St Valentine of Rome is the patron saint of – in no particular order – courtly love, beekeepers, affianced couples, epilepsy, happy marriages, plague, and fainting.
That’s quite a brief for a saint whose historical identity is difficult to pin down to just one person. It’s also a remarkable list of posthumous duties for a saint who is now almost exclusively known for St Valentine’s Day, an occasion devoted to romantic love expressed between couples.
Who was St Valentine, and how has he come to be associated with chocolates, hearts and flowers?
One foundational story identifies Valentinus as a priest in Rome, and concerns healing. According to one version of the story, Valentinus attracted the attention of the pagan Emperor, Claudius Gothicus (charmingly nicknamed ‘Claudius the Cruel’) who wanted to learn more about the priest’s Christian faith and so, rather than immediately putting him to death, had him placed under house arrest in the home of a Roman official, Asterius.
The official, too, became intrigued by Valentinus’ Gospel message, and wanted some demonstration of the efficacy of his faith. Valentinus healed Asterius’ daughter of blindness and so Asterius, his wife and the entire household were baptised Christians – and were later put to death by Claudius.
The same account has it that, on the day of his martyrdom, Valentinus wrote a farewell letter to the daughter, who – one suspects – had a grateful affection for him, and he signed it ‘Your Valentine’.
Another story of, presumably, the same Valentinus deals with mercy. Valentinus aroused the ire of the emperor by secretly marrying Christian couples in defiance of an imperial decree outlawing marriage for young men. It appears that the emperor had issued the decree to increase the number of males available for conscription into the Roman army.
A certain Bishop Valentinus of Terni is also identified as St Valentine; amid other saintly acts, it is said he also healed the child – the son – of a potential convert.
On the face of it, the twin identifications are not mutually exclusive, and both Valentines are recorded as being beheaded, by order of the emperor, on 14 February, circa 269CE.
Normally, doubt over a martyr’s identity would move him down the scale of the public’s awareness, and Valentinus has been removed from the General Roman Calendar of Catholic saints. His name, however, does remain on the date of 14 February in the Roman Martyrology. That feast day was chosen by Pope Gelasius I in 496CE.
As to his association with romantic love, it appears that a folk tradition might have initially arisen in England, captured by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, in poems such as “Parlement of Foules”:
For this was on Seynt Valentynes day
Whan euery foul comyth there to chese his make.
What is remarkable about the St Valentine phenomenon is its very paradox: that a saint whose identity is split into two nonetheless bears witness – whichever version you read – to the unique experience that is Christian love, a love quintessentially more robust than a relationship based only on romantic attraction.
This unique experience is suggested by his very name, the internationally recognised name of a common man martyred by a forgotten emperor; for ‘Valentinus’ derives, in Latin, from valens, meaning ‘strong, healthy and brave’. Valentine’s true significance is bound up in the connotation, which says that Christian mercy, born of love, is not weakness; that Christian healing, born of love, goes further than mere physical restoration; and that Christian martyrdom, born of love, is more conquering than the imperatives of ruling powers in this world.
St Valentine
Circa 226 – 269CE
14 February