Valentine was a holy
priest in Rome, who, with
St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the
persecution
under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the
prefect of Rome, who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce
his
faith
ineffectual, commanded him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards, to
be beheaded, which was executed on February 14, about the year 270. Pope
Julius I is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole to his memory,
which for a long
time gave name to the gate now called Porta del Popolo, formerly, Porta Valetini. The greatest part of his
relics are now in the church of St. Praxedes. His name is celebrated as that of an illustrious
martyr in the sacramentary of St. Gregory, the Roman
Missal of Thomasius, in the calendar of F. Fronto and that of Allatius, in Bede, Usuard, Ado,
Notker
and all other martyrologies on this day. To abolish the heathens lewd
superstitious custom of boys drawing the names of girls, in honor of
their goddess Februata Juno, on the fifteenth of this month, several
zealous pastors substituted the names of saints in billets given on this
day.
The origin of St. Valentine, and how many St. Valentines
there were, remains a mystery. One opinion is that he was a Roman
martyred for refusing to give up his
Christian faith. Other historians hold that
St. Valentine was a
temple priest
jailed for defiance during the reign of Claudius. Whoever he was,
Valentine really existed because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman
catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine. In 496 AD
Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his
martyrdom.
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