February 14
ST. VALENTINE
Patron of Love, Young People and Happy Marriages.
Dear brethren in Christ, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY! The entire world today celebrates Valentine’s day as a tribute to human love.
Nevertheless, Valentine is a name of a Roman saint martyr included in the old Roman liturgical calendar (but is still celebrated in some localities) and is considered as the patron of love, young people and happy marriages.
Let us ask God through the intercession of St. Valentine so that YOUNG PEOPLE, ENGAGED AND MARRIED COUPLES, MAY TRULY HAVE A CLEAN, HOLY AND HAPPY LOVE WHICH IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE LOVE OF GOD!
Below you have a summarized biography on St. Valentine taken from different sources.
Cordially inviting you to visit and like our FB page in www.fb.com/CatholicsstrivingforHoliness or sign-up to our website, www.catholicsstrivingforholiness.org, so we can have a wider apostolic reach and thus help more people in their Christian life. Thanks! Fr. Rolly A., priest of Opus Dei.
WHO IS ST. VALENTINE?
***ST. VALENTINE’S BIOGRAPHY SUMMARIZED
FROM WIKI.ORG & CATHOLIC.ORG***
Saint Valentine (Latin: Valentinius), officially Saint Valentine of Rome, is a widely recognized third-century Roman saint commemorated on February 14 and associated since the High Middle Ages with a tradition of courtly love.
All that is reliably known of the saint commemorated on July 23 is his name and that he was martyred and buried at a cemetery on the Via Flaminia close to the Milvian bridge to the north of Rome on that day. It is uncertain whether St. Valentine is to be identified as one saint or the conflation of two saints of the same name. Several different martyrologies have been added to later hagiographies that are unreliable.
Because so little is known of him, in 1969 the Catholic Church removed his name from the General Roman Calendar, leaving his liturgical celebration to local calendars. The Catholic Church continues to recognize him as a saint, listing him as such in the February 14 entry in the Roman Martyrology, and authorizing liturgical veneration of him on February 14 in any place where that day is not devoted to some other obligatory celebration in accordance with the rule that on such a day the Mass may be that of any saint listed in the Martyrology for that day. Use of the pre-1970 liturgical calendar is also authorized under the conditions indicated in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 2007. Saint Valentine’s Church in Rome, built in 1960 for the needs of the Olympic Village, continues as a modern, well-visited parish church.
The legends attributed to the mysterious saint are as inconsistent as the actual identification of the man.
One common story about St. Valentine is that in one point of his life, as the former Bishop of Terni, Narnia and Amelia, he was on house arrest with Judge Asterius. While discussing religion and faith with the Judge, Valentine pledged the validity of Jesus. The judge immediately put Valentine and his faith to the test.
St. Valentine was presented with the judge’s blind daughter and told to restore her sight. If he succeeded, the judge vowed to do anything for Valentine. Placing his hands onto her eyes, Valentine restored the child’s vision.
Judge Asterius was humbled and obeyed Valentine’s requests. Asterius broke all the idols around his house, fasted for three days and became baptized, along with his family and entire 44 member household. The now faithful judge then freed all of his Christian inmates.
St. Valentine was later arrested again for continuing to try to convert people to Christianity. He was sent to Rome under the emperor Claudius Gothicus (Claudius II). According to the popular hagiographical identity, and what is believed to be the first representation of St. Valentine, the Nuremberg Chronicle, St. Valentine was a Roman priest martyred during Claudius’ reign. The story tells that St. Valentine was imprisoned for marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians being persecuted by Claudius in Rome. Both acts were considered serious crimes. A relationship between the saint and emperor began to grow, until Valentine attempted to convince Claudius of Christianity. Claudius became raged and sentenced Valentine to death, commanding him to renounce his faith or be beaten with clubs and beheaded.
St. Valentine refused to renounce his faith and Christianity and was executed outside the Flaminian Gate on February 14, 269. However, other tales of St. Valentine’s life claim he was executed either in the year 269, 270, 273 or 280. Other depictions of St. Valentine’s arrests tell that he secretly married couples so husbands wouldn’t have to go to war. Another variation of the legend of St. Valentine says he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, was imprisoned and while imprisoned he healed the jailer’s blind daughter. On the day of his execution, he left the girl a note signed, “Your Valentine.”
Pope Julius I is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole in his memory, which for a long time gave name to the gate now called Porta del Popolo, formerly, Porta Valetini.
The romantic nature of Valentine’s Day may have derived during the Middle Ages, when it was believed that birds paired couples in mid-February. According to English 18th-century antiquarians Alban Butler and Francis Douce, Valentine’s Day was most likely created to overpower the pagan holiday, Lupercalia.
Although the exact origin of the holiday is not widely agreed upon, it is widely recognized as a day for love, devotion and romance.
Whoever he was, Valentine did really exist, because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to St. Valentine. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom.
Relics of St. Valentine can be found all over the world. A flower-crowned skull of St. Valentine can be found in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. In 1836, other relics were exhumed from the catacombs of Saint Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina and were identified as Valentine’s. These were transported for a special Mass dedicated to those young and in love.
Fr. John Spratt received a gift from Pope Gregory XVI in 1836 contianing a “small vessel tinged” with St. Valentine’s blood. This gift now stands placed in Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin, Ireland.
Other alleged relics were found in Prague in the Church of St Peter and Paul at Vysehrad; in the parish church of St. Mary’s Assumption in Chelmno Poland; at the reliquary of Roquemaure in France; in the Stephansdom in Vienna; in Balzan in Malta and also in Blessed John Duns Scotus’ church in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland.
St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, and young people. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses and his feast day is celebrated on February 14.
TEXT SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Valentine and http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=159
PHOTO SOURCE: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/St-Valentine-Kneeling-In-Supplication.jpg
AV SUMMARY OF THE ABOVE TEXT
A PRAYER TO
SAINT VALENTINE
O glorious advocate and protector, Saint Valentine,
look with pity upon our wants,
hear our requests,
attend to our prayers,
relieve by your intercession
the miseries under which we labor,
and obtain for us the Divine blessing,
that we may be found worthy to join you
in praising the Almighty for all eternity;
through the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pray, then, O holy Martyr, for the Faithful,
who are so persevering in celebrating thy memory.
The day of Judgment will reveal to us
all thy glorious merits.
Oh! intercede for us,
that we may then be made thy companions
at the right hand of the Great Judge,
and be united with thee eternally in heaven.
Let us pray:
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God,
that we who solemnize the festival of blessed Valentine,
Thy Martyr, may, by his intercession,
be delivered from all the evils that threaten us.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
[Mention your intention(s) here…]
Saint Valentine, advocate and protector,
pray for me.
Say Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be…
SEE AS WELL:
VALENTINE PRAYER AND GREETING HERE
A CATHOLIC VIDEO FOR VALENTINE’S DAY: LOVE WITH CHRIST’S LOVE HERE.
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