Remember, the most popular Valentine legend says that after third-century Roman Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage, Fr. Valentine continued to marry couples in secret. He recognized that marriage is a sacrament instituted by God, meaning the State didn’t have the authority to ban it at all. Despite his courage, Valentine was ultimately discovered and beheaded. 

So how do we honor his day, honor true love, honor our spouses and significant others, while also paying due homage to the beginning of Lent?

Imagine saying your vows to each other while holding the greatest representation of Christ’s love in your hands:

“I take you to be my husband. I promise to be faithful to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love you and to honor you all the days of my life.”

This resonated with my husband and he immediately said he wanted us to do it.

Just four days after the start of the German-Soviet War, a sick woman asked the local priest, Fr. Mykola Konrad, to hear her confession. Volodymr accompanied the priest, but sometime after their visit, they disappeared.

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.

“But our world has turned its back on beauty. And because of that, we find ourselves surrounded by ugliness and alienation. I want to persuade you that beauty matters, that it is not just a subjective thing, but a universal need of human beings. If we ignore this need, we find ourselves in a spiritual desert. 

I want to show you a path out of that desert — it is a path that leads to Home.”

My husband and I are not saints. God willing, we still have many decades left to foster our relationship with God, to leave a good impact on the world, to keep striving for holiness… to mess up, to get knocked down, to go into the confessional and promise to be better. We know our path won’t be a straight line but we hope and pray that we will fight the good fight, run the race, and keep the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).

So how did St. Nicholas of Myra — also known for (literally) fighting heresy — become Santa Claus? As the National Geographic says, “Nicholas was neither fat nor jolly but developed a reputation as a fiery, wiry, and defiant defender of church doctrine during the Great Persecution in 303, when Bibles were burned and priests made to renounce Christianity or face execution.”

Happy All Saints’ Day!

In honor of this wonderful feast, I decided this month’s Married Saints blog would be a little different. Today I want to explore several of our saints to give you an overview of wonderful patrons you might not have considered for your marriage before.