February 14 is a day, set aside all over the world, to be celebrated as the day of Love. While love is beautiful and should be celebrated, this day has increasingly suffered misuse in the way it has been celebrated mostly due to a lack of knowledge.
We as Christians must not lose sight of the origin of the day and what it signifies.
Valentine’s Day is celebrated because of St Valentine.
So who was he? Let us take a walk down the pages of history and find out.
The Life Of St Valentine
Saint Valentine (Italian: San Valentino; Latin: Valentinus) was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, Saints’ Day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. He is also a patron saint of Terni, epilepsy and beekeepers. Saint Valentine was a clergyman – either a priest or a bishop – in the Roman Empire who ministered to persecuted Christians. He was martyred and his body was buried on the Via Flaminia on February 14, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine’s Day) since at least the eighth century.
A commonly shared story describes Saint Valentine as a priest of Rome or as the former Bishop of Terni, an important town of Umbria, in central Italy. While under house arrest of Judge Asterius, and discussing his faith with him, Valentinus (the Latin version of his name) was discussing the validity of Jesus. The judge put Valentinus to the test and brought to him the judge’s adopted blind daughter. If Valentinus succeeded in restoring the girl’s sight, Asterius would do whatever he asked. Valentinus, praying to God, laid his hands on her eyes and the child’s vision was restored.
Immediately humbled, the judge asked Valentinus what he should do. Valentinus replied that all of the idols around the judge’s house should be broken and that the judge should fast for three days and then undergo the Christian sacrament of baptism. The judge obeyed and, as a result of his fasting and prayer, freed all the Christian inmates under his authority. The judge, his family, and his forty-four-member household of adult family members and servants were baptized.
Valentinus was later arrested again for continuing to evangelize. He was sent to the prefect of Rome, to the emperor Claudius Gothicus (Claudius II) himself. Claudius took a liking to him until Valentinus tried to convince Claudius to embrace Christianity. Claudius refused and condemned Valentinus to death, commanding that Valentinus either renounce his faith or he would be beaten with clubs and beheaded. Valentinus refused and was executed outside the Flaminian Gate on February 14, 269.
A popular story about St Valentine appears in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493). Alongside a woodcut portrait of Valentine, the story states that he was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius Gothicus. He was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time persecuted by Claudius in Rome. Helping Christians at this time was considered a crime. Claudius took a liking to this prisoner. However, when Valentinus tried to convert the Emperor, he was condemned to death. He was beaten with clubs and stones. When that failed to kill him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate. Various dates are given for the martyrdom or martyrdoms: 269, 270, or 273 but the most popular being 269 AD.
There are many other legends behind Saint Valentine. One is that in the 3rd century AD, it is said that Valentine, who was a priest, defied the order of the emperor Claudius and secretly performed Christian weddings for couples, allowing the husbands involved to escape conscription into the pagan army. This legend claims that soldiers were few at this time so this was a big inconvenience to the emperor. The account mentions that in order “to remind these men of their vows and God’s love, Saint Valentine is said to have cut hearts from the paper”, giving them to these persecuted Christians, which is believed by many to be a possible origin of the widespread use of hearts on St. Valentine’s Day.
Source: Wikipedia
Why DO We Celebrate Valentine’s Day?
The real reason for celebrating ST Valentine amongst Christians is to remember a brave saint who loved the lord so much, was committed to serving him, refused to deny Him and was willing to die for his beliefs.
This is the type of love we ought to celebrate on this feast Day of St Valentine.
Not the kind of tomantic love the world tells us today should be about, but celebrating the purest kind of love which is the Love of God, love for our brothers and sisters in the faith and the love for humanity, all these being the kind of love St Valentine’s life typified.
So, before you celebrate Valentine’s Day ask yourself if indeed you are celebrating the right kind of love. Are you celebrating the kind of love that St Valentine exemplified or is it the worldly kind which is self seeking and doesn’t please God?
Answer Truthfully, for you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32).
