Forget Cupid, Go St. Valentine!

In 2007, my husband and I traveled to Dublin on our honeymoon. We were blessed to be able to visit and to pray at the relics of St. Valentine quietly and beautifully displayed at a Carmelite Shrine in the heart of Dublin City. I say it's worth the trek.

St. Valentine may have Esther A. Howland and Hallmark to thank for some of his notoriety in the West, so because of his popularity, I am happy to share a few myths and facts.

Remember, while the Church doesn't always claim perfect knowledge of facts and details in the life of every Saint, once canonized, a Saint is a Saint is a Saint.

Let's look at the myths,... (Note, we are not CERTAIN that these things happened or that this was the reason behind St. Valentine's canonization beyond the fact that he was martyred for the Faith.)

1. Valentine married people in secret
2. Valentine fell in love with his jailor's daughter who visited him in prison
3. Valentine wrote a letter to the jailor's daughter, his sweetheart, signed, "Your Valentine"

...and let's look at the facts.

1. a "Valentinus" was martyred in A.D. 270... Roman History has records of this.
2. There is a Pope named Valentine.
3. There are many saints in the Church's records called "Valentine" or "Valentinus"
4. St. Valentine is considered the patron saint of bee keepers and epilepsy.
5. Geoffrey Chaucer might be thanked for "Valentine's Day"... well, at least the first written record of the holiday's existence, according to the OED,
   
   "For this was on Saint Valentine’s day,
   When every fowl comes there his mate to take,
   Of every species that men know, I say,
   And then so huge a crowd did they make,
   That earth and sea, and tree, and every lake
   Was so full, that there was scarcely space
   For me to stand, so full was all the place."

   "And as Alain, in his Complaint of Nature,
   Describes her array and paints her face,
   In such array might men there find her.
   So this noble Empress, full of grace,
   Bade every fowl to take its proper place
   As they were wont to do from year to year,
   On Saint Valentine’s day, standing there.”

6. The skull of St. Valentine is adorned with flowers and housed in Rome. Certainly an interesting sight from a Western perspective.
7. Relics of St. Valentine are housed in Dublin.
8. Last year, 10,000 engaged couples gathered in St. Peter's Square to celebrate with Pope Francis the Feast of St. Valentine's Day.