Patron Saint of Marriage: Saint Valentine — Patron of Hallmark?
Patronage: Affianced couples, against fainting, beekeepers, happy marriages, love, mentally ill, plague, epilepsy
Feast day: February 14
Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!
In December, I wrote about how St. Nicholas, patron saint of marriage, became Santa Claus. For February, the obvious patron of marriage is St. Valentine! But did you know that our knowledge of the St. Valentine is… muddy, at best?
A brief reminder on the history of canonizations. At the time of St. Valentine, we did not have the official canonization process that we use today. Known as “pre-congregation” saints, our litany is actually full of holy men and women who never had to go through the canonization process, like Moses, Noah, Judith, Esther, and John the Baptist. In extreme summary, pre-congregation saints are those who were first venerated locally by bishops, patriarchs, and primates before the development of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and have since been accepted by the Pope into universal veneration by the Church.
Our beloved St. Valentine is actually based on several known Valentine or Valentinus martyrs whose exact stories are not absolutely certain. The most popular telling of the legend says that third-century Roman Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage for young men — because single men made better soldiers than those who were married. Fr. Valentine, recognizing that it wasn’t the state’s authority to grant marriage but instead a sacrament instituted by God, continued to celebrate weddings in secret. Ultimately, Valentine was discovered and beheaded by Emperor Claudius.
This story is attributed to two different Valentines — one priest Valentine and one bishop of Terni. Both are known martyrs, but it is unclear to whom this legend should actually be attributed.
But a third martyred Valentine is known, who also could be the figure behind our official St. Valentine. This Valentine was not a member of clergy but instead a layman who would help Christians escape from prison. One legend holds that Valentine was caught, imprisoned, and fell in love with a young woman (stories say a jailer’s daughter), to whom he would write love letters while in jail. Prior to his execution, he supposedly signed a letter as “From your Valentine.”
So how did these stories turn into a secular celebration on February 14?
Since it was so early in Church history, the motivations aren’t entirely clear. Some believe that February 14 was the day that one of the Valentines were martyred, though we don't know for sure if that’s the case, and others say it was the Church’s attempt to Christianize the secular Lupercalia festival that took place on February 15.
Lupercalia was a pagan festival of fertility, dedicated to Faunus (the Roman god of agriculture) as well as the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. The festival would begin with animal sacrifices. The pagan priests would then take the sacrificial blood and pat it on both crops and women, as this gesture was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. On the same day, the young women of the town would put their names in an urn from which single men would select. These pairings often ended in marriage.
In the 5th Century, Pope Gelasius outlawed the festival of Lupercalia. As we know, Christ made the ultimate sacrifice so that holocausts and sin offerings are no longer needed. As we also know, we trust in God rather than superstition, as marriage and fertility are from a free gift of self rather than a chance encounter with a pagan ceremony. It was at this time that the Church, through Pope Gelasius, declared St. Valentine’s feast day as February 14.
Despite all of Valentine’s association with love and marriage, the feast day itself was not linked with romantic relationships until much later. In fact, English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) was the first recorded mention we have of St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic holiday in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Foules.” He wrote, “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day / Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate” (referencing the French and English belief that the birds’ mating season began on February 14).
Valentine’s Day grew in popularity in Great Britain around the 17th Century. By the 18th Century, it was common for everyone to exchange tokens or notes on February 14th, and by 1900, people would give ready-made cards to each other, thanks to the advancements in printing technology.
As a side note, click here to read the super cool story about Esther Howland, also known as the “Mother of the Valentine” in America as she basically invented the Valentine’s Day card industry in the States. We love strong female entrepreneurs here!
Even if it isn’t exactly the backstory you were expecting, St. Valentine is still a holy man (or men!) in our litany. And while secularization of our feast days can be particularly frustrating — like many find Christmas to be — I hope that St. Valentine blesses your relationships and marriages today. Our romantic love gives glory to God, and that’s worth dying for.
St. Valentine, ora pro nobis!
