Valentine's Day on February 14 each year is the florists' Christmas. It sends business soaring for chocolatiers and jewelers, too. How did Saint Valentine get associated with flowers, jewels, and chocolates? Or is he officially the patron saint of lovers? He didn't do any work to attain this prominence; it all comes down to an unusual inheritance he made late in death.
Who was Saint Valentine? And let me follow up with: Which one? There are six saints by the name of Valentine that were sainted by the Church, maybe more. This suggests that any information is shaky, to put it mildly. The problem is that early Church saints are mostly literary inventions, and the rest are well imagined. The Christian Church spent most of the 6th century inventing the history of the previous five hundred years.
Saint Valentine died in 304 in the Italian city of Viterbo. He was beheaded after they bungled his drowning in the Tiber. When thrown into the stream, he swam on the water despite being bound in chains. A thousand years later, he would have been burned as a witch by the same church that sainted him for that. His name day is on November 3. Wrong one then.
Saint Valentine of Trier was bishop there. His name day is celebrated on July 16. Wrong one again.
Another Saint Valentine was Bishop of Raetia (a large area with the Swiss city of Chur roughly in its middle). The Raetians had converted to Christianity, but paganism was creeping back in. Worse, there was a majority of Arian heretics living there that needed addressing. Valentine of Raetia failed to make an impact, was exiled, and died an itinerant priest in the Tyrolean town of Merano in Italy. He became the patron saint of the diocese of Passau and spiritual protector for people with epilepsy, convulsions and gout, and animal diseases. His name day is January 7; he shares that day with Saint Valentine II of Terni. He is represented in drawings with the crosier and a sick child at his feet. Two more failures.
Saint Valentine (I) of Terni and Saint Valentine of Rome are the ones with name days on February 14. They might be the same; it is hard to tell as fiction writers are excellent copycats. They both died at the hands of some Roman emperor or other. Both were executed by beheading on February 14. Saint Valentine of Rome is the patron saint of lovers, betrothals, and beekeepers. Saint Valentine of Terni is the patron saint of Terni, youth, travelers, and beekeepers and protector from fainting spells, epilepsy, plague, madness, gout and uterine diseases. Both should be shown with sword and cock (as martyrs), but are usually shown with crosier and child. Duplicate mentions are purely coincidental and are not, therefore, caused by the fact that all these stories were later inventions and mostly copied from one holy text into the next more glorious and inventive one.
Flowers, jewelry and chocolates are somehow missing in the list; even the mention of lovers is dubious as it is missing in the official job description handed out by the Vatican. Flowers are the specialty of Saint Honoratus of Amiens (with the famous Rue Saint Honoré in Paris to his name); Saint Louis of France (King Louis IX) is the one with the sweet tooth; and Saint Lawrence of Rome dons netting when going to work.
Giving away flowers on February 14 has nothing to do with any saints or Christianity. On February 14 and 15, the Romans held a festival in the honor of Juno, wife of Jupiter who handed over to Saint Valentine when she retired. Juno had inherited that festival, too; it had been known as the Luparia and was probably an Etruscan import into the barbarian village Rome to give them at least an idea of culture.
The Luparia was a festival for girls going through a rite of passage to become women. This is the custom we celebrate today as Valentine.'s Day. As an early Christian, Saint Valentine would have found this process of acquisition entirely normal. Christians had already diligently plundered other religions' imagery (e.g. halo, Isis and child) symbolism (e.g. eternal flame, holy spirit), symbols (e.g. mitre, crosier, cappa), festival dates (e.g. Christmas, Easter, All Saints' Day), and even saints (e.g. Saint Lucia, Horus) were eagerly acquired and made to fit.
If you want to visit Saint Valentine in person, you have many possibilities to do so. There are so many: Saint Valentine of Viterbo can be found in that city. Saint Valentine of Raetia wandered from Merano in Italy to Passau in Germany. Saint Valentine II of Terni can be visited in that city. Saint Valentine of Rome is said to lie in Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, Italy. A Saint Valentine can also be found in Hiltensweiler in Germany very nicely dressed up and ready for a chat. He is one that the Church missed when rewriting history.
Saint Valentine (I) of Terni is a bit scatterboned. Bits and pieces can be found in many places in Europe. Laying claim to having a sliver of Valentine magic are Kiedrich on the Rhine, Worms, Mainz, Welschbillig near Bitburg, Krumbach, Heuchelheim, Olpe, Ockfen, Fulda (all in Germany), Vienna (Austria), Rouffach, Jumieges near Rouen (both in France), Ernen (Switzerland), Rome (Italy), Prague (Czech Republic), Wroclaw (Poland), Dublin (Ireland), and Glasgow (Scotland). I don't lay claim to have listed them all. I probably missed a dozen or more.
Who was Saint Valentine? And let me follow up with: Which one? There are six saints by the name of Valentine that were sainted by the Church, maybe more. This suggests that any information is shaky, to put it mildly. The problem is that early Church saints are mostly literary inventions, and the rest are well imagined. The Christian Church spent most of the 6th century inventing the history of the previous five hundred years.
Saint Valentine died in 304 in the Italian city of Viterbo. He was beheaded after they bungled his drowning in the Tiber. When thrown into the stream, he swam on the water despite being bound in chains. A thousand years later, he would have been burned as a witch by the same church that sainted him for that. His name day is on November 3. Wrong one then.
Saint Valentine of Trier was bishop there. His name day is celebrated on July 16. Wrong one again.
Another Saint Valentine was Bishop of Raetia (a large area with the Swiss city of Chur roughly in its middle). The Raetians had converted to Christianity, but paganism was creeping back in. Worse, there was a majority of Arian heretics living there that needed addressing. Valentine of Raetia failed to make an impact, was exiled, and died an itinerant priest in the Tyrolean town of Merano in Italy. He became the patron saint of the diocese of Passau and spiritual protector for people with epilepsy, convulsions and gout, and animal diseases. His name day is January 7; he shares that day with Saint Valentine II of Terni. He is represented in drawings with the crosier and a sick child at his feet. Two more failures.
Saint Valentine (I) of Terni and Saint Valentine of Rome are the ones with name days on February 14. They might be the same; it is hard to tell as fiction writers are excellent copycats. They both died at the hands of some Roman emperor or other. Both were executed by beheading on February 14. Saint Valentine of Rome is the patron saint of lovers, betrothals, and beekeepers. Saint Valentine of Terni is the patron saint of Terni, youth, travelers, and beekeepers and protector from fainting spells, epilepsy, plague, madness, gout and uterine diseases. Both should be shown with sword and cock (as martyrs), but are usually shown with crosier and child. Duplicate mentions are purely coincidental and are not, therefore, caused by the fact that all these stories were later inventions and mostly copied from one holy text into the next more glorious and inventive one.
Flowers, jewelry and chocolates are somehow missing in the list; even the mention of lovers is dubious as it is missing in the official job description handed out by the Vatican. Flowers are the specialty of Saint Honoratus of Amiens (with the famous Rue Saint Honoré in Paris to his name); Saint Louis of France (King Louis IX) is the one with the sweet tooth; and Saint Lawrence of Rome dons netting when going to work.
Giving away flowers on February 14 has nothing to do with any saints or Christianity. On February 14 and 15, the Romans held a festival in the honor of Juno, wife of Jupiter who handed over to Saint Valentine when she retired. Juno had inherited that festival, too; it had been known as the Luparia and was probably an Etruscan import into the barbarian village Rome to give them at least an idea of culture.
The Luparia was a festival for girls going through a rite of passage to become women. This is the custom we celebrate today as Valentine.'s Day. As an early Christian, Saint Valentine would have found this process of acquisition entirely normal. Christians had already diligently plundered other religions' imagery (e.g. halo, Isis and child) symbolism (e.g. eternal flame, holy spirit), symbols (e.g. mitre, crosier, cappa), festival dates (e.g. Christmas, Easter, All Saints' Day), and even saints (e.g. Saint Lucia, Horus) were eagerly acquired and made to fit.
If you want to visit Saint Valentine in person, you have many possibilities to do so. There are so many: Saint Valentine of Viterbo can be found in that city. Saint Valentine of Raetia wandered from Merano in Italy to Passau in Germany. Saint Valentine II of Terni can be visited in that city. Saint Valentine of Rome is said to lie in Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, Italy. A Saint Valentine can also be found in Hiltensweiler in Germany very nicely dressed up and ready for a chat. He is one that the Church missed when rewriting history.
Saint Valentine (I) of Terni is a bit scatterboned. Bits and pieces can be found in many places in Europe. Laying claim to having a sliver of Valentine magic are Kiedrich on the Rhine, Worms, Mainz, Welschbillig near Bitburg, Krumbach, Heuchelheim, Olpe, Ockfen, Fulda (all in Germany), Vienna (Austria), Rouffach, Jumieges near Rouen (both in France), Ernen (Switzerland), Rome (Italy), Prague (Czech Republic), Wroclaw (Poland), Dublin (Ireland), and Glasgow (Scotland). I don't lay claim to have listed them all. I probably missed a dozen or more.
Further reading
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