The Story of Saint Valentine

Okay, this has absolutely nothing to do with France. But it is interesting.

I was chatting with my son over breakfast this morning. My daughter walked in and sweetly chirped, "Happy Valentine's Day, Mom." My son sarcastically retorted, "Yeah, great, let's celebrate some guy who got his head bashed in!" I said, "What?" He said, "Yeah, Saint Valentine, he got his head bashed in by the Romans."

Intrigued, I hopped online and what do you know ... he was right.

Here's the scoop:

Valentine was a Roman priest who lived during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius II (213 - 270), at the time when Romans were still killing Christians and making them martyrs. Valentine was arrested and imprisoned for marrying Christian couples and helping Christians to escape Roman persecution. 

He became friends with the Emperor Claudius II or Claudius Gothicus (to his friends). They were great pals until Valentine attempted to convert the emperor to Christianity, then Claudius condemned him to death. (Valentine really knew how to piss a guy off!) 

Valentine was beaten with clubs and stones and, when that didn't work (he was still alive and kicking), they took him outside and beheaded him. His relics can be found at the church of Saint Praxed in Rome and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin. Wait ... seriously? They guy was buried around 269 CE, are they really his relics? I read somewhere else, that a bunch of bones were dug up 800 years later, and someone thought they might belong to the decapitated martyr, but weren't sure .... I remain skeptical on this one!

Valentine was not marrying people because he was a hopeless romantic, but because Emperor Clauduis II had forbidden young men to marry as he was looking to increase the size of his army and thought that single men would be more willing to stay in and fight longer than married men. 

All this became romanticized when 14th century English author, poet, bureaucrat, courtier, Geoffrey Chaucer, wrote his famous poem, Parlement of Foules. (You may know Chaucer more for The Canterbury Tales.) 

"For this was on seynt Volantynys day

Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make."

(For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh to choose his mate.)

Bonne fête de Saint Valentine!!

Love, Charley