Happy Valentine's Day

14 February 2017

St Valentine . . . there are actually 3 Saints that the Catholic Church recognizes . . .

. . . and you thought this would be a story about love . . .

. . . but then most holidays are borne out of legends.

One of the Saint Valentines supposedly served in 3rd Century in Rome . . . during Claudius II reign . . . a crazy man who decided that unmarried men made better soldiers (he probably wasn't too far off his rocker) and outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, who obviously believed in love, defied Claudius . . . continued to perform these ceremonies in secret. It is said that Claudius discovered Valentine's defiance and had him killed. Another legend says that he was imprisoned . . . and sent a declaration of love to a young girl who visited him . . . maybe his jailer's daughter.

In the First Century, the Pagans celebrated a festival in the middle of February called Lupercalia . . . a festival of fertility . . . dedicated to Faunus, the Roman God of Agriculture. In order to "Christianize" the celebration, early Christians held a feast honoring Valentine about the same time.

Lupercalia was outlawed by the end of the 5th Century, and Pope Gelasius declared February 14th as Saint Valentine's Day. It wouldn't be associated with "love" until much, much later. The people of the Middle Ages believed that the mating season of birds started around the middle of February which might have encouraged the "love theme." The first written Valentine appeared some time in the 1400's . . . the oldest known one is a poem written by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife, while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Some time later King Henry V hired a poet to write his declaration of love to Catherine of Valois:

Valentine's Day has, today, morphed into a seriously overrated, commercialized holiday . . . BUT girls love it! Don't ever forget that! Even if your girlfriend . . . the one you'll be allowed to have AFTER you turn like 25 . . . even if she says "I don't really want flowers for Valentine's Day" . . . just get her flowers . . . not kidding! If she's opposed to cut flowers, take her a flowering plant . . . the "Bleeding Heart" is always a good choice!