Be my (St.) Valentine

Poor Sts. Cyril and Methodius.

Their joint feast day is today in the new Church calendar but interestingly it's the saint of the old Church calendar (you know...the calendar we crazy Latin Mass-goers tend to follow) that anyone ever hears about. I suspect St. Valentine would be loathe to know that he is remembered largely not for his martyrdom or his lifetime of compassion and generosity to the poor and the sick but rather for that one last great act of love shown to a little girl whose blindness he healed. This last significant act of charity is what centuries of romantics have latched onto and in many ways exploited.


The history and significance of sending a valentine is thoroughly Catholic. According to his hagiography:

The night before his execution, the priest wrote a farewell message to the girl and signed it affectionately "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lives on even to today. He was executed on February 14th, 273 AD in Rome...the valentine has become the universal symbol of friendship and affection shared each anniversary of the priest's execution -- St. Valentine's Day. 

You can read more about the story in various books but my favorite is this little children's book:

Now, we actually have good reason to celebrate this day in our home every year. DH proposed to me on this date 14 years (young college junior punks that we were). Indeed, St. Valentine is the patron saint of young people, engaged couples and happy marriages but did you also know that he's also the patron of bee keepers, travelers and victims of fainting and epilepsy?

I'm all about date nights and flowers...
I love sending and receiving valentines...
I love making them with my kids...
...and I get all misty-eyed remembering this moment when my beloved got down on one knee and before the statue of St. Therese asked me to be his wife and the mother to his children.

I love celebrating this feast for what it is!

I just feel it's important as Catholics that we be careful not to get sucked into the secular commercialism that surrounds this and other Catholic saints, feasts and observances (like say, Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween or Mardi Gras, etc.) Take time to get to know the great men and women that went before us in the walk of faith and do their lives/martyrdoms justice by telling your children (or adults!) their story. Continue St. Valentine's legacy of charity and beg his intercession in our marriages and families. Not just today but long after the chocolate candy goes on clearance.

I say we Catholics need to reclaim these feasts!

And while we're at it, can we please take back the rainbow too?