Q: Who was St. Valentine and why does the Church no longer observe his feast in its General Roman Calendar for Feb. 14?
A: Valentine’s Day has been celebrated as a cultural phenomenon mostly in English-speaking countries. Americans spend billions of dollars each year on chocolate, flowers and other gifts on Valentine’s Day and send millions of cards. As kids in schools everywhere cover shoeboxes with tinfoil and construction paper hearts to receive their valentines (at least that’s what we did when I was a kid), I would bet most have no idea of the holiday’s connection to a real person.
Complicating matters, there seems to have been more than one St. Valentine. At least three saints (all martyrs) of that name lived around the same time. However, most associate the holiday with a 3rd century Roman priest or bishop martyred near the Via Flaminia in Rome on Feb. 14, 269.
But what’s the connection to love and romance? I like to kid people on St. Valentine’s Day that nothing says romance like a celibate martyr.
Apparently, St. Valentine would clandestinely marry Christian couples during the period of severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire prior to the Edict of Milan in 313, which granted religious liberty to Christians. This would also exempt men from military service under the emperor. Who wants to fight for someone who is persecuting you?
Legend also has it that St. Valentine would use parchment to cut out heart shapes to give to couples to remind them of their vows. Another story relates that he converted the family and household of a Roman judge and, in a letter to the judge’s daughter while Valentine was in prison, he signed off, “From your Valentine.”
In the end, we don’t know which St. Valentine is the namesake for the holiday. A St. Valentine is listed in the Roman Martyrology (the Church’s official list of martyrs) on Feb. 14. Likely because little is known about him, St. Valentine is not listed on the General Roman Calendar, which governs the liturgical celebrations of the saints. That doesn’t mean he didn’t exist or that he is not a saint (except in churches named after him). It simply means we do not observe that day in the liturgy.
The General Roman Calendar for Feb. 14 lists Saints Cyril and Methodius, two 9th century brothers, theologians and missionaries. They are known as the “Apostles to the Slavs” and are copatrons of Europe. They are also credited with the development of the oldest known Slavic alphabet, the forerunner of the modern “Cyrillic alphabet,” used in Russian and other Eurasian languages.
Unfortunately, it’s slim pickings for Saints Cyril and Methodius’ Day cards, but for those Valentine’s Day curmudgeons out there, here’s a homemade rhyme you can use: “Roses are lame. Violets are odious. Happy feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius!”
Whoever and however you celebrate next week, don’t lose sight of the real love story, that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16). That is the truth for which Valentine, Cyril, Methodius and countless others spent their lives.
(Father Thom Hennen serves as the pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport and vicar general for the Diocese of Davenport. Send questions to messenger@davenportdiocese.org)