 Knowing
St. Valentine
Every
year we celebrate 14th February as
Valentine’s Day by giving flowers, gifts and candies
to our loved ones. But, who was this St. Valentine and
why is this day celebrated in memory of him since 1700
years?
Life
of St. Valentine:
He
was a revered Roman priest who, in the company of St.
Marius and the people of his family, assisted the people
who lost their lives during the persecution which was
carried out under Claudius II. Consequently he was
detained and the emperor sent him to the Roman prefect,
who mauled him to death with clubs and beheaded him
because St. Valentine did not have faith in the emperor.
This occurred on 14th February. Later Pope
Julius I constructed a church in 270 A.D close to a
place called Ponte Mole due to which its gate was named
Porta Valetini, which is now renamed to Porta Del Popolo.
His
Relics:
His
relics can be found in St. Praxedes church in great
amounts. He is celebrated as a well known martyr in St.
Gregory’s sacramentary, as Thomasius’s Missal of
Rome in F. Fronto’s calendar and as Allatius in Bede,
Ado, Usuard, Notker and other martyrologies available to
this day. For abolishing the heathens vulgar
superstition of boys being named after girls for
honoring their Goddess named Februata Juno, many
enthusiastic pastors changed the saints’ names in
billets given on this month’s 15th.
Feast
Day:
February
14th was also celebrated as a feast date till
1969 for honoring two saints of Christian faith, one of
them being St. Valentine. Some Love stuff is also
involved here. The saints were martyred by Claudius II
Gothicus, a roman emperor. He thought that single
soldiers are better than married ones. Hence, St.
Valentine was beheaded as he continuously helped young
couples to get themselves married which Claudius
disallowed. Catholic calendar of Roman origin then
dropped off this day.
Unique
Kind Of Love Discovered:
St.
Valentine died because of being in love, so powerful,
exciting and overwhelming that other love stories such
as Romeo-Juliet, Anthony-Cleopatra, Napolean-Josephine
and Richard Burton-Elizabeth Taylor look nothing in
front of it. Since the day he chose to be a Christian to
the day he died, like other Christians, he was also
continuously tortured. Thousands were being killed. He
was unmoved by questions of the tormentors like why is
god allowing them to carry on this torture. But, he as
well as the others like him never lost faith. They were
ready to face the atrocities because all of them had a
common love, a single person.
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