Feature
Who is Saint Valentine
Annie Rachek
Volume 6 Issue 3
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Many of us have celebrated or at least heard of St. Valentine’s Day, a Christian holiday celebrated on 14th of February each year. But have you ever wondered who St. Valentine was? St. Valentine’s Day is often a day to give chocolates and spend time with your loved ones, but its namesake was a 3rd century man of legends who performed weddings in secret.
A saint is a person who is regarded as a good role model and must be canonized by the pope to be an officially venerated saint. There are many St. Valentines, but we will be focusing on St. Valentine of Rome or Valentinus; Valentinus was a popular name and means Valentine in Latin. He was also called Valentine of Terni. Valentine was born around A.D 226.
Since this was a time when people’s lives were not well recorded, his childhood is shrouded in mystery besides the fact that he grew up in the Roman era, and a legend about him being an orphan. Saint Valentine was a doctor before becoming a priest, and he often preached to people about the meaning of true love and how to recognize love. After he became a priest, he married couples who could not get married legally due to the tyranny of Emperor Claudius II. Emperor Claudius outlawed marriages because it thought it would distract existing soldiers and saw it as an obstacle for recruiting new soldiers.
Saint Valentine was sent to jail when Emperor Claudius found out. He continued to teach people about love despite being in prison and was even able to become friends with his jailer, Asterious. Valentine would read to Asterious’ blind daughter, Julia, when she went to visit him in prison.
The emperor also started to take a liking to Valentine and even offered him a pardon if he renounced his faith. When Valentine refused, Emperor Claudius was enraged and sentenced Valentine to death. On February 14th, 270 at the age of around 44 years old, St. Valentine of Rome was beaten, *stoned, beheaded, and killed. Hence, Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14th.
Many St. Valentine’s Day traditions arose from his life. For example, before Valentine was killed for his faith, he wrote a letter to Julia to thank her for being his friend. It was signed “From Your Valentine” and inspired the tradition of people sending letters to their “Valentine” on this day to show love to the people they care about. Some say that when Julia read the letter it cured her blindness.
Saint Valentine is the patron saint of love, marriages, engagements, young people, greetings, travelers, people with epilepsy (epilepsy is a brain disorder, and he is most likely the patron saint of this since he had a medical background), and beekeepers. Paper hearts and knick-knacks often occupy many people’s homes during the Valentine season to celebrate the love he showed to others. Whether this helped you pick a gift for your Valentine or, if you do not celebrate, gave you insight into this man and holiday, I hope this answered your question of, “Who is St. Valentine?”
* When someone is stoned, a group of people throw rocks, often heavy, big, and sharp until that person dies.
Sources
Hallow
Dynamic Catholic
FaithND
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