By DEB PIROCH
One . . . or two? During the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius II, we hear of the martyrdom of St. Valentine. Changes were occurring in the Roman Empire; in the third century governments as opposed to mere local authorities began persecution of Christians and forbade conversion to the faith. It was circa AD 269 that St. Valentine lived.
The alleged skull of the saint is preserved as a relic at Santa Maria in Cosmedin, a minor basilica in Rome.
There is some confusion as to whether there were one or two martyred St. Valentines, according to Butler’s Lives. Indeed, some online sources speak of a third St. Valentine. In any case, the official Roman Martyrology (AD 354) lists but one St. Valentine, and it is entirely possible that given that his life hails from the earliest days of the Church, the two stories were combined.
Given the haziness of the information on his biography, perhaps, his name was removed from the new Church calendar in 1969, but remains in the old. Pope Gelasius granted him a feast day in only the fifth century, adding credence to his being widely known as a saint. It seems he was a likely priest or bishop, possibly also a doctor. His name is derived from “valens,” meaning “brave.”
In any case, despite the lack of details in his hagiography, he was popular. It is alleged that there are relics of his in Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Malta, Scotland, France, and the United Kingdom.
There are various tales concerning St. Valentine, which if not exact in nature, are similar. One involves the healing of Julia, the daughter of Austerius, a judge with whom he was staying. Austerius asked St. Valentine to prove Christ was real, so he healed the blindness of his daughter, Julia.
Another account, dating much later to the Middle Ages, states the saint healed instead or in addition the blind daughter of his jailer, before his own execution. The recurring theme of healing from blindness also takes on a metaphorical weight, as all of us are healed from the blindness of the world in embracing Christ and rejecting the material world. And — I cannot resist saying it — love is also blind.
Again, the legends are similar, raising questions as to whether the Valentines discussed are two or one. After the further persecution of St. Valentine following the healing of Austerius’ daughter, it is said Emperor Claudius took a liking to him and tried to get him to renounce Christianity. When he would not, he was beaten to death and beheaded.
By comparison, the Middle Ages version, which comes from a work entitled Legenda Aurea (1260), also states he was beheaded after healing the jailer’s blind daughter. A third account, in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), comments that beating the saint was attempted but, failing its success, the saint was yes, in the end, finally beheaded.
While most do not associate St. Valentine with epilepsy, there is no doubt he was one of many saints invoked for its healing, as shown in over 300 paintings or depictions of St. Valentine from the Middle Ages (source: Sciencedirect.com). Lucas Cranach would be one of the better-known artists.
More than one writer points out that the images show very lifelike portrayals of the disease as it manifested itself and it is assumed that as epilepsy was known as the “falling disease,” and “fallen” and “Valen(tin)” are not unlike in German pronunciation, this as well may account for his patronage. But he is by no means the only saint invoked for epilepsy; like the plague, there were a great many saints routinely implored to intercede for health before the throne of God.
Was Valentine really the saint of romance?
Actually, as far as today’s writers seem able to tell, February 14 was attributed as a day for birds to mate by Chaucer. Yet romance and mating seem to only appear in literature in the Middle Ages, not earlier. More likely is that Roman soldiers were forbidden to marry during the time of St. Valentine, and legend said he married Christian couples, which led to his arrest by Emperor Claudius.
Nevertheless, here is the stanza from Chaucer’s The Parliament of Fowles:
For this was on Seynt Valentynes day,
Whan every foul cometh ther to chese his make,
Of every kinde, that men thynke may;
And that so huge a noyse gan they make,
That erthe and see, and tree, and every lake
So ful was, that unnethe was ther space
For me to stonde, so ful was al the place.
The modern valentine as we know it, sent from one friend to another, has nothing to do with St. Valentine. Sending the missives in America was actually popularized by an alumna of my own school, Mount Holyoke College (then called Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary). In 1847 Esther Howland revealed women had romance on their mind just as much then, as now.
To be true to the saint, we should spread the faith without fear. If you see a Valentine on February 14 next year, and prefer to think of romance rather than the image of a martyred, beheaded saint, pray. Ask instead that St. Valentine intercede to help you show bravery in these troubled times, and help you discern your vocation in life; single, married, or religious. Pray that the institution of marriage between husband and wife be upheld, along with the traditional family. In Three to Get Married, Archbishop Fulton Sheen puts the love of man and wife on a level with our ultimate goal, God is love:
“Do not think that life is a snare or an illusion. It would be that only if there were no Infinite to satisfy your yearnings. Rather, husband and wife should say: ‘We both want a Love that will never die and will have no moments of hate or satiety. That love lies beyond both of us; let us, therefore, use our marital love one for another, to bring us to that perfect blissful love, which is God.’ At that point, love ceases to be a disillusionment and begins to be a sacrament, a material, carnal channel toward the spiritual and the Divine.
“Husband and wife then come to see that human love is a spark from the great flame of eternity; that the happiness that comes from the unity of two in one flesh is a prelude to that greater communion of two in one spirit….
“For since God is boundless eternal Love, it will take an ecstatic eternal chase to sound its depths. At one and the same eternal moment, there is a limitless receptivity and a boundless gift. Thus does Eros climb to Agape, and both move on to that greatest revelation ever given to the world: GOD IS LOVE.”
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