I rather liked the media statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide seeking to “reclaim” Valentine’s Day.
The initiative provides parishes and Catholic school families with practical suggestions for celebrating St Valentine’s Day and encouraging married couples to spend more time together.
The statement claims that St Valentine was executed on February 14, 269AD for going against a decree by Roman ruler Claudius that weddings be suspended because he needed unattached men to serve in his armies.
Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, said the campaign was an opportunity to advocate the sacred bond of marriage.
I admit I never knew the origin of Valentine’s Day and the obvious fact of it being a saint’s feast day had also escaped me.
The media statement appears to have simplified things a little though and possibly stretched the facts. Other sources reveal that like many of the early saints, not much is known about Valentine.
According to this Catholic website: The origin of St Valentine, and how many St Valentines there were, remains a mystery.
“St Valentine was a priest, martyred in 269 at Rome and was buried on the Flaminian Way. He 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.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia muddies the waters further, but perhaps more realistically, in identifying the origin of Valentine’s Day.
“The popular customs associated with St Valentine’s Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on February 14, ie half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair. Thus in Chaucer’s Parliament of Foules we read:
For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.
“For this reason the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers’ tokens. Both the French and English literatures of the 14th and 15th centuries contain allusions to the practice.”
That sounds plausible to me. Many Christian traditions had pagan or cultural origins.
This doesn’t undermine the Archdiocese’s campaign in any way. There’s no harm in focusing on love within marriage as part of the day’s reflection.
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