, Rome, and other parts of his skeleton can be viewed in England, Scotland, France, Ireland and the Czech Republic.
n 1836, the Carmelite priest John Spratt received a gift from Pope Gregory XVI (1765-1846) containing a “small vessel tinged” with St. Valentine’s blood.
The gift was taken to Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland, where it remains. The church continues to be a popular place of pilgrimage, especially for those seeking love on St. Valentine’s Day.
The name “Valentinus” – from the Latin word valens, meaning strong, worthy and powerful – was popular in Late Antiquity.
Around 11 other saints of the name Valentine, or a variation thereof, are ommemorated in the Roman Catholic Church.
The most recently beautified Valentine was St. Valentine Berrio-Ochoa from Ellorio, Spain, who served as bishop in Vietnam until he was beheaded in 1861.
There was even a Pope Valentine, who ruled for two months in 827.
The saint we celebrate on Valentine’s Day is officially known as St. Valentine of Rome, to differentiate him from the other St. Valentines.