On a day that is celebrated with declaration of love, flowers and chocolates, let’s take a minute to remember who was Saint Valentine!
Put simply, he didn’t really have an easy life and he had a very painful death. He lived in the 3rd century and worked in the Roman Empire, administering to persecuted Christians, of which they were more than a few! He was martyred (to be precise, he was beaten, stoned, beheaded and buried on 14 Feb 269 AD) and his body buried on the Via Flaminia on 14th Feb, which has been observed as the Feast of Saint Valentine (Saint Valentine’s Day) since at least the eighth century.
He remains with us, or more precisely, his remains remain with us.
His skull is on display in a glass reliquary at the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, a shoulder blade is housed at the Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Prague (after having been discovered in the church’s basement in 2002), a vessel tinged with his blood in addition to sundry other artifacts at the Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin, and relics are kept inside a wax effigy of the saint situated in front of the altar of Old St. Ferdinand Shrine in Florissant, Missouri.
Despite this gruesome origin story, people will take today to show affection to their loved ones and maybe that is the best remembrance anyone could expect.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
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